Strike Vector - An Aeon 14 Space Opera Adventure (Perilous Alliance Book 2)
Page 16
A collar. The sonofabitch put a collar on her girl—one that had a Link nullifier on it too, from the looks of it.
Kylie held back the flood of emotion. Nadine looked so helpless, so vulnerable. But she was alive, and right then, that was the best Kylie could wish for.
Kylie glanced at Lana and let out a long, deep breath.
Kylie didn’t like the sound of that, and hoped her plan would work. Otherwise Lana would find out just what Jason had in store for her, and the rest of them would probably be dead.
She had let Lana listen in, and the young woman’s eyes were wide with worry. Kylie touched her shoulder.
Lana nodded and swallowed. “I’m not going to chicken out now. I saw your…friend on the feed. We can’t leave her with whoever would do that to her.”
Kylie said.
Rogers commented.
The airlock slid open, and Kylie held her Spectre rifle to Lana’s back as they walked down the ramp onto the platform. There was no one else present, just the small dock shuttle that Jason had mentioned.
Kylie felt an uncomfortable flutter in her stomach as they left the Dauntless’s artificial gravity field and moved into Krenko’s quarter g.
She reached out to put an arm on Lana’s shoulder to keep the young woman from bounding into the air as they walked slowly across the platform toward the shuttle.
Kylie wondered how he was really feeling right now. At least now his emotions were in check. He’d play his part, Kylie was certain.
They reached the cylindrical shuttle and Kylie gestured for Lana to pull the hatch open and get in first. Once Lana was settled on the dirty white cushions, Kylie lowered herself into the back seat.
The door closed automatically, and a voice said, “Thank you for flying Caridan Station Auto Cruisers. Please sit back and enjoy your ride.”
Once the announcement was over the shuttle lifted into the air and flew off the platform and into the Krenko’s ruddy night.
Kylie prodded Lana with the barrel of her rifle and when the she looked back, Kylie dragged her finger across her neck.
Lana blinked back the tears in her eyes. “I don’t know why you’re doing this!”
She was a good actress, even when Kylie knew she was faking, it was hard to tell. She must have used those tears against her father more than once.
Kylie raised a finger to her lips and shook her head. Lana lowered her head and her hair fell, obscuring her face, but not before Kylie caught a glimpse of a smile.
It was colder than Kylie would have expected. Calculating. She wondered when the young woman had become so hard.
* * * * *
They flew to the platform over which Nadine had been standing—though she was no longer in sight as they approached.
The platform itself was a five-hundred-meter disk, jutting out over the angry clouds drifting close to the moon’s surface far below.
On the far side of the platform was a factory, its lights dark, though smoke poured from one chimney that rose above the platform’s ES shield.
The shuttle set down on a smaller pad, connected to the main platform by a narrow ramp, low railings offering the only protection against a long fall to a grisly death.
Once the shuttle’s door opened, Kylie poked Lana in the back with her rifle, and the girl stepped out of the shuttle, moving away from Kylie as she exited.
Once out, Kylie gestured for Lana to walk down the ramp, her rifle trained on her charge’s back.
A hundred meters across the main platform, Jason stepped out from behind a stack of drums walking calmly toward the ramp Lana and Kyle were walking down.
He was wearing the same armor as he had when he had first taken Nadine, minus a helmet. He held a railgun—more than enough firepower to blow a hole clear through Kylie’s armor, and a string of grenades hung from his belt.
He had his heart set on this going down his way but then again, so did Kylie.
Marge spoke quietly in Kylie’s mind.
Kylie wanted to reach out to Grayson and Winter—to ask if they were in position, but she knew they had to remain EM silent.
“Stop right there,” Jason called out. “That’s close enough.”
Lana stopped at the foot of the ramp where it met the main platform and glanced back at Kylie with worried eyes. Kylie couldn’t tell if it was real or an act. The concern looked real to Kylie.
Kylie called out over the local net.
“There’s no need to be so barbaric.” Jason lifted his free hand and behind him one of the doors to the factory opened. Nadine stumbled out with two women behind her, weapons held against her head.
“Kylie!” Nadine screamed and took a step forward, but one of the women grabbed Nadine’s hair and pulled her back as the other woman pushed her rifle forward.
Nadine’s head slammed into the gun and a spike of fear drove through Kylie’s heart as she envisioned one of the mercs’ weapons accidentally firing and blowing Nadine’s head off.
Jason nodded. “But first we check Lana to make sure she’s still carrying the nano. You’ve had more than enough time to remove it, if that’s what you wanted.”
Kylie and her crew feared he’d make this move.
Jason glanced back at Nadine and motioned the guards with his head. “Not unreasonable, but if you make a move for her…”
Nadine’s eyes were soft and moist as they met hers. Kylie wanted to grab her and just run for it, but s
he fought the urge as Jason took out a scanner and approached Lana.
And then everything happened at once.
The first thing Kylie did was grab a rifle from her back and toss it to Lana. The girl had been practicing with Winter in the cargo hold for the last two days, and she caught it with ease and opened fire on Jason.
Kylie leapt into the air a moment after her toss and activated her armor’s stealth suite. She took aim and fired on one of the women who had marched Nadine across the platform. The shot didn’t penetrate the merc’s armor, but it did push her back. Two more rounds from Kylie’s Spectre rifle cracked the woman’s armor plating and sent her scurrying for cover.
The other guard was firing into the sky, trying to get a bead on Kylie’s location—something that she almost had. Kylie was coming back down, Krenko’s lower gravity finally pulling her back down as Nadine spun and fell to the platform, wrapping her legs around the merc’s, bringing the woman down as well.
Kylie landed five meters away and bounded toward the pair, firing her rifle into the woman’s helmet.
The third round cracked the faceplate, and the fourth round went through.
She reached down for Nadine’s hand as plasma shots splashed on the platform near them.
Luckily, Nadine didn’t need any prompting to run across the platform toward the dubious cover of a stack of cargo pods.
Kylie turned her attention to the catwalks and balconies above, trying to see who was firing at them. Another plasma burst splashed nearby and she saw the shooter.
She gave a mighty leap, her augmented muscles pushing against the low gravity and sending her fifty meters into the air. The shooter came into clear view, and Kylie took her out with a trio of high-powered rounds.
An explosion down on the platform caught her attention; one of Jason’s grenades had gone off. Kylie looked for Lana and didn’t see the girl, but Jason was limping, his armor apparently damaged from the blast.
Shots rang out from above her and she saw Grayson racing along a catwalk, firing at a merc who was taking aim at Nadine. To his right, Winter was pushing another merc off a balcony. She saw the merc fall to the platform near another pair of enemies who were struggling back to their feet—apparently also victims of Winter’s muscles.
Winter replied as he dropped a trio of grenades, the explosions more than enough to take out the mercs.
She turned her attention back to Jason, who was limping toward the edge of the platform, his rifle pointed at something out of Kylie’s view.
As she approached, she saw Lana hanging from the edge of the platform, one bloody hand gripping the edge.
Jason leveled his rifle at her and barked a laugh. “Say good bye, little girl.”
Before he could pull the trigger, filaments of nano swarmed out from Lana’s hand and enveloped Jason’s weapon. When his finger pulled the trigger, nothing happened.
“Seems like you got an upgrade,” he said as he threw the rifle aside and reached down to pry Lana’s hand free.
The scene made no sense to Kylie. If Jason wanted Lana’s nano, why was he trying to kill her?
Lana wasn’t going to go easily. She swung her other arm up and fired her rifle point blank into Jason’s face.
Jason fell back with a cry as Kylie reached the railing and leaned over, grabbing Lana’s wrist and pulling her back over the edge.
Kylie turned back to Jason, who was on his feet, backing away as a dozen more enemies flooded out of the factory, weapons leveled on Kylie and Lana.
Above she saw Winter and Grayson fighting a new wave of mercenaries above as well.
“Looks like you’re outgunned,” Jason laughed.
Kylie looked around for Jason, who was nowhere to be seen. She dashed toward the cargo pods where Nadine had hidden to see Jason emerge with an arm around Nadine’s neck.
“Enough!” he screamed. “Kylie Rhoads, you have one choice. Kill Lana, or Nadine dies.”
“Orders change, now do—”
Jason stopped talking as the armor on his right shoulder glowed red hot.
His thighs hit a low railing around a lift opening on the platform, and he stopped. He shifted to the side, loosening his grip on Nadine enough for her to twist and push free with her shoulder.
Kylie wasn’t certain if it was Nadine’s push, or the damage Jason’s armor had taken, but he fell backward, the railing bending under his armor’s weight.
He grabbed hold of the railing, pulling himself back, and then a trio of shots hit his chest, throwing him backward.
And then he was gone.
Kylie rushed to the railing, grabbing Nadine and glancing over the edge, her enhanced vision catching sight of a tumbling figure falling toward hell’s thick clouds.
She glanced back and saw Lana lower her rifle, a smug look of superiority on her face
“Stars that hurt.”
“I think so…”
Winter and Grayson jumped down from the catwalks, rolling as they hit the platform, the low gravity making the leap painful instead of deadly.
Kylie half carried Nadine toward the ship, and up ahead, Lana clambered into the airlock, overriding the safeties, before opening the inner door and rushing through.
Grayson leapt across the gap a moment later, and then Kylie was at the edge of the platform.
Winter arrived a second later, gasping for breath. “Damn, girl. You did it.”
Kylie nearly chuckled. It was good to have the crew back together. All of them.
REUNION
STELLAR DATE: 09.23.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Dauntless, departing Krenko, Chiras
REGION: Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Kylie cycled the airlock clo
sed, and disengaged her armor’s helmet, only gagging slightly as the tubes came out of her throat.
She had words that needed to be said to Lana about whatever she had done with the grenade, but when Nadine crushed her in a hug, Kylie knew she was where she needed to be. It was surreal—Nadine was really okay, warm and tender in her arms.
“I knew you’d come,” Nadine’s said, her voice soft as she buried her face into Kylie’s neck. “You’ve never ever let me down.”
Over her shoulder, Kylie watched Grayson turn and push past Winter in the passageway. They had finally done what they had set out to achieve, so now where did that leave them? It would be easier to go their separate ways and continue on the way they had been for the last ten years. Separate and not thinking about each other but Kylie wasn’t sure she could.
Wasn’t sure she wanted that.
Kylie turned to Nadine and asked, “You okay?” as she ran her hands through Nadine’s hair. It shifted from blue to lavender and almost seemed to hum. Well, Nadine seemed happier than Kylie thought she was.
“I’m okay. I was treated, well, like a princess.” Nadine’s eyebrows rose. “I…I didn’t want Jason to die. He was just doing his job.”
Kylie placed a hand on Nadine’s shoulder. “Wasn’t your fault.”
Nadine glanced at where Lana had been standing at the airlock’s entrance; Kylie followed the direction of her gaze to find that Lana was gone. As was Winter. “Was that the girl? The one we set out to find?”
Kylie nodded, beaming “Yes, that was Lana.”
“Lana,” Nadine whispered and her face glowed with happiness. Kylie hadn’t expected that to make Nadine so happy. “So, you did it? You rescued her. I knew you could Kylie.”
“It wasn’t easy, but I did it. Well, we did it. It was rough and dirty, but we pulled through.”
Nadine’s face relaxed into a wide smile. “And now we can bring her to her father and get that letter of marque…. What’s wrong? Why are you making that face?”
“A lot has happened since you were kidnapped,” Kylie sighed. “I guess it’s worn on me, is all. A lot of sacrifices were made.”