Knight in Shining Alien?: Athrian Warriors Book One (12 page)

Inside the new stealth prototype that Bruthus had designed, Jarrek was miserable. He kept trying to concentrate on what he needed to accomplish. Kill Varill, so that his daughter and Cordisa were safe and never had to worry for their lives. Save his stupid brother if time permitted. When Kirrek recovered, he was going to kick his ass and put him back under medical care. How many times, has he had to pull his ass from a bad situation? He would need to grow up and lead their people when Varill killed him. Well, if Varill killed him. He may need to do the deed himself. Krakill's were so stupid that unless he helped pull the trigger himself, he would have grown bored with the torture they liked to dish out first and just kill everyone.

Varill did possess one thing in abundance though. Luck. He had been trying for the last one hundred years to kill the shivak loch croin and had come very close, but he somehow managed to escape. The last time he had tried to kill Varill, he had taken some merchants word that Varill was on a certain ship and the idiot had mixed the name with the ship next to him. Jarrek had taught him the error of his ways on that one for sure. He wanted no mistakes this time.

“We follow the earlier plan we came up with. Marthos, when you finish helping Sameth secure my daughter; I want you to scout around very quickly to make sure that there is no way Varill could escape this time. Disable all escape vehicles, pods or shuttles you run across. Rometho has about two hundred button explosives that are small, but very effective. He showed me the simulation of the explosive and I was quite impressed. Toss a button inside a pod and when detonated, destroyed. When the flash dies down there is barely any debris left; it is the same for a small to medium sized vehicle. Two buttons are required for larger vehicles like individual attack ships. Three for a large escape shuttle similar to the ones we have on board the Sh'dow al D'th. Remember that we have no more than an hour before the game is up and they discover either that Kirrek or my daughter is missing. Quick, quiet and covert are our bywords for this mission.” He heard Rometho tell Marthos where to locate the button explosives he would need.

Bruthus spoke up from the front seat, “Docking with target in two verls, Commander.”

Jarrek stood and went to the front of the shuttle; turning he spoke to his men. “All right Warriors. I count on all of you to help in keeping my Cordisa and daughter safe. Stay the course, concentrate on your targets and once completed, feel free to kill as many as you can. Remember, that your kills cannot be discovered right away though, so prudence is required. If we fail, we fail our entire planet. I do not wish for my name to be so besmirched. Do you?” Jarrek asked and when his warriors screamed their denial, continued. “Go with the Goddess. Conquer the enemy and fight with cunning and ruthlessness.” They all screamed out their battle cry and waited the last minute that Bruthus called out.

Jarrek stopped at Marthos and sat next to him. “Cousin, I charge you with this task. If I fall, I require that you make sure that my brother and daughter are returned to the ship safely and that you speed with all haste to my father, so that they can make sure my daughter and Cordisa are protected and loved. Kirrek is to assume my leadership role for our planet until such time that my daughter can grow up to take his place as my heir. He is no longer allowed on missions, but instead he is to make sure that my daughter is guarded and groomed to rule our planet. How say you?” Jarrek asked in the voice he used as the Prince and next ruler of their planet.

“My Prince, I accept your task and will see it through, but tells you that you are stupid if you think that the Krakill's could actually kill you.” Marthos took his responsibility to Athria very seriously, but could not help but laugh at the suggestion that Varill could succeed in killing his Prince. He had been trying for over a hundred years and had not managed yet. While Varill kept to the tactics that his race had used for a millennium, they had improved theirs at every opportunity. Like the ship they were in, and the new explosives that Rometho had generated, they practically guaranteed their own victory.

“Warrior Barion, when a man goes to battle, he does so with the expectation that he may go to greet the Goddess and prepares. That those left behind are taken care of, and know that they were the most important thing in your world all the way to the end. No battle goes the way you wish. Otherwise we would have no need of warriors, if we could just wish the outcome we desire.” Jarrek counseled his young cousin. With that statement, Marthos was showing his youth. He was a great sniper, but hardly battle tested like his other warriors.

“I apologize, Sire. You are correct. Now that a Cordisa has been found, we can begin to think to the future and make sure they are at the forefront of all plans and contingencies.” Marthos said solemnly, giving his Prince a small bow with his hand over his heart.

Jarrek never felt the shuttle dock with Varill's ship; it was so smooth, sending a quick compliment and a hearty smack on the back when Bruthus stood with the others, ready to begin their plans. “All right, everyone check your comms quickly.” Jarrek ordered. Once everyone was signaling that they were online, he sent Marthos ahead to get the way clear and cover them in the case of discovery.

“Click your comms twice to signal when you have completed your mission.” All the men signaled their acknowledgment, received the all clear from Marthos, disembarked and began to carry out their individual assignments.

Jarrek was proud of his Warriors and sent a prayer to the Goddess that they were successful. He gave his men twenty minutes before he made his way out of the ship to hunt for Varill. He would be the one to kill him if at all possible. Slipping between fighter ships, and other scout ships, he was angry with himself for not grabbing a handful of Rometho's button bombs. He must clear his head and focus on killing Varill, instead of his misery. If he did not focus, he would die before he could find Varill or be assured that his men had laid all the bombs required to blow Varill into hell.

Jarrek paused briefly outside the door of the ship's interior. He heard a double click in his headset and smiled. One mission completed, two more to go. Moving double time he moved as fast as possible through the boring gray of the ships interior. All of the Krakill's ships were the same. This of course was quite a boon for him, as by now every warrior on his planet could maneuver through the corridors blindfolded, but the stench had never been something they could ever become accustomed to.

His little bird named them correctly. His chest squeezed painfully at the thought of his little bird. He had been thinking non-stop of what she said to him. He finally remembered how much vishna Hailey had consumed, and what effect it had on her. She was right; he had not asked or considered all that she had been through since their meeting. Was is not just mere days ago he had shown her the video sent of what had been done to her? He would not wish to bond if that had just happened to him. He had kicked himself repeatedly over the last twenty hours since he had left her.

This was the first mission Sameth had been on with his younger brother since he had joined the ship on their last docking at home. Sameth was startled by the difference in his bothers demeanor, and tried to speak about it, but Marthos put him off at each occasion. Now was not the time as he followed Marthos down the twisting corridors, to their medical and genetic wards.

Watching as Marthos moved like a zilenta, stalking and quiet. He paused to give the signal for patrols headed their direction and they each took a door and as quietly as possible gave a quick glance inside and then hid just inside the door. Letting the small group pass them, they continued on their way. Turning left at the next corridor Marthos ran into a lone Krakill scientist. Quickly covering the startled scientist's mouth, he pulled his knife and slit his throat with the other. The blue blood splashed Marthos face and arms.

Sameth hurried over and grabbed his legs, helping to carry him to one of the open rooms they had just left. Stuffing the body in a closet and taking the uniforms hanging there to lie atop the body and soak up the blood. No use in hiding the body, if they were going to leave a pool of blood back to the evidence.

Marthos wiped his face and hands and they continued as silent as ever. Two corridors later, they were just outside of their medical lab. Hand signals letting Sameth know exactly what Marthos planned, Sameth found himself boosting his brother into an air vent that ran parallel.  Moving back a little, Sameth looked for a side closet to wait out Marthos' scouting, and found an electrical closet. Keeping the door open a sliver, watching for the first sign Marthos had returned with their object's location.

Six minutes later, he was beginning to worry. It should not have taken him this long to locate one embryo bearing Athrian heritage in their files. A small, barely discernible tweet on the air caused the breath to leave his body. He had found her. Rushing to catch up to his brother, he saw his arm hanging down from the vent shaft. Standing under the vent, he looked up at his brother questioningly. Three hand signals later, he reached up for his brother's hand and jumped as he pulled him into the vent with him. “This way.” Marthos whispered.

Pushing himself backward until he could turn around he led Sameth to the lab housing six scientists and a two foot by two foot canister housing a pink fluid and a rapidly growing Athrian child. Noting where each warrior stood, they divided the kills between them and then bursting through the vent went into action. He watched Marthos fall through the vent; land on his feet and one large step put him behind his first victim. Slamming his blade into his enemy's back and angled up to pierce the lung and heart, allowing a fast, quiet kill. The Krakill never had time to turn around.

Sameth quickly followed, but as he had a longer sword strapped to his back had to wait until he landed on his feet to pull the blade. He sent it in a quick arc around his head and felt as it sliced cleanly though one of his opponent’s head, severing it from the body. Stepping to the left to avoid the fall of the body that did not quite realize it was dead; he stabbed upward through the next body, right through the heart and out the spine. Pulling the blade free in another dancing move to the side, this time to the right, he dispatched his next opponent.

His last opponent was about to push the alarm, so he quickly cut off the reaching arm and before he could scream his denial, had sliced his head in two pieces. Reaching over the last body, Sameth grabbed a cloth and wiped the blood from his blade. Returning it to his sheath he turned and stepped around the blood and bodies Marthos was beginning to move under the table, while simultaneously wiping up blood with towels he dragged under his feet.

Reading the information, they had gathered on the first female Athrian in close to six thousand years, he copied the data and then deleted as he went until nothing remained on their systems. Whether they blew up the ship or not; nothing would survive to tell the tale, they had created one of their women. Once finished he quickly searched for Hailey's information, and copied and deleted it as well. The Krakill's never needed to know about the fertile planet they found, or their new Queen.

He did a quick search of any other information the Krakill had on their race, finding something so shocking, he almost forgot they were on a timer. He copied the information, and deleted it from their hard drives. He hoped they were able to blow this entire ship into dust.