Born of Sand (Tales of a Dying Star Book 5)

by Kristoph, David

  The female stinger lurched into motion toward them, roaring in response.

  Mira stood some distance away, feet rooted to the ground.

  Unable to simply watch, Kari groaned as she limped toward the battle. Her finger went to her left thigh, depressing a mechanical switch hidden just beneath the skin, recessed among her quadricep. A tingling feeling spread through her body as the drug seeped into her bloodstream. The initial pain of the wound dimmed, but only barely, so every step sent fire up her calf. I am the blade.

  Farrow continued distracting the smaller monster while Sandra worked on its back, trying to find the weak point. He waved at Kari and yelled something, but the words were carried away by the screeching, scraping, gurgling wails. The larger stinger was nearly there, skittering across the sand in a frenzy of tree-sized legs. To the right, Geral had gotten to his feet and charged forward too.

  Without slowing, the large stinger raised its claw and slammed it down at Farrow. He rolled out of the way, but as he rose the smaller beast's pincer struck him in the chest and knocked him back twenty feet. He bounced on the sand and became still.

  Ignoring Kari's previous advice--or perhaps trying to distract it--Geral approached the big stinger from behind. Without turning, it flattened its tail parallel to the ground and swept horizontally across the sand, throwing Geral aside effortlessly.

  Out of her stupor, Mira began firing her pistol again, the beams bouncing off the female's armor in random directions.

  Kari waved while she moved. "Stop it! You're going to get yourself killed!" She didn't hear. Couldn't she see how close she was? If it so desired, the stinger could descend upon her in a long lunge.

  Sandra still worked atop the smaller stinger, which now spun in circles, trying to get the passenger off its back.

  Almost there, Kari thought as she neared, readying both knives. She'd been able to jump onto the back of the smaller one, but the female was twice as tall. And that was with two good legs. She didn't think she could jump very far, now.

  She was right. Her good leg launched her high enough to reach the stinger's armored thorax, but just barely. With all of her strength she punched her knife as she smacked into the shell. Blessedly, it stuck. Kari hung by an arm, a twenty foot climb from reaching its back.

  Beams of laserfire pinged off the shell around her. Stars damn you, girl, you'll kill us all!

  From the side, Kari could barely see the smaller stinger. Sandra's shape worked furiously between two plates. The female stinger halfheartedly swept her claw at Sandra, obviously cautious of harming the smaller animal.

  Swinging her body sideways, Kari reached up with her free hand and stabbed the second knife with a crunch. That allowed her wrench her right arm free and repeat the motion, swinging up and stabbing a foot higher than before. Who needs legs? she thought as she climbed, grateful that the stinger barely gave her any notice.

  Suddenly a woman's voice cried out in victory. Sandra stuck her hand inside the stinger's shell and ripped free a tangle of green and pink. The nerve bundle!

  The smaller stinger collapsed to the sand, appendages spasming randomly. Sandra threw herself from its back and rolled in the sand. She stopped to take a quick look around.

  Through her knives, Kari felt the female stinger's body tremble as it raised its tail. It descended with frightening speed. Sandra barely got out of the way as it smashed into the sand.

  But it was still too late.

  The bulbous end of the tail burst when it hit the sand, spraying a viscous green liquid in all directions. Where the liquid struck sand it sizzled and hissed, sending steam into the air.

  Where it struck Sandra it burned away cloth and skin and flesh.

  She took the splash of acid in the chest, and in a puff of smoke and steam her insides were on the outside, falling to the sand in red globs. She collapsed in a scream, her legs disintegrating into mangled stubs.

  The stinger moved over top of the writhing pieces of Sandra, bringing its mouth down toward the sand. There were no cries of victory, then. Only the sound of bones cracking open.

  It will be distracted as it feeds, Kari thought, returning to her climb. She couldn't see if Farrow or Geral were okay since the stinger's body blocked them, so it was safest to assume she was now alone. "Run, Mira!" she took the opportunity to yell while the stinger was occupied, the sickening noises of crunching and chewing coming from the beast's mouth. "Get away while you can! Pick a direction and go!"

  The sound of someone retching came as a response.

  Kari's arms were began to tire from the effort of climbing, each knife stab just a little bit weaker. The pain in her leg was returning too, and she would need to put some weight on it when she reached the top. I won't have any time, she thought. All it will need to do is quickly turn sideways and I will lose my footing and fall to the sand. And then she would end up like Sandra.

  Her next knife thrust passed through air, announcing that she had reached the top. She struck downward and pulled herself onto the flat surface.

  The stinger's tail had pulled back after the strike. Instead of curling above its body, it now stuck straight out, parallel to the ground. And in that position the interlocking plates of its shell were spread out, revealing a doughy red surface, soft and weak. The nerve bundle.

  It was only thirty feet away, and the stinger was still distracted by its meal. Suffering the pain in her leg, Kari crawled in that direction.

  She was nearly there when the sound of laserfire resumed.

  "No!" she screamed as the stinger tensed. Its tail curled back up protectively, the shell plates covering its bundle of nerves. The wind ruffled Kari's coat as the stinger whirled around. "Mira, stars damn you, stop!"

  The landscape spun until Mira came into view in front of the beast. She aimed her pistol with both hands, as she'd been taught, one steady shot at a time. I was supposed to save you, Kari thought, pushing to her knees on the stinger's back. Somehow I made you brave and stupid.

  The stinger opened its pincer and pulled it back to strike.

  Suddenly, the entire body shook, as if recoiling from a great blow. It pulled back its claws and roared, a sound like wind and rain and fire all at once. On top of the animal, Kari felt the sound as much as heard it.

  The shaking continued, and then Kari realized it was not the vibrations of sound. She had the sensation of descending, then falling, like the ground were disappearing under her. The ground is disappearing under me, she realized. The stinger was burrowing, disappearing into the sand. And she was still on its back.

  Kari tried to jump aside at the last moment but she lacked the strength. The sand surrounded her. She thrust her hand to the sky as the darkness closed in.

  The rumbling below her grew distant as the stinger fled.

  It was hardly comforting, as the weight of the sand pushed against Kari's body, making it impossible to breathe. She could feel the sun on her outstretched hand, could move it around freely. Help me! The sand invaded all around her, pushing into every open space. It was in her ears and nose, trying to force into her mouth. Her chest pumped in false breaths, begging her to open her mouth and inhale the sand. She held her lips tight against it.

  She had no way to move, could no longer feel her legs. In all the panic, in all the fear, a thought drifted across Kari's mind: a glorious shade of the Empire, suffocated by the sand.

  The thought only lasted a moment. A hand clasped hers, then a second. The sand sloughed off her head and arms as they pulled her free.

  The heat of Saria on her face never felt so good.

  Mira fell next to Kari, panting with effort. Two dark figures stood in the distance, outlined by the sun. Farrow and Geral. They lived. Two stingers against five, and they only suffered one casualty. The Freemen will tell stories about this day.

  If they survived that long.

  Now that the fight was over, and the immediate danger gone, the memory of her mission returned. She looked down at her leg. The sand and blood form
ed a black crust over her entire calf, and rivulets of blood leaked out around the outside. With each second the throbbing became worse.

  Mira rolled her head toward her. "You said laserfire does nothing to its armor," she said, with a note of apology in her voice. "But there's no armor over its eyes. It took me two energy clips, but..."

  "You're lucky," Kari said, pushing to her knee. "Laserfire draws its attention, as you saw. And stingers rarely stand still for so long. If it hadn't just fed on Sandra's body, shooting one of its eyes out would have only made it angrier."

  The reminder of their mutilated and devoured comrade wiped the smile from Mira's face. "It was a mother, trying to protect its child."

  Kari grimaced as she stood. "That wasn't its child. That was its mate. The males are much smaller than the females."

  "Oh."

  A wave of dizziness washed over Kari. "The next... time I give... you an order..." The dunes spun in her vision, like sandy waves, rising and falling.

  The sand shot forward and struck Kari in the face.

  Chapter 18

  Kari heard voices long before she possessed the compulsion to open her eyes. She wanted to hush them, to remain in the dream where she stood on the planet where she'd been born, arms spread, enjoying the soft Melisao rain. Her sisters Beth and Pavani ran circles around her, while her brother Alard splashed in the mud by himself.

  Home. I want to be home.

  Yet the voices were loud, insistent. When Kari finally opened her eyes three figures stood over her. The sky behind them had darkened to twilight.

  "I know as well as you do," Geral was saying. "And I hate it, believe me. But there's nothing for us to do."

  "We can wait." Farrow's voice. "As long as it shitting takes."

  "That could be all night. If that stinger returns..." He sighed, as if resigned to what he had to say. "We cannot risk it. I'm not a heartless man, but we have a regimented procedure for this sort of event. We've trained for it."

  "My answer is no."

  "Farrow, man. I don't want to leave her either, but we need to go."

  "Then go. Take Mira and return to base now. I'll wait until..."

  "She's awake," said Mira.

  They all tilted their heads down. Farrow smiled with immense relief. "About shitting time you woke."

  Kari groaned as she pushed herself onto her elbows. Even that small motion made her head spin. They hadn't gone anywhere, judging by the stinger body some distance away. The Freemen had procedures for all kinds of emergency events, things for which they'd drilled and trained. In this specific scenario, an incapacitated comrade in the no-man's-land between Praetar City and Victory Base, standard procedure was to wait ten minutes and then leave them. Anything longer risked stingers pouncing on them, frenzied in their blood lust. Since it was now twilight they must have waited for at least an hour. Probably closer to two. Farrow, you sentimental star-lover. It would be a shame to capture him, later.

  Capture him. The mission.

  Her leg wound had been cleaned, the sand washed away and some ragged bandaging wrapped around. Seeing it summoned the pain, a pulsing, fiery burn that ran from her knee to her ankle. She squeezed her eyes shut against the sensation, and very nearly passed out again, only maintaining consciousness by sheer will. My right thigh. There was a mechanical injection point beneath the skin, carved out in the thigh muscle, where shades could activate a painkiller. But not while her comrades stood around watching.

  I used it already. She felt certain of that, though she couldn't remember when. A lifetime ago, it seemed.

  Mira bent to her side and held a jug of water to her lips. The water ran down her throat like life itself, and she drank until she had to come up for air, gasping.

  "How do you feel?" Mira asked.

  "Alive." Looking at her comrades, none of their clothes had been torn to supply the bandage around her leg. It struck her where the extra cloth had come. She pointedly avoided glancing in the direction of the stinger, where Sandra's remains were scattered.

  She needed to assess the situation. She'd been waiting for the orbital strike when the stingers attacked. Had it occurred while she was unconscious? Probably not, since Farrow wanted Geral to return to base. And they would have all been more frantic had they seen Victory Base go up in a puff of fire and smoke. So why hadn't the orbital strike launched?

  "We'll take turns helping her along," Farrow said to the others. "Ten minute shifts. We'll be slower, probably eight hours until we're home. Can't risk stopping in the night, though."

  Eight hours? They should have been closer than that. They were nearly to the city when the stingers... wait. Home. "No," Kari said. "We're not returning to Victory Base. We have to press on."

  Farrow gave her a level look. "We aren't doing shit. You're in no shape to do much more than move. Once we've taken you back home, a new party will return and get the pilots."

  All of it was wrong. She needed to stay with them, complete her mission. And she didn't know why the orbital strike had not yet occurred, but she sure as stars wasn't going to return and wait underneath the bullseye. "I'll only slow you down in the sand," she insisted. "Make us all one big target. A stinger'll probably breach and kill me anyways. Better to limp into town than try returning."

  "You need medical attention. What the shit do you want us to do, drop you off at a peacekeeper medical station and hope they'll treat you?" He snorted.

  If only you knew how plausible that truly was. Peacekeepers would bend over backwards to assist a shade if she revealed herself to them. But she had another way. "I know a place in the city. A man named Leo runs a garage, repairing the plastics on peacekeeper vehicles. He keeps a makeshift medical room for the Praetari who have nowhere else to go. You can drop me off there on your way." And I can raise the alarm then, and have a squad of peacekeepers arrive to finish the job. Leo's cover is worth sacrificing, for this.

  Farrow shook his head. "That's all fine for you, but we're down to only three men. That's not enough to get inside the palace cells, especially with only small weapons. I'd rather take the risk on the sand."

  "Three is plenty, just to sneak inside. Stars, Mira eyed a stinger." The small woman blushed. "Two extra bodies won't make a difference. If the alarm is raised, you're all dead regardless."

  She could tell Farrow wasn't buying it. He was about to stop listening entirely if she didn't make a convincing argument. Leo will hate me, but... "And besides," she said, "Leo has a cache of weapons. Rifles and grenades. Three properly armed Freemen are better than five armed poorly."

  That pierced Farrow's stubbornness. He chewed it over with Geral, speaking softly so that Kari couldn't hear. She'd made her case, couldn't think of anything else to say. Involuntarily, her hand went to the pistol on her hip. If they insist on taking me back, I'll have to do it here. A blast to the chest would fell Geral instantly, but how could she safely disarm both Farrow and Mira if she could barely stand? Threats and harsh language. It'd worked for her before. I had two working legs before, though.

  "Three rifles?" Farrow asked. "And two grenades apiece?" When Kari nodded, he sighed and said, "It'll be worth it for sure, having the weapons waiting in the city. I'm not sure how we'll pick you up after we get the pilots, but we'll figure that out along the way. We march on."

  Getting her to her feet proved to be an ordeal--her leg had stiffened after sitting for so long, so simply bending the knee the first time felt like razor blades slid around behind the kneecap, though after that first bend it became progressively easier. She nearly fainted again once she was vertical, and Mira commented on how pale her face looked. But after a few minutes to ensure she could remain conscious they began moving east. Each of them took a turn helping Kari, wrapping an arm around her waist so she could limp along without putting too much weight on the wounded leg. She could bear weight fine, she soon realized, it was just her calf muscle that refused to work. She used her thigh muscles to carry her leg forward and then drop it down, like some puppete
er maneuvering a wooden figurine.

  The words nearly left her lips when she remembered she was on Praetar, where they had no puppets or puppet shows, nor anything close to them for comparison. That would have been embarrassing, explaining both the metaphor and why she had knowledge of Melisao culture.

  But worse, by being helped along Kari had no way of reaching down to her right thigh to reactivate the painkillers into her femoral artery. After a few minutes she itched to do it anyways, consequences of revealing herself be damned.

  Gritting through the jolt of pain that sizzled with each step, Kari turned her thoughts back to her mission. Why had the orbital station not launched the payload? Two possibilities occurred to her. One was that the station officer had competing information that caused him to hesitate. Kari's signal was nothing more than a binary communication, notifying them of the previously-decided point in the mission: that an attack was imminent, that she was safely away, and that they were free to destroy the base. That had been decided two years before, in her initial mission briefing. A lot may have changed since then. Maybe they didn't want to destroy the base, had decided it still possessed strategic value. Perhaps they had a secondary fleet of aircraft in orbit, waiting to pounce on the base and capture as many of the Freemen as possible. The base was far enough away that it could be happening right now without Kari and her group knowing.

  The other possibility worried her more. That her signal had somehow not been received at the orbital station. She'd pressed the device for three seconds, felt it vibrate in confirmation. But that could be a glitch. After two years hidden away behind a secret panel in the closet in Victory Base, perhaps it had malfunctioned. Or maybe the tech idiots had reprogrammed the orbital station computers without verifying older signals could still be received, and the signal sent from her device disappeared into a jumbled mess of noise.

  If the former, then the Melisao had everything under control and Kari didn't need to worry. But if something had indeed gone wrong and they never received the signal... they'll have no idea the attack is coming. A shade among the Freemen, never discovered, and they still might attack and defeat the planet's peacekeepers without warning. And then she'd truly be stuck there, never able to return home.