“Where did you come from?” Dr. Lenar stared at her.
“I was watching from the forest and when they took you off and left the door open, I decided to see if they might be keeping Ben in here, so I took a chance.”
There was silence, as if they couldn't conceive of someone running toward the Caruso, not away.
“You're military trained?” Kilmer asked at last.
She nodded. “I'm not in Ben's team, but I am in the Raxian Expeditionary Force. I was on the Trail when this started.”
That seemed to make sense to them.
“Of course, you're on the Trail because you've seen action with valor,” Dr. Bey nodded.
Tally decided not to contradict her, but before she could make any response at all, her little helpers, who had amped up her senses, went on alert.
She felt a subtle push for permission to act, and gave it.
She put a finger to her lips, and ran toward the wall to her right.
There was a chair, a table, and a shelf, and she jumped, using each one to get herself higher, before she leaped up onto the wide beam above the door.
“The supplies,” Dr. Bey said suddenly, eyes wide as she turned to the door. “They wanted to check them first to see if we were trying to sneak something dangerous in.”
She'd barely finished speaking when the door opened again and a Caruson soldier stepped in with a large box in his arms.
Tally hesitated a moment, unsure what the little helpers had in mind, and then relaxed into it. She dropped straight down onto his shoulders, put the laz against his ear, and shot him.
He went down silently, but the box dropped from his lifeless fingers and thumped onto the floor.
Tally was off him before he'd hit the ground, spinning to stand behind the door as the guard from outside stepped in, his gaze taking in the shock on the three scientists faces, and Ben, lying in bed, eyes burning with some emotion she couldn't read.
The guard must have been as confused as everyone else, because he didn't even raise his laz as he stepped into the room. Tally stepped out in line with him, and shot him in the ear from where she stood.
She pushed the door closed as he went down, and then, at the last moment, remembered it probably couldn't open from the inside, and grabbed the handle before it closed completely.
Wordlessly, Dr. Kilmer handed her a rock that she'd knocked off the shelf when she'd jumped to her position above the door. She used it as a prop to keep the door open a little way.
“Take what you need, we're going.”
She looked around at three blank faces and one that said more than she wanted to hear.
“Listen to her,” Ben snapped, and suddenly they were moving in swift, efficient steps, loading up packs, taking supplies from the box the soldier had dropped.
“What about Ben?” Dr. Lenar asked.
“You and I are going to support him,” Tally told Dr. Kilmer.
He nodded, and gave his pack to Dr. Bey. “Ready.”
Tally looked out the door. There were soldiers moving around at the far end of the buildings, closest to the construction, but none were looking their way.
“See the treeline over there?” She pointed, and Bey and Lenar nodded. “Run. Now.”
She didn't watch them go, she turned immediately and got beneath Ben's arm as he swung himself upright on the bed. Kilmer had already taken his other side.
She looked into Ben's eyes, saw he was wearing his special forces face.
“I'm sorry,” she said, and then she and Kilmer heaved him off the table.
He was heavy, but she could feel the little helpers . . . helping. Strengthening her somehow.
Kilmer sidled through the door first, and then they ran toward the forest, with Ben's large frame between them, his feet dragging on the ground behind them.
Tally could hear Ben breathing through the pain, and had to force herself to keep running. She was hurting him, and yet, she couldn't leave him behind in that room.
They reached the treeline and passed Lenar and Bey, who were waiting for them, eyes wide.
She led them to the place where she and the rest of Ben's team had left the packs earlier, stepping inside the fountain bush. It was a big one, more than big enough to fit everyone.
She and Kilmer laid Ben down, and then she pulled her thin mattress out her pack and they lifted Ben onto it.
He looked at her through eyes narrowed with pain, and she knelt beside him.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered again.
He shook his head, looking like he'd have a lot to say if they weren't surrounded by strangers.
“I should check him over,” Dr. Lenar murmured beside her, and Tally ceded her place.
Her muscles were screaming at her. The little helpers had redirected energy and strength where she needed it to carry Ben and run at the same time, but now it was payback time.
“How did you do that?” Dr. Bey asked. “Back in the residential dome? How did you react so fast? I didn't even really catch exactly what you did. It seemed like you climbed the wall somehow, and then you were just on that Caruson's shoulders and . . .” She petered off.
“She jumped the chair, the desk and then the shelf,” Dr. Kilmer said. “I've never seen such quick reactions. Whatever division you're in in the Raxian military, my bet is it isn't the Expeditionary Force.”
Tally opened her mouth to deny it, then closed it again. Better they think her some special forces prodigy than know the truth. They were all looking at her, now, even Dr. Lenar had twisted around from her position next to Ben, her gaze thoughtful.
She couldn't read Ben's expression.
Her hands had been trembling for a while, but now her legs started to, as well. She reached into her pack and pulled out water, drinking it in big gulps. Then she grabbed some bars, shoved them into her pocket.
“Who do these packs belong to?” Kilmer asked.
“The rest of Ben's team. I think I need to go see what's happened to them.” Tally glanced at Ben's face, saw he was about to tell her no, and unwilling to fight with him in front of an audience, she stepped through the curtain of leaves, back into the forest.
Where no one looked at her with curiosity and far too much interest.
Chapter 31
They were finally here. Not that it was going to do them much good.
Soo sank down onto one of the old, dusty couches in the supply station's communal lounge and realized her hands were shaking.
That fucker Irwin had pulled out the transmitter on the spare set she knew she'd seen in here and had either taken it or hidden it somewhere.
She'd thought Irwin had been doing a final check of the place before they left on the Trail. He'd been doing a final check all right. To make sure no one could use the spare comm set.
She rubbed a hand over her face and leaned back against the cushions.
The supply hover couldn't make it through the door, so she and Lenny had lifted Frangi up and carried her to a bed, and then Lenny had gone out to bring in the rest of the gear.
She could hear him outside, and was grateful he was seeing to it.
Frangi worried her.
There was a sickly gray tone to her skin, which was the warm shade of brown common in most Verdant Stringers.
Frangi's gray-tinged pallor told her she needed far more medical assistance than Soo and Lenny had managed to give.
It worried her sick.
She forced herself to her feet as Lenny began stacking boxes just inside the door, and carried them deeper into the room.
She didn't bother with anything more than sorting them by stacking the same things together.
“All done. You all right?” Lenny leaned against the doorjamb to look at her with tired eyes ringed with black.
Soo knew she looked no better. She nodded. “You hide the hover, I'll search for the transmitter. Maybe Irwin hid it somewhere here.” Although that would have been stupid of him.
“We don't have to look right now,” L
enny said. “You need to rest.”
But Soo was already shaking her head. “The sooner, the better, Lenny. Who knows what's happened to Tally and Ben.”
He nodded, and ducked out, and Soo closed her eyes, stretched to get out the kinks, and then started looking.
At least tonight they'd have hot water and a bed to sleep in.
It had been a hell of a run from the crash site to here. They hadn't been able to go as fast as they wanted to.
They'd ended up moving at night, too afraid of discovery to risk moving during the day, and even then, they'd had to go slow to keep the sound of the hover down, and to keep it from jolting Frangi.
Still, they were here now. And she had a job to do.
* * *
Linn Fraser stood in front of Captain Harris on the VSC warship Galaha and tried to keep his gaze steady.
“Let me get this straight. You gave your lover this warship's call signatures?” Captain Harris had walked out in front of her desk, and leaned back against it, arms crossed over her chest.
“No, Captain. I gave her the call signature for my station at the comms desk.”
“And you did this because . . .?”
“Because I miss her. She was badly injured in the mess after Cepi, and she earned a place on the current Trail team. I knew we were close enough for the Trail comms equipment to reach us, and it was a good way to keep in touch without giving away our position or any details about the warship.” He could feel the back of his neck heating up, and risked a quick glance at the captain's face.
She didn't seem as angry as his lieutenant had made out.
“So, the timeline is, she sent a message the morning the team was starting the Trail, and everything was fine. Then we went out of system on maneuvers, and today when we came back in range you got a delayed message which is timestamped the afternoon of the second day. A message that says the runner that brought them to Veltos was shot down by a Caruson warship, to send help, and by the way, your friend Ben Guthrie says hello.”
“Yes, Captain.” He shuffled his feet.
She said nothing for a moment. “You obviously tried to reply. There was no response?”
“It seems the comms set is either off, or no longer operational.”
Captain Harris pushed away from her desk. “And contact via the Veltos comms satellite?”
“It appears the satellite is off-line, or down.”
“It would be,” Harris said quietly. “If the Caruson shot down the runner, they shot down the satellite.”
Linn lifted his head. “Captain--”
Harris held up a hand, and he realized she was listening to something through an earpiece. She gave a grunt of displeasure, then fixed him with her dark eyes. “Confirmation from Situ that the runner is not responding, and the satellite appears to be gone.” The captain tilted her head. “We would never have known about it this quickly without those messages from your friend, Fraser. It seems true love might have saved the day.”
Linn's neck felt white hot but he held her gaze. “Yes, Captain.”
She grinned at him. “I like you. I want you to keep trying the Trail team's call signature until I tell you to stop. If I know Captain Guthrie, he'll be working to get the comms equipment back up again, and we're going to be there, listening, when he does.”
As Linn had been doing that anyway, he simply nodded.
Harris laughed. “You're already doing it, aren't you?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Well buckle up in that chair of yours, Sergeant, because we're heading full speed for Veltos.”
She made a shooing motion out the door, and he escaped, his step much lighter as he jogged back to his station.
He would keep calling the signature Frangi had given him until he heard from her. There was no other outcome he would accept. And they were coming for her. Weapons hot.
Chapter 32
The doctors settled around him, sipping water and getting comfortable beneath the cool green of the fountain bush. It would do nothing to hide them from any heat sensors, but there was nothing Ben could do about that.
He could feel the cool of the numbing gel, knew he was much better today than he'd been yesterday, but he'd nearly passed out when Tally and Kilmer had carried him from Rainerville. He wasn't going to be able to keep the Caruson from getting the scientists back if they came looking for them here.
His muscles trembled and spasmed at strange times, and he hoped that meant he was recovering, that he'd be able to shake off the laz hit soon, but that wasn't any help right now.
He looked at the scientists who'd been so helpful since he'd woken in their care yesterday, and forced himself to be honest with them. “If the Caruson come looking, you'll need to run. They have heat sensors.”
“Hopefully Tally will be back by then.” Bey set her water down. “I always thought Arkhoran Special Forces were the top military unit, but . . .” She shook her head. “She's something else altogether.”
Ben didn't say anything to that. It was true.
He wanted to know where his team was. Why they'd left Tally alone near Rainerville. What the hell they'd been thinking.
He forced a breath in, then out.
Suddenly, the leaves parted and Garner stood there, face stone cold, laz raised.
When he caught sight of Ben, his eyes went wide. “Captain.”
He stepped into the protection of the foliage curtain. “How did you get here?”
“Tally broke into the dome where they were keeping me and the doctors and rescued us all.” He kept his tone dry, but he saw Garner wince, and was glad he'd heard the unspoken 'you fucking idiot'.
“Where is Tally?” Garner seemed to realize there was one missing.
“She went looking for you, Handel and Sari.” He kept his voice clipped. “She seemed to be worried the Caruso might have captured or killed Handel and Sari.”
“They almost did.” Garner crouched down beside him after giving the doctors a respectful nod. “They ran, and I think they got away. I watched them head for the far treeline, away from my and Tally's position, so my guess is they'll work their way back here.”
“We're pretty close to Rainerville here. We should probably move deeper in when Tally gets back.” Ben wouldn't be moving until then.
“We have a hover, thanks to Tally, so moving you will be pretty easy.” Garner moved even closer, lowered his voice. “How bad is it, Ben? What happened?”
“Caruson laz fire runs hot,” Ben said. “But my uniform did a fair shielding job. I'm guessing Tally filled you in. She said you and the others caught a hover train of Caruson going past, and Enn and Va-Laya worked back to the origin point, and the rest of you followed them here.”
Garner nodded. “We followed the hovers. My guess is their injured were caught in a rock fall when the earthquake hit.”
“That's correct,” Dr. Lenar interrupted. “They arrived four days ago and took us by surprise.”
“Why did they come to Rainerville, though?” Ben suddenly realized he'd been in too much pain to ask the most important question until now. “Why not get picked up out on the plains?”
“They haven't said anything to me about it.” Lenar lifted her hands, palms out.
“I don't know why they came here, but I don't think they'd have done it without a good reason,” Kilmer said. “Some of the injuries look critical. I don't think they were supposed to reveal their presence, but I guess their commander decided he had no choice but to signal for help, and he wouldn't have moved them to Rainerville unless he felt he had to.”
Ben still wondered why, but he'd find out eventually. He flopped back against the mattress. He remembered how the earthquake had shaken loose the trees of the forest, caused a kuyer stampede.
“That last sector we were surveying,” Ben looked at Garner, “that wasn't particularly mountainous. Where would they have been under a rockfall unless they were underground?”
Oh, yes. It was making sense.
Their inability to find any activity from their satellite shots, the invisibility of the Caruson presence. All explained by the Caruson being underground.
If the Caruson had built quick and dirty mine tunnels, then yes, they would most definitely have been in trouble when the tremors hit.
Garner tilted his head in agreement. “That's the best explanation I've heard. Handel, Sari and I thought up a few colorful ones on the run here to Rainerville, but my bet is that Enn and Va-Laya have ended up at a mine site.”
“I wonder what they've been mining?” Ben didn't expect an answer, but Dr. Bey lifted a shoulder.
“My guess is they found a deposit of high-grade tinria. They brought some of it with them in the hovers.”
Ben hadn't heard of it, which must have been clear from his expression.
Bey grinned at him. “It's not well known, but some of my colleagues have been studying it, trying to see if it has useful properties. I think we can safely say the Caruson beat us to the punch there. They obviously have an important use for it.”
“How did they find the deposit, though?” Garner asked.
“They must have been searching for some time. Sneaking down here and doing surveys.” Which meant they could have been visiting Veltos for years, and the VSC hadn't known it.
He'd been fooled by Caruso's attempted annexation of Garmen and Lassa, Ben realized. He'd thought this latest Caruson incident was a result of their recent boldness, but if they'd been here on Veltos, a VSC planet, for years, then this wasn't a sudden surge in aggression from them. It was part of a long-term strategy.
This was really not good.
If the Caruson had been planning for this for a long time, they would have made sure they had the supplies, the trained troops, and the means to wage war with the VSC.
And they had almost caught the Verdant String completely by surprise.
He forced himself up into a seated position. “You have some comms equipment in one of these packs, Garner?”
His teammate nodded. “But the comms satellite is down.”
“As it happens, I have the Galaha's call signal.”
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