No Shelter Here

Chapter 1-1

1

A golden sun dipped below the peaks of snow-capped mountains. The evening sky was a deep blue with stars twinkling faintly: calm and still and cold. But that stillness was soon broken.

Two bird-like Leyrian cruisers, each as long as a city block, swooped low over a forest of conifers. The wind they kicked up was enough to make trees sway and drop clumps of snow to the ground. They flew toward a Ragnosian installation, a square slab of concrete in the middle of the forest with watchtowers along its perimeter.

Dipping its nose slightly, the lead cruiser unleashed a raging, orange particle beam that streaked through the air. A flickering force-field popped up to protect the base, and the super-heated plasma diffused along it.

The Ragnosians were not idle.

Every watchtower supported a cannon, and those weapons twisted around to target their enemies. Green particle beams swept back and forth over the treetops, slamming into Leyrian ships, and bouncing off of their shields.

Directly behind the main assault vessels, a mid-sized troop carrier rushed toward the base at a low altitude. It was a sleek aircraft, shaped very much like a spearpoint with twin cannons on either side of its pointed nose. Those cannons released a steady stream of orange plasma pulses, but the barrage was just a distraction.

A hatch opened in the troop carrier’s belly, and then a metal triangle dropped out, descending to the forest floor. Once it had delivered its payload, the carrier pitched its nose up towards the heavens, but a streak of green ripped right through it, carving the little ship in half.

Two massive hunks of scorched metal flew right over the base and then crashed into the side of a mountain.

From space, the planet of Vandamar looked peaceful. Thin, white clouds swirled over blue oceans and continents covered in lush, green vegetation. At this distance, there was nothing to indicate that a battle was going on. Anna’s shuttle was parked so far away from the action that the planet was about the size of a large coin in her window. She knew that starships were taking potshots at each other while her people made flybys over the Ragnosian base, but she was too far off to see any of it.

Worry gnawed at her. It dawned on her that this was the furthest she had ever been from her homeworld. She was literally on the other side of the galaxy, and if anything went wrong – anything – there was a good chance that she would never see Leyria again. Seth’s anxiety echoed her own until it seemed like they were both caught in a feedback loop. She did what she could to comfort the Nassai, but their moment was cut short when an alarm started buzzing.

Seated in the pilot’s chair with her hands on the control console, Anna peered through the window. “That’s the signal,” she said. “The Gate is in position.”

She swiveled around.

Agent Aradeen Vrenara, a tiny, pale woman with a bob of short, black hair, stood at the back of the cockpit. “Guess you’re on your way then,” she said. “Don’t worry. We’ll wait for you.”

“I appreciate that,” Anna said. “But if things go sideways, you bloody well get out of here, and that’s an order.”

She got up and strode over to the other woman, clapping a hand on Aradeen’s shoulder. Then she pressed a hand against the palm-scanner, and the cabin door slid open.

Descending the steps, she found her team assembled and ready to go. Jack, Rajel, Melissa, Keli and Corovin all stood around the square table, all dressed in black from head to toe: pants, boots and thick, winter coats. Well…Except Corovin, who wore hulking, black armour with a blue visor on his helmet.

Jack looked up to meet her eyes, then nodded curtly. “Good to go when you are, chief,” he said. “Just give the word.”

Anna shrugged into a thick coat of her own, immediately regretting the way it made her feel as if she were sweltering. She mopped a hand over her face, brushing a strand of hair off her cheek. “Take positions,” she said.

At her command, they gathered near the SlipGate.

There were other Keepers in the cabin. Agents Haranel and Bassku stood by the airlock, watching them make the final preparations. “Stay with the reserve fleet,” Anna told them. There were about fifty shuttles parked a good distance away from the battle, ready to leap into action if they were needed. As far as the Ragnosians were concerned, they were backup for the main fleet. Their real purpose was to deliver Anna’s team to the planet’s surface.

She joined the others by the Gate and turned to face the cockpit door. A soft, whirring sound told her that the Gate was powering up, and then a bubble formed around all six of them, making everything on the outside – the table, the airlock, and the two young men who stood by, watching them depart – a blurry mess.

The bubble lurched through an endless, dark tunnel, rushing at breakneck speed. Moments later, they arrived at a place that was bathed in the deep shadows of twilight. Anna couldn’t see much; the trees were all patches of darkness that seemed to blend into one another. And then the bubble popped.

Closing her eyes, Anna nodded once. “All right,” she said, stepping forward. “We’re about half a kilometre north-east of the facility. Quick and quiet. Let’s move.”

Jack was the first one to trot up a snow-covered hill. He paused at the top, standing between two massive firs with snow on their needles. One glance over his shoulder to signal them to follow, and then he was running down the other side.

Melissa scrambled up the hill after him. Keli was next, though her ascent was marked by several muttered profanities in her native language. And then Corovin began his climb, lumbering up the slope and nearly losing his footing more than once. That heavy armour didn’t offer much in the way of agility. Anna followed, and Rajel brought up the rear.

It was a quick trek over uneven ground. Snow crunched under boots, but the sound and fury of the aerial assault would mask any noise. Small, Leyrian fighters rushed past overhead, spitting bolts of plasma from their wings, then breaking off in different directions. One went left, the other right. Flashes of green lit up the night sky as the base’s defenses tried to shoot down enemy craft.

Running at a quick jog, Anna shook her head. “Too easy,” she muttered under her breath. “Not a good sign.”

She followed a winding path around thick trees, nimbly avoiding outstretched branches that would scrape her. She quickly overtook Corovin, who was still plodding along and practically crashing through anything that got in his way.

Keli was down on one knee at the bottom of a gentle slope. The telepath shot a glance back over her shoulder, fixed her gaze upon Corovin and then grunted with disapproval. “Almost as loud as the ships,” she said.

“He’ll be fine,” Anna assured her.

Within minutes, the base came into view: a large, square building, surrounded by a chain-link fence with watchtowers on every side. Almost every one of those cannons was firing a particle beam into the upper atmosphere, but – according to Corovin – the base was designed to defend itself from attacks from above. No one lived on this planet. It was just empty wilderness; so, the ground defenses were minimal.

Anna crouched behind a tall tree with a hand on her holstered pistol, drawing a calming breath through her nose. “What do you see?”

Jack was squatting beside her and using a pair of binoculars to examine the base. “A few soldiers on the ground level,” he said. “Most are up in the watchtowers.”

“Where they can pick us off from above.”

A wry grin was Jack’s response, and then he shook his head. “Hey, you’re the one who signed up for this mission,” he countered. “And you’re the one who talked me into being a Keeper in the first place. Come to think of it, you are directly responsible for every time somebody shot at me. Did I ever thank you for that?”

Anna stuck her tongue out.

The thumping footsteps of Corovin announced his presence just before he dropped to his knees behind her. “The fence will be electrified,” he said. “And if it goes off, it will trigger an intruder alert.”

More fighters raced across the open sky, firing streaks of orange plasma that bounced off the base’s shields. The sudden flash made Anna’s eyes smart. She cursed under her breath and briefly wished that they would stop the air attack. That was no good, though. If they just stopped attacking, the Ragnosians would know something was wrong.

“Bent Gravity,” Anna said. “We go over quick and quiet.”

“That won’t work for me,” Corovin whispered.

“So, what do you suggest?”

Instead of answering, Corovin pulled a small, metal sphere off his belt and threw it with a growl. It landed at the base of the fence, releasing an electromagnetic pulse that expanded out in all directions. Sparks erupted from the fence posts.

Corovin was on his feet in a second, striding toward the base with a nano-blade extending from his right gauntlet. “We go through.” He sliced a hole in the fence, a gap big enough for two men.

“Intruders!” someone shouted.

Wincing, Anna slapped a palm against her forehead. “So much for subtlety,” she hissed. “All right, let’s…”

She became aware of six Ragnosian soldiers running toward them from the main building. Each man carried an assault rifle, and though their armour wasn’t nearly as advanced as Corovin’s, it would stop everything short of a high-impact round.

“Keli,” Anna said. “Try to-”

Corovin threw another grenade, and it landed among the group of soldiers. They had half a second to cry out before an explosion hurled them all into the air like toys kicked by an angry child.

Grinding her teeth, Anna seethed with barely-restrained fury. Her face was on fire, and beads of sweat rolled over her forehead. “Bleakness, take that man!” She ran to him, loping over the ground like a ghost on the wind.

Melissa got there first, and even in the dim light, Anna could tell that the young woman wanted to peel strips off Corovin’s hide. “Six people!” she spat. “You just killed six people! We could have stunned them!”

Corovin spared her a dismissive glance and then started toward the base. “This is war, Agent Carlson,” he said. “If you won’t kill the enemy, you may as well lie down and let them kill you.”

“I don’t care-”

Anna strode forward, putting herself in front of the man, and looked up into his eyes. “This is not just a tactical op,” she said. “This is a rescue mission. According to you, there are several dozen prisoners in there.”

She saw herself reflected in Corovin’s visor. The man shook his head. “All expendable,” he insisted. “Death is preferable to what they will experience without our aid. Destroy the base by the most efficient means possible.”

“I’ll make that call if I have to,” she barked. “And you will conform to the mission parameters that I’ve given you, which – for anyone who’s wondering – are the same as they have always been. Stun enemies wherever possible, otherwise do what you have to.”

Spatial Awareness alerted her to motion on one of the nearby watchtowers. It seemed that pausing to philosophize had cost them precious seconds. A man on the tower aimed his rifle over the railing.

More were coming from the main building.

Drawing her pistol in a flash, Anna raised the weapon and squinted as she took aim. She fired once, twice, three times.

Bullets pounded the oncoming group of soldiers, bouncing off body armour and causing the men in front to fall back against their comrades. The others broke formation, running this way and that.

The guy on the tower pivoted to aim at her.

Anna threw herself sideways, rolling through the snow. She came up behind a tree with the pistol in both hands.

Bullets hit the ground where she had been, kicking up rocks and twigs and the like. Melissa dove for cover, but Corovin made no attempt to protect himself. He just strode forward and let a personal force-field absorb each shot.