I returned to the fore deck where it had been cut off by the blast door, and then found the access corridor I had seen on the schematics. After picking out and disabling the corridor’s security cams, I looked for a way around the blast doors. Unfortunately there was no crawl space or air duct big enough for me to sneak through, but there was a cluster of environmental conduits and tubes big enough to accommodate my four centimeter micro drone.
Soon my suit’s visor was displaying the drone’s view of the inside of a small duct. Other than a build-up of dust, the way was clear for the drone to make its way through the maze of pipes and atmosphere tubing to emerge through a vent on the other side of the blast door.
Go, you little bastard! I urged the drone on as I directed it down the other side of the fore deck towards the bridge. There were several doors and bays in this part of the ship, but I needed to check the command deck and bridge area to see what I was up against.
Through the micro drone’s camera I saw the remaining three Faiurae commandos huddled in the bridge, flipping through control screens, and trying to figure out where I was.
Good enough. At least Chiraine wasn’t right there in the line of fire.
As I ran to the blast door, knocking out security sensors as I went, I directed the drone back.
But that was when my luck ran out.
One of the Faiurae spotted the drone and let out a yelp of alarm. They jumped up, drew their sidearms, and started firing.
On the other side of the blast door I tried to ready my own weapons, including a few more bonerattlers and a shimmer bomb, but it was tough to split my attention. I had to concentrate on flying the little drone, zig-zagging and dodging to avoid the Faiurae’s fire.
It zipped around corners and between struts—with the Faiurae right on its tail—and then the other side of the blast door came into view.
I knew that I’d only get one chance at this. I had to hit a target that was even smaller than the drone: the emergency release button.
With the drone only a few meters away from its target, one Faiurae figured out what the drone was trying to do and started blasting at the release button itself in order to prevent the door from opening.
Then my video feed went dark.
Thankfully the blast door slid open with a rumble of pneumatics. Without missing a beat I started firing on the Faiurae.
One went down immediately, tangled in strands. I hit the second with a quick spray of tremble rounds, but I had to duck out of the way of an RB blast that came from the third Faiurae, who obviously didn’t adhere to the non-lethal-force rules of engagement. I guessed that this asshole was the one who beat the shit out of me back on the Freya.
He took cover in a doorway, and I was pretty sure that I had pinned him down. But he had a surprise for me.
More security bots rolled in from behind me. They must have been summoned from the lower level. And it was clear by their volley of blaster fire, this time the bots had been set to use any weapons they had to take me out.
I dove into a narrow corridor, out of the line of fire. This was not good. Not good at all.
The blaster fire kept coming, trapping me in the side corridor. I needed to do something. In a few seconds, four bots would roll around that corner and blast me into oblivion.
I unclipped a shimmer bomb, armed it, and bounced it onto the fore deck. A high-pitched hum sounded, growing louder and louder until my suit cut the external audio to protect my ears. Then an intense bright light flashed, draining all the color out of my surroundings—just for a fraction of a second as the bomb detonated. Security bots exploded into the air—fragmenting into deadly projectiles which would have cut me into ribbons if I hadn’t ducked even farther down the corridor.
From my location, I wasn’t able to assess the damage the shimmer caused, but it obviously wasn’t enough. My opponents were still at it. Either the Faiurae or a surviving bot shot something down the corridor at me. Luckily I was down low and the projectile buzzed over my head and burst against the far wall in an explosion of smoke. Within seconds the smoke thickened so much that I couldn’t even see a meter in front of my visor.
I didn’t understand their strategy, though. They knew I was in an environmental suit, didn’t they? Unless the smoke contained some sort of super-potent acid gas, it wasn’t going to harm me.
There wasn’t much time to ponder what they were up to, however. One of the bots—the last remaining one I hoped—raced through the smoke, blasting erratically—almost randomly. Maybe its firing system got messed up. No matter. I had to take it out before I could advance any further.
It was tough to get a bead on the thing with all the smoke, but I managed to group my shots enough to blow off the bot’s central controller, which caused it to roll into a wall and cease firing for a second. Then I jumped on the bot with my judder knife and carved it to pieces.
I leaned back against the wall, completely exhausted. I was definitely feeling the aftereffects of all that adrenalin coursing through my system. But I needed to keep going. Chiraine was around here somewhere. And that last Faiurae as well.
Railgun raised, I pushed through the lingering smoke back towards the corridor where I had last seen the Faiurae. There was
