Legacy of the Anari

by Ashleigh Blayze

Chapter 11

On the run from the Korkari Authorities. A price on her head. Under attack by the feared Reivers. Wounded....

Poftan heard Ashai's yell “Run.” and was moving before he realised it sprinting up the passage to get past the tunnel she was looking into, pulling Foithar along, before his mate began running full tilt as well. The passage was lit every 20m so it wasn’t dark, but still he was almost blinded as Ashai fired the paired heavy pistols, the blast bolts leaving after images in his eyes. Then he heard an ear splitting THUD THUD THUD from a big autogun burst. Poftan was still sprinting almost up to the tunnel now, when he saw the human seem to twist then stagger and stagger again. Poftan saw the gout of gore spray from her back and knew she was dead, even as she fired both pistols again. Damn it. He kept running pulling Fiothar again. There was a sense of electricity in the air. The tiny hairs covering his head and back stood on end at once. No time to look back at the human falling backwards. She’s dead. The Reivers are coming. Come on my love. Run. Run. There's the ramp. Keep running.

***

Ashai pulled herself up from the floor of the tunnel, unconsciously returning her pain threshold to a high but more normal level, as the world resumed a normal pace. Her body ached as she moved but the aches were melting away under the energy flowing through her. Her athletic top was covered in blood but the wound had stopped bleeding. Her arm wasn’t moving quite right it felt stiff but it was moving. The tear in her arm had stopped bleeding as well. She took a deep breath and flexed her neck. She felt sore and in dull pain, but most of all she felt angry.

“Hound activate combat suit default.”

Ashai what are you doing? It’s time to leave.

“No Key it’s time to kill some gang bangers.”

Ashai felt her armour thickening and solidifying over her body, but under her clothes it wasn't very visable, as Hound shifted to the combat default. The footsteps had almost reached the maintenance tunnel, and it sounded like there was a lot of them. Ashai didn’t care. She was pissed, and this tunnel was a perfect choke point to buy some time for the Eckt before she had to retreat.

The first Reiver ran into the maintenance tunnel, and died. Time slowed as Ashai aimed and fired a single bolt from her left Makatov. The bolt burned through the Korkari’s body, to the shocked shouts of the Reivers in the access tunnel. The second Reiver was Immit, and Ashai blew it away with the right Makatov before its heightened reactions could respond.

Left pistol 10 shots remaining. Right pistol 10 shots remaining. Key supplied the information.

Ashai knew it but appreciated Key helping keep track. The Reivers had stopped in the tunnel as two of their group died gruesomely in front of them. Ashai grinned savagely wondering how long they would be held in the bottle neck. Every second let Poftan and Foithar get further down the tunnel. It would be a perfect spot for a few grenades, such a shame she didn’t have any.

A Korkari stuck its head out to spot her, and Ashai obliged by delivering a blast bolt into its face. There were screams from the tunnel as its head exploded. She could hear shouted argument in the tunnel, but not what was being said. She guessed that Heti was probably not asking for volunteers, and wondered how long it would take for the Reivers to try and flank her from another tunnel, or if they would try and overwhelm her with a mass charge.

After more shouts in the tunnel the Reivers went with a charge. With savage yells that warned Ashai they were coming the gangers erupted into the maintenance tunnel, firing their weapons unaimed in the hope of catching her with a random shot. As time seemed to dilate again, Ashai crouched at the end of the maintenance tunnel, presenting a smaller target, and opened up with the twin Makatovs on automatic.

The maintenance tunnel was only wide enough for four Reivers at time, and in the chaotic charge not even that. The Reivers charged and died screaming with blaster bolts burned through them. The tunnel was full and the bolts would punch through the first line of Reivers before killing in the second and often wounding in the third line. Ashai had 20 bolts remaining in her clips. She fired them all in seconds killing a dozen Reivers and wounding more. Her face was a savage feral grimace at the slaughter. As she fired the last of her bolts Ashai span and ran for the ramp. There were still plenty of Reivers pursuing but she’d given them a very bloody nose.

Ashai ran North to catch up to Poftan and Foithar, who had already descended the ramp. She ran hard, fast enough to have almost reached the ramp before the pursuing Reivers burst out of the maintenance tunnel opening up as they saw her. At almost 100m distance their fire wasn’t even remotely accurate. Reaching the ramp she skidded around the corner, and kept on running hearing the Reivers pursuing again. Ashai grinned as she pelted down the tunnel to the transfer depot, gaining on the two Eckt.

Foithar ran as fast as she could remember, the fear and the sight of the human being punched backwards by fire, spurring her on. Poftan ran beside her. The small case she had been carrying was abandoned in favour of speed, but it didn’t matter. The sounds of weapons fire roared behind her for long seconds, and Foithar wondered who it was aimed at. She glanced back, and gasped then gestured for Poftan to look.

Poftan heard his mate gasp and turned his head to see her gesture back as she ran. He glanced over and saw Ashai running hard and fast along the tunnel behind them. That was impossible. No human could survive the gore he saw punch out of her body could they? Such questions would have to wait. For now there was nothing to do but run and be thankful that the girl still lived. They had almost 2 km to go until they reached the transfer depot, which lay to the North East of the Terminal and rose eight levels from its foundations. From there they would gain access to the Landing Pads, either through more of the maintenance network or above ground. Poftan was hoping that the tunnels would be viable but there was no way to know until they got through the depot itself.

Ashai kept running along the tunnel, swapping out the energy packs for the Makatovs as she ran. She was gaining on Poftan and Foithar quickly and had seen them look back and soon the trio would be together again. That was good, as much as the Eckt were relying on her to deal with any trouble on the way, Ashai was relying on them to get her off Yasm. The thought of blasting into space, sent excitement flooding through her. She’d never thought her future would lie off world when she was herding mega bison. Ashai was about 200m along the tunnel and about 100m from the Eckt when the weapons fire began again behind her. Immediately she began jinking randomly sacrificing a little speed to be a harder target.

“Weave!”

Ashai yelled out as she ran, and was relieved to see the Eckt begin jinking as they ran. Looking ahead down the tunnel, she started trying to plan a defence. Carrying on running and getting shot in the back just did not appeal. This access tunnel to the transfer depot was large enough for 4 loaders to run side by side, maybe 10 m across, its bare grey concrete walls studded by lighting units every 50m or so, The central lanes of the tunnel were empty and the side lanes were mostly, except for occasional loads of cargo, boxes or other miscellaneous trash.

It looked like they had expected the tunnel to get more use when it was built, and with less traffic, the locals used it as a dumping ground occasionally. Some of those obstructions might offer decent cover from the increasing volume of fire coming from behind. Weaving to the right Ashai glanced over her shoulder.

Oh Shit.

She had no idea how many were in the Reivers gang, but a big chunk of them were chasing her. The first of them was in the tunnel proper so under 200m behind her, and the access ramp down was crowded with running aliens. Ashai guessed 15 already down in the tunnel or on the ramp and more were still coming. That was the bad news. Combat primer knowledge popped into her head as she realised the good news was the Reivers were thugs with little training, and few skills.

The gangers were charging along yelling and screaming like banshees, but most importantly firing on the run, drastically reducing their accuracy, if they managed to hit her like that it would be pure luck. Ashai guessed the primer was correct because the incoming fire seemed to be almost random, splashing against walls, floor, the tunnel ceiling, only a small percentage of the fire was even remotely near. More good news from the primer was that if she turned and fired it would be hard to miss such a bunched target even at long range for the Makatovs.

“Poftan!! Give me covering fire from those pallets!”

The Eckt raised his hand in acknowledgement as he ran. Ashai readied herself as the Eckt neared a pallet of cargo, stacked against the tunnel's left wall, then timing her weaves she moved to the right out of Poftan's field of fire as the Eckt skidded in behind the stack of loader pallet, and raised the Kyon Starbeam. A second later and the weapon began sending incandescent bursts of plasma flashing down the tunnel.

Poftan, Ashai noted, was firing the weapon in controlled semi automatic bursts, minimising the recoil, it was long range for the carbine but the Reivers made a big target. As screams began behind her, Ashai spun and crouched, raising the Makatov 50s before letting loose with both not bothering to select individual targets at this range, just aiming for the mass of Reivers and trying to target a portion that the Poftan was ignoring.

The heavy pistols burned through their power packs in seconds, sending a storm of blast bolts through the Reivers. Holstering the guns Ashai sprinted the short distance to the pallet of cargo that Poftan was taking cover behind, and slipped in behind him. Foithar crouched against the wall staying out of sight, her las pistol too short ranged to be effective.

Ashai leant against the cargo and with the familiarity of long use, despite it being only the third time she had performed the task, rapidly ejected the spent power packs from the pistols, taking charged packs from her belt and reloading the Makatovs before storing the empties back on her belt. The VAL chips were she considered just brilliant. Poftan let off another burst from the Starbeam, before shifting his aim slightly and firing again, then crouching down.

“Ashai those blasters of yours are brutal, glad you have them. I think we’ve downed maybe ten, dead or wounded, and the rest have now taken cover and the range is too long for accurate fire. Time to run again I think.”

The incoming fire was picking up again, and was beginning to concentrate on their cover. Foithar yelped as a bolt impacted against the tunnel wall a metre over her head, showering the trio with concrete fragments. The Reivers were able to fire more accurately now they were stopped. Definitely time to move.

“Poftan take Foithar and head to the next pallet. Sprint and weave. Foithar keep an eye up the tunnel let us know if anyone’s coming. When you’re in position, give them a burst Poftan to let me know and I’ll get ready. When they get to about 200m from you cover me, and I’ll move up. Understand?”

The Eckt nodded.

“Good. Go.”

Foithar started running, Poftan stood, let off another long burst with the Starbeam that brought more screams from the Reivers and took off after his mate. Ashai moved to where Poftan had been and glanced around the pallet, wincing as she heard rounds from something shoot past uncomfortably close. The Reivers had seen the Eckt disappearing along the tunnel, and began to pursuing again, firing as they came. Ashai crouched, counting seconds, listening to the Reivers approach, waiting as they closed to a good range for the Makatovs, waiting for Poftan to resume covering fire.

Twenty…Twenty One.

The Starbeam opened up again, laying down a fury of plasma.

Twenty One Seconds. Say 8 metres a second, 168metre. They should be about 30m away.

Ashai calculated the distance as she rose to a shooting position. Pistols held at her eye line, ready to fire. The big blasters shifted onto targets as soon as they were visible. Most of the Reivers were a little slower than she’d figured, it didn’t matter. At less than 50m the blasters were deadly accurate in the hands of a good shot. Ashai had all the time she needed to place each shot. Single shot selected..

“How many are there?”

29 visible targets. Key supplied the answer instantly.

26. Nice shooting Poftan. My turn. 2 Immit in the lead. Take them first. Fire Left, Fire Right, Targets Down. Next. 12 shots each pistol left. Good time to use them. Firing.

Poftan sighted down the Starbeam and opened fire to cover the human. It had taken longer to get into cover than he anticipated and the Reivers were closer to the girl than he had hoped. Poftan's Starbeam was a powerful weapon but this was its limit for accurate fire. Not a good situation. His burst of fire tore into the closest clump of Reivers felling them, and as his covering fire screamed past her, Ashai rose like a coiled death adder and began firing.

The Eckt was very experienced in a fight. Centuries of history with ‘interesting’ career choices provided him with more memories of combat than he cared to remember. Afterwards Poftan was sure he’d remember that tunnel until he died. He had worried before about the young human's inexperience, but she’d already done the impossible surviving wounds that Poftan knew should have been fatal. Not only that but she carried on fighting and running like she was never hit by the heavy shells from what had to be a heavy autogun, they didn’t sound quite like anything else.

Now he watched the girl rise from her crouch in a fast gliding motion, arms raising, levelling the heavy blasters to fire. Faster than he could follow she was aiming and shooting, not blazing away, these were precise aimed shots conserving power. How was she doing this? Blasts of energy punched through Reivers. Humans, Korkari, Immit, Togan went down with torsos destroyed, limbs or heads removed. Each shot felled a victim, sometime wounding another. Poftan felt rather than saw the fractional pause in the rhythm of Ashai's fire before one shot removed the heads of two Korkari! Maker! That was deliberate! Who is she?

The mass of Reivers shuddered with shock as the rearward ranks suddenly found themselves in the firing lines in less than six seconds. Poftan remembered to fire again and sent another flurry of shots down range, keeping up the pressure. The human crouched again, changing out the power packs in a blur before gliding upwards again two seconds later, resuming her lethal winnowing of the enemy's ranks. Each pistol firing aimed shots twice a second, blinding gouts of energy that left Poftan's vision awash in afterimages, and each one reduced the incoming fire.

With seven shots fired from each blaster Ashai turned and ran, jinking as she sprinted. Poftan could see the heavy Makatovs still in her hands, their discharge bores actually glowing yellow hot from the extreme rate of fire. Poftan fired another long burst to cover her. He didn’t know how many Reivers had died but for sure the gang had taken a beating. Ashai slipped in beside Foithar behind the dubious protection offered by piles of crates, Poftan checked his power pack. He was down to less than 30%.

“You think they’ve had enough?' asked the incredulous Eckt.

“Gods, I hope so, I really do.” The human looked sick as she replied

Ashai wanted to puke, but there was no time, and she fought the urge down. The blasters’ barrels were sullenly glowing with heat, the ceramic cooling fins slowly fading back to dull grey. She had 6 more shots with both blasters and one more power pack each, after that it would be up to the Di-Kat. The primer’s knowledge told her she should evaluate her shooting, so reluctantly she stood up again and peered back down the Tunnel.

The nearest living Reiver was just over 70m, the last of a clump she had targeted before she charged back to Poftan and Foithar. The female Togan was hiding on the other side of the cargo pallets the trio had used as cover, and keening in pain. Further away the Reivers had sought what ever cover they could. Some were using their fallen gang mates as cover to lie behind. She could see the furthest away already retreating down the tunnel, wanting no more to do with the chase that had turned into a massacre. Poftan held his fire and waited to see what would happen next. The weapons fire slowed, then stopped and suddenly the Reivers broke and ran.

11 visible targets, 3 in range. Key supplied.

The Togan female seeing her gang retreating behind her, threw her weapon out from cover and ran for it, cradling a wounded arm. Ashai rested the pistols on the crates, checking to see the cooling barrels would not set them alight, then turned and slumped down, her back against the crates. The Eckt were on her right, so Ashai managed to turn left when she puked. Shortly she regained her composure and dragged herself upright. Holstering her blasters the human trotted along with the Eckt towards the depot. As much as a cold analytical part of her said it made sense, Ashai couldn’t bring herself to salvage what she could off the dead Reivers. The tunnel smelled of coppery blood and the sweet stench of burnt flesh. All Ashai wanted to do was get back to fresh air.

***

The Krayt ran or controlled the vast majority of all smuggling and narcotics business on Yasm. Their dominion over the lucrative business was possible as they controlled the cargo handling areas of the Port, as well as the vast majority of the launch and landing pads that were dotted around the Port. Some fifty pads had been constructed during a major construction surge about twenty years previously that had finally completed the Space Port. Most of these were arrayed in the shape of a large capital T, with the base of the T formed by the huge long access tunnel that ran from the transfer depot. Most of the larger pads were arranged at the far ends of the T shape, with medium and small pads filling in the gaps, and dotted along the main access.

The tunnel itself provided loading facilities to the pads and ran from the base of the transfer depot. The landing pads were built down into the earth with embankments around them in addition. From altitude or the controls of a descending vessel, the Port's pads looked like an array of craters of various sizes and shapes, mostly circular, but the larger pads more oblong. One of the benefits of the design was the risk of damage to the facilities was minimised in the event of a catastrophic failure. Crashes on take off or landing were rare but they did still happen. Another benefit was that the noise and thrust was confined to the pad for as long as possible, improving efficiency and reducing the chance of burst ear drums.

Poftan explained the layout of the transfer depot to Ashai as they trotted towards the end of the tunnel. They hoped to get lost in the transfer depot itself before too much attention was paid to them. The Krayt would defend their interests against another gang viciously. In theory at least the Administration itself controlled the actual transfer depot. A vast circular construct of plascrete and alloys, the depot was over 200m in diameter, with a network of lifts, ramps, warehousing, cold storage, secure storage and a myriad other facilities for trading merchants and factors.

The immense transfer facility was being patrolled by Sec Bureau forces at increased readiness. The main tunnel to the landing pads ran from the bottom floor of the depot, but from high above at ground level a network of roads also serviced the pads. Security were concentrated on the bottom and ground floors ready to respond as needed, with roving patrols moving around the depot. Sec Bureau tried to maintain security coverage in the depot, the pads and access tunnels but was losing that battle.

The Reivers took delight in blowing out any surveillance they came across through out their domain and as far as they were concerned that included the access tunnel. The Krayt on the other hand tended to be more selective choosing to target devices that would give them effective blind spots. These blind spots as well as effective bribery and intimidation meant they kept control of their business dealings, blending in with the rest of the throng that used the depot.

Everyone from traders and engineers, to crews of vessels coming from or going on shore leave as well as starship pilots, and most trades in between walked the floors of the depot. Very few would then take the long tunnel through to the Concourse. Since the Reivers had gained undisputed control the tunnel was not healthy. Some helpful individuals had painted graffiti around the entrance graphically illustrating the Reiver's bad habits. The throng would made its way up to the ground floor exits and then took moving walkways to the Concourse’s Northern point.
As they neared the tunnel exit the trio hoped that the firefight had been far enough away that the cacophony had faded enough to be drowned out by the constant din in the depot.

***

Heti, glared out over the maintenance chamber that served as the Reiver's base. It had been too small, and she was considering moving but now that was no longer a concern. The survivors from the tunnel were dotted around, tending to wounds in some cases, although most of the wounded had died already, trying to put their mauling and defeat behind them in others. One or two just gazed into space, unheeding of anything else going on around them.

More than half of her gang destroyed in minutes, it was a disaster of unimaginable proportions. Most of the survivors were generally the slowest, weakest and most cautious who fell behind in the chase after the intruders. She still didn’t even know who they were, maybe that ‘demon’ human that Grinder was after, but those who came back swore blind that there were only three intruders. Three. Had cost her...

If Heti was given to screaming and wailing she would have done so with abandon, but her cold calculating mind was busy working out how much territory would have to be ceded to other gangs. Could she disguise their weakness? Would they be able to maintain overall control of the Concourse? Would they be able to defend this base if Sec Bureau came in strength now? Cold rage flowed through her at the knowledge she didn’t even have the numbers left to mount a serious attack on the depot to get some revenge and seek out the intruder. Heti doubted that the shell shocked and scared beings in front of her would even obey her orders to do that. These shrunken thugs where a shadow of their former swaggering confident selves. It was going to take time to repair this damage. Heti wondered if she had it or not.

****

The transfer facility section chief was on the comm to the Sec Bureau offices. He had informed the watch officer of a fire fight in the base level access tunnel and was requesting instructions. The fight had ended a little while ago, or at least the shooting had stopped. He had forces on station able to recon the tunnel, but he guessed it was the fucking Reivers ruining someone's day or life. He didn’t have enough resources to guard the whole transfer facility anyway, and if he sent a small unit down the tunnel the most likely result would be losing that unit.

“Don’t you have any surveillance from the tunnel at all?” The watch officer asked.

The section chief looked at him for a long moment before asking when the systems had been replaced? He hadn’t been aware of it. The watch officer raised a hand in acknowledgement of a stupid question getting a stupid answer, there had been no working surveillance in the damn tunnel since the Reivers got themselves established at the far end. Making his decision the watch offier gave his orders.

“Okay Brax, get someone monitoring those systems you have working in the depot. Have everyone keep an eye out. I’ll try and send you some more bodies’ next shift, but don’t count on it. At the moment all resources I have are fully deployed. The last sighting of the human that’s the priority one target for Sec Bureau and the Intelligencia was on the Eastern side of the Concourse so it’s possible the human’s coming to you. It’s also possible that Poftanichek and Foithariveic are with her although that’s a guess. They seem to have vanished as well.”

The transfer facility section chief paused as his memory twitched at the mention of the Eckt couple. Now why was that? What had he seen?

“Hold on a minute Ser, I might have something.” He turned to the security technician beside him.

“Bring up the ship list and their status on the screen.”

The wall mounted screen in front of him changed to a listing of all the vessels currently either in orbit, or landed at the Port and their status. Touching a control he displayed the vessels by ownership. Seconds later he had the information his memory had been searching for.

“Ser, Poftanichek and Foithariveic are the owners of the ship that is currently docked in Pad 41B. The Emydia. She's listed as ready for departure.”

“Good work Brax. Redeploy your men and get a squad guarding that pad. I’ll send you some more reinforcements when I can. Out.”

The watch officer signed off and section chief Brax thought for a moment, working out which unit he could steal off their current deployment before toggling his comm once more.

“Porst, take Beta Squad and set up outside 41B. Secure the pad and vessel, no one in or out. Move.”

***k

The last section of the trip down the tunnel had been nervous but quiet. To their surprise and relief the trio didn’t come across anyone venturing into the tunnel to find out what all the noise was about. Ashai moved out of the tunnel last and quickly followed the two Eckt, trying as agreed to stay a little way behind them. Glancing around she could see various disabled security sensors and realised they were in one of the security blind spots that the Poftan had told her the Krayt regularly created to cover their activities.

Following the pair around the huge depot was an easy process. Especially as Poftan and Foithar knew an awful lot of people and were regularly stopped for a quick chat by a wide variety of individuals. At one point Ashai had to duck in behind a huge stack of alloys as a patrolling quad of Sec Bur troopers moved past. She held her breath, but they missed her completely and she sighed in relief, before moving on and watching for the next patrol.

Ashai was looking around for another security blind spot as she would be visible again shortly. Glancing to the left her attention was taken by a news cast displaying on a wall nearby.

“…the body was recovered earlier on today from the Slum District’s sewer system. According to reliable Sec Bureau sources, the body was an elderly Korkari male, and had been extensively tortured, before being killed by a shot to the back of his head. The Sec Bureau source have confirmed that is believed the execution is related to the ongoing intensive hunt for this human woman, whose identity is unknown but is known to use the alias Ashai Lennox. Although the body’s identity has not yet been confirmed due to the nature of the wounds inflicted, it is most likely to be Ser Zazt Haskins, a respected trader in the Hive Mart. Ser Haskins was last seen…..”

Ashai didn’t hear anymore of the newscast, her mind was in the Slums district reliving earlier memories of Zazt Haskins. Zazt who looked out for her, been her friend, and a father figure for a young ganger. Zazt went out of his way to help her, and was now dead.

“They tortured my friend Key. Grinder and his Cobalts, killed Zazt.”

Key monitored the outside world as Ashai was frozen in place, her anger building, her hormone levels spiking.

What do you intend to do Ashai? We are close to escaping Yasm. Poftan and Foithar still need your help to reach their ship.

“I know Key and I’ll make sure they get there.”

And then?

“And then I’m going back to the Slums to pay a debt.”

Prime is this wise? You’re being hunted here. You should take this opportunity to leave Yasm Ashai.

“I understand what you think Key, but this is my decision to make. What kind of Prime would I be if I don’t defend my friends and family? They have taken from me, and I will punish them for that. They are hunting me? Maker have mercy on any that find me, because I will not.”

Key remained silent as her host turned from the news cast and her face set, stalked out of the security blind spot, heading for the tunnel to the landing pads, her anger an almost palpable wave radiating from her.

The datacore was once again monitoring real time data feeds and running facial comparison software. Less than a second after Ashai cleared the black zone, the monitoring data core sounded an alarm and displayed her position for the watch officer.

“Shit, she’s in the Transfer Depot. Tell Brax the priority target is heading for the landing pads.

***

Poftan and Foithar reached the tunnel to the landing pads, circling around the transfer depot. Foithar glanced behind her to look for the human as a patrol was passing and was relieved she couldn’t see her. She didn’t know what to make of the human girl. Ashai was a mass of contradictions, strong, fast and graceful, and yet occasionally her carriage was odd, uncomfortable. The young human seemed a little naíve and inexperienced, yet Foithar had seen her deal out slaughter with those two Makatovs that would terrify a hardened veteran. She was sure there was more to tell, but first they had to get off Yasm in one piece.

Exchanging greeting with some of their many acquaintances took time but it also allowed her to get a good look around the Depot. There was less obvious security than she had expected, which was good, but left her wondering where they were if not here. Looking at Poftan she saw he was watching something to their left. Following his gaze Foithar swore under her breath. A squad of eight armoured troopers went past on a tram heading towards the landing pads. Foithar just knew those troopers were going to be a problem. Not good odds at all. Catching Poftan's notice, the Eckt walked quickly on as Foithar tried to think of a way to even up the numbers.

****

With a strident wail an alarm klaxon pierced the noise of the Transfer Depot.

“Okay now they know I’m here. Time to get Poftan and Foithar out of here.”

We need to leave here soon Ashai. That alarm will bring security swarming. Follow Poftan and Foithar.

Ashai’s stalk towards the tunnel changed to a dead run. The Eckt also started running when the alarms sounded but they were still a way ahead. Further in the distance Ashai could see what looked like more troopers, but they were too far to be sure. With excellent timing Hound assisted by revealing a trick she had not needed until now. As she started running, her vision split. Her left eye focussed normally. Her right suddenly displayed a zoom facility that let Ashai clearly see the eight Sec Bur troopers stationed at Pad 41B, as though she was 20m away and not nearly 400 she guessed, the armour supplied the zoomed image of the waiting squad suddenly individually tagged as targets, with distances. For the first time Ashai began to get an idea of what her three way symbiosis might actually mean. Hound zoomed the image and Key analysed it for her displaying the range data.

398, 390, 380, 368

“What are they armed with?” Ashai wondered.

Compiling threat assessment. Key responded.

Graphics highlighted the troopers’ weapons, a mixture of heavy assault shotguns, and plasma carbines, plus grenades and stun weaponry, detailing the weapons makes and models. Ashai suddenly realised the Tyrellian primer and the weapons encyclopaedia had integrated far more thoroughly than she would have thought possible. Key analysed the imagery and broke down the threats. As Key provided the details, knowledge of the weaponry and possible tactics, sprang instantly to her mind, and she knew what to do. The assessment continued showing the squad's heavy armour that combined ceramics and silksteel.

Eight to three but Poftan and Foithar have no armour. They’ll get chewed up, it's up to me again. Me and Eight trained troopers with mid and short range weaponry and heavy armour. Oh fuck. Need to move faster.

Ashai sprinted harder trying to close the distance, to get past the Eckt couple before they could come under fire. Time seemed to slow once more and Ashai ran faster.

Section Chief Brax watched the wall screen as the terminal kept track of the priority target running into the tunnel towards the pads and Porst's Beta Squad. The software changed camera angles as different systems got the best vantage point on the running human. Brax pulled up another angle from above Pad 41B, showing the human in the distance and two Eckt closer.

“Porst. The priority target is headed right at you, and you have two Eckt closing as well that may be hostile.”

There was an answering double click on the comm from Porst as he began rearranging his squad into a battle line. Brax switched back to watching the wall screen and then reached for the comm to direct another squad down from the Ground floor as reinforcements. The human was sprinting flat out, almost as fast as an Immit. Then something changed. Brax watched in puzzlement and then in horror as the sprinting human accelerated. Oh Elders. How could anyone move so fast?

“Porst. It’s on you. PORST!”

The wall screen was flicking between cameras, as the system tried to the target. As Brax yelled into his comm the screen showed the first bolts from two heavy pistols, punching into the side of Porst's armoured helm. The squad leader' armoured torso hadn’t even begun slumping down before more blast bolts thudded into the squad suddenly deprived of its leader. Beta squad weren’t ready and as they were firing their weapons the streaking, gliding, jinking figure seemed to move between the plasma bursts spat from their carbines. And it was a blur among them almost too fast to see.

The camera changed back to the sensor tower above 41B, and it showed carnage and chaos. The target fired once more as it closed to point black range, two more blinding bolts that reduced the squad to 4 from 8, holes burnt through the silksteel breast plates. The thing dropped its pistols to its holsters, and reached behind it even as it dove under a trooper's guard and rolled and span with a Sword? Brax wanted to close his eyes but couldn’t. He watched helplessly instead.

Ashai was almost in a trance, her intense anger powering a dance of blade and time, motion and strike, following the perpetually changing tactical advice delivered by Key from the assimilated primer, targeting the weakest points of armour. The Di-Kat was a blur as it cleaved the air in two. She felt no remorse, no hatred towards these foes. Just anger, glacial in the pit of her stomach. Ashai felt a little pity for these enemies who needed to be removed so that she could move on. She felt some satisfaction as the efficiency of the strikes increased the tempo rising, the knowledge of how and when to use the blade sinking into her mind with each deadly stroke.

The Sec Bureau heavy armour was tough, the Di-Kat would have had a very tough time penetrating the plates, but the joints were another matter. The joints didn’t have armour plate, just shock armour fabric. With her strength and speed behind the blade, the energy each blow delivered was phenomenal and the fabric stood no chance at all. Ashai targeted the elbows, knees, wrists, ankles, necks in precise devastating strokes.

The fight was over before Poftan and Foithar ran up, without even a shot fired from the Starbeam. Both Eckt were an ashen grey colour, and as time returned to its normal pace Ashai understood why. She felt a little sick in a distant kind of way, but still her rage was immense. There was carnage all around, armoured corpses with blaster wounds, others with dismembered limbs or decapitated. Automatically she flicked the blade clean of the Korkari blood in its gutters, before sliding it back into its sheath behind her. A look up took in the camera trained on her blood spattered figure, arterial crimson splashed across her. The Makatovs were empty, so she picked up a troopers shotgun, and blew it to tiny spinning fragments. Then she turned and followed the Eckt into Pad 41B.

Poftan and Foithar watched her fearfully, wondering if this terrifying human who did the impossible would turn on them. Ashai saw their fear and smiled bleakly.

“It’s time for you two to leave Yasm.” Ashai stated flatly.

“What? I thought you intended to come with us?” Poftan asked confused.

“I did Poftan but things change and now I have something I need to do. I will have to find another way off Yasm. At least you get to leave now, and I’m sorry that I’ve ruined things for you here. I was looking forward to talking with you both as we travelled.”

Foithar and Poftan shared a silent conversation looking at each other before Foithar turned to Ashai.

“I don’t understand Ashai, but I will be honest and tell you that part of me is glad. You scare me human. You do things that should not be possible, and well…you’ve got us here alive when I don’t believe we’d have survived alone, that’s more than payment enough so forget the 6000, and perhaps we’ll meet in the future. Is there anything we can do for you before we leave? Security will be here soon I think.”

Ashai thought for a moment. “Do you have any charged packs that will fit these?” She patted her Makatovs. “And do you know any way to disrupt security’s surveillance all at once?”

“I will find you some packs Ashai, security is Poftan’s area of expertise.” Foithar turned and hurried to Emydia, keying a hatchway code, and vanishing within.

“What are you going to do now Ashai?” Poftan asked.

“Now? I’m going to get out of the Port and back to the Slums, and then I’m going to slaughter the Cobalts who killed my friend. Then I’ll leave.”

Poftan just looked at the human female, wondering what to say. Finally he shook his head and explained what he knew about the Ports’s surveillance system.

“As far as I know you’ll need to either shoot out the cameras, or disrupt their central system somehow. EMP would work unless it’s hardened.”

Ashai was about to ask what EMP was when the information popped into her mind, Electro Magnetic Pulse, along with the types of weaponry which caused such effects. She grinned at Poftan.

“I doubt you have a spare nuke around Poftan and somehow I don’t think I will find that kind of weaponry here on Yasm. Anything else?”

“Well a cyber attack on their system might work but unless you’re expert in datacore systems,” Ashai shook her head as Poftan spoke, “well other than that the only thing I can think of would be a big power surge through the surveillance system, that might disrupt their system.”

“A power surge, what like electricity?”

“Correct.”

“Hmm, okay Poftan I might be able to work with that.” Foithar had returned carrying a small carry sack, that she handed to Ashai.

“Some power packs Ashai, plus some grenades. Good luck.”

“Thank you both. Fly safe.” Ashai glanced in the carrysack, counting eight charged packs, and a dozen micro grenades of various types. Quickly she swapped out her empty power packs from her belt sticking the empties into her own pack, reloaded her blasters and stuck the remaining micro grenades and two power packs into the pockets of her leather coat. Giving the carry sack back to Foithar she gave the Eckt a final wave goodbye and turned away to leave the landing pad. Poftan and Foithar watched her for a second before hurrying into their ship. It was time to leave.

“Key I need a way to plug Hound into the surveillance system and send a blast of power down it. Is that possible?”

A novel idea Prime, Hound can configure the Core energy output as electrical energy, but I’m not aware of any way to hook up to the wiring here. Hound may be able to assist further.

Ashai glanced out the armoured hatchway from the landing pad into the access tunnel. So far no one was coming to investigate, but she was sure she didn’t have much time. Concentrating she spoke with Hound in mental images, trying to get across the concept of electricity. To her relief the armour symbiont readily agreed that electricity could be produced, but how to transfer the power? With an idea forming in her head, Ashai formed the images of power, electricity flowing from the core with her, through her body and down her arms, and of a probe extending from her body suit to a wire transferring the electricity.

“Hound can you do this?”

There was a sense of confusion and uncertainty from within her, before the symbiont grasped what she wanted and responded with a flood of images. Images of tendrils spreading from the Core extending through her body, and down her arms following her circulatory systems, accompanied by the certainty of pain, sliding between her arm bones to her wrist, and joining up to the special pores in her wrist from which her armour spread when activated or retreated to when moved to a passive mode. More images showed two black rubbery tendrils extending through her skin, more pain, and the tendrils stretching from each wrist up to about 1 metre in length, and the tendrils burrowing into a cable connecting a circuit, and delivering a pulse of power.

“Well done Hound. Thank you, that is what I need. Do it now.”

Uncertainty and pain came back to her. The symbiont didn’t want to hurt her. Ashai sent it reassurance, and asking Key to help her damp the pain, told Hound to do it.

Ashai bit her tongue as the pain began in her chest, Key assisting in damping it down. It felt like something was boring through her body, similar to the pain the heavy slug caused as it burst through her ribs and back, but far far slower. Instead of an instant of fiery agony this was drawn out, seconds stretching out as Hound worked as fast as she could to spread the two thick tendrils through her host. The agony was so intense, even with her pain damped down it was excruciating. Ashai screamed.

The battle in the access tunnel had been more than enough to deter anyone further down the passage from trying to reach the transfer terminal. At the terminal end the squad of reinforcements waited, weapons ready. Section Chief Brax had intended they would reinforce Porst, but there had been no time, and now they stood guard hopefully to prevent the human from leaving that way. Not that Brax expected to see the human again. The trio of fugitives had made it to their destination and the pad systems showed that Emydia was readying for launch. There was nothing he could do to stop the launch. The security grid was still inactive from the Dtilla raids and the colony had no interception craft. He wasn’t going to risk another squad down the tunnel after Beta was butchered, in case the human was waiting while the ship prepared to launch. Not until he had more firepower available.

After a frank comm call to Sec Bur, the watch officer was finding some droid support for his troopers. That would take some time but Brax was perfectly happy to wait. Intact security systems a distance away from Pad 41B, were sensitive enough to pick up the blood curdling shrieks and screams that sounded from the Pad area. He had no visual feed any more, and flicking between surrounding landing Pads showed nothing except thoroughly spooked workers and travellers. Almost to a being, everyone was looking in the direction of the screams, but no one moved to investigate. The security alerts and now these hideous noises meant no one was willing to risk it. After a few minutes the screams stopped.

Ashai whimpered her throat raw, and her arms throbbing. She looked at her wrists now showing slightly raised small circular patches on her combat suit. Compared to that, being shot and having a hole through her was nothing. She knew her body was healing from the gunshot wounds, Key kept her informed of the progress of the nanos, but this wound was more mental. Ashai knew she was going to remember that agony for a long time.

That was brave Prime. I hope your idea works Ashai. Key’s mental voice was sympathetic and caring.

“You and me both Key. Let’s do this.”

Ashai looked to the destroyed camera system above the pad entrance and traced the wiring down the wall. Quickly she moved to the wall where the armoured cabling ran at head height. A quick glance around showed nobody nearby still, and she raised her arms up above her head. Visualising the spearing action of the tendrils into the cable she asked Hound to proceed, reassuring her symbionte again that she was now fine, after the pain she had endured.

Ashai had expected the tendrils to slowly extend but in fact they were the opposite. The two sharp tips of the rubbery tendrils appeared from within the raised patches on the wrists of her combat suit. Then the tendrils speared out in the blink of an eye, punching into the cable’s covering. Ashai found it a peculiar sensation, she couldn’t directly feel the through the tendrils, but through Hound she could tell when first one and the second tendril forced its way into a strong connection with the wiring of the surveillance system. Hound temporarily opened the portal wide, gathered a charge and then pulsed the energy into the wiring system, then returned the portal to normal and retracted the tendrils.

Ashai felt what seemed like a massive glowing ball of energy shoot out of her body in a fraction of a second.

Thousands of times the normal capacity of the wiring the energy pulse spread into the surveillance system. Almost simultaneously every camera system up and down the access tunnel, and through out the huge transfer terminal failed, reduced to smoking ruins as they overloaded and catastrophically failed. The pulse surged into the Sec Bureau’s control office, and the wall monitors and computers exploded in spectacular cascades of sparks and some flames. The most important casualty was the transfer terminal’s data core. The current surged through it, reducing the expensive hardware to smoking melted circuitry. In a second Sec Bureau lost its eyes and ears.

Ashai heard the whine of Emydia’s powerful engines powering up to an ear splitting shriek before the ship launched on a fiery gout of incandescent plasma, slowly at first, before accelerating out of sight of Talont in seconds, as Poftan and Foithar made good their escape. With a sigh she checked she had everything, and then ran further down the tunnel at fast but normal human pace. She needed to find a Krayt and scaring the crap out of them could wait for a little while.

“What the Maker just happened?” Brax demanded as he and his technicians struggled to extinguish the small fires that were all that remained of the surveillance system. The technicians began arguing possible causes. EMP was suggested but a glance out the office windows showed machinery and vehicles moving, lighting systems unaffected. EMP would have destroyed everything. The two techs decided that it had been a huge power surge. Brax ignored them as he struggled to get a comm. Call through to Sec Bur. After three attempts using different circuits he manage to get a connection and explained what had happened. The Pad status sensors showed that Emydia on 41B had launched, and with it his fugitives.

The watch officer wanted confirmation that the ship was gone and that the fugitives were gone as well. Brax argued but was overruled. Five minutes later his squad of troopers accompanied by a quad of combat droids, cautiously made their way into the access tunnel.

Ashai calmly jogged along the tunnel that was periodically littered with smoking or burning electronics, she was approaching the next launch pad, which confusingly was numbered 19. A group of technicians and warehousemen watched her apprehensively, but nobody seemed actively hostile, and she couldn’t see any weapons. She wondered which of the group would be the best to question about the Krayt, before realising that if this pad was controlled by the Krayt the foreman was the obvious choice.

“Which one of you is the foreman?”

No one said anything but the Korkari warehousemen instinctively looked at their boss, who realised he had been pointed out and swallowed nervously, and tentatively raising his hand.

“That would be me lady.”

Ashai was surprised at the respectful tone before thinking that given the chaos and bloodcurdling screams that had been going on in the direction she had come from, the foreman was simply trying not to insult her.

“Good, I want you to do something for me. I am going to be heading in that direction,” Ashai pointed further along the tunnel. “Now I know the Krayt control a large part of this area, but as I’m new here I don’t know who to speak to. Now I don’t believe that you’re a member of the gang my friend, but I am sure that one of your lads will know of someone, who knows of someone who is in the Krayt. I need a message sending to the boss of the Krayt. So I want you to pass it on for me. Do you understand?” The foreman nodded.

“Good. The message is simple, I want to meet the boss of the Krayt, I have urgent information for the boss, information that is worth a great deal to them, and I want to trade. I don’t intend to harm anyone, but if anyone attacks me as I head up the tunnel, they will die. Understood?” The foreman nodded his head rapidly.

“Good, I suggest you get talking to your lads then foreman, oh one more thing. If I don’t get some idea that my message had been passed along by the time I get to the next pad, I won’t be happy.”

Ashai turned away and continued up the access tunnel.

Back down the tunnel, Delta squad slowly approached Pad 41B, with at least one of the troopers being violently ill as the hideously wounded corpses of Beta Squad came into view. Slowly the nervous squad headed into Pad 41B, before comming back to section chief Brax that yes the Emydia had taken off, and there was no sign of anyone. Brax came back to Delta’s squad leader Tartik with new orders. Continue into the access tunnel and check for any sign of the fugitives. Delta. With more than a little reluctance the squad left the launch pad and carried on down the tunnel.