Tani's Destiny (Hearts of ICARUS Book 2) (19 page)

“It’s always possible, yes,” he said.   

“Are the ground transports set for general use?” she asked.

“Yes,” Naran replied.  “Or, they were.  I can’t think why they would have changed that.  None of them go fast enough to outrun a five year old.”

“Comet crap,” Tani muttered.  “Does anyone know whether or not the governors on the ground transports are in secure housings?”

“No,” Khurda said, looking at her in surprise.  “I didn’t even think of governors.”

“Can you remove them?”

“If they’re not secured, yes.”

“And if they are, we’re going to need a
really
big head start.”  The room fell silent as Tani frowned down at the mine layout, her forehead creased as she considered their options.  Finally she looked up, directly into Steel’s eyes.  “We have to get them all.  Not just the women, but the men too.” 

“The Nomen won’t kill the men,” Khurda said.  “Not all of them, anyway.  They need them to work the mine.  Without the women and children there as hostages, they’ll be free to try and escape.”

“I understand, but that’s not the point,” Tani said.  “Going through the fence or the gate would be a mistake, and taking the ground transports would be a mistake, too.”

“Why?” Steel asked in surprise.

“The key to planning a successful raid is to control as many variables as possible.  With this plan, we control almost none of them.”

“I don’t understand,” Steel said.

“First of all, Khurda has to fly into the compound, alone, with all seven guards on duty and free to come upon him at any moment.  If any one of them spots him and calls out a warning, every Nomen in those two bunkhouses could come out.  If he does manage to reach the gate in silence without being seen, he still has to disarm a security system that may or may not be what he thinks it is.  If he’s wrong and they’ve changed it, then he’ll trip an alarm and the Nomen are alerted before you even get inside. 

“Assuming he manages to disarm the alarm, how does he get the gate open without anyone hearing it?  What if the hinges squeak?  What if the bottom of the gate catches on a rock and makes a noise? 

“Assuming he gets it open and everyone gets inside without alerting so much as one guard, then what?  What if the ground transports aren’t on a general use setting?  Do you go running around trying to find key codes?  Assuming they are on a general use setting, how do you start up a ground car without the guards hearing it?  That means you have to kill the guards, and you have to do it in absolute silence.  Let’s assume you do that, the ground transports start and you load all of the women and children in and you discover that the governors can’t be removed?  Then you’re stuck crawling overland at five miles per hour loaded with women and children in who knows what condition.  They’ll catch you long before you get back to the caves.” 

“Are you saying we can’t do this?” Steel asked.

“No, I’m not,” Tani said.  “I’m saying
this
plan won’t work.  There are too many variables that we can’t control, and if any one of them goes wrong, or is different than we
hope
it will be, we’re finished.  Worse, they’ll know we tried to break people out, so we’ll have warned them of our intentions so that next time, they’ll be ready for us.”

“What other choice do we have?” Marbic asked.  “We
need
to do this.  Time is running out.”

“I agree,” Tani said.  “Just not that way.”

“You have another plan figured out, don’t you?” Steel asked.

“I might,” she admitted.  “First, I need to know many men will go on this raid tonight?”

“Some of the men are too old, some are too young, and I need to leave guards here for the women,” Steel said.  “Forty five of us can go.”

“Forty six,” Naran said.  “I can’t go with you, but I’m up for a little guard duty.  That frees one more man to go with you.”

“Forty six, then.”

“How many women and children do you expect to find at the mine, assuming they’re all still alive?”

“One hundred and thirty three,” Steel replied, not even having to think about it.  It was a number engraved on his mind.

“All right then,” Tani said, then looked at each man gathered around the table before meeting Steel’s gaze once more.  “The safest, cleanest way to get into and out of that compound without having to worry about locks, alarms, codes, or noise is to fly.  But forty six men can’t carry one hundred and thirty three women and children.  That means we have to free the men, too.  It’s the safest way of getting the women out of there, and you free the men at the same time.”

“That seems so obvious,” Naran said.  “Why didn’t we think of it?”

“Because we aren’t brilliant,” Steel said, smiling. 

“How many men are at the mine?” Tani asked.

“Two hundred and fifty nine,” Steel said.  “Assuming none have died since the last man escaped a year ago.”

“Excellent,” she said with a little smile.  “Everyone flies in.  No one touches the gate or the fence.  Take out the guards in silence so they can’t call out a warning, then brace the doors to the Nomen’s bunkhouses.  After that, free the men
and
the women.  Firstly, and most importantly, all the women and children are flown out of the compound and back to the caves.  Once they’re safely away, the remaining men can load up with as much ordinance as they can carry and still fly.”

“Ordinance?” Steel asked in surprise.

“If they have a bomb they can drop on the caves, do you want to leave it there for them to use?”  Steel’s face paled. 

“I can’t believe I didn’t even think of that,” he growled.

“Don’t feel bad, Steel,” Tani said.  “These aren’t the kinds of things you guys grew up learning.”

“You did?” Marbic asked in surprise.

“Yes, I did,” Tani said, then shrugged.  “There’s no sense in getting angry because you don’t know something.  I do know, and I’m here, so problem solved.”

Steel nodded.  “All right, Tani, please continue.”

“Weapons tend to be heavy,” she said.  “You need to tell your men, especially those that have been in the mines for a year, to take only what they can carry.  And let them know that if they get tired on the way home, they can always drop them.  Whatever’s left should be destroyed if at all possible.  Maybe someone can get into the explosives shed.”

“Their armory is in that building there, right beside the office,” Naran said.

“Have you ever seen inside of it?”

“No,” Naran replied.  “But I’ve seen the Nomen go in there with nothing and come out with guns and rifles.”

“All right, Khurda, it’s going to be up to you to figure out the quickest, most thorough method of disabling their ground transports, and of breaking into the armory and the explosives shed.  Or do I have the wrong person?”

“No, I got that,” Khurda said.

“Is there any chance of getting to their ship?’

“Doubtful,” Khurda said.  “It’s got its own security.”

“No, I don’t think we want to mess with that,” Tani said.  “The overall goal is, first and foremost, to get all of your people free.  Second, take or destroy
anything
they can use against you later.  And third, do it all without having to confront the Nomen.”

“This can work,” Marbic said softly.  “I mean, I think this can
really
work.”

“Yes, it can,” Tani said.  “It’s simple, straightforward, and we control a majority of the variables.”

“The weakest part of this plan is taking out the guards in silence,” Steel said.  “I’m not sure that any of us are skillful enough to do that.  We could shoot them, but that wouldn’t be silent.  Maybe we could brace the doors on the Nomen’s bunk houses first.  Then seven of us could move into position to shoot one guard each, then shoot all at the same time.  Then they’d be dead, the rest of the Nomen would be locked up, and it won’t matter if we make noise.”

“That won’t work,” Tani said.

“Why not?”

“Two reasons,” Tani replied.  “First, the beams needed to brace the doors are located near the mine entrance, which is in full view of the guard on the office.  That guard has to be silenced before we can brace the doors.  And second, because the biggest reason for being silent isn’t to keep from alerting the Nomen.  It’s to keep from alerting Brutus.  If there’s even the smallest chance that he’s an android there is no weapon we possess that can stop him.  It’s absolutely imperative that we go into and out of that compound without alerting Brutus, and that means no laser or projectile weapons.”

“Then how are we going to kill the guards?” Steel asked.

“I can do it,” Tani said.

“No, you can’t, because you won’t be there,” Steel said, his stomach doing an uncomfortable flip at the thought.

“I won’t?” Tani asked in surprise.

“No, you won’t,” he said. 

“Where will I be, Steel?” she asked, straightening slowly and stepping away from the table.

“You will remain with the women.  That’s an order.”

Tani stared at him in surprise.  “When did you earn the right to give me orders?”

“Do not argue with me on this.” 

“I do not
argue
,” Tani said in a low, rumbling voice, her inner dracon fully awake and focused intently on Steel.  “If you wish to command me, King of Garza, you must first prove yourself capable.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means
make me
.”  The other men in the room had moved very slowly to the cave wall, all of them wary of the sudden danger emanating from the small Princess in their midst.

“That’s ridiculous,” Steel snapped.   

“You think me ridiculous?”  Tani’s eyes began to glow so brightly that he couldn’t look straight into them. 

“No,” Steel replied.  “The notion of fighting you is ridiculous.  You will obey me in this, Tani.”

“
Obey
?” she growled, her voice no longer bearing any resemblance to the soft voice he’d become accustomed to.  Everyone froze as the danger level in the cave rose so high that they were all on the verge of shifting.

Steel suddenly realized that, once again, he’d gone too far.  All he’d wanted was to keep her safe and out of danger, but for some reason his damned temper had taken over again and it had instantly turned into a battle of wills.  Before he could think of a way to defuse the situation, Tani opened her mouth and roared loud enough to shake dust from the cave ceiling.  Then she turned and ran from the room.

“You’re an idiot,” Marbic said angrily.  “That woman just planned a rescue that not one of us even thought of in over a year, and you insult and demean her because she won’t
obey
you?  Why in the hell
should
she obey you?  She’s not your woman, she’s not Khun, and she’s a Princess in her own right.  You’ve absolutely no right to command her, and you damn well know it.”

“How dare you risk the lives of our people this way?” Khurda demanded, surprising them all.  Where Marbic tended to anger rather easily, Khurda rarely got angry, which made his reaction that much more notable.  “Maybe you should turn things over to someone else before your temper gets us all killed.  It doesn’t much matter who, either.  Little Dirk would do better.”

Steel nodded, his own anger gone even before Tani had left.  He looked up and met the gazes of his three best friends, letting them see the truth.  “I don’t think I could stand it if she got hurt, or killed.”

“She’s a warrior, Steel, in case you haven’t noticed, and it’s her choice to make,” Khurda said, not without sympathy.  “You can’t force her to be different from who and what she is just to make yourself feel better.”

“I know,” Steel said.  And he did.  He didn’t like it, but he knew it.

“You were right, Steel, when you said that none of us are trained to take someone out in silence,” Marbic said, struggling to control his own temper.  “She is, or she wouldn’t have said so.  Everything else she said is true, too.  Her plan is the only one that’s going to work for us.  If we had more skills, maybe we could do this differently.  But we don’t, and we’re out of time.  You know that, we know that, everyone knows that.  If we don’t have Tani’s help, we won’t get our people back.”

“I have a question,” Naran said.  “What does she shift into?”

“She doesn’t shift,” Steel said, then waved at the stern looks he instantly received.  “She’s the daughter of the Dracons of Jasan, and has a dracon within her, but she cannot shift to bring her out.  Or, if she can, she doesn’t know how.” 

“What is a
dracon
?” Naran asked.

“A mammalian dragon,” Steel replied.

“Whether or not it can manifest, it’s certainly powerful,” Naran said. 

“You need to stop making it angry, my friend,” Marbic said.  “My
mahrac
wanted me to run from it, and that has never happened before.”

“So did mine,” Khurda admitted.  They all looked at Naran, who nodded, then they all turned their gazes on Steel.

“My
mahrac
hasn’t urged me to run, but it definitely wants me to back off and give it room.”

“Room for what?” Marbic asked.