Several of the troopers cheered and began helping themselves as did Drake and Bana.
“What’s the situation?” Sonya asked as she popped up and sent a burst downrange. She and her sister provided sufficient cover to give everyone else time to reload and replace breather batteries.
“Holding,” Bana said. “More importantly, what the bloody hell are you doing here? Did you find out what caused the other explosions?”
“Pushtal breached over by the Zuparti living area,” Ripley explained.
“Why aren’t you there, then?” Drake growled.
“Because the Lumar are there, ripping bloody Pushtal apart like gingerbread men.”
“Oh,” Drake said.
“Yeah,” Sonya agreed and let fly another burst. “Anderle has a squad securing the rest of the perimeter.”
“We’re bloody lucky the cats don’t like grenades,” Bana said.
“Yeah, they want to get in here and use their teeth,” Ripley said. Sonya shuddered, then bared her own teeth in challenge.
Another Zuul figure peered into the room—Veska. She dodged a burst of Pushtal fire, then dove in quickly to get under cover. “Sorry it took me so long to get here,” she said. “You had my armor and weapon locked up.” She patted the gear and hoisted her Zuul-designed rifle. “But your locks aren’t for shit.”
“Good thing,” Bana said. “We need you.”
“Glad I can help. No sign of Zuul?” Drake could tell her voice held hope and fear at the same time.
“No,” Drake said, shaking his head. Veska gave a little sigh of relief.
“What the fuck happened to the ceasefire?” Bana demanded.
Another Zuul slid in behind cover. It took Drake a full breath to realize it was Shadow. His littlest brother was covered in blood, wild-eyed, and looked half insane. Even his scent was different. “The Pushtal did this by themselves,” he said. “Their leader said they wanted everything.”
“Where’s Rex? And Dad?” Drake asked, popping back up to shoot with his newly-reloaded weapon.
“Dead.” Shadow’s eyes were coals, and his face iron. His ears didn’t so much as twitch, but his lip peeled back from blood-tinged teeth. “They’re both dead. The Pushtal killed them.”
Drake, Ripley, and Sonya just stared, uncomprehending. The words didn’t make any sense. Drake was still trying to figure out how Shadow had gotten so drenched in blood. Shadow, of all of them, wouldn’t hurt anyone…
“Well that tears it,” Bana said after a too-long silence, punctuated only by gunfire. “Anyone watching the rear?” There was a thickness to his voice Drake couldn’t understand. Dead?
“Nobody left,” Shadow said. “I sent Newt to get the Lumar and Gardner to check out the second explosion, but I haven’t heard…” He shook his head sharply and reached into the bag for a reload. “It looks like they want in here.” He popped up a half second and scanned the enemy outside, taking three shots with almost clinical precision. Drake stared, unblinking. “I want the one with the eyepatch,” Shadow added. “He’s the leader. He did this.”
“He killed Dad?” Drake asked. The words were foreign, but tugged at something deep inside him. Like the first time he’d heard Zuul, but infinitely worse. “He’s ours, then. We’ll all help tear him to pieces.”
“Dead?” Ripley’s voice strangled in her throat. “Rex? But…I mean…how?”
Sonya coughed through a sob, tears leaking out from her breathing mask and freezing on the cold suit. She shook her head over and over. “Dad…” It was hardly a word, so choked in grief it felt more like a despairing howl.
“Hey!” Veska grabbed one after the other and shook them, hard. While her ears swiveled as though looking for another answer, her eyes burned with focus. “Come out of it,” she said in their native language. “You are Zuul. More importantly, you are Krif’Hosh! You are bigger than any one of you, any one of us.”
“What are we really?” Shadow asked, his face still blank, his tail still.
“You are the light in the dark. In our language, Krif’Hosh translates as Night Song. The meaning is almost literal. It is the song, the howls in the night, that which leads all the clans to safety and survival.” She stared at them, the ferocity of her blocking out the ongoing battle around them, and they stared back. “We’ve been lost without you. Yes, you are young. Yes, the man who raised you is dead. Yes, the one who seemed strongest is now dead, too.” Her voice stuttered for a moment, but she growled and continued. “But as long as you live, Zuul lives on. The Hosh are whole again! We will all howl the story of Rex’s life and death.”
She slammed the butt of her rifle into the ground and snarled at them. “You don’t think this is tearing my soul apart? I felt the barest glimmer of love with him. I grieve for more than what was lost, but for what was possible!”
Shots tore across the space, searching for hot flesh to pierce. The surviving Humans watched the drama, eyes wide in fear or narrow in anger as they’d lost their leader. Drake wanted to block them all out, but everything crowded close. The remaining Humans of Silent Night. His siblings. Their loss. Veska, demanding more from them. Drake, not sure he had anything left to give, with Rex…
“Do not despair, for we are far from done.” Veska lifted a brace of grenades and dropped her jaw. “The galaxy has yet to hear our final song! If this is our end, we will make it such an end that all of Zuul will sing our tale until the end of time!”
Drake closed his eyes and focused on the breather tight against his face. For his father. For Rex. For those who survived around them. When he opened his eyes, the rock certainty of their next move came clear.
“I’ll
