by Yakov Merkin
“Executor?” a female Felinaris asked. Darkclaw turned to see, to his surprise, Lieutenant Elkevel, the officer who had escorted him to Felivas aboard the Swift Strike. She was approaching him along with one of the largest Snevans Darkclaw had ever seen. It was an almost comical sight, the Snevan towering over the Felinaris. If they were to be his guards, as Darkclaw suspected, they’d make an interesting trio.
“It’s good to see you again,” she added, saluting as Felivas had, though more emphatically, “even in less than ideal circumstances.”
“Third Taalon Kalviisss, Executor,” the Snevan said by way of greeting, inclining his head.
“Lieutenant,” Darkclaw acknowledged. “I presume the admiral told you everything?” he asked, glancing up at the Snevan, who rivaled Praetor Keeneye in height.
Lieutenant Elkevel nodded. “We’re both fully aware, and we’ll both fully support you in whatever needs doing.”
“And you are both fully aware of what I have done?” Darkclaw asked. “Of the lies I fed your leaders?”
Lieutenant Elkevel—Lisar, her given name was—nodded. “We do. But we both agreed that that your difficult decision to betray your own leader for our sakes outweighs the crimes of your lies. Holding a grudge against you will only make our survival even more difficult.”
Kalviss nodded silently.
Darkclaw smiled. It was appropriate in the moment. “I’d try to tell you how much that means to me, but I would most likely look as foolish as I would feel. I’m still getting used to existing in concert with emotions.” How could these two, simple soldiers, see things more clearly than experienced and skilled commanders?
“Don’t worry,” Lisar said. “If you have any questions, one of us will answer as best we can.”
“Excellent,” Darkclaw replied. He began to feel a strong sense of relief; at least now there were others he could confide in. Darkclaw almost tried to fight off the emotion, purely out of habit, but held himself back. He had chosen to accept and live with the emotions. If he was truly to do so, he could not fight them at every juncture. And besides, if the last few weeks were any indication, that was a battle he was doomed to lose. “If you are prepared, I intend to join the battle inside the compound,” Darkclaw continued. “I don’t intend to become heavily involved; I cannot unduly risk my life at this point, nor will I lead you into a difficult situation so soon. But I need to be seen fighting.”
“Lead on,” Lisar said, then put on her helmet. Kalviss did the same a moment later, his armored exoskeleton lighting up as it fully powered up.
Darkclaw ordered his forces to prepare for his arrival through the battle network, then set off toward the compound at a swift walk, bodyguards trailing just behind him.
The fighting had moved much further inside the research facility. A brief report from his forces told Darkclaw that once the facility’s fortified exterior had been breached, the Legion forces and their Scion support had begun to fall back to the heavily fortified hangar bay near the center of the facility, just as the Darvians had. Which was understandable, given the status Darvians held within the Alliance military.
“Understood,” Darkclaw said once the report had been completed. “See to it that none escape. I will not tolerate a failure like that on Darvia.”
“Acknowledged, Executor. There will be no prisoners taken. There are also ten fighter squadrons in position to intercept any ships that escape the hangar. We will prepare for your arrival in the compound,” the officer concluded before ending the transmission.
Another reason Darkclaw planned to observe more than fight was to take stock of his army’s performance, to see if they were still suffering from their version of the emotion flashes he had experienced. Whether he brought it up with the High Lord or not, it was something that would have to be dealt with.
“On me,” he ordered as he moved into the base, passing by Tyrannodon soldiers guarding checkpoints, smoking walls blackened by laser and plasma fire, and dozens of bodies; Tyrannodon, legionnaire, and the occasional Scion. Even more death, and for an ultimately pointless war.
“It might be difficult convincing the Galactic Alliance that we want the war to end,” Lisar said, echoing Darkclaw’s own thoughts.
“We will deal with that as it comes,” Darkclaw said. “Remain focused. This is still the enemy’s facility. They know it better than we do.”
As if on cue, an explosion rocked the station. Its epicenter was close by. As Darkclaw and his guards rounded the next corner, they saw a Tyrannodon combat unit waiting for them.
“Report,” Darkclaw demanded.
“A number of enemy troops broke off from the main group and took shelter inside one of the large research laboratories, after fighting through our initial response force.” the officer in command said.
“How many?” Darkclaw asked.
“Their exact number was undetermined. We were about to pursue.”
“Continue then. We will provide support.” Enemy forces running unchecked through a facility they had trained to defend was not a good situation.
“Understood, Executor,” the officer replied before signaling for his soldiers to move out.
Darkclaw followed close behind, one of his new guards at either side. Whether the spreading out of the Legion forces was due to his own soldiers’ failings or an enemy tactic, they had to be stopped. Darkclaw needed what was in this facility, doubly so if there was anything recovered from a Reizan’Tvay outpost stored within. And while Darkclaw did fully intend to end the war as soon as possible, until that time he would fight to accomplish his goals.
“Movement iin thee lab ahead!” warned Kalviss as Darkclaw and the rest of the unit rounded another identical sterile, white corner into another white hallway. Darkclaw activated his combat scanner and confirmed that the Snevan was correct. And he figured out what the enemy was doing.
“Hold position,” Darkclaw ordered. “Forty-two enemies in the next room. I want all available units to converge on this position to assist. We move in now. Priority is the enemy. I don’t care about the contents of the laboratory at the moment.”
“Understood, Executor. Reinforcements en route. We await your command.”
“Advance,” Darkclaw ordered. “We take no prisoners, but be prepared for changes in orders.”
The officer responded simply, sending an acknowledgement ping through the battle network, and led his forces forward. “For the executor and the High Lord!”
Darkclaw almost stopped for a moment. His forces sounded more like the Felinaris than they did the Tyrannodons he had led earlier in the campaign. They were certainly changing, as he had.
But that was a line of thought for another time. Now there were enemies to deal with. From what Darkclaw had been able to gather, the Legion forces had dispatched teams to recover information and clear databases ahead of the Tyrannodon advance, moving through the facility via a network of emergency passageways. The Alliance was not stupid, despite their recent tactical failures. They knew this facility was a target, and that it had been designed to be easily defensible. Which meant that he and his forces here could easily be walking into a trap.
But Darkclaw decided to deal with things as they came, firing through the room’s glass windows at a pair of exposed legionnaires, killing one and depleting the shields of the second before the soldier dove behind a heavy storage cabinet.
Darkclaw leaped through the hole in the wall, conscious of Lisar and Kalviss close behind him as the rest of the Tyrannodons entered through the doorway and opened fire. They might have had an easier time of it if they had used their grenades, but they were taking care not to cause undue harm to the room’s contents when conventional weapons would work just fine, particularly Kalviss’s—his armor’s shoulder-mounted weapons had significant piercing power.
The Legion forces reacted well, however, and knowing they had a slight edge in numbers began to fire back en masse, forcing the Tyrannodons to seek cover themselves. Darkclaw took advantage of the
moment to thoroughly scan the room, searching for the passageways he was sure existed. As he suspected, there were several leading into the room, through floor, ceiling, and wall. And it was fortunate that he did scan, because there were another three dozen enemies coming through the passageways.
“More enemies inbound,” Darkclaw said as he rose out of cover for a few moments, killing another two legionnaires before return fire forced him back behind cover. A quick check on the battle network showed him that the reinforcements were still a few minutes away. Too quickly his forces could find themselves completely surrounded and outmatched.
“Don’t hold back,” Darkclaw ordered. “Use explosives if necessary.” The information was important, but it would be useless if they died in a simple firefight because he had wanted to protect it. He took a disk-shaped grenade from his belt and hurled it across the room, where it stuck to a wall behind where several legionnaires had taken cover and exploded, completely destroying the table they had been using for protection and throwing their bodies across the room.
Even as the explosion subsided, more Legion troops began arriving in the room and hurled explosives of their own at Darkclaw’s forces. Holding their current position might prove more difficult than he had anticipated, outnumbered as they were an in an inferior position. But until it was clear that they could not hold, Darkclaw would remain where he was. Even as he made that determination, several more Tyrannodons went down amid heavy fire.
The room shook as a group of legionnaires that had just arrived was annihilated by a miniature missile fired by Kalviss. He could not stop all of the arriving enemies, however; more continued to stream into the room, and more of Darkclaw’s soldiers went down. If the reinforcements did not arrive soon, they would be completely overwhelmed. Darkclaw would not let himself die. Not now, when he finally had a purpose he believed in.
Fortunately reinforcements arrived in time, and the battle became more pitched, particularly when several groups of Tyrannodons charged into fire, against official orders, taking heavy losses but securing more of the room. Darkclaw did not bother to reprimand them. If this was another case of their emotion flashes, it was likely over already. He would speak to them afterward; for now, they were still doing their job, if not in the proper manner.
Darkclaw rolled out of cover as a grenade landed next to him, and took several hits on his shields as he made his way behind an overturned cabinet, firing as he moved. There really was some primal thrill to battle; there was no denying it. It was almost enough to make him forget the dire straits he was in.
The room shook again as another heavy weapon completely destroyed a wall, connecting the laboratory to an adjacent room where yet more Legion forces were moving to the laboratory, including a single Scion.
Darkclaw recognized the Scion from the battle on Darvia. It was the Daeris scion that he’d fought briefly. Dalcon, his name was. After the battle, Darkclaw had searched through captured files for information on the Daeris. A Daeris Scion was most likely an unusual thing. And so it was, Darkclaw had learned. Dalcon was in fact the only Daeris Scion, and did not use his natural fire because he had worked for a long time to distance himself from his own kind and their violent ways, and he had a reputation for being very level-headed, despite his ingrained strict sense of justice. Despite his rejection of his heritage, Dalcon’s people adored him, and he was a celebrity on the homeworld he never visited. A volley of fire swept through the room, taking out a pair of Tyrannodons who had not moved in time, and Kalviss returned fire, his heavier weapons penetrating one of the walls opposite them. A moment later, Darkclaw heard, from behind his cover, a body slump to the floor behind the damaged wall, followed by the now familiar, faint sound of a Scion’s imicric energy ribbons darting through the air—they just missed Kalviss, who swerved away.
Darkclaw had looked up the information on the Daeris Scion then because he had simply been curious about a dangerous enemy. But now, Darkclaw began to wonder if the Scion appearing here as well was the first piece of luck he had had since choosing to betray the High Lord. If he had a contact within the Alliance, someone he could reason with, maybe he could work with him to bring the war to a close once the High Lord was killed, and perhaps have some support in discovering a way to kill the High Lord. The Daeris would not like him, knowing what he had done, but the Scion was hopefully smart enough to listen.
“All forces, I will deal with the Scion alone. Concentrate fire, force him into one of the passageways,” Darkclaw ordered. He changed his comm channel to the private one he shared with his bodyguards. “Both of you, stay with me, but do not engage the Scion. I only want him prevented from escaping. I wish to speak with him.”
“Understood,” Lisar acknowledged.
Darkclaw rose from cover and fired at the Scion, the shots impacting harmlessly on his energy barrier, but it kept the Scion where he was, approximately where the wall between the laboratory and the adjacent room had stood. Moments later, more of the Tyrannodons began to fire on the Scion, and he shifted to a position where he was partially protected as he looked for a way to counterattack, which happened to be very close to a concealed door. It was working!
Darkclaw set his weapon to full automatic and unloaded fire in the Scion’s direction. By this time the Scion, Dalcon, realized that he was being deliberately targeted and focused on. He fired a wide beam of energy at the approaching Tyrannodon shock troops, knocking them and a mess of debris back several feet, then disappeared through the door.
“Kalviss, I need a path!” Darkclaw ordered.
“Complyyiing,” the Snevan replied, then fired a pair of small missiles across the room, blasting through debris and soldiers alike. Darkclaw didn’t wait for the smoke to clear, and charged across the room, toward the door. As he passed through the smoke his armor’s display adjusted, allowing him to evade fallen legionnaires as he made his way to the door and ran through, leaving the battle behind.
Darkclaw emerged in a much smaller room, possibly a security post. Immediately as he stepped through the door, his shields registered several hits, and Darkclaw fired back, then stopped once the Scion, the only enemy in the room, had taken cover. He checked that his bodyguards had made in into the room, then spoke.
“Scion! I do not wish to fight. I simply wish to speak with you.”
The Scion didn’t respond, firing an energy ribbon at Darkclaw, who easily stepped to the side and cut a section of it off. The Scion remained still for a moment, then bolted for the main door, but was forced to stop when Kalviss leaped into the air and fired a weapon powerful enough to leave a crater in the floor, impacting just in front of the Scion, knocking him back.
“Unwiise, Ssciion,” he screeched.
“You have to believe me,” Darkclaw said. “I must speak with you. If I truly wished you dead, you likely would be already.” He set his rifle down in the floor.
“Tell me who you are and what you want, invader,” Dalcon demanded as he slowly moved behind cover, weapon still in hand, barrier still up.
Darkclaw hesitated. He could not risk anyone in the Alliance under the High Lord’s sway learning of his intentions. Could he even trust this enemy? Suddenly, Darkclaw wasn’t so sure about his plan to speak to the Scion.
“I will tell you who I am,” Darkclaw finally replied, “but only if I have a guarantee that no one else learns of this. It is a matter of utmost importance.” Dalcon’s reaction would be the only indication of whether he could be trusted.
The Scion was quiet for a long moment. “Oaths can be broken, Executor. For all you know, I could betray you as soon as I leave here.”
“I… I know,” Darkclaw replied. What as the Scion trying to do? Trying to determine if Darkclaw was sincere? “But I am quickly running out of options. I am placing my trust in you, for the sake of everyone in the Alliance. Please, do as I ask.”
“You really do need help, if you are willing to go to such lengths,” Dalcon replied. “Very well. I swear by my duty to the Galactic Allia
nce and all its citizens that I will reveal your identity to no one.” Dalcon lowered his pistol. “Now tell me what is going on.”
“I am Executor Darkclaw, the supreme commander of the Tyrannodon military, second only to my master, the High Lord.” The Scion’s hand twitched. He knew what Darkclaw had done, and that plus the knowledge that the commander of his enemy’s fleet was standing, unarmed, in front of him was a golden opportunity for the Scion. And had it been any other military, Darkclaw would have agreed with that impulse. But his death would hardly slow the High Lord down.
“I have led this invasion from its onset, at the behest of the High Lord. Recently, however, I have come to the decision that I should not be serving the High Lord any longer. I wish to end the war.”
“And why do you require my help?”
“Because, I cannot simply voice my desire to end the war, nor simply leave the High Lord’s service. He is powerful, more powerful than you can imagine. If I fail to hide my treachery from him, he will replace me with another, who is completely loyal. If that happens, this whole galaxy is likely doomed.”
If any of the information surprised Dalcon, he did not show it. “But how does this involve me? Why do I need to know this? What do you expect me to do?”
“Because, if I am to find a way to destroy the High Lord, I will need all the help I can muster. No matter what else happens, if I fail to find a way, we all lose. I need support from within the Alliance.”
“I could garner more aid if I could tell them who you are. Knowing that the commander in chief of the invading fleet wants to defect would spur the government to action. We can even take you in; protect you while you help us search for a solution.”
“No! You can’t!” Darkclaw snapped before forcing his voice back to its normal, toneless quality. “The High Lord has made inroads within the Alliance, exerting his influence over key officials in leadership positions, sabotaging your war effort. You’ve likely noticed this already. This is why none can know. The High Lord cannot be allowed to find out what I am doing.”
