Quantum Assault: A Military Scifi Epic (Ruins of the Galaxy Book 8) by J.N. Chaney & Christopher Hopper

Author:J.N. Chaney & Christopher Hopper [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2020-05-05T16:00:00+00:00

“She’s right, you know,” Magnus said, still on his belly. “You can be a real bitch.”

“Shut up.” Awen offered him a hand and helped him stand. “You okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Just need another minute.” Magnus looked at the two Luma that Awen downed, and then nodded toward the crater where the two other had fallen through. “You did good work.”

“Thanks. It’s just a shame that—”

“We can worry about all that later.” Magnus placed a hand on her shoulder. “Right now, we need—”

“Magnus, this is Rohoar who speaks to you.”

Magnus chuckled. “I can see that, pal.”

“Rohoar believes there is a serious problem down here in the lower trinium containment areas where Rohoar has been dispatching diaper cherubs.”

“And what’s that?”

Rohoar switched out his face camera for a view from his helmet. There, attached at half a dozen points along a trinium bay, were several bag-looking lumps with blinking lights.

“Oh, splick,” Magnus said.

“Yes.” Rohoar zoomed in on one of the bags. “If we were on Oorajee, you and your Marines would call these IMTBs, Rohoar believes.”

Magnus nodded and then looked at Awen. “We’ve got to get everyone off the ship.”

“What? Why?”

“IMTBs—improvised multi-trigger bombs. My gut says that’s trinitex.”

“That is also Rohoar’s intestinal sensation on the matter,” the Jujari replied.

“All units, all units,” Magnus said over the all-unit channel. “Get off the ship. I repeat, abandon ship. She’s rigged to blow.” Then as Magnus led Awen to the side railing and looked into the water, he opened a line to Caldwell. “We’ve got a big problem, Colonel.”

“What is it, son?”

But Magnus was slow in responding. Something unusual caught his attention. Even amongst the growing waves stirred up by the storm, he noticed splashing in the distance—the same kind that signaled the Li-Dain deploying from their shuttles.

“What is it, Magnus?” Awen asked.

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” he said, more to himself than anyone else.

“What’s going on there, son,” Caldwell said. “Need you to talk to me.”

“They’ve rigged the OHF to blow, colonel. Trinitex.”

“Damn.” Caldwell pulled his cigar out. “What are they thinking?”

“I don’t know.” Magnus watched as more Li-Dain appeared to make water entry along the horizon. “But they’re deploying reinforcements into the water, which doesn’t make sense if they’re just planning to scuttle the ship and blow the trinium.”

Into the water. Even as he repeated his own phrase, something dawned on him.

Magnus brought up Captain Forbes. The man’s face appeared in a window next to Caldwell’s. “Heard you’re having all the fun without us, Maggs.”

“Daniel,” Magnus said. “Where are you and your men?”

“Stationed as planned. All hovertrain entry points are locked down.”

“And the mines?”

“Emptied as per emergency protocol. Why? What’s this about?”

Magnus glanced at Awen, then the OHF, then the ocean. “They only wanted this trinium as a distraction.”

“What are you talking about?” Awen asked.

“I second her question, son,” Caldwell said.

“They wanted to make a statement. Maybe even take a city out if they could’ve gotten close to shore. But they’re not after the freighter. They’re going after the whole damn mine.”

“We accounted for this,” Forbes said.

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