“This had better be worth it,” Ju-Long said to himself.
5
Nix tilted his foot on the hover bike’s pedal, bringing the engine up to full power and accelerating into the curve. The dusty Garuda streets were vacant even as the sun was rising. The Dinari’s cloak flapped in the wind as it trailed behind the vehicle. He squinted his orbed eyes against the desert assault. The morning winds were picking up, the squall threatening to breach the colony’s borders from the west.
The edge of Sector Three was fast approaching. He wound around the final turn, rushing past the two-story clay archway that signified the outer rim of the colony. The trail that remained before him was not so well-trodden and the cross-wind not so blocked by the low buildings that made up the bulk of Garuda Colony. Nix kept his foot tilted against the accelerator, even as his hands began to feel as though they would slip from the handlebars. His immediate safety was the least of his worries. Nix and the crew were on the clock.
Outside the colony’s border, a trail ascended the side of Donner Ridge. It was the only way into the valley except by air and most ships chose the far calmer southern approach to the starport. It was the perfect place to hide a ship. The steep mountains had a way of scattering signals, so Nix would have to wait a little longer to contact the crew, though that meant Zega’s forces would have communication troubles as well. A double-edged sword. Nix only hoped there would be enough time. Elder Bartle sure knew how to put him in a vice.
Nix continued up the trail, his bike sending up a plume of dust behind him which was almost immediately dispersed by the high winds that hugged the mountains. Off to his right, the sun rose, red at first, but quickly melted into a deep golden hue within minutes. Nix sensed the warmth of the sun even as the grooves between his scales were being bombarded by a cascade of wind and flecks of sand.
The screen on his hover bike’s dash lit up with a new indicator. He was finally within communication range of the ship, but the signal was still spotty. Nix hastily pressed the transmit button near his right thumb. Even a broken message might be enough.
“Ju-Long! I’m coming in hot, prep the ship for takeoff,” Nix yelled over the whipping winds.
No response.
“Ju-Long!”
A crackle filled the air around the hover bike. A muffled response came through, almost entirely negated by the whipping wind.
“S— aga—n,” Ju-Long’s choppy voice came back.
Nix leaned forward to get a better angle on the microphone.
“Get ready to take off. I’m three minutes out. Open the bay doors and prepare for resupply!”
“Neg—tiv—, no r—sup—y h—s arri—ed.”
Nix ground his pointed teeth together. Trying to communicate before getting into the valley was futile. At this rate it might be an even tighter turnaround than Nix had anticipated.
•
Ju-Long slammed his fist on the ship’s console, prompting a low grumble from somewhere deep beneath his feet. By now he was used to the strange sounds the ship sometimes made. Even with everything that had happened Ju-Long found it difficult to personify the ship like the others, but the unexplainable noises from within The Garuda was challenging his scientific mind.
“Did you get any of that?” Ju-Long asked Saturn.
Saturn shook her head. She was sitting in the pilot’s chair, focused on the glowing cylinder that rested in her lap. Its calm luminosity tinted her black outfit a subtle sapphire.
“Too much interference,” Ju-Long said after a moment of silence, “Did he sound a little frantic to you?”
“Hard to say with all the static,” Saturn replied absently. Finally, she looked up and said, “Give me a hand with this.”
Saturn carefully placed the memory core on the console in front of her. As Ju-Long helped her hook the device into the ship’s onboard computer, his mind kept jumping back to Nix. Was he in trouble? Did he need something? They couldn’t risk powering up the ship’s main systems. He hoped whatever Nix wanted only required low-power mode or his Dinari friend would be out of luck.
•
The Dinari’s eyes widened. Over the wind he clearly heard the familiar sound of a dual-rotor Ansaran ship. He cautioned a glance over his shoulder. Sure enough, there it was, with a cargo pallet encased in netting suspended by four metal cables beneath it. Nix cursed and quickly returned his eyes to the narrow trail before him.
He didn’t slow down when he reached the peak. The backend of his hover bike skidded against a large rock causing sparks to fly. Nix left the cliff’s edge, his mouth agape as he realized the sharpness of the drop-off. His vehicle rode out twenty meters past the edge; thirty. Off in the distance he could briefly see the curved underbelly and folded wings of The Garuda.
The ship’s copper tone blended well against the sand and rocky slopes. The cockpit’s window was sleek and curved, in contrast to some of the sharper lines along its back and wings. The Garuda was in desperate need of a thorough washing, bits of sand having become caked in some of the dodgier slabs of metal which had been used to repair the ship over the years. Its design was almost indistinguishable from the thorax of a beetle, the shape nearly the same as any number of Dinari trading vessels by intention. Hiding within that commonplace ship was the soul of a beast so frightening the very planet Nix was plummeting toward was named after it.
Nix’s eyes trailed down to the ground beneath him and he braced himself for impact. The valley floor rushed quickly toward him. Every meter closer to the ground increased the natural resistance of the hover bike’s under-plating to the minerals in the dirt. It wasn’t enough.
The bike struck the ground with such force that Nix couldn’t maintain his full grip. The underside of the bike scraped against the coarse gravel with a sound that would shake the confidence of even the heartiest of men. The horizon shifted, tilting with the bike. Nix pulled hard on the handles, leaning all of his weight against the falling bike. His knee grazed the gravel just as he regained control and curved the vehicle back toward the waiting ship.
When the hover bike was back on track he checked his leg. The ground had worn right through his roughly hewn cloth garments and bored a hole through a patch of scales, leaving his left knee bloodied. It was a minor blessing that he did not yet feel the pain.
Nix ground his sharp teeth and let out a noise that was carried away by the wind almost as fast as he produced it. The Ansaran ship was making its landing approach, dust surging in every direction and obstructing his view. Still, it was clear the cargo bay door had not yet lowered.
The Dinari mostly ignored the sand cascading toward him, only squinting his eyes and preparing himself for what he knew would be hell for hours to come. The scent of sulfur filled his nostrils. The valley was full of deposits of the unpleasant microcrystals, hidden beneath the salt domes.
Nix kept his foot held firmly against the accelerator, riding full bore into the encroaching squall. Finally, he released the pressure and braked hard. Nix was thrust toward the hand grips. He used his chest to brace against the dash and keep himself from being thrown from the vehicle. The Ansaran ship released the cables and the cargo dropped the remaining meter to the valley floor, sending out a forceful cloud of dust. Through the tempest Nix could see a Dinari pilot he didn’t recognize manning the craft. He waved with two fingers before pulling up on the joystick and leading the twin-rotor craft away from the valley.
Nix shielded his eyes with his arms and waited a few seconds for the ship to ascend to a reasonable altitude. He removed a small silver disc from an inside pocket. Its smooth, rounded edges reminded him of the rocks he’d seen littering the beaches of two great lakes, Namora and Lansom, named for the twin warrior children of Dinari myth.
He pressed on the center with one of his claws. After a short grumble, the pistons went to work and the bay door descended until it cut into the sand with a thump. Nix dismounted his hover bike and hurried to the cargo pallet. He wiped away a bit of sand that had become crusted
in the corners of the control panel and found the proper switch. He flicked it and purple light lit up the screen and escaped from beneath the cargo. In seconds it levitated half a meter off the ground.
Nix glanced to his right. The Ansaran ship had made its way up above the valley’s peak and was quickly becoming a speckle in the distance. Blue lasers lit up the yellowed sky and the craft exploded, sending up a trail of dark smoke and fragments of the ship in all directions. Three more Ansaran ships appeared on the horizon, pinpricks at first but growing closer every second.
Nix spat at the ground, clearing his mouth of sand. The fluid evaporated almost instantly even in the relatively mild morning heat.
“And now the fun begins.”
6
“What the hell was that?” Ju-Long asked frantically from the top of the ramp.
Nix gripped a rusted metal handle which sat horizontally on the long edge of the cargo container.
“We’ve got company,” Nix said in a matter—of-fact tone, then continued, “Help me with this.”
Ju-Long used one hand to block the sun from his eyes. A moment later, without a word, he ran to the opposite side of the pallet and began pushing it forward. Even with the help of the Aether lining the underbelly of the container it took their combined strength to move it up the ramp.
Nix spied Saturn approaching from the cockpit side of the cargo bay and shook his head, yelling, “Power us up and prepare to take off!”
A dazed Astrid stumbled out from the living quarters. She’d only had the wherewithal to put on Ju-Long’s white tank top, which hung down to mid-thigh over her light blue skin.
“Follow me,” Saturn ordered.
With one more rub of her eyes Astrid jogged after Saturn toward the cockpit.
“One more push,” Nix instructed Ju-Long.
They heaved the pallet up over the lip of the top of the ramp and situated it so it was clear of obstructions.
“Watch your feet,” Nix warned his companion.
“Clear.”
Nix flipped the switch and the cargo pallet descended quickly to the metal floor, the clunk echoing off the walls and generating a ringing in Nix’s ears. The Dinari slammed his fist against the square red button at the top of the ramp and the pistons went to work once more. The Cargo bay lit up with purple light and Nix could hear the engine kicking to life.
The Dinari took off toward the cockpit and Ju-Long followed without question. Nix took the pilot’s chair, slid his arm through the copper metal loop, and grabbed the control handle on the other side. The loop closed around his forearm, ready to respond to his movements with blinding speed and accuracy.
Saturn turned to Nix from the co-pilot’s chair, “Engines are hot.”
“Starboard gun is up,” Ju-Long said, bringing up his targeting scanner.
“Port lasers ready,” Astrid announced.
“Hold on,” Nix warned before jerking his forearm up.
The crew was thrust back into their seats. The Garuda’s engines roared, rumbling the grates beneath Nix’s feet. Out of the curved cockpit window twin lasers flashed past them, their azure light fading into the sunrise beyond. A warning shot.
Nix pulled hard to the right and the ship jolted violently. The handling had never been the same since their former captain’s soul had merged with the beast of legend that resided within. The Garuda was touchy, angry almost. Even after everything Nix and the ship had been through, the Corsair-Class vessel still managed to surprise him from time to time.
A forceful Ansaran voice came over the radio.
“We’ve been instructed to return you to Caretaker Zega at once. You have ten seconds to adjust course or we’ll be forced to engage. We have authorization to destroy your ship if you do not comply.”
Nix cut the feed.
“They can try.”
The three Ansaran vessels blew past them and pulled to their left in formation, buzzing the cockpit of The Garuda and leaving the crew rattled. The underside of one of the Ansaran ships came within a meter of scraping their hull.
With his left hand, Nix forced a control forward and the ship accelerated. He pulled up and brought the vessel to a few thousand meters in altitude, rising above the valley’s upper lip. In under a minute they would be over the twin lakes northeast of the colony. As good a place as any for a fight, Nix thought.
The three pursuing ships fired their weapons, half a dozen blue bursts flying past them. They fired once more and one of the blasts grazed the curved belly of their ship. Nix pulled to the right and descended down toward the closer of the two great lakes.
“Feel free to fire back any time,” Nix exclaimed.
Astrid replied, “I almost have him...there!”
She fired the port gun and Nix felt the ship recoil with the force of the volley. Nix brought up a rear exterior view on his console’s monitor. Black smoke rose from the nose of one of the rear Ansaran ships. The ship’s guidance systems must have been affected because it spun wildly down to the water below, exploding shortly after impact, the fire quickly squelched by the waves.
“One down,” Saturn said excitedly, “Don’t let up.”
There was a crash on the starboard side and Ju-Long cursed in Mandarin.
“The lead ship took out my targeting scanner.”
“There’s nothing out here,” Nix reminded him, “Just keep firing. Look out the window if you have to.”
Ju-Long pressed hard on the trigger and held it down, gritting his teeth as he did.
Nix pushed his right arm forward and the ship dove down at a steeper angle toward the water.
“I’m taking us in closer for some cover.”
Nix pulled up only when the output of their engines left an incredible upward surge of water in their wake. The Ansaran ships didn’t break off pursuit, instead opting to dive right into the maelstrom.
“Careful,” Saturn warned the crew, “It looks like they’re going to split up.”
Saturn was right. Before long the two pursuing ships veered off in opposite directions, escaping their violent wake. They each curved around, showing intent to make a strafing pass from either side of The Garuda.
Nix gripped the accelerator with his left hand and asked Saturn, “Remember that move I taught you?”
“Now? This close to the water?”
“It should work,” Nix said, eyes rolling back as he did a bit of math in his head, “Yeah, it should be fine. On my mark.”
Ju-Long chimed in, “Whoa, whoa. Should does not sound like a viable plan at this point.”
“Mark,” Nix ordered, reducing speed while Saturn extended the ship’s wings, an amalgamation of organic tissue and cold metal aching with the purple energy which flowed throughout the rest of the ship. An energy formulated by the souls of the dead.
The Garuda’s wings caught an updraft and the ship hung in the air, a little too close to the water for Nix’s comfort. The remaining Ansaran vessels blew past them, completing their inward swoop and passing by each other with lasers blazing. The blue beams crossed each other and hit the lake. Water splashed up in multiple directions, splattering the curved cockpit window and temporarily obstructed Nix’s view.
Nix gripped the accelerator control tightly in his left hand and forced it forward. The ship responded instantly, its widespread wings providing maneuverability that couldn’t be matched by the Ansaran vessels. He followed the craft that broke off their starboard bow.
“Focus all fire on the leader.”
Astrid fiddled with her targeting scanner and locked onto the ship. Ju-Long kept firing his weapon without regard to accuracy. Nix brought them in closer to the other vessel.
“I’ve got him,” Astrid said.
“Fire,” Saturn ordered.
Astrid squeezed the trigger and the port gun released a sapphire salvo. Hundreds of pellets of light shot out into the sky. The first few missed the other vessel low, but with a slight movement of his arm Nix brought the ship up and the stream cut through the shi
p with ease. In seconds the craft was ablaze and tumbling from the sky.
“Nice work,” Nix said. “Only one left.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about him,” Saturn remarked, pointing to the radar screen.
The remaining Ansaran ship broke off its pursuit and was on course for the colony. Ju-Long shoved the controls to the starboard gun aside and spat out a number of curses, some of which Nix’s translator chip had trouble deciphering.
Finally, he cracked his knuckles and said in Earth Common, “Put me in a room with any man and I’ll give him a run.”
Astrid consoled him, “Your scanner was busted, it’s not a big deal.”
“I just wanted to make something explode.”
“The way we’re going, you’ll have plenty of chances,” Nix reminded him.
Before Ju-Long could respond, the console was abuzz with the hum of the holographic emitters. An inordinately fat Dinari with ornately-decorated clothing appeared above the center of the dash. His image was colored with the same orange hue that pervaded all holo-projections in the Ansara System, rendering the brilliant multi-colored jewels that were sewn into the Dinari’s clothing pointless.
“I want my ship,” the projection bellowed, bits of whatever lizard he’d just been eating stuck between his sharpened fangs.
“Now, now, Zega,” Nix responded, “We both know she never liked you.”
“I would have given you a place in my council, Nix. But you and your...crew...have gone and mucked everything up.”
“We’ve mucked everything up?” Saturn asked incredulously and then pointed threateningly at the projection. “It’s because of your sick plot that Liam’s dead!”
“His death was unfortunate,” Zega conceded with a false note in the tone of his voice, “It was also not my fault. Death Wish is...a force of nature more than anything else. Either you get out of his way or you die.”
“I’ve heard enough,” Ju-Long said, unbuckling himself from his seat and striding up to the console. “If you want this ship you’ll have to send more than three of your lackeys.”
The Lost Corsair (The Corsair Uprising Space Opera Series Book 4) Page 3
