Wrath of the Void Strider (34 page)

He looked to Gavin.  “What you can do is extraordinary.  You could turn the tide of this war, but you aren’t battle tested.  We need to know that you can use this power of yours when it counts.  Prove that, and you’ve booked yourself an officership aboard the
Wraithfin
, the Union’s most decorated stealth-capable corvette.”  With a wry smile, he added, “If you want it.”

Gavin stared on uncertainly.  “I… I don’t know.”

“I need an answer, Gavin.  It’s us or them.”

He stared into space for a moment.  “Uh, us, I guess.”

“Good.  So here’s what’s happening.”  Dryden tapped a few buttons on the glass screen, and the images shifted to a verdant world, its vibrant surface broken up by dozens of oceans.  “This is K’n-yal.  She supplies those of us here on Ry’lyeh with more than half the food we use, as well as the bulk of minerals we need for starship maintenance.”

He went on to detail House Thayless’s rise to prominence.  Following that, he described the strike team that had been assembled to respond to their demands.  He showed Gavin and Zerki how they would be participating, the gear that would be assigned to them, and who they would be reporting to.

“You’ll have two days to complete your mission.  At present, the ithirals are gathering in orbit around Thasad.  We expect they’ll attack us in force, and based on their movements, it’ll take another five days to assemble their entire fleet.  Without going into detail about the mission, we’re budgeting two days of warp travel to execute a coordinated counterassault.  With you in our arsenal, we can win.”  His posture stiffened.  “In truth, I don’t know what we’ll do if you’re unreliable.”

He looked to Valerie.  “Ms. Sawyer, your report has made it clear that adding a psychic to any boarding action directed against the ithirals could be used to devastating effect.  While your friends are away, I need you here briefing the psychics.”

Valerie said, “After I get back from K’n-yal.”

“Look, I appreciate your loyalty and tenacity; they’re two traits we value highly in the Union Armed Forces.  But Captain Ibarra’s ex-military, and Mr. Santiago’s the prototype we’re testing.”  He regarded her sternly.  “You’d be there as an observer, one more thing for everyone else to worry about.  They’ll be facing kwercians, mostly, and their minds are read-only.  What are you hoping to gain by this?”

Her expression remained unchanged.  “Captain counts on me, and it’s my job as first mate to make sure Gavin isn’t mistreated.”

Dryden frowned slightly.  “You’re not his first mate.  Not anymore.”

“He hasn’t turned in his resignation.”

“The
Sanguine Shadow
doesn’t run on formalities, Ms. Sawyer.”

Gavin raised his arm.  “Admiral, if I’m going to do this, I’d like her to come.  Valerie’s got a knack for sniffing out snipers.  I’d feel a lot safer if she came with us.”

“As an observer.”

“That’s fine.”

Dryden looked to Zerki, nodding as he asked, “Captain Ibarra, do you have any objections?”

Zerki shook her head.  “Not at all.  I’ll take full responsibility for her safety.”

“So be it.”  He displayed several targets, buildings and diagrams of K’n-yal’s exotic flora.  Dryden detailed the plan of attack.  When he had finished, he sent them to the quartermaster for their gear.

·· • ··

 Zerki, Gavin and Valerie met the strike team at the foot of a boarding ramp.  Called the
Eridanis
, their starship was long, painted white with brick red detailing.  Toward the fore, her hull flared out to provide housings for two blaster turrets.  A small, circular bridge rose from the starship’s centerline, seated near a pair of warp engines, and two storage pods jutted out from under the bridge station.  Armored plates protected the hull, giving the starship a layered appearance.  She rested upon a trio of landing skids, her skin decorated with Union badges and warning placards.

Their pilot ran through the preflight routine while the strike team boarded.  As the engines warmed, they emitted a high-pitched pulsing warble that made Gavin feel dizzy with every crescendo.  It took some time for him to adjust to the sound.

The
Eridanis
disengaged from her docking clamps, rocketing up and out into the dark.

Zerki, Gavin and Valerie traveled with eight others.  The heart of the team was Special Operations Chief Jared Fletcher, and he answered to Lieutenant Flynn Brucker.  They all wore adaptive camouflage suits, sturdy packs, survival gear and linked targeting goggles that had been fastened to their helmets.  The soldiers carried an assortment of explosives, automatic blasters and long-range rifles.

Gazing out the porthole, Gavin watched the stars turn bright blue as the warp drive engaged.  He fought back a wave of nausea.  Hunched over his knees, he concentrated on his breathing, and he jumped slightly at feeling a hand upon his shoulder.  “You get used to it,” said the woman sitting next to him.  Her name was Haley Lei, and she was one of the snipers.

Gavin merely nodded and groaned in response.

Valerie leaned close.  “You okay?”

Again, he nodded and managed to whisper, “I think it’s the warp drive.  Motion sickness, or vertigo.  Not sure.”

She squeezed his forearm.  “Well, let me know if you’re going to throw up.”

He chuckled.  “I’ll do my best.”

Chief Fletcher reviewed the mission parameters with the strike team.  They discussed primary and secondary objectives, while Zerki, Valerie and Gavin listened intently.  It wasn’t long before the
Eridanis
dropped out of warp, and K’n-yal drew near with alarming speed.  Brucker called everyone to the boarding ramp as the starship began to descend.

Moments later, they touched down in a field ringed with motley spore trees and disembarked.  Her engines whined as the
Eridanis
lifted off and vanished into the clouds.  Zerki, Gavin and Valerie joined the strike team as they hustled into the vibrant expanse, where their camouflaged suits rendered them nearly invisible.  All around, densely packed spore clusters rocked and creaked in the breeze, each one twice as tall as a man.  Mounds of red and yellow vegetation constantly swelled and ebbed.  The clicking and popping sounds of plants and animals filled the air.

Brucker leaned into the huddle and said, “Bad weather’s coming.  We need to double-time it.  Stay close to me.”  He glanced toward the horizon.  “We should engage our targets before sundown if we can hold the pace.  Haley, you’re on overwatch.  Gavin, I want you on overwatch with her.  Sawyer, you need to fall way back from their position.  Zerki, you’re covering Ajax while he sets up the mower.  Everyone clear?”

“Roger that,” said Haley, and her response was echoed throughout the squad.

 “Good,” said Brucker, and he led his team through the overgrowth.  All through the afternoon and into the night they traveled, as the clouds steadily thickened and darkened.  Frustrated, Brucker called for a stop and instructed his companions to climb into the surrounding spore tree husks to get some rest.  Haley took first watch.

“Where are they?” asked Zerki as she stepped close.

Brucker shook his head.  “Something’s off.  Either we got bad intel, or our targets are on the move.”

Fletcher joined them.  “They’re mobile.  I’ve been reviewing Eagle One’s feed.  It just did a flyover on the Thayless estate.  It’s got minimal guards, but full occupancy.  Risky move, with the other houses looking to make a play.”  He set down his pack.  “My guess, they’re moving something they’re not supposed to.”

“Please explain your thinking,” said Zerki.

Fletcher regarded her.  “No other reason not to hire some guns to do it, unless they can’t take the risk of word getting out.”

“Let’s find out what they’re hiding,” said Brucker.  “If it’s big enough, it could become the primary.  Plus, if we take out their goons, we can leave Thayless to the dogs.  Without their muscle, they won’t last another week.”

The downpour finally moved in.  As it drenched the spore wood, Zerki joined Gavin and Valerie within their husk.  Safe under the brittle canopy of a yellow pod, they listened to the cloudburst driving down around them.  In the distance, they heard trees crushed underfoot.  Throaty cries of long-necked giants pierced the roar of the storm as they wandered the shadows.

Membranous globes the size of baseballs drifted up from nearby branches, their gas-filled bodies softly aglow with golden light.  Broad, gossamer tails swooped slowly up and down, and cascades of filament-thick tentacles hung from the edges of their bellies.  They congregated, a luminous flock overhead.  However, they winked out and instantly dispersed when Valerie shifted and caused her shelter to crinkle.

In time, they returned.

Gavin, Valerie and Zerki gazed in silent wonder.

Cold air cooled further as the night marched on.  Determined gusts sent sheets of rain steeply against their shelters.  Except for Haley, the storm lulled the others to sleep.

·· • ··

Sunrise shone against the back of the storm’s thick gray mantle, brightening it only slightly.  Fletcher called the strike team together within a clutter of slicked flora.  Over the rushing deluge, he explained, “A lot of the plants around here rely on the rain to make their animal traps work.  They aren’t lethal to us, but taking a bath in a potent numbing agent will make travel pretty tough until it wears off.  Try to be on the lookout for sinkholes.”

Brucker held up his hand.  “There’s been a change of plans.”  He glanced around, squinting as water ran down from the lip of his helmet.  “We’re going to wait it out, right here.  I still need eyes, and that’s not happening until the weather clears up.  Everyone get back in your holes until we see some sun.”

Zerki, Valerie and Gavin acknowledged the order and returned to their roosts in the desiccated trees.  They dined on rations as they waited.

“This spore wood is beautiful,” Gavin mused.  “They have spore trees on Afskya too, but they never get this big.”

“Maybe half this size,” said Valerie.  “I love it here.  Last night, something was making this shrill echo every so often.  It almost sounded like a bird or an insect, but I never saw what it was.  It was such an eerie sound.”

Zerki teased, “Probably a ghost.”

Gavin chuckled.  “Why, do you believe in ghosts?”

“I do, but only because of personal experience.  I wouldn’t expect anyone else to.”

“That sounds interesting.”  He sat up straighter.  “What did you experience?”

She smiled subtly and shook her head.  “Another time.”

Conversation trailed off, and they enjoyed the sounds of the storm.

·· • ··

Hours passed, and the downpour gave no sign of abating.  Seemingly in spite of them, the clouds had thickened further, and a distant rumble of thunder joined the soggy midmorning as Brucker assembled the strike team.  “I got eyes from orbit, and we’re closer to the target than we thought.  We’re moving to the road and following,” he declared.  “It’s risky, but we need to make up some time.”  He looked to Valerie.  “I hear you’re good at sniffing out snipers.”

She flushed and glanced to Gavin.  Clearing her throat, she said, “Sure.”

“Great.  Take point with Sammie.”

“Which one is Sammie?”

He raised his hand, and Valerie walked over to him.  They made their way along the storm-drenched forest floor.  The rest of their teammates followed at a distance.

By midday, the winding road at last came into view.  Moving steadily, quietly, they followed its path through the spore wood as the weather worsened.  Rain drove so furiously that the strike team could hardly see in front of them, and they began to lose their footing more and more frequently.  Forks of lightning did more to reveal their surroundings than their goggles did, and Brucker again called for a stop.  After taking the lay of the land, he led them to the shelter of a ragged overhang.

Shivering, Valerie huddled close to Gavin.  “How can it still be raining like this?”

“I swear it’s following us,” muttered Gavin.

Zerki said, “There’s a lot we don’t know about this planet.  You might be right, Gavin.”

He shuddered.  “I better not be.”  They huddled close and slowly began to warm.

The day wore on.

Not until sundown did the rainfall begin to ease up.  Again, Brucker assembled the strike team, and Sammie gestured for his companions to follow closely.  Lightning brightened the forest, creating vast glowing mosaics of varicolored, translucent spore trees.

Abruptly, Valerie signaled for a stop.  Ahead of them, she sensed someone in the trees, and beyond that, she sensed dozens of armed kwercians.  Sammie silently advanced toward the kwercian sentry, keeping low, as Valerie returned to the group.  He locked on the sentry and broadcast his position across the networked targeting goggles.

Haley whispered, “Gavin, lock in.  Catch him as he falls.”

Nodding resolutely, he steadied his breathing and concentrated.  Beside him, Haley crouched and located her target.  Gavin’s goggles indicated a locked shot from Haley’s rifle, and he found the sentry’s personal gravity well.  The air shimmered behind him, and Haley pulled the trigger.  Shot through the head, the sentry toppled backward into the hole in space.  He fell through the air behind Gavin and Haley and landed with a muted thud on the muddy ground.

Brucker nodded toward Valerie as Sammie returned to the group.  “Is it clear?”

“I don’t sense anyone else in the trees,” she answered, “if that’s what you mean.”

He nodded.  “Yes, that’s what I mean.  Thanks for your help, Ms. Sawyer.  Why don’t you head back to overwatch.  We’ll take it from here.”

“Sure,” she replied and pushed her way through the overgrowth to join Gavin and Haley.

Brucker led the rest of the strike team closer, where they heard laughter and conversation over the storm.  The smell of grilled beans and spicy sausage lingered upon the air.  Tents had been erected between four covered trucks, and timid light from a gas stove cast a bright blur through the rain from beneath a rugged easy-up.

He signaled, and most of Brucker’s teammates fanned out, moving slowly and silently.  Zerki crouched and raised her rifle, sweeping her surroundings as Ajax set a heavy blaster upon its tripod.  When he was ready, he tapped her shoulder, and she brought her scope to bear on one of the kwercians.  He stood next to two others under the roof of the easy-up, wearing an automatic rifle over one shoulder.  He stood in front of an untouched stack of bratwurst.