Guardians (Caretaker Chronicles Book 2)

by Josi Russell

  The ship fired on them, though, and heavy shells hit Wisdom I. The light company ship spun, freefalling down onto the city below.

  Reagan flinched as he saw it fall over the housing district. The blood of the company ship crew, and whoever else had been hurt, was on his hands. The company ships were too light to take on the big Cliprig. He’d have to deal with it himself as soon as he could get a battleship free.

  “Tenacious I, do you copy?”

  “Copy, sir.”

  He hit the comms to tell the ship to fall back, but heard the sound of gunfire. Checking his screen, he saw that Tenacious I had been hit. It wobbled in the sky as it pursued the Asgre ship.

  “Tenacious I,” Reagan said, hearing the desperation in his own voice. “Fall back and get that bird on the ground before you crash in someone’s front yard.”

  Reagan was relieved to see the listing ship retreat to a safe distance, setting down in the wide park near the spaceport, but his stomach knotted as Galo’s ship cruised on toward the center of the city, where Reagan knew the Vala children and thousands of humans crouched in fear.

  Champion pitched under Reagan’s feet as Daring ran evasive maneuvers. Around him his other ships appeared, rising from the atmosphere, followed closely by Asgre ships. Suddenly, he felt a rumbling crash shake Champion. A big Asgre skybarge had come up behind them and was employing e-links. “Prepare to be boarded,” came a scratchy transmission over the comms system.

  Reagan looked at Kaia. “What do we got, kid?” he asked.

  “I can run an impulse through the hull,” she said. “It’ll heat us up, but should break the e-links.”

  He nodded and felt the shock shake the ship.

  As soon as he felt it, he snapped, “Daring, warp us!”

  The ship was suddenly in open space behind the Asgre ships.

  “Fire!” Reagan shouted, watching with satisfaction as a rain of shells launched from Champion’s guns and lit up the Asgre ship.

  At least one hit landed well. The red exhaust from the right engine sputtered and died, and as the ship tried to accelerate it could manage no more than a lazy circle.

  “Take out that other engine and engage the next ship.” Reagan was pleased to see this and several other of the ships floating listlessly in space. These were skybarges, and though well-armed, they were not designed for battle.

  Chapter 42

  Ethan pulled the hovercar in front of the cottage and burst in, expecting to find his family and the Vala children huddling inside.

  But the cottage was empty.

  He dialed Aria’s number on the missive and heard it jingling in the next room. Wherever she had gone, she’d gone without it. Ethan thought about going after her.

  But there was a plan. In the event of an attack, she was to get the children to the Coriol Defense Headquarters.

  Ethan pulled on his Coriol Defense Volunteer uniform and picked up his weapon. He would go to the rendezvous point at headquarters and join the ground troops. Maybe Aria was already there. The streets were mostly abandoned, and he felt the press of gravity as he accelerated the hovercar through the streets.

  Far above the city hung the Asgre Cliprig that he’d seen from the warehouse—where less than an hour ago, he had killed a man. Ethan shook the thought from his mind. The Cliprig was hovering over the city, scanning, he was sure. And the children, wherever they were, were no longer sheltered in the Karst Mountains, so impenetrable by the Asgre sensors. They were exposed, somewhere in the city.

  He asked at the command center about Aria. Reverend Hardy had called in and said she was with him and Luis, and they were all going to make their way to the Headquarters. He felt better about that.

  Focusing on what he needed to do now, he joined the restless group of men and women who were gathered around Sergeant Nile, the commander of the Coriol Defense Troops and now the Coriol Defense Volunteers, as well. The afternoon air hung hot around them, and the armored uniforms made the press of the humidity worse. He looked around. Many of his friends were here. Ndaiye and Traore stepped next to him, throwing their arms around his shoulders, and Yi Zhe caught his eye from the edge of the group where he stood quiet and calm. He saw Aria’s young miner friend, Daniel, shifting nervously in the center of the group, holding his weapon in shaking hands.

  Ethan waved, but Daniel’s gaze was fixed on a spot at the other side of the group. Ethan glanced in that direction. Cyril Gaynes stood at the edge, a smug smirk on his face.

  Gaynes was not the volunteer type. What was he doing here? Ethan watched him carefully, trying to determine his angle. It only took moments for Gaynes to give himself away. While everyone else kept their eyes on the Cliprig or joked nervously with each other, Gaynes was focused on the weapons the Volunteers carried. He stared at them and sized up their bearers. He was here to use the chaos as an opportunity to procure something he could sell. Ethan suspected the man would regret that scheme soon enough.

  Sergeant Nile was barking orders through the heat rising off the sweltering liftstrip. He organized the troops into companies of thirty, then platoons of ten.

  As Ethan stepped into his platoon, a pair of ships caught his attention. The Asgre crafts dropped down through the atmosphere, skimming past the Cliprig and through the sky above the base. They were not ordinary Asgre ships, though. In addition to the single small navigator’s cage, they were draped with multiple huge cells, hanging from chains around the ship like sinister necklaces.

  “They’re not coming aground in the city,” Ethan said, watching as the ships passed over. “They don’t care about humans. They’ve found the Vala, and they’re going to get them.” Sergeant Nile stood watching them, then turned.

  “Admiral Reagan has left us with orders to protect the Vala. Bryant!” Ethan stepped forward. “Do you know where they’re going?”

  Ethan nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Nile jerked his head toward the troop movers across the airstrip. “Good. You help your pilot navigate. We’ll fall in behind you! To the transports!” he barked, and the troops, military and civilian, boarded. The transports flew low and fast, following the huge Asgre ships.

  Ethan kept his eye on them. They flew past the entrance to the cave. When the Asgre moved one of the ships over a great karst peak, Ethan knew what was coming. A single missile fell to the peak like a drop of water to a stalagmite. As it touched, the mountain shattered outward, shards of rock as large as buildings hurtling in every direction. The transports rocked in the concussion.

  When the dust settled, he saw that the rubble had been blown clear and laying exposed and open was the Flowstone Room. Of course. The Vala’s sanctuary, impenetrable by the Asgre’s detection equipment and by the Vala themselves. The Asgre had found the cave entrance, probably through Saras’s help, but how had the Asgre known about the sanctuary?

  A bitter taste filled Ethan’s mouth. Theo Talbot. The Vala had shared too much with that snake, and Ethan had brought him to them.

  As the transports landed and the troops poured out, Ethan looked again at the room, opened like an egg, its sparkling white flowstone, etched with the symbols, gleaming in the raking light of the Asgre ships above. The sacred feeling they had experienced while in the cathedral-like room came flooding back, and Ethan cringed to see its beauty laid bare. Huddled against the flowstone, barely visible from inside the transports, were the cowering forms of the Vala.

  The Asgre ships lowered great metal cages onto the floor of the chamber. Asgre mercenaries were sliding down cables, and Ethan knew that in moments the cages would be full of Vala, immobilized and silent at the hands of their captors.

  Ethan fought to focus. Nile’s voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere else, very far away. “Trigon formation, soldiers! Trigon formation!”

  The trained troops sprung into action. Their platoons grouped into the triangle formations that Ethan had seen them practicing when he’d visited Reagan at the base. The volunteers had read about the formation in their pamphlets,
and they’d practiced just once since signing up days ago. They clumsily made the formation in their platoons.

  Ethan was surrounded by Ndaiye, Traore, Winn the carpenter, and other volunteers. He glanced at the other platoons as they worked to make the Trigon formation.

  Ethan’s teeth clenched as he saw Daniel Rigo’s platoon. Huddling in the middle was Cyril Gaynes, his former arrogance erased by the horror around him.

  Ethan tried to catch Daniel’s eye, to remind him that as despicable as Gaynes was, they were, for the moment, all on the same team. But Daniel’s smoldering gaze stayed fixed on the big man, and Ethan recognized that whatever he had in mind, Gaynes had more than earned. Still, Ethan knew now what it was like to take a human life, and he didn’t want that for Daniel. If he could only get the boy’s attention—

  “Move in!” Nile shouted, and Ethan’s gaze was drawn to the CDT company as they bunched and rushed forward to meet the Asgre mercenaries. The Asgre saw them coming and formed a solid front line, putting themselves between the oncoming troops and the massive cages.

  The trained troops punched holes in the front line. There were exchanges of gunfire and grappling. Ethan saw the first trigon formation break through, spinning like a three pointed throwing star. The front line closed behind them and they sprayed gunfire across the next line of Asgre.

  Another CDT trigon platoon broke through, and Ethan felt hope surge within him. It was his platoon’s turn, and the volunteers, so many of them Ethan’s passengers, were no less committed, but much less prepared. Their loose wedge formations moved in, but the Asgre sliced through the formations, shattering them and leaving soldiers scattered and fending for themselves. Winn, the carpenter, fell under a blow from an Asgre weapon. Ethan moved to him and dragged him back, away from the lines. An open gash gaped at the back of his neck and the hot, iron smell of blood tinged the thick air.

  Ethan set him against the shattered karst edge of the Flowstone Room. “Hang on!” he called to him. “Medics are coming.”

  Ethan looked up and saw the nearest volunteer platoon struggling amid the many arms of the Asgre mercenaries. Daniel Rigo fought furiously, using his weapon as a club. The Asgre in front of him fell, but the mercenary that stepped behind him grasped Gaynes, viciously wrenching the big man off his feet. Ethan heard the crack of bone as the grocer twisted free and staggered a few steps before falling to his knees on the ground. The mercenary advanced and Ethan took two steps toward them, realizing he would never make it in time to help Gaynes.

  A flash of movement caught his eye as Daniel turned from the Asgre he’d just defeated and saw Gaynes. Daniel was close enough to do something, but as Ethan watched the boy’s hatred for the cruel man wash across his features he remembered the story about the scrip Gaynes had tossed to bring Daniel to his knees in the store. He remembered the threats the boy had told him about. Ethan closed his eyes briefly as the Asgre mercenary stepped forward, and he listened for the blow that would end the big man’s brutality.

  But the blow didn’t come. When Ethan looked again, Daniel stood over Gaynes, grappling with the mercenary. Grasping the creature’s hand, he turned the long blades on its fingers back toward itself, gouging the thick suit and bringing a cry of pain from the creature. As it staggered away, Daniel reached for Gaynes, placing a shoulder under the injured man’s arm, and dragged him toward the transports, where he handed Gaynes off to a medic.

  Ethan caught the young man’s arm as he strode back toward the fray.

  “You saved him,” Ethan said incredulously. “Why?”

  “Because I’m not him,” Daniel said, “and I don’t ever want to be.” Ethan watched him walk back toward what was left of his platoon.

  All around them, the volunteers were falling. The medics rushed forward, staggering through the chaos under the weight of the wounded. When Ethan looked back at the battle, he saw that the trained troops had begun to struggle as well. Those that had broken through the line were now surrounded by Asgre. The formations trying to break through were as quickly being repelled by the line of Asgre mercenaries.

  Sergeant Nile, observing from behind and sending in new platoons as needed, swore.

  “It should be working. The formation is strong!”

  And it was. The point person of each trigon formation faced off with an Asgre mercenary and was backed up by his platoon. As the platoon waded into the swirling mass of Asgre, though, the Asgre surrounded them, isolating them from the rest of their company. The aliens seemed to gain more strength with every platoon Nile sent at them. Too many were falling.

  From behind him Ethan heard Yi Zhe’s voice calling. He spun and leaned in as the master of balance and harmony put his mouth to Ethan’s ear.

  Yi Zhe talked rapidly. “This isn’t working. I think I know what we need to do! We keep fighting as if the Asgre have read The Art of War. They are not a human enemy, and the tactics we’ve developed to defend against other humans are not working against them. We have to find a more basic connection, and fight them through it.”

  Ethan shook his head, not understanding. Around him, the troops rushed in trigons to meet the Asgre, but they were driven back and broken up again and again.

  Yi Zhe grasped his shoulders, forcing Ethan to focus on his words. “There are things that go beyond our minds. Basic elements that we are surrounded by and composed of. We have to use those elements, find our common ground with the Asgre. We cannot succeed unless we release our predefined notions. These are aliens!” he shouted.

  Ethan looked at Yi Zhe, fighting the urge to dismiss his ideas. He had argued that all his passengers had a contribution to make, had believed that days ago. Now, in this moment, could he trust Yi Zhe, even though he did not understand his approach?

  “What do you know about battle?” he asked, feeling himself begging for confirmation.

  “My teacher was a great master in war. He often spoke of using the principles of balance and harmony in the War of the Seven Countries before the United Earth Government was formed back on Earth. But our enemies then were humans. We fought them as we have fought for thousands of years.” Yi Zhe held Ethan’s shoulders, looking into his face. “I believe we can use these principles to defeat these beings. I can help. I just need more information about our enemy,” he said urgently. “Tell me what you know of the Asgre home world!”

  Ethan remembered what Aemon had told him during one of their morning talks, and, though he didn’t know why it was important, he told Yi Zhe what he could remember: that the Asgre came from a world of extreme opposites: light and dark, hot and cold. That humans would die in an hour on their planet.

  “Those are the differences. Good.” Yi Zhe’s brow furrowed. He seemed to be calculating. “Now, what is the same?” he demanded.

  Ethan tried to recall. “I—I don’t know. I—” he stopped, frustrated, then offered the only idea he had. “Their home planet has water, like ours. But theirs has very little water. The Vala were always thirsty there.”

  Yi Zhe closed his eyes, then opened them. Ethan watched as he focused intently on the mercenaries in the chaos around the room. Yi Zhe was mumbling. Ethan turned his attention to them, as well. The mercenaries, in their black suits, flew at the advancing platoons and the humans, in their seemingly protected formations, advanced forward and were scattered as they met the mass of Asgre.

  Yi Zhe was speaking again. “Qi flows through everything, like water. Block qi and you block the flow of power, ideas, energy, everything. Water flows. Qi flows. We are out of balance. We are of the water.” Yi Zhe almost smiled.

  “What is it? Yi Zhe? What is it?” Ethan was seeing more of their troops fall. They had to switch tactics.

  Sergeant Nile was giving the order to fall back. The weary troops retreated as Yi Zhe spoke in a high, urgent voice.

  “Ethan, each of the elements has energy, and the Asgre have strong fire energy.”

  Ethan moved forward, toward the haggard group of retreating soldiers, but Ye Zhe grasped his arm
and held it.

  Ethan could hear him talking over the melee in front of them. “Fire energy. Fire energy.”

  He turned to Ethan, understanding in his eyes. “Ethan, our formations are wrong. Triangles are fire shapes. We are bringing them more fire energy, when we must bring balance with our water energy.”

  Ethan thought about stopping him, started to say that there was no evidence of any of that, but he’d seen life energy in the beings on Beta Alora. He knew it existed, and he admitted that he didn’t understand it.

  “Regroup!” Nile shouted, moving around the ragged companies. As they retreated behind the ridge of stone that was all that was left of the outside of the karst peak, the Asgre kept descending from their ships. They did not follow the humans, instead going after the Vala who huddled pitifully in the corners, unable to move through the flowstone walls of the cavern. The trained troops turned, agitated, to their commander.

  “We have to get back over there,” Ethan shouted.

  “Wait! We’re changing the formation,” Nile barked. “We’ll go with the flying star: Three trigons joined at one point. Come on! Let’s hustle!”

  Ethan moved to speak to Yi Zhe, but the little man had captured Sergeant Nile by the shoulders. Ethan heard him: “No! A triple triangle formation will increase the fire energy exponentially! If you want to save those creatures, do not bring the Vala any more fire energy.”

  Ethan knew military men. He worked with them in the Colony Offices every day. He waited for Nile to laugh in Yi Zhe’s face, or to shake his hands impatiently from his shoulders. As the companies made the flying star formation, though, he saw Nile drape an arm around Yi Zhe’s shoulders, leaning his head down to listen. They both looked up, catching Ethan’s eye, and Nile waved him over.

  “Has he told you this?” Sergeant Nile’s piercing blue eyes held Ethan’s. Ethan felt the sweat dripping down his temples, stinging in the cut Theo had given him earlier. He nodded.