Omega Force: Savage Homecoming (13 page)

“Where the hell were you with these brilliant suggestions an hour ago?” Jason shot back. In truth he was a little embarrassed he hadn’t thought of it himself. Once they’d confirmed the ship belonged to Deetz from the clerk at the desk, they should have just repositioned the
Phoenix
to cover his return.

“I’m Operations. You’re
supposed
to be Tactics,” Crusher shrugged as he continually scanned the crowd. Jason glared at his friend before resuming his own reconnaissance. With nothing better to do, they roamed the perimeter of the square looking for a synth, and/or a pair of A’arcooni—how they actually appeared when alive.

The better part of an hour had passed before Jason began to feel like the entire exercise had been nothing but a monumental waste of time. He then heard a strange, trilling voice that his implant couldn’t translate, which in itself was odd. He snapped his head around and looked for the source, only to see a lithe, gray-skinned alien with a crested skull walk by, chattering angrily at those it passed and pointing all around. The agitated being also had rows of colorful feathers lining either side of the crest. It took him a moment to process, but Jason was certain he was staring at an A’arcooni.

He elbowed Crusher hard in the side to get his attention, who then turned in irritation and promptly smacked Jason hard enough to send him to the ground for the second time that day. The human bounced up, nonplussed, and pointed emphatically at the alien who was still jabbering away, looking for all the world like a street preacher condemning all those it passed. The fact that nobody seemed to be able to understand it was a source of humor for those carousing on the square, most of whom openly mocked it.

The two members of Omega Force discreetly slipped in behind to follow the A’arcooni, as it appeared to have a definite destination in mind. Discreet was a relative term when accompanied by a Galvetic warrior, but it did help part the crowd. They hung back a bit so as not to spook the jabbering alien, following it as it ducked off the main square and down a raucous side street that was lined with taverns along either side. They lost sight of the quarry and ended up standing in the middle of the street, looking around in confusion.

“Damnit!” Jason shouted, startling a couple of partiers as they walked by. Just then his eyes were drawn to the end of the street where it terminated in another crossing that signified an end to the entertainment district. He stared for a moment as the crowd seemed to part at just the right moment to reveal a burnished metallic face twisted into a sardonic smirk. Deetz was staring right at him, smiling knowingly.

Jason’s instincts overrode his desire to give chase and he threw his body into Crusher.
“Down!” The trained warrior didn’t hesitate and he threw himself on the ground as a powerful weapon blast blew a chunk out of the building behind them. That blast was followed by a handful more, each impacting the building behind them, and a panicked throng began surging around them.

Jason looked up and could see three A’arcooni firing some type of handheld weapons that were curved around like horseshoes. The points would glow and then an energy discharge would fire outward. It seemed the weapons weren’t very powerful, however, as all they did
was blow shallow divots out of the building faces. Crusher climbed to his feet and in one fluid motion dove to his right and behind a decorative stone wall that concealed a flight of steps leading off the main street. Jason was right behind him as more shots pinged against the wall and a few screams from innocent bystanders could be heard.

“We’re trapped down here,” Jason said, pulling his holdout weapon from his boot. It was a small, chemically powered blaster that was only good for two shots before it was expended. It had been designed by Twingo when they had been forced to deal with Deetz the first time.

“Three targets, two shots … great thinking,” Crusher grumbled in disapproval at the weapon.

“
Phoenix
, this is Jason. Be advised we’ve come under fire,” Jason said into his com unit. “I want the ship prepped for immediate departure.” He moved up to the edge of the wall and peeked around for a split second to get his bearings on the enemy. He looked at Crusher and winked before extending his left arm around and squeezing off a single shot that took one of their assailants center mass and dropped him immediately, the alien’s weapon clanging to the ground. Jason squeezed back behind the wall as more shots hit around them. He could tell the other two were attempting to close on them from different directions and keep them pinned down with sustained fire.

“How are you not armed?”

“I brought this,” Crusher said as he slid a wicked, curved nanoblade out from under his vest. Jason just stared at him.

“You brought a knife,” Jason deadpanned. “That’s real fucking useful isn’t it?” Crusher only growled in response.

Jason crept up, ready to fire his last shot when a much more powerful weapons blast blew a huge chunk of the wall down on top of them. Both froze in shock.

“I think that’s quite enough, Jason,” Deetz’s voice carried to them. “Come out, toss that small blaster away and no more innocents will be killed or hurt. That is one of your main goals, isn’t it, Omega Force?” Jason ground his teeth at the mocking tone and looked at Crusher who simply shrugged helplessly.

“We’re coming out,” Jason shouted as he tossed his weapon over the wall. He stood slowly, not bothering to raise his hands, and walked out onto the street. Crusher sheathed his blade and followed him a moment later. The remaining two A’arcooni were standing to one side with their weapons trained on them while Deetz, casually shouldering a powerful plasma rifle, stood somewhat apart from them. “I see you’ve found some new friends.”

“You are a serious hindrance, do you know that?” Deetz asked, ignoring Jason’s statement. “I’d love nothing more than to kill you right here but I need the command codes to the DL7.”

“Well that’s not happening,” Jason said, folding his arms over his chest. He was stalling for time, as he was sure there would have to be some sort of law enforcement response to the gun play.

“Oh, but it is,” Deetz said. “While I can’t kill you … yet … I certainly have no use for the annoying little engineer, or your lady friend from your homeworld. You’re going to give me exactly what I want or they will all die while you watch. Just to prove I’m serious, your big warrior friend is going to be first.”

Deetz leveled the ugly weapon at Crusher, smiling smugly. Crusher raised himself to his full height and stared the synth down, refusing to blink or cower. There was an awful moment when Jason was certain he was about to watch his friend die, before a shadow on the ground caught his attention. The shadow appeared a split second before a horrendous impact on the pavement behind them. It was heavy enough to launch debris stingingly into their backs. Jason turned to his left to see what the hell had almost hit them.

Standing amid the dust he’d kicked up, eyes blazing red,
was Lucky. The battlesynth had leapt from the roof of the building behind them to enter the fray. He said nothing as he strode forward and fired his forearm-mounted blasters at the remaining A’arcooni before turning his attention to Deetz. The latter, for his part, looked stunned and confused at the turn of events. In keeping with his nature, he fled. Deetz may have been a coward, but he was fast.

Lucky and Crusher pursued without hesitation. Jason tried, but was hopelessly outclassed in speed by the more powerful species as they ran at breakneck speed
through the city. He pulled himself up short as he watched Deetz climb into an aircar and pull away, followed by his friends in another car they had apparently just stolen.
Shit, shit, SHIT!
He turned and sprinted back the way he had come, keeping an eye out for an available source of transportation as he did.

*****

“Are you back?” Crusher shouted as the wind whipped his words away in the open-cockpit vehicle.

“Obviously,” Lucky replied, able to amplify his voice without sounding like he was shouting. “Now is hardly the time to discuss it, however. Are you able to fly this vehicle?”

“I’m not very good at it,” Crusher admitted. Lucky didn’t answer as he remained at the controls and pushed the aircar to its limits to try and keep up with Deetz, who had apparently had his vehicle already waiting. It was, unfortunately, a fairly powerful model and was quickly leaving them behind. Lucky risked a couple of shots at it with his arm-mounted cannon before concentrating only on flying.

He skillfully shaved distance off of Deetz’s lead by cutting corners closer and taking riskier maneuvers through the other traffic. They were now moving into the heart of the megacity, and the buildings towered above them as irate twarlans gaped at them. The flight, along with carrying two heavy beings and running at full power the entire time, was taking its toll on the aircar. A whining fluctuation could be heard in the engine and they were losing speed in the turns.

“I do not believe this vehicle will last much longer,” Lucky informed Crusher. “We may need to break off pursuit and land before the engine cuts out.” Crusher glared and roared at the fleeing aircar in impotent rage before nodding his assent. As Lucky began to throttle back, a new sound became apparent. This was a dull, roaring throb that was building in intensity and seemed to shake the aircar. As they descended a bit more out of the traffic lane, their view of Deetz was suddenly cut off as the
Phoenix
roared out between two enormous towers just ahead of them, her bulk dwarfing everything else. The gunship pulled hard to make the turn and had to climb up and over another building as the drives struggled to keep her from plowing into it.

“He’s insane!” Crusher shouted as the
Phoenix
thundered between the buildings in renewed pursuit of Deetz. Lucky could only agree as the wash from the main engines shoved their tiny aircar about.

*****

“Range!” Jason barked.

“Two hundred meters and closing fast,” Kage reported in a strained voice.

Jason shoved the throttle forward again and the
Phoenix
leapt towards the fleeing aircar. Everyone onboard was holding on to something in terror as Jason threaded the big gunship down through the depths of the city. He was relying on the grav-drive and his neural implant to keep them from hitting any obstacles as the main engines pushed them along. The deep space combat ship was not built for this sort of maneuvering and the computers were constantly flashing warnings as they came close more than once to grazing a building.

“We’re in weapons range,” Kage said through clenched teeth.

“We can’t shoot while he’s down here near the buildings,” Jason said as he began to pull the nose up level with and beside the aircar. He could actually see Deetz look over and sneer in anger at him through the canopy before trying to dive away, but not before Jason gave him a love tap with the side of the ship. The hit sent the aircar spiraling down into the depths so fast that Jason couldn’t slow his velocity quickly enough to follow. Instead, he yanked the ship into a steep climb to circle around and try to reacquire him.

“We lost him—”

“Jason, we have serious problems,” Doc interrupted Kage with genuine fear in his voice. “
Both
ConFed destroyers that are in orbit are moving to intercept. They’ll be over the city in minutes, and are demanding we put down before they open fire.”

“They won’t fire into the city,” Jason scoffed.

“They most certainly will,” Doc insisted. “We need to get out of here,
now!
”

“Tell Lucky and Crusher we’ll meet them at the northern edge of the city,” Jason said. “Lucky should be able to home in on us and just pull the aircar into the cargo bay. Kage, you keep an eye out for Deetz.”

Jason brought them about again and pushed for the northern boundary that marked the edge of the mega-city. He risked a short burst of supersonic flight to get them out of the area, not wanting to put the twarlan population at risk of ConFed fire or local law enforcement, the latter of which was just now mounting a response. At the edge of the city the sky-reaching towers gave way to shorter, more pragmatic buildings that mostly housed the support equipment needed to sustain a city of millions.

“Lucky is saying they’re being pursued by local law enforcement,” Kage said. “They’re also at ground level near the end of the warehouse district to our left. Apparently the engine in their vehicle is no longer able to sustain flight.”

“Plot me a course,” Jason said as he veered in the general direction indicated by Kage.

*****

Lucky had swapped places with Crusher and was now firing low power, wide focus beams at the oncoming vehicles. While Crusher was an abhorrent pilot in three dimensions, when the vehicle was at ground level he was competent enough. Besides, Lucky was the only one armed at the moment.

“I can’t get much more speed out of it,” Crusher shouted over the rushing air.

“It does not matter. Help is on the way,” Lucky replied, firing three more rapid bursts. They had limped the car back to ground level and were racing along the abandoned streets north of the city. The streets in this area were traversed almost exclusively by autonomous delivery bots as they scurried from the warehouse staging areas back into the city to deliver the goods the populace required. This kept the skies above free for the more exotic air travel, a novelty much preferred by the twarlans.