Riot smirked, but refocused her attention on Remus. It seemed that he was being nothing but genuine; however, a number of questions still needed to be answered.
“What abominations will Alveric offload on Hoydren?” Riot asked. “You’re talking about weapons, right?”
“Yes.” Remus nodded. “Like I said, the Karnayer way is to travel from planet to planet, either convincing the local species to join us or forcing them to do so when they refuse. We have done this for centuries and will continue to do so. Why use our own resources when we can send others to fight and die for us? Alveric will come with warriors from other planets—some monsters, some calculating creatures, but they have all bent their knee to The House of Karn, as will you.”
Riot wasn’t one to be shaken or intimidated. A life in the corps had taught her that she was the one to be feared. The thing that did give her pause was the sincerity in Remus’s words; he honestly believed the Karnayers would prove victorious.
“Whoa, whoa … that’s some heavy stuff.” Wang shook his head and got back to his feet. “You’ve got some issues, man. I can’t blame you, either. It sounds like you were born into it. A product of your environment.”
Riot stood quiet, considering her options. She still had so many questions to ask Remus, in the forefront being who these Ancient Ones were that the Karnayers served, and how exactly their magic ability worked. Topics she was just still beginning to understand.
She was forced to deal with the most pressing matter at the moment, though. If Remus was telling the truth, then Alveric was already here with a small force, trying to convince the Brute faction of the Trilords to join him once again.
“He’s not such a bad guy,” Wang said, coming to stand next to Riot. “He’s been brainwashed to believe these things his entire life.”
“He still has to be held accountable for his actions,” Riot said.
“What did I miss?” Ketrick walked back into the cargo bay, blowing on a steaming cup of black coffee. “Anything important?”
“We’re going to go visit the Brutes,” Riot said, crossing her arms over her chest. “If Remus is right, the Karnayers are already on Hoydren. The fight is already at our door. Ketrick, Wang, take Remus back to Killa and let her know what’s going on. I’ll get the others.”
“Roger that,” Wang said, looking over to Remus. He helped the still-bleeding Karnayer onto his feet. “Let’s go, little guy.”
Ketrick moved with them, one hand on his weapon, the other still holding his coffee.
“Evonne,” Riot spoke to the AI living inside the ship.
“Yes, Riot?” Evonne answered back.
“It’s time to assemble the War Wolves,” Riot said, speaking the name for her crew. “Tell them to return to the ship as fast as possible. It’s time to fight.”
77
Why didn’t we just bring the Trilord army with us?” Doctor Miller sat in her seat on the bridge of the Valkyrie next to Wang and Rippa. “We could fit dozens of them on the ship.”
“If Remus is wrong about this, then we’ll have summoned the army to fight for no reason,” Riot answered, looking over to her left from her command chair. “If there is a fight, we can handle it. We’ll need every Trilord warrior ready and rested for the main Karnayer engagement when it comes.”
Doctor Miller nodded along with Riot’s words as she turned back to her control panel.
Two minutes until we arrive, Rizzo’s message appeared on the main screen in red lettering for Riot to see.
“Roger that.” Riot looked over to Ketrick, who sat on her right. “You’re sure this is the best place to touch down?”
“It’s far enough from the Brute capital where they can’t see us, but not too far so that we won’t be able to run there within the hour,” Ketrick said, so fast it was like his sentence was made up of one word. He fidgeted in his seat. His red eyes were wide, and there was a playful smile on his face. “We should gear up before we leave the ship.”
“Are you on drugs?” Vet said, studying the Trilord beside him with his own good eye. “Are you sweating?”
“My heart feels funny.” Ketrick placed a hand over his massive chest. “Your coffee is wonderful.”
Riot was about to give more instruction, when something out of the front window caught her eye. Hoydren’s twin suns had set. A massive silver moon hung in the sky with hundreds, if not thousands, of stars twinkling far above. What caught her attention wasn’t the forest canopy below or the fires of a city barely visible in the distance. It was the sight of roaring fires and billowing smoke that rose into the night sky. The smoke was difficult to see at first, but the fires were clear.
“Are those … are there buildings on fire?” Riot craned her neck forward. She answered her own question as her eyes confirmed the news. “Remus was right. The Karnayers have already landed on Hoydren.”
“That’s the Brute’s capitol.” Ketrick stood from his seat to get a better view. “The entire city’s on fire!”
It was true. As Rizzo brought the ship closer, what had once seemed like a few lights or some small fires suddenly expanded in size. Entire buildings were aflame, and the devastation only grew the closer and closer they got to the city.
Soon, the bright blaster beams of green-and-yellow weapons fire could be seen below.
“Evonne,” Riot said, having seen enough, “you have the helm. Set us down right in the middle of wherever the Karnayers are. Wolves, time to gear up—double time!”
A chorus of “Rogers” sounded over the bridge, as well as Evonne’s own confirmation that she had received the orders.
Riot ran to the armory room with the others. The humans, including Doctor Miller, began stripping down to their underwear to apply their dragon skin layer of under armor, as well as the next layer of liquid armor that would go on over that.
Rippa’s gear was stowed next to theirs; however, her uniform was a tight-fitting grey leotard that would make movement in her mech easier. The emblem of a black helmet on the chest area of her uniform designated her unit belonged to the Spartan mech class.
We need to replace that emblem on her uniform, Rizzo signed to the others as he shrugged on his red liquid armor. He pointed to the fierce wolf sigil of their own unit emblazoned on the shoulder of their armor. We gotta jump her into the pack.
“Yeah, we should do some hazing.” Vet grabbed his Longshot 1000 sniper rifle whose scope was just as long as its barrel. The flat, black weapon was long but lightweight. It fit perfectly in his hands. “Maybe make her get a tattoo like Wang did.”
“Too soon,” Wang said, glaring at his friends. “I thought we were all getting those tattoos together. You all lied to me.”
“You were wasted and did that all by yourself.” Riot grinned as she clipped two Boomballs onto her belt with her molten blade. Along with the warhammer on her back, the Cannon FP290 on her hip, and the Villain Pulse Rifle in her hands, she was armed to the teeth. “Remember how he kept asking us if we were going to howl with him after his tattoo was finished?”
“What an idiot,” Rippa said with a smile on her face. She stood at the door of the armory ready to depart. “No offense.”
“You can’t just say whatever you want to say and then say ‘no offense.’” Wang shook his head, joining Rippa by the door. “Words do hurt.”
“You are like a man-child.” Rippa rolled her eyes as she left the armory room. “I’ll be firing up my mech in the cargo bay.”
“Riot,” Evonne’s Australian accent sounded over the ship’s comms. “We are about to touch down as requested. There are no Karnayer forces that I’ve seen, but there is a gathering of Brutes in the center of the town.”
“Land there.” Riot grabbed her helmet in her free hand and motioned for her unit to follow. “Let’s move out.”
Riot led her crew through the Valkyrie’s halls to the cargo bay where Rippa had just entered her mech unit. The twenty-foot-tall robotic piece of machinery came to life as a dull blue light glowed f
rom its helmet. The helmet was shaped like one found on an ancient warrior in a time long past.
Vikta was also in the cargo bay. The dragon could sense something was wrong. She was probably already communicating with Ketrick through the telepathic bond they shared.
The ship touched down a moment later, sending a brief shudder through the hull. Riot placed her helmet on her head. The familiar heads-up display soon showed her readouts of, not only the weapons she and her men carried, but also of the Trilord and Grovothe on her team.
“Evonne, lower the cargo bay ramp.” Riot tried to sound as optimistic as possible as she continued to her team. “Stay frosty. We don’t know where the Brute’s alliances lie, or if we’ll encounter any Karnayers or creatures they’ve brought with them. Eyes open. Rizzo, if you see anything suspicious, just shout.”
This brought laughs from everyone except for Doctor Miller.
Hahaha, Too Soon, Rizzo typed on the control pad on the back of his left forearm’s armor.
“We shouldn’t tease about other people’s disabilities,” Doctor Miller said as she inhaled a breath of air.
“Take it easy HR, it was a joke.” Riot lifted her weapon as the cargo bay ramp came down in front of them. “Wang, you’re attached to Doctor Miller’s hip. Don’t let Cupcake out of your sight.”
“Roger that,” Wang responded.
As soon as the cargo bay’s doors were low enough for Riot to fit through, she moved forward in a crouch. Her senses were on overdrive as she aimed down the barrel of her weapon, her head on a swivel.
Evonne had indeed landed them in the middle of the confrontation. Although there was no weapons fire being exchanged at the moment, it was clear they had missed by minutes whatever it was that had happened there.
The Valkyrie sat in what looked like a town square. A cracked fountain stood right in front of them, surrounded by charred grass. On every side of the fountain were buildings two to three stories tall made of hard brick and stone.
Riot’s heads-up display read dozens of Trilord signatures. The tech built into her armor outlined the heat signatures to such a degree, Riot could even see that the Trilord Brutes were hiding behind doors, crouched behind windows, even lying in back rooms.
“Ambush?” Vet said through the comms.
“Not an ambush,” Ketrick responded. “They’re hiding, terrified of something. Vikta can smell their fear from here.”
Something that sounded like a whale’s call erupted from their right. Riot held a fist in the air for her team to hold and crouch. The noise came again, reverberating through the night to their position. The only light in the area was from the many fires that had erupted across the town. The buildings in every direction were in various states of repair, and those that had escaped the fires had caved-in walls or roofs.
The noise came again, so deep now, Riot could feel it in her chest. She zeroed in on the sound’s location—a building a block away, one that looked like a warehouse.
Great, so here we go again, Riot thought. Alien planet, check. Weird alien monster, check. Riot, why don’t you go see what’s making all those horrific noises, check.
“Ketrick, you know these people better than I do,” Riot said, making a split-second decision. “You and Doctor Miller with me. Vet, you hold here next to the ship and don’t take your eyes off that warehouse where the noise is coming from. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Roger,” Vet said over the comms. He started doling out defensive positions to the rest of the unit as Riot made her way to the closest building.
To their left, a two-story building whose right wall had crumbled in on itself stood out against the smoke-filled sky. Riot’s and Doctor Miller’s helmets would filter out the smoke, but Ketrick, who strode next to them, was taking in the noxious fumes. Riot lowered her weapon as they closed in on the building. It was obvious the Trilords had been attacked. If they were hiding, then Riot had no reason to engage them.
“We’re not your enemies!” Riot shouted into the building. “We’ve come to help you. What happened here?”
Riot’s heads-up display that showed her the outlines of four hunched figures in the building beeped to life as it counted everything from their weapons to how fast their hearts were beating.
“Ketrick,” Riot said, motioning with her head to the wooden door in front of them. “I know they’re part of your people’s rival faction, but they’re Trilords, just like you. Maybe they’ll speak with you instead of a total stranger.”
Ketrick nodded his approval. A cough escaped his lips as he took a step forward, lowering his own weapon. They were fifty feet from the closest building now.
“Most of you know me, or at the very least have heard of me. My name is Ketrick Warbringer, Heir to the Savage throne, Judge to my people, and he who speaks with the space serpents.” Ketrick took a breath. “If I wanted you dead, I would rend your heads from their bodies with my bare hands or call the space serpents down on you to extract their vengeance for what you have allowed to be done to them.”
“Okay…” Riot looked over to Ketrick, shaking her head. “Not really what I had in mind when I asked you to speak with them.”
“Trust me.” Ketrick looked down at Riot with a wink. “This is how we communicate.”
Riot was about to tell Ketrick she would take point on dealing with the Brutes, when motion on her heads-up display quieted her words. The Brutes inside the building were moving. Not yet ready to welcome the strangers, they peeked out through broken windows in the building.
Riot caught sight of their large frames and wild yellow eyes that glinted from the reflection of fires raging in the city. The long canine teeth that sprouted from their upper jaws fell past their lips. In any other case, a group of warriors such as these would have made Riot lift her weapon and fire. But something in their eyes, in their very faces, told her she had nothing to fear from them. They were terrified.
“You can come out.” Riot slung her weapon over her shoulder and removed her helmet. “I’m taking off my helmet because I trust that we’re on the same side against whatever it was that did this to your city. If you shoot me in the face, I’m going to be pissed. If you end up killing me, I swear I’ll haunt you from the grave.”
The brute Trilords in the building looked to someone deeper inside the house for direction. Riot picked up on whispers and broken pieces of the conversation.
“She was the one who arrived not weeks ago, during the battle with the Savages.”
“Boris was misled.”
“She’s one of the humans? Maybe she can help.”
More hushed whispers.
Finally, the door to the building opened, revealing a lean Trilord who looked like he was old enough to be Ketrick’s father. A thick, grey beard fell down his chin. Long, braided hair had been gathered behind his head in a knot. He looked at Riot with sad, wary eyes. There was wisdom in his weathered, wrinkled face and, to Riot’s surprise, no fear whatsoever.
“My name is Talon,” he said, opening his hands on either side of his body to show them he carried no weapons. “If you are truly here to help us, then help us.”
The deep, whale-like moan rumbled through the air once more. Riot chanced a quick look behind her. Past the line where Vet had set up the rest of the crew, the warehouse building glowed with a strange white light.
“What’s making that noise?” Riot asked, tearing her eyes from the warehouse building. She directed her attention back to the aged Brute in front of her. “What happened here?”
“The devil came to visit.” Talon stared over Riot’s shoulder with emotionless eyes. “And death came with him.”
78
Riot stood stunned for a moment, trying to process what Talon had just said. It was clear he believed the information he had just related to her; there was no joking tone in his voice, no twitch of his lips.
“The devil?” Doctor Miller repeated, clearing her throat like she had just choked on her own saliva. “The devil?”
<
br /> Doctor Miller looked over to Riot for direction. “The devil?”
“Yes, yes, that’s what the man said.” Riot refused to acknowledge the fear in the doctor’s voice. “Let’s move on from that.”
“Start from the beginning,” Ketrick encouraged the Trilord. “Who came, what did they look like?”
“It was the Karnayers, like they had come before,” Talon spoke in a firm voice, despite what he had just been through. “Our new leader refused to help them this time. We’ve learned our lesson well, Prince. Boris died in the assault against your home. We elected a leader who is focused on helping us grow outside of war with the Savage faction. When we told the Karnayer as much and refused to help him, he unleashed the devil on our city.”
“And what does this devil look like?” Riot asked.
“As tall as a building, with horns that protrude from its head. And … and the ability to raise our dead and make them fight against us.” Talon had said this last part as if getting the words from his mouth was harder than he’d anticipated. “I’ve seen them. I’ve seen our warriors killed and then brought back like dead, mindless creatures willing to obey the orders of our enemies. They’ve only attacked our capital city now, but if we allow them, it will spread.
“Help us? Will you help us?” A Trilord woman, seeing that Riot and her unit were willing to give them aid, ran from the supposed safety of a dark house. She grabbed Riot by both shoulders, trembling. “Please, you don’t understand what we’ve seen here. It’s … it’s impossible, what’s going on.”
“Get ahold of yourself, woman.” Riot freed herself from the much larger Trilord’s grip. It took all she had not to level the Brute when she had rushed her. The one thing that had stilled her hand, though, was the look of pure dread in the woman’s yellow eyes. “We are going to help. We just have to gather some information.”
“Oh, thank you, thank you,” the woman prattled on. “The Karnayers came from the sky. When our leader refused them, they unleashed the devil on us. It was something out of a nightmare!”
War Wolves: Boxset 1-3 Page 38