by Hal Archer
"Looking for any holes. I must be sure it's complete." Kharn pressed a button on the panel. The display went black. He turned to face Lorian. "When we continue our operations, all the resistance must be wiped out. We've lost enough laborers and time over the last several years. I want no more interference."
"Perhaps if they had come to understand what we're doing." Lorian said.
Kharn walked over to him to watch him work. "You've been loyal to the cause from the beginning."
"Your vision has allowed me to pursue levels of science I could never dream of before."
Kharn nodded. "We'll clear away these obstacles before we bring in more suitable test subjects."
"It is unfortunate that we Waudure are not pliable to the augmentation procedures," Lorian said.
Kharn turned his hand in front of himself, looking at it. "It nearly killed even me."
"I did warn against it."
Kharn scowled at Lorian. "Once we have perfected the process, we can raise my fellow Cracians."
"We loyal Waudure will stand with the Cracian as you take your rightful place in the galaxy."
"This man," Kharn said, disdain in his voice, "the one that brought us the weapon, any chance he dies from it too?"
"We can only encode it for a single species. I'm afraid it won't work on him."
"That's too bad. He's becoming a nuisance." Kharn walked back to the table on which Lorian continued to prepare the bioweapon. He smiled as he looked over the vials. "Still, he is human. They're easy enough to kill. With luck, he's rotting in the caves by now. If not, then we'll have a surprise for him along with the others who think they can overrun our defenses." Kharn picked up one of the vials from the table. "And then, for the rest of them, this."
CHAPTER 25
J ake woke early the next morning. The large assault on the Cracian base was only one more day ahead. He retrieved the food that had been left for him outside the door to his room and ate quickly, for sustenance, not pleasure. Familiar with the path, he made his way to the training area once again. His instructions were to join his unit there for a briefing.
The expansive room didn't have the large crates from the day before. Jake wondered again what sort of creature the unopened one had held, but he decided to be thankful it remained a mystery.
Nadira, Hodin, and three others had already gathered where the crates had been. Jake noticed them strapping on gear and talking as he walked over to them.
A heavy stone slab protruded out five feet from the cavern wall, with one end still embedded inside. From there Nadira and the others took canisters, blasters, and a few other pieces of equipment Jake didn't recognize.
Hodin nodded to Jake when he joined them.
"Did you sleep well?" Nadira asked, as she scanned him from head to toe with her eyes. Again.
Jake noted her interest, but offered her nothing back along those lines. He deflected with humor. "Would've been here sooner, but somebody forgot my wakeup call."
The early rise and the tactical briefing triggered something latent but familiar in him. These were the people he'd stand shoulder to shoulder with tomorrow. He took in the group as she introduced each of them by name. As she did, he decided who was likely to fall. Then he wondered who, if any, would remain standing when it was over.
Jake figured Hodin, physically close to his own stature and with the seasoning of many battles it seemed, stood the best chance.
Shortest among the group, Brun, thick with muscle, stood next to the stone table. He was opening and examining several small metal boxes and cylinders, clipping each onto his belt or the strap across his shoulder after inspection. His left cheek, with reddish skin like all the others, bore a scar that covered it, half his forehead, and part of his left ear. Jake recognized it as the remnants of a bad burn, the kind that comes with a nasty tale. Not a run-of-the-mill accident, this one left a grizzly patch of rough discolored flesh. Bet it still hurts, Jake thought. He couldn't decide the man's odds.
The character next to Brun couldn't have been a starker contrast. Taller even than Jake, thin, but with a wiry frame that looked strong and tested, Hanlan was the only one among them that said nothing, gave away no expression. His eyes spoke only focus, with an intensity that Jake recognized from his own darker days. Holding a long slender rifle, the man, at a disturbingly careful pace, turned the weapon and moved it, closely taking in every inch of it. Jake couldn't decide if he was checking the rifle's condition or merely admiring it. He knew why the man had been chosen. Even if Hanlan didn't make it back, you can bet there'd quite a few Cracian bodies scattered across the battlefield to show he'd been there.
Jake felt slightly guilty when Nadira introduced Alara, though he couldn't settle on why. He had no relationship with Nadira. In fact, she'd tried to kill him.
Still, seeing Alara caused him to become distinctly aware of his breathing, and whether he was looking at her as neutrally as he did at the others in the group. He wasn't. And if she noticed the difference.
Alara greeted him by name and then cast her gaze down, offering herself to his eyes with a long pause, while she pretended to consider a piece of gear in front of her on the table.
Nadira stepped closer to Jake. "Take whatever gear you require."
He turned to her, but the delicate form and exquisite features of Alara, with her rose-colored skin, still filled his mind's eye.
"Well?" Nadira spoke noticeably louder.
He raised his eyebrows, releasing Alara from his head. "Right." He looked at Nadira and then scanned the table.
Hodin pointed to the items on the stone slab. "Explosives, laser cutter, distance goggles…"
Brun had taken most of the explosive charges from the table, Jake realized. Explains the scar.
Taking a pair of the shoulder straps, Jake equipped himself with one of everything on the table, except the blasters. Nothing wrong with them, he thought, but he decided his would suffice. He pulled it out and pressed the button on the side. Confirming it had a sufficient charge, he holstered it again.
Hodin picked up one of the guns from the table and held it before Jake. "You sure you don't want to try one of these?" He glanced at Jake's holstered weapon. "It packs a punch. How's that one?"
"Thanks," Jake said, "but I'm used to mine. Been with me a while and never let me down."
"Suit yourself." Hodin strapped the one he held onto his right leg.
Jake, seeing all the weapons and gear Hodin had affixed to his person, barely held back a chuckle. "You sure you don't need a couple more pieces of gear?"
"You never know," Hodin said. Then he looked down at everything he'd collected and laughed.
Jake laughed with him, knowing they might not have reason to laugh much tomorrow, if at all.
Hodin put his hand on Jake's shoulder. "Let me tell you who we have here." He tipped his chin upward toward Brun. "Brun's a load of fun. He holds his own in the toughest of times, but he's particularly useful when things need livening up."
Brun patted both hands against the array of explosives clipped to the straps crossed and hung over either shoulder. "Don't won't things getting too boring."
"I see that," Jake said, eyebrows raised.
"If you take a bad hit tomorrow," Hodin said, "Alara's there to fix you up."
She pushed a knife into the sheath on her thigh, then turned to give Jake a loose two-finger salute. "Only so much a field medic can do, but I'll do my best to keep you from dying."
"Much appreciated," Jake said.
Then he heard Hanlan speak for the first time. "Course, the mission comes first."
Jake turned his gaze to Hanlan, his face now shadowed with a hood he'd donned, his head tipped downward. With his long sniper rifle slung over his left shoulder, Hanlan continued to lean against the wall at the back of the group.
"Always is," Jake said.
"Typical Hanlan," Hodin said. "You don't hear him or see him much, but he's there. He'll take a target down through the chaos of the battlefield, with nothing more
than a glimpse of the man's shadow and the sound of the wind. A force multiplier. Even if he's not the best talker."
Jake didn't like a crack shot lurking behind him if he couldn't trust the guy. But, this wasn't his unit. It was Hodin's call, and he picked Hanlan. That would have to do. "Sniper can be a man's worst enemy." He made it sound like a compliment.
Jake turned his attention to Nadira, who was resting her rear against the stone slab table. Her arms were crossed. She had been studying him, he realized. She smiled when his eyes met hers.
"You two have already been introduced, of course," Hodin said. "Nadira's been our eyes and ears inside the Cracian base. Don't let her sweet demeanor fool you. Those gears of hers are always turning. It's a good thing she's on our side."
Jake waited for her to flinch, to look away. But she didn't.
Sweet deadly demeanor.
"You've all received the briefing on the assault and our infiltration plan," Hodin said. "As you know, we head out before dawn. We'll move under cover of the main advance for the better part of our journey. Once the Cracians engage, we'll follow our route, skirting the front line. The fog of war should give us enough cover to move undetected past their defenses."
"Sounds easy," Brun said, pulling a piece of something from a pocket on his pants. He popped whatever it was into his mouth and chewed on it, rolling it around.
Alara sauntered up to Brun. "Don't worry, Bear. I'm sure there'll be something you can blow up." She leaned in a gave him a kiss on his cheek.
Brun let out a muffled grunt. He shuffled one of his feet and gestured with his hand, as if to stop her. But he moved too late to interrupt her show of affection. He glanced around at the rest of the team. No one took any notice of what Alara had done, except Jake.
Bear.
He didn't make it obvious, but he couldn't help but see the kiss. Even as he was listening to Hodin recount the plan for the next day, he found his attention drawn back to Alara. Sentiment didn’t drive his gaze. How was that even possible? He'd only met the woman a few moments ago. Still, Alara, he thought, must be a prime specimen of Waudure beauty.
"If we manage to make it inside the Cracian base," Hodin said, pushing the unclaimed gear to one side of the stone slab, so he could roll out a parchment on the other half, "we must stay focused on the primary objective." He set a piece of gear on the edge of the paper to hold it in place.
"It isn't right," Brun said.
Alara placed her hand on Brun's wrist. Jake noted the contrast in size between the two of them, his arm the trunk of an oak, hers a delicate vine.
"Brun," Nadira said, "I know it's tough to swallow."
Brun pulled his arm out from under Alara's, then he raised it with a clinched fist as he looked squarely at Hodin. "We've never abandoned our people."
"My father's there," Nadira said. "I understand what's at stake, for him and the others, even those Waudure who have sided with the Cracians."
Hodin stepped into the midst of the group. "We want to save our people held by the Cracians," he glanced at Nadira, "including your father. As for the others, they have made their choice. Perhaps, in time, they will return to the fold."
Jake interrupted. "I get it. It's messy. I wouldn't want to leave anyone behind either. But you can save some of them tomorrow and watch everyone die the next day, or we can get the package, the bioweapon." Jake paused and shook his head. He still couldn't get his mind around the fact that he brought a genocidal bioweapon, or at least the precursors, to this planet. They weren't innocent, probably neither side, but come on.
"Of course, I had no idea. . ." Jake pressed his lips tightly and huffed out his nose before continuing. "I'll get the package."
He turned to see Nadira standing close beside him. Looking up at him, she smiled. "We will."
Hodin, looking frustrated by the displays of sentiment, stepped back to the table, and pointed to the elements on the plan he'd rolled out for review. "We've got perimeter defenses, here and here. Even with the distraction of the large frontal assault, those will likely still be in place."
The others drew closer and followed his overview.
He traced a line toward the base. "If we get past those—"
"When," Jake said.
Hodin shot a glance at Jake and then continued. "We'll need to make our way through a series of corridors and chambers, and eventually to one of two lifts by which we can access the lower level of the base."
"And we know the layout of these corridors?" Jake asked.
"I do," Nadira said. She looked over the drawing on the table. "This is very accurate."
"And we can trust your memory?" Hanlan asked.
"It's not the corridors we need to worry about," she said, frustrated by Hanlan's implied lack of trust in her.
"I was getting to that," Hodin said, raising his hand slightly in Hanlan's direction. "Each of the lifts and the paths to the central facility on the lower level will be guarded by a squad of the Cracian High Guard. These elite units will not be deployed in the on-going battle. Kharn maintains this ring of security at all times. We know this thanks to the risk Nadira took acting as our agent and gaining the trust of the Cracians."
"How many are we talking about," Jake asked.
Nadira answered, "There are four guards in each of these squads, but they will fight as if they are ten. Altogether, we're talking about twenty-eight guards.
"Getting past any one squad will be difficult enough," Hodin said. "We'll need to defeat two squads, one at the lift entrance and one defending whichever passageway we choose to get to the central facility."
"I've faced worse odds," Jake said.
Hodin continued, "If we succeed, we will need to make our way as swiftly as possible to the central facility on the lower level. Time is critical. If we delay, the other units will gather at the bioweapon lab before we arrive, and they'll lock it down. We can't hope to breach their defense of the lab at that point."
"We can assume," Nadira said, "that Kharn will work to get the weapon active as quickly as possible."
"Especially once the Waudure assault on the base begins," Alara said.
"Right," Hodin said, then he tipped his head down, taking a moment to stare at the plan overview on the table. "Which is why I must say the following."
"Spit it out," Brun said.
"We will move in as a unit," Hodin said, "but should one of us fall in the attempt, the rest of you are to keeping moving, to head for the lab."
Alara looked at Brun, and to the others. "I can't leave any of you to die."
"You can, and you must," Hodin said. "If we don't get to the lab before Kharn activates it, then no Waudure on Daedalon will survive."
"He's right," Brun said, placing his arm around Alara.
"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that," Hodin said.
Jake traced the corridors on the drawing. "What are these rooms?" He pointed to areas just outside the central lab.
"Those house more equipment for the lab," Nadira said. "I've been there with my father. Those rooms and that corridor," she tapped her finger on one of the five corridors that lead to the central area, "are the only way into the lab. See. The other corridors feed into this one here." She drew their paths with her finger to illustrate.
"We go in here," Jake said, thumping one of the lifts on the drawing. "We bypass the first two corridors and target the third one, the one that leads straight to the lab, and the rooms around it."
"We'll draw fire from the squads stationed down the first two corridors as we pass them," Nadira said.
"This is correct?" Jake asked, indicating the area on the map from the targeted lift to the opening of the first two corridors?"
"What do you mean?" Nadira asked.
"The distance, the angles. Are these markings here obstructions?" Jake responded.
"Yes," she replied. "Line of sight from the lift to the openings, and halfway down the passageways, at least for the first two corridors. And that's the mechanism for the lift,
just outside the lift door."
"Hanlan," Jake said, "here." He pointed to the spot just outside the lift, on the lower level, behind the large box that housed the lift engine. "It's what, about fifty yards to the first corridor entrance and a hundred to the second one."
"I see your point," Hanlan said.
"There'll be multiple targets. You'll be under fire. And the squads from the last two corridors farther down will probably engage shortly after the commotion starts."
"I can keep them at bay," Hanlan said.
"He'll be pinned down," Hodin said.
"All of us will," Jake said.
"What do you mean?" Nadira asked.
"Brun, once we're down the lift, you'll need to disable it," Jake said.
Brun smiled and tapped the explosives strapped across his chest.
"And if you can," Jake said, "I want you to take out the lift at the other end of the corridor. Blow the whole tunnel past the third entrance, if you have to."
Jake waited for the team's response. Brun's smile dropped.
He took in their faces one by one. No one spoke for several long seconds.
"We'll be trapped," Alara said.
"Twenty-eight highly trained guards," Jake said. "More on their way. We're going after the enemy's ultimate weapon during a full-scale war."
"Jake's right," Hodin said. "We can make it to the bioweapon, with luck," he removed the piece of equipment from the infiltration plan and let it curl back up to a roll, "but I don't see how we make it out again."
"And we'll need any time we can get to disable the weapon, to make it unusable," Nadira said.
Hodin clenched his jaw and composed himself with a stoic face. "We all have loved ones we're fighting for," Hodin said. "I'm not saying we're going to give up once we secure the bioweapon, but right now…"
Jake watched as each of the team gave a small nod.
"Sometimes you can see out of the fog easier than you can see through it," he said.
"What do you mean?" Nadira asked.
"Just that, while we go into this prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, we shouldn't give in to despair," Jake said, pulling his blaster from its holster and turning it to look it over. "Fate has a way of offering an answer to those that refuse to die."