The Corsair Uprising #1: The Azure Key

by Trevor Schmidt

  21

  In steep contrast to the night, the streets of Sector Seven were bustling with Dinari, open air markets littering the side streets. Ansaran guards clad in their tan camouflage patrolled the street in pairs, their eyes obstructed by dark visors. Liam saw some Ansaran guards shaking down a teenage Dinari male, punching his scaled face with sickening force. The purple web that owned the night was gone, replaced by a sun that seemed far closer than the sun on Earth. Its position in the sky was still low, but it took up far more of the yellowed atmosphere than Liam had expected.

  Nix led them around a deep bend in the dirt road. Liam had to maneuver out of the way of a cart filled with foreign produce, purple in color and spherical in shape. The road was wide and there were few vehicles to clog it. Most Dinari seemed to travel on foot and there was only an occasional Ansaran craft, but they generally flew over the tops of the buildings. Their sleek vehicles were as wide as four of their bikes abreast and had two large fans on the sides which tilted back to accelerate the ship. Each held two Ansaran guards crammed tight in the clear glass cockpit.

  Whenever they saw one Liam instinctively pressed down his foot and accelerated. There didn’t seem to be any speed laws on Garuda, though if there were, somehow he doubted Nix would follow them. Liam and Ju-Long caught up to Nix and Saturn’s bikes after a while. Watching Nix’s back, Liam thought that there must be a lot more to their Dinari guide. His persona from the day before was far different from the confident Dinari before him. It made Liam wonder how much truth there was in Nix’s words.

  The Ansaran guards didn’t take any interest in them until they passed into Sector Eight. Two pillars on either side of the street illuminated as they approached, sending out a field of red gridded lasers in their path. Ju-Long grabbed both of Liam’s shoulders tight, crying out for him to stop. Liam tried to decelerate but ended up plowing right through the field of lasers.

  He didn’t feel a thing as they passed through. Liam realized too late that they had been scanned. Two Ansaran crafts were on them in moments, their large rotors tilted forward, and the ships hovering ten meters off the ground. A wall of sand plumed up behind them as they pursued the three hover bikes. Up ahead, Nix broke hard and turned down a side street off to the right, far too small for the Ansarans but perfect for their small bikes. Saturn accelerated to her top speed, leaving Liam in her wake of dust.

  On Liam’s dash the yellow holographic map gleamed, a red dot flashing straight ahead where the warehouse would be. From behind, a blue laser cut into the dirt road a meter to his right, blasting out a perfect line in the sand a half meter deep. Out of Liam’s peripheral vision, he saw Ju-Long’s hand pointing to the left. Liam turned hard, neglecting his brake and the hover bike shot up a few meters into the turn, sparking off the side of a clay building before Liam could level it out in the alleyway.

  The Ansaran ships slowed, rising vertically into the air to get their bearings. Soon, they adjusted and followed him over the top of the buildings, their loud fans propelling them forward far faster than Liam’s bike was capable of moving. Liam knew he’d have to lose them in the alleys if he were to have any chance of getting rid of them before he reached the hangar.

  “Hang on,” Liam shouted over his shoulder.

  Ju-Long gripped Liam’s cloak tighter in response.

  Liam broke hard and twisted the handles of the bike to the right, spinning the back end wide as he made the turn. He pressed his foot down on the accelerator, quickly accelerating until he started to get tunnel vision. The alley was becoming thinner, too thin to safely get the bike through. Above him the Ansarans had adjusted and were hot on his trail. Liam pressed the brake and turned to the left, the bike coming off the ground again and flipping upside down in a roll before finding the ground and hovering there once more, flying down the alley with blazing speed.

  Liam made two more turns and checked over his shoulder. He’d lost them. A hundred meters ahead Liam could see where the alley dumped out into the main road. It looked like they were going to come out in the middle of one of the open air markets. Liam tilted his toe and the hover bike accelerated through the thin alley, the clay walls narrowing until less than a meter remained on either side. They burst out of the alley, making a quick turn. Out of the sky an Ansaran ship dropped down, sending a cloud of dust into Liam’s eyes and forcing him to brake hard. He lost control of the hover bike and it skidded across the sand, sending Ju-Long and Liam rolling to the side of the street. They tumbled to a stop and lay there, motionless.

  Liam’s body ached as he began to check himself over for injuries. Remarkably, the sand was fairly forgiving and his rough cloak took the brunt of the impact. Its brown earthy color had become beige, the fine grains of sand seemingly woven into his cloak. Liam lay on his back shielding his eyes from the sun. The Ansaran ship had landed and the soldiers approached, dressed in their usual beige garb with an oblong helmet and a black slit to see. Their weapons were drawn and pointed at Liam and Ju-Long, who lay to his left, cradling the hand where Saturn had stabbed him. Apparently sand didn’t agree with his wound.

  The street, once bustling with Dinari, was now empty. The doors of the clay buildings shut behind them as they took cover inside. Liam saw numerous pairs of eyes watching the scene through their windows. The Dinari he’d met didn’t suggest they were a meek race, but maybe Liam’s sample was skewed. The average Dinari looked terrified of the Ansaran soldiers.

  “Halt, outsider,” one of the soldiers said. “You’re coming with us.”

  Liam and Ju-long’s eyes met and they seemed to be on the same page. Ju-Long slowly sat up, his hands raised, and said, “What was our crime?”

  The Ansaran soldiers both turned to Ju-Long with weapons leveled at his chest. “Hold it, don’t move.”

  Liam’s hand traveled down his side and found his energy weapon. He put a hand on the grip and squeezed. He could feel it pulsate as it built up energy at the tip.

  Ju-Long held his hands out defensively. “We haven’t done anything wrong. We’re here at the behest of the Caretaker.”

  “Shut up, outsider. Put your hands behind your head and turn onto your stomach.”

  Ju-Long complied and the Ansaran soldiers approached Ju-Long, but before they could reach him Liam pulled his weapon from its holster and released the pressure that had been building up at the tip. A ball of electricity hit the nearest guard square in the chest and he toppled over, convulsing on the sand.

  Liam quickly gripped the weapon hard once more and released a smaller blast at the second soldier. It was enough to knock him to the ground and drop his weapon, but it hardly stunned him. Soon the soldier was reaching for his gun, his fingers wrapping around its handle and suddenly going limp. Ju-Long landed a crushing blow to the soldier’s helmet with his good hand, cracking the visor and sending the Ansaran’s head into the compacted sand.

  Ju-Long fell to one knee with both hands hanging limp at his sides. The crushing blow he’d dealt sounded like it hurt Ju-Long as much as the other guy. Liam holstered his weapon and dragged Ju-Long to his feet by his forearm. He felt the eyes of dozens of Dinari on him as he led Ju-Long away.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Liam said. “More will be on their way.”