by JN Chaney
“Y-You killed all those men?” muttered Dr. Dressler. “How is…how is that even possible?”
Alphonse motioned with his hand toward the warehouse. “I hope you understand the severity of your situation, Doctor. Now, please, show us the way so that we can leave you in peace.”
“You heard the man,” I said. “Al doesn’t want to die today.”
“Death does not agree with me,” he added.
“Dispatching additional personnel,” informed the A.I. over the loudspeakers.
Abigail grabbed Dressler by the wrist. “Let’s go!”
We fled along the nearby wall, passing by several of the formerly living guards. I was in the lead, with Alphonse, Dr. Dressler, and Abigail right behind me. This wasn’t the way I had hoped for today to go, but it certainly could have gone much worse.
When we reached the edge of the warehouse, Dressler pointed. “Through the second door!”
I glanced over my shoulder. “If we walk in there and an alarm goes off, so help me…”
“It’s safe, I promise,” she insisted, running up beside me and letting the scanner examine her eye. It beeped and the door slid open, showing a dimly lit corridor. “Through here, then a left, and it’s straight until you reach the—”
“Contact front!” shouted someone from the other end of the warehouse.
The soldiers fired, causing us to rush inside and forego the discussion. I yanked the doctor into the hall, both of us falling on our faces. Abigail pushed Alphonse ahead of her, taking a shot in the back so he didn’t have to.
The door closed behind her, and we hurried to our feet. “Run!” Abigail snapped. “We need to go!”
I dragged Dressler behind me as we moved. The lights overhead began to come on, one at a time, further into the hall. We ran faster than they could activate, rounding the corner and reaching the far end in under thirty seconds.
I heard voices coming from the previous direction Someone was shouting orders. “Get this fucking door open!”
Dressler ran up to the elevator doors, which were only a few more paces away. She then tapped a code into the touch pad, allowing us to pile inside.
“That was almost bad,” I said, once we were in.
A loud, shattering sound came from down the hall, and I heard footsteps clapping, growing louder.
As the doors closed, shadows emerged from around the corner, followed by men with guns, clad in Union armor.
“There!” shouted the closest one.
I waved, right as the doors shut, the second before they opened fire, denting the elevator metal.
Dr. Dressler nearly fell back into Alphonse’s arms, scared to death.
I looked at her, then at Alphonse, and gave him an obvious smirk. “Save it for later, Al,” I said, turning forward and cracking my neck. “We might have more killin’ left to do.”
EIGHT
The doors opened behind three men in lab coats. Before they could even turn around, Abigail had a pistol on one and the end of her baton on another. “Don’t move.”
“W-What is this? Who are—”
“Keep quiet!” she snapped, nudging the man with the barrel.
“After you,” I said to Dressler.
The doctor stepped through the lift doors and into what I guessed was a laboratory. “Everyone, please, just do as they say,” Dressler said.
“Where are we?” asked Abigail, still with both her weapons against the two doctors.
“F-First floor, laboratory twelve,” said one of them.
Abigail lowered the pistol, but only to her hip. The barrel remained pointed. “Which way to reach the courtyard?”
The man bent to his right and pointed.
I tapped Abigail’s shoulder and motioned for her to step back, along with Alphonse and Dressler. With everyone out of the way, I asked if there was anyone else in this lab.
“Only us,” said the second doctor.
“In you go,” I said, nodding at the elevator, and they did exactly what I told them. “Press the button for the bottom floor and don’t come back here for an hour.”
They each nodded, fear all over their faces.
We waited for the doors to close and the elevator to descend, just to be sure.
Abigail dragged Dressler behind her, heading in the direction the other doctor had suggested. “Time to go!”
I nodded at Alphonse, and we both followed.
After a short corridor, we found a set of double doors, which opened into a field of finely cut grass. This must have been the side entrance. It was secured with a scanner, so you couldn’t leave without authorization, and there didn’t seem to be any handles or devices on the other side. That meant that once we were outside, there would be no going back.
If we ended up in the middle of a firefight, it would also mean little to no cover.
Nowhere to run, but forward.
“Are we ready?” I asked each of my fellow fugitives.
“I could stand to stay behind,” said Dressler. “Please, you don’t need me anymore, do you?”
“Nice try,” said Abigail.
The doctor swallowed. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
I fled through the door, the others right behind me, my pistol at the ready. A sudden breeze flew across my cheeks and, for a moment, it was nice, like being in a glade near a brook, the total opposite of where I actually was. It was almost like I wasn’t robbing the Union and trying to escape with two hostages at my side and one of the galaxy’s most powerful artifacts in my goddamn pocket.
I could see the entrance to the landing platform straight ahead of us, across the field. It was a wide area with thin towers on all sides, which could have been anything from overhead lights to turrets, for all I knew. I cursed myself for not scouting this location more before coming down, but there hadn’t been enough time, not with General Brigham tracking us, although I certainly couldn’t confirm that he was. I’d been too shortsighted, rushing onto this asshole of a planet. Oh well. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d played fast and—
“Stop them! They’re heading to that ship!” shouted a husky voice to my left.
A group of armed guards filed out of the front of the building. A quick glance revealed it was the same squad that had escorted us into the building after we’d landed.
“Run!” I shouted, taking Dressler’s hand and pulling her into the open grass.
Several shots fired on my position. Dressler screamed, surprising me with how loud her voice could get. For such an angry-looking woman, she sure could project herself.
“Wait! They have a hostage!” shouted one of the soldiers.
“Doesn’t matter! Keep firing!” returned another.
“W-What did he just say?!” asked Dressler.
“Keep up!” snapped Alphonse.
I let go of the doctor and pulled out my pistol, ready to return fire. I got off a couple of shots, hitting the windows behind the soldiers and forcing them to take cover. That would buy us a few moments.
I came to a quick stop, dragging my heel in the grass, and turning around. In seconds, I was facing the soldiers, my arm steady with the gun.
Right as Abigail was about to pass beside me, I raised my other hand and motioned at her to toss me her gun. She tossed it at me and I caught it, wrapping my fingers around the butt as I brought it around toward the other men, along with my own weapon.
Using both pistols, I unloaded a steady flow of bullets, making sure the men stayed down. There were only four soldiers, from what I could see, which meant the others were somewhere else. There had been six originally, when they’d met us at the loading dock.
I began to back up, continuing to fire in a steady rhythm. These guns each carried two dozen bullets, and I only had one spare magazine. If we didn’t get out of here soon, things might not end so well.
“Jace!” shouted Abigail, the urgency in her voice telling me it was time to go. I turned around, replacing my backwards jog with a hard, forward run.
I saw the two remaining soldiers near The Star, holding rifles and waiting for our group.
They looked like they were about to fire on Dressler when I managed to get a shot off, hitting my own ship. This forced them to hit the ground. One of them shouted something to the other, which caused them both to aim at me. Apparently, they viewed me as the larger threat.
That was a mistake.
Abigail pushed Dressler into Alphonse’s arms. The Constable caught the doctor and brought her to the ground with him, while Abigail continued forward.
The nun leapt into the air, taking out her baton and activating it. The pole extended, a spark igniting at the end. In a hard swipe, she brought the object down, hitting the first soldier square in the face, breaking his nose and spattering blood into the air.
The second man raised his weapon, ready to shoot her before she could get any closer.
I squeezed the trigger on both guns, but I’d finally run out.
The soldier stood there with Abigail in his sights. She wasn’t reacting, which made me think her shield must be depleted.
I reached for the last remaining magazine, hoping I still had enough time to get a shot off before that soldier did what he was about to—
Alphonse ran straight into him, knocking the gun to the side, right as the soldier fired. The man turned on him, but Alphonse responded with a kick to his stomach, then a quick tap to the man’s throat. The soldier fell on his knees, gasping for air, like his wind pipe had collapsed. Alphonse took his head in his arms and twisted, snapping the man’s neck before he even knew what was happening to him.
Abigail was gawking at what the Constable had just done. “What did you—”
“I suggest we depart,” said Alphonse, motioning to the ship. “More of them will be here soon.”
I ran over to Dressler and helped her up, then joined the others. “Nice one, Al,” I said as I passed him.
He nodded. “Happy to help, Captain.”
Another burst of gunfire followed, hitting the ship as we ran into the lift. “Siggy, close the goddamn hatch!” I shouted.
“Right away, sir,” answered the A.I.
The lift raised as multiple shots ricocheted through the shrinking opening. “Take cover!” I ordered.
Everyone ducked as the bullets bounced overhead, hitting metal and disappearing into the walls.
“Get us in the air, Siggy!” I shouted, just as the door closed.
“As you wish, sir,” he said. “Activating thrusters.”
I crawled my way to the stairs, but stayed down, knowing better than to move too much or risk a deflecting bullet.
The gunfire continued as we lifted into the air. We all stayed on our faces, waiting for the bulletstorm to be replaced by the silence of space.
The engines activated, rumbling through the entire ship before the stabilizers had a chance to kick in. As it settled, I felt us lift off the ground.
“Everyone okay?” I asked, now that we were rocketing away from the planet.
“I think so,” said Abigail, who was on her knees.
“Constable…are you alright?” asked Dr. Dressler, still out of breath. She edged her way closer to Alphonse, who was lying on his back. “Y-You’re bleeding!”
Alphonse tried to stand, but stopped and clutched his stomach. When he took his palm away, I could finally see the blood.
I sat forward, pushing myself up from the stairs. “Alphonse?” I said, trying to get a better look. He had sweat all over his forehead, strain in his eyes. Something was definitely wrong.
Abigail ran over to him and pushed the kid on his back. “Lie down for a second and let me see,” she ordered, lifting his shirt above his stomach.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered. His eyes fluttered, like he was about to pass out. “I…should have been faster…”
“Idiot!” snapped Abigail. “Why didn’t you run faster?” She looked at me, her eyes fixed with anger. “Get me the goddamn med kit!”
NINE
By the time I returned with the med kit, Alphonse had lost consciousness. Abigail managed to get the wound wrapped, but without the necessary tools, we wouldn’t be able to excise the bullet.
I had to leave him with Abigail and Dressler while I made my way to the cockpit. I didn’t want to, but someone had to man the cannons and fly us out of here, and I couldn’t rely on Siggy to do everything. Impressive as he was, Sigmond could only handle so many things at once.
I entered a command on the console and took the control sticks, leading us away from the planet. Before I could even call down to check on Abigail or bring up the camera feed from the cargo bay, Siggy informed me that we had a tail.
By the look of it, three of them. All Union strike ships.
“Out of the fire…” I muttered. “Siggy! How long before Titan comes out of that tunnel?”
“Approximately eight minutes, sir,” he answered.
“Close enough! Let’s see if we can make it there before those ships catch up to us.”
“Based on their current rate of acceleration, I do not believe that will be possible,” informed Siggy.
I cursed, then activated the holo display to show the system we were in. I looked frantically for somewhere to go, anything with a narrow enough space to—
I paused on the fourth planet in the system, the closest to Priscilla. It had a thin, but wide ring of rocks around it, like many other class-3 planets. A quick analysis revealed that this world also had a whopping seventy-six moons.
“Siggy, I’m taking us behind that ring, close to the planet. Make sure we don’t hit anything,” I ordered.
“Acknowledged, sir,” said the A.I.
If I could buy some time before Titan arrived, I might be able to get away without any excessive damage, but I’d have to stay out of their line-of-sight. I hated not being able to take them all head-on, but I couldn’t risk my crew or my ship, not if there was a better way out.
I brought The Renegade Star within orbit of the ringed planet, then reduced our speed to a slow crawl as we neared the ring itself—a thin spread of ice and rock, twice the size of the planet.
“Time to lay the traps,” I said, sweeping my finger across the console, dropping one of the mines that Athena had given me. “Let’s see if these things are as good as she said.”
I placed six mines, nearly all of them—three below the ring and three above—and brought my ship to the rear of it, nearer to the planet.
I watched the holo as it showed all three ships drawing closer to my position. The centermost strike ship had its shield raised, encompassing all of them. I activated my own, waiting for them.
Any second now, I thought.
The ships neared the ring, heading above and ignoring the bottom.
I backed up, closer to the planet.
The three ships moved together, their shield grazing the ring and causing the particles and fragments to swirl and displace.
The first of the three mines reacted, its sensors detecting the incoming vessels, and it homed itself towards them. The mine ignited right as it reached the shield, exploding in a mess of blue plasma, lighting up the darkness for a brief second, and causing the protective layer to fracture and flicker, like it was about to break. My mouth fell open at the sight. Talk about a bomb! My old mines didn’t hold a fucking candle to these. “That’s what I’m talking about!” I shouted, smacking my console.
The ship closest to the ring jerked slightly as the shield settled.
I dropped The Renegade Star further below the ring, priming my quad cannons as I tracked the ships’ movements.
The second mine reacted as they drew closer to the end of the ring, and it lunged itself towards them, exploding at the same distance as the first. The shield surrounding the ships flickered once again as the blue light encapsulated it. The shield cracked and broke, finally dissolving as the damage became too great for it to bear.
The three ships separated, moving away now that the shield was gone. Since the
y had no reason to stick together, they could move freely. It was hard to say if things had just improved or gotten worse for me.
Or for them.
I tracked each of the ships, all of them moving in different directions. The first continued along the same path, headed unknowingly toward the next mine, while the second and third broke apart and headed to each side of the ring, no doubt to flank me.
I’d be ready for all of them. I clutched my control stick and began firing a spray into the ring, targeting the nearest of the two that were breaking free. My shots went straight through the ice, obliterating rocks and creating clouds of heavy dust as I continued firing at the moving ship. As it neared the edge of the ring, one of my torpedoes struck it in the side, grazing its secondary engine. The ship spun repeatedly, out of control, going directly into the particles of the ring and displacing them further.
This was my chance.
With another spread, I fired at the ship, missing all but two blasts, which hit the vessel at its center, clear through the cockpit, breaking the ship apart.
An explosion boomed from further down the ring as the first pilot inadvertently triggered the third mine. He was gone, instantly, which left only one to contend with.
I charged forward, right as the last ship came around the other side of the ring. We fired our cannons together at one another.