Gateway (Gateway Series Book 1) (18 page)

They sat by the fire quietly staring into the flames.

Feeling the tension in the air weighting him down, Stone broke the silence.

“I am sorry for your loss. Despite everything you have become an honorable warrior, and despite what happens in the future between us or our peoples, you have gained my respect.” Stone rose from the log where he was sitting and put his hand on her shoulder. She raised her head to look at him, her green eyes still moist from the pain of reliving the loss of her family.

“Thank you. I should not have been so weak. It’s not appropriate.”

“You have shown no weakness, Mori,” consoled Stone. He had gotten much more than he had bargained for when he had tried to distract Mori from his ogling. He felt drained from her story; she had to be exhausted. “It’s late,” he conceded. “We should probably call it a night.”

Mori nodded her head in agreement.

Stone wasn’t sure how it happened, but he felt closer to her than almost anyone he had known in his own society. He extended a hand to her to help her get to her feet. As she stood, she placed her hands around his arms and looked up toward him.

“Tyler.”

“Yes?”

She released him and stepped back. “You’re right. It is late.”

“We should call it a night.”

They walked back to the small hut. Stone held open the door for Mori. As she stepped through the door, he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”

***

For the first time since the battle on Juliet 3, Stone did not dream of the death of his friends. As he slept, he drifted back to the last night he had spent with Astra. He felt the softness of her hair, the moist sweetness of her kiss, and gentle touch of her hand. In his dreams he ran his hand through her hair and moved it from her face. As he did, he realized it was not Astra he was dreaming of but Mori. She looked into his eyes and spoke. “Tyler.”

“Wake up! Colonel. Tyler. Wake up!”

He awoke to see Mori knelt down beside him. He raised his hand to her cheek.

“What are you doing?” asked Mori. As he came to, he could tell she was confused by his touch. Realizing he was no longer dreaming, Stone attempted to recover. “I was…it…”

“Whatever,” she interrupted. “A slaver ship passed overhead. I can’t believe you didn’t hear it. We have to go.”

“Why would slavers be here?”

“There’s a small settlement a few kilometers from here. I came across it last week. I’m sure that’s where they are going.”

“What is your plan?”

“Kill them,” answered Mori as she hurriedly strapped her sword to her waist and grabbed the few magazines remaining for the assault rifle. “After we kill them then we can use their ship to get out of here.”

Stone pondered the situation. Even in her determined quest for vengeance, Mori was right. It probably was the best chance to get off the planet. They would cross the bridge of who was whose prisoner when they came to it. 

“Come on!” she shouted as she shot out of the hut.

“I’m coming!” Stone shouted back, half startled, half annoyed by her haste. He quickly picked up the pistol and shoved the extra magazines into his pocket as he raced to catch Mori.

It was all he could do to keep her in sight as she sped through the dark forest, ducking limbs and jumping over felled trees. He cursed as the branches Mori set in motion whipped him across the face.

As they continued on, Stone could tell he had lost a step while recovering from his injuries. They had only run about five kilometers and he was starting to feel a burning in his lungs he usually only felt after about ten. Just as he was catching his second wind, Mori came to a sudden stop and knelt down.

“There they are,” she whispered, pointing to a rundown spacecraft on the outskirts of a small settlement. “Damn it. They have already gone through the houses. It looks like they are taking captives into that building over there.”

Stone looked over the scene. There appeared to be ten or twelve slavers. And they had already killed a few of the men in the settlement--their bodies displayed in the village square. Near the town square, two slavers held their weapons on a group of men herded from their homes. 

“There are only two at the ship,” said Stone. “We can take them out and be on the ship before the rest even know…”

He stopped when he saw the emotion on Mori’s face. Now aware of her history, he knew that she would not leave the settlement to the mercy of stranded slavers. The old Colonel Lucius Stone would have, but Tyler Stone knew better. “I will take them out and then take up a position at back of the structures.”

A woman’s scream broke through the night air.

“You get the two at the ship and any that come out of the building,” Mori ordered, obviously prompted to action by the scream. “Take the rifle,” she said as she grabbed the pistol from Stone’s hand and headed off into the darkness.

***

Stone quickly made his way to a small group of bushes a few yards away from the ship. Not wanting to use the rifle until Mori had made her move, he placed it on the ground beside him and pulled his knife from his waist belt. Grabbing the knife by the blade, he hurled it toward the guard furthest from his position. The weapon found it target, striking the man in the neck. 

The tactic worked. The second guard quickly turned to see his comrade fall. As he did, Stone leapt from the bushes. Hearing the noise, the man spun around to face the threat but was too slow.

A solid kick to the side of the knee created a horrible snapping sound.

As the man fell, Stone grabbed his head and in one violent, rapid motion, snapped his neck. He quickly picked up the rifle and took up a position to cover Mori when she needed it.

***

Mori crouched low, using the shadows for cover as she passed between the small homes in the village. Moving quickly and quietly, she soon reached the building holding the captives.

Three slavers stood guard outside. They laughed and joked but it could not drown out the cries from inside the walls. Mori saw a body of one of the men from the settlement just to her left. Placing her pistol in the back waist of her pants and sheathing her sword, she pulled the overcoat off the body.

Mori donned the overcoat. Walking in a slow, disheveled manner, she quietly made her way toward the slavers.

“Sounds like we may have found some good talent on this dust ball,” Mori overheard one of the slavers.

The others laughed.

“I wish my watch would be up so I could get a taste before we lift off,” she overheard another say.

Their conversation was cut short by the rustling made by Mori as she approached. She noted guards placing their weapons at the ready as they spread out in an attempt to encircle her position. “Who is it? Come out now or I will open fire!” yelled one of the guards.

Mori slowly stepped from the shadows. She held her head down and took quick but uneasy steps, playing every bit the sheepish, frightened villager.

“Looky here, we may have found some entertainment of our own,” said one of the guards as he stepped toward Mori and grabbed her by the hair.

“Galdar will want to know about her,” said another.

“He will. When we’re done with her,” said the guard holding Mori’s hair.

He pulled her hair backwards, drawing her head up towards the night sky. As he did, Mori quickly threw the overcoat off her shoulders and thrust the sword upward through the man’s jaw. The sword penetrated to the hilt. Before the others could react she withdrew the sword and in one rapid swath cut the throats of the others standing next to her. The ground grew damp from their blood as she positioned herself at the window.

Mori wiped the blood from her sword onto her trousers and held the blade to the window to see the reflection of the scene inside the room.

There were four slavers. Two were holding weapons on the women and children chained together in the far corner. Another hairy looking man with a large scar on his back was having his way with one of the women. It was her screams that Mori had heard. The fourth—a short, pudgy man—walked over to the group of chained women and children.

Mori felt sick to her stomach as the fourth man walked over to a girl, no more than thirteen, and unchained her. She kicked and screamed as the man pulled her by her hair to a desk near the center of the room.

“She looks a bit young,” said one of the monsters.

“Young, but I think willing,” said the short man as he pulled her hair, causing the frightened girl to look up at him. “Aren’t you, sweetheart?”

The young girl kicked at his feet, but she was too small and weak. The man laughed and slapped her across the face. “Well…” smiled the slaver. “Maybe not willing but by the time I am done with her she will be begging for more.”

Mori wanted to vomit. She would not allow this to happen. Not again.

She pulled the pin on a flash grenade and rolled it into the center of the room.

The short slaver was the only one to recognize what had happened but could not cover his eyes in time as the grenade exploded, filling the room with a brilliant flash of light.

Mori rushed into the room. The first slaver, still blinded, raised his rifle to fire blindly. Mori plunged her sword into his neck, severing his spinal cord. She turned toward the second man, who was still trying to retrieve his weapon when Mori struck. One powerful downward motion, she separated his head from the rest of his body.

As the screams of the women and children filled the room, the slaver that had been assaulting the woman stood up, his trousers still on the ground. A slash of Mori’s sword laid his stomach open and he fell to floor, screaming.

The final slaver released the young girl and drew his pistol as he stumbled backwards. “Marco, Salem, are you there? Who is there?!” he shouted nervously.

Glancing at the third slaver as he lay moaning on the floor, Mori moved to finish her task. The sound of Stone opening fire on the other slavers could be heard in the distance as she stepped toward the remaining slaver. Knocking the pistol from his hand, she brought the tip of her sword to rest against the man’s throat. “Your friends aren’t here anymore,” said Mori in a low steady voice.

              She saw the slaver’s eyes follow the bloody blade to its hilt and into her own gaze. Her green eyes burned through the man.

“I have money,” replied the man, his deep gulp broken up by the pain caused by the tip of Mori’s sword slightly puncturing the skin.

“Money,” snapped Mori. She could feel years of rage and loss begin to build within her as she looked into the slaver’s eyes. “You son of a bitch. What was it you said to that little girl? Before it’s over you will be begging.”

“No. Wai…”

The plea was cut short as Mori plunged the sword into the man’s neck. Focusing her rage into her weapon, she brought the sword downward in on rapid, violent movement. The slaver’s insides fell to the floor, spraying blood over Mori’s body as she lowered her sword to her side and stared at the eviscerated body.

***

Stone burst into the room.

“Mori, are you—” His voice froze as he looked over the scene in front of him.

Stone had seen many gruesome sights on the battlefield. He had killed men violently and in anger, but the scene in front of him surprised even the battle-hardened veteran. The men Mori had dispatched had not been killed; they had been butchered. The women, chained together, huddled silently in shock. The only sound was the victim of the hairy slaver, sobbing as she lay curled up on the floor.

“Are you okay?” Stone asked as he gathered himself.

Mori slowly turned and walked toward him, dragging her sword along the floor.

“She was twelve. He was going to take Katalya…”

“Mori, it’s over,” he said, slowly raising his hands to her bloodstained face.

He looked deeply into her eyes. The tears Mori had fought to hold back the night before now began to flow freely. Tears cascaded down her face, creating small trails in the blood on her cheeks.

“She was just like my sister,” she sobbed. “It will never stop until they are all dead.”

Stone put a hand on the back of her head and pulled her to him. Stone felt Mori rest her face in his chest, her arms tucked between her chest and his. He could feel her taking deep breaths trying to calm herself. In an attempt to help her, he slowly ran his other hand over her hair.

“You’ve stopped them here, Mori, and saved all of these people. We can help them care for their wounded and leave in the morning. Your father would have been proud of what you’ve done to protect these people.”

He felt Mori’s breathing slow and her arms slide around his waist. He looked down at her and their eyes met. He could explain it even to himself but he no longer saw a Terillian officer but a woman. His placed his hands over her face, brushing her hair aside. His eyes remained locked onto hers.

“Thank you! Thank you!” came a voice from behind them.

Stone and Mori, startled out of their embrace, quickly took a step away from each other.

“Thank you!” said the voice again.

Before them stood an older man, apparently the leader of the settlement, standing in the doorway.