“It’s not the only one,” Tabby said, pointing to a second hatchery, identical to the first in all but one important detail: the shells were empty, their walls cracked, lying on the ground. “What’s the incubation period?”
“One month,” I said. “Someone’s building an army.”
Chapter 28
Out of the Frying Pan
“Down, down!” Tabby leaned against a jagged, volcanic rock formation, where she stood in shadow.
I was wide open, having just placed the final sensor high on the mountain’s ridge. If something was looking for us, there were two things that would give us away: a silhouette standing above everything else and movement. I was too far away to join Tabby so I jumped off the ridge onto what I thought was a hard-packed slope. I was wrong. As soon as my boots touched the first rock, I started a chain reaction that ended in a landslide. Dust billowed up as I slid with the scree and scrabbled for purchase. Unable to arrest my movement, I lit my arc-jets and moved to the side, down the slope, finally finding cover.
“Subtle,” Tabby quipped, once the majority of the landslide had stilled.
“What’d you see?” I asked, zooming out my sensor display.
Fifty kilometers to the southwest, a small ship approached at three hundred meters per second. It could be no coincidence that it was headed directly at us.
“Ada, we might have company soon,” I called over the tactical channel.
“Copy, Liam. We’re tracking it,” Ada replied. With the final passive sensor in place, Intrepid had a better view than we did. “It appears they caught your tumble and adjusted their original course. There’s a second ship breaking orbit. You need to hurry.”
“Negative, Ada,” I said. “Intrepid isn’t exposed. It’s just me. I’m going to lead them off.”
“Cap,” Marny cut in. “Don’t do it. First ship will be on you in three minutes. You need to get back here to cover.”
I jumped from my hiding place and landed on the scree slope that led into the valley where the Kroerak ship sat some ten kilometers away. At max speed, I could reach the cruiser in a little over six minutes.
“Tabby, stay put,” I said. “I’m going to lead them to the Kroerak. Once we’re clear, you head back to the ship.”
“Frak that,” she said.
Running down a scree slope in .6g with a Popeye turns out to be not that big of a deal. The Popeye’s AI adjusts to all types of terrain and takes most of the work out of staying upright. On my tactical display, I chinned up a visual of the approaching craft. Fifteen meters long with swept-back wings, it looked like a big steel bird, hungry to snatch me up in its talons.
“Tabbs, what happened to running the play” I asked. She’d broken cover and was slowly catching up with me.
“Isn’t a game, Love,” she said. “And you’re crazy. What part of running at the giant ship filled with angry, people-eating bugs makes sense to you?”
“We need time to repair Intrepid,” I said. “What’s another option?”
“Company,” Tabby announced.
A stream of adolescent and hatchling Kroerak poured from beneath the grounded cruiser and made their way directly at us. Any other time, I might not be that concerned, but with two enemy ships coming our way, we couldn’t afford to be slowed down.
“First ship will be on us in sixty seconds,” Tabby said.
I slid to a stop and switched my weapon to fully automatic. “Defensive position, Tabbs,” Taking a knee for stability, I lined up on the vessel's path and started firing. In the thin atmosphere of Kameldeep, our weapons easily had the necessary range to reach it. Unfortunately, what was good for us, was also good for our enemy. We fired for no more than five seconds when a tell-tale on my HUD warned of an incoming missile.
“Incoming!” Tabby exclaimed before I could.
The two of us leapt from our positions, fueled by adrenaline, gravity and arc-jets. We made it roughly ten meters before the explosive blast of whatever ordnance had been shot at us sent us tumbling ass-over-teakettle to the bottom of the hill.
Tabby recovered more quickly than I did and fired a few rounds at the ship as it banked hard, obviously looking for a second run at us.
“How many rocks you think that guy has?” I asked.
“Carrying three more, Cap.” Marny’s answer surprised me. It was easy to believe we were on our own out here, but as long as we were within line-of-sight of the sensors, Intrepid’s crew had a front-row seat.
“Can you get a damage report?”
“On the ship? Negative, Cap. We’re not tracking any damage to the enemy,” she said.
The tactical AI predicted the arrival of the first wave of hatchlings and adolescents in forty-five seconds. Belvakuski’s scout would be around on us in half that.
“Stand and deliver,” I ordered in a desperate move. Once the wave of bugs crested on us, we’d lose most of our mobility and the flying vessel would have no difficulty taking us out.
“Copy,” Tabby said.
We both turned and locked in on the ship as it flew at us. It had slowed, obviously preferring to spend more time with guns in range than to keep making passes. Blaster rounds exploded on the ground around us and were deflected by my suit’s armor. I switched my weapon to explosive rounds and laid into the bird with full auto.
“Rocks away!” Marny warned.
Tabby leapt but I held tight and prayed my suit could take the near miss my AI predicted. It would hurt at an epic level, but our backs were pinned to the wall. The extra seconds of fire paid off and a contrail of smoke spewed from the back of the ship just before I was blown back up the mountain. I struggled to remain conscious.
The ship diverted, making a low pass in my direction. Pinpricks along my back alerted me to the injection of combat stimulants and pain killers. I refused to look at my bios, knowing that something bad must have happened for the suit to respond that way.
Like my plan to stand-and-deliver, the pilot’s decision to follow his kill was equally poor. I raised my weapon to fire and realized I no longer held a weapon. This was bad, as the weapons are integrated with the suit’s armor. Tabby, however, bore no injury and with the benefit of easier targeting, stitched a line of explosive rounds through the plane’s starboard wing. I felt an odd sense of symmetry watching the wing detach and fall away. Bemused, I followed the plane’s progress as it augured into the side of the mountain and exploded brilliantly.
“Cap, your bios are showing trauma to your left arm,” Marny said.
“Copy that. We’re going to pretend that didn’t happen for the moment. I’m on go-go juice, I’ll deal with it later,” I said and chinned the painkillers and stimulants a few more times.
I plucked the multipurpose tool from my suit. Frak guns. I didn’t need that shite for bugs. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew the imperious, devil-may-care feeling caused by combat drugs was a bad thing - but seriously, that was the point of having them! If the shite’s hit the fan, what’s wrong with a little bravado?
“Liam!” Tabby said. “We gotta get back to Intrepid.”
“Marny, how far out is that second ship?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Any chance they’re not tracking us?”
“None at all. Our sensors are showing that Belvakuski is moving her fleet into position in geosync. They can easily track movement on the ground.”
“Plan hasn’t changed, Tabbs,” I said, bounding back down the hill. I wasn’t sure why these combat drugs were illegal in most markets. I felt like a billion credits.
I braced as the first of the bugs finally made it past Tabby’s onslaught. I couldn’t fathom how the little bugs couldn’t see their brothers and sisters having the life sucked out of them by her armor piercing bullets. They just kept coming. Compelled to skitter over the corpses of their – family? Brood? Clutch?
My multipurpose tool sang as it sliced through the air, bashing in one crunchy little proboscis or thorax after another. I reveled in the mess I
was making as I flung bug guts across the rocky plane. I must have been ignoring the tactical channel or screaming into the microphone because suddenly, a heavy, armored glove appeared and stopped my swinging.
Tabby’s face appeared in front of my faceplate. I could make out the words she was saying, but I kind of didn’t care.
“Medical override. Counteract stimulants and painkillers. Hoffen is tripping out, you daffy AI.”
She was such a warrior. Always so serious. I wasn’t sure what she was so worked up about.
She pulled me along, not letting go of my right hand, which still held my multipurpose tool. After a minute, reality set in — my left-hand was on fire.
“What the frak?” I exclaimed. My stomach felt like I’d eaten too many sweets and I might throw up.
“You back with me?” Tabby asked.
“Yeah, sorry. Might have overdone things.”
“Look forward to replaying the data-stream,” Tabby said. “You have some dark shite in that head of yours, Hoffen.”
I still had fleeting images of me spinning through a pile of bugs, cutting them apart.
“How’s your ammo?” I asked.
“Ten percent.”
“I’m at forty-two,” I said. “We’ll need to transfer some, I won’t be needing any more this trip.”
“Your arm is messed up.”
“Yeah, let’s put a pin in that for now.”
The ground shook as we closed in on the Kroerak ship and eight, fully grown warriors jumped down and raced to our position, three of them dropping as Tabby drew down on them and sprayed armor piercing rounds.
“I’m almost out,” Tabby said.
The Kroerak cruiser started to lift and a new problem presented itself. My entire plan had been to take cover in the shadow of a ship no Pogona would ever get near. Now, that ship - and our cover - was trying to leave. If it did, we’d be left in the open. Knocking down a small, atmospheric scout ship had been one thing. An armored ship at the end of the valley would be another thing entirely.
Killing a hatchling or adolescent with a hammer isn’t really that hard. Sure, they have a crusty exterior, but the Popeye’s power is sufficient to crack that like an egg. Warriors were doable, but it required more finesse and several more tries.
I met the first warrior in the group head-on. My hammer dazed it, but couldn’t break through. I cursed the lack of a functional second hand. I needed to wield the tool as a long sword, but that required two hands to both extend and brace it.
A second warrior rushed past its stunned brood mate and attacked, clamping pincers onto my suit. I’d had plenty of experience with bugs in tight quarters and knew the bug wouldn’t immediately break through. What I hadn’t counted on was the bug taking an interest in my wounded hand.
I screamed as a pincer grabbed hold and crushed whatever flesh had been exposed and later covered with nothing quite so hard as armor. A small prick in my back warned me of additional combat meds being injected and a wave of relief coursed through my body. I would not, however, ask for more. I needed a clear head.
Over the warrior’s shoulder, the Kroerak cruiser continued its ascent. The broad irregular disc shape shook as the portion of hull buried under Kameldeep’s surface was pulled from the earth.
Frantically, I punched the bug away from me and smashed the hammer into the side of its head, just above the thorax. Still no good. That is until the point of Tabby’s multipurpose tool skewered it.
“We gotta go!” I screamed, racing toward the only portion of the huge vessel that was relatively close to the ground.
With arc-jet assist, I leapt and buried the pick side of the hammer into the surface of the hull. Tabby landed next to me. It was there we remained, attached like barnacles on an old wooden schooner, while the Kroerak cruiser lifted into space.
“Cap, get off! We can’t come after you,” Marny called.
“Do your repairs, Marny,” I said. “Then get Intrepid out of here. Tabby and I are dead if we stay in that valley.”
“You can’t survive on the outside of that ship, Cap. We’ll bring Intrepid over and provide protection,” she said, pleading.
“That was an order, Marny,” I said. “You and Ada have to take care of the crew.”
“Damn it, Cap.”
A million ideas, each one worse than the last floated through my head as we slowly lifted out of the atmosphere. I wasn’t in the best position, but apparently, I’d buried the hammer deeply enough that I would stay attached. That and a small gravitational pull toward the ship helped hold us on.
One option would be to halo drop from the ship. If Belvakuski weren’t looking for us and wasn’t tracking the Kroerak ship, it would work. Of course, she was doing both of those things. We finally caught a break when we freed from Kameldeep’s gravitational pull and were able to walk upright on the cruiser’s crusty surface.
I’d never been this close to a Kroerak ship and found its armor to be unlike anything we’d previously seen. The skin was rough, almost like cement that had been poured. I knew from experience that rockets could chip away at the hard surface, but they never seemed to fully break through, as the layers just got harder.
The next idea to present itself was an attempt at entering through myriad rows of weapons ports. While some of the ports were indeed empty, the lances they launched were five to ten centimeters across, not allowing for any type of entry. Tabby, having vamped ordnance from my pack, tossed a grenade down a couple of the open shafts without significant results.
“Hoffen, is that you crawling on the skin of that bug ship?” Belvakuski asked. I’d ignored the hail, but she’d transmitted anyway. “What are you up to?”
It was just then a hatch, previously hidden in the rocky skin swiveled open. It could be a trap, but then, there was nothing to be gained by staying outside.
Chapter 29
We Will Rock You
The passage we entered was ten meters long — too narrow for us to turn easily and too short for us to stand completely upright in the mech suits. The AI, recognizing our predicament, activated what I can best describe as hunch-mode, which further limited our mobility but allowed us to move forward.
“Are you crazy, Hoffen?” Tabby asked. “This is a trap! It’s frakked up on so many levels.”
Tabby still stood outside the ship, peering in. She wasn’t particularly fond of enclosed spaces.
“Stay out there. I’ll see if there’s another door.”
“Frak that. I’m not getting stuck out here.” I smiled. Like I said, she wasn’t overly fond of enclosed spaces, but it turns out she’s a lot less fond of being cut off.
Tabby had no sooner hunched and waddled into the hallway when the outside door slid back into place. Turning in alarm, she fired what seemed like a hundred rounds into the hatch — to no avail. While she fired, the atmospheric pressure in the small passage rose until it was fifty-six kPA or about half what most air-breathers needed. The makeup of the gas that filled the chamber was a Freon 12, oxygen mixture and entirely consumable by humans.
“Hoffen.” Tabby’s voice held warning. She didn’t like our predicament.
“This is an airlock. Lower the gun, I’m taking ricochets,” I said.
“This is frakked up beyond your normal, Hoffen,” she said.
I turned and worked my way back to her, placing my helmet’s face shield against her own so she could see me. “We’re alive, Tabbs. It’s been touch-and-go, but we survived like we always do. Hold it together.”
“But your arm,” she said. Her eyes showed fear. I wasn’t used to seeing that from her. Something about my injury and being trapped must have dredged up memories of her own brush with death when the Naval ship she’d been assigned to was destroyed.
“Not the first injury for either of us. We’ll get through this if we keep our heads. You with me?”
“I’m trying.”
“Good,” I said. The pressure in the room changed and I turned back to find that a new door h
ad opened. “I need you to trust me. Turn off your lamps. We’re drawing too much attention.”
“We’ll be blind. I’m not going in there blind, Hoffen.” Her voice sounded like it belonged to a much younger version of herself — higher and less confident than I was used to.
“Trust me one more time.”
She held her breath and closed her eyes. A moment later her suit lamps dimmed and then went out. Together we stood, face to face, unmoving. I wondered how much attention the racket she’d made while firing in the small chamber had garnered.
A bright green glow flooded the chamber. I pulled away from Tabby and worked my way to the end of the passage. Whatever I’d been expecting, the sight I beheld wasn’t even close. I stood at the edge of a precipice on a three-meter-wide shelf at the end of the airlock. Ahead was a giant spherical cavity that took up sixty percent of the volume of the ship. Dead in the center, a twenty-meter-wide, sixty-meter-tall column joined the ceiling to the floor.
Bright bioluminescent veins wrapped the entirety of the massive cavity, their shape resembling a vascular pattern more than something engineered. Kneeling at the edge of the platform, I brushed my armored hand across plant growth that filled in the spaces between the glowing lines. A broad yellow-petaled flower closed hastily when it came in contact with the metal of my suit. When I turned my glove over to inspect it, moisture beaded before dripping off.
“Freeze, Hoffen,” Tabby warned.
I checked my HUD. She’d tagged a massive, two-meter-tall spider crawling down the wall five meters above us, its thorax gently brushing over the plant life. My AI picked up on my interest and highlighted several hundred more spiders crawling all over the interior.
“Back,” I said, slowly moving away from the opening.
We held our breath as the spider ambled its way over the lip of the platform and approached. I couldn’t blame Tabby when she fired, although I wasn’t as sure as she was that it meant to harm us. Apparently, multiple beady eyes scattered across its head and a snapping beak the size of my gloved hand was enough for her. She fired sixty rounds into its swollen abdomen, breaking it open and spilling life juices onto the platform.
Corsair Menace (Privateer Tales Book 12) Page 34
