Assault ramps hit the ground, and a dozen armored figures spilled out of the open doors. Their armored spacesuits and rifles were of an unfamiliar make, too. They fanned out, keeping them all covered with at least two guns.
Hunter growled again.
"No one move!" a voice yelled in strangely accented Normarish. "If you're armed, toss your weapons to the side now."
Christopher hesitated; she wasn't sure what to do. Ana was cradling Tebrey's head in her lap. Hunter had been sitting next to Tebrey, holding him down, but he stood to defend his friend when the strangers showed up. The students were milling around looking confused. She was the only one with her hands up.
"Down on your knees! Hands over your heads!"
The armored figures seemed especially wary of Hunter.
"Some of these people are wounded!" Christopher shouted as she knelt. "We need immediate medical aid!"
One of the figures stepped forward. "I'm Lt. Commander Maria Sanchez, Sentient Concord Marines. Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Lt. Amelia Christopher, Earth Federation Marines. We're unarmed."
"We detected a neutrino pulse from this area. If you're lying about having a positron weapon, things could go badly for you."
"The pistol was destroyed," Christopher replied. "Something attacked us in the installation below. Our commander was badly wounded. Look, he needs medical attention now! He's dying!"
The tall woman flipped up the armored visor on her helmet and gestured for her soldiers to stand down. "Medics, see to their wounded! At ease, Lieutenant. We aren't enemies."
"Thank you, Commander," Christopher said. "Ana, a medic is going to help Tebrey. Keep Hunter back." She stood up painfully, swaying a little as her head began to throb again.
The marine commander's eyebrows arched in surprise when Ana and Hunter moved together away from Tebrey. Hunter nuzzled Ana for comfort as they watched. "I didn't realize that Federation Special Operations was recruiting Thyrna-Shae."
"I'm sorry?"
"The young woman with the neo-panther."
"She's a local. The neo-panther is the companion of the man on the ground."
Sanchez's eyebrows arched even higher. "Who is he?"
"Lt. Commander Hrothgar Tebrey, Special Operations, as you surmised. His companion's name is Hunter."
The medics were working hard to save Tebrey. They had already started two IVs and were tubing him for artificial respiration. Christopher looked away. She'd always been uncomfortable watching medics at work; they made the body seem too mechanical.
"What happened down here, Lieutenant? You people look like you've been through hell."
Another shuttle came in for a landing. This one had more medical personnel who rushed out and starting treating the students.
"We have been," Christopher replied. "I don't even know where to begin."
"You said you were attacked – start with that."
"It's easier to just show you." Christopher led the commander over to the corpse of the creature that had attacked them. She told her all she knew about what had happened, including what Tebrey had said about it.
Sanchez called her sergeant over. "What do you make of this, Roberts?"
The man pulled out a portable scanner and frowned at the results. He looked concerned.
"Just say it, Sergeant."
"Radiation levels are consistent with the use of a positron weapon, Commander."
"That isn't what has your face scrunched up. What is it?"
"Theta, Commander."
Sanchez stiffened. "Are you sure?"
"Entropy levels are elevated. Combined with what I can make out of what it looked like, I'm certain. Nasty one, too."
"What the hell is a Theta?' Christopher asked.
"Never you mind," Sanchez replied. "Was there just the one, or are there more in there?" She gestured at the darkness of the open doorway into the hill.
"As far as I know, there was just one creature. Tebrey is the one who fought it. He'd know best."
"He seems a little indisposed at the moment. I'm asking you."
"And I don't know." Christopher could hear something that sounded suspiciously like panic in the woman's voice. "Ana!" she called. "Ask Hunter if this was the only one!"
Ana came over to them. Hunter stayed close to her. "What are they doing to him?" she demanded.
"They're trying to save him," Christopher said. "Please, Ana. This is important."
She shook her head. "He said there aren't any more in there. There was just this one. Isn't that enough?"
Christopher gave Ana a fierce hug. "He's going to be okay. I promise."
Sanchez gave them a look like they were crazy. "What exactly is going on here? You said that she's a local. How can she communicate with the neo-panther?"
"Maybe I should have said she was a local," Christopher said. "She and the Commander are together."
"Okay." Sanchez still looked confused. "I accept that. But…"
"You'll have to wait for Tebrey to recover enough to explain."
Sanchez nodded. "Is this all of you who survived?" she asked with sympathy.
"A few more of us are staying at a chateau a day's ride from here." Christopher laughed. "Sorry, make that about twenty kilometers to the west. I could show you. I'm sure they'd love to be rescued."
"I suppose this does qualify as a rescue." Sanchez turned and looked at her people. "Sergeant, assign a detail to guard this door, full suppression protocol. Then get everyone else loaded up. We're going back up."
Chapter Seventy-Four
It had been two weeks since the defeat of the creature at the installation, but Tebrey was still bedridden. His injuries had been severe, even before he'd blasted the thing back to hell with antimatter. He was mending, though. The medical technology of the Concord ship was just as good as or even a little better than that of the Federation.
He couldn't complain.
Ana was sleeping curled up in a chair next to the bed, where she'd been every day. The cold, sterile environment of Medical frightened her, but she didn't want to be alone on that strange ship, and she wasn't about to let Tebrey out of her sight anyway.
Concord surgeons had replaced his burned eyes with newly regrown ones the day before, and Tebrey was still getting used to being able to see again. He'd missed just looking at Ana. She was so beautiful it made his heart ache to think that they had all almost died. He was going to have to take steps to make sure that was never a danger again.
Hunter was sprawled on his back across the door to the isolation room in what Mason had affectionately called his slut pose. Tebrey couldn't have made it through the weeks of darkness without Hunter's bantering. It was strange that Hunter and Ana had formed a bond so quickly. Ana, untrained, was as powerful a telepath as anyone he'd ever met. What she would become with training was anyone's guess.
Captain Viknorov had offered every one of the marooned scientists and soldiers a place within the Concord. Tebrey knew that Mason and Bauval were thinking about settling in the Concord. He was tempted, if he had to be honest with himself. The Concord had an open-door policy for people, regardless of species. Ana could be a full citizen there, since she was from a world the Concord had annexed. That was something she could never be within the Earth Federation.
She wouldn't be recognized as human, and therefore couldn't be a citizen. Tebrey's father had faced the same prejudices simply because he'd been from a fringe world. That alone was enough to tempt Tebrey to defect, not even considering the other benefits such as not having to fight anymore. But if he did that, he'd lose everything he'd worked for. The money in his bank account would be seized, and he'd lose his back-pay and pension. How would he support the two of them while Ana sought an education?
No, he had to go back to the Federation and serve out the rest of his tour of duty. Since his time on Cedeforthy would could as timed served, he only had a year left. Of course, a lot could happen in a year, and he doubted Fleet Command was going to give him li
ght duty.
The Earth Federation was still at war with the Nurgg, although that enemy had suffered many setbacks and wasn't the threat they had been the year before. The Federation had other enemies, though, and since the dissolution of the alliance with the Sentient Concord and the Rhyrhan Combine, the Federation Fleet needed everyone they could get.
It would be a couple of months before Tebrey could get back to Luna to report to Admiral Kasimira Meleeka about what had happened on Cedeforthy, but when he did, he suspected there were going to be some new protocols going into effect. He'd gained a lot of knowledge about the new enemy since what had happened on the Kirov. He also knew from the questions he'd been asked that the Concord knew even more. One way or the other, the Federation had to get that information, for everyone's sake.
With the system secured by the Concord Fleet, the Arcturus would be returning to the Concord capitol planet, Dawn. Tebrey intended to see about getting Ana settled, hopefully with Mason and Bauval nearby for support, and then returning to the Federation. As soon as he was no longer bedridden, he intended to ask Ana to marry him. He was certain she'd say yes, which was why he wanted to wait. She could be very enthusiastic when she said yes.
He grinned to himself. It was a good reason to get better.
Tebrey had been depressed when he'd first arrived at Cedeforthy. The death of his former companion Ripper, and the deaths of Jessica and Stalker, had left him without hope and feeling frustrated with his life. He'd wanted to die. He hadn't had anything left to live for.
Now he had new friends, a new companion, and a new lover. He had a reason to go on living. More than that, he actually had hope for the future. For the first time in his life, he saw himself as having control over his destiny. He was no longer the lonely child who'd been abandoned by his parents to grow up in an orphanage, the product of an uncaring system that had only been concerned with producing 'respectable' citizens. He had been miserable – not that he'd ever really noticed. Even his infatuation with Jessica had been mostly due to meeting someone else who felt the way he did. He wasn't trying to diminish the love he'd felt, but it wasn't anything like what he felt with Ana. He had a bond with her deeper than he'd ever thought possible.
No, his life was only going to get better.
Once he returned to the Federation Fleet, he was going to request special duty. When he'd first survived what occurred on the Kirov, he hadn't understood what had actually happened. He hadn't even been completely convinced that it had. He'd thought the thing on the Kirov was unstoppable. He now understood that wasn't true. He'd killed one of the things. If he'd been in armor, he wouldn't even have been hurt. He didn't know how many of the things were out there, but he intended to find out. He'd hunt them down and make them pay for what they did to people.
He'd make sure that something like the Kirov incident could never happen again. Admiral Meleeka would back up his plan. They needed intel about the enemy. If they could manage to capture one for interrogation, they'd be able to learn even more. Tebrey was content with the idea of exterminating them, though. If that was what it took to keep Ana and Hunter safe, then he would do it.
Nothing was going to stand in his way.
About the Author
Paul B. Spence is a practicing archaeologist who hopes to one day get it right. He currently lives in New Mexico, where all the cool kids hang out, with too many cats.
Like most authors, he had an eclectic career path. He’s worked as a retail gofer, a food service monkey, brute laborer, a rennie, a writer for the RPG industry, and many other rewarding jobs that didn't pay enough to feed him or his cats.
Asura Press books by Paul B. Spence
The Awakening Series
The Remnant
The Fallen
The Madness Engine - forthcoming
The Remnant Page 46
