by Galen Wolf
The Count took cover behind a group of rocks with his daughter and his servants. If Mehefin was frightened at this new assault, she didn't show it. She sat next to her father looking composed as if she trusted the mercenaries to get on with their job. Her scarf flapped in the hot wind and her stained glass colored eyes fixed on Severan as he took stock of the situation. Morah had no current role to play in the combat now that her zombies had been fried by the Kissag and lay now in burnt scraps on the desert floor so damaged that even she couldn't reanimate them. She looked bored, almost as if she was waiting for a train. She glanced at pretty Mehefin with disdain, then at Severan. "You want any help?" she said finally.
"Not yet."
"What is all this resistance?" Torina asked. "What are the lizards even doing here?"
"They're hunting us at present."
"Yeah, but 'how did they know we're here?' she means." Atorkh explained helpfully.
"I know what she means."
Atorkh continued. "But this dust-bowl planet is a million clicks from anywhere anyone might want to be."
"Possibly they've come for what's in the library," Severan said. "Then they saw we were here and thought killing us would be fun."
There was a whistle of a high-energy mortar round. They felt the blast then heard the distinctive crump.
"Mortars," Atorkh said.
"You don't say," Gaijann muttered over the net.
"Ranging in, take cover." Severan said.
"This is too dangerous." Torina crouched down. "We haven't even got into the library and we're facing this level of resistance. I don't even know what our mission is. And this black tide sounds fatal. Count me out."
Severan said gently, "We need you Torina." Severan always used a calm, sweet tone with her and Gaijann knew he really did care about the girl. Torina was the age Severan's kids would have been, and Gaijann wondered whether the giant felt paternal. Torina's face was twisted in a deep frown. She looked frightened and her flash of anger was probably to disguise that.
Eventually, Severan's soothing attention caused Torina's brow to unfurrow. She said, "But when do we get to know what we're here for?"
"Where you gonna go anyway? If you leave?" interrupted Atorkh. "The ship's way behind now."
"What if they destroy our ship?" Torina said suddenly, like she hadn't considered this eventuality before.
"Auto-defenses are up. It's got a lot of firepower. Also, it's stealthed. They shouldn't even find it." The kid grinned.
"I wasn't really going to leave," Torina said. "Just making a point."
Then another mortar round hit nearby. They felt the heat and clouds of dust and rocks shot up too close for comfort. Mehefin turned towards her father who smiled reassuringly. The slaves positioned themselves around them so they would take damage first.
Gaijann went forward. Unseen by the Kissag, he covered ground rapidly. After fifteen minutes, he reported back, "I'm by the library doors." He gazed over the barren desert. The white sun cast stark shadows. He couldn't see his companions.
He heard Severan speak. "All of you go forward. Torina and Atorkh lead, the Count and his party in the middle, and Morah at the back. Morah, we could do with some of your assistance now."
"Wanted at last...," she said sarcastically.
What about you Severan?" Torina asked.
"I'll hold them off." He grinned. "Don't worry; you can bind my wounds later. I know you like that."
"But what if you die?" The healer frowned. "I can't bring you back to life."
"Morah can," Atorkh said. It was hard to know whether he was joking. Gaijann wasn't sure that Atorkh understood jokes.
Torina took the comment seriously. "That's not life. It's worse than death even."
"Just go," Severan said. He waved her forward and the cleric moved, still looking over her shoulder at him.
Severan stood up from cover, instantly drawing the Kissag fire. Gaijann saw beam weapons and kinetic rifles trained on the big man and the ground around erupted in an inferno of fire and ionizing radiation. Severan's armor held up for now, but it wouldn't absorb the damage forever. The rest of the group ran to the Library while the Kissag concentrated on Severan. Torina glanced at him, shook her head, and began to run to the library. She and Atorkh shepherded the Count and his party as they ran crouching across the open ground.
Gaijann saw they had about a half click to cover to get to where he was by the library door now. The ground in front of him was in shadow where the pyramids blocked the white light from Wolf 489.
Severan was returning fire and making it count, but there were lots of Kissag. Gaijann heard Atorkh shout in triumph as he ran. He was close now, his face red and his little wispy beard waving. "Another one down!" he grinned. "Only 25 to go!"
Then the Kissag noticed the group making for the pyramid and one of them turned his fire from Severan to train its weapon on Atorkh. Stones and dust skittered to the right of the group as the bullets of the lizard's kinetic rifle kicked up the ground.
Gaijann glanced back towards his boss. The energy shield put up by Severan's suit was depleting and letting rounds through. He saw him take a hit to his right shoulder. Severan wore heavy λ-armor, composed of overlapping ceramic and carbonite plates. It was stronger, but heavier, than the k-mesh worn by the other mercenaries. Gaijann saw Torina hesitate. He knew her natural instinct was to go to Severan and heal but as she turned back, Atorkh reached and grabbed her hand. "No," he said, dragging her. "If he dies it's his own fault."
She pulled back from Atorkh. "I don't want him to die," she said, but the boy yanked her on with more strength than his skinny frame would suggest. Torina groaned, shook her head, and ran with Atorkh to the door in the pyramid.
Gaijann decided to intervene. Despite Severan's orders, he began to fire at the Kissag who were engaging his boss. If Severan didn't want to keep himself alive, Gaijann would have to do the job for him.
Torina got to the door. Gaijann knew she couldn't see him with his stealth on, but she could see the purposefully aimed shots from the beam pistol he held as he attacked the Kissag from their rear.
The Count ran too, grim faced and physically fit for a man in his fifties. The servants were clustered around to shelter him from shrapnel. He shoved them out of the way and held his hand out to his daughter who grasped it and ran alongside him.
Torina muttered over the net to Atorkh, "I bet the fashion queen didn't think she'd be doing this when she put on her make-up and selected her outfit for the day."
Atorkh was still in the desert trying to make sure the Count and his slaves got to the Library door safely. He was too busy running to do respond.
Then they arrived at the door they saw it was closed firmly against them. Gaijann stopped firing at the Kissag and came out of stealth.
"It's closed tight," Atorkh said.
"Can you open it?" Torina asked Gaijann.
Gaijann gave a twisted smile. "I can open anything."
"Please do it now," the Count said.
Behind them Severan still fired at the Kissag. From this angle, they could see his energy shield as it buckled and flared. It needed to recharge from the sunlight, but it wasn't getting time.
"Come on Severan," Torina hissed through the neural net.
"Where's Morah?" asked Atorkh, still outside the Library door.
"Over there, I'm guessing from the noises," Gaijann said.
Torina looked to where he was pointing. Even above the sound of weapon fire, she could hear obscene wails and shrieks of terror. Morah was amongst the enemy lines, strangling them with her white hands and drinking their lives with her necromancy. The more of them that died, the more of them she raised into undeath as her servants. The shambling things didn't last long before their comrades cut them to pieces and they fell in useless twitching bits onto the desert floor, but they were a distraction and some of them would get through and do damage. Gaijann increased the zoom on his visor and saw the witch leaning over a still living victim. Sh
e had a hand on his lizard head, bending it back to expose his throat. Gaijann's grimaced as Morah's fanged mouth ripped at the Kissag's throat - her teeth tearing at its flesh as it struggled while she ate its life. Then he saw her turn and grab another that was struggling with one of the undead. She put her hands round its throat from behind. She twisted its neck with her black gloved hands and pulled it to the ground so she could feed from it.
When she'd killed that one, Morah rose and walked towards the library. Gaijann flipped up his visor and as he watched her from the door, she watched him back, her eyes unreadable. Her tight k-suit hugged every curve, showing off her flaring hips and her round breasts. She wiped the blood from her dark mouth with the back of her hand, still locking gaze with the assassin, looking like a black magic dominatrix.
"Damn, that woman's scary," Gaijann whistled.
Atorkh laughed out loud. "Don't let her get her mouth near anything you don't want bitten off."
Torina turned on Atorkh. "You're disgusting."
Then there was another almighty explosion from Severan's position. As the dust settled, they saw he'd taken a direct hit from a mortar.
"No!" Torina said, reaching out for Gaijann's hand. The assassin squeezed it reassuringly. "He's getting up. Don't worry. The guy is invulnerable."
"No, he's not," Torina's eyes filled with tears. She wiped them with the back of her hand, smearing dust across her cheek.
"Kill the mortar, Atorkh," snapped Gaijann.
Within minutes, Atorkh's drone targeted the mortar and destroyed it as well as the two Kissag who were firing it.
Torina ran forward towards where Severan had fallen. Gaijann went with her.
It took them just minutes to stumble and scrabble over the bits of broken rock. When they found Severan, they saw he was badly hurt. His λ-armor was ripped and he had an open wound to the right shoulder through which bones and ligaments glistened pink and dirty with fragments of the surrounding rock. His lower abdomen also gaped open and they could see the coils of viscera plainly - some ruptured. The bacteria from his gut would poison his whole body. He bled profusely and pools of dark red spread around him.
Gaijann sighed. "Which wound you going to die of first?" he said. Severan groaned.
Gaijann shook his head, "Was it really necessary to be such a hero?"
Severan reached up and stroked Gaijann's face, leaving a smear of red. "You know you love me really."
Gaijann shook his head and said, "Yes, and that love will be the death of me one day, making me follow you into every stupid trap you find."
Severan winked, then groaned again.
Torina opened her medical kit and yanked out instruments and medicines as she searched for the ones that would save Severan's life. Her face was a mask of concentration as she worked.
Gaijann knew that in her bird-like heart, the cleric held a love for Severan that was fragile as a spring flower. She never spoke about it and Severan was so wrapped up in whatever drove him on that he never noticed, but Gaijann knew. Whatever feelings Torina had for the giant had to take second place now as she began her craft. She had healing fields and liquids; paraphernalia with more power than was ever dreamt of in previous centuries. They could bring a broken man from the edge of death. Gaijann saw his boss's eyes close. There was no doubt Severan was on that edge now. Torina bowed her head in a brief prayer.
Gaijann watched grimly as his friend groaned on the dust of the floor, his blood dry and dark already in the white sunlight.
"Can I help?" Gaijann asked.
Torina nodded. Gave him some instrument and said, "Do what I tell you, when I tell you."
The assassin nodded.
"Hold him."
As she began to minister to Severan, Gaijann whispered, "I know you don't care whether you die, but you have to think of other people. If you can't live for yourself - live for us."
Hearing him, Severan reached and grabbed the gold medallion around his neck. He held it out as a token. "If the Blind God wants me, I die. If he doesn't, I live. That way I don't need to make difficult choices."
"No," Gaijann said: "When we stop making choices, we forfeit our humanity."
"Let's forget the philosophy," Torina muttered, "and concentrate on staying alive."
It took Torina around 20 minutes and then she said, "I think he'll be okay. I've knitted everything together. Luckily, this place is pretty sterile; I didn't detect any exo-bacteria. His organs are back where they should be. All membranes repaired."
Severan was already struggling to his knees.
"Severan, rest a minute!" She tried to hold him down. Gaijann had already let go. "There's no point trying to make him act like a reasonable person," the assassin said.
"Thank you, my friends," Severan grunted, finally standing.
Torina sighed heavily. Her eyes were red from the tears she'd cried when she'd seen him fall. "I'll never forgive you if you die.,"
He grinned and pinched her cheek. She knocked his hand away. Gaijann met Severan's eye but the giant turned away. "Atorkh? Can you repair my suit?"
Atorkh came over. He checked over the suit and ran repair routines. He fixed the shield vortex, which was already re-charging, using the light of the sun and any photons it could scour from its environment.
"It'll be okay," Atorkh said. "These λ-armor suits are very resilient."
Severan put his hand on Atorkh's shoulder. "Thank you too, Atorkh. Sorry if I was sharp before."
"Nah, it's okay boss. I'm always asking dumb questions."
CHAPTER FOUR: A Sacrifice
Severan strolled back with them to the library door. There, Gaijann, Severan, and Atorkh began a long conversation about how to effect entry through the sealed door. Seeing Torina standing alone, Mehefin broke away from her father and walked over as the healer was packing away her medical gear. "How long have you been a doctor?" she said.
Torina shook her head, brushing her blonde fringe clear of her sweaty forehead. "I'm not a doctor. I'm a cleric." She didn't look up at Mehefin as she put her instruments neatly into their appropriate places in her pack.
"Didn't I hear you talking about the Queen of Disks? She's one of the goddesses of the Thoth system, isn't she?"
Torina nodded. She was nearly finished stowing her gear and was counting and tidying.
Mehefin continued. "Do you feel that your religion helps you with your healing?"
Torina snapped her head up, looking the other woman straight in the eye. "Of course. The Queen is patron of healers. She gives me the strength I need to sew people together."
Mehefin smiled slightly. She hesitated then said, "You like Severan, I think."
Torina's cheeks flushed.
Mehefin's smile broadened. "You can tell me, girl to girl." She paused, still smiling. "He's cute."
Torina scowled. "I bet you can have any man you want," she said. "I mean - look at you."
Mehefin shrugged. "It has its drawbacks."
Torina snorted.
"You're very pretty too," Mehefin said.
"Sure, but I'm not what men want."
Mehefin said, "Your hair's nice. Short, practical, I guess. I guess it is what they would call a pixie cut."
Torina hefted her bag onto her shoulder. "Listen, thanks for the chat but I've got to get going."
Mehefin turned and glanced at the men still gathered around the door. Not much progress was being made. She put her hand on Torina's forearm. The healer pulled away it and stood back. She stared at the aristocrat.
"I thought as the only two girls, we could be friends," Mehefin said.
Torina smiled thinly. "There's Morah, maybe you could be her friend."
Mehefin looked round at Morah who was sitting on a rock staring back into the desert. "Morah's a girl?" She grinned.
Torina laughed.
"Seriously, Torina," Mehefin said, "I was just curious: can you heal the cyborg hand and eye?"
"No, but they never get damaged. They're alien tech."
&n
bsp; Mehefin's eyes widened. "Illegal alien tech?"
Torina twisted her face. "If you tried to buy it, sure. There are laws against that - but they were given to Severan, after he was left for dead."
"Given?"
Torina had started to walk over to the main group, Mehefin followed her, still chatting. Torina seemed to be thawing towards the other woman.
"Yeah," Torina said. "You know the Lycovores?"
Mehefin shook her head.
"Well, they are not 'involved', that is we have no formal communications with them, but they go around the universe clearing up the mess other races have left. They have advanced technology that we can't replicate. They found Severan dying, fixed him up, and gave him the hand and the eye to replace the parts he'd lost."
"Why?"
"Why not? Maybe they're just benevolent?"
"Maybe." The aristocrat glanced down and frowned slightly. "So, what do you think they're worth? If they ever came on the market?"
Torina stopped and regarded the other woman. "That's a strange question. They aren't ever going to come onto the market." Her eyes narrowed. "Unless he dies of course."
"I can't open it," Atorkh said, standing with his hands on his hips, by the huge black door to the pyramid. It was some hundred feet high and twenty feet across. "This is the burglar," he jerked his finger at Gaijann.
"I don't like that word," the assassin smiled. "It's pejorative."
"Mr. Stealthy," sniggered Atorkh. "You get into places. Even when people try to keep you out."
"Get it open, Gaij," Severan said. "We're on a timer here."
Gaijann winked and went up to the door, running his hands over the black material. "Taurine alloy, or something similar," he said. "Tough." It was still cool to the touch being out of the direct rays of the sun. Then he gestured. "Look at all this patching and re-patching." He pointed at lines where the material of the door had been melted and fused. "Lots of people have been in here over the centuries."
"And out?" Torina asked.