A piece of masonry shattered next to Berret's head after being hit by a pulse bolt. Sharp hunks of the material spun off, one cutting a small gash into the Shrike's cheek.
"Ouch!" said Jared. "These guys are really starting to gris me off!" he exclaimed as he ducked his head down further.
"They're only starting too now?" asked John from the next crate over.
"Well, the night is young yet," Berret said flippantly as he ejected a smoking power pack from his rifle and slammed home a new one.
"Less Talk... More Killing!" bellowed D'argo from Crichton's opposite side.
"You're such a workaholic," mutter the human as he sighted along the rifle and then shot a Nebari trooper who decided to poke his head out at the wrong moment. "How do you suppose Zhaan puts up with his constant complaining?" he turned and asked the Shrike.
"I would imagine she probably meditates a lot," was the ex-assassin's reply. He picked out several pairs of feet below a raised crate and loosed a burst of bolts in their direction. A microt later he was reward by several cries of pain.
Ignoring the Luxans growls at their idle chatter, he asked Crichton, "Is it my imagination or does it seem that there are less men over there then earlier?"
"I dunno... maybe we got more of them then we thought?" he answered with a small shrug.
"More power packs!" Andar suddenly cried from his position behind one of the taller crates. Like they had practiced the maneuver countless times, Berret saw Jothee toss a pair of charge magazines up to Andar's position. As quick as a snake, the Sebacean man snatched them both out of the air and ducked back under cover before the Nebari's fire could zero in and pin him down.
Stoma split his men up, having them each take a branching hallway back toward the corridor where the battle was taking place. He took the furthest hallway they found and began to work his way toward the sound of gunfire. To his grim satisfaction he emerge back into the corridor well behind the battle zone. The hallway was hidden behind several large crates and pieces of equipment. Apparently the Hynerian was stockpiling various items for the coming conflict with the survivor of the war. He slowly began to move his way forward to the rear of the crewmates' position. He smiled to himself knowing that within microns the troublesome woman would be on her way back to the gentle arms of Nebari society... and the rest of the alien scum would be lying dead at his feet. The first of Stoma's men to exit from a side hallway had the bad luck to do so in the middle of no-man's land. As soon as he step out around a food storage case he was riddled with bolts, most of which came from his own side. The second man pushed his way through a pile of stacked boxes only to find himself staring down the barrel of Jothee's pistol a microt before the half-Luxan youth shot him in the neck.
"They are trying to come at us through the side hallways!" cried the half Luxan warrior in warning.
"Dren!" Aeryn cursed. Rising up to one knee, she swept her Heavy Pulse Rifle toward the nearest tunnel-like hallway and unload a full power pack down it in case there were anymore troopers coming through. The heavy recoil from the weapon shook the woman's body as she poured pulse fire into the corridor's opening. Chiana jumped down from behind her crate and dropped beside the Sebacean woman to cover her. The Nebari woman brought her rifle to bear just in time as a Nebari Trooper rose up to take a shot at the kneeling Aeryn. Chiana riddled the man with bolts from her rifle, then ran a line of fire along the cover of several more Nebari soldiers to make them keep their heads down.
Malika jumped up into Chiana's abandoned perch and took over her field of fire. The Delvian ran her Pulse rifle's pack dry and hit the release. The weapon had become too hot from the constant firing and the clip jammed on the way down. She had just reached up and jerked the spent charge pack clear when a noise behind her alerted her to danger. Stoma's third trooper shoved aside a crate and seeing the Delvian, rushed at her. Malika took a step back and had to drop her rifle to defend herself. The Nebari attempted to butt-stroke her with the stock of his rifle but the Pa'u closed with him and gripped the barrel end of the rifle with both hands to keep the man from being able to point it at her. The Trooper tried to jerk his weapon free, but to his shock and surprise, the young Delvian jerked back and bent the barrel almost in two. The Nebari jumped back cursing and threw the useless weapon at the blue woman and whipped out his combat knife. Malika batted the rifle to one side and smiled at the sight of the blade, then she drew her own. The man's jaw dropped as the shining metal blade the Pa'u held turned out to be half again as long as the one he brandished.
"Mine's bigger that yours," was all she said as the blade began to spin and twirl around her hand. Being behind enemy lines the trooper was now committed, with a snarl he charged the Priestess. Swinging his blade low, he tried to slice into her belly. Malika danced to one side and the knife in her hand sang in a flashing blur. Blue Nebari blood flew through the air and the Trooper found himself with several deep cuts along his forearms, shoulder, ribs and back. He turned again to face Malika who was simply standing behind him idly twirling the large blade in a circle around her hand.
"Surrender now and you can live," she told him.
The offered added insult to injury and enraged the Nebari. He replied by screaming and rushing at the Delvian with his knife raise over his head. Malika met his headlong charge by slicing through the man's stomach and opening up several other major blood vessels along his limbs. He staggered to a halt as the massive damage and loss of blood pressure from the wounds registered on his nervous system. Malika was behind him in an eye blink and cut his throat.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way," she said as she quickly cleaned off her blade before sheathing it. She darted back to her position and picked up her empty Pulse rifle. She muttered a quick prayer to the Goddess for the Nebari's soul as she reloaded.
Joban had finally arrived at the scene of the combat and he crawled his way over the last short distance of the hallway until he was able to view the battlefield. He smiled to himself as he realized that he couldn't have planned his position better. Across from him he could see the black uniforms of the Nebari crouching down behind their barricades. Settling himself behind the largest metal cases he could find, he eased the muzzle of his rifle over the top. Flicking on the optics, he brought the first Nebari into the crosshairs of the sights.
"Like shootin' Traskfish in a breeding decanter," he murmured as he smoothly stroked the trigger. Moving to the next target, he repeated the operation. Seeing two of the invaders suddenly jerk and fall over from pulse bolts coming from their flank, Crichton let out a cheer.
"Yaw-Hoo! The cavalry has arrived! Rygel's boys are here!" he called.
The Nebari now had to split their forces and deal with the attack from their rear flank. They began to pour pulse bolts into the shadow-covered hallway the new attack had come from.
"I don't think so, Uncle John," called Jothee who was in better position to see. "There only seems to be one person shooting from over there."
"Who cares!" said John after a microt, "Thanks to whoever that is the odds in our favor just went up."
Having caught the end of the knife fight, he looked back at Malika and asked, "Everything all right back there?"
Giving a cough as she waved away the smoke of burnt Chakan Oil from her rifle, Malika gave him the thumbs up signal she'd so often seen him use. Turning back to his Pulse rifle he squeezed off a couple more rounds in the Nebari's direction. "Things are lookin' up," he said
Stoma had crept close enough now to witness the deadly knife duel between the Delvian bitch and his Trooper. Microts later someone opened fire behind his men's lines and more of his troopers started to die. Encourage now by the unexpected help, the Hynerian's friends began to fight back harder. The Nebari woman had moved up to the front line and there was no way he could get his hands on her now. His men all but defeated, he decide the best course of action for him now would be to withdraw and leave the battle field while he still had his life. Silently cursing, he backed away and tried to think of how he was going to get out of the palace grounds undetected. As if in answer there was a noise from some nearby crates. Freezing in place, Stoma saw the bald blue head of the second Delvian bitch poke out from behind the metal cases. Changing his course, he crept in her direction. He had been wondering where the brats had been hiding; now he believed he had the answer to that question and his dilemma. He slid closer to the cases and peeked over the top of one. The Delvian had her back to him, peering around the edge of the opposite crate at the battle. Besides her were the two Sebacean brats. Leaning farther over the rim he saw the two half-breeds right on the opposite site of the crate he was at. He smiled, now he knew how he would make it out of there.
The pulse fire from the hallway flanking the Nebari Troop slowly died down. The crewmates were beginning to wonder if the tide of battle was turning back into the invaders' favor when all of a sudden armored shock troopers with the Royal Hynerian Crest on their breastplates burst into the room from hallways on all sides of the Nebari. Pulse bolts crisscrossed their lines, chewing up everything in the line of fire. The companions let out a cheer all at the same time as the Nebari either fell over dead or dropped their weapons in surrender. Rygel's men went from man to man taking them prisoner or making sure they were really dead. The officer in command headed over toward the crew's direction.
"Ambassador Crichton! Are you all right?" he called to them.
John waved to the man as he stood up from behind the crate he'd been using for cover.
"We're a little banged up but mostly we're okay," he replied turning around to look at the others as they climbed out of their hiding places. Berret stood and shook dust from his long hair, the cut on his cheek already healing. He made his way over to Chiana, anxiously looking her over to assure himself that she was unharmed. The Nebari woman was just as dust covered as the Shrike and she seemed to be appraising his well-being with as much intensity as he was hers.
"Oh, man! Were we lucky," said Crichton as Malika and Andar appeared out of the settling dust and made their way over to join the group, realizing that miraculously, no one on their side had sustained any major injuries in the fighting. An Elite Guard came over and reported to the commanding officer that they had taken four Nebari prisoners alive and two wounded, when there was a childish scream from the rear of crewmates' position.
"The children!" cried Aeryn as the group moved as one in the direction of the children's hide-a-way.
Andrea and Missy came running toward them and straight into Aeryn and John's arms. Chulee came darting out in front of a staggering and bleeding Zhaan, and leaped crying into her mother's opened arms. Malika and D'argo caught Zhaan as she pitched forward, blood seeping from a head wound.
"Get my bag!" Malika shouted to Andar as Chiana and Berret started calling out for Jalen.
Zhaan waved her help off, "He took him! He took Jalen!" she shouted over the others, trying to be heard through their excited cries.
"Who took him!" asked D'argo.
"The Nebari... he came up behind us and struck me with his rifle. Then he grabbed Jalen and ran into one of the side hallways," the Delvian said and pointed the way they went, obviously fighting her pain to stay conscious. "I'm so sorry, Chiana... Jared," she finished.
Chiana clutched the crying Chulee to her while looking wildly around her, "Jalen! Jalen!" she called.
Berret took her by the shoulder's trying to calm her, but he found he was starting to panic himself.
"He took my baby!" his wife looked in his eyes and cried to him. "He took our baby!"
"I'll find him, Chiana... I will find him," he vowed to her. He snatched up the nearest Pulse rifle.
"Stay with Chulee!" he said to her as he took off at a dead run for the hallway that Zhaan had indicated, ignoring the calls from the others to wait for them while they hurriedly tried to gather weapons and any power packs that still held a charge.
In the dim hallway the Shrike's eyes took on their silver sheen, allowing him to see almost as if in broad daylight. His hearing seem to sharpen as the microbes fine-tuned his senses, making him the perfect hunter. He paused a short ways into the hallway to listen. He thought he could make out heavy breathing coming from somewhere ahead of him. He looked down to check the charge in the rifle and found that he'd picked up an empty one. He dropped the useless gun, not caring because he still had the pistol and combat knife with him... and also because he was a living weapon. The clatter of the weapon hitting the floor seemed to alert the person ahead of him in the hallway because Berret could now hear footsteps in the distance. The Shrike was now sure where his target was and he picked up his own pace. Even in Peacekeeper issue boots his footfalls were light and almost totally silent. Keeping to the shadows as much as possible, Berret moved quickly when the target moved and slowed to a creeping walk when the target stopped to listen to its back trail. At one point Berret heard Jalen's muffled cry and thanked the Goddess that his son was still alive. The target changed hallways and corridors trying to lose any pursuit in the maze-like sub-levels. The ex-assassin steadily closed with the Nebari and his son, turning corners only microts behind them.
"Damn it!" exclaimed Crichton as he bent to pick up the discarded rifle. Checking the power gage he turned to Aeryn and Andar, "He picked up a spent one." Looking forward to D'argo and Jothee who were crouched down on guard further along the hall, he asked, "Which way, D'argo?"
D'argo tested the air, his nostrils flaring, "Straight ahead... Jalen and Jared came this way."
"And the Nebari," added Jothee with a grim look.
"Let's get moving then, they have too much of a head start and there still maybe some Nebari stragglers that haven't been rounded up yet left," said Aeryn.
The Luxan sped down the hall armed with a charged Pulse pistol he'd managed to find in one huge hand and his heavy Qualta blade in the other. He followed the scent trail through winding and twist corridors, his son armed with a Pulse rifle guarding his back. Crichton and Aeryn followed close behind while Andar watched their back trail and used a luminescent marking gun to tag their route through the hallways for Zhaan and Malika to follow behind them. The two Delvians having lagged behind to ensure that the frantic Chiana didn't rush off with little Chulee still in her arms to search for her hostage son. Aeryn had cursed angrily that no one was able to restrain the Shrike from rushing off alone in pursuit of his son. Knowing from her training and experience that a cool head was needed in such situations and not the rashness of a frantic parent.
Stoma was breathing heavy from having to carry the boy, so he stopped to rest and set the boy down for a microt. He'd much rather shoot the brat now, but the little half-breed was his safe passage out of this frelled up operation. Inwardly he cursed his patron, Hyril. The little tralk that was this abomination's mother couldn't possibly have been involved in the project that the Nebari government was attempting to keep secret. The little bitch should have died cycles ago, long before she could have bared children if she was a carrier of the contagion. It probably just offended Hyril's prissy sensibilities to have seen her mated to another species, so now his entire shock-troop was either dead or captured because the Abettor got his nose bent out of joint.
"Who cares who the tralk frelled!" he growled out loud.
The boy whimpered at the menacing tone in the Nebari Captain's voice. Stoma reached out and slapped the boy across the face, knocking him to the ground, "Be quiet I told you!" he snarled at the child.
Instead of cringing, the abuse seemed to harden the boy. He stared defiantly up at the man with those strange blue eyes.
"My father will kill you for that," the boy almost hissed.
Stoma by then had convinced himself that one man can not have taken out his highly trained scouts and that they must have been ambushed by a superior number of attackers. He'd witnessed nothing special about the three Sebacean men at the firefight in the corridor while he was at the scene of battle.
The Captain found himself amused at the half-breed's bravado.
"My father has killed many bad men like you," the boy almost spat at him.
"Your father can do nothing," Stoma told him. "He's just another Sebacean man, and many Sebacean men on guard duty tonight died at our hands without making so much as a whimper."
"My Dad isn't a Sebacean, he's a Shrike!" said Jalen almost bragging, hopeing to put fear in the heart of his captor. Despite himself and to Jalen's despair, Stoma burst out laughing,
"Fairy tales!" he finally said. "Shrikes are nothing but legend. You probably don't even know what a Shrike is, boy!" he said in contempt.
Jalen was starting to lose more his self-confidence with trying to threaten the man.
"I do so," he said, his voice growing quieter. "The Scarrens made him that way," he finished as his voice died totally
The mention of the Scarrens brought the Nebari up short. There had been rumors about the Scarren underworld using enforcers and assassins they called Shrikes, the original name coming from a cult of Warrior / Spy / Assassins that supposedly existed thousands of cycles ago. These modern day Shrikes were nothing more then simple killers, some where even said to be slaves that have undergone a process more mind wiping then mental cleansing to make them loyal and obedient without a microt's doubt.
If the boy meant his father was one of these Scarren assassins, he just might be telling the truth.
Stoma grabbed the half-breed and yanked him in close to him, "Do you mean your father works for one of the Scarren Syndicates?" he demanded. "Speak boy, before I backhand your sorry half-breed face again!" Stoma almost screamed while shaking the boy's small body.
"N-No! " said the terrified Jalen, "He got away from them." The boy finished while fresh tears started to form again in his eyes as his courage left him.
Relieved, Stoma stopped shaking the boy. "Nobody leaves the Syndicates and lives to tell about it. Your father is lying to you. There is no way he can be one of their killers."
"You're about to find out," said a cold voice from somewhere in the room's shadows.
Malika managed to dress Zhaan's head wound while at the same time the Delvian women also managed to keep the distraught Chiana from running off after the others. They were trying to convince the Nebari woman to stay behind and tend to her daughter and Aeryn and John's children, but Chiana wouldn't hear of it. They were explaining to her that someone had to stay and look after the offspring of Moya's crew when a large Guardsman, heavily wrapped in bandages, limped over and cut into the discussion.
"I'll watch the little ones for you, Lady Chiana," the man said.
"Joban!" Chiana cried as she saw the man. "You're alive, we thought you might have...." she cut off not wanting to admit they thought him dead with the other grounds security.
"Aye, Lady. It wasn't for lack of them trying," he said gesturing to the hallway were the first volley of bolts had come from that turned the course of the desperate battle.
"That was you?" asked Malika.
The guardsman made a slight bow of respect as he answered, "Yes, it was Pa'u Malika."
"You have our eternal gratitude, 1st Sergeant," said Zhaan as she waved a hand in blessing.
"Thank you Pa'u Zhaan," Joban said, stiffly attempting another bow.
"Joban, they took Jalen. Please get the Guard together and go after him and the others," Chiana begged, not able to hold off asking any longer and desperate for something more to be done to find her son.
"I heard about the Lad being taken and the Guard is gearing up to follow your husband and the rest even as we speak," said the big Sebacean trying to reassure her. "I would have already been on the way... but I'm afraid I would only be in the way in my present useless condition," he said obviously feeling like he had failed her.
Chiana was touched by the admission. "I know you would be, Joban. You're a brave man," she told him touching his arm.
"But I am able to take care of the little ones while you join your husband. That much I can and will do for you, My Lady," Joban said.
Zhaan and Malika gave him a look over Chiana's shoulder that said he'd just undermined everything they tried to do to keep the woman away from the search, but he wasn't deterred from doing what he felt as a parent was right. Speaking mostly to the two Delvians he said,
"A parent's place is with their children in times of danger. I know how I would feel if it was one of my daughters. A Phalanx of Luxan Berserkers would not stop me from going to her."
Chiana thanked him again and handed Chulee over to the big sergeant, surprisingly the little girl went willingly to the wounded man, instinctively trusting him. Seeing their friend trusting the man, Missy and Andrea needed little reassuring to release Zhaan and Malika's robes and place themselves in his care. The three women gathered their gear and started off after the rest of the crew.
"Goddess Bless, and may they find him safe," murmured Joban to their departing backs. He turned to the tearstained children gathered around him. "Now, what do you young ladies say about helping a helpless old farmer back to his home. I believe there may be some good dresses and some old toys of my little girls' left that might need someone to play with them," he offered as he lead them away from the scene of the battle.
"Ouch!" said Jared. "These guys are really starting to gris me off!" he exclaimed as he ducked his head down further.
"They're only starting too now?" asked John from the next crate over.
"Well, the night is young yet," Berret said flippantly as he ejected a smoking power pack from his rifle and slammed home a new one.
"Less Talk... More Killing!" bellowed D'argo from Crichton's opposite side.
"You're such a workaholic," mutter the human as he sighted along the rifle and then shot a Nebari trooper who decided to poke his head out at the wrong moment. "How do you suppose Zhaan puts up with his constant complaining?" he turned and asked the Shrike.
"I would imagine she probably meditates a lot," was the ex-assassin's reply. He picked out several pairs of feet below a raised crate and loosed a burst of bolts in their direction. A microt later he was reward by several cries of pain.
Ignoring the Luxans growls at their idle chatter, he asked Crichton, "Is it my imagination or does it seem that there are less men over there then earlier?"
"I dunno... maybe we got more of them then we thought?" he answered with a small shrug.
"More power packs!" Andar suddenly cried from his position behind one of the taller crates. Like they had practiced the maneuver countless times, Berret saw Jothee toss a pair of charge magazines up to Andar's position. As quick as a snake, the Sebacean man snatched them both out of the air and ducked back under cover before the Nebari's fire could zero in and pin him down.
Stoma split his men up, having them each take a branching hallway back toward the corridor where the battle was taking place. He took the furthest hallway they found and began to work his way toward the sound of gunfire. To his grim satisfaction he emerge back into the corridor well behind the battle zone. The hallway was hidden behind several large crates and pieces of equipment. Apparently the Hynerian was stockpiling various items for the coming conflict with the survivor of the war. He slowly began to move his way forward to the rear of the crewmates' position. He smiled to himself knowing that within microns the troublesome woman would be on her way back to the gentle arms of Nebari society... and the rest of the alien scum would be lying dead at his feet. The first of Stoma's men to exit from a side hallway had the bad luck to do so in the middle of no-man's land. As soon as he step out around a food storage case he was riddled with bolts, most of which came from his own side. The second man pushed his way through a pile of stacked boxes only to find himself staring down the barrel of Jothee's pistol a microt before the half-Luxan youth shot him in the neck.
"They are trying to come at us through the side hallways!" cried the half Luxan warrior in warning.
"Dren!" Aeryn cursed. Rising up to one knee, she swept her Heavy Pulse Rifle toward the nearest tunnel-like hallway and unload a full power pack down it in case there were anymore troopers coming through. The heavy recoil from the weapon shook the woman's body as she poured pulse fire into the corridor's opening. Chiana jumped down from behind her crate and dropped beside the Sebacean woman to cover her. The Nebari woman brought her rifle to bear just in time as a Nebari Trooper rose up to take a shot at the kneeling Aeryn. Chiana riddled the man with bolts from her rifle, then ran a line of fire along the cover of several more Nebari soldiers to make them keep their heads down.
Malika jumped up into Chiana's abandoned perch and took over her field of fire. The Delvian ran her Pulse rifle's pack dry and hit the release. The weapon had become too hot from the constant firing and the clip jammed on the way down. She had just reached up and jerked the spent charge pack clear when a noise behind her alerted her to danger. Stoma's third trooper shoved aside a crate and seeing the Delvian, rushed at her. Malika took a step back and had to drop her rifle to defend herself. The Nebari attempted to butt-stroke her with the stock of his rifle but the Pa'u closed with him and gripped the barrel end of the rifle with both hands to keep the man from being able to point it at her. The Trooper tried to jerk his weapon free, but to his shock and surprise, the young Delvian jerked back and bent the barrel almost in two. The Nebari jumped back cursing and threw the useless weapon at the blue woman and whipped out his combat knife. Malika batted the rifle to one side and smiled at the sight of the blade, then she drew her own. The man's jaw dropped as the shining metal blade the Pa'u held turned out to be half again as long as the one he brandished.
"Mine's bigger that yours," was all she said as the blade began to spin and twirl around her hand. Being behind enemy lines the trooper was now committed, with a snarl he charged the Priestess. Swinging his blade low, he tried to slice into her belly. Malika danced to one side and the knife in her hand sang in a flashing blur. Blue Nebari blood flew through the air and the Trooper found himself with several deep cuts along his forearms, shoulder, ribs and back. He turned again to face Malika who was simply standing behind him idly twirling the large blade in a circle around her hand.
"Surrender now and you can live," she told him.
The offered added insult to injury and enraged the Nebari. He replied by screaming and rushing at the Delvian with his knife raise over his head. Malika met his headlong charge by slicing through the man's stomach and opening up several other major blood vessels along his limbs. He staggered to a halt as the massive damage and loss of blood pressure from the wounds registered on his nervous system. Malika was behind him in an eye blink and cut his throat.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way," she said as she quickly cleaned off her blade before sheathing it. She darted back to her position and picked up her empty Pulse rifle. She muttered a quick prayer to the Goddess for the Nebari's soul as she reloaded.
Joban had finally arrived at the scene of the combat and he crawled his way over the last short distance of the hallway until he was able to view the battlefield. He smiled to himself as he realized that he couldn't have planned his position better. Across from him he could see the black uniforms of the Nebari crouching down behind their barricades. Settling himself behind the largest metal cases he could find, he eased the muzzle of his rifle over the top. Flicking on the optics, he brought the first Nebari into the crosshairs of the sights.
"Like shootin' Traskfish in a breeding decanter," he murmured as he smoothly stroked the trigger. Moving to the next target, he repeated the operation. Seeing two of the invaders suddenly jerk and fall over from pulse bolts coming from their flank, Crichton let out a cheer.
"Yaw-Hoo! The cavalry has arrived! Rygel's boys are here!" he called.
The Nebari now had to split their forces and deal with the attack from their rear flank. They began to pour pulse bolts into the shadow-covered hallway the new attack had come from.
"I don't think so, Uncle John," called Jothee who was in better position to see. "There only seems to be one person shooting from over there."
"Who cares!" said John after a microt, "Thanks to whoever that is the odds in our favor just went up."
Having caught the end of the knife fight, he looked back at Malika and asked, "Everything all right back there?"
Giving a cough as she waved away the smoke of burnt Chakan Oil from her rifle, Malika gave him the thumbs up signal she'd so often seen him use. Turning back to his Pulse rifle he squeezed off a couple more rounds in the Nebari's direction. "Things are lookin' up," he said
Stoma had crept close enough now to witness the deadly knife duel between the Delvian bitch and his Trooper. Microts later someone opened fire behind his men's lines and more of his troopers started to die. Encourage now by the unexpected help, the Hynerian's friends began to fight back harder. The Nebari woman had moved up to the front line and there was no way he could get his hands on her now. His men all but defeated, he decide the best course of action for him now would be to withdraw and leave the battle field while he still had his life. Silently cursing, he backed away and tried to think of how he was going to get out of the palace grounds undetected. As if in answer there was a noise from some nearby crates. Freezing in place, Stoma saw the bald blue head of the second Delvian bitch poke out from behind the metal cases. Changing his course, he crept in her direction. He had been wondering where the brats had been hiding; now he believed he had the answer to that question and his dilemma. He slid closer to the cases and peeked over the top of one. The Delvian had her back to him, peering around the edge of the opposite crate at the battle. Besides her were the two Sebacean brats. Leaning farther over the rim he saw the two half-breeds right on the opposite site of the crate he was at. He smiled, now he knew how he would make it out of there.
The pulse fire from the hallway flanking the Nebari Troop slowly died down. The crewmates were beginning to wonder if the tide of battle was turning back into the invaders' favor when all of a sudden armored shock troopers with the Royal Hynerian Crest on their breastplates burst into the room from hallways on all sides of the Nebari. Pulse bolts crisscrossed their lines, chewing up everything in the line of fire. The companions let out a cheer all at the same time as the Nebari either fell over dead or dropped their weapons in surrender. Rygel's men went from man to man taking them prisoner or making sure they were really dead. The officer in command headed over toward the crew's direction.
"Ambassador Crichton! Are you all right?" he called to them.
John waved to the man as he stood up from behind the crate he'd been using for cover.
"We're a little banged up but mostly we're okay," he replied turning around to look at the others as they climbed out of their hiding places. Berret stood and shook dust from his long hair, the cut on his cheek already healing. He made his way over to Chiana, anxiously looking her over to assure himself that she was unharmed. The Nebari woman was just as dust covered as the Shrike and she seemed to be appraising his well-being with as much intensity as he was hers.
"Oh, man! Were we lucky," said Crichton as Malika and Andar appeared out of the settling dust and made their way over to join the group, realizing that miraculously, no one on their side had sustained any major injuries in the fighting. An Elite Guard came over and reported to the commanding officer that they had taken four Nebari prisoners alive and two wounded, when there was a childish scream from the rear of crewmates' position.
"The children!" cried Aeryn as the group moved as one in the direction of the children's hide-a-way.
Andrea and Missy came running toward them and straight into Aeryn and John's arms. Chulee came darting out in front of a staggering and bleeding Zhaan, and leaped crying into her mother's opened arms. Malika and D'argo caught Zhaan as she pitched forward, blood seeping from a head wound.
"Get my bag!" Malika shouted to Andar as Chiana and Berret started calling out for Jalen.
Zhaan waved her help off, "He took him! He took Jalen!" she shouted over the others, trying to be heard through their excited cries.
"Who took him!" asked D'argo.
"The Nebari... he came up behind us and struck me with his rifle. Then he grabbed Jalen and ran into one of the side hallways," the Delvian said and pointed the way they went, obviously fighting her pain to stay conscious. "I'm so sorry, Chiana... Jared," she finished.
Chiana clutched the crying Chulee to her while looking wildly around her, "Jalen! Jalen!" she called.
Berret took her by the shoulder's trying to calm her, but he found he was starting to panic himself.
"He took my baby!" his wife looked in his eyes and cried to him. "He took our baby!"
"I'll find him, Chiana... I will find him," he vowed to her. He snatched up the nearest Pulse rifle.
"Stay with Chulee!" he said to her as he took off at a dead run for the hallway that Zhaan had indicated, ignoring the calls from the others to wait for them while they hurriedly tried to gather weapons and any power packs that still held a charge.
In the dim hallway the Shrike's eyes took on their silver sheen, allowing him to see almost as if in broad daylight. His hearing seem to sharpen as the microbes fine-tuned his senses, making him the perfect hunter. He paused a short ways into the hallway to listen. He thought he could make out heavy breathing coming from somewhere ahead of him. He looked down to check the charge in the rifle and found that he'd picked up an empty one. He dropped the useless gun, not caring because he still had the pistol and combat knife with him... and also because he was a living weapon. The clatter of the weapon hitting the floor seemed to alert the person ahead of him in the hallway because Berret could now hear footsteps in the distance. The Shrike was now sure where his target was and he picked up his own pace. Even in Peacekeeper issue boots his footfalls were light and almost totally silent. Keeping to the shadows as much as possible, Berret moved quickly when the target moved and slowed to a creeping walk when the target stopped to listen to its back trail. At one point Berret heard Jalen's muffled cry and thanked the Goddess that his son was still alive. The target changed hallways and corridors trying to lose any pursuit in the maze-like sub-levels. The ex-assassin steadily closed with the Nebari and his son, turning corners only microts behind them.
"Damn it!" exclaimed Crichton as he bent to pick up the discarded rifle. Checking the power gage he turned to Aeryn and Andar, "He picked up a spent one." Looking forward to D'argo and Jothee who were crouched down on guard further along the hall, he asked, "Which way, D'argo?"
D'argo tested the air, his nostrils flaring, "Straight ahead... Jalen and Jared came this way."
"And the Nebari," added Jothee with a grim look.
"Let's get moving then, they have too much of a head start and there still maybe some Nebari stragglers that haven't been rounded up yet left," said Aeryn.
The Luxan sped down the hall armed with a charged Pulse pistol he'd managed to find in one huge hand and his heavy Qualta blade in the other. He followed the scent trail through winding and twist corridors, his son armed with a Pulse rifle guarding his back. Crichton and Aeryn followed close behind while Andar watched their back trail and used a luminescent marking gun to tag their route through the hallways for Zhaan and Malika to follow behind them. The two Delvians having lagged behind to ensure that the frantic Chiana didn't rush off with little Chulee still in her arms to search for her hostage son. Aeryn had cursed angrily that no one was able to restrain the Shrike from rushing off alone in pursuit of his son. Knowing from her training and experience that a cool head was needed in such situations and not the rashness of a frantic parent.
Stoma was breathing heavy from having to carry the boy, so he stopped to rest and set the boy down for a microt. He'd much rather shoot the brat now, but the little half-breed was his safe passage out of this frelled up operation. Inwardly he cursed his patron, Hyril. The little tralk that was this abomination's mother couldn't possibly have been involved in the project that the Nebari government was attempting to keep secret. The little bitch should have died cycles ago, long before she could have bared children if she was a carrier of the contagion. It probably just offended Hyril's prissy sensibilities to have seen her mated to another species, so now his entire shock-troop was either dead or captured because the Abettor got his nose bent out of joint.
"Who cares who the tralk frelled!" he growled out loud.
The boy whimpered at the menacing tone in the Nebari Captain's voice. Stoma reached out and slapped the boy across the face, knocking him to the ground, "Be quiet I told you!" he snarled at the child.
Instead of cringing, the abuse seemed to harden the boy. He stared defiantly up at the man with those strange blue eyes.
"My father will kill you for that," the boy almost hissed.
Stoma by then had convinced himself that one man can not have taken out his highly trained scouts and that they must have been ambushed by a superior number of attackers. He'd witnessed nothing special about the three Sebacean men at the firefight in the corridor while he was at the scene of battle.
The Captain found himself amused at the half-breed's bravado.
"My father has killed many bad men like you," the boy almost spat at him.
"Your father can do nothing," Stoma told him. "He's just another Sebacean man, and many Sebacean men on guard duty tonight died at our hands without making so much as a whimper."
"My Dad isn't a Sebacean, he's a Shrike!" said Jalen almost bragging, hopeing to put fear in the heart of his captor. Despite himself and to Jalen's despair, Stoma burst out laughing,
"Fairy tales!" he finally said. "Shrikes are nothing but legend. You probably don't even know what a Shrike is, boy!" he said in contempt.
Jalen was starting to lose more his self-confidence with trying to threaten the man.
"I do so," he said, his voice growing quieter. "The Scarrens made him that way," he finished as his voice died totally
The mention of the Scarrens brought the Nebari up short. There had been rumors about the Scarren underworld using enforcers and assassins they called Shrikes, the original name coming from a cult of Warrior / Spy / Assassins that supposedly existed thousands of cycles ago. These modern day Shrikes were nothing more then simple killers, some where even said to be slaves that have undergone a process more mind wiping then mental cleansing to make them loyal and obedient without a microt's doubt.
If the boy meant his father was one of these Scarren assassins, he just might be telling the truth.
Stoma grabbed the half-breed and yanked him in close to him, "Do you mean your father works for one of the Scarren Syndicates?" he demanded. "Speak boy, before I backhand your sorry half-breed face again!" Stoma almost screamed while shaking the boy's small body.
"N-No! " said the terrified Jalen, "He got away from them." The boy finished while fresh tears started to form again in his eyes as his courage left him.
Relieved, Stoma stopped shaking the boy. "Nobody leaves the Syndicates and lives to tell about it. Your father is lying to you. There is no way he can be one of their killers."
"You're about to find out," said a cold voice from somewhere in the room's shadows.
Malika managed to dress Zhaan's head wound while at the same time the Delvian women also managed to keep the distraught Chiana from running off after the others. They were trying to convince the Nebari woman to stay behind and tend to her daughter and Aeryn and John's children, but Chiana wouldn't hear of it. They were explaining to her that someone had to stay and look after the offspring of Moya's crew when a large Guardsman, heavily wrapped in bandages, limped over and cut into the discussion.
"I'll watch the little ones for you, Lady Chiana," the man said.
"Joban!" Chiana cried as she saw the man. "You're alive, we thought you might have...." she cut off not wanting to admit they thought him dead with the other grounds security.
"Aye, Lady. It wasn't for lack of them trying," he said gesturing to the hallway were the first volley of bolts had come from that turned the course of the desperate battle.
"That was you?" asked Malika.
The guardsman made a slight bow of respect as he answered, "Yes, it was Pa'u Malika."
"You have our eternal gratitude, 1st Sergeant," said Zhaan as she waved a hand in blessing.
"Thank you Pa'u Zhaan," Joban said, stiffly attempting another bow.
"Joban, they took Jalen. Please get the Guard together and go after him and the others," Chiana begged, not able to hold off asking any longer and desperate for something more to be done to find her son.
"I heard about the Lad being taken and the Guard is gearing up to follow your husband and the rest even as we speak," said the big Sebacean trying to reassure her. "I would have already been on the way... but I'm afraid I would only be in the way in my present useless condition," he said obviously feeling like he had failed her.
Chiana was touched by the admission. "I know you would be, Joban. You're a brave man," she told him touching his arm.
"But I am able to take care of the little ones while you join your husband. That much I can and will do for you, My Lady," Joban said.
Zhaan and Malika gave him a look over Chiana's shoulder that said he'd just undermined everything they tried to do to keep the woman away from the search, but he wasn't deterred from doing what he felt as a parent was right. Speaking mostly to the two Delvians he said,
"A parent's place is with their children in times of danger. I know how I would feel if it was one of my daughters. A Phalanx of Luxan Berserkers would not stop me from going to her."
Chiana thanked him again and handed Chulee over to the big sergeant, surprisingly the little girl went willingly to the wounded man, instinctively trusting him. Seeing their friend trusting the man, Missy and Andrea needed little reassuring to release Zhaan and Malika's robes and place themselves in his care. The three women gathered their gear and started off after the rest of the crew.
"Goddess Bless, and may they find him safe," murmured Joban to their departing backs. He turned to the tearstained children gathered around him. "Now, what do you young ladies say about helping a helpless old farmer back to his home. I believe there may be some good dresses and some old toys of my little girls' left that might need someone to play with them," he offered as he lead them away from the scene of the battle.