Tei’Laran closed his eyes to use the Harmonies. Tei’Shima did that sometimes too, but didn’t need to. She let him answer Kazim, but she knew what he’d say before he did.
“On their way here. Fast. Very fast,” Tei’Laran said and drew his beamers. “Get ready!”
Their warriors obeyed and readied their weapons, but Tei’Shima left hers in their holsters. She could feel Eric running with Gina by his side. That image came to her very strongly within the Harmonies. It was somehow right. They fit the way Kate and Stone fit, or the way she and... well, the way she and Kazim did.
“There’s time yet,” she said. “But they did draw the Merki’s attention.”
Tei’Laran chuffed. “They definitely did that, but I fear the Titans will not be here in time.”
The vipers were running as fast as they could to keep out of range of the Merkiaari grav sleds. The machines did use anti-grav but they couldn’t fly. A lucky thing as it allowed Eric’s people to dodge and use the terrain to avoid incoming fire. Even so, the Merki must be trying to kill them. The Harmonies couldn’t reveal the battle itself, or the grav sleds, but it could give Tei’Shima a sense of those involved. The sharp-edged insane mind glows of the Merkiaari were obvious when contrasted with the beauty of Eric’s people. Humans were made of energetic bright colours in the Harmonies. The Merkiaari horde vastly outnumbered them.
The vipers arrived in a sprint. They reformed their formation from a widely spaced one to avoid fire, into a compact column to take places in the trenches. Eric and Gina joined Shima and ordered the rest of the vipers to partner with Shan warriors.
“The Titans?” Eric said, looking over the edge of the trench at his back trail.
“No word yet,” Tei’Shima said.
“I fear they’re not coming,” Tei’Laran said. “We should withdraw.”
“Too late,” Gina said.
The Merkiaari grav sleds stopped within firing range of the Marines. The first line of defence. They jostled and parked with finicky precision as if on parade, something else Tei’Shima had never seen them do before. Even if the Marines had been properly armed, the Merki would be out of rifle range. They’d need artillery to hit them. That’s why they needed the Titans.
The grav sleds fired to keep Marine heads down, and it worked perfectly. They were using Human and Shan tactics against them. The bombardment continued while Merkiaari ground troops formed up between the sleds. At some signal from their hidden commanders, they charged and rolled over the Marines as if they weren’t there. Powered armour strained as the Marines were forced into a hand to hand fight with creatures designed purely for war.
Stein’s Marines tried to hold on, desperately hoping for aid, but the Titans didn’t come. Tei’Shima felt the deaths in the Harmonies like physical blows, but there was nothing she could do. She searched for the Titans and found them still out of range even for a rocket barrage. Such a thing would kill their own in any case. Colonel Jubb would never risk it. The Merkiaari had delayed him too long.
Gina started to climb out of the trench.
“Freeze!” Eric snarled.
“I can’t,” Gina whispered in horror. “I can’t abandon them. Not again. Stein was right.”
“I said freeze dammit!” Eric yanked Gina roughly back. She fell into the bottom of the trench.
“I can’t,” Gina whispered, her eyes wide in horror. “I can’t do this. I can’t live like this. I won’t.”
Eric shoved his face into Gina’s. “You will hold this position! That’s an order! I’ll go.” Eric shoved himself over the top and into hell. “Cragg, on me.”
Cragg turned and stared white-faced into Kazim’s camera lens. “I was Martin Cragg of Alizon. Remember me.”
“Cragg!” Eric barked as he sprinted toward the embattled Marines.
“On my way!” Cragg yelled and bounced out of the trench as if his legs had turned to springs. He sped away in a blur of speed.
Tei’Shima saw it all. Cragg took a hit from something. His right shoulder disappeared in a spray of red mist. He was going so fast that his legs kept propelling him into battle, but he wasn’t there. He collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Eric slammed into the Merkiaari and went through them like a buzz saw. He managed to kill enough of the troopers for the Marines to rally briefly, but the Merkiaari’s recoil didn’t last. They surged and rolled back over them.
Tei’Shima saw it all through blurring eyes. Eric appeared briefly carrying a huge Merkiaari gauss cannon. He swept it over the enemy hordes killing many, but he finally disappeared beneath the stampede. Seeing him fight caused more vipers to bounce out of the trenches and pile into the battle. The movement became general as all sense of command was lost with Eric’s fall. Gina didn’t take command, and no one else held them back.
Tei’Shima tried to stop them using her comm, but the vipers were moving inhumanly fast. They were faster than the best Shan sprinters when like this. Vipers communicated at computer speeds over their TacNet. She’d seen them in melee mode before.
Gina dragged herself up the wall of the trench. “I can’t leave them. Not again.”
Tei’Shima clutched at Gina’s arm, desperately trying to hold her back. “Don’t… don’t… don’t,” she chanted. “Please don’t go. You’ll die.”
Gina gently pried Tei’Shima’s fingers free. “Goodbye.”
“No!”
Gina sprinted to join Eric, and disappeared into the maelstrom of a losing battle.
Tei’Shima stared around, ears flat and wide-eyed at what she had left. Only Shan faces stared back at her; all were calm and ready for orders. Tei’Laran flicked his ears at her, and checked his beamers calmly. He was ready to fight or run. Her choice. The Harmonies rushed in to enfold her as her mind expanded to embrace her people. They were all hers. Her people. Her warriors. They would follow where she led. Even into death. She was Tei. Honour demanded it.
Tei’Shima turned to Kazim. “Don’t die.”
He flicked his ears behind his camera, but his hands were shaking. His eyes were white-rimmed on the verge of panic. He was witnessing the end of everything and he knew it.
“Stay here, Kazim. Live for me. For all of us. Show our people what it means to be warrior caste.”
Tei’Shima climbed out of the trench and stood tall. She dared the Merkiaari to kill her, but they were too busy just then to notice. Her warriors climbed out of the trenches to join her, and she gathered them all in her thoughts. They burned brightly in the Harmonies, full of courage and love for her. The hero they’d vowed to follow even into death.
The Blind Hunter charged into battle, and her people charged to meet their ancestors by her side.
* * *
45 ~ Epilogue
Southaven Province, Pandora
The snow fell gently to hide the slaughter. Not a breath of wind disturbed the peace of the dead. The blackened craters were turning white again, and the red ice had finally succumbed. So much blood spilled. It seemed impossible to hide it all.
A Titan in the distance patrolled the tree line. It turned a searchlight on to spear the night and fired its PPC at something in the forest. A tree crashed to the ground and another took light, its resinous sap eagerly fuelling its own pyre. The searchlight wandered back and forth for a few moments before going dark. Silence returned as the pilot continued his patrol.
Tei’Shima sat quietly crying in the dark, watching the snowflakes add their weight to hide the horrors of war. Her tears sparkled blue in the light of the stasis cabinets all around her. In the Harmonies hundreds of kah on the battlefield stared at the ground where they’d died. They didn’t care that their corpses were no longer there.
Tei’Shima had never seen so many kah in one place. The battlefield was thick with them. Some hovered above craters as if standing upon ghostly ground. Some had already joined their ancestors, while others fought their dissolution as hard as they’d fought for anything in life. Merkiaari or Human or Shan. None w
ould win this fight.
She felt Kazim approaching but didn’t greet him. He knelt awkwardly and hugged her from behind. He laid his head on her shoulder and snuffled the fur of her face. It was comfort he offered, but it made her heart ache worse for those who would never feel another’s touch again.
Tei’Laran’s kah watched her and Kazim for a long moment. He raised a hand in farewell, and then faded away to join his ancestors. Tei’Shima’s tears fell harder. He’d been a mentor to her. He’d asked her for nothing and given her everything.
“Don’t cry,” Kazim whispered. “Please don’t give up on us.”
Us, she thought.
Tei’Shima heard the double meaning in his words. “I want to live. I want all our friends to live.”
“We all want that.”
Tei’Shima surveyed the rows of stasis cabinets. So many friends would never wake to greet her again. “I want lots of cubs. I never want to be alone. I’ll teach them about Tahar and how to hunt, and you’ll teach them how to be kind to people.”
Kazim added his tears to hers. They splashed onto one of the cabinets and mingled there. Tei’Shima looked down into the blue magic of the stasis field at Eric’s remains. There wasn’t much left. How could anyone come back sane from that?
She wiped her tears away to see Eric’s face better. “You’ll show our cubs how to be brave like him. You’ll show our cubs there were once good aliens like Gina.”
“Of course I will,” Kazim soothed. “We’ll do it together.”
“I never understood why your work is important, but I do now. After this. You must show everyone what happened here. If I die… if I can’t do it, you have to show them for me.”
“Hush. You know heroes never die.”
“Promise me!”
“I promise, but I won’t let you die. I love you.”
Tei’Shima flicked her ears. She felt the truth of it in the Harmonies, but she’d known for a while. Since Snakeholme she’d known they should mate. The Harmonies were clearly in favour, but neither of them had done anything about it. It was time they did.
Tei’Shima and Kazim consummated their love in the cold blue glow of the stasis chambers, under the gaze of dead heroes.
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46 ~ Countermeasures (Book 6)
Silver Bay, Duchy of Longthorpe, Faragut
Major Eleanor Hutton made her way back to base through the ruined town of Silver Bay using the broken buildings for cover. She left her body, such as it was, to its job and reviewed her latest skirmish in her mind.
The Merkiaari weren’t playing it straight. They weren’t cleansing Faragut in the accepted sense, and were being very un-Merki-like in their targeting. There was a very old saying dating back to pre-colonial days that applied. The Merki were bombing them back to the stone age. Their air-strikes were pinpoint accurate, and collateral damage was low. A side-effect the Merkiaari didn’t give a fig about she was sure. They were more interested in taking out infrastructure.
The ground battles she’d taken part in had all been follow up. Most had been targeted upon places where the air-strikes had been least effective. The attack on the castle had been the first of many like it. The Merkiaari had simply wanted to finish the job, but how had they known Silver Bay was so important to Faragut? They couldn’t have known the king was in residence surely?
Ellie paused opposite the entrance to the service tunnels running under the town, but she didn’t approach. She stayed on the far side of the street. There were sentries hiding from observation just inside and they’d noticed her approach. They gave her the signal to wait.
She ran a sensor sweep, but it came back negative. Her sensors were faster and better than their handheld or helmet rigs. No hostiles were in range. She waited for them to come to the same conclusion or they might shoot her. She had enough holes in her already.
The sentries finally signalled and Ellie dashed into the tunnel. They had to press their backs to the walls to give her room to enter. Both men saluted. They shouldn’t have bothered. She wasn’t wearing uniform, but she appreciated the thought. Ellie towered over them. She couldn’t help being intimidating, but they offered respect not fear and she appreciated that. She removed her helmet and returned their salutes.
Ellie tried not to notice the awe writ on their faces. She supposed it was better than the fear people had worn that first day. Her battle at the castle had cured them of that at least.
“You’re leaking again, Major.”
Ellie prodded at the holes in her armour. Blood mixed with coolant leaked out of her leaving runnels. The wounds didn’t hurt; nothing did anymore, but she looked a mess. Her nanocoat still worked but much of it was missing. Dents and holes marred the once glossy black surfaces of her armour. She looked like crap, or scrap she thought with a purely internal chuckle.
“I’m back for maintenance. I feel like crap.”
The guards nodded. “Begging your pardon, Major, but you look like it too.”
The other guard thumped his mate’s chest with the back of one hand.
Ellie grinned down at them. “You should see the other guy. Oh, wait, you can’t. He’s paste.”
They laughed.
“I’m off to the shop. The Doc will fix me up like new. See you later.”
Ellie strode away, her heavy footfalls thudding on the plascrete floor. One of the guards called out to her, but she didn’t stop.
“Grab a new paint job while you’re there! Bottle green suits you better!”
Royal guards wore bottle green tunics.
Ellie laughed and raised a hand. The arm servos whined and something inside made a horrible clicking sound. It rose in fits and starts. She really did need the shop for a tune up this time. She lowered the arm wincing when something twanged inside, but its action smoothed out.
Well, good then.
She passed others on her way through the tunnels. They all braced to attention and saluted. She returned each but there were so many that her returns became vague waves by the time she reached Doc’s surgery. It wasn’t much of a surgery. It was just a machine room, part of the sub-basement of the collapsed tower in the town above.
Ellie entered the room and rounded the long silenced machines. Doc’s body was in bed as if asleep. His hands, so skilled in life were clasped neatly on top of the covers. They held a photograph. Ellie stared down at him trying to understand her emotions. Sad? Angry? Both she decided but there was more. She was jealous. He’d left her behind in this shit-hole. Left his monster to carry on without its creator.
She reached down and took the photograph. It was a picture of him with his family. He’d been a twin. His brother was a mirror image. She hadn’t known that about him. No reason she should. He’d never spoken of his family after that day when they’d made their bargain. She replaced the photo.
“You sonofabitch,” she snarled. “You fucker. You promised to fix me after the war. You promised to be here when I needed you.”
Ellie frowned as something splashed onto his face. She looked up at the ceiling and realised. Her eye was leaking. Her human eye. Crying? She was fucking crying! Didn’t that beat all? Crying over him like he was worth it. She ought to rip him apart for abandoning her like this! She turned away and saw his computer. Her name was blinking on the screen. She crossed to it and accessed the message. It was a simple suicide note and a list of filenames.
Major,
I thought I could stay. I was wrong. When I broke my oaths to build you I thought it a small thing compared with what I’d already lost. Being shunned by my colleagues proved how wrong I was to believe that.
I could give you reasons and excuses for what I’ve done, but instead I’ll bequeath my notes and everything I’ve learned about the hypocrites to you. Do what you will with it.
I’m
sorry.
Ellie read it twice. Hypocrites. His erstwhile colleagues who’d shunned him perhaps. She opened the files by double clicking the file names. Most were bios of convicts. Ellie felt a chill of unease as she read them. She quickly opened the remaining files. Some were bios of surgeons like Michaels had been, others were engineers and technicians.
The last link opened a video archive. The first video showed Doc building her. She sped through the surgeries and procedures used to create her, looking for something she didn’t know. She’d always known there was a documentary video detailing her augmentation. The king said he’d wanted one for evidence. Together with her signature on the dotted line it was meant to shield all involved from prosecution.
All BS of course. Ellie complied because Nicky’s brother wanted it, and she wanted to fight. It was her only option. She wouldn’t say only hope, because really, what woman would want to be turned into this monstrosity?
The other videos left her feeling empty. She watched convicts being mind-wiped by the doctors on Doc’s list of hypocrites. Convicts being programmed to become brave patriots and volunteering for special missions. Convicts agreeing to surgery for amputations and eye removals, well on their way to augmentation. Just like her.
Unlike her they weren’t volunteers. Zeeks had no will of their own. Their personalities were programmed into them, including a willingness to become reapers. It was a crime against humanity performed in Nicky’s brother’s name without his sanction.
On Faragut!
In the core of the Alliance, not on a Border World no one had ever heard of. Not somewhere at the arse end of nowhere but in the core! She groaned. She had to tell the king. William would be horrified. It was something the Merkiaari might do, not their people. Not her Nicky’s people. She hadn’t heard anything about this. Nothing at all. It couldn’t be happening here in Silver Bay. She’d have known.
Sir Harry was doing this? Who else could?
“That fucker,” she snarled.
No wonder Doc had killed himself. Sir Harry had used his work like a training manual to create abominations. Reapers like her. The doctors who’d shunned him had duplicated his work in secret. The hypocrites.
Incursion: Merkiaari Wars Book 5 Page 34
