“Because you have to alter the system manually to allow an overcharge,” Artemisia said. “The Outworld Ranger’s weapons have not been altered.”
“An overcharge will fry the system,” Rosie said. “But it allows—”
All the meters hit green.
“Fire!” Kyralla said.
The Outworld Ranger unleashed a volley from their quad-cannon and fired the railguns. At the same time, electricity flickered around the pirate ship's dual cannons as they discharged twice.
A second later, four plasma bolts plowed into those cannons. Flames and debris burst outward from the pirate vessel. The Outworld Ranger’s diamondine-tipped railgun shells plunged into the aft section of the cruiser. Flames spurted from the holes they punched into the vessel.
The first two shots from the pirate ship knocked out the Outworld Ranger’s shields. Following right behind those, the second pair struck the hull.
The ship bucked, throwing Oona onto the floor and pounding the back of Kyralla’s skull against her chair’s headrest. A boom reverberated throughout the ship. The lights flickered. The ship groaned and creaked around them. A red warning light flashed.
“Hull integrity secure,” the ship announced. “Ion engines offline. Flak cannon damaged and inoperable. Port thrusters sustained heavy damage. Comm array knocked out of alignment. Plasma cannon recharge delayed. Railguns temporarily disabled.”
“Shit,” Kyralla cursed. “We’re screwed.”
Unharmed, Oona stood and gathered herself. Tekeru glanced back at her.
“Enable the inertial dampeners for your chair,” he said. “Then that won’t happen again.”
“Oh.” She settled back into the command chair. “Did we disable the pirates?”
“The pirate vessel suffered heavy damage,” Artemisia said. “Their aft plasma cannons, aft shield projectors, and their ion engines were destroyed. Their fusion core is cracked, but the containment field is holding. Seven pirates killed, twelve injured.”
Oona threw a hand over her mouth. “Oh…oh, ‘Nevolence. All those people. All those—”
“Criminals,” Tekeru Jones spat. “Criminals who killed two dozen innocent researchers and crewmen.”
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Oona said.
As she rose from her chair, Kyralla spun around and pointed at her. “Sit down. You cannot leave. We need you here.”
“But…but…”
“Do you want to die too?”
Oona shook her head and sat back down.
“Then keep it together, for now. Push it aside, block it out. Do whatever you have to do, but keep it together. We’re in a lot of danger right now.”
“Speaking of danger,” Rosie said. “The pirate cruiser fired their starboard thrusters. With a recharged laser battery, missiles, and forward-firing plasma cannons, they present a more than significant threat.”
“What Rosie doesn’t want to say,” Artemisia told them, “is the moment we enter their firing arc, we’re dead.”
“What about our shields?” Oona asked. “Won’t they be recharged by then?”
“When they can fire at us, our shields will have recharged to four percent,” Artemisia said.
“We could evade,” Oona said.
“Only with our port thrusters,” Kyralla replied. “The engines will be offline for…”
“Fifty-four minutes,” Artemisia said. “Unless you reboot them. That would reduce the time to twenty-five minutes.”
“Until we affect repairs,” Rosie said, “we won’t be able to shoot down incoming missiles either.”
Kyralla glanced at Tekeru Jones. Their eyes met, and understanding passed between them. They both knew what had to be done. She checked her HUD. The meter for their plasma cannons remained in the yellow.
“Rosie, give me a meter representing when we’ll enter the cruiser’s firing arc.”
A new meter popped up in her HUD. She sighed with relief. The Outworld Ranger’s weapons would be recharged in time to do what had to be done.
“We need Octavian,” Oona said. “Is he still okay?”
"I'm detecting a signal from him," Artemisia said. "During the battle, he sent us a message. He's still searching for Mr. Bishop amongst the wreckage. However, his scanning abilities are limited, and he's unable to maneuver within the vacuum."
“I don’t understand why we can’t detect Bishop,” Oona said. “Shouldn’t we be getting some sort of signal.”
Because he’s dead and his chippy and his spacesuit have been destroyed, Kyralla thought. But she didn’t voice it. She couldn’t bring herself to. Besides, Oona couldn’t handle any more emotional distress right now.
On the viewscreen, they watched the pirate vessel slowly spinning towards them. Oona shifted nervously in the command chair. Surely, she must realize what they would have to do.
“So how do we go about doing repairs?” Oona asked.
"We'll instruct you on what to do using augmented reality guidance," Rosie said. "But it will be neither easy nor fast since you lack the required manual skills and know-how."
The pirate vessel had spun one hundred and forty-seven degrees. The meter for the Outworld Ranger’s plasma cannons ticked up to a bright yellow.
Just a few more moments…
“I hate to convey more bad news,” Artemisia said, but the World Bleeder destroyer just launched three U-XT starfighters. They’re faster, more advanced versions of the starfighters we faced in the Zayer system.”
Kyralla unleashed a string of curses.
“The World Bleeders…they’re a criminal organization, right?” Tekeru Jones said.
“And they’re after us,” Oona replied, dismayed.
“Great,” he said. “That’s just great.”
“ETA on the starfighters?” Kyralla asked.
“One hour, madam,” Rosie answered solemnly.
If they rebooted the engines in time, they would have only half an hour to recover Bishop and escape. And slowing down to pick him up would almost certainly mean the starfighters would catch up to them. Of course, all of that assumed that Bishop was somehow alive amongst all that wreckage.
“Rosie, where will our shields be in an hour?”
“Roughly seventy-eight percent, madam.”
The meter for the plasma cannons reached green. The pirate vessel was less than a minute away from being able to target the Outworld Ranger.
Kyralla inhaled deeply and started to speak, but Tekeru acted before she could issue the command.
“Switching weapon activation to manual control,” he said.
Kyralla noted with relief that targeting control remained with the ship.
Oona leaned forward. “What are you—”
Tekeru Jones pressed a button on the command console. The white flash of four plasma bolts sped out from the quad-cannon on top of the Outworld Ranger. The shots pierced the pirate vessel, opening a gaping hole in its side.
A column of flame spurted out from the vessel.
Then it exploded in a massive fireball as the fusion reactor when nova. Oona cried out. Rosie actually cursed. Eyes wide, Kyralla sat stunned.
The blast flung debris and blue flames in all directions. This resulting blast wave barreled toward the Outworld Ranger.
“Brace for impact!” Artemisia shouted.
“Shields angled forward,” Rosie said.
“Inertial dampening maxed,” the ship announced.
With a wall of blue flame only a few hundred meters away, Kyralla drew in a sharp breath and closed her eyes.
36
Siv Gendin
Siv kicked down hard on the ceiling tile. It clattered onto the floor of Wang’s office unnoticed. The thugs released another volley of plasma fire. Crackling bolts burned through the interior wall, scorched the floor and ceiling, and pelted into the overturned desk. Surprisingly, the shots did nothing more than scar the surface.
Wang was crouched behind the desk, his back to it, his head hunkered down. The tile
fell to his left, next to the wall, yet he didn’t spot it nor hear it strike.
“Sir, drop on my mark.” Silky sighed. “What a bunch of rubes, not knowing how to cycle amongst themselves to keep the firing continuous.”
Siv activated his force-shield.
“Wait…wait… Go!”
The firing stopped for a moment, and Siv dropped into the room, the force-shield held in front of him. He made his body as compact as possible and kept his head tucked behind the shield.
He struck the floor, eyes wide as he noted the dozens of holes punctuating the walls.
Keeping the shield up, he ran across the room. Just as he dove for cover behind the desk, the thugs opened up with another volley of fire.
Wang glanced at him in surprise. Then he aimed his plasma pistol at Siv.
“Whoah!” Siv exclaimed, putting his force-shield between them. “Do I look like I’m your enemy?”
“I don’t know you,” Wang said, “so you can’t be a friend.”
“If I were your enemy, you’d be dead already.”
As plasma bolts seared into the desk protecting them, Wang quirked an eyebrow then nodded. “Well, I can’t argue with that. Why are you here?”
“I’m rescuing you,” Siv said, lowering his voice so the thugs wouldn’t know he was there. “In return for a favor. You have something I need.”
Wang kept his voice low, matching Siv’s volume. “I can’t turn down your terms.” Wang shook his head, a twisted smile on his face. “But I don’t know how you dropping into this toilet with me helps. What’s one more turd in the bowl supposed to accomplish?”
“I like the way this guy turns a phrase,” Silky muttered.
“You’re just as screwed as I am.” Wang eyed the force-shield. “Though you do seem better equipped.”
“There’s a plan,” Siv told him. “Trust me.”
Wang shrugged as a plasma bolt struck the wall over their heads. A picture of a scantily clad girl riding a skimmer cycle burst into flames then clattered onto the floor.
“Sure,” Wang said eyeing the smoldering picture, his face turning to a deep frown. “Why not?”
Wang was in his late forties, much younger than Siv had expected. He had a slender frame, shock white hair, bronze skin, and sky-blue eyes. He wore a red, silk suit that was now sliced open and scorched in several places, revealing the mesh body armor beneath.
Wang had an innocent face, one that no doubt belied his occupation. It was the sort of look that could help you as a criminal, making it easier to mislead others, even amongst your kind. But one that could also hurt you, because you’d have to work a bit harder to earn the respect of the rough men you worked with.
Siv was more than familiar with the problem, having become a passable procurement specialist by the age of fourteen, and one of the best on Ekaran IV by sixteen.
Siv held out a hand. “My name is—”
“Mr. A,” Wang said. “Your name is Mr. A. I don’t want to know your real name, and you shouldn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t intend to,” Siv replied.
Wang nodded. “Smart lad.”
“He seems likable enough,” Silky said.
“I don’t trust him,” Mitsuki said over the secure channel. “And you just like him cause he’s a smart ass.”
“That is a plus,” Silky replied. “But what I really like is that he appears to be intelligent.”
“Why does that matter?” Mitsuki asked.
“If he’s smart, he’s not going to rat us out,” Siv said. “Given his situation, he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself any more than we do.”
“Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it?” Mitsuki said.
“To be honest, all we knew for certain is that he rose to the top of his game before everything fell apart on him,” Silky said. “Did luck lift him or crash him?”
“A smart man can still make poor decisions and screw himself over,” Mitsuki said.
Siv couldn't argue against that, but his instincts told him that Wang had the good sense not to risk himself by ratting on them. Unless he figured out precisely how much they were worth. In that case, he would, once he was away from Zayer Prime.
One of the thugs popped around the corner and squeezed off three shots before darting back. The desk shuddered as the plasma bolts he’d fired struck its surface without burning through.
“This is one hell of a desk,” Siv said.
“There are thin layers of ceramic and carbon fiber and diamondine beneath the wood top,” Wang said, and Silky verified the information. “I purchased it for just such an occasion. I had hoped I’d never have to use it.”
“You’ve clearly fallen on hard times,” Siv said. “I’m betting you’re going to to have cut and run and leave this world for another. And I’m thinking you already have plans for doing just that.”
Wang narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re a shrewd man, Mr. A.”
“Leaving seems obvious given how many enemies you’ve made.”
“Knowing about me isn’t easy when you’re an outsider, which you clearly are,” Wang said. “But guessing that I’m about to leave the planet is a whole other matter.”
Siv decided to cut to the chase. “You’re heading to Titus II.”
Taken aback, Wang flinched. “How do you know that?”
“You own a shell-company there.”
“You do have me at a disadvantage.” He chuckled nervously. “It seems I have no advantages today.”
“You have me.”
Siv noticed in his locator that one of the thugs was edging toward the doorway. Wang had stopped returning fire when Siv arrived, and Siv hadn’t helped yet.
The thugs almost certainly didn’t know Siv was there. Their chippies weren’t advanced enough to give locator scans, and even if they’d been modified for that, they couldn’t have overcome Silky’s jamming.
They probably thought that the silence indicated they’d finally killed or incapacitated Wang.
Siv waited as the man was just about to peek his head around the corner.
“Now, sir!”
Siv popped up and placed a shot into the wall beside the man. Wang joined him, and his shot clipped the man’s shoulder. The thug screamed and fell back.
“Careful,” Siv said. “We don’t want to kill them.”
“What are you, some kind of anti-violence crusader? These men are trying to kill me!”
“Dead men draw attention. I have a plan to drive them off.”
Wang shrugged. “Whatever gets me out of here.” His eyes narrowed, and he chewed on his lip. “You have an accomplice.”
“Outside,” Siv said, nodding. “When I tell you to, stand and fire. Send your shots through the doorway, into the wall, the ceiling, whatever. It doesn’t matter, just don’t kill or injure any of them bad enough that they can’t run away.”
“I’ll do my best,” Wang said. “Truthfully, though, I’m a terrible shot. If I hit someone, it’s luck.”
“Siv, I’m in position,” Mitsuki said. “Though I’m going to have a tough time hitting the places Silky wants me to, even with the new targeting software he uploaded to B.”
“Just line up the triangles, it couldn’t be any simpler,” Silky said.
“I’m an extraction agent,” Mitsuki replied. “I’m not a sniper. I’m not even a soldier. I’m a decent shot, but that’s it. And you want to me strike targets no bigger than a gnat’s ass. So unless you’ve got a software upload for my arm…”
“Well, we could cut it off and replace it with a bionic model,” Silky said. “Then I could assist you with—”
Siv cut him off. “You’ll do fine, Mits. Just focus.”
“We’re all ready, sir. Everything’s in place.”
“Then let’s hit it.”
“And quit it, sir. I agree. Go!”
Siv popped up, force-shield in place, and opened fire, his plasma pistol bursts streaming through the doorway. Wang joined in. As they fired, the thugs back
ed up, surprised to have two people in the office now when there should have only been one.
Mitsuki’s plasma carbine rapped a staccato pattern on the outside wall to Siv’s left and into the room with the thugs. Most of the shots spattered against the outer wall harmlessly, but a few bolts cut through and flashed into the other room.
One bolt struck a thug, and he cried out.
“Damn it, Mits,” Siv cursed.
“I’m trying!” she said. “I can’t help that they’re moving around.”
“It’s just a burn on his forearm,” Silky said. “Nothing too severe. I’ll begin my part now.”
Outside, an engine revved up, and a horn honked incessantly. The skimmer truck began to circle in the street.
The thugs exchanged shouts of confusion. Then one glanced outside. “Someone’s stolen our ride!”
“We can’t go out there!” another said. “We’ll get shot.”
“We can’t let them steal our van!” said a third. “If we lose the van and the mark, we’re doomed.”
Siv stopped firing and shouted as loudly as he could to Wang. “Pass me the grenade!”
That did it. The thugs broke and ran. As they headed out the door, Silky hit the throttle and sent the van speeding down the street. The thugs chased after it on foot, but it was out of sight before they cleared half a block. Mitsuki sent a few bolts at their heels to keep them running.
Once the thugs were several blocks away, Siv stood. “Mr. Wang, you’re safe now.”
Wang turned the gun on him, and Siv put the shield between them.
“What do you want from me?” Wang asked.
“Forged ID cards and chameleon veils, good ones if you have them, and a lead on discreet transportation to Titus II. We are willing to pay.”
“But we will be deducting a significant rescue fee,” Mitsuki said, striding into the room, her plasma carbine in hand. She’d used her wings to glide down.
“That…um…that seems fair enough,” Wang said, lowering his gun. He eyed Mitsuki curiously. “I guess I’ll call you Mr. B.”
Her gender change solution was working.
“She’s definitely a B,” Silky said.
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Silkster. But we already have a B.”
Shadow Agents Page 26