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saw the light cruiser hovering over a grounded ship belching smoke, the
fighters coming in low from three directions while Manek, sitting just in
front of her, spoke rapidly into his throat-mike. Sudden deceleration thrust
her forward, her own head narrowly missing Manek's as Kabul thrust out an arm
to push her back. They hovered at the brow of a hill as the fighters went in
at ground level, disgorged troops running like ants, then flashes of fire and
they had penetrated the target, one engine still belching smoke and flame from
action by the hovering cruiser.
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- Chapter 4
Yesugen gripped her rifle hard in frustration. There was fighting, and by
tradition she could only watch.
The new Empress of Shanji did not have such a tradition to contend with, and
Yesugen still envied her for it. She could lead them all, but on Meng-shi-jie
it was the men who did the fighting, and they kept her in a safe place.
In minutes, it was over. Manek turned and grinned at her. "We've taken the
ship, and only a few have been killed. We can move in, now."
The flyer shuddered and moved forward, landing several meters from an open,
scorched hatch in the grounded, delta-winged vessel. The cruiser still hovered
above them, a threatening presence. Several troopers emerged, and formed two
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lines radiating from the hatch, their rifles held casually, but at the ready.
Yesugen walked towards them, aware of Kabul insinuating himself slightly in
front of her as a shield in case there was trouble. But they waited only a
moment before people began spilling out of the ship in a panic.
The children came first: all ages, faces blackened and streaked with tears.
Many were crying, the older ones looking stunned, but stoic. Women came right
behind them, some with babes in their arms, pushed roughly from the hatch into
the waiting grasps of troopers. Manek listened hard to his head-set, then
turned and waved his arms. "Everyone back! They've set bombs in the ship. It's
going to blow!"
Everyone was running. Men in civilian clothes and armored troopers had begun
emerging from the hatch when Kabul grabbed Yesugen's arm and hustled her away.
When she stumbled, his arm went around her, and he lifted her from her feet
with surprising strength, but in the excitement of the moment she didn't think
about being angry at his boldness in touching her.
They ran back to the flyer, and there were screams behind them: children
calling for their parents, women screaming the names of their men, and then a
muffled thud that made the ground shudder.
Smoke and fire belched from the hatch, along with the blackened body of a
trooper. To her right, troopers were now streaming out from two other hatches,
dragging screaming people with them. For one moment, Kabul twisted her around
to face the flyer, his arms around her as the ground shuddered three more
times in rapid succession. The third explosion knocked them down, and Kabul
landed on top of her, burying his face into her back as people screamed all
around them.
Kabul rolled off of Yesugen and helped her up, looking very embarassed.
"Sorry, ma'am," he whispered.
"I was only trying to protect you." For the first time in her memory, he did
not look at her directly when he spoke.
Yesugen brushed clods of dirt from her hair and clothing. The third explosion
had ripped open the belly of the ship, and thick, black smoke was erupting
from the jagged opening there. People were getting up on their feet, others
just sitting on the ground to watch the smoke. A shout, then another, a man
and a woman running towards each other and coming together in an embrace.
Other cries followed, women finding children, men finding both, whole families
coming together again. But not all were so lucky.
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- Chapter 4
Within the hour, there were those who walked in a daze, sole survivors of
whole families, or those who clung together and cried over the loss of a
child, a mother, or a father.
Yesugen walked among them, felt an ache in her heart, but could not bring
herself to reach out in comfort. Kabul stopped often to put a hand on a
shoulder, or give a comforting word. It bothered her to see a man doing that,
while she could not. These people had not been invited here, and were not
wanted here, but why couldn't she feel compassion for their loss of a loved
one? She bit her lip in sudden anger at herself. What was wrong with her?
A group of dispirited-looking men sat on the ground, surrounded by a ring of
troopers. Yesugen went to them, Kabul and a trooper right behind her. A young
lieutenant snapped to attention as she approached.
"Who are these people?" she asked.
"Crew members, ma'am. All we could find. The rest barricaded themselves in the
control area, and apparently blew themselves up with the rest of the ship's
interior."
Yesugen shook her head. "That makes no sense to me. Why would they do that?"
"Suicide over execution, ma'am. They'd begun murdering their passengers when
we got to the cargo bay."
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"Have you questioned them?" Yesugen stood with hands on hips, glaring down at
the captured men.
"No, ma'am. We're waiting for Captain Manek."
"No need to wait," she said. All the prisoners looked up sullenly at her, but
one smiled faintly, a kind of smirk, and she pointed at him. "You! Stand up,
and come here." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]