The Lost Aria (Earth Song Book 3) Page 49
“There will be no living with him now,” Var'at hissed quietly to Minu.
“And how is that different from any other time?”
Aaron swept around the crumbled settlement at half the local speed of sound. The heat shields were retracted and he gratefully used his eyes in addition to the shuttles sensors, something he referred to as the Mk 1 Eyeball.
“Can't you just set down next to the Portal?” Minu asked.
“There are a few buildings around it, kind of like most small settlements it is situated in a town square. The shuttle is a little too long to fit.”
“You are not filling us with confidence,” said Var'at, to which Aaron laughed in reply.
“Found a place, here we go.” And with no further notice the needle shaped shuttle nosed over and into a precipitous dive. Minu gritted her teeth and Var'at said something that the translators couldn't handle. Aaron pitched them up at the last second and slowed with shocking speed. There was a slight bump and they were down. “Welcome to Midnight, be sure to check your ticket for where to find your baggage, and thanks for flying Chosen airlines.”
“Just open the damn door,” Minu grumbled as she unstrapped and headed towards the exit on wobbly legs. It was the most hair raising ride she'd had since that first day of her trials many years ago.
“No sense of humor,” Aaron said silently as he told the shuttle to equalize and open the door.
“How far from the Portal?” Minu asked as they climbed down the stairs in the perpetual twilight of Midnight and onto the hard packed dirt.
“About two kilometers,” said Aaron, “as close as I could manage.”
“My people come here often,” Var'at said in way of a warning. He was adjusting his accelerator rifle in its sling. Minu nodded as she settled her pack and the two Enforcers she wore cross/slung on her hips. Aaron also wore a pair of the powerful automatics, and had one of their only beamcasters slung over one shoulder. Minu would have liked to have one too, but the laser communication gear in her pack was too heavy to make it practical.
“Quick in, quick out,” she told them, “once I make connection it should only take a few minutes to upload the data.” As Minu led them away, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Chapter 7
February 16th, 522 AE
Planet Midnight, Galactic Frontier
To be on a planet again after nearly a month in space was a real pleasure. Minu saw it on all their faces, even the rather expressionless Var'at. The air on the Kaatan was always crisp and clean and the gravity felt perfect, but it lacked skies. She looked up at the twilight cloudless skies and sighed. After this brief mission it might be a year or more before they saw it again. The ship didn't have the power to make more than one more stop, and still be able to reach Bellatrix. They knew there was no way to recharge the capacitors without stopping at a major trading world. And pulling into orbit in an ancient alien spaceship was not the kind of attention they wanted to draw to themselves.
Only a hundred meters from the shuttle they came across the first sign of activity. A heap of debris was piled against a crumbled wall, torn packaging and scattered trash covered the timeless ceramic concrete roadway. Minu thought she could see a broken heating element and discarded old EPC. There was no indication of what species might have left the garbage, but she knew it wasn't humans. Chosen scouts were carefully trained to leave no trace of their passage, this was the absolute opposite of that training. It spoke of a higher order species, or worse.
Minu trotted onward with her right hand on one Enforcer, knowing the other two would have seen the same thing and were now on their guard as well. A minute later they carefully crept along a wall as Aaron swept the vicinity with a life signs detector. Its readout remained blank. Minu looked around and scratched her chin, unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong, or that they were being watched. With a grumble at her own jumpiness, she removed her pack and fished out a case. It was one of the things she would be in trouble for taking, among others. Inside was a pair of valuable dragonfly bots. She reached between the wings of one and carefully tapped the little jewel there twice. The wings buzzed and the tiny eyes glowed blue.
“Mission,” she spoke to the bot which leaped into the air and hovered centimeters before her eyes. Having been the one who turned it on, they would only respond to her commands. “Perimeter search, two hundred meters, any sentients of biological classifications other than this team.” She knew it was scanning all three of them, identifying their species, and logging the information. “Energy sweep one thousand meters. Low risk, return on hostilities. Safeties on.” The little eyes flashed twice and with a barely audible buzz it shot away.
“You got a hunch?” asked Aaron.
“More of an itch behind my eyes.” He grunted in reply. It was something you had to go with, and sometimes it saved lives. Then sometimes it just wasted time, because the bot returned five minutes later to hover before her eyes. It flashed three times and settled back into the case. Mission accomplished nothing to report. “Better safe than sorry,” Aaron consoled her.
“You have good instincts,” Var'at agreed.
“I guess,” she said and stowed the case. Regardless of the bots insistence, as they crossed the open town square to the Portal she felt little fingers crawling up and down her spine. It was very frustrating and she couldn't do anything to make it stop.
The Portal was just like every other one in the galaxy, milky white dais waiting patiently for someone to come along and activate it. Minu stepped on the bottom step and the archway sprang to life. She removed the control rod from its pocket sewn into her pant leg and keyed in a query of destinations. Ted had been annoyed to turn it over to her, but she'd not allowed any complaint. A holographic display appeared above the rod with a multitude of choices. Aaron nodded and pointed to one of the Chosen's favorite destinations, Deep Blue. They also knew a permanent communication link was kept there, within view of the Portal but carefully hidden from prying eyes. Minu opened the Portal to Deep Blue.
Var'at and Aaron watched as Minu assembled the laser communicator. She'd used the link through Deep Blue enough that finding the receiver on the other end was almost second nature. On the other world the sun blazed in the aquamarine sky, long abandoned but still intact buildings surrounded the Portal. With the laser assembled she looked through the Portal and found the window, just to the left of a particular archway with a long crack running its length. And there was the tiny laser relay in the corner of that cracked window. It only took another second to activate the link and get a confirmed lock.
The laser communicator up-linked with Minu's tablet and she entered the required code. It accepted the code and informed her that a message was in the buffer. She was a little shocked, but shouldn't have been, considering how long they'd been gone, and what she'd done to get there.
Chosen Minu Alma,
You are ordered to return to Bellatrix immediately. Your mission is not sanctioned or authorized, and you have illegally requisitioned vital Chosen assets. Scouts have been ordered to arrest you on sight. Should you return voluntarily, it will be taken into account.
Signed – Jacob Bentley, First among the Chosen.
“Shit,” Minu said as she read the brief message.
“He sounds kinda pissed,” said Aaron after reading it over her shoulder.
“You really aren't helping,” she told him as she prepared a reply. The message was written weeks ago in deep space. As she was preparing to send it she attached the codex and all the private packets from her friends. Once everything looked good, she sent the message, then closed the Portal.
“Now may I send a message?” Minu looked at Var'at in surprise.
“I sent your messages back to your people.”
“I was hoping to send a special message,” he said and produced his own laser communicator of a different design.
“You never told me you had a laser communicator.” Var'at remained silent,
just waiting. “Have you ever used it before?”
“Yes.”
“What sort of messages have you sent?”
“I have been in contact with members of my nest, those who have remained on our world but are not in support of Tak'la, the new leader.”
“You've been hoping to someday return home? To what purpose? Revenge?”
“No, to take back control from a stupid leader who is heading our people to disaster.”
“And what would become of our relationship should you succeed?”
Var'at was silent for a moment before rotating both eyes to stare at Minu. “You have forged a tie between us, Minu Alma, and that is strong. We will be allies.”
“Go ahead,” Minu said and gestured towards the Portal. “Do you need me to dial a world?”
“That won't be necessary.” Var'at produced his own control rod. Minu shook her head, not really surprised, but amazed that it had gone unnoticed during his capture. Had the Rasa leader been anything but honest after he became a prisoner, how much mischief could he have accomplished? She didn't want to even consider it.
Minu stepped back and let her friend work. He was just as deft in using his own tools and was soon opening the Portal to a sandy, dark world she didn't find familiar. She was just wondering where the link might be when on that distant world a sand pile shifted and a crab bot stood up to reveal itself. A laser link replaced one pincer, and soon Var'at made contact with it. He transmitted his message and then received one in reply. With no further ceremony, the bot dug back into the dune and out of sight. As the Rasa leader began reading the message she could see he was quickly becoming distressed. By the time he was finished, the poor thing was sitting on his haunches and making a horrible screeching noise.
“Var'at!” yelled Minu, “what's wrong?” But he wouldn't answer, instead just dropping the computer and laser communication gear and rolling up in a ball on the ground, tail wrapping around his head protectively.
Aaron carefully picked up the computer and looked at it. “I can't read their script,” he said.
Minu moved over and linked her computer with the Rasa machine, clicking the accept icon on Var'at’s computer when it asked permission. The file was instantly uploaded to her tablet, and translated to English.
Var'at,
I hope this message finds you; it has been many months since you have relayed one yourself. You are correct, I believe the Humans may have been our key to creating an alliance among the lesser species, but our time is up. We have offended the T'Chillen somehow. Tak'la returned from Nexus and scheduled a moot of all the nest mothers. And then our colony on Ses'la was destroyed. The soldiers had almost no chance to resist, and no quarter was offered. The nest there was slaughtered, the eggs crushed. Tak’la committed suicide even before the meeting. Just as well, we would have torn him apart for his failures anyway.
The other two colonies are under siege. Yesterday, official announcement from the Concordia War Council arrived stating the T'Chillen have claimed right of extermination against us, and been granted it. There will be nothing left for us, I fear. Your plans were good, our people would have prospered.
Do not try to return, your few would make no difference. The vile snakes have limited the Portal approaches to our world, all our attempts to leave and conduct diplomacy have been met with force and either died or returned. It is only a matter of time. We will live on with you among the humans, for a time, and that gives me some happiness. Farewell.
E'Var'at'etal, nest mother, 'etal clan.
“That's not good,” said Aaron as he finished reading the same time as Minu.
“It's our fault, you know. They must have found Rasa bodies on that transport we lost back in Enigma.” Aaron just shrugged. Like a lot of those who knew of the Rasa living among them, they considered all other Rasa to be enemies. Var'at and his people were...'special.' They'd proved themselves to be friends, and allies. But Minu had known they would get old and die, unable to carry on their lines without females. She'd given a lot of thought of how to change that, but you can't just go buy some Rasa eggs. Now the snakes were tearing them to pieces, and it was all academic. Or was it?
“Var'at, snap out of it,” she said, then leaned down and slapped him on the part of the face she could reach under his tail. A single eye opened and rotated to look at her. “There is a chance we can help!”
It was enough to make him unfold and regard her. Though the Rasa didn't cry like humans, he sure looked like he'd been through the ringer. “What can we do? Would the Chosen use all their soldiers to help with ours and attack the T'Chillen?”
“Jacob would never agree to that, the rest of the Rasa probably still hate us.”
“Exactly. I do not blame you, but myself.” He made a helpless gesture, another humanism he'd picked up. “I had such crazy ideas, now look what it has done to my people!”
“I said Jacob wouldn't approve, but he's not here.”
“How can we help? We are not even a dozen, and with few arms. My nest mother said they are blocking the Portal into home as well. What can be done?”
“Think, Var'at!” He looked at her helplessly. “We have a starship, remember?”
From the depths of an old store front, three sets of eyes watched as the Portal flickered back into inactivity. One of them quickly trotted over to the carefully concealed laser communicator and hacked into its memory, making a copy of all the files without leaving any traces of the action, then closed it back up. The device had already decided the messages in its memory were important enough to warrant an unscheduled transmission and the Portal outside was coming alive once more. The five huddled back into the shadows, away from the bright sunlight of Deep Blue as the Portal opened onto a snowy world and the laser sent away its information. Once the Portal was closed they ventured outside.
“It was her, I tell you!” insisted the first.
“Possible,” the second one of the team agreed, chewing his lip and glancing at the tablet data copied from the laser link. “We better tell him about this.”
“You sure?” asked the third of their number. “He doesn’t like being bothered.”
“He will about this.” The man continued chewing his lip as he checked his miniature recorder, utilizing the enhancement feature to review the woman’s image. Sharp features, bright red hair. Did one of her hands only have three fingers? Strange. “Yah, he’ll want to hear about this,” the man finally concluded.
Chapter 8
February 16th, 522 AE
Planet Midnight, Galactic Frontier
Minu was so busy discussing her plan with Aaron and Var'at that she almost missed the ambush. Hundreds of trips off world and a well-developed sense of strategy didn't help her in the least. It was that damned sense of being watched that made her take a half step instead of a whole one. The energy beam cleaved through the air where her head would have been, scarcely a half meter in front of her nose and close enough to scorch her eyebrows as well as send electric tingles all over her body.
“Down!” she screamed and dove behind the decayed hulk of a ground transport. It was of course not necessary; her friends were diving for cover even before she was. Two more energy beams tore pieces of wall away, following her as she dropped under their line of sight. She came up with both Enforcers in her hands blazing round after thunderous round. She didn't know where the attackers were, but she knew what direction to fire. And as her rounds started slamming into buildings and debris the enemy fire ceased.
Var'at added the demonic buzz saw of his accelerator rifle as Aaron brought one of his own Enforcers into play. The beamcaster was being held in reserve, for now. They all stopped firing and returned to cover, except Minu. For a split second she kept her head just above the edge of the ancient transport. Just long enough to see a pair of heads, furless with ghastly white skin, and elongated snout filled with sharp teeth and red eyes so bright they were almost glowing. She made it down a split second before she would have lost her head. “Va
mpires,” she told them.
She'd last seen a pair on Deep Blue months ago while training the misfits. Where the Rasa aggressively sought out political and economic advantage, the Vampires would attack and try to destroy any target they considered soft enough, or unprepared. Even the T'Chillen found them rather extreme.
“That's all we needed,” Aaron said from a few meters away as he holstered his Enforcer and readied the beamcaster. With Vampires there would be no careful retreat or subtlety, only death and destruction. He had no intention of being the recipient of either death of destruction. But dealing it out was just fine with him. The three jumped up and ran between a pair of buildings, drawing brief fire until they were under cover again.
“Teams are usually six groups of three,” Var'at spoke opposite Aaron in the alley they'd been traversing. “They sweep out in an arch, meet up, and repeat. Their other groups will be heading here as fast as they can.” They made it around a corner and stopped.
Aaron popped back around the corner, unhindered by the three Vampires pumping away with their energy weapons, and killed one of them with a perfect center-of-mass shot with his beamcaster. Minu and Var'at both fired at the other two so Aaron could get back under cover. The two survivors made no attempt to hide or dodge the fire. Fangs bared and eyes blazing they poured out a withering rate of fire.
“On three,” Minu told them. “One, two, THREE!” They all popped up, and in seconds the two remaining Vampires were down. “Move, move,” she barked and they ran. The shuttle was only a little over a kilometer away, but if the Vampires beat them there it could be a disaster. They couldn't operate the craft, Pip made sure of that, but they could disable or destroy it. Help was at least twenty minutes and two hundred kilometers away, orbiting above their heads. She decided it would be prudent to get the ball rolling, especially with as many as fifteen more snarling Vampires out there. She keyed her radio to link with the Kaatan above, and got nothing. “Can any of you get the ship?”