by T. Y. Carew
The Beltine before him were thinner on the ground and slower, but there was still a lot of them, and once his shield failed there would be no protection from their laser fire. He needed to take out as many as he could. He would use their dead as his barrier, and hold for as long as possible. The lives of the people under his care depended on it.
With grim determination he kept firing, kept his own Adamanta zappers and the single sword he had moving through the air, seeking out strategic target after strategic target. But onward the Beltine came.
Over the years he'd heard people say how relentless they could be in the face of death. How they never wavered while a human stood in front of them, but he'd never experienced it quite like this.
Alone now but for them, the sound of the rest of his party receding farther and farther as he held the position, the shield flickered one last time, and then it was gone, too.
He knelt behind a wall of Dairos, firing over the top, not stopping as he dropped the depleted device to steady his weapon and aim that little better.
Make every shot count, he said to himself, knowing he was already doing so, the final charge pack running low. When that finally gave, the Dairos still came, their red eyes meeting his as if the Kyraos in control was staring him down, just waiting for him to make a mistake, to take too long to stop the next soldier drone as it came towards him or fired in his direction.
And then it happened. One got through, past all the Adamanta his exhausted mind could wield. The Dairos stepped up onto the body of a fallen brethren and raised its weapon. He faced it, unflinching. He'd denied this Kyraos the chance to stop Captain Adair and the others escaping, and he was going to deny it anything else he could.
Their eyes met and the fraction of a second seemed to stretch out into eternity, but there was nothing Paton could do to avoid it. The laser blast came, bringing with it blackness. The end. In that one brief moment in time, Major Edward Paton gave his life to the continuing fight against the Beltine, another human among many who'd died while serving their race.
Chapter 11
As she heard the sound of Beltine howling somewhere in the tunnels behind them, Matt tried not to think about what it meant. She'd flicked back to the set of Adamanta eyes she'd left there a couple of times, barely able to glance at Paton's defense before the battle before her called all her attention back again.
Whirling her weapons into the path of more laser fire, Matt had to grit her teeth once more. She hadn't seen Paton's end, only the shield failing as he carried on anyway.
She'd known he intended to hold out as long as he could, to buy them time to get out, but it didn't make his death any less painful, especially on top of the ones she'd already endured that day.
Fighting back tears and ignoring the painful stabbing in her head, Matt threw the untested device Drew had given her into the air and whizzed it down the line of Dairos a little. The Beltine here were still focused, still relentlessly coming, but they'd found pockets along the way where the Kyraos had lost control. It was time to change that. Time to take on the Kyraos directly.
She couldn't get to them with her weaponry yet—too much Adamanta in the ground around and too many Dairos in close proximity to take a weapon or two from the fight and zip them through the tunnels to a Kyraos somewhere else. It was all she could do to look through the cameras up ahead, let alone move anything when she was protecting eight other humans and a Cordak from laser fire.
There was, however, one thing she could do. If the device Drew and Atum had come up with worked even half as well as they hoped, it could get them the chaos they needed to push the last distance to safety.
As the pounding in her head grew even worse, Matt picked her Dairos, a particularly strong-looking one with a gun in each hand, and launched the small device at its neck. The Dairos let out a howl as it attached before twitching oddly. Pain exploded in her mind as she wrestled for control, willing the creature to stop and turn rather than fire at them.
“What the...” one of the men beside her spoke, trailing off as all the Dairos seemed to falter for a moment, the human-wielded Adamanta tearing through them with ease. For a moment no shots were fired, allowing Matt to concentrate. And then she had it. The Dairos responded to her commands.
She let out a whoop of delight as the Dairos turned and fired upon its own brethren. Carnage in the best sense.
“Onward while I still control that thing,” she called out, following it with her Adamanta until the Kyraos decided to retaliate, his own Dairos firing back at the poor creature caught between them. It went down after taking and dishing out several more shots, but it had caused the damage she wanted. Light was beginning to show up ahead of them.
It was the hope the Adamanta users with her needed. They each yelled and cried out in defiance along with her, pushing just a little harder to reach the opening and the possibility of freedom. Meter by meter they moved forward, the sound of Dairos behind growing, but no longer so quickly, the dead left behind them slowing the enemy now as well.
Let there be help just outside the caves, Matt thought as she felt something wet drip out of her nose and the pain grew again. The fight would go out of the others soon, too, especially if the tunnel ahead ended in a mass of more Beltine. She had to hope there were humans up there.
She plucked the device off the dead Dairos as she passed, pocketing it to give back to Drew later. He'd be ecstatic that it worked. And it was a better thought to focus on. What Drew would make of the fight, and how wonderful it would be to see him. He had to be around somewhere.
Onward the crept, until she heard Margaret call out from behind.
“I think we're going to have company back here soon,” she said, her voice sounding uneasy and close to panic for the first time.
“The three of you get to the back and keep the delegates from harm,” Matt commanded Paton's soldiers, hoping they'd obey her in lieu of their usual commander. Not one of them hesitated to do so, but it put even more pressure on her shoulders. Now only she was fighting for forward momentum.
“Come on,” she half-whispered and half-growled. “Just a little farther. Keep it together just a little longer.”
Talking to herself seemed to help as she hurried forward, engaging the Beltine closest in hand-to-hand combat to give Henton and the others behind her some space and keep their pace up as much as possible. She shoved bodies aside, making her task more physical to try and reduce the strain on her mind, but still more Dairos came at them, shooting and hurling themselves towards her.
Suddenly the remaining Beltine all went still, the Kyraos no longer in control. She let out a loud yell of triumph and threw herself forward, hacking and slashing with every weapon she had.
Behind her she heard the men cheering and firing madly, the resistance gone from the enemy behind as well. They weren't going to give the Dairos a chance to regain their senses and attack back.
As she sliced through yet another mindless soldier, it fell to the ground, revealing a still tunnel up ahead. No more stood between her and the exit, and from the silence behind, there were no more to be dealt with that way, either.
Matt felt her head swim as her vision blurred. The pain was intense as she slowly brought her Adamanta back to herself, putting the zappers away first, reducing the weight on her mind.
With just her bladed weapons floating around her, ready to leap into action, she took the first step forward. Silence still filled the tunnel, the people behind not making a sound, if they still followed at all.
Not stopping to check, she kept going forward, trying to be alert but unable to keep her vision quite straight. There had to be humans or Cordak out there. Something had to have killed the Kyraos and helped her end things.
Before she could reach the exit and climb the metal ramp someone had installed, she saw and heard booted feet come down it, the clatter eerily familiar. Stopping, she watched as Xander appeared, followed by Trey.
“How?” she asked, the only word she could voice
as her commander walked towards her, his eyes never leaving her once he spotted her. He was covered in dirt, Beltine blood and goodness knew what else, but he was there and he was coming closer.
“I watched you die,” she said when he still didn't talk. “They blew you up.”
He shook his head as tears fell from her eyes again. This time she couldn't control it. He reached for her, pulling her into an embrace she didn't refuse. The pain that had settled like a heavy weight in her chest lifted and left her feeling light, almost giddy as the smell of his sweat and the dirt clinging to him filled her nostrils.
“Paton?” he asked when she managed to get her emotions under control and pulled back from the hug, feeling embarrassment replace everything she’d felt a moment before.
“Definitely dead,” she replied. “Gave his life to get us this far.”
“He was a good man.”
She nodded as Trey moved past her and encouraged the others to follow him out of the caves and up the ramp. One by one she let them all file past, her body refusing to follow suit, refusing to do anything but stand before the man she'd thought was gone from her life for good.
Over the months since he'd told her how he felt, she'd been trying to work out what he meant to her, but she knew now. Thinking she'd lost him had thrown it all into the light. She loved him and had for some time. The thought of never seeing him again had broken her inside, but here he was, and somehow she was completely whole again.
Reaching out, she touched his hand with her fingers, wordlessly checking he was definitely real, wanting to be sure she hadn't passed out because of the excessive Adamanta usage and begun dreaming.
“Don't scare me like that again,” she said eventually, not sure how to explain the way her fingers curled into his, the way she didn't want to let go. Ever.
“I won't,” he said. “Don't go hurrying off where I can't easily find you again.”
She nodded, everything else not needing to be said.
Their hands still entwined, they turned as one and finally followed everyone else out of the caves.
Chapter 12
As the delegates all sat around the canteen table on the Contessa, Matt tried not to yawn. She was exhausted, all the emotion of the last day having caught up to her. Since leaving Rokku-Sai she'd had time to shower and fill the rest of the crew in on what had happened. Of course, General Kelton had then wanted everything repeated as he insisted on being transferred over to do a debrief in person while still on their way back to Netera.
He sat with the civilians and all the crew with the exception of Paton's men, one flying Contessa for Tyra while the other two rested.
Tyra and Trey had tended to everyone, stopping Karl from having the heart attack she'd feared. Mostly, Matt was just grateful it had held off until they were all safely aboard the Contessa. If it had happened any sooner he'd almost certainly be dead.
The Contessa was being escorted back to Netera by the Polinark, the other two vessels staying out at Rokku-Sai, too damaged to fly back just yet. It lent a certain calm to things after all the chaos. But most importantly, it would only be another hour until the delegation's tour was over, and it was time for the inevitable end meeting.
Now it had come to it, Matt didn't know what to say. She'd once again faced difficult odds against the Beltine, pushing her own limits further and further, staring down the most formidable enemy the human race had ever faced, and yet she couldn't quite find the courage to ask these five people for their money. Not when it came down to it.
“Well,” Margaret suddenly said, her eyes meeting Matt's with a warmth she hadn't expected. “I think we're all in agreement that everything you can do with Adamanta is absolutely remarkable.”
Trying to give them a grateful smile, she opened her mouth to reply, but found she still didn't quite know what to say. Now she'd actually connected to the Adamanta technology on Rokku-Sai, she wasn't so sure. Her parents had barely scraped the surface of what was possible.
“And despite being more than a little shaken by the last day or so, I can see how important it is that we continue to develop the use of Adamanta to protect us against the Beltine. Frankly, I can't fathom why your funding was pulled. I know my husband would be delighted to know you were doing such amazing things with the money he left behind. It would do his legacy honor to be able to fund your projects further.”
Margaret smiled as Matt tried to thank her, the words coming out in a tumble.
“Hear, hear,” Karl said, his face still a little pale after his brush with death since being back on the ship, but his voice clear and confident. “I'll back you as well, especially on Rokku-Sai.
“I was sold on the whole thing when I saw the training facility on Corda-Mara,” Kepernick added, almost predictably. His ego was still very much intact. Matt didn't doubt he would make being trained himself a condition of his money coming their way. It was a compromise she could live with.
All but Katrina pledged their money, the woman still holding out, but Matt didn't care. It was more than enough. It secured everything she'd shown them and allowed plenty of extra budget for programs she'd only dreamed of.
They talked details and signed paperwork until the ship arrived on Netera and the delegation were escorted off the Lady Contessa.
Matt lingered behind, not ready to leave the ship and return to her parents' condo. There was a wall there she needed to add some names to. Among them would be Major Paton, but several more had died in the battle with the hive.
General Kelton paused beside her as the rest of the crew came from different directions, all of them carrying their gear, weapons and all.
“You continue to surprise me, Captain Adair.” Kelton looked down at her with a rare smile on his face, showing the statement to be a compliment in his eyes. “Keep being you. The human race doesn't realize how much it needs you to just keep being you… but one day it will.”
Episode 18 – Cutthroat by Cameron Lowe
Chapter 1
The cacophony of the Neteran markets confounded Mattie. She’d suffered less whiplash fighting the Beltine in low orbit than she did right at that moment, trying to figure the most tactically advantageous way out of the screeching vendors and the never-ending stream of fans who recognized her – and that was damn near everyone.
“Stop looking so panicked,” Tyra growled beside her as she leaned over to sniff the supposedly fresh coffee beans in a market stall.
“You see an easy way out of here?”
“What? Why would we need one?”
“In case we have to run. Or fight. Or… I don’t know, run and fight.”
The sweaty vendor watching the Lentarin pick over his goods burbled out a nervous laugh. “No, no, no fighting here, huh?”
“There won’t be if you stop trying to pawn this off as corasanti beans,” Tyra snapped.
The man yipped and took a step backwards as the Lentarin fixed him with her best dead-eyed gaze. Though she was generally gentle unless she was taking on the Beltine, Tyra’s lizard-like scaly face and eyes could make for a terrifying visage to anyone who didn’t know her or her twin brother intimately. As the vendor offered up apologies, the duo headed for the next coffee vendor just a few stalls down.
As Mattie tried not to careen off the mass of shoppers, she said out of the corner of her mouth, “I think he’s going to need a change of pants.” Tyra glanced back and chuffed out a laugh.
While the sheer numbers of people might have put her off, Matt had to admit it was nice to be doing something so mundane as helping Tyra restock their ship, the Lady Contessa, of non-essentials while they waited for their next orders. They’d already made arrangements for munitions, rations, and personal necessities, and were now working their way through shopping lists from their cohorts Trey, Drew, and even their commanding officer, Xander. On everybody’s, including Tyra and Mattie’s, the words “good coffee” were underlined, capitalized, and in Drew’s case, circled five times. The last voyage had seen them drinki
ng a black swill devoid of both taste and caffeine, sending them all into dark moods few of their fights with the Beltine had matched.
Usually this might have been the kind of shopping they’d do in a saner fashion, heading for the quieter merchants on the edge of the city. But Tyra loved the open markets of Matt’s homeworld when the weather permitted and insisted they come down to the massive bazaar. Everywhere was a swarm of humans, but they certainly weren’t the only race present. The connection between humanity and the Lentarin race had been on the rise as of late, and more and more travelers from each race intermingled on their respective home planets. There were even a few Cordak and Agathen here and there. The former looked as worried as Matt and the latter, thanks to the linking between their visible internal coloring and their emotions, were particularly susceptible to the guiles of the vendors.
“Look,” Matt said, pointing to a stall offering a dozen varieties of nuts and dried fruits. Fresh was vastly preferred among the crew, but dried foods fared better on their longer trips. It also didn’t help matters much that they didn’t know when the Contessa might be flying out next.
“Good eyes,” Tyra replied. She nodded at a stall a little farther down. “Coffee there. You get the fruit, I’ll check to see if this one’s another clown.”
“Adamanta!” someone shouted, and a cheer rose up from the crowd around Matt as she tried to push through. Her grin might have been the tiniest bit forced as she pleaded with the amused Tyra with her eyes to get her out of there.
Another hour on, as Tyra bartered for Drew’s requested electrical components with a woman in a serape, Mattie twirled one of a half-dozen fuzzy hats she’d bought at a ridiculously low price from a vendor shocked at the military’s biggest celebrity shopping at her stall. Her personal communicator buzzed and she nearly fumbled the hat, catching it only at the last minute. Tyra glanced down irritably at her own, and then back at Matt. The communicators going off at the same time wasn’t a coincidence. They had orders.
