Shining world, p.27
Shining World, page 27
“Better than watching our homeworld burn,” said another politician from the back of the group. “How long will it be before the Gavant Reach sends a fleet? That is why we are their allies, is it not?”
“Servants,” grumbled someone else. “The Gavant will come when they come.”
He wasn’t wrong about that, but I kept silent.
“How did this enclave get here? How long were they hidden below our cities?” Other voices joined int the argument.
I drew Leana aside. “Corax is on the way here. You heard what Kayan said. That means we have a chance to stop him. Help find his ship and set a trap.”
Leana glanced at my gauntlets. “Are you recovered enough to use those?”
Answering “no” should have been easy, but I hesitated. The Skylar warriors are deadly adversaries. Without my strongest friends here to fight, we would need cunning over cannons.
My eyes drifted to the ships descending from the heavens. Set against a backdrop of stars, they should have been a spectacular sight—like a parade from above. It made me sad that we never saw a peaceful armada landing on any of my friends’ homeworlds.
“What are you looking at?” Leana said.
“A crap ton of assault ships.” I hesitated as my eyes looked beyond the dreaded sight. “And the night sky.”
“So romantic,” Leana quipped. “Maybe you have an Earth girlfriend we can invite to walk the ruins of my homeworld when it’s over.” She grabbed my upper arm almost playfully. “Come on, Noah. Tell us you have a brilliant plan. Something Corax won’t expect.”
I held up the gauntlets. “These are drained. The more I use them, the more of myself I have to spend.” I looked down at my feet. “Corax doesn’t know it yet, but he is going on an unexpected journey.”
Use of the Seer devices always came at a price. That was why I rarely used them. Now, backed into a corner with an entire civilization at stake, it was time to roll the dice.
“Break it down for me,” Leana said, stealing one of my phrases. “I can tell by looking at you that this will be more dangerous than usual. That’s really saying something with you.”
I reminded her of the many properties that had manifested from the Seer devices. The first and worst had been the ability to psychologically overwhelm an enemy from great distances. After that, I’d learned to make a shield with the chest plate, blast people and ships with the gauntlets, and travel with the boots. The master key opened star routes, speeding up whatever warp bubble variation we were using to travel the stars.
Thinking about the Seer artifacts and their powers caused me to slump. Leana squeezed my arm hard and propped me up. Behind her, I noticed worried looks on Joav’s face. The regulators didn’t seem happy either.
“What is he doing now?” Solen said as she arrived out of breath. “I know that look.”
I faced her. Leana stood at my side, supportive but worried.
“The moment we find Corax, I’m gonna snatch him away from his troops. With luck, I’ll transport him someplace far, far away and leave him there. The rest of you will throw the Skylar mission into disarray.”
Solen nodded thoughtfully. “They do have a centralized command structure. You can see it in the organization of their squads and in the way they executed parallel missions to steal the child and take over Kayan. What happens if you find yourself with Corax on a lonely rock?”
“That is a future problem,” I said as I shifted my attention to the assault ships.
“It is,” Solen agreed. “A future problem where you get your ass kicked and we never hear from you again.”
“Take one of us with you,” Leana said.
“No. This will be hard enough without complications,” I said. My first use of the boots had been to transport Solen, Hash, and me to Jyko. I could move a group to another planet but didn’t want to. This had to be me and Corax. No one else needed to get killed.
“How far can you take him?” Joav asked.
“There are a lot of variables,” I said.
Sirens blared from every section of Divonia. Ixomdac was now under assault as well.
“Let’s find Corax,” I said, then strode toward scores of Skylar landing craft. The enemy warriors spread out to fill the boulevard. Long and straight as this section was, I could see them from a distance. The locals had strewn barricades across the streets and reinforced the corners of buildings.
Energy weapons opened fire on the invaders rushing down the ramps of their ships. The city had gone from a bustling metropolis to a ghost town to a battlefield in the space of hours.
“Kayan, can you hear me now?” I ducked behind a Gleam armored car marked with their word for Police. It looked solid, but I knew it wasn’t built for this type of warfare.
“Did she answer?” Solen asked. She leaned around the edge of the armored car and fired several shots at the invaders.
Leana and Joav joined us. The regulators took cover behind a trash truck someone had filled with sand.
“No.” I searched for Ryn and Scratch and remembered they were both in the hospital. “I could boost the signal with Seer tech.” Fear grew in my core like an unwanted spirit. I didn’t want to use any Seer tech. The less I relied on it, the happier I was.
“Don’t even think about it,” Solen said. “I already hate your plan. The Skylar also use Seer technology. Be careful, or they will turn it against you.”
“Leana, have the Gleam defenders identified Corax’s assault craft?” I asked.
She consulted Joav, and then the regulators across the gap. “His ship landed in a different section. We can show you the way. Follow us.”
Solen nodded and moved when I moved.
“Cover us,” Leana said.
Solen and I blasted a pair of Skylar infantrymen. They ducked behind a corner and called for a small tank that was deploying down an assault ship rank.
“Now you go,” Leana called back. She and Joav shot at any of the enemy troops who seemed interested in our movements. Mikol, Wilonia, and Harriez performed their version of a bounding overwatch and soon caught up to us.
On some streets, we ran like it was a track meet. On others, we crept forward, covering each other with suppressive fire and always using cover when it was available. An hour later, I was watching Corax’s command post from a second-story window.
“This won’t work for long,” Joav said. “They are clearing buildings and putting their own guns in them.”
My companions discussed our tactical options. All I could do was watch Corax. A lot of things went through my head, but I focused on what I needed to do. Worrying about past mistakes wasn’t going to fix anything.
“You’re awfully quiet, Noah,” Solen said as the others worked out our best plan to fall back.
“Wozim, Chool, and their warriors couldn’t stop this dude.” I fumbled for what to say next. “My idea was to take him to the moon and duke it out.”
“Brilliant. Did you get hit on the head?”
“Recently?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Az and the other Azok’s failure to show hasn’t helped us. One of the dreadnoughts would be nice about now, but they’ve stayed near the Obsidian Gate since the Taliz conflict. That leaves the Taliz, but I will never trust them like you do.”
“There are a few I could count on,” I said, but a new idea was forming.
“What?” Solen asked.
“We went to Jyko once. That was a long-distance jump. Maybe I can make the boots take us back to where I first encountered Seer technology,” I said.
“That isn’t where you want to take this dude,” Solen said.
“Nope. Where would he receive the least hospitable welcome after what he did to Wozim and Kayan?” I asked.
“Tyton VIII. Stars, Noah. That’s brilliant. Can you go there?”
“Not sure. I keep looking around for Cavots. They could disappear our enemies to wherever, and I could stay here to help out on Glemdanogis.”
Solen frowned. “That’s not their style, but it would be welcome if they showed up with a ball of magic eight.”
“Magic 8-ball, and that is not what it does.”
She shrugged.
“Corax is conducting a perimeter patrol,” Joav announced. “Now is your chance.”
I raced down the stairs without a word, determined to intercept the Skylar leader and abduct him. It seemed like poetic justice. His people were fond of kidnapping hostages. Now it was time to turn the tables.
Everything went right for once. I dashed into a connecting alleyway and saw him passing on the street it opened into. The only thing I hadn’t planned on was Solen and Leana racing after me.
They weren’t supposed to be part of this suicide run.
Three Skylar soldiers passed the mouth of the alleyway. Corax followed them. He had that strange swagger that came with the genetic modifications he and his sect had embraced. I was glad none of them were scurrying forward in their beetle armor. That seemed to be for ship boarding.
He turned as I tackled him. “You!”
“We’re going bye-bye!” The words didn’t come out as smooth or confident as I’d envisioned them. Worse, Leana and Solen jumped into the field created when I activated the boots. The four of us were going on a ride through the stars. I hoped my friends survived.
Darkness engulfed us completely. I couldn’t see the enemy I gripped with both hands. He hadn’t fallen as expected, despite the full-force side tackle. The collision had merely forced him to sidestep. Corax wasn’t as burly as my Tyton friends, but his strength overmatched mine even in the Kayan armor.
So unfair. I was definitely lodging a complaint with the universe when this was over.
“Unhand me!” Corax roared as he shoved me backward.
Solen and Leana spread out as light returned to the scene.
We were… someplace with trees.
“Is this Tyton VIII?” Leana asked.
“Could be,” I answered helpfully. Navigating with the Seer technology wasn’t a science, not for me. The boots worked best when there was a desperate need. I’d manufactured the condition this time and mentally aimed for Wozim’s fortress on Tyton VIII. Instead, we’d landed in an expansive garden full of cherry blossoms and other stunning trees.
A voice sent up the alarm, and while the woman sounded familiar, I couldn’t swear it was Mizow.
Leana scrambled away from Corax’s first attack. Solen fired her pistol but missed as the Skylar leader moved faster than seemed possible. I took three rapid shots at him with my energy rifle and maybe grazed his shoulder.
Inside, I was stressing out. Tyton VIII was a planet. Had I really thought I could go straight to Mizow and her warriors by thinking hard? That was how it had worked in the past, more or less, but I hadn’t tested the devices or practiced using them.
They’d been firmly in the category of “use only during an emergency.”
“I know what you did,” Corax growled from behind trees. He moved continuously, becoming a series of shadows. The sun was too bright here, and it always seemed to be in my eyes. His silhouette menaced me from a new position every few seconds.
“Your attack on your elders is ruined,” I said, moving to keep from getting shot or stabbed. What was a good tactic for him was a good tactic for me. “And even if your people leave the Reach galaxy, you will be staying right here.”
“Are we negotiating?” he asked.
Now, that wasn’t something I expected. “I am a reasonable guy. Make me an offer.”
He burst from the trees and stabbed a short, wide blade through the front of my armor. It struck the Seer chest plate, which was probably his actual target. Did he not know which device had brought him here, or was there a connection between them he understood better than I did?
I fell backward, minimizing the depth of the thrust. At almost the same moment, I kicked out, hoping to strike him between the legs. My boot crashed into his knee, causing him to stumble.
“Take that!” Leana fired several energy bolts into the side of his armor. He shrugged it off.
Solen fired into his back with no better effect.
I continued my undignified retreat and struggled to my feet. He came at me again. I dodged behind a tree like a true hero.
“Come at me, bro,” I said and barely dodged another attack. He alternated between stabbing with the short blade and shooting with a huge pistol. Leaves, branches, and chunks of bark flew into the air.
And then I heard the piercing shriek of multiple battle tails. There were Tytons here, and they were responding to the commotion.
I jumped over a moss-covered boulder and slid down the far side. Corax ran around the perimeter of the obstacle stunningly fast—just as I’d guessed he would. I fired straight into his face. This time, he staggered back from the impact against his visor.
If only he’d had it open.
After slipping twice, I managed to pursue him down the slope of the hill. He came to his feet with an axe in one hand and the oversized pistol in the other. How he had managed the transition was a mystery, but I assumed he dropped the short sword and just grabbed the next item in his arsenal.
I sent two energy bolts to the center of his chest plate and a third at his face. All three hit, but not solidly because he was on the move again.
“This guy is so fast!” Solen complained as she opened fire again.
Corax rounded a tree and threw his axe in one motion. The weapon flipped end over end and smashed into Solen’s chest. She flew backward and was lost in a tangle of bushes.
“Lay down your weapons or die!” shouted the most intimidating Tyton woman I’d ever met.
Corax darted behind his own boulder to reload and reassess.
“Noah? What are you doing here?” Mizow asked.
I pointed toward Corax. “Wozim was poisoned, and that guy won’t give me the antidote.”
“He what!”
Solen moved to my side and helped me cover Corax’s hiding place. If the Skylar leader showed his face, we were going to blast him… again. This dude’s armor was tough.
“Noah Gantz, tell me what I must do to save my husband,” Mizow said. She made her way through the trees as she spoke. If not for her words, it would be impossible to track her movements. Others were in the garden as well, and I assumed they were her bodyguards—elite Tyton warriors ready for anything.
“This man is a Skylar, a slave of the Seer and extremely dangerous. His soldiers defeated good Tytons in a fair fight.”
I hadn’t wanted to offend Mizow or her warriors. That could be tricky with Tytons. At the same time, they needed to understand who they were dealing with. Underestimating Corax would be a mistake.
“Why doesn’t he speak?” Mizow demanded. “Does he fear me?”
“Why would I not fear a demon of aggression,” Corax said, then moved the moment the words ended.
Mizow shifted her position and directed her warriors to encircle the Skylar leader. I moved into the perimeter with Solen and Leana.
“I assume you brought him here because you cannot handle him,” Mizow said. “So stay out of my way.”
Solen grabbed my arm. “She’s right.”
Tyton warriors and their battle tails shrieked as they charged toward the center of the circle they’d made around Corax. He whipped right and left, searching for the best target, then slammed his palm against something on the front of his armor.
An explosion flashed outward in all directions. Trees were stripped of branches. Some snapped and fell backward. Tyton warriors were flung back the way they had come.
A few, like Mizow, had dropped prone to minimize the effect of the shock wave. Their instinctive reaction had kept them in the fight, but now there were four against one instead of a dozen.
I fired a barrage of energy bolts at Corax. From this slightly greater distance, it was easier to track his movements. Leana and Solen did likewise. We shifted around smoking trees. The flowers of Mizow’s orchard floated down through the chaos.
Tytons picked themselves up and raced back to the fight.
I lost sight of Corax and Mizow as they clashed with blades. No fight had ever moved this fast. I was constantly running, jumping fallen trees, and sliding through creeks to keep them in view. Corax had expanded a spear with blades at each end and whirled it in a tempest of death.
One of Mizow’s warriors staggered back with blood spraying from between a gap in her throat armor.
Battle tails lashed at Corax. He severed one and nearly did the same to Mizow’s symbiont. On instinct, I fired at Corax’s wrist and caused him to miss that strike. He barely flinched at the pain.
Mizow executed a spinning back kick that sent Corax over a pile of rocks and into a shallow ravine. She leaped after him, stabbing as she fell through the air. Smoke swirled in the wake of her passing.
I ran to the high ground, desperate to see what happened next and to help if I could. Leana and Solen disappeared in the confusion, but at least I didn’t hear them screaming in pain like half of the Tyton warriors did.
Nothing was visible when I reached the top of the ravine. Mizow and Corax had been there. The ground was churned up, and there was blood everywhere. Thoughts of what Wozim would do to me if I got his wife killed entered my list of worst-case scenarios.
Running downhill was never as easy as it should be. I nearly tripped twice before reaching the section of rocks and trees Corax and Mizow had burst through.
I heard them more clearly now but only caught glimpses. They were on the move as they strove to kill each other.
All of Mizow’s elite bodyguards were too wounded to keep up, or they were dead. This idea had been a good one. What would have been better would have been dropping Corax into the middle of a Tyton army.
I put away my rifle to use my hands as I fought through the burning forest. Each twist and turn brought me nearer the combatants. Their voices roared and cursed and threatened each other.
I jumped another creek and twisted both ankles when I landed. Stumbling forward, I spotted the Skylar and Tyton leaders grappling in a clearing of destroyed wildflowers. The earth was torn to pieces. Huge swaths of sod were gone from where they had been fighting.
