The gun cutter lurched one last time and vanished from sight, tumbling down into the open shaft of the landing platform it had previously been too big to fit within.
With one of its engines blown off, that was no longer a problem.
Valerian heard someone shout his name and looked over the corpse-strewn lawn toward the house, seeing his father and grandfather crouched in the shelter of a recessed doorway. Both men were furiously beckoning to him as the Wraiths circled around for another strafing run.
Valerian didn't waste time looking up and simply scooped his mother off the ground and ran as fast as he could to safety.
"Oh God, Val. I'm so scared!" she cried.
"Don't worry," he gasped. "I won't let anything happen to you."
The house suddenly seemed impossibly far off, as though his every step carried it farther and farther away from him. His father's soldiers were painting the sky with Impaler fire, and Valerian risked a glance over his shoulder as he heard the distinctive, chopping-air sound of a dropship on a fast insertion run.
A heavy lander in the colors of the Confederacy was dropping rapidly through the clouds, a midsized assault boat capable of carrying around twenty to thirty soldiers, depending on their loadout. Valerian forced himself to run faster, and suddenly he was at the doorway.
His father grabbed him and hauled him into the house. The breath heaved in his lungs and his heart rate was racing like never before. From eight years of age, he had trained to fight with gun and sword, but this was the first time he'd been exposed to real combat. Valerian handed his mother off to Charles Whittler, who set her down on a carved wooden bench as Ailin Pasteur slammed the door shut and engaged the mag-lock.
They were in the east wing hallway, a terrazzo-floored vestibule that linked the main receiving rooms and the guest quarters. Along with his mother and father, Master Miyamoto, Whittler, and Ailin Pasteur, there were five soldiers and a handful of weeping domestics.
"What the hell is going on, Mengsk?" demanded Ailin Pasteur. "Who is trying to kill us?"
His father took a breath and placed his hands on Valerian's shoulders, his relief at his son's survival plain for all to see.
"There has been some... opposition to the institution of my reign," he said, turning and drawing his sword as his soldiers formed up around him. "I can only assume that this is a manifestation of that opposition."
"Opposition?" exploded Ailin. "This is more than bloody opposition—those men are going to kill us!"
Arcturus laughed in Pasteur's face. "Kill us? Don't be foolish, Ailin."
"This isn't a fortress, Arcturus. That door isn't going to keep them out for long."
"They're not going to kill us, Ailin," repeated Arcturus.
"You sound very sure," snapped Pasteur.
"I am," replied Arcturus. "I may die one day, but it won't be today. Not at the hands of fools who can't accept they're beaten. Charles, what's the comm situation? I need reinforcements."
Charles Whittler, still holding Juliana Pasteur upright, had one hand pressed to his ear, in which was nestled the blinking light of a comm bead.
"All the local networks are jammed, sir," he said. "Our assailants appear to have cast an electromagnetic pulse net around us, and I do not believe any of the house comm units are strong enough to burn through it, at least not before we are dead. Also, I'm picking up hundreds of channels of white noise across a wide spectrum. Even if someone could pick up our broadcast, there's too much interference for anyone to understand the signal."
Arcturus nodded. "They're using a Cassandra scrambler. So we can't expect any local help, then, well, we're going to have to look elsewhere for aid."
"There is nowhere else," said Ailin Pasteur.
"There's always somewhere else you can turn," said Arcturus.
As his father spoke, Valerian pressed himself lo the outer wall and looked through the glass panel at the side of the door. Flying shrapnel had punched a neat hole in the glass and he saw the Confederate dropship hammer into the lawn, its skids gouging great chunks from the soft earth. Its assault ramp dropped and a host of armored marines emerged. They spread out and began moving cautiously toward the house in pairs.
"Incoming," he said, turning back to face his father. "Marines. At least thirty."
His father nodded and addressed Ailin Pasteur. "Do you have a refuge here? A safe room?"
"Yes, in the central service core."
"Get to it. Take Valerian, Juliana, and Charles and two of my soldiers," ordered Arcturus. "Lock yourselves in and wait for the cavalry. Understood? You three soldiers and Miyamoto, you're with me."
"Arcturus," cried Juliana. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to get us some help," he said. "The only comm unit strong enough to penetrate a Cassandra screen is on the gun cutter. If we can get to it, I can call in Duke and his boys."
"I'm going with you," said Valerian. "I'm not running."
"No," said his father. "You're getting to safety."
"I'm going with you," repeated Valerian. "That's the end of it, no argument."
Arcturus looked set to dispute him, then saw his determination. Valerian felt his heart soar at the pride he saw in his father's eyes.
"The cutter went down the landing shaft, yes?" said Arcturus.
"Yeah," said Valerian, "its engine blew out and it fell in."
"Which means we can reach it from the house.”
"Arcturus, that's insane!" said Juliana. "Edmund Duke's ships are too far away to reach us in time and for all you know the cutter's comm unit is destroyed.”
"If I know Duke, he'll be halfway here already," said Arcturus. "Sorry, Ailin. You didn't really think I'd leave my ships that far out, did you?"
"Damn you, Arcturus," said Pasteur. "You go too far.”
Arcturus gave a hollow laugh. "If Duke gets here in time, you'll be glad I do."
Valerian straightened as his father turned and handed him a gauss rifle. “You ready?”
He racked the slide of the weapon. "I'm ready."
His father led the way and Valerian, Master Miyamoto, and the three marines dashed after him. The flaming wreckage of the crashed Wraith blocked their initial route through the house, but Valerian guided them around it to reach the concealed elevator in the main hall.
The power was out, so they took the stairs, clattering down flight after flight in their desperate hurry. Valerian heard gunfire from above and paused in his descent, torn between his desire to follow his father and his need to protect his mother.
He realized he hadn't even said good-bye, and took a step back up the stairs.
"Don't be foolish!" shouted Arcturus. "We can only help them by reaching the cutter."
Valerian hesitated, but he knew his father was right and headed down once more, taking the stairs two at a time. Eventually they reached the bottom and emerged into the system of corridors, maintenance caves, and stores of the landing facility.
Wretched smoke billowed and heaved throughout the underground complex, and sprays of water drizzled from the sprinklers set into the roof. Valerian coughed at the acrid stench of burning fuel, rubber, and plastic, pressing his hand over his mouth to avoid the worst of it.
He flinched at the sound of breaking glass and turned to see Master Miyamoto at an emergency fire point, hauling a trio of breathing apparatus facemasks from within. He handed one to Valerian and one to his father before fitting his own mask.
"Which way to the platform?" asked Arcturus, his voice echoing and artificial-sounding through the mask. "I don't remember the layout."