by Gini Koch
She bowed her head and we all waited. It took a good minute, then Boz raised her head again and waved antenna.
“Always the way. Of course there’s a remote that controls this and of course it’s on the person of a Rapacian who’s on the command deck.”
“Shall I fetch it, Shealla?” The Clarence Clone asked.
“No. I’ll do it, Clarence, thanks.” Boz had shared that she’d link with my mind and help me. “Everyone, this is a clone of someone we knew on our home planet. Some of the Gods will think he’s an enemy but he is not. Also, the king, who is also a clone of someone we know, is now also working with us. And, as with this clone, some of the Gods will think he’s an enemy and, so far, he’s not. Okay?”
King Benny, and anyone else whose eyes I could see, blinked three times.
“Good. The Leader of the Nihalani and the king are flying one of the Rapacian’s spaceships. We’re going to try to free you and take over this one. So, um, sit tight. Clarence, you guard Boz and everyone else here and make sure there are no Rapacians on this level at all. Fancy, it’s time for you and me to kick it again.”
The two of us took off, Boz giving me directions in my mind. It was different than speaking to ACE or Algar, or when Serene and I had mind-melded with the brief flashes of information as opposed to a conversation. This was a conversation but we didn’t talk. I just knew what she, or the other katyhoppers, were thinking and they knew what I was thinking. But in a conversational way.
Different or not, it worked, which was a particular relief because the ship was like a maze. The other had been, too, but I’d been following others to get to the command deck area, had had enough time to get lost and search everywhere, and had then just gone back the way we’d come. Here I was actually having to navigate with purpose and I knew we were running out of time.
Reached the command area and made a pleasant discovery—my missing Dazzlers were here. And, surprises of surprises, Usha was with them.
They were all also in an energy cage, of course, all four of them. Meaning that I should be able to kill two big, nasty birds with one remote control. If I could identify the Rapacian holding it and make it work right.
I kept Fancy and myself at hyperspeed and ran around the room, checking out everyone here. We had a dozen Rapacians to deal with, ten of whom were armed to the hilt. The pilot and copilot were armed, but lightly. But I didn’t spot anyone holding a remote control, or anything I could sort of guess was a remote control. They were holding maces and flails and, lucky me, staffs and clubs, but not remotes.
Could tell all the trapped women could see me and Fancy, though, by the way their eyes were following us. Fortunately, none of the Rapacians seemed to be paying any attention to them. Probably because they were paying attention to chasing the ship Reader and the others were in.
They were also angrily demanding information from stations that were utterly silent. If they’d been humans, every one of them would be suggesting anything from alien monsters to psychopathic killers as to why no one outside of this room was responding. If they were A-Cs they’d have deployed a couple people to zip around looking for what superbeing had just manifested where.
But these Rapacians seemed unaware of these options. They just kept on demanding to hear from people who weren’t responding.
Wondered if Chuckie and/or the Matriarchs were somehow affecting this, then realized that if they were, time was of the essence. It was just a pity that I had no clear plan of action because I was hesitant to knock someone out in case the remote had a kill switch. Then again, saw nothing in anyone’s claws that indicated such.
Boz finally did me a solid and shared that it was the big Rapacian in charge who had the remote. Which was great news and all, only they were all big in here. In fact, there were no female Rapacians that I could identify. And if they had ways of showing rank, they weren’t ways I could identify.
Oh well, when in doubt, go with the classics, that was my motto.
Let go of Fancy near the pilot and, still at hyperspeed, started slamming the staff up into everyone’s groins.
Apparently no one here had gotten the memo that Earth girls fought dirty, because, to a birdman, they crumpled, screaming or gasping and, in some cases, crying. Ah, I loved my work sometimes.
Took the opportunity to remove their circlets, though these I kept. Had a feeling we were going to want our people mentally able to chat.
Meanwhile, Fancy had the mace at the copilot’s head and her knife at the pilot’s throat. “Give us the means to safely release our friends, or you both die.” She was speaking in a growl that shared that she was a hungry carnivore and they were, claws and weapons and spaceship or not, food. “I won’t ask again.”
“Trust me,” I said as I slowed to human speeds, “she’s kind of itchy on the trigger finger, so to speak.” Removed the circlets from both pilot and copilot. “And, really, we only need one of you to point out who has the controls for the electric cages.”
“I don’t have it,” the pilot said stiffly. “If you kill me we’ll crash.”
“Oh, blah, blah, blah. We’ll just fly the ship instead of you. Duh.”
“I don’t have it, either,” the copilot said. “I’m not even sure why we’re here.”
Interesting. If he wasn’t faking this. ACE had indicated the Rapacians were being controlled. Felt a tiny bit sorry for all the ones we’d made dead, but war was hell, after all. And there was no proof that they’d resisted or were even against this particular invasion. True, ACE had said the circlets had made them more bloodthirsty, but he hadn’t said they were unwilling participants. Moral dilemma over.
“We’ll worry about the existential questions later. I’m impatient, but not as impatient as Fancy is, so, geez dudes, who does have the thing which we wish to possess?”
“The Sergeant at Arms,” they said in unison.
“As if we can determine your ranks based on plumage or something? Show me which writhing ball of pain has what I want or join them in the writhing. If you’re lucky.”
“They won’t be lucky,” Fancy growled.
Went to the copilot and hauled him out of his seat. “Point out the right Hawkman.”
“I don’t understand you.”
Slammed my battle staff up into his groin. “So few ever do,” I shared as he collapsed, gasping. “I didn’t hit you as hard as I hit them. I can, and will, but I’m the nice one of the two of us, so you get one more chance. Crawl over to the dude who has the controls for the electric cages.”
Had to hand it to this one, he wasn’t that stupid. He crawled to a Rapacian that, if I had had time to really line them up and do a body mass comparison, was probably the biggest.
“Thanks.”
Beta Twelve battle staffs glowed and could be quite deadly, like javelin-lightsabers, basically. During one of the many skills workout sessions I’d done with Christopher, the princesses had shown me how to turn the glowing side on and off. I’d kept mine off since I didn’t want to hit anyone on my side with it. But this wasn’t someone on my side.
Turned on the lightsaber side and put it at the Sargent Sergeant at Arms’ groin. “I can hurt you a whole lot more than I already did. Give me the things that control the electronic cages and I may not hurt you more.”
The Sergeant at Arms stared at me beadily for a few moments. Then he nodded and reached into a pouch he had hanging around his waist. He tossed a rectangular box toward the doorway.
“Cute.” Spun the staff and slammed the non-glowing end into his stomach. He went back into a fetal position. “That’s the last mercy either one of us show anyone in this room. We’ll see how birds like you fly without your wings next.”
Heard the pilot gasp and the copilot draw his breath in sharply. Apparently the wings were even more important than the family jewels. Well, they were avians, that made sense.
I k
new The Sergeant at Arms had tossed the remote so that I’d have to go get it and therefore be distracted so one or more of his compatriots could attack me and Fancy. Pity the Rapacians didn’t seem clear on hyperspeed and how it worked. Well, pity for them.
Zipped over and grabbed the remote, then slammed my staff onto the backs of the heads of the three Rapacians who’d worked through their personal pain and planned on catching me off guard. They went facedown with satisfying thuds. Then I cracked the heads of all the rest besides the Sergeant at Arms, pilot, and copilot, just for insurance.
Was back exactly where I’d been standing next to the Sergeant at Arms within two seconds. “You’re lucky,” I said conversationally, as I hauled the copilot to his feet and shoved him back into his chair. Fancy put her mace right back at his head. “I haven’t cracked you across your head yet, but that’s only because I may have a question about how to work this device.”
“I won’t help you,” the Sergeant at Arms said. “You’re our enemy.”
Went to him and put the glowing side of the battle staff against his head. “You have no idea.” My turn to growl. “Your people have my family and friends, and you’re hurting some of them. Know what I do to people who hurt the people I care about? I hurt them back, worse. A beak for a beak, a wing for a wing. And if you push me even a little bit more, delay me from finding my family and friends, cause someone I love to suffer longer because you made me later, then you’re going to get to truly find out what it’s like to be a Rapacian with no wings.”
“She means it,” Fancy snarled. “And I’ll help her strip the wings from all of you.”
Apparently there was something in my expression that convinced the Sergeant at Arms that cooperating was in his best interests. “The white button turns the cage on, the blue one turns the cage off.”
Took a look at the remote—there were three sets of buttons. There were also buttons of another color—red.
“What’s the red button for?”
“That’s the destruction button. Hit that and kill everyone in the cage.”
Boz confirmed that the rest of the Rapacians were captured, their circlets destroyed, and half the Matriarchs were guarding prisoners while the rest were with her and the Beta Eight captives. She also confirmed that the Earth men weren’t on this ship and, as far as she could tell, the Sergeant at Arms was telling the truth.
“What’s the third set for?” Didn’t figure I’d be lucky enough for it to be for the cage that the Earth guys were in. The third cage might have nothing in it, so hitting the blue button might mean nothing. Or it might make something explode.
“The cage I’m going to put you in when this is over.”
I’d have given a snarky comeback or kicked him in the balls again, but the ship took a hit that rocked it. Just managed to keep my balance, but only because I slammed the staff into the floor. It made a hole, undoubtedly lessening the spaceship’s trade-in value, but those were the breaks. Did have the satisfaction of seeing the Sergeant at Arms look a lot less cocky, you know, while he was rolling around on the floor.
Fancy had stayed upright by holding onto the pilot. This meant that her mace was across his chest and the copilot was uncovered. Not that it mattered, because he wasn’t trying to attack or escape.
“Lakin,” the copilot cried, “Trevik’s ship is firing on Otari’s and ours!”
CHAPTER 85
DECIDED WE WERE in enough trouble already and hit all the blue buttons. Thankfully, Boz was right—Lakin, who I assumed was the name of the Sergeant at Arms, had been telling the truth.
The electric cage disappeared and the women were able to move again. The Dazzlers all shook themselves. Usha, of course, started attacking. However, she wasn’t attacking me or Fancy. She went straight for Lakin. Not that I could blame her. He was a world-class jerk.
It didn’t take a gigantic mental leap for me to figure that Trevik was the guy in charge of the ship Jeff, Chuckie, and the others were in. And Trevik or someone on his ship had figured out that the other two ships had been commandeered. Wasn’t sure how, but figured our pilot or copilot had shared their situation with the other ships, and since the ship Reader was piloting was running away from the others, anyone with half a brain could have guessed that something was wrong over there.
“Take evasive action, and that’s an order. Then tell Trevik that this ship and Otari’s are in the hands of those protecting Beta Eight. And also tell him that both ships are loaded with Rapacian prisoners. As in, if he blows us up, he’s going to kill every Rapacian that’s inside.”
“I can’t communicate with him,” the pilot said, while he and the copilot took evasive action, forcing us all to keep holding on to stay on our feet.
“Bullpookey. You told him you’d been boarded. Why else would he be firing at us?”
“Yes, but I mean I can’t communicate with him now. He’s locked everyone else out of his mind.”
Or else he’d taken off his circlet, so no one could affect him one way or the other. Meaning this Trevik might be smarter than the average bear, or bird.
Took a look out the windshield again. There weren’t any Rapacians in the air anymore. Meaning they were all dead or that Trevik’s ship might have been the one the survivors were able to run to. And this meant that Trevik’s ship might have also rescued Otari and Kares.
“Don’t you communicate in normal fashion via radio or something? I mean when you’re not getting to use fancy mind-reading headwear.”
“Yes, and he’s closed the channels.”
“What’s the chain of command? Who’s in charge if Otari and Kares are incapacitated or killed?”
“Lakin, then Trevik,” the pilot replied.
This move made a lot of sense if Otari and/or Kares had survived. They were in charge, and their number two man’s ship had confirmed that they were commandeered.
“These are your command ships?”
“These are our only ships.”
Fancy and I exchanged a look. “Three ships seems like . . . not very many,” she said finally.
“It’s not,” Claudia said, as she kicked a nearby Rapacian in the groin. Lakin and Usha were still fighting.
“They’re working with another planet,” Lorraine said. “We could hear through that horrible cage, but we couldn’t determine which planet has armed them.”
“Gather these Rapacians in here together. Oh, Usha, stop. I think we need Lakin. Use your strength to get the rest of them in a nice clutch so I can put them into their own cage.”
She punched Lakin, then stared at me. “You believe we are on the same side?”
“Hardly. However, right now, there are so many enemies of my enemy running around that I think we all need to work together before we all start fighting again.”
“When we were captured, the trap was around Clea’s dead body. How were you not captured?”
“First off, it was around one of her cloned bodies, I think.” Now wasn’t the time to mention that the Poofs had eaten all her other clones and, potentially, Clea herself. “But we weren’t caught because the body was moved from where I’d seen it the night before, and her eyes were open.”
“The eyes of the dead normally stare up into space.”
“Yes, but on my planet we close the eyes of the dead as a sign of respect. I’d closed hers the night before, they were open when we left Haven, meaning something was off.”
Usha stared at me some more. “You gave respect to our dead?”
“Yes. Why is this so surprising?”
“We have been told that none on your planets know respect of any kind.”
“We don’t respect the Z’porrah, I’ll tell you that. However, we have plenty of respect to go around. But since this solar system is under internal attack, I’d really like to get back to stopping this civil war. So, are you in or out?”
She
stood slowly. “In.” She lifted Lakin and dumped his body at my feet. Then she and the Dazzlers gathered the rest of the Rapacians and stood them where they’d been held a short while ago.
Serene took the remote from me. “May I?” I nodded and she aimed the box at them and hit one of the white buttons. Sure enough, the electronic cage went around them. “See how you like it,” she snarled at the prisoners.
The rest of our team arrived now, other than the Matriarchs on guard duty. The command center was kind of full.
“Happy reunion hugs later. Has anyone seen Bruno, my Peregrine?”
“Not since we were all captured, Shealla,” King Benny said. “Thank you for rescuing us.”
“It’s all in a God Day’s Work.” Turned back to Lakin, who was coming around again. “Dude, you have exactly one chance to not be imprisoned like the rest of your people or to be dead, like a lot of your people. Figure out a way to tell Trevik’s ship that if he blows us up he’s destroying a third of your fighting force. And if he blows the other ship up, he’ll be destroying another third.” Give or take, depending on how many had died already and how many were in Trevik’s ship now. Decided Lakin didn’t need this exact an explanation, however.
Lakin shook his head. “To die in battle is to die with honor. Trevik will not listen.”
“To slaughter half of your fighting force yourself is to kill like a moron. You have so many people on your planet that you can afford to lose all those who are imprisoned in this ship and Otari’s?”
“No,” he said slowly. “We do not.”
“Then figure out how to keep everyone alive, because either Trevik, Otari, or Kares are trying to destroy the ships we’ve taken over, and both of those ships are loaded with your own people who are all prisoners.”
“Lakin, all communications are blocked,” the pilot said.
“What about communications to the other commandeered ship?” Lakin asked. I was impressed and embarrassed that I hadn’t thought of this myself.