The Chronicles of Kin Roland: 3 Book Omnibus - The Complete Series
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He moved through Long Canyon as the sun came up and the evidence of the recent battle continued to evaporate from the surface of the planet like radioactive mist. He knew from the readings his armor took during the Battle of the Bleeding Grounds that the only radioactive danger had been the Slomn. The Wormhole Nexus was something else. His imagination struggled to make sense of the effects and aftermath of the battle.
The first thing he needed to do was resupply and find shelter. Next he would locate each of his friends and determine their situation. Laura was probably an Earth Fleet prisoner by now; the rest of the Crater Town people were likely with her. He didn’t know where Rickson and Ogre would be, except that it would be the least convenient place for everyone involved. The best-case scenario for Rebecca and her Shock Troopers would be reconciliation with Earth Fleet, but he doubted that Admiral Westwood would forgive her anything.
Whatever happens now must be on my terms. Droon couldn’t get me. Trak tricked me once. From now on, I play smart and play for keeps.
When Major Eagle and his commandos came at him, Kin saw where he would get his weapons. He didn’t know how, but he knew he wanted the advanced version of FSPAA units the troopers wore. The first step to defeating elite warriors, he decided, was to escape them.
He turned and bolted up a trail that would lead to Maiden’s Keep from the opposite side of the mountain from Crater Town. He wasn’t as familiar with this area, but he had been here before with Bear. In the past, it was relatively safe from Clingers, which was why the old trapper preferred it for longer hunting expeditions. A traveler could sleep at night without worrying that an alien parasite might be attached to his face in the morning.
Eagle and his troopers saw him long before he saw them and they were moving fast. Twice he stopped on a ledge and looked back to watch them move. He analyzed the basic performance of their gear and how well each trooper operated the advanced FSPAA armor. More importantly, he saw how well they functioned as a unit and realized he was out of his league.
No one moved with that kind of precision and teamwork. He saw them adjust to the terrain as though they had fought there all of their lives. His plan seemed less likely to succeed than when he envisioned it. Eagle had a reputation for doing things his own way and coloring straight across the lines if it suited him. He was nearly the rogue Kin was, except his commanders didn’t want to execute him.
He must be doing something right.
Kin moved as fast as he dared, twisting an ankle on a rough descent. He slowed for a time to ease through the injury and took several opportunities to check the progress of his pursuers as the sun came up. He thought the base color of the FSPAA units was dark blue, although it shifted colors, by either reflection or advanced camouflage technology. Reconnaissance units, Kin thought, but more heavily armed.
Kin reached familiar territory, an area not far from his first race against Droon. At the summit of the trail, he looked down and remembered how he nearly broke his neck fleeing the Reaper. Tall, narrow trees like evergreens thrust into the sky. Pine needles, or the Crashdown equivalent, covered the ground and made good footing hard to find when moving fast.
He looked back for Eagle’s troopers and saw nothing. A flock of Crashdown birds launched from trees and soared toward the distant battlefield where there was less and less carnage for scavengers. This wasn’t the first time he had lost sight of his pursuers; often he could tell where they were or had recently been but not see them. Now they had disappeared.
He picked up the pace. His ankle felt hot and swollen but pain free. Think, Kin.
Analyzing the situation and making smart decisions was good up to a point. It allowed him to use his knowledge of the area as an advantage. Instinct told him it was time to do something even he didn’t expect.
He found the Rabbit Hole that he had used to escape Droon the first time they met. During that desperate race for his life, he dived in headfirst and survived the plummet through a mile of twisting darkness. The mouth of the small cave seemed alive with menace. He would never be able to go underground again without thinking of the Slomn and their fiery body weapons.
Not wanting to tumble blindly into the abyss, he eased himself into the hole and braced his hands and feet against the walls. Moving down the confining passage was slow going. Where it went straight down, he had to fight every inch to avoid falling. By the time he reached the pool below Maiden’s Keep, he would need to rest and find new skin for his hands.
Crashdown insects chattered at him. The larger creatures didn’t bother him. They dashed away like chitinous rats. For one heart-pounding second, he thought of Clingers, but nothing attacked. Smaller bugs nibbled his skin and scurried across his eyes. The swarm was easier to feel than to see. He spat and snorted to blow them clear of his mouth and nose.
Best. Escape plan. Ever.
The water, when he reached it, was cool and washed away most of his new bug friends. Every muscle in his body ached. Darkness covered the mountains. He found a place under one of the waterfalls and slept. When he dreamt, it was of an old woman named Sophia writing poetry about the water and flirting with men a third of her age.
“Dance with me, Kin Roland, before it all ends.”
The dream should have been a good one, but instead of music and his old friend, he awoke falsely to Dog Ralston dragging him out of a fight he didn’t remember having on Hellsbreach. The Mazz Emperor owed him something for messing up his sleep. Why did the Imperial jerk have to stir up memories better left buried? More and more often, Kin faced dead comrades and long lost enemies in the corridors of sleep.
“It is damn good to see you, Kin,” Dog said.
Kin almost answered the imaginary trooper. Shaking his head, he gathered his possessions, adjusted his weapons, and slipped out of his waterfall hiding place as a hot foreboding tickled the back of his neck. Something is watching me, and it isn’t from the Fleet.
He climbed in darkness. Beyond the waterfall and pools of Maiden’s Keep, there was a bright set of moons, but here it was all shadows and mystery. He slipped across a veranda that led to Sophia’s private chambers because he recalled how she spied on people from her secret windows. Maiden’s Keep was ninety-five percent natural rock formation. He would take advantage of every feature and try to survive long enough to steal one of Major Eagle’s FSPAA suits. After that, the sky was the limit.
Laughing, he searched the place for food. An hour later, he was full of canned fruit and pickles. The larder was stocked well enough for a single man to survive a lengthy siege, not that he could afford to stay long. He needed weapons, and to get weapons, he needed allies.
And rest.
Wishing he had a better choice, he situated himself near Sophia’s windows, opened another can of preserves, and ate himself to sleep. He was almost ready to close his eyes when he saw something moving up the primary trail to Maiden’s Keep.
It looked like Droon, and at first, Kin reacted with mixed feelings for the killer that had dogged his every move for so long. Then he realized the proportions were wrong. It was bigger than Droon or the largest of the Reaper King’s recent followers. Kin wondered at the clarity of his vision in the darkness, then understood that the strange Reaper carried an illumination under his skin that fringed his Reaper spots and gave his eyes an unnatural luminescence. A healthy Reaper had orange or red eyes, too bright for humans, but not like this.
Other than the obvious similarities, there was only one type of creature that this new thing resembled, not in shape, but in raw energy. Slomn.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Proposal
ONCE upon a time, Kin had chased Droon through Gold Village and Maiden’s Keep. His companions, Bear the mountain man and Rickson the shepherd, had helped him liberate the Keep from three AWOL troopers. Two had died, one had been wounded and taken away in restraints. Kin had taken their weapons but not the armor. He hadn’t possessed their personal access codes and the FSPAA units were too heavy to pack on horses.
On the positive side, the creature had slowed Eagle’s troopers. On the negative side, Kin had to leave Maiden’s Keep sooner or later, and the idea of facing the thing gave him chills.
He located nearly enough parts to build a simple rifle from the ground up. Close but no go. The three suits of FSPAA gear were nowhere to be found.
Of course they would be gone. Why would anything be easy?
He stopped near the highest opening in the Keep. Death cried through the night and he recognized the words. Droon.
Not the ally I was hoping for. Rebecca and her Shock Troopers, yes. A company of Dax’s winged warriors, sure, great — not as good as Mech warriors, but better than eighty percent of a rifle without ammunition. At this point, he would be glad to see Rickson and Ogre. It would be a nice diversion if nothing else.
Droon called for whatever Reapers called for in the night. Something terrible answered him and caused him to hide in silence. Kin studied the terrain from a natural opening in Maiden’s Keep and saw it had rained while he slept.
A squad of Eagle’s men approached the front gate.
Four troopers, one of them with a heavy machine gun and an external frame to support it. Kin smiled. He liked where that trooper’s head was at. One was Major Eagle, by the rank insignia.
Kin called out, “Where is the rest of your platoon?”
“I command a brigade, Roland.” Eagle’s amplified voice carried through the Crashdown air better than Kin’s unassisted words.
“I only saw a platoon following me. What happened? You get lost?”
Eagle laughed. “You only saw a platoon because that was all I wanted you to see.”
Kin grimaced. He couldn’t imagine an entire brigade moving in near perfect stealth through a dangerous landscape they had not previously reconnoitered. “That’s impressive if it isn’t bullshit.”
“Thanks. I will let my men know. Most of them lie awake at night hoping for the praise of the Traitor of Hellsbreach.”
“Why did you let Captain Trak kick your ass back there? I bet you didn’t see that coming.”
“The Mazz are not known for their honor. They are, however, reputed to be a difficult adversary to pin down.” He moved closer to the gate as his three guards spread out to protect his flank and path of retreat. “Come outside; I want to parley.”
“Not a chance.”
“We have Lieutenant Rebecca Lacroix and her ‘brigade’ in custody,” Eagle said. He looked down the mountainside and seemed to consult something on his FSPAA heads-up display. “I am on a tight schedule. Your little disappearing act was not appreciated by Earth Fleet High Command.”
“Well, you know how I love to please High Command.”
Eagle laughed.
“Can I talk to Rebecca?”
Eagle lowered his helmet assembly and gave him an annoyed look. “Really, Roland?”
“What about Laura and her people?”
“Safe.”
“I bet. If you tell me you have Rickson and his dog, I will call you a liar.”
Eagle shook his head. “I would like to recruit that young man. He moves like a natural-born reconnaissance trooper.”
“He does. If you do anything to him, I’ll have your ass.”
“I didn’t come here to bully kids and shoot dogs. The stakes are higher than you can imagine and all this running around is not helping. How did you get free of the Mazz Imperials?”
“The same way I am going to get free of you.”
Eagle gave a series of commands that Kin couldn’t hear, then looked up. “Is that Sophia’s place? She seems like a nice old lady. Drew me a map. I can have teams securing every room in that maze in less than an hour. They will work their way up to your position, at which time I suggest you surrender without a fight. The FSPAA units stashed in the bathing pool can’t be functioning at full capacity, and even if they do, mine are better.”
Under water, of course. Kin clenched his fists. He knew he couldn’t fight Eagle’s troopers, but he could have jumped from heights; impossible without the impact reduction systems in the armor. In his experience, that made running down a mountainside a hell of a lot easier.
“I have a proposal,” Kin said.
“I am listening. Don’t worry about my commandos sneaking through the hallways below you. I wouldn’t do something so sneaky and obvious at the same time.”
“Thanks for being a jerk,” Kin said.
“Just like old times. You know I was on Hellsbreach,” Major Eagle said.
“You weren’t in the first wave, but I saw you there during the campaign. I will give you that.”
Eagle stared at him for a long time. “I am sorry, Kin.”
“You and me both.”
“What is your proposal?”
“I will surrender myself at a predetermined time and location, so long as you provide proof that Rebecca, Laura, the people of Crater Town, and Rickson and Ogre haven’t been harmed,” Kin said.
“I am ready to do that now,” Eagle said. He made several hand signals to unseen troopers in the trees.
“And I want a full suit of FSPAA gear to wear until the meeting. It won’t do you any good if I get killed tying up a few loose ends before the meeting,” Kin said.
“It might.”
“I don’t remember you having this aggressive sense of humor, Bravo,” Kin said.
Eagle laughed. “Now that is funny. I can’t believe anyone remembers that name. Man, we were young the last time I was called Bravo.”
Kin smiled, thinking of the gunnery sergeant who had invented the nickname. Mike Eagle had been called Bravo until he was appointed to officer candidate school and started climbing the ranks.
“Why did you stop at major?”
“Why does anyone stop getting promoted?” Eagle asked without hesitation.
Kin laughed. “You pissed some people off.”
“I did,” Eagle said. “But I made myself valuable to others. That is why my troopers wear the FSPAA-IIA models that make your old unit look like plate mail from ancient Earth. You might have a hard time putting it on and learning to use it. Try not to hurt yourself.”
“What is the access code?” Kin asked.
“Hmm. Let’s make it something easy for you to remember. How is this: I owe Bravo Mike my life.”
“You are a regular laugh-riot today.”
“I could storm this place and kill you.”
“You could, but you need me to die a bit closer to the Reaper home world.”
Eagle’s face turned red. “I will tell you one time never to talk about things like that out loud.”
Kin squashed the bloom of fear; his fondness for the major dropped several notches. Threats from officers pissed him off, ruining the intended effect. He waited until the promised FSPAA-IIA unit had been placed in the first room of Maiden’s Keep, then made Eagle promise that his troopers had pulled back. Satisfied with the arrangement, Kin slipped out the back sans the bait armor.
Two of Eagle’s troopers stood from concealing piles of Crashdown vegetation, pursuing him without hesitation. Kin led them in circles, using the strength of their mechanized armor against itself. He knew where the men would ov
er extend and understood what kind of terrain would cause them to sprint forward to capture him. He guessed where other units would be positioned and led the growing group of pursuers through their own lines.
When confusion reigned and he could practically hear Eagle cursing them through their communication links, he doubled back and stole the promised armor from under Eagle’s nose. Dragging the heavy outfit wasn’t easy. Slipping into it with only a few meters and fewer shadows between him and the reconnaissance troopers was nerve racking. He laughed once the helmet was on. It was like getting drunk on alien liquor.
Once he activated the helmet, he heard — to his immense satisfaction — the calm, cool, and collected Major Mike Eagle degenerating into rank unprofessionalism.
“You worthless sons-a-bitches! That was the most humiliating thing in five fucking star systems. You will, as of right now, cease referring to yourselves as the best of the best. Now form up and move. My computer shows that Kin has taken the cookie and is moving away from us faster than any of you ass-holsters can travel.”
“I didn’t think you used swear words, Bravo,” Kin said into the comm system.
“Fuck you, Kin. I will shut down that rig and trap you like a wounded animal.”
Kin scanned the FSPAA-IIA menus looking for a counter command, which didn’t exist. He learned, however, that the override command required close proximity, almost touching, by the standards of a modern battlefield.
“Thanks for the unit, Bravo. I will honor the agreement and contact you at Stone Forest. Don’t count on my surrender unless you make me an offer I can’t refuse.”
“That, my former friend, is a guarantee.”
“We were friends?” Kin asked.
“Don’t push your luck. I have some real runners in my brigade.”
Kin raced down a trail and away from Maiden’s Keep faster than he had ever moved. Eagle’s troopers came after him, but they had never fled from Reapers as Kin had. And they had never been as good to start with. The FSPAA-IIA was forgiving of mistakes and adapted to his style of movement. If he had ever loved a machine, this was the one.