by Justin Sloan
Kalan beamed at her, and Lolack stared, impressed.
"You heard her," he shouted to his crew. "All hands, we’re going to Tol for our final defense!"
"And we’ll need an escort, sir," Tenowk managed to get out.
"Right. My best three ships, see that Tenowk and the others get here safely.
There were shouts of confirmation, and then Tenowk turned back to Valerie and crew and grinned. "Time to test you."
As shots kept coming and ships fell in behind them to join in the chase, Valerie leaned back and closed her eyes. This was going to be a long flight, and there wasn’t much else she could do at the moment.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Planet Tol
When the ship finally touched down on Tol, Kalan was so relieved that he could have kissed the ground.
The entire flight had been a battle, with Demus’s ships constantly harassing them. Never swarming them or making an all-out assault, but also never giving them a moment’s reprieve.
Kalan had manned one of the railguns, and he’d spent hours discouraging the fighters with directed fire. What made it even more frustrating was that in all that time, he wasn’t sure he’d taken out even one of the bastards.
Bob stepped off the ship and slapped Kalan’s back. "Well, buddy, that was utterly exhausting. Thank God they had us along though, right? The way we handle our guns? You just don’t find that every day."
"No one wants to hear about the way you handle your gun, Bob," Jilla interjected. "Besides, I think the Lavkins had a little something to do with our survival, too."
Kalan grinned. Even though he hadn’t officially reunited with his new family yet, it felt good to hear Lien and Mej’s voices over the comm. They were both aboard Flamebird, Lien’s family ship, which had been one of the three sent to help protect their ship.
And as Jilla had said, the members of the formerly Lost Fleet had proven to be just as good as their reputation, and had kept Demus’s ships from doing any real damage.
Kalan took a look around. Now that his feet were on solid ground, it was time to get back to business. He hadn’t been on Tol much since Sslake took over leadership from the false Bandian. From what Valerie and the others had said there were real changes to the lives of many of the residents, even if they weren’t obvious from a single glance.
He chuckled at the irony of it all. Here they were, back where everything had begun. Well, technically it had begun on a transport ship not far from this planet, but this was where he’d really started working with Valerie and her Elites.
Kalan briefly wondered what his life would be like now if he’d just kept his seat on that transport when the Pallicon hijackers came aboard. Valerie and her team probably would have saved everyone anyway.
But he never would have joined them. He would never have met Wearl or reunited with Jilla, or even learned the truth about his people. Most likely he’d be a transport pilot, bored out of his skull.
His life would be simpler, but it would have far less meaning.
As Valerie and the others exited the vessel, a group of armed Skulla approached.
The one in front stepped up to Valerie. Clearly he’d seen the Prime Enforcer before, and knew she was in charge. "Sslake would like to see you as soon as possible."
Valerie frowned. "Right to business, huh? Probably a good idea, what with the enemy fleet on its way here to kill us all."
The Skulla guards went pale.
Robin leaned forward. "She’s joking. I mean, not about the enemy fleet, but the killing-us-all thing. Well, now that I think about it, they are trying to kill us all. But we won’t let them. I’ll be quiet now."
From the looks on the guards’ faces, it was clear they found her words anything but comforting.
Valerie shook her head. "Let’s just go."
Ten minutes later Valerie, Robin, and Kalan were sitting in a room with a strange oblong table. The others had remained with the ship.
They waited only a few minutes before Sslake walked in, followed closely by Admiral Lolack.
Valerie raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Wow, glad to see you two have met. Didn’t wait for us to get started?"
Lolack rubbed his orange chin with his willowy fingers. "There was no time. Demus’s fleet grows closer by the moment." He nodded toward Kalan. "A warm reunion to you, brother."
Kalan nodded back awkwardly. "Same to you, Admiral. Brother. Brother Admiral?" He suddenly wished he’d spent more time learning the Lavkins’ customs. There was probably some official response he was supposed to be making right now. This was his first time meeting Lolack. The Shimmers had hauled Kalan away before the admiral had returned from his exile. It warmed Kalan that this important Lavkin greeted him like family.
Sslake took his place at the head of the oblong table and gave Valerie a long, hard look. "Am I really just supposed to take your word for it that a fleet is coming to attack us? What if this is all a ruse to get me to reveal my defensive protocol?"
"Uh, excuse me?" Valerie asked.
Sslake nodded grimly. "For all I know, you’ve decided someone else should rule and you’re planning to overthrow me like you overthrew the false Bandian."
Valerie started to rise, but Robin was already on her feet.
"Overthrow you? After everything Valerie’s done for you, you would dare to—"
She stopped speaking when she realized Sslake was laughing.
"I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself," Sslake said, barely getting the words out between fits of laughter. "It’s so rare I get to screw with someone like that. I always have to be so official."
Kalan frowned. "There are less dangerous people to screw with. Besides, is this really the time for pranks? We’re sort of on the clock here."
Sslake struggled to control his laughter. "I take my fun where I can. This job is actually quite boring." He took a deep breath, finally suppressing his chortles. "In all seriousness, thank you all for coming to my rescue. Again."
"We haven’t rescued anyone yet," Valerie pointed out. "But we’re damn sure going to try. Maybe this will help." She reached into her bag and pulled out the orb. "We’re not sure exactly how it works, but apparently it’s a big deal. Some sort of ultimate protection?"
Sslake took the orb from her and examined it closely. "This is incredible. I think I might know what this is. Maybe not exactly what it does, but how to use it." He pressed a button embedded in the table and continued speaking. "The false Bandian did quite a bit of experimentation in his brief reign."
"We remember," Kalan said, thinking of the cyborg he’d encountered on Tol’s moon.
"Not just of the AI or cybernetic variety either. We have reason to believe he was communicating with someone off-planet to acquire new ways to use ancient technologies. This orb might be one of the things he developed to work with this old tech."
"What makes you say that?" Lolack asked.
Sslake smiled. "Because there’s an odd machine hardwired into this building, and it has an orb-shaped indentation in the control panel. There are similar machines across the planet. So far, we’ve been unable to determine their purpose. What if the programming for the machine is contained in this orb?"
As he finished speaking, a female Skulla entered. She marched to Sslake and stood ramrod straight. "You called, sir?"
He held out the orb. "Yes. I want you to put this orb in the Bandian’s machine."
She nodded crisply and took it.
"Hold up," Valerie said. "Is this a good idea? You admitted you don’t really know what this thing does."
Sslake glanced at Lolack. "How long until the enemy fleet arrives?"
Lolack shook his head. "Difficult to tell. Their strange ships are messing with our sensors. Could be any moment."
"Then there’s no time to waste." Sslake turned back to Valerie. "We know this is the ultimate protection, and we know the Bandian built it into this building, which was his home at the time. He was crazy, but he wasn’t suicidal. Admittedly it’s a
risk, but it’s one we have to take."
Valerie frowned. "Your call. You’re the boss of this planet."
"Thanks to you." Sslake looked at the female Skulla. "Tell me when you activate it."
"Yes, sir." She marched out of the room.
"Well, here we go." Kalan grinned. "Into the unknown once again."
Sslake nodded. "It won’t be as much fun as escaping SEDE with you was. I wish I could relive that. Gods, that was fun!"
Kalan couldn’t help but chuckle at the wistful look in the leader’s eyes. "If I remember correctly, we were running for our lives."
Valerie leaned forward. "Speaking of excitement, there’s something you should know. We have reason to believe Demus is targeting leaders. He wants to hold them personally responsible for any injustice on their planet."
Sslake’s face darkened. "I see."
"I’m not trying to freak you out, but you deserve to know the truth. If we lose this fight, things could go very badly for you."
He smiled weakly. "Then we’d better not lose."
"My thoughts exactly," Valerie confirmed.
Just then, Lolack’s communicator beeped. Mej’s voice came through loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear it.
"Heads up, brother. We have our first confirmed eyes-on sighting of the enemy fleet. They’re starting to breach the atmosphere, and there’s a hell of a lot more of them coming."
"We could really use that ultimate protection thing about now," Robin pointed out.
Lolack touched the communicator. "Thank you, sister. Have the fleet engage. Do what you can to keep them out of the atmosphere as long as possible."
"You got it. Flamebird out."
They waited in tense silence for what would happen next. They could be boarding their ship and preparing for an aerial fight, but until they knew what the orb did they were better off biding their time.
Kalan glanced at Valerie, who was nervously tapping her foot on the floor. This was the toughest part of any battle for her, he knew…the waiting. The part where she had no control over the outcome. She was designed for action, not waiting.
That was part of what he loved about her. She didn’t seem to get caught up in her own head the way he sometimes did. She knew what was right and what was wrong, and she quickly leaped into action to fight for justice—real justice—whenever possible.
After what felt like forever, a voice emerged from the speaker built into the table. "Sir, we’re ready to activate the machine."
"Go ahead," Sslake quickly directed.
"Activating now."
For a long moment it seemed that nothing had happened, then something outside the large window caught Kalan’s attention. It took him five seconds of staring to figure out what had changed, but once he realized it his mouth fell open.
The sky had changed color. It was now a pale, dirty brown.
Lolack’s comm beeped again.
"Lolack, something really odd is happening," Mej relayed.
The admiral was staring out the window so intently he almost forgot to answer. "Yes, we can see that. Are you scanning it?"
"Yes, getting a reading. One second… Okay, damn. It’s a shield—the most powerful one I’ve ever seen. There’s no way we could pierce this thing with a fleet’s worth of ammo."
"A shield?" Sslake asked. "Where?"
Mej’s answer was immediate. "Everywhere. It’s around the whole damn planet!"
Kalan’s eyes widened. Of course. A planetary shield.
“The ultimate defensive position,” Valerie said. “Lolack said there was a planet that was the ultimate defensive position. It was Tol he was talking about all along.”
"This is incredible," Sslake exclaimed. "We’re saved."
"I’m not so sure," Mej replied. "We’ve got a problem. Most of the enemy fleet is still in space atmosphere, but a good number of them got into the atmosphere. Maybe thirty ships, including what looks like their flagship."
Lolack’s orange brow furrowed. "Thirty ships should be no problem for the Lavkin fleet. Take them down, sister."
There was a long pause. "Yeah, that’s sort of the problem. Most of our ships were outside the atmosphere too. We’ve got ten."
Kalan’s skin went cold. Ten ships versus thirty. The Lavkin fleet was the best, but was it good enough to beat those odds?
"Some of the ships are going to get through," Valerie said.
Lolack nodded reluctantly. "We’ll do our best, but I doubt we’ll be able to stop them all from landing."
Valerie looked at Robin. "We need to prepare to fight them when they land."
"Good news is, we know where they’re headed," Robin pointed out. "If Demus is after the leader, he’ll come here."
"And we’ll be waiting to stop him." Valerie looked at Kalan. "How about you? You going to join me and Robin on the ground, or join Lolack in the sky?"
He thought about that, considering where he could do the most good. He hated the idea of waiting on the ground when his piloting skills could come in handy in the sky, but it wasn’t like he could do much piloting on the big Lavkin ships.
Lolack’s comm beeped and Mej’s voice came through again. "Hey, brother, one more small ship made it through before the shield went up. He’s almost to the palace. Claims to be a friend of Kalan’s."
Kalan tilted his head, wondering who that could possibly be. Just about every friend he had was already on Tol, or above it.
"Says his name’s Nostro. Also, he brought a gift for Kalan. Something from back home, he says. A Nim, whatever the hell that is."
A smile appeared on Kalan’s face. "Oh, hell yeah! I guess that answers that question. I’m hitting the skies. Tell Nostro I’m driving."
Valerie started to stand, but Sslake stopped her.
"Wait. I have something to say first. The things you three have already done for me… I don’t know how to thank you. And now you’re putting your lives on the line for me again." Tears stood in the leader’s eyes as he spoke. "I want you to know that whatever happens here today, you’ve changed Tol. You’ve changed this system. You’ve changed me."
Kalan swallowed hard, pushing down the lump in his throat. Sslake’s words made him want to fight even harder for this leader and his planet.
"When this is over, can we count on you to support the Etheric Federation?" Valerie asked.
"You have my word," Sslake replied with a salute—both fists to his chest.
Valerie nodded, clearly touched. "We’re not going to let you down, Sslake. Demus dares say he fights for justice, when all he really wants is control. He’s come to the wrong planet today. It’s time for us to show that metallic asshole what justice is all about."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Planet Tol
Already the attackers were coming, and not just in the air. Well, they were coming from the air, but exiting their ships before coming in hard for the fight. Some of the enemy ships that had entered before the planetary shield went up had opened their doors, and enemies were already pouring out.
"What are they thinking?" Garcia asked, shocked by the gray forms plummeting toward Tol.
"They're as eager to get to the fight as I am," Valerie replied, gripping her rifle and wishing she still had her sword.
"But this…" Robin began, staring up, dumbfounded.
"Watch!"
As they fell, it became clear that this hodgepodge of Norruls and other alien races wore thick space armor complete with space-diving gear. They came down hard, but before reaching the ground they spread out. Thrusters in the arms helped to slow them, the job completed by small tactical chutes that they cut off as soon as they hit.
Sslake's army began peppering the sky with bullets and anti-aircraft missiles, but enough were already on the ground to do damage—and then the ships began firing back.
"Remember, no matter what happens, I love you guys," Garcia called.
"Shut up. You're not going to get hurt in this," Flynn replied.
"Not me, of c
ourse. I meant you folks. I'm good."
"That a challenge?"
Garcia grinned. "All the best fights involve a kill-count contest, right?"
"Only when you're crazy," Valerie interjected, eyeing them. "In this case, yeah, that fits."
Flynn laughed and Garcia joined him.
"Let's clear them out," Robin said, already starting to jog toward the fight, rifle at her shoulder.
"You heard her," Valerie added, and charged forward at her friend's side. After what had happened back on the hilltop on Rhol she wasn't quite sure if “friend” was the right term anymore, but until they were out of this mess it certainly didn't matter.
"We've got help," Robin shouted excitedly. Sure enough, some of Aranaught's mechs had apparently made it through, because they were plowing through groups of the space-diving enemy. Others hovered and unloaded with railguns and shoulder cannons.
"They're taking away my points!" Garcia protested, then darted forward as fast as he could, already shooting into the troops in the sky.
"One hundred and fifty," Aranaught's voice rang from the closest mech, which turned to look at Garcia. "What’s your count?"
"Shut up," he replied, shooting an enemy out of the sky. "Shut up, plus one."
"Do try to keep up," Aranaught encouraged, then surged forward as the mech pulled up a plasma shield that absorbed the first two blasts from a ship still well overhead. The third connected, though, blowing off the mech's head.
Another took its place and flew toward the ship.
Four of the space divers swept in, one with blades drawn. It tried to charge right through Valerie but she dodged under and caught it by the ankle, slamming it to the ground and then spinning and unleashing a kick so that it flew up and took down two of its comrades.
She engaged in combat with two more, diving behind a berm for cover as they shot explosive rounds at her and her comrades. An explosion hit the berm as Robin leaped over and part of her armor broke off as she landed with her backside smoking.
"Dammit, watch your ass!" Valerie yelled.