Farenough: Strangers Book 2

by Melissa McCann

  "Hold," Tora told them. They must wait until the black-uniforms came closer to the barricade.

  The soldiers were restless. They could not even look out and see how near the enemy was. "You do good," she told her soldiers. She put a hand on Mr. Pente's shoulder.

  A prickly feeling in the air made the hair stand up on Tora's arms. "Wait for enemies to come close."

  She heard the Special Commander Marduk order his soldiers to march on the barricades.

  Tora looked up at the tall building. The sentinel there raised his head raised above the top of the square wall.

  Tora heard the tramp of enemy soldiers' boots and tried to calculated distance by sound. In simulations, she would have Command to tell her when to fight, but she had no Command. She had to be Command for herself. So Tora had thought about how she could know when to fight when she couldn't see the enemy. On the rooftop, the sentinel swung his arm out and straight up in the air.

  Tora shouted, "Now."

  Once, Mr. Ventnor had said Tora did not use her head in a fight. He meant when General Baldwin had once pinned Tora on the ground, and she could have fought him by striking backward with her head, but he also meant that many things that were not weapons could be used for weapons.

  Now, Tora grasped one of the supports that braced the sections of the shield wall. Mr. Pente took the support on the other side. They lifted the shield together and rushed the enemy. A barricade had to stop an enemy, but it did not have to stop Tora and her soldiers. Too late, the black-uniforms realized the barriers keeping Tora's soldiers pinned down under stunner fire had become weapons. She heard Special Commander Marduk shout, "Aim low."

  Lize and Ms. Stamos carried their section of the wall on Tora's left. They were to be the point of a wedge to push between the lines of black-uniforms. Further out and behind Lize and Ms. Stamos, two more militia soldiers carried their shield, then Dess and Mr. Bracxs, even though Dess was too small to carry a shield, and Mr. Bracxs carried it by himself. Then Ms. Bettuane and one of her soldiers behind Tora on her right. In all, they had eleven shields, each big enough to cover two soldiers, and behind the wedge, the militia came armed with truncheons and fist-weights and lengths of heavy cord weighted with metal at the ends.

  Two of her soldiers fell. They had lost the use of their legs, but Tora had expected that. Soldiers behind them took their places at the shields, and the charge did not break even when they lost two more, and then Lize went down and someone else took her place. The black-uniforms could not break their charge.

  The black-uniforms saw they could not stop the wall in time and began to withdraw, but Tora's and Ms. Stamos' shields had almost reached them. The black uniforms braced themselves for the impact.

  "Now," Tora shouted. She and Ms. Stamos turned their shields at an angle with their forward edges together to form a point that went between two black-uniforms and knocked them aside. An angle like that could go through a mass of enemy soldiers very easily and break them apart and force them into smaller groups that a lieutenant and her clone soldiers could surround and kill.

  Ms. Bettuane and her partner tilted their shield, and forced the black-uniforms out of their way. Tora wanted the black-uniforms disorganized and pushed together where they could not use their stun rifles and would have to engage her militia soldiers at close quarters—too close to use stun weapons.

  One shield fell as the soldiers who carried it had their legs stunned out from under them, but the militia soldiers behind them jumped over the fallen bodies and closed with the black-uniforms, fighting with clubs and truncheons where the enemy could not stun them.

  Two more shields fell, leaving eight. Then there only six. Mr. Bracxs plowed ahead with his shield, driving it into the black-uniforms. He was so strong they could not stop him even by stunning his legs. Ms. Stamos fell, and nobody took her shield.

  Tora had felt the muscle twitches that meant stun bolts were striking her legs. Now Mr. Pente fell and dropped his side of the shield. Tora could not move fast while carrying the shield herself, and she could not use it like Mr. Bracxs, so she gave it one big heave and threw it at the black-uniforms in front of her. She could not throw it very far or very hard, but it made two black-uniforms stagger and drop their weapons.

  All her soldiers had engaged in close fighting, and soon, Tora would call for a retreat, but she had one more piece of credit to show the Special Commander Marduk before the next part of her strategy.

  Tora had aimed the point of the phalanx straight into the middle of the black-uniforms formation. The Special Commander Marduk had placed himself there, thinking he would invade Murrayville in a single front, putting all his strength into one hard blow because he thought Tora had done the same with her much weaker force.

  He had dropped back behind the first ranks of his soldiers, letting them fight but not fighting himself because he thought his black-uniforms were enough to fight the militia soldiers. Three enemy soldiers stood between Tora and the Special Commander Marduk. The one on the right fired a stun at Tora close enough that even with the vest, she felt the stun rattle her nerves and blur her vision. She took the black-uniform's right arm with the stunner in the hand and smashed it into the throat of the middle enemy who was just then turning to bring his stunner to bear on Tora. She brought her knee up into the gut of the one with the stunner and he fell, writhing, on top of the one with the crushed throat. Tora had not meant to hit so hard, but she couldn't gauge her strength so well with the stun vibrating in her nerves. Tora caught the third guard by the arm, pulled him off balance and slammed her knee into his ribs until they cracked. Then Tora stepped over the humans and faced the Special Commander Marduk.

  He faced Tora with a composed expression and his hands raised to fight. Force-gauntlets covered his hands in a fine mesh. Force gauntlets could take the energy from a human blow and multiply it into something hard enough to damage a clone. He was not afraid of Tora. He thought he could fight her because he had armor and the force gauntlets.

  She feinted as if she did not know about the force gauntlets and meant to fight him face-to-face. He struck with his right fist, but Tora had already ducked under his arm. She spun and kicked low. He turned out of her reach just in time to save his knee from being shattered.

  Tora had the measure of his speed and balance now. He was very fast and strong, and Tora still had residual stun to slow her down. She tried to hit his chin with the heel of her hand, but he jerked back in time to take the blow on the side of his helmet. He fell back a step, but he was not harmed.

  He returned with his fist in the gauntlet, but Tora turned aside and grabbed his forearm. Tora had conditioning for fighting with force gauntlets and knew how they felt when you wore them. They could break even a clone's hardened bones, but if the wearer missed the target, his balance would be off for a moment until the gloves discharged their collected inertia. The Special Commander Marduk knew that. He would compensate, but he could only do it at human speed.

  While he was still trying to get his balance, Tora turned him, locked his arm under hers and jerked. His elbow snapped and tore. He gasped, but he did not scream.

  Tora bared her teeth. He had ordered his black-uniforms to stun Mr. Ventnor. He had tried to take Tora's territory and kill her soldiers. She would kill him and then kill him again. He didn't see Tora's hand come up under his chin. The blow snapped his head back. His armor protected his neck and kept the vertebrae from breaking, but when he fell, she caught his head in the bow of her elbow. He made a pain sound. Tora would kill him, twist his head until the bones broke and made him so dead even Annia would not be able to fix him.

  Annia would not like that.

  Tora shook with anger.

  Maycee would not like her to kill the Special Commander Marduk as dead as that.

  But he had stunned Mr. Ventnor and tried to take her territory.

  Even Mr. Ventnor had not thought she should kill the Special Commander Marduk.

  If she killed him now, she would h
ave to start over to negotiate with the next Special Commander.

  Tora dropped him to the ground.

  She had a strategy. Her soldiers were fighting hand-to-hand but backing all the time toward the street where the shield wall had been. Militia and civilian support corps were dragging new barriers across the road, but they would not keep black-uniforms out. Tora did not care about keeping them out. If the black-uniforms crossed the boundary, the runners waited to lead the them into traps.

  Already her soldiers had crossed the ground almost half the way back to the flimsy barricade. Tora raised her voice and shouted, "Fall back."

  More of her soldiers shouted, "Fall back," so the rest could hear. They let the black-uniforms press them backward toward the barrier, not letting the black-uniforms get enough space to use stun rifles. Some of her soldiers broke free of the fighting and grabbed ones who had been stunned and dragged them back toward safety.

  Tora wanted the black-uniforms to press her soldiers close until they came between the first buildings on either side of the road. She took hold of Ms. Stamos' arm where she lay stunned on the ground. A black-uniform thought he could fight Tora while she was bent over. He rushed at her with a baton raised to hit her. Tora caught his arm and wrenched it down, broke his knee with her heel and pushed him away from her. She dragged Ms. Stamos with her left hand and fought two more black-uniforms with her free hand and feet.

  The militia soldiers retreated faster. The blacks-uniforms were charging their rifles. Soon, they would be clear to fire at the militia. Tora did not want to drop Ms. Stamos. Ms. Stamos might be captured and taken to detention. Tora did not want to lose one of her best lieutenants, but Ms. Stamos was already stunned, and Tora did not want any more of her soldiers to be stunned.

  She dropped Ms. Stamos' arm and ran to put herself between the black-uniforms and her retreating soldiers. The black-uniforms recognized her. She had fought their commander. They thought maybe she had killed him. They forgot about stunning the militia soldiers. Their lieutenants told the black-uniforms to keep firing at the militia soldiers, but the black-uniforms wanted to kill Tora.

  Bolts overwhelmed her vest and twisted the muscles in her back. She spread her arms to shield her soldiers and make the black-uniforms fire at her.

  Her muscles cramped and knotted, and it hurt like knives. She was going to fall; her legs dragged through mud.

  The man in front of her turned back. He pulled her arm over his shoulder and took her weight keeping her body between the enemy stunners and his own body, but the stun strikes half-blocked by her body still numbed him. He stumbled. She shook herself free and pushed him ahead of her. "Go," she told him through clenched jaws.

  He stumbled toward the barricade.

  Tora made her legs move. Her body shuddered out of her control. She fell to her knees. The stun bolts didn't stop. They beat at her, thumping into her body in twisting jolts. She couldn't see. Her ears were full of ringing.

  Someone shouted a command. She recognized Mr. Ventnor's voice. That was good. He was recovered, and he remembered the plan. A rock hit the ground a meter away from Tora. Another one struck a black-uniform who had come too close to the town. More rocks and bricks and sticks, and Tora smelled tugolith dung from one of the big, slow animals that dragged carts and carried huge bundles of trade goods on their backs and left giant stinking piles in the streets.

  Tora had stationed militia and runners with strong arms and good aim on top of the tall buildings on each side of the road. The black-uniforms had come within range, and the militia soldiers had started to throw the piles of rocks and debris they had collected. Someone, probably one of the runners, had collected softer weapons. Much softer. A black-uniform in the corner of Tora's view dropped his rifle and pawed at the sticky stuff on his chest. Tora hoped the runner who threw the dung had very good aim. She didn't want to get any of the dung on herself. It would make her stink all day no matter how many times she showered.

  For a moment, Tora didn't realize the stun bolts had stopped pounding her or that the noise in her ears was not the buzz of stunners but the thunder and ping of projectile weapons. That was wrong. The militia had no projectile weapons. The black-uniforms had not carried them. Who had projectile weapons? Bullets cratered the ground to either side of her. She was lying on the dirt. She couldn't move.

  Familiar hands gripped her, and Mr. Ventnor said, "Stay low, Colonel." That was foolish. She couldn't get up. Maybe it was one of his human jokes. He took her under her arms and dragged her along the ground. More hands helped to drag her limp body behind a building. She couldn't breathe. Her eyes would not focus.

  "Colonel's back," he shouted.

  Tora cocked her head to hear where the bang and rumble came from, but her ears still buzzed so she couldn't make out directions. "Where are guns?" she demanded, but she thought the words did not come out clear.

  Mr. Ventnor pulled her deeper into the alley and propped her up against his knee. He rubbed her neck and shoulders roughly. Other hands rubbed the muscles in her legs. More hands kneaded her arms.

  "I've taken a bolt now and then without too much harm," Mr. Bracxs said in time to the rough massage of Tora's legs "...and I've seen people take two or three when they had a real head of adrenaline, but she must have taken twenty hits just in the last few seconds after she took down the commander."

  "She'll have a headache, all right," Mr. Ventnor said.

  Tora flexed her hands. The dragging deadness of her muscles was fading. It felt good to not be knotted with pain. She opened her eyes and was pleased her vision was whole again. "Who has projectile weapons?" she repeated.

  Mr. Ventnor said, "Welcome back, Colonel. Seems like we got reinforcements." He helped Tora to sit up and then stand.

  "What reinforcements?"

  He said, "Well, Solante doesn't want Cyrion running Murrayville any more than we do."

  That meant blue-sash enemies and probably the Cerise. That was bad. Tora's plan did not include blue-sashes or projectile guns. Now Tora had to fight the disease enemy and the black-uniforms and the Cerise all at one time and in different ways.

  "Where are humans?" she asked Mr. Ventnor.

  "Civilians are off the streets and snug at home. One thing about Solante's bulls, they can clear a street like a catpil in a sneakdilly hive."

  Tora snorted. Blue-sashes were clumsy and stupid and fought without thinking, and they followed the Solante who was a bad commander and the Cerise who was a defective lieutenant. How did the blue-sashes change Tora's credit with the Special Commander Marduk? The blue-sashes were not strong enough to fight the black-uniforms and keep them out of Murrayville. Tora had not wanted to fight the black-uniforms face-to-face. She had planned to lead them in circles, lead them into traps, show the Special Commander Marduk it would be too hard to capture Murrayville by fighting and show him Tora had enough credit to keep the disease enemy contained and the humans peaceful.

  Now the Cerise and the Solante would make the Special Commander Marduk think that Tora could not do all those things. They would take away her credit. She had to get it back.

  "What do blue-sash soldiers want?" she asked her lieutenants.

  Dess had joined Mr. Bracxs. "What do they want?" Dess repeated.

  Mr. Ventnor said, "Mostly, the sons of mudrimples are shooting at everything that moves, which means we can't use the traps we had set up. We were planning for stun rifles and clubs, not bullets, and the Cyrion police are too busy with Solante's people to notice us. The Chief has moved the runners back into the town until we figure out how to use them safely."

  Tora nodded. Liam had made good orders. The runners were humans, too young to be soldiers, and should not be where projectile guns were. She did not want her soldiers near projectile weapons either. "Civilian Support Corps?"

  "Same thing."

  That was good. That gave Tora some room to maneuver her soldiers without endangering humans. She took a few steps, testing her legs. The stun had worn off. She took
a few steps back, trying to turn the situation in her head to see it from every side. She had to get her credit back. If she did not, then the Special Commander Marduk would call for reinforcements, and there would be more projectiles, and gas cannons, and detention camps, and all the humans would be in danger, and if they tried to get away from the danger, the black-uniform ships on the perimeter would kill them to stop the disease enemy from getting away.

  #

  Annia had eventually managed to wake herself up without succumbing to the temptation of a warm, male body in her bed. She closed her medical uniform over her underclothes and checked her EFK for supplies. Too few. There would be injuries coming into the interim hospital at the campsite. They still had emergency supplies of boneseal and antiseptic gel, but they would run out if injuries ran high.

  No, Cho'en would have to handle it. Annia had to get to the clinic and her equipment there. The sooner Annia built a cure for the plague, the sooner the fighting would end.

  Someone rapped on the gate, and Mr. Hollin went to answer it, still fastening his ruffled shirt over his chest. Outside, a pink little man with a prim face too small for his body stood on the street. He ignored Mr. Hollin. "Ms. Annia, I am Administrator Krotoschiner. I have come from the hospital to fetch you."

  CHAPTER TEN

  The black-uniform soldiers raised their stun weapons. Tora had hoped she could make negotiations and not have to fight the black-uniforms at all, but she had not expected it. The Commander Marduk would want to see if Tora was strong or if she was just fighting with credit.

  The Special Commander Marduk had seen the stun vest, but he knew many stun weapons firing together could get through the protection of the vest and make the wearer unconscious. The Special Commander Marduk stepped back toward his soldiers so they could fire past him.