Star Force: Veracious (SF48) Page 5

  “No you don’t,” Bri said, taking more hits and getting melty spots on her armor, some of which she could feel a little heat from as she sprinted underneath the transport as it began to rise up. There were no open hatches or doors for her to get in through, and trying to hang onto the landing gear was a bad idea, for she would be crunched the moment it retracted.

  That left her one option.

  Skidding to a halt she reached out with her mind, sensing those inside and guessing where the cockpit was before it was out of her range. Several plasma blasts hit her but she ignored them, focusing on sending blast after blast of Fornax energy into the large ship. Five seconds later she almost gave up the attempt, getting warning lights flashing in her HUD as her armor was taking serious damage, then the transport, now halfway up through the open doors, lurched to the side and hit the rim.

  There was a loud groan as metal pressed against metal, but the small bump escalated into a full blown crash as the transport inexplicably accelerated into the contact, breaking through the roof like it was tearing a piece of paper and forcing the transport back down inside at an angle.

  Bri sent out one last blast then ran out of the way as the right side of the ship hit the deck, forced down as the roof thickened, tipping the transport onto its side. She took the moment to shoot another of her attackers and diminish the plasma coming towards her as she ran behind the cover of some more crates, most of which were empty and compacted down into storage mode…dozens of which crunched loudly as the transport edge landed on them, sounding like a billion twigs snapping under a Dino foot.

  Bri circled around and got closer to where she thought the bridge was and resumed throwing Fornax blasts inside, aware that her head was starting to protest the continuous effort. As she did she worked her way further around, trying to find a route inside while dodging the mercs still on the deck who had not given up their attempts to slow her, and probably now emboldened by all the surface damage her green armor was showing.

  It was a sticky situation, but she wasn’t about to let the ringleaders get away if she could help it, and at the moment it was a draw. They couldn’t leave and she couldn’t get inside, with the Archon not knowing which direction the deadlock would break.

  On the outskirts of the complex Travis and Karen hopped over several of the bernen that had been corralled and entered through the loading dock, wide enough for just one at a time, and came into a horrific scene. The line of ‘livestock’ were being separated into four chutes by a worker with a pain-inducing stick of some kind, where upon each bernen was separated from the others by two paddles…one in front and one in back that forced it to move slowly down the processing line.

  At the end of that line there were shrieks of horror coming from the bernen as they were forced into a tight chamber smelling of the blood of the ones that had gone before. The high pitched squeals turned Karen’s stomach so much she almost hesitated, but thanks to the battlemeld link with her brother they kept each other steady and stunned the handler corralling them just as they’d done the ones outside, then both twins split up and launched themselves up and over the death chutes via jump pack.

  They came down on the far side, seeing one of the corralled bernen trapped between the wall and a large mechanical hand that had more than a dozen arm-sized fingers wrapped around its thick chest. Those fingers were pinning it in place, then with a flash a blade jutted out and decapitated the creature, with a blood spill equivalent to a small tidal wave that fell into a grate while a second mechanical hand picked up the head and placed it on a conveyor that disappeared into the nearby wall.

  The body followed, dropping into a chute that disappeared into the floor as the next panel came forward, with the bernen behind it freaking out after hearing and smelling what had just happened ahead of it. The mechanical hand came in and pinned it against the wall just as Karen got to the control nook, dropping in over the short wall and kicking the operator in the head.

  She reached down and grabbed him by the throat and tossed the spindly Karsek off the elevated platform, pumping two stun rounds into it as it fell, then she jumped up to the top of the wall and leapt off it to the next station, coming down on the Critel there as Travis took care of the other two stations.

  Karen wanted to snap the man’s neck, but orders for this mission were to take prisoners for interrogation, so she settled on a very hard kick to the ribs followed by a pair of stun shots. The acolyte pulled the man’s body off the platform and dumped him to the floor before hopping over to the nearest bernen in the kill slot, looking for a way to rip apart the machine and free it as Travis found what she needed.

  Karen retreated over to the control platform and hit a specific button that her brother had discovered that retracted all of the paddles. The bernen were still in the chute but could see one another and, more importantly, could backtrack. It took a while to get them back out into the exterior corral, but Karen and Travis felt it necessary to get them away from the blades and the gore that had just been their living kin before moving further into the facility.

  They locked the exterior doors so that the bernen couldn’t wander back in, not that any looked to be wanting to get near the building after they set them loose, and proceeded further inside, hunting down more personnel but finding only a handful. Some were fleeing ahead of them, but they managed to bag a few on the level below, cutting up the bernen corpses in a display that made Karen puke in her mouth…which caused Travis to do the same.

  She held it in as they took care of them, then they left the gore behind and Travis covered for her as she removed her helmet and spat out the vile liquid. When she locked her helmet back in place they switched, allowing Travis to spit out what they fortunately had both held inside their mouths, otherwise the interior of their helmets would have been a mess. Once he’d resecured his helmet Karen followed him into the next section of the complex, still feeling an unsettled stomach.

  Grotesque as it was, they were both Archons and knew how to steady their nerves from many high pressure situations before. Right now she forced the thoughts of the carnage aside and focused on eliminating targets…something that had been ingrained into every Archon since the beginning of basic training.

  The twins proceeded to clear out the processing and packaging subset of the complex, finding only light resistance. Eventually they made their way to the residential areas that held a variety of chambers, some that looked like for sleeping and others for business. Karen and Travis were scouting out one of the ‘office’ complexes when Bri finally caught up to them, with Karen giving her the ‘wait’ finger as she entered.

  A split second later Travis, some 10 meters ahead and around a corner, fired off a stun blast…followed by a struggle that had Karen running after it and disappearing around the corner. Bri followed her several paces behind, but got a sneak peak ahead with her Pefbar, looking through the walls and seeing Travis kicking the crap out of three people. When Karen got to him that number increased greatly, with more coming out from somewhere beyond her vision.

  “Stand down!” she heard Travis yell in the trade language, then as she got around the corner and up to them the ranger saw dozens of people clustered together in the room, now kneeling on the ground with their hands in the air…save for those that were lying unconscious at the twins’ feet.

  Bri reached out to the conscious ones with her Ikrid, quickly discovering that these weren’t combat trained. “Service personnel.”

  “Service?” Travis asked.

  “Cooks, whores, and whatnot,” she said, turning over one of the unconscious ones with her armored boot.

  “Ouch,” Karen said, looking at Bri’s armor. “You get your ass kicked?”

  “Necessary damage,” she said, looking at the fearful looks she was getting from the mostly female group three meters in front of her. “How many did you take down?”

  “At least thirty,” Travis answered. “You?”

  “126. Do you feel like babysitting these?”


  “Not really,” Karen said, feeling Travis’s dread simultaneously.

  “Then stun them.”

  Karen shrugged. “Works for me.”

  In sync the two twins raised their pistols and unloaded on the group, which was terrified, thinking they were about to be killed, but after a few seconds all of them dropped to the ground unconscious, though one Bivor hit its head on a countertop on the way down, proceeding to bleed heavily onto the floor.

  “Damn it,” Travis said, seeing the wound.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Bri said, glancing at Karen. “Call down a pair of dropships. We need commandos, techs, and medic. Enough to set up a makeshift prison. Techs will administer the farm until we decide what to do with it.”

  “Copy that,” Karen said, using her HUD to link into the small ergonomically shaped cylinder located across her lower back. Using the comm booster she got a link to the GameRay and began organizing their support team.

  Bri hadn’t carried one, preferring instead to carry extra weapons. One of her pistols had already run out of charge, but she’d brought four, plus some extra power packs, though she hadn’t changed any out yet.

  The ranger pulled off her left glove and knelt down next to the Bivor, tipping him over onto his back and moving his tiny arms aside. She reached up and swiped away the blue blood, seeing how big the gash was, then she let it swell back up again and continue to run in a rivulet across his wide face and onto the floor as she looked down at her hand, with smoke rising up as the blood on her fingertips began to boil off.

  Using her Rensiek, she gathered a great amount of heat on the surface of her fingers and contained it there, mostly, then carefully reached down and pushed them against the wound. When she lifted them back off the unconscious alien the blood flow had reduced to a trickle, with the skin over the wound having been cauterized.

  “Ouch,” Travis commented. “Where did you learn to do that?”

  “Toasting marshmallows,” she said deadpan, switching over to one of the guards and pressing her now cool fingers against the Critel’s head. This one was a merc, apparently having been caught off guard getting a meal and deciding to take refuge here while the others fought…up until Travis had got to them and he’d decided to try to fight it out hand to hand with a fully armored opponent. Not the brightest move, but at least she appreciated the effort, for she would have done the same.

  “Reinforcements dispatched,” Karen reported. “You looking for something specific?”

  “Yes.”

  “Mind sharing?”

  “Kayate.”

  Travis raised a mental eyebrow, with Karen returning the sentiment.

  A moment later Bri released contact and stood up. “You guys talk too much…and splitting up the questions between the two of you doesn’t help. Hacking into the minds of races you’re unfamiliar with is hard enough for me without your distractions. So when the fingers come out,” she said, holding up her slender digits for emphasis, “your mouth closes.”

  “As you wish,” Travis agreed.

  Bri pointed her armored finger at him. “And don’t flirt with me,” she said, pulling her other glove back on. “This one was recruited in Scionate space. Same with two others I checked earlier. That’s where they’re shipping the meat.”

  “To the Scionate or just through their territory?” Karen asked.

  “Good question. Hopefully one of the others will know. I didn’t have time to check them all.”

  “Flirting how?” Travis asked naively.

  “Movie. Princess Bride. Watch it when you get back. Right now, we’ve got bodies to drag…or rather you guys do. I’ll take a couple, then I’m going to start mind scanning while you bring the others.”

  “Where to?” Karen asked, not really interested in watching a chick flick now or ever.

  “Cargo bay is a mess, so we’ll use one of the rooms on the other side. Not sure what it’s for, but it should be big enough.”

  “What’s wrong with the cargo bay?” Travis asked.

  “I broke their ship. You can check it out when you’re pulling the crew off, there’s at least 20 still in there,” Bri said, lifting the largest unconscious alien in the room up and over her shoulders. “Bring them all to me and I’ll put them in a deep sleep so we don’t have to keep wasting ammo. When the dropship arrives tell it to set down as close as it can.”

  Karen nodded and let Bri walk out with her cargo before she knelt down and picked up one of her own, with Travis doing likewise.

  Princess Bride?

  Not watching it, Karen said, following Bri out underneath a very smelly alien.

  6

  May 12, 2534

  Solar System

  Earth

  “You son of a bitch,” Alden-031 said in dismay. “Do that again.”

  Paul smiled. “Happy to.”

  Alden pulled an apple up out of the bag the trailblazers had brought with them then telekinetically sent it flying through the air towards Paul, who was standing in the middle of Balboa Lane, which the 6 trailblazers had commandeered for this little endeavor.

  The apple sailed on a straight line towards Paul, who stepped a few inches to the side as he brought his right arm up and held his hand flat like a blade. As the apple got to him he chopped down on it, missing by half a meter.

  None the less, the apple split in two, with Alden sailing both pieces on past him, whereupon he circled them around and back into his hands, staring at the cut Paul had just made as the trailblazer kicked the other pieces further away from where he stood.

  Jack-020 walked over and looked at the apple slices with Alden. “Just like a knife.”

  “That is scary,” Alden agreed, looking at the larger piece. Paul had sliced it in half, but he’d missed dead center by a hair.

  Wes-049 yanked the smaller half out of Alden’s hand and flew it over to his own, studied it for a moment, then took a bite. “Alright…moving target,” he said as he chewed.

  “Allow me,” Ben-044 offered, pulling out another apple from the bag with an invisible hold, but instead of shooting it straight at Paul he sent it in on a curve, then looped it around his fellow trailblazer out of reach before sending it in towards his back.

  Paul spun around and missed again…but this time the apple didn’t cut in two, it juked up as Ben moved it just in time to miss Paul’s extended ‘hand.’

  “Gotta be quicker than that,” Dina-077 teased. The six trailblazers on Earth were all in the pyramid for advanced training, and they’d taken an hour out of their time to see Paul’s new trick that he had been boasting about.

  “Unless you want me grabbing it, get it back down here,” Paul warned as Ben floated it over his head.

  “I thought you could hit it at range? Wes asked.

  “Not when it’s moving,” Paul clarified.

  Dina smiled as Paul’s back was turned to the group, his eyes chasing the apple above him. She telekinetically picked up another apple and shot it towards him, giving him two targets to hit as Ben simultaneously brought the high apple down towards his head.

  Paul saw the second one coming on his Pefbar and extended his other hand into a flat pose, then whipped both arms around in slashing motions. It took 5 attempts over the timespan of 2.3 seconds, but he managed to hit both apples, though the upper one only got a small nub cut off. He telekinetically grabbed all four pieces and tossed them back to the group, a proud smirk on his face.

  Jack shook his head. “I still can’t believe you’re doing that with shields.”

  “Believe me, it’s harder than it looks. I have to concentrate an awful lot of power into a very small space, but I can get an impossibly sharp edge if I do it right.”

  “How sharp?” Dina asked.

  “I haven’t been able to cut metal yet, but only because I’m not strong enough.”

  “Damn,” Wes said in a whisper. “We can’t even see the blades.”

  “I can fix that,” Paul said, mentally making an adjustment with hi
s invisible knife blades extending out beyond both hands’ fingertips suddenly becoming translucent with a blue tint, looking for all the world like short swords floating an inch beyond his fingers.

  “Better,” Ben commented, pulling out another apple.

  “Not if the Zen’zat keep them invisible,” Wes argued.

  “He has a point,” Dina agreed, feeling her braided ponytail.

  Paul raised an eyebrow. “Need a haircut?”

  She eyed him firmly. “Don’t…you…dare.”

  “Ok,” Jack said, picking up a few of the already cut pieces and floating them in front of him like a rack of ammunition. “Splatter time. Everybody get one.”

  “Hey…” Paul complained as they all pulled apples out of the bag, with Alden taking two.

  “Here’s how we’re doing this,” Jack explained. “You stay put, we throw at you in straight lines. No switchbacks except to recycle ammo,” he said, mentally telling the others to spread out. “And no blocking shields.”

  “You’re going to get me so sticky,” Paul complained, setting himself with his arms going low and wide.

  “I think that’s the point,” Dina said, shooting her apple at him far faster than the previous ones had flown.

  Paul twisted his torso to the right and brought his left arm up, bisecting the apple but getting hit in the cheek by half of it, leaving a wet streak there. He didn’t have time to swipe it away as more apples and apple pieces came in at him. The full ones he managed to hit, but every time he made a cut they got smaller and kept recycling back around, with all five trailblazers eventually telekinetically juggling 5 or more pieces each.

  Those Paul couldn’t cut well, because his siblings were peppering him with them far faster than he could handle and enjoying every moment of it. He knew he could have thrown up a defensive shield to cover his skin, but that would be cheating and they knew it, meaning he had to flail about trying to hit pieces or admit defeat.