“But why stay a private?” Kayla demanded.

  Ray narrowed her eyes. “Because, Acting-Corporal Barnes, sometimes leadership has to come from the bottom.” They gave her uncomprehending looks, so she reconsidered. “I mean, kids are built to rebel—it’s their nature. Leadership can model discipline and lecture all they like, but often times they’re just full of shit. Everyone has to learn to filter, and part of that means paying more attention to the idiot next to you going through the same hell, rather than the veteran who might be ten years out of date.”

  “Do you get fed up with everyone?” Kayla asked.

  “Do you get fed up with the seasons? Shit, I used to get angry, back when I thought Valkyrie could save the galaxy. But then I learned that some forces are too great to take on. All you can do is nudge, inch by inch, person by person.”

  “Does it ever get easier?” Thandi asked.

  Ray’s brow furrowed. “What?”

  “War,” Thandi said, uneasily.

  “Nope.”

  “Good to know,” Kayla said. “But in all seriousness, Ray, do you need to go take a bathroom break, or have a quick nap before we get started?”

  Ray shook her head. “Shove it, Barnes, you little monster.”

  Kayla grinned. “That’s Acting-Corporal to you, Acting Lance-corporal Bharath.”

  “Do you at least have a freakin’ clue about what is going on up the chain?” Lyna demanded. “Because this last half hour has been absolute bullshit.”

  “Hmm.” Ray raised her eyebrows. “Truthfully I’m in the dark too. But, in my honest and experienced opinion… I think this Otrera figure really did leave the old biddies holding the bag. They were given a straightforward job to do, but when the situation started evolving they didn’t want to make a decision. By mandate, they can’t meddle with human society, but they also—”

  A loud bang cut her off, and Kayla’s eyes snapped towards the conduit channel ahead of her, where a welded computer case had twitched. The silence that followed was interrupted by another bang somewhere above them, and then nothing.

  “If she comes from the side,” Kayla said quietly, “shift yourselves over and dump your mags into her.”

  “What if she comes from above?” Thandi asked in a shaky voice.

  “Go for your knife.”

  “Um… Kayla…” Ray said in a monotone voice.

  “We can’t both jump her at the same time,” Thandi hissed.

  “What if she comes from the back?” Rayker asked.

  Kayla’s hair stood on end as she span round, carbine ready. Her sights settled on the woman’s gaunt form as she lounged back in one of the control chairs, Ray’s rifle aimed at her head.

  “Ray, what the hell?” Kayla snapped.

  “Well...” Ray licked her lips. “She just walked in all calm-like, and smiled at me, and… I have my reticle on her skull, and I think she might want to talk a little.”

  Kayla’s blood flashed to steam, and before she knew what she was doing, her finger squeezed the trigger of her weapon until it fired. Rayker’s arm exploded with blood, a flap of torn flesh hanging loose.

  The woman winced, but didn’t stir from her seated position. “Ow,” she said. “That was quite painful.”

  “I should kill you right now,” Kayla yelled.

  Rayker’s eyebrow rose with infuriating slowness. “Really? Then why didn’t you? And what was all that talk of you and me fighting hand to hand?”

  A growl rose in Kayla’s throat as her finger squeezed tension back into her trigger. It was over. The enemy had given herself up, and she could be the executioner. It would only take a moment. But there was something about that smirk and that knowing gaze...

  “We’re all dead in about three minutes—anyone left in this mountain,” Kayla said, regaining her composure.

  “Indeed,” Rayker said grimly. “Which would require that I overpower the four of you in less than two minutes, and spend the last minute of my life trying to find the computer you initiated your program on. And then I’d need about thirty seconds to figure out how to stop it. Seems a bit of a stretch, doesn’t it?”

  “So what’s your plan?” Kayla said. “Or did you come to beg for forgiveness?”

  “I came to remind you that I know everything, and I can tell you what you are dying for.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The statement drifted through the air like gun smoke.

  Kayla smiled. “I bet you do. I think you could answer every single question I can think of. But I know that every word out of your mouth would be a lie.

  Rayker laughed shrilly, and it made Kayla’s skin crawl.

  “Oh, the naivety of youth,” Rayker said cheerfully. “Of course, you noble heroes will sacrifice yourselves for the greater good. Even when your leaders have lied just as much. Even when your sisters died believing the same nonsense. And so shall you. And this base will fall into the hands of the League, and my master will get what he wanted anyway. So, please tell me, what would be the point of all that?”

  Kayla said nothing.

  “A pat on the head from your favorite authority figures?”

  Ray’s lips twitched, and she glanced at Kayla. Lyna seemed to be on the point of saying something.

  “All you have to do,” Rayker continued, “is help me postpone our fatal rendezvous. I will give myself up to your leaders, and they will be forced to start coming clean on what exactly has been going on these last millennia.”

  “Why should I believe you?” Kayla insisted.

  Rayker raised her hands innocently. “Because I am actually in the same position as you. My master, it transpires, has been wrong this whole time. I have no idea who you are and I would like to find out. We are the same breed, aren’t we? But what you do… you choose it, with passion and conviction—all of you together. I don’t understand you. Can’t we work together to discover where the common good truly lies?”

  She was almost pleading now. Kayla wanted so badly to believe her; to accept the knowledge that would fill in so many gaps. She and her friends would live. The world might start to change for the better. It seemed so real.

  Kayla looked over at Thandi, and to her surprise, saw that grim anxiety had been replaced by a warm smile. The woman practically glowed.

  “His talk is smooth as butter,” Thandi said, “yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.”

  Rayker’s lips curled. “A believer? How quaint. Well, I’m sure your friends are capable of a little more rationality.”

  Ray’s weapon was dipping, and her eyes were glancing back and forth between Kayla and the enemy.

  “Maybe…” Lyna began, but fell silent.

  Kayla walked forward, unslung her carbine and dropped it to the floor. “Yeah, I’m not really into all that religious stuff,” she said, as she pulled her sidearm out of its holster and laid it on a desk. “I’m more into that… what do you call it? Practical ethics.”

  She drew her knife and paused, tapping the blade against her arm. “Faith… I dunno. Seems like a gamble. What do you say, Thandi?”

  Thandi met her gaze. “I thought I would be afraid to face the devil,” she said. “But she is so… pathetic. So desperate.”

  Rayker’s expression turned sour.

  Kayla nodded. “That’s a valid viewpoint for sure. Anyway, Rayker, the laptop is over there.” She pointed with the knife, then turned her attention back as the woman sat upright. “But you killed my father, my sisters, and countless innocents, so I’m going to slice your wicked head right off your shoulders.”

  Rayker shot out of her chair. Kayla leaped towards her, knife in hand. One arm shot up, but Kayla was just fast enough to seize it before the spike punched through. Her blade whipped through the air and stabbed through Rayker’s flesh right as bone jolted into the cutting edge, splitting in half.

  Rayker screamed, and kicked Kayla in the gut so hard she left the ground and smashed into a bank of monitors. She stumbled to her feet and watched Thandi struggling with the other arm. Then Ray arrived, and forced her arms under the thrashing woman’s armpits.

  Kayla fought for her lungs to inflate, but she vomited blood. Adrenaline pushed her to her feet, and she staggered forward.

  Lyna stayed back, her weapon aimed, muzzle darting around as she searched for a shot.

  “Hold fire,” Kayla groaned.

  Rayker tore an arm free and her elbow caught Ray hard in the temple, sending her sprawling backwards. Then her fist shot forward, but Thandi moved like lightning, ducking away from the blow. Now free, Rayker lunged forward, raining punches while Thandi pulled her arms over her head and dodged back.

  Kayla dove for the women’s legs, wrapped her fingers around them and pulled hard. There was a loud bang when Rayker smacked into the metal floor, but she flipped over immediately, and Kayla barely missed taking a boot to her head.

  Thandi lashed out with a kick of her own, and it gave Kayla the chance to drag herself on top of Rayker’s body. The arms, struggling to defend their owner’s head, flailed for a moment, and Kayla received a punch to the cheek that nearly knocked her out. Fighting through a drunken haze, she hammered her fists down on Rayker’s stomach, until her victim curled forward.

  The second spike ripped through flesh inches from Kayla’s eyes, but she was ready. Her hands pushed the wrist away, though nothing happened. The spike began to withdraw while Thandi’s constant strikes kept Rayker’s attention split.

  Kayla snarled and her fingers stabbed into the exposed forearm. When they grasped the bony sliver, she squeezed with everything she had, until blood dripped down her wrist. Pulling hard, Kayla felt a thrill of sadistic glee when the spike tore out of its cavity. She gripped it like a knife, then stabbed it down into Rayker’s gut, once, twice, then a third time.

  A blow came from the side, smashing Kayla into the space beneath a nearby desk. The spike dropped to the floor, but Rayker seized it immediately. Thandi’s knife slashed the woman’s shoulder, but she span fast enough to dodge the next blow.

  Vision blurry, Kayla struggled to push herself upright. She watched through a fog of confusion as Rayker, torso covered in blood, plunged her spike deep into Thandi’s chest.

  Ray leaped forward again, winding her limbs around Rayker’s body and pulling her to the floor. For a moment, Kayla thought she was about to complete a choke-hold, but Ray wasn’t fast enough. Rayker kept her blood soaked fingers by her neck and dug them hard into her attacker’s arm. Ray hissed and spat when they punctured her skin, but she held on. Somehow, Rayker got to her feet and smashed Ray’s body against the steel lip of a desk. Then a few savage elbow strikes dropped the old Ranger to the floor, where she vomited.

  There was a bang, and a hole exploded in Rayker’s back. Two more shots followed and she whirled around, face twisted with murderous rage. She was more of an animal now than a woman, but so were they all.

  Kayla wanted to dart forward, to knock her off balance again, regardless of friendly bullets. But when she tried to inhale, her lungs didn’t respond. Cramp seized her leg in a lightning bolt of pain. Then her arms collapsed, curling in on themselves despite commands to the contrary. Kayla tried to speak, but her jaw locked tight, biting so hard she thought her teeth would shatter. Agony infused every fiber of her being, until her vision began to darken. Across from her, Rayker writhed on the floor like a fish, mouth foaming, muscles bulging as her limbs tried to fold in on themselves.

  Through the pain, Kayla wept a tear of joy. The nerve gas would kill the woman who had destroyed her life and tried to destroy her home. For Rose and her father, she had done it.