Koko the Mighty by Shea Kieran

Author:Shea, Kieran [Shea, Kieran]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781781168622
Publisher: Titan Books
Published: 2015-08-25T07:00:00+00:00

SOMEWHERE OVER THE PACIFIC I

MORTEM DESURSUM

Blasting across the Pacific sky at a smooth altitude of ten thousand feet, Wire heads north-northeast at hypersonic speed without a shred of trepidation behind her newly acquired aircraft’s controls.

Slope-surfaced and matted black for stealth, her new aircraft is a PAE Aerodynamics Goliath gunship. Primarily designed for long-range military theater engagements, the Goliath on first impression seemed a bit much for her needs, but now that she pushes the bejesus out of its twin fusion-powered thrusters, she’s happy she reconsidered the purchase. All said and done, with dueling quad-racks of ASM missiles and state-of-the-art pulse cannons, the Goliath is absolutely badass, nose to tail.

Wire’s munitions and clothes are stowed in a hold beneath the cockpit, but in one of her tactical suit’s deep cargo pockets she carries her evasion and worst-case scenario gear. Bifurcated and sealed in two vacuum-pack pouches, this gear includes: a blowout trauma kit; two laser flares; a multi-tool gyro-motion-powered flashlight; a tarry of synthetic energy protein (toasted coconut); a rack of five pulse grenades; and a holstered Sig Sauer sub-compact pistol flush-fit with an extended power magazine.

Wire has been itching to try out the Goliath’s pulse cannons and briefly she entertains a daydream of turning around and blowing by The Sixty, smoking every last inch of the resort just for spite. Yeah, lighting up those islands would be so satisfying. If she was lucky she might even take out that stupid fink Britch who deported her to Surabaya. But she left the resorts’ greater coordinates hours ago so now her retaliation will have to take the shape of a carefully crafted flowcode message she types into the Goliath’s comms.

Once her message is away, Wire checks her transoceanic navigational charts. Assembled, the lustrous arrays in front of her indicate a small commercial trawler up ahead, plugging northward across the sloppy seas at a steady twenty-eight knots. The vessel is of meager manifest value, hauling scrap metal destined for the offshore smelting rigs in the Sea of Okhotsk.

A closer examination of the charts reveals the nearest vessel to the trawler is over one hundred and ten nautical miles away. As the vessel isn’t connected to any larger commercial syndicate that might cause her any future concern, Wire dips the Goliath beneath the clouds and increases her speed.

Soon the trawler is within range. Seventy nautical miles out now and in the next second—fifty. With a sweep of her finger, she syncs the Goliath’s pulse cannon guidance systems to her newly repaired ocular, and half a second later a red-tinted overlay melts into her vision: ACQUIRED.

With a single blink of her eye, the pulse cannons fire. Strafing past, one of several rounds catches the trawler’s stern fuel tanks and obliterates the vessel in a molten fireball.

Fuck yes!

Wire streaks past the flaming smear on the ocean’s surface like a predacious black demon and pulls back on the Goliath’s stick, grinning. Dragging g-forces instantly engage her tactical suit stress functions to modulate her blood flow, and climbing higher into the sky, the Goliath finally stabilizes.

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