by Tim Marquitz
The shuttles exploded, and there was a wash of energy that wiped the screen’s signal out, a snowstorm of static obscuring their view. Dent shut off the screen, smiling.
“And there goes the Gate,” Taj told Jak, grinning ferally all the while. “Any reinforcements Galforin calls now will need to travel from the Zendarin Gate, which means there won’t be anyone arriving anytime soon.”
Jak stood there frozen, staring at the pair with wide eyes. “I don’t—”
“No time for explanations,” Taj told him, nudging him toward the last of the shuttles. “You need to get out of here. Join your people. We’ll see you soon.”
Jak stumbled to the shuttle and was helped inside by Rat, who offered Taj and Dent a sly wink.
Seconds later, the hatch was closed and the shuttle lifted off, streaking toward orbit.
Taj turned to look at Dent. “You think those devices you and Lina made will do what they’re supposed to?”
“I wouldn’t trust them to fool anyone under perfect conditions with clear scanners or a sharp scanner operator,” Dent said, “but none of those circumstances exist here. They should do what’s expected of them.”
“I hope so,” Taj muttered.
A lot of her plans had relied on subterfuge and sleight of hand, offering distraction after distraction in order to accomplish something else. Since she’d done it so often, she had to wonder when the grand admiral would catch on and stop playing into it.
She wasn’t looking forward to that moment. Outnumbered, outgunned, and unprepared, she didn’t have any other advantages.
Luck was a great thing to have on your side, but it wasn’t something you could count on.
Fortunately, though, it could be manipulated to a small degree.
Taj planned to do exactly that.
Chapter Seventeen
“All ships are in position,” XO Volg reported. “Troop carriers are cleared for approach.”
“And the Gate?” Galforin asked.
“Open and ready to receive the next wave, sir.”
“Excellent.” Galforin rubbed his hands together, imagining himself strangling the arrogant Furlorian who’d stood up to him.
She’d caused them too much grief already, damaging his ship and opposing him in a way no one else ever had.
The creature was an enigma.
He couldn’t be sure if she was serious about blowing the planet up, but he couldn’t take the chance that she was. So far, the Furlorians had been impossible to predict, throwing feints at his forces and striking out in ways Galforin least expected.
The admiral had realized this was part of her operations strategy, but he believed he had her figured out now. The aliens had come here with far less firepower and people than it required to take the planet back, and Galforin would use that to his advantage.
He didn’t think the Furlorians wanted to commit suicide, but he wouldn’t take that chance, so he’d had his people in the tunnels under the outpost pull back and await his command.
Those outside continued to press forward slowly, and Galforin had been surprised to note that the artillery hadn’t yet been turned upon them. He figured it was only a matter of time until it happened, but he’d keep pushing his soldiers forward regardless.
“Shuttles incoming!” XO Volg shouted. “There’s Toradium-42 aboard.”
Despite himself, Galforin felt his heart ramp up with apprehension.
He’d seen what these shuttles could do.
“Take them out now!” he ordered, jabbing a finger at the XO. “Do not let them get anywhere near.”
Volg didn’t bother to acknowledge the command. He went to work, ordering the Wyyvan crew to engage with everything they had, the order carried across the fleet.
The Stormfront’s view screen became a blur of energy blasts as the entire fleet put everything they had into taking out the shuttles before they came too close.
The troops had seen what had happened with the shuttles before, so they didn’t need motivation to take these out.
Grim silence invaded the bridge of the Stormfront, and every crewmember there worked diligently to waylay the shuttle attacks.
Galforin felt flushed, adrenaline spiking as the shuttles evaded the concentrated fire of his fleet for a few moments. The odds were in the Wyyvans’ favor, though.
At last, the shuttles were struck down, both exploding with a viciousness that set Galforin’s hands trembling.
These shuttles had been loaded with far more Toradium-42 than the last, and the explosions rattled the bridge of the Stormfront even from far away.
If that had struck us…
Galforin didn’t finish the thought, unwilling to imagine how much harm the makeshift weapons might have caused had they gotten any closer.
“Do a sweep!” Galforin ordered. “I want to know if there are any more of those things headed our way.”
“Oh…” Volg muttered a moment later. “Two more incoming.”
“Take aim and fire!” Galforin screamed.
The XO gasped. “The fleet’s not the target,” he announced.
“What could possibly—?”
Then it struck him.
The Gate!
“No!” Galforin shouted, adjusting his view screen to get a better look at the approaching shuttles.
The destroyer he’d left behind to guard the Gate moved into position immediately and for an instant Galforin was proud of its captain, believing there was a chance they could stop the makeshift missiles from harming the Gate.
Then Volg’s voice penetrated his ears.
“Scanner readings are off the chart, sir,” he called out. “There’s more Toradium-42 on these two shuttles than there was on even the last two.”
The grand admiral nearly choked. “Have the captain block their way,” he ordered, barely managing to get the words out. “Put the ship between them and the Gate, but don’t let him fire on them!”
The words had barely left Galforin’s mouth when he saw the flash of weapons fire erupt from the nose of the destroyer left to guard the Gate.
Galforin’s stomach churned as the burst struck the first of the shuttles, which hadn’t even tried to evade.
The resultant explosion blinded the Stormfront and rattled the ship to its frame.
Galforin sat there shocked, clawing at the armrests of his seat as the systems worked to adapt to the brilliance and clear the view screen. Moments later they succeeded, and Galforin cursed his sudden ability to see again.
He didn’t like what he saw.
The Gate had been obliterated, leaving nothing but floating debris where it had hung in space moments before.
The destroyer nearest the Gate had fared little better. Pieces hurtled away from the blast point, tumbling into the darkness of space trailing debris, all that remained of the ship.
But that hadn’t been the whole of the damage.
One of the troop carriers that had been near the rear of the fleet was engulfed. Its rear half had vanished, and the ship was venting atmosphere. It listed, rolling over slowly, out of control.
Two more nearby destroyers had suffered similar wounds. The first fell away, unable to right itself. The second limped along, but Galforin knew it had fought its last. It slowly drifted off as panicked calls for assistance rang out over the comm.
Galforin growled and cut communications, a weighty silence settling over the bridge.
He glared at the screen, disbelieving.
It wasn’t until moments later when XO Volg caught his attention that he snapped to.
“Scanners are picking up ten shuttles coming from the planet,” the XO reported.
Galforin hissed. “Where are they headed?”
“The enemy fleet,” Volg said, clear relief in his voice. “One of the destroyers at the rear of the armada.”
“Scan them!” Galforin shouted.
Volg looked at his console, examining the data. “I’m picking up traces of Toradium-42, but the shuttles appear to be loa
ded with lifeforms instead, although the signals I’m getting are distorted,” he said.
“Distorted how?” the admiral asked.
Volg shrugged. “They’re just unclear, sir, as if the electromagnetic surge of the explosions is impacting clarity. The lifeform readings are all over the place, too. I can’t get a good lock on the signal to determine exact numbers.”
“Are these the Furlorians?”
The XO shook his head. “Looks to me as if the shuttles are carting off our slave labor and token amounts of Toradium-42,” he answered. “Scans of the outpost show that the Furlorians remain on the planet.”
“Why would they do that?” the admiral asked.
It didn’t make sense to him.
“Reading past the uncertainty of the scanner results, I’d say the shuttles are full, Admiral,” Volg answered. “My guess is that they didn’t have enough room for everyone.”
“Then now’s the time, Volg,” Galforin stated. “I want every soldier we have on the ground pushing into the compound and killing these rodents!”
“Yes, sir!” Volg replied, passing on the order.
While Galforin couldn’t blow the Furlorians up from space just yet since the cache of Toradium-42 hidden under the outpost was too important, there was nothing the creatures could do to stop a full-scale assault while his soldiers emptied the chambers of the ore.
“And take out their damn fleet,” he followed. “I want every one of those ships blown to dust.”
The admiral grinned as Volg conveyed the order, adjusting his view screen so he could look down over the outpost and see what was about to happen.
The creatures would soon be dead, and he could return to his mining in peace.
Chapter Eighteen
“Well, what do we do now?” Torbon asked. “The Wyyvans are advancing.”
“We stand our ground for as long as necessary,” Taj answered, “waiting for Dent to pull off the next phase of our plan.”
“That hardly sounds enticing,” Krawg muttered.
“Well, we’ve got the artillery units automated, so we can put them to use once the lizards get a little closer,” she said. “And we’ve located as many of the Wyyvan tunnels as we could and set traps.”
“Minor ones,” Dent corrected.
Taj nodded. “Wouldn’t be a good idea to set off big explosions down there currently.”
“At least not until the Wyyvans finish emptying the storage chambers,” Dent stated with a sly grin.
“The lizards are useful for something, at least,” Torbon commented.
With the gear they’d brought down on the shuttles from the armada, Dent and Lina had amplified his ability to be used as a seismic detector, giving them a better detection ratio for the tunnels the lizards had been digging.
The crew had known they were coming. It made sense that Galforin not only wanted his Toradium-42, but he’d also wanted the means to destroy the Furlorians wholesale. He could do that once the mineral was removed from the chambers beneath the outpost or the amount was reduced below a catastrophically explosive level.
The attack on them was simply to keep the Furlorians in place until that happened, Taj had realized that once Dent had detected the lizards breaking into the chamber even after she threatened to explode it all.
Galforin hadn’t completely believed her, but he’d apparently been suspicious enough to tread carefully and back off for a bit.
That had been all Taj needed.
It gave them the opportunity to automate the artillery, enhance Dent’s capabilities and, better still, take advantage of the confusion wrought by the massive explosions taking out the Gate to trick Galforin into believing the shuttles largely contained only people.
That was part of the plan Taj had been worried about. She figured Galforin would see through the ruse and concentrate his fire on the shuttles, but Dent reported that the transports had successfully docked on the destroyer they’d handed over to the rebels and the shuttles were now returning to the Decimator as arranged, their loads of Toradium-42 intact.
They were one step closer to retaking their home now.
Taj smiled at that thought, but there was still a lot to be done.
For now, they were trapped in the outpost on the planet, and the Wyyvan forces were pressing forward hard. It wouldn’t be long before the fight started in earnest.
“The lizards are in range,” Dent reported.
“Start hitting them with artillery fire then,” Taj ordered, “but keep some of the units in reserve for those last fighters. We can’t have them take out the guns too quickly or we’re gacked.”
Dent nodded, and the air was filled with the sound of cannon fire.
“Have the destroyers on the other side of the planet swing back around and get into range,” Taj went on, ticking off an imaginary checklist in her head as she advanced each part of the plan in turn.
Unfortunately, there were factors she couldn’t control, and those made her stomach churn. They’d been in several tight situations since they’d come back to Krawlas, but now she was counting on something that was completely out of her control.
She grunted and shook off the uncertainty that had grabbed her.
Taj was not sure of anything at the moment, except that she would fight to the end to free her planet from the grip of the lizards.
With the rebels aboard one of the destroyers, soon to be out of harm’s way, she could concentrate on what she needed to do to reclaim her home world.
She glanced at the computer at her wrist, which was tied into Dent’s jury-rigged seismic detector, and she caught sight of the blips that told her the Wyyvan soldiers were getting ready to breach.
“Set off the tunnel traps and seal those,” Taj ordered Lina, who didn’t hesitate.
A low rumble sounded, and the ground shook. Taj smiled as a large number of the blips flashed and disappeared seconds later.
Each blip represented one less Wyyvan who’d get the opportunity to gun them down.
“Is everyone in place?” Taj asked.
Cabe nodded. “They’re where they should be. Jadie and Kal just reported their positions.”
Taj retracted her helmet and told Cabe to do the same. As soon as he did, she leaned over and gave him a long, slow kiss. When she pulled away, she winked at him.
“I guess it’s time for us to get into place too, huh?”
Her helmet reseated, and the crew moved down the labyrinth of tunnels that had recently been dug beneath the Wyyvan outpost. At this point, Taj was amazed that the place remained standing, with so much of its foundation dug away.
Fortunately, the tunnels had been dug deep enough to keep a relatively stable shelf of ground above their heads, but Taj worried it might come down on them before everything was said and done.
They ran to join the other Furlorians as planned, slipping through the tunnels and following a route that Dent had calculated would best avoid the influx of Wyyvan soldiers once they broke through their tunnels.
He’d been wrong.
Taj made her way around a sharp curve and stumbled headlong into a squad of armored Wyyvans.
“Gack!” she cursed, raising her weapon and firing just as they did.
She blew away one of the lizards at close range, his chest smoking under his armor as he fell, but Taj had been hit too.
She grunted as several shots struck her, driving her back. She stumbled to her knees as the Wyyvans filled the tunnel with gunfire.
“Taj!” Cabe screamed, racing up behind her and unleashing a storm of fire on the lizards.
Krawg joined him a second later.
Dent grabbed Taj and yanked her out of the line of fire.
“Thanks,” she muttered. Her ears rang, and her head swam inside her helmet. “That hurt.”
Lina cast a concerned glance her way as she and Torbon leaned around the corner and picked their shots, firing past the others in the hall.
Taj shook her head and pulled free of Dent as the med sys
tems in her suit kicked in. A warm, comforting feeling filled her veins, and she grinned at the sudden lack of pain.
“I love these suits,” she mumbled, shaking off the lingering aftereffects of the injury.
She was going to hurt like gack for the next few days, but right now she felt fantastic.
She stepped farther into the tunnel and joined the fight again. A few heated moments later, the squad of Wyyvan soldiers was dead, scorched heaps lying on the ground.
But they’d served their purpose.
“We have more soldiers closing on us,” Dent reported. “We’re being cut off from Jadie and Kal and the others.”
Taj cursed. “Can we circle around them?”
“Not without running into more,” the AI told her.
“Then we go straight through,” she decided. “Let’s go.”
“I liked you better when you were indecisive,” Torbon said as they moved on.
“What?” she shot back. “I thought you liked the excitement?”
“Excitement, yes,” he answered. “Running into gun and knife and spaceship fights in front of us, not so much.”
“Well, at least you won’t die bored,” Cabe joked.
“I’d rather not die at all, which is kind of my point,” Torbon countered. “Is there such a thing as boring excitement?”
Another group of Wyyvan soldiers stormed the tunnel before anyone could answer. Dent was struck by blaster fire twice and Lina once, but their armor deflected the majority of the damage.
Torbon leapt forward with a howl.
His blades now jutted from his forearms, and he whipped them in vicious side-to-side slashes. A Wyyvan helmet bounced away spewing black blood, the lizard’s head still inside.
A second Wyyvan lost his gun hand and half his weapon. The pistol exploded, blowing the soldier back into his companions. He shrieked as he fell.
Then Torbon dropped low and pushed into the crowd of soldiers, hacking and slashing and stabbing, killing anything that got in his way.
The rest of the crew ran up behind him after checking on Lina, blowing away the last of the soldiers before Torbon could get to them.