I calculate he thinks you’re trying to kill his friends, observed Nickelo. That doesn’t seem very logical to me. The fire is going to kill them in a few seconds anyway. Why would he think you’d bother trying to hasten their deaths?
The second 40mm round hit the Leviathan’s windscreen. A small crack appeared in the corner of the armored glass. The third round caused the single crack to multiply into a spider web of cracks. At the fourth round, the cracks lengthened until they extended all the way to the far corner of the shattered windscreen.
Richard drew back the Warcat’s left arm in preparation for ramming the autocannon’s barrel through the windscreen.
Incoming! Yelled Nickelo into their shared space. Duck!
Richard’s years of association with his battle computer caused him to instinctively obey without asking questions. It had saved his life often enough in the past. Richard dropped the Warcat down to all fours. Half a dozen plasma beams along with a 240mm phase round passed through the area where the Warcat’s head had been.
Run, Rick, said Nickelo. There’s no time. The Leviathan’s pilots are as good as dead. Save yourself.
Richard was tempted to run. He might have if it had been anything but fire. Richard hated fire. During a night of rioting back on Earth when he’d been an orphaned teen living on the streets, Richard had seen people being burned alive while trapped in buildings by the rioting mobs. Richard still had occasional nightmares of that horrible night. The screams of the victims were vivid in his memory. Fire frightened Richard. He wasn’t afraid of dying, but being burned alive was one of his greatest fears. He didn’t wish a fiery death on anyone; not even his enemies.
As Richard wrestled with his emotions, he noticed the first small flickers of flames entering the cockpit from the door leading back to the Leviathan’s main body. Richard heard the sound of screams as the trapped pilots sensed their pending doom. They began beating even harder on the cracked glass while leaving streaks of blood from their hands.
The pilot of the Long Cat had finally abandoned shooting at Richard. He’d replaced his pistol with a head-sized rock. The man was furiously pounding away at the windscreen in a desperate attempt to save his fellow soldiers from a horrible death.
Both the pilots inside the cockpit and the one outside were wearing helmets with visors down, so Richard couldn’t see their faces. But he didn’t need to see them to understand their fear. Richard could feel the fear like it was a physical object. He knew it was there as sure as if it had been something tangible he could see. The sensation of fear was as clear as if it was coming from within himself. Richard had never before experienced anything like the level of empathy he was feeling now. A part of his mind wondered if it was a side-effect of the DNA baseline he’d received the previous year. The other part of his mind didn’t care. It just reacted.
In spite of the danger, Richard stood the Warcat upright and rammed the barrel of the autocannon into the center of the Leviathan’s windscreen. He heard the sound of breaking glass. A small hole the size of a grapefruit appeared in the windscreen. Richard drew the Warcat’s arm back for a second strike.
Before Richard could complete the blow, the Warcat was thrown forward as something slammed into its left shoulder. Even encased in his battle suit and the surrounding gel, Richard was bounced painfully around the inside of the cat. Red lights began flashing all over the Warcat’s instrument panel as systems overloaded and shutdown.
In case you’re interested, said Nickelo, that was a 100mm phase round. It was a glancing blow, but it still penetrated part of your Warcat’s armor. You’re lucky it wasn’t a 240mm round, or they’d be picking up your pieces off the ground in order to get enough to bury in a small can. By the way, the Warcat’s hydraulics is offline. My recommendation is to get out now. But then, you haven’t been taking my advice lately, so what do I know?
The Warcat fell to the ground. Richard tried to rise, but the Warcat refused to respond. Richard thought the command to eject. The Warcat’s emergency escape hatch blew outward accompanied by Richard and a jet of thick gel. Richard rolled twice on the ground before coming to a stop.
Up! yelled Nickelo. Head south. The quad is closing the distance fast. I calculate a sixty-two percent probability they’re going to try and take you prisoner. Believe me, you don’t want that to happen.
Richard leaped to his feet, but he didn’t head south. Instead, he jumped back towards the burning Leviathan’s cockpit.
The Long Cat’s pilot had picked up another scrap-piece of metal and jammed it into the hole in the Leviathan’s windscreen. He was tugging on the end of the metal bar like it was a crowbar. Even with both of his legs braced against the glass, the windscreen resisted his efforts. It didn’t budge.
With zero time remaining, Richard grabbed the rod out of the man’s hands and jerked back. The strength of his battle suit’s assistors were strained to the limit, but a large section of the windscreen gave way and came out with the metal rod. The Long Cat’s pilot was thrown to the ground along with the metal rod. Dense smoke from outside flowed into the new opening into the cockpit. At the same time, large sheets of flame began entering the cockpit from the main-cabin door as its seals were burned away.
Reaching into the opening he’d created in the windscreen, Richard grabbed both of the Leviathan’s pilots and yanked them out. He was none too gentle, and the force of his throw sent the pilots rolling along the ground. Richard was barely able to step back from the cockpit before a blast of heat and fire erupted around him.
At the same time, a series of shocks hit Richard’s back. Plasma beams ricocheted all around him. Richard’s battle suit was comprised of the most advanced armor the Empire’s best technicians could create, and it reflected most of the enemy fire. However, a solid projectile wrapped in phase energy slammed Richard forward as the round penetrated his battle suit’s back armor. He was lucky in that the phase round had enough momentum to pass completely through his shoulder and out the front side of his battle suit as well. Otherwise, it would’ve bounced around inside the battle suit until its momentum was spent. A phase round could put a lot of holes in a human body before its energy was spent.
Falling to the ground, Richard screamed from the white-hot pain in his shoulder. With the loss of the battle suit’s seal, the tubes in his mouth and nose retracted.
Don’t breathe, Rick, Nickelo warned.
Part of Richard’s mind heard his battle computer and understood the reason for his warning. But his body didn’t care. It reacted to the shock of the hit by drawing in a big gulp of air. Unfortunately, all he got was a lungful of dense smoke. He immediately started coughing.
Up! Up! yelled Nickelo. Get on your feet and run, soldier. That’s an order.
Richard tried to stand, but he was too busy coughing and retching to obey. He could feel his body trying to selfheal. The pain in his shoulder subsided slightly as the Power in his healing reserve did its job. However, the dense smoke continued to damage his lungs as fast as his Power could heal it.
Unlike other wizard scouts, Richard had multiple Power reserves. One was devoted to offense and defense. A second smaller reserve could only be used to heal others. The largest of his three reserves was dedicated solely to healing any injuries his body acquired. A wizard scout’s healing Power could heal ninety percent of an injury within a short period of time. The other ten percent might take several minutes or even hours. However, if the source of damage was continuous, the best the healing Power could do was to keep the wizard scout alive. That is, it would keep the wizard scout alive until the Power in their reserve ran out.
If Richard had been by himself, he might have lain on the ground gagging from the poisonous fumes until he was captured or until he died from lack of Power. But he wasn’t alone. He had his battle computer.
The legs and arms of the battle suit began moving, and the suit rose to a standing position as Nickelo took control. Richard felt himself begin to run left and right as his battle computer dod
ged both solid projectiles and phase beams. Within seconds, Richard was clear of the smoke. He gratefully sucked clean air into his lungs. After a few quick breaths, Richard’s selfheal removed most of the damage to his oxygen-starved body. While the wound to his shoulder still hurt, the pain was rapidly being reduced as his selfheal ability did its job. Even so, he opted not to retake control of his battle suit. Phase beams were passing all around him, and a line of 20mm rounds from a chain gun began tearing up the ground to his right side. Richard was confident the incoming fire was too heavy and too fast for him to dodge for long on his own.
The battle suit jumped left just as an explosion erupted in the spot where Richard had been running. He was thrown through the air and landed hard on his left side. He gave another scream of agony as the shock reopened his partially-healed shoulder.
Nickelo passed control of the battle suit back to him. Richard ignored his pain as best he could and rose to his feet on his own. He wasn’t sure retaking control was the smartest thing to do at this point, but he trusted his battle computer.
I calculate they’re no longer attempting to take you prisoner, said Nickelo.
You calculated that all on your own? Richard said as he sidestepped to the left to throw off the aim of the gunners. Richard barely avoided a stream of plasma rounds. Maybe you should keep control of the suit, Nick. My shoulder isn’t fully healed yet.
Negative, said Nickelo. I’m too logical. The targeting computers on those cats are beginning to anticipate my moves. I almost got you killed with that last explosion. We need your randomness and freewill to get us out of this. I’ve marked a new path on your heads-up display. If you can avoid dying for another thirty seconds, I calculate a sixty-four percent probability you can lose them in the boulder field to your east. You’ve got your best stealth shield up. Once those cats lose visual sight of you, they shouldn’t be able to track you.
Richard wasn’t sure he could stay out of the enemy cat’s line of fire for ten more seconds much less thirty. His battle suit was fast, but it couldn’t match the speed of the ten-meter tall Leviathans. Fortunately, either due to the randomness of his moves or blind luck, Richard made it to the boulder field alive. Just as Richard entered the rocky area, he noticed two blue blips appear on his heads-up display.
What are those blue things? Richard said in his shared space.
They’re Trecorian transport shuttles, answered Nickelo. From their trajectories, I calculate a ninety-four percent probability they’re going to drop a blocking force on the far edge of the boulder field to prevent your escape.
Richard reached out with his passive scan and let the Power from the two transports flow into his mind. He didn’t like what he sensed. He sent the results of his scan to his shared space.
Hmm, said Nickelo. Either those transport shuttles are larger than I think, or they’ve jammed soldiers into them like sardines. I don’t see how they can cram two hundred and twenty-five fully-grown solders into them. Plus, each transport has a quad of light cats onboard to boot.
Well, they’ve done it somehow, Richard said. Now what?
Nickelo paused for a nanosecond before answering. Well, first off, I take back what I said about you having a sixty-four percent chance of escaping. I’ve decided to revise my calculations slightly.
I’m sure you have, Richard said. And what are my odds now?
Oh, they’re about the same as a snowball’s chance of remaining a solid in the middle of a supernova, said Nickelo. Maybe they’re a little better, but not by much.
Richard heard the sound of crashing trees behind him as the first of the Leviathans on his tail came charging out of the woods. He had no doubt they would have him in visual sight soon enough. He knew he had to do something quick.
What’s our distance to the rendezvous point? Richard asked.
Twenty kilometers, said Nickelo. Sergeant Ron’s already there with our recon ship.
Richard’s maintenance officer, Sergeant Ron, had dropped him off the previous day via high-altitude insertion from an advanced-tech recon ship named the Defiant II. Unlike the recon shuttles Richard was used to, the Defiant was a fully-functional starship capable of making jumps between folds in the dimensional plane when required. And like frontline starships, the Defiant could travel at more sustainable speeds using its hyper drive.
Like most recon ships, the Defiant was small. But it was fast. Richard had known Sergeant Ron was an expert at maintaining cats. What he hadn’t known was the old sergeant was also an expert at maintaining small recon ships. He also hadn’t known Sergeant Ron had a long list of friends who happened to owe him favors who he could call whenever he encountered a maintenance situation he couldn’t handle on his own. The end result was the Defiant was incredibly fast and well maintained despite being something Sergeant Ron had kept pieced together from equipment he occasionally found at salvage yards. The Defiant was not Empire issue. The Empire wasn’t in the habit of issuing starships to wizard scouts who were assigned to non-descript mercenary outfits in District 2. The Defiant II was fully owned and operated by Sergeant Ron.
Why is Sergeant Ron already at the rendezvous point? Richard said. It’s way too early if I’m still twenty kilometers out.
Why? said Nickelo. Because you were supposed to be there four hours ago. I’m surprised the Trecorian’s haven’t discovered the presence of the Defiant already. You’re lucky you summoned those parts Sergeant Ron needed for the ship’s stealth shield before we left on this mission.
Richard glanced at his heads-up display and merged it with the data from his shared space. The combined information told Richard what he’d already suspected. There was no way he could get to the rendezvous point before the Trecorians intercepted him. Even if he did make it to Sergeant Ron’s location alive, Richard figured a well-aimed antiaircraft missile would blow the Defiant out of the sky before it could clear the atmosphere.
Richard dodged around a large boulder just as a Trecorian Long Cat burst out of the forest to join the Leviathan.
That was close, Richard said as he continued to run while trying to keep the boulder between the Long Cat and himself. Do you think they spotted us?
Are they shooting at you? said Nickelo in an offhanded criticism of his wizard scout’s ability to figure things out logically. No, they aren’t. So, I calculate a ninety-six percent probability they haven’t spotted you yet.
Before Richard could reply, a series of plasma beams passed an arm’s length over his left shoulder. A score of 20mm chain-gun rounds tore up the ground to his right.
On second thought, said Nickelo. I’ve recalculated the probabilities. My recalculations indicate they’ve spotted you after all.
Thanks for the timely update, Richard said as he dove for a small ravine to his front. He hit the bottom on his left side. His shoulder was still a little painful, but his selfheal ability had done its job. His shoulder was almost back to normal.
Coming to a decision, Richard said, Send the abort signal to Sergeant Ron. Tell him I said to leave. Tell him we’ll make contact via your security interface to the tele-network once we find a safe area.
Richard said a silent curse at the Empire’s central computer for denying his battle computer direct access to the tele-network. The central computer believed direct contact with Nickelo would emotionally corrupt the other computers on the tele-network. Consequently, Richard’s battle computer was only allowed access through tightly-controlled security interfaces. The limitation had greatly limited his battle computer’s ability to function effectively on several occasions.
You mean if we can find a safe area, corrected Nickelo. That’s not a given.
Before Richard could protest, Nickelo added, Message has been sent. Sergeant Ron has acknowledged and said for you to head towards the lake to our south. He said he’d meet us there.
Negative, Richard said. Tell Sergeant Ron I said he is to abort. Tell him I said that’s an order.
After only a slight delay, Nickelo said, Sergean
t Ron said screw your order and the horse it rode in on. He said he’s been disobeying orders before you were born. He also said a wet-behind-the-ears wizard scout doesn’t impress him much.
Nickelo gave a short laugh. You know, Rick, you may as well accept the fact he’s not going to abort. My recommendation is to make tracks south and head for the lake.
Fine! Richard said as he jumped to his feet and started running south again. As he did so, he imagined an M63 lightweight plasma assault rifle. Reaching over his shoulder, Richard lifted the flap of his dimensional pack and pulled out an M63.
You might have been better off summoning an M12, said Nickelo. Those infantry troops are down now, and at least some of them are in armor. It’ll take multiple rounds from your M63 to penetrate even low-grade armor.
I know, Richard said as he did a quick function-check on his M63. But I’m low on Power. I wanted the M63 because it’s a freebie. Besides, I don’t want to kill anyone unless I’m forced. Our mission was to find information on a possible DNA gas vent. It wasn’t to create new enemies. The high-energy rounds from the M12 would have too great a chance of being lethal even against armor.
Have it your way, oh greatest of wizard scouts, said Nickelo. I’m only here to advise and serve.
Now’s not the time for sarcasm, Richard said irritably.
He didn’t appreciate his battle computer’s humor at the moment. The stress of the situation was starting to take its toll on his nerves.
Fine, said Nickelo. I’ll try to be more serious. You do see the line of infantry to your front on your passive scan, don’t you?
In point of fact, Richard did see them. And he was depending on those very soldiers to help him breakout of the swiftly closing trap set by the medium and heavy cats behind him.
Wizard Omega (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 4) Page 5