Ezo and Sootriman exchanged playful looks before Sootriman said, “I don’t see why not.”
“You got something in mind, ’Six?” Ezo asked.
“I think I can froth some milk into cream, yes.”
“Froth what?” Ezo gave Sootriman a bemused look while Saasarr glared at the robot in confusion.
“Beat an egg quickly,” the bot added to clarify.
“You mean whip something up?” Ezo said.
“Precisely. You know—metaphor.”
“Come on,” Sootriman said. “Lead the way, oh magnanimous milk frother. My peasants await.”
* * *
Four figures emerged from the docking complex and into the crisp night air, turning toward the heart of Gangil, Ki Nar Four’s capital floating city. The planet’s volcanic activity, some twenty-thousand kilometers below, reflected against the clouds that hovered above the city, casting it in a dirty amber hue. Chimney stacks and industrial vents spewed exhaust into the atmosphere in an eternal attempt to keep the city aloft, held in safety far above the planet’s lethal mix of gases.
TO-96 wasted no time in moving out in front of the group while Ezo and Saasarr flanked Sootriman. Within another block, the bot stepped into the middle of the street, which made several skiffs blare their horns at him. But as he pointed his weaponized forearms at them from beneath his cloak, they quickly veered away—though still sending vulgar gestures and comments at him.
“Trying to make new friends?” Ezo asked the bot.
“Follow me,” TO-96 said, motioning everyone to follow him into the middle of the street.
Ezo shrugged at Sootriman, then said, “After you.”
“No,” Saasarr said. “After me.” The lizard-man stepped out in front of Sootriman and raised his hand at another hover skiff that didn’t seem to mind running people over. But when the driver saw the Reptalon, his eyes went wide. The skiff veered into a food cart, knocking its contents onto the filth-ridden sidewalk.
Sootriman followed after Saasarr with Ezo picking up the rear. As soon as TO-96 saw the three walking toward him, he turned his attention back down the street. He raised one hand toward the sky and fired three micro-rockets, the white tails of which braided around one another until the projectiles detonated with sequential booms. A warning klaxon bellowed from TO-96’s chest, followed by the near-deafening sound of his voice.
“Attention, common folk of Gangil. To all those lurking in the shadows of iniquity and pondering their demise at the hands of the merciless plagues…”
“Merciless plagues?” Ezo asked Sootriman. “What kind of books was Piper into?”
“Shhh,” Sootriman said. “I want to see where this is going.”
Already, the bot had people’s attention. Heads turned, and conversations died down. Shop owners stopped their transactions, and drivers slowed their vehicles.
“Yes, you, pitiful miscreants and sycophants, doomed in your perilous plights to beat the ground with tool and trowel, condemned to the meager existence of those cursed with the—”
“’Six,” Ezo hissed. “We want them to be enamored with her, not stone us.”
“I am simply trying to make them see their current state as being below that of Sootriman’s,” TO-96 replied.
“I think you made your point. Move it along.”
TO-96 resumed his loud proclamation to his not so doting masses. “Behold! The quadrant’s guiding light and the mystery of virginity, the stable boy’s fancy and the flame of fabulous fantasies, I give you the conquering mistress of the assassin’s blade and blaster, quenched at the illustrious sight of her gaze, the one, the only, Sootrimaaaan, Queen of Ki Nar Fouuuur!”
As TO-96’s voice expanded, reverberating off buildings to a crescendo, he fired off six more micro-rockets, and this time they detonated with an incendiary shower of sparks. People screamed at the sound, ducking for cover. Then, just as Sootriman pulled her hood back, rear-facing LEDs on the bot’s head popped on, bathing Sootriman’s body in white light. Her white cloak and red dress shimmered in the bot’s lights—the damn things actually sparkled.
Ezo was a breath away from scolding TO-96 when someone along the sidewalk started clapping. Ezo spun to see a bedraggled old coot inside a bodega step out of the doorway. Then the man put two dirty fingers in his mouth and whistled. Within seconds, dozens of people were clapping—and then hundreds. Faces poked out of windows, and drivers stepped out of their vehicles. All up and down the main street leading to her den, Sootriman had a veritable sea of adoring fans showering her with praise.
“Son of a bitch,” Ezo said with his hands on his hips.
Sootriman glanced at Ezo. “I like him.”
* * *
The parade continued to Sootriman’s domed headquarters in the middle of the city. By the time Ezo and the others reached the burned-out main entrance, the streets were full of people celebrating their beloved leader’s momentous—if not slightly melodramatic—return.
“Thank you,” Sootriman said, waving to the cheering crowds. She repeated herself several times, touching her chest in appreciation, then waving again.
“There’s a point to all this, right?” Ezo asked, yelling above the din.
“Relax, husband,” she said, still waving and smiling. “It’s coming.”
Ezo turned away from the crowds. He rubbed his forehead, wondering how much longer this might go on. When he thought the praise might die, a chant began to pulse in the air.
“Soo-tri-maan! Soo-tri-maan!” the people cried, pounding fists against whatever they could hit. The sound was almost deafening. Ezo almost let his impatience get the best of him when someone tugged on his sleeve.
“Are you with her?” the man yelled.
Not expecting the question, Ezo did his best to nod.
“You’re one lucky son of a dimdish,” the man replied, then slapped Ezo on the back.
Ezo stepped away from the man, eyeing him. Then he looked at Sootriman, and then at all the people cheering for her. This woman, his wife, was—well, she was adored. Why he’d never seen this sooner, he didn’t know. But these people, her people, actually loved her. And why shouldn’t they? he asked himself.
Sootriman was, after all, the most remarkable woman he’d ever known. Hell, she was the greatest woman in the galaxy as far as he was concerned. And like her parents, Sootriman was born to rule, next in a royal line of benevolent leaders. Granted, reigning over Caledonia was a far cry from the criminally rogue world of Ki Nar Four. But if barely surviving the wars with the Akuda had taught Sootriman anything, Ezo figured it was how to handle herself around a bunch of bloodsucking scum bags hellbent on eviscerating her. And scumbags of Ki Nar Four loved her for it.
Why Ezo had never seen Sootriman in this light, he didn’t know. Perhaps, like many things in life, he’d just taken her for granted. But seeing her in front of her people like this was—well, it’s pretty incredible, he thought. So he smiled. And then he clapped for her and stepped down into the masses to see how it felt—to see her through their eyes. And she was beautiful.
* * *
“All that to say, I have a mission for some of you,” Sootriman said. She’d been speaking for almost five minutes, using TO-96’s audio system as a public address system. His speakers projected the sound detected from her in-ear comm so that her voice traveled over the masses and echoed off the buildings. Not that she needed much help—the people were dead quiet. Right up until she gave them something to cheer about.
“Granted, it is not for the faint of heart,” Sootriman said. “Nor is it for those looking to turn a profit. Some might even find themselves staring down the barrel of a blaster before it’s through.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” someone yelled from the audience. Several people laughed.
Sootriman nodded in appreciation. “Even so, you’ll be placing your life in jeopardy in ways you can’t possibly imagine.”
“Anything for you, our queen!” someone else screamed. The words
were met with several shouts of affirmation and more applause. Sootriman let the cheers linger before raising a hand to silence everyone.
“Be that as it may, know that what we face in the coming days is not like anything we’ve encountered before. The quadrant is under assault from the same people who attacked Ki Nar Four, killed many who you knew, and tried to kill me. These forces also threaten peaceful systems and planets—rogue or otherwise. And Ki Nar Four will not be excluded if our enemies have their way. If you have kin and a home that cannot afford your absence, I do not think less of you for staying here. But if you feel worthy of a great task, then join me.
“My bot here will take your applications in order of appearance and make them known to me until we have filled out our roster. We will depart again in three days’ time with all those who make the cut. The rest of you, pray to the mystics for our success and safe return.”
Sootriman paused and looked over the crowds. Ezo thought he saw a tear glisten in her eye but couldn’t be sure. She loves them, he thought, surprised by the tenderness of her affection. The warlord actually loves them.
“Thank you, everyone. Dominate, liberate.”
There was a momentary pause as the crowd seemed to consider how to respond to Sootirman’s words. Then, something magical happened—something that Ezo would never have imagined in a hundred years. The sea of faces, stretching from left to right and down the streets that stemmed away from Sootriman’s den like spokes from a wheel hub, raised their voices and yelled, “Dominate, liberate!”
Having never heard the mantra of the Gladio Umbra before—at least as far as Ezo knew—the people took to the phrase with unusual affinity. It wasn’t like they were an army of disciplined troopers, drilled in call and response by red-faced instructors. No, these were convicts and enemies of various states around the sector. These were people whose luck had run out elsewhere, the galaxy’s refuse. But they were also survivors. And they reminded Ezo of Abimbola’s Marauders, and of those who lived in the Dregs of Oorajee. People like that would fight if given a chance—fight until they won, or died trying.
Sootriman spun on a heel, cloak and dress billowing in TO-96’s lights. Then she fled from the crowd and disappeared into her den’s blackened entry tunnel. Ezo followed her while Saasarr stood guard beside TO-96, the bot already ordering people to calm down as he tried to take their applications. Ezo listened to the crowd chant Sootriman’s name as he followed their queen into the depths of her burned out home.
6
“You might want to take cover,” Forbes said from beside his still-closed front door. Magnus and Caldwell had their pistols drawn and helmets on while the captain looked at the exterior camera’s holo feed. “A hundred credits says they already see us.”
Magnus nodded at Caldwell. The two split up and covered the door from different angles. Then Forbes activated his camera and addressed the four Luma Elders outside.
“Good evening, Captain Forbes,” said the foremost figure, dressed in the Order’s signature robes.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the morning,” Forbes replied. “And since you woke me up, I’m not sure it’s all that good.”
“We are sorry to disturb you, sir, but we have reason to believe there are two fugitives on your property.”
“Fugitives?”
“That’s correct. We are here to take the people in question into custody and escort them to holding.”
“Who issued the order?”
“The order comes by way of Master So-Elku, sir. And in case you need reminding, you are here at the pleasure of the Order.”
“No,” Forbes replied. “I’m standing on sovereign Republic territory granted through the mutually agreed upon terms of the Valdaiga Accords. So if Master So-Elku wishes to convey orders, he’ll do so through the proper channels.”
“Master So-Elku has been unable to reach Colonel Caldwell since the firefight, and you are the highest-ranking survivor, are you not?”
“The Order can file a complaint with me in the morning. I’m going back to sleep.”
The Luma’s tone grew more stern. “Captain Forbes, I’m afraid we must insist on searching the premises. We have reason to believe you are harboring traitors to both the Order and the Republic.”
“Well, that escalated quickly. Still, you can file a complaint through my office in the morning.”
“We are under orders to search your home with or without your consent.”
“You do know you’ve just threatened a Galactic Republic Marine Corps officer on sovereign soil.”
“If you see our presence as a threat, that is up to you. However, we will enter the premises by force if you refuse to let us in peacefully.”
“I’m pretty sure a Margonian merrel rat crawled up his butt and died with its teeth stuck in his colon,” Caldwell said from in the kitchen. “Let’s end this.”
“Who was that?” the Luma asked.
“Your mom,” Forbes replied. “And she wants you to back away from the door, or else this is going to end poorly for you.”
“Is that a threat, captain?”
“No,” Forbes said. “But this is. Door, open.”
Forbes’s automated home security system immediately opened the front door. The panels weren’t even fully separated when Forbes fired a blaster bolt from his MC99 and struck the first Luma in the torso. But the shot seemed to wrap around the Luma as if surging around a personal force field.
“Splick!” Forbes yelled as he dove from the doorway in time to avoid a blast of energy that shot through the house and out the back wall. Debris sprinkled down on Magnus as he leaned out from a pillar and fired two three-shot bursts with his V at the first Luma. Again, a force field displaced the bolts.
The Luma’s attention shifted toward Magnus. Aware he was the new target, Magnus ducked just as the pillar broke apart a few centimeters above his head with a loud crack. Magnus looked across the hallway to see Forbes roll into a kneeling position and aim his rifle across the path of the threshold.
“Switching to NOV1,” Magnus said to Caldwell.
“With you,” Caldwell replied.
Magnus stowed his pistol and pulled his rifle from his back. The weapon’s holo sights lit up, paired with his helmet and bioteknia eyes, and registered a full charge. Then, without looking around the corner, Magnus poked the weapon’s barrel around the pillar and sighted in on the leading Luma. The man took two steps into the house and raised his hands as if to block any incoming fire.
Blue blaster bolts from three different positions erupted from inside the house and struck the Luma in a hail of lightning. Forbes’s MC99 chewed into the man’s knees while Caldwell and Magnus’s fire pounded his chest. But again, the withering assault seemed to do little to stop the advancing man or the three behind him.
“Splick,” Magnus yelled as he pulled back behind the pillar just in time for the second Luma to send a bolt of energy whizzing by his head. The blast struck a glass wall that looked onto the back deck, blowing it into a thousand pieces.
Magnus had never fired the NOV1 on its highest setting before, but he figured now was as good a time as any—these Luma had survived the recent raid and were no doubt some of So-Elku’s best.
He moved his weapon’s fire rate to the maximum setting. A magazine discharge warning alerted him that a sustained burst of more than three seconds would drain his current magazine. He dismissed the sign, turned back toward the first Luma, and squeezed the trigger.
The NOV1 punched Magnus’s shoulder like a mad Boresian taursar and screamed like a banshee. Not even his helmet’s noise suppression system could combat the sound pressure level the weapon produced. Magnus yelled in reply as if his voice could fight back the weapon’s terrible noise in his ears. The weapon sent a blistering 3,000 rounds per second into the lead Luma’s midsection. The man’s force field gave way, and then he exploded in a shower of light—flesh flash-incinerated.
The blaster rounds that passed through the victim struck the seco
nd Luma in the chest. The man suffered a similar fate, unable to avoid the alien weapon’s sustained barrage. His shield sent the first nano-seconds of energy flinging off into the street. But the remaining blaster bolts punched through and shredded his torso until only a pair of legs and mutilated hips remained. The limbs toppled to the ground while the remaining two Luma disappeared from the doorway.
“Mystics, Magnus,” Forbes yelled from in his living room, hands covering his ears. His voice was hoarse, and Magnus realized the man hadn’t had any hearing protection. “What the hell was that?”
Magnus thought of switching to external speakers to give a snarky reply, but there was no time. Plus, Forbes wouldn’t be able to hear him anyway—the man probably needed ear surgery.
“I’m tracking one moving around the west side of the house,” Caldwell said. “The other’s looking to flank us through a window.”
“I’ll take the one out back,” Magnus replied. “You and Forbes take the peeping tom.”
“Copy that.”
“Forbes is going to need hand signals. Pretty sure he’s deaf.”
“Dammit.”
Magnus switched out to his second magazine and lowered his NOV1s fire rate by 50%. While the weapon’s max rate had done the job, it had spent too much energy. He wouldn’t be able to sustain that level of output if the firefight dragged on. Plus, he wouldn’t have the enemies stacked up again—that had been lucky.
With the glass wall shattered, Magnus stepped through it and onto the back deck. His thermal imaging showed the third Luma tracking along the home’s west side, which meant Magnus needed to find cover across the pool. From there, he could hit the enemy in the rear when the Luma addressed the house.
Magnus ran through a cluster of ferns, skirted the far right side of the pool, and took a position behind a tall stone waterfall. While he doubted it changed much for the Luma, Magnus activated his suit’s chameleon mode. There was something to be said for feeling safe—whether or not you were. Magnus also noticed several lights coming on in the adjacent homes. He even saw silhouettes appear in second-story windows as Forbes’s neighbors looked to see what was happening. The good, Magnus thought—if there was any good to be had—is that we were on a Marine Corps post. Where civilians would retreat from the sound of weapons fire, Marines would advance—even in their damn underwear.
Ruins of the Galaxy Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 139