by S. J. Bryant
Brynden was a young man, far too young to take on the responsibilities of a coven. There were a few older than him among their ranks but they seemed timid, their shoulders hunched; they could never lead either. Brynden wore a dark shirt and dark pants which matched his black hair. He walked to Corvus with his back straight, their eyes locked. He had courage.
Brynden knelt next to Corvus so that their eyes were level.
"Are you planning to stab me in the back?" Corvus asked through clenched teeth.
It took all of his strength to focus on Brynden, to take in his subtle body hints, to really gauge the man.
"No," Brynden replied. His face remained straight without a single flicker of deceit.
"Do you and your companions swear fealty to me and mine?" Corvus asked.
"Yes," Brynden said, again in an unwavering tone.
"We must overthrow the useless authorities of this planet. Will you aide us?"
"Yes."
Corvus continued to stare into the other man's eyes for a few moments before nodding once.
"Welcome," Corvus said.
Corvus's coven lowered their weapons and moved in to grasp the forearms of their new coven fellows. They nodded at one another and a palpable tension lifted from the room, floating out of the basement and up into the night sky.
CHAPTER TWENTY
"The biggest advantage the lecheons have over us is that they can see in the dark," Nova said. She looked over the group of officers. These men and women would stand with her and Briggles against the lecheons. They needed to be ready, so she had arranged a training session to educate them on how to better fight the lecheons. "All they have to do is turn out the lights and we're helpless."
"Then we'll wear the night-vision goggles," said Johnson, a stout officer with a perpetually angry face.
"That might work for some," Nova said with a sigh. "But there aren't enough goggles for everyone and if they get pulled off, you have to know how to fight in the dark."
"What do you mean there's not enough? " Johnson demanded. "How are you going to decide who gets them and who doesn't? You may as well send us all to a slaughter house!" Uneasy murmurs swept over the gathering, growing to heated accusations.
"We can't fight in the dark!"
"Like lambs to a slaughter!"
"Who does she think she is?!"
Nova raised her hand but the outcry continued. She looked to Briggles who grimaced and turned to the sea of angry faces.
"Silence!" he bellowed.
The noise died and the officers shifted on their feet. Before, there had been mild interest; now there was outright fear. Nova frowned. These people needed to stay strong and focus, or they would all end up dead.
"You know we've had budget cuts; you can thank the Confederacy for that," Briggles said. "There just isn't enough equipment for everyone. We have no other choice but to work with what we have."
The gathered officers continued to grumble, but nodded their heads in agreement.
"There will be lights, but we can't plan for everything. If the lecheons take out the lights then we will have to know how to fight blind," Nova said once silence had returned to the group.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Johnson asked amid renewed cries. "Just suddenly grow a pair of lecheon eyes? I don't know about you, hunter, but I can't do that."
"We've got many other senses Johnson, I suggest you learn how to use them. We're going to be breaking into groups and using these," Nova gestured to a pile of wooden sticks. "Luckily each training-bot can see in the dark, so it'll be just like fighting a lecheon."
The officers looked at one another. Their expressions were confused, scared, and doubtful. Nova sighed; she had to learn to fight in the dark just as much as them. She wasn't going to hold their hands through it all.
"At first you'll take it in turns, fighting one at a time," Briggles said, taking over. "After that four of you will be fighting one training dummy. You have to try and tune into your other senses or you'll find yourself killed by the dummy or smashed over the head by one of your companions."
Nova nodded, turned to the pile of sticks and hefted one in her hand. Briggles did the same then they both walked to a far corner of the police academy's training centre where a training-bot was standing, currently powered down.
They were joined by two other officers, including Johnson, while the rest spread themselves amongst the other bots.
Briggles grinned at the small group. "I'll go first so you can all have something to laugh at."
He stepped towards the robot and glanced around at the other groups. Each group's selected fighters were standing ready, nervously looking at their training-bots.
"Lights out," Briggles commanded. The room plunged into darkness.
Nova listened. The room was suddenly filled with cries of pain and confusion. Curses poured forth and echoed off the bare walls. Bodies thumped to the ground and wooden sticks swished futilely through the air. Briggles was panting nearby. He hadn't been knocked to the ground, so he'd done better than most, but he hadn't managed to hit the trainer-bot yet either.
She strained her ears. The trainer-bot was following Briggles's footsteps. He was stepping sideways but it wasn't fast enough. A part of Nova wanted to call out, to warn him to duck, but that would have been against the purpose of the exercise, so she kept quiet. A second later there was a dull thud and Briggles groaned.
"I think I'm dead," Briggles coughed.
"I'll take it," Nova said.
"I don't see the point in this." Johnson's unmistakeable whine weaved out of the darkness. "The lecheons are going to have guns, what's the point of these useless sticks?"
Nova gritted her teeth. "If you tried to train with guns in the dark now, you'd all end up killing each other. How about you focus on mastering this, then maybe I'll trust you with a gun."
She stepped forward, careful to avoid Briggles's groaning body as he pulled himself away from the trainer-bot. Nova stopped moving and listened. The robot moved on wheels which made it relatively easy to follow, certainly easier than a lecheon stepping on quiet feet. She hoped that the spotlights would be on long enough to take down most of the lecheons before things went dark, and that there were enough officers with night-vision goggles to finish the rest.
The robot rolled straight towards her. Nova heard its mechanical arms lifting up, before the catch release dropped the arm in a sweeping arc, swinging the wooden stick along with it. She ducked low and the wooden stick sailed straight over her head. She stood up and swung with her own weapon, but the robot was already out of reach. Her stick sailed through thin air and she was left completely disorientated.
She stopped moving and tried to slow her panicked breathing. It was hard to stay calm and focused in the darkness. There was something about the dark which set off innate alarm bells inside her head. Humans weren't meant for the dark. Their eyes weren't built for it. Focus was made even more difficult by the other noises echoing around; the screams and thuds, the cries of frustration. So far there had been no sound of victory. What did that mean for their fight against the lecheons?
There! The trainer-bot had moved to her right, planning to circle around and take her by surprise. Its wheels gave it away as they rumbled along the floor. Nova stepped back and turned to face the oncoming enemy. She had no idea which way she was facing in relation to the rest of the room, or where Briggles and the others were standing, she just hoped they weren't anywhere near the path of her weapon. A swishing noise alerted her to an incoming blow. Nova only had enough time to lift her weapon and block the attack. The thwack of wood on wood echoed in her ears and the force of the blow made her arms vibrate. The trainer-bots obviously weren't set on easy; they were swinging to hurt. She made a mental note that they should probably have had a medical team on standby for this particular training exercise. She couldn't do anything about it now though.
The trainer-bot's stick fell away only to return a second later, swinging from the other directi
on. Nova lifted her own stick and blocked the blow once more, only this time she stepped forward towards the robot. She was within its circle of reach but it would have a hard time swinging its weapon with any force in the close quarters. She lifted her stick above her head and brought it slamming down onto the trainer-bot's head.
DING.
The victory bell echoed around the room and the robot before her went temporarily dead. At the noise of the bell the rest of the room went momentarily silent, until some officers got wacked by their own trainer-bots and reality was brought crashing back.
Nova stepped away from the robot towards the sound of breathing which she hoped was Briggles.
"Excellent work!" said the Inspector, clapping.
"I'll give it a go next," said Johnson from somewhere to their right.
The battles continued. In his second try Briggles managed to wack the trainer-bot in the chest with his stick. Nova's second round was short. She didn't waste any time before swinging her weapon and taking out the trainer-bot. It took four rounds for Johnson and the other officer to get a victory and two more rounds again before either of them won a second time.
Around the room other groups were doing the same. To some, fighting in the dark came naturally; to others it was a real struggle. Those with hearing problems quickly learnt that fighting in the dark was not for them and were replaced by others. After everyone had won at least one round Nova and Briggles changed the game.
"This time the trainer-bots have been given guns," Briggles said. "As usual your shirts will detect if you've been hit. We're going to scatter obstacles about the room. Your mission is simple. Survive."
They allowed a five minute breather while the room was set up and the trainer-bots reprogrammed. Nova was breathing hard from her fights with the trainer-bot, but she felt more comfortable in the dark. Surviving required a delicate mix of controlling your own noise and listening for others. Her stomach clenched at the thought of facing a lecheon in the dark. The trainer-bots were nothing in comparison.
"Whoever lasts the longest gets a pay rise," Briggles called out. "Let the game begin."
The lights blinked out and mayhem erupted throughout the room. Nova dashed away from the centre of the room and put her back against a wall. The rest of the room was filled with pandemonium as officers tried to outmanoeuvre the invisible trainer-bots. A pair collided not far from Nova and she heard a sickening crunch and they crumpled to the floor.
Nova crept over to them in the dark. She felt along the floor until her hand tapped an ankle.
"Oi, are you two ok?" she murmured.
They mumbled.
"Are you okay or should I call off the game?" Nova asked.
"We're good, we're good," said the first.
"Yeah I'm good," said the second. "Just a busted lip, that's all."
Nova nodded to herself and melted back away from the two. Fake gunfire echoed through the room and red lights flashed as people were eliminated. The game progressed and more people were taken out to stand on the sidelines. The room grew steadily quieter.
Nova felt her away along the wall, before ducking behind what felt like a plastic box near the corner of the room. From there she could listen to the mayhem but was protected from fire on two sides. She listened. A set of wheels was getting closer, moving between the various objects, and weaving its way towards her. She crouched low, a hand on the floor, ready to sprint if she had to.
The wheels squeaked closer.
How long before the robot could see her? She suspected that for the moment the plastic box hid her from sight but it wouldn't be long before the robot would come around the side.
It was going towards the left side of the box. Nova crept on silent feet around the other side, moving gradually so that she reached the right side just as the robot rolled around to look at where she had been crouched. The robot moved forward. She continued to creep around. She suspected that the trainer-bot had some idea she was there, otherwise why would it keep circling? She moved all the way around until she was back at her starting place before the robot rolled off.
Nova breathed a sigh of relief and leant back against the box .
Her heart leapt into her throat when her shirt beeped and a bright red light flashed on her chest.
"Grishnak!" she swore as she stood, eliminated.
She strode to the sideline and glared around through the darkness for her attacker. She couldn't see anything but the tell-tale squeak of wheels said that her assailant had been at the far end of the arena. She would have had no chance of seeing or hearing it.
Nova was the fourth last to be killed. It didn't take long for the rest to be eliminated, with all of the trainer-bots looking for them.
The winner was a young man with a wide grin spread across his face. His fellow officers slapped him on the back as the lights came on. Nova hoped he would survive long enough to enjoy his pay rise.
The training continued late into the night. By the end, most of them could survive adequately in the dark; at least enough to know if someone was standing right next to them.
It would have to be enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Wharves. 11pm. Be there or more will die.
The note was scrawled in red ink across a scrap of paper. Neither the handwriting nor paper gave any clue to where the note had come from. It was delivered with a collection of other mail, untraceable.
Nova and Briggles looked down at the note, both of their brows furrowed. Standing outside the police station, they had been on the way to get lunch and relieve some of the stress of the investigation. Now they were plunged into a whole new wave of worry.
Nova wanted to curl the piece of paper in her fist, stomp on it and set it on fire. Instead, she let Briggles hold it, whilst she tucked her hands firmly behind her back. Her nostrils flared as she re-read the words. The nerve of these lecheons! If she could get her hands on Corvus, she would strangle him until his eyes popped.
She forced herself to breathe slower; to assess the situation. The note was infuriating, but what did it actually mean?
"It could be a hoax," Nova said. "A lot of people saw the killing yesterday."
"It might be," Briggles agreed, looking at Nova with red eyes. "Or it might not be."
"Let's meet them there. We'll have lights set up, plenty of time to prepare. And we know they won't be there until night-time. They've practically handed us the wooden bullets to kill them with."
"We're not supposed to kill them, we're trying to catch them," Briggles said with a sigh.
"Do those rules still apply?" Nova said. "What if it's their lives or ours? We may not have a choice."
Briggles didn't reply. He held the note in his thick fingers and his eyes ran over the words again.
Nova couldn't stomach the waiting, there was nothing worse. She tapped her foot on the cement, but when it was clear Briggles wasn't going to say anything more she stepped in.
"I'm taking a contingent down to prepare. Are you coming or not?" she said, staring directly at him.
"Yes," Briggles said with a sigh.
"Good." Nova nodded and stalked back into the police station. She paused at the top of the steps and looked back at Briggles. "How do the lecheon leaders respond to their kind killing ours?"
Briggles shrugged. "Some of them are against it, and some of them are for it. Most think it's a bad idea because of the bad trade implications."
"Okay," Nova said as she stormed through the doorway.
***
Shipping containers spread across the yard, their rusted metal casings reflecting none of the orange glow of the setting sun. They sat in forlorn clumps, with white and faded numbers painted on their sides.
Large carrier spaceships parked off to the side, slow moving but unstoppable. They chugged through space carrying things from one galaxy to the next, delivering coal and steel from the Resources District into the inner galaxies. Boullion Five had only a small shipping yard compared to some planets, becau
se it was halfway between the inner and outer galaxies. It was a rest point in the typically long journey.
Nova lay on her stomach on top of a corroded container. The rust flaked off the metal and coated her arms and clothes where they rested against it. She'd spent the day working with Briggles and the officers to set up the perfect scenario. When the creatures showed their faces, they wouldn't know which way was up.
Even if she'd still had it, her normal plasma pistol was useless against the lecheons, so Nova had taken up an ancient weapon from her arsenal. In the more secret cupboards of Crusader she had whole stacks of weapons; this was one of the oldest. It was a weapon from old-Earth, a bow with a quiver of twelve arrows that bristled out of her back. Four sharpened pieces of wood and a wooden knife with metal edging lay in a row by her side. Sparse weapons in any other fight, but the best against a coven of lecheons.
Nova glanced over her shoulder at the sun; it would be at least another half an hour before it dipped below the horizon. Then they would be plunged into darkness to await the enemy. The officers were spaced out around the containers. Mostly they lay on top, keeping an eye on all of the entry points, ready to sound the alarm; others were spaced out on the ground. These were the keenest shooters, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
Inspector Briggles lay one container over on Nova's left, ready to issue commands via a radio earpiece that connected him to the other officers. He gripped an ancient pistol in his hands, his knuckles white; it had been specially modified to carry wooden bullets. He glared at the ground, his face red, as if daring the lecheons to appear before him.
Nova forced herself to focus. The sun was warm on her neck, a nice relief from the chilling cold which was sure to descend with nightfall. Boullion Five was much colder than many of the planets she'd visited. She wore her jacket but she didn't want to risk any more layers, as anything which limited her movement could mean certain death. Better to be a little cold above ground than a lot cold six feet under.
