Son of Orlan (The Chronicles of Kin Roland Book 2) (4 page)

The foolish kid and his dog would get into all kinds of
trouble. With Kin’s luck, Rickson would unearth yet another hostile race, extra
wormholes, and a score of Kin’s former girlfriends to bring back to Rebecca.

Not so many. How many lovers should a man have during
nine years on a lost planet?
Kin found himself losing an irrational battle
with his conscience. He had slaughtered millions of aliens and more than his
share of humans during his service to the Fleet. Did he need to punish himself
for being a man with a man’s needs?

Of course, there was Captain Raien. She had steered clear of
him for Rebecca’s sake—or because she was busy trying to keep her troopers
alive. Sooner or later, she’d grow bored, make an advance. Kin might be able to
resist. Either way, Rebecca wouldn’t like it. She already glared at Laura and
most of the other Crashdown women.

Kin observed the carcass of a large animal. He knelt to
examine bite marks and paw prints. It looked like the work of wolves, but he
thought Clingers had been this way as well.

God damn it, Rickson. Why’d you run off now?

Droon had emboldened the Crashdown wolves and the Clingers.
Kin wondered if he should introduce the Reaper to Dax and the winged warriors.
That would get them fired up for battle. Maybe they’d push the Mazz Imperials
back where they came from and Earth Fleet could mount a rescue operation.

Like Kin needed the attention of Earth Fleet.

He circled the area, found nothing of interest, and resumed
his pursuit of Rickson. The boy could move. Kin should have caught anyone
unassisted by an FSPAA. When the trail went cold, Kin crafted a sniper hide in
the side of a hill and watched the valley, checking for unusual movement or
clues pointing toward Rickson, Orlan, or William.

Time passed and he almost fell asleep in his armor.

He moved back from his concealed position, thinking of
Rickson and what kind of trouble the young man would find in the Valley of
Clingers. Droon’s Reapers were out there somewhere and many strange creatures
prowled the wilderness, beasts Kin had never seen in his years of exploration.

He stopped and zoomed his helmet lens. Twelve of the wheeled
battle machines were on the move. Each contained at least five companies of
deadly Imperial troopers. Eight of the war machines initiated an advance
straight for Captain Raien’s hiding place. Within an hour, there would be a battle.

“Roland to base, do you copy.”

Static filled his earpiece.

“Roland to base.”

An earsplitting screech cut off his words as the Imperials
jammed communications.

Kin faced the mountain pass and thought of Rickson alone in
the wilderness with only a quirky guard dog to protect him. He thought about
Laura, Raien, and the others scrambling to escape the Imperial attack.

Sorry, Rickson. I’m going to be delayed
.

Thoughts of the shepherd’s resourcefulness did nothing to
ease his anxiety, but he couldn’t abandon the others. Rickson’s danger was
probable, while imminent danger threatened the Fleet troopers and Crater Town
refugees. He knew what he had to do. He knew every second counted.

With weary sadness, he paused to collect his thoughts. There
would be no time later. He spent a few moments visualizing success. He threw
obstacles in his path, anticipated injuries that would stop a normal man. Then,
he saw himself standing up, readying his weapons, and fighting on. The Reaper
contagion in his blood both blessed and cursed him. Was there a price for
unnaturally rapid healing? For understanding the mind of Reapers? For the
bloodlust he felt during combat? There would be a reckoning for his failure at
Hellsbreach. He only hoped it came after Rickson and the others were safe.

Captain Raien’s troopers led civilians from the indefensible
hiding place. Imperial machines launched aircraft—
whoosh, whoosh, whoosh
.
The compact fighters raced over the terrain, laying down suppressive fire
against the few remaining Earth Fleet troopers. Raien’s 11th LRC fell back from
the assault.

Ramps dropped from the war machines. Imperial troopers
swarmed out, armored feet banging on metal, and charged through the hills.

Kin ran as fast as he could push the FSPAA, circling the
airborne assault force and joining Raien’s lead element.

“Corporal Pax,” Kin shouted when he was close enough to
break through the radio jammers.

“Good to see you, Roland. We have a bit of a fight here.”

“You have to break out. There is an Imperial Division
charging your base camp.”

Pax didn’t hesitate. “Understood. Not a problem.”

“What?”

“The Wingers are fighting a delaying action. Captain Raien
is bringing every trooper we have to open a gap in the enemy line.”

Rebecca led half the remaining Mech units at the Imperial
containment force. She charged into the middle of the battle, firing rockets
and heavy plasma rifles. Randal led the rest to a hill where they engaged the
aircraft with surface to air missiles and portable flak cannons from the Mech
units. Captain Raien took a strong platoon of troopers, flanked the Imperial
containment units, and destroyed them with enfilade fire.

“Roland, get the refugees out of here,” Pax said.

“Roger that.”

Kin found Laura with the others. She formed the refugees
into groups, keeping families together and placing able young men to guard
each.

“Help me take a head count,” Laura said. “There should be
ninety-four–not counting you and me.”

Kin confirmed her numbers. The frightened, disheveled people
hadn’t arrived at Crater Town in time for Commander Westwood’s evacuation. Many
were injured. All seemed hungry and sleep deprived.

“Laura, they can’t carry so much. Food, water, and weapons.
Everything else is extra weight.”

“I know, Kin. Do you think I haven’t told them?” She wore
combat fatigues and a leg-holstered pistol Kin gave her on the first day after
Westwood’s Retreat.

Explosions erupted from the other side of the hill. Mortars
reigned down short of Laura’s position.

“Time to move, people. Stay together. Keep track of your
group. Quickly now.” Laura moved among the refugees, encouraging them.

Kin turned to face the pursuing Imperials. Warriors of the
Ror-Rea bounded into the air and flung themselves at the advancing army.

LAURA disappeared behind an
explosion of earth. Kin rushed toward her, but a platoon of Imperial troopers
swarmed through the burning trees, gunning down winged warriors, Earth Fleet
troopers, and civilians.

Kin engaged, firing his rifle. Despite the increased
ammunition capacity, he ran dry, snapped it to a magnetic holster on the back
of his armor, and began shooting handgun equivalents from each arm of the
FSPAA. The close range weapons devastated enemies within fifteen meters better
than his pistol ever had.

Two Imperials reached hand-to-hand distance. Kin punched the
first several times, twisted and lashed out with a vicious knee strike. The
Imperial staggered. Kin disengaged and fell back. He moved, reloaded his rifle,
and hustled through the smoke, unable to rejoin the others. Captain Raien’s Light
Reconnaissance Company remained scattered and the Shock Troopers were
surrounded, fighting determinedly as the Imperials focused on eliminating them
as the greatest threat.

Warriors of the Ror-Rea dropped from the sky, attacking
random targets, overwhelming small Imperial units, and vanishing into the
smoke. Many died.

Kin stepped on a wing torn from a body. He looked down when
he noticed the damaged appendage move. The sight alarmed him, until he realized
Sophia was underneath it, struggling to rise.

“Sophia.”

The woman’s eyes rolled. Kin thought she would pass out, but
in the next moment she gazed at him with surprising calm. “Roland. Have you
seen Laura? I was in her group.”

“Can you walk?” Kin knelt and checked her injuries. An ugly
gash marred the side of her face.

Sophia struggled to her feet. Barefoot, clothing scorched
and torn, the old woman rose to her full height, resembling a proud child
unable to admit she had been hurt.

“I’m sorry. Laura told me to stay by her. Everyone is
running too fast for me. Why must we run in circles? We go left, and encounter
Mazz gunmen. We go right, the same thing. It seems unnecessary to run when we
never get anywhere.”

Kin had to laugh. “I’ll carry you.” He scooped her up, took
three steps, and dropped her to fight a squad of Imperials. They retreated as
he hammered their armor with well-aimed bullets.

He watched the smoke for another attack, glanced at Sophia,
and back at the hazy chaos before him. “The Imperials are falling back to
regroup. Hasic and his warriors have saved us.”

Sophia’s sadness stretched her face. “At what cost, Kin?”
She knelt over a fallen Ror-Rea woman and closed her lifeless eyes.

Kin turned in a circle, rifle ready to engage enemies. None
came, but he heard Imperial team leaders rallying their men a short distance
away.

“This smoke won’t hide us for long. We need to find the
others and move out.”

Sophia nodded and stood.

Kin moved close to pick her up with one hand, but she shook
her head.

“I will walk.”

“You don’t have any shoes.”

“I won’t have a face if you drop me again.” She wiped blood
from her nose and lip.

Kin stepped into the smoke, keeping himself between expected
threats and Sophia. “Roland to Captain Raien, can you send me rally point
coordinates.”

“Negative, my FSPAA is damaged. We are en route to Maiden’s
Keep. Meet us there or link up on the way. Raien, out.”

Kin squatted, trying to decide which way to move. He didn’t
want to silhouette himself when the light changed. For a moment he marveled at
the swirling mixture of gray and orange mist. He checked his sensors, worried
the Imperials had deployed gas or nerve agents. The FSPAA field computer
analyzed the environment for what seemed hours. Kin let out his breath when the
results were negative. No chemical weapons, not yet, but he wasn’t going to bet
Sophia’s life on Mazz honor.

Cowards
.

Sophia patted him on the head. In his current posture, they
were almost of a height.

You’re a brave woman, Sophia
.

“Where are we going? You have to remember, Kin, I cannot
hear what you hear.” She pointed at his helmet.

“First we’ll check the area for survivors. Then it’s
Maiden’s Keep.” Kin beckoned her to follow, moving in a crouch, weapons ready.
“Quickly, before the Imperials rally.”

“Always in circles. I leave Maiden’s Keep, because a brave
young man said I should escape Crashdown with Earth Fleet. Before I have time
to rest my weary bones, it’s back to the keep.”

Kin raised a finger to his helmet’s mouth speaker as a squad
of Imperials scouted the area just beyond the hill.

Sophia waited, then spoke. “I miss my waterfalls.”

“Follow me. I’ll take you to them.”

Kin took the quickest path he could find away from the
battlefield, stopping frequently, always placing himself between Sophia and the
direction he expected the next attack. Sporadic fighting broke out as Imperials
located elements of Clavender’s people or Raien’s troopers. Sophia stopped when
he told her to, and moved when he urged her to hurry.

“Dax will never be king again,” Sophia said.

Kin replied, but continued to look elsewhere. “How do you
know that?”

“He came to Maiden’s Keep after you left. I think the
waterfalls remind him of his home.”

Kin paused in his reconnaissance and knelt beside her,
allowing her to lean on him and rest.

“The most dangerous thing for the Ror-Rea is victory. Dax
understands this. His people have forgotten everything but vengeance. His
wisdom makes him unpopular with the High Lords.”

Kin checked the time remaining before sunset. “I don’t
understand their obsession. If they were so peaceful, why didn’t they go back to
their old way of living after the Imperials left? There must be more to the
story.”

Sophia shrugged. “Perhaps they were never as peaceful as
they claimed. Maybe they secretly dreamed of glory.”

Kin thought of the days before Hellsbreach. Troopers and
generals had been drunk on the glory they expected to find. Their dreams ended
during the first assault on the Reaper home world. His hopes had been more
pragmatic. He wanted it over so he could return to Rebecca and tell her she was
safe. Tell her she could banish the nightmares of her brothers’ and father’s
death.

He wondered where she was now. It seemed unlikely the Shock
Troopers could survive the main thrust of the Imperial attack.

Rebecca, why didn’t you stay where it was safe?

“None of the High Lords of the Ror-Rea can become king,”
Sophia said.

“That doesn’t make sense. If they depose him, it must be for
a new king.”

“Dax spoke of creating a republic. The High Lords want equal
power. They do not wish to bow to a monarch.”

Kin hurried her through a gully and into a clearing. He saw
a trail through tall grass and guessed Laura and the others had come this way.
None of the tracks possessed the distinct impressions made by armored soles.
“Sounds like you and Dax the never-again-king had quite a conversation.”

Sophia smiled. Weary as she was, she remained Sophia, the
wise woman who found beauty wherever she could. “He danced with me. Swept me
off my feet quite thoroughly.”

“I would like to have seen that,” Kin said. “If we hurry we
can catch Laura and the others. Do you want me to carry you?”

Sophia bowed her head and closed her eyes for a moment as
she spread her arms to accept him.

Kin scooped her up and hurried toward the mountain pass. He
knew it was the fastest way to Maiden’s Keep, but he also understood the
confines of the narrow road eliminated alternate escape routes. Flight from the
Imperials was now about speed.

And Laura’s people are on foot, unaided by powered armor
or vehicles
.

“Everything will be okay, Kin.”

Kin passed the first picket line Raien left to await the
advance of the Imperials. He gave the password three times as he approached,
though there was little chance the troopers would mistake him for a Mazz
Imperial strike force.

“Who goes there?”

“Kin Roland with one refugee.”

Sophia snorted.

“Who’s there?” Kin asked.

“Mayfield and Johnson. We’re light on defense. Did you bring
reinforcements?”

Kin shook his head at the joke. The trooper’s lighthearted
tone reminded Kin how Earth Fleet troopers lived, always in danger, always
ready to die fighting.

“I’ll come back to help once I get Sophia to Laura.”

“Roger that.” Mayfield returned to his concealed position.
His armor was intact, but covered with surface damage.

Sophia imitated a spoiled child. “I thought you would stay
with me.”

“Nothing would make me
happier.”

FIVE troopers led survivors up the
steep trail toward Maiden’s Keep. Captain Raien and Corporal Pax moved with
Laura and the Crater Town refugees, each carrying a pair of young children.

Kin followed with six troopers and watched for signs of
pursuit. Physically, he was tired but not exhausted. Damage to his armor
reduced its efficiency, but he remained stronger than a man without armor. Once
the suit reached less than ninety percent mobility, he would abandon it. Not
even Orlan could bear the weight of a FSPAA once it started to fail.

“Sergeant Mayfield, do you see anything?” Kin asked. The
trooper had taken a position on their line of retreat to track enemy movements.

“I see them. They’ve stopped. Seem to be taking a short
break. Two grunts are performing basic maintenance on their assault armor and
weapons.”

“How many are combat ready?” Static crackled in Kin’s
earpiece after he asked the question. Several moments passed.

Mayfield grunted. “Shit. It looks like two companies are
moving up the trail to join the platoon that has been dogging us.”

Kin calculated the distance to Maiden’s Keep. The place
wasn’t a fortress, but could be defended. “Don’t wait too long to move. And
don’t engage. That will only confirm our position.”

“Roger that,” Mayfield said. “Oh!”

“Mayfield, come in.” Kin counted to twenty. He turned to the
five remaining troopers. “Two hundred meters, on the double. Prepare to engage
two Imperial companies pursuing.”

Kin retreated last, grateful to see Mayfield returning from
his clash with the Imperial vanguard. Kin’s squad never made it two hundred
meters. The Imperial forces charged, bounding in squads, launching rockets and
small-arms fire as they advanced.

Captain Raien and the rest of the 11th LRC joined Kin on a
ridge overlooking the trail. Battling desperately, Kin wished they hadn’t been
separated from the Shock Troopers. Mech units could have held this position a
long time.

The Imperials drove Kin and the others into a clearing where
the trail meandered around a small lake and several streams. The ground sloped
into a valley on one side and toward a cliff on the other.

“Here they come,” Kin said.

Captain Raien stood close to him, but didn’t answer.

“What do you see, Raien?”

She shook her head in disbelief. “I see Commander Westwood.”

Kin followed her gaze and saw the commander racing across a
meadow in full parade uniform. Orange flowers dotted with red and white spots
shifted as wind buffeted the scene. The Earth Fleet officer created a wake in
the sea of color as he ran.

Two-thirds of the Imperial force diverted and pursued the
Earth Fleet Commander.

“I don’t know what the hell he’s doing here, but if the
Imperials get him the war is lost,” Raien said as she began to move.

“Raien, stop.”

“Hold this position. Mayfield, Johnson, come with me.
Westwood needs us.”

“Raien, that’s not Westwood.” Kin tried to grab her.

“Mayfield,” Raien said, her officer’s radio link
overpowering Kin’s. “If Roland interferes, neutralize him.”

“Roger that. Stand down, Roland.”

“That’s not Westwood. That’s a shape changer!”

Mayfield moved backward several steps, watching Kin. With a
look that felt like a final goodbye between comrades, he turned, and ran after
Captain Raien and Johnson.

“Raien!” Kin shouted, accomplishing a greater distortion of
his voice without a real change in volume. He cursed the communications
override of Raien’s unit. He had two options: go after Raien and risk Mayfield
carrying out his orders, or stay and protect the Crater Town refugees as they
fled headlong toward the caves of Maiden’s Keep.

There had to be something he could do. He considered sending
his FSPAA forward on a suicide mission while he attacked from the flank. The
armor would follow a program to march, and he learned long ago how to rig a
FSPAA in medical evacuation mode to fire weapons at random. He sought a better
plan, because unpiloted, the FSPAA wouldn’t last ten minutes. And he didn’t
have time to set the route and remove ordinance he would need for a sneak
attack.

And you know you’ll die without the armor. Reapers don’t
have ranged weapons. This is worse than hunting Droon
.

He needed time. He needed ammunition. He needed
reinforcements.

Where are you Becca?

Kin looked to the sky, hoping for Dax and his warriors.

“What can I do to help?” Laura said as she came behind him.

Kin jerked his helmet toward her. “You can go back and do
your job.”

“That’s taken care of. You need me. Admit it.”

“Damn it, Laura. Not now.”

“I may not have a sexy suit of Mech armor, but we’ve kept
each other alive all these years.”

Kin faced the advancing Imperials. “What did I do to deserve
this?” For a moment, it seemed the entire force would go after Captain Raien
and Commander Westwood.

“Why are they hesitating?” Laura asked.

“They’re deciding which is more important, a bunch of
refugees and wounded troopers, or Commander Westwood.”

Laura gazed across the meadow at the fleeing figure. “That’s
not Westwood.”