What was most noticeable about the two they could see was that both seemed in excellent health and strength, neither seemed a prisoner and, most astounding of all, neither looked pregnant.

"Doesn't make sense," Murphy said from the control van. "Even if they're better healers with superhuman strength, where's the babies? A crash like we give 'em shoulda woke the little darlin's up into a screechin' frenzy. It ain't normal, I tell you!"

Darch, the overall technical manager for the team, shrugged. "Can you tell me just what is normal about these people? Any of them? Not just your girls."

"I get your point."

Broz studied the two they could see. "At least they're not prisoners or unwilling participants. Look at those faces. As someone with a lot of experience in these kind of operations, Captain, I'd say that if you walked in there now they wouldn't exactly greet you with hugs and kisses. More likely they'd blow you away without a thought."

As much as he hated to admit it and only partly believed it, looking at those two in the viewscreen, it seemed very close to the truth.

"Well, no apparent sacrificial altars and the like," Maslovic noted from his point of view in the trees just beyond the compound. "This isn't a rescue mission."

"Praise be for that much!" Murphy muttered to himself.

Darch wasn't in such a good mood. "Look, it took half the night and more than half the energy pods in this thing to pick up and fling that rock and then get back out of the way. We fooled 'em last time with some jungle terror but they won't be suckers like that again, and I don't dare risk bringing this thing in close again. Not to mention that none of you have the power packs to be able to clear this region without us. Either we take 'em, and soon, or they're going to have somebody in close that will pick them up and we're off to do this all over again someplace else. Both that big fella before and now our two subjects now are on the horn to somebody. Either we're gonna have a friggin' army show up, or they're getting a lift. Better decide and quick."

"How much notice can you give us?"

"At best, maybe ten minutes, maybe less. There are busses and vans and shuttles flying all over here at all sorts of altitudes. It's the only way to get in or out of these places. They don't have to come from one of the cities or the small freebooter towns here. They can divert at any moment," Darch reminded him.

Maslovic thought it over for a moment, then sighed. "Okay, so we take them. I don't want any chances with the ones outside. They all go down. No exceptions. Knock them cold for an hour or kill them if we have to. But inside, stun grenade and heavy stun shots, no lethal force. We need them alive if we can manage it. You see any of those gems on them, you take them. Rip them off with whatever force and by whatever means you need to. Put them in the secure sample pouches and close up tight. You remember what those girls did on the ship. If they get half a chance with us, we're all dead."

That's eight defendin' against you just outside, Murphy thought. Cocky bald-headed bastards, aren't they?

Maslovic acted as the spotter. "Okay, everybody, no use for a countdown here. When I give the word, I want each of you to drill the sentry closest to you. Ideally, it'll be when the other two aren't looking, but we all know how that drill goes. Sanchez, as soon as you hit yours, cover your left. Rosen, you do right, Ndulu, left, Nasser, right. And don't shoot each other! I'll cover from here as best I can and when we get them all, we converge on the main doors but don't enter. Repeat, do not enter until I join you. The odds are, the first person through without the magic password dies, got it? Okay, the ones outside are beginning to look bored and a couple are just staring out into the jungle waiting for us and wishing we'd attack. Let's oblige… now!"

One of the guards near the back thought he heard something in the trees and looked up, bringing his weapon up as he did so. At that instant a part of the wooden lodge wall behind him shimmered and seemed to move, and before the sentry knew what hit him there was a sharp electronic thwang! and he got a rough shove over the railing and onto the ground five meters below.

The moment this happened, a female sentry, sensing movement and hearing the report, turned to check on her companion. At that split second, Sanchez whirled left and shot her full in the chest as Rosen emerged from the wall and fired a wide spread on the same hapless sentry from the other side. Even as the woman went down, an expression of total bewilderment on her face, her hands still clutching the rifle, Sanchez was to her, kicking away the weapon and joining Rosen in a near simultaneous firing on the next sentry who was just now turning to see what the hell was going on.

Ndulu and Nasser had the same good fortune on their side of the porch, but the next one in line was able to yell out a warning and even get off a shot before being brought down. The noise of the shot was deafening and unexpected; it had been a long time since any of the marines had heard a real concussion and projectile firing.

Ndulu was forced backwards by the power of the shot, and her left hand went to her right shoulder and came back with blood. "I'm all right! Left-handed! Let's get the rest of the bastards!" she yelled, and she and Nasser opened continuous fire on the next one in line on their side.

They were now down to three foes on the porch, and the trio weren't waiting to be picked off. One each crouched on either side of the door, using the porch furniture as shields, while the third, the smallest and most acrobatic of the guards, ran partly down the steps to the ground and then turned and crouched there, able to cover either of her companions or shoot in either direction.

None of them had spotted Maslovic above them and in the trees. "They're waiting for you on both sides," he warned them. "I'll take the one on the stairs."

Without even thinking about it, Sanchez on one side and Nasser on the other leaped over the railing and landed with rolls on the ground below, then got up and made their way out from the building and then forward, just ahead of their companions still on the porch but at just enough distance to be able to shoot anything that presented itself.

"No good, everybody stop!" Maslovic ordered. "Now, at my command, I'm going to take the stair shooter and I want the two on the ground to use their floater packs, go up and shoot low and wide on either side of the front door. Got it? Darch, you come forward as soon as you hear our shots and finish them off. Okay… Now!"

It was almost a textbook exercise. Although neither of the marines on the ground could see the nearly prone ambushers above, both could see the door and simply rose up and squeezed off an energy clip towards the lowest point on the porch. Maslovic fired as soon as he'd given the order, hitting the woman on the stairs squarely in the back before she even realized he was there. Nasser nailed one on the porch but did not put him completely out of action; the other sensed Sanchez and rolled on the porch as she came up to it. They both fired nearly at once, and both hit their marks. Sanchez dropped like a stone, but the man on the porch was going nowhere, either.

Rosen and Ndulu could see each other as the wounded but still dangerous last guard started firing in wide bursts. He barely missed Nasser but the marine was forced to drop back below the porch line. Shooting out, though, made the guard a perfect target for the two marines closing on his position, and in a double burst he was nearly fried.

As soon as all the opposition was clear, the discipline of the team showed as Ndulu and Rosen kept the door in their sights allowing Nasser and Maslovic to rush to Sanchez. Maslovic kneeled down, checked his companion, and saw that she was still breathing, although shallowly. The shot had been a lethal charge but had been mostly absorbed by the combat suit. It was pretty well shorted out, though, and that meant just insuring that Sanchez didn't suddenly die from shock. He gave her an injection that would help but didn't try the stimulants to bring her around. Without the suit capabilities and having taken that kind of shot, she'd be more a danger to herself than a help to the team if she came around right now.