“They may be hostages.” Hal really hoped not. This was already a mess, with Fee abducted, the Garmman with a battleship nearby, and now Grih Battle Center headquarters breached.
It looked like someone had arranged for them to be hit on all sides at once.
“The comms to your headquarters are definitely still down, whereas the main hub is back up,” Eazi said quietly. “It looks as if they’ve found a way to block Fiona’s office, Security, and BattleCenter, but everything else needed to make the way station function is now running smoothly.”
So, they were shutting off the Grih’s and Fiona’s control.
“It sounds like there are a lot of people gathered in the conference room at headquarters,” Hal said, keeping his voice low. “We’re going to see what’s going on.”
“We?” Eazi asked.
“Three other Grihan officers and myself.” Hal stopped talking and moved silently down the passage. The door to the conference room was closed. Hal would have expected to find someone outside keeping watch if they were holding the staff hostage, but there was no sign of anyone.
He passed the door and kept going, trying to remember where the comms center was. He had a feeling it was on a higher floor.
A smear of blood on the wall just before a corner had him slowing, and he gave the signal for danger.
He edged around, shockgun up, and stared at a body lying up against the wall, throat slit.
The missing guard, perhaps?
The man was Balcoan, so that would make sense, but Hal didn’t know who could be responsible for this.
Falna?
He edged around the body and as he moved along the passage he glanced back and saw the grim expressions on the other three’s faces.
“Do you think it’s the conference room guard?” Juy asked.
“That’s the logical assumption.” Hal shrugged. “Keep focused, people.”
He reached the next set of stairs and stopped.
“I’m going up to check the comms center,” he whispered when the other three caught up. “Crane, stay here, and onlycome up if you hear someone headed this way. Come fetch us if it sounds like something is happening in the conference room.”
Crane nodded, gaze going back down to the dead Balcoan, and then tucked himself into the shadows under the stairwell.
Hal ran up the stairs with Juy and Vistna on his heels. There was no sound on the floor above, which more than anything told him how wrong things were in here.
The stairs he’d taken were side stairs, at the far end of the building, and he headed for the central hub, keeping close to the wall.
A movement up ahead, a slither of something low to the ground, had him stopping.
He edged along the passage and when it widened into a large room he saw a long, segmented creature.
It was waiting for him, half lifted up on its forelegs, little head turned his way.
Behind him, Vistna made a sound of shock.
Hal lifted an arm for silence.
He crouched, on an eye level with the Scary Caterpillar. One of Paxe’s drones.
He gave a nod of acknowledgement.
Paxe would be looking through his drone’s eyes, no question about it.
Hal thought of the dead guard on the floor below and tried to see if one of the sharp metallic legs had blood on it, but they all looked clean. He shook the thought off. No time to wonder now, anyway.
