Second and the Blackamoors were formed up in neat squares while the civilians formed two loose ranks of eight. Lieutenant Crestoa stood at the head of the formation while Tofels addressed them.

"As boarding officer, Lieutenant Crestoa will act as detachment commander. Maniple Chief Forcas, Maniple Vice Chief Osman, Lieutenant Maartens and Sub-Lieutenant LeGrange will act as team leaders.

"Mission codewords are as follows: the operation name is Nibelungenlied, your detachment is Siegfried, the Junker Jorg is Brünnhilde, the enemy ship is Fafner, and the Palatinians are Nibelungs.

"You will depart immediately. That is all. Dismissed."

Tofels and Lieutenant Crestoa exchanged salutes and the reins went over to him. Lieutenant Crestoa then turned to face the formation and said, "You all know what you've got to do. Fall out and load up."

He double-checked to make sure the cards were already ordered by suit and separated them out, putting the suits between his fingers.

He handed most of the suit to Sergeant Berker, who like or not was stuck being the Queen of Hearts, to distribute the cards to the rest of the team. He held on to the card for Azuki, which he personally delivered to her.

Azuki accepted the card with both hands, like it was somehow special and didn't just come out of a cheap two-kroner deck Root got at the post shopette.

Realizing that his own team had more than thirteen members and Forcas' own team only had ten, Root said, "Spades are a bit short." He pointed to Pol Hermann and Danilo Pervez and told them, "You two, go on over."

Hermann gave a disappointed look, grumbling, "Dammit, Root."

LeGrange sent his one extra over to Forcas too, Twosant. Root felt bad for the three stuck with the Blackamoors, but they'd get over it. With that, they had four even teams of thirteen. Root couldn't have made a better fit if he had planned it.

He handed his final two cards to Lieutenant Crestoa, saying, "You and Ludvik are the jokers."

The Blackamoors and the civvies piled into the two trucks while First and Third Squads took the buggies. Crestoa and Ludvik opted to helm the truck with the civvies. That left Root, LeGrange and Azuki with the jeep.

Dissatisfied with the shortage on the jeep, LeGrange said, "Timofey, get off there and take the wheel. Heine, get in back on the gun."

That still left Private Graeme hanging off the side of his buggy. It wasn't going to be a smooth ride and Root wanted to limit the damages en route as much as he could.

Azuki nodded.

Azuki blushed slightly. She hadn't seemed particularly shy around him before, but he guessed it was a woman's prerogative to decide when and where she feels embarrassed.

There were no other preparations to be made. Once all five vehicles were started up, the loading ramp was lowered so they could leave the ship. The buggies went first, followed by the jeep and then the trucks in the rear. A rearguard would've been nice to have, but the nimbler buggies needed to be out front and because there was a greater risk of something going wrong with the trucks, you really didn't want to be behind them.

Root wasn't all that eager to be out in the wind and snow again, but the weather guys estimated that they had about eighteen hours before the next storm rolled in. That should've been time enough to get to the objective, complete the mission and get back. Provided there were no abject disasters along the way, which certainly couldn't be ruled out.

They rolled out at about ten-meter intervals. Close enough to come to each other's aid but far enough apart that a single landmine or rifle grenade wouldn't get two for the price of one.

Once they were about ten minutes out, Azuki transformed and took to the skies. Root was counting on her to catch sight of the enemy before they could do anything, but if that sniper was still out there, he might be able to elude even her eagle eyes. She also might not be able to spot any mines or improvised explosives buried under the snow. Root had no way of knowing if the enemy had gone to those lengths or not, but the Palatinians who got away had almost half a day to prepare for them.

As the minutes became hours and there was no sign of the enemy or any traps along the way, Root began to wonder if they had made any preparations at all for the inevitable counterattack. Maybe the Palatinians that were unaccounted for never made it back. There was the Alpino who killed Moran, after all, found dead in the snow. Maybe the others ended up the same way and their ship had no idea what became of them. If this detachment was able to get the drop on the Palatinians, it could all be over rather quickly.

It took them about three and a half hours before the Palatinian ship came into view. It was listing hard to port, one of its rotors on that side destroyed and the other two bent to the point where they were probably worthless. The aft turret had been blown off and there was a big hole in the superstructure. And that was just what Root could see at a glance.

LeGrange held up his fist to signal to the truck drivers to stop, telling Timofey, "Bring it to a stop, Private."

The jeep came to a halt and the trucks followed. They were about 150 meters from the ship, well within range of Alpini, but far enough off for ordinary sailors. If they tried to fire their bigger guns, they could bring the whole mountain down on all of them. The Twelve-Sevens could still make short work of the boarding party, though.

The Twelve-Sevens were Root's first priority. Once he dismounted, he quickly checked the wind and adjusted his sights before scanning the deck for anyone manning the deck guns. He didn't see anyone there, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. They could be waiting just belowdecks, but it wasn't like you could just hop on those guns and pull the trigger. Maybe the Palatinians really didn't know they were coming.

Then an explosion hit Sergeant Berker's buggy head-on and rifle shots cracked all around them.

The Alpini were hiding in the snow, just waiting for them to get into range. Besides Giulianinis, they had a couple Marti 32 machine guns. Root was quick to take out one of the machine gunners first thing. Azuki was squawking overhead.

Graeme scrambled back to the jeep to dig through her stuff and picked up her sword, holding it up so she could sweep by and snatch it up. A shot from the Palatinians dinged off the side of the jeep, prompting Graeme to scream a curse and quickly hit the ground.

The Blackamoors and civilians were shooting almost blindly in the general direction of the ship, which didn't bode well for Azuki if she meant to attack the Palatinians. Root had to do what he could for her.

Root lined up the other machine gunner and fired at him. The shot connected, but it didn't kill him. Before he could squeeze off another round, a shot kicked up the snow by his elbow. There was no real cover to be had and moving was about as much of a liability as staying still.

Another rifle grenade went off, but the grenadier must have had his aim thrown off, because it flew past the jeep and hit the ground a good twenty meters behind even the two trucks in the rear. Root would have liked to put a bullet in the grenadier, but before that, he wanted to hit another machine gunner. Whether it was act of amazing luck or just amazing coincidence, the machine gunner got out of the bullet's path before it could connect. Unfortunately for the Alpino behind him, the bullet took another target as a consolation prize.

Out of the corner of his eye, Root saw Azuki touch down, transforming into that creepy white ghost form of hers and sticking the nearest Alpino. The machine gunner in front of him turned his 32 on her, but a shot from Root hit the machine gun before he could fire it. It was a lucky shot. He was meaning to get the gunner himself.

A couple other nearby Alpini turned their attention to her. Somehow, she managed to dodge two shots at close range but didn't stick around to push her luck any further. She threw her sword at one as she retreated and the other was hit by somebody else.

The shooting was becoming more sporadic from the other side. The Alpini started shouting something, then laying down suppressing fire. They were pulling out. Though he might regret it later, Root didn't shoot back. At least half of them were obviously wounded and it was a sort of unwritten rule not to shoot at people when they're evacuating their wounded. An unwritten rule that was often broken in combat, but people said it was a good way to call down God's wrath on you and yours. It was less any fear of God's wrath than simple human decency, however misguided, that made him stay his hand.

That same simple human decency didn't apply to everyone, though. A few potshots were taken, but it didn't seem to hit anybody.

Nothing from Berker, obviously, so Heine came next.

Silence for Renard and Suisse, then Graeme spoke up.

And now it was the civilians' turn, starting with Pat Calhoun.

Then Jock Daniels.

Rather than sounding off like the others, when it was Ian Guin's turn, he shouted, "Root, get over here!"

He wouldn't be calling for Root if it wasn't important, so Root said, "Heine, Graeme, keep an eye out for me."

Root did a sort of crouched run over to where Ian was. He was holding Klusky, who was clutching at the right side his face. There was quite a bit of blood.

There was nothing Root could do for Ham or Diek, but Klusky wasn't beyond saving.

Root went back to the jeep and got the first aid kit. He paid the ship a glance or two coming and going. He saw Azuki return to double-check the dead Alpini, stabbing one after the other like some pale goddess of death.

Once he got back to Ian and Klusky, he opened the first aid kit and pulled out a spool of gauze and a pad. He had to fight with Klusky to get him to move his hand.

A little blood spurted on him when he got Klusky's hand out of the way. The bullet had torn away most of his cheek. You could just barely see his teeth through the hole. Root covered it up with the pad, then bound it up with gauze. The blood would soak right through and stick, but it would be enough to get the bleeding to stop.

Klusky nodded. Root was worried he might go into shock, but they were nearly three hours away from the Junker Jorg if they pulled out right then and there was little chance of that.

Before he went over to LeGrange, Root asked, "Has anyone else been hit?"

Back over at the jeep, Timofey was propped up against the front wheel holding his bicep while bleeding out of another hole in his forearm. Root quickly went to work binding up the wounds. There was an entry and an exit wound in his forearm, but just an entry wound in his upper arm. The bullet was still there, but Root certainly wasn't the person to get it out.

Fortunately, there were some safety pins to be had, so Root unzipped Timofey's parka, turned up the tail and pinned it in place.

While Graeme was checking the Jeep for anything they could use, one of the civvies pointed over to the wrecked buggy and shouted, "Look! Over there! Somethin's movin'!"

Indeed, it looked like someone was trying to crawl away from the wreckage. Root couldn't believe it.

The three of them hurried over to buggy. Based on the explosion and the damage, the rifle grenade the Palatinians used was intended for tanks. It was overkill for a light snow buggy, but overkill didn't seem to be a concern for them. Someone was dragging himself from the wreckage. As Root and the others got closer, he could tell it was Berker. He had some charring from the blast and his right arm and both legs were mangled pretty bad, but he was still alive.

Kneeling down by him, Root said, "Sarge? Sarge, can ya hear me? It's Root."

Berker grunted and moaned, not really paying attention to Root at all, focusing only on getting himself clear of the buggy.

Root told Graeme and Heine, "Take his arms an' get him clear a' this shit."

They took hold of Berker and dragged him several meters. Root was looking him over as they went. That arm and those legs probably couldn't be saved. There wasn't any sign of arterial bleeding, but Root didn't want to take any chances. The first aid kit only had one tourniquet, so he had to improvise the other two. He wanted to save as much of the limbs as he could, but even with the Queen's own top doctors, there wasn't much to salvage. Out here, he'd be lucky to survive long enough to get back to the ship.

With Heine and Graeme's help, he put together a makeshift stretcher to carry Berker back to the trucks. The truck the civvies were using became the de facto ambulance. The wounded were loaded into the back. It wasn't much, but it was better than being out in the open.

Once Berker was safely in the truck, Lieutenant Crestoa called out, "Team leaders! What's your count?"

Forcas was the first to respond, saying, "Spade team. Two dead, one wounded."

Root decided to go next.

Then LeGrange.

And lastly Osman.

Tallying up the numbers in his head, Lieutenant Crestoa said, "So that's eight dead and six wounded."

Though not sharing the Blackamoor's fanatical certainty, Lieutenant Crestoa agreed with him, saying, "We have more than enough men still able-bodied. We go on, Lieutenant Maartens. Hearts and Clubs, get up on the main deck. Take out those guns and secure the bridge. Spades and Diamonds, go belowdecks and take out the engine."

This gave Lieutenant Crestoa pause and he promptly changed his orders.

Doing his best to save face without changing his position, Lieutenant Crestoa replied, "I'll come aboard once you've secured your objectives."

Root wasn't terribly surprised. Lieutenant Crestoa didn't exactly come off as a frontline sort of person, but Pops wasn't amused in the slightest.

Surprisingly, it was Forcas who came to the Lieutenant's defense.

Root held up Martinique to rally his team, shouting, "Hearts, on me!"

The other team leaders gathered what was left of their teams. LeGrange's people started to take up defensive positions around the vehicles while the other three teams fanned out to make their way to the enemy ship. Fortunately, the Alpini didn't come back for a second round and they didn't have mines buried in the snow for them. Each team had a special mortar to fire grapnels up over the rails. Once the lines were secure, the teams made their way up onto the main deck. With the ship listing like it was, it was a little tricky keeping your footing.

While Forcas was leading his team down the quarterdeck companionway, Osman told Root, "We will take care of the guns, Maartens. Your team can search the superstructure."

There were quite a few compartments in the superstructure, but considering that big hole Root saw, he didn't imagine they were going to find too many people up there.

They headed to the companionway to get to the next level. It was a straight shot to door to the bridge.

There were assorted yeahs, got its and whatnot. That should keep them fairly well covered.

They went down to the door and Root told Heine, "Check it."

Heine tried the wheel, which turned without much trouble.

Taking aim with his Barkley, Root said, "Alright. Get ready, people. Open it up, Heine."

Heine opened the door and Root went in first. The bridge was a total wreck with most of the consoles beyond repair. The hole they saw from the outside took out the greater part of the port bulkhead. A puff of smoke rose from the other side of the captain's chair. The chair turned slowly to reveal a Naval officer in his greatcoat, strapped in to keep from falling out due to the angle. He took a long, slow drag on his cigarette and exhaled before looking to Root and the others.