by M. R. Forbes
Grim, determined, she quickly scaled the stairs to the upper floor. More dead filled the room. Officers mostly, along with a few more civilians who had tried to hide with their military leaders. Their blood stained the floor, their horrified expressions fortifying Tsi’s resolve. She weaved her way around them to the corner, holding out hope that the emergency comms were still intact.
She put her hand on the solid rock wall, sliding it along the surface until it sank through the projection. She reached into the back corner, feeling for the switch that powered the unit to flip it off. The projection vanished, revealing the comms station. She breathed a sigh of relief. It hadn’t been hit by any wayward bolts, and the Relyeh had never thought to look for it.
She activated it, the projector displaying a holographic interface instead of a false wall. She pulled the mantle off her head and then moved her fingers through the hologram, sending an emergency signal out. Now she had to hope the enemy hadn’t found and destroyed all of the transmitters spread around the area.
She waited nervously, repeating the message two more times. The projection finally changed, a familiar face appearing.
“Sergeant Tsi?” Colonel Jax said. “Is that really you?”
“Yes, Colonel,” Tsi replied, bowing her head and fighting to keep her voice from breaking. “The compound. It’s…”
“I know,” Jax said. “We received a transmission before it fell. Doctor Riley and Sergeant Caleb betrayed us.”
“Riley, yes,” Tsi said. “Caleb, no. Doctor Riley gave the energy unit to the Relyeh sergeant. He took it and Caleb with him from the Earther ship. They left me for dead.”
“I was afraid you were dead, Sergeant. I thought perhaps Sergeant Caleb killed you.”
“The Earther doctor Rathbone saved my life. I convinced their leader to help me try to send a message to the compound, and when it wasn’t received they let me take one of their aircraft here to investigate.”
“You’re there alone?”
“Yes, Colonel.”
“The Earthers trust you?”
“They know as well as I do that the only chance we have against the Relyeh is together.”
She watched the colonel’s face carefully, noting the tension around his eyes.
“How do I know you aren’t a projection? How do I know it’s you, Tsi?”
Tsi pulled at the Intellect Skin, opening it and taking it down to her waist. “There are no Advocates on my arms, Colonel,” she said. “Only cuts and bruises, but none in the shape of a Relyeh. Something only I would know: I’m the only escaped Relyeh Inahri to defeat General Gao in trial.”
Colonel Jax smiled, his expression softening. “Tsi. I am incredibly grateful for your survival. We didn’t return to the compound from our assault on the Seeker. General Gao, is he…”
“Dead? I’m afraid so, Colonel.”
Jax nodded somberly. “That would leave me in command of our remaining military forces. I wish I could say there was much remaining, but between our defeat at the Seeker, and the attack on the compound, we’re in a very difficult position.”
“What happened at the Seeker? Is the ship operational?”
“We received an unexpected message from Earther Squad while we were pulling out. Sergeant Wash and one of his team made it to the modulator housing. But I had only just learned of the destruction of the compound. I believed the Earthers had betrayed us. I refused to go back for them. I left them on their own.”
“Did they complete the mission?”
“I don’t know. We were under heavy fire, and when we heard the modulator was coming to the Seeker, we evacuated as quickly as we could. We don’t stand a chance against the ship’s gun batteries.” He paused, his face pale. “Sergeant, I have dishonored us by abandoning our soldiers. I wrongly believed they were traitors.”
“Colonel, Doctor Riley is the traitor. My experiences with the other Earthers have all been positive. Even Governor Stone, who Sergeant Caleb said dishonored him, has put his faith in me to help restore that honor. He assisted the Relyeh sergeant in finding the modulator, but now he wishes to fight.”
“Then we have both made mistakes,” Jax said. “I want to believe we can work with the Earthers against Arluthu. And yet, as long as we remain here, we are all safe. The Relyeh cannot find us.”
“There is no honor in hiding, Colonel,” Tsi said. “I’m certain you know that.”
“And that truth is a great concern to me,” Jax replied. “It isn’t an easy decision, Sergeant. But hundreds of soldiers and thousands of civilians were slaughtered today. Our ranks are decimated, our morale lower than I have ever seen it. If the Seeker is active, there is no chance for us to stand against Arluthu.”
“There is always a chance, Colonel. You say you have dishonored yourself by abandoning Sergeant Wash and his team, and in the same breath say you want to remain where you are? How can you hide at a time like this? Perhaps you will keep the Free Inahri safe for now, but not forever. With no one to stop him, Arluthu will find you.”
“We have less than three hundred soldiers, Sergeant. We cannot fight Arluthu with that.”
"The Earthers have people willing to fight. What they need is training, and as many weapons and armor as we can spare. They have ships like the one I came here in. They use technology we do not possess to make them very easy to fly. We can augment them to improve their defenses. If we work together, we have a chance.”
“If the Seeker is active, we have no chance,” Jax repeated.
“Even if that were true, only a coward would run from this fight,” Tsi hissed. She froze after she said it, staring at Jax. She was way out of line, and they both knew it. She gave the colonel a few seconds to berate her for the outburst, but he remained silent, accepting her words as truth. “I’m in the compound, Colonel. There is death all around me. I can’t describe it to you. These are our people, Colonel. Soldiers we both know and their families. They deserve to be remembered. They deserve for us to fight for what they believed in.”
Jax was silent for a moment. He sighed heavily. “Return to the settlement, Sergeant. We will consult with the refreshed Council there.”
Tsi stared at him, fury rising into her chest. Did he not hear anything she said? “There is no time for Councils, Colonel. No time for groupthink. You will be General of the Free Inahri within the hour. You can overrule their decision. I promised Governor Stone I would do everything I could to help him. I put my faith in our people to do the right thing.”
“We aren’t prepared, Sergeant. We are beaten. Broken. Dishonored and in despair. We need time.”
“There is no time!” Tsi shouted.
“Return to the settlement at once, Sergeant,” Jax snapped back. “That’s an order!”
Tsi clenched her fists. She couldn’t believe this was going so poorly. She couldn’t believe the decision the colonel was making. “No,” she replied. “I promised the Earthers I would return. I promised them they would have training.”
“You should not have made promises you do not have the rank to ensure,” Jax said.
“I trusted in Free Inahri honor. But it seems all it takes for us to lose it is a single defeat. It seems our words of rebellion are only that. I didn’t escape Arluthu’s Citadel to hide when things got hard. I promised I would train them and I will, even if I have to do it alone.”
“Sergeant,” Jax said.
Tsi switched off the comms, cutting him off. She stared at it for a moment, growling in frustration. It couldn’t have gone worse if she had tried to make it end so poorly.
“Ga de,” she cursed again. “I will do it all myself.”
Chapter 12
Tsi pulled the Intellect Skin back up from her waist and hurried out of the command center, sprinting across the open cavern to the Dagger. She was still furious from her conversation with Colonel Jax, and at the same time, a spark of hope had kindled inside her. Sergeant Wash had made it to the modulator housing. Had he managed to damage it and slow the activat
ion of the Seeker?
She reached the Dagger, vaulting onto the wing. She stopped next to the canopy, waiting impatiently for it to swing open. She grabbed the helmet and dropped into the cockpit, placing the rifle she had taken beside her. She yanked the helmet over her head, immediately turning her thoughts to the craft starting up and lifting off the floor.. It hummed to life, rising and rotating toward the cavern’s exit while the canopy was still closing.
She didn’t know if the Seeker was active. Nobody did.
She was going to find out.
She urged the Dagger out of the cavern and into the sky. G-forces pulled her hard into the seat as the craft launched forward, escaping the compound and once again rising into the air. Faster, she thought, and the Dagger quickly blasted past the speed of sound. She set her heading toward the lost city-ships.
Permanent storms surrounded the ships, bathing them in constant rain. Tsi was over the clouds in no time, positioning herself directly above the Seeker in a tight pattern while she prepared to drop in. If the ship fired on her, she knew it would mean the modulator was in place and the massive vessel was at full power. If that were the case, it would be challenging to fly through without being hit. If the ship didn’t fire, she might still have to contend with enemy defenses, but it would mean they had a little more time to prepare their defenses or even launch another attack.
She circled one more time, gathering her courage before sending the Dagger into a sharp dive.
The craft shook as it descended, entering the clouds and cutting through turbulent air. Tsi had to focus on staying in the dive, doing her best to keep her mind off the idea of pulling up. She would only have seconds to level off or risk crashing into the Seeker, but she had to be as quick as possible going in and out.
She broke through the clouds within seconds, the Seeker becoming visible below. She knew right away the modulator wasn’t delivering power to the ship. The gun batteries were dark. The tower was dark. The city had yet to come alive. She smiled, a sense of relief washing over her. Earther Squad had done it, even if Jax’s abandonment had likely killed them. She would be sure to tell Governor Stone what his people had done. She would be sure they were honored in their deaths.
The helmet’s HUD started to flash at the edges, a harsh tone going off in her ears. She saw the flash a moment later, the beam from a massive cannon lancing out at her from one of the valleys below. She reacted instinctively, the Dagger responding by swinging into a corkscrew that pegged her tight against the seat. She barely avoided the beam, redirecting her attention to pulling out of the dive.
The Dagger swept over the Seeker, shuddering as it fought to come level, the ground approaching too quickly. She could see the Relyeh that had fired on her. An Abomination crouched between two of the towers in wait. The Inahri-machine hybrid rose as she closed on the surface, rotating to fire projectile rounds.
The rounds whipped past the Dagger, close enough that the alarms continued to sound in Tsi’s helmet. She ignored them, finally getting the fighter leveled off only thirty meters above the deck. She rocketed across the center of the Seeker, banking hard to split between two towers to escape the Abomination. The Dagger quickly left the Relyeh machine behind, bursting past the opposite end of the ship.
She was safe.
At least, she thought she was safe. The CUTS started complaining again a few seconds later, revealing a grid with two targets coming down on her from above. She turned her head to get a look at them, making out the uneven shapes of the Relyeh craft. They both belched plasma at her, forcing her to take evasive maneuvers that nearly crashed her into the ship.
Proximity alarms sounded, the CUTS seizing control of the Dagger, slowing the velocity enough to yank Tsi tight against her restraints while pushing the fighter away from the obstacle. The move seemed to confuse the trailing enemy, causing them to rocket overhead and giving her a better angle of attack behind them.
The Dagger started firing, projectiles roaring from the front of the wings and tearing through the first of the Relyeh ships. The craft began to wobble in the sky, flight controls damaged. A moment later, it spun over and tumbled downward, crashing into the Seeker’s surface in a fireball.
Tsi smiled. She could do this.
She found the second Relyeh ship, latching onto it with her eyes. The Dagger accelerated in response to her sudden confidence, rising to meet it. She watched the HUD, noting the Abomination on the ground was getting a fresh bead on her. She ordered the fighter to take evasive action before it ever fired, its attack missing the target by meters instead of centimeters. Yet she had to stay on the enemy’s tail.The CUTS system interpreted both needs and optimized a reaction for both.
She continued to climb, taking the Dagger over the Relyeh ship as she made more aggressive maneuvers, rolling and jerking from left to right, altitude and velocity continually changing. Tsi opened fire again, bullets arcing across the air and into the rear of the remaining fighter. It started smoking as it fell from the sky to detonate in mid-air a hundred meters above the ground.
Tsi was already in the clouds by then, escaping from the Abomination and setting a fresh course for the Deliverance.
She had confirmed the starship was still on backup power. They might not have much of a chance, but they still had a chance. She sighed at the thought, her rising hope tempered.
If only she had been able to convince Colonel Jax.
Chapter 13
Jackson didn’t like the idea of Doctor Rathbone pushing him through the corridor between Engineering and South Park. It was bad enough he needed her assistance for so many other more intimate things right now, nevermind having to give the top speed of his chair a boost.
But he had told Sheriff Zane to have the volunteers in South Park within three hours. He had assigned the man and his fellow officers, as well as the DDF, a difficult mission he was sure had left them all scrambling and exhausted.
It wouldn’t do to show up late.
The hatch between the corridor and the inner perimeter of Metro was closed when the group reached it. Jackson’s heart was already pounding hard, anxious over the results of the effort to recruit colonists to the fight. He didn’t want to be forced to conscript them, but he would if it came to that. This was life or death. Maybe it was death no matter what they did. They had to stay strong.
Rathbone slowed the chair to a stop in front of the closed hatch. Letting go of the back, she came around to his side, next to Faith. Two DDF soldiers flanked him further back, already briefed on what to expect. Telling the two men the truth about Sergeant Card and the Guardians was the hardest thing he had ever done. He had seen the anger flash across their faces. They felt betrayed, as they should. But they had stood with him during the trip across the stars when the entire universe was as vast as the inside of the ship’s hold. They weren’t going to abandon him now.
He couldn’t be sure about the rest of the colony. He had lied in the first place to protect himself and keep his grip on the population, afraid the truth would start riots he couldn’t control. That fear came back full-force as he collected himself behind the closed door.
“Governor,” Deputy Klahanie said, running up from behind. Jackson turned his head as far as he could to look at the man. “Sergeant Tsi is gone. She picked up the CUTS right away.”
“Let’s hope she keeps her word,” Jackson replied.
“She will,” Klahanie said.
“How can you be so sure, deputy?”
“Maybe I’m too trusting, but I got a good feeling from her.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Jackson straightened up, staring at the back of the closed door. He took a few sharp breaths, getting a grip on his nerves. What would he see when the hatch opened? A park full of men and women ready to fight? Or a dead, empty field and a city full of fear?
“Open it,” he said.
Faith reached over to the control pad, swiping her wrist across it. The hatch started to rise.
Jackso
n held his breath, the few seconds it took for the hatch to rise taking forever to pass. At first, he saw only a few pairs of feet close to the hatch. And then he saw their torsos and faces. He nearly came to tears at the sight. There were so many people, a mass that almost stretched across the entire width of the park.
Sheriff Zane stood there, just beyond the door, a big smile on his face. A handful of officers stood with him. They all looked exhausted, but they also seemed pleased with the work they had done.
“Governor,” Zane said. “We heard you needed an army.”
Jackson’s mouth split into a huge smile. “You heard right, Sheriff. How did you get so many to volunteer?”
“They want to fight for their homes, Governor.”
“How many are there, do you think?”
“Come on, let’s take a look.”
Sheriff Zane pointed him toward the same transport he had used to triumphantly declare he and Beth were moving outside the ship. The sight of it brought back memories that quickly wiped the smile off his face.
“Governor?” Zane said.
“We’ve done wrong, Sheriff,” Jackson said. “Both of us.”
Zane nodded, his smile vanishing too. “I know. I’ll never be able to make up for it. But I’m damned well going to try.”
“Me too.”
The colonists started to notice him, the murmur of the crowd slowly beginning to quiet. The people closest to him called out. “Governor Stone. Governor Stone.” He waved to them as he rolled the chair along the wall of the city toward the transport. A lightweight metal ramp rested against it to give his chair access to the bed.
Once he was up there, Jackson turned his chair toward the crowd, his heart racing, eyes burning. He hadn’t prepared anything to say. There hadn’t been enough time. Maybe it was better that way. He looked out over the crowd.
Sheriff Zane remained behind him, joined by the last living members of Law and the DDF, as well as Faith and Doctor Rathbone. They fanned out behind him in a show of support. But would they still support him once he opened his mouth? Not all of them knew the full truth. Not yet anyway.
