Chapter 21

Battle

Lucy gave us a pass over the defensive line. Gult and his men had worked through the night, setting up defences, limiting the options for the Vadram’s approach. The bridge at Wolldorb’s farm had been blocked with as much junk as they could lay their hands on, a few wrecked vehicles and white goods that even the Vadram couldn’t just push aside. They could climb over, but if they tried, Gadget Dude had provided a few little tricks in the barricade to dissuade them. Gult stationed a few men there to keep an eye on it, but we hoped the Vadram would take the easier route into town.

Pilvi’s trench had been expanded and deepened, with some trembler wire lining the bottom on our side, any Vadram climbing in would regret it, and climbing out would be unpleasant too unless they retreated.

That still left a mile for us to cover, and Gult’s men looked lonely, dotted along that mile. Seventhirtyfour stood in the centre of the line, and I think his presence bolstered the men there. Here was a Brontom clone warrior, fighting on their side.

We backed off a bit, the idea being to act as reserves, after all, and so watched the start of the battle over a monitor.

Avrim spotted the approaching Vadram first. He commed, “They’re here!”

I heard Gult’s commed orders in response, the militia drew themselves up, nervously, perhaps, but standing.

And then we could see them too, a ragged line of a dozen Vadram, jogging over the ridgeline, at the top of a gentle slope down into town. They broke step for a moment when they noticed the defenders, but when they moved out again it was at a full run down the slope, shouting and roaring, making as much noise as possible. They didn’t seem to be armed, beyond a few knives and improvised clubs, but the sheer size of them, the aggression, it was... well, frankly, it was scary as hell.

Our defensive line took a half step backwards, even over the monitor, I could see the moment their courage wobbled. But then Seventhirtyfour roared something and ran to position himself to meet the charge, and a group of militia went with him. The line steadied, braced.

“There were more than that before,” Lucy muttered.

“There!” I pointed to a hill further back, another group of Vadram hadn’t joined the charge, instead, they took up sniping positions with their supply of guns.

Before we could warn Gult and his men, laser light cut across the battlefield, two militia fell immediately, and I saw Seventhirtyfour stagger as a shot grazed his upper left arm.

It was earlier than we had planned for Pilvi to do her thing, but I couldn’t let those snipers go untroubled. I scooted back into the cargo area. “Pilvi, how’s the science coming?”

She had her goggles on and was holding a test tube over the Splicer. She shook her head. “It’s one night, not even that, I’ve identified a few of the plants’ traits, but nothing useful. I’ve barely started. I really think I’d be more help on the battlefield...”

I was starting to think she might be right. “You’ve not found anything?”

“This sort of research takes months, Grey, and a fully stocked lab. I’m trying to do this with a handful of samples, the most basic equipment, in the back of a moving shuttle. The only thing I’ve found is a similarity to a few species on the planet Torristacam. And the only thing that would help with is... huh.”

“What?”

“No, nothing. You need me out there or you wouldn’t have asked. I’m on my way.”

“No,” I said. “Don’t kid a kidder Pilvi. You’ve thought of something, and I don’t care how eager you are to test those new powers of yours, if this is something that could help, we need it. Now, is it something?”

She paused a long moment. “Yes. Or, well, it could be.

“The plants we found have some similarities with some found on Torristacam. Plants which are used by the locals there as a narcotic, and as a basis for anaesthesia... there’s a chance that the same biological principles might, just, apply to the Vadram. I could try to synthesise a gas that will, or at any rate could knock them out briefly. I need half an hour to synthesise it, and even then, we won’t be sure it works until we try it. They’ll all be dead if I wait that long.”

“No, they won’t. Stop wasting time with me, shout when you know if this is something or not.”

I commed Avrim. “Anything doing at Carven Rock?”

“Nothing so far, Grey.”

“Good. I need you to break station, give me a flyby and drop something heavy on some snipers. But head right back, don’t engage, we still need eyes on that flank. And Avrim, Gravestone is out there somewhere, so watch for his blasts too.”

“Roger.”

I let Avrim deal with that. Pilvi’s sunbolts would have been quicker and surer, but my gut told me we needed more than brute force from her right now.

Out of the window, I could see Seventhirtyfour in the thick of it, two Vadram had ganged up on him, and even that wasn’t slowing him down. The militia around him were fighting hard too, though it took three of them to tackle a single Vadram. I caught a flash of green further down the line. Dez was in the thick of it too, she’d managed to climb a Vadram and was sitting on his shoulders, beating out a rhythm on his head with a stick.

Avrim shot past at top speed, a line of flash-bangs exploded on the hill in his wake. That should help keep the snipers’ heads down for a bit at least.

Avrim slowed to turn, and as he did, a bolt of red/black energy pierced the sky, clipping his right wing. My heart leapt into my mouth as Avrim plummeted, but I breathed again as he stabilised and with two mighty wing-beats got himself moving again. Twice more Gravestone’s blasts followed him, but Avrim was more careful now, and he was out of sight and back to his station moments later.

“Interesting,” said Gadget Dude, at my elbow.

“What is, Gadget Dude?”

He waved a hand-held energy monitor at me. I could see he’d done some work on it, and it was probably out of warranty now. “This. Interesting energy.”

I checked the display, but it told me nothing I could interpret. “Is that Gravestone’s energy signature?”

He nodded.

“Can you... adjust the shields to further boost the protection against it?”

He considered it, then grinned. “Yes, boss!” he said and dived under the console again.

I checked the monitor. Our line was holding, but suffering, some of the militia were being dragged back away from the fight, and while there were a couple of Vadram down, we weren’t going to last Pilvi’s half hour in a flat-out brawl. Well, we’d known that. I commed Gult. “Chief, I think we have their attention where we want it, now.”

“Agreed. Any sign of that Vadram shuttle?”

“Not yet, but you better believe we’re keeping an eye out. Pilvi tells me she may have something but needs us to buy her time. I think we should fall back to second positions.”

“Thank you for thinking of us. I can’t run this fight on your maybes.” He cut me off.

Dammit.

We had a plan.

Second positions meant falling back into town, drawing the Vadram in to an area that the militia had evacuated for this very contingency. Then the militia would split up, dividing the Vadram forces. If we could hit and fade among the buildings, we could keep the fight running longer. It wouldn’t be easy in the open layout of the town, but the point was, it would be harder to lose fighting guerrilla style. The only problem was that it was harder to win that way too. It was only supposed to be for if we were actively losing, and we weren’t there yet, but if Pilvi was right...

“Seventhirtyfour,” I commed.

“Here, Grey.”

“Pilvi thinks she has something, but it’s going to take time to brew up.”

There were muffled sounds of fighting for a moment, then, “You want us to fall back?”

“I think it’s best. Gult didn’t go for it, but dammit, Mrs. Gravane put me in charge, and this feels right.”

“It’s a gamble.”

“Yes.”

I waited for his response, didn’t want to distract him. Bless Seventhirtyfour, he didn’t waver for a second. He trusted me, and he trusted Pilvi.

“Okay, Grey.” Before he cut the comm, I heard him roar to the troops around him. “Second positions!”

My comm chimed almost instantly. Gult, of course. I didn’t let him talk. “This isn’t us admitting defeat, this is us buying time for another option. If we stay in the open, the snipers cut us down. I can’t run this fight on your bullheaded pride.”

He may have answered, but that was the moment the Vadram shuttle arrived in the fight.

# # #

Lucy threw the Beast into a hard bank, accelerating as she did, laser fire painted the air around us. “She’s armed!”

“Don’t worry, Gadget Dude’s shields can take it.”

A shower of sparks erupted from the console. Gadget Dude laughed from within.

The world danced outside the window as Lucy led the Beast through an upward barrel roll. I grabbed the door frame as the Beast’s minimal anti-gravity gave up.

“Dammit, Grey!” shouted Pilvi. She swam through the door, hair blazing. “I almost lost the samples! I got them in the splicer just in time.”

My chair crashed to the ground as the anti-grav fizzed back to life. “Pilvi! Is it ready?”

“I told you it would take half an hour. It needs to bake in the splicer. But I can leave it now, for a bit at least. Where do you want me?”

“Perfect timing. Let’s find out if it’s really you they’re after.”

Pilvi and I headed to the back of the Beast, as Lucy pulled out a short lead on the Vadram shuttle, pulling them away from town again. I braced myself and hit the ramp control.

I had to shout over the sound of the engines and the sky roaring past us. “Pilvi! Blast them hard, and make sure they see it’s you. Lucy! If we’re right, this is really going to focus their attention on us, get ready to dodge like you’ve never dodged before. Gadget Dude! Try and keep the shields working. Everybody ready? Go!”

Pilvi lifted off the deck, let herself drift out of the back of the hatch, once she was sure any Vadram watching had spotted her, she unleashed a sunbolt directly at them. They weren’t expecting it, so she scored a direct hit, but the shuttle had shields too, and they soaked up most of the blast. I saw Pilvi lining up for a second shot.

“I can take them,” she yelled over her shoulder.

“Not here! Get back inside!”

Reluctantly she turned, just as the Vadram returned fire. There was a flash of bright white light and Pilvi was propelled back into the Beast. “Ow ow ow ow ow.”

I hit the ramp controls again, as the Beast began evasive manoeuvres.

“We definitely have their attention now,” Lucy called from the cockpit.

“Keep us alive, and get us away from the city, we’ll see if we can annoy them some more!” I replied.

“Roger!”

“Pilvi, are you okay?”

“Just embarrassed,” she said. “You’d think after all I got from Sunbolt, I’d remember his lesson about dodging.”

I grinned. “As I recall we skipped out on that lesson.”

She picked herself up and made a quick check on her splicer. “It’s still not finished. When all three of these lights go green, we’re in business,” she said.

The second light flickered on as we looked. “In the meantime, are you still up for phase two of the plan?” I said.

“I had better be.”

The Beast lurched sharply downwards. “We’re coming up on Thunder Road!” shouted Lucy. “Do what you’re going to do!”

Thunder Road was a tunnel that Lady Jane had told us about, wide enough, just, for the Beast, but probably too narrow for the Vadram shuttle. We knew it was a tunnel, with two ends, but we were betting the Vadram didn’t. It would look like we were going to ground. Lucy aimed the Beast at the tunnel mouth and we dived.

The roar of the Beast’s engines echoed around us, as Lucy brought us in to land. The Vadram knew where we were, probably thought they had us trapped. They could just try and wait us out, which would be fine by me, it was time we needed, but if our take on the Vadram was right, they would follow us in, on foot if they had to.

We didn’t have to wait long. The Vadram had a mad on for Pilvi, that was clear. The Vadram shuttle landed by the tunnel mouth and spilled out Vadram warriors. They came hustling down the tunnel, weapons out, ready to take us on.

Pilvi gave me a thumbs-up. “See you on the other side, Grey.” She opened the ramp, and stepped out into the air, glowing her brightest, to make sure the Vadram knew where we were. Pilvi flew to meet them, eyes on fire.

Considering she had only had these powers since the day before, she was... amazing. She was always in motion, flight path unpredictable, sudden dives, stops, accelerating upwards... at one point she swooped down, ran four or five steps before taking off again. I’d never seen Sunbolt move like this, he was always ‘blast forward and fire’, but Pilvi was graceful. The Vadram couldn’t touch her, couldn’t advance on the Beast without dealing with her. They filled the air with pulse fire, but she danced around the beams, pirouetting, leaping, her hair ablaze. She didn’t attack often, concentrating on evasion, but when she did, each beam found its target. She wasn’t hitting as hard as Sunbolt, but I couldn’t tell if that was her energy levels, inexperience, or simply a choice. All the same, one Vadram was down.

She couldn’t keep it up forever, and the Vadram were expending much less energy, just standing and shooting. A stray Vadram shot dislodged something from the tunnel ceiling, Pilvi saw too late and a chunk of rock caught her on the hip. She cried out, plummeted to the ground, and the Vadram charged in for the kill.

“Pilvi!” I shouted.

“Stay there!” Pilvi blasted upwards again, her trajectory had a bit of a wobble, but it was enough to get her out of the way.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the third light on the splicer blink on.

I manhandled the thing open. Two canisters of a gas which might knock out Vadram. It was obvious how to use the first at least, but the wheelchair ruled me out from using it. “Gadget Dude!”

“Yes, boss!” He extracted himself from the console, one end of a sparking power cable in his hand.

I tossed him a cannister, he caught it one-handed. “Can you get to the Vadram shuttle and add this to the mix on their air supply?”

Gadget Dude bobbed his head, then passed me the power cable.

“Back soon,” he said, and jumped out of the back of the Beast.

I held the power cable away from my body at arm’s length and let it spark.

Long minutes passed. I could see Pilvi was flagging. She had stopped firing at the Vadram, concentrating purely on keeping their attention. That much was working, but I could see their blasts were getting closer, and Pilvi was slowing down. I itched for something to do that would help, but all I could do was wait for Gadget Dude’s return.

Pilvi fell. She managed to control her fall enough to land on the ground near the Beast, but I could see she was too tired to fly again. She staggered to her feet, letting out a wide but weak burst of sunbolts as she did, to keep the Vadram off her, then staggered towards us.

“Sky Diamond!” I shouted back at the cockpit. “We’re going to need to go, quickly, soon.”

“All primed and ready, Grey. Say the word,” she called back.

The Vadram were firing again, they fired at Pilvi, at us, at everything. They must have been dazzled by Pilvi’s sunbolts because their shots were wild, but getting closer.

Pilvi sagged, a few feet from the entry ramp, and I was going to try and get out there and pull her back when Gadget Dude appeared beside her. The two of them helped each other to the ramp.

“Now!” I roared at Lucy.

The Beast surged forward again, laser fire lighting up the tunnel around it. The sound was deafening, I fumbled for the ramp toggle, and even as the ramp closed, the thunder still rang in our ears.

“Pilvi! Are you okay?!” I shouted.

She lay on her back, panting hard, but gave a half wave that I took as encouraging.

Gadget Dude reclaimed his power cable and dived under the console again, freeing me to wheel back to the cockpit. The walls of the tunnel blurred past, but I could see the far end of Thunder Road, a circle of sky coming up on us fast.

“We’ll have bought some time if those Vadram need to go back to their shuttle,” Lucy said, her eyes locked on the horizon. “I hope Pilvi’s gas does the trick, or this is going to be a really short escape.”

“If they keep their shuttle air pressure up like they did their cave, the effects of the gas should be pretty quick,” I reassured her. Assuming there would be any effects at all, of course.

The Beast erupted from the tunnel, and Lucy whooped, guiding the Beast into a lazy roll. “Woo! I always wanted to do that run. Where to now, Grey?”

“We need to get back to the fight in town, a sweep back that way, not direct, we need to give the gas time to work.”

“Roger.”

She levelled the Beast out and began a wide curve back to town.

# # #

I commed Seventhirtyfour. “How are things?”

He replied in his rumbling whisper. “We’re holding our own. Taken down a few more. I think we’re down to six Vadram in town now, but we’ve lost people too. We don’t have the numbers to finish them anymore. We’re just playing hide and seek now.”

“Right, I won’t keep you. We’re on our way back, and I’m hoping we have good news. Either way, start pulling the Vadram together, it’s time to finish this.”

“Okay.”

“Good luck. We’ll be there soon.”

Then I commed Avrim. “We’re in the endgame. I think we need you on the ground now. Go reinforce Seventhirtyfour.”

“On my way.”

Lucy tapped me on the shoulder, then pointed out the window. “There’s the Vadram shuttle, it’s heading right for us again. I don’t think your plan worked.”

My heart sank. “Okay. Okay. Well. Plan B then.” What the hell was plan B? “Keep them off us a little longer.”

She nodded. “They’ll be in firing range in 30 seconds.”

“Right.”

I spun the chair back to the cargo area. “Gadget Dude, everything we can in the shields. Pilvi, do you have any more in the tank?”

She was standing again, a faint glow to her hair, but she was leaning heavily on the back of a chair. “I’ve got a bit more in me,” she said, but I wasn’t convinced. “Just need a little more time to catch my breath.”

We didn’t have it. “Sure thing. Let me know.”

“Brace yourselves!” shouted Lucy.

“Shields up!” replied Gadget Dude.

We tensed, ready for the hit.

“They’re still closing! I think they’re planning a kill shot.”

“Can we lose them?”

“Terrain’s too open here... we can try... hold on!” Lucy fired her retros full, the Beast groaned in protest, metal grinding, as we decelerated and twisted right. I fell from my chair and hit the deck hard.

“They’ve overshot!” shouted Lucy, and I could feel the roar of the shuttle as it passed.

“Wait... they... they aren’t turning! They’re slowing!”

Dammit, I needed to see this, and here I was an idiot lying on the floor. I abandoned my attempts to get back in the chair, and instead pull-crawled my way back to the cockpit. “What’s happening, Lucy?”

“I think your plan actually worked. The shuttle’s slowing, descending. It looks like the pilot was able to keep it together long enough to activate an auto-landing.”

I hauled myself up into the navigator’s seat. She was right, the Vadram shuttle was already on the ground, but there was no sign of movement from within it. I grinned at Lucy. “We might actually win this after all. Take us back to the city, quick as you can!”

“Right you are, boss.”

# # #

Lucy took us back to the fight, banking over the city until we spotted our last stand. It was not a great picture; the militia had fallen, couldn’t tell from here how many dead, but none were up and fighting still. Most of the Vadram were down too though, the fight had been more balanced than I’d calculated. Four remaining Vadram surrounded Seventhirtyfour, Dez and Avrim. Avrim was on the ground now, he looked exhausted, and his wings were furled, but he had acquired a Vadram gun along the way and was guarding Seventhirtyfour’s back, taking shots at anybody who tried to flank him. Dez slithered between Vadram legs, not stopping to attack or be attacked, just trying to upset their balance and distract them.

Seventhirtyfour was injured, his upper left arm hung by his side, but he was wearing the crown and doing his battle precognition, it was magnificent to watch. Despite his injury, he was untouchable in this mode, dealing out strikes at the Vadram with impunity. But even from the shuttle, I could see he was beginning to fade. We didn’t have long.

“Pilvi, are you recovered?”

She looked tired but was glowing again. “One last push, right?”

“Right. Can we just empty the other cannister on the troops? Will it affect Seventhirtyfour?”

“It shouldn’t. Air dispersed it probably won’t affect the Vadram so much either, but it might slow them down at least.”

“That might be all we need.” I passed her the cannister. “Meantime, we’ll find Gravestone. Get back as soon as you can. I’ll need you to run interference on the Vadram with Gravestone, if you’re up to it?”

She nodded and dropped out of the back of the Beast, canister in hand.

We turned back towards the hill the snipers used earlier.

“There!” I said, pointing at the edge of the ridge. Gravane was floating on the brow of the hill, red-black energy crackling around him. He was accompanied by the misshapen twisted form of Hauberk and two last Vadram. “Okay, when we hit the ground, let me go first. I think I can keep Gravane’s attention on me, for a bit. Hopefully Pilvi will get back in time to keep the Vadram off me. Gadget Dude, got anything in your bag of tricks that could keep Hauberk busy?”

He peeked out of the window, nodded, and started plucking items from the pouches on his belt.

“Good. Once you’ve taken down your guys, all attention on Gravane. I don’t know how long I can keep him distracted so...”

“Gadget Dude, ready.”

Gravane fired bolt after bolt at us, as we approached. The Beast shuddered, but the shields held.

Lucy put us down close, but not on top of, Gravane’s command group, and opened the hatch.

And I froze.

Right there at the top of the exit ramp, I took one look at the sky, and that little voice I’d managed to push down the entire battle, too busy worrying about all the different things going on, but now, I only had one thing to distract me, and suddenly it wasn’t enough. I just couldn’t bring myself to push forward on the chair’s control stick.

“Guys,” I hissed. “I... help...”

“Ah! Sorry!” chimed Gadget Dude. He shimmied back under the console he’d been playing with earlier. He came back out again with the Beast’s main shield emitter in hand, a power cable as thick as my arm connected it back to the console. He hung the emitter on the back of my chair.

“Protect against Gravestone,” he said, then paused, adding, “Some.” He flicked a few toggles on it. “Also...” He disappeared behind the chair tinkered with something, I heard a click, a whirr, and the shield, little more than a shimmer in normal operation, grew faintly opaquer above me. Not enough to make a difference, you’d have to be looking for it to even notice it. But I was looking.

“Shield phase: umbrella!” said Gadget Dude, proudly.

“Dude!”

“Gadget Dude,” he grinned.

# # #

I pushed forward, and the wheelchair obliged, taking me down the ramp, towards Gravane. “Sorry Mirabor,” I said. “Afraid that your attack team were no match for us.” Gadget Dude strode proudly behind me, I glimpsed Pilvi’s light streaking back towards us.

“Grey.” Gravane drifted towards me, a little, that red-black energy crackled around his hands. “You really are beginning to piss me off.”

“The feeling is entirely mutual.”

Pilvi struck to my left, firing at the two Vadram, they threw themselves sideways, rolling into firing positions, pulse pistols braced. I put them out of my mind, Pilvi could handle it. Gadget Dude hopped off the ramp to the right and fired something at Hauberk. I put that aside too. Gadget Dude was a miracle worker.

Gravane looked around. “Just you and me then? Fine.” His energy field whirled around him. “I took a few bruises from that cave-in you caused, but it looks like you came off worse. Have you brought a wheelchair to this fight? I brought... ultimate power!” He reached out a hand and a thunderous torrent of energy washed over me; the world turned red, I could feel the heat, hear the roar of Gravane’s blast... but Gadget Dude’s upgrade to the chair held... held... held...

Gravane’s blast stopped. He hung there, two meters above me, looking down in astonishment.

A circle of stone glowed around the chair, smoking slightly. I cocked my head and quirked an eyebrow at him. “Ultimate power? I see.”

“Impossible! How...? Impossible!”

“I noticed something, the last time we fought,” I said, as casually as I could manage. “The more energy you expend, the more... feral you become. That was quite a blast. You still in there Mirabor?”

“I am Doctor Gravestone!”

“Sure, you are.”

This time he levelled both hands at me, and the blast was much more intense. Instantly I was drenched in sweat; even the fraction of heat that penetrated my shield was too much. I breathed in a lungful of superheated air, my throat, my chest felt like they were on fire.

This blast ended much more quickly.

I heard some discouraging popping sounds from the shield. Oh well, nice while it lasted. It was down to me now. I put my good foot down on the warm bare earth, pushed myself upright, all my weight on one leg. There was a distinct rasp to my voice. “I wasn’t injured in the cave-in, Gravestone. It was the explosion from the Ascension Machine that did for me. Hopefully, the leg will heal, but the power it has granted me, Gravestone, oh the power.”

“You’re lying.”

“If you say so. The temptation of power, to rely on it, revel in it? So pure, so joyful. But you’ve seen the cost, haven’t you? It eats away at your mind, burns to be used? Oh, the temptation is strong. I feel it. I could atomise you with a blink of an eye, but I don’t want to end up like you. You were a very clever man once, but you burned too bright, and now you’re just hanging there, listening to me talk, too scared that the next time you use your power will be the time your mind doesn’t come back, right?”

He actually growled at me, and his aura flared again. I’d over-played it, or maybe he had. Either way...

I braced for death.

“My Vadram... will... kill you,” his voice was thick, his words slurred, it was taking him intense concentration to keep it together, to resist blasting me again. I felt sorry for him.

His energy field faded, and he drifted towards the ground.

I snatched the grapnel gun from my belt, pulled it up, fired. The claw sailed over Gravestone’s shoulder, the cable fell across him, and I hit the retract button before he could power back up again. The catch was glancing at best, but enough to propel Gravestone towards me, and my fist. I caught him full in the stomach, and as he folded over the blow, I brought the other hand, with the grapnel gun, down on the back of his head.

Gravestone fell.