strongholdrising

by Lisanne Norman

  “Only the debris,” said Nayash, sitting hurriedly down at his post again.

  Suddenly, their blacked-out consoles lit up again.

  “Drives back on-line, Captain,” said Sheeowl, her voice shaking.

  “Comms back, Captain. I have Watcher 1 demanding information,” said Sayuk.

  “Ignore them, we’re on Silent until we’re out of scanner range,” he ordered, staring at the chaos at the heart of the M’zullian fleet. “There’s nothing we can do for Annuur.”

  *

  “Upper port battery hit,” reported Leewu as the ship lurched violently to one side. “Weapons gone.”

  Annuur cursed silently. The M’zullians’ targeting systems were better than he’d anticipated. They couldn’t afford another hit. He had to finish this now, no matter the cost.

  “Bringing her around for second run. Deploy integrated pulse weapon,” snapped Annuur as he banked the ship sharply to the other side.

  “Energy levels too low to sustain…” began Lweeu.

  “Do it!” snarled Annuur.

  In the belly of the ship, concealed bay doors opened and a weapon known only to the Camarilla was lowered.

  “Weapon deployed,” said Lweeu, her voice subdued.

  “Lower shields and transfer all available power to Weapons.”

  “Transferred,” said Sokarr.

  “Fire,” said Annuur.

  Energy beams from the remaining weapons located on the body of the Watcher pulsed forward to intersect with those from the starboard guns and the newly deployed one in the belly. Where they joined, the beam thickened briefly before surging outward in a continuous stream.

  “Twenty seconds to burnout,” said Sokarr, and began counting.

  This time, the M’zullian battleship’s shield was easily penetrated. A trail of exploding debris followed their path as Annuur dived down to skim only a few meters from the surface of the hull.

  “Three, two, one. Burnout complete,” said Sokarr as the beam stopped abruptly. “Energy cells depleted. All weapons now off-line.”

  “Naacha, open jump,” ordered Annuur as he pulled the ship sharply up from the crippled destroyer. “We leave.”

  A jump point opened up ahead just as the M’zullian fighters converged on them.

  *

  A warning sounded discreetly on the bridge, startling everyone.

  “Proximity alert. Jump point forming to starboard,” Nayash called out, looking away from the long-range screens to his scanners. “Initiating evasive action!”

  As they lurched to one side, the lower section of Watcher 6 suddenly emerged several hundred kilometers from them, spinning wildly, both upright wings and gun emplacements gone. It was closely followed by three M’zullian fighters.

  “Kathan’s beard! He made it!” swore Mrowbay.

  “So did the M’zullians,” snarled Tirak.

  “Target enemy fighters?” asked Manesh.

  “Yes! Relay that order to all Watchers!”

  “And Annuur?” asked Sheeowl.

  “Leave him,” he snapped. “He chose to leave us stranded and take his own risks. We have ourselves and the Alliance to protect first.”

  “At least he’s heading for deep space,” Sayuk murmured to her.

  the Camarilla, TeLaxaudin homeworld, at the same time

  Dusk was already falling outside the main chamber of the Camarilla as Shvosi hurried over to the Speaker’s dais. As the one in charge of Annuur’s mission, it was her duty to keep the Camarilla informed of developments, and there had been developments, possibly disastrous ones. In preparation for her report, the lights that hovered among the internal trees and bushes dimmed until she could see the faint luminescence of the path under her feet. Despite her haste, as she passed the small fountain, she paused briefly, taking comfort from the gentle spray of water before stepping up to her place on the raised Speaker’s dais.

  Sitting up on her haunches, the Cabbarran leaned on the lectern and activated the image player. Behind her, the three-dimensional projection of a battleship under attack began to take shape.

  “The lost matter compiler activator was located,” she said quietly. “Phratry Leader Annuur has done as ordered and neutralized the ship carrying it. But as you see, not in time to stop death of second world.” With a gesture of her hand, she stopped the image replay. “He had to know activator was there before he could attack.”

  On his cushion, Hkairass stirred. “Show us more. The Watcher ship, where is it? When this happen?”

  Shvosi looked down to where the TeLaxaudin sat, just beyond the dais. “Happening now, Hkairass. Not necessary see more. Task has been completed. Useless compiler is without controller. More pressing matter do I bring to…”

  “Show sequence for confirmation,” insisted Hkairass. “Including Watcher ship.”

  Sighing, Shvosi gestured again and the lower section of Watcher 6 came into view, its outline shimmering because of the enhanced chameleon shielding. She should have known he would cause problems. He was leader of the Isolationist faction who believed they should withdraw totally from the affairs of the other species.

  “That not Watcher,” objected Hkairass, rising up from his cushion and beginning to walk toward the projection.

  “Is,” insisted Shvosi, heart in mouth, turning to watch as the TeLaxaudin stopped at the edges of the image. “Looks different because imager is reading shape of shield, not ship.”

  He studied it, walking round the limits of the projection, waving his hand over one of the floor-mounted projectors to enhance the size of the battleship.

  “Your point, Hkairass?” asked Khassiss from her seat among the TeLaxaudin Elders.

  Hkairass turned to look at her. “Is not Watcher. Kouansishus send images of ships Primes build with us and Cabbarran aid. This not it. Different.”

  “Different?” asked Aizshuss, unfolding himself and stepping down from his couch before making his way over to Hkairass. “I look. Augmented shielding show blurred image of ship at best.”

  Shvosi reached out surreptitiously with her spatulate hand to touch the other as he passed her.

  Not do this! she sent. Troubles has Annuur, needs aid. Divert them from ship configuration. Must stop replay now before too late!

  The slight faltering of Aizshuss’ stride was the only sign he’d heard her as he continued on the path, coming to a stop beside his TeLaxaudin colleague. Stopping, he peered at the small ship, watching its shields flare as the uppermost port gun battery was hit and destroyed.

  “Outline matches Watcher ship,” said Aizshuss quietly.

  Concerned humming from the TeLaxaudin and the soft chittering of the Cabbarrans swept through the chamber almost like a sigh. Shvosi took the opportunity to reach out and grasp the mood, trying to enhance the Camarilla’s sympathy for Annuur. Then Aizshuss’ mind joined hers, adding to her strength until the noise died down, then he was gone. At least he’d been willing to help. If only she’d had time to edit the recording before having to bring it in front of the council!

  “Damage has it sustained,” Aizshuss continued, turning to look at the assembly. “Enough I have seen to know task completed and our Phratry brother needs help.”

  “Is bit missing,” insisted Hkairass, pointing with one slender hand to the blurred image of the swaying Watcher.

  “I see no bit missing,” said Aizshuss, looking back to the projection.

  “I also call for aid for our Phratry brother,” said Kuvaa as she reared up from her place among the Cabbarran Elders. “Shape of ship irrelevant. Safety of Annuur and his crew matters.”

  Thankful that at last one of her own people had spoken up, Shvosi reached out to turn the imager off. They hadn’t yet come to the portion she wanted to conceal.

  “Leave,” said Khassiss firmly. “See to end. Hkairass is right. Where rest of Watcher, Shvosi? Our order was to have our children attack ship.”

  “Annuur take only his part, not whole ship,” said Hkairass. “Disobey our orders.
If all ship used, then this stopped sooner, before world destroyed. His actions cause death of this world.”

  Shvosi swung round to address the Elder responsible for the order. “Skepp Lord Azwokkuss, Camarilla order was only to destroy sand-dweller ship if carrying activator, was it not?” She asked with icy politeness, her long upper lip curling back in anger. “Annuur carry out that order.”

  “Phratry Leader is correct,” said Azwokkuss with equal formality, speaking for the first time. “But was intended whole ship used…” He stopped, his translator falling silent as he began to hum with anger of his own.

  Heart heavy, Shvosi turned round, knowing what she’d see. In the projection, Watcher 6 was now clearly visible as its remaining weapons’ fire linked together, forming a single beam of energy focused several hundred meters in front of where the bow of the ship should have been.

  As angry voices broke out, Shvosi dropped down onto all fours in defeat. She’d hoped to be able to hide that portion of the recording from them. Annuur’s misjudgment in not taking the whole ship was compounded by using Camarilla enhanced weapons when they could be seen by everyone.

  “Attention has he drawn, from sand-dwellers, from children, from other Watchers. This course of action not wise I said at time. Now I proved right,” said Hkairass triumphantly.

  Surely not giving up now, Shvosi! came Aizshuss’ acerbic thought.

  Who fight for Annuur if we don’t? came Kuvaa’s.

  She reared up again, putting all the arrogance and contempt behind her eyes that she could muster. “So Annuur has affection for your children, Skepp Lords!” she said, glaring round the gathered Lords and Leaders of the Camarilla. “Tried to save them, he did. Take risks only on himself to carry out our orders. Not a crime! Look how he succeeded!”

  Annuur’s damaged craft was darting along the surface of the battleship, searing a path of devastation before it. The replay had run to the end now, and the distant imager’s AI had taken over, transmitting the current situation direct to the Camarilla. As they continued to watch, Annuur’s energy beam died. The ship pulled up sharply, heading for the jump point that opened ahead of it, three fighters converging on it, weapons blazing.

  “Succeeded in drawing attention of Alliance to us,” said Hkairass sarcastically. “Trusted him we did not to do this. All intervention should stop now. This I have been saying since sand-dwellers first began to die after they were beaten by hunters! Like then, nothing has this positive achieved. Balance still upset— directly endangered are we now! Withdraw we should, find new worlds, before Alliance demands we give them our knowledge, before sand-dwellers take war out to all Alliance— and us.”

  “Potentialities showed victorious sand-dwellers will wait until second world stable again, then spend much time looting,” said Aizshuss dryly, joining Shvosi on the Speaker’s dais. “Death of this world anticipated, hoped to prevent. Likely they think Watcher is from world below.”

  “When fighters fail to return, what then they think?” asked Khassiss, gesturing toward the projection where Annuur’s stricken ship was tumbling end over end, still pursued by the three fighters.

  “Lost in jump,” said Kuvaa promptly, getting up from her place to join her two colleagues on the dais. “Who in right mind believe Camarilla Lord Annuur’s ship capable of escaping? Who in right mind follows such a ship into jump? Escape remarkable in first place without getting lost in jump!”

  Hkairass stalked over to them, eyes swirling angrily, the broad scented strips of his clothing discharging the harsh perfume his body was now exuding. As he began to talk, his mandibles clicked rapidly. “What now you want? Want Camarilla to order Anuur’s retrieval? Draw even more attention to ourselves?” he demanded, oval eyes swirling with anger. “How we hide this— disaster— from anyone!” He gestured to the projection where they could see the upper section of a Watcher, accompanied by three others, intercepting the fighters. “Better Annuur and crew die than aided to be questioned!”

  “Why give Annuur weapon if not to use?” countered Aizshuss.

  “To use covertly,” said Khassiss.

  “Discovery inevitable,” said Aizshuss. “Routine maintenance at hunter outpost could expose it any time. This I said when decision taken to fit weapon before sending to hunters’ Alliance. I overruled. Blame not Annuur for having it and using.”

  “Annuur in unique position. Much we have learned since he went to hunter world,” said Kuvaa. “Aid him we must.”

  “Kzizysus with hunters,” said Hkairass. “No need for another if we must have people outside.”

  “Kzizysus young, not of the Camarilla, nor will be for many hundred of years,” said Aizshuss. “Has not mystic abilities. Annuur left voluntarily, gave up the rapport of Camarilla to serve us in the field. Much has been asked of him that he has accomplished against odds. He still has value, to us and among children and hunter Alliance. We owe him same loyalty he gives us.”

  Hkairass hummed his contempt, flicking his hand to one side in a gesture of dismissal while behind him the fight to destroy the sand-dweller fighters played itself out. “Annuur hasn’t mystic abilities! Are overrated in my opinion. Technology can do all you can.”

  Shvosi’s eyes narrowed and under the blue tattoos, her cheeks began to itch. Beside her, she felt Aizshuss and Kuvaa stiffen in anger.

  Hkairass looked away from her. “Do not use that trick on me, Phratry Leader Shvosi,” he began.

  “Enough!” said Khassiss, raising her voice as she stood up. “Aizshuss speaks the truth. Camarilla need eyes and ears outside as provided by those like Annuur’s sept and Kouansishus. Combined our two people are for many millennia, each using own skills for common good. Shvosi, show potentialities if Annuur not retrieved,” she ordered. “Decision must be made hastily if the Phratry Leader to be successfully aided. Consequences of our actions are not of concern at this moment. Later will we look at them.”

  Hkairass hummed his displeasure. “I ask the Camarilla to say if this necessary. Annuur has attracted too much attention over this matter. Further intervention now will lead to our discovery. We must leave him to his fate.”

  A murmur of disagreement ran round the chamber and with an angry clicking of his mandibles, Hkairass stalked back to his cushion.

  Stopping the projection, Shvosi reached mentally for Aizshuss, then beyond him to Kuvaa and the assembly, joining with all the other mystics of her people and the TeLaxaudin. The telepathic net formed, she touched the control on the lectern to activate the neural interface. Now the rest of the TeLaxaudin joined them, as did those of her own people who were not mystics.

  Forming where the Camarilla had watched the image of Anuur’s attack on the destroyer, another began to emerge, one of shades of light and dark, swirling and weaving themselves into an intricate pattern of potentialities that spread outward to fill the Camarilla chamber. It could only be experienced, not seen, and it was a pattern that boded ill if aid was not sent immediately.

  Their decision made, Khassiss spoke for the Camarilla and aid was dispatched to intercept the Camarilla Lord’s crippled ship.

  *

  When it became obvious the M’zullians had no interest in their three missing fighters, against his better judgment, Tirak allowed himself to be persuaded to follow the trail left by Annuur. It was only the fact that Nayash was picking up life signs that convinced him. The other Watchers had complained but he’d overruled them, sending two back to Anchorage to make their report and ordering the other three to accompany him.

  It was several hours before they had the missing section in visual sight. Not only had it slowed down, but the chaotic tumbling had been reduced to a slow rotation. Matching velocities, they circled it, examining it for damage and the possibility of reintegration. The hull, though battered, seemed intact, and damage around the couplings was minimal. Of the strange weapon Annuur had used, there was no sign, though on the lower surface of the hull there was a badly scorched and fused area.

  With the help
of two of the other ships, they’d docked. The couplings hastily welded together to reinforce them, they waited by the airlock down to the cargo level for Sayuk’s report on the state of the hull.

  “Atmospheric pressure’s holding, Captain,” he said over the ship’s comm. “Hull integrity now confirmed.”

  “Copy,” said Tirak as Nayash opened the hatch.

  Latching it back, they climbed down into the lower section. Save for the sparks caused by severed power lines, they found themselves in total darkness. And it was cold, deathly cold.

  “They’re down in avionics, Captain,” said Nayash quietly, his breath coming out in white clouds as he checked his scanner. “But I’m only getting three life signs.”

  Tirak grunted, giving nothing of his feelings away as he shone the powerful flashlight around the cargo bay then across to the grav lift heading down to avionics. The beam showed debris had been hurled everywhere— the tool crate had been torn free of its lashings, tumbled back and forth, splitting and spilling its contents.

  Overhead, the severed power lines spat and sizzled briefly as a dim light flickered several times then stayed on.

  Sayuk’s voice sounded over the comm. “Emergency lighting restored, Captain. Sheeowl’s working on the elevator now. Mrowbay’s on his way down with the canvas stretcher.”

  Tirak ducked under a bunch of dangling cables and picked his way over to the grav lift.

  “Nayash, give me a hand here,” he said, taking hold of a crumpled stanchion that had been thrown across the access iris.

  Pocketing the scanner, Nyash joined him and grabbed hold of the other end. Between them, they pushed it slowly aside, then cleared the iris of the remaining debris. Sticking a claw tip under the edge of a recessed panel, Tirak flipped it open to reveal the manual wheel.

  The iris opened, they waited for Mrowbay. When he arrived, Tirak went down with him.

  Naacha was brought up first, unconscious and with a deep gash on one shoulder. Lweeu was next.

  “Careful with her,” Mrowbay called up. “I think her skull’s fractured.”

  Annuur was last, followed by Mrowbay as he helped guide the sling safely through the iris.