by Chris Walley
Yet although most of the Krallen perished in the crackling inferno of the mountainside, a few hundred—a ragged line of blackened and smoldering figures—burst out of the smoke and raced toward the lines.
A volley of rockets from the XQ guns took down many of them, but still dozens made it to the ramparts. Yet for once, the attackers were outnumbered and the Krallen perished rapidly. Merral slashed a charred Krallen as it tried to surmount the parapet in front of him and almost severed its neck completely. Lloyd thrust the barrel of his shotgun into the mouth of another and blew its head off. Another Krallen, its tail smoldering, slipped over the parapet and ended up at Anya’s feet. Wielding the blade with both hands, she swung it deep into its chest. As the creature slumped to the ground, she pulled out the blade and then thrust it down with such force that the creature’s head was pinned to the ground.
“That’s a lady with attitude,” Vero murmured.
Merral looked around. The attack was over. Ahead, perhaps fifty Krallen were left in front of the flames, trying to regroup, but showing evidence of being disoriented.
Filled with a new and spirited defiance, Merral clambered on top of the ramparts, waving his sword and feeling the wind on his back. “Come on! Let’s finish them off. Charge!” he yelled and then ran forward.
“Not so fast!” he heard Lloyd gasp behind him, but he didn’t slacken his pace.
He was first to reach the remaining Krallen, but the others were barely steps behind. With shouts of “The Lamb!” “Tantaravekat!” “For Perena!” “Tezekal!” and many other cries, they cut and hacked away until the last Krallen lay still.
Merral D’Avanos turned his back on the still-flaming mountain, took off his helmet and gloves, and amid the cheers of his men, strode back to where the Lamb and Stars flapped proudly in the wind.
As he stood there, Merral felt almost overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. He felt exhausted yet filled with an extraordinary energy; depressed at the losses yet elated at the victory. He wanted to both weep and sing.
But he did neither.
He gave a prayer of thanks and, reminding himself that there was work to be done, walked back to the command center.
27
Merral and Colonel Lanier walked onto the roof of the command center to assess the situation.
A glance at the awesome inferno of flame and smoke still boiling in front of them on the mountainside confirmed to Merral that the main Krallen force had been utterly destroyed. Through the great billowing columns of smoke, perhaps a few hundred Krallen were trying to escape westward along the summit, apparently intent on returning to Langerstrand. Merral was doubtful that they would make it.
The few surviving irregulars on the Hereza Crags had taken a cue from what had happened above Tezekal and set fire to the ridge there. The result was that an almost continuous line of fire now raged along twenty kilometers of mountainside.
Merral looked at his watch. It was nearly four-thirty. High above them, Maria Brumeno and her team would be engaging the Dove of Dawn. He wondered how soon he would hear of their success or failure.
His thoughts were interrupted by a diary call from Zak. The thousand or so Krallen down by the mouth of the gorge had suddenly turned around and begun to run back to Langerstrand. Zak, plainly peeved at having missed the excitement up at the olive groves, wanted permission to go in hot pursuit.
Merral looked down the slope, seeing that the Krallen were indeed now loping westward. He pondered Zak’s request. The idea that all the remaining Krallen west of Isterrane might be destroyed by the end of the day was a tempting one. Even more tantalizing was the prospect that such a sudden onslaught might gain access to the Langerstrand base and allow the hostages to be recovered. Yet weighed against that were the hard facts that his soldiers were exhausted and that even if he was to put together all the troops he had, the assault party would be no more than a thousand strong. And, precisely because of the hostages, Merral felt any approach to Langerstrand should not be rushed.
Colonel Lanier agreed with his reasoning, but when Merral explained it to Zak, the response was skeptical and even angry. In the end, Merral had to make it plain that it was an order. Zak reluctantly agreed to obey it.
That done, Merral pulled up a chair and set about making contact with various people. On impulse he called Betafor and this time got a response.
“Commander, how are you?” she said. Merral could read nothing in the bland voice.
“Very well. I called you earlier and got no answer. Is everything all right?”
“You did? That . . . may have been a brief communications failure earlier. Your systems are not as robust as they might be. Not for battle conditions.”
“Possibly true,” Merral replied, feeling puzzled. “What are you hearing now?”
“General confusion, consistent with a large-scale . . . chaotic retreat. A lot of units have ceased transmitting. You appear to have won, Commander, against the odds. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he said, then closed the connection.
Merral was about to contact Clemant when he received a new call on his diary. The image flickered heavily before stabilizing to show a woman in heavy white overalls with blonde hair tied back and wearing a happy expression. She sat at a desk in a strangely shaped, white-painted room and on the desk rested a large glass-visored helmet.
“Commander D’Avanos, we haven’t been introduced, but I thought you’d like a call. I am Maria Brumeno.”
“Maria!” Merral felt relief surge into his mind. “I don’t recognize that decor.”
“No, I don’t care for it myself. I’ll get the decorators in soon.” A broad smile lit up her face. “Commander, you will be pleased to know that the Assembly has acquired a new space vessel. I am calling you from the bridge of the Dove of Dawn.”
“Well done! Very well done indeed, Maria.”
“Thank you, but the praise needs to be shared. I hear that you have had a good day.”
“Yes, a hard fight but, by the grace of God, we won. There are now very few Krallen west of Isterrane. If you get a chance, find a porthole and look our way. There’s a very large forest fire here and a lot of Krallen are roasting in the embers. If I hadn’t left Forestry, I think they would have sacked me.” Merral realized that he was smiling. “But tell me how it went.”
“Surprisingly easy. There was very little resistance and that ended pretty quickly. We blew the door in and had a bit of a battle. They kept the artificial gravity on, which helped us.” She nudged the helmet and Merral watched it float away. “It’s off at the moment, because we have shut down most of the ship’s systems.” She paused to sigh. “We had two dead and one injured. On their side, there were two men, half a dozen cockroach-beasts, and couple of ape-creatures. We were prepared to be merciful, but they would have none of it. And as they would not surrender, we shot them. I’m sorry.”
Merral sighed. “A pity.”
“We tried saving the men, but dealing with pressure-suit injuries in a vacuum is not easy.”
“I can imagine. Is the ship itself damaged?”
“Just the door. It needs a new entrance system to allow direct docking with Assembly craft but we don’t anticipate any problem replacing it with the standard access unit. The gear is already on its way out from Near Station.”
“And the ship is secure?”
“That’s an affirmative, Commander. We turned off all power to the systems and are bringing it back on line system by system.”
“Excellent news. Give my congratulations to all concerned. Any idea how long before the Dove will fly?”
Maria smiled. “In our profession, Commander, we like to read the manuals first. And we’re in no hurry. But we already have the engineering team on board.” She looked to her left and the camera followed her gaze to show a number of men and women working at open panels. Merral was struck by a tall woman with her back to the camera who had long, wavy black hair that floated about her head. Somehow he felt he k
new her.
Maria spoke again. “There seems to be no reason why we can’t have it up and running inside a week.”
“You have no idea, Captain, what good news that is. We need it.”
“Yes,” she said and the smile slipped away to be replaced by an expression of loss. “We have paid a price for victory.”
“I’m sorry,” Merral said. “I really am. But the ship is priceless.”
“It’s in good hands.”
Merral then called Clemant. The diary screen showed that he was in his office. On the wall behind him were live images relayed from the Dove.
While not exactly radiant with happiness—when had he ever been?—there seemed to be a new buoyancy to Clemant.
“An afternoon of most encouraging news,” he said. “Both from the Dove and from you.”
“We were shown mercy,” Merral answered.
“Indeed.”
“Sir, I was wondering about the next military steps. I want a team to surround Langerstrand to try and get the hostages and maybe take Lezaroth.”
Clemant frowned. “I understand that, Commander. I really do. But I think our most pressing concern lies with the Dominion forces in the Camolgi Hills. They are big enough to wipe out Halmacent, Ranapert, or even Isterrane.”
“True, but at the very least, you must allow the immobilization of the vessels at Langerstrand.”
Clemant stroked a cheek with his finger. “Yes, I will allow a small force to surround the site and to immobilize the ship. No more than a hundred soldiers and to leave no earlier than tomorrow. I want to see what news the night brings.”
“Very well.”
Some faint emotion flickered across Clemant’s face. “Oh, Commander, I need to inform you of matters to do with the Dove. A mere technicality. The Dominion ship has been put under the management of a specialist technical team. It is no longer a defense matter.”
“In other words, it’s not my business?”
“Exactly.”
Merral found Vero in the rooms used by the irregs. He was looking at a long list of names on a wallscreen and his face wore a subdued look.
“Our losses: dead, wounded, and missing,” Vero said in a sad voice as the names scrolled down the screen. He swiveled round in his seat to face Merral. “What news?”
“We have the Dove,” Merral said.
“I heard. Another ray of sunlight on a dark day.” Vero rubbed his fingers against his temples. “No. I must be more positive. This is very good news. Within days, we may be able to travel back to the Assembly through Below-Space. The Assembly will gain this technology. Everything changes.”
“True. But in the meantime, down here, there are issues. We have to rescue the hostages at Langerstrand, deal with the remaining Krallen there, and, of course, ensure the destruction of the eastern Krallen army.”
“And we mustn’t forget the baziliarch. He fled northward. If he comes back . . .” He shook his head.
“Yes.”
Vero nodded, then lowered his voice. “Incidentally, we have had an odd thing with Betafor. She seems to have gone missing a couple of hours ago. Just at the time of the attack, the guard looked into her room for some reason and couldn’t find her. He went for help. By the time he had found someone else to search the building properly, the mountain was on fire and we were winning. They went back and there she was. Said she was under the table.”
“Interesting. I tried to call her about then and got no answer. Could she have escaped?”
“There’s a small roof vent that could be unscrewed. I mentioned it to Azeras and he just laughed. He reckons she looked at the statistics, decided we were the losers, and made a run for it. Says she was probably halfway to the Dominion lines before she realized that we weren’t the losing side after all. So she turned back. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ he said.”
“She served us well otherwise. And Azeras may be wrong. But I guess we’d better watch out. Anyway, Vero, we seem to have survived.”
Vero gave a weary sigh. “So far, my friend. And by grace. But it isn’t over. Indeed, I have a fear that we may face new problems. I sense issues emerging that I do not care for.”
But he would not be drawn out as to what those were and Merral left him gazing mournfully at his somber list.
Shortly afterward, Merral decided that things were stable enough that he could afford to take off his armor and have a much needed shower. As he entered the shower, he heard the rumble of a flier as it landed and gave a prayer of thanks. The isolation was over.
Ten minutes later, just after changing into a fresh uniform in the tent he had been assigned, he heard a deliberate cough outside. It was Luke and his face was stern.
“What’s up, Luke?”
“Two things. First, do the names Durrance and Latrati mean anything to you?”
“No. . . . Wait. I remember. Zak said they had fled. There was a discipline issue and I told him to send them to Isterrane. It’s something we’ll have to deal with. Why?”
“They were medical cases. Broken ribs, lost teeth. An orderly mentioned them to me. He was worried about the wounds.”
“Are we talking about the same people? They never fought. They shouldn’t be injured.”
“Yes.” Luke’s face was solemn. “I put the matter to one side until a soldier told me he had heard that Zak had beaten them. Personally. Punched, kicked—that sort of thing.”
Merral stared at him. “No. I don’t believe—” He stopped, suddenly aware that he did believe it. “That’s a very serious allegation, Chaplain.”
“I know. But I thought you ought to deal with it.”
“I will. Can I talk to your soldier?”
“No. He won’t talk. He’s scared.”
Merral sighed. “That is entirely believable. Okay, I’ll look into it. I want to interview Durrance and Latrati in Isterrane. And the other matter?”
“I just thought you ought to know that Delastro and his men came on that supply flight that just landed.”
Merral finished buttoning up his shirt. “Luke, I don’t need him. Certainly not now. What’s he doing?”
“He’s speaking to the soldiers at the strip.”
“Saying what?”
“That there must be no compromise with evil; that we need to purge Farholme from every trace of sin.”
“Does he say anything against the Defense Force or me?”
Luke shifted uneasily on his feet. “He says that purity needs to start here. He implies that we are in need of purification.”
Merral sighed. “Luke, do two things for me. First, summon him up here immediately.”
“And second?”
“Pray that I don’t punch him.”
Ten minutes later, the prebendant and his two dark-suited followers arrived. Merral beckoned the cleric over to where, under the shade of an awning, a pair of chairs were placed. The followers remained at a distance, not far from a tree under which Lloyd sat, his brown bag next to him.
“Prebendant, this is a surprise visit,” Merral said as they sat down.
Delastro placed his staff across his knees and gazed coolly at Merral. “And why shouldn’t a chaplain visit the scene of battle?”
“There is no reason at all. Your presence earlier today would have been most welcome. But, Prebendant, the battle is now over and most of the wounded are in hospital in Isterrane where you could easily visit them.”
Delastro sat stiffly back in his chair, brushed something off the sleeve of his dark suit, then turned his hard gaze back on Merral. “Commander, you persist in assuming my ministry is to do with the sick and the troubled. I see it more as opposing evil.”
“There’s plenty of that around,” Merral said, pointing over at the distant hazy smear that was the Langerstrand Peninsula.
“Evil, Commander, can be blatant and subtle. It can prowl the battlefield openly and yet dwell like a hidden cancer in a man’s heart.” His long fingers twisted together.
“I agree, but pl
ease feel free to be specific.”
“Thank you. The wickedness of these Krallen—these demon-spawned monsters—needs erasing utterly. Every trace of them and their works needs uprooting and eliminating.”
“By the grace of the Most High and much sacrifice we seem to have eliminated around a hundred thousand of them over the last two days. Not a bad start, wouldn’t you say?”
The prebendant folded his hands, tilted his head, and fixed his green eyes on Merral. “On the surface, yes, you have done much. But is your victory all it claims to be? I hear that underneath you have compromised.” His voice was almost a hiss. “Compromised in such a deadly way that it must be opposed.”
Don’t lose your temper. “A most serious charge, Prebendant.”
“You and this dark visitor, Verofaza—a man of whom we know so little—have strange beings working for you.” There was an almost piercing intensity to his eyes and his voice seemed to tremble. “A greenish creature—very like these Krallen, it seems. And a strange man who fights under a banner other than our blessed Lamb and Stars. There is an organization that is based underground and about which we know almost nothing. And, above all, you have assistance from a mysterious and unnamed visitor from the spirit world.”
His bony hands clutched the polished wooden staff tightly. “Commander, I think some explanation would be in order, or even, perhaps, confession.”
Unable to contain his anger, Merral got to his feet. “By implying that we have had dealings with the occult you dishonor both the living and the dead who fought here today, Prebendant. As chaplain-in-chief you are under my authority and I now formally dismiss you.”
Delastro rose to face him, his knuckles white on his staff.
Merral nodded at Lloyd, who spoke into a shoulder microphone and reached into his bag.
“Sergeant Enomoto will accompany you and your men to the strip here. A flight will be arranged to take you back to Isterrane. This is a military area, under my authority, and I forbid you to say a word to anyone else here.”
