‘It’s more than Dedelux’s corruption and draconian policies. It’s the effect on the people here. I was born on a planet of pain and struggle, yet we were free. Here, bread and games are sufficient to keep people in check when what they truly desire is to simply be allowed to breathe. What Dedelux has planned will make matters worse here for their freedom. For my people’s lives and freedom. Dedelux is allied with the Imperial Council.’
‘How do you know this?’ Kota raised his eyebrow. Questioning, but not cynical.
‘I have eyes and ears across the galaxy. Extos III is being embroiled in a galactic plot and Nova Zarxa is at the middle of it. Zona Nox was not conquered. It was Blighted. The Xank, also enemies of the Imperial Council, were attempting to create a fortified foothold to attack the Imperials after they invaded Nova Zarxa. They sought to keep this planet out of enemy hands – else the Imperials will have enough crystals to power up a new war machine. If that happens: Sekai, Ganymede, the republics, Eran, Mars…all will fall.’
Kota looked unnerved, his plate-mail expression moistened by nervous sweat. He licked his lips nervously and then composed himself.
‘So, it is even more pressing that we destroy this threat. My duty is to my people, as it seems so is yours. We have common interest in this alliance.’
‘So, are you with us?’
Kota walked forward, the clank of his cane on the metal flooring clanging three times and stopping as he offered his hand. James gripped it and they shared a look of true mutual respect.
A loud sucking sound was soon followed by the deathly shouts of a Ganru and a Defiant guard as they were pulled out of the hangar. Gale-force winds threatened to pull them all out of the hangar as the toxic fumes of the crystals below sought to invade their senses.
‘Masks on!’ Marshal shouted.
A Ganru officer also shouted, ‘Masuku!’
Gunshots echoed from the entrance. Marshal turned to a Defiant running from the scene.
‘Yellows?’
‘No, they’re not wearing Trooper uniforms. They have tags with crossed swords.’
‘Berrin Pirates,’ Kota spat. ‘They’re Dedelux’s lackeys. He pays them to keep anyone from leaving the atmosphere.’
‘Setup a barricade! Marshal, call for reinforcements. We can’t lose Cargo Delta. And for Terra’s sake, close the force gate!’
‘Easier said than done, Captain,’ Grugo lamented, pointing towards the gate.
Two gunships were hovering outside the hangar. They were black as night, bearing a blood red skull and crossed swords on their fronts. They were both equipped with pulse cannons and twin gatlings. There was no cover in the hangar that could withstand such an onslaught. They were targets at the firing range. James knew what he had to do.
He couldn’t control some frying pans, but he trusted that two gunships would be easy enough. Reaching into his tactical vest’s pocket, he pulled out his Conduit Glove. Marshal’s eyes widened as he put it on.
‘What are you doing?’ Marshal shouted.
‘It’s the only way.’
Marshal’s consternations were rendered mute by the sound of the gatlings as they started spinning. James had no time to lose. He mustered all the power of the Warp forming around him and created a magnetic grip. He directed the grip in a slow-motion trance, grabbing the Berrin gunship as it prepared to wreak havoc. It was as easy as flinging furniture. James grinned.
With a flick of his wrist, blue power shot out of his hand and engulfed the one gunship. Savouring the moment, James pulled his arm to the side, then slapped the air. The gunships exploded as they collided into one another.
It took barely a second. Everyone stared silently towards him. Marshal shook his head. He knew that it was the only way, but he also knew what was going to happen now. The only thing holding back the Defiant from all-out war was the limits of their power. News would spread that their leader did not have such limits. With a god on their side, there was nothing to fear.
Nathan and Yobu looked on from the hangar entrance. They had eliminated the Berrin attackers easily but knew that the gunships would have slaughtered them. Except for the blast of energy that had exploded from James’ hand. Yobu seemed to have an epiphany as he realised how his Captain had saved them from the Xank vessel. Nathan could not believe his eyes. He spent his life praising Terra as his form of God, yet now he was faced with true divine power and that power came from a boy whom he’d found crying over the corpse of his best friend.
Kota held a mix of fear and awe. The power to rend metal with the mind was a force to desire, but now he knew that this alliance would never be one of mutual respect. The Ganru would be subjugated. That was the natural order of things. When faced with a god, all else was secondary.
James looked down to his Conduit glove. Energy still spiralled around it, trapping the Warp energy rising from the crystals below. He considered putting the glove away. There was no need anymore. News would spread.
The Defiant was ready for war.
“Despite the unifying factor of the Troopers, humanity contains countless factions, ranging from corporations, cults, nations, organisations and empires. While the Troopers pledge themselves to humanity, other factions are much less selfless.” – Quentin Wivern, Human Power
Chapter 23. Boss
The Kolheim seemed the world away. It was hard to think that it was only in the next building. Erryn, pilot without a ship, stood now at the frontier of the war that embroiled Nova Zarxa. It had been easy to be let into Defiant held territory. A Zonian named McIntyre had known Barry. From there, she tried to help where she could. Truth was, there wasn’t much that needed doing. Zonians were hard workers, leaving her with little to nothing to do. What she truly yearned for was a ship. The shuttles barely satisfied the itch. They were too slow, too cumbersome. In addition, she hadn’t earned her place among the Defiant’s armed forces, yet. This was more her fault than any sort of distrust from the Zonians. She lacked the enthusiasm to ask. She didn’t need the pay. Only time she had tried some sort of pilot duty was for a civilian craft running supplies between outposts. It was for fun, not pay. That had happened once. She hadn’t asked afterwards. All she did now was hang out in what the Zonians called the Block of Storms. It was the frontier between Dedelux and Defiant held territory, acting as a chokepoint for both sides. Here, she hoped to find something to do. She had thought joining the Defiant would have brought her some sort of meaning, something to justify her abandoning her crew, but she didn’t even have the nerve to ask to join. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was scared.
Erryn held her legs for warmth while sitting with her back to a shop. The owner had been terrified when the Defiant took the building, but eventually grew to love the occupiers. He was now finally allowed to hawk his wares. He didn’t mind accepting Galis notes for it either, as he realised the multitude of Zonian tradesmen who would accept the currency. The owner called out a number. Erryn stood and rubbed her hands together for warmth. The cashier smiled and held out a plastic bowl. Erryn smiled back, half-heartedly, and accepted.
She ate her ramen as she walked. The hot noodles did wonders to warm her up. Along her stroll, she observed her surroundings. Defiant rebels, armed and armoured haphazardly, patrolled, marched and hung about every turn. It wasn’t the same as life under the Yellows, however. These were all volunteers, accustomed to a free way of life. Even some Zarxians had joined their ranks, as Dedelux’s repression grew too much. One wasn’t afraid to see a Defiant, unless one was a Yellow or Berrin pirate. Erryn felt at ease with them. She had even bedded a few, even thought they were dirt-birther. She had to admit. They weren’t that bad…fort dirt-birthers.
Erryn stopped as a novel sight presented itself. A young girl, wearing a black and blue scarf and revolver by her side, was attempting to put up a large roll of paper. She was small. Erryn guessed around ten years old, maybe younger. Erryn put down her almost finished ramen and approached the girl.
‘Need help?’
>
‘Nope, nope,’ the girl squirmed, jumping to try unroll the large plastic poster.
Erryn rolled her eyes. When the girl wasn’t looking, she grabbed the top of the poster and lifted it up.
‘There,’ the girl announced, looking satisfied. She examined it with her arms on her sides.
The poster bore a picture of the Defiant himself. He was gazing into the distance, bearing his prized Aegis Firebolt in his one hand and a clenched fist in the other. The text read:
‘The Defiant needs all fighters. If you can bear a firearm, operate artillery, fly a spaceship or shuttle, report to Underbelly Alpha for assignment. Only volunteers welcome. Fight for a free Nova Zarxa!’
‘Inspiring. Ain’t it?’ the girl asked.
‘Very,’ Erryn nodded, hands on her hips.
‘Didn’t catch your name, miss.’
‘Erryn. Erryn Kolheim.’
The girl put out her hand, having to stretch up to meet Erryn’s height. Erryn accepted.
‘Jilly. Jilly Mergan. I’m a Defiant.’
‘Are you now?’
Jilly didn’t notice the patronising tone.
‘Yep. You said your name was Kolheim? That a ship, ain’t it?’
‘Yep. I’m the pilot.’
‘You shipborn then? Pa said that shipborns get named after their ship.’
Erryn nodded. ‘What about Mergan? Where that come from?’
‘My great-great grandfather was the first Mergan,’ Jilly recounted. ‘Was the name of his posse in Red Sand. They overthrew two warlords. One was Merg and the other was Throttle. To ‘member it, they named themselves after the warlords. Was too long though, so they cut out the Throttle, cause he was just a small-fry and left the an.’
‘You a Zonian, then?’
Jilly looked a bit confused but then responded. ‘Yep, but we hardly ever call ourselves that. Seems odd.’
Erryn laughed. Jilly didn’t seem to find it offensive and smiled.
‘In my line of work, gotta call people by their planetary demonym. I go to too many places to do it otherwise.’
‘Demo-what?’
‘Never mind.’
‘Well, miss Kolheim, loved to meet ya. Need to get back to the Underbelly though. Need more posters.’
‘Wait up. I’m going that way too.’
Erryn jogged up to the now waiting Jilly, who had not delayed scampering off.
They walked in awkward silence for a bit, until Erryn broke it.
‘Why you want to be a Defiant?’
‘Already am.’
‘Why you wanted to be Defiant, then?’
‘Gotta do something. The Defiant protects us. I want to protect people too. The Yellows killed my uncle. Defiant shot ‘em down. I want to do that. I want to make sure there’s no Yellows left to kill anymore uncles.’
‘And the Defiant are fine with a…’
‘Kid? They make fun, but they let me do stuff. They didn’t give me this gun, if that’s what you’re wondering. Was my dad’s. He died in Titan. Big explosion. This is all I got left.’
‘Your mom?’
‘Died in Galis. Big explosion. Was Xank that time, though. Dad thought we’d be safe in Titan City. He was wrong.’
Jilly looked down.
Erryn frowned. ‘Don’t cry...’
Jilly looked up. Her eyes were dry. ‘I’ve cried enough already. For my mom, dad and uncle. I’m done crying. I’m Defiant now. Defiant don’t cry.’
‘Sure they do,’ Erryn tried to smile. ‘They only human.’
‘Defiant cry when they’re home. When they’re being civvies. They don’t cry when they wear these colours.’ Jilly indicated to her scarf.
‘While I wear this, I don’t cry.’
They continued in silence until they finally reached Underbelly Alpha. Erryn followed Jilly to a prefabricated building with a window open along the side. A man of middle years stood inside.
‘Mr Peterson, need more posters,’ Jilly exclaimed, her head only barely coming to the edge of the window.
Mr Peterson smiled. ‘Good work, Jilly. No need to hang up more though. You done good work. Take a breather.’
‘No thanks, Mr Peterson. Work is good. Need work.’
He sighed. Well, go find Sgt Yobu. You know the one? One of the Defiant’s right-hands. He was looking for someone to help vet pilots. You’ve already memorised all the manifests, right?’
Jilly nodded.
‘Good. Help Yobu separate the chaff from the genuine article.’
‘Erryn here is a pilot,’ Jilly blurted out.
‘Is she now?’ Mr Peterson turned towards Erryn, who was barely holding down a blush.
‘She flies the Kolheim. Name’s Erryn Kolheim.’
Erryn nodded.
‘Well then, take her to Yobu. That’s one pilot down, an armada more to go.’
Mr Peterson turned around, ending all conversation. Erryn stood, dumbstruck. Jilly tugged on her arm, pulling her away. It seemed she had joined the Defiant.
To add to Danny’s problems, Berrin pirates were making it much harder to get back to the Athena. Not only were all the ports in Nexus on lockdown, the damn zots of the sky were intent on making a nuisance of themselves by shooting any vessel that didn’t bear their ghastly colour scheme. Red and black worked for the Troopers but that was in equal amounts. Overwhelming red with just a little black was just gaudy, Danny thought as he sneered at the buzzing red insects from his seat on top of one of Nexus’ many towers. The gunships were only specks, but as they were the only ships in the sky, it was accurate to say that they either belonged to Berrin or Dedelux, both equally detestable.
A sharp and chilling wind hit Danny and he was sure that his teeth would be chattering if he hadn’t lost all feeling already.
‘Bloody governor,’ Danny swore as he twisted a knob on his transmitter. If Dedelux hadn’t shut down the Network, marvellous thing, Danny could have been contacting Aegis from the comfort of a skyscraper café. Dictators would be dictators, though, and now Danny was being forced to set up a relay on top of the old Grag-Tec tower. He had bought the scaling equipment from a member of a gang called the Ganru. They were much more willing to do business with him now that Dedelux’s policies had been challenged by the Defiant.
The Defiant sounded like someone Danny wanted to meet. Anyone willing to stick it to Dedelux was okay in his books. Secretly, Danny also bore gratitude for the Defiant as the Zonian pogroms had been put to a violent stop. Galisians, gangsters, Red Sanders, Titans, Tribals – they were his people and nobody got away with slaughtering his people.
The transmitter screen started flickering to life and Danny halted his tinkering. An Aegis logo, a red globe with an orbiting satellite, filled the screen. Then the footage changed to the much-desired sight of Krena of Iron.
‘Krena,’ Danny exclaimed, ‘long time no see!’
‘Yes, Danny. It’s been quiet here without you. Viper, Boris and Gloria left orbit long ago on a secret mission. Quentin hasn’t assigned me to anything, so I haven’t been doing anything. Only my swords and guns to look after. Only that…’
She was talking fast, anxiously, as if she was hiding something. Krena was never like this. She was calm, cold and above all else, professional.
‘Krena, stop,’ Danny whispered.
She stopped. Her eye started twitching and then she burst out crying.
Danny was taken aback.
‘What’s wrong? Krena, speak to me.’
‘They’re all gone! Every single one of them. Arthur, the Irons, the Grooks, Titan, Zona Nox…you. I’m alone here. There’s nothing for me here. When we hadn’t heard from you for months, we were sure you were dead. I didn’t want to lose another one. Please, I didn’t want to lose you.’
‘I’m not lost anymore,’ Danny responded, as gently as he could. He wouldn’t abide this in his gang, but Krena had every right to be distraught. Everyone she had ever been close to died when the skies went black.
‘Trust me, Krena. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s not dying. When my job here is done, I’ll be seeing you again.’
‘It’ll be sooner than that. Quentin is planning something. With or without his permission, if we go planet-side, I’m coming along. I need to kill someone.’
Charming, Danny thought, but that’s what he found so attractive in her.
‘You’ll have all the killing you want when the Imperials drop down.’
Krena jumped as Quentin appeared behind her.
‘Hello, Danny,’ he said to the screen. ‘Krena, can you excuse us for a little bit.’
She nodded her head and reluctantly shrank away.
Once she had left the room, Quentin spoke to Danny in a much sterner tone than Danny was used to from the usually enthusiastic CEO.
‘Odd to call your girlfriend before your boss, or maybe not.’
‘No choice. Dedelux has shut down the Network here. I’m using an old radio transmitter. I took the first signal I could find on the Athena. Happened to be Krena, who is not my girlfriend.’
‘My apologies. We’ve been in the dark here. I’ve been directing our forces on Grengen to distract myself. We honestly thought you were dead.’
‘Not yet. I was captured but all they got was that I’m Galisian and that I don’t like cheese. I got out during a prison break.’
‘Please fill me in, Don. How should we proceed?’
‘Dedelux has shut down all external flight and communication. Grag-Tec has been declared illegal and has been driven underground. Dedelux loyalists rule the streets alongside hired goons. It’s a nightmare but there’s some hope. A cult figure known as the Defiant has gained the loyalty of the Zonian diaspora and has taken over swathes of Nexus and the planetary depots. Some of the gangs have joined them.’
‘Have you contacted this Defiant?’
‘Not yet. The Yellows, that’s what we call the Dedelux Troopers, have all the entrances to Defiant territory barred and guarded. I’d have to climb there from the outside.’
‘Then do so, agent. See how this Defiant feels about a humanity re-united and Aegis. Maybe they might have a means to contact us from their territory, so you can report back from there.’
Rise of the Defiant: Book Two of the Warpmancer Series Page 16