Cain's Crusaders (15 page)

“You don’t remember being kidnapped?”

“What is
kidnapped
?”

“Taken, abducted. You were taken from Formil. Those who took you have demanded credits for your release.”

Arieel’s body suddenly went rigid, and even though her face softened, her eyes turned a hot, smoldering black. “
I
was taken?” she stated, a hard cadence now in her voice. “Against my will …
I
was taken?”

“That’s right,” Adam confirmed, intimidated by the black intensity of her glare. He took his hands from her body and sat back on the blackened ground. Something wasn’t right.

Arieel continued to glare at him, and then slowly she closed her eyes. Adam began to feel the hairs on his arms begin to stand on end and a strange, metallic odor filled the air. Then he noticed a soft, shimmering blue glow envelop Arieel’s body.

He moved away from her as quickly as possible, sliding over next to a mound of debris. He didn’t know whether to stay and watch, or cut and run. Was she getting ready to explode, or was this something else?

Before he could decide on a course of action, the glow abruptly disappeared and Arieel took several deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, they revealed a much softer look.

Arieel sat up, and then fighting through her pain, shuffled over to a place where she could lean her back against. She looked at Adam. “You came to rescue me, you say? And exactly how is that goal progressing?” The tone from the stunningly beautiful, dark-haired alien was dripping with pure sarcasm. Adam just swallowed hard.

“So far, so good,” he lied before stretching out a thin, nervous smile.

To his surprise, Arieel smiled back. He began to relax.

He continued: “The person who took you – or at least the one who masterminded it – reneged on his agreement. He wasn’t going to let you go after the money was paid.”

“What is
money
?”

“Credits,
money
is credits.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” Arieel looked around at the smoldering devastation around them. “So you destroyed the buildings to rescue me?”

Adam shook his head. “Not exactly; your kidnapper – abductor – was attacked by a force of Kracori warships.”

“
Kracori!
I find that hard to believe. The Kracori are barely a myth. They came briefly, and then disappeared once the Humans took control of the Expansion.”

“You’re right, but they really want this guy dead.”

“But
I
was nearly killed in the process. Do the Kracori not know who I am?”

“I’m sure they didn’t even know you were here—”

“Quiet!” Arieel said, holding up a hand. “There are beings approaching.”

She stood up, shaky but determined, and looked off towards her left. Adam couldn’t hear or see anyone approaching through all the smoke and crackling of the surrounding fires, yet Arieel was on the scent. She limped to the edge of the debris pile.

“Get down!” Adam called out, moving up next to her.

“I will not! I must face my attackers.”

“Don’t be stupid—” Arieel jerked her head around to look at him, cutting him off with a piercing glare from her dark eyes.

Just then Adam saw a squad of five native beings, moving carefully through the debris, flash rifles held at the ready. They spotted the two of them standing in the open and raised their rifles to fire. Adam grabbed Arieel’s arm.

Just then one of the aliens fingered the trigger on his weapon – but nothing happened. He fingered it again, and still nothing. Then the other four took aim and pulled the triggers.

The same result.

Adam fell back on the ground, sitting on the blackened soil, shocked into simply watching what happened next.

Arieel walked defiantly further into the opening until she was about twenty feet from the five natives. Then she held her hand out in front of her, and immediately all five flash weapons began to hum. Adam recognized the sound as an overload warning; he had heard it several times before, but only coming from the MK variety of hand-held flash weapons. Through mishap and experience, Adam had found he could create make-shift hand grenades by bending the barrels of the weapons and then triggering their controls, thereby building up an overload –
and leading to an explosion!

Adam jumped up and tackled the diminutive Formilian, just as the five flash rifles exploded in a rain of fire and deafening concussion. The heat from the blasts cascaded over them, searing the hair on Adam’s right arm as he shielded Arieel from the bulk of the blasts. When he looked up again, there were no remains of the five alien attackers, not even their shoes were left intact.

“Are you crazy?” Adam yelled, grabbing Arieel by the shoulders. “I haven’t gone through all this trouble just so you can get yourself killed by being stupid.”

“I was in no danger.”

“Bullshit!”

Arieel frowned at him – as all aliens did upon first hearing the word
bullshit
. “That’s not true,” Adam quickly amended. “The blast would have killed you.”

“My Gods have protected me.”

“Let’s not get into that.” Adam looked around to see if the explosions had attracted any attention. If they had, it was to affect a clearing out of any survivors from the area. “We have to get out of here. I have a ship a couple of miles away, if it wasn’t destroyed in the bombardment. Can you walk?”

Arieel cocked her head. “Of course I can. My life energy is being enhanced even now. I am able to move, if not at my optimal speed.”

Adam just looked at her. She may be cute and all, but this was one strange creature. “Then let’s get the hell out of here before any more of McCarthy’s people show up.”

“What is a
McCarthy
?”

“A
McCarthy
is the rat-bastard who’s behind your abduction. His forces probably won the battle against the Kracori, so his next order of business will be to find you.”

“I am right here! This rodent-beast does not have to go looking for me. I will meet him here!”

Adam leaned in closer to her, towering over the small female like he seldom did with most other alien species. “Listen, your royal Speaker-ness. I’m supposed to get you back to Formil, and hopefully, all in one piece. You may have some pretty impressive powers, but this is not the time or the place to pick a fight. Help me when you can, but first let’s make it off this stinking planet.”

Arieel glared up at him for several tense moments. Then her face softened – just a bit. “Four more weapons are approaching from the south. I suppose we should be leaving … as you suggest.”

“It was not a suggestion, your Highness.” Adam took her by the arm and pulled her off into the clouds of smoke, in the direction where he had left the
Phoenix
.

“What is a
Highness
?”

Adam just shook his head. She may have some incredible powers, but he figured as long as he wasn’t wearing a pacemaker, then he’d be safe.

He just hoped his ship was still there. He was really counting on the ship’s special features to help him get this
bitch
back to her home planet … and out of his hair.

Much to his relief, the
Phoenix
was safe and sound sitting in the backwater spaceport. As he approached the hull, with Arieel trailing behind him, the nervous native Azzel ran up to him.

“What have you done? You have completely destroyed my home!”

“I didn’t to it,” Adam said barely acknowledging the alien. He brushed past him and fingered the control panel to open the access door.

“I’m not going to let you get away with this!”

Adam turned to see that the alien had his MK-17 aimed at him. If this creature followed tradition, he would have the energy setting at level-two. That wouldn’t kill Adam, but it sure would sting. So Adam looked over at Arieel and nodded.

The Formilian Speaker smiled slightly.

Adam turned away and entered the spaceship, with Arieel close behind. As he turned to close the hatch, he saw the rust-colored alien fumbling with his now-inert weapon, at a loss as to why it wasn’t working.

“You better back away if you don’t want to be turned to ash,” Adam called out just as the door slid shut. He had to admit, that was a pretty neat trick.

Adam lifted off, and even before reaching orbit, spotted a squadron of oblong spacecraft lining up on his position. These would be McCarthy’ remaining fake-Formilian warships.

Arieel had followed Adam to the pilothouse without saying a word and now sat in the co-pilot’s seat, looking at the display on the proximity screen.

“They are beyond my influence! Do something!”

Adam stopped what he was doing and looked over at her, a frown on his face. “Just who the hell do you think you are? You don’t tell
me
what to do on
my
ship.”

“Well you did not appear too concerned about the approaching spaceships. I did not know if you were expecting me to save us –
again
.”

“Just sit back and relax, sweetheart; you’re not the only one around here with super-powers.”

And with that, Adam engaged the four forward focusing rings of the
Phoenix
, creating a gravity-well deeper than any of the pursing ships could even imagine this far in-system. The
Phoenix
sped off from Uniss-3 at many times faster than a beam of light, and leaving the crews of McCarthy’s ships staring at a now-empty section of space.

Adam looked over at Arieel with a satisfied grin. In return, she sent him a childish sneer, then rose out of the seat and stormed out of the room.

Adam watched her leave, a sight enhanced by the torn and revealing gown barely covering her ample form. “Hate to see you leave,” he whispered under his breath, “but love to watch you go.”

Even then, Adam knew this was going to be a very long trip back to Formil.

Once safely on the Coalition side of the border, Adam opened a CW-link with Convor on Formil. Arieel and the High Celebrant spoke for several minutes, both expressing immense relief and thanks that Arieel was safe and headed home.

Throughout the conversation, Arieel refused to give Adam credit for saving her. But once all the pleasantries were over, Convor asked Arieel to let him speak with Adam in private. Adam was shocked to see that she demurely agreed and left the room.

“Mr. Cain, we are all forever in your debt. This creature – McCarthy – was not going to release her. That would have been a tragic event.”

“You still have major problems, Convor.” Adam went on to explain how McCarthy had planned a staged attack by faux-Formilian forces on Uniss-3 in order to provoke the Federation to declaring war. Even though his plans were disrupted by the Kracori, he would still blame the destruction of the backwater town on the Formilians. After all, the Federation wasn’t looking for a real incident, just something they could base their actions on.

“And yet The Speaker still lives,” Convor countered. “This will surely prevent the Omphly from attacking.”

Adam hesitated telling Convor what he knew of The Speaker’s so-called powers. He had a sneaking suspicion that McCarthy would reveal the truth to the Omphly, that all her demon powers were simply a product of high-tech magic and trickery. If he could convince them of this, then the mystique of The Speaker would be broken, and the Federation would attack. McCarthy would get his war, and out of necessity, both the Federation and the Coalition would end up buying weapons through McCarthy’s various suppliers, with him well-hidden as the source of those transactions.