by Dorian Dawes
“Madame Inspector.” The voice belonged to a man in a long white coat approaching her, his face filled with terror. “Unidentified vessels approaching the western hemisphere of the planet. We thought you should know.”
“Got visual?”
He handed her his datapad. She flipped through snapshots of thin black aircraft built specifically for hit-and-run tactics. Her brow furrowed and her lip curled. Not them, dammit. Smoke rose from the sides of the screen, and the datapad burned hot in her fingers. She threw it to the ground and stamped it beneath her high-heeled boot.
“Pirates,” she snarled.
“Madame Inspector?” The man in white knelt and immediately stooped to sweep up the bits of shattered datapad.
“Ignore that!” She barked, snapping her fingers in his face. “Only one pirate fleet has the capabilities of transferring a virus through holo-imaging: Captain Ching Shih. Do a full manual restart of all computers on the satellite.”
“I assure you our protections are completely fool-proof. No way a virus could-!”
“Yet it got through to your datapad when you transferred the images,” Madame Inspector glowered. “I’m not about to hand over the most powerful weapon in the galaxy to a gang of hoodlums who got lucky! Is that understood?”
The man nodded, turning three shades paler. “What do you think the pirates want on Archimedes IV?”
“With any luck, to resupply and lay low,” she said, turning her back on him.
“Shall we send an alert to Mr. Snidely and his task force?”
Madame Inspector folded her arms neatly behind her back. “That won’t be necessary. The real threat is up here. Ching Shih’s viruses have crippled entire fleets. All your efforts now will go to ensure the defenses of our network.”
“Yes, Madame Inspector, but why aren’t we warning the task force? I thought the Valran mission was a priority.”
Her shoulders stiffened. “What is your name?”
“Madame Inspector?”
She turned on him, nostrils flaring. “Your name, peon. What is it?”
“J-Jackie,” he stammered, shaking as his mistake became all too clear to him.
“Are you interested in my job, Jackie?” She took a threatening step toward him. “You must think you know better if you’re questioning me.”
It didn’t matter that he was a good foot taller than she was, with broad shoulders and a thick frame. It didn’t matter that she was small and old as dust. Every dainty clack of her heels may as well have been a rumbling earthquake for the way he sweat and trembled.
“Curiosity and nothing more, I swear it!”
She placed a hand delicately against the side of his cheek and smiled coolly, her eyes hungry like a shark’s. “Curiosity is the mark of ambition. See that it doesn’t get you killed, hmm?”
He nodded hurriedly. “Of course, Madame Inspector.”
She patted the side of his face dismissively with a fingernail and waved him off. “Get going. You disgust me.”
TALISHA’S SPRINGY COILS of hair danced behind her head, propelled by the blast of air from the open roof of the scorpion. She had one arm hanging out the side of the vehicle while her eyes scanned the craggy desert vista for potential threats. Conversation had been thankfully minimal. Turned out that aside from professional interests, the mercs had little in common.
Cyrus sat across from her, hat pulled tightly over his brow to keep it from blowing away. He twirled his pistol about his fingers once in a while, displaying a propensity for idle amusement. At other times he would stare with that expressionless face at one of the other occupants of the vehicle. He caused even Bluebird to turn away with an unsettled grimace.
“How’s Rogers?” Talisha called to him.
Cyrus shrugged. “Oh he’s around in there. Prolly asleep.”
“I’m not familiar enough with your working model,” Talisha said. “But I’m not sure multiple operating systems is common.”
“That was Rogers tinkering around with his hardware and programming,” Cyrus said. He tapped the side of his skull for emphasis. “He felt while his consciousness was scrounging around another system, there should be someone in the driver’s seat. That’s where I come in.”
“Sorry if I sound nosy. Just robotics and tech are a pet hobby of mine.”
“Do I fascinate you, ma’am?” Cyrus chuckled.
“Well, you are unique. Never met too many cowboy androids in my line of work.”
“With all due respect, ma’am, I’m likely far from the strangest thing in this here galaxy.”
“Fair enough. Can’t compete with a telepathic jellyfish monster that killed an entire IGF battalion, resurrecting them as mindless slaves.”
Cyrus froze. “Ya gotta be pullin’ my leg there, right?”
Talisha’s brow furrowed. “I still see its hideous, bulbous form in my restless dreams; a writhing nightmare to assault the senses, protected by a hoard of living dead.”
All eyes turned on her and conversation fell silent for a solid minute.
Bluebird chose at that specific moment to begin singing in the language of her motherland. It was an anthem of a sort. They must have been grateful for an end to the silence. They allowed her to reach the third chorus before clamoring for its end.
Nergal rubbed the sides of his temples. “I’ve concocted some terrible tortures in my time, but nothing like that. Big Ugly, you are, indeed, a true sadist. I salute you.”
Bluebird frowned. “On my home planet, we had big vocals for big music.”
Nergal snorted. “You’re Karstotzkiyan. Everything about your people is big. It’s why your people made for such good cannon fodder in the corporate wars.”
Bluebird’s nostrils flared. She took the steering wheel and jerked it hard to the right. The scorpion flew on two wheels for several terrifying seconds, tossing the occupants mercilessly against the sides. She slammed her thick boots against the brakes, bringing the car to a sudden halt, flinging Nergal into her fist. He scrambled to his knees, gasping.
Bluebird smiled at him. “You are a brave and foolish man to speak like that to me.”
Nergal’s hands ran panicked over his visor. He stumbled to the doors of the vehicle. His fingers slipped against the doorknob.
“It was just a punch, don’t be such big baby,” Bluebird said.
“You put a crack in my visor, indigo imbecile!” Nergal shrieked, exploding out of the vehicle. “All of you have to get out of here! This vessel may already be contaminated!”
“Contaminated?” Cyrus chortled. “Sucks to be a meatbag right now.”
Talisha slammed her visor shut. Her armor could identify and purge toxins. Snidely and Bluebird had no such protections. She blasted out the scorpion with her jet pack, snatching them both beneath her arms and setting them down several yards away from the vehicle.
Bluebird slapped Talisha’s back, laughing heartily. “For such a tiny woman, you are strong!”
Snidely adjusted his suit jacket, fingers agitated. “It’s the armor. Imbues the wearer with enhanced strength. Nothing else like it in this universe.”
Cyrus shrugged his shoulders and stood, sighing audibly. “I’ll go ahead and do a scan for any pathogens, I guess.”
Nergal crawled a good distance away from the Scorpion where he could remove his visor and headgear. For the first time, all could see the lurid green discoloration of his skin and the bulging blackness of his veins. Some of his stringy black hair fell about his shoulders in matted knots. There were patches of bald spots along the sides of his head. He looked at the group with narrowed jaundiced eyes before turning away. He shrugged off the pack of equipment on his shoulder and rummaged through it, swearing all the while.
“I saw a rat once, sickly and dying,” Bluebird mused. “We tried to help it, but it bit and clawed the shit out of anyone who came near. That is what Nergal makes me think of.”
“Most of what happened to Dr. Isaac Nergal is classified,” Snidely said in a low voice. �
��As are the two million lives he claimed aboard Space Colony Tychus over the planet Pluribon. Our belief at Plymouth, though, is that it was all a horrible accident.”
Talisha folded her arms over her chest. “He seemed rather proud of those deaths. I was there for the aftermath, Blake. I saw the victims.”
“And what was a famous bounty hunter doing at the site of one of the galaxy’s worst terrorist incidents?” Snidely seemed genuinely curious.
“That’s classified,” she retorted.
Bluebird took the cannon from off her back and shoved it nose-first into the sand so she could lean idly on it. She watched Nergal through narrowed eyes. He replaced his headgear. His shoulders heaved now and again, almost as if he were sobbing.
“There is more to his story,” Bluebird said. “No man deserves what has happened to him.”
Talisha turned toward her. “That’s charitable. He mocked the genocide of your people.”
“And I punched him for it. If he does it again, I will punch him again.”
Talisha raised her eyebrows and gave a faint nod. “Fair.”
Snidely shoved his hands into his pockets. “We have security footage of him attempting to evacuate some scientists off the station. Seems strange if his intent was to kill all of them.”
“So he was framed, and then later started taking credit for the attack as a means of self-preservation.” Talisha’s voice trailed off.
“His fate is a pitiable one,” Snidely said. “Exiled to this planet, quarantined for his condition; it might be necessary to have a reputation as a dangerous individual.”
Cyrus finished scanning the Scorpion. “No sign of any pathogens. Vehicle’s safe.”
Engines roared in the distance. Through the shimmering haze, a cavalcade of armored jeeps could be seen hopping over the dunes and crags, coming toward them. Some had rust-colored flags streaming high overhead while the vehicle’s occupants stood in their seats, rifles pointed at the sky as they screamed.
Nergal stood, a scowl forming on his face, fingers twitching. He reached into his apparatus and retrieved a long-barreled gun attached to a silver tube. He marched toward the approaching horde with seemingly no respect for his well-being.
“Bandits,” Cyrus said, letting out a low chuckle. “Rogers had some fun earlier. Now let’s show you hooligans what I can do.”
The android tossed away the knitted poncho. Multi-barrel rocket launchers sprouted from his shoulders with a mechanical whir. He whooped and hollered, firing upon the approaching vehicles. The rocket left a spiraling trail of smoke in its wake, exploding into the first jeep in a massive ball of fire.
“He’s an absolute fool,” Talisha whispered. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. “Nergal’s still out there! Cool it with the explosions!”
Cyrus only laughed in response.
“And this is why I work alone,” Talisha growled quietly.
The bandit cavalcade split formation—six jeeps to the left, and six to the right. Black shadows appeared overhead as two flying vehicles with long-barreled guns descended upon them. Cyrus had just enough time to swear loudly before ducking to avoid a hail of bullets.
“They’ve got wyverns, dammit!” he roared. “Where did these scoundrels get wyverns?”
Bluebird activated her barrier. She pounded against her chest once with her fist and the barrier’s size expanded, wrapping both her and her companions in its protective semitranslucent bubble. Snidely cowered behind her while bullets battered against them.
Wyverns had been built and commissioned by the IGF military forces as tactical ground-and-air vehicles constructed for powerful strike assaults. How bandits on a backwater planet got hold of them was anyone’s guess. Talisha made a note to focus on that later. For now, she needed a game plan.
She turned to Snidely and Bluebird. “I can keep the wyverns occupied. Big Blue, if I get them to land, can you finish the job? Cyrus’s rockets aren’t going to do us any good against their armor.”
“Wh-what about me?” Snidely grabbed onto her arm. “Who’s going to protect me?”
Talisha shoved him aside. “Protect yourself. We have a job to do.”
“Barrier this size won’t hold long,” Bluebird said, raising her cannon high. “A direct blast will have limited range but should obliterate them. Hurry. Bring them close.”
Talisha nodded and flew off. The wyverns circled around, focusing her with both guns. She was well within her element, deftly maneuvering out the way of their shots. The wyverns were made to be a hybrid of speed and power, but their bulky armor left her with the advantage.
The cavalcade circled around the scorpion. The barrier fizzled with each hit. From what Talisha knew about Ingle military tactics, those defensive barriers wouldn’t last much longer under such heavy focus-fire. She’d have to hurry.
“Shoot them!” Snidely cried out to Bluebird.
Bluebird rolled her eyes. “Ethel and the barrier use the same plasma-energy packs. If you’d like to get shot at, be my guest.”
Snidely turned his eyes on the scorpion. “Can you get me to the car?”
“Why?” She looked down at him with a befuddled expression. “What do you have planned?”
“The turrets! Put your barrier around the turrets!”
Bluebird smiled and hoisted him to her shoulders with a meaty hand. “You’ve grown a spine, company man! I like it!”
Talisha flew low, firing more blasts at the left wing of the first wyvern. Her arm cannon was capable of delivering small rapid blasts, or charging up for larger, more devastating shots. Aiming a big blast like that while dodging for her life would be tricky. She had to be controlled, to lead her shots.
The wyverns circled back around to strafe her, several bullets ricocheting off her armor and nearly knocking her off balance. Talisha winced. The armor could protect her from mistakes like that, but a full volley could damage her systems and send her crashing toward the earth. She screamed and sent a fully-charged blast as one of the wyverns came shrieking around to her front. The powerful orb of yellow light seared through its left wing with a loud crackle, sending the wyvern spiraling to the ground. It unfurled its legs, shakily orienting itself before turning its guns back to the sky.
“Big Blue! Now’s your chance!” Talisha called out.
Bluebird hoisted Snidely into the turret and climbed after him. She laughed, watching the wyvern swivel its guns around to march after them. Her brows narrowed as she retrieved the cannon from her shoulders and swung its barrel in the direction of the rampaging vehicle.
“Dasvidanya,” she whispered.
A searing sapphire ray blasted into the wyvern. The beam grew in intensity the longer it remained on target, pulsing and humming with every second. Screams inside the cockpit could be heard as the beam pierced its hull and melted the flesh of the pilots within.
The barrier around the turrets flickered. That shot drained it of all its energy. She turned to Snidely and patted him squarely on the shoulder, a light-hearted gesture that nearly knocked the tiny man over.
“It is all you now, company man. Knock ’em dead!”
He gripped both sides of the turret guns and swung them to face the nearest armored jeep. He roared and unloaded into the front engines of the vehicle. The occupants leapt from the vehicle in a panic as it careened into a ravine, where it exploded in a rush of flames.
With the pressure of the first wyvern down, Cyrus stood once more. Rockets shot out from his shoulders, homing in on several targets. Some of the bandits swung around, faster and more reckless than their compatriots, charging straight for the lone scorpion. Cyrus’s rockets exploded behind them as they swerved, snaking patterns in the dust.
A shirtless woman with breasts sagging down to her navel scrambled to the front seat of the armored jeep. She unfurled a pole attached to a thick-headed spear spiked with flashing lights wrapped around the tip. Bluebird dove into the front seat of the Scorpion and threw it into first gear. Her foot slammed agai
nst the gas. The scorpion barely scraped along the spear’s edge. Snidely had to grab onto the edge of the turret’s guns to keep from getting thrown off.
“Are ya tryin’ to kill us, woman?” Cyrus hollered.
“Bombs attached to those spears,” Bluebird explained. “Typical bandit tactic.”
The wyvern turned its attentions away from Talisha and darted toward the Scorpion, firing as it passed overhead. Several bullets pierced the hull. Blood dripped down Bluebird’s chest and soaked the seat beneath her. She’d been hit. Repeatedly.
“Stop staring before I give you a black eye,” she spat at Cyrus and Snidely.
Cyrus nodded and turned back to the convoy. He fired two more rockets. One missed, the other caught the back end of the cavalcade, sending two shirtless bandits into several gory pieces and heavily damaging the rear end of the vehicle.
Out in the desert, Nergal cackled. Talisha watched him march toward the convoy. Whatever he’d been working on down there was finally ready. He retrieved a hose and nozzle from the apparatus on his back, and, with eyes wide and manic, unleashed a forty-foot cone of emerald flames, engulfing one of the jeeps completely. The occupants dove into the dirt, rolling along the ground, flailing in horror. Some could only stare at their own exposed bones and scream.
“I’d call that a successful first test.” He chuckled.
Bluebird pulled the scorpion to a halt, swerving in the dust. She stared, breathing heavily, fingers clenched tightly about the steering wheel. “Ma’am? What are you doing?” Cyrus looked down at her, a tinge of uncharacteristic concern creeping into his robotic twang.
“Sit down, metal-man,” she said through tightly gritted teeth. “They shot my favorite boob. They must pay.”
Bluebird shifted gears and slammed on the gas. Snidely whirled the turrets to face forward. His mouth hung open as Bluebird’s plan dawned on him.
“Oh my god,” he whispered, then screamed. “You’re going to get us killed!”
Bluebird said nothing. Her face filled with fury and determination, each scar only making her scowl that much more intimidating. With a powerful roar she slammed the scorpion directly into the armored jeep. The veins on the side of her neck bulged as she leapt from the driver’s seat and into the bandit vehicle. They barely had a chance to fire on her before she was grabbing them by the throat and slamming their heads bloody into the floor, hurling them around and bending their rifles into unusable pretzels with her bare hands.