Ravyn's Flight (2 page)

He had to keep Ravyn safe.

He refused to fail. Not this time.

*** *** ***

Ravyn brought the mug to her lips and sipped the hot, strong tea. Her hands shook a bit and her eyes felt swollen and sore from the tears she’d succumbed to in the shower, but she had herself under control. She watched Damon pour a cup of coffee and sit across from her. He moved easily, silently for such a big man. His presence soothed her. Something about him conveyed he could handle anything that arose.

With her training, she’d felt sure she could protect herself until she’d seen the carnage in the communal room. Until Damon had grabbed her and all knowledge of self-defense had fled her brain. She’d flailed, not fought. Ravyn let out a shuddering sigh and struggled to hang on to her control. She wouldn’t cry again, she vowed. But she set the mug on the table before the hot liquid sloshed onto her fingers.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Damon asked.

Ravyn nodded and gathered herself. Captain Damon Brody, Western Alliance Spec Ops, had been remarkably gentle with her. Now the time had come to give him the answers he’d patiently waited for. “After dinner,” she paused, swallowed hard and continued, “we all gathered in the communal room, but I left.”

“Why?” he prompted quietly after several moments of silence.

She looked up at him, found understanding in his eyes and kept her gaze fastened there. “Sondra is, was, from Chicago and it...was...her birthday. I wanted to see if I could pick up the World Series broadcast. She was pretty excited that the Cubs had finally made it.” Ravyn reached for her tea, but her hands trembled too badly to allow her to lift the mug. Instead, she fisted them on the table. “It took a while, but I thought I had the game. Then came this distortion.”

“What kind of distortion?”

“I don’t know.” Ravyn shook her head. “I’d never heard anything like it before. I thought there might be something wrong with the equipment, so I shut it all down and ran a diagnostic. Everything in the comm room checked out.”

She felt the warmth of his callused hand on hers and she unclenched her fist, linking her fingers with his. He may not have meant to do more than pat her hand, but she needed to hold on to something, someone.

“Everything checked out, so what did you do next?”

“I, uh, turned the receiver back on, but the distortion remained. I decided I needed to find the problem and fix it right away. This is our scheduled morning to transmit to Earth.”

Again, Ravyn stopped. She frowned as she tried to figure out what time it was, even what day. At some point, she had lost track. She considered asking Damon, sure he knew precisely, but decided she didn’t care.

“The communications base systems are in the sub-basement. I went down there to check out that equipment. I ran tests on every component I could think of, but nothing seemed out of kilter.” That bothered Ravyn. She should have been able to locate what had caused the trouble.

“You couldn’t find anything wrong?” the captain asked.

Ravyn shook her head. “I decided to ask Pyle, our electronics expert, to help me, but when I came back up, it was silent. I thought everyone had retired for the night. It was eerie because the lights in the corridors and the communal room are always on, but they weren’t tonight, last night, whenever. I thought we’d lost power since only the emergency lights were working, but I could see other electrical appliances running. I didn’t understand how that was possible.”

She tightened her grip on his hand and he returned the pressure. The steadiness she could see in his green eyes anchored her, and after taking a shuddery breath, Ravyn said, “I fell over the first body. I couldn’t figure out what had tripped me at first, not with the poor lighting. Then my eyes adjusted and I could see... I could see...”

“Shhh, it’s okay.”

Ravyn blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears from falling, trying to hide her weakness. He took her other hand and she looked down in surprise, but she could only see the bloodbath she had stumbled across. She talked fast, wanting this over. “Part of me, part of me knew they were dead. I mean, how could there be so much blood everywhere if they weren’t? But I couldn’t believe it. I went to their bodies, what remained of their bodies, and tried to find some sign of life, you know?”

“Did you see anything else?”

“Like the fiend who did it? No. I didn’t hear any movement either, but I was scared whoever did this was still around. I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Ravyn admitted. The contempt she felt for her fainthearted behavior seeped into her voice. “I went into my quarters and cowered in the corner.”

“Did anyone know you had gone to the sub-basement?”

“No. I didn’t leave the facility, so I didn’t have to report my movement.”

“Do you know what time you went down?”

“A little past twenty-one thirty.” Ravyn anticipated the next questions and answered them. “I had to walk through the communal room. Everyone was still there and fine.”

He nodded. “How long were you down there?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “Less than an hour. Maybe three quarters of an hour.”

“When did you trigger the emergency beacon?”

Ravyn looked up at him again, confused. “I didn’t trigger the emergency beacon.”

“Are you sure? You didn’t forget because of shock?”

“No. I never thought of it. All I could think of was finding somewhere safe.”

“Shit.” Damon freed his hands and reached for the radio at his waist. It stunned Ravyn that the military would send a Spec Ops team out with such ancient comm equipment. His unit even had cords connecting the receiver on his belt to the transmitter. She listened to the captain try to raise his men.

They didn’t answer.

He reached his feet in a flash and held out a hand to help her up. “Come on,” he ordered.

She thought he would release her as soon as she was standing, but he didn’t. They moved slowly, deliberately along the corridor from the kitchen to the communal room. The sight of the weapon he held in his right hand had her adrenaline pumping. When they reached the room, it was empty, bloodstains marking the deaths of nineteen good people. She saw the wreath of white flowers lying in one of the congealing pools of blood. It had been in Sondra’s hair. Until she’d fallen over her body and gotten her hand caught in the braided stems.

The urge to vomit came upon her suddenly and Ravyn swallowed hard. She couldn’t be weak, not now. Something had gone wrong and Damon didn’t need to be distracted by her. She could fake bravery for a little while, long enough, she hoped.

They proceeded methodically through the building, cautiously going from room to room. Ravyn remained silent and worked on keeping her breathing even. She had the same eerie sensation she had felt last night before her world had come crumbling down.

Something was very wrong.

Ravyn may not have been in the military, but she knew enough to keep her mouth shut and her eyes open. She even managed to keep from crying out in alarm when they walked into the communications room. All her equipment had been smashed. More than smashed, pulverized. Even the spares that she had stored on the shelves were a mass of tangled wires and components. She looked at Damon, trying to judge by his reaction if this was a new development. Only the tightening of his lips led her to believe the comm room had not looked like this upon his arrival. He appeared grim, but his stoicism reassured her.

They found no sign of the six men who had arrived with Damon on the first level. The basement was used primarily for storage and they searched there next. Even with all the lights ablaze, the many boxes and shelving units cast deep shadows.

Damon did let go of her hand now, but whispered almost silently, “Stay close.”

Ravyn nodded. She could have told him he didn’t have to worry. He could consider her his Siamese twin from now on. Before today, she had never considered the storage area to be scary, but now she found it downright terrifying. It was almost a relief not to find anything or anybody.

Almost.

“Where are the stairs to the sub-basement?” he asked, his mouth next to her ear, his words almost inaudible.

Ravyn swallowed and pointed. He gestured for her to follow. As if she needed the reminder. She practically walked on his boot heels as they went to the door. With fear warping her sense of time, it seemed to take hours to reach their destination. The supplies concealed the door to the sub-basement. It hadn’t been intentional, but the most efficient placement of the various shelves had created a “hidden” doorway. No one unfamiliar with the facility would easily find it.

The door stood ajar. They remained there for a long time, listening, before Damon led the way down the stairs.

The small sub-basement required only one light fixture to illuminate the space. Ravyn knew it hooked into the emergency system. It had remained lit last night, keeping her unaware that the rest of the facility had been plunged into darkness. This room held nothing but more smashed communications equipment. Ravyn could have cried in dismay at the sight.

“We’re getting out of here, now. Stay right behind me,” he ordered urgently.

Squaring her shoulders, Ravyn nodded. If she had considered their movement earlier to be cautious, it was nothing compared to the vigilance and stealth Damon used now. Her nerves were ready to snap by the time they reached the first level once more.

His men were not inside the building. That left only one other place for them to be. Outside. The rectangular structure had two entrances. Damon chose to use the one in front. She froze, afraid to so much as breathe as he listened carefully before opening the door.

Bright sunshine bombarded her. Ravyn knew the threat remained, but it seemed hard to believe anything bad could happen on such a beautiful day. They stood to the side of the door, listening intently before stepping outside. Slowly, they circled the building, but found nothing, not even a footprint.

She’d lived on Jarved Nine for months, yet suddenly, she was struck by how like Earth it was. It seemed surreal, as if this were an odd dream and she’d awaken in her bed. She pinched herself, but she still saw oksai trees, not oaks. Ravyn shook her head and forced herself to focus on where they were headed.

The three-sided structure that housed the team’s land transports was set away from the facility. As they neared it, Ravyn could see all five of the rovers had been severely damaged and she stopped to stare. Damon snagged her hand once more and tugged her along. She forced herself to keep up. They had to check out the building, see if the vehicles could be repaired.

One cursory look was all she needed to know the rovers were not going to be working again. Ever. Up close, they looked like heaps of scrap metal. Damon checked each vehicle, but nothing could be salvaged. There was no sign of his men.

They continued to search the area around the facility. In the clearing on the other side of a small copse of trees, Ravyn spotted the Spec Ops team transport. It listed drunkenly to one side. Damon’s grip on her hand tightened briefly as they cautiously approached it. There were huge holes punched into the fuselage. Ravyn bit her lip to keep from gasping.

This particular military transport had not only been designed to withstand direct enemy attacks on the ground or air, it also had the ability to enter and leave a planet’s atmosphere. It was used to shuttle between the big space transports and whatever planet the troops needed to land on. It should have been impossible to puncture the skin of the craft with anything short of an armor-piercing laser. One set of landing rails had been pulled from the belly of the transport and twisted upward like the tip of an elf’s shoe. Damon cursed softly.

Rounding the nose of the vehicle, they made their way to the entry. There were gaps where the pressure seal no longer touched the door. After a careful scan, Damon tucked his gun away and forced open the hatch. She could see his muscles straining as the door resisted his efforts. It finally gave with a groaning sound that made Ravyn wince. After taking another look around, Damon said, “Put your back against the hull and keep watch. I’ll be quick, but if you see something, holler.”

Ravyn nodded, and after a slight hesitation, the captain hoisted himself into the transport. She could hear him moving around, feel the craft sway. He wasn’t gone long. When he dropped from the hatch to the ground, she saw his expression had become even more grim. “What did you find?” she asked.

“The inside looks worse than the outside, if you can believe that.” He looked around. “Come on.”

Ravyn tilted her head back and sucked in a silent breath for courage. That’s when she noticed the deiril circling on the other side of the facility. Like the vultures of Earth, they scavenged the remains of dead animals. She caught Damon’s attention and pointed. She didn’t know how he kept from running. If it had been up to her, they would have raced to the meadow.

It seemed to take forever to reach the other clearing. And there, Ravyn saw exactly what she had feared. She quickly glanced away, but it was too late. She would have one more nightmare scene burned into her memory.

Damon’s men lay lifeless in the field.

CHAPTER TWO

Damon kept them behind the cover of the trees. Even from this distance, he knew his men were dead. Carefully, he scanned the surrounding area, watching for any movement, listening for any sound. His gut told him the danger had passed, but he confirmed it with his senses.

When he felt confident that no immediate threat existed, he turned to Ravyn. She had her back to the clearing, but she held her composure. His first inclination was to leave her where she stood while he checked the bodies. She didn’t need to see any more corpses up close, but sparing her was out of the question. Separating was risky and too many people were dead to take any chances. Damn, he wished he had his assault rifle. Like the greenest recruit, he’d left it inside the CAT facility. Too late now, he thought, and put his energies toward what they had to do.

“Ravyn.”

She angled her head toward him, but not far enough to see the clearing. Her body vibrated with small tremors.