There was a momentary break in the fighting as the two sides considered their next move. Ravenwood took the opportunity to assist Lena, who could not stand, and pulled her out of the fray.
Kurak walked forward toward Kane and stood with his sword pointing down and to his side. He flashed Kane a predator’s grin.
“You are skilled with a blade,” said the Sahiradin. “But you have not been truly tested.”
Kurak glided two steps forward and swung his sword with remarkable precision and grace, as though it were an extension of his body. Kane fended off the attack and the flood of others that followed, but he was clearly hard put to keep from being cut. Kurak turned and spun, thrusting and slicing at Kane in a deadly display of sword mastery. Cap attempted to assist Kane, but the Sahiradin blocked the young man’s attacks with ease. While Kurak and Kane were locked in battle, the Red Legs set upon Logan and Cap, forcing them to retreat toward the blast hole through which they had entered.
Kane countered Kurak’s attacks with a thrust of his sword and then his dagger, but the Sahiradin struck the dagger so hard it flew from Kane’s hand. Now Kurak attacked in earnest, launching one deadly attack after another. Kane defended well, even without his dagger, but was nicked and cut again and again.
As Kane fought the Sahiradin, Logan was doing his best to defend himself against two attacking Red Legs. Little by little, he gave ground until he could feel the wall against his back. One of the Red Legs feigned an attack but pulled back while the other thrust with his sword, wounding Logan’s right shoulder.
As Logan rolled to the right to avoid another Red Leg blade, he looked at Kane and saw him desperately fending off his black-armored opponent. Next to Kane, Cap parried attack after attack from his two Red Leg attackers.
The wound to his right shoulder throbbed with intense pain. Logan lifted the sword with both hands and grimaced as his two opponents prepared to finish him off. He could see their eyes glinting in anticipation of the kill, and there was little he could do to disappoint them.
Then he saw Ravenwood enter through the blast hole in the wall, having pulled Lena through the hole and into the relative safety of the hallway. His face was set in stony determination. Tightly gripping a sword in both hands, he closed his eyes and focused his thoughts. Then he looked at the Sahiradin and like an enraged bear, charged forward.
Ravenwood’s attack, though swift and determined, was rather clumsy. Nevertheless, Kurak was surprised by the ferocity of the assault and was forced to give up ground, although Logan could tell by the grin on the alien’s face that he was enjoying the turn the fight had taken.
Kane and Cap took advantage of the momentary shift in momentum that Ravenwood’s attack had provided and went on the offensive. Logan also stepped forward and swung his blade, keeping his two opponents occupied long enough for Kane to drive his sword into the side of a Red Leg’s thigh, ripping through his hamstring muscles. As the Red Leg collapsed, Kane turned to assist Ravenwood but a Red Leg peeled off of his fight with Cap to block him.
Logan glanced at Ravenwood and saw the momentary advantage his flurry of swings had provided was spent. The Sahiradin was now easily avoiding or blocking his attacks, but surprisingly, his counterattacks were not finding their mark. His sword was repeatedly and inexplicably turned to the side at the last moment whenever he tried to deal Ravenwood a deathblow. The grin on his face was gone, replaced by an expression of angry frustration.
Ravenwood deflected several strikes and raised his sword for a great downward swing. Just then, the Sahiradin stunned him with a quick punch to the face. The blow caused Ravenwood to stumble backward just as Kurak glided forward and drove his sword into Ravenwood’s stomach. The Sahiradin paused and flashed a serpent’s grin as he looked menacingly into Ravenwood’s surprised eyes.
Ravenwood gasped and dropped his sword, but remained focused on Kurak’s face. Then he wrapped both of his hands around the hilt of the Sahiradin’s sword and with a great heave pulled himself closer. He grabbed hold of the black armor and reached behind the breastplate. Kurak realized what Ravenwood was attempting to do and tried to break free, but could not escape the big man’s powerful grip. Kurak covered the breast pocket containing the Apollo Stone with his free hand as Ravenwood pulled at the clothing under the armor, desperately trying to extract the stone. Finally, Ravenwood’s strength failed him and his blood-stained hands slipped from the black Provex armor. Kurak pulled his sword from Ravenwood’s stomach and watched him drop to his knees.
Kane screamed and slit the throat of his Red Leg opponent. He lunged at Kurak, but he was met by yet another Red Leg. Kane dropped him with a slice to the man’s exposed knee and turned to attack the Sahiradin, but he had already disappeared through a door in the far side of the room. The two remaining Red Legs guarded his escape, frustrating Kane’s attempts to pursue. After parrying several attacks, the Red Legs heard approaching voices through the blast hole in the wall. Lieutenant Styles and several troopers entered the room, prompting the Red Legs to quickly follow the Sahiradin through the door. Kane picked up his dagger from the floor and raced after them.
Logan ran to Ravenwood, who lay on the floor clutching his stomach. He was breathing in quick shallow puffs.
“Failed. I didn’t get it,” he said, gasping for air and holding his trembling hands over his stomach as blood flowed from the wound. He looked into Logan’s eyes and whispered, “Don’t let him have the stone.”
Logan nodded and said, “We’ll get it. I promise.”
Logan looked over his shoulder at Lieutenant Styles as she entered the room and said, “He’s badly wounded and needs a doctor right away.”
Ravenwood tried to sit up. “Forget me. Get the stone!” he said in the loudest voice he could muster. He pushed Logan toward the door through which Kurak had retreated.
Logan looked at Ravenwood and then at Cap, who had just finished checking on Lena.
“Let’s go,” he said to Cap.
They ran through the door after the Sahiradin. As they raced down the red-lit corridor, Logan could hear shouting voices and ringing swords. They turned a corner and saw Kane fighting a Red Leg near a door that opened to the airfield. Five meters closer to them was the body of a Red Leg. Kane kneed his opponent in the groin and smashed the pummel of his sword into the back of his head, causing the man to fall to the floor. Then he turned and ran onto the airfield.
When Logan and Cap reached the door, the Red Leg Kane had struck was struggling to his feet. Cap bowled him over and punched him in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. They ran into the morning light and saw Kane fighting the Sahiradin thirty meters away. The two were spinning and thrusting with lightning speed, each one eager to cut the flesh of the other.
Cap was the first to join Kane. He swung his sword at the Sahiradin’s skull, but Kurak leaned back and raised his foot to Cap’s chest, kicking him back several steps. Logan arrived and stood to Kane’s left. Kane attacked, but Kurak sidestepped him and swung low at Logan, who struggled to bring his sword around in time to block the attack. The Sahiradin then blocked Kane’s dagger with his sword and smashed his fist into Kane’s jaw, causing him to stumble backward and fall.
Kurak turned to attack Logan, but just then he saw League troopers pouring onto the airfield and running toward him. He swung at Logan’s head, causing the young man to duck low, then he fled toward the awaiting Blackhawk.
As Kurak ran, the Blackhawk trained its weapons on the fast-approaching troopers, spraying the area with high-caliber bullets. Two of the Blackhawk’s pulse guns also fired at an air defense battery that was just coming back on line, causing it to explode.
Logan and Cap pulled the semi-conscious Kane behind a pallet of supplies while League troopers fired on the ship, but their weapons were useless against its shields. Logan looked to his right and saw about fifty Red Legs running from the base’s headquarters building toward the Blackhawk. They fired on League troopers as they dashed across the open tarmac. Suddenly, they st
opped running and took cover behind some destroyed vehicles. Logan looked at the Blackhawk and saw it was lifting off just as Kurak boarded the rear ramp. A handful of Red Legs on the ramp provided him with covering fire as he went inside.
Helpless to stop the Sahiradin from escaping, Kane, Logan, and Cap watched as the Blackhawk lifted into the air. But as it gained altitude, a red beam of light struck the gunship. Logan looked behind him and saw that some troopers had brought one of the mounted pulse guns back on line and were manually targeting the Blackhawk. Another beam flashed toward Blackhawk but like the first, it failed to pierce the gunship’s shield. They fired again and a spot on the gunship momentarily glowed red as the gunship turned northeast. A final beam from the pulse gun hummed through the air. Black smoke erupted from the fleeing Blackhawk and it shimmered momentarily with silver light.
“Shit,” said Cap. “I think that final shot took her shields out, but now they’re gone.”
“And so is the Apollo Stone,” added Logan as he watched the gunship fly away.
Something suddenly roared over their heads. Logan looked toward the source of the sound and saw a group of missiles racing through the air in the direction of the Blackhawk. After a few seconds, the Blackhawk’s anti-missile defenses fired something at the onrushing missiles, which destroyed several of them, but a few continued toward the gunship. One more was intercepted by Blackhawk defenses, but two reached their target and exploded in bright red and orange light.
Logan looked behind him toward the main building to see a handful of troopers with handheld missile launchers. Among them was Lena. She was leaning against the side of the building holding a spent launcher in her hands. He turned toward the north and saw the retreating gunship trailing black smoke.
Hearing gunfire, Logan looked at the remaining Red Legs as they continued to fire on any League troopers that appeared on the tarmac. But their position behind the wrecked vehicles did not afford much protection. Troopers began firing on them from on top of nearby buildings. Several RPG rounds landed in their midst, throwing bodies into the air. Their still-active shields protected them from the explosives’ shrapnel but not the concussions and broken bones the blast waves caused. Yet, despite the fact that they had no hope of escape or victory, they continued to fight for several minutes until there were fewer than ten left who finally surrendered.
Logan and Cap ran back to Lena. Kane followed them, turning from time to time to gaze at the still-visible trail of smoke in the northern sky.
“I can’t believe you two left me behind,” said Lena angrily.
“I can’t believe you walked all the way here with this wound,” said Cap, looking at the bloody bandage on her leg. He took the missile launcher from her hand and put it on the ground.
“How’s Ravenwood?” asked Kane when he arrived seconds later.
Lena shook her head. “It doesn’t look good. They’ve taken him to the infirmary.”
Kane nodded and dashed into the building.
“What are you doing?” she asked Cap as he tried to lead her toward a nearby mobile medical crew.
“I’m taking you to see the medic,” he said, confused.
“Why?” she asked, pulling her arm out of his hand.
“Because you’re wounded,” replied Cap, angrily.
“I saw an undamaged fighter in the back of the hangar,” said Lena. “Get in it and go shoot down the Blackhawk.”
Cap stared at her for a moment, mouth slightly open. Then he said, “So you’re telling me to waltz into a League hangar, steal one of their planes, and go after the most advanced aircraft the PRA has ever put in the air.”
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation.
“It takes a half dozen people to get a plane ready for flight,” he protested. “How am I supposed to get it off the ground with no fuel? How am I supposed to shoot down the Blackhawk with no ordnance? And how am I supposed to avoid being shot to hell by League missiles as soon as they see me taxi out of the hangar?”
Lena leaned forward and cupped his face in her hands. “Improvise. I’ve already wounded the thing for you. Just go finish it off.”
She gently patted his cheek and removed her hands.
Cap was about to respond, but reconsidered and looked at Logan. “You want to help me steal an airplane?”
Chapter 51
Kane found Ravenwood on a stretcher in the makeshift hospital ward outside the infirmary amid dozens of wounded troopers. A doctor was looking at the dressing on his wound.
“How’s he doing, doc?” asked Kane as he looked at Ravenwood’s unconscious face.
“Not good,” said the doctor without looking up. “He took a sword in the stomach and it passed through his back.” She stood and faced Kane. “I did some very quick surgery, which stopped the worst of the bleeding, but it’s a mess in there and I didn’t have much time.”
“Well, get back in there and finish the job,” said Kane through clenched teeth.
She looked around the room. “There are a lot of wounded soldiers whose lives can be saved but only if I move quickly to help them. I did my best with your friend, but now it’s out of my hands. I’m sorry.”
She walked over to the triage nurse. “Okay. Who’s next?” she asked.
“Doc,” said Kane. “I don’t think you understand, I...”
But the doctor cut him off. “I understand perfectly well,” she said in a firm but professional tone. “Now let me do my job.” She returned her attention to the triage nurse.
Kane stared at the doctor’s back but said nothing more. Then he crouched next to Ravenwood and saw the normally energetic man was pale from blood loss. He was still breathing but his breaths were shallow and irregular.
“Ravenwood,” Kane whispered. There was no response.
Kane waited a few more minutes, holding Ravenwood’s hand and watching his face until his chest ceased to rise. Then he placed the man’s hand on his chest and stood to walk away.
Suddenly, Ravenwood reached out and caught his hand. “Did you get it?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Kane took Ravenwood’s hand again and looked into his eyes. He shook his head. “No.”
“We must not let them have it,” said Ravenwood. He shut his eyes, but he gripped Kane’s hand tightly. “It will be the end. The true end of the Alamani.”
“The Alamani,” said Kane bitterly. “Look at us. We’re not Alamani. We’re little more than a bunch of bickering savages. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing if this is the end.”
Ravenwood smiled. He let go of Kane’s hand and patted his arm. “Resigned to defeat so soon? That’s the easy road.”
“If extinction is the easy road, what’s the hard one?” asked Kane in a grim tone.
“Redemption,” answered Ravenwood weakly. “The Alamani have much to answer for and much still to offer.”
“We aren’t the Alamani,” said Kane.
Ravenwood slowly turned his head back and forth. “Isolation on this world has made you different. Tougher, crueler,” he said in a whisper. “But there are others like you, Kane. Other sparks able to ignite the flame. Others like our young friends. Help them.”
Then Ravenwood’s eyes went blank and he slowly exhaled.
Chapter 52
Cap slipped into a flight suit and climbed into the cockpit of the X-1 prototype. “It looks a lot like the Phantom 2,” he said in disbelief.
“Then you should know where everything is,” said Logan as he climbed into the rear-facing gunner’s seat.
Cap was checking the plane’s ordnance readings, hoping by some miracle there were a few rounds in it, when a man in a dirty blue jumpsuit approached from an open door. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my plane?” he yelled.
“I’m going after that gunship,” said Cap as he hastily ran through a mental pre-flight systems check. “Why do you guys always take out the bullets after a flight? Unloading the missiles makes sense. I get that. But why the bullets?”
“So stupid fuckers don’t sneak in and shoot the hell out the place. Now, who the fuck are you?” repeated the man. A few men and women, also in blue jumpsuits, gathered around.
Cap looked at the man. “I’ve flown the Phantom 2 and I know how to fly this bird. I’m going after that gunship. Unless you’ve got someone better to do the job, get the fuck out of the way.”
“I’ll piss on a live wire before I let some stranger just take one of my birds,” said the man. “Someone call security!”
No one moved. “Didn’t you hear me?” yelled the man, but everyone was looking at the doorway.
Consul Sawyer was standing there, her tan blouse covered in other people’s blood. “What are you doing, Cap?” she asked in a strangely calm voice.
“I’m going after the Blackhawk.”
“I see. And you’re taking our most advanced aircraft to do it?”
“You mean this modified PRA Phantom 2?” asked Cap. “Yeah, that’s right.”
Sawyer thought for a moment. “Well, you’re the only pilot around here able to walk, so I guess you get the job.”
The man in the blue jumpsuit objected. “Consul, I think we’d better get General Espinoza’s okay on this.”
“He’s dead,” she said. “His throat was cut and he bled out on the floor in front of me. As Iowa’s Consul, I say we go after them.”
The man clenched his right hand into a tight fist, then he nodded his head. He looked at the others standing around him. “Well, you heard the woman. Let’s get the X-1 ready for flight. You’ve got two minutes.”
No one moved.
“Now, you wrench monkeys!” he yelled.
“Yes, Crew Chief McKinney!” responded one of them. They scrambled to comply with the crew chief’s order.
The Navigator (The Apollo Stone Trilogy Book 1) Page 30