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“That’s…excellent.” Alex shot him a restive look, and he shrugged, saying
you’re on your own
as clearly as possible without words.

He knew children weren’t something she planned on anytime soon, which was equally fine by him. There had been enough life-changing events for them both in the previous year to last several decades. His niece was wonderful, but he fully recognized this was in no small part because he could give Marlee back to Isabela at the end of his visits. So maybe one day, but one day far away.

Pinchu had left them to speak to one of the workers at another vessel, but now he returned. “Yes, I am to be a father at last. I could hardly convince her to slow down long enough to carry a child.”

Cassela looked as if she was preparing to sling a playful retort at him when sirens began ringing out in the hangar. Everyone stiffened, and Pinchu’s hand came to his ear. “Three Nengllitse—” the translator stumbled before substituting
[military formations, approximately regiment-sized]
“—are approaching from the southwest.”

Cassela nodded sharply. “I will oversee the defense of the city’s most important infrastructure—the schools, the hospitals. You need to get to the Center.” She started to take off running, but Pinchu grabbed her arm and drew her to him. “Be careful. You cannot act only for yourself now.”

“I must act for our
shikei
, as must you.” She touched her nose to his and departed.

Pinchu began running toward the exit. “Come! You will be safe at the Center.”

Alex groaned. “I knew this was too easy.” Then she too took off running.

The Center was in a state of semi-organized chaos. Khokteh hurried in every direction, many carrying enormous guns that resembled rocket launchers. Sonic booms from fighters filled the air minutes after they arrived.

Alex grasped Pinchu’s arm as they followed him through the maze of hallways. “We don’t want to be a distraction, but can we help?”

“I will not allow you to risk your lives on our behalf. In my office—here. Stay!” He gestured at the open doorway ahead before jogging away in another direction.

Alex acted like she wanted to follow Pinchu. Caleb urged her inside the office, where she immediately ran to the open balcony. At least the office was recessed deep into the building, with staggered floors extending beyond it both above and below to offer them some small protection.

The outskirts of the city were on fire, and the low rumble of crumbling stone echoed in the air. Overhead, fighters of a slightly different design than the ones they had viewed earlier buzzed the buildings.

A laser shot up from their left to impact a fighter in the distance. A ball of energy surrounding the fighter absorbed the impact completely, suggesting the attackers sported robust defensive shielding. Four blocks away a large transport hovered several meters above the ground; its bay opened and easily a hundred soldiers leapt out. So there would be fighting in the streets. Caleb’s growing unease ratcheted up toward combat mode.

Alex stared out at the scene in horror. “Valkyrie, get out of here. We can’t risk you being captured.”

The
Siyane
was parked far outside the city, but still conceivably in the line of fire.

‘I will retreat to the unpopulated northern region until the battle is finished.’

“No. Leave the planet. Hide in space.”

‘But what if you need to depart unexpectedly and rapidly? In fact, I would suggest all of us depart now.’

“We’ll be safe. And if we need you, it won’t take you long to reach us. Now please, go!”

‘I am uncomfortable leaving you here…but I will comply.’

She breathed a sigh of relief. “What do we do?”

He gazed out at the battle now raging all around them. “We stay here. We don’t know their technology or how to operate their weapons. We don’t know their procedures or military protocols. And…Alex, we don’t know if the attackers are actually bad guys. This isn’t our fight.”

“But they—”

“I like Pinchu and Cassela, too, but there are a thousand factors at play here we don’t understand. Yes, the Nengllitse are the aggressors today, but what if the Ireltse military carpet-bombed their homes last week? What if they murdered children, or took them as slaves? We just don’t know.”

“They could have killed us, but they didn’t. And as soon as we could understand one another, they welcomed us. These are thinking, feeling, rational beings here, and they have as much of a right to live as anyone. That’s what I know.”

An explosion rocked the walls. Close.

He checked outside to see a ring of soldiers lining up at the street level to surround the building. As expected, two blocks away soldiers were now fighting in the streets. Overhead the bombing continued unabated, and the reality that the attackers’ shields were more powerful than the weapons attacking them was tipping the balance in the wrong direction.

The Khokteh—the Ireltse Khokteh—were losing. If Pinchu’s military didn’t turn the tide soon, their own lives were going to be at risk.

This altered the equation.

He pressed a fist to his forehead and ran through the variables one more time. “Let’s go find some weapons. But stay close to me.”

She smiled gamely. “Where else would I be?” Then she grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the door.

The armory was two floors below, and they earned several odd looks from passing Khokteh as they squeezed down the stairs. All were aware of their presence, but many had never seen them. Still, looks were the most they received, because no one had time to worry about two puny little aliens wandering the halls.

Two soldiers were tossing out weapons to everyone who passed by the armory entrance, including many who weren’t wearing military garb. They ran up to the door as the soldier on the left pivoted to them. It was Orange, the guard from their time as captives.

He crossed his long arms over his chest. “No. I accept that Tokahe Naataan says you are friend to the Khokteh, but I will not arm you.”

Alex planted her palms on the high counter and hoisted herself up, leaning over it to get in the alien’s face. “Give. Us. Weapons. We will fight for you.”

Orange glowered at her for several seconds, then threw his hands in the air and capitulated, much as everyone eventually did once Alex decided the way things were going to be. He handed over two of their standard guns. “Shoot for the head, neck or shoulders. The chests are hard to penetrate, especially when you factor in their armor.”

The guns weren’t so large as the rocket launchers he’d seen earlier, but they were still twenty percent larger than TSGs. Alex hefted hers awkwardly under her arm.

Caleb rested the bulk of the gun on his hip. “Give me a blade, too. In case.” Their weapons had, for perhaps understandable reasons, never been returned to them, and his sword remained on the
Siyane
.

Orange growled but after a brief hesitation reached under the counter and produced a half-meter long katana-style blade.

Caleb accepted it with his free hand. “Thank you. Good luck.”

The building shook again as they hurried off; this strike hit close enough to send sandstone dust falling from the ceiling. He grabbed Alex’s arm and pulled her into the next hallway. “Let’s find a vantage on the third floor.”

She followed his lead, vaulting up the stairs two at a time beside him. This was a place they had been before, on their tour of the facility upon being freed. He remembered a large meeting room down the hall and to the right.

They rushed in and found four Khokteh lined up at the open windows firing on attackers below. One jumped up in surprise at their arrival, but the one next to it placed a hand on its arm and muttered something. The Khokteh snarled but settled back into position.

When they reached the sole window not occupied he crouched below the rim, dragging Alex down beside him. “The trigger is activated by pressing these two points together. It’s a laser weapon, so we don’t need to worry about ammunition or jamming. Simply point and fire. It’ll have a solid kick, so brace yourself.”

“Got it.” She dropped to her knees and hefted the large weapon up on the ledge, but after a few seconds she cringed at him. “The attackers are Khokteh, too, and they…all look the same.”

He touched her shoulder. “We don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, we do. I only…how do I tell friend from foe?”

He studied the activity on the chaotic streets, working to concentrate on the details. “Let’s see. The defenders’ uniforms are brighter in color, while the attackers are wearing black and gray—and their armor is thicker and broader across the chest. Also, the attackers wear armor and attachments on one of their arms, but the defenders wear utility belts instead.”

She nodded understanding, repositioned her weapon, sighted down and fired. Her shoulder jerked violently; the recoil didn’t knock her to the floor only because she was already on her knees. “Damn, what are they using to power these guns?”

“We can ask them later.” He’d wondered the same thing on seeing the weapons fire, but again,
later
. Satisfied she had command of the situation, he aimed his own weapon over the sill.

The perimeter guards were holding their own, but barely. They had the advantage of position, but the enemy had numbers and heavier armor. Still, the attackers had to expose themselves in order to climb the wide stairs and reach the Center.

Sniping was to some extent a skill that degraded absent frequent honing, but the process itself was pure muscle memory. He exhaled evenly through his nose, closed one eye and peered through the scope. Then he zoomed his ocular implant to full magnification. His fingertips gently closed on the trigger mechanism. He fired.

The target’s head lurched backward in an explosion of amber light and darker blood.

One down.

“They’re inside the building!”

Given the layers of bodies now littering the steps below, Caleb had difficulty believing sufficient attackers remained to get inside. And yet.

Alex sank against the wall. Debris coated her skin and clothes in a fine layer of dust and dulled her normally vibrant burgundy hair to muted auburn. Her upper lip bled where a shard from the ceiling had struck her earlier. “Ideas?”

He eyed the sword he’d hooked to his belt. It was an impressive weapon, displaying skilled craftsmanship. Would he be able to kill even one of the massive, powerfully strong Khokteh using it? He understood their weak points now, and he’d had a lot of time to watch how they moved. So maybe. Problem was, a great deal more than one would soon be terrorizing the hallways.

“Let’s get to the roof. Call Valkyrie in.”

She wiped dust from her brow. “You want to run?”

She was putting on a brave front, but her voice had grown laden with concern and a trace of fear. He hated the sound of it, but he was glad she recognized the gravity of their situation.

“I want us to live. We won’t be the difference in the Ireltse winning or losing today, and us dying for them won’t do a damn bit of good for anyone.”

Her gaze drifted to the sky outside. “I don’t know if Valkyrie has the finesse to maneuver around all these ships and the weapons fire. I could, but—”

Pinchu’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker system. “Hold the upper floors and prepare for SAIC—” the translator stuttered, then provided
[acronym, reference not available]
“—deployment.”

Alex’s brow furrowed into dusty creases. “The what?”

A blinding white light swept out across the landscape, and the world went silent.

28

IRELTSE

C
ALEB BLINKED.
He was prone on the floor. The bootup sequence for his eVi flickered in his vision. Had they used an EMP?

Alex.
He spun around to see her collapsed on the floor next to him. He frantically brushed hair out of her face with one hand while feeling for a pulse with the other. “Come on—”

Her eyelids fluttered. His heart returned to its rightful location in his chest.

Another blink. She opened her eyes, and he gathered her up into his arms. “You’re all right. You weren’t connected to Valkyrie.”