He cursed softly. “Time to move, woman!"
A well-penciled eyebrow rose. “Sounds like a shield unit."
No sooner said, they came into sight two by twos, the uniforms bearing the emblems of interlocking shields, and the shouldered generators could throw ahead a force field strong enough to stop solid slugs and reflect beams.
Doral stooped at the package he'd taken pains in protecting, ripped open the plasticine cover, reached in, gave a twist, and glanced at the flickering color patterns on the circular scale. He grabbed Synthis and ran with her, still firing at the advancing troops.
They made it to the lift shaft, jumped down, and were caught by the lowering gravity. Both curled into balls ... mouths open ... ear canals cleared.
As the package of ten-four imploded into itself carrying away the structure of the floor, three hundred shielded troopers found themselves deafened and numbed, falling into a cavity that ended nineteen levels below, where they bounced around like rubber balls in freefall, proving that their shields did work. Only they weren't designed for this.
Grumbling to themselves, the armored might of the shield Imperials straightened, looked around, and realized that without stairwells or lifts, all the firepower in the world would not get them out.
They were trapped in a hole without exits. Alive, shaken, and angry, but nevertheless, bagged. Hadn't someone said the corridor was only manned by a couple strange characters dressed in eveningwear?
On every level leading into the research station Imperial troops met resistance. On level six the Doral-I-Nald household staff let loose with illegal multi-port blaster cannons and laughed with profanity at the chaos they caused.
They called for the troopers to surrender without condition and were nonplussed when the offer wasn't seriously considered. The result?
"Let's kill them all,” crowed the cook, advancing, only to be tackled from behind by his wife.
"I knew you wanted to run out on me,” she complained bitterly. “But why wait until we have three children to rear? Were you thinking of driving me mad?"
The houseman, neatly unpacking grenades, told them they could make up later. They had intruders to take care of.
He was about to unload the destabilizer unit that would have brought down the troopers shields ... when inexplicably, the troopers signaled they wanted to give up.
Bascomb, their gardener, bawled instructions. Drop their harnesses. Cast their weapons aside and power down. They did. Then they were told to lie flat, face down. They did that, too.
An ancient manservant, long retired, calmly looked at the staff that had faithfully followed him into hell ... and now what? He firmed his jaw and ordered the chef and his assistant to man the outlying entrances and let him know instantly when something happened.
Meanwhile, their houseman, who was his son and the cook, along with the gardener, could take that lot into arrest.
"Where do we put them?” asked one of the serving girls.
His mouth opened slightly. He wasn't sure.
He suggested they take care of the wounded, and the other gardeners, who had once been marines ... could take the perimeter.
On levels two through five things were different. The Imperial elite, the famous blackguards, met with elusive Battle Maidens and were taught about women in particular. Number one. When they had to, they could fight as well as any man. Number two. They could kill as quick as eelworms in the grass and weren't half as noisy. Number three. They could turn the ears of a goat red with embarrassment with their taunts.
It was that last which worried the commander most. He'd listened over a com and never heard such things before, yet it told him something about the enemy. They were smart enough to get under the skins of the soldiers, which they had little trouble doing, and they showed no fear.
He wished he had more information on Battle Maidens, but he was among the city guards, and they were Galactic patrol, and maybe that accounted for it.
A lieutenant skidded into the chamber where headquarters were established and informed him that their advance had to pull back.
"What are you talking about? We just got here."
"Yes, sir, but now we have to pull back."
"Why?"
"We think they're going to use poison gas."
The major spluttered. “That's preposterous! It's illegal."
"Nevertheless, sir, I think it's about to happen. Several have been spotted wearing breathing apparatus, and there wouldn't be a need for that unless—"
The commander jumped up and yelled into his harness com. “All squadrons, I repeat, all squadrons, sound the retreat!"
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Chapter Twelve
Lieutenant NumNai did not care for the way the chief tech's proglandis shivered. Staring at the back of what would normally have been someone's head, the husk of fibrillar tendrils waved with an indecisiveness spelling trouble.
A vibro-blade made its presence known, along with the husky whisper of its wielder. “If my commander does not come through the portal as expected, in one piece, along with those who accompanied her and what she went to collect, I will skin you alive.” The blade's whining shivered as if eager for the task.
Gulping, the technician's appendages danced over the controls, the overhead screen cleared, a grayness appeared, a streak of lightning flashed across the center, and in its midst ... a picture formed, one that made the tech very happy.
Within the thickly locked magnetic shield blocks, standing within the focusing pentacle, the picture on the screen was brought closer, and Shar-Mei could be seen talking to someone next to her. The tech chief gulped nervously. He remembered who that person was, the way he stood, undaunted by her, or by the presence of the Battle Maidens. It was none other than the Light Bearer.
Reg-I-Nald looked up, as if having sensed being observed. In that manner, he caused the tech to swallow with fear. It was impossible anyone could sense a monitor beam, but apparently, he could.
"In another moment, I'll have them."
"That will be nice,” accompanied the black giantess standing to his rear. “I do not yet feel qualified to take full command of the unit. Perhaps in another ten or fifteen years."
A pad key was pushed, the focus expanded to the outlying boundaries of the pentacle, the wavering energy field solidified, tensed, and then leaped to make contact.
"We're getting them!” he yelled exuberantly.
"How pleasant for us."
A grid section in the upper ceiling vent ports imploded, sending a minor shock wave roiling through the chamber. Alarmed, Battle Maidens rushed to the newly gained access, but it was too late. A shield wall slid down from the ceiling and locked onto the floor plates. A moment later a shielded Imperial dropped within the protected zone, disregarding the photon blasts that tried to burn him. He helped another down, and then another, and another yet.
"We've got to blast through it!” yelled a Battle Maiden. “If that keeps up we'll be fighting an army!"
Firepower concentrated at one point, but with no greater effect. Lieutenant NumNai joined in the firing, switching from one photonic to another, keeping a cool head.
A concussion grenade sent a shock wave off the shield. Two Battle Maidens were lifted and thrown backwards, doing somersaults and landing in reverse rolls, but even that didn't spare them completely.
They lay sprawled, each shaking her head and feeling the floor. Then they helped one another up. They crawled forward and rejoined the shooting.
The invading fifteen troopers crowded together with no more room to be had. There was a huddled conference. The lead man spoke into his wrist com. The shield expanded ten feet, and more Imperials dropped down.
"Pour it on,” shouted a Battle Maiden, using her rifle on full phonic. “Don't give them a moment to breathe. Once that shield lets down, we'll have only a few units!"
The crackling firepower increased until it looked like the lab was bathed in lightning. The Imperials were handed down null rifles t
hat they shouldered and aimed in a spreading pattern. At any moment the shield would drop, and they'd fire.
The shield dropped, and the Imperials pulled their triggers.
But nothing happened. The crippling paralysis beams of the null rifles had no effect ... and the smaller arms firing back missed easy targets.
Warriors looked to their weapons with numbed expressions. There was a shout from above the access in the vent shaft, where one of the Imperials looked up. He was told to do his duty and stop acting stupid. But before he could respond with a biting remark of his own...
"Well, well, well, as I live and breathe,” chortled an out of breath Shar-Mei peering down at the person she left in charge, “if it isn't section leader NumNai, flat on her tummy and playing dead."
Said section leader squawked and scrambled up with a shout. Battle Maidens forgetting the life and death struggle gathered around and clasped arms with those they thought forever lost.
"Shar-Mei,” choked the biggest Battle Maiden ever to get through the academy, with the help of a drill sergeant of the same name. The women hugged briefly, words unnecessary. Then NumNai Issel Mooanami noted the man standing next to her commander, looking around as if re-acquainting himself with a place he'd been to only once.
"You're the Light Bearer.” She stepped back and got a good look, an uncomfortable feeling of awe sticking in her throat, not knowing what was the proper form of address for a living legend.
"Yes,” he said. “Don't make a big thing of it.” He gestured, aware that Battle Maidens were tending to one another, and some of those wounds appeared serious. “Looks like you girls had one hell of a time keeping hold of this place. I've got to hand it to you ... you sure held out."
"Not quite,” she corrected grimly, reporting the loss of twenty-seven, including lost contact with the Light Bearer's parents.
Reg-I-Nald's eyes glinted. “My parents? Here?"
"Here, with their household, fighting side by side with the girls,” the section leader added grimly. “They held off three hundred Imperials on level six, and when they couldn't hold them back they blew out the floor with an imploder. I'm sorry, Light Bearer, but I know not what happened afterwards."
He and Shar-Mei shared a long look.
"I promise you,” she said softly. “I'll have this place searched ... until I know for sure."
Choking back something that threatened to spill out of him, he turned without another word and stepped around wreckage. He made his way to the Imperial assault team.
The leader stiffened with alarm and pulled out a vibro-blade. None of his other weapons worked.
"Stand right there, Reg-I-Nald! We hold you under arrest! Surrender!"
"Assault leader,” Reg-I-Nald said, his words carrying with a weight of power throughout the chamber of the lab. “You may want to enquire why your weapons have malfunctioned."
The vibro-blade lowered.
"I've filled this floor with a negative static charge that has drained the power cells. Now, if you insist, I could think of something else, and believe me, assault leader, none will like it ... if, that is, they live through it."
The vibro-blade clattered with a helpless whine upon the floor, and the leader's shoulders slumped in defeat. “I am your prisoner."
"Yes, including every other Imperial in the building. You are all my prisoners."
"What—what will you do with us?"
Reg-I-Nald looked around, meeting his fiancé's eyes. “I'd like answers. First, who ordered this facility stormed? Second, which one of the council sought to abandon me in exile? And third, why was it thought necessary to implement such tactics when the rule of law was to apply, as it was thought to have been applied?"
Numbed, the assault team leader shook his head, his face having gone pale. These were not the words of one seeking world dominion. They were asked as a citizen, and one who was morally outraged.
"I—I do not know the answers to those questions."
"Then perhaps you should call someone down here that does."
Five minutes later Captain Sendai scrambled over the feet of his units and wriggled past a line of stolid troops into the lower transmitter chamber, and there he met the Light Bearer.
"Well,” he said lightly. “This wasn't easy. Let me tell you."
"Excuse me?"
"Making it my level best to keep you out, while ensuring you had time to get back in."
It wasn't what Reg-I-Nald expected ... but with a simple probe he understood. “How many casualties?"
Captain Sendai looked grim. “More than I bargained for, still, less than expected."
"And the reason?"
"A coup, what else? Only martial law could have prevented a Galactic qualifier from examining affairs down here."
"But if you were in charge of the Imperials—"
Sendai shook his head. “In another few days I would have been an assassin clinging to a rooftop. Since this business began I've been demoted three times. They were getting suspicious."
"And your other people...” Reg-I-Nald stopped, sensing the other's grief.
"Out of a group of handpicked men and women, only three remain. The others became brainwashed puppets. Never allow anyone near you without probing first. I had to kill seven myself. One was my sister's nephew."
There was nothing either could say.
"What was your rank before this idiocy began?"
"Colonel."
"Colonel Sendai, I want you and your people to work with the Battle Maidens. Find my parents. Tear this building apart if you have to. Tear this city apart if you have to. Do whatever you need to do to find them!"
"Sir!” Sendai stiffened and with a short bow, he chose his Imperials and had the power to the lifts restored.
* * * *
"Doral-I-Nald, its no thanks to you the lift beams failed just moments after dropping us down here.” Synthis expressed herself with a sense of wonder, looking at the empty shaft above. “My father thought this would be a relatively important mating for me, but my mother was right all along. She knew you were a fool."
"Oh, I don't know,” Doral responded lightly. “I rather like your old man."
She sniffed. “You would."
He got up and prowled the outer limits of their imprisonment, touching first one side, then another, but the sheer, circular walls gave nothing up. There was no way out. They'd await rescue, or else ... and he wasn't happy imagining the alternative, that the only ones who might come down that shaft would be Imperials. He remembered having failed to send something to their annual ball, too.
A sound coming from above had them craning their heads up. Synthis checked her rifle, thumbing the control to automatic, and felt for the spare pistol at the back of her gown's waist strap.
"And another thing, Doral-I-Nald."
He sighed, readying himself appropriately. “Yes, dear?"
"I just want to say I think you're one hell of a man, and for most of the time we've been together, I've been proud to be your mate."
He stared at her in wounded disbelief. “Well, this is a fine time to tell me!"
She stepped into a slight shadow, and he separated towards the opposite curve. There was no trouble hearing them now. The lift power had been turned on and the floor beneath them glowed softly as it sent up its supporting rays, harmless at ground level. Several feet above their heads the walls glowed with appositive deflectors, giving the air a tensile strength.
A lift platform descended slowly. He licked his lips and wondered how they would be remembered. Traitors? Heroes? Renegades? And if that lift didn't stop ... as meat?
The lift descended further. He lifted his rifle and aimed at the center post. If he could cut it cleanly through, those above might reverse in a panic if their shields were down. He could hope for the best. The humbling thought of being crushed didn't appeal to him. However, the lift did stop.
"Hey!” someone yelled. “Anybody alive down there?"
"Who wants to know?” shouted
Synthis, her rifle pointing where she thought it would do the most good.
"Battle Maidens, ma'am. Are you the Light Bearer's mother? Do you have your man with you? Your son is tearing the station apart looking for both of you, and I have to say he has the whole city in a panic. He's that angry. Every utility's power system has been turned off, and no one knows how or why."
"Good,” she declared. “As he's my son, he should be angry. The idea of treating a woman of my caliber the way..."
Doral-I-Nald sighed gratefully, and to his astonishment, his wife's complaints were almost soothing.
* * * *
Shar-Mei whispered back in her com and approached the clustered group of military advisors and politicians. She stooped to tap the shoulder of the man seated at their head.
Reg-I-Nald turned enquiringly.
"They've been found alive and well in a lift tube. Your mother's complaining about the lack of proper service."
"What's going to happen when she demands things of you?” he asked.
"From the way she and her man fought, holding back three hundred crack Imperials, I'd say she had every right to services, and I say services rendered! But tell me something."
"If I can."
"Did your mother and father ever serve in the military?"
"I did hear they met at a party for military personnel."
"What was her rank?"
"She was a lieutenant in an administrative section, and he was a supply sergeant. She told me that as soon as he saw her she couldn't get rid of him."
"Hmm, I thought so,” she murmured.
"What does that mean?"
"It means everything they ever told you about themselves has been a lie. I got a chance to run your parents I.D. codes through the staff computer, and it spit out that I didn't have enough clearance for a review. And I mean a review of both their records."
He chuckled softly. “So, it looks like mommy and daddy were hiding information from their precious son, along with everyone else. Glad you told me. I'll have their real files made available."
She nodded seriously. “That's good. She's going to be my mother-in-law, so I don't want to make any mistakes."
"What about Doral? He is the head of the house."
The Fourth Guardian Page 28