“Sorry,” I croaked. “I’m . . . useless.”
Lopez looked like she was about to say, “That’s what I’ve been saying all along,” but she was apparently too pissed at the troopers who were firing at us to go through with it.
Kovac looked at me laying on the floor for a long moment. He exhaled loudly enough for me to hear over the battle’s noise, then reached to his side and pulled his vibro-hammer from the holster on his belt. He straightened, clicked the button its the handle, and suddenly there was a loud humming noise as the head of the hammer went blurry. He let out a primal scream, swung, and tore through the thick metal of the overturned table we were hiding behind.
“WHAT THE HELL?” Lopez shrieked.
But Kovac had already picked up half of the table and brandished it over his head. His unexpected demonstration stunned the Eggheads momentarily. But by the time the two leftmost troopers registered the crushed bodies of their companions beneath half of a table, the other half of the table was already hurtling through the air toward them.
With that, the room was silent. Kovac picked up his hammer—which he had apparently turned off before tossing tables—from the floor and returned it to his holster. I tried standing, but couldn’t. Kovac picked me up and slung me over his shoulder so the side of my face was resting on Kovac’s middle back and my cape dangled to one side, partially blocking my view. It was a little embarrassing being carried by Kovac, since I was still completely awake, but not as embarrassing as being dead.
“Where to now?” Kovac asked as he turned slightly to one side so I could see the others.
Rand pointed to a terminal at the side of the room. “Lopez,” he said.
“On it.”
She ran over and started tapping furiously at its surface. Rand lifted his duffel bag’s shoulder strap over his head and rushed over to where Lopez stood. Finally, Kovac faced forward, scooped up his plasma rifle with me still on his back, and hurried over to the others.
From somewhere close behind me, I heard Lopez say, “If we can get to the security center right—here, I can get eyes on every hallway and most rooms.”
“Let’s do it,” Kovac said.
“By all means,” Rand said.
“You’re amazing,” I said. Accidentally. But, luckily, at that very moment my cape flopped into my mouth and gagged me, muffling me completely.
I heard more tapping, then Lopez said, “Okay—Follow me.”
And then, my head was bouncing against the middle of Kovac’s back for stretches of several seconds at a time, which were interrupted by short pauses at intersections. From what I could tell facing backward with a view partially blocked by a cape, the hallways were almost identical—each was painted light tan, had a long table, on top of which rested a lamp, and above which hung generic landscapes portraits from moons across the solar system.
After racing down five or six of these hallways, we arrived at the security center. And not a bit too soon—I was pretty sure I’d gotten a concussion from my head banging so hard against Kovac’s back.
There were another few seconds of loud tapping noises, and then Lopez said, “We’re in.”
I heard a door hiss open and we stepped into a room with surprisingly dark walls. Kovac set me down gently on the polished tile floor and I saw a round bank of terminals in the center of the circular room.
He stood up, but before he could walk away, I whispered loudly, spitting my cape out of my mouth, “Need . . . food . . . side pocket.”
Kovac crouched down next to me, found my stash of Quantum-Sized Twizzle Stix packets, and held them out to me. My arms still felt really wobbly, so I just opened my mouth wide at him. He sighed, tore off the top of a package, and poured the colorful, sugary treats into my mouth.
I chewed greedily, swallowed, and in just a few moments, I felt the energy rushing back into my arms and legs.
“Thanks, big guy,” I said. “I owe you one.”
“He who dies pays all debts,” Kovac said quietly. He winked, stood up, then strode over to Lopez and Rand in front of a row of monitors.
I tore open the tops of three more packets and dumped them into my mouth as I stood, brushed off my cape, and shuffled across the room. I peered over the top of Rand’s head and around the side of Kovac’s massive arm, but couldn’t see much.
“What’s the situation?” I asked.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Lopez’s voice sounded from the other side of my crew.
“The good news,” I said.
“Well, I’ve accessed the cams on the building’s top floor,” she said.
“That’s great!” I responded, licking the technicolor sugar off the sides of my lips.
“The bad news is—I’ve never seen so many Dominion soldiers gathered in one place.”
And that was saying something.
27
“SO WHAT YOU’RE saying,” I said, “is that we need to make it through a hundred or so floors alive before we fight the largest group of troopers you’ve seen. And then after that, we can take the fight to the Dominion’s most powerful warrior.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Did I miss anything?”
“Yeah,” Lopez said in a flat voice as she kept looking at the vid feeds. “You’ll probably die a horrible death somewhere along the way.”
“Well, count me in,” I said as I tore open another couple packets of Twizzle Stix. Damn, those things were good.
Kovac straightened. “I’m in, too.”
Rand rubbed his mustache. “At this point,” he said, “I don’t see a viable alternative.”
“So, does that mean you’re in?” I asked through a full mouth.
Lopez spun around in her seat. “Dammit, Walker—finish chewing your food before you talk!”
I swallowed. “Sorry.”
She whirled back around and started accessing building schematics on another monitor.
I tore open my last packet of Twizzle Stix and emptied it into my mouth. “Great,” I said through the treats.
Lopez turned from her monitor just enough to glare at me.
I swallowed quickly before saying another word. However, I hadn’t chewed enough, so the edges of the Twizzle Stix scraped against my throat on the way down. Apparently the pain came through on my face, because Lopez smirked as she turned back to her monitor.
“Okay,” I said as I tried to clear my shredded throat. “Lopez will be our eyes. We just need a clear comm channel.”
Rand pulled out his circular, palm-sized communicator and set it on the console.
“I’ll let Lopez borrow mine,” he said. “But I do mean borrow—I’m fully expecting you to return this. I still have a few adjustments I need to make before filing a patent.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Lopez said lazily as she grabbed the communicator.
“Now,” Rand said as he picked up his duffel bag. “Let’s go before the odds become any worse than they already are.”
I frowned. “Rand—you’re really going to have to leave the equipment behind this time.”
Rand’s eyes opened so wide, I didn’t think they’d ever close.
“But . . .” he said, “there are countless scenarios where I’ll need these to make some sort of alteration to existing equipment and provide us with a means to escape.”
“Sure,” I said. “But it’ll slow us down. And we’ll need all the firepower we can get. Lopez—”
She didn’t bother looking away from the screen. “What?”
“We’ll need your plasma rifle. Kovac has an extra hand.”
Kovac grunted. “There’s no need,” he said. “I have this.”
He held up his vibro-hammer and nodded.
“Dude,” I said. “That’s a hammer.”
“Walker’s right,” Rand said. “That’s just another piece of equipment. If I’m restricted from bringing mine along, you’ll need to leave yours behind, too.”
Kovac shook his massive head. “It’s not equipment. It’s a
weapon.”
Then, looking at me, Kovac said, “Like your sword.”
I was about to argue, but the way Kovac gripped the hammer’s handle made me think twice.
“Well, I guess you have a point,” I said. “Rand, you get her rifle.”
Rand narrowed his eyes at me, but picked up Lopez’s rifle from the floor next to her monitor and slapped his plasma gun down on the counter next to her.
“Now that we’re all happy,” I said, staring at Rand, “I believe we have an appointment with the president’s office.”
I put my crossbow down onto a nearby terminal seat and walked toward the door.
“What, no crossbow?” Kovac asked.
I looked down at the weapon, then answered, “If Craniax is anywhere near as powerful as Monstros or Sinistra, I don’t think a crossbow is going to do much good. I’d rather keep my hands free—you know, to use the stones.”
I was expecting someone to challenge me on that, but nobody said anything. I guess I’d finally earned a little respect. And to think—all it took was me slicing through a giant mechanical cat’s head.
When the door slid shut behind Kovac, Rand, and me, I paused for a moment. Lopez was in there all by herself, with only a single plasma gun for protection. I raised my left hand and used the orange stone to pinch the far edge of the door against its frame with a high-pitched screech.
A chirping noise came from my breast pocket.
“Yes?” I said.
“What the hell was that noise?” Lopez said.
“I —um—I locked you inside,” I said.
“You what?” Lopez said, followed by a long string of creative curses.
When she’d finished, I said, “I’m pretty sure I can get it back open again when we come back.”
“And what the hell do I do if you don’t come back?”
I thought for a second. “There has to be a ventilation shaft or trash compactor chute or something you can use. But don’t worry—we’ll be back.”
The communicator went silent. Then, after a couple of moments, Lopez’s typical monotone voice came over the comm. “Since I’m already anxious to get out of this prison, I’ve found you the fastest way up.”
“What,” I said into the comm, trying to add a smirk to my voice. “Is it a turbo lift?”
“Of course it’s a turbo lift,” Lopez said sharply.
Rand wrinkled his brow. “My apologies, but isn’t a turbo lift a little obvious?”
“You’re not going up the main turbo lift,” Lopez answered. “It’s heavily guarded at both ends. They’re not idiots. I’m taking you to the only service turbo lift that goes all the way up. In the kitchen.”
Even though I’d just filled up with a bunch of Twizzle Stix, my stomach growled at the thought of more food.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” I asked.
Lopez directed us through a complicated series of hallways. We heard Dominion troopers a few times, but never saw any. Damn, she was good.
Finally, we reached the kitchen.
“So, I think the kitchen is mostly clear,” Lopez said from the comm.
“What do you mean, ‘mostly clear?’” I whispered loudly, just outside the kitchen door.
“A few of the cams are obstructed, okay? Deal with it,” Lopez answered, then went silent.
I shook my head slowly, then looked back at Kovac and Rand, who both had their weapons drawn. “On my mark—one, two, three!”
We burst into the kitchen and caught several Dominion soldiers near the door with their helmets off, standing around a short metal table, eating what looked like a giant cake. They reached for their weapons with frosting-covered gloves, but they were too late. A few quick plasma slugs to the chest plate was more than enough to cure their appetite.
The scent of burnt sugar that hung in the air made my stomach growl loudly. I grabbed a small spatula from a rack above the table and was about to scoop out a piece of the cake when two more Dominion troopers came running out from a side-room and began firing from behind a nearby large refrigerator unit.
We ducked behind the table with the cake on top, and the storage space beneath it gave us the cover we needed. Kovac popped up and fired his plasma rifle in their general direction. A few of the slugs exploded against the refrigerator door, blowing it open. In the commotion, I leapt up, used my spatula to scoop up a large piece of cake, and then shoved the soft, sugary slice into my mouth as I dropped back down to the ground. I let out an accidental moan of full-mouthed delight, but luckily, the noises in the kitchen covered it.
Food from inside the fridge had scattered across the kitchen floor, like a toddler had tried laying out a feast. I looked around the corner of the table. Was that a turkey leg? I hadn’t seen one of those for years—not even on a holovid. And it was only a meter away . . .
I turned to Kovac and Rand, who were huddled next to me, trying to hide their limbs behind the small table. “Cover me!”
I nodded and suddenly they raised their plasma rifles above the table and began firing blindly at the troopers. I sprawled out onto the floor, staying as low as possible, snagged the turkey leg, and scrambled back behind the table. Then I reached out and pulled my cape around the corner.
Kovac and Rand came back down and looked over, only to see me back against the table and halfway finished with my turkey leg. Kovac’s face grew even redder than usual and Rand just stared at me blankly. Any day I can make Rand speechless is a good day.
In another couple seconds, I was finished.
I turned around, smacking my lips, and summoned the purple jewel’s brassy music. When I threw the turkey bone into the air, I peeked over the top of the table and pictured the bone sprouting translucent fairy wings and flying directly toward one of the troopers.
The bone shot through the air and entered the trooper’s helmet with a thunk. He dropped to the floor, and in the split second the other trooper let down his guard to puzzle over the half a turkey leg sticking through his companion’s visor, Kovac hit the trooper in the neck with a plasma slug and he collapsed to the floor.
“HA. Bonehead!” I spat out. No Lopez to groan at it, though.
I pulled out the comm unit and pressed it between my fingers. “Just so you know, the kitchen was not ‘mostly clear.’”
“Boo hoo,” Lopez said without any sympathy. “So, are you guys going to the turbo lift, or what? It’s around the next couple of corners, and you’re all clear—now.”
“Yeah, yeah—we’re going,” I said.
As I walked past a long row of transparent cupboards, I saw a jar of presidential-grade dried synthetic meat. Smoke flavored. I was actually full now, but hey, what the hell? I quickly shoved a handful in my mouth, grabbed a couple more for the road, and jogged to catch up to Kovac and Rand.
The comm unit chirped and I squeezed it.
“Guys?” Lopez said. “There’s a squadron headed for the kitchen. I think one of the troopers inside must have sent a distress signal to the others. All I’m saying is—you should probably hurry.”
“Well, we’re here,” I said through a mouth half-full of chewed synthetic meat.
“Dammit, Walker,” Lopez yelled into the comm unit. “What did I say about swallowing before you talk? You’re disgusting. Seriously.”
I made a loud swallowing noise into the comm unit.
“Ugh,” Lopez said, undoubtedly rolling her eyes. “Give me a second to override the turbo lift controls.”
“I was under the impression that time was not a luxury we had at the present,” Rand said. “Aren’t we expecting company soon?”
“Shut up, Rand,” Lopez said.
The three of us stood there in the kitchen and looked around. Rand found a can of fancy soy protein and beans, and his face lit up. He popped the lid and guzzled them down. He slammed the empty can down on the counter and smacked his lips loudly. When he looked up, he had a stream of reddish-brown protein and beans juice dripping from his mustache and running down the corn
ers of his mouth.
“Now that is gross,” I said.
Kovac grunted in agreement.
Rand was about to respond when the comm unit chirped again.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“I thought you should know that the squadron of troopers is—um—outside the kitchen door.”
“Okay . . .” I said. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, one thing,” Lopez answered. “The turbo lift controls are locked and I have no idea how to override them.”
28
“LET ME GET this straight,” I said to Lopez through the comm unit. “You can hack into a building’s vid feeds and building schematics, but you can’t open the door to a secondary turbo lift?”
“It’s UFS administrative-level encryption, okay?” Lopez answered. “If it was something easier, any twelve-year old with half-a-year of programming could get onto the presidential floor.”
Lopez sighed loudly over the speaker. “Look, I did you a favor and just locked the kitchen door. That should buy you another minute or two. Why don’t you just use your candy magic and open another set of doors?”
I slapped my hand against the turbo lift’s rounded wall and yelled into the comm unit. “It’s not magic, okay!? NOBODY BELIEVES IN MAGIC!”
Kovac and Rand took a step back from me. I lowered my voice, and said through gritted teeth, “And I don’t want to damage the turbo lift’s motor.”
I heard a distant pounding on the kitchen door.
Lopez kept talking. “Even if you did tear the motor apart, couldn’t you just magic yourself up to the top of the shaft?”
I took a deep breath. “It doesn’t work like that.” But what if it did? What if I was putting limitations on what I could or couldn’t do with the stones? My . . . magical stones?
“Here’s what I’ll do,” I said to Kovac and Rand, looking at the split down the middle of the turbo lift’s doors. “Each of you stand on one side of the door. I’ll tug at them just enough for you to squeeze your fingers between them. Then, when you’re pulling the doors apart, I’ll give you a little boost. That way, nothing gets broken.”
Rebel Sword Page 15
