by M. R. Forbes
Thraven’s eyebrows lifted. Ursan drew back in fear, expecting his outburst would result in being choked to death, surprised when he wasn’t.
“Very well,” Thraven said. “But understand this, Captain. Insubordination will not be tolerated. Expect consequences.”
“I’ll worry about it later. Where is she?”
“Drune,” Thraven said. “You can find her on Drune.”
“Dak,” Ursan said.
“Already doing it,” Dak replied.
Ursan’s hands clenched against the command seat. He leaned forward, muscles tense as if that could hurry along the calculations needed to move into FTL. He was too worried and too frightened to wonder about Thraven’s motives for giving him the location and allowing him to go. He knew there would be a price to pay. There always was. He didn’t care.
The Brimstone’s cloak fell away, the Shrikes in the outer defenses lighting up as they finally registered the presence of the ship. They turned toward it, ready to challenge its proximity.
Then it was gone again, vanishing into FTL in a dispersion of energy and gas, leaving the Shrikes to sleep once more.
Ursan remained upright in his seat, staring at the universe as it became a milky cloud around them, carrying them at what had once been thought an impossible speed.
Trin was dead. He couldn’t stop that.
Would he get there in time to avenge her?
He would give anything to make it so.
“By going against Thraven’s orders, maybe I already have.”
52
Abbey knelt beside Benhil, putting her fingers to his neck. Trin hadn’t been lying. He was still alive.
She glanced over at the woman. Thraven’s lackey wasn’t moving. Her eyes were open and glassy, and still silver. Illiard hadn’t been dead when he should have been. Was she?
“Jester,” Abbey said. “Jester, come on.”
The crowd inside the dispensary was moving out, heading for the exit, trying to escape the mayhem. Gant was blocking their path, and he fired his pistol through the top of the building as they neared.
“I’m looking for Yalom,” he said. “Anybody seen him?”
“He isn’t here,” the guard said. It was his fault Gant had been able to slip in unnoticed. He had abandoned his post to watch the action, and now he was trapped with the others.
“Are you sure?” Gant asked, pointing the pistol at him.
“Jester,” Abbey said again.
Benhil’s eyes opened slowly. “Queenie? What the hell?”
“You need to get up, now.” She looked back at Trin. The woman was still dead. Maybe Illiard had been something else, some other experiment. His eyes had been a dull gray, not silver, and it had been the entire things, not just the pupils.
“What happened?”
“Later.”
“Queenie,” Bastion said over the comm. “I hope… hear me. Ship… landed in… coming…”
Abbey smacked her ear as if that would clear up the signal. She didn’t need the whole message to get the idea.
“Let’s move, Jester,” she said, standing up, holding his arm and yanking him to his feet. He wobbled slightly before getting his balance.
“Damn. One of you was bad enough,” he said.
“None of you have seen him?” Gant said. “You.” He pointed to another Skink. “You don’t know Yalom?”
“I know him,” the Skink replied. “His hut is that way.” He motioned toward the southern wall. “He’s usually here this time of day, but he hasn’t shown.”
“Let’s go find him,” Abbey said, heading toward the exit with Benhil.
“You all can stay put,” Gant said. “We’re leaving.”
He lowered his pistol at the same time the stone of the doorway around him began to explode under the force of incoming gunfire.
Gant reacted quickly, diving into the building before rolling to his feet and facing the door. The bullets stopped coming, but a hum began to fill the air.
“Dropship,” Benhil said. “Frag.”
“Lucifer,” Abbey said. “I don’t know if you can hear me. We need backup now. Do you copy? We need backup now.”
There was no response from the other end. She could only hope the message had gone through.
“We’re dead to rights sitting in here,” Benhil said.
“If they’re after us,” Abbey replied.
“Everyone is after you.”
She couldn’t argue with that.
“I can take a few hits, I think,” she said. “I’ll go out first and try to lead them away.”
“Queenie, no,” Gant said. “That’s suicide.”
“You have another idea?”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” the guard said, taking the opportunity to train his rifle on them as they argued. “Whoever wants you, they might pay a nice price for the honor.”
Abbey looked at him. Then she bounced off, using her softsuit to power her leap. The guard fired, his first three rounds hitting her in the shoulder, turning her slightly sideways. She managed to stay on target, landing right in front of him and punching as she did, using the force of her momentum to drive hard into his chest. His bones cracked as his body was sent tumbling back and to the ground.
“Damn it,” Abbey said, looking over at her shoulder, and then looking at the others gathered in the dispensary. They shied away from her, suddenly afraid. “That fragging hurt.”
She rotated her shoulder a few times. Either there was no damage to begin with, or it was already healed. She wasn’t going to complain either way.
“Queenie,” Airi said. “We’re approaching your position. You’re surrounded. Three squads. A dropship landed half a klick away, and it looks like it’s unloading heavy ordnance.”
“Heavy ordnance? What the frag for?” Abbey said.
“They appear to be ready to raze the whole colony,” Airi replied.
“Can you draw them away? Give us some cover?”
“Affirmative. Get ready to evacuate on my mark.”
“Roger.”
“What about Yalom?” Gant asked.
Abbey looked back at Trin one last time. She hadn’t moved at all. At least something was going right.
“We have to find him. He may be the only one who can point us to Thraven and the ships.”
“Whoa,” Benhil said. “I’m pretty sure I heard Fury say heavy ordnance. How are we supposed to get around that?”
“Any way we can,” Abbey replied. “Lucifer, come in. Lucifer.”
There was no response. Bastion had probably sent Airi and the others when they picked up the dropship, not when she had pinged him. They weren’t about to get air support, not unless he decided to take the initiative again.
Gunfire echoed outside the building, thick and heavy. Some of it smacked against the walls, sending chunks of stone and dust into the air and causing the other patrons to take cover.
“Mark?” Abbey said, wondering why Airi hadn’t alerted her to the attack.
“That isn’t us, Boss,” Pik said. “It’s coming from the other side.”
“What’s happening out there?”
“I’m not-”
Pik’s voice was cut off as a massive explosion lit up the landscape, so powerful that the shockwave shook the ground.
“Okay?” Abbey said. “Fury?”
“We’re here, Queenie,” Airi said. “Something just hit the dropship. Something ugly. All that’s left is a dark spot.”
“Fury, we’ve got incoming,” Okay said. “Boss, we have two squads closing on us. Those bastards in the black lightsuits. Oh. Shit. Shrikes.”
The top of the dispensary cracked as heavier caliber slugs tore into it from above, threatening to peel it apart. She could hear people shout outside the building, the strafing run hitting the units on the ground.
“We can’t stay here,” Abbey said. “Out the door. Now.”
Gant and Benhil didn’t question, heading through the door and out into the dust. S
he was right behind them, using the IR in the monocle Gant had given her to pick up targets before she could fully spot them. She reached the top step, aiming and firing, hitting a large soldier in a black lightsuit in the back. He was facing off against another target fifty meters distant, crouched at the corner of another building. She could barely get visual on that one. A Terran in a heavy cloak and wearing a full-face breathing mask. He fired into the front of the same soldier, his bullets cutting all the way through.
The target in the lightsuit didn’t fall. He kept firing back at the other soldier until his rounds found their mark, cutting him down.
A rumble filled the air around them, and when Abbey looked up her HUD was filled with the heat signature of large thrusters. Two more dropships were landing to replace the first. If there was any question Thraven’s battleship was in orbit, it was confirmed by the sight.
“Lucifer,” Abbey said again, desperate to reach her pilot. “Damn it. Rejects, we’re bugging out. We’ll find another way to locate the ships.”
“This way,” Gant said, pointing down the street. “It’s clear.”
“Right behind you,” Abbey said. “Fury, Okay, where the hell are you?”
“Pinned down, Queenie,” Airi said. “Caught in the middle of a fragging war zone north of you.”
“Gant, Jester, we’re moving north,” Abbey said. “We’re on our way. Hold tight.”
“There’s nothing you can do for us,” Airi said. “We’re stuck. We know the blacksuits aren’t friendlies. The others? I have no fragging clue who they are or where they came from, but they don’t seem to care if they cut us down.”
“If they aren’t helping, they aren’t friendly,” Abbey said. “And either we all get out, or none of us get out.”
“If you’re still a real soldier, maybe,” Airi said. “We’re convicts, Queenie. Murder, in my case. We aren’t worth the blood or the sweat.”
“Frag that,” Abbey said. “If nobody else gives a shit about us, then we need to take care of each other. It’s the only way any one of us stands a chance.”
“I see them,” Gant said. “Next block over, hunkered down in one of those stalls.”
Abbey scanned the area ahead of them. Soldiers from both sides had taken positions across the avenue, trading fire at one another. A Shrike passed overhead, strafing the foreign line, sending up clouds of dirt and hitting two of the fighters.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?” Benhil said.
“Until they aren’t,” Gant replied. He fired his pistol. The dust reduced the impact of the laser, but it was still powerful enough to take down one of the blacksuits.
“Lucifer,” Abbey said again. Again, there was no reply. “Get down.”
She spotted a Shrike swooping in, strafing the area ahead. She could see the bullets hitting the ground, throwing up chunks of dirt, creating a path that was leading right into them.
Shit.
She prepared to bounce off and spring away. A whistle sounded nearby, and then the Shrike exploded, the fireball and its debris passing overhead.
She looked to the right. A twelve-meter mech moved out from behind a building, its rifle arms rotating, tracking another target. It fired, the whine of the gauss rifle sending a heavy slug into a second Shrike, knocking it down.
The mech was a Republic asset, and not the kind of thing that came up for sale on the black market. Did that mean these were Republic soldiers?
She scanned the battlefield again. The arrival of the war machine had stolen the enemy’s attention, breaking up the line that had seemed so solid only seconds ago. Airi and Pik were on their feet, running toward them.
“I can’t get through to Lucifer,” Abbey said as they arrived. “We need to make a break for the shipyard.”
“The shipyard is that way,” Gant said, pointing to where one of the new dropships had landed.
“Of course it is,” Abbey said.
“We need Lucifer to come to us. I don’t know why he hasn’t yet.”
“Probably too dangerous,” Pik said. “He won’t leave us here to die. Ruby won’t let him.”
“What should we do?” Airi said.
“Get a message to him,” Gant said. “The comm tower is that way.” He pointed further north. “The fighting isn’t as bad that way, and that spike has more than enough amps to get through this shit.”
“Good idea,” Abbey said. “Let’s go.”
“Lieutenant Cage,” a voice shouted at her back.
She turned slowly, feeling a spike of fear for the first time since the fighting had started. She should have known.
“We weren’t done yet,” Trin said.
53
“I killed you,” Gant said. “I’m sure of it.”
Trin was standing in the center of the street, flanked by a pair of blacksuits on either side. Billows of smoke mixed with the dust behind her and a pair of Shrikes rocketed overhead, passing by without attacking.
“The Gift, Abbey,” Trin said. “It’s power is limitless in the right hands. Life. Death. They become one and the same. The impossible made possible.”
“Impossible this,” Pik said, firing his rifle. The reports echoed across a suddenly dead silence, bullets whistling through the air.
Trin didn’t move. Her fingers shifted slightly, and the slugs slammed to a stop in front of her as if they had struck an invisible wall. They hung there for an instant and then tumbled to the ground.
“Force field?” Gant said.
“I don’t think so,” Airi replied.
“Shit.”
“Gant, get to the tower,” Abbey said. “Get Lucifer here.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Gant replied.
“That wasn’t asking. That was telling. Get your ass to the comm tower.”
“Queenie,” Gant said again, pleading.
“Now,” Abbey shouted.
Gant turned and ran.
Abbey stared at Trin. How was she supposed to fight this?
“I can see your fear, Abbey,” Trin said. “I can also see you’re starting to believe in what I’m offering you. Anything I can do, you can do as well. Perhaps even more. All you have to do is come with me. Accept the Gift. Accept the glory and the honor. Be a part of the new eternal Covenant.”
“I don’t want to be part of some bullshit army,” Abbey said. “I want to go home, to Earth, to be with my daughter. Maybe I’m thinking too small. Maybe my goals are too simple, but that’s all I care about.”
The ground shuddered. A moment later the Republic mech returned, emerging from the smoke behind Trin, its arms rotating to target the woman and her soldiers. Trin turned almost casually, putting up her hand as the mech’s chest-mounted lasers began to fire.
They ricocheted against flashes of light that appeared ahead of Trin, reflective sparks that reversed the path of the bolts, sending them back into the mech. Its shields didn’t cover the firing ports, and the exacting nature of the defense caused the attack to back up into the weapons, burning through their mechanisms deep inside the war machine. It began to smoke, the pilot opening the cockpit and climbing out, jumping from the mech as the top of it caught fire, flames licking through the gaps in the armored joints.
He landed on the ground, looking up at Trin in fear. A single round put a hole in his chest, and he fell over.
Abbey could feel her skin beginning to burn at the display. She didn’t know what Thraven was, or what he wanted. Power, most likely. Wasn’t that what invaders were always after? The Republic couldn’t stand up to something like this. Not if Trin was only a single sample of a much larger mass of so-called Gifted individuals. If they attacked, if they made it to Earth, then what? The Republic would fall. What about Hayley? What would happen to her?
“Airi, may I borrow your sword?” Abbey said, putting her hand out.
Trin was turning back to them, a smile on her face.
“Power, Abbey,” she said. “The impossible made possible. Honor. Glory. The Great Retu
rn. Your daughter can be the daughter of a queen. Think of how you could protect her then. I still don’t want to kill you. I don’t want to kill anyone, and neither does the Gloritant. Follow me. That is all that he asks. Follow me into a new future. Follow me to our rightful place in the universe.”
“She’s crazy,” Pik said. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
“Me neither,” Abbey said as Airi handed over her blade.
“Queenie, you can’t fight her.”
“Anyone can fight anyone. It doesn’t mean they’ll win. I’ll slow her down; you get to the comm tower. Lucifer can pick you all up there. Tell Captain Mann I died to stop this bitch from advancing the ideals of a nutjob dictator, and he owes me to figure out what the frag is going on and how to put an end to it. I joined the Republic military to keep our way of life safe. It isn’t perfect, but it’s better than being under the boot of a psycho.”
“I haven’t known you that long, but I know you wouldn’t leave me,” Pik said. “I’m not leaving you either.”
“I agree,” Airi said. “All of us go, or none of us go.”
“I’ll stay too, I guess,” Benhil said. “Why not? I always figured I was going to die in Hell. I guess I’ll kick it on some waterless shithole in the corner of the galaxy, instead. It’s as good a place as any.”
Abbey smiled. “Gant’s going to be pissed that he went to the tower.”
“Then he shouldn’t have left,” Benhil said. “What the hell does the word loyalty mean to him, anyway?”
Abbey looked back at Trin. She was waiting calmly, patiently, for her to decide. She wasn’t afraid of the sword. She wasn’t afraid of the Rejects. Why should she be? Had anyone challenged her since she had been given the Gift?
Abbey’s body was on fire. Her skin was burning, tingling, shifting and moving like it was alive and losing control. It was responding to her fear, her anger, her desperation. Maybe she couldn’t control whatever power was inside of her the way Trin could.
Maybe she didn’t have to.
“Keep those other assholes honest,” Abbey said. “I’m going in.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they replied.