Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kimit had been in awe of Benjamin’s railguns when she first met him, but the chain guns the human marines used held a different fascination. They were noisy and smelled, but the destructive power was devastating. She wanted one. The marine she spoke to said they were old-school design but updated with modern propellants and projectiles and a cooling system. It seems their distant cousins the Allith had given the Alliance much grief over the years and lasers or stun guns weren’t effective on them. She could understand that. She didn’t quite understand what an old school had to do with anything, though. She would ask later, when the operation was over.
Jared’s team led and, after the initial skirmish taking the corridor where the lift stopped, he ordered his teams not to fire on the crew, but warning fire at the ship was permissible. The Allond engaged the crew with their weapons set on stun or low power. Using the mechs as cover, they were able to advance on the squads of Khalnalax soldiers.
They had cleared two floors on their way to the bridge and were in the middle of a firefight when the Khalnalax stopped firing and retreated. She decided that they must have known what had happened on the floors below and their bravery failed them. She was about to speak when Jared called for silence.
“Lieutenant, we have company. Big uglies on our six,” one of the rear guards called out.
Kimit turned around. “Etash,” she said.
“GEMS,” Jared said.
“Finally,” one of the marines added. Someone was craving some action.
“Heat up your knives, marines,” Jared ordered, knowing what to expect after having faced the monsters on the World Eater ships. The big blades locked in the hand of the mech and the operator had the option of heating it to an extreme temperature.
“Warriors of Allond, increase the output of your weapons to full,” Kimit yelled.
“Stay in formation and keep moving forward. The enemy approaching from behind will catch up, so everyone will get in on the action. Let’s pick up the pace. I want to be closer to our junction.”
They began moving at a jog. The heavy steel feet of the mechs pounded the metal floor. In the confined space of the corridor, the sound was horribly loud as it reverberated off the walls. The Etash maintained their pace. Kimit could understand their reluctance, not wanting to rush headlong into the oncoming mechanized marines of the Alliance.
Jared’s five mechs formed an arrow with him as the point. They charged into the Etash, slashing with their knife arm and swinging the other arm like a club. He didn’t voice the order out loud, but all the marines had detached the chain guns and stowed them on their backs. The Etash weren’t weaponless; they had their sharp beaks and long tentacles with claws. Kimit believed the marines honored them with a fair fight. The marines could have easily shredded them with their weapons. The Allond sniped the Etash when they could, not wanting to hit their allies.
“Warriors, be wary of the Etash our allies leave behind. Teams of five will fire on the bodies to ensure they are dead.” In her mind, there was no need for them to suffer.
It was not an easy task for the mechs, but they would eventually win out over their foe and move on. She could see at least twenty of the monsters moving in front and only six in the rear. It happened fast. A twitching Etash lay in front of her. At least six of its tentacles had been severed and it bled from wounds to the head. She aimed her rifle at its head and fired, joined by four more of her soldiers. The smell was almost as bad as the stench in the hold after Benjamin’s ship slaughtered the Khalnalax soldiers that had surrounded the ship.
The Etash twitched and trembled instead of squirming and lashing out. The brain was dead, but the nerves didn’t know it. Two more lay in front of them and two teams of Allond moved forward, firing at the heads of the creatures and ending them where they lay. Kimit paused, noticing something moving behind the line of Etash. It was a man running with a limp. His face and body were covered by the same red armor. Khalnalax soldiers followed him, no more than a half dozen. Three stayed and used the intersection of corridors as cover, firing at something behind them.
Kimit watched the scene unfold ahead of them. She saw the soldiers moving their weapons, trying to track the target approaching them. In the next second, they aimed toward the ceiling, then off to the left. A black apparition suddenly appeared in the air and landed in the center of the soldiers. It moved almost too fast to follow. One guard was struck in the head at the same time another was kicked and flew back into the wall. Kimit watched as he spun and leaned over to elevate his foot and connect with the third soldier’s head. The fourth got off a shot and it looked to have grazed him, only to have him put an arm through the soldier’s throat. The soldier must have hit him and paid the price. The other two ran in the same direction as the soldier in the red armor.
She knew it was Benjamin. There could be no other. He stopped and watched their battle. His moment of inactivity attracted one of the Etash closest to him. It began moving, slowly stalking him. He ignored it and watched the marines as they fought three of the Etash. He nodded his head and Kimit thought he must have approved. The lone Etash had moved to where it thought it could launch an attack. Its tentacles waved like whips, coiling then shooting out toward him. From her angle, it looked like it was on him. She couldn’t believe he hadn’t moved. He just stood there and let it capture him.
It didn’t capture him, though, she soon found out. His body leaned to the side with his arms stretched over his head; she could see him clearly now. In a second, a four-foot sword materialized in his hand and he swung, slicing through everything it touched, leaving pieces writhing on the floor in its wake. Stepping forward, he swung at its leg, slicing through the exoskeleton of the insect portion of the body. The Etash toppled onto its side. Blood sprayed his armor from the severed body parts, then the sword rose and came down, cutting through its head and stopping between its eyes. It dropped and didn’t move again. Benjamin left the sword in its head for a few seconds before pulling it out. The blood on him began to fade and was gone. The sword dripped blood and gore, then was clean within seconds. She assumed he had seen enough and walked off in the direction the emperor and his guards had fled. He gave a wave before he was past the wall and gone from sight.
****
The sound of battle lessened as I traveled the full length of the corridor to a T intersection. A quick glance around the corner showed nothing in either direction. Deireadh hadn’t said anything for a few minutes and neither had I. Now I needed to figure out which way to go.
That was fun. I wonder what else will come our way. I hoped he had an idea which way to turn.
The emperor will send every soul on the ship against you if he can.
I can’t have that. I need most of them to crew this beast.
You are the king and it is your right to claim this ship.
I sense a “but” coming on.
But this is not the Cjittan Empire I was created to serve. Changes in the hierarchy have occurred that aren’t allowed for in my programing, but my logic programing recognizes Queen Tazleaha is going to be very, very, unhappy with us, Benjamin.
Yeah, you’re late to that party, Deireadh. We have a history of me being me and her not liking it one damn bit. The Privateers have done well for what they are. But think on this. What do you think I could do with my fleet, including the Generations ship and this battleship crewed with real naval personnel? Providing we keep the Khalnalax crew.
It obviously increases your options, but you haven’t shared your plan in its entirety with anyone.
I’m sure there are quite a few small systems the Khalnalax and the Cjittan have just left hanging out to dry, scraping a living on the ragged edge. Let’s say a fleet of ships rolls into town and takes over everything then moves on to the next one. Then we divert the tax revenues to mwah, but turn it around and reinvest it back into them all.
There are a number of colonized systems adjacent to the Khalnalax-Cjittan buffer zone.
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You get the idea. I will be Warlord of the Cheeseburger Empire.
I’m not familiar with the terminology. Cheeseburger is what exactly?
Never mind. I’ll let Natalia or one of the others name our new empire. There will be lots of work to do. I imagine both empires will retaliate.
The emperor has stopped moving, just ahead around the corner.
I wasn’t through telling you my Robin Hood scheme . . . And you know this how?
The sample I took of his nans.
Any idea of what he is doing besides just standing around?
I have not accessed the emperor’s communications or other systems of the armor yet. I have isolated the frequency on which the nans are communicating, tracking their progress. I believe he seeks to leave the ship using an escape pod.
That would be stupid. We would just pick him up or blow him to atoms. Maybe he just wants us to think that.
“Lorelei.”
“Go ahead, Boss.”
“Keep your eyes open, Deireadh thinks the emperor is going to try to rabbit. Nothing leaves the hold or docks.”
“Copy. Have your girlfriend lock out everything from the bridge. Even if he gets down to a ship, that will keep it from going anywhere.”
“I’m on it. Taz . . . ”
“Yes, Benjamin.”
“Have them lock down the hold and dock doors. I think our friend is going to try to leave us without saying goodbye.”
“Stop him, Benjamin. He cannot get away!”
No shit. “Did the assault team get there yet? They should be close. I left them five minutes ago and they were finishing up with the Etash that got in their way.”
“Not yet. Did you hear what I said?”
“Yes, I heard you. He can run, but can’t hide. Deireadh has his scent. I’ll check in again when I know more.”
Go right then two lefts, Deireadh advised, resolving my dilemma.
And that puts us where?
Directly in front of the emperor and his guards if you run.
I ran faster than I ever had. I have never been much for running, either, toward or away from anything. With my jacked-up kingly nans and armor, I reached an impressive speed in a straight line, but turning at that speed was . . . challenging. I managed to push off my right foot and lean to my left then run up the wall, angling in the right direction for two steps before falling and rolling down the corridor like a log. It wasn’t pretty. Three crew members stepped out into the corridor and I took their legs out from under them. My momentum slowed and I was on my feet and running again, but slower this time.
We met at the corner, surprise written on their faces. I went straight for the emperor. I was sure his guards wouldn’t shoot if he and I were tangled up, but they would get involved. I hit him hard enough that he bounced off the wall. His armor absorbed the shock. Then I hit him again and snapped his head back. He hit the floor. I realized a second later my logic was flawed when they pointed their rifles at me. With the emperor on the floor and me standing over him, there was no reason they couldn’t light me up. I dropped and drove an elbow into the emperor’s gut, looking at their faces as they tried to stop themselves from firing. Two pulled their shot, but another couldn’t in time. He tried, and it hit the emperor instead, who howled in pain. His armor took the shot and dissipated it, but not before he felt the burn.
I knew that had to be the icing on what was a tough minute for him. The three guards moved in, thinking to pull me away, and got within range of my arms and legs. I formed the equivalent of a short sword and took the closest to me at the knees. His body toppled like a tree under a woodman’s axe. The emperor’s rifle lay between us. I grabbed it and fired at the other two guards at almost point-blank range. They fell back into the wall and onto the floor. I wasn’t leaving anything to chance this time. Spikes formed on my knuckles. I couldn’t see his face, but that didn’t stop me from pummeling it three times in rapid succession, destroying the nans and drawing blood. He groaned. I didn’t think he was that great of an actor to be faking, not after the way I just mashed his face. I grabbed an arm and started dragging him down the corridor. The three crewmen I bowled over were standing about where I left them. Good for them. Had they intervened, they would be dead right now and unable to help me. They stared wide-eyed, watching me approach, pulling the body along behind me.
“You two, come here and carry him, and you go open the lift,” I said to three dumbfounded stares. “Now move it or this is going to be you.” I raised the rifle one-handed and pointed it the closest and laughed. “This is going to hurt.” Survival kicked in and he rushed to the emperor’s legs. I let go of the arm so the other could pick it up.
“Where are we going?” the third asked, walking in front of us.
“Get us to the bridge, the fastest route possible.”
****
Queen Tazleaha sat in the captain’s seat, looking up at Minister Zentos standing next to her. They were having a quiet diplomatic conversation, as two heads of state should. The minister was doing his best to secure his empire’s people and property in exchange for a substantial monetary sum. Tazleaha would take the sum for the people, but the property would also be part of the payment. More importantly, the Khalnalax would return all Cjittan slaves immediately or there would be no agreement and likely the Cjittan would be showing up at their door with the largest fleet they had ever assembled and then the demands and reparations would be very different.
She was pleased the assault force had made it to the bridge without any other significant skirmishes once the Etash were cleared away. The thirty-plus Allond lined the walls of the bridge while Captain Kimit and three of the mechs stood behind the queen, Lieutenant Jared among them. The remaining mechs were guarding the corridor outside the bridge. Only a few minutes before, Tazleaha had Zentos make a ship-wide announcement to stand down. They would relinquish their weapons to the queen’s forces when they came around to collect them. The bridge was too quiet; the conversation had turned to the Khalnalax wanting Benjamin and his crew in exchange for all the cooperation they would be giving the Cjittan with the release of the slaves.
“Queen Tazleaha, you can see my point that it’s a very small price to pay,” Zentos said, gesturing with his hands palm up, trying to placate her. “Hundreds of thousands in exchange for less than a dozen.” Kimit took a step toward the minister. Tazleaha raised her hand to stave her off. Then the doors opened and three Khalnalax crewmen walked in carrying someone. Benjamin walked behind them.
“Drop him at the queen’s feet,” Benjamin said to them. “You don’t have to be gentle.”
Tazleaha watched as they deposited a body in red armor at her feet. There was something familiar about the armor.
“I’ve got a present for you, but I don’t think he is up for any conversation. So, what’s going on? I walked in and Kimit looked like she was going to hurt Minister Zentos.”
“We were discussing the return of the slaves, prisoner exchanges and compensation,” Tazleaha said.
“I don’t see why that would make Kimit upset,” Benjamin said, then lifted a foot and rested it on the emperor’s chest. Zentos frowned and his lip started to quiver.
“The minister wants you and your crew as part of the trade. He hadn’t got around to telling us why.” Kimit added. “Now, maybe the minister will explain.”
“War crimes,” Zentos said softly.
“What was that? Say it a little louder,” Benjamin said.
“War crimes. Your ship came here under an offer of peace, then it fired on those assembled in the hold with weapons meant for ship-to-ship warfare. That is murder, not war.”
“So, your forces attacking and murdering farmers on Kanlost then using your World Eaters to strip it of its natural resources is war then, not murder? I know two kids who would say different. Not that I need them to. I saw the destruction.”
“You destroyed our World Eaters and killed many of our soldiers, engineers and scientists. The latter were not
soldiers.”
“I didn’t destroy them all. I still have one of your World Eaters. I had planned on giving it back to you, but I wasn’t sure when. Let me tell you how I think these negotiations should go. She will tell you what she wants, and you will give it to her and smile and say thank you for letting us live, Queen Tazleaha.”
“I cannot make these decisions alone. Anything I agree to now the council of lords can overrule,” Zentos admitted. Tazleaha knew it was an honest statement.
“You can surely influence some of them?” Tazleaha asked.
“I have some influence with the council—”
“I really don’t care if you do or don’t, Minister,” Benjamin said and ground his foot into the emperor’s chest, just to add a little symbolism.
****
Again, we would have to strike while the iron is hot. I can’t let them talk for weeks about what they think they should do. War crimes. You haven’t seen anything yet, old man, I thought. “Queen Tazleaha, I have delivered to you Emperor Khalnalax. Freed Kanlost, Idaline and Tormaline from the invading forces. Captured many enemy warships, military assets and personnel. Let’s not grow old talking. I will lay the groundwork and save you politicians from wasting a lot of good air.
“Benjamin, do not be disrespectful,” Taz warned, her brow drawn up in a scowl.
“Ok, then let me explain it to both of you. Don’t make any arrangements until I’m done with my mission and I’ll let you know when that is.”
It was Zentos’ turn to scowl. “You should leave affairs of the state to those who are qualified to govern empires.”
Deireadh, do you have the emperor’s armor figured out yet?
Yes, Reaper.
Finally.
I sense you are in a mood.
You have more sense than most. How do you sense that anyway?
For weeks, we have recorded your vitals and reactions to verbal and non-verbal stimuli.
All right, sounds like it is going to be a long-winded dissertation. So you guess that I’m angry or happy or whatever.
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jaminson: Empires At War (Book 5 Part Two) Page 41