Fools Bargain by Zahn Timothy

Author:Zahn, Timothy [Zahn, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

He scrambled hastily to his feet. “Report, ” he called into his comlink.

“Clear, ” Cloud’s voice came back. “No casualties. ”

The same, unfortunately, couldn’t be said for the Eickaries. Of the twenty soldiers Su-mil had brought in with them, six were on the floor, four writhing silently in pain, the other two already dead. Even outnumbered as they’d been, the Lakran squad had given a good account of themselves.

At least, he hoped all the casualties had been caused by the Lakra. It would be very unfortunate if some of the rescuers had accidentally overshot their targets.

“This way, Twister, ” Cloud called. Twister looked up from the Eickarie casualties to find the rest of the stormtrooper squad moving back along the corridor toward the intersection where the newly dead Lakra were lying.

“The company’s meeting heavy resistance in the tunnels, ” he went on.

“New orders are to attack from this end and try to break up their defenses.

”

Twister looked at Su-mil. The Eickarie was standing over the body of the Lakran squad leader, his eyes on Twister, his orange highlights gone dark again. “I’m sorry, but we can’t do that, ” he told Cloud. “I made a deal with Su-mil to clear the dungeons first. ”

Cloud stopped short, turning around to look back at his unit leader.

“Twister, this was a direct order, ” he warned.

“Understood, ” Twister said. “Good luck. We’ll join you when we can. ”

One of the other stormtroopers had paused beside Cloud. “Yet you said you would not help us, ” Su-mil reminded Twister quietly.

“That was when I wasn’t sure I could rely on your soldiers, ” Twister told him. “You’ve now proven that I can. ” A movement caught his eye: Cloud and the other stormtrooper had finished their conversation, and Cloud was jogging back down the corridor toward them as the rest of the stormtroopers resumed their march in the other direction. “I hope you’re not here to argue, ” he warned as Cloud came to a halt in front of him.

“Hardly, ” Cloud assured him. “I decided that if they can manage without three of us, they can probably manage without four. ”

“And whole-unit court-martials are so much more efficient? ” Shadow said dryly.

“Something like that, ” Cloud agreed. “Let’s move. ”

Su-mil detailed three of his soldiers to take their dead and wounded back into the relative safety of the tunnel. Then, with Su-mil and Twister in the lead, the twelve remaining Eickaries and four stormtroopers set off for the dungeons.

They met no further resistance. Apparently, the squad that had burst in on them from this direction had been the last Lakra who hadn’t already been summoned to either the tunnel defenses or to the surface. Alternating his attention between the distant battle reports, his helmet sensors, and the hallways themselves, Twister wondered if he dared hope that even the dungeon guards might have been called away to active service.

No such luck. At Su-mil’s murmured warning, he and Shadow swung out around the last corner to

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