Loyalty: Old Mans Comeback Book 5, page 7
Rethus bolted from his chair as well, rushing the other man. Each was slammed into the wall. Kesta got a good grip on the rifle, pressing it hard against the Mahshi’s chest, then bashed his opponent with a quick head butt.
The attack dazed him, though the Mahshi’s strangled cry emboldened him. He yanked the weapon hard, spinning the man while using his foot to trip him. They both went to the floor, and Kesta sat up, raining down a flurry of heavy blows. The body went limp, but he didn’t stop until he struggled to catch his breath.
“Help!” Rethus called. Kesta glanced back, watching as the Mahshi shoved his attacker back.
Kesta snatched the pistol from the unconscious man’s holster, then dropped to his side to take aim. The rifle and pistol went off simultaneously. Rethus cried out, dropping to the floor. The Mahshi took a beam to the face, partially melting the flesh. He fell dead in an instant.
“Rethus!” Kesta crawled to check his companion. The blast got him in the chest. A slow, shallow breath rasped through his throat. His pulse felt weak. “Hang in there. I’ll get you some help soon. Just… just relax.”
Distant, muffled blasts accompanied his breathing. It felt eerie in the space as the only person conscious. Kesta stood, stumbling toward the terminal. He blasted the unconscious man twice, ending him. The body jerked with each hit, then went still.
The comm line was open. Kesta leaned over the microphone. “Hello? Can anyone read me? This is The Concierge, on…”
The door opened behind him. Kesta shoved away from the console, throwing himself to the floor. A flicker of light dazzled him as a beam struck the console. Sparks rained down on him as he rolled to his side to return fire.
Harl moved back into the hallway, taking cover. “I see you made a play.”
“You would’ve,” Kesta replied. “Seems like you’ve got some problems. Maybe you didn’t have as much control over the Hostel as you thought.”
“Lower the weapon,” Harl said. “I’ve still got plenty of people out here to—”
“Knock it off,” Kesta interrupted. “You have nothing. I don’t know what my friends did, but they came prepared.”
“I still have a warship!”
“And you’re all alone.” Kesta crawled to his feet. He glanced at the comm. The shot obliterated the controls. “What do you think will happen next?”
Harl risked a peek inside.
Kesta shot the wall near his face.
“Good shot,” Harl replied. “But it looks like your friend might not be doing so well. You want to risk his life? The longer you hold up in there the harder it’ll be to save him.”
“As if you have any intention of letting me take him out of here. Or getting him help.” Kesta shook his head. “We’re at a standstill for the moment, but I have a feeling the situation’s about to resolve itself. Maybe you’d do best to make a run for it. Hide for as long as you can.”
“After what I’ve done, you think I’m going to hide? You’re delusional. This whole place is about to be eliminated. I’ve given the order to make it a crater. You and everyone else on this world will die.”
“If that was true,” Kesta replied, “you wouldn’t be standing there. You’d take a risk. So forgive me if I don’t buy it.”
“It’s… true…” Rethus muttered. He coughed. “I saw… on the scan… we’re… in trouble…”
“Save your strength,” Kesta snapped. “Harl… if you want to live, we need to work together. I don’t want—”
“Save it,” Harl said. “I’ll only accept your unconditional surrender. Then we can talk about what to do next.”
“You want to die?”
“I’m prepared,” Harl replied. “Are you?”
Kesta muttered, “Not particularly.” He hurried over to the wall, leaning against it. Harl was directly on the other side. It wasn’t a safe position. Either of them could’ve poked their weapon around the corner, ending the conversation. But something told him that wasn’t going to happen.
Much as Harl talked big, he didn’t want to go out like that. He hoped there might be some leverage. Kesta had no intention of providing it. But he needed to come up with something. Time was of the essence. People were coming. Good or bad, it didn’t make a difference.
What happened in the next few moments might mean the difference between surviving and losing the entire settlement. And Kesta had no idea what to do.
Chapter 11
The Hostel
Raymond “Flip” Kinnely
The soldiers seemed to be concentrated near the security center. Flip made his way through an empty promenade. It had been bustling the last time he visited, with people going in and out of the various shops. The Mahshi attack turned it eerie in its isolation, particularly since most of the doors sat open.
Anyone could go in and cause trouble if they wanted.
Flip assumed the Mahshi ensured no one went into the area. They wanted to control the station, so they had to either kick people out or move them somewhere easy to protect. That’s why he concentrated his resources on taking back the security center. It would be the best place to hold prisoners.
Harl didn’t appear to be all that interested in murdering the civilians. He wanted the Ilsin and Sorsha. The Hostel itself was a means to an end. It ultimately didn’t matter. Maybe they could’ve negotiated their surrender to get it turned back over to the people. But that would’ve condemned the remaining Kultarins to death.
Flip slowed as he reached the end of the promenade. Weapon fire sounded much closer than he would’ve liked. He thought the majority of fighting would’ve taken place much farther away. When he came close to the corner of the last building, he paused to take a look.
Two sides engaged in a gunfight, blasting each other from the cover of massive crates littering the street. None of them appeared to be dressed as Mahshi. They were opportunists, causing trouble in the middle of a crisis.
Pretty much the types that would’ve stolen from the emptied-out businesses. Unfortunately, they proved to be terrible shots, blasting all around their targets but rarely even managing to hit the cover.
Flip didn’t have time to wait. He needed to cross over, make it to the next street, then continue on toward the Lobby. Though taking a moment didn’t bother him either. He paused to catch his breath, fading back to lean against the wall in safety.
A couple blasts came down from the sky, striking something just outside the dome. Each hit made the ground rumble and shake. Flip flinched, watching as flames erupted into great pillars filled with black smoke.
“Gia?” Flip asked, “Sorsha? Do you read me? What exactly did I just see?”
Neither responded, though there didn’t appear to be interference. He hoped that meant they might just be too busy to respond but then… Gia could multitask. The notion put Flip’s imagination fill in gaps with bad news. Had they lost to the warship? It seemed impossible… yet he couldn’t be sure.
“Hey!” Flip shouted, “Sorsha, do you read?”
Still nothing. But his shouting seemed to attract the attention of the people around the corner. Remaining inconspicuous didn’t seem possible anymore. He glanced to see that both sides had stopped shooting. They were staring at the flames.
“Oh…” Flip muttered. “Maybe they didn’t hear me after all.” Which made him feel at least somewhat better. Still, they’d definitely see him try to cross the area. But maybe it didn’t matter. Their own conflict probably bothered them more than some random guy running for his life. “Time to find out.”
Flip sprinted away from his position, clearing half the street before someone cried out, drawing attention to him. A couple random shots hit the ground near his feet. He crossed his body with his pistol, firing three shots in their general direction before a beam hit him in the shoulder.
The shields absorbed the attack, but Flip still stumbled as he made it into the alley. As he regained his balance, he continued sprinting, though the injury ached. It felt like being kicked by a horse. His whole body felt like he’d been bruised after what he’d been through since arriving.
And it promised to only get worse.
The next hundred feet went by smoothly, but there were no turns, no curves, and no cover to take. If the people pursued him, they’d have a straight shot into his back. He pushed himself harder, working into a real sprint.
Gunfire behind him made him flinch in anticipation. But the shots didn’t come, nor did they fly past him. The two sides must’ve started fighting each other again. Though some screams gave him pause.
Flip slowed, looking over his shoulder. One of the robots moved through, then turned, laying down rapid fire over the street. They shouldn’t necessarily have been taking on civilians, but the protocol told them to go after combatants. He didn’t think the regular people of the Hostel would turn to violence amongst themselves.
But the Mahshi turned the place into a version of the Wild West. Though Flip honestly believed they’d locked the entire settlement down. Where did those people come from? He glanced back, watching beams strobe across the alley opening, making it clear he’d probably never know.
The end of the alley loomed ahead. Flip picked up the pace. He intended to rush straight out, then cut toward the Lobby, when he saw a shadow dance on the path. The tell almost came too late. When he tried to stop abruptly, he fell backward then slid away from the buildings.
Someone kicked at him as he went by. Flip rolled to his feet, taking a shot to the chest before he returned fire. His attacker jerked from a hit to the shoulder, then returned fire.
The blast hit Flip in the face. Though the shield absorbed the wound, he still got dazzled by the light. He tripped over his own feet, dropping backward where he went still. Playing possum may have saved his life as the person approached, stalking forward slowly.
“What’ve you got, huh?” The man grunted out the words before taking a knee. A shadow fell over Flip’s face as a hand reached for him.
Flip threw a kick, catching his target in the hip. The blow knocked the man back just enough to raise a pistol to shoot him twice in the chest. Each hit made him huff, then gurgle before dropping dead.
The sounds of distant battle replaced the high-pitched sounds from the pistol. Flip blinked his eyes several times. His vision stayed blurry, but cleared enough to make out his surroundings. He was near the Lobby, though the stairs wouldn’t be visible for another thirty or forty feet.
“Sorsha?” Flip muttered. “Are you there? If you can hear me but can’t say anything, find another way to talk to me. I’m getting worried.” He got to his feet, then stumbled away. His eyes hurt, but every moment made things clearer. “Kesta? Are you on the channel? Anyone?”
The comms remained dead.
“Guess I’ll restore them when I get there.” Flip sighed. “Somehow.”
***
Sorsha Ritaktha
In Space above the Hostel
All systems seemed to shut down. Environmental shields remained online. Gia’s interface showed offline as well. Sorsha tried to restore it, but the computer was down as well. She turned to her private communicator.
“Gia, do you read? Can you pick me up on this?”
“Affirmative,” Gia replied. “Automated repair is coming online.”
“How long will it take? Do we have time?”
“That’s a relative question,” Gia said. “Last scans did not show the warship advancing toward us. However, the station is still heading directly toward the settlement. We do not have a lot of time to stop it, nor am I sure we have the capacity to do so.”
“Why aren’t they coming to board us?” Sorsha frowned. “I thought they were. What happened?”
“They fired on the surface,” Gia replied. “Final scans showed they destroyed the Mahshi ships landed there.”
Sorsha stiffened. “They’re betraying each other. Probably over the spoils. Wow. They really are total scum. They can’t even get along with themselves, how does any of them think they can rule the galaxy?” She sighed. “Never mind. What can I do to help us get things back online?”
Gia didn’t answer immediately. When she did, she almost seemed to sigh. “Automatic repair shows that we were hit with an old Kultarin weapon. Something that they stopped using before I was created.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It absorbs energy from attacks, at the expense of the target vessel taking tremendous punishment. When it reaches a certain threshold, it discharges it. Had we taken the full brunt, all our systems would be down including repairs. Often, it obliterates targets. We are lucky. As are they if they wanted the Ilsin as a prize.”
“How’d you survive?”
“My casing,” Gia explained, “is resistant to that sort of pulse technology. I was built to withstand weapons like that. In fact, all of our ships generally have defenses against that type of attack. However, the Ilsin seems to be lacking a module. I should’ve been aware and for that, I apologize.”
“I mean, it’s ancient. That’s probably why they have it,” Sorsha said. “Otherwise, I don’t think they’ve found much in the way of military secrets.”
“Or installed them correctly. This one did cause them some problems. Still, we’ll need to be cautious about the next attack. I believe I can get the generators back online momentarily. Then we’ll move around behind them. They can’t possibly keep up with my maneuvers. We’ll disable the thrusters before going in for the kill.”
“Sounds good… and you’re sure I can’t do anything?”
“The computer,” Gia said. “Is it online yet?”
Sorsha checked. The screen turned white. “It seems to be booting up.”
“When you can, prepare the comms. You’ll need to reach out to the surface to warn them about the station. And maybe find out who is on that thing so we can stop them.”
“Right.” Sorsha nodded. The thought that she gestured to the computer that couldn’t see her made her cheeks burn. “Are scans ready?”
“Basic, yes. Tactical will be restored momentarily. It seems they’ve missed their opportunity though they are on approach now. This is not going to go well for them if I can hurry things along. Give me a moment. I need to put all processing into my work.”
The idea of an AI needing to be quiet to think worried Sorsha more than anything else going on. Gia’s processing power alone should’ve allowed for minimal tasks to go on while focusing on others. Like talking, mostly.
A buzz made Sorsha jump, but it was just the computer letting her know it finished its reboot cycle. She immediately brought up the comm application, though it displayed a message of no connection immediately. The tactical screen appeared a moment later. That at least provided her with several target blips.
The Mahshi ship appeared to be moving, coming toward the Ilsin. They kept well away from the space station as it continued along its path toward the settlement. Trajectory suggested it would connect just outside the Hostel dome. A damage assessment appeared with a title complete destruction.
“Oh, Gia…” Sorsha frowned. “We really need to hurry!” Systems were coming back online, but restoration seemed slow. And with the Mahshi approaching, it was only a matter of time before they needed to find a way to repel boarders.
Or more seriously, lose the ship to the enemy.
Chapter 12
The Space Station heading toward the Hostel
Torma Wender
“We need to find out about Frenz,” Torma said. “And the ship. It might be our only way out of here.”
“Agreed,” Bolst replied. “Best to have an escape route. But that would mean splitting up.” They stopped in the hallway.
“I can get there.” Torma looked around. “If you two want to take the admin center.”
Ergar scoffed. “You’re both mad. We can barely do it with two armed people, now you want to take care of it with one? Why not go for the ship together then go for the admin area? Then at least we have—”
“No time,” Bolst said. “That’s what we have. So quit your whining. You’ll come with me.” He turned to Torma. “You’re alright. I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time.”
“Thanks.” Torma backed away. “Good luck. Keep that guy safe.”
“He’ll be fine.” Bolst grabbed Ergar, dragging him down the hallway.
The ship had to be back the way they came. Torma recognized the corridor, though he couldn’t say how. The gas effect must not have taken hold before he passed out. Backtracking took him to an intersection. Someone needed to put up some signs to help get around the place.
