“Watch this.” He pushed the throttle forward, sinking them both back into their seats. Even though gravity was almost non-existent outside Mars’s artificially gravitized cities and ships, at thousands of miles an hour, gravity could still torque the body a little. “She can’t keep up with me.”
Ozzy stared at the rear cam holoscreen. He hadn’t gained an inch on Zeld.
Not good.
“Alright, get back into the weapons array room. We’ll pluck her ass out of the sky.” He rubbed the flight console. “She won’t be able to out-maneuver Relic here.”
Ozzy barrel-rolled and went into a steep dive. Even though Zeld was in a starfighter, Ozzy had made sure his boosters were more powerful than most ships out there.
Zeld wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. No way.
A beep sounded across the cockpit again.
Shit.
She had kept up and launched a photon blast.
Jozi went to get up to run to the weapons room, but Ozzy held onto her shoulder again. The Martian soil was approaching fast. “I’m going in for a landing.”
Jozi thrust her arms out. “Why?”
Ozzy could understand why it would sound so foolish and, well, completely ridiculous, but he had a photon cannon slug coming up on him that he couldn’t evade.
“Zeld is good. She’s got Relic dead to rights.”
Krjjjwhaboom!
Relic rocked back and forth. The cockpit’s dials flicked on and off, and Relic slowed, losing power.
Ozzy lowered his landing skids, the bearings whining and clicking. A loud pop and one of the skids cracked off. An ear-piercing beeping sound echoed through the cockpit, and a belly cam forced itself on Ozzy’s screen.
The skid was hanging on by a thread, then bent and broke off. It plummeted to the Martian terrain. “Hold on tight.”
Jozi squeezed the armrests, her knuckles turning white and her body going rigid.
Ozzy looked at the altimeter and did his best to straighten out his descent. “Two hundred meters until impact. Brace yourself.”
Ozzy straightened her out more, but she was losing power.
“One hundred meters.” His body was shaking from the cockpit’s vibration. They were coming in hot. Any dip in his trajectory and he’d nosedive into the ground.
He couldn’t have that.
“Here we go.” Ozzy pulled back on his control stick, skimming Relic’s belly across the sand. His body jostled, and the impact bounced Relic into the air.
Relic dropped down a moment later, and its belly hit the Martian ground a second time.
The craft’s remaining skid dug into the sand, and Ozzy’s control stick pulled to the right. Relic spun in a circle, continuing its long slide.
Ozzy let go of the control stick and squeezed his armrests. The world around him twirled like he was riding a whirling top. Out of the corner of his eye and through the side cockpit window, he saw Relic’s wing dig into the ground. It cracked and broke off.
The craft’s spin tossed the wing across the crimson dirt like a boomerang. It slammed into the ground and out of view.
A loud thud and Relic dropped, coming to a sudden halt. Ozzy’s restraining straps pulled tightly, keeping him tied to his chair.
Jozi let out an exhale. She unstrapped and stood, her eyes wild. “Can you keep this ship together for at least a day? Oh my Mars, you’re truly the unluckiest son of a bitch I know.”
Ozzy unbuckled. “Yeah, yeah.” He tapped the wall a few times, and the compartment opened. He grabbed the capsule, jimmied through the hall to the ladder, and slid down as fast as he could. “Relic always comes back to me in one piece, one way or another. That’s why I love her.”
Jozi followed Ozzy down to the storage bay. “We have to get out of here.”
“Why?” He held up his capsule. “No hurry. This is what she wants. So, let her come and get it.” He rushed to his rifle rack, picking out his favorite photon rifle, the PR-19 short-barreled hellion.
Jozi hurried to the rack as well. “She won’t care about the capsule. From what I can tell, it’s fireproof, missile-proof, and explosion-proof from how it withstood the war between Mars and Maldek, and this ship is not.”
“Zeld doesn’t know that, so she’d be nuts to try to destroy the ship. That’s insane. She’d be compromising her mission, and her mission is this capsule.”
Jozi narrowed her eyes and ran to a locker that contained an EVA space suit.
Ozzy nonchalantly walked to a different locker, opened it, and pulled out his suit. “You can choose to freak out. I’m not. She’ll have to find a way inside Relic without trying to blow the hell out of this puppy.”
Jozi pulled her EVA over her torso, then pulled up her EVA pants, which automatically clicked together to form the suit. “You don’t know that. Be prepared just in case.”
Ozzy put the last of his suit on—the helmet. He grabbed his rifle and unzipped a pocket on his EVA and slipped the capsule inside. He walked over to the mole digger and leaned on one of its large tires. He patted his rifle. “This is all the preparation I need. Zeld is not going to drop any bombs—”
Krackow!
The ceiling dented, and Relic shook. Ozzy lost his balance and fell on his side. He got up and sprinted to the ramp. He grabbed the ramp’s hand crank and pushed it up and down.
Krackow!
The ceiling cracked open, and smoke filtered in through the broken edges.
Zeld was breaching the ship.
8
Near Pollack Mine, Mars
“She’s dropping photon bombs on us,” Ozzy yelled while pushing down on the crank. The ramp opened a few inches. “She’ll make another pass soon and blow Relic to hell and back.”
Jozi nodded. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The ramp opened more. “How close are we to the mine do you think?”
The sound of Zeld’s S-14 Zinger rang through Relic’s storage bay. She was getting nearer.
Jozi glanced up at the ceiling. “Last I saw, the mine was close. I think we crashed near it. We’re gonna have to make a run for it.”
Ozzy pulled on the crank, opening the ramp another few inches. He stared at the mole digger. What a shame. The thing was beautiful and brand new and will probably be blown to bits very soon. “There are rocks all around this area. We’ll hide among them.” He wished his EVA had a device similar to the Marines’ where the suit’s color changed to match the surroundings. He’d be nearly invisible while running on the iron-colored dust.
The engines of Zeld’s starfighter blared louder. Jozi ran to the ramp with determination in her eyes, her rifle strapped over her shoulder. “Let me crank it.”
“No.”
The ramp wasn’t opening as fast as he’d like either, but what could Jozi do that he couldn’t?
“I did it last time. I can do it again. And a lot faster.”
“Nope.” Ozzy’s eyes widened, and he blew out a gush of air in a start. “Wait. Yes, yes. Crank for me. I have to get Indigo.”
Zeld’s starfighter was coming in loudly.
“We don’t have time,” bellowed Jozi, taking the crank and pushing it up and down.
Ozzy was already on his way to Indigo’s room.
He stopped in front of the door and ripped his EVA glove off. A chill encapsulated his hand, but he slapped it on the wall. The wall glowed, dinged, and the door thrust vertically open, making a whooshing sound.
“I got the ramp open. Let’s go,” yelled Jozi.
Damn. Already? “Hold on.”
The starfighter rumbled closer. By now, the target lock on the flight console of Zeld’s starfighter was probably beeping, and she’d let loose any second.
Ozzy ran to the platform that held Indigo and pulled off the wires and cords that led from it to the mainframe of the auxiliary engine room.
Holding Indigo under his arm, he dashed out of the room while putting on his glove. His strapped rifle smacked against his side at each pounding step he
took.
Jozi was next to the open ramp, motioning for Ozzy to hurry his ass up. “She’s coming and will drop another bomb any second.”
Ozzy could see the S-14 Zinger as plain as day. It was low and heading in from Relic’s rear. Zeld would end them by strafing the area with photon cannons and bombs, and there was no telling what other weapons she’d send flying their way.
Ozzy picked up his speed. Jozi screamed something he couldn’t hear over the starfighter’s growling engines. He stared at the red sand outside the ramp, and he wasn’t looking anywhere else.
“Go, go, go!” he ordered, rushing past Jozi.
Whapoo! Whapoo!
Whaboom!
Photon blasts came down fast. Ozzy dove to the side of the ramp and onto the sand. Dust kicked up and swirled all around from the photon charges slamming into the earth.
A flash illuminated behind him accompanied by a thunderous roar. He twisted around. Zeld missed her strafe run on Ozzy but dropped a photon bomb with a direct hit on Relic.
A rush of heat threw him across the crimson soil. He tumbled, managing to hold onto Indigo and his weapon, and slid to a stop.
He watched in horror as his ship was engulfed in flames and broke in half. The storage bay was an inferno. The ship’s busted oxygen tanks were feeding the fires.
Ozzy lifted his hand, reaching for Relic, knowing his ship was out of commission for good.
He’d seen Relic in bad shape before but nothing like this. His heart sank.
Jozi grabbed Ozzy, pulling him to a standing position. “Let’s go.”
Ozzy glared at the sky. Zeld was turning around. “To the rocks.”
The area was littered with mountainous boulders, standing like arrowheads all around. A small graviton shield dome was also in the area, covering Pollack Mine.
Jozi hustled toward the large rock formation that sat in front of the graviton dome. Ozzy followed, keeping pace behind her.
He looked again at the sky.
Yep. Zeld was closing in and fast.
“We can make it,” hollered Jozi, pushing her feet as fast as she could, sending little clouds of dust into the air at every quick step.
Ozzy could hear the thrusters of the starfighter as its engines growled toward them.
He raced faster, doing his best in the light Mars atmosphere, practically bouncing to his destination—to the rocks.
The starfighter’s photon cannons whined. Ozzy’s heart skipped a beat, and everything quieted around him.
Photon blasts streaked the ground, coming up on him like a loud monster ready to attack.
His feet pounded against the earth. Ten more steps and he’d be upon rows and rows of large rocks and boulders.
A second round of cannon fire erupted. Debris smacked across his back.
Five more steps and he’d be safe.
A loud photon bolt slammed next to his foot, lifted him off the ground, and threw him toward a rock wall.
He went rigid and braced. He slammed into the rock, and his helmet crunched against the hard surface.
He slid down the rock face and hit the red sand, his legs taking the brunt of the impact.
Ozzy pushed himself to a standing position and hobbled around a rock formation, grimacing in pain, and ducked low.
His foot was hurt, but thank the face on Mars, that was all.
Rocks splattered over him from another photon cannon blast, and he ducked lower. Zeld flew by, twisting around, heading for another pass.
She was relentless.
Ozzy looked himself over, seeing he still had his rifle and Indigo. He patted his pocket. The capsule was in one piece.
He glanced around. “Jozi?” His eyes darted left and right. “Jozi?”
Not this again.
9
Nearing Pollack Mine, Mars
Jozi was nowhere to be seen. Zeld’s strafing covered any and all footprints with dust.
“Jozi?”
She better not be dead. He didn’t want that hanging over him, among a hundred other things that clouded his heart.
“Up here, Ozzy.”
He spun around. Jozi was in a crease between two large and bulky rocks, her rifle pointed at the sky. She was targeting Zeld.
Ozzy nodded and placed Indigo on the ground. He unstrapped his rifle and leaned against a rock just below Jozi’s position, hiding himself the best he could. He aimed his rifle toward the daytime butterscotch firmament of Mars.
Zeld’s starfighter was coming in fast and hot. Ozzy closed one eye and looked through his PR-19’s scope. His photon rifle beeped target lock. “Got her.”
“Let’s see how much damage these rifles can actually do,” Jozi said. “I’ve never conducted target practice on ships.”
Neither had Ozzy. In fact, he’d be happy never practicing with a rifle again. He was a businessman and an ex-professor, not a killer. But he weighed that defending himself at the moment was a little more important than business or giving a lecture to pimple-faced college students.
Just a little.
“You got her in your sights?” he asked.
“I’m a crack shot,” mumbled Jozi, her eyes on the prize, her hands steady like a trained assassin.
The starfighter roared, and the ship’s nose pointed in Ozzy’s direction.
“Ozzy, shoot on three.”
“Got it.”
“One…”
Zeld twisted the starfighter on its side.
“Two…”
The craft straightened and lowered its nose more, heading in faster.
“Three!”
Ozzy pulled the trigger, the rifle recoiling against his inner shoulder. He pulled the trigger again and again.
Blue bolts shot from the muzzle.
Zeld pulled up, twisting out of the way and avoiding the photon blasts.
“Orion’s Belt,” Ozzy cursed, craning his neck and watching the starfighter fly by.
Jozi kept her aim, walking away from her cover, popping shot after shot. She held her rifle steady, her eyes on the target.
A loud crack pierced the heavens, and a streak of smoke swirled from the S-14 Zinger’s left, rear booster.
Jozi continued to shoot.
Another crack and a second trail of smoke wafted out of the starfighter, this time from its right, rear tail booster.
Jozi lowered her weapon.
“What are you doing?” cried Ozzy. “Keep firing.”
Jozi huffed, her breath coming quickly and heavily. “She’s out of range. But I’d be surprised if she turned back around. Her ionic drives are compromised. She needs to find a place to land and quick-like.”
A click sounded. Ozzy jumped back and fumbled his rifle, dropping to the ground. He put his fists up, ready to fight but dropped his hands by his side once he realized it was his com line. Someone had patched into their conversation.
“Well, well,” came a squirrel-like voice. “If it isn’t Ozzy and Jozi.”
Of course. It was the High Judge, Robert Baldwin.
Ozzy furrowed his brow. “How did you get this com channel?”
“Like I always say, I have my ways,” Robert said. “But this conversation is less for you and more for Jozi.”
“Yes, Sir?” replied Jozi.
“Where are you?”
“At Pollack Mine, Sir.”
“You’re not helping Mr. Mack, are you?”
Jozi cleared her throat. “Hell no. Not a chance. Just trying to stay alive, Sir.”
“Then bring him in. What’s taking you so long?” His voice turned angry and impatient.
Jozi looked around.
Across from her was a blown out S-4 Jumper, smoke billowing from the dying fire. Pock holes from photon cannons surrounded the area, and a mineral mine was a klick away to her left.
“Can’t do that at the moment, High Judge.”
There was a brief pause over the line, and Jozi cocked her head, obviously waiting for Robert’s orders.
“MMP Agent, now former-
MMP Agent, Jozi Ryan, you’re under arrest for knowingly aiding and abetting a wanted criminal. Stay where you are. We are coming for you and your badge.”
Jozi’s shoulders slumped, and her rifle clanked against the rocks when she let if fall. “What? You’re kidding, right?”
Robert let out a loud sigh. “You were ordered to arrest him and bring him in for questioning. We have you on video rushing off with Mr. Mack and onto his ship while at the home of a known crime boss, Jonas Moon. That was the exact opposite of your mission.”
Ozzy’s cheeks turned beet red. Robert was doing what Robert did well, and that was ruining people’s lives. He wouldn’t let him get away with it as he got away with screwing Ozzy’s life. “If you have video,” said Ozzy, “then your people were there during the fight between Jonas and Wildly, and that means you have knowledge of criminal activity taking place on Jonas’s compound. Hell, a damn war was taking place there. Zero, and I repeat zero, MMP agents came to break it up.”
Robert didn’t reply.
Jozi crouched, clasping her hands in front of her. “Please, don’t do this, Robert. You know me. We’re like family. The agency is my brothers and sisters. You know how dedicated I am.” Her voice shook. “Please, High Judge, please don’t do this.”
“Your dedication has changed, and I don’t know why, Jozi. You have taken up arms with a criminal and helped him escape. You did the exact opposite of what I ordered you to do.”
Ozzy snorted. “You’re really that low, Mr. High and Almighty Judge? If you have video, then you have full knowledge as to why Jozi had to run onto my ship and away from Wildly’s cartel who, I might add, was trying to kill her and me.”
There was no response.
“We have no such video of Wildly’s cartel chasing anyone,” Robert responded.
The lie was more than apparent, even to Jozi. Her legs weakened, and she plopped on her butt, her helmet in her hands. She shook her head. “Why, Robert? I’ve been a damn good agent for you and the Ministry. It’s my life.”
“Not anymore, Ms. Ryan. Stay there.”
Martian Quadrilogy Box Set Page 27
