Sacrifice Read online

  Chapter 9

  “Ouch,” Xander said as he realized one of his arms was trapped under what felt like a mountain of rubble. The simple word made him cough, the air full of dust and particles that hadn't settled yet.

  “Colonel, that you?” Trey's voice came from somewhere nearby in the dark.

  “Who else would it be?” He winced as trying to move pained him all the more. “I think I'm stuck. How have you fared?”

  “I've bruised a few body parts, might have a few fractures. Nothing that won't heal all by itself. Bloody painful, though.”

  “Tell me about it.” Xander tried not to voice his jealousy over the Lentarin healing capabilities. If his arm was as injured as it felt, it would take a month, perhaps two just to get back to basic use, let alone military-level proficiency. Still, he was alive, and when he'd first seen the device the Beltine had rushed towards him he hadn't necessarily expected to be.

  It was only on rare occurrences that the Beltine used the suicide bomber tactic, and he hadn't expected it within such a cave network. Whichever Kyraos had been in control, it was ruthless and willing to take risks. He could only hope Matt's location and the tunnels near her were considered of too high value for the Beltine commander to repeat the tactic there.

  The thought made him shudder and the knot in his stomach twist even more, but he wasn't allowed to focus on it long, grunting from his Lentarin companion bringing him back to the present situation. A moment later, Xander felt Trey's hand on his torso. A bright light flared a few seconds after that, dimming down as Trey settled an emergency glow stick beside him.

  The dim light showed them to be on one side of a cave-in, the tunnel blocked towards Matt and the Beltine. Dead Dairos were stuck in the pile of rubble, their numbers faring far worse than he and Trey had.

  “Nice shot, by the way,” Xander said, realizing just how lucky they'd been for Trey to blow up the device before it could fully reach them. He'd saved their lives.

  “Well, wasn't about to let them make my sister brotherless, now, was I? The clan would never forgive me.” A grin spread across Trey's face as he reached over Xander and lifted one of the large rocks weighing Xander's arm down. The Lentarin grunted, the effort obviously paining him.

  “Go easy. I figure we've got some time,” Xander said. The Beltine were on the other side of the cave-in, and there was no point rushing into danger again until at least one of them was in a better state. Neither of them could fight effectively injured, and Matt might need their help still.

  Over the next few minutes Trey slowly cleared the rubble, none of the chunks of rock larger than the first. Despite Xander's suggestion to take it easy, Trey kept up a steady pace until Xander could feel the pressure had eased enough he could wiggle his fingers under all the dirt still on top.

  Pins and needles ran down the length of his arm as Trey shifted more weight off, the feeling returning to the limb letting him know no important nerve had been severed.

  He winced as he tried to pull his arm out the rest of the way, the dirt and small chunks of rock grating at the wound he'd received earlier and many fresh scrapes and cuts he must have gained since. It didn't stop him moving, however, as he eased slowly and gently away from the pile, his arm moving more and more easily as he did.

  Finally, he was free. Trey brought their light source up to the arm to inspect his wound. After a moment he gave a non-committal grunt.

  “You'll live. Need some pain killers?”

  Xander considered saying no, but now wasn't the time for being macho. Instead he nodded and was relieved when Trey cracked open the small first aid kit he kept in the bottom of his kit bag. After selecting a fresh syringe, Trey picked a bottle, sucked up some of the liquid and jabbed the whole thing into Xander's shoulder.

  The pain relief was almost instant, making him sigh. A moment later he got to his feet, testing his grip on his rifle and his ability to shoot with the damaged arm. It would do for now, but he knew he was partially surviving on adrenaline and now the pain killers.

  “Right, let's get out of here and see if we can find another way to Matt. Drew might have some bright ideas.”

  Trey nodded, his kit repacked and the glow stick back in his hand. Without needing to be ordered, he took the lead, letting Xander take the time to recover and merely follow on. They needed to get back out of the caves and towards the shuttle.

  It didn't take long, a testament to how well the Beltine had held them back and how well Trey had remembered the route back to the surface. They'd only been out for a few seconds when their radio crackled into life.

  “You two look like crap,” Drew said, his head poking around a tree to one side a moment later.

  “Thought I told you to wait in the shuttle,” Xander merely replied, realizing he sounded gruffer than intended.

  “When I felt the ground quake I figured there had been a change of plans. I was ready to run back to safety at a moment's notice. Well, relative safety.”

  By the time Drew had finished speaking, pretending to look chastised, they were up with him. All three walked back to the camouflaged shuttle. Drew had done a good job but he doubted it would be needed now.

  No sooner had they filled the techie in on what had happened than Drew was sitting at the console, plugging away at buttons, trying to find an alternative route into the caves.

  “Well, the shuttle isn't cooperating well with my attempt to recalibrate the radar to search for subterranean lifeforms, but there's a bunch of Beltine clumped a few miles east of here.” Drew pointed the blips out on the radar. “If they were willing to blow this entrance, it stands to reason they've found another. They appear to want the technology in these caves as much as we do.”

  Xander didn't voice it but this gave him a sense of relief. If it was true, then Matt was unlikely to face the same suicidal weaponry they had. While she was near the most technologically advanced part of the cave network, she was actually far safer than they were.

  “All right,” he said after a moment's thought. “Get us as close as you can without being seen. Let's see if we can make their lives a bit harder.”

  “Right you are,” Drew said, operating the pilot's controls while both he and Trey rested. No sooner were they in the air than he started talking again, letting them know that there was a hive in orbit but that reinforcements were on the way. “Tyra was a bit worried about you. Seemed to know something had happened. Couldn't reach either of you on the radio, though.”

  “Let her know the new plan as soon as we're on the ground again. And this time, stay with the shuttle...” Xander trailed off, thinking about the next word carefully. “When we get everyone out of there, we'll want a quick exit.”

  “Yes, boss.” Drew had the good grace to look sheepish, but otherwise the task of piloting the craft kept him focused and quiet until they were set down in a small clearing half a mile farther east of the Beltine gathering.

  “Load up,” he told Trey, barely needing to as the Lentarin already reached for extra charge packs for his rifle and several of the Adamanta-triggered explosives he liked to carry.

  “I'll get us a better look at the enemy. See what we're up against,” Xander said, pulling out the three pairs of Adamanta eyes he had as part of his kit. He wasn't great at moving them, but once they were in place he could connect up easily enough, and it was the best surveillance they'd get so far from Matt.

  They'd been apart for only a few hours and already he missed her abilities more than he could say. Not to mention how much I miss her, he thought before pushing it away. He needed to focus, not be distracted by the far too intense feelings he had for the young woman.

  After grabbing more ammo for his rifle and a body sling of normal grenades, he seized the small devices that emitted energy shields, their last one buried under a mountain of dirt and rocks somewhere.

  “Radio, if you can, when the reinforcements arrive and take on the hive. I want to know if it changes the behavior of the Beltine down here. I don't think
these are the kind of Kyraos to accept being left behind or not respond if their queen is in danger.”

  “Let's hope I can get through to you, then,” Drew replied as they walked out. Xander found himself grinning. This planet definitely didn't make communicating easy, and he knew it would be interfering with the Beltine as much as them.

  Just outside the shuttle Xander paused to get his Adamanta eyes in the air and concentrate on moving them forward. They wobbled a little but moved in a mostly straight line in the direction he wanted.

  “Matt makes this look easy,” he muttered as he tried to walk and flick between what they could see and what he could. It was far from simple, and Trey placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him on more than one occasion when he didn't see an obstacle with his own eyes.

  A sigh of frustration at his own incompetence escaped him when he caught a thick branch of a bush with his leg and almost dropped his Adamanta. I need to practice more.

  Eventually the Beltine came into view. Several more of their craft scattered in a far larger clearing. Several Kyraos, most of them old and propped up by younger Kyraos or elite Dairos stood around, their eyes closed as they concentrated and worked the drones of their army. Near the center of the group could clearly be seen a large hole, evidently made wider recently, piles of dirt to one side and a metal ramp stretching down from the opposite side.

  Xander described what he could see to Trey, aware it was a lot of force for them to take on.

  “If they're distracted, and they think we're dead, we should be able to get close enough for these,” Trey said, holding up his explosives. Xander nodded. They were going to need all the advantage they could get.

  As they approached they both slowed, neither of them having to voice the need to be quiet. Xander fixed his cameras in place, allowing himself to concentrate on what he actually saw and nothing more complicated. He couldn't afford to bludgeon into something or step on a dry leaf or twig at that point.

  Motioning his instructions to Trey with his hands, Xander split to the left while the Lentarin moved right. Both of them would find good defensible positions, ready an energy shield and then hit the Kyraos with everything they had.

  Xander thanked the stars that the Beltine had widened and reinforced the hole they'd found. It only made them less likely to cause another cave-in themselves, with all the explosives they would be hurling—but there was no other way for only two people to stand a chance against so many powerful Beltine. As it was, Xander knew the odds weren't in their favor.

  Taking a deep breath, Xander tried to mentally prepare. A small part of him felt insane, preparing to take on so many Kyraos by lobbing grenades with his weaker arm, his dominant one too injured to be of use, but he knew if they killed even one of the Kyraos, Matt would pick up on it and the attack on her would ease.

  With a brief nod to Trey he lifted the first grenade, pulled the pin and threw it as hard as he could. Not waiting to see if it was on target, Xander activated his shield and crouched behind it to ready another.

  A single glance at the Lentarin a hundred feet to his right showed the creature performing a similar move with his mind. The explosions came one after the other, and then the growls and shouting began. Xander only waited to see they'd killed at least one Kyraos and several of the guarding Elite Dairos before he hurled the next small ball of destruction.

  Hope this helps, Matt, he thought as they kept up the barrage, trying not to panic as they were finally spotted and the Beltine began returning the aggression, the remaining living Kyraos moving to more defensible positions. The window they had to cause as much destruction as possible was rapidly closing but Xander kept throwing, and so did Trey, neither of them hesitating in the face of so many angry Dairos.

  Chapter 10

  Beltine had been coming at them from both sides for almost half an hour now, and still Paton watched Adamanta fight on. Since the blip earlier she'd not hesitated or looked like there was any sign of her stopping, her face focused as she threw her weapons at the enemy again and again.

  Several times now there had been a lull as the Beltine had needed to pull back their dead to make another advance. When this happened Captain Adair lifted her zappers and hurled the whole pack at the Dairos trying to do the clearing. It caused chaos. A chaos she seemed to delight in.

  But it was the only good part of their situation. All his men were fatigued, Matt's own handheld swords having to come into play to stop the occasional errant Dairos that slipped through when earlier they'd been keeping the creatures from managing to find an opening. And his own head was pounding.

  Bit by bit he'd inched his cameras farther down the tunnel and farther away, looking for the way out, but there was just too much Adamanta around them. He could feel it pulling at his focus, making him hazy and his equipment difficult to control.

  As he took yet another break to rest his head and have a small sip of the precious little water he had left, he knew he couldn't keep it up much longer. But by the looks of the device Henton still held close, he didn't have much farther to go until he knew a sure way out of the caves. He had to keep pushing himself until he succeeded.

  Right, he told himself. Get on with it then.

  It was all the motivation he needed to do just that, his eyes closing as his tired mind reached once more for the single set of Adamanta cameras he still wielded. After a moment of probing for them he managed to latch on, seeing what they did.

  Before he could move them, he noticed a few of the Dairos in view suddenly stop in their tracks, and the ground around appear to shake slightly.

  “Some Dairos have just stopped,” he called out, doing his best to hold onto the image and describe it aloud.

  “Means someone took out a Kyraos,” Captain Adair yelled back. “Was it you or your men?”

  “Not us,” he heard one of them reply. He added his own negative.

  “Then someone out there is helping. They'll turn on each other if the Kyraos is dead, or it will regain control soon if not.”

  Paton noticed she didn't mention anyone by name, evidently avoiding making it clear who she thought was dead from her own team. At a guess, he suspected it was the colonel. He'd seen the way the commander looked at her when he thought no one was watching. But every part of Paton hoped he was wrong. Colonel Finlay was one of the officers above him he had the most respect for. The colonel got things done and did his best to keep everyone alive while doing it.

  As he watched, the Dairos seemed to come out of their trance, but not in the usual efficient way they moved forward. This time they blinked and looked around themselves, their bodies shambling and lumbering more, each moving in a different direction.

  “Dead Kyraos,” he said a moment later, refocusing the eyes on the tunnel ahead so he didn't have to see as much of the carnage when they turned on each other as she'd predicted.

  “Then there is another way out.”

  It was stating something he'd known for a while, something he'd kept to himself until he had definite proof, but he felt the room collectively sigh, the delegates still appearing calm, but evidently heartened by the news.

  Gritting his teeth, he pushed the cameras on a little farther, and then he saw it, daylight filtering into the infrared view, a spot almost blinding. He let the eyes go, grabbing the device Henton held and marking the exit on the map.

  “I've found it,” he said a fraction of a second later. “I've found a route out.”

  His eyes met Matt's before he could take the device over to her, but her focus was almost instantly pulled back to the fight. She lunged forward, plunging her dagger into yet another Dairos that had barreled through the energy shield, not even slowed down by the device designed to keep laser fire at bay alone. For a moment he could only watch, his brain trying to come up with some kind of plan as the shield flickered under the barrage of fire. It wouldn't hold much longer. Their time was finally running out.

  “And I think I found something equally interesting,” Mr Kepernick
said, interrupting Paton's thoughts with his high pitched exclamation.

  “What?” Captain Adair said so deeply she almost growled it. It echoed his own sentiments about being interrupted.

  “One of these cameras must be in space, or on the moon or something, because I can see the hive ship, and there's another two ships—no, three—that look like they're ours. Reinforcements, I guess. They're doing battle.”

  “Oh, I recognize that one,” Margaret said, her voice taking an edge of excitement to it. “The Polinark. My husband knew the captain. Word must have got out about our predicament.”

  “Sounds like it's time to get out of here, then,” Paton replied, the new information making his mind up. They couldn't stay there any longer, and the way out was only going to get easier to punch through. The risk was finally worth taking.

  “Captain Adair, I'm ordering you to follow the route Henton has.” He handed the Cordak back the device, giving the creature a grim nod as he did. The silent alien's eyes showed his understanding of Paton's plan. Henton would play his part. “Get everyone out as quickly as you can. Take advantage of the chaos. Men, you go with her. Help her as best you can.”

  “What are you going to do?” she asked, lifting her zappers in the air and another device he didn't recognize, everything but the two daggers she still clutched in the air or in the fray. It made it clear she'd respect the order however he replied.

  “I'm going to bring up the rear,” he said, making no mention of exactly how he intended to do that. “Stop you having to fight on two fronts once you're out there.”

  She glanced his way for a moment, her eyes echoing another question, but she didn't voice it. A moment later her zappers flew into the corridor and hit the Dairos like a ton of bricks, a ton of crackling deadly bricks.

  “Yes, sir,” she said crisply a moment later, throwing him a salute. He gave one back, noticing his men followed suit, and then they pushed forward with their own weapons.