by A B Lucian
“Let’s go,” Sabina said, as if bored with his speech.
Yosh and Assai waited for Matthews and Sabina to climb all the way to the roof.
“It’s clear,” Matthews reported through the communicator.
Yosh got the same abysmal feeling in his stomach as before. No guards on the roof? Yosh thought. Something is wrong. It was like walking into a room filled with scorpions and snakes while blindfolded. “Go ahead,” he said.
Yosh and Assai scurried along the wall as gunfire rang through the night from afar. At one time he thought he could distinguish Miles’s double-barreled rifle thrumming low and his wild laughter. Two massive explosions thundered through the crisp night air in rapid succession. The ground trembled under Yosh’s feet. He exchanged a look with Assai and they both peered in the distance at the two pillars of fire reaching toward the black Mandessan sky. The night was suddenly a lot brighter as the massive wreaths of flame licked at the belly of the dark clouds.
Yosh spoke into the small communicator on his chest. “Captain Dupont? Are you all right? Please respond.”
The communicator crackled for a few seconds. “Never mind us, Yosh,” the captain’s voice croaked through. “You do your job and we will do ours.” Yosh heard the flames roaring over the communicator and screams, lots of screams. Yosh could tell the screams weren’t human, but he still felt awful. Indirectly, he was responsible for those arkanians’ deaths. And what terrible deaths they were.
“We had to throw in the rovers early,” the captain continued as he fired off a few shots. “They were about to overwhelm us, but we have them scattered and confused now. The landing pad and the depots are ours. Yosh, there were more than we expected, a lot more. You should have a clear path. Go, before they regroup!”
More than we expected, Yosh thought. If Mikail brought so many Enforcers, why so few guarding the hall? Why none on the roof? “Understood, good luck captain.” Yosh switched off the frequency and sighed. “I’m missing something, Assai. I can’t figure it out. Are we walking into a trap?”
“We knew Mikail would expect a rescue attempt,” Assai answered. “In either case, we cannot turn back now.”
He nodded. “You’re right,” he said, and kissed her hard and sudden. “Let’s go.”
They vaulted for the kitchen and took positions on either side. Assai had her blade in one hand and a small pulse gun in the other. Yosh only had the small silent pulse pistol Miles had given him. He smoothly pushed the door open with his free hand and pointed the pistol toward the pitch black darkness inside.
Assai’s vertical pupils dilated as she peered inside the kitchen. “It looks empty, but be careful.”
Yosh acknowledged with a simple nod, and stalked in, pistol aimed forward. He remembered the kitchen, remembered how he crouched next to the door to the main hall and watched Ghett’s daughter die. The memory made him grit his teeth. Assai entered after him and closed the door. What little light had crept in from the outside was gone now, and Yosh guided himself through the kitchen by the thin strip of orange coming through the crack in the other door. Assai’s pressed her tail against his shoulder, confirming she found nothing in her sweep of the kitchen. Yosh remembered the pipe that had clung to his clothes last time and stayed well clear of the other rusty, mangled pipes on the right side.
“We’re on the second floor,” Matthews whispered through the comm. “Starting the sweep. There must be over twenty rooms here.”
“Understood,” Yosh whispered back. “We’re in position, we’ll scout out the main hall. I’ll keep you posted, but keep communications to a minimum.”
There was no answer from Matthews, but Yosh knew he understood. He breathed in deep, clutched the pulse pistol tighter, and kneeled in front of the door. He pushed the image of Ghett’s daughter dying out of his head with great difficulty and peered into the main hall. The dozen hanging light bulbs hanging spread diffused orange light across the high-ceilinged chamber. Yosh spotted the slaves near the far wall. There must have been over eighty. It was hard to count because of the poor lighting and the way they huddled beneath rough brown blankets—a lorran head here, a fresnian wing there, but most were huddled under the blankets. How can they sleep with all the noise coming from outside? Yosh clenched his teeth at the red stains in the middle of the floor. I will save them, he thought. I won’t let any more of them die. Guards covered the two corners of the chamber visible to Yosh, another two the main entrance. Yosh clenched his teeth and gently opened the door wider to see the left side of the hall. His heart throbbed as he spotted his grandfather.
The old man kneeled next to the wall opposite the entrance, his hands bound behind his back and an old, dirty rag stuffed in his mouth. His white beard was stiff and pink now, and a slow trickle of blood slithered down his cheek from above one eye. There was a strange stoop in his shoulders. Yosh’s blood boiled and his hands shook with rage once he figured out what happened to him. Two small daggers protruded from each of his shoulders, and bright red blood spread through his white shirt.
It took Assai’s hand squeezing his arm until it hurt to make Yosh focus again. His anger had made him overlook a very important detail. A seven-foot-tall man stood in front of his grandfather, a pulse gun in his hand. Two arkanian Enforcers flanked him in their black assault suits. The tall man wore a black assault suit with white armor plates. Yosh recognized the sigil on the breastplate. It was the suit he’d found in his grandfather’s secret chamber.
The only real obstacle between Yosh and his grandfather was Mikail himself.
Chapter Fifteen
Sabina handled the pulse gun as if it were part of her arm. She and Matthews had swept through half the rooms on the second floor and found only debris, refuse, and old moth-eaten rags.
“So what’s your story, Matthews?” she whispered after they swept another room. “What are you doing here?”
Matthews was a tall man, slim with dusky skin and dark hair. “What do you mean?” he said, seeming to really not understand her meaning.
Sabina liked his hands. They were wide and had long fingers, elegant but strong. A man’s hands and teeth told her everything she needed to know about him. “I mean what are you risking your life for?” Is he a fool or playing one? Sabina had a good feeling about him. She’d hate it if he turned out to be a fool.
Matthews looked at her as they flanked a closed door. His mouth twisted as he turned the handle, nodded to her, and pushed it open. They both slid inside silent as shadows, but only upturned iron bed frames, dirt, and broken glass from the window greeted them.
“I don’t like talking about myself, and even if I did, this really isn’t the best time,” Matthews said, finishing his sweep of the room.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Sabina said, and winked. “We probably won’t live through this, so this might be your last chance to share.”
His dark eyes flashed. “We will get through. Captain Dupont’s led us through worse. We’ll get the job done.”
She was silent as they cleared another empty room. “I find it hard to believe you’re going through with this insane mission solely out of loyalty for your captain. Not that I don’t appreciate it.”
“Hmm. Aren’t you in this for your grandfather? It’s the same thing.”
Sabina shook her head. “How could it be? My grandfather is my own blood, he is my family—”
“Captain Dupont is my family,” Matthews interrupted. “He’s risking his life for Yosh and Olexander and that’s more than enough for me. I know Yosh and I know Olexander. Don’t get me wrong, I like them and I don’t want anything bad to happen to them. Especially Yosh, I… We’ve all become fond of him over the years, but I wouldn’t be here risking my neck if the captain weren’t backing this plan.
“If it were up to me, we would have waited them out and run away from Mandessa. The rebellion has grown. Many are lying in hiding, waiting to be called to arms. They can smell freedom, true freedom, and so can I. And I don’t believe we nee
d Protectors to lead us to victory. Olexander has done a wonderful job organizing us, and we would be years behind if not for him. But when you draw the line, Protectors are humans first and super soldiers second. Humanity put its trust in Protectors once before and they failed.”
“So you were against this plan?”
Matthews nodded. “We’re risking everything for your grandfather. If we fail, him, you, and Yosh will die here. Or worse, we might hand the arkanians the secret to the Protector’s genetic manipulation.” He sighed. “I have a bad feeling about it is all. Like we’re putting all our eggs in one basket. Makes me twitchy.”
They left the empty room and cleared another in utter silence. Ten feet ahead were the stairs leading to the main hall, flanked by the last two doors they still needed to search.
“Listen, Matthews, I’m not one to speak of these things. I’m telling you this because we both might be dead in the next hour. I don’t care what you think about it, but we will get into trouble eventually, so we need to trust each other.” She smacked her lips. “I’ve been what you might call an assassin for the past six years. One of the best, if I do say so myself.” She studied his face as they went through the motions of clearing out one room, but there was no change. Bastard already knew. “You need great self-preservation instincts in my line of work. Self-preservation and missions like the one we’re on now don’t go hand in hand. So maybe my grandfather’s nonsense about freedom finally got to me. It’s not just about Earth and humanity now. We’re in this to save the slaves as well. Don’t forget that.”
“I know,” he said as they prepared to storm the last door. This one seemed different. A strange odor emanated from inside. They both noticed it. “The captain would wholeheartedly agree with you. I’m in this to the end, don’t worry. I owe the Arkanian Secret Police big time.”
Sabina smiled. “Ah, vengeance—now you’re talking. Matthews, I think I like you already.”
They pushed the door open, and Sabina’s throat tightened at the sight. Among the broken and twisted bed frames were stacks upon stacks of decaying, limp bodies—blue skin, red skin, hairy, scaly. A putrid stench pierced Sabina’s nose. She had seen plenty of bodies during her career, but the rotting remains of the slaves turned her stomach upside down. Somewhere behind and to the left she heard the contents of Matthews’s stomach splash on the concrete floor.
There was something else in the room, standing out among the bodies—long and thick, covered in scales of a pale green color. It was a tail, and it was fresh. An arkanian tail, cut off at the stem. The cut looked precise, not something that would occur during combat. Why would someone want to hack off an arkanian’s tail? And why did they kill tens of hostages before we got here? “Report this to Yosh,” she said to Matthews. “Fast.”
“I’ve been trying to,” Matthews said, grunting and rubbing the back of his hand against his mouth. “The communicator’s not working. They’re jamming us.”
◆◆◆
“What do we do, Yosh?” Assai whispered. He clenched his jaw. He didn’t have a good answer; In fact, he didn’t have any answer at all. His grandfather was a mere thirty feet away, and they had a clear shot at Mikail, but something was wrong. What, though? It wasn’t the two guards flanking Mikail, the Protector suit, or the other four guards spread throughout the main hall that gave Yosh this feeling. They could handle those. Something else felt off. His every instinct told him to run away.
He tried the communicator again. “Sabina,” he whispered. “Sabina, come in.” Again static. Why now? Why jam our frequencies now and not earlier when the assault started?
Yosh stared into the main hall again. Nothing happened. Mikail and his guards stood in front of his grandfather, ignoring the fighting outside. They didn’t talk, they didn’t question him, Mikail didn’t coordinate his troops. So what were they doing? Yosh shook his head. None of this made sense. He studied Mikail, all seven feet of him. He had expected him to look like a meaner version of his grandfather, but he seemed bulky and brutish instead. There was a strange stoop in his shoulders, making him lean awkwardly to one side and one of his legs convulsed from time to time. Something was definitely wrong with him. Now and then he reached behind and pulled on the small plates of armor covering his lower back. Did the suit not fit him well? If it adapted for his height and build, it would have accounted for any deviations like the glove had done for Yosh.
“Too quiet, it’s too quiet,” he whispered to Assai. “They aren’t doing anything. Why? It’s like they’re waiting for something.”
Assai growled. “Yosh, we cannot afford to wait. We must act now. The captain won’t be able to keep the Enforcers busy for long.”
“No, something’s wrong, don’t you see?” Yosh gasped and clutched his hair. “Just give me a minute to think.”
Yosh didn’t get a minute. On the far side of the main hall, Sabina and Matthews crept from the second floor to the first, stopping at the top of the stairs. Matthews lay flat behind the iron posts of the railing and raised a rifle to his eye. Sabina already had a gun in one hand and in the blink of an eye she produced her kohiri blade in the other. Yosh wanted to shout out, to have them stop, but he couldn’t and the blasted communicator still didn’t work.
Matthews’s rifle flashed twice and Sabina’s gun popped three times. One of Mikail’s guards fell to the floor without a head and the other twirled and staggered, blood spewing from his neck. Two bright blue darts of light smashed against Mikail’s head, but an invisible shield glimmered into existence and stopped them.
Yosh had to commit. He slammed the door open and darted out, firing his pulse pistol at the guards by the entrance and his other gun at Mikail. Mikail twirled around, seemingly confused by the two sided attack, but his shield stopped the shots. Sabina had descended the stairs already and now closed in on Mikail from behind, fast as the wind, making him turn again. Her sword flashed, Mikail dodged and roared. Assai ended a wounded guard and joined the mayhem between Sabina and Mikail.
Yosh’s shots hit their targets often, but never in critical places. Matthews punished the arkanians hard from above and soon only three guards still fired back. They huddled together near the far wall, behind an upturned metal table. Sabina and Assai danced around Mikail, swinging and slashing, backing away and punching forward with the tips of their blades like wasps with their stingers. Mikail whirled around, catching their blows on the greaves of his suit and firing off shots from his huge arkanian blaster whenever he had the opportunity. Things were going better than expected, but the panic inside Yosh kept growing. He looked everywhere for the source of his distress.
Olexander’s ice-blue eyes opened and widened. He struggled against his bindings despite the two daggers deep inside his bleeding shoulders. Was he trying to join the fight? Yosh fired two more rounds at the cluster of guards. No, his grandfather wasn’t trying to join the fight. He was mumbling something and his eyes were wide with… fear? Yosh had never seen him like that. His grandfather mumbled and stared toward the sleeping slaves. The sleeping slaves? Why were the slaves still asleep?
As if on cue, the rough blankets stirred. The slaves were finally waking up. Yosh fired two more shots at the guards to keep them behind the table. “Run,” he yelled at the figures coming out from under the covers. “This is your chance. Get out, quick!”
Sabina landed a cut near Mikail’s armpit and blood splashed over the suit’s dark mesh. Mikail’s movements had slowed, but his blows were still sharp and strong. He jerked aside to avoid Assai’s blade and slapped Sabina’s pistol aside. At close range, even the suit’s shields might have problems protecting him from multiple blasts. Mikail’s own pulse gun lay broken, cut in half, on the floor, so he used his fists to strike back at the two warrior women skirting around him, but they were wearing him down steadily.
Why are the blasted slaves not running? The way is clear. “Go, blast it, go!”
The blankets fell away revealing blue lorrans, furry quarlans, gray fresnians, and
… arkanians? Blue heads rolled across the floor, wings twirled to the ground, arms and legs surged ominously as arkanians discarded them. Yosh spotted shiny black rifles and gleaming black patches of reactive armor, along with blazing red eyes and blue-green scales. Over thirty Enforcers stood, readying their weapons and marching toward Yosh over the body parts of the slaves he was supposed to save.
Yosh’s brain went numb, and he forgot to move. In front of the thirty Enforcers marched a human, tall, thin, bald and with a thick, gray beard. His forehead creased and his mouth twisted in a broad lopsided grin. A human leading the Enforcers? Then who’s in my grandfather’s suit? Yosh looked at him, and turned toward Mikail—or rather, the imposter in the Protector suit. How had they done that? They weren’t supposed to be able to use the suit.
The imposter had received fresh cuts and Assai and Sabina almost had him beaten. They saw the thirty-odd new Enforcers on the scene advancing through mangled body parts and they hesitated a moment. Whoever was in the Protector suit took advantage instantly. He kicked Sabina in the chest, hurling her against the wall, and backslapped the sword out of Assai’s hand.
Yosh turned back to the bald man leading the Enforcers—Mikail? The man raised a gun and signaled to the Enforcers with his free hand. A group of five broke away and raced up the stairs after Matthews. The Enforcers’ obedience convinced Yosh. This was him. This was Mikail; He had duped them like a bunch of children. A choking sound made Yosh turn toward the impostor. He had a huge hand wrapped around Assai’s throat and was squeezing hard.
“No,” Yosh yelled and pointed his gun at his head. “Let her go!”
A blue pulse whined through the air and scorched Yosh’s hand before he could pull the trigger. The gun fell to the floor, grip shattered, and Yosh gasped, clutching his hand. The shot blew through the armor and underlying mesh to his skin. Fire throbbed from his hand all the way to his shoulder, but the damage wasn’t extensive.