As instructed the lead pair of guards released the first of their trio of condemned men and had their hands full dragging the unwilling victims behind them.
Cutter and Tuncil moved towards the prince who was desperately wrestling with his chains but had no real prospect of getting free. Tuncil moved to release the shackles from the wall and as they came away from their fastening he lashed out with his right leg catching the surprised Tuncil in the crotch and forcing him to his knees.
Cutter stepped forward with the knife held menacingly towards the prince, “Want to play your highness? Allow me.”
Cutter was as strong as he was mean and released a blow with his left fist sending the prince sprawling. “Now let’s see if you royals really do have blue blood.” The knife was pulled back to begin its arc of entry but before it could be brought down in a slashing motion, Cutter was knocked senseless by Kyle’s freed chains, smashing his skull and splattering his brains across the chamber’s floor.
Tuncil was at first surprised by this sudden reaction from the prisoners but his adrenalin kicked in and he went straight for the plasma pistol at his belt, seeing this both Kyle and the prince attacked him from opposite directions and the momentary indecision of who to shoot first was the guard’s undoing. He turned to aim at the unfettered Kyle but as he did so the prince launched a straight leg kick towards the firearm sending it spinning from Tuncil’s grasp.
In the seconds it took the guard to pull out his long knife, Kyle strode over the prone Cutter picking up the jailor’s knife its blade still pumping and hungry for blood. Tuncil activated his own knife and the two blades of the opponents glowed a shade of ochre in the crimson lit vault. Circling each other the adversaries looked for an opportunity to make the first lunge. Tuncil was unnerved by the look of hatred in Kyle’s eyes and the practised way he held his knife. Sensing his best chance of survival was to run for the exit he threw his blade in Kyle’s direction, turned and ran for his life. He did not get very far before becoming engulfed in a shower of hot plasma from his own discarded pistol, now in the hands of the Prince, and his smoking corpse sunk to the floor still burning.
“Nice work your highness, you certainly gave these guys a kick in the pants.”
“I’ve been instructed in most of the known martial arts but kick boxing has always been my preference. See if you can find some keys to get these shackles off me.”
Tuncil’s keys were too hot to pick up but luckily Cutter had his own set and Kyle quickly removed the bunch and headed towards the prince. There weren’t many keys and he guessed that the pirates could not be bothered to manufacture many patterns of lock for the shackles so it was not long before the prince was free.
“Thanks Getaway, now let’s live up to your name and get out of here.”
“Be right with you Prince Morgan but first the other victims get freed. The remaining two men from the first trio were released and although quite traumatised were still in good physical condition. They introduced themselves as Breda and Harib, deserters from the so called WLA and in Kyle’s mind this marked them down as former pirates, he would not be placing much trust in them after the way they behaved.
The last live captive was Kyle’s former neighbour and he went back to release the man from his restraints. This individual was not in good shape and had been severely beaten. Lifting the man’s head he looked into the captives eyes and seeing how dull they were it was obvious that this man had experienced a great deal of pain and was not going to be very mobile. Then it hit him like a 40 ton truck, this man in his filthy rags he did know and he peered again more intently at the haggard face. Why had he not seen it before, this was his uncle, Chico Valdemar!
Despite only being 7 years older than Kyle, Chico looked 50 years older after his recent experiences but what the hell was he doing here?
Cassidy stood for quite a while rooted to the spot stunned by his discovery but he was brought back to reality by the voice of the Prince, “Getaway get a move on, the others will be back any minute!”
“Yeh sorry Prince, I’ll tell you about it later.”
Kyle turned to his uncle, “Chico, Chico it’s me Kyle, Kyle Cassidy, wake up come on wake man, we’ve got to get out of here fast!”
Chico laboured to open his eyes and with great effort his lids finally parted but there was only a small hint of recognition.
“Junior is it really you or is this part of the torture?”
“It is me uncle, if we are lucky we can chat later but we had better leave now or we won’t be going anywhere at all.”
“I am not sure I can make it, Kyle.”
“You have a lot to explain so you had better damn well make it.”
Kyle was as gentle as he could be helping Chico from his chains but his uncle staggered on the first attempted step and this was not going to be easy.
He called the pirate deserters Breda and Harib to help, they were not happy but he was the man with the gun and they rightly guessed that they were not going to have access to firearms any time soon, as Kyle and the Prince had appropriated the dead guards weapons.
Kyle led the group towards the exit door with the prince bringing up the rear, fear was in the air with the expectation that the other two guards would return at any time.
They reached the door and were disappointed to find that access was controlled by a keypad located in the door frame and it looked like the escape would fail at the first hurdle. Kyle thought that he could possibly fry the control with plasma, but didn’t know whether that would cause the door to open or lock shut.
Before he had made up his mind, footsteps could be heard coming in their direction. The locked door creaked then rolled open and without pausing the two returning guards stepped into the room not anticipating any trouble.
Neither of them was prepared for a fight and it looked like an old Wild West vid as they went for their holstered plasma pistols, Kyle already had his gun out and fired three rounds before either of the guards could get theirs free. Super-heated plasma engulfed the guard on the left, his screams choking in the explosion of his internal organs. The remains of the first guard had not hit the floor before the guard on the right just seemed to melt before their eyes. Kyle felt a tinge of guilt for his actions but at least it was quick and the guards’ lack of armour or any protection was their own fault.
The third shot had been directed at the keypad, which was now an unrecognisable lump of melted plastic and metal, it had locked the door but in the open position.
Now the escaping group were out of the chamber and heading for freedom, they cautiously made their way along the empty tunnels, expecting a challenge at any time but nothing came.
**************************
In his command centre Kurko was frantic, he wasn’t near the edge of panic, he was well over it. When he asked his staff officers to explain loss of ground or why the government artillery were destroying his city and the answer was not to his liking he shot the offending man stone dead.
The final straw came with the detonation of the PAM, it shook the citadel, causing people to be thrown about and walls to crumble.
Kurko’s options were running out but he had one last card to play and rushed to his personal communicator. As usual he was met with the image of a Kyandian flunky and dispensing with the usual fawning, Kurko stuttered, “I need to speak to Lord Burzot, as quick as you can.”
“What you want human is of no importance but I will see if his highness Lord Burzot is willing to speak to you.”
After a delay which seemed like hours Lord Burzot’s huge frame filled the screen, his red eyes glowering straight at Kurko through the communicator’s monitor.
“I was expecting you Kurko, you have let me down and ultimately you will be punished for your failure, why do you come to me now?”
“Your Excellency, I have had the city scoured for suitable women to meet your specification and I have around a 150 who are in one of my ships at the city’s spaceport, but I cannot launch while
we are under attack on the ground and in the air. I have four ships ready for launch, one with the women and the others as escorts, I also have a few aircraft left to cover the launch but need a diversion.
You have a platoon of soldiers in the secret barracks below my citadel and I don’t think they are of any use keeping tabs on me now. I understand that Kyandians are fearless and impressive warriors and I am thinking that the sight of your troops emerging from the citadel will have the government rats and their Confederation lackeys running. Can we have a last deal Lord Burzot, haven’t I served you well until now?”
Lord Burzot’s face seemed to become all teeth, which Kurko hoped was some sort of grin.
“Kurko, if you are an example of humankind, it does not offer much as a challenge. You have lost everything Kurko but you still think you can do a deal, perhaps you are a comedian. Here is the deal then, my soldiers will break the siege and you and your beaten army can flee the planet providing you safely deliver the women. You must leave one fighting ship crewed for my troops to evacuate the planet, but be warned that when my fleet is in range of that worthless piece of dust you are standing on, the planet will be destroyed and everything on it. Finally make sure that all the wealth we have paid you is in your ship Kurko and if you return it to us I just might let you keep your worthless carcass. Do you wish to take my offer General?”
Kurko knew it was a lousy offer and would lose everything, but there was a slight chance that he might get out alive.
“Yes your Excellency, I am fortunate that I have such an attractive offer and I am pleased to accept.”
The Kyandian warlord’s teeth filled the communication monitor again. “Good, my troops will assist you prepare your ships to evacuate now!”
Kurko was not concentrating when he disconnected the communicator because he hit the ‘translate’ button before ‘terminate’ and the sound coming out of the speaker was like metal being run across a cheese grater, Kurko guessed that this was probably Burzot laughing.
***************************************
Kyle continued to lead the way through the tunnels, but escape was only part of the plan as he was intent on finding the other snatched crews before he left the planet. Questioning Breda and Harib gave a few clues but at one of the tunnel intersections just as they were about to take a right turn towards the crews who were locked up, a terrifically loud noise could be heard thundering from the left hand passageway. The noise got nearer and sounded like a stampeding herd of megabisons heading their way. The five escapees dodged into an alcove seconds before the first Kyandian thundered past. Being a good foot taller than the humans, the sight was impressive, where its body was not covered in thick plate armour, the green and black scaled skin could be seen. The leading warrior wore a golden helmet which covered its elongated head with one thin slit for eyesight and a further one lower down presumably for breathing. It held some sort of rifle in one claw and in the other a large blade with a hand grip in the middle.
Behind the leader came eighty or so other alien warriors with the same armour and weapons but these wore silver coloured helmets and the corridors rang with the sound of the heavy footfall.
The five humans looked at each other and Harib whispered, “There was a rumour that Kurko had aliens hidden in the depths of the citadel, but hell I did not expect that.”
Kyle instructed them that they should be extra careful from now on, as the last thing they needed was to run into those guys coming back, but they must continue their search for the missing crew. Prince Morgan was not happy about this, but knew he stood more chance in the group than on his own.
There was another loud explosion outside which made Kyle remember that the city and citadel were being attacked. He tried to reach Bambi on board Seeker of Moons again using his chin communicator and this time he got an immediate response, “Getaway is that you, what’s your situation?”
“Hi Bambs, we are escaping and coming through the tunnels towards the surface, its slow going, we have an injured party with us and need to take a detour to search for any of the missing crew survivors.”
“Sounds good, we have a lot of help arriving and are just getting organised before moving up to the government forces position.”
“That’s sweet news but there is a new problem, it looks like Kurko has a lot of alien support heading out of the city. These guys are seven feet tall or more and look like trouble.”
“How many, what are we up against, do you have any idea?”
“I guess around eighty and all seem to have small arms and hand axes, also they are well armoured and much quicker than humans.”
“My god, I’d better warn the others, take care of yourself Kyle and let me know when you have any more developments your end.”
Reluctantly Kyle let Bambi go but he knew that every second they had to prepare for the alien onslaught would be vital. The time they had to find the captured crews was running out and there was a feeling that something big was going to happen, something big and something very bad.
Taking the right hand fork they passed more cells, all were empty or had their occupants bodies sprawled lifeless on the floor but these were not dressed as space crew so there was still hope. After a cautious ten minutes, when they had seen no other living soul they came to another intersection and were met by three doors, left, right and centre. The left one was bolted and with a struggle Kyle drew it back to reveal a guardroom, it was devoid of people but there were scattered plates on the table some containing food and tumblers of hot Kaffoo, half drunk and still warm. It was more obvious than ever that the guards had all gone and left in a panic. On closer inspection there were still some of their clothes on hooks and there was a charging rack of plasma rifles completely full of weapons. These weren’t dominators but they were a welcome gift and Kyle helped himself to one, it was a recent model and could do a lot of damage in the right hands. He liked its balance and simplicity it felt comfortable on his shoulder.
Next they tried the centre door which opened and walking through they found themselves on a balcony looking out over a court yard. They had reached the surface and were overlooking the prison yard which Kyle had seen on the secret agents video broadcast. Huddled in groups by walls and under the eaves of compound buildings, sheltering from the bombardment were the men they had been looking for. The captives were still wearing the uniforms of their ships though some were a bit ragged, most colours of the spectrum were present but he was especially looking for the drab blue of Universal Technologies and was surprised how his heart lifted when he saw a couple in familiar garb and some in the green of the Seven Moons.
Down in the exercise yard people had started to notice the group on the balcony and Kyle shouted as loud as he could that he had come to rescue them.
The nearest few who had heard him cheered and someone shouted back, “Who the hell are you?”
Kyle had previously decided that living his life without rank or privilege suited him but things had now changed.
“I am Lieutenant Kyle Cassidy of the Berengian space corps, part of a United Worlds task force here to rescue you.”
At that moment the Prince appeared on the balcony, “So it’s Lieutenant Cassidy then is it Getaway? My father will be pleased that one of his men has completed this mission.”
“We have a long way to go yet before it’s complete and right now we need to get down below.”
“I think I can help there Getaway, the right hand door has steps going down and I would guess it comes out in the yard if we can get through the door at the bottom.”
“Good work Prince!”
“Morgan will do fine if I am on the team.”
“You bet and your first task is to drop as many of the plasma rifles down below as you can, any extra fire power will be a bonus.”
The prince did as he was bid and Kyle led the way down the stairs followed by Chico and his two reluctant helpers. The sturdy door providing entry to the exercise yard had both steel bolts and an electro
nic keypad but one glance told Kyle that the power to the electronic locks had been disconnected and it was totally jammed.
This would be the first job for the new rifle, adjusting the power setting and distribution mode he fired bursts of ionised plasma at the hinges and handle, then one more in the centre of the door to send it spinning into the exercise yard.
Kyle led the way into the yard and was immediately surrounded by captive crew members, many of them trying to ask questions or clamouring to be let out. Unless some sort of order could be restored this situation might get out of hand and all their safety would be compromised, so raising the rifle again he fired a single flaming shot into the air. The crowd went quiet and Kyle tried his best at leadership again but his tattered civilian clothes were not helping his cause.
“OK can I have some quiet please? We don’t have time now for multiple discussions so help me out and keep the chat down.
Firstly does anyone know where the women are?”
A voice answered, “The last group were taken away earlier this morning and I heard the guards say that they were being taken to Kurko’s spaceport.”
“Next, who here is military, a vet or had formal military training? Please raise your hand.” Disappointingly there were very few hands from the throng and two of those belonged to his former shipmates on Seeker.
The fifteen or so who had raised their hands were called forward. One of the first to approach he recognised as Flint Johal, the Seeker’s Navigator and from a company perspective clearly outranked Kyle in his old life.
“It’s great to see a friendly face Getaway, I cannot believe one of our own has tracked us down. Do we call you lieutenant, what’s that all about?”
“Getaway will be fine in your case ‘Jumbo’, a name given to the navigator due to his imposing size but I am a military officer now and I need everybody here military or otherwise to accept my orders as this will give us a better chance to get out of here. The chain of command is short and Prince Morgan will be second in command for the break out,” he nodded towards the prince who accepted his role with a thumbs up.
Seeker of Moons (Cassidy's Command Book 1) Page 23