“I have never seen anything even close to this with any Aloi.”
“It’s not art that we have in common,” the Templar said flatly. I made a mental note to continue that conversation sometime later if that later was going to happen.
“We can talk about that later. Now, Rinslo is behind that door. Are you all ready?”
Mitto confirmed and the Templar nodded, only Fars stood cross-handed and silent.
“Fars, are you ok? Do you hear me?”
“I’m not coming,” he said, and I just looked at him in silence for several seconds.
“I will kill you if this is about the arena.”
“It’s not about the arena.”
“Then what’s it about?”
He was silent for several more moments, driving me more insane with each, until finally saying, “It’s about the arena.”
I really wanted to beat his face into the beautifully ornamented wall destroying generations of masterful craftwork.
“Calm down, I will help you fulfill your plan, but I don’t want to go. I want to stay and fight in the finals. My honor is at stake.”
“Do you see me, Fars? I’m standing right fucking here and I’m your opponent!” I hissed. “If you have no opponent, how the fuck will you fight in the finals?”
“That is not for me to decide. I’m running from a battle. An Eres does not escape war, he yearns for it.”
“And I’m giving you a war! A meaningful, big fucking war spreading thousands of lightyears. What the hell is your problem, Fars? Damn it, I don’t have time for this. If you go back to the prison, you’re a dead man, that’s all I have to say. You want to abandon me, your race, and everything and everyone else so you can fight in a pit on some remote planet, be my fucking guest, but if you’re going to screw up my plan, I will kill you here and now!”
“I will not interfere as I’m honor-bound to you and I will do my part in your escape, but I can’t escape myself. That is my final decision.”
I wanted to scream and thrash around like he would every other day, but I had the sense to calm myself. After all, we wouldn’t be getting a second chance at doing this.
“Eres are dogs, nothing more. Let him be himself,” the Nameless said.
“I don’t care anymore. We have our mission, and you will aid me as you promised. Once we’re at Rinslo’s ship you can go die in whatever ditch you want to, Fars!”
8
I hoped my expression was that of a cool, calculating bodyguard but I was pretty sure it was the expression of a man wishing to murder his best friend. It wasn’t just the last-second betrayal that pissed me off, but the idea of Fars returning to Xan after having helped us escape. His destiny wasn’t to one day die in the arena, it was in one of Xan’s infamous interrogation chambers.
I knew he waited for us to get on board to tell me because I would have talked him out of it if I had the time and place. Talked, killed, something along those lines, I guessed. This way, however, my hands were tied. That’s the thing with alien species; what you think they understand as friendship or honor, might be something very different in their heads.
First came the two Greth ambassadors through the door. Their faces were more machine than flesh. Tiny metallic, spider-like creatures went up and down their faces and bodies, constantly fixing and adjusting the endless mesh of tech installed in the Greth’s flesh. They were laughing in a deep sonorous tone, jovially tapping Rinslo on the shoulder. They were nothing but bureaucrats, easy targets with no fighting skills. I could sense it in their very posture.
Behind them came the Frey commander who was there in the first meeting. He was less inclined to joviality and his gaze was ever searching for problems. He was probably a bigger issue than the three Jareet that followed, but between the three of us, I doubted he could pose too much of a threat.
We walked the wide beautifully decorated hallways to the dock. I had Mitto on constant spatial analysis and he was feeding me info as we moved. The Frey had very little security at their docks, but there was an issue that could prove problematic. The Lifewomb had several layers of protective blast doors and shields protecting the docks which could complicate our escape.
Both of the Greth lords nodded their heads like fans at a metal concert when we came in range of the ship. They gave off a disturbing and chittering sound of excitement as they laid their eyes on one of the greatest marbles of technology in the galaxy.
“And this, our good friends, is the Tanaree,” the Frey commander said as we found ourselves beneath the oblong hull of the Frey and Aloi brainchild. The Hunter-class frigate looked like a droplet of crimson blood with a smooth surface that reflected the many lights of the Lifewomb docks. The ship was perhaps a quarter of the size of a standard battleship, yet it radiated with a superiority that would put any battleship, Aloi or Federation, to shame.
“Mitto finds this very, very nice,” my little gooey friend said through my INAS and I couldn’t agree more. No, this wasn’t nice, this was perfect. A perfect killing machine for a killer that the world had forced me to become.
“Come! Let us take a look inside, friends. You have never seen anything like it, I can promise you that!”
The Frey commander lacked the showmanship of a salesman, but he didn’t have to advertise anything as the Tanaree could sell itself even to a blind man. The very hull exuded a cold power that could freeze a lesser man to death.
When we entered, I felt a slight jolt reverberate through me. Mitto was getting extremely excited by the idea of merging with Tanaree. And becoming its first—no, not captain. I would be the captain, and Mitto would be the pilot? Or—he could basically control everything so what did that make him? I was getting lost in stupid thoughts, but the prospect made me grin wolfishly if even for a mere heartbeat.
“Welcome,” the ship’s AI greeted us with a soft voice. It was almost melodic in a way, but no matter how hard they tried, there was a hint of something unreal present. The way it had said the word welcome was… almost predatory.
The hallways were red and white and littered with the same quality art that you could find on a Lifewomb ship. Soft music played and a flowery scent almost masked the stench of Fars’ sweat. I kept looking toward him and he kept avoiding my gaze no matter how hard I tried to make him feel uncomfortable. He knew we were closing in on a breaking point and was growing anxious, I knew it. And if I knew it, the higher species might figure out that something wasn’t right.
“We have equipped the ship with some of the finest work our artists created in the last five cycles. Daden Doskar, our greatest living artist, painted these pictures,” he said, pointing to a painting of a star surrounded by grey and purple shadows.
You couldn’t tell if it was a star or a campfire surrounded by primitives dancing. The painting reminded me of my recurring dreams. Too much so because I felt a sense of foreboding just by looking at it. Sleep. Make the stars sleep. Well, with this ship, I just might.
“You said a lot about its shields and weapons, but what about the engine? How does it fly?” Lord Maelstrem of the Greth inquired.
“Yes, let us take it for a spin, what do you think Rinslo?” The other Greth said enthusiastically.
“Yes, of course,” the Frey commander agreed.
I immediately looked over to the Nameless and Fars. This was it, I thought. As soon as we left the Lifewomb, we’d take the ship and shoot the rest of them out the airlock.
“My good warden, I’d prefer if you left your bodyguards on the Lifewomb,” the Frey commander said while giving me a suspicious look. Rinslo, oblivious to the idea that anything could spoil his big day agreed without question, and I was frozen in place for a second trying to find a way to wiggle out of this one.
“Warden Rinslo,” I began to everyone’s shock. “I’m sure your friends can be trusted, but is there truly a reason why you should abandon your protection?”
The two Greth lords, the three Jareet, and the Frey commander, all looked at me as if they’d
seen a rock suddenly speak.
“Your bodyguard is worried about you, Warden,” the commander said.
“Ah, he’s an ex-Federation soldier. I bet he just wants to take a look at what the other side has been working on,” Rinslo muttered as he waved me away. “Go now, wait outside until we’re back. I’m with friends.”
That’s where the conversation should have ended but I couldn’t let this one slip through my fingers.
“Warden, I bet the ship is in perfect order but it’s very new, it probably isn’t even tested.” I was grabbing for straws at this point, and if there was anything I could say that would make him doubt his safety, then I was going to do my best!
“The ship has been through rigorous testing, prisoner. What is your point?” the Frey commander said angrily.
“It would be interesting to see how far we’ve come,” said a voice nobody expected to hear. It was the Nameless who spoke causing everyone to fall silent. The Frey commander was stretched between loyalties, so he looked to Rinslo for instructions. To his race, the Aloi were their gods, and despite the Nameless being a prisoner to the warden, the fear was ever-present.
“Are you trying to embarrass me, prisoners? Leave the ship and wait for me at the docks!”
“Warden, this isn’t a smart decision,” I said.
“Be silent, dog! Enough of this! Get out of the ship before I change my mind about the finals!”
The tension became very tangible. We had raised enough suspicion to never come close to the ship again, and I knew that if we didn’t make it now, we never would again. The Frey commander spoke into his chin and I knew he was contacting reinforcements. The three Jareet dignitaries tensed as well.
“Very well then, apologies. We didn’t want to offend,” I said and turned away.
I looked to Fars and the Nameless and winked.
The Nameless grabbed a handful of the tech attached to one of the Greth lords and pulled it out violently. The lord screamed in agony as sparks and bodily fluids gushed from the terrible wound. I sent two chains at one of the Jareet’s throats and pulled him to the ground, choking the air out of him with little difficulty.
Fars charged the commander and slammed him against the wall, pinning him down before he could pull out his gun. I pulled my Ro Sword and jammed it into the back of the downed Jareet’s neck, ending his suffering.
“What the hell are you doing, Stavos?” Rinslo screamed as the Nameless pushed him to the floor. He caught the edge of a table with his head. A nasty gash appeared on his face as he grunted and then dropped down unconscious.
“You will never get away, you dogs!” the Frey commander yelled as Fars tried to get him into a stranglehold.
The other two Jareet came at me quickly and pushed me to the floor. Jareet dignitaries, unlike Greth ones, were very capable fighters, or else they wouldn’t have climbed the ranks of Jareet society. It took all my strength and cunning to avoid getting my face hammered into the floor as I tried to fight the two at the same time.
The Nameless pulled one of them off me and they interlocked in a heavy-handed brawl, slamming each other against the ornamented walls of the Tanaree. The sheets of steel dented inward from the exerted force and made me wince. Such beauty was destroyed or damaged in mere seconds. What a waste.
“Mitto, now!”
My gooey companion left my system and immediately vanished into the floor of the ship, entangling himself in the electronics of the ship AI and fighting a battle of his own. It was a battle we would never witness, but no matter how good he was, AI of the elder races were probably an even match for him.
The Jareet fighting the Nameless pulled out a ceremonial blade that was never intended for real fighting and he cut the Aloi Templar beneath his ribs. The Nameless fell to one knee as he grabbed for his bleeding ribs. With a second motion, he caught the blade with his fingers and pulled it out of the Jareet’s hand. The blade dug deep into his own hand and went all the way to the bone as the sharp edge passed through flesh with an ease I hadn’t seen yet. Templars had tough skin, so it was quite a feat.
A thundering fist caught me on the forehead and almost made me lose consciousness. The Jareet who was still messing with me was incredibly strong, and if I got with another direct hit I was out.
I heard a shot in the adjacent room where Fars and the commander ended up, but I could do little to change anything that had already happened.
Lord Maelstrem was ducking in a corner and shivering, probably praying for his life to whatever deity he believed in. He had no fighting skills and no survival instincts; all he could do was watch in horror as blood and death broke out all around him and hope that he wasn’t caught in between fists.
“Mitto, get us the fuck out of here!” I yelled into the INAS.
“Getting her out of here, boss,” Mitto said and I could sense the ship’s engines firing up. So the little bastard had won with quite an ease. It only made me grin as I knew that the puddle of pudding was more reliable than I had thought him to be.
The Jareet had me pinned to the ground for too long. I managed to wrestle my arm free and grab his foot into which I sent a whole load of nanites. The unprotected skin of the Jareet gave the nanites easy access and I managed to detonate them at the ankle, sending the Jareet into a deafening wail as the nanites tore through his limb.
The ship finally started to move but Mitto told me he’d need time to open the blast doors. Time we didn’t have, however, as more Frey troops were bound to knock on the door within seconds. Especially if any one of them had managed to contact security.
“Kill the Jareet!” I screamed at the Nameless who was now coming back to his senses after getting stabbed. He slammed his giant fist into the Jareet that attacked him and the four-armed alien stumbled but didn’t fall.
I managed to wrestle free of my own assailant in the meantime and cut him deeply with my Ro Sword. Close-quarters combat with Jareet was extremely difficult. They were incredibly strong beings bred for war over generations, and it showed. The Jareet shook off the pain from the fresh wound and tried to hammer me into the ground by bringing both of his hands down at the same time.
His fists glanced off me and it was only by the luck of my own gods that my nanites cushioned the blow or I’d been a goner. The pain was excruciating and the way they hit me I was seeing stars and couldn’t breathe.
“The blast doors are almost open, boss. We’ll be out in a minute!” Mitto said excitedly but I could barely acknowledge the information.
Another Jareet fist slammed into the floor but caught me by the ear and a piece of it was now etched into the cold steel ground. I could feel warm blood coming from the wound. This infuriated me even more. Was my plan about to fail because we couldn’t beat a couple of Jareet? The three of us?
Just as the Jareet raised his fists to pummel me into the afterlife, I sent a massive nanite spike into his chest, creating a bucket-sized hole right between his lower arms. The Jareet’s face twisted in shock and pain as he dropped to his knees. I pulled the spike out and the Jareet’s insides washed over the deck, drowning me in their stench.
“Enough!” a voice screamed from behind me.
It was the Frey commander. He was severely beaten and bloody, but he had Fars at gunpoint, and we all froze in place.
“Fars!” I protested. “How could you lose?”
“Stop this treachery immediately or your Eres dog is dead, human!”
He used Fars as a shield with his gun pointed at his head. I had never seen Fars have such an expression before. It was defeat, betrayal, and guilt mixed with a big unhealthy dose of shame.
Only one Jareet and Lord Maelstrem were still alive, but the fighting stopped.
“I allowed myself to believe Federation scum could change. Big mistake. You will pay for this.”
“I’m sorry, Stavos,” Fars whispered. The commander pushed Fars forward and now he had all three of us at gunpoint.
“You thought Xan was hard? You’ll see what kind of
torture technology the Frey have developed in the last few thousand years!”
He was fuming from his insect-like mandibles. The Aloi never showed much emotion, their Frey allies on the other hand were very apparent in their emotional outbursts. Perhaps that was why they cared for art that much.
“There’s a small army around the ship, boss, but we are ready to take off on your mark.”
“And tell your Greth AI to turn off the engines, now,” the commander said to my surprise. I guess he managed to connect the dots a bit better than the rest of them.
“I can’t. He’s not my slave.”
“I said now!”
There was nothing I could do to change the situation but try and buy some time. He had time enough to shoot two of us before we could overwhelm him and that was two deaths too many in my book.
“Mitto, wait,” I said out loud so the commander could hear as well. “You’re right, Commander, I have a friend connected to the ship’s computer already. You can shoot two of us but whoever is left will finish you.”
“I will take that chance, Ka dog.”
I didn’t want to sacrifice anyone for this escape, especially not myself. I had come way too far to end up in a Frey torture chamber for the next thousand years. Sensing my desperation, the commander changed his tone.
“You will get a trial as a prisoner of war, human. We are not savages. Now shut the engines and step out of the ship.”
“All right, all right,” I said, lowering my Ro Sword.
I looked at Fars and then the Nameless. Fars was out of himself, sweating and breathing shallowly. I then realized what was happening to him and why he lost to the commander. He was coming down off snapp and he was coming down hard. The Nameless was still grabbing his ribs as white blood oozed out of his wound.
Then, the commander’s feet suddenly floated above the ground as four arms raised him, and then he flew across the room to slam into one of the walls. Behind him, a creature nobody had expected stood triumphantly and the Jareet who fought the Nameless spoke in a hushed voice.
Redeemer: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 2) Page 9