Bear whirled about, towering above her. He brought an axe down at her, but Miranda was too quick for him. She rolled aside as the axe thudded into the tarmac of the spaceport. Instead of trying to scramble to her feet, Miranda kicked upward at the big hunter, slamming the sole of an armored foot into his groin. Armor clanged against armor, and Bear reeled away from her, his eyes bulging from the unexpected pain she had dealt him.
Miranda flipped onto her feet with her back to Wiggins, turning to face him as the big hunter recovered and rushed her. The blades of his right axe and her sword clanged against one another as she parried the strike he made to her face. His left axe followed, coming at her side. Miranda sidestepped, avoiding it, and caught Bear’s wrist in the crook of her arm. She used all her strength in an attempt to break his armor at its elbow. She wasn’t strong enough to pull it off, but did manage to cause the big hunter to drop the axe he held in that hand. It clattered to the ground between them.
With a fast kick, Miranda sent it flying out of the big hunter’s reach. Doing so cost her, though. Bear struck again before she had regained her balance, plowing into her like an old Earth football player. His arms closed about her waist as he lifted her to his chest. Miranda screamed as the big hunter’s arms crushed the sides of her armor. He was impossibly strong, his strength not only enhanced by the armor he wore, but likely other means as well. Miranda knew if she didn’t break free, she was dead.
His tackle had knocked her sword from her grip, but her arms were still free. Neither of them had activated their battle helmets, which left the big hunter’s eyes exposed. Miranda drove her thumbs into Bear’s eyes, trying to force them from their sockets, or at least blind the man. Bear knew she had him if he allowed her to follow through, and he flung Miranda away from him.
Her armored form bounced over the ground and came to a stop several yards from where he stood. Miranda was shaken and bruised, but giving up wasn’t an option. The Combat of the Wolf was a fight to the death, unless one of the combatants yielded; that was something she couldn’t do. If she did, her crew would be under Bear’s command, bound to obey him by the code of monster hunter honor, and he would use them to make another attempt at taking control of the colony.
Roaring like an animal, Bear came at Miranda where she lay, still sprawled out. She allowed him to get close, playing to his anger and hoping he would underestimate her. He did. Miranda pulled her legs to her chest, then thrust them outward at Bear as he charged her. They met in the dead center of his chest. The force behind her armored feet not only stopped the big hunter, but sent him reeling away.
Miranda leaped up and went after him. Before Wiggins could recover, one of her armored fists slammed into his right cheek, dislocating his jaw. Teeth and blood sprayed from the big hunter’s mouth. She followed through with a fierce uppercut that smashed into the underside of his chin, forcing his already bleeding mouth closed. When Bear opened his mouth again, part of his bitten-in-half tongue slipped out of it to flop wetly onto the ground at his feet.
“Ruugh!” Bear tried to curse. There was fresh fury burning in his blackened eyes as the big hunter lunged to take another swipe at her with his axe. Miranda had no sword this time to parry the blow, and wasn’t able to dodge the axe’s blade before it sank into her shoulder. The axe drove down through her armor into the meat and bone it was protecting. Miranda cried out in pain, collapsing to her knees. She could see from the look in the big hunter’s eyes that Bear truly believed he had her now. Blood ran over Miranda’s armor from the wound in her shoulder as Bear yanked his axe free and got ready to finish her once and for all.
Miranda’s left arm was useless; it hurt too badly to move. Still, she caught Bear’s arm with her right hand as it swung his axe downward at her, keeping the weapon at bay. Both of them grunted, straining against the other. Miranda’s armor was on the verge of burning out. She flung herself sideways, allowing the big hunter’s axe to come the rest of the way down into the ground where she had been.
Surprising even herself with the level of speed she was able to muster, Miranda lashed out a leg, locking it around Bear’s neck before he could rise up again, and she smashed the big hunter face first into the ground. Wiggins’ nose cracked as it made contact. Miranda had lost her hold on him in the process, and rolled away from where he had fallen, springing to her feet.
“You give up yet?” she mocked the big hunter as he looked at her with blacked eyes, a smashed nose, and blood dripping from his busted mouth.
“Raaaggh!” Bear screamed, launching himself at her yet again.
Miranda spotted her sword and made a run for it as the big hunter bounded across the spaceport after her. She snatched it up from the ground just as he closed in on her. Miranda spun about, her sword’s blade flashing through the air. It sliced cleanly through Bear Wiggins’ neck, severing the big hunter’s head from it. A geyser of blood exploded from his neck. The big hunter’s body staggered another step or two before toppling over.
The two survivors of Bear Wiggins’ crew threw their weapons aside and raised their hands over their heads, surrendering to Director Shelley’s guards.
Apparently there was still a pilot aboard one of the Earth Gov transports who had no intention of surrendering. The transport’s engines roared to life as it rose up from the spaceport. Miranda, Lee, Director Shelley, and the others watched helplessly as its pilot gunned it, and the transport sped away.
“We can’t let that bastard get away,” Lee yelled.
“Got ya covered!” Brook’s voice came over the comm channel Miranda’s crew of hunters shared. “I’ve been scrambling communications in the area ever since those guys landed, and that guy isn’t getting away to tell anyone about what happened here, either.”
Strider came, engines blazing, through the sky above them in hot pursuit of the Earth Gov transport. The old Deathbird-class warship opened fire with its forward cannons. Tracer rounds burnt through the air as Brook got a lock on the transport. The heavy fire from Strider’s cannons ripped the rear of the transport to shreds. Black smoke poured out of the damaged transport as it veered sharply and fell nose first into the ground below. The ensuing explosion flashed hot and bright, blindingly so, even under the rays of Nix V’s sun.
Miranda heard Brook let out a victory whoop over the comm.
Looking away from the burning wreckage of the Earth Gov transport, Miranda took a stumbling step as Rachel came running up to her with a deeply concerned expression.
“We need to get you out of that armor so I can see what that axe did to your shoulder,” Rachel told her. “You’re losing a lot of blood.”
“In a minute!” Miranda barked turning her attention to Director Shelley. “This doesn’t mean we’ve taken your side in this war, Director. Remember that.”
That was all Miranda managed to get out before the world around her started to spin and unconsciousness claimed her.
* * * * *
Chapter 26
Miranda woke up on the couch in the waiting room just outside Director Shelley’s office. Her armor had been removed, and Rachel was finishing up wrapping a bandage around her shoulder.
“You’re going to be fine,” Rachel said, looking relieved. “I was able to get to the damage that bastard caused in time.”
“Thank you,” Miranda told the medic and started to get up.
Rachel put a hand on her, gently holding her where she lay on the couch. “I said I got the damage in time, ma’am, not that you should get up. You lost a lot of blood. You’re going to need a bit to recover.”
Miranda relented. There was no point in pressing the issue. She could hear the old man’s voice shouting in Director Shelley’s office. Smitten with the woman or not, Lee was letting her have it over something. A few minutes later, the old man came storming out of the office. He stopped dead in his tracks, looking at her where she lay on the couch with Rachel kneeling next to her.
“Who told you you’re on vacation, girl?” Lee raged. “We’ve got
ourselves a monster to kill so we can get the hell off this planet. Rachel, help her up from there.”
Rachel gave Miranda an apologetic look but did what the old man had instructed her to do.
The three of them headed for Strider. Joe was getting Brook reacquainted with using small arms when they arrived.
“What are you doing?” Miranda demanded with a sharp glare.
“I’m getting ready for tonight,” Brook told her.
“Brook’s a little rusty, but I think she’ll do just fine,” Joe said.
“Who told you you’d be leaving the ship?” Miranda asked.
“With Flynn and Robbie…gone, we’re two men down,” Brook answered. “I figured you could use all the help you can get out there.”
Miranda glanced at Lee to see what the old man was thinking. His expression told her he agreed with her. “You’re not going out, Brook, and before you argue, that’s final. You’re a pilot, not a hunter.”
“I’ve gone out with you guys before,” Brook protested.
“No up against things like the one out there.” Miranda shook her head. “Forget it.”
Brook’s shoulders slumped. The pilot knew Miranda had made up her mind.
“Where’s my armor?” Miranda asked.
“It’s in your quarters,” Lee said. “I’ve done my best to patch it up, but it’s still not going to be a hundred percent.”
Miranda felt better. Parts of her still ached, but overall, she was ready for the coming night. Rachel had done a much better job at patching her up than the medic had let on.
“Oh,” Brook said suddenly. “I have something you need to see.”
Puzzled, Miranda followed Brook into Strider’s pilot compartment.
“Last night when I was scanning for the creature, I picked up some strange energy readings,” Brook said, sliding into the seat at the sensor station. “They looked like something I had seen before, so I ran a check on them in the database. Turns out this monster we’re dealing with has the exact same energy signature as the one that killed Robbie back on Brickson.”
“What?” Miranda stammered, leaning over Brook to stare at the screen. “That’s impossible.”
“Not if the creature has some means of going from world to world. We’ve faced things out there that could do that before,” Brook reminded her.
“You think this thing is capable of transporting itself from one planet to another?” Miranda asked.
“No.” Brook shook her head. “I think it has a ship.”
“That would fit,” Lee said, overhearing the two of them and moving to join them at the sensor station. “The thing is clearly intelligent.”
“Holy frag…” Miranda muttered. “There’s no doubt the thing was waiting for us in Brickson. That was a planned attack on us, for sure. But how could that thing have known we would be headed for Nix V next?”
“I don’t have an answer to that one, ma’am,” Brook shrugged, “but based on these readings, it’s either the same creature, or there are two of them out there.”
“That thing is hunting us,” Lee said.
Miranda was shocked to hear those words coming from the old man.
“But why?” Miranda asked.
Lee shrugged. “How in the heck am I supposed to know? Maybe Earth Gov created the thing and let it loose on us. Maybe we’ve run into it somewhere before and ticked it off. What matters is what we’re going to do about it. And I think you already know the answer to that one.”
Miranda nodded. The thing needed to die. Not just to complete their contract with Director Shelley, but also for what it had done to poor Robbie back on Brickson, and Flynn here on Nix V.
“I’ve talked with Rachel about her encounter with it,” Lee said. “She claims the weapons she and Flynn were carrying didn’t have much effect on it.”
Miranda grunted. “Any suggestions on how to deal with that?”
“Hard to say without more data on the thing,” Lee admitted. “It’s clear we need to up our game out there tonight, though.”
“What are you suggesting?” Miranda asked.
“Since we don’t really know what’s going to work against this monster and what isn’t, I’d like to change up our normal weapons a bit.” Lee grinned. “Rachel said the thing seemed to be made up of pure darkness that was solidified into a humanoid form.”
“So?” Miranda pressed the old man.
“I think everyone should carry some UV grenades, and at least one of us should go out with a flamethrower,” Lee answered.
“Those are vampire slaying weapons,” Brook commented.
“This thing isn’t a vampire,” Miranda said, “but I see what you’re thinking. If it’s really made up of darkness, then the UV grenades might hurt it. I don’t get the flamethrower, though.”
“The flames will produce light just like the grenades, and heat too,” Lee explained. “We’ll be bringing our standard kinetic weapons, heat, and light to the fight. One of them surely will do the trick and send this thing back to whatever hell it crawled out of.”
“If this thing is advanced enough to have a ship,” Brook cut in, “then shouldn’t we be concerned about it bringing a weapon to the fight, too?”
Miranda shook her head. “I don’t think so. From all we’ve seen so far, this thing has a very hands-on approach. Either it feels it doesn’t need a weapon, or it just enjoys coming at us tooth and nail. Bringing a gun into things just doesn’t fit its MO.”
“And thank God for that,” Lee said. “That thing is tough enough already, based on what we know about it.”
“Okay then.” Miranda looked at the old man. “Break out the UV grenades and a flamethrower for tonight. Tell Joe we’ll need him to give up being a sniper for one evening.”
The old man shook his head. “I’ll be carrying the flamethrower. Not Joe.”
Miranda stared at him. “You’ll what?”
“You heard me, girl,” Lee scolded her. “I can agree with you ordering Brook to stay on Strider. That makes sense. Me, though, I’ve been doing this crap since before you were born, Miranda, and frankly, being two men down, we don’t have anyone else who can do the job. We need Joe to be Joe. You know as well as I do that changing things up like that for him would likely just lead to more blood.”
“I don’t think…” Miranda started.
“Frag it, girl,” Lee raised his voice, “I may be old, but I’m not useless. Who saved your butt against Bloodstone? Who fired the RPG that blew most of those Earth Gov bastards to hell? I can do this, and you know I can.”
Miranda didn’t want to admit it, but the old man was right. He was more than capable, and there was no one else available. Changing things up on such a level for Joe would only lead to trouble, and she didn’t trust Rachel to be in the field tonight, much less being the one packing the crew’s flamethrower. Lee had her dead to rights, and she couldn’t argue with him.
“Okay,” Miranda agreed. “You’ve got the flamethrower. Now how about we come up with a plan to catch this thing where we want it to be and not allow it pick the battleground this time around?”
“Wait,” Brook spoke up. “What about putting lights on your guns? I mean, rigging up some sort of concentrated, high-powered beam on top of them, like a scope.”
“That could work.” Lee smiled. “Good thinking, kid. Go get on it.”
“Yes, sir!” Brook nodded, happy to hear that her idea was a sound one.
“Not bad, for a pilot,” the old man chuckled as Brook scurried away.
“Back to the business of luring this thing somewhere we want it to be,” Miranda said. “Any ideas on that?”
“If we make the assumption that its real goal is take us out, it shouldn’t be too hard,” Lee said.
“Our first night here, it didn’t come after us, Lee,” Miranda reminded him. “It went after that poor little girl and her father, not us.”
“True, but maybe it knew Rachel was the closest of us and was counting on taking her out befo
re Flynn showed up. When he arrived, it just changed its plan to fit the situation,” Lee suggested.
“Maybe.” Miranda was still reluctant to entirely commit to the idea that the monster was after them. There was plenty of evidence that pointed toward that, sure, but that would mean the thing had to know a heck of a lot about them all.
“Look, girl, we’re not gonna be able to play this out perfectly like the thing is just some mindless, hunger-driven creature that we can dangle some meat in front of. This thing knows us. It wants us. And it’s cunning as hell. All we can do is go back out there and give it another shot at us, hoping it takes the bait,” Lee said. “We’ll keep closer to each other this go ’round and really be ready for it.”
“Doesn’t it bother you that this thing seems to know us?” Miranda asked.
“Scares the devil out of me, but there ain’t a dang thing I can do about it except kill the thing, and that means facing it again.” Lee shrugged. “We know a lot more than we did before. We’re just going to have to hope it’s enough to make a difference in how things play out.”
* * * * *
Chapter 27
Director Shelley had again consented to keep her people off the streets for the night, and Miranda, Lee, Rachel, and Joe were the only living souls moving after night had fallen on Nix V. The group spread out just enough to cover two streets, keeping their formation as tight as Miranda dared make it. Only Joe was distant from the rest of them. The sniper had returned to his position of the previous evening, watching out for them from atop the roof of the colony’s tallest building.
Brook was alone on Strider, but the ship was locked up tightly, and its sensors were actively scanning the colony in continuous sweeps. Miranda figured Brook would be safe enough aboard the ship, even if left there by herself.
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