by M. R. Forbes
Pahaliah.
He had learned only moments after escaping that she hadn’t made it. One of the other soldiers had found her body on the north side of the reactor, amidst the remains of a pair of Goreshin that he hadn’t been around to help disable. He didn’t ask for details, but he could imagine how she had died. Brutally, but also quickly. He lowered his head. She had spent so many years training to be part of this fight, and she had been taken out of it so soon. Too soon. He didn’t blame himself for it; he had been in the game way too long for that. It didn’t mean the loss was easy to accept.
He dropped the thought, looking over at Hayley again. They had been in the air for nearly three hours, staying in the slim zone between ground and orbital sensors where they would be more challenging to spot. The girl hadn’t said a word the entire time.
“How are you holding up?” he asked.
She kept her eyes on the viewport beside her. “I’m fine,” she said flatly.
“Are you sure?”
Hayley turned toward him. “You don’t need to patronize me, Captain Mann. I’m a child, but I’m not an idiot.”
Olus almost laughed. He couldn’t stop the smile.
“What’s funny?”
“You sound like your mother.”
“Good. My father is dead. My mother is out there, and she’s in trouble. The whole Republic is in trouble. How am I supposed to process that, Captain? How am I supposed to make sense of it?”
“Those are mature questions to ask. I don’t have any answers for you. I can’t make sense of it either.”
“Then you know the answer to your question. I’m fighting to hold it together, but I want to crawl under my blankets back home and hide. I want to wake up from this nightmare. I want to unsee all of the things that I’ve seen.” A tear rolled down her face. I’m not okay, Captain. Are you?”
Olus shook his head. “No,” he replied. “I don’t know if anything will ever be okay for me again. Not after the things I’ve done. But maybe I can make it okay for you. Maybe I can help make it okay for others. I don’t know yet. I’ll die trying.”
Hayley stared at him for a moment, and then she nodded. “Me, too.”
“I can’t let you be part of this. I’m going to get you somewhere safe, and then I’m going to join this war.”
“I don’t remember asking you,” Hayley said, channeling Abbey again. “There is nowhere safe, Captain. We both know that.”
Olus didn’t know how to respond, so he didn’t. Hayley returned to staring out at the sky. He turned his attention toward the front of the craft, where Xanix had emerged from the cockpit and was scuttling toward him.
“Captain,” Xanix said. “We’ve been trying to find the means to get you off the planet, as you requested.”
“And?” Olus said.
Hayley turned her head to follow the conversation.
“Many of the spaceports around the world have been shut down until order is restored.”
“That’s going to be a while.”
“Yes. Our sources have been in contact with a launch site in California. We have come to terms with a freighter captain who is willing to take you on before he leaves.”
“Excellent,” Olus said, taking note of the position of the Plixian’s antennae. “What’s the catch?”
“The launch site is currently under contest.” He paused, glancing at Hayley. “If you want to leave Earth, we will need to drop you into a war zone.”
Olus looked at Hayley, too. She met his eyes. “I want to go back to my mother,” she said.
“I know,” Olus said. “How bad is the fighting?”
“We weren’t able to ascertain. The captain did say he can’t guarantee he will survive long enough for us to arrive.”
“I don’t understand? Why would this captain be willing to wait for us at the cost of his own life? What did you offer him?”
Xanix’s head shifted toward Hayley again. “He asked me who I was trying to evacuate.”
“And you told him?” Olus said, getting angry.
“Not exactly. He mentioned the incident at the restaurant the other night. He knew Plixians were involved, and that you were there. He correlated that we were Plixian, and suggested that perhaps you might be present. I’m not certain how he made the connection between you and Miss Cage, but he did mention Miss Cage.”
“And he’s going to risk dying to get her out? To get me out? Why?”
“He told me that his boss wants to speak to you. And that his boss owes Lieutenant Abigail Cage a favor, even if she doesn’t know it, which means that he owes her a favor. I imagine getting Miss Cage to safety would be an adequate fulfillment of this debt.”
“Do you know who his boss is, that it would make him so bold?”
“Of course. Don Pallimo, President of the Crescent Haulers.”
Olus narrowed his eyes. The last he had heard, the Haulers thought the Rejects had slaughtered the crew of the Devastator. That wasn’t exactly the kind of activity that would lead their President to want to grant any favors.
What the hell was Abbey up to out there?
Whatever it was, it hopefully meant that she had gotten off Azure and rejoined her crew. Maybe she had even tried to contact him? His access to the Galnet had been limited for days, and without his backchannel to Ruby, his ability to reach out was close to nil.
Then again, was it safe to believe Pallimo’s offer was legit? If he were pissed at Abbey for killing one of his crews, this would be the perfect opportunity for him to get revenge.
Except the Don didn’t work that way. He had morals and a code of honor that would prevent him from relying on deception. If Olus were on his list, he would send a team for him, and that would be that. He wouldn’t beat around the bush or drag him into a trap, especially in the middle of the current shitstorm.
“How long until we reach the launch site?” he asked.
“Fifteen minutes.”
“And he doesn’t think he can last that long?”
The dropship shifted as if in response, nearly knocking Xanix over as it twisted in an evasive maneuver. Warning tones sounded around them, suggesting they were moving into the danger zone.
“Captain, I am unsure if we will last that long.”
25
The dropship banked hard, leaving Olus pressed to the side of his seat, the magnetic clamps on his seraphsuit holding him in place. He glanced over at Hayley, noticing the smile on her face as she shifted against her more conventional harness, still staring out the viewport at the chaos around them.
She seemed unfazed by the thought of dying. She was young. Did she think she was invincible? She was Abbey’s daughter, so maybe she was.
“Commander!” the pilot shouted over the comm, loud enough that it hurt Olus’ ears. “Drop zone is three klicks that way, but I’ve never seen fighting like this before.”
“We have to get inside,” Xanix replied. “Infantry, line up!”
The squads of Plixians unhooked themselves from their seats, gripping metal flooring with their toes as they scrambled toward the rear of the dropship.
“We’ll lead you out and keep you covered,” Xanix said.
“I don’t deserve this,” Olus replied.
“It’s what we have sworn to do. Get ready to join the back of the line.”
Olus didn’t argue. He nodded while Xanix headed to the rear of the ship, ready to open the hatch and get them out. He reached out and put his hand on Hayley’s shoulder. She glanced over at him.
“We’re going to have to jump. Hold onto me, and you’ll be fine.”
She smiled. “Roger, Captain.”
He remembered when his fear had been beaten out of him during HSOC training, all of those years ago. Why didn’t Hayley Cage seem to possess any?
“Captain,” Xanix said over the comm.
Olus shifted his weight, working to unlatch himself from the chair. He didn’t have Plixian feet that were able to cling to nearly anything, and the seraphsuit d
idn’t have the magnetic footpads of a battlesuit. He would have to be careful.
He got to his feet, pivoting toward Hayley. “I’m going to unbuckle you.”
The dropship shook, and Olus had to grab onto the back of the chair as they started to dive and bank.
“Hold onto your thoraxes,” their human pilot said. “For those of you who have them.”
The dropship’s thrusters screamed, the vibration of their effort running across the deck. Olus caught sight of the streak out of the viewport, left without enough time to curse as it hit the starboard thruster and detonated, sending debris and flame shooting away from the impact point. He grabbed Hayley, yanking her toward him as a piece of the dropship flew toward them, impaling the side of the ship where she had just been.
If only that had been the end of it.
The dropship began to bank harder, yawing at nearly sixty degrees and knocking him from his feet, throwing him into the damaged side with Hayley on top of him. He protected her from the impact, using the Gift to get his feet under him and planted, rolling in the air as the dropship rolled around him.
Red lights flashed, and a crash warning sounded in the bay. The Plixians were being thrown around the space, crashing into the walls and one another. They were going down, and going down hard.
Hayley screamed beside him, her calm exterior suddenly giving in to the moment. He held onto her, pulling her close and wrapping the Gift around them, using it as a shield. Xanix came crashing toward them, hitting the shield and bouncing away. His abdomen was twisted at a bad angle away from his upper thorax, and he looked like he was in pain.
“Brace for impact,” the pilot said.
Olus looked forward to the cockpit, just in time to see a line of heavy projectile rounds cut through it, and the pilot. The whole thing disappeared in one massive burst, exposing them to the air as the remains of the craft fell to the earth, spinning in the air like a flailing leaf.
Hayley was still screaming, but she didn’t fight against his grip. He managed to get his feet planted, bracing them momentarily as he gathered his strength. With one heavy push, he launched them away from the ship and through the freshly made hole, out into the open air. The twisted metal at the edge of the craft caught his knee, tearing a deep gash in it and nearly severing his leg, the momentum pushing him into a spin of his own.
He looked down. The ground was closer than he thought. There was no time. He cried out as he used the Gift to slow his descent and straighten himself out, feeling the strain of the energy he was burning to do it. A few seconds later they hit the dirt, Hayley on top of Olus. The dropship reached the surface right before them, an echoing crash and hiss as the remains slid along the ground.
Olus stayed there. His leg hurt. His body was battered. He could feel the Blood below his flesh, working to knit him back together. He was hungry. Worse? He could see a fighter circling and pointing toward them, streaking down to finish what it had started.
“Hayley, run,” he said, looking over to her.
She was on her feet, reaching out to help him up.
“Come on, Captain,” she said.
“I can’t,” he replied. He tried to move the foot on his injured leg. He couldn’t even feel it. “Not yet, and there’s no time.” He pointed to the Crescent Hauler freighter, the top of which was visible in the distance, its shields flashing as it defended itself from attack. “Get to the freighter. Get off the planet. If the Don owes your mom a favor, he’ll take good care of you.”
“We don’t leave anyone behind,” she said, insistent. “That’s the first rule.”
Olus felt the twist in his gut. He had left people behind. They were dead because of him. But this young girl was giving up her life to try to save his. The sudden guilt could either break him or give him the incentive he needed to survive.
The fighter leveled off. The first rounds hit the earth right in front of them. Olus grunted as he pushed off, diving to Hayley and tugging her out of the way. The projectiles never reached them. A second fighter that matched the first intercepted, twin missiles hitting the first and knocking it off-course. It exploded a few seconds later.
“Shit,” Hayley said, watching the action. “We need to hurry.”
“You’re telling me,” Olus said.
Hayley approached him, getting her body under his shoulder and propping him up. “Let’s go.”
They moved slowly at first, with Olus limping toward the freighter. His wounds continued to heal, and within a minute he was back on both feet, joining Hayley as she started to run.
A heavy pounding to their left drew his attention, and he spotted a Komodo near one of the launch site’s outbuildings, rounding the corner and facing in their direction. The heavy mech was laden with firepower, too much for him to stop even with the Gift.
“Get down,” he shouted, diving forward and grabbing Hayley, pulling her to the ground. The mech pilot hadn’t spotted them yet, and Olus remained still, hoping that he wouldn’t.
The machine stomped toward them, each footfall shaking the earth. Olus could hear gunfire everywhere, and when he thought about who was fighting who, he felt only sadness. Thraven had turned them against one another with empty promises and lies. He had infiltrated so deeply into their psyches that they were killing their friends and comrades.
Did they even know why?
He felt a second vibration join the first, and then the ground began to rumble. He looked to his right. An entire squad of lighter mechs had converged, taking aim at the Komodo and opening fire. Missiles streaked across the open space where they were waiting, slamming into the opponent’s shields and drawing its attention.
“I’m going to carry you,” Olus said. “Hold on.”
He put his arm around Hayley’s waist, rising to his feet and lifting her easily in front of him. Then he used the seraphsuit to bounce forward, keeping a long, low arc that brought them away from the mech’s battlefield. He landed roughly, stumbling to keep the inertia from hurting Hayley.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I think I’m going to puke,” she replied.
He took that as a yes, and bounced again, repeating the process a few more times.
The launch site was owned by the Crescent Haulers, and the massive warehouses that surrounded it were behind thick walls that abutted surrounding hillsides, the rear of which overlooked the Pacific Ocean. The freighter was gigantic in the center of it, rising way above the tallest buildings and the control tower, still absorbing attacks from passing fighters while the ground defenses tried to hold them back. The only reason they had kept Thraven’s forces from overrunning them was because the loyal Republic soldiers had intervened, disrupting the assault and keeping the front split. Even so, the enemy seemed to have the upper hand, their battlesuited infantry advancing on the walls, trying to jump over them and get inside. Guards were positioned around the perimeter, working to prevent it.
Olus landed again, right next to a soldier that had been shot from the walls nearly a kilometer away. He bent and scooped up the dead man’s rifle, checking the ammo before adjusting his grip to use it. Hayley squirmed in his grip and then pointed to a second weapon a few meters away. He let her go, and she scampered to it and grabbed it.
She was returning to him when she dropped to the ground. Olus started turning, his flesh beginning to burn as the fresh round of flechettes dug through the seraphsuit and into him, the impact nearly turning him sideways. He managed to get himself around, putting his eyes on the squad of blacksuits that had appeared out of nowhere, watching as one of them started sprouting holes from Hayley’s new weapon.
He called on the Gift, sweeping it up in front of him, deflecting their attack as he charged ahead, shoving the muzzle of his rifle into the nearest soldiers’ head and pulling the trigger. The round went right through his helmet and his brain, but Olus barely saw it. He was already moving to the next target, throwing an enhanced punch that knocked the enemy back a dozen meters. He pivoted again, fir
ing another round into another soldier before vectoring for the last. They went down in a hail of bullets, some from Hayley, some from the wall beyond.
Olus looked out to the defenses, finding a line of guards there, weapons lined up on him. He put his hands up, dropping his rifle, not wanting them to mistake him for an enemy. One of them shifted, motioning to him to make a run for it.
Hayley rejoined him, unarmed once more.
“Out of ammo,” she said as he scooped her up and resumed their escape.
The soldiers on the wall were covering them now, shooting out beyond them. Olus risked a glance back, finding three dropships had landed nearby, all of them unloading Thraven’s forces. He could only imagine what that meant for the planet as a whole if the Nephilim were dropping infantry from orbit. Had Earth been lost already? He wasn’t ready to believe that. It was more likely they were making a last-ditch effort to keep him from escaping with Hayley. He could imagine how angry the Gloritant would be once he learned that Ruche had lost her.
They neared the barrier, getting close enough that the soldiers were right above them. One of them dropped a line to him as they approached and he grabbed it, letting them pull him and Hayley up to the top and over.
“Miss Cage?” the lead guard said, his large Curlatin eyes barely visible through his tinted helmet.
“Yes,” Hayley replied. “And Captain Olus Mann.”
“I’m Sergeant Coxie. The Don wants us to bring you to safety. Allow me.”
The Sergeant took Hayley the same way Olus had, and without another word leaped from the side of the wall toward the ground inside. His squad followed him, making a smooth, synchronized bounce that the best Republic platoons would be jealous of. Olus trailed behind them, leaping from the wall at the same time a fighter began strafing where they had just been. A sharp crack sounded from beneath the freighter, and then the fighter started to smoke, unable to pull up and crashing into the nearby hillside.
Olus kept pace with Coxie and his team, rushing toward the small open hatch of the freighter. The fighting was getting more intense, both sides nearing the launch site, each trying to stop the other from succeeding. He was nearly knocked down when the ground shook once more, and a wave of heat blasted him from behind. He stumbled, chunks of debris hitting him in the back, and when he turned, he saw a portion of the wall had been removed. A woman was standing behind it, hands raised and still burning from the energy she had unleashed.