by John Ringo
"Not if we catch him in the act," Rachel said, frowning.
"How do we do that?" the skipper asked.
"We can't if we don't all act normal," Rachel replied. "It's gonna have to be a surprise . . ."
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The squeal of a delphino scout was all the warning that they had and then the orcas were on them, coming up from behind where there wasn't a dragon guard.
The group had nearly reached Hope Harbor. It was late afternoon and the formation had started to get ragged. Herzer had had to, more than once, shove one of the mer-warriors back into the hemisphere as their excitement and nervousness got the best of them. Everyone was worried because they had expected the carrier to beat them to the harbor, but so far there was no sign of it or the mer-women and children that it carried. The mer tended to stick their heads up out of the water, hoping for a glimpse of the elusive ship.
So it was in a gaggle more than a disciplined formation that they were hit by the orcas exploding off the bottom.
Their black bodies had blended into the shadows of the reef and they had apparently created a sonar image that hid them from the oncoming delphinos. Furthermore, they seemed to care nothing for the ring of spears, slashing through them to get to the interior.
Herzer was ripped from his seat as Chauncey turned hard right to attack into the formation. As the two wyverns slashed into the group it exploded outward with a swirl of orcas, mer-women and confused spear-wielders.
Herzer dove deep and came up from below the formation, slashing his sword through the belly of an orca that had just caught one of the mer. The cut was too late, though; the orca's jaws crushed the mer-girl before he even realized his guts were trailing in the water.
"Form a globe around them," Edmund yelled, "women to the outside."
But as fast as the mer tried to regroup, the orcas were faster. Their powerful flukes smashed any attempt at formation and after their first attack on the women and older men they turned on the broken formation of spear-wielders and attacked them.
Herzer saw Pete caught that way, one of the orca catching him by his tail and tossing him up and out of the water like a play toy. Jason was fighting a desperate action against another, jabbing with his sword to keep the orca at bay.
It was the dragons, and Bast, that saved the day.
Herzer thought that the orcas were fast until he saw Bast. Her fins blurred like the tail of a tuna as she cut through the water like a shark. Her saber wasn't well suited for killing the big whales, but where she went orcas were left bleeding with huge gashes in their side, back, stomach, guts hanging out and fins cut away so they had to swim lopsidededly.
Donal had a nasty bite in his side but he still drove through the pod of orcas like a killing machine, tearing huge chunks out of their sides, catching fins and flukes and ripping them off to stain the water with crimson.
Chauncey was more methodical. He had caught one of the orcas with both claws and tore at it as it struggled. He didn't let go until the orca went limp and floated up to the surface, dead or so injured that it could struggle no more.
Joanna was more like Donal, her snakelike head darting through the formation and slashing at any orca that was stupid enough to get in range. One managed to get its teeth in her tail only to find out how well sprung it was; the two-ton orca was spun through the water, raising a wave on the surface for a moment, until he was brought in range of those killer teeth and when they closed the orca fought no more.
As fast as the attack started it was over and the water was filled with dead and dying orcas and mer.
"Oh, God," Jason said, looking around.
Bill and three of the other mer-warriors were clearly dead, horrible jaw marks on their chests and abdomens, their entrails drifting in the current. Pete was floating at the surface, his tail bitten half-way through. Herzer wasn't sure that he'd live, even if Daneh had been there. Several of the mer-women were dead as well and others were badly injured.
"Get to land," Edmund said. "Get them up in the shallows. The ones that are whole all the way out of the water. We'll . . . see what we can do for the rest."
"Grace is all we can give most," Bast said, wiping her sword on the flank of one of the still-twitching orcas.
"We'll see," Edmund replied.
Herzer floated up to one of the injured mer-warriors and grabbed him by the wrist, towing him towards shore. Everyone was dragged shoreward, the injured and the dead. None would be left for the sharks, as the bodies of the orcas were being left.
The sharks and the dragons. Chauncey grabbed the tail of the one he had killed and dragged it along as Donal grabbed another. Joanna got two.
"You're not going to eat them, too, are you?" Jason asked.
"Why not?" Joanna replied. "They'd eat me if they got a chance."
"They didn't eat any of us," Herzer replied. "We're all here."
"Are we?" Edmund said. "That's a damned good question. Jason?"
"Anyone notice anyone not here?" Jason said. "I never bothered to really get a list." He looked around and blanched white. "Antja?"
"Elayna," Bast hissed. "Where's Elayna?"
By the time they reached the shore it was clear that the two mer-girls were missing.
"Where could they have gone?" Herzer asked. "They would have come out if they hid in the reef."
"That was why they went for the women, first," Edmund said. "I thought it was a brilliant tactic. But I bet that they made off with them while we were still fighting, come and gone before anyone noticed."
"Herman," Herzer said, ducking under the water. "Did you see Antja or Elayna taken?"
"No," the delphino responded. "Too fast. None of ours injured."
"They ignored the delphinos," Edmund said, shaking his head. "They went for the girls and ignored the delphinos."
"Why?" Jason shouted. "Why them?"
"Tender mer-girl snacks?" Joanna asked, craning her head up to look around. "I can find them."
"Me too," Herzer said, climbing on Chauncey who had just started to rip into his lunch. The wyvern snarled at being kept from his meal but turned to look at Joanna.
"I'm coming," Bast said, climbing on Joanna. "At least seven whales. Two dragons; Donal's too hurt to fly. We'll do."
"Herzer?" Jason said, looking up at him.
"You take care of your people," Herzer ground out. "Time for this to end."
"Oh, we'll end it," Joanna replied. "They're not getting away from me this time."
* * *
The marine sentry at the skipper's door shook his head as the telltale on the box next to him sprung up.
He didn't bother to turn, simply knocked quietly on the door behind him.
"Yes," the skipper said, sticking his head out.
The sentry pointed at the telltale and motioned to the door of the general's quarters. The marine there was looking at them with a raised eyebrow.
The skipper nodded and walked swiftly and silently down the corridor as a group of marines in armor exited Talbot's quarters. Moving the marines around without, it was hoped, anyone noticing had been difficult. But with any chance it was about to pay off.
Daneh and Rachel trailed the group. They knew their place and in the front of battle, if it came to battle, was not it.
The skipper started to open the door to the wardroom and then stepped back, letting the marine corporal in charge of the group enter first.
The corporal drew his sword silently and then threw open the door, entering the wardroom and moving to the side to let the rest of the marines in.
Commander Mbeki was at the far end of the room, looking up at a projection of a tall, fair man with black hair. The projection turned to look at the group and snarled, tossing up his hand and throwing a red bolt of power at the skipper in the doorway.
The bolt, however, stopped in midair and faded as the datacube protecting the ship was activated.
"Well," the projection said, turning to look at Mbeki. "It would seem that your ut
ility is at an end." He reached out and his hand entered the commander's chest.
The skipper bellowed in anger, rushing forward and throwing the commander to the ground as the marine threw himself on the projection. But it was nothing but a hologram that faded with a mocking laugh.
Commander Mbeki was already turning blue at whatever the projection had done to him. He grabbed the skipper's arm and shook his head.
"Why?" Chang ground out. "You were my friend."
"Wife," Mbeki said. "Sharon. Ropasa. Bastards . . ." His eyes widened in pain and then his head rolled back.
"I'd guess that the projection crushed his aorta," Daneh said, clinically. "Blue tongue and fingertips. Maybe introduced cyanide but why do that when you can just give him a heart attack."
"He'd always wondered what happened to Sharon, after the Fall," Chang said, lowering the body of the XO to the deck. "She was in Italia visiting the museums when the Fall hit. He'd hoped . . . Damn them."
"Yes," Daneh said, thinking her own thoughts, of her own memories. And nightmares. "Damn them all to hell."
"What now?" Rachel asked.
"Find the mer," Chang said. "Keep fighting. Until New Destiny is destroyed or we are."
* * *
Antja had discovered that punching was useless against the orca and that the grip of his pectoral fins was impossible to break. So she had spent the entire wild ride alternately fuming and terrified.
Shanol and one of the other orca males had left the fight almost immediately. Antja couldn't believe that they had attacked the group just to steal two mer-girls, but it was starting to look as if that was exactly what had happened.
"Okay, I give up," Elayna said. "Why are we here?"
"I don't answer existential questions," Shanol said with a ping of mocking laughter.
"Okay, to be more precise, why have you kidnapped us?" Antja snarled.
"I didn't think we could win," Shanol answered, truthfully. "So I had to ask myself, what was the worst thing I could do to Herzer and Jason, who are the two people I've come to hate the most in this world."
"And kidnapping us is the answer?" Antja asked.
"Oh, it's more complex than that," the orca said. "You're Jason's girlfriend and Elayna is Herzer's."
"I'm not Herzer's girlfriend you freak," Elayna shot back. "I'm his girl in the local port. Bast is his girlfriend. And when she's done with you, there won't be big enough pieces to interest the sharks!"
"I thought at first of just eating you," the orca continued, "and sending back your heads. Or maybe the tail; there's good eating in brains."
"You are sick," Elayna said with a quaver in her voice.
"But then I thought, 'is there anything better?' " Shanol continued, ignoring her. "And I'd heard that there were some interesting crosses happening with Changed on land."
"You've got to be joking," Antja said, deadly serious.
"Why? I have to wonder, what do you get when you cross an orca with a mer?" the orca said, slowing. "And I think we've come far enough to find out."
"An intelligent orca?" Antja said, slapping at him with her tail. "A mer with no morals? I don't think so. Let me go!"
"You know this is how orcas and dolphins mate," Shanol said, pinging her with laughter again. "And the difference between consensual mating and rape is hard to tell with us. Me for you and Shedol for Elayna."
Antja flailed against him with her tail and writhed in his grip, but she could feel his member sliding out of its protective slit even as she did so. Most cetacean males were designed for nonconsensual sex, and she was discovering just how well designed.
Elayna was flailing in the grip of her own captor and Antja had just about given up from exhaustion when the water above the orca exploded.
* * *
"Never ride a dragon bareback," Herzer groaned as Chauncey finally made it into the air. Staying on one with saddle and grip straps was hard when it took off on level ground. As for staying on bareback, the only reason he'd retained his grip on the strip around Chauncey's neck was his prosthetic. He was bruised across half his body. And he didn't even want to think about how his balls were feeling.
"Quit to complain," Bast said. "Look around."
"There's a pod of five headed out to sea," Joanna said. "Ones from fight; lots of blood trail. Sharks on their tail, too."
"I don't think that whoever took them stayed around to fight," Herzer said, sitting up slightly and regretting it immediately; without the straps his seat on the dragon was not stable and it was a long way to fall. Not to mention the . . . discomfort. "Bast, I may not be too good for you for a couple of days."
"Bast has remarkable curative powers," she laughed. "There, to the south. Two spouts!"
"Orcas," Joanna said, zooming her eyes. "Which group do we follow?"
"South," Herzer and Bast said together.
"Shanol?" Herzer asked.
"Elayna and Antja," Bast replied. "It is good that we did not bring Rachel."
"Yeah," Herzer growled, kicking Chauncey in the back. "Go!"
The dragons drove their wings as hard as they could and quickly overtook the orcas, who had slowed. They seemed to be struggling with the two mer-women.
"Is that what it looks like?" Joanna said, circling the pair. "Because if it's not, it's something very strange."
"Yes," Herzer shouted, pulling at the throat-piece of the wyvern and pushing him over into a stoop.
Chauncey had watched Joanna and he threw his wings back in a v, aiming at the right orca with minor corrections of his wingtips.
The stoop had started from over a hundred meters up and Herzer realized that he had just done a very stupid thing. Water, as he had learned as a lad jumping off a cliff on a dare, gets very hard when you hit it at high speed.
"Oh, shit!" he yelled, jumping off the dragon and pointing his feet at the onrushing ocean. As the water came up he pulled his arms into his head, pointed his feet, pinched his nose and mentally kissed his ass goodbye.
* * *
Antja was slammed downward by the orca and wondered what he had done to manage that. But at the same time, he let go his grip and his member retracted so she was thankful for small favors. She wriggled out from between the pectorals and headed in towards shore. There was always a reef somewhere around here, and once she got into one of the crevices he could be buggered for all she was coming out.
But she stopped and turned back, remembering Elayna. The younger mer-girl, however, was right behind her. And behind Elayna was a battle royale.
Chauncey had gripped Shedol on the back and was now tearing at the orca for all he was worth, with Bast sliding in and out, her sword flickering like lightning.
Shanol, bleeding from a dozen wounds, had somehow managed to escape from Joanna and was heading for the depths, with the dragon in hot pursuit. Herzer was holding onto Joanna's tail and working his way up her back, hand over hand.
"Herzer, where do you think you're going?" Antja said, as loudly as the bone in her forehead would let her.
"Down," the boy replied, getting a grip on one of Joanna's spineridges. In a moment they were both lost in the gloom.
* * *
Shanol could hear the dragon behind him. He should have been faster in the water than the damned lizard but despite everything it was gaining on him.
"Shanol . . ." he heard Herzer calling behind him. "She followed the kraken into the depths and killed it. You can't run. And she can fly above you, so you can't hide either. Just give up." The voice was eerie, distorted by the depth. Suddenly a cry rang out behind him and he shuddered. It wasn't the hunting cry of an orca but something weirder, bass and deadly. He realized it was the dragon. He didn't know it could do that.
What else didn't he know about them?
Desperately he dove deeper.
* * *
"Joanna," Herzer croaked. "I can't breathe."
There was a rumble under him and he realized that despite the underwater roar she had let out, the dragon couldn'
t exactly talk.
"I think it's the mask," Herzer said. His vision was going funny. On the other hand, it was getting darker as they went deeper, so maybe it was just that. But the purple spots weren't part of the light change from the depth, he was pretty sure.
"You may be able to do this, but I don't think I can," he muttered. But for some reason he kept his grip on the dragon's spine. The ridges flattened out along the back and he could only make it as far as the rear legs. That was going to have to be good enough. But he was getting very tired. And it was getting really cold.
The mask wasn't giving him air. He didn't know why and he wasn't sure that even if he let go he could make it to the surface anymore. He realized that he'd just killed himself, but that seemed a small price to pay if he could watch Shanol's end. He'd always realized there was a bone-deep vengeful streak in him, but he'd never realized it was going to kill him.
Oxygen, that was it. Too much oxygen was deadly. The mask was trying to keep from killing him by giving him too much oxygen. But there weren't enough other gases in the area for it to mix something else in. At that point, his limited knowledge failed. And he really didn't care anymore. He could see the orca ahead of him and just as he was sure he was going to pass out, it turned towards the surface. Probably as desperate for air as he was; it hadn't breached since before the last fight. Then Herzer saw the bottom of the ocean flash by. He had no idea what the depth was around here, but he was pretty sure this mask was not rated for it.
Joanna, on the other hand, seemed to have a limitless lung capacity. She held onto the trail of the orca, her sinuous glide getting her nearer and nearer with each passing second.
Shanol didn't seem to care anymore. He was just trying to make it to the surface.
As they got into shallower water, the light going from deep, dark blue to a lighter translucence, the mask started to feed Herzer air again and he sucked it in as fast as he could get it. Joanna's side-to-side motion was particularly bad by her rear legs, so he started working his way up her back, getting minor purchase in her immense scales. His prosthetic was particularly useful and he was afraid he was pinching her, but he wasn't going to be riding at the back the whole time.
