The Phoenix Darkness (18 page)

“Well I suppose they’ve decided it for us,
haven’t they?” said Ryker, grabbing his weapon and slinging it over
his shoulder.

“Have they?” asked Tank. “We don’t have to
follow them, you know. We could see what happens to them first and
then choose whether or not to approach. If they get gunned down, we
could still escape.”

“Escape and go where?” asked Ryker, surprised
at how defeated he felt. It wasn’t a bad idea, he knew. In fact it
was a very smart idea. But without Vulture and the anti-material
rifle’s scope, it would be hard to see what became of their
comrades. And besides, whatever their fate would be, Ryker believed
strongly they ought to finish it together. He didn’t want this to
be a permanent rift dividing their group. They’d been incarcerated
together, escaped together, been through hell together, raised a
rebellion together, and now, as they faced the choice of hiding and
starving or going to possibly, hopefully, collect their
long-overdue reward, Ryker felt that it was only right they do it
together.

“I don’t know where,” Tank admitted. “But
maybe we could steal one of the ships, if things go south. Or…I
don’t know. You’re Ryker, for God’s sake; you’ll come up with
something!”

Ryker was flattered by Tank’s faith in him,
but still felt nothing but resigned to the destiny which awaited
them, to share it with the other two. He gave Tank a look and said,
“Come on,” nodding in the direction of down the hill.

Tank nodded. “If you think that’s what's
best, then so do I.”

Of all the men in his cell, Ryker was
surprised to see it had been Tank who’d proven loyal until the end.
At least that was something to be grateful for.

They had to move quickly down the hill,
climbing down rocks when necessary, and stumbling once or twice as
their pace proved too fast for balance, but after only a few
minutes, they caught up to Micah and Vulture.

“You’d better not be thinking of talking us
out of this,” said Micah, his words, as was so often the case,
seemed to carry an icy, deathly tone.

“No, we’ve decided to do the same as you,”
said Ryker. “The way I see it, we got ourselves into this together
and ruined the planet together. And now we ought to collect our
rewards together.”

“Wow, I guess that makes us a regular band of
brothers,” said Micah sarcastically.

“Well, I think it’s a good idea,” said
Vulture.

“It’s also the safest thing to do,” said
Tank. “If we're going to take our chances. At least together we can
have each other’s backs.”

When they reached the bottom of the mountain,
the terrain shifted abruptly from rocky, muddy, and forested to
more like a wide open desert. There were no plants between them and
the assemblage of landed cargo vessels, nor boulders, nor cover of
any kind. Even though they were still kilometers away, Ryker
estimated they’d be spotted soon. So he took off his pistol,
tossing it to the ground, and then raised his rifle over his head.
It wouldn’t be a comfortable way to walk the rest of the distance,
but it sure as hell beat getting sniped from long range for looking
like an enemy combatant.

At his cue, the others did the same.
Disposing of weapons and gear they did not intend to keep and then
raising their most prized rifles above their heads. The four of
them continued to march, silently, coughing as dust and ash filled
their mouths. In the far distance, the ruins of the city could be
seen and parts of it were still burning. The wind was against them,
and tiny particles of soot and ash filled the air, somewhat
obscuring their view and stinging their eyes the closer they
walked. But none of them dared to lower their arms, except to
hurriedly cover their mouths and noses with their shirts. At one
point Ryker even stopped, removed the tatters of his shirt, and
tied it around his face to better filter the air. Then they resumed
their push forward.

At about one and a half kilometers away from
the landed freighter fleet, they were spotted. They could tell
because two large all-terrain vehicles began speeding their way,
each packed with what looked like a dozen Teldari soldiers. Ryker
felt a rush of adrenaline, but forced himself to remain calm. He
looked at each of his comrades in turn and saw the same feeling of
apprehension in all their eyes, except for Micah, who seemed
hell-bent on getting to the freighters, and his eyes seemed to
threaten to viciously murder anyone who tried to stop him. Knowing
his reputation, Ryker knew it wasn’t an idle threat, either.

When the vehicles reached them, their loud
motors grinding and huge tires spinning, spitting up sand and ash
in their wake, they pulled up on either side of Ryker’s group and
stopped. Ryker signaled his men to stop marching and then kept his
hands raised high in the air, despite how tired his arms felt.

The first command shouted at them was
something in Rotham. A coarse, staccato-like clicking that was
mostly lost to the wind.

“Human,” replied Ryker, loudly but politely.
“We speak
human
.”

By now, the vehicles had begun to offload
their soldiers, and before long the four humans were encircled by
more than twenty Teldari soldiers, each with weapons trained. More
commands were shouted at them, in Rotham, but no one understood
them. Even if they could speak the language, it was difficult to
decipher the noises over the roaring wind.

The lead soldier pointed his rifle directly
at Ryker, probably ascertaining Ryker was the leader, since he’d
been the only one to communicate, and he waved his rifle in a
motion universally understood.
Drop your weapons
.

Ryker had rather hoped to keep his rifle, it
was an expensive firearm which had seen him through a lot of
action, but decided it was best not to argue with twenty-something
armed Teldari, especially when communication was obviously lacking.
So he threw down his rifle at once and then raised his hands back
in a gesture of surrender. His men did the same. The Teldari
collected the weapons.

At that point, Ryker and his men were taken
forcibly by the Teldari, arms chained behind their backs, and then
shoved, not very gently, onto the floor of one of the all-terrain
vehicles. The soldiers climbed in all around them, so Ryker and the
others had to endure the bouncy ride back to the landed freighters
with sullied Teldari boots mere inches from their faces.

When Zane hears about this
treatment
…he thought, promising himself these men would be
punished for their lack of respect.

When the vehicles came to a halt, they were
heaved back to their feet and forcefully escorted out and under a
makeshift tent, which had been erected at the mouth of one of the
cargo ship’s main hatches. The lead Teldari who'd captured them
approached a Rotham in a lavender uniform with braided black hair.
Finally, someone important
, thought Ryker, recognizing the
styling as that of Rotham Military Command.

The two communicated back and forth for what
must have been five minutes, trading hideous cacophonous hisses
until apparently some understanding had been reached. The Teldari
leader bowed and stepped aside. Ryker expected the soldiers holding
him and his cohorts prisoner to also step back, possibly even
undoing their shackles, but they didn’t. If anything, they stood
closer and held firmer, as if they expected Ryker and his men to
somehow attack the Military Command officer who approach them.
Rotham facial expressions were difficult to read, but this one’s
large golden eyes seemed to Ryker to show genuine intrigue, and he
could have sworn there was the hint of a smile on the alien’s scaly
crimson face.

“You are not like the usual human rebels we
have encountered here,” he said, looking up at Ryker, whose
advantage in height didn’t seem to count for much in this
discussion. At least the bastard spoke the human language well
enough to be understood.

“That’s because we’re not rebels,” said
Ryker. “We’re your allies.”

“Come again? Allies, you say?” the Rotham
officer looked genuinely amused.

“Yes,” said Ryker, trying to keep any sound
of irritation out of his voice. For all he knew this officer,
despite his rank, didn’t know about the CERKO operation, so he was
prepared to tell the story from part one if necessary. So long as
it resulted in him, and his men, getting the treatment they
deserved, that they’d slaved so hard to earn. “We helped you take
the planet.”

The Rotham chortled, it was an unpleasant
sound, but one that Ryker understood to be a laugh. “And does it
look to you that we needed help taking this ash heap of a planet?”
asked the officer, as he turned and pointed. All that could be seen
were bombed out ruins and countless Teldari uniforms combing
through the debris and searching the few structures which remained.
There were no signs of human life in the vicinity.

“No, I don’t mean like that,” said Ryker.
Trying to think of what to say. “You are Rahajiim, yes?”

The officer’s expression seemed to change
from smugly amused to alarmed in half a breath. “How do you know
that name?”

“Because I’m working for you,” he gestured
with his head toward his men, “we’re all working for you.”

The officer barked a command in Rotham, and
suddenly Ryker felt arms grip his wrists then, an instant later,
relief as the restraints were removed. The Teldari also removed the
shackles which had held the three other humans.

Finally, some respect
, thought
Ryker.

“Tell me, then, how it is you work for us,
human?” said the officer, folding his arms.

“It’s like this. We were planted here to stir
up rebellion and make the population blame King Hisato Akira for
the violence. That way, when his soldiers came, the population
would chase them off the planet and then want to join you. You
know, become part of your Republic.”

“King Hisato Akira, you say?” asked the
officer.

“Yes, the king.”

“King Hisato Akira is dead.”

This took Ryker completely off guard. At
first, he wasn’t sure how to respond. He even doubted the officer
was telling him the truth.
Is this some sort of test?

“How is it then your story can be true?”
asked the officer.

“Look around…” said Ryker, still not sure
what to think about the news of the king. If he really was dead,
then perhaps that was good news. Perhaps it meant Zane had taken
the throne just as he’d planned, through his puppet brother, and
had executed the old king. But if so, why hadn’t Zane sent anybody
to inform Ryker or extract his people? Unless he was trusting these
bastards to do it, and they wanted to play games first.

“Look at what?”

“The devastation,” said Ryker. “That was from
planetary bombardment, mostly. The rest was from fires and mobs and
riots we started. It was all part of the plan. Your plans, yours
and Zane’s.”

“Ah, now I understand,” said the officer.
“Zane Martel…”

Thank God, finally
, thought Ryker.

“You work for Zane Martel?”

“
Yes
,” said Ryker. “We’re CERKO. We
were put here to pave the way for you, sir.”

“CERKO…” the way the officer said the word,
it was clear he knew what it meant, and indeed, some true
understanding seemed to show in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, we’re not like the old CERKO,”
Ryker added hastily. “We’re not terrorists, we’re contractors;
mercenaries. We took a contract from Zane, one he negotiated with
the Rahajiim, and we delivered on it.”

“I can see that now,” said the officer.
Muttering the word “CERKO” once more, under his breath, sounding
very intrigued.

“Tell me, is this all that is left of you,
CERKO?” asked the officer. “The four of you?”

“No,” said Ryker. “At least, I don’t think
so. We were part of a larger cell, forty-seven men. I don’t know
what became of the others. If they’re alive, they’re probably still
in the capital,” he nodded toward the ruins.

“And how many others?” asked the officer.
“Surely forty-seven humans could not have helped us liberate the
planet.” He spoke as if he didn’t know the plan, even though he’d
clearly recognized the names Zane and CERKO.

He has to know
, thought Ryker.
Why
is he feigning ignorance? Unless he’s testing our knowledge of the
plan, to make certain we are who we say we are.

“My name is Pierce Ryker,” said Ryker. “I had
the overall command of the operation on the surface of the planet.
And yes, there were more than forty-seven of us; many more.”

The officer looked pleased to hear this.
“You, the commander? Of all of it?”

“Yes.”

Again, it was difficult to tell with the
Rotham, but to Ryker the officer looked extremely happy to hear
this news. Perhaps there was some reward for finding the commander
of CERKO on the planet; it would be just like Zane to offer an
additional bounty for Ryker’s safe return. And for the first time
since the ships had landed on the planet, Ryker thought the
situation finally was making perfect sense.

“Tell me of the others,” said the
officer.

Yes, he’s obviously testing me
,
thought Ryker.
Now that I’ve claimed to be who I am, I have to
prove it. Well, that should be easy enough
.

“There were thirteen thousand of us when we
began, split into two-hundred and fifty cells of about fifty men
each. Each cell was assigned to a major city, or in a few cases
multiple small cities, and everyone had tasks to disrupt, destroy,
terrorize, and act as necessary to provoke the populace to
rebellion. And to do so with Imperial arms and uniforms, which had
been deposited on the planet ahead of time in caches.”

“Can you identify these cities?” asked the
officer.

“Yes, probably. Most of them,” said Ryker.
He’d been heavily involved in Zane’s planning of the operation.
Zane had frequently consulted with him about what the CERKO cells
were capable of, and Ryker had helped gather intelligence as to
which cities on Renora would be most important, and most able, to
be overturned. That said, they’d tried to cover nearly
three-hundred cities, and Ryker wasn’t sure he could remember every
single one of them. “But I would need a reference of some kind to
refresh my memory,” he added.