"Old history, I know," he said, strutting in front of the king and queen as he spoke.
I considered drawing down on him and killing him where he stood. It would be a blood bath, but at least there'd be one less despot in the universe.
"The thing is, when our fathers realized we were to be abandoned, they set about creating a new order on Fraxus. One that would give us what we needed for survival. Together we've built a pretty good life together. Which is why it pains me to have to do what I must today.
"There are traitors in our midst," he continued. "It hurts, you know. I thought we were partners in making this life work for both Scatter and human, but there's always a fly in the ointment, isn't there? It's to be expected and generally we just deal with these things privately. The problem is, King Nkosi has let things get out of hand.
"What, you might ask, is so bad that I have to make an example out of the entire royal family?" There were gasps from within the crowd, but it was otherwise quiet. He turned to Nkosi and addressed him. "There are wolves among the sheep, Nkosi. Humans have been living amongst you and instead of telling me, you've been hiding them. Killers, these humans. Butchers and even worse. They've killed entire shiploads of my people and you've done nothing to stop them."
"We've got to get out of here," I whispered.
"Cap, we can't. They'll see us," Marny whispered back.
"Not gonna matter in a second," I said, backing up.
"But to show I'm a merciful leader. I've decided to give you all one chance. It'll take only one of you to do the right thing and I'll spare your king and queen," he said. "I'll bet these humans are in the crowd. Just point them out and I'll give your king back to you."
For a moment, I thought we were going to be good. Scatters continued to allow us to back away but did not reveal our presence.
"Give us Thabini too," a woman yelled from the crowd only a few meters from our position. Too late, I realized it was Joliwe.
"Step forward," Chappie said, walking over to the side of the stage closest to Joliwe. "You say you want Thabini in exchange for the humans?"
"Yes," Joliwe answered, pulling her hood back.
"No, Joliwe," Queen Cacile cried out, attempting to stand. "Chappie will kill you."
Without thought or hesitation, Chappie turned and fired at Queen Cacile and then King Nkosi, killing them both. They made no noise as they crumpled to the stage to the horror of the assembled Scatters. Thabini struggled against the guard who held him but was unsuccessful in breaking free.
"Quiet!" Chappie shouted. The two cutter-sized ships lifted from where they'd been resting. "Anyone who leaves will be killed."
Joliwe pushed her robe off, exposing the grav-suit and the crossbow Marny had given to Peter. She rose into the air to the surprise of the crowd and Chappie. Without hesitation, she fired a bodkin-point arrow, narrowly missing Chappie. Four soldiers on the wall returned fire, their aim nowhere near as bad as hers.
"Ah, frak," I said. "Marny, Tabbs, Jonathan, get back to the ship."
"Where are you going?" Tabby asked.
"I'm going to try to stop a slaughter," I said, dropping my robe and rising up from my position.
"Not without me," Tabby cried, dropping her robe as well and drawing dual blaster pistols.
"Chappie!" I yelled over the growing chaos around me.
Movement from above the walls caught my eye. A score of mounted golden gigantus dove from their positions high in the sky, the blinding sun behind them. Arrows rained down on the wall from the eagle riders, their aim true. Most of the arrows, however, bounced off the hardened armor of the soldiers and only two of the ten fell.
"Fire!" Chappie ordered. The sloop's large turret turned and fired, striking an eagle struggling to gain elevation.
"This is frakking shite!" Tabby roared and flew off, directly at Chappie.
"No, Tabbs! It'll be a bloodbath!" I cried, following her into the air. I wasn't as concerned about her getting hit by the soldier's fire as much as I was about the sloop mowing down entire swaths of civilians.
My shout was cut off when a roar erupted from the opposite side of the courtyard. I looked over and saw an entire section of the crowd running at the sloop. A small, lower turret turned on them and started firing. Each shot obliterated as many as ten Scatters.
"Ada, this is going south. We're going to need fire support," I said.
“We’ve got a new problem,” she answered. “Two more cutters just showed up moving at high speed. It’s going to take us a few minutes to get free.”
“We don’t have a few minutes,” I answered, looking hopefully at the group racing toward Chappie’s sloop. The ship lifted as it fired on the mountain scatters who continued their hopeless assault. If not for their fantastic speed and agility, they’d have been cut down in seconds. As it was, they were falling at an alarming rate.
The crowd was well beyond consolable at this point and people ran, screaming in all directions as fire from the three ships tore up the courtyard. It was a massacre of proportions I’d never experienced.
“Cap, move!” Marny barked.
I wanted Chappie so bad I could taste blood in my mouth from biting my tongue. My worst fears had been realized. He’d turned the ships against the population. “Tabbs, Marny, on me!” I ordered and blasted off with every newton of force my grav-suit could manage.
The sloop had raised forty meters into the air and arced slowly, tipping so is turrets had maximum visibility of the ground.
“What’s the plan?” Tabby asked, reluctantly turning back toward me.
“Marny did you bring breaching charges?” I asked, slapping into the side of the ship and grabbing hold of a loose armor plate. Like everything from the long ago failed Belirand colony, the ship was falling apart.
“Negative,” she answered.
Tabby landed hard next to me and held out a strip of grenade balls. “These help?”
“Frak, but you’re sexy.” I pulled two grenades off and slid them beneath the loose panel next to the airlock.
The three of us moved back along the ship as it continued to fire, the ship’s captain completely oblivious to the imminent danger. Directed explosive force is highly effective. With the grenades set beneath the edge of the failing armor, most of the energy was directed inward. Unfortunately, the old armor wasn’t done and while there was a hole, it wasn’t large enough to get through.
“Again!” I ordered.
Tabby jumped back to the hole just as the sloop dipped hard, the captain finally recognizing his problem.
“Cap, there’s a cutter lining up on us,” Marny warned. “We’re gonna be knocked off like fleas on a dog.”
I hadn’t known many dogs in my life, but the analogy made sense. Instead of dropping another grenade, Tabby grabbed the edge of the armor and pulled. I’d never seen her at full capacity and strain was evident as heavily corroded steel groaned but resisted.
“Help her!” I ordered, jumping in next to Tabby and pulling at the edge. I pulled with everything I had and looked over to the cutter Marny had marked. We had seconds before it would fire. My efforts, while not inconsiderable, weren’t moving the needle much. The plate was giving way, but our efforts wouldn’t be enough.
Marny dropped in, telescoping out her bo staff. She slid it beneath the opening Tabby had created. “Frak!” she screamed as she joined our efforts and pulled at the end of the staff. For a moment, the three of us stood perfectly still, locked to the side of the ship, straining to move metal. The battle had boiled down to this single act.
“Incoming fire, clear off,” Marny ordered.
It was our nature to not question orders within our group. Tabby and I jumped away only to discover that Marny had stayed behind long enough to allow us to free our fingers. She released the bo staff which snapped back to the hull and then dove away, only a moment before a fiery round of blaster fire erupted next to her.
I watched in horror as her bio signature blinked out. I raced toward her fa
lling body even though I knew it was the wrong thing to do. All would be lost if we didn’t take control of that ship.
“No, Liam! Finish this,” Tabby yelled.
Her words were enough to bring me back. It hurt to turn from my fallen friend, but I knew Tabby was right even before she’d spoken. I overrode Marny’s suit and directed it to drop her gently to the ground, then turned back to the sloop.
The cutter had done what we couldn’t. The weakened armor had been ripped from the ship and in its place was a gaping hole. We flew through, Tabby reaching it moments before me. During the last twenty years, Marny and Tabby had forged a deep friendship on the mountain. Seething anger burned through Tabby as she tore into the ship, slamming into a bulkhead.
Gunfire erupted in the passage, but the soldiers might as well have been shooting cotton. She roared in anguish as she fell on the two hapless men that stood in her way. Using only her fists, she put them down, mercilessly pounding them. I’d never before been afraid of Tabby, but in that moment, I feared her anger.
“Tabbs?” I asked, my voice quiet, but insistent.
“No,” she said and rose up from the bloody mess. She pushed forward, turning the corner. I was grateful she met no more resistance on her way to the ship’s bridge.
“Get up!” she ordered, talking to the captain who was flying the ship.
“No …” he started, but stopped when he saw the blood on Tabby’s grav suit. He grabbed for a pistol at his side, but she closed the distance between them in a heartbeat. She pulled him from his seat and smashed his head into the ceiling. His neck snapped and she discarded him as if he were beneath her notice.
I jumped past them and slid into the pilot’s seat. “Blasters, Tabbs,” I ordered.
The sloop flew like a brick and I struggled to get her under control. I slid the ship away from the crowd and checked the sensor displays. If not for my AI, I would never have known what I was looking at. Hotspur was close and firing … at us.
We rocked to the side and I fought for control. About the best I could do was pick where we would crash. I aimed for an open area a few hundred meters from the courtyard.
“Hotspur, cease fire,” I yelled into my comms. “Tabby and I have control of the sloop.”
“Copy that, Liam,” Ada answered. “Sorry.”
“What’s your sit-rep?”
“Remaining cutters are fleeing. You want us to run them down?”
“Get Marny, she’s down,” I said. “We need those cutters.”
“Already there,” Ada said. “Nick’s grabbing her right now.”
“Her bios are down,” I said, landing hard.
“We see it,” she said. “I need a gunner if we’re going after those cutters. Nick’s in tough shape.”
“Tabby, get to Hotspur,” I ordered, jumping from my seat.
“I got it,” she answered.
I winced as we made our way back through the carnage of Tabby’s anger. I’m not saying these guys didn’t have it coming, but the overkill was terrifying.
Chaos reigned outside the ship. Scatter men, women and children ran in all directions. Even worse, some were too terrified to move and cowered in place. I felt nothing but anger as I raced back to the courtyard. These beautiful peaceful people had been soiled by Belirand’s greed and treated no better than the Kroerak had treated humanity.
When the stage came into view, I found a small knot of soldiers had formed around Chappie. Two of his men still held Thabini and the rest had switched from offense to defense, trying to protect their leader.
When I was twenty meters out, Chappie looked up at me. In that moment, he realized help wouldn’t be coming. He turned and fired at Thabini, hitting one of his own men instead. He yelled for the others to move out of his way and fired again as Thabini stumbled, his injuries too much for him to even stand without help. Before he could shoot, a small Scatter jumped around the confused soldiers, holding a shield in one hand and a crystal sword in the other. My heart dropped as I realized that Scatter was my friend, Hambo. Chappie screamed and ran forward, shooting at Hambo, his blaster bullets easily tearing through the shield. I raced at the pair and fired my flechette into the remaining guard.
The scene played out in slow motion as Chappie reached Hambo's position, a final blaster bolt tearing through the shield and sending the little Scatter to the ground. I was still too far away for a decent shot when I saw Chappie's arm jerk. At first, I thought he was going to take aim at Thabini again, but then I noticed the crystal tip of a sword sticking out the back of his chest.
"Hambo!" I cried as I arrived.
The soldier who'd been holding Thabini, seeing his leader down, turned and ran.
“Clearing the wall,” Tabby called into the comms. I looked up just in time to see Hotspur’s turrets eliminate the guard along the wall.
I had difficulty resolving the conversation I was hearing as I pulled Hambo's burned body to me and ripped at the clothing he wore. My fingers were stopped by something hard. My hand was covered with blood from Hambo's shield arm that hung at an odd angle.
"Mmmm… Hmmmm…." Prince Thabini tried to say something through his gag.
"Give me a second," I said, pulling a combat med-patch out and peeling back Hambo's robe. I nearly cried right there on the spot. Beneath his robe was the smallest section of vac-suit armor I'd ever seen. It wrapped around his chest and over his shoulders. I slapped the patch onto his ruined shoulder and smiled as he gave me a glazed look.
"The prince?" he asked, clearly out of it.
I turned to Thabini, removed his gag, and unbound his hands and legs.
"I think your prince might need a couple of nights in the tank," I said, looking back to Hambo. "Sorry about your arm, too."
"I killed Chappie Barto," Hambo said, looking earnestly at Prince Thabini. "I will accept the consequences for my actions."
Thabini might have tried to smile as he sank to the stage. It was hard to tell under the puffiness of his wounds.
"You will most definitely be held responsible," Prince Thabini mumbled.
I took pity on him and gently applied a med-patch to his cheek. Hundreds of Scatter lay dead or dying. I had a few remaining patches, but they wouldn’t be sufficient for the carnage. The high price of freedom for the Scatters had been paid. I hated that blood was the only currency accepted, but it was a truth I’d come to recognize.
“Nick, talk to me,” I said.
“She’s in the tank,” he said. “She’ll make it.”
I sighed, pushed myself up, and waded into the killing field. A child in his early teens held a man I supposed to be his father. Fearful of me, he wanted to flee, but wouldn’t leave the man’s side.
“Don’t be afraid,” I said, settling down next to him. I pulled out my scanner and found the man was dead. It felt cruel, but I moved on. For survivors, time was of the essence, there was nothing I could do for a dead man.
I continued checking the Scatters on the ground, picking those who were in the worst shape for my meager supply of patches.
"Look who I found," Tabby said, coming up next to me, cradling Joliwe in her arms. The grav suit had been pulled down to her waist, her torso wrapped with a wide bandage.
"Where is Thabini?" Joliwe asked, her face pinched with concern.
“On the stage,” I said, nodding over my shoulder.
Calm had settled over the courtyard and the able-bodied were tending to the wounded. I followed Tabby as she carried Joliwe to the stage.
Thabini sat up when Tabby set Joliwe next to him.
“I thought you would die,” Joliwe said, bringing her hands up to his face.
Thabini’s face softened and he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and wept, his back shuddering as he held her. "You were so brave, my love."
I looked at Tabby, who raised an eyebrow and mouthed my love? I nodded, just as surprised. Joliwe’s frantic focus made more sense to me now. There was little I wouldn’t do for my love.
"You were
n't really going to turn us in, right?" I asked, after Thabini finally let her go.
"No. It was as you said. I had to stand for what I believed. I just wanted to get close enough to Chappie so that I could kill him. The soldiers would kill me, but just as we would be lost without Prince Thabini, I knew that Bell-e-runde would be lost without Chappie Barto. I was willing to trade my life for his," she said.
"Would have been helpful to know that," I said.
"I did not believe I could trust you,” Joliwe said. “I am sorry for my distrust.
Thabini faced the castle and couldn't see what I could. The Scatters that had fled were returning to the courtyard, helping the wounded or just staring at the stage in states of shock. I reached over to Chappie, removed his amplifying microphone and handed it to Thabini.
"Prince Thabini, I know you're hurting, but you should probably address your people," I said.
He nodded and smiled. The combat-patch we'd applied had no doubt pumped him with pain killers and stimulants. He was on a short fuse, but it would be enough.
Epilogue
Two ten-days had passed since the incident outside the castle.
At first, we'd offered the use of Hotspur's medical tank to help injured citizens and manufactured thousands of medical patches with our replicators. The carnage was considerable but not as bad as I'd feared. Seventy-four were dead with the critically injured twice that. The mountain Scatters had taken disproportionate losses with more than half of their number killed. They bore their losses stoically.
Our mission had turned to rounding up Belirand soldiers, including those we'd stranded above the planet. I hadn't been surprised to discover the technically-minded Belirand crews had figured out how to limp back to their base. We'd made their decision simple. They could come with us and face whatever consequences awaited them on the planet, or they could run out their days with whatever supplies they had on the base, because we weren’t leaving their ships repairable. They chose to come with us. As a parting gift, we destroyed the base.
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