by Dean Sault
“They’re trying to get a weapon lock,” Simon said confidently, even a bit cocky. “No problem, I’m absorbing their signals into the matrix. They can’t target us.”
The massive enemy ship kept growing larger until it filled several monitors at the same time.
“There’s no end to that thing.” Again, Simon did not sound concerned.
Suddenly, a bright flash came from the side of the royal ship. Nothing happened. Several more flashes followed, again, with no impact. Then, the entire control room filled with a burst of light, monitors jumped erratically, and the craft vibrated.
One of the Heptari energy pulses found its mark. A few moments later, another round hit with the same result. Even Dr. Boroski’s hologram flickered.
“Doc, how are they targeting us? I’m absorbing their range signals.” Simon’s confidence was shaken.
“You’re flying in a straight line. They’re plotting a linear course and anticipating a firing solution. Fly erratic.”
Another bright flash came from the side of the great ship. This time, there was no impact.
“It worked. They missed.” Simon’s confidence began to recover. “We’re almost to the asteroid field.”
The human ship began initial penetration into the safety of the asteroid belt with Simon carefully skirting several large asteroids.
“That was close,” Kelly shouted.
Without warning, the human ship changed course in a violent maneuver, throwing the control room passengers hard against the sides of their seats. Only restraining straps prevented them from tumbling across the cabin.
Monitors showed space rocks whizzing by perilously close. Kerl-Ga’s claws tore deep into the synthetic fabric of her chair as they reversed course and accelerated out of the asteroid field they had just entered.
“Sorry about that. Look at the rear monitor,” Simon said to explain his action.
The control room’s rear-facing display gave silent testimony to the necessity for the abrupt course change. Only Simon’s alert piloting prevented a head-on collision with a second Heptari mega-ship as it thrust its way out of the asteroid belt. The big ship’s nose filled the exact point where, only moments before, they were about to enter the space-rock field.
As everyone watched, a small Heptari service ship went out of control after being struck by a house-sized rock that deflected off the royal ship’s nose. The damaged vessel bounced into the side of big ship, exploding in a flash of blue. The royal vessel did not slow or alter its course.
Simon flew his starship away from the danger. As he did, the first Heptari Royal ship loomed directly ahead, cutting off their escape path.
“They’re trying to ram us with fighters,” he said when he noticed the change in Heptari tactics. “They figured out they can’t hurt us with cannons.”
Bright flashes continued along the side of the big ship as gunners tried to anticipate the human ship’s course. A pursuing Heptari fleet fighter was not so lucky, vaporizing in the cannon-fire from its own command ship.
“You’re doing a good job,” Dr. Boroski encouraged his young pilot. “Do you see the two fighters hiding below the ship’s nose?”
“I see em, Doc.”
Simon accelerated past the first fighter before it could get close enough to pose a threat. He made a course adjustment preparing to pass the second fighter when the entire control room exploded in bright light. A lucky cannon hit from the big ship blacked out all sensors.
“Brace yourselves!” Simon shouted.
The human ship shook with a strange physical impact. This was not like the cannon fire from the big command ship. It felt dull and solid.
“What was that? Did we hit a rock?” Shilgar understood the possibilities.
“That second fighter rammed us. I couldn’t change course when the power went out for a second.”
“Are we okay?” Kelly asked while seeking entry, unsuccessfully, into Simon’s mind.
“I don’t know. I just got control back. We’re pulling away from the Heptari command ship, but I don’t know what happened to Doc. He’s gone.”
“What’s wrong?” Kelly sensed a thread of fear.
Shilgar slipped naturally into a leadership role. “See if you can determine the extent of damage to our ship.”
“I’m trying. Doc used to take care of the internal ops stuff. He only showed me how once.”
The human leader pressed for more detail. “Did the impact penetrate the hull?”
“Yeah. Looks like they hit primary engineering. That’s the last room with all the gauges you came through on your way up here.”
“Do you have internal monitors that can see into that room?”
“I can’t find any that are operational. They must have been damaged.”
“Is there atmosphere in engineering?” Shilgar developed a plan.
“Yeah, it looks normal now, but it dropped right after the impact. Our ship seems to be sealing itself.”
An unfamiliar voice filled the control room cabin.
“You are correct, Simon. I designed this hull to repair itself in deep space. Oh, hello. I am Doctor Farnthal. We’re trying to restore Dr. Boroski’s program. It was damaged in the power surge.”
Shilgar continued to fill the leadership void.
“Dr. Farnthal, how bad is the damage?”
“The ship’s hull suffered a full breech at primary engineering. We restored life support to all the stasis cells. Your passengers are fine. The hull has been sealed, and we’re reorganizing the external power grid.”
“How long will repairs take?”
“Less than one Tanarac day, but if Simon can place us in orbit near the primary sun of Tanarac, the extra energy will speed the process.”
Simon changed course immediately.
“How long will it take to restore Dr. Boroski?” Simon did not like being in sole control of the human starship.
Dr. Farnthal’s reply was garbled.
“I didn’t understand you. Please repeat.” Simon’s anxiety rose.
There was no response.
The steady engine vibration in the spaceship began to stutter with sporadic interruptions. Everyone on the command deck felt the surges.
“What’s going on, Simon?” Shilgar asked.
Before he could answer, a faint image of Dr. Boroski materialized. It blinked in and out of phase. He seemed to be trying to communicate, but his sentences were fragmented. Only one word came through clearly.
“Intruders!”
Shilgar unbuckled his restraints. Kerl-Ga tore at her harness when she saw him stand up. He began signing to her, but no matter what he said, she would have none of it. She strained to get free of her straps.
“Okay, old girl. You can come with me,” Shilgar said.
Simon released her security straps.
“We’re going down there to take a look. Are there any weapons on this ship?”
“No.”
Shilgar pulled up his lower pant leg, revealing a hunting knife. The nasty looking blade was slightly longer than his hand with a serrated edge on both sides.
“This will have to do.”
He and the Kerl-Ga disappeared in the light lift. As soon as they left, Kelly made a strange sound and fell back against her seat.
“What’s wrong?” Simon disconnected from his chair and rushed to her side.
“I don’t know. I’m seeing blurry images. I . . . I can’t control them.” She closed her eyes.
“Tell me what you’re seeing.”
“It looks like parts of the ship. I see Shilgar.”
The light lift deposited the scout and hicay in the small transport room. Wisps of smoke curled through the doorway immediately across from them. Kerl-Ga moved silently along the wall at the far side on the room while her human companion moved against the near wall. A bright flash in the next room was followed by crackling sounds as electronic controls short-circuited.
Shilgar cautioned his animal partner to stay back w
hile he peeked through the opening. He recalled the engineering room as a highly organized center, full of electronic monitors and controls. Now, a thick layer of smoke hung just above eye level, limiting his view.
Large fragments of metal were scattered across the floor. One man-sized cone only a few steps from his doorway position had alien writing on it.
Shilgar motioned for the hicay to hold position as he slipped through the door and hid behind the piece of wreckage. A beam of light flashed past his hiding place, impacting on nearby gauges that exploded in a shower of sparks.
He heard a strange alien dialect from his hiding place, so he reached inside his shirt’s security pocket and produced the translator earplug Dr. Hadje had given him. The odd, hissing voices became clear.
“There’s another control panel. Destroy it.” A pulse of energy smashed into yet another instrument panel across the room.
“I can’t see much in this smoke. Let’s find the control cabin. There’s a door over here. Cover me.”
A heavyset alien walked past Shilgar’s position. Every muscle in the scout’s body tightened as he withdrew further behind concealment. He knew Kerl-Ga would be seen when the soldier entered the room, so he quickly assessed his foe, looking for weakness.
The reptilian soldier walked with a heavy stride. Shilgar knew he would be strong but hoped he might lack speed. He reminded himself to take nothing for granted. The soldier had a heavy, muscular tail that twitched in subtle balancing bends as he walked.
When the enemy passed through the doorway, Kerl-Ga sprang. Her middle legs locked around the torso of the Heptari while her deadly teeth and upper claws sought vital points near his throat. The soldier’s weapon discharged reflexively across the room, missing her by inches.
The Heptari and hicay tumbled out of sight as momentum carried them to one side of the doorway. Shilgar forced himself to stay hidden. Stealth was his best weapon.
Kerl-Ga let out an ear-shattering scream of pain as the doorway lit up with another weapon discharge.
Shilgar fought the urge to rush to her aid.
His self-discipline was immediately rewarded. A second Heptari limped past his position. This one appeared injured in the space collision, his left arm hung loosely at his side and green blood dripped from a deep gash. His good arm held a large weapon that gave off an audible hum.
This second soldier was more cautious. He hid against the wall and used a mirror mounted near the end of his weapon to look into the room.
Kerl-Ga and the first Heptari rolled into Shilgar’s sight, locked in a fight to the death.
The soldier by the door stepped into the room and aimed his weapon at the combatants. Shilgar pounced, plunging his knife deep into the good arm of the soldier, trying to disable both enemy arms.
The Heptari dropped his weapon in pain. Despite pulling frantically at his knife, it would not come free. Scales jammed against the hilt of his knife, locking it firmly in place.
Blood gushed from a gaping wound in Kerl-Ga’s abdomen, but the legendary hicay locked her upper and lower legs around the assailant while her middle two arms tore at his abdomen. Sharp claws had already shred the enemy’s flight suit.
The enemy soldier tried, in vain, to turn his hand weapon against the hicay. Several blasts singed Kerl-Ga’s hair, but did not stop her claws from scraping across scales of his midsection. Then, a single scale impaled on one of her claws, pulling free and exposing soft under-flesh.
The end was swift. She released her grip on the limp soldier when the contents of his abdominal cavity spilled onto the floor around her. She screamed into the air before plunging her teeth deep into his exposed throat, in a ritual final bite.
While Kerl-Ga finished off her opponent, Shilgar’s weight brought down the already weakened enemy near the doorway. As they fell, the enemy pivoted on his tail, throwing the human to one side. Its thick tail snapped around like a whip, striking the scout across the side of his head. The powerful impact blacked out Shilgar’s vision for an instant. It returned just in time to see the Heptari grab his weapon off the floor and fire.
The searing heat of an energy blast burned the skin on the side of Shilgar’s face. He rolled to one side, away from the glowing barrel, trying to be a difficult target.
The Heptari fired again, this time making a hole in the floor where Shilgar lay, an instant before.
Well-trained, the scout leaped to his feet and circled the Heptari, moving toward the enemy’s limp arm to avoid the weapon. The soldier stopped tracking his human opponent for a second and used his teeth to pull at the painful knife, still imbedded in his only good arm. His weapon pointed down for an instant, as he struggled with the knife.
Shilgar lunged, knocking him off balance. This time, the Elder-Scout anticipated the reptilian tail-swing and stepped back in time for it to whip past, harmlessly.
The Heptari’s back was exposed, a fatal mistake in martial arts of any race. Shilgar leaped onto his enemy, slipping his forearm around the reptile’s throat. He tightened his chokehold with all the strength he possessed while the enemy tore at the human’s crushing forearm.
Claws drew blood as they punctured soft flesh, but Shilgar borrowed strength from the pain-induced adrenaline to further tighten his strangle hold.
As the combatants fell to the floor, he spread his legs to prevent the heavy soldier from rolling on top of him. The enemy’s tail lashed across Shilgar’s back, shredding his clothes and leaving bloody scrapes across his upper torso, but he never let up, even when the Heptari soldier’s movements became weak and erratic, and his burning muscles begged for relief. When the enemy’s neck muscles went limp, and his head slumped to one side, the free human leader released his chokehold and rolled off the dead soldier.
Kerl-Ga lay motionless on top of her kill with the lizard-soldier’s throat still clenched in her teeth. A large pool of red hicay blood floated on top of denser green blood.
Chapter 61
A Tasker-human scout team ran past Benjamin’s elevated position without noticing him. Two enemy soldiers pursued, firing wildly as they did.
He aimed the hand weapon Kob had given him and pressed the firing button. The trailing enemy soldier crumpled to the ground, smoke billowing from a hole in his side. The lead soldier dove sideways, rolled over his shoulder, and came up firing from a kneeling position.
The blast hit stone next to Benjamin’s arm, spraying tiny drops of molten rock across his hand and setting fire to his sleeve. The senior scout fired back as he scrambled for cover.
Another flash, from a different angle, killed the enemy soldier who collapsed in a smoking heap. Kob remained in his firing stance with his weapon trained on the crumpled Heptari until he was certain the soldier was dead.
Benjamin slid down from his observation perch just as the fleeing scout team circled back. They briefed him in short phrases, between gasps of air.
“They’re right over the next bank. You gotta get outta here. We’ll hold em off.”
Both Taskers and the human expressed concern for their leaders. The Elder human ignored the advice and climbed back to his observation post with binoculars in hand.
In the distance, the first wave of hicays attacked the rear guard of the enemy formation. The beasts used instinctual hunting patterns, staying low to the ground and moving as close to their prey as possible, before they charged.
Heptaris fired at each hicay as soon as it they spotted one. A few animals fell under the pulse beams, but many successfully crossed the short distance to take down their prey.
Benjamin hated his helpless feeling. From his location, all he could do was watch waves of hicays, as they entered the battlefield without his guidance.
Despite the enemy reputation as fierce fighters, a few lizard-soldiers lost composure at the frightening sight of six-legged carnivores and ran out of their ranks. The fast beasts quickly disemboweled them.
Dr. Hadje and the scout team joined Benjamin, watching the battle below.
; One of the Taskers could not believe his eyes, “Where did all those hicays come from?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen so many,” he said.
Hicays penetrated to the center of the Heptari force, and forward units of enemy soldiers turned back to assist their embattled comrades. Tanarac-human scout teams, emboldened by the hicay attack, emerged from concealment to cut off those enemy reinforcements.
Kob and the scout team with Benjamin left to join the fight below. Intensity of the battle grew to a fever pitch as Heptari tactical warfare disintegrated into the chaos of widespread hand-to-hand and hand-to-beast combat.
Hicays mauled lizard-soldiers across the battlefield while Taskers and scouts double-teamed Heptari fighters. Stun cords flew through the air, and human scouts used their hunting skills with ruthless efficiency.
Occasional flashes from particle beam weapons rose randomly from the mining depression until the last of the enemy soldiers met their deaths. The end was not dramatic. Fighting simply slowed until the last Heptari died.
Benjamin and Dr. Hadje worked their way down to the carnage below.
“We did it!” Kob called out, as he ran up to the human leader, squeezing him in a tight embrace.
Blood was everywhere, much of it green, some red and some blue. At the far end of the field, several hicays were dragging Heptari corpses toward the distant jungle.
“Rosh, I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
Benjamin called over his shoulder, as he limped around Heptari bodies.
“I have to stop our hicay friends. We have an agreement. They do not take the remains of dead humans. I’m going to ask them to extend the same courtesy to the Heptari soldiers.”
He hobbled as fast as he could toward the looming atrocity. When he reached the far end of the battlefield, a particularly large hicay stepped in front of him, blocking his path. He attempted to step around the magnificent beast, but it paralleled his movements, intentionally blocking him each time.
Puzzled by the behavior, Benjamin began signing to the animal. It responded with low-pitched throat sounds and a few carefully articulated head positions. Several times during their conversation, he leaned to one side to look past the beast’s shoulder. Nearby, two hicays picked over some dead Heptaris, before selecting one to drag away.