He positioned himself to watch for the immediate bug threat down the long passageway. Across from us it was a short distance to a closed hatch. The left side of the T-section. Our side of the section was longer, opening into a wide area with a double hatch setup. The queen’s room would be on the other side of that fancy double hatch.
Mr. T was concerned. “This is not a good spot; we need to keep moving. Rock, you watch that single hatch, I’ll cover the pursuers. The rest, move ahead and see if you can breach that double hatch.”
Para has a certain glare when she feels cornered, a look of determination. We had passed a heavy reinforced hatch a few steps back down the passageway we had just traveled. It looked super heavy-duty. She asked Mr. T to cover her and hustled around the corner without giving him time to say anything. I dropped to the deck and inched around the corner to add more firepower. Para strained at the hatch but managed to break it loose. The area filled with the noise of loud equipment and an odor like ozone.
I could tell the hatch was heavy even for Para. Oh! That would make a good shield, in case there was another railgun waiting beyond the double doors. Para sprinted back around the corner and headed for the queen’s lair. Roll, Muncle, and I followed.
As Rock watched, his hatch slowly started to open, which invited his suppression fire. I heard a new and loud whining sound coming from Mr. T’s passageway before he added his own suppression fire. Then the laser fire started again, and he was forced back around the corner.
Mr. T sounded exasperated as he shouted. “They’ve got some sort of shielding that’s effective against the .50 cal. We may have to port. How’s the breach coming?”
Para was straining at the hatchway, left foot planted on one door as she strained at the handle of the other. The metal screamed in protest until it finally gave, and Para plopped on the floor. She kicked the door shut as some rail fire skimmed where her head had been. The projectiles would have hit Rock if he wasn’t on a knee continuing to fire at the other hatch.
Mr. T shouted, “We’ve got to port!”
Para wasn’t going to have it. “We’re in! Let’s do this thing. Hit the deck until I take down the gun.”
She picked up the heavy-duty hatch as a shield, slammed open the broken throne room door, and charged. The bugs must have been surprised that someone would charge into railgun fire. They hardly managed to get the gun spooled up before Para mowed them down. She really can move very fast. I stayed in a prone position as Roll raised up on a knee and we filled the room with lead.
Mr. T grabbed Rock and launched him toward the throne room. “Help with the throne room, I’ve got your hatch. Move! Move!”
Rock joined us at the hatch, adding to our fire. We may have overdone it a bit. There was no return fire coming our way. Para was trying to immobilize the queen bug, holding onto one of its small arms. I almost laughed watching Para work against the queens eight appendages. It kept reaching toward a knee with a free hand as Para kept swatting it away.
Mr. T entered the room, closed the door and set his rifle on the deck. He grabbed what looked like a staff, bent it around the hatch handles, and then dragged over a heavy bench. That bench was very ornate and plated in gold. He trigged an EMP device to knock out local electronics.
The queen was big and ugly, half again larger than a soldier bug. She seemed out of proportion. Too much living the good life. The thing had wings, though it didn’t look as though it would be able to fly. There was a motorized metal frame that gave it added support. The queen was squealing some high-pitched gibberish. Then she went quiet and made a move to grab an energy gun sitting on a nearby tray.
She almost got a shot off too. Until that move, she had been concentrating on touching a knee. The queen shrieked as Para backhanded her arm and the gun clattered to the ground. Para then grabbed the side of a mandible, pulled its head low to the ground, and held it there. It seemed as through Para had found a way to become even denser than her “natural” inverted state. I suppose a few rail gun hits will do that to a girl.
We had been under the impression Para was bullet proof. Well, she really can take a hit from some types of bullets, but not a rail gun. It was obvious from her wound that those are plenty effective. She’s my sister. I know her well. Two rail gun projectiles made it through that heavy door shield too. Sure, the door, the hatch, slowed them way down. No bleeding this time, but it was obvious those hits were painful. There would be terrible bruises. I can’t imagine. Thank you for doing that for us Para! Don’t ever do something that stupid again!
Mr. T stepped in and secured the queen with heavy restraints, locking her hands and legs. He touched the thing’s head and stood there for a couple of minutes with a terrible look on his face. Then he told Para to smash the thing. Para
