Hunter Killer: Legacy Earth 7, page 23
“Hrafn squad?” their squad leader asked. “I thought you were dead.”
“You know we don’t die; we just go to hell to regroup,” Lance replied before nodding at the injured. “Can they move?”
“Of course we can,” one injured Marine said.
“Oorah!” the other added.
“Good, find a safe place and hold up there,” Lance ordered.
“We can fight, sir,” a Marine offering first aid countered.
“No doubt you can and that you can fight well. But these are S4 we’re facing. Traitors, their skills and equipment outclass all of you. We know how they fight. Leave them to the Hrafn squad, HUA?”
“HUA,” they replied in unison with a nod.
“Now how many Reeves are on this station?” Lance asked as Valdivia and Lincoln took up sentry positions.
“I’d say fifty.”
“And how many did you kill?”
“Including these ten, eighteen in all.”
“And how many other squads of Marines were deployed into this hot zone?”
“Twelve.”
Lance nodded; he stood up and approached his brother.
“With the platforms in the stairwell, there shouldn’t be that many left,” Lance said.
“Where’s the command center?” Lincoln asked.
“It’s up this corridor and to the left. Val, are you picking up on anything?”
The Jarog shook her head.
“Too many people hiding and locked in rooms to get anything of use.”
“Team B, how are you guys doing?”
“There’s nothing protecting their ship anymore,” Dexter replied. “And Stephanie’s getting a whole bunch of information from their craft. How about you?”
“We’re coming up on the command center. Most likely place to find them.”
“You’ll be outnumbered. Do you want backup?” Stephanie chimed in.
“You forget, we’ve got a Jarog,” Lance countered. “We aren’t outgunned.”
Lincoln and Lance led Val toward the command center. She moved slowly, tilting her head from side to side as she followed. She periodically turned around and checked their six. To Lance’s surprise, there were no other Reeve or Marine corpses in their path.
Lance pointed right as they approached a branch off from the main corridor. They turned to see a massive steel door with thick, heavy bolts locked in place.
“You want to Qui-gon them?” Lincoln asked, nodding at the three-inch bolts.
“I think it’ll be faster if you just hack it,” Lance replied.
The cyborg shrugged and approached the door’s command console. As he put his hand on it guns emerged from the ceiling and pointed at them. Before they could fire, they powered down.
“Now that’s not very nice,” Lincoln muttered. “They deactivated the defensive measures in the control center. I can’t take them down from out here.”
“How long until you’re through?” Lance asked.
“A few seconds.”
Lance looked at Valdivia and nodded at the door. She moved in behind him, leaned toward the barrier and cocked her head to the side.
“You want me to stun them as soon as the door opens?” she asked.
Lance nodded.
“I’m going to use humiliation because I doubt fear will work on them,” the Jarog added.
“Whatever you do, just be quick. I’m almost through,” Lincoln replied.
33
COST OF BETRAYAL
CHUNK! CHUNKCHU-CHU-CHU-CHUNK!
The locking bolts withdrew rapidly, unlocking the command center doors. From their time protecting the station from pirates, Lance recalled a heavy terminal just inside to the right. As the door opened, he grabbed his brother and made a dash for it with Valdivia close behind.
Bullets flew at them, bouncing off the walls and ground with only one or two barely skimming their armor. Their aim wasn’t quite pin-point. As all three landed in cover, Lance looked at his mini-map to see the four S4s’ locations.
“We’ve located the enemy squad,” Lance called out over their radio. “Engaging now!”
Looking at Valdivia, the captain nodded. She gripped her rifle as Lance’s cheeks warmed. His heartrate elevated as he was overcome with a desire to get out of everyone’s presence.
He took a deep breath as Lincoln’s pupils flickered with light before his helmet closed in around his head. Fighting through the implanted humiliation, both soldiers rose to their feet and opened fire on their staggered opponents.
After his first two shots bounced off their armor, Lance turned his aim to their weapons. With one shot, he put a hole through the cooling system of their leader’s rifle. His second hit the hand of another member, splintering the firing mechanism.
Lincoln disabled their weapons as well before holstering his rifle to engage in close quarter’s combat. Movement out of the corner of Lance’s eye brought his attention back. Their leader rushed him.
Turning his weapon, Lance slammed the stock of his rifle into the oncoming fist. Stepping forward, he slammed his fists and gun into his attacker’s chest, causing him to stagger backward.
Raising his gun, Lance held down the trigger, dumping every round he could into the S4 traitor. Six or seven tungsten rounds in the same spot should’ve shattered the armor. It didn’t. Sparks flew off the top of Lance’s rifle as his cooling system ruptured in a flare of light.
Rookie mistake! he shouted at himself. Never take your eyes off your other opponent!
As he turned to the other S4 member, he instinctively chucked his useless rifle at the charging soldier, throwing off his pistol aim, causing the round to narrowly miss Lance’s helmet.
Before the charging soldier could right himself, a shotgun blast slammed into the side of his head in a shower of sparks. Lance watched as his charging enemy was thrown off his feet and into a control console.
The blast didn’t kill him; Valdivia didn’t let up. She pumped her shotgun and continued to fire rounds into the S4 member, effectively pinning him to the console. She marched toward him as the armor held up under her sustained fire.
Lance’s mini map blinked red, drawing his attention to it. A dot approached him from his blind side. Jumping backward the enemy squad leader threw a powerful yet sloppy punch. Missing the captain caused him to stagger for a split second.
“Steph, did you upgrade our armor’s software?” Lance asked as he kicked at his opponent’s knee.
“That was me,” Lincoln replied as he shoulder threw one S4 member into another. “I figured proximity alerts were a smart add.”
“Good call.”
The enemy squad leader corrected himself. He squared up with Lance, who took his boxer stance. Rushing the captain, the S4 leader started to attack with powerful yet imprecise strikes. They were close, but those fractions of errors gave Lance the openings he needed to dodge or block the hits.
Sparks flew as metal slammed against metal. Lance played defensively as he studied his swift yet surprisingly slow opponent. Once he noticed a pattern, the captain took advantage. Delivering a powerful left jab, he made contact with his opponent’s helmet, ignoring the blow to his ribs.
His opponent’s head whipped back, causing the S4 to backstep. Planting his back foot, Lance pushed forward and followed up with a powerful haymaker.
CLANG!
His contact was flawless. Sparks flew as his opponent’s head whipped to the left. Even with inertial dampeners and physical enhancements, such a precise blow would knock out even an S4.
The enemy squad leader staggered backward as Valdivia took a hit but continued to dominate her opponent in the background.
“That was good.” The squad leader chuckled as he righted himself. “Been a long time since I took a hit like that.”
Lance’s stomach dropped. He should’ve been out cold. How was he still on his feet? His contact was perfect, and the rotational force should’ve been more than enough to take him down.
“Data Broker give you more upgrades?” Lance asked.
His opponent shrugged before dashing at Lance once more. Stepping forward, the captain delivered a powerful forward kick. He hit nothing but air as his enemy sidestepped the attack with a graceful spin before delivering a powerful backhand to Lance’s face.
The blow sent Lance staggering to the side. He caught a glimpse of his brother holding one of the other S4 in a headlock before jumping and dropkicking the other in the chest, bringing the first to the ground with him.
As Lance steadied himself, his enemy was already on top of him, once again delivering a flurry of blows. Going low, the captain went under the punches, slammed his shoulder into his enemy’s gut, picked him up off the ground and, with a primal roar, drove him backward, slamming his enemy’s spine into the corner of a console.
A heavy elbow slammed into his back plates with enough force Lance felt them through his suit. A knee slammed into his chest, causing the captain to release his opponent and stagger backward.
Both men clashed once more. Lance attempted some of his SOAT training. To his disbelief, his opponent was able to keep up. The S4 fought unlike any human he’d faced with no sight of slowing.
Lance’s muscles started to ache from delivering and blocking attacks. His movements slowed; they were slightly less precise. Closed fists hammered at his defenses; open palms slapped away attacks while fingertips jabbed at pressure points.
The captain noticed his opponent slowing as well, both men running out of stamina, precision and strength. Doubt crept into the back of his mind if he’d be able to win or not. With one plan he hadn’t tried left, Lance went for the Hail Mary.
Provoking a haymaker, Lance slid under the wide hook. Wrapping his arm around the S4’s waist, he stood up, pulling his opponent off the ground. Arching his back, he fell toward the ground, bashing the back of his enemy’s helmet on a console on the way down.
Slamming into the ground, Lance rolled over, his armor protecting him from being winded by the suplex. Metal lay splintered on the floor from his enemy’s shattered helmet as Lincoln was forced to kill the men he fought.
The distinctive crack of a snapping neck rang out from Valdivia’s opponent behind him. Breathing heavily, Lance drew his pistol and aimed it at the S4 squad leader as he rose to his feet and approached.
“You are under…” He trailed off.
Looking up at him with a frustrated expression lay Buzzro Shrod, greenish blood oozing from his head.
“Is there a problem?” he asked with a sneer.
“Ooooh, we’ve got a big problem,” Lance replied with a nod as he retracted his helmet. “And you can either answer my questions or we can go to Madam Devris, and you can explain to her what you’re doing.”
“I’m a bounty hunter. My loyalty is to those with the deepest pockets,” Shrod said with a shrug.
“Then who’s your bounty?” the captain asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know!”
Buzzro pushed his hands back. His bracers opened, ejecting a dozen small black balls into the air. A series of blinding explosions overtook Lance’s vision. Sharp pain shot through the back of his eyes as several loud BANGs caused his ears to ring.
A brutally efficient kick knocked Lance’s gun out of his hand. His arms instinctively covered his face as he summoned his helmet. Blinking the white light out of his eyes, the captain drew his shotgun and aimed it at the door, which was overrun with grey smoke. Buzzro Shrod was gone.
“Disable the ships!” Lance ordered in an all-points channel. “Jam all escape pods. No one gets off this ship!”
“What happened?” Stephanie asked, her voice barely understandable through the ringing.
“Buzzro freaking Shrod’s what happened,” Lance replied as he ran to the exit. “They got on the ship disguised as S4!”
Entering the cloud, his suit’s warning sirens went off stating it was a toxic gas that his filters couldn’t hold off. He stepped out of the cloud and extended both arms, stopping Lincoln and Valdivia from pursuing.
“Copy that. Ships are locked down,” Stephanie replied.
“We can catch him!” Valdivia shouted, trying to push past Lance’s arm.
“You wouldn’t make it three steps through that cloud,” Lincoln countered. “Analysis can’t identify what it is, but the particles are small enough to slip through filters.”
“Then it’ll spread through the vents. We need to shut down ventilation systems,” Lance replied.
He shook his head as the ringing wore off while making his way to a control panel.
“It’s only deadly if in concentrated enough amounts that it’s visible,” Lincoln countered. “It’s dispersing into such small amounts that it’ll no longer be lethal.”
“I thought he was on our side,” Valdivia said, impatiently pacing in front of the disappearing cloud.
“He’s on whoever pays him most,” Lance countered before returning to his radio. “Do we have an update on those escape pods?”
“Still working on it. There’s a lot and the system is set up so they can’t all be shut down at once,” Stephanie replied.
“Dad, how are the weapon systems on the Manifest Destiny?” Lance asked, his heart starting to race.
“We’re working on them, but they’re currently disabled,” Leon replied.
“Justin, do you see anything out there?” Lance asked.
“We’re in a bit of a pickle here. Give me a second!” Justin replied. “We just drifted through a bunch of pulverized comets and I’m trying not to get us blown up!”
Lance flipped through the console to see half of the escape pods launch themselves while the other half were blocked by Stephanie’s work.
“No,” Lance muttered as frustration grew within him.
His hope of finding Amber, Chadavia and the artifact started to fade as he ran a life form scan.
“No!” he snarled as the sequential scan showed half had no living beings in it.
“NO!” he roared.
The last of the escape pods in the station revealed no life forms while one of the launched pods showed signs of an occupant. Rage erupted within him as the signals were lost between the storm of ice.
Drawing his arm back, Lance squeezed his fist twice and punched the console. His plasma blade sliced through it as if it weren’t even there, sending sparks flying in all directions. Retracting both his weapon and helmet, the captain started to pace.
Flicking his thumbs, the negative feelings within him grew and swirled like a black hole, eating away everything good and happy within him. Aggressively, he scratched the back of his head so hard, he almost bled as he turned to his squad.
“He escaped!”
34
THE SIGNAL
“He may have, but not everything’s lost,” Stephanie replied over the radio. “You’re going to want to come to the hangar and see this.”
Lance looked at Lincoln and Valdivia. They both nodded toward the now cleared doorway. With a frustrated huff, the captain marched out of their control center and through the halls of the station with Val and his brother close behind.
“How’s the Manifest Destiny holding up against the comet cloud?” Lance asked as he flicked his thumbs.
“Hull integrity is holding,” Leon replied. “Casualties are surprisingly low, and repairs are already underway.”
“We’ve already passed through the cloud,” Justin jumped in. “We’re clear now and human carriers are inbound to assist.”
“Copy that. Hopefully, they’ve got someone who can track his ion signature,” Lance replied.
“Sir, that’s doubtful,” Drentlaw cut in as they entered the stairwell and made their way down several decks. “Buzzro Shrod picked his ejection site perfectly. The comet that passed by must’ve had a highly irradiated core because there’s no identifiable ion trails.”
“Then send a probe along the comet's trajectory and track to see when there’s a branch off,” Lance countered as they left the stairs and followed team B’s path.
“It’s already been done, sir,” the cartographer replied.
“You’re a good man, Drentlaw,” Lance said, approaching the hangar.
“Always one step ahead of the curve, sir.”
Entering the large, nearly vacant room, Lance marched toward the S4 transport while ignoring the other ten abandoned ships inside.
“Marines have landed on emergency ports throughout the station and have begun a security sweep,” Leon announced over all channels. “Anyone who is barricaded in a room, stay put until we can get to you.”
Lance climbed up the ship's ramp and into the craft. Its floorboards and side panels were ripped out where Reeve mobile platforms were placed. In the center of the craft, around a control cylinder, knelt Stephanie with her multi-tool’s holographic interface deployed.
“What do we got?” Lance asked.
“This ship and the S4 on it were sent to assist with the large-scale assault on the SOATs,” Dexter explained as he inspected some of the mercenaries’ abandoned weapons. “They were ambushed by Svikari fighters and never made it to their destination.”
Lance’s heart sank. He took a deep breath as he looked at Stephanie for confirmation. She nodded in agreement.
“It looks like our mutual friend here stumbled across the ambush and fought off the attackers, just a little too late, though,” the engineer added.
She hit the ship’s recording. The sound of inbound fire bouncing off the ship’s hull emanated from the box. Men shouted orders to one another, calling out descriptions of their attackers.
A low thud of a hull puncture preceded a violent rush of wind and hull integrity alert alarms. After a few moments, everything went silent.
“According to the ship’s records, they all died by being thrown around from the decompression,” Stephanie explained.
“Then why’d Buzzro and his mercenaries take the ship and their suits before spacing the bodies, I’m guessing?” Lance asked.
Stephanie fiddled with her multi-tool. As she did, an audio message flickered through.
