“All that seems accurate, yes.” Lysa crawled to her feet. She checked her scanner. “Yeah, scans are for sure right now. Even nice ones.” Scanning the area, she cursed under her breath. “I didn’t scope this area out. I have no idea what to expect over here. Looks like the forest goes on for days though.”
Best logging opportunity in most of the colonies. Kyle stood as well. “We’d better make our way down. The further away we get from the explosion, the longer we’ll evade any sort of search pattern.”
“How’s that?”
“When they come back, they’ll start searching in circles.” Kyle started walking. “First nearest the explosion to see if we’re trying to trick them by staying close. Then ever widening until they find us. The farther away we get, the better chance we have of evading the bigger patterns.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Good call.” Lysa grunted. “My legs feel like rubber. This is going to be fun.”
“With all our bumps and scrapes, we’re lucky to have made it out of there alive. That tunnel… shit, I think it barely qualifies for the title. If you hadn’t gone first we might never have made it through.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me.”
They walked in silence for a good hundred yards. Lysa grabbed the canteen from his back, taking a couple swigs. She handed it to him. He let the water cool his tongue, wet his mouth but he didn’t drink. Just absorbing a little worked better than risking the stomach problems after all they’d been through.
Time enough for that later… when we’re not about to be butchered by alien monsters.
The sounds of engines caught Kyle’s ear, making him twitch. He looked up and behind him, frowning at the trail of smoke coming from orbit… no, not one. Two. Are you kidding me? You assholes think we’re important enough to waste two ships? He scowled, picking up the pace.
“We’ve got two sets of company.”
“What?” Lysa looked then checked her scanner. “I can’t get a silhouette on either one. Not even directional scans. This is annoying! And I’ve got worse news.”
“I can’t wait.”
“We’ll need some medical treatment in the next twelve hours.” Lysa tapped her screen. “Neither of us seems to have been directly blasted by the radiation but enough low level exposure… you know the rest.”
Great. Now if the bad guys don’t get us, we’ll die from being poisoned. Kyle ushered her on, falling silent for a good distance. The comm in his ear buzzed, a horrible grinding sound that lasted a good thirty seconds before it calmed down. He reached to remove it when a voice sounded in the midst of the noise.
Kyle grabbed his tablet, trying to clear up the interference, at least enough to make out the comment. A garbled text message appeared, clearing up after a good dozen paces. He nudged Lysa, showing her what was happening. As they appeared engines roared over them as one of the two ships made the trees sway around them.
“Our names…” Lysa pointed out, “looks like the TCN showed up. How the hell is that even possible?” She met Kyle’s gaze. “There’s no way! At maximum speed, they couldn’t have made it here in less than a week. Even in the absolute best starship in the fleet. Their most impressive is the battleship and those couldn’t do it!”
“They figured out a way,” Kyle replied, “unless you think it’s a trick.”
A beam slammed into the tree not ten feet away, bursting the trunk into flames. Kyle slapped her back, gesturing for her to go. He drew his pistol, returning fire in the direction it came. The cracks of his weapon echoed, competing with another series of quick, high-pitched noises… more beams trimming the bushes near him.
He glanced back, noting that Lysa had made it a good twenty yards ahead of him when he started after her. Putting some distance between them meant making themselves harder targets for explosives or burst fire. I’m half surprised she didn’t protest me telling her to make a run for it.
“We’ve got another problem!” Lysa shouted. “You’re about to be really unhappy!”
Like I’m thrilled as it is!
Kyle leaned back as he ran, struggling to maintain his balance. After starting to run, the enemy fire stopped. They must have been too distant to get a good firing solution on them. They’d have to move for another one, potentially above them. That didn’t bode well but at least they had plenty of cover all around.
Lysa stopped ahead. He came barreling up on her. She grabbed him by the arm as he snatched a tree with his free hand. A steep drop in front of them went down to a stream some two hundred feet below. If they wanted to continue in that direction, they’d need to slide or pull a controlled fall.
A glance to the left and right offered no other solution. While he considered their options, more beams danced through the air, blasting the trees all around them. Why are these guys such bad shots? Something dawned on him. They’re not trying to kill us. They’re driving us down. They want to exhaust us.
“They want to take us prisoner,” Kyle moved into cover behind a tree. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“We have to go down there.” Lysa pointed. “Rolling’s a bad idea though. Even sliding will be treacherous. We hit a tree or a big rock, we’re dead. Just… that’s it.”
“I know.” Kyle peered at the decline, mapping the path for at least the first fifty feet. “Start over there about two feet to your left. I’ll go down right here. Once we start, we’ll be out of range but don’t stop. Whatever you have to do, keep moving quickly. When you get to the stream whether
