“Owww," said Felix, grasping his leg in pain. Crystal put her arms around him. “You alright?." Felix grimaced and nodded. She turned towards Simbiel. “Leave him alone penis breath.”
Simbiel pointed a finger at her. Before he could shoot, the main doors opened and a smiling Tynan entered with two of his Templars. Simbiel turned and addressed him. “I trust your mission was a success?”
“Certainly was.”
Simbiel glared at him.
“My Lord," he added hurriedly.
“Time to leave then." Simbiel gestured at four of his Templars who grabbed Felix and Crystal by the arms, dragging them out into the corridor behind Simbiel and the Knights Captain.
Turning down another corridor they arrived at an AG lift. The doors open to reveal a ship security detachment. Their leader pointed his weapon nervously at Simbiel. “Drop your weapons," he demanded of the Templars.
Simbiel pulled out his sword. “You mean this?," he said innocently.
“Drop it." The security leaders arm was beginning to shake. His men were pointing their weapons alternatively at Simbiel and the other Templars.
“Of course." Simbiel’s sword swept out, almost too fast to follow, lopping off the hand of the security leader. Blood spurted out. The rest of the security detachment fired their plasma weapons at Simbiel, the bolts splattering harmlessly off a blue field now surrounding him.
Tynan and the rest of the Templars discharged their weapons into the lift. There were some brief screams, the smell of burnt flesh and some moist and disturbing sounding thuds as the bodies hit the floor. Simbiel turned and smiled at Felix. “Coming?”
Felix glared at him. “After you chuckles.”
He was thrown into the lift by two Templars, where he fell amidst the charred bodies and burnt blood. Crystal was pushed in after him. She helped Felix to his feet. Simbiel, Tynan and the other Templars joined them. One of the Templars opened an access panel on the lift wall and connected a small console to it, causing the lift to start descending.
Crystal was unsuccessfully trying not to stand on a dead body. She looked at Felix. “Look on the bright side. It certainly can’t get any worse.”
“Touch wood." He looked around for some wood to touch. There was none in the lift. He settled for touching his head.
◊
Ships without AI guidance were seen as being too risky to operate in Nospace. As a standard response, a ship that experienced the unlikely event of AI malfunction was brought immediately back into real space by automated backup systems.
A small point of light gradually grew to a circle of grey nothingness 10 km in diameter. The Dirty Little Minx emerged out of the circle, 20,000 km above a gas giant. The grey slowly disappeared, gradually filled in by the black space surrounding it.
Unknown to the current occupants of the Hedonist ship, the Dirty Little Minx was in a system 10 days travel (or 3, dependent on whether you had an Angel or not) from the nearest occupied world or asteroid. Catalogued 75 years earlier, the system was so unremarkable that it didn’t even warrant a name. On start charts it was known as QS176. No-one had bothered to name the gas giant. Like the system, it was unremarkable. Almost half the size of Jupiter, it was only 70,000 km in diameter. Unfortunately, it was still large enough to create a formidable magnetic field, attracting asteroids and other debris in the system. Today, the gas giant had captured something quite different. The Dirty Little Minx was currently caught and in a rapidly decreasing orbit.
The ships backup system issued a repeated warning to its passengers and crews. All through the ship, warning sirens went off.
“This is a Class 1 emergency. This ship is now in real space and is caught in the gravitational pull of a nearby body. Please proceed to the lifepods immediately.”
Unknown to the passengers on board, the designers of the Dirty Little Minx, with pleasure rather than safety in mind, had decided to allocate only enough space to evacuate approximately half of her total capacity. Fortunately, this fact didn’t seem to carry weight with many of the passengers. Many had never even heard of AI failure, let alone experienced it and as a result weren’t taking the announcement too seriously. Alarmingly, the remaining lifepods were still filling up largely due to the more intelligent, experienced and moderately sober passengers making their way with alacrity towards the lifepods.
Two that could be classified into the latter group were the two Transplanters, Derek and Bruce. After spending two years fighting together as mercenaries in various private wars, they had decided to take a much deserved holiday. In addition, Derek’s mum had recently passed away and Bruce was quietly worried that his friend was starting to lose it. He’d thought nothing could be better than two weeks of drinking and womanizing (some women were fascinated by Transplanters).
Heading towards the docking bay, Bruce spotted a group of figures ahead of them and nudged his friend.
“Hey, isn’t that the wanker that spilled your pint?”
Derek’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Fucking well looks like it.”
The Gorilla’s face contorted into a human facsimile of thought. “I wonder if he’s got a way off this crate.”
Derek smiled showing a face full of large canines. “Lets go find out shall we?”
◊
Logan emerged from the Debacherous Weekend wearing his newly acquired Class 5 Gorgon Battle Armor. The silver suit fully enclosed his body and was equipped with a full helm enabling an AI interface. Two lower mechanical arms, able to revolve in a 360 degree arc, each held a plasma gun. Thanks to the suits strength enhancement, he carried a large plasma cannon easily in one hand. His AI, connected to the tactical one in the suit, informed him that threat assessment and targeting overlays were already on line and there was no immediate danger in the vicinity. Tarquin, similarly dressed walked down the ramp behind him. Tarquin, in addition to the plasma guns carried in his secondary arms, held the large Afer. Their AI’s were also linked to each other to prevent accidental shooting in a combat situation.
Running through the docking bays foyer, the two men passed a number of passengers obviously heading for their own ships. These passengers paused only long enough to spare the suited figures startled looks as they ran past.
Emerging into the corridor, Logan spoke to Tarquin via the suits heads up display.
“My AI’s worked it out. The most likely route from the Executive suite to the docking bay goes through a small courtyard.” He sent over the spatial display to Tarquin.
“Good spot for some kind of ambush type arrangement."
“Yeah. We just have to separate Felix and Crystal from the bad guys.”
Tarquin patted the belt at his side. “No problem. I’ve got some rather sweet homing concussion missiles."
Logan smiled up at his friend uselessly. Tarquin was quite unable to see it through the helmet. “Nice."
◊
Asel watched the two heavily suited figures leave the docking bay. His brief had included details on two of Felix’s friends but he hadn’t taken much notice of them. Until now. His objective was getting Felix back to the Watchers, preferably with his brain intact so they could extract the Overdrive data. These two friends of Felix had been, up to now, of no importance. Things had changed when Asel saw the amount of hardware they were carrying. They had potential fuck up factor written all over them.
He ordered a squad of battle armored Nephillim to shadow them and then ordered the rest of his men to deploy in the docking bay area. Soon, he thought. This would soon be over and he’d have the Overdrive.
◊
Simbiel, his Templars and their two uncooperative prisoners were 500 meters from the docking bay when the shit hit the fan. Apart from various panicked passengers making their way to the life pods, they’d encountered only one other ship security detachment since leaving the executive suite. A short battle had ensued but the security team obviously didn’t have their heart in it, intent on self preservation and on making their own way to the lifepo
ds.
Coming to a large fern filled courtyard dotted with pillars, Simbiel’s survival instinct twinged. Sensing an ambush, he sent Tynan and 5 of his Templars ahead of him. When nothing untoward occurred, he cautiously ordered his other Templars into the area. Not willing to take any chances when success was so near, Simbiel himself stayed close to Felix and Crystal at the rear.
When they reached the centre of the courtyard, he sensed rather than saw small shapes streaking towards him. Using his wings, Simbiel rose vertically. A concussion wave struck him from below. Looking down he saw Felix, Crystal and a group of Templars prone on the ground. His AI reported he was being targeted but before he could react a vivid beam caught him directly in the chest. A momentary wave of dizziness came over him and he realized he’d been struck by an Afer. His field generation ability and invulnerability would be down for a few minutes.
He drew his sword and ordered Tynan and his remaining Templars to take cover and return fire. His bravery evaporating along with his invulnerability, Simbiel took his own advice and hid behind a pillar. Splashes of plasma hit the pillar and the far wall. His Templars were returning fire. Using his AI, he ordered Tynan to grab Felix and get to the ship whilst the other Templars provided covering fire. He himself would wait until his field generation ability reasserted itself.
Tynan and another of his Templars, using the pillars for cover, reached Felix, who was just beginning to stir. Crystal was already on her feet. He pointed his plasma gun at her.
“Help me with him," he said gesturing at Felix.
Glaring at him, Crystal did as she was told and together they got a groggy Felix to his feet and made their way towards the far side of the courtyard. Around them, his Templars were keeping their unknown assailants occupied.
Using the pillars and plants for cover, they finally made it to the other side of a courtyard and emerged into another corridor leading to the docking bay. Passing a T-junction, Tynan experienced an uneasy feeling of de jevu when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to find a grinning Polar Bear and Gorilla towering above him.
“Hi," said the Polar Bear. “Remember me”? A large paw struck him in the chin, sending him tumbling into a wall. The last thing he remembered seeing was the Gorilla using the other Templar as a squeeze toy before consciousness became something that other people possessed.
◊
Logan and Tarquin had arrived in the courtyard only moments before the Areopagite’s, having had just enough time to position themselves behind pillars.
Tarquin pulled out one of his homing missiles and attached it to the firing rack below his Afer. Targeting graphics filled his vision. The gun accepted his firing code and launched it at the Angel and group of Templars surrounding Felix and Crystal. Logan began shooting his plasma cannon at the other Templars. Tarquin had time to see the Angel rise into the air before his homing missile struck the group. Return fire forced him to duck back behind the pillar, splashes of plasma sliding harmlessly off his battle armor.
Recording the visual image of the Angel into his AI, he loaded the visual into his Afer and instructed the gun to automatically target and fire at any figure meeting that profile. Poking gun and head around the pillar, he immediately received a weapon lock and fired at the Angel, striking the hovering figure directly in the chest. The Angel retreated behind a pillar on the far side of the courtyard. His two lower plasma guns, programmed to return fire automatically were swiveling and firing almost continuous blasts at the remaining Templars. Two plasma blasts hit his armor but absorbed the impacts with limited damage. He ducked behind his pillar again and accessed Logan’s view from his suit.
Logan was in a similar situation. Firing blasts in an attempt to keep the Templars pinned down, he watched as one of the Templars, looking vaguely familiar, made his way to Felix’s side, and with Crystal’s help, moved him towards the corridor nearest to them. Logan couldn’t fire, not willing to risk hitting Felix or Crystal with Plasma.
Tarquin sent him a query. “Homing missile?”
“Don’t bother. They’re heading towards the docking bay anyway. There’s only two of them. We’ll take them in the corridor.”
“Okeydokey."
The two men sprinted towards the corridor, watching while Felix, Crystal and the two Templars disappeared down it. Their armored suits greatly augmented their speed and both sets of automated arms returned fire behind them. Even so, both men were struck several times by plasma bolts before reaching the relative safety of the corridor. Logan’s AI reported his left leg down to 20% armor. Bits of Tarquin’s armor looked in a similar state.
The four figures were ahead of them, just coming up to a T-junction. What looked like a Polar Bear and a Gorilla stepped out of the other corridor. Logan was about to fire when he saw the Polar Bear take out one of the Templars, and the Gorilla dispose of the other. Running up, both he and Tarquin pointed their weapons warily at the two giant figures.
Tarquin’s voice boomed out of his armors external speakers. “Felix. Crystal. Its us."
“Who’s us?," a still somewhat groggy Felix replied.
“Tarquin and Logan you idiot.”
“Oh." Felix smiled vaguely and gave Crystal, who was still supporting him, a kiss on the cheek.
Logan hadn’t taken his weapon off the two Transplanters who stood nearby looking casual. “Who are you?” he asked.
“Mercenaries for hire. Interested?”
“Very."
“My employer will pay you 1000 credits each if you get us safely off this ship.," said Crystal.
“2000 each and a ride off this crate," replied the Polar Bear.
“Look," said Logan. “Can we discuss this later?."
Crystal looked the two Transplanters up and down. “Done."
A couple of Templars were poking nervous heads around the far end of the corridor. Logan looked down at the prone Templar lying against the corridor wall. He had the pips of a Captain. “I recognize that guy. He was on Coleridge.”
Tarquin looked down at the Templar. “That’s really interesting Log, but lets get the fuck out of here."
“Yeah," said Logan. He gave each of the Transplanters a plasma gun from his secondary arms. “You two cover the rear. Me and Tarquin will take point.”
The Polar Bear shrugged. “Suits me.”
They ran down the corridor. No plasma bolts followed them, presumably for fear of hitting Felix. Nearing the main door to the docking bay, Logan and Tarquin could make out a group of six heavily armored figures waiting – Logan could only presume they were for them. Looking around, he could make out the Templars and a large winged figure about 100 meters behind them. Another T-junction loomed on the right.
“Change of plan," he said. “Follow me."
Turning right, Logan led the small group at a run down the new corridor. Felix who had just about recovered, moved up to Logan’s left.
“This isn’t the way to the docking bay?," he said to Logan.
“I know. I think those were Nephillim up ahead. We’ll have to find another way to get to the docking bay.”
◊
Behind them, the Templars had just reached the T-junction. Unfortunately, so did the Nephillim. Fifty meters apart, the two groups recognized each other and without preamble started firing their plasma weapons. Sadly, the Templars were outmatched. The Nephillim had battle armor and the Templars did not. Things were looking bad for the Templars. Then Simbiel entered the fray.
Asel had not seen fit to equip his squad with an Afer. As a result, the plasma weapons carried by the Nephillim were ineffectual against Simbiel. They never stood a chance.
Using his wings and field generative ability to fly, Simbiel charged, watching as two of his remaining Templars were cut down before he was in striking distance. He drew his sword. The weapon was molecular bonded and enhanced by his field generation ability. Even battle armor wasn’t proof against it.
He dispatched four of them before the remainder saw fit to flee. By that tim
e, it was too late. Flying faster than they could run, he lopped off the heads of the two remaining Nephillim with one sweep of his sword.
Landing, Simbiel looked around with the air of someone who’s had a good day in the office. Only Tynan, nursing a sore jaw, and 5 Templars were still standing. The corridor where Felix and crew had disappeared down was now empty.
This is getting more complicated, thought Simbiel. It had seemed so simple before although he had anticipated the Watchers stepping in at some point. They were obviously planning an ambush in the docking bay.
“Tynan. Is there another way into the docking bay?”
Tynan closed one eye while he accessed his AI. He’d downloaded the ships blueprints before they’d blown the bridge.
“Yes my Lord. There’s a small service lift on the other side.”
“Is there any other way into the docking bay?”
“Apart from this door and the service lift, no.”
“Excellent. Find the quickest route there. Take two men with you and signal me when you are at the lift. You make sure the Overdrive data does not escape whilst I deal with the Watchers”
“Yes Lord.”
◊
Unbeknownst to Simbiel and the Areopagites, Logan had the same idea. The service lift was roughly a kilometer away. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too closely guarded.
Tarquin was thinking the same thing. “What happens if the lift is too closely guarded?”
“We’ll have to try for one of the lifepods."
“Bollocks to that. I’m not fucking leaving my ship here.”
“You might have to.” He looked at Tarquin and smiled - pointless considering the helmets they both wore. “I wouldn’t worry too much. There probably won’t be any lifepods left anyway.”
“That’s comforting knowing we’re probably going to die a horrible death as a result of hitting another object at a ludicrous speed.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
Felix and Crystal were following closely behind the large armored figures of Logan and Tarquin. The even larger figures of Derek and Bruce brought up the rear.
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