Star Brigade: The Supremacy (SB3) (57 page)

The Cerc smiled, taking in the scenery. He triggered the recorb then, which floated just above his grasp. “Begin,” he ordered. When the green light encircling the lens flickered on, Habraum spoke, “Hey sprout! Guess where your dad is now?”

Habraum told Jeremy about Faroor and its indigenous species, but withheld his exact location for security reasons. He kept his message short, ending it with “Love you, Jer. See ya soon.” The Cerc then captured a panoramic shot of Qiidr Ol-Chaeda, its lofty crimson pyramid structures framed against the Qiidr Mountains’ majestic summits.

Since Jeremy was four, this had become Habraum’s ritual whenever he went on an away mission. And if Habraum enjoyed the planet he was stationed on, there was always a promise to take Jeremy there in the future.

As expected in the Cerc’s profession, the list he’d promised had grown very long. But Habraum intended to honor every world, whether he started next year or ten years from now.

At 0640 orvs, Habraum descended the pyramid to head back for the Brigade’s quarters. He contacted Khrome via wristcom. Within macroms, the Thulican soared down from the skies. “Oh captain, my captain,” Khrome proclaimed upon landing.

The Cerc handed his tech officer the recorb. “Ensure the transmission reaches my son.”

Having done the task many times before, Khrome took the recorb with a smile and rocketed up into the pink sky. By the time Habraum returned to Star Brigade’s quarters, the Thulican flew back and returned the globe to him.

Everyone else was awake and suited up by the time he returned. Habraum washed up in the surprisingly modern showers adjacent to the quarters, with water streaming from the mountains. He changed into his green, white, and gold armored uniform. Waiting for him near the entrance was a plate of fluffy white camke scrambled eggs with a side of toasted urbrui bread slathered with bluish jam. Habraum ate the meal quickly, washing it down with ice-cold water from a clay cup.

The Cerc walked back to the main quarters and heard Liliana’s voice before seeing her. “I’m just saying
thanks
. Can’t you just graciously accept?”

Habraum had wanted to speak to her since last night. He entered to see V’Korram, long ginger mane in a ponytail, seated in full uniform sharpening his scaphe daggers with a whetstone. “You were
cold
, I warmed you up. Move on,” he growled, not bothering to look at Liliana.

Lily jutted her dimpled chin obstinately. “Please, the ‘brooding’ act doesn’t scare me anymore!”

V’Korram whirled on her, snapping sharp teeth. Liliana shrieked and jumped back. The Kintarian went back to sharpening his daggers, a sneer playing across his muzzle. Lily composed herself enough to scowl back.

Habraum almost chuckled, but held it in. “V’Korram, leave us.” The Kintarian nodded, sheathed his scaphes and padded quickly out of the room.

Once he felt certain V’Korram was out of earshot, Habraum got to his point. “Last night, before everything got skittery...you saw the geysers, too?”

Liliana’s face drained of color, but she offered a feeble nod.

“You were there
longer
, hence
why
you were wet, and
how
you knew Qos’s position over Akkabe.” It wasn’t a question.

Liliana leaned against a wall, staring at nothing. “I saw Ghuj’aega and his followers there. I said nothing because the team had already figured it out.”

Habraum absorbed this when facing his subordinate, standing over half a foot taller. “And I’d ordered you not to.” He folded his arms, putting his full, penetrating gaze on Lily. “Anything else you’re not telling me?”

She stiffened, but met the Cerc’s stare. “I’d tell you if there was.”

The two Brigadiers moved about the room in silence for a time, Cortes prepping medical supplies she could transport on her person, Habraum sorting through weapons light enough to carry. He normally didn’t need artillery, but if his powers got disabled again, he couldn’t be unprepared. The routine, born from years of experience, came naturally.

“How do you do it?” Liliana asked.

“Do what?” Habraum asked vaguely, hooking a small pulse pistol to his left ankle.

“Be brave all the time? Barely anything seems to faze you.”

That seized Habraum’s attention. He turned as Cortes sighed heavily. “I’m always so scared, before and during a mission.” The doctor blushed and looked away from his gaze.

Habraum gaped, taken aback by her view of him. He chose his next words carefully. “Way I see it,” he began quietly, “courage isn’t being fearless. It’s doing the job even if you’re scared to bits.”

Liliana hugged herself as if chilly. “If you don’t mind me asking, sir... What scares
you
?”

His reply took no thought. “Failing a mission... Not protecting my team... Jeremy becoming an orphan.” None of these fears were for himself; he couldn’t afford that luxury. But the last fear, Jeremy losing both parents, pressed like a tangible weight on Habraum’s chest. He remembered Liliana was watching him, and refocused on her with a forced grin.

“I see how confident you’ve become and how well you work with CT-1. Know what your orders are and do what needs to be done.”

Liliana stared back blankly, lips slightly parted as if to speak. Then, Habraum saw her close-set brown eyes harden, leaving no room for fear.

“Tell the team it’s go time,” Habraum said. Lily nodded and left the room.

He stopped smiling.
She’s hiding something.
It wouldn’t be the first time, either. However, Habraum knew Liliana would tell him if it directly affected the mission. So he would trust her...for now.

Habraum adjusted his utility belt and strode out to meet his group.

The fog covering Qiidr Ol-Chaeda had mostly burned away under Herope’s cherry blaze. Kyas’argiid waited outside, flanked by three warriors with gamey builds. By his expression, one couldn’t tell he had just killed his traitorous son last night.

Habraum offered his hand, and the high chief accepted. “Thanks for your hospitality.”

As the Quud nodded in understanding, Habraum saw flickers of grief in his opal-like eyes. Kyas’argiid was barely holding it together. He turned and walked back toward the heart of Qiidr Ol-Chaeda. One of his warriors stayed to initiate the pillar that would transport Star Brigade to Akkabe.

Habraum studied his team. They all surrounded a shorter-than-average stone pillar, cylindrical in its shape and wide in girth, but clearly constructed from various stones. Fiyan and Byzlar stood in full armor, pulse rifles hefted on their shoulders. Khal looked at the earth, clenching and unclenching his hands, looking slightly overwhelmed. This was his first major CT mission, so Habraum empathized. Cortes said Khal had no lasting injuries from the transport crash. Habraum was relieved, knowing how valuable a telekinetic would be on the field.

Khrome hovered nearby, a few inches off the ground, cheerful even before a battle. Tyris stood with arms folded, still as a statue. Liliana prepped her pulse pistols with newfound calm, her dark pixie cut hair damp and slicked back. V’Korram paced back and forth like a restless beast. Marguliese surveyed her surroundings with quick, cool sweeps. The black armorweave tank top and catsuit pants she wore clung to her body as if she was poured inside, minimalist compared to her fellow Star Brigadiers and the TerraTroopers’ attire. But the Cybernarr looked no less lethal than usual.

Tyris’s dark eyes flitted in Habraum’s direction. “We’re ready, sir.”

The Cerc started toward the group. “Brilliant. The geysers will limit our visibility and hearing, so we—”

“I’m coming with you.”

Habraum stopped and turned slowly toward the familiar voice.

Mhir’ujiid stood behind him, green mohawk wild and unruly. She carried one of those toothed clubs at her waist, a metal forearm guard sheathing her right arm and a slightly deranged expression on her flat face. The Quud who was their transporter motioned at her. She replied with a glare so nasty the warrior actually cowered.

“I help you deal with Ghuj’aega,” Mhir’ujiid added.

V’Korram snarled in bother.

Habraum had no time for this. “Mhir’ujiid...”

She overrode him, “I have to avenge what Ghuj’aega did to my family…my brother—”

“
Mhir’ujiid
,” Habraum barked, his patience expired. “
My
team needs to focus on Ghuj’aega, not your safety,” he detailed. “Stay with your family.”

The Quud opened her mouth to rebut, but Habraum had already turned away. He approached Star Brigade, standing with Fiyan and Byzlar around the pillar. This was quite a brood he had under his command. One look at them dissolved any earlier concerns.

“Let’s go to work.” Habraum nodded to the Quud warrior.

Their transporter began moving several blocks around on the stone pillar, his expression like one entranced. Moments later, Star Brigade and the TerraTroopers vanished with a sharp pop.

The instantaneous trip landed Habraum and his team amidst sweltering steam in every direction. He nodded at their transporter in gratitude. The Farooqua returned the gesture while shifting around the pillar’s stones with nimble fingers, then vanishing. Star Brigade was on its own.

The low-grade forcefield on Habraum’s suit protected him from the full effects of Akkabe’s balmy heat. Still, the heavy moisture along with the stink of sulfur and oxide metals made breathing a chore. Through the steam, countless cone-shaped geysers jutted up around his Star Brigade team in packed clusters.

BRRKSSSH!!
A geyser erupted thunderously. Habraum swiveled his head in that direction. Cortes and Byzlar started.

Calm settled over Akkabe Plateau, the eruption a fading echo...until the next one.
BRRKSSSH!

“Jakadda. Marguliese,” Habraum whispered.

V’Korram appeared at his right, surly as usual. The steam clearly didn’t agree with him, either. He eyed Habraum and shook his head, confirming no Ghebrekh nearby. Marguliese appeared at the Cerc’s left and whispered, “A cluster of body heat in the northwest clearing.”

Habraum, V’Korram, and their teammates followed her gaze. She had located Ghuj’aega. The Cerc pointed to that direction, waving his group to both sides. Marguliese, Sergeant Fiyan, Tyris, and Khal went left. Habraum, V’Korram, Byzlar, and Liliana went right. Khrome rose above ground, to catch any surprises.

BRRKSSSH! KSSSSSSH!!
Another geyser jet gushed out two eruptions, covering the team’s footfalls.

For long macroms, CT-1 and the TerraTroopers moved stealthily among the maze of geysers. No sign of Ghuj’aega, his Ghebrekh, or Taorr yet.

Their search was greeted by sudden spouting eruptions, the drip-drip trickling of water down the cone geysers—and the sizzle of water drops landing on Tyris’s crystalline ice figure. The sun’s pale-pink light began cutting through the haze, improving their line of sight.

Not until the cone geysers grew more spread apart did V’Korram, on all fours, freeze in place. His ears pricked up as he rose upright. Habraum stopped and gestured tersely at his team to comply.

“What?” he whispered. Another geyser erupted far away, rumbling the earth.

“Drumbeats,” V’Korram growled quietly, “rhythmic, like a ritual.”

Habraum nodded and waved the team forward. As CT-1 moved further inside the labyrinth of geysers, he began hearing the drums.
Alien and gloomy, but beautiful.

His team looked ready, though each eruption visibly unnerved Cortes.

“Reign,” Khrome muttered via wristcom, “five Ghebrekh hiding up ahead.”

“Copy that,” Habraum whispered. “Fiyan, release the—”

“Captain...
krk-krk
...CT-1...
krk-krk
... Come in—” Khrome’s voice crackled on the CT-1 com channel.

Everyone dove for cover behind either a geyser or one of several rocky outcrops.

Habraum switched to another channel, tempted to punch the Thulican even if his hand broke.

Floating overhead, Khrome looked more shocked than anyone and frantically mouthed, “I didn’t say anything!” in the face of the murderous glares lobbed at him.

Before anything could be said, Habraum spied five silhouettes slinking into view from behind several geysers. Khrome floated up into the muggy haze. The shadows emerging from the steam revealed furless, tattooed Ghebrekh armed with toothed clubs, metallic forearm guards, and whips. The warriors silently slinked forward, scouring the geysers for the source of the sound.

And Star Brigade struck. Marguliese darted behind two Ghebrekh at the rear. A slash of light dropped the pair...without their heads.

A silvery blur streaked past the two Ghebrekh in front, snatching them up. Khrome soared skyward holding the terrified Ghebrekh’s faces in each hand, muffling their screams. He banked a hard left toward the nearest geyser, tossing his cargo into its overflowing mouth as he flew by—just as it erupted.
BRRKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
This time, the frothy white gush bore a wine-red tinge.

The last Ghebrekh swiveled about in clear panic, swiping his toothed club at shadows surrounding him.

Tyris charged forward, hooking the Ghebrekh’s arm holding the toothed club to render it useless. He rammed a hard palm into the Ghebrekh’s face once...twice...three times, each strike breaking more bones. Tyris caught the Ghebrekh by the throat, slamming the back of his neck on a bent knee—snapping it.

“Clear,” Khrome whispered.

The group resumed moving toward the ceaseless drumbeats. Craggy stubs and a few cone geysers ahead ringed the clearing.

Liliana stayed put, eyes closed and shivering.
BRRKSSSH!!
She barely flinched at a stout cone geyser’s violent eruption to her left.

Veiled under the roar of water and fury, another Ghebrekh dashed from around a geyser at Cortes. Habraum’s eyes widened and he snapped up a glowing red fist. Marguliese dashed to her. Khrome dove forward. But the attacker moved too fast to intercept…

At the last instant Liliana dropped to a knee, eyes still shut as she turned, aimed, and fired.

Bright white sound waves knocked the Ghebrekh off its feet, shattering bones and ripping apart tissue. His ruined body hit the ground in a floppy heap. Dark blood wormed from ears and mouth across the cracked earth, quickly diluted by scalding water flowing around him.