Zero Recall (55 page)

Jer’ait ran to
meet them.

“Slave!” the
nearest Dhasha roared, upon seeing him.  “Which way did he go?”

“The Grekkon killed them
all,” Jer’ait babbled.  “The Huouyt was working with him.  Took my scale and
ran.”

“Which
way?!
”
the Dhasha snapped, batting him hard.

The Dhasha had
used the back of his paw, but Jer’ait still felt like he’d been hit by a
Congressional tank.  He fell to his hands and knees on the ground.  Gritting
his Takki’s sharp, predator teeth against the pain, he got back to his feet as
quickly as he could.  “This way,” he whimpered, not having to fake it.  He
turned away and began hobbling through the forest.  He’d taken no more than three
steps when Flea, who had been watching from the branches dropped directly in
front of the Dhasha.  He spat in his face, then fled.

With a roar, the
Dhasha gave chase.

Jer’ait followed
for a while, then, when he’d drifted to the back of the group, fell out and
circled back.  Joe and the Ooreiki still needed an antidote.

#

They regrouped
two days later.  Flea had given them a merry chase, and while he’d done it, the
rest of the group descended into the tunnels and killed the females while
Daviin took out the prince. 

Daviin was a bit
surprised he was still alive—had just one of his groundmates failed to uphold
their role, their entire plan would have disintegrated and everyone would have
died.  At that point, Daviin was even feeling generous toward the Huouyt, who
was positioned on the bluff above them, his borrowed Jikaln body blending in
with the rocks and scrub as he kept watch for the rest of them.

“
Everybody
did well,
” the Human said as they waited for their pickup.  They sat on an
unoccupied hill, twenty marches from the dead prince and his lair.  “
Hell. 
Everybody kicked ass.  Flea, you should come up with plans more often.
”

“
I am a
criminal mastermind,
” Flea said, his carapace puffing up until he was about
the size of the Human’s head.

Joe laughed.  “
You
are at that.  You would’ve given my brother a run for his money.
”

“
I still
can’t believe we used you as bait,
” Daviin muttered.  He was still upset
about the fact.  Every instinct as a Sentinel had cried out against it, but
once the Baga had made his suggestion, the stubborn Human had refused to change
his plans.

“I
still
can’t believe you guys didn’t check for ruvmestin,
” Flea said.  “
That’s
four princes we’ve killed and nobody’s bothered to check for ruvmestin.  I
told
you guys to check for ruvmestin.
”

“
I’ll share
the earnings of my
kasja
with you, if that will ease the pain,
”
Daviin said.  He grinned at Flea. 
“After all, today the Baga won the day.”

“
I’m still
waiting to see the money from my own
kasja,” Flea grumbled.  “
It’s
almost like they don’t wanna pay me.
”

No one answered him.  The
Human cleared his throat and checked the Ooreiki’s activated beacon.  Then he
glanced at his watch.  His brow furrowed.

“
How much longer?
”
Flea asked.

“
They’re ten tics
late,
” Jer’ait replied.

“
Must have a
bunch of other pickups before ours,
” Galek suggested.

Jer’ait snorted
at the Ooreiki. 
“They only sent eighty groundteams down here this time,
instead of two and a half million.  They are not strapped for pilots or ships.”

They waited
three more hours.  Every twenty tics, Joe broadcasted his pickup request back
to Congress.

“Burn this,” Joe
snapped after his twelfth request.  He took off his helmet and pried open the
inner console.

“What’re you
doing?” the Ooreiki whispered, watching him curiously.

“Something I learned
on Eeloir,” Joe said.  As Daviin watched, he began using his dexterous Human
fingers to manipulate the tiny parts.  “Galek, give me your PPU.”

Galek hesitated,
his tentacle wrapping tightly around it.  “What if I need it?”

Joe laughed. 
“Funny.  Give it to me.”

For a moment, it
actually looked as if the Ooreiki would disobey.  Then, reluctantly, Galek
handed over his device.  Joe immediately cracked it open and began removing
several of the tiny parts inside.  These he fastened into place in his helmet,
holding them down with his fingers.  Everyone was watching the Human curiously,
now, even Scarab. 

“Usually we’ve
gotta use gum or something stupid like that, but since we’ve got our own little
glue machine…  Flea, would you mind helping me out?  Just a dab.”

Flea scuttled
over to sit on Joe’s leg and eyed the contraption.  “You sure?” he asked,
sounding worried.

“Yeah,” Joe
said.

Flea buzzed his
wings, then delicately began fusing the pieces from Galek’s PPU into Joe’s
helmet.

“There!” Joe
said, putting the shield back in place.  “Let those bastards try to ignore me
now.”

Everyone in the
fighting hole gave him a nervous look.  “Joe,” Daviin began delicately, “It
says in the manual not to fiddle with your helmet.”

“That’s just because they
don’t want you to do something like this.”  He grinned and slapped the last
panel back in place.

Daviin winced.  “It
says if you fiddle with your helmet, you can cause serious mental disorders and
death.”

“Well, that,
too.”  Joe grinned at them.  “But I know what I’m doing.”

Everyone held
their breath as he lowered the helmet over his head.

Immediately, Joe
stiffened and began to convulse like a dying thing.

“Get it off of him!”
Daviin screeched, lunging forward in blind panic.

Joe opened his
eyes and grinned up at him.  “Gotcha.”

Daviin glared,
feeling like a fool.  “So what did you just accomplish, Human?”

“Listen to
this.”  Joe closed his eyes…and began singing a startlingly accurate rendition
of a lewd Jahul drinking song.

He was on the
eighth verse, “
…coupled in her mother’s bed…
” when a very loud Ooreiki
cut him off.

“
What the
hell is the meaning of this, Jahul?  Who are you?  Why are you flooding our
channels?  We have more important things to do than listen to your songs.
”

The Human broke
out into a huge grin.  He dropped the Jahul accent.  “
I know.  Like coming
to get
us.
  This is Commander Zero.  My groundteam is ready for pickup.
”

“
As are we,
”
said another voice, also Human.  “
Why the hell’ve you vaghi left us here? 
Are we the only ones left?
”

The Ooreiki on
the other side sounded furious.  “
You’re not the only ones—there’s six other
groundteams waiting for pickup.  We’re constructing new orders for you.  You’ll
be picked up after you’ve finished.
”

Joe’s smile
faded.  “
What you mean, ‘new orders?
’”

“
Your second assignment. 
Your Overseers will contact you as soon as—
”

“
Furgsoot!
”
Daviin’s ward snapped.  “
We just took out a prince.  That’s
four
princes, you ghost-burning sooter.  Come get us.  We earned our keep.  We’ve
got leave coming.
”

“
You do,
”
the Ooreiki said.  “
After you complete another mission.  Your Overseer will
contact you shortly.  Until then, if I hear another word from you, you’ll face
court-martial.
”

“
Put your
money where your mouth is, you shit-eating Takki coward,
” Joe said.  “
Come
on down here and get me.
”

When the Ooreiki
did not reply, Joe launched into a graphic rendition of just where he intended
to shove the butt end of his rifle when they finally got off Neskfaat.

“
Give it up,
Zero,
” a Human voice said tiredly.  “
They’re not coming.
”

“
I know,
”
Daviin’s ward said.  “
But I’ve gotta entertain myself somehow, don’t I?
”

“
Would you
stop broadcasting!
” the Ooreiki snapped.  “
Both of you!
”

“
Make us, sootwad.
” 

Joe hesitated. 
“
Leila?  That’s you, isn’t it?
”

The Human said
nothing for a moment, then said, “
It’s Rat…  Who told you it was Leila?
”

“
I was pretty
sure it was you.
”

The other Human
snorted.  “
Yeah, well.  It wasn’t.  Only place that name still exists is in
my file.
”

“Yeah,” Joe
said, glancing at the Baga.  “Right above her blood sample.”

Flea twittered,
but Daviin didn’t understand the reference.

“
So how many
princes you killed?
” Joe asked lazily.  “
We got four, you know.
”

“
We also got
four,
” Rat replied.  “
Benva and Kai’lin are two-for-two.
”

Benva!  The
worthless Welu heir!  Daviin felt the beginnings of a battle cry forming in his
throat and he tightened his fingers into fists as he forced it down.  “Perhaps
we can team up,” he said, as casually as he could.  “Kill Dhasha together.” 
Jer’ait snapped his head around to give him a flat stare.

“
Let me
guess.  Jreet and Huouyt?
”

“
Yeah.  Say,
that Voran was on your team, wasn’t he?
”

“
Sure is,”
Joe said, still pinning Daviin with that even look.
  “Don’t you dare give us
your coordinates.
”

“
You’re both
gonna be thrown in the brig as soon as you set foot on Jeelsiht!
”

“
Same to you,
Zero.  Let’s hope they send different pickups.
”

“
You hear
that, fellahs?  Different shuttles.  Make ‘em upholstered.
”

“It doesn’t
matter,” Daviin said, disdain dripping from his voice.  “I wouldn’t fight the
Welu.  He’s a cripple.”

“No he’s not. 
Jer’ait just told you that to shut you up,” Joe said.  He winked at Daviin’s
startled look and went back to his conversation with the other Human.  “
Our
Huouyt took out two princes, our Baga got one, and our Jreet just took out this
last one.
”

“
Your Baga
got one?
”

“
Yeah. 
Plugged his nose right up.  Can’t breathe out their mouths, so he suffocated. 
Flea kicked ass.
”

Flea puffed up
like a bloated melaa under the praise.

“
Zero…
”
the Human sounded perplexed.  “
You don’t by any chance have an Ooreiki and a
Grekkon on your team, do you?
”

“
You two are
giving out sensitive information over all channels.  Shut your burning mouths!
”

“
Can it,
”
Joe said.  “
They already know everything about us before we even get off the
shuttle, so a little chit-chat can’t hurt.  And yes.  An Ooreiki and a Grekkon.
”

“
Is the
Ooreiki…special?
”

Joe grinned
widely and glanced at Galek.  “
Sure is.
”

“
Holy crap,
Zero.  Phoenix gave us the same team.
”

“
And it looks
like she’s gonna win that Corps Directorship she’s always wanted, don’t it? 
Your guys all still kickin’?
”

“
Grekkon ran
a little dry, but the last two days gave him a bit of a recharge.
”

“
You two are
blatantly disregarding a direct ord—
”

“
So,
” Joe
said, “
When we get off this rock, how ‘bout some sex?
”

“
Sounds like
the best idea I’ve heard all rotation, Commander.  Your place or mine?
”

“
Yours,
”
Joe said.  “
Mine might bring back unpleasant memories.
”

“
Bad lay or
she dump you?
”

“
Well, a
little of both, actually.  There was blood.
”

“
That’s some
of the best.
”

Joe laughed.  “
Usually,
I’d agree with you.
”

“
Fine.  You
two don’t give an ash what we do to you?  That’s understandable.  But I swear
to you the next one of you who opens his mouth gets his headcom fried.
”

Joe sighed and
lifted the helmet from his head.  “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”  He
lifted the screen from the inside of his helmet once more and began cutting
away the pieces he had installed with Flea’s help.  When he put it back on his
head, he said, “
You hear me?
”

“
Yes, sir,
”
Galek said.  He was staring down at the butchered pieces of his PPU.  “
What
about this, sir?
”

Joe glanced at
it and laughed.  “What do you need a PPU for, Galek?  You got tunnel instinct. 
It’s a hundred times better.”

“I suppose,” Galek said
reluctantly.  “But…was it really worth it?”

“Sure it was!” Joe cried,
slapping the Ooreiki on the back cheerfully.  “Now we know they’re gonna leave
us here ‘til we die.”

“He’s taking you
seriously,” Jer’ait said dryly.

“I am serious.”

“
Commander Zero, this
is Phoenix.
”

Joe’s entire body stiffened
and he looked as if he wanted to rip the headcom off of his skull.  Instead, he
said, “
So you finally got what you wanted, huh Mag?
”

“
Commander Zero, you
are to proceed on foot to the entrance with surface coordinates of—
”

“
No offense, but burn
you, Mag.  We’ll stay here ‘til we get our pickup.
”

“
Look,
” Phoenix
said, “
We just intercepted a message from the Dhasha Vahlin to his
lieutenants.  We have locations on all of them and we can’t take the chance
they’ll realize they’ve been compromised and move.
”