Ronin

by Jan Domagala

  Staring deep into the eyes of the man before him, he knew the task before him had just got much harder and that he might have underestimated the time allowed for him getting to the exit. That having been said, he wanted nothing more than to face this challenge alone. To test his abilities against a possible equal and with that in mind, he placed his weapons down on the floor.

  “It seems you’ve proven to be a problem to our forces Kurt, I can call you that can’t I? I feel that I know you quite well by now, brothers under the skin, as it were.” Norsky had a smug smile across his broad, flat features as he watched Stryder place the weapons on the floor.

  “Well, if you think having the serum administered to you makes you my brother then you are sadly mistaken. We are nothing alike you and I. We fight for opposite causes. We are opposite sides of the same coin,” replied Stryder, hoping to dent his confidence, rattle him somehow and therefore force him into making a mistake. He had little time and could ill afford to waste it on idle chatter, he had to get past this last obstacle, and fast.

  “I should have realised that you would intuit that I had the serum coursing through my bloodstream making you my equal,” Norsky said, unfolding his arms and slapping his own chest to enforce his point.

  Stryder stepped forward and punched him full in the face sending him reeling backwards to stumble over his own feet and fall to the floor.

  “You talk too much. Are we going to fight or not?” Stryder said looking down at the fallen Black Knight.

  Norsky was enraged now. He flipped back to his feet and rushed at Stryder his anger controlling him, wanting nothing more than to destroy the man before him.

  Starting with a series of blows aimed at Stryder’s head Norsky attacked holding nothing back. His hands moved with incredible speed and were almost a blur, yet Stryder blocked or evaded them with relative ease. His hands moved with a preternatural ease almost as if they had a will of their own, moving to block before the blow was even delivered as if he knew where it was going to strike before even Norsky.

  Countering this barrage would be difficult he knew that. Waiting for the right moment would be the key and could take longer than Stryder was prepared to wait. And then it came.

  Frustration began to set into Norsky’s attacks; he was not getting the results he had hoped. He had not been able to land a decent punch, a telling blow onto Stryder. The opportunity came when Norsky threw a haymaker right cross at Stryder’s head. Ducking beneath the blow as it passed by harmlessly, he rammed a right fist into the solar plexus of the man before him. All the air was forced from Norsky’s lungs with an explosive “whoosh!” as he was bent double. Stryder hit him again and again with three rapid-fire blows to the stomach and kidney area forcing him to bend over and frantically cover up that exposed and damaged target area. Then, with his other hand, he hit the point of the Black Knight’s lowering chin with his fist in a tremendous uppercut that lifted him off his feet to land squarely on his back dazed and confused.

  Stryder stepped over Norsky’s momentarily inert form as he headed for the exit picking up his weapons on the way.

  NOT HAVING A GREAT deal of cover hampered Hawk’s team as they approached the landing pad. They had to mount an offensive against the troopers there but at the same time protect themselves, which was going to be difficult.

  “Mark,” Hawk said and readied his assault rifle. They were all lying flat on their bellies in a pile of shrub grass, the only cover they had.

  “Pick your targets carefully gentlemen and fire when ready,” Hawk instructed firing the first shot.

  The troopers were positioned around the shuttle facing away from it, all looking in the direction of the exit of the building. When the first shot was fired, the trooper on the furthest guard position from the shuttle was sent flying through the air as the plasma bolt from Hawk’s assault rifle struck him. As soon as that happened the rest of them took up defensive positions, with half of them remaining facing the exit while the rest turned to face the new threat.

  Two more went down before they took shelter behind the shuttle and started to return fire in the direction of the muzzle flashes.

  “Try not to damage the shuttle; we will need it to get off this rock,” Hawk said as he continued to fire at them.

  STRYDER CAME THROUGH the exit and shot the first guard he saw. The plasma bolt struck the guard and blasted him back to collide into the hull of the shuttle. Glancing around, he quickly took in his immediate surroundings. The shuttle was in front of him guarded by the six remaining troopers, some of whom were facing away from him taking refuge behind the shuttle as plasma bolts were striking all around, obviously the covering fire from Hawk and his team. To the right of him was a set of Ground Haulers, huge eighteen wheel trucks used to load and offload shuttles with cargo or personnel.

  That was his way out.

  “I’ll draw them away from the shuttle. You capture it and come after me, you can pick me up en route,” Stryder said through his NI to Hawk then sprinted off towards the nearest Ground Hauler.

  INSIDE THE SHUTTLE General Solon had been monitoring the proceedings and when he saw Stryder leave the building and shoot the trooper he got in touch with the pilot of the troop carrier who had just dropped off the troopers. He ordered him to return to the facility immediately.

  He was determined to prevent Stryder from escaping at all costs, using whatever means were at his disposal.

  Jumping behind the console in the flight deck he powered up the shuttles engines ready for take-off.

  28

  Stryder approached the Ground Hauler from the near side. The empty driver’s cab was situated high above the ground sitting in a protected cabin above the engine block slightly behind the front two tyres, each as tall as a man. Positioned just behind the tyres was a set of steps embedded into the walls of the vehicle, which he used to climb up into the cab.

  Hawk saw Stryder dash across the gap from the shuttle towards the Ground Hauler then, as the shuttle’s engines burst into life, said to the rest of his team, “Time’s run out, we’ve gotta move, now.”

  He brought up his assault rifle as he stood up, sighting down the barrel. Holding it tightly against his shoulder he fired as he ran forward towards the shuttle. The recoil suppressor fitted into the weapon had to work overtime to keep it steady as he fired so that he could both run and keep it on target.

  Storm saw Hawk jump to his feet and immediately followed suit, as did the other two members of the team. There was no question of them not following him, they were Recon Delta and they stuck together no matter what, and they would rather die than leave one of their own behind.

  Seeing the four, armed soldiers rushing them, the troopers tried to fire at them but had to seek cover behind the shuttle to avoid being hit by the incoming plasma fire.

  General Solon saw what was happening outside the shuttle and bellowed at the troopers to stop them. His voice carried through the comm channel directly into the troopers’ brains via their NIs almost causing neural shock from the overload. One of them was spurred into action and was promptly shot through the head by Storm the moment he appeared from his cover, which gave the others more cause for concern.

  NORSKY CAME TO HIS senses with a start. Sitting bolt upright he looked around and knew that Stryder had got the better of him, again. This made his blood boil. Getting to his feet he ran through the exit almost straight into a burst of plasma fire.

  Assessing the situation he quickly found all he needed to know, tapping into all the comm chatter he learned that Stryder had made his way to the Ground Hauler to his right. As he watched he saw it pull away from the landing pad and with it went any chance of capturing it.

  Overhead he heard a troop carrier returning, he caught a glimpse of figures approaching at a full run from across the open area directly in front of him. He heard the shuttle’s engines coming to life and knew that was where General Solon was. There were troopers hiding behind the shuttle just waiting for the opportunity to return fi
re on the approaching soldiers but at the moment they were pinned down.

  As the Ground Hauler pulled away rapidly gaining speed, Norsky spotted a second vehicle, another Ground Hauler and a plan came to mind as his accelerated thought patterns assessed the situation and came up with a solution to his dilemma.

  After a second or two he saw a pattern in the plasma fire and knew he could get across to the second Ground Hauler if he timed it perfectly. Now that he was gaining more and more control of his enhanced capabilities he was confident in his ability to do just that.

  Waiting for just the right moment he set off at a full sprint, his legs pumping, his feet pounding the ground and his arms pumping through the air as he covered the ground between the exit and the vehicle in almost record time. Jumping onto the steps behind the front tyre he pulled himself up into the cab and sat himself behind the controls.

  “You won’t get away again Kurt,” he said as he started the engine.

  GENERAL SOLON SAW THE approach of the four soldiers and knew they were here for Stryder. He couldn’t figure out why Stryder was running away from them though.

  The troop carrier was returning swiftly and as it was armed he knew he had the best chance of stopping and recapturing Stryder if he was aboard that, rather than on an unarmed shuttle. Leaving the cockpit he made his way back to the exit to wait for the arrival of the carrier.

  Using his NI he opened a comm channel to the troops guarding the shuttle. He said, “This is General Solon; I want you to hold this position against those hostiles. Prevent them gaining control of this shuttle by any and all means necessary,” and without waiting for confirmation, ended the call.

  The troop carrier hovered overhead just to the rear of the shuttle. A ladder was lowered from an open exit hatch, which Solon sprinted towards and swiftly climbed onto. He pulled himself up with his powerful arms as the carrier took off again before he was even fully on board.

  Once he was through the hatch he said through the comm channel to the pilot, “Get after that Ground Hauler and persuade the driver to stop.”

  “Persuade sir?” was the confused reply.

  “Yes, I want the driver alive, is that understood?”

  “Perfectly, sir. You want him alive, copy that, sir!” The pilot knew that to disobey an order from the General was tantamount to career suicide.

  HAWK SAW THE FIGURE of the General vacate the shuttle and said, “C’mon, guys it’s ours for the taking. We need that shuttle so we can complete our mission.”

  The troopers guarding the shuttle continued to fire at the advancing soldiers but their aim was terrible. Whether it was the threat of the facility getting ready to blow a hole in the planet making them nervous, or the fact that the General had just retreated to the troop carrier leaving them behind, the Recon Delta Marines weren’t sure, but they weren’t the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. They advanced quickly, picking their targets carefully. They ran forward in a staggered pattern so that the troopers couldn’t easily draw a bead on them. They though, were experts at firing on the run so it didn’t present a problem to them.

  Another trooper went flying backwards in a mist of blood as a plasma bolt from Hacker’s assault rifle caught him square in the chest.

  Storm got another and Hawk killed one more leaving three left to defend against the four advancing soldiers who seemed unstoppable.

  Panic took hold and they came out from behind the shuttle, their assault rifles on sustained fire hoping for a lucky hit when Cowboy hosed two of them with his own assault rifle and Storm shot the last one. All three were sent flying in a shower of blood and gore as the full power plasma bolts tore up their bodies at close range. They stood no chance of survival.

  “Right, get on board! Fire up the engines and let’s get after them!” Hawk commanded.

  STRYDER WAS TRAVELLING along in the lead Ground Hauler at a dangerous pace over the uneven ground. It took him all his control to keep in his seat while he steered the massive vehicle and yet he couldn’t seem to shake whoever was in the other Ground Hauler. It actually seemed to be catching him, closing the gap between the two vehicles slowly, yet undeniably. It could only be Norsky, the soldier who had received the serum, whose hatred of him had almost sent him over the edge of sanity into the abyss of madness. He would do anything to catch up to him.

  The road ahead was rough; it wasn’t really a road at all, not even a track, just part of the landscape that he was travelling over to get away from the base. It was pitted and uneven and directly ahead lay the desert with its loping dunes and rocky outcrops. It would undoubtedly slow him down but it would do the same for Norsky in the trailing Ground Hauler, or at least that’s what he hoped.

  Suddenly a massive jolt from the rear of the vehicle caused Stryder to be almost thrown clear from his seat. When he looked in the huge wing mirrors he saw the cause of the jolt. Norsky had somehow closed the gap between them and rammed the front of his Ground Hauler into Stryder’s.

  He just had time to brace himself before another huge jolt almost threw him against the front windscreen as Norsky rammed him again.

  There was nothing he could do to evade the other vehicle. Somehow Norsky had managed to find a way to increase the speed of his vehicle and use that to his advantage to catch up with him and now he was using the vehicle as a weapon against him.

  NORSKY HAD FOUND THE Turbo Boost feature on the control panel that was utilised when the vehicle needed that extra bit of power for heavier than usual loads. For example, pulling other vehicles such as other Ground Haulers, if they had broken down or Shuttles that needed moving from one bay to another and their own engines could not be utilised in safety. The feature was not meant for continuous use as Norsky was doing, as it would eventually burn the main engine out through overload, but Norsky was willing to take that risk to catch up with Stryder.

  Putting the engine on Auto Pilot, controlled by the onboard computer, a very basic design, he left his seat and headed for the door. He climbed out onto the side panel using hand and footholds in the side of the vehicle he had used to climb aboard, then allowed the door to close just as his vehicle collided once more with the rear of Stryder’s. The force of the collision almost threw him from his perch and if it had not been for his enhanced strength he wouldn’t have been able to hold on. Somehow though, he did and once he had got his breath back under control he started to climb up onto the roof of the vehicle.

  Sitting crouched down on top of the driver’s cab, Norsky waited for the right time to make his move.

  Stryder watched as Norsky got out of the side of the vehicle just before it rammed the rear of his own, once more almost throwing him clear, and he wondered what the hell he was trying to do.

  With one eye on the road ahead and another on the wing mirror he watched as Norsky climbed up the side of the vehicle and reached the top of the cabin.

  What was he doing he wondered as he sat atop the cabin, waiting and watching like a cat ready to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse, then it hit him exactly what he intended to do.

  The huge vehicle came rushing forward again and on the point of impact Norsky hurled himself into the air.

  By the time Stryder realised what was about to happen it was almost too late to take action. As he saw the trailing vehicle come hurtling towards him he tried to avoid it by turning the controls to the left and away from the oncoming collision. The massive vehicle had only just begun to turn when the collision happened and he saw Norsky fly into the air across the space between the two Ground Haulers.

  The impact at the rear of Stryder’s vehicle helped turn it even more, forcing the rear end to skid a little and in so doing altered the landing area Norsky was hoping for.

  As he landed on the top of the vehicle the sideways movement of the surface beneath him forced him into a slippery slide, which almost threw him off the top onto the ground several feet below.

  He tried to grab hold of anything available to prevent himself from falling. He saw the edge getting c
loser as he slid towards it and his arms flailed about searching for a handhold, any handhold to prevent his inevitable slide off the top.

  As his legs slid out over the edge into space he felt his stomach getting closer as well and he knew he would fall to his death.

  He fell sideways off the roof and his right arm fell across the wing mirror. Instinctively he held on stopping himself from continuing the full length to the ground beneath him. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder from the jarring halt to his fall he punched his left fist through the door window shattering the Plexiglas so that he could open the door.

  The cabin was quite large with a flat bench seat that the driver and at least two others could sit across and when Norsky had got the door open and climbed inside Stryder was at the other end waiting for him. His hands were still on the controls desperately fighting to steer the vehicle out of the skid and away from the following vehicle, which was still on autopilot and continuing to ram it from behind.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Norsky said as Stryder wrestled with the controls. He made a dive to grab him but Stryder’s peripheral vision was such that he caught the movement the second he made it. He blocked his advance, sweeping his arm in an arc knocking Norsky’s arms to the side pinning them to the back of the seat. Taking hold of the controls with his left hand and holding Norsky’s arms with his right, he spun in the seat and lashed out with his feet. Kicking Norsky in the stomach and releasing his arms, he sent him flying towards the doorway again.

  Having his arms freed once more Norsky found he was quickly exiting the cabin. To stop his retreat he grabbed hold of Stryder’s legs before he could pull them back.

  Stryder struggled to free his feet and control the vehicle at the same time, something that was becoming increasingly more difficult as the terrain was getting rougher the farther they got from the facility. Dragging one foot free he managed to kick Norsky in the head, only a glancing blow but strong enough to free his other leg a little more. Stamping down again and again with increasing force he felt his foot coming free and his attacker weakening as he pushed him closer to the door of the cab.