“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Why? You know how dangerous these things are.”
“And if we leave him, then he’ll only come looking for the spear somewhere along the line.”
“So finish the job now. Kill him while you can.”
Taylor shook his head.
“A Prince who wants Bolormaa dead? No, that’s something we can use, and I have a whole lot of questions I want answered.”
“He could kill us all.”
“Then let’s make sure he doesn’t.”
“I cannot recommend this cause of action,” said Irala.
“Well, you don’t have a choice. You needed us here because you fucked up with the spear,” he said as he held it up high, “This is my mission now, and I say we take him. Restrain him and have your Guardians carry him to our ship.”
Irala looked displeased.
“Don’t question me on this,” Taylor warned.
Irala seemed to be tense and reached for a weapon, but Taylor just lifted the hammer.
“Don’t do this.”
Finally, he backed down.
“Right then, what are you waiting for? Let’s get the hell out of this shithole.”
Chapter 11
Taylor looked in on the creature, Zaya, through one-way glass. He was chained at every limb with ground anchors that they would only use for aircraft. His eyes were open now, but he seemed to show no emotion at all, as if he were waiting for something or someone. He still wore his armour, for they could not work out how to get it off him. He had been stripped of all the weapons that they knew about. They lay in a vault behind Taylor, along with Bilgunn's hammer. The doors behind him opened, and Jones stepped in with Admiral Vega.
"So this is one of Bolormaa's Princes?"
"Is, was, we’re not really sure, Admiral," replied Taylor.
"Either way, we can use him. Friend or foe, I am sure Bolormaa will want him back. That is a valuable commodity, and an unexpected bonus. Well done, Colonel."
"I’m glad to know someone thinks so."
"Councillor Irala does not agree with you keeping him alive?"
"You could say that, Admiral."
"Yeah, well, if his people had all the answers on how to beat these things, we wouldn't be in this mess today, would we?"
That brought a smile to Taylor's face.
"You must have a thousand questions for him, do you think he will answer them?"
"There’s only one way to find out."
"Just don't take any chances. He's a caged animal and will take every opportunity to get out, or lash out."
"I've dealt with his kind before," said Taylor.
He hit the door release and stepped inside. He still wore his armour but had removed all weapons. The door shut behind him, and they were left in complete silence. The creature looked into his eyes as if studying him. Taylor had never gotten time to study one of the creatures so closely, as he had always been focusing on surviving against their brutality.
"Taylor," the creature finally said.
"You know me?"
"I have heard the name. Bolormaa thinks you are a great champion of your people, are you?"
"I took you down, didn't I?"
"Not with honour, not in a fair fight."
"Honour? I'm not sure your kind even knows what that is. You butcher civilians for fun, and you wage war for what, I don't even know. What does Bolormaa actually want from war?"
There was no response.
"Your name is Zaya, isn't it?"
The creature blinked as if to acknowledge him.
"It seems like Bolormaa wants you dead, so that's something we have in common."
He began to laugh slowly.
"I don't see what's so funny?"
"You think there is some deal to be made here? That I will fight Bolormaa with you?"
Taylor shrugged.
"No, Bolormaa is mine. She will die by my hands."
Taylor shook his head as he paced back and forth, trying to make sense of it all. The alien was not answering his questions the way he wanted.
"I just don't get it. You're one of them, so why do you want to kill her so badly?"
"Your people, the humans, have they always been at peace with one another?"
That got him thinking.
"I was once like you, a champion of my people. I could have led them. All I had to do was reach out and seize power from Bolormaa, but I would not."
"I guess she didn't trust you to keep being loyal in a position of power like that?"
Zaya groaned in agreement. It made Taylor wonder about his own future.
Will I live long enough to be deposed because I am deemed to be a threat?
It was a disturbing thought; that he could bring about his own demise by being too helpful, and doing too much.
"And yet now you do want her dead?"
"After all that she has taken from me, yes, I do."
"Yeah, well, join the club."
"I won't join anyone. I will take what is mine."
"And how’s that working for you?"
Zaya didn't even respond.
"You know, the thing that pisses me off most about Bolormaa is that she won't ever answer a single question straight."
"You have met with her?" Zaya asked. He sounded surprised at what Taylor had revealed. It amazed Taylor that he wouldn't know, but he tried to hide his reaction.
"You met Bolormaa, and you lived?"
"She let me live."
Zaya seemed confused. "I don't believe you."
"Yeah, well, maybe I don't give a shit what you believe. I have you, and I have the spear."
"For now."
"You realise you are powerless here, right?"
Zaya didn't seem to care.
"You feel that harness connected up to your head? If a single one of your restraints breaks, of if I push this button," he said, holding up a controller he held in his left hand, "Or anyone in that control room presses their button, it's five hundred thousand volts straight into your brain. You are not getting out of here unless I say so, and there ain't much chance of you convincing me to do that."
Zaya smiled in response, but Taylor couldn't work out if he just didn't care or he had confidence that somehow he would be able to escape.
"If you hate Bolormaa as much as I do, why don't you help me? We want the same thing."
"I have no care for what you want."
"Not even if we can help one another?"
"The only way you can help me is by setting me free."
Taylor sighed in frustration. He stepped up to half a metre away from Zaya's face. He could see it was badly scarred, some very old, and many quite fresh marks. He wondered if the rest of his body would be similar.
"You've had a hard life," said Taylor.
"So have you." Zaya looked directly into Taylor's eyes and could see the weariness in them.
"What the hell am I to do with you? My Admiral believes we can use you to bargain with Bolormaa. What do you think about that?"
Once again he laughed at the absurdity of what he thought about what Taylor had said.
"Bolormaa does not bargain. She takes what she wants. Giving me over would grant you no favours."
"It seems worth a try though, doesn't it? You're not helping us, so we've got nothing to lose, have we?"
Zaya finally looked a little concerned, but he soon calmed down.
"You would not do that."
"No, and why not?"
"Because you are a fighter, and you cannot imagine someone else doing the same to you. Putting you in a cage and then casting you over to the enemy. Helpless and left to die like some insect."
Taylor didn’t like that he was right, but he knew deep down it was the truth. He hated Bolormaa and her kind, and yet this one had given him no reason to hate or want to see him dead. He stepped back and paced back and forth as he thought it over.
"It wouldn't hurt you to answer a few questions, woul
d it?" he asked.
But Zaya didn't look particularly co-operative.
"Why has Bolormaa come? What does she want?"
"Only she knows that."
"So what, her followers, her Princes, they follow just because she tells them to?"
Zaya nodded.
"And they do it why? Because she’s the most powerful being in existence, is that it?"
"She will be, until I end her life."
"And what makes you think you can?"
"I was the greatest of them, the greatest champion."
"But you've never fought her, have you?"
Zaya looked away, and the answer was clear.
"With the Tamir, I could. I have waited an age for that weapon to be found, and nothing will stop me from using it."
"You've been what, exiled, for all these years?"
"Hundreds of your years. Maybe even thousands. Time can become so irrelevant."
"So you weren't involved in any of this, the war against us, and the Aranui?"
"I fought the Aranui. I would have crushed them were it not for Bolormaa's orders not to."
Shit!
He knew that was going to be a sticking point with Irala. He would do his best to keep quiet about it, but somehow Irala always had a way of finding these things out.
"She made you stop killing? Why?"
"Nobody questioned the will of the Queen."
"Not even when her orders were bat shit crazy? Not that they were in that circumstance."
"I never questioned her orders until the day she tried to have me killed."
"Yeah, life can be a bitch like that. So what, you are going to kill her and seize power?"
Zaya didn't even seem certain.
"All I care about is ending her life," he added.
Taylor was in a curious position, but he really didn't know what to think. He was trying to find some way that he could put the alien to use for their benefit, but he knew he had no logical reason to trust a single thing that a Morohtan said.
"You know there was a day when a Krys Lord was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. How life can toss and turn."
Zaya smiled. "The Krys, they were nothing more than an experiment."
"What do you mean?"
The alien didn't seem keen to tell him any more.
"Come on, Zaya, what have you got to lose? What the hell does it matter if you tell me?"
"The Krys, as you call them, were nothing more than slaves. An experiment to mix the DNA of other creatures with Amitads to make a superior warrior."
"And then they turned on Bolormaa?"
"Yes, and troublesome they were. They bred in great numbers and are a scourge."
"A scourge?" Taylor smiled, "As opposed to Bolormaa and her marauding whack jobs who seem intent on destroying the universe? The Krys just wanted what we had, and if getting rid of us was the best way to get it, then they were willing to walk that path. But not Bolormaa! I can't even imagine what sick fantasy she has cooked up, but she seems to want nothing more than to cause pain and suffering."
"I wouldn't presume to know what Bolormaa wants."
"Well, maybe it's time to start thinking. If you don't understand your enemy, how can you hope to beat them?"
There was no response, but it was Taylor who now began to laugh, and that seemed to make Zaya uncomfortable. He chuckled away for a while before answering.
“You don’t even know why you do what you do? You kill for her, conquer worlds for her, and the only thing that makes you stop is when she wants you dead? That’s no kind of life.”
“Is yours any different?”
Taylor just couldn’t understand what his agenda was.
Is everything as simple as he makes it out to be?
He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t get much of a reading from the creature. He turned and walked out with another word, waiting for the door to shut. Only Jones was left in the room. He had hoped the Admiral had stayed, but he understood why he hadn’t.
“Well that was weird,” said Jones.
Taylor nodded in agreement.
“Do you believe what he says?”
“No.”
Though both of them knew there was doubt in his answer.
“He’s playing you.”
“Maybe,” replied Taylor, although he sounded uncertain.
“Come on, he’s one of them. I can’t believe for a minute that he can be anything but bad news for us.”
Taylor shook his head. “We don’t know what is going on here, but I intend to find out.”
He stood there for a few moments studying the creature. Zaya was slighter than the other Princes, though no shorter. He seemed to be more toned and agile, a more refined fighter, perhaps. He’d watched Zaya cut down one of the Princes as if it were any other day. That kind of skill was to be admired and feared, all at the same time.
“Come on, I’ve seen enough,” said Jones.
For some reason Taylor had the urge to stay, but he knew it would be a mistake. They drew their weapons and stepped out of the brig. They wandered out into the corridors of the ship. Neither said a word as they thought about everything they had just seen and heard. They couldn’t believe they had even managed to recover the Pauri Tau without a single casualty.
“It was too easy, wasn’t it?” Jones finally spoke.
“I’m starting to sense that.”
Even as he said it, an alarm rang out.
“This can’t be good,” replied Jones.
“Action stations, all hands on deck,” the announcement came.
A moment later another announcement rang out, but this time more urgent and panicked.
“Brace for impact!”
“Ah, shit!” Taylor yelled.
The ship rocked from a heavy blast that made them stagger over to the sidewall.
“I knew this was a mistake. It was a trap!”
“We don’t know that, Jones. Let’s find out what the hell is going on first.”
He looked down to see there were no comms. The nearest console was out, too.
“No wired connections, will they never learn?”
They ran towards the bridge. It was a short way, but they felt another two impacts en route before bursting onto the bridge. It was a chaotic mess. They watched the screens ahead. The fleet was jumping out all around them, while two Morohtan battleships stood off a kilometre ahead of their position with four support vessels.
“What the hell is going on?” Taylor shouted.
“The…the…fleet is jumping out,” said Wilcox.
“They’re leaving us behind?” Jones asked in astonishment.
“They have to. They can’t stand against that,” replied Taylor, “What about us, Captain, how long until we jump?”
He could tell from the look on the Captain’s face that it wasn’t going to happen.
Oh, fuck! I don’t believe it!
“They took out our engines within seconds, Colonel. They hit us with everything they had. I am amazed we are even still alive.”
“We are alive because they want us to be.” Taylor looked out at the vessels ahead of them.
“What do you mean, Colonel?”
“We have the Pauri Tau, and we have Zaya. They wouldn’t risk destroying this ship.”
Jones coughed lightly as if to draw Taylor’s attention before speaking quietly.
“What if they’d rather see that spear and their traitor dead? Did that ever occur to you?”
“No way Bolormaa would go for that. She’s arrogant. She wouldn’t risk losing the weapon, and she wants to deal with Zaya personally, looking on with her own eyes.”
“Making some pretty big assumptions here, aren’t you?”
“I stood before her and was willing to give everything. I saw what kind of monster she is.”
“And you still think you can play her?”
“I can play her game, yes.”
“You are playing with fire.”
“Always.”
&n
bsp; “We are being hailed, Sir.”
“Wait!” Taylor ordered.
The whole crew looked anxious.
“Colonel, you are…”
“Shhh!” snapped Taylor, “They aren’t going to destroy us, not a chance.”
“You’re taking a big gamble there,” added Jones.
“No gamble at all. We can’t move. They know that, and we know it. If they wanted to destroy us, they would have done so by now. They are gong to ask for a trade, and when we don’t give it, we are going to be boarded.”
Jones didn't look convinced, but he didn't argue any further.
"What are your orders, Colonel?" Wilcox asked humbly.
It was clear he was giving complete control and responsibility over to Taylor. He knew he had to think fast.
"Sir, they're still hailing us?"
"Wait!"
He was throwing together a plan in his mind. He wished he had gotten more time, and that he had considered the possibility of this eventuality sooner. He knew it had been too easy.
"Zaya, he led them right to us," said Jones.
"We don't know that," he replied and turned back to Wilcox.
"The engines, how much time would you need to get us jump ready again?"
"The crew is working on it now, but it will be fifteen to twenty minutes at the best."
"All right, then let's find out what they want. I'll do the talking. As far as they are concerned, our docking bay doors are out, and if they want to collect from us, they're gonna have to do it themselves. Open a channel."
Seconds later a Morohtan Prince was projected before them. It was exactly what Taylor had feared. The crew all around him were terrified by even the projection, and he understood why.
"Give is the spear and that creature Zaya, or you will be destroyed," said the alien forcefully.
"I am Colonel Taylor. Whom am I speaking to?"
"Prince Yisun."
"Well, it's like this, chief. You aren't going to destroy us because you want what we have, but I can't give it to you because that salvo you hit it with has taken out the power to our docking bay doors. So you're gonna have give us a little while."
"Don't play games with me, human."
"No games, I promise you."
"You have five minutes to open your doors, or we will tear your ship apart."
"Got it," replied Taylor.
He vanished before their eyes as the transmission ended.
"Get me engineering," said Taylor.
Battle Beyond Earth: Invasion Page 16