by G. E. Stills
“Drago.”
“On it.”
Strength enhancing drug rushed through her. Rho’naa leaned in, grabbed the woman and threw her over one shoulder. She raced across the street and up the steps just in time. An aerial craft quickly arrived overhead. Rho’naa set the woman on her feet and drew her pistol. The craft circled overhead then set down just long enough for ten bugs to exit before taking to the air once more.
Stan appeared beside them. “Did you miss me?” he asked as he touched both of them. The room where they stood vanished and seconds later, they were in another. Sunny and an astonished Men-gar were already there.
“Who are you? What are you?” the one she had carried asked.
Rho’naa grinned then consulted her watch. They were running late. Tylee should be there any moment. “You haven’t seen anything yet. I’ll explain when we get to where we’re going and are safe.”
The fog formed and Tylee joined them. “Sunny and one of our guests first, then Stan and the other. I’ll come on the last trip.”
Tylee shifted her gaze from one Men-gar to the other and shot Rho’naa a questioning look, but made no comment. She took Sunny’s hand and the arm of one Men-gar, then guided them into the portal. On the next trip, she took Stan and the other woman. When Tylee returned for her, she asked, “Who are they and where did they come from?”
“They were prisoners. I don’t know anything more. We’ll ask.” When Rho’naa stepped out of the portal with Tylee, the two Men-gar women were facing Keish’ar and deep in conversation. Keish’ar motioned her to his side in front of the newcomers.
“You’re friends?” the first woman asked.
Keish’ar grinned, no doubt thinking of their relationship. “Yes we are. We are all friends and allies here. Our goal is simple. We destroy as much bug equipment and kill as many of them as we can. If you wish to join us, you can, or if you wish to go back to Sto’kan we will take you. There are of course a few conditions if you wish to join us.”
The second woman spoke, “Such as?”
“Rho’naa here is in charge and I am next in charge, if you stay, you will follow our orders. Next, you will get along with our human friends. You will be living with and working with them every day.”
“Where are we?” the first woman asked.
“Safe, but I will only tell you more if you decide to join us,” he said. “If you decide to, you will be risking your lives, we all do, but in return we will feed you, arm you and shelter you.”
“And you say we will go out and kill bugs?” the second woman asked.
“Yes.”
“Then I want to join. May I talk to Stay’an in private for a moment?” she asked.
“Certainly.” Rho’naa and he stepped away from them to engage in their own private conversation. He asked her about the details of the rescue.
The first woman engaged in whispered conversation with Stay’an for a few minutes then Stay’an nodded. They stepped forward. “Her name is Stay’an and mine is Lar’an. We will join you. Something else if you are interested. If you are looking for additional recruits, we may be able to help you.”
“Go on,” Rho’naa said.
“There are eight others in our group, four women and four men. Say’an and I were out foraging for food when the bugs caught us, so I doubt the others have been captured. I don’t know for certain they would join, but I feel confident they would, if given the opportunity.”
“Can you show us where you’re staying on a map Lar’an?”
“Yes, and I’ll take you there if you want.”
“That would be great. I think tomorrow at around dusk. In the meantime, the two of you need to eat and rest. Bonn’an,” she summoned.
Her teammate joined them from another room. “Take our new friends to get something to eat, then find them a place to sleep.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bonn’an answered and led the two newcomers away.
****
Rho’naa crossed the parking lot beside Lar’an with her hands clearly visible and her holster empty. In the vacant building behind them, she knew Keish’ar and Stan watched their every move. She and Keish’ar had a lengthy discussion earlier about her risking herself by approaching Lar’an’s group unarmed.
“I hope we don’t take them by surprise and they shoot first before we’re able to talk,” Rho’naa said.
“We won’t surprise them. We keep careful watch. I’m certain they’re observing us right now,” Lar’an said.
They stopped just before reaching the industrial type building. Lar’an address the vacant entrance to the building.
“I know you’re watching. This human woman standing beside me is our friend. Her name is Rho’naa. As you can see, she is unarmed and as you can also see, I am. Stay’an is safe. We need to talk and I need your assurance she will not be harmed.”
A male voice answered from the second story, “A human?”
“Yes, and an ally. She represents a group made up of humans and Men-gar.”
“You have our assurance. Proceed.”
The entrance door swung open and the two women finished crossing the lot to file into it. An unsmiling woman and man stood just inside with their weapons trained. The man remained at the door while the woman led them deeper into the building.
The woman directed them into a large central room where six others waited. One of the men stepped forward and introduced himself.
“Rho’naa, my name is Troi’ar and I speak for the group. State your purpose.”
“Nice to meet you. I’ll come straight to the reason I’m here.” Rho’naa let her gaze travel from one face to another, then shifted her attention back to Troi’ar. “I, and those I represent, propose we pool our numbers. We can offer relative safety for your group, food, and arms.”
“And in exchange?” he asked.
“That you join us in destroying as many bugs and their equipment as possible. I won’t try to hide there will be great risk to all of us in doing this and some of us will likely get killed.”
Troi’ar, in a human like manner, rubbed his chin. “The alternative?”
“We will go away and leave you alone.”
He looked to the others. “She has made an offer. We can stay here hiding and get killed or captured one by one or as a group. Worse yet, we may be captured and become food. Our other option is to join these people. I’m inclined to join them and have the opportunity to strike back at these vile insects instead of simply hiding from them.” Troi’ar fixed his gaze on each person. “I will not make a decision for the group. You must decide for yourselves. If you want to join them simply say, join, if not say, no.”
The man to his left spoke right away. “Join.”
Each of the others said the same.
“Good,” Rho’naa said. “May I go to the entrance and signal the others who are with us?”
“Of course,” Troi’ar said.
As she strode away, she heard Lar’an say, “I’m glad the decision is unanimous. Some of these humans have abilities you will find hard to believe.”
Keish’ar, and Stan quickly joined them.
“When do we leave? What should we take and how far away is the safe place you’re taking us too? Should we wait until late this evening?” Troi’ar rapid fired questions at her.
“Take only what you can easily carry.” She consulted her watch. “Stan would you go over and wait for Tylee and bring her here when she arrives?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Stan dashed away.
“Now back to your questions, Troi’ar. We will start transferring your people within the hour. It will take a little time, but not much.”
“Transferring?”
Lar’an chuckled. “Again I say, you will not believe what some of these humans can do.”
Stan, with Tylee in tow, entered the room a few
minutes later. “Tylee, please start taking our new friends to Refuge.”
“You got it, Rho’naa.”
Keish’ar and one of the new people were the first two. The billowing fog formed a few paces in front of Tylee. She took them by the hand and stepped into it. The fog dissipated and the trio was gone.
“What the— Where did they go?” Troi’ar asked.
“I will explain when we are all safe. Please trust us. We need to trust each other because our lives will depend on each other.”
When Tylee returned a few minutes later, she was alone. Stan was in the next group. Two by two, Tylee took the group through. Rho’naa and Troi’ar were the last ones remaining when Tylee came through the portal for the final trip.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Rho’naa glanced around at the group that had now increased to twenty-seven. “I’d like us all to stay here on Refuge to be safe, but there is a major problem in doing that. It will take many trips by Tylee to move any size force to Sto’kan. Bad enough that we can only take four at a time once we are on the planet.”
“What about having a base on Sto’kan? Some of us can remain there at all times.”
“Regrettably I agree,” she said. “It increases the risk, but…”
“Since we can go anywhere in the world in just a few jumps, I may know a place for our base. It is remote and there are caves there that will reduce the risk of aerial detection,” another of the newcomers said.
“Okay. Can you show us on a map?”
“Yes.”
“Get with me after this meeting and we’ll arrange to check it out.”
“I may have a solution to my only being able to take two people at a time,” Madra said.
Rho’naa cocked her head to one side. “Go on.”
“I can move inanimate objects by touching them just as I can move people. I’ve never tried it, but suppose that inanimate object had people in it? For example one of the armored transport cars.”
“That we will need to test soon,” Rho’naa said. “If it works it will solve our problem of teleporting groups instead of just two individuals.”
The man who had suggested the caves spoke up. “And the entrance to the cave I’m thinking of is large enough that I’m certain an armored car would fit through it.”
The meeting continued with the new members suggesting targets. Finally, Rho’naa ended it. “Get a good night’s rest. We are going to be busy tomorrow.”
The camp complex was crowded with the new people, but after eating, they found enough room and bedding so that all were able to have space to sleep. Rho’naa and Keish’ar slipped away to their rendezvous spot and after making love, spent several hours discussing the new plans.
The next day, Tylee made six trips porting twelve members of the group to the cave complex, then using the map location and descriptions provided by one of the new women, Rho’naa and Madra teleported to a military motor pool. A number of vehicles there fit their needs nicely.
“Are you certain you can do this?” Rho’naa asked.
“No problem. I’ve done it before. It’s teleporting people in the objects that I’m a little concerned about. I’ll be back.”
Madra placed her hand on the six-wheeled vehicle next to her and they both vanished. A few minutes later she returned and teleported a second one. Madra returned a third time and took her hand. “All done. Armored trucks delivered. The easy part is done.”
When they reappeared in front of the caves, Rho’naa guided Madra to the side of one vehicle for privacy and continued their conversation. “If you think this plan is going to fail, don’t do it. We’ll find another way. I don’t want to put you or others at risk needlessly.”
Madra grinned at her. “Everything we do here is a risk. If what I am going to attempt is successful, it will help reduce the risk. We need two volunteers in the vehicle to start. From there we’ll work up to the six capacity of the vehicle.”
“Okay.” They joined the rest of the group standing in front of the caves. Rho’naa chose two volunteers and Madra took station beside the vehicle.
The first jump was to a clearing half a mile in front of the caves. Rho’naa watched the clearing through binoculars and breathed a sigh of relief when moments later she saw the party appear there. Madra gave her a thumbs up sign. Moments after that, the party reappeared in front of her once more.
Stan stood beside her. “If she can do it, I can. My turn next,” he said.
“Our attack teams just got much stronger,” Rho’naa said.
By the end of the day, both Madra and Stan were comfortable in their ability to teleport six people and a vehicle at one time.
The next day six of them teleported close to a vacant military base, broke into the armory and took as many hand fired missiles, as the vehicle would hold. Another group of six raided food warehouses. By the end of the day, they had vastly increased their armament in both numbers and size. There was enough food to last for several weeks.
****
The armored vehicle took form in a parking lot with Stan standing beside it. There were six heavily armed people inside the open six-wheeled car. Stan jumped inside to join them and the vehicle lumbered slowly toward the small airport half a mile distant. From observation, they knew there were four bug aerial machines stationed there. A block away from the airport they parked behind a vacant building and while Stan waited, the six people moved closer on foot.
The sun was slowly sinking to the horizon casting long shadows. The team took advantage of this and waited until dusk. There were a few bug guards near the aircraft and more near the building where they must be staying, but there were no perimeter patrols.
As the last of the daylight faded, five people took aim with their shoulder fired missiles. Four aimed at the aircraft and the other at the building housing the bugs. The sixth man slowly counted down and when he reached zero, five missiles streaked away at their targets.
All four craft and the building erupted into infernos. “Time to go,” the man in charge said. The team didn’t stay around to assess the results of their strike. They hustled to the waiting vehicle and clambered onboard. Stan touched the side and they blinked away.
At the same time, half a world away, another team of six, this one accompanied by Madra rained death and destruction down on a bug motor pool.
Both teams flashed into being in front of the cave where Rho’naa waited anxiously. She remembered her heated conversation with Keish’ar about going with the group.
“They are my people, I need to be there with them. Show them that I’m willing to take the same risks as I’m asking them to take.”
“They know that. Give them a chance to show you they value you as their leader and can carry out your instructions without your presence,” he said.
She snapped back to the present and glanced at Keish’ar beside her. He was right of course, and a moment of displeasure rippled through her because of him being right. She wasn’t used to depending on others.
“But you will learn,” Drago said.
“Yes I will learn.” She sighed.
The two team leaders halted in front of her, ready to give their reports.
“You first,” she said to the man whose team had attacked the airport.
“All targets hit. Following your instructions we didn’t stay to assess the damage.”
“Excellent, and your report?” She turned to the woman leader.
“Much the same, ma’am. All targets hit, but it is unknown if they were destroyed or just damaged.”
“Very good. Take the vehicles inside and dismiss your teams. Get some chow and rest. You’ve done well.”
The drivers pulled the cars into the cave and the two teams followed them headed for the eating area.
Keish’ar walked beside her as they followed the teams into the cavern. He wore a
bit of a smirk on his face.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“I won’t say it, but you know I’m thinking it.”
She jabbed him in the ribs. “Yes I know you are nearly dying wanting to say, I told you so. I’m glad they carried out my instructions and I’m even more glad there were no casualties. We won’t be this lucky all the time.”
“I know that and so do they. We are in a struggle against the bugs and people will die. But better to die fighting than to be sitting in a holding complex waiting to be eaten.”
Rho’naa sighed. “I can’t fault your words.”
****
Rho’naa stationed her troops on each side of the road in the heavily wooded area. Right on time, the armored bug vehicle arrived. Just as the car was about to pass her last soldier, she called out. They fired two of the new missiles into it and it turned into a smoking ruin. Only one bug escaped and they quickly dispatched it.
Unlike in the past, they waited and within minutes, an aerial vehicle appeared in the sky, rushing to respond.
One of the team calmly raised the missile launcher to his shoulder, took aim and fired. After the huge fireball and loud explosion, small pieces of twisted wreckage and body parts tumbled to the ground. The team double-timed to the waiting car two blocks away and piled into it. Madra stood beside it, placed her hand on the side and teleported them to the caves. Rho’naa smiled when Keish’ar met her just inside the entrance.
“From the expression on your face, I would guess the mission was a success,” he said.
“It was. And yours?”
“In more ways than one.”
She cocked her head.
“We destroyed two bug orbital transports, but in addition…” He paused.
“In addition?”
He grinned. “We encountered two men on the way back to the armored car. To make a long story short, our group has twelve new members. They’re waiting inside to meet you.”
“And so our team grows. That is fantastic news.”
Keish’ar directed her to where the new people waited and introduced them. She welcomed them and assigned experienced team members to acclimate and train them. Keish’ar agreed with her they should suspend further raids until the new members were trained.
