“I’m not lying,” Haakoro insisted.
“It barely matters if you are telling the truth,” Irtuus-bon said. “What matters is that … I do not believe you. And I do not. You did not buy these files from some mysterious, unknown informant. You were given them, and your memories modified to provide an explanation. I do … not believe you. And I do not believe these files. This is a trap. The Benevolence hope to draw us out, in a grand attack on the crown jewel of their power. They know that we would not dare attempt such a thing with a small force. They hope to bring out the full weight of the Noble Opposition against them, to be crushed there once and for all. And once that is done, they can begin to play the remaining races against one another, as they have done in the past, and none are left to resist them. We should … erase this information, and forget we ever found it. It is untrue. It is poison. It will destroy us all.”
This time, the silence in the room was natural.
Twenty-Nine
“I’m not going in there,” Almuz den Ahsaar said. He had joined up with Barren’s people for three hots and a cot, not to get killed by a goddamn tiny. “Call the ogre. Just tell him we’ve got her cornered.”
“Why the hell not?” asked his search partner. Almuz thought his name might be Simon. The man didn’t talk much, and Almuz hadn’t been terribly happy to be partnered with him to go through the ship. “Let’s just go kill her like we were supposed to. We might end up with a reward if we kill her ourselves.”
“That’s blood,” Almuz said, pointing at some smears on the floor next to the locked entrance to K’Shorr’s gun closet. “Which means she killed one of us already. Isn’t gnome blood green or something?”
“I think it’s red like ours,” maybe-Simon said. “And I think you’re an asshole. You stay out here. We’ll go kill her.” Maybe-Simon gestured to two other mercs that Almuz barely recognized, one of whom hung back with him while the other shrugged and went into the room.
“Do we even have a direct comm to K’Shorr?” Almuz asked. “He said to let him know if we found anything but it’s not like he gave us his card or something. I swear, this job gets worse and worse every day.”
“I don’t,” the other man said. “We could just tell the bridge.”
The sound of two shots echoed into the hallway. Moments later, there were two thuds. After that, silence.
“Fuck me,” Almuz said. “I’m not going in there.”
“Let’s call the bridge,” the other man said. He backed away, having a quiet subvocalized comm conversation with someone.
“We’re ordered to move in,” he said. “K’Shorr’s on his way. They say if we’re not in the room when K’Shorr gets here we’re going to regret it.”
“Fuck that,” Almuz said. “I got shit to do. I don’t feel like getting killed today.”
“And I don’t feel like pissing off an ogre. Come on, dammit, let’s go.”
Goddammit. Almuz checked his ammo level, which was annoyingly fine. He gestured toward the door with his gun. “You go first. Enjoy the glory.”
The other man spat on the floor in front of Almuz and then slowly crept into the room, his gun at the ready. Almuz followed at what felt like a safe distance. The room was bare, featuring nothing more than an oversized bed and a freestanding wardrobe, with a nearly unused chair sitting in a corner, almost as an afterthought. The room wasn’t used much. And it smelled funny.
There were two bodies on the floor. Both had a single burn wound to the head from an energy pistol.
“Under the bed?”
“Dunno,” Almuz said. “Either under the bed or in the wardrobe.”
The other man fired several shots into the wardrobe, then dropped flat on the floor and repeated the action into the space under the bed.
“You better hope K’Shorr’s not keeping anything important in there,” Almuz said.
“He isn’t,” came a deep voice from behind him. “Good thinking. Both of you. You check under the bed and you–” this time, pointing at Almuz–“get the closet open. She’s in one of them.” The giant ogre strode across the room and shoved the chair over, showing only empty space behind it.
“Nothing under here,” the mercenary said.
“Must be in there, then,” Almuz said. He tore the door open, revealing … nothing. A few items of clothing, some with fresh burn marks on them. No body. No blood.
“You sure she came in here?” K’Shorr said.
“She was shooting at us, and then she ducked in here,” Almuz said. “There’s no way she got out. Somebody shot these guys.” He looked back into the hallway.
When he turned back into the room, there was a gun in his face. The gun was upside-down. So was the gnome holding it.
Shit, she was dangling from the ceiling.
I didn’t know gnomes could climb, he thought, holding his hands up and mouthing don’t kill me. The gnome looked at him quizzically, then beckoned him into the room. K’Shorr was tearing his bed to pieces just a few meters away. Neither of the two of them were looking their way.
Almuz took a deep breath and took another step into the room, just underneath where she was hanging. The gnome planted a hand on the top of his head and then somehow swung herself onto his back.
“Back out of the room,” she said quietly into his ear. “And expect to get your ass knocked out a few seconds later. You make a sound, I’ll kill you like the other two.”
He did what he was told. K’Shorr was in full rage, and Almuz watched the other merc take a punch to the chin. The man hit the wall, his neck not at all at a normal angle.
“Thanks,” he heard her say, and then a blinding pain in his head as the world went black.
They emerged from tunnelspace into relative calm. Initial long-range scans showed no ships of any consequence. Whatever was going on on Khkk, it didn’t involve a deep-space fleet just yet.
“Open the hangar bays,” Overmorrow commanded. “Everyone who isn’t already on their own boat should be at battle stations.” Xe opened a shipwide comm. “Do what seems best once you are on your own. We have no battle commander. I assume the majority of you with atmosphere-capable ships will join the land battle. Roashan will remain in orbit to guard against Benevolence incursion. The best of luck to all of you. If you are to die today, make it a good death.”
Hangar shields dropped and doors opened across Roashan. Dozens of spaceships, ranging in size from harmless-looking single-passenger craft to a handful of battle cruisers, poured out of the station. The cloud of ships hung in space around the Malevolence station before some critical mass was achieved and they began moving off toward Khkk, still several minutes away at in-system speeds.
“Find them something to shoot when they get there,” Overmorrow said. Roashan’s bridge was mostly staffed by dwarves, a few of whom were poring over holomaps of Khkk’s surface.
“The part of the fight we’re concerned about is here,” Smashes-the-Stars said, enlarging a portion of the map and highlighting a corner of Khkk’s largest continent. “We have a base at this location, a temple the locals call the Sanctum of the Sphere.”
“I am familiar with it,” Overmorrow replied.
“This is where most of our people are. There’s some manufacturing there, mostly Khkk weapons engineers who we’ve been able to persuade over to our side and we haven’t been able to get off-world yet, and our own support staff. We thought no one would ever notice us there. Most of the Khkks treat the place like it’s cursed.”
“Yet they do not mind attacking it to drive us out,” Overmorrow said. “What of the rest of these conflicts?”
“Most of what’s taking place on Khkk doesn’t even have anything to do with us,” Smashes-the-Stars said. “The initial spark was because of us, yeah, but after that it was like the entire planet was looking for an excuse to go to war with itself. The conflict’s worldwide by now. The Khkks have ethnic groups and nationalities just like humanoids. Any group of bugs on Khkk that was angry at any other has basically g
one directly to open force by now. There is open genocide taking place on three different continents. I’ve never heard of anything like it.”
“Then we deal with our portion of it first,” Overmorrow decided. “Once our people are safe, we see if we can assist anywhere else. The Benevolence are unlikely to concern themselves overmuch with regional disputes.”
“There’s a capital ship in orbit around Khkk,” one of the dwarves said. “It’s an older ship, not Benevolence, and it’s not involved in the fighting yet. Should we contact them?”
“Leave them alone,” Overmorrow said. “For now. But keep a close eye on them.”
The Noble Opposition fleet sped silently through space, eager to join the battle.
“There’s our answer, then,” Brazel said. “No hope, no point. The whole thing was a trap. So I’m back to where we were a bit ago: I’m going to go collect my wife, and then come back to get my kids, and then we’re done here. With all of you.”
The gnome looked around, daring anyone to argue with him.
“We have to try,” Haakoro said.
“We don’t have to try,” Brazel said. “Were you not listening? The troll says the data is fake. That means charging off to save the world is going to get all of us killed.”
“Hell, I’m not even sure I want to be the guys who blew up the Testament,” Grond added. “If there’s a better way to paint a target on your back, I don’t know what it is. Let’s say you survived the attack. Are you still alive six months later? I kinda doubt it.”
“I’m telling you, I can do this. I’m lucky. I always have been. Somebody’s gotta do the right thing,” Haakoro said. “The Benevolence are evil.”
“To you,” Brazel retorted. “They’ve left gnomespace alone.”
“They blew up your ship,” Haakoro replied.
“I blame you for that,” Brazel said. “Thanks for reminding me.” The edge in his voice could cut glass. Even Haakoro caught his tone, and lowered his gaze, unable to make eye contact with the gnome any longer.
“Enough,” Asper said. “My parent is leading an attack to preserve Opposition forces on Khkk right now. Your wife is on a ship in orbit around Khkk. Our paths will stay aligned long enough. The Testament is not even in-system at the moment. This argument may be had later.”
“Agreed,” Remember said. “We will support the Noble Opposition ourselves. Brazel and Grond will do as they wish. Your family will be safe here until your return.” She turned to Irtuus-bon.
“You are certain that the data Haakoro brought is false?”
“As certain as I can be,” Irtuus-bon replied. “I have been … wrong before. I do not think I am now.”
“If you will, please share what you have with my people,” Remember said. “We will look through it as well. Perhaps the Benevolence inadvertently included a scrap of useful detail that you have overlooked. It seems unlikely that it is all useless.” Irtuus-bon gave Remember a slight bow, then left with one of her crew members.
“One more thing, first,” Brazel said. “Get me to a holoscreen. I need to start a fight with somebody.”
Thirty
“What do you mean you haven’t found her yet?” Barren seethed. “A few minutes ago two of your idiots were insisting they had her pinned in your quarters. How did you lose her?”
“She’s good,” K’Shorr responded evenly. “And these idiots you’ve staffed this boat with aren’t. I gotta be honest, boss, picking her up wasn’t your best move. Shoulda killed her on the spot.”
“A mistake I won’t make again,” Barren said. “Perhaps I do have to do everything myself. I will find her, and–”
His ship-to-ship comm began blinking, distracting him from his rant. He opened the connection, irritated by the distraction.
“Identify yourself,” he snapped. “I have little time for intrusions at the moment.”
“You know who the fuck I am,” the voice on the other end said. A moment later, the holoscreen resolved itself into the shape of a gnome in a rather dapper pilot’s outfit. “And I don’t care what you think you have time for. I want to talk to Rhundi. Go get her.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Barren hissed. “If you ever want to see her again, you’ll–”
“Right. Okay. You don’t have a goddamn thing,” Brazel said. “Go ahead. You’ve got Rhundi? Produce her. Shove a camera in her face. Hell, shoot her right onscreen if you’ve actually got her. I’ll wait. If she’s not smart enough to be able to get away from you I’m divorcing her anyway.”
“You’re actually daring me to kill your family?” Barren said, his face registering mild shock. “I can’t believe–”
“Shut up,” Brazel interrupted. “Shut your stupid mouth right now. You don’t have her. Rhundi’s not stupid enough that you could hold on to her for long, and if you had her, you’d be parading her in front of a camera. She’s loose right now, isn’t she? And you’re trying to do your damnedest to get control of the situation back. Fuck you, Barren. If you wanted a hostage, you should have kidnapped one of my kids, you idiot.”
Barren’s eyes blazed, his mouth working, but no sound came across the holocomm.
“That’s what I thought. I’ll tell you what. You’ve got until we get to Khkk to hand your ship over to my wife and command whatever shred of Benevolence forces will listen to you to stand down and leave town. If that doesn’t happen, Barren, I promise you that I will be there when you die, assuming my wife doesn’t get to you first. We clear? Good.”
Brazel ended the comm. There was scattered applause from the gnomes in the room.
“You didn’t wait for him to say yes,” Grond said. “That was rather rude of you.”
“Don’t care,” Brazel said.
“And so much for the element of surprise,” Grond said.
“Don’t care about that either,” he said. “I want this over. I’m tired and I’m done and I want this over. Hopefully we can get it done without killing a bunch of people. Although, if we can’t, I’m not sure I care about that either.”
“Fine,” Grond said. He turned to everyone else. “Who’s coming with us?”
“I’m coming,” Darsi said.
“No, you aren’t,” Brazel and Grond said in unison. No one dared to laugh. The gnome girl opened her mouth to protest.
“Not the time, sweetheart,” Grond said. She looked at him for a moment, then held up her hands, surrendering.
“Fine. I’ll keep everybody here calm.”
“Asper?”
“I believe I will accompany the two of you,” xe said. “Unless the lady Remember has another ship she is willing to part with for me.”
Remember nodded. “What I have is at your disposal.”
“Stick with us,” Grond said. “We could probably use the backup.”
Asper nodded. “And Haakoro?”
Everyone looked around. Haakoro was gone.
“He was here a minute ago,” Darsi said.
“He’s gone off to sulk,” Brazel said. “Find him later. Lorryn, you and your people are on guard duty. Stay here with the kids. We’ll comm you when we have Rhundi.”
“We are literally soldiers, Brazel,” Lorryn protested. “We belong out there.”
“You are literally my wife’s employees,” Brazel retorted. “And you are guarding her children from and among people who I trust much, much less than I trust you. We can handle whatever fighting there happens to be. You’re here as a line of last defense. Hell, we probably ought to just send you home–”
“Not without Mom,” Darsi interrupted. “No.”
Brazel shrugged. “You’re probably safer here than in tunnelspace anyway. Last thing we need is you running into a blockship.”
“Let’s get this over with,” Grond rumbled.
“Fine,” Brazel said. “Everybody who’s leaving grab whatever they need. We’re launching as soon as my cockpit’s ready in the new ship.”
“It should be ready by now,” Remember said. “I will send word ahead.
”
“That’s it,” Barren said. “Move the crew to somewhere centralized and seal them in. We’ll vent the atmosphere on the rest of the ship. She can hide forever. Let’s see how good she is at finding her own air.”
The elf glared at the members of the crew still on the bridge with him, clearly expecting someone to jump to execute his order. No one moved. Finally, a crew engineer raised her hand tentatively and spoke up.
“Sir, the … the ship doesn’t really work like that, sir. The ventilation system, I mean. You can’t just vent the entire ship.”
Barren approached the engineer, a young human whose name he couldn’t remember. “Figure it out, or I’ll start by asphyxiating you just to prove the concept works. I don’t even care about the crew that much. They’re worthless. Find a way to kill Rhundi Tavh’re’muil.”
The engineer gulped and turned back to her console.
Precisely two seconds later, explosions sounded from every corner of the ship. One was directly underneath the engineer’s console, riddling her body with shrapnel and flinging her across the bridge.
“The fuck was that?” K’Shorr shouted. “Are we under attack?”
“Everyone remain calm. You are not under attack,” came a voice over shipwide comm. Barren’s eyes widened. The voice was familiar.
“Find her. Shut her up,” he seethed.
“I … I can’t,” an officer said, frantically working with his console. “She’s blown our connection to comms. I’m surprised we can even hear her.”
“Hi, Barren!” came Rhundi’s voice again. “You’re probably frothing at the mouth right now. I’ve blown holes in about a dozen places on your ship. You’ll find you’ve lost control of all sorts of shipwide systems. Those cleaning ‘bots go everywhere, and you’d be amazed at what you can make out of detergent. You’re going to land on Khkk now and let the first person you find who looks like they’re in charge arrest you. Or I’ll detonate a dozen more bombs, and this time they’ll blow the ship apart.”
“She wouldn’t dare,” Barren said to no one in particular. “She’s on the ship! She’s–”
The Sanctum of the Sphere: The Benevolence Archives, Vol. 2 Page 20