The Lost Princess

by K Bledsoe

  As the man who spoke lowered his gun and reached out to take it, Diarmin noticed her thumb on the kill switch. Now the slavers would only find the device a slag of metal inside.

  “Remove your hood.”

  The hands reached up slowly to fold back the hood, revealing a grim-faced Lenore. The slight recognition on the man’s face told Diarmin they knew who she was and had probably been monitoring them since the first scan at the entrance.

  “For violating the rules against prohibited equipment, you will be executed.”

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Quinn’s gut clenched, and he couldn’t hold back a groan. It took all his will not to throw himself against the door in an attempt to get free. Jerk had told him to listen well. The slaves were required to hear their sale, each bid showing solid evidence of their captivity and helplessness. The monetary values meant nothing to him and lack of emotion had been easy until he heard his father’s voice, bidding. He couldn’t see the audience, but he knew that Diarmin hadn’t won the bid. He groaned again and sunk to his knees, knowing he was giving himself away but unable to help it. He didn’t care.

  “Run. Just run, please. Don’t try to rescue me,” he murmured, tears now rolling down his cheeks. “I can’t lose you all.”

  He knelt there, immobile. Until he heard footsteps outside his door, no doubt of those taking him to his new master.

  ***

  Diarmin was frozen. Would they really shoot them, here? Now? As the man brought his gun back up, instincts kicked in, and Diarmin launched himself at the man.

  “Run!” he yelled. Three bolts fired at him and sizzled harmlessly as he tackled the man.

  “Personal shielding!”

  “Get the other one!”

  He tried to ignore the bolts firing at Allison’s retreating back and instead activated the unique effect of his shielding. His specialized shields delivered a powerful stun to his opponent, giving him time to dash out the door behind Allison. As she slowed to look for him, he closed the distance yelling “Don’t stop,” and they continued outside, bolts firing ineffectually as they ran away.

  As they turned the corner and headed toward a building, the bolts finally had an effect and the sparks and sizzles caused not only the shield to fail, but the hologram device as well. Lenore’s face wavered and disappeared, replaced by Allison’s. Diarmin snatched his shield off and attached it to Allison’s hood as they ran. A few more shots came close, but they made it inside the building with no more hits. They entered an elevator where she removed her false boots that made her several inches taller.

  “You know how hard it is to run in these things?”

  “We aren’t out of danger yet,” Diarmin moved the shield generator from the hood to Allison’s shirt.

  “The shuttle is on the roof. I can handle that barefoot.”

  “I saw you activate the kill switch. Did you get the data sent off?”

  “I…I think so. I know some did but not how much. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. We didn’t have a lot of choice.”

  The elevator doors opened, and they dashed toward their shuttle. Within heartbeats, they were lifting and merging with the air traffic.

  “It’s all up to Mom, now,” muttered Allison.

  ***

  Lenore eased herself around the corner, gun leading the way, and dropped the guard before his weapon could sight on her. Sloppy. It should have been up already. Especially with the alarms. Maybe the best guards were out chasing the other mission operatives.

  Her husband and daughter.

  Lenore firmly turned her mind away from the emotions. It was easier to think of her family as operatives so that she could focus on her job. She checked her wristcomp for the data that Allison had sent her. It had cut off midstream, indicating the scanner was destroyed. She hoped it was only the scanner and not…

  Don’t think, just act, she told herself. Again.

  If the data was correct, Quinn would be down one level and through a long corridor to the cells. She set her jaw and found the stairs.

  Two guards later, she approached the door to the cell block. Her scatterer would mess up the cameras, but that alone would throw a beacon to whoever was watching them. It had only been a few minutes since the alarm, but she knew the area would be heavily guarded. They would be expecting someone being extra sneaky. So, she did the opposite.

  In seconds, charges were set, and she blew the door and anyone within ten feet of it. Charging headlong through the smoke, she yelled at the top of her lungs, firing her weapon blindly, trusting the data that the cells were blast proof.

  Groans and sharp yells indicated hits, and she crouched as low as she could while running, sliding along the left wall. Laser bolts and other projectiles shot over her head and down the center of the hall. One projectile hit her right shoulder, but she shut off the pain. These guys were good and in the next moment would start spreading the shots wide and low. If they all got out of this, she swore she would have her husband create more than two personal shields.

  Operative, not husband.

  Lenore reached the end of the smoke and quickly scanned the corridor for any residual barriers. One woman was on the ground with her weapon, leg smoking and useless. She sighted on Lenore as she emerged and got off only one shot before receiving a fatal one between the eyes. Lenore’s left calf burned, and she batted at the hole in her pants to put out the resulting flame while assessing the wound.

  Walkable, but not for long.

  A quick survey revealed seven people on the floor, including one young man who was probably a slave. After reassuring herself it wasn’t Quinn, Lenore felt a brief regret but searched the bodies for a key to open the cells, taking care to make sure the two guards still alive would never regain consciousness. She snatched up a set of electric keys and opened the first cell, revealing two young girls who shrank back in fear. Lenore turned to leave, then cursed silently. No matter how much she needed to find Quinn, she couldn’t leave them.

  “I’m here to rescue you,” she said, voice rough from the smoke and her exertions. The looks of doubt on their faces were telling, but she couldn’t deal with that now.

  “Either follow, sticking close behind me, or stay. I am going.” She turned away but was pleased when the older grabbed the younger’s hand and dragged her out the door. The next two cells were empty, and the third held an unconscious man. She left him there, door open, ignoring the older girl’s surprised gurgle. Lenore had no idea who he was or how he had become a slave, but his door was open now. He could help himself. Quinn was her priority.

  As she continued to the next cell, a squeak from the smaller girl made her spin around. The older one pulled the small one down to the floor, and Lenore dropped the man coming after them with nothing but a force pike. Stupid. They must be low on soldiers. Her smile was grim as she spoke to the girls.

  “Thanks for the warning.”

  Another cell held a small boy with a tear streaked face, no more than a couple years old. The older girl ran to him and grabbed him up, staring defiantly at Lenore as if saying, “I’m not leaving this one.” Lenore couldn’t help but smile and nod in approval. She liked this girl’s spunk.

  Her heart drooped a bit upon seeing the last door. This had to be Quinn. She bit her lip. It HAD to.

  She glanced at the three following her, now with trust in their eyes as they watched her key the lock.

  She opened the door.

  A soft “No” passed her lips on an exhalation.

  The room was empty.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Quinn was hardly aware of his actions, but defiance flared up as he heard footsteps. He didn’t want to be sold off, his previous vow of subservience for survival’s sake gone out of his head completely. He grabbed the only possible weapon, a plastic cup, and flattened himself against the wall next to the door. He became aware of the alarms and realized they had been going off for several minutes. He heard the lock on the door click, so he raised
the cup. As he prepared to swing at the height of a probable face, a soft “No,” halted his movement.

  “Mom?” Emotions swarmed him as he pivoted to face the door then stood there, gaping stupidly. Confusion, relief, happiness, and several other unnamed emotions swirled through him as he noticed his mother’s weapon aimed at his heart. Reflexively he dropped the cup and raised his hands.

  “Mom?” he said again, a waver in his voice.

  Suddenly he was crushed in a hug that ended far too quickly.

  “Let’s go. Stay behind me. I’ll lead all of you out.”

  His mother was gone, the Xa’ti’al replacing her. Quinn hesitated at the change for only a heartbeat, excitement at escape overcoming any uncertainty. He noticed the other children as they crowded together behind his mother. Instinctively he brought up the rear, making sure none would be left behind.

  Only ten steps toward freedom, he dropped to the floor, electric agony coursing through him. All he could think was that he should have known better than to hope.

  ***

  “Uh oh,” said Diarmin.

  “What?” said Allison.

  He looked at her, wanting to protect her from the truth but the words slipped out anyway.

  “Your mother’s signal just went blank.”

  “What now?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  ***

  Lenore turned as she heard the shrieks and sounds of bodies hitting the floor behind her. The sight of three children writhing in pain and the toddler staring in shock made her brain freeze in reflex. Only her past training made it possible to turn back and face the new threat pacing slowly down the corridor. The way out was blocked.

  She didn’t hesitate.

  Lenore shot at the man only to have the bolt sizzle harmlessly a foot away from him. Not a simple personal shield but a force globe. Shields, no matter the strength, surrounded the body like a second skin and she could simply attack hand to hand. But with a globe, she couldn’t get close and she knew nothing from her arsenal could get through. The most she could do was physically push the globe, but her guess was that this was a top-of-the line force field and would most likely have electric shock defense.

  His face lost its smile when she fired.

  “That was rude.” He flourished a wand and the cries of pain increased. “After all, I am only trying to prevent you from making off with my property.”

  Lenore rapidly assessed her options and didn’t like any of them. The only way out was past the man, and unless she disabled that wand, the children would be helpless to follow. She slid a knife out of her left sleeve and backed toward Quinn, eyes never leaving the man.

  “Ah, ah,” he said. “Cutting through the collars will cause them to explode and neither one of us wants that, do we? Again, simply lower your weapon, and I will let you leave alone, unharmed. Nobody gets hurt.”

  Lenore again regretted the lack of Diarmin’s personal shield with the stun effect but thinking about it gave her an idea. She nudged Quinn with her foot, shunting aside the stab of pain from her leg wound.

  “This one owes me. Boss would kill me if I lost this investment. How about you keep the rest and I take only him.” She pointed the weapon at the door behind her. “And I don’t destroy an expensive cell.”

  He shrugged. “Things can be rebuilt, and my employer would kill me if I let such a valuable prize go. I am sorry, they all stay.”

  She appeared to consider it, allowing the point of her weapon to drop slightly and move closer to her body. “What guarantee do I have for my safety?”

  He held his hands slightly away from his body. “I am unarmed. I will move out of the way and order my men to stand down.” As if to prove his sincerity, he turned off the collars, causing the screams to drop to agonized whimpers.

  “Order them now.” She lowered the weapon more and took a few steps toward him.

  “Power that down first.”

  She complied, making a show of activating the weapon’s safety and reversing it so she couldn’t shoot.

  He lifted his wristcomp to his lips and began to order free passage for the “fighting woman.”

  As she drew close, their eyes locked, watching each other for the slightest betrayal, but she kept her weapon stomach level and pointed at the ground. He obligingly pressed himself as far as he could against the wall to give her enough room to pass his force globe. Lenore could see the man relax slightly, most likely because he knew that the only thing that could possibly take out a force globe bubble was an overload. Directly overloading her weapon would cause an explosion, a bit too much if she wanted to stay alive. But what few knew is that there was another way, especially if a weapon was designed for just such contingencies.

  Using the knife she had drawn out of her boot earlier, she stabbed it directly into the control panel of her gun. Since the knife was solid metal, the controls began to short out, allowing a conduit for the overload. She threw herself with the sparking, electrified weapon at the man and his force globe, trying to ignore the shocks that were an unfortunate side effect. As the globe began to glow and flash in response to the overloading, she pressed her advantage and restrained the globe with all her strength so that the man couldn’t get away.

  “Run, Quinn!” she yelled through clenched teeth. “And get the others out!” She grunted as the man tried to push her back to win his freedom, but though this type of force field kept everything out, they also kept everything in. “Go! This only lasts a few seconds.” At the edge of her awareness, she saw Quinn pick up the little boy and begin herding the girls in the correct direction.

  Just a little longer, she told herself as she felt it begin to give way. As Quinn and the others passed her, he hesitated.

  “Go!” she said. She risked a look at him to get her point across, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the blaster the man had drawn.

  Lenore’s voice took on an icy calm. “I need you to get them safe. Out to the east. Two buildings to the east and three to the north. Take the elevator.”

  A look settled into Quinn’s eyes as they met hers. The exchange was only a heartbeat, but Lenore knew he understood. The only way to free them from the collars was by shorting out the globe and grabbing the wand. But his blaster would take her down right after.

  She was going to sacrifice herself for them all.

  The weapons electronics finished its death and the globe, though weak was still intact.

  I only need a few more seconds. The man inside the field had a smug smile on his face, and he taunted her by holding up the collar control stick. Quinn and the children had already disappeared around the corner, but she heard their yells as he activated the wand again.

  In desperation, Lenore reached behind her back, under her shirt, for the small, powerful box that always nestled there. It was a specialized medical monitor that Xa’ti’al were fitted with when they were activated to full duty. A discharge from that would be even stronger than the weapon, as the monitor had the ability to deliver a resuscitating pulse to her heart. She didn’t give it a second thought for its loss as long as Quinn won free. With only a small wince for the implanted wires pulled out along with it, she cranked the voltage up and applied the device to the globe.

  The man’s smug look vanished to be replaced by a look of fear. He recognizes what this box is. No time to think about that now as the globe began to flicker. She activated the pulse which ruined the implant but was worth it when the shield failed completely.

  Lenore rushed the man, grabbing the wand as she braced herself for the blaster shot, and determined to take him down with her.

  ***

  “I’m in,” said Allison, voice calm despite the tension Diarmin knew they were both feeling. In the minutes since they lost Lenore’s signal, Allison had linked the shuttle’s computer to both the ship and her personal comp. With help from the stolen data, she was now looking at the security feeds from the slave building. In a few more breaths, she had them under her contro
l. He shook his head, more impressed than ever with his daughter.

  “There they are,” he said, pointing at the screen as she was cycling through the various feeds. “Looks like Quinn is getting some kids out while she holds the guy.”

  “Hang on.” Allison’s fingers flew over the computer pads and she reached over to snatch Diarmin’s comp out of his hands. She flipped it open and the screen lit up with a map of the complex. Diarmin marveled anew.

  “Can you help Quinn find the right way out?”

  “That’s the plan, wait,” a few keystrokes. “There, those guys can’t get to them and, oh crap.”

  “What?” asked Diarmin but didn’t need an answer when he saw the children writhing on the floor with pain, jewels in their collars lit up. “Alli, can you block that signal to their collars?”

  “Where’s it coming from?” she asked, not looking up but fingers still flying.

  “Looks like the man Lenore is after has a control stick of some kind. Probably that.”

  “I’ll try but…” her brow furrowed as she cycled between cameras showing Quinn and the children and glancing at the map. “Gotta keep locking doors to keep the guards away from them.”

  He was thankful Allison had all her attention on her brother and not her mother. Diarmin had noticed the shield failing and the blaster coming to bear on Lenore. He had always known the chances were high that she would die before him, but he had foolishly allowed himself to hope. He didn’t want to watch her death, yet he couldn’t look away.

  Lenore was on the man right as the shield failed, knocking away the wand.

  “The collars’ lights are off,” said Allison. “Look, Quinn and the others are getting up and running again. I’ll open the doors for them. Think I can clear a path…”

  But Diarmin couldn’t look away from his wife. He’d seen the flash that had to be a blaster discharge. If the video had sound, he would know for sure, but he was oddly relieved it was silent. He’d contemplate those feelings later, he thought as he watched Lenore tackle the man to the ground. Her back was to the camera, and Diarmin couldn’t tell if she was injured. The man lay struggling flat on the ground with one of Lenore’s knees on his chest, her arms still unseen to the camera. He managed to aim a fist at the side of her head, but Lenore twisted her neck, taking most of the blow to the back of her head. The man cried out as Diarmin noticed Lenore’s shoulders flex, and he knew she had broken his wrist while disarming him of the blaster. She brought the blaster up under his chin, and his head snapped back to connect with the floor beneath him. He went completely still.