"Some of their talents may coincide," Lissa said. "I doubt he's called the Prophet for nothing."
"True enough. That's why I'm concerned about him getting past some very strong shields, no matter what," I said.
"I dislike the term mutant," Wyatt interjected. "It connotes a disability, an aberration or a penchant for evil. I don't consider Randl anything of the sort."
"Also true." I couldn't hold back a sigh. "Everything is as planned and ready as Jett and I can make it. Let's hope things go smoothly—in and out of the Conclave."
Eclipse Casino Hotel
Randl
"Any gambling today, Master Staggs?" Vik saluted Zanfield with a rather large coffee mug. I wondered where he got it, until I saw the casino logo on one side.
"Damn, why didn't you buy us all a mug?" I complained and poured tea into the tiny porcelain things the hotel called cups.
"What, and make things easier for you? No way, dude." Vik stifled a snicker.
"The giant thwarts me at every turn," David grumbled as he climbed onto a chair at the breakfast bar. "I wanted a mug, too. He got the last one."
"Oh. Now I understand," I nodded.
Zanfield grinned and sipped his tea. He was having the best time, and it was because his employees always scraped and bowed, his so-called friends only wanted something from him, and nobody joked around with him.
Ever.
"No gambling today," Zanfield said eventually. "I'll be shadowing Master Gage instead."
"In or out of disguise?" Dori asked as she shuffled toward the bar, stopping only to give me a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Either way. Randl decides."
"Ooooh, Randl decides," David wiggled his fingers at me.
"I've been known to decide something now and then."
"I wouldn't mind watching the parade this morning," Sabrina looked a bit rumpled as she, Travis and Trent joined us at the bar.
"Parade?" Vik asked, turning toward me.
"New to me, too," I frowned at Vik. "When did this happen?"
"It's on everybody's comp-vid," Sabrina pulled hers from a pocket. She worked diligently to hide the pink spots on her cheeks—she'd spent the night with Travis and Trent. There was a happy glow about her, too, but I didn't want to point it out.
"I only checked mine for messages from Kooper and Headquarters," Vik was now looking at his device.
"It says many casinos went together to create this, in celebration of the start of Conclave," Sabrina read from her message.
"Ask the Eclipse management if they're a part of this," I rose from my chair. The hair on my arms was standing again, and I didn't feel good at all about this.
"Travis, Trent, get with Kooper. Find out which casinos went in on this parade," I barked. "When is it scheduled?"
"In about an hour," Zanfield held up his comp-vid to check.
"Fucking hells," I exploded before disappearing from the suite.
Founder's Palace
Kooper
"What do you mean, none of the casinos participated?" I shouted into a comp-vid.
"They were all thinking that it was the others, and they were excluded for some reason," Opal's answer was calm and measured as she reported her findings to me.
"How long has this message been going around?"
"Three days, I think, and it was sent out first to all those who'd arrived at the space port before we arrested Cleaster Leech. The Prophet had that information already. The rest—I can only assume that those whose comp-vid codes were gathered or set to receive information from the tourism departments were somehow compromised or hacked."
"My money is on those two who bear the infection from Northon," I growled. "Fucking hells. This is a disaster, and we have little more than half an hour to prepare for any of this."
"What if it's a ruse?" Opal asked.
"I hope it is, but what better way to get crowds of people gathered together, conveniently waiting for the Prophet's infected minions to appear and take them? Since this isn't an official event, and nobody on the planet seems to know about it except for a few criminals the Prophet has taken for his own, there's no way to cancel it. And, since the parade hasn't arrived in any location yet, we have no way to put up barriers to stop it, either."
"Put out a bulletin to all casinos, saying the parade isn't sanctioned and that everyone should stay away?" Opal asked.
"That'll just make them want to go more. Get a notice to all casino security, and tell them to do crowd control. Keep them away from the streets at all costs."
"There's already a huge crowd of people lining the streets," Opal said.
"I'll ask Jett to send in his RCA troops. Something needs to be done and fast," I said.
"They may not get here in time," Opal pointed out.
"Then they'll do damage control," I snapped. "Go. Now."
Randl
I stood inside the room set aside for my three-dimensional map of Campiaa. No, the dots indicating a tagged replacement or other infected individuals hadn't congregated together.
They didn't need to; not yet, anyway. For now, they were lined up obediently along the parade route, waiting to be used by the Prophet in some way.
Cleaster Leech was only the beginning of this plan. Deftly, the Prophet had salted his people onto Campiaa, and added the criminal element to his list of infected ones. No doubt they'd bring weapons when they arrived, if they hadn't done so already.
I considered that they could also have placed a cache of weapons somewhere, for the replacements to visit and take pistols or explosives away with them.
And then it hit me.
I'd never examined the wooden ball I'd gotten from Northon. Hastily, I pulled it to me with power, just as Kooper walked into the map room. Reaching out to the object with my mind, I began to study it.
The wooden ball was hollow, or at least it had started out that way. Other things about it teased my mind, but I didn't have time to dwell on them now.
"Is that?" Kooper began. I shoved a more powerful shield about the ball, cutting off its purpose.
"We're screwed," I whispered as I locked eyes with Kooper's.
"The CSD and RCA ships are under attack," Kooper's comp-vid squawked. "It looks like ships from Gramm's and Rale's fleets."
Chapter Twenty
Eclipse Casino
Travis
"If you have any of those wooden balls that Northon gave out, I need to confiscate them now," I snapped after getting mindspeech from Randl.
"We don't," Dori shook her head.
"Nothing," Sabrina confirmed.
"None here; I look," Bekzi confirmed.
"Good. We need to get to the streets. Zanfield, Randl says for you to come with us. The casinos aren't any safer than the streets at this point, and at least we'll see the Prophet's army coming head-on. Weapons ready, everyone. We have no idea what's coming, and the CSD and RCA ships are fighting off an attack of their own. We won't get any help from them for whatever the Prophet has planned."
"Why are the casinos not safe?" Sabrina asked as I grabbed her hand to fold us away.
"Because those wooden balls now contain a powerful explosive, and you can bet the Prophet will pull that trigger soon."
Sandswept Casino
Lissa
"How the hell are we supposed to pull those wooden balls away, when we can't even find them by Looking?" I asked, desperate for an answer. I'd folded out of one of many meetings held inside the Sandswept. Merrill and Gavin now stood with me outside the casino.
I'd felt something was wrong, and Kooper's mindspeech reached me after I'd left the Sandswept. Every polished wood sphere given out by Northon now contained explosives. "Half the people in the casino probably have them," I said. I wanted to scream, but that would get us nowhere.
"Pull the people out instead," Gavin suggested.
I looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, before realizing he was right. I just had to figure out how and where to send them.
"My ball
room at the palace," Teeg appeared beside me, Wyatt close behind. "We'll mist them out, but we have to do it now."
Quin, I sent, you need to evacuate.
Berel has already transported us to the mountain retreat. Is there some way we can help? she replied.
Have him take you to Teeg's palace ballroom. I figure you'll have plenty of crazy, frightened planetary leaders to calm.
I'll take care of it, Gran, Berel's voice came through clearly.
"Come on," Wyatt urged. "We don't know how much time we have."
The parade is starting, Kooper's grim voice filled my mind. Either stay and fight or get out, but do it now.
"Merrill, you and Gavin go help Kooper," I told them before turning to mist and following my son and grandson.
Founder's Palace
Quin
Just as Wyatt, Teeg and Lissa dropped their loads of frightened, angry and bewildered planetary leaders inside Teeg's massive palace ballroom, the first of many, many explosions rang out in casinos nearby.
Then, the massive detonation of the Sandswept rocked the entire city, the sound of it sending shockwaves high into the mountains. It collapsed into a massive, burning heap, followed by the angry roar of fire and subsequent, booming explosions as chaos erupted on the north end of Campiaa Bay.
On the south end, where the Eclipse was located, the Prophet's parade was only starting. He had attacked, and Campiaa was now engaged in full-on war.
"They need your help, Quin," Dena's hand dropped on my shoulder. Drawing my visions back, I blinked to bring the new crowd around me into focus. Some were crying; some needed calming. A few needed medical attention. I went to those, first.
Kooper
At first, the waiting crowd paid little attention to the large booms coming from the other end of Campiaa Bay, until huge plumes of smoke obliterated the sky and the scent of burning reached them.
Then came the deadly march, and those who struggled to escape the tightly-packed crowd were shot at by an army of the dead.
"Shields," Merrill shouted as he raced past me as swiftly as only a vampire can. Gavin ran down the street on the opposite side, doing the same thing—attempting to shield the crowd from deadly laser blasts.
No matter what I did, people would die—had already died at the Prophet's hand. Jett's ground troops are coming, but they won't be able to stop these, Travis' mindspeech rattled in my head.
He and I knew that Jett's ground troops would only be more fodder for a massive army we couldn't kill because they were already dead. Tossing grenades would only make them explode, and what the explosion didn't kill of the gathered population, the resulting green mist would infect.
The Prophet had laid his plans so carefully, and I was angry.
Angry at myself, for not guessing any part of his plan.
I stood in the center of the street, watching the dead approach, their booted feet marching in unison, their weapons firing into the crowd regularly.
I could see where Merrill's and Gavin's shields had been placed; the laser blasts bounced off that part of the crowd.
If you use your power, you will violate the non-interference rules, a small voice reminded me.
I no longer cared. I was ready to let the Prophet know that someone was willing to sacrifice themselves to defeat him and his army of corpses.
"Kooper, let me handle this."
Randl's hand dropped onto my shoulder. I turned to look at him, knowing my eyes had turned reptilian. He didn't seem to be afraid, although most people would have been.
"What are you planning to do?" I snapped at him, my voice a half-hiss. The snake wanted out. The powerful snake, this time.
"Stay with me, and keep your shields up. We need you for the future, you know."
"Where are you going?" I demanded.
"We're going for a walk," Randl's voice was grim. "Down that way." He pointed at the approaching army.
"Right where I want to be," I agreed. "Let's go."
Travis
"What?" I frowned at Zanfield's words.
"Get behind them. Surely he has some live ones out there, too," Zanfield said.
"That makes weird sense," Trent agreed. "Send the dead ones first, and follow up with your live minions, to make sure things get done."
"I'm all for checking," Vik agreed. He, David, Dori, Jayna and Sabrina stood with us in a blind alley, while we made plans to attack what we could of the Prophet's army.
Bekzi had left us moments earlier, saying he was going to walk with Kooper and Randl, wherever that was and whatever that meant.
Susan and Terrett had folded space to the Founder's Palace to beef up security there, because the palace now housed every planetary leader attending Conclave.
"Then let's go," I said. I still couldn't believe Randl had given Zanfield a ranos pistol, but then Randl was becoming a law unto himself.
Not that I wanted to argue with that, actually. "You know how to shoot that thing?" I asked Zanfield.
"I've been target shooting for a very long time." He sounded hurt that I'd ask.
"These are people—not targets. Get ready to shoot them instead." I slung a ranos rifle over a shoulder and folded my party to the back end of the parade.
I had no idea we'd be engaged in a firefight the moment we landed.
Varok
The Prophet heard and saw everything I did—with the power he held. When the small band of enemy troops hit the street behind us, I ordered my small, living army to fire at them. The Prophet immediately enhanced my small band by ordering his three hundred replacements from the logging industry to join forces with us.
We had enough weapons to arm them and soon enough, they stood beside us, firing at the ones who thought to take us down.
Farther north, the sound of continuous laser blasts drowned out the screams of the dying as the Prophet's dead troops killed residents and visitors alike.
I didn't mind, but the Prophet preferred to hear those things. "They have shields," Perill shouted beside me, pointing at the small band of attackers. "Our blasts aren't getting through."
"Then how are they firing at us?" I shouted back. Several of our troops were either dead or wounded, their bodies crumpled and bleeding on the street.
Founder's Palace
Winkler
Once I had Lukas calmed down, he and I went to find Lissa. She hadn't needed to pull us out; I'd gotten Lukas away myself. The High Demon contingent also skipped themselves out; I found Reah, Lexsi and Kordevik talking with Lissa in a corner of Teeg's ballroom.
"Gran, Kory and I can help," Lexsi pleaded with Lissa. "You know burning is one of the few ways to destroy any of them."
That's when Amlis, Aurelius, Berel and Halimel joined our conversation.
"I think the High Demons would be an asset," Aurelius agreed. "Send them to Travis and Trent—I hear they're on the far end of this mess, trying to take out the living portion of the Prophet's troops."
"How do you know that?" Lissa asked. "I've been afraid to Look for them," she confessed.
"Opal and Kell," he shrugged. "They're nearby, trying to get people away from the slaughter. Travis and Trent are alive and doing what they can, but their numbers are small. They were doing well enough until the Prophet sent in three hundred more troops and many ancient war machines to shield his people and to fire back at Travis' group. They could use our help."
"Then I'll come with you," Lissa turned back to Lexsi. "Merrill and Gavin are out there in that mess, too."
"Tell them to keep their shields up and tight," Lexsi said. "Let's go."
Travis
Steady, Trent sent when Mom, Lexsi and Kory landed behind us. I hadn't considered it—my mind was too numbed by the task at hand to recall that fire would work well enough against these.
A part of me worried that the destruction of this end of the Prophet's army would precipitate a mass explosion and release of gas on the front end, but we were screwed anyway, no matter what.
Hold off until I
say, Randl's voice entered my mind. I have to work this out, and there's little time to do that.
I wanted to ask what he meant as I fired my weapon again. Somehow, the Prophet had made ancient tanks and other machines appear to protect his living minions from our shots and to fire at us with bigger blasts. The minions hid behind those things, which were shielded in some way, while they continued their barrage against us.
It had become a standoff of sorts, but with Lexsi and Kory's High Demons, they should nullify any power shields the Prophet built. Laser blasts fired by the enemy would also bounce off a High Demon's scales.
At least I hoped they would—I had no idea whether the Prophet had improved on the standard laser pistols and rifles his people used to fight us.
This could end well—or badly. There would be no in-between.
Kooper
They act like they can't see us, I sent to Randl. He, Bekzi and I continued our trek down the street, as if we were taking a Sunday stroll. Ahead of us, corpses continued to fire at hapless civilians, who were still struggling to get away.
They can't see us, Randl replied. They won't know we're coming until we're there, he added. He sounded distracted, as if his mind were working another problem while he shared mindspeech with me.
I turned my eyes back to the crowd. Many had fled into the waters of Campiaa Bay on the west side of the street, but those were being targeted by the shooters, too. There really wasn't a good way to escape this; the army stood between them and the side streets and alleyways on the opposite side.
Many casinos were still experiencing explosions, too, as if they were timed by the Prophet to keep the crowd on the east side from entering those structures. Dark smoke blew past us as the screams and cries continued. Most of the casinos had collapsed after multiple explosions, sending concrete and brick into side streets to block any escape route for the fleeing crowd.
They drive all to Teeg's palace, Bekzi informed me. Prophet want him as final victim.
Not going to happen, I growled back.
MindMage: BlackWing Pirates, Book 2 Page 27