The Mercenary (The War Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  “Only good things, I must admit” Zatar assured her with a sudden smile.

  Saakshi returned his smile tentatively, somewhat taken aback. From what she’d observed after spending time with the Hadari’Kor, any display of emotion unless in the company of close friends was very rare.

  “Take care of her” Zatar commanded his brother.

  “I intend to” Zoran’s voice was quiet.

  “Be careful, Zoran.”

  “I will, brother.”

  Saakshi waited silently as Jolar echoed Zatar’s words to be careful and then surprised her anew by giving her an affectionate pat on her back and admonishing her to take care of herself.

  Zoran escorted her onto the small craft before sealing the hatch shut. She watched him coordinate with Control Center while efficiently undocking the shuttle from the Bay. He programmed in a new destination into the craft before finally disengaging from the controls to stand up and face her where she sat at the back of the shuttle.

  “Dr Uish tells me that you’re well on the path to complete recovery. How do you feel now?” he asked.

  “I feel fine” she assured him.

  She did. A good night’s rest had left her feeling much refreshed this morning.

  They gazed at each other quietly for a few seconds, the air in the cramped shuttle full of unspoken words and emotions.

  “Thank you” she said finally. “For coming for me.”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t?” he asked quizzically, the dark eyes intent on her.

  “No, I knew you would” she said easily.

  “You’re welcome.”

  He paused to study her silently for a moment.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t get there faster. I was too far away when I heard the news” he said, his voice racked by remorse.

  Saakshi stood up impulsively to walk the few steps towards him. She put out a hand to touch his arm gently, wanting to banish the remorse from his voice.

  “It does not matter, Zoran. The important thing is that you came for me” she assured him earnestly.

  He glanced down to where her hand lay on his forearm before slowly putting his other arm around her waist to gather her to him in a gentle embrace. Saakshi stared up into his intent gaze, only to shut her eyes as he leaned in closer. She felt his lips on her forehead in a kiss.

  “I will always come for you, tseriya” he pledged softly, a promise threaded through the statement. “No matter what.”

  Saakshi put both her arms around his midriff to hold him tightly as she buried her head in his chest. His other arm came up around her to hold her to him. They stood silent, entwined in each other’s arms while the shuttle smoothly plotted its way to the rendezvous point where they would wait for the Ur’quay ship to join them. The Ur’quay ship would only show itself once the Juntafeyore was out of visual range.

  Zoran gently disengaged from her eventually, and led Saakshi to the seat she’d previously occupied. He seated her and then crouched before her to meet her eyes.

  “I have something important to tell you, Saakshi. What I tell you, you must not reveal to anyone until I say so, all right?” he asked.

  Saakshi nodded immediately, intrigued and curious but also a little amused by his words. Who would she discuss any news with, even if she were inclined to, she wondered a little wryly.

  “Last evening, the Alliance reached agreement with a group of Hadari’Kor. We’ve been given a contract to train Budheya rebels.”

  A smile split her face. So, this is what he had been after, she realized. He'd told her about his negotiations with the Alliance and a plan to back the Budheya rebels. Yet it had not struck her that it might be the Hadari'Kor who would assist the rebels. Her heart sang happily at the realization. The Hadari'Kor had the necessary skill set to teach the Budheya how to mount an effective resistance against the Ketaari. And she understood immediately that this would allow the Alliance to keep their distance from the situation, should they feel the need to do so.

  “Zoran, will you be involved in training the rebels?” she asked.

  “I’m one of the four Captains charged with training the rebels. Zatar will lead the mission.”

  Zoran paused.

  “But first, we have to convince the rebels to accept our assistance” he continued. “We can teach them how to effectively hit the Ketaari on Budheyasta where it will hurt them the most. Only then will the Empire have a serious fight on their hands on Budheyasta. The Alliance will provide financial assistance and weapons and we will train the rebels, provide logistical support and help with strategy and planning in their campaign against the Ketaari occupation of your home world.”

  He paused again as Saakshi stared at him in dawning hope. What the Alliance and Hadari’Kor were offering to the resistance was priceless. It would be a fantastic opportunity for the Budheya – who better than the best warriors in this part of space to train them in fighting techniques and tactics? As for the Alliance, they would reap the benefits when the Budheya helped weaken the Empire from within, while the Alliance Armada continued to push back the Ketaari Imperial Forces in their greedy spree of swallowing up entire planets and subjugating their peoples. It was an ambitious but fantastic plan, with the potential to benefit so many people. Saakshi understood only too well how much negotiation and effort it had taken to even bring everyone to the table. And it had been her mercenary who had set the ball rolling in action. She had so many questions for Zoran but they would have to wait. She sensed an urgency in his explanations to her. Their shuttle was headed away from the Juntafeyore, obviously to rendezvous with a different ship.

  “Are we going to Budheyasta?” she asked. It was the obvious next step in his plan.

  “Yes, to make contact with the rebels. And Saakshi, I need your help to do this.”

  “Of course.” Her response was immediate. “What can I do?”

  “I want to talk to the leader of your resistance cell. Give me all the information you have on him, your village and how to contact him once I’m on Budheyasta.”

  “I can do that” Saakshi said, even as her heart gave an uncomfortable lurch. Zoran’s foray to Budheyasta would be fraught with danger.

  Their shuttle came to a stop with a small rattle. They had reached the rendezvous point. Zoran shot the shuttle door a quick glance.

  “We do not have much time, Saakshi. Soon, we will board a ship that belongs to a race that has recently allied with the Alliance. They will transport us to Budheyasta. The Alliance Commander wants to keep the news of his new partners a secret.”

  Saakshi nodded, assenting without much curiosity. New planets and peoples were constantly joining the Alliance for protection as the Empire turned its greedy eyes in all directions. A new race or even a new secret pact with the Alliance held no interest for her.

  The shuttle beeped abruptly, interrupting their conversation. It was the proximity alarm, Zoran knew. The Ur’quay ship had arrived at the rendezvous.

  “Saakshi, have you ever heard of the Ur’quay?” Zoran asked her, as he worked the controls to coordinate docking procedures with the Ur’quay ship.

  Eleven

  Sixty standard hours later, Saakshi stood on a barren hillock on the outskirts of her village on Budheyasta. With Zoran by her side, they took stock of their surroundings in the fading light. Dusk had just fallen and all they could see of the distant village were a few twinkling lights. The village streets looked deserted as she peered at them through the night vision binoculars Zoran handed her. They had both been autoported to the top of this hillock by the Ur'quay starship Henia mere moments ago.

  “It looks like the village has been placed under night curfew” she commented to Zoran, who was looking intently through another pair of binoculars at the same village.

  “Yes” he agreed thoughtfully. “I wonder why.”

  “The Ketaari do not need much excuse to order a curfew.” Saakshi’s voice was even. “It’s their way of letting the Budheya know that we’re not the masters of our
destiny, even on our home world.”

  Zoran put down his binoculars to give her a quick hug with his free arm.

  “That is going to change soon, tseriya” he pressed a soft kiss on her hair.

  He was dressed as a Budheya peasant, albeit, the biggest Budheya peasant Saakshi had ever seen. He had been cosmetically altered to look like a Budheya male, his normally gray skin glowing with ruddy sun-kissed and olive-tinted health. The skilled Ur'quay medic on board the Henia had even changed his facial features to subtly look more Budheya: given his ears a pointed tip, lightened his hair to a warm brown and given him lighter eyes. However, they could not alter his height or his build. Budheya males were taller and leaner than their stocky Ketaari counterparts, but were not built on the massive scale the Hadari'Kor seemed to produce.

  She had been flabbergasted to learn that the mysterious hooded male from the conference chamber was Ur’quay. Her people still passed down stories of the exploits of these powerful warriors from a far corner of the galaxy, even though they believed that the Ur’quay were part of legend and had never really existed. Thus, to meet a whole starship of Ur'quay had caused Saakshi equal parts excitement and shock. Had she not been preoccupied with other worries, namely the risks Zoran would undertake in his attempt to touch base with rebels on Budheyasta, she’d have tried to explore the starship and interact with the Ur'quay warriors. They were certainly the most exotic race she’d ever heard of – massive with pale vertical stripes across deep bronzed skin, thick, long rust-colored hair worn in braids that hung down their backs, and mysterious gold-colored eyes with elongated black vertical irises. The warriors on the ship wore rust-colored, close-fitting armor with shimmering scales and darker boots. They were all males of few words, although she had noticed a definite thawing in their attitude towards Zoran as he spent time on their ship. The few Ur’quay she had encountered had been unfailingly courteous to her, in an aloof way. The Star Captain was always solicitous in his interactions with her, and made sure to keep a watchful eye on her when Zoran was preoccupied with other tasks. Something he had said to Zoran in her presence made Saakshi suspect that the Ur’quay held females in very high regard, since very few females were born to their species.

  As it was, she’d not had much of an opportunity to interact with the Ur’quay. For Saakshi had spent most of her time closeted with Zoran and the Star Captain, except for the requisite amount of deep healing sleep Zoran insisted for her in the tiny cubicle assigned to her. Her meals had consisted of pre-packaged Alliance rations eaten in the Star Captain’s office, while poring over maps of her village and the surrounding area, trying her best to add small details to them from her memory. A little time had also been spent in the Ur’quay ship’s sophisticated Command Chamber, watching Zoran interact with the Ur’quay as he worked to help them circumvent the elaborate security net that the Empire used to protect their space from intruders.

  The Alliance had provided them with maps of Budheyasta from their archives. The maps had been ancient, since no outsider had set foot on Budheyasta for at least a century. The Ketaari had made very sure of that. Saakshi had tried her best to fill in details about her village and its environs based on some of the older landmarks on the map. Fortunately, the plan Zoran and the Star Captain had formulated needed only the details of her village and its outskirts. Which was a good thing, for Saakshi had never ventured outside the ten or so villages that the resistance cell she’d been a part of had represented. Not until her capture and imprisonment in a Ketaari prison. Zoran’s plan was relatively simple - to contact Tilabok and use him to spread the word to the other resistance cells.

  Zoran had been adamant about Saakshi not stepping foot on Budheyasta, believing the danger and risk of discovery too high for her. He had been insistent that he could make contact with Tilabok, armed with the details she had provided. In response, Saakshi had been resolute in her demand that the only successful way to contact the rebels was by taking her along. The rebels would have a hard time trusting anyone they didn't know, especially a stranger with a fantastic offer of assistance like the one Zoran planned to present to them. Moreover, she had argued, Zoran would have a better chance of passing undetected on the planet if accompanied by someone familiar with the terrain, the hiding places, the Ketaari patrols and the local language. Zoran had been injected with a sub-cutaneous translator device but there was no time to teach him to speak either Ketar or Budhi with any fluency. Thanks to the embedded translator, he could understand the languages but not speak them. If caught, there would be no way for Zoran to pretend to be a local.

  The ensuing disagreement had brought home to Saakshi that Zoran, normally possessed of an easy-going disposition, could be very stubborn in some matters. Despite Zoran’s best arguments, she had been adamant that the Budheya rebels would not agree to meet with him unless someone they trusted made the introduction. The Star Captain had eventually backed Saakshi after an hour of being silent witness to their disagreement. Zoran had tried very hard to convince her to stay behind in the relative safety of the Ur’quay ship while he went to Budheyasta to clandestinely make contact. Star Captain Mu’raat had chimed in quietly that though the risk of discovery on Budheyasta was high for Saakshi, their mission to contact the Budheya rebels would have a much better chance of success if she accompanied Zoran to the planet. He’d also made the argument that it would take Zoran by himself a lot longer to get the rebels to trust him enough to agree to meet with him. The longer the Henia stayed in Empire territory, the greater the risk of detection for the ship. The risk would not only be greater for the ship but also its inhabitants, which included Saakshi. It had been this argument that had finally convinced Zoran, as the Star Captain had known it would. Zoran had directed a piercing look at the usually impassible countenance of the Ur’quay male who’d returned his stare with a suspiciously innocent expression. In the end, Zoran had made Saakshi promise to follow his lead without hesitation once on the planet. Saakshi, who’d been mightily relieved at his capitulation on the matter, had agreed with alacrity.

  They’d come up with a plan that they thought stood a strong chance of success. And Zoran had insisted on several contingency plans for their time on the planet. The Star Captain had worked with his First Commander and Zoran to come up with a set of emergency options. Their plan called for Saakshi and Zoran, disguised as a Budheya male, to be autoported to a deserted hillock close to the village. The Ur’quay’s autoport technology had allowed them to transport Saakshi and Zoran without landing a craft on Budheyasta. They would spend a maximum of two nights and one day to contact Tilabok, the leader of Saakshi's resistance cell, while the Ur’quay ship would find a hiding close to Budheyasta in order to conserve the energy resources needed to stay cloaked for the journey back into Alliance space. Having a stationary uncloaked starship right above Budheyasta had been deemed too risky. The Ur’quay ship was equipped with very sophisticated cloaking technology based on power generated by a special black ore the Ur’quay called shtoal. As promised, the Alliance had provided plenty of the ore for their journey through Empire space.

  Most of the sixty hours for the journey to Budheyasta had been spent in thrashing out the plan and trying to account for contingencies. Zoran and the Star Captain had grilled her on all bits of information about the village, its streets, how the rebels communicated with one another and how often the Imperial Forces ventured into the village. Some of the questions had been so mundane and the details so inconsequential that it had surprised Saakshi when her answer had caused the two males to glance at each other with significance.

  Zoran and Saakshi had both been injected with sub-cutaneous locater chips for the ship to locate in case of an emergency. They had also been provided with a tiny device capable of transmitting an SOS signal to the ship hovering in signaling radius if they found themselves in need of emergency autoport off the planet.

  “Saakshi” Zoran spoke urgently into her ear, bringing her back to the present. “I want you to remember y
our promise to me. If we meet a Ketaari patrol, you will get out and contact the Henia to pull you out. Do not worry about me. I can take care of myself until the ship autoports me out.”

  Saakshi nodded mutely. She fully intended to keep her promise to him, if it came to it. But in the privacy of her chamber, she had acknowledged to herself what she had been reluctant to say out loud to Zoran. Her feelings for him would not allow her to let him risk himself on a world where she knew the terrain intimately and had spent a lifetime learning to hide from the Ketaari occupiers.

  They proceeded silently down the hillock through the dry and barren outskirts into the silent and dark village. Hooded cloaks the color of burnt flame kept them warm against the freezing night time temperatures on the volcanic desert planet. The color of the cloak was intended to help camouflage them during the day by blending them into the flame-colored desert landscape. Zoran ruminated silently on his last conversation with the Ur’quay Captain as he glided watchfully through the deserted village.

  “Saakshi cannot fall into the hands of the Ketaari, Star Captain. If the emergency signal is activated, get her out of there immediately. Don’t worry about me. I’ve been in tougher spots before. I can make my way off Budheyasta and into Alliance space by myself if required” Zoran had warned with an intensity and urgency the other male could not ignore.

  The irony of the situation did not escape Zoran. If Saakshi was placed in any danger simply because she was necessary to their plans to contact the rebels, it would be ironic since she was the main reason for his setting into motion this juggernaut of an operation to assist the Budheya resistance in the first place.

  “Do not worry, my Hadari’Kor friend” the Ur’quay Captain had assured him. “We warriors understand the risks of war, but your Budheya female is an innocent. Together, we will make sure that she returns to Alliance territory unscathed. Zoran of Hadari’Kor, you focus on contacting the resistance and I give you my word that I will get you both out of here. My ship and warriors will prove to be a very tough match for anyone that tries to stop us.”