Human, page 29
part #1 of Humanity Ascendant Series
A burst of rounds hit the wall to Eth’s right just as Gleb put a three round burst into the Quailu’s chest. They both pulled their weapons up as Hela led her group up the ramp to finish off the survivors.
Eth was shivering slightly from the energy transfer used in pinching a single artery. He chuckled to himself. No wonder the Varangians had advised against moving anything large. Throwing a cruiser into a star would probably be impossible, or fatal.
“Over here,” Hela called to him, gesturing to a Quailu on the floor who was struggling to sit up. His insignia marked him as a captain.
Bau came jogging up behind him as he reached the captain, so Eth spoke before he had much chance to think about whether they should even bother. He didn’t want her taking the initiative away from him.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Anger.
“I’m Captain Hesh of the Larsa,. ” he growled, “and what business do you have, asking impertinent questions of your betters?”
He rose to his feet, glaring at Eth. “If you think I’m handing over my weapon to the likes of you, then you’re even stupider than you look.” He turned to address Bau.
Eth spoke again, before Hesh could say anything to Bau. “The Larsa was one of Uktannu’s ships, was it not?” he asked mildly.
“Yes,” Hesh snapped. “I serve the Lord Uktannu.” He placed a heavy, admonitory emphasis on the word ‘lord’, radiating clear anger at a native using Uktannu’s name in so familiar a fashion.
Eth smiled. “Uktannu was declared renegade, along with all who serve him.”
Hesh showed the first hints of fear, but before he could even contemplate the idea of a mere native killing him, a mere native did just that. Eth’s right hand snaked out, his knife-blade slicing the back of the captain’s neck in what almost seemed a friendly gesture.
Eth felt Hesh’s disbelief followed quickly by understanding and, finally, horror. As Hesh’s horror faded into darkness, Bau’s grew to take its place. He felt little else from the others, aside from mild approval, but Gleb was harder to read.
He turned to look at Hela’s tactical operator and the young man’s gaze slid, meaningfully, down to the mangled corpse of the Quailu who’d dropped the grenade.
He had no desire to stand here and get drawn into a discussion. “Warrant, I’ll take Gleb forward and scout. There may be more up there. Police the available ammunition and follow us as soon as you clear these bodies.”
“We should have more than enough ground clearance to get our vehicle over them,” Meesh offered.
“Fine.” Eth waved a negligent gesture. “Let’s not waste any time. If we want off this platform, we need to keep the initiative over our enemies.”
He ignored Bau’s outrage and nodded Gleb up the ramp. It was a safe enough bet that the electress had expected better treatment of the Quailu dead. For that matter, she’d probably expected them to take Hesh captive, rather than slitting his cerebral arteries.
Gleb took up a firing position at the inside of the next turn, aiming up the ramp, and Eth glided past him, moving over to the far side to avoid blocking Gleb’s field of fire.
After a couple of turns, Eth called a halt so Hela could catch up. Gleb came to a stop across from where Eth was looking up the ramp.
The younger man’s curiosity was almost overwhelming. Eth wasn’t sure what to do. If he talked about it, word would spread like wildfire. If he didn’t talk about it, word would spread even faster.
But at least it would just be a rumor and Eth was fine with rumors. He could dismiss it if confronted by Mishak.
He could try to steer the issue, while it was still settling into Gleb’s long-term memory.
“Did you see that idiot with the grenade?” he asked the younger man. “So much for the superior Quailu constitution! They crash land on a deserted platform and he quaffs down the first strip of fermented fat he can get his hands on.”
“He was drunk?”
“Barely walking when he came around the corner. I’d lay a week’s pay we find a pool of vomit between here and their crash site. Good thing for him he didn’t need to have his helmet closed up.”
Gleb grinned. “He would have Glenned himself!”
Eth glanced at him. “So that story’s already made the rounds, has it? Well, Glen only ralphed in his work-station. His helmet saved him from smelling it while he cleaned up.”
“It’s funnier the way I heard it,” Gleb said. “And far more likely to become an enduring part of the language that way.”
“I’m sure Glen will be thrilled to learn of his contribution to Imperial Standard,” Eth retorted dryly, secretly pleased to detect no further curiosity from Gleb.
He leaned right, holding up a hand to quiet his comrade. “They’re almost caught up. Let’s get moving again.”
Six hours later, they reached a pavilion, one level down from the top, forty meters square and open to the swirling sky above. A lattice-work tower reared up from the middle of the pavilion supporting a small office block that probably served as a local traffic control point.
Meesh and Gleb jogged off to opposite sides of the opening, climbing staircases to the upper level where they could check for immediate threats.
Eth almost ordered Eve up to the offices on the tower but he didn’t want to take over Hela’s team. It could be bad for a unit’s morale if their trusted leader was suddenly cut out of the loop.
He stepped over to Hela. “Traffic control, d’ya think?” He nodded upwards to where the structure sat a good twenty meters above the deck of the upper level.
She nodded. “Good vantage point.” She turned. “Eve,” she called softly, “trade that sidearm for my rifle and get up there. Scope out what the enemy are up to.”
She took the pistol from the pilot, handing over her own weapon, which had better optics and a link to the holo emitter on Hela’s wrist.
Eve jogged over to the tower and started climbing as Bau approached Eth. The Quailu noble seemed fascinated at Eve’s quick progress.
“No arboreals in your dominions, My Lady?” he asked.
“The Arbellans were the first,” she replied, still watching Eve. “I never gave much thought to the efficiencies it could open up. Your pilot is very agile.”
“And hard to spot, we hope,” Hela added.
“I was surprised to see the ladder on the tower,” Eth admitted. “I suppose the efficiencies weren’t lost on the local lord either.”
He could feel Bau’s temptation to claim Quailu tolerance, but she must have remembered the scene down below because it faded.
Eve reached the office section in the tower and began moving around the surrounding catwalk, rifle aiming around the upper surface of the platform.
Hela activated a holo display from her wrist unit and a three dimensional image of their surroundings began to appear as Eve swept her scope around.
Eth frowned. The crash sites for the two shuttles were clearly visible but he’d expected to see activity near the downed craft. There should have at least been work going on to salvage what they could, organize and care for any wounded…
“I see no detection equipment deployed,” Hela said, a clear suggestion in her tone.
Eth nodded and she activated a control in her holographic interface. Three small discs ejected from a mounting on her shoulder, tiny counter-mass engines spooling up to speed before they started to fall back down.
The miniscule drones hovered until she drew a rough circle around the crash site and put their icons into it. They sped away, disappearing over the lip of the pavilion wall.
The details on their holo map sharpened dramatically as the trio sped towards their target. Just before they entered the assigned zone, one heartbeat was detected, enveloped seconds later by the heat signature of a Quailu.
Two other signatures held the standard Quailu shape but the average temperatures were far too low and still falling.
“Two dead in the crash,” Eth mused, “and they left only a single sentry on the shuttles?”
“We were lucky no one died when we crashed,” Bau muttered.
“To an extent,” Eth allowed, “but Eve, like the rest of us, was designed with an enhanced neural architecture. Even by Human standards, we have fast reflexes.”
Bau was gratifyingly affronted by this but Eth refrained from smiling. Instead, he affected the air of one who has no idea he’s given offense.
Then he forgot about tweaking the Quailu noble as the two crashed shuttles came into sharp focus.
“Damn!” He looked over at Hela.
“That damage doesn’t leave much room for hope,” Hela said. “I wouldn’t expect to find more than fragments of their engines.”
He looked back at the ramp they’d been climbing. “That group we ambushed – they were heading somewhere and I don’t think it was to attack us. They left one sentry on their gear and took everyone else. They must have been so impressed with their own landing on this heap that they didn’t believe anyone else would find it.”
“But there’s no ships on the station manifest,” Meesh’s voice advised.
Though he was up at the top of the stairway to Eth’s right, he was still tied into the proximity net. His suit projected the conversation to his inner ear, varying the volume for each side to give him a sense of direction. The projection of his voice was also tuned to appear to Eth as though it were coming from his own right.
“Yeah, well, they definitely seemed to have something in mind,” Eth countered. He looked back at Hela. “Warrant, I want to speak to that sentry.” He could feel relief at this demand for action. Hela definitely wasn’t one for sitting around and telling sad stories when faced with difficulties.
“Eve,” she said, looking up, “stay on over-watch. Gleb and Meesh, you both see the shuttle and the live target?”
“Seen.”
“Seen.”
“Secure the target and bring him down here, and, Gleb… bring him alive. None of your half-assed attitude toward instructions.”
“When have I ever…”
“Remember that high oracle you got an audience with?” Hela looked over at Eth. “A junior cleric in the anteroom told him he had to prostrate himself before the seer. Our Gleb must not have heard the second ‘r’ in prostrate…”
“Early detection is key,” Gleb insisted. “I just thought he was concerned about my health.”
“Shut your hole and keep moving,” Eth ordered. He reached out, feeling Bau’s reaction as she watched the two men move in on the holo display. She understood that the two operators were moving with a lethal efficiency. They didn’t need to stop and sort out who would move where.
One man took up a position to cover his partner who then moved past to the next vantage point. Their steady, fluid advance was borne of long experience.
“Captain Hesh…” he ventured, feeling the mental shudder the name conjured in her. “You feel I should have kept him alive?” He wanted the memory to remain fresh in her mind. It would come in handy when the prisoner arrived.
Bau cast about for something weighty to say – he could feel it – but in the end she sighed and spoke her mind plainly. “He’d surrendered. He was Quailu.”
“He didn’t surrender, ma’am. He was stunned by a grenade but he was refusing to relinquish his weapon. Do you think he would have accepted my surrender?” He felt confusion from her for a brief instant, then the feeling that he was asking her unfair questions.
“What kind of question is that?”
“A fair one, My Lady,” he replied gently. “If I’m to fight my master’s enemies, then I must do it to the best of my abilities. There are no laws separating the treatment of combatants according to species.
“If Hesh was free to kill me out of hand, then I must be free to do the same, or I fail in my duty to the Prince Mishak. I’ve come here to aid you, and I’ll do whatever I must to achieve that objective. If it means killing an enemy captain or throwing your own crewmen off a ship to improve your chances of survival, then so be it.”
She believed him. How could she not, after all she’d seen him do? It was important that he reinforce that belief before Gleb and Meesh brought their prisoner to him.
And they were already on their way back, the sentry stumbling along with his hands bound behind his back. They led him to one of the four points where ramps led down into the sunken area and jogged him down to where Eth, Hela and Bau waited.
“You sent these creatures to accost me?” the Quailu demanded of Bau.
“Mind your manners!” Gleb kicked him in the back of the knees, driving him down hard onto his knee caps, making a sound that would have made Eth wince even if he hadn’t already felt the Quailu’s pain. “You’re addressing an electress of the Holy Quailu Empire!”
Eth could feel his alarm at Bau’s identity but also further anger at this continued harsh treatment from a lowly native.
“We didn’t bring you here to answer your questions,” Eth said mildly, sensing the alarm that his closed mind now instilled in most Quailu. “I want to know where the rest of your party has gone.”
“Ugkh drasil ish past!” the Quailu spat in the ancient tongue.
Eth didn’t know the language but Bau’s angry shock made it clear that it wasn’t a compliment.
He needed this man to start talking and he was willing to use torture but it was a less-than-perfect way of getting information. Once you start slicing off bits, most folk will say whatever they think you want to hear, just to make you stop.
If he could make his enemy believe he would be tortured, he might just hand over the truth to avoid it. He could start the ball rolling with a harsh beating, but he’d rather keep the fellow’s wits clear enough to discern between truth and desperate lies.
“Ties,” he demanded of Gleb, stepping behind the prisoner and shoving him down onto his face on the deck. He took the first tie and put it around the Quailu’s lower leg, just above the boot, cinching it very tight.
“What are you doing you filthy savage?” his victim snarled.
“I’m going to start by cutting off your feet,” Eth replied conversationally, “and I’ll toss them down that grating over there. I don’t want you bleeding to death, so I’m using the ties to keep you alive.”
The outraged disbelief flared and died out like a fire built only with tinder. He was Quailu, after all. These natives wouldn’t dare harm him.
But then he became aware of Bau’s horror, her absolute certainty that she was about to witness a sickening spectacle. She clearly believed these natives were dangerous.
“You can’t allow this!” he shouted, no doubt talking to Bau, though he was unable to aim his head in her direction at the moment. “I was only…” His eyes narrowed, focusing on the bot-knife Eth had pulled from a sheath under his arm.
Made of nanites, the cutting edge was incredibly thin and it vibrated, easing its passage through the target. It would slice through a leg like a hot knife through air.
Eth grabbed a leg and brought his knife close.
“Tenders!” the Quailu screamed.
“You’d rather he start by cutting off your tenders?” Gleb asked, gleefully confused.
“No! The orbital tenders that carried the harvested gas from this platform out to the freighters in orbit,” the prisoner said.
“Bullshit,” Meesh insisted. “There’s no tenders on the manifest. I looked for ‘em after we crashed.”
“They wouldn’t be, would they,” the Quailu retorted, his desperation fading now that the knife was no longer coming closer to his leg. “Gas tenders operate on a separate charter. Imperial law. Prevents a monopoly forming.”
“And they’re still here?” Eth frowned down at his blade. “I think you’re just trying to cheat us out of a little fun. Why leave expensive heavy-grav tenders behind?”
“Because there’s no use for ‘em elsewhere in the system,” the Quailu insisted. “You’d have to pay to ship them to another system. Our tactical officer found maintenance records for a heavy-grav tender in the system.”
“My gut’s telling me this guy’s serious,” Gleb offered.
Hela snorted. “Where exactly do you stick your head when you’re listening to your gut?”
“How long’s this shit-hole been closed?” Meesh asked.
“A century and a half,” Bau said stiffly.
“Pre-nanite era tenders?” he groused. “Sitting idle for that long? If there’s a single control crystal that hasn’t grown wild, I’ll eat this guy’s feet.”
Eth nearly winced at the fresh wave of horror coming off their prisoner. “Those old engines were built to last, Meesh,” he offered helpfully. “If we had nanites and a PLC module, could we jury-rig something?”
He couldn’t tell whether Meesh’s surprise was at the idea itself or at Eth’s ability to come up with a technical suggestion.
“We just might,” Meesh admitted, “but we’ll need all the material we can get our hands on.” He pulled out two PLC modules and set them on the deck, activating both. He then used his arm-pad to bring up the programming from the damaged unit controlling the remains of their scout-ship cum ground vehicle.
He copied the program into the two units he’d harvested from the crashed enemy shuttles and then moved them to an open space, roughly fifteen meters away from each other.
“How long?” Eth asked.
Meesh tilted his head, looking down at the two units. “About an hour for everything to migrate down here and assemble.”
“Put some bunks in them. We’re close to falling asleep on our feet here. We can take turns driving while the rest rack out in the vehicles.” Eth turned to Bau.
“My Lady, I have a request to make of you…”
D espite her horror at Eth’s casual threat to torture and mutilate their prisoner, Bau found she was warming up to the Humans. The simple fact that they needed sleep had taken some of the edge off her unacknowledged jealousy.
She’d watched them take out a medium-sized party of Quailu with relative ease and she’d seen evidence of their suitability for combat, a suitability that seemed to outstrip her own kind.
