The Crosioian scout’s battle armor stopped the phase rod. However, before the phase rod bounced off, its subatomic explosions shattered the scout’s knee. The scout fell to the ground withering in agony. Richard didn’t give her time to recover. He aimed a hard blow at her head. Again, the scout’s battle armor stopped the physical effects of the blow, but the subatomic phase energy penetrated to the scout’s brain. Richard sensed a scrambled mess inside the scout’s skull. Her pain-filled screeches stopped. After a couple of final twitches, she lay still. Richard continued hitting the scout until he sensed her selfheal ability stop trying to heal the damage.
Grabbing the scout’s hand blaster, Richard turned and ran towards the second group of attackers located at the ten o’clock position. Stella was already there engaging the two Crosioian scouts. He didn’t know how she’d closed the distance, but there she was swinging wildly with her two phase rods trying to block the blows of the attacking scouts. At the same time, Stella was firing a solid stream of plasma rounds at the second magic user in an attempt to keep her on the defense.
Your friend is going to run out of ammo if she doesn’t slow down her rate of fire, said Nickelo.
As if to confirm his battle computer’s comment, Richard noticed Stella stop firing the assault rifle. He saw her throw the M12 to the side as she drew her other two phase rods. Switching from defense to offense, Stella started swinging all four phase rods in a windmill motion at the two scouts. They were no slouches as fighters themselves. The two scouts immediately separated in order to attack Stella from two directions at once.
At that moment, Richard sensed the magic user beginning a spell. Since Stella was no longer firing at her, the magic user was apparently going on the offensive.
Richard heard the sounds of sirens and alarms bells in the distance. Help would soon be arriving, but Richard had a feeling they might not be in time to help either Stella or him. All he could do was try to deal with the attackers as best he could and see what happened.
Firing the hand blaster as fast as he could pull the trigger, Richard ran straight at the magic user while screaming a war cry through his battle helmet’s external speakers. He set the speakers at max volume. At the same time, he directed an active scan at the magic user’s Power link. He looked for a weak spot, but he didn’t find any. However, his actions did succeed in drawing the attention of the magic user away from Stella. The magic user released her spell at Richard instead of at his friend.
The spell was one he’d helped the elf Shandria rewrite years ago. It was a lightning bolt. Based upon the size of the energy, Richard sensed it was going to be a big one.
I calculate your defensive shield only has a twenty-two percent probability of stopping the spell, said Nickelo.
Richard didn’t waste any of his remaining energy trying to form a defensive shield. He trusted his battle computer’s calculations. Instead, Richard gathered all the remaining Power in his reserve and sent it as a single blast of energy at the approaching spell. The two sets of energy collided twenty meters from Richard. When they met, the two sets of energy exploded in a blinding flash of thunder and lightning.
Richard was knocked back by the force. The battle suit easily absorbed the blast as well as the subsequent shock of hitting the ground. Rising quickly, Richard ran towards the magic user.
The magic user was also in the process of rising from the ground. She was noticeably groggy. Without armor, she hadn’t fared as well as he in the blast. Richard propelled himself forward with his legs as he dove for the partially-dazed female. When he made contact with his shoulders, he wrapped his right arm around her head and twisted. The sound of snapping bones came through his battle suit’s sound amplifiers. As soon as he hit the ground, Richard released his hold on the limp magic user.
You’re out of Power, Rick, said Nickelo.
Can’t be helped, Richard said.
A burst of plasma rounds came in his direction from the ambushers at the eleven o’clock position. The ground erupted in small geysers around him. Richard crawled behind the dead magic user for cover. He imagined his M63 assault rifle as he reached under the flap of his dimensional pack. The pack was empty.
Hey! Richard thought.
You’re out of Power, Rick, said Nickelo. Your M63’s a freebie, but you still need a drop of Power to energize your dimensional pack. Give it a minute or two for your natural recharging to take effect.
I’m not sure I have fifteen seconds much less a minute, Nick, Richard thought back.
Hugging the ground as tight as he could, Richard mentally cursed whatever being had given him a Power reserve that consistently proved to be too small.
Several plasma rounds hit the magic user’s body. The body shook as the plasma rounds passed through. They hit Richard, but enough energy had been absorbed by the dead body that the rounds didn’t penetrate the armor of his battle suit. However, the magic user’s body was too small to completely conceal Richard in his battle suit. One plasma round hit his right leg at an angle. The plasma energy glanced off the leg armor. A second round hit the back of Richard’s shoulder at a more direct angle. This time the plasma round penetrated the armor of his battle suit. The plasma round grazed the back of his right shoulder. Richard heard the sound of rushing air as his battle suit unsealed. The tubes in his nose, mouth, and other body openings retracted.
You can’t say here, Rick, said Nickelo. I calculate a seventy-six percent chance you’ll be dead in five seconds if you remain stationary.
Fine, Richard thought as he jumped to his feet.
Another plasma round grazed his left side leaving a blackened grove in his battle armor. Thankfully, the round didn’t penetrate.
Richard sensed the two Crosioian scouts from the eleven o’clock ambush point heading in his direction. They were firing as they came. He also sensed a buildup of Power from the magic user at the eleven o’clock position as the magic user prepared a spell. Richard didn’t recognize the spell’s signature, but he doubted it would be beneficial to him.
You don’t have a defensive shield, said Nickelo. You’ve got to find a safe spot.
Richard didn’t bother replying. He noticed his battle computer was not making any suggestions. That meant Nickelo was unable to come up with any logical suggestions with a probability of success greater than five percent.
To hell with logic, Richard thought as he started running back towards the two Crosioian scouts currently in close combat with Stella.
What’re you doing? said Nickelo.
They’re the closest thing to cover I’ve got, Richard said. I’m hoping the cavalry arrives before Stella and I get overwhelmed.
As Richard drew close, the nearest scout stopped fighting Stella and turned to face him. On the bright side, Richard noticed the two scouts from the eleven o’clock position had stopped firing at him.
The scout that turned to face Richard swung her phase spear at him. At the same time, she fired her hand blaster at Richard’s belly.
Nick, Richard thought as he tried to turn his body into a human pretzel in an attempt to avoid the dual attack.
Richard felt his battle suit twist in a manner violent enough to break his right arm. He bit off a scream of pain, but he was unable to hold onto his hand blaster. It dropped to the ground. Richard opted not to complain, because neither the scout’s phase spear nor her blaster’s plasma rounds had made contact with him.
Although in pain, Richard came out of his roll taking a kick at the scout’s leg. The Crosioian scout avoided his kick and brought her phase spear down in an attempt to skewer his belly. Richard knocked the point of the phase spear to the side with his phase rod.
Richard sensed a line of Power from the scout heading towards his chest. He had no doubt the scout was going to use her telekinesis to stop his heart.
Move, Rick, said Nickelo.
Adrenaline kicked in, and Richard moved. Ignoring the obvious risk, Richard threw his phase rod directly at the Crosioian scout’s chest. She e
asily knocked aside the phase rod with her phase spear. However, her concentration had been diverted enough to make her drop her line of Power. Richard delivered a jumping side kick to the scout’s chest. She tried to bring her phase spear back in time to block his kick, but she was a split-second too slow. Richard’s kick caught her in the breastbone and sent her flying backwards.
Power, Rick, said Nickelo.
Richard sensed the tiniest drop of Power in his reserve as its natural recharging took place. The amount of Power was too small to be useful for either offense or defense, but Richard hoped it was enough to levitate something light. Reaching out with his mind, he wrapped his phase rod with a thin coating of Power and pulled it back into his waiting left hand. At the same time he was retrieving his phase rod, Richard allowed the momentum of his kick to send him on top of the falling scout. Richard felt the scout reach out towards his chest with another line of Power.
Richard was determined not give the scout a chance to rip his heart out. He brought his phase rod down on the scout’s head. The armor of the scout’s battle helmet would probably have deflected a normal phase rod, but it was no match for the demon-enhanced version Richard now carried. The top of the scout’s helmet cracked at the first blow. Richard followed up the first blow with three more in quick succession. With each blow, Richard felt the demon essence in his phase rod sucking life force from the scout. The orange dot denoting the scout on Richard’s heads-up display disappeared. He gave the scout three more hits to make sure she stayed dead.
The demon essence in your phase rod sucked the life force out of the scout, said Nickelo. You could have stopped hitting when I made her dot disappear from your heads-up display.
Without a living Crosioian scout for cover, the two approaching scouts started firing at Richard again. He dove for the far side of the dead scout. Before he made it to the cover afforded by her armored body, three plasma rounds hit his left leg. Two rounds glanced off the tough armor, but the third penetrated shattering Richard’s ankle.
“Argh,” Richard groaned.
Although he was in pain, Richard made it behind the dead scout without taking more damage. He knew he only had seconds before the approaching scouts had him in their sights. From his heads-up display, Richard could see they were already fanning out to get him in a crossfire.
The last two Crosioian scouts from the twelve o’clock position are also on their way, said Nickelo.
Richard didn’t bother looking at his heads-up display to confirm his battle suits observation. He trusted Nickelo’s analysis of the battlefield better than he trusted his own. Richard glanced to the rear to verify Stella was still fighting her scout. She was. Stella and the other scout were moving around each other swinging their phase weapons so fast Richard doubted the other scouts could get a clear shot at his friend.
That’s the only thing saving her life, said Nickelo. Those other scouts would be firing at her if she were in the clear. The magic users would be too for that matter.
Richard spotted the dead scout’s hand blaster where she’d dropped it. The weapon was within arm’s reach.
Nick, Richard said. My right arm’s broke. Can you fire the blaster if I pick out targets?
Nickelo gave a crazy sounding laugh. I can fire the blaster even if you don’t pick out targets.
As if to prove his point, the right arm of Richard’s battle suit reached out and grabbed the hand blaster. A white-hot flash of pain shot up Richard’s right arm with the movement. Richard gave another groan, but the movement continued. His battle computer wasn’t about to let a little pain to his wizard scout prevent him from completing his mission.
Once Richard felt the hand blaster firmly in the battle suit’s grip, he scooted over to look around the end of the dead scout’s body. As soon as he spotted one of the approaching scouts, the right glove of his battle suit began firing the blaster.
Nickelo’s aim was perfect, but the rounds glanced off the scout’s defensive shield. The battle suit’s finger kept pulling the trigger of the hand blaster anyway. Richard could only hope for the best.
Suddenly, Richard sensed a lifeform underground. The approaching scouts must have sensed the lifeform as well. They stopped running and took up defensive positions back to back. The scouts began firing furiously at the ground beneath their feet.
Tika! Richard mentally yelled.
Without thinking it through, Richard jumped to his feet and began half-running, half-stumbling towards the two scouts. He ignored the pain from his shattered ankle as much as possible. If it weren’t for his battle suit, Richard knew he wouldn’t have been able to stand much less run. But the assistors in the battle suit’s leg hadn’t been damaged by the plasma rounds. The assistor’s strength more than made up for the weakness of Richard’s ankle.
Richard turned his scream of pain into a war cry once again. He yelled his cry through his external speakers using max volume. Between his yell and Nickelo’s continued firing of the hand blaster, one of the scout’s was concerned enough she turned her attention back towards Richard. A line of plasma rounds began kicking up geysers of dirt as the scout raised her weapon in Richard’s direction.
Before the line of plasma rounds made it to Richard, the life energy Richard sensed under the ground split into two parts. One part remained under the scout who was still firing at the ground. The other part of the life energy popped up out of the ground near the feet of the scout who was trying to bring her weapon to bear on Richard.
Richard caught a flash of fur lighter in color than Tika’s. He knew the frequency of the lifeform. It was Tika’s sister, Snowy. Even through the red tint of his night vision filter, Richard recognized her white-furred head.
The relatively docile Snowy sank her teeth into the leg of the scout. Both the scout and Snowy shimmered as they were shifted into the void. The scout began screeching pitifully as she was pulled under the ground by Snowy. The scout’s companion tried to shift her fire at Snowy, but all she succeeded in doing was to send plasma rounds through the shimmering image of her fellow scout. With a final ear-shattering screech, the scout in Snowy’s jaws disappeared beneath the ground.
The scout would have done better using her phase spear, observed Nickelo. Plasma energy can’t hurt something in the void.
Richard dove at the remaining scout and hit her with a full-body block. They both hit the ground rolling. As he rolled, Richard sensed the other two scouts getting closer. He also sensed the two remaining magic users combining their Power into a ball of energy. When they released their spell, Richard was surprised to sense it heading in the opposite direction from him.
Using his heads-up display, Richard followed the track of the spell. It was heading directly towards an approaching set of ten lifeforms located three hundred meters away and fifty meters off the ground.
It’s a security shuttle, said Nickelo. They must be responding to the disturbance.
Helpless to intervene, all Richard could do was watch as the spell sped towards the white dot Nickelo had plotted on his heads-up display for the security shuttle. When the spell made contact with the white dot, Richard head a series of explosions through his helmet’s sound amplifiers. The white dot disappeared.
They’re going to pay for that, Richard thought as he stopped rolling on the ground.
Richard started scrambling on his hands and knees towards the scout he’d tackled. She was rising to her feet. Richard noticed the plasma rifle she’d been carrying had been knocked out of her hands. Instead of attempting to pick the rifle back up, the scout sent a line of Power at Richard’s chest.
Before it reached Richard, a 20mm round hit the scout’s defensive shield. At the same time, a line of Power from Richard’s rear reached past him and knocked the scout’s line of Power aside. Richard recognized Stella’s Power frequency.
A look at his heads-up display confirmed Stella was moving in his direction. The orange dot she’d been fighting was gone.
Richard continued his half-crawl, ha
lf-lunge at the scout. She swung her phase spear at his head. Richard knocked it to the side with his phase rod. As he did, Stella jumped past him while swinging her phase rods in a blur of color. Each phase rod made contact with the Crosioian scout in sequence. Stella kept swing until her phase rods had each hit the scout multiple times. The Crosioian scout’s battle armor cracked open revealing her battered bat-body inside. Richard swung his phase rod at the scout’s body as well. He felt the phase rod’s demon essence feeding off the scout’s remaining life force. The orange dot representing the scout on Richard’s heads-up display disappeared.
Richard immediately shifted his attention to the remaining scouts and magic users. He’d fully expected the Crosioian scouts to be on them already, but they weren’t. Surprisingly, they were making their way back to the two magic users.
Why? Richard thought.
They must have seen their companion pulled underground, replied Nickelo. They can sense Tika and Snowy roaming around below them as easily as you. If they link back up with those two magic users, I calculate an eighty-six percent chance they can hold off the dolgars.
“We’ve gotta stop them, Stella,” Richard said.
“I know,” said Stella. “Leg hurt.”
Richard assumed she was talking about his leg. However, when he looked at her, he noticed a large gash along the length of her thigh. A bright liquid was seeping out.
“You’re hurt,” Richard said. “I’ll heal you.”
“No time,” said Stella as she grabbed Richard and pulled him to his feet.
Stella pointed at the two retreating scouts. “We catch. We kill.”
Richard noticed the scouts retreat was being slowed by the harassing dolgars. The scouts had to keep stopping to stab at the ground with their phase spears each time the dolgars feinted an attack.
“Okay,” Richard said. “But I’m out of Power. You’ll have to handle shielding for both of us.”
Wizard Scout (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 3) Page 37