help getting away. Nobody said anything about Kreelans.”
“When, where, and how many?” Eustus asked.
Quickly, Enya and Ian explained what was about to happen to their world.
When the door to the cell whined open, Reza and the others were ready and waiting.
“It is good to see you again, my friend,” he said as Eustus came through the doorway.
“You, too, sir,” Eustus said as he ushered some of his Marines forward to help with the people who could not move on their own. Some of the interrogations had taken more of a toll than others. “But I wish I’d known about the Blues being on the way.”
“The squadron in orbit is already nearly finished,” Reza told him. He had drawn away his mind’s eye from the carnage above. He had seen more than enough. “Did you get a message to Hawthorne?”
“Aye, sir. The company’s volunteered to stand on the plain. That should give the Kreelans a bit more–”
“It cannot be so, Eustus,” Reza told him as they led the group to the bank of elevators, past the limp bodies of the guards whose only sign of injury was the lack of a pulse. “Only Erlangers and myself may stand upon that field. You and the company must stand aside.”
“And just what the hell are we supposed to do?” Eustus said angrily. He was not about to leave Reza to die with a bunch of miners who had never been in a battle bigger than a beer hall brawl. “We’ve got a boat, but if the squadron upstairs is catching it, where does that leave us? We may as well fight and do some good.” He thought of how Thorella had ordered them into that boat, and how amazed Eustus had been at the number of ways Hawthorne had found to stall him. While they would never know it for sure, he knew that Hawthorne’s tactics had saved all their lives. They figured Thorella was going to plant an explosive among their equipment for a convenient accident, but it had never come to pass. And never would.
“More of our forces are on the way,” Reza told him. “Nicole is coming.” He could feel her, just barely. She was preparing to do battle, and her Bloodsong, faint though it was, rang clearly in his heart. “They will arrive soon. And when they do, you and Hawthorne must take the company to safety. Just remember: you must not fire on any Kreelan forces or you will be destroyed. If you offer no resistance, they will not attack you.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Eustus said stubbornly as they filed through the kitchens to the back door, the cooks staring at them wide-eyed. The Parliament’s Territorial Army guards had been no match for Reza’s Marines, who now moved quickly to get everyone out before a more general alarm was called.
Reza pulled him aside by the arm. “I leave you no choice, Eustus,” he said. “There are… rules to the engagement I am planning that forbid me to allow any but those who have lived in the shadow of the mountain to fight for their right to remain. If those rules are not obeyed to the letter, the battle is forfeit, and every soul on this planet shall perish.” Eustus turned away, unable to look him in the eye. “I shall not forget you, my friend,” he said gently.
“You’re not planning on coming back, are you?” Eustus asked hoarsely.
“No,” Reza said. “I have no illusions about what is to come. The Mallorys, for all their courage, cannot win. They will die, and I with them. But perhaps that will be enough to spare the rest.” He glanced up at the parliament building. “Besides, there is some personal business I must attend to first that would make my future service to the Confederation… awkward.” He smiled solemnly. “I have put away the uniform of the regiment forever, my friend.” He pointed to the armored skimmer and Enya’s face peering intently through the still open door, past the two Marines who stood warily on guard. “There is the best reason of all for you to go,” he said. “Her love is true. You would be wise to ask her to be yours. Take her with you, Eustus.”
“Reza–”
“Go.” Reza’s voice turned to steel. There was no more time. “That is an order, First Sergeant.”
“Yes, sir,” Eustus rasped, standing tall and rendering his commanding officer and best friend a sharp salute.
Reza returned it as a Kreelan warrior, his left fist against his breast. He watched as Eustus clambered into the heavily loaded skimmer after the watchful Marines, the door hissing shut behind them.
As the carrier sped away, Reza went back inside, bearing the long sword that was inscribed with his name before him like a flaming torch to ward off the darkness.
“No one answers downstairs, sir,” the Territorial Army orderly said matter-of-factly.
“What?” Belisle snapped. His mind was on the brink of raving insanity after receiving report after report of vanished Mallorys and idle mines. Virtually every single worker had disappeared on him, and none had yet been found. “Don’t tell me the guards have vanished into thin air, too?”
“You may inspect their bodies, if you wish,” Reza said from an alcove in the far wall. There was no door behind him. “Yours shall join them shortly.”
Belisle whirled around at the voice as the soldier drew his pistol. It was not halfway out of its holster when a shrekka ripped through his chest. A geyser of blood followed it as it flew across the room, embedding itself in the far wall. Clutching at his savaged ribcage, the man crumpled to the floor.
“What do you want?” Belisle whined. “Money? I’ve got millions of credits in the vault in this office. I can give you anything you want! I–”
“Oh, shut up, Belisle,” Thorella’s calm voice called from the anteroom. “It only makes you look more like the coward you really are.”
Reza eyed Thorella carefully. An enemy who acted calmly in the face of seemingly overwhelming force was one not to be underestimated.
“I suppose,” Thorella went on, stepping further into the room, “that since the explosive in the basement did not go off when I pushed the button, all of your traitorous friends managed to escape?”
Reza did not favor him with an answer. Thorella was hiding something. His eyes narrowing in concentration, Reza swept the room with his senses, but could detect nothing that seemed overly threatening. Yet something was wrong…
“What does he want, Thorella?” Belisle hissed.
“He’s come here to kill us, Mr. President,” Thorella said nonchalantly.
“Yes,” Reza said as he leveled his sword at Thorella, the blade steady as the stones of the ancient Kal’ai-Il in his hands. “The world has no need for such as you. Too much blood is on your hands, and there is no one – not even the Confederation’s senior Counsel, whom you also murdered – to avenge the lives you have wrongly taken, the pain you have caused.”
“Please don’t kill me!” Belisle pleaded, his hands clasped like a repentant sinner.
Reza suddenly swung his sword in an arc that appeared as a golden ring in the office’s mild light. Belisle’s mouth continued to move for a moment as it tumbled from his neck, bright arterial blood spurting to the ceiling from the torso, creating its own gruesome fresco.
“Bravo!” Thorella applauded as Belisle’s headless body at last collapsed, still twitching, to the carpet.
“Excellent swordsmanship, as always, Captain Gard. I’m sure the General Staff will enjoy watching it.”
Reza looked up sharply, eyeing Thorella more closely. The colonel walked through a sofa as Reza might through a wall.
It was a hologram.
“Yes, that’s right, you fool,” Thorella’s image said as recognition dawned on Reza’s face. “You didn’t think that I would let you get anywhere near me, did you? Even during the interrogation, I wasn’t behind the glass. It was only a projection with an appropriate olfactory representation to fool you. And it seems to have worked quite well, eh?”
Reza’s anger threatened to boil over like a volcano, but there was nowhere to direct it. Wherever Thorella was, he was safely out of Reza’s reach. How could he have been so foolish?
