by Jason Kent
"Did you hear something?" Kate asked in a loud voice.
"Besides all this shipmech about to be vaporized?" Merrick shouted back.
Kate looked around and picked out the marines who still remained in the engine room. Ross' rapid heartbeat betrayed his placid exterior. Captain Black's ragged breathing and irregular heartbeat hinted at damage to something vital.
Black shook his head in disgust, upset with himself for being so careless as to get hit.
Kate eyes landed on the satchel next to Black.
The pocket nuke controller.
The destruct charges carried by the Marines were simple; at least, as simple as a nuclear device could be. Kate could not remember being briefed on their construction or operation, but she knew something critical about them now.
Merrick and Kate made it to Black's side.
"Get to the shuttle!" Black ordered and motioned for them to keep moving. He aimed his rifle deeper into the gloom of the engine room. Dozens of red lights from optical sensors appeared. "Mech's are massing for an attack!" He looked up at Kate and Merrick when they failed to instantly obey his command.
"Move!"
"They won't work," Kate shouted over the din. She grabbed a pipe and resisted Merrick's pull.
"The nukes?" Cohen yelled as he made his way to Black's side with Ross. "They sure as tral will!"
Kate shook her head. Technical schematics and instructions scrolled through her mind. "The remote detonator circuits will fail to engage."
"That true?" Merrick looked from Kate to Captain Black to Cohen.
"There are back-up timers," Cohen explained. "No need to use the remotes. Just set the—"
"Two minutes thirty five seconds," Kate interjected. She met Cohen's brown eyes. Staff Sergeant Eric Brody Cohen. Special Weapons Team. Brown hair. One hundred ninety-five pounds. Born in Toledo, Ohio. Likes pistachios and ... Kate shook her head to clear the superfluous information. She did not need the Sergeant's bio running through his head.
"The timing circuits won't last long enough," Kate declared.
"All the chips are hardened!" Cohen protested.
"So were the suits," Kate replied with a grim laugh. She gestured at the second skin she was wearing. "Look where that got me."
Gunfire across the engine room drew everyone's attention.
Cohen looked from the bombs to the detonator in Black's hand.
"Suggestions?" Black coughed. He clutched at his side where a dark stain spread around a jagged gash in his uniform. The cut continued through the Captain's second skin, hinting at more damage beneath.
"The manuals should work," Cohen said. "I'll stay"
"Captain, you need to do it," Kate interrupted. She hesitated before she added, "You won't make it back to the shuttle anyway." Kate was not sure how she knew the Captain's fate for certain. It was just there, in her head.
Black clutched at his wounded side. He met Kate's glowing eyes and nodded. "Hate to agree with you, but I'm fading fast. If I move, I'm done."
Bullets from the approaching mechs ricocheted off the steel bulkhead above their heads.
"I'll stay and detonate the devices," Black declared. Before anyone could protest, he pointed at Merrick and ordered, "Fall back, gather the others if you can. Get clear. Anders already back-tracked to clear the exit." He looked at Kate and set the time on his old style chronometer. "You have two minutes and thirty five seconds. I'll give you more time if I can."
Merrick hesitated, the conflict evident on his face. His features hardened. The sniper snapped a salute, grabbed Kate's arm and pushed off.
"GO!" Black shouted.
Ross and Cohen looked at each other then followed Merrick's lead.
Kate looked back to see Black nearly doubling over. She felt sympathetic stabs of pain in her side. She wanted to cry out but this was no time for tears. Unless she wanted to end up as space dust along with the rest of the engine room, she needed to focus. Kate lost sight of the Captain as she and Merrick passed through the ruined airlock archway.
Kate shook herself free of Merrick's grip and started to propel herself through the heart of the Tallinn ship.
"No need for you to do all the work," Kate commented.
Before Merrick could reply, he grabbed a sweating pipe and arrested his momentum. The sniper raised his weapon, took careful aim into the dark section of the corridor and waited.
Kate heard the sound of a mech's weapons spinning up as Merrick pulled his trigger. She spotted its glowing optics package the same moment Merrick's round hit home.
The dead mech wheezed then floated in front of them out of an inky cross corridor.
"He was waiting for us," Merrick noted as he advanced. "They're learning."
"There's a pleasant thought," Ross added from behind them. He craned his neck to check every crevice as he passed.
"How'd you know," Merrick began then paused as he checked around a corner. Satisfied the next stretch of corridor was safe, he called, "Clear!"
Kate chewed her lip before she chose a safe answer. "Nothing electronic was working back there."
"About the Captain," Merrick clarified.
"I..." Kate started, "I'm not sure." A sort of inner eye opened during Javin's brief touch. A being called Knowl pumped insights into her mind. Inner eye? Insights...or should she call them visions? No, Kate thought, not visions, this was simply 'truth' being unveiled to her. She did not tell Merrick the truth-dumps came unbidden. Kate could not turn off the spigot. She shuddered. Perhaps she never would be able to control the insights Knowl wished to share with her.
Merrick looked into Kate's glowing eyes. In his gaze, she felt him weigh her answer.
"Running short on time!" Ross shouted from behind Kate and Merrick.
"Almost there," Kate exclaimed.
"Mechs!" Cohen shouted. "Behind us." He took up a firing position at the rear of the group and took aim. The Chief fired multiple bursts. Kate saw one of the mechs burst apart as its boiler exploded. There was another one right behind the slagged machine though.
"Mess with Black's Angels," Ross shouted and opened fire, "meet your steel-hearted makers!"
"Oorah!" Cohen agreed. "Get her to the shuttle, Merrick!"
Merrick fired once.
The mech spun away out of control, the actuator in its arm disabled.
Merrick grabbed Kate as she raised her weapon to fire. The force of his pull caused Kate to lose her grip on the big rifle.
"Wait!" Kate yelled, "My gun!" She watched as her first assault rifle pin-wheeled away from her as Merrick pulled her after him.
"We get to the shuttle," Merrick remarked, "I'll get you a new weapon."
Several turns later, they found themselves at the cross corridor near the shuttle. Kate recognized it as the location where she almost shot Merrick.
"This way!" Second Lieutenant Peters shouted.
Kate was relieved to see the co-pilot. He and Garrett waited for them despite the obvious risk to themselves.
Peters turned to shout toward the shuttle.
Kate sensed something just as Merrick grabbed her by the waist and catapulted her toward their exit, the ragged hole in the ironclads hull. Kate soared through the air and hit the edge of the rough opening.
"Ugh!" Kate grunted. She could feel the sharp corners of the makeshift entrance against her back. She doubled over from the pain then felt for major injuries. There were none. The second skin armor saved her from serious harm. Kate opened her eyes and saw Merrick crouched at the nearest corner, his rifle raised.
An armored trooper charged down the corridor.
Merrick fired but not before the Tallinn. Peters was thrown back as he was hit full in the chest. The co-pilot's flight suit was no match for the trooper's fire. Merrick's shot hit home. The enemy trooper stumbled and crashed headlong into a wall.
The sound of yet another attacker came from the other end of the corridor. Merrick pivoted and prepared to fire into the darkness beyond Peters' slouched form.
<
br /> The world slowed and Kate could see Merrick's trigger finger tightening.
'You will need them.' Javin's voice whispered across Kate's mind.
Kate did not waste time trying to figure out where the voice in her head was coming from.
"Stop!" Kate shouted. "They're with us!" Kate saw Merrick's trigger finger flick back a fraction of a millimeter.
Two suited marines rounded the bend. Both of their faceplates were up but Kate did not recognize either of them.
Merrick glanced from the new arrivals to Kate.
"Our suits are failing," the first new-comer, an older officer explained.
The other suited figure, a woman, added, "Mechs cut off the route to our shuttle...I think they got the crew."
Merrick raised his rifle so it pointed to the ceiling and made room for the new arrivals in the makeshift entryway.
Kate read the markings on their suits. The first marine was a Lieutenant Colonel. The other was a civilian. She was younger than Kate, by the sound of her voice and the look of her face through the open helmet visor. She wore an extremely small suit of armor, betraying her slight build underneath.
"In!" Merrick ordered and twitched his head toward Garrett's shuttle.
The officer opened his mouth to speak again.
"Sir," Merrick interrupted, "Just go."
The tone of Merrick's voice convinced the two newcomers not to hesitate. Kate got ahead of the rush. She pulled herself into the shuttle then scrambled out of the way and into the seat closest to the cockpit.
Lieutenant Garrett was already strapped in. He turned back to watch the boarding. "I was just about to come in after you." He took a look at Kate, wearing only her second skin. "Uh, where's your suit?"
"Long story," Kate breathed as the two new arrivals and Merrick tumbled in. "Your co-pilot is dead."
Ross braced himself in the hatchway and fired back into the Tallinn ship.
"Cohen bought it! I ran across Anders and the others in a side corridor, all dead!" Ross shouted. "And there's a dozen mechs coming fast!"
"GO!" Merrick shouted forward to Garrett.
"Where's Cap—" Garrett started.
Merrick shook his head.
"Tral," Garrett cursed under his breath. He spun back to his boards and ordered, "Strap in!" He slammed his fist down on the hatch controls.
The makeshift entryway to the Tallinn ship irised shut and slammed home with what Kate could only think of as a sound of extreme finality. Thrusters fired and the shuttle shuddered. A metallic screech echoed through the ship as the capture spikes pulled free of the steel hull of the ironclad.
Kate was thrown against her harness as the shuttle rocked to a stop.
"Spike's caught!" Garrett shouted over his shoulder.
"Uncaught it!" Ross yelled back.
Garrett mashed a button on his console again.
"Now!" Ross called. He held up his wrist and slapped a thick finger on his watch emphatically. "NOWNOWNOW!"
"Pull the manual release!" Garrett shouted directly at Kate. He was making wild hand gestures at her feet.
Kate gave him and blank look then followed where the pilot was pointing. There was a large handle outlined in red hash-marks. Kate read the label:
FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY
DO NOT TOUCH!
She reached down, grasped the bright yellow handle and pulled with all her strength.
Kate felt three charges going off under her feet as the explosive bolts holding the grappling equipment to the underside of the shuttle's hull separated. The small ship rolled away with a sickening lurch.
"Kick it!" Ross exclaimed.
"You mined the ironclad?" the new Lieutenant Colonel asked.
"Tral, sir, yes!" Ross shouted. "And lost half our guys doing the job!"
Kate was pushed back into her seat as the main engines fired. She looked up as the lights in the cabin unexpectedly dimmed.
"Summer sunset, fading light; flowers pulling petals tight..." Kate looked up to find everyone in the shuttle bay was staring at her. It took her another moment before she realized she was the one speaking. She forced a tight grin on her face and thought, what the tral is happening to me?
"Two minutes forty seconds," Ross announced.
"Sorry, little poetry when stressed—" Kate explained.
"There she goes!" Garrett called out, drawing everyone's attention to the view on the pilots oversized screens.
Kate strained against her harness to glimpse the images on the pilot's console. There was a bright flash as the ironclad cracked in half. Secondary explosions tore through the rest of the giant Tallinn battle cruiser.
"Black Death Delivered," Ross stated as he stared off into the distance. "Oorah."
The monitor and main lights dimmed then winked out. Recessed emergency red lighting flickered to life.
"Is it supposed to do that?" Kate asked. She gestured at the bank of dead overhead lights.
"Engine's supposed to provide extra power when it fires up," the woman newcomer remarked. "Not kill everything in the cabin."
Kate's seat shuddered. She felt their acceleration drop.
"That's not right," Garrett grunted. He worked the switches and knobs on his console and finally pounded on a gauge. Kate did not know what the reading was for, but she guessed the dial, now hovering in the red, was probably not good.
Kate threw off her harness and pulled herself into the cockpit. She slipped into the co-pilot's seat and took in the view out the forward screen. Stellar Union ships wheeled and accelerated away from the Tallinn ironclads. One by one, they winked out of existence as their jump drives were activated, thanks to the destruction of the interdiction device by Kate's team.
"So, which one are we taking?" Kate asked as a flaw in their hurried pre-mission planning slowly crystalized in her mind. The ship she should have been riding away on was no more. It floated out there, one of the lifeless hulks gutted in the darkness. The surviving human ships were nearly all gone.
"You okay?" Merrick asked. He pulled himself forward for a better look at the conclusion of the battle. Kate jumped when the sniper gently laid his hand on her shoulder. She strained frantically to take in the view outside the shuttle's window.
"We need a ship," Kate stated, her eyes wide. She turned her head to follow the ships just visible out the side viewports.
Abandoned.
Kate ignored the voice in her head. She needed it to be wrong this time.
Find a way.
"Not helpful," Kate sang to the voice.
Merrick took Kate's chin in his hand and leaned around to look into her eyes. "You hurt?"
Kate blinked then looked down at her second skin.
"Ah, no, I think I got a pretty good bruise on my back but this stuff seems to work," Kate held up an unscathed arm covered in skintight armor as proof.
The new officer pulled himself up to look out the window. Kate saw the name 'Georges' stencil on his armor.
"Fleet's away," Georges noted with a nod. He watched as the last ship in sight outraced a trio of Tallinn missiles and disappeared. "What's left of it, at least."
Kate looked back out into space. The Tallinn ships broke away from their pursuit vectors and headed for orbits closer to their colony world.
"They're leaving us," Kate whispered. She looked from Merrick to Georges then back to Merrick.
"Tallinn's need a jump gate to chase our ships down," Georges noted. "Fleet will have jumped again before the ironclads can get into position. They're safe."
"Safe? What about us?" Kate asked. "How do we get home?"
Merrick met Kate's gaze but did not respond.
Georges looked into Kate's glowing eyes. She could tell he wanted to ask about them. He would have to bring it up. Kate did not feel like explaining about Javin, Watchers, mysterious trees, or voices in her head right now. Georges finally answered.
"We don't."
Chapter 5
Link Sprite
Kate looked at th
e marine officer they rescued from the second assault team. With her suit and its heads up display gone, she didn't know his full name. Only the subdued blue oak leaf gave away his rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Georges clung to an overhead hand hold and looked to each of the survivors in turn. When he reached Kate, his eyes lingered.
"Specialist?" Georges asked. He stared straight into Kate's eyes without comment. From his lack of reaction, it appeared glowing eyes were not outside the realm of the marine's experiences.
"Nets," Kate responded. "At least when we had some." She really did not feel like delving into her job description in any further detail. It did not seem overly relevant when she considered what just happened aboard the ironclad.
Georges nodded, appeased for the moment. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the woman accompanying him. "You and Sparrow should have plenty to talk about."
"Hey," Sparrow said and waved her hand at Kate.
"Any contacts, Lieutenant?" Georges asked Garrett.
Garrett shook his head. "As you saw, once we blew the interdiction ship, Fleet must have decided a strategic withdraw was in order. Most of the Tallinn ironclads high-tailed it to their jump gate in their idea of hot pursuit. I spotted a damaged Tallinn ship a few minutes ago but lost it amid the other debris. Given their level of sensor tech, I don't think they'd have much luck finding us, especially when I've only been able to get emergency power running."
"Can we jump?" Merrick did not look up from checking his rifle.
"Maybe," Garrett replied. "The jump drive on these things have a back-up. Meant for emergencies like this, I suppose. It's a light coil with one charge. The whole thing burns out after we use it."
