by Scott Baron
Her team was making a solid showing, the humans and cyborgs using cartridge weapons, wisely conserving pulse rifle ammunition now that the initial shock and awe wave had done its job. Or so they thought.
The farthest warp ship sounded a faint hum as its systems cycled on.
Shit, they already made it to one of them.
“Look again,” Sarah said. “Two more are pinned down just shy of the boarding ramps to the others. If our guys run out of ammo––”
Daisy whistled loudly.
“Hey! Spares!” she shouted as she flung the small pouch with magazines of conventional ammunition across the floor to them.
A cyborg in a pinstripe suit dashed out and grabbed it, slightly shredding a sleeve as he dove back for cover.
Habby’s going to have a fit.
It was mostly Chithiid loyalists fighting that she could see. Only a few Ra’az were engaged in the battle. The projectile weapons flummoxed them to a degree. They were so accustomed to thinking in terms of massive pulse weapons that the tiny flying bits of lead and copper left them unsure exactly how deadly the weapons were.
A Ra’az leaned out from behind cover and activated his massive power whip, but the awkward angle from which he was attempting to use it made the deadly coil fly wildly astray. The beam shut off abruptly as the alien’s torso was peppered with machine gun fire, dropping it to the floor in a pool of sticky blood.
“Looks like the old-school guns work just fine,” Sarah exclaimed with glee.
At super-close range, and against a totally unarmored opponent. I wouldn’t get too excited, Sis. The other Ra’az won’t be so unprepared. And I think the Chithiid loyalists have already caught on.
In any case, the distraction caused by fighting the massive Ra’az was enough for one of the pinned down Ra’az pilots to manage to dart up the ramp and into a waiting ship.
“Shit, another one got in. That leaves one empty and the big one. It doesn’t look like anyone’s on board though.”
The big ship, as if it heard Sarah’s silent comment, rumbled to life.
“Or not.”
A pinned down alien saw this and grabbed an EMP bomb from his pack, shouted for cover fire, then took off at a run, dodging pulse blasts as he sped for the warp ships.
“He’s trying to disable them.”
But they’re shielded. Those EMP bombs were only meant for the comms units and facility equipment. They won’t do a thing to those ships.
Daisy was about to yell for him to stop, but suddenly found it unnecessary when a pulse blast separated his torso from his lower body.
Sonofa––
A massive surge in pulse fire made her people duck as the Chithiid launched a volley to cover their Ra’az master as he scrambled into the third and final warp ship. The door sealed behind him, and he too began the power-up sequence. It was just a matter of time before all three would take to the air.
“We can’t let the heavy gunship blast the doors open!” she yelled to the team.
The cyborg nodded his understanding and grabbed a conventional bomb from his pack. It was a large breaching charge.
“What’s he doing, Daze?”
“Making a run for it,” she replied.
The mechanical man took off at a sprint, his metal legs pistoning furiously as he raced for the open ramp to the gunship. His human counterparts rushed out from cover, laying down as much suppressing fire as they could with both conventional and pulse weapons. Three were hit and went down where they stood, but they managed to take a Chithiid with them in the process.
Daisy fired from behind cover, emptying her conventional weapon and switching to the pulse rifle.
“Limited ammo. Make ‘em count!” Sarah shouted in her head.
The cyborg had nearly reached the ship when two Ra’az who had been hiding behind equipment, as their Chithiid servants fought, opened fire. The metal man’s left arm and leg were blasted from his body, but he nevertheless continued to try to reach the ship, pushing ahead with his one good leg, dragging the bomb with his remaining arm.
A well-placed shot to the head put his valiant efforts to an end.
Daisy scanned her remaining team members. There were just too few of them, and their numbers were rapidly diminishing.
Pulse fire lit up the ground around her, pinning her in place.
“Someone give me some cover fire! I’m trapped!"
The others were in no better circumstances, however, and the two Ra’az cautiously moved for the open ship as their Chithiid continued to keep the intruders at bay.
From behind them a sudden barrage of fire tore into the Chithiid ranks, dropping five of them in an instant.
A group of Chithiid––notably missing the telltale red armbands––were nevertheless fighting on the side of the rebels.
“The base staff!” Sarah cheered. “They’ve joined the fight on our side!”
Good. We need all the help we can get.
From the opposite side of the hangar, a tall Chithiid with a crescent scar on his shoulder and red band tied around each arm raced through the confused loyalists’ ranks, a weapon clutched in each of his four hands, firing wildly into their midst.
Craaxit?
This was the end-game. There was no more hiding their involvement. Several more Chithiid rebels joined in the fight, as Craaxit raced from cover.
The warp ship pilots realized things were far more out of control than they had thought and turned their guns on the thick hangar doors. The reinforced metal resisted their fire, for the time being at least.
The cannon on the powering-up gun ship swiveled and took aim at the hangar doors. Craaxit’s eyes locked with Daisy’s.
“Run!” he bellowed. “Save both our worlds!”
Firing as fast as he could pull the triggers, Craaxit ran toward the gunship.
“What’s he doing?”
He threw aside one of his four weapons and snatched the bomb from the dead cyborg’s grip as he flew past.
I think he’s going to––
A pulse blast hit him, then another, but Craaxit pushed on, bomb in hand, and raced up the ramp into the belly of the gunship. Moments later an explosion boomed from its interior, smoke streaming out the door. The massive cannon fell idle as the ship burned on the hangar floor.
Up in the air, the warp ships were chipping away at the hangar doors with their much smaller cannons. It was slow going, but, nevertheless, a small hole had formed.
Just a matter of time, and these rifles won’t stop them.
She whipped the comms unit from her back.
Come on, don’t be running the satellite delay.
“Dark Side, Dark Side––Sid, this is Daisy. I’m at the north hangar doors. I need you to get me a ship, now! Donovan? Anyone? Does anyone read me?”
Silence, then Bob’s voice crackled over the air.
“This is Bob. Donovan’s a bit busy at the moment. Is the mission a success?”
“Almost, but it won’t be if you don’t get me a ship down here now! Something fast, and with guns.”
“I don’t understand. This was not part of the plan.”
“Yeah, well Murphy paid a visit, so we’re changing the plan.”
“Most of the drones were destroyed in the assault.”
“No, not a drone. I need something space-worthy for a human passenger, and I need it five minutes ago.”
Bob paused as he scanned the surviving craft at their disposal.
“There is only one remaining that is capable of maintaining a stable cabin environment available. He’s been a bit glitchy, though, so we kept him in a high recon position. I can have him to you in under two minutes.”
Daisy looked up at the warp ships chipping their way through the doors.
“It’ll have to do. Have him set down right outside the hangar doors. I’ll be waiting.”
“Copy. It will be to you in one minute forty-three seconds. You might want to stand clear, though. There may be a sizable sonic boom.�
��
Daisy pocketed the comms and turned for the door off to the side of the hangar.
“Cover me!”
Daisy ran for the small door as the rebels and her team lay down fire. Pulse blasts chipped the ground and walls around her, but she managed to reach it unscathed.
Wouldn’t it be funny if it was locked, she thought with a dark smile.
Fortunately, it wasn’t.
She burst out into the sunlight and slammed the door shut behind her as pulse blasts tore into the thick metal, buckling it, but not penetrating.
Movement caught the corner of her eye. Daisy spun, raising her rifle.
“Wait! It’s Vince!”
Daisy’s hand twitched as she lowered the gun, glad for her proper trigger finger discipline.
“What was the explosion? Obviously not a warp ship, or we’d all be dead,” he said.
“There was a gunship in the hangar. Craaxit took it out before it was able to blast the doors open.”
Vince smiled wide.
“Fantastic! Where is he? I need to give him a high five. Or high twenty, in his case.”
Daisy’s grim look said enough before she even spoke a word.
“He didn’t make it.”
Vince’s smile faded.
A chunk of metal flew off and landed in the dirt from high up.
“Holy shit, that’s a lot of continuous weapons discharge. They’ll run dry pretty soon, at that rate,” Vince said, turning his attention to the new problem at hand. “Let me guess, the warp ships?”
“You got it.”
“Can we ever catch a break?” He looked around, searching for anything large enough to take down a ship. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll make a run for the roof. There’s debris on the barge up top. If I time it right, I can drop a piece right on top of the ships as they try to exit once the hole is big enough.”
“Vince, you can’t take out a ship that way.”
“No, but I can damage it enough to not be space-worthy. We just have to keep them from using their warp device. If they’re stuck in the atmosphere to breathe, they won’t be able to jump.”
“How do you know that?”
“I don’t know that, but if these things are still in the experimental phase, I seriously doubt they can jump so accurately that they land in atmosphere at their destination. The Ra’az don’t seem to use AI, so that means they’re flying the ships manually. Lots of trial and error for test pilots, you know.”
“Sound logic,” Daisy said.
A loud boom sounded above them.
“But you don’t need to go running to the roof.”
High above, and glowing orange from the quick entry, a small modular ship dropped down and landed nearby, roughly settling to the ground. It was a simple craft. All engine, weapons, and fuel. Not long-range by any measure, but that was logical, as it had been designed for simple assault use.
Up above, the hangar doors gave way, debris raining down as the alien ships edged their way through the tight hole blasted in them.
“Shit. Gotta go!” Daisy said, running to the ship, Vince close at her heels.
“Daisy, do you even know how to––”
She punched a quick command into the external pad and popped the canopy.
“Okay, scratch that question,” he said. “But I’m coming with you.”
Daisy stopped him, her hand firmly on his chest.
“No. They’ll need all the help they can get here.” She stared deep in his eyes, then pulled him close, kissing him deeply. “And besides,” she said, cutting off the embrace, “it’s a single-seater.”
She scrambled up the indented steps and jumped into the pilot’s seat and strapped in.
“Daisy,” Vince said, a slight cracking of emotion coloring his voice. “Don’t die.”
She smiled at him as the canopy slid shut. “See you, space cowboy,” she said with a wink, then was sealed in the quiet cocoon of the ship’s cockpit.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Daisy nestled her body into the memory foam of the pilot’s seat and adjusted her harness as she readied for the many Gs she was about to pull in her rapid pursuit of the trio of escaping Ra’az ships.
“Howdy doodly do!” an annoyingly upbeat voice greeted her. “Welcome aboard! I’m K177, but you can call me Kip! Would you like some toast?”
“What?” Daisy asked, truly confused. “Pursue those ships!”
“How ‘bout a muffin?”
“Fly, you idiot!”
“Sorry,” the chastised AI replied sheepishly as he quickly lifted off. “Up until the other day, I was just an artificially intelligent grilled bread product dispenser. This is all new to me. So, where would you like me to take you?”
“Shut up,” she said, hastily keying off the pilot controls and firing the afterburner manually. “I’m driving.”
The ship shot upward, the pressure of the afterburner-powered ascent pushing Daisy deep into the foam of the seat and nearly causing her to black out. She contracted the muscles in her extremities as tight as she could, forcing the blood to flow to her core and brain, somehow managing to maintain consciousness as she did.
When the spots before her eyes cleared, she could see that she was closing rapidly on the three warp ships as they made their break for the edges of the atmosphere.
“Anyone listening, this is Daisy. I need help, here. I’m in pursuit, but there are three Ra’az ships that are going to attempt warp. I repeat, I need help. Send whatever you have left. I’m leaving the channel open. If you can hear me, track my signal.”
She turned her attention to the vessels in front of them.
“Are your weapons targeting systems online, Kip?”
“Yes indeedy! They turned them back on just a few hours ago! I had a little accident the other day, but I guess they trust me now!”
“I don’t want to know,” she groaned. “Look, I want you to target the cockpit of the rear ship. Try to pierce its cockpit and hull near the drive systems, but don’t destroy it. Can you do that? We’re closing on them fast, so we’ll only have one shot at this.”
“Happy to oblige.”
They barreled down on the Ra’az ship. Any second they’d show on its scans and it would begin evasive maneuvers. It was a crazy plan, and one that would almost never work, but the Ra’az had been in a panicked hurry and had launched without the extra protection of a space suit. If they could just compromise the command module, even slightly, odds were the aliens would suffocate and freeze as they powered out of the atmosphere.
Unless they were immune to that sort of thing.
One way to find out, Daisy mused grimly.
“Fire!”
Kip unleashed a burst. For an annoyingly chipper AI, he was also a surprisingly good shot.
The Ra’az craft rocked from the impact, then stalled out, floating dead in space. Daisy spun the ship around and maneuvered herself into a better line for attack. She pressed on, hoping to take out the other ships before they could do the same to her.
On her scans, the Ra’az ship they had hit was thankfully not drifting back into gravity’s pull to burn up in the atmosphere, but instead was floating in place high above the planet.
“Okay, it’s in a relatively stable orbit. We can come back later and salvage the warp syst––”
The disabled ship exploded in a shower of debris as one of the other warp vessels doubled back and opened fire.
“I didn’t do that!” Kip informed her in an alarmed tone.
“No, they did. They don’t want us capturing their warp technology. Target the engines on the far ship, while I fly. We’re in for a rough one.”
Kip fired burst after burst at the distant ship, but time and again, they went wide.
“You’re swerving too much. Please hold steady.”
“Trying to keep us from getting shot out of the sky, here,” Daisy replied through clenched teeth.
“We’re in space, not the sky.”
“I k
now, I wasn’t being litera––Oh, just shoot the damn thing!”
Daisy abruptly stopped her evasive moves, giving him a clean shot. The Ra’az ship was designed to deflect energy blasts, but the electromagnetically launched metal sabots the odd AI ship flung from its secondary rail gun at thousands of miles per hour were something different.
The slugs flew true and tore into the Ra’az ship’s drive systems, damaging but not destroying it.
The brutal aliens were not used to being the hunted ones, but they seemed to be adapting very quickly to the situation. The ship on Daisy’s tail stuck to her like glue while she desperately tried to outmaneuver it.
Kip was fast, she had to give him that, but he was built for speed and firepower, not maneuverability.
It was a lopsided dogfight, but somehow Daisy managed to continuously evade the warp ship’s pulse blasts, but they were getting closer.
Good thing they’re so aggressive.
“Why’s that?”
Because they could have warped away by now otherwise. Their anger and overconfidence are providing a loss of focus that gives us a chance.
The Ra’az ship pulled a tight turn and nearly hit her, then spun a fast one-eighty. Daisy rolled, expecting more pulse fire, but something else happened. Over her open comms line, a blast of noise filled the ship.
“Aaaahh!!!” Kip screamed, then seized up and shut down.
Daisy was suddenly drifting, dead-stick.
“Mayday, mayday. Does anyone copy?”
There was power to the system, but she heard only silence over the comms.
“Shit, a virus blast. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“What does that mean, Daze?”
It means we’re fucked, she replied grimly.
In the distance, the two warp ships pulled next to one another, the damaged vessel limping along, while the other assessed the damage. Now that Daisy was disabled, they were no longer concerned with her.
“It’s only a matter of time before it comes back to finish the job. Only one thing to do.”
