Dave pointed at the spot below where the ambusher waited.

  “Someone is convinced we’re still in there,” he continued. “That’s likely the force in the best position to attack us, even if they have to go uphill against rough terrain that precludes most if not all of their vehicles. Artillery will be a risk, but I doubt they’ll have any. Maybe some rockets. Everything else will be direct-fire.”

  Valentinian absorbed it all like a sponge and sat still for several moments.

  He turned to Palaiologos and nodded.

  “We’re sharp enough now, but water will probably start being a problem in a few hours, so we can’t chance a night landing on top of everything else,” Vee ordered the man. “Call him in and we’ll have everybody ready to run.”

  The mark of a good general. Strike with a good plan instead of waiting too long for the perfect chance. They had been without water for a day. The dry air would suck more out of folks, leading them to make bad decisions when dehydration started to become acute.

  “Yes, sir,” Palaiologos said, pulling out his comm and fiddling with dials.

  “ Warbird-1 or 2 , respond on this frequency immediately,” he said. “This is Captain Palaiologos, reply immediately and prepare for hostile landing zone extraction.”

  “ Warbird-2 , this is Yanders Enick,” a voice came back. “I’m on the ground north and east of the ruins. What are your coordinates as I power things up?”

  “Transmitting now,” Palaiologos replied, pushing a button.

  Dave turned back to the city below and watched for movement, deadly hornets down there just watching and waiting.

  “Twenty minutes to contact, Ground Team,” the man said. “ Warbird-2 out.”

  “Everybody listen up,” Valentinian called sharply. “Twenty minutes. Rest for ten or until we see something, then get ready to run like hell.”

  Dave lined up his longrifle on what almost looked like a command tent, set up a little back from the front lines outside the flight tunnel, behind a set of huge boulders. A shot would pass right through a human at this range, but he could bounce something off the inside of one of those stones and it would splash shrapnel and heat across the inside quite nicely.

  Hopefully, nobody had caught the quick transmission.

  The ammunition and powerpacks everyone had would run out rather quickly if the rest of the tribe decided to come for them.

  Dave was willing to die with a sword in his hand, but he would have preferred to wait another fifty or eighty years to do it.

  Hopefully, Vee’s luck hadn’t run out.

  29

  Iulianus

  It was a thing of beauty to watch. Phoenix ’s shuttle came over the big mountain behind them at only perhaps a hundred meters relative, like a raptor gliding on thermals. It was louder, but that was the engines holding it aloft, with the flat face of the mountain itself reflecting the sound outward.

  Iulianus keyed his comm again and felt a smile finally take hold of his face for the first time since he had landed on this forsaken planet.

  “ Warbird-2 , lock on this transmission,” he sent to his pilots.

  “We have you locked, Ground Team,” the reply came back quickly. “Stand by.”

  Iulianus looked once around the ruins and flatlands below, but nothing had moved of note, or someone on watch would have at least called attention to it.

  They were minutes from escaping. Minutes from blasting clear of this stupid shithole forever and never coming back. Except to maybe bomb that village again and do the job properly next time.

  He owed them that much.

  “Ground team, I believe I have eyes on,” Warbird-2 called. “Someone wave to confirm.”

  Iulianus had a hand in the air, gesturing madly, when a voice behind him hit like a blade to the kidneys.

  “No no no no no no!!!” someone screamed. “Damn it!”

  It might have been Endon from the tone. Iulianus turned to see what could provoke such a response.

  Movement caught his eye as he turned.

  It did not process.

  Smoke. Billowing slightly, but no outward.

  Oh, shit.

  Ground-to-air missile.

  “ Warbird , shear off!” Iulianus yelled. “Evasive maneuvers, immediately.”

  He never knew if they heard. The missile slammed into the shuttle less than two seconds later and the machine exploded into a huge fireball, tossing large chunks of burning debris all directions as fuel cells and powerpacks onboard contributed to the destruction.

  Everything fell silent but the sound of metal falling out of the sky.

  Dave Hall cut him to the quick a moment later.

  “Here they come.”

  30

  Valentinian

  Well, shit.

  Valentinian spared exactly that much for the situation as it went sideways. Nothing more. Anything else would be a waste of focus on what was about to kill him.

  That down there was a dragon that had been playing possum. They must have picked up the first transmission and quietly unlocked and configured a killer missile for flight.

  Time had run out.

  “Glaxu, get over here!” Valentinian yelled at the top of his lungs.

  Didn’t matter if anybody else heard. The muties already knew that something was up.

  They’d be coming.

  Already were, from the folks starting to climb the hill. No incoming fire yet, but the distance was several kilometers, and only Dave was probably lethal at this range with anything but luck.

  The Mondi didn’t ask, didn’t bitch, didn’t hesitate. He just came running.

  “Commander?” Glaxu called as he got close.

  “Go like hell, right now,” Valentinian ordered the tiny killer. “Get clear and circle around. You have however long it is we can hold them off to get back here with Outermost . Questions?”

  “None,” the Mondi nodded sharply.

  He turned and ran. Valentinian was pretty sure he’d be hitting sixty kph on the downhill slopes if he didn’t trip. The ships were out in the desert, but not all that far away, if you were truly desperate.

  He was.

  “Dave, kill something spectacularly and then hold your fire,” Valentinian yelled. “Everyone else, spend the time we have consolidating your cover and determining your fields of fire and defense. Pay attention to the corners and the slopes above us.”

  He put word to deed and moved down into a notch he had identified earlier. There were three more detonators in his pockets and he had no clue how many the rest of the group had brought.

  Those were short range weapons, anyway, so they were only going to be useful when the trouble got very close, although Valentinian identified a few places he might be able to hit on one toss, if he set them to detonate on impact instead of a timer.

  We’ll burn that bridge when it gets here.

  Dave fired. Nothing in the universe sounded like that cannon. Dull thump you felt all the way in your intestines, followed by a double crack as the rocket itself cleared the barrel and went hypersonic with a sound like a dragon screaming back at the one down in the village. The one that had already killed Warbird-2 .

  No use in calling for the other shuttle. It wasn’t armed either. All it could do was die under a second missile, and Valentinian was willing to bet that those people had a half-dozen more sitting down there somewhere, just waiting for a fool to try their luck a second time.

  Valentinian watched Dave’s shot. He had no idea what the man would aim at, and didn’t care. It would be important.

  The rocket hit one of the boulders to the rear of the lines the warriors had drawn. Not all that far from a tent or something. Valentinian had no idea why that was the place to shoot, until he saw how the stone itself exploded under the impact. Unless you were wearing some armor, that shot had just sprayed the tent with shards of stone Valentinian was willing to bet were razor-sharp and deadly.

  Dave Hall was like that.

  Down in the city itself, another group of folks were getting organized. This group was smaller, but had nicer vehicles. A few were technicals , with a pintle-mounted weapon of some sort in the flatbed, rather like the truck he’d brought.

  Kyriaki still had the fire control mechanism to hers, so nobody would be using his own twin pulsar against him, at least. They could have it, after they killed all his people, but he intended to make that an even more expensive butcher’s bill than they’d paid so far.

  How many T’Brask had died when Iulianus Palaiologos and his team had set a trap at the first entrance? How many more had ended when Princess Rualoh exploded? Valentinian had a rough final total from the running battle that had been fought, and eighty or so T’Brask had been killed, for the fifteen or so the Widow had brought.

  Plus Warbird-2 and whoever had been aboard.

  How many more were dying on their way up the slope to the final assault?

  He checked his ammunition. The heavy flamer had been fired exactly four times today. Considering his team, he might give it to Dave and swap him, but Dave always carried spare powerpacks and disks for whatever weapon he strapped on.

  Kyriaki ran over to his hole in the ground, hunched against non-existent enemy fire. But she was reacting to training, not the situation.

  She rumbled to a stop behind a couple of boulders big enough to stop Dave’s rifle at anything but a suicidally-short range shot.

  “Hell of a first date, you know,” she smiled at him as she came to rest. “Most people take a girl out to dinner. Maybe a show.”

  “Wanted it to be memorable,” Valentinian grinned back. “Nothing second class for you.”

  “Better plan something bigger for our second date, then,” she said with the sort of mock-serious that only an ex-cop could do.

  “What, break back into Dominion Prime or something?” he laughed, reaching out a hand that she took. “What’s a guy got to do to impress you, anyway?”

  “Stay alive to kiss me tomorrow,” her voice turned serious.

  Her eyes did too, before flashing over into that place where she’d been in those moments when she climbed aboard the truck in the courtyard at Truqtok’s palace and proceeded to kill the place.

  Glaxu had mentioned privately afterwards that he had originally figured the crew of Longshot Hypothesis to be at best a distant second and third to himself in overall lethality. At least until he had survived that afternoon. Only afterwards had he down-rated himself to fourth, granting even Valentinian precedence because of how carefully that trap had been turned inside itself.

  The M’Rai, Butler Vidy-Wooders could have taken Valentinian in single combat, but Glaxu had wondered what Kyriaki would have done to him, to say nothing of not-Dave-Hall.

  “Anything, for you,” Valentinian said to her.

  There wasn’t anything more to say. She had chased him halfway across the galaxy. Caught him twice and let him go both times. Given up her career and her life on the chance that he would look at her the way she was looking at him right now.

  Hopefully, she could see it in his eyes.

  Kyriaki Apokapes must have seen something, because her Goddess of Destruction smile relaxed just a hint and she leaned close enough for a good kiss. Not a long one, but heavy with promise.

  Then she was up again and moving sideways to a spot where her shorter-range assault pulsar would be most effective.

  There was next to no cover for someone coming up the hill, because the slope was still fairly sharp and open. You had your choice of scree on the left as you moved, trapping your ankles, or boulders on the right. The scree would slow you down, but the boulders would force you to move in and out, back and forth, in order to approach.

  How many of the crazy fire-breathers, the ones that would take the scree, had survived? Hopefully, a good chunk of the ones starting to scamper this way from the lower slope.

  Valentinian wouldn’t feel especially bad if he had to wipe out the entire species this afternoon.

  At the very least, the survivors of what was coming would tell tales for as long as the tribe existed.

  Or died this afternoon in the attempt.

  31

  Stephaneria

  Stephaneria watched the two of them kiss. Noted the emotions, the passion that flowed back and forth between Kyriaki Apokapes and Valentinian.

  Strauss had never once looked at her like that. She doubted he was even capable of it, even on reflection. Valentinian hadn’t smiled at her that way either.

  Looking back, the promise in his eyes had been a fun romp on even terms whenever he was on station. Pleasure from a man who would listen to her needs and satisfy them adroitly before seeing to his own.

  Adult relationship. But still far short of what he already had with the ex-cop, even if Stephaneria had gotten to kiss him first.

  She knew she could press her case for more later. Rumors and whispers had descended on her ears from the tunnel, as various factions formed and fell like leaves of a kaleidoscope turning. Athanasia would find a way to give her a child by Valentinian, even if he was never inside her personally. Dave Hall had also been approached to participate.

  Iulianus was lurking around the edges. He was smart and competent, like Strauss had been, but without the passion for her that she had missed her whole life. The man would be a good protector, at least as long as he felt he needed her around, which her studies of history suggested might be until she bore him a child that might inherit a throne and a crown after Athanasia was gone. Perhaps a spare, just in case.

  No child of another man would be safe claiming precedence.

  Stephaneria looked down the slope at the onrushing hordes of death that wanted to drag her down into hell with them. Her pistol had nothing like the range to engage them at this distance, but that would change as they got closer.

  And Athanasia had warned her about sex-crazed cannibals that would eat the men and keep the women as breeding stock.

  She wondered if they would be any worse in bed that Iulianus had been. Not bad. Self-centered, perhaps. Focused on his own pleasure, as he was just the third wheel in a conspiracy, and all of his energy had been centered on the Widow.

  The smile on her face at the comparisons also brought a chuckle. No one would hear it over the noise of energy rifles starting to fire, so she could indulge herself in a moment of levity.

  Tomorrow would be the time to worry about whose child she might be called upon to bear, if anyone’s. Today, she would dedicate to death.

  A glance over at the Widow to confirm. That woman would die in this battle, rather than be taken. The sword was off her back and resting, pommel up and bare-bladed against a handy stone, where she could grip it in a hurry and strike.

  Stephaneria would face her own pistol if it came to that.

  Iulianus came close, ducking down as the mutants below fired up the slope. Stephaneria focused on him. She had several minutes before anybody down there was close enough for her.

  She noted that the bandage was on his off-hand, but his pistol remained holstered for now.

  “Iulianus?” she asked as he settled.

  “I have come to apologize,” he said simply.

  “For?”

  “For being an officer and gentleman of the Dominion Armada, I suppose,” he shrugged. “Some behaviors become so ingrained that breaking out of them becomes difficult.”

  “I see,” Stephaneria inserted as a placeholder while she studied the man. “What have you done?”

  She liked the flash of a grimace that ran across his features for the barest moment.

  “I have conspired with almost everyone here except you,” Iulianus looked her in the eyes now. “That was a mistake.”

  “Was it now?”

  “Yesterday, you were a weapon that Athanasia had forged to kill Tarasicodissa,” the man repeated the truth simply. “Today, things are more complicated. I would like to enlist you in a conspiracy that will probably take years to achieve.”

  “Which one?” she asked cruelly.

  Everyone had forgotten that she was more than a placeholder, apparently. That she had a brain. Eyes. Experience.

  Everyone except Valentinian.

  She had watched the conversations rippling about like waves working their way around a small pool. Watch the eyes flash her direction as conspiracies unfolded.

  He recoiled just the slightest bit. You had to be paying attention to see it.

  Like she was.

  “The one where I intend to inherit Athanasia’s power when she’s done with it,” he said. “And found a ruling dynasty where my own children will hold it after us.”

  “And my part in all that?” she pressed, enjoying the tiny ways the man was squirming, invisible ten feet away.

  “Athanasia intends us to mate,” he stated flatly. “To bear her little pirate grandbabies. I know you would prefer another, but we both know that the man will not remain any longer than necessary, and perhaps never actually lay eyes, let alone hands, on you.”

  “And my part in your conspiracy, Palaiologos?” she smiled so sweetly that he blinked, probably not expecting her to make him say those words out loud.

  “One of perhaps several,” he finally offered. “Mate with me and also bear children of Palaiologos blood, or perhaps simply stand entirely aside and I will find another woman to make a duchess and later a queen instead. We have at least a decade of work ahead of us.”

  “Sounds utterly romantic,” Stephaneria replied brightly. “Especially the parts where you kill me and any children not yours at some later date to preserve your own line.”

  Had she slapped him with an open palm, he might not have recoiled so sharply. Stephaneria took a breath and studied him.

  “Power seems to be the thing that corrupts all of you completely,” she continued. “Not wealth, as you could likely forge a financially successful path that would leave you with more money than you had any idea how to spend. Would I be safer if I only bore your children, or another man’s?”

 

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