“No,” Bulco said impassively and turned around. “We’re leaving.”
“Wait,” Nori said, staring intently at the alien. “What was a freighter from the third fleet doing here? You are aware that intervening with an un-Infused planet stands against galactic law?”
The Inthidlon stared back at her. “The 3rd merchant fleet is a commercial entity. Our ships’ captains have the autonomy to decide on the best business opportunity for their vessels. If they have broken galactic law, it is even more imperative that I find them. The fleet doesn’t stand behind criminal activities.”
Nori narrowed her eyes at him. “I see,” she said finally. “Well, I’m sorry, but we can’t help you. Let’s go, guys.”
Lana lowered her head and turned to follow.
“Please,” the Inthidlon called behind them. “Two of the missing were my packmates.”
The Navigator stopped and turned back to face the alien. “What makes you think we even know anything?”
“You are Humans, yet your ship has obvious Inthidlon markers. I don’t know much of your species, but my sensors detected no other vessels around the planet, so you obviously had contact with my race before. You must know something. Please.”
Lana’s face softened at the hint of a plea in his voice.
Nori stepped in. “We’ve never met with your people before. Our ship is based partly on your technology, yes, but we built a lot of it on our own. I’m sorry, but we can’t help you.” She motioned the others and they turned away, leaving the flustered alien behind.
Once they entered the freighter and shut the door, Lana turned to the taller woman, her expression accusatory. “Why did you lie to him? The poor man was just looking for his ... family, I guess. We could have told him we found the ship. Alzigo said we were allowed to keep it.”
Nori shook his head. “We don’t know anything about him. He could be lying, hiding his real agenda while fishing for information. Did you notice how he started with subtle threats at first and when that didn’t work, he tried sympathy. I don’t trust someone like that. He could be here looking for the equipment we took from the moon or for the ship itself and I’m not giving up on Unity.”
Lana’s scowl eased. “I guess you have a point, but ... what if he was telling the truth?”
They’d made it to the bridge and Nori pointed at the main viewscreen, showing an arrow-shaped vessel docked next to them. The other ship was much smaller than Unity, barely twice the size of the shuttle. The muzzle of what was unquestionably an alien cannon was visible on its pointed front.
“Prudence. Let's see what we can learn about him on our own. Can you scan his ship?”
“Of course.”
The younger woman summoned her chair and accessed the controls. “Ugh, these sensors are the worst. All I’m getting from them is the ship’s id. It’s an Inthidlon ship, type Gorky-D.”
Bulco frowned. “That’s all?”
Lana’s hands flashed across her console. “From the sensors - yes. Luckily, Unity is also an Inthidlon vessel, or at least it was. It has the specs of that ship’s model in its database. My new implant makes accessing the information a lot easier. Let’s see … here we go. It’s a scout type vessel, quick, maneuverable, mounted with a light beam cannon. And … oh, shoot.”
“What is it, Lana?” Nori asked tensely.
“There’s a threat assessment chart here. If Fleak decides to attack us, we’ll be completely defenseless. Its thrusters are faster and more maneuverable than ours, and that cannon is powerful enough to punch through our hull. The only advantage we have is … oh, never mind.”
“What advantage?” Bulco demanded.
“Our null tunnel drive is stronger. Was stronger. If it was still intact, we could have outrun him.”
Bulco looked at Nori. “What do you think?”
The tall woman ran a hand through her thick dreads as she mulled over the issue. “We can’t risk it,” she said finally. “He might be telling the truth, but we can’t take the chance that he’s lying. If we tell him everything and it turns out he’s here looking for the missing equipment, he might attack us. The best thing we can do right now is to play it safe and stay away from him. At least until we deal with our own problems.”
Bulco nodded. “Agreed. How come he didn’t realize Unity was the ship he came looking for, though?”
Lana shook her head. “That’s Nathan’s doing. Unity is a lot different from the freighter it used to be. It might not be much of an external modification, but a lot of our internal systems have changed. Evolved. Even our energy signature is different. Our crappy sensors can tell me that much, at least. They’re one of the few things that hasn’t benefitted from the change.”
“I guess that’s why he thought we were using some of his species’ tech,” Nori said. “Enough of it remained for him to pick up.” The tall woman stared at the sleek-looking scout vessel with a slight frown. “Let’s hope that’s all he got. If he decides to be more aggressive, there’s not much we can do about it. For now, he’ll be busy questioning Alzigo. We should use that time to move around. We still have a horde of Warped to take care of.”
“His ship has weapons,” Lana said. “Can’t we … I don’t know, find a way to convince him to help out? I bet a few shots from a space cannon could easily solve our Warped problem.”
“Too dangerous, girl,” Bulco objected. “That weapon represents power. If we go to him for help, that would be showing our hand. We don’t want him to get the idea that he’s the meanest, strongest kid in the hood.”
“Bulco’s right,” Nori said, looking at her personal monitor. “The last shipment of cartridges is loaded. We have over six tons of ammunition onboard—that’s more than enough. We can take care of our problems on our own.” She ran her fingers over her controls, and a slight shudder ran through the freighter as she disengaged from the station.
Lana stared at the blue and brown orb planet below. “I hope you’re right.”
18 - Gauntlet
Unity flew through the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere, her prolonged neck pointing at the small continent below.
Nathan was back in his pod, accessing information only he understood. He could feel the ship continuing to shift beneath him. Hull and bulkheads reshaping more slowly than before, completing the transformation that was started by their union. He was still perturbed by the Alzigo’s claim that the Tec’s effect was benign. But he couldn’t deny that he felt better than ever since the synthesis. Since he allowed the Tec to take the tiniest root in his mind.
Then, as they reached the upper parts of Earth’s atmosphere, the final panel twisted into place and the ship’s transformation was complete.
Nathan now had an important decision to make: the ship’s first upgrade. He knew what his friends would likely choose, and he wasn’t comfortable with it. He contemplated making the decision on his own but finally shook his head. His Path might allow him to run the ship, but he could never fly it better than the Navigators, fix it faster than the Engineer, or analyze it as efficiently as an Expert. They were in this together, and that meant they all had to make the decision together. With a small mental effort, he made a line of text appear on the main viewscreen.
Alter Mode upgrade completed
“Guys!” Lana exclaimed. “Unity has finished the upgrade.”
“Yeah, we can see that,” Bulco said tartly, also looking at the giant text in front of them. “Now can someone tell me what this Alter Mode is?”
Lana frowned and poured over her console. “Internal sensors come up with nothing. There are a bunch of new subroutines in the system that seems to be connected, but they’re weaved into everything inside the ship. I see no obvious ways to activate it. Nathan?” Everyone turned to look at him.
The young man pondered the issue. He could feel Unity’s new upgrade, affecting her in subtle but deep ways. It was somehow connected to the excavator she’d absorbed, but the exact nature of the change eluded him. The new p
arts resided deep at the fringes of their tentative connection and going there would mean surrendering himself fully the Tec and to their alluring whisper of anarchy. It was a point Nathan was unwilling to descend to. He shook his head.
“He doesn’t know,” Lana translated.
Nori’s brow creased. “That’s too bad, but it’s not important right now. We need to decide on our next upgrade.” She manipulated her console and the list of options appeared.
“What’s to think about?” Bulco said. “We should get the asteroid cannon.”
“I agree it’s the obvious choice,” the Navigator said. “But with that Inthidlon Scout around, we might want to upgrade our armor.” She manipulated her console and the two options remained alone on display.
Basic plating (level 1): Balatium, 18 Ton
Asteroid Cannon (level 5): Trinium 200Kg, Mithril 80Kg
Nathan stirred in his seat and nodded.
“Nathan thinks we should go with the plating,” Lana said. “He doesn’t like weapons.”
“I still think we should get the cannon,” Bulco said. “The Warped Broodmother is a more pressing threat.”
Nori nodded. “I see your point, but on the other hand, we do have a lot of ammunition now, so there’s a case to be made for bulking up our defenses first. Lana, what do you think?”
The young Expert bit her nails. Like Nathan, she wasn’t a big fan of weapons, but on the other hand … “How long will it take for each upgrade to finish?” she asked, looking at Nathan.
The young man contemplated the question. Unity’s partly formed consciousness was hard to understand, but there seemed to be a guiding principle behind the upgrade’s logic.
“Hmm,” Lana said. “If I get it right, Nathan says its less of a question of complexity than sheer mass. In that case, something that takes a total of two-hundred eighty kilos will be a lot faster than one requiring eighteen tons. We should get the cannon first, hope it’ll be quick, and get the plating upgrade right after.”
“The girl makes a lot of sense,” Bulco nodded in approval.
“Asteroid cannon it is,” Nori said and entered the command.
Nathan felt the order run through the ship, affecting it in a subtle manner. He could have resisted the order if he wanted to. He let it through.
Bulco stepped toward the cargo hold and paused at the entrance. “That is so cool.”
“What is?” Nori asked distractedly as she guided the ship. The holo controls glowed around her fingers.
“The containers opened on their own and a bunch of the stuff got sucked down into the floor.”
Nathan nodded. He could feel the raw alloys run through the ship, like blood pumping through veins.
Lana tapped a few keys and one of the main monitors changed to show the surface of the ship. A small bump began to emerge from the hull, directly over the bridge.
Asteroid Cannon upgrade: 2%
“It’s fast,” Nori said, offering Nathan a faint smile. “You were right.”
“Yep,” the young Expert said happily. “Looks like it’ll be done in about an hour.”
“Good, then let’s not waste any more time. I’ll take us to the Grand Mall first. I’m sure Diamond will be thrilled to get the ammo.”
“Thrilled is putting it mildly,” Bulco said dryly. “Have you ever seen a fat old man get jiggy with it?”
Nathan grinned, and Lana chuckled at the mental image. Nori was guiding the ship with gentle movements of her hologram-wrapped fingers, her eyes narrowed in concentration too much to join the general mirth. The surface became visible as they burst through the cloud layer, showing familiar destroyed buildings.
“Ah, guys,” Lana frowned as she poured over her console. “I’m getting weird readings on the sensors.”
“What do you see, girl?” Bulco asked.
“I’m not sure; there are a lot of red and yellows, and--” Lana’s eyes became as wide as saucers. “The Warped are attacking!”
A stunned silence filled the bridge.
“Can you show us?” Nori asked.
Lana nodded and tapped her console. The main viewscreen changed into a topographic map of the city with Lou’s Yard at the center. The conquered shelter was still colored in intense red but unlike before, two tendrils of yellow spiked with red dots extended out of it, one to each of the inhabited shelters.
“They split their forces to attack both shelters at once,” Bulco exclaimed, banging his fist over his armrests. “We have to do something! The people down there don’t stand a chance.”
The outer edges of both tendrils had almost reached their destination, and yellow pixels started surrounding the two shelters.
“We’re too late,” Nori said with a pale face. “We have to get down there, but who do we help first?”
“Martin!” Lana cried. “They are already surrounded.”
“Diamond!” Bulco counteracted. “Martin’s got thicker walls and better weapons, they can hold on longer.”
“Shit.” Nori cursed. “We don’t have time for debate. Lana, Bulco’s right, Martin has a better chance of holding out.”
“I’m going to kill that blue freak when I see him next,” Bulco seethed. “If he hadn’t delayed us, we could have been there by now.”
“I’m going as fast as I can!” Nori said, guiding the freighter dangerously close to the ground. “Touchdown in thirty seconds!”
The ground zoomed past them and they soon saw the large mall in the distance. At least a hundred Warped were storming toward the building. A dozen were already there, pounding on the walls, some even clawing their ways upward.
The ship sped on, not slowing even when they got closer.
“What are you doing?” Lana cried. “We’ll crash.”
Nori clenched her jaws, struggling to maintain control. “I’m going to put us right at the front gate. Unity will block the entrance while we unpack the ammo crates. How’s that cannon’s doing?”
Lana glanced on the secondary monitor.
Asteroid Cannon upgrade: 32%
“It’s not going to be ready in time,” she said.
“Brace yourself!” Nori yelled.
The freighter flew straight at the tall walls. Lana closed her eyes, expecting to crash into them. At the last possible second, Nori threw her hands backward and a deep shudder ran through the ship as she made a 180-degree turn on the spot. Their momentum carried them the last hundred meters, then the ship’s thrusters re-engaged.
Another deep shudder ensued, followed by a sudden jolt and the ship came to a complete stop.
“Killing the engines!” Nori shouted. “Done. Pull out your weapons. Go, go, go!”
Lana drew her Zapper and ran after Bulco toward the cargo hold. The Engineer’s huge revolver was already out, ready to go at a moment’s notice. Nori hurried after them.
The large door was already descending when they reached it. Despite Nori’s superb flying skills, she had miscalculated slightly. The back of the ship had rammed into the reinforced metal gate of the shelter, denting it out of shape. The cargo door lowered halfway then stopped with a metallic screech. A tear in the shelter’s gate, about two meters wide, appeared revealing the anxious faces of the guards beyond it.
“Thank god it’s you,” one of them blurted out. “I thought the Warped had managed to burst through.”
“Noah!” Nori shouted urgently. “We’ve got the ammo right here, hurry, let’s distribute it around.”
A snarl drew her attention. A centipede-like monster was worming its way through the side gap between the ship and the structure.
Warped, level 3
Two beams of energy hit it as the two women fired the Zappers. The creature screeched at the smoking holes in its body but kept trying to wriggle in, then Bulco fired. The huge Warped Buster round tore through the injured creature, blasting it apart in a spray of gore and shrapnel.
The large man holstered his gun and grunted as he lifted a huge ammo crate, carrying it to the opening. “Her
e. Twenty-five thousand cartridges in this one alone.”
It took four guards on the other side of the gate, working together, to take the crate from him.
“Bulco, is that you?” Diamond’s voice carried over.
“Yeah, it’s us!” Nori shouted back, carrying smaller crates and passing them along. “What’s your status?”
“We killed a few of the monsters with the ammo you left us, but it’s a drop in the bucket. We have smaller Warped trying to punch through our walls and my scouts spotted bigger ones just a few minutes away. You guys barely made it in time.” He looked back and shouted, “Take the crates into the residential area! I want all civilians reloading weapons and loading up magazines as quickly as possible! Guards, get to the firing holes and start shooting!”
“Just hand me a gun and cut me loose!” a woman shouted. Nori recognized the voice as belonging to Cattie, the Sharpshooter she helped Martin to level up.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, noticing the woman was already level four.
Cattie didn’t throw her a second glance. “Too busy killing monsters now, talk later.”
Screams erupted from inside the shelter.
“What’s going on?” Bulco demanded.
“A Warped made it inside!” a guard shouted. “It’s attacking the civilians.”
“Warped on the roof!” Another screamed. “They’re punching through!”
“Shit!” Bulco cursed. “Diamond, get some guards into the ship ASAP. Nori, take them to the roof. I’m going inside.”
The large man grabbed the edge of the ruptured gate and pulled himself into the building.
“On it!” Nori shouted back, turning to run to the bridge.
Diamond hurried Cattie and two other guards into the freighter. They barely made it in before Unity started lifting. The shelter’s guards blocked the breached gate behind them with thick steel plates.
A huge claw grabbed the edge of the still open cargo door. Lana screamed and punched the closing mechanism, but the monster wouldn’t let go. The ship was already a few meters in the air, bringing the creature along with it. Then another claw grabbed the straining door, then another. A giant, humanoid head appeared between the three limbs.
Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1) Page 27
