After a repast of roasted marmint, Johnny was as relaxed as he ever got on a mission. Sitting with his back against a tree, facing the small fire, he retrieved a small piece of wood he’d set aside when building the fire and got his personal knife out of a pocket in his utilities. He turned the wood this way and that in the firelight, studying the grain and deciding what to carve, what creature the wood held trapped, waiting for his knife to free it. He began to see a bird, winging free over the mountains, wings spread to catch the wind. The knife felt good in his hand, curved, with a dip behind the main blade so he could get better control and rest his thumb, although this would be a short project. Why had he stopped whittling after leaving Mahjundar when the last mission ended?
Sara came to sit next to him, apparently fascinated. “What are you making?”
“An eagle, from my home world.” He gave a self-deprecating chuckle and displayed the rudimentary beginning of the piece for her to see. “I haven’t carved anything in ages, so it may end up resembling a winged marmint and we’ll throw it in the fire.”
“We will not,” she said. “How did you learn to do this?”
“My grandfather taught me. This is his knife. We used to go fishing together when I was a kid, and whittle while we waited for the fish to bite.”
“May I see?” She held out her hand for the knife and he closed the blade before handing it over. Examining it as best she could in the firelight, she said, “I love the handle.”
“Polished bone.” He took it from her, reopened the tiniest blade from its resting place inside the handle, and made tiny cuts, trying to get the feathers right on the left wing. “This wood’s not ideal but it’s the best piece I’ve seen.”
“What are you doing now?”
“Trying to give the feathers on the wing varying depth, for a more realistic appearance.”
She sat and watched him work until eventually he realized she’d fallen asleep, leaning against the tree trunk. Putting his knife away and setting the half-carved eagle aside, he got out the sleeping mat and lifted her onto it before covering her with the blanket. Muttering, she curled up, pillowing her face on her hand.
Her face was so peaceful, so beautiful in the firelight; he had to fight the urge to kiss her cheek. Unfamiliar emotions welled up in his heart, almost painful in intensity. Thinking about the conversations they’d shared on this hike, the closeness growing between them was achingly tempting. Ms. Bridges was strictly off limits and he would remember the prohibition, no matter how involved his emotions became. He’d get her to safety, maybe give her the eagle carving to remember him by, if it turned out passably and walk away, as the regulations required.
They found the first abandoned ground cars the next day, all pointed away from the city. Johnny checked a few and found no sign of the drivers or passengers. The vehicles were weathered as if they’d been sitting on the road for a long time and more than a few were crashed into the ditches on either side of the pavement. Several had exploded and burned. When they got close to the edge of the town, Johnny tracked east, along the outskirts, working his way slowly through the streets to get closer to the center, Sara following close behind. The houses here were fancier than the ones in the mountain village but just as empty and showing signs of having been abandoned in a hurry. Here and there a building had partially burned and collapsed.
“I want to check out the temple ahead,” Johnny said, speaking close to Sara’s ear.
She glanced at the sky. “Promise me we can be on our way out of here before dark? This place is spooky.”
“I need to get to the administration building, where the officials would have sent the warning from. Then we can retreat.” He squeezed her shoulder. “I appreciate what a trooper you’ve been. Want me to make you a place to hide in one of the houses? I can go on alone and pick you up on the way out. No matter what happened here, the event is long over. We haven’t seen any signs of active engagement and no survivors.”
Chewing on her lip, considering his offer, at last she shook her head. “I’d be more scared to wait alone. And what if you don’t come back? I’d have to come rescue you.” Grinning halfheartedly, she hefted her blaster. “Let’s get this over with.”
Without another word, he resumed his march toward the temple, taking as much advantage of cover as he could. He believed the place was deserted, as he’d assured Sara, but something felt off about the situation and he’d learned long ago to trust his instincts. A temple was a sanctuary in any culture and he guessed a hefty percentage of the town’s population might have taken refuge there during whatever catastrophic events had occurred. He hoped for clues, maybe even enough intel to make further penetration into the destroyed town unnecessary.
Eventually they reached the large building and he took a moment to use the long range viewers to assess the area and condition of his goal from a block away. “A lot of damage to the surrounding buildings. Explosions maybe. Front door of the temple has been breached,” he said. “Let’s try a side door.”
He led the way into the overgrown garden surrounding the temple and Johnny located a splintered side door hanging on its hinges. Carefully he moved inside, Sara on his six. He found himself in a small office area, so he stepped into the hall and headed toward the large worship space at the front of the building. He emerged into the open expanse from the rear, behind the altar to Farduccir’s pantheon of gods. Whistling, Johnny stopped to survey the chaos. There were moldering bundles of possessions and clothing, abandoned weapons, children’s toys here and there. The temple doors had indeed been blown inward by an unknown but powerful force and the small windows placed high in the walls were shattered. Shards of glass glittered in the rubble.
“Last stand,” he said, walking closer to the door and taking note of the hand weapons littering the floor, the pockmarked walls, the bloodstains. “These people fought hard against whatever came here.”
“But if it was Mawreg, why didn’t they blast the whole building? Why fight a battle at all?” Sara couldn’t avert her eyes from the children’s toys, which were mostly in one spot, behind a pitiful barrier constructed from benches and statuary. After a moment she turned her back to the heart-rending scene and he saw her wipe away a tear.
“The enemy obviously wanted the people alive for some purpose. Badly enough to take the time to fight an old fashioned battle.” Admiration and a sense of kinship for the men and woman who’d fought so hard to protect their children filled his mind. A cold breeze blew in through the half open door and for a moment he heard whispers and faraway sounds of the battle that had been fought here. Goose bumps stippled his skin. “We’ll get revenge for you,” he said softly.
Apparently less affected by the ghosts haunting their surroundings, Sara examined the breached barrier at the doors. “Wanting to capture people alive argues for more than making them slaves. Or food. This was a lot of hard work to capture a relatively few people to eat, when there’s an entire planet out there.”
“Can’t attribute too much human emotion to the enemy,” he said. “Maybe they don’t like resistance, maybe it triggers them to fight harder? Maybe their fighters are driven to kill or capture every last sentient, once the order’s been given. As far as I know, no one has ever been found alive to give testimony about a Mawreg final assault. The bastards are thorough.” He made a final sweep of the surroundings. “Let’s get to the center of town.”
Working his way from house to house along a street where a few cars and trucks lay wrecked, Johnny guided Sara toward his ultimate destination, the seat of local province government.
“I know what makes this place extra intimidating,” she said.
He gave her a glance.
“No cats, no dogs, or whatever the local equivalent would be. I mean, if the people all disappeared, wouldn’t there have been pets or working animals left behind? Not even any birds.” Her steps slowed and she halted, gazing at the sky and then pivoting on her heel to stare at the way they’d come. “So maybe the
purpose was food gathering here?”
Johnny rubbed his chin. “I have to admit you make a good point. But at the mountain village the animals were left to die.”
“Have you done searches of abandoned towns like this before, on other worlds?” she asked, waving her hand at the devastation. “If this looks the same, couldn’t we leave now?”
“I have, but so far there’s no proof who attacked here.” He looked ahead, down the street. “Usually when the Mawreg or one of their client races takes a planet, yes, there are certain signposts, specific weapons used, patterns of destruction and the like, which so far have been missing here. The aggressor could have been the warlord, using captured weapons. The Sectors don’t care about civil wars confined to a planet, or even a solar system. I need to check even unlikely possibilities.”
Sara snorted. “Scary as Umarri could be, do you really think he had the fire power and organizational skills to take over an entire town like this?” She started walking again. “I know, you have to see the downtown, or whatever’s left of it, so come on, soldier. Let’s get this done and leave.”
“The thing is, what if the Mawreg are trying new tactics on Farduccir? The idea scares me,” Johnny said, moving to her side. “The Sectors think they understand the Mawreg patterns to some extent. Command plans and executes strategies based on that intel, and we could be badly sucker punched if the enemy is switching to different tactics.”
“I get the logic and the importance,” she said, eyes on the horizon. “But my nerves are ratcheted to a level so high I can hardly breathe and all I want to do is run the other way. Since we’re here, let’s just get this done.” Sara marched down the road grim faced.
The severely battered two story administration building in the center of the town had been the home to the clan officers. One entire wing was demolished and lay in charred rubble. Johnny and Sara entered the still standing wing and cautiously made their way up a flight of debris strewn stairs.
“You know where you’re going?” she said.
“Mike and I had occasion to come here a few times, confer with local leaders and security.” He repressed a memory of the cheerful clan chief he’d worked with, an older woman who knew her people from youngest to oldest and could solve anything. Surely she’d been dead years before this catastrophe struck. He’d had a mild flirtation going with her, nothing serious, but fun. He’d relished her sense of humor. Shaking his head, he paused at the closed door to the second floor corridor. He glanced at Sara, who gave him thumbs up. Opening the door an inch or two, he peered into the shadowy hall.
Empty. Debris strewn on the floor. Bloodstains on the wall. The roof was caved in at one point and the floor appeared to be rotting from exposure to the elements, but with care he and Sara could get around the obstacle.
He stepped into the corridor and proceeded toward the coms control room, alert for any sound, any sign they weren’t alone in the structure. Sara’s footsteps right behind him were reassuring.
The door to the com room was blown inward, crumpled. He pushed past it and found another empty room, desks made into barricades bearing mute testimony to the pitched battle that had occurred. The com panel had been destroyed by energy blasts. “No power anyway,” he said, fingering the deformed controls. No way to retrieve anything. The interrupted message he’d found at the mountain village was the only intel he’d glean from this dangerous side trip.
“What were you hoping for?” Sara asked over her shoulder as she roamed the room, examining the debris.
“Ideally to run the last few hours of logs and vids, see what actually happened. Who or what did this.”
“I think I might have your answer. Come see this.” She beckoned him toward where she stood near one of the rusty brown stains on the floor, close to a shredded, twisted chair. As he walked toward her, she pointed at the floor.
Whoever had died there had lived a few moments at least after being shot, and had scrawled two words in blood on the floor.
“What does it say?” Sara shone her handlamp on the shaky inscription in Farducciri.
Bile rising in his throat, he said, “Mawreg here.” He took several deep breaths to steady himself.
Retreating a step, blaster raised and pointed toward the door as if to shoot an incoming alien any second, she said, “Have you seen enough? Can we leave now?”
“Yes, we’re good. I can file a compelling report with the data images I’ve captured.” Johnny stepped past her and took point as they made their way through the damaged hall and down the stairs. He rubbed his chest, where a spot of heat had formed, almost as if someone was aiming a low level blaster charge at him. His fingers caught on the cherindor medallion under his shirt, and a tingle of hot electricity ran up his arm. Sucking in a breath, he paused at the door, taking a long moment to reconnoiter the street and square beyond. Was the cherindor trying to warn him?
“What’s the matter?” Her voice was a mere whisper.
No way could he imagine trying to explain the cherindor and all the weird events and superstition connected to it on his last mission to Mahjundar. Sara would think he’d lost his mind. But she was waiting for some kind of an explanation. “I feel like we’re being watched,” he said, settling for part of the truth as he yanked the scanner from his belt and checked the readout. No sentient beings other than himself and Sara.
“Is there another way out? At the other side of the building maybe?”
“Let’s find out.”
Retracing their steps up the stairs and through the hall, Johnny led her past the coms room. The staircase on the far side of the building was in bad shape, with gaping holes but they were able to descend. Johnny lowered Sara to the next foothold whenever there was a gap, and eventually they reached the bottom. After checking the vicinity, he edged outside and motioned for her to follow him, slinking single file along the side of the building. When he estimated he’d created enough distance between them and the building, he broke into a run through an alley.
A screaming sound overhead raised his adrenaline and he grabbed Sara and ducked into the open door of a shop, shielding her with his body.
“What was that?” she asked, trembling.
“Birds, a whole flock of birds.” Hiding behind a toppled counter, he peered into the street. “Something startled them and it wasn’t us, because as you pointed out before, we weren’t seeing birds as we came in. Seven hells.” He retreated from the door. “We need to check this place for an exit.”
“Why?” She moved in the direction he indicated. “What’s wrong?”
“Observational robo in the sky, circling over the town hall.”
Stopping dead in the middle of the floor, she gasped. “Mawreg?”
“They don’t use robos, to my knowledge. But it’s nothing I’ve ever seen before. Either it’s on a routine surveillance or else our presence here triggered a search. Come on.” He led the way into a jumbled storeroom, heavily water damaged, and found the rear door. Carefully he opened the door a few inches and scanned in all direction. “Clear.” Turning to her, he said, “We’re going to move slowly, trying not to attract attention with sudden movements. If the robo senses us any way, then I’ll try to shoot it down and you run, zigzag but keep generally to the east, got it?”
Swallowing hard, she checked to make sure her blaster’s safety was off. “I’m ready.”
Johnny eased into the alley, hugging the wall, Sara close behind. He led the way toward a cross street, smaller than the previous one. They were making good progress and he hoped to be able to get out of the town, when he scanned around the next corner and immediately pushed Sara back.
“Chimmer.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded, mouth dry. “Oh yeah. Whole squad of the bastards, blocking the road ahead.”
“What do we do?”
Moving like a quiet cat, he slid to the nearest broken window and beckoned to Sara. “We’ll cut through this building.”
She let him boost h
er over the cracked window sill, avoiding the shards of broken glass. He came into the house right behind her. “Definitely on our trail. Place must be under constant observation, catch anyone who’s stupid enough to come into town.” He was in motion as he spoke, leaving the room they’d just entered, making his way across a narrow hall and skulking to the window on the opposite wall of what had been a kitchen.
“We had to investigate,” she said.
“Yeah well, it may be the end of us.” He retreated from the window to where she waited in the dark hall. “We’re surrounded.” Mind racing, he pivoted, searching for any means of escape. “Let’s try this door.”
He had to wrench it open, revealing a set of stairs. “Cellar.” Shining his handlamp into the blackness below, he said, “No joy there.”
“Now what?”
“Upstairs. These houses are built close together, maybe we can jump or climb to the next one.”
He veered to the left when he hit the top floor, moving in the direction they’d come.
“What are you doing?” Sara trailed him. “We shouldn’t backtrack.”
“I’m hoping they won’t expect us to retreat. Might buy us precious time.” He stood at the broken window, gauging the distance to the next building. The roof was a few feet lower than where he now stood. “Can you jump across and roll when you hit?”
Mouth open, she shot a horrified glance at the feat he’d asked her to accomplish. “We don’t have any choices, right? Guess I’d better hope I can make the jump.”
He helped her climb onto the window frame and then she launched herself into the space, Johnny jumping right behind her. He lay on the neighboring roof for a moment, catching his breath before rising to his feet, grabbing her arm and hustling her across the flat surface. “Next one, now.”
She had to take a running jump to reach the building across a six foot gap but made it, Johnny right behind her. Their luck fizzled, no more structures close enough to reach. He tugged her inside the roof access door, hurriedly descending the creaking stairs to the ground floor.
Hostage To The Stars: A Sectors SF Romance Page 9