“Hey, Asshole!” Taylor shouted. “If you’re gonna crash a party, crash a party!”
A bone-jarring thunderclap erupted from the cannon’s barrel, sending the Mach 8 round slamming with a vengeance through the vessel’s portside armor. The frigate bucked hard, exhaust vents billowing smoke and debris.
Taylor waited for the system to reload, but, before he could fire again, the Krulig ship throttled down its thrusters and settled back onto its platform.
Suddenly, all went silent.
Taylor didn’t have to look behind him to know what that meant. Busted. He turned slowly to see no less than a hundred Zuul surrounding his people, all armed and poised to fire at the first command. Damnit.
A flurry of electronic gears whined into motion from the ship, followed by the eerie hiss of decompressing air.
Taylor knew what that meant, also. Time for another chat with the man.
The frigate’s boarding ramp lowered, and Yolik Sadeed stepped out. “Chief Van Zant.”
“Lord Prefect,” Taylor answered. “Fancy meetin’ you here.”
The Krulig smirked then glanced to his minions. “Take them.”
* * * * *
Chapter 28: Birthright
Taylor dropped his carbine and powered down his CASPer’s weapons as the Zuul horde parted, clearing a path to the others. Billy was there, trashed armor and all. It was the same for Chowda, Smitty, and the rest of the commander’s crew from Riverside Company. There was, however, one notable absence.
Razorback. Taylor peered around the chamber but found no sign of the trooper. Then, slowly, another pack of Zuul parted near the back of the cavern. A ravaged CASPer lay face-up in the dirt, its canopy torn open and its cockpit stained bright red. Nothing moved, not the mech itself, nor the operator inside—what remained of him, anyway. Damn.
“I must say, Chief Van Zant,” Sadeed announced. “I didn’t expect we’d meet again, you and I.”
“I’m happy to disappoint.” Taylor keyed his comm, then issued what he hoped wouldn’t be his last mental command as an Eagle. “Keep your ears on, y’all.”
New footfalls sounded from up the ramp when Tulips emerged to join his boss on the ground.
“Drewga,” Taylor said. “Just so you know, I ain’t forgot about that promise I made you back in the residence.”
The Zuul offered a razor-toothed grin. “I welcome your attempt to keep it.”
“All in good time.” Taylor glanced back to the ship as dozens of Krulig filed into view. “So that’s it then. You and your fellow iguana pals were just gonna light out and leave the Zuul to fend for themselves.”
“Not at all,” Sadeed said. “I had every intention of returning to Rukoria once your Human friends had transitioned back to Earth. In the interim, the Zuul were to maintain my interests here in keeping with the rider I just negotiated on their contract.”
Taylor whistled. “Man, I’d hate to know what that set you back.”
“Funding wasn’t an issue,” Sadeed said.
“See, that’s what I don’t get.” Taylor said. “Why put yourself through all this hassle for a payday when it’s clear you’ve already got money? Cut bait and go.”
“Humans. Always so short-sighted.” Sadeed turned to the drewga. “I must see about our repairs. Kill them and let’s be on our way.”
“Hang on.” Taylor raised a palm. “Ain’t you gonna answer my question?”
Sadeed exhaled. “Why would I ever care to do such a thing?”
“Easy. You’re all about bein’ candid and forthright, remember? Or was that just a line of crap you fed me durin’ my interrogation?” Taylor waved off his previous statement. “You know what? Never mind. Something just occurred to me. It’s the new gate masters who hold honor in high regard, not the flunkies they replaced.”
Billy raised an eyebrow.
“Tell ya later,” Taylor noted via pinlink.
“Interesting,” Sadeed said quizzically. “For all his years in custody, Japhara has never once spoken to another being, let alone a Human. And yet obviously he opened up to you. Why?”
“Reckon I’m just personable that way,” Taylor said.
Sadeed’s crimson gaze narrowed. “Fine. Seeing as how I have time while our crews tend to my frigate, I shall indulge your curiosities.”
Atta boy. Taylor checked his HUD for new surface movement.
“The Heads of the Cartography Guild are among the richest beings in the Galactic Union,” Sadeed said, “far more than most know. Their wealth and power exceed that of even the Union’s oldest citizens. And yet they keep it all to themselves, offering little more than table scraps to their constituents. They are as greedy as they are arrogant.”
“Clearly my brother never told you the one about the pot and the kettle,” Taylor said.
“Make your jokes, Human,” Sadeed said. “Neither you nor the Rukori can fathom what my people sacrificed in the name of societal progress. In the aftermath of the Great War, peace returned to the galaxy, but it was an empty peace. Everyone knew the challenges facing them with life under the new government, and so began the arms race to see which of the surviving species could thrive in the new system. Our lords, the new gate keepers, were at the forefront of that struggle. Many sought their knowledge of hyperspace, yet for all their would-be allies, it was my ancestors who stood at their sides until order could rise from chaos.”
“Order in the form of the Guilds,” Taylor said.
“Correct,” Sadeed said. “The Cartography Guild as we know it today would not exist without the Krulig. We stood with the Guild Heads after its formation. We forged its alliances, spilled blood for its causes. We kept our lords’ secrets in ways no one else could, and for what? So the fruits of our labors could be handed off to those self-righteous sycophants, the Sumatozou?” He snorted. “The thought repulses me.”
“To hear Japhara tell it, the Krulig had no one to blame for their downfall but themselves,” Taylor said. “You preach about greed and corruption, but it was your people, not his, who stole from the Guild and got caught.”
Sadeed scoffed. “What you call theft others would call justice.”
“Potato, potahto,” Taylor replied.
“The ancient Krulig never expected equality with the Guild Heads,” Sadeed said. “They only wanted what was due them for their service. When our lords wouldn’t give that, they opted to take what was rightfully theirs.”
Taylor cocked his head. “This all seems pretty personal. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were there for these events.”
“Don’t be stupid.” Sadeed huffed. “It was my generation who paid the price for the Guild’s betrayal, as did the one before ours and the hundreds before them. We are the offspring of our forefathers’ death sentence, destined to roam the cosmos like animals for the last five thousand years, while our rivals, the Sumatozou, suckle at the teat of our birthright.”
Taylor rolled his eyes. “Oh, cry me a river.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your ancestors crossed the Guild and got run off their soil.” Taylor flipped up a hand. “Shit happens, man. Nut up already and go settle a new homeworld like the Rukori did.”
Sadeed’s gaze became a glower. “The Guild Heads weren’t content to merely strip us of our homeworld. They continued hunting us, pushing us deeper and deeper into the furthest reaches of space until there were scarcely enough of us left to populate a moon.” He gestured to his kin. “Look around. The community you see here represents the largest gathering of Krulig in one place in more than a thousand years. I made that community a reality, Human, and I alone bear the responsibility of preserving it.”
Taylor checked his HUD. Still nothin’. “So tell me then, Alien Moses. Why build your promised land here? Surely there were other worlds you could’ve chosen.”
“Who says we aren’t exploiting those as well?” Sadeed asked slyly.
Taylor gnawed his lip. “Question stands. Why Rukoria?”
“As
you observed in my office, I am quite fond of antiquities,” Sadeed said, “especially those which provide insights into my enemies. One such item is an ancient Krulig data archive I acquired during my travels to find the others. It’s a journal, really, kept by one of the first gate masters. It chronicles life from his perspective into the burgeoning Union as the Guilds were taking root.”
“I take it Valawn’s people were referenced in this journal,” Taylor said.
Sadeed nodded. “The Rukori were traitors. They fought and died versus the Canavar, sure, but so did scores of other species, my own included. Everyone gave, only when the time came to rebuild, the Rukori leveraged their ties to the past and left the other races to pick up the pieces.”
“Hadn’t they earned that?” Taylor asked. “I mean, they were among the Republic’s oldest members. That implies they paid a lot of dues that others didn’t have to.”
“Some might agree with that logic,” Sadeed said. “I, however, would not. The Rukori abandoned the Union when it needed them most. Thus, you can imagine my delight when, of all the worlds the NOP list could’ve yielded, the Rukori’s lost homeworld was among them.”
Taylor leaned in. “Then why not come down here and face them yourself? Why puss out like a fargin coward and send a plague to do your dirty work?”
Sadeed’s scaly expression turned sideways. “Well now. That is intriguing. Japhara knows nothing of our work with the Winter Death. How is it that you do?”
“Honestly?” Taylor stood back. “I didn’t until just now. Thanks for the confirmation.”
Sadeed’s lips formed a line.
“So, how’d you do it?” Taylor asked.
“The Rukori immune system is quite resilient,” Sadeed said. “Still, like those of most other species, it can only defend against those agents it recognizes from its natural environment. Introduce something foreign to that environment—a common virus from another world, for instance—and the potential exists to completely upset the balance.”
“You mean bring the Rukori to their knees,” Taylor added.
“Potato, potahto.” Sadeed replied with a grin.
“That still doesn’t explain how you deployed this virus,” Smitty said. “You’d have had to come here via hyperspace like the rest of us, yeah? That means the Rukori should’ve spotted you at the emergence point.”
Sadeed clicked his tongue. “You forget your hyperspace physics, Commander. Spectrally speaking, there is no advanced warning given when a starship emerges from hyperspace. There is only the signature of one’s engines to denote his presence—engines which, if rendered inactive, leave nothing to detect this far out from the sensor source.”
Billy stepped forward. “You entered hyperspace at full thrust through a stargate, then killed your engines upon emergence and coasted in dark.”
Sadeed’s smile widened. “Who says we used a stargate?”
Taylor’s eyes went straight to the frigate. That ship has a hyperspace shunt.
“Pardon me, Lord Prefect,” a Krulig called from the interior of the ship. “Engineering reports that repairs are almost finished. We should be ready to depart shortly.”
“Excellent.” Sadeed turned back to his hostages. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really do have places to leave. Drewga Tulipza.”
“Yes, Lord Prefect.”
“Kill these Humans immediately, then meet me on the bridge.”
Taylor’s pulse began to race as the legion of armed Zuul closed ranks on the CASPers.
“Make ready!” Tulips raised his arm. “Aim!”
“Howdy, folks!” someone called from above.
All eyes including Sadeed’s turned skyward.
“Can somebody direct me to the Maître D’?” Jack asked from the ledge. “Me and my friends here are outta towels, and frankly this place is kind of a shithole.”
The friends in question were Stan, Quint, Valawn, and a crapload of Rukori—all armed. The crazy thing was, of all the aliens in attendance, only a handful were RFC. The rest were civilians.
“Hey, Valawn.” Taylor keyed off his comm, ending the broadcast. “I take it Jack patched you in to my call like I asked.”
“He did,” Valawn said. “As you can see, there were many among my countrymen who found the prefect’s words…illuminating.”
Tulips dropped onto all fours. “Kill them all!”
A torrent of weapon fire filled the chamber, sending Taylor lunging for cover as Sadeed and Tulips broke for an adjacent corridor.
“Where you headed?” Billy shouted.
“After Sadeed,” Taylor yelled back. “This ends today.”
Billy opened a party line via pinlink. “Chowda, stay here with Riverside and batten down the hatches versus the Zuul. Blue Devil, you’re with me and Tomahawk.”
“Ayew!” the troopers said.
Once through the exit, Taylor sprinted down the corridor and arrived at a junction with passages to the left and right. Which way? He keyed his HUD and switched to thermal. Several heat signatures were active around him, but one in particular was headed away at a high rate of speed. Tulips.
Taylor darted left in pursuit, then took off down the tunnel with the others hot on his heels. Two Zuul leapt out to block them, but Taylor cut them down with his carbine. The next pair met the same fate, as did the pair after that, the pair after that, and finally the trio that tried to block their exit from the catacombs.
Almost there. Taylor bounded up the ramp into open daylight and skidded to a halt outside. “Where is he?”
Billy looked around. “There!”
A Maki shuttle was just landing to the east of their position. Tulips was almost to the hatch, as was Sadeed.
Oh, hell no. Taylor keyed his MAC and took aim.
“Firing solution acquired,” the HUD read.
The round exploded from the cannon and tore into the shuttle. The craft pitched forward and nose-dived into the desert, where it burst into flames.
“Stay!” Taylor shouted to the aliens.
Sadeed followed the order and froze.
Tulips, however, in keeping with his hotheaded nature, did not. The Zuul spun on his haunches, teeth bared, then charged forward with a rifle in one hand and a K-bomb in the other.
“I said, stay!”
This time, the drewga obeyed, not because he meant to, but rather because the round from Taylor’s carbine sheared off half of his face.
The Zuul toppled over, surprisingly still conscious, and lay sprawled in the sand like a pretzel.
Taylor marched over and deployed his arm blade, its stainless-steel edge glinting in the sunlight. “Terry Van Zant sends his regards.”
The alien choked and gurgled a protest. They were the last sounds of his life.
“So,” Sadeed said snidely. “Where then do we ever go from here?”
Taylor was done talking. He keyed up his chain guns, squared his shoulders, and took aim.
“Wait!” a new voice shouted.
* * * * *
Chapter 29: Showdown
Taylor turned to see Japhara Hylune walking toward them, holding the corpse of a slain Zuul in his right hand. “I thought you couldn’t dream of leavin’ the dropship.”
“Dreaming of something and physically doing it are two entirely different things.” Japhara tossed the thing aside and glared at the Krulig prefect. “Van Zant, I realize it is I who am in debt to you. That gives me no right to ask for anything. Nevertheless, you now know what it means to avenge your family’s honor. I would humbly ask, therefore, that you allow me this chance to avenge mine.”
Taylor studied the alien for a long moment. He didn’t like Sumatozou. He never had. As Union species went, they were arrogant, prejudiced, and as self-righteous as it got. Even still, in that instant, and given everything that had transpired, he felt obliged to honor the request of this one. “Billy, Smitty. Stand down.”
“Sir?” Billy’s voice trailed upward. “You sure about that?”
“Yeah, I am.”
Taylor faced his cellmate and stepped back. “Do what you have to. We’ll hold the area and make sure he doesn’t try to weasel out.”
Japhara bowed his head. “Thank you.”
“Good luck, Hoss.” Taylor took his place at a corner of the battlefield while Billy and Smitty did the same, creating a loose triangle. At the space’s center, both aliens took their marks in preparation for a species’ conflict more than five thousand years in the making.
“I must commend you, Japhara.” Sadeed began to circle. “I would’ve never believed in all the time we’ve known each other that you had this kind of spine. It’s certainly not commonplace among your kind.”
“There is much about the Sumatozou that you do not understand, Krulig,” Japhara said. “You never did. Now you never will.”
With that, the pair charged to center ground.
“Kick his ass, Japhara!” Taylor shouted.
The Sumatozou fired in with a punch, but the blow sailed wide when Sadeed ducked clear of the shot. Japhara followed with a right, a left, then another right, each fist pummeling the air like a bomb, only to fly astray as the nimble Krulig shifted and whirled away. As the exchange wore on, the Sumatozou’s breathing turned increasingly laborious.
“What’s the matter, Slave,” Sadeed taunted. “Has fourteen years in captivity deprived you of your skills to fight? Where’s that spirit of yours?”
Japhara leapt upright and roared toward his adversary.
“Don’t let him bait you!” Taylor’s warning came too late.
In a swift, even motion that was as fluid as it was easy, Sadeed sidestepped the Sumatozou’s charge, then pirouetted on a heel to land a brutal, claws-out slash to Japhara’s face.
The big alien screamed though a crimson mist.
“Pathetic.” Seizing on the window, Sadeed closed in tight and unloaded a ferocious volley of claws-out strikes to his opponent’s head and shoulders.
Japhara threw up his hands to block, but all that did was open his abdomen to attack. Over and over, Sadeed tore into the Sumatozou’s flesh, all the while staying as close as possible to neutralize the Sumatozou’s size advantage. Soon, Japhara’s midsection began to resemble raw hamburger meat, but the Krulig kept at it.
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