Our group moved forward until we reached the elevator room. The drone really had poured a large bucket of murder on all of the Lith Dae marines, and the only things proof of their existence were their guns, bloody scraps of armor, the undamaged knight-drone, and the armored personnel carrier. Yegor and his guards had armed themselves with the better rifles the Lith Dae marines down below had used, but they quickly found the plasma rifles and rocket launchers their comrades on this floor once carried.
“They didn’t even get a chance to blow up the car,” Kasta said when she pointed to our beat-up vehicle.
“We’ll take the APC,” I said as I walked toward the vehicle. It looked like a good unit. It had meter tall double all-terrain wheels at the front and a set of three double wheels at the back. It was a dark blue color, with bulky armored plates on the sides, roof, and front. The engine compartment was large, but I doubted it was an internal combustion system.
“I made a mess in the back,” Paula said as I walked around to the open hatch in the rear. Sure enough, the pilot’s chest was more liquid than solid, and most of his guts were sticking to the inside of the carrier. There wasn’t any electrical equipment inside so I figured we could spray it all down with a hose to clean it.
“Can either of you get it working?” I asked.
“I will,” said Kasta with a sly smile, “but you have to do me a favor.”
“Uh oh,” Paula groaned.
“Ha! I just want you to get the other drone control off the puddle of guts in the back of the vehicle.” Kasta pointed at the other drone. “This one will be mine.”
“You got it,” I said, and I stepped into the back of the APC to get at the drone controls on the body.
The next five minutes were us preparing our equipment for the trip back to the top floor of the bunker. Kasta got the APC started. She told me it was a “micro-ionic reactor” power plant attached to eight-wheel engines. I told her it sounded impressive, and she confirmed that it was.
Then Kasta put on the drone control, and the sisters moved both of their knight robots onto the lift next to the APC. I got into the driver’s seat, Yegor and his men moved into the rear of the carrier, and my friends sat next to me in the driver’s compartment after Kasta hit the control to bring up the lift.
Then we were moving up to the top of the bunker.
“I hope Zea and Eve are okay,” Paula said after the lift had moved for a half a minute.
“Me too,” Kasta added.
“I’m sure they are fine,” I said. Even though I held the same fear in my stomach. We were still a few minutes away from being able to talk to them. “We’ll drive this truck to the government center and get Eve, then we’ll get to a spot where Zea can pick us up.”
“I thought we were going to head to the temple?” Kasta asked.
“I’ve got a better idea.”
“Oh?” Paula asked.
“Yeah. If Lith Dae’s communication system is still down, I think we can beat them. Not with just the five of us, but now we’ve got Yegor and his crew.” I gestured with my thumb to the back of the carrier. “We can put everyone on a cannon. We can hyper drive next to them, hit them hard and fast, and then get away before they can organize a retaliation.”
“It sounds ballsy,” Paula said.
“I like it!” Kasta said.
“Depends on what is going on. We don’t know what is waiting for us on the top floor of the bunker, or where Zea is at.” The twins nodded after I finished speaking, and we waited for a few more agonizing minutes.
“You should be able to get to them now,” Kasta said.
“Zea, can you hear me?” I asked into the transponder, but there was only silence.
“Zea?” I asked again. My stomach felt cold, and the beast growled in my mind.
“-tain?” I heard the hacker’s voice come through, and the three of us let out a grateful sigh.
“We are in the lift heading up to the top floor of the bunker. Drones have been re-programmed. What is your status?” I asked.
“...Dae… me… I moved Persephone… get… Eve…”
“Shit, you are breaking up,” I growled.
“... Meet us?” It was Eve’s voice, and although I didn’t know exactly what she had said, hearing both of their voices did soothe my fears. They were both okay, and we could figure out the rest as long as all of us were alive.
“Zea and Eve, repeat what you just said. You were breaking up.” I raised my voice a bit as I spoke into the transponder. As if the power of my growling words would somehow make the device work better.
“I’m about to pick Eve up!” Zea shouted.
“I can hear you,” I replied.
“Thank the stars. Did you fix the drones? They started circling around the city, so I guessed that the code was changed.”
“Yeah. We did it,” I said.
“Are you in your kitty-cat form? You sound all growly.”
“I am. We had to deal with the Lith Dae marines. What is the status of their ships?”
“They started to fly toward me, so I moved to the other side of the planet. I thought they might follow me, but they haven’t. Eve is driving north toward you. I found a spot I can land and then get out real quick. I’ll send you the location.”
“Great,” I said. “We still might have a few more Lith Dae marines to deal with. Did they fly their shuttle into the bunker?” I asked.
“No. It landed at the entrance, and then a big ass armored van rolled out of the rear hatch. Then two mean-looking drones walked out. I tried to tell you all, but we lost connection by then. The shuttle lifted off right after and returned to their ships.”
“That’s good news,” Paula said. “There probably won’t be anyone up top.”
“Awwww. I wanted to use my new toy,” Kasta groaned.
“New toy?” Zea asked.
“We have those two drones, and their APC,” I said.
“Yes! Awesome! How did you pull that one off?” Zea asked.
“Adam turned into a tiger-man and killed everyone,” Kasta answered.
“Yeah, he does that. Do you need me to pick you up? I thought the plan was to go right to the creepy-alien-black-temple-o’-death?”
“That was the plan, but I was just telling Paula and Kasta that I have another idea. Has Lith Dae tried to contact you? Do you think their systems are still down?” I asked.
“They haven’t tried to contact me. I’m confident their communications are still down. What’s the plan?”
“You are going to pick us up, and then we are going to hit them. We aren’t going to be able to explore the temple with Lith Dae at our back,” I explained.
“Uhh. You didn’t want to fight them at first. They have too many ships, and we don’t have enough people.”
“There are refugees in the bunker. We’ve got enough of them to man all of Persephone’s cannons. As soon as you land, and we drive on board, Captain Renalta is going to know what is going on, so we’ll need to act fast.”
“Alright. I’ll try and time my landing so we only have a small window.”
“I am glad there are people safe in the bunker,” Eve said.
“Yeah, we are glad as well,” I agreed. “They seem like good people. They are in touch with the other north bunker, and they have a way of communicating with the ones in the other cities across the planet. They didn’t want to send a message in case Lith Dae might hear.”
“They can send it now. The ships up in orbit are still deaf. Captain, I think your plan is fucking crazy, but hitting them now, before they fix my code, will give us the best chance.” Zea let out a laugh, and then I heard her sigh.
“Kasta, can you tell Yegor and his crew what our plans are? Does he have a way to communicate with Alava and let her know she can send a message to the other cities?”
“Yes, and yes,” the android smiled and then she started speaking into her transponder. I heard Yegor grunt in agreement, and then he said a few sentences.
“He will let Alava know, and he is looking forward to fighting beside us on our ship.”
“Goooood,” I growled. I’d only been in my shifted form for about ten minutes, but my words were starting to slur together. “How far away is the rendezvous point?” I asked.
“I don’t know how fast this APC moves, but it will take less than five minutes by the car,” Zea said. “How long have you been a tiger-man?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“We’ll reach the top soon,” Kasta said. Then the elevator started to slow its ascent.
“Kay and Arthur probably can’t keep up with the APC,” Paula said.
“I have an idea,” Kasta said. “We still have two cars up top. We can pop the hatches, and then the drones can sit in them while I drive the cars. It will be completely ridiculous looking, and probably ruin the cars, but it will get them onto Persephone quicker.
“It’s a great idea. I like it,” I said to the android, and it almost looked like she blushed a bit.
“Thanks. I’m moving the cars next to the spot where the lift will stop. I don’t see any Lith Dae marines up there, so you should be able to get out of the APC and open up the hatches without getting hurt. We’ll be there in five seconds.”
“I’ll get out now,” I said as I opened the door. Then I walked to the lip of the elevator with the two knight-drones. We stopped shortly after and I quickly opened the two hatches. Then I returned to the APC driver seat and watched the drones sit inside of the egg shaped cars. Their position made them look like they were relaxing on a bean bag, and the suspension of the cars seemed to be struggling with the weight of the robots.
“They are good,” Kasta said, and then the cars rolled around and drove out of the bunker.
“Here we go,” I said, and then I threw the control shaft of the truck into its forward position and pushed my boot down on the accelerator pedal. The APC jumped forward with a surprising amount of torque, and I quickly caught up to the robot carrying cars.
Then we were out of the bunker and rolling down the empty city streets.
“We’ll be there in five minutes and twenty seconds at this speed,” Kasta said.
“Can the cars go any faster?” I asked. “This APC has plenty more power.”
“I can try to squeeze a bit more out of them, but--”
“I see something behind us!” Paula shouted, and I turned my eyes to the side mirror. It was still night time, and the sky was dark, but I could see a slightly less dark large dot in the air. It looked too big to be a bird-drone, and it was painted a dark color instead of the raw silvery metal of the needle-faced drones.
“Uhhh, Zea, what is that?” I asked as the dot started to get closer.
“Shit. I don’t know. I darted to the other side of Uraniel. I don’t have scanners on them. They could have sent a shuttle or fighter down.”
“That’s what it looks like,” I said. “Kasta, how far away do you think it is?”
“Twenty kilometers, but closing fast,” she answered.
“Will we make it to the--”
“Nope,” she said as she shook her head.
“I’ll try and fly past you all in low orbit and shoot it down,” Zea said.
“It’s shooting something!” Paula shouted.
“Take the next right!” I stomped on the brake pedal and twisted the steering wheel clockwise. The rear tires of the APC broke free of the street for half a moment, but then the independent motors adjusted their torque, and I make the sharp turn without too much of a fishtail. The cars carrying the knight-drones weren’t quite as agile, and they both screeched across the road, bounced off the side of a building, and then fell behind us.
Then the street corner burned like a small sun.
“Shit!” the twins and I screamed as the buildings and road flared with light. We were out of the explosion radius, but chunks of burning asphalt landed in the street in front of us.
“That was one hell of an explosion,” Paula gasped.
“How are the cars with the drones?” I said as I turned the APC back to the left so that we were heading back toward the rendezvous point.
“Steering is a bit fucked, but they will be okay,” Kasta replied.
“Zea?” I asked.
“I’m just about in the atmosphere. I see it on Persephone's scanners. You need to stay alive for another minute. I can’t launch a drone and pilot at the same time, so I have to use the main cannons or lasers.”
“We’ll try,” I said as I peered into my side mirror again. I couldn’t see the enemy craft, but the road here was a bit narrower, and it could have been concealed behind one of the many gray buildings.
“There! It’s on our seven!” Paula shouted, and I leaned my head a bit to the right so I could get a view of my blind spot. Sure enough, the enemy fighter was more than a small dot now, and I saw it twist through the air toward us.
Then I saw the silhouette flash three times.
“Left!” I screamed as slammed on the brakes and yanked the wheel counterclockwise. The APC’s massive tires screeched again as the armored carrier drifted across the street. I felt the back end pop over one of the curbs before the wheels caught traction, and then I yanked the wheels back around to point us straight again.
The building at the corner where I turned exploded as if someone had hit it with a wrecking ball with eighty grenades strapped to it. Fire poured across the dark sky, rubble rained down upon us, and the building broke apart as if it was made out of a child’s gray blocks.
“Zea!” I shouted as I pushed my foot down on the accelerator all the way. I shot past the cars carrying the drones, but I didn’t care. We couldn’t use the robots if we were dead, and the fighter craft chasing us was only going to get more accurate the closer it got to us.
“I’m trying!” the hacker shouted back.
Then the building ahead of us on the right side erupted like a volcano and started to tumble over sideways into our path.
“Shiiiiiitttttt!” I growled as I slammed on the brakes. The APC had a meaty brake system, so it slowed much faster than I expected. Fortunately, Paula and Kasta wore their seatbelts, so they weren’t thrown forward. Unfortunately, I heard a bunch of impacts against the cab behind me. Yegor and his crew had probably neglected to strap themselves in.
“I’m here!” Zea shouted, and I saw Persephone streak through the air ahead of us like an avenging bird of prey. She banked left, lifted up a bit, and then a salvo of red colored plasma bolts flew out of her shoulders.
“Get that fucker, Zea!” Kasta shouted.
“Trying!” the hacker shouted, and I flung the APC into reverse so I could back away from the wreckage on the street in front of me.
“I’m going to try to pull ar--” I started to say, but there was a flash of bright light reflected in the window, and I tilted my head to look in my side mirror.
“Got him!” Zea cheered, and the other three women let out cries of delight.
“Great job!” I said as I threw the APC back into forward gear and angled around to another street that would take me north.
“Bastard didn’t stand a chance!” Zea chuckled, and I saw the black star ship block out the stars overhead. She had her low flying lights blinking around the edges of her shape, and she looked like a dark angel.
“Damn, that’s a beautiful siggggght,” I growled.
“I’m gonna land at the spot. Hurry up,” Zea said.
“I am already there,” Eve noted.
“We’ll be there soon,” I replied as I steered onto the main avenue. Then I stomped the accelerator and chased Persephone's descent.
Chapter 21
Persephone's bay doors were opened, and I wasted no time driving our newly acquired APC up the ramp. I had a half minute of time on the cars with the drones, but they rolled into the hold only moments after I picked Eve up in my arms.
“I missed you,” she whispered as she smoothed my whiskers aside with her hands.
“Same,” I said. I thoug
ht about kissing her, but I was still in my shifted form, and the idea seemed kind of strange. I set her down instead, and the vampire woman jogged over to greet Kasta and Paula.
“We good?” Zea asked over the transponder.
“Yeah. Let’s take to the sky,” I called out, and Persephone lifted off the ground a few seconds later.
I walked to the hatch of the APC and opened the double doors. Yegor and his crew were sitting back there, and they were all strapped into their seats. Two of the men had bloody welts on their heads, but they didn’t show any sign of pain on their faces.
“Sorry about the rough ride,” I said even though I knew they didn’t understand me. The group did nod at my words, and I gestured for them to exit the carrier.
“Zea, we are heading up to the brrrrridge,” I growled across the transponder.
“Alright, make sure you lock down that big ass truck, the three cars, and the new robots. They will cause all sorts of damage if we get in a dog fight.”
“I’ll do it,” Kasta said.
“I need you to help me translate. Paula, can you handle it?” I asked.
“Sure thing, Captain,” the engineer said, and the rest of us jogged through the hold and into the elevator. It was a tight fit inside, but we all managed to fit.
These are good men and women. They are grateful that you have saved them, and they want to help us defeat Lith Dae. Yegor in particular, thinks you are a manifestation of Dazhbog, the god of sun and lover of the Zora sisters. They are the goddesses of the morning and the evening. Now that he has seen me and our ship, he is even further convinced.
I let out a small sigh and then shot the bearded man a glance. His eyes were already on me, and he gave me a respectful bow of his head.
“Kasta, you are going to have to give them a quick and dirrrrty education about using the cannonssss,” I hissed.
“Looking forward to it,” the blonde android said, and then she began speaking to the group. There were seven of them counting Yegor, and it meant that we would still have an open gunner seat for Paula, Kasta, and I.
The doors of the elevator opened, and we poured out into the bridge. It hadn’t seemed like Kasta said a lot of words to Yegor’s people, but they all knew exactly where to go, and they immediately sat in the gunner’s chairs closest to the bridge elevator. The android began shouting orders, and the group gazed down at their controls and found places to put their hands.
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