by Ehsan Ahmad
“Stay there, all of you. Just stay there.”
The long-range scans were slowly adding detail to a map, including terrain and artificial structures. It had picked up four mines, including Five and Three.
control>destination>select
He tapped the indicator over the icon for Mine Five: a blue triangle surrounded it.
control>speed MAXIMUM
control>auto-pilot ENGAGE
As the shell swooped down past the edge of the plateau, Sonus checked the diagnostic screen. The only damage listed was to the rear armor paneling and was described as -superficial/minor-.
Suddenly, he was through the snow and dropping toward the dark yellow surface of the plain. Away to the east, the rising sun was split by the horizon.
30
Gathered outside the tower were the installation’s senior administrators and Mennander’s bodyguards. Marl was standing alone some distance away, hands clasped behind him, completely still. Vellerik watched the staff watching him; most had seen the Drellen only once before.
Talazeer and the Viceroy had been in the tower for some time. Vellerik reckoned they were already behind schedule and Mennander was still scheduled to inspect the workers. He turned and saw the rows of figures lined up in front of their accommodation block. The natives also stood still, heads bowed. Vellerik was relieved to see there were no children.
One of the officers suddenly stepped away from the others and covered his ear, listening intently.
Vellerik’s com-cell beeped, and Triantaa spoke. “Captain, priority message from Officer Kerreslaa.”
“Captain?” Kerreslaa sounded anxious.
“Vellerik here.”
“Five minutes ago, someone at Mine Fourteen activated a general alert, but we can’t raise anyone there.”
Vellerik didn’t bother asking if any personal coms had been pick-ed up. Due to the facility’s unusual position on Mount Origo, only signals sourced through the main array had any chance of getting out. “Has that ever happened before?”
“Not once.”
“We’ll move the Count and the Viceroy back to the shuttle. Keep me informed.”
Vellerik hurried over to the bodyguards. “We’ve lost contact with Fourteen—it’s not far from here. I suggest we get them back in the Tarikan and stay mobile. At least until we know more.”
“Agreed,” said one of the bodyguards. The other ran into the tower.
Though difficult, Cerrin had decided it was a lot quieter—and therefore a lot safer—to carry the barrel. Had she not done so, she may never have heard the footsteps behind her.
She’d just passed Block A and was heading straight across the compound toward the generator station when she halted and turned. A large figure flashed past the light outside the block, heading toward the tower. It took her mind several seconds to process what she had seen.
Dukas. Alone. Moving quickly.
Cerrin put the barrel down and followed the shape through the darkness. She glanced over her shoulder. The guard on duty at the armory was leaning against the wall, at least a hundred feet away. She slipped her spear from her shoulder, held it in one hand and gave chase.
Having sacrificed stealth for speed, she wasn’t surprised when Dukas turned around, his eyes catching what little light there was.
“Who’s there?” he asked, voice faint.
The reply came swiftly.
Holding the shaft of the spear with both hands, Cerrin ran at him and jabbed the blunt end into his face. The wood struck with a low crack. Dukas tottered backwards then fell. Cerrin didn’t give him a chance to react. She knelt down beside him and placed the shaft against his throat.
As he spluttered something, she pushed it down. “I’d speak very quietly if I were you.”
“Cerrin?”
She looked up. They were worryingly close to the reach of the lamp over the tower door, and the sky was getting lighter all the time. The only Vitaari she could see was the armory guard, who thankfully hadn’t moved.
“Cerrin, is that you?”
Ever since she had risen from her bed, Cerrin had felt an unshakeable confidence in her every action, a certainty Ikala was with her. After the endless worry and fear, now there was only what needed to be done.
“What were you doing?” she demanded.
“I—I—”
“Where were you going? The tower?”
“No. I—”
He stopped. There was nothing he could say that would convince her; it seemed they both knew it.
All she could see of him was his eyes. They were no more than pale dots; they didn’t seem to belong to a person.
“Cerrin, I swear—I will go now. I will come with you. You can use me, I—”
She spun the spear and drove the sharpened end into his throat. As he struggled, she stood on his chest and held the spear down on him. His body began to shake. Choking breaths escaped so she pushed even harder.
Noise.
An administrator stepped out of the tower. Cerrin dropped low and bowed her head to obscure her eyes. She kept her weight on the spear and listened. When she heard fast-moving footsteps, she looked up and glimpsed the Vitaari’s robes as he strode away toward the barracks.
Dukas had gone still beneath her. She lifted the spear and moved off him. He was not breathing.
She had only ever killed animals before. But she knew some of those kills would trouble her more. Those creatures hadn’t deserved it; she could easily have let them be. Dukas had given her no choice. Even so, it took her a few precious moments to compose herself.
She put the spear over shoulder and retraced her steps. It took a frustratingly long time to locate the barrel, which she eventually did by walking into it. Knowing Sadi might start the attack at any time, she took a wide route around the lights at the front of the generator station but moved as fast as she could. Other than a brief sighting of the armory guard and an engineer exiting the mine, she spotted no Vitaari.
Once at the station’s side door, she tipped the barrel over and pulled out the cap. As the fuel glugged out, she dragged the barrel several meters away, then let go. She retrieved a flare from her overalls, stepped away from the barrel and removed the protective strip. As the light might easily give her away, she turned away from the compound and pressed down on the stud. Green light fizzed from the other end.
She was about to throw it when darkness became light. Something whistled over her head and a wave of heat hit her. Instinct and shock sent her to the ground. When she recovered herself, she saw a fountain of flame beside the tower. A moment later, an alarm sounded.
Cerrin held up the flare. It had gone out. She threw it aside, pulled out the second one and ignited it. Having seen the size of the blast Sadi had caused, she took five more steps backwards, then threw it. The flare landed in the tongue of liquid left on the ground.
The fuel was already alight when she turned and ran for the accommodation blocks. She had taken no more than ten paces when the barrel went up. Another wave of heat hit her back, but so did a concussive force that sent her sprawling. She threw out her hands but came down hard on her front, scraping her hands and knees.
Wincing at the pain, she forced herself up. The explosion had taken out much of the fence and blackened the side of the generator station, but the flames were already dying. She saw two Vitaari guards run out of the barracks and more approaching from the gate.
Another administrator exited the tower just as another blast went up. Momentarily blinded, Cerrin turned and lurched away. Then came a third explosion. When she looked back, the whole of the tower was enveloped by flame. From within came a figure.
Hair, face, and clothes aflame, the Vitaari slowed to a walk, then pitched forward. As he burned, Cerrin felt a surge of satisfaction. Seeing the invaders suffer was as pleasurable as she’d hoped.
Now she knew why Sadi had taken so long: she’d moved two more barrels into position by the towe
r. As Cerrin neared the block, she heard a shout over the noise of the alarm.
“Here! Stay out of the light.”
Cerrin rubbed her eyes, which still hadn’t recovered from the flash of light.
“Sadi?”
“With me.”
The Palanian emerged out of the darkness and grabbed her arm. Together, they ran around the rear of the latrine and toward Block B. Cerrin could hear bellowed commands coming from the mine.
“Don’t look back,” said Sadi. “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Once past Block B, they turned into the gap between the containers.
But their path was blocked—by people.
“What the—” Sadi didn’t finish her sentence.
Cerrin couldn’t see their faces, and none of them spoke. The only light was distant and faint, close to the tunnel.
“What’s going on?” said Sadi. “You should be through by now.”
Cerrin pushed her way forward. “Move. Out of the way.”
When she eventually reached the tunnel entrance, she found Jespa holding the light.
“What’s going on?”
“Someone got stuck. Kannalin went down to help.” Jespa aimed the light downward. A woman looked up, her dirty face streaked with tears. From below came the sounds of weeping and shouting.
“You have a knife, don’t you?”
Jespa took out a short blade.
Cerrin snatched it from him, knelt down and gave it to the woman. “Pass this down. And an order to Kannalin. He is to use it on anyone who won’t move.”
The woman just stared at the blade.
“Do it,” hissed Cerrin.
As the woman took it, she turned to Sadi. “You’ll keep them moving?”
“Yes. What about you?”
Cerrin took the spear from her shoulder. “I’ll stand guard. They’ll be coming.”
Mine Five was not difficult to spot. Sunlight sparked off the metal walls, and it was the only visible structure upon the apparently endless plain. At five kilometers, Sonus halved his speed. He had used more than two thirds of his fuel: even now he would not have enough to reach Mine Three.
The shell had picked up a brief burst of communications on a general channel, but now that had gone dead. The scanners were showing a large vessel within the compound beginning to ascend. Sonus could not be certain it was the Viceroy’s shuttle, but it seemed likely: the shell was also detecting coms emanating from the vessel, but the messages were encoded.
During the journey across the great dunes of Skakka’s Bight, he had kept himself occupied by constantly checking the shell’s numerous systems. He didn’t want to give himself time to think.
He cut his speed to one quarter and disengaged the auto-pilot, then moved to the east to ensure he had the sun at his back. The window took a moment to adjust. Now he could see detail: the reinforced gate at the front of the mine, the glittering tower, the roof of the warehouse. And now the fin of a large Vitaari ship.
deflector field ACTIVATE
secondary weapon>target select
The system began listing the ship’s designation and characteristics. One sentence was flashing,
-capability: counter-measures-
Sonus selected a command box he had already used three times, usually with helpful results.
-recommendation?-
The shell’s system gave no answer.
Talazeer had resisted, which meant Vellerik had to enter the tower and reason with him. The Count refused to believe anything could really be wrong and only relented when Mennander agreed the sensible course of action was to return to the Tarikan until they knew precisely what had occurred at Mine Five.
The result of this delay was that Vellerik was last into his shell. The other three were ready to take off, and the shuttle was already up and maneuvering.
“Sir, shall we follow the Tarikan?” asked Zarrinda.
Before Vellerik could reply, Triantaa cut in.
“Captain, we have a shell approaching from the east. Kerreslaa thought it was trying to get a message out from Five, but it’s not answering hails from the tower.”
“Notify the shuttle pilot, tell him to get out of here. Maximum speed. Men, get up and intercept that shell.”
Vellerik’s cockpit door had only just shut. As he activated the controls, he glimpsed the first of the others take off.
Sonus kept low, almost below the top of the wall. Above him, the ship shadowed half the mine as it turned. The sheer size of it was startling, and the gold circle of the imperial standard blazed under the sun’s glare. Toward the rear were the three cylinders of an engine block not unlike that of the planet’s shuttle, though twice the size.
secondary weapon>target select
Sonus knew he didn’t have long. He locked the green square on the middle of the engine block as it swung away from him. He tapped down.
He heard the pop, saw the missile streak toward the ship. Something flashed on the side of the shuttle. The explosion was disappointingly small and some distance from the vessel.
Counter-measures.
Sonus cursed. What now?
He spied two white shapes zooming up from the mine, then a third.
Combat shells.
Sonus told himself to concentrate on the shuttle, which was now moving across his field of vision, building up speed. He ascended and guided the shell toward it.
-threat detected-
Now in a triangular formation, the Vitaari pilots came up quickly between his position and the shuttle.
-deflector field: active-
Sonus never saw what was fired at him: only the shimmering blue light that flashed in front of the shell for several seconds. He had no idea how the field worked, but the vehicle seemed to have sustained no damage.
Resisting the urge to watch the enemy shells, he saw a heat haze appear behind the shuttle’s engine block. The green square was still locked onto it.
He tapped down, and the second missile blasted away.
-threat detected-
-threat detected-
Again came the blue light, but this time he heard popping sounds and impacts on the shell. One of the Vitaari was flying straight at him.
Sonus froze. Should he trust the field or engage the auto-evade?
Then came the explosions. The first was a bloom of fire just like those at the armory. A curved section from one of the three cylinders fell from the shuttle’s engine block, followed by dozens of bits of debris. The nose of the vessel dipped slightly, but it continued to accelerate away.
The second explosion was a colossal blast that sent huge sections of the engine block spinning through the air. One tore into the fin, shredding panels off it. Another shot downward, hitting the wall of the compound before crashing into the dust.
Sonus glimpsed one of the Vitaari shells spiraling toward the ground.
Then the shockwave struck. Warm air suddenly filled the cockpit, and his body was pressed backwards. As invisible forces tugged at him, the shell was sent spinning away, end over end.
Vellerik cleared the wall of Mine Five just as the Tarikan came down.
The rear of the shuttle was a blackened mess, with smoke issuing from countless places and ragged sections of the hull hanging at unlikely angles. Most of the engine block was gone.
He could see emergency maneuvering jets firing on the underside, but with no propulsion from the main block they would not keep the vessel in the air. The pilot—who had been shouting ever since the missile strike—had now gone quiet.
“Triantaa?”
Vellerik received no answer.
At a height of about eighty meters, the ship suddenly listed to the right, then fell out of the sky. Picking up speed quickly, it plummeted downward, bow now aiming at the ground. Vellerik knew those in the cockpit stood no chance. The lounge was behind it, where the passengers would be.
Tarikan hit with a nois
e he heard even inside the shell. The delicate masts of the sensor array snapped off first. As the bow crumpled, the rest of the vessel came after it like the body of some great fallen beast. When the underside struck, the impact seemed to shatter the fin, the top third of which fell to the ground. Clouds of dust blew up, but there were no further explosions.
“I’ve got him.”
Vellerik recognized the voice. Zarrinda sounded frantic.
“Zarrinda, where are the others?”
He checked his display—there were no signals coming from either Perttiel or Saarden’s shells.
“Engaging now, Captain.”
“Zarrinda?”
Sonus tried to focus on the main screen, but everything was moving. The next spin was too much for his stomach. He vomited down his chin and the front of his overalls. He tried to suck in air, but it was so warm it almost made him throw up again.
Then the shell seemed to slow. It righted itself and eased to a holding position. The warm air dissipated. Sonus looked out through the window, but all he could see below was yellow earth. He wasn’t even sure of his altitude. The diagnostic screen offered various messages, none of which he really understood.
The tactical display showed a shell closing in rapidly.
-threat detected-
The Vitaari was coming at him from his left. Sonus couldn’t see him.
-deflector inoperable-
Multiple impacts struck the shell. The left arm suddenly sagged, and sparks burst out of something below one of the minor screens.
-auto-evade inoperable-
Then Sonus remembered he had a missile left. The system was already tracking. He confirmed the target and fired. Once the missile was away, he took command of the controls and sent the shell toward the surface.
The enemy assault cannons did no more damage. He never actually saw the shell, only the message.
-target destroyed-
“Send down the rest of the troop from the Galtaryax.”
“Yes, Captain,” replied Kerreslaa, his voice shaky.
