New Season: Sparrow's Quest (New Sky Book 2) by Kent Jason

Author:Kent, Jason [Kent, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2016-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

Merrick and Ross caught up with Dagger, Kate, Tarun, and Sparrow just as they reached the entrance rotunda. For the moment, the Ater were nowhere in sight.

"How far back are they?" Kate asked. She let the steel case drop to the ground and rubbed her aching arm.

"Not far enough!" Ross replied. He took a knee, facing the way they'd come, and methodically changed out a half-spent magazine for a fresh one.

Tarun staggered as he was left holding the metal box alone. He grimaced at Kate's treatment of the artifact as he lowered his end of the case carefully to the floor. When he let go of the handle, he rolled his arm in circles trying to stretch his overused muscles. "We should have brought some porters," the archivist grumbled.

Dagger slapped Tarun on the back. "But, we have you!"

Tarun staggered half a step. He shot the pilot a dark look but held his tongue.

"Garrett is on the way," Dagger reported, taking no notice of Tarun glaring at her.

"Let's get out in the square," Merrick said. He started to head for the open front doors then froze. He lowered his voice and ordered, "Down!"

Kate did not have time to react before Merrick reached out and dragged her to the cool tile floor with a muscular arm. She almost asked what was going on before she spotted the shadows coming up the steps.

"More Ater?" Dagger breathed. She was flat on the floor next to Kate behind central dias. "I'm really starting to not like these guys!"

Red beams shot out from the dark figures and danced over the walls and blank museum displays. Several beams probed the giant stack of bones on the pedestal in the middle of the rotunda. Kate heard the distinctive sound of gears whining, hydraulic pistons working, and the hiss of high pressure steam releasing.

"Mechs!" Kate said softly as her eyes followed the progress of the machine's optical sensors. She raised her head for a better look. "What the tral are they doing here?!"

"Little late to the party," Dagger stated. "Isn't that just like the Tallinns?" She looked back at Tarun as she checked the ammunition in her handgun with a tight smile. "No offense."

The first mech stepped into the museum, still unaware its quarry was hiding in the same room.

Kate noticed the emblems painted on the sides of the mechs. It was a circle featuring a stout tree standing on a field of green with a blue sky behind it. From what little she'd studied back at the Archives, she knew this was an Ardennes standard. The olive green paint covering the rest of the mech was chipped and faded. Kate hissed, "Those aren't Tallinn!"

"Sure as tral look like it to me!" Ross whispered back.

"Interesting," Tarun noted. "The Tallinns must be exporting their mechology to less developed worlds—"

"Don't care!" Dagger interjected.

"So, we need to beat both the machines and our alien buddies," Ross sighed. "Nice."

"Well, no one ever said our job was easy," Merrick remarked. He lined up his rifle from his prone position, the first mech already in his deadly sight.

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