Storm Clouds, page 24
part #1 of The Guild Wars Series
“Why not?”
“They withdrew.”
“They withdrew? To where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? When is the last time you saw one?”
“Never.”
“Wait. You are their proxy, and you are supposed to act for them.”
“Correct.”
“But you’ve never met them.”
“Nope.”
“So how do you know you are faithfully discharging the duties expected of you in the proxy relationship?”
“Easy. They always voted in a block with the Veetanho. All I have to do is vote the way the Veetanho do, and I am doing exactly what they want.”
“How do you know their feelings haven’t changed?”
“Paragraph 387.”
“What?”
“Read Paragraph 387 of the proxy agreement on the screen.”
Nigel flipped through the proxy agreement until he came to the screen with Paragraph 387.
“Go ahead and read it,” the Goka said. “Out loud, if you would.”
“In the event that nothing is heard from member race for a period of more than one year, Proxy should continue to vote in conjunction with the Veetanho Bloc until such time as member race returns to reinstate their wishes.”
“See?” the Goka said. “I am following the wishes of the Ganjiki. It is all as it should be. Do you have any other questions? No? Okay then, bye-bye.” It turned and skittered off, leaving Nigel holding the slate.
Nigel turned to Alexis, who was watching the Goka, her jaw hanging open, and realized his jaw was hanging open, too.
“What the hell was that?” Alexis asked as she stared after the alien.
“I have no idea.”
* * *
Visitors’ Quarters, Merc Guild Headquarters, Capital Planet
Tsan saw the creature walking down the hallway, and it drew her curiosity.
The creature was humanoid—much taller than Tsan, but slightly shorter than an average Human—and it was dressed in dark, loose-fitting robes that completely covered it from its boots to the top of its hooded head. The way the alien walked first caught her attention; it had a loose-jointed walk, with a strange, hunched-shoulder quality about it.
It was walking away from her, and she couldn’t see much of it, beyond one hand which stuck out of its robes. It was black-skinned and had abnormally long fingers. There was no extra flesh on the bones; the hand was as skeletal as anything she’d ever seen. Anything that was alive, anyway.
The strangest thing of all was the way people interacted with it—or didn’t interact at all, more precisely—it was almost as if the creature wasn’t there. The alien slinked down the corridor, staying to one side, and no one seemed to notice it. A couple of MinSha turned, as if they saw something when it went past, and that was when Tsan got her first good look at it—it turned toward the MinSha and pulled its hood back from its head.
Tsan had to steel herself to look at it, something about it caused her fur to stand on end the length of her body and made her want to shy away. The alien’s head was more pointed than a Human’s, with exaggerated occipital ridges. It had a mouth like a fish, full of silver, razor-sharp teeth that showed when it smiled. Its face was flat where most creatures would have had a nose or other olfactory sensor, and its head sat on a neck that seemed far too long and narrow to support it.
The worst part about it, though, was its red eyes, which glowed as if they had a power source to help them shine and burn. Although its gaze wasn’t leveled at her, she could feel its malignancy; the creature—and the look it gave the two MinSha—was pure evil. Its eyes narrowed, and it hissed at the giant praying mantis analogues.
The two aliens swayed slightly, then they turned away from the creature as if in a dream. Tsan stared at the creature, trying to memorize every detail, but the harder she tried to figure out what it was, the more she felt an urge to turn away, as if there was nothing to see there. The creature’s eyes returned to normal, but then it scanned the corridor, as if it could somehow sense her. She pulled her quintessence field even closer to her, and after a few moments the creature turned and continued on its way. A few seconds later, the MinSha shook their heads and continued back down the passageway as if nothing had happened.
Curious. She had to know more.
She followed it down the hallway, making sure not to draw its attention. It stopped at the door to the Humans’ room. Even more curious. Was it a friend of the Humans? It didn’t seem like one, or that it would be friendly to just about anything, aside from maybe members of its own kind. Tsan was skeptical about even that, though. She’d spent a lot of time around Humans—more than most of her race—and she didn’t think the creature was something they would like, but Humans were strange sometimes, and they were always doing something unexpected.
She decided to follow it into the quarters once the Humans opened the door, to watch the interaction. When they didn’t open the door and it broke into the room almost as quickly as she could have, she shot forward on an impulse. Although she could tell it would be more dangerous getting close to it, she drew her quintessence about her as tightly as she could and raced through the door just before it closed.
The creature paused and opened the door again, its eyes searching the corridor, but then, obviously seeing nothing, it shut the door. Tsan moved to the far side of the room as the creature went to work, setting up something behind one of the tapestries on the wall. It didn’t take long to finish what it was working on; the creature was clearly well-practiced at it. It was also, evidently, a spy or assassin of some type, depending on what it was leaving behind the tapestry.
The alien stepped back to survey its work, but due to the hood, Tsan couldn’t see its expression…not that she could have interpreted it even if she had. The creature was as foreign as anything she’d come across in a lifetime of contracts.
Without a sound, the creature turned and headed toward the door. Tsan caught a flash of red from within the hood as the alien turned to survey the room, then opened the door and walked out. Tsan raced to the door, careful not to break any invisible beams from the item the creature installed, but it closed quickly and shut before she could get there. Her tail twitched in annoyance. She couldn’t immediately open the door, or the creature would know it was being followed.
Tsan counted to 20, then eased the door open. She couldn’t see anything, so she opened it wide enough to allow her head through to look in the opposite direction. She didn’t see anything that way either. She sprinted down the hall in the direction the creature had come from—in case it intended to return to its starting point, but she was unable to locate it. Tsan sprinted back the other way but couldn’t catch its scent or find it in that direction, either.
She walked stiff-legged in frustration back to the Humans’ door, unlocked it, and re-entered the apartment. It was as she’d left it; the alien—whatever it was—hadn’t returned. She shook her head as she walked to the tapestry, unsure what she wanted to do. Track down the creature and learn more about it? Obviously. Stay here and warn the Humans about the trap? Yes. Humans were helping her race; she could provide them a little support in return, if it didn’t delay her quest too much. She wanted to find the alien creature but didn’t have any clues as to where to look, which would have made her quest easier.
Tsan inspected the trap—for trap it was—with half her mind as she tried to decide her best course of action. While the alien had camouflaged it fairly well, it was not up to her own standards, and she sniffed. Amateurs. If you really wanted someone assassinated, you hired a Depik. Of course, Depiks weren’t taking contracts on Humans, so whoever wanted the Humans dead didn’t have that option.
She sniffed again. It wasn’t even a good trap, for what it was worth. It was hard to see and looked like it would activate when the next person broke the laser beam it was emitting, but it was random—it was a single shot trap, which would kill the next person to walk in front of it, but there was no way to determine which Human that would be. The randomness of the trap offended her sense of professionalism; contracts were to kill a specific person, and there was no way to tell which person this trap would kill.
Unless the contract was just to kill one of them to cause chaos, but that seemed stupid. If the enemy—whoever it was—had done any research at all, they would have known that it was better to kill one of the Humans more than the other, and an effective trap—set by an effective assassin—would have killed that person and that person only. Amateurs.
She climbed onto the sofa to wait. She couldn’t figure out why someone would want one of the Humans dead and not care which one, but she had time to think about it while she waited. Waiting was something she was good at.
* * *
Visitors’ Quarters, Merc Guild Headquarters, Capital Planet
Alexis stopped in the doorway as they entered their quarters. “Don’t move!” she whispered.
“What is it?” Nigel asked. He had his pistol out and ignored her prohibition on movement to try to come between her and whatever she’d seen, and she had to grab his arm to stop him.
“I said not to move,” Alexis repeated. “Give me a second.”
Nigel waited, trying to look over her shoulder, but didn’t see anything.
“There,” she finally whispered. She pointed to a tapestry on the left wall. “Lower left corner.” She moved aside, and he entered.
Staying close to the wall, Nigel approached the tapestry Alexis had indicated, and he could see that the corner poked out from the wall by three centimeters or so. He put his head next to the tapestry, then waved his pistol in front of it. With a psst! a small sliver fired from the tapestry and embedded itself in the wall across from it.
Nigel slammed the butt of his pistol into the tapestry, shattering the device behind it, and pieces of it fell to the floor. He waved the pistol in front of the tapestry again. When nothing happened, he lifted up the tapestry and saw there was nothing left. He went to stand next to Alexis, who was inspecting the tiny hole in the opposite wall.
“Probably poisoned,” Alexis noted. “Anything that small would have to be; it wouldn’t have been much more than a nuisance otherwise.”
“How’d you know?” Nigel asked.
“You told me the Veetanho rep said we’d get ours. I don’t know…it made me kind of paranoid. When we left, I took a picture with my pinplants, and I compared it with what I saw when you opened the door. There was a ninety-nine percent match, but something was off. It just took me a minute to figure out what that was.”
“I’m glad you’re paranoid. I doubt I would have noticed it.”
“I wouldn’t have, either,” Alexis said. She shook her head.
“Someone wants us dead,” Nigel said. “Who do you suppose that is?”
“The obvious choice is the Veetanho. Beyond that? The Besquith? Goka? Someone else either you or I humbled in battle? Could be nearly anyone here.”
“We have to get you out of here. It isn’t safe for you or the babies.”
Alexis cocked her head and frowned. “Not safe?” she asked with a wry tone to her voice. “If I hadn’t been here, you’d be dead or whatever else that dart was going to do. It’s only because I’m here that you’re still alive.”
“That’s true, this time, but what happens if you’re the target next time, and you don’t see it coming?”
“Then hopefully you’ll catch it. We’re a better team together, and four eyes watching is better than just two.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, anyway; I’m not leaving.”
Nigel sighed, knowing the battle was lost.
* * *
Tsan slow-blinked as she licked an unruly patch of fur back into place. Clever Humans. She didn’t know how the female had figured out the trap set by the…whatever it was…but it was almost Hunter-worthy.
It also freed her from having to tell them about the trap or to interact with them. Both outcomes were preferable, as they kept the Humans from feeling any sort of ties to her and allowed her to continue her hunt.
The Humans went into the bedroom, still arguing, even though it was apparent—even to her—that the male was going to lose in the end. She walked to the door and quietly let herself out.
* * * * *
Chapter Eleven
Main Lobby, Merc Guild Headquarters, Capital Planet
“You want to see the security camera recordings!” the Oogar sentry roared. “That is not allowed!”
“Easy,” Nigel said, making a patting motion, “this is a secret.”
“A secret?” the Oogar thundered, his volume level only reduced fractionally. “What’s a secret?”
“Nothing’s a secret when you yell it that loudly.” Nigel had wanted to get a look at the security camera footage without Alexis knowing. At this rate, the entire headquarters would know what he was doing—including the person or persons he was trying to catch. “Never mind. I’ll take care of it myself.”
He turned away from the section of Oogar at the information desk and brought up the Merc Guild directory. Within a few seconds, he was speaking with the head of the building’s security, a Major Lurkan-Otar, who invited him to his office, which was close by.
The door was open when Nigel arrived, and the Goltar behind the desk waved him in with a tentacle. Nigel entered and closed the door behind him, then took the seat indicated by the alien.
“What is it I can do for you?” the major asked.
“There was an attempt made on my life.”
“Happily, it was unsuccessful,” Lurkan-Otar replied. He cocked his head slightly. “People try to kill mercenaries all the time, though; I take it there is a reason you are telling me this?”
“The attempt occurred inside the headquarters.”
“That is unfortunate,” the major replied. “However, that is also not an uncommon occurrence. While we are trying to regain control of the building and re-implement some of the protocols which used to exist, there is still some sniping going on.”
“In my own room?” Nigel asked. “I’m not even safe there?”
“Well, you should be. When did this happen?”
“About an hour ago. I’d like to see the security camera footage of the hallway.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t allow that.”
Nigel could feel his temper rising. “And why not?”
“Because if everyone knew where the cameras were, and what angles they covered, they could use that to plan hits on each other. The only thing protecting some of the representatives is that no one knows when they are under observation, so they don’t know what they can get away with.”
Nigel sighed. Unfortunately, that made sense. “Okay, so someone got into my room and set a trap. How, exactly, do I ensure that doesn’t happen again.”
“Well, I will open an investigation—”
“Not good enough,” Nigel interrupted.
“What is it you want?”
“If you can’t do anything about it, I want to know who tried to kill me.”
“And I told you, I—”
“Call Toyn-Zhyll. I suspect he will authorize it.”
“I can’t just interr—”
“You can this time. Give it a shot. I’d hate to bring it up at the next council meeting that the building’s security officer refused to work with me and that it was open season on delegates in the hallways. I don’t honestly see how that’s going to lead to more security rather than less.”
The major paused a second, and if he could have sighed, Nigel was sure the alien would have. “Fine,” the security officer said, slapping a tentacle on the desk. “I will contact him, but I already know what the answer is.”
Nigel sat in silence for almost 30 seconds before the Goltar spoke again. “I’m sorry, but the commander agreed; I cannot give you unfettered access to the video.”
“But I—”
The major held up a tentacle, interrupting Nigel. “That said,” the Goltar continued, “I will need to view the video myself, and I think it would be rude to kick you out of the office while I do so.”
A Tri-V image sprang from his desk to show the hallway outside Nigel’s room. The time stamp showed about an hour prior. The image went backward quickly, and Nigel could see several groups of people walk by backwards. At about the three-hour mark, something black flashed at his door.
“There!” Nigel exclaimed.
The major had seen it also, and he had already stopped the recording and set it to go forward again at double speed. Within a few seconds, a dark figure approached the door. The video slowed, and they watched a hooded individual reach a skeletal black hand to the door. The major drew in a sharp breath but didn’t say anything.
“What?” Nigel asked when he saw nothing else was forthcoming.
“Nothing—keep watching.”
The figure shifted slightly, blocking their view of what he was doing, but then opened the door and walked in. It twitched slightly as it spun back toward the hallway, and Nigel got a view of a burning red eye. “What the hell is that?” he asked sharply.
“Gah,” the major spat. “It’s a fucking SooSha. The original Sooloo were a race of predators found on a rim world somewhere, a long time ago. I don’t know how—so don’t ask—but they use some kind of telepathy to create holes in another creature’s memory. Originally, it allowed them to steal or even kill the other creatures on their planet. Unfortunately, the Kahraman found them and uplifted them, and they turned the SooSha into spies and assassins. The Kahraman eventually found better spies and assassins, and the SooSha were dropped…until the Veetanho found them and started using them for those purposes.
“I would bet you a thousand credits that it came here with the last group of Veetanho and was under their orders to do…whatever it did in your room.” The SooSha left the room, going in the opposite direction from which it came. “I will have to let Toyn-Zhyll know. If there is a SooSha here, we will have to find it and kill it before it does more damage.”
