AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We have a selfless volunteer,” I said.
I aimed the pistol at his face.
“If someone doesn’t tell me what I want to know right now, your friend is going to get a new eyehole,” I said.
The workers were silent. Then they turned to one worker at a far corner computer.
“Everybody up!” I said. “Get over here!”
I marshaled them to one side. By now, the rest of the workers on the other floors had begun to gather around, peering down at us to watch a show they had no control over.
Half a dozen plasma bolts struck the door on the other side. It was reinforced and did not give easily.
Stari and V’Sen covered the door and prepared to open retaliatory fire. It was only a matter of time before they got in.
“Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast!” Stari said.
“How do I turn the defenses off?” Maddy said to the worker sat in his chair.
“Just destroy it!” I yelled.
“Good idea,” Maddy said.
She took aim and opened fire on the machine. Unlike the door, it was not reinforced. She blasted half a dozen holes in it before the lights began to flash and warnings flared on the monitors.
“What’s happening?” Maddy said.
Through the windows, lights flickered and the world reformed into fractal images.
The Changeling soldiers outside must have noticed it too as they slowed their attack on the door.
The geometric shapes flashed purple, yellow, blue, and green, then shattered completely. It was only then I realized it wasn’t the world that was flashing in every color of the rainbow. It was the Control Room’s camouflage technology.
“Is it down?” Stari said. “Is it over?”
I kept my gun trained on the workers and edged toward the window to peer at the world below.
“The defenses are down,” I said. “But it’s not over. It’s only just begun.”
The Yayora, upon seeing the disintegration of the Control Room’s defenses, came running over the horizon in our direction. A swarming mass of natives that just got their chance to take back what was taken from them.
Their homeworld.
V’Sen eased the door open and peered out at the Changeling soldiers on the other side. He yanked it open and kept his blaster pistol raised.
“What are you doing?” Stari said.
He raised a hand for her to be quiet. Before them were two dozen Changeling soldiers. They stared at the horizon, at the endless horde of Yayora rushing their way.
The thoughts running through their minds were easy enough to read.
Did they want to fight them? Did they want them to tear them to pieces? Or was it better to surrender now?
The soldiers put down their arms and raised their hands.
Stari watched as her enemy, those who had treated her nothing better than a serf her entire life, surrendered to her.
Tears sprung into her eyes and she wrapped her arms around V’Sen.
