by Chris Fox
9
I risked a quick look around the corner at the Supply Depot, then darted back into cover. This did not look good.
A quick survey of our resources dampened whatever withered remains of hope still lingered. Our mages were dry, and the people we protected were exhausted, hungry, and frightened.
“Seket,” I whispered into the comm on a squad-wide channel. “How many spells do you have left?”
“Not many.” He shifted in his armor, and his void pocket opened. The paladin dropped his rifle inside, and withdrew his blade. “I’m low enough that melee is probably the safest option. Besides, if we’re rushing a door we want me in the van taking the brunt of it.”
Seket snapped his wrist down for emphasis, and his blue-white spellshield flared to life.
Aruni surprised me by stepping forward and clapping Seket on the shoulder. “You are a credit to your god, young paladin. I am sure that wherever he is he must be proud of you.”
In that brief instant something electric crackled between them. Something magical, but not a magic I recognized. It wasn’t a spell in the traditional sense, but Aruni imbued Seket with…something.
None of my companions noticed, including the paladin, so that too was stowed for later. Another question Aruni owed an answer to. I turned to Vee. “How are you holding up?”
“I can fight.” Despite her brave words and the set of that pretty jaw, I’m not sure I agreed with her assessment.
I studied the wights, who still piled into the line of fire as if gleefully seeking their own destruction. Each disappeared in a puff of dust, and the cannons simply kept firing. “Miri, the turrets must have rules on who they target. Will they shoot at us if we approach the depot?”
“It’s possible.” Miri’s smile slipped for the first time. “If they’ve been set to free fire they’ll attack everything. If not…then they are programmed to assault anything that’s perceived as a threat. Carrying a weapon won’t set them off. Having one drawn could. Firing one definitely will.”
I glanced behind me at the minister and the other civilians. There was only one way to test this, and I knew it. We had to be certain before we risked everyone.
“I’ll go. I can evac the quickest if it goes south.” I steeled myself, then lunged around the corner and charged into a full sprint before anyone could protest.
No one did. Being leader sucked.
I poured on my meager burst of speed with my pistol in one hand. A half dozen wights broke off from the main tide and started in my direction. In response the closest spellcannon began its deep hum, and I winced as it discharged a spell that impacted behind me.
I glanced back and saw no more wights, though the rest of the pack had started in my direction. “Woo hoo! That’s right. That’s what you get!”
There was just enough time to turn, sprint a few meters, and start gloating that the spellcannon wouldn’t shoot me when it hummed again…and shot me.
E tu, cannon? That’s a quote from an ancient Terran emperor who got backstabbed by some guy named Brotus. They loved appending the word ‘bro’ to everything.
The humor stopped when a crackling ball of plasma caught me in the side and sent me careening into the corridor wall a good twenty meters from where I’d started.
A thick crack ran down my faceplate, and red flared in the torso and left arm on the paper doll. Worse, I’d dropped my pistol, which still lay where I’d been standing.
Did I mention the sea of wights screeching their way right over that location as they surged toward me? I closed my eyes and blinked to the steps outside the depot, but aimed the spell’s destination at a spot that put me in the overlap of two turret firing lanes.
I appeared in a frosted heap on the steps, and took several heaving breaths as I adjusted to my new position. Panic rolled through me as I realized that my spellpistol, the pistol Vee had forged, no longer lay on the deck where I’d dropped it.
A dozen wights converged on my position and I forced myself to keep my eyes open, and to remain motionless as they approached. To my horror and delight both spellcannons on the roof above me opened up, and began torching the wights converging on my position.
Dozens of the things went down, until they were slowly forced back. I picked myself up, and as I did so gave a double take. My pistol was back in her holster. I hadn’t told her to do that. Somehow she’d teleported back home, or walked over with feet I didn’t see.
“I promise I’ll give you a better name.” I patted the weapon as I toggled on a squad-wide channel. “We’re okay if we’re armed, but not if we’re openly carrying a weapon. Holster everything, and then approach me one at a time. I’ll cover you from the steps where they turrets can’t target me.”
“Of course, Captain.” Seket’s sword went back in the void pocket, but he kept his shield out as he trotted toward my location. His journey did a lot less collateral damage to his armor.
Mine would heal, theoretically, though I wasn’t certain how or even at what rate the armor healed. Back at the Academy they’d discussed magic items being life forms and healing just like us, but that was another area I didn’t understand as well as I’d like.
Vee came next, though Miri began her approach a moment later and made sure to trot past Vee so she reached the other side first. Vee’s eyes narrowed, but she refused to quicken her pace.
I heard a rattling behind me, and glanced back at the double doors, which were closed and barred. A narrow slit had opened across both, and four rifle barrels had emerged.
“Get down!” I roared, then dove for the wall out of their field of fire.
Seket bore the brunt of the assault, a mix of light bolts and explosive rounds. Each blow knocked him back a half step, and added another crack to his armor.
Then Vee was there. She stepped in front of the paladin and erected a swirling golden life ward, which intercepted the next volley.
Miri skidded into a slide that carried her to the doors directly underneath the doors. She grabbed a pair of barrels, and yanked them into the slots to disrupt their aim.
That gave me the perfect distraction, and I darted forward to ram the barrel of my pistol through the slot. I emptied a pair of high magnitude void balls at point blank range, and the screams inside stopped when the second one landed.
Seket charged the door, and lowered his shoulder at the last moment. Eldritch spellarmor met dirt cheap alloy with predictable results. Seket crashed through the doors in a shower of glass and metal…right into the sights of the waiting defenders.
Six soldiers opened up on the paladin, and his armor could only withstand so much. Twin roars of pain came from Seket as each of the final shots impacted, and he tumbled to the ground with the wreckage.
I had exactly one instant to figure out how to deal with all six guards. My gravity trick might get two. It might get four if I fired a pair of spells. But no matter how I sliced it, two remaining guards would have me dead to rights.
Instead I cast darkness, a void power I hadn’t yet found a use for. I’d never enjoyed being blind, and the fact that my opponent was also blind didn’t help. In this instance, though, I still had my enhanced vision from the Flame of Knowledge. I could see through magical darkness. They couldn’t.
Seemed fair to me.
I dropped to the ground as their next volley sailed harmlessly over me, then aimed carefully, walked my pistol down the line, and started kneecapping blind mages. Imagine my surprise when all six went down. It felt like cheating. Gotta be honest though. When I’m involved in something that can kill me I have no issue with cheating.
I climbed to my feet, and released the darkness as Miri joined me. “Can you cover them?”
She advanced with her spellpistol up. “They’re covered. Tend to your paladin. Give that guy a raise.”
I knelt next to Seket, and helped him get his helmet off. Sweat coated his hair into elegant coils framing a perfect face. “I’ll survive, though my armor might not. Get the survivors inside.”
>
I rose and turned back to the door. The civilians all waited in a cluster around the minister in the paladin-improved doorway. I waved her forward. “Go! Go! Get inside. We need to seal this place up.”
That wasn’t going to be easy now that Seket had introduced himself to the door.
Still, I focused on the positive. We were alive and had made it to the depot. Now, if Aruni was as good as his word, we could get some food and some rest.
“That’s why there were so many troops.” Vee pointed at the far side of the room. A massive forge and foundry dominated one full wall. This place could print anything we could conceive of.
I was more interested in the couches against the wall.
10
I only really saw past the couches inside the Supply Depot once the battle had ended and the haze began to clear. Miri dutifully monitored our prisoners, though none made any attempt to stand or reach for a weapon.
Refugees threaded into the room in twos and threes, each darting a glance over their shoulder at the endless tide of wights feeding themselves to the turrets. If those turrets stopped working for any reason….
“Miri, how much do you know about the power source for the turrets?” I glanced through the shattered doorway as the last few stragglers made it inside.
“Not much.” Miri addressed me without breaking eye contact with the prisoners. “They could stop at any time for all I know.”
“That’s unlikely.” Vee’s overpowering smugness was accompanied by an equally smug grin. “Guess the lurker girl will have to teach you some basic Inuran artificing. These turrets are in a blue zone. They’re government property. Their runes will lead all the way back to the closest core. As long as that core is live…they’ll keep firing.”
“How do you know about blue zones?” I asked. When did she find the time?
“I read up on protocol for visiting merchants before we arrived,” Vee explained in the kind of tone that made it clear I should have done the same. “Anyway, we’re safe for now, unless something stronger comes. We have time to finish making supplies.”
She nodded at the forge, which had been working overtime even in the few seconds we’d been inside the depot. Most of the initial requests were food, water, or both. Some were asking for weapons, and several people were carrying buckets of salt.
I didn’t need to issue orders. People had already begun reinforcing the salt lines that had been damaged during the explosion, just in case a wight got past the turrets. We’d entered some sort of animal-brain survival mode where the tribe worked silently together for the good of everyone.
That gave me time to look around, and really see what this place was. Gambling machines lined the path to the credit console, where you could collect your wages for a nominal 23% fee.
I glanced at the running session total on the screen where Aruni stood. We’d already entered the thousands of credits, and I hadn’t seen anything extravagant printed. I did some mental math. If Miri saved ten asses a day that was 600 credits, plus let’s say 300 more in tips, because of that smile and also her ability to literally save one’s ass.
So 900 credits a day. I glanced at the rations being printed, mostly soy products, though some people had used Aruni’s generosity to forge real protein-based meat, or a birthday cake, in one case.
The birthday cake cost 120 credits. Soysteaks were 60. Those kind of rates kept these people broke and hungry, and siphoned up every spare credit they had into this depot. The genius and the cruelty were uniquely Inuran. Well, maybe not uniquely, but they’d certainly coined the current definition. I pitied Miri’s situation, especially given how competent she’d proven.
“How do they get away with charging these prices?” I finally asked as I nodded at a wall full of illusory advertisements, most brightly colored, and at least half involving nudity, pasted right next to a 2 for 1 on ice cream.
“What do you mean?” Miri twitched a glance in my direction, but her aim never left her charges.
“On other sector stations they charge less than 20% of what you’re paying here,” I explained. “I fed myself on less than five credits a day back where I lived, and even living in nicer areas I wouldn’t expect to pay more than 60 credits for a fancy dinner for two.”
“It wasn’t always this bad.” Miri nodded at that, though she still eyed her charges. “I suppose it evolved over time. You’ve heard the ancient Terran analogy of the boiling child?”
“Excuse me?” I recoiled at that. “No, and I’m not sure I want to. That sounds barbaric. Who would do that? And why would someone repeat a metaphor about it?”
“Anyway.” Miri bowled over my protests. “If you turn up the heat quickly, then the child will climb out. If you sit in the water and they gradually raise the temperature, though, they’ll stay in until they cook.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Just no. There’s no way a kid would sit in a boiling pot. I’m sorry. Kids are way smarter than you give them credit for. The ancient Terrans wrote down some weird stuff, that’s for depths damned sure.”
“Well, flawed analogy or not, my point stands.” She shot another brief glance my way, this one a tad annoyed. “They’ve slowly raised prices over my lifetime and there isn’t much we can do about it. My parents say it was the same for them.”
“You could get off this tomb,” I offered. “If we make it to the Remora we’ll get you off world, and if you can’t find a place you’re welcome to berth with us until you find something you like better. We aren’t rich, but we eat well, and the pay is better than you get here. Plus we hit Catalysts.”
“I don’t think she should come,” Vee protested. I thought she’d been using the forge, and turned toward her in mild surprise. Her eyes glowed with malevolent red flame, and a magical assault slammed into my mental defenses. The voice deepened and elongated into something sinister. “Kill her, Jer. Put your pistol to her temple and execute her. You’ll never be with me otherwise. We don’t need her, Jerek. Kill her. Be with me. Miri is in the way.”
Rage rumbled out of the primitive parts of my mind, the demand that I take action now, no matter what that action might be. The rage had no source. I couldn’t pin it to anything specific. Everything made me angry. Oh, Maker, no…I’d become one of those frothing posters on the Arena forums.
I wrenched my pistol from my holster and loosed a dream bolt at malevolent Vee. The specter dissipated into grey mist, and flowed away with a laugh.
My attention returned to the room around me, but no one else seemed to have noticed phantom Vee. I activated my vision, but no sign of the spirit remained. It must have retreated to the spirit realm, or had some means of hiding from my sight.
“Are you insane?” Aruni thundered behind me.
I turned to see him addressing Vee, who’d pried open the console on the foundry, and was now preparing to hack it.
“If you take those schematics,” Aruni continued, “the Consortium will never stop hunting you. Even after…this…they will still send assassins. They do not allow intellectual property to escape the depot.”
“He’s right,” Miri confirmed. Her attention had returned to the soldiers, who were making no move to resist or escape. “Don’t risk it, lurker girl. They’ll come for you hard if you give them reason.”
“Oh, you’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Vee rounded on Miri, her face twisted into a snarl…of rage. Misplaced rage? It didn’t slow her down. “You prance in here in your tight pants, with your…hair. It’s unseemly. It’s unfair. At least I know how a magitech core works.”
The taunt sounded ridiculous, but…it made me so angry. Vee was angry at Miri. So we should kill Miri. Everything else hurt to think about, but those thoughts came easily.
A sudden roar from Seket interrupted the situation. One of the refugees had picked up a guard’s spellrifle, and delivered a life bolt to the paladin’s back at close range. The drifter assailant screamed incoherently. “Dagoztookallzabeer, man!”
“You know what we nee
d?” I called loudly enough to overpower the various conversations. “Sleep.”
I calmly drew my pistol again and tagged the drifter with a dream bolt. Then I walked my pistol through the room, shooting anyone I thought might be a threat. I mean, they were angry too right? I couldn’t take chances. It had nothing to do with me enjoying them slumping to the ground, prey before the superior hunter.
Wait, what? What had that thing done to me?
“Oh, well.” I kept emptying dream bolts into my companions until something hit me from behind and everything went dark.
Interlude III
Briff already hated being in charge of the Remora. Acting captain felt like a sham, because he’d never commanded anyone to do anything. He just happened to be the most least qualified person, so Jerek had left him in control. If Dag had still been around, Jerek would have made him do it.
Briff missed Dag. The old man had been a real bastard to Jerek sometimes, but he’d also done his best to help keep Jerek alive and make sure that Jerek had the skills to do it himself.
“Hey, Scaly,” Rava called playfully. “You want to play a few matches since we can’t get any sleep?”
Briff considered that. He liked gaming, and it might keep them awake, but it would also distract them. His tail drooped, and he shook his head. “We’d better stay alert in case we get attacked. I want Kurz to be fresh in case we need him.”
“You don’t need me fresh?” She raised an eyebrow that reminded him of Dag. “I’m your best merc.”
That caught him off guard. He valued Rava. A lot. He didn’t want her thinking he thought Kurz was better or anything.
“That’s not it.” He moved to stand by the holoscreen, which showed the starport where they’d landed. No ships had come or gone for hours now, and the ghostly glow had faded. “I need you ready to pilot. If we have to take off, you’re our best chance. If you can’t do it I can ask Kurz, but….”
