Evelyn didn’t know exactly where the defenses would open up, but she didn’t really need to know. Not when they’d watched the installation disengage while the wounded mercenary ships retreated. Evelyn also didn’t see any reason to hold back against mere machines.
“Entering effective range, Captain. Seventeen weapon emplacements detected, priority established. Orders?” Control asked.
“Engage,” Evelyn said, staring at the screen dispassionately.
“Fracking—” Relka began but cut himself short as he watched Djinn’s Gift unload on the station emplacements.
First were the brilliant lines where accelerator cannons fired, looking more like bars of light than anything else as they slammed into two heavy emplacements mercilessly, the plasma shockwave destroying the shields before the munitions slammed home. Then there were energy weapons, from the rapid-fire ‘droplets’ of pulse cannons to heavy beam cannons. No missiles accompanied them, but they didn’t need to, as the ship took out six emplacements before the station returned fire.
Additional weapon emplacements on Djinn’s Gift opened up as the first missiles left their launchers, shooting them down while they were still moving slowly. Energy weapons were harder to dodge, but as they fired the ship began to evade, its guns still blazing as it picked off defenses one after another with methodical precision. Just watching it made Relka break out in a cold sweat, as the weapons he was seeing were even more powerful than he’d expected, which meant that Djinn’s Gift had enchanted weapons. They had to be, to do that much damage.
“Shit… the station is down to five emplacements, and the ship’s shields are at… seventy percent, give or take,” Mathlin said, her voice quiet as she swallowed audibly. “Make that three emplacements.”
“Told you that going up against her would be a bad idea,” Relka said, shaking his head. “Hellfire.”
“You said it, boss,” Danielle said fervently.
Illath nodded, letting out a breath, then chuckled as he added, “Tell you what, if we can get this job done without taking any more damage, I think giving her a cut is well worth it.”
Relka nodded, but he just watched, wondering how much money the woman had, to buy a ship like that. He also dearly hoped that the interior of the station wasn’t as bad as the exterior. If it was, Evelyn’s presence wouldn’t just be helpful, it would be necessary.
The last of the emplacements died in a burst of fire, and Evelyn nodded in satisfaction, having kept track of their weapon performance via her implants. While Djinn’s Gift hadn’t performed perfectly, she could see how to tune the guns to optimum efficiency, now that they’d been used in combat. While she could have done more test firing to get the same result, she preferred to use them in anger.
“Hostiles neutralized. Shields at seventy-one percent integrity and rising, accelerator magazines down one-point-two percent, hull at one hundred percent integrity,” Control reported calmly.
“Excellent work, Control. Inform the mercenaries that we’re moving in to find the station’s docking bays,” Evelyn told her, tapping her knee once. “Keep the shields up and watch for traps. I don’t think there are any mines, but I don’t want to be taken by surprise.”
“Acknowledged. Message sent, Captain,” Control replied, and the ship stabilized, then began moving forward.
The only sign they’d been in combat had been a handful of vibrations that shook the ship, and Evelyn let out a soft sigh. She hoped that something aboard the station would prove more entertaining.
“Are you planning to go aboard alone?” Fya asked after a few seconds.
“Hm?” Evelyn asked, blinking at the djinn, then smiled and inclined her head. “That was the plan, yes. Oh, I’m sure the mercenaries will come aboard, but the only one who I’d trust in combat is you, and I’d like you to keep an eye on everyone else. Sorry, Lyra, but you haven’t been training long enough for me to be happy taking you into combat. If it was just a group of common pirates maybe, but not something like this.”
Ilyra looked over at her, and Evelyn thought she saw a bit of a smile on her face through the faceplate as the celestine nodded. “I agree! Oh, I want to be useful, but this seems like it’s something completely out of my depth. I’m just sort of… sitting here. Maybe the Dolls would be more helpful to you?”
“Possibly, but I also don’t want to risk them getting destroyed,” Evelyn said, and paused, considering for a moment, then smiled. “Actually… do you object to being left in command of the ship, Fya?”
“A little, but I’ll do it. What’re you thinking?” Fya asked, her eyes brightening.
“I’m thinking that a little danger is necessary to help people get used to this sort of thing,” Evelyn said, running through possibilities, then nodded. “I’m going to be helping clear the station, but we’re going to have to load things, and it’s always possible that we’ll have to do that in a hurry. I’d like Lyra, Ryth, and Zel to command a shuttle of Dolls to secure the bay, while you guard the exterior of the station. You know that vultures will try to steal our prize if they have the chance.”
“Very true! I wouldn’t be surprised if there’re one or two just waiting for us to let our guard down,” Fya agreed, propping her feet up on the console. “I’m alright with it. I’d rather come in with you, but I did get a chance to shotgun some goons back in Rakal, so I can wait this time. Besides, blowing up someone’s ship is about as satisfying, as far as I’m concerned!”
“I thought you’d feel that way,” Evelyn replied dryly, then glanced at Ilyra as she asked. “What about you, Lyra? I know the other two won’t object, so it’s up to you.”
“Sure!” Ilyra said, trying to bounce out of her seat, only to be stopped by the restraints holding her in place, which made her stop and start unhooking them. “I mean, it isn’t going to be that dangerous, and if they’re with me, I’m sure they’ll be able to help me figure out what I need to do. Right?”
“That’s rather the hope, yes,” Evelyn replied, grinning at the young woman as she unhooked her own restraints, then stood fluidly. “I hope that this proves to be at least a bit enjoyable.”
“Um, doesn’t that mean that it’ll be dangerous?” Ilyra asked, a note of trepidation quelling much of her enthusiasm.
“Lyra… one of the things you’ll learn about me quickly is that for me, danger is the spice of life,” Evelyn told the young woman gently. “Now then, let’s go, hm?”
She headed for the exit, mentally tracking down where Vaneryth and Zelirana were. She wanted to be sure they had everything ready to go.
To Evelyn’s surprise, Vaneryth politely refused to board with them, though once she heard the reason why, Evelyn understood. Since only Zelirana and Vaneryth could talk to their two guests, the angel wanted one of them aboard. It made perfect sense, and as Zelirana was currently the stronger of the two, Evelyn was willing to have her ride herd on Ilyra. She should keep her from doing anything too dangerous, at least.
Now they were approaching one of the docking bays of the station, and Evelyn waited, her eyes narrowing slightly as she saw what looked like movement inside. An instant later Fya chimed in.
“Detecting enemies in the docking bay, Milady, along with a good number of weapons for fending off small craft. You sure you want to take a shuttle into that? We kept a couple of assault shuttles, sure, but they might not survive that kind of fire,” Fya said, though she didn’t sound like she thought Evelyn was going to call it off. She was right, after all.
“I’m not planning to take a shuttle into it. I take it that using a shipboard weapon to clear the deck isn’t in the cards?” Evelyn asked, smiling slightly.
“Sure, if you don’t mind blowing half the station to hell, assuming they haven’t properly secured fuel and the like,” Fya said cheerfully. “Want me to do that?”
“No, I don’t think so. Just get me a good line of sight,” Evelyn demurred, shaking her head slightly. “I’ll get there myself. Once the decks are clear, the shuttle can come i
n.”
“Yes, Milady! Lyra, you might want to watch this. You haven’t really seen Evelyn fight,” Fya said, giggling over the comm, and Evelyn rolled her eyes.
“Alright?” Ilyra replied uncertainly. “We did see her fight those mercenaries, though…”
“That wasn’t really a fight,” Evelyn replied absently, watching carefully as the ship came around, giving her a better vantage point to look into the station docking bay. She wondered why the bay doors weren’t closed, since she could see they were perfectly functional. It just had the barrier keeping atmosphere in, and she frowned thoughtfully. There weren’t the larger shapes of shuttles, either, which was rather interesting. Had they left earlier?
The more relevant point to her were the figures moving around inside the bay. She couldn’t tell for certain, but there were at least ten humanoid figures, a pair of spider-like robots, three tanks… this was definitely a senne outpost. Few other species were the types to arm a mining outpost so heavily, assuming this was a mining outpost at all. It shouldn’t be from the temporal rift, though, it was too large for that. The other things that had come through the portal were much, much smaller than the station was, and few of them had come through intact.
“I have a good line on them,” Evelyn said, smiling coldly as she continued. “I’m going in.”
“Good hunting!” Fya replied cheerfully.
Evelyn didn’t respond verbally, instead drawing on her magic and grasping herself with telekinesis. This sort of thing was dangerous, but what was life without a little danger?
The next moment she picked herself up and flung herself at the enemy bay like a missile.
Chapter 47
“What is she doing?” Ilyra demanded in horror as Evelyn went flying out of the bay like… like a stone launched from a slingshot. A very powerful slingshot, at that, and she tracked the elven woman with disbelieving eyes on the shuttle’s display.
“Boarding the station,” Fya explained in amusement. “She’s a lot smaller target than any shuttle, so they’ll be lucky to hit her, and even if they do, she has shields. It won’t do much to her, and she can always correct her course.”
“I… but…” Ilyra floundered, then took a deep breath to steady herself. It wasn’t good to get flustered about something like this, she reminded herself, and focused, asking, “Anyway, isn’t the station supposed to be abandoned? Why’s it attacking us?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? No hails, no challenges, it’s just attacked anyone who gets close, and… ah, of course! Robots in the bay. Watch closely!” Fya told her excitedly.
Ilyra just looked at Zelirana, who was grinning back at her, then sighed and watched, wondering just what was going to happen. That was when Evelyn launched a ball of blue-white flame ahead of her.
The fireball detonated just before Evelyn came into its range, buffeting her as Evelyn flipped and skidded through the flames as she landed. She drew and activating her energy sword almost instinctively. The humanoid robot waiting for her still hadn’t recovered from the blast when she struck, punching straight through its power core. Its torso exploded violently, sending shrapnel in every direction, including some that bounced off her shield.
There were plenty of robots, Evelyn noted instantly. Some of them were a light metallic blue, while the spider-like robots and the tanks were much darker, matching the colors that the senne preferred, much like the lights had the blue hue they favored. Not a single living senne was in sight, but most important were the turrets in the bay corners that were angling toward her. Those, and the tanks.
Evelyn flipped over the nearest spider bot as it tried to aim the heavy repeaters on its back at her, thrusting her sword into its shields, which flared brightly as the blade blazed, splashing off the shield for a moment but not penetrating. She saw the shield fade slightly, though, and on landing Evelyn reversed the blade, punching straight through the shield this time and removing the first dozen centimeters from the barrels, fusing them just as it tried to fire, and the gun exploded, rocking the robot back as it began sizzling and smoking.
With a gesture and surge of magic, Evelyn repurposed her telekinesis, picking up the nearest tank, which she threw at a turret just as it began firing. Brilliant green bolts of energy slammed into the tank’s shields, then its hull. That might have been enough to destroy the tank, but Evelyn doubted it. The impact of it slamming into the turret did the job, though, and Evelyn dodged behind a force field the robots had set up to defend themselves as the other turret opened fire as well, preferring not to take that sort of fire head-on.
A robot unloaded into her with its carbine from close range for about half a second before Evelyn cut it short, while another extended a sword from one arm and charged her. She cut it in two, just as she started laughing, reaching out with her magic to pull the second turret off the ceiling and flung it at the other spider-bot.
As sparks flew, and the first robots began throwing their grenades, Evelyn grinned. This was what she wanted. Even if robots weren’t as intelligent as other people, they were actually a challenge.
Her shields were at fifty percent, Evelyn noted. She gave it even odds that she’d manage to destroy all of the robots before they went down and she was forced to rely on magical shields.
“Gods damn me,” Helsen breathed, looking at the docking bay as the shuttle doors opened, her eyes wide.
All around her were the smoldering remains of robots, their sparking wreckage burnt, torn apart, or even destroyed by grenades, while of the three tanks they’d detected, she could only see the remains of two of them. One was smoldering in the corner below the turret it’d hit, while the other had been the victim of what looked like six or seven plasma grenades, based on the overlapping craters in the deck beneath the flipped vehicle. Where the last had been was what looked like a heap of dust, which made her suspect that it’d been disintegrated.
The other robots hadn’t had much better luck, as the spider bots had been de-legged in one case, or crushed by a turret torn off the ceiling in the other. The other robots… well, they’d mostly been cut in half, blown apart, or otherwise mauled. And in the middle of it all was a woman in light power armor, svelte and seemingly fragile to look at. Not that the black and red would look anything but sinister in normal light, let alone the blue illumination which made her armor shine like the carapace of some deadly beetle.
“Ah, you made it! I take it you’re Captain Relka’s boarding team?” the woman asked, her voice clear, and she nodded toward the ship floating beyond the bay, and the golden minnow that had just left it. “My crew is sending a shuttle now, they’ll be securing the bay, and you’re welcome to coordinate with them if you’d like. I intend to start clearing the station, and you can join me if you want some excitement.”
“I… yes, I’m Lieutenant Helsen,” Helsen replied, taking a deep breath as she stepped out, nodding to her troops, who began spilling into the bay, many of them focusing on the robots to ensure they were actually destroyed. “I’ve heard of you, but I had no idea you could do something like this.”
“Eh, it wasn’t that bad of a fight. I tried not to use anything that would cause too much collateral damage,” Evelyn replied easily, shoving a robot to the side, then picked up a couple of grenades that she hooked to her belt. “I want to loot the place, after all. The tanks would’ve been rough, but they weren’t expecting a single boarder. Their anti-missile defenses weren’t designed to take down a shielded missile, unfortunately for them.”
“Ah. Well, what would you prefer we do?” Helsen asked, straightening slightly. “I’ve got two squads, and the Captain ordered us to let you take the lead on this op.”
“Oh, really? Well, in that case, I suppose I should just sit back and let you take care of it,” Evelyn replied, though Helsen could hear the amusement in her voice. The elf continued after a moment’s pause, her voice turning far more serious. “Not that I will, of course. The station will have three major wings, like all senne installatio
ns. Well, those that aren’t big enough to have nine. There’s going to be the command and military wing, the living quarters, life support, and medical wing, and the manufacturing and mining wing. All of them should have their own independent subnets and power sources. I’d like you to take one of your squads into the manufacturing and mining wing. These robots had seen some combat before I ran into them, though I didn’t have time to examine them properly, so there could be survivors aboard, I’d like you to keep an eye out for them. Also, here are my implant codes. If the manufactory is building more bots and you can’t shut it down, let me know. I’ll come help.”
Helsen blinked, surprised at the lecture, as well as the detail in it. Oh, most of the information wasn’t new to her, though she didn’t know the specifics of a mining base, but it was how concisely the woman had explained things that surprised her. She wasn’t used to hearing someone be so… so cheerful about walking into danger. She logged the codes the woman had transmitted, plugging them into the comm tree so that anyone in the boarding party could message her, or hear her if she messaged them.
“Understood. Where will you be going?” Helsen asked, glancing at Sergeant Hopper and jerking her chin toward the door. Without a word he nodded, and started barking out orders, setting up second squad at the exits.
“Command. Hopefully that’s where the most resistance will be,” Evelyn said, stretching and bouncing on her toes. “Senne have lovely miltech, so I’m hoping they can give me a good workout. Heck, even a run for my money would be exciting. You wouldn’t believe how boring it was in Rakal for the most part… the assassins helped break up the monotony, but at a certain point you just get restless. Or I do, anyway.”
“Restless? In Rakal?” Helsen asked incredulously, as she’d always heard that the independent port was more on the verge of anarchy than anything else. “Pardon me for saying this, but are you sure we’re thinking of the same place?”
Chosen of Chaos (Eve of Destruction Book 1) Page 33