by Saxon Andrew
• • •
“Grant, that red colored being just blasted all six of the ones that were with him in the landing bay.”
Grant’s eyes narrowed and Cinny shrugged, “One of them recognized us. He’s making sure no one informs the Raiders of what happened.”
Grant looked at her, “Do you condone what he did?”
“Absolutely. The thugs that work with him know the hazards of lying in bed with a viper. There is no honor among thieves. The one that recognized us would tell the Raiders and collect the bounty for valid information. If he didn’t, one of the others would. I’m surprised he didn’t kill the pilot.”
Grant stared at Cinny and wondered if he really knew her. Then he thought about it and determined that she was right. They would have killed everyone on the shuttle without second thought if they tried to spring a trap. At least this left the door open for future trades. Whippet walked on the bridge and Grant raised his eyebrows, “The blaster reactors are now at full power. Whoever built this ship deliberately starved them.”
Cinny looked up, “Ana, is he right?”
“Yes he is.”
“Does this change the time we can withstand the blasters from that large yellow warship?”
“It increases it from a minute to two minutes. But the math holds for the number of attackers. Four of them cuts the time down to thirty seconds. Twelve cuts it down to ten seconds.”
Whippet smiled, “We’ll just have to make sure we don’t stay in one place long enough for that many to attack us.”
“What about the time it takes to defeat their defenses?”
“With the added crylium, we should be able to take one out in five seconds. Throw in three missiles and I suspect we’ll have instant success.”
“That’s all I can ask for, Ana.”
Whippet shook his head, “Grant, there were a hundred ships above that planet. How long do you think it would take them to jump in on your jump signature and catch us in a cross fire?”
Grant stared at Whippet and Ana said, “They would be on us initially in ten seconds. After that they would instantly appear wherever we went around the planet.”
Grant smiled, “Like Whippet said, we just have to avoid staying in one place too long.”
Cinny shook her head, “Actually, it means we can’t fight a space battle with those large battleships. We’re going to have to depend on Iggy and Slick to do the real damage to them.”
Whippet looked at the two humans, “I’ve not asked you before, but why are you so determined to attack the Raiders? It won’t bring back your planet or the ones killed. What purpose does it serve?”
Grant looked at Cinny and then said, “Do you have any family, Whippet?”
“I do.”
“What if someone murdered them? Would you just let it go? They’re gone and nothing is going to bring them back.”
Whippet stared at them and after a few moments he blew out a breath, “I guess I would go after the murderers to stop them from doing it to anyone else.” Grant and Cinny nodded. “The way they blasted that city told me more about them than anything I’ve seen so far. They appear to have no heart.”
Cinny turned to her control panel, “And that is why we’re determined to make them pay for their actions. It might give them pause in the future.”
Whippet sighed, “What do we do now?”
Grant smiled, “Ana, didn’t you say that you have some training programs installed in the ship’s landing bay?”
“I do.”
“Well, it looks like we have time to work on them while Iggy and Slick are getting ready.”
“You’ll need to wear your armor and change out your blasters for training guns.”
“On our way.”
Whippet watched them leave and wondered what lay ahead. He decided to go and watch the training exercises. He might learn something.
• • •
Grant and Cinny took the new combat helmets out of the locker and put them on. “Whoa…this is messed up.”
Ana’s voice said, “No it’s not; the helmet gives you a three hundred and sixty degree view of everything around you.”
“It’s making me dizzy.”
“Just stand still, Cinnamon and close your eyes.”
Cinny closed her eyes and still saw everything in her mind. She remained perfectly still and after a few minutes things started to come into focus. “I think I’m starting to make sense of what I’m seeing, Ana. I guess I need to keep my eyes closed while using this helmet.”
“No you don’t, Cinny. You’ll use your eyes to see the tactical display on your helmet’s faceplate along with the threat status module at the bottom.”
Grant shook his head, “Just how are we going to watch two things at once?”
“Your brains are different from any other human. You are able to absorb information at a much higher rate and discriminate between multiple sensory inputs.”
“So what do we do?”
“I’m going to have various holograms appear around you and I want you to use your training guns to fire at them. I will simultaneously show the next electronic attack on your tactical display. I’ll start slow and as you familiarize yourselves with the stimuli, I’ll increase the speed. Try not to focus on any one thing you’re seeing. Try to take everything as a whole picture.”
Whippet watched the two humans from the walkway above the landing bay and wondered how they could possibly handle the overload of information. “Whippet, there is a helmet for you in the locker as well. You should work on using the technology along with them.”
Whippet’s eyes narrowed, “I’m nowhere near as capable as they are.”
“You will have to use the various systems separately. Use the surround vision and check the other displays when you don’t see an attacker.”
Whippet shrugged and walked over to the locker and pulled the small helmet out. He put it on and tilted slightly and fell to the floor, “Hey, give me a moment.”
“Take your time. I’ll start them on the program and you can tell me when you’re ready to join them.”
Whippet stood up and closed his eyes. The room steadied and he allowed the system to operate until he gathered his senses and was able to maintain his balance. It took thirty minutes, but by that time he was able to see all of the attackers as they appeared in the landing bay. He opened his eyes and saw on the tactical display that six attackers were approaching from directly behind him. “I’ll take the six coming to the rear of the landing bay.”
Grant shouted, “They’re yours.”
The computer program feeding into Cinny’s helmet made it appear as if they were on a city street and attackers were firing at her from all sides. Some would fire from windows above her and others would rush out of buildings on each side of her. She would lose vision if she tried to focus on the helmet’s display and she would lose the display if she closed her eyes to make the surround vision effective. Every time one of the attackers hit them with a holographic beam, a buzz would sound in her helmet. She was hearing a constant buzz in her ears. However, the buzzing diminished as time passed. She lost track of time and simply tried to fire at the electronic targets before they could fire at her. She also found that Grant seemed to choose targets that were optimum and she only fired on those she knew were best suited for her. Finally, the buzzing stopped and they were hitting electronic targets at an incredible speed. Then the computer program ended and they nearly fell from the change of view.
“You may remove your helmets.”
Grant sat down where he stood and wiped his sweat off his brow with his sleeve. Cinny sat down with him and they saw Whippet standing up. “Hey, I was just starting to have fun. Don’t stop now.”
“Whippet, you were wise to only depend on your surround vision. The hits on your armor went down fifty percent when you closed your eyes and kept them shut.”
Whippet took his helmet off and looked up, “How many times was I hit?”
“Four hund
red.” Whippet sat down heavily on the floor.
Grant looked up, “What about us?”
“Each of you were hit about two hundred times initially but you were not hit at all during the last two minutes of the exercise.”
Cinny nodded, “I seemed to get a feel for it at the end. I also noticed that Grant and I seemed to fire on the optimum targets for each of us.”
“I was surprised by that, Cinny. It seems you and Grant have a way of knowing what the other is going to do. It was that which stopped the targets from hitting you.”
“What next?”
“Tomorrow, I will increase the speed of the program and send more targets at you from a new hologram.”
“New hologram?”
“It won’t be a city but could be in a forest, on a moon, or some other situation.”
Whippet shook his head, “I’ll just get in their way.”
“Perhaps you should train when they complete their program. You can advance at your own speed. You should know that your accuracy was just as good as theirs. You used the system much better than I anticipated and I do believe you would be a difficult adversary in open battle.”
“What do you mean?’
“The three of you stood out in the open and took on all the targets. If you were moving around using available cover, you would be much more successful.”
Cinny shook her head, “It was hard to stand up straight much less try to run around.”
“As you become more familiar with the surround view, your mobility will get better.”
“Why don’t you use the same speed and allow us to get our legs under us before you increase it?”
There was a moment of silence and then they heard, “That is a good idea. I’ll change the program and include objects you can use for cover.”
Grant fell on his back, “How long did that fight go on, Ana?”
“About an hour.”
“If felt like all day.”
“By the time you complete your training, you should be able to fight all day.”
Cinny groaned and Grant closed his eyes.
• • •
The Yellow Commander sat in his home and thought about the two humans. They had not been seen since the attack at Lovely and he wondered what they were doing. Why had they set a trap in Lovely? He knew they had to have left the planet to board their ship but no jump signature was detected. They attacked his fleet after he had jumped away. He sat up in his chair. Why had they not attacked his ship?
His head seemed to tighten up and he wondered if they wanted him to escape. The only reason they would allow him to leave would be to possibly follow him. He jumped up and ran to his desk communicator. The Planetary Defense Commander appeared on his display, “How may I assist you Commander?”
“The day my ship returned. Were there any abnormal scans afterwards?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Did the scanners detect anything that appeared out of the ordinary?”
“I’ll check and see.”
“If there was one, it would be close to where my ship entered normal space.”
The Commander stayed at his desk. Sleep was impossible and he hoped he was wrong. After an hour, the Planetary Commander appeared on his panel, “The only thing that seemed out of place was a tiny blip that appeared for just a moment and then disappeared. It was smaller than a foot across and we wrote it off as an error.”
“Where did it appear?”
“It was six miles beyond your ship’s location. Does this hold some sort of significance?”
“I hope I’m wrong but those two humans may have followed my ship here.” The Planetary Commander’s face turned white. “I want you to call in a quarter fleet of battleships and station them above the planet.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m moving my family to my mate’s parent’s home. I would recommend you do the same.”
“Should I notify anyone about this?”
“And tell them what?”
“I guess they would think I’m crazy to think a foot long object would be a danger.” He paused, “Do you think it’s a danger?”
“I’m moving my family and leaving to join the fleet.”
The Planetary Commander nodded and the display went dark. The Commander hoped he was wrong but…he wasn’t taking any chances. What could only be a foot wide and follow his ship? Was the technology of the humans more advanced than he dared believe? The destruction of their home world didn’t end their threat. What were they planning? And what about this strange ship that attacked his fleet? He was woefully behind in intelligence. Where were they going to strike next?
Cinny and Grant stood in the landing bay and moved at incredible speed across it as they fired continuously at the holographic targets. Whippet was with them, though he spent more time behind cover. The speed of the attacking forces was incredible and the number of attackers should have been overwhelming. But the three stayed in the center of the hologram and blasted everything that was thrown at them. Finally the program ended and the three sat down on the landing bay floor. “Grant was the only one hit by a target’s blaster and it was a glancing shot. You have reached the limits of the program and any further development of your abilities will have to come from events you experience. Congratulations, the three of you are a deadly team.”
Grant reached over and patted Whippet on the back. He smiled and nodded. Cinny lifted her head, “It’s time to go pick up Iggy and Slick.”
Grant moaned, “We’ll do it tomorrow. Tonight we go down to a planet and get a good meal.”
Whippet started shaking his head, “You know what happened every time you’ve done that?”
“We’ll wear a head cover. We should be ok in the Lovely Quadrant.”
Whippet lowered his head, “Are you asking for trouble?”
“Not really…but I think we’re prepared to handle it should it raise its ugly head.” Grant looked up, “Ana, you’ll keep your scanners out for us, won’t you?”
“I will. Just be careful and enjoy your meal.”
“You know we will.”
Chapter Seven
Grant had a visor over his eyes and a breathing mask over his mouth and nose. Cinny had donned a long snout over her mouth and nose. They both had on robes that hid their armor. Whippet sat at the table with them with no disguise. They had not found any bounty notices out for a Werstag and they assumed he was fine. They sat at a table in an open-air restaurant eating the second best meal they ever tasted. The three moons overhead were all full and the night was beautiful. Grant would lift the breathing mask to take a bite and immediately put it back down. Whippet looked around the restaurant and they could tell he was nervous, “What’s bothering you?”
“I just can’t relax. I feel like …something bad…is not far away.”
Grant looked at Cinny, “Have you seen anything?”
Cinny shook her head, “No one within my sight had shown any indication they know who we are.”
Grant reached behind his ear, “Ana, everything ok?”
“There are no military ships near the planet.”
They finished their meal and started walking down the crowded street looking at the various shops. Cinny stopped and said, “Whippet, you’re starting to make me nervous.”
“I’m sorry, Cinny. I don’t know what it is but something’s not right.”
“GRANT, TWO HUNDRED MAIN RAIDER BATTLESHIPS HAVE APPEARED ABOVE THE PLANET AND SIX OF THEM ARE ENTERING ATMOSPHERE.”
Grant looked up and saw the giant vessels screaming down toward them. “Darn it, Whippet! How did you know?”
“Forget that! We’ve walked a long way from our scooters. We have to make a run for them.”
Grant grabbed Whippet’s arm, “They’ll see us if we run. Stay next to the buildings and move quickly without running. The three began walking as quickly as they could back toward the restaurant. The six battleships opened their main landing bays an
d thousands of drop troops began falling toward the city. Grant said, “We’ll activate our armor when they get close. I’m surprised they didn’t just nuke the city.”
“It has to be me they were warned about. My species is rare and they can’t just nuke the city because a Werstag is present. They have to make sure.”
“Remind me to listen to you next time.”
“I hope there is a next time, Cinny.”
“OK, get ready to activate your armor. We have half a mile to go and there are going to be thousands of Raider Warriors between us and our scooters. Ana, can you come in and make a rescue?”
“No way, Grant. The battleships are in formation above the city and I’d be destroyed before I could get close.”
Whippet shook his head, “I wonder if you were hoping to try out our new training, Grant?”
“That may have been in the back of my mind but not like this. On my mark, activate your armor and start firing. Ready…MARK!”
• • •
“Commander, we have five hundred warships emerging into normal space a hundred miles out demanding to know what we’re doing.”
“Tell them.” The Raider Commander watched his console display for anything that looked like trouble. He didn’t have to wait long.
The three suddenly activated their armor and began firing at the Raider Warriors running down the sidewalk in their direction. The local population was panicked and began running away from the approaching warriors as Cinny, Grant, and Whippet opened fire with the new blasters that were part of their new armor. The wave of yellow armored warriors disintegrated in front of them. Warriors across the street began running over and opened fire but they were mowed down before they could get off more than six shots that missed their targets. Every Raider warrior on the ground converged on the site of the fight and thousands rushed in.