by Troy Osgood
I stopped at the first body long enough to examine it. The Thesan had a large blaster burn on it’s back, smoke still rising from the wound and sparks in the clothing. Shot in the back.
At the end of the alley, the other body belonged to a technician. Some tools were scattered on the ground and this one had been shot in the front, laying on his back, the wound still smoking.
Must have surprised the assistant.
I knew it was a leap, but the assistant’s body was not here and the guard had been shot in the back. So much for Yoterra being able to trust her people.
Stepping out into the sun I shielded my eyes with my free hand, the light reflecting brightly off the clear water. The guard was a couple steps off in the direction of the city, studying the ground. He turned when heard my footsteps, weapon raised.
“Relax,” I said and he lowered his weapon. “What do you have?”
He stood up and pointed.
“That way.”
“Lead on,” and I motioned him to go, impatient. I knew he’d be the better tracker and I couldn’t hear any footsteps or noises. The big drawback of Kaylia being mute was she couldn’t scream.
I followed the guard at a jog, making our way through the ankle high green grass. The wind blew in off the sea, making the plains wave. The sun hit the back of the hangars, not reflecting as bad as I thought it would. Some kind of non-reflective paint or material. The assistant had dragged Kaylia and she had been struggling. I could start to see patterns in the grass, wide spots that would have been Kaylia fighting against him.
The Thesan hadn’t looked that big or strong, I wondered how he was managing to pull Kaylia after him. I was also wondering why she wasn’t fighting harder. When the Garand had held her, Kaylia had reacted and turned into that savage Wilder form. Why wasn’t she now?
Then it hit me. The assistant knew about her heritage and what it could mean. He had probably drugged her.
Bastard. When I caught him, I wasn’t going to kill him. Not at first. He was going to get hurt but still be able to answer some questions. He wouldn’t be alive long after that.
We passed by two hangars. They couldn’t be that far ahead of us. There was no way the assistant was moving faster than we were. Yeah, he’d had a bit of a head start but we should be catching up. That’s when I heard the whine of thrusters.
Dammit.
The third hangar had a rear door open and we picked up our pace but it wasn’t fast enough.
A small hovercar flew out of the opening, turning towards the city. It was a couple feet off the ground, pushing the grasses aside. Fairly standard model, open top with a windshield on the front, thrusters on the bottom and a larger engine mounted to the back. I couldn’t see Kaylia but could make out the head of the assistant. He looked panicked.
He should be.
There were two others in the car. Taller, thinner and hooded head to toe. One was driving and the other turned to us. Holding a blaster.
I dove to the side, rolling on the ground, as the bolts hit where I had been standing. The Thesan guard , brave but dumb, knelt down and raised his weapon to his shoulder. He fired off a few quick shots, aiming for the cars rear engine. Without that, it would just hover. It was a good idea, but he missed as the car swerved. The attacker fired a couple more shots and the Thesan grunted as a bolt took him in the shoulder. He toppled over.
I watched as the car sped away, cursing. The wind took the attackers hood off and I caught a glimpse of a pale blue face.
Tiat.
*****
“You okay,” I asked as I held a hand out to help the Thesan guard up.
He grunted, cursing which came out as a hiss. Grimacing in pain, he clasped my hand and I pulled him up. His left shoulder hung limp, a blaster scar along the edge. He’d been grazed, which was how he was able to stand, but it still hurt.
We heard running, the sounds of people across the grass. More guards fanned out around us, some looking at me and especially the blaster I still had out, but moving on. I heard the sound of hovercars from the other side of the hangars. Sirens, alarms.
“What happened?”
It was Yoterra. She came running up, more guards surrounding her. These ones wore more armored and had bigger and stronger weapons. I could see another hovercar further back behind her, this one with a mounted weapon. The Thesans were out in force.
Too late.
“Your damned assistant,” I said, holstering my blaster. I turned and looked the way the hovercar had gone. “He took her and met up with some Tiat.”
“Tiat here?” she asked, shocked. “Are you sure?”
“I know what those bastards look like. I caught a look at one.”
“Find them,” she yelled at a guard next to her. I could hear him speaking into some comms system. “Follow me,” she ordered and turned, stalking away.
I followed. I don’t know if she had meant me to or not but there was no way I was sitting this one out.
The Thesans were running all over the place, in and out of the hangars. All armed, all in groups. I saw some storming ships, searching. People were gathered outside on the metal between hangars, looking worried, confused and everything else. I followed behind Yoterra as we headed for a building at the far end.
Where the hangars all had the industrial look, even with the Thesan aesthetic, this building looked more like the rest of the city. Square walls, two stories with the second story not as large as the first, with curved supports at the front. There were smaller curves over some of the windows and the entrance door. It lacked some of the beauty I had glimpsed in the city itself, but there was a charm to it. The door slid open to reveal a hallway. The floor was metal, the walls as well but with wood panels spaced evenly. Dark wood, light wood, some designs.
My mind wasn’t really on the building and the decorations.
I stayed a couple steps behind Yoterra, flanked by a couple guards. I kept expecting them to ask for my weapon but they didn’t. Not like I was going to give it to them. I wasn’t trusting anyone in this place, not anymore.
Down the hallway and to another door. I could see through a long window what looked to be a control room. Monitors, stations and lots of people and activity. Yoterra walked in, a couple of the guards stopping and taking up positions on either side. I moved to follow and one of them stepped in my way.
“Move,” I said. No threat, just a command.
The guard didn’t move. I could feel others behind me. None took a step but they were waiting.
“Out of my way,” I told him calmly.
I tensed, shifting slightly.
“Let him in,” Yoterra’s voice came from the control room.
The guard moved out of the way. I walked in. The door closed behind me.
Not large, the room was crowded and dominated by one large monitor on the wall. I watched an overhead shot of two figures running towards a hangar and then a hovercar flying out and turning. I saw some scattered blaster fire, one of the figures diving and another getting shot. I really didn’t need to see that part, I had lived it.
The hovercar sped past the spaceport, heading towards the city. It turned as it neared the outskirts, following the edge of the buildings and moving across the plain. The screen flickered and now the hovercar was around the other edge of the city, cutting into the buildings. It was now a live feed we were watching, coming from some satellite in orbit. It was an area of single story large buildings, warehouses. There was generous amounts of space between them, all with the Thesan architecture. The hovercar moved in and out of view as it flew deeper into the buildings. It finally disappeared inside a building in the middle of the cluster.
“Keep surveillance on that building,” one of the Thesans said. He was standing at the rear of the room, in a white uniform. Gray and brown fur. “We’ll lock down flight patterns over that part of the city,” he told Yoterra turning to face her.
“Very good,” she said and nodded to one of the guards. “Captain Hunil, you have your
target.”
The Thesan, one of the heavier armored guards saluted and motioned to two of the others.
“I’m coming with you,” I told him. It wasn’t a request.
“You do not need to Captain Lancer,” Yoterra replied.
I just looked at her. Different from my ‘don’t mess with me look’, but along the same lines. This one said ‘don’t bother’ mixed with ‘I’m going no matter what’.
“Very well,” she said with a nod. She studied me for a minute, an odd look, before turning back to the screen.
I followed Hunil out the door where two more guards joined us. We ran down the corridor at a jog, outside and towards a nearby hangar. Running inside I saw a tactical hovercar. I’d seen the style before during some battles alongside the Thesans. It was heavily armored, walls and roof with a weapon mounted to the top. It was a tank. Our small group climbed inside and one of the guards took the controls.
“You will follow my commands,” Hunil told me pointing at a seat. He spoke in heavily accented Tradelan.
“Right,” I lied.
*****
We entered the labyrinth of warehouses from the other side, our hovertank stopping a couple buildings back. I didn’t have the layout of buildings memorized, but I had seen enough to have a general idea of where we needed to go. We filed out of the tank and Hunil put me in the middle of the group.
I noticed that he didn’t offer me any armor or other weaponry.
Whatever, I hated wearing blastarmor anyways. Heavy and bulky.
Moving silently we made our way to the target building, crouching against the wall of one warehouse and looking across the open space at the target. It looked like all the others. Nothing noticeable. I wondered how the Tiat planned to get out of here. I think whatever original plan they had was spoiled by the actions of the assistant but they had to have a ship somewhere but no idea where that could be.
“Where’s the nearest spaceport,” I asked Hunil in a whisper.
He looked over his shoulder at me, annoyed, but then registered what I had asked. He hissed, the equivalent of a Thesan curse, and spoke quickly into his comm unit.
“Some of these warehouses have private docks,” he said angrily. Probably upset he hadn’t thought of that himself.
We both knew the skies above were locked down but we both also knew that really didn’t amount to much. Sometimes you could prevent a ship from taking off but if the person was really adamant about leaving, they would leave. Once a ship was in the air, there was no way of stopping it short of shooting it down.
I didn’t think Yoterra would risk killing Kaylia and the Thesans would want to question the Tiat to discover how they had learned of the kid’s parents and gotten onplanet in the first place.
So they would want to capture the Tiat alive.
Which meant we had to prevent them from launching.
Which meant we had to move now.
If I was the Tiat, I would assume we had tracked the hovercar and were quickly moving in. They’d have their ship prepping to launch and scanning the skies for the patrol ships. It would be risky but they’d want to establish a pattern in the patrols and find the best moment to launch. They’d only get one shot. It would take some time to open the bay doors on the buildings roof and longer to get the ship out and into position to fire the thrusters and get off planet.
It gave us some time, but not much.
“Tighten up the patrol paths,” I told Hunil. “Don’t give them a window.”
He gave me that annoyed look again but relayed my plan. I recognized enough of the whispered Thesan to know that he also took credit for it.
Whatever. I didn’t care. Let him take the credit. He’d take the blame if this went wrong.
Or he’d transfer it to me, the offworlder who had forced himself onto the operation.
If this went wrong, I’d be blaming myself also.
“There is low level jamming,” Hunil said after speaking to the command center. “We can’t scan inside the building.”
So no idea how many there were. And just the six of us. I assumed more Thesans were moving into backup positions but for now we were it.
“What’s the plan,” I asked. Hunil gave me a surprised look. He must have thought I’d butt in with some brilliant idea. Any idea I had would be brilliant but this was his home. “It’s your city,” I told him.
Nodding, Hunil gathered the six of us close and told us the plan.
Simple. I liked it.
*****
Only six, we split into three teams of two. I was with Hunil.
Glancing up, I could see the shadows and dark shapes of the Thesan patrol crafts moving through the clouds. They were as close to the buildings, and each other, as they dared to go. I would have liked the pattern tighter, even from here I could see gaps that I could fly the Nomad’s Wind through, but it wasn’t my call.
Hunil led us around the side of the warehouse, keeping to the shadows before we’d make the run across the open space. This reminded me of my time in the military. I’d run a lot of ops like this but mostly those were kill missions not rescue. I hadn’t run many rescue missions and usually the enemy didn’t know we were coming.
The Tiat in the warehouse were expecting us. Maybe not right this minute, but they knew the Thesan forces were close. We didn’t have the element of surprise.
Holding a hand up Hunil called a halt. I leaned out a bit to get a look beyond him and didn’t see much. Lots of open ground between us and the target. No windows facing us though, that was a plus. I could hear chatter through Hunil’s comms. Coordination between the teams. He looked back at me, checking to make sure I was ready.
“Waiting on you,” I whispered.
I got that annoyed look again.
A couple seconds later and we were running across about a hundred feet of open space. We both kept low, eyes looking towards the target building. Hunil concentrated on that but I kept my eyes moving as well, trying to see off to the sides. If it had been me, I would have put people outside. All I saw was another one of the Thesan teams, the last on the opposite side of the building. Maybe that meant the Tiat didn’t have people to spare? Wishful thinking.
We pulled up tight to the building and I could feel the cool metal against my hands. Colored brown, it was smooth with no markings. I kept watch as Hunil turned around and faced the wall. He ran his hands over it and took out a device. Holding it in one hand, I heard a faint hum as he ran the device across the wall. He traced an oval about a foot off the ground and six feet high, only a couple wide.
Hunil slid the device into the middle of his oval and hit a button. He stepped back, the device stuck to the wall. Pulling a small controller, he motioned me away from the wall. I didn’t need the encouragement, I’d seen what a breacher could do. I probably didn’t want to mention to him that I had one aboard the Wind. On most planets it was illegal for a civilian to own a breacher, that included Thesan and Terran controlled space.
About ten feet away, directly facing the device and wall, I got down on one knee and raised my blaster at the oval.
As Hunil hit the button on the controller I saw lines of energy spark out from under the device. It crept along the wall, following the path Hunil had traced. The oval was lined by the blue sparking energy. It crackled and snapped. Another push of the button and the lines of energy flared.
Smoke rose from the brown metal as the energy started cutting through the wall. It was bright and I wanted to turn away but I needed to hold steady. It only took seconds before the energy disappeared and the sound of metal hitting ground echoed through the buildings.
The smoke cleared and I could see inside the building. White metal walls, furniture. An office of some kind. Empty.
“Go,” I said.
Hunil, keeping to the side and out of my firing lane, ran to the edge of the building. He leaned against the wall next to the opening and pivoted around it. He stepped over and through the hole and was in the office. When he moved
into my line of fire, I lowered my weapon and quickly moved up to the new opening.
It was an office. It was empty and looked unused.
Already at the door, Hunil impatiently gestured at me to enter. One last look around the yard, at the alleys in between the buildings, and I stepped through the hole.
I could hear activity beyond the door. Blasters firing and shouting. The other Thesan teams had breached. There was noise through Hunil’s comms. Just loud enough for me to hear it, not loud enough to understand any of it. Rapid fire Thesan, too low for me to get any words.
And of course Hunil was not sharing with me.
He was making no move to open the door. No signal for me to cover it. Nothing. I was getting impatient. At some point the Tiat would cut their losses and kill Kaylia.
I hit the door release on the keypad and let it slide open. Hunil shot me an angry glance. So much for following orders. I ignored him and stepped out of the office. We needed to move quickly.
CHAPTER TEN
The door opened onto a large space, the main warehouse. The walls were curved, metal beams supporting it that were thin at the top and got thicker as they went down to the ground. They were spaced close together on the ends, leaving an open spot in the middle. Smaller beams spanned between them. No windows, but lights hanging up high. Large doors could be seen along the far wall. A couple more small offices were to our right.
The warehouse was mostly empty, some polyplas crates scattered around, except for a light cruiser in the middle. Fast and mobile, it was a Devret UT15. Common ships, they were found everywhere. Not too flashy, they were usually used by merchants and other business people as they were reliable and parts were cheap and easy to get. This one looked old and well used. If I had to fly under the radar, it’s exactly what I would have picked.
