“I don’t think I can make that climb,” Stanton said.
“Me neither,” Skin said.
“But I can,” Stacia replied. “I already know that I can carry Skin for long distances. We’re about to find out if I can do the same with both of you. Quick, climb up the ladder and wait for me at the window.”
As they both went up, Stacia heard the roar of gunfire from behind. She didn’t bother to look, instead concentrating on preparing the ropes. As long as the shots weren’t heading her way, there was no use paying any attention to it. Cobble gave a guttural war scream as she held down the trigger, meant more to intimidate the enemy trying to get in the door. Stacia wasn’t one for war cries herself, but she still approved.
Stacia did look down at the door once she was at the top of the ladder just to get an idea of how much time they had. Cobble fired blindly at any movement of the curtain, so no one had gotten in yet, but Stacia could hear voices from the other side conferring on what to do. She gave one last thumbs up to Cobble, who was too busy shooting to even notice, and then joined Stanton and Skin in the window ledge.
The window was roughly circular and cut into the stone at a slight downward angle to the outside so inclement weather was less likely to get in, but the wall was thick enough that all three of them could fit inside if they pushed together. Stacia shoved the ladder away, anything to give them just a little more time before they might be pursued.
“So what’s the plan from here?” Stanton asked.
“Plan’s a bit of a strong word. It’s more like a general idea of how we might not die.”
“Not dying sounds fun,” Skin said. It was hard for Stacia to tell if she was being sarcastic. More likely, it was an honest and earnest assessment from the young woman.
“So what is it, then?” Stanton asked.
“Both of you are going to need to hang onto my back. I’ll do my best to secure you with one of these ropes, but you can’t assume it’s going to hold, so don’t lose your grip.”
“And what are you going to do?” Stanton asked.
“I’m going to climb. I told you it wasn’t much of a plan.”
“And if someone sees us and shoots us?”
“We fall and die.”
“This doesn’t seem like a well thought-out rescue.”
“It couldn’t be. Our intelligence of everything happening on Leviathan’s surface has been limited since the beginning. You’re lucky you’re getting a rescue attempt at all.”
“Because no one leaves Leviathan,” Skin said solemnly.
“Okay. Sorry,” Stanton said. “I didn’t mean to doubt you. If my mother trusts you, that should be good enough.”
Skin started to speak. “I still don’t understand why…”
“We’ll fill in the plot holes later, Skin,” Stacia said. “First, we’ve got to get through the action sequence.”
Skin shook her head. “I don’t understand what any of that means.” She grabbed onto Stacia’s back from the left side while Stanton did the same from the right. They held tightly to the shoulder pads of her armor as she lashed the rope around the three of them several times. Between the two of them and the weapons and pack she still had strapped to her back, movement through the window became infinitely more awkward.
Behind them, Cobble’s gunfire abruptly stopped. Whether she had died or ran out of bullets, that was still Stacia’s signal that it was time for them to go.
Keeping one plasma pistol and one hook and length of rope tucked where she could easily get them in the rope around her, Stacia slowly came out into the sunlight and surveyed the situation around her. On the various ledges and catwalks below, a fight had broken out between Lexton’s people and the citizens of Roo-Soh. Lexton’s Shellheads appeared to be broken up into two small groups, one consisting of the few that had run out the door after Stacia’s attack, and other somewhat larger group much farther down the cliff. The ones up here had the high ground, and the lower ones looked like they had hostages, but in between, the combined Skins and Shellheads who called this place their home were putting up a hell of a fight despite their inferior weapons. Stacia felt a small pang that she couldn’t be down there helping them. But helping people other than Stanton had never been part of this mission. The best she could do for everyone who didn’t deserve to be here was simply to tell the rest of the galaxy that they existed at all.
Still, Stacia couldn’t help but notice a single Shellhead near the top of the lower group that appeared to have two hostages. She had her left arm around the throat of one, while the other she kept at gunpoint. She was also shouting upward as though she thought someone above would hear her and give up if it saved these two’s lives. Both of the hostages were men.
“Skin, can you reach the sonic blade in my pack and give it to me?”
Skin did as she was asked without question. Stacia took the knife, hefted it in her hand to make sure she had the weight right, then carefully aimed below before tossing the blade with a flick of her wrist. It wouldn’t have the advantage of its vibratory function while it wasn’t in her hand, but Stacia’s aim was careful enough that she didn’t need it. The knife spun on its way down to bury itself directly in the top of the Shellhead’s skull. She dropped to the ground and then tumbled over the side of a catwalk, leaving her two hostages safely behind. The Shellheads that had been around her all looked up to see where the attack had come from.
“Why did you do that?” Stanton asked. “Now they know we’re up here.”
“That was just in case I can’t keep my other promise to Cobble.”
Many of the Shellheads shouted and pointed up to her as Stacia took her first tentative grips of the cliff face. From a distance, it had appeared relatively smooth, but now that she was right next to it, she could see that it was rough enough that she could probably make it to the top of the cliff. Or at least, she could under other circumstances. Normally, she didn’t have two full-grown people strapped to her back and adding dead weight.
As she started climbing, several stone chips flew past her face from the potshots of the Shellheads below. Several hit her back, but although she felt both Skin and Stanton cower against her, neither of them screamed. That actually surprised and impressed Stacia. Neither of them was used to combat situations, especially Stanton, who was well known to do most of his activism behind a desk and in front of a camera. Maybe they were both made of sterner stuff that she had expected. That was good. It meant that maybe there really was a chance they could get off this planet after all. Considering the plan that General Borealis had set in motion required…
“Hey, Stacia?” Skin asked, interrupting Stacia’s thoughts. “Didn’t those other Shellheads all get the same training you did?”
“Sort of.”
“Then why are you such a good shot while they all seem to be terrible?”
“Well, there’s a story there.” Another outcropping of rocks exploded over their heads, showering the three of them in sharp shards. “One I’ll have to tell you later. Please, right now, I really need to concentrate.”
About halfway up the cliff, Stanton tapped her on the back of the head. “Uh, looks like we’re about to get company.”
Stacia didn’t dare risk turning her head to see. The higher up she got, the smoother the rock seemed to be. Finding hand and footholds was becoming more and more difficult. “What have we got?”
“I think it’s the two Shellheads who ducked out the door when you started shooting,” Stanton said.
“Any chance either of you two could take one of the pistols and try to scrub them off our backs?”
“I wouldn’t even begin to know how to use those things,” Stanton said. Skin, however, had been keeping a close watch of Stacia over the last several days. Stacia felt the woman shift around on her back until she had one of the pistols. There were two shots, followed by one fading scream.