by Tim Marquitz
Now wasn’t the time to be crying.
“How many of you…” she started.
“About fifteen of us,” Harley answered, “although many of those were the older Grans.” She sighed. “They didn’t make it long under the Wyyvans’ whips.”
Harley’s words were like a blow to Taj’s face.
“There are ten of us now,” Harley continued, “but only me and Garr here managed to escape the outpost.”
“The rest are still trapped inside?” Lina asked, not holding back her emotions as well as Taj was. Tears glistened in her eyes.
Garr nodded. “We’ve been trying to get them out, along with everyone else, but it’s not like we’re prepared to take the fight to the lizards. Gack, we barely get by day to day, scavenging off the land now that all the balborans have been slaughtered.”
Taj growled. It was bad enough that she had left people behind, but to realize they had been made into slaves and were likely starving made her stomach churn with disgust.
It was just one more atrocity she intended to hold the Wyyvans accountable for.
“We can fix this,” she stated unequivocally. “We will fix this.”
She spun around to face Dent.
“Have a bot load up rations from the shuttles and sneak them this way as soon as it’s safe. And some blankets and clothing—whatever we have that these people can use,” she added.
Dent nodded, and Taj knew he’d send the order without giving any indication of doing so.
“That’s nice and all…” Jak interrupted, “and we appreciate it, be sure of that, but we can use more help than hand-me-downs and treats.”
“We plan to do much more,” Torbon bragged.
“You going to kill all the Wyyvans?” Malcolm asked.
“With my own bare hands if necessary,” Torbon assured him, clenching his armored hands into fists. “The gacking lizards need to die.”
“It’s one thing to say it,” Jak told him, “but it’s something else entirely to pull it off.” He motioned to the crew again. “Like I was saying before, you’re not exactly an army. You a scout force? The rest of your people in orbit, waiting for a signal?”
“We’re all there is,” Taj answered, deciding not to lie, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t do this.”
“No, maybe not,” Jak replied, obviously disappointed, “but I have to say, with less than forty of you, I find it hard to be confident you can turn things around.”
“I don’t like this,” Malcolm admitted.
“Neither do I,” Jak said. “You’ve stirred up the lizards, got them looking to the desert after we finally got them to look away. They’re going to make a concentrated push to find you soon.” Jak glanced at the tavern’s ceiling. “Tell me you at least took out the Wyyvan fleet before you landed.”
“Sent them running,” Torbon bragged, grinning.
“They’re still there, though,” Taj finished.
Jak and Malcolm sighed in unison.
“You ain’t filling me with joy, Cat,” Malcolm muttered.
“We didn’t come here to save you,” Cabe fired back. “Didn’t even know you people were here. We’d planned to blast the gacks from space and retake our home, but we realized there were hostages here and decided to come down to try and rescue you. The least you can do is help us help you.”
Jak grunted. “All that passion don’t mean shit if you don’t have the firepower to back it up, boy,” he said. “We appreciate the sentiment, but sentiment isn’t going to keep us from getting killed.
“You’re likely dead anyway if we don’t succeed,” Krawg said from his seat, always the voice of obnoxious reason.
All eyes turned to him, Jak and Malcolm’s expressions shifting to glares.
He shrugged. “Those ugly looks you’re giving me doesn’t change the truth,” he told them. “How long do you people think you’ll last here?”
“We’ve done all right so far,” Malcolm shot back.
“So far,” the huge Ursite repeated, “you’ve done well, looks like. But ten months is nothing. Look at how little the Wyyvans have accomplished in that time.”
He pointed at the ceiling, implying the land above.
“They’ve hardly scratched the surface with their mining efforts,” he went on. “And you said it yourself: that Wyyvan admiral hasn’t been in a hurry to expand. But he will, you can be sure of that.”
“That’s your fault,” Malcolm shouted.
“Probably,” Krawg replied with a shrug, getting to his feet and towering over the old male, “but nothing can be done about that now.”
Taj saw the flutter of Krawg’s upper lip and decided to step in. The Ursite wasn’t one to take disrespect lightly even though he was willing to offer it, and Taj could see Malcolm’s frustration getting him—and them—into an unnecessary conflict.
“He’s right,” Taj said, stepping in front of Krawg to draw everyone’s attention. “The Wyyvans are gonna escalate things now that we’ve shown up and brought the fight to them. It’s not gonna matter who’s responsible soon enough.”
“You’re forcing our hands,” Jak stated.
“Not intentionally,” Taj replied.
“But that doesn’t matter,” Dent cut in. “What’s done is done, and there’s no winding it back, sorry to say. As such, it’s in your best interests, and ours, to help us free the rest of the slaves so we can blast the Wyyvans to dust from orbit before reinforcements show up.”
“You mean like the fleet that’s still up there?” Jak growled. “It’s only a matter of time until those ships come back looking for blood. The fact that you didn’t destroy them already means you probably can’t, or am I wrong about that?”
“I’m not gonna lie,” Taj began. “We didn’t expect the Wyyvan to be so entrenched, and we didn’t come prepared to take on such a huge force of ships. But we’re not without our own resources, and I’m not leaving this planet under Wyyvan occupation.”
“That’s all well and good, like your boy there, but I’m not hearing anything that makes me think we’d be signing up with the winning side if we back you,” Jak returned. “You get credit for determination and grit, but that ain’t no substitute for numbers and overwhelming firepower.”
Taj hated to admit that the male was right.
For all her promises to herself or anyone else, there was still a cold, hard reality she had to address. But she hadn’t come all this way to fail.
“Look, maybe you’re right. We aren’t the army you’d been hoping for, and maybe we did poke the ferion spider sack by showing up the way we did…”
Torbon shuddered. “I hate those things.”
“…but we are your best chance of escaping this planet alive,” Taj told the male. “Still, I understand your reluctance. But work with us; meet us halfway, at least. We can do this.”
“What does halfway look like to you?” Jak asked.
“Let’s work together to free the rest of the slaves from the Wyyvan yoke and get them out of the compound before the lizards hit back, and even if we have to retreat…”
The rest of the crew turned to stare at her.
“…for now, we’ll take you off-planet and drop you somewhere while we regroup and figure out the bigger battle on our own.”
“That still puts us at risk,” Malcolm complained.
“You already are,” Krawg stated, staring back at him.
“You don’t have to help us,” Cabe added, spitting out a stream of brown nip juice, “but we’re moving forward regardless.” He jabbed a finger at the ground. “This is our planet, and we plan to take it back, no matter what. If you’re not gonna help, then stay outta the way.”
Taj was amazed by Cabe’s ferocity.
He’d been worked up and excited as they’d planned and plotted to reclaim Krawlas, but she hadn’t seen him so forceful and passionate about the idea.
Being home had clearly inspired him to take Krawlas back.
“Not that you’ve left us mu
ch choice,” Malcolm grunted.
“I’m in,” Rat said, coming back over to the group with her chin defiantly in the air. “If there’s a chance we can get through this, I’m betting on them.” She gestured to Taj and the crew.
Taj bit back a sigh. She’d clearly rattled the young female enough to spur her into action.
Now, if only she could do the same for the others.
“We’re running out of time,” Taj explained, pushing the point. “With or without you, we have a mission to accomplish.”
Jak sighed. He waved to his people, gesturing for them to put their weapons away. Most of them had already, Taj noticed, which was a good sign.
“We’ll meet you halfway, then,” Jak said. “We’ll help you get into the outpost and get as many people clear as we can, but I’m not committing anyone to anything beyond that. Then you get us off-planet.”
Taj nodded her agreement to the terms.
She had no intention of abandoning Krawlas to the Wyyvans again, but she needed to take things one step at a time. Freeing the slaves was the first priority, then she could worry about what they did after that.
But when all was said and done, she would have her home back.
Chapter Four
“Scanner reports from the Decimator tell me the Wyyvan fleet is moving into a defensive formation around the temporary Gate they set up,” Dent relayed. “They appear to be making room around the Gate.”
“Likely preparing for reinforcements,” Lina said, snarling at the thought.
“Some rescue attempt this is,” Rat muttered, only half-joking.
Taj grunted. It wasn’t a friendly alliance, but it was still an alliance. She kept her mouth shut to keep from setting off the young female they’d only barely managed to get on their side.
“We still have time,” Dent assured everyone. “There’s no buildup of energy at the Gate, which tells me the maneuver is little more than posturing at this point.”
“You better hope so,” Malcolm growled.
“That the fleet isn’t advancing is a good sign,” Dent said. “It means they’re still unsure what level of threat we actually pose.”
“That’s all well and good until these lizards here…” Jak rose from behind the small sand dune they lurked behind to point at the nearby outpost, “poke their heads out and take a looksee and realize we number less than a hundred bodies, all told. Then they’ll radio their admiral and bring his fleet down on our head.”
“That won’t be happening anytime soon.” Dent shook his head. He pulled a small device out of his suit. “Now that I’m close enough, I’ve set up a transmission block, keeping the Wyyvans down here from reaching out to their fleet until they go back overhead.”
Dent stuffed the device into the sand, burying it.
“This will keep them blind and out of touch for a little while,” Dent announced.
“You’ve got all sorts of fancy toys, don’t you?” Malcolm asked.
Taj wasn’t sure if it was sarcasm or awe the male was expressing, but she figured it might be a little of both given the conflicted look on Malcolm's face.
“For all our errors, we came prepared to win the planet back,” Dent said casually. “We intend to do exactly that.”
“Well, let’s hope it’s enough,” Jak answered. He gestured toward the great, gray wall of the outpost. “They’ve got anti-aircraft units all along the ridge of the wall, but like you noticed when you came in, the majority of the artillery pieces are spread out through the main outpost itself, set right among the people they’d gathered to use as shields.”
“That’s what kept us from taking them out,” Cabe growled.
“Nice to know you have a conscience,” Malcolm told him, “but these lizards sure don’t. They’ll kill their workers without hesitation if they think it’ll buy them an extra minute or two.”
“We’ve seen their cruelty up close and personal,” Taj stated, snarling. “We’ve no plan to let them exhibit it again.”
“What you want to happen and what will happen are two different things, Cat,” Jak replied. “We pop out too close to that wall and they’ll rain down hell on us, artillery and small arms fire to boot. Maybe those AA guns, too.”
Taj nodded. She could see the solid line of defenses on the wall, and while she believed she and her crew could pierce them if they decided to assault the outpost, it wouldn’t be without great loss.
She wasn’t willing to go that route.
Her gaze drifted along the wall as Jak pointed out different aspects of the Wyyvan outpost, but from where they were hunkered, there was little she could actually determine.
“I need to get closer,” she announced. “I can’t see anything clearly from way back here.”
“How you planning on doing that?” Rat asked.
Taj triggered her suit’s stealth mode and smiled as the young girl stumbled back, covering her mouth.
“The toys Malcolm mentioned have their uses,” she answered, grinning. “Dent, Cabe, Torbon, Lina, Krawg, come with me. The rest of you, stay put and out of sight. We’ll be back shortly.”
“Nice to know I drew the short straw without even picking one,” Torbon complained, but he activated his suit’s camouflage anyway.
“That’s strange,” Rat mumbled, her eyes narrowed as she tried to take in the whole of the camouflaged crew. Taj could tell she was having a hard time despite being so close. The only thing she could see clearly were their heads, since none of them had their helmets sealed.
Taj waved and sealed her suit, the others following her actions. Then she darted off without another word.
Time was running out and she could feel the pressure mounting, but she wasn’t going to let it get the better of her and make her do something stupid.
Too many people were counting on her.
No, too many people were counting on them— the crew. This was a team effort, and although she was in charge and the burden of failure was on her shoulders, she wasn’t alone. They would see this through.
Taj had to remember to think of it that way. This wasn’t about her.
She crept across the barren scrubland, sticking to the lower areas where only the barest remnants of shrubs had begun to return to the savaged land. Fortunately, in the rush to dig up the Toradium-42, the lizards had torn great crevices in the ground almost all the way up to the wall of the outpost itself.
While they’d been smart enough to leave a narrow killing field that made it almost impossible to sneak up on the outpost without being seen—at least without the aid of Dent’s technology—the Wyyvan had gacked up by leaving so much cover available.
Taj crept to within twenty meters of the wall before she decided it was too much of a risk to barrel into the field without surveying it first.
She hunkered down and used her suit’s optics to scan the surrounding area and the Wyyvans on the wall.
“I’m picking up a mass of soldiers near the doorway there. Same ones I noted earlier,” Dent reported, motioning toward a massive sliding door that seated into the wall, leaving just a crack to show it was even there. “No furtive motions. Looks as if they are posted there as a precaution,” he reported.
“So, they haven’t seen us sneaking around out here,” Cabe said, sighing. “That’s good news.”
“As long as we’re not trying to go through the door, that is,” Torbon added.
“Why don’t you do that and distract them?” Krawg asked, grinning broadly, his sharpened teeth gleaming. “I’ll back you up.”
“You first, Furry,” Torbon fired back.
“Quit it before I shoot both of you and save the Wyyvan the effort,” Taj warned.
Torbon shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Why do I even bother?” Taj groaned.
“Been meaning to ask you that,” Cabe joked.
She shook her head and took a few moments to track the movement of the lizards on the wall. Once she had their timing down, she hunkered back down and
faced the crew.
“Are there scanners on the wall, Dent?” she asked.
He took a moment to double-check and shook his head. “The place is quite low-tech,” he answered. “Seems the Wyyvans haven’t gone out of their way to upgrade the basic infrastructure beyond the bare necessities.”
“No point, when they plan on razing the place and leaving it in ruin once they’re finished with it,” Cabe remarked.
“That and the fact that I suspect they don’t want to attract attention by giving off too many energy signals,” Dent added. “They don’t want anyone else stumbling onto their find and helping themselves.”
“They won’t be around long enough for that to matter,” Cabe assured the AI, growling.
Hyper-aware of how precious their time was, Taj decided it was time to get moving. “Okay, I want to see what we’re looking at inside the place before we do anything,” she told them.
“Jak’s given you the basic layout, right?” Lina asked.
“Yeah, but I’m not sold on his help just yet. He didn’t exactly offer it willingly,” she admitted. “I can’t see him giving us up to the Wyyvans since the lizards aren’t gonna trade with him. They’d kill him and his people out of spite, no matter what they brought them. Still, I can see him feeding us to them indirectly if it buys him and his people time. With us gone, the Wyyvans go back to business as usual and forget about them.”
“You think Jak would do that?” Lina wondered. Her whiskers fluttered pensively.
“I don’t know anything at this point, but I’m not taking any chances,” Taj answered. “I’d be more inclined to trust him if he and his people were to go in with us and share the danger, but until then, I’m not gonna risk our being held up as a sacrifice to get them off the hook.”
“That’s awfully cynical of you,” Krawg told her. Then he grinned. “I’m proud of you. You’re learning.”
Taj wasn’t sure she was proud of herself. She hated being so distrusting of people, but she’d seen too much of late not to let it color her view of the world.
“Not who I want to be,” she admitted, “but my job is to ensure that all of us are safe. I’ll save as many of these people as I can, but I’m not gonna get us killed to do it.”