Hunter (20 page)

"I've got
Corvus. We just need to take the rest of them and we're done here,"
she said. "Time to set off the secret weapon."

"Do you think
it'll work?" Briggles asked; his tone hopeful.

"Let's hope
so," Nova replied.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Corvus smashed his fist against the wall of the
container and screamed as wood chips lodged into his hand. He fell
to the ground, clutching his chest where the wooden bolt protruded.
Blood seeped out around the wound, soaking his shirt.

He gripped
the wood with his gloved hands and pulled. It slid a centimetre out
of his chest, scraping across his ribs and leaving a trail of
splinters. His head spun and his arms dropped back to his sides. He
gasped but each breath made the bolt move, sending new waves of
agony coursing through him.

The bolt
would have killed a younger lecheon immediately, but he had a
limited time before the poison leached into his heart. He could
already feel it spreading out from the wound, like tendrils of
death.

He took three
quick breaths and snatched hold of the bolt, ripping it out further
as he exhaled. His breath turned into a scream. The bolt was still
imbedded an inch into his chest and his arms were weakening.
Another minute and he'd be unable to move.

He thought of
Laticia, picturing her regal beauty. He needed to survive, even if
it was just for her. Ignoring the nausea boiling in his stomach,
and the pounding headache pushing against his temples, he gripped
the bolt and pulled with his last ounce of strength.

It came free
of his chest in a rush that sent a spurt of blood splashing across
his chest. He hurled the bolt against the side of the container and
crawled into a ball on the floor. The corners of his eyes stung as
each ragged breath stretched the wound, leaking blood onto the
floor.

"Bitch!" he
croaked, his voice hoarse. "As soon as I get out of here I'm going
to hunt you down and suck every last drop from your useless
corpse!"

His voice
bounced around his cage and came back to him. He wasn't sure he
could even be heard on the other side.

He stayed
curled into a ball until the pain had subsided enough that he dared
sit up. He leant his back against the wooden wall and let his head
hang down, glaring at the floor. He spat at the floor, his mouth
filled with the taste of his own blood. This was the bitch's idea;
it had her name written all over it. The bumbling police force of
Boullion Five could never have engineered this, not in so short a
time.

It was
moments like this that he missed his home world. A place where
there were no trees, no wood, no poison; just animals and blood.
The whole planet was made of dirt and rock, dotted with caves and
hot springs. The only thing that kept him on planets like Boullion
Five were the humans. There were no tasty, flowery bloods on his
home world. No young women to suck dry.

The metal
lock of the door slid open. Corvus jumped to his feet, wincing as
new agony surged out of his chest, ready to sprint for the door. It
swung open but before he could react, members of his coven streamed
through. They ran and pushed to get as far from the doorway as they
could and into the shipping container. They were coughing, hacking
their lungs up and collapsing against each other. Corvus tried to
fight the tide. He pushed against his fellows to get to the door.
Before he could get through the bodies, the door slammed
shut.

He looked
around. Familiar faces were bent double in coughing fits that left
speckles of blood on the floor. These were all faces that he
recognised, but there were many missing.

"What the
hell are you doing in here?" Corvus asked.

***

Nova walked
behind the container to the cement wall that blocked off the back
of the shipping yard. An intercom was set into the wall and lying
at the base was a controller with a large button. She had to feel
her way along the wall to get to the intercom where she knelt down
and patted around the ground until she had the remote in
hand.

She stood and
took a deep breath before squeezing the red trigger with her thumb.
A moment later the shipping yard erupted in a flurry of small
explosions that sent clouds swirling into the air. The haze was
full of powdered wood chips, so fine they floated like gas on the
air. It took only a few seconds for the vapours to spread between
the containers and fill the air.

A hacking
cough shattered the air behind Nova. She spun, knife in hand, to
find a female lecheon bent double against the nearest container.
She gasped for air but it sounded as though her throat was closed
over. With each breath the lecheon coughed and spat, leaving blood
smears across the metal.

The rest of
the shipping yard filled with the sounds of choking. Nova breathed
a small sigh of relief and pulled her shirt up to cover her mouth.
The wood vapour wouldn't hurt her as much as the lecheons but she
still didn't want it coating her lungs.

She pressed
the talk button on the intercom.

"Attention,
lecheons," she said. Her voice echoed around the shipping
yard.

"Your
illustrious commander, Corvus, has been subdued. As I'm sure you've
noticed, the air here is no longer fit for you to breathe. You, and
your commander, will be safe if you do exactly as I
say."

Silence
descended over the shipping yard, broken only by choking. The
screams and cries of pain, the shooting, yelling, and running
footsteps, all fell silent. She could imagine human and lecheon
alike, frozen and listening. The speaker system was the perfect
cover; she could be everywhere and still undetectable all at
once.

"There are
more vapour bombs set up around the area. One sign of trouble and
I'll set them off. Personally, I don't think you'd survive another
dose."

More silence.
That was good; it meant the lecheons were listening.

"There is a
shipping container near the back row. It's black with
seven-seven-four-alpha written on the side. Go there now. One of my
people will be waiting to let you inside. The air is filtered and
you will be able to breathe."

Nova's heart
pounded in her chest. She was taking a gamble with the lives of
every human in the shipping yard. The lecheons could easily take
hostages of their own and then she'd be in a stalemate. She was
counting on their loyalty to Corvus and hoping that the threat of
his death, as well as their own, would stop them thinking
straight.

She lifted
her finger from the intercom and strained her ears. At first there
was only more silence, but gradually she heard footsteps. There
were lots of them. The lecheons mumbled to one another between
coughs. They were approaching her and the container.

Nova's
muscles tensed. This was it. Either the lecheons would follow her
instructions and this mess could be done with without further
bloodshed, or they would try to free Corvus and hurt Briggles. In
that case, she would set off the bombs, the lecheons would die, and
it would become a political mess. Not to mention the human
casualties of those caught in the blast.

"Looks like
they're all here," Briggles said through her radio.

"Okay," Nova
replied, relieved.

She pressed
the intercom once more. "Thank you for your cooperation." Her voice
was as sweet as sugar, like a hostess on one of the fancy
intergalactic traveller ships.

She ran from
the intercom back to the container. She was getting used to
navigating in the dark. It was made easy by the containers. They
were all the same size and set the same distance apart. She kept a
steady pace all the way to Briggles's side even though her heart
was racing. She held the detonator aloft.

"Attack me
and this will go," she said. "There are officers with crossbows
hidden all around you. One wrong move and you'll be filled with
wooden stakes."

A female
lecheon near the front hissed at Nova between coughs, the leach in
her mouth jutting out and baring its teeth. Nova flicked her left
hand and a crossbow bolt hissed through the air from the darkness,
passing inches from the woman's face.

The lecheons
growled and pulled together, forming a tight circle. Nova
nodded.

They leant
against one another for support. Some of them looked close to
passing out and all of them were gasping for air. They stared at
Nova with hatred, but their wide eyes and the way they kept looking
at the container screamed fear as well.

Briggles
pointed his torch down at the ground. It was a consideration for
the lecheons that Nova wouldn't have afforded them. Still, in the
dim glow she could make out their faces. Their eyes glowed in the
darkness. But they didn't move on Briggles or herself or try to
attack.

Nova nodded
once and Briggles went to the door. He grabbed hold of the big lock
and slid it open before pulling the door wide.

"In," Nova
ordered as soon as the gap was wide enough.

The lecheons
surged forward like obedient sheep and disappeared into the bowels
of the container.

As soon as
the last one had pushed through, Briggles slammed the door and slid
the lock home. Nova breathed a sigh of relief and turned the
detonator over. She pulled out a wire and lifted her thumb from the
button. Nothing happened.

"One coven of
lecheons; that'll be one-thousand credits," Nova said to Briggles
with an exhausted grin.

He glanced up
at her and shook his head. The corner of his mouth twitched but the
rest of his face was grave. Scratches ran up his arm, only just
visible in the dim light of his torch.

"You okay?"
Nova asked as she pushed herself away from the
container.

"Yeah, I'll
make it, just a few scratches. But I'll be glad to see the last of
these," he thrust his thumb over his shoulder.

"That makes
two of us," Nova agreed.

More officers
gathered around them. A few had torches which cast a welcome light
in the darkness. Injured officers leant on their fellows and they
looked at Nova and Briggles with relief.

"How many?"
Briggles asked his second in command.

"Twenty-four
at last count, sir. There may be more."

Briggles
nodded and his face fell a little more.

Nova looked
away. She'd done her bit and now her time here was finished. She'd
been on Boullion Five for too long now anyway.

"So what are
you going to do with it?" Nova asked, nodding to the
crate.

"Maximum
security prison," Briggles said.

"What if they
escape?"

"Trust me,
where they're going, there won't be any room for
escape."

Nova
nodded.

"One of my
men found this around the back," Briggles said, holding out Nova's
gun.

A flood of
relief washed over her as she thrust it into her holster. "Thank
you. I think that's me finished; I believe I have a damaged ship to
fix," she said. "Will you be able to handle clean-up?"

"Yes, we're
fine. Get on your way then," Briggles said, waving his
hand.

There was
commotion going on inside the crate. Fists banged against the walls
alongside screams of frustration, but there was no way the lecheons
would be able to get out.

Nova nodded
once to Briggles and then to the rest of the officers before
turning on her heel and marching towards the shipping yard
exit.

"I'll wire
you the credits," Briggles called after her.

Nova lifted a
hand in acknowledgement but didn't bother turning
around.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"What's the point in having shields if they don't
work?" Nova demanded. She had a spanner in hand and was putting her
full weight behind tightening a bolt.

"They did
work, for the first few shots. But at twenty percent we would have
been destroyed with one more shot," Cal said.

He hovered a
small distance from Nova and was patching up pieces of the ship's
hull which had been damaged by the plasma blasts. He was none the
worse for the attack, but Nova didn't want to risk Crusader to the
stress of travel when she was only one shot away from
annihilation.

It was the
day after the lecheon battle and a large transporter ship had
picked up the black shipping container just that morning. Nova
watched with a grin on her face as the container was lifted up into
the ship's transport bay, before the ship shot off into the air.
The rest of the day had been spent on repairs.

"How are you
looking now?" Nova called out.

Crusader's
voice echoed out of a small speaker set into the outside of the
ship. "Looking good. Once Cal has finished with that panel the only
damage will be cosmetic."