That was when Khai entered the fight. Being a skilled marksman, he took a deep, calming breath, closed his eyes and internalized the rhythm of the ticking in his ear. He opened his eyes, lined up the first shot and began taking Roamers down with headshots one at a time every second to the rhythm of the metronome. The instant the ticker on his specs hit zero, he’d eject the magazine, produce another from his belt, slap it into the gun—all within two clicks—and continue firing to the rhythm. Though Brix was also a skilled shooter, he couldn’t even begin to keep up with Khai who hadn’t missed a single shot yet.
The rhythmic shooting settled Kay and Brawl into a rhythm of their own. The worked like a pit crew of the raceways, exchanging tools and assisting one another underneath the ship. They had the two damaged hoverpads off within forty-five minutes. Kay risked a look down the street and saw that the Roamers had to crawl over the bodies of their fallen comrades. As they crawled, Khai, Brix and Puar would pick them off. As the wall of dead climbed, the three men protecting the ship finally ran out of ammo.
“We’re dry!” Khai shouted. “How much longer?”
“We’re not quite there! One ’pad left!” Kay reported.
“Puar, light ’em up!”
“With pleasure,” he said, launching grenades past the wall of bodies into the masses. Explosions echoed off the walls and limbs flew.
“Give me a number!” Khai ordered.
“Twenty minutes, best case!”
“Roger that!” Khai said.
“I’m out!” Puar shouted.
“Puar, get under the ship and replace Kay,” Khai barked. “I need her with me.”
“Yes, sir!” Puar jumped down and climbed under and Kay slid out from under the ship.
“Come on!” Khai said, pulling his trusted pistol and a long combat knife.
Kay followed, unsheathing her Kit’Ra. “You realize that pulling me off repair duty will increase the time it takes to leave, right?”
“Yeah, but I also know that you and I can buy far more time to repair than the other way around.”
“Fair enough,” Kay said.
“What about me, Khai?” Brix asked from atop the ship.
“Get the engines hot!” Khai responded. “We’ll be making a hasty exit the instant Brawl and Puar are done with repairs.”
“Roger that!”
Khai and Kay approached the wall of Roamers that met their final death, dispatching the ones that had already made it over. The moaning and growling coming from the other side was loud enough that they had to shout to be heard. More Roamers tumbled down the wall of dead to meet their end at the end of a blade. Khai stomped down on one’s head, crushing it and splattering decaying brain matter across the street. Kay was far more graceful than Khai, as she ducked and bobbed and weaved through the Roamers rending arms and legs and heads.
Khai fell into a frenzy—something that hadn’t happened in years—and started killing with brutal efficiency. He’d slash the throat of a Roamer—and its head would roll off, then he’d put a bullet through another head and finish with a jab of his knife into the head of another. He would repeat this cycle until he ran out of ammo. Then he would finish with the jab to the head, leave the knife buried in its skull, eject the magazine, pop another one in and retrieve his knife before the Roamer could hit the ground.
Kay also fell into her own type of frenzy, one that was taught to her back when she was an Agent. She became so skilled at it, that she could whirl about with her eyes closed, knowing approach angles and hearing her enemies nearby. Though time seemed to slow for her in this battle mode, from the outside, she moved as a blur of flashing metal and spattering blood. The two working side-by-side was a whirling cyclone of death.
Despite their success, they were quickly getting overwhelmed. They were completely surrounded by Roamers. It was only a matter of time before one of them was able to catch Khai or Kay off guard. When it came, Khai was completely unprepared for it. It came in the form of a frightened and surprised yelp from Kay, who had the teeth of Roamer buried into her arm up to its gums.
Khai moved quickly and removed its head from its body with his bare hands. The teeth relented and Kay was able to retreat.
“Where we at?” Khai called out.
“Last bolt was put in a minute ago,” Brawl reported. “Puar’s running a systems check now. Should be less than five minutes by my reckoning!”
“We’re on our way, then,” Khai said, then turned to Kay and asked. “Can you run?”
“I could tumble right now!”
“Nothing fancy, just run!”
They ran for the ship, leaving behind the shambling masses of roaming dead. By the time they reached the ship, she hummed with power. They bolted up the ramp and Khai slapped the closing lever on his way past. Before he could sit down, Puar was lifting off. “Everything’s in the green!” he said.
“Good, let’s get the fuck the out of here!” Khai growled. “Dack, you still with me buddy?” He got no response. “Dack?” His heart began to race. “Come on, Dack. Don’t scare me like this! Puar, get us over there—now!”
“Where is he?”
With a growl of frustration, Khai pushed Puar out of the pilot’s seat and hit the throttle, sucking them into their seats. It was a short minute-long flight to the building top where they left the injured man. They could see him lying motionless next to the structure where they left him. Khai brought the ship in low and sidled up to the edge. He put the ship on hover and ran for the loading ramp. He was at the end of the ramp before it made it all the way down and leapt from the ramp to the roof top. An unhealthy amount of blood had pooled underneath Dah’s still form. Khai knelt next him. No-no-no-no, his mind frantically raced. He checked for a pulse, found one and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Dack!” he shouted.
Dah’s eyes slowly fluttered open. “Took you long enough,” he said weakly.
“Got hung up,” Khai said with a reserved smile. He knew Dah was in really bad shape.
“Excuses, excuses…” he whispered, blood dribbling from his mouth. “But it all boils down to the fact that Bri’s going to kill you.”
“I’ll let her,” Khai said. “Let’s get you inside and checked out.”
“I’m not stopping you…” he whispered before passing out again.
They carried him to the medical nook and laid him down on the bed. The scanner ran over his body and chimed when it was done.
“Scan complete. Injury detected.”
“Is that a fact?” Puar asked ruefully.
The image was displayed on a screen for all to see. The piece of glass slipped in just under the shoulder blade between two ribs, pushing them apart slightly and passing clear through the lung where it stopped after hitting the front ribs.
“A full puncture of the anterior and superior of the upper lobe.”
“How long does he have without medical treatment, Amber?”
“Though I am not a medical model, a wound of this caliber, if properly watched and treated with first aid, between forty-eight to seventy-two hours.”
“What first aid can you administer right now?”
“I can remove the foreign object, place a petroleum-based adhesive to the lung and back wounds to prevent blood and air loss and insert a breathing tube to aid in respiration.”
“How much time will that give us?”
“Best case scenario would be seventy-two to ninety-six hours.”
“That’s more than enough time,” Khai said.
“To what?” Puar asked.
“To get our Reaper and take it to the secure labs south of here. There, they could patch up our wounded like new.”
“But that’s taking quite a risk, don’t you think?” Brawl chimed in.
“I do,” Khai said. “But we need to complete our mission,” he added sternly. “So long as these things are out there, there may not be a planet worth saving from the F’Rosians.”
Brawl remained silent for a few sec
onds then nodded in approval. “I reckon you’re right.”
“Okay,” Khai said determined. “Let’s get this over… by the Founders!” he gasped at the sight behind Brawl, Puar and Brix.
The all spun and gasped in sync. “Whoa!” Puar yelped.
Kay looked terrible! He skin had taken on a clammy, ashen hue, her eyes were bloodshot with yellow bags nestled thickly beneath. Her lips were purple and tongue almost black. The bite mark on her arm was oozing a yellowish fluid that smelled like death. Her veins could be traced up her arm from the bite as they were dark purple beneath the skin.
“I’m… not… feeling…” she fumbled for the words and suddenly collapsed on the floor.
“Kay!” Brawl shouted. He scooped her up and put her down in a reclining chair. Her skin was on fire!
“What do we do?” Brawl asked frantically.
He received blank stares except from Khai, who was clearly mulling something over in his head.
“Amber,” Khai finally called out. “Proceed with Dack’s treatment.”
“Initiating process.” The robotic arms got to work mending Dah the best they could.
“Puar,” Khai said as softly as his racing heart would allow. “Get us the hell out of here. Head for the wastes, locate a mutated Reaper and track it from high enough that it can’t get to us.” Puar simply nodded and bolted for the cockpit. “Brawl, get to the weapons locker and get yourself and Brix ready for action. The three of us are going to have to do this on our own.”
“What about Kay?” Brawl asked.
“As soon as Dah is done, I’ll put her in the bed and see if Amber can do anything for her. In the meantime, I have an idea.”
Everyone got to work. Khai went below decks into the crawlspace where the warheads were loaded into the launching tubes. In the tight space, he wiggled his way in and grabbed one of the warheads. When he got back to main hold, Dah was lying on his back and was resting. Khai gingerly put the warhead down on a table and walked over to Dah. A breathing tube had been inserted with a respirator attached to the end of it. Khai picked him up, carried him to his quarters and laid him in his bed. Then Khai returned to the main hold to put Kay in the bed for examination.
Amber scanned her. “Foreign biological entity detected.”
“What kind of entity?”
“By the way it responds to her immune system, it would appear to be a virus.”
“Can you stop it?”
“No. I can administer an anti-viral detox agent that will hinder the process, but this is beyond my ability to treat. She needs to be transported to a disease control center immediately.”
“Administer the detox. Buy her as much time as you can.”
“Commencing treatment.”
With Amber working on Kay, Khai turned his attention to the warhead. He dismantled the thing and removed all the explosives, but left the propulsion apparatus intact. As with most warheads, this one was programed to detonate on impact. Khai was counting on that. Using the trigger, he quickly crafted a blunt nose and with some of the explosives, created a second propellant to give it a little extra push upon impact. If his plan worked, they would only need to set foot on the ground to wrap it up and go.
“Found one!” Puar reported. “It’s a smaller one, too!”
“Track it. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Got it.”
Khai took his new warhead, belly-crawled to the launcher and put it in front. A few minutes later, he appeared in the cockpit. Brawl, Puar and Brix were watching the Reaper chase down another desert predator and eat it.
“Hit it with a missile,” Khai ordered.
“What?” Puar had to ask. “Are you sure?”
“Just do it,” Khai said with a knowing grin on his face.
“Okay…” Puar sighed.
He locked onto the beast and fired. The rocket streaked out and in less than two seconds they had impact. The blunt end of the rocket hit its mark just under the left arm visibly breaking multiple ribs and a small flash of light could be seen. The Reaper tumbled end over end from impact and came to a stop in a tangle of its own limbs.
“Bull’s-eye!” Khai chimed. “Let’s get that thing and get the hell out.”
Puar swung the ship low and hovered just above the ground, but not landing. He knew that they would need a quick escape if things went south. Khai, Brawl and Brix jumped out and ran over to the downed Reaper. The thing was either dead or unconscious. Khai tentatively reached out and put his hand on its chest. When he felt it rise and fall four times, he was convinced that it was still alive.
They moved quickly to bind its feet, hands and mostly importantly its jaws, using a giant muzzle that was designed for big game hunting in the rain forests of Taalaabreg on the other side of the planet. When they were convinced that the monster was sufficiently bound, they attached heavy-duty chains to the wrist and ankle shackles and then attached those chains to hooks on the belly of the Bucket. Then they re-boarded the ship and took off.
Khai punched in the coordinates for their destination. The map zeroed in on a place roughly a thousand miles north of their position at the edge of the polar icecap.
“That’s out in the middle of nowhere!” Puar remarked.
“Good place for a clandestine rendezvous, I reckon,” Brawl added.
“That’s about it,” Khai said. “Then they’re gonna probably place it in stasis and take it away to some place that never sees the light of day.”
“There seems to be a lot of those around here,” Puar said half-jokingly.
“You have no idea…” Khai responded without an ounce of humor.
The trip to the rendezvous spot was a quiet one. It seemed that everyone was concerned for their friends’ wellbeing. Khai had checked on Dah a few times; he was sedated for his own good, but resting peacefully. Kay, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Her situation was deteriorating quickly. He wondered if the people they were meeting would take them all in and help them out. He went back to the engine room and dialed up the Prime Minister.
“Khai, I hope you have some good news for me,” Puar said.
“Yes and no,” Khai murmured. “We have a mutated Reaper—”
“But?”
“But we’re in bad shape. Both Dack and Kay are down and are in need of some serious medical attention.”
“You needn’t say anything more.” Puar stopped him. “I’ll let the transport know that you’re docking with them and coming along for the ride.”
“Thanks,” Khai said with a sigh. “I know you’re breaking protocol, but I don’t think they’ll last much longer, especially Kay.”
“What’s wrong her?”
“She was bit by a Roamer and—”
“A Roamer?”
“Yeah, their… I don’t even know how to describe them. I’ll upload the footage from my specs.”
Khai synced the glasses to his com unit and sent it up. There was a long pause while his leader watched the footage.
“By the Founders!” he gasped. “Are—were—those… people?”
“Unfortunately,” Khai said.
“What caused this?”
“Apparently a mutated Reaper,” Khai responded. “Though the source of this information was a little less than reliable. However, Jewel of Oasis is overrun.”
“Do I need to make another tough decision?”
“Negative. The walls around the city are doing a good job at keeping them contained. But, Seryys City is another story…”
“Why have I not heard about this until now?”
“I don’t know,” Khai grumbled. “It’s possible that those who have encountered these Roamers never lived to report it.”
“I have lost multiple groups,” Puar admitted. “But I just assumed that those were due to Reapers. But now… now I have to wonder.”
“I agree,” Khai was trying to hide the dread in his voice. “But these things are very tough to kill.”
“I can see that,” Puar murm
ured, still watching the footage. “You and Kay sure did a number on them, though—oh!”
“What?”
“That’s where Kay was bitten. How long ago was this?”
“Little over an hour ago,” Khai remarked.
“How far are you from the rendezvous point?”
“Ten minutes out.”
“Good,” Puar said. “I’ll tell them to get the engines hot now and be ready for immediate dust off.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t mention it. Puar out.”
Chapter Ten
Khai sauntered into the cockpit and found Puar right where he left him. The ice-capped mountains were looming up in the distance and approaching fast. Brawl was watching the sensors; the monster hadn’t moved or made an attempt to move since the trip started. The body temperature was holding steady at one hundred and ten degrees and had only gone up a few fractions of a degree since its capture. Only as they broke the arctic threshold, and the frigid winds began to bat at the ship and beast, did it start to squirm. The muzzle kept it from gnawing at its restraints.
“How much further?” Khai asked.
“Less than two minutes,” Puar answered. “We picked up the transport on sensors about twenty minutes ago.”
Khai sat down in the copilot’s seat and hit the com. “This is General Khail aboard the Bolt Bucket, requesting permission to dock.”
“This is the transport, Weathered, per Prime Minister Puar’s orders, we have a space cleared out for you.”
“Thanks, Weathered. We’ll be docking in under a minute.”
The large vessel was sitting on its landing skids over a large glacier. It was over a thousand feet long and five hundred feet wide, flat and rectangular with an outwardly-curved nose where the bridge was located, and inwardly-curved aft in which the engines sat. Large wings started just behind the bridge and stretched straight back to the aft and followed the inward curve of the aft section. She wasn’t much to look at, but she was fast and durable and housed some of Seryys’ greatest minds. She was one of five Evleaar-Class Research and Development Ships named after Eve’Lynn Evlearr, a world-renowned scientist who developed the prototype nano-technology used in medicine that was refined and implemented by later researchers.
The Seryys Chronicles: Steel Alliance Page 14