Renegade Earth

by J. N. Chaney

  Hearing my ship’s name with the words “crash site” made me cringe, but I didn’t have time to be sentimental. As soon as that team found the ship and saw how damaged it was, they’d reroute to our location. “We don’t have much time,” I said, glancing at the others. “We need to move.”

  * * *

  The rain was heavy and slow, weighing us down as we moved into the storm. I kept the holo up to both light the way and keep us on the right path.

  Sigmond showed ship movement on the holo, each group coming from different directions. If we could make it to the city, we’d have a clean chance at survival. The rescue party would be here soon, after all.

  Lucia spotted the skyline first. Maybe it was all that time living on a snow-covered planet with constant blizzards and environmental hazards or possibly the fact that her ancestors were genetically engineered superhumans, but she had a remarkable set of eyes for someone with over a century of life under her belt.

  The rest of us could see them after a short walk, the broken towers coming into view like shadows in a fog, thanks to the still-raging storm.

  My thoughts lingered on my ship as we marched. Would I be able to salvage it, once all of this was over? Given how much damage it had probably taken in the fall, I had my doubts. Still, I couldn’t just leave it here to rust. It was more than just a ship. It was my home.

  I shook the concern out of my head, at least for now. There were more pressing matters, like finding somewhere to hold up and avoid getting shot.

  One step at a time, I thought. I’ll worry about the rest of it later.

  We reached the edge of the city before long, our boots muddied and our clothes drenched. The holo showed that both sets of Union ships had already met up at The Renegade Star crash site and were currently approaching the shuttle, which meant they’d probably find their way to this city pretty soon.

  “We need to get underground,” I said as we entered a nearby building to get out of the rain.

  “What does the map say?” asked Lucia.

  “A few of these towers have basements, but we’re a long way from the nearest one,” I explained.

  “That rules out going underground,” said Dressler.

  “Then we’ll have to use what we have,” added Lucia.

  I nodded. “The cover of the city and the storm should make it hard for them to find us, unless Billins here has a tracker in his skin like Brigham did.”

  “That’s a good point,” said Lucia, taking him by the arm. “Here, let’s see you, boy.”

  “I don’t have one of those! I’m just a sergeant!” he pleaded.

  “We’re checking anyway,” said the old woman.

  I took a breath and turned away while both Lucia and Dressler checked him over, nearly ripping his clothes in the process.

  “This place looks like it might fall in at any second,” I muttered, darting my eyes around the building’s rafters.

  “It certainly seems unstable,” agreed Abigail, walking up beside me.

  We stood there a moment in silence, taking in our surroundings. It was surreal to be here, for the plan to go so horribly wrong. The thought of Brigham sitting safely aboard a Union ship turned my stomach, the more I imagined it.

  “You doing okay?” I asked, deciding her health was more important than worrying about something I had no control over.

  She nodded. “The headache’s mostly gone, thanks to those pills. I’ll need to rest after we get back, though.”

  “First class ticket to the med pods,” I said.

  She smiled. “If we can manage to find our back to Titan, that is.”

  “We’ve gone this far, haven’t we?” I asked. “All the way from Taurus Station to Perseus.”

  “But not Earth,” she said.

  “Not yet, but almost,” I responded.

  She stared at the nearby window, rays of thin light breaking through. I could see she was still in pain, but said nothing of it. Abigail didn’t need my pity or my help. If she wanted it, she knew where to find me.

  That woman was just as stubborn as me, but that’s what I liked about her.

  “What do you want to do?” she asked, after a moment.

  I turned to her. “What do you mean?”

  “Those ships will be here soon. They can use sensors to detect our heat signatures. It won’t take them long, once they leave the shuttle.”

  “We’ll just need to be ready,” I said.

  “Oh, is that all?” she asked, a bit of a smile on her face. “You make it sound like such a simple thing, but that’s how you always are, isn’t it, Jace? Making things sound easier than they should be.” She leaned in and wrapped her hand around my arm, then placed her head on my shoulder. “Do you think Lex will be okay without us?”

  “She’ll be just fine,” I said, and left it at that.

  “Right,” she said, closing her eyes. “I’m sure that’s right.”

  * * *

  Four enemy ships arrived in the rain, setting down near the Eastern edge of the city. From them, fourteen soldiers clad in black armor emerged, each one identical to those we saw on The Renegade Star.

  I held my spot inside one of the larger buildings. Abigail was with me, holding a rifle and waiting. The rest of the team had dispersed to different locations throughout the nearby area, lowering the chance of us getting wiped out in a single attack.

  The squad swept the yard, weapons out, scanning with their visors. It wouldn’t take them long to find us, which meant I couldn’t sit and wait to be caught. I had to act.

  I gave Abigail a quick nod and then reactivated my personal shield. A soft blue glow swept over me as it formed, finally fading to normal.

  “Siggy, what’s the arrival time for our backup?” I whispered.

  “Titan is still engaged. However, I may have a spare drone available,” said Sigmond.

  “Why didn’t you say so before? We could’ve used that,” I said.

  “Apologies, sir. Only a few drones are still active, almost all of which have had their engines disabled. However, a few of them still have partial thrusters available.”

  “What’s your point, Siggy?”

  “I might be able to use their miniature thrusters to enter the atmosphere and, with any luck, accurately bombard the enemy ships.”

  I tilted my head. “Are you saying you think you can use the drones to bomb those soldiers with…the drones?”

  “Precisely, sir.”

  I scoffed, looking at Abigail. “Are you hearing this?”

  “Are we certain that will work, Sigmond?” asked Abby.

  “Not remotely, Ms. Pryar. In fact, I won’t know how the drones maneuver until they’ve entered the atmosphere. Their thrusters could detach from the resistance and heat.”

  “Sounds like a longshot,” said Abby. “But I suppose it’s better than nothing.”

  I nodded. “You heard the woman, Siggy. Pull those drones in. Just don’t hit any of us by accident.”

  “I shall do my utmost, sir,” said the Cognitive.

  “Somehow, I don’t feel very reassured,” replied Abigail.

  “We’ll just have to hope Siggy here can pull it off,” I told her. I touched my ear, calling up the rest of the team. “Everyone have their shields activated?”

  “Billins had an issue with his, but we finally got it,” said Dressler.

  “Just remind him not to do anything stupid. Those soldiers will just as soon shoot him as any of us,” I said.

  “Freddie and Lucia, you following this?” I asked.

  “We’re on the other side of the street, where you told us to go,” said Freddie.

  “Good. Both of you stay there and make sure you’ve got the higher ground.”

  “We’re on the third floor, near a balcony,” he said.

  “Keep your heads down,” I ordered. “Don’t come out unless I—”

  “Hughes!” yelled a voice from nearby. It echoed through the street and into our building like thunder, taking Abigail and m
e by surprise.

  We both went totally still, our hands on our guns.

  “Hughes! We know you’re here!”

  It sounded like Brigham, although the echo made it difficult to tell. Abigail seemed to think so, too, given the look on her face—building rage with a hint of bloodlust. If that man had been in front of us, Abigail might’ve lunged at his throat with her bare hands.

  “You knocked out The Galactic Dawn’s shield and its cannons, but the sensors are still operational,” said Brigham. “We saw six people enter that storm, headed in this direction! I suggest you come out now and save yourself the hassle of bleeding out in the middle of a wasteland! I assure you, Hughes, I’ll give you better accommodations than you gave me. Doesn’t that sound better than a bullet?”

  I peeked out the window, locating one of the soldiers in the distance. He was standing with his rifle to his chest, his face obscured by the visor.

  I was pretty sure Lucia could pick off one or two of these idiots before they had time to react. Abigail and I could do the same, thanks to the shields, but that still left several more to retaliate. There was no way we could handle them all.

  “If you don’t show your face, Hughes, I’ll have no choice but to target this city from space! Is that what you want? To die from a bombardment?” called Brigham.

  I shuffled over to another window, looking out from the bottom, trying not to be seen. The new angle let me see a handful of other troops, one of which was standing in the center of the street. Unlike the rest of them, this guy wasn’t carrying a rifle. Just a pistol on his hip.

  “You’re really going to make me do it, aren’t you?” called Brigham, his voice coming from all around me. But the man I was watching seemed to move with the words, looking around the city as he spoke.

  “Sir, two drones will arrive in approximately one minute,” informed Sigmond.

  “Think you can hit those soldiers?” I asked.

  “I do,” answered Sigmond. “But I suggest you put some distance between you and those men, just to be safe.”

  I looked at Abigail, who seemed to be giving me an odd expression. “We might wanna move,” I said.

  She nodded. “What about everyone else?”

  “They’re far enough away to avoid the blast. We’re not.”

  We crept through the room to the rear hallway, which was partially covered in debris, having caved in at a few points over the centuries.

  Brigham had stopped yelling by now, probably to assess the situation, since we’d called his bluff. I suspected he wouldn’t have the capability to nuke this city from orbit, not with Titan and the fleet giving them hell. There was no way any of those cruisers still had the ability to drop an orbital bombardment so late in the game, not after I’d ordered my boys to take those cannons out. The old man was on his last leg, which was the only reason he’d bothered to follow me here instead of joining the rest of his fleet. He’d lost this fight, but if he managed to capture me, he might stand a chance at surviving all of this.

  But I’d never go quietly. He’d have to put a bullet through my forehead before I let anyone place a set of cuffs on my wrists. A free man never willingly walks into a cage. Not if he can help it.

  I hurried over a pile of debris in the hall, Abigail right behind me, and we bolted for the opposite end of the building.

  “Twenty seconds,” said Sigmond, spurring us to move faster.

  We ran through an open doorway, inadvertently hitting a pile of scattered debris with our feet in the process. The sound echoed through the building.

  “Over there!” snapped one of the soldiers.

  “Run!” I barked, tugging Abigail by the hand. We took off, away from the building and in the opposite direction of the soldiers.

  I glanced back over my shoulder as we neared another wall, spotting a few of the armored men as they continued after us. “They’re on the move!” called one of them, pointing in our direction. “Don’t let them get—”

  An explosion of heat and wind knocked me forward, forcing me to let go of Abigail’s hand. I hit the pavement, sliding and rolling from the momentum.

  “Shield at 84%,” said the automated voice in my ear.

  The sound in the air had grown thin as my ears tried to adjust. I could barely see anything, there was so much dust. “Abigail,” I muttered, turning to where she’d been.

  “I’m here,” she answered, her shield flickering blue as she lay on the ground, struggling to right herself. She was breathing heavily, gasping through the dust.

  “The first drone has landed,” said Sigmond.

  “Yeah, no shit,” I said, forcing myself on my feet. I helped Abigail do the same. “We need to get out of here before the second one hits.”

  “Five seconds,” said Sigmond.

  I cursed again, then resumed my sprint to the nearby building. Right as Abigail and I entered, the second drone hit the city street, scattered the settling dust with an explosive burst of pressure.

  I took Abigail’s wrist and pushed her into a corner inside the first room, holding the walls on each side of her as the building shook around us. She held my shoulders, keeping her head down until the world stopped moving.

  “Captain!” called Freddie, his voice stinging my ear. “Are you okay? Say something!”

  “I’m fine,” I said, touching the comm. “Keep your eyes on those troops and stop worrying about us. If you get a chance to shoot, take it!”

  “We can’t see anything right now. There’s too much smoke,” said Freddie.

  “Just watch for any signs of movement,” I said, stepping back from Abigail.

  She looked up at me, then wiped the dust from her face.

  “We need to get out there and handle those soldiers before they have a chance to recover.” I withdrew my pistol and checked the chamber. “It might get messy. If your head’s still bothering you, I can—”

  She placed a finger to my lips, then leaned in and kissed me. I closed my eyes, unable to pull away, and I felt my pulse quicken. She pressed into me with such force that I could barely breathe.

  When she opened her eyes, the answer to my unfinished question was staring back at me, ready to kill.

  Ready to die.

  I took a step back, cocking my pistol. “You set to finish this, Sister Abigail?”

  She raised her rifle to her chest. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Seventeen

  We left the building and entered the street. Abigail took the left side of the road, while I took the right. We’d run a quick sweep, using the fog from the explosion to mask our approach.

  Rocks fell from the nearest building, still shaken from the blast. It wasn’t an isolated incident. The explosion had caused damage to several of the towers, creating cave-ins that continued to sound off in the distance, filling the area with noise.

  I did my best to listen for signs of life, such as heavy breathing, talking, grunting, or the scraping of armor against the ground. So far, I’d found nothing.

  The same couldn’t be said for Abigail. She spotted the first troop after about thirty meters. He’d crawled his way inside one of the alleys and had somehow lost his weapon, except for the knife on his leg. She didn’t give him time to pull it, instead taking him by the wrist and using her legs to slam him into the ground. Once he was on his backside, Abigail buried her barrel inside the thin piece of clothing between his armor padding, and fired.

  The man screamed as the bullet tore into the side of his belly. He tried desperately to grab her rifle, but was too shaken to get a firm grip. Abigail pulled away and stuck the gun in his broken visor, nestling it beneath his eye.

  Another loud shot echoed through the city, but this time there was no scream to follow it.

  The fog was so thick, I didn’t want to lose sight of Abby, so I stayed parallel with her at all times. If things got out of hand, I’d at least know where she was.

  I refused to rush in, half-cocked, not like I had in the past. Not with my crew’s l
ives on the line.

  A figure moved inside the fog, shrouded in smoke and dust. I came in low, hoping to take him by surprise, but it was no good. He turned to face me, right as I rammed him.

  The man slammed his fist into my chest, sending me to the ground.

  “Shield at 77%,” said the automated voice.

  He stood there like a brick house as I scurried back to reorient myself, only to see him towering over me.

  “You’re a big one,” I said, staring up at his faceless helmet.

  He charged at me as I quickly brought my pistol up and fired. The bullet nicked his helmet, deflecting off and leaving him unscathed as he slammed into my chest, lifting me off the ground.

  Before he had a chance to body slam me, I shoved my barrel into his visor and pulled the trigger, shattering it with so much force that it caused me to drop the weapon.

  He let go of me, shaken from the impact, and I fell to the ground with a ringing pain in my ear. The soldier stumbled, holding his head and falling on his ass, almost like he was sick. Seconds later, he rolled on his stomach and then stopped moving.

  “Jace!” called Abigail.

  She started to run after me, but I held up my hand. “I’m good!” I answered, trying to pick up my gun with my shaking hands. “Just need a second here.”

  “Incoming!” snapped Lucia.

  Before I could say anything, an explosion of blue energy came flying from above my head, hitting a few meters ahead of me. I looked to see a soldier on his back, his weapon sliding away from the force of the blast.

  “Pay attention, boy!” ordered Lucia.

  I fanned my hand in her general direction as I tried to stabilize myself.

  “There’s more!” shouted Abby, opening fire into the fog from her position. She dove behind a large piece of debris and continued shooting.

  Another shot from Lucia, towards the same location. Despite the fog, the old woman’s eyes weren’t failing her.

  I still had ringing in my ears from the gunshot, but pushed myself to run deeper into the smoke cloud, towards the soldiers.

  I spotted the enemy in seconds—three of them, but only two had weapons, and one with an injured leg. A fourth body lay motionless behind them, melted armor on his chest.