by Jessica Snow
Jonpel gives me a look that says he might know more than he should at his age, but he understands, his sister is too young to know about the sex slaves. The flexi crackles, then continues. “Royal authorities are also looking for Crown Prince Tauren. Tauren went to the estate of Lord Ambaris to question the Resistance leader Jensen about the explosions in the capital. In a situation that is still unclear, Royal Lancers ended up arresting Lord Ambaris for treason, while Tauren, Jensen, and Lord Ambaris' daughter, Lady Kelbara, have disappeared. Reports from Arklan Prison state that a shuttle matching one of the shuttles belonging to Lord Ambaris attacked the prison, freeing Mogar, who was recently jailed for assisting the Resistance. Any citizens who see either the shuttle, Prince Tauren or Jensen are advised to contact Royal authorities. Jensen is to be considered armed and dangerous, and King Joren has stated that his son may or may not be under the influence of Jensen. Repeat, by the authority of King Joren, a state of emergency has been declared in the city, after bombs.....”
I set down the flexi, looking over at the Jonpel and his sister. “I can see why you got down here.”
“We thought maybe you was a trooper,” Jonpel says, pointing at my powerlance. “But they never let no human into the Lancers.”
“Not that I know of,” I reply, tapping the lance in my palm. “I took this off the guard who was taking me to be beaten. The explosion sent him into a wall, breaking his neck.”
The little girl, hugs her brother tighter. “So what now? Are you going to kill us? We're Tamarians.”
“We're all Tamarians,” I reply without thinking, shocked at what I'm saying. “You, me, the baby in my belly.... we're all Tamarians. I need to get to a communications terminal.”
“What for?” Jonpel asks. “I mean, it's safer down here, isn't it? Just stay down here until the streets are quiet.”
I nod, but rub at my stomach again. “Because Jensen's my brother.... and Tauren's the man I love. I need to find out if they're all right.”
Jonpel looks at me in shock, and the little girl smiles. “Really? You love Prince Tauren?”
“He loves me too. But I have to get to him,” I reply. “Can you help me?”
“This is cooler than Xinderella Jonpel,” the girl says, tugging on her brother's arm and smiling up at him with a pleading look that I bet every big brother or sister has seen from a younger sibling at least once. I never expected help from this sort of place, but I'll take what I can get. “We should help.”
Jonpel studies his sister's face for a moment then nods, reaching for the attachment of the heater to the power conduit, pulling the connection and casting the tunnel back into darkness. A moment later, a dim, yellowish light blooms in Jonpel's hands, and he holds out a small lamp that I see is filled with some kind of mold. “Lumi-lichens,” Jonpel explains. “They grow in the deeper sewer areas underneath the central areas of the city. You get a bunch of it together, put it in a jar with some water and sugar, and you can make yourself a light for free. Just wash your hands after, or else your hands glow and they smell bad. Makes food smell bad too.”
“Smart,” I comment as Jonpel leads me on. We take a few turns, angling upward most of the time before we come to another junction. Jonpel goes over to a metal panel on the wall and opens it, inside there are a bunch of glowing conduits of various types.
“Here, this is a node of the planetary communications grid. Do you have a scrambler?”
I shake my head, kneeling down in front of the metal panel. I look at the console, and close my eyes, trying to compare it to what Tauren and Jensen had taught me during my months with the Resistance. It's somewhat similar, I can figure out the basic controls, but... “I don't have a scrambler. What is that?”
“Little box, about the size of your hand, you plug it in here,” Jonpel says, pointing to a slot on the panel. “With it, you can place untraceable calls. Mom said it's a military thing, they have it for times of civil insurrection.”
I chuckle, looking up where I can hear the sirens and roar of things above us. “You mean like now?”
Jonpel grins at my joke, nodding. “Yeah, like now. Anyway, some of us figured out how to hack one together, but mine broke two weeks ago. You can still talk, but....”
“But it can be tracked,” I finish, and Jonpel nods. “Okay, well.... I don't really have a choice. No offense, but I'm getting hungry, and I need to know.”
Jonpel and the girl wait while I input the codes for the Resistance communication channel, and start transmitting. “Audra calling Jensen or Tauren. Please, if you're out there, reply.”
I'm just about to repeat my message, calling for any Resistance forces I can reach, when the tiny video screen blinks to life, and a blond girl with nearly impossibly huge green eyes with the distinctive iridescence of a Tamarian comes on. She blinks, then looks to her right. “Sir? I have her.”
The girl disappears, and my heart leaps as Jensen comes on the screen. “Audra? Is it you?”
“I hate Number Eleven rations,” I joke, and Jensen grins. “Good to see you, big brother. I can use a hand.”
“Where are you? We're in a shuttle, we've been trying to find you without getting shot down. The capital....”
“I know. I saw a news feed about the bombs. What happened?”
Jensen sighs sadly, and looks off camera, nodding for a moment before refocusing on me. “Our contacts are saying that Mathias and his men all set off some sort of suicide bomb, surgically implanted in their bodies. We can fill you in later, where are you?”
I look over at Jonpel, who points to his left. “We're about a kilometer from Tower Plaza.”
“Thanks,” I say, turning back to Jensen. “Got that? A kilometer from Tower Plaza.”
“We can set down there. Tauren can thread a needle with this thing, I think.”
Tauren's with him. Thank the heaven and stars. “And Mogar?”
“That crazy man insisted on being taken back to his estate, something about a lab project of his,” Jensen says with a laugh. “Okay, we'll be by to pick you up. Be careful, that area's one of the epicenters of the rioting.”
“Then hurry, this call... it's not scrambled,” I reply. “Pickup might be quick and dirty.”
“Then we'll make it a quick one. Be there in ten minutes.”
The screen goes blank, and I quickly close the panel, turning left before stopping. “If the Plaza is a hot zone, it might not be safe for you guys.”
“If they tracked that call, the tunnels won't be safe either,” Jonpel says. “Don't worry, I know some places above ground we can be safe. A little colder, but safe.”
We take off towards Tower Plaza, which is on the outskirts of the capital and ironically doesn't have a tower anywhere near it. Before the invention of hover technology, Tamaria tried to create a space elevator using the recently discovered diamond carbon. Using a di-car cable that was anchored on one side by a 1000-meter tower on the ground and by a space station in geosynchronous orbit on the other, they hoped to create a cheap way to send materials up to orbit for the construction of spacecraft and expanding the lunar bases. It worked fine, but less than a hundred years later, hover tech was perfected along with artificial gravity, which made the tower obsolete. The cable as well as the tower were removed, with Tower Plaza being put in its footprint as a testament to the progress of Tamarian science.
Jonpel leads me up a slope of permacrete to a grate, where we look out. “This grate's supposed to be for the maintenance crews for power and communications. It's bolted in though.”
I look, and shrug. “Well, powerlances do have a lot of uses. Cover your eyes.”
I wait for Jonpel and his sister to cover their eyes before I set my lance to thermal discharge, the same setting Tauren used to start a campfire seemingly ages ago, when I was a different woman for sure, and point it at the bolt. It takes a little over five seconds, but the first bolt melts quickly, and I proceed to the next. Eight bolts, forty seconds, and the grate hangs loose in its frame. “There.
Come on, and don't touch the frame, it might be hot.”
The grate actually is warm to the touch as we climb out, looking around. I can hear the riots just blocks away, but Tower Plaza itself seems relatively quiet. The three of us kneel behind a bush, looking around. “How long has it been?”
“Eight minutes,” Jonpel says, glancing at his wrist. “Are they the type to be on time?”
“Jensen yes. Tauren.... he goes by his own clock,” I chuckle. “He's the Crown Prince, people go by his timeline most of the time.”
“Is he as cute as the news feeds say he is?” Jonpel's sister suddenly asks, blushing. Jonpel gives her a surprised glare, and she lowers her eyes. “Sorry.”
“Don't be,” I reply, rubbing her curly brown hair. “And yes, he's as cute as they say. Cuter, even.”
“Well, I hope he's early,” Jonpel whispers, pointing across the plaza. “Troops.”
I look, and Jonpel's right, a half dozen capital police, fully armed and armored, come down the street and into the plaza, the leader pointing. “Fan out! She's gotta be here somewhere!”
“Heaven and stars,” I mutter, staying low. I look over at Jonpel and his sister, shaking my head. “You two need to get to safety.”
Jonpel looks like he's about to argue, but before he can, I point at his sister. “She's your number one priority, Jonpel. Not picking a fight with the cops. That's... that's my job, it seems.”
Jonpel nods, and takes his sister's hand. “Don't forget about us.”
“I won't, I promise,” I reassure him. “Now go, before they get closer.”
Jonpel and his sister ease into the shadows with practiced mastery, disappearing with almost no sound around a building and then they're gone. They're Tamarian, the cops shouldn't bother them too much and Jonpel says he can find a safe space. I turn my attention back to the police that are making their way around the Plaza before I take a moment to look down at my powerlance. No tracker darts left, and using the heat setting drained the power for plasma balls. I can't fire blind, and I can't stun them. One setting left, and it's the one the police are armored against.... great.
I utter a quick prayer to the stars and set my lance on Gauss setting, there's a thousand rounds of the hypersonic needles in the lance; maybe it's enough. I half extend my lance, which will make the rounds faster, maybe making it capable of punching through the armor on the cops' limbs. I scan the Plaza and the sky, hoping that Tauren and Jensen arrive soon.
“Sir!” one of the cops calls out, pointing towards the bush that I'm hiding in. Shit. Had to wear white and try and blend into a bush, didn't I? I don't give the cop a chance to do anything, but aim and fire, the Gauss round hitting him in the chest, knocking him on his back. A powerlance Gauss round, when the lance is half extended like I have it, won't break through torso armor, but it's still a lot of force being put into the target, and can possibly be lethal because of something Tauren told me is called 'hydrostatic shock.' Still, it's better than blowing off his arm or leg or going for his head, it gives him at least a chance of survival.
My cover blown, I dash behind a nearby building, praying that the police aren't armed with tracker darts. According to Tauren, they usually aren't, the explosions cause too much property damage. The police lance is different from a military lance, with a larger battery for plasma charges, and only enough space for a few dozen Gauss rounds. At least, that's what Tauren told me, as the first Gauss rounds start pinging off the building I'm hiding behind. I fire back, barely ducking my head out before snapping off a dozen shots and ducking my head back.
I'm reminded for some reason of a memory, one of my happy memories with Neyilla, actually. When she was little, she loved watching entertainment videos with me and Mathias, and one of her favorites was a series called Danger, Ranger! about a group of Galactic Space Rangers. With all the excitement, there was a gun battle of some sort almost every episode. Of course, none of the noisy, childishly exciting gun battles on DR were at all like this, this fight is nearly silent except for the sound of boots on pavement, harsh breathing, and sirens in the distance. The cops are even using whisper radios, I can't listen in as their commander calls in orders to his troops, or they communicate with each other.
I can't stay here, especially with the commander most likely patched into the security cameras that ring the Plaza. I have to move, and hope that by being quick and smart, I can avoid getting shot. I see a cop approaching the building I'm hiding behind and I dart to him, my lance tripping him behind his knee even as I roll with him. Body armor is great for absorbing punishment, but it's heavy and it's not flexible, slowing you down when you are fully suited like these cops are. I use that to my advantage, pulling the cop's helmet off before elbowing him across the nose, shattering it before hiding behind his body as two plasma charges come crackling across the plaza to hit their ally. Hey, do some more work for me, I'll be happy to accept it.
“Audra of Neyilla, surrender!” one of the cops yells, his voice amplified by the surrounding speakers. “Surrender before lethal force is authorized!”
“You already tried Gauss rounds, stop lying to me!” I yell back, snapping off two shots at the nearest movement. “Only thing keeping me alive is that you don't want to kill your friend here!”
Before the cops can answer, salvation drops from the sky as a medium sized boxy shuttle descends from the sky, a plasma cannon on the front firing rapidly towards the cops who are on the other side of the plaza. They run for cover, but I'm sprinting towards the back of the shuttle, where the door opens and I see Jensen waving for me. The shields on the shuttle shimmer and blink out for a moment as it settles down, the hoverpads still running while I jump in. Jensen hits the hatch button, and looks to the front of the shuttle. “GO!”
We lift off, the shield shimmering back into place as the police fire on the shuttle, their Gauss rounds far too weak to penetrate the shield. I catch my breath, looking at Jensen who's dressed in light chest armor before he pulls me into a hug. “Audra.... oh Audra, I was scared.”
“Jensen.” I whisper, hugging my brother back. “Tauren?”
“Up here, my love,” Tauren grunts, throwing the shuttle into a tight turn that the artificial gravity is barely able to keep up with. “You might want to strap in. I'd hug you, but I'd like to get us to safety first.”
A giant ball of plasma goes whizzing by the front window of the shuttle, and I understand. I sit down in one of the seats, strapping in while Jensen takes the seat beside me, and I'm surprised when the same tiny Tamarian girl sticks her head up over the copilot's seat rest, her green eyes taking me in. “Hi. I'm Kelbara.”
“Audra.”
Kelbara drops back into the copilot's seat just as Tauren sends the shuttle into a twisting spin, too much for even the artificial gravity, and he grunts. “Come on, just two more minutes, and we can get out of range, get back to Mogar. He said we need to see him ASAP.”
“Why?” I ask, grabbing my shoulder straps again as Tauren sends us into another crazy maneuver. If we didn't have artificial gravity, I'm pretty sure we'd be dead by now, the maneuvers are so wild.
“I don't know. We'll find out.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tauren
The first thing I do after getting out of the shuttle at Mogar's estate is hold Audra close, forcing myself to overcome the revulsion that Mother's drugs are causing in me. I know I love her, I know she's carrying my baby... but the drugs did do some damage. I just hope that Mogar can help me with that.
Still, Audra notices. “What's wrong?”
I shrug, looking down. “Mother tried very hard to use drugs to train me to hate humans. I fought it, but....”
“But I understand,” Audra says, stepping back. “It's okay. I love you.”
I wince, my stomach flip-flopping, but smile back. “I love you too. And our baby.”
“You two have a baby?” Jensen asks, shocked. “I thought....”
“We all did,” I reply, cutting him off. “Come
on, let's find Mogar.”
The house is almost totally empty, just a few humans, servants who have been loyal to Mogar for decades, still around. Still, one of them sees us, and waves us over. “Lord Mogar is in his lab. I'll take you to him.”
“I thought he'd been stripped of title,” Kelbara says, confused. “They gave this estate to my father.”
“Titles are earned, not given,” the servant replies with a small nod. “Mogar's earned his Lordship, Lady Kelbara. As have you.”
The servant says nothing more as he takes us to Mogar's lab, a part of the estate that I've never seen before even in all the years I've known the man. “Hmm... the games master always has had his secrets.”
Kelbara looks around, still shocked as the door opens and Mogar looks up from his bench, which is covered in chemistry equipment as well as computers. “You made it!”
Mogar comes around the bench to hug Audra and Jensen before turning to me, his eyes warm with concern. “My Prince.”
“My friend,” I say, offering my hand. We shake as equals, and I can see that Mogar's moved before he steps back. “What is this experiment that has you risking your life?”
“Prevention of the final solution,” Mogar says, passing over a flexi. “What do you see the police and soldiers wearing?”
I take a look, seeing pictures from security footage around the capital. “Full armor.”
“With environmental gear,” Mogar adds. “The King has decided to implement madness.”
“Explain,” Jensen says. Mogar gestures, and brings us around the laboratory bench that he was at originally.
“It was a policy that Neyton proposed during the time that Tauren was with the Resistance,” Mogar explains, not looking at us but checking instead the readouts on his equipment. “Neyton developed an aerosolized version of the hypnotics. He proposed to King Joren the idea that if the Resistance spread, or if civil insurrection occurred, to flood the streets of the capital with this aerosol. The civil defense loudspeakers would then order everyone to comply with the government.”
