by M. Garnet
Bogdan took to the places that no one else could use, the thin beams above the lights, many stories high over the collection of movement on the main floor. Over what had been her workplace and often her sleeping spot under her bench, he looked down to see complete destruction.
With his strength and speed, he was on the floor and tossing aside all the pieces to confirm that Magda was not within the tangle. He didn’t feel relief when he didn’t find her body. He just had to continue his search.
He looked around and saw the female with a food cart. He went directly to her.
“I am looking for the worker Magda, who was there. Where did those people go?”
The cart worker froze in fear of the Assassin, looking up at the handsome male. She had heard the rumors of him moving through the hallways.
“Sir, I think they took the injured to the temporary med center near the back exit on the outer side. Others are out in the middle helping wherever they can.”
Bogdan thought for only a moment. If she were at the med center she was being taken care of, if she was foolish enough to try to help others, she would be out on the busy floor with hundreds. He moved up on a bent section of unidentifiable metal, then saw the Heir in a middle of highly alert and fully armed protective guards.
He dropped down and made his way over to Quill’s location. The guards doing their job covered the Assassin with heavy duty weapons to protect the Heir.
Quill’s voice could be heard, even in the echoing noisy cave. “Step down guards, I need this male for advice.”
As Bogdan approached through the opening of guards, he listened to Quill giving instructions, even as the ground shook again.
“Get word up to Advisor Dee that we have storage vials of the Threads that we need to get out to the other caves.”
General Sachim was signing floating screens for an attendant, but turned to his royal leader. “Sir, at this time anything we put in the air will be destroyed instantly.”
Quill turned those blazing green eyes on the head of his military. “This is a water planet. Small space ships are waterproof. Do not use the boosters. Instead use the electric motors that run from our own Threads. Put them in the edge of the water, load them and send them off to other caves. Get as many off as possible and put as many vials on each small ship as possible.”
With all the noise reflected in the cave there was silence around the group, as Quilliam’s instructions began to sink in with the implications.
Bogdan would have laughed, if his face ever allowed emotions to show. As Quill’s idea commenced to seem reasonable, all eyes went from Quill, to small ships, to the outside water’s waves and back to the small ships.
Commander Sachim proved his worth, as he reacted immediately. “Get me some pilots and lets load as many vials as possible to any small ships that are ready to fly. Everyone move now.” His voice was that of a military leader and it got the results needed. Beings of all types started to move.
Quill looked over at the Assassin. “Is my mother safe?”
Bogdan nodded. “She had a small fainting spell, but I am sure her maid Tet has her awake by this time. She is in a royal secure vault. I hope she has a way to exit once it is safe enough.”
The Assassin watched the youth close his eyes and frown then he opened those green glass eyes and nodded. “I have put a safety closure on the vault door. There are several ways she can exit, just not right now.”
Everyone looked around as another explosion took out the lights and some of the power in the large entry cave.
Commander Sachim spoke. “Damn, we need to get some external Threads to the two power stations. I need a couple volunteers.”
Bogdan nodded. “I can get to the one at the top exit. I travel faster and through different areas than your people. Put the vials into a backpack and I will leave immediately.”
With Commander Sachim giving orders, there were soon two heavy vials secured within a military backpack. Bogdan saw no reason to delay.
****
During the War…
In this rare and strange war, the provokers had forgotten several items. They were attacking a planet and government with untold riches, unbelievable power and an intelligence that no one could comprehend.
True, the small government was outnumbered. The thought was that the single planet could be shut off from the rest of the many systems. They would no longer have access to imports or exports. The opinion was that keeping this powerful world isolated would mean they would have to live on their own abilities and productions. Could this storm planet live on its own resources? After all it didn’t have the farming lands a lot of planets had to raise grain and food animals.
It took only the turn of the planet one time for power to turn back on in each of the cave cities around the world. No matter how hard the explosions hit, the power was revived. Most forgot that the natives of this planet survived on their own, finding ways to make grain and meat within caves.
It was only a quarter of one season before the first marauders started to try to break through the blockades. These were independent mercenaries that might even have been hired by some government that needed the Threads of Targent. A blockade worked both ways, nothing in and nothing out. That meant that there were some systems out there that weren’t involved in the war and had not stockpiled any power.
It was suddenly felt, in small areas, that the blockade had some pressure from the outside as well as from the planet it surrounded.
****
The dangerous Assassin finished his assignment without any problems. Workmen were waiting for the Threads to change over and bring unlimited power to everything and everyone in the Royal City cavern. Communication and transportation in small areas was available.
Now it was time to find Magda and get her somewhere safe until this war was over. The good thing about the attackers was that they couldn’t land on this storm planet. They had only tried to come into one cave landing zone. They had been totally decimated. Before they even hit the ground they discovered the fact that the cave had a force field thrown up over the large open entrance.
Force fields of this size were not supported anywhere else except on the storm planet, due to two facts. One was that the natives of the planet had grown up within the caves and soon had to find a way to protect themselves from the heavy storms. There was also the fact that the storm planet gave them power on an unlimited nature to make force fields of any size. Strange how greedy individuals just couldn’t remember all the details, because they lived on their own abilities and supplies.
The natural weather of the planet itself prevented anyone from landing on the top surfaces. No one had done the weather study and the distant moon was in its closest swing. That meant constant heavy storms.
Added to that was the constant bombardment that the idiots in the ships rained down from satellite distance. Bogdan knew if Magda lived, and he felt she did, she would still be here, in this enormous landing and storage area.
He finally went to the med center, surprised at the calm and order that surrounded this core of injured and repairs for the living. Robotic arms and floating screens reporting to beings that looked after scores of the injured. The trained personnel who were making decisions moved with competency.
This was a temporary med center to save and separate the injured. Injured were moved out and up to another secure med center just one floor up, once a being was stabilized.
No one questioned or got in the way of the tall, black clad Assassin as he moved through, checking for her face. Next he went to the records and watched the faces flash by on the air in front of his eyes, but she was not here. He needed to get back to the floor.
“Excuse me, sir. His Highness requests you join him immediately.”
The Assassin had been aware as the soldier approached. An Assassin was always aware of everything and everyone around his sphere of action. Bogdan was the best of the assassins. He kept his talents honed and knew where every being around him
was, as they moved. He knew this soldier brought him a message from the Heir.
His need to find Magda was a burning inside of him more he had ever felt for another since he had been left outside the gates of the Assassin’s League. The Society didn’t waste time on soft feelings, you grew tough and survived or you failed. Growing tough meant he hardened his mind and heart and made no friends. But now he had a friend, worse the one friend was female. He would think on this later, when he found her.
“Where is your Leader?” Bogdan asked as he turned.
The soldier bowed low. “By the outer door where they are converting craft for underwater use, Sir.”
Without any further comment, the Assassin was up among the beams where he could travel without hindrance to join Quill. He soon looked down at the youth directing the work on the small ships.
Perhaps he did have another friend. What would Master Misrot think of such attachments? The black clad Assassin dropped down next to the black clad Royal Heir. Guards immediately drew weapons.
“Your guards would have let an Assassin have your vein before they got their weapons high enough. Tell their captain to train them that half of them should point upward and half should point at the middle at all times. Speed counts.” Bogdan swung his shadow cape close, as he ignored the weapons pointed in his direction.
Quill looked up from the Thread he held in his hand, to a soldier. “You heard his instructions.”
Quill handed the Thread to a worker, who handled the power with long metal tongs to take it to other workers that were around the back of a small ship.
Quill turned to the Assassin. “My fathers left me weapons. They told me one day I would need those weapons. Those amazing minds that no longer think like us normal beings forgot to tell me where they hid the weapons.” Quill looked over at the storm out on the ocean. “I think I can figure out how to use them, but I must find them. Can you help?”
The Assassin also looked out at the ocean. “There is a gem stone in the upper reaches of this cavern. I thought it was a strange place to store such a valuable small item. Perhaps I should go up and retrieve it.”
Quill would have laughed at anyone else saying such a ridiculous statement. From this tall, dark skinned male with the long white haired braid, he could do nothing but smile in acceptance.
“I think, my fighting teacher, I would greatly appreciate it if you were to do just that. I will wait here and get relaxation from the storm.”
A nod of his head and Bogdan was again among the beams. This was not an instant job. The gem he remembered and puzzled about was high. It was buried up in the deepest crack of the final split of rock that was the final untouched portion of the top section of the cavern.
The cross beams stopped below its location and he used his own strong body to inch upward. His back was on one rock wall and his legs pushed on the other as the crack narrowed to the point that held the green gem. The thought hit the Assassin that the gem was exactly like the green glitter of the Heir’s eyes.
Struggling upward, discarding his clothes to give him more room and traction, he ignored the deep scratches into his back, as he inched higher. One last thrust with a knee and his long arm at last could reach the gem.
It burned, harsh and deep. He pulled back in confusion. Bogdan hesitated then yanked off his last bit of clothing, his cloth covering his groin.
Quill turned to find his guard once again caught by surprise as the dark Assassin dropped among them. For the first time since the explosions had begun, Quill smiled. Holding out a hand with a cloth wrapped item, was the entirely nude Master Assassin.
Quill took the offering from the hand, but had to add a low voiced comment. “As usual my friend, you came through as promised. But I see why the females in my city whisper about your sexual powers. Perhaps you would like to retire to treat your wounds and get dressed.”
With the dignity only a trained assassin could do when surrounded by dozens of soldiers and weapons, while totally naked, Bogdan nodded. As Bogdan started to reach up for a beam he heard Quill call to him.
“Assassin, the one you seek is at the damaged big ship, helping to pull out the small cells.”
Chapter Four
After the War….
Minel was pulled out of the work section with four other female prisoners. It was time to go for an additional med check. They already had a very invasive check by med bots when they were first brought into the buried city.
Minel, being an officer, training for intelligence, was beginning to understand why the attackers weren’t doing much damage to the inhabitants of this world. The natives all seemed to live underground.
She was a captive for a long gathering of time, before she and others discovered that they were actually at the site where the royal family lived, deep below the surface of the planet. The asses that commanded the military to move in close to this planet based on the fact that, when the war launched, the planet based natives wouldn’t fight back. They just seemed to protect themselves.
That was, until overconfidence got so many war ships in close and suddenly a green flash rose out, surrounding and expanding from the planet and when it hit anything with a Thread of Targent in it, there was an explosion. Since the Threads were in anything that living creatures used to move in space, especially war ships, in order to travel fast and far, they detonated.
Minel had thought about this interesting weapon many sleep periods, as she lay in her narrow bunk above a female that snored. The very item that the war was fighting for, the Threads was being exploded by the world that provided the Threads. She tried not to think how many had died so uselessly.
It probably would have been better for her to die a quick death in a ship that silently blew apart in airless space. But she lived with her secrets, here to have a med bot look at her.
She was surprised when she was led into an office that held a ranking soldier behind a desk.
“Please have a seat soldier. I have a couple of questions.”
The chair was metal and meant to be uncomfortable. Minel had no trouble ignoring the game.
The officer looked up. “We don’t have any record of you. Your ident that we removed said your name was Minel Waldbuch, but it didn’t indicate a home planet or a military association. We are asking, in the strictest of privacy, if you were impressed? If so, we would release you and move you from the prison facility. In time we will make every attempt to return you to your home world. Would you like to say anything at this time?”
Minel smile as she shook her head. “I volunteered on Det Nine when I was a very young female. They promised me clothes and food and that was more than I was getting at home. Det Nine is a very poor mining planet with a bad atmosphere. When I do get released, I will ask for somewhere else where I can get honest labor, but at least breathable atmosphere. I’m not afraid of hard work.”
The officer looked over her head at someone in the doorway. He nodded. “Okay, you can skip the med bot and return to your assignment.”
Minel didn’t even take a step. She froze in the glare of those treacherous green eyes. The tall wide shoulders blocked the doorway, as his arms were crossed over his chest. Then he turned sideways, not stepping clear of the doorway, but giving her enough room to leave, if she also turned sideways to step past his casual stance.
Minel felt his eyes move over her body. She knew there was nothing exposed from the heavy work uniform, still she felt he was seeing more than what was hidden by the rough material. Strangely, she felt a heat build inside. She thought about emotions, as there were few things that she was afraid of, but there was a lot to emotions hitting her from this ruler of a stormy planet.
Minel took at deep breath, deciding that the best idea was to get away from him as quick as possible. Looking down at his black high boots. She saw the dust on them, as she turned sideways to slide past and through the doorway. She was surprised that she was past him and in the hallway. She took a deep breath then she heard him.
�
��So you won’t share your secrets with my officer.” She only took one more step, but there was something in his voice that stopped her. It was so foolish of her to halt, to wait for more words in that low, deep quiet all male voice.
“I smell you, it is a good smell. Female sweat and core juice.”
Now she did turn with a shudder. Could the mythical ruler of this strange planet be interested in a female? Could he be interested in her? Why? Then she said the word out loud. “Why?”
Your name is Minel?” Then he spelled it out slowly. “M. I. N. E.”
Minel actually huffed. “You forgot…” She looked at his raised eyebrow. No, he did not misspell her name. Now she turned and moved as fast as possible, not caring where she was going, anywhere away from him. What was wrong with her?
Minel refused to allow herself to look back. She knew that she felt an actual sexual response to the one her own superiors called a fiend. A monster that many said should have been destroyed at birth. He was an unholy child who was born of two males that had taken advantage of a slave who was from a forbidden planet.
She finally slowed down and looked around, wondering were she was at and how much trouble she was in, when the guards caught up to take her to holding?
There was a food cart floating in the hallway. A young female worker came out from a doorway to put something on the bottom shelf.
Minel cleared her throat to speak. “Excuse me, I got lost. I was sent to meds for a talk and when I came out I must have turned the wrong way.”
The girl actually giggled. “Yep, these hallways are endless. Too bad they don’t want us using the lifts. Go forward to the second door. It will lead down to a round curving tunnel that will lead you to the ground floor. You can probably find someone there to put you with your group, or send you up to your holding area.”
It was as the girl described, except for one problem. As she came out on the ground floor, she was totally confused. Confusion was not part of her life. Could she escape from this planet?
