Judgment of the Bold

by Jamie McFarlane

  Satisfied we were good to go, I directed the loading ramp to retract and grabbed Shimmering Leaves' frame, peering at the ground as it passed beneath. Sailing in a slow arc over the buildings, Roby and Nick pecked away at any Kroerak that emerged. I grew impatient. Our ship’s weapons were more than a match for a Kroerak warrior, even without the Iskstar crystal. The problem here was completely opposite; they were hunting mosquitos with sledge hammers. When they made contact, it was spectacular, but it was slow going.

  "On my six," I ordered and jumped from the ship at four hundred meters.

  "Cap!" Marny called after me. "Roby, Nick, cease fire, Cap's on the move."

  "Copy," Nick answered.

  "Waited longer than I thought you would," Tabby said, turning as she fell to look over at me. Popeyes weren't great at providing actual lift, but their arc-jets were designed to safely deliver an operator to the surface of heavy-atmosphere planets.

  "I have point," I said, calibrating my sensors on the Kroerak racing through the broken pieces of building. "We'll beachhead here. I'm expecting a decent wave on arrival." I drew a target around our entrance: an opening in the building 's roof.

  "Cap, there's likely a nest of them in there," Marny warned.

  "Wouldn't be a party, otherwise," I quipped. "Just keep 'em off your back. We had some problems with that on Picis when we'd get overrun. Otherwise, just spray the blue goo on anything that moves."

  The Popeye's AI forced my knees into a bend as Tabby, Marny and I landed hard on the floor of the warehouse. Kroerak warriors assailed us from every direction, including dropping on us from above.

  I'd started firing before touching down, my instincts so attuned to the movements of bugs that the fight didn't require my full attention. This turned out to be to our advantage as Marny landed hard and stumbled to the side, fighting to maintain balance. A Popeye is designed to protect the operator and catching yourself is harder than you might expect. If the Popeye senses a fall, especially in close quarters with enemies, its AI will harden suit ligatures and go into what we generally called armadillo mode.

  Before Marny's Popeye could roll into a useless ball of impenetrable nano-steel, I grabbed her shoulder with my free hand, steadying her. I pushed so she faced away from the dead-space Tabby and I were trying to create between us.

  "I'm good, Cap," Marny said, shrugging off my hand. I wasn't sure what the attitude was for, but it didn't matter. We were in the shite and we'd work on feel-goods later.

  At this point, the three of us really got to work and started firing into an intense wave of bugs.

  "They're not even trying that hard," I yelled over the sound of crashing metal. I’d swung my arm into a doorway, ostensibly to open our field of view.

  "Nick's gonna be pissed," Tabby said when a long section of the building collapsed outward, pulling a portion of the roof down with it.

  "That wasn't me," I said defensively.

  "No, look! That's an armored vehicle," Tabby said.

  "Cap, what's the call here?" Marny asked as we backed away from the battered vehicle that had driven through the side of the building.

  The armored vehicle ran on tracks, with two weapons mounted into a top turret. The heaviest weapon was roughly the size of a small ship-mounted blaster. In the hands of a skilled operator, the tank could give a Popeye a run for its money.

  A group of Kroerak burst through the newly opened corner of the building. Closer to the tank than to us, the swarm hesitated for a moment as if trying to decide which of us to attack first. Raising her weapon, Tabby prepared to take the bugs out.

  "Hold on," I said. "Let's see what they've got."

  The tank's turret rotated and blaster fire erupted from its main weapon. Receiving fire solidified the Kroerak's decision and they charged the vehicle. The first shot missed, but a follow-up round tagged one of the charging bugs. Not completely taken out, the wounded bug continued to rush forward. A third shot from the tank finished it just as the rest of the group fell onto the tank.

  "Put 'em down," I said, marking the tank as a yellow or a questionable target. By denoting the tank in this way, our Popeyes would avoid friendly fire.

  The three of us ran toward the tank, which was bouncing and jerking under the swarm. Having made it inside the range of the tank's main weapon, the bugs’ only obstacle now was the heavy armor. The occupants wouldn’t survive long against the Kroerak's hardened pincers.

  For fear of damaging the tank, I retracted my blaster weapon and pulled the multipurpose tool from where it was strapped against my lower leg. Flipping it over in my hand, I gripped the end that would allow me to use the heavier, hammer end as a bludgeoning tool.

  "Hold on, Cap," Marny said as I was about to leap into the fray. She'd seen what I'd missed: the meter-long heavy blaster barrel had been retracted into the turret. The small nub that was left rotated and at point-blank range, started clearing itself of bugs that, only moments ago, had a substantial advantage. With proximity no longer a problem, the tank cleared the bugs in short order.

  "Isn't that the tank we took from Goboble?" Tabby asked as we scanned the area, looking for more bugs.

  "Establish communications with occupants of the tank," I ordered my AI.

  As if in response, the turret weapon’s barrel extended and a hatch popped open. "Don't shoot!"

  Sweaty brown arms rose up through the hatch, followed by the balding head of none other than Roby's dad, who everyone simply called Bish.

  "Tabbs, patrol mode," I said. We’d learned a hard lesson on Picis. When standing in the field of battle, especially where enemy had just fallen, distractions could easily get you killed.

  "Yup," she answered.

  I punched the chest of my Popeye, causing the cavity to open and the face-mask of my heavily armored helmet to lever up. In this open mode, my hips and legs were still engaged with the suit, but I was able to freely use my torso and arms.

  "Roby, you copy?" I asked, making eye contact with Bish.

  "Go ahead, Captain," Roby answered.

  "Never guess who we found down here." I pinched the image of his father, grinning at me from where he sat inside the tank, and flicked it onto Roby's avatar on my HUD.

  "Dad!" Roby exclaimed. "I thought you were dead."

  When I didn't see any change in Bish's expression, it dawned on me that he must be without tech.

  "Looking good there, Bish," I said. I hadn't always loved being around Bish, but our differences were petty and I genuinely felt joy at seeing him alive.

  "Oh man, are you a sight for these sore old eyes," he drawled.

  "We saw York," I said. "Where'd you come from?"

  "My boy?" he asked, ignoring my question.

  "Overhead in a sloop," I said. "What's wrong with your comms?"

  "Can't be using comms with those bugs around," he said. "They're drawn in by it. Didn't anyone tell you that? And, what's with the blue eyes?"

  I raised my eyebrows. The Kroerak ability to hone in on communication signals was something we'd only recently learned. I was surprised to hear the information coming from Bish.

  "Where is everyone?"

  "Would you get your big butt out of the way?" a voice demanded from inside the tank. Bish looked down into the hole and smiled, shaking his head wryly as a much thinner Hog Hagarson squeezed up beside him.

  "Live and breathe, but your mom is going to be happy to see you, son," Hog said, his drawn face turning into a broad smile. For a moment I could see the bigger-than-life mayor of York, instead of the ghost-like man who stood in front of me.

  "Mom's alive?" I couldn't help the tear that rolled down my cheek. "How many more?"

  "Come and see for yourself," Hog said. "We're on the north side of the building."

  "Cap, need to cut the reunion short. We have incoming," Marny said.

  We spent the next two hours creating a buffer zone around Nick's building. It was a surprisingly different type of battle than we'd left on Picis. Instead of massive waves of K
roerak, we had to hunt for them in the dense scrub. More than once, I was beset by enterprising warriors that jumped out, tackling me from the side. In the end, we spread out a mesh of sensor disks to provide a warning.

  Once the area was relatively secure, Nick and Roby set down next to the warehouse. There had once been manufacturing materials stored there, but the area was now a chaotic mess of debris.

  "We'll keep one bird in the sky and one of the mechs rolling round the clock," Marny said, reassuming her role as security chief. "Nick and I will take first shift, unless you'd like to do something different."

  There was insecurity in her tone as she spoke. I wasn't exactly sure what to do about it, so I let it go for the moment. "Sounds solid, Marny. Two-hour patrols?" I asked.

  "Agreed," she said. "Now go find your family!"

  I didn't need further prodding. Tabby and I, still in our Popeyes, led Roby and Semper over to massive steel doors built on top of a granite incline that remained covered by the end of the building. At our approach, Bish and Hog exited the battered tank and gave a friendly wave.

  "Those suits of yours are fantastic," Bish said, exuberantly pulling me into a sweaty embrace. "I've never seen bugs so quickly destroyed as with those weapons of yours. Anything to do with your glowing eyes?"

  I chuckled. That was Bish; always right to the point. "Iskstar-tuned blaster crystals," I said. "Makes quick work of everything Kroerak."

  "Ships too? Is that why their ships left?" he asked.

  "Oh hell, Bish, give the man some room already," Hog said, pulling Tabby into a bear hug. "Isn't it enough that they came for us?"

  "Nothing's ever free," Bishop said, pulling his son, Roby, in for a hug. "My good night, son, but you're all muscles now. Haven't been missing many meals, have you?"

  "Hello, Mr. Bishop," Semper said, demurely. Her standard human speech was quite good and she'd lost the Felio habit of reversing word order.

  "Why hello, Semper," he answered, turning his attention to the Felio he'd previously made no attempt to hide his disapproval of. For Bish, it was a simple calculus. Since Roby and Semper were different species and could not have children together, he found no value in their union.

  "We're this way," Hog said, approaching the massive door that lay at a thirty-degree angle. With a large hammer sitting off to the side, he banged on the metal surface. The sound of chains moving through block and tackle were heard shortly after and slowly the door slid back.

  A wave of sour air exhausted from the entry and several pairs of eyes stared back at us. Seeing Mom, I jumped into the alcove and pulled her into my arms. I might have squeezed a little too tightly, as she coughed but didn't complain.

  "You made it," she whispered, holding me fiercely.

  "We did," I said, allowing my eyes to look through the grungy group of survivors who crowded in behind her. Like Hog, they were all too thin. Beneath my arms, I realized Mom felt emaciated. I pulled back and stared into her face. Her eyes were sunken and her cheeks hollow.

  "Your eyes," she said, touching my face at the temples.

  "Long story," I said. "But we're secure up top."

  "Liam, the Kroerak are everywhere," she said. "We've already been in the open for too long. Our scent will be on the wind."

  " Let them come," I said. "We've established a five-hundred-meter perimeter. Marny's rolling a Popeye and will keep it clear."

  "How'd you get past the fleet?" Mom asked. We were being jostled by the crush of curious people and well-wishers. I made eye contact with York's elected sheriff, Mez Rigdon. We'd spent time training her in the Popeyes and it occurred to me that she could help Marny with the patrol.

  "Hold on," I said. "Mez, you ready for a turn in the Popeye? We could use another patroller."

  "Trust me?" She flashed a smile. Like Mom and everyone else I could see, she was all skin and bone.

  "I'll get her checked out on it," Tabby said, lifting Mez from the crowd with her grav-suit.

  "Let's go to the meeting area," Hog prompted. "I'm sure everyone would like to hear what young Hoffen has to say.

  I followed the growing group through a tunnel hewn from the rock. The only obvious technology being utilized were the bright lights strung from the ceiling. I flashed back to the Piscivoru caves and was grateful for high ceilings and wider spaces.

  "Where did this come from? Was this part of Nick's plant?" I asked.

  "Nope," Hog answered. "It was yer Mom's idea. We used Mr. James' replicator hive to dig into the hillside. Barely had enough time before those bugs arrived. Lost a lot of good people."

  I knew better than to ask how many, even though the question was on the tip of my tongue.

  "Liam Hoffen." The child-like voice of Jester Ripples peeled through the crowd. The meter tall, amphibious alien raced toward me and jumped into my arms, his tri-fingered hands and feet gripping my body in excitement. I rubbed my fingers on the red fur over his eyes, something Norigans enjoy immensely, and he purred with contentment.

  "Hey, buddy," I said, trying to calm him. "I'm glad Jester Ripples is alive."

  The cave opened up as we walked through the crowd of people. The space they'd created was little better than a tomb. It was large enough for the people to hide in and even had provisions for waste, but there was little personal space and even fewer remaining supplies.

  "Has the Abasi fleet come to save us?" a voice asked from within the mass behind me.

  "Yeah, how'd you break through the blockade?" a second voice prodded.

  "The Kroerak fleets have been driven back," I said. "There is no fleet over Zuri."

  "You mean except for Abasi," a woman whose face I recognized, corrected.

  "No," I answered. "There are no ships over Zuri other than possibly some trade ships that we didn't see."

  "What about the Abasi? Why did they abandon us?" The tone of the questions was turning negative quickly.

  "A lot of things have changed," I said. "It's up to us to focus on the survival of York."

  "York is gone," another anonymous voice declared.

  "So are many other cities on Zuri as well as Abasi Prime," I said. "The Kroerak attacked with a combined force of more than a thousand warships and twice that number of troop carriers. I won't lie. The Abasi nation is struggling. We're going to have to rely on ourselves for survival."

  "That's new," an angry, sarcastic voice said next to me.

  "What about the bugs? Did they go with the fleet?"

  I appreciated an actual useful question. I understood why people were complaining and bitter, but the emotion wasn't helpful.

  "Good question. No," I answered. "That said, we have some technology that is pretty devastating to the Kroerak."

  "What's wrong with your eyes?" a child piped up.

  "When can we go back home?" a woman asked, not waiting for me to answer.

  I looked to Hog. His ashen face told me everything I needed to know. The citizens of York had no idea that they had no home to go back to. I opened my mouth to respond and was cut off by Hog.

  "York is gone," he said, stepping up next to me. "The bugs wiped it out completely."

  "What do you mean? When were you going to tell us?" The woman looked like she might be eighty stan years old, but I suspected was much younger. Life in this makeshift hideaway, with limited food, had been very hard on them.

  "Betty, you know as well as I do that not a one of us in here knew if we were going to live to see tomorrow," Hog said. "I wasn't about to pull the rug out from under us when things looked so bad."

  "Well, we can't live here. According to my grandparents, it took almost thirty long spans before the bugs were cut down enough that crops could be grown and people were able to live," Betty retorted.

  "No reason you can't," I said. "We can make York a bug-free zone. Same thing that makes our eyes glow blue can tune a blaster so it disintegrates everything Kroerak. If you want to rebuild here, we'll help you get going. But you need to know something. We believe that Abasi are going to
pull out of Zuri entirely. Our next stop is the Mshindi compound."

  "If they do, the Pogona will take over," Bish said, joining the dissenting voices. "No good will come of that."

  "What is it, Liam?" Mom asked. She'd been studying my face and I'd no doubt given away that I had something up my sleeve. I'd never once been able to keep a secret from her.

  "How can Abasi abandon us? I thought they were our friends!" Betty demanded. An angry wave of grumbling rolled across the group. "I guess now we know the truth!"

  "Betty is it?" I asked, looking at the older woman.

  "It is. And I ain't afraid of you," she said, clenching her teeth defiantly.

  "You should be," I said, getting tired of her attitude. "The only thing between those bugs out there and you, is me and my crew. And do you want to know something else? We only have room for people looking to be a part of the solution. Right now, you're getting people upset and making them distrustful of the only frakking thing that's going to keep them alive."

  "Well! I never," she said and turned away from me.

  Inside, I might have snapped a little. I'd been pushed by angry, petty tyrants for much of my life and it took everything I had not to strangle her. I won't say I'm proud of what I did next, but I can't say that I completely regret it either. As the woman turned her back and started to bad-mouth me, I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me.

  "Perhaps I'm not being clear," I said. "I am here representing the Abasi. I am Prime of House of the Bold and I'm here to offer assistance. I guess I'd like your answer right now. Betty, are you rejecting our help?"

  "Liam!" Mom said, grabbing my arm in horror, trying to separate me from the woman.

  "Don't, Mom," I said, not looking at her. "I am frakking dead serious here, Betty. I'm going to need your answer."

  The woman's eyes had gone from narrow beads to wide saucers and I felt a shudder as she attempted to breathe. The problem was, I'd seen too much death. Betty's fear didn't bother me, but her negative attitude was a virus that would infect the very people who needed saving. There would be a lot of hardships in front of us and I needed to establish a pecking order.