by Sara King
“I’ll share the earnings of my kasja with you, if that will ease the pain,” Daviin said. He grinned at Flea. “After all, today the Baga won the day.”
“I’m still waiting to see the money from my own kasja,” Flea grumbled. “It’s almost like they don’t wanna pay me.”
No one answered him. The Human cleared his throat and checked the Ooreiki’s activated beacon. Then he glanced at his watch. His brow furrowed.
“How much longer?” Flea asked.
“They’re ten tics late,” Jer’ait replied.
“Must have a bunch of other pickups before ours,” Galek suggested.
Jer’ait snorted at the Ooreiki. “They only sent eighty groundteams down here this time, instead of two and a half million. They are not strapped for pilots or ships.”
They waited three more hours. Every twenty tics, Joe broadcasted his pickup request back to Congress.
“Burn this,” Joe snapped after his twelfth request. He took off his helmet and pried open the inner console.
“What’re you doing?” the Ooreiki whispered, watching him curiously.
“Something I learned on Eeloir,” Joe said. As Daviin watched, he began using his dexterous Human fingers to manipulate the tiny parts. “Galek, give me your PPU.”
Galek hesitated, his tentacle wrapping tightly around it. “What if I need it?”
Joe laughed. “Funny. Give it to me.”
For a moment, it actually looked as if the Ooreiki would disobey. Then, reluctantly, Galek handed over his device. Joe immediately cracked it open and began removing several of the tiny parts inside. These he fastened into place in his helmet, holding them down with his fingers. Everyone was watching the Human curiously, now, even Scarab.
“Usually we’ve gotta use gum or something stupid like that, but since we’ve got our own little glue machine… Flea, would you mind helping me out? Just a dab.”
Flea scuttled over to sit on Joe’s leg and eyed the contraption. “You sure?” he asked, sounding worried.
“Yeah,” Joe said.
Flea buzzed his wings, then delicately began fusing the pieces from Galek’s PPU into Joe’s helmet.
“There!” Joe said, putting the shield back in place. “Let those bastards try to ignore me now.”
Everyone in the fighting hole gave him a nervous look. “Joe,” Daviin began delicately, “It says in the manual not to fiddle with your helmet.”
“That’s just because they don’t want you to do something like this.” He grinned and slapped the last panel back in place.
Daviin winced. “It says if you fiddle with your helmet, you can cause serious mental disorders and death.”
“Well, that, too.” Joe grinned at them. “But I know what I’m doing.”
Everyone held their breath as he lowered the helmet over his head.
Immediately, Joe stiffened and began to convulse like a dying thing.
“Get it off of him!” Daviin screeched, lunging forward in blind panic.
Joe opened his eyes and grinned up at him. “Gotcha.”
Daviin glared, feeling like a fool. “So what did you just accomplish, Human?”
“Listen to this.” Joe closed his eyes…and began singing a startlingly accurate rendition of a lewd Jahul drinking song.
He was on the eighth verse, “…coupled in her mother’s bed…” when a very loud Ooreiki cut him off.
“What the hell is the meaning of this, Jahul? Who are you? Why are you flooding our channels? We have more important things to do than listen to your songs.”
The Human broke out into a huge grin. He dropped the Jahul accent. “I know. Like coming to get us. This is Commander Zero. My groundteam is ready for pickup.”
“As are we,” said another voice, also Human. “Why the hell’ve you vaghi left us here? Are we the only ones left?”
The Ooreiki on the other side sounded furious. “You’re not the only ones—there’s six other groundteams waiting for pickup. We’re constructing new orders for you. You’ll be picked up after you’ve finished.”
Joe’s smile faded. “What you mean, ‘new orders?’”
“Your second assignment. Your Overseers will contact you as soon as—”
“Furgsoot!” Daviin’s ward snapped. “We just took out a prince. That’s four princes, you ghost-burning sooter. Come get us. We earned our keep. We’ve got leave coming.”
“You do,” the Ooreiki said. “After you complete another mission. Your Overseer will contact you shortly. Until then, if I hear another word from you, you’ll face court-martial.”
“Put your money where your mouth is, you shit-eating Takki coward,” Joe said. “Come on down here and get me.”
When the Ooreiki did not reply, Joe launched into a graphic rendition of just where he intended to shove the butt end of his rifle when they finally got off Neskfaat.
“Give it up, Zero,” a Human voice said tiredly. “They’re not coming.”
“I know,” Daviin’s ward said. “But I’ve gotta entertain myself somehow, don’t I?”
“Would you stop broadcasting!” the Ooreiki snapped. “Both of you!”
“Make us, sootwad.”
Joe hesitated. “Leila? That’s you, isn’t it?”
The Human said nothing for a moment, then said, “It’s Rat… Who told you it was Leila?”
“I was pretty sure it was you.”
The other Human snorted. “Yeah, well. It wasn’t. Only place that name still exists is in my file.”
“Yeah,” Joe said, glancing at the Baga. “Right above her blood sample.”
Flea twittered, but Daviin didn’t understand the reference.
“So how many princes you killed?” Joe asked lazily. “We got four, you know.”
“We also got four,” Rat replied. “Benva and Kai’lin are two-for-two.”
Benva! The worthless Welu heir! Daviin felt the beginnings of a battle cry forming in his throat and he tightened his fingers into fists as he forced it down. “Perhaps we can team up,” he said, as casually as he could. “Kill Dhasha together.” Jer’ait snapped his head around to give him a flat stare.
“Let me guess. Jreet and Huouyt?”
“Yeah. Say, that Voran was on your team, wasn’t he?”
“Sure is,” Joe said, still pinning Daviin with that even look. “Don’t you dare give us your coordinates.”
“You’re both gonna be thrown in the brig as soon as you set foot on Jeelsiht!”
“Same to you, Zero. Let’s hope they send different pickups.”
“You hear that, fellahs? Different shuttles. Make ‘em upholstered.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Daviin said, disdain dripping from his voice. “I wouldn’t fight the Welu. He’s a cripple.”
“No he’s not. Jer’ait just told you that to shut you up,” Joe said. He winked at Daviin’s startled look and went back to his conversation with the other Human. “Our Huouyt took out two princes, our Baga got one, and our Jreet just took out this last one.”
“Your Baga got one?”
“Yeah. Plugged his nose right up. Can’t breathe out their mouths, so he suffocated. Flea kicked ass.”
Flea puffed up like a bloated melaa under the praise.
“Zero…” the Human sounded perplexed. “You don’t by any chance have an Ooreiki and a Grekkon on your team, do you?”
“You two are giving out sensitive information over all channels. Shut your burning mouths!”
“Can it,” Joe said. “They already know everything about us before we even get off the shuttle, so a little chit-chat can’t hurt. And yes. An Ooreiki and a Grekkon.”
“Is the Ooreiki…special?”
Joe grinned widely and glanced at Galek. “Sure is.”
“Holy crap, Zero. Phoenix gave us the same team.”
“And it looks like she’s gonna win that Corps Directorship she’s always wanted, don’t it? Your guys all still kickin’?”
“Grekkon ran a little dry, but the last
two days gave him a bit of a recharge.”
“You two are blatantly disregarding a direct ord—”
“So,” Joe said, “When we get off this rock, how ‘bout some sex?”
“Sounds like the best idea I’ve heard all rotation, Commander. Your place or mine?”
“Yours,” Joe said. “Mine might bring back unpleasant memories.”
“Bad lay or she dump you?”
“Well, a little of both, actually. There was blood.”
“That’s some of the best.”
Joe laughed. “Usually, I’d agree with you.”
“Fine. You two don’t give an ash what we do to you? That’s understandable. But I swear to you the next one of you who opens his mouth gets his headcom fried.”
Joe sighed and lifted the helmet from his head. “Well, it was fun while it lasted.” He lifted the screen from the inside of his helmet once more and began cutting away the pieces he had installed with Flea’s help. When he put it back on his head, he said, “You hear me?”
“Yes, sir,” Galek said. He was staring down at the butchered pieces of his PPU. “What about this, sir?”
Joe glanced at it and laughed. “What do you need a PPU for, Galek? You got tunnel instinct. It’s a hundred times better.”
“I suppose,” Galek said reluctantly. “But…was it really worth it?”
“Sure it was!” Joe cried, slapping the Ooreiki on the back cheerfully. “Now we know they’re gonna leave us here ‘til we die.”
“He’s taking you seriously,” Jer’ait said dryly.
“I am serious.”
“Commander Zero, this is Phoenix.”
Joe’s entire body stiffened and he looked as if he wanted to rip the headcom off of his skull. Instead, he said, “So you finally got what you wanted, huh Mag?”
“Commander Zero, you are to proceed on foot to the entrance with surface coordinates of—”
“No offense, but burn you, Mag. We’ll stay here ‘til we get our pickup.”
“Look,” Phoenix said, “We just intercepted a message from the Dhasha Vahlin to his lieutenants. We have locations on all of them and we can’t take the chance they’ll realize they’ve been compromised and move.”
“Let me guess,” Jer’ait muttered, padding up beside them. His Jikaln body blended with the foliage, and his toothy muzzle was opened to expose a row of glistening white fangs. Even to Daviin’s ears, he was quiet. “There’s eight Lieutenants.”
The Human glanced at the Huouyt. “How many lieutenants?” he asked.
“I can’t give up that kind of information.”
“You will,” Joe said, “Or you can bet your petite white ass we aren’t moving from this fighting hole.”
There was a long silence before Phoenix said, “Eight.”
The ridges over Joe’s eyes drew together. “Eight. One for each surviving team.”
“Fortunate, isn’t it?” Phoenix said.
“Just dandy. Give me a tic. Gotta take a dump.”
Out loud, he said, “Is everyone back at Headquarters a ghost-burning jenfurgling? Or is that just me?”
“No,” Flea said, “I think you’re right. I was rooting through their files and got a look at some of their I.Q.s and it’s pretty sad.”
“Okay,” Joe said, “What’s this mean? He’s slowly killing us all off…why? He sure as hell could’ve killed us all just like he killed those three Trith, if he’d wanted to.”
“Who are you talking about?” Galek said, giving them a suspicious look.
“Fill you in later,” Joe said. “Jer’ait, what you thinking?”
“I’m thinking maybe Jemria doesn’t want us alive, after all.”
“Of course he doesn’t want us alive,” Daviin said, gesturing at the stinking fields of corpses that surrounded them. “He wants to see how we die.”
“But what the hell difference could that make to him?” Joe demanded.
“In ancient wars, Morinth would send all its prisoners of war to Va’ga,” Jer’ait said. “They used to experiment on their enemies, see how much they could take before they died.”
“Don’t be disgusting,” Daviin snapped, repulsed by the very idea.
“Would a Geuji really need to experiment on us?” Joe asked.
Galek’s meaty face scrunched in an Ooreiki frown. “What is this about a Geuji?”
“Later,” the Human assured the youngster. To Jer’ait, he said, “I’ve just heard the legends, but couldn’t he figure it all out for himself, what makes us tick?”
“Yes,” Jer’ait said reluctantly, “But, like you, I find it highly…odd…that the first message intercepted from the Vahlin during the entire war lists eight lieutenants, one for each groundteam that survived.”
“So maybe it’s the Vahlin laying a trap for us,” Joe said. “Maybe there really is a Vahlin.”
“Who said there wasn’t a Vahlin?” Galek asked, his big, sticky brown eyes confused. And wary. He looked like a Jreet warrior who had just found himself in an elevator filled with Ayhi.
“Commander Zero, it would be best if you didn’t play games with me.”
“But the Geuji has to be involved,” Flea said. “Who else killed those three Trith? You, Joe?”
Joe snorted. “I wish.”
“Who killed three Trith?” Galek demanded, looking even more nervous, now.
Daviin waved off the boy’s question. To the others, he said, “Look, there’s no question the Geuji is involved.” Daviin glanced at each of his companions individually. “We all agree on that, correct?”
“Yes,” Flea said.
Jer’ait nodded.
“Yeah,” Joe said.
The Ooreiki watched them as if they’d all suddenly lost their minds.
“Then we also agree he isn’t on our side,” Daviin said.
“How do you figure?” Joe asked.
“Who else would be predicting where we’re going to land every time?” Daviin demanded. “The Trith?”
“Maybe,” Joe said. “Hell, maybe Jer’ait’s right and this is a battle between a Geuji and the Trith. Maybe we’re just pawns.”
“We are just pawns,” the Huouyt said.
Joe gave Jer’ait an irritated glance. “Yeah. Okay. So what if the Trith are helping the Dhasha and the Geuji is helping us?”
“Then we’d be doing a lot better than we are,” Jer’ait said. “The Geuji’s a vortex. Anything he does muddies the Trith’s vision. He starts telling us where to go and what to do and the Trith wouldn’t be able to pre—” The Huouyt stiffened. “It is the Geuji helping the Dhasha. The Trith wouldn’t be able to foresee us coming. Jemria is a vortex. And he’s been using us, playing us like pawns. The Trith are trying to stop him, because everything relating to Neskfaat is going to be unreadable for them. Which means that we are going to be unreadable to them.”
“Commander Zero, if you want a pickup at all, you’re going to stop screwing around.
“No need to jump up and down, Mag. You’ll lose those pretty contacts of yours.”
“Joe…”
“Please. Call me Zero. Joe’s reserved for friends and decent Human beings.” He met his groundteam’s eyes. “Make that decent beings.”
“I’m sending the coordinates to your PPU. We want you to the den and into the tunnels within the next day and a half.”
Phoenix ended the conversation.
Joe took out his PPU and glanced at it. Then he sighed and put it away.
“Time to go, Commander?” Galek asked.
“No. It’s a day’s hike, at least. We’ll camp here a few nights, then head out.”
Galek blinked. “But she said the next day and a half.”
Joe turned on the Ooreiki sharply. “Do I look like I give a rat’s ass what that de-scaled Takki turd wants?”
“No sir,” Galek said meekly.
“All right,” Joe said, turning back to the rest of them. “So it’s the Geuji. He’s patching us up, keeping the Trith off my back and sen
ding us into the tunnels to die. Does that make sense to anyone?”
When no one answered, Joe said, “All right, let’s look at it from another angle. What could the Geuji get out of this? There’s gotta be something or he wouldn’t be doing it.”
“Maybe he wants to see a bunch of princes die,” Flea suggested. “They get on people’s nerves.”
“That’s hardly the reason to start a war,” Jer’ait said.
“What if he wants us to blow up Neskfaat?” Joe asked.
“Then he would’ve let us do it in the first week of the war, when the Space Corps first petitioned for it,” the Huouyt said.
Daviin frowned, the tinglings of a memory tickling the back of his mind. “How many groundteams started this fight, Joe?”
“A little over two and a half million.”
“And we’re down to eight?”
“That’s right.”
Understanding hit Daviin in a sickening wave. “I know what this is.”
“What?”
“We do it on Vora, with our young.”
Joe snorted. “You give them rifles, pat them on the butt, and send them after Dhasha?”
“We kill them off,” Daviin said. “Only the strongest survives. They fight to determine which gets to live. Only one from every hatch.” Daviin tensed. “Joe, I think this Geuji means to whittle us down to one.”
CHAPTER 28: The Lieutenant
“So?” Joe asked, peering through his scope. “How’s it look?”
“Empty, Commander.”
“I’m looking at a field of corpses, Flea. I doubt it’s empty.”
“Yeah, but it’s been four days. Maybe Phoenix was right. Maybe he moved on.”
“Nope,” Joe said, unscrewing the scope from his rifle and returning it to his pack. “There’s a Dhasha in there.”
“Why do you say that?” Daviin asked.
“Because that vaghi of a Geuji wants us to fight one, that’s why.”
“Simple, yet effective logic,” Jer’ait said. “How do we test it?”
“By going in there and getting him.” Joe pulled out a viewfinder and enhanced the nighttime image in front of him even more than his nightvision-altered eyes allowed. He scanned the fields of dead around them, seeking movement. After a moment, he frowned. “Anyone notice anything strange about those corpses?”