by Ramy Vance
Alex looked over her shoulder, giddy with the fright of having almost been caught. “Hell, yeah!” she exclaimed. “Guess your plan went off without a hitch, Gill! Dude, you are a freakin’ miracle.”
Gill, who was flying beside Alex, smiled softly as he nodded. “Thank you. It is appreciated.”
Brath groaned loudly enough to be heard over the wind and without the comm. “You two could use a private channel, you know,” Brath suggested.
A laser beam shot past Alex, burning a little bit of her hair. “Holy crap!” she shouted as she turned.
A horde of drones was pouring out of the stables, heading for the riders. The drones were nearly the size of a gnome, but it wasn’t their size that worried her. It was the sheer number of them. There seemed to be dozens.
Jim’s voice crackled over his older comm system. He was laughing as he spoke. “Looks like Gill the Nerd brought a hell storm on us,” he chided.
Gill laughed too. “If you can’t deal with a couple of drones, maybe you shouldn’t be riding with Boundless.”
Over the comm, Brath muttered, “Gods, you two should just get a room already. Alex, what’s the plan?”
Alex pointed to a nearby mountain range. “We can lose them in the mountains. Maybe not Jim, though. Jim, can you keep up with us if we hit top speed?”
He answered, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to match your speed. The mech is too slow.”
“Jollies, you and I are going to run a distraction. The rest of you, cover Jim and head to the mountains.”
Jollies flashed Alex a smile as the two of them peeled off from the rest of the riders, who sped toward the mountain range, making sure to slow down for Jim’s hulking dragon mech.
Alex and Jollies went straight for the drones, using their superior speed to weave out of the way of the lasers. The drones seemed to take a long time to lock onto a target, especially if the target was moving. Alex didn’t need to say anything to Jollies. The pixie zipped and zoomed as fast as she could.
They were still a good distance from the drones, and the air was already beginning to thicken with heat from the lasers. “Do you think we’re going to get busted for this?” Jollies shouted.
Alex swerved to the left, barely avoiding a missile that had flown at her. “If we survive this, we might be in a little bit of trouble,” She laughed.
“You have a really bad habit of getting involved in suicide missions.”
Chine pulled up, absorbing one of the lasers with his chest piece before launching an ether fire ball at the drone that had made the mistake of hitting him. “You know, I’m pretty sure we’ve been on a suicide mission since we first got here,” Alex said. “At least we chose this one.”
Alex and Jollies dived farther into the exploding field of lasers and drones. They were close enough now so the drones were having an even harder time aiming. The drones had been built for long-range combat, and the closer the riders got, the less effective the devices became.
Heading toward the mountain range might not have been the best idea, in hindsight. It would give the drones the advantage. Further, it would funnel the drones into a tight space with the riders, making the range a shooting gallery for whoever got lucky.
Alex determined that it was going to be the riders. She just had to figure out how to ensure they had the advantage.
A drone larger than the rest broke away from the swarm. It was covered in multiple sensors and eyes. The drone did not attack, just popped out of the swarm and watched. “I don’t like the look of that thing,” Alex shouted. “Jollies, can you handle it?”
Jollies didn’t answer but surged forward, working her way around the other drones with a skill far beyond her years and stopping abruptly in front of the drone. She aimed her dragon anchor, and Timber let loose a crack of lightning that split the drone in half.
Alex was flying through the swarm now, the drones trying to figure out the best way to attack. There didn’t seem to be one. Chine was tearing through the drones, and Alex had pulled out her scythe to help cut them down. However, the drones kept coming.
Jollies and Alex pulled up out of the swarm, flying backward so they could keep an eye on the drones. The devices seemed to have lost interest in the other riders. That was good news.
Then the drones did something that alarmed Alex greatly. The drones all stopped together. It was as if they had all received the same order and responded to it at precisely the same time. The drones stayed perfectly still, their red eyes blinking like a stalling computer.
Alex leaned over Chine’s neck to get a better look. “This isn’t good. I’ve seen this happen before; I just don’t know where. But I’ve seen this. I know I have.”
Then it clicked. It was the same uniform movement Alex had seen with her dragon armor. The drones were starting to move like nanotech. That was a very bad thing.
As if the drones were reading Alex’s mind, they melded together, pressing against each other so tightly you couldn’t see where one drone ended and the next began. They formed a complex chain of robot bodies, taking the shape of a cobra.
The drone snake was easily twice the size of Chine. The only dragon on Team Boundless large enough to deal with the drone cobra was Furi, but he was too far ahead with Jim and the rest.
Alex didn’t need to tell Chine what to do. The dragon had already picked it up. He fired another fireball as he retreated, heading toward the mountain range, Jollies racing at his side. Can’t say I’ve seen that before, Chine murmured.
Alex chuckled. Really? Aren’t you dragons supposed to have seen it all by now?
I am still young and new to battle. This is a first.
Alex always forgot Chine was still considered to be a young dragon and didn’t have much combat experience. Sometimes he said things that made Alex think he was as green as she was, but his combat skills suggested otherwise. Maybe dragons were born with an innate understanding of fighting.
Jollies and Alex raced toward the mountain range. Alex tried to reach the other riders by comm, but there must have been too much distance between them, or the drones were blocking the transmission. At this point, it didn’t matter.
The pressing issue was the giant nanotech cobra hissing and shooting lasers at Jollies and Alex.
Going into the mountain range was an almost guaranteed death trap now. When the drones were just a horde, they would have been easy enough to scatter. Now that they had formed a whole creature, they seemed to have grown bolder and more aggressive.
On top of that issue, if there were any cracks in the mountain range Team Boundless could have exploited, they would be useless now. The drone cobra was too large. It would dominate the space.
Alex couldn’t think of a reasonable course of action, other than linking back up with the rest of the team. So far, Alex’s usual plan was to attack and hope things worked themselves out. This time, it was obvious attacking the techno-cobra was not going to work out.
Alex’s comm started to buzz and she flipped up her HUD to see who it was. Manny’s unhappy eyes met hers. “I do not have time for this right now,” she muttered as she hung up on Manny.
He’s probably just going to tell me in a thousand different ways how I should have stayed at the facility. And I do not have time for that.
The techno-cobra let out a roar that reminded Alex she did not have time to talk to Manny. As she looked over her shoulder, she could see it opening its mouth, a bright red light glowing in the back of its throat. “It’s charging for a blast!” Alex shouted.
Jollies and Alex broke away from each other as a laser blast seared past them, carving a gash into the side of the mountains ahead. “That thing is no joke!” Jollies shouted.
Alex pointed up and started to ascend, heading straight into the clouds. Jollies followed her as she patched into Gill. “Hey! Hypothetically speaking, if there were a giant nanotech snake following us, would you have any idea how to disable it?” she asked.
Gill’s voice crackled over the c
omm. “Hypothetically speaking, Jim should have an EMP device in his dragon mech that would disable any electronics that aren’t dragon-forged,” he answered.
“Is that true, Jim?”
Jim replied confidently, “Yeah, I have a couple of EMP devices. A bomb, even. The mechs come outfitted with a dozen different EMP weapons.”
“Are you ready to play the hero today?”
“I was born ready.”
Chapter Six
Alex and Jollies rose higher as the cobra followed on their tails. They were biding their time, trying to put some space between themselves and the cobra while Jim told them his coordinates.
Surprisingly, the rest of the team had found an almost invisible cavern in one of the mountains. Brath had had the great idea of hiding there for an ambush.
The only problem was, Jollies and Alex needed enough space between them and the nanotech cobra so they could surprise the machine creature.
A laser blast tore past Alex, who pulled hard to the left on Chine, swinging up higher to avoid the blast. “Are we getting any farther ahead of them?” Alex shouted.
Jollies checked over her shoulder and shook her head. “It looks like it’s gaining on us,” Jollies replied. “Oh, wait! I have an idea. Gill said an EMP would disable them, right? Amber can create her own electromagnetism. Hold on!”
Jollies started to weave back and forth in front of Alex. Every couple of seconds, Amber would drop what looked like a small glowing ball. Every so often, a crack of lightning would snap around the ball—tiny EMP grenades.
As the techno-cobra sped after the dragonriders, it bumped into the first mini-EMP grenade. The grenade went off, sending a chain reaction of exploding EMPs through the sky.
The techno-cobra shrieked in what sounded like pain as its body started to come apart. Drones flew in different directions, confused by the energy coming off the grenades. Their communication was severed. It would take some time to re-establish a link.
Jollies and Alex flew down under the clouds as fast as they could toward the coordinates of the rest of the team. They sped through the mountains until they found the cavern where the team was huddled.
The cave was a huge gash in a slope, with enough space to fit at least two more full-sized dragons. Chine and Amber were easily able to fit into the remaining space. There was even enough room for the riders to walk around beneath their dragons.
As Alex leaped off Chine, Jim’s mechanical mech moved toward the lip of the gash and plopped down. The back opened up, and Jim pulled himself out of the mech. Gill came up and gave Jim a hand climbing down from the mech. “And now for the final touch,” Gill said.
Timber turned around so his tail was facing out toward the other mountains. He spread his wings over the gap, blocking out the light, so only a little bit got through. Then his scales shimmered and changed color and texture to that of the mountain.
Team Boundless was completely camouflaged from the outside. Even to a drone, they would look the same as the mountain’s slopes. Now all they had to do was wait for the drones to come through. “Wait, Jollies and I lost them. How do we know they’re coming?” Alex asked.
Jim jerked his thumb at his mech. “We figured out how they were tracking us,” Jim said. “All mech riders have a transponder on their rig. Mine’s no different. Unfortunately, it isn’t something we’re told. Guess they think we might run off on some stupid mission with them.”
“And they send drones after you to kill you?”
“Probably not. We all saw that facility wasn’t up to snuff. It’s probably a malfunction. Murder seems a little extreme for a joyride. Either way, Gill and Brath helped me cut out the transponder. We’re still leaving it running for a little bit to draw the drones in, then Gill’s got something planned for it.”
Gill had gone to sit down on a rock, folding one leg over the other. He closed his eyes as he meditated. Alex wanted to ask him what he was planning, but once Gill closed his eyes, he was dead to the world until he opened them.
Jollies landed on Alex’s shoulder as she walked over to Brath and took a seat beside him. “How are you holding up?” she asked.
Brath forced a smile from beneath his beard. “It feels weird to be disobeying orders like this,” Brath admitted. “I mean, you’d think they would want us to help them instead of trying to shove us in the barracks.”
Alex shrugged. “They just don’t know what we’re capable of,” she said. “People tend to underestimate me, don’t you think?”
Brath nodded as Alex winked at him and laughed. “Yeah,” the gnome said. “I have firsthand experience of that. So, what, we just wait here forever?”
“Better than being out there, hunted by that freaky cobra thing. Trust me, you’d rather be bored for a little bit than have to deal with that.”
Team Boundless waited, occasionally standing and stretching, walking back and forth to kill time. Gill was the only one who didn’t seem bothered. Everyone else, especially Alex, looked ready to come out of their skin.
Because of Timber’s cloaking, the team wasn’t able to check if the drones were coming. All they could do was look at Jim’s computer system, the blinking green lights in a green graph. Something was coming, at least, but only Jim really knew how far away it was at the moment.
Alex wandered over to where Chine was relaxing, plopped down next to him, and curled up under his wing. I haven’t heard you complain about how bored you are in a whole day, the dragon joked.
Chine’s scales rose and settled back down as Alex nuzzled up closer. I’m trying to get better about that. It makes it harder for everyone else if I’m complaining all the time too. Waiting shouldn’t be torture. I mean, look at Gill.”
The dragon raised his head and looked across the snug hiding spot at Gill, who was now meditating on top of Timber’s head. He chuckled. Patient dragon. That would drive me crazy.
So, does everyone talk to their dragon as much as I talk to you? It’s kinda weird—you know, everyone sitting in a room quietly, having conversations no one can hear.
Chine absentmindedly clawed at the ground underneath him. The older dragons used to speak aloud. Their language was of the elements. That’s all breathing fire is—speaking the old tongue. We young ones, though, haven’t mastered the art. For us, speaking could accidentally kill you. Best to err on the side of caution.
Damn, you guys really are that powerful? Gets me thinking again. What the hell could the Dark One have that’s bigger and tougher than you dragons?
I do not know. No doubt, we will find out soon enough.
Alex’s comm went off, beeping loudly, potentially giving away their position. She covered it quickly and answered the call. It was Manny. “What do you want, Manny?” she hissed. “This isn’t the best time for me to talk.”
Before Manny spoke, Alex patched their conversation into the team channel. Gill opened his eyes as Jim, Brath, and Jollies walked over to Alex.
Manny was practically shouting at the top of his lungs. “I know it’s not a good time for you to be talking since I know you have a horde of drones after you! What were you thinking? Do you know how much trouble you’re going—”
“I don’t care how much trouble I’m getting into. Did you hear about Roy and Toppinir? Absolutely no backup, and they aren’t getting any unless we bring it to them.”
Manny sighed loudly, and Alex could imagine the look on his face. She’d seen it enough through Manny’s eyes. “Okay, I know it sounds bad, but they’re figuring something out. I still don’t know what it is, but they’re working on… Oh, I don’t know, Alex,” he admitted.
“I knew it!” Alex exclaimed. “You guys have no idea how to help them.”
“Wait, wait. I’m not the one in charge of planning anything. All I get is the information that‘s passed to me. They may have—”
“Manny, tell me the truth. Are they planning on saving Roy and Toppinir?”
Manny was silent for a long time, much longer than needed. Alex already
knew the answer. She just wanted to hear Manny say it. “They aren’t planning on sending any backup,” Manny finally said. “Roy and Toppinir are too far into enemy territory. We’d lose tons of riders getting there.”
Alex crossed her arms, trying to remember she wasn’t angry with Manny. None of this was his fault. He was trying to look out for her and the whole team. His only mistake was caring about Alex. “That’s why we have to do this,” she explained, “I know we can get him out. I recognized where they are. From VR.”
“You have to be kidding me. You think you can save him because you remember an area from VR? Do you know how insane that sounds?”
“Not as insane as letting your two best dragonriders get killed by the Dark One.”
Manny laughed, which surprised Alex. “It’s almost as insane as letting our most promising new recruits throw their lives away on a suicide mission,” he countered.
“Good point. We’re still going. So, either help keep us alive or stop wasting our time.”
Manny sighed again, and Alex could have sworn he was going to hang up on her. “I wish your personality profile had mentioned how stubborn you are. I’ll call you if I find anything out that’ll help you. Be careful, Alex.”
“Thanks, Manny. You too.”
Gill leaped off Timber and joined the rest of the team around Alex. “Sounds straightforward enough.” The drow glowered. “They’re just planning on abandoning them.”
Jollies zipped around, shaking her head. “It’s not that simple. It’s a death mission. Oh, sorry, a suicide mission. You heard what Manny said. They’d lose too many people.”
Brath didn’t seem to care how many people would be lost. He was brooding underneath his beard. “It’s cowardly,” he finally spat. “Those two are practically heroes, and they’re just going to leave them.”
Jim rested his hand on Brath’s shoulder. “Roy’s my captain. Since I became a mech rider, all I’ve heard is how he and Toppinir are unstoppable. Myrddin probably thinks they’re going to pull their asses out of this like they always do.”