The Lilri would get here any second now. They'd force him to retreat. Then he'd have no other option but to run across the open desert. They would gun him down and it would all be over.

  Richmond spotted some of his new allies hiding behind nearby fighters. The allies cast questioning glances at him, waiting for him to pull another miracle to save all their lives.

  This was another moment in a long string of moments. He was about to die again. Those people over there didn't know he was already dead.

  He squinted toward the Lilri and ducked behind his current fighter when more gunfire belched from the city side of the airfield.

  He blinked in disbelief when a bunch of Lilri fell over. Then Richmond noticed lasers. They came from the opposite side of the airfield--the side closest to the city streets.

  Lasers carved up the Lilri ranks from directly behind. More Lilri fell. The soldiers turned around to confront their attackers.

  The lasers swept from side to side. They mowed down enough Lilri for Richmond to see[?]--

  His throat went dry when he recognized the wounded Thelak he'd left behind at the compound. They weren't wounded anymore. They led a mob of two hundred Narillians. They all wore civilian clothes...and they all carried laser rifles. They assaulted the Lilri from behind and drew all the soldiers away from the fleeing allies.

  Richmond couldn't move. Was this really happening? Had these people really rallied to come and save him at the last possible second?

  The lasers inflicted devastating casualties on the Lilri ranks. The situation turned absolutely biblical when another swath of lasers burst to life from the other side of the airfield--the one closest to the Necrodrome.

  Richmond swallowed hard when a crowd of Gria advanced on the Lilri from that side. The Gria carved the Lilri to ribbons before they even realized what was happening.

  The few surviving Lilri turned this way and that, trying to combat both flanks at once. Both flanks took advantage of their position and brought down all the Lilri in minutes.

  Richmond was still standing there in stupid disbelief when one of Reknor's Krion from the Thelak compound rushed onto the airfield.

  The Krion stormed up to Richmond and took him by the elbow. "Come on, Captain! We have to get you and your people off the street quickly! We can't stay here!"

  Richmond followed in a daze. The rest of the invaders spread out, rounded up the allies, and herded everyone into the city streets.

  The Gria and what Richmond assumed must be more Thelak rebels surrounded the allies. The gunmen swiveled outward, covering every possible angle of approach.

  They rescued the allies just in time before the Lilri fighter craft blasted out of the Necrodrome to intercept the rebels. The whole mob broke apart and ran for it. Richmond's escort never let go of him. A cadre of Gria and a number of Gelara Dunonos stayed with him. They hustled him, his friends, and a few more of his allies into a cluster, but the Lilri came too fast. Hundreds of fighters spread through the streets and bombarded anyone standing outside, including civilian bystanders who had nothing to do with Richmond's escape.

  His escorts shoved him into a building just as the fighters unloaded on the structure from outside. Deafening concussions shook the walls. The fugitives staggered down a staircase and into another Gelara safe house. Everyone could still hear the bombardment going on.

  The friends packed into the lounge room, but no one could relax or even talk over the constant noise.

  Richmond collapsed onto one of the couches. His friends crowded around. None of the Thelak, the Gria, or the Gelara even mentioned sitting down. They all stayed standing with their weapons ready. Everyone stared at the ceiling, listening to the thunderous boom of gunfire demolishing the building above their heads.

  The assault went on and on for hours. No one moved, except for a few Thelak who paced back and forth before stopping to listen again.

  The wait exhausted Richmond--or maybe it was all the other strain finally catching up with him. He eventually let his head flop on the back of the couch and passed out into a deep sleep.

  He woke up in dead silence. Daylight still eked through the light tubes coming from the street.

  He didn't hear a thing. He had to listen carefully to make sure something wasn't wrong with his hearing.

  Zuna lay curled up on the couch next to him. He could still hear her breathing. He could also hear Hayes and Leatherwood breathing heavily in two armchairs across the room. They were both asleep.

  None of the gunmen who saved the allies were in the lounge anymore. In fact, none of the other allies were in the room.

  Richmond found out why when he stood up to get himself something to eat. The gunmen occupied every bunk in the bedrooms. They were all sound asleep now that the bombardment had stopped.

  Richmond stopped outside the third room. Everyone in the room was Gria. They all stayed together.

  He returned to the kitchen, got himself some food, and sat down on the couch to eat it.

  He was the first person to wake up, and he sat awake for a long time before anyone else stirred. How long would the friends have to stay down here?

  He supposed he could have gotten up, found whatever scanner equipment the Gelara kept in this safe house, and used it to search the area to see what the Lilri were doing. That would have been more useful than just sitting here, but Richmond couldn't bring himself to move.

  The silence started to produce a numbing effect on his mind again. He listened to the silence extra closely, but he didn't seem capable of thinking about much of anything.

  Every sight in the safe house, every small sound of someone breathing--they all created a heightened sense of awareness of something about to happen. Each of those microscopic sights and sounds throbbed with deep meaning and importance. He couldn't interrupt them, especially not with something so mundane as seeing what the Lilri were doing.

  He'd find out what the Lilri were doing soon enough. Then he would have to come out of this altered state of awareness to deal with the situation.

  CHAPTER 11

  Richmond's heightened awareness dissolved as more and more people woke up and started moving around and talking. The first few voices woke up everyone else. Their noise filled the safe house with a steady hum of conversation and activity.

  Richmond joined them. Their presence brought him back to the real world, and in a little while, a male Dunono named Niri checked the scanners. Richmond and Zuna went with him to look at the readings over his shoulders.

  "The Lilri carried out widespread strikes on the whole city," Zuna exclaimed. "Holy crap, this is serious! They leveled entire buildings."

  "Take a look." Niri pointed at warships in the atmosphere over Nesara. "They're standing guard again. We won't be able to move around with them there."

  "No one else is moving around either," Zuna remarked. "We might have to use the safe house system."

  "We won't be able to do that, either--not to get out of town," Richmond pointed out.

  "Then we'll just have to stay put until things quiet down," Niri suggested.

  "Things might not quiet down," Richmond told him. "This might be the start of a new Vasyke crackdown."

  Niri looked up. "Do you think so?"

  Richmond bent over the desk and pointed at the spot on the chart where the building had once covered this safe house. "Look at it. Tell me the Vasyke aren't trying to send a message to everyone."

  He didn't wait to see or hear anything else. He walked away and headed for the safe house supply room.

  Zuna and Leatherwood followed him. "What are you going to do, Joel?" Zuna asked.

  "I'll tell you what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to sit around and wait for things to quiet down. The Vasyke are making it obvious that they plan to keep the population pinned down like this. We have a chance to strike a blow, and that's what we're going to do."

  "How?" Leatherwood asked. "We don't have a ship. We don't have access to the explosives. We don't have anything."

  "That's where you're wrong, Sergeant. We have all these people. We have more people now than we've ever had, and they're all committed. We don't have to worry about any of these people betraying us or deserting us or changing their minds. Everyone here is in. We can do this."

  "Do what?" Zuna asked. "What exactly is your plan?"

  "You have communications equipment. You can contact everyone in the Gelara who's interested in armed resistance. The Thelak can contact everyone else they know who wants to strike back. We'll make a play for the palace, get into the tunnels, and detonate the warheads from the ground."

  Leatherwood raised his eyebrows. "You can do that?"

  "They're on a cascade sequence. We only have to detonate one for the whole sequence to blow."

  "We'd be underneath the palace at the time," Zuna pointed out. "We could get trapped and crushed by the cave-in."

  "Then we'll have to blow the warheads closest to the exit and get out while we can." Richmond tore open one of the supply crates in the Gelara's stash of goods. He pulled out a laser rifle. "You don't have to go. You can stay here. I'll go myself if I have to."

  Those words set off a chain reaction in the safe house. Everyone started arming themselves and getting ready for the assault.

  The Gelara made a huge overture to the Gria and the Thelak by pointing out the locations of a dozen different safe houses. The combatants could take refuge in any of them if the campaign turned against them.

  Richmond got busy arming himself and his friends. Five of his new allies from the Necrodrome had wound up in this safe house with him. Everyone else got taken somewhere else.

  He confronted them in person for the first time since their escape. "What are your names?" he asked.

  "Jolok," an enormous Krion growled. It was the Krion who'd first agreed to join the alliance.

  "Uril and Thar," a Yenus replied, waving to his companion.

  "Benar," a Drichi replied. He waved to the Dunono next to him. "This is Tiron."

  Richmond shook hands with them all. "It's an honor to have you with us. Thank you all so much for your help in the Necrodrome." He waved to those behind him. "We plan to leave the planet as soon as we can find a ship to take us. I'm offering to take anyone who wants to come. You don't have to decide right now. The offer is open whenever you want to accept it--or you can stay here with your families. You have my undying gratitude either way."

  He armed them, too, and they joined right in with the rest of the friends in getting ready for the assault.

  He half-expected some of these people to balk at his plan, but his idea had the opposite effect on them. The excitement and energy in the safe house spiked off the charts.

  The Gelara got just as enthusiastic about the preparations as anyone. Niri tore into extra supplies and handed out ropes, flashlights, and other gear he thought the friends would need in the tunnels.

  "We aren't going that far," Zuna pointed out. "We only have to locate the first warhead and set the timer so we can get out of the tunnels."

  Niri wouldn't listen. He was still going from person to person, loading people with gear for every possible scenario.

  Richmond took Zuna back to the office where the Gelara kept their scanner equipment. The two of them set up the timer that would trigger the explosion.

  "I think we should take two," she told him. "You take one and I'll take one. That way, if something happens to one of us, the other can blow the sequence."

  He found himself studying her. "All right. If you want to."

  He watched her program the second timer. She gave him the first one and took the second one for herself.

  He didn't like to think about anything happening to her, but he probably should. He should have prepared himself to lose all his people, including Hayes and Leatherwood--especially Hayes and Leatherwood.

  Losing one or both of them would have hit him harder than losing anyone else. Losing Hayes or Leatherwood would hit him harder than losing Zuna.

  He'd invested so much effort, attention, and mental anxiety into getting both men back to the Vanguard. What would it do to Richmond if he failed one of them?

  His mind automatically pushed that thought away. He didn't want to let himself consider it. He had to pay attention to the problems right in front of him.

  He had to think about it, though. He had to be ready in case it did happen.

  He suffered a pang of excruciating anguish when he thought about losing Zuna. How would he ever live with letting her down like that? What if she didn't die? What if he just got into a situation where he had no choice but to leave her behind? How would he live with that?

  He would almost rather die than face any of that. That on its own drove him to stay on this planet and finish this once and for all.

  He couldn't accept any other outcome than going back to the Vanguard with Hayes, Leatherwood, Zuna, Niur, and Fadek.

  The only other outcome he could accept was his own death.

  CHAPTER 12

  Richmond checked the scanners one last time before he left the safe house. The rest of his comrades followed him outside. The group had to blast their lasers through what seemed like mountains of rubble to get through the destroyed building on top of the safe house.

  The Thalek, the Gria, the Gelara, and Richmond's band of allies assembled in the street outside where the building used to be.

  This was the only destroyed building in the neighborhood, but the Nesara skyline no longer looked the same. The Lilri had brought down buildings in every part of town. No one could deny anymore that the Lilri were trying to send the population a message.

  Actually, it was the Vasyke who were sending the message. They only used the Lilri to do it.

  Richmond searched the skies, but he didn't see any fighter craft or any warships. The scans showed all the Lilri craft parked at the airfield.

  The party had also watched the Necrodrome bouts continuing while the fugitives stayed in hiding. Nothing ever changed. Richmond's escape didn't affect the Necrodrome machine at all. Nothing would affect it, except blowing up the palace and the Necrodrome along with it.

  The party set off through the streets. Everyone came armed to the teeth. Richmond and Zuna carried their timers, along with scanner screens to help them locate the warheads buried under the palace.

  Everyone in the party kept a sharp eye on the surroundings, but nothing threatened anyone here. Ordinary Narillian citizens started coming out of their homes and apartments to conduct their business. The city came back to life and stretched after the recent trouble. Local vehicles rumbled through the streets. Then the civilian aircraft took wing. The city picked up speed as activity increased. The pulse of life returned and the tension dissolved.

  Richmond's gaze migrated to the palace. He really wished he could see the airfield from here. It would be all too obvious if the Lilri launched anything.

  Almost as if his thoughts made it happen, the group only made it a mile before fighter craft launched--and then warships.

  They blasted over the palace and laid into every civilian aircraft within range. The warships started a slow, methodical advance from one edge of Nesara to the other. They detonated aircraft after aircraft, bringing down every single vessel in the skies.

  The warships took out cargo haulers and personnel transports. Then they started on the ground vehicles.

  Screams echoed through the streets as people ran for their lives. Richmond's party hesitated and then wheeled away.

  "Get back under cover!" Niri yelled. "Get back to the safe house! Move!"

  The party spun the other way and took off running. No one stopped until they'd barreled all the way back to the same safe house and dove underground.

  Richmond, Niri, Zuna, and Fadek went straight to the scanners to watch the unfolding disaster. All doubt went straight down the pipe. The Vasyke were cracking down--hard.

  Twenty warships had launched--the same twenty that first attacked Richmond and his friends when they tried to destroy the Necrodrome.

  The warships formed an impenetrable line of guns marching steadfastly across Nesara. They targeted and destroyed everything on the ground and in the air--including individual people who didn't vacate the streets quickly enough.

  Then the warships demolished every single vehicle left abandoned on the streets. They exploded all the vehicles, no matter who they belonged to.

  The friends watched in silent horror. Had Richmond's escape caused the Vasyke to react like this? Did the Thalek, the Gria, and the Gelara supporting him trigger this crackdown?

  The three factions had rescued him from Vasyke justice. The factions had killed countless Lilri to save one man.

  Richmond no longer questioned who the factions had come to the airfield to save. They wouldn't have come for anyone but him.

  Half the allies in the safe house gave up the vigil right away. They sprawled on the couches and in their bunks. None of them even asked what was going on outside. No one had to ask. They could hear perfectly well.

  The Gria went straight to their bunk room and stayed there. They didn't mix with anyone, not even when they sent someone out every now and then to bring back food and water. At least they didn't shut the door.

  Most of the Thalek relaxed, too. They didn't keep track of whatever Richmond and the others saw on the scanners.

  The Gelara Dunonos paid more attention. Niri stayed in front of the scanners through the whole battle--if Richmond could call it that.

  The warships drew level with the building on top of the safe house--the former building on top of the safe house.

  They didn't hit the rubble pile a second time. Their pilots didn't show any sign that they knew Richmond and his people were hiding here. The warships passed by and continued their advance. They made it ten blocks away from the building before another faction unleashed rockets from some apartment windows in another neighborhood.

  Niri detected a few Krion life signs before the warships unloaded on the building with brutal power. They brought the building down with thousands of people inside it. A few other factions tried to resist, but none of them had any weapons powerful enough to make a dent in the warships, let alone damage them.

 

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