The Slums, 09:32
"It's clear. C'mon." The boy whined and dragged at my sleeve. "Your mum's gone to find your brother, mate." I gathered the boy underneath his armpits and lifted him down from a windowsill. "Ssh. Keep quiet now."
A dirt track ran straight between the hovels, leading towards a road coated in a haze. Where's that tank gone? The boy hauled on my arm and pointed at the road. "Oh, shit." A Sixer clipped the remains of an outcrop of brick and halted amidst a wreath of dust. Soldiers in camouflaged smocks and pot helmets – Joparr paras – spilled out. A few wore gas masks. Among them was a para in a dirty maroon beret. An officer?
"Set up your perimeter! Sarn't Major, I want the wounded aboard." The officer lifted a chrono attached to a loop upon his body armour. "Six, you got the time?" He addressed another para wearing a headset over his beret. The signaller crouched behind the open passenger door, his vox set cradled in his arms.
"'Bout half-past nine, sir."
"Exact time?"
"Zero nine three-three, sir." A round hammered the door. The officer ducked behind it and unbuttoned the holster on his hip.
"Contact!"
"Contact! Gunmen, thirty yards, my eleven." A prone Rekyl gunner began firing bursts of ball and tracer. Paras around him added to the output with their rifles. I pressed my hands over the boy's ears and hugged him close. No use making a dash for the Sixers. Not with the little lad with me. What would they do with him? "Ssh. S'okay."
A para in a gas mask, lying next to the Rekyl gunner with a spare magazine prepped, dropped his rifle and gently laid his head on the ground. "Medic. Pull him back!" The gunner unclipped his magazine and rocked in the fresh load. "Sarn't!"
"We'll go when the shooting stops." I swallowed. Please, God, let this end. "Just want to go home, don't you, son? Yeah, I do too."
Stretcher-bearers bore away the wounded assistant gunner. Another para threw himself down beside the gunner and unbuttoned a magazine pouch. "Sarn't Major!" The officer beckoned to a para in hard cover. "Once the wounded are aboard, tell the troop commanders I want their men mounted up. We're moving on."
"Sir!"
"Wasting time here." The officer glanced at his chrono again.
Why's he so concerned about the time?
"Twenty-five minutes, sir," the signaller said.
Twenty-five minutes 'til what? The shooting died away. Soon, only a few stray rounds cracked through the air. "C'mon, son." I walked the boy towards the parked Sixers. Nice and slow now.
A para standing behind the door of his vehicle trained his .338 on me. "You're intruding on a military operation. Back away now."
Another para, his face obscured by his gas mask, waved a machine pistol at me. "Piss off."
"We just want to get to the cathedral."
"Move that child out of here." A para in soft cover gesticulated from the passenger seat. "Are you deaf, boy?"
"Keep that crowd back." A para near the head of the column brought a Rekyl around to point at a small group of civilians shuffling across the street. Cudgels were drawn by paras and smacked against the Sixers' flanks.
"Back! Get Back!" I scooped up the boy and took off back along the side street. Bursts from the Rekyl broke the stillness. Bangs and rattles from .338s and machine pistols furthered the slaughter. Bricks split around me. Splinters from broken timbers exploded outwards. Coatings of dirt blossomed within the ruins. I barged in to a house with intact walls and dumped the boy inside a cast-iron bathtub then climbed in beside him. "Sssh. It's alright. This'll stop frag and stray rounds—" A section of tiles above us shattered, dousing us in fragments. I flung my arm around the boy. He didn't make a sound. Brave lad. Your mother's proud of you.
Four humans, oblivious to the firefight occurring only a few blocks away, stood together chatting. Male, military age, passive. Izuru spotted the handguns and machine pistols. Two were held at their owner's sides, the other two bulged in trouser pockets.
Though the street she trod was wide open, not one of the four humans turned in her direction. Izuru, bareheaded, held the Lugo against her side. Her thumb moved the safety switch around to 'semi'. Fifty feet, forty feet, thirty feet. Izuru kept an easy pace; no more than a gentle stroll. At twenty feet, Izuru snapped the Lugo's stock to her shoulder and raised the muzzle. "Shit, it's—" The Lugo spoke eight times. Four double-taps boomed through the street. Four bodies slumped. Blood pooled underneath them and trickled towards the gutter. Smoke coiled from the Lugo's flash hider. Izuru lowered the carbine and bent down and gathered the fallen weapons. Open-bolt function. Izuru removed the magazines from the weapons and cleared the pistol chambers. The magazines she kicked down a drain. Let that be a warning.
"Xenos!" A child shrieked. "Xenos!"
Send them all. I await you, Saarania. Izuru tilted her carbine and checked the chamber. A smooth, tarnished surface replaced the dirt underfoot. Izuru moved through a pair of open double-doors and inside a covered promenade. Glass crunched under her boots. More of the stuff covered the floor of the promenade. Was this once an arcade? A place of trade. Empty shops sat abandoned, their shelves gathering dust. Vermin squeaked in the shadows. Cobwebs hung in thick clumps. Remains of fires – ash and burnt wood – littered shop floors amongst glass bottles, crushed metallic cans, and used wrappers. Stone pillars formed a rectangle around an open area underneath a skylight. A pool of rainwater had formed where the floor had partially collapsed. Hedera grew from gaps in the floor, climbing up the pillars and snaking around them.
Izuru stood behind a pillar and took aim. Feet slapped upon the floor, clattering down the shallow incline on the opposite side of the room. Seven humans belted in to the light. At the gang's head, a human fired a snub-nosed stub revolver. Izuru laid her sight upon him and squeezed her trigger twice. The half dozen humans split and hid behind the pillars. The seventh collapsed face-first in the pool, his weapon slipping in to the murk. Two bloody tattoos decorated his torso, staining the grey material of his shirt dark. Clouds of blood spread through the water.
Machine pistols barked, their owners darting in and out of cover, loosing off long bursts one-handed. Rounds zinged around Izuru. She returned fire, switching between targets. Under cover of a pair of machine pistols, a human with an automatic pistol swung around a pillar on the other side of the pool and scooted forwards. Izuru sent a double tap at the gunmen on her side then switched to her left hand. The flanker fired his pistol in Izuru's general direction, his free arm covering his face. Izuru put two rounds in the human's hip and thigh. His legs giving way under him, the human fell on his shoulder. His hand scrabbled for the pillar. Magazines dropped. Izuru pumped the trigger at the left row of pillars then whipped the Lugo about and fired at the humans hidden on her side. Each ducked behind their respective cover. Izuru stormed forwards, taking cover one pillar closer to the gunmen. She noticed the human in the centre stirring. Half in, half out of the pool, the human lifted his head from the scummy water and tried wriggling away. Izuru put a round in his arm and the human's movement ceased. Attempt a sortie. Rescue your accomplice. Or are you made of sterner stuff?
Automatic fire perforated the air. Three humans sprang out of cover and unloaded at Izuru. She replied with six double-taps then crouched and switched hands, leaning around the right side of the pillar. The two silent humans launched themselves in to the open, firing their pistols at random. Paint chippings and little bits of stone flew overhead. The Lugo found flesh, flooring a runner. The other skidded in the water and fell over. Izuru pulled out her empty magazine, flipped the taped pair over, and inserted the reload. A crisp 'click' and the Lugo returned to battery. A gunman toting a stockless machine pistol broke away from the pillar. Holding his weapon sideways, the gunman sprayed behind him and fled. Izuru turned her optic on the unwounded runner and shot him in the back. The two remaining humans pointed their machine pistols around the pillars and fired blind. One emptied its magazine – a two-second burst – the other jammed. Izuru slipped out from cover and, aiming over her sights, gunned down the human fiddling with his jammed weapon. The last standing human bolted. Five down. Two remain.
Once the dropped weapons were disabled, Izuru took the path the two gunmen had fled along; a gentle slope leading up to two pairs of doors with broken panes. No human carries himself with such haste, even with his tail between his legs. Izuru tracked the Lugo across the shopfronts, glass shards shifting under her feet. Izuru stayed still and listened. From a shop a little further up the slope, glass crackled. Izuru jogged up and hopped through the front window. A gunman kicked his weapon out from behind a counter and showed his empty hands. He rose, his hands in the air. Izuru squeezed off two shots. A full magazine ejected from the machine pistol. Izuru pocketed it and left the shop. She caught sight of the last gunman, unarmed, running for the doors. The red dot found the fleeing human's back. Silence followed the last echo. Seven down.
Sunlight shone on the street outside. Izuru kept to the shadows just inside the door and checked both ways. Retain or swap magazines? Izuru removed the Lugo's taped magazine and sliced the electrical tape with a fingernail. The empty steel Izuru dropped on the floor, keeping the other magazine. Two-thirds full.
A trio of gunmen ran along a raised ferrocrete walkway, the lead human letting loose with a stream of bullets. Izuru followed the human's head with the Lugo, led a little, and fired. Pink mist ruptured from the human's skull. The human behind snatched at his fallen ally's weapon. The third human held a bottle aloft with a burning rag stuffed inside it. Izuru's fire pursued the duo along the walkway until both slipped out of sight down a flight of stairs. The noise of their feet Izuru followed, bringing her around to the base of the stairwell. The gunman vaulted over the bars and opened fire before his feet hit the ground. Izuru advanced at the human and put two rounds in his heart before he had recovered from the stumble. The bomber jumped the last three steps and drew back his arm. Izuru worked the trigger six times, shattering the glass. Burning fuel spilled from the bottle, engulfing the human. Flailing his arms, the human wailed. Izuru put her last three rounds in him.
The stench of burning flesh rearing behind her, Izuru dumped her magazine, fitted a fresh load, and peered around a corner. Heads wavered behind bushes. Stubby muzzles poked around the trunks of stunted trees. Breaking from cover, Izuru strafed to the right, putting the trees between her and the enemy. Rounds zipped past, devouring pieces of the wall behind her. Taking cover behind a tree, Izuru alternated between high and low posture and sent snap shots at the gunmen. A quick lull in the shooting and Izuru leaned out, took aim, and shot a human hiding in some bushes. A second gunman, hiding next to him, fell on his backside and scrambled away. Brainless vermin. Izuru ignored the fleeing rabble, exchanged hands and opened fire on the humans cowering behind a collection of bins and, further back, a crumbling wall. With their heads down, Izuru strafed left, blasting at their cover, her forefinger very quickly becoming sore with repeated pulls. With neither party poking his weapon out of cover, Izuru charged their positions.
"No, please!" Izuru worked her trigger five times, not bothering to look at the targets before moving on to the next position.
"We surrender—" Izuru fired point-blank, emptying the rest of her magazine in to the three humans cowering behind a wall.
Show yourself, corsairs! Am I not making enough noise for your like? Izuru tossed aside her spent magazine and shoved in a new one. Let word spread of these deeds. Izuru shouldered open a door with a wire screen bolted to it and climbed sideways up a set of stairs. Where are you? A painted green number flaked on the wall of every floor. One, two, three, four, five. Izuru glanced between a door on the sixth floor and the upward flight. Stairwell clear.
Clack-clack. Izuru ducked her head and leapt back down the stairs. Glass panes crashed where her head had been. A bang louder than a handgun boxed her hearing. A human jumped the stairs two at a time and thrust the muzzle of a shotgun underneath the banister. A red shell dropped between the stairs. A second bang Izuru felt pass by her right shoulder, punching a dozen holes in the brickwork. She placed her backside upon the steps and fired at the underside of the stairs. Through the noise of ringing bells, Izuru heard a screech. She took off to the floor below and aimed up the stairs. A third shot blasted the surface she had vacated. Cunning swine. Izuru pushed open the door on the fourth floor and shut it behind her. A glazed glass window at breast height separated her from the stairwell. Izuru ducked out of sight and drew her automatic from its holster. Feet clomped down the stairs. The gunman slotted cartridges in to his weapon's magazine. Izuru flinched as glass and a shower of pellets roared over her. A foot pushed the door inwards, the edge gathering a pile of glass and shunting it at Izuru. Izuru raised her pistol and pointed it at the widening gap underneath the door's hinges, sighting the human's left heel. A much louder and genuine shriek pitched on the other side of the door. The gunman fell on his back and rolled around, grabbing for his foot. Izuru squeezed twice then fired a fourth time. Only once the human's thrashings had ceased did she point her pistol around the edge of the door. A foul, brutal weapon. Izuru nudged the shotgun away from the body and picked it up and pumped the worn wooden slide. Four red cartridges dropped from the magazine and one sprang from the chamber. Izuru let the weapon go between the stairs then frisked the human's bloodstained jacket. A half dozen shells, green-bodied, knocked together. No knife, no sidearm, no backup.
The Lugo in her hands, Izuru made the seventh floor. After glancing at the stairs below for movement, Izuru eased the door inwards and peeped through the crack underneath the hinges. Lights flickered inside hanging bulbs, illuminating an empty corridor. The door nearest Izuru shut. Izuru's jerked the Lugo upright and stitched a pattern across the wood. Steel glinted further along the corridor. A machine pistol chattered, the lead scything through the overhead lights. Izuru set her shoulder in to the door and booted it in. Where is the weapon? Izuru rolled the fallen body over with her toe. No… A young human female stared at her, three red holes in her chest. Oh, Isha, Kurnous, Kaela… Izuru flinched as rounds whipped down the corridor. She turned the Lugo's selector to 'auto'. The hail of lead subsiding, Izuru assaulted forwards. Two humans crouched in rooms opposite one another. Izuru bore down on them, keeping both in cover with single shots. Left, right, left, right. The human in the room on the left ran. The .300 cartridges in his back bowled him on to his front. A red-hot lance sliced through Izuru's left arm. She swung the Lugo around and, clamping it underneath her left arm, sprayed at the gunman behind her. Rounds thudded against flesh.
Bastard. Izuru pressed the Lugo's magazine-release. Gunsmoke formed a fine mist in the corridor. Propellant and a coppery, tangy taste sucked the moisture from Izuru's tongue. Three humans barrelled from doorways at the end of the corridor. Shotguns and machine pistols filled the open space with torrents of lead and pellets. Ricochets pinged around. Izuru let the empty carbine hang and drew her sidearm. Grenade. Izuru plucked the threesome from a pouch and tore at the tape with her teeth. Over the din, laspistols spoke. The gunmen's cries ceased. Who? Izuru aimed out of cover. A being, silver-haired, hung upside down from a hole in the ceiling, his twin lasblasters smoking. On locking eyes with Izuru, the being grinned and pulled himself up through the hole. Vliss!
The corsair scampered across the floor above. Izuru fired upwards. Aah, useless. She shoved the pistol back in its holster. Why did I not give this to the Whelp and keep the lasblaster? Damn him for… Izuru fed a loaded magazine to the Lugo and released the bolt. Damn his human face. How I want to pummel it to a pulp.
Vliss dropped from a scaffold outside. Izuru rounded the corner and shot out the window Vliss flashed past. She reversed the Lugo and battered at the glass teeth remaining in the panes.
Catch me if you can.
Stand and fight, damn you, Corsair! Izuru grasped the upper corners of the window and lifted herself through. Your time is over. Face justice.
The same justice you showed Maess? Vliss skidded along a platform and let go of ladder. How is it that you no longer can tell friend from foe, Outcast?
Izuru slashed through a sheet with her knife and dropped to a platform below. She tilted the Lugo's muzzle down and wrapped a hand around the magwell and fired at the Corsair. Kaela! A vehicle engine started. Izuru slid sideways down a plank and stuck her hand out. Swinging around on a pole, she saw a human automobile pull out from under the scaffolding. On which side do the humans drive on? Izuru placed her red dot upon the far-right side of the car and sent a round through the roof. The car accelerated then began turning to the right. Izuru followed its progress until it pulled out of sight. A plume of smoke followed a crunch of rent alloy and broken glass. Got you.
A burning Sixer careered along a street and collided with a corner of a building, taking out a support. Didn't they just leave us? I clutched the boy to me and tried backing further underneath the wide slab of ferrocrete. A para, flames licking his smock, pushed open the passenger door and fell out. Gunmen all around us fired at the stalled convoy from rooftops. Shit, it's bedlam. A whump and the burning Sixer's fuel tank went. I covered the boy's ears. "Fuck."
Another Sixer pulled up beside the crashed Sixer. "Cap is gone!" The para hauled a vox set with him and climbed aboard. Their captain's gone? The Sixers rolled past and turned right. They're going the same way as before. Are they lost? Behind the eight Chariots were six Pythons, their shells peppered by small-arms fire. The fourteen-strong convoy came to a halt on a long straight stretch to allow a pair of old tanks, bringing up the rear, to take position at the head of the column.
Flames rose around the crashed Sixer. I darted out and opened the passenger door. "Oh, God!" The Joparr officer's bleeding head rested on his shoulder. His eyelids fluttered. "I got you, sir. Hang on." I crawled into the burning Sixer and reached for the driver's seat. Flames had taken the two rear seats, smothering the two paras sitting there. Wounded or dead before this? I heaved the officer from his seat and pulled him across to the passenger's side. Planting both of my boots on the side of the Sixer, I dragged the officer out by his collar and fell on my back. Flames coated him. I tore off the civilian jumper and beat the flames out. Hair singed and tingling, I got the officer under his armpits and pulled him across the road to the boy. Heavy son of a bitch, aren't you?
The boy poked me in the back and pointed at the tail-end of the departing convoy. So Joparr don't go for that leave no man behind motto then. Heartless bastards. "Yeah, I see 'em. Cathedral's still our best bet. Wish your mum had told me your name. Make things easier, wouldn't it?" I dug inside the officer's collar. "Wish she'd tell me her name too. Didn't get off to a very good start, we did." Pieyn H, the disk read.
"Eurghh."
"Sir?" I rolled the jumper into a ball and stuffed it behind Pieyn's head. "Sixer took a knock there, sir. You're alright though."
"Name. Rank. Where's your rifle and cover?" Pieyn's one good eye squinted at the mis-mash of military and civvy clothes I wore.
"Larn, sir. Private o' Lairs. B Battery. F'you gimme an 'alf hour I'll give you the whole story. I'll tell ya why I'm like this." I flapped the jumper and pulled it back over my head. "Beg pardon, sir, but we 'aven't got 'alf an hour."
"No, no. Where's – where's the convoy?" Pieyn wiped at the muck coating his other eye. "Took a colossal knock. Can't see straight."
"Sixers and that lot rolled that way 'bout a minute ago, sir."
"…Oh, fuck. They didn't, did they?" Pieyn's cheeks ballooned. "You listen to me, Private." He squeezed my wrist. "In twenty minutes, there's gonna be an aerial bombardment of the slums. I've got to signal beforehand with different coloured flares, depending on whether the company's out of the danger zone…" A high-calibre weapon boomed. Even far away the shockwave seized the ground underneath us and shook. "Doesn't sound like we'll be clear in time. Bloody roadblocks. I need to get to a high vantage point to make the signal. I've got a flare gun and two cartridges…"
"Sir, um, I'm gonna 'ave to ask a stupid question now. If – if you'll forgive me…"
"There's no such thing as stupid questions, only stupid answers." Pieyn grimaced.
"Are you gonna die or not, sir?"
Pieyn laughed through gritted teeth. "A Joparr to a gaggle of lowlifes? I'm a para, Private."
"Good, 'cause I need someone wi' pips to vouch for me. I've been 'aving nightmares these last few days, sir."
"Well, gimme a full tits-up tragedy when we're back at barracks, son. You pick me up now. I'm not staying here to be lynched."
"Yes, sir." I pulled Pieyn's arm around my shoulders and helped him stand up.
"One of these hab-blocks 'round here should do nicely."
"Sir, there's these big pair o' fuck-off spires on the cathedral I noticed, sir."
"Cathedral, why there?"
"S'where I'm taking the little one, sir."
"Uh? Where'd he come from?"
"Found him out by himself, sir. Couldn't let him go now, could I? I just 'ope his mum's down in the crypts."
"Aah. Those crypts won't be deep enough," Pieyn muttered.
"Yes, sir. C'mon, son." I stuck out my hand for the boy to take.
"D'you normally speak to officers like that?"
"Just the ones I like, sir."
"Well fuck me. That's a discipline case if I ever heard of one."
"'Aven't even scratched the surface yet, sir." Wow, he swears like a proper grunt, so he does. Doesn't seem like such a bad sort.
"One too many trips to the Glasshouse?"
"I'm just a bit of an odd one out, sir. I'm not proper Lairs. Just waitin' for me transfer that's all." The boy hissed at me and gave a tug on my hand. "Oi, the wean's smelt trouble!"
"Does he talk?"
"Dunno, sir. He won't allow me to check his tongue neither. Hide." I helped Pieyn through a gateway and sat him down out of sight of the street. "Stay still, lad." A civilian holding a wireless underneath one arm ran past. A rifle shot rang out and the civilian fell on his face. A woman appeared with a bolt-action rifle. The fallen civilian lifted himself off the ground and pulled his body forwards on his elbows. The woman worked the bolt, ejecting a brass cartridge, and put a second round in the man's back. Blood welling underneath the corpse, the woman slung her rifle and picked up the wireless.
"Dog-eat-dog," said Pieyn once the woman had gone. "You got a weapon, Private?"
"Yes, sir." I removed the laspistol from the back of my trousers.
"Right. Don't fire unless I say so. Finger off the trigger too."
"I've…I've never shot anyone before, sir."
"I wouldn't worry about that. As long as you shoot at them, that should do the trick. Know how many rounds it takes on average to achieve a confirmed kill?"
"I – I – I dunno, sir."
"Thousands. So, don't worry about hitting anything. I know something most don't." Pieyn beckoned me closer and whispered, "if you think you're a bad shot, chances are the enemy's much, much worse." He winked. "Shall we?"
Izuru spread the wet pieces of her sleeve apart. Blood crystals oozed from the red line across her upper arm. Superficial. Nothing broken. She opened and closed her left hand. A slight tingling ran up and down her arm. Where are you, Corsair?
The car sat embedded in a wall with its front wheels up in the air. Ilic? Izuru approached from the rear, the Lugo trained on the back window. The driver's door stood ajar. Smoke rose from underneath the crumpled bonnet. Izuru kept the Lugo pointed at the car and stooped to check the empty space underneath the wheels. Clear. Both passenger seats were empty. A blood splatter coated the battered windshield, the dashboard, the steering wheel, the seat, and the Corsair sitting in it. Izuru ran her eyes over the body and peeped through the crack in the door. A wire was wrapped around the door handle. Booby-trap. Izuru flung herself away from the vehicle and vaulted over the lip of a white-washed wall. Fiery fragments rippled through the street; scorching surfaces black.
Come-come, young Ranger. Vliss squatted on the edge of a nearby rooftop, his twin lasblasters smoking. The hunt. Thrilling, is it not?
Not so when you find yourself the quarry. Izuru rose from cover, spun and aimed at Vliss. Her two shots snapped at Vliss's heels. The Corsair waved and dropped out of sight. How easy it is to flee to your mistress when she calls! Does she await me, Albino? Izuru gave chase, clawing at the wall of the building, leaping up in bounds.
You have no idea what awaits you, half-breed. Vliss loosed a volley of lasbeams then backflipped from the roof on to a platform suspended from a crane. Covered crates wobbled upon the platform. Vliss spun around them. Izuru fired down at the lithe figure; a blur of colour. The winch. Izuru turned the Lugo on the winch. Cables snapped and crates slid from their moorings and fell to the ground fifty feet below. Vliss hopped to the next platform. Izuru shot the winch out and repeated it with the next three. But always Vliss's feet carried him one step further until he leapt off the last platform and dived through a glassless window. A construction site? Izuru pulled the bungee cord holding the Lugo underneath her shoulder tight and backed away from the edge of the roof. You tell your mistress I come for what is mine!
Izuru ran and jumped, reached for the dangling cable and swung to the next one. Each swing brought her closer to the grey shell of the hab-block. Without roof, glass, insulation, or lighting, the building stood forlorn and abandoned. The perfect hideout. Izuru's feet slammed on to the bare floor. Show yourself. Izuru reached out for Vliss's mind. Her forefinger released her magazine. She caught the steel before it could strike the floor. Very light. One-third capacity. Izuru slipped the magazine in to an empty pouch and pushed a fully-loaded magazine in to the weapon. Two full, one near-depleted. Izuru brought the Lugo to low-ready and clamped her left thumb over the bore.
The human scent rubbing off on you, half-breed?
The scent of their blood, Corsair. Yours shall flow in due course.
I have never killed a half-breed before.
Izuru thumbed the Lugo to 'auto'. Taking no chances with you.
Naked rooms, grey as the dawn's early light, played host to shadows and dust. Izuru spied a handprint in the dust upon an opening. Not so light-footed, Corsair. Prints on the floor lead away from her. No human leaves such imprint. Clumsy, flat-footed blunderers. Izuru swept the interior of the adjacent room. No doors to hide behind. Good. Where would I set up and await assault?
Each room on Izuru's floor lay empty. Where are you? Do not presume to think you can close your mind to me, lackey. Once I find you, I may take your scalp and pin it to my wall. You know Rangers have a reputation for scalping? At least those castes less inclined to rules and niceties. I have never scalped an albino before.
A cloak dragged across the floor above. Bait me, will you? Izuru's hands held the Lugo steady. She glanced over her left shoulder at the straight passage. A black shape darted between rooms. Izuru swivelled about and pointed the Lugo down the passage. Fifth room along. Izuru tiptoed to the fourth room and swept it. Now, do I have your attention? Turning to the wall separating her from the shape, Izuru squeezed the slack from the Lugo's trigger and poured a long burst of fire through the brick wall, walking the muzzle left to right. In the following silence, Izuru lay down on her back and pointed the Lugo at the wall. Return fire, damn you. Her eyes flitted between the bullet-riddled wall and the opening. Izuru shifted sideways, rolled on to her front, and regained her feet. With the corridor outside clear, Izuru hooked her finger around her trigger and moved in to the adjacent room. A corsair, dark-haired, lay on his side. Izuru rolled him over with her foot. Another of Saarania's pawns. You will not be missed.
Boots slammed in to Izuru's side. Vliss let go of the rope and let his momentum carry the both of them in to the wall. Izuru's shoulder cracked against the brick. She yanked her knife from its sheathe and drove it in to Vliss's thigh. Vliss dropped to one knee, his lips drawn back over clenched teeth. Izuru dove for Vliss's neck, got ahold with both hands, and squeezed. The colour welled in Vliss's cheeks. He grinned. Izuru kicked at the bone handle of her knife and shoved Vliss over backwards. A bunch of Vliss's hair in her hands, Izuru bashed his head against the floor. Vliss ripped the knife from his thigh and pushed it at Izuru's throat. Izuru halted the blade and twisted Vliss's wrist around. Make peace with your gods. Izuru flipped her knife around, shiny with blood crystals, and plunged it underneath Vliss's chin, pushing it in up to the handle. Not even that could wipe the smirk from your face, you bastard. Izuru withdrew her knife and wiped the blade on Vliss's tunic. "Aahh…" Both arms tingled now. Ilic…
The floor buckled underneath Izuru and the Corsair. Weightless, Izuru fell backwards. Dust and rubble collapsed on top of her.
Black smoke darkened the haze, enough to blot out the sun's light. "What they burning out 'ere, tar?"
"Rubber."
"…Rubber." The scent stole up my nose and stuck to my tongue. "Sir, if you don't me askin', what's that chrono o' yours say?"
"Bugger all, Private. The one…One time I wanted it work." Pieyn's head drooped.
"Reckon it's about ten then, sir?"
"Can you hear engines? I've lost it in one ear."
"I dunno, sir." We're 'ere now." I helped Pieyn around a burnt-out car lying on its side in the centre of the street. A square with the cathedral at one end lay beyond. "Really outdid themselves with these roadblocks, didn't they, sir?"
Pieyn tutted. "Now all of a sudden they've got anti-tank weapons…"
"What you all doing on this side o' the river anyway, sir?"
"That's not for an OR to know, Private."
"Oh. Sorry, sir. Didn't mean to intrude – oi, careful! Sharp edges, lad. Don't touch." I took the boy's hand and pulled him away from the car. "Don't want any dirty cuts, do we?"
Rubble and heaps of broken furniture were piled in front of the cathedral's main doors. Other detritus packed the spaces in front of the two side doors. "Hey. Don't touch anything. Hold me 'and, son."
A smaller door, unobstructed and hidden away below street level, looked promising. "Door there." Pieyn opened the flap of his holster. "Give it a boot, Private. You, boy, stand behind him now."
"Yes, sir. Easy now." I sat Pieyn down upon the damp steps and banged on the door. The boy hid behind my legs. "Come on, open up you…" I lifted the hem of my jumper and tucked it behind the laspistol.
"I've got you covered, Private."
"Yes, sir." I gave the aged wood another thump. "Come on."
"Stand back, Private." Pieyn aimed his laspistol at the door. "I'll shoot the lock off."
"Sir, it's bolted, not locked." I pushed the boy aside and turned his head away. "Please, sir." A bolt ground across in its bracket. Wood scraped upon stone tiles. Hinges groaned.
"Hello, my son."
"You?" What was his name again? The doorman.
"Brought guests, I see."
"Private?"
"S'alright, I know him from the Belladonna, sir."
"What, that whorehouse that went up in flames?"
"Yes, sir. I know, I've got explaining to do but—"
"It can wait. We need access to your premises, civilian."
"Nothing doing. I'm not the proprietor of this place of worship. That goes to the Almighty himself."
"Private, move in. Keep that weapon handy."
"Yes, sir. Sorry, Estoc. We really need in." I pushed at the door with one hand, my other hand digging the laspistol out.
"You're making a mistake, lad. I'll warn you once. Soldier-to-soldier." Estoc gave way.
"Come on, lad." I brought the boy in with me. "Sir?"
"Not quite unserviceable. You tell us how to get inside the spires and we'll leave everyone alone."
Estoc, backing away from us, sighed. "I'm sorry. I gave you one chance to leave. One favour from an old soldier to a young one, but…"
"Private!" Pieyn straightened his arm and leant against a row of pews. The muzzle of his laspistol pointed up at a row of rifles aiming down at us from a platform.
"Get down." I pushed the boy down and shrunk behind the pews. "Estoc!"
"Shit."
Estoc leant back against a pillar and folded his arms. "Everybody, stay cool. Let words be had before any idiot action happens. Wait for the boss."
"Boss?" Pieyn, ducking, pulled his beret off and stuffed it inside his smock. "Private, leave that weapon on the floor."
"Sir?" Pieyn took a grenade from his breast pocket. "Don't. Don't."
"When I throw this, take the boy out of that door, quick as you can." Pieyn planted a flare gun and a single cartridge in my hand. "Find a rooftop and fire this straight upwards. That's an order now."
"Sir." I stole a look at the rows of rifles.
"Okay…" Pieyn's thumb slipped through the pull-ring. His grip tightened on the spoon. "Standby."
I pulled the boy in to my arms and set his helmet straight. "Sshh. S'okay, son."
"Standby." The pull-ring clinked on the stones.
"Estoc! Why aren't you down in the crypts?" An old lady shuffled around the corner.
"Tsk-tsk. Grandma!" Estoc flapped his hands at the woman. "Grandma, get!"
"Can't you control your old lady, Estoc?" A new voice rang out.
"Grandma, please." Estoc took his grandma by the shoulders and steered her away.
"Don't know why you're choosing to remain in the company of xenos. Xenos!"
"Xenos?" Estoc's brows shadowed his eyes.
"Xenos, where?" A grey-haired man pushed the gunmen aside and leant over the balustrade. "Take that soup pot off your head, son. Won't do you any good here."
"Who's he…?" Pieyn stared at the boy.
"Sir…" I lifted the ceramite from the boy's head.
"Oh, you traitor." Pieyn turned his laspistol towards the boy.
"Number ten, sir. S'not gonna happen."
"Do I have your attention, Joparr?" The grey-haired man said. "A xenos, a Joparr, and a civvy all standing in front of a firing squad. Shall I leave that up to you to come up with a punchline?"
"Arms down, my lads." Estoc returned. "Do what the boss says, and we'll talk like adults before anyone gets shot." Pieyn retrieved his pin and worked it back in to the grenade. He laid his laspistol on the floor next to mine. "Work with me here, Joparr. I'm not your servant." Estoc tapped his foot.
"Son of a bitch." Pieyn moved the weapons across the floor with his foot then rolled the grenade towards Estoc. "Take the flare," he murmured to me.
"Alright, stand up straight, you two. Face the man like good tin-pot troopers now."
"You're all dead men." Pieyn raised his hands and stood up. "D'you hear me?"
"Sir?" I held the boy tight against my side.
"Shuddup, Private."
"Like woodworms, you xenos. Can't get rid of you. Trying to find your mum, are you, son?"
"Estoc, what's the time?"
"Oi, keep that trap shut or I'll sew it shut!"
"About ten-ish. Why?" Estoc glared at his boss. "Boss, something's going down at ten."
"Listen, if I don't signal right fucking now it's gonna be a clean slate on this side of the river. Whitewash. A proper decoration job."
"How 'bout I do a proper decoration job on you?" The grey-haired man stepped back. "Paint this para red, boys, and get me his beret."
Pieyn's chest exploded. Blood gushed down his smock. His knees giving way, Pieyn's head hit the edge of a pew. "Oh, God!" I clutched the boy to me and turned away from the rifles.
"Veen, we could've used him!"
"Well, I drip-dried him, Estoc. I'll do the same to the child now."
"Wait! The governor's sending bombers to flatten this part of the city. That's what the officer was trying to tell you." I held up the flare gun. "Why else was he carrying this?"
"Alright, alright. I'll have that, my son." Estoc grasped my hand in his paw and took the flare gun. "It's all in control down here, Boss."
"I'll decide that down there, Estoc."
"Estoc, I've gotta get up in the tower…"
"Yeah-yeah, just wait a mo'."
"Has it gone ten?"
"What's so fucking important then, boy?" Veen, bodyguards in tow, stamped through the pews. "Talk to me!"
"I…"
A bang on the door and a civilian, white-faced, tumbled in. "Boss. You won't like this…"
Dirt seeped through Izuru's lips. Snapping her head up, she retched. Kurnous, what was that? Blood crystals were smeared across Izuru's forehead. More of them coated her scalp. Saarania. Izuru shifted her hips. A crushing weight pressed against her chest. I can't move.
A topknot appeared above her. Two bloodshot eyes beneath hairless brows blazed. Tree-trunk arms lifted the slab of ferrocrete and hurled it aside. Hands seized Izuru's neck and catapulted her in to the air. Ground and sky turned end over end. Izuru crashed against mud and rolled down a slope. Her elbows banged against the edges of ferrocrete pipes stacked atop one another. Needles ran up and down her arms and spine. Her lungs contracted. A lump lodged in her throat. Where's my weapon? Izuru tugged at the non-existent weight on her shoulder. The sling remained but the clasp had snapped. Kaela's ashes!
The insides of the pipe dragging at her smock, Izuru wriggled through and slithered out the other side. Skeletal pillars and bare walls stood amongst acres of sandy dirt. Cranes reared their necks over the haze. Container-cities lined the edges of the construction site. Bipedal power-loaders, silent, bent over their folded claws.
Izuru planted a foot in the muck, put weight on it then lifted her other foot up. Multiple lesions, sprained ankle, cracked ribs, check. She hobbled along a row of single cabins. Latrines? Each lock read 'vacant'. Izuru pulled the door to, leaving a tiny crack, and drew her pistol and checked the chamber. Brass. Her hand trembled. Calm, calm. Close your mind. Ilic, Korsarro.
Boots traipsed between the latrines. The heaviest of them halted a few cabins back from Izuru's. Izuru jumped at the shriek of a Shuriken Catapult and clapped her hand over her mouth. A pair of monomolecular projectiles carved through the thin door and eviscerated whatever was inside. Tuelean?
"Please. Please do not fire. Our orders were to take her alive. We risk incurring Her—" A body fell to the catapult's cry.
"I saw nothing. Please, I saw nothing." Izuru transferred the pistol to her left hand, pushed open the door and leaned around the edge of the cabin. "Aargh!" A corsair, standing in front of Dragut with his back to Izuru, fell to his knees, two slugs lodged in his back. Dragut raised his catapult. Izuru wheeled back. Razor disks zinged past her. Reload. Izuru shook her empty free and inserted a loaded magazine. Her thumb flicked the release lever. Shuriken whizzed through the walls of the cabins. Izuru fled from the barrage, slid underneath a pile of iron girders then took cover in a trench. Up to her knees in muddy water, Izuru hacked a firing slit with her knife and leant against the side of the trench, leaving only the top of her head exposed.
Grenade launcher in hand, the brute crested the pile of girders then jumped over to the first floor of a building. There he walked along, loosing off round after round at the foundations below. Izuru hugged the trench, submerging her entire body but her head and weapon. Bursts of energy crackled overhead. Great orange wounds bubbled on the building's foundations. Supports frazzled and melted. Dragut tossed the launcher away and unclipped his Shuriken Catapult from his back. Izuru edged away from Dragut and slipped around the corner. Once out of his sight, Izuru crawled from the trench. Shuriken ricocheted around. Izuru blew water from a grenade and twisted the pin free. With one hand Izuru held the spoon down and dashed forwards. She twisted her wrist and bowled the grenade overarm. A thud and a cloud of grey dust covered where Dragut had stood. Where did he go?
Flames cast an orange glow in the space underneath the foundations. Another grenade readied, Izuru stalked through the basement. Clicks came from around a corner. No more ammunition? Izuru released the spoon and rolled the grenade around the corner. A moment later the grenade spun back. Bouncing off a foundation, the grenade came to rest at her feet. The burning fuse fizzled out. Izuru darted around the corner. Dragut held his catapult canted, a magazine of solid core ammunition in his hand. Izuru kicked the barrel away, smacked the back of her fist across Dragut's brow then swung a roundhouse with the same hand against his temple. Dragut toppled. Izuru grabbed for Dragut's head and smashed her knee against it. She found the hilt of her knife, unsheathed it, and stabbed Dragut's shoulder. On his back, the wraithbone embedded in his shoulder, Dragut hooked Izuru's foot with his own and dragged her over. Dragut's knuckles tore across Izuru's eyes. He pulled back his boot and kicked Izuru in her face.
Izuru's back dragged across a rough surface. Dragut shambled along, pinning Izuru's legs underneath his arm. Izuru's hand went to her pistol holster. Where's my belt? Dirt and blood gummed up her eyes. The handle of her knife protruded from Dragut's shoulder. Dragut hauled Izuru around in a circle and laid her down near the edge of a drop. Blood crystals dribbled down his forehead and cheeks. His topknot was gone and his hair had exploded outwards. Dragut gnashed his teeth and drew a finger across his neck. The gashes on his face stretched. More blood spilled down his face. Dragut rose and planted a boot upon Izuru's chest. From a sheathe on his back, Dragut drew a Void Sabre. "By my hand, Dragut!"
Saarania! Dragut removed his foot and stepped out of Izuru's sight. Izuru wormed backwards and rolled on to her side. The floor began shaking. One long rumble buffeted the cold stone, dislodging dirt from the ceiling. Earthquake? A stone wall on the far side of the site gave way. A long muzzle pushed a hole in the stone. A squat body crushed the debris under its tracks. Kurnous… The tank's gun tube swung around and tilted up. A puff of smoke followed a split-second flash. Izuru rolled off the edge of the floor a second before the shell obliterated it. The shockwave punched her body mid-air.
My children. Wind whipped a shroud of dirt over Izuru. A huge bite had been taken out of the side of the building. Ilic, Korsarro, where are you? Izuru coughed. She dragged her fingernails through the dirt and clenched her hand. If you let anything happen to my son, Whelp. My face will be the last you see. Izuru dug her elbows in to the ground and propped herself up. Two trails of blood crystals had dried on her upper lip. A swelling puffed up her right eye. Where are you, Corsair? Blood ran down from Izuru's scalp and dripped from her chin. Hunched over, Izuru staggered through the haze, her hand pressed against her ribs.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Mechanical feet pummelled the earth. Izuru fell against a container and pulled herself behind it. A horn, something akin to an animal shriek, blared. A Krupnok opened up. Red tracers lanced through the air and hammered upon a bulbous canopy. Izuru jammed her fingers in her ears. A bipedal walker, shoulders bristling with plasma missiles, loped to the edge of the top level of the building and loosed off a salvo. Four thin bubbles of energy, pulsing with light, streaked at the tank. Izuru shut her eyes. Fuel and ammunition cooked off in a shower of pink sparks and yellow flame. The turret soared and crashed down amongst a row of power loaders. Jump-jets roared. The Wasp took off and landed at ground level and thudded around the construction site.
Flames bathing the blackened steel cast shadows across the power loaders. Izuru stumbled to the nearest power loader and lifted the locking bar up from the open cockpit. With the loader's knees bent, Izuru backed in to the seat and fitted the harness across her chest. Left stick movement. Right stick arms. Triggers close the claws. Izuru squeezed both triggers. A rivet gun mounted underneath the right claw fired a rivet at the loader's feet. Loaded. Good. Izuru pushed the left stick forwards. And, momentum.
The Wasp shot up in to the sky, the jets propelling it towards the loader. Izuru raised the arms, spread the legs, and opened both claws to their widest. Come on then. The pilot eased the Wasp's thrust and brought it down on top of a stack of shipping containers. Izuru glared up at the pilot. I know that face.
"WHERE IS HE?"
Saarania laughed and bent the Wasp's joints, tilting her cockpit sideways. "Not all the vermin of this planet could keep you apart it seems, Half-blood. You have your heir. I have mine. Let us part without further bloodshed."
"Spoken in the tone of the coward, hiding behind kowtowers, never committing until all your allies are dead. Where is your fleet, Thief?"
"An heir, an heir! My fleet for an heir!" The Wasp jumped. Izuru pawed at the ground then bowled at the incoming walker, a bellow rising in her throat. Steel crashed against armour-plate. Sparks ground as joints interlocked. Izuru screamed and pounded the Wasp's shoulder battery. A rivet shot inside a vent, mangling the slats. Saarania kicked at the loader's cockpit with the Wasp's hoof. The cage around Izuru shuddered. Izuru twisted a claw and clamped down upon the battery. Missile tubes ruptured and mutilated. Saarania fired her jump-jets. The Wasp's hooves left the ground. Still holding on to the missile tubes, Izuru kept the trigger clamped down. Saarania raised a tiny holdout lasblaster and aimed it out of her cockpit. Izuru released the trigger and jerked the loader sideways.
The Wasp took off and flew around to the rear of the loader. Izuru pivoted and loosed rivet after rivet. Saarania darted about the sky, only returning to the ground when her jets cut out. She skidded along a rooftop and slammed hooves-first against the loader's backside. Izuru hauled the sticks around and swung backwards in to a container stack, knocking dents in the surface. Saarania, trapped between two hard surfaces, fired her jump-jets, the force of them pushing the loader's feet away from the containers. Izuru surged forward, twisting and letting fly with more rivets. Saarania killed her jets and landed behind a pile of pipes. The Wasp leapt atop them and dislodged the pile, kicking the pipes at the loader. Izuru backpedalled and lowered both claws to brush the ground. Each rolling pipe she caught built up a wall of ferrocrete. Saarania hopped over the mass and latched on to the loader's brow. Izuru jerked her stick back and spun, shunting Saarania down a canyon bordered by containers. Her right hand brought the loader's claws up. Saarania's jets fired and she crashed in to the underside of a container straddling the gap. Energy sparked from the twin nozzles jutting from the Wasp's neck. "Half-breed whore!" The Wasp's hooves stampeded against the loader's face. "Human-lover!"
This half-breed whore gives you all you deserve. Izuru pulled her triggers down and smashed Saarania between walls. Wild lasblaster beams spattered the loader's frame. Izuru's left claw slackened. Izuru squeezed the trigger but the left claw remained open. Saarania kicked away from Izuru, backflipped, and spun, landing facing away from her. Oh, no. Thou shalt not flee from me. Izuru chased after Saarania. Her rivet gun chugged, dinging off the Wasp's legs and rear armour. Let blood meet blood. The Wasp's left leg joint cracked. Izuru struck the Wasp and flung it over on its front. Fire shot from the exhausts. With its last ounces of thrust, Saarania lifted up in to the air and sent the smoking walker rocketing at the loader. The canopy opened and Saarania jumped on to the loader's cage. Her lasblaster poked through it. Izuru took her hand off the left stick and grabbed the barrel. She kicked at Saarania's shin and tilted the right stick but the claws could not reach far enough inwards. Saarania punched the release on Izuru's chest and dove underneath the locking bar. Her hand wrenched at Izuru's smock and pulled her from the seat.
Corsair and Ranger landed in the mud. Saarania's hand swept through a mess of broken bricks and grasped one. Izuru beat the back of Saarania's neck and clawed at her eyes. Saarania lashed out and struck Izuru in the mouth. Blood and teeth flew. Izuru's elbow whacked Saarania in the eye. She rolled on to the Princess and rammed her fist straight down in to her face. Each smack and more blood spilled from her knuckles. Izuru howled with each blow, beating Saarania again and again. Saarania, blood in her eyes, flicked a shiv from her sleeve and punched through Izuru's ribs.
"Recall. Recall. Recall." Saarania pushed Izuru away and ran off nearly bent double. Izuru spat out bloody teeth and picked herself up. Shoulders hunched, head down, Izuru tottered after Saarania. Stars, shield your eyes. Let your gaze not see my blackest desires.
Saarania fled across open ground, stumbled, and fell to one knee. Izuru plucked a metal pipe from an open casket and gripped it in both hands. "How can a princess of Corsairs envy a half-breed outcast. How, I ask? I had it all…"
"You are naught but a walking shadow." Izuru raised the pipe over her head. "Embrace this mother's light." Izuru brought the pipe down upon Saarania's head. Bone caved in. The body swayed and fell sideways. Ilic. Izuru dropped the blood-encrusted pipe and wiped the back of her hand across her upper lip. Izuru managed a few steps away from the body before her knees gave out and she landed flat on her back. My son. I have failed you.
A cyclone of dust swirled around Izuru. A shimmering shape hovered above her. Active camouflage peeled back from the wing of a starship. Rhazus. Warm, dry air gushed over Izuru. A pair of glowing exhausts cooled. A ramp underneath the nozzles lowered and a single Corsair descended. Lasblaster in hand, the Corsair knelt over the Princess. Izuru groaned, straining her muscles to sit up straight. She bit down upon a whimper and worked the shiv out from between her ribs. The blade in her hand, Izuru threw the shiv in to the Corsair's back. He clawed at the blade in his spine and came to lie beside his mistress. Izuru dragged her body over to the Corsair and took his lasblaster.
One hand pressed against the knife-wound, Izuru held the lasblaster out in front of her and boarded the Rhazus. The needle in her side burned. Izuru blinked away a blur in her sight. The lasblaster's muzzle wobbled. The portal to the bridge opened. Izuru leant against the edge and pointed her weapon at a Corsair pilot. The Corsair's mouth fell open. "By the stars, please do not shoot." He raised his hands and turned around to face Izuru. "Is it true?"
"Weapons."
"A holdout behind that panel next to the co-pilot's seat. Is it true?"
"Where is he?"
"Locked in the Princess's quarters. Please do not shoot."
"Open the panel."
"Here." The pilot held the holdout by his thumb and forefinger and tossed it at Izuru's feet. "I fly Her Eminence. I am not a warrior."
"And now you fly me." Izuru patted the deck and took the holdout.
"I must see Her Eminence."
"Unlock her quarters." Izuru flicked the lasblaster. "Quickly."
"Yes." The pilot lowered his eyes and kept his hands raised. "It is just aft of the bridge."
Izuru backed out of the bridge and motioned the pilot forwards with her weapon. "Do it." Izuru propped herself against the curving bulkhead and covered the pilot. "Is there anyone else aboard? If you lie, you die."
"Just my co-pilot. Is he…?"
"Silence. Return to the bridge and prep the ship for departure."
"Will you allow me to collect their Waystones?"
"Wait." Izuru took her hand from her side and drew the holdout. "Go in."
"Yes."
"Ilic?"
"Mother?" Ilic's voice came from a side-cabin.
"Open that door." The pilot unsealed the cabin and stepped back. "Face the wall."
"Yes, my lady."
"My child." Izuru scooped up a tiny form rushing at her and hugged him. "Isha, I was so worried."
"Where is my brother? Where is Korsarro?"
"In safe hands, my son. Please, you must stay here and await my return."
"No, no! Korsarro needs me."
"And I need you safe and sound right here."
"Is the Princess…?"
"Stay here." Izuru set Ilic down and gestured with her lasblaster. "Corsair, outside."
"Mother?" Ilic ran to the door.
Izuru sealed it in front of him and jerked the lasblaster. "Now."
"No!" The pilot threw himself down beside the Princess's body. "Oh, Brother-of-mine. Mistress, dear."
Izuru heard a drone and peered up at the flecks of white cloud. Twin-engined planes, high up in the sky, flew in loose groups of three; their flight-path leading them directly overhead. "No…" Their bellies opened. In each one, dozens of bombs rattled. "No, Korsarro!" Izuru's fingers dug through her hair, tearing at the loose strands matted together with blood. Isha, please. Spare him.
A tiny flare rose from the cathedral spire. At its zenith, the sun blossomed in to half a dozen crackling balls of red light. The bomber leading the point group dumped a red parachute flare from its bomb-bay then peeled away to the north. Group by group, the bombers retracted their doors and turned north. Izuru collapsed to her knees and sobbed.
"Estoc. Promise me they won't hurt the boy."
Estoc paused on the stairs above me. "That's up to the boss. It's his mouth that does the decisions, son. I'm just an enforcer."
"Well look, you've got pull with this Veen bloke…"
"What's so important about this xenos child, young man? Kinda irregular having such a soft spot for that type."
"Oi. Anything 'appens and his mother will kill me. She will kill me, Estoc, 'cause I found her kids – both of 'em – in the slums and I took care of 'em."
"Why the fuck…?"
"The Crotch didn't train me to zip weans, even xenos ones."
"Stinks that. Don't get too close to that woman. She's a nightmare in the ring."
"Uh?"
"Where d'you think I got these lumps from, boy? Look, I can't promise anything. It's all down to the boss."
"Who is he anyway?"
"And it depends what sorta mood he's in too so if I was you, I'd sing dumb. You 'ear me? Sing dumb or end up like that para." Estoc opened the door leading out of the spire and took me down a short flight of stairs back to the ground floor. "Job's done, Boss. Won't be hearin' from the Guv'nor now. Boss? Boss?"
"Looks a right fairy, this boy does." Veen, Joparr beret perched on his head, pushed the boy in to the light. "You done jumping up and down, waving your arms, Estoc? I want my prize fighter back in the ring for the third round once John comes back with the stickie."
"Right, Boss." Estoc tapped me on the shoulder. "He wants the boy."
"Does he now? Well, I've got news for you, son. When I find out I've got my armour kills from John, I'll let you off the hook. But until then, you're going nowhere."
"And the other stickie?"
Other stickie?
"Put a lid on it, Estoc. Go check on your grandma."
"Alright. You just sit down over there, my son. Go on." Estoc nudged me.
So, is that it then? I sat with my back against an outcrop upon cold stone tiles and rubbed an ache in my knee. No thanks from anybody? The boy scampered out of Veen's reach and sat next to me. His hand worked underneath my arm and he leant his head against my shoulder. Veen grunted and turned away. "'Bout time for a brew-up."
"She'll come," I murmured, putting an arm around the boy's shoulders. Wonder if she'll thank me? Probably not. I'll be lucky if she doesn't kill me. I thought of the Joparr officer. Would he really have turned his weapon on the boy? What sort of monster do you have to be to even consider that? My eyelids drooped. They don't care, the Guard. Anyone who isn't with them is xenos. That's an absolute, isn't it?
The side door thumped. "Oi." I roused the boy.
"Boss, someone's out there!"
"Can we get some shooters up here, please?"
Estoc moved between the staggered rank of rifles and pushed muzzles down. "Keep a civil demeanour, fellas. No negligent discharges please."
"Is that John back?" Veen's head bobbed behind the gaggle of militia. "Open her up, Estoc." Estoc shifted the bolt and pulled the door open.
"Oh, my God." I covered the boy's eyes. The woman I had known as Tyssa stumped through the door. Any semblance of colour in her skin had been drained from its usual pale hue to a grey. Black muck and strange reddish crystals weeping from cuts and scrapes had dried all over her face. The pupil of her right eye had swollen. Everything around it had turned red. Similar wounds glittered on her arms, hands, and legs. A pained, almost tortured expression dogged her. The boy belted at his mother and attached himself to her leg.
"So. Waste any tanks out there, stickie?" Veen sneered. "John not coming back?"
"Hold on, Boss. Let me verify," said Estoc. "I need two runners heading out on the quad."
"You're trying my patience, Estoc."
"Just… This can all be resolved peacefully, Boss? Seeing as one massacre's just been averted."
"All thanks to you, yeah?"
Estoc glanced at me. "Yeah, Boss."
"Well go and confirm my kills then. You, boy. Stay there."
Estoc returned within ten minutes and took Veen aside for a private word. God, what happened to her? Tyssa's expression remained rigid. Twin lines ran between her eyebrows.
"Alright." Veen nodded and whistled to a bodyguard. He had a quiet word with him then sent Estoc away. "Stone floor won't do your arsehole any good there, lad. Get Haemorrhoids, you will."
"Uh?" I scrambled to my feet.
Veen took my arm and bent to whisper in my ear. "You're a lucky little sod, Private. I'll be watching you from 'ere on." Veen then moved over to Tyssa and clasped his hands in front of him. "In ten minutes, I blow the whistle, and the pitchforks and hatchets come out. If you're dumb enough to still be on this planet, it'll be your child up in the noose. D'you understand me, xenos?"
"Boss, the stickie." Estoc guided a shackled Saeros through the militia. Bare-chested, Saeros's white flesh was covered in grazes and scratches. He looked on the verge of weeping when he saw Tyssa.
"Unlock him, Estoc." Veen blew his nose and sniffed. "Go on." Estoc unbound Saeros and pushed him at Tyssa. "See 'em out."
"Thank you." I offered Estoc a handshake once we were outside.
"You won't be thanking me when the dogs find you, son. I suggest you split up and run your arse off for the river. Run. Now." Estoc shooed at me.
"I have a ship." Tyssa gasped.
"I'm not leaving the lad 'til he's off-world." I picked up Tyssa's son and bore him in my arms.
"I don't care. You're putting a gun to your own 'ead and pulling the trigger by helping her. Why?"
"It's my choice." I shrugged. "Did the Guard ever give you a choice?" Estoc, glaring, said nothing and retreated inside the cathedral.
"Hurry." Tyssa's voice quivered. Saeros gabbled something. A quick-fire exchange began. Saeros supported Tyssa and I held on to the boy. With Joparr's and the bombers' departure, the streets had grown quiet. Infrequent gunshots split the silence.
"Where we goin', Tyssa?" I moved alongside the two. "God, you look right done in." Tyssa's lips pursed and parted. "You done something to your ribs?"
"Mmmn." Tyssa winced.
"You look both done in." I hoisted the boy higher up.
"Not Tyssa."
"Uh?"
"Not. Tyssa," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Phut. Phut. Phut. Saeros and I looked at one another. The street exploded behind us, great clouds of earth flying up and darkening the sky. An invisible wave threw us forwards. Gongs banging in my ears, I picked the boy up and wrenched at Saeros's shoulder. "Up! Get up, they're mortars!" Saeros lifted the woman in to his arms and ran after me. "Where we going? I don't know where we're going!"
Saeros pointed me along a street with a burnt-out bus parked lengthways across it. I ducked underneath a burst water pipe and sloshed through a puddle. Explosions stalked along the street behind. Saeros tripped on a bit of stone and lost the woman. "Switch over!" I passed Saeros the lad and helped the woman up. "Not passing out on us, I hope." I patted her cheek. "Cor, they really ran you through the mill, didn't they?"
The woman's cough became a wheeze. "Uom ual!"
"Jukath!"
Shells stomped after us, pitching fragments high in the sky. "Where's your ship then?"
The woman's head lolled. "…Construction site."
"Yeah, I can see a crane. Is that it?"
"Mmm." Her brow furrowed. "The flare..."
"What about it?"
"You?"
"Err, yeah. Estoc helped me out though."
"Good. Good."
The number of cranes in sight grew. Barebones buildings surrounded by scaffolding replaced the tumble-down shanties. Machinery and tools rattled. The steady whump of incoming fire slackened. Are we getting out of range?
"There. There." The woman croaked.
"Yeah. Looks familiar, don't it? That looks really familiar. What's it doin' 'ere then?" Two bodies were arranged beside one another. Both were Corsairs. "Oi, that's her. That's her innit?"
"Let me go."
"Alright. You okay to walk?"
Saeros set the boy down and extended his hand to the woman. She brushed it aside and turned to me. "Izuru Numerial. He is Korsarro. My son. His twin is Ilic."
The hairs on my arms stood on end. With a dry mouth I said, "…James Larn – Arvin James Larn."
Izuru clasped my wrist and drew me to her. Our shoulders touched. "Thank you. This will not be forgotten." Izuru's hand went limp. Her knees bent and she fell against me.
"Saeros, help!" I got my hands underneath Izuru's armpits and laid her out on the ground. "She's – she's passed out. Can you…?"
Saeros, his face contorting, picked up Izuru and carried her inside the ship. Ilic barrelled down the ramp and hugged his brother. I grinned. "Going home now, lads." Both rushed at me and threw their arms around my chest. The ship's engines purred. Light grew inside the nozzles. A mortar round exploded not far away. "Got to go now, boys. You've got to go." Saeros reappeared and spoke to the twins. He met my eyes and bowed his head. I nodded back and stepped away from the growing warmth. The boys looked back at me as the ramp rose and raised their little hands. I waved and gave them a thumbs-up. Rising above the rooftops, the ship turned around and cast off in to the sky, quickly becoming lost in the clouds. "Goodbye."
Mortars began stonking the area. I fled in to a passage between storage crates and hid. Once the barrage had passed, I listened to the rattle and grind or armour and the shouting coming closer. No sense hiding here anymore. What's done is done. I got up and moved out from the hiding spot. Soldiers in black combats and facemasks were appearing in the far corners of the site with armour following. The bodies of the two corsairs had remained. No time for a burial then. I suppose I'll be lying alongside them soon enough. I counted down my last seconds of freedom and put my hands in the air.