“Incoming,” I said. My AI highlighted twenty nearby spiders that responded to the gunfire. I pulled out my multipurpose tool and prepared for the worst. Predictably, Tabby fired again, splattering one spider after another, effectively halting their charge.
“Stop firing!” I finally said, recognizing that the fallen spiders were being picked up by other nearby spiders and torn apart. Their remains were broken, crushed and even julienned before being spread onto the nearby plants.
I hooked the pry bar end of my tool into the spider in front of us and flung it from the precipice. The skittering horde turned away, giving chase before finally obliterating their dead companion.
“What now?” Tabby asked.
“We go.”
“Where?”
I pointed to the center of the ship where the tall column joined the top of the ship to the bottom. I jumped from the edge of the precipice and landed hard on the sloped side of the cavern’s concave surface. Instead of fighting the fall, I continued moving my legs as if I’d been running and allowed the suit to absorb the fall’s impact.
“I hate spiders,” Tabby complained as she caught up with me.
Popeyes and fields of bioluminescent plant life are essentially incompatible. I felt almost guilty as we plowed a furrow through the previously pristine fauna.
“Looks like the feeling is mutual.”
A swarm of angry spiders rushed toward us as we tore through the field. Initially, we didn’t find it difficult to swat them aside or jump over them, but the closer we got to the center, the more organized they became.
Tabby fired into what had become a sea of furry bulbous-bellied spiders, while I hacked at them with my hammer. The spider’s secondary attack - after trying their hardest to bite us - was a sticky spray. The material was acidic, but the suits were capable of withstanding it. That is, except for the portion of my suit that had been torn off. The back of my left arm, down to my hand, burned afresh as we fought through the bugs.
We finally arrived at the center column, and with our backs to the rocky material, fought the spiders off. Since we were no longer defiling their fields, we didn’t draw new spiders into the battle. This alone gave me hope. The fight of attrition was exhausting, but finally ended when no new spiders attacked.
“Hold fire,” I said, wearily placing my good arm atop Tabby’s gun. She lowered it reluctantly. The spiders that approached now were only there to distribute their deceased cohort’s crushed remains out into the fields.
“That’s completely messed up, Liam,” Tabby said.
“Let’s find a way in,” I said.
Careful to stay away from the plants, we worked our way around the column. We found a wide entrance on the opposite side, but the ceiling was too low for the Popeyes to fit in without crawling. Inside the column, a narrow, curved ramp hugged the outside wall and disappeared above us. The space wasn’t large enough for a Kroerak warrior.
“You’re not thinking of going in there, are you?” Tabby asked. "Seriously, Liam, what are we doing here?"
"What's the choice? You heard Marny, it's only a matter of time before Belvakuski finds Intrepid. Stay here."
I chinned the eject and blinked acknowledgement at the requisite prompts. It was the first time I'd had a chance to see the back of my hand. Nanobots had formed a translucent film of skin over what remained. Melted skin, crushed bone and a portion of my index finger were all that remained below mid-forearm. It wasn't a good look. Gingerly, I pulled at the grav-suit's material, causing it to flow over the damage, knit around the end, and seal the injury in.
"I thought you gave your Ruger to Anghad." Tabby ejected from her suit and unclipped a new laser pistol from her waist holster.
"I might have exaggerated the provenance of the pistol I handed to Anghad," I said, sheepishly.
"You … That's …" Tabby looked at me bemused. "It was a lovely speech."
"You should have stayed suited," I said. "What if we run into warriors?"
"No warrior can make it up this ramp and I'd be willing to bet those spiders are designed to keep warriors off the grass," she said. "That, and you're down a paw. Not sure why you can't get it through your head — we're in this together. The good and the bad."
Before stepping onto the ramp, we gave the lowest level a cursory look. I wasn't sure what I hoped to find above us, but I knew we had to keep pushing forward. Our odds of survival had been on a steady decline from the moment the Genteresk fleet had peeked over the horizon and Intrepid lost its second engine. We needed a break.
With pistols held in front, we walked up the ramp. Technically, I floated, using the grav-suit's capabilities to lessen the effort. It was tight quarters and we had to move in single file. I took point with Tabby right on my tail.
After a complete revolution, we'd gained twenty meters of elevation, but had run into a translucent barrier. I reached forward and tentatively pushed on the veil. With sufficient force, the material stretched and pushed in a few millimeters. I wasn’t able to break through, but discovered a band of slightly thicker material down the center that gapped slightly upon contact. On instinct, I holstered my pistol and ran my good fingers across the material, inserting them in the invisible seam at the center. The right side of the membrane gave way and pushed easily to the side. Gingerly, I thrust my left arm into the opening and elbowed that half of the membrane out of the way, creating an opening big enough to slide through.
"Careful," Tabby warned.
I nodded and released the opening. It snapped back into position. I drew my pistol and, once again, pushed open the orifice, this time using the barrel of my gun and thrusting my shoulders through. The material caught on my body, but with the help of the grav-suit I wiggled through, landing on the opposite side. A moment later, Tabby followed, albeit more gracefully.
We'd arrived at a second level in the tower. Unlike the barren first level, this deck had several initially undistinguishable piles. My AI outlined the remains of a human form and I rushed over, expecting the worst. Tabby followed just as quickly.
"Frak," she said, laying a hand on my shoulder.
"Jupiter piss," I said. It was Jonathan's body. His chest had been torn open and hollowed out.
"His crystal," Tabby pointed at something I hadn't seen.
She was right. A quantum comm crystal was poking up out of the viscera that remained. Instinctively, I reached in and pulled the crystal out, placing it into a belt pouch.
"They couldn't have survived," I said, referring to the collection of sentients that had resided within the sticky mess. "There was no host." I felt like a thousand kilograms of steel sat on my chest and I had a hard time breathing. They'd given their lives so willingly in hopes the Kroerak could be stopped.
"Sendrei's sword and his vac-suit," Tabby said, lifting a limp suit and extracting a sword from another pile of indistinguishable material.
"What happened here?" I asked. "Sendrei wouldn't have gone down without a fight."
"You are correct, Liam Hoffen and Tabitha Masters."
I spun and fired my pistol in a single move. Tabby — faster and stronger — leapt across, turning in midair, swinging her bo staff.
There were three of them. Two were the size of adolescents, but with significantly different physical attributes. The third was twenty centimeters taller. All three glistened, emitting yellow light that reflected off glossy, multifaceted golden armor carapaces.
Kroerak warriors were fast, but their primary skillset was to attack ferociously and in a straight line. Mostly, warriors didn't run into things that could easily harm them. The stand-and-deliver method of combat really worked for them. By the time you chipped into their armor, they were ripping out your innards. Point was, there was nothing subtle about them.
Oddly, the two slightly smaller bugs were anything but direct. While I had turned and fired as quickly as I could, one of the two had anticipated my shots and already extended a wing from its back, deflecting the bolts harmlessly into the
floor. The second fluttered up to meet Tabby, catching her bo staff in a thick pincer and wrenching it from her grip.
I drew my nano-blade and pushed my grav-suit forward. There was no doubt in my mind. This was the group that had killed Sendrei and Jonathan. We might very well die here, but we wouldn't go down without a fight.
Tabby responded to the loss of her bo staff by producing Sendrei's sword, flicking it open and slicing at the bug's extended pincer. I wanted to cheer as the pincer and bo staff clattered onto the deck. Everything was happening so quickly that I had to look away as I sliced my own blade through the air. We were in this thing. It was time to deal with these asshats.
My elation was short lived. I failed to land a strike on the bug I'd engaged. It moved so quickly I had difficulty tracking it. Where I had failed to make contact, the bug did not. I sailed backward, dropping the nano blade when I made violent contact with the opposite wall.
Through blurred vision, I watched Tabby engage the small golden warrior. I pushed off the wall and stumbled forward, looking around for anything I could use as a weapon. Tabby was making progress, up to the point when the second gold bug joined in.
"Tell your mate to desist, Liam Hoffen. We have limited patience for poor behavior." The voice sounded in my head, but didn't register with my AI. As if to emphasize the statement, Tabby flew across the room. She arrested her flight by planting her feet against the back wall and pushing off. She'd been disarmed, but pulled out a short blade and raced back into combat.
I knew I had to back her up. One-on-one, Tabby was faster, but against two, she would lose. I rushed forward, leaning into my grav-suit for acceleration. I barreled into one of the gold bugs and wrapped my arms around it, pushing as hard as I could to separate it from Tabby.
"Hoffen!" In her voice was concern. I'd chosen to attack the stronger of the two bugs. She'd already clipped a pincer from her bug and I’d let her continue to deal with that one. We might just make it out of this yet.
Fire in my side alerted me to a new problem. Something had sliced into me just before the bug and I slammed into the wall. I thought it was possible I heard cracking, but I wasn’t sure if it was the wall, the bug or me.
"You will submit!" My mind bent to the will of the voice and I fell to the ground, no longer able to control my grav-suit.
I turned to Tabby who screamed in agony, thrusting her blade into the open maw of her opponent. Together they fell as one to the ground.
"Violence is not called for," the voice that compelled me to my knees continued. "You have fought with skill and honor." I felt a swell of pride at what we'd accomplished. It had been truly spectacular and we'd done it in a way to make all of mankind proud.
"Don't give in, Hoffen," Tabby said, through gritted teeth. "It's frakking with our heads."
A seed of doubt sprouted in my mind.
I looked at the third bug, which had done no fighting. I'd seen a Kroerak noble before. It had talked to me through a solid wall. Nobles were more colorful than the guards, their wings delicate and thorax less armored and narrower. My mind wandered and I wondered if this noble was the equivalent of the ship's captain. It was certainly beautiful and needed our respect; it was a wondrous and powerful creature.
"I am considered beautiful by my peers, Captain Hoffen. You should not seek to compare your station with my own. I am responsible for this vessel, but unlike human captains it is I that controls its every function."
She or it, was terrifying in its power. I was nothing next to it.
"You are correct. I am neither male nor female. I am Noble and you are my guests. And no, Tabitha Masters, we do not seek to eat you. Not while you both stink of the technology of humanity. To defile your bodies in such a way shows little understanding for the purity of your species. You are a good breeding pair and we will sow you as crops on a beautiful new world. Your children will be delicacies worth more than any. The mighty usurper, Liam Hoffen, brought to bended knee."
The noble turned and walked up the ramp, its wings fluttering to help it balance, the remaining golden warrior falling in behind.
"Come," it said.
I found I was unable to resist the force of will exerted by the bug.
"How do you know about me?" I asked. "You've been on Zuri for a hundred eighty stans."
"The communications device you covet from your null friend. I watched you placed it in your pocket. Do you find it so difficult to believe my species would have devised something superior? My kind was colonizing solar systems when yours still rooted around in the mud."
"You don't colonize. You destroy peaceful civilizations," Tabby spat.
"It's always the warriors that come to understanding first," the noble said. "I would know of this Jonathan you keep considering. Think more about this person. You believe it inhabited the null body. We found nothing."
"Ohhhh, Johnny boy … the pipes, the pipes are calling. From glen to glen and down the mountain side." I wasn't much of a singer, but for some reason, I remembered hearing a crusty old miner singing the song when working on one of my dad's claims. The bug was reading my mind and singing was the only thing I could think of to push the noble from my head.
"Danny boy," Tabby corrected.
"What are you doing?" The noble asked.
"You were asking about Johnny boy. I was remembering a song about him," I said.
"You are trying to hide something. It won't work. Human brains are open to me."
We'd been led into a control room and were sixty meters up. The walls thinned and were translucent, showing a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of the spiders as they worked the fields.
"You had no choice, Tabitha Masters." The noble answered a question that hadn’t been asked aloud. "I discovered your presence when you destroyed the tenders. Spiders, I believe you call them. I suggested to you that the only way out was to explore my lair. Your minds were weak and you came straightaway. Can you not see why humanity should serve us? Is this not what humanity has done to every other species it has discovered?"
"Humanity does not enslave other sentient species," I argued.
"A moral line drawn to most easily suit your needs. The Kroerak Empire has drawn its line ever so close to humanity's."
"If you are so powerful, why didn't you stop us from killing your guard?"
"It amused me and taught my children a valuable lesson. We should be wary of non-domesticated stock."
I glanced around the room. I'd never seen Kroerak technology close-up and was somewhat surprised to see video displays, levers, dials, buttons and the like.
"Do you run this entire ship yourself?" I asked.
"The important parts. I find it difficult to manufacture the lances your human ships are so easily defeated with. I need workers and for workers I need a steady supply of food. It is of no consequence. I have been recalled. My honor will be restored due to the great cunning which caused you to be captured."
"You're a windbag," Tabby said, offended. "You twist everything to sound like you're some big, important bug queen. You're just a slug. An overgrown worm."
Tabby screamed in agony, clutching her head. I tried to get to her but found myself rooted in place.
"Stop!" I yelled.
The noble turned to me and Tabby's screaming lessened. "She must be broken, Liam Hoffen. She must be docile. Her training will be painful, but the trip home is long."
The screen flickered for a moment behind the noble. Words appeared — But come ye back when summer's in the meadow. I'd forgotten them, but they were the start of the second verse of 'Oh Danny Boy.' It made no sense.
Tabby screamed again as the noble turned her attention back.
A second screen flashed with more words. Buddy, you're a boy make a big noise, playin' in the street, gonna be a big man someday. The words were familiar, like something I'd forgotten and just needed the right context for.
Tears streamed down Tabby's face as she stared defiantly at the noble and screamed in agony. "We … will, we �
� will rock you!"
Suddenly, the words on the screen made sense. It was from my ancient music collection. I didn't recognize the verse, but the chorus I absolutely recognized. I joined in with her. "We … will, we … will … rock you."
The screen flickered — again.
Instead of singing the whole verse, I simply repeated. "We … will, we … will … rock you."
"Stop this!" The noble's voice blasted in my mind and I reeled from the blow.
Tabby refused to stop and continued belting out the chorus. She actually had a pretty decent voice, if not a little hoarse from the screaming. The golden warrior rushed forward as Tabby found her feet. Without warning, it stabbed a pincer deep into her shoulder.
"No!" I'd felt the noble's grip loosening while we sang, but as I started for Tabby, my knees crumpled.
Blood sprayed from Tabby's mouth as she coughed.
"That wasn't necessary. Bind her wound," the noble instructed.
Tabby drew breath. "We … will … rock you," she wheezed between coughs.
In a pure act of defiance, I joined with her and helped carry the tune.
The noble spun on me, its evil intent clear as malice crashed through my senses like a wave breaking on the beach.
Movement caught my eye and a dark figure streaked toward us. The golden warrior turned and headed for the noble. Tabby launched herself at the golden warrior, wrapping her one good arm around its head.
Tabby's move was pretty ineffective, but it was enough to slow the warrior's progress. The bug had to pause in order to toss Tabby aside. Seemingly in slow motion, my eyes — and those of the noble — tracked a naked, sword-wielding Sendrei flying through the air. I could finally see what Tabby must have already understood; the warrior would successfully intersect Sendrei's attack.
"We … will, we … will rock you!" I sang out, throwing my body into the path of the golden warrior, jamming my good arm into its pincers as I did. My voice squeaked as the claw closed on my suit and the pressure instantly became unbearable.
Corsair Menace (Privateer Tales Book 12) Page 35
