by N M Tatum
Joel shook his head and said to Cody, “I can’t have hover soles, but she gets a sword?”
Cody shrugged. “You want to try and tell her to put it back?”
A shiver ran up Joel’s spine at the thought.
“Cash me out, Bruiser,” Sam said.
As Bruiser looked over the cart, his eyes darted from the goods to the guys and widened with surprise.
He placed a hand next to his mouth like he was trying to hide what he was saying from them, but still spoke to Sam loud enough for them to hear. “You sure your new crew can handle this firepower? They look like noobs.”
“They can handle themselves,” she assured him.
Bruiser shrugged. “If you say so. Just remember, purchase of my weapons does not guarantee victory in whatever crusade you choose to fight. And I’m not liable if you shoot off your own foot, or impale yourself, or blow up your friend.” He removed a tablet from the inside pocket of his jacket and placed it on top of the cart. “Sign here, here, and here.”
Sam signed, and Cody transferred the credits.
Bruiser smiled. “Happy killing.”
Chapter Twenty
Sonic Shuttle
Second job, same as the first. Clear a space station of an infestation. It would be a three-hour trip to the Ludite Space Station, so the crew took the chance to get acquainted with the new gear. Sam couldn’t take her eyes or hands off her sword. She converted the loading bay into a practice range, hacking the hell out of stacks of crates she used to simulate her enemies.
Reggie took the pulse Gatling gun. He was probably the only one strong enough to use it. It wasn’t terribly bulky, and it fit comfortably on his back, but it was heavy as hell. The gun housed its own miniature pulse engine. He practiced moving with it—running, climbing, going from a defensive to offensive position—but he didn’t dare fire it inside Sonic since he couldn’t risk harming the old girl. She wasn’t as strong as she used to be.
Joel opted for a belt of grenades and a scatterblaster. They’d stocked up on more elemental grenades but chose some new flavors as well. He couldn’t wait to try them out. The scatterblaster was brutal but elegant at the same time. It could tear apart an enemy at close range, or blast several at medium. It was the perfect weapon to fight off a swarming horde. It also had an auto-reloader and a user-friendly interface for changing ammunition types.
Cody took to a pair of blaster pistols. Both were ornate pieces, a set by the looks of them, but not identical; the designs were complementary. They fired standard blaster ammunition, but could also be modded to fire other types, like elemental, scatter, and stun ammo. They came with a belt and holsters. He felt like a cowboy as soon as he strapped them on.
Knowing that the two pistols would only be effective up close, and still limited in their kill capacity even then, Cody also chose a sniper rifle. He was the best long-range gunner on the team…at least in Return to Order team deathmatches. The rifle came as a compact, rectangular unit. With the press of the button, the stock and barrel extended from the unit, becoming a functional weapon. It sported up to twenty times zoom, atmospheric reading, targeting assist and night vision. With this beauty, Cody would serve as one hell of a spotter and long-range assist.
“Coming up on Ludite Station,” he said after an alert from the nav computer sounded on his wristcom. “Ten minutes.”
The team strapped up.
It was amazing for Reggie to think that they had been in this same position just two days before when they approached Station 12. The difference was astounding. He didn’t feel the same fear in the back of his head. He still had the flutter in his belly, but that was no different than the one he got before every game. There was a confidence in his stance now, in the way he loaded his weapon, in the way he marched toward the exit ramp. He felt like he belonged here now, like he had earned his stripes.
There was something missing, though. Something that left a hole in his gut: that feeling of doing something for the first time, the excitement of the unknown. The last job may have been their first, but it was epic enough to take the shine off the gig.
It can’t already feel like another day at the office. Not so soon. He swung the Gatling gun around from his back and caught it in his hands. He squeezed the handles and struck an action pose. No, most people don’t get to handle one of these at the office.
Sonic docked at Ludite Station. The hissing of releasing air sounded as everything pressurized.
“Alright, team,” Reggie said. “Ready to extend our kill streak?”
“Hell yeah,” came back to him from all around.
The exit ramp lowered, and the Notches stormed Ludite Station. The station was similar to Station 12 in layout and function. It was another hub, but not for shipping. Transit systems docked here, passengers changed ships and suffered through their layovers. It was a space bus station, basically.
Nothing good ever came from hanging out at a bus station.
“Give me the lowdown, Cody,” Sam said.
Cody squatted down and studied his wristcom. “Readings indicate that there are no intelligent species aboard. Heat signatures confirm the swarm. This station has three levels. Top level is ticket counters, waiting areas, some food vendors. Bottom two are transit terminals. That’s where we’ll find the swarm, munching on the vehicles, probably. Sucking out brake fluid and motor oil.”
The same confident expression radiated from Reggie and Joel. They had seen what the swarms were capable of. They had faced death and conquered it. They had kicked death square in the junk and then went skipping home. This swarm would be no different.
No, it would be different. Because they were different. They were exterminators.
“Intergalactic Pest Control, hoorah!” Joel said.
The others didn’t respond. Cody made a face like he wanted to say, ‘Inappropriate’.
“Let’s clear this level, just in case,” Sam said. “Then we’ll move down and start clearing the terminals.”
The others agreed.
They swept the first level. As the scanners predicted, they encountered nothing, not even a rat. They remained on guard, however, and that tension was beginning to fatigue them. They took a break for water and to shake out the building stress before progressing.
“We know for sure that this is a ShimVen infestation?” Joel asked as they stepped onto the elevator.
“The contract didn’t specify.” Reggie checked his Gatling again, making sure the safety was off. “But the description of the bugs’ behavior matched what we saw on Waystation Twelve.”
Joel moaned. “ShimVens. Hate those things.” He pumped his scatterblaster, loading a shell into the chamber. “But I will take some pleasure in killing them.”
The elevator filled with the soft and soothing sounds of a common elevator soundtrack. It was a welcome change from the elevator on Station 12, which just shrieked and wailed like a ghost. They could have ridden the current elevator ten more floors, but it came to a halt just one level down, cutting off their listening pleasure.
The doors slid open to reveal a scene with which they were, unfortunately, familiar. ShimVens tearing the shit out of every mechanical thing they could set their nasty little eyes on.
Sam, Cody, and Joel pressed against the walls of the elevator.
“Reggie, if you will?” Sam said.
“Happily.” Reggie stepped forward, his Gatling at the ready, the fire radius set to maximum dispersal. He squeezed the trigger for the first time. His entire body shook like an earthquake, with its epicenter in his hands.
He fired for only a short burst before letting go. In that brief second, he’d obliterated dozens of bugs. That amount of power in his hands set his heart racing. He loved it.
He hoisted the gun up higher, pulling it in tight against his hip. He squeezed the trigger again, this time fully prepared and bracing himself for the force he would unleash. The blasts came so fast that they seemed to blend together into one solid wave of energy, a wave tha
t tore bugs apart by the dozen. Seconds later, hundreds of them were dead.
Reggie ceased firing. The Gatling could only handle a spread like that for about ten seconds before it risked overheating. It needed to cool down for a few minutes before it could be used again.
The second he stopped firing, Joel and Sam ran out on either side of him. Joel fired his scatterblaster, killing four ShimVens with a single shot.
A rush of excitement washed over him—that feeling when you get a bike for Christmas, but have to wait for the snow to melt to ride it. You build up the experience, fearing that when you finally straddle that beauty and race down your driveway, it won’t live up to the hype. But this payoff more than satisfied all the anticipation. He fired again and again, walking casually toward the swarm as he peppered it with blaster fire.
Sam watched him and pulled the sword free from the holster on her back. The others questioned her choice of weapon. ‘Sure, a sword is incredibly badass,’ they said, ‘but there’s a reason people stopped using them in war.’
She proved their worries unfounded with her first swing.
With one wide arc, she cut five bugs in half. It was the same with every swing that followed, killing at least a handful of ShimVens. It proved a useful defensive weapon as well, blocking an attacking bug’s pincers with ease.
When his weapon had cooled down, Reggie switched the Gatling’s fire dispersal range to narrow and took off again. The kill radius narrowed from half the floor to just a few feet, but the gun shook less as he fired, allowing him more mobility.
Cody followed Reggie, picking bugs off with his dual pistols. He didn’t put as many of them down as the rest of the team, but that wasn’t his function. He knew that every member of the party had a different class, and each class served a different purpose in combat. Cody fancied himself more the rogue.
Once he had an opening, he sprinted for the scaffolding about ten meters away. He leapt without breaking his stride and grabbed a crossbar. He scurried up like a monkey and rolled onto a landing twenty feet up. He pulled the rectangular unit from its holster on his back and pressed the button on its side, extending it into a full sniper rifle. Squinting, he pressed his eye to the scope and found his first target.
A ShimVen ran at Reggie’s back. Cody locked onto it with the assisted auto-targeting and squeezed the trigger. The bug’s head exploded. He continued playing his overwatch role, picking off targets as they attempted to attack the others’ blind spots.
The Notches fell into a rhythm. Those on the ground quickly grew to trust Cody’s ability to watch their backs. They let loose, free from the worry that they’d be attacked from behind. Bugs fell in droves. Sliced, blasted, sniped. They sent the ShimVens back, eventually corralling them all against the back wall.
“Make way!” Reggie shouted.
Sam and Joel dropped back behind him. He switched to a wide range dispersal, and the remaining ShimVens stained the wall. After the ten-second burst, only a few bugs remained, and they were wriggling on the floor, half-dead. Joel and Sam visited them one by one and put them out of their misery.
“All clear from up here,” Cody said. He climbed down from his perch, replacing his sniper rifle. He joined the others at the end of the room, the site of Reggie’s massacre. “Well, that happened.”
A hearty laugh escaped Joel’s mouth. “Goddamn right, it did. We just wasted those bastards. That was better than our best Return to Order run. We would’ve dominated the VREs with that kind of gameplay.”
Reggie released the Gatling gun and let it hang at his side. “Great job, everyone. We showed some serious teamwork. This gig is really coming together.”
Sam sheathed her sword. “But it’s not over yet. We’ve got one more level to clear.”
Cody checked the readings on his wristcom. “The swarm down there doesn’t look to be any bigger than the one we just took out.”
Reggie smiled. “Then it should be a cakewalk.”
Joel slapped his forehead. “You never fucking learn.”
“Language, Joel,” Reggie warned, a pursed expression on his face.
Cody held up a finger to interject. “There are some gaps in the readings, though. Points where I’m getting nothing at all.”
“What does that mean?” Reggie said.
Cody shrugged and narrowed his eyes, falling into troubleshooting mode.
It was Joel that provided the answer. “Those are the terminals down there; that means ships. I bet there are some docked that have heat shielding. Ships that travel closer to stars or through solar zones need heat shielding to keep the crew from getting fried… Scanners wouldn’t penetrate that.”
Sam nodded. She seemed impressed with his knowledge and skill for deduction. Most people found those traits surprising when he showed them. He spent most of his time making jokes and wisecracks, so when he built a personal energy field out of parts found in common kitchen appliances, most people were taken aback.
“I’ll take it,” Sam said of his explanation. “Let’s mount up,” she ordered, striding forward.
Joel elbowed Reggie in the ribs as they walked to the elevator. “See, she can pull off lines like that. You can’t.”
They loaded into the elevator and rode it down, expecting this floor to go as the previous. They were, of course, fools to assume anything. They may have only been in the business for all of a few days, but one lesson they’d all learned was never assume anything.
It was a straightforward eradication, like the floor above—at the start. The Notches followed the same attack pattern. Reggie opened with a wide burst from the Gatling. Joel and Sam came out swinging after that. Cody took the high position, watching everyone’s backs and sniping bugs. It was toward the end of the attack when everything went sideways.
They corralled the bugs against the back wall, same as before. Reggie stepped forward, his Gatling gun cool and ready for another wide burst.
That’s when Cody noticed movement to the left of the rest of the team’s position. The cargo hold of one of the larger ships had begun to lower. He looked at his wristcom. The ship was one of the dead zones where he couldn’t get a reading.
Cody’s gut twisted in knots.
As the hatch of the ship lowered, he saw that it was packed full of ShimVens. They spilled out like a hole had been punched in a dam.
“Left flank!” Cody yelled. He sniped the bugs at the head of the new swarm, working his way back, but they were coming too fast.
Joel, Sam, and Reggie turned to see the new swarm. Suddenly they were filled with the looming dread one gets when they arrive at work or school and realize they forgot an important deadline. The consequences were coming hard and fast like a bullet, and there was no avoiding them.
Unfortunately, the first swarm was also filled with something at the sight of the new swarm—vigor. The initial swarm rushed forward, taking advantage of Reggie’s momentary distraction.
Reggie realized his mistake too late. He let out a wide burst but wasn’t able to swing around far enough first. He took out half of the first swarm, but his shots missed the other half.
Joel hurled two pyrethrum grenades into the heart of the second swarm. When they exploded, dozens of bugs were turned to statues, and dozens more were incinerated. Sam rushed the oncoming horde, her sword whirling like a windmill. Limbs and guts flew everywhere as she hacked through them like they were a field of weeds and she was a lawnmower.
“We need to regroup,” Cody said. “Refocus. We’re too scattered.”
“Maybe we can ask them for a timeout?” Joel said.
“No need,” Cody responded. “I’ve got an idea. Reggie, focus on the new swarm. Cut us a path straight through them. Joel and Sam will keep the rest off your back. I’m coming to join you.”
The team fell in line without a moment’s hesitation. Reggie switched the Gatling gun to a narrow fire dispersal, focusing its power like a scalpel. Joel and Sam put their backs to his, blasting and slashing any bug that came near. Cody l
eapt down from his perch, replacing his sniper rifle with his dual pistols. He ran for the others, unloading his pistols on anything that moved, not caring whether he landed kill shots, caring only that the bugs stayed off him. When he reached the others, he joined the effort to keep Reggie’s back safe.
They pressed forward through the swarm, cutting a swathe to the ship from which they all poured. Once they reached the bottom of the ramp, Reggie sprinted forward, while the others turned to cover their retreat. Reggie pressed the button on the inside wall, and the hatch started closing with his teammates still on it. They slid down the hatch into the ship and sprawled on their backs.
They were locked in, and the swarm was locked out. They were safe, for now.
The ShimVens clawed at the hull of the ship, and Cody partially hoped they made it inside. The state of the ship was enough to make him wish he was dead. The bugs must have been trapped inside it since they’d hatched. They’d gnawed on the interior mechanics, sucked the power and juices out of everything they could, before eventually resorting to cannibalism. Then they shit all over the place.
“Brainstorm time, team,” Reggie said. “What’s our next move?”
“We’re safe in here,” Joel said. “No way they can get through the heat shields. No need to rush.”
Cody wandered around the cargo hold, trying to take his mind off the shit stink that was seeping into his pores. “I would rather not take my time in this place, if you don’t mind.”
He reached the far end of the hold, finding no luck in taking his mind off anything, until he noticed a stack of crates in the corner. They looked familiar. He brushed the filth off the logo stamped on it—LAYTON CORP. The same crates he found in the engine room on Station 12.
“That’s brilliant,” Reggie said.
Cody spun around and realized the others had been having a conversation while he was lost in thought.
“Glad you’re onboard,” Sam said. “Let’s do this.” She held her hand over the button to open the cargo hatch and nodded to the others.
Reggie and Joel returned nods.