Espero (The Silver Ships Book 6)
Page 27
“One moment, Mr. President,” the comms operator replied.
In the traveler, the moments ticked by without a reply. Alex and Tatia exchanged glances, neither of them liking the delay. Kadmir should have been anxiously awaiting their arrival.
“My apologies, Mr. President,” Kadmir said, finally picking up the comm. “We’ve had to institute emergency procedures. Nothing that seriously endangers our people, but we’re being thorough and locating the source of a decompression alarm. As a spacer, I’m sure you understand the importance we’re ascribing to this sort of sensor notice.”
“At this time, that’s unknown, Mr. President, and, in all good conscience, I can’t risk you coming onto my establishment until we locate and correct the problem.”
“And your offer is greatly appreciated, President Racine, but I can’t take the chance. If anything were to happen to your person, the blame would fall squarely on me and my establishment. I’m sorry you made this journey for nothing. We’ve ensured your young women are secure. I will contact you just as soon as this issue is resolved. Kadmir out.”
Alex signaled Julien, who joined Tatia and him for an impromptu conference. “Julien?” Alex asked.
“Ser Kadmir’s voice exhibited a high degree of stress. An expected response to a significant problem in the domes,” Julien replied.
“Anything else?”
“A curiosity. I couldn’t contact bay control.”
“Is it possible that’s where the alarm was sounded?” Tatia asked.
“Highly possible,” Julien admitted.
Tatia and Julien waited while Alex considered his options. Under the circumstances, all signs pointed to a perfectly reasonable response from Kadmir. In which case, the logical decision was to turn their traveler around and return to the Tanaka.
“Problem?” Renée asked, as she joined the small group.
“Kadmir wants to delay the meeting … emergency decompression alarm, which they’re checking.” Tatia replied.
“I see,” said Renée, closely watching Alex’s face.
“I don’t know what it is, but this doesn’t feel right,” Alex replied.
“Then we go in,” Tatia announced without fanfare. It was Alex’s intuition, and it was good enough for her.
Julien, executing the same procedure as Willem executed at Jolares, worked through the comms connection into the landing bay controller. He sounded the alarm for the bay opening, waited an appropriate time, and then signaled the bay doors for access.
As the traveler entered the bays, Julien signaled bay control to close the doors. Alex received a signal from their pilot, and he linked to the traveler’s telemetry output.
“Bodies on the deck,” Alex said to Tatia, who in turn accessed the telemetry.
“They’re prone and splayed out,” Tatia commented.
“And not moving,” Alex added.
“Infrared indicates these bodies have been cooling far longer than a brief exposure to vacuum when the bay doors were open,” Julien said, greatly relieved that he hadn’t caused the deaths.
“The bay must have been the source of the depressurization that Kadmir spoke about,” Tatia concluded.
The traveler settled to the deck, and Julien held up a finger, requesting Alex and Tatia wait. “I’ve requested the bay’s pressurization. Curiously, the pressure level is rising at a nominal rate.” A few moments later, the SADE said, “The bay is ready.”
Alex and Tatia exchanged confused looks. It was Tatia who put together the pieces. “There’s no technical problem. I believe Kadmir’s domes are under attack from unknown forces, but why are the bodies on the bay deck cooling?”
“Not unknown, Admiral,” Alex sent, “I’ll bet you those forces are from Jolares. Whatever relationship existed between Kadmir and Toyo has gone sour. My thinking is that Toyo is here to get the girls back.”
Tatia squinted at Julien. His comment didn’t maximize the defensive attitude she wanted her troopers to adopt.
Julien smiled at her. Bright parallel streaks of several different colors appeared on his forehead, cheeks, and chin. Three, long, bird feathers hung along the side of his head and appeared to tie into his hair by the quills. Responding to Tatia’s frown, Julien said, “war paint.”
* * *
Tatia ordered six troopers to be first out the hatch.
But with signals from Étienne and Alain, the troopers stepped aside as the twins threaded past them to stand ready at the hatch. On Tatia’s command, the hatch dropped, and the twins flew out the doorway, landing lightly, and rolling to either side. By the time the first six troopers were on the deck, the twins were nowhere in sight.
Inside the traveler, Alex watched four troopers hoist plasma rifles and strap them over their backs. Alex raised an eyebrow at Tatia.
“Just in case,” Tatia said in answer.
“In case of what?”
“Just in case,” Tatia repeated. “You have your needs; I have mine.”
As more troopers poured out of the traveler, Alex, Renée, and Julien disembarked and were immediately closely surrounded by troopers.
When Alex sent to those around him,
Renée and Julien managed to prevent their smiles from breaking out.
Étienne and Alain reached the first body without contact from adversaries. The woman wore a brown uniform with gold trim, no weapon or holster was present, and her throat was cut. The twins exchanged concerned glances and moved on. The second body had no obvious marks, and the man’s holster was empty. Étienne checked the body, opening the eyelids.
The SADE moved so quickly, the troopers protecting him were torn between staying with Alex and Renée and chasing after Julien.
Alex scanned implants and assigned two troopers to each of them. The pair assigned to Julien, sprinted after him, pinging the SADE to track him.
Kneeling by the second body the twins found, Étienne pointed out the man’s eyes to Julien and assumed a protective stance with Alain.
Julien examined the blown pupil of one eye and checked the body for wounds. He hurried forward to a third body and found a woman in the same condition — no wounds except for a burn mark on her forehead, wide pupils, and fingers harshly crimpled in rigor. Rather than call Alex and Tatia to his position, Julien hurried back to them, passing by the first body the twins noticed.
Alex couldn’t remember the last time he saw Julien move so fast. Tatia’s response to the SADE’s anxious speed was to order the troopers into defensive positions. Alex threw an arm around Renée and pulled her behind a 2-meter tall plex-crate.
“What?” asked Alex, when Julien joined them.
“Be aware that the attacking forces are employing weapons that fire lethal electrical charges against Kadmir’s people. Two bodies show burn marks, and I surmise their
nerves have been overloaded. They had no wounds. I passed a third person, a woman who appears to be service personnel. Her throat was cut.”
Tatia swore and updated the troopers. Alex touched Renée’s cheek.
The twins retreated from their advance positions and came to Alex and Renée’s side.
Julien briefly reviewed Miranda’s contact with security personnel at Jolares.
“Alex,” Tatia whispered. “If this is Toyo and he’s using deadly force, he’s definitely here to take the girls back.”
“My question: How many people did Toyo bring?” Alex replied.
“The probabilities are that the attackers couldn’t have infiltrated with more than a single shuttle,” Julien said.
“One shuttle is not enough people against three or four domes full of security personnel,” Tatia reasoned.
“Thus the use of these deadly weapons,” Alex supplied. “It means Toyo knows he’s outmatched. That’s why his people are killing, making sure no one is left behind to recover and attack his rear. There’s also the possibility his people are carrying even more powerful weapons.”
“Where’s an environment suit when you need one?” Tatia groused.
“Who needs an environment suit?” Julien deadpanned.
“Nice wit, Julien,” Tatia said, smacking the SADE’s shoulder and stinging her hand.
-28-
Toyo directed his people’s fire like a field commander and urged them forward at every opportunity. His forces were bottled up short of the blue lift, the first available transport to the lower domes where Toyo was sure Kadmir would be safekeeping the Haraken women.
Sufficient time had passed since Toyo’s shuttle landed that his security forces had awakened from their stuns. A fierce grin lit Toyo’s face, as the first group of recovered people added to his numbers engaged at the lift. Given time his new stunners would tip the fight in Toyo’s favor — Kadmir’s people would never be getting up.
“Boss, we got a problem,” said one of Toyo’s people, who just joined the skirmish. “Troops are disembarking in the landing bay.”
“How’d they get into the dome?” Toyo asked, his anger growing.
“Don’t know, Boss. A bunch of us came to about the time the traveler was landing.”
“A traveler, not a shuttle?” Toyo asked, wrapping a fist in the man’s shirt collar and yanking him forward.
“A traveler, Boss. You can’t miss one of them Haraken vessels.”
“Did you see any of Kadmir’s people alive in bay control?”
“No, Boss. The brown suits in control are down … I mean permanently down.” The man swallowed as Toyo released him, enabling him to lean back against the wall.
“Could you see who exited the traveler … whose troops … adz?”
“No, Boss, that’s what I came to tell you. The troops are wearing Haraken blue.”
“Racine!” Toyo exclaimed. “He’s here for his girls. That’s how his traveler got inside. He’s got one of those digital freaks with him.” The Haraken president bringing troops to bear at Toyo’s rear represented an immediate danger or a perfect opportunity, but how to make the most of it.
“This is important,” Toyo said, leaning toward the man. “That bay was opened to vacuum to allow the traveler to land. Where were you that you survived?”
“I was stunned in bay control, but some of our people must have piled a bunch of us inside and sealed the door. When we woke, the traveler was settling to the deck, and soon afterwards the bay started pressurizing. It was like bay control was operating by itself.”
“SADEs,” Toyo growled. “Okay, last question. How many travelers landed?”
“Just the one, Boss.”
“Did you count the troops?”
“Sorry, Boss, no. They came off in small groups, and some of those Méridiens move like smoke. They came through the bay so fast we had to get out of there while we could.”
“Okay, good work,” Toyo said, slapping the man lightly on the cheek with his fingertips. “Now get into this fight and make me some progress.”
Toyo whistled to Lydia, who waited for the right moment and then dived across the corridor, sliding to a stop next to Toyo’s feet.
“What’s up, Boss?” Lydia asked, popping up beside Toyo, both of them leaning tightly against the wall to stay out of the line of fire. The main obstacle and defense for both sides was that the main concourse circled the outside of the dome’s constant curve. Within 25 meters, one individual was out of sight of another if they were hugging the same wall.
“I’m about to make your day, woman,” Toyo said. “A traveler landed in the bay, and Haraken troopers disembarked.”
“You think Racine was on that ship?” Lydia asked, her eyes lighting up.
“There’s a good chance of that … he’s probably here for his fems. Take nine of my people, and hurry your butt back to that barricade. If you can ambush them and take out the president, consider you and your team as having earned 200K credits! But whatever you do, you hold that barricade until I send someone back for you. By then, I will have taken this lift.”
“Can I have Lenny?” Lydia asked.
“The plasma rifle? Absolutely not, get a move on. And, woman,” said Toyo, grabbing her arm and squeezing tightly, “your main purpose is to defend the barricade. Don’t lose my people trying to earn your bonus.”
* * *
Lydia signaled nine others she thought she could trust to take orders. The group edged back down the main corridor until they were clear from fire and then took off running.
“What’s up, Zafir?” a man asked, but Lydia refused to answer, instead she covered the distance as fast as her legs could carry her. The group struggled to keep up, but everyone was doing their best. After Toyo, Lydia Zafir was one individual you tried hard not to disappoint.
At the barricade, Lydia ordered her people to wait, while she ran a good 50 meters farther down the corridor, staying next to the inner wall. She listened carefully for a while and heard nothing. There was time to plan an ambush.
Hustling back to the barricade, Lydia picked out four people and ordered them to follow her. “The rest of you, rebuild this barricade. I don’t want any evidence of that plasma blast showing from the landing bay side.”
“You going to tell us what’s going on, Zafir, or just keep us guessing?” The man was the same one who tried to question her on the way to the barricade.
Lydia eyed the man, but he refused to be cowed. “We got Harakens coming,” Lydia said.
“Is the president among them?” the man asked, sensing bonus time.
Lydia watched the light glisten in all nine pairs of eyes around her. “Don’t know,” she said, “but here’s the thing. Toyo said we hold this barricade no matter what, or he’ll kill each one of us who returns before he recalls us.” Using Toyo as the threat had the desired effect. The light went out in their eyes and was replaced by earnest evaluations of the barricade’s strength. Lydia could see the thought circling in their brains — how to survive until Toyo sent for them.
“Okay, you four with me,” Lydia ordered, and walked toward the landing bay. She picked out four doors, two on each side of the corridor, which accessed offices and utility rooms that suited her purpose. Before the people dispersed, Lydia g
ave them their final instructions. “I’ll comm you when the Harakens approach and then give you a countdown. Have your hand over the door actuators, and don’t get greedy for targets. Stun the nearest person. Your jobs are to disrupt the group. Those of us behind the barricade will target the leaders.”
“I heard there was a bonus for the president,” an old-timer said.
“What about that, Zafir?” a young man added. When Lydia stared at him for a moment, he swallowed nervously. “I mean, if the president gets killed, we might not know who did it. Wouldn’t it be fair to divide it up among all of us?”
“Tell you what, boyos,” Lydia said, her smile twisting into a sneer. “You survive to the end of this fight, and we’ll talk about sharing if anyone gets the president.”
As Lydia trotted back to the barricade, one of the senior men slapped the young questioner on the back of his head. “Idiot,” he said.
“What?” the boy asked.
“Why do you think we’re down here, while they’re up there?” he said, pointing toward the barricade.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m considered a great shot with one of these,” the younger man announced, hoisting his stunner.
“Yeah, idiot,” a third man agreed. “We’re fodder, you fool. We may pop out of these doors and stun a few Harakens, but then they will be returning the favor. It’ll be hours before we come to, and whose company do you think we’ll be sitting in if this little adventure of Toyo’s goes sidewise?”
“Oh,” the younger man replied.
The four ambushers separated, entered their assigned rooms, and slid the doors closed.
* * *
The Harakens came silently down the main corridor of Kadmir’s upper dome. Only implants were used for communication. Six troopers walked in front. The twins came next, and they were just ahead of Tatia, who walked with a trooper beside her.
Alex walked alone behind Tatia, refusing to allow anyone on either side of him. Renée walked directly behind Alex, unable to see much behind his broad back, but it was the only place Alex would permit her, and in Renée’s opinion, it wasn’t the time or place to argue. The image of a brown-uniformed woman lying dead on the landing bay deck with her throat cut horrified her, and it was firmly entrenched in her mind.