He gave a thumbs-up. “I will. Now you owe me one.” Jonas thought for a moment. “Can she fly a ship?”
“Yes, why?”
Jonas grinned. “Just curious.” He winked.
“What are you going to have her do?”
The screen blipped off.
“That opportunistic weasel,” Ozzy said under his breath. He cranked the control stick and flew over several large, round buildings, heading toward Tagus Valles’s exit.
The city’s sirens changed, its rhythm quickening and becoming even louder, and roared throughout the city. Red emergency lights installed on all the building tops flashed on.
Krackow!
An orange mushroom cloud enveloped the exit. Sparks and flames flew upward and outward, and the metallic beams holding the exit stations together shifted and crashed to the ground, taking the rest of the station with it.
The Dunrakee had arrived.
21
Tagus Valles, Mars
Ozzy gasped and pulled left, banking away from the bright explosion that filled his screen. Orange, yellow, and red colors burst outward. The metallic shield catalysts forming this portion of the graviton shield were twisted and broken in half and falling to the ground.
The Flying Miner jerked to the side from the blast’s strong force, tipping the bulky machine. Ozzy squeezed the control stick, leaned to the side, and cranked it into a slow roll to turn the craft to a more intense degree.
His rifle and gear clanged against the walls and ceiling, along with tools that weren’t fastened to the racks, and pounded to the floor the moment he straightened the craft.
He pulled back when Dunrakee boomerang-winged starfighters flew through the dying fire, putting Ozzy in a steep incline toward the top of the graviton dome.
He glanced at his display screen, readying to activate his extra booster. It’d take his craft to twice its speed, and with its ultra-thick armor, he’d smash as many starfighters trying to get through the exit as he could.
He leveled the Miner, then sent it into a sharp decline toward the exit. More Dunrakee starfighters were flying through.
He turned on his com channel, readying to call Jonas to warn him to get his and Jozi’s asses into the bunker.
A blue photon blast flew from behind him and toward the exit from where the Dunrakee were coming. A Dunrakee craft exploded, turning into a spectacular ball of red and orange flames and debris. It fell toward an expressway, slamming into the wide road and sending a secondary blast up and into the air.
Another Dunrakee ship turned into a fireworks display, shooting bluish-white sparks outward.
Ozzy kept his craft on a trajectory toward the exit. He split his holodisplay, bringing up the rear cams. A small fleet of badass starfighters was sending photon beams at the oncoming Dunrakee.
He zoomed in on the starfighters and grinned. Jonas’s crew. The Earth’s moon was painted on the nose and wings of the starfighters, along with the letters J and M with a silly lightning streak slashing between them.
The craft were small but maneuverable and were shaped like a triangle with long wings extended out their sides.
They were doing a damn good job at tearing the Dunrakee Mars-holes to pieces.
But a shitload of oxygen was being sucked out of the dome while more Dunrakee ships entered.
The city’s authorities needed to close the graviton shield over the exit stations at this very moment or all oxygen would be siphoned.
They needed to close it soon, or it could kill Jozi along with the rest of the inhabitants that lived here.
He switched his H-5 Renegade Booster to activation mode. The engines revved, sending more fuel cells to the H-5. A loud pop echoed, and Ozzy’s back sunk into his chair.
“Holy Mars.” He flew at double his speed in a matter of seconds. He screamed past Dunrakee starfighters. He swiped his finger over the screen, widening it, and leaned forward.
He was closing in on the hole that was now the domed city’s exit. A Dunrakee starfighter slipped through the opening and inside Tagus Valles, not realizing what was directly on the other side—a big, rectangular-shaped, flying box with boomerang wings called the Flying Miner—and heading right for it.
Ozzy didn’t move, keeping the target in his sights.
The starfighter banked left.
Too late.
Krakooooj!
The Miner bucked back, taking the full brunt of the impact. Flames licked up at Ozzy’s screen, and the Miner jostled as he imagined how an Earth hurricane might jostle a house.
Ozzy sat straighter. He was less than twenty meters from the exit that would lead him to the harsh, outside, red dust and butterscotch-filled skies.
He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes.
Another starfighter shot through the hole, pulling up.
The Miner rocked back, taking the punishment like a god, plowing the Dunrakee to bits and pieces and sending puffs of smoke and debris in the air.
He zipped through the hole, moving faster and faster. The new ionic H-5 Renegade Boosters were definitely kicking in.
His eyes widened. The sky was painted with Dunrakee ships, and more were coming toward Tagus Valles.
He switched to rear cams. The graviton shields were repairing themselves and extending over Tagus Valles’ busted-out hole where the exit stations were five minutes ago.
The town would be safe once those graviton shields completely closed.
He pushed his control stick down, heading toward the terrain below. He’d stay low, hopefully keeping himself out of more trouble.
And again, where the hell were the MMP? Where were the Martian Marines? They had to have caught the coming Dunrakee assassin fleet on their radar heading toward Tagus Valles. By now they’d be receiving an alert from the city’s political officials.
Perhaps they were on their way. He nodded his head, straightening his lips. They probably were.
A pang reverberated against the Miner’s walls. A second pang forced his craft closer to the ground.
The bubble-headed bastards were shooting at him.
It didn’t matter. He’d be fine. Nothing could penetrate his ship except a big-ass Dunrakee cruiser, battleship, or starship.
He pulled up the autopilot controls and punched in the coordinates for Olympus Mons. He leaned back, put his hands behind his helmet, and threw his feet up on the console.
The shots and pings slamming into his ship continued, shaking Miner left and right but doing nothing to harm the big lug.
“Jozi, pull up Jonas’s com channel. Let’s see—”
He stopped himself. Jozi wasn’t in the craft, and a strange, empty feeling filled him. He cracked his knuckles, not believing his own heart. He actually missed the woman.
He shrugged it off.
Pang! Pang!
He snorted. “Keep firing, bubble-heads. See how far that gets you.”
He’d give it another few minutes then he’d call Jonas to see how they were doing. Hopefully, they were kicking ass and taking names. And, with a bit of luck, the damn graviton shields were fully closed, keeping the Dunrakee out, and by chance the Martian Marines were on the scene, fighting the Dunrakee and keeping the cities safe.
He watched his holodisplay like it was a holoscreen saver. The crimson hills filled his view, flowing along like ocean waves he’d seen on old Earth holovids.
Pang!
Oh yeah. Dunrakee crafts were flying above, taking pot shots at the Miner. They wouldn’t dare let him forget that.
He yawned then blinked a couple of times. He jerked back, narrowing his eyes. “What in the Mars dump pit is that?”
Shaking his head and blinking again, he slammed his feet to the floor. A dot on the horizon was getting larger.
A massive Dunrakee battleship was cresting the horizon and heading for him.
“Of course.” He punched his armrest. “I mean, what else could go wrong?”
Another battleship crested the horizon and a third. Fire cam
e out of their tails, pushing them along. These things were packed with photon cannons, lasers, and photon torpedoes with enough firepower to turn Miner into a pile of ash.
Usually, they orbited planets. They rarely, if ever, came planetside. But here they were, greeting Ozzy.
“Great.”
He pulled up his com channel. Everyone he knew needed to get underground—and deep underground—right this second, especially his ex-wife and his daughter.
22
Enroute to Olympus Mons, Mars
Ozzy pushed his control stick to the right, veering far from the oncoming battleships and taking him due north toward Mars’s pole.
He wanted as much distance between him and the battleships as possible.
He pulled up his com channel and dialed his ex-wife’s number.
Venessa smiled when she answered. “Lily is excited you’re calling.” She looked over her shoulder. “She’s jumping up and down. You just saw her, but did you want to take her again so soon? Today, if you want?” Her smile turned into a frown. “What is it, Ozzy? I’ve seen that expression before.”
“Get underground.” They were already in Tunnel Downs, which was an underground city, but there were bunkers even there.
She and Lily needed to get in them now.
“What’s going on, Ozzy?” She reached over, bringing Lily’s innocent face into view.
Lily waved. “Hi, Daddy. Can you tell me more about the Knights and the Table?”
It was Knights of the Round Table, but correcting her at the moment seemed frivolous.
“Hi, Lily-bug.” He smiled as best he could then glanced down to check his radar. The battleships maintained their course, and none had detached formation to follow him. “I have some important things I need to talk to your mom about.”
“She’s a big girl, she can listen,” said Venessa.
Ozzy descended lower, almost hugging the ground.
“Get into the bunkers as fast as you can. Stay there until the dust clears. Do you understand?” Ozzy pulled back on his control stick, almost crashing into a rock that spiked up into the air.
Venessa frowned. “You’re scaring me, Ozzy. What’s going on?”
Ozzy smacked his hand on his forehead. “You’re not hearing this on the news?”
Venessa shook her head. “Hearing what?”
The Ministry was either keeping it hush-hush and off the news on purpose or perhaps something else had happened? Could it be that the news channel’s main headquarters was under attack? Or the information towers were being hacked or destroyed?
There were hundreds of potential why’s.
Ozzy let out a loud sigh of frustration. “The Dunrakee are here. They just attacked Tagus Valles and probably many other cities across Mars.”
Venessa leaned over to turn on the news, glancing to her right. Ozzy couldn’t see what she was seeing and could only hear muffled voices.
Venessa scrunched up her nose at what she was watching. “I don’t see any breaking news. All I see is vidshows.”
“You don’t see any ships flying around, shooting at the graviton dome or anything?”
Venessa shook her head again. “Nothing.”
“Well, trust me.” He veered around a crimson hill and glanced at his radar. He’d put enough distance between him and the battleships, so he changed trajectory and flew toward Olympus Mons.
It was up to him and the crime bosses to rid the planet of these bubble-heads. Something may have happened to the Martian Marines or the Ministry because, by now, information should be all over the news, and they should be attacking the Dunrakee ships.
“Venessa, please do me a favor. Get under Tunnel Downs and into a bunker. You may be the only ones in that bunker, but keep your phone with you, and I’ll call you with the all clear.”
Venessa looked left and right. Ozzy could see it in her eyes that she thought he was on drugs or something. “Ozzy, I think the Ministry would tell us if we were invaded or not.”
“They did a piss-poor job on that front last time an entire city—Dawes—was taken over.”
“That was terrorists. Not a navy from the Dunrakee government. It was a surprise attack or something like that.”
His cockpit beeped. The battleships changed course, heading for him.
Not good.
“Please, Venessa. Humble an old man.”
“You’re not old.”
Lily nodded her head, her face serious and determined. “Let’s do what Daddy says. I trust him.”
Venessa’s eyes softened. “Maybe.” She turned around. “Oh, friends have arrived. We’ll get down there soon. Okay, Ozzy?”
Nerves panged his heart. “No, Venessa. Do it now.”
“Can’t talk. Gotta go.”
“No, Mommy. Daddy wants us to—”
The screen blipped off.
“Venessa,” he yelled.
He called back. She had to get herself and Lily-bug to the bunkers.
She didn’t answer.
He pressed her com channel a second time.
Nothing.
He made a fist and punched the flight console, shaking the controls.
“Dammit, Venessa.”
He had to get the Ark. It was the only way.
He pushed the Miner even lower. He was invisible on radar thanks to Indigo but not invisible to the Dunrakee bastards that have already seen him with their own eyes and probably reported his location to the battleships.
He’d have to go underground again.
Still, none of this made sense. How did the battleships get through without even the crime syndicates knowing? Do the Dunrakee have Indigo-type technology now?
He’d have to figure out these answers later.
He reversed thrusters, slowing himself down. “Going underground,” he said to himself. He turned the underbelly thrusters on and hovered to a landing.
The craft made a thud and bounced when it touched the ground. He went to turn the drills on to cover himself in crimson soil when the com channel rang. It was from an unknown line.
Gragas appeared on the screen. “You won’t have time, Ozzy. Get in the air and fly toward the battleships. It’s your only way.”
“You’re kidding me, right? I’ll be blasted out of the sky.”
Gragas bowed his head. “I’m fully aware of your predicament, but I don’t think you are fully aware of your race’s predicament. They won’t last long from this surprise attack.”
Ozzy noticeably swallowed. “I know.”
“Be ready, because I’m on my way.”
The channel turned off, and the holodisplay of outer Mars blipped back on. “Gragas?”
He was gone.
“He expects me to just fly through three battleships?” Ozzy rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
A rumbling sound filled his cockpit. He eyed the holoscreen, wondering what could be making that noise. The ship vibrated, shaking more and more, the rumbling becoming louder and louder.
He shifted to roof cams and lurched back, taking his hands off of the control stick.
A ship twice the size of a battleship was directly above him, its side wings bent upward and its bow was pointed. Large boosters were built into the sides, and he guessed five or six more were connected to the aft. The ship shadowed Ozzy, dimming the surrounding lights.
Crap.
He was a dead man sitting.
23
Enroute to Olympus Mons, Mars
Ozzy flipped the screen back to normal view, adjusting his forward camera and zooming in. The battleships were coming closer, and the ship directly above him, which was the size of a star carrier—the biggest ship known to man—was lowering. He’d either be smashed by the ship or blown to bits by the other battleships heading toward him.
He wasn’t keen on either scenario.
The rumbling and vibrating from the ship above him intensified.
He was trapped. There wasn’t enough time to get the Miner to dig und
er, but he’d try.
He pushed several buttons, turning on his underbelly drills.
A loud pop sounded, but nothing happened.
He tried it again.
“Damn. What the blazes? Why aren’t they working?”
He pressed the buttons a third time.
Still nothing.
He threw his hands in the air. “Son of a Mars’s ass.”
He unstrapped and bolted to his feet. Twisting around, he went for his rifle, which was on the floor and strewn about with a dozen or more tools that hadn’t been locked in place.
As he reached his rifle, the rumbling softened, and the vibrating decreased.
He glanced up at the screen. “What the—”
Back at the pilot’s chair, he plopped his butt down hard and gripped the control stick.
The ship above him flew onward, heading for the three battleships. His mouth dropped open when he saw the insignia on the star carrier’s belly.
It was Gragas’s mask but a hundred times the size.
The Galactic Knights were here.
“Oooey!” he yelled, throwing a fist in the air. For the first time in a long time, a twinge of hope encapsulated him. He didn’t know how many ships Gragas had brought with him, but this huge clunker above him would do just fine in a fight.
He powered on his thrusters, pushing himself into the air. He rotated the rear boosters and initiated the big H-5 Renegades.
His engine roared like a lion. He flew forward like a starfighter, steering the Miner close to the star carrier’s belly. “On my way to the Ark, Gragas.” He knew the Galactic Knight couldn’t hear him, but it felt good anyway.
He’d jet out from under Gragas’s carrier once he saw an opportunity and head to Olympus Mons.
The star carrier’s bow lit up. Electricity spiraled around it and sparked off lightning bolts. A bright flash lit up the sky, and a howl boomed through Ozzy’s cockpit. A wind picked up, rocking Ozzy back and forth.
Wooooj!
A wide beam expelled from the carrier’s tip, blanketing everything in front of him in electric-blue colors.
Martian Quadrilogy Box Set Page 34
