“I’m rethinking my pride,” he said. “Being carried wouldn’t seem so humiliating now.”
“I’m afraid our porter is busy.” Reminded that Leonidas was out there, making a spectacle of himself and drawing fire, Alisa pushed her way through the tangled undergrowth and up the canyon. They couldn’t dawdle. As invulnerable as he often seemed in battle, even he couldn’t withstand the might of five ships and an army.
The rush of the water acted as their guide as they navigated the canyon. Before they had gone far, a boom came from the west, and white light flashed in the night sky. Men whooped in the distance.
Many
men.
Alisa tripped, barely catching herself as her gaze locked on the sky behind her.
“Leonidas?” she whispered.
She looked toward Abelardus, wanting to make sure Leonidas had made it, but she was afraid to ask.
“Keep going,” he whispered, nudging her, not answering her silent question. “His distraction won’t last for long.”
More whoops of excitement sounded in the direction of the original boom. They must have gotten him. What else could that noise mean? The bastards were tickled to have brought down an imperial cyborg. They had no idea how many times he had fired wide, letting them live when he could have killed them. They had no idea that he was honorable, that he didn’t deserve to be hunted down like an animal.
Alisa tripped again, this time not catching herself, and landed hard on one knee. Abelardus grabbed her and helped her up. She pushed him away and stomped up the canyon, too frustrated and angry to be thankful.
“They could have just captured him,” she told herself. “Injured him. Got him in a net. There’s still hope. If they have him, I’ll get him back.” She hadn’t kidnapped people to fix his problems only to lose him to this ill-conceived ridiculousness.
Her comm beeped.
“What?” she whispered, her thick throat making her voice hoarse.
“Is that you stumbling around in the dark over there?” Beck whispered back.
She heard his voice from the bushes as well as the comm.
“Yes.” She veered in his direction, not able to pick out shapes in the dark.
“Keep an eye on them, Mica,” Beck said over his shoulder and came out toward Alisa.
“The lowly security thug is not in charge of the chief engineering officer,” Mica whispered after him.
“You sure? I make more than you. I get actual pay instead of shares in nothing.”
“I have seniority.”
“Captain,” Beck said, turning toward her. “We have to get a flowchart up somewhere that establishes a rank hierarchy.”
“Later,” Alisa said. “We have to sneak back to the ship and hope to come up with a miraculous way to get inside and off the ground. Everyone all right here? Any trouble?” She looked toward the brush, where scuffs sounded.
“Just a bit. The coffee wore off, so we had to tie up our charges. And, uh, I may have destroyed their earstars. I was fairly certain they would be trackable through them.”
Alisa grimaced, but couldn’t disagree with the logic. Still, people carried their whole lives in those things. The Tiangs might object more to losing them than to being kidnapped.
“I helped convince them to stay quiet and trust us,” came a bright young voice from the brush. Ostberg. He sounded like he was having the adventure of his life.
Some grumbles of dissent followed his proclamation.
“Anyone have any ideas about how to get the ship back?” Alisa asked.
“Yes,” Stanislav said.
“Anyone else?”
Beck leaned past her, peering at Abelardus and Stanislav. She didn’t know how much he could see in the dark, but his armor ought to improve his night vision.
“Leonidas turned into a Starseer?” Beck asked.
“Not exactly.”
“Durant should be returned to sickbay as soon as possible,” Alejandro whispered from the bushes.
Leaves rustled, and Mica grunted in pain. “Ouch. So should our surly captives.”
“They’re not captives,” Alisa said. “They’re guests.”
“I don’t think they’re buying that anymore,” Mica said. “The woman has feisty elbows.”
Whatever Ostberg had done to them, it must have worn off shortly after the coffee had.
“I’ve had a thought,” Beck said quietly.
“Yes?”
“We use the Tiangs to bargain with. You haven’t been filling me in on everything, and that’s all right, because I’m just the security chef, but I gather these soldiers are all here to get them back, presumably alive.” Beck turned his back to the bush where it sounded like Mica was struggling with the captives. Alisa doubted Yumi, Durant, or Alejandro were causing that trouble. “So, we trade them for us getting to leave the planet safely. Or for us getting an escort to a post office in a civilized area where I can post my sauces. Those grubby thugs better not have molested anything in the mess hall when they were boarding the ship.”
“I appreciate you coming up with ideas that are only partially to save your future sauce empire, but I don’t want to threaten anyone, and that would be required if we walked out into the open with our guns at their throats. I didn’t even want… damn it, I wanted to befriend them.”
“Don’t think that’s going to happen unless you keep them dosed with coffee,” Beck said.
“There are jungle cats out there,” Ostberg said. “Maybe I can get into their minds and convince them to attack the soldiers.”
“Have you done that before?” Alisa asked, wondering exactly how many cats that would take. She didn’t like the idea of sacrificing animals to blazer rifles, but it was better than risking her people’s lives.
“Not… technically.”
If he’s taken the same classes I took as a boy, he’s controlled rats before
, Abelardus informed her.
Not quite the same thing.
“Let’s hold on to that idea for later,” Alisa said. “When we really need it.”
“All right,” Ostberg said, sounding only slightly disappointed.
A new shout came from downriver. It sounded like someone deliberately yelling into the jungle.
“Abelardus and I will lead the way back to the ship and try to think of something,” Alisa said. “Follow along with everyone else, Beck, and try to keep our friends from yelling out to their people. We’re going to have to set a fire or blow something up to distract the soldiers so we can get on the ship. And then hope for a lot of luck flying away.”
Leonidas would have been the perfect person to do that. Too bad he was already on a mission. She chose to believe that he was still doing that mission and had not been captured—or worse. She would not believe otherwise until she had proof.
“Am I supposed to come up with explosives?” Mica asked.
“You didn’t bring any with you?” Alisa asked.
“Of course I did, but I’m saving them for a crucial moment. Such as when I need to blow up annoying prisoners.”
Alisa winced, certain the Tiangs could hear her. “My odds of befriending them are looking worse and worse.”
It was a foolish mission to start with
, Abelardus spoke into her mind.
Thanks for sharing your unsolicited opinion.
Alisa waved to Beck and started downriver, back the way they had come.
If the temple is in danger, we should be heading straight in that direction to help my people, not dealing with soldiers.
If you know where the temple is, then you’re welcome to go talk to those soldiers and try to get a ride with them. Take Stan.
If the staff was taken there, I can find it.
Despite his grousing, he walked at her side as Alisa picked a route downriver, the light growing brighter as they neared the bend. Stanislav followed behind them, though she did not recall inviting him into the advance party. Maybe he truly could do something to distract those soldiers.
The yelling started up again, this time amplified with a bullhorn.
“Captain Marchenko,” someone called, the voice growing clearer as Alisa edged closer to the bend. How comforting that they knew exactly who they were dealing with. “We have your cyborg.”
She flinched but kept advancing, pushing through grass and thorny brush.
“He’s alive. For now,” the speaker added. It sounded like an older man. The mission commander? “We’ll trade him for Admiral Tiang and Dr. Tiang.”
Alisa paused, both to consider the statement and because she had rounded the bend, and the
Nomad
had come into view in the field of grass where she had landed. Portable lamps had been set up all around it, beams of light flaring in all directions, shining on the canyon walls, the foliage, and the river. It also shone on the platoon—or would that be considered a company?—of soldiers stationed around the freighter. They weren’t quite ringing it five deep, as she had imagined, but there had to be close to a hundred people, with most of them standing in front of the open cargo hold—the only entrance to the ship aside from the airlock hatch.
Several military shuttles were parked behind the
Nomad
. They would be fast and armored, and Alisa wondered if her team might possibly get to one and escape that way. But that would mean abandoning her ship, perhaps forever, and her soul protested the idea. Further, she suspected that military shuttles would be keyed to their crew and would not start for her.
Abelardus and Stanislav stopped behind Alisa. Just out of the influence of the light, her group hugged the fern-smothered wall on the same side of the river as the
Nomad
, with the ship about a hundred meters ahead of them.
“This offer is not indefinite, Captain,” the speaker said, a uniformed officer standing on the ramp.
These
soldiers all wore combat armor. Only the officer had his helmet off as he used the bullhorn.
“You mentioned being able to do something?” Alisa whispered back to Stanislav.
“You will not barter for your friend?” He sounded surprised.
“I would if I trusted them. Can you tell if they have Leonidas?” She looked at Abelardus and Stanislav. There was enough illumination from the lights around the ship that she could make out their faces.
If he were chained up under the ship or in the cargo hold, she might weaken and change her mind.
“He’s not in the canyon,” Stanislav said.
“He could already be dead,” Abelardus said.
“You needn’t sound so pleased about that,” she growled.
“I’m not. That’s my normal tone. He would be useful right now.”
“I will create a distraction,” Stanislav said and withdrew something from inside his robe. It looked like a string of prayer beads. He closed his eyes and stroked them.
He wasn’t
praying
for a distraction, was he? Alisa gave Abelardus an incredulous look.
“Huh,” was all that Abelardus uttered as he looked at the beads.
“That’s not that enlightening,” she muttered to him.
“…someone in that direction,” a soldier called, pointing a flashlight toward Alisa.
She scooted back around the bend, hoping the stone wall would cover them. But the sound of grass being trampled followed, a squad of soldiers heading her way. She looked back along the wall, able to pick out Beck and the others hunkered near it. Beck was the only one with armor. If they fought, it would be suicide.
Sighing, she turned to face the advancing men and raised her hands. Surrender wasn’t much of an option, but it was all they had. She still refused to hide behind the Tiangs or try to barter her way to her ship with their lives.
“Two shuttles are empty,” Stanislav observed, his eyes still closed. “This will be wasteful, but I fear a lesser distraction will be ineffective.”
“Yeah, me too.” Alisa glared at Abelardus, as if he could decipher Stanislav’s plans.
“They’re right over there,” a soldier yelled. “Drop your weapons and come out, or we’ll blanket fire.”
Alisa turned back toward them, raising her hands higher. She was debating whether to toss her Etcher and stun gun when an explosion ripped through the canyon.
Alisa lurched for cover behind the bend. Fiery yellow light swelled, mixing with the white of the lamps. Before she could decide if she wanted to peek out into the canyon, a second explosion roared.
Pings and clanks sounded, tiny bits of shrapnel striking the rock walls—and the hull of the
Nomad
. Assuming that wasn’t the
Nomad
that had blown up. Even though Alisa realized it must be the shuttles, she couldn’t keep from peeking out to make sure her ship hadn’t been targeted.
Soldiers shouted and took cover near the freighter as they gaped at the flaming wreckage of two of the parked shuttles. Men ran out of the other three shuttles, ducking falling shrapnel as they raced toward the freighter. One of those now-emptied shuttles blew up, a fiery ball leaping from the engine compartment in the rear.
“Get them,” one of the nearby soldiers yelled, turning back toward Alisa’s group.
“My staff,” Stanislav said calmly.
Abelardus must not have objected to giving it to him, because Stanislav soon stepped past Alisa, his arms spread wide as he walked straight toward the group of soldiers ten feet away. En masse, they pointed their rifles at him. He waved one arm, and the weapons flew out of their hands. The rifles tumbled through the air and splashed down into the river.
“They’ll have weapons built into their combat armor,” Alisa blurted, not certain if it was necessary. Maybe it was. Stanislav struck her as a little old-fashioned, like someone who might not spend his days dealing with the latest and greatest in combat armor.
Three crimson energy bolts streaked toward him as the soldiers raised their arm blazers. They bounced off an invisible shield in front of Stanislav.
Without so much as a hand twitch from Stanislav, the soldiers flew sideways. Their armored bodies crunched into the stone canyon wall. That should not have damaged the men overmuch, not from what Alisa had seen of fights with armor in the past, but none of them leaped to their feet after crumpling to the ground.
“I’m locking their armor so we can continue past them,” Stanislav said.
Indeed, the soldiers did not rise again. Frustrated yells came from within those helmets.
Stanislav strode toward the
Nomad
—most of the soldiers guarding it were facing the shuttles, pointing their weapons into the grass on either side of the remaining ones. Maybe they thought her team was over there, sneaking up and planting explosives.