She said thanks to whatever deities were listening when her hand hit something small, round, and cold. “Ha!” She triumphantly pulled out the sphere and sprinted toward the entrance.
“Vas, what are you doing?” Carrix yelled at her as she leapt over piles of debris.
“Leveling the playing field.”
The two people she’d left in the front were gone, hopefully hiding. There was still no sign of Deven and his people. She didn’t want to use Gosta’s toy until the enemy was closer, but at the same time, she might not have that luxury. If she waited too long the enemy could blow them away without ever getting close.
The dust from the previous explosion still flittered in the dusky air, and she found herself fighting to keep from coughing. Ripping part of her undershirt off, she made a mask over her nose and mouth. While it kept out most of the dust, it didn’t block the sudden stench of death that rose up as the wind changed. They must be downwind of where Carrix’s ground team had been ambushed.
Vas breathed through her mouth as well as she could. She didn’t know what she was waiting for, but this gizmo of Gosta’s might be their best hope and she didn’t know if it would work more than once. If it worked at all.
The sound of people running hell-bent toward her location bounced down the empty road.
Followed by the very unwelcome sound of blasters.
Vas let out a breath and set the command on the small sphere. Now she wished she had paid more attention to Gosta when he had been babbling about this thing. The only thing she remembered was that she didn’t have to throw it. Just set it, and then watch as all the blasters died.
God, she hoped Gosta was as good as she thought he was.
Pushing the final sequence she watched the people running toward her, some of Deven’s people, but no Deven. Behind them ran about twenty ominous black suits calmly firing but herding more than trying to kill.
A wave of light burst out of the sphere. She almost dropped it out of surprise, but she hadn’t felt anything.
The bastards in the suits did, however.
Their blasters locked up. A moment later the ones in the front exploded, taking out the people holding them as well. Unfortunately, it only took out a dozen; the rest threw their weapons away too fast. Vas stepped back as six of her people dove for the building’s doorway.
“Where’s F’vain and Deven?”
“F’vain got taken out by those bastards. Deven sent us here and tried to draw the bulk of them away.” Mac swore as he wiped dust and blood from his face. “It was useless though. Too many of them followed us.”
Vas looked back out where the black suits were retreating. She knew they wouldn’t be gone for long. Just long enough to load up on low-tech weapons. She stored Gosta’s sphere back in her bag. She’d have to give that man a promotion one of these days.
“Carrix, we need a better place to fight. This is too damn small and there’s only one way out.”
The small reptilian smiled at her from where he attended one of his dying men. Dead men actually. Both had passed away and he was administering last rites, or whatever their religion followed.
“Do you think I am a fledging?” He nodded toward the back wall. “All is not what it seems.”
Frowning, Vas walked to the back. What was the old lizard babbling about? There was nothing here except…. Pushing aside what appeared to be a solid wall of rubble she saw it opened to a cavernous room. The fake wall was actually a mimicking fabric. Perhaps the room beyond had once been a ballroom, royal chambers, or warehouse—the original purpose of it was long lost. Whatever it had been, it would be a decent place to defend. Normally she wouldn’t choose to fight in a building, but she didn’t like the odds against them outside. Clearly there was something or someone that gray ship in orbit wanted alive otherwise they would have just started blasting when they destroyed the shuttle. Their orders had changed since the attack on Lantaria.
She was just getting her and Carrix’s fighters in place when the black-clad fighters broke through an outer wall. They did it without tech unless you counted the suits themselves. Yelling commands, she settled in for an ugly fight.
*****
Deven swore when he heard the explosions. Clearly all of the hostiles hadn’t followed him. He grimly studied the bodies surrounding him. At least he’d taken out some of them.
He started to pick up one of the blasters laying near a fallen enemy, when a light flooded the area and all of the blasters gave a high-pitched whine. Swearing, he threw it and dove behind a pile of rubble. An instant later all of the weapons exploded.
Crap, he could have used those. However, judging from the direction of that light wave, it may have been something from Carrix’s people.
Deven heard the fighting up ahead, but there were no sounds of blasters so whatever had blown up the ones near him must have destroyed them all. He easily found the group of buildings they were fighting in. It surprised him that no one was on guard, then realized they were either dead or had fallen back to the others.
It took a moment for his eyes to adapt to the dark inner room, but eventually he saw the only ones here were dead. Two Silantians, laid out too peacefully to have fallen in this fighting. Three black suits crumbled to the ground, not so peacefully. No one from the Warrior Wench yet. Stalking forward with his sword out, Deven entered a large room. At least thirty black-suited warriors were fighting his people. Vas was surrounded by at least three and couldn’t seem to keep up with them.
Something was very different about these fighters. The ones he’d destroyed outside were good, but not like this. These people were speeding up even as he watched, flashing throughout the room.
Vas wasn’t going to make it.
Deven ducked as a flung blade missed him by inches. He couldn’t afford to worry about Vas. If he were killed it would do her no good.
Regaining his balance, Deven swung his sword up just in time to block an impossible shot to his head. He thrust back, only gaining a small bit of breathing room. There was no way whoever was in that suit could move like that. It wasn’t real. The person flipped over its own shoulder, then turned to strike down one of the Silantians. Two Silantians swarmed the attacker, but couldn’t hold it off for long. With a yell, Deven leapt into the fray, slicing as he went. He had never felt so helpless in his life. At least not when he had a weapon in his hand. These people in the black suits were fighters beyond the ability to imagine. He would think they were AIs but their movements were too fluid, too adaptable, for artificial intelligence.
“Deven, behind you!” Vas yelled from across the room.
Deven swore again and ducked. That suit of armor had gotten in behind him before he’d even seen it. Or had it? He swore as the realization hit him. He hadn’t noticed the small devices they were wearing at first, but he saw them now.
“Vas, they’ve got scramblers. We need to have the ship send a block.” Deven leapt at the new aggressor. Yelling it across the room probably wasn’t the most strategic way of communicating. If their attackers had translators they knew what was coming next. But at this point Deven’s only goal was to get as many of their crew out in one piece.
The fighters were fast, but they were also using a highly illegal technology. Scramblers could affect time in small doses; just enough to move in on a victim before they could tell you were there.
“Shit.” Vas yelled back. “Gosta, you heard the man. Aim some blocks down here or you’re becoming the new captain the hard way.”
A low-level hum filled the room. Their attackers didn’t react at first, then one by one the company was able to start taking them down. The black suits noticed that.
“There is no way in hell I ever want your job.” Gosta’s voice came out over the speakers. He was broadcasting to the whole company. If Vas didn’t care who heard, neither did her navigation man. “That gray ship is moving in closer. Should I engage?”
Vas dodged and sliced down two attackers with a stunning leap and a quick swor
d hand switch. Deven took a second to admire her. He might be the better swordsman in terms of technique, but no one could out-fight Vaslisha Tor Dain when she was in the moment.
“Negative, Gosta. That ship is off limits.” Deven said back over the comm. That ship would massacre the Warrior Wench if she came out of that plasma pocket.
“Just stay ready. We may have to try that new tech we got.” Vas yelled.
“Vas, we haven’t even tested it.” Gosta never called her Vas unless he was really upset. Even with his teke powers blocked, Deven could tell the navigator was really, really upset. Not that he blamed him. The idea of transferring cargo via that particle mover wasn’t too bad. His own people hadn’t been too far away from such tech when he left. But living people?
Looking around he realized they might not have a choice.
With the scramblers disengaged, the company held their own, but they were still outmatched. This fight couldn’t go on too much longer if they wanted to get out with anyone still alive.
Hrrru went down as he lost against a pair of the black-suited fighters. “I think you’re right, Vas,” Deven yelled as he sliced through two of them to reach the downed man. Hrrru was still breathing, but barely. The sword had missed both of his hearts by inches.
“Okay, Gosta, whatever you have to do, do it. Get Flarik to help. She may know the tech. All of our team plus…Carrix.” Deven heard the sorrow in her voice as Vas realized the remaining Silantians hadn’t survived. “We need evac now.”
“Aye.”
It was amazing how much anxiety could be conveyed in one word.
Sorth and Gellio both collapsed as their attackers brought them down. Gosta and Flarik would need to move fast or there wouldn’t be anyone to save.
Carrix and Hrrru vanished. The Silantian captain had been guarding the injured Hrrru and they were closest to the edge of the fighting. Deven really hoped they’d made it to the ship.
To his right, two more of the ship’s company vanished. The black-suited fighters fought harder as their foes were taken from them. That there were fewer to fight wasn’t helping the remaining ship’s company. Jakiin got pulled away just as three black suits were closing in.
“Faster, Gosta, or you’ll be pulling corpses.”
Deven didn’t want to panic the man, but they weren’t going to make it.
Gosta didn’t respond, but the next pair went faster. Clearly he was stuck with only two at a time but he was increasing the turn-around.
Vas swore as she was pulled up with Mac, leaving Deven and Gon. The huge fighter unfortunately was close to six of the black suits and he stumbled as they literally launched themselves at him. Deven saw him go down but had his own group to hold off, and an instant later light filled his vision and his senses went inside out.
He floated for what seemed like eternity. Briefly, he wondered if perhaps it hadn’t been Gosta who pulled them out but the gray ship. Or maybe the machine hadn’t worked at all. Eventually the light faded and colors and sounds slammed into his head.
“Deven? You in there?”
Deven cringed at the loudness, but eventually opened one eye. Vas’s very concerned face hovered above him looking like an angel. He tried to reach up to her, but his arms weren’t working.
“I think so.” An attempt at lifting his head forced him to shut his eyes again. “What happened?”
“The machine doesn’t work well with telepaths. I’m just speculating mind you. Gosta’s running a full diagnostic, or as full as he can with illegal equipment.” Flarik was somewhere over his right shoulder, but he didn’t look to find out where.
“Does it feel like your faculties are returning?”
That was Terel, somewhere down in front of him. Eventually he was going to have to open his eyes again. Taking a deep breath, he willed his head not to explode.
“I think so. I guess it’s a good thing my people never went ahead with work on a machine like that.” This time the world wasn’t nearly as bright when he opened his eyes. Whatever happened it was fading blessedly fast.
“He’ll be fine.” Vas grinned, and then nodded toward Terel. “Call me if anyone needs anything. Otherwise we have to get out of here immediately.”
Deven reached forward to grab her hand. He pulled her fingers back as she started to leave. “Wait, what about that gray ship? It was up here, wasn’t it?”
Vas’s smile turned feral. “Aye. That ‘was’ being the important word.” She shook her head in admiration. “I doubt we’ll be able to pull this trick again, but Gosta used our new toy to transfer some gifts directly into their engine room. Right through their shields as neat as you please. They exploded about ten minutes ago.” She put a finger over his mouth as a million questions fought to the surface.
They’d blown up one of those monster ships?
“Ach, like I said, we need to get out of here quickly. The escort Flits didn’t get the rescue ships more than a few jumps out before running into trouble. They had to turn back or risk being destroyed; they barely made it out of an ambush. They should be back here within a few minutes. Then we run. I have a feeling this area is going to become very crowded very soon.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Vas smiled to herself as she sat in her command chair. The look on Deven’s face when she told him about the gray ship was almost as good as seeing it explode a half hour ago. Almost.
Thanks to those bastards, they’d lost eight people. Gon and Hrrru were still in recovery, but Terel thought they’d pull through. Still, they’d survived when the odds were horribly stacked against them. She’d invited Carrix to stay on board, but he just asked to be transported back to the planet near the merc companies in the north. He knew one of the captains, a distant relative, and could get a ride back to their home world after the fighting.
“Gosta, if those refugee ships are ready, we need to make our way to the hypergate. I want to hop a few times in case our friends decide to track us.”
He flipped the main screen so it looked out toward the gate. “Aye, Captain. They all report ready. Slowest one is a class two. We’ll have to keep that pace as we change gates.”
Vas sighed. There was nothing to be done about it. Deven had promised the refugees that the Warrior Wench would get them out. And now that she had them, she had to admit she wouldn’t go back on her word either.
“Understood. Get us out of here, Gosta.”
The engines engaged rapidly and pulled forward into the hypergate. Vas watched the nav screen on her small computer at her seat. The codes were good and the hypergate opened cleanly. She held her breath as the slowest ship almost looked like it wasn’t going to make it, but it cleared before the gate shut. There weren’t any ripples on the nav computer that indicated any more gray visitors had hit the sector, but Vas didn’t relish having to go back for a missing ship.
The first three hops went cleanly, and Deven had recovered enough to return to the command deck after the third one. That was a very interesting side effect of the particle mover; it clearly completely disabled telepaths for a brief time. Something she’d have to keep in mind.
Vas ordered Gosta to swing as random and as far as he could on the jumps. She went through all this trouble to save these people; she didn’t want whoever was after them to find them easily. Nor to find her ship.
“Captain, I think we may have an additional problem,” Gosta said from his console.
When he didn’t elaborate, Vas prodded him. “Well? The ships are all sticking together right?”
“That’s not it. They’re holding up. However, I left a tracking buoy at the last planet. Flarik suggested it while you were on the planet, I agreed.” His voice quivered a bit in defense, but when Vas didn’t yell at him he continued. Actually she thought it was a great idea and was punching herself that she hadn’t thought of it.
“More gray ships?”
“No, that’s the thing. It’s a Commonwealth ship. Three of them actually.” His pause told Vas she really wasn’t goi
ng to like his next part. “War-class cruisers, all of them.”
Vas hadn’t told Gosta about her blocking of the Commonwealth trackers, but he most likely had seen it once he returned to his station. What the hell was going on? A single War-class cruiser could have easily wiped out the Warrior Wench and all of the refugee ships. To have three show up that quickly was terrifying.
“Noted.” For good or ill their path was laid out. For now at any rate. She flipped open the ship-wide comm. “Attention. Until further notice we are staying clear of any and all Commonwealth ships or transmissions. Evidence has indicated that there is something wrong within the hierarchy itself and we need to avoid it.” She was about to close the comm line and deal with the faces on the command deck when Divee’s earlier fear came back to her. “And no, this does not mean we’re going rogue. We’re just staying out of whatever mess is happening. If you believe you cannot continue in such a fashion, notify Deven and we’ll find a way for you to get to Home.”
“What?” she said to the command deck after she closed the comm.
“Could you at least warn me before you declare war on the Commonwealth?” Flarik asked from her new console. “The legal ramifications of such an action will be enormous.” She’d never wanted to be on the command deck before, but now she’d taken up an unused science station almost permanently.
Vas rose and turned to face the entire command crew. She briefly filled them in on her encounter with the high-ranking official. It spoke volumes that none of them interrupted her.
“Now we have three War-class cruisers showing up immediately after we blow up one of the mystery ships. I don’t think it’s too paranoid to think something very wrong is going on with at least part of Commonwealth. Hopefully it’s just a fringe element, something they can deal with quickly.” She faced them all with a grim look. “But it’s not a chance I think we can take given the recent actions. Do any of you disagree? My offer of leaving is open to everyone.” She met Deven’s eyes long enough to let him know that included him.
Asarlai Wars 1: Warrior Wench Page 25
