Siege of Praetar (Tales of a Dying Star Book 1)

by David Kristoph

  When the first row was ten steps into the room they began shooting.

  Everyone jolted back to motion. The passengers ran in all directions. One peacekeeper barked an order, and the others fell prone to return fire. They shot wildly then, no longer caring if they struck civilians.

  The electroids fired back steadily and indiscriminately. The ones without guns loped forward, swinging at the civilians with their clubs. The screams of terror turned to screams of pain, and soon the floor was covered with dirty, bloodied bodies. The crunch of metal on flesh made Bruno’s stomach lurch.

  Dok scrambled back to the platform, falling behind the thick table leg. He looked pleased with himself, smiling widely at the group.

  A few of the electroids fired at the platform, forcing Bruno back below the table. It jerked as beams struck it, and the smell of burning wood filled the air. “Dok, why are they shooting at us?”

  “Programmed. Only desert dwellers… allies.” His smile faded.

  Bruno’s head ached. The electroids were built for Akonai. Dok had programmed them to only recognize the desert-garbed men as allies; everyone else would be a target. Which was why they were killing everything in sight.

  “Well get back there and turn them off, Dok.”

  “Can’t turn off, not for ten minutes. Programmed that way. Fail-safe. Akonai’s instructions…”

  Bruno stared, his mouth half open. They didn’t have ten minutes. In ten minutes the electroids would wipe out the peacekeepers and everyone else in the Station. Including him.

  For a moment he considered striking the man, but he cowered like a child, mumbling to himself. Instead Bruno looked over the table. Everywhere men were dead or dying. The only Melisao remaining were by the front door, but they were already beginning to retreat. Many of the civilians dropped to the ground to pretend to be dead, but the electroids saw them trembling and savaged them until they were still. There wasn’t much time.

  “I’m going to run to the courtyard with Rief and Dok,” Bruno said. The engineer would be useless on the platform, but would be an extra target running beside Bruno. He mustered as much authority as he could into his voice. “The rest of you stay here and cover us. Then follow once we’re through. Then we’ll escape in the factory cart.”

  It wasn’t the best plan, but to his relief they all nodded. He turned back to face the door. I can reach it in ten seconds, he thought. He would be exposed, but it was better than sitting at the platform waiting to die. He felt a surge of hope.

  He took a deep breath, yelled something, and lumbered away from cover.

  Gunfire sounded behind him as the others returned fire. He felt like a fool bouncing down the steps, certain he would be shot at any moment. But then Rief appeared by his side, and he heard Dok mumbling behind him. Rief took the lead as they reached the door. Only then did green beams begin to streak past them. They darted through the door into the open air.

  The sky was a dark yellow, the stars obscured by hazy clouds. The courtyard was illuminated by the roof lights. Bodies scattered the ground like garbage. There was a burnt smell in the air, smokey and metallic. One entire wall was missing, to the left. The Station was crumbling.

  He saw the cart, still in the same place as before. But his eyes slid past it, to the largest object in the courtyard. A new idea came to him, and in the fervor of the moment it seemed like the best idea he’d ever had.

  His legs ached as he ran to the freighter. Its engines still idled. The cockpit was on the top, accessed by ladder, so Bruno reached up and climbed. Each rung seemed distant, every step requiring all of his effort. The others waited below him; there was no way for them to climb around.

  Gun blasts sounded again, louder this time. He was dimly aware of movement at the chamber door. Loddac screamed something below him, crying out in pain. Dok was counting to himself while the others yelled at Bruno.

  Finally he pulled himself over the top and into the cockpit. It was a single room, with three seats facing the instruments and window. Bruno climbed into the first seat, panting heavily. Rief came next, scrambling over his stomach to get inside. Then Dok’s head appeared, counting each rung as he climbed.

  He frowned down at him. Everything was Dok’s fault. The cart full of peacekeepers, the electroids that attacked everyone and couldn’t be disabled. All of it could have been avoided. He was at the cockpit door, looking around as if unsure how to get past Bruno. He began mumbling, and looked to him for an answer.

  Bruno snarled and slammed the door closed.

  Dok looked through the window, confused. He didn’t understand.

  I shouldn’t have relied on someone so stupid, Bruno thought, pulling the harness over his shoulders. He had to loosen the straps as far as they allowed, and even then they just barely clicked together over his girth. The cockpit came to life with colored lights and a purring noise as he pressed a few buttons. Dok programmed the freighters to be as simple as possible, so untrained civilians could fly them. The route was already set, he need only turn off two safety systems and begin the auto launch sequence.

  Others were at the door then, the two guards whose names Bruno didn’t know. They shoved Dok back to the ground, and rapped on the window. He couldn’t hear what they said, but their faces were afraid. The freighter shook, vibrating their image through the window. One fell as a green beam cut through him, but the other continued to yell at Bruno.

  Pistons beneath the ship buzzed and pushed, tilting the freighter backwards. The guard held on for as long as he could, but eventually slid down the diagonal ship to the ground. The electroids poured from the chamber, spreading out and taking cover. Bruno watched as the humans in the courtyard were surrounded, flanked, and killed.

  When the ship was vertical the pistons stopped with a bang. The back of the cockpit was now the floor, their seats facing the yellow sky. Blood rushed to Bruno’s head. He glanced sideways at Rief. Was something wrong? Why had the ship not launched? The electroids stood very still, a silent, shiny audience.

  He was unprepared for the explosion. The seat bounced roughly into his head. His teeth chattered, and he tasted blood. Smoke filled the side windows, obscuring their view. But the ship remained planted on the ground. Bruno didn’t know what was happening but in that moment he thought he was going to die.

  Then something pulled the smoke downward, like a massive vacuum. His side window cleared, and the electroids were much smaller than before. It took him a long time to realize they were in the air. The ship soared. Rief’s eyes were closed, and he held onto his shoulder straps with both hands. Bruno allowed himself to smile.

  He pressed his face to the window but was unable to see the Station below them. That was probably for the best. He’d spent his life building it up, collecting power and resources around him. He was not sure how much of it was left, but it couldn’t have been much.

  Bruno had never left Praetar; he was unaccustomed to spaceflight. The trip was not bad, besides the rattling that wouldn’t stop. Rief vomited all over himself, which put Bruno into a fit of laughter. Then his own stomach lurched, but thankfully held strong. For once he was glad to have skipped his meal.

  The rattling relented, and soon their ride was smooth. Rief stared off to his right. Bruno leaned forward against his straps and realized they could see their system’s star, Saria. On Praetar’s surface it looked yellowish, but now he could see that was wrong. The star was red. He couldn’t look in its direction very long. He turned away and blinked, the afterimage flickering across his vision. Rief continued to stare, completely transfixed.

  There was a kick as a secondary engine came to life, and the freighter began to turn. The planet heaved in Bruno’s window, and he could see the line where day changed to night. It was incredible how much there was to see up here.

  The engine abruptly stopped. The straps at the end of Rief’s harness now floated, weightless. They made it. The blockade really must have been lifted.

  The ship would orbit to the opposite side of P
raetar before roaring back to life to begin the transfer to Oasis. Bruno looked around the small space. The cockpit had no long-range facilities: no kitchen or toilet. The freighter was only made to ferry goods from the planet’s surface to long-range ships in orbit, and flying to Oasis would push its limits. But it would get there, if Dok could be trusted.

  From his pocket Bruno pulled the Melisao accounting device. It still showed his balance in big, blocky numbers. He wondered how much things would cost on the space station.

  He thought he could begin his business anew, if the Empire’s grip wasn’t too strong. He was certain there would be a market for illicit goods and services there. Deep down all men were the same, whether their eyes were blue or brown.

  Rief pulled his gaze from the window now that the star was out of view.

  Bruno looked back at his account balance, and began to doubt if it was enough. Bribes to forge credentials, sleeping quarters, other arrangements. It would be expensive. The longer he stared the smaller his balance seemed. He would need loyal men, and right now Rief was the only one he had, but if the costs were too high he may be better off starting alone.

  He fingered the knife on his hip.

  Rief’s eyes were closed, his harness still strapped. He rested his head back against the seat, exposing his neck. It would be quick. Rief would do the same to him, if he had to.

  Bruno’s grip tightened on the blade. He wondered what weightless blood would look like.

  Rief opened his eyes. “Ohh…”

  Bruno followed his gaze.

  On some nights, when the yellow haze cleared enough, stars were visible from Praetar’s surface. There weren’t many, a dozen or so, like pieces of broken glass in the sand. It was a rare enough spectacle that everyone would run outside the Station to look. They would watch for hours, until the haze returned to mar their view.

  But up here, with Saria now hidden behind the planet, Bruno realized how blind they were. For the first time he could truly see.

  There were thousands of stars, millions of them. Everywhere he turned they filled his vision. Most were barely more than pinpricks, but some had size and color, blue or yellow or orange. There was more light than dark. Even spots that seemed empty revealed flecks of light, if he stared long enough.

  A sense of wonder and smallness came over him. He’d been so foolish, thinking only of the options in his own system. This was the true size of the universe. If each of those stars held planets… it was more than his mind could process. How had he ever been content with his tiny plot of dirt on Praetar? Out here Bruno could truly be a king.

  Two stars caught his attention. They flickered in space, brighter than the rest. That’s not right, he thought. Could stars move? These were definitely moving. And growing larger.

  The stars exploded in space, twin bursts of light that threw shadows across the cockpit. His eyes burned from the brightness, and clamped shut. He thought he could see the light through his eyelids.

  Though the light finally faded, it was several heartbeats more before his eyes would open.

  It was as if nothing happened: they were still orbiting above Praetar, and the explosions were gone. Were they mines, placed in orbit to explode on approaching ships? Why had they detonated before reaching them? Was it just a warning?

  Rief looked at him, but he had no answers.

  Bruno squinted out the window. Praetar was hardly discernable, just a black mass splayed out beneath them. The stars were still everywhere. He watched for a long time, but there was nothing else out there he could see.

  “There,” said Rief.

  Bruno followed his finger. At first he saw nothing, but then a shape moved across the stars like a shadow. It would have been invisible, except for the light it blocked. What would cause that phenomenon? Bruno knew little of astronomy.

  Two more flickering stars appeared from the shadow. Bruno realized they were racing toward the freighter.

  “Do something!” he said.

  “What am I supposed to do?” Rief asked.

  “I don’t know, anything.”

  He mashed buttons. The ship shook as the engines fired, pushing them off course. But it was slow, too slow, and the missiles adjusted to follow. Didn’t the freighter have some means of defense? Why didn’t it have weapons?

  Dok, you stupid bastard.

  The missiles struck the freighter, and then the thought was gone.