Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

The next day…

M aeve wasn't a fan of the hot, humid jungle through which she was currently moving. She preferred spaceships or spaceports—civilized places with proper air conditioning. I really wasn't cut out to be a ground pounder. Chuckling because no indeed, she was meant to be a battleship for space sake, she sped to remain close to Owen and Midorri.

"Just a little farther," he said on the subaural com as she moved abreast of him. "Jake's taken an observation position a few hundred yards ahead. See him?"

Shooting a glance at the rise ahead, Maeve grunted. "Barely."

"Yeah, you're not supposed to. He's damn good at all this recon stuff." Owen held a large branch away from her face as she moved forward, eager to be done with the hiking. "You holding up okay?"

She gestured with disdain at the exuberant foliage through which the team was moving. "Not my favorite place to be but I'm coping." Midorri brushed against her ankles and made a comforting sound before scampering away into the underbrush. She was obviously enjoying the unusual field trip.

Once Maeve reached the hilltop where Jake and Red were now dug in, surveying the temple complex ahead through long range viewers, she stayed low and picked her own vantage point in a hollow close to them. "I'm releasing my drones now," she said. A flight of nearly microscopic spy devices zipped out of her now open backpack and flew off. Maeve had created them aboard the Valkyrie Revenge and she was proud of their capabilities. Images flooded to her through her neural link with the tiny robos and she picked and chose which ones to forward to her team leaders. Handling this was a pleasant change from the day-to-day boredom she'd often been assailed by while acting like a human. The task barely impinged on her level of mental activity, even with so many robos feeding her a constant stream of images and data but at least the job related to what she usually did.

Jake directed her to concentrate on the area where he planned to infiltrate the complex and make their way to the prison wing when the actual assault occurred on the next day.

Maeve's drones found an access point and five of them zipped inside. There were no images other than a sense of movement through a pitch-black space. She requested a different visual spectrum and blinked as she saw the closely fitted stones of the ancient temple, illuminated in a new wavelength now. She upgraded the images for human eyes and fed the views to Jake and Red. "It's going to take a hell of a lot to blow this place up."

"Not looking too good, is it?" Jake answered. "See if you can get your drones into the prison wing. There might be doors or columns or non-load bearing walls Red can blow up for us there."

"Yeah, be a shame if I picked the wrong damn wall and brought the place down on our heads instead of the Jlonngi's," Red said.

Glad she'd made her drones so tiny, Maeve directed them to do as Jake requested. The deeper into the complex the robos maneuvered, the more tension and unease she felt, until finally she ordered them to pause and hover. Closing her eyes, she reached out with her mind in the same fashion as if she was trying to ‘talk' to the Mellureans and attempted her own scan of the temple. A moment later she yelped as she was flung backward, luckily landing on a clump of soft grasses, where she lay stunned, trying to catch her breath.

Jake and Red were at her side immediately, while Owen stood guard, scanning the sky and the terrain around them with narrowed eyes, blaster at the ready. "What happened?" Jake asked, kneeling beside her and helping her sit up.

"There's an entity," she said, shaken and trying to gather her thoughts. Her head ached, which was a first for her and one she didn't care for. "Ancient, angry—very angry at what's been done to the temple devoted to its worship. It was slumbering but all the renovations and upgrades Baxtir has made to the complex are waking it up and it's not happy."

"You're saying he's managed to piss off an ancient god?" Red and Jake exchanged glances and the former seemed to be taking the news as a good joke.

"Can we get it to help us?" Jake asked, ignoring Red's mirth.

Maeve shook her head slowly, wary of worsening the pain in her temples. "It's not fully awake yet. And it's not thinking, at least not in terms you'd understand. It's all emotions." Seeing the gathering frown on Jake's face, she added, "I'm not trying to be vague but humans lack the terms I need to describe what I encountered when we connected, even peripherally. And then it shrugged me off, like I was an annoying insect. I can't stand up to it—I'd be reluctant to even attempt another communication honestly. The contact we did have left me with a headache from hell."

"Here, I have headclear in a noninject form," Red said, unslinging a small medpack. "You can take our meds, right?"

For answer she stuck out her hand and he shook two pills onto her palm. "Anything to get rid of this pounding in my brain. I can't think straight."

"If this involves emotions," Jake said slowly, transferring his focus to Owen, ignoring the byplay between Red and Maeve, "Perhaps Tyrelle could?—"

"No." The Cargo Master's refusal was blunt and immediate. "She's not coming down here and I'm not risking her. I'd follow Captain Fleming—or you—into the seven hells but my wife isn't a soldier. She stays safe on the ship."

"Fair enough." Jake nodded but rubbed his chin. "What if she and Maeve linked up on the subaural com and tried it?" Addressing Maeve, he asked, "Is that possible?"

Owen remained unconvinced. "Maeve's practically a Mellurean and the damn entity threw her for a loop. I'm not going to agree to expose Tyrelle to it in any form."

"I think he's right," Maeve said. She stopped herself from denying the identification of herself as one of the ancient aliens. She was nothing close to the Mellureans, although she was flattered by the comparison. "And this being or god or whatever he is, is highly dangerous. Baxtir better hope it doesn't fully wake from its current state is all I can say."

"If it doesn't like what the Jlonngi have been doing to its precious temple, wait until we explode a few bombs inside," Red said with relish. Maeve knew he thoroughly enjoyed his demolition specialty. She was glad there was no call for it aboard her ship. "Talk about a wakeup call! Even an ancient god can't sleep through what I have planned for his building."

"Being close to its mind was like floating above a bed of seething lava," Maeve said, finding words inadequate but doing her best to convey to her companions what she'd sensed. "If it does seek to stop the use of its temple for another religion the outcome will be catastrophic."

"All right, enough discussion of this new player," Jake resumed his former position on the ridge. As he walked, he said over his shoulder, "Sounds like we can't realistically enlist him or influence him. We still have a combat mission of our own to plan so Maeve, if you can get your drones in action again, that'd be great. But stay away from the irate owner of the temple, okay?"

"No problem. I've got no desire to attract its attention to myself." She took a long drink of water from her canteen and resumed her place. Closing her eyes, she evaluated the current status of all her tiny robos and began issuing orders. Soon the stream of images and data was flowing again and Maeve tried to relax into the task. Awareness of the alien god's presence and his all-consuming anger hovered close to her consciousness and it was exhausting to wall herself away from him. He'd be a terrible ally, as likely to turn on us as to obliterate Baxtir. Better if we don't poke him into action.

The following evening…

Confident and ready for action, Gil strode though the temple complex and entered the area used to house the prisoners until tomorrow's twisted ‘ceremony' of torture and death occurred. Jake had relayed the plan for breaking into the temple and extracting Daveed and the other hostages tonight. It was a good plan, as he would expect, coming from Jake and Gil rated the probability of success high. The first part of the plan was the fact he was going to be in place as the night guard. He'd traded one of the other mercenaries for the shift without much trouble. No one liked being in the temple and especially not at night. It was an eerie place, unwelcoming, and the mix of ancient building and unsettling wall paintings and frescoes, combined with the modern renovations Baxtir had grafted onto the structure was the stuff of nightmares.

His good mood lasted right up until the man he was relieving walked briskly into view in the long corridor. "Jago, what the seven hells, man? You deserting your post? I'm not late." Gil checked his wrist chrono and confirmed he was arriving a good fifteen minutes early for duty. "Something wrong?"

"Nah, I know better than to walk away from the job before my replacement arrives," Jago said with a grin. "Never know when Arturo or his man Quint might check up on me. But Baxtir showed up with a couple of his own goons and told me to get out. I get the feeling he wants to have a ‘conversation' with the hostages. Well, with the special one anyway. I heard the cage being opened behind me as I vacated the premises. I know when I'm not wanted." Jago punched Gil in the bicep in a friendly manner and handed over the key to the cages. "It'll be good tomorrow when this crazy show is over and we finally get paid. I'm ready to get off this damn planet and re-enter normal, mostly law abiding civilization."

"I'm with you there, brother." Consumed by worry over this last minute complication Gil could hardly form coherent words. He headed in the direction Jago had come from.

Both men froze and steadied themselves as a minor earthquake rattled the room, setting the lamps to swinging in an eerie dance.

"Damn quakes," Jago said as the low-pitched rumble faded. "If I didn't know better I'd think this place was cursed."

Remembering what Maeve had said about the ancient deity who ‘owned' this temple before Baxtir took it over, Gil couldn't argue with the man. A small voice in his head was telling him to get out of this dangerous structure before a bigger quake hit, but he quelled the misgivings, reminding himself of the mission he was here for and his brother waiting for him.

"I'm telling you, don't go into that room," Jago called after him. "We ain't wanted there tonight."

Baxtir might not want us, but he's going to get me anyway. Squaring his shoulders and making sure his blaster was at the ready, Gil walked on, forcing himself to keep a steady gait. "I'll stand by just in case," he said over his shoulder.

"It's your funeral, man," Jago said carelessly. "No bonus for being overeager. See you tomorrow. For the sick party Baxtir is gonna throw."

Gil heard the click of the other mercenary's boots as he walked away and quickened his pace toward the chamber where the prisoner cages had been set up. As he got closer he heard voices, although the words weren't clear and then the sound of a fist hitting flesh and a deep grunt of pain. Baxtir's laugh echoed as Gil entered the room.

Gil made sure the subaural comlink was open, so Jake and the others would know there'd been a change in plan.

His brother was on his knees, held tightly on either side by Baxtir's own thugs, hands bound behind his back and the self-styled Bringer of Death stood in front of Daveed, a gloating smile on his face. "Not so arrogant now, are you, soldier boy? How do you like the tables being turned and you being the one on your knees to me?" As Gil watched, Baxtir fisted his hand in the hostage's hair and yanked his head up at a painful angle. "If I didn't need you for the ceremony tomorrow, I'd beat you to death right here and now." He slapped Daveed across the face and his rings cut open his victim's cheek and lip.

Poised to strike again, Baxtir paused, hand upraised and glared at Gil. "What the fuck are you doing here? I told your boss not to post a guard tonight."

He shrugged carelessly. "I didn't get any word." Moving fast, he drew his blaster and shot the two guards.

As the men dropped, Baxtir went for his own weapon but Daveed kicked his legs out from under him. The terrorist shot wildly as he fell and rolled away, scrambling to get behind the nearest column. Gil rushed to place himself in front of his brother. Baxtir shot at them from his hiding place but Gil was already dragging Daveed to the side, behind the edge of the cage, which offered scant protection. Hastily he cut through his brother's bonds and handed him the knife and his backup blaster from his boot. "We've got friends coming," he said. "But we need to get out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Daveed replied. "Thanks for coming—I think you're a crazy fool but I appreciate the gesture."

"You'd do the same for me, probably a whole lot more efficiently." Gil squeezed off a shot. He had to be careful, with the other ten hostages in open cages with nothing to shield them but Baxtir didn't have such scruples.

"Give yourselves up or I'll start by shooting the women," Baxtir yelled.

"He's not bluffing," Daveed said. "Bastard's crazy."

A blaster bolt hit the women's cage, close to where the three prisoners were huddled together, proving Daveed's point.

"I'm going to try to outflank him. I can get at him if I go behind the cage and through the antechamber on the other side," Gil said, having studied the layout while he was on guard duty. "Cover me."

"I'll keep him busy." Daveed checked the power level on the mini blaster and grimaced. "Until the charge runs out on this toy."

"I'll be quick." Smoothly Gil slid out of position and faded into the shadows, making his way deeper into the room, as he'd planned, while his brother fired a barrage of shots at the pillar sheltering Baxtir, preventing him from getting off any more blasts of his own. He was close to entering the small antechamber from which he could creep up on Baxtir from behind when five more Jlonngi men burst into the prison chamber, weapons out. Daveed switched focus to the newcomers and drilled one man, who fell in a heap, but the other four spread out and took cover.

"The odds have changed in my favor," Baxtir said, clearly gloating. "Surrender to me now, both of you, or watch the other hostages be slaughtered. I can always send a team into town and scoop up more people to serve as sacrifices for tomorrow. Their deaths wouldn't have the same impact as killing Sectors citizens but I won't hesitate. You can't get out of the room anyway."

Gil hesitated. He had his persona mine, which would let him blow up the entire area, taking out Baxtir and his men, but Daveed, the other prisoners and he would die in the blast. Jake and the team would be setting off their own explosions in a minute or two. If he could stall Baxtir, there could still be a chance of pulling off the originally intended rescue.

"I'll count to five and then my men will kill the first hostage." Baxtir said. "We'll start with the old woman."

"All right, don't shoot. I'm coming out," Gil said, tossing his blaster into the lighted area.

One minute, Jake said in his ear on the subaural com. Midorri is planting the last bomb now and high tailing it to safety.

As he emerged into the light, Gil knew his brother was staring at him in disbelief but Daveed threw the mini blaster away and walked painfully to join him. The thugs were on them the next instant, pinning their arms behind their backs and forcing them to their knees on the hard stone floor. Holding his weapon at the ready, Baxtir stepped out of hiding and came to stand truculently in front of Gil. Grabbing him by the chin and forcing him to raise his head, Baxtir said, "Why did you do this? Is this some ploy of Arturo's? A doublecross perhaps?"

Gil remained silent. Another small quake shook the floor. The angry god was definitely waking up but would his wrath help them or make the situation worse?

Baxtir studied his face and then stared at Daveed. "I remember reading in the file you had a brother—is this him?"

"I'm not telling you anything, you sick fuck," Daveed said. One of the thugs struck him in the head with a blaster butt, knocking him face first on the floor before the other guard yanked him to his knees, nose bleeding and his lip split open from the impact with the floor.

The Jlonngi leader punched Gil in the jaw. "You'll make a good addition to my ceremony tomorrow. Maybe I'll spare one of my other hostages, for now. The old woman perhaps." He rubbed one eyebrow while pondering the idea, exchanging a glance with the nearest soldier. "Show my benevolent side, send her home in style."

"It would add to the drama, sir," the guard replied.

"I'll consider it but for now, we can proceed with my original plan." Baxtir holstered the blaster and drew a wicked knife, testing the sharp tip on his own finger before pressing it to Gil's neck. "A little playtime for me and my men, ahead of the main event in the morning, I'm not done exacting my revenge on your brother, so you can watch."

Blood trickled down his neck and under his collar but Gil kept his face blank. He'd be triggering the persona mine right about now if he didn't know he had reinforcements coming.

The floor rocked again from another, slightly stronger quake and immediately thereafter came a muffled series of explosions. Dust fell from the stones overhead and Baxtir and his men tried to keep their balance as a third quake hit. The Jlonngi looked around wildly and one bolted for the door. Just as he reached the threshold, staggering like a drunk, there was another explosion and the entire stone lintel collapsed, crushing him.

Gil made his move, grabbing the distracted guard on his left, battling for possession of the man's blaster. He got the upper hand and shot the Jlonngi in the gut, allowing the dying man to fall to the floor as he spun to check on his brother. Daveed lay across Baxtir where the Bringer of Death was sprawled on the floor. Daveed's fist was clenched around the hilt of Gil's knife which he'd used to good effect, slashing the cult leader across the throat and then plunging the blade into Baxtir's heart.

Jake and Jayna burst through the rear entrance, emerging from the corridor already firing at the four remaining Jlonngi, who fell to the floor. Maeve and Emily came next. Both ran immediately to where Gil knelt beside his brother.

"Are you all right?" Maeve asked, touching a fingertip to the slash on his neck. "I was so worried —I wanted to break in here even before the explosions but Jake was adamant we had to wait."

"He was right and I'm glad you obeyed his order," Gil said. Addressing Dr. Shane, who had her medkit open already and was working on Daveed's various injuries, he asked, "How's he doing?"

"He'll live," she said. "I'm doing a quick combat dressing and I'll give him Adrenephix so he has the strength to walk out of here but he's going to need a lot of time in the medbay."

Daveed stirred and opened his eyes, seeking Gil out. "Thanks," he whispered in a hoarse voice.

Gil clasped his brother's raised hand. "You'd have done the same for me."

"In a heartbeat."

"Keys or do we burn the locks off?" Jake asked impatiently. "We don't have time for a reunion right now."

Gil tossed him the key. "Jake Dilon, Special Forces badass, member of my crew," he told Daveed, who had an eyebrow raised. "Leader of this rescue mission."

"And my husband," Dr. Shane added. "Injecting Adrenephix now"

"Double dose," Daveed said. "We still have to fight our way out of here. I can handle it."

Jayna handed him a blaster. "Nice to meet you, brother. Yeah, we can use all the firepower we can get once we get out of this creepy temple."

"All right, listen up, people," Jake said in a loud voice, command ringing through his words. He was addressing the hostages, all of whom were pressed to the bars of their cages, watching the by play intently. "We're getting the fuck out of here and you're all coming with us. Any of you have previous military experience or weapons training?" A few hands went up, including one of the women, to Gil's surprise. "Good, we brought along a few spare weapons which we'll hand out in a minute. Here's the drill. Dr. Shane here is gonna check you out, top level only. She'll give you a battle stim if your heart can take it because we gotta get out of this damn temple through a rat's maze of scary corridors and then we've got a two klick hike through gnarly jungle to reach our extraction point. We've got a shuttle coming in hot for us on my signal. We'll get you home and we won't leave anyone behind."

He opened the first cage and directed the three women to where Dr. Shane and Maeve waited.

Gil helped Daveed to his feet and they moved aside. Jake joined them while Jayna dealt with freeing the prisoners in the other two cages. "Red is watching our six in the corridor and Owen is waiting at the outer wall. We need to make this quick so I'm sending them out in groups. I want the two of you to go in the first group." He raised a hand to forestall protest from the brothers. "This whole mission was about getting the two of you to safety. We'll be close on your heels, trust me."

Remembering Jake was in charge here, Gil swallowed his objections to going first. "Whatever you want is fine with me. You're calling the shots." As soon as Emily had cleared the three women and the first three men, two of whom were now armed as was the youngest woman, Jake slapped Gil on the shoulder and sent them on their way. Red was indeed waiting inside the narrow passageway which led to freedom and he nodded as Gil passed, moving in single file. "You'll need your lights—it gets pretty dark ahead but there's no way to get lost. Keep moving forward and you'll come out okay."

Activating the light on his blaster, Gil put Daveed in the lead and he took the rear. Maeve had remained behind, assisting Dr. Shane and there'd only been time for a quick kiss before Gil led his group out. The hostages moved fast, juiced up on the battle stim. There were more quakes, which seemed to Gil to be growing in intensity, but which served as inspiration for the escapees to break into a jog.

After an interminable few minutes in the fetid tunnel, he came to a partially open door, through which fresh air flowed. Owen stood there, facing the jungle, blaster at the ready and Midorri at his feet.

"Glad to see you in one piece, captain," he said to Gil. "You must be the brother?" Daveed and Owen introduced themselves and shook hands. "Midorri's going to lead you to the extraction point," Owen informed Gil. Hearing murmurs from the hostages at this news, the Cargo Master raised his voice and added, "She's a smart little thing and she knows where she's going."

"I trust her," Gil said, leaning over to give Midorri a chin scratch.

"Take point, captain," Owen said. "You're the best person to interact with Midorri."

"Are we expecting trouble?"

"I've had to kill a few nosy guards," Owen said, gesturing at the corner of the temple a few hundred yards away. "It's clear right now. Possibly the quakes, the explosions and the absence of Baxtir will create enough confusion for you to have an easy escape."

"Speed is the essence." Gil had no quarrel with anything Owen had done for them. "Got it. Jake and the others should be along soon. Emily was processing the hostages pretty fast."

"Time to go, sir." Owen plainly didn't want to engage in any further conversation. He pointed at Midorri and then at the nearby jungle and the pet took off in her gamboling run, tail flying.

"Follow me," Gil said to the group. "Daveed, take rear guard."

His brother tapped one of the armed ex-prisoners on the shoulder. "You're with me."

Crossing the open ground to reach the edge of the jungle was nerve wracking to Gil, even with Owen providing cover and the knowledge Maeve's drones were on overwatch. Despite the battle stim injects, the hostages were slow and clumsy in the rough terrain. Midorri waited for them, pacing back and forth restlessly until Gil was within a few feet of her, at which point she spun and darted into the trees. Obviously she had no desire to linger either. He kept her in sight with difficulty because there was no real trail. He had to cut away branches and knife-edged foliage to make a path for the people behind him. Midorri kept circling through the undergrowth to check with him.

"I know, girl, we're not too nimble here," he said on one of her trips, stroking her head as she rose on her hind feet to lean on his leg, ‘talking' to him in annoyed bursts of sound. "You're doing great."

She chirruped, dropped to all four feet and trotted off again, zigzagging a bit from her original heading.

Gil followed her without question. He checked on the group as best he could while staying in motion and maintaining contact with Midorri. The youngest woman was helping the oldest, her borrowed weapon slung on her shoulder. She met Gil's eyes and managed a wavering smile. "We'll make it."

"I'm not dying here," Bernice said, although her color was alarming and her breathing was coming in gasps.

Gil pointed at the unarmed hostage. "You, make yourself useful, come support her."

Reluctantly the man moved up to take most of the elderly woman's weight.

Midorri tugged at Gil's pant leg and he realized they'd come to a halt. "Not too much farther," he said, hoping he wasn't lying. "Once we get to our ship in orbit there'll be food and water and more medical care."

No one looked too convinced but when he turned to move out again, the ex-hostages followed without protest. After another twenty minutes of hard progress, Gil broke out of the tree line into a small clearing. There was no sign of the flyer but Midorri made it clear she was done and this was their destination. She sat in the shade and began an intense bath, starting with her toes. "All right, rest for a bit," Gil said to the hostages. "You all did a good job."

"Where's the damn ship?" asked the man who'd been detailed to assist Bernice. He did a sweep of the sky from side to side and then lowered his gaze to meet Gil's. Agitated, he spoke again. "Some rescue this is. Dragging us out into the jungle, following a weird animal, no flyer waiting. I don't know who the hell you are buddy or what organization you're from but this is incompetence of the highest order?—"

The other ex-prisoners tried to shout him down and Gil moved to physically restrain the man but Daveed got there first, knocking the complainer to the ground with a roundhouse punch to the jaw. "He's my brother, the others are his friends and you're damn lucky they cared enough to risk themselves for me. You're just along for the ride, buddy , so I strongly suggest you shut up and thank the Lords of Space you were in a cage next to mine. We could leave your ass behind. Understand?"

Rubbing his jaw, the man scrabbled away until he reached a rock jutting from the greenery and put his back against the uneven surface. "I didn't mean anything—I was merely trying to ask when the shuttle is coming."

Satisfied, Daveed rejoined Gil. "The stim your doctor gave me is wearing off," he said quietly. "How close are we to pickup? Has there been any pursuit?"

"I'm calling Theo, our pilot, on the subaural com now," Gil said. "His orders were to wait until the whole group was here so he only had to make one trip in and out of the hot zone. Maeve reported a few minutes ago her drones weren't finding any tangoes on our tail yet but we need to keep a lookout."

"Maeve's your girl?"

"Yes but it's…complicated." Gil didn't want to get into the details about her being his ship's AI, not in front of the other people. He had no qualms about explaining all of it to his brother but not now. There was no need to know at the moment.

Daveed studied his face and then nodded. "We can talk later." He strolled to where the three women had thrown themselves onto the ground and knelt to talk to the youngest one. Gil found it interesting how her face lit up despite the situation they were in and how tired and scared she must be. Daveed set his hand on her shoulder on a comforting manner as he talked and then he rose and addressed Gil again. "I'll watch our backtrail. Might be a good idea to find cover for the group and set a guard."

"Thanks for the reminder." Gil was chagrinned he hadn't already done as his brother was suggesting but wasted no time now in identifying the most defensible spot in the clearing and moving the former hostages to the dubious corner of safety. Everyone with a weapon was detailed to stand guard. Nerves running ragged, Gil eyed the sky where the biggest moon was beginning to set and hoped Jake would hurry up. Until he and the others were off this planet he couldn't relax and consider the rescue a success.

He went to offer Midorri a drink, pouring water from his canteen into a curved leaf. While she drank with enthusiasm he petted her back and thanked her again for her help.

The planet's surface rocked under his feet again and he could barely keep his balance. The angry deity was amping up his efforts, which was another reason Gil wanted to be safely in the sky. Who knew what the insulted entity would do, once he really got going?