Forging Zero (77 page)

This was
his chance.  Bagkhal had said that the Trith couldn’t lie.  If Joe helped the
rebels, he could put an end to the Draft.  He could go home.

But
Bagkhal’s words haunted him.  What would they do about the Dhasha?  Just the
mere thought of fighting on the opposite side as Bagkhal made the hairs on
Joe’s arms raise.  He didn’t want to betray his friend.  Were there really
trillions of Dhasha out there?  Had Yuil and her friends
thought
about
that?

The
more Joe considered it, the more he realized Bagkhal was right.  Yuil, despite
her startlingly vast knowledge on military workings and tactics, was just an
alien dropout.  Against an organized force like the Congressional Army, they
would be annihilated.

Dad
would want me to fight. 

That
single thought made everything Joe knew come to a crashing halt.  Even now, his
father’s words came back to him as he stood over the ironing board, his arms
moving in slow, deliberate motions as he ironed his sleeves. 
Sometimes
you’ve gotta stand up for yourself, even when you know you ain’t got a chance.

I’ve
gotta do something,
Joe realized.
 Congress
doesn’t do enough to stop Dhasha like Knaaren from hurting people.  There had
to be a better way.

And
there was.  With Yuil.  Shattering Congress, like the Trith had foretold.

…right?

What
would
happen
if they shattered Congress?  That nagging sense of unease
disturbed him.  Bagkhal had lived
centuries
.  He’d fought on dozens of
planets.  If
he
didn’t think there was a way to control the Dhasha, what
hope did Yuil and her friends have, really?

But
how will I know if we don’t try?

Perhaps
it was that very mentality that kept the Dhasha secure on their pedestals. 
Perhaps everyone was just too
afraid
… 

It was
the memory of Elf’s scream as Knaaren ripped him apart that decided him.  

Joe was
trying to figure out how to get Libby to go with him when Scott found him
sitting against the haauk depot.

“Kind
of weird without the battlemasters here, isn’t it?” Scott said.  He grinned. 
“Maggie and Carl are talking about writing a thank-you note for that Tribunal
guy.  It’s the most time we’ve had off since we got Second’s flag.”  Scott
hesitated, his smile fading as his gaze flickered across Joe’s face.  “What’s
wrong?”

Joe
took a deep breath.  “Battlemaster Aneeir’s planning a night raid against
Second Battalion tonight.  One groundteam only.  We’re supposed to capture
their battlemaster and bring him back.”

Scott
frowned.  “Which one?  That Rat girl?”

“No,”
Joe said, shaking his head, “Their
battlemaster.
  Gokli.”

Scott’s
eyes widened to the whites.  “Gokli?  He’d kill us all.”

“The battlemasters
made a bet or something,” Joe said, shrugging.  “Anyway, it won’t be hard. 
He’ll be traveling outside the city all alone.”

Scott
glanced both ways and crouched in front of him.  “You’re
serious?
  What
do we do with him once we have him?”

“Beats
me.  Aneeir will give him soot, I suppose.”

“Wow,”
Scott said, shaking his head.  “Wow.”  He gave Joe a curious look.  “Does this
mean we get to use our biosuits?”

“Hell,
yeah,” Joe said, relieved Scott was buying the story.  “You think I’d let you
guys tackle an Ooreiki without them?”

Scott
rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head.  “I don’t know, Joe.  That
sounds pretty damn stupid.  Isn’t Gokli like, so far above Aneeir on the food
chain he could kill him by taking a crap?”

“You
don’t want to do it, I’ll get somebody else,” Joe said.

“No,
I’ll do it,” Scott said quickly.  “It’s just a little crazy, that’s all.”

“That’s
why he wants us,” Joe said.

“Yeah,”
Scott said, his face stretching in another grin, “Makes sense.”

“Meet
me outside the barracks after chow,” Joe said.  “Don’t tell
anybody.
  I
don’t want it getting back to Gokli.”

“Sure,”
Scott said.  “I’ll be there.”

#

“They’re
letting you use a haauk
?”
Maggie whispered, her eyes round with awe.  “I
didn’t know they’d taught you to drive one of these, Joe.”

“Bagkhal
taught me so I can deliver messages faster,” Joe lied.  He hotwired the haauk
and gave a little sigh of relief as it lifted off the ground.  Nervous, Joe
reached up to wipe the perspiration from his brow.  He froze when he realized
Libby was watching him.  She hadn’t said a single thing all night.

“So,”
Joe said, clearing his throat, “Here we go.”  Joe brought the haauk off the
ground and Maggie let out a gleeful squeal.

“
Quiet,
Mag,” Joe said, glancing anxiously at the barracks.  “It’s a
secret
raid.”

“Sorry,”
Maggie whispered, looking like he’d slapped her.

In
minutes, they were skimming over the veiny red masses of
ferlii
branches, circling around the road where Joe was supposed to meet Yuil’s
companions.  Up ahead, through the tangled limbs, Joe saw a haauk
sitting
on the road, its pilot standing beside it.  Joe brought them down upon a
ferlii
branch.  He took out his spotting scope and trained it upon the Ooreiki in the
road.

“Is
that him?” Maggie asked excitedly.

“No.” 
It was the first thing Libby had said since Joe had told them about the raid. 
She looked away from the pilot and fixed her gaze on Joe once more, her brown
eyes hard.

Joe
lowered his scope, trying to stay calm.  Where was the pilot’s companion?  Yuil
had told him at least two rebels would meet him on the road.  Joe didn’t want
to approach his contact without at least two Ooreiki to help subdue Libby.  He
was pretty sure Maggie and Scott would do whatever he wanted, but Libby would
fight.  He knew it as well as he knew anything, and he loved her for it.  He
would have left her behind, but he knew Bagkhal would give her to the
Peacemakers if he did.

“What
are we waiting for, Joe?” Libby asked.  Her brown eyes were piercing, as if she
knew his purpose and was just waiting for him to confirm it.

Joe
shook that suspicion out of his mind.  “This looks like a good place to ambush Gokli. 
I’m just wondering what that Ooreiki is doing just standing down there.”

“He
doesn’t look like a civilian,” Scott said.  “He’s wearing black.  What if he
knows we’re not supposed to be out of the barracks and gets us in trouble?”

“He’s
right,” Libby said.  “This is a bad spot.  He looks like he’s heading out of
the city, so we should move closer to Alishai.”

“We’ll
stay a little while longer,” Joe said.  “Maybe he’ll move.”  What he was really
hoping for was for another rebel to show up to help him keep Libby from killing
them all, but he couldn’t tell them that.

Two
hours passed without another rebel appearing, and Joe could tell the Ooreiki on
the ground was getting anxious.  Scott and Maggie retired to catch some sleep
stretched out on the
ferlii
branch, but Libby stayed awake to watch the
road.

“He’s
not moving, Joe,” Libby said.  “Maybe he knows we’re coming after Gokli.  What
if he’s a Peacemaker?” 

For the
first time in ages, Joe heard a hint of fear in her voice.  He frowned at her,
then back down at the Ooreiki rebel.  “He’s not a Peacemaker.  He’s just some
guy whose haauk broke down.”

“He’s
waiting for something,” Libby insisted.  “Look at the way he’s standing.  If
his haauk broke, he would have called for help. He’s watching the road.  What
if Aneeir set us up?  What if he’s a Peacemaker?”

“Why
would he be a Peacemaker?” Joe demanded.  “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It
does,” Libby whispered.  There was real fear in her eyes now.  “A Trith visited
me that night Bagkhal bought us the feast.”

Joe’s
breath caught in his chest.

Libby
looked into his eyes.  Tears formed on her cheeks but she held his gaze.  “He
said—”  She shook her head and looked away.

Joe
caught her arm, blood thundering in his ears.  “He said what?”

The
hurt in Libby’s eyes was enough to tell him the truth.  “I can’t say it, Joe. 
I don’t believe it.”

He
told her I’m going to shatter Congress.  She thinks I’m a traitor.
  Joe glanced down at the Ooreiki on the road. 
Well, you are,
aren’t you?

Dad
wasn’t a traitor.
  That solid realization made his
gut twist.  He didn’t know who he owed his loyalties to anymore.  Was it Earth,
who had handed over its kids without a fight?  Or was it Congress, who stood
between Earth and the Dhasha?  Or was it the aliens in the Army who helped him,
kept him alive, given him guidance?  Aliens like Nebil and Kihgl and Bagkhal? 
If it was them, did he stay with Nebil and Bagkhal, who seemed to believe the
Army was the only way to keep the Dhasha at bay, or did he go with Yuil, who
had Kihgl’s confidence before he died?

Joe’s
eyes fell back on Libby. 

Or did
his loyalties lie somewhere else entirely?

Quietly,
Libby said, “I thought I was dreaming, but Maggie saw him, too.”

“She
did?” Joe croaked. 
Not Maggie, too.

“Haven’t
you noticed how weird she’s been acting lately?  She threw that girl off the
second floor balcony for getting in her way.”

Joe had
been wondering about that.  “What did the Trith tell her?” Joe asked softly.

“She
wouldn’t tell me,” Libby said, eying him.  “He say anything to
you,
Joe?”

Fate
decided you will shatter Congress, Joe.

“No,”
Joe said.  He turned and looked down at the Ooreiki rebel on the road.

You
will try to fight it, but invariably, your path will lead to the same end.   

Joe
watched the Ooreiki fidget nervously in the dark.  The haauk was there, the
offer open.  He could leave at any time.  He could be free.  He could return to
Earth and see his family again.  All he had to do was show himself.

“I’m
gonna go talk to Maggie.  Watch the road a sec.”  Joe got up and found Maggie
and Scott sitting together, trying to stay awake.

“Is
Gokli here?” Maggie asked.

“Not
yet.”  Joe sat down beside them and took a deep breath.  Quietly, so Libby
could not hear, he said, “Guys, if you had the chance to go home, would you
take it?”  He was staring down at his father’s Swiss Army knife.  He had pulled
it out of his vest and had started rubbing it unconsciously. 

“You
mean back to the barracks?” Maggie asked.

“No,”
Scott said, yawning, “I think he means Earth.”

Joe
nodded.

Maggie
laughed.  “We’re not going home, Joe.”

“But if
you
could
go home…would you do it?”

Maggie’s
amusement faded.  “You mean leave the Army?”

“Yeah.”

Maggie
stared at him darkly, saying nothing.

“So? 
Would you go?”

“Sure,”
Scott said. 

Joe
felt himself relax a little.

“…as
long as you could give me my old body back.  My friends back home aren’t
grown-ups and my parents won’t recognize me like this.”

Joe was
surprised.  “You’d stay because of that?”

Scott
shrugged.  “They’d expect me to be a kid again.  I’m not.”

Joe
realized he was serious.  Guilt lanced through him.  He’d simply assumed he’d
want to go.  The Trith had told him he’d shatter Congress, but he hadn’t said
his friends would have to help.  He could just send Scott back to Alishai with
Libby and take Maggie with him. 

“What
about you, Mag?”

“My
friends are here,” Maggie said.  “I don’t even remember what my mom looked
like.”

We’re
everything she’s got. 
Joe wrapped his father’s
knife in a fist.

Burn
the Trith.  They don’t know everything.

“Let’s
go,” Joe said loudly, standing.  “You’re right.  Gokli’s not coming.”

CHAPTER
36: 
War with the Huouyt

Joe was
lying in bed, unable to sleep due to Bagkhal’s drugs, when a horn sounded
suddenly outside the barracks, loud enough to vibrate the stone.

“What’s
that?”
Scott asked, sitting up in bed.

“I
don’t know,” Joe said.  “Never heard anything like it before.”

“Sounds
like the call to regiment formation,” Libby said.  “Except it’s still going.”

“The
Ooreiki are all gone and our barracks are locked,” Joe said.  “How do they
expect us to get to formation?”