The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (47 page)

But for Cox, that was the last straw. He had to do something
about this. He might not be able to save
Ifrit
or guarantee that the crew
could get away from the enemy forces that surrounded them, but he
would make certain that Hawke did not celebrate his victory here
today.

Grasping the screwdriver that he had secreted in his hands
when Hawke had ordered them all down on the ground, he ensured the
shaft was fully exposed. Just like Hawke
’
s neck. He started to build himself
up; preparing to drive the tool into the man
’
s throat; to rip it apart so that
the man suffocated or drowned in blood or whatever would happen
when he drove the implement home. And after a few moments of mental
preparation, he was ready.

He made
no sound as he moved. No heroic cry or final comment as he went at
the commodore. He moved fluidly, as only one might under such
circumstances, in one final attempt to bring about justice. He did
not falter nor stumble, his leap from his knelt position towards
Hawke verging on perfection.

The next
few seconds became a blur of pain and confusion. It started with a
solid grasp of the arm in which he held the small weapon. It was
followed by a loud snapping noise, a spinning of his world, and
ending in a tremendous amount of pain, the screwdriver flying from
his hand, its task unfulfilled. He felt himself crash against both
a wall of the bridge and then the floor.

For a
time, his world was black. The dizziness then cleared and he came
to, feeling total agony. He lifted his head as best he could,
trying to will the stars away that were filling his vision. He
couldn’t move his legs; they were unresponsive and useless. Even
lifting his head felt like a monumental task. He fought to piece
together what had happened to him…

As he had leapt up, the handle of the tool held tight in his
hand, his heroic intents had been thwarted by Zackaria. Without a
word, the admiral had caught his outstretched arm about the wrist
as he drew back in preparation to plunge the implement into
Hawke
’
s neck.
With one quick and powerful twist, he had broken the helmsman’s arm
and the screwdriver had tumbled from Cox’s grasp. Zackaria had then
spun the man around and
thrown him
in the direction he had been heading.

He
remembered feeling the sensation of travelling through the air, but
it was something he struggled with; for he had not travelled just a
few feet with the throw, but the remaining width of the bridge
itself. He had flown a distance of well over ten meters, his feet
leaving the floor by several meters themselves. The height baffled
him. He may have travelled much further, if the wall on the
opposite side of the bridge had not halted his advance.

He couldn’t believe what had just happened:
t
he man was over sixty
years old!
And yet he had, with precious
little effort, disarmed and then thrown him across the bridge, as
if he were nothing more than a small animal.

Cox could not stand, nor move his legs, no matter how hard he
tried. He became aware of a pair of black shoes in front of him,
and turned two pleading eyes up to face
Ifrit
‘s
captain, imploring him to find mercy.

But the
pleas passed straight through the man.

“
Thank you for all your hard work over the years, Mr Cox,”
Hawke said, his face pitiless. “But your services are no longer
required.” He once again drew the laser pistol, pointed it at Cox’s
head, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

With the
carrier under his command, Zackaria ordered that the crew be killed
and their bodies dumped out into space. There were to be no
exceptions: prisoners would not be taken, lives would not be
spared.

They fought valiantly, but
Ifrit
‘s
crew were no match for the invaders. The black-clad soldiers
slaughtered each and every one of them, showing no mercy as they
followed their leader’s orders through to the letter. For
Zackaria
’
s
command was what they adhered to; what they believed in; and what
they would obey until the day they died.

XXI

—
A Hard Truth to Accept —

A
fter much searching around within
the starport, the
Knights
had made very little progress in finding
Barber.

“
Something
’
s happened to her,” Dodds said to
Estelle, who walked by his side. “She would have found us by now,
we
’
re not exactly
being inconspicuous.” Despite Parks
’
statement that the woman wouldn’t
be jumping up and down and waving her arms, they had reached the
conclusion that Barber would have made herself known to them by
this time. They continued to walk through the ranks of refugees,
once again trying to spot that which they may have missed. Most of
the refugees had refused to speak to them, and those that had
spoken had been unwilling to help, wanting nothing more than to be
left alone. A few had even made violent responses to the enquiries,
either shouting and throwing things, or leaping up and taking a
swing at the Confederation pilots.

“
I think you
’
re right,” Estelle said. “But we
can
’
t leave until
we find her. Keep looking and let me know as soon as you find out
anything.”

“
Nothing on the upper floors?”

“
No, everyone is down here. I think they’re
waiting to get out of here.
But
having said that, I’m
going to check
again.”

“
Right,” said Dodds and left Estelle to start off on another
round of searching.

* * *

Chaz
continued his own walk amongst the ranks of refugees. Those he
passed were still not used to his presence, and acted as though he
was an executioner, seeking out the next prisoner for the gallows.
Many turned their eyes away.

Unlike his fellow
Knights
,
he
had not spoken to anyone since arriving, having instead taken his
time to pace the huddles, searching for just the right person to
make contact with. Now he believed he had found them and stopped in
front of a little boy, who had been watching him the whole time.
Compared to the others, the boy did not seem in the least perturbed
by Chaz
’
s
presence; more curious. Sitting alone, he must have only been about
six or seven years old, maybe younger.

Chaz crouched down in front of the boy, who still had not
taken his eyes off him. Unlike so many of the others in the port,
the boy did not pull back or try to hide himself, though many of
those near him did, shuffling back and crushing up against one
another in Chaz
’
s
presence. No-one came to assist the little boy or take him
away.

Chaz had
been correct in his assumption that the boy was all alone, a
heavily-stuffed bag containing a few items of clothing sat next to
him was his only apparent possession. What had become of his family
and friends Chaz did not need to guess at. Nevertheless, the boy in
front of him appeared to be quite brave and one of the few people
who may offer a helpful response. Before all that, however, there
was one small hurdle that needed to be overcome. Chaz stole a
glance over his shoulder to see if his team mates were anywhere
close by, before he started talking.

“
name
’
s
Chaz. What
’
s
yours?>” he asked with a warm smile. He spoke in a near-fluent
Imperial dialect, keeping his voice calm and relaxed.

“
” the boy said.

“
I
’
m
looking for a friend of mine. I was hoping you might have seen
her.>”

“
’
s her name?>” Ben
asked.

Chaz smiled to himself. It amused him that the boy was
assuming that was all the information he would need. His mind
wandered for a scarce few seconds.
I bet
you’re just like that
, he thought, before
returning to the job in hand. “’
s Clare.>”

“
’
t know her,>” Ben said, with a
shake of his head.

Chaz decided to supply some more information.
“’
s a tall
woman, with straight black hair, very pretty.
She
’
s about my
age. She wasn
’
t
born in the Empire, she comes from…>”

“
” Ben
interrupted.

“
’
s her,>” Chaz said, still
smiling.

“
’
s dead.>”

Chaz
’
s
smile slipped. The little boy did not seem to notice or, more
likely, could no longer feel sympathetic towards those suffering
from loss, it being an all too common occurrence for
him.

“
killed when they had a fight together. They were shooting each
other a lot,>” Ben added.

“
” Chaz stood up; he had all the
information he needed.

* * *

Still wandering about, trying to find someone who might be
able to help him, Dodds saw Chaz striding in his direction. As he
approached, Dodds noted a look of anger on his face and took a step
backward. It was the same expression Chaz had worn when Parks had
reassigned the five
Knights
to the Temper system. The man’s fists were
balled, his eyes, though narrowed, blazing. If the security guards
on Xalan Orbital had shown reluctance in tackling Chaz back then,
Dodds knew that right now it would be like confronting a
fifteen-hundred-pound grizzly bear.

“
What
’
s happened?” Dodds asked as the big
man strode up.

“
Barber
’
s dead,” Chaz growled, not
bothering to stop and causing Dodds to hurry along after him.
“She
’
s been taken
to the infirmary.”

“
We should let the others know.”

“
Yes, you should,” was the blunt reply.

Dodds stopped walking at the comment. For the few months
Dodds had known him, he had found that Chaz was generally a very
quiet character. Every now and again he was moody, but easy to get
along with when you got on the right side of him, even if he did
have almost nothing to say. Watching the man
’
s back retreating past him, Dodds
figured that at this very moment there was no right side of Chaz to
be on.

Under the circumstances, he decided it would be best to do as
Chaz had suggested and soon rounded up the other
Knights,
who then, after
consulting a floor plan, made their way towards the
port
’
s medical
unit.

* * *

“
Sound proof,” Dodds said as the doors to the infirmary swung
closed behind the four men and women, dampening the sounds from the
rest of the port.

“
Probably to help the staff and the patients relax,” Enrique
said.

“
You
’
re sure he came in here?” Estelle
said. She had almost lost her mind when Dodds had informed her that
Chaz had headed off to the infirmary alone and without consulting
her. Not that there had been very much to discuss.

“
Like I said, he seemed rather keen to get here,” Dodds
said.

“
See if you can lock the door,” Estelle ordered. Dodds did as
he was told and after studying a panel next to the door he
succeeded in securing it. The little clicking sound told him that
it was not a very sturdy lock, more of a deterrent than anything
else.

The
Knights
moved down various corridors in their search for Chaz and
Barber, the whole place looking like a small hospital. They
searched every waiting and examination room they came to, but found
them empty, without any sign of their missing wingmate or the woman
they had arrived at the station to meet. They then came to the
mortuary.

“
Are you okay?” Enrique said to Kelly as they approached the
mortuary. Dodds, too, had noticed that she had not spoken to anyone
whilst looking for Barber, and seemed to be in a world of her
own.

“
I
’
m fine, just a bit distracted,”
Kelly said.