The Girls From Alcyone (40 page)

"Christian?"

"Sigrid…"
She could hardly hear his voice.
"We have a problem. We've lost the stealth field. Rodney's trying to fix it, but he says it's fried. We've put the asteroid between us and those CTF destroyers, but…."

Shit
. There was nothing her small ship could do against a pair of destroyers—even a crippled one. And the remainder of the task force would be arriving soon. "Get clear, Christian. Get the girls through the Relay."

"
No way—not going to happen.
"

"Christian—stop arguing with me. There's nothing more you can do. Just get yourselves to safety."

"
What about you?
" Selene demanded.

Indeed, Sigrid wondered.
"You worry about the ship. I'll worry about us."

Seconds went by, and all Sigrid heard was static, and then she heard Christian's glum voice, "
Aye, ma'am. Good luck.
"

Suko leaned close, whispering in her ear. "I guess we just lost our transportation."

"We'll find a way," Sigrid said—with more conviction than she felt.

There was still the matter of finding their way out of the mines. Sigrid started ahead, leading both of them by the hand. Suko's optics had been disabled, so neither she nor Dr. Garrett could see anything in the pitch blackness of the mine. They walked in silence for close to ten minutes; even Sigrid was starting to question her choice of direction. She had to find a way out and find it soon.
Please.

Sigrid was still scanning ahead, searching through the darkness for a way out when she sensed something. She came to a sudden stop, squeezing Suko's hand. Neither woman made a sound. Sigrid was sure she'd seen something…

Very quietly, she helped Dr. Garrett and Suko to the side of the shaft. The rocky walls were jagged and uneven, providing plenty of cover for them—but also for whoever lurked further ahead.

"What is it?" Suko whispered.

"Trouble. Stay here."

Sigrid eased ahead, keeping close to the wall, searching through the darkness. She couldn't see anything, but the hairs on her neck bristled. She nearly leapt out of her boots when she felt Suko's hand on her shoulder.

"What are you
doing?
" Sigrid asked.

"Helping you."

Sigrid sighed—there was no point in arguing with her. "There's something up ahead. At least, I could have sworn…"

"I felt it too. I guess it's good news in a way."

"How's
that
good news?"

"Well, if they're here, then there really must be another way out—or in. You know what I mean."

"I see your point."

They crept further along the sloping tunnel, but Sigrid couldn't scan anything. She was starting to wonder if she'd imagined it.

"Close your eyes," Sigrid said, taking a flashbang from her belt. She rolled the grenade forward; the pebble-sized grenade bounced along the floor of the tunnel. Sigrid shielded her eyes as the grenade went off. A combination of the flashes, squeals and smoke pervaded the darkness—Lei-Fei, Christi and
Sara,
stumbled out from their cover, eyes still full of green neon from the burning flare of the flashbang. Sigrid's guns were in her hands, but she hesitated. She hadn't come all this way to
kill
them.

"Sara!" Sigrid called. "I have a ship. I can get us all out of here."

Sara's reply was a torrent of bullets unleashed in their direction, but Sigrid had already dragged Suko into the cover of the rocky outcroppings along the wall.

"I heard your little conversation. You just sent your ship away. You're trapped."

"So are you," Sigrid countered. "Those Federation troops aren't here to rescue you."

"I'm not worried about them. They're far more afraid of us, trust me. Don't fight me, Sigrid. We're on the same side."

"So what about Mei, Leia and Petra?" Suko called out. "We saw what they did to Tara. Are you on their side as well? They're too dead to care, of course."

"They're dead because Dr. Garrett wouldn't help them," Sara called out, louder. "Isn't that right, Doctor? You could have saved them."

Dr. Garrett came out from her cover and felt her way forward. "It's not that simple, Sara. I warned them of the dangers."

"But you didn't warn us."

"No…we didn't. I'm sorry for that."

Sigrid could feel the regret thrumming in Dr. Garrett's voice.

"Too late, Doctor."

"Let us go," Sigrid said. "Better still, come with us. We can get out of here together."

Sigrid endured the uneasy silence until Sara said, "All right—throw out your weapons first. No tricks."

Sigrid began unfastening her holster; she felt Suko's hand grab her arm.

"
No!
Sigrid…it's a trick. She's lying. Please don't…"

Sigrid hesitated, but she patted Suko's hand. "It's okay."

She tossed the belt with her pistols out onto the floor of the shaft, slowly emerging with her hands out wide. With her optics, she could easily see the three girls up ahead of her, about twenty meters down the tunnel; Sara, in the powered-armor, with Lei-Fei and Christi flanking her. They held weapons, raised and aimed at her, but the faces of the two girls were set blank and lifeless. And their vital signs seemed oddly low.

"Suko too," Sara said.

"No," Sigrid said, motioning Suko back into cover. "'Together' was the deal. We'll not go as prisoners."

"If we're getting out of here, we're going to need weapons," Sara said.

"Yes—but not aimed at us."

"All right!" Annoyed, Sara lowered her weapon. "Now tell Suko to come out where we can see her—and Dr. Garrett."

"What about them?" Sigrid asked, looking at Lei-Fei and Christi, who still had their weapons raised.

"Them?" Sara laughed. "They'll do whatever I tell them."

"Then
tell
them."

Sara seemed to consider this, and finally nodded. "Stand down. Don't fire on them."

Sigrid held her ground. "Now, tell them they're not to harm us."

Sara looked to the two girls at her side. "You are not to attack them. You hear me?"

Lei-Fei and Christi obediently lowered their rifles.

"Now let's go," Sara said.

"Wait," Sigrid said. "I have your word? You won't harm us or try to turn us over?"

Sara sighed impatiently. "Yes.
I promise.
We won't try anything. Satisfied?"

"Very," Sigrid said.

Without warning, Sigrid launched herself at Sara, who grunted in surprise and brought her gun up, but Sigrid was already diving out of the way. Her hands reached into her boots, drawing a pair of knives as she rolled to her feet; the deadly blades blurring in rotation as they rushed to greet Sara.

Sara ducked the throws easily, but was thrown off her aim and her shots went high.

Sigrid dived on her, tackled her, pounded her face with angry fists.

Sara grabbed her; her already genetically modified strength was magnified by the powered-armor she wore. She threw Sigrid off easily, roaring with rage as she grabbed for her rifle. She leapt on top of Sigrid and pinned her to the ground, pressing the muzzle of the rifle up against her neck.

"You crazy fucking bitch! I told you I wasn't going to hurt you."

Sigrid fought for breath under the crushing weight of the girl's armor. She stared up at her; the familiar glow of hatred had returned to her hawk-like eyes.

"You
lied
."

Sigrid had monitored their conversation closely. She knew Sara had no intention of cooperating with them. None of that mattered now. She could see Sara's knuckle, white, on the trigger of her rifle. Sigrid had gambled and lost.

Sara's eyes flared. "I should have killed you in the CTF Tower. I should have killed you on Alcyone. I always hated you, you stupid little bitch."

"I told you to leave her alone," Suko said from somewhere in the shadows.

Sara looked up in surprise.

A shot rang out. Sara's head jerked back, blood poured from the hole in her forehead as she slumped on top of her. Sigrid groaned under the dead weight of the girl in her armor.

It took all of her strength, and Suko's, to roll Sara off her.

"She always was a lying bitch," Suko said, helping Sigrid up.

Sigrid studied her in the dark. "I didn't think you could see anything."

"I can't—I just followed her voice."

"You might have hit me!"

Suko feigned a hurt expression. "Never. Now come on."

Sigrid grabbed a flare from Sara's belt and lit it. Lei-Fei and Christi still stood there silently.

Suko reached out a cautious hand and touched Christi; the girls were like cold, stone statues. "Are they going to be all right? I mean, you don't think they'll attack us, do you?"

"I don't know. They seem to be obeying Sara's orders."

"Let's just hope they obey ours."

Sigrid nodded.

They quickly gathered their weapons up and retrieved Dr. Garrett. Mercifully, Lei-Fei and Christi seemed just as willing to follow their orders in place of Sara's, but Sigrid took the precaution of removing their weapons from them—just in case.

They found the maintenance shaft Sara had used, and proceeded to haul Dr. Garrett up the 300 meter length of it until they reached the top. The sounds of battle raged louder here. The sound of death; the CTF soldiers were already mopping-up the remainder of the routed Scorpii forces.

"The hangar should be this way," Sigrid said, leading them cautiously down another corridor.

There was a monitoring station just above the hangar, occupied by a squad of Marines; Suko made quick work of them with one of the tiny gas grenades, plucked from the seam of Sigrid's bra. Two large windows gave a clear view of the loading bay below. It was bristling with CTF troops. Evidence of the fierce battle was strewn everywhere—the destroyed, burning hulks of
Mechs
and bodies, scattered, twisted, over the floor of the bay.

The shuttles were gone, but the bay was full of the CTF Naval drop ships used to ferry the soldiers back and forth from the carrier.

"Now what?" Suko asked.

"We take one of those," Sigrid said. "That one." She pointed to the drop ship nearest to the hangar doors.

"I'll take the one next to it," Suko said.

"What?"

Suko shrugged. "Why just steal one when you can steal two for the same price?"

"All right, but let me go first. You take the others—I'll get the guards attention."

"You? Why do you get the dangerous assignment?"

"Because, I can do this, silly." Sigrid winked and shrouded herself, disappearing from view.

"When we get out of here, you're showing me how to do that."

"I promise," Sigrid said, delivering a moist kiss to Suko's lips.

Suko wriggled from Sigrid's invisible embrace. "Now, that's just weird."

Sigrid snorted and lowered herself from the open window. She padded silently toward the waiting drop ship. The soldiers were mostly concentrating on the main entrance to the mining facility, but even the soldiers facing her failed to notice as she slipped by them and climbed carefully into the small ship.

She took quick stock of the craft and its controls. The ship wasn't much different from the
Kingfishers
they'd used on Alcyone. Sigrid hoped the controls were similar—she couldn't find any of the specs for the craft in her database.

"Here goes nothing," Sigrid muttered as she eased the power up, lifting the craft off the ground.

The alarms shrieked out a hooting cacophony, and all around her she could see the CTF soldiers running toward her, raising their weapons.

"Uh-oh," Sigrid said. She blasted upward, bouncing into the ceiling-netting. "Whoops!" The controls were extremely sensitive. She throttled back, and promptly crashed back down to the floor. Soldiers and personnel dived out of the way, pointing and screaming up at her. "Sorry!" Sigrid called out.

More troops were pouring in through the main entrance; Sigrid wheeled the ship hard about, releasing the safeties on the missile pods mounted on the ship's side. She hit the trigger and watched four missiles arc out. The explosions ripped through the doors and into the corridor beyond, sending men and machinery flying in every direction. Switching to the chain gun mounted in the nose, Sigrid spun the ship in a circle, spraying the ground around her with a chattering burst of fire.

All the attention was focused on her. No one saw the four women at the far end running for the other drop ship. Once they were in, Sigrid aimed her ship at the hangar doors and unleashed another barrage of missiles. The high-yield warheads ripped the metal doors apart, the rush of escaping atmosphere whisking away what was left of them. It took all the drop ship's power to keep it from sailing out of the bay, out of control, but Sigrid's frantic adjustments held the craft in place. Once the turbulence had abated, she pushed the power forward, easing the craft out through the narrow opening, and out into space.

Sigrid slipped her headset on. "You with me?"

"
I-firmative,
" Suko responded.

Sigrid breathed a sigh.

Now what?
They were free of the base, but the drop ships were only designed for short hops. They'd never make it to the Relay, let alone have the power to push through it. At each stage, Sigrid had been thinking on her feet, moving from one obstacle to the next, but this one was different.
How could she break the intrinsic laws of physics?

The answer lay ahead of her. Sigrid set a course toward the hulking troop carrier before her, still in orbit around the asteroid.

"
Uh, Sigrid…
" Suko's voice crackled over the com. "
You're going toward that? Shouldn't we be going away?
"

"I have an idea," Sigrid said. She pushed forward on the power, accelerating to maximum.

The commander of the carrier had different ideas; the giant ship opened up with all its armaments, firing wildly at her small drop ship.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea," she said, arcing her ship over, and out of the larger ship's weapons range. She had hoped to get much closer to the carrier, maybe even get aboard before they'd realized who was piloting the craft. But clearly, someone aboard the carrier was far more diligent in their duties than she'd expected.