Rogue Stars: Divine Intervention: (A Military Sci-Fi Series) by Jaime Castle

Author:Jaime Castle [Castle, Jaime]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2024-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

MALIK

The extreme thrust of the Fat Bird’s engines bent several of the trees nearly horizontal and snapped even more as the shuttle descended into the canopy. A slight hop of the angling jets kicked the ship’s tail off to the side, narrowly avoiding a finger of rock jutting up from the vines.

The ramp lowered, disgorging a host of Ransacker scouts in light striker kit. The fighters in overpowered exoskeletons stomped down the ramp, each with a helmet bearing the holographic representation of a red skull. The last man’s holo, however, was white over deep black, almost making it look like the ghostly skull floated in empty space above his shoulders.

“Where’s the orange jumpsuit?” Lassara, the bearer of said helmet, asked as he raised a hand in greeting.

I snapped my palm to his, bringing the man in for a hug. “Man, forget about the jumpsuit. Hey, I want you to meet Tyson Hayle.”

Las stepped forward and gave a handshake. I guess he was saving the hug. “As in the guy from Ratimar? Wanted in, like, four systems.”

“Wow, Malik. We’ve known each other for how long, and you’re already telling the parental units about me?” Hayle joked.

“Oh, he’s going to fit right in,” Las quipped.

“We’ll see,” I said. “He can be a bit stiff.”

“No need to share bedroom stories,” Las said with another laugh.

The group of Ranger Scout commandos slipped ahead of us in the foliage, moving in single file toward the old mining camp. Behind us, a Colonial M-LOC trundled down the ramp, stopping just behind the Fat Bird. In a blast of thrust and throttle, the pilot juked the plane upward, then hit the engines hard for atmo.

“Been awhile since I’ve seen a military logistics and operations carrier,” Hayle said. “Spec Ops used to get them. I once knew a guy with a civilian cargo loader that he drove remotely. We strapped a bunch of plate steel to it and pretended we could use it like you guys did.”

Las removed his helmet, brushing out his hair. He coughed a few times in Faebos’s harsh air but forced himself to breathe normally. “Sorry about that. We have the climate off-planet set for fifty-five percent Faebos so it won’t be so bad when we come back down. I practically just coughed my lungs through my nose.” He shook his head. “So, please, what happened to the pseudo M-LOC?”

Hayle shrugged. “When the rest of my crew was killed, I marched it full of explosives into the center of the Lenzaaban camp and set it off.” He mimed an explosion with his hands. “The entire mech turned to shrapnel and shredded most of the post.”

“The Kiamarr Massacre. Five Fires and more, that was you?” Las asked.

“They told my men if they surrendered, they would take them prisoner. Seeing they lied, I figured I would make payback messy,” Hayle admitted.

We wound our way through the lower valley, climbing back to a vine-strewn road we’d found after coming away from camp with several discoveries. Looking

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