by James Somers
else had been able to defeat, so he must be pretty smart and he must be a great leader to have generated the successful uprising against the Vorn military.”
Wynn stood silent, surprised at the wisdom pouring out of his apprentice.
“Besides, we cannot afford to fight a war on two fronts. I think we’ll lose.”
Wynn had considered that prospect also. He remained silent as Tiet turned to continue out. “I’ve got to get going on this while we still have time,” said Tiet as he punched the button to open the lift door.
“Do you really think Grod will listen—will he even answer your transmission?”
“I have no intention of transmitting anything. I’m going to Nagon-Toth personally.”
“Do you really think he will let you just walk in?” Wynn asked sarcastically.
“We’ll see.”
“You do realize, if you go and confront him, he might just decide he should join the Baruk against us. Did you consider that?”
“I’m not giving him the opportunity,” Tiet said matter-of-factly. “If he doesn’t join us then I’m going to kill him.”
Tiet let the lift door close in front of him. Wynn stood speechless. Tiet was certainly his father’s son. The same brash determination—it was something he remembered from serving under the king years ago. He was glad to see these qualities emerging finally. Unfortunately, that couldn’t guarantee Tiet success.
ESCAPE
The hangar bay of the Baruk flagship was teemed with soldiers. Unfortunately, they were congregated very near the Strider. Kale watched from a shadowy position high above the massive tarmac. There were many ships inside the bay, mostly Baruk fighter craft. Then he spotted one that was different.
It was Governor Tal’s ship. He was almost certainly either imprisoned, or dead by now. Kale knew the Baruk were going to remove the remaining Vorn military from the equation very soon. Tal’s presence on the flagship probably meant the process had begun.
Nevertheless, the Governor’s ship was some distance across the bay from his own and it was unguarded. Kale deftly made his way to an area above the vessel. It was quite a bit larger than his ship.
He pulled three spicor discs from his vest and flung them downward at the hull of the ship. When they impacted, one right after the other in the same spot, a hole was created all the way through the hull. Kale dropped in fast. He landed inside and quickly made his way to the bridge.
Kale had learned a few things about Vorn spacecraft during his years among their clan. He pulled a palm-sized device from his coat then fitted the mechanism to an interface panel at the helm. This would give him control of the ship.
The area around his ship was still quite crowded with Baruk soldiers in their living body armor. Kale keyed in a sequence on the touch screen of his interface, and the ship’s turbines began a low hum. Tal’s vessel was now ready for lift-off.
☼
The group of soldiers surrounding the Strider noticed the engine sounds coming from across the bay. From above the long lines of Baruk fighter craft, they could see a ship rising off of the platform. It was the same ship that Governor Tal had arrived on with his aides—all of whom had since been executed.
The Baruk soldiers leveled their weapons on the fleeing vessel. They opened fire on the Vorn ship floating above the docking platform as it prepared to leave the bay. The ship began to drift as the warriors closed in on it. The vessel crashed into Baruk fighters docked nearby then attempted to rise again as the warriors concentrated more firepower on it.
Tal’s ship started spinning out of control. The tail end knocked Baruk fighters all around the bay, causing the soldiers to scatter for cover while still trying to maintain their assault. The shields on the vessel were not active. As it spun wildly out of control, many Baruk were pummeled to death by flying debris from the ship and the destroyed Baruk fighters.
☼
Kale sat calmly at the helm and adjusted the controls on his portable interface. The engine responded accordingly. He pulled up his handheld control pad and tapped in a new sequence. The governor’s ship drifted further down the bay toward the hangar control center. It tumbled and smashed into the area.
As the control center was engulfed in a fireball, the hangar force field deactivated, allowing the influx of open space into the hangar bay. The entire hangar bay’s contents rushed into the vacuum carrying the Baruk soldiers with it.
Kale laid aside his interface device. By remote piloting the Vorn ship he had been able to get to his Strider. He launched the Strider from the platform as debris bounced against the ship’s shields. Baruk warriors, who had been sucked into the void, bounced off of the hull as Kale’s ship shot through the mass of wreckage swirling out of the bay. He activated the Strider’s hyper coil and pushed away from the Baruk formation at high speed.
☼
The lush scenery that was common near the twelve cities had given way to the desolation of the territory around Nagon-Toth. Tiet was getting close now. The land was war-torn and the Horva had made no effort to revitalize it. No wonder they were conducting raids for supplies. They might be starving to death otherwise.
Tiet felt sure now of his motives for conducting this mission. The Horva were just trying to survive. They had their freedom from the Vorn military now, but this was a bad start.
The display showed another fifty miles before he would reach Grod’s fortress. He made adjustments to the helm, as his small craft glided over the barren landscape. The ship was well-designed and fast. The mileage deficit clicked away rapidly on the display. Tiet slowed the fighter as he approached to within one mile of the facility. He realized that Grod must already realize he had a visitor, but Tiet wasn’t planning on a surprise visit, only a memorable one.
He brought the ship to a complete stop on a rise that overlooked Nagon-Toth in the distance. He got out of the cockpit then strapped on his blade. He quickly checked his weaponry: two thigh mounted kemsticks and a few spicors in addition to his father’s blade. He intentionally left his blasters in the ship. He didn’t plan on killing anyone but Grod—if it came to that.
Tiet closed the cockpit of the ship and took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be easy. He had to get to Grod and then hope the General would listen to what he had to say. Tiet had never even met the man, but he supposed it wouldn’t be that difficult to distinguish him as the leader.
Tiet walked toward the facility. He made no effort to conceal himself, but the same could not be said for the Horva soldiers waiting for him. From an outcropping of rock nearby his path to the compound, no less than ten Horva jumped out to ambush him. Tiet was ready for them.
His E.M. shield snapped on as the first pulse laser shot came at him. He blocked several more then dodged into the middle of the warriors. He swung his blade with absolute accuracy, cutting the pulse weapons through with the adomen tip. Immediately, Tiet set off a mental burst that knocked the warriors to the ground around him. Tiet replaced the blade in his scabbard. The soldiers were stunned but otherwise unharmed.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “ But I have business with General Grod.”
“You’ll never see the General,” said one of the warriors as he leaped to his feet and charged again with a large dagger in hand. Tiet grabbed the warrior’s weapon hand behind the wrist, twisting just enough to loose the knife from his grip. With the other hand, he brought two fingers to the warrior’s throat and applied just enough pressure to a particular nerve to bring him down. Tiet laid the unconscious warrior down gently. The others were staring at him apprehensively.
“As I said, my business is with your General Grod. This really doesn’t have to be more difficult than you make it.”
They all looked at each other not knowing what to do next. Then one of them rushed Tiet. The others followed. As they attacked Tiet moved in and out among them, creating quick chaos, throwing some off balance and into the others while hitting them with blow after rapid fi
re blow with his hands and feet. Within twenty seconds they were on the ground again but less aware of their assailant than before. Tiet gathered himself and continued his trek toward the complex, leaving his victims to figure out what had happened.
☼
Wynn’s com-link beeped on his wrist. He set the fighter on automatic pilot as he answered. “Wynn here.”
“Sir, we’ve picked up a ship entering our system. It’s a Barudii ship, Strider class.”
“What’s the heading?”
“It’s on a direct course for Castai-Rex, sir.”
This was puzzling. It was almost certainly the ship that Kale had used to escape the planet months ago. So why would he return and why now?
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“We’re receiving a transmission from the ship...it’s an intent to surrender, sir.”
Now he was very puzzled. Why in the world would Kale come back and then surrender? It didn’t make sense, but he didn’t have any time to deal with it personally.
“Captain, forward our acceptance of their surrender and meet the ship with a full squad of our best. Take the ship into custody. If you meet with any resistance from those onboard, terminate them.”
“Yes, sir.”
This was a twist Wynn hadn’t counted on, but other matters were more pressing at the moment. He adjusted the controls again. His ship careened south toward Nagon-Toth. He
