Some of the traitors stared at the floor. They didn't raise their heads.

  Halener's gaze darted everywhere in frantic appeal. He even looked up at Richmond like that--as if Richmond of all people would actually help this piece of shit.

  Reknor and four other Krion from the warehouse assault squad stepped out of the crowd from the front ranks.

  These five men leveled their laser rifles at the traitors, and Reknor looked up at Richmond, too. Richmond nodded.

  Halener yelled out, "No!" right before the Krion opened fire. They cut down the traitors and left the bodies smoking on the floor. Reknor and the others left the dismembered corpses right there in plain view for everyone to see.

  Richmond hadn't planned this, but the stench of burning flesh made his point so much better than he ever could have predicted.

  "Now, listen up, all of you!" he bellowed over the crowd. "As of right now, we have one mission--a new mission! We're going to take down the Necrodrome. The Vasyke wouldn't be able to rule this planet without the Necrodrome--and no one can defeat the Vasyke without destroying the Necrodrome first. If any of you have a problem with that, I advise you to leave now. If you stay and try to stop us later, you'll wind up the same as these people!" He pointed at the mangled bodies.

  No one made a sound for a second. Everyone exchanged glances.

  No one burst into enthusiastic cheers, either. The Gria watched the exchange with their knowing eyes. Was Datun about to be proved right when he said no one wanted to end the Necrodrome?

  Richmond planned to explain his strategy to the faction. He planned to tell everyone how they would use stolen fighters to attack the palace from the air while another secret team snuck through the tunnels to mine the palace with explosives.

  That uncomfortable silence changed his mind. He'd only told one person his plans. He decided not to tell anyone else--not until he absolutely had to.

  He made a few more remarks about getting ready for their next campaign, but he didn't say what it was. Then he dismissed everyone.

  A palpable wave of relief went through the cavern when the rebels turned away. These people couldn't wait to get the hell out of his presence.

  The Gria stayed longer and studied everyone extra closely. Richmond had a pretty good idea of who he would send into the tunnels to lay the explosives. It sure as hell wouldn't be anyone from the Thalek.

  He returned to his friends, but he refused to tell them anything until they got to the command center.

  "Just don't tell anyone about this," he finished after he told them what he wanted to do.

  Hayes frowned. "What's the big deal? They all want to bring down the Vasyke."

  "They don't want to bring down the Necrodrome," Zuna explained. "I agree with Datun. Everyone is too fixated on it. They all know Narillian society depends on the Necrodrome, so they don't want to let it go."

  "Why are we even still here?" Leatherwood grumbled. "We should have flown away a long time ago."

  "You could have flown away a long time ago, Sergeant," Aemon countered. "We all chose to stay and support the captain."

  Leatherwood shut his mouth.

  "The Gria know the tunnels better than we do," Richmond went on. "They're also the most trustworthy people we have and the most motivated to get rid of the Necrodrome. They're the only people here besides the seven of us that I trust completely to actually want to destroy the Necrodrome. I say we send them in with the explosives while the rest of us launch the attack from the air. We don't even need to tell the Thalek about the tunnels or the explosives. They can find out with the rest of Narillia when the explosion goes off."

  "What about the other prisoners?" Niur asked. "If Datun is right, then we shouldn't blow the palace until the middle of that night's bout. That way the prisoners will all be in the air. The energy field will come down and they can fly away. That means we'll have to send the Gria into the tunnels to plant the explosives, wait for the Gria to come out of the tunnels, and then launch the air assault during the bout."

  Richmond nodded. "That sounds reasonable enough. We don't have to wait if we do it that way. The Gria can plant the explosives anytime, and we can detonate them remotely when we're ready."

  The others agreed, so they split up.

  Richmond spent the rest of the day pretending to inventory the faction's supplies. The Thalek cooperated with everything. Richmond couldn't find any fault in their conduct. But an undercurrent of tension infected everything between him and all the Thalek, no matter what species they belonged to.

  Even the Dunonos treated him with stiff formality. Did they always do it that way, or did he just become overly sensitive to it after all these betrayals?

  He used the inventory process to locate, count, and inspect a supply of explosives big enough to blow up the Palace of Sevao. The Gria had brought enough men to smuggle these explosives under the palace without anyone noticing.

  Richmond trusted the Gria to get themselves into the tunnels without anyone noticing, too. Then they could disappear into the desert and everyone would forget they existed.

  He really hoped this mission would give them some peace.

  CHAPTER 13

  Richmond collapsed onto a couch in one of the Thalek compound's recreational wards. He shut his eyes and let his head fall back on the cushion.

  Visions of explosives and air campaigns swam behind his eyelids. He couldn't turn them off.

  Aemon laughed at him from the next couch. "When are you going to learn to sleep at night, Captain? How can you conquer the world on so little sleep?"

  "I don't want to conquer anything, pal." Richmond dragged his head up, leaned forward, and pulled toward him the food tray the friends kept passing back and forth on the table between their seats.

  "Reknor said to tell you he disposed of the bodies," Niur announced. "He says he wants to talk to you about the air campaign."

  "What does he want?" Richmond asked.

  "He wouldn't tell me. He insists on only telling you."

  Richmond snorted. "I've decided I don't like being in charge."

  "What about popular?" Hayes teased. "Have you decided yet that you like being popular?"

  Richmond glared at him, and Hayes laughed at his own joke.

  "This whole air campaign would work better if we coordinated all the other Thalek compounds all over the planet to strike at the same time," Fadek suggested. "They could steal their own fighters and use them against Lilri installations in other cities."

  "We don't have time for that," Aemon told him. "It would take days or even weeks to plan it all and arrange for the whole campaign to happen simultaneously."

  "Besides, there's only one Necrodrome," Zuna pointed out. "We aren't mounting this air campaign to take out Lilri installations. We're doing it to destroy the Necrodrome. After that, the Vasyke will fall."

  "And then what?" Niur asked. "Assuming the Vasyke really do fall."

  "Why wouldn't they?" she countered. "Sevao is in the palace, and so are all the other Vasyke who might succeed him."

  "The Lilri will still be out there with access to all the Vasyke's firepower," Niur told her. "The Lilri could just step into the Vasyke's place."

  "They won't be able to step into the Vasyke's place in running the Necrodrome, because the Necrodrome won't be there anymore," Zuna argued. "The Lilri have never organized themselves, nor have they ever had any internal chain of command. The Gelara histories indicate the Lilri were peaceful before the Vasyke invasion--which is how the Vasyke enslaved them so easily. They aren't cut out for this. They wouldn't be enforcers at all without the Vasyke's direction."

  "Then who do you think will take power in the Vasyke's place?" Fadek asked.

  "Maybe Narillia will fracture into different species factions--and maybe that's for the best," Zuna replied. "The language program will die out in a single generation. We'll all fall back on our own native languages--assuming we even remember them."

  "The Dunonos won't have that problem, will they?" Leatherwood pointed out.

  "That's the whole point. The Zoth won't have it, either. Narillian society was nothing but a bunch of disconnected species factions before the Vasyke invasion. Going back to that might not be the worst thing that could happen to us."

  "So what do we do after the explosion goes off and the palace goes down?" Hayes asked.

  "We'll all be on board our own Lilri fighter craft when that happens," Richmond replied. "We'll launch into orbit and take off. It's that simple. We'll just need to stick together. The three of us will start transmitting Vanguard distress codes as soon as we break orbit. We don't want the Vanguard to see us coming in a group of armed fighters without knowing who we are and why we're there."

  He barely finished speaking before he caught a glimpse of Datun and a bunch of other Gria out in the corridor. They didn't enter the ward. They stood out there and made significant eye contact with him. They must want something from him.

  Richmond took two fruit balls off the food tray, pushed the tray away, and stood up. "I'll be right back."

  He headed for the door. The Gria retreated against the far wall like they needed to give him plenty of space to get out of the room.

  He stepped out of the ward and stopped in front of Datun. "What's up?" Richmond asked. "Is anything wrong?"

  Datun opened his mouth, and at that moment, three other Thalek stepped out of the room behind him.

  Richmond didn't think anything of it. People came and went from that room all the time.

  He glanced over his shoulder to make sure they had enough space to get past him. He held back and didn't say or ask the Gria anything until these people left.

  The three Thalek were a young female Gulepe from the medical staff, a middle-aged Dunono man from the command center, and a big, hulking Drichi who may have just become mature. Richmond recognized them all, but he wasn't on speaking terms with them. He wasn't on speaking terms with most of the Thalek in this compound.

  He turned back to the Gria. Whatever Datun had to tell him was far more important to him.

  The instant he turned his back on the three strangers, they pulled their weapons up and fired on him from behind.

  Everyone in the compound carried their weapons around nowadays. Even Richmond carried his weapon everywhere he went.

  The attack took him completely unawares. He felt a burning sensation in his back, and then something went very wrong with the organs inside his chest.

  His knees buckled. He stayed conscious just long enough to see Datun and the other Gria yank up their weapons and open fire on the three attackers.

  The Gria brought the attackers down in seconds. It was all over for them, but it was all over for Richmond, too.

  His eyes closed. He didn't even stay conscious enough to see his friends surround him.

  He woke up lying in exactly the same medical treatment chamber where he'd woken up the first time the Thalek rebels saved his life. He lay on the same shelf, looking up at the same square window in the ceiling.

  Zuna wasn't here this time. Datun was.

  He stared down at Richmond with such intensity that Richmond's heart stopped. "What's wrong?" Richmond choked. His chest still felt wrong.

  He'd been shot in the back with three laser rifles. He must have barely survived.

  Datun didn't look away. His eyes drilled into Richmond's very soul.

  Impossibly slowly, out of the distant eons of time, Datun picked up a laser rifle.

  Richmond didn't notice until right now that the weapon had been lying on the shelf right next to him. His hand rested next to the firing mechanism.

  Datun lifted Richmond's arm by the wrist, placed Richmond's hand on the firing mechanism, and then Datun used his own strength to lift both the weapon and Richmond's arm off the shelf.

  Datun positioned the weapon with the barrel aimed at his own chest. His hands tightened around Richmond's to hold the weapon in place and to compress Richmond's fingers onto the firing mechanism.

  Richmond panicked and tried to yank his hand away. "What are you doing?! Stop it! Let go!"

  Datun's features hardened into a mask of iron. "I swear to you I had nothing to do with the attack against you."

  "What?!" Richmond practically bellowed. "What the hell are you doing?! Let go, Datun! Put the gun down--now!"

  Datun didn't let go. He jammed it tighter into his chest. "If you believe I had anything to do with that attack, shoot now."

  "What the hell are you talking about?" Richmond roared. "I know you didn't!"

  Datun didn't slacken his grip at all. "If you think I'm a traitor--if you think I would actually do something like that to you--then execute me now. I don't want to face you if you think that of me--or of any of us. Execute us all if you think that. You can start with me."

  Richmond gaped at the man in sinking horror, but that moment finally got it through his head what Datun was saying.

  It had never once crossed his mind that Datun and the other Gria might have anything to do with those three assassins. It sure must have looked that way from the outside, though.

  What better way to lure Richmond to his death? Datun had indicated to Richmond that he wanted Richmond to leave the recreational ward and come outside into the corridor. The three attackers had been inside the ward at the time.

  The whole thing sure looked orchestrated. Richmond wouldn't have any trouble believing it of anyone else in the whole faction.

  That would have been the first thing he thought if someone from the faction beckoned him out into the corridor, only for some killers to follow him and shoot him in the back.

  He'd never suspected the Gria of that. He didn't believe it for a second.

  Now Datun was here confronting him about it the instant Richmond regained consciousness. That said a lot.

  "I don't!" Richmond gasped. "I don't think you're a traitor. I don't think any of the Gria had anything to do with it."

  Datun didn't budge. "Are you sure?"

  "Of course!" Richmond gasped. "You're the people I trust most in the whole compound--right next to my own people. I know you wouldn't do that. Come on. Put the gun down. I'm not going to execute you--and I don't suspect you."

  Datun took a long time before he relaxed his grip. When he did, he didn't put the gun down--not the way Richmond told him to.

  Datun kept his hold on Richmond's hand to glue his fingers to the firing mechanism. He guided the weapon down, laid it on the shelf where it was before, and pressed Richmond's fingers deeper into the weapon to make sure that he kept his grip on it.

  Richmond didn't dare to let go. This whole situation obviously meant a lot to Datun. He wanted Richmond to keep this gun ready in case he needed to use it--in case he needed to use it against Datun.

  "I don't suspect you, Datun," Richmond choked. "I swear it. I never suspected you--not even when it was happening."

  "Maybe you should," Datun growled.

  "You shot the killers," Richmond pointed out.

  "We could have done that to stop them from telling that we were working together."

  Richmond sank onto his shelf, shaking like a leaf. He didn't have the heart to argue about this anymore.

  He had his weapon. If he really suspected Datun of treachery, Richmond would use the weapon.

  But he didn't suspect Datun, or any of the other Gria. No way in hell were they involved in this.

  Richmond simply couldn't fathom the Gria ever doing anything ever in a million years to put another Necrodrome escapee in danger. Forget about trying to kill him. That just was never going to happen.

  Datun kept a close eye on Richmond. He didn't relax for several minutes. He kept waiting for Richmond to raise the gun and use it.

  "What did you want to talk to me about?" Richmond panted. "Why did you want me to come out into the hall?"

  Datun looked away. "We heard some of the Thalek talking about getting rid of you. I wanted to warn you."

  Richmond clamped his eyes shut at this latest confirmation. So he was right. The Gria had found out about the assassination attempt. Now they thought they were under suspicion for the same attack they'd wanted to warn him about.

  Datun dropped his gaze to his hands in his lap and lowered his voice to a husky murmur. "I have to tell you something, Captain."

  "Tell me. I trust you. I trust all the Gria. I want you to tell me anything."

  "Something happened after you got hurt. Your friends told me to wait until you recovered, but I can't keep it from you."

  Richmond gulped. "What is it?"

  "The Thalek deserted the cause. More than three-quarters of the faction has evacuated the compound and left. None of them wants to participate in destroying the Necrodrome."

  Richmond clamped his eyes shut over this latest betrayal. Who had stayed behind? What brave, loyal souls had stuck by him? What brave souls actually saw and agreed that the Necrodrome had to go so the rest of Narillia could survive?

  "The Gria no longer think you can succeed," Datun went on in the same undertone. "We want to go back to the desert. We just didn't want to join the ranks of the deserters without facing you first."

  Richmond's eye snapped open. He finally found the nerve to let go of the rifle so he could struggle up to prop himself on his elbow.

  "Listen to me, Datun," Richmond rasped. "I don't blame you for wanting to go back to the desert--and you can. You don't have to stay here--but I need you and the Gria to do one thing for me first. The Thalek have enough explosives to mine the Palace of Sevao--enough to blow up the Necrodrome. I need you and the Gria to mine the palace before you leave town. I was going to create a distraction to get you inside the tunnels, but I won't be able to do that while I'm recovering from this. I need you to do it on your own. You can get into the tunnels undetected and lay the charges exactly the way you planned. Then later, we'll launch an airstrike on the Lilri and blow the charges after you're long gone. You can do this. You can blow up the Necrodrome. You can save Narillia and drive the Vasyke out. Just do this one thing for me before you leave. That's all I ask. Do it for your people, and do it for yourselves. I would never ask you to do it for me. Just please--please do it, and then you can go back to the desert and live in peace. I'll never ask you for anything else. I swear it."

 

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