Space Chronicles: The Last Human War (38 page)

“Comm, encrypt all channels in my stateroom.” The general left the War Room before his comm officer could acknowledge the command.

“Prime Skah Rotaga, it is my honor to relinquish command of the Rahl-Gona to you. Thank you for choosing my ship for the honor of carrying your flag. We lack shields, but our weapons and propulsion are operational. Command links are being established as we speak. It will take a day to repair our shield projectors. Do you wish to notify the Codae of your change in flagship?”

The commander of the Rahl-Gona waited obediently for Rotaga’s response. The Heptari fleet commander ignored the question, walking slowly across the command deck to stop at the main view port. As Tanarac shrank in the distance, Rotaga stared for a long time
at the mangled hulk of his command ship before finally responding.

“My time here is done. Set course for Heptari Core. I will personally inform my family of this failure.”

“But sir, if you leave, who will command the fleet?”

“My leadership failed. I have forfeited my fleet
, and my head. The Codae will absorb the remaining fleet when they arrive. I will be in my quarters. Notify me when we arrive at Heptari.”

Rotaga left the command deck.

Kelly and Shilgar watched a steady stream of images from the planet’s monitoring satellites. The audio was chilling.

“Kal, break right
. I’m on it. Gottem!” The background pitch of the fighter’s engines rose and dropped as a pilot maneuvered aggressively somewhere in a battle.

“Wartol Three! Where are you? Wartol Three, I lost your lock. Over.”

There was no reply.

“M-SIC, this is Wartol One. I’ve lost my wing support. Flyin naked. Can you get me a cover fighter?”

“Wartol One, this is M-SIC. Sorry buddy, you’re on your own. Got no other fighters in your space. We’re patching you into local sat’s for recon. That’s the best we can do. Good hunting Wartol. M-Sic out.”

“Kal
, I’m hit. Gotta punch out!” The roar of explosive decompression lasted a fraction of a second, followed by the silence of space vacuum.

Shilgar’s entire lifetime was dedicated to action.
Helplessness did not sit well.

“I should be there
,” he said. “Kerl-Ga and I should never have left our people.”

Kelly tried to ease his remorse.
“Don’t forget, you have people on this ship too. We need you.”

“
There are many other Elders who could have made this journey,” he replied, not consoled by her rationalization. “My skills would be far more valuable to my people if I had stayed on Tanarac.”

“But, we don’t know what lays ahead for us
,” she said. “Your knowledge and abilities might prove critical to our survival.”

“I know. I know. It’s just hard for me to sit here and do nothing.”

The hologram scientist had been waiting for the right moment to guide his human crew back to their mission. He addressed the senior human first.

“Shilgar, does it matter whether you are helping your people on Tanarac, or helping your people on some other world?”

“I understand what you’re saying. It’s just that I feel my abilities are wasted sitting out here in space.”

“Actually, I happen to agree with you. It truly is a waste of time just sitting here in space.” Dr. Boroski turned to face the
Elder directly. “What do you think we should do about it?”

Silence settled over the control room.
They all knew the answer to that question, but could not bring themselves to admit it. Dr. Boroski sensed the moment was right to remind his crew of their responsibilities.

“Maybe it would be best if we resume our trip
,” he said. “There is nothing more we can do here. We have six hundred people on this ship to deliver to a free human world.”

“Doctor, are you sure there’s no way for us to use this ship to help Tanarac?” Shilgar resisted to the last.

“No. We have no weapons.”

While Dr. Boroski was talking, he replaced the battle scenes on all of the monitors with views of the asteroid belt behind them. He gradually lowered the sound volume.

“The Heptari fleet will soon emerge from those rocks. They may pose some unanticipated threat to this vessel. We should leave before we jeopardize our mission. Elders entrusted you, Shilgar to find a new planet for our people. Are any of you willing to put that mission at risk?”

Again,
the three humans knew the answer but did not speak. The hologram terminated all external views from the monitors. Gauges went black, and his holographic image intensified, almost to the point of glowing. All attention was on him.

“Our ancestors believed in democracy. Free humans on Tanarac built their society with democracy. In that spirit, I demand each of you make a decision
—now! Should we leave? Should we attempt to find sanctuary for humanity, as was entrusted to us by the Elders? Or, shall we remain here, in witness to a fight we cannot possibly stop? I will accept your vote.”

Simon had been quiet for some time. He spoke first.

“Shilgar, Kelly, Doc’s right. I don’t want to go either, but it’s the right thing to do. We’ve got to make a new home for our people. It’s time to go.”

“But, where are we going?” Shilgar asked. “Do
you have a plan?” He struggled with the notion of wandering aimlessly in space.

“Doc, gave me coordinates for a couple dozen fringe star systems in the old Human Empire. They are class 1H stars, and have at least one standard-gravity planet in their systems. They all have water and were not yet colonized three hundred years ago. We can start with those, unless you have any better ideas. How about it?”

Again, Kelly tried to soothe the Elder scout’s concern.

“Shilgar, did you ever explore new places in the jungle? You didn’t know what you would find until you got there. How is this any different? It’s just a bigger jungle.”

He smiled and shook his head at her simplistic analogy.

“Interesting perspective. You would have been a fine politician. Okay Simon, you have my vote.”

Kelly nodded in agreement, and Simon responded without further discussion.

External monitors blinked back on. Displays showed the change of position as Simon turned the ship back toward the asteroid field. Scattered rocks tumbled ahead while Tanarac shrank in the rear-facing monitor.

Simon skirted a few random rocks just outside the belt while he looked for a good entry point to the asteroid field.

“Doc
, they’re here!”

Benjamin watched his troops escape, using the distraction he provided, but he had exposed his own position. It would only be a few moments before the Heptaris swarmed his recon point. He backed down from his elevated overlook and headed for safety of a nearby rock pile.

A small bush next to
his leg exploded in flames as a Heptari pulse beam missed its mark. He dove into a rocky depression and crawled, as quickly as possible, trying to reach the rock pile. His effort was in vain. Two enemy soldiers stepped into view, right on top of the rocks he hoped would provide him concealment. It was over.

The senior Elder
stood up, holding his hands in the air in the universal sign for surrender.

A third soldier came up from behind, and kicked him in the small of the back, knocking him to the ground.
Three reptilian soldiers gawked at their prisoner.

To
his surprise, the earpiece translated Heptari as well as Tanarac.

“Kill him. We must return to the main body.”

“I’ve never seen a human before.”

One green-scaled
warrior reached down and pushed a claw into Benjamin’s forearm, drawing blood. He tasted it.

“They’re soft
, and salty,” he observed.

A more impatient soldier repeated his demand to kill the human and return to the fight, but another suggested, “This one looks like a leader. Maybe we should bring him to our Drog.”

“Kill him or take him, I don’t care. Our orders are to return as soon as the threat is eliminated.”

The lizard soldier who knocked Benjamin to the ground grabbed him by the back of his neck. With a single arm, the Heptari easily lifted
the human to his feet. The soldier shoved him in the direction of the battle while his subordinates followed close behind.

As the human and three
enemy soldiers passed between several large boulders, a small military glider screamed just above their heads and attacked the Heptari ground forces below.

Benjamin’s captor shoved him to the ground and fired at the fast moving craft. While
the old scout lay there, he noticed tiny stones as they tumbled down from behind two particularly large rocks next to the path ahead. His captors were busy firing at the scout craft and did not notice.

A massive energy blast from the Heptari troop ship passed over their position, blowing the nose off the scout craft. It trailed smoke and vanished behind a nearby quarry mound.

The lead enemy soldier pulled his human prisoner back to his feet and shoved him in the direction of their forces.

As t
he group passed in single file through a narrow opening between the two large boulders, three screaming hicays exploded from hiding onto the shocked reptilian soldiers. The closest soldier fired his weapon into the belly of one attacking beast. It fell to the ground, badly wounded, a smoking hole in its midsection.

Benjamin seized the
nearest Heptari’s weapon with one hand and extended his free hand in a carefully placed finger-strike to the lizard soldier’s eye socket.

The Heptari screamed and lost his grip on the firearm.

The human leader threw the weapon to one side. He had no knowledge of such firearms and did not have time to figure it out.

The soldier overcame the
initial shock of the eye strike and withdrew a long knife from his waist belt.

Benjamin only had an instant to assess this enemy. He already knew he could not win a battle of strength with this
alien race.

The soldier lunged, stabbing the sword straight at
the human’s abdomen.

P
ivoting to one side, the experienced scout caused the blade to pass its target, and the lunging soldier’s momentum carried him forward, exposing a target. Benjamin extended his hardest side-kick into the enemy’s knee joint. It buckled.

The Heptari regained his balance, but moved with a noticeable limp.

Behind this soldier, the other Heptaris rolled on the ground, locked in mortal combat with hicay attackers. He needed to buy time until his hicay friends could help.

Again, the human scout
had timed his response to the first weapon thrust, but the Heptari learned from that attack. This time, blade sliced from the side, instead of another frontal thrust.

There was no way for Benjamin to dodge the sword. The tip of the weapon cut painfully into his left thigh. His torn pant leg turned red with blood.

The Heptari laughed and began another swing, again from the side, only higher, toward the human’s upper body.

Benjamin
ducked this killing blow, letting the blade pass over his head. A highly trained soldier would not make any mistake twice. The Elder scout knew it.

Circling warily with his opponent,
Benjamin continued trying to buy time. He looked again to the other hicays, hoping for help.

The Heptari soldier noticed
the scout’s line of sight. One of his comrades was barely able to move as the hicay finished him off. The second would not be far behind.

Benjamin and his assailant reac
hed the same conclusion.

The
green soldier lunged for his firearm. Benjamin leaped onto his back, bringing both of them to the ground. The strong Heptari had no trouble dragging a human the short distance to the pulse weapon. He seized it, turned and fired. Despite the old scout pulling on his arm to disrupt aim, a bolt of pure energy seared past Benjamin’s ear into the nearest hicay as it approached after leaving its first victim sprawled in a bloody heap.

The great beast screamed and leaped into the air
, lethally hit in its head and neck.

The enemy soldier took aim at the last hicay,
as it thrashed on the ground with a Heptari throat in its mouth.

Benjamin
grabbed the blistering hot barrel, again, trying to disrupt the aim. Unfortunately, he had lost too much blood and was not able to overcome the strength of his adversary.

A particle beam
cut through both the last hicay, and the struggling soldier, killing both.

Without
the strength to fight, the Elder human’s grip on the weapon released.

His enemy
sat up on one elbow with the Benjamin draped limply across his legs. He sneered and aimed his weapon directly at human’s face.

A
huge forepaw suddenly came from behind, its claws fully extended from under thick golden fur. Razor sharp hunting tools of the hicay hooked the Heptari’s throat, easily penetrating small green scales on his neck. The beast yanked the soldier backward away from Benjamin. Green blood spurted in several directions. The human leader could only watch as the mortally wounded lizard-warrior fired his weapon wildly into the air.

The enemy soldier dropped his firearm to claw frantically at the hicay’s
lethal grip. After a few more seconds, the Heptari went limp. Benjamin’s hicay-rescuer dragged her injured body onto the dead reptile to claim her kill. The hole in her belly bled slowly.

Benjamin
struggled to his feet and motioned for the hicay to stay still. He promised in quick sign language to bring her help. She rested her head on the lifeless chest of the Heptari and closed her eyes.

Dr. Hadje waited nervously in the scout glider. He could hear sounds of war just over the hill and wanted to help but had no idea what to do. In the distance, he witnessed the end of the Hepta
ri troop carrier as it began to crumble under continuous assault by Tanarac aircraft.

“Doc
, give me a hand!”

Kob’s voice startled
the doctor.

“I found him trying to get back to the battle. He kept saying something about
helping a wounded hicay.”

The young
Tanarac pilot lifted a semi-conscious Benjamin into the glider. The human was very weak and covered in blood, both red and dark green. Kob opened a nearby compartment and pulled out a first aid kit. He used scissors from the ship’s medical kit to cut away the remaining pant leg, exposing a deep slice below. Dr. Hadje applied the kit’s antibiotic rinse before closing the wound with a chemical adhesive.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood,”
the doctor said as he wrapped gauze around the wounded thigh. “Where is your hicay friend? We’ll get help to it as quickly as we can.”

Benjamin tried to stand but fell back when he put weight on his injured leg.

“Rosh, do you know how our people are doing?” Benjamin asked through pain.

Kob answered. “Not good Benjamin. Lizards are almost to the outside edge of the compound. A lot of our guys are wounded or dead. Even your hicays can’t stop these Heps. Tragge promised ground troops, but they won’t be here for a while. If the lizards get through those quarry walls, nobody’s left to stop em from blowing that shield projector.”

Benjamin looked out the door, across the quarry.

“Will this glider fly?”

“I’m not sure. It was pretty shaky when we landed. Why?”

“Take me to the jungle.”

Minutes later, the experienced scout hobbled into fringe ferns. He performed his hicay call, adding several distinct tonal changes to the pattern. Two golden beasts emerged and did not hesitate to approach the scout. His hands flew while he voiced guttural sounds. The hicays paid close attention, and ran back into the undergrowth.

“
What are you doing?” Kob asked.

“When our people returned to the mountains, their hicay companions stayed in the jungle. They’re patrolling this perimeter
. I think they agreed to help us. We’ll just have to hope it’s enough.”

Benjamin returned to the scout glider. His leg ached badly, so he sat in the doorway to take the weight off.

It wasn’t long when a couple of hicays exited the jungle in the distance. They looked for a second at the scout craft, before breaking into a dead run across the quarry. Many more quickly followed. Soon, dozens emerged from the jungle as far as they could see.

“Are they all your companions?” Dr. Hadje was amazed as he scanned the jungle perimeter through a set of binoculars. The same thing was happening as far along the jungle as he could see. “There must be a hundred
,” he remarked.

“
Take me back to our people,” Benjamin said and grabbed his bad leg with both hands to swing it into the cabin of the scout ship. “Those hicays are going to need guidance when they arrive. They don’t understand firearms.”

After a frighteningly unstable flight,
the doctor settled the scout ship behind the last mound of quarry stones, next to the perimeter wall.

The battle was near.
They could hear human/Tasker patrols shouting instructions as they adjusted to enemy advances. His forces had switched to commando style hit and run tactics. He recalled how the two combat-veteran Taskers explained that a small force could successfully delay a much more powerful force, if they employed such a system. He was thankful to have the leadership from those battle-tested veterans.

Dr. Hadje injected his leg with a powerful analgesic from the ship’s first aid kit. It allow
ed Benjamin to limp up the highest rock pile to survey the fight. Field glasses found in the scout craft gave the human leader all the information he needed.

In the distance, a mass of charging hicays was nearing the combat zone. This might be their last hope
, but, from this location, he had no way to warn them about enemy weapons.