Star Scavenger: The Complete Series Books 1-5

by G J Ogden

  Before the drones had realized what was happening, Morphus had sliced through two of the spider-like machines like a flying sword. It then morphed the blade-like weapons back into arms, and landed, cat-like, on the hull of the Revocater. The remaining seed drones immediately reacted, halting their efforts to cut through the hull, and instead rounding on Morphus.

  “Hey, Buffalo Bill, this is your cue!” said Liberty, thumping Tobin on the shoulder.

  But Tobin just stared back at her, confused. “Buffalo who?”

  “Just start shooting!” cried Liberty, throwing her tonfa-wielding hands into the air.

  Tobin jolted into action, aiming the pistol out through the opening. “This is never going to work!” he said, as Morphus fought the first seed drone. The alien remained in human form, but seemed to shift and re-shape itself to dodge and deflect the javelin-like prongs of the seed drones.

  Tobin fired, but instead of a bullet, the pistol released a narrow column of energy. It flew out towards the Revocater and slammed into its hull, a few meters behind the nearest seed drone.

  “Shit!” Tobin swore, as two of the drones spun around and broke off from the group. They appeared to be scanning the walls and walkways, looking for whoever had fired the shot.

  “Try again!” cried Liberty. “Just focus on the one you want to hit, and do as Morphus said. Trust yourself, like you did on Chrome One!”

  The two seed drones stopped scanning, and their arrow-shaped body sections seemed to be aimed directly at where Liberty and Tobin were hiding. “Now would be a good time!” urged Liberty, as the drones started scurrying towards them.

  Tobin took a deep breath, aimed and fired. A bolt soared out ahead, but this time it landed squarely in the center of an approaching drone, burning a deep trough into its black armor. The seed drone collapsed, its legs falling out from under it. However, the second had already moved beyond Tobin’s firing arc, beneath the many levels of balconies that surrounded the hangar.

  “Keep firing at the ones attacking Morphus!” shouted Liberty, stepping outside onto the wide walkway.

  “Where are you going?” replied Tobin, firing again and taking out another seed drone that was trying to get behind Morphus.

  “To get ready for the one you missed!” Liberty called out, spinning the strange alien tonfas into a ready position.

  The view of the Revocater from the walkway was even more breathtaking, and she wondered how such a titanic vessel could possibly get into orbit. However, her attention was soon drawn to the continuing fight between Morphus and the drones. More of the machines had appeared now, scurrying along walkways at lower levels, before leaping onto the hull of the Revocater. Tobin fired again, and an energy bolt raced out, crippling the drone closest to Morphus.

  “Keep it up!” Liberty called back, but then the scythe-like legs of a spider drone appeared over the barrier, and dug into the walkway. Liberty sucked in deep lungfuls of the cool air, and watched as the machine hauled itself onto the balcony, and twisted its arrow-like body to face her.

  The machine advanced cautiously towards Liberty, but then stopped as another bolt of energy raced out from Tobin’s pistol, destroying a drone on the Revocater. The seed drone instantly turned towards the opening, seeming to spot Tobin as he leant out and aimed again.

  “Oh no you don’t, you alien bastard,” Liberty shouted, before she advanced towards the seed drone. If it wanted to get at Tobin, it would have to go through her first.

  The spider-like machine had greater reach, and it attacked first, lashing out at Liberty with one of its legs. She reacted quickly and blocked the attack, half expecting the force of the strike to bowl her over. Remarkably, instead the tonfa repelled the drone’s metal leg, as if it had rebounded off a rubber wall. Liberty glanced at the weapons in her hands in disbelief, noticing that they were now glowing, like her skin.

  The drone attacked again, and Liberty blocked with the same result. However, this time she was alert enough to dart forward, and follow up with a counter-attack. Liberty swung one of the tonfas in an arc, attempting to strike the drone’s central mass. The machine stepped back out of range, but instead of slashing empty air, a column of energy extended from the long end of the tonfa, and lashed across the drone’s hull like a whip. The drone wavered on its spindly legs, and Liberty saw that there was a deep gash melted into its triangular body.

  This time Liberty didn’t stop to question the weapon’s unusual capabilities. She attacked low, and swept the drone’s legs from under it, sending the machine crashing to the deck. She then followed with a punch, and again a blast of energy accompanied the blow. The blast bored a neat circular hole all the way through the drone’s body, even melting through the walkway below it.

  Liberty stepped away from the smoldering mass, and again looked at her weapons in astonishment. Then she noticed that Tobin had stopped firing, and turned to check on him, her pulse racing higher. Tobin was leaning out of the opening, staring at Liberty with a look that was part amazement, part terror.

  “That was insane!” Tobin shouted, as if he were watching some sort of extreme sport.

  “Stop looking at me and keep shooting, damn it!” Liberty yelled back, observing that Morphus had just been knocked down. Three drones had surrounded it, and Liberty could see another three, working their way around the walkway towards them.

  “Shit! We’re going to have more visitors!” cried Liberty, rushing back inside the viewing gallery, as Tobin picked off one of the drones surrounding Morphus. Another two drones had landed on the Revocater, and had resumed cutting into the hull. “Take out those ones,” said Liberty, pointing to the new arrivals. “We can’t let them get inside the Revocater. Morphus can handle the others.” Tobin nodded, and took aim, while Liberty added, “At least, I hope it can…” However, it was said so quietly that Tobin didn’t hear her.

  Suddenly two drones smashed through the glass at the far end of the viewing gallery. Liberty took up position between the drones and Tobin, remembering Morphus’ instruction to defend him. “I wonder what the range is on these things?” she mused to herself, as the drones clambered inside.

  Liberty focused on the closest drone, which was still twenty meters away, and executed a double thrust towards it with the tonfas. Two bolts of energy shot from the ends of the weapons like arrows and bored into the drone’s hull. Liberty smiled, but then another two machines clambered through the opening. Morphus’ words about not being a hero came to mind. “We need to fall back,” she called over to Tobin. “I can’t take out all of them!”

  Tobin fired again, destroying another drone, then swore. “Shit, one of them has started cutting into the hull, I have to get it first!”

  “Make it fast!” Liberty called back, as the three seed drones inside the viewing gallery clustered together. They appeared more reticent about advancing on Liberty, after witnessing the brutal destruction of the first drone. However, as Morphus had alluded to earlier, their actions denoted a more animalistic intelligence than a sentient one. They were like pack predators, cautiously weighing up whether they could take down a larger prey.

  “Hurry!” Liberty urged again, as one of the drones finally began to advance. Liberty rushed out to meet it, swinging the tonfas at its base, before it was within striking distance. Again, a whip-like column of energy lashed out, swiping the machine’s legs out from under it. It toppled to the floor and skidded towards Liberty, but before she could get out of its path, the drone thrust a metal limb at her, striking her in the chest.

  “Got it!” Tobin shouted excitedly, but then he turned to see Liberty reeling backwards and falling flat on her back. He fired a snapshot at the drone, putting it down for good, but now the other two were also advancing fast. It was like they had tasted the scent of blood, and were moving in for the kill.

  Tobin rushed towards Liberty and fired again, winging one of the drones, but still it came forward. He then hooked his hands underneath Liberty’s arms and hauled her back towards the room th
at Morphus had opened for them. Liberty groaned, and half-heartedly punched a tonfa towards their attackers. Another arrow-like bolt shot out, taking out a leg of one of the drones, but it was not enough to destroy it, and merely delayed its relentless advance.

  Tobin hauled Liberty over the threshold of the door and let her shoulders fall, before firing again. The bolt of energy struck the closest drone squarely in its center of mass, sending it down. Yet one still remained, and another had just entered at the far side of the gallery.

  Liberty groaned and pushed herself upright as Tobin hit a panel on the wall, causing thick double doors to slam shut.

  “I don’t know how to lock it!” Tobin called out, throwing his arms wide in desperation.

  Liberty shot up and slammed the end of the tonfa into the panel. She felt physically drained, and this time there was no blast of energy, but the panel still smashed. “Hopefully, that will hold them,” she said, sliding her back down against the wall.

  Tobin nodded, but then he noticed Liberty’s new jacket, and let out a low whistle. “Wow, that was close…” he said, pointing to the alien fabric.

  Liberty looked and saw a scar running across the alien material, where the drone had swiped it. The fibers had not split, and she figured that was the only reason she was still alive.

  “We’re not out of this yet,” replied Liberty. “Morphus is still out there, and so are those things.”

  “Then I guess we have to hope Morphus wasn’t exaggerating about its ‘highly-advanced combat abilities’,” said Tobin, resting back against the thick double doors. “At least we’re safe in here.”

  No sooner had Tobin spoken the words than a dagger of plasma burst through the door, inches from his head. He threw himself away as the scalpel-like flame slowly began to cut through the metal.

  “You had to say it, didn’t you?” said Liberty, pushing herself up, and spinning the tonfas against her forearms. However, the glow of the alien metal, and of her hands, had faded almost to nothing. “I think these things draw some energy from our bodies,” she said, feeling weaker than ever. She could barely hold the weapons up.

  Tobin, similarly, looked pale and exhausted. “Well, it was certainly an adventure,” he said, with a fatalistic air.

  “Hey, we’re not giving up yet,” said Liberty. “Not before I get to fly that giant starship!”

  The dagger of flame completed its perfectly circular path around the door, then vanished. They waited, breathless, holding their weapons tightly, as the chunk of metal was pushed inward. It slammed to the deck, sending vibrations rattling through Liberty’s bones. Then the legs of the machine entered, before they slowly pulled through the arrow-like body of the seed drone.

  Tobin fired, but the bolt was feeble compared to those he’d shot earlier, barely scorching the surface of the alien metal. Liberty roared and then charged forward, before striking the drone’s center of mass, but it was like hitting an anvil with a hollow copper pipe. A sharp pain ran through her hand, and she stumbled back, dropping the tonfa to the floor. Tobin immediately rushed in to help her, but was then struck by one of the drone’s flailing legs, and sent flying back into the room.

  “Tobin!” cried Liberty, scrambling to his side. His augmented jacket had absorbed the brunt of the blow, but there was still a deep gash cut into his flesh, where he’d left it unbuttoned around his chest. “Damn your stupid Martian vanity,” she said, but Tobin’s eyes were shut, and he was limp in her arms.

  Liberty heard the scrape of metal on metal, and turned to see the seed drone finish clambering through the opening. She gripped her remaining tonfa tightly and sprang up, but there was barely any strength left in her arms.

  The drone raised one of its scythe-like legs, ready to strike, but then it suddenly froze. Liberty waited, heart thumping in her chest, as the drone then slid forwards and crumpled to the deck. There it lay still, a gaping hole punched through the rear of its body. Above it, standing in the opening, was Morphus.

  Liberty threw down her weapon, and then again dropped to Tobin’s side. “Morphus, help him, he’s hurt.”

  Blood leaked from the gash in Tobin’s chest, and Liberty tried to press on it to stem the flow, however, the warm, red liquid just oozed through her fingers. Morphus hurried inside and knelt calmly next to Tobin. The alien placed its hand on his chest, alongside Liberty’s, and it began to glow and became amorphous, before flattening, like a sheet of metal foil. Morphus slid the glowing metal sheet underneath liberty’s blood-soaked palms and formed a tight seal over the wound.

  Liberty sat back, utterly exhausted. The exertion from the fight and the stress of Tobin’s injury had taken almost everything out of her. Then she noticed that Morphus also appeared to be injured, and her pulse raced higher again. The alien was still in its female form, but parts of its body were featureless, as if Morphus was a sculpture that hadn’t been fully finished.

  “You’re hurt too,” said Liberty, moving to Morphus’ side and examining the damage.

  “I will be fine,” said Morphus, smiling at Liberty. “The Revocater can repair my damaged systems, and now that the seed drones are destroyed, we are free to enter it.”

  Liberty nodded and looked down at Tobin again. He was unconscious, and his white jacket was soaked red, but Morphus had at least managed to stop the bleeding. “What about Tobin?” she asked, urgently. “Can you help him too?”

  Morphus’ smile disappeared, and its eyes became more solemn. It looked at Liberty, and said, “I am afraid that I do not know.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Griff practically jumped out of the shuttle and onto the gravel surface of the lot in Swinsler’s Shipyard. He’d never been more glad to get off a ship before in his life. It was early evening in San Francisco and the cool, fresh air was a welcome tonic. Griff sucked in several deep breaths and cleared his nose onto the dirt, in an attempt to rid his body of the shuttle’s stench. Griff was used to the stale, recycled atmosphere of an RGF Patrol Craft, but the cockpit of the shuttle had reeked like a dirty fish tank. He breathed deeply a couple more times, then plucked a cigarette from his shirt pocket, placed it into his mouth and lit it.

  “Those things will kill you,” said Cutler, stepping out of the shuttle beside Griff. He had done a complete shut-down on the vessel, but there was still an ominous metallic tick coming from it, like a cooling kettle. “You do realize that they’ve been illegal on Earth for over a century?”

  Griff sucked in the smoke and blew it out above his head, before scowling at the mercenary. “Your concern is touching, but how about you mind your own damn business?”

  Cutler didn’t react and instead looked towards the small complex of pre-fab office pods. These cheap, temporary structures constituted both Swinsler’s place of work and his home residence. A door opened, and the yellow-haired figure of Swinsler waddled out towards them.

  “I would suggest that…” Cutler began, but Griff cut him off, impatiently.

  “Yeah, yeah, you do all the talking, I get it,” Griff snapped. Now that he had a plan that didn’t involve needing the mercenary, his tolerance for biting his tongue had all but vanished.

  Cutler’s eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened, but again he didn’t react to Griff’s insolence, at least not verbally. Griff watched him and gestured towards the ship dealer. “Well, get on with it then…” said Griff, rudely inviting Cutler to take the initiative, as he’d suggested.

  “You can’t park that thing there!” Swinsler’s nasally voice shouted out to them. He was still more than ten meters away, but his round spectacles were in his hands, rather than on his similarly round face. Swinsler polished the lenses on the bottom of his lime green sweater, while adding, “This is a private lot; you’ll have to move it!” Then he hooked the spectacles over his ears, finally bringing the face of Cutler Wendell into sharper focus. His aggravated expression and whiny aggressiveness instantly switched to simpering platitudes. “Oh, Mr. Wendell, I am so sorry, I had no idea it was you!” he blurted out,
before shooting Cutler an oily smile.

  Griff laughed at the ship dealer’s transparently sycophantic response, before sucking in another lungful of smoke. Swinsler’s eyes scrunched up as he looked at Griff for the first time, but he remained placid.

  “And who is your new companion?” he asked, his eyes flitting between Cutler and Griff. “I do hope nothing untoward happened to the previous one? Tory wasn’t it?”

  Griff shook his head again. He knew people like Swinsler; while his job appeared on the surface to be trading starships, it was clear that the weaselly man’s real trade was in information and secrets. He watched Cutler eagerly, wondering how much information he’d divulge, but the mercenary was as cagey as ever.

  “Who he is, why I’m here, or any other similar question is none of your concern,” replied Cutler, before tossing the shuttle’s ID fob at him. The dealer juggled with the device, before finally managing to close his sweaty palm around it. “You know the drill.”

  “Yes, of course,” replied Swinsler, again with an oily smile. “I trust that you require my special kind of accommodation?” Swinsler added, though the question seemed superfluous.

  “Yes, the usual arrangement,” replied Cutler.

  Swinsler nodded, but then quickly adopted a more doubtful expression, “Excellent, although with all the heightened military activity at the moment, it will be more challenging – not to mention expensive – to ensure your secrecy.”

  “I’m sure you’ll manage,” said Cutler, dryly, as Griff laughed and shook his head again. He had to admire the slimy dealer’s boldness, if nothing else. Then Cutler added, “The shuttle needs repairs. I’m sure you can make up your additional costs by over-charging me to fix it.”