by Gun Brooke
"It's worse than I imagined," Kellen muttered next to her. "The entrance to the vault is in the north corner of the barn."
"It's not completely burned down, but close."
Kellen nodded. "There's where the villa used to be." She pointed slightly to the right of the barn.
"Oh, my God, Kellen. There's absolutely nothing left of it." Rae put her hand on her wife's lower back for a moment as they kept walking. "I'm sorry, darling."
Kellen looked around, her pain evident in her eyes, but didn't reply.
They walked around the rubble, about five hundred yards from the forest line across the field. Rae didn't notice any movements there to suggest enemy presence but knew that could change quickly.
"In here." Kellen pointed. "We might need to blast our way through to save time. If the hatch to the vault is intact, a plasma-pulse weapon won't damage it."
"Lieutenant." Rae motioned for Owena to join her. "On my mark." She raised her weapon. "Now."
Simultaneously, two plasma beams met and pierced the rubble, turning it into fine dust. When a tunnel began to form, Rae ordered Leanne and one of the other pilots to join in. Slowly the tunnel expanded until Rae thought she could see the floor through the smoke and dust.
"Is it big enough?" she asked Kellen. "We need to get you in there, and I'll be right behind you. Once you get the hatch open, we'll form a chain and pass the documents for safe storage in the casings over there. Captain de Vies, Lieutenant Grey, and I are the only ones privy to the codes once they're locked."
She motioned toward a rectangular chest containing narrow titanium-carbide rods. "Now, here are the hydraulic props. You press this sensor and one prop will hold up several tons. Put them wherever you think best, and I'll do the same. Lieutenant, once I'm inside, you send in two crew members to reinforce the tunnel. We can't afford to be trapped, and we can't waste time."
"I understand, Commodore." Owena nodded and walked over to the crew.
"You ready?" Rae rifled Kellen a sharp glance.
Kellen nodded and approached the newly formed tunnel. She grabbed a piece of wood for leverage, almost toppling over when it fell to pieces beneath her hands. The next one held her weight, and she disappeared into the rubble.
Rae bent down and used the same beam to haul herself into the stack of wood. She practically welded a tunnel by firing the plasma-pulse sidearm, and the stinging, sour odor where plasma had hit the half-burned rubble was almost more than she could bear. Coughing, she crawled farther inside, installing hydraulic props where needed. She was pleased to see that Kellen had placed hers at the most critical points already.
It was reassuring to see the soles of Kellen's boots appear in front of her. Rae stopped when she noticed Kellen wasn't moving forward anymore.
"What's wrong?"
"Two large planks are crossing the tunnel. We have to find a way to move them so we can reach the vault." Kellen looked back over her shoulder. "Hand me your weapon."
Hesitating for only a second, Rae unlocked the clasp and gave her plasma-pulse weapon to Kellen, who felt across the first plank, obviously judging where to aim the laser beam. "Cover your eyes," she warned. "We're a bit too close for this."
Hiding her face in the crease of her arm, Rae listened to the crackling noise when the plasma pulse singed through the wood. Chips of wood rained over her, a few of them landing on her head. Feeling their heat, Rae groaned and quickly brushed them off before her hair went up in flames. Then Kellen moved a few feet forward. Rae was about to follow when Kellen's voice stopped her.
"Wait!" A pause. Rae heard a cry, immediately followed by a strange crack, followed by a thud. Rae disregarded Kellen's words and crawled forward. Kellen was breathing heavily, resting her head on her outstretched left arm.
"What happened?" Rae found the tunnel wide enough for her to slide up next to Kellen.
"I had to divide the second beam with as little force as possible." Kellen's voice was strained. "I'm sorry. It's been a while."
With no idea what Kellen was talking about, Rae examined the second wooden board, now broken in two. She noticed traces of blood where it had split into jagged edges. Finally understanding, Rae reached for Kellen's right hand. The skin on her knuckles had torn from the force she had used to break the plank.
"You crazy woman," Rae whispered, her heart sick at the pain. Forcing herself to focus, she holstered the weapon and reached into her side pocket for a temporary bandage. "We can't have you bleeding all over the evidence." She taped the skin together. "Ensign S'hos sure has his work cut out for him with you on this trip," she quipped, feeling her smile become rigid.
"As I said, it's been a while, and I didn't have enough space to do it right." Kellen rolled over on her stomach and proceeded forward. "I see the hatch. It looks burned, but we should be able to open it if we can free it from the debris."
They crawled up to the hatch and found several half-burned planks obstructing one corner.
"My turn," Rae said, and aimed the plasma-pulse weapon toward the debris. "Firing!" A hissing sound was followed by a foreboding screech when the rubble began to shift. "Take cover!" Rae clasped her arms around her head, expecting the burnt planks to fall on top of her any second. When this didn't happen, she looked up and saw a large pole jammed into the ruins above her. She reached for more hydraulic props and put them in place to secure the area around them. "Quickly now, Kellen. Move up to the hatch."
Kellen slipped past her, digging her elbows into the ground to push herself forward. Rae thought for a fleeting moment of the injuries Kellen had sustained to her arms on the Liberty and wondered if all this crawling aggravated them.
Kellen reached the hatch, brushed aside the dust, and uncovered a black square made of a shiny metal alloy. Rae watched her press her palm against it and heard a soft hum as it slid aside into the floor. Punching in a long code and using her handprint again, Kellen jumped back when the hatch began to move. A gush of musty air caused dust to swirl around them and made Rae cough. Sliding in the opposite direction from the smaller hatch, the door disappeared inside a casing in the floor. Kellen reached inside and flipped a switch, turning on a greenish light. "We can go in now."
"All right. Hang on for a moment." Rae engaged her communicator. "Jacelon to Grey. What's the situation out there?"
"Everything's quiet. The guards at the outer perimeter don't have anything to report."
"Good. You can begin to form the chain now."
"Yes, Commodore. Is the hatch open?"
"Yes. We're going in now. Be careful crawling inside. Leave a meter between each member of the chain. This pile of rubble is unstable. Install more hydraulic props before you bring us more of the casings."
"Understood."
Kellen had begun to ease into the opening and now disappeared out of sight. Rae crawled forward, sliding her legs over the edge, only to jerk in surprise when familiar hands took hold of her.
"You're on a steep and very narrow staircase, with no railings. Be careful walking down. It's sixteen steps."
"All right. Let's go."
Kellen hadn't exaggerated. The staircase was hard to descend. Scraping her hands on the walls when she tried to maintain her balance, Rae peered toward the green lights. When she reached the floor, she looked around in amazement.
Bookshelves and folder cabinets covered three of the walls. On the far wall a computer blinked on standby, and in the middle of the floor stood a table, cluttered with maps and blueprints.
"You know what we need and where it is."
"Yes. This way." Kellen motioned toward the far wall. "If you'll make backup copies of what's in the computer, I'll start compiling what hard copies we need to bring."
Not bothered by Kellen's commanding tone, Rae sat down on the metal stool in front of the computer console and found herself staring at a completely alien keyboard. "Eh, Kellen. I'm sorry, but I don't know where to begin."
"Oh, I forgot." Kellen leaned over her and pressed two buttons. "Voi
ce recognition—Kellen-Red-Red-Zero-Four. Allow new user.
Language: Premoni. Confirm." She pressed a few more buttons. "It'll obey your commands now."
"Thank you." Impressed to see such elaborate technology, Rae began to download the entire contents of the hard drive on discs she had brought with her. Each disk could hold 500 exabytes of data, so it would take a while to download it all.
When she confirmed that the data stream was uninterrupted, she got up and walked over to Kellen, who moved quickly from one cabinet to another, hauling folders out and tossing them on the large table.
"Commodore? Everything okay?" A black ponytail swung down like a grackle's wing from the opening in the ceiling as Owena Grey hung over the edge.
"Yes, send down some more of the casings so we can pack the hard-copy documents."
"Aye, ma'am."
Soon black leatherlike casings landed at the bottom of the stairs, and Rae began to shove documents into them, not bothering to sort anything. She would have plenty of time to do that later. As soon as one casing was full, she climbed halfway up the steep stairway and gave it to Owena, who sent it back through the chain of people waiting in the makeshift tunnel.
When she checked the computer and exchanged the discs, Rae knew it would be at least another fifteen minutes before they had everything they needed. In the meantime, Kellen had begun to unfold large rolls of maps that sat in baskets by one of the shelves. "Here's everything from specs and blueprints of the Onotharian fleet to the blueprints of Ambassador M'Ekar's palace. My father collected these during the second year of the occupation, when we were still living underground."
"Underground? Do you mean literally?"
"Yes. Vast tunnels run beneath our capital. It's a Gantharian tradition, you could say. Every one of our children's fairy tales has a secret tunnel in it, or other secret passages. In fact, M'Ekar's palace has four official entrances and sixteen secret ones."
"You're kidding."
Kellen gave a rare broad smile. "I'm not."
Rae laughed, nudging her with her hip. "We're almost done. One more disc and we can leave."
Rae watched Kellen zip up the last of the maps and check to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. She walked back through the room, her steps slower and a serious expression on her face. "Rae?"
"Yes? What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Not really. I know we don't have much space aboard the assault craft, but can we fill up one more casing of documents? It has nothing to do with obtaining evidence to bring down the Onotharians..." Kellen's voice had a catch in it, and she squeezed her eyelids shut tightly, as if to keep tears from forming.
"What is it?" Rae walked closer.
"My father stored a book that's been with our family for generations as Protectors of the Realm. It lists not only our family and the duties we've performed, but also all the other Protector families and what their duties have been."
Gently squeezing Kellen's arm, Rae could feel her wife's quickening pulse. "Bring it. I think, apart from it being important to you and Armeo personally, we're going to need it to validate what we find. Here's the last casing..."
A deafening explosion shook the ground, making the green-tinted light go out for a few minutes.
"Kellen!"
"Here, I'm fine. The light will come back on."
True to Kellen's words, the lamps began to shimmer, but flickered, as if they would go out at the slightest disturbance. Rae reached to her belt, ripped her flashlight out, and stuck it into her breast pocket to have it ready.
"Lieutenant Grey?" she called up the stairs. "Report!"
No reply. Reaching for her communicator, she hailed the lieutenant without result. A loud beep from the computer made them jump. "I'll get the last disc." Kellen rushed over to the small box next to the computer and ejected the disc. Placing it with the others in the special bag Rae had brought, she snapped it shut. "Done. We have to get out of here."
Rae began up the stairs, using her flashlight to examine the exit. What she saw stopped her cold. "Damn!" She looked down at Kellen's pale face. "The tunnel has collapsed. The hatch is completely blocked by debris." She ran a hand over her face and sat down on one of the narrow steps. "There's no way out."
Owena emerged from the tunnel with the last of the casings, only to find a weapon pressed against the back of her neck before she had a chance to rise to her feet.
"Careful...Lieutenant, is it?" a male voice snarled in her ear. "No hasty movements or my trigger finger won't hesitate. Understood?" The weapon pressed painfully at the base of her skull.
"Yes." Owena's voice was cold, noncommittal.
"Good. Get up. Slowly."
Owena rose, quickly assessing the situation. Out of nowhere, Onotharian men and women dressed in black jumpsuits under long leather coats, holding impressive high-energy rifles, had appeared and now held the crew at gunpoint. Leanne was standing only a few feet away, still clutching a document casing, her green eyes aflame.
"M'Gared, go ahead. Time to seal this entrance for good."
Owena took the chance to turn her head and look at the man behind her who was giving orders. Tall, with black hair, his complexion deeply tanned, he looked striking where he stood, the wind blowing his long leather coat around him like a cloak.
M'Gared, a tiny woman with an unpleasant smile, approached the entrance to the tunnel, a large, long weapon steadily placed on her shoulder.
"No, don't," one of the young ensigns from the Freedom called out.
M'Gared only laughed and winked at the man behind Owena before she fired. A roaring sound filled the area when the missile hit the tunnel. Its impact threw debris up into the air for a few seconds before it came crashing down when the large pile of rubble collapsed.
Owena felt rage and remorse. Acting on impulse, but also trying to take advantage of the element of surprise, she kicked the weapon out of M'Gared's grip. Her hands gripped the trigger mechanism and she twirled, aiming it straight at the man who ordered the destruction.
"I don't think so," the Onotharian smirked, having dragged Leanne, the closest SC soldier, in front of him. He pressed his sidearm hard enough to Leanne's temple to bruise her, the weapon humming ominously. "That was a very foolish thing to do, Lieutenant. Drop the weapon."
Owena felt someone poke her in the back and she kicked backward, at the same time throwing the high-energy rifle to the ground. At the sight of the petite woman she felt as if her heart would explode in her chest. Leanne's eyes burned with rage, and she did not give the Onotharian man an easy time. Fighting him, she was in danger of being killed even if Owena had obeyed his command. Owena tried to make eye contact with her lover, wanting to convey her thoughts without giving M'Aldovar more leverage. If he knew they were more to each other than mere colleagues, he'd have one more advantage.
Leanne stared at her, and Owena could see the tall man was almost strangling her. "That's it," the Onotharian said. "No need to get all feisty, now is there?" He pushed her away so quickly, Leanne fell to the ground on all fours.
Owena wanted to lift her up but stood her ground, biting hard into the tip of her tongue. Get up and get out of the way, Leanne. Her eyes went to the collapsed tunnel, and a long shudder ran down her back. As far as she knew, Kellen and the commodore had been on their way out as well. Had they been in the tunnel when the missile hit? Dead or alive, the two women were trapped inside.
"So, Lieutenant, I think we have somewhat of an intergalactic incident here. Don't you agree?" The man behind her swung her around by the shoulder.
Without thinking, Owena grabbed his hand and squeezed his wrists, enjoying his grimace of pain before he raised his weapon and pressed it against her temple, his face less than an inch from hers.
"Don't be a fool." The man spat on her. "What's your name, lady warrior?"
"Lieutenant Owena Grey of the Supreme Constellations Naval Service. Serial number one-six-five-alpha-five-alpha." Owena wiped his saliva from her face with a disdainful look.
"How correct of you, Lieutenant. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Trax M'Aldovar, Commander of the Onotharian Secret Service."
"I'm not surprised," Owena growled, the pain from the weapon making her furious. "You certainly dress the part." M'Aldovar didn't respond to her mockery. "My team will collect the information you've stolen. An Onotharian court of law will determine your fate. You have been informed."
Owena shook her head, looking at M'Aldovar with something similar to pity. "You will not succeed in your mission, Commander."
He gave her a violent shove as he brushed by her. Pleased to have rattled the Onotharian enough for him to forget to search her, Owena reached the small communication device in her pocket and pressed her thumbprint on the sensor. She hoped her hands weren't so dirty that the device couldn't scan her correctly. They needed to get a distress call to Captain de Vies.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
One of the Onotharians shoved a high-energy rifle painfully into Owena's lower back. She cursed under her breath as she joined the rest of the team outside the pile of rubble. Glancing at Leanne, Owena felt red-hot anger erupt in her chest when she saw a red swelling on her lover's right cheekbone.
Ensign S'hos leaned closer. "Ma'am, they came out of nowhere. We had no readings on our sensors to suggest any cloaked vessels."
Farther away, behind the burned-down barn, Owena saw four small ships hover just above the ground. Equipped with blue reflector lights, they moved ominously in small circles. She had never come across any intelligence that described small Onotharian ships with cloaking ability.
"Listen up!" The man with the plasma-pulse weapon raised his voice. "Begin walking to the ships in groups of three."
"Where are you taking us?" Owena demanded.
"Shut up." The cool and emotionless voice was contradicted by another painful shove of the weapon. "Move."
Knowing they had little choice, Owena slipped her hand into her pocket and pressed her thumb against the sensor again. They needed air support now, before the Onotharians had herded them into the ships. Then a rescue attempt might be too late.