The Price of Conquest

The Liaj base spread out below the cliff's western face, its bright lights pooling the area with scattered spots of day-bright illumination. From her prone position on the peak above, Kressa surveyed the rows of vehicles and barracks along the base's rocky southern border below and to her left. Half a kilometer to the west, floodlights illuminated the main gate. To the north, Kressa's right, the base's outbuildings squatted sentry-like along the perimeter fence.

Kressa craned her neck and peered straight down the cliff. She studied the command center and huge depot door below where she and Halav waited on the cooling mountain stone. Directly beneath them, under meters of solid rock, a cavern housed the weapons and other supplies they had come to destroy. All they needed to do was get onto the base and open the depot door; explosives would do the rest.

Pulse gun fire arced through the darkness on the base's far side, and the harsh wail of alarms split the night. The Patrol soldiers who manned the base rushed to return fire with handheld weapons and the heavy guns mounted along the western barricade and the roofs of the barracks.

The first wave of raiders retreated quickly, but the move was not intended to breach the fence; its only goal was to keep attention off the more private attack Halav and Kressa perpetrated on the supply cache.

Halav inspected the connection on his climbing harness a final time, flashed a wish-me-luck grin, and dropped over the edge of the cliff. Kressa followed a moment later.

She joined him three-quarters of the way down the cliff face. As she steadied herself against the sheer rock wall, Halav hauled up a small indicator by a cord.

"The sensor field's two meters farther down," he said, studying the readout on the small device. "Let's hope Lieutenant Satra was right about the counterfield."

Kressa nodded agreement, aware that any chance they had to get onto the base undetected depended on the Teneian's knowledge of Patrol sensor fields and the generator she designed to counteract the field's effects. Kressa removed the fist-sized jamming device from her pack, clipped a tether to a loop on its top, and lowered it the prescribed two meters.

While she worked, Halav attached a friction pin to the cliff face. She hooked the end of the device's tether to the pin and steadied it, then she pushed away from the mountainside and dropped the final twenty meters. Her feet touched the ground, and she froze. No new alarms sounded. A moment later, Halav dropped down beside her, and they slipped out of their climbing harnesses.

They stood in a small alcove formed by the cliff, the edge of the northern fence, and the back of a small command building. Beside them towered the northernmost edge of the huge alloy door, the only barrier standing between them and their target. Muffled shouts and the sharp buzz of guns from the battle at the base's main gate echoed between the cliff face and buildings.

"Wait here." Kressa jogged to the command center's back entrance.

An ID scanner controlled the door. Kressa removed a shielded cutting laser from her pack and quickly burned through the plasteel scanplate. She rerouted circuitry for several seconds, then the door slid aside, revealing a short, bright corridor.

She took a step forward, and then hesitated. The dark jumpsuit she wore over her body armor may have been excellent camouflage against the cliff face and in the shadows behind the buildings, but inside the well-lit hallway, she would stand out like a supernova in a moonless sky. With a shrug, she stepped into the building and moved straight for the third doorway.

Two young soldiers stood with their backs to the opening, watching an array of screens that showed the action at the base's perimeter. Kressa drew her pulse gun with her right hand, then plucked her stunner from a pocket with her left. She used the little gun to send one of the soldiers to the floor.

The second youth wheeled as his partner collapsed. His hand dropped toward the gun at his side, but at sight of both of Kressa's weapons trained on him, he raised his hands over his head.

Kressa gave him a cold smile. "I hope you realize how important it is that you open that big door behind us."

"I can't do that," the young man said with only a hint of a quaver in his voice.

"Can't?" Kressa asked. "Or won't?" It was a trite reply, but she had no time for snappy comebacks.

The soldier said nothing. He stood straight and tall, his broad hero's chin thrust forward in defiance.

Kressa shifted her pulse gun's aim and pulled the trigger. The padded shoulder of the hero's uniform flamed for a moment. His stoic gaze wavered.

"Next time," she assured him, "I burn flesh."

"You'll never get away with this," he said even as he turned and entered the code to open the door.

A shot from Kressa's stunner dropped him beside his comrade.

By the time she rejoined Halav outside the command center, an opening had appeared between the halves of the massive depot door.

"Good work." Halav removed a bundle of explosives and timers from his backpack and started across the face of the slowly moving door at a trot.

Kressa pulled a string of explosives from her own pack and jogged after him.

Together, they ducked into the dim cavern behind the door, quickly distributed their explosives amongst the materiel stored there, and set the timers.

Alarms began to wail. The door stopped, then reversed direction. Fortunately, it was closing as slowly as it had crept open.

Kressa dashed to the opening and peered out. Halav joined her a heartbeat later.

The defensive action against the Guard's attack at the main gate had forced most of the Patrol soldiers to congregate near the depot's entrance half a kilometer away, but the raiders had been driven back, and several Patrolmen were using groundcars to rush toward the depot door in response to the new alarm.

Kressa peered around the edge of the door toward the command building where they'd left their climbing gear. A half dozen Patrolmen were advancing from that direction, weapons drawn. She ducked back behind the cover of the door. "Looks like we'll have to switch to plan B to get out of here."

Halav dug a commlink from his pocket. "Second wave," he said into the link.

A moment later, another round of shots erupted near the main entrance as the Guard forces renewed their attack.

Kressa removed three marble grenades from her pack. "Ready?" she asked Halav.

He nodded and pocketed the commlink.

Kressa pressed the activation tab on one of the grenades and tossed it toward the soldiers approaching from the command center. The grenade went off with a loud pop, and clouds of thick, debilitating smoke began to billow from it.

She deployed the other two smoke grenades to add to the confusion, then followed Halav as he dashed to cover behind a consteel-walled shed on the south side of the depot door.

While he located a vehicle to use for their escape, she used her pulse gun to keep the approaching soldiers occupied.

"Cover me." Halav leaped out of the protection of the shed and dodged toward a groundcar parked beside the nearest barracks.

Kressa laid down a burst of covering fire. A shot from a laser rifle buzzed close beside her. She ducked back, then peered out again a moment later.

The rifleman and two other soldiers were moving toward her position. She returned their fire, and they scurried around the edge of a building for cover. A beam from one of the heavy turrets sliced along the ground toward her, and she flattened herself against the side of the shed.

Halav got the car running and gunned it toward Kressa. The soldier on the turret noticed the movement and swung his gun to bear on the vehicle.

Kressa took advantage of the distraction and fired at the high-energy weapon and its operator. One of her shots sent the man reeling. He toppled forward against the control lever, the trigger still depressed, and the bright beam cut a crackling path up the mountainside.

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Halav skidded the car to a stop beside Kressa and threw open the passenger door. She jumped in.

"Welcome aboard." He powered the vehicle toward the perimeter fence between the barracks and the main gate.

Kressa righted herself in the passenger seat and glanced back at the depot. Only a narrow opening remained between the two halves of the door.

In the confusion of the Guard's renewed attack and the alarm from the depot, Patrol soldiers milled about. Some ran toward the depot door, others away from it; still others headed toward the front gate to rejoin the fight there. Several, including the rifleman and his two compatriots Kressa had scared into cover, found the presence of mind to begin firing at the retreating car, while a handful of others raced for vehicles to take up the chase.

Kressa checked the timer countdown. "Hold on. Time's up."

A series of flashes burst from behind the depot doors, and a sheet of flame lanced out through the narrow opening, followed by a concussion that shook the car. The huge doors buckled and ground to a stop. Through the gap between them, bright lights flashed as power packs, rockets, grenades, and other items prone to detonation exploded.

Halav gave the car more power as shots from the pursuing soldiers rang against its sides and back. A pulse beam shattered the rear window and struck Halav in the back of the shoulder where his body armor provided little protection. He stifled a cry, and the car veered off course.

Kressa's heart clenched with dread. "Hal?!"

He gritted his teeth in a pained grimace, got the vehicle back under control, and swerved between two buildings. "I'll make it." He powered the car forward again, navigating among the barrack buildings toward the base's perimeter.

They left the bulk of the soldiers behind and drew close to the fence, their presence eclipsed by the continuing firefight at the main entrance.

"I trust you've got some explosives left," Halav said.

"A few."

"Good." He slowed the car. "Blow us a way out of here."

Kressa opened her window, pulled a grenade from her pack, pressed the control tab, and threw it. It bounced wildly and landed short of the fence before detonating. She hissed a curse and threw a second grenade. This one landed right on target at the base of the fence. For a long moment nothing happened, and then the grenade exploded in an enormous blast that tore a four-meter-wide hole in the barrier.

"Beautiful!" Halav shouted, then grimaced again.

Kressa flashed him a worried look.

"I'm all right," he said.

She doubted that, but kept quiet. The car sailed through the gap in the fence, and Kressa glanced through the shattered back window.

Two groundcars appeared from between the rows of barracks and took up pursuit, but they halted when they reached the opening in the fence. Two men leaped out of each vehicle and began to fire.

Kressa wondered at their actions. Why hadn't the soldiers followed them off the base? Unless…

She scanned the sky.

Underlit by the bright lights of the base and silhouetted against the stars, three Patrol ground attack ships swept in over the mountains behind the depot.

"Shit! We've got company. Three Patty GAVs."

"Where in hell did they come from?" Halav asked.

"Good question." The Liaj base housed no ships, and there had been no reports of the Patrol stationing any nearby.

Two of the GAVs dived toward the Guard forces gathered beyond the main gate, but the third banked toward the fleeing car. The ship's heavy weapons burned three parallel furrows of destruction toward the vehicle.

Halav coaxed more speed from the car. Kressa glanced back at the approaching ship and knew it wouldn't be enough.

A bright flash lit the area ahead and to the right, and a pair of explosions ripped the night air. An instant later, a fireball blossomed above and behind them as the pursuing GAV exploded.

Another shot flashed from the ground to the sky, and a second aerial explosion provided enough illumination for Kressa to make out a cluster of trucks and groundcars to their right. There were several more vehicles than the initial plan called for, including a truck-mounted anti-aircraft gun.

Halav cut across the shrub-covered ground toward the vehicles. He braked to a halt among them.

"Bryant! General Kamick!" Keth B'Okhaim's voice pierced through the cry of voices calling orders to the Guard soldiers. He stepped into view as the landscape brightened a third time with the demise of the last GAV.

"Keth!" Kressa called. "Get a medic! The general's been shot."

Keth disappeared and returned a moment later with Saunorel and a Guard medic. They hurried forward and helped Halav into a waiting truck. Kressa watched, her throat tight with concern. She relaxed only after she caught the flash of an encouraging smile from Halav.

"Let's move out of here before they send something bigger!" a voice called across the field.

Vehicles began to purr to life and pull away. Kressa slid into the driver's seat. A shrill, warbling whistle echoed through the darkness, and she froze in astonishment. Memories flooded her, and she sought the origin of the familiar sound. In the Territories where she grew up, the gang members used just such whistled signals.

The whistle sounded again, and Cody darted into view. Kressa motioned for him to join her, and he jumped into the passenger seat with an excited grin.

Kressa returned the look, then glanced at the anti-aircraft gun. "How'd you know the Pattys would have air cover?"

"Keth locked onto it," Cody said. "A late report said Shaw stationed some fighters and GAVs at the old Guard base before he left for Vsuna."

"I guess this changes our plans for the gun pickup." She pulled the car in behind the line of other escaping vehicles. "We'll need air support now."

"We'll get it," Cody said. "I know this smuggler, er… trader, and I'm thinkin' she knows a lot of pilots."

Kressa looked at him with a smile. "You just might be right."

* * *

"We'll have to rethink the plan," Halav said, running a hand through his hair and scowling.

Kressa returned his unhappy look and glanced at the people around her. She, Halav, Lieutenant Satra, Keth B'Okhaim, and a couple of other Guard soldiers had gathered in one of the new base's conference rooms to finalize the second part of the plan to get some weapons, but Keth brought disheartening news. The Patrol had deserted the Liaj depot and routed the delivery to an as yet unknown location.

"Maybe they're taking the guns to the old Guard base," Kressa suggested. "It has a big enough airfield, the Pattys already control it, and they have air support there to protect them."

"Do you really think they'd move the delivery there?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Where else?" Kressa glanced at Halav. "There aren't any other airfields large enough to land transports, are there?"

He shook his head. "Just the civilian ports, but I doubt they'd risk landing there. Still, it seems too obvious."

"They may not be operating at full potential right now," Keth said. "Since Captain Terling's been put out of action…"

Halav gave him a surprised look. "What happened to Terling?"

"Someone tried to kill him," Keth said. "I figured you ordered—"

"Assassination's not my style," Halav interrupted with a glare for the younger man.

"I hope the admiral knows that," Keth said. "Richard Shaw and Aidan Terling go way back, and I imagine Shaw's going to be looking to do some damage to whoever tried to take out his friend."

"Do you have any idea who might have done it?" Kressa asked, wondering who would have both the incentive and the ability to get close enough to Shaw's top man to attempt an assassination. "Or why?"

Keth shrugged. "Whoever it was, we should take advantage of it. If they've moved the delivery to the old base, that gives us a better chance to pull this off. Before, we had two bases to hit: the depot to get the guns and the base to keep the fighters and other ships off our backs. Now the Pattys have put everything in one place and made it easier for us."

"That base is tough," Halav said. "I know, I helped fortify it."

"So we know their defenses," Kressa said.

"I'm sure they've changed them." He glanced at the others around the table. "It does make sense they'd take the guns there, though, and it should be easy enough to verify." He looked at Keth. "Any news on when the Patrol plans to make the delivery?"

"No changes there, as far as I've heard. Everything is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon."

Halav sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that."

"Why?" Kressa asked. "What's wrong?"

"Westlex has a plan to convince Shaw to leave Vsuna as soon as he gets there," Halav said. "The admiral could arrive at Vsuna any minute now, and if the plan works, Shaw will no doubt head right back here, which means we may have to deal with him and his fleet tomorrow, in addition to the forces he left behind."

"How's Jonathan going to get Shaw to leave Vsuna with the Stingray in such bad shape?" Kressa asked.

Halav glanced at Satra, and the Teneian woman gave a slight nod.

"The Stingray won't be there," Halav said. "Westlex took her to Teneia for repairs. He didn't tell us much about the specifics of his plan, but he did say he'd be using Stingray Two to defend Vsuna."

"There are two Stingrays?" Kressa asked, surprised.

"Sort of," Satra said. "We're working on a second one, but right now she's not much more than a hull with an engine attached. She's not scheduled to be completed for several months."

"Apparently, she's completed enough for Westlex's liking," Halav said. "And a second Stingray may be just the thing it takes to send Shaw straight back here, so let's plan for the worst."