by Nyk Nova
“Forget it. The weapons teams on those things are too well armed and they’ve got magic barriers around the controls. Anyone not on their teams can’t operate the ship,” Tuk said with finality, hoping the matter would be dropped.
“How do you know that?” Payce asked.
Tuk looked around the room at everyone’s shocked face. “I snuck onto one once. Almost got my head shot off for it, too. Trust me, those things are well equipped for offense.”
Kade gestured to the Rekoul weapons. “So are we. And even better, we have two war veterans.”
“What about the magic barrier?”
“I might have an idea or two,” Payce said. “If I could get through it, do you think you could work the system, Lyra?”
She looked between Kade and Payce, a smile forming. “If you can get me to it.”
A sudden shot rang from outside of the depot. Those in the housing stood, silently waiting for more.
Two more echoed through the air and the group grabbed the nearest guns and rushed out of the door.
Coy’t stood, gun aimed forward. He was shaking. Kade looked to Roland who only shook his head. Kade had seen enough cadets and first timers to know Coy’t had never shot anyone before. And unless he’d dealt with the Rekoul, it wan’t likely that he had ever been shot at.
Kade stepped beside Coy’t and pushed the rifle down, keeping his eyes on the dark figure laying face down in the path.
“Is he?” Coy’t asked. “Is he—”
“Stay here,” Kade said, stepping toward the figure.
The dead individual was dressed in black and purple. Kade carefully placed his foot on the body. There was no movement. He rolled it over and saw the clear markings of a Lugazian soldier.
“I’d say there’s a survey ship here,” Kade said.
14
Tuk and Coy’t dragged the dead Lugaz troop into the depot, getting it out of sight in case more showed up.
“There should be enough guns for each of us to carry two,” Kade said. “Coy’t’s gunshots have probably alerted the others to opposition. So if we’re going to move, it needs to be now.”
“Slow down,” Tuk said. “You might have been a General on Osceria but this is Razen. You don’t get to show up and take over on day one.” He turned to Roland.
“I would agree that haste is the order of the day. It is a good call from Kade. But perhaps we would be wise to discover our target before stepping into complete unknowns.”
“Crows nest!” Coy’t shouted, full of adrenaline after his first fire fight and eager for action.
“Not you,” Tuk said. “Kade. You go up.” Tuk walked to a storage crate and rummaged through it. “Take these.” He produced a pair of binoculars. “Get a good read on what we’re dealing with. If Roland figures you best for making decisions right now, I trust you.”
“It’s on the roof,” Jal said.
Kade grabbed the binoculars and made his way outside. The air was quiet as though the wind itself went silent at the sudden tension. Kade took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dark before making his way to the side of the weapons depot.
His Rekoul side arm was aimed in front of him as he crept through the tall grass. The night sky gave him enough visibility to notice the ladder from up close. He grasped the rungs and made his way up.
From the top of the depot, it was easy to spot any movements on the ground. Even at night, he had no obstructions in his field of vision. Something that would have been handy when dealing with the Giths.
A swooping sound broke the silence and Kade’s head shot up to see a winged shadow passing by the stars. It was large enough that Kade wasn’t sure his hand gun would be enough to deal with whatever the flying beast was. He crouched down, trying to blend with the roof of the depot. His hope was that the beast didn’t have night vision. The Rekoul may have been the dominant species on Razen but that didn’t make them invincible.
The creature continued on, unconcerned with Kade and the Oscerian made his way to the ladder leading up to the crows nest.
Higher up was even better for visibility. He could only imagine how things looked during the day. As dangerous as it was, he could tell that Razen was actually a beautiful planet. With the exceptions of a few artificial structures such as the depot, that were strewn along the surface, it had been left alone by the more advanced civilizations and able to thrive as a wild wilderness.
A clanking sound grabbed Kade’s attention and he continued upward, finally arriving at a small platform. He stepped onto the metal plate and gazed out, searching for any sign of a ship. He didn’t have to look long or far. He wasn’t entirely convinced he even needed the binoculars, the survey ship was so close.
Upon better inspection, Kade could clearly see the ship and the crew around it.
“They actually lit the space up?” he whispered.
He moved the binoculars just slightly and stopped at the sight of three Rekoul hunters finishing some sort of exchange with a Lugazian.
“Playing both sides, eh?”
Kade moved on to another section of the survey field. There were three armed guards on one side of the ship. Kade figured there would be three more on the other side. The survey crew going about its work didn’t appear to be armed, but that didn’t mean they weren’t. Then there were those aboard the ship. Kade furrowed his brow, curious about why Lugaz was even on Razen to begin with. And if this wasn’t the first time, what had they done before? Except for proximity to Osceria, there was nothing of value on the planet.
“What are you doing here?” he muttered as if to the survey crew, continuing to monitor their movements and put together a strategy of some sort.
He looked down at the depot below, thinking about the Oscerians inside. “They’re terrorists, Kade, not soldiers,” he said of his new acquaintances. “But it’s the best we’ve got, for now.”
“I count six guards plus the five man survey crew,” Kade told the others inside the depot.
“Six against six?” Tuk asked. “It’s not perfect.”
“Do you still have that talisman?”
“Spirit Division is out. The talisman cracked saving you.”
“Thank you for the sacrifice.”
“No need. We’re better armed now. That’s thanks enough.”
Kade nodded his appreciation. “This is not gong to be the best tactic we have.”
“Splitting up rarely is,” Payce said.
“We’re not splitting up,” Kade told him. “We stay together. It’s six of us against two waves of three. If the survey crew is armed, they’re small arms weapons. We can take them down easily enough. We take out the first three guards then hit the next three.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Jal said with some trepidation.
“If you’ve been on Razen for years, you know how to shoot a gun,” Kade said. It wasn’t much of a moral booster or a pep talk. There was nothing dignified about an ambush when there was no war. But like Tuk had said, Razen changes a person.
They made their way through the forest between the depot and the survey ship, careful of their footing. Kade and Tuk took the lead with Roland bringing up the rear and everyone else in between.
Kade glanced over his shoulder at the strewn together battle unit. Everyone except Coy’t had their guns aimed forward and eyes down the sights. What it took days of training for soldiers to get used to, these people had probably learned in a single night. Coy’t kept his gun at his hip. If nothing else, his aim— while inaccurate— might pin enemy combatants down.
“Have you considered what happens when we get back to Osceria?” Tuk asked.
“Find Pan Argus and make him admit what he did,” Kade replied.
“Is that your tactic for everything? Charge forward and find victory? They’re calling you Assassin of Emperors. You won’t make it within five blocks of the palace.”
“Then I’ll fly this survey ship on top of it and get in that way.”
“Roland may believe i
n you. But I will not follow a man with a mind bent on revenge. That way leads to mistakes. Mistakes that could get all of us killed.”
Kade turned to Tuk. The man was right. If he was going to convince his entire world of his innocence, he was going to need a calmer head than that.
A strobe of light broke through the brush and Kade stopped, holding his hand up for the others to do the same. “This is it,” he said.
“Nothing on our six,” Roland said. His voice had a high level of pride in it. He was happy to be in a military formation again.
Kade smiled slightly, imagining how this must have been what it was like for his father to fight alongside Roland.
“Roland, form up on me. Jal, take his position,” Kade ordered.
The old soldier complied immediately. Jal was a little slower. She wasn’t used to the jargon but she had figure it out to Kade’s satisfaction.
“Sitrep?” Roland asked.
Kade knelt to the ground and pointed at the different areas the guards were stationed. “The guards are roughly five yards apart.”
“That’s a wide hole, General.”
“It is. Places us in a crossfire as well. But if we go in—all together— right up the middle. Two shots in the center guard, you and Tuk put two in the others, that will take them out.”
“From there, we spread out for the crew and fire off on the last three,” Roland suggested.
“Exactly.”
“Risky but simple.”
Roland turned to inform the others of the plan while Tuk moved closer to Kade.
“You sure you don’t want to split up? We could surround them. Take them from the safety of the trees.”
“I have no doubts of everyone’s ability to shoot. It’s the accuracy that concerns me. Even I have trouble with Rekoul weapons. Every miss gives the Lugazians a clearer shot.”
“Then on your order, General.”
“Company,” Kade whispered. “Forward.”
The six of them moved forward with Kade at the front, Roland and Tuk at his side. The very second they stepped through into the opening, Kade fired two shots. The first missed but the second one found its mark. Tuk readied his shot but Coy’t got him first.
“That’s not the plan!” Tuk yelled.
The overeager shot put them all in the Lugazian’s crosshairs.
“Fan out!” Kade ordered as he rushed toward the ship. Like so much of Razen, there was no cover to be had anywhere. The only thing any of them could do was shoot while moving.
Roland took his target out then turned on a crew member who was drawing his side-arm. “Survey team is armed!” He fired at the man, putting him down.
Jal fired several rounds at a crew man, all of them misses. Lyra fired at a sudden guard on top of the ship. Her shots missed as well but they’d saved Jal from being hit.
“Forward!” Kade yelled as he ran toward the ship entrance.
Tuk fired a spray of bullets at the guards rushing in from the other side of the ship.
The whole strategy had gone lopsided. Kade had hoped the Oscerians would have been better shots than they’d so far proven. Jal had a good weapons stance but her targeting was horrible. Lyra seemed decent at suppressive fire. Coy’t was a lost cause and Tuk was re-proving his lack of discrimination when it came to gun fire.
He didn’t bother checking on Roland. He knew the old soldier was doing fine. Kade fired at a nearby guard who’d found cover behind the ship’s front hover well. He fired one shot at the ground, keeping the guard pinned. The Rekoul weapon was getting heavier with each shot as the kickback of the thing was sapping his strength.
Kade pushed his legs to run harder. The guard finally spun out from his cover but he was crouched down. Kade dropped the heavy weapon and launched himself at the Lugazian, throwing all of his weight into the tackle.
The two of them fell to the ground where Kade got hold of his rifle. Even while grappling for control of the gun, Kade could tell the difference in weight relative to the Rekoul weapon.
The two jostled while gunfire went off around them. A solid punch to the face put Kade on his side, giving the guard room to pin him down and gain the upper hand.
As long as the gun didn’t point at him, Kade was relatively safe but pushing up was harder than down.
The guard sneered, eager to put a bullet in Kade. Oscerians had a bronze complexion about them while the Lugazians were a pale white. Without saying a word, the guard had known who these attackers were.
“I’ve never killed an Oscerian before,” the guard said.
“And you never will,” the disembodied voice of Payce said before two gun shots put the guard on the ground.
Kade shuffled to his feet as Payce emerged from thin air.
“That would have been nice to know about, before,” Kade said.
“I’m sure. But that was the last time I can do it.”
“Victory is ours!” Roland shouted.
Kade smiled and looked up at the ship. “OK, everyone, let’s get on board. But stay alert. We don’t know who’s inside the ship.”
“You going to put in a good word for us when we get back home?” Tuk asked as he and the others approached the ship.
“As soon as I clear my name, I promise to do what I can.”
Jal winced at a pain in her leg.
“She was hit,” Lyra said. Nothing serious but she’ll need help walking.
Kade nodded and they made their way to the survey ship’s entrance.
A sound of steam emanated from the cargo bay door and a single shot blasted out, hitting Coy’t in the head. He was dead before hitting the ground.
“No!” Tuk yelled, swinging his weapon up. It was immediately shot out of his hand.
Kade looked on as three armored troops stepped from the other side of the doors. Behind them were four more guards. Each of them aiming guns at the Oscerians.
“Drop your weapons!” one of the guards ordered.
Tuk was the first to do as told. Kade watched as the others begrudgingly followed.
“Now, Oscerian trash!”
Kade finally dropped his gun.
An unarmed woman wearing the colors of Lugaz approached them. She wore a hat that held the emblem of their home world. An arrogant metal disk of the planet Lugaz.
She stepped right to Kade and stared him in the eyes. “Kade’Tor Lorenth. This is a surprise.” She smiled and surveyed the carnage outside of the ship. The sight of so many of her dead fellow Lugazians didn’t seem to have much of an impact on her. “Well, in light of your sudden appearance, I suppose it is your lucky day. I admit my shock when I saw you leading an attack on our ship. My first thought was to execute you, myself. But I think I have a better idea. She will be most pleased to see you. I can only imagine the plans she could have for you.”
“Who?” Kade asked.
“Who else?” The woman asked, smiling. “Empress Jer’ren.”
15
The black and purple robes of Empress Jer’ren Revanche billowed as the breeze whisked at them. She gazed out at her city from the balcony of the palace war room. Her alabaster skin reflected what light shone up from the ground below, giving her robes an even darker hue.
Lugaz was a large planet with a dark hemisphere and a dusk hemisphere. The cosmic body orbited a distant star, locked into a gravity well that did not allow for it to rotate. This rare planetary orbit kept one side of Lugaz in the dark while the other remained in perpetual dusk. The effects of no direct sunlight had left Lugaz’s inhabitants a pale skin tone.
The city lights that lined the streets illuminated nearly every corner of the Capital City. Hardly any shadows or places to hide existed. It was a perfect environment for the despotic Jer’ren who demanded order and obedience from her subjects. Nothing escaped the sights of her watchers or police force. And they were always watching for any signs of treason.
She inhaled the stale air and smiled at the stone buildings, devoid of character or any real color. Those structures that w
ere more than drab gray were adorned with the flags and banners of the Lugazian color scheme of black and purple. A sight that only reminded the citizens of who controlled their lives.
Despite the iron hand of their ruler, many of the inhabitants were worry free. All of their needs were met according to the whims of their Empress. There was no suffering or hunger. No fighting for scraps. It was a perfect dystopia.
“Did you or did you not surrender our very forces, General Tare?” A voice boomed from inside, breaking Jer’ren’s focus.
The calm Empress turned to the commotion and listened.
“It was not as simple as that,” Tare said.
“You responded to an attack on your Siege Machine like a coward hiding in a corner!”
“Says you so called military advisors, while you stay as far away from the field of battle as possible,” Tare shot back. It was evident that he was embarrassed enough at the loss to Osceria. But to have these supervisors chide him and accuse him of cowardice when they would have done the same was infuriating.
“It is not our position to—”
“Please, gentlemen,” Jer’ren said. “We are being overly hostile to the dear General who tried so hard to bring us victory over the Oscerians.”
“My lady, if I may,” one of the heavier set advisors said.
Jer’ren smiled. “You may not, M’ruy.”
The others kept their silence. There was an ominous tone in her voice. It was one they’d all heard before. Tare’s hands began to tremble from fear as the royal guards at the door tightened their grips on their Heat Pikes. The spear tip of the weapons glowed with a burning red. The pikes were especially adept at melting through armor.
The General placed both hands behind his back, squeezing his fingers to keep from showing fear. He’d done that once already in front of Kade.
“General Tare,” Jer’ren said.
“Yes, my Empress.”
“You must be pleased to be home.”
“I am.”
I am surprised Osceria did not keep you as a prisoner of war.”
