Zero Recall (41 page)

“Perhaps you’re right,”
Jer’ait said, praying the Jreet didn’t do something incredibly furgish before
he could stop him.  “Dancing on a tek is a very good way to make an enemy
scream, however short-lived it may be.”

Daviin tightened his
claws around the unfortunate Ueshi.  “Short?  I’ll draw it out.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Jer’ait
said.  “I’m sure you could teach me a thing or two.  After all, on Va’ga, we
only learned a few thousand ways to induce pain.  You, though...  You’ll
probably make him cower in terror, threatening to poison him for hours until
you finally give him peace.  It will be educational.”

Daviin twisted around to
scowl at him.  “You think you could do better?”

Jer’ait gave a confident
snort.  “I can make it last so long he forgets his own name, and the pain he’d
endure would have him screaming until the dawn.”  He yawned.  “But, obviously,
I can’t do that.”

“Why?” Daviin demanded,
dragging the blinking Ueshi around to face Jer’ait.

Jer’ait shrugged.  “The
honor is yours.  After all, it’s you he wronged.  I’m just here to watch.”

Daviin glanced down at
the whimpering creature in his grasp, then shoved him toward Jer’ait.  “You do
it.”

Jer’ait shoved the Ueshi
back at the Jreet.  “No, Daviin.  I’ll not take your vengeance from you.”

“Putting him in the hands
of a Va’gan is vengeance enough.”  The Jreet shoved the Ueshi back, making the
poor creature let out a terrified cry and drop to the floor in a huddle between
them.

Jer’ait eyed the Ueshi,
then the Jreet.  “Very well.  How much pain would you have me give him?”

“Enough to make his ancestors
feel it.”

Jer’ait nodded, giving
the Jreet a grim look.  “You should go watch the hall.  His screaming will
arouse suspicion.”

“But I want to see the
little worm die!” Daviin cried.

“He’s already dead,”
Jer’ait said solemnly.  “Now go.  You’ll not enjoy the preparations.  I’ll have
to meditate on my poisons and say a prayer for the gods of Va’ga.”

The last thing the Jreet
wanted to hear was a Va’gan prayer. 

Daviin glared at him,
then at the Ueshi, then nodded and went out into the hall.  As soon as he was
outside, Jer’ait locked the door behind him. 

“Why’d you lock the
door?” Daviin demanded from the other side.

“Only our victims are
allowed to witness our prayers,” Jer’ait snapped.  “Unless you want me to kill
you, too, you ignorant janja pile!”

The Jreet made a
grumbling noise on the other side, but said nothing.

Jer’ait turned to the
whimpering Ueshi.  “Now what were you saying about Forgotten?”

The Ueshi blinked its
glistening blue eyes, his crest quivering in horror.  “I was told not to tell.”

“Believe me, Ueshi, I can
make you tell.”

“You’re going to kill me,
aren’t you?” the Ueshi wailed.

“That’s what I told the
Jreet,” Jer’ait said.  “However, I’m not sure that’s wise, given the name you
just dropped.  Jemria.  There’s only a handful of people in the universe who
know of that name.  What does Forgotten want with Daviin?”

“He w-w-wants him t-t-to
live.”  The Ueshi’s blue headcrest was trembling again.

“Obviously.  But why?”

“He never said why,” the
Ueshi whimpered.  “Please.”

Jer’ait cocked his head,
intrigued.  “Is it possible our mythical Geuji has decided to help us fight the
Vahlin?”

“Anything’s p-possible
with J-Jemria,” the Ueshi agreed.

“So the Geuji does not
enjoy the thought of a universe ruled by Dhasha.  How surprising.  Are you charged
with tending the Welu heir, as well?”

“No, sir,” the Ueshi
doctor babbled.  “There’s another Ueshi tending that one.”

“Where did he find you
two?  I thought Jreet didn’t have doctors.”

“Jemria trained us both,
sir.”  Then, at Jer’ait’s sharp glance, he whimpered, “On his ship.  I was from
a poor hatch.  Couldn’t get into medical school on my own.  He told me he’d
teach me.  He took me to his ship.  T-taught me everything about Jreet.”

Jer’ait’s eyes narrowed. 
“Does he continue to contact you?”

“No, sir.”

Daviin pounded on the
door, making the entire room reverberate with the sound of his huge fist.  “I
don’t hear screaming, Va’gan!”

“Give me time, you
underbred oaf!” Jer’ait snapped.  To the Ueshi, he said, “You must have a
system worked out.  Once this is over, how will you get paid?”

“He’ll deliver it to my
accounts, sir.”

“What bank will he use?”

The Ueshi blinked at
him.  “He won’t use a bank.”

Jer’ait peered at the
Ueshi.  “Now that we’ve freed you, what will you do?”

“My orders were to stay
until Daviin left the war, sir.”

“But a Huouyt assassin attacked
you,” Jer’ait pointed out.  “It gives you great cause to flee.”

The little Ueshi’s big
eyes boggled.  “If I left Daviin, Jemria would kill me.”

“So you truly intend to
stay.”

The Ueshi nodded vehemently.

Jer’ait cursed.  He was
staring an agent of the Geuji in the eyes and he couldn’t haul him back to
Levren for questioning.  He straightened, irritated.  “I’ll see the Huouyt who
abducted you dies in your place.  They’ll stop searching for you.  Just use a
different alias next time you come to work on the Jreet and you’ll be fine.  We
can never tell you Ueshi apart, anyway.”

“Huouyt!” the Jreet
shouted, pounding on the door again.  This time the wall around it vibrated and
strained dangerously.  “What’s taking so long?!”

“Lie down,” Jer’ait told
the Ueshi.  “I will come back for you in an hour.”

The Ueshi’s head-crest
gave a terrified flutter.  “But…”

“Do it!  Stare at the
ceiling.”  Once the Ueshi had reluctantly complied, Jer’ait walked up to the
door and opened it.  “We can go, Daviin.  My work here is done.”

Daviin peeked in at the
Ueshi and immediately his face contorted.  “You told me he’d feel pain.”

“Right now, he is
experiencing a level of pain beyond pain itself,” Jer’ait said, glancing over his
shoulder at the Ueshi doctor.  “A horror only a Va’ga can unleash upon him. 
His ancestors will truly feel it.”

“You said there would be
screaming!” Daviin roared.

“Oh there will be,”
Jer’ait assured him solemnly.  “At the end.”

Daviin turned to peer at
Jer’ait, interest lighting his metallic eyes.  “At the end?”

“At the end, he will
scream until he gurgles blood.”

The Jreet twisted to
stare back at the Ueshi, obviously impressed.  “Can we watch?”

“By all means,” Jer’ait
said, gesturing towards the door.  “Joe won’t begrudge a few hours from his
Sentinel.  As I understand, he never wanted you to bind to him in the first
place.”

“True.”  Daviin
reluctantly pulled his head from the room.  “But the fool steps in trouble like
a
melaa
steps in its own shit.  We’d best be getting back.”

Jer’ait sighed and
glanced at the Ueshi.  “It’s a shame to leave such masterful work unwitnessed.”

“Show me again later,”
Daviin said.  “Right now, you must help me get out of this maze so I can find
my ward.”

“Very well,” Jer’ait said
reluctantly.  “This way.”

CHAPTER 22:  Flea Kicks Ass

All around them, the
sounds of the shuttle’s engines roared as it broke into Neskfaat’s atmosphere.

In one corner of the
shuttle, the Jreet and the Baga were throwing dice and taunting each other. 
The Ooreiki was watching closely, his lower body pooled into a blob of what
looked like biosuit-coated blubber.  Jer’ait was staring across the room at the
far wall, saying nothing.  Scarab, alone in his corner, awaited the next
mission in silence. 

Watching him stare
straight ahead, black eyes utterly emotionless, Joe wondered if the Grekkon even
cared about what the others in the shuttle were doing.  Scarab looked like a
statue of a colossal, mutated Earth insect, and his constant, mute silence wasn’t
doing much to dispel the image.

That morning,
Headquarters had delivered the orders for every soldier of the first wave to
return to the tunnels.  Six days early.  Their excuse was that they were
investigating reports of a leak within the command, but everyone knew that it
was because Daviin and the Welu heir had almost killed each other. 

Congress was putting them
back to work as quickly as possible, as many times as possible, before the
inter-species groups disintegrated.

They’d already been written
off as losses.

At this point, Joe and
everyone else waiting in the exit bay already had their final messages recorded
and ready to go.  Their barracks room was spotless, their belongings packed
neatly at the foot of their beds, their wills copied and laid out on the center
of their beds to expedite the cleanup process. 

Though Headquarters
hadn’t had the balls to say it, Joe had the feeling that none of the survivors
of the first wave were leaving in anything other than bodybags.  They’d already
beaten the odds by taking out a prince, so as far as Congress was concerned,
any Dhasha they killed from here on out was merely a bonus.  They’d never join
the second, larger wave of attackers because they would be dead long before
PlanOps assembled for the next attack.

To make things worse, all
of Joe’s suspicions had been thoughtfully confirmed by the Baga.  Flea had
eavesdropped on the Overseers for three days, trying to determine which of them
was responsible for the leak.  He’d found nothing, aside from the fact that
anything Joe’s team did from here on was simply going to be a statistic for
some Bajna number-cruncher.

There would be no
survivors of the first wave.  They would send them back again and again until
they were all dead or the second wave was ready for its attack.

None of them had any
delusions about surviving that long.

“
Well,
” Galek
said, rising from the pool of flesh beside Flea and Daviin, “
At least
whoever kills the next prince is getting a
kasja. 
About time.  They
should give one to Jer’ait for the first prince.
”

“
What would you do
with a
kasja
if you got one, Galek?
” Jer’ait asked.

“
Wear it,
” Galek
said, with a look that suggested the Huouyt had asked the stupidest question in
the world.

“
He’s talking about
the money,
” Joe said.  “
The three mil.
”

“
Oh.
”  Galek gave
him a sheepish look.  “
Set it aside for retirement, I guess,
” Galek
said.  “
What about you, Daviin?
”

Daviin, looked up from
his dice, “
I care not for Congressional honors nor its money.
”  He gave
a fearsome Jreet grin.  “
I’m winning all I need from the Baga.
”  He
jingled a bag of tokens above their game.

“
Eat me,
” Flea
muttered.

“
Careful, he just
might,
” Jer’ait snorted.

“
Flea, what do they
know about the Vahlin?
” Scarab interrupted.  It was the first thing the
Grekkon had said since coming out of the tunnels.

Flea turned away from the
dice game with obvious relief.  “
The Vahlin?  They think he’s a thousand turns
old, one of the leaders of the last Dhasha rebellion that somehow got off the
planet.”
  He flicked one of his claw-like arms dismissively.  “
The
Peacemakers have no idea where he is.  They’ve got reports he’s everywhere from
straddling the north pole to living in a sealed bubble under the south ocean,
they’ve got no real information on who he has with him, and they don’t even know
his name.  They’ve been trying for rotations but still have no spies in the Vahlin’s
employ, something that made them call for the Huouyt Overseer’s resignation at
the last meeting.
”

“
So,”
Scarab said,
“we know nothing.
”

“
Yeah,”
Flea
admitted. 
“They were throwing around the idea of offering full retirement
and benefits to anyone who can bring them information on the Vahlin.  You heard
them at the briefing.  It’s their number one concern, aside from convincing
Koliinaat to let them blow up Neskfaat.  They’re desperate.  I tell you, if we
bring back some dirt on the Vahlin, they’ll give us anything we want.  Hell,
they’d promote us all.  Joe, they’d give you Overseer in a heartbeat.
”

Joe glanced at the Baga,
slightly uncomfortable at how much he had learned from his eavesdropping.

The shuttle thumped and
the engines died.  Daviin raised his energy level and vanished from the visible
spectrum.  Everyone tensed as the door opened.  Seeing nothing hiding amidst
the gelatinous red foliage, they unloaded. 

“
Flea, Daviin, you two
are working together again.  Assume they know we’re coming.  Jer’ait, you go
left, Flea and Daviin take right.  We’re moving up two hundred rods from the
dropoff and Scarab’s digging us a fighting pit.  If you guys encounter more
than you can handle, get your asses back here.
”

His team split, with
Jer’ait taking the form of a Jikaln warrior.  His body blended with the thick,
heavy scarlet foliage, rendering him almost as invisible as the Jreet as he
disappeared into the forest.

Joe picked a high spot
and the Grekkon dug a short tunnel for the three of them.  Then, with Joe and
Galek guarding the entrance with plasma rifles and biosuits, they waited.

Jer’ait was the first to
report.

“
There’s a group of
Takki guarding our planned penetration point.  I’ve counted three hundred
sixteen so far.  ‘Bout half of them are carrying laser rifles.  I suggest the
Baga retreat before he’s seen.  The Jreet and I might be able to clear out a
path to the penetration point.
”