Twin Stars 1: Ascension

by Robyn Paterson

  A holo-window suddenly flipped open in front of her.

  “Ping An!” Whispered a small frightened voice.

  “Vaela, what is it?”

  * * *

  “Ping An,” Vaela whispered, glancing nervously around. “There’s someone here! They’ve found me!”

  The best access node Vaela had been able to find for the station systems was at the back of one of the station warehouses. Still filled with row upon row of boxes and piles of junk, Vaela sat alone with her equipment in a small island of light against the back wall of the silent room.

  “How is that possible?” Ping An sent back. “Where are your guards?”

  “I-I don’t know!” She stammered. “They went to check on something and they haven’t come back yet. Ping-An, you’ve got to get me out of here!”

  “Okay. Okay. Calm down.” Her Captain said. “Don’t worry about them. You have an escape route planned, don’t you?”

  “Yes, but…” Had something just fallen over? Vaela peered into the darkness but saw nothing moving.

  “Just get your gear and go. I was going to tell you to pull out anyways, so get back here as fast as you can. There’s nobody anywhere near you on the sensors but your guards, and they’re out in the hall.”

  “Alright,” Vaela said, starting to unplug her portable buffer unit from the control node. “I’m coming back.”

  “That-a-girl! See you soon. Don’t worry, we won’t leave without you.”

  The she closed the link.

  “Well that’s reassuring,” Vaela said sarcastically as she pulled her things together. There wasn’t much to it, just a few cables and a small box. She was proud of the unit, she’d built it herself for help in handling large flows of information when she was breaking into systems.

  CLICK-KLACK!

  Vaela almost dropped the box as the noise echoed through the cavern, and for a moment she stood there, too scared to move. Then she quickly grabbed the last of the cables and shoved them and the box into a cloth bag. Reaching up, she grabbed the portable light she’d stuck to the wall above her, and turned, shining it around the warehouse.

  Dull, corroded old metal and pieces of packing materials loomed all around her, but nothing moved in the shadows. She could see the light of the exit sign glowing dully across the gulf of blackness. It might as well have been on the other side of the solar system.

  With one hand clutching the bag to her chest, Vaela started walking toward it.

  After she’d gotten a short distance she heard a noise to her left.

  CLICK!

  She didn’t turn. She didn’t look. She just kept the light forward and kept walking.

  TAP! TAP! TAP!

  That noise was to her right.

  Again, she just kept walking for the door.

  CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

  The sound was following her, and she quickened her pace.

  TAP! TAP! CLICK! TAP! TAP! CLICK!

  More sounds, to her right and her left.

  She broke into a run, pushing her legs to run as hard as she could.

  All around her there were noises now, scuttling noises, tapping noises, clicking noised. They were coming after her, chasing her, drawing closer.

  She didn’t know what they were- she didn’t care. All she knew was that she had to escape!

  At last, with the noise threatening to overwhelm her, she reached the door and slammed the control button. When it didn’t open, she hit it again, and again, and…

  The door slid open, and a dark shape loomed over her.

  “G’day Shiela,” said the shape with a smile. “You’ll be coming with me.”

  * * *

  Ping An grabbed the grey breastplate and clamshelled it over her, letting the armor seal around her torso. Then she picked up the plasma assault rifle she’d stuck to the shuttle wall and checked it.

  “And where do you think you’re going?” Asked The Lady.

  “I’ve lost contact with Vaela and the rest of my teams,” Ping An said as she grabbed extra power-packs and stuck them to her hips. “I’m going to go get them.”

  “You realize of course, that if you fail I was your prisoner and won’t support you in the slightest?” Said The Lady in an unconcerned tone, watching her impassively.

  Ping An snorted. “How kind of you. Sorry, but I won’t fail.”

  Then without a backward glance the pirate marched down the shuttle’s back ramp and pointed to a nearby group of guards.

  “You men, with me.”

  Grabbing another group of men, she led them over to where Captain Andrews’ men were working on the old grav trucks.

  “These work?” She asked one of the surprised techs.

  “Yes Captain, this one and those two.” The trucks he pointed to were jeep-style vehicles with a roofless open cab and open backs- they didn’t offer much in terms of cover, but they had speed.

  “Load up, people.” She ordered. “We’ve got work to do.”

  * * *

  “Betsey?”

  “Yeah Leederman?”

  “Those medics are sure taking their time.”

  Betsey’s finger stopped in mid air and hesitated over a control button, then she forced herself to press it and keep working.

  “I know, they can’t get through. The tube shaft is blocked.” Then after a moment she added, more to herself than him. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon.”

  “It’s cold in here.” Said the Ops man, who was laying on the floor next to her station.

  It wasn’t cold, in fact it was starting to heat up in the confined space.

  “Don’t think about it, just focus on the job I gave you.”

  Since they’d gotten the ship’s Linkspace network up, she’d given him the job of checking to see who was wounded among the crew. It was simple work, he just needed to link to them and ask the ship’s sixty crew members their status.

  The irony had been lost on him. Typical Leederman.

  “I want to sleep.”

  “Leederman, you’re not sleeping, okay!” She growled, then added more softly. “Just don’t fall asleep. They’ll be here soon.”

  She and the engineering people had almost managed to get the short-range sensors back online, and were doing final checks now.

  “Geez, you don’t have to yell. I’m right here.”

  “Sorry Leederman, it’s just I’m worried about Ping An. I can’t raise any of the others, so I think we’re the only ship left. We’ve got to get back to her.” She wiped the sweat from her forehead, fighting the urge to rub her swollen right eye. “I’m almost done with rerouting all the power systems. Now, if the self repair systems do what they’re supposed to do we’ll be home free. Then we can get back, eh Leederman?”

  When there was no response, she turned and looked down.

  “Leederman?”

  Leederman’s eyes lay open, but the light had gone from them.

  A sob escaped Betsey’s lips. “Aww Leederman…I told you not to sleep…”

  Then a sob became tears as the pent-up emotion of the day’s events inside her broke through and she could do nothing else but cry. He had been her friend, one of the few she’d had in the clan, and now he, like so many others, was gone.

  Her console beeped.

  Betsey spun around- the short-range sensors had come back online and they’d picked up something approaching. Something big.

  “We’ve got…!” She started to call out, then caught herself. Who could hear her now?

  Magnifying it, Betsey felt a shiver run down her back.

  It was a ship. Imperial. A Heavy Cruiser.

  Betsey sounded combat stations and powered up the plasma cannons.

  She was hurt.

  She want to hurt.

  And she wasn’t going down without a fight.

  * * *

  Cole’s forces had struck when the pirates were halfway through one of the larger caverns. The huge cavern had once likely housed an indoor park, judging by the dea
d remains of the trees and benches littered about, but now was mostly filled by large piles of rocks, debris and other garbage.

  The pirates had tried to rush through the area, about thirty soldiers surrounding two grav-sleds piled with the bodies of the dignitaries. When the pirates passed between two of the larger piles the Imperial forces had struck, with what remained of both Cole and Ulstead’s forces combining together to come at them from both sides.

  The pirates had immediately sought whatever cover was available, with a few clustering around the grav sleds in hopes that the attackers wouldn’t risk a stray shot hitting the delegates. Their guess had been right so far, but as Cole’s people were shooting anyone who got near the sled controls, they were at a stalemate where neither side could move.

  Cole hated to admit it, but he was impressed with the young Captain’s talent for tactics.

  It was a shame he’d need to executed later.

  As if on cue, a symbol of a small rook chess piece representing Tysen appeared in a small AR window.

  “Your status, Colonel?”

  “So far so good, Captain. We just need a little more time.”

  Tysen shook his head. “You need to hurry, Colonel. They’ve got re-enforcements on the way- a lot of them. Remember you’re still outnumbered.”

  “Then I believe now is the time to use my own surprise.” Cole said, and activated the link to his Squire. “Ashe. Move!”

  “Yes Master.” Came the response.

  “Colonel? What’s happening?”

  “I had my Squire playing unconscious with the other VIPs.” He said as he watched his Squire fluidly render two of the enemy unconscious and use a weapon on a third before anyone had time to react. “She’s right in the middle of them and is showing them the error of their ways.”

  “Well done, Colonel.”

  “I was doing this before you were in the academy, Captain.” Cole reminded him as he activated his array and crested the pile. He needed to keep their front ranks busy while Ashe did her work.

  * * *

  The grav-transport hit the corner hard, forcing Ping An to hang on as the driver scrawled a trail of sparks along the tunnel wall. Then the sparks and grinding sound came to a stop as the corner ended and the truck shot into the straightaway- the other two right behind it.

  “Ping An!” Sent Dragonov, his voice high pitched with worry. “We’re pinned down!

  Can you assist us?”

  “I’m on my way, Dragon! Just hold on a little bit longer.”

  “Please be less pessimistic,” he joked. “You’re starting to give me…What? What is this? Where did you??”

  When a person is in a link with you and they die, there’s a sensation of cold fear that comes as a little burst right before they get cut off. Ping An had felt it many times before, so she knew it now.

  Inside, she made a note to visit the pirate Captain’s family when this was over, then she focused on what was ahead. The black arch of the tunnel entrance loomed ahead of them, and beyond it she could see flashes of light as the firefight raged.

  “Unit 2, go left.” She sent out to the other drivers. “Unit three, go right.”

  “And us?” Kanoff, her driver, asked.

  “Right down the middle!” She ordered, then told the men in the back to ready their weapons.

  “Boo-yah!” Said her driver, and sped the grav-truck up even faster.

  They shot from the tunnel entrance like a missile, gained some altitude, and then came back down right next to the firefight. The driver put the wheel-less truck into a side skid and they slid across the cavern floor towards the battle, guns blazing at everything with a blue glow around it.

  “Hold it steady!” Ping An yelled as she unloaded a stream of plasma into an imperial trooper who flew over top of their truck. The trooper, ignoring the incoming fire, spun and leveled his gun right at her, but Kanoff gave the truck a little boost forward and they avoided the hail of deadly fire he unleashed.

  “Our guns aren’t getting through their arrays!” Kanoff cursed, and brought the truck out of the skid and back into forward motion. The men in the back were still firing away at the trooper, for all the good it did them.

  “Concentrate your fire, it’s the only way,” Ping An yelled at them, then to her driver- “Bring us around to the grav sleds!”

  “You got it!” Kanoff took them around a large pile and into sight of the battle for the sleds. “Look!” He shouted, pointing at the lead sled. There was a demonic figure there, a giant glowing blood red with a huge orange energy axe that cut through her people like a scythe.

  “Hit him!” Ping An screamed, and Kanoff kicked the grav-transport’s heavy engines up to full power, turning the truck into a missile that the giant only noticed when they were almost upon him.

  Too late.

  * * *

  Ashe turned just in time to see it happen.

  The grav-truck slammed into her master, driving him back into one of the junk mounds and coming to a halt with the Colonel pinned partially underneath the front of it. As Cole’s array sputtering in a vain attempt to protect him from the crushing weight, a female pirate leapt onto the front hood of the transport and pulled out a heavy plasma rifle, leveling it at the Colonel’s head.

  “No!” Ashe screamed, and started to move, but it was too late. A shot from the other pirates in the transport hit Ashe in the shoulder, spinning her around, and more shots followed.

  She tried to pull herself up, her vision still focused on her master.

  The pirate woman was saying something to him, but she couldn’t hear, the ringing in her own ears was too loud. Things kept hitting her, knocking her to the side, and then she saw the pirate woman fire at her master, feeling the empathic bond between them sever as the plasma tore through him.

  She screamed, her heart breaking into a million pieces.

  Then something struck her in the head, and everything went black.

  * * *

  Standing on the wrecked hood of the grav-transport, Ping An saw the small woman to her right in the Guard uniform go down in a hail of weaponsfire. Then she glanced back at the smoking crater in the trash mound- it had been a near thing, but it had worked.

  “Kanoff,” she called back to her driver, who was beside the transport with the other men. “Take some men and load those VIPs up onto the other transport.” She pointed to the two grav sleds with the unconscious dignitaries on them. “Those sleds are too slow, and we need to move.”

  “You got it,” the driver said, motioning for the men to follow him.

  Ping An did a quick check of the area- there weren’t many of her people left- they really needed to get out of here before…

  Then Ping An felt the transport under her shake.

  At first, she thought it was the man she’d just killed. But that was impossible, nobody could live with what she’d just done to him!

  Then she realized it had come from the back of the transport, and spun around to see that another fleet man had arrived- this one another large muscular Noble wreathed in a blue Array. He had landed on the roof of the transport, and seemed focused on the VIPs.

  Ping An leveled the rifle on him and started firing.

  * * *

  “Esther, I found them.” Tysen sent as he landed on top of the old grav-transport’s roof. He could see the sleds and the dignitaries, as well as a large group of pirates converging upon them.

  “Tysen, be careful. I am no longer receiving signals from Colonel Cole, I believe we have lost him.”

  Tysen was about to reply that he would when he felt the vibrations and saw flashes on his left side as the array absorbed weaponsfire.

  He was under attack!

  Instinctively, Tysen let the shots carry him to the right, kicking in the flight systems and flying off the back of the transport roof so that the bulk of the vehicle was between him and his assailant. But, the shots had been harmless, and he didn’t want to lose the advantage of surprise, so he decided to ignore t
his attacker and go for the larger pirate group before him.

  Tysen generated a crackling blue shock-sabre and dove at them.

  * * *

  “Tien na!” Kanoff cursed as he and the others opened up on the imperial officer. “Ping An! Do something!”

  As Ping An watched, the newcomer dived and twisted among her men, their attempts to stop him doing more harm to each other than they did the Guard officer. What did hit him was as useless as her own rifle had been, and she cursed inwardly.

  This wasn’t going to work, and she only had seconds before he’d come for her.

  Throwing down the plasma rifle, Ping An leapt from the hood and hit the ground running. Pushing aside the cries of her men, Ping An sprinted around the battle for the nearest grav-sled and pulled out her emergency pistol. By the time she’d reached it and found what she wanted, none were standing except the Noble.

  “Surrender.” Said the man, turning to face her.

  “I don’t think so,” Ping An raised her gun and pointed at the head of the VIP in the Fleet Admiral’s uniform. “Not unless you want this man dead.”

  * * *

  Admiral Veers!

  Tysen Hesitated.

  Likely seeing it in his eyes, the olive-skinned pirate woman smiled.

  “So you know him. Good.”

  “If you release him.” Tysen said, worry creeping into his voice. “I promise to let you go.”

  “Sorry if I don’t find that comforting,” answered the pirate, matching his gaze. There was a determined aura about her, and Tysen knew this wasn’t going to be easy. “Now, here’s how we’re going to play this- tell your men to back off and let us go.”

  “I don’t negotiate with pirates.”

  Tysen thought quickly. Ulstead was on his way back to the ship with what was left of his warbots. There were a few soldiers left around him, so they would have to do.

  “Esther,” he sent. “I need one of the soldiers to get behind her and act as a sniper.”

  “I am contacting one now.” Esther responded. “But it will take time. Please keep her occupied.”

  I don’t think it’s going to be that easy, Tysen thought, but didn’t send it. Instead he refocused on the situation at hand.