To Clan and Conquer (Clan Beginnings) (32 page)

Lidon grinned.  “That’s sounding more like the Dramok I know.  But now that I’ve had a taste, you’ll have to fight me harder for the privilege of my surrender.”

Tranis chuckled.  “Sounds like fun.”

It was nice knowing he could admit his pain and lack of surety to Lidon and not be thought less for it.  Instead of making him feel weak, it made him more secure in his own strength.

* * * *

The next few days passed far too slowly.  Tranis and Lidon returned to the colony compound only once more.  They spent an entire night dodging Tragooms and investigating the colony as best they could.  The Tragooms were now eating the livestock.  No sign was found that any of the colonists were still alive.

Tranis had the place mapped out in his head by the time the first light of the rising planet crept over the horizon.  He knew the airfield and how many of the Tragoom shuttles possessed Kalquorian navigation.  He and Lidon investigated the command center as best they could from their air vent in the Earther building.  They noted the few defenses the overconfident Tragooms had set up.  Their enemy had apparently decided the orbiting fleet was all the real protection they needed on the colony.

Back in the fighter, the two men went over their plans again and again, honing their attack strategy.  They took walks across the poisonous, barren landscape in their suits when Lidon’s natural Nobek tendencies steered him towards going stir crazy and meditation no longer calmed him.  They made love often until they fell asleep.

Tranis had thought the physical closeness of their situation might reduce them to arguing as they slowly wore on each others’ nerves and chafed against the tight confines of the fighter.  Instead, it made him realize how much he valued Lidon’s company.  Not one ill word passed between them.  Tranis also discovered that cramped quarters or not, he’d do anything to have Degorsk with them.  He missed the Imdiko, and by the frequency of how often the man’s name came up in their conversations, he knew Lidon was wishing Degorsk was with them too.

If Tranis had entertained any doubts about his compatibility with the other two before the mission, they were all gone now.  He was in love with Lidon and Degorsk.  If the three survived the coming battle, he would ask them to clan without hesitation.  He only hoped Lidon’s hints that the pair wouldn’t mind a younger man for their Dramok would prove true.

Chapter 14

The night finally arrived for Tranis and Lidon to put their plans into action.  It was the quietest time for the Tragoom patrols when the two men gained the vent of the Earther building once more.  Lidon led the way to the command room this time.

He peered through the vent opening for a few seconds before turning to Tranis.  He held up two fingers then flashed a series of hand signals:  a fist first, then his pinkie pointed up.  Finally he splayed both hands wide and pushed out.

Tranis nodded.  Message received:  two Tragooms armed with percussion blasters and knives stood on the far side of the control room.  Lidon motioned to Tranis to take the one on their left.

The Dramok unsheathed his long knife from his boot and nodded his readiness.  Lidon gripped the vent cover, tensed, and was suddenly gone.  The vent was wide open and Tranis went through it in an instant.

Tranis burst into the room.  He raced for his target, which was only beginning to react to Lidon’s attack on its companion.  The Nobek used the heavy vent cover like a shield, bowling the Tragoom on the right over before plunging a knife towards its chest.  Then Tranis was on his own prey, fighting to get his knife into the rank creature’s soft spot just below the breast bone.

It was a kill blow, aimed true.  The Tragoom uttered a squeal that was more surprise than pain because the attack had come too fast for it to absorb what was happening yet.  Wet warmth jetted over Tranis’ hand and arm.  He ground the knife further in, digging for the loathsome Tragoom’s heart.  He was so intent on killing it before it could kill him that he barely noticed its hard, hooflike paws pounding on his shoulders, leaving blackened bruises that would last for weeks.  It heaved beneath him, having been knocked on its back from Tranis’ first rush.  A grating bray fell from the tusked snout of the Tragoom, then a geyser of nearly black blood gushed from the hole Tranis had made in its chest.  The vile thing fell limp and moved no more.

Tranis stared into the tiny black eyes of his enemy, watching as they went glassily blank.  He jerked his knife free and stood, his long legs straddling the still body.  Sewage-ripe fluids dripped from his arms to rain lazily on the dead thing.  The thing he had killed.

Tranis had never taken the life of another sentient being in hand-to-hand combat.  Now that his duty and the frenzied struggle to prevail were over, the shock of having killed something that didn’t live on pure instinct pressed down upon him.

Lidon’s voice right behind him pulled the Dramok a little way out of his shock.  “Tranis?”

“Yeah.”  Tranis turned around.  It seemed to take several minutes before the Nobek slid into view.  He blinked at his companion, forcing the muzziness from his head.  “It’s dead.  Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”  Lidon’s sharp gaze bore into Tranis’ eyes, and he nodded.  “Killing an enemy face to face is a very different thing from firing on him from a ship, isn’t it?”

“Yes.  Very.”  Tranis took the cloth Lidon offered him and wiped as much blood as he could from his hands and knife.  By the ancestors, the things smelled.  A new odor made Tranis think his victim had emptied its bowels upon death.  Disgusting.

Lidon seemed satisfied with Tranis’ state of mind.  “Let’s get to work.”

The Nobek busied himself setting a timed fail on the defense grid.  Meanwhile, Tranis scanned the shuttles on the ground, punching in the codes Lidon had provided him.  Within minutes, he had access to the still-intact Kalquorian navigational frequency signatures that underlaid the Tragoom codes.  Next, he used his connection to the shuttles to scan and find the nav signatures of the Kalquorian-based ships in the Tragoom armada.

“I’ve got them,” he told Lidon.  “Downloading all frequencies and codes to my handheld.”

“Timer is set.”  Lidon got to work hiding the Tragooms they’d killed in storage bins set in the walls.  Hopefully the creatures wouldn’t be found before the grid failed.  The plan had a better chance of working if no one immediately suspected foul play.  By the time he had cleaned up the blood and all evidence they’d been in the room, Tranis had the codes stored in his portable computer.

They climbed back into the vent, and Lidon pulled the cover closed behind them.  In the closer quarters, the stench of Tragoom on their bodies was overwhelming.  Tranis knew it would be a long time before he’d be able to scrub it from his skin.  And though he truly believed the universe was much better off without Tragooms in it, he also knew he’d never be able to unsee the glazed look that death brought to the eyes of the one he’d killed.

* * * *

The moment Lidon and Tranis got to the fighter and it pressurized, they peeled their atmospheric suits off.  Being stuck inside the helmet and suit, awash in the noxious fumes of dead Tragoom on his body was enough to make the stoic Nobek retch.  The odor was still stomach-churning in the confines of the fighter, but not nearly as eye-watering.

He watched Tranis carefully as the ship’s interior shifted back into battle mode.  Lidon understood the trauma of taking a life in hand-to-hand battle for the first time … even if that life belonged to something as malevolent and debauched as a Tragoom.  Fortunately, Tranis’ complete concentration seemed to be on the task at hand.  He slid into his re-appearing seat and his fingers flew over his console.

Lidon started the engines.  They were finally getting off this horrid moon.  No more skulking around.  He could look forward to no longer being pinned inside the claustrophobic fighter for hours on end.  He couldn’t wait to get back to the destroyer.

Tranis was no less anxious.  “Get us into orbit, Weapons Commander, while I input the codes we need.”  He was already patching his handheld into his console.

“Acknowledged, Commander.  We are lifting off, retracing our entry path onto the planet, and will reach orbit out of Tragoom scanning range in half an hour.”

The trip into orbit was mostly silent.  Both men were intent on their work.  Not only was Lidon inputting the timing mechanism for security grid breach into his console, but he remained vigilant for enemy pursuit.  They’d been careful in their attack on the colony command post, but those bodies could be discovered at any moment.  An undetected scan might have noted their quitting the moon.  Innumerable things might have gone wrong, things that would get him and Tranis killed and put the Kalquorian fleet in jeopardy.

When they reached orbit, Lidon allowed himself to feel a little relief.  Nothing had challenged them, and they were out of the attack force and colony’s scanning ranges.

“Entering orbit now, Commander.”

“Acknowledged.  Sending a call to Captain Piras.”

Lidon couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so happy to hear his former lover’s voice.  “Captain Piras to scouting team.  Responding to signal.”

“First Officer Tranis receiving you, Captain.”

“The first defensive wave is in place, Commander.  We are ready to engage the enemy as soon as the security grid is down.”

Tranis muted the transmission and turned to Lidon.  “I love how our fleet doesn’t fuck around when they have faith in their officers.”

Lidon grinned as the Dramok re-opened their com.  He reported in.  “Weapons Commander Lidon to Captain Piras.  The enemy’s security grid will be down in forty-three minutes.  Meanwhile, the commander and I will begin the attack now.”

Piras sounded amused.  Miracles did happen sometimes, Lidon thought as the captain spoke.  “Do I dare ask what you two are up to this time?”

Tranis answered, “A large portion of the enemy fleet possesses Kalquorian navigation.  We have the codes, which I am transmitting to you now for your use once the grid is down.  I hope you don’t mind us starting without you.  I’d like to make sure this is actually going to work.”

“By all means, Commander.  Good luck and many thanks for your fine work.”

Tranis muted the com again.  “He almost sounds like he likes me.  He’ll be buying me drinks next thing you know.” 

Lidon snorted at Tranis’ humor and shook his head.  Piras simply appreciated how good his first officer was going to make him look if Tranis’ plan panned out.  There was no real camaraderie in the future for the two men.  Lidon just couldn’t see his former lover and the man he thought of as his future Dramok ever being bosom buddies.

Lidon gave his instruments and vids one more look to confirm everything was in the green.  He looked over at Tranis and nodded.

The Dramok took a breath and spoke to his handheld, which was still jacked into the fighter’s console.  “Command alpha-one-Tranis, commence.”

A new vid sprang into being in front of his face.  Information began to scroll.  Lidon didn’t watch that; he kept his eyes on Tranis.  He felt pride for the brave and resourceful Dramok.  He thanked the ancestors he’d not clanned with Piras.  When Lidon thought of how close he’d come to doing so over the years, it chilled him.

This was the leader he belonged with.  No other Dramok.

Tranis’ gaze was riveted on the vid.  A slight smile twitched his lips.  “Control of on-ground shuttles established.  Command beta-one-Tranis, commence.”

Another few moments of watching.  Tranis nodded.  “Confirming lift-off of shuttles.  I have control of navigation.  I am now sending them to intercept enemy fleet.”

It was working.  Now there was nothing for Lidon to do but wait the many minutes while Tranis flew well over a hundred Kalquorian-based shuttles re-confiscated from the Tragooms.  The first officer’s concentration was all for his work, and Lidon remained silent.

The Nobek, like most of his breed, found inactivity difficult.  All his kind were taught from an early age to thwart their natural impatience with meditation.  Lidon had the added advantage of philosophical contemplation, honed by his priest father’s mental practices.  He concentrated on stilling his thoughts and absorbing his mind in deep breathing exercises.  He trusted his companion to do his work well, and that helped him let go.

Letting go of thought was never easy.  The mental image of Degorsk was insistent on invading Lidon’s quieting.  The most unrelenting thoughts that invaded meditation were the ones a man enjoyed be distracted by.  Lidon missed the Imdiko, and contemplating Degorsk made him warm inside.  He shooed the adored smile from his mind only to have it return moments later.

Lidon didn’t know how many times he’d dragged his awareness away from Degorsk and back to his breath when Tranis’ voice brought him alert.

“Shuttles have just entered the Tragoom attack force’s sensor range.”

Lidon took the fighter into a random float pattern, which would hopefully allow them to get closer to the invasion fleet without setting off any alarms.  If the Tragooms were occupied with dealing with the approaching shuttles, there was a good chance his ship would go undetected.

Tranis spoke quietly.  “Sensors indicate a couple of smaller ships are moving from enemy fleet to intercept shuttles.  I think they’re confused.  One is a Kalquorian nav-based craft.”