A murmur ran through the pack members, and they exchanged appalled glances.
“How else could this end? What did you think I’d have to do to save the pack?” Aydarr asked. “I yield to you, my friend.” He knelt and tilted his head to expose his neck in a sign of submission, although it took every ounce of his willpower to force himself to take the action.
“And Jill?” Mateer handed the weapon to Timtur while Reede and the third in command took positions on either side of their alpha to hold him while Mateer carried out the orders.
Aydarr swallowed hard. “If you’re allowed to see her, tell her I held her in my heart.”
Reede and the third hauled Aydarr to his feet. Mateer clenched his teeth. “I call upon the pack to witness that I do this only because you ordered me to. I am not challenging you for leadership. And if by some miracle we all come through this, I’ll step aside and be proud to call you my alpha.”
“Acknowledged.” Aydarr looked his friend in the eyes. “Thank you. Now get on with it before the Khagrish arrive.”
Mateer administered a beating serious enough to fool the Khagrish when he recited the agreed-upon lies, but which didn’t do any deep or permanent damage. Still, by the time he was allowed to fall to the ground, Aydarr bore aching bruises, and his vision was blurry, one eye swollen shut. His enforcers bound his hands and the pack settled in around him, waiting in silence for the shuttle to arrive.
I hope this gamble works.
Jill was restless, impatient and couldn’t shake a feeling of impending doom. They’d been safely ensconced in the river valley for a few days now. Lily was improving by the day, after resting, eating nourishing stew made from the game Flo brought in daily and drinking huge amounts of water to rehydrate.
She sat with the others at the lake’s edge, fishing for their dinner while Lily napped in the sun. Jill and Gabe were having the recurring argument about strategy and logical next steps. The two of them had been wrangling over mission scenarios ever since arriving safely at the valley. Part of the problem derived from the fact there simply was no ideal solution to defeating the Khagrish and rescuing those held at the lab.
“I intend to go back in now,” Jill said, as she’d declared stubbornly before. “Seven hells, I ought to have made a second sortie that night, after the guards finished their patrol of the area. I could have located Megan in the room and set her free. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“We’ve been over this,” Gabe said. “We had all we could do to get Lily to freedom, as sick as she was. Getting her to safety was our top priority. You’ve got to stop blaming yourself – I’m not too sure we could have made our escape with a second person as debilitated as she was.”
“And we don’t know for sure your other sister was even in the room,” Flo said as she baited her hook with a new crawly.
“I do blame myself so don’t waste your breath.” Jill jiggled her makeshift pole in an attempt to attract a nice fat fish to her bait. “I’m going tonight and I’m not leaving that fucking place without Megan. I need one of you to stay here with Lily, and the others to come with me. I can’t wait any longer. The Khagrish could be experimenting on my sister and the other humans right now and it’d be my fault for leaving them.”
Gabe stared at her, his brow furrowed. “If you’re set on this, I’ll go along and watch your six, but I still think we need an overall plan for taking down the facility and rescuing all the prisoners. Which, as we’ve discussed endlessly these last few days, presents giant challenges and even bigger risks.”
“And I believe I can get my sister out safely without jeopardizing the eventual rescue of the others. MARL hasn’t intercepted any signals giving orders to release the humans from stasis, much less to begin experiments. It’ll be good to conduct another recon of the facility in any case.” Jill knew she was attempting to justify her obsession with rescuing Megan now but there was a kernel of truth in the idea of doing more research on the lab’s vulnerabilities. “We might find a few more human ex-soldiers to release too, to swell our ranks.” Enthusiastically she prepared to enlarge on the encouraging theme when MARL sent her a private message.
I have good news and bad news.
A bit unnerved by his tone, she took a shaky breath. What?
I intercepted a new alert in the lab’s AI system—the Badari have returned from their mission and are being processed for reimprisonment. That’s the good news.
Mouth dry, heart pounding, she rose to her feet, setting the fishing pole aside, but forced herself to wait for MARL’s next piece of data. And the bad news?
Aydarr has been labeled an experiment failure and been scheduled for execution.
She couldn’t form words and had to sit on the closest boulder as the world spun around her. In her agitation, she forgot to use their private mental link. “Does the report say what happened?”
No details. He’s in Dr. Cwamla’s personal custody.
“And the rest of the pack?”
Marked for transfer to medical experimentation in another facility.
“I’ll be at the cave as soon as I can get there, and we’ll be moving out,” she said, realizing for the first time she was speaking aloud. Her companions gaped at her. “We’re not waiting for cover of darkness after all.”
“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.
“My pack’s returned from their mission and something’s gone seriously sideways. Aydarr’s going to be executed. I have to go.” She regained her feet, ready to sprint to the cave. “There’s no time to waste.”
Gabe grabbed her arm before she could take a step. “Stop and think this through.”
Incredulous, she tried to yank free. “There’s nothing to think about—those men saved my life, Aydarr’s my mate—I have to go rescue them. We have to—”
Voice cold, the captain said, “And what about your other sister and the two hundred colonists we were talking about two minutes ago? Are they still a mission imperative? Or have they slipped your mind?”
Staring at him, she said, “I’d never forget Megan or the other colonists. I’m going to have to rescue all of them this trip.”
“And you said there were Badari children in the compound as well,” her sister reminded her. “You can’t leave them behind.”
Jill glared at Gabe, and he carefully removed his hand from her arm. “Are you in, or are you out on this?” she asked, moving a step away from him.
“My point is so far you’ve been lucky, and no one at the facility apparently wanted to expend much energy searching for you. As far as we know, my crew and your sister haven’t even been missed.” He rubbed his hand over his face, took a deep breath and visibly tried to project a calm demeanor as he continued his objections. “There’s no way we can sneak in there and extract this Aydarr guy without exposing the fact we have access to the facility and information about what’s going on there. So if we go in, we have to be smart about it, and we have to have a plan to extract the humans, the pack, and the pack children. We won’t get a second chance. So far I’ve heard nothing resembling a plan.”
“If we go back in?” Jill was outraged, her voice rising up the scale. “Of course we go in. We’re out of time, or my mate and the pack are anyway. We have to hit the Khagrish hard, render the facility inoperable and resolve the situation for everyone held prisoner there.”
“All five of us?” Gabe gestured at himself and then the others. “You were Special Forces tech support, we were Special Forces operators so together we might be able to defeat your lazy, unsuspecting alien guards and untrained scientists in a sneak attack, but those are long odds, lady.” He glanced at Lily, sitting on her sunny perch. “And no offense, but I think we’re actually a force of four because your sister isn’t ex-military and she can barely navigate from the cave to here without getting the shakes. She’s a long way from being fully recovered.”
“We can’t shuttle two hundred groggy humans through ventilation shafts to safety, if that’s part of this audacious plan
I haven’t heard yet,” Flo said. “No offense, Lily, but just bringing you along was challenging enough.”
“Not all of the colonists are claustrophobic,” she said with a weak smile. “That will help.”
Gabe pulled the discussion back on point. “Even if we miraculously get our hands on the actual tool for opening the specimen envelopes and the restorative nutrients, we’re not likely to have time for a clean getaway. And we’re ignoring the issue of the Badari men and children.”
“Are you saying you expect me to let Aydarr die? Let the pack be experimented on?” Jill took a breath and counted to ten before continuing. “The Badari deserve a chance to escape as much as the colonists do. I liked your first point—agreement it’s time to rescue everyone—better than the direction this line of thought is going.”
“Maybe you need to decide where your loyalties lie,” Lily said. “What are these aliens to you, really? As opposed to my twin?”
“Aydarr is my mate. I love him.” Jill felt like her jaw would break, she had it clenched so hard. “I love Megan too, and I’m going to forget you asked me the question. I have to rescue both of them.”
Again the captain interposed himself into the debate, addressing Jill. “What I’m saying, sergeant, is we need a battle plan with some chance of success.” His use of her rank was like a slap in the face. “There’s only four of us operationally ready, plus your AO tech toy, and now we’re talking about taking down an entire facility full of armed guards. Rushing off with blasters blazing won’t do anything but get us killed or recaptured. We can’t help anyone then.” He eyed her then went on in a softened voice. “I understand the urgency, believe me, but we’ve got to be strategic here.”
Jill forced herself to take a deep breath and relax before she answered. “All right.” She nodded. “But we don’t have time to stand here and talk. Even moving at best speed, it’s a day’s travel to the facility. Precious time’s being wasted while we argue.”
“Agreed.” Gabe detailed Brent and Flo to bring the fish and the poles, then he and Jill jogged to the cave.
Colors flashing across his shiny exterior, MARL met them below the mouth of the cavern. “A Chimmer ship transported the three packs to the facility but has now left the planet and is on its way out of the solar system.”
“Well, a piece of good news,” Jill said. “I wonder if they’d return if Dr. Cwamla sent a distress call. Taking on the Chimmer is a whole new level of difficulty.”
“I’m defending this valley from scans and flyovers,” MARL said, repeating information he’d given her before. “I can’t defend the planet.”
“Do you have offensive capability?” Gabe asked.
“I’m not a weapon,” MARL said. “I can protect Jill’s immediate vicinity. I could shield the lab facility if she was there but then I have to allow the valley’s coverage to lapse. I can’t do both. If I had my full self, from Njindak’s sunken ship—”
“Show us the facility again,” Jill said. There was no point in discussing the potential treasure trove in the now drowned alien spacecraft.
Marl projected a 3D representation of the Khagrish installation, rotating slowly in the thin air, as he’d done before every time Jill and Gabe argued themselves to a standstill over how to attempt a mass rescue.
“I need the interior layout,” Jill said. “Indicate location of the people we’re interested in—Aydarr, the packs, the kids, and the humans.”
Gabe rubbed his chin as MARL added additional models to his midair display. “ I’ll admit having the Badari in the mix adds to the possibilities.”
Six different areas lit up. Jill forced herself to focus. “This is the communal cell where we were all held,” she said, pointing at one large room. “And this is where I met the cubs. I was never anywhere near the other packs’ cells. I can see Aydarr’s current location is close to where Dr. Gahzhing’s rooms and office were. Either Cwamla took over his quarters or had rooms close by.” Jill didn’t like the implications of Aydarr being held in Cwamla’s personal space. She remembered Aydarr had told her occasionally the female scientists would insist on a Badari male taking his place in their beds.
“Display the ventilation shafts,” Gabe said.
For the next few minutes, Jill and the three mercenaries studied the layout in silence while Lily, who’d followed much more slowly, sat on a nearby boulder and watched them.
“Will this pack follow you and help us free your boy, and fight to destroy the rest of the facility?” Gabe asked all the right, tough questions.
Jill swallowed hard. “Aydarr made them swear to follow my orders in his absence, the children as well.”
Gabe exchanged grins with Brent and Flo. “So we could have ten more trained fighters who want to kick a lot of Khagrish ass? I like those odds.”
“But we only have a few weapons between us.” She gestured at the circle gathered around her, staring at MARL’s version of maps. “The guards have pulse rifles, blasters, and stunners. And the controllers for the bracelets.”
Gabe held up one hand. “I’ll get to that in a minute. What about the other two packs?”
“Jamokan would probably throw in with us if he saw a reasonable chance of escape. The Tzibir I have no idea. They’re a lot further removed from the human stock.” She shivered as she remembered encountering them in the cadet area. “They’re scary.”
“The Tzibir were declared the successful DNA line,” MARL said.
“Which makes Jamokan more likely to side with us and them less likely,” Jill said. “OK, try this on for size and let me finish before you poke holes in it I get into the complex, find my packmates and set them free if they agree to help us. Then I free Jamokan’s bunch, since they’re apparently right next door and I halfway trust them. I believe I can convince him to join us.”
“And the Tzibir?” Gabe asked. “Do we leave them alone for now, no need to introduce a potential Khagrish ally into the mix? Time enough to deal with them later and, if we’re wrong about their allegiance, at least their lives and kids aren’t in danger right now.”
Jill frowned. “I’m not okay with leaving them in their cell, at the mercy of the Khagrish. Just because the Tzibir were selected as the strain the Khagrish plan to continue doesn’t mean they won’t be subject to experiments and torture. I’ll talk to their Alpha and free them if I’m convinced he’ll at least stay neutral.”
“Fair enough—you’re the expert here,” Gabe nodded. “My team and I’ll break into the armory and load up. You and the packs meet us there, and we go after the kids, the humans and Aydarr in a coordinated, three-pronged attack. MARL here locks up the entire place so no one can move but us.” He pointed at the AI. “You can do that, right?”
“I retain my control over the lab’s systems, yes.”
Not yet done with MARL, Gabe drilled down to more specifics. “You can unlock individual doors and hallways as we need to move?”
“Yes. As far as getting instructions when to make changes in the lockdown status, I mentally link only to Jill, however.”
Raising an eyebrow, Gabe glanced at Jill. “His devotion to you is heartwarming but a bit inconvenient in the field, to put it mildly.”
“Can’t you manifest ear pieces for them as well?” Jill asked. “For this one occasion?”
“If you wish me to do so, then I will.” MARL hummed and pale orange flashed over his silvery exterior. “Processing begun.”
“What’s our plan for evacuating the colonists?” Flo asked.
Gabe pointed. “See these two flyers parked off to the east? We steal those and send the weakest humans and the Badari kids to safety here in the valley. All three of us are certified pilots so we should be able to figure the damn things out, especially with MARL’s help. If there’s time we make more than one round trip.”
“Time?” Jill asked.
“Before the other installations send troops to help the forces here.” Gabe frowned. “Are you saying they won’t bother? Because in that
case, seven hells, we keep the damned facility for ourselves. Be a lot more comfortable than these caves.”
Jill shook her head. “I don’t know how the labs are allied. We know the facilities aren’t connected via one central AI, which helps us, but the planet is run by the Khagrish under the Chimmer’s loose control. There aren’t any big troop transport type flyers, as far as MARL and I can see, just shuttles of various sizes and configurations. So the other guard forces may not be able to help Dr. Cwamla’s troops even if their commanders want to. I doubt the Badari would agree to remain at the lab in any case.”
Gabe frowned at the holo of the lab complex. “How many men does this woman in charge have?”
“There are five scientists, fifteen staff members, five lab techs and fifty guards currently in the facility.” MARL’s report was concise.
“Seventy-five to four—great odds.” Gabe’s grin was fierce. “Works for me.”
“And we’ll have the element of surprise,” Jill said. “Plus not all of Cwamla’s people are trained to fight.” She remembered poor Dr. Sheyall. MARL had verified she’d been removed from the facility and taken to another one.
“Rules of engagement?” Flo asked. “Shoot to kill? Leave the buildings intact when we withdraw?”
“Shoot to kill if we encounter resistance. I think we blow up as much of the place as we can, after we’ve liberated all the supplies we can carry. Success of each phase depends how much time we have, whether anyone gets a distress call out and if the other labs respond.” Gabe shook his head.
“We won’t be going back,” Jill said. “I intend to keep the flyers and any land vehicles we can steal, although there don’t seem to be many of those. We have to rely on MARL to keep his promise he can maintain the safety of this valley.” There was a nagging feeling she’d left a crucial problem out of her calculations. Reviewing the situation, she said, “Damn, what about the bracelets? The method the Khagrish use to control the Badari. Are those centrally run, MARL? Can we deactivate them?”
AydarrGoogle Page 15
