The Leader Elect looked confused for a moment, then Grant saw her stiffen as understanding dawned.
Colonel Becca Conway was on Telgora. And because of the Zrthn portals, Telgora was only two jumps away: Earth to Waa, then Waa to Telgora.
“I need an hour.”
“Of course,” Grant nodded, glad he could do something positive for Randalyn. He didn’t know how Becca Conway would receive the visit, but that was out of his hands. “I’ll meet you at the portal in sixty minutes.”
Randalyn smiled, turned on her heel, and rushed down the hallway.
With an hour to kill, Grant put his visit with Mouse and Sue back on his agenda.
Chapter 16
Eli looked to the east. The trail of broken forest would lead him to the rest of the Agate. And it was time to get started.
Recharging his suit had taken longer than he’d expected. When the reading announced 100 percent, the day was nearly over. He’d debated on whether to move on or spend another night in the scout ship’s tail. An inner sense of urgency wanted him to move on, to find the rest of the ship now, but he’d resisted the urge and settled in for a second night behind his makeshift wall of food boxes. Again, he slept well.
Now that dawn had arrived—its presence revealed by the sun shining through the broken cover above—the pressing need to move forward was once again upon him. This time, he gave into the feeling and jumped from the ship to the ground. The firmness of the landing surprised him. Despite being a muddy, waterlogged swamp only twenty-four hours earlier, the ground had somehow managed to revert back to the hard-packed surface he had first experienced. Even so, he had no desire to move forward on the surface of the planet. The level above was the more reasonable choice. He could move quickly along the branches there, and the dim light that filtered into the higher layer would help conserve power. With that in mind, he raced to the closest tree and scuttled upward, the movement now second nature after so many repetitions.
He kept his head moving and his eyes scanning up down, right and left as he climbed. Despite keeping a keen lookout, he never spotted anything that he felt might be responsible for the warnings he’d been given. Whatever was out there watching over him and warning him of danger was very good at hiding its presence.
As Eli neared the opening that would put him on the dim level of the forest, he spotted another of the giantpillars. As he had come to expect, the spike-covered creature was climbing down the trunk. After several days of observing them, he knew they climbed down in the morning and up in the evening. He paused his climb to let this one pass and watched as it gave him a cursory once-over before moving on to the surface level. He’d never actually watched one descend all the way down, so he held his position and watched as the giantpillar reached the ground, turned to the east, and moved away across the planet’s surface. It was both interesting and boring at the same time, and Eli wondered where the thing was headed.
With a shake of head, he climbed the last five meters to the dim level and hopped out onto the surface it provided. He put the crash on his right and moved to the east, following the trail of destruction that would lead to the rest of the scout ship.
East. The same direction as the giantpillar.
Ten minutes later, he spied another broken opening in the forest canopy ahead. It was similar to the one he’d just left, but larger, and he knew before he arrived that he’d found the Agate—or what was left of her.
He slowed his pace, activated his camouflage system, and moved toward the opening in the forest slowly and cautiously. When he was ten meters from the edge of the breach, he dropped to his stomach and lowcrawled the remainder of the way.
He finally reached a point that allowed him to look down between the broken, twisted branches, and he spied the goal of his journey resting on the surface below. Like the rear portion of the ship he’d just left, the main hull of the ship seemed in relatively good shape considering it had lost altitude and crashed through the upper layers of the Cerbian forest. It would never fly again, obviously. But it wasn’t the scattered field of destruction that he’d first imagined it might be. For the most part, the hull had retained its integrity. It was still recognizable as the forward portion of a Shiale Alliance scout ship, which was rather remarkable considering the path it had taken to arrive at its final resting place.
Eli looked up and noted the blue sky, visible through the path of broken forest that spread up and to the west. The opening allowed rays of sunlight to reach parts of the planet’s surface that probably hadn’t seen sun in thousands, maybe even millions, of years.
The thin rays illuminated movement below, and anxiously Eli amplified his suit’s vision to investigate. The initial threads of hope quickly dissipated. The figures below were Minith, but they weren’t the engineers he’d come to know on the journey to Cerbius. No, these Minith were soldiers—soldiers he didn’t recognize. And they carried weapons that clearly weren’t issued by the Alliance. He watched them for a few minutes, and it became clear that they were guarding the wrecked ship.
What the flock?
These Minith were the enemy.
* * *
Drah entered the portal room and was immediately enveloped by the uncomfortable warm wetness that the filled the room. He hated visiting the room when one of his Zrthn hosts arrived for this very reason. Their desire—no, rather their need—for overbearing humidity was unbearable. He’d spent months inside one of their captivity ships under these same conditions, and he still had unhealed sores on his elbows and knees as a result. He growled at the memory and noted his host was none other than Oinoo himself.
He hadn’t met with the lead slave master in months, but the other’s presence wasn’t a surprise. His investment was at risk.
“Is the passage to the east ready, Drah?” Oinoo asked, not wasting time on formalities. Each word seemed encased in mush, and Drah had to replay what Oinoo had said twice in his head to decipher the question. The Zrthn communicated in Minith, but they were minimally capable of the task.
How did I wind up under the boot of these pitiful creatures?
The slimy, multilegged specimen before him was half his size, and the former Alliance colonel silently wondered what it would feel like to squash the thing’s head under his own boot. It would feel wonderful, for sure, but how would it really feel? Drah imagined the overlarge head caving as his heel pressed downward, the being’s tentacles waving and beating frantically against the pain and the inevitability of his death. He could hear the loud pop of the cranial collapse as his full weight descended. Yes, it would feel wonderful.
The notion gave him succor and allowed Drah to restrain himself. Despite his for the Zrthn, he needed Oinoo; was bound to him.
“Yes, Oinoo,” Drah answered, the urge to injure the alien successfully muted for the moment. “The engineers will have the remainder of the barrier removed this afternoon.”
Drah didn’t add that opening the wall would put his men at risk, and that he would have to relocate his perimeter guards to protect the breach and prevent unwanted visitors from slipping through. Oinoo wouldn’t care; it wasn’t his problem to handle.
“Your delay in preparing the gateway has been noted, Drah. We have missed the monthly rain, which is unfortunate.”
Drah swallowed the angry words that wanted to spill forward and resisted the temptation to defend himself from the unmerited assertion. He had pushed his engineers as hard as he could push to open a passage through the barrier. There had been no delay. Instead of giving in to the urge to defend his actions, he redirected his emotions and allowed his curiosity to take the fore. He’d been directed to open a hole in the wall, but he hadn’t been told why.
“What is the purpose of the breach in our barrier, Oinoo?” Fortunately, the Zrthn race didn’t require overt displays of respect or deference from their subordinates—Drah wasn’t certain he could show either. Instead, the slimy things seemed satisfied with underlings who accomplished tasks quickly, successfully deliver
ed results, and followed directions. All were competencies at which Drah excelled.
“We will be delivering Zrthn soldiers to the planet,” the blueish Zrthn replied. “They will arrive through the portal, move directly through the forest, and assemble in the ocean that lies to the east. Because of your delay, they will require misting units to facilitate their movements.”
Again, Drah ignored the criticism of his performance and redirected his emotions. The slow, hypnotic twitching of his large batlike ears would have given his internal struggle away to anyone familiar with the Minith. Fortunately, Oinoo was not.
“And what assistance do you require?”
“No assistance is needed, Drah,” Oinoo said as his tentacle-legs moved him toward the portal that would take him off the planet. Apparently their meeting was concluded. Oinoo’s head spun just before he stepped through the doorway and the Zrthn offered one last order. “Just keep out of the way.”
Drah wondered what Oinoo had planned. Bringing troops to the planet was a good sign that the Zrthns weren’t interested in ceding the mining operations back to the Shiale Alliance. In fact, it hinted at just the opposite. They were preparing a defense against an attack. Excellent.
Moving their forces to the ocean made sense. Zrthns needed warm, wet environments and it didn’t get much wetter than the ocean.
He just hoped Oinoo could deliver enough fighters to defend their mutual interests.
The Alliance wouldn’t give up their claim on Cerbius easily.
* * *
Eli observed the Minith below for nearly an hour. Their sentry patterns were rote and predictable. Their movements were listless and slow. They were going through the motions of guarding the ship without actually guarding it. Having grown up around the Minith, Eli had seen it before. They were fierce fighters when the shout hit the air, but they needed action, movement, and a shared goal to remain alert and be effective. Guarding an empty wreck for any length of time was akin to telling them to sleep on their feet.
He couldn’t help but smile as he imagined the grumbling taking place below as they complained to one another about their latest assignment.
The Minith were predictable, and he would use that to his advantage.
The light that filtered down around the ship was dim, but Eli decided it would be best to wait for the sun to disappear fully before approaching the ship. He settled down to wait and kept an eye on the Minith.
Chapter 17
“Lieutenant Benson.” The voice came through over the carrier’s internal speaker system. “We’ve got movement at the mine. You might want to get over here.”
Benson was just settling down for his scheduled six hours of sleep when the call came from Aquino. He picked his helmet up from the floor where he’d placed it just moments earlier, resettled it onto his suit, and keyed the internal mic.
“On my way.”
He stepped carefully over the three other figures laid out on the floor of the craft and exited the vehicle at a jog. He tossed a silent wave to the rangers standing watch over the two Alliance carriers as he made his way to the closest tree trunk.
Within a few minutes, he was up the trunk to the jungle level and moving toward the mine in the distance. He allowed his suit’s tracking systems to guide him toward the spot where Aquino and Ming had set up their day’s observation post. The location of the post moved regularly, as did the two carriers they operated from. Despite the fact that no one from the mine ever seemed to patrol outside the perimeter of their giant barrier, Benson didn’t take any chances. Diligent lookouts backed by random location shifts had become their routine.
He spotted the prone forms of his two rangers at the edge of the forest ahead and dropped to his belly for the final approach. He didn’t need to announce his presence to the two men; their suits would have already informed them that he was behind them.
He slid slowly into position beside Aquino and looked down over the wall that surrounded the mine.
It took a few seconds for the sight to sink in, but he couldn’t help but shake his head when he recognized what he was seeing.
Filling the large open space between the main building and the breach in the wall to the east, hundreds of armed figures were arranged in neat rows of formation. Their appearance was unmistakable. The weapons they carried and the fact that they were shrouded by a heavy drizzle left no doubt.
The Zrthns had arrived.
Any doubts Benson might have had as to who they were up against were gone.
“For the past few hours, we’ve been watching our Minith friends erect those round water generators,” Aquino informed Benson, pointing to the half-dozen large, round metal devices set up around the square below. Each one spewed a heavy layer of water into the air. Working together, the six units covered the entirety of the mine’s shipping port with a heavy downpour. “In addition to the six units you see below, they transported several dozen more through the gate into the forest. Then, about an hour ago, the squids starting showing up.”
“And they’re well armed,” Benson acknowledged. He enhanced his suit vision to get a better look. “Those weapons seem to be the same type they used on Telgora. That’s good for us. They only work on organic matter. Unless they’ve upgraded them in the past eighteen months, they won’t penetrate our armor.”
“Well, that’s a plus. But look,” Aquino said, nodding toward a pair of alien transport carriers leaving the facility. “Another load of those water globes are headed out the gate.”
“What the flock are they doing?” Benson wondered out loud.
As the three Alliance rangers watched, the first four ranks of Zrthn fighters peeled away from their formation and formed a column. Marching four abreast, they moved toward, then passed through, the newly opened breach. The watery shroud continued to cover them as they moved into the forest toward the east.
It took less than ten minutes for the thousand or so aliens to move out past the wall. When the last one disappeared, Aquino tapped his LT on the shoulder and pointed to the right.
Benson looked in that direction and saw another row of Zrthns exit the main building. As he watched, they quickly and efficiently took the place of the recently departed warriors and began forming their own ranks. It took the aliens approximately fifty minutes to fill the space with another thousand fighters. Once assembled, they too began marching toward the opening in the wall. Another load of the round water units accompanied their departure.
Benson radioed down to Sergeant Jerrone, who was in charge of guarding the carriers, to let him know what was happening. Jerrone prepared the carriers to move out in case the Zrthns approached, but he reported that none of the aliens were moving in their direction. Instead, they seemed to be heading due east. It was a course that would take them to the downed scout ship, but Benson couldn’t reconcile this many troops with anything having to do with the Agate. He wondered what they were up to and decided they would need to keep an eye on the ranks moving east.
“Jerrone,” Benson radioed to his number two. “Take one of the carriers and pace the lead ranks. Don’t get closer than necessary to track them and don’t engage. If they turn your way, break off and make your way back here.”
“On it, LT,” Jerrone replied. Three minutes later, Benson’s suit announced the carrier’s movement, and he set it to track the vehicle’s progress. He then turned his attention back to the mine below.
The influx of Zrthns didn’t let up. Over the next few hours, the three rangers watched as several thousand more soldiers exited the mining facility, assembled in the large area below, and then headed east surrounded by their watery mist.
They just kept coming, and coming, and coming.
* * *
The sun’s eventual departure from the sky left the broken ship in semidarkness. The Minith had set up a weak string of lights around the ship, apparently in an attempt to help their guards protect it from intruders at night.
Despite the unexpected lighting around the wreckage, i
t was time, and Eli prepared to move. He stood, stretched, and ran a check of his suit’s systems. Satisfied that all was well with his armor, he activated his night vision, crept quietly to the nearest tree, and began his descent. When he reached the surface, he paused for a few minutes to study the guards he had previously been observing from above.
His new position didn’t offer any additional info or insight. Everything was exactly the same as it had been for the past several hours.
Five Minith guarded the ship: one at the nose of the craft, one at each of the ship’s access portals on the forward hull, and two at the rear. Both the right and left access doors were closed, so Eli dismissed trying to enter the ship there. Instead, he focused his attention on the gaping thirty-meter-wide hole where the front of the ship had separated from the rear. In effect, this section was a mirror image to the rear section where Eli had spent the last two nights.
Two guards patrolled the opening. The guard nearest Eli paced back and forth along an assigned walking lane that carried him from the middle of the large opening to the starboard hull. His movements were slow and languid. After hours of observation, Eli knew it took a count of ten for the guard to cover his designated lane. At the end of the ten-second pass, the Minith paused for a count of three, then turned around and made his way back to the center. The guard on the far side mirrored the near guard’s pace. Both kept their eyes on the path ahead of them, rarely looking out at the forest that surrounded them.
Most importantly for Eli, the two guards met in the middle of the ship for a count of between five and ten seconds. They always seemed to exchange words during those pauses. Eli couldn’t hear what they said from his position, but it didn’t matter. That extended pause in the middle and their inability to take their assignment seriously were what mattered.
Stranded Justice (The Justice Trilogy Series Book 2) Page 10
