Alien Salvation (32 page)

Sarod grinned ferociously, and Lindsey
felt the alien surge of answering bloodlust. “Excellent! You scored
a direct hit with some damage.”

Lindsey targeted another ship that had
broken off its pursuit to swing around on them. They would kill my
clan, she thought and fired.

The enemy ship disappeared from her
screen, and she uttered an animal-like howl of triumph. “I think I
got another one!”

Sarod laughed, his dark glee filling
the cabin. “You did. The whole group is breaking pursuit and coming
after us. I’m getting us out of here.”

Lindsey turned to him, her thumb
hovering over the firing button. It twitched, eager to unload more
destruction. “We can’t leave our people!”

Sarod shook his head as he turned the
ship away from the remains of the base camp. “We aren’t able to
fight the Tragooms, Matara, not in this little shuttle. We could
only give the attacked a chance to escape.”

An insistent beeping sounded in the
cockpit, and a red light flashed three times before dying out.
“What’s that?”

“They fired on us. They missed, but
that was a little too close.”

A disembodied voice spoke the guttural
Kalquorian language, and Sarod answered. “Defenders are on their
way. Eight minutes until they engage the Tragooms if the cowards
don’t run.” He scowled at his readouts. “They’ve broken off their
chase. We should be safe now.”

But what about my clan? Will the
Tragooms go back and finish the job at the base? Lindsey asked,
“Can we go back and hit them again?”

Sarod shook his head, his
disappointment evident. “They’ll be looking for us now. We’ll have
to sit back and wait.”

Lindsey realized she was still
clutching the weapons stick. She made herself let go despite
wanting to scream at Sarod to take her back, to let her save her
clan. She realized she was ready to kill for them, wanted to kill
for them, and it was a sobering thought.

“I’ve never tried to cause someone’s
death before,” she murmured out loud.

Sarod patted her shoulder like a
beaming father. “You did well. Your Nobek will be
proud.”

If Japohn is even alive. Never had
eight minutes ticked by so slowly.

* * * *

“Bacoj, can you hear me?”

Japohn’s deep rumble and the gentle
pressure of his hand on his arm pulled Bacoj from a black world of
nothing into a black world of agony. Grinding weight and pain on
his legs drew a long groan from his throat. He tried to move but
his legs were pinned.

Overhead there was a tremendous
creaking. “It sounds like the roof of this thing is caving
in.”

Vax answered in a thin voice. “It
probably is. I’m betting that Tragoom ship is lying on top of
us.”

Bacoj concentrated on opening his eyes
wide, trying to see his companions. He’d never known such
unremitting darkness. “Am I blind or is it just dark in
here?”

Vax again: “We have no lights. All
power was lost in the crash. Are you hurt?”

“I’d say so. The control console is in
my lap. I think both legs are busted.”

Japohn’s hand remained on his shoulder,
a small bit of comfort Bacoj welcomed. “I believe your side of the
ship took the brunt of the crash. You must have lost consciousness
for a few minutes. I thought you were dead at first.”

It would have been a mercy if you were.
Bacoj heard his Nobek’s thoughts as clearly as if he’d spoken them.
They were in a fix, all right.

Conversation helped him cope with the
pain. “What about you two?”

“I’m pinned in my seat too, but I don’t
think I’m injured badly.”

“I broke my other arm.” Vax sighed.
“Bacoj?”

“Yes?”

“Maybe piloting isn’t for you after
all. At least not when I’m on board.”

His clanmates’ laughter exploded in the
darkness. Bacoj gasped against the pain hilarity brought. “No
jokes. It hurts to laugh. Any idea what’s going on
outside?”

“No, but I could open the hatch and
see.”

Japohn demurred. “Tragooms would get
you Vax, and I can’t stomach the thought. Let them force their way
in and find us already dead before they can have the
honor.”

Bacoj tried to shift to a more
comfortable position. Lances of agony shot through his legs and he
sucked a breath in between clenched teeth. Nausea roiled his
stomach. To distract himself he said, “I wonder if any of the
others got away.”

“If not, it wasn’t for a lack of
trying. You did an excellent job, my Dramok. Our deaths will be
worthy of praise.”

Bacoj managed a smile at that. He
thought he might have done well, and that eased his fears. It
wasn’t such a bad way to go, dying with the reassurance of his
clanmates at his side. Best of all, his Lindsey was safely on her
way to Kalquor, heading to a life of privilege and comfort. The
thought eased him more than anything else. He hoped she would find
a clan who loved her as much as he did.

Have a good life, my love. Be
happy.

* * * *

Lindsey started as a frantic beeping
sounded from the console.

“Here come the fighters,” Sarod said,
cold satisfaction in his voice. He brought up the vid showing the
oncoming single-man ships that had caused so many Earther
casualties during the war. Dual-purpose, they could fight in a
planet’s atmosphere or in space.

Lindsey’s eyes widened as the fighters
flew over the shuttle, their speed turning them into silver
streaked blurs. Within a breath, they were out of sight again.
“They’re moving fast. Can we go back to the base now?”

“We’re better to stay out of range
until the fighting’s done.”

Kalquorian speech burst over the com,
and Sarod made a disgusted sound. The disappointment on his face
made Lindsey’s heart squeeze tight.

Almost too afraid to ask, she blurted,
“What’s going on?”

He sighed. “The Tragooms detected the
fighters. They’re running for it instead of standing and fighting.
Our fighters will catch most of them, but there’s no sport in it
now.”

Another burst from the com brightened
his mood again. “Tragooms are on the ground at the base camp.
Survivors of the three crashed ships. Maybe there will be something
left there to fight with after all. We do prefer hand-to-hand when
possible.”

Lindsey wiggled with impatience. “Can
we go back now?”

Sarod smiled indulgently at her. “Yes,
Matara.”

As he piloted the shuttle back towards
the base, Lindsey sent a prayer to Bacoj, Japohn, and Vax. I’m on
my way back to you. Please be okay.

Chapter Twenty Two

The strange quiet of the shuttle ended
the moment the hatch door opened. Growls from Kalquorians and
squealing screams of dying Tragooms filled the air around Lindsey
as she stepped out. Bloody Kalquorians trooped out of the crashed
Tragoom ships, smiling with fangs extended. Lindsey shuddered
looking at them.

She looked all around, hoping to find
her clan. None of the dark faces were familiar to her. As Sarod
joined her on the asphalt she said, “I don’t see them.”

Sarod looked towards the closest
Tragoom ship, licking his lips. Lindsey could tell he wanted to
join in the bloodshed, but instead he called out, “Battalion
leader!”

A massive Kalquorian, his hair done in
what resembled dreadlocks, came trotting up to them. His hands and
arms were covered with blood up to his elbows. It looked as if he
wore red gloves. In halting English he answered, “I command
battalion.” He bowed to Lindsey.

“This is the Imperial Sister. Her clan
was here during the attack.”

The battalion leader’s eyes widened,
and he bowed to Lindsey again, even lower. “We find those after
Tragooms run. We no bring back dead yet.” He motioned to a small
knot of Kalquorians sitting on the ground. All seemed to be
wounded, some badly.

Lindsey walked over to the group, her
eyes searching each face hungrily. Sarod joined her. “I don’t see
them,” she told him. Please, please don’t let us be too
late.

Sarod spoke to the group in his
language. Three men took turns answering. After a few moments of
back-and-forth conversation, Sarod turned to Lindsey. “It was
Bacoj’s clan that raised the alarm. They weren’t seen in the
building that everyone took shelter in.”

One Kalquorian in the group spoke up,
his face swollen and caked with rivulets of drying blood. “A
shuttle hit one of the Tragoom ships, knocking it into two others.
Those are what you see crashed here.” He pointed at the wreckage.
“Perhaps the Matara’s clan flew that shuttle. If so, I’d like to
offer our gratitude. The pilot saved our lives by distracting the
Tragooms.” A murmured chorus from the rest of the attacked
Kalquorians agreed with him.

“But where is the shuttle that saved
you?” Lindsey peered at the wreckage. Several shuttles had been
damaged by the crashed Tragoom vessels. It was impossible to
identify Bacoj’s new ship.

“That one, I think.” The man pointed
beneath one badly canted Tragoom ship, and Lindsey realized it was
tilted because a shuttle lay beneath it. The shuttle was a crumpled
ruin, but the front where the cockpit was positioned was more or
less intact.

She ran to the shuttle, dodging bits
and pieces of stricken vessels, vaulting over a few in her rush to
get to it. She reached the hatch and beat on it, her small fists
making soft thuds against the metal. “Bacoj! Vax! Japohn? Are you
in there?”

Lindsey grasped the hatch’s manual
opening mechanism, jerking in vain against the bent door. It
wouldn’t open. She screamed in frustration.

Several hands grasped her arms and
shoulders gently, moving her aside. A group of Nobeks, their fierce
predator faces still alight with the joy of killing, surrounded
her.

One spoke. “Allow us,
Matara.”

The Kalquorians grabbed the bent hatch
where they could get handholds. They braced themselves and nodded
to each other. With bestial growls, the men pulled on the
door.

* * * *

“Here they come,” said Japohn as the
screech of twisting metal filled the cabin.

Bacoj struggled with the dagger on his
belt, but the console crushing his legs had it pinned against his
thigh. He shouted to be heard over the tortured scream of the hatch
being pulled off. “I can’t get to my blade.”

He felt the point of a knife against
his ribs. Not a killing blow. Japohn grunted with effort then said,
“I can’t reach. Vax, you have to do this.”

Vax’s breath in Bacoj’s ear was warm.
The Imdiko’s right arm wrapped around him, and the dagger moved to
the middle of Bacoj’s abdomen.

“Higher, Vax. Hurry. You’ve got it now.
Right there. Remember to drive it up into my heart.” Bacoj leaned
his head back on his clanmate’s shoulder and buried his face
against his neck. He felt the fine tremor that betrayed Vax’s
emotions. “Please, my Imdiko. Give me this mercy.”

The hatch came off in the main cabin
with a final wailing shriek. Dim light poured in. The Tragooms were
about to find them.

“Quickly Vax,” Japohn urged. “Do it
now!”

Vax answered with a shuddering sigh.
His body tensed, and the tip of the knife pressed painfully against
Bacoj.

An unfamiliar voice yelled in
Kalquorian from outside. “Matara, no! You don’t know what you’ll
find in there!”

As Vax gasped and hesitated, a voice
the clan had never expected to hear again rang out over the light
sound of footsteps boarding the shuttle. “Bacoj? Are you
there?”

Bacoj jerked to hear his Matara calling
his name, and Vax dropped the blade with a cry.
“Lindsey?”

“Vax! Where are you? They’re
alive!”

Vax was gone from Bacoj’s side in an
instant. Bright lights swept into the space, and Bacoj strained to
twist his body, noticing Japohn doing the same in the seat beside
him. He stared disbelieving as Lindsey, beautiful, wonderful
Lindsey, wrapped her arms around Vax’s waist behind them. Vax
clutched her, laughing and crying all at the same time.

Japohn’s eyes and mouth were wide open
with stunned surprise. “What are you doing here?”

For Bacoj’s part, he could only speak
his beloved’s name as he reached for her. “Lindsey.”

She looked at him and Japohn, pinned
helpless in their seats. Her face stretched with horror, and she
screamed at the large shapes boarding the shuttle. “They’re hurt.
Get them out!”

Bacoj’s straining fingers brushed her
arm for an instant before she and Vax were pulled away by other
Kalquorians. Their rescuers crowded the tiny cockpit, further
blocking Lindsey from his sight, but that was okay. He was going to
live, and Lindsey was here. Bacoj barked laughter, the fresh rush
of pain insignificant as the console was lifted off his
legs.

He had Lindsey back, and he’d be damned
if he’d let her go again.

Chapter Twenty Three