Three - Michael Jan Friedman [69]
Then Kovajo struck Vigo again, making the light dance in front of his eyes. The weapons officer struggled desperately not to let consciousness slip away.
[207] The rebel grinned, his face swimming in front of Vigo’s. “You’ve had it good for a long, long time. But that’s going to change.”
And he cocked his fist to do some more damage. But this time, it didn’t have a chance to land—because Vigo reached up and grabbed his tormentor by the throat.
His air supply cut off, Kovajo seized Vigo’s wrist and tried to pry it loose. However, the weapons officer had learned a few things about windpipes in his Academy hand-to-hand combat classes, and none of them were good news for Kovajo.
“Damn you—!” the rebel croaked.
You’d like to, Vigo thought.
But he didn’t let go.
Kovajo’s face darkened by degrees. His eyes looked as if they were trying to pop out of his head. And with every second that passed, Vigo gained more control over his senses.
Finally, the rebel managed to free himself from Vigo’s grasp. He sat back and drew in a long, wheezing breath, eager to get air back into his starving lungs.
But by then, the weapons officer was ready for him. With a jerk of his body, he thrust Kovajo off him. Then, scrambling to get his legs underneath him, he hit the rebel as hard as he possibly could.
The Virtues relegated against his taking satisfaction in a victory, no matter how hard fought. But just this once, Vigo ignored the Virtues.
He savored the feeling of his fist plowing into Kovajo’s jaw, and the sight of the rebel’s head bouncing off [208] the wall behind him, and the sound Kovajo’s skull made when it struck the unyielding metal surface.
Just this once, Vigo thought, as he watched Kovajo slump to the floor, unconscious.
“Good for him,” someone said.
Vigo turned and saw Ejanix walking toward him. He looked as satisfied as if he had knocked Kovajo out himself.
The weapons officer staggered to his feet and held up his hand for his friend to stay back. “They’re still fighting in there,” he said, indicating the storage room.
“Not anymore, we’re not,” said Sebring.
Turning, Vigo saw the human and Runj emerge from the chamber, looking wrung out with the intensity of their effort. But at least they were whole and unharmed.
Vigo retrieved the phaser Kovajo had dropped. Then, together, they went back to see to Echevarria. Fortunately, she was still alive—and would remain so if they got her medical help before too long.
Ejanix wrapped his hand around his friend’s arm. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “You were right about Kovajo.” His eyes screwed up in their sockets. “He killed Riyyen—beat him to death.”
Vigo was saddened by the Dedderac’s death, but relieved to hear Ejânix’s expression of remorse. “It could have been worse,” he said, “if you hadn’t helped us when you did.”
His mentor sighed. “I just wish—”
Whatever he was about to say, it was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Vigo tracked them to their [209] source—and saw a rebel at the opposite end of the corridor.
No one else had noticed him yet, but the rebel had noticed them. In fact, he was aiming his phaser at them, meaning to destroy them.
Vigo was the closest to him. But worn down as he was by Kovajo’s blows and sheer weariness, he couldn’t move quickly enough to fire first.
All he could do was cry out a warning.
And yet, miraculously, the rebel’s beam never reached him—because someone interposed himself between Vigo and his adversary, taking the full brunt of the deadly energy emission.
Then, before the rebel could fire again, he was slammed from the side by another phaser beam. The security officers, Vigo thought numbly.
But by then, he was looking down to see who had saved him from certain death—and selflessly forfeited his own life in the process.
No, Vigo thought, as his eyes supplied the answer to his question. By the Virtues, no ...
It was Ejanix.
Dropping to his knees beside his mentor, Vigo surveyed the terrain of his friend’s face. There was dark blue blood bubbling from the corner of the engineer’s mouth, a hint