Chapter 20

Riordan wobbled on his feet and then felt a solid mass behind him breaking his possible fall.

“We’re under attack.” That was Lakni’s voice, measured and calm. He was stating a fact, not breaking into a panic like Riordan felt at that very moment. “Harid, Tamdor, you stay back and protect Lewis. Blaise, Vasko, Frontis.” He added nothing to that, which could only mean that everyone knew what to do under the circumstances.

“I’ll escort you to your quarters,” Lakni told Riordan.

“Like hell,” Riordan huffed under his breath. “We’re in fucking danger, aren’t we? I’m not going to hide and wait to be culled by whoever did this.” He didn’t point at the carnage down the hallway. There was no need.

Lakni pursed his lips and he seemed ready to pull the Xeno card on him, when a whirring sound came from behind the corner.

“Kyle!” Riordan shouted at the sight of his bot struggling to move through the body parts spread on the floor. His robotic arm was dangling, seemingly useless now, and he looked like he’d been in a fight, too.

“Master Rio,” Kyle stuttered.

“Kyle? You’re calling your bot ... It doesn’t matter,” Lakni said quickly. He slithered his way through the hacked bodies, ignoring them. Figuratively, at least, they were cold-blooded creatures. “Report,” he addressed Kyle. “Who are the attackers?”

“Xenos,” Kyle replied with some difficulty. His acquired almost human voice was breaking in places, letting out the toneless robotic one stick out.

Riordan felt his stomach sinking into itself. Why were Xenos attacking Tu’lek, the only hope of their race? Xana was still far, which could only mean ... were these the other guys? The bad guys?

“Escort Riordan to his quarters and lock him in there,” Lakni ordered Kyle.

“No,” Riordan said loud enough for everyone to hear him. “If these Xenos are the guys that flooded the planet and killed so many people, there’s no way I’ll be safe there.”

“Bot,” Lakni said severely, ignoring him. “Execute the order.”

“I only take orders from Master Xana and Master Rio.”

“Kyle must know more about what happened. And he still has some of his weapons. Right?” Riordan asked and touched the metallic surface of the bot, trying to gauge what kind of state Kyle was in.

“They thought they incapacitated me but I just played dead,” Kyle explained.

“What a strange bot,” Lakni commented. “We have no time for this. Where are the attackers now?”

“They were heading to the command center,” Kyle explained, “eliminating all the guards in their path.”

“How many?” Lakni asked and began slithering his way in the direction of Kanto’s headquarters, which Riordan understood that it had to act as the real command center of the ship.

“I counted 5, but there is a chance that there are others,” Kyle supplied right away.

Riordan was hurrying after the Xenos but his legs seemed short compared to how fast they were moving. “Kyle, how about some piggybacking?” He barely had time to ask the question that a tail wrapped around his waist and he was soon planted on Frontis’ back. “Wow, thanks.”

“You are responsible for him, Frontis,” Lakni said. “And I’m telling all this out loud so that the bearer understands his impossible position and does nothing stupid.”

“The bearer is right here and knows enough not to do anything stupid,” Riordan retorted. “Kyle, how come the attackers didn’t barge in on us? And how come we haven’t heard them at all while they were killing the guards?”

Frontis was the one to offer him the explanations he needed. “Xenos attack quietly. Do you see how these corpses look?”

“I’d rather not look again,” Riordan murmured and wrapped his arms tightly around Frontis’ neck.

“They were ripped apart, not cut. And the victims don’t scream, because the attackers must have used poison to incapacitate them first. That should be enough to tell us they’re Xenos,” Frontis continued. “As for why they didn’t barge in, I don’t know.”

“I sensed the danger approaching,” Kyle added, wheeling behind them. “I added a reflective screen over the doors so that they weren’t obvious. And then, I moved after the guards that went to see what was going on. This way, their attention was averted.”

“Good work, Kyle. I owe you big time.”

“Such a peculiar relationship you have with your bot,” Frontis commented. “I will guard you with my life, Riordan, but please do not expose yourself to unnecessary danger. Of course, that might be impossible, seeing where we’re heading.”

“I understand,” Riordan said shortly. “And I intend to live. My gut tells me my rate of survival is the highest if I come along with you.”

From the belly of the ship, a wail rose, making his hair stand on end.

“The emergency signal,” Frontis said. “Too late. Also, that means that the lower floors no longer can sustain life. You have been right, after all, Riordan.”

It didn’t make him happy in any way that he’d been right. “Does that mean that the people there ... the bearers ... are dead?” he whispered.

“There might be casualties. The secondary systems should have become active by now. Our only chance is to find the infiltrators before they eliminate our commander.”

Riordan fell silent. “Besides Kanto ... who else knows how to navigate the ship?” He didn’t mention the lack of any other Xenos save for Lewis’ partners and Kanto on the entire Tu’lek. He doubted that any guard was capable of the same feat.

“Lakni has been training as a navigator,” Frontis replied.

“Do not count on my abilities just yet,” Lakni said, clearly aware of their conversation. “Our best chances of survival are ensured only if our commander is still alive.”

The hallways opening in front of them showed the same horrific sights as the one that had welcomed Riordan outside Lewis’ room what felt like only moments ago. The attackers hadn’t spared one guard. Not a single one.

Lakni stopped by one wall and reached for one of the panels close to the ceiling. He felt the surface with his fingers and then nodded at Blaise, who took his place and ripped the thing from the wall.

“We’ll go through here,” Lakni announced.

“Why?” Riordan asked.

“Because we’re only 4 and they are at least 5. Also, they’re adults,” Lakni explained. “Is that correct, bot?”

Kyle replied right away. “Yes. The ones I saw were all Xenos in their prime.”

“You also have me and Kyle,” Riordan pointed out.

“The bot cannot follow us,” Lakni said. “Its metallic body will make noise and alert the attackers that we are coming. We will move silently. You may remain here, Riordan, with your bot.”

“No. Kyle can always play dead, but I’m not that good at it. I’d rather not end up ripped to shreds.”

“That can happen if you’re with us, too,” Vasko pointed out.

“Let’s put it this way,” Riordan said. “If you guys fail, everyone’s doomed around here. Xana is still far. The attackers, if they succeed, they’ll kill all.”

Lakni nodded shortly and hiked himself up, quickly slithering through the tight enclosure.

“Does he know we’ll end up to the command room by going through here?” Riordan asked.

Frontis was the one to reply. “As I said, Lakni is a navigator in training. He knows how ships look inside out. We trust him.”

“Then I trust him, too,” Riordan decided as he watched the others disappearing through the same hole in the wall.

Lakni must have stopped because Riordan sensed that all his allies halted their advance. It was so quiet he was afraid to breathe. Then, he thought he was hearing something. No, it wasn’t hearing ... that was him tapping into the neural network or whatever that thing that connected all the Xenos was called. It was only a sort of humming that turned into a clamor. Aggressive hissing crowded his brain, so overwhelming that, for a moment, he thought he’d cry out. He shook his head and held onto Frontis while trying to focus on his breathing.

He wasn’t surprised to realize that they had arrived at their destination. A crashing sound followed, and they were all falling through the ceiling, ending up on the floor of Kanto’s quarters.

At first, he didn’t see much, only the bodies of the young Xenos moving in front of him, but then, the stench of blood made him gag, and everyone began moving at such an incredible speed that he didn’t dare to blink.

Blaise was the first to jump on one of the attackers, a Xeno indeed, who was holding Kanto down, his tail curled around the commander’s neck. The stern face Riordan believed to hate was a map of bulged veins, and the eyes were squeezed tightly.

He watched in amazement and horror as Blaise drove his tail that had somehow turned into a sort of weapon directly through the torso of the commander’s attacker. The Xeno stilled for a moment, and then his body broke in two, making blood spray the walls and everything else around.

Riordan was sure his head swam as if he were underwater. He turned his head to take in the ripped bodies of a couple of Xenos on the floor. Those had already been there, he was sure, which could only mean that Kanto had been fighting for his life until now. With the one Blaise had just destroyed, the total count was 3. That meant that there were still 2 attackers out there.

A loud hiss made him look up and he saw a shadow descending from the far right of the ceiling, opposed to the way they had come through, falling over them. Lakni and Vasko wrapped around the attacker right away, but that one appeared to be extremely slippery. His entire body appeared to be black, the scales and hair included, and it took Riordan some time to realize that it was some sort of cloaking device, because the following moment, he disappeared from view.

“Riordan, stay hidden here,” Frontis said and pushed him behind the large capsule that Riordan remembered it to be the commander’s chair. “There’s something I must do.”

Under his eyes, Frontis turned all black, just like the attacker, and then disappeared as well. Blaise, Vasko, and Lakni gathered in the middle of the room, back to back, their whole bodies tensed in waiting.

The math was what bothered Riordan the most. The invisible Xeno was probably playing tag right now with Frontis along the walls. He thought he could spot them now and then as they displaced the air they were moving through at incredible speeds. That still left one attacker they couldn’t see.

He moved his eyes to Kanto, who lay on the floor on his back, his eyes glassy as if he was already a goner. But Riordan could tell by the almost imperceptible rise and fall of his chest that the commander wasn’t dead. Slowly, focusing on not making a sound, he began advancing towards him. The chances were Kanto needed some help, and the other young Xenos couldn’t spare it, as they needed to fight.

And then, he saw it. It was so strange, as if Kanto was slowly sinking into the floor, but that wasn’t what was happening. Light shimmered, letting the shapes become visible, arms that were holding Kanto from behind, squashing him in, making him fold into himself.

Riordan didn’t waste time thinking. He grabbed one piece of metallic panel resulted from their crashing through and lifted it above his head. With a loud cry, he aimed for the arms holding Kanto down, and blood, red like his, red as any blood he knew, burst like a fountain.

The next moment, he fell, his legs cut from under him and then he was being pulled away. Blaise moved in his line of sight, and the grip on his ankles lessened and disappeared in the blink of an eye.