Dawn brought little comfort, as their departure was still more than seven hours away and the uncertainty kept them all anxious. For all they knew, Kesha Kun could be waiting for them at the Tengri with a whole regiment of his best soldiers.
Marcus and Reid had found a pair of stained sheets amongst the heaps of rubbish, and using their combat knifes, had fashioned them into makeshifts cloaks to disguise their appearance. Dasaan instead had lent Taylor the use of his own emerald garment As they pulled their disguises on over their armor, Captain Mitchell had wished them luck, and ordered that they keep radio silence as there was no telling who might be monitoring their communications.
As the new day dawned, they set out under the cover of the downpour and made their way to the market plaza. It was a lot less crowded than it had been on their previous trip, only a handful of merchants braving the weather, too foolish or desperate for business to take the day off. Marcus could count the number of customers on the fingers of one hand.
It wasn’t long before they stood in front of the heavy door to Oolan’s practice. The same foul-tempered Nerokan ushered them in from the rain and pointed them towards the seats in the waiting room while Oolan finished with another patient.
A short while later, a brutish Banthalo with an oversized cybernetic arm emerged from the operating room, clenching and admiring his new fist of chromed steel. The Nerokan escorted him out, and the two exchanged whispered words in the doorway.
Oolan came out into the waiting room and seemed pleased to see the Terrans, the colors of his skin shifting from a light pink to a deep orange with splotches of bright yellow.
“Weeelcooome baaack,” he said lengthily, sitting back on his haunches to open his huge arms.
Reid rose from his chair and was just about to greet him when the Nerokan doorman returned from the entrance to the clinic, shoving him aside and slapping Oolan hard across the face with his open palm. The alien doctor’s color shifted to a deep green as he stumbled backwards, rubbing his chin with a hand the size of Marcus’ torso.
“Shya manshin kho hansayo wai banshan babavashi! Kumchi qusy mahieu shoro,” the reptilian guard growled as he turned away from the Telorian.
“That’s enough!” shouted Marcus, jumping up from his seat, Taylor standing to back him.
“Pleeease, dooon’t,” said Oolan. “Iiit waaas myyy faaault.”
“Your fault? How was it your fault?” Reid demanded, flustered.
“Paaatieeent nooot saaatiiisfiiied.”
Marcus eyed the guard with a glare, angered at his lack of empathy and casual violence. The Nerokan’s only response was an intimidating snarl, baring a mouthful of pointed teeth.
“Pleeease, cooome,” Oolan gestured towards the operating room, breaking the tension.
Reid and the Telorian disappeared into the other room, and Marcus slowly lowered himself back onto his seat and resumed waiting, shooting the hulking reptilian guardian a wayward glance every once in a while. After a quarter of an hour or so the bestial creature closed his eyes and started giving off a deep rumbling as he drifted off to sleep.
It was little over half an hour before Reid and the doctor returned from the operating room, waking the guard from his nap.
“Everything alright?” Taylor asked.
“Everything’s fine. He gave me a cream to rub around the edges. Should help with the inflammation,” Reid explained.
Oolan escorted them to the doorway leading out into the rain, feigning a smile as he waved them off, his color slowly shifting to a pale pink. The Nerokan gave the doctor a savage push, sending him crashing aside, as the lizard-like alien prepared to usher them out into the rain, his maw contorted in what could only be a sneer.
Without even thinking, Marcus drew his sidearm and shot the hulking guard through the head. The expression of shock on the enforcer’s face was almost comic as he slumped heavily to the floor, collapsing in a pool of blood. Marcus felt nothing. No remorse. He wasn’t the same Marcus anymore.
Before his astonished companions had a chance to react, he fired again, then again, emptying his clip into the Nerokan’s skull. Reid and Taylor just stood there, unable to utter a single word.
Oolan’s color shifted to a bright yellow as he too refused to move, lying crumpled awkwardly next to his former jailor, shifting his gaze between the corpse on the floor and Marcus’ face, waiting in resignation.
Marcus finally broke the silence.
“You wanna get out of here?” he asked the astonished doctor, his voice completely neutral, devoid of empathy.
Oolan didn’t seem to know how to reply, but his color shifted to a mix of orange and brownish hues.
“Off this shithole of a planet?” Marcus reiterated.
“Marcus-” Reid began, but Marcus raised a hand to silence him.
“We’re leaving in a few hours and there’s room for one more,” he explained to the prone doctor.
“Iii aaam hooonooored,” Oolan finally said. “Buuut myyy thiiings?”
“Guys, give him a hand,” Marcus ordered.
“What are you doing, Marcus?” Taylor hissed.
“Too many good people have died. I’m saving one. If anyone has a problem with it, they can kiss my ass!” Marcus snarled. “Now grab as much stuff as you can carry.”
With Oolan telling them what might be of most use, they raided the operating room for whatever they could carry. They emptied the medicine cabinets, grabbed surgical tools and the medical scanner. Marcus even managed to fill a crate with all manner of cybernetic gear.
“We have to go,” Taylor prompted after a few minutes. “The ship will be ready soon and who knows what sort of attention this little… scene might have drawn.”
Marcus nodded his approval, and together they escorted Oolan out into the rain, free from his indentured servitude.
Chapter 57
“We’re not exactly running a charity here,” Captain Mitchell sighed upon their return, “but then again, a proper surgeon on our crew, particularly an alien one, could come in handy, no offense Doc. Do you trust him?”
Marcus looked over to where the Telorian doctor stood uneasily in the rain, too shy to venture closer.
“I do,” Marcus answered.
“Fine. He’s in,” Mitchell proclaimed, waving the awkward doctor in from the rain. “Besides, it’s a kick in the teeth for whomever he belonged too, and something tells me they had it coming.”
Marcus forced a smile.
“I only hope you got away clean,” Captain Mitchell added. “We’ve got enough heat on us as it is.”
Oolan was drawing curious stares from the rest of the exhausted crew, particularly from the pale-skinned Dr. Gehringer, who was ecstatic to have such a marvelous and exotic creature in their midst. Seizing his handheld scanner and datapad, he seemed to completely forget the cold, wet, sleepless night he’d endured, examining their new crewmember with as much tact as they’d come to expect. Oolan’s hide changed to a shade of pale blue as he followed the crazed antics of the socially-inept scientist.
“Where’s Dasaan?” Taylor asked, noticing that the dark-skinned Ganyatti was nowhere in sight.
“He’s gone off to meet Lishan. Hopefully he can help us escape.” Mitchell muttered. “He should be back any time now, as long as-”
The sudden appearance of a sleek, silvery vehicle hovering over the entrance to the underpass cut him off, its engines exuding a steady high-pitched whine as it began to descend.
“Take cover!” Captain Mitchell yelled, sending the crew diving for their weapons.
The clones waved the support staff into the scanty cover available and assumed kneeling stances as they prepared for the worst.
For all they knew, Dass’an could have been compromised, or worse… he could have betrayed their location to Kesha Kun for promise of a hefty reward.
The two derelicts – a shabby discolored Nerokan drunk and a decrepit Banthalo crone – kicked up quite a fuss as they fell out of their cargo container, snat
ching at their few possessions before scuttling hurriedly away from the underpass.
Captain Mitchell was relieved when the vehicle touched down and a smiling Dasaan emerged from a gull-wing door, followed closely by Lishan, who was without his usual entourage of Nerokan bodyguards.
“Stand down!” the captain yelled as he hurried out to greet them. “Lishan! I didn’t expect you to show up in person.”
“I will not ssstop long. I have businessss to attend to. I came only to warn you,” Lishan replied.
“Warn us?”
“Father has had the docking clampsss on your vessel locked, and isss currently gathering hisss forcesss. Your asssault on his compound last night decccimated hisss personal guard, and bringing the Black Arm to heel alwaysss takesss time, but you must make haste.”
“How can we get out if the ship is locked down?” asked Mitchell.
“With the accessss code to the docking clampsss I have brought you,” Lishan revealed, his voice unmistakably mischievous.
“Why are you doing all this?” Marcus demanded, unable to understand why Lishan would betray his own father for a handful of strangers.
“Long ago, our people were not asss they are now. We were a proud and compassssionate race, free from the corruption which now dominatesss every facccet of our exxxissstenccce. The Ssshrouded Kinssship would sssee that time returned. For thisss reason, I have pledged myself to their cause,” Lishan explained. “It is sssomething my father will never comprehend, and would probably have me exxxecuted for if he were to dissscover it.”
“Looks like you have your work cut out for you,” Taz scoffed.
“You are correct. The challenge we faccce is not a sssmall one, though that doesss not mean it lacksss merit. Now go, you mussst hurry.”
“You heard the man,” prompted Captain Mitchell. “Gather your gear. We’re moving out in five!”
Lishan prepared to leave, returning to his hovercraft.
“Lishan,” the captain stopped him. “Thank you… for everything.”
Lishan looked back over his shoulder and gave him a brief nod before remounting his vehicle and speeding on his way.
* * * * *
Kesha Kun’s surviving troops had formed up in the throne room. Over a hundred men, dressed in blackened battle gear and wielding laser rifles, stood ready for inspection while their lord paced back and forth in front of them, awaiting the arrival of his second born.
An escort of four heavily-armed Nerokan bodyguards preceded the arrival of Osha Kun, who came bursting into the hall in a sweep of robes.
“Where isss hisss body?” the new heir to the Dark Sun Empire shouted. “Where isss my brother?”
Osha Kun’s appearance was much the same as his older brother’s had been, save for his mask, and a stocky build which was uncommon among his race. His was a plain porcelain mask, painted black and embedded with ocular enhancements that glowed a bright red.
“Removed. There will be time to tend to it later,” Kesha Kun told him. “Have you done as I asssked?”
“I have, Father. They are awaiting our arrival.”
“And the tracking device?”
“Already inssstalled. If they do manage to get past my guardsss and break the lock, we ssshall be able to follow their every move.”
Kesha Kun paused in his pacing and turned to admire his new heir.
“Well done, my ssson. Essscort the men to the ssshipyard and recapture the prisonersss.”
“Yesss, Father. I will do asss you command,” Osha Kun proclaimed, falling to his knees in a sign of fealty.
“I will hear their ssscreams before thiss day isss at an end,” Kesha Kun decreed before storming out of the hall.
A few moments later, the large docking hatch on the roof of the domed palace slid open and four heavily armed transport vehicles emerged, climbing into the misty sky and racing towards Sheijan.
* * * * *
“Hurry!” Mitchell urged as they neared the shipyards.
The crew had been trotting through the rainy streets for the better part of an hour now, and many among them were getting fatigued, although, to Marcus’ surprise, Oolan was able to move not only with great endurance, but also great speed when he had to.
The fenced-off compound where the Tengri lay berthed came into view, the ramp leading up to its open gates empty in the drizzle.
“Where are the guards?” Marcus asked as they slowed down to catch their breath.
“Lishan said his father was still assembling his men,” Mitchell panted.
“Yes, but there were two of those Nerokans stationed out front when last time we came. Now they’re gone.”
“I’ve got an itch,” Reid added. “This doesn’t smell right.”
“I agree,” the captain concurred. “Everyone else waits here. Marcus, take Reid, Taz and Jago, go secure the yard.”
“Yes, Sir,” they bellowed in unison.
Jago ran on in ahead of the others, but slightly slower than usual, apparently practicing what he thought was a fair degree of caution after Marcus’ reprimand. Marcus lead Taz and Reid down the short concourse that lead between the walled-off yards and compounds to the bay where the Tengri stood, while the captain and Taylor shepherded the support staff back around the nearest corner. The three clones stalked quickly and quietly up the gently-sloping ramp, which ended in a wide gateway where the Nerokan guards had stood only two days prior.
Reid stopped just short of the tall fence, kneeling down behind an empty barrel, prepping his rifle for combat. Taz and Marcus each stopped on opposite sides of the opening, their backs flat against the metal paneling of the wall, checking to see if the path ahead was clear, ready to provide covering fire if the need arose.
Inside, the Tengri’s bulky form lay in a spidery scaffold of extruded metal beams, dwarfing the handful of small storage shacks and workshops that huddled around the external wall of the yard, an ordered detritus of cabling, sheet metal, tools and containers strewn against their inner walls. Marcus couldn’t see the ship’s aft or engines from where he stood, but the general impression of the yard was that of a job completed.
For a long moment, the only movement was Jago’s hesitant charge, which, in the absence of foes, had deteriorated into a stubborn trot. Just as the huge clone reached the center of the yard and started to slow down, a sudden burst of blue energy blew clear across the platform, hitting Jago square in the chest, but doing little to slow his momentum.
The behemoth howled as he changed course, diving to the left to charge towards the source of the blast. Taz lent him covering fire, aiming towards a small grouping of crates, from behind which a pair of Nerokan guards targeted Jago with their laser rifles. Jago roared, gaining speed. It was a good two seconds before his assailants realized the need to fire their stun rays again.
“Reid, move up!” Marcus shouted, waving him forward.
Jago was hit once more. He stumbled momentarily as his legs stiffened but was able to regain his pace, throwing himself into the air over the crates and came crashing down on his attackers.
One of them managed to escape by diving out into the open, giving Taz and Marcus the opportunity to send a hail of projectiles in his direction. The sound of bullets ricocheting off metal rang through the air as the desperate Nerokan ran for cover.
Meanwhile, Jago rose from up behind the crates, holding his assailant by the neck, squeezing and forcing the reptilian humanoid’s scaled head to one side. Jago growled like an animal, applying as much pressure as his bulking muscles allowed until he finally heard the distinct crack as his attacker’s neck snapped in half.
Reid came running up to the entrance, switching places with Taz, who ducked into the yard to assist Jago.
“How many?” Reid asked, shouldering his long rifle and peering through the gateway.
“I counted two,” replied Marcus. “The Ape got one, but the other’s still on the loose.”
It wasn’t long before Taz was dodging laser blasts coming from the oth
er side of the Tengri. The missing Nerokan had taken cover behind the docking clamps – a heavy-looking block of machinery somehow tangled up in the network of struts that made up the ship’s cradle – and was making use of the open ground to keep the scout pinned down.
It didn’t take Reid long to spot him, and within seconds the sniper had him in his crosshairs, but the heavy rifle was a difficult weapon to fire while standing and his aim kept wavering. Meanwhile, the Nerokan’s shots were coming in awfully close and Taz, crouched behind a roll of cabling much smaller than he was, was hard pressed to keep out of harm’s way.
Marcus saw what was happening, and knew that the only way to give Taz a chance was to provide a distraction. He took a deep breath, hefted his carbine, and ran straight into the yard, yelling and firing as he went.
The remaining Nerokan spotted him immediately and popped up out of cover, getting ready to send a searing bolt of energy into the running clone, when Reid’s high-caliber round pierced his skull.
“Clear!” Reid called on the comms as Marcus skidded to a halt beside a grinning Taz.
Without wasting a second, Captain Mitchell began barking orders for everyone to get aboard the ship as fast as possible.
Taz helped Jago up the Tengri’s docking ramp while Marcus and Reid ran to the shipyard’s gate to cover the rest of the crew as they hurried on board.
“Straaange deeesiiign,” Oolan proclaimed as he halted in the gateway, taking in the ship’s angular, blocky shape.
“You have to hurry, please!” Marcus rushed him, urging him up the ramp.
As soon as they were all aboard, Mitchell closed the docking ramp and made straight for the bridge, where Raven and the rest of the bridge crew were busy trying to figure out how to disengage the docking clamps.
“Captain, the sequence!” she demanded as soon as he arrived, gesturing to her console.
Marcus burst onto the bridge right behind Mitchell and ran to the front of the chamber, staring out of the forward viewscreen to make sure that Kesha Kun’s forces were nowhere in sight.
Merillian: 2 (Locus Origin) Page 39