by Chris Turner
Chapter 11
A score of locusts scuttled about loading the last ships. In a running sweep, Fenli fired point blank, taking out the first Mentera hostiles a bit shy of twenty feet from the nearest mantis ship. Then he sprang back and forth like a spider, spraying fire and whooping into the com, waving his other hand to attract attention his way. He dove for cover behind some boulders just as streams of lurid green fire lashed out at him.
“Idiot,” mouthed Cloye.
Mentera heads turned. Yul surged into motion. “Now!” He nudged Cloye forward and they came sprinting in to gun down the startled enemy.
A half-dozen Mentera who had been loading the ships dropped like flies. Yul roared a cry of triumph.
Blue-green fire lasered up at them from the loading platforms, smashing chunks of rock behind them. Yul ducked. The splatter smacked his suit and he paled thinking of the consequences.
Gauges still holding. Lucky. Gritting his teeth, he came in charging like a bull. He smashed edgewise into a locust distracted by Fenli and looking the other way. The bug face stared up at him in bewilderment as he stomped on its faceplate. The glass cracked, depressurizing the suit. The insect’s mouth opened in a rictus of horror as its black-green chitin iced up. The thing froze on the spot. Yul kept moving. Cloye covered him from the side. Mentera streamed from the cargo bay of the nearest ship, many more than Yul imagined or thought possible at this time. “Kill them quickly!” he wheezed. “This is not turning out as planned. Cloye, ream those bastards to your left!”
Cloye turned. She blasted Mentera flesh to shreds, then crouched and roundhouse-kicked an unarmed Mentera in the faceplate. The glass cracked. The air hissed out of its suit as it writhed on the ground dying. “Yul, behind you!” she cried.
He ducked as fire flared and rock splintered from above his ear. A jagged shard nearly skewered him. His weapon shot up, pegged a Mentera on the run, firing his way.
But they were not killing them quickly enough. More were streaming out from the second ship.
This free-for-all blast fest was turning sour. Death was just a breath away.
Yul’s head turned to some inexplicable movement. No, it couldn’t be. A Mentera lumo-blaster lifted of its own accord in midair. It started pegging off its own kind. What the hell? How was that even possible?
Mentera from the second mantis ship pitched over in agony. The Mentera were in an uproar. Pincers pointing, fire lashing out at the strange weapon that moved by some invisible hand and fired in their direction. But the moving lumo-rifle sent still more bursts in rapid succession, shooting point blank at Mentera’s faces, shattering faceplates, shredding suits, reducing alien flesh to bloodied green and yellow chunks. Mentera blood sizzled on the dusty rock, forming ice crystals in the cold air.
Yul grimaced. Mentera body parts piled up in a long cold line of blood and shredded meat. No further movement.
“What the fuck! Yul?” Cloye gasped. Both she and Yul saw the alien blaster rise and aim, ready to take out and kill more enemy Mentera that came out of the woodwork.
“I know that signature,” croaked Fenli through the com. He came running over to where Yul and Cloye gazed uncertainly at the upraised gun. “Miko! You sly bastard. I’ll be damned if you’re not still alive. Up to your old tricks.”
“Who the hell is he talking to?” Cloye roared, bug-eyed. Yul just shook his head in perplexity.
Hresh spoke up in a wise voice. “Stress, post-traumatic anxiety, not uncommon in trauma victims. He’s hallucinating.”
“Shut up, old man,” said Fenli. “You think this blaster is a hallucination?” He leveled his weapon at the scientist huddled behind the pegmatite and Hresh shrank back. “That’s my friend, Miko.”
“Easy, you fool, we still need Hresh,” Yul grunted, slapping Fenli’s weapon aside.
Fenli looked around wild-eyed as if a window of opportunity was closing. “I don’t have to waste time on you here, chief.” With a surly grunt, he sprinted toward the second ship, now unprotected. Activity loomed in the iris-shaped escape portal far above. Yul swore. “Quick, get into the other ship!”
Almost as soon as he’d said it, Bzt, a human figure came shimmering into existence before their eyes with the mysterious lumo-blaster clutched in his hand. Yul’s jaw dropped. The mystery man, Miko?
How in hell? Unsuited and quickly asphyxiating, the man opened his mouth, face congested in blue. His hands groped to his throat.
Cloye wasted not a moment. She grabbed the struggling man and hauled him into the nearby cargo bay of the mantis vessel. Hresh got the door closed just as Yul ducked in. The last image he saw was Fenli taking the other ship to the tunnels. Damn that cheeky bastard. Give him B for balls though. “Where you going, Fenli?” he mused.
“He’ll get shot down,” croaked Hresh.
“No, he’s heading for the tunnels, playing possum, like we should,” said Yul.
“Okay, we’ll do the same.”
Yul blinked. His eyes adjusted to the bright amber light. The layout of this ship was familiar, having crash-landed in a craft not dissimilar to this one hours ago. He raced to the bridge, and fiddling at the controls, cursed as his nerve-frayed fingers quivered. Soon the thrusters were aimed and the ship lifted off. Down the main tunnel they surged. It was suicide to soar out the dome and show their faces.
Grumbling and cursing, Cloye pulled Miko onto the bridge. Hresh was on his other side. The man’s face was still somewhat blue.
Yul turned. He stared at a man willowy as a scarecrow with brown hair and pale grey eyes. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m Miko Almstran,” Miko choked, regaining some breath.
“Yeah, and who’s that?”
“First lieutenant—of NAVO core explorations, patrol officer. Who are you?”
“Yul Vrean. That’s Cloye over there, and Hresh beside her. NAVO? Did you say NAVO? They’ve been gone a long time, friend. Like a century or two. You trying to mess with me?”
“No—”
“Fenli said he knew this guy,” piped up Hresh.
“Fenli? He’s alive?” croaked the newcomer.
“Is this for real?” Cloye spat. “Some nut from a hundred years ago knows another one from some wrecked ship nearly gobbled up by aliens?” She snapped up her E1. “Too many coincidences. Let’s waste this fucker, Yul. The invisible man and his friend would have hijacked the only ride we had out of here and left us high and dry. Don’t trust either of them.”
“Easy, Cloye,” Yul cautioned. “You’ve always been a hothead. Let’s—wait, and sort out the facts.”
“What facts? Don’t patronize me, Yul.”
He shook his head and grimaced while Miko held up a hand. “Can I speak in my own defense?”
“Fast, flyboy,” snarled Cloye. “Or we blow your skull off. Too many traitors in this bitched up universe.”
“I understand you’re hair-triggered but—”
“You think?”
“Listen, I’ve got to find my companions,” Miko said. He hobbled over to the rack of bug suits hanging on the wall. “Their names are Star and Usk. Both are dying out there somewhere. Maybe already dead. I promised I’d come back for them.” He gusted a sigh of grief.
“You crazy or something? You don’t even have a working suit. How are you going to help them? Those bugs out there are going to come back and blast all of our asses.” Cloye waved her gun around in a wild arc.
Miko shook his head. “You don’t get it, miss. I’ll use one of these Mentera suits. They’re elasticized. Let me off, Yul, please! If you have any decency, you’ll help me find them.” He snatched down one of the locust suits hanging on the wall.
Yul growled a softer note. “Miko’s extra firepower did save our hides. I should have anticipated the extra guards.”
Cloye just laughed. “Your choice, Yul.” She turned and showed her teeth. “Our plan is to get the crap out of here.”
Yul frowned. “Cloye, calm down. We’ll help you, if we can, Miko.”
“How you plan to do that?” blustered Cloye.
“Shut up and let me think.” Yul slapped hard on the console. He tried to get the auxiliary impulse working. Cross tunnels and pale glimpses of tanks in a row whizzed by. They’d have to fly faster than this to escape pursuit.
He slapped a gloved hand to his faceplate. “Cloye, Hresh, get over there and man the weapons. I see we have company.”
He motioned to the holo view. Hresh’s and Cloye’s eyes darted to two bogies, red and yellow blips that had entered their safe zone. With a harsh laugh, Yul gunned the engines, sending them recklessly down the main tunnel, swaying from side to side as he maneuvered corners and narrowing spaces. He hoped to hell it didn’t narrow down to nothing.
Mentera in silver suits came out from cross-corridors blasting weapons at them. The green flares bounced harmlessly off their shields.
But the ships behind them were an entirely other matter.
Chapter 12
Yul gripped the nav stick and worked the controls with precision, his teeth clamped in an unpleasant grin. He ran his tongue over his lower lip. The ship careened through the grey tunnels, churning up dust, leaving a trail behind them. The shields took the brunt of the abuse, the mantis-wings grazing off the coarse rock, taking small chunks with it, their speed tempered by Yul’s newness at flying an alien ship.
“Shields holding, but won’t forever,” he warned. “We’ve got to lose these bugs or they’ll bury us. Bring the whole Mentera fleet down on our heads. Cloye, talk to me. What’s wrong? Can’t you figure out these bloody weapons?”
“Trying, Yul. Locusts must have locked something down. Everything’s different.”
“Hresh, get your ass over there!” Yul croaked. “You’re the tech wizard here. Do something!” Miko was still looking blue in the face and somewhat dazed as he zipped up his borrowed bug suit.
Hresh stumbled over, clumsy in his suit. His quaking fingers danced over the weapons controls. Fire spat out from an incoming bogy. Yul swore. The enemy ship clung to their stern like a vine, as the two ships careened down the narrowing corridors with barely feet to spare. Hresh tapped a holo pad. Rear fire lashed out. Cloye picked up his lead and pushed him aside with a grudging grunt. She made better aim and tagged the enemy’s frontal shields.
“Attagirl, Cloye!” rasped Yul. “Keep nailing those bastards!”
Hresh beamed at the result of his handiwork.
Luck was not on their side, however. The ship swooped up toward the stony ceiling in an attempt to evade enemy fire. At an especially wide turn opening into a larger cavern, enemy torpedoes locked on their hull. A Mentera attack ship came screaming out of a cross corridor. A bright flash exploded from behind. Nailed the rear vents, blowing out the mantis’s tail.
Yul cursed into the com. “Shit, that bastard came out of nowhere! Brace yourselves. We’re gonna hit!”
The ship yawed like one of those obsolete jets out of the past. More enemy ship fire came from the side. Their lightfighter went spinning out of control, and bounced and skimmed across the rough stone of the tunnel floor.
Emergency lights flickered on, buzzers sounded. Sparks flew from the console, green rays peppered the hull and sent them skidding sideways, missing the connecting tunnel by yards, smashing into the wall twenty feet away. They all went flying forward.
Yul stumbled up from his broken seat as bits of wreckage burned and the ship engine’s died. “Cloye!” He grabbed her waist. “You alright?”
She mumbled something incoherent, a sprawl of arms and legs beside him. Hresh looked in no better condition as he massaged his shoulder. Miko stirred somewhere behind him from under the rubble.
“Now we’re cooked,” croaked Cloye.
The nav panel smoked like a campfire.
Yul swept away the smoke from his faceplate. “I admit, we’re a little screwed here,” he rumbled. “Looks as if our only chance is a shootout. We hold the fort, hope they mess up.” He sucked in a heavy breath. “Bring down as many as we can.”
Miko shook his head, “It’s a suicide run.”
“What isn’t in this funny farm?” grumbled Cloye.
“They’re not blasting us, which means they want to take us prisoners,” Hresh hissed. “Orders from above maybe.”
“Stick us into their tanks.”
“Think, Hresh, think. You’re the brainiac here.”
“I’m thinking. Hard to think under pressure, Yul.”
“Hard to think when you’re dead,” sneered Cloye. “Snap it up.”
Yul groaned, catching a look out the port glass. “Now we’re done.”
The enemy ship had doubled back. Another mantis fighter came at its heels, its nose and forward cannons pointed with destructive force.
Tense moments passed. Everyone waited to get barbecued. Yet the enemy ships waited, as if in indecision. Maybe orders from above?
Yul blinked in the murky haze tinted amber by the emergency lights. A sharp hint of ozone came through the filtered air into his now malfunctioning suit. The bridge leaned on a thirty degree angle, exposing the port bow side. He dragged himself across the debris-littered bridge to the port hole, shaking out his stiffening knee. The glass was tilted, offering a view of the dust-speckled junction, rapidly filling as Mentera infantry drifted out of the two ships to surround their ship, lumo-blasters trained their way. One of the approaching captains flicked an upraised claw.
Yul hissed, “Showtime. Hope you guys’re ready for one hell of a fight.”
Cloye pulled extra blasters down from the crumpled weapons rack, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” She tossed an E1 to Yul who caught it in midair. Miko caught the next one aimed his way. Yul braced himself for the violent inevitability that could only go one way.
But a new development came. Booms issued from the area immediately outside the ship, then the staccato sounds of exploding metal racking the hull. Their muscles tensed in anticipation of doom. Yul craned his neck for a better look.
A ship came careening out of the dust cloud, slamming the junction area with killing force.
Yul stared, stunned. Another Mentera vessel. Could it be—?
He cried out in mad glee as the dozen or so Mentera ground troops fell, struck by blasts.
Fenli! The bastard had come to save the day.
The rogue ship limited its rain of destruction to the suited figures outside, leaving the other ships intact.
Fenli’s sardonic voice broke over the com. “Don’t say I never did anything for you, Yul. You okay over there? Cloye? Talk to me.”
“We’re here,” she rasped. “You got any more tricks to share?”
“Sure, a bag of them,” Fenli cried. “Shit!”
They winced as a bright green arc flashed past their ship to zone in on Fenli’s craft. The Mentera beam blazed off his shields.
“Love to chat but another bogie is sniffing me out. Gotta run—” Fenli cut the channel. He sent his own smoking ship buzzing off low through the connecting cross corridor. The new vessel chased after, leaving behind the parked ships and mangled Mentera bodies silent in the murky dimness.
Yul exhaled a wheezing breath. They all blinked at one other, stunned.
“That flyboy’s full of shit-for-brain surprises,” mumbled Cloye.
“Good that he is.”
Miko just gave a grey-faced nod.
“How the hell can Fenli fly and shoot bullets at the same time?” marveled Cloye.
“Mentera mantises are designed for dual operation,” Miko explained. “Better design than our lightfighters. Fenli and I were both trained on Mentera tech before we attacked their fleet.”
“You attacked them?”
“In the end, we got them to attack one another.”
“Whatever…the crafty bastard didn’t nail the other ships parked out there,” Yul rumbled. “Now’s our chance to ambush one. Quick. Out in the tunnel.”
He and Cloye gathered their guns and gear and threaded their way through the wr
eckage to the exit port. Hresh blundered after them, befuddlement writ in his eyes.
Miko trailed, with a frown on his face. He seemed plagued with doubt about the course of action, as if a heavy weight hung on his shoulders. Was the spaceman getting cold feet, losing his nerve? Yul grunted. Or was another of those invisibility bouts about to overtake the pilot?
Yul exited the hatch. He crouched, blaster on the ready. A cough frogged his throat as the air thinned in his damaged suit. The two ships sat parked somewhere vaguely ahead, their mantis prows etched dimly in the settling dust clouds. Off to the sides, insect-shaped loaders sat inert, aside triangular bins, odd-oblong crates, and various other tech supplies at the mouth of the cross tunnel. A meeting place or loading-unloading point, no doubt. At the moment, the grounds were empty of moving forms.
Yul stepped past the ruin of locust bodies and shredded suits, sidling over to the open port on the first vessel. The grotesque mantis-headed prow rose over him like an eerie living thing. The others trailed back behind him. Only a pilot light of greenish hue glowed from the bridge. Fortune prevailed: the dust kicked up from Fenli’s bullets had concealed their movements from anyone aboard.
Yul trooped over to the air lock and worked the buttons. “Get to the bridge,” he ordered. “We take over this vessel. Kill any hostiles on sight. Face the wall and hide your hands, in case they have cameras here.” Seeing Miko hesitate, he rasped into his com. “We make our move now, spaceman. Let’s go!”
Hresh and Cloye stepped inside before Yul hit the button to get the door sliding closed. Each prepared himself grimly to commandeer the ship, but Miko held his ground, eyes beetling over the other ship not fifty yards away.
The tug of other duties seemed to be eating at his heart. Reluctantly, he stepped into the air lock. The air pressurized. While the others rushed forward to sweep the ship’s interior, he turned abruptly back toward the hatch door.
In a moment’s decision he hit the airlock release and ducked under the door. All this before Yul could raise an alarm. He broke out in a dead run through the settling dust cloud toward the other Mentera vessel before his window of opportunity expired. He ignored the chatter of expletives crackling through his com while deliberately dimming the volume.