“They almost done?” Kaiden asked.
“Moments away,” Acton confirmed, looking down at a progress bar on his console.
“We might not have moments,” Kaiden said, assessing the situation in front of them. At the entrance to the hangar a warden corvette was just passing through the force field that kept the air in and the void out.
A beam of light projected from the front of the corvette and fixated on the first of the landed ships in the hangar.
“Armor’s done, Captains,” Acton reported.
“Go, now,” Thorne said, gesturing toward open space. “The corvette’s in the middle of a scan. We need to be gone before it finishes.”
The engines on the Veritas II roared to life, the entire hull shaking as they did. In a matter of seconds, the pilot had them in the air and headed out of the hangar.
“Faster,” Kaiden said. “But not too fast. We don’t want to look like we’re running.”
“No real way to hide that,” Titus said. “They’re going to notice us.”
As if on cue, the corvette stopped scanning its original target and spun toward them.
“Gun it,” Zelda said to the pilot. “Now! Go!”
The ship lurched forward and Kaiden was near thrown off his feet as the engines kicked up their thrust to max.
“We can’t outrun a corvette,” Thorne said, then leaned down next to the pilot. “Ram them on the way past.”
“What?” Kaiden asked. “What do you mean? That’ll just antagonize them.”
“No, she’s right.” Zelda pointed toward the warden corvette. “Hit ‘em!”
Putting the new shields and armor to use sooner than expected, I guess.
The pilot dutifully obeyed and swung them to the side. The warden corvette seemed to recognize what was happening and tried to pull up.
It didn’t make it.
Kaiden was thrown to the floor and rolled a pace away as the Veritas II slammed into the other ship, then rebounded off and into the hangar floor. The others fell as well, tumbling this way and that as the ship’s shields flared outside and metal screamed against metal as they slid along the hangar floor.
Kaiden pulled himself to his feet in time to see the warden corvette in a similar state. And then it was gone as they blasted out of the hangar and into space.
-15 Turen Geniocracy faction prestige for improper station departure.
Kaiden read the message, then frowned.
“The turen didn’t much care for that.”
“Keep burning hard,” Acton said, flipping through a status report on damage to the ship. “We’ve a head start on that corvette now. With any luck, it’s too damaged to follow.”
And it appeared that was the case. Acton pulled up a rear-facing camera and it showed the corvette following, but at a slow speed. One of its engines looked destroyed and the rest were belching smoke.
“I think we’re in the clear,” Kaiden said. At the same moment, the corvette opened fire. A barrage of laser fire flashed against the Veritas II’s shields but didn’t make it through.
Something did, though.
The ship shook all at once, as if it’d been rammed. Acton flicked through exterior cameras until he found one showing the damage.
“Bad news,” he said, a frown stretching across his face as he pointed to the video screen. It looked like something was embedded in their hull. A small ship, maybe? Or a torpedo? Honestly, it looked to Kaiden like a hybrid of the two.
“That’s a boarding rocket,” Thorne said, then cursed. “We’ve got company.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Just down here.” Zelda led them in a sprint toward the rear of the Veritas II. “They’ve boarded through the cargo bay.”
That’s close to where the mechanics normally work, Kaiden realized.
“Braker!” he shouted as he pulled up a video call with the engineering bay. “Lock the door to the engineering bay and stay inside. Don’t come out for any reason!”
“Got a ship needs fixin’, I’m your man,” Braker said with a nod.
“I think that’s a yes?” Kaiden ended the video call and turned his attention to the situation brewing in front of them. Zelda led them around a corner to find some damaged part of the Veritas II was leaking acrid black smoke into the hallway.
Well, I’m glad we just repaired this thing.
“How many wardens should we expect?” Kaiden asked, scanning the hall for any sign of movement.
“From a boarding rocket that size?” Thorne said from beside Zelda. “Three, maybe four players. Not a lot of room in those things.”
“Our turen marksmen and marines are on their way from the barracks,” Acton reported through comms. “And I’ve got eyes on you from the bridge. If there’s any way I can help in this fight, you let me know.”
“Got it,” Kaiden said, then nearly slammed into Zelda as she slid to a sudden stop.
“There’s our guests,” she said, then flicked her shield on.
She was right. There they were. Three of them in total. They stood in the hallway with the door to the cargo bay on one side and an airlock to nothing but space on the other. Kaiden focused on them and his visor brought up the specifics.
Esme
Warden Skirmisher
Class: Power Warden
Faction: Warden Corps
Level: 39
Alvarez
Warden Skirmisher
Class: Blast Warden
Faction: Warden Corps
Level: 38
Clarissa
Warden Skirmisher
Class: Shield Warden
Faction: Warden Corps
Level: 39
“A power warden, blast warden, and shield warden,” Kaiden said, speaking through comms now so their uninvited guests wouldn’t hear. “And all higher levels than us.”
They moved into a tight formation, the shielder in front, the power warden at her side, and the blast warden, Alvarez, at the back and already firing off Improved Burst Arrows.
“What’s the plan?” Titus asked, flicking his shield on and stepping in the way of the opening volley. The shots had been aimed at Kaiden but Titus stopped them short.
“The blaster’s gonna stay back with the shielder,” Kaiden said, predicting their strategy based on his knowledge of Warden Corps fighting tactics. “And the power warden is going to rush us, try to keep us disorganized so the blaster can pick us off—”
Before he could finish, Esme charged, her massive hammer held high above her head. At the same time, Alvarez, the opposing blast warden, changed his target to Zelda
