by Leslie Chase
"Hurry the fuck up, man," someone was saying. "We got to get out of these tunnels before they notice we're in."
"You carry the case, then," another voice snarled back. "I don't know what we've got in here, but it's damned heavy."
Voice One drew breath to reply only for another to cut across him. The third voice was quieter than the first two, quiet enough that Kosar had to strain to hear what was being said. Still, it carried such confidence and authority that he silenced the others instantly.
"Keep quiet, and keep walking," he said. "Stick to the plan and you won't need to know what you're carrying."
The humans pressed on, moving towards the corner where Kosar waited. He glanced at the scanner in his hand, risking the moment of light its screen gave off when he activated it. Nothing. Whatever other tricks these humans might have, they were carrying something that kept them safe from detection. Kosar grinned to himself. It wasn't a good sign that they were figuring out how to bypass the Center's high-tech security systems. If they were relying on that to keep them safe, though, they were in for a surprise when they rounded the corner.
Shutting off the scanner, Kosar braced himself against the wall and waited. It didn't take long for his prey to reach the corner, and he had to congratulate them. Once they'd shut up, they were moving with a speed and silence that was impressive. He almost didn't hear the first intruder until the human was in sight.
Dressed in dark reds that would blend into the rocks of Mars, the human was tall and tough-looking, face obscured by a mask with large goggles. In his hands he carried a massive gun, cautiously covering the corridor ahead of him. Not quite cautiously enough, though. Before he could react, Kosar grabbed the gun and wrenched it from his grasp, flinging it into the darkness. As the human started to react, Kosar punched him hard in the face.
The mask cracked under his fist, and the man dropped like a stone. Behind him came sounds of shock, and Kosar leaped around the corner before the other intruders realized they were in a fight.
Four more humans waited for him, two weighed down by a crate they carried between them. Kosar ignored them for the moment, focusing on the other pair. One was tall, wiry, a heavy pistol in one hand and a long blade in the other. He looked dangerous, but the second was something else. A broad-shouldered man who seemed more solid, somehow, than the others, he reacted with a lightning speed that seemed almost inhuman.
The gun in his hands barked once and Kosar felt the bullet glance off his chest as he charged. It was a heavy impact but it couldn't pierce his scales, and the bullet slid off to hit the wall behind him. It hurt but wouldn't slow him down, and Kosar roared a challenge as he closed.
At last a fight worth having, he thought, swinging a swift hand towards the human's head. Quick as lightning, the man ducked, trying to bring the heavy pistol to bear again. Kosar didn't want to risk another hit, not when his scales had only barely turned aside the first.
Lashing out with a foot, Kosar swept the human's legs out from under him, sending him tumbling to the floor. The gun boomed again, and a bullet cracked harmlessly into the roof of the tunnel. Kosar frowned. The feel of his kick was wrong somehow, though. For a human he was too solid, too heavy. And his reflexes were too fast, as well. Rather than hitting the ground hard and staying down, he twisted in midair and rolled to his feet. Not just human, then. A cyborg.
Humans had been looking for ways to even their odds in a fight with a dragon ever since they'd arrived on Mars. This looked like one of the latest attempts, an augmented human with better reflexes, stronger muscles, tougher bones. That all came with potentially lethal downsides, but it meant that the fight might be a challenge.
Another bullet zipped past Kosar's head, pulling his attention around. The other armed intruder was leveling his own, smaller weapon for another shot. Kosar sent him flying with an outflung hand before turning back to the main threat.
The two carrying the case dropped it and ran back the way they'd come. Smart — their mission had failed, after all, and now that the intrusion had been detected the only way to not get caught was to run. It wouldn't be enough, not to get away from an angry dragon shifter, but it was the only hope they had.
Before he could pursue, the cyborg was back in his way, attacking with a punch that Kosar barely blocked. Most human attacks were barely worth the effort to defend against, but this man hit like a piledriver. Even through the block it was enough to stagger Kosar. Whatever augmentations this man had, he was dangerous.
Kosar felt a smile spread across his face. A worthy challenge was so rare for a dragon warrior these days, and actually facing one was exhilarating. Bracing himself, he drove the human back with punch after punch. Each attack would have finished a normal human, but not this man. The cyborg twisted and blocked, and Kosar felt the anger in his movements. Some people didn't appreciate a challenging fight and his opponent was one of them.
Ducking back out of range, the human cursed and threw something to the ground at his feet. Before Kosar could react, a blindingly bright flash filled the corridor, followed by a billowing cloud of smoke. He lashed out at the last place he'd seen his human foe, feeling his claws connect and tear skin, but the man was already turning to flee. Kosar tried to follow but struck he the wall instead. The flash had disoriented him and the smoke was dizzying.
Everything seemed to swirl around him, and he put his hand on the wall to steady himself. Breathing was getting harder...
The smoke's drugged, Kosar realized. Drugged, or poisoned.
A step after the enemy seemed to take forever, and he wasn't sure he was even going in the right direction. Whatever it was, it acted fast. A coward's weapon, but an effective one for all that. Kosar clamped his mouth shut and held his breath, hoping that he hadn't already gotten too much of the stuff into his lungs. Another seemingly-endless step and he felt himself toppling forward, into darkness.
"They got away, didn't they?" Those were Kosar's first words when he opened his eyes and saw his second in command's face peering down at him. Everything looked a little blurry, but he could read the expression on Sergeant Davenport's face. Well enough, at least, to see her annoyance.
"You ought to be asking if you're okay," she told him. "Which, by the way, you will be. No thanks to you charging off on your own to meet the intruders."
Kosar tried to smile, but his face wasn't cooperating. Davenport was, for a human, a good second in command, but she lacked the warrior's fire. Always wanted to do things carefully, rather than charge in like a dragon should. Perhaps that was why she was a good second in command for him.
Not that he'd had a choice in the matter. Their positions were part of the complicated deal between the Dragon Empire and the human Consortium. Dividing the security of the Imperial Research Center between them the only way the two species could trust each other.
Slowly, he took stock of the situation. His body tingled unpleasantly and his wings were numb. He was floating in a nanotech healing pool, which should have fixed almost any injury and made it a little worrying that he still felt any after effects. With an annoyed snarl he sat up, the pool's healing liquid cascading off his body. The room spun around him unsteadily and he did his best to ignore it.
They were still in the tunnels under the Center, red Mars rock walls roughly cut into rooms. It felt better, safer, that way — dragons liked their lairs underground, after all. This time it also meant they hadn't needed to drag him far. He was certain his human staff were glad of that.
"If I'd done things your way, they might have gotten past us," he pointed out. "The tunnels down here are a labyrinth, and the leader knew what he was doing."
"Yes, well," Davenport said, frowning. "Maybe you did the right thing, but you came too damned close to dying. And that's a pile of paperwork I don't want to have to handle."
"Good to know you care," Kosar said, and this time he did grin. Davenport's grumpy veteran act lightened his mood, and he focused on the victory. He'd forced the intruders to retreat, and th
ey'd left behind their cargo, whatever it was.
He gestured to Davenport and with an exaggerated roll of her eyes she passed him the dataslate she held. The report on the incident was already there, and Kosar raised his eyebrows at the details. The crate the intruders had carried wouldn't tell them much: As soon as it had been moved it self-destructed. What remained, though, was some kind of computing equipment. That meant this wasn't just sabotage. Kosar had expected a bomb, but this made it look like they'd planned to steal the Center's data.
The other interesting note was about the gas he'd inhaled. It was synthetic, cleverly designed to shut down a dragon shifter's nervous system without affecting a human. If he'd breathed in any more of it the effects could have been a lot worse.
"The doctors want to keep an eye on you," Davenport said when Kosar looked up from the report. "They say they need more information to say whether the gas had any lasting effect."
"Tough luck for them," Kosar said, levering himself out of the pool. His strength was returning fast now, and the dizziness had vanished entirely. "I have work to do, and I'm not lying around here just so that they can learn more about my species."
"I told them as much," Davenport said. "You know what they're like, though."
He did indeed. And, to be fair, there was a lot to learn. The surviving Dragon Guard didn't have a doctor or a scientist, so a lot of knowledge about their species had been lost. The sum total of dragon medical knowledge was... not good.
Of course, it usually didn't matter much — enough healing pools survived that they could heal most injuries, and dragons were hard to hurt anyway. But it was a little unsettling to know that if something went wrong that the automated systems couldn't fix, there would be no help.
Letting the human doctors learn more would be a good idea in theory. In practice, though, there were too few dragons still loyal to the Dragon Throne to spare one as a test subject. And that included Kosar himself, who had no time to waste on their games.
Flicking through the dataslate again, he looked at his schedule and the job he'd been intending to get to next. A security interview with another human scientist, the dullest part of his work and the most necessary. Letting a saboteur into the Center would be the worst way he could fail.
"I've kept this Miss Warren waiting too long already," he said, flexing his wings. Good, he was getting feeling back in them. There was still a painful tingle in the joints, but he wasn't going to let that stop him getting back to work.
Davenport snorted. "You didn't seem that keen on doing the interview when it didn't give you an excuse to avoid more tests," she pointed out, following Kosar out into the hall. He glared at her, to no effect. She knew him too well.
Humans are annoying, he thought, marching off to meet the newest one he had to deal with.
3
Ashley
The waiting room managed to be boring and intimidating at the same time. Ashley paced around it, trying not to look too nervous. But what was the right amount? It was hard to guess when an alarm was blaring and she'd been ushered into this small room.
They can't know why I'm here, she told herself. It's impossible. This has to be a coincidence. If they knew, I wouldn't just be sitting here alone. But it wasn't easy to believe that, and Ashley couldn't help wondering if she'd failed before she'd even started.
In which case, what would happen to Michael? He was counting on her.
Trying to distract herself from that question she looked around the room again. It was comfortably furnished, she'd give it that, though most of the furniture was a touch too big for a human and had space for wings at the back. The walls were grown from the dragon's crystal technology, another wonder the aliens had brought with them that Earth needed badly. Remembering the leaking, half-collapsed building she'd grown up in, Ashley was torn between wonder and jealousy at the alien architecture.
At last, the alarms fell silent. For a moment Ashley thought that meant that her ordeal was over, but the oppressive silence that followed was no better for her peace of mind. It seemed to go on forever. Ashley sat down on a chair, trying not to look too nervous in case she was being watched, and pulled out her phone to check the news. No signal. That shouldn't have surprised her, this was a secure facility after all. If people could simply call out her job would be easy, or at least easier. As understandable as blocking net access was, it preyed on Ashley's nerves. Anything could be happening out there, and she wouldn't know.
There was one way she could find out more, though. It was supposed to be for emergencies only, but for all she knew this was one. Taking a deep breath, she tapped a code into the phone. A hum sounded in her ear as the implant in her skull activated. Her employers had insisted that the technology couldn't be detected, not even by the dragons, and she might as well test it out now.
"Hello, Ashley," Mr. Johnson's voice said, and it took all her concentration not to jump and look around. It sounded as though someone was speaking right into her ear, though with the magic of quantum communicators he could have been anywhere on Mars. "Are you inside?"
"There's a problem," she said under her breath. The briefing had told her she didn't need to speak aloud to be heard, and she had to hope that was true. "An alarm."
"Nothing to worry about," her handler said. Not for the first time she wished she knew who, exactly, she was talking to, but his voice was smooth and confident and lent her strength. "It's nothing to do with you, I assure you."
"So you know what's going on?"
A pause, and then a patient sigh. "Yes, Ashley. But I can't tell you. It would be too much of a risk. If you slip up and show that you know something, that'll give the dragons a reason to distrust you."
She had to admit he had a point, but it didn't help her curiosity. "I need to know something. Please."
A note of steel entered the man's voice. "You don't need to know anything, Ashley. You just need to do what you're told. Remember our agreement, and the consequences if you fuck up."
It was hard for Ashley to keep her reaction off her face, but she had to. There might be cameras watching, and the last thing she wanted was to be caught talking to... whoever it was on the other end of the quantum communications link. It might be impossible to intercept or eavesdrop on, but that would only help if no one noticed that she was talking to thin air.
Still, the words hit her like a slap. She felt her hands tighten into fists, her breathing speed up. Michael's gaunt face flashed in front of her eyes, her little brother hovering near death. Getting him the medical attention he needed was her first and only priority. Everything else was secondary.
"You don't have to remind me," she whispered back, trying not to let her emotions show in her voice. Michael's safety was in the stranger's hands and that meant she had to do as she was told.
"Good." The warmth and friendliness were back, as though the threat had never been. "We both want what's best for your little brother, don't we? Focus on your job, get in and get out with the information I need, and everything will be fine."
Ashley took a deep breath and held it, slowly letting her anger dissolve. Being trapped like this wasn't pleasant but Mr. Johnson was right, whoever the bastard was. He held all the cards.
"Good girl," he said, taking her silence for assent. If he'd been in the room, she'd have punched him in the nose. I'll never get the chance, and I've got enough trouble without holding out for something that will never happen, she thought. Letting out her held breath, she released the anger with it.
"I'll be back in touch when I have something more to report," she said. Her fingers brushed the screen of her phone, closing the connection before he had a chance to reply. It was rude, and maybe dangerous, to cut him off that way — but she didn't trust herself to keep quiet if he patronized her one more time. Better to be a bit short than to really insult him.
Behind her, the door to the waiting room slid open. A human man stepped in smiling apologetically, carrying two cups of coffee as he made his way over.
/> "Ashley Warren? I'm Dan Cooper, head of the human team here at the Imperial Research Center. Sorry for the delay."
His words were friendly enough, but his tone didn't quite match them. Or perhaps it was his eyes, which seemed to have trouble focusing above her neck. Calm, Ashley told herself, trying not to show her reaction. I need to make a good impression.
Cooper extended his hand as though to shake hers, and only then seemed to notice that he held a cup in it. A moment's confusion followed as he tried to take it in his other hand, only to find that he was carrying another cup there. The look of flustered confusion almost made Ashley laugh, and she took one of the cups from him.
"Thanks," she said, taking a sip and grimacing. It wasn't very good, but then it was probably imported instant from Earth. She was going to miss decent coffee if this was the best Mars had to offer. "Yes, I'm Ashley. Pleased to meet you, Dr. Cooper, I'm a fan of your work."
He grinned, a smug expression spreading across his broad face. The look of an academic who expected everyone to know his work, and who was certain it was the most important thing in the universe. A pang of guilty amusement flashed through Ashley at that. The only reason she knew him was that she'd read everything she could find about the human scientists at the Center. Getting in good with the staff might be important for what she needed to do, and it surely couldn't hurt.
All she knew about Dr. Daniel Cooper was that he did a lot of work with hyperfield mathematics, none of which made the slightest bit of sense to her. He didn't need to know that, though.
"What's the alarm about?" she asked, trying to keep her voice casual. "Does that happen a lot?"
Cooper grimaced. "More often than I'd like, certainly. It's the intruder alarm — this place has a lot of alien technology that would be worth a fortune on Earth. Some people can't resist the temptation to try and steal from us. Fortunately, that's pretty much impossible. The aliens are mostly just thugs, but they're good at keeping their secrets safe."
