The path was in my head, a twisted variation of boot camp as I zigzagged twenty or so meters. The last thing I needed to pay attention to was the zip-zinging sounds of weapon fire aimed at me. Four meters, three… and my feet were off the ground, my hands out to grab a tire at least twice my height.
My toes scrambled for a hold, then rubber gripped rubber, my boots catching the wide treads. I scaled the tire, coming up at the side of the control chamber.
The operator didn’t see me, his eyes focused on the ridge as my second line continued to fire at him. I grabbed at the door, jerked it open and swung my rifle up, opening fire with a laser blast that filled the control box.
The drill shut down abruptly. The chamber jerked to a stop as the operator’s body fell onto the panel. Spinning around to jump to the ground, a fist landed on my jaw, knocking me back against the control chamber door. My head hit hard enough to make things go dark for a second, long enough for him to rip the rifle off my shoulder.
There was a blur of grey as my attacker yanked me to my feet, spinning me around as a body block for the snipers. “Okay, back off or we kill the pretty girl.”
He shouted over my shoulder, making sure to move me around enough to keep anyone from taking a shot at him. I felt the metal of a pistol at my neck. I squeezed my eyes tight to drive away the fuzziness.
When I opened them Schaeffer stepped out from behind the rock crusher, his rifle pointed upwards. “Resisting is pointless. You don’t have anywhere to go, especially since you destroyed your own shuttle.”
The shuttle. That was why I was here. I had to get past the drill before I could get to the shuttle… no… to Remy. A voice shouted at me to think, to react. She was tearing to get out if I couldn’t. I had to get to Remy.
No. I couldn’t let her out. She wasn’t trained for this. Kazan was. I was. The dizziness let go and my mind focused on what I had to do. I had to get away from this guy, then get up to the shuttle. I focused on Schaeffer as he closed the distance towards the driller. “Surrender and no one else has to get hurt.”
“Surrender to who?”
“U.N. Space Alliance.”
“Surrender to the Alliance? You don’t have any authority here. This is outside Earth’s solar system.” The man in the grey jacket pulled the gun away from my throat to wave it at the mountain. “We claim this planet. This is our world.”
“Yeah, see that’s where we disagree, since this world is already occupied.” Schaeffer pointed to the trees. “The residents are already pissed off.”
“You mean the gorillas?” The camp leader laughed. “A few bananas ought to appease them. If not, they’ll learn to stay away after we shoot a few of them out of their trees.”
“Even if your assumptions were remotely true, you still can’t claim this planet. We were here first. The Alliance. You and whoever you work for, have no rights here.” Schaef pointed to his soldiers. “We intend to protect this world.” His hand shifted to the sky. “We have two cruisers in orbit, way more of us than you.”
The camp leader shook his head, shoving the pistol into my side. “We have a cruiser too, armed. You Alliance people never thought of that, did you? So it don’t matter how many ships you got, once ours comes after you.”
Schaeffer laughed. “You’re misinformed. We didn’t come to a gun fight with a knife. We’re fully outfitted with weapons, so it’s two against one, whenever your cruiser gets here. Which won’t be for at least another month.”
“We’ll see. I can tell you my employers aren’t going down without a fight. They’re done with this Alliance monopoly.” The gun dug deeper into my side. “I’m taking the girl and we’re leaving.” He pulled me backwards with him.
I had no idea how he intended to get us down from the tire, but I wasn’t about to be a hostage. Until now I’d maintained the dazed affect, playing it now by letting my knees buckle and my body go limp.
He scrambled to pull me upright, not seeing my hand dig into my leg pocket. I came up fast, spinning around. He tried to grab at me again. A stunned expression replaced the anger. Face-to-face with him, I bared my teeth. “He might not have brought a knife, but I did.” I jerked my blade free of his chest, flattening myself to the tire as his people started shooting at me.
Dropping down on the other side, I made a dash for cover as Schaeffer let go a barrage on the drill. Creeping around the huge machine, I saw the path to the plateau and ran. The way had been cut into rock, rubble plowed to the side of the ramp, providing me with cover. “Please be okay, please!”
I repeated the mantra with gasps by the time I crested the peak. I had to cover my face with my arm to keep from inhaling the acrid smoke spewing from the shuttle. “Remy!” I screamed his name, working around to the rear of the shuttle. “Remy!”
The tail end was open again, but the shuttle had landed on a boulder, nearly tipping the shuttle over onto its side. Someone had tried to lower the rear door, but I was on the wrong side to be able to look inside. There was no choice but to run back around the shuttle, through
