"What will you do, my lord?" Kirha asked.
Lord Ralgha bared his teeth. "I have thought much upon this, cubling. The easiest solution, of course, would be to kill the crew. But that weighs heavily upon me… they have been loyal, honorable warriors in my service, and for me to kill them like animals, without the chance to die in combat… no, they do not deserve such a dishonorable death." He paused at the hatchway to his cabin, and keyed open the lock with his claws.
Inside the cabin, the lord removed two small laserpistols and two handheld communication units from a cabinet, handing one of each to Kirha and placing the others in his hauberk. "I have already changed the keycodes to the weapons armory, so that you and I will be the only ones aboard the ship with weapons. That should place the odds somewhat more in our favor. Kirha, your task will be to secure the Bridge. That is the only station aboard the ship that we cannot remove all the personnel from, not without endangering the entire ship. You must succeed at this. Our lives, and my honor, depend upon this."
"I will not fail you, my lord," Kirha said, his tail stiffening and twitching with nerves.
Lord Ralgha gave him a gentle shove in the direction of the lifts. "Go now. I will join you on the Bridge later."
He bowed, then started back toward the Bridge. A moment later, he heard his lord's voice broadcasted throughout the ship, echoing in the corridors: "This is Lord Ralgha nar Hhallas. All crew except the Bridge officers, report to the primary Launch Bay immediately."
Kirha felt the familiar trembling in his belly as the lift ascended toward the Bridge, and clenched the pistol more tightly. The Khantahr's message repeated, and yet a third time.
What is this that I do now? he asked himself silently. I follow my lord into treason against the Emperor, to go against all that I have believed in, for all of my life?
I had dreams, as a little cub on Hhallas. That someday I would do a true heroic act, I would prove myself to all of Kilrah, and that my lord Ralgha would reward me for it. That he might even grant me the right to begin my own hrai and start a clan of my own. But those were only foolish dreams of youth, dreams of impossible glory.
And now what will happen to Lord Ralgha and If We will be traitors, outcasts from all we have known. There is no future and no glory in it.
My lord Ralgha is a Thrak'hra, a noble of the empire. Surely he knows more than I, he has greater plans for our future. I must trust in him, for that is the only small shred of honor left to me.
Finally the lift doors opened and he stepped out onto the Bridge.
The few of the officers were gathered in small groups, talking among themselves as the lord's message was broadcast a fourth time throughout the ship. The Pilot Officer saw Kirha first. "Ah, the lord's little cub is back on the Bridge," Drakj, the Pilot, said sardonically. "So tell me, Kirha, is our lord insane? If the Terrans find us now, we are defenseless! What is he planning?"
"You'll learn that soon enough," Kirha said, bringing up the pistol. "Step away from your station, Drakj'khai… all of you, stand away from your stations. I do not want to kill any of you."
"What treason is this?" the Pilot Officer demanded to know.
"No treason," Kirha said, trying to keep the pistol from shaking in his grip. "I am my lord's sworn officer, and am following his orders."
"And what orders are those?" the Navigation Officer asked.
Kirha, keeping the pistol steady upon the cluster of officers, moved to his own station and glanced down at the computer console. He lifted the comm unit to his mouth, keying it on. "My lord, the Bridge is secured, and I have detected a Terran troopship approaching. Shall I signal them?"
"Tell them that they can dock at the aft airlock," the lord's voice said over the comm.
Kirha keyed open the comm channel and spoke into it in Terran. "Terran ship, this is Kirha hrai Ralgha of the Ras Nik'hra, speaking with the voice of our Khantahr, Lord Ralgha nar Hhallas. Approach our aft airlock for docking."
The Bridge officers were staring at him in shock. The Pilot Officer was the first to react. "Treason!" he shouted, and lunged toward Kirha, claws extended.
Kirha fired a moment before the Pilot Officer's body slammed into him, and lost his grip on the pistol a moment later. The air reeked of burnt fur and flesh as he grappled with Drakj for the pistol, lying on the floor only barely beyond his grasp. Drakj's claws raked bloody furrows across Kirha's face, but still he held onto Drakj with a death-grip. With a burst of strength, Drakj hurled Kirha away from him, and Kirha's head slammed back against a console painfully. The room spun violently around him as he tried to get up, and fell back with a moan of pain. Forgive me, my lord Ralgha, he thought dizzily, I did not mean to fail you…
Through a haze of pain, Kirha saw the Pilot Officer, the long burn visible down his side, searing through the leather of his hauberk and his flesh, reach for the communications console. The other Bridge officers seemed frozen with shock, staring at Kirha as Drakj punched up the controls of the comm console. "All Imperial ships, this is the Ras Nik'hra! Our captain has betrayed us to our enemies. Aid us now, or our ship will fall into the hands of the humans…" Drakj's words faded away as the Bridge blurred, dissolving into darkness…
Ralgha's airsuit boots clanked loudly against the metal of Launch Bay deck as he walked out before the gathered ranks of warriors. He stood for a moment, surveying the ranks of his troops assembled before him.
He saw the surprise, the shock, on the closest of his oathsworn soldiers' faces… no doubt they wonder why I am wearing a spacewalking suit, complete with a sealed helmet, aboard the ship, he thought. This is not the usual captain's garb. Well, they will find out soon enough. He hefted the weight of the small device in his hand, then spoke. "Soldiers of the Empire, you are sworn to me as my vassal warriors in the Emperor's service. To follow me into battle, to obey me as though I speak with the voice of the Emperor. And now I speak to you as your liege lord, to tell you that the Empire of Kilrah is corrupt and dying. How many of you have lost members of your hrai in this war, and for what? We have gained nothing in all these years of fighting, not territory or glory, and there is no end to this useless battle in sight.
"After I realized this truth, I joined forces with the rebel lords of Ghorah Khar in their attempts to overthrow the Emperor. To aid in this cause, I have sworn to the rebel lords that I will deliver the Ras Nik'hra to the Terrans."
He saw the ripple of shock move through them, then; the looks of horror and disbelief, the narrowed eyes of the crew in the first row, their claws extending and retracting. One very young Kilra'hra crewman in the front rank looked as though he might faint. No Kilrathi captain had ever surrendered his ship, not in the history of their race. It was inconceivable to them… and to me, Ralgha thought. Who would ever have dreamed that I would stand here now, trapped like a prey-animal in this conflict of Honor and duty? As ever, the thought glimmered away, sliding like a mental prey-fish into the depths of his mind.
"All of you have served me loyally, so now I will give you a chance to live," he continued. "If you will swear to surrender to the humans, then I will grant you your lives. By Imperial law, I hold your lives in my grasp… you are my vassals, my sworn warriors.
"But if you do not swear to surrender to the humans…" He raised the small device high enough so that all could see it. "… then I have no other choice but to trigger this device, which will vent this Launch Bay into open space. This is your choice… swear to obey me now, Kilra'hra, or breathe vacuum."
His soldiers stood motionless with shock, except for one standing in the front rank whose tail twitched nervously.
Ralgha unclipped the comm unit from his belt and spoke into it. "Kirha! Your status?"
Kirha's voice replied through the comm. "My lord, the Bridge is secured, and I have detected a Terran troopship approaching. Shall I signal them?"
"Tell them that they can dock at the aft airlock."
Ralgha said. He replaced the comm on his belt, and glanced at the assembled thr
ong before him. "So, Kilra'hra, what do you choose? To honor your sworn oaths to me, or to die a useless death?"
He heard it then, the low murmuring that had begun during his short conversation with Kirha. A single word, whispered over and over again, now growing louder. "Treason… treason…"
"This is treason to the Emperor!" one officer shouted from the front rank, torn between rage and disbelief. "Treason!"
Ralgha overrode his shouting. "You are sworn to me, Engineering Officer! Disobey me, and you are forsworn, an oathbreaker, and deserve a coward's death!"
His answer was a sea of snarling, frightened faces.
"Kill him!"
"Treachery!"
With a roar, the ranks of Kilra'hra surged forward. Ralgha punched the button of the airlock venting device… Fools! They do not think I will kill them to save my honor? … and braced himself for the explosive decompression that would follow a moment later.
With an ominous creaking noise, the fifty-foot double door of the Launch Bay began to open, then stopped. A thin whistle of escaping air could be heard over the roar of the riot on the deck, but it was not the explosive decompression that Ralgha had been told to expect. He had one brief moment to blink in surprise, and then the mob was upon him, teeth and claws reaching for him.
Accursed lowborn engineers, Ralgha thought, irritated, as he kicked the first Kilra'hra out of his way and ran for the exit hatchway. What if we had needed this system as it was originally intended, for afire in the Launch Bays? Useless, completely useless. Another Kilra'hra grabbed his arm, and Ralgha backhanded him across the face, pulling free as yet another Kilra'hra tackled him from behind, bringing him down to his knees, tearing off his helmet in the process. That one received a boot in the face, falling back as Ralgha crawled toward the hatchway. If that engineer is not dead after this ridiculous incident, I will kill him myself! Incompetency… nothing is more infuriating than incompetency…
Ralgha shoved three of his former officers away from him, clawing for the control mechanism of the sealed hatchway as most of the remnants of his suit was torn away. The hatchway opened suddenly, spilling him and several Kilra'hra out into the corridor. More of his troops piled through the opening as he gained his feet and began to run toward the aft airlock.
He yanked the comm unit from his belt, shouting into it. "Kirha!" He glanced back at the Kilra'hra behind him, just as the first of them leaped at him. Ralgha's face slammed painfully into the deck, and blood from a cut on his forehead blinded him, filming everything in a haze of red. He kicked out wildly, trying to break free. He felt his claws rending Kilra'hra flesh, but could not see his opponents, or how to escape. Someone pinned his arms; he wrenched one arm free, and saw the wild-eyed face of one of his gunnery officers, not a handspan from his eyes. He kicked again, and somehow rolled free, falling over the Gunnery Officer and onto the deck. Ralgha scrambled to his feet and ran. The aft airlock was within sight now, an open hatchway at the end of the corridor.
The entire ship vibrated suddenly, echoing with the clanging noise of another ship docking against the Ras Nik'hra. Ralgha slid to a stop inside the airlock, trying to remember the sequence for opening the outside door. He heard human voices then, on the other side, and the sound of someone pounding on the metal skin of his ship.
He had punched in half the entry sequence when a pair of claws ripped down his back, setting his body on fire. He whirled and kicked the officer back into the arms of the others running toward him. He managed to punch in one more digit of the sequence before they brought him down like a prey animal, clawing and biting at him as he still fought to reach the airlock controls.
He tried to break free without success, held down by the weight of the bodies piled on him. Ralgha brought his fist down hard on one Kilra'hra's skull, feeling the small bones breaking in his fist, and realized then that he was still clenching the comm unit. "Kirha!" he shouted into it, hoping that it hadn't been broken in the melee. "Kirha, open the airlock! OPEN THE AIRLOCK!"
Lord Ralgha. Lord Ralgha is calling, and I must obey … Kirha opened his eyes painfully, hearing his lord calling his name again. Why am I on the floor of the Bridge? He blinked and tried to sit up; an awful pain ripped through his head, followed by a wave of dizziness. He heard the Thrak'hra lord's voice again, and saw the comm unit lying on the floor. "Kirha!"
He sounds very strange, Kirha thought. Is something wrong? "Open the airlock!" Lord Ralgha's voice continued. "Open the airlock!"
Kirha heard Drakj's voice, too, from somewhere above him. "Affirmative, Fralthi Kraj'nishk, that is our position. We need immediate assistance… there is rioting in the ship, and a human troopship is at the aft airlock, trying to board us."
The human troopship at the aft airlock…
Everything came back to Kirha in a rush… his lord's vow to deliver the ship to the humans, Kirha's orders to secure the Bridge, and his failure to do so. He levered himself up on one elbow, wincing at the pain in his head, then launched himself at Drakj, claws extended.
Drakj turned, his eyes wide with surprise, as Kirha sank his teeth into his enemy's throat. Drakj's scream of pain was very loud in Kirha's ears, but he held on desperately, clawing at his enemy's throat and tasting Drakj's blood in his mouth. Then, his teeth still clenched tightly, he shoved himself away from his enemy.
Kirha fell against a Bridge console, and spat out the mouthful of fur and flesh. Drakj staggered back, blood pouring from his slashed throat, then fell to the deck, the life gone from his eyes.
Kirha stood unsteadily, glaring at the other Bridge officers. One of them glanced at the laser-pistol, abandoned on the floor. "Touch it, and I will kill you," Kirha rasped, blood trickling from his mouth. The Navigations Officer knelt and presented his throat, a gesture of submission. Kirha ignored him and half-fell against the console that held internal systems controls, searching for the aft airlock control. All the systems glowed affirmative at him, a ship was securely attached to the coupling system, all he needed to do was open the exterior door.
He triggered the outside door to cycle open, overriding the system to keep the interior door open as well. Then he slid down to the floor, unable to stand any longer. He crawled the short distance to the laserpistol, retrieving it from the floor.
The small weight of the pistol felt reassuring in his grasp. "Now we wait for Lord Ralgha," he said, gesturing with the pistol at the other officers.
What an undignified way to die, Ralgha thought, struggling to claw his way free of the pile of Kilra'hra on top of him. He felt himself weakening from loss of blood, the pain of too many wounds slowing him even further. I always dreamed of dying in honorable combat. Not like a hunted animal, not like this.
Another sound penetrated through the shrieks of the mob, the sound of metal sliding on metal. A moment later, Ralgha realized what it was, as the airlock door opened behind him. He fell through the half-open door, into the airlock of the humans' ship, now filled with humans. He recognized the insignia on their woven fabric clothing as Confederation Marines, just as one of them placed the barrel of an assault gun against his face.
"Move, you dead," the human said in Kilrathi, speaking with an awful accent. "You what, tell now me?"
"Lord Ralgha nar Hhallas," he said. It hurt to speak, especially with the human's weapon pressed against his cheek. He could feel the blood on his face, oozing from many small claw cuts. "I bid you welcome with all honor," he added a moment later. He twisted to look through the airlock door, where his troops had stopped momentarily, staring at the sight of an armed human squadron with all their weapons aimed at the Kilrathi.
"Move and you're dead!" a small human with short golden head-fur, standing at the front of the human squadron, said in much more understandable Kilrathi. A Kilra'hra on the side of the airlock snarled and leaped at the small human, who whirled and fired without hesitation. The Kilra'hra fell dead at her feet, a smoking burn through his chest.
"All of you, paws against the walls," the small human con
tinued. "Do it or you'll… or you will die in dishonor, shot like a prey animal!" The human bared its teeth in a smile. "You macho cat guys would really hate that, wouldn't you?"
What is this human word, macho? Ralgha wondered briefly, watching his crew to see what they would do.
None of the Kilrathi moved to obey the human.
When the first Kilra'hra moves, all of them will attack. The humans will kill them all. I cannot allow that… they are my warriors, loyal to me through many battles… I owe them more than that.
"You cannot win this battle, Kilra'hra," Ralgha said slowly. "You are unarmed, against an enemy with energy weapons. I do not wish to see all of you die for so meaningless a cause. Surrender now, and I swear on my honor as your Captain that I will see that you are treated honorably by the humans."
One of the Kilra'hra painfully rose to his feet, the Gunnery Officer who still had tufts of Ralgha's fur caught in his claws. He bowed once to the Captain, then turned to face the wall. Another followed his example, and a third. One by one, all of the Kilra'hra placed themselves against the walls, except for one young officer who was obviously too injured to stand, and the smoldering corpse on the deck.
The small gold-furred human knelt next to Ralgha. "Are you Ralgha? I'm Major Kristi Marks, Fourth Division, Confederation Marines."
"I am Lord Ralgha nar Hhallas, and I bid you welcome in all honor, H'hristi Mar'hkss," Ralgha said painfully. "I am Khantahr of this ship, the commanding officer."
"We're going to secure your ship for you, Khantahr. Are there any friendlies out there? Troops that are on our side?"
Ralgha nodded. "Kirha, on the Bridge. No others."
"Thank you, sir." The human spoke tersely in Terran to the others, then turned back to Ralgha. "Our medical officer will be here shortly. You look like you need immediate medical attention. We'll take you to the Sickbay aboard our ship."
"Lord Ralgha?" Kirha's voice, thin and strained, spoke through the airlock intercom. "Lord Ralgha, you must come to the Bridge at once! There is an Imperial Fralthi cruiser approaching our position… they are ordering us to surrender or they will destroy the ship!"
Wing Commander: Freedom Flight Page 8