Jesse continued to rake fire across the hangar, holding Boke’s men at bay before swinging around targeting the fuel cells on the transports still sitting behind. One of the transports blew just as the guards began to make a rush forward. The fireball filling the chamber was the last thing Jesse saw as K’Tran punched the throttle and took off after the others.
Chapter Nineteen
Godfrey led Kym and Metcalf through the winding back alleys of the spaceport to avoid any security patrols in the area, having parked their transport several blocks away and proceeding on foot. They arrived at the service door to find nothing seemingly out of the ordinary.
“It’s quiet,” Kym said, casting a glance down both directions of the street, searching for any sign of deceit. The streets, even back-streets like the ones they had come down, should have been busy at this time of day. They found them oddly deserted “Too quiet.”
“I’m sure something is up,” Godfrey conceded. “But I’ll have us inside in a minute.”
He entered his code on the doors’ keypad, which responded with a negative chirp, and he cursed. “My code is locked out.”
“What do we do now? Wave our hands and say open sesame?” Metcalf asked. He, too, was looking up and down the street, but with far more concern than Kym had.
“I have a back door passcode,” Godfrey replied “It should get us in, but it’s going to take a few minutes longer.”
“Well make it quick,” Metcalf insisted.
Godfrey was punching in numbers as quickly as his fingers would allow. “This is not something that can be rushed.”
“Well we’re kind of pressed for time here.”
“Did Rhasti send you along to fight or annoy us?”
“Well you’re the one who made like some cut-rate secret agent with your,” Metcalf made quotation marks with his fingers. “Security clearance.”
Godfrey shot back at Metcalf, but Kym had tuned the two of them out by now. She was watching the shadows at the far end of the street in the direction from which they had come. It did not take a super commando to realize that it had to be Boke’s agents, getting ready to make a rush. As Godfrey and Metcalf continued to bicker, she crept to the corner and peeked surreptitiously around the wall toward the hangars main doors. There, around the opposite far corner, but still partly visible, she saw the front end of a security vehicle, and the hint of movement just beyond it.
Moving back next to her two companions, she reached into one of the pockets of her coveralls and withdrew a control pad, keying in commands as the screen lit up. Metcalf stopped his arguing with Godfrey long enough to look over the customs officers shoulder at her. “What are you doing?”
“We don’t have time for this. We’re about to have company,” She punched in another command, and flattened herself against the wall. “I’d cover my ears if I were you.”
Godfrey and Metcalf shared a look, their eyes going wide, and ducked their heads. Kym tapped one final control.
The blast that followed shook the walls and street all around them, and almost knocked Godfrey and Metcalf onto their backsides. A dust cloud snaked around the corner seconds later.
“Let’s go boys,” she said, grabbing Godfrey by the collar and giving a sharp tug. “I only bought us a few more seconds.”
To punctuate, laser fire began coming at them from down the street where they had come. The dust cloud afforded them some cover as the ducked around the corner.
The scene there was impressive. The corner of one of the hangar doors was embedded partway in the wall of the building across the street, shielding them from the troops further down. The doorway, which had been square, now looked more like an arch from the amount of dura-crete that had been blown away in the blast.
Kym tapped another control as she ran for the Starhawk and the access ramp touched ground the moment she got to it. She bounded up in three quick steps and slapped the controls to close it again the moment Godfrey and Metcalf set foot on it. By the time they found their way onto the bridge, she was already bringing the systems on line.
“Metcalf, take your seat. We’re going to need you there,” she called, pointing a thumb back over her shoulder to the gunnery chair behind her. She spared a glance at Godfrey as he settled into the seat beside her at the controls. “Here’s where the fun begins.”
The first troops were starting to arrive through the shattered doorway, the sound of their laser fire echoing off of the ship’s hull. “Small arms fire won’t do much against our armor,” she commented, never taking her eyes off the readouts.
Kym could feel the concern in Godfrey’s voice as he gestured out the viewport. “I think that might.”
She glanced up, seeing a trio of the troops setting up a heavy repeating blaster on a tri-pod stand. She let out a low whistle. “That could make a dent. Metcalf?”
“One sec. Just trying to get a feel for the controls,” he called back.
The tri-pod gun opened up. Starhawk shuddered under the assault. From behind, Kym heard Metcalf mutter, “Guess I’ve learned enough for now.”
The tri-pod got off one more burst before Metcalf fired back with the Starhawk’s own cannons. The tri-pod, and its crew, disappeared in a flash. The other troops retreated back around the doorframe.
“Can you try your security codes on the overhead doors?” Kym asked Godfrey as she finished bringing the engines up to full power, activating the anti-gravs and shields.
“Trying,” came the reply. “Though if I had trouble with the utility door, I doubt—oh wait! Yep. Got them.” He favored her with a lopsided grin that quickly disappeared. “Damn, security must be overriding.”
Kym checked her boards. The doors were indeed cycling shut again. Raising the landing gear, she tipped the ship up on its tail, pointing its nose skyward. “It’s okay. We have our own key. Metcalf?”
Behind her, the gunner sounded unsure. “Awful tight quarters in here.”
“Shields are at at full. She can take it,” The sound of laserfire began ringing through the hull again. Evidently, Boke’s troops were beginning to regain some measure of confidence. “Blow the doors or we may not get another shot at this.”
She heard Metcalf mutter something between a curse and a prayer, then the whump of missiles leaving their launchers. The viewport went opaque as the detonation flash created a miniature sun inside the hangar. The doors stopped their retreat, but were stuck with a gap too narrow for the ship to fit through. “Hit ‘em with everything we’ve got!”
Metcalf loosed another flight of missiles, supplementing with a steady barrage from the cannons. More and more of the sky began to show through the gaps caused by the onslaught, wreckage falling against the ship, bouncing of its shields.
“That’ll have to do,” Kym said, leveling the ship once more. Redirecting power from the weapons into the shields, she brought the anti-gravs up to full power and the ship ascended. There was a shriek of tearing metal as the she forced her way through what was left of the doors, then the Starhawk broke free into clear sky above.
Metcalf and Godfrey let out hoots of joy. Kym kept her demeanor calm. That’s my tough little lady.
Godfrey’s elation was short lived. “We’ve got security ships coming in from the south.”
Kym ignored the warning, piloting the ship at rooftop level across the cityscape. She spotted the approaching ships as they turned to intercept. The fighters came onward, but did not fire. They can’t risk firing and damaging parts of the city, Kym thought. Fortunately, we’re not bound by such restrictions. Out loud she said, “Let’s see how tough they are playing chicken with a bird five times their size.”
The distance closed rapidly. Too rapidly for one of them when Kym heard a strangled shriek from one of her companions—Metcalf, she thought—as the oncoming fighters held their course before breaking off at the last minute. As they dodged out of the way, Kym angled their trajectory and sent the Starhawk racing starward.
She allowed herself to glance over at Godf
rey, who had gone whiter than a marshmallow in a snowstorm. Looking back at Metcalf, the gunner appeared to be sweating profusely. He locked eyes with her. “Are your friends just as crazy?” he managed to croak.
Kym smiled as she turned back to the viewport, watching as the city disappeared below, and the sky became a more purple-black as the ship climbed further.
“Worse,” she replied.
***
Jesse fired, his shots striking the portside engine cowling of the nearest pursuing Antares flyer, and the vehicles’ speed dropped sharply, causing the two craft following behind it to dodge to avoid a collision. The new leader began to quickly regain ground, its gunner unleashing a firestorm in return.
“How much further until we reach the outside?” Jesse shouted over his shoulder. He had to duck to avoid a lucky shot that managed to take off part of his targeting array. Not that the device was doing him much good anyway. He had been firing blind the entire ride.
“Three more kilometers,” K’Tran’s reply came back to him. “We’ve got to do something to buy those transports more time. That last one is starting to lag behind. If it dies in these tunnels, everyone else on board is dead too!”
The problem was, there wasn’t much they could do. These corridors were just wide enough for the Capissens to squeeze through, and any side tunnels they passed were even more narrow. Even the Antares flyers were having a hard time of it, as evidenced by their near-collision just moments ago.
That gave Jesse an idea. “K’Tran, stop!”
“What? Stop? We’re being chased—”
“Just do it!” Jesse shouted, bracing himself for the sudden deceleration.
K’Tran throttled back hard, and their vehicle fish-tailed as it came to a halt. The rest seemed to happen in slow-motion. The driver of the lead pursuer saw their sudden stop, swerving to avoid a collision, throwing his gunner around, shots firing into the walls or roof of the tunnel. The second craft, following close behind, had less time to react. Jesse laid into it with his cannon, shearing off one of its engines. The vehicle slewed to one side, slipped and began to roll until it hit the rear of the first one before exploding. Pushed into the wall by the blast, Jesse saw the Antares’ nose crumple under the impact. The driver appeared unconscious, but the gunner recovered quickly enough that he turned and began trying to re-target them. K’Tran re-engaged the engines and they were under way again.
Jesse allowed himself to slump in his seat now that the chase was over. Ahead he could see the three Capissen’s as K’Tran made up the distance, and beyond that, merely a pinprick at this distance, but growing larger, sunlight could be seen. “I think we’re gonna be okay,” he shouted to K’Tran.
The words were barely out of his mouth when a number of single-rider anti-grav bikes came shooting out of one of the side tunnels as they passed. Intended for high-speed pursuit, these were Raptor-class pursuit craft. The rider leaned forward over the controls, creating a low target profile and a repeater cannon hung on each side of the craft. They were firing before they had even cleared their side tunnel.
Several shots scored one of the Antares’ engines before K’Tran could even react, but being from the side, the outer plating caught the worst of the damage. Jesse swung the cannon around again, a lucky shot catching one of the lead riders and sending him flying from his vehicle. The others, far more maneuverable than the Antares’ drivers, dodged easily, and continued jockeying positions with such swift movements that Jesse could not draw a bead on any one of them.
The Raptors continued firing. K’Tran did his best to keep weaving, but the larger Antares could only maneuver so far in the tight confines of the tunnel. More and more, the pursuers shots began to strike home.
“First transport is clear,” K’Tran shouted. His words were almost drowned out by the sounds of the continual firing. The Antares rocked as a shot struck the rear of their vehicle. A hull plate went flying, nearly striking one of the Raptors, which bounced nimbly out of the way and continued firing.
Jesse mashed down on his cannon’s firing stud, but rather than rapid fire, the gun fired intermittent bursts. Jesse glanced at the cannon’s power readout and grimaced. “That last hit did something to my gun. Recharge rate is down almost by half!”
“Transport Two is clear,” K’Tran called again. “We’ve got to do something about those assholes back there and quick! If they get out in the open, they’ll cut us all to pieces.”
Jesse did not respond. He was too intent on trying to nail the lead Raptor. He held off on firing until his indicator read that he had a full charge then pressed the firing stud three times in quick succession. Two of his shots went wild, but by some miracle the third struck one of the repeater cannons. The feedback blast caused the Raptor to flip nose over tail. The bike came down hard into the dirt and twisted sideways. A second bike struck that one and began a flip of its own, cannons firing wild into the tunnel walls and roof as it spun end over end. Falling debris took out a third rider.
Debris continued to fall, in ever greater amounts. Another biker was taken down. Soon, there was so much falling debris that the remaining riders were obscured. Oh Hell .Not this again, Jesse thought as the tunnel continued coming down behind them.
“Three is clear,” K’Tran crowed, his elation quickly fading as he started to turn, asking, “What’s that sound?”
“Fly,” Jesse shouted back. “Don’t look! Just fly!”
The opening of the tunnel was drawing nearer, sunlight so bright to their eyes that it was blinding. Behind them, the tunnel continued to collapse, now looking like a rolling wave of stone and earth that was quickly catching up to them. A rock the size of a human skull crashed down centimeters from where Jesse sat.
“Must go faster,” he screamed over the roar of crashing rock. “Must go faster. Faster would be better!”
They were at the lip of the entrance when a boulder half the size of the flyer came down and grazed its tail end, hard enough to force it into the dirt. The Antares bounced hard back into the air, Jesse almost falling out of his seat as the craft continued to skip like a stone across a pond. K’Tran lost control for a moment, regaining it just in time to swerve wildly to avoid rear-ending the back of the last Capissen transport. The vehicle fish-tailed for several more meters before K’Tran was able to bring it to a halt.
They sat there for a long moment, catching their breath and trying to slow the wild thumping of their hearts as the dust cloud from the collapse rolled over them. Jesse gripped the cannon’s firing studs to steady his shaking hands. K’Tran sat gasping for breath like a beached fish. Raychel, Salga and several others were climbing from their transports and running their way. Jesse found his voice first.
“Well, that was fun.”
Chapter Twenty
The Verba pilot of the final transport, now known to them as Kwinn, made a profuse apology to K’Tran for stopping so abruptly outside the tunnel exit, though the black smoke now billowing from one of the turbines was explanation enough. The Capissen was going no further without a major overhaul. At least it had survived long enough to get them out of the mines.
They set about trying to rearrange and make room for all the extra passengers that they now had to cram into two of the already over-crowded vehicles. For the time being, there appeared to be no further attempt at pursuit coming from the mine. Jesse hoped that they were far enough from any other tunnels to forestall further pursuit for now.
Salga had checked both Jesse and K’Tran over for any injuries, despite their insistence that they were fine. Satisified that they were telling the truth, the Kleezha wandered back to help with supervising the re-loading of any wounded.
Jesse moved away from the commotion for a moment, taking the opportunity to take deep breaths of the fresh air and feel the sun on his skin. Though it had only been a few days, he didn’t realize how much he missed seeing blue sky, or how good the warmth of the sun could feel after the perpetual dank and cold of the underground.
Lo
oking out across the valley, keeping an eye open for any sign of attack, he spotted several small buildings in the distance, with rows of metallic objects along one side glinting in the morning sunlight. Walking back to the Antares, he popped open the metallic storage box and rifled through its contents until he found a pair of digital binoculars. Focusing them on the buildings in the distance, what he saw made him smile.
K’Tran came up next to him, squinting into the sun, having spotted the same thing. Jesse handed him the binocs. “Tell me what you see.”
K’Tran scanned the site, lowered the viewer, squinting, then raised it again. “Look’s like an airfield. Don’t see any ships on the field though. Might be in the hangars, or the place could just be abandoned.”
“Might still be something over there that we could use, and I want to make sure they can’t use anything against us,” Jesse said. “Do you make out any crew?”
K’Tran swept the device the length of the facility. “Guardhouse at the gate. Looks like a few techs, but nothing I’d call a heavy threat. I’m guessing that if a call went out about us, they’d have mobilized by now.”
“Still, it’s better to be sure,” Jesse turned and started back to the Antares. “Plus, I want to try and contact Podo or Kym. Find out what’s going on. None of these vehicles will have secure transmitters, but that base might.”
He climbed back into the gun-mount, checking over power levels. “Grab Kwinn and a few others who are armed. Tell the rest we won’t be long and to contact us if anything comes up.”
“We’re just gonna leave the transports here in the open?”
“For what I have planned, we won’t be more than a few minutes,” he replied “They’ll be fine. I have a suspicion that if Driggers is right, a bunch of escaped ghosts from the mines is the last thing Boke has to worry about.”
The Starhawk Chronicles: Rest and Wreck-reation Page 14