by John Walker
True Cost
The Descendants War
Book 5
John Walker
Copyright © 2021 John Walker
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
DISCLAIMER
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This story contains explicit language and violence.
Blurb
The Flotilla has escaped, taking with it several key members of the Triton crew. Without any clue where it might be going, high command orders them to conduct relief efforts on a besieged Rhulin colony. With the Brekka in tow, they head out to save civilians on the verge of massacre from a Kahl invasion.
Meanwhile, the away team stuck on the mobile pirate fortress must fight to survive a lawless environment that may self-destruct at any moment. Stuck waiting for their data to download, desperate to find the means to escape, they find themselves once again in a deadly game against a mob intent to find profit at any cost…including lives.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
Prologue
“Toss me that vitrazine!” Orla Boch didn’t look up from her patient. Scans showed dangerously low vitals. Blood soaked a clumsily tied bandage on his shoulder. It wasn’t tight enough to do much good. She applied pressure while waiting for her assistant to prepare a hypo. “Hurry up!”
“I am!” Klev Dorm appeared beside her, pressing the device into her hand. “I gave you four doses to work with. We’re seriously low on all supplies.” An explosion outside cut him off. The conflict drew ever closer, threatening the camp as a whole. “That couldn’t have been more than five hundred yards away!”
“Focus on your job,” Orla ordered. She pressed the hypo against her patient’s shoulder, introducing the chemical near the wound. Vitrazine numbed the area while encouraging healing. She still had to stop the bleeding, but this way his body would help the process. “Okay, I need you to keep pressure on this wound and watch the vitals.”
“This is really bad!” Klev cried. “He’s got other injuries. Internal—”
“The vitrazine will help with those too, but that’s the most pressing.” Orla stepped away, checking the next man who just came in. He survived an energy blast to the face. His left eye was gone. Half his cheek had melted away, exposing bone and teeth. Extensive reconstruction could fix some of it. She didn’t know how much.
He’s in for a lot of pain if he survives this. Orla wrapped his face, moving swiftly. Additional soldiers were brought in, some carried by their fellows, others on stretchers. The field hospital hadn’t been so busy in months. And I thought this was the perfect place. It seemed peaceful enough a week ago.
“How’re you doing?” Orla shouted.
“The bleeding slowed,” Klev said, “I’m moving to the next patient… oh my… this man’s dead!”
“That’s going to happen,” Orla replied. “Keep going. Next.”
Klev joined her shortly after she arrived at the camp. He was a young surgeon who had recently finished an internship with the Prytins. He’d returned to Rhulin space to ply his trade and to work amongst his own people. He’d been an open book with her, talking about family and friends whenever they had downtime.
Orla tended to play things close to her chest.
“This man,” Orla said, “requires extensive surgery. We can’t do that right now.” A second explosion went off, this one closer. “What’re they doing? Firing mortars? What’s the point? Why not bomb us with fighters?”
As if in answer to her question, a ship raced by overhead probably only a thousand meters up. Orla winced, waiting for an inevitable contact. When it didn’t come, she moved to the next patient. This one had lost his leg and arm. Someone had tied off both limbs correctly, indicating an actual field medic had helped him.
“Do we have any more of those cap pans?” Orla asked. They wrapped around a stump, allowing them to effectively cauterize a wound without extensive damage. Nanites helped find the exact points to apply heat, sealing the injury. It was a temporary solution but one that would keep the victim alive.
“Negative,” Klev said, “field medics took them a few hours ago.”
“Got it.” Orla sighed. “I’ll have to apply the heat directly to the wounds on this guy then.”
A scream outside the tent drew her attention. Orla looked up at the flap. Blaster fire erupted outside not even fifty feet from them. She stepped toward Klev, patting him on the arm.
“Take cover,” Orla gestured to the left behind their computer equipment. “Over there.”
“What’s going on?” Klev looked. “They’re nearly here! What’re you going to do?”
“Relax,” Orla motioned again, “and get down. Right now.”
More shouts kept her attention. Orla moved her lab coat aside, freeing her pistol. She rested her hand on the grip, narrowing her eyes. Kahl forces started in on the planet the day before. Rhulin military forces had told their people there was nothing to worry about. They claimed they could push them back in a few hours.
A full rotation later, the enemy found themselves on the gate of the biggest military camp on the planet. They’d been there to help the scattered colonies with other problems. Raiders primarily. Over the course of three months, the Rhulin military brought order back to the planet.
And until the Kahl arrived, Orla hadn’t done more than treat a few friendly fire shots, some burns, and a couple broken bones. This had turned into full-on war, something she did not sign up for. I knew I spent too much time here. I should’ve left a couple weeks ago. She’d allowed herself to become content; to feel safe.
Two people came charging the tent. Orla drew her pistol, firing as enemy soldiers burst in. Each blast caught a man in the head, knocking them back outside. She fired twice more after them before shouting back at Klev, “we have to go! They’re wearing full armor so this isn’t going to do much!”
“We can’t leave these patients!” Klev replied. “We have a duty to—”
“Survive,” Orla interrupted. She hurried to the shelf, shouldering a field medic kit. Half the contents had likely been plundered but whatever had been left behind might allow them to barter later. “Come on. Right now! That’s an order!”
Klev cursed, grabbing the other pack available. They left through the back as shouts followed them. Gunfire erupted in the tent, likely the Kahl executing the wounded. Orla tensed at the sound while hustling away, toward the back fence. Once they left that way, they’d be in the hills with plenty of trees.
Which means we have a small chance of escaping this mess.
“They’re killing them!” Klev shouted.
“Shush!” Orla waved her hand at him. “Do you have a weapon?”
“No…”
“Then don’t act like there was something we could do back there. They would’ve
shot us too. Those bastards have no honor toward our profession. As far as they’re concerned, we should be killed first.” Orla ducked behind another tent, one of the command structures. She didn’t hear any activity inside. They probably already joined the other soldiers.
“What’re we going to do?” Klev asked. “We can’t just run!”
“That’s exactly what we can do,” Orla said. “And it’s how we’re getting out of this.” Footsteps to her left drew her attention. She held her left arm out to stop Klev. Another Kahl came around the corner, sliding to a halt as they made contact. He wore body armor but no helmet.
Orla fired first, sheering off a chunk of the man’s skull. She gestured. “Now you have a gun. Grab his and let’s go!”
“I don’t know how to use a weapon!” Klev complied regardless. He snatched up the rifle, slinging it over his shoulder. “I didn’t have to learn!”
“They sent you here without training you about weapons?” Orla sighed. She waved at him to hurry after her.
They ran down a path between barracks tents. The fence loomed ahead, some hundred yards away. Orla glanced over her shoulder, taking a couple shots past her companion. He ducked away, cursing loudly as he stumbled.
“What are you doing?”
“Suppressive fire,” Orla replied, “keeping them from shooting straight down here and killing us. Take a hard left at the next tent!” She stopped once she was in cover, crouching to peek around. Soldiers were down at the far end near the hospital, five tents away. They seemed to be clearing them. “That’s good news for us.”
“How so?” Klev asked. “What’re you talking about?”
“They don’t care about two people with a pistol,” Orla said, “they’re looking for other soldiers. Which means we should have a straight shot to the fence and beyond.”
“Where are we going? How are you so good with that gun? Why were you even carrying it in the hospital? What’s going on, Pargon Boch? I’m confused!”
“Well…” Orla gestured at him to get down. “Stay low. We’re making our way for the fence. First, we’re getting into the hills. The trees will provide us cover. Second, we’re looking for a way out of here. Third, I’ve been carrying a gun for a long time. We don’t have time for why. And fourth… well…” She started moving.
“What? What is it?”
“Just that we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us if we want to survive. Believe me, it’s going to be worse before it gets better.”
“How do you mean?”
Orla paused at the end of the next tent, glancing again. She motioned for him to give her the rifle as she put her pistol away. Kahl rifles had excellent range finding. She peered down the scope, putting the reticle on the head of the only visible enemy soldier. Pulling the trigger, she felt the familiar vibration, watching her victim drop in a heap.
“There are a lot of them,” Orla said. She hustled down the line to the fence. “So we’re at a dramatic disadvantage.” She blasted the obstruction in five key places before giving it a heavy kick. A section large enough for them to crouch through went down. She slipped out, removing her lab coat. “You won’t need yours either.”
“Okay…” Klev came out, dropping his as well. “It gets cold at night.”
“Not deadly.” Orla tilted her head, watching as two fighters breezed by. They were Rhulin, which gave her some hope. “That’s a good sign. Anyway, come on. We’re going to be running for a bit so do your best to keep up. We’ve got to make the trees before the patrols reach the back of the camp.”
“Or?”
“They’ll use us for target practice.” Orla drew a deep breath then darted away. “Let’s go!”
Chapter 1
Griel Pas Dain paced before the viewscreen, staring at the floor. He couldn’t decide what should vex him more, the Flotilla’s departure or Renz’s escape. Both brought about different levels of frustration, and each bothered him personally. At least one of the two, he knew he’d see again.
The Flotilla seemed like it might be on the verge of exploding when it left. High energy output, readings off the charts, shedding modules… he wanted to know more about how it worked. Such information was academic. Molush attempted to trace the thing, to find out where it was going.
His efforts didn’t immediately pan out. Every minute that passed made it harder to figure out too. Which left some of the Triton crew as well as his own intelligence liaison missing. When he’d left her with the humans for his personal trip to Kahl territory, he had gotten into a little trouble. This would be much worse.
“Captain Barnes is on the line,” Molush said. “I’ve been working with Violet, but we can’t figure out where the Flotilla might be going. None of the data I pulled from the thing talked about set coordinates. They may have just hit go. I’m scanning surrounding systems to see if they’ve already left warp.”
“Okay.” Griel returned to his seat. “Put Titus on.” The human captain appeared on the screen, wearing a deep scowl. “I’m pretty sure I know what you’re thinking.”
“Six of my people,” Titus said, “they’re just gone. Do we have any idea where those criminals might’ve gone? Any clue at all?”
Griel shook his head. “Until recently, that place was a rumor. No one got close to them. Now that we have, I don’t know where they’d go. They can’t exactly hide forever anymore. Not since we’ve confirmed their existence. All the Prytin authorities are going to be swarming them.”
“That doesn’t help our people now,” Titus said. “They’re aboard a hostile structure in warp. How can we help them?”
“Violet and Molush are doing the only thing I know.” Griel shrugged. “Believe me, I’m pretty angry about it myself.”
“What’re the chances of that thing even making it to another destination?” Titus asked. “It was falling apart before it left!”
“Very good,” Molush replied, “providing they get the reactor under control. I’m assuming they have some plan for that in place, though. They might as well have stayed here to die rather than blow up in warp. So, it seems logical to believe someone on board knows how to keep it in one piece.”
“That’s… not comforting.” Titus rubbed his eyes. “Seems like the other pirates have left, but Rhys raised a good point. Anyone already on their way here to rendezvous with the Flotilla might still be on their way. We should fall back to a different position so we can regroup and continue these efforts.”
“I agree.” Griel nodded. “We’ll coordinate with you to find a safe distance from this specific location while staying in the system. Anyone who shows up might have a clue where they’re going too. We can interrogate them. Talk to you soon, Titus.” He killed the connection himself. “Authen, that’s your task. Work with their pilot.”
“I’m on it.”
Griel turned to Molush. “Give me a no-nonsense assessment. What’re the chances you’ll figure this out?”
“Slim to none. Not until they arrive somewhere. But,” Molush held up his hand, “Niva’s not a slouch. She’ll get us a message if she can… if she’s still…”
“Alive?” Griel asked. “I know. I’m afraid of that too.” He sighed. “This turned out to be a real disaster.” He hesitated to ask the man to look for Renz. With their own missing, he had to focus on them. Much as he wanted to chase the Kahl general down, Niva was more important. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing, sir.” Molush returned to his terminal. “I’ll let you know when I have something.”
“Got it.” Griel began formulating his report. He worried about intelligence—and Yuldi, for that matter. He was supposed to collect Niva as soon as possible. If he didn’t find her, they’d assign a new person. The thought of breaking in a second agent didn’t appeal to him, let alone the reason for it.
I’m sorry, Niva. I owe you big. Griel couldn’t think of a way to spin what had happened. Not that he necessarily wanted to. Keeping the ship intact is the most important thing. I’ll have to doctor this some
what. Just to make a point. I’ll find her, though. It won’t be long before she’s back aboard.
Which is precisely what he put in the report. Maybe I’ll placate some concerns with that promise.
Two hours passed. They’d moved well out of range of the Flotilla’s former position. No other ships arrived in that time. Repairs went well. He nearly finished the wording on his report when Molush startled him with a tap on the shoulder.
“You scared me,” Griel said, “what’s up?”
“You weren’t responding,” Molush replied. “I guess you’re enthralled in that report, huh?”
“Yeah, I suppose.” Griel rubbed his eyes. “What’s going on?”
“We have a priority communication from Yuldi Pas Kline. He’s called it urgent.”
“Oh, I just bet.” Griel sighed. “Put it through to me, please.” He put an earbud in to keep at least one side of the conversation private. His old friend’s image appeared on the screen though they didn’t have video. “Hi there. I was just writing a report to you about what happened out here. I need—”
“Save it,” Yuldi interrupted, “you’re far enough away I can’t see your eyes, but I’m sure what you’ve got there isn’t going to be good news, am I right?”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you’re writing the report rather than contacting me with the information. I’ve known you a long time.”
Griel’s cheeks burned. “Well… no, it’s not the best information. The Flotilla managed to warp away from here. Niva and several of the humans were aboard. We’re trying to find out where the thing went so we can fetch them. That’s in the report, and I swear I’ll get them all back as soon as possible.”
“It’ll have to wait,” Yuldi said. “I’m afraid Niva’s on her own for a little longer. Which is good news for you. Intelligence took my assurance that you’re on a mission for us right now. Furthermore, they believed that she’s just busy with something and will get back to them soon. I’ll pray I didn’t lie.”
