by M. R. Forbes
“What is it?” Tibor asked.
“Poison. A radioactive isotope that makes the naniates sleepy. I noticed when Quark stabbed White with a knife rubbed with the stuff, it slowed down his healing factor.”
“You’re going to stab him with it?”
“Unless you prefer I stab you.”
He laughed. “No thanks.”
“What about these individuals?” Violent said, looking over the Kelvarians.
They were sitting beside one of the transports together, their qi a dark, defeated brown. No amount of talking had convinced a single one of them to fight, or in this case simply drive the transports back to the city. The Nephilim had succeeded in breaking their spirits. They had no interest in getting involved.
“They don’t want to fight,” Hayley said.
“Why?” she replied.
“You didn’t want to fight either, a few hours ago. You wanted Quark and me to do it all for you.”
“I still don’t want to fight. We don’t always get a choice.”
“Maybe you can convince them of that.”
Violent surprised her by nodding. “I’ll try.”
“What’s going to happen now?” Tibor said.
“We’re going back to Kelvar City,” Hayley replied. “Grun will bring me to White, and I’ll agree to trade the data chip for Quark.”
“What? You can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“He won’t trade. He’ll kill you and take it.”
“Betrayal?” Hayley said. “That’s what I’m expecting. My little secret, remember?”
She could hear Violent speaking over near the group of conscripts. She couldn’t quite make out the words, but her tone was strong and confident. She turned her head, noting the woman’s qi. It was also a bright, hopeful blue. She shifted her attention to the soldiers. Their qi was changing, too. Whatever she was saying to them, it was helping. It was one thing to be beckoned to fight by a mercenary. It was another to be asked to join a rebellion by someone just like them.
“I don’t like it, Witchy,” Tibor said. “It’s obvious you did something right, but Grun isn’t White.” He glanced at the other Goreshin. “No offense.”
Grun smiled. “None taken.”
“That’s why Violent is going to back me up, along with however many soldiers she manages to convince to participate. If things go sideways again, then all hell breaks loose.”
“That’s not much of a plan.”
“We can’t take on White unless we catch him off-guard,” she said. “We can’t catch him off-guard if he knows we’re coming.”
“You can’t catch him off-guard anyway. He’ll be expecting you to try something.”
“Will he?” Hayley asked. “I think he’s going to underestimate me.”
Tibor’s qi shifted. He was resigned. “You said Violent will back you up. What am I going to be doing?”
“You’re going to play dead.”
“Do you think that’s funny?”
Hayley smiled. Tibor’s qi had changed again. “You do.”
“Maybe a little,” he admitted.
“You’re Plan C,” she said. “I want you to stay close, but without being seen. Grun’s going to tell White you’re dead.”
“He might smell me.”
“He’ll be distracted. It’s a risk, but this whole thing is risky as hell. Quark’s going to kill me for going back for him instead of getting the chip to Don Pallimo, so I don’t have all that much to lose.”
“I’ll do as you say,” Tibor said. “Yesterday, I wanted to die. Today, I want to fight.”
“Will it count as saving my life?”
“You know it doesn’t. I-”
He was interrupted when Violent approached again, her qi hopeful and strong. Hayley looked past her to the conscripts. They were all on their feet, their qi completely altered, too.
“They’ll fight,” Violent said proudly.
“What did you tell them?” Tibor asked.
“What they needed to hear. That we’ve been slaves for too long. First to the Corporation and then to the Nephilim. That we can only blame ourselves if we don’t fight to be free.”
“Inspiring,” Grun said.
“I also told them I would sell my car and divvy the profits. Inspiration will only take things so far.”
“Money talks,” Tibor said, laughing.
“Then let’s go and settle this,” Hayley said. “Nobody frags with the Riders and gets away with it.”
“I’m with you, Witchy,” Tibor said.
“So am I,” Grun said.
“So am I,” Violent said. “And so are they.”
“Thank you,” Hayley replied. “Now, back up.”
“Back up?” Tibor asked.
She led them away from the Quasar and then turned to face it.
“Nibia. Mother. This is for you, and for all of my thirty-one brothers and sisters. First White, and then Thetan. I’ll see justice done. I promise.”
She took a deep breath, holding back the wave of emotion that wanted to spill out. It was fuel for what came next.
“Gant, trigger the self-destruct.”
“Aye, Witchy,” Gant replied. “Triggered. Self-destruct in three. Two. One.”
She closed her eyes as the Quasar exploded, pushed back by the force of the detonation but keeping her feet. Debris landed all around them, but none of it reached her or her new team, her naniates keeping it away. She barely felt the strain of controlling them.
Damn, those stimulants were good.
She watched the makeshift funeral pyre burn. Tibor stood beside her.
“Witchy, you said thirty-one brothers and sisters?” he asked.
“Yes. Thirty-two crew, counting Nibia. Why?”
She glanced over at him. His qi was fading to an angrier red.
“I only recovered thirty-one,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. I brought thirty-one bodies to the hold, and there were no others.”
Hayley felt her blood begin to boil. The ship had been sealed when they arrived. Nobody had gone in or out.
Whoever was missing, they had gotten off the Quasar before the crash.
Whoever was missing, they were responsible for helping to set the Riders up.
Whoever was missing was a fragging traitor.
“I’ll find them, whoever they are,” she said. “It’s one more name to add to my list.”
“Roger that.”
She stared at the smoldering wreck of the Quasar for a few more heartbeats and then turned back to the waiting transports.
“Let’s go.”
35
The Nephilim transports made their way across the Flats, kicking up a nice trail of dry dust behind them as they made haste back to Kelvar City.
Hayley couldn’t see the buildings forming in the horizon’s haze, but she could see how the qi of the conscripts shifted the closer they moved. What started as blue and hopeful was fading into a fresh round of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. In their base souls, they wanted to help free the planet from the Nephilim’s grip. At the same time, they didn’t want to die.
She could appreciate the feeling. She didn’t want to die either. Still, she surprised herself with her acceptance of the situation, and how quickly she had grown from a fearful greenie on her first mission to the de facto leader of this so-called assault.
She wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t nervous. Or she was, but she had managed to tuck those emotions in with her despair over Nibia and the other Riders. Quark had said he didn’t want her to lose her compassion, and she was determined not to. But these feelings could be turned to better use than worry and shaking. They would help her tp stay focused and bring her strength.
The stimulants helped with that too.
She jabbed herself with the second one, emptying the contents into her arm. It was keeping the pain out of the recently repaired gunshot wound, and it was heightening her control over the naniate
s. She had never tried taking the drugs before, and nobody had ever suggested it. She could understand why. The meds were dangerous, and this was giving her all the reason in the universe to become addicted.
She wouldn’t become addicted. At least, that’s what she told herself.
“We’re almost there,” Grun said.
The Goreshin was sitting beside her in the transport. Violent and Tibor were in the rear vehicle. When the convoy entered the city proper, that one would stop and let Tibor out. He would be on his own from them on, making his way through the city and ready to back them up if there was serious trouble.
And there would be serious trouble. Hayley was confident of that. The only question was, what kind?
“Are you sure you want to do it this way?” he asked.
“Is there another way to do it? As long as I can trust you-”
“You can trust me.”
She believed him. She didn’t think he would know how to intentionally hide his intentions in his qi. Not like those damned Plixians. “I know.”
“You’re so sure of me.”
“I’m good at reading individuals.”
“You can’t see.”
“In the traditional sense. When you take away the surface bullshit, the real truth comes out.”
“That’s what makes me nervous around you, I think.” He laughed softly.
The transport continued its journey through the city, navigating the dirty streets. It was another five minutes or so before it slowed to a stop. They didn’t stand up right away. Instead, she could hear the sound of a pair of large doors moving along a track.
They were back at the warehouse. Within twenty-four hours, everything had come full circle.
She could still smell the blood and death in the air of the building, so much of it spilled inside there was no way to wash it all out. She waited calmly, keeping her mind as focused as she could with the stimulants causing her body to shiver. Part of her enjoyed the feeling. Part of her hated it. Right now it was a need.
The transports got underway again, moving into the warehouse. They only went another fifty meters or so before stopping a second time.
“We’re here,” Grun said.
Hayley nodded and stood up. Grun stood with her, taking her arm. She checked his qi, searching for signs of deceit. Her vision wasn’t perfect that way, or she might have guessed one of the Riders was going to sell them out before they ever dropped on Kelvar. He appeared to be clean.
“I can’t protect you from White,” he said as they walked toward the forward hatch.
He took a pair of heavy shackles from a locker there, clasping them on her offered wrists. She tested the strength of them, unconcerned. The naniates would have no problem opening them for her.
“I don’t expect you to,” she replied. “Take care of White’s backup. Violent, can you hear me?”
“Roger, Witchy,” Violent replied.
“Are the rebels ready?”
“As ready as they’ll ever be. Are you?”
She took a second to answer, pulling her wrists tight against the shackles again. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
This whole thing had gone on long enough.
The hatch to the transport slid aside. Grun kept his grip on Hayley, and they hopped onto the floor together. She turned her head, quickly scanning the space.
White was standing at the far end with another of the Goreshin beside him. He was flanked by a platoon of blacksuits, whose qi was more silver than blue. Servants. White’s life energy was a dull red. Still angry, but controlled. It spiked slightly at the sight of her.
There was no sign of Quark.
“Why the frag did you bring her here?” White said. “Does the order to kill the bitch not mean anything to you?”
White knew they were coming. Grun had told him as much over the transport’s com. He was chewing the other Goreshin out to embarrass him.
“I thought you would want to do the honors,” Grun said.
“It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” White said. “Where the hell is Tibor?”
“Dead,” Grun replied. “I killed him first.”
“Can you do anything right, you fragging mongrel? I wanted the pleasure of offing that hairless runt myself.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You will be.”
“Where’s Quark?” Hayley asked.
White glared at her. “What the frag does it matter to you?” he asked. “Not here.” His qi mixed in some amusement. “Did you think you’re going to survive this, bitch? Are you that stupid? You have no ship. You have no Colonel. You’re nothing but a fragging kid, probably wetting your lightsuit right about now.”
The conscripts in the transport were deploying around the warehouse as White spoke, spreading out and aiming their rifles at her.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Hayley asserted.
“No?” White said, grinning. “Why are you shaking then? If you’re so brave?”
Hayley didn’t respond.
“You have the chip?” White asked, looking at Grun.
“No,” he replied. “It’s still on her, somewhere.”
“What, were you afraid to touch her? Damn, you’re such a weakling. How the frag did you get picked for this program?”
“I didn’t get picked. I was forced.”
“Luckiest thing that ever happened to you, brother,” White said.
He started walking toward them. Grun dropped Hayley’s arm, backing away. He didn’t want to be anywhere near White.
“Give me the fragging chip,” White said. “And I’ll end you quick.”
He started changing as he approached, his body elongating and morphing into his second form. He was a massive hulk by the time he reached her. Almost five meters tall, powerful and muscular and covered in white fur.
“I can’t get it like this,” Hayley said, holding up her bound wrists.
White smiled. “Like we needed those.”
He brought his claws down on the metal, the sharp nails sinking through it and breaking the bonds. Then he held one of his massive, clawed hands out, palm up, ready to accept the chip. He could see how badly she was shaking, and he took it as fear.
“Just give it over, little bitch. It can all end for you right here and now. All your friends are dead. The Riders are nothing. No more. You should join them.”
She stopped with her hand hovering over his. “Who was it?” she asked, breaking her voice to keep up the scared act. “I need to know before I die. Who sold us out?”
White thought the question was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. His qi shifted in response, while a deep growl echoed from his diaphragm.
“No,” he said at last.
Asshole. Whatever.
She lowered her hand toward his.
“Violent,” she said.
‘What?” White said.
As promised, all hell broke loose.
36
Violent was positioned almost directly behind Hayley, central to the rebels. Her sudden shout of “Free Kelvar” echoed in the warehouse, buried almost immediately afterward when the soldiers opened fire, targeting the Servants organized behind White.
At the same time, Hayley jumped forward, bouncing up toward White while he tried to recover from the surprise attack. She let the data chip fall to the floor, wrapping her legs around his wide chest and putting her hands on both sides of his head, the same as she had with Grun. She screamed out to the naniates within him, beckoning them to leave his body.
He started to scream, the same piercing scream Grun had made when she attacked him.
Klangor charged toward them, changing to his second form as he did. Grun changed too, growling and going out to meet him and back her up. He slammed into the other Goreshin, and they fell together in a wildly flailing heap.
White continued to scream, his qi growing more angry as the naniates attempted to escape. It burned a bright red that drowned out the rest of Hayley’s sight, leaving
her brain etched with bloody fury, an anger beyond anything she had ever known.
An anger that suddenly managed to scare the naniates more than she did.
She felt it when they stopped responding, a whip crack of feedback that slammed into her as they retreated. Her head snapped back, her vision going dark, every part of her wanting to shut down at once.
White growled, able to move once more, the pain gone. He grabbed her with a massive claw, spinning and hurling her away. She could feel the air flow around her. She couldn’t see anything.
She hit the side of one of the transports hard enough it knocked the air out of her and left her prone on the ground.
“Witchy, help,” Violent said a moment later.
Hayley could hear White behind her, snarling and racing toward the suddenly terrified conscripts. The shooting stopped almost at once as they tried to run, to escape the unleashed, murderous beast.
They didn’t make it far.
“Tibor,” Hayley said. “If you’re out there.”
“Your plan didn’t work,” Tibor said. “White is free.”
“I still have the poison. Please. Don’t abandon me.”
She reached into her tightpack, pulling out another stim and jabbing herself in the arm. She gasped as it burned into her, the colors exploding back into her mind. She struggled to keep it in focus, rolling over and looking back at in the direction of the fighting.
The conscripts were gone. All of them. Torn to pieces by White in a matter of seconds. Violent was backed into a corner, her naniates filling her with strength while White calmly approached. Grun and Klangor were on the other end near the servants, with Klangor on top of the smaller Goreshin. The Servants were coming toward her.
“Tibor, please,” she said again, spinning up her anti-gravity plate and leaping away from her spot, just as the Servants started firing on it. “Where the hell are you?”
She raced through the air, headed toward White. She grabbed one of the needles from her lightsuit, dropping toward the Goreshin.
He heard her coming. Or maybe he smelled her. Either way, his left arm swung back, nearly slapping her aside. She saw the move coming, the qi in his appendage shifting color slightly before it moved. She tucked herself under it, landing just short of him. She threw herself forward, onto her stomach, jabbing the poison onto his calf.
