I had a feeling things were going to go downhill rather quickly. I reached out and grabbed the Zaen’s hand and started shaking it before he changed his mind. I thought he was going to faint.
“I accept your bargain, but you must understand when I pay you in advance there will be no backing out or delays. You have five work cycles to deliver the suits to the location I will upload to you along with the specifications for the suits. If you do not complete the deal, I will be forced to do some very, very bad things if I have to come looking for you.”
The Zaen was shaking his head up and down rapidly and tried to free his hand. Pulling the Zaen closer I told him in a low voice, “For the inconvenience of delivering the suits I will present you with two rolls of artifact 699 along with two controllers at the time of delivery. Here is my credit voucher.” The Zaen’s coal black eyes were now large circles and his mouth was hanging open. To my surprise he took my card and pressed it against a device on his belt. I saw that it registered four hundred and eighty million credits then he gave it back to me.
As we walked away, I stopped and turned back to them. “It would be to your advantage to keep this transaction as discreet as possible. In exchange for your discretion you will be rewarded with future opportunities for much greater profits.”
Klutch and I started heading for the lift cars. I could see Tria standing by the doors ready to secure a car for us. We had almost made it when one of the lifts to our left opened and ten armed Murlak wearing body armor come piling out. They were coming right at us. Reaching out I grabbed onto Klutch’s armor and forcefully pulled him with me as I started moving sideways. Two of the Murlak in the front of the pack opened fire without warning. There were several loud hissing pops as noncombatants between our groups started taking hits and going down. The Murlak had beam rifles that emitted no light. When they hit the hapless interlopers between our groups, there was a bright flash accompanied by a loud bang. The victims were blown to the floor or in some cases to pieces.
I heard Tria’s shotgun open up into their flanks and then the loud cracking report of Bill’s .44. Letting go of Klutch’s armor I ran forward and dove into a vendor’s booth. Klutch’s mass knocked the whole thing down when he tried to vault the small counter. I felt a blast just above us and saw flames spreading over an advertising monitor. The remains of the booth and those near us were being shot to crap. I jerked my shotgun up but there was way too many aliens running between us and the shooters. It obviously did not matter to the Murlak they kept gunning down innocent bystanders. I could still hear Tria’s shotgun making slow selective shots followed by the .44. It was total chaos. The din of screaming aliens was deafening.
“KLUTCH WE GOTTA MOVE!”
“WHENEVER YOU’RE, READY COMMANDER!”
We rolled out of the burning debris from the booth and were still taking fire from the direction of the elevators. Klutch reluctantly followed as I headed back the way we came in hopes of keeping the murderous bastards shooting in opposite directions. The shooting gallery that was previously full of moving targets was now littered with the dead or dying. There was several Murlak down and not moving in front of the elevators. I had not heard any fire from Tria or Coonts and was starting to worry they had been hit or possibly worse. I saw a Murlak hiding behind a low wall looking back to where Tria and Coonts had engaged them. I pulled the big ten gauge around and was going to light him up when a bright flash from my right impacted the skulking coward blowing most of the Murlak across the low wall. I jerked my head around to look at Klutch. He had both of his pistols out and searching for more targets.
In my panic I failed to call out a red alert. Justice knew exactly what was happening and came over our comms.
“Commander, be advised that I am presently in close proximity of the outpost and am ready for emergency recovery operations on your orders.”
“Roger Justice! I want you to shoot down the antenna farms off both ends of the outpost and knock a few of the solar arrays down for good measure! Let’s make them aware I have backup!”
I felt a vibration run through the station and several of the big adverting screens went to distorted interference. I felt an even bigger thump and heard a faint rumbling noise. All the screens went blank and the overhead lighting started flickering. The strobe effect was disorienting as we took off running in the direction of Tria and Coonts’s last known position.
“Tria! Have you got a copy?”
“Yes Commander, we are not injured but we have three hostiles close to our position and are unable to move.”
“Roger that, we are moving to your position, can you mark their location?”
I heard the boom of the bull pup shotgun and an explosion of bright sparks on some kind of large planter box. Then I saw a Murlak lean around the edge getting ready to return fire. I took a knee and fired three quick rounds into him. The bright flashes highlighted several downed victims of the indiscriminate fire from the Murlaks. I was rewarded with a loud wailing coming from the area of the planter so I fired twice more giving me the silence I was shooting for. I started reloading as fast as I could. I was bodily picked up from behind as Klutch started yelling at me.
“Commander we must keep moving, it is unwise to be a stationary target!”
The Troop Master’s sense of urgency did not go unheeded. “Let’s get to Coonts and Tria and get out of here. Justice is ready to pull us off the station.”
With Klutch in the lead we headed towards Tria and Coonts’s position. It was surprising how fast a Tibor could get his stumpy legs moving when he needed to. I saw movement very close to my right and swung the ten around only to pull up short as I recognized the two Zaen freelancers.
They put their hands up in a gesture that brought back memories of Earth television shows from my childhood. Klutch had both of his weapons pointed in their faces. The Zaens were frantic. “DO NOT SHOOT! We swear on the dens of our birth we raised no alarms. We will fulfill our commitment to you, but you must help us escape! If Eiger finds we have dealt with you, we will be killed!”
The return fire had stopped but there was aliens running everywhere. It would be hard to determine who was hostile, and who was not.
“Do you have a ship docked here?”
The panicked alien’s coal black eyes were the size of saucers and he hastily replied, “Yes, on this level not far from here!”
The Tibor was shielding me with his body and had his weapons up and ready. “Klutch, you stay with the Zaens and I’ll go get Tria and Coonts.”
Tria came up on our comms. “No need Commander we are almost to your location. I see no hostile movement!”
I saw the lithe form of Tria bent over and weaving in and out of cover with Coonts right behind her holding Bill’s pistol straight up in the air over his helmet. Apparently, I had a lot more dumb luck than I gave myself credit for. No one was injured so far, thanks to Coonts’s armor.
“Justice, how are things on the outside going?”
“Commander there is currently a mass exodus from the outpost. I have no incoming traffic at this time. Be advised there is a small amount of atmospheric leakage due to the destruction of the communication arrays at the poles of the outpost.”
“Roger that, keep me posted.”
I broadcast my intentions. “We’re going to escort the Zaens to their shuttle it’s parked on this level. Klutch and I will be up front with the Zaens in the middle guiding us. Coonts and Tria you two bring up the rear. Let’s go!”
The Zaens looked ill and started pleading with me, “You must let us lead! The scent of your bodyguard will most certainly incapacitate us. We will not be able to endure it much longer!”
I knew the Tibor’s scent could be foul, but would not let it slow me down if I was being shot at. “Fine, but we got to get moving. Sorry Klutch I know it’s not your thing to follow but I need you to protect our flank.”
I was willing to bet Klutch had never done such a thing in his life. He was doing it now because I aske
d him to. I would never doubt his allegiance to me ever again. He headed to the rear giving the Zaens a deadly stare. The roiling of their scales tripled, and they both started retching on to the floor. I grabbed them and pushed them into the lead as we started heading for one of the big clear tubes that led to the docking arms. We ran down the tube to the third dock. The place was deserted. The Zaen’s ship looked like a large white culvert pipe with no windows or doors I could see. The two ran through the airlock to their ship. In less than a minute they were gone. We started hauling ass towards the market area once more.
“Justice, can you log some kind of identifier on the Zaen’s ship?”
“Already done Commander, There are currently only thirteen spacecraft at the outpost including your shuttles. I have no incoming traffic at this time.”
I was going to declare a free fire zone when I heard a voice hailing us to surrender. Surely these idiots knew better than that. Tibor don’t surrender! I felt the thumping footsteps of Klutch as he went sailing past me with both pistols up and ready. I would have to let Coonts know his foresight in giving us the option to shut down our olfactory senses was in fact brilliant.
21
“Listen up! The civilians are dead or gone. If you see someone with a weapon shoot them. I don’t want casualties before we get out of here!”
Tria came back with a quick reply. “Commander, I recommend we take the large stairway to our far left as we exit the dock tube. We do not want to be trapped in the lifts!”
Justice commed me and he sounded urgent. “Commander, I am picking up activation signals and responses from mechanized security units on your level. I now have three active units in search mode. Commander those security units are armed with heavy weapons and are highly dangerous! You must find defensible cover immediately!”
“EVERYBODY STOP! We got security bots with heavy weapons coming our way! Let’s go back into the docking tube and take up firing positions in the entrance. They’ll have to come down the tube to get to us. That means you too Klutch, let’s go before they catch us!”
We started leap frogging back down the tube trying to put distance between us and the market area. I looked over my shoulder to see where Klutch was. The big Tibor was casually walking backwards with his weapons pointed out the tube. I knew this had to be killing him but I was sure he would not disobey my orders.
“KLUTCH, YOU ARE NOT RETREATING! You are verifying your appendages can operate in all directions. You need to pick up the pace!”
I was going to get pissy with him because he was the only one not in cover. He suddenly opened up with both weapons sending flash bulb like shots out the tube. I looked at where he was shooting and saw a refrigerator sized machine with several bright orange spots glowing on its front panel. Then I heard something that sounded like thick material being ripped then saw a yellow flash on Klutch’s breast plate that knocked him flat. We opened up with everything we had on the bot. My shotgun rounds barely slowed its progress as it started coming down the tube. I let the shotgun drop on its sling and drew the Tibor weapons and let fly shots to the tube weapons sticking out of its front. Our withering return fire was impacting the frontal armor of the bot. One of us got lucky and something exploded on the bot dropping its smoking hulk to the tube floor.
I was frantic at the thought of losing one of my crewmates. “KLUTCH! HOW BAD ARE YOU HURT?”
I was getting nothing from him so I made the stupid choice of running over to him. Something grabbed my cape and threw me into the tube wall. I felt numb, and I tingled all over. I had a loud ringing in my auditory pickups and my vision was blurry but quickly returning. I could see return fire flashes from Coonts and Tria brightly illuminating the tube. I could make out my weapons just out of my reach against one of the airlock doors. I rolled in that direction getting out of the direct fire of the bots. The machines were content to stand out in the market area and pound the hell out of the dock area around us. There were sirens announcing the atmosphere was going bye, bye.
I saw a little movement from Klutch and a wave of relief swept over me. He suddenly grabbed his weapons and rolled into cover. I half expected to see him charge the security bots. That’s it Klutch sideways is not backwards. I leaned out enough to see Tria’s helmet bob out in my direction and back quickly followed by explosions wrecking the tube walls. I caught sight of one of the bots moving closer to the entrance to the tube and peeked around with my weapon and squeezed off six rounds before it overheated and quit. I must have hit one of the rounds it was going to send at me because there was a large explosion just in front of it that knocked it on its side. The bot continued shooting into the tube wall directly in front of where it was laying. It finally opened up the tube with a sizable hole that created a loud shrieking as atmosphere started violently venting to the vacuum of space.
The sirens reached an even louder pitch and started a warbling whoop that was competing with the shrieking of the atmosphere being liberated into the void. I heard one of my team open back up with the Tibor pistols so I stole a glance up the tube and saw another security bot coming our way. I slid up the wall and got to my feet. I peeked around the corner and put several rounds onto the front of the bot. It continued to stalk back and forth out in the market area. The moronic bot on the floor was being sucked to the hole it created in the side of the tube. It occasionally fired a round or two point blank through the hole and I could see them hit the corner of one of the docking platforms on the docking arm. There was a huge volume of air on the station so I didn’t think we would have any issues with that problem yet. Our suits were self-contained but had a very limited capacity to sustain us for any length of time. We needed to get to the shuttles and back to the Legacy.
I got on the comms. “Listen up! I’m going to draw the bot’s fire and see if I can get it to move into the open or come down the tube. I want everybody to hold fire until we can hit it at the same time. I’ll give the signal to fire. Don’t stop shooting until your weapons overheat or the bot goes down!”
I got acknowledgements from everyone. I reached back and pulled my cape off and was stunned to see most of one side was gone. There was a good chance it saved my life. I removed the remaining shotgun explosive shells and stuffed them in my leg pockets. I then balled up what was left of the cape and prepared to execute my plan. My pistol was still dull orange on the projector and would only be good for a couple of shots before I would have to switch to the shotgun again. I took the wadded up cape and quickly waved it a couple of times at arm’s length. My actions netted me several rounds that exploded on the wall just past my position. I threw the cape across the tube and it landed just short of the airlock across from me. I watched as it was blown down the walkway by a barrage of heavy fire as the bot came barreling down the tube.
“FIRE!”
We all leaned out far enough to engage the security bot. It was almost to Tria’s position as it took at least twenty rounds directly into its cannons and frontal armor, sending it crashing to the floor.
“Justice, are you reading any active bots on our level!”
“Negative Commander! There are no active machine or life signs beyond your position. I read sixteen biologicals on the level above you and no readings of machine interaction at this time.”
“We’re moving to the stairs keep me informed if something changes.”
I ran to Klutch’s position and was shocked to see the softball sized crater the round had made when it failed to penetrate his breastplate. Tria and Coonts came to where we were standing. Everyone’s weapons were glowing brightly on the projectors but we did not have time to let them cool. We needed to get the shuttles out of the docking tunnels.
I started giving orders. “When we get to the steps Klutch and I will lead. Once we’re out of the stairwell Tria, you and Coonts lead us to the transport and Klutch and I will bring up the rear. We’ll try to make it to the dock without stopping unless we come under fire. Let’s move out!
We took off at a brisk p
ace and made the stairwell then started up the stairs being cautious of anyone who might shoot at us from above. As we neared the top I peeked over and saw movement by the elevators and let loose two rounds that exploded on one of the monitors facing the lifts. I stepped back down and held a finger up to Klutch and then turned to Tria and Coonts and held up my shotgun and pointed it up the stairs. They both nodded to me and pulled out their Earth weapons. I nodded again and waved the barrel of my shotgun back and forth and I got two acknowledgements. I reloaded and stepped to where I could shoot over the top step. I made a shoot low sign to them and brought my gun up and we started spreading the love of all things deadly to anyone and everything. Coonts and I ran dry about the same time and headed back down as I gave Klutch the nod for cleanup. We started reloading as Tria finally ran dry and came back down to reload. Klutch stood peeking over the top waiting to see if anyone would try to charge us while we were reloading. He did not have to wait long as a group of about six or seven encouraged by the lull in our fire came charging out of one of the elevator cars. These guys had to be the third string. The taller Murlak at the rear of the group let the guys in front take one for the team while they waited to get closer. Only the four morons leading the charge could shoot at us and we were mildly surprised they had not shot each other yet. The back wall behind us started taking random potshots from the leaders of the pack. Klutch let them get a little closer and moved up a step and cut them all down with deadly accurate return fire from both of his pistols.
Tria and I charged out of the stairwell with Coonts and Klutch coming out behind us. Klutch and I lagged until Tria and Coonts headed for the docking tube and we turned to follow. I saw a shadow in one of the lift cars and put a couple of rounds into it then turned back in the direction of the others. Klutch and I ran to catch up to Tria and Coonts while I reloaded on the run.
First of my Kind Page 27
