Varma’s constant watching of Walsh and Okafor turning with their supporters and leaving the Terran Fleet concerned me. I didn’t know what Varma had expected by deposing the other admirals, but jumping right into a fight with Braxa may not have been one of them. The longing for a unified Terran Fleet and Admiral Board made me think that perhaps she had lost her drive to deal with Braxa.
“Of course I am,” said Varma. She slapped the console with her palm. “I’m out here with you in this pile, aren’t I?” The steel was back in her voice.
“Yes,” I said. We were waiting together, with a few escort ships, for Braxa to show, but I was the bait. I was the one potentially going into the belly of the beast. If things went sour, Varma’s shuttle could be destroyed. It wasn’t like she was out of danger.
“Do you think Braxa himself is going to show?” said Varma.
I nodded. After Varma had become the lone Admiral on the board Bello pointed out that the deal with Braxa hadn’t been cancelled. If we wanted to confront Braxa head on we had a perfect opportunity to do so.
We just had to act like the Terran Fleet would hand me over to him.
“I can’t imagine he wouldn’t want to,” I said. “Take me into custody. Offer you some general platitudes and extension of friendship. Set me up in some cell himself. Wait for all the humans to get nice and comfy thinking everything is going to be okay. Maybe try to convince me that he’s a good guy and nothing bad will come of this for the Terran Fleet. Lull everyone into a false sense of security and then kill everyone and destroy everything.”
“You’re sure of that?” said Varma. Doubts crept back into my mind, worrying about whether she had the resolve, but her voice didn’t falter. I think she covered her bases. Maybe needed a little nudge of reassurance that what she did was the right path? After all, she had been instrumental in blowing up the command structure of the Terran Fleet.
“Positive,” I said, watching one of the screens on the console. “Braxa told me as much himself.” I glanced over at Varma. She had an eyebrow raised. “I may have embellished some of the finer points, but he told me I would be the last human alive. He would make me watch as his hand killed every last human.”
Varma pursed her lips. Her gaze flicked to a console screen, and her body stiffened.
“Braxa’s here,” she said.
I brought up the feed as ten ships appeared in front of us. The shuttle’s computer indicated each one was larger, had more firepower and more defensive measures than what we’d come with. If a fight started it would be a bloodbath with Braxa on the winning side.
“I’ve sent over the Travel coordinates for Braxa,” said Varma. Her hands shook as she took them off the console. She turned her head and cracked her neck then stood, producing a set of manacles. “Need to make it look like you’re a prisoner.”
I stood and held my hands out in front of me, wrists together. Varma locked the manacles on me then took a deep breath. She took a step back and closed her eyes then shook her arms and legs.
“Shake it out,” she said in a whisper. “Shake it out.”
“You know what you’re going to do?” I said. My life was in Varma’s hands. The bait didn’t get weapons or real protection, even though I could release myself.
“Act like we’re going to hand you over to Braxa,” said Varma. “After he comes aboard when the opportunity arises we dispatch his personal guard, subdue Braxa and take him back to the Terran Fleet where we’ll use him as leverage to get the damn Vantagax off our backs.” Her gaze flicked to the video screen of Braxa’s entourage. “We can’t let him send out a signal otherwise we’ll be dead.”
“And if an opportunity doesn’t arise we’ll make one,” I said as the room began to fill with golden yellow light.
Four figures appeared and solidified on the opposite end of the shuttle bridge: Braxa and his guard. The three guards had their rifles pointed straight at us, ready to shoot. Braxa stood a couple of steps behind them. He held his head high, hands behind his back; an air of significance and self-importance filled the bridge.
“General Braxa,” said Varma, declining her head just a bit, “Nice to finally meet with you.”
Braxa looked around the shuttle and gave a low whistle. The guards laughed quietly.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a shuttle this old since I was a child visiting a museum,” said Braxa, stepping forward. He stood in such a manner that didn’t block his guards aim.
Varma pursed her lips and said, “We make do with what we have.”
“Yes,” said Braxa, continuing to scrutinize the shuttle. “With such out of date tech it’s a wonder your people have survived this long in the galaxy.”
Varma clenched her jaw. Tendons stood out on her neck.
“And just one Admiral meeting me,” said Braxa stopping to look Varma up and down. He shook his head back and forth. “And you look absolutely wrecked. Has something happened in the Terran Fleet that has caused you such distress?”
I narrowed my eyes. If Braxa knew about the ousting of the Admiral Board or the turmoil the fleet was in he might know about our plan. I tried to calm myself and slow my racing thoughts. Knowledge of the Admiral Board wouldn’t have been difficult to find out, but we’d taken every precaution to not let slip our plan to trap Braxa. Even if he did know we couldn’t back out now.
“Usual day to day business,” said Varma, speaking through a forced smile. She motioned to me. “But enough chit-chat. We have your prisoner as requested.”
Braxa took a step forward then stretched his neck out. He cocked his head to one side and looked at me with one beady black eye and then another. His stare sent a shiver up my spine.
“So this is the Terran Representative that has been causing me so many problems in the flesh. For some reason I thought you’d be more imposing,” said Braxa. He straightened up. “Where are your friends? I know I didn’t kill all of them.” His guards whistled laughter behind him.
“Dead,” said Varma. “Failed escape attempt.”
“How convenient,” said Braxa.
My heart skipped.
“You will honor our deal?” said Varma. “Leave the Terran Fleet alone after we hand the Representative over to you?” She edged away from Braxa, making movements to pick up a tablet that would normally have the diplomatic agreements on it except this one would give Braxa a stun with enough voltage to knock him out. At the same time he touched the tablet self-defense systems in the shuttle would be triggered and neutralize his guard.
Braxa continued to look at me and waved his hand. “Yes. Yes,” he said.
Varma grabbed the tablet and said, “Will you sign the agreement to make it binding?”
“No,” said Braxa. He turned and produced a pistol, shooting Varma once in the chest.
The burst made me jump. Varma fell to floor, the tablet clattering onto the ground next to her. I released my manacles and made a move to charge Braxa, but he turned the gun on me, his guards took aim, and I stopped.
“You know,” said Braxa, “I was going to sign the agreement and let you watch everyone leave: head back to your broken fleet. Give you a glimmer of hope that maybe some good would come from this, but then I realized that this was,” he made a sweeping motion with his hand but didn’t break his gaze from mine, “too easy.”
He nudged Varma’s body with the toe of his boot.
“I knew that the Admiral Board had been usurped yet they still wanted to hand you over,” said Braxa. “Seemed odd.
“And I show up to meet a bedraggled Admiral, you and one very obvious trap.”
I should have been angry. The indignation, the fire should have been boiling up within me. I should have been flying into a blind rage; unable to control myself, but there was nothing coming to the surface except for one: resignation.
I should have known that even if Braxa didn’t know it was a trap that he’d pull something like this. If there was anyone to be angry with it should be with me.
“So now what?
” I said.
Braxa stepped up to me and put a Travel beacon on my chest. He did it gentle with a soft touch. After it was attached to my shirt he rubbed the beacon and took a step back.
“Now I take you back to my ship, destroy this little convoy and make you watch as I wipe out the rest of your people,” said Braxa. “Just like I promised.”
The world began to disappear into the golden yellow light of Travel. Braxa and his guards laughed. I heard Varma scream as something clamped down on my forearm.
Chapter Nineteen
The light started to fade away, and a new room began to appear. The outline of everything came first. I saw four guards, Braxa and Varma. The outlines filled in and then the textures and the colors last.
It was Varma that held onto my forearm. She continued to scream.
Without thinking about it I tried to pull back from her. The Travel had started before she latched onto me, and it looked like all of her hadn’t made it onto Braxa’s ship.
Blood ran down her legs and left small rivulets on the floor. Parts of her uniform were missing. Where she still had skin it looked like there were third degree burns. Bone shone fresh in the light. Some of her fingers and both ears were missing. Her left foot ended in a mangled stump sticking out of the remains of her boot. I saw teeth through a hole in her cheek and skull where her nose should have been. Tendons worked as she moved. I swear at one angle I could see her heart pumping through a hole in her ribcage. How she wasn’t dead, let alone moving, went beyond my knowledge.
And she continued to scream as she let go of my arm. The agony and suffering in her voice chilled me to my core. She shuffled forward towards the closest guard. Her arms were out straight, fingers closing and opening like a zombie. Tattered clothes hung from her arms. She left a trail of blood behind her.
The guard’s eyes were wide, and he stumbled backwards. His gun shook as the other three guards and Braxa stood motionless. No one raised a weapon, made a sound or looked at each other. They were all fixated on the ruined carcass that had been Varma.
Now was my chance: maybe my last. I couldn’t let it slip away to see what happened to Varma. It wasn’t obvious what her plan had been or even how she had survived Braxa’s shot, but she was a distraction and provided me an opportunity.
I leapt at one of Braxa’s guards. She reared back, giving a whistle of surprise. My hands wrapped around her rifle as our momentum took us to the ground.
We rolled on the floor, and the Vantagax ended up on top of me. I had one hand gripped around the barrel of her rifle and the other on the stock. We tugged back and forth. I grunted and grit my teeth as I summoned as much strength as I could. She snaked her long neck forward snapping at my face, but I used her weapon as a barrier.
Varma continued to scream. Braxa yelled something, but I didn’t catch what he said besides recognizing an authoritative tone. He didn’t sound scared or even concerned. An energy blast scorched the ground next to my head. I felt the heat radiating off the floor and smelled burning hair.
The Vantagax on top of me turned her head and looked over her shoulder. Her grip loosened a hair, and I yanked her rifle out of her hands. She gave a surprised trill and catapulted backwards. I helped her journey with a swift kick to her gut. She fell on her side, clutching her mid-section and trying to breathe.
I fired the rifle several time at the nearest standing guard. He went down with a howl of pain as I turned to the next one, firing a few more times, but he had moved behind some cover. Braxa was nowhere to be seen.
The guard that Varma shambled towards shook his head and found his sense. He fired three shots into the Admiral, and she fell to the ground with a wet, sickening thwack. I fired twice at him as he looked down at Varma. One shot missed and the other caught him in the shoulder. He dropped his rifle on the ground and stumbled behind a console.
The guard who I’d stolen the rifle from took a deep breath and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. She lunged towards me, but I swung the rifle and caught her in the side of the head. Still on my back I pushed myself away from her and shot several times into her crumpled form until she stopped moving.
I rolled behind a console and checked my weapon. The charge was still three-fourths full. I silently praised the preparedness of the guards. If all held up I wouldn’t have to resort to hand-to-hand combat again.
Sweat ran down my face. Some got into my eyes and stung them. I wiped it away with the back of my hand and realized I was covered in blood. Whether it was Varma’s or the Vantagax guard’s I wasn’t sure. Either way, it didn’t matter right now.
I took a deep breath and tried to control my breathing. My hands shook from the adrenaline and shaky aim wasn’t what I wanted right now. There was one able bodied guard and maybe two who could still function, not counting Braxa, and I’d lost the element of surprise. I had to be on point.
Somebody moaned on the other side of the room. Light footsteps moved across the room. They stopped then started up again then stopped. I was sure that was my able bodied guard.
With as little sound as possible I got to my feet. As I moved down the console my goal was to flank the guard. He still moved in rapid intervals: starting then stopping then starting again. I didn’t pop my head up for fear of giving away my position, so I relied on my hearing and hoped it didn’t let me down.
The moaning continued from the same spot in the room. I crossed an open space between consoles and stopped on the other side to catch my breath. Being out in the open for that split second caused my heart to explode into a rapid rhythm, and I found it hard to breath.
I gripped my rifle tighter and continued moving. The footsteps sounded like they had passed me as I came to the end of my current cover. I ducked my head around the corner to see where I was.
The Vantagax guard I’d winged stared back at me.
He screamed and tried to scoot away from me. I shouted and fired at him. The energy blasts almost all missed except for one shot, which caught the guard in the face. His head snapped back in a spray of blood and bits.
Blasts flew over my head and impacted behind me. I popped up and fired without aiming in the general direction of the source. The guard stood on the other side of the room in an open aisle. We traded a few shots before he ducked behind a half-wall.
I crouched behind my console. The guard yelled insults at me and continued to fire on my position. The blasts impacted the console. The electronics sparked and caught fire with each shot. Flaming bits snowed down around me.
The Vantagax corpse next to me drained onto the ground, and I soon found myself sitting in a pool of its blood. It soaked through my clothes and was warm against my skin. In the current situation I didn’t care too much as I began ransacking the body trying to find anything I could use to fight back.
There were two EMP charges strapped to its belt.
I grabbed them and sat with my back against the console. I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth. The Vantagax continued to fire and shout obscenities at me. It sounded like he hadn’t moved.
I opened my eyes and lobbed one charge over the console.
The Vantagax whistled in surprise. The charge went off: blue light and a pop. I threw the other one: blue light and a pop.
The room felt charged with energy. It hummed through the floor and coursed through my body as I stood to face the Vantagax. My vision was sharp, and my hands steady.
In the aisle the guard shook and seized on the ground. I wasn’t sure if he was dead from the EMPs or not, but to be safe I fired into him until he stopped moving.
The moaning had stopped, but I went over to where it had been. The Vantagax that had been shot in the chest lay motionless on the ground. His head lolled to the side and tongue stuck out of his beak. One eyelid was half shut and the other was fully open. Blood dripped in thick, slow droplets into the pool that had collected under the corpse.
For good measure I toed the body with my boot while keeping my rifle t
rained on him. When nothing happened I stepped on his leg and put as much pressure as I could on it. The bone snapped and was crushed underfoot. The Vantagax still didn’t do anything. My last action was to shoot his head once. It turned into a spread out paste. Only then was I satisfied he was dead.
“Brutal,” said Braxa from behind me.
I spun around, rifle ready. Braxa had his sidearm aimed at me. A door was behind him, open, showing a long, empty corridor beyond.
For the first time I realized there wasn’t an alarm. My fight had taken several minutes. There was plenty of time for reinforcements to arrive or Braxa to escape, but he stood in front of me, alone.
He’d stripped himself of his uniform shirt and boots. His plumage puffed up, and he looked almost twice his size. The talons on his feet were sharpened and glinted in the light. He didn’t bob around or move. His aim was steady, and he seemed calm and collected.
“Just what I would expect from a Terran,” said Braxa.
“Where are the rest, Braxa?” I said.
“There are no more,” said Braxa. “Your compatriots and their ships have been destroyed. Just you and me. One on one. When I take you in I’ll be a hero to the Vantagax Republic. The financial losses that your little group caused will be forgotten. I’ll have redeemed my family’s name and restored our place in the Republic. Once more the Braxa’s will be consulted on all matters. Once more the Braxa –“
I fired.
Braxa stumbled backwards in a cloud of blood and feathers. His sidearm fired once into the ceiling.
I fired again.
Braxa lifted off his feet and landed on his back. His gun skittered across the ground. He groaned.
I fired twice more.
Braxa tumbled over onto his side. His breathing was shallow and wet. Bloody froth formed at his beak. His eyelids fluttered, and he made sounds like he spoke, but they were unintelligible.
I kept my rifle aimed on Braxa as I moved over to him. He didn’t seem to notice that I was there. His movements were weak, made in halted increments. He reached toward something when nothing was there, and his hand flopped to the ground.
The Terran Shepherd (The Terran Series Book 2) Page 12