by Cheree Alsop
Chapter 14
Tariq suddenly released her.
Liora gasped for air.
His eyes were accusing when he said, “You call yourself a member of the Kratos? You’re not even worthy to scrub the sewer dump. I don’t know why Devren allowed trash aboard our ship, but you’ll never be an officer to me. Get out of here before I do something I truly won’t regret.”
Still struggling to breathe through her bruised throat, Liora ran for the door. Tears burned in her eyes. She told herself over and over again not to cry. The door slid open and she burst through, nearly upending the tray Devren carried.
“I brought you some…Liora, what’s wrong?” he called as she rushed down the hall. “Tariq, what did you do?” she heard him demand before she rounded the corner.
Liora grabbed a Kratos atmosphere suit from the utility room and hit the button for the door.
“Liora, wait!” Devren entreated.
Liora ducked outside and didn’t slow her run through the sandy hills until she reached the harder packed dirt that would hide her footsteps. She ran uphill with the knowledge that most would take the easier downhill route. She turned at a twisted, brittle-looking tree and slid down the side of a gully.
Sure they would never find her, Liora took the time to pull on the atmosphere suit. Her cheeks were dry and jaw clenched. She wouldn’t cry. She refused to let the emotions get the best of her. She had been a fool to pretend she fit in with the Kratos crew members. For a time, it felt almost too good to be true to fight beside a team and feel like she actually belonged. A Damaclan didn’t belong anywhere but with his or her clan, and hers had been destroyed.
Liora leaned against the side of the wash and let herself catch her breath. She knew deep down that was the only way her confrontation with Tariq could have gone, so why did it hurt so much? She had lost friend before, but this felt different. Even though she had only been aboard the Kratos a short time, it felt like she had just lost a family.
But they weren’t family. Liora pushed the thought away. The Damaclans had been the closest thing to family she had ever had. She strapped the knife to the outside of her atmosphere suit as she thought the facts through.
If Tariq’s memories showed his age accurately, his wife had been killed less than two years ago. The nameless had wiped out Liora’s clan when she was twelve. Obruo should have been dead. The blood of the clan ran through the streets. By Damaclan law, he should have fought and died beside his people the way Liora had wanted to. She had been too terrified to act on the laws when she was twelve, but the chief’s death was certain. If the nameless ones didn’t kill him when his clan fell, his own knife to the stomach should have for, as the chief, he had failed to protect them.
Liora buried her devastation at being cast from the Kratos in plans for what would happen if she found Obruo. The Damaclan had made sure that her training was as brutal as possible. After what he had done to Tariq’s family, he deserved to die the same way.
A memory surfaced that she had almost forgotten.
“What are you doing?”
Liora, her small arms trembling beneath the weight of the water jugs, spoke even though she knew she shouldn’t.
“I’m so tired. The other kids went to bed a hand’s-breadth ago. Can’t I?”
She refused to cry. She was supposed to be strong. Her mother always said she needed to be stronger than the other children to prove her Damaclan blood. She wouldn’t break character even if he punished her for speaking.
Liora’s fears came true. Obruo grabbed the mastery staff. The needles that lined the bone club glinted in the lights that hummed softly overhead. Liora turned her head so she didn’t have to look at him. She met her gaze in the mirror and held it.
“Your human blood is weak. You need to fight through it.” Obruo slammed the staff across her back.
Liora bit her lip at the pain. She stared at herself in the glass, telling herself not to break.
“I train you harder because it’s the only way you’ll become a Damaclan warrior. If you want the tattoos, you’re going to have to earn them.”
Obruo brought the club across the back of her thighs.
Liora’s teeth cut into her bottom lip. The taste of blood centered her.
“If you were my real daughter, there would be no tainted blood in the clan.” He grimaced and brought the club across Liora’s low back. “If your mother had been faithful.”
The Damaclan law of clanship required any member with Damaclan blood, no matter how faint, to be raised as a pureblood child. If they survived the training, the bloodline allowed them to undergo the rituals and tattooing. However, the law never said one couldn’t push the child to the point of breaking.
Liora knew that was Obruo’s hope. Her mother had no chance to defend her when it came to training. As chieftain, Obruo had all say in Liora’s instruction. If he wanted to force her to hold water jugs all night, Tenieva had to let it happen. Though Liora’s mother stayed up with her when she couldn’t sleep because of the pain from the mastery staff, she wasn’t allowed to be there when Liora was beaten.
“You won’t survive training,” Obruo said.
It was the first time he had actually voiced his intentions aloud.
It was apparently a night for more firsts.
Liora met his gaze in the mirror. “I will survive it and I’ll wear the clan tattoos.”
Liora had never challenged Obruo in such a way. As she held his gaze, her arms gave out. The jugs fell to the ground and broke, spilling water across the training room floor.
Fear made Liora’s arms shake from more than the stress of holding the heavy containers. The look on Obruo’s face was one of triumph.
“You’ll fail if I have anything to do with it,” he vowed. “You’ll never received the clan marks.”
His raised the mastery staff above his head. Liora forced herself not to cower away from the coming blow.
A drop fell on Liora’s helmet shield, bringing her back to the present. She stared as the small bead of liquid started to smoke. Adrenaline pulsed through her at the implication and she wiped it away quickly with her gloved hand. Green and yellow lighting struck around her as thick reddish-hued clouds massed overhead.
“The salvagers have landed.” The sound of Shathryn’s voice was loud with fear over the headset.
“How far away are they?” Devren asked.
“Jedredge says two clicks. They’ll be here soon.”
“Keep me informed,” Devren said. “Stone has men hidden in the hills. The rest of you, grab your guns and head outside. If we can pick them off before they attack in force, we’ll hold the upper hand.”
The radio crackled, then a voice Liora hadn’t heard before spoke. “Captain Metis, this is Viarie from the Star Chaser,” he said in a thickly accented voice. “The salvagers have landed and I count nineteen of them heading this way.”
“Nineteen is a lot,” Hyrin noted.
“Just concentrate on the coordinates. We’ve got this,” Devren told him.
“The storm is overhead,” O’Tule called. “There’s no end to it in sight.”
“The ground is smoking,” another officer said. “It’s heading this way.”
“Get to cover!” Straham’s voice yelled over the headset.
Someone shrieked.
“Acid rain,” Shathryn cried. “It’s eating through my suit!”
“I’ve got you,” Tariq told her. “Everyone, into the Gull or the Crow. This rain is deadly.”
“Liora’s out there,” O’Tule said with heartbreak in her voice. “Tariq, you selfish brute, what did you say to make her run out there like that? It’s a death sentence!”
Liora turned off her headset before she could hear his response. The last thing she wanted was to listen to his disdain again.
A rushing sound touched Liora’s ears. She scrambled out of the wash as more raindrops fell, burning little holes into her atmosphere suit. As soon as her foot cleared the edge of the g
ully, a rush of acid water flooded past, carrying debris and several half-melted creature carcasses. The partially disintegrated skull and front claws of a bird beast bobbed in the acid wash.
Liora tore her gaze away and looked around for cover. A wormhole lay open on the side of a dirt mound not far from her. She ran toward it and leapt inside. She used the dirt to wipe away the liquid on the outside of her space suit. A quick check showed that though there were small burn holes, no damage had been done to the inner lining. The atmosphere cycling system still worked, providing her with clean air to breathe.
The ships were under attack. If the rain wasn’t proving a hindrance to the salvagers, maybe their atmosphere suits weren’t affected. If that was the case, the members of Gull and the Star Chaser would be helpless in a battle. If they took off from the planet, they would run into the salvagers Duncan said were orbiting above. Their only option was to fight a ground battle, especially if they had any hope of finding the Omne Occasus.
Liora pushed to her feet. She wished she had grabbed a gun. As it was, she was armed with a knife and her Damaclan training. It would have to be enough. She took off through the wormholes.
Liora reached the cavern that had become a worm tomb and darted to the left. The tunnel took her to a viewpoint near the northwest of the Gull and the rebels’ Copper Crow. Several of Devren’s officers hunched beneath the Gull shooting off into the storm. Spats of lighting lit up salvagers wearing what looked like some sort of protective armor over their atmosphere suits. The acid rain didn’t appear to slow them at all.
Two salvagers fired and a Coalition officer fell. Liora ran back into the tunnels. She took a branching path and appeared behind the assailants.
Liora attacked without warning. Her knife sunk deep into a back where the right kidney would be. She spun to the left and buried her knife to the hilt at the base of the next attacker’s skull. Before the two bodies hit the ground, Liora blocked a gun with her forearm and shoved her knife up through the bottom of another salvager’s helmet.
Bullets whizzed past her. Liora dove to the right and rolled. She came back to her feet, sunk her knife into a salvager’s stomach, and ducked behind his body to shield her from another volley of gunfire.
As soon as the clip ran out, Liora shoved the salvager forward, rolled after the body, and threw her knife. It shattered the glass of the last salvager’s helmet and dropped him where he stood. Liora yanked the knife out on her way past and dove back into the wormhole just before a fresh cascade of bullets hit the ground.
A quick check of her atmosphere suit showed acid holes that had burned through, but it was still holding for the most part. Liora ran up the tunnel and circled around. From the trajectory, the bullets were being fired from a higher vantage point. She took a branching tunnel, darted to the right, and exited behind the hill.
Four salvagers stood on top firing down at the ships. One of them motioned. They turned their aim to a point further on. Liora ran quietly up the slope.
She hamstringed the closest shooter and slammed her knife into the chest of the second when he turned at her attack. The third salvager was ready. He dove at Liora, barreling her off her feet.
She rolled down the hill with the salvager. Her helmet rebounded off a rock and the radio crackled on.
“It’s Liora!” O’Tule yelled. “Liora’s alive! Fire, Straham; save her!”
“Shoot up the hill!”
“There’s a pack of them to the west,” Shathryn called. “Viarie’s injured and we lost Officer Smythe. They’ve got us pinned down. I don’t know how long we can hold off!”
“Hang in there, Shathryn,” Devren said, his voice tense. “We’ve got a band headed your way. Straham, protect Liora. She’s alone up there.”
The salvager landed on top of Liora and knocked the knife from her hand. She punched the side of his helmet so hard she felt her knuckles split inside her glove. It knocked the salvager off. She grabbed her knife and was about to end the man’s life when a bullet hit her helmet.
The impact threw her backwards and shattered the glass. Stunned, Liora managed to maintain her grip on the knife. The salvager drove a knee into her side and grappled for the weapon. Liora shook her head, trying to clear the glass while at the same time keeping her hold on the blade.
The salvager gave up trying to rip the knife free and instead shoved it toward her chest. Liora pushed back with both hands in an attempt to keep the serrated edge away. The salvager was a Calypsan. He outweighed her by at least double if not triple. The feet of his atmosphere suit had been altered to fit his hooves. His hands inside the gloves were thick, beefy, and shoved down with far more strength than Liora could defend against.
The blade pierced her atmosphere suit just below her collarbone. She let out a yell of pain.
“Liora!” Tariq yelled. “Liora, shove him up! I can’t get a shot!”
Liora swung her right leg up and over, catching the Calypsan around the throat and forcing him backwards. She put her left foot against his chest and thrust him away from her.
Bullets peppered the salvager’s body. He jerked to the side and fell lifeless to the ground.
A drop of acid rain landed on Liora’s cheek. The burn shocked her with a fight or flight rush of adrenaline. She wiped it away quickly.
“Devren!” Shathryn yelled.
Liora forced herself to her feet and picked up the knife that had fallen to the red ground. She stumbled into the closest wormhole.
It took a moment to get her bearings.
“I have the coordinates!” Hyrin called over the headsets. “It’s close to here. No wonder the salvagers are landing!”
“Oh no!” O’Tule cried, her voice crackling. “Shathryn!”
Liora ran through the tunnels. The route forced her down to the cavern and across to a series of tunnels with worm bodies she had to sidestep. She charged up the path and burst into an intense firefight.
Salvagers had Shathryn, Officer Straham, and a rebel she assumed was Viarie pinned in a shallow cave. Coalition officers shot from the hill above, but more salvagers must have landed because Liora counted at least twelve of them hiding behind the rocks across from the cave. Any time one of the three so much as peaked out, the gunshots drove them back.
“I can’t get a good shot,” a Coalition officer said into the headset. “They’re under cover.”
“Another ship is landing,” Hyrin reported. “We’re about to be surrounded.”
“We need to get them out of there,” another called.
Liora knew she couldn’t take out twelve quickly enough to save Shathryn and the others. If she could find a tunnel close enough, maybe she could get them out another way.
A body lay a few feet away. The fallen salvager had an oxygen tank strapped to his back. Liora dove for his gun. Bullets struck the ground around her. She lifted the semi-automatic and fired at the other salvagers. Reaching the oxygen tank, Liora pull it free and ducked back inside the tunnel.
She ran up to where she guessed Shathryn and the others to be. She could hear gunfire through the dirt tunnel. There was no way to gauge how thick the wall of soil was.
“Shathryn, can you hear me?” Liora called.
“Liora, is that you?”
Grateful that the headset still worked at the base of her shattered helmet, Liora replied, “Get the others as far from the back of the hole as you can. I’m going to get you out of there.”
“Be careful,” Straham told her. “These salvagers have us pinned.”
“Viarie’s going to bleed out if we don’t get him out of here,” Shathryn said. A small squeak sounded, then she cried, “They’re closing in.”
“Cover the best you can,” Liora called.
“Liora, what are you doing?” Devren asked.
“Thinking like a Terrarian,” Liora replied.
She shoved the oxygen tank into the dirt and ran back down the tunnel. She spun and shot from the hip. The bullet hit the top of the tank. The cylinder exploded
and shot backwards, creating a gaping hole in the dirt.
Liora sprinted through the dusty air.
“What was that?” Stone demanded.
“Are you guys alright?” Liora called.
O’Tule sounded scared when she asked, “What just happened?”
“We’re okay,” Shathryn replied.
Tariq’s voice came over the headset. “The explosion surprised them. If you move now, you might get them out.”
Liora worked through the hole. Shathryn, Straham, and Viarie were covered in dirt where they huddled near the front of the small cave.
“Come this way,” Liora said.
She grabbed Viarie beneath the armpits and helped Straham drag him to the tunnel. Gunshots sounded. Shathryn dropped to the ground.
“I’ve got him,” Straham said. “Go back for Shathryn.”
Liora left Viarie in the tunnel. She shot right to left, laying down fire so she could reach Shathryn.
She dropped to her stomach next to the officer. “Are you shot?”
Shathryn shook her head, but her shoulders shuddered.
“I can’t do it anymore,” she said. She tipped her helmeted face to look at Liora. “I’m so tired of being shot at.”
Liora forced a smile. “You’re almost out of it. All you need to do is go back through that hole.”
Tears showed in Shathryn’s eyes. “I can’t do it.”
“You can,” Liora told her. “You’ve got to. You need to help Viarie. He won’t get out of here if you don’t.”
She hesitated, but Liora could tell the thought that someone needed her was important.
“Go help Straham. We don’t have much time. I’ll cover you,” Liora urged.
“Shathryn, this is your captain,” Devren called over the headset. “Get to Officer Straham and help him move Viarie out of there. That’s an order.”
Shathryn nodded. Resolve filled her face. “Got it, Captain.” She pushed up to her hands and knees.
Liora fired out of the shallow cave mouth to cover her retreat. Shathryn had just reached the tunnel through the hole when the ground shook.