out the kinks in the cure’s delivery system, the planet will rise up behind us.
Until then, it’s up to us.
But then, isn’t it always?
CHAPTER 9
After takeoff, I focus on the drones.
Four of them bear down on us, nearly in weapons range. Shuttles don’t usually have offensive capability, but Vel retrofitted this little beauty with some guns from a junked skiff. We have other vehicles for air travel as well, but none quite so nice.
It feels odd to fire from the console instead of a proper gun pit, but there’s no room in a ship this size. I tap furiously, lining up my shots. The shuttle’s size means I can feel each swivel of the lasers. When I have one square in my sights, I loose the first shot. I have to be fast. If these drones have a chance to bounce any visual footage to the satellite, Imperial forces will know what they’re looking for, and we’ll have to scrap the shuttle. Our resources are finite, not due to lack of credits, but because we’re limited as to what we can buy on world without attracting attention.
Red zings through the sky, outside my line of sight, but I catch the echoed light in my periphery as I line up the next shot.
Boom. One down.
My hands are steady even as Vel angles the throttle, delivering more altitude to evade the onslaught coming from the remaining three drones. I clip thesecond, and it careens into its cousin. They explode in a shower of sparks.
One left.
“Looking good,” Loras says. “Finish it before we get adds.”
“Yes, sir.”
I’m too busy to make a rude gesture or sketch a mocking salute. His laughter tells me we’re really friends, and he’s forgiven me at last. I feel a little lighter as I take the last shot, and more metal rains down on the centurions below.
Vel takes us up, zooming away from the scene into a cloud bank. We use that to confound anyone tracking us from the ground. He stays at that altitude until we reach the base, located in the mountains four hundred klicks outside the city.
At this altitude, the flora is evergreen, like that found at the frost line on more temperate worlds. Which means it’s thick, green, and prickly. And it offers great cover as Vel descends with a skill that belies how short a time he’s been flying. Light snow dusts down on us, melting beneath the thrusters, as he maneuvers us into a shallow cave. Any significant surface installation would be reported to the Nicuan overseers—and that’s why we built into the mountain itself. Using quiet laser drillers and the natural tunnels already in place, we’ve constructed an impressive base of operations in the last six months, projecting that our final appeal would fail. Sometimes it pays to be a pessimist. The doors seal behind us, hiding energy emissions that would let them track us.
As I step into the shuttle bay, I marvel that it doesn’t look at all cavelike. Instead, the walls have been finished, and it looks like any other building, provided you can forget you’re buried beneath several tons of rock. It gives me a little trouble, but as long as I concentrate on other things, I get past it. I tell myself that it’ll pass, anyway, once I get used to the place.
Right now, I’ve got to unload the prisoners. There are one hundred of us at the base, which I feel is a decent start, given how long we’ve been under way. Loras has compelling skill in convincing the La’heng to join our ranks, but he can only reach them in limited numbers. That’s why it was so vital to take down Imperial comms.
That changes tonight.
“I want our message on the air in ten minutes,” I say, as Vel and Loras haul the two centurions from the back of the shuttle.
They’re stirring, so I dose them again, just to be safe. Best not to delay our plans with complications that could’ve been avoided. The Nicuan government can’t censor our message this time. That surgical strike removed their ability to deny or approve what comes in on satellite. If we time it right, in the next
Until then, it’s up to us.
But then, isn’t it always?
CHAPTER 9
After takeoff, I focus on the drones.
Four of them bear down on us, nearly in weapons range. Shuttles don’t usually have offensive capability, but Vel retrofitted this little beauty with some guns from a junked skiff. We have other vehicles for air travel as well, but none quite so nice.
It feels odd to fire from the console instead of a proper gun pit, but there’s no room in a ship this size. I tap furiously, lining up my shots. The shuttle’s size means I can feel each swivel of the lasers. When I have one square in my sights, I loose the first shot. I have to be fast. If these drones have a chance to bounce any visual footage to the satellite, Imperial forces will know what they’re looking for, and we’ll have to scrap the shuttle. Our resources are finite, not due to lack of credits, but because we’re limited as to what we can buy on world without attracting attention.
Red zings through the sky, outside my line of sight, but I catch the echoed light in my periphery as I line up the next shot.
Boom. One down.
My hands are steady even as Vel angles the throttle, delivering more altitude to evade the onslaught coming from the remaining three drones. I clip thesecond, and it careens into its cousin. They explode in a shower of sparks.
One left.
“Looking good,” Loras says. “Finish it before we get adds.”
“Yes, sir.”
I’m too busy to make a rude gesture or sketch a mocking salute. His laughter tells me we’re really friends, and he’s forgiven me at last. I feel a little lighter as I take the last shot, and more metal rains down on the centurions below.
Vel takes us up, zooming away from the scene into a cloud bank. We use that to confound anyone tracking us from the ground. He stays at that altitude until we reach the base, located in the mountains four hundred klicks outside the city.
At this altitude, the flora is evergreen, like that found at the frost line on more temperate worlds. Which means it’s thick, green, and prickly. And it offers great cover as Vel descends with a skill that belies how short a time he’s been flying. Light snow dusts down on us, melting beneath the thrusters, as he maneuvers us into a shallow cave. Any significant surface installation would be reported to the Nicuan overseers—and that’s why we built into the mountain itself. Using quiet laser drillers and the natural tunnels already in place, we’ve constructed an impressive base of operations in the last six months, projecting that our final appeal would fail. Sometimes it pays to be a pessimist. The doors seal behind us, hiding energy emissions that would let them track us.
As I step into the shuttle bay, I marvel that it doesn’t look at all cavelike. Instead, the walls have been finished, and it looks like any other building, provided you can forget you’re buried beneath several tons of rock. It gives me a little trouble, but as long as I concentrate on other things, I get past it. I tell myself that it’ll pass, anyway, once I get used to the place.
Right now, I’ve got to unload the prisoners. There are one hundred of us at the base, which I feel is a decent start, given how long we’ve been under way. Loras has compelling skill in convincing the La’heng to join our ranks, but he can only reach them in limited numbers. That’s why it was so vital to take down Imperial comms.
That changes tonight.
“I want our message on the air in ten minutes,” I say, as Vel and Loras haul the two centurions from the back of the shuttle.
They’re stirring, so I dose them again, just to be safe. Best not to delay our plans with complications that could’ve been avoided. The Nicuan government can’t censor our message this time. That surgical strike removed their ability to deny or approve what comes in on satellite. If we time it right, in the next
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