After a hefty sigh and grimace, she swung the strap over her shoulder and lowered the pack to the ground.
The minion grinned and switched to fleet com. “Target acquired, Master Jai. Lock onto my position. I shall hold them here until y—”
Without warning, a missile shrieked up from the cavern depths and slammed into the Ripper, destroying the ship in a massive ball of fire. The blast wave knocked all four onto their backs and cracked the landing pad. Shrapnel rained in all directions, snapping pipes, shattering glass, and crippling walkways.
“Take cover!” Zoey said, scooping up the sling pack.
The group scrambled to their feet and stumbled towards the ship, trying to maintain their balance on the swaying platform. They dove underneath the frame and hid behind the landing gear as slivers of red hot metal bounced off the hull. Clanks of falling debris faded into the distance, leaving the crackling flames of burning remnants. Despite the utter shock, Max welcomed the contrasting aroma of flaming fuel and sulfur.
“Well that was unexpected,” Ross said with his usual flat affect.
“What the hell just happened?” Max said.
“I have no idea,” Perra said, eyeing the smoldering air the Ripper had occupied. Her comdev erupted with another series of warning chirps.
“Let’s go,” Zoey said.
She skittered out from beneath the ship, opened the airlock, and ushered the group inside. Lifting her gaze to the cavern entrance far above, she spotted a group of spidery ships racing towards them. With a burst of adrenaline, she leapt into the ship and slapped the interior wall panel, sealing the airlock behind her. Perra, already strapped into the co-pilot chair, danced her arms across the control panel, igniting engines and prepping for departure. Zoey raced into the cockpit and threw herself into the pilot’s chair.
“Status?” she said, strapping herself down.
“Thrusters online,” Perra said. “Launch prep complete, main engines spinning up.” She tapped her way down a row of red icons. “Weapons online.”
“Gravy,” Zoey said and slapped a palm on the thruster control. A dull roar engulfed the cabin as tight blue flames spilled from the undercarriage. She pulled back on the yoke, lifting the ship from the platform. The landing gear retracted as the freighter floated out into the cave interior. Flashing red lights and warning sirens filled the cockpit as Ripper ships locked on to their position from above. Max and Ross strapped themselves into the wall seats behind Zoey and Perra. “Hang on to something,” Zoey said, then pitched the ship downward into the massive cave. Perra pointed and screamed as she spotted four missiles tearing towards them out of the blackness. Max followed her lead and indulged in a high-pitched scream of his own. Ross cocked his ears back and glared at Max while Zoey ignited lead thrusters, hoping to outmaneuver the attack. She rolled the ship to the side, but the missiles did not follow. They screamed by, rumbling the hull as they sped towards their intended targets. A series of deafening explosions rocked the cavern as the missiles obliterated several Ripper ships, raining fire and metal into the cave. Zoey and Perra traded bewildered glances. The main engines pinged green. Zoey thrust the yoke forward and raced down into the rocky depths.
“Bring up the nav grid,” Zoey said.
Perra complied.
The viewport projected a geometric representation of the cave system, allowing Zoey to pilot in the darkness.
“Three Rippers still on our tail,” Perra said, consulting the beacon scanner.
“Gonna try to lose ‘em,” Zoey said.
She yanked the yoke to the side and ignited the bow thrusters, steering the vessel around a sharp corner. All three Rippers followed, matching Zoey’s every move. A white-hot incinerator beam shot past the ship, prompting Zoey to thrust upwards into a narrow cave while shouting an array of curses. Floodlights streaked past the viewport, painting the tunnel in thin strips of light. A dangling pipe scraped the vessel, sending shrieks throughout the cabin. The targeting siren erupted, followed by the pings of an incoming missile. Zoey ignited all landing thrusters and dropped the yoke to a lower corner. The ship carved the wall, spitting sparks as it drifted around a hairpin turn and into another tunnel. The missile screeched by and detonated in the open air, sending shockwaves through the caves. Two of the Rippers managed to follow, but the last slammed into the junction corner and exploded on impact.
“One down,” Zoey said.
“Fantastic,” Perra said, then turned to the rear. “How are you guys doing back there?”
Max responded with a horrified face that one might use for a crippling bout of diarrhea.
Ross lifted his head from grooming his forearm. “What?”
Another series of warning sirens filled the cockpit. Red lights flashed all around, followed by the pings of several incoming missiles.
“There!” Perra pointed to a massive cave intersection ahead with an open central hub that resembled a hollow sea urchin. “Can you make it?”
“No choice,” Zoey said. “Divert anything you can to give us a boost.”
Perra rerouted auxiliaries, giving the engines a surge of power. As the ship neared the enormous junction, a green pane of energy formed around the tunnel exit.
“What the hell is that?!” Perra said.
“Don’t know.” Zoey blasted it with ion cannons. The barrier absorbed the beams, reducing them to brief pulses of dissipated energy. “Shit!” Her eyes darted between the missile pings and the green barrier, unsure of what to do. “We have to try and punch through. Hold on!”
The entire group, minus Ross, screamed as the ship slammed into the barrier, but the freighter passed through without a scratch. The speeding missiles hit the barrier and disintegrated on impact, spraying puffs of metallic dust into the open core. The Rippers continued their pursuit, but met the exact same demise. They shattered into dust clouds, showering their remnants as a brilliant speckled mist. The targeting sirens ceased, leaving the cabin to heavy panting and the lapping of Ross’s tongue.
Zoey spun the ship around to survey the aftermath, but found only the sparkles of cinders as they fell into the darkness below. The ship settled into a hover inside the massive cavern. A myriad of cave entrances decorated the rocky walls, outlined by rusty piping and dim floodlights. Support cables and steel beams attached themselves to the rock, but reeked of neglect and disrepair. A handful of patchwork walkways wound around the interior, serving as little more than rickety overlooks. The group stared at the green energy barrier that had saved their hides before it broke with static and faded away.
“What was that thing?” Perra said.
“I have no idea,” Zoey said. “But whatever it was, it liked us more than them.”
“A security feature, maybe?”
“Seems like a good guess. Let’s hope they continue to favor us.”
Perra turned to Max. “You okay?”
Max closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded his head. “Nope.”
Perra grinned and turned to Ross. “How about you?”
“Right as rain. Still could use that piss though.” Ross unbuckled himself from the seat and disappeared down the cockpit corridor.
“So where are we?” Zoey said, her gaze still affixed to the cave exit.
“Let’s see.” Perra swiped the control panel, lifting a hologram map of the cave complex. She tapped the pulsing beacon that signaled their location. The grid zoomed to the coordinates, showing a webbed network of tiers and tunnels. After a brief study, she let out a conclusive grunt. “Looks like we are on the sixth tier of the lower core. Where did Nifan say again?”
“Fourth tier, section 82.”
“Okay.” Perra expanded the grid with both hands and pointed to a nearby branch. “That would be here.” She tapped the area and applied the coordinates to the nav grid, setting a new destination. Lifting from the co-pilot chair, she stretched her neck and gazed out the viewport. She scanned the lower rock face while biting her cheek, then pointed to the entrance of a large se
rvice tunnel. “That’s the one. That’s where we need to go.”
“Good work,” Zoey said and offered a high five.
Perra slapped it with a toothy smile before returning to her seat.
The hull thrusters rumbled underfoot as Zoey reoriented the ship towards the tunnel. She ignited the main engines and kicked the vessel forward, resulting in a loud thump from the cargo bay.
“Bloody hell!” Ross said from distance. “Warn a kitty next time!”
CHAPTER 16
A thick cloud of black smoke poured over the rim of the massive cave entrance, like a witch cauldron boiling on the planet surface. It churned as the billowing remnants of the Varokin Ripper fleet, adding its own choking flare to the collective pollution. While swirling and minding its own smoggy business, Jai’s Ripper ship punched through the top, followed by a screeching missile in hot pursuit. From a distance, the scene offered an amusing perspective, like a silvery snake chasing a black squid after a failed ink fart diversion.
Inside the cockpit, Jai abandoned his usual threatening persona for one of complete and utter terror. Sweat poured from his forehead and into his bulging eyes. The salty stings of pain had no effect on his concentration, a laser-like focus dedicated to non-death. His grumbling voice had morphed into the high-pitched squeals of a frightened schoolgirl, sucking any and all menace right out of the cabin.
The red flashes and blaring sirens of his imminent demise filled the cockpit. The ship raced towards orbit with engines ablaze, but with nowhere to run or hide, the bitter end closed around him. Fate, always clever despite its nonexistence, decided to throw him a bone. Jai buzzed a small satellite in his blinding effort to not die, spinning it into his wake. The missile slammed into the unfortunate satellite, blowing it to smithereens and pissing off every resident with a hologram projector.
Jai released the yoke and floated in the safety of orbit, panting and sweating with the stunned expression of a foogog having survived a flogging gauntlet (or some other reasonable comparison). He removed his helmet, tossed it aside, and wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his pilot suit. His eyelids returned from a jaunt behind his eyeballs, allowing him to indulge in a few darkened moments of adrenaline flushing. After a string of fluttering breaths, he opened his eyes to the blackness of space. Or rather, to the sudden appearance of Lord Essien’s towering cruiser as it blinked out of hyperspace.
Jai’s toddler-like squeal returned as he rolled the Ripper to avoid a collision. The immediate rush of additional adrenaline exited his body with several stiff punches to the control panel. The console, unaware of what it had done to deserve such hostility, responded in anger with shrill error pings. Knowing that Lord Essien would hail him at any moment, Jai established a hasty comlink with his Ripper fleet. None responded, prompting a vigorous facepalm. At that moment, of course, the hologram bust of Lord Essien pieced itself together above the control panel. Jai slid his meaty palm down his face and plunked it onto the armrest with the resigned acceptance of a corrupt auditee.
“Lor—” Jai said.
“Do you have the package?” Lord Essien said, in no mood for pleasantries.
“No.”
“Where is the rest of the fleet?”
“Destroyed.”
“And why are you still breathing?”
“I escaped. Barely.”
Lord Essien closed her eyes and shook her head before donning a disappointed grimace. “You know, I’d like to be surprised, but I’m really not.” Her casual demeanor caught Jai off guard. “Remind me, why do I keep you alive?”
Jai thought for a moment. “Entertainment?”
Essien snorted.
Jai ruffled his brow, unsure of whether she conveyed amusement, disgust, or both.
“Dock with the cruiser and meet me on the bridge. As much as it pains me to say it, I may still need you. Someone has to clean the shitters in this place.”
“Yes, Lord Ess—”
The hologram image crumbled into nothing before Jai could complete his grovel. As he sulked inside a one-man pity party, an enormous armada of battlecruisers, Rippers, and assault ships blinked out of hyperspace.
* * *
Zoey engaged the landing thrusters and lowered the ship onto the jagged ground in front of service tunnel six, or rather, what Perra had counted and concluded as service tunnel six. The cave system narrowed when approaching the core, necessitating the use of smaller and smaller vessels. The main corridor into section 82 of lower-tier four proved almost impassable, even for the tiny freighter. The curved walls of craggy rock made landing a wee bit stressful. But Zoey, always a calm and capable pilot, managed to settle the craft without tearing a hole in the hull. The three landing claws gripped the uneven surface at an awkward but secure angle. Other pilots had not been so lucky and the evidence of their incompetence decorated the cavern floors.
The lower core was a mine in every sense of the word. At peak production, it hummed with the perpetual activity of professional miners, both humanoid and robot. Tunnels in the core remained small in scope in order to maintain the structural integrity of the planet they pierced. A hollowed-out core meant that gravity could claim its prize, resulting in a much smaller planet and a lot of dead miners. Therefore, engineers went to great lengths to ensure the rigidity of the lower core. As a result, tunnels stayed small and miners mined the old-fashioned way: with hover packs and laser picks. Robots worked as mules, using conveyors and hover carts to transport ore to service shuttles.
Most service tunnels were the height and width of a single humanoid, two at most. Their primary purpose was to 1) connect adjacent corridors, hence the service, and 2) store mining tools inside numerous small rooms carved along their interiors. Once the miners abandoned the planet, these service tunnel rooms became ideal hideaways for anyone needing to disappear. As time went on, the lower core became home to some of the most dangerous beings in the supercluster. Any who ventured into the lower core risked their lives at a baseline, hence the unwritten rule: know your knock, because it may be your last.
The airlock slid open, revealing Zoey and Perra with armed plasma pistols in hand. Due to the sultry conditions, the group had shed their cloaks in favor of mobility and comfort. Dim sconces along the cavern walls served as the primary lighting source, casting fuzzy rings around the dark brown rock. Zoey powered up a handheld spotlight and stepped onto the rocky surface first. The sling pack swayed on her shoulder as she pointed her gun and light down each side of the corridor. Max and Ross followed, dropping down to the tunnel floor with heavy thumps that kicked up small clouds of fine dust. Perra stepped down with a second spotlight and closed the airlock behind her.
Max coughed as tiny particles teased his lungs. “Ugh, it’s so damn muggy down here. Smells like crotch.”
“What did you expect?” Zoey said, annoyed that she needed to speak at all.
“I don’t know, feels fine to me,” Ross said.
“That’s because cats are desert creatures,” Max said, followed by another cough. “You’d feel at home in a Finnish sauna.”
Ross raised an eyebrow. “Why Finnish?”
“Because Finland is cold and they like saunas.”
“But saunas are hot no matter where they are. Finnish is an unnecessary qualifier.”
“Will you guys shut up?” Zoey said, elevating her annoyance level.
“Just saying,” Ross said. “It could be a Jamaican sauna, wouldn’t change the heat.”
“But, your perception of the heat would change,” Max said. “What if the external temperature was hotter than the sauna?”
“Then why would you have a sauna?”
Zoey fired her plasma pistol into the opposite wall, rumbling the tunnel with a flash of static that showered pea-sized rocks over the group. Max and Ross froze in place and stared at her through widened eyes. Zoey glared at them as a thin cloud of dust enveloped the group. Ross sighed and shook the dust from his body, like a wet dog out of the rain. Max, still somewhat petrifi
ed, responded with a salute of respect. Perra rolled her eyes as Zoey turned for the service tunnel entrance. She paused at the mouth and shined her spotlight down into the depths, uncovering little more than rock and darkness.
“Steel door, black rivets,” Perra said.
“Yup,” Zoey said, then sighed with resignation. “Okay, let’s get on with it.”
She adjusted the sling pack and took the first few steps into the service tunnel with an outstretched plasma pistol. The group followed with Perra securing the rear as always. They passed the first door about 20 meters in, a plane of solid steel embedded into the rock. An eerie scrape caused Zoey to throw a fist into the air, signaling a stop. The group paused and stared at the door with quiet apprehension, but no sounds followed. Zoey dropped her hand and proceeded down the tunnel. They passed another door after 20 meters, then another, and another, studying each under the spotlight. The fifth door featured the telltale black rivets in a large X pattern across the face. Zoey turned and motioned for the group to stop. She gave a hand signal to Perra, who nodded and readied her weapon. Max and Ross stood motionless with their backs against the tunnel wall. Zoey raised a fist, took a deep breath, then knocked twice. Thunk, thunk. She waited a few ticks, then knocked twice again. Thunk, thunk. The door cracked open with a sudden clunk and whine, bathing the tunnel in a bright white light. Zoey skittered backwards with her weapon raised to the door. They waited for an immediate response; a greeting, an attack, but nothing came.
“Come in, come in,” said a peppy voice from well inside the room.
Zoey glanced at shrugging Perra, then back to the door. “The Spig—”
“The Spigot flows, yes, yes, come in already.”
Zoey tightened her grip on the plasma gun, pulled the door open, then stepped inside with a slow and cautious stride. Her jaw fell open as she scanned the pristine white room, the kind of room one would expect to see bunny suits assembling delicate computer chips. The ceiling loomed as a giant grid of diffused light, matching the floor in scope and scale. An enormous network of touch panels decorated the walls, their smooth black faces housing an ocean of blinking lights. The entire enclosure spanned the length of a football field with tables upon tables of assorted gadgets in various stages of assembly. The conditioned air offered a cool and welcome reprieve as they stepped inside.
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