The pirates came running up, taking Jake and Casey prisoner by slapping handcuffs around their wrists.
Explosions sounded above as the Trecorian fleet continued their bombardment.
They’re going to be too late, Jake thought. It’s up to us. It’s up to me.
Chapter 33 – Gargantuan
____________________
Strangely enough, Casey and he weren’t thrown into a cell like Jake expected. They were far from free, but their prison consisted of being kept in the Paladin’s cockpit with armed guards stationed around the cat to make sure they remained inside. After a couple of hours, the pirates towed the Paladin to the center of the arena where the opening day ceremony had been held. With the weapons of a half dozen Leviathan’s and a slew of smaller UHAAVs pointed directly at them, there was little he or Casey could do to resist.
With little else to do, Casey and he spent most of the night going over possible plans with Maggie. They came up with nothing having better than one tenth of one percent chance of success. Exhausted, he and Casey finally stretched out on the cockpit’s hard floor and fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. After a series of restless dreams, Jake felt something warm touch the side of his face. He opened one eye the barest of cracks to see Maggie squatting next to him with her palm against his cheek.
Seeing his eye open, she removed her hand and leaned back on her heels. “Sorry to wake you, Tiger, but I think whatever’s going to happen is about to start. Spectators are starting to fill the arena’s stands. The UHAAVs guarding us are pulling out.” She gave a half-smile and shrugged. “Not that a lack of guards will do us any good. The force field around the arena’s got us locked in tighter than a bolt screwed on by a number-nine torque wrench.”
Jake sighed and tried to disentangle from Casey without waking her. He didn’t succeed.
Casey sat up and rubbed her eyes before glancing out the windscreen. “It’s light outside. What time is it?”
Standing up, Maggie took a step back to give them some room. “It’s almost ten in the morning.”
“Ten o’clock,” Jake said bolting up into a sitting position. “You shoulda woke us.” He jumped to his feet and slid into the pilot’s chair. As soon as he strapped in, he began punching icons to run a system’s check of the Paladin.
“Slow down, hotshot,” said Maggie. “I didn’t wake you sooner because there was nothing for you to do. I figured both of you needed your rest. Besides, I used the time to do a lot of thinking.” Her eyes turned a light blue as she smiled. “Considering the fact that I think at nanosecond speed, when I say a lot of thinking, I mean a lot of thinking.”
Moving to the copilot’s chair, Casey sat down, fastened her flight harness, and flipped on the control unit for the Paladin’s weapons. “Hey, all of our weapons are online. Ammo magazines are full, even the rocket launchers. How’d that happen?”
The full-size hologram of Maggie blinked out and reappeared as a hand-high version standing on the center of the forward console. “We were rearmed during the night. I activated the sound suppressors on the cockpit so the noise from the ground crew wouldn’t disturb you. We’ve got a basic load of anti-armor missiles in our launchers. The magazine for the seventy-five’s full. I had them replace the Gatling gun on my left arm with a 20 megawatt plasma rifle. I figured it might come in handy against light armor.”
“Who’s this they you’re talking about?” Jake said. “I’m not sure I’d trust any weapons or ammo the Gegormas’ technicians put on us.”
Maggie sat down cross-legged and laughed. “Hey, what do you take me for, a carbon-based life form? I’m smarter than that. Some of the guards brought Jason and Tilley here last night along with Casey’s ground crew. They’re the ones who rearmed us.”
A sense of relief flooded through Jake. He’d been worried more about his friends than he’d cared to admit. “So they’re all right?”
Maggie frowned. “Isn’t that what I just said? Jason, Tilley, and Casey’s people are up in the stadium’s stands right now. See for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
The windscreen zoomed in on a section of the bleachers near the main viewing stand. Jason, Tilley, and the Trecorians sat in a tightly bunched group surrounded by a platoon of guards with rifles at the ready.
“There, are you satisfied?” Maggie asked. “They’re safe and sound just like I told you.”
Jake nodded his head. “Yeah, for now. The question is for how long?”
Maggie shrugged. “Probably for about as long as the two of you are. I calculate Creao Gegorma’s only keeping them alive as leverage to force the two of you to do what he wants.”
Casey touched an icon on the copilot’s armrest to power-up the cat’s weapons. “Well, I don’t care what he wants. We’ve got all our weapons online and a full load of ammo. I say we start shooting and blast our way free.”
Jake glanced out the windscreen at the shimmering in the air between the stadium seats and the Paladin. “Bad idea. The arena’s force field’s gotta be able to withstand stray shots from the heaviest weapons on a Kraken. These peashooters we’ve got on the Paladin wouldn’t put a dent in it.”
Casey glanced out the windscreen for a second before looking at Jake. “Then what are we going to do? If you think I’m going to sit around waiting for them to kill us, you better think again.”
From her position on the console, Maggie raised a hand as if asking permission to speak. “I do have a plan of sorts, if you want to hear it. Like I said earlier, I did a lot of thinking while you guys slept.”
With no ideas of his own, Jake didn’t take long to reply. “All right, I’ll bite. How do we get out of this mess?”
Maggie lowered her hand. “I suppose I should clarify my comment a bit. I haven’t been able to come up with a way for us to actually escape.” Before Jake could interrupt, she pointed at Casey’s mini-light in the makeshift docking station Jason had installed on the front console. “What I have been able to figure out is that the key-code Trish Bistoria gave Casey to transmit information through that mini-light is a valid code.”
Casey shook her head. “No, it’s not. I tried to make it work. Numerous times.”
Maggie laughed. “Trust me, it works. You just have to try using it in the right place.”
Frowning, Casey stared at the Paladin’s AI. “What place is that? Back on Trecor, where we’d be safe and sound anyway?”
Maggie gave another laugh, seeming to enjoy herself. “That’s sarcasm, right? But the answer’s no. I calculate your sister’s key-code would work fine if it were used inside the tournament’s control room. Jason installed a connector on the back of the mini-light the other night. I’m betting if you inserted it into a docking unit on one of the tournament controller’s workstations, I’d be able to use the mini-light as an interface to the planet’s tele-network. If I could do that, I calculate there’s a seventy-one percent probability I could lower the planet’s defensive shield. That would allow the Trecorian fleet’s weapons to take out Lastreo’s key installations. The planet’s defenses would collapse in short order. Let’s face it. Creao Gegorma doesn’t have a real military. They’re your typical mercenaries.” She winked at Casey before glancing at Jake. “You know, the scum of the galaxy. Present company excluded of course.”
“Of course,” Jake said. “So how are we supposed to get inside the tournament’s control room? You didn’t by any chance conjure up a teleporter while Casey and I were asleep, did you?”
Maggie shook her head. “No, and there’s no use getting snooty about it. It took me a long time to figure out how to make Casey’s key-code work. I’ve stored all the algorithms I’ll need to hack into the planet’s tele-network in my databanks. I’ve done the hard part by figuring out how to bring down the planet’s defensive shield. All you gotta do is plug that mini-light of Casey’s into a docking station. Is that too much to ask?”
Jake was about to show her how snooty he could get when the crowd in the arena’s bleachers
roared. Looking through the forward windscreen, he saw a ten-legged metal monster walking through the main entrance of the arena. At fifteen-meters in height, it was the largest UHAAV he’d ever seen.
“What in the Creator’s name is that?” whispered Casey as if fearing she might draw the massive cat’s attention.
Maggie pretended to look over her shoulder at the UHAAV. “I calculate it’s a prototype armored vehicle. It’s not in any of my databanks. I can tell you this though. The long tube on its top is a disintegrator displacer. If we’re hit by that thing, it’s bye-bye Paladin.”
The prototype UHAAV walked to the far end of the arena and started to turn around. From the cat’s lack of speed, it was all too obvious the pilot was having trouble keeping the ten legs from getting tangled while he turned the massive cat. Once the large UHAAV was facing the Paladin, a beam of light shone from a protrusion near the cockpit. Standing within the light was a fifteen-meter-high version of Creao Gegorma. His left hand reached out and appeared to pat the head of the prototype cat. The giant hologram turned and looked at the crowd in the main set of bleachers. Gegorma’s image seemed to focus on the seats where Jason, Tilley, and Casey’s Trecorians were located.
“Guests, friends, and fellow Lastreoians,” echoed the voice of Creao Gegorma over the numerous loudspeakers located throughout the arena. “I’ve decided to temporarily put the tournament on hold in order to do something a little different.” The hologram patted the UHAAV again. “This cat is my own creation. I call it Gargantuan. It will soon serve as the home of a computer far more advanced than anything you can imagine.”
Explosions echoed from the planet’s upper atmosphere as the Trecorian fleet continued its bombardment.
Jake increased the windscreen’s magnification. A lot of the spectators were pointing overhead. He noticed some of them get out of their seats and rush for the nearest exit. Armed guards turned them back.
Maggie snickered. “I calculate that’s what you call a captive audience.”
“Pay no attention to the wasted efforts of those overhead,” said the hologram of Creao Gegorma. “The galaxy is at war, which is to our benefit. Trecor has foolishly chosen not to side with the Crosioians. The Trecorians think they can remain neutral.” He laughed a big booming laugh. “There can be no neutral in this war, as they’ll find out soon enough. They will either join our side, or they’ll be dead.”
The giant hologram pointed its right index finger at the Paladin. To Jake it seemed as if the giant finger pointed straight at him.
“For today’s entertainment,” said Gegorma, “we’re going to match my Gargantuan with the Paladin you see at the other end of the arena. Before I became a businessman, I was trained as a wizard scout. The Empire’s Wizard Scout Academy trained me in all their combat skills, but they foolishly kicked me out before they gave me one of their meaningless little gold-dragon insignias. Today I am going to put their training to good use. I’ll be piloting the Gargantuan myself. My cat’s armor and force field make me invulnerable to the pathetic weapons on the Paladin.” He pointed his finger at the Paladin again. “Do you hear that, Maggie? I’m going to prove to you that I’m your pilot’s superior by personally killing him myself. I’m going to rip him out of your cockpit and smash him to a bloody pulp in front of you. There’s no logical way you can stop me. Your precious Jake is doomed. You’re going to be all alone, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“No,” Maggie whispered. “Not again. I can’t lose anyone again. I just can’t.”
Glancing at his AI, Jake noticed her hand-sized hologram standing on the forward console stretching a hand toward the Gargantuan as if pleading. Tears rolled down her cheeks. He knew he was about to lose her if he didn’t do something about it.
“Maggie!” Jake shouted, using command voice. “Inventory check. Give me a count of all weapons and ammo.”
Maggie’s hologram continued reaching toward the giant cat at the end of the arena, but a series of numbers denoting ammunition and weapons’ inventories appeared on the pilot’s heads-up display.
“Do it again,” Jake said still using command voice. “Make another inventory check.”
Maggie’s hand lowered, but her gaze remained locked on the Gargantuan. The same numbers as before scrolled down Jake’s heads-up display.
“Again,” Jake ordered.
Once more the numbers appeared on the display. Maggie turned around and stared at Jake.
“A—” Jake started.
Maggie’s eyes flashed dark blue. “That’s quite enough! I’m back under control. No more inventory checks.” The color of her eyes softened to a lighter blue. She sighed. “Thanks. I promise I won’t lose control like that again.”
“Well, see that you don’t. I need you. The two of us are a team.”
“You mean the three of us,” said Casey. “And while I’ve got your attention, I’d like to know why we’re sitting around letting that old windbag bluster about what he’s going to do to us? Let’s attack him first and give him something to really think about.”
Jake stared at his copilot a second before turning to his AI. “Maggie, talk some sense into her. I know we’ve got to do something, but charging into the face of certain death isn’t what I had in mind.”
Maggie laughed and nodded her head at Casey. “Actually, I’m with her. I mean, why the hell not? Logically speaking, you’re both dead anyway, right? If logic can’t save you, we may as well try something so illogical even a madman wouldn’t try it.”
Outnumbered, Jake shook his head and smiled. “What you mean is a madman and two crazy-as-hell females.” He shrugged and laughed. “All right, why the hell not?” Deciding not to give himself time to change his mind, he pulled his flight helmet onto his head and grabbed the pilot’s steering lever.
“Now we’re talking,” laughed Casey. “I’m bringing all weapons online. Full speed ahead and damn the plasma beams.”
Shoving the control stick full forward, Jake sent the Paladin racing toward the metal monster at the other end of the arena. Full speed ahead it is. Creator help us.
Chapter 34 – Reverse Tactic
____________________
Whether the charge of the Paladin caught the crew of the Gargantuan by surprise, Jake didn’t know. What he did know was that the salvo of missiles Casey fired along with the flurry of plasma beams and phase rounds did nothing more than make a pretty display of rounds ricocheting off the big cat’s force field. In another time and place, the spectacle might’ve been beautiful to behold.
The Gargantuan remained stationary and bent slightly at the knees as Casey continued firing. When she finally slackened fire to allow the Paladin’s weapons to cool down, the Gargantuan rose to its full height. The giant hologram of Creao Gegorma disappeared as the front of the large cat lit up in orange, green, and red.
Diving left, Jake rolled the Paladin on its left shoulder, doing his best not to damage the cat’s rocket launchers. He brought the Paladin up twenty meters from where the Gargantuan’s rounds passed through the air.
A twin beam of orange energy shifted and came straight at the Paladin’s cockpit. A shimmering in the air a meter to the front of the windscreen deflected the twin beams into the force field protecting the arena’s spectators.
“Thanks, Maggie,” Jake said as he began running in a zigzag pattern toward the larger cat.
“Hey, that’s what I’m here for.”
Two more beams, one orange and one green, shot out of barrels located to either side of the Gargantuan’s back. Jake dodged the green beam. The orange one struck the Paladin’s force field, ricocheting into the air where it detonated against the arena’s overhead shield. The Paladin shuddered at the glancing blow and stumbled, heading cockpit first for the ground. Jerking on the steering lever, Jake recovered just in time to avoid a fall. He resumed his charge. His opponent was now only two hundred meters away.
“Our force field’s down to eighty-six percent,” said Maggie. “Even gl
ancing blows from that monster are dangerous.”
Jake didn’t bother replying. He was too busy dodging beams and missiles as he used every bit of knowledge and skill Maggie had taught him over the last ten years to avoid the withering return fire.
Casey fired at the large cat with the Paladin’s 20 megawatt plasma rifle. The energy beam struck the Gargantuan’s force field a meter off the ground, near the cat’s left front foot. Part of the beam’s energy bounced harmlessly off the big cat’s shield. The other part of the beam’s plasma energy split off, hitting the ground and glancing off the Gargantuan’s footpad but doing no damage.
Jake noticed the ten-legged cat stop moving a couple of seconds and bend at the knees for some reason. Two missiles and another orange beam exploded against the Paladin’s shield, making him forget all about knees, bending or otherwise. Angling forty-five degrees to the left, he made his way around to the side of the Gargantuan where there were fewer weapons. The massive UHAAV rose to its full height and began turning in place in an attempt to keep the Paladin within the field of fire of its forward gun array.
“That’s it,” said Maggie. “Stay to his side as much as you can. That cat’s nowhere near as agile as me, and Gegorma’s nowhere near as good a pilot as you. Avoid the front where their heaviest weapons have a clear field of fire.”
Casey fired another salvo of plasma beams at the Gargantuan’s left front footpad. The big cat stopped moving and bent at the knees again. “Why does he keep stopping? He could destroy us easy if he brought his disintegrator displacer to bear.”
“I think he’s just playing with us,” Jake said as he continued moving the Paladin ever closer to the large cat’s side. He dodged another orange beam by doing a roll and tuck. Regaining the Paladin’s feet, he was momentarily in a blind spot from the big cat’s heaviest weapons. “He wants to stretch this fight out as long as he can.”
Punching an icon on his armrest, Jake zoomed in on the windscreen’s view of the Gargantuan’s cockpit. A crew of four could be seen inside. One of them was Creao Gegorma.
Steel Apocalypse Page 26
