The Soldiers of Halla

Chapter 33

The barrage continued.

Courtney gripped the handrail, staring intently as a wide section of mountain range crumbled. Every so often, through the smoke and dust, I could see light creeping through where there had once been only rock. They were indeed blasting a road through the mountains.

“We had no idea that they had that kind of firepower,” she said through gritted teeth. “This is the surprise I feared.”

“When we flew in, we saw that they had a load of transport trucks,” I offered. “Whatever that weapon is, they must have brought it here in those trucks.”

“We could stop trucks with the radio cannons,” Courtney said, thinking out loud. “Unless they’re out of range. Or if the gars are running for their lives, and right now it looks like we’re dealing with both.”

Kasha said, “Perhaps it’s time to change tactics and prepare for the ground assault.”

Courtney kept her binoculars trained on the mountain. I could see her jaw muscle working. Boon, Kasha, and I exchanged looks. This was not going well. The klees had obviously played a wild card that the gars hadn’t anticipated. There were thousands of klees on the way. If there was an open highway into the valley, and then into Black Water, the gars would be done. A few archers inside of wooden huts wouldn’t stop them, which meant the exiles would be done too. Standing up there on that platform, I felt totally helpless. There was nothing I could do. Nothing any of us could do. I wasn’t even sure of what to hope for. Would the klees run out of ammunition before breaking through? Would the radio cannons be able to stop the dado klees? Was there any fallback position? What was the surprise defense Courtney mentioned? I couldn’t imagine anything that would put a dent in the oncoming army.

“Wait,” Courtney said. Her whole body went tense. She’d seen something. “What is that?”

She handed me the binoculars. I looked out over the valley to the target zone, and saw nothing but smoke and dirt billowing from the point of attack.

“What?” I asked.

“Keep looking,” she commanded. “In the sky through the smoke.”

I wished for the swirling smoke to blow away to give me a look at whatever it was she thought she saw.

“Something is moving in the air,” she said. “Something big.”

That’s when I saw it. It was only a brief flash as the smoke parted, but there was no mistake.

“It’s a gig,” I announced. “A big one. It’s hovering over the destruction.”

“The klees have gigs that large?” she asked, surprised.

“Yes,” Kasha answered. “We saw them in the hangar back in Leeandra.”

“That’s it,” she declared, as if realizing something for the first time. “They’re firing from gigs.” “So what?” I asked.

“So watch,” she answered. She grabbed her link cube and shouted at the amber radio. “Gigs are in the air. They’re launching those bombs from the sky.” She listened, then added, “Because I can see them from up here. There are definitely gigs up there. Knock ‘em down!”

She looked at us and said, “The gigs must have been firing from a distance. Now they’re in range.”

“But the gars up front are running away!” Boon exclaimed.

Courtney gave him a sly look. “Who said they were the only ones with cannons?”

Of course. There had to have been radio cannons positioned in the valley of waterfalls. That was how Kasha and Boon and I got knocked out of the sky. But using them would mean the gigs had to be inside the valley, and that much closer to Black Water. It was a dangerous tactic, but as I watched the destruction unfold below, it was clear that the gars had no choice.

The explosions continued. There was nothing we could do but watch and hope. The billowing cloud of smoke and dust grew larger. I wondered how much longer it would be before the klees blasted a wide enough path to send their army through.

“Look!” Boon yelled.

A gig blasted out of the clouds, headed our way. It was definitely one of the big helicopters we’d seen in the tree hangar. This thing was armed for bear. There were missiles strapped to either side and beneath. There was no doubt now, the klees had developed missiles and could launch them from gigs. Or maybe they’d been shipped from the helicopter factory on Third Earth. Didn’t matter. They were here, and the klees knew how to use them. My heart sank. What possible chance did the gars and the exiles stand against such a sophisticated attack from the air? I was about to find out.

The gig charged forward, high over the valley. “Why are the gars not firing on it?” Boon asked nervously.

“Hang on,” Courtney said calmly.

A quick look and calculation told me its destination. It was headed for the waterfall that protected the tunnel into Black Water… directly beneath us. This killer chopper’s mission was clear. It was about to start the second phase of an assault that would open up a highway for the klee army, giving it access to Black Water. I held on to the railing, bracing for the moment that it would launch its missiles. I feared that the faint tremor we felt during the attack on the far mountain range would be nothing compared to what would happen once the missiles starting hitting the rock below our feet. I stole a quick look at the walkway that snaked over the backbone of the mountain and wondered if it would come crashing down, with us and every gar up there along with it. I felt like this was the beginning of the end.

“Patience,” Courtney whispered to nobody.

I heard a faint whistling sound. Suddenly the oncoming helicopter spun sideways. More whistling followed. The large gig started twisting, as if it were being hit by stiff winds that came from different directions.

“He’s done,” Courtney said with total confidence.

Turned out she was a lot less nervous about what was happening than I was. The helicopter spun wildly. It was out of control and headed down. This chopper was being targeted the same way that Kasha and Boon and I were when we first flew in.

“We’ve got cannons positioned all over the valley,” Courtney explained. “This is the kind of attack we’ve been ready for.”

I couldn’t tell where the radio cannons were being fired from. The two-person weapons were portable, which meant they could hide anywhere in the trees below. Wherever they were, the shooters knew what they were doing. Their aim was perfect. The helicopter pitched and spun and finally slammed into the ground. This crash was a lot more spectacular than ours was, thanks to the unfired missiles it had on board. As soon as the gig hit the ground, ka-boom. Multiple explosions erupted from the point of impact, shooting flames and debris high into the air. As much as the klees were the bad guys here, I hoped that the pilots were dados. Seeing the huge explosion, I realized that there wouldn’t be anything left of them to figure it out one way or the other. The gig hit just before it reached the lake in the center of the crater, but the explosion was so huge I could feel the heat from as far away as we were.

“One down,” Courtney said. “Bring ‘em on.”

As if following her orders, two more gigs flew out of the cloud of dust and smoke, headed for the Black Water waterfall. Both were loaded with missiles. Both met the same fate. Two more spectacular crashes followed, creating multiple infernos on the valley floor.

“Listen,” Kasha called out. “The explosions have stopped.”

I had been concentrating so intently on the gigs that I didn’t realize the distant thunder from the explosions on the far mountain had ended.

“What do you think that means?” Boon asked. “Were the other gigs taken down too?”

Courtney put her finger to her ear to listen to her link radio. She smiled.

“Seven gigs down,” she reported. “Including the three that made it into the valley. The spotters went back and took them down. Unbelievable. You want to talk about bravery? Those guys had to fire on the gigs while all hell was raining down on them.”

“Are there more?” I asked.

Courtney listened, and shook her head. “No. They’re done. We got them all. Wait-”

It wasn’t time to celebrate. Courtney’s dark look told me that much. She listened intently to the report that was coming in over the link radio. As she concentrated, I looked to the far mountain. The smoke was starting to dissipate. It wouldn’t be long till we would see how much damage the klees had done before their helicopters were put out of business. Kasha and Boon joined me at the front of the platform. We all gazed across the valley floor, straining for a glimpse of what the gig attack had accomplished.

“Question is,” I said, “did they finish the road?”

The wind picked up, blowing away the rest of the debris in the air. What we saw made my mouth go dry. There was a very clear, wide gap cut through the mountain. In the few short minutes that the klees had been targeting the mountain, they had succeeded in blasting out a wide chasm. I now realized why the second wave of gigs had started across the valley. It wasn’t to escape the gars who were firing on them from below. It was because their destruction of the first mountain pass was complete.

“They’re coming,” Courtney declared. “The klee army is on the march. We don’t have enough gar shooters over there to stop them. They can’t protect such a wide entryway.”

“Is there anything we can do?” I asked lamely.

“Yeah,” Courtney answered. “We can hope that the rest of the klees are dados.”

How twisted was that? The last, best hope to save Black Water would be if the klees had blundered and sent a dado army to attack. The gar radio cannons could stop them. What they couldn’t stop were flesh-and-blood klees. As much as the gars had anticipated and prepared for a battle, they never expected that the klees would be able to flood so many warriors at them at once. They were hoping to pick them off one by one as they came through the narrow pass. But the pass wasn’t narrow anymore. It was wide enough for thousands of klees at a time to march through.

“What if they’re not dados?” Kasha asked.

Courtney shrugged. She looked grim. “We have one last chance after that to keep them in the valley. If that fails and they break through into Black Water, I know the gars will fight until the end, but I don’t think they’ll stand a chance. Both the gars and the Yanks are dedicated. Confident, even. They believe that they will be able to stop anything that is thrown at us, but I think that’s more bravery speaking than common sense. If the klees get into Black Water, it’ll be a bloodbath. We’ve got to stop them right here.”

The wait was killing me. It all came down to this. When the klee army emerged from the newly formed passage into the valley, would they be sending dados or klees? It felt odd to be rooting for dados.

The smoke cleared entirely, giving us an unobstructed view of the valley below. The three gigs burned where they’d crashed. I didn’t see a single survivor. I also didn’t see any gars on the valley floor. I assumed they were all in hiding, waiting for the klee army to appear. It was tense as all hell. I couldn’t imagine how the gars who were waiting below felt. They had no way of knowing this, but they were not only going to fight to protect Black Water, but this battle would determine the future of all existence. It was just as well they didn’t know.

I wondered how many of the defenders below were exiles from Second Earth. The Yanks. It didn’t surprise me that they had put in with the gars and were all working together to protect Black Water. These were the people who had stood up to Alexander Naymeer and his Ravinians on Second Earth. They paid for their beliefs by being sucked into a flume and banished from their home. They could have landed on Eelong and given up. Instead, they rallied and created a new and better Black Water. It was no surprise to me, knowing the kind of people they were, that they were willing to put their lives on the line to protect it. Uncle Press explained to us that it was their spirit that was keeping Solara alive. Seeing the work they had done, the sacrifices they had made, and the bravery they’d shown here on Eelong made me understand it fully. These people were special. I truly believed they could be the foundation upon which Halla would be rebuilt.

If they survived.

“They’re here,” Courtney said softly.

She held up her binoculars to get a better look at the wound in the mountain. She didn’t have to bother. We could all see it plain enough with the naked eye. At first it seemed like a wave of red blood flowing out of the cleft in the mountain. It took only a few seconds to realize what it really was. Moving forward, filling the width of the gap, was an army of klees carrying red Ravinian flags. There were hundreds of the flags, snapping in the wind, headed into the valley as if in triumph. I was amazed at the bold move. They weren’t being defensive. It didn’t look as if they even had weapons. Did they seriously think the battle was already won?

The wave continued. Line after line of klees marched forward in lockstep, flags waving as they descended into the crater that was the valley of waterfalls.

“We’ll know soon,” Courtney announced. “If they’re dados, they’re walking into a kill zone. If not-” She gave me a grave look.

The mass of flag-bearing klees ended. They were followed by klees wearing the uniform of Leeandran soldiers. These guys carried the weapons I had seen the foragers use. From far away they looked like they were carrying flagpoles with no flags, but I knew they were the wooden staves that would be used to crack heads. They would also have the three-stone bolas that they threw at gars to tie up their legs. The sick thing is that they weren’t coming in to obliterate the gars. This was a roundup. Sure, gars would go down, but I believe their mission was to capture as many as possible. Those trucks we saw weren’t carrying weapons. They were here to take the gars back to Leeandra for the klees’ barbaric feasts. I wondered what their orders were. How aggressive were they going to be? There was no way that the gars or the exiles would go without a fight.

“What have the gars been told?” I asked Courtney. “I mean, if it comes to a close-in fight, what will they do?”

“You mean what’s going to happen if it looks like we’re losing?” she asked.

I nodded.

“There will be no prisoners,” she said with certainty. “One way or the other, this will be a fight to the death.”

As fatalistic a thought as that was, it made perfect sense. If I had to choose between dying in battle or being rounded up and put into a cage and held until I was slaughtered for food, I know the decision I’d make. Surrender was worse than suicide.

The four of us stood on that platform, watching as the klee army emerged from the destroyed mountain.

“Is there no end to them?” Kasha said, thinking out loud.

I thought back to the view we’d gotten of the army from the sky when we flew in the day before. There were thousands of them. Multiple thousands. There was no way that a guerrilla force of gars and Yanks would stand a chance against them.

“When you met with the gar defenders last night, did you plan for this possibility?” I asked.

“You mean did we figure out what to do if the klees got in and they turned out to be dados?” she asked. “Yes. We put together a rough plan.”

“How rough?” I asked.

“Well, considering we didn’t think this would really happen, not a whole lot of thought went into it. But it’s not complicated. The plan is to lay back with the radio cannons, wait until the klees enter the kill zone, then give the order to unload on them.”

“How precise are the weapons?” Kasha asked. “Does each dado have to be shot separately?”

“Yes,” Courtney answered. “The throw of the radio cannons isn’t very wide. But we’ve got the best marksmen in charge. All they need is the order to fire.”

“And who gives that order?”

Courtney looked at me and gave me the confident smile that I had seen so often. “That would be me.”

Of course it would. She’s the one who introduced the concept of dados to the gars. Why shouldn’t she be in charge? Courtney trained her binoculars back down into the valley. The hordes of klees continued to pour into the valley. There seemed to be even more than we’d seen from the air, but I think that was because they were more concentrated from having come through the gap.

“Are there enough cannons?” Boon asked nervously. “There are a whole lot of targets down there.”

“More than enough,” Courtney answered without taking her eyes away from the binoculars. “With plenty of power to fire several charges from each weapon. The trick is to get our shooters close enough to be able to target the klees, but not so close that, if the cannons are ineffective, they would be in the way of our counterattack.”

“Counterattack?” Kasha asked.

Courtney didn’t answer. She was focused on events down below. The flag-carrying klees were a third of the way through the valley, headed for the waterfalls. They were about to pass by the thick stand of trees that grew along one shore of the lake. I had no doubt that the gar shooters were hidden among those trees. Courtney held the binoculars with one hand and lifted her link radio with the other.

“Stand by,” she spoke into the radio.

Her voice didn’t betray the tension I knew she was feeling. Were the klees dados? Would the radio weapons be effective against them? We would know in a few short seconds.

“Wait for my command,” Courtney said softly, as if she didn’t want her words to be overheard by the klees below.

The army marched on. The first line reached the stand of trees. How long would Courtney wait? Was the hurried plan they hatched being put into gear? Were the gar shooters in position?

“On my command,” Courtney finally said.

I didn’t know what she was waiting for, but this was her show, so I wasn’t going to comment.

“Five… four… three… two… one… fire!”

The first line of klees froze in their tracks. That one reaction was all we needed to know.

“Dados,” Courtney growled in triumph.

The dado klees dropped their flags. The red stars of Ravinia fell into the dirt. In seconds, multiple hundreds of klees were lying on the ground, lifeless. There was no doubt. They were dados. Wave after wave hit the ground. I heard the faint sound of the whine of radio waves rising from the valley floor as the gar shooters unloaded on them. There must have been hundreds of weapons down there, all firing incessantly. That’s how many dados fell.

“They aren’t klees!” Boon shouted with joy. “They can be stopped!”

Within a minute the bodies of a thousand dado klees littered the valley of waterfalls. It looked like total victory. At first I thought that the only reason the klees to the rear weren’t falling was because they couldn’t get past the sea of bodies and enter the kill zone. I figured it was only a matter of time before word got passed back and the remaining dados beat a quick retreat.

That didn’t happen.

“Why are they continuing to march forward?” Boon asked. “They must realize they have entered a trap.”

The first hint of doubt crept into my head. Every last klee wearing the red uniform of Ravinia was dead. Or deactivated. Or whatever. They were joined by many more who wore the uniform of soldiers from Leeandra and wound up dead as well. But there were many to the rear who kept moving forward, crawling over the bodies, continuing the assault.

“Something’s wrong,” Courtney announced. “Could the gars be out of ammunition?” I asked. “Maybe,” she said ominously. “Or maybe the rest aren’t dados.”

The truth suddenly seemed obvious. The radio cannons had knocked out the dados, but there was more to this army. Much more. The dados were sent in first, perhaps for this very reason, to draw out the radio-cannon fire. Coming up from the rear were flesh-and-blood klees. Most of the army had been wiped out, but there were still plenty of living klees to bring the battle to Black Water.

Courtney kept her eyes down on the valley. If she was scared, she didn’t show it.

Kasha said, “You said something about a surprise?”

“Yeah,” Courtney replied. “Now or never.”

The klees clambered over the fallen dados effortlessly. After all, they were cats. They dropped to all fours and continued moving forward. It was almost as if they had practiced this maneuver. The first ones over the pile of dead dados advanced several yards and then stopped, waiting for the others to make their way over and assemble. It was hard to tell how many were there. Five hundred? A thousand? More? The army had been cut down considerably, but there were still plenty of living klees left to do some damage.

“What’s going to happen?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“This isn’t the Black Water you knew, Bobby,” Courtney explained, sounding way too calm for the situation. “Much of the change has to do with the Yanks, who helped the gars advance. It was clear that if the klees ever decided to attack, the gars wouldn’t stand a chance. So they had to come up with unexpected ways to defend themselves. Creating the radio cannons was one of those ways.”

“But there’s another, right?” I asked hopefully.

“The theory is there,” Courtney answered. “We weren’t able to fully test it, for reasons that will become obvious, so I guess you’d call this a ‘trial by fire.’ It’s either going to work, or Black Water is done.”

The remaining klees assembled beyond the mass of dado bodies. Several klees on zenzens rode to the front of the pack. I figured these must be the officers. They had been lying back, safely waiting for this moment. Now they were about to lead the charge into Black Water. One officer rode to the front of the klees, raised his arm as a signal, and motioned for the waterfall. Moving as one, the mass of klees began to make their way toward Black Water.

‘Are gars guarding the waterfall?” I asked.

“No,” Courtney answered. “The tunnel doesn’t offer any position to attack from. Gars are waiting on the far side, but we’re hoping the klees don’t make it that far.”

Kasha asked, “So you will try to stop them before they reach the tunnel?”

“That’s the idea,” Courtney answered.

We all looked down over the edge as the re-formed but smaller klee army marched toward the waterfall. I glanced up into the mountains on our side of the valley. Were there guns up there? Were the gars going to roll rocks down onto the klees? What was going to happen?

Courtney lifted her link cube. The command to launch the counterattack was hers to give. “All units, prepare to release,” she ordered.

I watched her scanning the scene below, calculating. I glanced to Kasha. Kasha shrugged. She didn’t have any better idea of what was about to happen than I did.

Courtney looked to us and said, “If we’re lucky, this is going to get ugly.”

She brought the link cube to her mouth and gave the order. “Three

… two… one… release!”

“Release what?” I asked.

My answer came in the form of a high, shrill whistle. It was soon joined by another. And another. Soon the piercing whistle sound filled the valley, echoing off the stone face of the surrounding mountains. Looking at the klees, I saw that the sound didn’t affect them at all. They continued their march.

“It didn’t work,” Boon fretted. “They aren’t stopping.”

“Hang on,” Courtney said with patience.

Whatever was supposed to happen wasn’t happening. The whistle sound continued, growing in pitch and in volume. I felt bad for any stray dogs that might have been wandering around. Not that there were any dogs on Eelong.

That’s when I remembered. I had heard a whistle like that before. On Eelong. There may not have been dogs on this territory, but there were other animals. Was it possible? Was this the final defense that the gars had pinned their hopes on?

A second later they struck. The forest that surrounded the base of the mountains came to life. Leaping from the dark confines of the trees were… tangs. Hundreds of them. They had appeared from nowhere, and they looked pissed. The klee officer held up his hand to signal his soldiers, but they already knew. They were surrounded by a ring of angry tangs. The first line of klees stopped, which meant the rest of the army bunched up behind them. In seconds the klee army had gone from a tight, formidable force, to a group of confused cats. Obviously, they hadn’t expected this, which is exactly what the gars had been counting on.

Courtney glanced back at me with a sly smile and said, “We stopped battling tangs and learned how to train them.”

I thought back to when I had been treed by the tang, when I first got back to Eelong. That thing was just as vicious as any tang I had ever seen, and I had no doubt it would have ripped me apart if it hadn’t been for the gar that called him off-with a whistle. The gar had petted the snout of the subdued beast. The carnivorous lizard had become as docile as my dog, Marley. From that one event I had learned that the gars could calm the tangs. From what I saw below, they could also fire them up.

The klees turned outward to defend themselves. They raised their weapons to protect against the rampage. It was too little, too late. The vicious tangs descended on the klees like a swarm of hungry locusts. There was a bloodlust going on that actually turned my stomach. Courtney’s prediction came true. It got ugly. I couldn’t watch. Looking to Kasha and Boon, I saw that they had to turn away as well. These were their brothers down there. As misguided as they may have been, these soldiers were still klees. Saint Dane’s influence put them on a violent path, and that violence was now being turned back on them. They were slaughtered.

There was no other word for it. I heard the tortured screams of the cats as they desperately tried to fend off the tangs, or to flee. The tangs were merciless. I was grateful to be as far away as we were, because I couldn’t imagine hearing the sounds of tearing flesh. And chewing. And death.

Some klees escaped. The officers on zenzens were the first to bolt. They galloped back toward the newly cut gap and out of the valley as fast as their zenzens would take them. A few were hunted down before their zenzens got up to speed. The tangs leaped at them and took them down violently. Several stragglers managed to escape. A running klee was faster than a running tang. I can’t judge how many got away, but it wasn’t many. The rest fell to the teeth and talons.

The battle didn’t last long. The event was swift and violent. Within minutes hundreds of klee bodies lay in their own blood, being devoured by tangs. I guess that’s justice for you. The klees came to eat the gars, and instead, they found themselves on the menu.

Kasha’s voice quivered when she said, “I do not know if I should be repulsed… or thrilled.”

Another whistle sounded. Different pitch. Different frequency. The trained tangs instantly gathered together and trotted back into the forest from where they’d come, looking suddenly docile… and satiated. In minutes, all that was left of the massive klee assault on Black Water was a gap blown into the mountains, seven destroyed gigs, a pile of fried dados, and the bodies of hundreds of half-eaten klees.

The attack had been an absolute and total failure. Courtney pulled the earpiece from her ear and turned to me. The relief on her face was obvious. “Guess it worked.” It was over. The klees had come knocking and the gars shut the door. The four of us hurried back for the elevator and descended quickly into Black Water. When we exited the elevator tunnel, we witnessed a scene of total joy. It was pandemonium. This was a war they had been preparing for for a long time. It had ended in complete victory. The four of us stood at the mouth of the tunnel, looking down the slope into the village. We didn’t join the celebration. That would have been tricky, considering Boon and Kasha were klees. We had to make do with witnessing it from afar.

The village was in an uproar. People cheered. Music played over loudspeakers. Gars hugged Yanks. People were kissing. The radio cannons that minutes before had been set to protect the first ring of buildings were laid down, and their shooters were dancing joyously. It was an outpouring of positive emotion like I had never seen before. It reminded me of when we had prevented the klees from poisoning Black Water so many years before… times twenty.

I could only imagine the positive spirit that was flooding into Solara.

The gars had been living under the threat of the klees for a long time. I had no doubt that with this battle, the klees would think twice before attacking again. For the Yanks, the exiles, this was a moment of victory for them as well. They had to know the connection between Ravinia and the klees. They saw the flags and the uniforms as clearly as I did. It didn’t matter that they were being worn by cats. It was Ravinia, the people who had banished them from their own home. I hoped they got some satisfaction in having struck a blow back at them.

Courtney put her arms around me. The two of us stood there, holding each other, enjoying the celebration.

“Unbelievable,” I said.

“No, it isn’t,” she replied. “It’s proof that Ravinia isn’t all-powerful.”

There was something about those words that struck a note with me. It was a thought I couldn’t fully grab on to, but it started me thinking. The gars and the Yanks had proven that Ravinia wasn’t all-powerful. Interesting.

“Shorty?” came a familiar voice.

We all turned quickly to see a tall, dark-skinned man standing near the mouth of the cave. It was Gunny. He was still wearing the dark suit, white shirt, and tie that was his normal outfit on First Earth. He seemed totally out of place here on Eelong. The tall, soft-spoken man walked over to us, and in his usual calm, soft voice said, “Morning, Kasha. Boon. Hello there, young lady.” He said this last to Courtney. “You’re growing up more beautiful than I imagined.”

“Good to see you, Gunny.”

Gunny looked down at the celebration and asked, “What happened?”

“The klees attacked and the gars turned them back,” I answered. “It was incredible.”

“Seems so,” Gunny said as he viewed the celebration with a smile. “And the exiles? Elli said they were here.”

“They are,” Courtney answered. “They helped save Black Water.”

Gunny nodded knowingly. “That explains a lot.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Gunny turned to us and said, “Bobby, Kasha, it’s time you came back to Solara.”

“Why? What’s happened?” Kasha asked.

“You’ve got to see it for yourself. Solara has changed. I’m guessing it has something to do with what just happened here. I don’t know how to describe it, but you two better get back.”

I couldn’t imagine what Gunny was talking about, but I knew that if he came looking for us, it was important. It was time to go.

I looked to Courtney and said, “You just kicked some serious ass.”

“Pretty cool, aye?” Courtney wasn’t one for false modesty. She turned serious and added, “But this was just the warm-up, wasn’t it?”

I hadn’t wanted to kill the celebration by reminding everyone of Saint Dane’s plan. There were several thousand dados on Third Earth waiting to get their own shot at Black Water.

“Try not to think about it right now,” I answered. “Enjoy this.”

Courtney nodded. She knew their victory was going to be short-lived.

Kasha gave Boon a hug. “Thank you.”

“I’m not sure what I should do now,” Boon said. “I’m not going back to Leeandra, and I can’t stay here. I’m the enemy, remember?”

“Stay,” Courtney said quickly. “You aren’t one of them. This is your home now. Nothing’s going to happen to you. I’ll make sure of it.”

Boon looked sick. I felt bad for the guy. He was caught between two lives.

“I’m serious, Boon. You’ll be okay,” Courtney assured him.

Boon nodded, but still looked nervous.

“What are we going to see, Gunny?” I asked. I wanted a little bit of a preview before being hit with another surprise.

“I can’t exactly say for sure,” the old man said. “What I’m hoping is that you’re going to see the future.”

With that mysterious comment, Gunny, Kasha, and I took a step back.

And returned to Solara.