War Fleet: Resistance by Joshua James & Daniel Young

Author:Joshua James & Daniel Young [James, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-24T16:00:00+00:00

24

Redrock’s toe tapped rapidly against the floor of the Extractor as he watched Kota, Singh, and their Arstan captive sprint towards the shuttle cargo doors. Connery and Turgin had already made it back, and they were in the cargo bay with Riley, but it seemed having a hostage might have slowed the other two Marines a little. Redrock wasn’t sure he could get back to the Tapper in ten minutes, let alone eight, but the thought of leaving Kota behind made him sick. It just wasn’t going to happen, mission be damned.

He kept his hand clenched around the control stick as he flitted his gaze between the Marines and the button to close the cargo bay doors. Meanwhile, he kept muttering “Hurry up” under his breath.

Kota appeared at the cargo bay entrance first, followed by Singh, who pushed the Arstan inside. Redrock let out a tightly-held breath, and then he closed the cargo bay doors. “Does he have mag-boots?” he asked.

The crocodile-man shook his head before anyone else could answer. “Do I look like I came equipped for interstellar travel? You woke me up from my afternoon nap and didn’t even give me time to put my slippers on.”

“Pin him down, damn it,” Redrock shouted back to the Marines. “We don’t want to have come this far and lose him to a bang on the head.”

He waited until Riley and Turgin, the two strongest men, rushed forward and locked their arms around the Arstan, then wrestled him to the floor. Redrock ramped up the dial for the under-ship thrusters, and the ship shook to life. He flipped out the wings that he’d put in to keep the ship concealed. And as it rose, the branches and leaves that he and Riley had secured for cover were sent scattering around the terrain.

“Brace yourselves,” he said. “This is going to make all of us want to puke.” He lifted a metal hatch underneath the throttle and turned a dial underneath from zero to a hundred. He wasn’t meant to use the afterburners unless in an absolute emergency. Burn them for too long, and the ship could become liquid metal.

But right now they didn’t have a choice.

The inside of the ship heated up to the temperature of a mid-afternoon desert. Redrock took hold of some water from the cooler underneath the dash and threw back some bottles. “Use these to stay cool,” he said, and poured some liquid down his throat himself.

Then he turned the thrusters around and screamed out — and he wasn’t sure if it was in pain or ecstasy — as the acceleration pushed him hard against the back of his seat. “Captain, I’m running the afterburners,” he shouted over the comms channel. He hoped that he’d be coherent amidst the heat and the feeling of restricted air. “How long we got?”

“Four minutes. Dammit, Redrock, do you think you can make it? I wish we could cancel, but if this station gets another hit on us, we’re shrapnel.”

“I’m going to damn well try.

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.