I’m sitting in a meeting room waiting for a report on the vehicle’s location. The room is quite out of the way compared to the areas of activity around the outpost, but oddly enough there’s probably more traffic on the other side of the glass wall than there is anywhere else.
Originally, I sat with my feet on the ground and elbows on the table, but at some point, I changed positions to show off a little more. I’m currently sitting with my feet stacked on the table and my arms crossed to boost my cleavage. Four of the surviving men from my clan sat against the wall of the room, the rest were lying in the infirmary a floor beneath us. The men sat in silence along with me.
I basked in the attention for about half an hour before I received an update on the whereabouts of the vehicle.
The door opened and a soldier that could only be described as a boy entered, the innocence on his face betrayed his place here in the slums.
“Ms Cusith! We have set up a surveillance perimeter but we lack the manpower to properly sweep the area while simultaneously maintaining the pressure on the forces protecting the tower. The Captain would has requested your assistance in the matter!”
“What’s he asking me to do?” I asked, unsure of whether he wanted me to fight or search.
“He wants you to lead a small search team and comb the area with your Psionic domain. We’ve salvaged some old hoverbikes from the basement for the operation.” The boy explained concisely.
“Very well, tell him I’ll join the search.” I said, pausing a moment before asking “What of my men?”
“The injured will be treated and then sent back to Wolf Pa- Dragon’s Nest HQ, four the uninjured men can join you on the search.”
“Oh? I expected you to place them under supervision.” I remarked.
The boy gave a wry smile and said “The Captain called it ‘a show of faith’… I did convince him to send two support personnel though, so watch your behaviour.”
He gestured for us to follow.
“The Captain believes that time is of the essence and ordered me to take you to the hangar before reporting to him.” Said the boy as he leads us away from the captain’s room.
We followed him to an underground parking area where we found seven hover bikes surrounded be soldiers, they seemed to be running diagnostics on the bikes.
The boy caught the attention of one of the soldiers and asked “How are the vehicles?”
The soldier replied “They’ve seen better days, they’ve all still got one fault or another but we’ve managed to fix anything that might hinder actual movement.”
The boy nodded in acceptance and turned back to us before saying “Pick one each, start her up and check they work before departing.”
I approached a bike and mounted it while desperately raiding the mind of one of the watchdogs assigned to us for information on riding bikes. As I made myself comfortable I spotted the keys in the ignition already.
“The Wildcat huh? Interesting choice…” murmured a nearby soldier.
The man in question seemed to be in charge around here but that didn’t deter me from bluntly asking “Is there a problem officer?”
Realizing that I noticed his murmur he opened his mouth in protest, “N-Not at all! You’re sitting on an old Wildcat model, they were renowned for their great mobility in their era. Though they did have a slight drawback of lacking significant acceleration at higher speeds.”
“I see… what model are those three?” I asked, testing his knowledge and stalling for time while continuing to raid the other soldier’s memories.
“Those are Slingshots. Their cone-like shape creates a massive area for slipstreaming and thus great for the slingshot technique.” He said enthusiastically.
I tilted my head confusedly and asked “Slipstreaming? Slingshot technique?”
“Simply put, fast moving objects split the air as they pass by, this makes the area behind them have much less air resistance. Less air resistance means better acceleration and fuel consumption. That is slipstreaming… It’s a well-known phenomenon that you get a sudden boost of speed when you exit a slipstream, it throws you ahead, this is called The Slingshot Technique.” He said proudly.
“So, they designed it for that purpose then?” I asked.
“Not quite… its model name is ‘G1 Conical Supra’… The shape was meant to produce minimal wind resistance while using it like the spoiler on a car to press the wheels down for increased traction and stability at higher speeds.” He said sadly.
“You’re quite knowledgeable on the subject,” I complimented him, “Racing fan?”
A wide smile spread over his face and he was positively beaming as he shouted “Yes!” with a nod and got back to work.
I sighed in relief, having successfully pillaged enough information to ride the bike. I reached for the keys in the ignition and started it up. The start-up was less than pleasant however, I was almost bucked right off the bike as the rear engines started up without the front balance.
Having almost kissed the dashboard when the front engines kicked in I looked up and said “Would someone care to explain exactly what faults each of these vehicles has?” There was no emotion on my face as I spoke.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
One of the soldiers nearby spoke, “Ah, sorry. That particular bike has a problematic start-up sequence, there’s a faulty power connection between the rear and forward engines. It’s a minor fault in a secondary connector that makes the first ping cycle back into the rear engines, it won’t affect performance once both engines have been started up and the primary connectors are doing the work.”
“Good to know.” I said sarcastically, unamused by the vehicle’s antics.
While I familiarised myself with my bike, the soldiers detailed the faults of the other bikes. Lights seemed to be the main issue, though a couple of the other bikes had dull start-up sequences. None of the others had a problem quite as jarring as my own but mine seemed the most functional overall.
Once everyone had gathered up and seemed ready to depart I called out, “Where are we heading?”
One of the soldiers operating a digital interface replied “I’ve already set up the mapping function on your bikes. It’ll guide you to the area. I’ve also linked it up with the perimeter, you’ll be able to see the bounds of the perimeter on the interface. It will also alert you to any disturbances on the perimeter.”
“Noted.” I replied briefly, “Follow me!”
At my command, everyone formed ranks behind me. We shot off towards the exit and took a sharp left.
I followed my navigation systems for about ten minutes before the outer perimeter appeared on the interface. I activated my psionic senses and started scanning for movement as we glided along at a slow pace.
We were slowly coming the area for signs of the escaped truck when several blips appeared on my interface. A warning flashed saying “Intruders detected!”
Shortly afterwards a message came in from the perimeter guard saying “Be advised, twelve armed men have entered the area from the South East.”
I slowed to a standstill and pulled up the virtual keyboard, “Maintain perimeter and get me a direction on their path.”
A few seconds later another message appeared saying “Acknowledged, abandoning pursuit and sending data now.”
In a matter of seconds a red cone appeared on my interface. The area of the cone was a while ahead and I rushed towards it. Within a minute, I had entered the zone and began searching in their projected area of travel.
I travelled in the same direction as the intruders for about five minutes before something appeared in my psionic senses.
I slowed down and narrowed in on the disturbance, having stopped only several dozen meters away I could faintly hear construction noises. I narrowed my eyes as I looked towards the nearby building, more specifically at the garage door slightly below road level. I could see flickering lights through the ventilation gap.
Just as I spotted the flickering lights, they stopped. After a brief moment, a truck burst out of the garage and flew recklessly around the corner, it barely missed us as it drifted across the road.
I put the pedal to the metal as I chased after the truck. I ignored the little lone man rushing out of the building while cursing the runaway vehicle. The guys followed me as we sped down the main roads after them.
We were closing in fast but I suddenly realized a major problem, how do we plan to stop them?
<( Shoot the driver maybe? )> suggested Dawn.
I’ll give it a shot.
<( Pfft, haha. )>
Ignoring her amusement, I drew my pistol and shouted “Slingshot up front!”
One of the other bikes pulled slightly ahead and I dropped behind it. A few seconds later I left the slipstream and pulled ahead of the truck, raising my pistol and firing several shots at the driver as my boost wore off and he pulled back ahead. I clicked my tongue as the shots bounced off the window, it was bullet proof.
The rest of the crew caught up after a few seconds, one of them asked “A failure?!” He had to shout to overcome what felt like a howling wind.
“Bullet proof windows!” I screamed back.
“Probably Piranex!” he returned yet again.
Piranex is a word I recognize, it’s a transparent material which is highly resistant to impact. I began to grin viciously as I realised its weakness; plasma weaponry. The stuff literally disintegrates under just a little bit of charged plasma.
“Notify mission control of the situation! Call the guys from the perimeter to deal with the intruders!” I called as I drew the plasma sword on my waist, noticing several hoverbikes pulling out an alleyway behind us.
One of the soldiers accompanying us spoke up, “YES SIR!”
He fell back to a safe distance where he would have slightly more time to react and spoke through his earpiece.
Wait a minute… earpiece?
<[ We were supposed to grab one before departing… there was a box on the table. ]>
And you failed to mention this at the time because?
<[ … It slipped my mind. ]>
Ignoring that and refocusing on the truck I started to think of a plan. The idea of trying the earlier slingshot tactics with my plasma sword crossed my mind, but that might lead to an uncontrolled crash which would severely damage – if not destroy – the cargo and kill anyone in the back. The next idea was ‘target the engines’, it seemed like a promising idea since it would minimize the damage to the cargo. It would force an emergency landing and we’d know exactly where it stops.
Having solidified a plan, I called out “Two slingshots up front, plasma weapon behind on the left! Aim for the thrusters!”
We dropped into a quad formation as I drew my sword in a reverse grip with my left. Looking to my left I saw one of my men with a plasma dagger in his right.
“Slingshot in 3! 2! 1!” we both escaped the slipstream and burst forwards past the truck. I took a slash as I passed the truck, I could see all its thrusters working to slow the vehicle before it crashed.
The emergency thrusters managed to slow it down greatly but it still landed with a long skid across the ground. I slowed with it and came to a stop on its left, dismounting my bike before approaching.
I heard the driver’s side door open as I neared and quickly activated my psionic senses. I could sense the driver running around the truck. The man was armed so I prepared my sword for a javelin throw, kindly asking Dawn to calculate the throw for me.
I hurled the sword towards the rear corner of the truck, it speared the man through the chest and pinned his body to the ground just as he rounded the corner. His body turned into a ragdoll before hitting the ground and his limbs flopped to the ground lifelessly as I continued to walk calmly towards his corpse.
It took a few seconds to reach the truck, and in those few seconds the guards from the perimeter had arrived and intercepted the intruders. Their battle was coming to a quick end as the backup significantly outnumbered the intruders.
I retrieved my sword – somewhat violently – as I walked past the corpse, slashing the truck’s lock apart with the tip of my sword. I clicked my tongue as I noticed the mechanical hinges on the door.
I grabbed the handles with both hands and placed a foot on bar underneath, fighting the mechanical hinges to pry the door open. It creaked and groaned as it slowly shifted, creating a small gap between the doors.
I changed my position, slipping my fingers into the cracks and prying the gap open with pure arm strength. Nova disabled my muscular limiters and my slow pry turned into flinging the doors out of the way as the hinges broke.
I looked into the truck, loaded into the back were several crates, some of what I assumed would be weapons. What stood out the most, however, was the woman chained to the back of the truck. I recognised her. I looked her up and down, she had a flat chest and a plain face but her legs were something to be admired. This was, without a doubt, Tanya Smith – one of the scientists who ‘took care’ of me.