Destination Alara

by S. Y. Thompson

  Peeking over the top of a particularly substantial pile of rock, Van saw soldiers everywhere. Many pushed hovering carts loaded with equipment while others were clearly present for security. Considering the riot helmets and full faceplates, not to mention the heavy sonic pulse rifles, these people were serious. The lack of insignia or planet designation didn't mean anything. Van recognized the black on black colors worn by the Gothoan military and her blood flowed like ice water. Apparently, they'd come in through a back entrance and it was only blind luck that they hadn't been discovered. She swallowed hard and looked away from the soldiers. So far, there wasn't any sight of the Phantoms, but she did see several smaller paths leading away from the central chamber. Most of them looked indigenous to the locale, but two were clearly artificial. Excavation with heavy equipment, pneumatic rock hammers, and scaffolding would take years and someone would have noticed. Additionally, the floors were too smooth for hand blasting. She suspected the use of Hokaran crystal tunneling.

  Van frowned. Hokar, the pleasure planet near the Andromeda wastelands, was famous for the crystal technology. The crystals were rare and the prices for them exorbitant. Whoever financed this operation had deep pockets. That usually meant contacts in high places. Something clicked and connections she'd previously never considered began to look like possibilities.

  It would have to wait. Admiral Meryan was the priority. Van could get back to her original mission after this was over. She'd have to be careful, though. Dealing with Alaran royalty meant rubbing elbows with the politicians of the system and they couldn't know why she was really out patrolling the badlands.

  Van remembered a narrow, rocky ledge that started a half meter above the deck a short distance back the other way. She backtracked and led the way up the incline. It wasn't very wide, but it traveled in the general direction they needed. The walkway constricted more as she progressed until Van needed to hold on to rock protrusions around her. Stalagmites jutted from underneath, jabbing her legs through the heavy trousers, but she ignored the pain. After only a few steps, Van had to sling her rifle onto her back. She needed both hands for support.

  The ledge stayed close to the inner walls of the cave system. By doing so, it would lead them farther from the center of the chamber and consequently the guards. Additionally, there were many obstacles to provide concealment. She'd lost sight of the soldiers and if she couldn't see them, they couldn't see her. Van thought that was a very good thing. If she tried to hold a weapon just now, she figured she'd probably fall and impale herself on one of those things.

  Halfway across the narrow precipice, Van stopped and indicated for Chief Yosef to take up position to guard their flank. He nodded once and dropped onto a knee, pulling his rifle into place. Van winced, imagining the sting of kneeling on sharp rock, but the security officer never flinched. She noticed his weapon was set to heavy stun. Good. A stun blast was silent.

  Darkness gathered the farther they moved from the man's position and Van figured they were nearing the outer perimeter. At least she hoped they were. She pulled her goggles back up over her eyes and for a moment, she couldn't see a thing. Then she pressed a small button on the top of the frames and the night vision feature activated. The illumination had a greenish cast that could be confusing so Van moved more carefully. It wasn't long before she discovered the ledge suddenly ended.

  She could see the cave floor from here and if anyone happened to look up, they wouldn't fail to notice three people clinging six meters above them. Now they had a problem; how to get down. Paul tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to see him holding a rope. He'd retrieved it from his pack, but Van didn't intend to climb down like a spider on a length of silk.

  Shaking her head, Van pointed at Heliosius and through a series of gestures impressed on him to guard their backs. Then she started down, holding onto anything that offered any sense of security. She could hear Paul behind her, huffing slightly. Near the bottom, another sound reached her ears that caused her to stop without warning. Byra bumped into her, but Van had tensed so completely that she barely moved from the collision. Quickly, she raised a hand for silence. Paul moved up beside her and frowned, a clear indication that he wanted to know what the problem was. Rather than attempt a response, Van trained her eyes on the figure moving toward them on the passageway below.

  Both squatted down to make smaller targets of themselves. The sound she heard was humming and the person in the corridor was a woman. Even with the ghostly light of night vision, Van recognized her. Paul impulsively started forward, his mouth open to speak. Swann reacted instinctively, reaching out to grasp the commander from behind. One arm went around his waist, pulling him back, while she clamped the other over his mouth. Something was wrong.

  This woman looked like Admiral Cade Meryan, but Van knew she wasn't. For one thing, Meryan was the serious type. Van couldn't imagine her humming, or for that matter, sauntering along through subterranean grottos with Gothoan militia as if she hadn't a care in the world. Clone? Doubtful. What then? Reconstructive surgery or holo-projection?

  In a whisper so quiet Van wondered if she only imagined it, she said, "It's not her."

  They waited for the woman to pass and she noticed other differences, so minute they would go unnoticed if one weren't paying attention. This person slouched slightly, relaxed and obviously comfortable. Meryan would be freezing down here. The only humanoids Van knew of who were accustomed to harsh temperatures were the Gothoans. Regardless of the answers to her many questions, she was an imposter.

  After the stranger with the familiar face moved on, Van lingered to ensure she and Byra were alone. When no one appeared, she motioned for Byra to move. She wanted to pounce on the woman, to demand what she was doing here and where Cade was. Instead, she followed quietly, trying to determine those answers without giving away their advantage. Van allowed enough distance to stay out of sight in the twists and turns of the corridor. Her goggles went back into a pocket since artificial lights along the floors here rendered them useless and extraneous. Rifle back in her hands, Van was ready if things suddenly went south.

  The false Meryan turned and entered a room. She left the door open and Van wanted to shout in relief when she heard the admiral's voice.

  "What the hell is this?" Her words trembled, but Van doubted it was from fear.

  "It was your decision not to cooperate, Princess. My friend here will make the recording for you while my guards take you to the shuttle."

  "What shuttle? Nemo, if you think I'm going anywhere but back to my ship, you are sorely mistaken."

  "Brave words, but you're too cold to resist my soldiers. Even now, your eyes droop as you fight to avoid hibernation. I must say, it was incredibly foolish for an Alaran to willingly make planet fall on Tokar, even a half-breed such as you."

  Van recognized the sounds of a small scuffle then heard Cade grunt. Booted feet started in her direction and she pressed back hard against the rock wall. The man Meryan referred to as Nemo continued speaking, presumably to the doppelganger.

  "Sit down and let's get this over with."

  Two men came around the corner, dragging the admiral between them. Van didn't hesitate, taking the first high in the chest with a stun blast. He sighed and crumpled to a heap. Paul shot the other soldier and he would have flown backward, alerting Nemo to the ruckus, if Cade hadn't shouldered him aside at the same instant. The trooper bounced harmlessly off the wall before falling down. Van realized there was a smoking hole in the second man's chest. Paul's weapon wasn't on stun and the sudden discharge of a pulse blast made her ears ring. Without support, Admiral Meryan slumped onto her knees, but her eyes held stunned disbelief.

  Moving low and fast, Van tossed her rifle to Paul who caught it in a one-handed grip. She unbuttoned her parka and threw it around Meryan's shoulders before helping the woman to her feet. "Come on."

  Silently, she encouraged Cade to walk back down the passageway, but a few feet along Van heard a shout.

  "Stop!"r />
  It was the look-alike with Nemo right behind her. Van couldn't see his features through the dark hood, but they had more pressing issues. If either of them managed to sound an alarm, none of them would make it out alive. Nemo fiddled with something at his wrist and she worried it was too late.

  "Paul."

  Commander Byra's shot caught the doppelganger in the face. He'd used his own rifle and the woman's head disintegrated in a spray of blood and bone. He raised the second weapon and fired at the man who called himself Nemo, but the stun wave passed harmlessly around him. He had a personal defensive cloak. Still, he tapped commands into an unseen wrist device and moments later shimmered out of sight.

  "He's gone," Van said in a stage whisper. "Transit beam. We have to get out of here before he sends in the reinforcements."

  "Why didn't he do that already?" Byra questioned.

  "Too worried about his own hide." Van spoke into her wrist communicator to contact Heliosius and Yosef. "Chief, move out of here the same way we came in. Commander, get down here now."

  "What next?" Cade asked.

  Van was worried the woman was in shock. From the description of the attack, Cade was injured and she looked like she was ready to fall over. She huddled into the parka and obviously deferred to Van's leadership. Sparing a thought for Chief Yosef, she knew she'd made the right decision. He was closer to the elevator and would probably make it out before them.

  "We get this nice man to tell us another way out."

  Van knelt beside the guard she'd stunned and tugged him into a sitting position with one hand fisted into his jacket. Releasing the chinstrap from the helmet, she pulled it off and dropped it on the ground. Van slapped the man a couple of times and his eyes fluttered open. For a second he looked dazed but then his eyes cleared. He opened his mouth to shout for help but had second thoughts when Paul thrust the muzzle of a rifle between his teeth.

  "Be very quiet," Van advised softly, "or you'll join your friends. Understand?"

  He nodded, eyes wide in fear when he looked around.

  "Good boy. Tell us how we get out without setting off the alarms?"

  "I can't tell you that," he said defiantly. "I'm no traitor."

  "And I'm not asking you to be. No one needs to know about this but us, and if you don't my first officer will make sure you never say anything to anyone again. It's your choice."

  Byra made a show of adjusting the setting on the rifle and the trooper capitulated. "All right, but the general will make sure you never leave this planet alive."

  Heliosius arrived just as Van finished acquiring the information she needed. "Thank you. Shoot him, Commander."

  "But you said..."

  Van was relieved when Paul used her rifle with the stun setting. She really believed he'd forgotten to change the settings on his own rifle, but part of her couldn't find fault with his actions regardless. The Gothoans would have done the same. Without remorse, Van removed the soldier's coat and put it on. He'd be cold, but he'd survive as long as he didn't venture onto the surface. Right now, she needed it more than he did.

  "Ma'am, not to rush you," Heliosius said, "but we need to get out of this passageway."

  Van nodded, taking her weapon from Byra, and led the way down the hall. At the end of the corridor, she found the room the soldier mentioned. It was Nemo's office and as such, equipped with an emergency escape portal. She hesitated, looking toward his desk. How much could she find out about this guy and what he was up to before guards captured them? An alarmed shout from the tunnel answered her question.

  "Swann, let's go." Admiral Meryan ordered.

  The others stood on a ringed platform. Near the center were the controls to close a dome around the disc for transition to the surface. It connected to a thick metallic pole leading into the ceiling. Quickly, Van jumped onto the surface just as guards swarmed the room.

  "Punch it."

  Cade's fingers flew over the panel while the others returned fire. Van smelled scorched material from a parka, but no one cried out. Instantly, a transparent trinium barrier encircled the platform and cut off the ruby beams of laser fire. She felt the deck tremble beneath them and the disc rose into the air. Looking up, Van discovered the pole was really a cable that extended all the way to the planet's surface. They climbed through endless meters of rock before nearing the termination point. Some type of barrier prevented the elements from entering the chamber, but it slid open as the lift approached. Frozen precipitation poured into the shaft, briefly obscuring her vision until the vessel penetrated the exit and stopped smoothly.

  She looked up at Cade and they shared a triumphant smile. Then the protective dome retracted and the full force of the wind struck. She saw the admiral's grin turn to a grimace. Cade hunched over and pulled the parka closed. The truth hit her as quickly as the wind. Van realized they'd emerged onto the surface just as a blizzard prepared to dump a ton of snow. With the absence of the dome, she could barely see the others standing beside her. Whiteout conditions were already very near.

  She stepped forward, grabbed the edges of Cade's parka without thinking, and started buttoning the coat. "We need shelter," Van shouted to Byra. "Have the men break out the tents and set up the survival gear."

  Barely, she heard his acknowledgment but focused on Cade. Bad guy or not, Nemo was right when he said she wouldn't survive Tokar's conditions for long. Van wrapped her arms around the admiral and shouted in her ear. "Stay on the platform and raise the dome. I'll come for you when we have the tents set up."

  "Why don't we all just stay here?"

  The barrier would protect them from the wind and snow, but it wouldn't help for long. "We'd freeze to death. We need the tents for the heaters."

  Van looked up at Cade and for a split second, felt the urge to press their lips together. She wanted to believe she saw the same desire in the stormy eyes, but stopped herself and stepped backward off the disc.

  "I can help."

  "Stay. That's an order. I didn't come all this way just to lose you."

  Cade look dumbfounded, presumably that a captain would order her about, but Van didn't find the situation humorous. Just the fact that Admiral Meryan thought all of them staying on the disc was a good idea indicated she wasn't thinking clearly. She wasn't about to let the woman help set up survival gear when they had minutes before they wouldn't be able to see more than a foot in front of their faces.

  Dropping down into the snow beside the platform, Van doffed her pack and removed a rope. She shoved her rifle as deeply into the fresh powder as possible and tied the rope off before looping it around her waist. Then she walked until the rope was taut before she removed a bulky square package from her carryall. Thankfully, the days of pounding in tent stakes and raising a shelter by hand were over. Van pulled the restrictor tab from the button that would keep the refuge from inflating by accident.

  She sat the packet on the ground and pressed the control. Quickly taking a half step back, she barely avoided a massive blow to the head when the sides of the red lodging shot upward. Claws at the bottom erupted and struck deeply into the snow. Programmed for the frozen terrain, they penetrated far into the powder, held in place by the sheer weight. Heating elements built into the sides automatically kicked on as the shelter formed. Van couldn't hear them, but trusted it was true.

  With the tent ready, Van glanced around but didn't see any of her people. In fact, she could hardly see anything. Her heart pounded in her ears, defeating the volume of the wind. Ice peppered her face making her blink away the pain and moisture. The urgency of the situation had prevented Van from donning her goggles or respirator and her face burned from the numbing onslaught. She turned her back to the wind and grabbed hold of the rope, thankful she'd put her gloves on while the platform rose from the underground base. She removed it from her waist and tied the end to a corner of the haven.

  Her limbs felt frozen, sluggish, but she forced her body to continue moving. Cade was counting on her. Van grasped the rope betwe
en both hands. She could hardly feel the line and pulled against it so that the pressure reaffirmed her hold. She followed it back toward the platform and sank up to her hips in the powder. Without the snowshoes, locomotion was dangerous.

  Van kept one hand wrapped around the rope and struggled to free her feet. Winded before she got out of the hole, she forced herself up. If she stopped now, she'd freeze to death and so would Cade. Alara would lose the heir apparent and, on a personal note, the whole idea of losing Cade terrified her. Moving now by sheer willpower, Van made her way to the platform. The dome was up and the snow so heavy she didn't know if Cade could see her.

  Panting in exhaustion, she dropped to her knees and pounded on the trinium with her fist. Weakened, she didn't have the energy to strike very hard but Admiral Meryan heard. The shield dropped and Van felt strong hands grab her by the shoulders of her jacket and yank her onto the disc. While she lay on her side trying to protect her face from the driving snow, Cade left her. When the dome reactivated, she felt like she'd transported to Nirvana. Suddenly, the wind and snow stopped. Van could hear her panting breaths and she felt chilled to the bone.

  "Captain Swann, are you all right?"

  Van wanted to say that of course she wasn't all right, but her teeth were chattering too hard. She tried to pull herself together and sat up. The black jacket she'd taken from the soldier was now solid white. "We have to reach the shelter."

  "You need a minute."

  "Let's finish this," Van shook her head. "It's warm in the tent and that's somewhere I want to be. I'm going to hold onto your waist, but you need to keep your hands in the pockets to keep from getting frostbite." Cade's captors had taken her equipment and all she wore for protection was Van's parka.

  Sniffing loudly against a runny nose, she climbed to her feet. Cade helped her stand and then pulled the hood up over her head. "Your ears already look like they're frostbitten."