Star's Storm: Lords of Kassis Book 2 (12 page)

I’m not only strong enough,
she
thought fiercely,
just try to stop me.
Gods or no Gods, she
was going after her mate.

A small part wondered if this was similar to
what Gril had to do when he went to save Madas. Maybe that was why
Madas was so confident in Star’s ability. She knew what it was like
to have a mate who would go through anything to save the one meant
for them.

Twenty minutes later, Star reached up and
gripped the two hands reaching down for her; one was a dark green
and the other a dark tan. She chuckled when they lifted her up so
high she was over a foot higher than the top of the rocky ground.
She looked at the two much larger forms with a twinkle in her eyes
as both of them scanned her for injuries.

“I’m fine!” Star said. “I promise.”

The moment her feet touched the ground, she
found herself wrapped in Dakar’s powerful arms. “Don’t you ever do
anything like that again,” he said in a thick, husky tone before
letting her go so Madas could wrap her arms around Star for a brief
hug.

“I agree,” Madas hissed gruffly. “My heart
stopped when I saw you jump and again when you were hanging
there.”

Star hugged her friend back before she
stepped back and surveyed the area. Her eyes widened in excitement
when she saw the metal grill covering the narrow pipe used for
directing rain water into the fortress. The bars covering the
entrance were about two feet apart. Star almost ran to the
covering. She was getting closer and closer to Jazin. She could
feel it. She glanced up at the sky. It was already beginning to get
darker. She would need to move fast. She would cross the wire in
the dark, relying on her skills and touch to guide her. It would be
difficult but she knew she could do it. Once on the other side, she
would follow through with the rest of their plans and shut down the
control room at the top of the building. Madas and Dakar would then
attached slide bars to the wire and slide down to the main tower
without fear of triggering the defense system. Dakar could take
care of the rest of the systems before helping her and Madas locate
Jazin.

Madas reached around and pulled the bag
containing the items Star would need from her back. “Remember, help
will come from the man with glowing eyes. He is a friend. Do not
fear him.”

“I will,” Star said as she knelt looking at
the bars. “Look for my signal to know it is clear.”

“We will,” hissed Madas quietly. “Little
warrior, believe in your skills and be safe.”

Star nodded solemnly. “I'll be careful. I
just want to get Jazin out of here and somewhere safe.”

“Do you remember the configuration of the
controls that work the above ground defense system?” Dakar
asked.

Star nodded as she slid her feet through the
bars. “Yes, I remember. Give me at least two hours,” she said as
she carefully lowered the rest of her body through the bars. It was
a tight fit, even for her petite form. “Drop me the bag,” she
called up softly once she was through.

Madas dropped the small bag that she had
been carrying inside her larger one. It contained the explosives
Star would need, plus several weapons and a device that would
override the controls for the doors. She stood back so Dakar could
drop the last items she would need, her crossbow and arrows and a
staff that extended out with a push of a button. Star would need
that to help balance her as she crossed the wire.

“Two hours,” Star called up to the two faces
looking down at her before turning. “Show time,” she muttered under
her breath before she moved to the narrow piping that tunneled
through the mountain.

*.*.*

“I'm going to chain my mate up when I get my
claws on her,” Gril Tal Mod growled out in fury as he studied the
latest Intel that had come in.

They had wasted two days’ worth of travel
when they had followed one false trail. The one they now followed
had been sent to them anonymously by an informant that told them
information that only his mate could have told the male.
Information she had shared with him and he had ignored. Guilt and
fear ate at him for not listening to her. This was something he
would change the next time he got his mate under him. He would
listen to her dreams and take them seriously in the future. If he
had a chance in the future.

There will be a next time,
he swore
under his breath.

“Do we have any idea who the informant is?”
Ajaska asked as he stared at Torak and Gril. “Torak, were you able
to authentic the video disk images that were sent?”

“They are authentic. I double checked them
myself,” Torak replied looking at the three-dimensional image they
had received that also included images of the prison fortress that
was supposed to be holding his younger brother.

“There is no information on the informant
but he knew things only my mate could have told him,” Gril said.
“He knew things she would never have told anyone, even under
torture,” he added reluctantly.

“He also knew things about Jazin that only a
few select people know about,” Torak added.

Ajaska nodded as he studied the information
they had and analyzed the best way to get his youngest son out
alive. When Gril had come to him with the video disk and
information that Jazin was alive and being held prisoner, Ajaska
had been stunned. When River approached him and Torak that same
morning with what Madas and Star had told her, he had been furious.
Not with the delicate blue-eyed warrior but with himself for having
accepted that his youngest son had been killed without verifying
the information personally. He had let grief cloud his judgment.
That was something he would never do again. Because of his lack of
action, his son would have been lost without him ever knowing what
had truly happened to him. He still might if they did not get to
him soon enough.

His fists clenched under the table in fury
at his former councilman. He should have killed Tai Tek when he
first suspected he was behind the assassinations of some of the
other members of the council. The fact that he didn't have concrete
proof was the only thing that stopped him. In the old days, he
wouldn't have cared but the new Alliance set up guidelines for each
galaxy. Killing members of your council just because you had a
feeling they were murdering others was on the list of what was not
allowed. The Alliance wanted proof first.

“The informant said he would contact us if
they needed further assistance. I just hope we get there in time,”
Torak said. “The defense system at the fortress is a relatively new
one set up by the Corazans. We can take it out but it would alert
Tai Tek and his guards they are under attack. There are several
escape tunnels that lead out. We can also cover those. We have
three A-Class warship and six C-Class. Each has over a hundred
fighters on board.”

“I have three Tearnat warships that will be
arriving shortly. They each have fifty fighters on board and will
cover the outer region for enemy star ships,” Gril added.

Ajaska nodded and leaned forward to study
the layout of the prison. “What is this?” He asked pointing to a
darker area under the surface of the planet. The darker shape ran
for a long distance not far from the fortress and appeared to be
very deep.

“It is a natural ravine,” Gril said. “It is
over 200 meters deep. It weaves around three sides of the fortress.
The backside is built into the mountain.”

“Our best bet is to come in fast. Fighters
can take out the laser cannons here, here, and here,” Torak said
pointing to the three largest cannons mounted up high. “We will
drop attack transports here and here. They can come in and take
heavy fire with little damage. Two fighters will come in from the
east and south to take out the cannons along this wall. This will
allow our ground troops to move in using additional armored
transports.”

“I will order additional troops to deploy
from here,” Gril said pointing to the mountain. “They can move down
the side of the mountain easily.”

“What of the west side?” Ajaska asked.

“That is where we suspect Jazin is being
held. We will have to take it level by level. We cannot take a
chance of firing on it and possibly killing him or burying him
alive,” Torak stated looking moodily at the image. “I only hope we
can get to him before Tai Tek orders his execution. Truthfully,
that is my biggest concern.”

“He will already be out,” a voice from the
door said softly.

Torak turned and scowled at his mate. He had
left her in their living quarters. He should have known better than
to think she would stay there. He had planned to leave her on
Kassis but one look at her face told him that was not likely to
happen. His fingers moved to his temple that suddenly began to
throb. It had a tendency to do that whenever his mate got that look
in her eye.

“Why do you believe that, Lady River?” Gril
asked looking into the dark blue eyes of the unusual female.

“Because I know what I would do if I was in
their place and Star would do the same,” River replied calmly
looking at the image floating above the table. “It isn't much
different than on Trolis' warship,” she murmured walking into the
room and closer to the three-dimensional blueprint.

“Tell us how you would rescue my son,”
Ajaska asked quietly, looking intently at River's face as she
studied the map.

“What is this?” River asked pointing to a
dark spot on the side of the mountain.

“It looks like a duct system for water. It
is too small for the warriors to fit through and even if they
could, they could not get down the mountain unseen or without
triggering the defense system,” Gril responded with a frown.

“A Tearnat or a Kassis warrior perhaps but
not a petite circus performer,” River said with a small lift of her
lips. “What about this? What is it and where does it go?”

Torak frowned as he studied the thin cable.
His eyes shifted to the tower where it connected. It would be
impossible for a warrior to use it. If they tried to, they would be
fired upon because the laser defense system reached up to within a
few centimeters under it. The only way to cross it would be
to.....

A curse burst from Torak and Ajaska's lips
at the same time. “It would be suicide to try to cross that! It
would have to be done after dark or she would be seen and there is
no guarantee of the strength or integrity of the cable. It has
probably been there since that fortress was constructed a hundred
years or more ago,” Torak said.

“And what would she do if she did make it?”
Ajaska asked in disbelief. “She is only one small female. She would
need to get into the control room and make her way down eight or
more levels through a fortress full of seasoned warriors.”

River smiled. “She'll figure out a way.
Don't forget, she won't be alone. She has Madas, Dakar, Armet and
our unknown informant to help her,” River replied confidently. “We
know how she'll get to the control tower. We just don't know how
she is going to get Jazin out. We have to be ready for when she
does. Because if there is one thing I know, it is this,” River
paused to look at each of the men sitting around the table before
she continued. “If it were Torak or Ajaska or any other member of
my family, I would never stop, never give up until I had them back
with me.” She looked at Gril and smiled. “Would you let anything
stop you from getting to Madas?”

Gril thought of a time not that long ago. A
time when he had been in a position similar to Jazin. Only then it
was his mate who had been a prisoner and was sentenced to die. No,
he would never give up, never let anything stop him. His large huge
head swung around to look at the image again. This time he thought
of what his mate would do. He thought like the warrior that she
was. A smile curled back his thin lips, showing off his long, sharp
teeth.

“I know how they plan to get Lord Jazin
out,” he growled out in a low, confident voice. “This is what we
must do to help them.”

Star pushed the bag ahead of her. She could
finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was faint but it
was a light. She had moved through the pipe a little faster than
she expected as it was bigger than they originally thought it would
be. She lifted her face to the steady breeze that was flowing
through the aqueduct, trying to gauge the speed of it. The crossing
was going to be difficult enough with the limited visibility. The
last thing she needed was a big gust of wind trying to blow her
off. She had done some outdoor aerial work but not much. She hadn’t
told the others that though.

When she reached the end, she pulled herself
into a sitting position and stared out at the huge fortress. Inside
was the man she loved more than life itself. The slight breeze
played with the strands of long, blond hair that had pulled loose
from her braid and dried the sweat on her face, cooling her heated
skin. Her eyes moved over the complex. High walls surrounded it on
three sides where it blended into the mountain. It was beautiful in
a medieval sort of way. The walls were almost black and were slick,
as if each block of stone had been fitted perfectly together and
hand polished. Three high turrets adorned the walls with
interconnecting walkways between them. Star could see the movement
of warriors in the towers and on the walls. Large and small mounted
cannons lined the walls. Her eyes moved to the tall tower in the
center. Just below the top, she could see an opening where a cannon
was mounted. Her eyes roamed that building carefully, looking for
potential threats. She counted two warriors in the tower. She slid
on a pair of the goggles Armet had given her. Adjusting the focus,
she observed the men for several long minutes. They never looked up
thankfully. She let her gaze move up to where the wire connected to
the tall central tower. It may have been placed as a ground wire so
if the tower was struck by lightning it would travel through the
wire into the mountain instead of damaging the tower. It was
connected about five meters above the open center where the
warriors stood. The roof curved but there were hand and foot holds
near where the wire was secured so maintenance could be done on
it.