by Voxley, Vi
His unit fell into flawless formation around the mouth of the tunnel. Side by side, shoulder by shoulder. At his command, they began walking forward, broadening the net. In that way, those to follow – including Paula – had a protective ring to come out into.
There wasn't much time, considering how fast the grove was burning. Kerven had no idea how many of the precious seeds were needed – a detail he had not bothered to acquaint himself with, as it had no bearing on the result of the battle -, he just assumed the more they got, the better.
His spear rose and fell, the blood painting the ground red before his feet. The net was holding until they pushed too far. Each link knew their purpose, trusting the others not to let a single enemy through.
While not threatening on their own, the Hoolas had learned a long time ago that they could put the numbers to work in their favor. In a way, Kerven almost admired their tenacity. Their discipline was admirable, nothing like the Terrans. It reminded him more of Brions, with each member of the Hoola army knowing what was expected of them and willing to suffer the consequences.
Seeing that they were no longer dealing with the Terrans, they changed their tactics. Climbing atop of each other, the Hoolas were prepared to literally throw themselves at his warriors, trying to bring one of them down.
They crowded them, attempting to strike at their legs. Some of the Hoolas even went so far as to die on purpose, hoping to catch their blades long enough to give others a chance to get closer.
With astonishment, Kerven noticed that some of them were successful. A few of his men were brought down, falling under the fire of the guns as they broke through the body armor or the armored helmets, and the short, no doubt poisoned swords the Hoolas carried.
Others took their place quickly and already, Kerven saw the Terrans appearing. He caught a glimpse of Paula in their midst. Her eyes filled with pain, barely able to look at the burning grove.
In the distance, the Terrans were busy with their own brutal battle. The Hoolas had understood it was the final attack and thrown everything into the melee, just like the Galactic Union’s forces had. It was a complete chaos, like battles often were.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kerven kept a close watch on Paula. She had rushed over to one of the peculiar trees, the seeds so big she had to use both hands to carry them back into the tunnel where others received them. He noticed she didn't take all of them – the doctors were picking their way through the crop, clearly knowing what they needed.
Overhead, Kerven heard the comforting sound of the first dropship, coming to put out the fires and provide support from above.
"March!" he roared to his warriors and the net pushed ahead, giving room for other ships to land and pick up the precious seeds.
Hopefully, Paula as well.
One ship managed to land and the Terrans began throwing the seeds into the cargo hold, no longer bothering to pick, taking everything they could reach in the hope it would be of some help. It was for the best, because the situation was going downhill fast.
The heat was growing to be almost unbearable. Brions were naturally inclined to tolerate everything, but the Terrans were suffering. Coughing, trying to cover their mouths - nothing helped. They could barely stay out in the open for a minute before running back to the tunnel.
Kerven couldn't imagine the air there was anything better. He gritted his teeth, hoping Paula was okay as he struck down another Hoola, wild-eyed and ferocious.
His comm link crackled. Major Burton's rough voice spoke:
"Captain, the grove is lost! My men can't let themselves burn for those damn seeds! Get out of there! We have what we need!"
Hoping that was true, Kerven confirmed he'd heard the man.
"Pull back!" he called to his warriors, the net starting to tighten again.
Looking around, the captain saw that most of the Terrans were gone. The fires around them burned so brightly it was like daylight.
"Has Dr. Allen left?" he yelled over the deafening noise as he made his way to the mouth of the dropship.
"She went to get one more," a Terran pilot replied over his shoulder, pointing right into the furnace.
Kerven looked.
Right between two trees fully in flames, was Paula. There was a gigantic Eden seed in her hands – and a hundred Hoolas rushing her way.
The captain was running before he registered the movement.
"Hold!" he called to the warriors who tried to follow him.
Following him would be suicide for most of them. He would not have it on his conscience.
He dashed through the flames so fast he barely felt the heat. Even so, he had to watch the first sword fall.
15
Paula
She was toast.
Literally, Paula managed to think as the flames formed a circle around her.
Even forming a thought was getting to be difficult in that heat. In her last moments, she had to wonder if it was all worth it. The enormous Eden seed in her hand was ripe and perfect, exactly what they needed. She could save a planet with it, she held a planet's fate in her hands...
It was all she could do not to let go. The grove was a raging sea of fire and Paula was completely and utterly lost. All her training, every last course she'd ever taken – she remembered nothing, except for the warning.
In dangerous, uncertain situations, don't assume you know better.
She had, though. The seed had been lying right there under a large tree and Paula had dashed for it, not listening to the others calling her back. Even the Brions were already retreating and it wasn't that hard to slip between their lines. After all, they were trying to keep anyone from getting in rather than stopping people from getting out.
It had turned out to be a huge mistake.
Now they were going to burn together, her and the Eden seed.
It wasn’t the temperature that got her, but the Hoolas. They blocked her path back, trapping her between the roaring flames and their sharpened swords.
Her mind was scrambling for a way out, clutching the seed to her chest, finding nothing but unhelpful ideas. She could only concentrate on two things, one happy and one sad.
They'd gotten what they needed, Paula was almost sure of that. Definitely enough to at least get them started. They had the brains of the entire Galactic Union at their disposal. Surely one of them would be able to grow more when provided with one of the seeds, if not a Palian then a Terran botanist.
For some reason, it had turned out that Terrans really had the whole ‘nurture’ thing down better than anyone else when it came to plants.
Her mission was a success. It brought a tired, feverish smile to her lips as her grip around the seed weakened as the heat threatened to overwhelm her.
The other thought was not nearly as pleasant. Quite the opposite.
It was Kerven. The captain's face swam before her eyes, bringing tears to obscure her vision even more. Through the smoke, she saw angry Hoolas closing in on her. Their intent was pretty obvious to anyone who understood the purpose of swords.
She wanted to call out, to run. There wasn’t anywhere to go.
Kerven, she whispered in her mind, because her lungs no longer seemed to be working.
It hurt like nothing ever had. She'd endured many things in the service, had surgery performed on herself – none of it compared to the thought of never seeing the captain again. She wanted to, so badly.
More than anything in the world, Paula ached for a second chance in that moment when life flashed before her eyes. To see him, to stop fighting him when everything she'd wanted from the beginning was to lose to him.
She wished she could reach out her arm and he would be –
There.
He was almost there.
So were the Hoolas.
Paula's mouth opened in a scream even if no sound came out. The enemy was so close, she could see the light reflecting from their poisoned blades.
One of them dashed ahead, clearly a champion of
some kind because he was bigger than the rest. He snarled something in a language Paula didn't speak, but the message was clear enough. The sword came down and she finally found her voice.
"Kerven!" she screamed.
She'd managed to miss the blow. Miraculously, amazingly, she'd dodged the right way, falling down in the process. Her luck wouldn't hold much longer, that much was obvious. The enemy was standing right in front of her, the others only a few feet away, how could he possibly miss...
Instinctively, Paula covered herself with the only thing she had in hand – the Eden seed. The Hoola champion's blade struck the seed in her hand so hard it made her shake from the impact. The sword was embedded into the hard, thick shell of it.
Paula saw the confusion and angry disappointment in the enemy's eyes. He was roaring at her, trying to pull the blade free, but in the next second, Kerven was there.
She only saw the sharp Brion spear cut through the air and then she was looking at the champion's head flying somewhere into the blazing grove. The others didn't even waver, showing no signs of mourning at all.
Perhaps they weren't that close.
Clearly she was beginning to lose her mind, Paula concluded. It was hard, keeping her head lucid when there was such chaos around her, and air was a luxury she was no longer provided with.
Kerven was standing almost of top of her, the enemies pushing closer with every second. Paula wanted to help, fumbling for her gun while trying to hold onto the large seed.
"Stay!" Kerven bellowed to her. "More are coming!"
She didn't even want to know what that meant. From her position nearly on her back, Paula could only see the feet of the enemies. There were so many. It looked like the entire Hoola army had suddenly decided to gather around them.
Considering they'd lost, Paula figured they were hungry for revenge.
A few days ago, she'd compared her job to that of the butcher's. It only took her half a minute of watching Kerven fight the Hoolas to understand what that really meant, and that it couldn’t have been the furthest from the truth. If one of the two of them was a butcher, it was definitely Kerven, right down to knowing where the ligaments were and how to cut through them effortlessly.
She was showered with blood, pieces of the enemy falling all around her. At times, she had to claw her way through corpses to be able to breathe at all. The press of bodies was insane as the enemies didn't give Kerven one second to rest.
"Be ready!" the captain called to her then. "I need to get you out of here!"
Paula agreed. She just didn't see a way in which that could happen. From her perspective, the entire grove was filled with burning people. She could have sworn the furthest Hoolas were actually catching fire, their howls echoing across the field.
It was utterly insane. She watched Kerven fight, practically crouching behind his knees with the seed pressed to her chest, unable to believe that even a man like that could get them out of that mess. What hope did they have against people who hated them so much they were literally ready to burn?
Then Kerven bent down and hoisted her up over his shoulder. Paula had just enough presence of mind to grab the Eden seed with her, holding it with arms, refusing to let go of her prize.
From the advantage of Kerven's broad frame, she could see what had become of the battle.
There was no battle, that was the answer. It was a pure, inglorious massacre. Both sides were pouring fire on each other, seeing that the war was about to end one way or another. Both wanted to leave the enemy with nothing but bitter memories of them.
The captain was still fighting, making his way through the mass of the Hoolas. Paula assumed he was going for the tunnel, but it was impossible to see and tell for sure. All she knew was that they were chased and aimed at. The Hoolas had drawn guns and were shooting at them.
Kerven was protecting her with his own body, shielding her from the blasts with his armor. Even then, he was still fighting. With one hand, looking around to see where he needed to turn to protect her, Kerven was slowly getting them out of there.
It was so ludicrous, so unbelievable that Paula wanted to remember it forever. There was nothing warm and fuzzy about the memory. Just the fact that if the sight of Kerven letting himself be torn to pieces by guns and blades for her sake wasn't worth keeping, what was?
"Tunnel up ahead," Kerven called to her and Paula thought she could just make out the mouth of the passageway. "The ship is gone and others can't land. Can you walk?"
Walk, or run?
"Yes!" Paula answered back as loudly as she could and after a moment, her feet touched the ground.
Away from the flames, it was easier to think and move, but nowhere was safe anymore. Paula knew the tunnel had to be filled with smoke and dust. It was also their only way out of there, so they had to get going.
It felt like she hadn’t taken a breath in a lifetime.
No one else seemed to be around. They were alone.
"Go!" Kerven roared over the sound of the Hoolas picking up a furious battle cry. "Run!"
Paula ran. Half-limping, half-running, she dove into the mouth of the tunnel, still clutching that ridiculous seed. Immediately, the thin air made her cough.
She didn't stop, running down the blessedly empty path. Kerven followed her, keeping the enemies away from her, backing into the passageway with fast, short steps.
"Major!" she screamed into the comm link on her wrist. "Detonate the tunnel from the grove's side!"
There was an indistinctive reply. She couldn’t have guessed at the words half a second later, they were simply gone, never having really touched her consciousness.
Then the tunnel collapsed. From both sides. All sides, really, as a tremendous impact knocked them all to the ground.
Paula scrambled to her feet, trying to see anything in the sudden darkness. In the few flickering lights that had survived the crash, the reality was worse than she'd thought.
They were buried alive. With a hundred Hoolas, no air and no way out.
16
Kerven
They were going to die.
The realization hit Kerven like a knife to the heart. He didn't need more than a second to analyze the situation and understand that their chances for survival were slim. Almost non-existent, in fact.
The tunnel had collapsed. It was dug deep so the Hoolas wouldn't see or hear them coming and now it was about to become a grave for him and his gesha. It had already been filled with smoke from the burning grove, now they were living on the mercy of the last remaining oxygen.
There were way too many breathers in the tunnel as well. That was a problem for him to solve. The captain only wished it guaranteed Paula's escape, knowing that it unfortunately did not. He was fighting a clock and the enemy both for the first time in his life.
Somewhere, his warriors at least had to be working on getting them out, for they certainly couldn't dig their own way through.
He had to keep himself and Paula alive until that moment.
All that took Kerven half a moment to figure out. Then he was moving, the spear twirling in his hand. More so than ever before he realized the truth of the spear being an extension of a warrior. It was like one of his hands was a long, sharp claw, cutting the enemies open.
Everything would have been fine, if it hadn't been for the cramped, claustrophobic space of the tunnel. As soon as the enemies got on their feet, they had to realize they were as good as dead.
Kerven thought he noticed the moment when one of them saw Paula behind him, still cradling her treasure. He couldn't understand the gargled cry, but the meaning was easy enough to understand when every last one of them started scrambling for her.
The captain discovered with a sinking heart that they could climb. Unlike him in the large armor, the Hoolas were light and the claws on their hands were sharp enough to hold them. He could move when he needed to, could even have reached the tunnel roof jumping... It made no difference.
The numbers were finally an enemy.
"Take cover!" he roared to Paula, trusting the authority in his voice to make her obey at a time when the fraction of a second counted.
She heard, ducking behind a fallen rock and pulling her gun from her hip and dropping the seed beside her. Firing into the attacking group, she took down several of them.
The others kept coming. Some of them had guns, a fact which he noticed only because of the flashes Paula’s weapon made, illuminating their cramped location.
Kerven lost track of time and space. All he saw and heard and felt was Paula, her beautiful blue eyes alight with fierce refusal to die every time she fired the weapon. She was absolutely gorgeous in her defiance, even if he noticed how pale she was and how badly she coughed.
He pushed his way through the crowd of Hoolas. No careful picking or making sure the ones he stepped on were dead first. The captain only had one goal in mind and he went through them with sheer force and bulk. He could feel bones breaking under his boots, heard the screams of those he trampled on his way to Paula.
She was doing her part. For a healer, she knew how to aim and had no trouble taking lives as easily as he'd seen her saving them before. Keeping her back to the boulder she was hiding behind, Paula fired without pause, only wincing when the returned shots went by too closely.
He reached her side, feeling like her closeness was enough to revitalize him. Turning to the Hoolas with a fierce snarl, Kerven began cutting down their lines once more, making sure he kept the most dangerous of them off Paula.
He quickly discovered it was almost all of them. The ones that had come into the tunnel with them weren't the same kind he'd fought before, out in the grove. They were thicker, faster, deadlier. Some sort of elite unit of the Hoola army, now pressing down to kill one of them as a comfort victory.
Kerven wasn't going to let it happen.
Yet even he had to admit he was hard-pressed in the tight, almost airless corridor where the enemies surrounded him on all sides, in three hundred and sixty degrees. He could feel cuts in his armor, the poisoned swords breaking into the weaker joint spots of his gear. His system was working overtime to compensate for all that as he cut and broke anything in his path.
