by R S Penney
One of those guards managed to pull the wooden door open, and they all slipped inside the keep's grand hall. Once they were gone, Keli broke off contact and opened her eyes to find herself standing by the shuttle.
The corridor felt cramped.
A narrow passageway of brown bricks with a high ceiling and electric bulbs hung up where torches should be, it ran for several dozen paces before ending in a set of stairs, and Larani could already hear the rhythmic thump, thump of boots on those steps. More men were coming. She pushed her fear down deep.
Moving through the corridor with an assault rifle clutched in both hands, Larani frowned and shook her head. “It never ends,” she said. “What possesses a man to endure such punishment for a monster like Grecken Slade?”
The first black helmets appeared at the head of those stairs, men who came up two by two and froze momentarily when they saw her. Shock lasted barely an instant before they raised with their rifles for a kill shot.
An instant was all she needed.
Larani fell backward, landing hard on her bottom.
Twisting gravity to pull her feet-first down the corridor, she ignored the sharp sting of friction. The two men were still a few steps down, and so they had to fire upward at an oblique angle. It was difficult for them to aim at anything on the floor.
She lifted her rifle in one hand and fired.
A burst of charged ammunition pummeled one man and then the other. Their vests absorbed the current, but the physical impact was nothing to scoff at. Both men stumbled backward into their companions. She heard the grunts and groans of people falling down the stairs.
At the end of the corridor, Larani released her Bending and sprang to her feet. Her skin was burning, but she ignored it and focused on the pair of men who stood about four steps down. Both looked up at her with wide eyes.
“Hold this for me,” Larani said.
She threw the rifle, and the stock hit one man in the face with enough force to break his nose. He lost his balance, crashing shoulder-first into the wall. The other one in front tried to get his weapon up in time.
Larani jumped, planting both feet in his chest, forcing the man down onto his back and riding him like a surfboard down the stairs. “Oof! Oof! Ah!” he grunted with every bump. She passed the one who was leaning against the wall.
The other two were down on the landing, one on his knees while the other slowly got to his feet and moved to bar her path. He reached for his sidearm, gasping as he drew the weapon from its holster.
Larani launched herself at him, twisting in midair to slam her shoulder into the man's face. The impact drove him backward until he hit the wall and fell on his backside with a wheeze.
She landed.
As she turned, the fourth man was slowly rising, drawing his own gun and lifting it in a shaky hand.
Crouching down, Larani reached up with one hand to seize his wrist and twist until he released the pistol. She used the other to deliver a sharp jab to the chest. Once, twice, three times.
Get your people out of there, Anna, she thought. I can't hold these men off forever.
Anna nervously checked the windows that lined the top of each wall, paying special attention to a tall tower that loomed up before her. If anyone decided to watch her through those windows, spatial awareness would give her no warning. Nassai couldn't see through solid objects, even if those objects were transparent. If someone was careful enough, they could open one of those windows, stick a gun out and…
Anna squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head. “This is the life you chose, Lenai,” she said, marching across the courtyard. “All right, people; we're sitting ducks out here; so, we need to move fast.”
Jack was at her side with an assault rifle that he had snatched up, his mouth a thin line as he surveyed his surroundings. “Leo could be anywhere in there,” he said. “If he's even still here.”
A few steps ahead, Cassi stood with her pistol in both hands, craning her neck to look at the tower. “I don't relish the thought of having to fight my way through dozens of guards just to find one man.”
“Where's Larani?” Rajel asked.
“With any luck,” Jack answered, “she's Diana Princing her way through the snipers who would otherwise be shooting at us right now.”
At that moment, the small fighter that she had fought above the forest came flying past, pursued closely by a banged up Shuttle Three that fired a stream of white bullets at its fleeing prey.
Licking her lips, Anna looked down at herself. “All right,” she said with a curt nod. “Shuttle Three can't land until they take out that fighter, and Shuttle Two has been out of contact since they went down.”
“So, reinforcements are a no,” Jack said.
“It's just us down here,” Anna confirmed. “We split up and sweep the castle from multiple vectors. Jack and Cassi, take the lower levels, immobilize any guards you come across. Rajel, stay with Keli. Keep her safe.”
Rajel turned his head as if listening for something, his face pinched with visible anxiety. “And you?” he asked. “Where will you be?”
“I'm going to see if I can get my hands on their private files. Keep an open comm line. Let's move!”
This small brown-bricked room was lit by a few electric bulbs hung up on the walls and by the glowing grooves of a SlipGate as it began to hum. A small wooden table had been set up with a large tablet of SmartGlass to control the Gate's functions. One man in black combat gear checked the readouts.
Over half a dozen other men stood side by side as a warp bubble surrounded their bodies and turned them into blurry figures. A moment later, that bubble seemed to spring forward and then vanish before it moved half an inch.
“This is a catastrophe,” Captain Iales said.
A large muscular man who was still fit despite the gray mustache on his upper lip, he stood in the corner, looking quite imposing in that black armour. “They have stunned over half our men!”
Reclining in a wooden chair with hands folded over the back of his head, Leo wore a pleasant smile. “Patience, Captain,” he said. “You will have your chance to depart soon enough. Before Hunter arrives at any rate.”
“I'm not worried about your little nemesis.”
“Oh?”
The other man squinted at him, shaking his head. “Don't you get it?” he snapped before taking a forceful step forward. “Even the best-trained men can snap under duress, and the Leyrianss have over a dozen of them.”
“Perhaps I should kill them then.”
The captain stood over Leo with a hand on the grip of his holstered pistol, his face flushed to a deep crimson. “Those are my men!” he shouted. “They may be just toys to you, but I will not stand here and let you insult them. We should have retreated the very moment that we picked up their shuttles on scanners.”
Leo stood up.
His lips curled into a cruel rictus smile as he stared down this fool who had the gall to question his authority. “Are you actually raising your voice to me?” he asked. “I can't recall the last time somebody did that.”
“Is this a joke to you-”
In one quick stride, Leo closed the distance between them and then kicked the other man's knee with enough force to break bone. An ear-splitting scream filled the room, and then Iales toppled forward.
Leo clamped a hand onto the man's neck, preventing him from falling to the floor. With strength that he had only dreamed of just a few weeks ago, he pushed the other man back to the wall.
Leo took the man's hand in both of his and then bent back his fingers one by one until they all snapped. At this point, he was oblivious to the screaming. Let Hunter come if he heard.
Iales bent forward, tears streaming over his flushed face as he shuddered with every sob. “You want to retreat?” Leo asked. “Are you afraid that if they find you, you might be inclined to reveal our secrets?”
Iales nodded.
With his teeth clenched, Leo brought his lips to the other man's ear. “Then I
want to make something clear,” he whispered. “I'm not going to kill you because death is far too merciful. I want you to suffer for your cowardice!”
He seized the other man's shirt and flung him toward the SlipGate.
Iales landed sprawled out on the floor, weeping like a girl. Such a revolting display of emotion. For a moment Leo did consider putting the man out of his misery, but a man who didn't make good on his threats could expect disobedience.
He turned to find the SlipGate operator standing with a gaping mouth and a face so pale you might have thought him a corpse. Good. A little terror went a long way towards keeping your subordinates in line. Let them all see the penalty for challenging him.
“Captain Iales is afraid that he might divulge our secrets if he should ever fall into the hands of our enemies,” Leo said. “It just so happens that I have a remedy for that kind of thing. Take him through the SlipGate and cut out his tongue.”
Iales moaned.
“Now!” Leo screamed. “Unless you'd like to lose yours as well.”
It dawned on him that he might just know where to find Hunter in all this mess. If it was information on Slade's activities that Jack wanted…Well, there was only one place in the castle that you could go for that.
Turning the corner, Jack found…yet another empty corridor. Just a long-ass hallway with electric bulbs on the wall and not a single baddie in sight. Granted, it had only been a few minutes since they all split up, but it felt longer. The tension of expecting to meet heavy resistance and never finding it made him uneasy.
He crept forward with his pistol pointed down, his mouth a thin line as he shook his head. “I'm telling you, Cass, it doesn't add up,” he said. “Either they're heading us toward something, or they've already gotten away with whatever it is they want.”
At his side, Cassi had her own gun pointed forward, her hawk-like eyes shifting back and forth. “Need I remind you that they've taken heavy losses?” she asked. “They're going to focus their people on guarding sensitive areas. We should have gone with Anna to find the mainframe.”
“I'm fine, by the way,” Anna said over the comm.
Biting his lip, Jack turned his head and felt his brow furrow. “Well, we could start talking about our personal lives,” he suggested. “That usually draws in bad guys like a magnet. Of course, that means Cass and I are the extras who get slaughtered.”
“Funny,” Cassi snapped.
A little levity went a long way, though he wasn't about to point that out. The truth was his partner's assessment was probably correct. Between the assault on the walls, the men they had taken down in the courtyard and whatever Larani had gotten up to, this castle must have lost most of its defenders. Which meant they would concentrate those who remained on sensitive areas.
A part of him wanted to go with Anna, but he trusted her. Damn it, he really did trust her. If Rajel or Cassi had insisted on tracking down the mainframe on their own, he would have suggested they take backup. But…Anna? There was no one in this world who could handle herself better than Anna God Damn Lenai.
“We should regroup,” Cassi said.
Closing his eyes, Jack sighed and then nodded to her. “You're probably right,” he agreed. “Rajel, Keli, have you two come across anything more interesting than centuries-old bricks?”
The great hall of this keep had been renovated. No doubt the original tables that had once filled this room had fallen into disrepair after centuries of neglect, and so they had been replaced with long plastic tables, turning the place into a kind of mess hall. It was a strange juxtaposition to Keli's eyes.
Electric bulbs on wooden beams, plastic tables with plastic chairs. These things did not belong in an old castle. But then, it wasn't as if Slade's people were going to give up their creature comforts simply because they were hiding in a building that had not seen use for several hundred years.
Keli sat on the edge of one table with her hands on her knees, smiling sweetly as she listened to Jack's voice in her earpiece. “There are still hostile minds in this castle,” she answered. “But they seem to have retreated to the basement, and every few minutes, more of them disappear.”
“Which means they have a SlipGate,” Jack said.
On the far side of the room, Rajel stood by the arch-shaped wooden door with his pistol gripped tightly in both hands. The man's posture was tense, and she could feel the anxiety radiating from him. Keli muted her microphone. “Would you calm yourself?” she said. “I've told you multiple times that I will sense our enemies before they get anywhere near this room.”
“I am not letting my guard down,” Rajel insisted. “We are in an enemy base; we could be ambushed at any moment.”
Keli hopped off the table and glided toward him, clasping hands behind her back as she strolled across the room. “Is it me you don't trust, Rajel?” she asked. “Or do you have a bad opinion of telepathy in general?”
“This is not the time,” he muttered.
Tilting her head back, Keli blinked as she focused her thoughts. She reactivated her microphone. “Something you should know, Lenai,” she said. “There is another two-soul roaming the castle.”
“Larani?” Jack suggested.
“No,” Keli explained. “She's been accounted for. There were five of you, but I feel six Nassai. I suspect that your friend Leo is still here.”
“Can you tell me where?” Lenai asked.
Her mouth twisted as she looked down at the floor. “No,” Keli answered. “Nassai are hard to track, and they mask their hosts' thoughts. All I get is a vague presence that grows stronger as it comes nearer. But there are six…Actually, sixteen, though ten of those are far off.”
“Okay,” Anna said. “I'm going for the server room. The rest of you keep looking. Try to locate Larani. I've tried raising her on comms, but she's not answering. Regroup in ten minutes if you don't hear from me.”
Anna turned another corner into a long corridor where the walls seemed to want to squeeze her from both sides. This one had fewer bulbs, however, leaving much of the passageway in gloom. Spatial awareness told her that there was no one down here with her, but it was still creepy as fuck.
Her lips were pursed as she turned her head and squinted into the distance. “I think I'm on the right track,” she murmured into her microphone. “Have you guys had any luck finding Larani?”
Static in her ear was the only response.
“Jack?” she said. “Keli? Rajel?”
There was no answer, which might explain why Larani was out of contact. But her technophile brain immediately started putting the pieces together. Granted the walls of this castle were thick, but if her earpiece couldn't make contact with normal radio signals, it switched to SlipSpace frequencies. Rock walls wouldn't do a damn thing to impede that. Which could only mean that someone was jamming her. Maybe she should have taken backup. One of these days, her tendency to rush headlong into danger was going to get her killed.
Anna moved cautiously forward, her pistol pointed downward as she slipped past glowing bulb after glowing bulb. “Wonderful,” she muttered to herself. “Seth, the next time I insist that I can go alone…do nothing because you know I'm just going to ignore you anyway.”
She came to a door on her left that was open just a crack, and through it, she heard the soft hum of fans and cooling units. It was a good bet that this room housed the castle's central mainframe. Computing worked a little differently on Leyria than it did on Earth. Most personal data was kept in cloud storage, accessible from any device via a Universal Citizen Account. But Slade wouldn't want his data to be accessible through the InterLink; so, this building would have its own mainframe that ran a small private network.
Pushing the door open exposed a large, cube-like room with a metal table against the back wall. Two thin black boxes were positioned on that table, each with bright blue LEDs, and a screen of SmartGlass stood on a metal stand.
The progress bar on that screen indicated that most of the data had been delet
ed. If she moved quickly, she might be able to-
When she stepped through the door, Anna froze. A man in a blue tracksuit stood in the middle of this nearly empty room. He was tall and lean with fair skin and hair so light it was almost yellow, and the smile he directed at his own feet was chilling. “About time you found me, Ja-”
He looked up at her with deep brown eyes and blinked as if unsure of what he was seeing. “You're not Jack,” he said, shaking his head. “But I have been looking forward to meeting you.”
“Likewise.”
The man's eyebrows tried to climb into his hairline, but he quickly smothered his shock and replaced it with cruel laughter. “Is that so, Anna?” Leo asked. “You do realize that death is too good for you…Ooh, the things I have planned.”
Grinning as she bowed her head to him, Anna chuckled softly. “You killed my friend,” she replied, stepping forward. “You tormented my boyfriend. I think it's fair to say that we have a score to settle.”
“You are feisty.”
Anna looked up to fix a frosty glare upon him, then narrowed her eyes. “I am the thing that you'll be cursing when they stuff you back inside the deep, dark hole that you crawled out of.”
“Is that-”
Before another word could come out of his mouth, she raised her pistol, pointed it at his chest. Leo reacted quickly, extending one hand in the moment that she fired. To her eyes, he seemed to stretch into a streak of blue, and the bullet she had loosed looped back around and flew at her.
With a single thought, Anna threw up a Time Bubble that made the world beyond its hair-thin surface appear to be underwater. The bullet was practically frozen in place. Stun-rounds traveled at a lower velocity. She could just let the thing hit her – her armour would absorb the shock that would otherwise knock her out – but she didn't want to risk even the tiniest chance that this vest might have a defect.