Asarlai Wars 1: Warrior Wench

by Marie Andreas

  Vas clicked off her comm. Deven would get the others together and Walvento and Gon had already run back to their quarters for their gear. She paused before she headed down the corridor to her quarters, and then tapped into the command deck comm.

  “Xsit? Close off the storage bay where the cargo was stored. Depending on what our friends had us carrying, I may need to have the storage area quarantined.”

  Drugs and Asarlaí artifacts were always her biggest fears. When she’d first started traveling on a smuggling ship as a girl, she’d seen a ship come into dock with the entire crew exploded from the inside out. They’d been carrying a messed up street drug and it got into their air vent.

  Vas grabbed her weapons and slipped on some heavy pants and boots. She went back for a flak jacket after a second thought. Better to be prepared. Her weapons were easy: three blast pistols, a long range snub gun, and a brace of knives.

  She got to the shuttle bay to find all of her team there before her. Good sign. She filled them in on what she knew as they made the planet drop.

  Vas and the others made their way through a thin clump of trees to Mac’s drop point with their blast pistols drawn. They kept the shuttle at a distance, in case something went sideways. This planet was listed as low-tech, but not enforced, and she wasn’t going to risk her life or that of her crew, to abide by the inhabitants’ sensibilities.

  There was a clearing up ahead, but Vas still couldn’t see any of her people.

  However, she could hear them.

  No yelling, no gunfire, no screaming. Nevertheless, some very odd noises and a few voices talking low.

  Vas and Terel entered the clearing first. Terel moved ahead to scan the area, with Deven and Jakiin going around the outside of the clearing to see if anyone was lurking. Gon and Walvento stayed back with the shuttle in case someone had to go for help.

  An interesting tableau spread out before them. The crates from the ship were in the middle of the clearing. The seals were clearly visible on all but the one furthest away. Immediately Vas saw what happened. They’d stacked them too high and the top one had tumbled off and cracked its lid on a rock. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if there had been silks and tapestries in there like the manifest said there were. Like their sensors had said there were. Instead there were piles of a strange dust. Damn it, next time, if there was a next time, she was prying open every last crate.

  Mac was the first of her people she saw. He was lying on the ground, still at first, and then he rolled around. Then he snorted and grumbled. Then rolled some more. Divee was sitting as far from the group as possible. He nodded to Vas, but didn’t appear willing to move closer. The triplets were down on the ground with Mac, but not moving. Gosta was standing closest to her and Terel.

  Vas nodded to Mac and the others. “What the hell is wrong with him? With them?”

  Terel shrugged and tapped her screen some more, but her face was becoming more concerned the more she saw on her screen. Vas wasn’t sure but she thought she heard swearing under the doctor’s breath. Something rare enough to have Vas contemplate pulling out another weapon.

  “The box had a Rillianian stamp inside, but Mac couldn’t read it. He’s stalking a turtle,” Gosta finally said. He pointed to the four people on the ground as if giving a lecture.

  “He’s what?” Vas watched Mac and the other three with him. Now they were all doing the same roll, grumble, and snort maneuver. Maybe she didn’t hear right. She didn’t know what they were doing, but she was pretty sure no turtles were nearby. Unfortunately, she wasn’t surprised about the Rillianians being involved.

  “He’s stalking a turtle. But the problem is that he thinks he’s a grunge beetle.” Gosta said sagely. “Of course anyone can tell he’s a turnip. Clear as day. Turnips, the lot of them.” He folded his arms and studied the people before him.

  Vas pulled back and took a good look at Gosta. She’d file his comment about the Rillianian stamp for later. “You too? Damn it, Terel, what’s wrong with them?” Vas took a few more steps back, trying to distance herself from Gosta. She wanted to push him toward the others, but didn’t know if whatever caused this was contact-born or not.

  Terel reconfigured her med screen. “I don’t know, Captain. They scan fine.”

  “Terel. Are you kidding me? Look at them!” Vas pointed to the group, five people in various stages of hallucination.

  “I’m telling you they scan fine. Too fine if you ask me. There’s nothing—” Terel swore as her scanner beeped. “Damn it.” She held off answering Vas, but called back to the ship. “I need a full dose of Glincin for at least five people, possibly more. The area the crates were in needs to be level four decon. Clean it tight and we might need tranq guns.” She cocked her head at Vas. “Unless you happen to be armed with non-lethal force?” At Vas’s confused headshake, Terel continued into her comm, “Yes, tranq guns. Have someone take them to the drop zone. Do not walk them in.”

  “Terel, if you don’t tell me what the hell is going on….” Vas glared at the doctor.

  “At least one of those crates has Pericdin dust in it. Mac and the others on the ground were probably dealing with the busted case, so it’s hit them the hardest. Gosta is just starting to show the symptoms. Divee may have been exposed, or may have stayed clear enough to avoid it.”

  Vas didn’t wait. She whipped out her gun again as soon as she heard the name of the designer drug.

  “You can’t blow it up. Not with everyone around.” Terel actually stepped forward and lowered the barrel of Vas’s gun. “I know how you feel, and I feel the same. But we have to get the infected out and into treatment, and keep the rest of us from becoming exposed.”

  Vas swore but put away her gun. “I get to blow apart the people who are responsible for this.” She held up a hand to stop Terel’s response. “I get to blow up something. What do we need to do anyway?”

  Terel plugged some more information into her scanner. After a minute or so she appeared happier. “If we can get them to the ship quickly, clean them up, and give them lots of counter agents, they should recover in a day or so.” Vas noticed she left off what could happen to them in a worst-case scenario.

  “The trick is going to be getting them to the ship.” Terel studied the area. “The breeze probably carried the dust. It’s so fine it would disburse easily. It shouldn’t cause any problems just yet, but a full water drop over the area after we get our people out should do the trick.” Terel frowned as she continued looking around.

  “Where’s Deven?”

  “He was coming around the other side, since we didn’t know what was—” Vas stopped at the increased concern on Terel’s face. “What is it?”

  The doctor started walking around the outer area. “Telepaths do not react well to this stuff. Extremely not well.” She thumbed open her comm. “Deven? Stand perfectly still. Wherever you are, do NOT move.” She flipped the comm and called the ship without waiting for his response. “We’re also going to need a level-five stunner and hazard suits for everyone. We can’t spend the time to walk to the drop point, so send someone with them. Just make sure they are suited up.”

  Vas fought to keep from grabbing Terel. She trusted the doctor and could understand that sometimes things had to be done immediately, but she also knew she needed to know.

  “What the hell is going on? We didn’t need suits before but we do now?”

  Terel looked uncomfortable and her brow added a few more wrinkles. “Espers have an odd reaction to Pericdin dust. It affects their strongest urges, their most finely honed skills. And it works outward.”

  “What do you mean? Just tell me what this crap could do to him.” Vas folded her arms and glared.

  Terel sighed. “Not only to him, but to us. Each esper has specialized skills, areas of the mind they control better than others and that they are strongest in. On Pericdin dust those skills, talents, drives, whatever you want to call them, are turned outward to an extreme. If he’s been exposed he’ll be projec
ting intense drives to anyone nearby until we can get him completely subdued. And there’s no way those esper bracelets will be strong enough to stop him.”

  “What are Deven’s skills? Being a pain in my ass?”

  Terel scowled. “No. His two strongest areas are sex and fighting. He’s odd that he has two. Most espers only have one. But both are particularly strong. If he got exposed to that dust and starts projecting, we’re going to have the galaxy’s largest orgy followed by the galaxy’s fastest mass slaughter.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Oh shit.” Vas hit her comm. “Deven? Where are you? Don’t move. Just tell me where you are.”

  Silence answered her. “Jakiin? Are you still with Deven?”

  At first she thought he was gone as well. He finally responded, but his voice was low.

  “No, Captain. He started acting strange.” He paused. “I think he was going to kill me. He challenged me to a duel.”

  Vas let out a breath. Well, that answered which was going to hit first. “How do you feel Jakiin? Feel like killing Deven?”

  “Captain! I wouldn’t kill him. He’s just so wonderful.”

  “Oh shit, both are hitting at the same time?” Vas turned toward Terel for some answers but the doctor just shrugged.

  “Okay, Jakiin, I need you to go five hundred meters away from the clearing. Do you hear me? Five hundred meters straight out. Keep hiding from Deven. He’s wonderful yes, but you can’t go near him.” Silence answered her. “Jakiin? Crap. Answer me.”

  “Sorry, Captain, he’s getting closer. I think he’s following me.”

  “Jakiin? Run.” Vas said. She knew Deven was fast, she was hoping Jakiin was faster. “Go away from the clearing as far and as fast as you can. Don’t stop, don’t think, just run.”

  “But, Captain—”

  “Damn it, that’s an order. Run!”

  A crunching sound followed by fading footfalls told her he’d done as she ordered. Of course it also told her he’d dropped his comm. She had no idea why he took that off, but at least he was running. Hopefully, he could keep running until they could get help down here.

  Terel clearly wanted answers, but she had to check on the others. “Walvento? Gon? Check in. Has another shuttle dropped yet?”

  “Not yet, Captain, but I think the buyers might be here. An armored lander is rolling this way.”

  “Damn it. When Mac recovers and Jakiin has stopped running I swear I’m going to chain them both to the outside of my ship.” Vas said it more to Terel than the man on the other end. “How far out? Have they seen you?” If this were a real drop pick up, the land transport wouldn’t be armored. The people coming toward hers weren’t friendlies.

  “Negative, Captain. We’ve got long range on this shuttle, but they’ll see it and us within a few clicks. No sign of an extra bird for us.”

  Vas closed her comm again. “Terel do you have any tranqs in that kit? Anything we can knock our people out with? We can’t wait.”

  “The only things I have are in hyposprays. If I get close enough to use them, I’ll be compromised.”

  Vas grabbed the med kit and flipped it open. “No, you’re the only one who can get us out of this. I’m walking them in.” She waved off the protests. “Who else is going to get us on the ship? There’s an armored land transport coming in hot. Our second shuttle hasn’t landed yet. We need to knock them out and get out of here. Now.”

  There was pure panic on Terel’s face. She didn’t improvise well. “We can’t. You’ll be exposed. And what about Deven and Jakiin?”

  “I’ll have a little time before I start being affected, right?” Vas loaded a hypospray too slowly for Terel, who grabbed the rest and loaded them as they argued. “Jakiin is a really good runner. He’ll keep going until we can get him. And landing a shuttle in front of Deven should cut him off long enough to get them both.”

  Terel finally gave up arguing and nodded. “Move fast. Divee, how are you feeling?”

  “Freaked out, doc. Can you fix them?” Thank the stars Divee’s voice sounded normal.

  “See? He can help too.” Vas reopened her link to Gon and Walvento while Terel filled Divee in on what was happening. “Okay, boys, change of plans. One of you call the Wench and see what the status on the second shuttle is. If they are on their way, fill them in. We need you to take your shuttle and try to scare off that armored lander, then come and drop over near the clearing.” She took the hyposprays from Terel.

  “Terel will fill you in on the rest. You take your orders from her for the rest of this mission,” she paused, “no matter what I or Deven say. Understood?” The responding affirmations made her smile. Nice to know they took orders to disobey her so well. She nodded once to Terel then ran into the clearing. If she moved in fast enough and stayed upwind she could keep her exposure to a minimum.

  Gosta had now joined the others on the ground as his own hallucinations robbed him of the ability to stand. Typical Gosta he was still trying to analyze things even though his ability to reason was shot. He was trying to describe what he was seeing, but his words made no sense and were rapidly degenerating into other languages.

  Vas placed the hypospray against his neck, dodging as his hands flung out. He waved once more then his eyes rolled back. Tucking the used spray into her waistband, she jogged toward Mac.

  Who was trying very studiously to dig his way through the planet. His nails were bloody and even his mouth had dirt in it. Pushing his hair aside, and clearing away a few clods of dirt, she shot him with a fresh spray. The triplets were easier as they had stayed together and not tried to fight the effects of the drugs. They’d returned to a semi-conscious state and she thought about not giving them shots. Then she thought of the trouble three drugged former heavy worlders could cause in a shuttle.

  With a shudder, she quickly hit all three just as blaster shots rang out in the distance. She froze. Had they come from the shuttle or where she’d sent Jakiin? She’d been counting on Deven’s old-fashioned honor to work through whatever the drug was doing to him and make him go after Jakiin with something other than firearms. Had she been wrong?

  Returning fire coming from the left reassured her it was the shuttle. An instant later she saw it hovering its way toward them.

  Vas automatically reached to tap her comm, and then she realized they were probably communicating with Terel. But it had only been a couple of minutes; she wasn’t affected yet.

  “What’s our status?” She waved as Divee nodded her way while he ran to Terel and the shuttle.

  “Gon and Walvento damaged the lander, but the chatter indicates there are more hostiles on the ground coming in.” Terel paused as static broke in from the shuttle. “They said that a mid-sized, unmarked cruiser has chased two generational ships into the atmosphere. The Wench is holding back waiting for orders. Our second shuttle didn’t get off in time so I told them to stay put.”

  Vas laughed. She’d make Terel a military commander yet. “Tell, crap….” She paused as a wave of fog took over. Who did she leave in charge of the Warrior Wench?

  An image of a laughing woman flitted through her head. “Tell Bathshea to protect those generation ships. We have to assume the ship chasing them is.…” She fought to keep focused but keeping her thoughts on track was getting harder. And when did she sit down?

  “Stay where you are, Captain. Gon and Walvento have space suits on. They’ll come and load everyone. I’ll tell Bathie to save those ships. Just sit this one out.”

  Terel’s voice seemed very far away. Then Vas realized her comm was a good foot away from her. Reaching for it, she fell over and decided to lie there. She didn’t feel the effects as much lying down. And the grass was nice. As she drifted off, a strange thought rode through her head. Something she’d read about this damn drug. She grunted as she fought her way through a pile of green worms about five feet long that she was pretty sure weren’t really there. Eventually she got to her comm.

  The worms had almost covered he
r when she got the comm open. “’erel… stims. Use stims...to get the worms off.” She thrashed, trying to clear her head. “No. Stims. Fight drug. Stims.” She leaned back. She knew she needed to fix something, but the worms wouldn’t let her think. They invaded the flex cast she still had on her hand and turned it into a giant flower. The comm started speaking to one of the worms so she threw it. A minute later it became Terel in a haz-mat suit.

  “Captain?” The doctor’s face was awfully big and there was a worm running through her head, Vas tried to reach up to swat it but fell back. “Damn it, Vas, this is hitting you too fast. I don’t know if stims are going to help. It’s not a medically approved treatment. And with the amount I’ll have to use, it’s going to hurt like hell.”

  Vas watched the pretty colored words come out of the worm’s mouth but didn’t understand them. Then the worm held up a long, thin, glowing stick.

  “Stims.”

  Vas tried to tell the worm to use them. Whatever they were, stims would help. Something. “Stims.”

  “Aye.” The worm leaned forward with the glowing stick and stabbed her with it.

  At first coolness spread through her body, then it turned to fire.

  Vas screamed as every nerve in her body burst into flame at the exact same instant. She felt her body arch uncontrollably, and then slammed her back to the dirt.

  “Damn it, that fucking hurt!”

  “Good to see you too.”

  Terel’s voice was nearby and Vas forced her eyes open. Halos of brutal light surrounded everything. However, the worms were gone and her mind seemed to be her own again. Of course everything still hurt like hell.

  “Ya know, just because I tell you to do something stupid doesn’t mean you have to do it.” She shut her eyes again. The world was too bright.