Magnus realized he was out of grenades and sent another burst of blaster fire into some tents. Jujari returned fire, and sand sprayed over Magnus’s body. He wiggled back to cover and sat up. His amount of safe area was shrinking. He was getting pinned down. This is it. His makeshift fire team had put up a good fight, but the adrenaline was wearing off, and soon they’d all feel the brunt of the day’s dehydration. When that happened, there would be no way to stay up with the number of enemies that would rush their flanks.
As he thought about how it might end, Magnus realized how stupid the whole operation had been. Maybe if they’d stayed in the Bull Wraith, they could have reasoned their way out of the situation like the senator had proposed. Maybe if they’d chosen the other settlement toward the mountains, they would have found inhabitants friendly to the Republic cause. And maybe if Magnus had stayed with Piper, she wouldn’t have screamed when the latecomers approached. Maybe, maybe, maybe, Magnus said to himself, mocking his ego. But this is what you chose, so time to pay the piper.
Piper.
Magnus’s eyes went wide. Maybe she could do that explosion-blast thing again. He looked her way but only saw Dutch taking blind shots over her shoulder. Even if he could reach her, what would he say? Hey, Piper, you know that thing you did that killed your dad? Yeah, can you do that again? No, it wasn’t something a person could just turn on and off. The girl’s freakish abilities were just that—freakish and, therefore, unreliable. And even if they had been reliable, he couldn’t ask her to do it on command. Congratulations on weaponizing a child, Magnus. He felt dirty even for thinking it.
Maybe she would ultimately blast them all to hell at least to get herself free. But Magnus knew he wouldn’t live to see it. He’d gotten her as far as he could—it was up to her to do the rest.
Magnus changed the MAR30’s rate subsetting from burst to full auto, took a deep breath, and looked skyward. Here goes nothing. Then he leaned around the corner and squeezed the trigger. He saw the first blaster bolts land on a Jujari’s head and then—
The whole scene went nova. Magnus was thrown off his feet. He flipped end over end as an immense blast threatened to pop him from his armor. The concussion was so fierce and the heat so searing that Magnus thought he’d left this life for the next. He sailed backward and lost his grip on his weapon.
When he finally slammed to the ground, sand and stones pelted his head like crowd-control shotgun rounds. The blast of whatever berated him was unrelenting. His MAR30 whipped around at the end of the sling, slapping his legs. He fought to keep his eyes shut, but the wind and the heat were sure to fold back his eyelids and stab his brain.
Then all at once, it was over. The light, the heat, the wind, it was just… gone. Magnus coughed. His ears were ringing, pulse racing, and nose sniffing as he inhaled the smell of burnt ozone, burnt hair, and burnt flesh. His eyes were full of sand, and he imagined plunging his head into the sea just to flush the gravel from his face—and to soothe the pain of his melting skin.
His body screamed at him as if someone had tried to cook him alive inside his armor. Even though the flames were out, the oven was still hot. He wanted to peel his suit away like an orange rind, but he lacked the energy. He was simply too spent. It seemed like the blast had flushed all the adrenaline from his veins. Plus, he worried that maybe his armor was the only thing holding him together—that if it was peeled off, it would take his skin with it.
He coughed again and heard himself laughing. Faintly. It is me, isn’t it? Yes—he was laughing—laughing at the planet, at the Republic, at the galaxy. He’d just survived—he just lived through an orbital strike from an LO9D cannon at close range. Close range? It was damn near on top of my head! Any closer, and there wouldn’t have been anything left of him.
Left of us. Magnus suddenly remembered his team—he remembered Piper and Valerie. Splick, they’d been behind the skiff, no armor, pinned down by blaster fire.
Magnus tried to raise his face off the sand, but the attempt brought more pain to his neck and back. He tried to blink, but that only made his nerve endings shriek. He couldn’t see and could barely hear, and any effort to move was met with the worst agony he’d ever felt.
A tremor traveled through his body, and his stomach convulsed. Dammit. He hated throwing up. But this would be worse. Every nerve in his body screamed as he vomited on the sand next to his head. Only a small mouthful of bile came out, but the pain was so intense that it knocked him out.
* * *
Another tremor awakened Magnus, which led to another dry heave. He cursed his body for the involuntary reflex function. There’s nothing left to purge! But he knew reasoning with his soon-to-be corpse was a pointless exercise. He heaved and blacked out again from the pain.
* * *
When Magnus came to again, he felt more tremors. He prepared for yet another wave of nausea, another episode of convulsing and passing out. He supposed it was his body’s way of coping with the trauma—of helping him pass into the afterlife to join the Recon warriors before him, to join his grandfather and maybe his brother.
No, my brother’s in hell. But isn’t that the same place you’re going, Magnus?
He couldn’t bring himself to answer the question.
The tremor was getting stronger, and Magnus braced himself. He urged his body to make this the last time around, as he simply couldn’t handle the pain. It was too terrible. He’d heard of people—mostly torture victims—begging for death. Well, he was there. He wanted death. He would even taunt it if he had the energy to.
The tremor came as a low sound in the desert and traveled into his prostrate body. He still couldn’t hear and wondered what was left to make noise after that explosion anyway. His ears still rang but not as loudly. Time had passed, and he felt himself nearing death. He couldn’t see and couldn’t bring himself to move.
The tremor stopped. Then he felt small thumps that were like… footsteps. Someone was walking toward him. Several someones, in fact. He wished he could turn his head, open his eyes, and at least give himself the dignity of defending himself against the death blow.
“There he is! That’s him!” a small voice said from far away. It had to be an angel, maybe even one of those chubby cherubs in one of the old paintings. Maybe it would decide his fate, blessing him with heaven or damning him to hell.
The footsteps fell closer, and someone touched him. Pain shot down his nerve endings.
“Get him out,” another voice said, this one deeper—much deeper.
“Please be careful with him,” the little voice said. He knew that voice—knew her.
“Piper?” Magnus tried to say but was worried his lips hadn’t made the sound he’d wanted them to. He tried again, but the word hadn’t sounded any better to his muffled hearing.
“Don’t talk, Mr. Lieutenant Magnus, sir. You’re hurt really bad, it looks like.”
It looks like? What do I look like? He wanted to open his eyes, but it felt impossible. The pain was far too intense. It felt like he’d been raped in the face by a gravel pit. He tried to say something back to her, tried to ask her if she was okay, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. Nothing in his body would. He wanted to shout—tried to shout—but nothing but garbled sounds came from his throat.
“Easy there, buckethead,” the other voice said. Buckethead. He’d been called that before. The memory was familiar but too far away to catch, like a faded dream or a scene in an old holo-movie that had grown blurry over the years. The man’s name was on the tip of his tongue. “You’d better hang on, or else you’re gonna have one really disappointed little girl on your hands. Plus, I’d be forced to add your helmet to my collection, and we both know how much that would piss you off.”
36
The plaza lit up as Kane’s troopers started firing on So-Elku and his two elders. Awen ducked instinctively and closed her eyes, forming a one-way barrier between the assault and her team.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” TO-96 said poetically,
“but is that still the case here?”
“I don’t think so!” Awen screamed.
“Shoot someone!” Ezo yelled at the bot.
“Very well, sir.”
Ezo grabbed Awen’s arm and darted for the library doors as TO-96 unleashed a barrage of fire at both forces. His microrockets targeted multiple troopers as his XM31 directed a constant bead of laser fire onto So-Elku’s shields. Awen covered her ears as gauss cannons on the bot’s shoulders fired twin projectiles that zipped across the plaza in rippling sonic waves. The crack made her wince, almost knocking her over, as the kinetic missiles vaporized the torsos of two black-armored troopers. Their heads launched ten meters before bouncing across the moss-covered stone.
Kane noticed the bot and redirected some of his men to fire on it. Fortunately, Awen’s barrier held up against the first several blaster bolts. The energy slammed into the invisible shield and spread out over it like liquid slapping into a boulder.
“Let’s move, Ninety-Six!” Ezo called over his shoulder. “Inside, now!”
TO-96 continued to cover their retreat into the building as Ezo flicked on a flashlight at the end of one of his blasters. Ezo let go of Awen’s arm. She ducked behind a large column and released the barrier she’d formed outside.
“Come on!” Ezo yelled as he darted down the hallway.
Awen took a breath and followed him, glancing back to see TO-96 bring up the rear. The hallway was enormous, far larger than Awen had imagined. Dozens of wide columns ran down either side, supporting a ceiling nearly thirty meters above them. She also noticed that there was less foliage in here. Within a few seconds, her boots were clumping along dusty marble floors.
“She sold me out!” Ezo yelled as they ran. “I can’t believe she actually sold me out!”
“Sold you out?” Awen replied, her anger burning red hot. She’d figured it was best to overlook his treachery, as it hadn’t really harmed their mission. Until now, that is. “You sold me out, you traitor!”
“Hey, I was just trying to get us here, okay?”
“Which led to everyone getting here!” Awen yelled.
“So it didn’t work out like Ezo thought it would. So shoot me.”
“Maybe I will!”
“If I may, sir,” TO-96 interjected, “do you think that your wife is simply upset that she is still your wife?”
“There is that, yes,” Ezo said.
“You’re infuriating, Ezo,” Awen said, keenly aware of the firefight that grew behind them. “We’ll discuss this later. For now, we need to find somewhere to hide and make a plan.”
“Can do, Star Queen,” Ezo said. “Ninety-Six, what do we have for layout?”
TO-96 brought up the holo-projection again, this time minimizing its luminosity to better conceal their position. But it was enough light for Awen to see by. Suddenly, a doorway ahead of them glowed red.
“There,” the bot said. “This door leads deeper into the temple.”
“Perfect,” Ezo said. “Hold on—did you say temple?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I thought you said it was a library, Awen.”
“I did. That’s what it felt like. I don’t know their actual names for things yet!”
“Wait,” Ezo said, holding up a hand. “Do you hear that?”
“It would appear the firefight has ceased, sir.”
“Exactly,” Ezo said.
As if on cue, several blaster bolts flew down the hallway and exploded in showers over their heads. Ezo yelped, ducked, and then returned fire with one of his blasters. He squeezed the trigger on full auto, illuminating the expanse with a lightning storm of rapid fire. “Go, go, go!” he yelled.
Awen dashed through the doorway as TO-96 joined Ezo in laying down covering fire. Then Ezo ducked inside, followed by the bot, as more blaster bolts struck the walls around them.
Once inside, TO-96 resumed the projection and indicated several more doors. “All of these provide access to corridors both above and below us with the least likelihood of entrapment.”
“Let’s go up,” Ezo said.
“Up?” Awen asked in surprise. “Why up?”
“Because we can regain access to the exterior faster and scale down. Get back to the ship. Maybe even sabotage their ships if we’re lucky.”
“We go down,” Awen countered. “We have more city to hide ourselves in, less exposure. Plus, we don’t have to worry about falling off anything.”
“But, Star Queen—”
“My op, Ezo. Mine.”
Ezo grunted. As if to emphasize her point, a blaster bolt found its way into their chamber and lit the place up in a shower of sparks. “Fine, we go down.”
“For what it’s worth, Awen,” TO-96 added, “I heartily agree with your logic.” Another blaster shot glanced off a pillar and nearly took off the bot’s head.
“Come on!” Awen yelled, pulling the bot’s arm toward the first door TO-96 indicated that went down.
They stepped onto a wide landing and started descending a spiral ramp. It hugged a wall on one side and had a hexagonal latticed handrailing on the other. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust, but there was no foliage to speak of. It now seemed that the jungle dared not enter this far inside the temple.
Around and around they went, descending farther into the building. Blaster bolts slapped the railing, spraying Awen’s clothing with molten metal. She brushed the slag off as Ezo leaned out and returned fire straight up.
“They are gaining on us,” TO-96 noted matter-of-factly.
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Ezo shouted as he dodged some incoming blaster fire. “Hadn’t noticed.” Ezo fired several more bursts as they ran. “Can’t you do something, ’Six?”
“Like what, sir?”
“You know, something cool. Something to delay them.”
“Certainly, sir.” TO-96 activated a hatch under his chest to reveal what Awen thought were bombs or grenades or something. Three slid out, and the bot selected each and threw them at intervals up the spiral ramp. The devices clung to the ramp’s underside and blinked with a bright red light.
“You should cover your ears, Awen,” TO-96 said as they ran.
“What about me?” Ezo protested, putting his hands up.
“Not your op,” the bot replied.
The trio had run down another story when TO-96 detonated the uppermost device. Even though the blast was at least three stories above them, Awen could feel the concussive force push her into the sidewall. She almost tripped head over heels. Then large chunks of the ramp sailed by, some colliding with the railing beside Awen, showering her with rubble.
The blaster fire stopped momentarily as the troopers above them hesitated. Awen could hear their footfalls falter even as the debris impacted with the floor somewhere below them with a thunderous noise.
“Don’t slow down,” Ezo said, pushing Awen gently with his elbows, his hands still over his ears.
“Second detonation,” the bot warned.
The next blast was closer than the first and caught Awen off guard. The sound rattled her head and made her ears ring even with her hands covering them. But the explosion caught at least two troopers off guard, too, as they whizzed by in midair. One slammed against the railing next to her, his scream audible when his helmet was ripped from his head and his body was sent cartwheeling. The trooper was silenced a beat later when his skull struck the next level down with a wet crack.
Awen wasn’t stopping now. More rubble careened off the ramp and exploded on the floor far below. She ran for all she was worth, legs pumping, chest burning. She barely heard TO-96 call for the final detonation, then it filled the space above her with fiery light. She stumbled into the wall, tearing her sleeve and scraping her arm. Another trooper sailed beside her and landed somewhere below.
“Almost there. Keep running.” With the bot directing them, the trio descended farther and farther as blaster shots ricocheted off the railing. They finally neared the bottom level, and TO-
96 said, “In there,” pointing to an archway in the wall.
Ezo and Awen nodded, wiping dust and debris from their faces. Once through the doorway, Ezo swung his flashlight around. TO-96 followed a moment later and lit the remainder of the room with his holo-projection. They were in another cavernous space, this one a rotunda lined with seven doorways. Light filtered down from a panorama of stained glass.
“Which way?” Awen shouted, her ears still ringing. She’d no sooner spoken than the ramp outside began to shake. She, Ezo, and TO-96 turned in time to see the ramp collapse. Massive blocks caved in and spilled through the opening as a plume of dust shot into the rotunda. Awen covered her face and coughed. It sounded like a mountain had cleaved in two as massive blocks sheared against one another and landed in heaps. The mangled bodies of Kane’s men were mixed among the wreckage, a few of them moaning as death finally overtook them.
When the cacophony finally dissipated, Awen wiped her eyes and examined the former opening, now sealed shut with broken stone.
“Well, that solves our pursuer problem,” Ezo said.
“Unless they have heavier ordnance, I agree,” TO-96 said.
“Why do you always have to be such a downer, Ninety-Six?”
“A downer? I am unfamiliar with that term, sir.”
“Everybody be quiet,” Awen ordered, raising her hand. “I hear someone out there.”
“There’s no way anyone survived that, Star Queen,” Ezo said.
She waved him off and addressed the bot. “TO-96, are you sure there are no other ways into this rotunda from out there?”
“Checking,” the bot replied. “Yes, I am sure. The entrance we are looking at is the only way into this rotunda from the upper section.”
“Eeezo…” called a muffled voice from the other side of the rubble. The small hairs on the back of Awen’s neck stood up. “Eeezo… I have something for you,” the singsong voice called.
Ruins of the Galaxy Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 29
