Magnus, we don’t have time for this, she continued. I already told you, you’re not going crazy. My name is Willowood, and I’m a friend of Awen’s.
Splick. This was for real. So are you another Luma or something? Hijacking my head?
I am a Luma, yes, and I haven’t hijacked anything. I’m merely communicating with you in a way that So-Elku can’t detect.
Magnus stared down at the Luma master. He’s bad, isn’t he?
Quite. As I said, you must leave right away. It isn’t safe for any of you. But more importantly, Awen needs you on Ki Nar Four. And Piper needs her.
Piper?
Yes. Awen will understand when she meets her. You need to leave immediately. I will do my best to keep So-Elku from following your ship once you leave the system, but it won’t last long. And Ki Nar Four will be on his list of places to check, so whatever you do from there, you must do it quickly.
Magnus watched Rohoar and So-Elku speaking but didn’t hear their words—he was far too consumed with the conversation happening inside his mind. And what about you? Where are you right now?
There was a moment’s hesitation before Willowood answered, My present state doesn’t concern you. Now, go. The clock is ticking, and So-Elku wishes to detain you, if not kill you.
Kill us?
Magnus waited for Willowood to reply, but no answer came. He suddenly felt as if he had a winning hand in a high-stakes game of Antaran Backdraw. Blood threatened to rush to his face, adrenaline making his hands want to shake. But such gambling tells would tip So-Elku off in an instant. He already seemed to suspect something. Hold it together, Adonis.
“And how about the rest of your crew? Surely, they are famished,” So-Elku continued. “Especially that little one.”
“Little one?” Magnus asked, stepping forward.
So-Elku glared at Magnus. “Why, yes. Our sensors show there is a child on board.”
“No, they don’t.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“That shuttle has Jujari cloaking tech. No scanners can penetrate it, including yours, Luma.”
“What I meant to say was—”
“You said what you meant to say. We’re done here.”
Magnus made to turn around, but something held his feet to the marble floor. He looked down. “What the hell?”
“Whoa!” Abimbola exclaimed. “What’s happening?” The giant’s feet were fixed to the floor as well—and Rohoar’s too. The Jujari let out a deep growl. Things were going sideways a lot faster than Magnus had anticipated.
“I will take the child and her mother,” So-Elku said calmly. “The rest of you may leave as you came.”
“Not happening.” Magnus tried to raise his MAR30, but nothing happened. It felt as though his brain had just been disconnected from his arms.
“Ah-ah-ah, Marine,” So-Elku said, adding a repeated tsk with a waving finger. “Don’t you know it’s against the law to fire on Luma?” So-Elku walked closer to him, examining him from head to toe. “You do look awfully familiar to me, though. I’m sure I’ve seen you before. Hanging around with this one—” So-Elku tipped his head toward Abimbola. “And I do mean hanging around.”
Does he mean the jail on Oorajee? How is that even possible?
“Though I was told all the loose ends on Oorajee had been tied up.” So-Elku tapped his chin. “Apparently not. But no matter. I’ll take care of what Moldark couldn’t.”
“Moldark?” Magnus asked. “Who’s Moldark?”
“I’d tell you, but you won’t live long enough for it to matter.”
Live long enough? “What’s that supposed to mean?”
So-Elku winced. “You know, for such a highly regarded Marine—I’m sorry, ex-Marine—you sure are thick headed. But what was I thinking—aren’t all Repub troopers that way?”
“You’re gonna kill us, then? Seriously?”
“No, no, no. I’m not. But they will.” So-Elku gestured toward the guards behind him. “People don’t realize that killing is such a messy affair, and it conflicts with so many of my principles. But it’s a necessary affair nonetheless and often the only way to bring lasting peace. Wouldn’t you agree, trooper?”
Magnus had to do something—and fast. The guy’s crazy. And how is Awen even friends with him? None of it made sense.
So-Elku strode to within a few centimeters of Magnus’s face. Magnus felt helpless. The only thing he could move was…
His mouth.
Magnus looked into So-Elku’s eyes. “Simone, take the shot.”
So-Elku blinked as he registered the order. Before he could say anything, a dazzling shower of magenta lightning bolts exploded around him as Simone’s sniper bolt slammed into a force field. While the round failed to hit So-Elku’s body, it did send him sprawling onto the floor beside Magnus. Magnus felt his limbs return to his control. He was free, as were Abimbola and Rohoar.
“Fall back!” Magnus ordered, lowering his MAR30 on So-Elku and firing point-blank. Another explosion of magenta electrical tendrils lit up the room. The moment his weapon discharged, Magnus’s bioteknia eyes flashed. The hexagonal tactical overlay filled his vision and populated it with vector indicators, target information, and bio stats—too much to consider. All Magnus really wanted to know was if he’d hit So-Elku.
To his astonishment, however, the MAR30’s high-frequency burst—at less than a meter away—did little more than push So-Elku across the floor toward the entrance. Only a starship’s shields had enough power to hold off a barrage like that! Still, if it meant keeping the man out of play, that was fine by him.
“Stay down!” he yelled at the Luma. Then to the rest of the team, he gave an order on comms. “Back to the ship, on the double!”
“Stay where you are!” demanded the lead guard, blaster trained on Rohoar. The man took one step too close to the Jujari.
“Bad idea, buddy,” Magnus said.
In a furious flash of fur, Rohoar chomped the man’s arm in two. The blaster—hand still wrapped around the handle—clattered to the floor before the guard could even scream. Rohoar lunged at the next nearest guard and swiped a claw across his neck. The man clutched his throat as blood and air hissed from between his fingers.
Abimbola sent another guard flying back five meters, shooting him point-blank at the end of his M101. The weapon whined as it recharged, ready for another double-barrel wide-displacement discharge, which Abimbola then dispensed with a deafening krah-boom. A third guard surprised Abimbola on his flank and managed to strike him in the hip with a blaster bolt. Abimbola buckled only slightly. In one swift motion, he drew his bowie knife, threw it backhanded into two full rotations, and buried the blade in the man’s chest.
Just then, Magnus noticed a Luma elder lowering his head and closing his eyes. That can’t be good, Magnus thought, deeply suspicious of whatever witchcraft these demented mystics used. He had seen Awen do some crazy splick for good. He didn’t want to stick around to find out what these Luma could do for evil.
Magnus didn’t want to kill the old man. You really gonna fire on a Luma elder? None of this felt right. But this was about survival—he’d ask questions later.
Magnus matched his MAR30’s sights with his eye’s targeting reticle, squeezed the trigger, and felt the weapon kick in his hands. He sent a three-round burst into the Luma’s center mass. The man rocked back then looked down at the smoking hole in his chest. The sage tried to scream, but there were few organs left for that purpose. He slumped to the floor, as did the guard directly behind him.
A warning indicator flashed in Magnus’s vision. He ducked just in time to avoid return fire meant for his chest. His thumb toggled his MAR30 to wide displacement, and he aimed at the cluster of Luma and guards, double-checking that Abimbola and Rohoar were behind him. When he squeezed the trigger, a wave of blue light leaped from the blaster’s rectangular barrel and swept across the room with a subsonic vibration. Anyone in the wave’s path was knocked backward, many of them dead before they hi
t the floor.
“Let’s go!” As Magnus turned to run toward the exit, he saw So-Elku struggling to his feet. The Luma master waved his hand weakly, and the doors slammed shut. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Just then, a volley of enemy blaster fire erupted from behind Magnus. He turned to see Abimbola take out two guards with one shot, sparks exploding from the bodies and landing on some of the pillows strewn about the room. Several caught fire and began giving off smoke. Magnus was about to help Abimbola dispatch the remaining guards when a series of sniper rounds dropped no fewer than four of the enemy. He saw the muzzle flashes from the garden beyond.
The guards turned and started shooting into the garden, but Magnus could tell by their random weapon fire that they had no idea where the snipers’ hides were any more than Magnus did. Content that Simone and her fire team had their rear, Magnus ran for the exit. Rohoar was right beside him, and Abimbola sounded like he was in tow. So-Elku was almost to his feet, about three meters from the doors, when Magnus heard the Ready chime of his MAR30. It was charged for another wide-displacement shot.
“I thought I told you to stay down!” Magnus fired and watched the blue wave fling So-Elku backward. A shock wave of magenta static spread along the wall as So-Elku’s body slammed against it.
Abimbola reached the doors first and started pulling. Magnus joined him. But when he looked for Rohoar, he spotted the Jujari racing toward So-Elku, claws outstretched. Magnus thought to tell him to stop, but he knew it would be useless. Plus, if anyone had a chance of breaking through whatever mystical powers kept the Luma master safe, it was Rohoar. The Jujari slashed at So-Elku’s face. The Luma screamed as more magenta energy danced into the air. Suddenly, Rohoar was sent to his back and slid several meters.
“Just leave him!” Magnus yelled, backing down the steps while laying some covering fire for Rohoar. His energy mag was below five percent. “We gotta get out of here!”
No sooner had he said those words than a new wave of guards entered Elder’s Hall from a side corridor. The target counter in Magnus’s vision started skyrocketing. Rohoar was on his feet again and running out the doors after Magnus and Abimbola.
“You still there, Simone?” Magnus asked over comms.
“I am, but all these security guards are starting to put a crimp on my vacation.”
“Anything you can do to take care of them?”
“I think Rix and Titus have a little something cooked up.”
“Good. Send it. Then you need to get back to the ship.”
“Copy that.”
Magnus addressed his pilot. “Nolan?”
“Go ahead, Lieutenant.”
“We’re coming in hot.”
“That’s fine, sir.”
Fine? “Why’s that fine, Nolan?”
“Because we have plenty of heat here at the moment too.”
Dammit.
10
Magnus, Rohoar, and Abimbola were charging down the pillar-lined hallway leading out of the Grand Arielina when a massive explosion resounded from Elder’s Hall some fifty meters behind them. The shock wave caused Magnus to miss a step, but he recovered before going all the way down. His ears rang, and his vision blurred momentarily. Then he cast a quick glance over his shoulder to see bodies and debris tumbling down the steps.
“Guess Rix and Titus cooked up something real tasty,” Magnus shouted over comms more loudly than he intended.
“Sure did,” Simone said. “Though I doubt they’ll be able to hear for a few days.”
“They won’t be the only ones. What’s your position?”
“Silk and I are halfway to the hangar. Rix and Titus put that explosive on a five-second timer—”
“Three-second!” Rix interrupted.
“Rix! Are you all green back there?” Magnus asked.
“Copy that. Titus and I are rounding the building exterior in sixty.”
Magnus was already out of breath, and they weren’t even out of the building yet. Was he really this out of shape? “Listen, primary exfil is a no-go. I repeat, do not proceed to the hangar bay. Nolan, you copy?”
“Still loud and clear, Lieutenant.”
Magnus couldn’t tell if the sound of blaster fire was behind Nolan on comms or behind himself. “Head to secondary exfil.”
“Secondary exfil confirmed. On my way.”
“Everyone else, listen up—”
Just then, blaster bolts sparked across the floor and slammed into the pillar beside Magnus’s head. He swore and ducked behind the massive stone column. Abimbola and Rohoar dove for cover on the other side of the hallway.
Magnus took a deep breath and peeked around his cover. About twenty new enemies filed out of the smoke-filled room. The surviving guards were clearly shell-shocked, but that didn’t make their blaster fire any less lethal. He swung the barrel up and around the column. His eyes presented several targeting options. He chose the closest one, listed at forty yards away. All Magnus had to do was think about zooming in, and his eyes expanded his sight picture. He squeezed the trigger and sent a bolt into a guard’s head. The body fell while a Confirm icon flashed in Magnus’s vision. He rolled back to cover and took another steadying breath.
“Simone, can you set up overwatch outside the main building?”
“Can do, buckethead.”
“Good. Seems like we stirred up a nest of fire wasps in here.” Magnus spun back out and took out two more guards. Abimbola wasn’t having as much luck with the M101, so the Miblimbian unsnapped his Tigress and raised it with one hand. The weapon’s loud boom, boom, boom report sent Magnus’s ears ringing even worse. But he knew that every round meant one more enemy combatant they didn’t have to deal with.
“Copy, buckethead,” Simone said. “Silk and I will take up flanking positions and cover your retreat. And if Rix and Titus would hurry the hell up, you might get some ground support when you pop out too.”
“We’ll take all the help we can get.” Magnus sent another three blaster rounds downrange. His eyes notified him that his current magazine was at less than two percent. He scolded himself for letting it get that low. Noob. Magnus ejected the energy mag and reached for another one on his hip. The new mag was inserted before the spent one had stopped clattering along the marble floor. He racked a charge and selected wide displacement, setting the draw threshold to maximum. This shot would drain the mag. But it would also clear their retreat. Hopefully.
“Get ready to run, boys!” Magnus yelled to Abimbola and Rohoar. Then he pivoted into the hallway and sent the energy wave tearing down the hall like an electrified garrote wire. The narrow line of energy lanced against each column like the taloned finger of a fire-breathing monster. Charred gashes smoked in the aftermath as the shot collided with people at the far end, and several guards met their end—bodies halved and heads severed. It was a gruesome scene and one Magnus did not relish. His sole objective was getting out of the danger area and to Nolan’s LZ.
“Run!” Magnus yelled. Abimbola and Rohoar took off down the hallway, beating hard toward the light of day. Magnus followed, turning every few steps to make sure they weren’t being followed. His eyes counted down the meters to the threshold’s exterior steps. Then he heard shouts and saw more Luma and guards move between the columns behind them. His eyes glitched, unable to process the numbers without an extended look.
Splick! How many reinforcements do these peacemongers keep on hand?
Magnus followed Rohoar into broad daylight, and they bounded down the steps, along with Abimbola, three at a time. Magnus looked up when he heard the whine of Rohoar’s shuttle. Nolan was inbound.
“There!” Magnus pointed to a low wall with slender light posts. “Set a defensive perimeter!”
“Will do, buckethead,” Abimbola replied.
“Rix? Titus? What in splick’s name is taking you so long?”
“Here!” Rix yelled, waving from around the left side of the building.
“Get over here, and double up o
n Abimbola and Rohoar!”
“Copy.”
Magnus was down the steps, sucking air hard. He slid through the dirt and leaned his back against the low wall just as blaster fire skipped off its top. “Simone?”
“Already got you covered, buckethead.”
Magnus searched the surrounding buildings on the opposite side of the large lawn some three hundred meters away.
“You’re not gonna see us,” she said, “so don’t bother looking. We see you, and that’s all you need to know, Marauder.”
He smiled. “Copy that.”
Marauder. Magnus still hadn’t gotten used to the new team designation—he might never. But he found it endearing, especially in a firefight. It meant that he belonged somewhere and was part of a team, even if it wasn’t the one he’d started out with. He reminded himself to thank Simone later. The small comment meant more to him than she knew.
“Simone, wait for my signal. Can’t risk losing you and Silk early. Everyone else, stay covered, and protect the shuttle.”
Nolan descended to the lawn. The green grass lay flat under the ship’s thrusters. Even the tree limbs on the lawn’s distant perimeter rustled violently. Magnus shielded his head as small pebbles pelted his body.
Unlike the many noobs Magnus had worked with, Nolan never actually touched down. He hovered the shuttle less than a meter off the deck, keeping her completely stationary under heavy fire. The kid’s a damn pro.
More Luma and guards burst out of the entrance like a flood, pouring down the exterior stairs, blasters blazing. Magnus reloaded his last energy mag and took down one combatant after another. The enemy-rich environment made target acquisition easy for his eyes. He could have taken a pray-and-spray approach and still maintained a ninety-percent effective fire rate. Targeting reticles vanished as soon as the victims’ bodies wavered. Target eliminated, the results read over and over.
Bolts of light crisscrossed the front steps in blues and reds as sparks showered Magnus and his men. More and more blaster fire landed on the shuttle, but Nolan held her steady. Like a splick-flying rock. There were good pilots, and there were great pilots. And then there was Nolan.
Ruins of the Galaxy Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 76