She’d run straight at one, her sword hand outstretched, angled down toward the floor and with a fluid, yet lightning fast swipe, the head of a Reaper would go tumbling off the roof’s edge. Another Reaper made a grab for her and she swiped the razor-sharp sword in front of her, removing the thing’s hands. Three more flashes of light and the monster fell away in four pieces.
She tumbled over the top of another, coming down behind it and arced her sword wide, severing its feet. As it fell, she held out her sword just in time for the monster to slide down it, screeching and clawing the whole way. Then, with a vicious effort, she yanked the sword out through its side, spilling its dark purple guts all over the rooftop.
In a fluid movement, she grabbed her brothers and herded them back down the stairwell from the roof. Brawl was directly behind them covering their escape. As he pulled the door shut, the Reapers on the other end began pounding on the door and literally tearing chunks of it out. One got a hand through and swiped at Brawl. He responded by putting the barrel of his gun at eye level of the door and squeezing the trigger. The ever-so-rewarding screech the monster issued made him grin. It also served as a distraction for the others as they tore into its flesh and feasted away.
Not all were so easily distracted, though. More pounding came to the door, but by that point, Brawl, Kay and her two brothers were already in their apartment and huddled up in the bathroom. They could hear the door crumble and the heavy footfalls of the beasts as they poured into the hallway. One of them crashed through the first door they saw and found nothing. The rest wandered the hallway. Kay had to cover her brother’s mouths as they began whimpering. She knew the things were blind, but didn’t know how they tracked their prey. Brawl was wearing a highly sophisticated Mark IV Invisi-Suit and they were able to track him with ease.
The bathroom was just off to the left of the front door, they could hear one snorting the air around their door. The boys became more frantic. The thing was clearly interested in the door, maybe it could smell them from within. Maybe they left some sort of bioelectric signature on the door. She didn’t know, but she was readying herself for another fight. Quickly, she led them through the living room down the hall to their parents’ bedroom. There, she closed and locked the door and barricaded it with the dresser, bed and desk. Then, she opened the window and made sure the coast was clear. There were none climbing up this side of the building. Then she climbed out telling them to open the door for no one, not even her. If the coast was clear, she would come back in through the window.
Then she scaled the wall, leapt to their patio outside and came in that way. Brawl was clearly readying for a fight as well; he had his pistol in one hand and a combat knife in the other. The one sniffing around the door had drawn the attention of the others and there sounded to be at least four if not more out there. Finally, the first whack at the door came. It nearly made them both jump. She cringed as she heard her brothers’ cries from down the hall.
Three more thumps and the door gave, issuing seven more Reapers. Kay didn’t hesitate; she leapt forward kicking one into the bathroom and closing the door, taking it out of the fight for at least few minutes. The two attacked in tandem, one high, one low. Kay waited for a split second to see what Brawl did and when he went to for the Reaper going high, putting a bullet in its forehead, Kay went low with a sweeping attack that decapitated the monster in mid stride. The other Reaper had a bullet hole in its forehead but kept coming. Kay let it pass figuring Brawl could handle it and let the next one come.
Kay leaned backward as a clawed hand swiped the empty space above her. She continued the lean back into a backward handspring, simultaneously kicking the thing in the jaw with a steel-toed boot, sending a few needle-like teeth flying. The monster staggered back a step but then charged again. Kay held out her sword and let the thing impale itself on it. The beast screeched as Kay removed her sword via its side. As it fell, she took a two-step leap off its back, spinning the sword downward in both hands and buried it hilt deep into the top of next Reaper.
Brawl took the one that got by. Using his prosthetic arm, he grabbed the thing by the throat. It scratched helplessly at the metal arm, trying to break the grip. Brawl put two more bullets in its head before it went limp and fell to the floor in heap. There were three left—two from the hallway and the other that had broken out of the bathroom. They rushed in. Kay batted one past her at Brawl and stabbed forward impaling both the Reapers. She used her momentum and pushed them out into the hallway. Brawl literally punched through the Reaper’s abdomen, pulled it down and jabbed the knife into the top of its skull. Kay pushed them into the wall of the hallway opposite their door and stuck them there. As they tried to pull the sword out of the wall, Brawl yelled, “Duck!”
Kay dropped to her belly as Brawl riddled them with bullet holes. As the chaos died down, Kay risked a glance back at Brawl who was also breathing heavily. That was the last of the Reapers for now, but all the noise was sure to draw more in. They might already be scaling the walls.
Kay retreated to the apartment and checked on her brothers. She climbed in through the window and found them huddled in the closet. They were scared out of their minds, but no physical harm had come to them. Being a child forced to watch the most gruesome violence available as a form of mental conditioning, she knew all too well that the emotional damage was already done and wouldn’t heal for years to come.
She took down the makeshift barricade and led her brothers out to the living room where several dead Reapers used to lie. Brawl had taken them out to the balcony where they would rot in the sunlight.
“What’s our next move?” Brawl asked, coming back in from the balcony.
“We make for my apartment,” Kay said. “Since I was Agent, there was always the chance that my enemies might find me. Each Agent’s dwelling was installed with a panic room complete with net’vyyd, air scrubbers, bathroom and rations.”
“Seems to be our best bet at the present, I reckon,” Brawl agreed. “Though I have to ask: why didn’t you just take your family there?”
“It’s almost on the other side of the Residential Sector.”
“Hm,” Brawl murmured, thumbing his chin. “I see. That’s quite the hike.”
“Yes,” Kay responded with a very defeated look on her face. Now she realized that that’s what they should have done, though hindsight was 20/20. “But now our options are somewhat limited. We’ll have to make the trek.”
Suddenly, Brawl’s com unit chimed.
“Burke!” Puar’s voice came over the device. “I just heard about the shuttle. Is everyone all right?”
“Uh, that’s a big negative, chief!” Brawl said, putting an acidy touch of sarcasm in his tone. “One of those big fellas got it. Kay’s daddy was inside and her mom… well… she didn’t make it either.”
There was a long pause, then he said. “I see.” The pain in his voice was tangible. “I can get another shuttle to you soon, if you just want to sit tight.”
“How long is soon? Our little scuffle with the Reapers brought us some unwanted attention, I reckon.”
“A few hours at the most.”
Brawl looked at Kay who gave an approving nod, her pretty features taking a darker look right before his eyes.
“Sounds like a plan,” Brawl said. “We’ll, uh, ‘sit tight,’ as you said. But let’s not have a repeat of One-Four-Six, now, you hear?”
“It’ll be there. Puar out.”
“Well, it looks like we have some time to kill,” Kay said, sitting down on the couch, hugging her little brothers. “What’s ‘One-Four-Six?’”
“It’s a long story…” Brawl said, helping himself to a lukewarm bottle of ale from the fridge and plopping his weight down in a chair.
Chapter Six
The asteroids posed no problem for the Alpha Centaurian ships. Laying down a constant stream of fire in a wide arc, they were able to clear the asteroid field in under an hour. So far, the slave system was working as it should, the en
gineers buzzed between the Bucket and Splitter making sure that things ran smoothly. The combined voices of Joon and Amber, the respective onboard AI’s for the Star Splitter and the Bolt Bucket, spoke together.
“Asteroid field cleared.”
“Good work, everyone!” Khai shouted. “Puar, set a course for outside the Seryys System. We go in on thrusters from there.”
“Why not just jump into the system straight from here?” Puar asked.
“If your brother got the same distress signal that we got,” Khai answered, “he has most likely recalled the whole fleet to protect Seryys.”
“So now that we’re clear of the asteroid field, why don’t we just send them a message now?” Puar asked again.
“Because if these F’Rosians are as smart as they seem, they would have left a few ships behind to monitor the asteroid field for activity. If we send a message, multiple things could happen. They could intercept the transmission and track it to us. They could intercept the transmission and warn their fleet. Or do both. Either way, stealth is the key.”
“Alpha,” the tactical officer shouted. “This clearing in the asteroid field is showing signs of battle. I am detecting recent laser fire and a massive amount of debris. Samples of the debris field indicate that it is of an Alpha Centaurian hull composition.”
“What are Alpha Centaurians doing hiding in the asteroid field?”
“I know not, Alpha.”
“Contact Vor’l,” he barked.
Vor’l’s intimidating presence filled the bridge. “What is it?”
“My Alpha,” he said with a bow. “We have found a void within the asteroid field. Signs of laser fire and debris are all that remain. I am sending you our findings now.”
Vor’l scowled in confusion as he read the report. “What is this?”
“We do not know, my Alpha. It is quite the mystery.”
“This is unusual. A recent fire fight and debris of an Alpha Centaurian vessel—or multiple vessels, given the amount of debris.”
“It—”
“Alpha!” the tactical officer interrupted.
The Alpha of the Devastator failed miserably at trying to hide the irritation on his face. “Yes, tactical?”
“I have detected a disturbance within the asteroid field. I didn’t notice it at first, but the computer detected a gap in the flow of asteroids off to our port side!”
Realization struck Vor’l like a laser cannon and it showed on his face. “Pursue that lead immediately. That isn’t debris from multiple ships; it is debris from a station, a station that must have been destroyed in order to keep it from us.”
“My Alpha?” he looked at his leader with confusion.
Vor’l growled in frustration at the idiot boy commanding the Devastator. “The Seryysans have taken Alpha Centaurian technology, you idiot! The ships that went in but never came out, the homing beacon, the exit gap in the asteroid field; think! They must have found a cache of ships in there and now they have them—and apparently know how to use them. Those ships have been sitting right beneath our snouts for millennia! The Ancestors have mercy on your memories if they do indeed have any ships. You must pursue them and stop them at all costs.”
“It will be done, my Alpha!”
“Do not fail me,” he said ominously.
“Tactical,” he called out. “Plot a course through the gap. Contact the Forbearer. Set forward shields and weapons to maximum. We are going in full speed ahead!”
“Alpha?” the helmsman asked, his face stricken with fear.
“Worry not,” he said. “Death by asteroid is far better than death at the paws of Vor’l… trust me…” That was how he got his promotion to Ship’s Alpha. His predecessor failed Vor’l and Vor’l sent him out an airlock into the vacuum of space.
“Transmission intercepted and recorded.”
“Thank you, J’Amber!” Puar said.
“J’Amber?” Khai asked incredulously.
“What?” Puar asked with a shrug. “Joon, Amber, J’Amber.”
“Makes sense to me,” Brix chimed in.
“Right,” Khai said slowly. “Anyway, it would appear we’re about to have a weapons test. Come about one hundred and eighty degrees. Put forward shields to maximum and power up the weapons.”
“Done and done, captain, my captain!” Puar said.
“That’s ‘general’ to you, son!” Khai chided.
“I see two ships approaching the edge of the asteroid field,” Sibrex said, all business.
“What?” Puar yelped. “My scopes are negative. I’m not getting anything.”
“Look at the main viewer,” Sibrex offered. “There are two black, silhouetted masses moving amongst the asteroid field.”
Khai squinted at the holographic image in front of him. He could see them now!
“Now I am detecting weapons fire,” Sibrex said. “It would appear they are blasting their way through and making their way at what I would call reckless speed.”
“Target the forward ship. Destroy it!” Khai shouted, battle-fueled adrenalin coursing his veins. “But spare the second ship. Try to just disable it. Maybe we can board it and capture it.”
The fifty ships opened fired before the Devastator could even leave the asteroid field. The Alpha’s face was nothing but sheer astonishment at the sight of fifty Alpha Centaurian ships sending volley after volley of cannon fire at them.
“Return fire! Stay within the asteroid field, we can use it as cover!”
Something about the formation the enemy ships struck him as odd. His ancestral memories told him that this was not a common battle formation employed the Alpha Centaurians. With each volley, the bridge sparked and rumbled. With each volley, he watched as one ship started firing and a half-second later the others would follow suit. That’s when it struck him!
“Target that ship!” he pointed. “The one in the center. He personally punched the coordinates into the computer and the main viewer zoomed in on the Cerys II. “Destroy that ship—now!”
“It will be done, Alpha!” Both ships targeted the Cerys II. “May I ask what is so special about that ship versus the others?”
“They’re slaved to the Cerys II, you idiot! Watch, the Cerys fires, then the others follow half a second later.”
“I see, my Alpha,” the tactician said, slightly abashed.
“The gig’s up!” Puar shouted. “They’re targeting us!”
“Forget about capturing, just blast them to bits!” Khai ordered. “Focus on the lead ship!”
The entire fifty ships concentrated fire on one. It didn’t have a chance. Once the Devastator was gone, they moved on to the next, quickly reducing it to debris. Once they were satisfied that there weren’t any more ships lurking in the asteroid field, they were able to move on, leaving the twisted hulks to tumble within the asteroid field.
While clearing the last outer edges of the asteroid field, Sibrex was able to design an algorithm to detect the F’Rosian ships and inputted it into the main computer. What it did was track the movements of stars within the maximum range of the short range sensors. Since the F’Rosian ships were flat black, the only visible things were the running lights and lights from portholes along the hull. It was actually the perfect camouflage, especially in deep space. They were really only detectable by line of site. The algorithm would alert the bridge if the sensors detected any movement of stars that was incongruent to the direction their ships were traveling–or if their ships were at a full stop, any star movement beyond normal celestial body movement would be detected.
Khai marveled at how brilliant Sibrex was. How he was both an able-bodied warrior—even at his age—and still able to keep up with some of Seryys’ most capable programmers. It didn’t even faze him that he was a million miles from home, working with people who used to be his sworn enemies and would occasionally go days without feeding so that the people around him didn’t have to donate their blood.
He still remembered the day they met in the medical
wing of his drifting colony. The kindness he showed Khai, knowing that his people were the reason Sibrex and his people were forced to live in those drifting colonies. He remembered the patience Sibrex showed as he tried to wrap his brain around all the information that shook him to his core, that Seryys started the war, that his ancestors and Sibrex’s ancestors were one and the same. He was truly a remarkable man.
He also had Sibrex to thank for meeting the woman he now called wife. Brindee was the waitress that served him and Sibrex after he came to terms with the fact that his government was—and had been—lying to him and his people for centuries.
Brindee… the thought of her brought a grin to his face. He missed her deeply. The last time he saw her, she was in a medically-induced coma after surviving a horrific crash caused by the resistance that had been mysteriously quiet as of late. His mind drifted to what he would do with her once she was awake and healthy; it made his heart beat just a little harder. But there would be time for that later.
“Puar,” Khai said, bringing himself back to the moment. “Set a course for a waypoint just outside the Seryys System. Let’s see what these ships can do.”
The Prime Minister sat in his office high above the spinning world of his origin. From this height, she looked so peaceful, so serene. From this height, no one would know that nightmarish monsters roamed about, that people were stuck down there, unable to escape, waiting for rescue; that the greatest city of the Seryys People burned, brought down by those monsters. On multiple occasions since his drunken week in the Presidential Bunker, he thought about finishing his resignation letter. But, once he sobered up—coupled with the brief but refreshing stay in his hometown, Maauer’s Harbor—he had made it a personal mission to ride this out and fix it.
Besides, he thought, things couldn’t possibly get any worse.
The Seryys Chronicles: Steel Alliance Page 9
