Thieves of Light

CHAPTER NINETEEN

It took three hours and two orbits to locate the Arrian warren. The entrance was at the center of a small crater in a lightly cratered, boulder-strewn plain-well-disguised, except that the freshness of the diggings showed on one of Parcival's instruments.

"The warren can't be very extensive," Li-hon said, leaning forward over the battle board and its projection of the cratered plain. "They've been here at most five days. I'd expect three or four chambers at most. But that means that they'll be sitting right inside. We'll pay for every corner and foot of passageway."

He glanced up at Bhodi. "I have to tell you that this isn't what I thought we'd find here. I expected the Arrians and the crystals both to be gone, and all you'd have to deal with would be bodies and wrecks. But the Arrians and the crystals are here, and we have to go after them. You don't."

"Are you saying you don't want me as your partner?"

"I'm saying I've got no authority to order you to go down with us. Not when your finger is still bare. You can stay with the ship-"

"No way," Bhodi said. "You've got all the authority you need, from me. You tell me what has to be done, and I'll try my damnedest to get it done."

"No one will judge you if you stay. I have to know that you understand that."

"Yes, they will. And even if they didn't, I would," Bhodi said. "Come on, we're wasting time. How are we going to do this?"

Li-hon looked hard into Bhodi's eyes as though trying to take the measure of his soul through them. "Thank you," he said at last. "Frankly, we're shorthanded for a warren assault. I wish I had the whole platoon and another squad of Regulars. But we don't have them, and the Arrians will be gone and this planet contaminated before reinforcements could get here. So we'll do what we can with what we have, and with the blessing of the Light we'll take our enemies down."

"By the Light," Pike murmured in agreement.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Li-hon stared down at the battle board. "They haven't had any time to build any decoys, so we have to respect the possibility they'll take a shot at the pod on the way down. Corporal Mlas-"

"You know I'll take you in as close as you want," Mlas said. "I'll drop you in the crater itself if you ask me."

"I think the closest we can risk is somewhere in here," Li-hon said, drawing an arc over a boulder-free region east of the warren with the tip of his finger.

Pike frowned. "It'll take a while to get to them from there. How much time do you think we have?"

"They've already surprised us twice, once by striking here, and again with the ambush. At the risk of being surprised again, I'd say that we have until their ship appears, plus maybe an hour."

Nodding, Parcival said to Bhodi in an aside, "They don't put much of a delay on the timer. Once the Dark Terror starts moving in for the pickup, you know that the clock is running."

"Maybe we can surprise them ourselves," Pike said thoughtfully.

"How?" Bhodi asked. "They already know we're here."

"Right. So we don't lose anything if we move Zephyr right overhead. Let them think they know where we are and wonder when we're coming down after them. While they're wondering, we'll be coming in on the deck in the pod."

"Because we separated on the other side of the planet."

"Right. Hopefully they'll be so busy watching Zephyr that we'll be able to get down without any interference, and maybe a lot closer than the Sarge thinks." He grinned crookedly. "You know how I hate to walk."

Ten minutes later they were on their way down. Jikt of the ship's crew piloted the crowded pod, which carried six Regulars in addition to Bhodi and the three Guardians.

Either Jikt's reflexes or the terrain-hugging radar was superb. The pod pitched and dove so violently as it followed the contours of the ground that Bhodi had to turn his head away from the forward view to keep from becoming nauseous.

At no time were they ever more than twenty feet above the surface, and Bhodi swore that they were clearing some of the outcrops of rock by mere inches. Finally they came down out of the foothills and skimmed over the boulder field, remnant of a glacial epoch long ago in Ehl's history.

As they closed on the target, Jikt sang out the range: "Two thousand meters. Eighteen hundred. Sixteen hundred-"

"Don't you wish sometimes you could just bomb the hell out of them and bury them in their caves?" Bhodi asked Parcival on the whisper link.

"Every time," was the answer.

As they approached the 1200-meter circle, a jarring alarm started to sound inside the pod. "Somebody just pitched a rocket at us," Jikt called out.

"Perimeter guard," Li-hon said tersely. "Put us down here."

"Roger. Hold on."

The sudden deceleration threw Bhodi forward against the restraining straps, and he fought his stomach as the pod pitched downward sharply. A few moments later they were on the ground. As Bhodi tore at the strap catches, a muffled explosion nearby made the pod vibrate.

"I think we went right over top of them. Too fast for them to take a bead. They just tossed up a prayer," Jikt said, craning his head and listening.

"Range to target?"

"Eight hundred thirty meters," Parcival announced.

"Too close to leave the pod here," Li-hon said, standing in the crowded cabin. "Jikt, take it back out the way you came in and put it down at the site on the 3000-meter circle."

"Shall I assign sentries to stay with the pod?" Corporal Mlas asked.

"No," Li-hon said. "We can't afford to surrender twenty percent of our strength in the name of standard practice. Sorry, Jikt."

"I'll be all right," the pilot said easily.

Li-hon nodded. "Let's move, people. Everybody out."

The terrain where Jikt had set them down was less rugged than some they had flown over. There was a slight uphill slope in the direction of the crater. Fewer boulders were in evidence, and those that were present were more deeply buried. All of those features were courtesy of the meteorite that had created the crater, splashing the material that had filled it onto the surrounding plain.

As the pod roared away, Li-hon began dividing his meager forces, delegating Pike to lead Parcival and two of the Regulars, Mlas among them, to hunt down the Arrian perimeter sentries. "I don't want any nasties coming up behind us while we approach the warren," he said.

"You figure we're dealing with Dogs?"

"They're the Arrian rocket specialists," Li-hon said. "At least they always have been. I'm beginning to think I don't know anything about the Arrians. When have they ever posted perimeter guards around an untouched warren?"

Pike bobbed his head. "This whole raid-the ambush, the perimeter guard-all out of character. The Warn captains have been so predictable. You don't think that maybe Mandarr-"

"I do-but I don't want to."

"I thought Intelligence put him in Dray Sector."

"So did I," said Li-hon. "They may have been wrong."

Pike made a clucking noise. "We'll protect your back. Go root 'em out. Patrol-three abreast, space to sight. I'll take the point." He turned and strode westward, in the direction of the explosion. Parcival and the two Regulars fanned out and followed.

"Who's Mandarr?" Bhodi asked as the remaining combatants closed in around Li-hon.

Li-hon frowned. "A new Arrian commander. The Warlord seems to have given him a freer hand than his other commanders. All this might be his doing." He waved the Regulars forward. "Let's move. We've got work to do. We'll use a pairs line, space fifty. You, you, right flank," he said pointing. "You two, left flank. Bhodi Li and I will take the center. Free-fire rules. And let's keep the chatter on the omrli to a minimum, all right? The enemy does like to listen in."

They picked their way toward the crater cautiously and in silence, guns drawn, eyes alert. As they paused in the cover of a half-buried boulder for the flank pairs to catch up, Li-hon watched Bhodi closely.

The youth seemed calm, but that was no reassurance. Better he should let himself feel his fear and use the adrenaline that came with it than to deny it and suppress it until it built to where it overwhelmed him.

"Sergeant." It was Pike on the whisper circuit.

"Here, Pike."

"It gets curiouser and curiouser. We've got us a Dog here, armed with a rocket launcher-"

"Just as we thought."

"— running from us."

"Repeat?"

"I said we've got a well-armed, uninjured Dog running from us. Who are these guys?"

"Are you sure he knows you're there?"

"I toasted his tail not two minutes ago. He knows."

The corners of Li-hon's mouth wrinkled with puzzlement. "Well-it makes sense, actually. The rocket launcher's a lousy weapon for one-on-one. And he's got no hands to pull it off and mount a phaser. He's got to go find a Warn."

"Sure, it makes sense," Pike retorted. "But when did a Dog ever do the sensible thing in combat? They just like to rip and burn."

"What do you think, then?"

"I think he's trying to draw us away from something."

"What kind of something?"

"Don't know. Permission to let him go and look around?"

"I don't want to lose track of the Dog," Li-hon said. "Send Mlas to shadow him. Then give a quick look-see. But remember, there's probably more than one sentry out there, and they'll be coming your way."

"Let 'em come," Pike said. "It'll be a reassuring sight. Dogs running from a fight-this is getting too weird."

The lip of the crater was in sight when the assault force got the bad news from Zephyr.

"We're going to have company up here," Captain Yier announced. "An Arr ship just popped on the scopes. She must have been orbiting Neph in lights-out mode, or maybe sitting on the surface. Anyway, she's got it lit up now. You've got about twenty minutes before she gets within transporter range, maybe less."

"I thought-" Bhodi began.

"Later," Li-hon said sharply. "Captain Yier, we've got to have more time. You'll have to engage and try to hold her off."

"I don't think she's going to want to play," Yier said. "But I'll get you what I can."

Li-hon turned to Bhodi. "Now, what?"

"Nothing. It's just that I thought the transporter could throw you all the way across a stellar system."

"The Arrian transporter is different than ours," Li-hon said, turning his attention back to the crater ahead. "Shorter range, but one big advantage: They can grab their people back from the surface without a focus grid at this end."

"Not from inside the warren?"

"No. Not through all that dirt and rock."

"So in the middle of fighting our way in, we might find them trying to fight their way out. And then they could just vanish on us?"

"Yep," Li-hon said grimly. "And if it happens, you start running the other way-because you don't want to be in the neighborhood when an Arrian crystal is set off. B'ere'a, Kree-tih, are you set?"

The answers came back from both flanks in the affirmative.

Li-hon looked to Bhodi. "Then let's go."

They reached the rim of the crater without incident.

When they looked down over the edge, the crater was deserted. There was no doubt of that, since there was no place in the great earthen bowl to hide.

Bhodi thought briefly that he would hate to come under fire on the crater floor, then pushed the thought away as he focused on the three mounds and their black maws. Which one? he wondered. A lady and two tigers. Which one's the lady?

With silent hand signals, Li-hon called one Regular from each flank up to the rim of the crater. Quietly and efficiently, they took up positions 180 degrees apart and 90 degrees from where Li-hon and Bhodi lay-perfect for covering fire.

Digging the pockets of his belt, Li-hon came up with a pair of handball-sized metal spheres. "You take the entry on the near left," Li-hon said, handing one of the squealers to Bhodi. Invaluable for warren-cracking, the squealers simulated the sounds of a Guardian moving in one of the passageways, triggering some types of booby traps and occasionally drawing an incautious Warri out of hiding. "Remember, just roll it down the chute."

"Got it," Bhodi said. He checked the readouts of his Allison one last time, then took a deep breath and went over the top.

The crater was about three meters deep, and the wall was steep and crumbly. Bhodi dropped to the crater floor in a controlled slide, his eyes scanning the shadowed entrances. There was no movement, no phasers winking in his direction.

Bhodi started across the crater floor in a crouch. From behind came the sounds of Li-hon following him down the slope. Bhodi was aware of Li-hon, of the Regulars perched on the rim, ready to burn any Arrian who suddenly popped up from a warren entrance-but suddenly the fear sweat was running down the middle of his back.

Suddenly he could not take one more step, could not face what was waiting down under the surface of this dead world. He wanted to throw the Allison as far away as he could and cry, "Don't kill me, I don't belong here, this isn't my fight!"

Then someone screamed in pain, and for a confused moment Bhodi thought it was him. A moment later he realized that the sound had come over the omni circuit. He twisted around to face the way he had come, looking for explanations. He saw only Li-hon, equally puzzled.

"Something got B'ere'a," Kree-tih shouted. "On the west rim-"

Li-hon looked up and started to swing his pulse cannon in that direction. "Run, Bhodi!" he cried.

But Bhodi froze, horrified, as he watched Li-hon suddenly savaged by a flurry of phaser blasts. The first turned the fingers of Li-hon's right hand, wrapped around the forward grip of the cannon, into smoking stubs too short to maintain their hold. As the weapon fell from his shoulder to the crater floor, another hit seared the right side of Li-hon face, the skin bubbling up into blisterlike cysts.

At last Li-hon started to move, turning away and unleashing a guttural bellow that had to mean an agony Bhodi could only imagine. The movement made a shot aimed at Li-hon's chest pod miss and burn deep into his side instead. Li-hon took one step, wobbled, and went down. And still the enemy kept firing, tracing a line from the base of Li-hon's tail up across his shoulders.

And the reality of it all suddenly came home to Bhodi in a way that no amount of training, not even the skirmish at Majestic, had managed to bring home. He was watching Li-hon-his friend and commander Nar-lex-ko-li-hon-die. And something deep and fundamental inside Bhodi rebelled and took command of him.

"No!" Bhodi shouted.

Sometimes the choice is charge the enemy or die -

Bhodi charged, and from behind Kree-tih tried vainly to protect him. In the first five steps, Bhodi took a hit in the chest armor, then another in the faceplate, nearly blinding him. He fired back wildly, his pounding strides making aim impossible. Halfway up the crater wall, his left leg tightened up again. He would not let it slow him. Clawing, crawling, he scrambled upward to the rim of the crater and threw himself over the edge. He landed on a body- B'ere'a-rolled over once and came to his knees, seeking a target for his Allison.

The target was there, crouching less than five paces away. But Bhodi froze, unable to pull the trigger. For the enemy was not one he was prepared for. It was not Warn or Bug, not Dog or Destructor. Behind the enemy's helmet visor Bhodi glimpsed a human face.

Or nearly human. The eyes gazed outward through black metal eyeshields that seemed to have been surgically inserted, and the left temple and cheek bore a pattern of silver tracings like computer wiring. Bhodi stared unbelievingly as the warrior, as though sensing Bhodi's paralysis, slowly rose to his full height.

Then came the second shock, greater by far than the first. "Too reckless," the man-machine said, and Bhodi knew the voice. "You were always too reckless."

And he raised his right hand, the hand holding the massive phaser pistol, as Bhodi tried to deny what could not be denied: that this was Mandarr, the unpredictable, the new lieutenant of the Warlord of Arr. And that Mandarr was-or once had been-Bhodi's friend, Evan Kyley.