Page 26 of Warrior’s Mate

"Kaiven."

He followed her gaze. For a moment the eastern ridge was empty; then a bright point appeared above it, moving too fast for a shuttle.

It flew too low for normal orbital traffic and crossed the sky without sound. A second point followed, then a third.

The station alarms began to howl.

Chapter 5 — First Strike

The first explosion did not sound like thunder. Thunder rolled across distance; this struck the valley like a blow.

A hard concussion punched through the pumping station and turned every loose tool in the maintenance room into a clattering projectile. The windows flexed inward. One of the wall displays went black.

Maelis hit the floor with Kaiven's arm across her shoulders. For half a second she could hear nothing but pressure. Then sound came rushing back all at once—alarms, shouting, the scream of stressed metal somewhere below them, the maintenance supervisor swearing as a rack of fittings collapsed.

Kaiven was already moving.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

He looked at her anyway, checking face, arms, legs with a soldier's ruthless speed.

"I'm fine."

Another detonation sounded farther north. The lights flickered. Maelis pushed herself upright and reached the remaining display. The district grid was changing faster than she could read it.

Red faults spread across the eastern communications nodes.

"Impact near the ridge relay," she said.

Kaiven keyed his comm. "Regional command, Daratu. Wasaytu taking fire. Confirm hostile contact."

Static. He switched channels.

"District security."

A voice answered through heavy interference. "We see them. Unknown troop carriers crossing east ridge. Defense batteries are—"

The transmission cut off. The maintenance supervisor stared at them.

"Troop carriers?"

Kaiven's expression gave nothing away.

"Seal the lower pressure doors. Keep pumps running unless structural alarms trip."

"What are you doing?"

"Getting the district moving."

They ran. Outside, the morning had become something Maelis's mind refused to recognize. Smoke climbed beyond the northern terraces. A black wedge of alien craft passed low over the agricultural exchange, followed by two smaller attack vehicles that fired toward the distant landing field. The explosion arrived a second later.

People froze in the roadway. That frightened Maelis more than the blast.

Wasaytu people did not freeze. They moved harvest machinery through flash floods. They fought brush fires. They repaired ruptured irrigation mains in winter sleet. They knew what to do when normal things went wrong.

This was not a normal thing.