Star Force: Evasion (Wayward Trilogy Book 2)

by Aer-ki Jyr

  At least that meant she’d get to the outpost sooner, but even with the lesser effort she couldn’t run straight through. She’d have to stop somewhere so Esna studied the secret map that she’d been given and saw where the first minor outpost was. Still under the defense shield but well beyond the base perimeter at the intersection of three different tunnels. There were hundreds coming out from the base and worked into a spider web of connections giving people options when they had to flee the base. There were many outposts in multiple directions, but the big ones were well beyond, some stretching out hundreds of miles at the end of single tunnels.

  Not some place you’d want to get caught with Zen’zat chasing you, but she guessed it was a lot better than sitting in the base and getting shot from orbit. Hopefully her cloak would keep her hidden along with whatever was in the ice walls to mess with sensor scans. There was just enough bend to the tunnels that she couldn’t see Rammak’s icon anymore, meaning that she was on her own now without even a comm connection available to him or the base…though she was passing several HUD highlighted sections of ice that claimed to have comm nodes buried into them.

  Visually they didn’t look any different from the rest of the walls, and Esna guessed that was to keep any Zen’zat from finding and destroying them. She’d have to dig through the ice to access one, but at least that was a backup plan for communication if absolutely necessary. Right now though, as long as she kept running she was in total comm blackout unless someone came within range ahead or behind her.

  Four hours in and she got to the first minor outpost, finding it was little more than a few rooms carved out of ice with some mobile equipment stashed in them. Esna took the opportunity to stop, which amounted to her sliding feet first on the ice ridges in order to slow her momentum. She’d been running in the awkward low gravity pose for so long she couldn’t adjust, and rather than risk tumbling forward she just chose for an ugly butt slide.

  It worked, but she had to backtrack several dozen meters to get to the minor outpost as she stretched sore muscles. The effort of running in the low gravity shouldn’t have been hard, and it wasn’t from an energy perspective, but the movements were new to her and therefore inefficient. That made it hard in a different way and Esna was glad for the rest.

  There was a comm link here that connected to the base, probably through the landline buried in the ice walls, and after a bit of experimentation she was able to pull up live battlemap images of the mechs fighting outside. That meant the Zen’zat weren’t in the base yet, and from the looks of it a lot of Viks were down, but that big one was still moving forward and a lot of defense turrets were trashed behind it, not to mention bits and pieces of mechs and aerial craft laying on the surface ice with them.

  Much more than that she couldn’t make out, but she was glad the base hadn’t fallen yet. Every hour they held out could mean help was that much closer, but for now the only person she needed to help was herself. Rammak would get to and relieve the other Commando as quick as possible, so as long as Zen’zat weren’t already in the tunnels her mission was simply getting to the larger outpost. Esna wanted to do that quickly, but as she unfolded an extendable chair and sat down she realized her body wasn’t going to be so compliant in the low gravity.

  Esna worked through the helmet display menu until she found the controls to remove her armor. Standing up in a very easy motion, she had her protective covering peel back into a flayed statue that she then walked out of, immediately feeling a horrid chill against her sweaty face and hands. She flicked a few strands of red hair off her forehead as she felt her fingers start to numb up.

  That was a bad sign. She’d never had to deal with snow and ice and cold like this before. Given that she wasn’t on the surface she expected it to be warmer in here without the wind, but apparently not. She made herself walk around for a minute or two then couldn’t stand it anymore as the sweat on the back of her hands began to frost over into flakes and fall off as she moved.

  Esna walked back into her armor and sealed it up again, immediately relishing how the armor adjusted to her body temperature and warmed her back up in a manner of seconds. She let the heat sink in for another minute, then she took only her helmet off, seeing her breath continue to shoot plumes of white clouds out of her mouth. Why it was doing that she had no idea and it scared her a bit, but she knew that inside her armor she’d be alright. Star Force technology was amazing and she knew she could put her trust in it, so Esna allowed herself to be a little brave, or reckless maybe, and walked around the three ice-carved rooms inspecting the gear left there.

  Most of it was foodstuffs, but there was also several tents. Having used one before with Rammak on the warm world of Forso she knew how to operate it, and after moving several crates around almost effortlessly in the low gravity she had a clearing big enough for the small canister that she placed on the ground to expand into once she pressed the activation button. Soon after there was a hexagonal room within a room that she walked into, seeing the same basic design with a few modifications.

  Esna walked back out and looked through the equipment crates, finding the few add-ons she wanted and taking them inside the solid tent. Within a few minutes she had the interior warmed up, the shower and toilet extracted, and a sleeping sleeve unfurled that she would use in a few minutes. After eating she took a quick shower to get the sweat off her, then placed her shoes and socks beside the pillow section of the sleeping sleeve and tucked her feet inside, sliding her uniformed body down between the soft layers of insulated material that was more of a luxury here than a necessity when the tent had its own heater.

  Wanting to only spend a couple hours here tops, Esna realized the awkward low gravity running had probably done more harm to her than she thought so she didn’t set herself an alarm, deciding to sleep this off then get moving whenever her body told her it was alright.

  That ended up being only an hour and a half later when she woke up from her nap, then she got back into her armor and on the move, leaving the tent set up for whoever might be following her through these tunnels in the near future. This time she tried to run as smooth as possible, but the ground was still made of ice and every now and then she’d hit a patch that was less grippy. Good thing about the low gravity was that she didn’t fall very fast and was able to keep catching her feet before she face- or butt-planted, but every misstep was going to twist her in odd ways that would only increase her soreness…and she knew from past experience what it was like to run when really sore.

  The next minor outpost was only 3 hours away, but she skipped it and hung in there long enough to make it to the next another 4 hours without too many walking breaks, after which she knew she’d need at least a good 5 hours sleep, if not more to recover her strength. The low gravity was helping her endurance, but she wasn’t in so big a hurry as to need to push into even higher levels of soreness just to get to Rammak a few hours sooner…assuming there were no threats down here yet.

  The minor outpost she stopped at was about the same as the first, but with a few more supplies and an extra chamber, though it wasn’t connected to any other tunnels. In fact, she was on a straight line out to Rammak’s location and between her and the larger outpost there would only be two more tunnel intersections. This far out from the base it really felt like she was alone on the planet, though in truth she was still protected under the edge of the base defense shield.

  How it could produce that much energy this far out amazed her, but it also reminded her how big a planet really was, not to mention space itself, along with the fact that she’d lived most of her life in a tiny little patch of Forso without ever appreciating how much more was out there. Now that she’d found Star Force and this bizarre new cold world, it actually scared her to think how big everything really was and how little she understood all of it.

  If not for Rammak taking her on a survival run across Forso she’d have been worried about getting to the outpost and meeting up with him, but Esna now had a good understand
ing of how to work a battlemap and waypoints. All she had to do was focus on completing the section directly ahead of her and getting to the next waypoint, after that she would worry about the rest and, bit by bit, she’d get to her destination. Like Rammak had said, pacing herself was the key, and to that end she ate, stripped down for another shower, then tossed her clothing in a portable refresher a moment before she slipped into another sleeping sleeve, not even bothering to wait the few minutes before it would have her uniform cleaned before her head hit the pillow and she sunk into blissful post-run sleep inside the warm tent on the frigid, ice-covered world where just a few dozen miles over and one up a prolonged mech battle was still ongoing.

  7

  June 15, 4812

  Orlero System (Devastation Zone)

  Tauntaun

  Esna woke up stiff, but thankfully the sensation only lasted a few minutes as her muscles worked themselves out and she was able to get back into the long, loping strides of low gravity running. She kept expecting to pass the Commando coming back the other way but they never crossed paths. After another 6 hours Esna got within a few miles of the outpost and then stopped, having pushed herself too far thinking she could make it today.

  There was a minor outpost a few hundred meters back but she didn’t bother dragging herself there, for her legs were crying for a rest and the inside of her armor was warm enough, so she just sat down on the ridged floor of the squarish tunnel and leaned back against the smooth wall…only to slowly slide down as she got too little traction on the polished plates of her armor.

  Esna gently slid into a prone pose and stayed there, her body not wanting to move as she fell asleep immediately, only to wake up some time later groggy and resistant to moving.

  Her body needed more rest, but the worst of the fatigue was gone from her so she pulled herself to her feet…which wasn’t hard at all in the .4 gravity…and began walking the last few miles in a hopping/skipping fashion that still allowed her to make decent time. All the rest of the way the Commando never appeared and she was beginning to worry that something had happened until Rammak’s ID signature finally popped up on her battlemap when there wasn’t as much ice left between her and him.

  “You made it sooner than I expected,” Rammak’s voice entered her helmet, though a little scratchy from the signal disruption.

  “I’m paying for it,” Esna admitted. “I’m exhausted.”

  “Come on in,” he said, showing himself at the end of the tunnel with the comm static clearing up completely. “And you’ll have plenty of time to rest. The base hasn’t been breached yet.”

  “What’s been going on?” she asked, forcing herself to jog a little over the last stretch.

  “The Viks have been peeling back the perimeter defenses, but the base has some heavy weaponry in close. They haven’t assaulted it yet, but there is a second group of reinforcements coming across land to join them. When they arrive I think they’ll make the hard hit with the Ultra up front and our remaining mechs won’t be enough to take it down, but we might be able to kill the rest of them. I think that’s why they’re calling for reinforcements. Or it may just be equipment. Whatever it is, is coming under a null field.”

  “Another Ultra?” Esna wondered.

  “Unlikely, but there’s no way of knowing without flying a probe or aerial fighter inside, and they’d be shot down instantly.”

  “How many did the mechs kill?”

  “Hard to say. Most of their troops were recoverable, and we did manage to get most of our pilots out.”

  “Recoverable?”

  “There was enough of them left to bring back to life using a regenerator. They carry them in their armor and they auto activate, but if that isn’t enough they can use others. It takes a head shot or a lot of lost mass to kill one for keeps…unless you win the battlefield and the enemy can’t get to them in time. We got pushed back, so most of their troops were recoverable.”

  “But their armor is…” Esna said, cutting off as she came up to the outpost and remembered he’d said ‘equipment.’ “They’re bringing them new armor?”

  “Probably.”

  “Do we have extra mechs for our pilots?”

  “Some, but they’ve been using hit and run tactics to do damage and retreat into the turret fields. Once the Ultra gets to base they won’t have that luxury.”

  “How long will it take to evacuate?”

  “Depends how the Viks plan to go after the shield generator. If they try to infiltrate with Zen’zat it’ll buy us a lot more time. If they plan to blast through the ice…probably less. We’re secure here, so you can take another nap for as long as you want.”

  “What?” Esna said, standing on the ice just short of the base as she looked up at the armored Calavari. “You could see that far?”

  “No, the tunnel curves enough to prevent shots from range and the ice blocks signals, but there are hidden cameras and defenses in it too. I could see you on approach the last few miles.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “No comms. Those would give away the surprise. Sensors are passive only.”

  “So if the Zen’zat do come here…”

  “We can make their getting here a lot harder so long as we control this outpost.”

  “Where’s the girl Commando?”

  “She left long ago. Didn’t you pass her?”

  “No. Unless she went by when I was sleeping. Could you see me in the other outposts?”

  “No. We’re all ghosts out there save for our main line to the base. They can’t see our status either without an override.”

  “So the Viks can’t see where we are if they capture it?”

  “Yes,” Rammak said, turning around. “Come inside so I can close the door.”

  “Door?” Esna asked, nearly falling as she stepped onto the artificial floor and the regular gravity returned. Her knee hit and Rammak looked back over his shoulder.

  “Takes some getting used to. How was your run?”

  “Weird,” Esna said, getting back up and walking inside on now very heavy legs. “Why does this…” she asked as a heavy door slid closed behind her blocking off view of the tunnel, but that wasn’t what she was looking at.

  “Bigger than you thought?”

  “What is this?” Esna asked, seeing a hangar to her left full of speeder bikes of various designs.

  “There are three tunnels heading out from here. One leads up to a surface outpost, the other two keep traveling underground for long distances. Too long to run, so we have these to use. They’re set up with shield guides so they just follow the shape of the tunnel and you don’t have to worry about hitting the walls.”

  “What else is out there?”

  “More outposts to move to if necessary. Some with ships, I’m told.”

  “Ships?” Esna asked as she removed her pack and weapons rack and set them on a nearby table in what looked like a food prep area set just outside the empty entrance room. “To fly through the air or space?”

  “Starships. Small ones, at least.”

  “We can get off the planet in those?”

  “Only if the Viks leave, otherwise they can probably shoot us down. But if we can hide out here long enough and make them think we’re all dead, it’s a way to survive.”

  “Why won’t they just follow the tunnels?”

  “There are two sets, one for them to find and one that we came through. Plus there are camouflage methods to confuse them. It may not all work, but once we know no more of our people are coming we can blow some of the tunnels and hide others.”

  Esna grimaced. “Trapping us here?”

  “There are multiple exits, but we don’t want to go up to the surface if we don’t have to.”

  “So what now?”

  “You can take your armor off, it’s heated.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’m on guard.”

  “We’re on guard,” she corrected him.

  “You need to
sleep. I already have.”

  “You’re right,” she relented, stepping over to the side of the room and triggering her armor to splinter apart, then she walked out of it and left the contraption sprawled out and ready for her to get back in when needed. “You have anything I can clean the interior with?”

  “There’s a lot of equipment here. Look around and use whatever you want, but it can wait until you get some rest. You’re not used to low gravity running, and until you are it’s more draining than you’d think.”

  “Figured that out already. Are there bunks?”

  “Bunks yes, full quarters no,” he said, pointing to a hallway behind her.

  “How many people is this built for?”

  “It’s compact, but can service a few hundred. More if we squeeze people in.”

  “I thought there were thousands on this planet?”

  “This isn’t the only outpost, and evacuating everyone to the same spot wouldn’t make sense. We have to hold out until help gets here, and the more spread out we are the longer it will take for them to find us.”

  “You said the ship was for when they stopped looking? Are they going to find us or not?”

  “They might not care to put in the effort if we have no way of leaving the planet. It’s hard to say what they’ll do. They missed me on Mace.”

  “But they sent assassins to keep looking afterward.”

  “That was when they had an entire planet to destroy. This is just a single base that they can destroy easily from orbit once the shield goes down. If we’re close the Zen’zat might come after us, but if they have to chase through hundreds of miles of subterranean tunnels that they hopefully can’t scan from the air, they might not care to search them all.”