Pursuit of the Bold

by Jamie McFarlane

  "Get up, Hoffen. We're not out of this yet," she said, grabbing my glove and pulling me upright.

  The warrior she'd saved me from and thrown onto the pile got up and started back toward us. I sighed, exhausted but resigned. From seemingly nowhere, Sendrei appeared with both swords raised, flying toward the bug. With impossible grace, he drove one of his swords into the warrior's neck, burying it to the hilt.

  "Not technically correct; we are officially done," Sendrei said, breathing hard and extracting the multipurpose tool.

  "Shite, you're a mess," I said. Sendrei's once-shiny Popeye was covered in viscera, rock chips, sand and who knew what else.

  "Right," Sendrei answered. "I'm the mess."

  Chapter 18

  Life

  Jaelisk ran through the streets toward the downed flying vessel. She'd promised to return to the people and not join Sklisk in the battle. She would not, however, do so without finding the strange Piscivoru she'd seen.

  She approached the large machine that had loosed such terrifying destruction upon the city. It took every bit of courage she could muster to carefully search the area, so when she sensed movement behind her, she froze.

  "Child of Picis, what has happened to your eyes?" The speaker's language, while understandable and unmistakably Piscivoru, sounded foreign to her ears. Slowly she turned, fearing she'd made an unforgivable mistake by walking into an ambush. Her twin hearts hammered in her abdomen as she took in the shrunken elder who wore strange clothing and whose eyes were flat, lacking the glow of Iskstar.

  "It is you, Elder, who has strange eyes," Jaelisk answered. "You have not visited Iskstar. How is this possible? Who are you? Where have you come from?"

  It was at this point Jaelisk noticed an egg-shaped object hovering nearby.

  "I am Tskir of Jarwain," Tskir answered. "I have come a great distance so that I might walk on the ground of my ancestors before I pass."

  "I must go," Jaelisk said. "But I wanted to speak with you before I did so. There is a great fight in the city. My mate fights so that I may return to our nest with that which will help the people hide from the Kroo Ack. You are welcome to come with me. All of our people are welcome."

  "I will come. Would you allow for the being next to me also?" Tskir asked, referring to Jonathan hovering beside her.

  "There is no being. There is a strange object that floats," Jaelisk said, flicking her tongue out and tasting the foreign technology in front of her.

  "It has the name Jonathan," Tskir said. "It is indeed strange, but will cause no harm."

  "The object is your responsibility," Jaelisk said, turning toward the mountain. "I have my own devices to carry. We must hurry, there is a great battle."

  "What happened to the Piscivoru," I asked, having lost track of him.

  "It is there," Sendrei pointed across the street.

  I pushed back to a standing position and walked toward the Piscivoru that sat atop a pile of bugs, watching us. I'd seen him kill at least twenty, all with the blue-tipped staff he carried.

  "You are Piscivoru?" I asked, using the translation we'd built from talking with Tskir.

  My HUD measured the lizard at sixty centimeters, which would bring him to about mid-thigh if I weren't in a mechanized suit. His torso was about as thick as my arm. Flicking out a long tongue, he bobbed his head quickly a couple of times, staring back at me with his intelligent blue, glowing eyes.

  "I am Sklisk," he said.

  "Sklisk, I am Liam Hoffen and my companions are Tabitha Masters and Sendrei Buhari," I said, pointing at each one slowly. "I want to thank you for helping us with the Kroerak. You saved me on that pile of rubble."

  "I thought so also," Sklisk answered. "But when I saw you fight, I realized your weapons are more powerful than anything of the people."

  "This is a great conversation and I'm all about getting to know the natives," Tabby said. "But do we have any ammunition packs on Gaylon Brighton? The remainder of those bugs are going to be up here any minute."

  Sendrei collapsed the multipurpose tool I'd given him and approached, handing it to me after shaking off some of the gore. "How many would you say you killed, Tabitha?" Sendrei asked, using an external speaker so that Sklisk could also hear.

  "Who the frak knows? We need to get resupplied," she said. Her speech was fast, a sure tell that she was still jacked up and ready for a fight.

  "There are no remaining Kroerak within sensor range," Sendrei said. "We dispatched 436 warriors and two batteries of lance throwers. Our only remaining danger is if the frigate we saw in orbit decides to pay us a visit."

  "We killed them all?" I asked, just as surprised as Tabby.

  "There are more on the mountain," Sklisk said, looking across to a rock face that was thirty kilometers away.

  "How many?" Tabby asked, suddenly interested.

  "Perhaps half this many," he answered.

  "Frak, back to the ship," Tabby said. "We're going to need a reload."

  "Copy," I agreed. "Jonathan, any update on that frigate?"

  "Yes, Captain, it remains in orbit. It is consistent with a posture of containment. With Gaylon Brighton grounded, they will simply wait to be reinforced."

  "Reinforced?" I asked. "You think there are more Kroerak coming?"

  "It may take weeks, but there are assuredly more Kroerak coming," Jonathan answered. "The numbers we've seen today could not survive without regular support shipments. Unfortunately, we have no basis for estimating how quickly the Kroerak nobility will respond to news of your incursion. It is likely that the Kasumi bounty hunters transmitted intent of your destination."

  "Frak. Okay, stay put, we're on our way back to the ship to resupply the Popeyes," I said. "I think we've met someone you'll want to see."

  "We are no longer near Gaylon Brighton," Jonathan answered. "We are accompanying Tskir and a native Piscivoru who refers to herself as Jaelisk."

  "Accompanying? To where?" I asked.

  "Transmitting coordinates," Jonathan said. "We have traveled 1200 meters through a narrow cavern, the entrance to which is in the side of a mountain adjacent to the city. Even without the mechanized infantry suits, the human form is not compatible with our path. The Piscivoru body is considerably narrower and has a flexibility that is unusual for sentients."

  "If you're in the mountain, how are you transmitting?" I asked, arriving at Gaylon Brighton.

  "We have dropped a trail of repeaters."

  "Be careful, Jonathan," I said. "We know very little of the Piscivoru."

  "We appreciate your concern, Captain. As always, we will prioritize safety appropriately," he answered.

  Entering a code sequence that unlocked my Popeye, I waited for the helm to lift and the chest cavity to open. I didn't mind being inside the suit, but with the damage I'd taken, my pounding headache was in dire need of a med-patch. I palmed open the cargo ramp and waited for it to lower. From the corner of my eye, I caught the quick, jerky movements of the Piscivoru who'd helped us fight the Kroerak.

  "You have shed your skin?" he asked, backing up slightly. "How is it that you are smaller?"

  I looked at him and then back to my Popeye. "That?" I asked. "It's a machine, not my skin." I pulled off the glove of my grav-suit so my bare hand was exposed and held it out. "And be careful; our skin is soft, not like yours, which can apparently deflect the claws of a Kroerak."

  He stretched out a clawed hand and grasped one of my fingers. "You are unusual creatures," he said. "No wonder you wrap yourselves in a machine. Your digits must regrow very quickly if they are so soft."

  I laughed. "They don't regrow at all," I said, directing a stevedore bot to drag the Popeye munitions, thankfully provided by Marny, out to the end of the cargo bay. "We're just really careful."

  "Where does one find a flying vessel like this?" Sklisk asked. "Why did you not use it to strike the Kroo Ack?"

  "It's broken," I said.

  "Yes. We saw the other flying machine use fire to remove you from the sky," he
said.

  "Do you mind if I ask you a question about your staff?"

  Sklisk stepped back warily. "Please do not make me fight with you. I do not wish to hurt an enemy of Kroo Ack."

  I held my hands up defensively. "A question. I'm not trying to take it," I said. "Are the tips made of Iskstar?"

  Sklisk held the weapon in front of him menacingly, but I counted it as a good sign that he didn't attempt to attack me. "What could you know of Iskstar? Are you here to steal it as the Kroo Ack?"

  "So, it's true," I said. "The Kroerak want the Iskstar."

  "The Kroo Ack wish to kill the people so they may take our Iskstar," he said, "but we have protected the Iskstar from the Kroerak for many generations."

  "Is that what you were doing in the city? Gathering Iskstar?" I asked, taking an educated guess.

  "Iskstar is not within the city," Sklisk said. "It is within the mountain, where Piscivoru live."

  "I saw what your staff did to Kroerak," I said. "They cannot stand against it. It is a valuable weapon against them."

  "We will not let you take our Iskstar," he said.

  "We seek friendship with Piscivoru," I said. "The Kroerak have murdered many of my people just as they destroyed your ancestors. We are joined by a common enemy that would see all Piscivoru and human dead. May I touch it? I will not try to take it; I just want to know if it's harmful."

  "No, Liam," Tabby said.

  "You may touch it," he said.

  I stepped forward and placed my hand against the brilliant cobalt-blue crystal affixed to the end of his staff. The crystal was cool to the touch and felt like a piece of glass. I glanced at Sklisk, all thoughts of the stone forgotten, when I noticed that he had a wound in his side.

  "You are hurt," I said, releasing the crystal. "It looks very painful."

  "I will survive," he said. "And if I don't I have given life to my people."

  "Nonsense." I pulled out a med-patch. On the trip from Jarwain, Jonathan had calibrated our medical AI so it understood Piscivoru physiology. Curing a number of Tskir's age-related ailments had been one way we'd quickly gained her trust. "This will help you. Please allow me to place it on your side."

  "What will it do?" Sklisk asked.

  I smiled. Aside from defending his Iskstar staff, he had little guile and seemed to trust easily. "It will heal your wound."

  "Liam, we should get going," Tabby said. "I'd like to take out the warriors on the mountain before they get reinforcements.

  "Just a minute, Tabbs," I said, applying a med-patch to my neck. "Sklisk is wounded."

  "I will allow it," Sklisk said, flicking his long tongue.

  "This whole snake thing is kind of icky," Tabby said on a private channel.

  Ignoring her, I leaned in and placed the patch on Sklisk’s side. The relief was obvious as his body relaxed beneath my hand. "That feel okay?" I asked.

  "It must have numbing weed," he said. "I no longer feel pain."

  "Give it a few minutes," I said. "I have another thing to ask. Will you take us to where the Kroerak are atop the mountain?"

  "You will fight them?" he asked as we exited Gaylon Brighton and I climbed back into my suit.

  "Absolutely," I said as I reloaded my Popeye's munitions. Unfortunately, I was only able to refill to fifty percent.

  "I will show you," he said and started running toward the mountain.

  "Sendrei, Tabby, go," I said. "I'll catch up."

  I slid the empty crates back into the cargo hold and closed the ramp. Stepping back, I gave Gaylon Brighton a quick once-over. Aside from the fact that she sat half-in and half-out of a building, she wasn't in that bad of shape. Sure, she was missing some armor and one of the engines had a mouthful of building, but the damage could be fixed if only we could buy ourselves some time.

  "Let's go, Hoffen" Tabby said from thirty meters away.

  I turned and jogged in their direction. "I'm coming." As fast as Sklisk moved, his legs were too short to make good time. Catching them easily, I slowed and lowered my armored hand in front of him. "Jump on, Sklisk."

  I wasn't sure if it was the bond we'd established in our first fight against the Kroerak or just the nature of Sklisk, but without hesitation, he jumped on and climbed until he sat on my shoulder.

  "You do not blend into the surroundings very well," he observed as we exited the city at fifteen meters per second. "I have never moved so fast except when falling."

  "You haven't seen the best part," I said as we bounded into the foothills. Once we were clear of crumbling buildings, we accelerated. I held my glove up, providing an air-dam to keep Sklisk from being blown off my shoulder.

  "Are you capable of climbing?" he asked as we arrived at the steepest part of the mountain, which at some points was sheer cliff. "How do you know where we're going?"

  "When we arrived in our ship, we saw a concentration of Kroerak atop this mountain and inside the city. I assume we're headed in the right direction," Utilizing the suit's arc-jets to provide extra lift, I leapt onto the mountainside. My AI had already mapped out a series of jumps the suit was capable of and I was mostly just responding to its instructions.

  "I do not like your method of climbing." Sklisk's voice quavered as he spoke.

  "You have to admit, though, it gets the job done," I said, taking a final jump onto the plateau. My HUD showed that we were only three kilometers out.

  "No one should be in such a hurry," Sklisk said. "I cannot fathom how you have survived for so long."

  I chuckled and slowed. We hadn't caught the Kroerak's attention and I appreciated that for once, we had a small tactical advantage. "You are not the first to feel this way, Sklisk."

  "What's the plan, Sendrei?" Tabby asked, her voice carrying its annoyance at my constant chattering with Sklisk.

  "There is a significant depression fifteen hundred meters ahead. It is made by the Kroerak as evidenced by the tailings. I have detected three warriors above. Surprise will be on our side for a short period, but the confined spaces of the depression will create quite a killing field. We should utilize all possible haste," he said, marking positions for each of us.

  "End of the line, Sklisk," I said, gently removing him from my shoulder. "Join us when you can." I turned and raced after Sendrei and Tabby, who'd already started running at arc-jet-assisted full speed. Both were holding their multipurpose tools in hand, Tabby with a hammer and Sendrei with the sword. I found their weapon choices to be perfectly in line with their personalities. Tabby did have the capacity for elegant maneuvers, just as Sendrei could be blunt, but given a choice, they were always true to their nature.

  I suppose that was the same for me, but the thought left my mind as I leapt over the hole, utilizing Tabby and Sendrei's broadcasted view of the hole to aim. Even while in midair, I loosed a volley of fire onto the disappearing primary targets. Landing on the opposite side of the indentation, I found my boots in loose soil that fell away toward the center. Several times during the fight, I had a mind to bloop a few grenades at our targets, but collapsing the ground below our feet would only make matters more difficult. We soon destroyed the aboveground defense force and the few that crawled up from below. With trepidation and more than a few flashbacks we stepped into yet another hole that would no doubt be filled with the murderous bugs.

  Just as in our previous encounters, the Kroerak put up a good fight. The thing was, however, they were slow to adapt. The Kroerak we'd run into on Earth, for example, had learned to adjust to the mechanized suits, but these Kroerak seemed completely taken off guard. Later, I'd learn from Jonathan that a frigate did not possess sufficient status to warrant a noble and therefore tactical knowledge was slow to arrive.

  "Keep pressing," Sendrei ordered. We had descended eight thousand meters and the tunnel system had narrowed. Only two could stand side by side in the passageway, forcing one of us to take point.

  "I count forty-six," Tabby said.

  I was at ten percent ammo and had switched to hammer mode, shorteni
ng the handle to a meter and a half. I tried not to jump to any conclusions about my personality based on that choice, as I genuinely had no preference between the hammer and sword. Both had their place and I felt close proximity warranted the additional PSI generated by hammer strikes.

  "We've taken out more than that," I complained as I got tossed for the umpteenth time against the rocky cavern wall. The bugs had used the maneuver so often I’d developed my own counter maneuver. I would hook an arm around my attacker’s appendage so it would be dragged with me into the wall. As the bug pushed, I’d tuck my weapon's blaster port beneath the soft part of its neck. The result was often a face full of bug-guts. Fact was, as long as the guts weren't mine, I considered it a success.

  "Personal count. What do you have?" she asked.

  I wasn’t about to dignify her question with an answer, especially since I was almost ten kills behind. "Um, have you seen Sklisk?" I asked, changing subjects.

  "Haven't seen him since topside – and forty-six bugs," she said, a lilt in her voice as she needled me about her higher count.

  "Did you see that?" I asked.

  "What is it?" Sendrei asked. "Mark it on your HUD."

  My AI displayed a small view screen to my left and rewound to just before the point where I'd mentioned seeing something. In slow motion, I caught a flash of blue which was gone, just as quickly. "I think Sklisk got ahead of us."

  "I'm not sure that's it," Sendrei said. "The Kroerak are turning from us. They are being attacked from behind."

  "He'd do that," I said.

  "No, there are multiple attackers. The Kroerak are frenzied. I have never seen such a thing," he said. I was witnessing the same thing. Kroerak warriors ordinarily had one way of doing things: attack a single target by stabbing and biting. These bugs were attacking everything in sight, including other warriors.

  We pressed forward, but in almost no time at all the bugs had been torn apart and we were faced with a new problem. In front of us stood a host of Piscivoru, all armed with Iskstar staves, and they were coming hard for us.