by James Evans
At the end of the row, Marine X stopped and crouched, hidden from the four pirates who were working only a few metres away, searching crates and moving some to a cargo truck. The lamps on their helmets swung about wildly as they continued to load their stolen cargo.
Ten watched the numbers drop. When they flicked over to zero, he moved around the edge of the racking, sighted on the nearest pirate and pulled the trigger. His gun cracked and spat, and the first figure went down with a neat pattern of holes in its chest.
The weapon was a suppressed version configured for discreet assaults, but it was still a rifle and thus noisy. If the pirates hadn’t been wearing environmental suits and helmets, the sound would have alerted them half a second later to the intruders.
Beside Ten, Goodwin fired controlled bursts at the others in the group. The muzzle flashes flared in the dark of the station. Torches jumped and span as the pirates fell. It was over in seconds, and nothing moved but a shell casing rolling away under a rack.
Ten and Goodwin swapped in new magazines and advanced between the racks of shelving. From ahead came the quiet pops of suppressed rifles, interspersed with sharp snapping sounds that must be enemy fire. The pirates might have been caught by surprise but the survivors had mounted a determined defence.
Ten and Goodwin rounded a corner to see the pirates crouching ahead of them, sheltering behind a vehicle; they had discarded their torches and were firing at the Marines from behind a truck.
“Harrington’s down,” said Milton over the comms channel.
Ten growled and opened fire, cutting into the nearest pirates.
Goodwin joined him, and their murderous fire had an immediate impact.
“They’re done,” said Ten moments later, swapping in a new magazine without lowering his weapon. He swept the area, Goodwin behind him, checking for movement or heat signatures.
“Clear,” he reported, scooping up one of the pirate’s pistols.
“Harrington’s dead,” said Milton, although they could all see his status in their HUDs. Ten and Goodwin made their way to Milton’s position, where she, Warden and Drummond were clustered around a body.
“Small calibre,” said Milton as she peered at the hole in Harrington’s chest, “but effective.”
“They were spraying the area, shooting at every bit of cover. Methodical,” muttered Drummond as Milton rolled Harrington’s body to show the much larger exit wound.
Ten looked around, and now he could see the holes in the crates and drums behind which the Marines had sheltered.
“Right through,” he murmured, inspecting one of the crates. The contrast with the controlled fire patterns of the Marines was stark. “Dumb luck,” pronounced Ten, “just dumb fucking luck.”
There was a pause, then,
“Harrington’s safe,” said Warden. “But these pistols are clearly a lot more dangerous than they look.”
“Built to punch through Deathless armour,” said Marine X, crouching down to inspect the damage. Then he pulled out the pistol he’d collected and looked at it for a few seconds. “What sort of pirates carry weapons like this?”
“And where do they get them?” added Milton.
“Problems for another time,” said Warden.
“Time to go,” said Warden. “Let’s get this done, and remember that neither armour nor shelter is proof against these nasty little pistols.”
Back in the corridor, Agent O restored the low-level lighting and lit the path to guide them to their next destination.
Warden nodded grimly to himself as the team moved out, following Agent O’s path and making rapid progress through the deserted station.
Warden surveyed the room. It wasn’t as open as he would have liked, but it was as a good a spot for an ambush as they had seen.
“Up the stairs,” he said, pointing at the stairs, “and onto the gallery. You know how this works.”
The Marines nodded and moved quickly to the stairs, spreading out around the balcony.
Warden was just wondering why that seemed familiar when the door slid open beneath his spot on the gallery. A group of figures moved quickly into the room, obviously following some sort of arranged route, and headed towards the doors on the other side.
Then the lights went out.
14
“Fire,” said Warden unnecessarily, pulling his trigger and sending rapid bursts into the suddenly confused pirates. With the twin advantages of military-grade night vision equipment and surprise, the Marines cut down the pirates before they even realised they had been ambushed. It was over in seconds.
“Everyone okay?” asked Warden, although he knew from his HUD that none of his people had been injured. For a few more seconds, everything was quiet and still.
Then the lights came back on and they were able to see the corpses and the damage.
“That was you,” said Ten, nudging Goodwin and grinning as he pointed at a neat cluster of holes in a table. “Not even close, Gooders. Awful.”
“I was aiming for that one,” snapped Goodwin, swapping out her magazine and nodding at one of the corpses. “But some stupid fucker shot its head off before I got to it. If you’d worked in from the right like normal, it would have been fine.”
“From the right?” said Ten in mock exasperation as he reloaded his own weapon. He walked off along the gallery towards the stairs, shaking his head. “I don’t know what the youth of today are coming to, I really don’t.”
“Knock it off,” said Milton. “We’re not done here yet.”
sent Agent O as the lights came back on.
“Told you, Gooders,” Ten chided.
“I said bloody well knock it off, you two!” snapped Milton.
Warden shook his head and looked around as the corridor opened out into a wider passage with arched entrances leading in all directions.
There was the sound of hissing steam and a line of holes were suddenly punched in the wall above the Marines. They scattered, taking such cover as was afforded by the arches as another burst of fire clattered from the command suite to pound the station’s already bruised structure.
“Sounds like a good way to get killed,” muttered Goodwin. Nobody disagreed.
“We need a better way in,” said Warden as another burst of fire punched holes on either side of the arch that led into the command room.
“I’ve got this, sir,” said Ten, pulling out his stolen pistol and peering at the buttons.
Then there was a series of loud bangs and blast doors began to close in the nearby corridors.
“What the hell was that?” said Warden.
Another burst of noise, quieter this time and further away.
A third round of fire echoed through the station, longer and more sustained.
“The Navy boys are getting jumpy,” said Warden.
“Really?” muttered Ten as another burst of fire from the command suite cut through the walls. “I’m none too happy myself. Let’s get this bloody done, shall we?”
“What’s the plan, Ten?” asked Milton, her unease growing as another volley of railgun fire shuddered through the station.
“Distract them,” said Ten, nodding towards the remaining pirates, “and I’ll saunter over and slot ’em.” He waved the pistol and grinned.
“A distraction?” murmured Milton, grinning evilly as Ten wormed his way forward.
Ten’s eyebrows went up as an access request popped into his HUD. He tapped through the confirmation and ignored the warning that granting access permissions to a third-party breached the EULA and might invalidate his warranty.
sent Agent O.
Ten grunted as his HUD view was overlaid with a wireframe model of the interior of the command suite. When he looked at the wall, he could see the figures and furniture within.
“Nice,” he muttered, raising his pistol. He sighted on the first red figure. “When you’re ready, Colour.”
Another burst of railgun fire tore into the station and a wind sprang up as atmosphere vented from a small hole on the far side of the room. Then something metallic bounced across the floor, tumbling in the wind, before exploding with a loud bang and a bright flash.
The response from the pirates was immediate as they fired in the direction of the flashbang, rounds smashing through walls.
Ten adjusted his aim and fired twice, once for each pirate, and suddenly the only noise was the wind.
“Two kills,” said a voice in the air. “But this area is no longer safe.” There was a burst of shouting and a figure stumbled out of the command suite looking distinctly uncomfortable.
“No suit,” said Goodwin as the wind continued.
“The path will lead the way,” said Agent O, its voice distorted by the thinning atmosphere, “but you must move very swiftly.” He said something else in Koschite as the Valkyr scientist pushed forwards against the wind.
“Grab her,” said Warden, “and let’s get out of here.”
Milton and Drummond moved quickly forward, grasped the surprised scientist by her arms and half-dragged, half-carried her across the windswept room.
“Get to the door,” said Agent O, “and go quickly through.”
The Marines surged forward, caution forgotten as the wind whipped at their heels and dragged at their suits. The Valkyr scientist shouted something but her words were snatched away by the madly venting atmosphere as it screamed through the breach in the station’s hull.
“She’s turning blue,” shouted Drummond, glancing from the door to the scientist.
The door opened, and the Marines stood, heads down, as they battled the renewed gale that swept through the doorway.
The Marines pushed forward, battling the gale, their power armour straining to help them progress. They pushed the scientist through the doorway and heaved themselves after her, arms linked as they fought their way out of the leaking chamber.
And then the doors shut behind them and the howling gale stopped. The abrupt silence was broken only by the hiss of gas vents as the pressure was normalised. The scientist took a few gasping breaths, her colour quickly returning to normal as she stood with her hands on her knees, shaking.
They all stood for a few seconds, recovering.
“That was too close,” said Warden, looking around at his small team and the corridor in which they found themselves. “This isn’t the way we came in.”
It sounded like Agent O was reassuring Skar in Koschite, giving her instructions. She said something in reply, clearly dubious, but then allowed the Marines to escort her to the suit room.
A few minutes later she looked around at them from inside her suit.
sent Agent O.
“Useful,” said Warden, nodding thoughtfully. A shudder ran through the station, bringing him back to the present. “Let’s go,” he said, “this place is getting dicey.”
They moved out with Marine X in the lead, following the path on the floor. It took them quickly through the station until they reached a door that wouldn’t open.
They had a few seconds to check their suits, then the atmosphere was sucked from the corridor. The door ahead opened, and they moved out onto the gallery under the atrium.
Or under the gap where the atrium had been. There were now gaping holes in the glass and puncture wounds in the walls. The lights were out and the cavern was lit only by the stars.
But it was the trees that caught their attention. Exposed to the hard vacuum of space, they had frozen. The sudden transformation from green to frosty white was disquieting.
Warden stared around, horrified by the sudden change. Then another round of r
ailgun fire ripped through the trees and walls, smashing trunks and filling the volume with a sprinkle of splinters and shattered leaves.
There was a pause and more shudders ran through the station, almost throwing the Marines from their feet as they sprinted along the path Agent O had set for them.
Then the lights failed and the path they were following winked out.
“Stand by, they say,” said Drummond, “as if this was some sort of jaunt.”
“Quiet,” snapped Milton.
The seconds dragged by, then the door to the airlock slid open. Cohen stood on the other side in power armour, waving them to hurry.
“Move,” said Cohen, pulling at Skar as she stumbled into the airlock and pushing her to the far end. “Come on, hurry up.”
Another shock ran through the station and threw them all from their feet. Cohen counted heads then slapped the control, closing the door to the station. The door to Palmerston opened almost immediately and they all bundled through.
“We’re aboard,” shouted Cohen running for the bridge. “Get us away, Corn.”
Warden and Skar followed, arriving as Corn disengaged the docking clamps and eased Palmerston away from the stricken station.
“You’re safe now,” Warden said to Skar, hoping it was true. “We’ll take you to Child of Starlight.” He removed his helmet and adjusted his HUD so that it sat more comfortably on his head. Then he frowned at Skar. “Were you truly the only person aboard Ornament?”