Edge of Revelation
Page 17
TEN
Rakul gathered his commando leaders around the polished white alloy campaign table. They were eager for action now that they had landed at their destination. Rakul occupied the head end of the broad rectangular table. There were the five commanders of the subsidiary craft of the Jarlakan battle fleet closest to him plus their security officers further along. There were no items on the table; Rakul’s flagship was recording events and would produce summary commands for each group at the meeting’s end.
“It is vital that we extract all the possible witnesses to the Omeyn kidnap action and bring them here to put them to the question,” Rakul stated. They would take all the suspects generated by the data they had collected. The equipment in the medical laboratories on board would soon discover which were guilty and which were innocent bystanders caught in their dragnet.
“Each of you will take one mission as part of a simultaneous plan. There must be no warning so all our suspects will be taken at the same moment. Surprise is of the essence. Two of you will have very simple tasks: standard entry and extractions in remote locations where there is little chance of being compromised. Two of you, however, Ivanka and Konstantin,” Rakul cast these two a favoured glance, “will need to enter the city centre for operations amongst dense populations. You will go in at dead of night, standard operating procedures to minimise interference from the local humans, most of whom will be asleep. The challenge of this operation is that there is a very high likelihood, ninety-seven percent according to our analysis, that one or more of these targets is in fact the Gayan agent we are seeking. The kicker is that we don’t know in advance which of the targets is or are the Gayan or Gayans. The Mind has worked up probabilities on each of the targets so you will have indications of which are the most dangerous, but take precautions as all on the list could be Leopards of Dawn, that is the whole point of the exercise.”
Konstantin was the most battle-hardened of the assembled group. His bowling ball of a head contained features that were neither prominent nor inset. His ears and nose were small bumps as if they had been ground down in combat and his eyes sat almost flush to the orbits in his skull. His skin was tanned to leather that was criss-crossed by fine old scars. “And what if we pick up some locals as collateral, your Excellency?” he inquired.
“That is to be expected and the candidates on the list could all provide useful intelligence when put to the question. Beyond that pick up any others in the locality who are not on the lists – the net may turn up a new catch by accident! I want to make sure we take all the suspects; take more rather than less if you have to decide. The operation will commence at 2.15am local time; you will need to be on target to ensure you can start precisely then. You may go and make your preparations. Be successful!”
*
The four subsidiary Jarlankan craft that had landed with Rakul’s command ship in the small copse rose in unison from their landing sites at 1.45 in the morning. They were cloaked but there were only the animals of the night and the occasional freight lorry on the nearby M11 motorway that could have marked their take-off. The night was overcast and damp; that would be an asset in their dark missions that night. The two craft that made up the starboard wing of the Jarlankan fleet headed north and east of Cambridge town centre. One crossed the open country to Thetford and collected eleven adults and seven juveniles who were sleeping in the three farmhouses most adjacent to the Thetford Forest battle scene, including the couple that had heard the spacecraft leaving and thought there was some kind of music festival going on in nearby fields.
The other starboard wing craft was despatched to just east of the city centre and landed on the open ground of Midsummer Common on the bend of the River Cam. Once landed it disgorged two squads of three commandos, each wearing Hazmat suits that camouflaged with the shadows of the night. They carried their short lances, ixwas. These were their fighting weapons that also carried gasses and drugs in the hypodermic tips they used to capture their victims. They wore enlarged versions of the Spargar helmets, which were coated in the same cloaking film as their spacecraft. Only the complex goggles and breathers could be discerned and even that would be unlikely at night.
Doctor Stephen Hadley dimly recalled trying to rouse himself from their bed as he recognised his partner Haydrian was being led from their room by a shady figure. They were staying at Haydrian’s rented terraced house just off the Newmarket Road that night. He then felt himself being helped to his feet outside his own control and taken down the stairs. His body was responding to the directions of another shady figure. Dimly he felt the cool night air as he was taken outside the house. The shady figures seemed to be fitting him with some kind of cloak and then taking him on a short walk across the park. His mind faded and the rest of his journey was a mystery to him.
A second group of kidnappers ascended the old stairs to Daniel’s room in Chapel Court at Jesus College. The menacing figures were in keeping with the setting of the bulky gothic building this dark dank night. They introduced their drugs cocktail as gasses beneath Daniel’s door, waited for the appointed time and then entered. The room was empty, neat and tidy, the bed still made. It had the air of a disused room that would not be returned to again this night. The Jarlankan commando leader made the decision to withdraw and they returned to their ship on Midsummer Common as Haydrian and Stephen Hadley were walked on board like zombies from across the park.
*
The two Jarlankan craft that made up the port wing of Rakul’s flight were commanded by Konstantin and Ivanka. They flew low and straight north into the academic heart of Cambridge along the River Cam. Konstantin landed his craft on the wide green triangle of Queens’ Common next to the college. Ivanka carried on and landed in the formal lawn of Scholar’s Garden at the rear of St John’s College, shielded from the modern Merton Block by lofty trees and the small watercourse of Bin Brook that joined the River Cam at the corner of River Court. Each craft disgorged two assault groups that moved towards their targets in the college buildings.
Charlotte woke with a start in her small room in Cripps Court, Queens’ College.
Charlotte turned to see Christopher lying beside her. A lock of dark hair fell across one of his eyes as she gently but firmly disentangled from him. She inserted her gum shield for physical protection as well as to provide immunity from the drug cloud permeating the room. She thought of getting Chris to wear the same but he was becoming sedated and she decided it was best that he stay that way. Charlotte quickly crossed the room and picked up her hockey stick that waited there for this very purpose – and to play hockey for the college with, of course. Charlotte felt the automatic release of natural stimulants combining with the martial theme of her home world pumping her muscles and senses to fighting pitch. By the time the dark figures outside were ready Charlotte was fully alert and primed for action, quite the opposite of the inert victim the raiders were expecting.
The door eased open and Charlotte saw three figures in larger-than-normal Spargar hazmat suits enter the room. They crept towards the bed where Christopher was sedated as they expected but stalled when they realised he was not Charlotte. They rose up and turned to face Charlotte crouching to spring from the corner by the window. She held the hockey stick out in both hands in a threatening manner. It was a small room with nowhere to run and hide though that thoug
ht never crossed Charlotte’s mind. The Jarlankans approached but they could not reach her three abreast in the narrow confines of the corner of the room. Their eye goggles provided enhanced night vision but this was as nothing compared to Charlotte’s sixth sense bolstered by the spirit of Duncan working tightly with her as one unit. Two Jarlankans faced her down and Konstantin stood behind them. They pointed their ixwas menacingly at Charlotte as she swayed from side to side issuing a combined hiss and growl. The Jarlankans tensed and crouched lower. They had heard that Gayan agents were called ‘Dawn Leopards’ for the ferocity of their combat. Convenient that Chris isn’t awake to hear me doing that, Charlotte mused as she faced down her oppressors.
The front Jarlankans moved in on the girl confident in their skills and superior numbers. They expected to incapacitate her on the drugged spikes of their ixwas. Charlotte moved with blurring speed too quick for their night goggles to follow and smashed the ends of their ixwas with blows from the hockey stick before continuing to buffet them both to helm and body. The raiders fell to either side and Konstantin stepped over them and moved in, much more warily. He knew of the Gayan agents’ reputation but he had not witnessed the speed and power personally, all he saw was this naked girl despatching two of his best soldiers so easily. It was hard to believe that this girl could have a fraction of his skill and power. He was still deciding his best move when he was assailed in his mind by Duncan’s spirit leaping across the gap between them to disorient him, forcing him to lose concentration just when he needed it most.
Charlotte leaped forward called on by Duncan, seeing gaps in Konstantin’s guard that would never be there if he were compos mentis, but now she arched and curved her body through those gaps to strike him with the hockey stick as she pulled it through those same lapses in Konstantin’s awareness. Despite the fizz of joy released by the close combat, Charlotte shortened the strikes so that Konstanin was not maimed even as he fell to the floor. She reasoned that she did not want the inconvenience of dealing with the physical removal of these three aliens from her college room; they had to leave under their own steam. She had made sure they were still capable of movement for this very purpose. Still suffused with martial energy and making predatory growls, Charlotte moved to the door, opening it fractionally and waved the three assailants out at a crawl. Teamed with Duncan’s spirit she kept a mental clamp on the minds of the three aggressors to emphasise her domination and their good fortune at escaping with their lives.
Charlotte closed the door on her assailants and felt Duncan’s spirit leave to help the other Gayans and their friends across the town in the face of this combined assault. She breathed deeply and stretched, put the kettle on to make an instant coffee and eat a biscuit before returning to bed with Christopher who had slept peacefully through the whole thing.
*
Joe was not feeling very peaceful at all. He was feeling the pressure of bringing this abnormal threat upon them all by having previously extracted the Omeyn. It had seemed so fitting at the time. The Spargar were threatening the success of his mission and they had kidnapped his own wife so many years ago; natural justice was in his favour, surely? But he could feel the silent criticism from both his colleagues here in Cambridge and now his superiors back on Chamarel seemed against him. He was not exactly spoiling for a fight but if that came his way, then so be it.
Joe felt the red threads from Duncan and Charlotte warning that they were being attacked. Closer to hand his phone buzzed with the warning app he had rigged to his external room doors. In the old block he had the benefit of a pair of solid oak doors to the exterior and they would be a tougher challenge to the raiders outside than the flimsier modern doors in Cripps Building where Charlotte was housed. Anger flared through Joe in a conflagration of indignation that his command position was being eroded as well as the justifiable anger at being attacked in the night in so insolent a manner. He was so inflamed that he found himself having to tone down the heady cocktail of hormonal and mental stimulants that suddenly coursed through him with soul fire. He stood, then stalked to his outer sitting room as the Jarlankans carefully opened the outer door only to find the second inner one nine inches behind. Joe sat in his threadbare armchair as the drug cloud issued under the door and watched as the inner door moved tentatively open, almost soundlessly. Joe put his gum shield in and checked his ripallo, disguised as a cheap earthly watch. He would not likely be needing other weapons on this occasion.
The three Jarlankans who entered were surprisingly large compared to their Spargar allies. Their suits and helmets would have been consequently more intimidating, Joe noted, if he had been a native human of Earth and not one of the most highly trained soldiers in existence. His musculature was singing now from the heady mix of adrenaline and anthems and was desperate for release. He looked from one buggy-eyed helmed figure to the next as they arrayed in a line before him, uneasily waving their ixwas, surprised by their victim’s lack of concern. When he did move he erupted from the chair, springing towards the filmy curtained window, then across and around the Jarlankans so quickly they could not follow him quickly enough in their combat gear. He rained blows upon them as he flexed and stormed through them, over and over, reducing them quickly to their knees. Their ixwas were relinquished and they lay prone upon the ground.
Joe was enjoying the release in this physical action after so many frustrating constraints had weighed upon him recently and it was fortunate that Duncan’s spirit arrived just at that moment to talk some sense into him before he could do permanent harm to the raiders.
Joe acknowledged the sense of Duncan’s message, albeit reluctantly, and calmed himself. They were the aggressors here, after all, what were the bounds of his proportionate response meant to be? If he let them go then they might return with reinforcements. But he could not terminate them permanently no matter how it could be justified. He was above them and ruled by the laws even if they did not observe them themselves. Joe threw all three out onto the landing outside like bags of rubbish and closed the doors on them; they were not to be seen again that night.
*
Daniel was woken by the same danger signal emanating from Duncan and Charlotte, now added to by Joe. Indeed he was not staying at home in Jesus College that night as Anya had suggested staying over with the Professor at his Lodge house between St John’s College and the Cosmology Department. On the face of it this was because Anya was concerned about the Professor’s health; she could see he was not at all well and that was good enough reason to have Daniel round with the Professor’s agreement. What Daniel did not know was there was an imminent Spargar threat and Anya’s motivation was highly questionable.
If Daniel ever started that night with a different plan then he changed it rapidly with events as they started to unfold. Startled to action like Charlotte and Joe, before Duncan’s spirit could fly to his aid he watched Anya get out of bed, and head down the corridor to the front door. There she eerily opened it to allow in the three combatants in their camouflaged suits and helms. Daniel felt the fire of his combat training rise to empower him, but he let it mellow by the curiosity of understanding Anya’s actions, which aided his enemies. The raiders released their narcotic cloud through the house and Anya swooned to the floor, caught and lowered by a Jarlankan to ensure she suffered no injury. It was that moment that Daniel chose also to feign falling to the floor in the same manner, though he remained crystal-clear-headed. One of the Jarlankans stabbed him with the hypodermic of his ixwa and Daniel felt the drug slow his body, though it could not penetrate his Gayan immunity and his mind receded from controlling his body and continued functioning as normal in a quiet space somewhere behind his eyes, in the middle of his mind.
One of the Jarlankans emerged from the other end of the house carrying the frail form of Professor Kitteri
dge over his broad shoulder. These agents were larger physical specimens than the Spargar agents Daniel was familiar with and much more capable of carrying them off. It seemed their enemies had called in some more formidable troops. The other two Jarlankans threw camouflage capes over Anya and Daniel and led them from the house, closing the door carefully behind them. They had no reason to believe that Daniel was not under the control of the drug cloud and injection, able to be manipulated as they willed. They progressed silently from the Lodge through the gate in an old brick garden wall, under the total dark of the tree canopies out into the open lawns of the Scholar’s Garden. Duncan’s spirit arrived after racing over from Joe’s room in Queens’ College half a mile up the river and joined with Daniel inquiringly.
Daniel thought in response, communicating a scheme to go with the kidnappers to their lair, to see where it was, who they were and what were their plans.
Duncan passed back,
Duncan’s spirit smiled warmly right into Daniel’s soul.
The Jarlankans led Anya and Daniel in a drugged haze and carried Professor Kitteridge through the portal into their craft, then strapped them down to flat beds for the return journey. Daniel noted the surgical style of the Jarlankan ship interior, lacking the elegant comfort of the Ivory Vine-grown interiors of their Gayan craft. They were all scrubbed metal and alloy, grim as a military hospital. He saw that a second commando kidnap group had captured two of the senior doctors in the Cosmology Department who were close to Professor Kitteridge. They were already strapped inert to adjacent tables to Daniel, presumably targeted in error as possible Gayan agents. The Jarlankan craft tilted up by the nose and smoothly slid forward and up over the trees following the course of the river southwards.