Beyond the Sky: Chapter 21
Collateral Damage
Naaca was a fuzz-furred new recruit, and that made her predictable. She went to the market too regularly, Velli had noticed. In this case, she was thankful.
She wore a hat, and kept her distance from the Occupation troops standing around with blue camouflage and black rifles, feeling the human communications device in her pocket, just in case. She had to remind herself that yes, it really did happen. She’d been up in space, with aliens, on their ship. As she looked around, at the people milling past and vendors hawking their wares from sidewalk stands, everything felt...different. Like she wanted to grab them and shout there was more out there, beyond this world.
But first, she had something to do. Naaca exited the air-conditioned markethouse with a bag of food—too big, another sign of inexperience. Some puffed-up soldier might ask who she got it for, and Velli didn’t trust her skill at lying.
Velli slipped into an alleyway and waited until Nacca passed, then reached out and pulled her in, covering her mouth. Tins of vegetables and meat thudded to the sandy street.
“Don’t scream,” Velli whispered.
Naaca’s ears perked up. Velli relaxed her hand. “We thought you were dead! Again!”
“It’ll take more than that to put me down.” Velli helped her scoop up the scattered groceries and assumed a friendlier posture for the sake of anyone passing by. “Is the Commander all right?”
“The doctors patched him up good as new.” Naaca paused. “What happened? They’re saying the Princess got taken by the Black Triangle.”
“It’s a long story. I barely escaped with my life.”
Their new base was in the old Burrower tunnels out east, a few other fighters out getting supplies gave them a ride. Standing outside, among the overgrown orchard and scattered wooden structures, were Hinven (preparing to depart on a courier run), and someone familiar.
“Jasam?” she exclaimed. He stood on watch, holding a worn wood-framed rifle. “How?”
“I could ask the same of you,” he replied. “Last I saw; the monsters took you into their craft.”
Naaca added, “We thought they’d killed you for sure, or locked you away in the Amalgamation or wherever it is they come from.”
“They were after the Princess, not me. They tossed me out over a field, I had to sneak back.” Velli carried out her lie. “I need to speak to the Commander.”
“He’s in the main chamber.”
Naaca and Jasam hurried behind as Velli descended the low tunnels fast as she dared, coming to the common cavern with noonday sun shining down its shaft. Another Trinn, even bigger than Jasam, sat cleaning weapons. A mercenary from the free North, Naaca had mentioned. He looked up at Velli, sensing trouble.
Udan stood beside the door to his office, talking to Teliv. She seized his lapels and shoved him against a crate. “Why didn’t you tell us!”
She was vaguely aware of Naaca yelling at her to stop, but leaned into his faced and shouted, as Teliv attempted to restrain her. “You’re building cascade-reaction bombs with the Burrowers! Don’t deny it!”
Teliv let go, stared at Udan as he regained his footing. “Well?”
The Commander brushed off his uniform, facing Velli with an expression between outrage and fear. “How did you know?”
“The Burrower workshop, they had radiation detectors. And the things they said...” she lied again. “I wasn’t completely sure.”
“It’s true?” another fighter asked, after a few silent seconds “You are? That’s what we were searching for?”
Udan stepped back, took a breath. Things were getting tense, all present listening with full attention. “Headquarters had three.” The eyes of the Trinn mercenary standing across the chamber widened. “Where they got them, they wouldn’t say. The Burrowers got involved for their knowledge—they’ve figured out the secret physics, or some of it at least. They would finish the bombs for us.”
“And then what?” Velli demanded.
“We detonate one. In Mespreth harbor.”
Teliv drew his knife and grabbed Udan by the throat. “We have countrymen there! What of them?”
Udan met his eyes. “Collateral damage. You said it yourself—you’d rather die than be enslaved.”
Putting his blade to Udan’s throat, Teliv said, “Perhaps it is time for a change in leadership?” A simple enough matter, if everyone kept to a story.
“No, wait!” Velli shouted, then looked back to Udan. “Why?”
“Ever since the Long War, Mespreth and the Amalgamation have acted like they rule the world. The rest of us do as they say, pick one side or suffer the wrath of both.”
“For all I know, my brother’s in Mespreth. When I signed up you said we would save people like him! And what if you did do it? The Long War didn’t destroy us, but Mespreth’s revenge will!”
“That’s why we had three.” Udan straightened up, but Teliv kept his hold. “Explode one to show our resolve, keep the others in reserve to deter attacks.”
“They burned the Forsaken Lands to ash! What makes you think they wouldn’t do the same here?”
“Believe me, we discussed this at length. There’s many at Headquarters who opposed having anything to do with it.”
“Why didn’t you agree with them?”
“I thought we’d been fighting long enough, that this was our chance to end it for good.” He sighed. “Perhaps I was wrong. The warheads are gone now, in any case.”
“You must have some idea who took them. Help us get them back, then talk some sense into Headquarters!”
The Trinn mercenary, who hadn’t uttered a word thus far, said, “I concur.”
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