Rika Triumphant by M. D. Cooper

Author:M. D. Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2018-01-25T05:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Rika set the SkyScream down beside the pinnace on the hard pack in front of Fort Hammerfall’s command building. While the ramp lowered from the pinnace, she triggered her craft’s disengagement protocols.

Her sense of self shrank back down to her human form as the SkyScream lifted her out of the pilot’s pocket and set her back into her legs. Then she reached forward and sank her arms into the sockets, feeling the ship drive the rods through her arms and legs.

“Shit, Rika!” Kelly called out as the rest of the team walked out of the pinnace. “Next time, I’m calling dibs on that thing! I watched your feeds, it was ridiculous!”

Rika jumped down off the SkyScream, and sent a command for the craft to fly to a nearby hangar. “We’ll have to see about that…we don’t have many of those birds.”

Kelly’s face fell, and Rika laughed. “Relax, I was kidding. You’ll get a chance. We don’t have many of them, but there aren’t many SMI and RR mechs, so everyone who wants to will get a turn.”

Rika climbed the steps to the command building, and Major Dala caught up with her. “I need to contact…well, someone. I have to report on what happened here tonight.”

“Who can you safely call?” The doors opened, and Rika stepped through, walking over to one of the drying stations. Warm air whipped across her body, blasting away moisture and leaving her perfectly dry—though in dire need of a hairbrush—in seconds.

Dala availed herself of a dryer as well, and the device lowered its output for a standard human. Rika wondered if it would have blown the uptight major’s dress off if it had remained on full power. That would have been worth a laugh.

<That was an uncharitable thought,> Niki commented.

<How would you know? You can’t read my thoughts, and I didn’t have any physical tells.>

<No, just the daggers you shot at her with your eyes.>

Rika snorted. <Daggers are not something you can shoot with your eyes. You should know that.>

<I beg to differ.>

<Now, lasers…>

Dala stepped out of the drying pod and approached Rika. “I can’t imagine this goes too high, but to hit you with fighters like that, it must. But I would have seen a sign, wouldn’t I?”

Rika felt a stab of guilt for her prior attitude toward Dala. The woman was trying to do her job, but people she trusted were clearly working against her—and now trying to kill her.

“Core be damned, I have no idea.” Rika softened her tone before she continued, tamping down the adrenaline still rushing through her from flying the SkyScream. “I’ve been on the horn to my liaison with the SAF, and he’s stonewalled me at every turn. And I sure as hell don’t trust your CO right now—no offense. If Zim himself isn’t rotten, his HQ is full of leaks. Who else do you have?”

Dala adjusted the hem of her dress and glanced at David. “I was telling David—right before he rushed me out the back—that we might have to go up the chain to General Adam.

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