Sunlord (48 page)

Shaun's eyes widened as he struggled futilely to free
himself against the cuffs. "No!" he screamed as Ashian was flung
against the wall, helpless. Shaun stumbled to his feet but could
knew he could not reach the Sunlord in time. Already the sec-pat
guard was re-cocking his lethal weapon, scowling with anger and
Hartrias fury.

Screaming useless defiance Shaun made a last ditch
effort at diving towards the sec-pat guard, cursing the foolhardy
currach. Why had Ashian attacked like this? They should have stayed
in hiding - they didn't stand a chance against enemies such as
these.

Then Shaun fell face first, hands cuffed behind his
back. He rolled, knowing that he had leapt short of the mark and
was still out of reach of the sec-pat guard. He could only watch as
the guard turned his wide bored weapon upon the crumpled
native...

Then suddenly the sec-pat guard's head disintegrated
like a melon. The decapitated corpse remained standing a moment
longer before the body fell, twisting limply through the air. The
green ray of fire ceased as the dead guard fell to the floor as if
in slow motion. His heart in his throat, frozen with disbelief,
Shaun turned his gaze around to where the ray of fire had come.

Moarn turned his stripper gun around upon a stunned
fellow. The sec-pat guard pulled the trigger and the other's chest
disappeared into a flow of jelly. In almost the same motion the gun
swooped down in a low arc, knocking the leaping Lectar from
mid-flight. Lightning quick, Moarn snapped his left elbow
backwards, seeing from the corner of his eye the final sec-pat
guard take the blow in the head. Another blow from his fist as he
brought his arm back around, Moarn spun and raised the stripper
gun. There was another dazzling blast of green and the lifeless
armoured suit smashed back into the wall.

It was all over in a few seconds.

Only four shots had been fired - three blasting a
neat hole through the heavy Hartrias armour and the final frying
the carcass of the Lectar. Shaun let out his breath, eyes never
leaving the sole standing figure that had saved them. He started to
his feet not sure whether to back away.

The floor suddenly shifted as the skidship ground to
a halt and the door hissed open. The sec-pat guard motioned for
Shaun to exit.

Shaun stood, but would not step out of the skidship.
"Who are you?"

A heavily gloved hand pushed him in the small of his
back. "Move!" growled the guard in Hartrias tongue.

Shaun had no time to think further as he found
himself stumbling out into the corridor. Using a manoeuvre often
practiced and refined, Shaun jumped and brought both knees close to
his chest at the same time as flicking his cuffed hands below. He
landed squarely a moment later, his hands now before him as he
turned to face the sec-pat guard.

He only caught a brief glimpse of black armour as the
guard unceremoniously pushed the natives from the skidship. As a
seeming afterthought the sec-pat guard cast a compact minigun
sliding along the polished floor in lazy pirouettes towards them.
Barely a moment later the skidship door slid shut and the craft
powered up and shot away.

Ashian stood simply gasping for air, backed against
the wall for support. "...friend of yours?"

The window of the docking door showed blackness: the
skidship was far away by now. Shaun turned to his companions, his
mind still in a daze and his system shaking with adrenalin.

The name embedded into the computer banks had been
Jyrohn T. Moarn, but now it was time to abandon that identity. It
had been a long time but now finally the moment had come for him to
act. Making sure the vacuum seal was connected and the flow of air
was steady inside the protective embrace of the sec-pat guard
warsuit, the hardened warrior then turned his attention to the
interior of the skidship.

The bodies of the other guards lay as they had
fallen, twisted in the ugly spasm of death, headless and mutilated.
Moarn did not spare the bodies a second glance; he had known his
companions distantly as voices over a two-way in those two years he
had served on the Hartrias Warship Rplore.

He raised the thin stripper rifle, pausing
momentarily to check fluid levels were above critical. Then,
flicking off the safety, Moarn squeezed the trigger.

A blast of green viscous light fell upon the wall of
the skidship just as the craft pulled to a halt. Drifting his fire,
waiting for the exact millisecond, Moarn punctured through the
outer skin of the skidship just as the docking doors hissed open at
the station stop. The safety doors under Avatar's control which
would have saved the ship remained motionless. The vacuum from the
interior of the skidship tunnel was met with the atmosphere of the
station bay and the small crater Moarn had blasted suddenly ripped
wider like tissue paper.

Relying of the full power of the warsuit Moarn clung
to the railing as atmosphere roared out into the vacuum. Long
painful moments later, breathing heavily with exertion, the raging
roar subsided.

Moarn regained his footing, the regulated breathing
echoing as a steady rasping hiss inside his helmet as he walked
forward. The corridor was in complete airlessness.

Turning the corner Moarn nodded silent satisfaction
as he saw two choked corpses on the floor, their eyes wide and
bulging, hands about their necks in fatal asphyxiation. Moarn
stepped over the burly Hartrias bodies, the only sounds that of his
breathing, his footsteps silent in the vacuum. The entire sector
was still and motionless.

Reaching to the holster strapped to his right side
Moarn pulled the scanner instrument to the front of his visor.
Flicking up the resolution the small screen darkened, a mapped
display of the level appearing with a bright spot in the far
corner. Satisfied the bug planted on the human escapee's was
sending out a clear signal Moarn replaced the scanner in its
belt.

Moarn then turned his attention to the silent
corridor, pausing momentarily as he pondered a battle-plan. He knew
that emergency doors bordering sectors had activated, sealing the
rest of the ship from vacuum. Striding with unstoppable
determination Moarn stalked forward to destroy these doors.

There was an explosive ringing noise and Shaun's
manacles fell apart.

Shaun opened his eyes and brought his hands back
down, the cuffs still enclosed his wrists but the adjoining chain
had broken cleanly. Capac handed over the minigun which he had used
at point blank range to blast Shaun free of his bonding.

Shaun took the minigun without comment; pulling back
the catch and checking the ammunition levels and giving the weapon
a quick visual check as he hefted it in one hand.

"Why did he give us that gun?" asked Capac.

"A better question would be why did he shoot the
other guards in the first place?" Shaun paused, looking over
Capac's grubby form. "Better yet; what possessed you pair of fools
to jump right ontop of four armed Hartrias guards?"

Capac paused. "What do you mean?"

"You jumped down like a pair of bloody idiots!"

"We should have let you rot!" growled Capac. "I'm
sorry for getting in your way, but at the time it seemed you needed
all the help you could get!"

"Yeah, right." Shaun's voice was heavy with sarcasm.
"I like your plan - drop on their heads and let them beat the crap
out of you. Brilliant!" His voice turned suddenly vicious. "You
realise you endangered all of our lives with your foolish
prank-"

"Prank?!" Capac demanded breathlessly.

"-if it wasn't for that crazy guard turning his gun
upon his own men we'd all be dead."

Capac opened his mouth to rebuke but Ashian stepped
between the two hunters of different worlds. The currach's eyes had
a glazed look about them, his face blackened with soot and a long
shallow gash ran below his eye. Despite his exhaustion he stood
with proud determination with hands raised, silencing the argument.
Tension grew as the silence lengthened before Shaun's steely gaze
broke down. A corner of his mouth twitched upwards in a wry
smile.

"Sorry mate." Shaun held a hand to his chest. "It's
just that you scared me back there."

One corner of Capac's mouth pulled into a wry
smile.

Shaun extended a hand and clasped Capac's four
fingered hand in a firm grasp. "I really didn't think you and
Ashian would make it." As he spoke a knot built in his chest; he
never thought he would be so relieved to reunite with these
natives. With a start he realised these people meant a whole lot to
him - they were his friends.

"You owe me a tale when we get back," Shaun growled
good-naturedly, a thousand questions rising in his mind. "I'd never
thought you'd succeed. Defeating Avatar is no small task."

Briefly Ashian related their battle against the
master computer. In a few sentences he had filled Shaun in on how
they had rigged the blaster caps to set off a chain reaction.

A cloudy brooding look crossed Shaun's face, for the
currach's story just did not settle right. Why hadn't the ship's
secondary generator kicked in - and what had prevented the vacuum
seal emergency doors - that could easily contain such an explosion
- from closing? Not voicing his discomfort, Shaun uneasily put the
matter to the back of his mind.

They started off down the walkway, their pace
suddenly becoming hurried as another rumble went through the hull
of the Urisa. All four stumbled and almost fell as the floor rocked
through forty-five degrees before resettling itself. Shaun knew the
effect was caused by the artificial gravity machine faulting,
producing the sensation of tilting.

Only a few more metres and they were there, facing a
small circular door in the wall before them. Shaun read the
Hartrias lettering above, that feeling of uncertainty rising again.
Everything was too neatly placed. "It seems our mysterious friend
dropped us in an escape pod dock."

"I don't like it," muttered Capac with quiet
suspicion.

"Like it or not we've got to take the pod."

Knowing it could be a trap, Shaun knew they had no
choice but to board the escape pod. Punching the button he felt a
cool breeze against his forehead as the door whooshed open.

"All aboard," he motioned, looking for a moment like
a bizarre war-weary train conductor bearing a minigun. "We're
planet bound." After a moment's thought, he added; "I hope."

Ashian stepped into the craft after Myshia, his eyes
lowered, looking everywhere else but at Myshia. It seemed in those
instants when their gaze met a galvanising bolt ran the length of
his spine in the gasp of a power he could not define. Confused
emotions swirled in his chest as he stepped into the pod,
immediately feeling the closeness of the walls.

He looked up, startled, as the small room became
suddenly pitch black. His currach eyes adjusted immediately to the
darkness, catching Shaun's shadow as he moved back away from the
door.

"Strap yourselves in," the human muttered, reaching
over a control panel and switching it on. A coloured array of
lights blinked on the dash which Shaun looked over critically.

Stumbling in the semi-darkness Ashian fell into a
huge padded seat and struggled with the belts. Designed for the
Sunlords it took a little difficulty to draw it across his lap and
fit it into the catch at his side. Pausing a moment to regain
breath he noticed six seats were arranged compactly about the
interior of the escape pod, Myshia seated closest to him, her
attention focused on fastening the belt. It seemed in this physical
proximity to one another the link that had somehow linked their
minds was pushed to unbearable proportions. His forebrain tried to
repress the alien sensation, to blot it from conscious thought, but
the emotions he was receiving were just too strong. Some instinct
knew a change was coming over the eloprin huntress; her mind
flailing in the quagmire of superior thoughts. Since the party had
rejoined Ashian had not spoken a single word to Myshia.

Nearby, Shaun pulled himself away from the control
panel and moved quickly to seat himself in the one of the heavily
cushioned chairs closest him. The air was as black as the inside of
sack punctuated only by flashing countdown lights on the control
board. Holding his breath and clenching his fists at his sides
Ashian prepared himself for the jolt and when it came it was worse
than he had anticipated - the incredible push of g-forces that
pressed against his skull and chest forced the blood to his
feet.

Mechanical jaws opened and the escape pod shot from
the Urisa, spinning gently and engines glowing white-hot. The pod,
roughly spherical in shape, curved parabolically towards the
glowing surface of the planet below.

Ashian opened his eyes, struggling to keep hold of
his stomach. The pod was in weightlessness now, and suddenly there
was no up and down. He felt a rising sense of nausea and clenched
his eyes closed again. It felt as if he was falling, time
suspended. He was falling but not moving, his mind spiralling and
gut somersaulting.

Through half-open eyes he shot a sideways glance at
Capac. Ashian saw his friend was similarly affected by the
disturbing sensation. Only Shaun seemed immune to it as he tapped
at the control panel from his seat.

Slowly, very slowly, he felt weight return to his
limbs as Shaun applied the engines, pulling them up from their
rapid descent. The gentle acceleration at last restored direction,
enabling Ashian to pull himself fully alert.

Capac risked opening his eyes. "That was some ride,"
he grumbled.

"We're not over it yet," muttered Shaun from the
control chair. Small lights at his side flashed, rapid beating like
a moth's wings as gauges shot into the red. "We've got engine
failure right and left and we've hit atmosphere. Lost pressure in
the tanks...the computer system is totally haywire. Get ready for a
rough descent."