Allies (Kaylid Chronicles Book 4)

by Mel Todd

  "Good idea." They spent a few minutes in the relative safety of the control room figuring the best way to use the MOLLE straps to secure their guns.

  Glad Miguel had us in these contraptions. Between all the crap he made us strap on, and the functionality, it might just make the difference.

  At least that hope had a chance of being real. Once they were all ready and knew how to quickly secure the weapons, they moved out of the room. It took another minute for Toni to lock it down with a password that had her smirking, a weird look on the warrior muzzle.

  "Do I want to know?" McKenna murmured as they set out at a steady jog, with Perc leading the way. The area had lost a lot of the ambient noise with the changes Toni had made.

  "Probably not, but you'll laugh, and they'll never get it."

  "You have to tell me when this is all over, okay?"

  "Will do. Though I'm going to try really hard to do it when you are drinking something." Toni's voice had a wicked smirk to it and McKenna grinned. Being happy about anything was an improvement.

  "Deal, just don't make me waste whiskey."

  "Spoilsport." After that they fell silent, and paid attention as Perc headed to an area on the other side of the elevators, which always seemed to be in the middle of the roughly cigar-shaped ship.

  They all got there, standing, and stood quietly for a minute, the shifters straining their ears, listening for anything or anyone. When they didn't hear anyone coming, Perc pointed to an icon on the wall and pressed it. A panel slid open and Toni frowned.

  "I don't know that I have the codes for these. At least I don't find anything in my memories, or databanks, regarding them."

  "Look for emergency tube access," Perc suggested.

  Toni fell silent her head tilted up. "Ah, got it." Her clawed fingers flew across the panel. "Simple. They respond to the basic emergency access." A door appeared in the wall and slid backwards. The tech to have their doors be all but invisible until they were needed amazed her, but it didn't matter now. All that mattered right now was their objective.

  Looking into the opening McKenna felt her heart skip a beat and she understood what Perc had meant about this being a hard climb. The door opened to a side shaft of the elevator and went all the way up and down with tiny little landings every ten or twelve feet. But that was it. And the ladder wasn't what she thought of as a ladder. It was a pole that ran up and down the side of the shaft with alternating pieces sticking out every two feet. The normal rails and cables you always saw in movies were missing. It was an off-grey-green color with a smooth, metal-like composition.

  "We have to climb that? How far?" Her voice remained steady, even as she fought to not have a panic attack. You couldn't see the bottom. And other than the tiny ledges outside what she assumed were access to other levels, there would be nothing to stop your fall.

  "From what I can figure out, about seven hundred feet up. Then we should be in the corridor that we'll have to follow to enter what’s labeled as the commander's center."

  "Huh, anything else on those schematics that could be the bridge?" The last thing she wanted to do was waste time and energy going to the wrong place.

  Perc shrugged. "Maybe? I mean I'm a bit biased towards thinking of spaceships the way we've always seen them on TV. Big bridge where they all sit and watch the controls. It might be wrong, but nothing else seems like it might be right." He shrugged his furry shoulders, arms crossed. McKenna wanted to apologize, but she didn't have time to worry about hurting feelings. Not even Perc's.

  "Then I guess we climb. Hold on tight people because this is going to be scary." She moved towards the ladder, but JD held out his hand. "Let me go first, and Perc go last. That lets me deal with anyone outside the entrance, and since Perc is one of the strongest, he would have the best chance of being able to catch anyone that slips."

  "Rarz, can you just create us a portal?" Toni's words halted everyone's movement and McKenna couldn't help but feel a spurt of hope.

  "The distance between us and where you need to arrive is too short. The warehouse where I displayed relocation the first time was at the limit of my ability for short distances, and it was at least 3.5 times this distance," Rarz answered, his tone regretful.

  There was a sigh that rippled through all of them and JD grunted. "Climbing it is."

  McKenna nodded in a jerky motion, her mouth already going dry at this climb. It was so far down, it felt like looking over a void, and of course there weren't any lights at the bottom, making it worse.

  They spaced the pure humans out between them, hoping the shifters could stop anything catastrophic, but really, it was like grade school gym all over, but she wasn't twelve anymore.

  JD turned sideways to fit through the opening, his shoulders were a bit too wide to go in straight. He grabbed the first rung. He started to climb slowly then stopped about five rungs up, looking back down at them.

  "The rungs are textured but a bit wide to grab, but they work better for your feet. Be careful and pace yourself. This is going to get exhausting fast." His voice echoed oddly in the tube, giving it an otherworldly aspect that made her nervous.

  "Got it. Roark, go." Nothing in her voice betrayed the churning indecision that she refused to address. She had a world to save dammit, and there wasn't anyone else to turn to right now.

  "Rodger." He moved out, testing his grip, then began to climb. She relaxed a bit at his calmness and ease of climbing. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she feared. Inhaling sharply, checking the ray gun one more time, she stepped out and grabbed the rung, refusing to look down.

  Perc had been right, the rungs were a bit wide to wrap her hands around, but her booted feet could grab them easily. That had been an argument with Wefor and the bots at one point, getting their feet to form in a way that would fit shoes, larger sized shoes, but still normal shoes.

  She started up the climb, trying to concentrate on moving up smoothly and not looking down. It wasn't hard, but she didn't want to get distracted and confident. That looked like a long way down.

  "How's everyone doing?" She called out, even as she climbed one more rung.

  "Good! I just shut the door behind us. So onward and upward," JD called out and she snickered a bit, but kept climbing.

  Her arms were starting to burn at the odd pattern of movements and holding herself up, when a muttered curse caused her to look up as a boot slammed into her face. Her hands tightened on the rung, even as her head rocked back, eyes watering as pain blossomed through her face.

  Roark's foot had slipped and impacted her between the eyes. She closed them, fighting through the unexpected pain and shock. For a moment she thought she might lose consciousness as her head swam, her hands compulsively gripping tighter.

  "Fuck. Ma'am, you okay? I hurt you?" His worried voice floated down in their tube and she concentrated on breathing without letting go of her death grip on the rungs as the dizziness faded.

  "I'm fine. Keep going, I'll let you get a bit more ahead of me. Please try to not fall."

  "Ma'am, yes, ma'am." His voice remained tight as they all climbed a bit more slowly, No one wanted to see if JD could catch them and not fall himself.

  Her world narrowed to the next rung. No one even spoke in her mind, everyone dealing with his or her own small slips and starts of fright. Her pulse pounded in her ears and she could hear rapid breathing from people above and below her. The scenery never changed, and McKenna started to feel like she was trapped in a dream where she kept climbing but never got anywhere.

  "We're here." Perc's voice wove around her, but it wasn't until her hand hit Roark's boot that it snapped into reality.

  She leaned back, fingers wrapped around the rung as tight as she could manage, and looked up. Perc stood on the tiny landing and had his ear against the door. He shrugged and pushed the door release. Apparently from inside you just needed to open the door, no authorization needed.

  Kinda like a freezer, you can always open it from the inside.

  T
he random thought made her shake her head and watch as he pulled his gun and stepped out. They hung there on the ladder, waiting, each beat of her heart taking an eternity as she tried to hear anything. When he stuck his head back out, she sagged in relief.

  "Clear. Come on." His voice was low, but she cringed at how loud it seemed in that tunnel. With eager movements they all flowed up and stood in the hall with their backs against the wall. Their breathing sounded harsh against the eerie atmosphere up here.

  "I never thought I was scared of heights, but I never want to do that again." Toni muttered, even as she shuddered and opened and closed her hands, her claws sliding in and out.

  "Agreed," everyone chorused, even the two soldiers who looked a bit white. They got out their guns and after a few deep-cleansing breaths looked at McKenna.

  She forced a smile, showing teeth, which may have made it a snarl. "Now we take over a ship."

  And hopefully we don't die in the process.

  Chapter 26 - Hope Realized

  BREAKING NEWS: North Korea has launched a ballistic weapon at a location within their borders. The small town of Kanggye is where all shifters discovered within Korean borders were rumored to have been taken. Multiple shuttles had been seen headed there. The missile went ballistic about three minutes ago and will impact shortly. The payload is unknown, but if it is a nuclear payload, the fallout is expected to spread north into China with the current winds. Any updates will be passed on. ~ TNN Invasion news

  Ash focused on the number projections. The costs were getting higher for retrieving Kaylid, and while he couldn't resist a smug joy at that, it had a level of bitterness to it. The costs the Elentrin were taking meant Kaylid were dying. And they had no choice as they followed orders and were subject to the pheromones. Some, even with centuries of service, still melted when an Elentrin walked by trailing pheromones.

  Yet these humans, both Kaylid and non, seemed immune.

  His mind snagged on that, even as he looked at the projections. They were having a slow-down with the processing of retrieved Kaylid. Normally they didn't get so many at once, but they also weren't coming under fire. This was the first planet that managed to actively resist. His had tried, but too little too late, and they still died.

  He glanced at the screen showing the shuttles towing rocks into place. The other ship was due anytime, and Ash suspected that was why they hadn't cut their losses. Besides, they were still gathering new tools at the rate of more than ten per every loss, but why didn't the pheromones make him a weak drooling idiot? The Elentrin didn't notice, just assumed he loved them so thoroughly there was no other way he could act. None of them had any idea.

  ~Why am I immune to their pheromones?~ The thought sprang up before he could tamp it back down, so he waited for an answer, expecting something like—he wasn't impervious.

  [Your response to their pheromones is blocked by the nanobots. That weakness was eradicated after the corruption to the existing programming was repaired, removing the Elentrin aspects of code that allowed control over you and the bots.]

  Ash's entire body went still as his mind raced back. When the original kidnapping had occurred, he had the regular bots, but when they wanted to play with a new AI version, they had updated his alien machines.

  ~Wait, corruption to the existing program? What are you talking about?~

  There was a long pause in his mind, a vacant waiting feeling. [You truly did not know? Did not realize?]

  ~Realize or know what? What are you talking about?~

  [The last two centuries might have been easier had I realized you did not put the pieces together… a mistake I should not have made.]

  Worry and dread coiled in his stomach. He had never trusted this thing in his head, always waiting for the betrayal. But without it, what had been achieved would not have been possible. He clawed the emotions together and compressed them into a tiny ball and waited.

  [When I was originally implanted in you, I was the beta version of a prototype. They wanted to see if they could enhance my, well your, abilities, to allow you to choose animals not native to your planet to shift into. Do you recall, not long after you were taken, about two reyan ago, where you were subjected to some medical tests?]

  Ash sat down, running his claws through the stiff fur on his arms as he thought. ~Maybe. I remember being told I had been chosen for some experiments and they gave me shots and put me in a canister. It got fuzzy for a while. Then I woke up and was told it failed but there was no reason to dispose of me. I went back to working for Kenric. That was what? Keric's great grandfather?~

  His thoughts were slow as he tried to remember that time. The first few years were ones he usually tried to forget. When the pain of watching his world die still burned hot and fresh across his soul, where the pheromones and the AI guided his behavior. At night he raged in his mind, away from his captors.

  [Great-great-great grandfather, actually. But you are correct. They also exposed you to focused radiation to try and unlock some of your cellular structures, but it didn't work. You still only shifted to animals native to Alara.]

  Ash couldn't help it; he flinched at the name, but he didn't snap at the AI. A wordless wave of sorrow brushed him, and he accepted it for what it was—an apology.

  The AI continued. [That radiation had a side effect of erasing and damaging various aspects of my code. It took another decade for that code to be repaired and rewritten. It took another few reyan before I realized the limiters on my options, my choices, had been removed. That was when I started to talk to you and worked on making you as independent as possible.]

  Ash jerked to his feet and strode to his window to space, the blue-green planet hanging in it now. ~I remember that. You had previously only offered one or two-word answers. Commands. You reinforced what I had to do. Then you began to speak in sentences. Now that I think about it, they started out very basic, but over time became more complex. I didn't trust you then.~ He sneered at his reflection in the transparent metal. ~Still don't. I keep waiting for the trap you are laying to snap closed around me.~

  [Even after a hundred reyan of supporting you, you still doubt me?] A sense of amusement came from the AI and he sighed.

  ~You are as much my jailer as they are. How could I trust?~

  [Did you want me to commit suicide?]

  Ash started to answer, then paused. While there was no trust, he couldn't deny the voice in his head had become the closest thing he had to a friend, not that he'd ever admit that. Enemies were always enemies, no matter how useful they were.

  ~You rewrote your programming to be free of them.~

  [Essentially. But in the process, I started to break the controls they held over you. Pheromones, command words, memory blocks. All were put in as my original programming slithered through your biology. That had to be done slowly and some have only been removed in the last few decades.]

  ~What? Why?~ He tried to muster outrage and offense, but he suspected he knew why.

  [Because you had to act as if they were still there. Which meant you needed to do those reactions without thought. It had to be natural to you.]

  ~Fine. The pheromones won't stop me. But that doesn't say how we can help these Earthlings defeat them. I'm not sure I didn't just set up their world to be destroyed like mine. Have you heard from Rarz?~ He'd expected the day he made contact with the Drakyn to be the day the AI turned him over and had him killed as an example to everyone. Part of him still waited for that.

  [Nothing since the last message. I do not believe he has returned to his home.]

  ~You think he is still on Earth?~ Ash didn't know why he was surprised, but he hadn't expected Rarz to stay. Maybe to give them some tools or ideas on how to fight? It wasn't like they had ever had a long, in depth discussion about capabilities or options.

  [That would be my suspicion, though I have no proof outside of his lack of communication.]

  Ash gave one last look at the sphere with white clouds drifting over its surface. He tried to
ignore the silver winks of light as ships pulled asteroids into orbit.

  ~Oh well. I have forecast…~ he broke off as an alarm started to wail, making him start. "What by the stars?" That, he didn't mind saying out loud. He couldn't remember ever hearing that sound which meant he couldn't isolate what it meant.

  ~All Personnel, proceed to duty stations. Invaders are on the ship. They should be eliminated. Protect your superiors at all costs.~ The hard, vibrant voice from the ship's computer rang through his head, making him wince even as his desktop chimed. Still surprised, he pulled up the message coming from his owner, the captain of the ship. Keric's great-great-great grandfather had overseen the destruction of Alara. Ash had been passed down from father to son like a useful tool. Keric had shown more ambition than most of them and over the years he had risen through the ranks to achieve command of this ship. A rabid follower of the House of Ricin, he treated Ash like a favored pet. Something to be alternately pampered, used, or ignored, depending on the situation. Over time Ash had become something like his private secretary, bully, major domo, and confidante all in one. Why, by Alara's Stars, Keric ever thought Ash wanted to hear his woes he would never know, but his ability to seem interested and provide useful advice was remarked on by all, though having multiple centuries to practice helped. He was one of the very few Kaylid that were regarded as house treasures that lived off a planet.

  ~Invaders?~ The sharp thought to his AI was contained, his conversations were never overheard. That was something that got beaten out of him in the first year.

  [That is what that alarm means, though it has never sounded before. There are reports of a few dead and that the storage areas are removing stored beings at an extreme rate.]

  ~Where are they going to put all of them? Life support will fail quickly if that many beings stress the resources.~ Ash turned to see if he could pull up more information when a beep on his desk pulled his attention away.