"I do not much like descending blind," Velmeran remarked as he watched steps appear along the side of the platform, starting along one side and proceeding down the next.
"I do not like it either," Dveyella agreed. "A sentry could be waiting for us on any landing, ready to shoot as the platform clears."
"Stop at the next level," Velmeran said suddenly, holstering his guns.
Dveyella stopped the platform level with the next landing stage, and he stepped out. He quickly descended the steps until he passed below the lift. As he had guessed, there was a heavy metal framework that supported the platform and held the field projector that raised and lowered the lift. He climbed out onto the stone railing and leaped out to catch a bar of the framework, then swung up and arranged himself as best he could, facing down, with three of his four hands free. Two held guns, while a heat charge was in the fourth.
"Start down!" he ordered into his collar mike.
The platform started again. Velmeran watched the steps closely, waiting for a white rectangular head to appear over the rail near the corner landings. He did not know if the sentries could elevate their guns very high, although he did remember that the cameras were inset and not able to rotate very far up. He hoped that he could drop a heat charge on the machine before it saw him; he did not care to get into another shooting contest with a sentry.
"Hello, and welcome to beautiful Bineck," Valthyrra's voice, radiating the commercial enthusiasm of a tour guide, announced over their corns. "The weather at your location is threatening, turning to openly hostile at any given moment. I must also inform you that two wings of seven fighters each are taking off from the main base. Your twenty minutes have just begun."
"This will be cutting it close," Dveyella remarked.
"My packs will not be in time to intercept those fighters," Valthyrra continued. "They will have to be your problem. We will get anything else."
Velmeran thought that he could see the bottom now, a square of pale gray stone far below. Five levels were past and the sixth opened beside him, so he was now halfway down. Then he saw an indistinct shape lean out over the railing far below, more than halfway down from where he was.
"Something on the stairs," he warned. "Just passing the second level, I would guess."
"A sentry?" Dveyella asked.
"It really did not look like a sentry's head," he replied. "I believe that it was too small for a sentry, and there were no guns. Whatever it was, I am going to put a bolt through it if I see it again."
"If it is something hidden with a gun, you should know that the two larger, rounded things on your belt are explosives," she offered.
"They are?" Velmeran sounded surprised. "Then I will use one of those if it tries to ambush us as we get nearer. It is dark under here, and it might not see me until too late."
"Reverse ambush," Dveyella agreed. "But do not use the explosive if you get too close, since you have no helmet. Try throwing it from a fourth of a level up."
"I will thank you not to," a third voice said suddenly. "If you two have come to collect me, I would prefer that it be alive."
Velmeran nearly fell out of his perch. "Keth? Is that you?"
"Of course it is."
"Stay at the third landing," Velmeran instructed. "We will collect you there. Do you have a gun?"
"No, nothing. I have been listening to you since you landed. When that first sentry attacked you, the one guarding my door took off at a run. Since he was really the only thing keeping me in that room, I kicked open the door and headed straight for the stairs."
"Why did you not tell us you were coming?"
"I have ho helmet," Keth replied. "And the echoes carry far in these old halls. I was afraid that one of the beasts might hear me."
"You would hear it," Dveyella pointed out.
"Not if it was standing still."
"What does this do to our schedule?" Velmeran asked.
"Barring further incident, we might actually be out of here in another ten minutes," Dveyella answered. "In realistic terms, we might just be ready when those two wings of fighters descend upon us."
After another half a minute, Velmeran had Dveyella stop the platform a short distance above the third level so that he could climb out. Keth looked up and saw his pack leader hanging facedown from the framework beneath the platform, his legs and free arm braced wide against parts of the structure, rather like an ironclad spider in a tubular steel web. Keth was at first inclined to laugh, but the expression his pack leader wore warned him against it. Velmeran threw Keth a gun, then quickly lowered himself from the frame and swung out to the landing stage. Dveyella quickly brought the lift down low enough for them to step on, and immediately started back up. When Keth tried to return the gun, Velmeran indicated for him to keep it and pointed up.
"Since you and I have no helmets, we are going to have to be on guard," he said. "If any of those monsters pokes its head over the railing, shoot it."
"Remember that the design of this type of sentry is such that it can rotate its cameras straight down," Dveyella added. "And since its smaller guns are mounted on the sides of the cameras, it can shoot what it sees."
"Is that one?" Keth asked, pointing at the rectangular shape that appeared over the edge of the railing a level up.
Velmeran nodded. "I believe so."
"Oh," Keth said, and began shooting. His aim was surprisingly good, considering that he had seldom practiced with such a weapon. His second and third shots caught the sentry under the chin before it had a chance to draw back its head. "Did I hurt it?"
"I do not believe so," Velmeran said. "No parts feH off. Do we stop?"
"No, we have to get closer," Dveyella answered. "Swat that thing back every time it shows itself."
That did not work so well. The sentry had the advantage, and that advantage increased as the lift platform rose toward it. A moment later it returned and opened fire, and this time the three Starwolves were forced to leap off the platform into the stairs for cover. Velmeran tried to return fire, but it could see him clearly now and shot first.
"Now what?" he asked.
"We do not have the time to spare," Dveyella said as she pulled off her helmet. "Levels are about forty to forty-five meters apart, or three full revolutions of the stairs. If I can climb near enough, I can jump diagonally up from below the sentry to its level."
"I believe I know what you have in mind," Velmeran said. "Will it work?"
Dveyella shrugged. "If you cover me."
A moment later they were climbing the stairs as fast as they could, leaving Keth behind to watch the lift. The climb became more dangerous as they drew nearer to the sentry, since it was soon able to shoot beneath the overhanging ledge that had protected them farther below. Still, they were able to climb to the run directly below it. Then Velmeran climbed two more flights, keeping behind the cover of the solid stone rail, until he was only two flights below and directly across from the automaton.
The sentry knew that they were up to something. It bent its head down as far as it could, trying to scan the shaft with infrared. Just then Velmeran fired on it, shot after shot slamming into its head, blowing out one camera and the gun beside it. The sentry retracted its head and staggered back. Dveyella leaped as hard as she could against the stubborn pull of real gravity, seeming almost to fly up the narrow shaft. Seven meters up she caught the railing where Velmeran stood and flipped herself atop it. Velmeran shot again, driving the sentry back a second time and blowing out its other camera in the process. Dveyella launched herself directly at the blinded automaton, taking advantage of its confusion.
Velmeran hurried to join her, leaping across the shaft as well, only to find the sentry standing by itself as thick smoke poured from its vents. Dveyella stood beside the doorway in the middle of the landing, cautiously peering down the dimly lit corridor.
"Another coming fast," she said, panting in the poor air. "Keth?"
"Already on my way up," the older pilot responded over com.
"The machinery beneath the lift is unprotected, and we are still only halfway up," Velmeran said. "You are winded, so this one is mine. Take the lift up four flights and wait for me."
"Do you have something in mind?" she asked.
"Nothing fancy. The sentry will think that we are on the way up, so this should be easy."
"I could watch," she offered.
Velmeran quickly placed a hand over his collar mike. "I would prefer that you watch Keth. I do not trust him alone with a gun. He might try something that he would do well to leave alone."
Dveyella reluctantly agreed and joined Keth on the lift as it went by. Velmeran positioned himself by the doorway, carefully out of sight. He did not have long to wait. The sentry had been near enough to fire a quick volley of bolts at the lift as it went by. It charged out onto the landing, slowing as it came out of the passage and finally stopping beside its motionless companion. The lift was ascending, still only two flights up, so it leaned out over the rail and tilted its head back to shoot.
Velmeran had been behind the sentry since it had stepped out onto the landing, unseen in its haste. Dveyella was correct in her guess that they were blind to the rear; they apparently did not even see to the sides very well. Careful to stay immediately behind it, Velmeran watched the sentry's movements carefully. As it leaned out to look up the shaft, he simply crawled between its long legs, lifted it up and heaved it over the rail. The machine fell heavily straight down the center of the shaft, never once bouncing off the sides. He watched until the automaton disappeared into the gloom, and a long moment later a sound like a small explosion echoed back up the shaft. Pleased with his efficiency, he hurried to join the others.
-8-
Dveyella peered cautiously around the edge of the doorway, and swiftly drew back in alarm and surprise. "I find it hard to believe! There it is, waiting for us, right in front of the door. They must be getting smarter."
"They are getting smarter," Velmeran agreed. "They have learned too many lessons the hard way."
"We have to get that thing out of the way," she said. "Valthyrra Methryn, how much time do we have?"
"Those two wings of fighters are just now beginning to descend," Valthyrra reported. "You have perhaps three minutes."
"Wonderful!" Dveyella muttered, pausing only a moment to think. "Marlena, are you out there?"
"Ready and waiting."
"That machine is backed up to the outer door with its tail in the crack, facing inward."
"Ah, I follow you. Half a moment."
A few moments passed and then one of the heavy doors began to open, slowly and silently, and a single arm reached through to attach a heat charge to the rear hull of the sentry that stood before it. The machine jumped away from the door and spun around. But the heat charge was already glowing and the automaton's legs locked up even as it turned, causing it to fall heavily on its side. The three Starwolves were running for the door immediately.
"Not so smart after all," Velmeran commented as they slipped past the smoking hulk.
He had expected to see violent clouds towering over the city, but the leading edge of the storm had already passed. A seething mass of dark clouds hid the sun, bringing dusk at midday and adding to his feeling that he had been underground for a long time, not less than half an hour. Low clouds and fog already concealed the ledge where they had landed. There was only a light wind here in the valley, although the roiling clouds overhead suggested violent winds within the storm itself.
Marlena and Baress waited just outside the door. Dveyella pushed Keth into their care. "One last task. Pack in those boxes as fast as you can and get out of here."
"Captain?" Keth asked, reluctant to be dragged away to the waiting transport. Baress and Marlena seemed likely to carry him if he delayed any longer.
"Go with them, Keth," Velmeran directed, trying to assume a calm, authoritative voice. "They have your ride out."
Keth allowed himself to be led to the larger ship, although still somewhat reluctantly, and Velmeran and Dveyella hurried to their fighters. Velmeran had hoped that this incident would have cured Keth, that the older pilot would have done enough soul-searching during the last few days to face the truth. Instead it seemed that he had been waiting for rescue so that he could return to the packs; he had apparently assumed that they would have brought a fighter for him. Of course, his real problem had never been age but conceit.
Velmeran climbed into the cockpit of his fighter and sealed the canopy against windblown dust and mist before he began to strap in. The transport lifted immediately. It rose just high enough to pass over the fighters and drifted toward the east, following the perimeter of the city to the landing platform where the boxes containing the remains of the fighter were kept.
"Have you ever fought inside a storm before?" Dveyella asked over ship's com; Velmeran's worthless helmet had gone with Keth.
"I have never fought inside an atmosphere before," he reminded her.
"You will find it remarkably the same," she said. "The greatly reduced speeds are offset by the greatly compressed distances. Union fighters are more of a match for us here; you will find them about as quick and tricky as stingships. But we still outclass this lot."
The two ships rose together into the threatening sky, heading southwest to meet the approaching wings of Union fighters. They went slowly, waiting for their attackers to come to them. Staying within the storm was to their advantage; Starwolves fought by feel under any circumstances, so the lack of visibility made no real difference to them. Blinded by the clouds, however, the Union pilots had to depend entirely on their scanners.
But Velmeran did not forget his own disadvantages. He was used to sudden speed changes of tens or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers per hour, and velocities that were more easily discussed as percentages of light. He was concerned that he might accidentally give his throttle the long throws that he would use in open space. Trying to evade and chase within the confines of this storm, with mountains only a few hundred meters below, would be like trying to fight inside an airdock. There was not much room to run.
The first wing of Union fighters descended into the storm, driving directly at the pair of Starwolf fighters rising to meet them. The wing widened and the fighters launched missiles, four from under the short wings of each ship. And that was a serious tactical error. Union missiles were not very smart – they saw no point in investing much money in something that was going to explode – and therefore they were too easily jammed, evaded or destroyed. The missiles looked about and found nothing. The wolf ships, fully cloaked, were invisible to their rudimentary scanners and heat sensors. As a group the missiles continued on, searching the storm for their prey. Soon they saw the ground approaching and arched back up. Now they saw fighters, but these were their own, bearing warn-off devices. Deprived of legitimate prey, the missiles took themselves straight up to safely self-destruct.
Now the fighters themselves dispersed and closed to attack. Two oriented on each of the Starwolves, while the remaining three continued on toward the city. Ignoring the fighters moving in on their tails, Dveyella and Velmeran dove after the three strays, intent upon stopping them before they found the transport. Velmeran nudged his ship on ahead, centering a heavy barrage on the three fighters and destroying two before the third evaded and ran. He quickly dived after it, while Dveyella obligingly shot a fighter off his own tail before turning her attention to the pair following her.
Velmeran's remaining pursuer moved in close, trying to penetrate his shields with its ineffective cannons. He ignored it for the moment, concentrating on the fleeing fighter ahead. Its pilot, reckless with either determination or fear, dove straight toward the rocky heights above the city. Velmeran clipped its rear engines just short of that dubious safety, sending the little ship spinning out of control. Velmeran skimmed the barren edge of a ridge, pulling up abruptly as a towering peak rose suddenly out of the darkness. The fighter behind tried to mimic that move, only to fin
d that it could not match the precise control. It deflected off a wall of rock to fall end over end into the valley below.
Dveyella had taken one of her attackers with her ship's rear cannon, turning on the other so savagely that it could not even evade. Aware that Velmeran was somewhere far below, she rose alone to meet the second wing of fighters. She strafed them freely, catching two before the others dispersed. She chose her prey quickly, a pair of fighters trying to circle around to the north, leaving the others for Velmeran to catch when they reached him.
She moved in from the side. But at the very last instant they turned as one and drove straight at her, almost as if they meant to ram. Too late to open fire, Dveyella tried to turn away. Her atmospheric shield pierced one fighter, ripping it apart. Its four underwing missiles exploded barely fifty meters ahead of her ship, and she had no choice but to follow straight through the core of that white-hot cloud.
Bits of metal, caught up in her shield, rang against the hull of her ship. An instant later it was through the debris, scorched but whole. Dveyella had not fared so well. Even through the mirrorized windows of her fighter, that flash had been brilliant.
"Was that you?" Velmeran asked over com.
"Did you see that?" she asked.
"It was a funny color for lightning."
"I will be flying blind for another minute. Can you watch for me?"
"There is one on your tail right now."
"I know it," she said. She could sense the Union fighters; her concern was for running into the ground. The fighter on her tail was closing cautiously, its pilot aware that something was wrong. She teased it in and deftly winged it with her rear cannon.
"We are finished here," Threl reported. "How is your vision?"
"Clearing fast," she reported.
"Then we are on our way out. Try not to shoot us as we pass."
"After that remark, you should worry!" Dveyella retorted. "Valthyrra, how is the traffic up there? I sense confusion overhead."
"Fighters and stingships are scattered far and wide," the ship replied. "But we have them on the run. Nothing big cleared the docks. Mind the stingships, though."
The Starwolves Page 12