Theogony 1: Janissaries (24 page)

“Lord Stref!” shouted the soldier. “There are gunshots in
the throne room. The prisoners are escaping!”

“Why are you here then, fool?” asked Stref. “Sound the alarm
and stop them!”

He looked at Plung as the soldier ran off. “Let’s go,” he
said. Before he could say anything else, a loud roaring was heard from outside.
It seemed to be moving.

“What’s that?” asked Plung.

“I don’t know,” said Stref. “But we better go find out.
Bring the king in case we need him.”

“
What in the nineteen hells of Jubarf is that?
” the
sergeant of the watch shouted as the...thing...came from the sky and landed in
the courtyard. From his position on the wall-walk that ran around the interior
of the castle wall, he watched as the back of the craft unfolded and...people?...started
coming out of it. There were another two figures on top of the thing, one of
which was carrying something that looked like a giant blunderbuss.
Those
must be forces coming to rescue the soldiers that the First Advisor captured
today
, he thought. If so, they were the enemy.

“
Fire!
” he yelled. He took aim at one of the ones on
top of the vehicle and pulled the trigger.

From all around the wall and courtyard, other soldiers began
firing at the invaders.

“
Don’t come out yet,
” Night commed. “
We’re
clearing out some of the redcoats.
”

“You’re never going to believe this,” said Top, “But it looked
like Tiny was on top of the shuttle as it came in.” Most of the troops that
were pouring out of the shuttle were firing their lasers, which made very
little noise, but every once in a while they could hear the blast of the .95
caliber rifle going off.

“Watch out behind!” cried one of the twins as both fired
their guns. A cloud of black smoke filled the entranceway of the palace. “More
troops are coming from the rear!” yelled the other twin.

Tiny rocked as the blast from the blunderbuss hit him in the
shoulder. Although it didn’t have the kinetic energy or the shape to penetrate
the suit, the impact of it stung. BTO had seen the shooter and called out the
targeting. Tiny brought the oversized rifle into line and saw a redcoat that
had more stripes on his sleeves than any of the others, ramming his next round
into the blunderbuss. Tiny fired once, and the man fell backward with a
fist-sized hole in the front of his chest. The exit wound that could be seen as
the soldier collapsed was enormous.

While BTO looked for higher priority targets, Tiny worked
his way down the ramparts of the wall, clearing out any of the redcoats he saw.
As the rest of the platoon charged out of the cargo bay, the enemy soldiers
started falling as the platoon’s lasers joined in. Tiny continued to look for
additional targets, but a flash of movement by the keep caught his eye. “
Sirs,
”
he commed, “
we’ve got a problem.
”

The twins had fired all of their blunderbusses and were
reloading when the redcoats started pouring out from several of the doors
across the throne room. Calvin knew that they were going to be overwhelmed.
Thankfully, the sounds of firing were slowing from the outside. They’d have to
chance it; they were going to be overrun if they stayed in the palace. “
OUT
THE DOOR!
” he commed. “
We’re coming out with numerous redcoats in trail!
”

The Terrans went out the door as quickly as they could with
their wounded. The Twins fired one more time into the mass of more than 40
redcoats that were now storming across the throne room, then turned and ran. As
they made it out the door, they saw a firing line of suited Terrans forming up,
facing the door with weapons pointed at them.

“
We’re the last ones!
” one of the twins commed.

“
The redcoats are coming!
” commed the other as the
group slipped through the firing line and ran toward the shuttle.

The door opened, and the pursuing redcoats were met by the
coherent light of ten lasers. They fell back into the castle, leaving their
front ranks in the doorway, dead or dying.

Top led the group around to the back of the shuttle and up
the ramp. If the princess had any qualms about going into the ship, she didn’t
show it. Her fiance was too far gone to have noticed or cared. The wounded
members of the platoon went up the ramp next, happy to be safe and on their way
to better medicine. As the ambassador and the queen made it to the ramp, the
queen screamed and pulled away from him. Calvin saw her push away the
ambassador’s hands as he tried to grab her, and then she turned and ran back
toward the castle. As Calvin started in pursuit, he heard Tiny comm, “
Sirs
,
we’ve got a problem.
”

Night saw the woman running with Calvin chasing her toward
the wall. “
CO and high value unit in transit toward the castle wall,
” he
sent. “
Cover them!
” Laser fire quickly eliminated anyone in red on that
side of the castle.

The queen stopped at the wall, looking up. Calvin stopped
alongside her and looked up to see the king’s two advisors on the wall-walk.
The First Advisor was holding the king as a shield. “Shit!” he said under his
breath as he saw that the advisor was holding him over the edge, ready to drop
him.

“Give me my son!” screamed the queen. It was the first words
that Calvin had heard her say.

“I’d be quite happy to,” said Stref, “as long as I am given
free passage out of town along with all of my troops that still remain.”

“Just you?” asked the Second Advisor, standing next to him.
“What about me?”

“I’m done with you,” said Stref, reaching over and giving
him a push. The Second Advisor fell headfirst from the wall. He hit the ground
25 feet below headfirst with a sickening crunch and didn’t move after that.
Looking at the angle of his head and neck, Calvin didn’t think he would ever
move again.

Calvin looked back up at the First Advisor. “What do you
plan to do with them?” he asked, stalling for time. “
Tiny, do you have a
shot?
” he asked.

“There are other lands and places that we might go,” replied
the First Advisor. “I’ll leave here with my men and will release the king when
we get to the edge of town.”

“
Yes sir, I do,
” Tiny commed. “
The boy is out of my
line of fire.
”

“You can’t be trusted!” screamed the queen. “You’re just as
likely to kill him at the edge of town as release him!”

“Well now, you really don’t have a choice, do you?” asked
the First Advisor. “Those are my terms. Take them or leave them.”

Calvin edged forward to stand beneath the wall and looked up
at Stref. “I think we’ll leave them,” he said. “
Take the shot!
”

The First Advisor opened his mouth to say something, and his
head exploded under the impact of the eight ounce bronze bullet, which struck
with the kinetic energy of a 2,800 lb automobile traveling at
20 miles per hour. The impact threw him backward, and he released the king,
who missed the wall-walk and fell.

The queen screamed.

The boy seemed to fall in slow motion, cartwheeling slowly...down...down...only
to be caught up in Calvin’s strong arms, 25 feet below. Calvin gently placed
him on the ground. Mother and son ran to each other, and the queen caught her
son up in a hug, tears streaming down her face.

“Ma’am, there are still a lot of redcoats around,” said
Calvin. “If I could get you to come somewhere a little safer, I’d surely
appreciate it.”

The queen put her son down and moved to stand protectively in
front of him. She looked at the Terran as if seeing him for the first time.
“Who are you, and where did you come from?” she asked.

* * * * *

The conference room was packed. In addition to the
department heads and their assistants, the human queen and the two therapods
were also in attendance, which meant that the entire crew wanted to be there.
The shuttle had dropped Gurp off at his farm.

“All right,” said the CO, “let’s get this started. I’d like
to discuss a way forward for both of your civilizations independently first,
and then how they might work together. Before I start, you all know where you
are right now, correct?”

“Yes,” said the therapod princess, “we are on a ship that
flies between the points of light in the heavens at night. Each of those is a
star, much like our own, with its own planets around it.” She gave what the CO
thought was probably a smile, although it was disconcerting to see that many
sharp teeth. The human queen just nodded her agreement, unfazed by the teeth.

“It is amazing to me that you have been able to understand
this so quickly,” the CO commented.

“Really, it is not,” said the princess. “We have stories of
others coming to our planet, so we knew it was possible, but it has been
thousands of years since that happened.” She gave her scary smile again. “We
are excellent story tellers and can keep verbal records for long periods.”

“We have those stories too,” remarked the queen, “but we
thought that was all they were, just stories. It is...uncomfortable...to find
out that they are true.” She smiled, and her smile was much more comforting. “I
will say that it is much more comfortable dealing with this new information
than it was being in the dungeon, so I am happy to have this problem.”

“Speaking of which,” said the ambassador, “we had the
soldiers go back to the castle, and there is no sign of any of the redcoated
soldiers anywhere to be seen. There are a large number of men in brown uniforms
now in the palace courtyard, led by a man calling himself General Sern. He said
to tell you that they are anxiously awaiting your return, and that he will
ensure the city is well-governed until you do.”

The queen sagged in obvious relief. “The general is a good
man,” she explained. “He was the only loyal officer who wasn’t at the party
where my husband was killed. He is the one remaining general that I have that I
can trust. If he says that the city will be well-governed, it will be
well-governed.”

“I imagine that you will still want to get back down to the
planet as soon as possible,” the CO remarked.

“That is correct,” answered the queen. “The people will be
very confused and will need to know that they are safe.”

“We will get you back as soon as we can then,” agreed the
CO. He turned to look at the princess and her fiance. The male therapod was
moving on his own, a little, but it would be a while before anyone called him
‘healthy.’ The CO wasn’t an expert on the race, but even he could tell the male
was in bad shape. “As for your civilization, I understand that you could use a
little assistance.”

“Yes, we could,” said the princess. “We have a swarm of redcoats
of our own that we could use some help with. Now that I am free, they don’t
have as much leverage over our society, but they do still have my mother, the
queen. Our males will do whatever it takes to avoid harm to her.”

Calvin raised his hand and was acknowledged. “Captain
Deutch, I believe that the gap in technology between our platoon and the locals
would allow us to go down and help them out. Although the redcoats’ firearm
technology poses some danger for us, it is far less than it would be for the
princess’ troops. We can be suited up and ready to go in a couple of hours.

“From what I’ve heard about the redcoats,” replied Captain
Deutch, “they need to be removed. You are authorized to take the platoon and
restore the queen to the throne.”

“Yes sir!” agreed Calvin, who had had enough of the redcoats
and was ready for some payback of his own.

“Thank you for helping my people,” said the princess. Her
fiance smiled and shook his head in agreement.

“Once we have everything back to normal, I look forward to
working with both of your civilizations,” said the ambassador. “We have much to
talk about.”

Night finished up the briefing “Any questions?” he asked.

“I have just one,” said the princess entering the room.
“Where am I going to be during your assault?”

“Safely here onboard the
Vella Gulf
,” Night replied.

“While I greatly appreciate your assistance in doing this
for us, I am afraid that will not be possible. Our males are very territorial,
and if a hostile force is seen approaching the palace, they will all die to
defend it.”

“Even if we don’t shoot at them?” asked Top.

“Even if you don’t shoot at them,” confirmed the princess.
“Just the fact that you are moving toward our queen will trigger the urge to
defend her. They will never give up; they will make you kill them all instead.
What would you think if strange looking beings suddenly paraded into your town
and moved toward your king?”

“OK,” said Night, “how do we avoid this?”

“You take me with you, of course,” replied the princess.
“They won’t attack a group that I am in, for fear of hurting me.”

“I can’t guarantee your safety princess,” warned Night, “and
if you get hurt, it will be very bad for relations between our two nations.”

“I am not worried about my safety,” stated the princess. “This
is something that I must do. My family has always led our armies into battle;
how can I not do the same?”

Calvin saw that the Terrans weren’t going to win this
discussion and gave in gracefully. “We will bring you along,” he allowed, “but
you have to let my men and women lead. You must stay behind them.”

“I have to go,” said the princess, “but I do not need to
lead. I will gladly stay behind your troops.”

“And I will make sure that she stays there,” said the princess’
fiance, walking into the room behind her. It was the first thing any of them
had heard him say. While his voice was weak, it was firm in its commitment.

“How are you going to do that?” asked Calvin, “when you can
barely walk?”

“I have led our armies into battle,” the lizard replied,
“and all of the warriors will recognize me. If they see me with her, they will
know that she is not under your control. Our soldiers will do as I say.”

“But that still doesn’t address how you’re going to make it
there,” said Calvin. “We may have to walk several miles; I don’t think you’re
up to it.”

“I will help him,” offered Irina Rozhkov, who had attended
the briefing. “I have no responsibilities, and I would like very much to be
there for the assault.”

“No way,” said Night. “She doesn’t have a suit, she doesn’t
have a weapon and I don’t want to give her either of them. She has no loyalty
to the group; she could do anything to sabotage our mission here.”

“It is true that I have neither suit nor weapon, but that’s because
you haven’t allowed me to have them,” replied the spy. “I give you my word that
I will do nothing to hinder or harm your mission on the planet. I understand
the stakes that are involved and want to see you succeed. In order to do that,
both the princess and her fiance need to be with the assault, and they need to
be kept safe throughout it. If you use any of your soldiers to help him, it
only degrades your combat capabilities. I have no responsibilities in the
assault and can help him. I would like to be there.” She looked Calvin in the
eyes. “Please let me help,” she implored.

Night started to say, “No” again, but was overruled as
Calvin said, “OK, you can go.”

“Captain Deutch will never go for this,” argued Night.

“I’ll talk to him,” replied Calvin. “She’s right; we need
her for this. She’ll need weapons too.”

* * * * *