"Not touching that stuff. This... this is a tremendous loss."
Harris turned the package upside down, dumping its contents on the sandy Jellon earth.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not eating this crap. I’d rather go hungry."
"So we have nothing."
"If someone hadn't tampered with my pack we'd both be eating."
Tawn glanced back at the hilltop. "So what do we do to kill the next hour?"
Harris lifted his blade. "I guess we go knock some Hoya heads."
Tawn smirked. "Not like darkness is gonna make a difference inside there."
"We could just go back to the ship."
"And miss all the fun? How long's it been since we stormed a building?"
"Too long. And not long enough."
Tawn stood. "Well, let's get this death wish over with."
Harris gestured. "Ladies first."
"You never get tired of using that one, do you?"
"Not yet in this lifetime, no."
As they began their descent down the forward face of the hill, Tawn grabbed Harris by the arm, pulling him to a stop. She whispered into his ear. "You hear that?"
"No?"
"Movement behind us. I definitely heard it. And probably no more than five meters. You roll to your left and I'll go right."
"And then?"
"And then we take out whoever's back there."
"Got it. You left and me right."
"No, moron. You left and me right."
"That's what I said."
Tawn's face began to turn red.
Harris chuckled as he looked over his shoulder. "Relax, it's Farker. I told him to shadow us up until we started going in. Come on, boy. Come to daddy."
Tawn looked over her blade and then at Harris. "Someday, even with all this training, I'm just gonna snap."
Harris grinned as he continued walking. "And I hope I'm there to see it. Would be entertaining."
As they approached the door, Tawn stopped, flipping open her faceshield. "You just lose your air? I think our suits are completely without power now."
Harris checked. "Not registering."
"Well, open up, you idiot. I need you breathing air."
Harris raised his faceshield. "You need to calm down. You're too wound up to be going into a fight."
"Yeah, sometimes I get that way. Let's just get in there and get this over with."
Harris grabbed a door handle. The door offered the slight sound of sucking air as it opened.
"Atmosphere inside must be lower."
Tawn stepped in. "Can't tell without my display."
"We're still breathing, which is a good sign."
The hall they occupied, coming from the entrance, ran fifteen meters to another hall. They reached the corner, peering around in either direction before taking a turn. As they moved down the hall to the right, it opened into a large room with a mat laid out in the center. The ceiling in the room went up ten meters. Chairs lined the walls of the room.
Tawn pointed at the mat. "What do you suppose that's for?"
"I'm not omnipotent. I have no idea."
A door on the far wall opened and a Hoya stepped out. In each of his hands was a sickle-shaped blade. The Hoya moved to the corner of the mat. Behind him, another dozen Hoya followed, streaming out to sit in the chairs along the wall.
Harris chuckled. "I'd say we're being invited to participate in a death-match. You were looking for action, I think we just found it."
"This isn't a fight. This is bizarre."
"Why are you still whispering? I'm pretty sure they can see us."
Tawn quietly replied, "Don't know. Seemed like the thing to do."
Harris held out his hand with a grin. "Ladies first."
Tawn winced. "Look at those slitted eyes. Surprised they get enough light in to even see."
She stepped forward to the opposite corner of the mat from the Hoya. Both offered a slight bow before standing full upright. The Hoya was the first to move, dashing toward her in a flash that ended in a handspring and a vault. As the attacker flipped up and over Tawn, he slashed his sickle toward her helmet, shaving off a thin slice of material, before landing and rolling away.
Tawn turned back. "You see how insanely fast that was?"
"I did. And so did all the slits lining the wall."
"Slits?"
"You named 'em that, talking about their slitted eyes."
"I suppose we'd eventually call them something. Slits it is."
Tawn took a ready stance as the Hoya returned to its corner of the mat.
Harris said, "And forget the mat. It doesn't seem to mean anything to when you can strike. Just go kick his ass."
"That's the plan."
The Hoya darted to the left-hand corner of the mat, dashing in for another run. The other Hoya nodded their heads as they tapped the ends of their sickles on their chairs. This time, however, the dash was met with a rush and a drop by Tawn.
As the Hoya fell into the beginning of his handspring, Tawn rolled and spun, thrusting out her blade in a chopping move. The Hoya's body continued forward as his head separated and dropped to the mat, rolling to a stop. Tawn ended her spin by coming around to stand on her feet. The Hoya went silent.
Harris slowly nodded. "Sweet move."
"Don't think he was ready for that."
"The rest of them look pissed. All squinting their eyes."
Tawn chuckled. "How can you tell?"
The next Hoya in line sprang to his feet, crossing three meters before landing on the corner of the mat.
Tawn took a step back. "You want this one?"
Harris grinned. "How about we turn it up a notch? You remember that fight I got into with the big Earther where I was getting thrashed?"
"The story you told on Farmingdale?"
"The same. I made a personal pledge to myself that I wouldn't get in any more competition matches like that."
"So you chickening out?"
"Hardly. I'm about to take out this first slit sitting in the chair over here. Not interested in their little game of one on one."
"You talking complete chaos?"
Harris nodded. "That's where we shine. You ready?"
"Make your move."
— Chapter 20 —
* * *
Harris said, "Stomp your foot to draw their attention. That should give me a moment to start this going."
Tawn complied, yelling as her heavy boot hit the floor. Harris jumped into action, slicing off the right arm of the nearest Hoya as it raised up in reaction to his move. The second Hoya caught the combat knife blade with his sickle, stopping a decapitation, but getting thrust backward onto the two Hoya behind him. A quick blade saw two skewered at once as the third attempted to free himself. Harris deflected immediate strike attempts by two others.
Tawn stepped back as the Hoya in front of her performed the handspring and vault maneuver. Thrusting upward, she caught the slit, ripping open its thigh as it took another slice from her helmet. A following move saw an end to the severely injured alien. Two others sprang into action against her, each slicing thin sections from the exterior of her battlesuit as they passed her by.
Harris grabbed the now deceased body of a nearby Hoya, swinging it around as a bludgeon weapon against its fellow slits. Two were knocked to the right as one took a slice off Harris' elbow, going almost to his person. He countered with a hard swing of the dead Hoya. As the active attacker attempted to dodge the fifty-five kilogram mass, a knife thrust by the stump tore into his chest.
The chaos in the room continued for several minutes, before the symbols in Tawn's helmet lit up. "We have power!"
Seconds later, a plasma round entered from the far corner of the room, exploding the body of the dead Hoya Harris had been slinging around. Harris dove and rolled, knowing he didn't have time to make the corner before the next round came his way. As he came to his feet, a determined Farker stepped forward, emitting a concussion wave blast that
flung the attacking Hoya backward and hard into the wall. A second and a third bark cleared half the remaining Hoya.
Tawn, removing her plasma rifle from the clip on her back, began the work of cleaning up the others. Twenty seconds later, the room fell silent.
Harris eyed the missing armor on his elbow. "Almost got me with that one."
Tawn moved into a position that covered the far door.
Farker spoke: "I've completed a bioscan. The two of you are the only living things in this structure."
Tawn sighed. "Well, that whole thing was just weird."
"They must have been really confident in their abilities. If so, we should be able to use that against them."
A comm came in from B56. "The transmission ship has been disabled."
"Hold your position," Harris ordered.
"I wonder what changed to enable our power."
"Someone must have turned that field off. Let’s make a quick run of this facility. If we find any consoles, we'll see if Farker can crack into them and record the data."
The next half hour was spent on the task. A room containing hundreds of generators was located and destroyed. No consoles or interfaces were found. The Bangor was signaled and was soon landing just outside the compound.
Tawn stepped up through the hatch, Farker hopping in after. "Your mutt did us proud in there."
"Glad he came in when he did. Not sure I understand why they switched off that interference signal though. And not sure how my pooch was able to function in it."
"I was having difficulty. I had only just made it to the room where the fight was taking place. Most of my systems were frozen. Had they not disabled that interference field, I would have been unable to assist in any way."
"Well, you did, and we're happy for that."
Eight minutes later, the Bangor slowed as it closed on the Hoya ship.
"Sir, I took the liberty of performing a bioscan. There are two bio-signatures on that vessel. Each have dimensions similar to the other Hoya."
Tawn nodded. "We do this right and we have two slits to interrogate."
The docking collar extended, connected, and sealed. Harris used a cutting torch to make a hole as Tawn stood guard with her plasma rifle. The cutout was pushed away with the expectation of plasma fire. It came, and Harris pushed Tawn back through the airlock, closing the door.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking their atmosphere. Should make them a bit more docile. Give them thirty seconds with nothing to breathe and we'll see how they react."
A vacuum pump was turned on, draining the air from the Hoya ship. A stiff breeze blew through the cutout for several seconds. Harris timed it to last closer to a minute, then pumped air back in and opened the airlock.
This time, no plasma fire came at the opening to the cutout as Harris poked his head through. Two Hoya were in the hall on the floor, struggling to regain their breath. Harris nudged a pair of plasma rifles away with his foot, squatting down.
Using his translator, he said, "As the closest thing to an ambassador we have, welcome to Human space. You cooperate and you won't be harmed. You refuse to answer questions and I might just refuse you access to air again. Understand?"
"We understand."
"Who's in charge?"
The near Hoya pointed. "She is."
Harris chuckled. "She?"
"You cannot see her female features?"
Harris shook his head. "At the moment, you all look the same to me. Now, let's begin. Where is your fleet?"
"We do not know. That is privileged information. Information that isn't shared with the lower ranks."
Those four blue dots on your sleeve show your rank?"
"Yes."
"And his five green dots doesn't outrank you?"
"Blue is higher than green. And he is a she also."
Tawn stepped up. "Down on the surface we saw yellow dots. I recall seeing as few as two and as many as six. Yellow rank above or below you?"
"Rank order follows the visible spectrum."
"So those Hoya down there reported to you?"
"Technically, yes. However, they are guard corps. We are defense corps."
"You mean they were guard corps. Now they're nothing."
"We observed on a monitor."
"You the ones who shut down the interference field?"
"Yes. The guard corps can be extremely competitive, while at the same time lack intelligence. They were losing. We passed the order to their second in command to make use of the plasma weapon."
"Second in command?"
"The senior guard was the first to die."
Harris asked, "This ship, how does it work?"
"If you are referring to the interference you were speaking of, we cannot say. This ship merely rebroadcasts the signal from below. We do not have the knowledge of how the Geffron field works, only how to keep this ship functioning. Should an emitter fail, we replace it. Nothing more."
Tawn said, "We should probably get to work on moving this out to free space so we can take it home."
"We have a little time. You want to interrogate or search the ship? If it checks out as safe, we'll take it through to Midelon."
"I'll check the ship."
Harris paced as he continued his questioning. Tawn located an interface console and Farker was soon searching through the data available on the ship.
An alert came in from Banshee B27. "I have incoming ships on the nav display. Initial speeds place an estimate of twenty minutes until arrival."
Tawn walked into the room being used for the interrogation. "We should be going. Gonna take us at least fifteen minutes to push this barge to free space."
Harris stood, gesturing for the Hoya captives to follow Tawn to the airlock. Farker trotted along behind.
As the Bangor began to push the attached ship, B27 came over the comm: "Sir, the ships are accelerating. A new estimate places them at sixteen minutes."
Tawn glanced over her shoulder from her copilot's chair. "We're moving slower than expected. No way we make free space before they get here."
Harris rubbed his forehead with his fingers. "Thought we had more time than that."
"We do, just not while pushing that ship. Kind of why I wanted to leave earlier."
"You should have pushed the issue."
Tawn scowled. "I did push the issue. You pushed back."
"And you listened to me. So this is obviously your fault."
"Whatever. What are we gonna do about it?"
"We have to cut it loose and destroy it."
Tawn sighed. "Separation in five seconds... done. Powering on rail circuits... and we have destruction of the Hoya ship. We should hit free space in three minutes."
B27 said, "Sir, I have a firm identity of the approaching ships. They are Domicile."
Harris rolled his eyes. "You couldn't have told us that a minute ago?"
"No, sir. The sensors do not have the required resolution to make that distinction at that distance."
Tawn asked, "What now?"
"Continue to free space. That will give us a few minutes to discuss what we know with the Domers."
As the nav indicator highlighted their ability to create a wormhole, Harris opened a comm over the general hail.
"The is the Domicile Defense Force ship Clarrette. State your business in this system."
"Well, Clarrette, you know who we are, so let's get down to it. What are you doing in New Earth space?"
"The New Earth Empire is defunct. All prior citizens are being given the opportunity to join the Domicile Free Alliance."
Harris smirked. "You won't find any citizens here. Your buddies the Denzee killed them all. And If I'm not mistaken, this planet is probably now claimed by the Hoya."
"Part of our mission is to contact the Hoya to open a diplomatic channel for peaceful discussions."
Tawn cut in: "Wasting your time, Captain. The Hoya are here to take over. They don't give a crap about Humans or our empires. They just want
us dead."
"I've been ordered to conduct this mission. Your comments have no standing within my command structure. I'm aware of some of your exploits. Diplomacy is not one of your strong points. I take it the ship you just destroyed was Hoya?"
"That would be correct. The building down on the surface held a broadcast device that renders power systems inert going out for as far as our sensors can detect. Should you encounter this field you will be blinded to all but visual sensors."
"Can I also assume you attacked the building down on the planet?"
"We did. The system is no longer in operation."
"And the Hoya inhabitants?"
"Dead."
"I see."
"They didn't give us a choice, Captain."
"I'm not here to condemn you, Mr. Gruberg. I only wish to file as full a report as possible with my superiors."
Tawn said, "I have something for you, Captain. The Hoya don't have wormhole travel. However, their ships are faster than ours. Should you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being captured, you should destroy all wormhole equipment and purge all wormhole data from your systems. Should they acquire this technology, all of our systems become instantly vulnerable."
Harris added, "And make no mistake, Captain, their ships are more powerful and they have us outnumbered by probably a factor of forty, if not more."
"Understood. Will note those options in my report."
"You better do more than that. Put a plan in place to implement exactly what I just said, and practice it, or you're dooming all Humans to extinction."
The captain smirked. "Extinction? For what reason would the Hoya do such?"
"You had a diplomatic deal with the Denzee. They just did that to New Earth. Wiped out a billion of us without blinking an eye. The Hoya are not Human and have no loyalty to Humans. At the moment we're no more than a pestilence that needs to be cleansed from these systems."
"At the moment that may be true, which is why I've been given this mission."
An aide spoke into the captain's ear. "Mr. Gruberg, I've just been told you may have two Hoya crewmen on your ship. If so, I would ask that you turn them over immediately. This would be a perfect opportunity to establish a reasonable trust by turning them over to their own people."
ARMS Domers Unite: (Book 6) Page 18
