Parasite: The Scourge War Book II by A.A. Pierce

Author:A.A. Pierce [Pierce, A.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pierce Publishing
Published: 2024-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

“Buck! Evasive!” Ryan hollered.

The Paragon swung out of the way just in time to dodge the incoming Scourge fighter’s kamikaze attack.

As its image slipped out of the viewscreen’s field of vision, Ryan spied something on its underside. A circle. “Get us back on the source of those fighters!”

The Paragon turned toward the Hive’s cap. In only seconds, she’d be able to deliver a point-blank attack.

“Fire!” Ryan shouted.

The Paragon unloaded torpedoes. As she swerved to avoid crashing into the Hive, debris exploded into the periphery of the screen.

“Varga?” Ryan asked.

“Aperture destroyed or sealed, sir. They won’t be able to launch from there anymore.”

“Great call, Reg.”

As the Paragon flew away from the Hive, toward the remainder of the strike team, hundreds of Scourge fighters filled the screen.

One of them seized Ryan’s attention as it zigzagged past the others. Is that the same …? It was coming in for another run. “Buck!”

“On ’er, sir!”

The Paragon again swerved just in time to avoid a collision with the stray fighter. This time, as it disappeared from view, Ryan fixed his eyes on its underside. There was that circle again. Something was so familiar about it.

He ran back to his chair and opened the holo-display.

“What are you doing?” Ashley asked.

Ryan ignored her. “Computer, show me the last ten seconds from the viewscreen onto my holo.”

The footage appeared.

“Play back half speed,” he said.

The footage of the lone fighter played.

“Captain, I dunno if you noticed,” Ashley said, “but we’re in the middle of a frickin’ battle!”

“One second, Commander.”

“That we’re losing!”

“Buck, keep us away from the Hive and as many fighters as you can.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Pause,” Ryan told the computer.

The footage paused at the very moment during which the front half of the lone fighter escaped the screen.

“Run back ten frames,” he said.

In the footage, the fighter flew backwards a few feet.

“Captain!” Ashley shouted.

Ryan faced her long enough to yell right back. “Fire torpedoes, dodge fighters, or fly back to Prima! Whatever, I don’t care, just gimme one goddamn second!”

Ashley rose from her seat and stood behind Buck. “Let’s focus on one of those arms, Lieutenant.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

“Computer,” Ryan said, continuing with the footage on his holo-display, “zoom in as close as you can to the bottom of that fighter.”

The view zoomed in till the circle took up the entire display. It was then that he realized it wasn’t a circle at all, rather a set of markings spreading out from a central point.

“So familiar.” He was certain he knew those markings, but he just couldn’t place them. It wasn’t only that they were familiar. The sight of them stirred up powerful, deep-seated feelings of heartwarming joy and piercing nostalgia.

“What is it?” Ashley asked impatiently.

Ryan shot to his feet and joined her behind Buck.

“What happened?” she insisted with an air of intrigue.

Ryan ignored her. “Computer, that last fighter that came straight for us, has it actually fired on us?”

“No, Captain.”

“Was it the same fighter that nearly smashed into us right before we fired on the Hive?”

“Affirmative.”

“Two swipes. No attack.”

“I’d hardly call a narrowly dodged collision no attack,” Ashley said.

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