Inside there were no more ships and everything was hot and red. After the cells blew Hurley called on the comm: “Captain, we gotta git out or Jessica’s gonna melt.”
So Jolo aimed the ship at the exit, firing the rail guns the whole time at anything that moved.
The Jessica shot out of BG Production Facility #1 just as the entire structure went up in flames. There was pandemonium on the ground as droids, worker bots and BG warriors tried to escape the molten flow still issuing forth from both ends. One legless warrior was crawling out using his powerful arms to propel himself forward. The bright, blue sky was filled with freighters trying to get enough altitude to jump out, but Jolo wasn’t satisfied. He whirled the Jessica around and blew up the last warrior, and was suddenly nose to nose with a freighter captain. The old captain hailed the Jessica. “You Captain Vargas?” he said, as his ship continued to gain altitude.
“Yes,” said Jolo.
“You got a Cruiser coming in fast from the South. The other one’s down.” And then there was a pause. ”Is this the beginning?”
“Or maybe the end, I’m not sure,” said Jolo.
“I got the Cruiser on screen,” said Katy. It’s running at half-cell capacity and smoking.”
“The Greeley boys did their job,” said Jolo. He positioned the Jessica behind two freighters and waited. When the cruiser got within range, he dropped down and hit him head on with the ion cannon. The black cruiser clipped the freighter and nearly winged the Jessica, but hit the dirt near the entrance just in time to be swallowed up by the alacyte flow, still oozing out of the entrance.
Jolo got on the comm and had Katy open up a channel so all of the freighters in range could hear.
“This is Jolo Vargas, captain of the gunboat Jessica. I want all of you to know that Jolo Vargas destroyed this facility here today. And any ship in the galaxy I catch hauling BG alacyte will be shot down with no questions asked.” Instantly, the big ships started gaining altitude to make the jump out of Duval. “Jolo Vargas is not dead. And he is no synth.”
The Jessica hid among the big ships, still jockeying for position to make the burn and get the hell out. “Jolo, it’s been twelve minutes since George took out the comm tower. We’ve got to go,” said Katy. Jolo held up his hand for her to wait and stared at the burning, smoking destruction below, a few worker bots wandering around in the sand like lost children.
And for the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt a tinge of satisfaction. Though he wasn’t stupid. Hell was coming. But Hell had always been coming. He’d never known anything else.
Run
Duval
The Jessica slowly gained altitude with the rest of the ships. And one by one the large freighters made the burn into space. Jolo remained staring out the portal window at the smoldering black ruins, that was once the BG Alacyte Production Facility #1.
"Jolo, we have to go," said Katy. She touched his arm and he nodded to her. She ran back to her console. "They're coming!" she yelled. Small red dots began popping up on the screen all around their current position.
Jolo could see the first wave of scout bots, little black dots buzzing around the surface. And then three cruisers popped in, and one large troop carrier.
A message came over the comm. "All cargo ships stand down. Disengage your engines and set down or your ship and crew will be made forfeit to the BG." By then the scout bots had made it to the cluster of large ships. And Katy was in a panic.
"Keep easing back then drop us into the gully and headed south. Stay behind the big, green freighter. Go down with him and then duck into the trench." So Katy did what Jolo said, and as soon as they were 20 meters off the ground she turned and ran straight for gully a few hundred meters off. Two scout bots immediately followed and Koba asked if they should hit them with the railgun, but Jolo said wait.
Katy did not ask if the ship would fit. She ran for the long, black sliver on the orange surface at full speed, then turned and dove down and headed south. By then the two scout bots were only 50 meters back.
Jolo ordered Katy to slow down. "Koba, get a lock on the bots." The ship slowed and the bots came within 30 meters or so. They were so small it was difficult to target, but once they got close enough Jolo gave the word, and one small burst from the railguns and they were nothing more than a million pieces of glittering, smoking metal sprinkling down on the river at the bottom of the ravine.
Pretty soon they came to the rendezvous point. Jolo worried about the hover bike being able to carry three large men, but it was able to carry explosives, so they should be okay. They made it to the point, which was a little over 100 km away from the alacyte facility, in a dense forest, one of the few bits of green left on Duval.
Jolo lowered the rear hatch and slowly walked down onto the ground. He had his gun out just in case. The scanners had picked up nothing within 50 kilometers, but he wasn't taking any chances. He spotted the hover bike first, and then heard a voice.
