strongholdrising

by Lisanne Norman

  Kezule, crest rising in anger, stalked off toward the lab. Why was this simple mission turning into one so troublesome?

  “Let her out,” he ordered as soon as he saw the Sholan female standing holding onto the bars of her cage. “I want your word you’ll do nothing to harm my troops,” he said to her in her own language. “I’m giving you your freedom if you cooperate with me. Understand?”

  “Yes, Seniormost,” she stammered, standing back from the bars in shock as one of his warriors aimed at the lock. As the cage door swung open, she grasped hold of the bars with one hand and took a first tentative step out into the room. “I remember you. You helped my mate. Why’re you here, Seniormost?”

  “To rescue you and the children they’ve been holding,” he said. “I need your help. One of them is badly injured. You have a child in stasis, don’t you?”

  “General!” Zhalmo called out from the doorway. “Got another problem. Some of the stasis units have been sabotaged.”

  “My cub!” she whimpered, putting her hands to her face in fear.

  “Continue, Sergeant.”

  “The adults are dead but the child’s unit at the back is untouched. It’s occupied, but large enough for the injured cub if we wake the infant. We’re taking it to the surface now. And we’re getting noises from below, as if the guards and staff are close to digging their way out. Advise we leave immediately, sir, and detonate our charges to be sure of containing them.”

  “Free me and give me a gun before you leave,” said a male Sholan voice from behind him. “I know I’m not going to make it, but I want to take a few of them with me before I go.”

  Kezule spun round. He’d forgotten the male in the cage. Seeing him sitting slumped against the bars, he vividly remembered the last one.

  Eyes glittered feverishly from a face damp with sweat. On his head, dark skin showed where there should have been fur, and he could clearly see the implant devices Zhalmo had mentioned, implants identical to those used on the volunteer Palace guards until his Warriors had been birthed. The devices were surrounded by angry, swollen flesh. Several other wounds on his scalp looked equally infected. No attempt had been made to dress them, nor the wounds that liberally covered the rest of his body.

  “I didn’t want to cooperate,” the male said, with the ghost of a smile as he attempted to sit up.

  “He has seizures,” said the female. “The implant had failed, they said. No point in treating him when he was going to die anyway.”

  “General,” urged Zhalmo. “We must go.”

  Kezule looked at the male, remembering his time with the Sholans. Alone, an exile in time as well as space, when the opportunity to escape had come, he’d taken it. “We’re blowing the exits when we leave,” he said. “There’ll be no escape. The guards below may not make it up to this level.”

  “But if they do, I’ll be here. They won’t escape me,” he said. Groaning, he pulled himself upright by hanging onto the bars.

  Kezule stepped to one side and sliced through the lock with a burst from his gun. The door swung slowly open. Stepping away from the cage, he took the female by the arm, drawing her with him. “I’ll leave a gun and a grenade on the lab bench,” he said. “Good hunting, Sholan.”

  “And to you, General.”

  *

  Their transport was waiting when he got above ground. As he pushed the Sholan female on board, he felt the earth beneath his feet vibrate and heard the dull crump of the charges detonating.

  “Captain Khayikule reports that the Enforcers have emerged from the hospital after questioning Director Schoudu,” said Zhalmo, heading for the rear of the vehicle where the stasis unit and the injured child had been taken. “Guards have been placed outside his room. On the other side of the city, his people are reporting seeing Enforcer vehicles stopping outside the apartments where Director Zhayan lives.”

  “Was Zsiyuk’s body brought up and left for them to find?” he asked tiredly, leaving the Sholan female with one of the officers before following her. “And those of the dead children?”

  “Zsiyuk’s body was placed above ground near the stairwell, and all the dead Sholans were destroyed, sir,” said the young female. “To ash as you specified.”

  Kezule watched Zhalmo as her fingers flew confidently over the stasis unit control panel. The unit had been opened and the infant within was already beginning to wake.

  “Where did you learn those skills? Not from me, I know nothing about stasis technology.”

  She glanced up at him. “Sleep tapes, sir. They gave us access to any we wanted in the days before you came for us.”

  “Ah.” He turned to M’kou, grabbing hold of the seat back as the shuttle took off. “How is he?”

  “I’ve got him stable enough for stasis, sir, but it’ll be touch and go if I don’t get him in within the next few minutes,” his aide said, securing the dressing on the unconscious child’s shoulder.

  “I’m nearly there, M’kou,” she said.

  Out of his depth, Kezule said, “Carry on. I’m going up front. Let me know if he makes it into stasis, M’kou.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  CHAPTER 17

  N’zishok, the same day

  “GENERAL on board,” said Maaz’ih as Kezule, followed by his unit, debarked from their shuttle.

  “General Kezule,” said Maaz’ih, saluting him crisply. “Seniormost Doctor Zayshul is waiting in the sick bay for your patient.”

  “Sergeant,” said Kezule, returning the salute as he stood to one side and watched the grav loader for the stasis unit being rolled into the shuttle. “Have all the Sholans escorted to the sick bay for medical checks. See the adult is allocated suitable quarters and is given what she needs for her infant. And put the cubs next door to her,” he added as an afterthought.

  “Aye, sir.”

  He walked to the wall communicator and switched it on. “Take us out, Captain Zaykkuh. Follow our official flight plan for now. I’ll give you our new heading later. I’ll be in the sick bay if you need me,” he said, flipping it off without waiting for a reply.

  He headed for the grav lift up to the next deck, M’kou following in his wake. He eyed him with a frown. “M’kou, get yourself freshened up, you’re covered in blood. Then debrief the unit leaders for me. Send your report to my quarters. Tomorrow, I want you to mingle, get the feel of our new people, find out their mood.”

  “Understood, General,” said his aide. “General, why’s that child so important to you?”

  *

  “Because he’s the son of my enemies,” he said quietly to Zayshul when she asked him the same question.

  “You can’t know that,” she said, drying her hands.

  “I know he’s Kusac’s son,” he said. “And the son of the Human female, Carrie. I remember their scents. I won’t easily forget how she treated me.”

  She leaned against the sink, watching as the child was transferred from her operating room to an IC bed.

  “Will he survive?” asked Kezule.

  “He’s in no danger now,” she said. “I’ve put a chest drain in and he’s on a drip and a course of anti-infection agents that I know his species can tolerate. The ribs and the lung will heal by themselves but he’ll be sore and uncomfortable for some time. The burn is minor, it’ll heal within a week or two. Just what do you intend to do with these five cubs, Kezule?” She indicated the far side of the room where Zhookah and her friend Ghidd’ah were still examining the Sholans.

  “Use them and the adult female to buy help,” he said. “But not him,” he indicated the small unconscious body. “Him I’ll keep.”

  “What for? To torment and torture him?”

  He looked shocked. “I don’t make war on children!”

  “Then why keep him from his own kind, away from his parents?”

  “He’s never known his own kind, or his parents. They were programmed to be content to serve the Prime Empire. He’ll do well enough here with us.”

  “I’ll no
t be involved in this, Kezule. He should be returned with the others. Have you thought what this could do to our treaty with the Sholans?”

  “I’ve done what you asked of me,” he said, his voice taking on a hard edge. “I dealt with the plot against your Emperor, and protected your treaty by bringing the embarrassing evidence of what the Directorate had done with us. I also left most of my sons and daughters behind to protect the royal family. As for the treaty, both sides need it too much to be affected by this. You keep your part of the bargain, Zayshul. Treat the child as you would a guest. And his collar remains on, same with the others. It only prevents them from stealing our thoughts, nothing more.”

  She nodded reluctantly. “Why do we need help? Who do you intend to buy it from?”

  “The Sholans. You said Kusac is no longer a telepath, that his ability was destroyed by the implant that Chy’qui used on him, didn’t you?”

  “Yes. What of it?”

  “The twenty M’zullians on the Sholan world are being trained by him and the third one who brought me to this time. They haven’t degenerated the way my twenty did, and there have been no deaths during training. I need to know why. I told you, we can’t just put a Warrior caste into Prime society and make it work.”

  “Then what do you intend to do?”

  “The Sholans have no castes, they’re one people. Their Warriors are trained not born. Once we were the same. Your female friends have performed as well as my daughters— better than the civilian males, and they’re not even Warrior caste females.”

  “We aren’t representative of our people. We’ve got no Workers here, Kezule, only Intellectuals with some drone ancestry and your Warriors.”

  “Then we’ll combine the castes we have into one and train those who show promise as Warriors, not try to breed them!”

  “You want Sholans to come here and train us, don’t you?”

  “Only Kusac. I won’t have mind-stealers near me. For his help, they can have these children, and the adult female.”

  “You’re mad. After what Chy’qui and J’koshuk did to him, there’s no way he’d come!”

  “Oh, he’ll come,” said Kezule softly. “For several reasons. I’ve seen Sholans who’ve been entertained by the likes of J’koshuk return voluntarily to captivity after they’d been rescued by their own people. The pain twists their natures. It becomes like a drug that they can’t live without. And if that isn’t enough, I know how to make him come to us, and how to keep him. His son is only part of it, Zayshul.”

  the N’zishok, next day, Zhal-Nylam, 6th day (September)

  Next morning, after she’d breakfasted, Zayshul left Kezule debriefing M’kou and went to call on the Sholan female and the cubs.

  As soon as she entered, the cubs stopped what they were doing and got to their feet, heads bowed, looking at the ground. The female, feeding her infant with the milk they’d managed to synthesize the night before, stood more slowly, obviously ill at ease.

  “Seniormost,” she said as her cub began to mewl hungrily.

  “Please, sit down, all of you,” she said, going over to the cubs. “Finish feeding your infant.” Bending down, she put the box she was carrying on the floor and opened it before getting up. “They’re yours,” she said, gesturing to the box. “Toys for you to play with. Go on,” she urged when they didn’t move. “Have a look at them.”

  “They don’t know what toys are, Seniormost,” said the female quietly as she sat down again. “They’ve never played before, only studied.”

  Tight-lipped, Zayshul went to the door and spoke to someone outside then returned. “I don’t know your names,” she said to the adult. “I’m Doctor Zayshul.”

  “I’m Rraelga, and this is N’Yua, my daughter,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough, Seniormost Doctor, for giving me back my cub.”

  “Please, don’t use the title Seniormost,” Zayshul said. “Doctor will do.”

  The door chimed, then opened to admit Gaylla, clutching a soft toy tightly to her chest. As she saw her one-time companions, her mouth opened in a slow smile. “I missed you. Where others?”

  “There was an accident, Gaylla,” said Zayshul, kneeling down beside her. “We had to rescue your friends from the nasty people just as we rescued you, but before we could stop them, two of your friends were hurt badly, so badly they died.”

  Gaylla blinked and nodded solemnly, then her mouth dropped in a large grin. “Toys!” she said, looking to Zayshul for permission. When she nodded, Gaylla ran quickly over to the box. Her toy, a Prime doll made of cloth, was dropped to the floor as she grabbed hold of the box and tipped it on its side, spilling the brightly colored contents onto the floor.

  She picked up a ball and threw it on the floor to a shocked exclamation from the largest of the cubs.

  “No, is for throwing,” Gaylla assured him earnestly as she picked up another doll and thrust it at the other young female. “Vazih, you play with this doll.” She scrambled across to the other side of the box to retrieve a book, which she handed to a brown-pelted male. “Book for you, Dhyshac.” She looked up at Zayshul. “Dhyshac like books, Aunt.”

  A sealed container was next, and she attempted to open it. The remaining male reached out to help her. The lid popped off suddenly, spraying bright building bricks everywhere, much to the distress of the young male.

  “Bricks. You put together and make things, Zsayal,” said Gaylla, grabbing a handful and showing him.

  “Why do we do this, Seniormost?” asked Zsayal, looking up at her.

  “To enjoy yourselves,” said Zayshul, getting up. “And call me Aunt like Gaylla. You’re children, and children should have fun and play with toys.”

  He looked perplexed, but obediently began to gather up the bricks and start fitting them together.

  “Is Shaidan dead, too?” asked Gaylla, sitting with Vazih and showing her how the clothes on her doll fastened.

  “Shaidan?”

  “The one who was hurt,” said Vazih.

  “Shaidan’s fine. He’s in the sick bay right now, but you’ll be able to see him later today if you wish,” said Zayshul, going over to sit with Rraelga.

  “Want to see Shaidan,” said Gaylla firmly.

  “Then you shall,” Zayshul said, leaning over to look at the infant. “That’s a newborn child!” she said in surprise.

  “They took her from me as soon as she was born,” said Rraelga, putting the adapted bottle down on the table beside her. She lifted her cub up and held her against her chest. “She was put in stasis.”

  “But you have her back safely now,” said Zayshul, hiding her anger as she looked at the tiny furled ears and the tightly closed eyes. She reached out and gently stroked the cub’s head as it snuffled at her fingers. “She’s so soft.” How could they have taken this infant away from her mother and put her into stasis?

  “What will you do with us, Seniormost?” Rraelga asked, a worried look on her face. “Where are you taking us?”

  “Home, in a few weeks,” she said, watching the other’s look of incredulity. “We have treaties with your people, Rraelga. The ones who held you captive were a renegade group who wanted to break our agreements with the Sholans. Thankfully, we stopped them.”

  “Home? To Khyaal?”

  “To Shola,” said Zayshul, not wanting to get drawn into an explanation of the destruction of that world by the M’zullians. “I came to see if there’s anything you need or want. We’ve tried to find clothing for you and the cubs, I hope what we gave you will do.”

  Rraelga looked down at the large pull-on shirt she was wearing. “It’ll be fine, Seniormost,” she said, mouth opening in a small smile. “They didn’t give me clothes at all.”

  “That’s all changed, Rraelga,” she said, getting up. “You’re no longer slaves, but you will have to be confined to these rooms for now, I’m afraid. Is the food in the dispenser to your liking? Again, we tried to choose food that might be familiar to you.”

  “It’s fine, Sen— Docto
r,” she corrected herself.

  Zayshul nodded and called to Gaylla. “Do you want to stay here for now?” she asked.

  Gaylla nodded her head enthusiastically. “I stay for now,” she confirmed.

  “Then I’ll come for you after your midday meal and we can go visit Shaidan.”

  *

  “Have the original crew been dropped off at the relay station?” asked Kezule, settling himself into the weapons station on the bridge.

  “Yes, General,” said Zaykkuh from his Captain’s seat. “We disabled the communicator in such a way that it’ll take them a day to fix it, giving us time to disappear first.”

  Kezule pulled out a crystal data card and handed it to the navigator. “Well done. Your new coordinates, Maaz’ih.”

  “Aye, sir,” the officer said, taking the card from him and putting it in the data reader slot.

  “We’re heading for a deep space outpost called Kij’ik,” said Kezule, raising his voice so all the bridge crew could hear him. “Hopefully it’ll be still there and operational, but if it isn’t, I know the location of several more we can try. The odds are that at least one is still there and usable. If it is, it’ll be our base for the time being. The outpost is one of many that made up an early warning network that spanned the Valtegan Empire in my time. It’s in an asteroid belt, large enough for our needs and not far from fuel sources— a nearby sun and a gas giant. Kij’ik was one of the main ones, large enough to house over a thousand people. It was self-sustaining, having a hydroponics area and even small herds of food beasts. Though after fifteen hundred years, I doubt they’ll still be viable,” he added dryly.

  “New coordinates loaded, sir,” said Maaz’ih.

  “Hyperdrive engines ready,” said Shartoh.

  “Chameleon shields up, Captain,” said Zhalmo.

  “General? Do you want to give the order?” asked Zaykkuh, turning around to look at him.