Merkiaari Wars: 01 - Hard Duty (37 page)

James felt his emotions welling up when the monitor showed him heaps of dead Shan. They lay where they had fallen still clutching their mates and cubs. The picture suddenly whirled crazily and then stabilised. Whoever was manning the camera was taking a hell of a risk. The picture blurred and zoomed in upon a gravsled just turning into the street. On the ground in front of it, a large formation of Merkiaari troopers led the way. Suddenly they came under fire and scattered into cover. Explosions dotted the street zeroing in upon the gravsled. It was hit multiple times and lost power. It slammed into the street carving a trench in the road before rolling and bursting into flames. A Merkiaari trooper jumped out of the shattered wreckage waving his arms and roaring in agony. His armour had not protected him from the flames, his entire body was alight. His fur fed the flames until another trooper shot him in the head. 

James changed to another channel, and flinched at what was being shown. Someone was hiding in a building and filming the street outside. The scene could have been culled from any one of a thousand newsreels shown during the Merki War in the Alliance, except this one starred Shan not Humans. He had no idea which city was being shown, or on which planet. It didn’t matter. Similar scenes were being played out everywhere the Merkiaari had landed. He reached out to select another channel, but Brenda stayed his hand.

“I need to see it.”

He was reluctant, but hiding from the truth wouldn’t help matters. He nodded and watched trying not to let Brenda see what he was feeling.

Merki troopers were firing into the packed street cutting Shan down by the hundreds. They fired their plasma rifles and gauss cannons non-stop. Blood coated every surface until it looked as if some mad artist had painted the street red. James covered his mouth with a hand and swallowed sickly, trying not to vomit. He glanced at Brenda only to find her crying silently. The camera shifted. It focused on the other end of the street, where Shan bit and clawed at Merki troopers in a desperate attempt to escape slaughter. He watched a huge Merkiaari female grab a Shan cub and tear it in half above her head. She did the same thing to an adult a moment later when he attacked her. He might have been the cub’s father. There was no way to know.

“Oh God, Oh God, Oh God…”
Brenda chanted. “Please make them stop…”

James shook his head. Nothing would make them stop. They would come here next… if they hadn’t already. He craned his neck to look at the sky through the cockpit windows. It was just blind luck he had chosen to visit here, and not Harmony while the Merki chose the opposite.

“What are we going to do?” Brenda whispered unable to look away from the horror.

“Hide, that’s all we can do. Hide and fight when the time comes.” James flicked switches bringing the navigational computer and sensor arrays online, and then started the engines.

“Where are we going?”

The lander lifted and hovered over the landing pad.

“The mountain keeps. It’s the only place.”

“Will they let us in?”

“I hope so,” he said and concentrated on flying low. He had no real idea if the Merki had sent ships to Child of Harmony, but if they had, he wanted to stay low and unobtrusive. “Better go back and tell the others what’s happening.”

“I’ll go.”

“Thanks, Jan.” James glanced at Brenda’s tear streaked face. “It will be all right.”

“No it won’t,” she whispered. “They’ll kill everyone on Harmony and then they’ll come here and kill us.”

There wasn’t anything he could say to that. She was right.

Flight time to the keep was less than an hour. He could have reduced the time to almost nothing if he had dared boosting for orbit, but that would have been suicide. He flew fast and low, with the shuttle’s sensors on passive. The Merki troop ships were huge things, and they showed up clearly whenever he got within range of one. The gravsleds were insects in comparison, but their drive systems used a lot of power. As long as he concentrated hard on their output, the sensors gave him just enough time to divert wide around them. To James, the hour seemed to crawl past, but eventually his destination loomed ahead of him.

The mountain range would have been impressive if he hadn’t been looking for a landing place without being shot down. On his final approach, he had to bank sharply when targeting sensors locked him up, and sirens wailed throughout the cockpit. With his heart pounding fit to give him a heart attack, James checked his monitors and reluctantly turned back. He never wanted to go through that again.

“I’ll have to land in the foothills.”

Brenda grunted unhappily, but she didn’t object as he set down not far from the tree line. “I’ll collect some supplies.”

“Tell the others to grab the Box. We’re going to need it.”

“Yeah,” she said in a subdued voice.

James waited for everyone to climb out before he eased the lander off the ground, and slowly worked his way under the trees. It was a tight squeeze, but he managed to get under cover before he ran out of places to go. He landed and quickly shut down the engines. He powered down everything he had access to. He had no idea how stealthy the lander was, or how easily the Merki might find it, so he did his best to make it invisible. The only thing left was the maintenance system, but he couldn’t shut that down without risking being unable to restart it. Besides, he didn’t know how.

He jumped to the ground and keyed the hatch closed before resolutely turning away, and leading the others toward the mountains. At first he set a fast pace, but he soon realised the others were out of condition. Their progress slowed to a crawl. He said nothing, but Brenda could see his concern.

“They can’t help it.”

“I know,” James said. “I didn’t say anything.”

“No, but I could feel you thinking it.”

He laughed and hugged her to him as they ambled through the woods. “How did it happen?”

“What?”

“How did we happen so fast? We’ve known each other for years, but we’ve only really known each other for a few months.”

“I guess it must be love,” Brenda said.

“Must be,” James said and kissed her.

“Really,” Bernard said, with an exasperated sigh. “Must you two do that at a time like this?”

“What better time?” Janice said eyeing Bernard with speculation that made him flush. “There might not be much left.”

Bernard nodded sombrely. “Did you know that I’m unmarried, dear lady?” he said with a grin, and took Janice’s hand for a kiss.

“Why, sir. You do take liberties. Do it again.”

“Delighted,” he said and obeyed.

They made their slow way through the forest. James walked with an arm around Brenda’s shoulders. Janice and Bernard held hands chatting and laughing quietly. Bindar walked alone carrying the Box, closely followed by Sheryl and David. They were not a couple, but they walked arm in arm seeking mutual comfort in unknown surroundings. The other members of the team walked in a nervous knot through the shadows of the forest. All had packs on their backs containing a few meagre supplies, but none had anything close to a weapon.

The forest was densely populated with trees and heavy undergrowth. More than once they stopped in fearful silence listening to something rustling in the brush. On closer inspection, they found traces of some kind of animal, and from then on they were more watchful. As the sun lowered in the sky, James called a halt and they made a cold camp. He explained that having no idea whether the Merki were near, he didn’t want fires lit and perhaps attracting them.

“What about the animal tracks we found?” David said peering nervously into the trees.

James peered into the darkness uneasily, but then he shrugged. “There’s nothing to be done, David. I think we’ll be safe enough. The tracks were shallow. Probably made my something small.”

“You hope.”

“Yes, I hope.”

After eating a meagre meal from the emergency rations they had brought from the shuttle, James lay down with Brenda snuggled up close to him. It was a pleasant night, thankfully not cold, but he found himself unable to sleep. What had happened to
Canada
? Had she been destroyed, or had she jumped outsystem as Brenda believed? He hoped it was the latter, but he doubted Colgan would do that without a very good reason. Maybe he went for help. If he did, they wouldn’t see any for a couple of months, plus however long it took to assemble sufficient forces to contest the system’s ownership. He had no doubt Admiral Rawlins would want to fight, but would the Council let him?

He hoped so.

The next morning they set out again. As before, James led the way and they were soon out of the forest and into the foothills. This was the most dangerous part. There was no cover here, and if anyone looked down at the right time they would be spotted. Their pace fell to a crawl as they struggled into higher elevations and gasped for air. He relieved Bindar of the Box, and continued his stumbling way ever upward. Brenda took a turn for an hour, but although the Box wasn’t heavy, it was an awkward size, and struggling up a steep trail with it took its toll. Around midday, James began actively looking for one of the entrances to the keep. Sheer rock walls and rubble strewn goat paths were all he found. Did this planet have a goat analogue?

“I know it’s here,” James said worriedly. “She showed me right to it, but it looks different.”

“Are we lost?” Brenda whispered as the others sat down to rest.

“No-no,” James said quickly.

“We are, aren’t we? If we are, you would tell me right?”

“We’re not lost. I think they might have sealed the keep already.”

“Oh.”

After a short rest they moved on until they entered a canyon that looked very familiar. The sheer cliff-like walls towered high into the air making James feel very small. He found a distinctive outcropping of rock below which the entrance to the keep should have been, but when he reached the rock face, there was no evidence that it wasn’t a natural rock formation. He ran his hands over it, trying to feel any difference in texture or temperature… anything that might reveal the entrance, but there was nothing. Bernhard waved him over, and pointed out a peculiar pattern in the rock. James nodded. It
was
the right place, he remembered the pattern. He pressed an ear to the rock trying to listen, but he couldn’t hear a damn thing. The Shan had designed it that way, and they did fine work.

“Anything?” Bernhard said. “This looks right to me.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they’ve sealed up the place.”

“Well then,” Bernhard said cheerfully. “All we have to do is sit tight and wait. I’m sure they must be monitoring the area.”

James nodded. It made sense. “What if they don’t open up?”

“They will,” Bernhard said, his smile slipping. “They won’t leave us for the Merki.”

“I hope you’re right.”

As it happened, Bernhard was right but for the wrong reasons. The night came, and a grumbling earth shaking noise split the silence. A dozen Shan warriors slipped out of their mountain fastness levelling beamers at them. James stood, and they nearly shot him when a rock shifted under his foot causing him to lurch toward them.

“Don’t shoot,” he cried in badly accented Shan. “We need sanctuary from the Murderers. Please, for harmony’s sake take us in.”

One of the warriors edged forward. “I am Tei’Nelrik. You are the beings called Humanssss?”

“That’s right.”

“Your ship, he fought well for us. You may enter.”

James sighed in relief, and gestured everyone into the keep. Brenda stayed by his side. “Brenda, this is Tei’Nelrik. Tei, I’m called James.”

Tei’Nelrik bowed. “Honoured. Quickly, we must seal the mountain lest we be sniffed out.”

“Yes, you’re right.” James ducked into the opening.

It was pitch dark inside. The blast door rumbled into place and the lights came slowly up. Hundreds of beamers were levelled at James and his friends. They stood absolutely still while Tei’Nelrik explained the situation. Ears twitched in recognition, and slowly the weapons were put up.

“I thank you for opening the door for us,” Brenda said carefully. None of the Shan they had yet seen were equipped with the new translators.

Tei’Nelrik’s ears went back then struggled erect. His tail lashed from side to side betraying his agitation. “We did not open for you, but for us. If the Murderers had seen you, they might have found the keep.”

“I see,” Brenda said sounding a little put out by that.

“We understand, Tei,” James said. “Can you tell me more of our ship?”

“The Murderers have the only ships in system.”

“The Fleet?”

“Gone, and so is your ship. He fought well.”

Tei’Nelrik led the way into the mountain. The others moved to follow leaving James staring at Brenda in stricken silence. They were here to stay.

* * *

Zuleika and Environs, Child of Harmony

Shima lost her pursuers after a long chase. In the end it was through no action of hers that the Merkiaari lost interest in a single reckless vermin. No, they had something more interesting to do apparently.