I led Jo to one of the pods and helped her into the rig. Then, going back for Baz, I lifted him onto his one good leg and was glad to see that the wound was cauterised around the remaining armour and the suit's internal systems were maintaining his vitals.
“NO NO NO!” he cried. “You're not sending me back, not like this!”
“Sorry mate, that's the way it is.”
“But my leg! I haven't found my-”
“'Ere it is, Mr Baz!” cried Thor, waving the thing still inside the casing of the exo-shell. “I'm sure they can-”
Something struck the giant bot and made him spin round. Suddenly Thor was beating it to death with Baz's own leg. I tried to say something but he spun back around, saw one of the enhanced freaks heading for Mason and beat him down too, following it to the ground with blow after blow. Baz was wailing now as what was once his beloved body part was now being used as a weapon of reasonably mass destruction. Thor felled three more freaks before he remembered just what it was in his hand and dropped it like it was alive. I guess it had been until that point.
“Oh my, I'm so sorry, Mr Baz,” he tried to say but by then I'd stuffed him into the pod and activated the launch sequence. Later Baz would claim that the last thing he saw was the leg falling into the gooey mess of a freak's intestines and it made him cry.
“How long on that drone?” I called to Mason as I watched Jo and Baz vanish out of the planet's atmosphere.
“Thirty seconds.”
It came sweeping in, followed by a dozen rockets which screamed past, unable to lock-on. Its VTOL jets dropped it just outside the vault door and whilst the fire continued to pour in Grant and I slung the bags into the belly of the craft one after another.
“Faster!” cried Mason.
“I am!” I bellowed after him.
Shots bounced off my armour but I ignored them. Grant felt her shoulder buckle as a bolt of plasma hit it directly and her arm failed. With her only working limb, she dragged the last of the bags into the drone and lifted the ramp as I returned fire.
“Send it!” I cried and the jets burst into life, spun the drone around, and launched it almost directly up into the sky. All that remained were the stacks of metal we'd left for the colonists but most of those had taken fire as well.
“That's our song,” said Mason. “Grant, Fara – into the pod. Get out of here.”
Together they mounted the frame and I slammed it shut behind them, smashing the controls that launched it into the sky. I looked around. Two of the turrets were now inactive. Only Mozzy, Mason and I remained.
“Off you go buddy,” I called to the former soldier. “You get the meat wagon I'm afraid.”
“You guys are going last?” he called.
“That's the plan. Always has been,” said Mason.
Mozzy ran for the pod where Columbine was still hanging by his suit. I closed the doors and hit the launch button.
“Get Sam into a medipod the moment you dock. Good luck, guys,” he said and then was gone. Rockets were launched after them but none managed to get a lock-on.
“Carter – this is Jo. We're safe,” she said. “Get your asses back-”
Silence. She didn't finish what she was saying and the comms had gone silent. I'd now moved to cover and was emptying one of the RR6 lasers into the doorway we'd come through at the start. Jo's clipped sentence distracted me from reloading and I ditched it, grabbing a massive rail cannon in both hands to cover Mason who was doing the same.
“Pull back to the pod,” he said.
“You first,” I called.
I looked at Thor who now bore a shield in one hand and a length of concrete-rebar in the other. He was smashing apart anything that came close to him.
“Will the other Thor remember this?” I asked him as he cried out after every kill. He said nothing, appearing to ignore me.
“Carter!” It was Jo, panic straining in her voice. “He didn't do it!”
“Do what?” I said.
“Clone his CPU. That's the only Thor down there. He didn't want to-”
“I wasn' gonna' do that to me poor little Jimmy,” he said over the roar of the guns. “Wasn' gonna' take the risk, see.”
“You idiot!” I bellowed at him. “There's no way we're leaving you behind you gigantic piece of shit! You should have known that!”
“I was hopin' you wouldn' find out, sirs,” he said.
“Well that's that then,” said Mason. “Game over, gentlemen. It's been a pleasure.”
“You can still go, sirs,” he tried to convince us but I think that even he realised his mistake then. He hadn't counted on our loyalty to him when he was considering his loyalty to Jimmy.
“It was going too well, I told you this,” I said as the last of the turrets fell silent. “Stand down, guys. It's over.”
I dropped the rail cannon and raised my arms over my head. Mason did the same. The firing gradually stopped.
“Sorry, mates,” said Thor and his shield clanged to the ground, accidentally crushing three more drones. “I didn't fink that one through, did I?”
31
“What's going on down there?” cried Jo. “Why haven't you launched?”
We said nothing. I'd miss her, I thought to myself as the automated units backed away and flesh and blood soldiers came marching into the smouldering ruins of the factory. I'd lowered my arms when it was clear that they weren't going to destroy us right away and I took a slow step back to one of the empty crates and sat down. I was tired and, if I was honest, quite glad that the shooting had now stopped.
“This was your rule, right?” asked Mason, lowering his helmet. I did the same. “To be the last two on any mission?”
“Yeah, that sounds like something I'd say,” I replied.
“You let Mozzy and Columbine get away, one of whom tried to kill us not so long ago, yet it's us two here now, about to die.”
“Yep,” I said. “That's about the size of it.”
“You're a dick to best friends, you know that?”
“Blame him,” I said and pointed to Thor. “He's the one who ruined the plan.”
“He's right,” said the 'bot, coming a few steps closer and making the ground shake. “It's all my fault, sirs.”
“Can you at least do the last bit of the plan for us?” I asked. “Save us from potential torture and death?”
“What? The fingy inside me-”
“How about you just do it and keep quiet, okay?” snapped Mason. “I'd like my last few minutes to be filled with silence.” He opened a compartment in his armour and took out a cigar. Lighting it he took a long pull and blew out a smoke ring.
“I could murder some ice cream right about now,” I said. He nodded and flicked ash onto the floor.
“Rocky road,” he said.
“I'd settle for chocolate. With a wafer and a flake.” I sighed. “Look who's here.”
“Who?” Mason gazed through the smoke. “Oh shit.”
“Yeah. I thought that. At least we get to take him with us I suppose.”
“I have to eject my CPU,” whispered Thor. “To... you know? Make the boom-boom?”
“Great! He won't even be here at the end, he'll be inside a tube of blue goo. Thanks, Thor. Real nice of you, pal.”
“Again, really sorry sirs. How long?”
“Give it five minutes,” said Mason. “I sense a monologue coming on.”
The soldiers snapped their weapons upwards as Thor's chest slid open and revealed the CPU ejection port. I stood, raised both my arms and edged towards him, slowly reaching to pull it out without taking my eyes off them.
“He bailed on us,” I shouted to them. “I want to smash his brain before you kill us.”
Corano came walking towards us, suited in an expensive looking custom exo-shell with the helmet down and a mane of silver hair framing what looked like Captain Argo's face minus the obvious scarring and lack of an eye. He stood a safe distance from the two of us, looked at the inactive Thor and grinned. It w
as straight, no lop-siding for him.
“Clearly,” he said in that Argo family accent passed down from generation to generation. “You're not selling cookies door-to-door.”
“We're collecting for the intergalactic Red Cross,” I said, sitting back down. “Care to make a donation?”
“Looks like I already did. The drone, right?” I nodded. “What, two tonnes of my data?”
“More like three,” said Mason. “Give or take a document here or there.”
“And I guess the rest is about to go up in thermite-flames, right?”
“Not quite. More like radioactive flames. So to speak.”
There was a rumble beneath our feet and dust spouted from the gaping maw of the vault like vomit.
“Scratch that. It just did,” said Corano. “Well then. At least tell me what it was you wanted that you didn't feel you could just buy from me. That's what I do... did... I guess. Buy and SELL information. Surely all this equipment cost you a fair bit?”
I looked at Mason who was already looking at me. We were both thinking the same thing but I decided to take a more altruistic approach.
“This was an ethical plan,” I said, realising that perhaps buying Angel's innocence hadn't even crossed our minds. “You know, blackmail and extortion doesn't sit well with heroes. Sort of.”
“I see.”
He looked around at the dead and dying, the wrecked equipment and levelled structure.
“You killed a few people. Seems a little unethical to me.”
“They were bad guys,” said Mason. “We checked.”
“And that drop-pod? That was meant to be your escape, right?”
We both turned and looked at it, nodding.
“Yes. Well, if that idiot there had stuck to the plan and-” I stopped. “Well, you don't need the gritty details. Suffice it to say that all was going well until now.”
“He's going to explode too, right? The robot?”
Again Mason and I looked at each other and shrugged.
“I guess so.”
“Nuclear?” We nodded. “Noble.”
“Stupid,” I replied. “We weren't supposed to be here when it happened.”
“Can you disarm it?” asked Corano. We shook our heads. “Can't or won't?”
“He can't, I won't,” I said. “Our options are limited.”
“Hmm.”
Silence. It was odd to have someone you've just robbed blind be so cordial but that was the problem with the Navy, once a Captain, always a Captain. He seemed to understand this and once he'd surveyed the carnage for himself he dismissed us both with a wave of his hand.
“Just go,” he said in the end. “The damage is done. What can I say? You've filled the water with my blood and the sharks will start circling soon. I can no longer continue operations on this planet so I am now forced to leave.” He turned to go and the soldiers did likewise, though with more haste now that they knew what was going to happen.
“Just like that?” I said. He nodded. “That's very kind of you if you don't mind me saying.”
“They say you can take a Captain out of the Navy...” Here he looked at us with a cocked eyebrow and there was Argo again, looking back at us.
“Any messages for your brother or your nephew?” I asked.
“Did they have any for me?” he retorted.
“Your nephew doesn't know.”
Corano shook his head slowly but smiled.
“We'll meet again, gentlemen. Be sure of that. Now get the hell off my planet.”
We stepped into the pod, still expecting to be shot down in a hail of plasma fire, but when the thing actually launched with the three of us inside it we began to think that Corano was the likeable kind of villain.
“What the hell took you so long?” cried Jo as we emerged from the pod inside the loading bay of the Hikane and made for the bridge. She was still in her suit but it didn't stop her from throwing her arms around me as we met. Kissing was impossible, of course, what with all that armour in the way.
“You wouldn't believe us if we told you,” I said. “Let's get out of here before he changes his mind.”
“Who?”
“Corano. Argo. Whoever he is now,” said Mason.
On the bridge, we took our stations and Jo carried Thor's CPU back to the engine room to return him to his original frame. Baz had been sedated and both he and Columbine were in medipods. It looked like the artist might make it after all. Grant, Fara and Mozzy were extricating themselves from their damaged armour in the hold.
“Punching in a rendezvous course for the fleet,” I said, tapping the controls. My eyes felt like they were filled with sand. “Maximum speed to the nearest gate. Any signs of pursuit?”
“None so far,” said Mason. “Let's just-”
The alarm sirens began wailing and I lowered my face into my palm.
“Of course it was too good to be true,” I said. “He knew he could chase us down the moment we left.”
“That's what he meant – you can't take the Navy out of the Captain. He wants a victory on his terms, not ours.”
“That sucks. You know we're not so good at this flying thing, right?”
“I've noticed. How many?” I asked. Mason consulted the display.
“Four Corsairs, six Corvettes. Outgunned, outnumbered.”
I sighed. At least I could stay seated while we died this time; my legs were killing me.
“Okay, maximum speed out of here and activate the distress beacons. We'll run until they catch us and decide what to do then.”
32
We managed twenty-six minutes before the lead vessel, identified as the Wandering Star, came to within weapon-range. They fired a burst of lancers which reduced our aft shields to less than 34% and launched several rockets to finish the job.
“Fire countermeasures,” I said. “Then we'll turn and fight.”
The rockets veered off and detonated on our starboard side at a safe distance. Then, as our engines decelerated, I banked to port and down, sweeping back and under the Wandering Star.
“Weapons firing,” said Mason. “Multiple hits on their port and aft shields. Plasma-battery got through and smashed their inter-stellar comms relay. Lucky hit.”
“More of the same, if you please,” I said. I looked at the scanner. The other ships were closing now, seconds from joining the fight. I tapped my comms and hailed the Wandering Star.
“Well met, Captain Argo,” I said. No response.
“Maybe he-” I raised my hand for silence as a message came through.
“Likewise, Carter. The Hikane is a damn fine vessel. I've never seen so deft a strike before. I'll enjoy taking her as a prize.”
“See what you think of this one then,” I replied and signed off. Then, scrolling through a narrow list of manoeuvrers, I selected one of his own from some forgotten battle before the Martian War.
“Did you get that?” I asked Mason. He nodded. “Alter the firing pattern and reverse the broadside, aft to fore.”
The ship came back around and the joining vessels opened fire but the shots went wide. Being this close to their Captain's ship they didn't want to risk blowing us both up in the engagement.
“Six seconds,” I said. “Five... four...”
“Locked on.”
“Here we go...”
The Hikane rumbled as multiple hits were scored on our forward and starboard shields but my plan had worked; recognising his own tactical manoeuvrer Argo had altered his own firing pattern to match. But he hadn't expected the change in order and although he'd managed to hit us, the altered broadside had devastated his underbelly and was now venting plasma in his wake.
My comms chimed as we drew away, just beyond the range of the other ships.
“Go ahead, Jo,” I said.
“The shields won't take another hit like that,” she said. “Generators two and five are fried and the others are struggling to compensate.”
“Understood,” I said. Then another message ca
me through and I grinned.
“Not bad, Carter. Not bad at all. Using my own tactics against me. I can still remember defeating the Invincible with that one back during the War. You appear to be giving me a history lesson.”
“Perhaps you'd like another?” I asked.
“I'm afraid not,” he replied. “You've nicely crippled my ship and so I am forced to withdraw. I've enjoyed this brief engagement but now it's time to end this. I'm willing to accept your surrender, should you offer it. You have ten minutes to decide.”
He signed off and I looked at Mason who was smiling.
“It's not often that grunts get to kick the crap out of the Navy, is it?” he said.
“No, I guess not.”
I looked at the scanner and saw the other ships moving to surround us. Corano, or Argo, was right – surrender or complete destruction were the only options left.
“What do you think?” I asked him.
“We're outside of Earth Gov. jurisdiction. If we surrender we're putting ourselves in his hands with no hope of fair treatment. The chances of them ransoming us back to TRIDENT are slim. We'd vanish into some prison and die a horrible death, eventually, or he'll just kill us outright. Either way, the outlook is grim.”
“We fight then?”
“If they cripple the engines and board then it might not be a fight to the death. Self-destruct is the only sure way to deny them us and the data.”
“Well, that sucks,” I smiled. “And all of this will be for nothing because ten minutes isn't long enough for me to sift through the data and burst-send it to Mr. Beard on the Agamemnon.”
“Game over, I guess.”
We sat there for a moment or two in silence, staring at the display. I felt my heart sink and I thought of Jo, of her and Jimmy being captured. It wasn't a nice place to visit.
There was a chime from the console and I heard Mason tapping at the controls.
“What happened?” he suddenly cried and I looked up from the floor I'd been staring at.
“What?”
“One of the ships just vanished off the scanner,” he said. “They're moving... Wait... That's another gone.”
Raw Justice Page 28