After a few seconds, Warwick’s voice came across a comms channel: “You’re all going to pay for this.”
None of them said anything. Each of the officers knew the brigadier felt weak and helpless and didn’t know how to show his appreciation for being saved.
Marv-Lel took the first turn at dragging his superior. “Thank me later, boss.”
“We’ve got to hurry,” Talbot said. “They’re going to regroup and come after us sooner rather than later.”
“How do you know?” Alia asked. “As long as we were going through the tunnels in those transports, we could walk for months and never find our way back out.”
But before Talbot could explain that they only had to walk a few hundred feet rather than hundreds of miles, laser blasts began streaking at them from all directions.
86
From where Julian was standing behind the energy field, everything he saw made his heart sink. Only one of the original three transport barges remained, which meant that many of the officers who had been on the other two were likely dead or had been taken prisoner.
The lone functioning barge began to move toward him across the floor of the cavern. After moving a hundred yards, the transport began to hover in place instead of making more progress, even though its engines were still illuminated. When he put his head through the energy field, the perspective shifted. Tunnel walls appeared, and the transport appeared to be moving through the tunnels.
When Julian leaned back behind the field, the barge was motionless again, with energy fields around it that provided holographic images of what would appear to be progress through the tunnels. His soldiers weren’t lost in a maze; they were turning circles in one giant holographic chamber where the Carthagens could pick them off one by one.
As he watched, the transport barge began to turn again, pointing back in the same direction it had come. Again, the engines ran but there was no forward movement. He saw someone in a CAB jump from the second tier of the hidden corridors and run back to meet the other officers.
A wave of relief flooded him when he heard his son’s voice. He braced himself against the wall with a thick armor glove, suddenly light-headed. Talbot was still alive.
His first instinct was to emerge from his hiding spot and join the others. It took every ounce of restraint to remain hidden. Ducking his head back behind the energy field, he saw Carthagens watching the transport from behind various hidden compartments on the second tier of the cavern. They were so focused on the cave floor and the Round Table officers there that they didn’t look at the various side compartments or notice Julian.
A group of CABs began walking toward the far side of the cavern, leaving the barge where it still hovered. One of the officers was dragging a non-functioning CAB across the ground. Within seconds, two Carthagens emerged from different spots on the second tier of the cavern and began blasting them with laser fire. Two more warriors jumped down to the ground level and hid behind boulders. From there, they too began sending laser blasts at the CABs.
Without another thought, Julian was off and running.
The two Carthagens on the ground level didn’t remain there for long. Even though he was running at top speed, Julian was only halfway across the cavern floor before they leapt back up to hiding spots on the second tier and disappeared behind energy fields that made it look like they were vanishing into solid rock. One of the warriors on the opposite wall jumped down next. The way the enemy was constantly moving, constantly attacking from different positions, Julian understood how it must have seemed as though there were many more attackers than there actually were.
Julian changed course and began sprinting toward the latest Carthagen to drop to the ground. He would have preferred to sneak up behind the warrior and end the fight before it ever started, but the CAB, booming against the ground with every lunging stride, made too much noise to go unnoticed.
The Carthagen heard him from ten paces out, but by the time the warrior spun and saw a CAB racing at him, it was too late. The Carthagen had just enough time to raise all four weapons and blunt the force of Julian’s charge. Both Julian’s lance and sword were deflected, but his momentum drove him straight into the Carthagen, who in turn crashed against the boulder behind him. Both of them grunted and immediately scrambled to get back up to their feet. Before they could, Julian’s ion knife was out and he was plunging it into the Carthagen’s chest plate.
After two strikes, the warrior stopped trying to attack and instead brought all of its arms up to defend itself. Julian wound back with his sword and with one blow cut off two of the Carthagen’s arms at the elbow. Another slash of the blade took off the alien’s other two arms. The next strike took off the warrior’s helmet.
Laser streaks began to hit the stones around him. Sparks flew from his armor where blasts hit his CAB. Talbot and the others were no longer the focus of the Carthagens’ assault. Only one warrior, perched at a hiding spot on the second story of the cavern, continued to rain laser blasts down at them. The others were focused solely on Julian.
Even though he was drawing fire, it was slow going for his officers. One of the CABs had to be dragged, and whoever was pulling it along was slowing down the other officers, who had to provide cover.
Turning his microphone on, he said, “I’m here, guys. Get to safety. I have you covered.”
He was already dashing across the cavern at another Carthagen when he heard the response come through his earpiece: “Dad?”
Lieutenant Marv-Lel’s voice also came through: “General Reiser? Do you need assistance?”
“Just get out of here.”
The Carthagen he was sprinting toward was rapidly getting larger as the distance between them closed. Warwick opened a comms channel but could offer no more than a cough and some unintelligible words. No one could understand, but Julian guessed his friend was trying to offer encouragement to his fellow troops or else a threat toward the enemy.
The Carthagen in front of Julian fired a pair of laser blasts. Both hit him in the sternum, sending a shockwave through his suit and causing him to stumble as he ran. He was only thirty feet away. Twenty feet. The Carthagen let off another pair of blasts. One hit the left shoulder of Julian’s CAB. The other hit his elbow and turned him sideways for a moment. He let out a yell and pointed his vibro lance at the warrior as he continued to run right at it. The Carthagen let off another two blaster shots. One hit Julian square on the visor, jolting his head back and sending a shock of pain through his neck. The other zipped past his helmet.
He could tell from the way the alien shifted its weight from side to side in those final moments that it was terror-stricken and trying to decide what it should do. Before it could make a choice, Julian closed the final ten feet and rammed his lance straight through the Carthagen’s chest. As he did, he couldn’t help but think of Lancelot, knowing how easily she would have avoided the same strike and made him pay for such a brash move. The pierced warrior gave a cry of pain and stumbled one step backward before coming up against the stone behind it.
Even with the lance through its chest, it tried to raise its own weapons. Julian brought his sword down, slashing two of its arms away, then brought his blade from side to side, slicing off the other two arms at the elbows. Taking no joy in its pain, he gave one last swing and took off the warrior’s head.
Another Carthagen had joined the attack against Talbot and the others. Instead of firing laser blasts, he was launching three different types of grenades. One exploded with blue energy, which Julian knew to be an ion grenade. Another sprayed explosive plasma in all directions. Solar napalm. The third type of grenade sent waves of energy out like a sonic boom. Julian didn’t know what this weapon was.
As he ran to join the others, he saw the disabled CAB that was being dragged get hit by an ion grenade. Two of the other officers stopped and reached down to help the officer who was dragging it. Before they could make any progress, the CAB was engulfed in orange and yellow swirls of fire after a so
lar grenade landed on its stomach.
“Return fire, everything you’ve got,” Julian said to the others around the body as he continued to run toward them.
Instead of retreating, the officers stood in place and began firing laser blasts of their own in the directions they had last seen the Carthagens. Julian reached them and immediately leaned down to see who was inside the CAB and how he was doing.
It was Warwick. He was mumbling something, but his microphone no longer worked. His face was a mess, his breathing ragged. His eyes weren’t focusing on anything.
Already near death, the brigadier’s fate had been sealed by the latest blasts.
“You fought well, Warwick,” Julian said, taking one of his friend’s armored gloves between both of his own, although he doubted Warwick could hear what he was saying.
“Come on,” Julian said, standing and turning.
“We can’t leave him,” Talbot called back.
“He’s already dead.”
Julian looked at Lieutenant Marv-Lel, Talbot, and the other officers. For a moment, each officer stared back at him as though they were actually considering defying the general in charge of the entire mission. Then they each nodded and looked away.
They were only a few steps closer to the edge of the holographic tunnel when another grenade landed on Warwick, sending a shockwave of energy through his suit and ripping it to pieces.
They paused and looked back at him. If he had still been clinging to life, he no longer was.
“Come on,” Julian said.
They were turning, running. Not even two steps later, another grenade exploded. The officer that had received the brunt of the explosion fell face-first to the ground, unable to move as the blue energy of the grenade disabled all of his suit’s systems. Before anyone could react, a solar grenade landed on the officer’s back and exploded. When the light dissipated, the CAB’s helmet and legs were still there but the torso was gone.
“Come on,” Julian said again, this time in a yell.
They ran for their lives.
87
After assuming he would never see his father again, a flood of emotions had come over Talbot when he saw Julian race across the cavern. For the first time in days, he believed there was a small chance they might actually survive. The certainty of death gave way to the longing to live. He also experienced a tremendous wave of grief. Half of the others were dead, and while he would never admit it to anyone, he resented his father.
Talbot had been persuaded by his father to join the academy. After graduation, he had been given the preferential treatment of being assigned to General Reiser’s flagship. Because of that, he had been sent across the galaxy while more deserving officers were not. He had never had a burning desire to cross the galaxy and have people join the Round Table. He had merely allowed his father to tell him what to do. Now he was watching his fellow officers die while he struggled to survive.
“Come on,” Julian said, his voice loud through Talbot’s earpiece.
Warwick was dead. The brigadier had held out in pain and misery for most of their time in the caves, and it had been for nothing. Now, another officer was dead as well.
As they were heading toward what appeared to be a rock wall, Talbot and Julian were the only two in the group who knew the walls were actually sophisticated holograms. That was why they didn’t slow their pace as they approached. Talbot turned back after clearing the energy field and saw Marv-Lel and the others pause to touch the wall even though they had just seen Talbot and Julian pass through it.
“What the...” Marv-Lel said as he appeared through the other side.
“Holograms,” Talbot explained. “The entire time we thought we were traveling through endless tunnels, we were in that one cavern.”
“Let’s go,” Julian said, and began jogging ahead of them again.
Talbot and the others followed. The difference between their surroundings inside the holographic trap and the genuine tunnels was stark. No longer were they in what appeared to be a fairly perfect set of cave pathways with rock all around them. Instead, there were natural crevices in the stone, which had a texture like lava rock, and the cave floor felt different under their feet. They were on the right path.
Blaster fire sailed past them. When Talbot turned, he saw three Carthagens taking aim. Rather than waste time, he and the others continued running toward the cave exit. The color of the rock changed as they ran, going from even hues of brown to varying shades of black and gray.
His father’s voice came through the speaker in his helmet: “We’re getting close.”
They were all panting now. The CAB did the majority of the work for them but after not sleeping for days and having little food or water during that time, their bodies were worn down.
“There,” Talbot said, pointing ahead.
The galaxy and its infinite array of stars had never seemed more beautiful than from the mouth of that tunnel.
The laser blasts were still coming from behind them. Most deflected off the CAB armor, but even the ones that were absorbed into it, weakening the suit’s strength, seemed of little consequence. Talbot was reunited with his father and they were only a hundred yards from being saved.
The last stretch of tunnel seemed to be over in no time. Talbot felt as if he had never run faster in his life and had never been happier to do so.
“We did it!” he yelled as they emerged from the tunnel and stood outside the mouth of the cave, staring at the expanse of the Orleans asteroid field and beyond that, endless space.
The cheering was short-lived, of course, because the Round Table fleet was gone. No one was there to save them.
Art 6
At the Mouth of the Cave, by Bryce Baker, watercolor and ink
88
Inside Lancelot’s Type III Burst shuttle, the Orleans asteroid field looked completely different than it did from a viewport on one of the Round Table ships. Peering out the cockpits of one of those vessels, crewmembers would see a plethora of rocks floating in every direction. The asteroids would range in color depending on where they were within the system. They would slowly drift through space, each of varying sizes. The difference was that Lancelot’s vessel showed what was actually there. There was no risk of her swerving around an asteroid that didn’t actually exist, only to fly into a hidden asteroid that she couldn’t see. Because of this, the shuttle was able to travel at regular cruising speeds, with Lancelot guiding it in loose arcs around the giant bodies of stone that lay in her path.
After only half an hour, she was approaching the same position that it had taken the Round Table’s flagships ten hours to reach. The shuttle’s shield system beeped a warning. All but one of the flagships was targeting her, which was amusing.
Rather than scare or intimidate her, as she guessed was their intent, the hostile overture only made her smile. The combined arsenal of the mighty Round Table fleet was negated by Lancelot veering off and putting a trio of large asteroids between her and the vessels that had struck fear in the rest of the Cartha sector.
There was no need to engage the flagships; they were already leaving. And anyway, it was no longer her job to do so.
A moment later, she checked the navigation display and saw the giant vessels lagging further and further behind her until, eventually, they fell off the display altogether. After a while, her ship stopped warning her of the potential threat because none of their weapons could reach her anymore.
A minute later, the asteroids opened up and she was out of the Orleans asteroid field for the first time in over twenty years.
“Congratulations, Lancelot,” Mortimous’ voice called out.
With no idea what she would do next or where she would go, she let the shuttle take her farther and farther into the unknown.
89
From the bridge of his Hellship, Brigadier Desttro watched the shuttle’s flight path. As soon as it had been picked up on the ship’s sensors, the signals officer brought it to his attention. Dest
tro watched the shuttle with only mild interest. However, on the other side of the command deck, his weapon’s officer began to power up the Hellship’s cannons.
“What are you doing?”
The ensign froze. “Uh, sir, I was preparing the weapons.”
In many other situations Desttro wouldn’t have tolerated such misconduct. It was a provocation to war to let another vessel know you were charging your ship’s weapons. In a different setting, faced with a kingdom’s fleet rather than a single shuttle, such a blunder could touch off a war. After everything they had gone through, though, Desttro had no energy to chastise the ensign and make an example out of him.
“Next time, only do so if ordered.”
“Yes, sir. I apologize.”
Desttro nodded and went back to watching the ship. The shuttle crested away from the flagships, disappearing behind a large asteroid. When it came back into sight, it was already a good distance away from Desttro’s vessel.
The entire time the Round Table fleet had been looking for the Carthagens inside the Orleans asteroid field, they hadn’t come across another vessel or any sign of the reclusive alien race. Now that they were leaving, a ship was racing past them, also on its way out of the asteroids. Desttro narrowed his eyes and tried to complete the puzzle of why such a thing would happen. The flagships were finally leaving. Why would the Carthagens taunt them after the Round Table forces had given up?
The only possibility he arrived at made him hold his breath.
He turned back to the signals officer who had brought the alien ship to his attention. “Send that ship’s course to one of the Llyushin transports. At the point where you couldn’t yet pick up its path, merge its projected flight plan with the path our ships used to exit the asteroid field. And notify one of the Llyushin pilots that I need assistance.”
“Yes, sir,” the signals officer said, turning to face the display.
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