Too Long a Soldier (Kingdom Key Book 3)

by TylerRose.

  She concentrated on a room’s location and ported the pile to it with a note to clean and ready the weapons, test the walkie talkies, and stay in their rooms for the night. Tomorrow, they were to bring their weapons and ammunition to the breakfast buffet being held in each hotel starting at 6:30am. They were to be ready to roll by 7:45am.

  Over and over and over she sent the piles, until every unit of men was armed and their unit number assigned. The units were labeled according to their hotel and room number. Holiday 212 was the Holiday in, room 212. Marriott715 was the Marriot hotel, room 715.

  They were to use the room phone and dial in to the phone number given in the note, state their unit number, and hold for the conference call to begin. Landra Ahr had access to the Walkie Talkie signals, and prompted any rooms not already called in.

  One massive conference call on Landra’s encrypted line, with every room listening.

  “Gentlemen,” Tyler began, looking at the hundreds surrounding her. “We are all that stands between freedom for Earth and enslavement or death for all. If we do not see each other again, regardless how our war turns out, know that you all have my eternal gratitude for your efforts.”

  She ported back to the apartment. For once Landra Ahr didn’t want to yammer on about something. Jerome was there in the telephone nook waiting for her. He took her to bed and held her through the night in silence, held her close against his skin and immersed himself in her scent and her energy. She did the same, lying still as the mud settled. Resting, dozing some, but not sleeping.

  No one really slept.

  At five am, Landra went to each of the three rooms and handed out small cups of coffee laced with a quickly digested nutrient stimulant that would keep them energized for at least twelve hours. If they hadn’t won by then, there would be no winning.

  Demitrius dressed and left to get to Safe Haven in plenty of time to get his people ready.

  The uniform for the warehouse unit was more or less the same across the board. Black slacks of Taveragian cloth that insulated from the cold like three layers of Carhart. Self-adjusting, they would release body heat as needed.

  “You are not dressed,” Landra Ahr said too sternly on seeing Tyler.

  “I am dressed precisely as I choose to be,” she said, walking away from the stairs to the kitchen.

  Blue jeans, tightest black tank top with low scooping neckline to expose a little cleavage. Her broken in shit-kickin’ boots with the iron block in the heels. Hair perfectly coiffed and curls brilliantly coiled. Dramatic eyes with purple shadow and blood red lipstick. She’d even painted her nails a matching shade of red. Talons Jerome knew well, freshly sharpened to a lethal edge.

  “Get going,” she said to Jerome. “I’ll be there before you. We do the job and compare notes later.”

  “Right.”

  They bumped fists and everyone but she filed by Landra at the door. He handed out earpieces. Tiny communicators that received and transmitted.

  “Testing,” Landra Ahr said when they were in vehicles and leaving. “Sign in all units.”

  “Tiberius in,” Jerome said from the Torino.

  “Earthman in.”

  “Spacegirl in.”

  “Mr. Universe in.”

  “Roc in.”

  “Rose in,” she finally said.

  “Be smart everyone,” Landra Ahr said.

  “Maintain silence from now until the signal,” Tyler told them.

  “What is the signal?” Roc asked.

  “People dying.”

  Silence. They were actually doing it.

  She set her earpiece to receive only for now, and paced the longest length of the kitchen floor. Landra Ahr let her be for now. Six thirty and she put on her leather jacket and ported the two of them to the roof of the Blade building.

  “Tyler, please turn on your earpiece,” he said aloud and only to her.

  “Not yet,” she said, staring up at the sky. “Has anyone reported seeing it yet?”

  “Only the AASTT, which stopped all traffic three days ago and has gone completely dark and silent.”

  She snorted. “Of course they have. They’d be toast if he found them.”

  Jerome parked the Torino on Summit Street facing South, ready to make its escape to the Anthony Wayne Trail when needed. Gable parked the van around a corner from Summit. Roc ported to Tyler’s side. Star and Jerome soared up to the building across from Tyler. Tony took his place in a parking garage oddly filled with vans and panel trucks.

  Gable started an easy jog around a block to charge up his kinetic gauntlets. Ingenious weapons Landra Ahr had come up with on the long voyage from Taverages. His speed in a run brought them up to power and if he swung an arm in the air, he launched a blast at something. In a punch to hit something, that power could take a man’s head off.

  Feeling for the buildings around this central set of blocks, Tyler knew snipers were taking their places as well. All they had to do was wait.

  She turned on the transmitter and brought the first magnetic grenade to her hand. The original went into her front pocket and a copy in her back.

  “Landra.”

  “Yes, Rose.”

  “Roc-a-bye-baby.”

  Star watched open-mouthed as Landra Ahr gave Roc a shot in the neck. Tyler caught her and ported, returning alone in less than half a minute. Star dismissed the back-handed tactic. It was for the best.

  Chapter Twenty One

  “What news?”

  “Eminence,” Dominion bowed. “At first it appeared a person had possession of your crystal. From the localized movement, it did not go far. But now. See here?”

  Adamantine read the screen’s information. “Starbird.”

  “Yes, Eminence. Your daughter is there and she apparently has possession of your crystal. It is possible she is going to give it to you. Unlikely, after her choices on Taverages, but possible.”

  “Where is she?”

  “At an altitude of sixty feet.”

  “On top of a building,” Adamantine said.

  “I believe so, Eminence. I am preparing the Rhutvak to find all land power sources in the immediate area and destroy them.”

  “What do the native bugs call my new planet?”

  “Earth, Eminence.”

  “Replenish my supply of females. The last batch was not satisfactory. The species was far too fragile.”

  “Yes, Eminence. You will have your choice by nightfall,” Dominion promised, long-accustomed to his Master’s changes of topic.

  “Ensure they are virginal. At least two were not this last time.

  Tell my son to get off his female for an hour and get ready to take this planet Earth. He’s going down in the first wave this time.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be most pleased, Eminence,” Dominion bowed, and backed away two steps before turning to his tasks.

  Sniveling simp, but well in control of the Rhutvak he’d created. Adamantine decided he would decide Dominion’s fate after they took back the Taverages Staff. Not the most powerful crystal he’d ever taken, but it was a matter of principle. He would not allow this one to get away again. Once was too many escapes.

  He went down to the staging arena, his very appearance bringing every foot soldier to hand and knee in subjugation. Rhutvak were excused from genuflection, as their design did not permit kneeling or bowing beyond a certain degree. Besides, the humanoids inside were all but dead anyway.

  Spinal cord, heart, brain, skull and an artificial respiration and nutrient system. Far cheaper than feeding them and giving them beds. The next stage of his army would be to change almost all free-thinking foot soldiers into mindless, obedient Rhutvak. This planet was the perfect place to do it.

  Dominion had already found many hundreds of factories and the planet was filled with steel ready to be melted, shaped, and put to use. Factories making ground vehicles would be most easily converted into Rhutvak factories and there was one such place within this city they were about to descend upon. A plan
et of several billion inhabitants that he could turn into a new army that would build new ships to carry them on instead of carrying everyone in this one ship. He could finally fulfill his promises to his son, to let him go off to conquer on his own.

  Neutron rushed in and, seeing his father, lowered fast to one knee and bowed his head. “Father, I am here to serve you.”

  “You will lead the first wave of Rhutvak,” Adamantine said as his son stood tall again. “Your sister is waiting for us. Find out if she is for us or against us. If she is against, you will kill her where she stands.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  Neutron stood with the advance Rhutvak, foot soldiers bowing to their Prince as he passed. He worked his inherited crystal power to full strength, his normal level barely enough to let him levitate. Once his power was worked up, he could thrust himself into short, controlled flights lasting half a minute and shoot a fireball from his hands every half minute or so. He knew his sister could do neither of those things.

  “Do the Rhutvak know to take the factories whole?”

  “They do, Eminence,” Dominion replied. “And know to take prisoners directly to the one we intend to convert first. Do you want me in the first or second wave?”

  “Second. We will let my son find out what Starbird is up to first and prove himself in command of the initial invasion.”

  “As you desire, Eminence.”

  “You do not agree?” Adamantine challenged.

  “I will agree to your every command, Eminence; but perhaps I should go in the first wave in order to help coordinate in case she is against you and has coordinated a resistance?”

  “That is why my son goes first. He wants to command his own force, he must prove today that he can do it. If she has provided a resistance, you will be in your ship and not under fire, to coordinate the appropriate response.”

  Dominion bowed as low as his horizontal control board would allow him. “Your wisdom prevails as ever, Eminence. We are far enough into the atmosphere to begin when it pleases you.”

  “Neutron, go!”

  The hatch corridor opened and 1000 Rhutvak dove out in rapid succession. Neutron dropped out behind them, standing on a Rhutvak foot to launch from when they reached the city. He always did like this part, looking down on the planet they were about to conquer and destroy. This one he’d been promised he could have for himself when his father was finished making their new army. He could have every female left behind.

  “One thousand Rhutvak and Neutron descending in free fall,” Landra Ahr announced, and sent the first warning beeps to the walkie-talkie frequency of the biker army. “They will be fliers.”

  “Jerome, you stay in that box until I have Dominion dealt with. He’s not coming yet,” Tyler said.

  “I don’t understand why I have to be hidden.”

  “You don’t have to understand. Just trust me and sit tight regardless what you hear and don’t jump the gun.”

  “I hate waiting,” he muttered under his breath inside the rooftop access box.

  “One minute to visual,” Landra Ahr said.

  “How you doin’, Star?” Tyler asked, seeing her pace back and forth.

  “Ready to kick some sibling ass.”

  “Keep your fight to that building,” Tyler ordered. “Do not leave that rooftop by so much as five feet.”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Where are all the people? There should be hundreds of cars coming into Downtown.”

  “They decided to call in sick,” was all Tyler said, looking to the East.

  Clouds were forming over Lake Erie, spreading over them and bringing the pop up snow storm that would work in their favor.

  “You aren’t wearing your goggles, Tyler,” Landra Ahr said, having gotten the information from Starbird on a momentarily closed channel.

  “No kidding.”

  “Visual range. One minute to engagement,” he said, from his place hovering halfway to the Davis Besse.

  Only a few more seconds and Starbird felt her brother coming. She fired off a small blast to make sure he knew where she was, and he landed hard on the rooftop.

  “My long lost traitor of a sibling,” he grinned. “Did you find the crystal in order to present it to our Lord Father?”

  “I found it alright, but he can’t have it. He’s going to die today. So are you,” she said, and blasted him in the chest.

  Prepared enough for it, he blasted back and launched himself into her, crushing her into the side of the heavy metal box. Hauling her back, he was taken by surprise by a sledgehammer punch to his chin that dazed him. A flash of bouncing red as he fell to his knees, a flash of bright explosion and machine particles covered his backside in ripping shrapnel. Soft lips on his and his life force was taken from him.

  Neutron dissolved to dust at Tyler’s feet. She held Star in both hands and thrust nearly all of his crystal power into her in the ultimate kiss of life. She kept a small bit for the extra endurance boost, letting it flow without bonding to her chi.

  “Tyler, what did you just do?” Landra demanded.

  “Stay where you are, Jerome. I just killed Neutron and saved Star’s life,” she replied, and ported Star to her room in the warehouse.

  She ported to Jefferson Street. Rhutvak were destroying buildings fast. Transports were coming in to drop foot soldiers a hundred at a time all over. The Grassroots force was pouring out from everywhere, rocket launchers taking aim at the transports and destroying as many as they could before the soldiers could begin to drop down. Magnetic grenades were sending Rhutvak to hell all around.

  One accidentally attached itself to the top of the scope of Dalton’s gun. He lifted his head and bent his left elbow. The grenade exploded in the direction it was attached, ripping through his chest and gut at point blank range. He was dead where he knelt.

  The Fiberglass Tower was coming down with Tony in its path. The force of it landing on the street knocked him over and knocked him out. She teleported him to Star’s bedroom as well.

  Next, to the Owens Corning building, to its wide expanse of steps. Keeping herself invisible to foot soldiers, she hurried down to the street. Gable’s Kinetic Gauntlet exploded a Rhutvak and he came barreling around the corner. Teleportation intercepted him as the Owens Corning building shattered. The concussion of the blast dazed him. A hand on him, she ported with him to Star’s room.

  He caught her hand. “Thanks, sis.”

  “Thank me if we win. If we don’t, you’re gonna be a Rhutvak in three days.”

  She ported back to the roof of the Blade building to wait and catch her breath.

  “Status?” Landra Ahr requested.

  “Phase one complete,” she huffed. “It’s just us now. Dominion should be here any second.”

  She stepped behind the roof access box, out of the wind.

  Roberto Kelly saw the machines coming. “What the fuck?!”

  He saw the ships flying in. No ships he’d ever seen before. Soldiers dropping out to swarm over the Sun Oil refinery on Navarre Avenue. They weren’t intending to destroy it. That could have been done from a distance. They were capturing the refinery. Anyone who fought back was shot with no warning. He ran for the control room, barricaded himself inside, and made his decision as he saw the Fiberglass Tower fall across the tree tops. He pushed the buttons necessary to send the refinery into an overload that would self-destruct it. He called his wife.

  “Where are you?!” Viv shouted, crying at the chaos she could see and hear from her bedroom window.

  “I’m on my way to meet my maker, baby. They are not going to have the refinery. I’ll take out as many of them as I can.”

  “Rob! No!”

  “It’s okay, baby. You go hide in the basement and don’t you come out.”

  “Get out of there!”

  “I can’t. They shootin’ everyone. Killing everyone. I’m gonna kill them.”

  He saw the row of warning lights go solid red. No turning back.

  “I love you.”

>   He hung up the phone as the cascade began. The machines broke into the control room as he smashed the third panel with the heavy fire extinguisher. As he went for the fourth, they shot him. His last sight was the flash of the main refinery going up in one spectacular blast.

  The fear of many East Side residents realized. Three blocks vaporized. The next ten were levelled. The East Side of Toledo was on fire.

  Tyler hung her head low as the sound wave and then the blast wave sheered past.

  “Holy Christ!” Jerome exclaimed from inside the box. “What was that?”

  “The East Side is gone,” Tyler said, emotionless.

  “Fuck me,” he breathed.

  “I’m in trouble, Tyler,” Landra Ahr said.

  “I know. Do what you can to hold them off as long as you can. Dominion is coming right now. Stay put, J. He cannot see you or your cover is blown and so is the plan.”

  “You been right so far, babe. I’m stickin’ to the plan. Just working my power up to strength.”

  “Good. Here’s Dominion,” she said, and stepped out from behind the box.

  “Take her!”

  His Rhutvak escort seized her by the upper arms.

  “His Eminence will want you for questioning, among other things,” he said in Taveragian.

  She was held in place with her pelvis thrust out by the Rhutvak’s knee. Dominion scanned her lower belly with a hand held tool. “No common trauma. No previous pregnancies. No sperm residue or foreign DNA.” He chuckled briefly. “A virgin to boot. Your Master will be pleased.”

  “He won’t be pleased when I kill him,” she said in Taveragian.

  She turned her right buttock to attach the grenade in her back pocket to the Rhutvak while another appeared on top of Dominion’s control panel. The Rhutvak was blown backwards to smithereens. Dominion threw the control panel away from himself. It exploded in midair.

  “You can come out now, J. Stay behind the box.”

  Dominion experienced the worst pain of his life as five of her razor sharp fingernails sank into the front of his throat and he was lifted off the roof.