Chapter 18

Hostile territory described Kitsnujitar in many ways. Gravity seventeen percent stronger than Earth normal left us all tired just walking around. The human troops, fighting the Kits alongside the Okis were based in a bitingly cold region in the southern hemisphere. I knew the planet had nicer places, but for some reason nobody ever seems to fight a war in a garden spot.

The smuggler dropped us off in a small city, just outside the war zone. It was human held now, but at a heavy price, most of the buildings shattered. Despite this plenty of civilian Kitsnujitar remained, existing tensely alongside the occupying humans and Okis. A scattering of representatives of other species lived there too, some just moved in recently, looking to see what profit they could make from the local misery.

Grief and paranoia made us see spies everywhere and we decided to leave the city the same day we arrived. Maiga logged onto the local military net and hacked into the secret files that showed current troop deployments. She downloaded good maps of the region too. One wrong turn out in the combat zone could leave you lost, and very soon stuck in a snowdrift and totally stuffed.

To move around freely we had to have military transport. Travelling in a stolen vehicle would be risky though, so Rish and me went off to pick up something that nobody would miss.

We found it in a dusty corner of a repair depot. A small armoured personnel carrier, which, according to the work docket taped to the side, needed repairs to its gun and was awaiting a delivery of spare parts. With luck, nobody would miss it until that delivery arrived.

~/~/~

The mission had become almost routine now. We tracked down units. Ilyan, Tesla and Maiga talked at the officers. Then, if the C.O. allowed it, Ilyan talked to the troops. Many of them had already heard rumours. They knew him. Ilyan. The Prophet.

This helped us and worried me.

After nearly a month, we'd reached as many of the units in the area as we could without leaving behind the transport and hiking overland, which Maiga refused to allow Ilyan to even contemplate. We didn't have either the equipment or the experience to survive on foot in that kind of terrain.

Even with our vehicle we'd all felt the effects of the cold. Tesla had woken up one morning with frostbite - actual frostbite - in his fingers. Tanashi had fixed him up fine, but I think that scared the shit out of both him and Ilyan. So even Ilyan didn't argue when Maiga suggested we head back to the city and take off. Chiamajan was the next stop and I've heard it's damn pretty, so I didn't argue either.

~/~/~

We headed for the city. We'd gone far enough out that the journey back took several days. At night, we parked up far enough off the road to keep out of sight of any passing vehicles. Snow fell steadily and we needed to dig the vehicle out every morning. At some point a mechanic had bolted a couple of racks for snow shovels onto the side of the transport, to save space inside.

The night before we thought we'd reach the city I had the midnight to four watch. Wrapped up to the eyeballs I patrolled around the vehicle warding off hypothermia with a combination of brisk walking, a flask of coffee and a steady stream of muttered complaints.

I stopped on the offside of the vehicle, out of the wind, and took the small silver coffee flask from my pocket. Unzipping my coat enough to drink meant letting the cold bite savagely at my nose, but the hot, dark, wonder brew thawed me out. I sipped from the small cup cum lid thinking kindly thoughts about whoever invented coffee. I should ask Ilyan who we had to thank for that. He always knew stuff like that.

A few sips sent enough scalding heat spreading through me to keep me from thinking I would freeze solid at any moment. I screwed the cap on tight and shoved the flask back in my pocket. After zipping my coat up high enough to cover most of my face again I settled my rifle in my arms and continued my patrol.

The snow crunched under my boots. The moonlight reflecting off it made a spooky cold light and I wished my watch could be finished so I could snuggle up inside the transport with the others. I pictured them all slumbering warm and cosy together like puppies in a basket in that cramped space. Puppies? I smiled at the image.

The smile froze and fell off as I came around to the other side of the vehicle and stopped dead. A figure, a man, stood at the door to the vehicle, working on the lock. For a second I thought it must be one of our party, who'd got out for some reason and couldn't get back in. But he wore dark grey clothing, including a balaclava over his face, which I didn't recognise as belonging to any of our people.

Intruder.

He turned and looked right at me. I brought the rifle to bear, ready to take him down, but my gloved hand slipped clumsily on the trigger and he moved. He moved so fast that he reached me before I could fire. I raised the rifle to try to club him down, but he dodged and rammed into me from the side, shoving me hard against the vehicle. A glint of steel flashed at me but I caught his wrist before he could stick me.

I dropped the rifle into the snow, and started reaching for my own knife, before realising I'd left it almost unreachable on a belt sheath, under my heavy coat, damn fool that I am. Should have put it in a pocket.

Pocket! With my free hand I reached in and grabbed the coffee flask. Not a real weapon of course, unless I could smack him in the face with it. But seeing the flash of metal he grabbed my wrist with his other hand and we struggled, panting, breath freezing on the air.

Not feeling like dancing with him like this all night, I decided to call for reinforcements. I yelled and kicked the wall of the vehicle a few times. He looked around, alarmed, and I took advantage of his distraction to knee him in the groin, sending him staggering away groaning. It bloody hurt my knee too; the bastard had a damn cup or something for protection. He fell to his hands and knees, but jumped back up right away.

Reaching my knife would take too long and I'd lost sight of the rifle, so I grabbed at the nearest thing to hand. As he rose I swung one of the snow shovels from the rack and the flat of it smashed into his side. He fell down without even a shout.

I wouldn't let him even start to get up this time. I moved fast to stand over him, raising the shovel, ready to bring it down blade first and finish him.

"No!" He yelled. "Wait! I've come to help! I've come to help the Prophet!"

I froze, the shovel poised. Help?

I caught a glimpse of movement out the corner of my left eye and started to turn, but something grey flew at me and smashed into my head and I went down hard.

~/~/~

I woke up with Tanashi and Diliph hovering and a lot of noise and movement around the edges of my senses.

"Did you get them? Is Ilyan safe?"

Diliph's face fell and he looked at Tanashi. "Alright so I owe you ten. He didn't ask about his boots first."

"What about my boots?" I said, alarmed, trying to sit up and see my feet.

"They're fine," Diliph said, helping me to sit up against the side of the vehicle. I groaned at my splitting headache and raised a hand to find a dressing on the left side of my head.

Despite blurry vision, I could see well enough to make out a group of people. My people standing, surrounding two others kneeling on the ground. The strangers both wore grey one-piece suits. Their balaclavas had been pulled off.

"Get me up," I said to the medics. They protested of course, but when I started climbing to my feet anyway they helped me stand and took me across to the others.

"Jadeth!" Ilyan said, impatiently. "You're concussed. Will you please lie down?"

"I'm fine," I lied. I checked that the two intruders had been cuffed. "Right what's the story?"

Ilyan shook his head baffled. "They surrendered."

"What?"

"Yeah," Rish confirmed. "The captain and I came out fighting. You were down, and these two just gave up."

I stared at them and then shrugged.

"I must have scared them," I said, which made Jia laugh nervously.

"We don't want to fight!" The man said. A lean, intense looking lad, about thirty with very short blonde hair.

"You tried to stab me," I reminded him.

"I only intended to disarm you to stop you killing me."

"And this one," I looked at the other, a woman a bit younger than him. Dark skinned, short haired like him. Just as intense looking. "She hit me in the head."

"Kicked." She corrected me in a quiet voice.

I should have known. Fancy martial arts skills, knives favoured over guns, sneaking around invisibly. I knew what we had here.

"They're a couple of fucking ninjas," I sneered. "Black Ops assassins?" I kicked the man. "Right?"

"Yes," he said. "We're black ops, yes. I'm Akil, this is Esha."

"You actually have names?" Maiga said, coldly. She covered the man with her rifle. Rish covered the woman.

"What do you want here?" Ilyan asked.

"They came here to kill you!" Maiga sounded as if she considered that a pretty stupid question.

"Please, Captain," Ilyan said. "Let them answer."

"We came here to kill you," Esha said.

"Oh you two are dead meat!" I looked around for my rifle.

Akil frowned at his partner and spoke to her in a low voice. "Esh, we agreed. I do the talking." She shrugged.

"It's true." Akil went on, looking at Ilyan. "We were sent to kill you and have been tracking you for several weeks. We've spoken to many of the units you've contacted and they've told us about what you told them."

His eyes gleamed as he looked up at Ilyan and I recognised the look. The same one Diliph had when he first joined up. Hero worship.

"Sir! You're right! Everything you've said is right!" He rose as far as he could while still on his knees. Maiga shoved the muzzle of her rifle against his neck, but he didn't even seem to notice. Ilyan looked taken aback at the sudden gush of enthusiasm.

"And you're having an effect. Troop ships are heading back to Earth, against the direct orders of High Command! The rebellion is taking hold."

Ilyan stared at him now. We all did. Rebellion? When had this turned into a rebellion?

"We can help you, sir. Please, we want to help you."

"Help me how?" Ilyan asked, still looking amazed and shaken.

"Take us with you. High Command believes we are still tracking you to kill you, so we still have access to the networks. We can get information. We can send them false information about your location so the other assassins can't find you."

"The, er, other assassins?" Tesla picked up on an important point in Akil's little presentation.

"There's at least five other teams after you," Akil said, causing wide eyes and nervous looks around the group. "But we know where they are. We can help keep you safe."

I laughed out loud. A pair of assassins to keep us safe? Talk about setting a thief to catch a thief.

"What's so funny," Maiga asked, glaring at me.

"That these two are actually stupid enough to think we'd fall for this."

"Well," Ilyan said, not being nearly as suspicious as he should be. "They seem..." He looked at the woman, who had her head down, looking at the snowy ground she knelt on. "Esha?" She looked up at him. "Is this the way you feel too? Do you want to do what Akil is proposing?"

"It was my idea."

Ilyan blinked surprised. "Oh. Well, we need to think about this."

"We don't need to think about anything!" Maiga said. "We cannot possibly trust these two. That would be madness."

I agreed the full hundred percent with her.

"Ilyan," I said. "We can't trust them." I glared at them. "They could even be the bastards who killed Rin."

Akil at once burst into denials. Ilyan looked down at them, arms folded.

"Well then, what do we do with them?" He looked at me and then at Maiga. "Do you suggest we just kill them?"

"That'd be plan A," I said. Akil looked nervously at me. Esha just kept a weird blank stare fixed on Ilyan.

"He won't let you kill us," she said. Maiga scowled at her.

"What the hell do you know about it?"

"Because of what the people we've spoken to have told us about him." We all had to edge closer to hear her quiet voice. "He doesn't seek power. All he wants is for people to hear the prophecy and know the truth. We can help to make that happen. So he cannot kill us."

"I need to think about this," Ilyan said after the moment of tense silence that followed Esha's speech. He didn't listen to any more protests, but instead turned and walked away to a rocky outcrop and stood there facing the direction the sun would rise in a few hours.

I looked down at the two black ops weirdoes. Prophecy? I could make a prophecy myself right now. These two would join what I'd almost forgotten I used to call the weirdo squad. They should fit right in.

"Ninjas," I growled. They looked up at me. "Fucking space ninjas. Welcome to the fucking nutter patrol."

Ilyan came down from contemplating on his rock and said we were taking the ninjas with us. Maiga didn't like it. I didn't like it. Nobody liked it, but Ilyan asked again for the alternative. Kill them? Shoot them? Slit their throats? Smash their heads in with my shovel? Noticed it had become my shovel.

To be honest I don't think I could have done it. Not that they probably didn't deserve it, but a cold-blooded murder isn't my style. A fair fight, hell, an unfair fight, okay. But not an execution.

Akil and Esha retrieved their gear from where they'd concealed it nearby and we searched it thoroughly, relieving them of several small guns, knives and anything else dodgy looking. At first light they crammed into the vehicle with the rest of us and we set out for the city.

I'd have made them ride on the roof if I didn't want to keep an eye on the pair of them. I didn't even know if Ilyan meant them to be a part of the group now or if they counted as prisoners. Perhaps he didn't know either. He kept glancing at them looking puzzled. I watched them close. I'd never trust either of them, I knew that. And if they never got their weapons back, well that would be too soon for me.

We drove on until the sun had risen behind the grey snow clouds and then had some breakfast. I toasted my bread over the little stove and ate it slowly, enjoying the crispness and the melting butter I slapped on in a thick wedge. Some simple pleasures, a bit of toast and a hot cup of coffee, and I could almost forget about my lingering headache.

While we ate, Diliph crouched on top of the vehicle to watch the road. He called down when we'd almost finished clearing up.

"Vehicles approaching!"

Maiga climbed up and took the binoculars off him to check it out.

"Looks like a convoy. Ours." She leaned over the side. "Ilyan, Tesla, get inside. And you two." She addressed Akil and Esha.

Rish and me got in too, obviously unwilling to leave Ilyan and Tesla alone with the ninjas. I heard Maiga giving orders again and Tanashi, Jia and Vimal got in.

"Rish, Maiga wants you back outside," Tanashi said. Rish nodded as he twigged on. Marines only outside.

"The rest of you, get wrapped up and try to look sick," Tanashi ordered. "Maiga wants to pretend she's transporting us back to base for medical treatment. She'll ask to tag up with the convoy."

Good idea. We'd get back to the city easier that way. So we all wrapped ourselves in coats and blankets, snuggled down and looked ill.

After a couple of minutes we heard the roar of engines, and a stream of vehicles started to rumble past. One stopped and a Marine lieutenant jumped out. A big husky lad, made bigger by his bulky cold weather gear. He spoke with Maiga for a few minutes. We couldn't hear what the two of them said, could just watch as he examined some stuff on her snapper, glancing at Rish and Diliph, before he finally nodded and smiled at Maiga. He shook her hand and climbed back into his vehicle. Our three Marines got aboard, Rish in the driver's seat, Maiga up front beside him.

"They aren't going to search?" Tesla asked, sounding relieved.

"What for?" I said. "We're all humans." I glanced at the Black Ops pair. "We're all on the same side."

"The question is which side?" Esha said mysteriously. I shook my head. Gone in the nut that one. Total soup sandwich.

So we set off, part of the convoy, all cosy and safe with our fellow humans. Safe as houses.

I should have known this meant we'd be screwed over at the earliest possible opportunity.

~/~/~

The earliest possible opportunity came in the afternoon. The snow poured down thickly and the convoy moved slowly. I sat half-asleep, gazing out at the gloom and swirling snow.

I'd just woken from a dream of the meadow. The same meadow I so often dreamt of, but in the dream a blanket of snow smothered it. I struggled through the snow under an empty sky, followed by two dogs, both sleek shorthaired and red. Not a natural red, but red like a fire engine, as if they'd been dyed. They didn't attack me, just followed watching me with calm dark eyes in their red faces. And they walked in the glittering sunlit snow without leaving paw prints.

I've heard fireside tales of course, who hasn't? Tales of ghostly black dogs, some of them evil, but some that would guide you out of hostile territory. Never heard tales about red dogs though. I closed my eyes and started to drift again.

The shell woke me up. It woke the shit out of me.

Three vehicles ahead of us a large troop carrier blew up in a roar of flame, hurling metal and body parts into the air. The ground shook, and debris rained down on us, crashing and banging onto the roof. Something unidentifiable and unspeakable hit the windshield and slid off, leaving a wet red smear behind.

Tesla screamed. An honest to goodness shrieking like a little girl kind of scream. Ilyan, who sat beside me, cried out with shock too and grabbed my arm.

Rish did what every man and woman driving in that convoy had been trained to do. The vehicles broke out of formation and the tanks distributed throughout the convoy lined up close to each other, forming a wall across the road. They brought their great guns to bear in the direction of the shelling.

The rest of the vehicles drove into the lee, shielded from the shelling by the huge, thickly armoured tanks. We ended up a bit too near the back for my liking. I'd have preferred to be nearer to the enormous armoured beasts.

The Kits would try to drop their shells behind the tanks, on top of the more vulnerable, lightly armoured vehicles. They'd not got the range right yet though. The shells fell short, fell wide, fell long. But they'd get it right soon.

"Don't stop, please!" Tesla begged. "Get us out of here!"

"We're safer here," Maiga insisted. Our vehicle trembled as a shell hit nearby, trying to make her a liar, but her voice didn't shake. As she spoke, Rish pulled a lever that released a metal plate to cover the windshield. "See, we're well plated, anything short of a direct hit and we'll be fine."

We didn't feel fine. Tesla was clearly terrified. He put his head in his hands and moaned. Ilyan still clutched my arm, his grip convulsive. I prised his hand off and put my arm around him, hoping it helped him feel safer. The rest of them held up pretty well. The Marines were fine. The starship crew officers looked more nervous, but since we at least couldn't be sucked out into the vacuum of space that counted as being ahead of the game compared to other attacks they'd been in.

I was surprised by how wobbly the ninjas looked. More used to sneaking around in the quiet, I supposed. All the loud noise must be bothering them.

A shell hit a vehicle real close by. We couldn't see it of course, but the shockwave rattled us hard and we heard the debris raining down. Heard the screams. Tesla gripped the back of the seat in front of him and started to sob. Ilyan pushed against me, trying to get past to go to his friend's aid.

"No, stay there," I ordered. "You're protected." I'd put him in the safest seat in the vehicle, beside the thickest plating. "Maiga!" I called and when she turned to me, I went on. "Tesla's freaking. Help him out."

She scowled, maybe wondering why I asked her in particular. Or wondering what the hell I knew to be asking her in particular. But she came back and sat down by Tesla anyway, started talking soothingly to him. His sobs became more muffled and I turned to see he had his head on her shoulder, face turned into her neck.

I wished he'd shut up. I worried he'd upset Ilyan. I didn't blame Tesla for being so scared. Anyone who claims they're not scared during an artillery barrage is a liar. And I'd seen lots of men cry with terror the first time under fire. So I didn't blame him. I just wished he'd shut the fuck up.

"I should never have brought him with me," Ilyan said quietly to me. "Poor Tes. He's not cut out for this."

"Why'd he come with you?" I asked, also quiet, leaning close to him. Some conversation might help distract him from his fear.

"Because he believed in me. He believed and I liked that. I liked having," he grimaced, looking disgusted. "An acolyte. I don't think I ever really explained my plans fully to him. Not until it was too late."

"He doesn't have to stay. We could drop him off some place neutral."

"There's nowhere neutral any more. Do you think if we stopped tomorrow that High Command would call off their dogs?"

I glanced at the assassins. Esha, the soup sandwich and Mr Enthusiast-Akil.

"No," Ilyan went on. "I can't cut Tesla loose now. I owe him. He's given me support, money, loyalty."

Loyalty I wasn't so sure about. Not if he was doing Maiga behind Ilyan's back.

The next explosion came so close I swear we bounced off our wheels at the back. All of us gasped or moaned or cried out. Ilyan grabbed my free hand with both of his.

"We'll die!" Tesla gasped, grabbing onto Maiga. "We'll die if we stay here!"

"We'll die if we move," Maiga said. She raised her voice. "Hang on, everyone. It can't last much longer."

She couldn't know that of course. She just wanted to make everyone feel better. She looked across the aisle to me, no beyond me, to Ilyan.

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly.

Ilyan leaned right across me, chest almost on my lap and reached across to Maiga. She took his outstretched hand.

"I love you," Ilyan said, his voice so hushed that I doubt anyone but her, Tesla and me heard him. I turned away staring at the bulkhead, embarrassed. Ilyan sat up again and turned his face towards the wall.

I glanced across to see Maiga had her head down, face hidden. And beyond her, I saw Tesla glare with narrowed eyes at Ilyan. Then he pressed himself even closer to Maiga and took her hand. She didn't do anything to push him away at all, let him snuggle up.

I realised that the quiet outside had started to stretch out when Tanashi spoke up.

"Is it over?"

Rish leaned over to the radio and turned it on, flicked the dials for a second until we heard an urgent voice.

"...assist wounded onto transport. Repeat, all medics assist wounded onto transport. Moving out in fifteen, one five, minutes."

Tanashi and Diliph moved before anyone could stop them. When they opened the door, the sounds and the stink hit us. Burning. Blood. Smoke. Screaming.

"Why are we moving out so quickly?" Ilyan stared out at the horror as Rish raised the plate from the windshield.

"They've stopped shelling so they can send in ground troops," Maiga said. She disentangled herself from Tesla and moved up front. "Make what room you can, we'll be taking on casualties."

We did. Wounded men and women were unceremoniously shoved and dragged aboard. Tanashi and Diliph came back, their clothes, and skin and hair gory. We all tried our best to bandage wounds and offer comfort. Tesla looked ready to freak again as he pressed a bandage to the head wound of an infantryman. Despite his injury, the soldier still held his rifle, in a grip so tight his knuckles showed pale against his mid brown skin.

"Rish, get into the formation," Maiga ordered. Rish manoeuvred, avoiding the burnt out wrecks and trying to avoid the bodies on the road. Not always possible to do that and I just hoped like hell that any poor bastards we drove over were already dead.

A much-reduced convoy regrouped on the road and an order came over the radio. "Moving out two minutes."

Fuck two minutes, I wanted to yell. Drive the fuck on! I glanced back from where I stood wedged up behind Rish's seat. A young woman, insignia too bloodied and burnt to make out, now lay where I'd sat beside Ilyan. Her head rested on his lap and I watched him stroke her hair gently and saw his lips move as he spoke softly to comfort her.

The longest two minutes ever ticked by and the go order came over the radio. The convoy moved out. Behind us the tanks remained, most of them destroyed, but a couple still firing their guns at the approaching Kitsnujitar infantry.

We all belted along that road too fast for the icy conditions and the overloaded vehicles. More than one vehicle skidded out of formation and frantically chased to catch up. I hung on tight to the back of the driver's seat. My mouth tasted bitter and sick, as the adrenaline wore away. I wanted a drink, but the wounded had first call on the water.

Someone pulled on the back of my pants and I turned to see an infantryman, older than me, his sunburnt face pale and grey now, lying on the two seats right behind me. I sat on the floor, wedged into the corner between the wall and the driver's seat.

"You're okay, mate." I said, no idea if I lied or not. I couldn't even see his injury.

"Got a nip?" He asked.

I gave him a gulp of the rum I still carried in a hip flask, and then took one myself.

"Shell took the whole arse end of the truck off," he whispered. "All them kids."

Nothing I could say to that.

"Wish I coulda met my kid one more time." I looked up at him, saw a tear run down his face. "She was a pretty little thing, just like her mother. Just wish I coulda seen how she turned out." He went quiet, eyes closed. Not dead, I could see him breathing. I stayed quiet and let him dream about his little girl.

We arrived back at the city garrison just after nightfall and evacuate the wounded. Last off was the youngster Ilyan had been comforting. I'd looked at her when we arrived and knew we didn't need to hurry. When the others had all been unloaded, I went over to Ilyan. He looked up at me, eyes red and sore.

"She kept calling me Devi. I think he was her lover."

"Okay," I said, gently. I beckoned Diliph who came over and helped me move the dead soldier off Ilyan's lap. We carried her body out of the vehicle and placed her carefully on the ground.

"Dead one," I said to the medics collecting up the wounded. "We're empty."

The medic glanced at the dead girl as Diliph covered her with a blanket.

"Leave her for the snatchers," he said, referring to the crews that collected up the bodies after combat. He walked off. I flicked him the middle finger, and then got back aboard the transport.

Ilyan sat in near darkness, the only one still aboard. I couldn't sit down beside him, the seat now soaked with the dead girl's blood.

"Ilyan," I said, gentle as I could, seeing how pale and on the edge he looked. "Can I do anything for you?"

He looked up at me, eyes blank and bleak.

"You can get me the fuck off this planet."