The Cyber Chronicles IV - Cyborg (17 page)

"Striker, full
emergency reverse!"

Two more
alarms joined the cacophony, and Tassin gripped her seat, her
stomach churning. Sabre stood watching, a slight frown furrowing
his brow. The engines' wail returned, rising to a scream that made
Tassin want to clamp her hands over her ears. She was too busy
hanging onto her seat, though. The looming hulk steadied and slowed
its approach, even as one of the guns hidden amongst the
scaffolding turned towards them. Strings of crimson pulses flashed
past them, and Striker shuddered again.

"Engine one
hit, shutting down."

"Bastards!"
Kole bellowed. "Striker, target enforcer ship and fire aft
laser!"

The settlement
ship fired streams of searing light in a converging web of lines,
proving itself to be extremely well armed. Other ships docked
nearby also joined the battle, pouring deadly fire at the enemy.
Striker's forward motion ceased, and they drifted past the
settlement ship. The gun that pointed at them turned away, and Kole
slumped.

"Shut down
engines, Striker."

"Engines
offline. Warning: fire in engine two, deploying extinguishers."

Tassin jumped
as a metallic clang echoed through the ship, followed by a dull
scraping that shivered the floor.

"They've got a
grapple on us," Kole said. "Even if we had engines, we can't escape
now."

Tassin glanced
at Sabre. "What should we do?"

"Contact the
settlement ship and ask for sanctuary, then use the escape
pods."

Kole shook his
head. "Their captain will never agree. The enforcers will follow us
onto his ship."

"How is that
enforcer ship able to withstand so much firepower?" Tassin stared
at the light show outside.

"It's a battle
cruiser. It has tyranium cobalt armour," Sabre explained.

Kole turned to
him. "How many troops on that cruiser?"

"Twenty."

"How many
cybers?"

"Two
A-grades." Sabre glanced at the settlement ship. "Ask the captain,
and if he refuses, tell him you have a cyber."

Kole's brows
vanished into his mop of blond hair. "Look, I know cybers are great
and all that, but is it going to make such a difference against
twenty troops and two cybers?"

"Ask him."

Kole turned to
the console beside him and touched a button. "Hail Ragman's Joy.
Striker crew requesting sanctuary."

After a pause,
the tinny voice replied, "Son, I know we're not supposed to refuse
sanctuary, but you've got a lot of firepower on your tail, and I
don't want it on my ship."

"We have a
cyber. Grade A."

A long,
pregnant pause ensued, and Tassin bit her lip, watching Sabre, who
looked grim. Finally the voice said, "All right, sanctuary
granted."

Kole looked up
at Sabre. "I don't believe it."

"Let's
go."

"Wait." Kole
jumped up. "You've got to explain this. One cyber's no match for
two, and twenty troops."

Sabre turned
in the doorway. "Those guys would like nothing better than to kill
some enforcers. They'll take care of the troops, and I'll deal with
the cybers."

"It's two
against one."

Tassin nodded,
adding, "You told me two cybers would fight to the point of
exhaustion without either winning."

"In unarmed
combat, yes," Sabre said. "With weapons, it just depends on who
gets in the fatal shot first."

"Your reflexes
are slow."

"Do you want
to surrender?"

She shook her
head.

"Striker has
three two-man escape pods. You should come with me."

Her heart
swelled with joy that he wanted her company, then grew heavy as she
realised that the cyber was probably urging him to stay close to
her. Nevertheless, she jumped up and followed him as Kole said,
"Striker, go into high orbit as soon as you're released and assume
defensive mode four."

Chapter Eight

Tassin stopped
at her room to collect the sword, strapping it on. She followed
Sabre down the corridor past all the rooms she had explored, until
it ended in a bank of three round doors with strange mechanisms on
them. He pressed two keys on two keypads, and the door rotated,
then cracked open with a hiss. Swinging it wide, he gestured for
her to enter. She crawled into a tiny sphere with two seats and a
panel filled with flashing lights. Sabre climbed in after her and
pulled the door closed, then turned to the panel and tapped it
several times. The lights flashed more energetically, a few
remaining lighted. Kole's voice came from it.

"Ragman's Joy,
we're in the escape pods and on our way."

The tinny
voice replied, "Airlock three will be open when you arrive."

Sabre turned
to Tassin. "Buckle in; the belt's next to you."

Another dull
clang rang through the ship as Tassin found the belt and pulled it
across her chest, her stomach a tight knot. Sabre strapped himself
into the other seat and tapped the panel beside him again.

"Brace
yourself."

Tassin gripped
the armrests, and then a terrific jolt jerked her sideways, making
her gasp.

Sabre shot her
a wry smile. "Escape pods aren't equipped with inertia dampeners or
artificial gravity."

She gulped as
a strange floating sensation made her stomach heave, and, if not
for the straps, she would have drifted right out of her seat.
Gripping it harder, she said, "You're going to have to pretend to
be a cyber."

He shrugged,
looking away. "I'll be pretty good at it. Don't forget to give the
orders."

"I - I'll
try."

There were no
windows in the pod, and Sabre watched the instrument panel,
occasionally tapping in instructions. Tassin tried to imagine what
was going on outside as they drifted towards an open door in the
settlement ship through a web of laser fire. The walls seemed to
close in, and she shut her eyes. A jolt jerked them open as weight
returned. Sabre tapped the panel, watched it for a minute, then
nodded and released his straps.

"Come on,
we're on the settlement ship."

Tassin
struggled with the clasp, and he unclipped it for her, then took
her arm and supported her as she stumbled to the door. He opened it
and climbed out, helping her through it. Tassin straightened and
glanced around at a cavernous hold, its walls lined with catwalks
and crowds of poorly dressed, but well-armed, tough looking men.
Most had laser cannons slung across their backs; a few had side
arms strapped to their thighs. Motley piles of boxes filled the
corners, some partially covered with tarpaulins, some empty, and
Striker’s other escape pod was closer to the centre of the hold.
The two gleaming white pods looked out of place in the scarred,
grubby surrounds.

Kole stood a
few paces away, talking to a tall, bearded man with a paunch, who
wore a ragtag collection of uniforms cobbled together into a
facsimile of a captain's rig. He glanced over at them, and his pale
brown eyes glinted.

"Ah, there he
is." He approached and inspected Sabre, who assumed a guard pose
behind her. Kole followed, shooting her a glazed-eyed look that she
could not quite fathom.

The captain
turned to her. "You're his owner?"

"That's
right."

He stuck out a
grimy hand. "Captain Ravel."

Tassin shook
it gingerly, wincing at his crushing grip, and introduced
herself.

Ravel returned
to his perusal of Sabre. "They're so bloody small," he marvelled.
"Amazing. He's not very well-equipped though; no armour."

"Thank you for
helping us."

"I wouldn't
miss this for anything. As you see, we have plenty of volunteers to
deal with those scum enforcers."

"Miss
what?"

"A cyber
fight." He shot her an incredulous look. "You've never seen
one?"

"No."

"You're in for
a treat."

"It's two
against one. I hope your men will also help."

He shrugged.
"They'll do their best, I'm sure. I just hope we can tell 'em
apart."

Tassin went
cold. "Then perhaps -"

"Mark him,"
Kole interrupted.

Ravel nodded.
"Good idea." He beckoned to one of the men who hovered closer than
the rest. "Fetch me a can of spray paint."

"Paint?"
Tassin demanded in horror.

Kole gripped
her elbow. "Hush."

The man
returned after a minute with a can of bright pink paint, and Ravel
handed it to her. "You'll have to do it."

Tassin took
the can, puzzled by it, and Kole took it away from her. "I'll do
it."

Ravel raised
his brows. "You've got command privilege?"

Kole glanced
at Sabre. "Yes."

"Unless I
override him," Tassin added.

"Of course."
Kole pulled the end off the metal cylinder, pointed it at Sabre's
arm and pressed the little button on top of it. A bright pink
streak appeared on Sabre's skin, and Kole used it liberally,
marking his arms, chest and back. Sabre stared blankly into space.
Ravel touched his right ear, and Tassin glimpsed a shiny metallic
device in it.

"The enforcers
have released your ship," he said. "They're coming to the airlock.
They must want you really bad. I'm not going to let them burn in;
I'm going to open the airlock."

Kole shrugged
and nodded. "Might as well."

"Do they know
about your cyber?"

"Yes."

"Pity. How
badly is your ship damaged?"

Kole grimaced,
recapped the tin and handed it to the man who had brought it. "Both
engines are down, and the auxiliary backup."

"That's too
bad."

"Yeah."

A clang echoed
around the hold, and Ravel touched his ear again. "They've attached
a boarding tube." He paused, listening. "It's primed." Taking two
laser cannon from a nearby man, he handed one to Kole. "Make
yourself useful."

Ravel handed
the other to Tassin, and she frowned at it in confusion. "I don't
know how -"

"Give it to
the cyber, and you'd better give him his instructions."

"Oh, right."
Tassin held out the laser cannon to Sabre, who unclasped his hands
from behind his back and took it. "Cyber, enemies will be coming
through those doors in a moment. Kill them."

Sabre ran his
hands over the weapon without looking at it, touching a couple of
buttons on the side. Ravel pulled a tiny wire from behind his ear
and spoke into the end of it.

"Open the
airlock."

Sabre turned
his head towards her. "You should seek cover, over there." He
nodded at the nearest pod.

Tassin sidled
towards it, loath to leave his side. Ravel joined his men by the
wall, and Kole took cover behind the pod with Tassin, leaving Sabre
alone in the middle of the room.

"I hope he
doesn't get hurt," she muttered.

"Chances are,
he will."

Tassin gulped,
her eyes stinging. The airlock doors rumbled open to reveal a long,
corrugated tunnel, and two men crouched outside holding needle
guns, hair-fine lasers designed to burn through metal. They dived
aside, and black-clad enforcers boiled in, opening fire. The men by
the walls fired back, filling the hold with a web of brilliant
light and the vicious buzzing hum of high powered laser bolts that
left glowing spots on the metal walls with sizzling cracks. Sabre
dropped flat and fired, and a couple of enforcers went down as his
shots penetrated chinks in their armour. The rest spread out,
firing at the men around the walls, some of whom fell with grunts
or yells of pain.

Sabre rolled
sideways as bolts flashed past his position. Tassin's heart crawled
into her throat, and her hand caressed the hilt of the sword at her
side. Kole fired around the edge of the pod as the enforcers strode
across the hold, some dragging away the wounded. The settler ship's
crew sought cover behind piles of metal boxes, and some of the
enforcers developed glowing spots on the front of their armour.
They turned their backs to allow the overloaded shielding to cool.
More fell as they were hit in the arms or legs, and retreated into
the tunnel, where medics helped them back into the ship. Three men
ran in, each carrying a two-metre-square shield, and most of the
enforcers took cover behind them.

Tassin's
breath caught as a pair of cybers in full body armour and helmets
strode in, awed, as always, by their lithe grace. They fired at the
settlers with the two hand lasers they each carried, their arms
working independently.

"No problem
telling them apart," Kole shouted above the battle’s almost
constant hum and crackling bangs.

Tassin glanced
at Sabre, amazed that he was still out in the open, and unharmed.
He rolled from side to side, avoiding the shots, but when the
cybers appeared he leapt up and sprinted to the nearest pod,
running up the side of it. Flashes of red fire followed him, and he
turned and leapt at a clutch of enforcers behind a shield, landing
behind them. In a moment he had pressed the muzzle of his laser
cannon to the necks of three of them, killing them, and the rest
scattered, drawing fire from the walls. The two cybers tracked his
movement with bolts of hot light, as did some of the enforcers, but
most were occupied with the settlers.

Sabre grabbed
the abandoned shield and whipped around, flinging it at one of the
cybers with a jerk of his arm. The cyber ducked, and the shield
smashed into the wall beyond with a terrific bang, almost beheading
several settlers, who dived aside in the nick of time. The other
cyber dropped into a forward roll towards Sabre as he performed a
graceful backflip, whipping around to smash the butt of his cannon
into an enforcer's helmet. The man dropped, and two more flung
themselves at Sabre, trying to shoot him point blank. Sabre dived
into a forward roll, then leapt high to avoid the cybers'
converging fire.