No Good Deed by M. R. Forbes

Author:M. R. Forbes [Forbes, M. R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Hayden started turning toward Hale, ready to defend himself.

But Hale wasn’t the problem.

Choi opened fire on Hale, plasma bolts spewing out at short range, burning right through the Centurion’s combat armor, into his flesh underneath and sending him stumbling backward in the sudden melee. Two other members of Choi’s squad started firing at the same time, equally efficient in cutting down Vasquez and the corporal within a matter of seconds.

Hayden took a step toward Stern.

“Don’t,” Choi said. “Unless you want to join them.”

Hayden froze as Stern opened the hard case. A soft skull cap lined with wires rested inside beside a small terminal.

“You’re infected,” he said, realizing too late what Rain was trying to tell him.

Stern lifted the cap from the case. “I’ll be with you in a moment, Sheriff Duke. We’re almost finished here.”

“What are you doing?” Isaac asked, eyes burning with anger.

“Shurrath suffered at the hands of the Axon,” Stern said. “Their neural disruption technology makes them difficult to fight.” He tried to place the cap on Isaac’s head. Isaac shied away until Choi stepped forward and shoved the muzzle of his rifle in his side.

“Sit still,” the infected Centurion barked.

“But this one is resistant to the disruption. We need to know how and why. The Centurions, they want to use the tech to control one another.” He shook his head. “Once we’ve mastered the technology, once we can negate it, Shurrath can return to the war. If he can claim Axon worlds before his brethren, his place among them will be restored. Our hunger will be met.”

“I’m not resistant,” Isaac said. “I saw the trife. I saw them attacking the people. You killed all of them.”

“You have no idea how many of your kind have died in the name of this research,” Stern said. “Entire transports filled with slaves brought in from all around Howl, sold to Junk and resold to the Centurions before he ever became a follower of Shurrath. Long before we ever knew they had captured and contained an Axon Intellect.”

“An Intellect?” Hayden questioned.

Stern ignored him, putting the cap on Isaac’s head and activating the terminal. “You see Shurrath as the enemy, Sheriff Duke.” He glanced back at Hayden. “You started a war over the death of a handful of your kind. But perhaps Shurrath isn’t your enemy. Perhaps Shurrath can be your salvation. He takes only what he needs, and once this world is firmly in his grasp, there will be a place for the strong at his richest banquet. Compare that to the way you’ve been treated by the very people, your own kind, who abandoned you. They left you behind and now label you as savages no better than the apes from which you evolved.”

“Sheriff, I hate to say it,” Rain said. “But he has a point.”

“Shurrath is the one threatening my family,” Hayden replied.

“As I said, a war you started, and with hardly any of the facts.”

“Shurrath killed my son,” Isaac growled. “He murdered Jason and a dozen other kids.

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