Valdar's Hammer by Fox Richard & Moon Scott

Author:Fox, Richard & Moon, Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: antique
Publisher: Triplane Press
Published: 2018-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Right behind you,” Max said.

Hoffman’s legs fought against the force from his grav linings as he landed

A denethrite warhead exploded with a flash overhead—part of Valdar’s plan to confuse the Kesaht ships coming through the broken moon. A slight boom carried through the miniscule atmosphere of dust particles spread between the hunks.

“Team, report,” Hoffman said as he scanned the surface of the asteroid through the sights of his gauss rifle. Haze filled the sky on this strange mini world.

“King.”

“Booker.”

“Duke.”

“Opal, here, sir.”

“Garrison and Max,” Garrison said. “We’re at the sled. Max can't get the diagnostic screen to turn on.”

“Gor’al?” Hoffman turned around, counting heads.

“Yes, I am here,” the Dotari said. “I am on the team? I’m honored.”

Hoffman resisted the urge to lash out at the Dotari, another lesson learned working side by side with the aliens.

“We’re moving to the sled’s location and will set up a new security perimeter around it,” Hoffman said.

Max staggered, then overcorrected, jumping several feet sideways on accident. “This place is freaky.”

“Is that a technical term you commo guys use?” Booker asked, holding both hands out in front of her for balance.

Gor’al issued a staccato hiss that was probably meant to remain inside his helmet, but which broadcast through the external speakers. “The variable gravity takes getting used to, yes?”

“Fill us in, Gor,” King said. “This information should have been in the briefing.”

“The sentient species that lived on Syracuse destroyed this moon to thwart the Xaros invasion several thousand years ago. The Xaros set up graviton generators to prevent the debris from falling on the planet,” Gor’al said.

“Wouldn't want to ruin their future colony world,” Duke said dryly.

Gor’al clicked his beak several times. The sound boomed through their helmets. “I am reviewing the technical supplement. Who wrote this? Why don’t human operational plans include annexes on the history of the writers? How else do I know if they’re worth believing?”

“Drop it, Gor’al. Give me an update on the sled,” Hoffman said.

An image from Max of the grav sled bumping up against a rock outcropping made Hoffman wince.

“Forward emitters damaged,” Max said. “I can’t fix it by the time we’re supposed to be void-borne…maybe with a workshop and some good tools, but I'm a communications expert, not a mechanic. I can promise the EMP projector is working on the front of the sled, but might not be able to get the sled to actually move.”

Gor’al bounded up high and over the rock where most of the team had taken cover. “I think I can help. Dotari know how to fix things.”

“Great. Then get to it,” Hoffman said. “And stop clicking your beak.” He pulled his gauss rifle off his back and powered up the capacitor battery.

Several minutes passed as Hoffman stared toward the objective, wishing they were already there. “Progress report,” he demanded.

King spoke on their private command link. “Gor’al is confident he can get it working. Not sure how long it will take him.”

“Fine. Let's pull the camo cloak over the worksite. It'll slow us down, but we can’t afford to get hit here.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.