The launch’s hold wasn’t much bigger than our shuttle’s. And it was small enough for me to immediately assess what I was up against.
One Mayir security guard sat across from Kira and another prisoner—a huge hulking guy that looked like he had been beaten by his captors. The guard barely had time to jump from his bench seat and raise his RB before I was on him.
Damn, this suit was fast!
In addition to being twenty times stronger, I felt twenty times faster and more agile.
Before the guard realized what was happening, I flung the him through the open hatch and out of the shuttle.
Kira looked so surprised I thought she might have a heart attack. The big guy just calmly watched with a grim smile.
Before the first guard’s screams could fade away, a second Mayir darted from the cockpit with a big K-70 Shard Slinger pointed in my direction.
I have to give this guy credit. He was an excellent shot and plugged my center mass three times before I could make a move. Luckily for me, the reinforced ceramlar power armor took the hits without even a scratch. So I sprang at Mayir Number Two, grabbed him by the front of his uniform and sent him flying out of the hatch, less than twenty seconds after his buddy.
I’m pretty sure that proper defensive protocols specify that the pilot be sealed in the cockpit—especially if hostiles board the ship. But these guys hadn’t followed protocol. Mayir Number Two had left the cockpit access door wide open.
When I pushed into the cockpit I found the pilot struggling to get out of her harness, one hand on her Shard Slinger. She didn’t get very far. Like a viper’s strike, my enhanced arm shot out and I ripped the pistol from her hand. Then I reversed it and aimed at her head.
“Set us down,” I said, routing my voice to the suit’s external speakers. “Nice and slow. And don’t say a word.”
The pilot complied and soon the Lysander touched down on a sandy clearing in the middle of nowhere.
“Out of the launch, and keep your hands up. No sudden movements, full cooperation, and maybe you’ll walk away from this.”
I kept the pistol trained on the pilot as I walked her out of the cockpit into the hold. She was a big woman, nearly my own height, and well-muscled. I had no doubt she could kick my ass if she wanted to.
“Release the prisoner,” I demanded.
As she recognized my voice, Kira fought to keep a smile off her face. “Both of us, please.”
I wondered whether that was a good idea. The heavily-built man who sat next to Kira was three times as wide as she was and probably 20-25 centimeters taller. A short grey-streaked beard couldn’t hide his massive square jaw, and the rest of his face looked like it had been carved from a granite block by an artist with a dull chisel. And although he oozed menace, the brute’s eyes were curious and he had an amused expression on his face.
Great. A convict with a sense of humor.
The pilot used a key-stick to release the stun-cuffs around Kira’s wrist and then looked questioningly at me.
I hadn’t counted on there being other prisoners on the launch and I wasn’t sure what to do with this guy, but Kira nodded at me.
I motioned towards the big man with my pistol. “Him too.”
“That’s a mistake,” the pilot said.
“No one asked you,” the big man said. His voice was a low growl. Big surprise.
“Now!” I told the pilot.
The Mayir reluctantly complied, releasing the stun-cuffs from around the brute’s wrists, which looked to be as thick as my calves. Then the pilot squatted down towards the brute’s feet. For the first time I noticed that, unlike Kira, the big man’s ankles had also been bound with cuffs. But the second they were released, he sprang up like a shot and grabbed the pilot around the neck with a hand that was as big as a dinner plate. Then the convict straight-arm hoisted the pilot off the ground without breaking a sweat.
“Let her go,” Kira shouted. “We need her.”
“Sure thing.” He released the Mayir, who crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The pilot gasped in pain.
I moved to Kira’s side. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine. But you kind of messed up my plan.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you later when we can talk.” She headed towards the cockpit. “Can you fly this thing?”
“Probably, but it doesn’t matter. We’ve got our own shuttle.”
Kira looked over at the brute. “Can you give us a minute, Grannt? Take the Mayir outside, but keep her conscious, okay?”
The big man shrugged and hauled the pilot to her feet, then half pushed/half threw the Mayir through the broken outer hatch.
Kira threw herself at me with a big hug. “I knew you’d come for me.”
I tried not to crush her with my hydraulic grip. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Where’s TenSix?”
“He’s in the shuttle. We bought one from Caebach. And this thing.” I thumped my armored chest.
“Well, that’s handy. How’d you find me?”
I quickly filled her in on how I asked Lhiana for help and she put me in touch with her ex-husband.
“Tadao?”
“He started monitoring the Mayir communications networks and while I was at Caebach’s, Tadao intercepted a message about you being transferred to Vortis.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Everything was under control until you showed up.”
“What?”
“I mean it was sweet and all that you engineered this daredevil rescue—but I actually had a plan.”
“What, to get captured by the Mayir?”
“I actually gave myself up.”
“You what?!”
“Sorry, Jannigan. I should have told you, but I was afraid you’d try to stop me.”
“Of course I’d try to stop you. What were you thinking?”
She wiped her eyes. “I was thinking that we weren’t getting anywhere. I was thinking that the Mayir had my parents. And I didn’t know what the hell was happening with them.”
“So you just—”
“I just needed to find them.
