by Isaac Stone
This token of surrender didn’t help them at all. There were mobs that stayed behind when everyone would could did leave Parmesh. They destroyed most of the cabinets inside the bank vault, convinced there was something worth stealing on the inside. They’d trashed the place and set fires in waste bins all over the interior when they learned there was nothing to take outside save office supplies. The inside of the bank was a mess of scattered paper, pens and ledgers. It was fine for him as the mess allowed some sort of cover when he retreated to the bank. A few days ago, his men pointed it out to him. He made a mental note of the bank as it was a place to use should the need arise for a bunker of some type.
I’m going to kill her, he thought to himself.One bullet to the head and the rest will be forced to watch. He’d changed his mind about using this woman as a possible heir to his dream dynasty. No way was he about to consider someone who almost put a bullet through him. The new armor buckled under the impact of the shell and almost destroyed his hip joint. He couldn’t wear it the way it was supposed to be worn. The plate over the thigh on the left was bent out of shape from that gunshot.
He considered going back to his post outside the capital building. It wouldn’t take too long to get the men up and bring them out here. The library was big, but they would swarm over it in minutes and have those damn marines for the last time. Even this divine woman who called herself Kushmanda wouldn’t last long against determined veterans of dozens of battles. They would bring her to him and he’d do the job in front of everyone. Then She would leave his dreams.
His head dropped and the throbbing pain made him understand things. If his men learned a woman who couldn’t be more than nineteen had hit him directly with a bullet, they’d forever laugh behind his back. He couldn’t tolerate something like that. Basepholon would have to kill half of his troops so the rest would learn he wasn’t a man to be played the fool. He had no problems eliminating people if they were in his way, but there was a limit to what he could do and not draw the wrong sort of attention.
He rubbed his thigh and began to make plans.
“We have to go after that Synner who was in the library,” Commander Sura said once everyone gathered in the mezzanine. “Do any of you know who he was? In case you don’t, I’ll tell you. He was a proconsul. The man is responsible only to the Synarch or Revolutionary Council. Which means his rank is about as high as it goes in this city. We kill him and the rest will run in circles.”
Tripada and Shardhula sat in silence and didn’t say much. Kushmanda could see the lack of enthusiasm in their eyes. It all seemed so easy the way she described it, but none of them knew where the proconsul was located. He might be hiding in the library or he might have returned to his encampment.
“Are you sure you want to do that, commander?” she asked Sura. “I don’t know if that is such a good idea. What if he’s returned to his men? If he’s gone back there, we’ll still have to track him down. Killing him won’t be so easy when he’s surrounded by the other Synners. And we don’t know a thing about the location of that Jacobite knight. I nailed him with my pistol, but he isn’t dead.”
Sura looked surprised and turned to Kushmanda. “You shot him? When did this happen?”
“He was outside the building; didn’t you hear the gun shots?”
“I heard them before the proconsul ran into the library,” she replied. “I thought you were shooting at the Synner? Isn’t that who nearly killed me?” Her eye was still bandaged, although the bleeding ceased an hour ago.
“Before I tangled with the proconsul, I shot it out with the knight. I surprised him and he took a round to the thigh. When I heard the gunshot at the library I ran back and found you.”
“I see. So what makes you think he’s still alive?”
“He staggered off and I didn’t see him die. They’re trained to operate on themselves so he could have removed the bullet if he made it back to a safe place. I’d bet money he did.”
“You know a lot about these knights,” the commander said to her, wincing a little on the dull pain of her eye. The patch covered most of it, but not all.
“I do, but don’t ask me how I know,” Kushmanda told her. “The knowledge began to pop up in my mind once I sensed him outside the library.” She closed her eyes and the vision of the men in lab coats returned until it faded away.
“We still have to take care of the proconsul,” Sura declared. “We go in after him. I think he’s nearby. He was wounded and I’m sure he’s holding up somewhere not far from here. He came out here alone which meant he wanted to take credit for killing us all for some reason. My guess is that he won’t return to his men until the job is finished. So let’s get moving.” She pulled herself up from the chair she sat in and began to feel her way down the stairs.
The rest of them followed. Tripada ran up to Sura and helped her.
“You won’t have the same depth of vision for a while, commander,” he explained to her. She pushed him away and held on to the stair rail by herself.
Chapter 15
“They can’t be serious,” Basepholon said to himself from inside the bank vault. “Do they think they can catch me in a cheap ambush?” He talked to his discarded body armor, as it was the only thing he respected.
He checked his pistol and made sure there was plenty of ammunition. Nothing worse than running out of bullets in the middle of a firefight. It happened to him several times in his early years when he was a green recruit in the Synarchist Forces. Once he solved the problem by grabbing a clip from another trooper when the man wasn’t looking. He turned to see his companion look surprised when his ammunition wasn’t there. It happened an hour later when the some local militia attacked their position. When the trooper accused him of stealing ammo, Basepholon shot him dead. No one questioned it after the attack was over because no one saw what really happened.
“Are you sure he’s here?” Commander Sura asked Kushmanda as they took up a position. She’d led them to this bank merely by observing the ground and the way trash was scattered inside it.
“He’s in the vault,” Kushmanda confirmed. “I feel him. He was too proud to go back and get help. His pride will be the death of him.”
Tripada and Shardhula were on opposite sides of the vault. They’d taken up the center behind a counter top in the bank. It was a good plan, he would emerge and they could take him out from three sides. In most cases, it would have worked, but Basepholon has his own senses developed to a high degree of awareness. He’d anticipated ambushes before. This wasn’t the first time someone had tried this trick.
It was time to flush him out, Sura decided. With the proconsul dead, they could take care of the remainder of the Synarchist position without much trouble. Her mission was to harass and destroy their unit on the ground. Once done, she could lead what remained of her brigade out and to a shelter. She’d take Kushmanda along too, to be on the safe side.
“Do you come out or do I throw a grenade in that vault?” Commander Sura yelled across the floor of the abandoned bank. It was still dark and dawn was way off. The moonlight allowed them sight, but not enough. With her bad eye, she had less visual ability than anyone else. This is why it was important they eliminate him with due haste.
“Hello, ladies,” Basepholon announced as he waltzed out of the vault with his pistol leveled in their direction. “I have so much looked forward to meeting you.”
Basepholon began to fire. He sent two shots at them, which barely gave Kushmanda time to pull the commander out of the way and down to the floor. Both shots went wild, which is what he’d intended to happen. Kushmanda yanked Sura down behind a desk in the bank and fired in return, which caused him to fall back inside the vault.
“Nice try, ladies,” he shouted at them. “But I know you don’t have any grenades or you would have already used them.” Which was true, their supply was exhausted after the first week of combat.
Basepholon waited at the massive vault door for them to make their next move. As he antic
ipated, there was a slight sound to his right about ninety degrees away from him. He knew they would post the other marines on either side to get him in the crossfire. Not bad, it might have worked against someone who didn’t anticipate it. He swung his gun up and leaned out of the vault to his right.
This gave Basepholon enough room to squeeze off two shots at the source of the sound. The first one caused his objective to move. The second one struck Tripada right in the chest. The moonlight allowed the Synarchist to see all he needed for a good shot.
There was a thrashing sound and the movement stopped. His bullet had located the objective.
“What just happened?” the commander asked Kushmanda when she heard the gunfire.
“The proconsul got one of our guys,” she told her. “Who did you position on our left?”
“It was Tripada,” Sura tried hard not to shout. “Is he still alive?”
“I don’t know.” It was a lie. She could feel the life fade out there. When he quite thrashing, she knew he was dead.
“Let me up!” the commander ordered her. “You will let me up and I will shoot that bastard myself!” She struggled against the younger woman.
Even with her damaged eye, Sura was difficult to keep down. Kushmanda wasn’t much bigger than the commander, but she was younger and in good health. The commander was still under the pain killer influence and the eye she’d bandaged hurt her. Kushmanda doubted she would have been able to keep the older woman down if the eye was still good.
“Commander,” she tried to reason with her in a low voice. “You don’t have one eye and he’s a very good shot. I want him dead as well, but if you go out there yourself you’ll get us all killed.”
Sura quite struggling and breathed heavily. She didn’t like someone giving her orders that weren’t even in uniform. But she knew Kushmanda was right. She had to wait and kill him when the time presented itself.
“Is he still back inside the vault?” she said. Her vision wasn’t too good right now.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Kushmanda told her. “We’ve got him pinned down.” On the inside, she wasn’t as sure as the proconsul only had two opponents to worry about. Tripada was out and the commander wasn’t much of a threat in her current state.
Too easy, Basepholon thought.This is the best they can do? He was tempted to go out with his pistol and shoot in the general direction of where he knew the marines hid. The only thing that prevented him was the knowledge of the young woman. She’s bested him once and she might do it again. She was still out there and armed. The grenade ruse was from the older woman, the officer. Eventually, they would come for him. He could wait them out and hope his men would come looking, but the embarrassment he’d be forced to endure wasn’t on his agenda.
Basepholon was sure this younger woman was the avatar he’d heard about, but, if this was the case, how could he go up against her? If she were really a divinity of some kind, wouldn’t that make it impossible for him to do anything? He was so angry with her for shooting him hours ago, he’d been ready to kill her the moment he had the chance. After killing the others, of course.
He began to wonder about this woman. If she was really divine, why did she need a gun? He thought for a minute about the prophecies that floated around the star systems about the woman who was supposed the lead the people of Jyotish to true freedom. He rubbed his head and tried to remember what he’d heard from other people about this place before they landed. Wasn’t this woman supposed to appear in the form of blameless young woman?
Okay, if she wasn’t really divine, what did that make her? Somebody who looked like the avatar, someone who happened to be in the right place when this all occurred. He’d felt a very powerful presence when he first saw her. He wanted to make her his queen at that very moment.
But how do you capture a goddess? Would She leave his dreams?
“Kushmanda!” Shardhula yelled from across the room. “What happened out there?”
“Don’t worry about it!” She snapped back, “Just wait for commands!” Kushmanda gritted her teeth. The only marine here in good shape and he just gave away his position!
Basepholon froze when he heard the name shouted. Wasn’t that supposed to be the name of the prophet and avatar that brought people to this planet from Old Earth? He attended a briefing on the background of this world before the invasion was launched and distinctly membered hearing that name used.
Now, wouldn’t it make sense for someone to play a game and pretend to be the chosen one who arrived in the hour of need? The idea slammed into his head with the force of a hammer. She didn’t have to be a divinity; all she needed to be was someone who played the role. What a fool he’d been! This woman wasn’t Her!
It was time to bring this nonsense to an end.
Kushmanda looked up to see the proconsul walk out of the vault door with his gun leveled and pointed in the direction of Shardhula. He was huge; she hadn’t realized how big the man was until she looked at him in profile as the moonlight flooded over his form. He had to be at least six feet five and weighed close to three hundred and fifty pounds. In the robes he wore, the proconsul resembled a mountain of fabric. The man had a solid chin and eyes that seared into everything he stared at in front of him. He was dark, but not as dark as she was.
Kushmanda rose up from her position when he was no more than five yards away and fired one shot at him. She was certain at this range she could finish him. She’s hit him before at a further distance, so this close range would make her work easy. She felt the pistol recoil in her hands but held onto it.
Somehow, he managed to dodge the bullet! The proconsul jerked to one side the moment the slug was fired. It impacted inside the vault. She could hear it bounce several times off the steel walls.
Basepholon grinned and swung his gun in her direction. He’d gambled and won. Her motions were predictable, you just had to look and listen for the signs. When the woman was ready to fire, he heard the movement on the ground, and then he listened for her to bring up the gun. Finally, he saw her squeeze the trigger at just the right time. All he had to do was make sure he wasn’t there when the bullet was fired.
“You’re no god,” the proconsul said to her. “You’re no avatar. You are the same as me, even though you don’t realize it.” He pointed his gun directly at her in the moonlight and she pointed back.
From the shadows, Sir Nagashi stood in silence. They’d not seen him move into position when the ambush attempt began. After fixing himself up, he returned to the area around the library and waited. He was forced to use a replacement chest harness. It didn’t match the rest of his armor, but still did the job. He’s watched the marines leave the library in search of something. It didn’t take him long to realize they were on a search for Basepholon.
He’d decided to follow them and see what happened. No matter how this played out, it would benefit him because he would have one less group to eliminate. When Basepholon shot the first marine, he considered opening up with his gun, but decided not to do it. Let them kill each other, it made his job easier and he wouldn’t have to waste ammunition.
The fumes of the gunfire drifted in the air and were bisected by the faint light. Nagashi once again decided to hold his fire and see this one out.
Kushmanda stood there with her gun pointed at the proconsul. This close, and with no element of surprise, neither one of them could miss. He wouldn’t fall for the bullet dodge a second time and she knew it. There wasn’t enough room for her to hide from anything he might try and she had no back up, save the commander who was on the floor. Commander Sura looked up and held her gun level at the proconsul, but she had it pointed a good foot away from his position. With only one good eye, Kushmanda was surprised it was so close. Shardhula was on the other side of the room and might take out the proconsul, but not before she was dead. She could feel the marine hesitate and knew he was useless as cover.
This left her and him.
“Why don’t you come with me?” he told he
r. “I can make you someone special. I can give you everything you need. Let’s join forces and bring this to a close.”
Kushmanda began to see things again. The sight before her flipped from the proconsul with his gun to the laboratory and the men in white coats. They were looking down at her. One made some adjustment out of her visual range and spoke to another man who continued to stare in her eyes.
“Do you think she can pull it off?” he said to his companion. “Look at her, she’s barely nineteen and doesn’t have the background we needed.” He wore glasses and a look of concern.
“Right now she’s the only hope we have,” the other man spoke. “We need to get her ready.”
“And you have the trigger in place?”
“It should activate the moment she wakes up.”
“And you are a weak little man,” she told Basepholon as the gun never moved. “You have killed how many people your overlords don’t know about? How many of your own people have you pushed into the line of fire?” Her lips turned into a very cruel smile.
“I only did what I had to do!” he snapped back at her. “We all would have died if I hadn’t!” His gun hand began to shake.
“Is that what you told the Revolutionary Council,” Kushmanda said to him. She took one step forward. “You might have fooled them because you did what they wanted, but both of us know better, don’t we? They don’t know about the others, do they? They don’t know a thing about what you did before you signed up. I know about her, I know about him, and I know about your mother.”
“Shut up!” he screamed at her. “Shut the fuck up!” Now Basepholon’s hand shook too much to aim his gun. “I’ll kill you!”
“Go ahead. It won’t stop anything or bring them back. It won’t give you what you really want. Do you think the Synarch will back you up when he finds out the whole story? Because we both know he won’t.” Her eyes locked with his and she saw fear.