“There’s no reason to threaten my secretary,” a voice said behind him. Ries turned to see the Admiral standing just outside his office door. The old Sh’kallian was still as stealthy as ever; one of the reasons he had risen to the top post of the Alliance Society for Peace, Ries guessed.
“Then I suggest you stop playing games with me,” Ries said. He walked over to the Admiral and presented his identification card.
The admiral took the card in his sizable paw and looked at it. “Yes, Agent Van. What can I do for you today? We’re always happy to help out Galactic Intelligence, of course.”
“It concerns Planet A2242,” Ries said quietly, taking back his card.
Instantly, Admiral Skatala’s demeanor changed. He looked over at his secretary. “Dren, hold my calls for the next hour, would you?” He turned his attention back to Ries. “Come into my office.” Ries followed him into his large office, noting that most of it was filled with servers, and not the luxury furnishings and electronic toys that had been rumored. He watched as Skatala punched a code into a tablet sitting next to the door. “There,” the Admiral said. “Now that we have a little privacy, just what the blasted slag do you want?”
“A drink would be nice,” Ries said, taking off his mask and setting it on a small table near a comfortable-looking chair. He sat in the chair, feeling it instantly conform to his body. “Ah,” he said, closing his eyes. “You can’t imagine how uncomfortable it is to sleep on an industrial freighter for a week.” He opened his eyes to see that the Admiral had not moved from where he stood. His tail was twitching in annoyance as he looked at Ries. Ries thought that he might have pushed things too far. “No drink, then? Fine, let’s get down to business. You’re planning to pursue a Rajani ship back to Rajan in hopes of bringing its owner in on charges for disabling two ASP ships, are you not?”
“Yes, we are,” Skatala replied. “I understand you’re to blame for the damage to at least one of those expensive ships.”
“Ah,” Ries said, smiling. “So you do know who I am.”
“We’re not totally incompetent here,” the Admiral said.
“No, but you are buried in bureaucracy, which does serve our purposes at GI in this instance,” Ries said. “Although it has taken months for you to finally give the go-ahead on this mission, I’m afraid I must tell you to cancel it.”
“What!” Skatala asked. His tail wasn’t just twitching now, it was swinging back and forth behind him.
“Cancel the mission and purge any sign of it from your records,” Ries said. “I have an executive order from the Alliance Security General authorizing a shutdown of any and all activities relating to Planet A2242.”
Ries pulled out a small tablet from his front pocket and punched in a code. “I have just sent you a copy of the order, which you must promptly delete upon viewing. As part of this order, you must reassign all ASP personnel with knowledge of this mission, including Commander Thydosh Complin. Word must not get out concerning this issue. In other words, Admiral, control your Officers, or GI will do it for you.”
“How dare you—” Skatala began.
“Hey, I’m only the messenger,” Ries said. “If you have a grievance, you may take it up with the ASG.”
The Admiral thought for a moment. Ries knew that he’d have to go along with this if he expected to keep his job. The Alliance Security General was the most powerful bureaucrat in the GA, and any contradiction to his orders would not be looked upon kindly. After a few minutes of silence, the Admiral’s tail stopped twitching, and Ries almost jumped out of his chair and danced around the office. He knew he’d won. “Fine,” Skatala said softly. “The mission is canceled. Can you at least tell me why?”
“Sorry, Admiral,” Ries said, standing and donning his breathing mask once again. “That’s a little above your security grade.” He turned and walked toward the door, but stopped when he reached it and looked back at the Admiral. “Oh, by the way, may I suggest reassigning Commander Complin to Finance? I hear you have a couple of openings there. Good day, Admiral.”
He left the Admiral still standing in his office and walked back to the receptionist’s desk. “Hello, Dren. Anyone ever told you that you have lovely eyes?” he asked. The Ingross smiled at him as he leaned in closer to her. He was on a roll.
Chapter 14
The resistance attacked the northern Krahn base just after sunset. Outside of the Krahn stronghold, James was leading the charge as hundreds of Sekani, Jirina, and Rajani attacked the fortified building. He had weapons in both hands and was powered up. Fighting beside him were Kieren and Gianni, who were also powered up. Gianni was firing bolts of energy from both hands. The structures around the Krahn nest-base were smoking piles of rubble.
A large force of Krahn was entrenched around the building, fighting the invading ground troops. The larger force of Rajani, Sekani, and Jirina were surrounding them. The air was full of weapons’ discharge and screams, both of agony, and of fury. Casualties were falling on both sides. James pointed to the right of their position. “Kieren, tell those Sekani to stay back! No hand-to-hand. They don’t stand a chance in hell.” He turned to look at Mazal, who was behind a blackened vehicle and firing his weapon a couple of feet away from them. “Wait a minute.”
He placed his hand on her shoulder and saw the now-familiar flash as her power merged with his. He turned to the Jirina. “Mazal, tell your people to cut around and try to find a weak spot in their defenses. Good luck, my friend.” Mazal nodded, and then ran over to a group of Jirina, bending low to avoid fire. James could see him pointing where he wanted them to go.
James still had his hand on Kieren’s shoulder. “All right, Kieren,” he said. “Tell them to wait for the Rajani to give suppressing fire before they attack the Krahn directly. And be careful.”
Kieren looked at Gianni. Their eyes met as she answered James, though neither could see the other’s eyes through their power fields. “Always.” Gianni watched as she flew off to talk to the Sekani, hoping it was true.
James and Gianni were left to keep fighting. “Okay, hotshot,” James said. “Looks like it’s you and me, now.”
“Let’s go do this, old man,” Gianni replied, smiling.
They started to move forward. There was firing all around them from both the Krahn and their own allies. James could see projectiles bouncing off of his power field, though he couldn’t feel their impact. It was surreal to know that without his powers, he would probably be dead. Suddenly, a squad of three Krahn ships flew over, firing on the resistance fighters below. James pointed toward the sky. “God damn it! Gianni, put up a shield over as many of them as possible.”
Gianni was still firing. “No problem! But I won’t be able to fire and hold the shield at the same time if it gets too large.”
“I don’t care,” James yelled as he fired at the ships. “Go!”
Gianni ran off as a shield formed about ten feet above him. It expanded, but also grew paler as it grew larger. The ships returned and fired again. The shield held. The resistance troops, mostly Sekani at this point, cheered. They rushed toward the Krahn defenders. Many of each species fell, wounded and dead. Many more made the perimeter and started fighting hand-to-hand with the Krahn. The ships swung around for another pass.
A yellow shaft of energy came up from the ground and went through one of the ships, which exploded, raining fiery debris down onto Gianni’s power shield. A large object sailed up to another of the ships. It was Bhakat. He landed on top of the ship and punched through the top of the cockpit, as well as through the Krahn pilot’s head that was inside of it. Bhakat jumped off the ship as it crashed into a group of Krahn defenders.
A blue blur zipped past Gianni. David returned and stopped near Gianni’s side. “Gianni! I never thought I’d be happy to see you.”
Gianni dropped the force shield above them all. He began firing on the last remaining ship. “Oh, now you show up,” he said as he pointed to his left, while still firing with his right hand. “J
ames is over there. Go find out what he wants you to do.”
“Fine,” David said, turning to go in the direction Gianni had pointed.
“Hey, kid?” Gianni said.
“What?” David answered, turning back toward him.
“Nice to see you didn’t do anything stupid,” Gianni replied, smiling. “Like get yourself killed.”
“You too,” David said before he took off in a blur, heading toward James.
The last ship was destroyed by a combination of Gianni’s fire and Yvette’s spears of energy. Gianni held his hand up to Bhakat as the large Rajani and Yvette approached him. “All right, Bhakat! High five, man.”
“Imbecile,” Bhakat said, still powered up, his arms crossed in front of him.
Gianni lowered his hand. “Okay. Never mind.” He pulled Yvette aside. “Gee, Yvette, is it me, or does he have ‘super powers’?”
“It’s a long story,” Yvette said, smiling. “Don’t ask.” She held up an admonishing finger. “And be careful. He’s learning English pretty well.”
“It’s good to see you guys,” Gianni said. “I’m sure James will be relieved—”
“If I know James, he has a war to run,” Yvette said, interrupting him. “And we have one to fight.” She took Gianni’s arm in hers, and their suits flashed. “Shall we join in?” Bhakat was about four feet in front of them, leading the way as they headed toward more fighting, arm in arm.
“Imbecile?” Gianni asked, and they both laughed.
#
James was powered up, fighting a Krahn warrior. It wasn’t much of a fight, as he easily broke the Krahn’s back over his leg like kindling. For a moment, there were no Krahn at all around him. He stood and watched the fighting, catching his breath. He looked around at the devastation that surrounded him. He couldn’t believe there was a time when he wanted to be a soldier for the rest of his life. He’d changed so much since Jenny died, and he hoped it was a change for the better.
Were my eyes truly so blinded by glory and patriotism that I could have fought and killed without caring for anything except waking up the next day to do it again? he thought. The idea surprised him even as he thought it. He’d always looked back somewhat fondly on his time as a Marine. He respected the men and women who could fight for their country, but he was no longer one of them. He looked over at the fighting to see a Krahn pick up a Sekani and bite it savagely on the neck before throwing its body to the ground. Suddenly, the Krahn was swarmed by three Jirina, who took turns hitting it on the head with clubs. It fell, and they hit it a few more times before moving on, leaving it bleeding into the trampled dirt from a crushed skull.
James watched as a Rajani and a Krahn fought hand-to-hand, the Krahn hissing as its nails raked down the chest of the Rajani. It actually looked surprised when its neck was broken by its foe. The Rajani dropped the body and casually stepped over it, looking for his next kill, seemingly unconcerned by his own blood flowing down his chest.
When James thought of what had been unleashed when the Krahn Horde had attacked Rajan, he felt his stomach twist painfully. He hoped he didn’t vomit inside his energy field. He could see now why the Rajani were once considered the most dangerous species in the Galactic Alliance. He could just imagine what they’d been like with Johar Stones implanted in them. He took a few deep breaths, and then he was ready to fight again, if only to end the carnage and go home.
#
Bhakat had broken off from the Humans during the fighting, going to help a group of Jirina who were being hard-pressed to make any headway against the group of Krahn defending the doorway of the largest building in the compound. At first the Jirina had all looked at him with fear in their eyes when he’d approached their position, but then one of them had actually smiled at him. “He’s like James the Human,” he said to the others.
“Follow behind me,” Bhakat told the Jirina. He ran toward the doorway of the building, projectiles bouncing off his power field as he shielded those behind him. When he reached the doorway, he grabbed the nearest Krahn and threw it behind him, knowing that the Jirina would take care of it. He grabbed another Krahn and quickly broke its neck. Soon, the Jirina were involved in the fighting, and the rest of the Krahn in the doorway were killed. When they finally gained entrance to the building, he was surprised to find that it was littered with the bodies of Sekani, some of them half-eaten, and that the Krahn warriors inside the first room they entered looked like they were higher ranking than those who had been fighting outside the building. They were dressed in better armor, and their weapons were of a better quality.
Bhakat and the Jirina fought and quickly overcame the Krahn. He could see that other Rajani, Jirina, and Sekani were entering the building as well, fanning out to check each of the rooms along the corridor and heading up and down various stairwells. He stopped to talk to the Jirina who had spoken before about James. “Where’s James?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” the Jirina said. “He ordered me to come around to this side of the building. He’s probably on the other side of the building still. Who are you?”
“My name’s Bhakat,” he answered simply.
The Jirina’s eyes grew wide with surprise before he smiled again. “James told me about you and your Master, Rauphangelaa. He’ll be happy that you’ve finally shown up. I want to thank you for helping us today in this important victory. This is the Krahn’s main northern base of operations.”
The higher rank of the Krahn made sense when Bhakat learned the importance of the building, and that he’d helped to gain control of it. None of the Krahn had been left alive after the fighting, unfortunately, so they wouldn’t be able to ask them any questions. “Please excuse me,” Bhakat told the Jirina. “There’s someone I need to look for here.”
Mazal held out his hand toward Bhakat, and Bhakat clasped it, finding it strange that the Jirina was using a Human custom. The Jirina squeezed his hand once and then let go, already turning to help round up the wounded Rajani fighters near them. Bhakat watched him for a moment before steeling himself for his own task.
He looked at all of the Sekani bodies that littered the floor of the room they were in. He could see that some of them had been alive very recently, and had died from a single shot to the head. The Krahn had killed them all when the attack had begun. He searched all of them, dreading seeing Janan’s face, but the little pilot wasn’t among the dead. Finally, he finished and was able to leave the room in the hands of the Sekani who had arrived during his search of the bodies. He knew they would take care of their own dead. He left through the front door and took deep breaths of the air outside, though he could still smell death all around him.
#
Kieren had been glad to hear that the fighting had stopped for the day. They had won the battle, but she was just glad that no one else would get hurt. As she headed back to the headquarters of the resistance, she saw Gianni walking next to Yvette.
“Yvette!” she yelled happily, running over to the two.
“Hey there, stranger,” Yvette said, wrapping her in a hug as they both laughed.
“What about David and the others?” Kieren asked. “Have you heard anything about them?”
“I’ve been living with David, Rauph, and Bhakat since a little while after we arrived,” Yvette said. “I’m afraid that Janan was captured by the Krahn shortly after he and David crashed on Rajan.”
“Oh no!” Kieren said. She knew what had probably happened to him. “That’s horrible.”
“David took it pretty hard,” Yvette said, looking down at the ground for a moment.
“Just another reason to kill these bastards,” Gianni said.
“Gianni!” Kieren exclaimed.
“I know, I know, watch my language,” he said.
Yvette looked at the two of them, a question in her eyes for Kieren. Kieren shook her head, smiling sadly, knowing what Yvette meant. She and Gianni were just friends.
Yvette’s eyes grew wide for a moment. “Oh, but that’s not t
he biggest news. Bhakat—” Before she could finish her sentence, she was suddenly swept off her feet and into the air. She powered up quickly, her power field curiously flashing as she did so.
“Hey, beautiful, is this dance taken?” a voice said near Yvette. Kieren could tell that it was James. Sure enough, he appeared next to them, holding the still powered-up form of Yvette in his arms. She dropped her field, and he followed suit, then dropped her feet to the ground as he embraced her.
Kieren didn’t know why tears came to her eyes. Part of it was from happiness at seeing James and Yvette reunited, she supposed, but another part, way deep down in her mind was saying ‘what about me?’ She quickly squelched the thought, feeling like she was being selfish for thinking that way. She looked over to see Gianni looking at her intently. He saw her gaze and quickly turned away. Kieren wiped away a tear and smiled, watching James and Yvette kiss. A blue blur came sweeping by them, and she knew that David had arrived as well. He came around and stopped near them, a large smile on his face as he dropped his power field.
Kieren threw her arms around his neck, happy to see him alive still. He returned her embrace and laughed. “Well, at least someone’s happy to see me,” he said, jokingly.
“Ha-ha,” James said. “Just because I didn’t give you a big, mushy kiss doesn’t mean I’m not happy to see you.”
“I think this calls for a celebration,” Yvette said. She still had an arm around James. Kieren didn’t think they would be separated for a long time.
“I agree,” James said. “I think we can take a break for tonight. The fighting is over for now. I’ll get everyone’s debriefing later. Let’s have a party.”
“Fernta for everyone,” David said, and everyone groaned. Kieren laughed, happy to have almost everyone back together and safe.
#
Rauph had been left by Bhakat in a relatively safe place when they had come upon the fighting. Yvette, David, and Bhakat had chosen to join the fight, so Rauph had taken refuge in a burned-out building as he waited for them to return. He still wasn’t happy about the fact that Bhakat had forsaken the Kha in his bid to free Rajan, but he could live with it, he supposed.
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