Krell had barely said ten words since seeing Archer again in the combat chamber, and four of them had not been translatable. Archer knew he couldnt hope to reason with the soldier, but he also knew that even if he somehow managed to prevail, he couldnt find it in himself to kill him, either. I sure as hell cant afford to letyou know that, though,he thought as he regarded his opponent in much the same way he might a Cape buffalo getting ready to make a lethal charge.
Koloss accelerated training had been helpful enough to allow Archer to survive this long without injury, though mostly he had been defending himself rather than striking any blows of his own. As Kolos had explained and demonstrated various techniques for handling a batleth,Archer began to understand that some of the principles were not significantly different from certain types of terrestrial sword fighting, blended with a bit of quarterstaff or bōstick combat. Kolos had also provided some guidance in the use of the batleths secondary blades and their multiple serrations; they were used mostly to trap the points of an opponents weapon. Executed properly, such a trapping maneuver could not only effectively block an otherwise lethal blow, it might also disarm a foe with little more than a simple twist and a yank.
With a roar, Krell attacked again, pulling Archers focus into laser sharpness. The Klingons blade swung around in an arc, coming up from below, the tip whistling as it cleaved the air; Archer could tell the move was meant to chop his hands out from under the handgrip. Feeling a stalagmite at his back, he couldnt duck to the side, so he moved his own blade to counter, swiveling his batlethfrom an upward-curving angle to a down-turned position.
Krells blow and Archers parry brought the two blades together hard enough to strike sparks, and Archer felt the shock reverberate through his wrists as the Klingons momentum and greater weight rammed his blade upward. Pain lanced his arms, and as Krell attacked again, Archer scrabbled to retreat behind another stalagmite. He ducked, barely evading a horizontal slice that had come uncomfortably close to cleanly decapitating him; instead of Archer losing his head, one of the upturned rocky deposits lost its conical end, shattering into a gray-brown powder as the baakonite blade tore through it with all the force of Krells offended sense of honor.
As Krells arms followed through with the blow, Archer charged from his defensive crouch, stabbing the pointed end of his weapon toward his foes midsection. Krell sidestepped in time to avoid being impaled right through the gut, but not quickly enough to prevent Archers blade from inflicting a superficial flesh wound that announced its presence with a small spray of lavender Klingon blood.
Even as Archer continued moving forward, his boot caught on something he couldnt see on the uneven floor, and he suddenly felt himself falling. In the quarter second or so it took his momentum to carry him to the caverns rocky floor, he willed his arms to move the batlethout from in front of him.
NotgonnastabmyselftodeathbeforeKrelldoes,he thought, his mind racing.
Even as he rolled to the side in an effort to get his feet back under him, he felt a sharp pain in his mid-chest area, then felt the breath whoosh from his lungs as agony struck him in earnest. He realized in a horrified rush that Krells batlethhad pierced him at the ribs, and even now, before the red blood had dripped from its tip, Krell was standing above him, a look of rage commingled with triumph flushing his hard features.
Through his pain, Archer wanted to laugh, as in an instant he realized that he was about to die trying to prevent his world and its allies from going to war against the wrong enemy, all while the Romulans were setting Earth up for conquest. Given how little his sacrifice was evidently destined to mean, he hoped that hed at least leave a good-looking corpse behind for posteritys sake.
Krell brought the batlethdown in a lethal arc straight toward Archers face, and the captain knew that his final wish would not be granted.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Monday, July 21, 2155 Taugus III
T RIP WAS SURPRISEDat how easy entering the dissident complex had turned out to be once he and Terix had located a small, concealed emergency entrance, an aperture that must have been intended to allow easy ingress during times of bad weather outside.
And he was further surprised by just how few of the suspected Ejhoi Ormiindissidents he and Terix had actually found within the indeterminate-sized complex once theyd managed to get inside it. The two middle-aged Romulan men theyd encountered in what looked to be an informal wardroom were thoroughly nonplussed at the sudden arrival of the two armed strangers who had just appeared in their midst, as did the somewhat younger-looking Romulan woman who had been sharing a meal with them.
“By the authority of the battle fleet of the Romulan Star Empire, you are all under arrest, Terix said. He brandished his disruptor pistol, keeping it leveled more or less at all three dissidents, all of whom appeared to be academics rather than soldiers. Raising their hands in barely contained shock and fear, none of these people looked eager to rise from the small round lunch table around which they sat, or to do anything else that might provoke their captors.
“This cant be everybody, Terix said curtly, leaning toward Trip.
Trip couldnt help but agree. Holstering his own weapon, he pulled out the bulky Romulan military scanning device hed kept strapped to the belt on his simple, black paramilitary outfit, which was a close match for Terixs mission garb.
After consulting the palm-sized display screen for a few moments, Trip said, “Theres still no sign of life in this building other than these people and the two of us. Maybe the interference we picked up in the planets ionosphere is affecting this thing. He shook the scanner as though something broken might have rattled inside it.
“All the way down here on the surface? Terix shook his head. “That would seem to be a rather convenient technical failure.
Already weary of the centurions thinly veiled accusations, Trip found it difficult to make his reply sound entirely civil. “Im not just making this stuff up, you know.
“Of course youre not, Terix said in an ironic tone.
Trip counted slowly to five, trying to calm himself as he turned his attention back to his scanners readout display. “We have to accept the possibility that Chuihv managed to get off the planet before we even got here. Maybe that flash of hull metal I detected on our way in was our man making his escape.
Terix nodded. “Perhaps. But it is equally likely that he has somehow hidden himself here. And that he is using his compatriots as a diversion.
Another mans voice spoke up from directly behind Trip at that moment, making him start reflexively. It was a voice he recognized instantly.
“My associates are no diversion. I prefer to think of them more as bait for a trap.
Trip turned toward the man who had just spoken, and found that Terix was already facing him. The centurion was crouching as though he had been about to launch a “spray-and-pray pattern of fire from his disruptor pistol, but had thought better of it at the last instantand for very solid reasons.
“Chuihv, the centurion said through clenched teeth as he raised the barrel of his weapon so that it pointed harmlessly toward the upper curve of the domed ceiling.