Dust & Iron (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 9)

by Kevin McLaughlin

Charline climbed into the suit as quickly as she could. She didn’t want Andy to see that she’d started crying. Whether the tears were frustration at being benched or worry for him, she wasn’t sure. She clicked off her radio and marched back to their base camp. The last thing Charline wanted to hear right now was the radio traffic from the others’ practice once they started back up again.

  TWENTY

  Charline slid down the ladder from her suit, her boots slamming hard against the floor. She ripped the helmet from her head and stalked toward the team gathered around the fabricator. Halcomb turned and flashed her a smile.

  “How’s the training going?” Halcomb asked.

  She tossed the helmet. A young man with sandy hair caught it just before it smacked him in the head. “Mark, right? You wanted a shot at piloting armor?” Charline asked him.

  “Yeah?” he replied, sounding unsure of himself.

  “Armor One is yours. Go join the others. Andrew is training them in the main cavern.”

  “Yes, ma’am!” he replied, smiling.

  He was filled with all the excitement of someone who’d never been shot at before. Charline shook her head. It was exhausting just looking at him.

  He’d learn, though. Assuming he survived, he would learn.

  “Just go,” she said, waving a hand absently at him. He dashed off without another word as fast as his legs could carry him. Charline sighed and hid a sad smile. She understood the kid’s desire to help, to join in the fight. She was feeling the same thing herself. What she couldn’t mimic was his youthful enthusiasm for the coming battle.

  If she could magically transport herself and her team to someplace safe, she would do it in a heartbeat. Charline didn’t want a life of fighting. She’d prefer to be safe, to not worry about starving on an alien planet or dying in a firefight. But that wasn’t the world she lived in anymore. Two years ago no one would have even considered the possibility of an alien fleet showing up to attack Earth, either. But it had happened.

  If her skills could help stave off another such attack or stop the attackers when they came, then she had an obligation to do that. Sometimes duty was easy, like when she picked up a rifle to go rescue friends in trouble. Other times it was hard as hell. Like when she had to order other people into battle while she remained behind.

  “It’s going that well, is it?” Halcomb asked.

  “It’ll be OK. They’re new. Andy will whip them into shape. He’s rightly pointed out that I’m the least dispensable person we’ve got. He’s not wrong, much as I hate to say it. So I benched myself,” Charline said.

  “Sorry,” Halcomb replied. He actually sounded contrite. He wanted to get out there himself, and he’d been refused for the same reason.

  “Yeah, well. What’s done is done. I’d like to be useful in some way, though. Anything I can do to help get more parts set for the armor units?”

  “Well, about that … we’ve just started running the first parts, so it’ll be a while before any of them are ready to set up for assembly,” Halcomb said.

  “What? Why?” Charline asked. The armor teams had been gone for hours. She’d expected at least some progress on spare parts for the armor. They might not need any of it, but if they did she wanted to be prepared. If Halcomb had been goofing off the whole time she was gone…

  “Easier to show you than tell you. Come with me?”

  Not sure if she should be more worried or intrigued, Charline nodded and followed him away from the fabricator. Halcomb led her over to where her original suit stood. They’d left it standing in place, a backup in case the base camp came under attack while the others were away. It wasn’t up to fighting in the main event, but it was better than nothing for a last ditch defense.

  The suit didn’t look the same at all. The tears were welded. The dents banged back out. The most noticeable changes were far more dramatic, though. The suit itself was a dull steel color. But now its body and limbs shone brilliantly in reflected light. Patches of armor plating were welded over vulnerable spots on the suit. Not just any metal – this was the special alien alloy.

  “I thought rebuilding it was going to take more time than it was worth?” Charline asked.

  “It would. Figuring out how to mesh steel parts with that new alloy is an engineering feat I can’t accomplish out here in the middle of nowhere,” Halcomb said. “That’s why I didn’t rebuild it. I just added a little armor here and there. Oh, and made a couple of other small adjustments.”

  Charline spotted those almost at once. The shoulder mounted gun was still there, but Halcomb had dredged up a second arm cannon for the other arm. The suit now had better protection and a lot more firepower.

  “I mounted a blade inside the right arm, too. Triggers out like a switchblade if you press the button inside the cockpit,” Halcomb said. He sounded especially proud of that bit, which made Charline smile.

  “Very cool. I like the added plating, too. But won’t the additional armor weigh it down too much?” Charline asked.

  “Nah. The stuff is really light, and the suit was meant to haul a lot of weight around. I’ve got a hunch that the alloy backed by steel might actually be stronger than the alloy alone. The steel will soak some impact and heat behind the armor plates,” Halcomb said.

  “You’re saying the steel is padding,” Charline said with a laugh.

  “Compared to that other stuff, it might as well be. Anyway, I figured we could use one more suit out there, when it’s time to go. I was hoping it might be for me,” Halcomb said.

  “Andy’s not going to take anyone out who hasn’t been through training. Too much risk. I think we’re both sitting this one out,” Charline told him. “Maybe next time. For both of us.”

  “Yeah, maybe. So what do you want to do with it? Take it apart?” Halcomb asked.

  It was worth considering the idea. They had precious little of the alloy to work with. If they needed more spare parts than they had metal and components to create, they could be in trouble. The plating Halcomb put on the old suit wasn’t using too much, but even a little might matter.

  On the other hand, they could always strip the stuff off later on if they needed it that badly. It would be a shame to waste his efforts. Charline smiled up at the armor and patted its leg. The smooth sheets of alloy plating sparkled like they were winking at her, telling her not to worry.

  “I think it’s worth leaving it be. Might be useful if it comes down to it,” Charline said.

  She felt a shudder, like the ground was vibrating. Dust dropped from the ceiling, showering down around them all. The shaking came again with even more intensity. Charline raced to grab a radio. If it was another cave-in, the armor team might be in serious trouble out there! She called out.

  “Andy! We’re feeling some shaking here, like an earthquake. You all right?” she asked.

  “We feel it too. No rocks falling yet. I’ve spread the team out to avoid losing more than one suit if there’s a major rockfall,” he replied.

  “Be careful out there!” Charline said. The vibration returned, this time with enough force to make her grip the wall firmly. It didn’t subside this time, either.

  “Always am,” Andy replied.

  A sharp beeping noise caught Charline’s attention. She cast about, trying to determine what was making the noise. Maybe their gear was monitoring something about the earthquake, which continued to groan on at the same intensity. She spotted a light flashing in time with the sound and went to look.

  It was the remote sensor system giving an alarm. That was the device they’d put at the top of the tunnel, the one supposed to be watching for anything coming through the cave-in toward them.

  Charline tried to pull up the video feed on her tablet, but either there was too much rock in the way – or something had happened to the camera. She couldn’t see what was going on up there, but the sensor had definitely picked up something.

  Someone was coming through the rubble. But were they friend or foe? It could be the Satori, r
eturned to rescue them all. Or it might be the alien ship, finished at last with their survey of the surface and coming to examine the tunnel. There was no way to know until whatever it was came down the tunnel toward them. She had to warn the armor teams.

  “Andy! The sensors are going off,” Charline said over the radio. “The tremors – I think someone is breaking through the cave-in, and that’s what’s causing them.”

  “Someone? Any idea if friend or foe?” he asked.

  It could be either, but there was only one safe course of action. “Assume foes until we know otherwise.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  Charline swore repeatedly. It was one thing to bench herself during training. It was another thing entirely to stand idly by while her people were potentially going into battle. The new kid, Mark, had barely any practice at all wearing the armor. He was going to be a serious liability if it came to fighting. She glanced over at the old suit, newly remade. She could pop into that and be out there in a minute or two, tops.

  No, Andy had been right. It was essential she remain safe, as much as she hated it. She needed to trust him and his ability to lead the others. He was good at his job. Give him the space to get things done, and he’d lead them all safely through whatever was coming their way.

  She tapped a few commands on her keyboard, routing all of the armor cameras to her display. The small screen broke into six different images, one for each suit. The effect made her feel something like an insect, with a faceted view of the world. But these views were all from different angles. Andy had kept them spread out, but now they were all facing toward the tunnel entrance. Whatever came out of there was going to get a real shock.

  “Hold your fire until I say to shoot, folks. That could be our people coming down, and we don’t want friendly fire,” Andy said over the radio.

  It seemed less and less likely as time went on. When they were still on the surface, Charline could make excuses for the lack of radio contact. Maybe the stone was blocking transmissions. But the tremors had stopped. Whoever was digging through the rubble at the top of the tunnel was finished. They ought to be on their way down by now, which meant if it was a rescue team they would have signaled in some way.

  No signal meant it was probably unfriendlies on their way.

  Charline was about to open the radio link to warn Andy of her guess when something moved in the tunnel. The armor had all shut off their lights, but a few glowsticks remained scattered about the cave, casting a dim green illumination. That light had glanced off something. It was only there for a moment, but she was certain she’d seen it.

  “Andy, the tunnel entrance,” she said.

  “I saw it.” His voice sounded grim. “Hold your fire, everyone.”

  Long moments passed without anything happening. Then the views in Charline’s tablet all flared white at the same time. She almost dropped the thing in surprise. What could have happened? Had there been an explosion?

  The flare faded almost as quickly as it appeared, revealing a steady stream of plasma fire arcing across the room toward the tunnel entrance. The brightness of the plasma had briefly overwhelmed the armors’ cameras. Charline still couldn’t see what they were shooting at, or who was doing the firing. She longed to be out there, so she could make a difference. Risky, sure, but it was better than being left behind and only able to watch.

  “Mark, cease fire! I ordered you to hold your fire until I said otherwise,” Andy’s voice cracked over the radio net.

  The gunfire stopped immediately. “Sorry.”

  Sorry wasn’t going to save the kid from getting killed if he wasn’t able to follow orders. Maybe someone else would have been a better pick for the extra unit. Not herself or Halcomb maybe, but there were still four more people in their refuge who could have gone. Like Mark, they weren’t combat trained. They hadn’t wanted to learn, either.

  “All right, the enemy is either just inside the tunnel or beginning to withdraw,” Andy said. “We can’t let them retreat and bomb this place from the air. Tessa and I will advance. The rest of you cover the entrance. Fire at anything that moves. And don’t hit me.”

  He added the last line in a joking tone, but it was a real risk with the pilots having so little practice using their machines. He was taking the two most experienced people forward to rush the tunnel, hoping their skill would allow them to overcome whatever they ran into.

  Charline crossed her fingers. He had to be right. He usually was, when it really counted.

  She flicked her screen to focus on Andy’s cameras as he closed with the opening. There was no movement, but she could see bits of cooling metal scattered on the tunnel floor. Mark might have fired without orders, but at least he’d hit something! Andy didn’t stop at the base of the tunnel. Tessa’s armor at his side, he started to climb.

  “They’re withdrawing. So much for our ambush,” Andy said.

  “Sorry!” Mark yelped. He did sound contrite.

  “Sorry doesn’t get the job done. Fall in behind us. We’re moving fast. Keep up,” Andy replied.

  They made their way up the twisting tunnel. Charline watched the floor and walls for some sign of the enemy’s passage. There was no blood on the ground, so whatever they’d hit wasn’t bleeding out. Were these aliens armored, too? Developments like body armor seemed to be universal. It wouldn’t shock her to see another species had thoughts along similar lines to her own and the Naga.

  The tunnel was growing brighter as they approached the surface. All at once Andy’s view showed the outside. He was still moving as fast as the armor’s legs could sprint. He didn’t slow down at the tunnel entrance, just pushed on as rapidly as he could. Plasma fire zipped past him, splashing against the cave wall as he exited.

  The way ahead was blocked by a small ship. More of a large shuttle than a real starship, the thing had smooth lines, looking sleek compared to the boxy ships her people had built. Even the Naga vessels didn’t come close to this level of complex construction. How had the thing been shaped?

  She didn’t have time to worry about it more. There were four enemy combatants closing on the ship. They raced toward the lowered ramp, firing back at Andy’s team periodically as they fled.

  On many, many legs. She’d seen that armor before, or something very close to it anyway.

  “Charline, do you see them?” Andy asked.

  “Yes,” she replied. It was unmistakable. The aliens were indeed wearing armor. It was almost the same stuff as they’d discovered in the sealed chamber. The centipede-like suits they’d converted over to their own use. This had to be the same race.

  This was the species which had built the wormhole drive. The race the Naga had gone to war with a thousand years ago and believed they had wiped out. But the Naga hadn’t finished the job, it seemed. Now they were back, and that meant Andy’s people were in a lot of trouble. Hell, all of them were in for a world of hurt if those things were as powerful as Charline guessed they had to be.

  “Fan out!” Andy said. “Tess and Mark left of me. Arjun and Jonas right. Isabella with me. Light them up!”

  Fire blazed from all six armor units as they maneuvered into a better position to fire. They focused on the rearmost centipede. Metal spat and blew away from its shell as the plasma melted its way into it. It kept moving as long as it could, dodging to avoid some of their shots. But then Tessa and Andy both landed direct hits on the thing’s head. It shuddered and went down in a heap.

  “One down!” Jonas whooped.

  “Stay focused. Keep firing!” Andy replied.

  It was working! The aliens were on the run. One more hard push and Andy’s unit would have the ship under their control.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Charline watched the aliens beat their retreat, her heart thrilling. The armor worked! Worked well enough to send the enemy into disarray and withdrawal. If Andy could press the advantage and board their ship, they would capture it and win the day.

  But then she realized only one of the three aliens had b
oarded. The other two remained at the bottom of the ramp. They used their ship as cover, protecting them from most of the incoming fire. Meanwhile, their own guns had the armor pinned down. Andy couldn’t advance without one or more of his people taking withering fire.

  Charline wanted to direct the fight via radio, but she knew better. The boots on the ground needed to be in charge, making the hard calls in real-time. Her orders would only be interference and disruption. She’d cause more harm than good.

  “Tessa and Mark, push forward on their right flank. We’ll cover you,” Andy said.

  She held her breath, hoping the ploy would work. The other armor units unleashed everything they had, pouring plasma into the spot where the two aliens hid. They huddled back further, and almost all their fire stopped.

  “Now! Move!” Andy all but shouted.

  The two armor units rushed forward to take up a flanking position. Caught in a pincer between Andy’s four units and the pair flanking, the aliens would be unable to remain under cover. This was it. They’d all but won!

  Something odd flashed across Charline’s screen. Her tablet gave her a steady diagnostic readout on each of the armor units. They were running a little hot, nothing to worry about. But all six of them had a small spike in transmissions from and to their alien power cores. It wasn’t much, just enough to notice, but for a hacker like Charline the extra traffic rang every alarm bell.

  “Andy, get out of there!” Charline shouted into the radio. “Pull them all out, now!”

  “What?” He sounded confused, but then he brought his voice back to certainty again. “Abort the flanking maneuver. All units, pull back to the tunnel. I say again, pull back!”

  Her heart warmed that he trusted her enough to act without asking for a more detailed explanation. She only hoped that her warning arrived in time to save them.

  The alien tech was still fairly black box. They understood so little about how it worked, where the power it generated came from, and what else those cubes could do. That little spike in traffic was classic hacking, though. Someone was trying to break into their power cubes. Not even Charline had the tech to manage that without a direct physical connection.