A Greater Duty (Galaxy Ascendant Book 1)

by Yakov Merkin

  Nayasar glanced up at the shelves briefly. “One of mine can do it; we weigh less, so there’s no risk of the shelf collapsing.”

  “No, one of my own will take that task,” Darkclaw stated. “Our shields and armor combined can take more damage than yours before failing, and our weapons are all capable of fully automatic fire, which will be far more useful if we use the lookout to eliminate a cluster of enemies quickly. The shelf looks like it will hold.” There was also the fact that whoever did so was likely to be killed. It was more logical to sacrifice a cloned Tyrannodon—they were more easily replaceable.

  Darkclaw expected Nayasar to object, but she simply nodded. “Fine, then. We should start preparing a barricade and make a general mess of this place,” she said, drawing other her long knife.

  Nayasar crouched down near where one of the shelves was secured to the floor and took a swing at one of the supports with her weapon. The felinite weapon cut through with almost no resistance. “Cheap steel,” she commented. “Let’s go vandalize things. Whoever said work and fun didn’t mix?” She was most definitely smiling.

  Darkclaw was not quite sure what the grand admiral had meant by “fun”—they were taking action to preserve their lives—but there was a small satisfaction to be had in toppling the massive shelves and their contents, despite knowing that the resulting mess would be all that stood between their small group and death. There would be no other outcome should they fail to hold out; the Algen might hope to use him and Nayasar as hostages, but both he and the grand admiral would die either way. The High Lord would be forced to act, and he would order the attack to continue even if it meant Darkclaw’s death. The Felinaris would have no choice but to comply.

  As he and Nayasar completed their demolition of the warehouse and completed a makeshift barricade in front of the corner they had chosen as their holdout location, Darkclaw heard her shout an order. A few moments later Darkclaw heard a few loud clicks, then the sound of a weapon being fired. Then the lights went out. Immediately, Darkclaw’s display shifted to its nocturnal mode, making the outside world green and black.

  “I guess they had to do things the old-fashioned way,” Nayasar said with a laugh.

  It took Darkclaw a moment to grasp, but he was able to determine what Nayasar found amusing. He still did not understand the point of such remarks; they contributed little to any situation. Darkclaw decided it was best to remain silent rather than ask Nayasar, and settled into an optimal firing position behind the barricade.

  Then minutes passed with the only sounds breaking the silence having been the Felinaris soldiers clambering over the barricade, and one of the Tyrannodons moving into the lookout position higher up.

  When the Algen did arrive, Darkclaw found it a bit underwhelming; a large loading door on the other side of the building groaned as it was opened manually—apparently the Felinaris had cut all power in the building, not just the lights.

  “Attention Felinaris and unknown aliens,” one of the Algen began, speaking through a voice amplifier. “We have this building surrounded; you have no avenue of escape. If you surrender to us, no blood need be shed here, and your treatment will comply fully with the War Accords.”

  The expected offer given, Nayasar replied immediately, her voice projected through a number of small speakers she had placed around the warehouse. “You’ve got a lot more blood to lose here than we do,” she said in a tone meant to sound confident, but Darkclaw picked up something in her voice that did not fit. While he was unable to quantify it completely, he could safely assume that there was some uncertainty there; he surely knew her well enough by this point to notice that. “And besides,” she continued, “my army is still bigger than yours, and they’ll be joining us here soon. If I were you, I’d be the one surrendering.”

  “If you resist, Grand Admiral, I can make no guarantees regarding the treatment of you and your companions once we have you in our custody,” the Algen replied through the amplifier before shouting an order loud enough for Darkclaw to hear clearly enough even though it was not spoken into the amplifier. “Legionnaires!”

  Of course, Darkclaw realized. Algen might not have had a standing military, but the soldiers the world contributed to the Galactic Alliance Legion would be on world when not mobilized. There would not be a great many of them; certainly not enough to even hope to match Darkclaw’s own forces. Here, however, they would prove extremely difficult to deal with, unless they could find a way to neutralize them quickly.

  “Can our lookout get a visual on the legionnaires?” Nayasar whispered aloud. She must have been reading his mind. Darkclaw sent the query to the soldier through the battle network, and received a reply in the affirmative.

  “Thirty-six in total, in one group attempting to maneuver through the debris,” he relayed.

  “That’s it?” Nayasar asked. “Even Kanor had more legionnaires stationed on world.”

  Darkclaw shrugged before he even thought about a response; hopefully Nayasar would not notice, though the odds were she did. “The planet is being invaded,” he said. “Doubtless they would want most of their best trained and well-equipped forces engaged in that defense. Those present here were likely only to ensure that the Algen succeeded in capturing us.”

  “Well let’s see how it works out for them,” Nayasar said. “We should try and take them out as quickly as possible. With them gone, our chances of holding out will increase significantly; the police are far inferior to legionnaires.”

  Darkclaw nodded. “It will be done.” Not without cost, however. He relayed the orders to his soldiers, and received silent acknowledgement from the lookout. One of the soldiers behind the barricade stood for a moment and passed an anti-vehicle plasma projectile launcher up to the lookout who caught it, took aim, and fired.

  The ensuing explosion, and the screams that followed, finally transformed the warehouse into a battlefield. The lookout continued firing until the plasma launcher was out of ammunition. Then he opened fire with his rifle, pausing only to replace the plasma cartridges. Less than a minute later, Darkclaw received confirmation that all of the legionnaires were down, the majority dead.

  Almost immediately after he received the report, however, a series of cracks rang out as the Algen returned fire on the now completely exposed lookout. The first two shots were absorbed by the Tyrannodon’s shields, but the rest penetrated and hit their mark. The lookout managed to fire back once, launching a grenade—likely the last ordinance he had left—in the direction of his attackers before plummeting from the shelf. The battle network reported him dead.

  Darkclaw kept his eyes forward, ready to fire. He had been aware that the soldier would likely not survive his task. He had made the right tactical choice. But why then, did he feel… something unpleasant?

  Darkclaw suddenly heard a sound, and he turned his weapon and fired, the plasma bolt disrupting the unfortunate Algen’s shields—at least something was functioning as it should—and catching the man directly in the face. The police officer’s helmet provided little protection.

  Shouts went up from somewhere within the mess of metal that now covered much of the warehouse, and then there were over a dozen Algen advancing. Immediately, Darkclaw’s companions opened fire, Tyrannodon plasma bolts and Felinaris laser blasts producing bright flashes in Darkclaw’s night-vision view.

  The unknown feeling still gnawed at Darkclaw’s mind, and he did not have the luxury of being able to eliminate it now. Instead, Darkclaw consciously shifted the feeling, from the mystery emotion to one he at least understood and recognized: anger. This he could function with, and deal with its repercussions later.

  While their constant fire took down Algen after Algen, who seemed somewhat uncoordinated, likely because of the darkness, Darkclaw knew that the enemy had more than enough strength to overwhelm him and his force of ten—nine now. What was more, each successive wave of Algen police seemed to have a better grasp of the irregular terrain and the location of Darkclaw and his allies; they we
re coordinating maneuvers more efficiently, and utilizing cover well enough to begin to fire at Darkclaw and the others.

  Once a moment presented itself, Darkclaw checked his combat scanner. There were still over one hundred and forty enemy combatants, most of them inside the building and the rest gathered outside, directly behind Darkclaw’s position, with a large, armored vehicle. No friendly forces in range yet. It took a concerted effort not to look behind himself.

  “Anything worth knowing?” Nayasar asked over the sounds of weapons fire as she fired at an Algen who only just managed to find cover as she pulled the trigger.

  “There is an armored heavy assault vehicle waiting for us on the other side of the wall, along with more Algen,” Darkclaw replied, pausing only to loose a short spray of automatic fire, hitting two Algen and forcing several more to take cover. “We’re fortunate they wish to capture us alive,” he said, pausing only to insert a fresh plasma cartridge into his weapon.

  Nayasar glanced at him for a brief moment. “You just made a quip!” she exclaimed. “Now I’m sure we’ll get out of this just fine! Well, that and the fact that the bad guys can’t aim half as well as a blind man without their light.”

  A moment later there was a buzzing sound, and the lights turned on. Fortunately, Darkclaw’s armor adapted quickly, reverting to its daylight configuration so he was not blinded.

  “I wonder if your deity has a sense of irony in addition to his alleged desire to protect you,” he said to Nayasar.

  “Shut up,” Nayasar said in that tone that Felivas had called teasing.

  Darkclaw did not rise to her words and kept firing as the now emboldened Algen surged forward; firing, Darkclaw noted, with significantly greater accuracy. While all of their band had surely adjusted to the change in light level, Darkclaw believed that the performance of his own forces, who were resorting to more automatic bursts as the enemy’s numbers increased, was diminished overall due to the increased volume and accuracy of enemy fire. They were also quickly running out of ammunition.

  They quickly began taking heavy fire. Darkclaw’s shields took three hits the next time he raised himself to fire, and his armor’s internal alarms began to sound. Others were less fortunate. Two more of his Tyrannodons went down, dead, according to the network. As the Algen continued their advance, one of the Felinaris went down after taking a shot to the shoulder that had pierced her armor.

  “See to her!” Nayasar ordered one of her soldiers just before she herself took a hit on the side that pierced her shields and knocked her to the ground. “I’m fine!” she growled as Darkclaw glanced over. “Didn’t get through the armor.”

  It was fortunate. If Nayasar were killed this entire attack would be a failure, even when the planet fell. Darkclaw did not intend to let that happen, though he was forced to acknowledge the fact that he did not have an alternative to the current plan.

  “What is our ammunition status?” he asked the nearest of his soldiers, who appeared to have taken a wound on his arm.

  “There are five cartridges left between the rest of us,” the soldier replied above the weapons fire, and the Felinaris likely have even fewer power cells remaining in my estimate, based on their carrying capacity.”

  Darkclaw gritted his teeth, hurled a grenade toward the Algen, then turned back to the soldier. “Utilize the ammunition as efficiently as possible. Once the enemy pushes closer, we will attempt to salvage weapons and ammunition from their dead.” Of course, they already were using their ammunition as sparingly as possible, and there was no guarantee that they would even be able to use the Algen weapons. However, he had to give some kind of order.

  “Understood, Executor,” the soldier replied flatly, then resumed firing.

  Within the next two minutes, Darkclaw had completely run out of ammunition. He ducked behind the barricade to draw and activate his energy sword, which would not prove particularly useful here. For a fraction of a second, Darkclaw considered the option of surrender; he did not want to die. No, he chastised himself. Those were foolish emotions speaking. Then he had a thought to check his combat scanner once more. There were still a great number of Algen left, but then he noted things that were not Algen, but Felinaris. He was about to contact the nearby Felinaris forces, but then he realized that the firing had all but stopped.

  “Don’t move,” ordered an unfamiliar voice.

  Darkclaw turned around to see perhaps three dozen police in assault uniforms standing in an arc, weapons drawn, on the other side of the barricade. They were wisely staying out of range of close-quarters weapons.

  Darkclaw glanced to his sides, where he saw the remains of his force crouched, close quarters weapons drawn and ready, including the Felinaris and Tyrannodon injured. What they felt Darkclaw could not tell, with their faces hidden, but all appeared ready to act, unafraid of death. Darkclaw scanned around the area, and spotted the detonator Nayasar had prepared earlier less than a meter away.

  “You are to drop your weapons, and stand up with your hands on your head,” ordered one of the Algen.

  Darkclaw ignored him and looked first at Nayasar, then at the detonator for the explosives she had placed on the wall. She nodded.

  Darkclaw sent a single word order to his all of his allies, and then dove for the detonator and depressed the single button.

  The Algen shouted something and Darkclaw heard a shot fire, and then the wall exploded above him, chunks of metal and concrete flying at the Algen.

  Once the explosions subsided, Darkclaw pushed himself up, and saw a most welcome sight: Dozens of Felinaris soldiers charging into the building, engaging the Algen still in fighting shape. Others began to help the surviving members of Darkclaw’s group to their feet, and began seeing to their injuries. Darkclaw, safely hidden inside his armor, did not bother to fight the feeling of relief that came over him, and even allowed himself a small, brief smile. They had survived. Once he was confident that none would notice, Darkclaw stilled himself for a few moments, and pushed the feeling away, returning once again to the cold, familiar emptiness.

  A Felinaris combat medic asked Darkclaw if he was wounded; Darkclaw assured her that he was uninjured; he had taken a direct hit as he had activated the detonator, but his armor had held. He then exited through the hole in the wall to where the Felinaris appeared to be setting up a command post. Nayasar, her soldiers, and the three remaining Tyrannodons were already there, their wounds being tended to as they rested on makeshift beds made out of crates and some sort of foam mats. Each of his surviving Tyrannodons had sustained minor wounds, in addition to one of the Felinaris soldiers and Nayasar, who had apparently sustained a light wound on her arm; it had already been cleaned and sealed.

  “We made it,” she said with a smile that seemed completely free of the stress they had just been subjected too. Darkclaw noted that she looked more like herself without her helmet on.

  “Only just,” he reminded her. “We were very fortunate that your forces arrived when they did.” Darkclaw unsealed his helmet and removed it, then placed the dust-coated headgear on a vacant crate.

  “Fortune has nothing to do with it,” Nayasar said, and hopped down from the crate she had been sitting on. “The Omnipresent provides, just as I told you.”

  “That is one possibility,” Darkclaw admitted. It truly was as good an explanation as any Darkclaw could think of, though he still found the concept of an intangible, all-powerful and benevolent being far-fetched. The means of their survival had been the soldiers, as expected. The perfect timing made it more complicated. However, in the end all that mattered was that both he and the grand admiral had survived the trap. The feeling of relief attempted to return, but Darkclaw was ready for it and pushed it away. He was becoming far too accustomed to the emotion flashes. The High Lord would not be pleased when they next spoke, but he would understand, and would have a solution. For now, Darkclaw was content with keeping the emotions under control, for the most part, though for reasons he could not understand he was becomin
g more willing to let the feelings remain briefly.

  “So leading from the front is fun, right?” Nayasar asked. Before Darkclaw could determine whether or not Nayasar expected him to answer the question, she approached and gave Darkclaw what he could only assume was some sort brief of one-armed embrace, made more complex due to both Nayasar’s wounded arm and the size discrepancy. “I’d say you owe me another couple, but I’m pretty sure you saved me a couple of times today too, so we’ll leave it at just the one, I think.” She paused for a moment as she let go. “I’d appreciate it if you would join Felivas and myself for a meal some time in the next day or so. It’ll take another day or two to finish the job here and prepare for the attack on Darvia, and I feel that we should spend some time together, let you ask us any more questions that’re gnawing at you. It’s the least I can offer, after almost getting you killed today.”

  Darkclaw was silent for a moment as he considered the offer and attempted to make sense of Nayasar’s sudden change in tone. He had no intention of refusing, but it would not be prudent for him to respond immediately. “Very well,” he said a few moments later. “Inform me of the time and place.” The High Lord would like this even less than he would Darkclaw’s growing acceptance of emotions, but just as Darkclaw had decided that he was entitled to a foolish decision, so too was he entitled to a personal choice, whatever it led to. And of course, the emotion flashes provided a convenient excuse for any lapses in judgment.

  CHAPTER 9

  “And then he just grabbed the detonator from the floor and blew the wall right into the clawless fools, and almost none of them even thought to get out of the way!” Nayasar finished with a laugh before taking a drink from her glass. Darkclaw had been silent as she had recounted their adventure—her term—from the day before, as he ate quietly.