Weapons of War (4 page)

"Pur'dahm Te'ava," Domo'dahm Rorn'el said. His voice was light and scratchy. He spoke in English, though it was difficult for him to do so. "Rise."

Te'ava got back to his feet. He forced himself to make eye contact with each of the other pur'dahm. They glared at him with flat expressions. They knew what he had done. All of them knew what he had done. It wasn't all his fault. Tuhrik had a hand in this. A bigger hand than his? It was difficult to say. Difficult for him to judge. It was up to Rorn'el to determine that.

Of course, Tuhrik was dead, and his si'dahm was a traitor. Rorn'el should never have allowed Ehri to study the humans so closely. He had tried to do right by Kan'ek, to continue the work the prior Domo'dahm had started and bring them closer to full integration. The failure was as much his as it was Tea'va's.

Not that he would ever suggest as much. To do so would mean challenging Rorn'el's wisdom, which in turn would mean matching the Domo'dahm in a game of intellect. A game Tea'va knew he couldn't win. A loss that would mean his immediate death.

"Domo'dahm Rorn'el," Tea'va started. He would be aggressive, speak first and state his case before any of the assembled pur'dahm could take the opportunity to twist his words and use them against him. They all wanted to take Rorn'el's place, and discrediting one another was part of the game. "I believe the latest human activity has proven that my initial concerns were accurate. Allowing the external-"

"Silence," Rorn'el said softly.
 

Tea'va stopped speaking.

"Why do you suppose, after fifty years of absence, the human ship returned?" Rorn'el said.

"Domo'dahm?"

"Something made them bold, wouldn't you say, Gr'el?"

"Yes, Domo'dahm," the pur'dahm replied. "Perhaps it was related to one of our gi'shah pilots giving chase through the mesh?"

"A desperate attempt to destroy another of the human's small starcraft," a second pur'dahm, Orish'ek, said. "To what end, when we have already destroyed so many, and still they continue to come?"

"You didn't question my motives at the time," Tea'va said. "You believed it wise to try to destroy the one you call Heil'shur. The one who has always evaded us. You believed he could be dangerous."

"I told you the pilot's success was a minor concern," Rorn'el said. "If he could teach the others to defeat our defenses so regularly. A minor concern, Tea'va, because they still couldn't harm us."

"Tell us you weren't trying to prove your worth as a Hunter, Tea'va," Orish'ek said.
 

"Tell us that you weren't trying to prove that you are better than we are," Gr'el said. "Because you can breathe their air without assistance. Because you can mate with the Mothers."

"Why would I ever want to mate with the Mothers?" Tea'va spat. "You insult me."

"The scientists believe our future depends on it," Rorn'el said. "Whether you agree with the practice or not, the potential of your splicing cannot be ignored. You insult us with your pride."

"A Domo'dahm must be proud," Tea'va said. "To make the right decisions, a Domo'dahm must be strong in their beliefs. That is what the pur'dahm are taught. That is what all of us were taught."

"Being steadfast and being stubborn are two different things, Tea'va," Rorn'el said. "That is why you are here as a disgrace, instead of standing among us."

"I almost had him," Tea'va said. He regretted the outburst immediately. He couldn't win the game if he couldn't keep his emotions in check.

"Pride, again," Rorn'el said. "What has your pride gotten us? One ship escaped from Kan'ek. One ship capable of riding the slipstream. One ship capable of returning to this planet."

"It is only one ship," Tea'va said. "It cannot defeat the lek'shah."

"That is what even they believed before you fired so recklessly into the mesh," Gr'el said. "You showed them that the lek'shah is not invincible, that there is a way through it. That we are vulnerable."

"The smallest light of hope soon grows into a star," Rorn'el said. "Letting the humans remain was a risk I no longer wished to take. That is why we have expanded our patrols. That is why we seek to root them out."

"And that is why you allowed Ehri her experiment?" Tea'va said. He tensed as he realized he was doing more harm than good.

"We could have kept her under control. Even with the weapons she stole, without the help of the external forces she would never have held them. Even now, I expect that we will have her back here before long."

"Back here? Don't you intend to kill her?"

"No. I want her back."

"Why?"

"She is different. I am curious."

"Domo'dahm, that is a mistake."

"You should not be the one to judge mistakes. Ehri exhibits many of the same traits as the un'hai. I wish to understand how that has come to pass."

"None of this would be a concern if the ship hadn't returned," Gr'el said.

"Or if the pilot hadn't escaped," Orish'ek added. "Again."

Tea'va bowed his head. It was his fault the starcraft had made it back to the larger starship with the weapon. He had hit one of them, but it had been the wrong one. The human had escaped him a second time. Then, the forces he had sent to retrieve the downed pilot had been overcome by the freshly armed human rebels and the lor'el that Rorn'el was so infatuated with. Everything had been spiraling out of control for him since he had given chase through the mesh.
 

It was a mistake he didn't know if he could recover from. He had to try. First, he had to stop letting his defensiveness get the best of him.

"Domo'dahm," he said, bowing his head deeper in further submission. "I accept that my actions have threatened the security of the bek'hai, and given the humans that light of hope of which you spoke. I take responsibility for the deaths of the other pur'dahm, and for my failure to destroy the Heil'shur on two occasions." He looked up, barely able to make out the Domo'dahm's form in the darkness. "I implore you, Domo'dahm. Allow me to take command of the Ishur, and I will find the humans. I will destroy them before they can learn how to defeat the lek'shah. I will hunt them to the ends of the Universe, and I will not fail you again."

"Take command of the Ishur?" Orish'ek said. "You wish to be rewarded for your failure?"

"I wish to redeem myself," Tea'va said. "Domo'dahm, you have held the belief that the success of my creation is a herald of our next age. Please, allow me to prove that your trust is not misplaced. I have erred in the past. I will not do so again."

A silence fell over the court. The other pur'dahm's eyes suggested they were furious that Tea'va had asked. Tea'va didn't care. His advanced genetic makeup was the only thing he had to bargain with; he wasn't going to waste it. And, if he could find the human rebellion and destroy it, he would be able to return to Earth as second in line to the Domo'dahm.
 

"You intrigue me almost as much as she does," Rorn'el said at last. "I will acquiesce to your request on two conditions."

"Domo'dahm," Orish'ek said. "You can't-"

"Do not presume to tell me what I can and cannot do, Orish'ek," Rorn'el snapped. "It took you ten years to reach this cell. I can expel you from it in seconds."

Orish'ek cast his eyes to the floor and lowered his head.

"What are your conditions, Domo'dahm?" Tea'va asked. He would do anything for the chance to recover from the failures Rorn'el believed he had made.
 

"First, Gr'el will accompany you as your si'dahm. He will report your experiences back to me. If I see a need to remove you from command, I will do so without hesitation."

Tea'va glanced at Gr'el. He hated the idea of having someone watching over him. He also knew he had no choice. The former Hunter was an easier choice to live with than Orish'ek, who was more likely to let personal grudges guide his thinking.
 

"And the other?" Tea'va asked.

"When you return, you will mate with the Mothers. As many and as often as needed to further our learning."

Tea'va felt the distaste rising in his throat. He fought against it, though it was almost enough to break his resolve. Was he willing to submit himself to something that disgusted him for the opportunity?

"Very well," he said, unsure if the bitterness was held from his voice. "I agree to your terms, Domo'dahm."

"Good," Rorn'el said. "The Ishur is yours. She is waiting in orbit while we calculate the stream patterns. The human's strategy was unorthodox and effective, but it will not prevent us from catching up to them."

"Yes, Domo'dahm."

"Do not fail us again, Tea'va. It would be a shame for all of us to have wasted these years on the wrong genetic considerations."

"Yes, Domo'dahm."

Tea'va glanced at each of the pur'dahm and then turned and walked away without another word. When the Mother met him at the end of the chamber to escort him out, it was all he could do to keep himself from throwing her against the wall. He would take the Ishur, find the humans, and destroy them. Then he would return not as a triumphant pur'dahm, but as a challenger to the bek'hai leader.
 

Nothing was going to get in his way again.

Donovan grunted, shifting the unconscious pilot on his shoulder so that he could take aim at the Dread clones behind them. He fired a few times, appreciating the lack of kick on the enemy plasma rifle. If he were carrying a standard issue Resistance weapon, his entire arm would be bruised and sore.

Even so, he was exhausted, and the pilot he was carrying seemed to gain weight with every heartbeat. He was so heavy by now that Donovan was surprised he was still able to stand, still able to fight.

When the other option was to die, it made things a little easier.

"Where are we?" he asked. They had been running for so long, fighting for so long, he had lost all sense of bearings. They were somewhere in the jungle near what had once been Mexico City. That was the best he could do.

They had chosen the direction based on geography. There was a river somewhere to the south of their position that would offer their one, slim opportunity to make a good break from the Dread forces that were pursuing them. Forces that by all rights should have killed them a hundred times already, but had always eased up at the moment he believed they were about the be obliterated.

Ehri had told him that she believed the Domo'dahm wanted her alive, and he had no reason to doubt her. Their continued survival wasn't accidental, and it wasn't because of anything special they had done. The fighters that continued to pass overhead didn't risk strafing them and hitting her, and the mechs had remained further back while the clone soldiers harassed them with their more precise fire. It was fire that had damn near killed both him and Diaz a couple of times already; plasma bolts that had split hairs to find their way between the foliage and Ehri.
 

"The river should only be another few hundred meters ahead," Ehri said.
 

"You have global positioning built-in?" Diaz asked. Despite her efforts to push reality aside, losing Matteo had made her understandably upset, and she was taking her anger and frustration out on everything around her. Donovan had been forced to order her to turn over her Dread weapon out of fear she would expend the power source that made it work.

"I have studied this area extensively," Ehri replied. "If we make it to the river, we can become much more difficult to track from above."

"And then what?" Diaz said.

"We lose or kill the clones, and then we find somewhere to hole up for the night," Donovan said. "Hopefully, this guy will wake up at some point and be able to walk on his own. At that point, we go back to base and see if that Hunter was lying about killing everyone."

"What if he wasn't?"

"We keep fighting, Diaz. That's all we can do."

They continued through the trees. Every step Donovan took hurt, his legs and shoulders burning. A part of him had been tempted to abandon the fallen pilot more than once, knowing he was slowing them down. He would never have done it, but he couldn't avoid the thought. He gritted his teeth and kept going, one step at a time, refusing to quit. They were almost at the river, and then they would have a chance.

Bolts continued to light the area around them, pulses of plasma striking the foliage on either side, each explosion of sparks and smoldering wood a reminder of what would happen if any of the shots landed. Donovan and Ehri continued to fire back from time to time, their attacks measured, their goal to disrupt the clone soldiers more than to hit and kill them. They pushed on until Donovan could hear the soft churning of water over rocks, the signal that they were in the final stretch.

One last step, and then Donovan found himself on a steep slope, the river spreading out below the bank. He almost collapsed right then and there from his exhaustion, and would have fallen over if Diaz hadn't grabbed his shoulder to keep him upright.
 

"We made it," she said with a smile, even as the Dread fighters passed overhead once more. "We'll be invisible to their sensors by the time they circle back."