The Key (51 page)

“What’s our shield strength?” Halliwell asked.

“Down fifteen percent.”

“Roger that.” He was quiet for a minute, but Emerson was right. “I’ll bring in the Gadi and cloaked fighters.”

Emerson sounded relieved as he signed off.

“Open a channel to Commander Gaedon.”

* * * *

Sara was vaguely aware of Perkins cussing next to her, the words blurring together. She leaned against the wall. She might have been hyperventilating. Some place inside, she couldn’t believe what she’d done. But what other choice did she have?

She couldn’t stand by and do nothing while he tortured Fyn. She couldn’t surrender. If she failed here, failed now, they all died.

One man’s life against so many.

The soldier
had
to act before the woman’s heart over ruled the soldier’s head.

Deep down, pain fomented, churning like lava.

Fyn
.

She shoved a fist against her mouth, struggling against the emotion that wanted to take her down. If she lived, she’d have to deal with what she’d done, but not right now. Right now they had a nest to clean out, power to restore, Dusan trash to kick. She needed to not have trouble at her back when Adin came. And they were running out of time.

The silence from Kalian’s position was…intense, but it wouldn’t last.

She looked out. They’d turned out the light. That was good for her side, bad for theirs.

She clicked her radio again, then twice more. “Mike India Charlie.”

Move in. Clear.

She and Perkins stepped quietly out into the corridor, with Perkins on point, passing the bodies of the dead Ojemba as they moved toward the doorway. She could see the other team on the move, too. Both paused near the opening. Perkins pulled the fuse and tossed in a flash bang with practiced efficiency.

Sara closed her eyes, turned her head away and plugged her ear on that side. It went off with a satisfying bang, not to mention a disorienting flash. If Kalian and his men were lucky, disoriented was all they’d be. It had been known to make some men mess their drawers.

The jarheads M-4 lights stabbed into the darkness, their beams criss-crossing through drifting smoke as the three men moved in.

Sara moved forward and crouched by Fyn’s body while they cleared the room, cutting the bonds they’d used to secure him. She managed to turn him over. His eyes were open. He looked surprised. She choked back a sob.

She smoothed his lids down, then her hand drifted down, spreading across the still-warm skin of his cheek. Her palm tingled, but it couldn’t warm her. She was too cold. Too dead inside.
A dead woman walking.

* * * *

The ambush worked perfectly. The Gadi caught the Dusan flat footed. One after another, a row of enemy cruisers exploded, sending long tongues of flaming atmosphere into space as they decompressed.

He could see the gomers scramble to adjust to this new threat.

The cloaked ships infiltrated the enemy, popping in and out of sight, sowing havoc right into the very heart of the Dusan fleet. In just a few moments, the previously straightforward battle dissolved into random skirmishes as they tried to find and eliminate the cloaked ships without taking out their own vessels. And failing. Pretty good when you could get the enemy to take out their own stuff.

Every one of their ships in the battle was kicking trash.

“Any word from Donovan?” he asked again.

“No, sir.”

Halliwell looked at the HUD. Two Dusan ships were approaching the outpost. But according to this, it was dead in the water. What the hell—suddenly he knew.

“Commander Gaedon, which ship is your Leader commanding in this fight?”

“Our…leader?” The unease in his voice was all the answer he needed.

The son of a bitch.

He looked at communications. “Tell Foster and Loren to prepare to engage outpost defenses.”

At least we’re holding our own.
Those cloaked ships will make short work of the Dusan fleet…

“Sir! Multiple contacts emerging from hyperspace at six o’clock!”

To add emphasis to that report, the ship got hit with multiple shockwaves. Several bridge monitors blew and bodies went flying.

“Medic! Medic to the bridge!”

“Sir, they’re too close. Counter measures ineffective at this range!”

Shit.

* * * *

“Room is secure, Captain.” Perkins sounded calm, but Sara could still hear anger below the calm.

She got up, another hundred years older, found the power controls and flipped them back on. The room lit up and she could feel the outpost’s systems coming back on line. Her connection was back. It didn’t feel as good as she thought it would.

At least she was connected to the Dusan network again. She started sending data to mother.

The Dusan ships had just exited hyperspace. Only two of them. She’d hoped to draw more from the fight, but at least it was something.

She turned around. The Marines were lining the Ojemba up against the far wall. One man kneeling, one standing, hands clasped behind their heads. Some of them looked like their eyes were still spinning the sockets.

Kalian stood in the middle of the group, watching her warily. He’d recovered quicker than his men. He was wearing a uniform, one that showed, rather than hid the power in his body. This was the real deal. No more prissy boy.

“You have succeeded in surprising me.”

“You thought my feelings for him made me weak.” Sara paced toward him, her M4 coming up, the red dot stopping over his heart. “You were wrong.”

He stared at her with lifted chin, his eyes calm.

“If I had surrendered, you would have killed him.”

It wasn’t a question.

“I would have killed him.”

Sara felt her finger tightening on the trigger.

“He was resisting capture, Captain.” Perkins’ voice was deadly cold. “You didn’t have a choice. You had to shoot him.”

* * * *

Halliwell saw the outpost come back on line on the virtual HUD. Luckily he could still think it up. The fixed HUD station had a nasty crack all the way across it and one side sagged drunkenly.

Finally some good news.

The past few minutes had been brutal. He didn’t know what the Dusan did to their missiles, but damn, they’d delivered a beating, despite the upgraded shields. It was almost as if they’d been designed to slam into shields and shake a ship to pieces. Maybe even make the shields become a negative?

One of the medics was trying to stop his nose from bleeding. Halliwell didn’t have time for this, but the guy wouldn’t go away.

Now he started to get the first of the relayed data from the Dusan network.

Seize the Earth ships for information. Take no prisoners. Destroy the rest.

Okay, that wasn’t good.
Information
. Was Xever after their intergalactic propulsion?

Another bone jarring impact rattled through the ship. He got on the ship’s internal intercom.

“All personnel prepare for boarding parties.”

* * * *

Kalian stared at her, no fear in his eyes.

She wanted to kill him more than she wanted to fly again. But she’d never shot an unarmed man. Life still wasn’t fair.

Her finger eased up on the trigger. Kalian must have seen it in her eyes. His shoulders relaxed a little. She turned her back on him, then spun around and slugged him as hard as she could in the jaw.

He staggered back into the wall, his eyes wide with surprise. A little blood trail formed at the side of his mouth. He angled his head, moved his jaw, then dabbed at the spot.

Looked like she’d surprised him again.

Surprise spread both directions through his Ojemba ranks.

She turned her back on him, on them, and made a face.

Damn, that hurt.

Perkins hid a grin. “They make it look easy in the movies, ma’am.”

“No kidding.” She flexed her fingers, feeling the nanites move in. Lucky they didn’t get tired of fixing what she did to herself. “We gotta stash these guys somewhere before the Dusan land.”

“The Dusan?” Kalian’s voice was sharp.

She spun back around. “Yeah, the Dusan. News flash, we had a plan and you almost screwed it up. I should just let
them
kill you.”

One of the Ojemba looked at her. “We wish to fight them with you.”

Sara stared at him. “I need people I can trust at my back.”

“You don’t have to like us, but you know you can use us.” Kalian hesitated. “This is our fight. Or theirs, if you won’t let me fight. Let our deaths count for something.”

Sara got in his face. “You mean like Fyn’s? His death counted for so much.”

“Now you are a woman.”

Damn him, he was right.

“What do you want to do with them?” Perkins asked her.

“They’re damn lucky it isn’t our way to execute prisoners. Take ‘em to the roof. Henderson’s picking you up there. It’s his call, not mine.” She turned away. “Just get them out of my sight.”

Kalian stopped in front of her. “Xever is coming?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “Must have been something I said.”

“With Fyn…down you need someone at your back. Let me…help.”

“You want Fyn’s spot, you go with them.”

“I don’t believe he would leave you to face Xever alone.”

“Clearly he had more faith in me more than you do.” She checked the sensors. “Even if you were right, which you aren’t, I don’t trust you to act in
our
best interests.” She looked at Perkins. “Get him out of here before I change my mind and shoot him.”

One of the marines jabbed him in the back with his M-4, making him move away from her and finally, finally she was alone. She didn’t have long. Two transport ships were leaving the Dusan mother ships.

First she radioed Henderson and told him about the Ojemba’s offer of assistance. She didn’t care if they got left to die, but Henderson could probably use the help.

“Can we trust them to do the job?”

“It is their reason for living, but you decide.”

He signed off. That left one thing to do. She knelt by Fyn and touched his face, one last time, her palm tingling again.

“I’m so sorry.” Her tears hit his face. She rubbed them away.

She stroked her finger across his mouth.

Her radio crackled.

“Donovan, the Dusan ships are touching down. I got at least two hundred-plus bogeys on the sensors and they’re all heading your way.”

“Roger that.”

She got up. If she failed now, Fyn’s death would be for nothing and a lot of good people would die.

So, she couldn’t fail.

Twenty

“Stevens! You’ve got one on your tail!”

“I see him!”

A few laser bursts flashed past Hawkins’ cockpit. In tight fighting, the slow ship had the edge. Superior speed was actually working against them.

“I’m taking hits!” Stevens had an edge of panic to his voice. It was his first dogfight. “Shields are down to twenty percent!”

“I’m coming!” Hawkins did a tight, bat turn, then put the pedal to the metal. His speedjeans inflated as he hit the g-zone. He closed on Stevens, feeling his shields take multiple hits.

They were holding, but for how long? He accelerated and banked so that he would cross behind Stevens and fired.

The Dusan fighter tried to play chicken with him…

His shots made contact…

It exploded.

He blew through the flaming wreckage.

Behind him, Stevens took out the fighter on his tail.

“Bravo zulu, Stevens!”

Clear for a moment, Hawkins took a second to improve his situational awareness. All the fighter groups were kicking trash, but it wasn’t making a hell of a lot of difference. The HUD was still thick with Dusan fighters.

“There’s too many of them! I’m hit! I’m hit!”

Hawkins saw the fighter spiral out of control, smashing into a Dusan cruiser with a deadly flash. Both ships exploded into debris that took out the nearby ships.

“Stick with your wingman and protect each other!”

Dogfighting chatter filled the comms as he and Stevens dodged fire from five Dusan fighters. It was going to be a
long
day.

* * * *

Fyn opened his eyes, surprised that they could open. He tried an arm. It moved. He felt across his chest, finding the hole in his clothing, but the skin under it was smooth again.

He inhaled, then exhaled slowly. It felt like breathing. Shouldn’t. He was dead, wasn’t he?

He tried out his arms and legs. It hurt like hell. Kind of expected death to not…hurt.

So, did that mean he wasn’t dead? He didn’t feel dead. He felt…
healed.
She’d touched him and he’d felt…something. Warmth moving in to replace the cold.

If this was healing, Sara said it was weird. She was right about that. Made him understand what weird meant, too.

He managed to sit up. He could see. Sara had got the power back on.

How long had he been out? And where was Sara—

A HUD appeared in the air in front of him, with a dot flashing that he took to be Sara. She had two hundred bogeys closing in on her position.

He got up and looked around. Kalian had tossed his gear back here…yes, there it was. He pulled on the vest and started checking his weapons.

He had some Dusan to kill.

* * * *

Sara followed Adin’s progress through the outpost on tracking. He moved like an incoming storm. She could feel his rage as he drove his men before him.

This could go really badly. Or kind of badly.

She didn’t see how it could go well.

While she waited for him, she checked the data she was sending to home plate and the status of the battle. The fleet was kicking trash, but there were just too many of them. If she didn’t act soon, there’d be no one left to help. Panic tried to take over, but she pushed it back. There was no time.

When Adin was almost on her, she stood up and faced the door, her chin lifted. No one said anything as they burst in, but now it didn’t surprise her. She knew they couldn’t.

It was still creepy.

Two of his men grabbed her arms, dragged her to the wall and slammed her against it. Through a few stars, she saw Adin stride in.