Shades of Gray (39 page)

“Aye, Captain. Collecting the data.”

Anything to keep his mind occupied and the subversive thoughts at bay! For a moment, a sense of déjà vu overwhelmed him; then he remembered where it was he had felt this exact sensation before—on Kij’ik, just before going to confront Kezule! This was the same alien presence, and once again it was trying to control him . . .

“Now, Khadui!” he snapped. “I need it now!”

“Aye, sir! Pack One has retrieved the packages and is now escorting them to the designated safe zone . . .”

“Captain!” Zhalmo’s voice cut across Khadui’s. “There’s a hangar here—the ruin isn’t, it’s a hangar for a small interplanetary craft! There’re ancillary vehicles here, too—towing ones, and fuel . . .”

“Do not enter the hangar, Zhalmo! You must keep the Prince out, even if K’hedduk escapes!”

“I’ll do my best, Captain,” she said as a single shot rang out. “Majesty, no! Zsurtul, come back!”

As one, he and J’korrash began to race down the last stretch of tunnel. It seemed to extend forever as they both listened helplessly to the sound of weapon fire interspersed with angry voices. There was a muffled exclamation from Zhalmo, then silence.

On his HUD, her telltale, and Zsurtul’s, changed to orange and began to blink.

“Zhalmo, come in,” said Kusac. “Report in! Dammit, J’korrash, call for a medic evac, top priority! Give them our location.”

J’korrash was already doing it as he finished speaking.

A faint glow ahead heralded the end of the tunnel, and as they raced toward it, Kusac felt the faint presence suddenly withdraw. The evac team wouldn’t arrive in time, he realized with frightening clarity, and he had a key role to play in the outcome.

“J’korrash, drop!” he ordered, grasping her arm and pulling her to a halt.

“Captain?” she asked, obviously confused.

“Drop to the ground, dammit! I need to get past you!”

As she dropped prone, he slung his rifle over his shoulder, quickly latching it in place before dropping down himself onto all fours.

It took only a fraction of a second for the suit to recognize his altered stance and accommodate it. Servomotors kicked in to help him spring forward over J’korrash and land some ten feet farther down the passageway.

“Follow!” he ordered, increasing his pace until he was running flat out. He knew the suit could only maintain this speed for a limited time, but right now that wasn’t an issue.

Sounds of her helmet being unlatched came loud and clear over Zhalmo’s channel as Kusac tried to put on yet another spurt of speed. The exit was so damned close now!

Male laughter rang out briefly. “So, I have one of your daughters, Kezule! You’ve just given me the best claim I could have to the Throne of Light! A wife of Royal blood—blood undiluted by these damned Primes, and the heir to the throne lies dying—if he isn’t already dead. We’ll meet again soon, Kezule, but next time, I’ll come in force.”

Moments later, Kusac slewed to a stop at the hangar entrance. His teeth began to ache as the whine of motors cut through the air, rising in pitch. Already the craft was hovering in midair, turning slowly, positioning itself to align with the gap in the roof above.

The cold rage that he’d controlled until now was flooding through him—K’hedduk was responsible for breeding the hybrid cubs like his son Shaidan, he had put him in the hands of the Prime who’d illegally implanted him with a control device that had destroyed his natural psi abilities—and he was escaping.

“We won’t wait for you, K’hedduk! Guard your doors well, because we will bring the war you crave to you!” he snarled.

Dropping to his haunches, he pulled his rifle free, automatically ratcheting it around to the grenades. Raising it, against all logic, he began to bombard the craft until he was out of shells. It was futile, and he knew it, but . . .

The grenades exploded harmlessly against the ship’s force field, sending waves of energy spilling down to the ground below to kick up the loose soil and debris lying there.

“Khadui, tell Kezule that . . .”

“I heard, Captain. Relaying the message now.”

“Captain!” J’korrash grabbed him by the arm, pulling him around as K’hedduk’s craft rose abruptly into the lightening sky. “He didn’t take Prince Zsurtul!”

Flinging his rifle at her, he rose fluidly to his feet and ran over to where the limp body of the Prince lay in the lee of a battle-scarred towing vehicle.

Zsurtul lay sprawled on his back, his usually sandy skin a deathly greenish white. On the right side of his suit, from a single blast hole, white wound sealant foam bubbled and oozed sluggishly across his armor in partly solidifying rivulets.

Ripping his gloves off, Kusac placed his fingers against the main artery in Zsurtul’s neck, feeling for a pulse. He could sense the youth’s life ebbing away and had almost given up hope when he felt a faint fluttering. Without thinking, he reached for Zsurtul’s mind, catching and holding it the same way his son had done for him not so long ago.

“Dammit, Zsurtul, stay with me! We need you!” he muttered. Looking up at J’korrash, he said, “Get him out of that suit!” Sitting back, he reached up to remove his helmet. “I’ll do what I can, but it may not be much. When you’re done with the suit, I’ll need whatever meds you have on you.”

He couldn’t call on Carrie for help this time—she and Kaid needed all their wits about them in their current situation, still pinned down as they were by enemy fire. He’d also be wide open to any attack from the alien source. How could he be sure it wouldn’t try to subvert him, make him kill Zsurtul rather than heal him? On the other hand, if he couldn’t make a difference, why try to prevent him from getting there?

Slinging his helmet aside, he leaned forward and began to help J’korrash peel the ruined chest piece away from the injured youth.

 

The fog that seemed to surround Kusac was slowly beginning to clear. Broken beams crisscrossed the bright blue of the sky above him. A single shaft of sunlight pierced the dim interior of . . . Briefly, he felt his eye ridges meet in a frown. Everything was still hazy, thinking made his mind hurt. A sense of well-being began to fill him—he was warm, relaxed, there was nothing for him to be concerned about. He concentrated on watching the motes of dust dance in the light, feeling his eyelids getting heavier and heavier.

“The Captain’s down!”

Again his forehead creased. That wasn’t right. He wasn’t down, he was just . . . tired, deathly tired. His eyes flickered and closed.

 

As dawn began to break, Kaid watched the wave of Touiban reinforcements he’d had to call in undulate across the slightly sloping rooftops toward them.

“How did they get up there?” Carrie murmured.

“Jets,” said Kaid briefly. “They can jump higher than we can to start with.”

“You should be ordering your people to withdraw and be taking good cover now Captain Kaid,” he heard Toueesut’s voice say on the Command channel. “Some debris this explosion will generate, and unavoidable it is that some flies your way. We will be waiting their withdrawal.”

“Understood. Retreat to my position, T’Chebbi. We’ll cover you.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Kaid watched as T’Chebbi began to order her Fire Pack to withdraw. One by one they pulled back, taking cover first behind the huge fragments of the fallen statues, then ducking down the nearby alleyway to join them from the rear.

T’Chebbi was last to leave. Letting off a fusillade of shots, she turned and began her dash to the block of masonry. A shot hit her in the back, making her stagger, but she kept her footing and continued to run.

“Dammit, get a move on, Sister!” Kaid snarled, raking the enemy positions with a burst of continuous fire. “I’m not coming out there to save your sorry ass!”

She chuckled faintly in reply.

Another series of shots, this time from a window to their right, spattered the ground around her as she slid down into a crouch by the stonework.

They all heard her short grunt of pain as she seemed to slump against the stone. On his HUD, her telltale began to blink orange.

Swearing, Kaid clicked his gun to grenades, rose to his feet, and swinging his rifle up to bear on the window, let off several volleys.

As he did, something punched him hard in the shoulder, making him gasp for breath and stagger slightly till his suit compensated for it. His left hand suddenly numb, he felt the rifle slip from his grasp and heard it clatter to the ground as hands reached to pull him back into cover.

“I’m fine,” he snarled, trying to push them away with his right hand. “See to T’Chebbi. I need to adjust my meds!”

“Let me,” said Carrie, leaning forward from behind him as he gasped at the sudden onslaught of pain.

“I be fetching her,” Ashay announced, starting to rise.

“Stay, Sumaan warrior,” came the sharp command from Toueesut. “Captain, you are down I see. We will effect the rescue of your Sister. She should be clear of our blast zone, but we will accommodate her presence so fear not for her safety.”

“Aye,” Kaid grunted, struggling to sit up as Carrie flicked back the control panel cover on his injured arm. He felt the sting on his neck of the suit’s meds, and the pain began to fade rapidly.

Beside him, Ashay sank to the ground again, trying to make himself as small a target as possible.

I know what you want,
she sent.
I disagree, but I will do it.
In his mind’s eye he could see her face clearly, her eyes worried but understanding.

He leaned back against her, resting briefly, waiting for the stimulants he needed. Again the sting, then his senses, dulled by the pain and analgesics, sharpened once more.

Do
not
try to use that arm,
she warned as he sat up, watching the Touibans.
T’Chebbi is still alive.

Under supporting fire, one of the Touiban soldiers leaped off the rooftop, jets flaring, and began a sharp descent toward T’Chebbi’s position. The faint actinic glow of a personal force field surrounded him. As he reached halfway, the explosive rounds were shot down into the enemy positions.

“Didn’t know anyone had managed to perfect personal shields yet,” Carrie murmured.

“Experimental it is, Carrie,” came Toueesut’s reply. “Etishu will protect her and see her safe, have no fears.”

How do you feel now?
Carrie asked.

Be careful,
she warned.
If you have no sense of pain, you could do worse injury to yourself.

He glanced obliquely at her.
I can handle myself, Dzinae. You forget how long I’ve been doing this.

They watched as, bare seconds before the whole frontage exploded, Etishu landed beside T’Chebbi, picked her up in his strong arms, then enveloped them both in his shield.

Maaz’ih swore loudly. “If that was a small explosion, I don’t want to see their large one!”

“Aye,” Kaid said soberly, trying to peer through the dust for signs of the Touiban and T’Chebbi. He could sense her presence, but she was unconscious.

“Returning to landing area base, Hive Leader,” they heard Etishu say as the white-suited Touiban, still holding his Sholan burden, shot back up into the air on an intercept course with the lowest part of the roof. “This one needs urgent attentions of our medics.”

“Captain! What’s that?” Zsafar’s call drew Kaid’s attention instantly.

Looking up in the direction the commando was pointing, he watched as a streak of light that was obviously an inter-stellar craft headed upward. Suddenly it accelerated, almost vanishing from sight, leaving behind the faint echo of rolling thunder.

“K’hedduk! That tree-climbing runt has gotten away!” Kaid snarled.

“The General is aware of this and is on an intercept course . . . Wait.” Toueesut fell silent.

“What?” Kaid demanded after two or three minutes’ silence.

“The weather platform reports a massive disturbance causing it some damage as a small craft entered hyperspace inside the gravity well. K’hedduk has indeed escaped us.”

The regret in the Touiban’s tone was evident. Kaid began a litany of low curses.

Dust caused by the explosions was settling now, and they could see that the first and second floor facade of the buildings forming one side of the central courtyard had been destroyed. They could see inside the partially demolished interiors of offices and what looked like part of a function suite. In front of it, the remains of the two statues and the fountain were now a small crater. Debris blocked the passageway into the main Palace. Of the enemy soldiers, there was no sign.

“Remain where you are, Captain Kaid,” said Kezule. “We are now in the Palace itself and clearing it floor by floor. I need a Fire Pack there to take care of any who try to escape by that route. You, yourself, will be picked up by an evac team to be treated.”