Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [129]
Eighty
Davlin Lotze
Llaro had plenty of stars to light their way, and Davlin's eyes adjusted easily, allowing him to focus on the goal ahead. Another mission. He'd never dreamed he would be returning under the cover of night to break back into the stockade settlement.
He had maintained a vigorous pace cross-country, and Hud Steinman had kept up. They understood the urgency, and both cared about the people trapped inside those resin-cement walls. Hearing Clarin's message, a whole group of the escapees had wanted to come along and join the imminent fight, but Davlin flatly refused. 'You're here now, and you all have to take care of each other. Two of us, that's enough. I don't want to have to rescue anybody a second time.'
They approached the settlement carefully, alert for any clicking or rustling sounds of warriors on the hunt. They saw the glow from makeshift lights the people had set up to drive away the shadows. Nearby, the expanded Klikiss city shone with a strange phosphorescence, and the framework of the newly erected transportal stood out in the open, large enough for the breedex to send whole armies of Klikiss off to kill other subhives.
As Steinman had promised, the openings in the stockade wall were barricaded, but not particularly secure. Davlin used a military-issue cutter to break through the makeshift gate and quietly worked it open.
Nervous and unable to sleep, the colonists kept watch, walking the streets of the enclosed town. The two men were quickly discovered and welcomed. A messenger ran to fetch Roberto Clarin, and Davlin got ready to begin his work.
Clarin had wasted no time recovering the weapons and equipment Davlin had stashed. When he came up to them, the Roamer leader's eyes were bloodshot, his dark hair tousled, it appeared as if he hadn't slept in days. Mayor Ruis looked just as haggard.
'You people from Crenna have got to stop getting yourselves into these situations,' Davlin said in his usual humourless voice.
Ruis's face lit up. 'Get us out of this one, and I promise we'll be the most boring people in the Spiral Arm.'
The prisoners had already made some preparations to defend themselves, and on an old datapad Clarin had scratched out what they'd accomplished. 'Margaret Colicos can't tell us exactly when the breedex will make its move. We've collected enough to make the bugs hurt plenty, and we've got plenty of volunteers to do the hurting. Crim and Maria Chan Tylar are already practising with the weapons, training teams of shooters.' He grinned. 'By putting us in the stockade, the Klikiss gave us the defensive high ground. A tactical error. We can stand on the walls and shoot down into them as soon as they come for us.'
'You'll run out of bullets before you run out of Klikiss,' Steinman said.
'But we'll make a mess while we're at it.'
'This wall was meant to keep you in, not to keep the Klikiss out.' Davlin ran his finger down the list: projectile weapons, stunner pistols, hand-held crowd-control devices. Many colonists had begun to build clever bolt-holes, installing hidden hatches, false walls, and secret rooms where they could hide under dire circumstances, but Davlin doubted it would help them much. 'We have to be ready at any time,' Clarin said.
'You are ready, but I can make you more ready. Every hour helps to maximize the destruction we can cause.' He tapped his finger on Clarin's list. 'I can use construction explosives to rig landmines around where the Klikiss come and go into the stockade. I can also place bombs against this thick wall. We'll blow it open if we need to evacuate in a rush - but once that happens it's already the end-game.'
Davlin glanced at his chronometer. 'Four hours until dawn. We have to move quickly. Let's just pray that we get an extra few days before all this hits the fan.'
Eighty-one
Jess Tamblyn
After he and Cesca departed from Theroc, having advised King Peter and Queen Estarra on Roamer clan politics, the whole Spiral Arm was theirs to explore.
Jess was excited to be alone