Victorious Dead (The Asarlaí Wars Book 2) Read online

  “Kaena!” Therlian pulled free of Vas and stumbled toward the tunnel.

  “We don’t know that.” Deven caught her. “I’ll go with you and we can get her and meet Vas and Hallam back at the shuttle, okay?”

  Vas wasn’t close enough to feel it, but she knew Deven was putting some soothing mojo out there as soon as she saw Therlian’s shoulders drop.

  “Good idea. Hallam, you’re with me. Unless your world is such that no one responds when buildings are blown up out of the blue, I’d say the bad things we thought were going to be hitting here already have.” She turned to Deven as he was helping Therlian cross the debris in front of the tunnel. “You get the girl and head back immediately.”

  Deven nodded once before he and Therlian vanished into the tunnel.

  Vas tapped her comm. “Gosta, I need eyes. We’ve had two explosions and no reactions from any of the population or local law enforcement. Everyone is off the streets. What can you see of the area and what’s going on up there?”

  “I’m scanning the area, Captain. Nothing. I can see the explosions, and a third happened about ten miles from your location. No life signs outside though. Up here we seem to be clear. I have Xsit—”

  His words cut off and Vas heard a high-pitched chirping—Xsit in panic mode.

  “Captain, Xsit has picked up two of the gray planet destroyers on deep-range scanners heading this way. They are coming in armed.”

  Vas and her top people had studied the attack on Lantaria of a few months ago until she could recite every action in painful detail. The result was they had ways to track the actions and armory of the ships way before they could have previously. And hopefully way before the bastards in gray realized they could.

  “Hallam, we’ve got to get to our shuttle and have it ready for immediate liftoff. I’ve no idea what’s out there. Are you ready?” At his nod, they were some sort of resistance after all, fighting was probably something he was good at, she tapped her comm again.

  “Track the shuttle, but keep moving locations up there. We have to bring in some people who were attacked. Come back toward us once we’re in the air.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  Vas looked out toward the port. There was still no one on the streets. Another rumble under her feet told her at least one more explosion occurred.

  “Are your people always this passive? Buildings blow up and no one does anything but shelter in place?

  Hallam shook his head. “No. We’re not the fighters we could have been, the black suits took care of that. But something is very wrong.” He had his blaster out and was trying to watch both sides of the street at once.

  “You ever been in battle?”

  His cheeks flashed red. “No. I’m a craftsman. But my wife was killed when the black suits first came in. They said it was an accident, but eighty-five people were murdered. Therlian found me drowning my sorrows in a bar and I joined her.”

  Vas slowly started walking out into the street.

  “She seems like a good leader.” She kept her voice low, but wanted to keep Hallam focused on her, not his nerves and the silence.

  Another rumble, a bit stronger this time, rocked the ground under their feet. Vas had no idea what the hell was going on, but it wasn’t good. Even without the gray ships coming.

  “She is,” he said. “She keeps her private life to herself, but cares about everyone around her. Her daughter is her life.” He stopped walking.

  Vas turned around, expecting an attack coming from behind, but he was looking at the building.

  “We should go help.”

  Vas pulled on his arm. “We are. That shuttle might be under guard, and I have a feeling we needed to get off this planet a few hours ago.”

  He shook himself then started moving again.

  The shuttle port looked abandoned, but then so did the entire area and Vas had a feeling people were hiding, not gone. How an entire populace could go into hiding so quickly and quietly, she had no idea.

  The traffic arm to the guard shack was up, but they’d left a different direction so Vas didn’t know if there had been a guard there before everything started blowing up or not.

  Her shuttle looked intact and unmolested. It was toward the back of the group of landed shuttles. The one right in front of her wasn’t so lucky.

  At first she thought it had been attacked, as entire sections were missing. Then she realized the sections were very carefully removed, not destroyed. Someone had done a very quick salvage job on it.

  A crash from the shuttle next to that one told her they were still at it. She secured the bag with the box under her arm, grateful to Therlian for her foresight. Vas pulled out her knife and her blaster. Two blasters would be better, but anything extra was better than nothing.

  She looked to Hallam and pointed to go around the nose of the shuttle. The sounds were coming from the other side, but seemed to be closer to the tail. She’d take that end.

  Hallam nodded and slowly made his way around. His hand didn’t tremble, so that was a good thing. It was one thing to say you wanted to protect others, another thing to be caught in a firefight.

  There was a pile of belongings and small shuttle parts in front of her, and Vas heard two voices arguing.

  She slid up alongside the shuttle door and motioned for Hallam to do the same on his side. She waited until one of the thieves came out with his arms full and still arguing over his shoulder with the person inside.

  “If I were you, I would first freeze, and tell your companion to come out unarmed. Then extremely slowly, put down those parts. My blaster won’t miss and neither will those of my friends, some of which you can’t see.” A lie, but a lie was only bad if you got caught. And lying to a thief didn’t really count.

  The man was tall, human mostly, with thinning blond hair and wearing a mechanic’s uniform. Probably not a professional thief, but one of opportunity. The shuttle port logo was on his left shoulder.

  “What, you’re gonna be an ass about this?” The whiney voice from inside the shuttle yelled. “I told you we need to—” The voice cut off as the owner, a short Ilerian with dark age spots, shuffled out of the shuttle and froze when he saw Vas and Hallam.

  Vas kept her blaster aimed at the first one. He was larger, and still had parts in his hands that could become weapons. She nodded for Hallam to cover the Ilerian.

  “Thank you for joining us. Can you tell your friend here he has about three seconds to lay down his items and lock his fingers behind his head?”

  Ilerians weren’t known for bravery, and this one shrunk down on itself. Clearly, he was far more worried about himself than his companion.

  “Look, lady, we can split what we got with you and your man. No problem.” As he spoke, the human dropped all of the items in his arms except a large pipe. He flung it at Vas, and then tried to sprint across the tarmac. Vas had been expecting it and shot him in the leg. Hallam hadn’t and fired a second after Vas did. His shot took the man’s head off.

  “Damn it! I wanted to question him.” Vas turned but the Ilerian was nowhere to be found. They usually couldn’t move fast, so he must have ducked back into the shuttle. “Stay here.” She ran inside, but the shuttle was completely empty.

  A grinding noise made her run back out in time to see the Ilerian take off on a scooter. She could shoot him, but from this distance it might only kill him. She wanted to find out what was going on and Hallam destroyed that.

  “Sorry, I panicked. I thought you’d missed,” Hallam said.

  “I never miss.” Vas shook her head and stalked toward their shuttle. “I wanted to talk to him, so it was a leg shot.”

  “Vas, we’ve found the girl and are coming back. The houses are all empty on this side.” Deven’s voice was low, little more than a whisper. He might not see anyone, but he wasn’t counting on that being the truth.

  “Copy that. We’ll have the shuttle ready. Get here quickly though.” Vas looked around the shuttle port. It was truly abandoned. A few
doors swung open and the nearest office looked ransacked. Of course, that could have been the two idiots who had been after this shuttle. What in the hell happened to that pack of guards from a few hours ago?

  “Didn’t you and your people notice anything? I was here a few hours ago and this place was crawling with people.”

  Hallam pulled himself back from staring at the remains of the thief he’d killed. “What?” He looked around the shuttle port with a confused look. “No, we were in the alcove. There’s an underground bunker in that tunnel—or there was. We got out when Therlian heard you and your man coming down the tunnel.”

  There went any witnesses to what in the hell had happened to all the people down here. Vas jogged toward their shuttle, her blaster held tight and low against her side. There had been no movement aside from themselves and the would-be shuttle thieves, but there could be better thieves in the area.

  She held up her hand to slow Hallam down as she approached the side with the door. He was about to charge right past her. It was a stupid move on his part, but she was more worried about him blasting any potential witnesses than him getting shot.

  The door was locked and she checked its status on the panel before opening—clear. Blocking the panel so Hallam couldn’t see the code, she opened the shuttle.

  Hallam immediately tried to take the co-pilot’s seat.

  “Nope, Deven will take that one. How about you take one of those. Buckle yourself in too. We’re going to be moving fast.” Vas wasn’t sure she trusted him, but she’d find out if there was a reason, or at least if he or Therlian were hiding anything, after they tested them. After they had put themselves back together from the attack by the monks, she and Gosta had created a new protocol for anyone entering their ship. It tested for any glamours, disguises, or mismatching DNA. Well, anyone who came on normally. There was nothing they could do about Marli or a bunch of nanites.

  “Captain, the gray ships have paused,” Xsit’s voice was still in the higher ranges, but not the earsplitting level of earlier.

  Vas continued to prep the shuttle for take-off. “Where, how far out? Are we sure this planet is their destination?” She turned to Hallam who was hovering behind the co-pilot’s seat. “Seriously, I need you back there, in your seat. Buckled. Now. Or I will leave your ass on this planet and there’s a good chance it won’t be here much longer.”

  Hallam turned and sat, but noticeably didn’t buckle in.

  “They are right outside of the Javae system. Just sitting there. Maybe that’s where they were going?”

  Vas switched on the nav screen. Yup, Javae was the last major system before this one. It was also small and had no habitable planets. They were waiting for something.

  The sound of boots on tarmac caused Vas to jump to her feet. Hallam beat her to it and ran out the door.

  “God damn it,” Vas said. “Keep tracking them. We should be airborne soon.” She went out the door as well.

  Hallam was hugging the little girl, Kaena, who was clutching a small carrier along with some toys.

  Therlian nodded as she looked over their heads. “There is no one, anywhere, and I tried a few comm channels for other resistance groups—nothing. What the hell happened?”

  Vas ushered everyone on board. “That’s a very good question, but right now there are some ships coming that aren’t going to do much for property values.” She nodded down at Kaena who was showing Hallam her marmat carrier as they buckled in. She didn’t think talking about her home being blown to pieces in front of a kid was a good idea. But Therlian’s scowl told her she understood.

  “How much time do we have?” Therlian asked as they all entered the shuttle.

  “No idea. My people say the ships stopped at the Javae system. I don’t plan to be around to see what happens next—are you okay with that?”

  “Yes, thank you.” Therlian at least appreciated the rescue. Hallam was still refusing to buckle up although he’d at least gone back to a seat.

  Deven got up and quietly spoke to the other man. He was buckled up before Deven finished talking.

  “Captain? The ships are moving again, still armed,” Gosta called in this time.

  Damn, why were they running with their arms up? They would strain the engines and reduce power. And it wasn’t like they were flying through a war zone.

  “Hang on, folks,” Vas said as soon as Deven slipped into the seat next to her.

  The shuttle was lifting when an explosion took out the buildings in the shuttle port.

  34

  V as fought to keep the shuttle lifting off and yelled over the alarms, “Is everyone intact?”

  A collection of what sounded like affirmatives came back. At least there was no screaming, so that was a good sign.

  Deven turned off the alarm and hit his comm. “Was that from above us?”

  “No, Deven.” Gosta had a pause as he said his name. “The gray ships are still holding position. That was down with you. The shuttle port has been destroyed. And it looks like explosions are happening in a number of places across the planet.”

  Vas stabilized the shuttle, then hit her comm. “As in you think it might be whatever’s under the planet’s surface?” That attack on Therlian’s people had been way too specific to be an act of nature—or Asarlaí messing with nature in this case. Same with the shuttle port. Specific buildings were now engulfed in flames, but not the ground around them.

  “Not sure, Captain. I’m having Hrrru take full scans yet there’s no way to tell for certain at this point, but now that a few more have occurred it does seem to be planned. I can’t track any people on the surface behind it. The explosions are going out in a pattern of some sort.”

  “Captain? Xsit here, that client, Ramoth is on the line. He says he needs to talk to you. Urgently.”

  No way in hell was he getting whatever was in that box—at least not she fully examined it. After what they just went through, maybe not even then. “Have Flarik talk to him. Tell her that we were unable to secure the box due to excessive and unexpected security and that we might be suing him for sending us after something clearly dangerous and in breach of contract, etc.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Xsit said and shut off the comm.

  Vas looked down at the box sitting partially outside of the bag Therlian had given her. About a foot long, half that size wide, and about five inches deep. The box itself was gorgeous, delicately carved Gathian rustwood. It alone would be worth a small fortune on the right market. The lock appeared simple and easy to pick, but Vas knew it was probably trapped. There was no way anyone would massively arm a storage unit then not set traps on the item. Hopefully, she could open it without damaging anyone.

  “Captain, we have ships coming in fast,” Deven said as he armed the shuttle’s weapons.

  They had three shuttles now, and Vas had made sure all of them had as much weaponry as they could handle. Unfortunately, shuttles couldn’t handle much, and this one wouldn’t last more than a few minutes in a fight with anything seriously armed.

  The ships coming in weren’t any of the big gray cruisers, but four sleek Commonwealth fighters—exactly like the ones Marli had blown out of the sky a few days ago. Deven might be able to take out one with the shuttle’s armament and surprise, but not four.

  “Gosta, what’s going on?”

  “Sorry, Captain, we see them too. They appeared out of nowhere. They must have been hidden. Xsit is trying to raise them, but no response. And the gray ships are moving now as well. Slowly, not at full speed, but definitely heading this way.”

  Vas swore as more explosions rocked the planet’s surface. There were other large ships in orbit, but none of them were moving in to help the people below. “Gosta, are you scanning life down there? And can you have Xsit reach out to any ship out there with local markings?”

  Deven leaned forward. “Do I fire? Or do we surrender?” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at Therlian and Kaena.

  Damn it, Vas had forgotten about the kid. Not
that she wanted to be blown up either, but having a kid involved always messed up everything.

  “They haven’t identified themselves yet, and the Wench can come down if need be.” Vas slightly adjusted their direction. They were still heading toward the Warrior Wench but now toward the other side. The landing bay wasn’t there but the ship could block the attackers. While the Warrior Wench’s landing bay was reinforced, it could still be a horrible weak spot and an incoming firefight could severely disable, if not destroy, the ship.

  As if on cue, the incoming communications light flashed green.

  “Warrior Wench shuttle here, how can we assist?” Vas kept her voice as neutral as possible. These four ships didn’t have the same aggressive approach that the ones Marli had blown up did—the ones Marli identified as definitely not Commonwealth ships.

  “Shuttle, this is the fighter Capi coming out of Galacian. We’re coming to help. Who is attacking the planet?”

  Vas turned off the intership comm, then pulled back and shared a look with Deven. A Commonwealth squad coming to help? After being AWOL for two months?

  She opened the comm to her ship. “Gosta? Can you compare these ships to the scans for the ones that Marli took out?” They might look similar, but they weren’t acting like it.

  “Aye, Captain. They all show as Mark eight-class fighters, but the first group had a weird overlay,” Gosta replied. “These don’t, and I can track them. They came directly from Galacian.”

  So the Commonwealth woke up and decided to come help out an exploding world. After letting at least a dozen on the rim, that Vas knew of, to be destroyed? Of course this planet was far closer to them than any of the ones previously under attack. And there was more than a little chance that whatever was hiding under the surface was extremely valuable.

  “Thank you, fighter Capi. We’re not sure, but the attacks seem to be coming from within the planet itself. I think you might need more people,” Vas responded to the Commonwealth ship.

  “I believe we have that covered. Safe travels.” The fighter cut off the comm and all four changed direction to a lower pass over the planet.