A Warrior's Sacrifice (8 page)

They pushed through the undergrowth at the forest's edge, brambles and reaching limbs deflected by the hard outer layer of their sneak suits. The forest opened before them, old and unyielding. This was the kind of forest that Corwin remembered, the trees wide and tall, branches spreading out in all directions to steal sunlight. The greed of the giants left little light to filter down to the forest floor, yet where it did, ferns and saplings fought for the precious resource.

There were obstacles, of course, fallen limbs and trunks blocking their way, but it was easy enough to navigate. With a twist of the handle they would rise up and over the downed tree and continue in a direct but weaving line towards their destination.

As they neared the settlement, they slowed, Corwin dividing his attention between steering and viewing an overhead map of the area. He had a direct satellite feed, yet there appeared to be no activity at all.

"They have an active jammer," Corwin said, dismissing the feed with a blink. "We're going in without intel."

Through his neural implant, he traced a circle. "Chahal, set up in the trees over there."

"Roger," she said, banking her hoverbike on a tree and speeding off into the darkening forest.

"Kai, support fire here." Corwin highlighted another area halfway between Chahal's position and the settlement.

"Understood," Kai said, also veering to the west.

"Phae and I will assault on foot from this location." He drew arrows from the southwest portion of the village north and eastward.

"Why don't we surround them, kill them all right here?" Phae asked.

"We want them to escape so they can lead us back to wherever they're hiding. Once they break, we'll pursue, but not too closely. They need to believe that they've escaped."

Corwin parked his bike beside a gnarled oak, the bark thick and grooved, branches bent and struggling upward against their own bulk. "They will have their own forces ringing the settlement in order to ensnare any who try to escape. We need to be careful not to press too far forward."

"Yeah, I got it," Phae said.

They waited a few minutes longer, tucked low behind the old oak's exposed roots.

Kai spoke at last. "In position. I count four, repeat, four enemies in sight. All Quislings." Red icons appeared on Corwin's and Phae's HUD, both in the mini-map and laid over their visual fields. They were still a ways off — 300 meters — and hidden behind trees and in low areas, the target icons clear despite the distance and obstacles.

A minute later, Chahal's suit linked in with the rest of the Void, its computer integrating all four vantage points into one cohesive visual field. Half a dozen more enemy icons sprang into existence.

"Entering stealth mode and moving forward," Corwin said. His helmet absorbed any sound he made, but he whispered anyway. "Wait until we're within one hundred meters before firing."

"Roger," Kai and Chahal said together.

A simple mental command, and Corwin and Phae disappeared. Their electronic signatures, while always small, dropped to zero. Their coms and scanners went into passive. The suits would detect and register any sort of electronic signatures but would not cast out their own.

They crept forward, their armored footfalls muted by leaf litter. They could hear shouts and crying from the settlement, the clink of chains.

A woman screamed. A gun fired. Silence.

From tree to tree they went, moving as shadows do, sliding along, never seeming to move, but always in a different place. Corwin breathed hot and wet inside his helmet, the sound hollow.

They were close enough now, their passive sensors picking up the electromagnetic fields of the Quislings' weapons, their enemies' locations projected onto their HUDs.

"On my mark," Corwin said, raising rifle to shoulder.

Phae gave them away. She couldn't take it anymore; she was too excited, so nervous about the coming battle that her attention broke and she cast her Sahktriya outward in anticipation of combat. It flared, bright, a beacon visible to any who had the training and skill to dyzu.

A skill that every Quisling had, of necessity.

The nearest Quislings turned, firing. Phae realized her mistake with enough time to throw herself sideways behind the cover of a downed log. Corwin dropped prone, firing a quick burst from his rifle, then rolled sideways behind a tree. He leaned out, and another burst from his rifle took a Quisling in the side.

Shots rang out from farther west. Penetrating rounds from Chahal's sniper rifle punched through a tree, showering the enemy hiding behind it in splinters even as the round tore her apart. Kai opened up on a group of Quislings that had turned south to engage. They dove for cover, and his chain gun blew leaves and dirt into the air as it shredded trees and bodies.

"Cover! Flanking right," Phae shouted.

"Covering," Corwin said, leaning out from behind his tree. He fired quick bursts, alternating between the two remaining Quislings to keep their heads down. Phae jumped into a sprint, her suit providing a burst of superhuman speed.

Corwin's rifle clicked empty. "Reloading," he said, muscle memory removing the empty clip; stowing it on his suit; grabbing a full magazine; loading it without looking down or taking his mind from the battle. Phae had paused behind a tree, firing on the Quisling positions while Corwin reloaded.

"Covering," Corwin said, and fired again.

By shifting firing angles, the two hiding Quislings were forced to make a decision: stay and get flanked, or move — either way, they were in trouble. One sprinted from cover, trying to find some place safer. Chahal's round took his head off in a spray of blood and bone.

The other turned to see where the shot had come from, and Phae, now fully flanking, shot the Quisling woman in the back.

"Clear here," Kai said.

"Clear," Chahal echoed.

Corwin cranked his suit's sensors to full. Points of red on his HUD showed the enemy retreating from the settlement. "Phae and Kai circle north. Chahal with me. Keep your distance; they don't know who or what we are yet, let's keep it that way."

Corwin and Phae retreated to their waiting bikes, Phae leaping aboard. Corwin grabbed her hands, locking her to the handles. He leaned forward until their visors touched. "Keep your
wickting
Sahktriya in check. Quislings know how to dyzu it."

"I — I understand."

"Fine." Corwin let go, and she sped off to meet up with Kai. He watched her go a moment before turning his own bike towards the fleeing Quislings. Corwin didn't like to use the epithet wickt, which described a Siloth's penis, but he felt that if there were ever a time to use it,
now
, when Phae had almost gotten them killed, was appropriate.

Corwin slid along the outskirts of the settlement, trying to ignore the sounds of the burning outpost fed him by his helmet. There was suffering there; families rent apart, the dead, the dying. He couldn't do anything for them, though he wished he could — if for no other reason than to assuage his own demons. But he didn't stop to tend the injured, for their lives were not his mission.

Chahal overtook Corwin, and he slaved his bike to hers; the inboard computers kept them a close but safe distance apart. He used the time to load and view the landscape through the satellite feed. Kilometers of forest stretched in all directions. Every now and then a settlement, long dead or just beginning, poked up through the trees. Old Republic cities were out there, too, obvious in their archaic design and state of decay.

"CONTACT! CONTACT!" Kai shouted into the com. Corwin's head popped up, and he searched for a safe path through through the trees to his Voidmates. Corwin jerked his bike to the side; Chahal fell in close behind.

They had expected Quislings, using Quisling strategies. Kai and Phae were not prepared for what lay hidden on the forest floor. Kai fired left-handed, his chain gun thrown over his handlebars with little ceremony. It spewed rounds down-field at the shadowed juggernauts that barreled forward into the teeth of his, and now Phae's attempt at suppressive fire.

The bullets did nothing.

The brutes slavered and howled as they jostled one another, shoving trees, stones and each other aside to be the first to tear and rend and devour. Phae and Kai threw their guns aside and leapt free, rolling, spinning, drawing their swords. Their weapons hummed in the darkening air, brought forth to fulfill their purpose.

As the Grunts charged, their battle lust grew. They salivated, the liquid dripping down their styliform jaws. They lowered their horned heads for the charge and screamed, shrill and curdling.

The lead Grunt shouldered a drifting bike out of the way and like the trees it had shattered before, the impact didn't register. All it could smell, all it could see was the warm blood and the fleshy thing that danced in the darkness.

Kai stood his ground, dropping the tip of his sword. The Grunt rushed onward. It lunged, clawed and armored arms reaching, mandibles outstretched.

Kai jumped sideways, swinging his sword in an upward arc. His blade passed through the Grunt's armored exoskeleton without resistance.

The Grunt's head and arms fell to the ground, mandibles still clenching, and after a dozen steps — when its body realized it no longer had a head — it fell to the ground, twitching.

A few meters away, Phae fought, though not with the same great sword-sweeps as Kai; she didn't have the reach. Instead she ducked, dodged, rolled, striking at her enemy as it swung and missed and searched for her again. Despite her bulk, Phae was agile, and she used that agility to strike at the confused Grunt, severing first one leg, then an arm. As it hobbled and screamed in rage at the enemy it couldn't find, she slit its throat.

But the Siloth hadn't designed the Grunts to be smart or agile, and they never hunted alone. They were built to overwhelm with numbers and ferocity. The first two met quick, violent deaths, but their blood and screams whipped the remaining pack into a frenzy. They threw themselves at the two Maharatha.

While the Maharatha were skilled, the fury and proximity of so many swinging claws overcame their abilities. The constant barrage of attacks forced the Maharatha to give ground, killing as they did. Kai and Phae retreated towards each other until they stood together, ringed by a half circle of snarling Grunts.

Kai's side bled, his ribs broken. Phae's left arm hung useless at her side from a gash on her shoulder. They didn't speak to each other; they didn't need to, nor could they spare their attention on words.

Ahead in the darkness, horned beasts swarmed. Corwin readied himself, slinging his rifle onto his back and drawing his sword. He cut the engine's power and jumped, landing at a full sprint, Chahal at his heels. They slammed into the distracted Grunts, hacking and hewing the creatures before they could turn and address the death that swept through them from behind.

As the Grunts before her died, Phae turned and took her place next to Kai, guarding his injured side, he guarding hers in turn. Drifting up from the gathering darkness, Chahal and Corwin joined their injured Voidmates. They cast their Sahktriya forward, projecting fear at their gathered enemy.

The Grunts hesitated. In that moment of confusion, the Void surged, and the remaining Grunts, for the first time in their short, terrible lives, were afraid.

CHAPTER NINE

The summer air smelled of fresh-turned earth, of splintered trees, of alien blood and ruptured organs. The half crescent moon hung just above the tree line and it cast its pale blue light over the forest and down onto the corpses that lay quivering on the ground.

Corwin wiped his sword clean on a small patch of undisturbed leaves. He took a census first of himself. A few flesh wounds, but no major injuries otherwise. The nanites were already at work on his injuries, and the suit was taking care of itself.

The remainder of his Void had not fared as well as their leader. Kai leaned against a tree as Chahal worked a compression bandage onto his injured ribs through a gap in his armor. After it was in place, Chahal thumbed the sensor pad on the bandage, and it constricted, applying pressure and a fresh shot of nanites into his damaged side. He groaned, the bass rumble like a peel of thunder.

Phae limped up to Corwin. "Sir, could you help me? I can't get at my injury." Her left arm hung limp.

Corwin took the tube of medigel from Phae with a nod. Phae turned so her back was to Corwin and, after a moment of silence, a fissure appeared up near her shoulder blade. Corwin worked his armored fingers into the loosening material and pulled it apart until the seeping gash in the flesh was visible. It was forty centimeters long and curved in a half-moon arc from the top of her shoulder around the scapula; in two places, he saw bone.

"You need more than just medigel," Corwin said, squeezing the green gel into the wound.

Her shoulders tensed as the analgesic stung even as it numbed, and nanites flooded the wound. "I'm fine," she said through gritted teeth. "Sir."

Corwin could order her return to base, Kai too, but he needed them even in their weakened state. Stowing the empty tube of medigel onto his utility belt, Corwin stepped back and opened a Void-wide com channel. "I'm continuing on. Make an honest assessment of your hurts and head back to the Medics if you'll be a hindrance rather than a help. No jendr in that."