Spacer Clans Adventure 1: Naero's Run

by Mason Elliott

  Me? What can I do?

  You must take control of both ships, repair and use their systems to slow our descent, and keep us from being destroyed by the crash. The same way you took over that fighter.

  I can’t, Om. That fighter was small stuff. This is big. Two huge, disabled warships, one trapped inside the other. Both of them out of power and out of control.

  The principle is the same. Much more complex than that of the fighter, but based on similar concepts. The size of the objects does not matter. All that matters is that you become one with them and direct their potential with your force of will. This is a level far beyond that of mere fixers. They are mere tools and toys. You are fully aware.

  I’m not even a fixer.

  Correct. You are far more…a teknomancer.

  How do I begin?

  Follow my thoughts as before. Then trust yourself, your core knowledge, wisdom, and instincts. Concentrate. Focus.

  She calmed herself and allowed Om’s thoughts to direct her.

  The first sensation she felt once more was searing, unbelievable pain.

  It hurts so much, Om. Much worse than before. I can’t do this. Even a portion of the pain is too great.

  Your pain is based in fear and ignorance. Use your strength to shield yourself from the pain and the unknown. Push forward.

  I can’t.

  Then everyone dies. Including us. All our friends. Everyone–if you are weak and give up.

  Naero couldn’t allow that.

  She steeled herself.

  In her mind, she felt bands of armor encase her.

  The pain lessened, but she could still feel it scorching her.

  Shield yourself further. That’s it. Now touch everything. Grasp the essence of both ships and fully comprehend their potential. Take full control of them down to the smallest element.

  In the flash of an instant, she merged with both ships, becoming one with them.

  Naero became them. Even as the re-entry forces burned and tore her apart.

  Naero vaguely sensed the people on board both vessels, their minds and thoughts. But that was not her focus.

  The ships. Save the ships.

  Neither ship functioned properly. The enemy ship, heavily damaged, her ship, neutralized by the enemy’s secret ion pulse weapon. A tek far beyond the Corps.

  She tapped into both power cores and merged them, boosting them with her own rapid-fire modifications and force of will.

  The parts and components re-configured in an instant, both ships merging and melding into one, a new craft under her direction, the direction of pure thought and intellect.

  A pure working knowledge of how starships functioned, or should optimally function.

  The Brightstar became the new bridge.

  She shielded the new hybrid vessel. Hull temperature dropping rapidly from critical, explosive levels.

  Yet they still plummeted through the atmosphere too fast, and she needed all of the energy present simply to maintain the shields.

  She boosted their gravitics and repelled against Nuratine-5’s gravity field, aiming squarely for one of the two main continents. Not the oceans.

  Still not enough.

  Finally, she had it. Recalling footage from an Old Terran vid.

  Spolymer sails billowed out, caught the wind, and ripped free.

  She puffed out more parachutes like breathing. Several more, made of much stronger plasteel fibers.

  Finally, their descent slowed appreciably.

  Just as Naero felt her strength failing.

  She was spent and losing control.

  Naero blinked and flashed back into her own body on the new reconfigured bridge.

  Well done. We will survive now. But there are still enemies on board. Too bad you didn’t jettison them.

  Haisha, I barely managed what I did. How many foes remain?

  I count two hundred and thirteen, against your crew of seventy-one. But beware. These enemies have suits that cloak them from normal sight, even though prolonged use is fatal to the wearer in the long term.

  Triax won’t care about that. They just want to capture me and Jan. They’ll slaughter anyone else. Have the fixers spray our foes with paint, fibers, barbecue sauce–anything that will make them visible.

  Complying. It’s working.

  Be advised, we are about to touch down in a forest of huge conifer trees.

  The ship crashed to a jarring halt and then the aft section dropped through the broken trees and smashed into the ground.

  Their com units worked again.

  “All troops, out the hatches,” Naero ordered. “Regroup in the forest. Bring what weapons and gear you can.”

  Threescore made it off the ship, under fire from the enemy strikers.

  Jan wasn’t among them.

  Naero nearly panicked. Somehow they’d gotten separated during the confusion fleeing the ship.

  “Everyone load up,” she said. “We’re going back in after Jan.”

  Explosions rocked the area.

  Corps and Alliance close-attack craft swept in from nearly every angle.

  The huge trees toppled like sliced reeds, crashing every which way. Drop troops poured in.

  Naero led her crew, fighting their way from the crash site, which seemed about to be wiped out by both sides.

  “Damn it!” Naero screamed. No going back into that death trap.

  Her only choice was to get her and her people to safety.

  Even if the Corps captured Jan, they couldn’t make any use of the Kexxian Matrix without her half. But she still feared for her brother.

  A company of Triaxian Marines attempted to cut them off.

  Naero activated her gravwing and spearheaded the Spacer attack. She never stopped moving. All of the enemy strategy seemed focused on trying to capture her.

  She shot foes in the face. Deflected and sprang off trees and crushed helmets and armored chests with her fists and feet, leaving the dead and dying in her wake.

  She threw her blades with ferocity.

  They ripped through troops. They ripped through thick trees and shattered stones.

  She drew her energy cutlass and sliced through arms, legs, and throats. Through energy shields and armor, cutting bodies in half. She scythed through them, a death-dealing, unstoppable force.

  A blur of destruction among the enemy, tearing through their ranks.

  Her friends and crew charged behind her, cutting down and blasting anything that moved or got in their way.

  A hundred foes, taken down in a matter of seconds.

  And Naero’s rage only grew. At the loss of her brother, Gallan, her parents.

  All the senseless loss.

  Kill them. Destroy them all. Wipe them out completely.

  The intense urge was nearly overwhelming.

  Naero stopped herself.

  Struggling to get a grip on reality before she lost it entirely and went insane.

  Mad with the overwhelming lust to destroy. Everything. Everyone. Friend or foe.

  She caught her breath. Jan. Focus on Jan. Find him. Rescue him. Get him back. That was all that mattered. Her brother.

  Air blasted down on them from nowhere.

  A round hatch irised open. No ship visible, yet they could see inside the open hold of a bizarre craft, whose outside they could not see.

  Baeven appeared at the hatch. “They’ve taken Jan. Load your people in. We have one chance to catch them and take him back.”

  “We’re with you, N,” Chaela shouted. “Let’s go.” They packed into the hold and checked their weapons.

  Baeven left them and went forward to his sealed bridge.

  The cloaked ship they rode in lifted off, almost completely silent.

  Naero had never seen a ship like it; every shape and panel and hatch of the design completely alien and strange. Weird controls and symbols.

  Up in space, Baeven’s unique ship tossed them back and forth, maneuvering and zipping forward in ways no other ship could m
ove. Tremendous explosions rocked them from all directions.

  Om, what’s happening out there?

  The Clan Forces are blasting their way through the Corps Fleets. But the enemy is standing firm. I’m scanning terrible damage and heavy losses on both sides, but the Spacers seem to have the advantage at the moment.

  They’re trying to give their forces a chance to get away with Jan. Have you analyzed who or what Baeven is tracking?

  His advanced systems elude my analysis, but we appear to be pursuing an enemy gunship. It just rejoined a fast corvette, which is preparing for an immediate jump out of this region.

  They must have him.

  That seems logical. The enemy fleets are blocking the way, and that is the only ship leaving the system.

  We can’t lose them.

  The corvette just jumped. The one you call Baeven is tracking them through jump space. We are only minutes behind them.

  No one has the tek to track and follow another ship through jump space. No one.

  Somehow he and his ship and crew are doing so.

  All right then. Where are we headed?

  There appears to be a secret Triaxian forward naval base hidden on Durris, the fourth moon of Hellenda-6. A Triaxian fleet is waiting there.

  When will we arrive?

  It’s a short jump for one of their fastest ships, mere minutes. Yet our ship is passing ahead of it.

  No ship can pass another in jump space.

  Again, this is actually occurring while we speak. We will arrive at the destination just ahead of the corvette. I sense unusual weapons powering up. Baeven also left a coded message for your aunt’s forces to follow hard upon our trail. But at best they will arrive in one half hour.

  You said Baeven has a crew. How many are they?

  Only a handful. I sense they are not human. You should prepare your assault forces. We will arrive at the secret enemy base in minutes.

  Threescore Spacers and a handful of aliens on an invisible ship, against an entire fleet and thousands of heavily armed foes. Most of her friends and crew rested, conserving their strength. Naero alerted them all.

  “We’ll be coming out of jump soon and making an assault to free my brother and make good our escape. Everyone glacier out and stand ready. Things are going to move fast.”

  Saemar locked and loader her heavy blaster rifle. “Tell us what to do sweetie. We’re ready.”

  “We’ll follow you into hell,” Chaela said.

  “Good, because I’m pretty sure that’s exactly where we’re headed.”

  53

  Baeven alerted them via a floating holo screen that popped in out of nowhere.

  “The enemy corvette will be arriving at Moon Durris. We’ll attack it just as it’s about to land, causing it to lose power and make a short crash. None of its smaller craft will be able to launch, either, so they’ll be forced to take him off the useless ship on foot. Make your move to win him back when he’s out in the open, during the transfer.”

  Naero checked her weapons again. “Will do.”

  Baeven smiled. “My crew and I will back you up from my ship, and pick you up as soon as you’ve secured him. Get ready to pile out on my signal. We only have a few minutes.”

  Baeven cut out.

  The holo screen showed the enemy’s secret base, units of troops guarding the area, and other ships and vehicles outside of the landing zone.

  Just as Baeven predicted, the corvette came down, suddenly lost all power close to the ground, and dropped like a stone.

  After only a few minutes, a company of heavily armed troops rushed out of the ship, surrounding someone secured on a medbed.

  A close-up showed Jan, clearly Jan, unconscious on the medbed. From his wounds and bruises, he must have put up a pretty good fight.

  The enemy troops made for the apparent safety of an enormous, nearby hangar.

  Baeven flew them into the open hangar, hiding behind the bulk of a much larger enemy ship within, and opened the hatch for them to charge out.

  Naero signaled for them to spread out and position themselves quietly. They’d take Jan back as soon as the troops closed the hangar doors or attempted to board the larger ship.

  The enemy pulled Jan in and headed directly for the ship.

  A loading bay opened.

  Lady Drianne Imiviel waited for them, along with her personal body guard, heavy troops all in shining powered suits of assault armor.

  “Hurry, you fools,” she said. “The evacuation’s underway. We launch immediately.”

  That wasn’t going to happen.

  Naero gave the silent signal to launch their attack.

  Their initial barrage of interlinked fire cut down most of the troops covering Jan.

  Amid the shock and surprise, Naero even managed to reach his medbed and pull him to one side, mowing down any stragglers around them.

  “Baeven,” she called out over her com. “We’ve secured Jan. Get us out of here.”

  No answer.

  Then heavy fire from Drianne’s warship forces drove them back behind the cover of some heavy machinery.

  “Change of plans,” Baeven finally responded. “This appears to be some kind of elaborate trap. Their fleet is converging on this area and activating some kind of planetary shield. We won’t be able to leave the atmosphere unless I can force that shield down.”

  “We’re kind of in a bad way here, Baeven. What do you advise?”

  “Stay alive. Fight your way onto that warship and prepare to take off. I’ll signal you once the planetary shield is down. How could they have known we were coming?”

  “They knew we’d come after him. They used him as bait to try to nab me, too.”

  “Do what you have to to get out of there, with or without Jan.”

  “Naero,” Tyber yelled. “A little help here?”

  Squads of enemy heavy armor advanced on them behind impenetrable deflector shields.

  “Disruptor grenades!” Naero shouted.

  Thirty grenades knocked the heavies around, shredding their shields. The other Spacers kept firing, blasting through face shields and helmets and other known weak spots in the armored suits.

  “We have to fight our way onto that ship and fly it out of here,” Naero said.

  “We’ll never make it,” Zhen cried.

  “We’ve got to,” Naero said.

  They rose up to charge.

  All of her friends fighting to either side of her.

  Concentrated sheets of fire poured from their weapons. Ripping into the enemy forces.

  Massive stun blasts exploded right over them, like those used back on Boon-3.

  Shielding us from mass stun effects.

  “My friends!” Naero cried.

  All of them stiffened and fell back.

  They are merely unconscious. Our enemies seek to capture us. They will use them as leverage to force you to cooperate.

  Lady Drianne called out.

  “Surrender, Naero. Both yourself and your brother, or I’ll order my forces to execute your comrades where they lay, stunned and helpless.”

  Take them, Naero. Unleash our defensive protocols and crush them all. They have no idea what we are. What you are capable of. Only you can save us. Merge with our protocols!

  “This is not a negotiation,” Drianne added. “You have five seconds.”

  Naero stood up and threw down her assault blaster. “I surrender. You got me.”

  Drianne smiled at her victory. “That was relatively easy. Indeed I have.”

  Her pretty face twisted into a snarl of hate. “Get her on a medbed like her brother. I want her in stasis for transport. Once we have the Kexxian Data Matrix in Gigacorps’ hands, no force in the galaxy will be able to oppose us.”

  The heavies closed in, towering over Naero.

  Now it was her turn to grin.

  She linked with Om’s defensive protocols and perceived them in a flash of insight.

  “Think again, bitch.” Naero unleashed
the power locked within her.

  Tendrils of light and darkness burst from her, fanning out in all directions like long energy blades.

  They neatly sliced through the armored suits of the heavies like molecule-thin razors.

  The troops inside them struggled to scream and escape.

  Several heavies exploded.

  Others imploded, compacting to the size of a helmet, the super-dense hunks dropping through the plascrete.

  Naero waded through her foes, layered in defensive spheres of energies, ignoring their attacks, shredding and flinging their shattered, gory pieces to either side.

  Lady Drianne retreated in terror.

  “What in the hell are you?”

  Naero smiled fiendishly. “You’re going to find out what I am.”

  Behind us!

  Naero gasped, transfixed, rising up on her toes so high she nearly floated.

  She heard some kind of weapon fire.

  A white-hot wire of intense agony pierced her skull from behind and out the front of her forehead, paralyzing her so that she could barely keep breathing.

  As if she hung suspended on that burning wire, like a thin filament of scorching pain.

  Om’s voice faltered and garbled. Shot…head. Behind…trying…

  She couldn’t even turn.

  Drianne smiled in triumph and came forward again. “Excellent. You got her. Nice shot. Get the grav restraints on her.”

  Naero felt a spray of blood squirt out of the exit wound in her forehead. Someone had shot her through the skull from behind.

  Jan stepped in front of her.

  To her complete horror.

  Jan? How could he?

  Suddenly it all made sense.

  He was the traitor.

  He shook his head, twirling the sliver pistol in his left hand. “You couldn’t make it easy for me could you, sib?”

  She struggled to speak and only croaked.

  Jan switched the gun deftly into his right hand, then tucked it in his belt. He fixed grav restraints on her wrists.

  “No use struggling. I shot you in the back of the head with a mind control sliver. It’s lodged in your brain. Don’t worry, it won’t kill you…unless we want it to.”

  He punched in commands on his wristcomp.

  “There now, that should allow you to speak. Be nice.”

  She gulped in air.