Helix Wars (51 page)

“Varnika?”

“
Thirty-five seconds, thirty-four...
”

“Accelerate!” Ellis yelled at the pilot.

With agonising slowness the ship edged forward through the jagged remnants of the hangar door. When they were free, the ship accelerated.

Ellis staggered as they raced away, staring ahead at the scatter of stars and, centre stage, a sight he had never seen before.

He stepped towards the viewscreen, shaking his head in wonder at the magnificence of the Helix in its entirety, the glittering spiral resplendent in the velvet vastness of deep space, with its ten thousand worlds coiled about the fiery primary.

He had never seen a more beautiful sight in all his life.

Staring at it, as the interworld ship accelerated away from the doomed starship, Ellis felt tears stinging his eyes.

Calla came up to him, raised a hand and found his face. “You are pained,” she whispered. “Kranda...?”

He nodded, letting his tears flow now, and reached out for her.

As they headed for the sanctuary of the Helix, Ellis braced himself for the explosion that was now just seconds away.

T
WENTY-
F
OUR
/// O
NWARDS

1

K
RANDA SAT UP,
trying not to cry out in pain.

Varnika
, she thought.
Injury report.

The calm voice sounded in her ear-piece. “
Fractured left femur, shattered pelvis, five broken ribs, collapsed right lung, dislocated right shoulder...
”

But otherwise
, she thought,
I’m fine, hm?

“
Injuries non-fatal. You will live
.
I am working to ease the pain.
”

She laughed. “Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

Her varnika was as good as its word, flooding her system with analgesics; before long, she could hardly feel a thing, just a spreading, comforting numbness.

She looked about her, ordering the varnika to provide illumination. She was at the bottom of the lift-shaft. Before her was an inspection panel. She lifted her laser and fired. The panel flew open, revealing a lighted corridor beyond.

Okay, I’m attempting to stand up. I’ll need your help with this. I want you to walk me forward, supporting my limbs....

“
This is not recommended
,” her varnika replied. “
Remain where you are, preferably in a supine position.
”

I’m afraid that rest is not an option at the moment, my friend. I’m going for upright, despite your recommendations. Here goes.

She hauled herself to her feet, feeling only the spars of her varnika biting into her flesh as they took her weight.

She hitched her rifle into firing position and stepped from the lift-shaft.

2

H
ERS HAD BEEN
an honourable life...

She had served her hive-mother well; she had returned to her birthing place every
yancha
and performed the Ceremony of the Hunt with her siblings. She had distinguished herself in the Mahkan Engineering Corps, graduating a year ahead of time, and then had been appointed to the elite Hakaran squad. For fifteen years she had served the Corps with distinction, travelling to worlds, and
beneath
worlds, she had only ever dreamed of as a cub. Then the human, Jeff Ellis, had saved her life, and she had had an obligation of duty to discharge, a matter of honour to fulfil – twice over – and had performed that duty to the very best of her ability. She had, with Ellis, in all likelihood saved the Helix. Her debt of honour had been discharged. Her people would be proud.

And now her time had come to die.

She limped along, not even the support of her varnika allowing her full mobility. Despite the sedatives, the pain was mounting.

She was in a darkened corridor somewhere towards the outer skin of the ship. She paused, drawing deep breaths, and assessed the situation.

She asked her varnika,
How long before detonation?

A second later the reply came back, “
Eight minutes, thirty-three seconds and counting.
”

“And how far am I from the interworld ship?”

“
Precisely three point three kilometres.
”

She took a deep breath, then asked,
And how long would it take me to reach the interworld ship?

The response was a long time coming.
By the most direct route, approximately sixteen minutes, give or take ten seconds.

She stood tall, facing the inevitable.

She said,
Guide me on the most direct route.

“
Ahead thirty metres, then turn left, ascend to the next level. There, turn right, proceed for one hundred metres.
”

She followed her varnika’s instructions.

It might be impossible, but she had been taught never to lose hope. Sometimes, the impossible happened; sometimes, despite all the odds, if you never gave in, then by force of will you brought about the desired outcome.

She smiled to herself and limped onwards.

As she went, she thought about the human, Jeff Ellis.

Over the course of the past few days she had come to know and understand the man who had saved her life on two occasions. She had seen past his weaknesses, his perverse belief in the sanctity of all life, no matter how undeserving that life, and beheld his unswerving determination to come to the aid of the tiny Phandran, Calla.

With luck, Jeff Ellis would save the Phandran and himself and flee the starship...

She had faith, not only in the human, but in Ellis’s varnika. They were hallowed artefacts, and enhanced not only their wearers’ strength and sensory capabilities, but their mental faculties. Together, human and varnika, they would survive.

While she, Kranda’vahkan, was destined for other things.

She faced her demise with bravery, knowing that hers had been an honourable life.

3

“
D
ESCEND, TURN RIGHT
and proceed for fifty metres
.”

Kranda paused at the top of the stairway, swaying.

She looked down and was shocked by what she saw there. The laser had sliced the flesh and muscle through to the bone of her chest, and beyond, and she had lost a lot of blood. She smiled to herself. Only the spars of the exo-skeleton were holding her shattered body together now.

How far from the interworld ship?

“
Two point four kilometres.”

She felt a quick surge of hope.
And how long before the detonation?

“
Three minutes, seventeen seconds
.”

She was about to ask how long it might take her to reach the interworld ship by the optimum route, but stopped herself. She knew in her heart that there was no hope. She would do her best, march onwards...

She stumbled down the stairs, turned left along an arterial corridor and limped on for fifty metres.

Four armoured Sporelli warriors appeared up ahead. They had not been expecting her; they stopped in comic surprise and raised their weapons. Kranda took great delight in lasering them dead, one by one. She heard a sound behind her and turned in time to see a laser beam lance through the air; she ducked, her varnika-enhanced reactions still super-fast, and the beam missed her by centimetres.

Six troops ran towards her, firing as they came. She fired in reply, roaring with anger, and three Sporelli fell dead at her feet. A beam caught the top of her leg, causing a searing pain which the varnika fought to dampen. She shot the soldier who had fired on her, and watched with satisfaction as he died. The others were close now, too close to fend off with laser fire, so she used the laser as a club, along with her right fist, and battered the remaining soldiers to death.

Then she stopped, panting, amid a charnel house of blood, bone and ripped flesh. She grinned to herself. Her mother would be proud.

She walked on.

4

“M
AHKAN.
”

The voice sounded behind her, and she whirled around.

She smiled when she saw the Sporelli soldier standing before her, with what she took to be a miniaturised heat-seeking device balanced on his shoulder.

She said, “Commander Yehn...”

The Sporelli could, she realised, have killed her while her back was turned. Perhaps he possessed a scintilla of honour, after all. Then she reminded herself that this was the very same individual who, back on Phandra, had ordered the guran to be used on defenceless natives.

In his right hand he held a laser pistol, directed at her chest.

Kranda smiled to herself. Commander Yehn really had no idea of the capabilities of her varnika, its lightning speed. He was as good as dead.

The commander said, “Show yourself, Mahkan.”

“With pleasure, Commander Yehn.” She ordered her varnika to deactivate its shield, and was pleased to behold Yehn’s shocked reaction. Shocked, she thought, both by her awesome size and by the extent of her injuries. A lesser being would be dead by now, carrying the wounds she was displaying with pride.

“You know my name?” the commander said.

“I looked upon your handiwork on the world of Phandra,” she said. “I watched as you ordered your troops to use whatever force was necessary upon innocent villagers. For that, you will die here today.”

The commander sneered. “And you, I presume, will kill me?”

She laughed, a harsh sound in the confines of the corridor. “There is no one else capable of doing the job, Commander.”

Swiftly, Yehn raised his pistol and fired. Kranda moved, a little too slowly to escape the beam. It had sliced her ribcage, but not before she had raised her rifle and fired in return.

Her aim was better than the Sporelli’s. The beam drilled his chest. He stared at her with something like incredulity as he backed up against the bulkhead and slid into a sitting position. Kranda raised her laser and fired again as he watched, drilling a neat hole in his forehead.

Exultant, she turned and hauled herself along the corridor, following her varnika’s calm instructions.

She came to the T-junction she recognised from her arrival aboard the starship. To the left was the amphitheatre, to the right the hangar.

She turned right and limped on, every step an effort now. She knew what she would find when she arrived at the hangar, but she no longer felt disappointed. She had inured herself to the inevitable over the course of the past five minutes, sublimating her anger in a catharsis of destruction.

She came to the sliding hangar door and stepped through.

As she had known it would be, the hangar was empty.

She crossed the deck towards the shattered exit where the stars shone brilliantly through the diaphanous force-seal. She worked to shut out the pain. She looked down, at her upper thigh, and smiled at what she saw. She had walked the last few hundred metres with gouts of blood spouting from a wound the size of her fist, and she had made it to the hangar, her destination.

She came to the lip of the chamber and, wincing with pain, seated herself crossed-legged and stared out.

She smiled. The interworld ship was accelerating away from the starship, dwindling towards the resplendent spiral of the Helix. The sight took her breath away. The Helix was truly miraculous, truly beautiful. She had never looked upon a more wondrous sight in her life, and she gave herself up to the emotion deep within her.

On impulse, she opened the channel between herself and Jeff Ellis, hoping to have one last word with the human.

As expected, there was only static.

Even so, she said, “Jeff Ellis, I have no idea if you’ll ever receive this, but... it has been an honour knowing you, human.”

She sensed movement behind her and heard footsteps ring across the decking. Let the Sporelli shoot her dead; she would have the final victory.

She asked her varnika,
How long before detonation?

And the reply came, “
Nine seconds, eight
...”

She looked over her shoulder at the Sporelli advancing across the hangar.

She willed the Sporelli troops not to open fire and kill her, then; she wanted just a few more seconds, to learn for certain that the starship was indeed doomed.

“
Three, two, one... zero.
”