Chapter Eighteen
Alibi's Cruiser comes out of Transpace on the edge of Dakhur territory. He sets their course for the nearby world of De'Ramanar.
"I want to bring back an Eldred, living or dead" Alibi tells Kit as they approach the planet. "I want to find and bring back proof the Tek'Tah are hiding them... and Ashumeth! Then maybe the Solar Alliance will show a little backbone towards the Tek'Tah."
"The Tek'Tah are of a proud and mighty race," Kit observes. "The Solar Alliance is not as powerful as you assume, compared to the Tek'Tah."
"No?"
"Neither are the Dakhur," Kit admits. "But we have good relationships with the Greater Tah. I have even advanced word to the Greater Tah on behalf of the Solar Alliance. A grievance against the Tek'Tah."
"When did you do that?" Alibi asks.
"When I was home on Dakhur," Kit explains. "It was a good visit. My family has regained its honor. That is why I could file the grievance. The appearance of Eldred on De'Ramanar merely backed up my suspicions that the Tek'Tah look to expand into Dakhur space..."
"Hey! Wait a sec," Alibi interrupts. "If your family has its honor back, you don't have to kill me anymore, right?"
"Perhaps not," Kit purrs. Alibi quickly changes the subject.
"So, who is this 'Greater Tah'? Is he like the leader of the Tek'Tah? Someone we haven't heard of before?"
Kit hisses his cat-man version of laughter.
"Not by far!" Kit says as his hissing subsides. "The Tek'Tah are but one small family, an individual race among the Greater Tah."
"You mean there's more of them? More 'Tah'?" Alibi can't believe it.
"Many more. The Greater Tah," Kit says matter-of-factly, as if explaining it thoroughly. "You did not know?"
"No," Alibi admits. "The Solar Alliance thinks the Tek'Tah are the, well, the whole thing. Their whole race."
Kit hisses with laughter again.
"The Solar Alliance is not as smart as it thinks it is," Kit says. "The Tek'Tah are only one family. And the worst branch of it, at that. Our races are just unlucky enough to be their neighbors."
Their conversation on interstellar relations concludes as Alibi has to focus on ending the Transpace jump. He brings the cruiser out of Transpace a safe distance from the planet De'Ramanar.
"May I help with the course?" Kit offers. "I was just here. I think I can bring us down undetected. I was able to do so with my smaller ship."
"Absolutely," Alibi says. "I'm relinquishing control to you as co-pilot. The con is yours, Mr. Kit!"
"Thank you," Kit says, now intently focusing on the panels floating in front of him.
Kit plots a hyperbolic course, down and around the sun of De'Ramanar, so they will approach the planet from out of the sun, hopefully confusing any Tek'Tah or Eldred ships in the system. Alibi tries to relax, but it always makes him nervous sitting while someone else drives his ship. He fidgets as Kit flies.
"I found a relatively flat bottomed crater a short distance from the old Eldred installation on De'Ramanar," Kit tells Alibi as he bring the Cruiser down through the planet's atmosphere.
"Are you sure that toxin is all gone?" Alibi asks nervously as they descend through sickly pink and gray clouds.
"I have landed and made it out alive once myself already," Kit says. "I am what you humans call 'living proof'," he says. "Get ready for landing."
Alibi straps himself in and braces for whatever the landing brings. Then Kit cycles down the engines, and Alibi realizes they're already down.
"Smooth!" Alibi compliments him.
"Thank you. We're about fifteen clicks from the Eldred installation. We have landed with the setting sun, so it is nearly night. We can approach under cover of darkness. Do you have night vision goggles?"
"Right here," Alibi says, holding up a pair. "Gotta be able to keep up with you!"
"You would need much more than enhanced eyewear to even attempt to do that," Kit tells him, sounding matter-of-fact. "I will temper my pace so as to not tire you."
"You are too kind," Alibi says with heavy sarcasm. The two head for the airlock and the surface of De'Ramanar. They make their way through rough scrub vegetation under cover of darkness. Kit lets Alibi set the pace. Alibi pushes himself to cover the clicks in as little time as possible. A fast trot through the scrub brings them to the outskirts of the installation in just over an hour.
Alibi uses his goggles' magnification feature to zoom in on the installation.
"Will you look at that! Eldred, alive and kicking," Alibi says in a whisper.
"Or at least walking along the perimeter fence," Kit comments dryly.
"Let's go," Alibi says, starting to move. Kit puts a furry hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"What is our plan?" Kit asks.
"Well, we want to bring an Eldred back with us, right? So we need to go down there and somehow lure one out of the installation. Club one over its fuzzy little head... or maybe just shoot one and bring it back with us! Something like that," Alibi says. "We'll improvise."
"Unwise," Kit disagrees. "Look." He gestures off to the far left.
"Tek'Tah. Shit," Alibi curses their luck. A large Tek'Tah ship is parked at the edge of the installation. Several reptilian aliens mill about it. "That sucks. Could deal with either the Tek'Tah or the Eldred separately, not together."
"We must be careful," Kit advises. "And we should have a plan."
"How well do you know the layout here? Any idea what we're walking into?"
"I do not know as much as I would like to know," Kit admits. "But nothing the Eldred ever built was very complex. It depends on how old the installation is. This one seems older. There may be some ancient construction that is more labyrinthine."
"So you don't know."
"Not to any large degree, no," Kit confirms.
"Sounds like we might HAVE to improvise," Alibi points out. A thought occurs to him. "Why not try to get one of the Eldred to chase us? We can get one of them isolated from the group, lead them back towards the ship. Then when we bag it, we won't have to carry it as far. There are all kinds of pluses."
"Will your goggles record footage?" Kit asks. "We should document this Tek'Tah complicity."
"Any footage I produce is not acceptable," Alibi notes wryly. "Or so I've been told."
"You should capture it anyway," Kit tells him. "It may still prove useful."
Alibi scans the horizon with his goggles, recording footage of the Tek'Tah forces mingling with the Eldred. A large human figure catches his attention. He adjusts the goggles' magnification to bring him into focus. It's the musclebound drooling man, the one who used to be shackled to the wall of Ashumeth's lab! Only he's no longer drooling. If what Alibi, Kit and Krish fear they've discovered holds true, that big body might now be inhabited by the bio energy from one of the Ancient Enemy.
The big man is speaking with what appear to be the Tek'Tah leaders. He's not there for long. He turns and walks away, disappearing behind the Tek'Tah gathered around the alien ship.
"Ashumeth is down there," Alibi tells Kit. "I just captured him on some footage."
"I believe that is about as close to actually capturing him as we are going to get," Kit says. "Your plan to have the Eldred chase us is a good one. Perhaps if we wait, the Tek'Tah will leave."
"Optimistic," Alibi says. "We could wait until daybreak. See if they move."
"And then?" Kit asks.
"Improvise?" Alibi grins as he shrugs.
Their waiting pays off. As the sky lightens with the first signs of daybreak, the Tek'Tah start filing into their ship. Kit and Alibi wait past the dawn as it looks like the Tek'Tah ship will be leaving soon.
A low hum builds as the Tek'Tah ship's engines finally power on, lighting up with the rising disc of the local sun. The hum grows in intensity and is soon joined by a loud, high-pitched whine. Alibi and Kit watch as the ship rises into the sky overhead, and then disappears.
They turn their attention back to the Eldred.
"Let's let
the activity within the installation simmer down before we take any action," Alibi says.
"Good idea."
Eldred continue patrolling the perimeter fence, but they're fewer in number now. Alibi and Kit focus on their next step.
"Let's go try and lure one of them out of the installation. Grab it and go. Then we can take off out of here," Alibi suggests again."We've got all we're going to get on Ashumeth. There's no reason to go inside of there, is there?"
"None that I can see," Kit agrees. "We must get closer to 'lure' one of them out, however."
"Closer?" Alibi asks.
"We do not want the entire contingent of Eldred to come pouring out of there. We need to get closer so we can draw the attention of just one or two Eldred, not the whole population," Kit explains.
"All right," Alibi reluctantly agrees. "Let's move up some."
They creep closer to the fence. The Eldred on the other side don't seem to notice as they approach.
A SNAP alerts Kit and Alibi to company behind them. Seven, maybe eight Eldred patrolling outside of the perimeter of the facility have stumbled onto them!
Kit is unarmed. Alibi has a hand laser. The Eldred have blasters and other energy weapons. The Eldred begin shooting!
FWAAAAASSSSHHHH!
KSHHHHAAAAHHH!
Alibi feels a wave of heat as an energy bolt ignites the brush next to him.
"Where did they come from?" Alibi shouts. No point in being quiet now.
"I do not know. Behind us somewhere," Kit replies, still sounding calm.
FWAAAASHHH!
An energy bolt blast between sends them both flying.
"Split up! Meet back at the ship!" Alibi shouts as he's sent sprawling in the opposite direction from Kit.
"Will do!" Kit shouts. The cat-man takes off through the undergrowth. Alibi scrambles for cover. He looks up and fires his hand laser at the Eldred.
ZZZZZZZTTT! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTT!
The Eldred fire back at Alibi. He can hear them firing at Kit, too.
FWAAAAASSSHHHHH! FFFWaaaaaaassssssshhhhh!
They aren't coming close to hitting Alibi.
"Are they even aiming at me?" He wonders aloud.
Alibi tries to run, to get away from the Eldred pursuers.
FWWAAAAAASSSSSHHHH!
A bolt hits right next to him.
"Guess they are!"
He's forced to move toward the installation fence.
FWAAAASSSHHH!
The Eldred seem to be firing behind him, making him move toward the fence.
"Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit..."
Alibi doesn't have a chance to fire his laser before another energy bolt blasts nearby, blowing hot breath on the back of his neck.
FWAAASSSHHH!
He scrambles back along the installation's fence.
Alibi tries to see Kit, but he's lost track of him.
"Let's hope the Eldred have lost track of him, too!" Alibi thinks to himself out loud. "Maybe he'll still be able to capture an Eldred. Hope they don't capture me first!"
He brings up the hand laser and fires it towards the Eldred.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTT! ZZZZTTT!
As he focuses on those in pursuit, he fails to see an Eldred on the other side of the fence, inside the installation perimeter. The alien carries a long, stick-like device. The alien lifts the stick and pushes it through the fence, and into Alibi's side.
"Huh?"
Alibi has only a second to register the poke before a jolt of energy is released by the truncheon, electrocuting him with a massive electric shock that knocks him out.