a STAR FRONTIERS Novel

by Layne K. Saltern

Chapter 28

If the Red Knight were hiding somewhere, our flash beam would alert him to our presence. Of course, if he were using an infrared vision device, he wouldn't even need the flash beam to detect us. I cursed myself for not having brought my own infrared goggles along.

The storage room door stood before us. We had made it this far!

The first thing that hit us was a repulsive rotting smell. Grains of dust floated in Voar's flash beam as he scanned the area.

"The paralamps are to the right," Voar whispered. "Let's get this place lit up."

It was only seconds before we had two lamps glowing at full power. They cast harsh black shadows over piles of equipment in every direction.

We both lost our breath when we looked up and saw Thibaut!

He was scowling at us from a noose of wire. His eyes had lost their moisture and were glazed over. A line of dried blood drizzled from the corner of his mouth all the way down his broken neck. The rotting smell was no longer a mystery.

Voar stepped slowly towards the body, but didn't notice a glistening strand of tripwire--

A man-sized plate of spikes shot from the wall, but I hit Voar first in a mid-air tackle. The plate sliced past and bit deep into the opposite wall.

We hit the floor. My ankle was bleeding. It stung like fire.

"Those spikes were poisoned," I said. I doused the wound with some antitoxin from my medkit. The antitoxin sizzled into a white foam.

Voar had to search for his voice. "Aw--Are you all right?"

"It's just a nick."

"Kro'khan. . .I would have. . .been skewered by that thing! You just saved my life!"

"Subtract it from the number I've killed by letting the Red Knight live this long."

"Something was written on his chest."

"Huh?"

Voar pointed at Thibaut's body, which had been knocked down in the struggle. Someone had used a fine point laser scalpel to burn a message into the Human's flesh.

"What is it?" asked Voar.

"The Red Knight is trying his hand at poetry."

You were wrong. The Red Knight is not Thibaut.
By now I have nothing to hide.
For the first time, the armored base saved you,
But the second one comes from inside.

"Nuclear explosion," I responded. "Lieutenant, get Commodore Xid'kit's body from the sickbay. Take Lieutenant Z'ungheure with you, if you can find her, and get as far away from this base as possible. Now!"

"What about Commodore Tulk'n?"

"You won't be able to find him."