by S. E. Smith
He stepped over the body of the Commander, but not before ripping the man’s name tag off his shirt and adding it to his collection. He liked to collect one memento from each of his kills. He bent his knees and jumped. While small in stature, he made up for it in speed and strength. He could jump twenty feet in a single leap and was an excellent climber.
It didn’t take him long to return to where he had left the hover glide. Releasing the handle, he slid his feet into the foot grips and grasped the controls. In seconds, he was weaving through the forest and heading back to town.
Sergi followed behind Ash, searching for anyone else doing the same. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was obvious that Ash was on a clearly defined mission. Sergi paused along the walkway when Ash slowed, adjusted his cloak, and opened the door to an establishment a short distance away. Sergi stayed by the building across the street from where Ash had entered as three other men walked up to the door Ash had just gone through. They were speaking intensely to each other in a language he didn’t understand.
When one of the men glanced in his direction, Sergi looked down and scooped up a basket that had been left outside the closed business he was standing in front of. Covertly sliding his knife inside the basket, he casually carried it on his arm as he followed the men into the building.
He silently slipped around the small group of men, using their bodies to help conceal his own as he made his way toward a dark corner. Sergi’s glance skimmed over his emergency pod in the middle of the room. The two men who had entered before him were now sitting at a table while Ash sat at a table near the window.
Sergi watched from his dark corner as a tall woman appeared from the back of the bar. The woman had a series of intricate tattoos on her neck. Another Turbintan assassin – the master La’Rue was afraid of, if the hair on his nape standing up was any indication.
“Nebi mau keti mi,” the woman ordered, waving a dismissive hand at the men. Sergi’s eyebrow rose at her low, menacing tone.
Sergi was impressed that one lone woman, especially one who was blind in one eye, could scare three large men. He curiously watched as she sneered and shut the door. She pulled a large key out of her pocket and twisted it in the lock. A wry grin curved his lips when she turned the full force of her irritation on Ash.
“Nebi mau keti mi!” she snarled again in a language that Sergi didn’t understand but was pretty sure meant ‘Get the hell out of here’ as she unlocked the door again.
Sergi watched as Ash leaned forward, pulled the hood off of his head, and gave the woman one of his best shit-eating-grins.
“Sorry, bitch, I don’t understand what you’re saying, but I have to say, if your tone is anything to go by, you need some serious counseling on how to run a business,” Ash commented, looking at the woman with just the right amount of derision to feel like nails on a chalkboard.
The woman’s expression changed from irritation to pure malice. “You!” the woman snarled.
Sergi sat back in his seat and listened as Ash formally introduced himself. He frowned when he heard Ash state that the two of them were going to be related, realizing in that instant that this was about more than just the pod in the center of the room – this was personal for Ash. Sergi’s gaze moved back to the woman and he winced. He wouldn’t want to be related to that woman for all the natural resources in Siberia.
The woman’s lip curled into a sneer. “I could not care less what you are called. Where is Kella?” she demanded.
Sergi turned his head when another woman appeared from a back room of the bar. His gaze swept over her, noting her confident walk, the number of visible weapons strapped to her body, and the tattoo on her neck. His eyes moved from the young woman to the expression on Ash’s face and back again. His mind tried to connect the woman with the smooth, forest green complexion and clear, dark brown eyes with Ash – the playboy pilot of the Gliese 581.
He had to hand it to the younger woman – she looked like she was ready for battle. His fascination with the unfolding events increased when she stopped and aimed a blaster at the woman, her chin lifted in determination and defiance. There were going to be fireworks.
“I am here, Tallei,” Kella declared.
Ash stepped around the table, his expression taut and focused. “I wouldn’t, lady. I promised myself I’d never kill a woman if I could help it. Please don’t make me break that promise,” he warned.
Tallei turned to look at Ash. “The legend is true? The Ancient Knights of the Gallant Order have returned?” she sneered.
Sergi frowned, adding this conversation to the intel he’d previously gathered: Ancient Knights returning to lead the rebels, two of them. One was helped by a Turbintan on Torrian – the same planet Mei’s spaceship had been tracked to – and the other knight had single-handedly defeated Legion squadrons on Tesla Terra. Is this why the Legion Director wants us? These people think the members of the Gliese 581 are some kind of prophecy come to life? he thought in disbelief.
Sergi listened with growing concern as Tallei, the evil bitch of the west, as he was beginning to think of her, tried to bribe Ash into turning over the woman in exchange for ‘the one who was in the container’. Then he saw a flicker of red light as Tallei dropped what could only be an explosive device. Rolling out of his chair, he took the heavy table with him. In the background, he heard Ash yell out a warning.
The loud explosion shook the room. The sound was deafening, but a discharging blaster could still be heard. Sergi rolled to his side. From his position, he could see Kella lying on the floor with a knife embedded in her shoulder. Unsure if she was still alive, he struggled to his feet. A quick look around showed him that Ash was locked in a fierce battle with Tallei.
Pushing the table to the side, he crawled over the debris to the woman. She was perfectly still, her face paler than before. The blade was embedded in her right shoulder. Sergi hissed out a warning when she lifted a hand and gripped the knife, but she swiftly pulled the knife out anyway. He released a long string of curses in Russian even as he pulled the shawl off of his head and wadded it up to apply pressure to the wound.
“Ash needs you alive, dorogoy,” he muttered.
Kella’s eyes widened when she looked up at him. Her lips parted in surprise. Sergi gave her a gentle, reassuring smile.
“So, you know Ash, yes?” he inquired as if there wasn’t a major fight going on behind him.
“You are….” she started to say before she turned her head to look toward the woman. “Help me up.”
Sergi started to protest but the fierce, determined expression in Kella’s eyes warned him that she wasn’t going to stop until she was standing. He wrapped his arm around her and helped her to her feet. She swayed and her face turned an alarming shade of pale green. Sergi couldn’t help but wonder if the blade had been tainted with poison.
She pushed his hand away from her shoulder. Sergi decided that Ash had either discovered a true Amazon from the legends or a woman with a spine of steel.
“What did you do to my parents?” Kella demanded in a trembling voice.
Ash and Tallei looked towards him and Kella. Sergi grinned when he saw Ash’s disgruntled expression and Tallei whipping her head back and forth as she tried to absorb his sudden appearance. It was either that or they were trying to figure out why he was dressed like a woman.
“Hi, Ash,” Sergi replied with a grin.
Ash’s lips pursed together for a moment. “How long were you planning on just watching?” he demanded.
“I don’t know. When you greet a woman by calling her a bitch, I figure it is probably a personal disagreement, and I should stay out of it,” he replied with a shrug.
“What did you do to my parents?” Kella asked again in a quiet voice.
Sergi decided right then and there that if Ash didn’t kill the bitch, he would. He felt the shudder of pain and grief that shook Kella’s slender form. Her softly spoken words tore through him, bringing back memories of his own painful loss.
“I remember…,” Kella whispered.
“Sergi, catch her,” Ash ordered at the same time as Tallei attacked again.
Sergi jerked when Kella suddenly moved with surprising speed, aiming a smaller but no less deadly pistol at Tallei, and firing. The older woman briefly stiffened before she collapsed.
No one spoke for a moment. Sergi looked over at Ash, and his lips twitched when he saw Ash’s stunned expression turn to a dark scowl. Sergi pointed at Kella.
“She did it,” he said with a grin.
Sergi scooped Kella into his arms when her legs suddenly gave out from under her. “She is in shock,” he cautioned.
Ash nodded and took Kella out of his arms. He saw Ash looking for a place to lay Kella so he could attend to her wound, but there wasn’t time. A look through the front window showed that they were about to have company – a lot of company.
“We need to leave,” Sergi said, nodding to the window. “Immediately!”
“The cellar – there is a tunnel that leads to the spaceport. It comes up under my freighter,” Kella murmured.
“Go. I will be there in a moment,” Sergi replied, his eyes glittering with a touch of vicious anticipation.
Sergi watched Ash and Kella disappear through a door leading to the back. He would catch up with them in a moment, but first he needed to do a few things. With a flick of his wrist, he discarded the skirt.
He kept a wary eye on the approaching soldiers as he opened the lid to the pod. Grabbing the cloak that Ash had worn, he wrapped Tallei’s body in it and deposited the bundle in the emergency pod before he closed the lid.
Next, he turned and kicked the skirt out of his way as he retrieved his knife. It had fallen to the floor when he flipped the table. An idea began to form in his mind as he slid the knife into the sheath at his waist. He reached into his front trouser pocket and pulled out the patch he had cut from his shirt. He toed the basket upright and dropped the patch into it.
If the Legion wanted a prophecy, he’d give them one. With a last glance, he grabbed two bottles of wine off the shelf as he passed the bar. In seconds, he was closing the door to the cellar behind himself and descending the stairs to the tunnel.
He grinned when he heard Ash’s impatient voice up ahead demanding to know where he was. The grin faded when he saw Kella’s pale face and pain-filled eyes. He crossed the room and held up the two bottles of wine.
“No worries. I thought we might need some refreshments to celebrate finding each other,” he said with a wink at Kella.
Ash nodded for him to follow Kella. “You are crazier than I am!” he muttered.
Sergi chuckled, his sharp eyes taking in the long tunnel. “You are just now figuring that out?” he joked before his expression became serious. “Do you know if anyone else made it?”
“Josh did,” Ash replied.
“What of Mei and Julia?” Sergi asked, pausing to look at Ash.
“We don’t know. I’ll tell you once we are out of this place,” Ash said, cutting in front of him so he was behind Kella.
“I hope there are better planets than this one. It reminds me too much of Mother Russia,” he responded.
Sergi drew back, allowing Ash and Kella a little space to talk. Seeing them together, he couldn’t help but think of La’Rue. Perhaps Ash or Josh would know a way to contact her and make sure that she was safely off this planet. They had found each other. It should be a hell of a lot easier to find La’Rue since he knew her name and the name of her freighter.
I’ll find you, dusha moya, he thought as they came to the end of the tunnel.
Chapter Twelve
Coleridge stood in the center of the bar. It was obvious there had been a fight here. His gaze swept over the bloodstained floor, overturned tables, and shattered chairs to the alien pod sitting in the center of the room.
The bottom of the pod was covered in leaves and mud from the forest floor. He motioned to two soldiers standing beside the large rectangular box.
“Open it,” he ordered.
Coleridge impatiently waited as the two men struggled to open the lid. When the top finally released, he stepped forward. A frown creased his brow as he studied the cloak-covered body inside. The material was dark gray, with dried mud along the lower edges of it.
Snapping his fingers at the soldier standing near the top of the pod, he motioned for the man to remove the covering. A heated wave of fury swept through him when he saw the frozen features of Tallei staring blankly up at the ceiling. Coleridge turned to the soldier who had been next to him on the transport.
“What is your name?” he demanded.
“Sergeant Ri Manta, sir,” Manta replied.
Coleridge glanced down at the dead Turbintan Master. “Commander Manta discard the body, and have this pod delivered to the Battle Cruiser, then order the destruction of the city, including any ships leaving the spaceport,” Coleridge ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the newly promoted Commander replied.
Coleridge listened as the soldier barked out orders to dispose of Tallei’s body. He walked over to the window, lost in thought. Behind him, he could hear the men working to clear the debris out of the way so that the pod could be removed.
His thoughts ran through what he knew of the strangers who had appeared. He was now in possession of two empty capsules, and there had been another pod’s signal transmitting from Turbinta that had disappeared before it could be tracked. That meant three Ancient Knights of the Gallant. There were confirmed sightings of at least two survivors.
The Knights were spread throughout this star system, with one sighted on Tesla Terra, one on Torrian, and the possibility of two more here on Turbinta. While he had ordered the leveling of Tribute, whoever had been in the pod might no longer be in the city. There was still a chance that Roan had discovered the location of the second pod on Turbinta – and hopefully the Knight inside it. From the corner of his eye he saw Manta quietly approach.
“Sir, the transport is ready for pick up,” Commander Manta informed him.
He lifted his hand to indicate he had heard the man. Still lost in thought, Coleridge turned and looked around the relatively bare room now that the pod was no longer in the center of it. His gaze swept over the righted tables that had been pushed out of the way by his men. In the corner, someone had picked up a basket and placed it on a table.
The basket looked out of place in the bar. Walking over, he peered down into the woven basket. Lying in the bottom was a piece of heavy cloth with a colorful symbol and strange markings on it. He reached in the basket, picked up the piece of cloth, and turned patch over in his hand. The pattern was the same as the ones found on Torrian and Tesla Terra.
His fingers curled around the scrap. The message was clear – ‘we are here’. For the first time, Coleridge wondered if perhaps the legend of the Ancient Knights’ return might not hold some validity. Fury swept through him.
“Let’s go,” he snapped to the man silently standing and waiting for him.
He turned and strode out of the bar. The sooner the city was flattened, the sooner the message would spread throughout the star systems that even the most deadly of the Turbintans was no match for the powers of the Legion. His half-brother was right. The only way to control the masses was through fear. They would strike terror in the hearts of the inhabitants and annihilate anyone who dared to resist.
He needed to know what the emblem and the strange configuration of stars meant. The archives on Jeslean had been destroyed when Andri laid waste to them. The scholars who knew of the legend would also have been eliminated. A grim smile curved his lips. While all the resources about the legend had been destroyed on Jeslean, there was still one source who knew the legend better than anyone else – the Secretum on Plateau.
“The destruction will begin as soon as the last Legion vessel has evacuated, General Landais,” Manta informed him.
Coleridge climbed into the transport. “Very good,” he replied. “Order all ships
to return to the Battle Cruisers and prepare to leave once the city is leveled.”
“Yes, General,” Manta replied with a bow of his head.
La’Rue stumbled when the ground shook beneath the freighter. She made sure the lift locked into place before she turned and stored the stunning rod in its spot next to the lift. She quickly reached out to steady herself when the ground violently trembled again. She gripped the metal railing of the ladder and began to climb. Once on the upper level, she slid the straps of the bag free from her shoulders. Her fingers were tightly wrapped around the straps as she took off down the corridor.
“H, what is the status outside?” she yelled.
The service bot met her in the corridor. She glanced at the screen it flashed in front of her. From the brief glimpse, she could see that the city was under attack.
La’Rue strode into the engine room. She crossed to the sealed compartment that housed the fuel rods. Placing her bag on the floor, she straightened and punched in the code to unlock the compartment. She bent over and opened the top of the bag to reveal the replacement fuel cells.
She withdrew a silver cylinder. She bent her knees to regain her balance when another explosion sent a shockwave through the ship. Biting her lip, she slid the cylinder into one of the empty sleeves. With a firm twist, she watched the light turn from red to green.
“I can’t believe the Legion would attack the Turbintans. Even Slate is smart enough to know better than to piss off a nest of assassins,” she muttered under her breath as she carefully installed the remaining fuel cells.
“H, check the tracking device I activated,” she ordered, trying to focus on what she was doing while the world exploded around her. “No, not that signal. I don’t need that one anymore. You can deactivate the first device.”
She had forgotten that the tracking device she had placed in Slate’s favorite jacket was still active. That was how she had found out the bastard was not only lying to her, but cheating on her as well. At the moment, Slate was the least of her worries, she thought as the ship continued to rock from the Legion’s attacks.