Weapons of War (10 page)

He opened the top and looked into the bottle. His legs were throbbing. Burning. Stabbing. He thought of Juliet. She would have been so calm, so cool and collected. She would have helped him through the meditation. She would have been patient.

He shifted, turning the bottle over into the waste disposal, taking away his choices. He had to do it. For her memory. For Gabriel. For all of the souls on his ship.
 

For himself.

He heard her voice in his head as he focused on his breath again. "In through the nose. Hold. Out through the mouth. Five. Seven. Five."

He repeated it over and over as he did it. He didn't know for how long. He only knew there was a point that he stopped thinking about his legs. He stopped thinking about the pain. He stopped thinking about everything.
 

Everything except Juliet. What would she want him to do about the clones? About the Dread?
 

Save the planet. Be compassionate. He was a military man. Compassion was hard to do.

If he had the chance, he would try.

For her.

First, he needed the chance. He needed to survive this.

Forty-eight hours.

He opened his eyes, pulling out his watch. An hour had passed.
 

Only twenty-two to go.

"How could anyone be alive out there?" Diaz said.
 

Donovan peered across the remains of the city from their vantage point at the base of the mountain. There had been few enough buildings still upright, and many had been brought to the ground by Dread mech and fighter attacks. Some of the areas were still smoldering, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. There were bodies visible on the ground, soldiers mostly, men and women who Donovan had served with and in some cases called friends.

"I'm sorry," Soon said, standing beside him. The bek'hai bandage had served its purpose, healing the gash in his side fast and well. His head was better but not perfect. He refused Donovan's offer of a rifle they had captured, telling him that he wouldn't know which of the three duplicates he should shoot at.

"The children were hidden," Donovan said, refusing to give up on their people. "They could still be down there. Others might have come back, too."

"We should be quick," Diaz said. "Get in, look for survivors, get out."

"Agreed," Donovan said. "Soon, can you handle it?"

"Don't worry about me, Major. Take care of yourself and your people."

Donovan pointed to the mass of mud they had carried from the river. It was a heavy burden to manage, but he knew they would need it. They set about covering themselves in the mud.
 

"You have the signals down?" Donovan asked.

"Yes, sir," Soon replied.

Donovan slopped the wet earth into his hair and over his face. The others did the same. Once they were damp, he led them down and out to the open road. There was no sign of Dread soldiers, mechs, or fighters, though they had heard them flying overhead overnight.
 

"Have they stopped giving chase?" Donovan asked.

They had seen the fortress floating in orbit when daylight had come. They had watched two of the starfighters fly up to it, and a short time later it had left. They all knew it was following the Magellan.

"A trap?" Soon asked. "Maybe they're waiting for us in the base?"

"No," Ehri said. "The bek'hai don't fight like that. They won't hide underground. I believe this is a sign of respect. The Domo'dahm is allowing you to return to your home."

"How nice of him," Diaz said.

"Of course, they will be monitoring the area. He'll want to know when you do return. They will probably give you a small head start before following."

"Is it us he respects?" Donovan asked. "Or you?"

"We destroyed a mechanized armor and a fighter, as well as a squad of Hunters. It is all of us, Major. We have earned our way here."

"Do you think he'd be willing to give me my brother back?" Diaz asked.

"Your brother is very intelligent and very handsome. I believe he will become a pur'hai."

"Pur'hai?"

"A template for cloning. It is the easiest life a human can have among the bek'hai if that is any consolation."

"It isn't," Diaz said.

"Okay, quiet time," Donovan said. "We need to get across the open area to that rubble as fast as possible. Soon, if you want to stay here, we can rendezvous back at this spot."

"I can run. My head can wait."

Donovan nodded. "Let's move."

They charged across the field at a sprint. Donovan kept his eyes on the sky, watching for signs of incoming fighters. Diaz scanned the ground, while Ehri and Soon took up the rear. Soon was slower than Donovan would have liked, but he managed to stay on his feet and running until he caught up to them at a blown-out wall.

"I should have spent more time in the gym," Soon whispered, breathing hard.

"You made it; that's all that matters," Ehri replied, also keeping her voice low.

Donovan put his finger to his lips. Then he moved to the corner of the building and tracked his vision across the street. He knew Wilcox as soon as he saw her, laying on her back with a gaping wound in her chest.

He felt a pang of sadness and forced himself to swallow it. He had to worry about the ones who might still be alive. He used hand gestures to lead them around the corner, making a zig-zag pattern from cover to cover through the city.
 

They paused when a distant rumble sounded.
 

"Diaz, can you get eyes on whatever is making that noise?" Donovan said.

Diaz nodded, running across the street and scaling a pile of debris. The rumbling remained distant until it faded completely. Diaz returned a moment later.

"Some kind of Dread ship," she said.
 

"What did it look like?" Ehri asked.

"Long, narrow. Lots of spikes or points or something."

"A transport. Which direction was it headed?"

"Northeast."

"What does it mean?" Donovan asked.

"I'm not sure," Ehri said. "The transport can hold up to one thousand soldiers, both clones and drumhr. The Domo'dahm may be seeking to accelerate his conquest of the resistance now that we have threatened the status quo."

Donovan tried not to think about how many humans that single ship was going to be responsible for killing. It was harder to do when a second rumble echoed across the sky, matching the first. A third followed a moment later.

"I'm afraid that escalation is the most likely cause," Ehri said.

"There's nothing we can about that right now," Donovan said.

He brought them the remaining distance to the pile of rubble that had once hidden the silo. It had been blasted aside, leaving a gaping hole that revealed the depth of the missile tube. There were no bodies at the bottom. He hoped that meant the Dread had decided not to go down.

"Diaz, I need you stay up here to keep watch."

"Me?" Diaz said, reacting to the request. "Why me? Why not Ehri?"

"Diaz," Donovan barked softly. "That's an order, Lieutenant."

She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. "Order? The military is gone, amigo. We're nothing but a pair of kids who are in way over our heads. That was my home, too."

Donovan felt himself getting angry. She was choosing a lousy time to be difficult. "Ehri, stay and keep watch with Diaz. Soon and I will go down."

"Yes, Major," Ehri said. Diaz scowled but knew better than to complain again.
 

"What do you say, Captain?" Donovan asked.
 

"Lead the way," Soon replied.

"Your Lieutenant seems to be a bit of a spitfire," Soon said as they descended the silo.

"Renata? She wears her heart on her sleeve. Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes it isn't. That's why I left her up there. After losing her brother, she might not react well to finding everyone else dead or gone. I need her rational."

"A good assessment of the situation. You trust her to be alone with the clone?"

"Ehri can take care of herself."

"I meant, do you trust the clone?"

"Yes. With my life." He remembered the kiss he had shared with Ehri. There hadn't been any time to explore that any further. Maybe one day. "She saved our lives, and yours."

"I don't mean to be ungrateful, Major. We know so little about the situation down here. So little about them. We're raised knowing that they stole our home and killed billions of our people. That alone is enough to inspire hate and mistrust."

"It isn't any different down here. But it's harder to hate something once you know it personally. Once you can relate to it."

"That is true."

"And believe me, I won't hesitate to kill any of the Dread that I have to in order to get our planet back. What Ehri says about freeing the clones is all well and good, but it isn't my top priority."

"I'm glad to hear that, Major."

They reached the base of the silo. The heavy lead door that was supposed to protect them was hanging open; the locks sawed off by a plasma beam.
 

"So much for them not coming down here," Donovan said, feeling his stomach drop. He didn't want to lose his mother. Not after everything they had endured.

He had a second Dread rifle slung over his shoulder. He lifted it and handed it to Soon. "Ehri said they won't ambush us down here, but just in case she's wrong. Shoot at all of them if you have to."

Soon took the rifle, running his hand along it. "I can't believe I can kill them with this. I've never killed anything before."

"Remember that it's them or us. Don't let it be us."

"Yes, sir."

Donovan stared at the half-open doorway for a moment. His heart was racing, his nerves tense. He breathed out heavily and then made his way into the base.

He clenched his teeth at the sight of Captain Reyes crumpled in the corner, his neck clearly broken. A woman's body was a few feet back, her neck bruised. Choked to death. She looked like she had been trying to run.

"Brutal," Soon said, the sadness in his voice tangible.

"More than it had to be," Donovan agreed.
 

They kept going, moving through the long corridor that connected the silo with the living area. There were no other bodies in it. There were also no scorch marks or bullet fragments. He realized why when he reached the end.

The few who had remained inside the base had barricaded the door. Then they had tried to escape through it. The Dread had come at them from behind, somehow finding another way in. Had the bek'hai discovered the path they had taken out?

He felt his heart jump. His mother was supposed to take the children that way. Had she tried? Had they found her? He was tempted to rush to the hidden passage behind General Rodriguez's office. He didn't. He had to be careful and do things right.

There were six corpses right at the barricade, all of them killed with blunt force trauma, thrown or crushed or beaten. It was an ugly way to die. An unnecessary way to die. Why had the Dread done it? What did they have to gain through the violence?

Ehri said the Domo'dahm respected them, but he didn't see that. He saw the Dread Leader taunting them, teasing them, showing them how weak and small and unimportant humans were. Not even important enough to waste plasma energy on.

They worked their way through the halls. Donovan kept his ears open for signs of activity. There was no sound. The silo was a tomb.

He finally reached the General's office. The door was hanging open slightly, the base's lights revealing little. Donovan could barely breathe, his body was so tense, his heart racing so fast. In the back of his mind, he knew what he was going to find. He knew she was going to be dead. That they were all going to be dead.

"I can check it if you want," Soon whispered.

Donovan was tempted. He shook his head. "I have to."

"Okay."

He led with the front of the rifle, using it to push the door open the rest of the way. His heart sunk to see that the door to the passage was open, though there were no bodies directly inside. He started toward it.