Snow encased the Cozy Tavern past its windows. Paul’s truck sat almost completely covered. Snow slid from the roof. Fade climbed out of the S119. His face went ashen at the caved door. Bert and Nicole punched and pushed snow up to their necks to clear the porch door. Fade dashed inside; he dove behind an overturned table. Bert aimed his laser pistol from the doorway. The place was frozen.
Embers fought desperately against the wind as they flickered in the wood stove. They made their way across ice and broken glass to the bar counter. Bert walked behind it. A pool of blood froze to the floor. His shoulder bumped into bottle of rum. Alcoholic slush mixed with shards of glass as it crashed. They checked the homestead, which was warmer. The furnace struggled from inside the foundations of the building. Fade turned a lamp on and found a heavyset older woman facing him. Two men from the dark side of the living room aimed their rifles. The old woman stood, but held her gun with the barrel pointed at the floor.
“Friend or foe?” she asked in a stout voice hardened by a long career of cold weather, liquor, and cheap cigarettes.
“Friends,” Fade said, “Bertha, where’s Paul?”
The rifle in her hands clicked as it came upwards.
“I ain’t and never was any friend to you. What did you come back for?”
“Paul’s in trouble if he stays here. I need to see him.”
“You can’t just come waltzin’ in here with your mercenary friends like ya own the place! Thinking you can shout orders at me. Paul is dead, and only God knows what a creature like you has done to his daughter. They took his body aways, hoping you’d come get it cause o’ you. Does even her own father’s corpse haveta get disgraced?”
“I won’t let that happen? Where’d they take him.”
“Where’s Destiny? She ran away with you, so you ought to have her. Don’t lie to me, what happened to the poor girl. I know she’s not with you. That man won’t rest in peace if his daughter isn’t safe neither.”
“Taken hostage.”
“How dare you cause all this suffering. I’d like to kill you right now, but that wouldn’t bring her, or her father back.”
“She made her own damn choice, just. If I want her back, I have to retrieve some items. Kill me if you like, but then I won’t get her back. Do you understand?”
“Paul’s gone forever. To think you’re the only person that girl has left makes me want to vomit a bucketful. You hear this mercenary, you better take good care of her. You better do everything in your power to keep her safe, because there isn’t another girl like her.”
“Can you tell me who was here?”
“Will it help you keep her alive?”
“No, I thought it might be a good idea to retrieve Paul’s body before they disgrace it.”
“Right now, the living are more important. You don’t need to know anything more from me. Now get, you’re not welcome here.”
“Bertha, you always managed to cheer me up.”
Fade and the others left the tavern with rifle barrels at their backs.
-----
They headed due east. Snow fields stretched before them as they pulled upwards. According to the holographic map, the crystal was on the slopes of Mount Calderra. Fade changed the course due south at maximum speed.
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“Is she always that friendly?” Nicole asked.
“Only when she’s drunk,” Fade said.
“First time I’ve ever met Bertha,” Bert laughed, “She’s like a good handful of woman!”
After a half hour, the S119 hit the slopes of the great volcano and climbed upwards. Its back thrusters burned bright blue as Fade switched to flight mode for a speedier ascent. The hundred-year-old layer of ice underneath them cracked from the heat of molten material beneath it. Mount Calderra prepared to erupt. Warm geysers of air created ice mists and wind tunnels as they spewed from ground and collided with freezing air. The constant shaking of the S119 made working on the scanners to find the signature of the crystal difficult for Nicole.
“I’m not getting a signature; but there’s a crater nearby where the snow melted. We probably should explore it.”
Fade shifted the vehicle into hover mode. The wide crater was a fairly recent development as the ice around the mountain was little more than a hundred years old. The scanner did not pick up the crystal’s signal, and the coordinates on the holographic map did not refresh.
“It’s not here,” Nicole said.
“That can’t be right, unless someone else was here first.”
“The Buldethian army must have beat us to it,” Bert said as he clung to the cab entrance.
Fade threw up his hands, “What else can go wrong?”
Nicole smirked, “It just isn’t your day, is it?”
Fade leaned into the console, brooding.
“Maybe the crystal is buried and the ice is blocking the signal,” Bert suggested.
“The signal reception is based on proximity, and it can’t be blocked,” Nicole explained.
“Interesting,” Fade said.
“What’s interesting?”
“We’ve been spotted. Ten dark angels are approaching from the west, they’ll attack from above within two minutes.”
“You’re joking.”
“Look at the radar screen.”
The green specks closed the gap quickly. A larger fleet with an unknown assault cruiser of slower speed approached from the east. Fade put the S119 in motion and flew it dangerously low, only half a meter above the terrain.
“I guess they’re here for nothing too,” Fade snapped. “I didn’t bargain for this. An unarmed transport against the latest and greatest fighters. Great odds.”
“You’re right, they’ve spotted us,” Nicole said.
The S119 descended into Caldera canyon, an icy fissure with a stream of molten material flowing in its depths. Ice stalactites broke from unstable walls as heat rose from below. Limestone boulders crumbled as forceful winds channeled through the canyon. The S119 avoided an avalanche by centimeters. The two dark angels following it most closely didn’t. A torrent of ice and limestone pushed them to the depths.
Another duo of dark angel fighters took their place. Fade pushed the S119 so close to the side of the canyon that a pointed cliff scratched its armor. Hot black smoke escaped from the ventilated exhaust system. The dark angels flew into the black cloud without hesitation. It beckoned them with the expectation of an easy kill.
“You’re losing control of the ship,” Nicole warned.
“He has a plan. They always seem to work out in the end,” Bert said, digging his fingers into her shoulders to keep from being thrown to the back.
One dark angel smashed directly into a horizontal rock formation, while the other lost its wings before spiraling to the bottom as the canyon narrowed.
“You certainly earned your reputation, captain,” came a voice over the communications panel, “but we won’t make the same mistakes twice.”
Fade accepted the call.
“So, you know. Go ahead and run. I won’t chase you.”
“That’s funny. You have a lot of balls. What’s your name?”
Fade smiled, “Don’t have one. You lost four fighters, isn’t that enough? Give me a break here.”
“Sorry Captain, I have my orders.”
Fade navigated a sharp curve upwards before the canyon narrowed. Two fighters were on his tail. The S119 grazed the canyon wall again, which unleashed debris. The enemy fired through it, but it protected the backside of the transport. More smoke poured through the hull as the exhaust for the atmospheric drive sputtered out. An explosion shook its engine. Thick black smoke rolled profusely from the transport’s side. The S119 swerved upwards to leave the canyon. A dark angel turned to follow too late and exploded within the tightest gap of the fissure.
“I’m sorry captain,” came the voice over communications, “You may be a transport pilot, but I’ve never had this much of a challenge. It’ll be an honor to finish you.”
The surface of the remaining dark angel held a collection of fresh dents and splintered metal. One of the engines burned with a smoke trail behind it. It sped on a collision course with the S119 from below.
“If it’s suicide you want, then I guess I have to oblige.”
Fade swerved as he turned the vehicle directly into the enemy fighter. The transport’s front rammed the wing in midair. Bert flew into the passenger compartment. Nicole and Fade pushed back into their seats. The dark angel spiraled into the ice below as the S119 swerved again in the direction of the temperate zones.
“He should have known about the heavy conventional armor these transports pack,” Fade explained, “He wouldn’t have tried that tactic.”
“Where do they get idiots like this?” Nicole asked, rubbing her head.
“That’s a good question. Care to answer it for me?”
“I was talking about you.”