Free Star Force: Penance (SF49) by Aer-ki Jyr Page A

“Number 1 on your
list just logged onto a terminal,” she said, isolating the location within the
building and throwing Paul a priority waypoint marked as 62 levels below them
in the same quadrant of the building.
    “There’s timing,” Morgan commented.
    “Best route,” Paul asked, with Kara giving them three
options with one highlighted, indicating a vertical shaft buried within the
walls.
    “Nice,” Morgan said, walking to the door and taking a
look outside with her Pefbar as the trio got ready to move. “Looks clear, but
let’s let the shadow go first just the same.”
    “My pleasure,” Kara said, her scales disappearing into
a null void shadow that really did disappear within the dark room, then became
‘visible’ again as she opened the door and walked out into the hall, more optical
illusion than silhouette.

 
    7

 
 
    Ken’slan pawed the button, scrolling to the next
report on the fighting on Admat, limited as they were. He had access to more
information than the news kiosks, but still he was getting an incomplete
picture of what was happening. Suddenly the Scionate had decided to invade the
Star Force world, and from the pieces that he was pulling together the leader
of the Grisst bloodline was coming to the unlikely conclusion that they had
actually lost…and lost badly, but no official reports had made their way to the
public as of yet, which was unusual, for as a race the Scionate fiercely
supported one another. When one went into combat, all did, at least from a
moral standpoint, thus news of battles was not meant to be suppressed.
    The news Ken’slan was getting was fresh, but something
of the launch of the attack should have been made public, with all the notice he
got being a copy of the military orders forwarded to him by members of his own
bloodline on the ships and in the ground forces that had been hastily
dispatched.
    The quadruped went to step on the button again, but
suddenly his limb froze up, as did the rest of his body as he went stiff and
unable to move. A sickly feeling crept through him as he was paralyzed, then
panic broke out as he saw a biped figure walk into his gaze, recognizing the
tell-tale Archon armor that Star Force used.
    “ Calm yourself ,”
Morgan said, taking off her helmet as she stood in front of him a couple of
meters and stared down into his fixed eyes across the console. “ We’re here to talk, not to fight…at least
not yet. I will release you, but if you flee or attempt an alarm I’ll
immobilize you again. Understand? ”
    Ken’slan couldn’t answer, but a moment later his body
returned to his control and he took an involuntary step back into a combat
crouch…which was when he noticed two more Humans behind him. He half looked
back at them, then eased up slightly, but he was still ready to pounce if
needed.
    “ What did you do
to me? ” he growled.
    “ We have
abilities that others do not ,” Morgan said evasively. “ Get used to it .”
    Ken’slan’s eyes narrowed. “ Why are you here? ”
    “ Vensiol has to
go, one way or another. We’re offering you the chance to do it yourselves
before we’re forced to do it .”
    Ken’slan didn’t reply, but just stared into the
Human’s pale face. “ Tell me what has
happened on your world. I only have pieces of information .”
    Morgan crossed her arms over her chest, black armor
rubbing against itself with a whisper of a scrape. “ The Scionate violated the terms of colonization. Meat farms were
established outside the ADZ and you’ve been smuggling it in trying to avoid
detection. We found out and are even now putting a stop to it on other Scionate
worlds. The three of us came here the other day to deliver a message and a warning
to your leaders that such violations would not be tolerated. We delivered it
personally to the Chieftans, leaving a few injuries as a reminder but killing
no one. I doubt you missed the spectacle? ”
    Ken’slan growled again, more at what the Human