Read Online Adventures of the Starship Satori 4: No Plan Survives Contact by Kevin McLaughlin - Free Book Online
Authors: Kevin McLaughlin
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thing for sure, if she ever managed to get back home again she was done. This was it. She wasn’t leaving her home system again. She could help fix the Satori when it returned home, but this was her last mission.
“We’re almost back to the surface,” John said.
Daylight gleamed from somewhere ahead, lighting their way up the last few turns of the spiraling tunnel. Beth could already feel the heat wafting down the shaft toward them. Maybe the thing wouldn’t follow them into the light. Maybe they’d be safe up on the surface.
She hoped that Dan was all right. Worry about him tugged at the edge of her consciousness, and she kept shoving it away with an effort. Damn that man. Why did he have to come back into her life now? She wasn’t sure just how she felt about him after all the years apart, but she knew she still cared. He mattered. He was out there somewhere in the Satori, probably in trouble and without her by his side to back him up this time.
The opening to the tunnel loomed ahead at last. Beth was so lost in her thoughts that the first shot impacting the cave wall next to her almost went unnoticed. She realized what the shot was a second before John stepped into the mouth of the cave. Someone was shooting at them.
“Down!” she shouted. She dove forward, half tackling John to the floor. Another flash streaked by where his body had just been. Beth heard Andy curse. In her peripheral vision she could see him taking a knee and firing off a few fast shots at whoever was attacking them.
“Get some cover,” Andy said. He fired again, each shot carefully aimed and timed to give them a few moments. Beth and John didn’t hesitate. They rolled across to the other side of the edge of the cave opening.
“Naga?” John asked. It was the logical assumption.
A torrent of fire came at the cave entrance like a hailstorm. Beth knew those shots. They were the little pellets of energy that the Naga shot from their rifles. Shit.
“Yeah, at least twenty of them,” Andy said. “We’re pretty pinned down here.”
He leaned forward to take another shot, but had to duck back fast. The Naga were pouring fire on the cave like they would never run out of ammunition. And they wouldn’t, not any time soon. The power packs on those weapons carried a high level of charge.
“Got any more of those grenades?” Beth asked Andy.
“One, but I’d like to save it for when it will do the most good,” he said. “They’re too spread out right now.”
A roaring noise cut him off. Something crashed against the back wall of the cave, showering them all with fragments of broken rock. Beth ducked her head and avoided most of the blast. When she looked back up she saw that whatever weapon had fired blew a hole in the solid rock wall big enough to stick a few soccer balls into it.
“What the hell was that?” Beth shouted.
“Don’t know,” Andy said, trying to peek around his cover. “They have something big out there. Some sort of power armor maybe? I can’t get a good look from here.”
Beth was the engineer. If anyone could get an idea what they were up against with this new weapon it was probably her. She took a deep breath and ducked her head out from behind her cover. She scanned the outside, looking for movement through the shimmering haze of heat waves against the dun colored rock and sand. She spotted Naga, lots of them firing from behind rocks a few dozen yards away. A group of them were dashing up on the left side, trying to get closer to the cave.
Then she spotted the thing Andy had glimpsed. She knew in a moment that it had to be the source of the cannon that just blasted the cave. It was about eight feet tall, armored with metal from the neck down. Its arms both ended in weapons of some sort. One had a small barrel, the other had a bore about the size of her fist. That had to be the big gun. But it was the head that took her breath away, made her linger out from her cover for just a moment longer than she
“We’re almost back to the surface,” John said.
Daylight gleamed from somewhere ahead, lighting their way up the last few turns of the spiraling tunnel. Beth could already feel the heat wafting down the shaft toward them. Maybe the thing wouldn’t follow them into the light. Maybe they’d be safe up on the surface.
She hoped that Dan was all right. Worry about him tugged at the edge of her consciousness, and she kept shoving it away with an effort. Damn that man. Why did he have to come back into her life now? She wasn’t sure just how she felt about him after all the years apart, but she knew she still cared. He mattered. He was out there somewhere in the Satori, probably in trouble and without her by his side to back him up this time.
The opening to the tunnel loomed ahead at last. Beth was so lost in her thoughts that the first shot impacting the cave wall next to her almost went unnoticed. She realized what the shot was a second before John stepped into the mouth of the cave. Someone was shooting at them.
“Down!” she shouted. She dove forward, half tackling John to the floor. Another flash streaked by where his body had just been. Beth heard Andy curse. In her peripheral vision she could see him taking a knee and firing off a few fast shots at whoever was attacking them.
“Get some cover,” Andy said. He fired again, each shot carefully aimed and timed to give them a few moments. Beth and John didn’t hesitate. They rolled across to the other side of the edge of the cave opening.
“Naga?” John asked. It was the logical assumption.
A torrent of fire came at the cave entrance like a hailstorm. Beth knew those shots. They were the little pellets of energy that the Naga shot from their rifles. Shit.
“Yeah, at least twenty of them,” Andy said. “We’re pretty pinned down here.”
He leaned forward to take another shot, but had to duck back fast. The Naga were pouring fire on the cave like they would never run out of ammunition. And they wouldn’t, not any time soon. The power packs on those weapons carried a high level of charge.
“Got any more of those grenades?” Beth asked Andy.
“One, but I’d like to save it for when it will do the most good,” he said. “They’re too spread out right now.”
A roaring noise cut him off. Something crashed against the back wall of the cave, showering them all with fragments of broken rock. Beth ducked her head and avoided most of the blast. When she looked back up she saw that whatever weapon had fired blew a hole in the solid rock wall big enough to stick a few soccer balls into it.
“What the hell was that?” Beth shouted.
“Don’t know,” Andy said, trying to peek around his cover. “They have something big out there. Some sort of power armor maybe? I can’t get a good look from here.”
Beth was the engineer. If anyone could get an idea what they were up against with this new weapon it was probably her. She took a deep breath and ducked her head out from behind her cover. She scanned the outside, looking for movement through the shimmering haze of heat waves against the dun colored rock and sand. She spotted Naga, lots of them firing from behind rocks a few dozen yards away. A group of them were dashing up on the left side, trying to get closer to the cave.
Then she spotted the thing Andy had glimpsed. She knew in a moment that it had to be the source of the cannon that just blasted the cave. It was about eight feet tall, armored with metal from the neck down. Its arms both ended in weapons of some sort. One had a small barrel, the other had a bore about the size of her fist. That had to be the big gun. But it was the head that took her breath away, made her linger out from her cover for just a moment longer than she
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