Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1 (31 page)

             
“Since that is usually what Telmicks are like. They never wait. Especially if they outnumber the lesser people by that much.” Marius explained briskly eyeing the enemy carefully. It was eerie how they started to line the walls of the room. I have never seen them do that. Unless they were trying to cut us off from the exit… but they would catch us because we would be delayed by the door’s ponderous opening. Okay, it wasn’t that slow, but the couple seconds it took would be all the time they would need.

             
My eyes widened. What if we could shave off a few seconds by making it faster to the door? Was it possible for medical nanites to modify a body to make it faster?
M. Kit! Can you make me faster? At least for a short time?
I asked. M. Kit did not respond.
M. Kit?
I tried again.

             
TECHNOLOGY… Scrae muttered. SHE’S GOING ON THE FRITZ AGAIN.

             
THE LATENT ENERGY, EVEN WITH MARIUS HELPING TO KEEP IT IN CHECK, IS AFFECTING HER SYSTEMS. Luna told me.

             
I swallowed.
This could explain a lot. If it can foul up a computer what is it doing to me?

             
Scrae sighed before saying OTHER THAN MAKING YOU HYPER AND GIVING YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM A MAJOR BOOST AT THESE LEVELS? NOTHING. YOUR BRAIN IS ABLE TO ADAPT BETTER THAN A COMPUTER, NO MATTER HOW ADVANCED THAT COMPUTER IS.

             
So it isn’t frying me, but it’s affecting her? Will she be okay?

             
EVENTUALLY, YES.

             
I THINK YOUR PLAN IS A GOOD ONE. Luna said. M. KIT CAN’T ASSIST YOU WITH IT, BUT WE COULD. THE OTHER MEDI-COMPS SHOULD HAVE NO TROUBLE HELPING THE BOYS.

             
I nodded. “I think we need to make a break for it.” I said only loud enough so the guys could hear. “Have your Medi-Comps make you faster.”

             
Westley blinked at me before grinning. “Good plan. Let’s do it. C’mon Jason, if that message hasn’t been sent by now it will be too late.” Westley said grabbing the back of Jason’s uniform and running. We raced for the door when I realized something rather important. The Telmicks were not coming toward us. No. They were just standing there.

             
I skidded to a stop and stared at them. The wind wasn’t coming from a hole in the wall. I looked up and felt my mouth dry. “ABOVE YOU!!” I screamed…

             
…Too late. The real Telmicks who had been sneaking down climbing ropes decided it was time to be on the ground and thus took the quick way down, dropping the last ten feet. One of the gray skinned giants back handed Westley into a wall. Marius drew his short sword and began slashing at those mercenaries closest to him. He was fast and accurate. They had a high pain tolerance and numbers. Two stayed to keep the Shade occupied. The rest went after Jason. The kid got off one or two shots, but they were disarming him before he could blink. With a cry I drew my blaster and shot the Telmick who had disarmed Jason. I was rather pleased with the stunning shot that hit right between the eyes. It was the only place a Telmick would be knocked out. I then moved so they would have a harder time returning the favor.

As I moved I saw something that made all of this worse than I had already thought it was. The
se were elite mercenaries with a high ranking member percent. And by high ranking I mean very deadly. And cunning. I blame the shock of the moment for not noticing the individual. His elaborate tattoos were many and hard to miss. They climbed up from his chest to encircle his neck to continue over the back of his mostly shaved head, only conceding to part around the single ponytail that all Telmick’s seemed to have. The tats then arrowed down his forehead toward his nose. They seemed to move with the light and his breath. It confused the eye, which I figured was part of their purpose. Back on Colony Lenti I had seen their effect on people. Intimidating and distracting and, eventually, deadly.

Thankfully Scrae was not so easily distracted. MOVE! His mental shout caused me to flinch and duck under an incoming shot that would have gotten my head. I used my
forward momentum to carry me through a roll and I took another shot, this time at one of Marius’s opponents. He went down under the stunning blast. Marius rolled under his second opponent’s sword. The striking Telmick had to pull back awkwardly to avoid skewering his stunned comrade. Marius used the moment to slash his hamstring. The wounded Telmick roared and made an enraged slash at the annoying cadet who scrambled to get out of the way. I shot again and the wounded Telmick was too stunned to feel his pain and anger. Marius flashed that grin at me in thanks just as we both heard Jason’s shout.

“HEY! PUT ME DOWN!” Jason
demanded in outraged fear. One of the Telmicks, perhaps a second, had the lad over his shoulder like a sack. Jason’s ride didn’t seem to care if he was happy or not with his situation. Instead he began to climb up one of the ropes they had used to get the drop on us in the first place. I could see Jason’s tri colored eyes widen in fright as the large Telmick ascended. Instead of fighting his captor he clung to him. And I honestly didn’t blame him.

“Marius!” I cried as he was closer to the ropes than I was. He was already
moving in a zig-zag way to avoid the mercenaries between him and the ropes. He had reached the rope next to the one Jason’s captor had taken and was scaling it like a cat up a tree.

And
that was the last thing I saw when several successive red blasts hit me hard in the chest. There was a moment where I think I was airborne. The pain of hitting the ground on my back informed me in no uncertain terms that yes, I had just been shot off my feet. “RYLYNN!” I distantly heard Westley shout.
Oh good.
I thought.
He’s okay.
In the chaos I hadn’t been able to see or get to him.
Why had the blasts been red?
I wondered listlessly as the effects overwhelmed my body.

***

              Marius scrambled up after Jason and his abductor. The Telmick glanced down at him grinned evilly just before kicking savagely at Marius’s head. Marius felt the wind of its passing. He had let himself slide down a foot before the big oaf could hit him. The Telmick grunted and continued hauling ass. Marius narrowed his eyes and scrambled up with speed.

             
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Jason repeated brokenly. He didn’t seem to notice Marius. His eyes were too busy staring at the incredible drop below them. A drop that Marius focused on not thinking about. Looking up, Marius could see that they were nearing the platform the Telmicks had used to stage their descent. There was another door…

             
The Telmick struck at him again and he took it in the side. His fingers tightened on the rope as everything went gray for a moment. Pain blazed where he was fairly sure the bastard had broken a rib or three. As soon as he shoved the pain into a tiny cupboard of his brain he opened his eyes. His Medi-Comp went to work on repairing the damage. In the meantime he had a friend to save.

             
“Marius!!” Jason cried.
How nice, he did notice I was here.
Marius thought glancing up. The Telmick carrying Jason had reached the platform and was climbing up it. The Telmick smiled down at him and drew a knife.

             
“
Hell no!
” Marius growled and he scrambled further up the rope. He ignored both the stabbing pain in his side and the reprimands of his Medi-Comp. He spared a moment to fantasize how nice it would have been to have Rylynn’s boosted healing ability.

             
With the effortlessness of extreme strength the Telmick cut Marius’s rope. In the same moment, Marius leapt up and forward off the rope. He snagged the platform. Luckily Jason’s newest buddy was already going out the door, having thought the human would be a smear on the floor so far below. Marius broke the golden rule and glanced down. The rest of the Telmicks were coming up the remaining ropes. Marius bared his teeth and hauled himself onto the platform. He considered cutting all those ropes, but the painful yellow and white blasts that unencumbered climbing Telmicks could pull off dissuaded him. Besides, Jason was nearby. He needed to act fast before they got Jason where they wanted him. Which was probably a shuttle which Marius could commandeer once he took care of the Rib Cracker.

             
The platform door opened into a narrow, but tall tunnel that wound its way through the rock until it opened up onto a narrow walk way cut into the cliff face. Marius narrowed his eyes at the distant land below before spotting his quarry at the other end of the walkway. They were entering another tunnel cut there. Marius ran after them, one hand skimming over the only side wall as the other clutched his blaster. He heard the Telmick’s companions coming just as he entered the second opening. Luckily it was a short tunnel that opened immediately into a bowl where the Telmick’s shuttle was parked. His quarry ran up the ramp with a struggling Jason. Marius made to run after them when the ground bucked under him. He landed hard as a roar echoed from back the way he had come. His ears rang.

             
THE OTHERS! Zara gasped at the same time the realization sounded hollowly in his mind. The rest of the Telmicks ran past as if explosions shaking their world was an everyday occurrence. They laughed at him, not that he cared. Repeating
No…no…no…
was all his brain was up to accomplishing. He vaguely heard the roar of an engine as it forced its way out of gravities’ grasp.  THEY ARE GONE. Zara said.

             
“They can’t be.” Marius said as he staggered back the way he had come.

             
I DON’T KNOW ABOUT RYLYNN AND WESTLEY YET. I MEANT JASON AND THE TELMICKS. And thus it was brought home to Marius that he had failed his entire team. THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT! Zara said before cuffing him with a paw, which in his condition knocked him to the ground. Which just illustrated how sad his shocked state was since she had used only a little bit of pressure to make sure he felt her swat.  Zara sighed and nudged him with her head. YOU DID YOUR BEST, MARIUS. YOU WENT AFTER WHO, AT THE TIME, WAS IN THE MOST DANGER. AND WHO KNOWS, PERHAPS RYLYNN AND WESTLEY MADE IT OUT IN TIME.

             
A sickening thought came to him them. “What if they couldn’t because they were incapacitated? Why else would the Telmicks have come up when they did?”

             
PERHAPS BECAUSE WHAT THEY WERE AFTER HAD ALREADY LEFT THE BUILDING? Zara suggested.

             
“What they were after?” Marius muttered as he got back to his feet and tried to make his way through the tunnel to the cliff walk. “Is this what Kylesst was trying to warn Rylynn about before we got here. How is Jason a prince?”

             
I DON’T KNOW. Zara admitted. IF HE IS HE DID A VERY GOOD JOB IN HIDING IT.

             
“Except somebody knew.” Marius said darkly. Before him on the cliff walk was a gap that was two man length’s long where a part of the floor had been shaken loose. He could see the dust trail it had left on the remaining rock face.

             
“3rd Cadet Strausman, this is Captain Doven of the LFP
Aurora
. Are you all right? What the hell just happened?” An authoritative female voice demanded over his com-link.

             
Marius swallowed in an attempt to wet his throat. “Fifth Cadet Winter has just been kidnapped by a group of well-organized Telmick mercenaries. Ma’am I have no idea if the others are still alive…” He trailed off.

             
“We’re transporting you onboard.” Marius was told. A moment later the captain told him that they had found Rylynn and Westley.

             
“Are they alive?” He asked, both needing and dreading the answer.

             
“Beaten up, but yes. They are both alive.” She told him gently. Marius found he could breathe a little better as he was beamed up.  Two of them were alright. He had no idea about Jason.

Chapter 24 – To the Edge

              RYLYNN... LASS, YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP. A familiar voice encouraged.

I knew it was a friend instinctively, but couldn’t for the life of me remember the name. Since it was a friend I figured I could try to ignore it… and I managed to for a moment. Curiosity, then, got the best of me.
Why?
I thought back at it.

YOUR FRIENDS NEED YOU TO. Was the simple yet profound answer.
It is funny how ‘simple’ always seems to be so profound.

I had friends now, I realized that. The only problem was
I couldn’t remember anyone’s names. They were an odd-ball mix of corporeal and incorporeal. There was one who was about my age with beautiful tri-colored eyes and a voice that encouraged all to listen to it. He was good at that thing that was both amazing and a pain in the mind. Then there was another with green eyes who acted the age he looked, but I knew he was much older than that. The last was the first I had met. Tall and handsome in his own way. Ambitious but willing, at times, to admit to being wrong. There were a smattering of others I knew, but I hardly saw them anymore because of… something.  Why couldn’t I remember them at the moment?