Lee felt a hand on his shoulder.
“That boy . . . would have made a fine marine,” Dawes said.
“Indeed.” Lee responded.
Lee swallowed hard. The lump in his throat ached. His knees felt weak. Pulse blasts ripped around them. It seemed the enemy had found a renewed footing. He had one scramble grenade left. Nearly thirty soldiers closed.
He’d retreated to defend the new extraction zone, now the area smoldered with the flaming remnants of Hammerhead. Along with his friend—the little brother he almost had again.
The enemy still moved with caution. So near now, he could probably see them without the HUD.
He threw the scramble device, and it detonated. It scrambled and drained all energy weapons within a half-kilometer radius.
Lee looked at Dawes. “For, Yuri.”
“For Yuri,” Dawes repeated.
Some of the ORA soldiers finally charged.
Dawes and Lee met them head on.
***
Three slammed into Lee and took him down.
Dawes leapt into the melee with arms out stretched and hooked all of them with his momentum, landing on top the one in the middle. He drew his plasma blade and drove it into the chest of a soldier. Another trooper tackled the sergeant from the side.
Lee was up and swung his arm under in a wide motion and knocked away the ORA soldier who tackled Dawes. Dawes scrambled to his feet as another six crashed into him.
Another mass of troopers took Lee down from behind. A rifle butt hit his nose. Lee’s flesh arm gripped his plasma blade, and he drove it straight up the chin of the closest one. A rifle slammed against his wrist.
He struck the offender with the full might of his bionic arm and impaled the man. The man dangled on the arm and Lee swung it to bat away the ones over him. Then another rifle end to his forehead dazed him. His vision sparked. It went dark.
They crushed him to the ground. Sudden screams filled the air and the weight on him shifted.
Endeavor’s survivors must have taken one too many stims.
Followed by Ubu and Chen they crashed into the horde that pinned Lee. He lay still. They wouldn’t be able to beat the armored troopers, but they did give him some breathing room. He blinked his suit a command to hit him with a stim as well. His vision cleared. Control returned to his limbs.
He stood. The troopers had tossed the survivors away and battled with Ubu and Chen. Plasma blades whirred as the marines carved through the troopers. He looked over and saw Dawes motionless.
Just beyond, another group of ten stared him down.
Another sonic boom filled the air. Probably another enemy fighter. The Commander was busy upstairs, possibly dead. Flaps was gone, there was no one left.
The goons didn’t attack. They seemed unsure? The craft had come around. They stared at it.
Lee squinted.
Star Runner
***
Aaron fired the braking thrusters. The tactical board showed Lee, Ubu and Chen facing off with more than a dozen ORA troopers. The lieutenant and the marines had made them pay for every inch. Troopers littered the field—lifeless. Dawes was down too.
Aaron was about to incinerate the rest of those ORA bastards.
He turned control of the craft over to the computer. It kept station above Lee’s position. He slid down the ladder and into the cargo bay. It was in the far side weapons locker, where Lee had left it. He opened the locker and grabbed it.
Aaron snatched the cargo harness used to load heavy equipment. It had a strong cable attached to the bulkhead. He strapped in.
The cable would move to coincide with any weight pulling it. He ran to the cargo bay ramp and slammed the control.
The ramp lowered, he moved onto it. At an acute angle, he stared down on the battlefield. He activated his external suit speakers and blasted his voice over the area.
“Lee! I brought the pain!”
Lee didn’t hesitate, shoved away the group he grappled with and jumped on Ubu and Chen.
Aaron pulled the trigger and the pulse mini-gun blasted dozens of heavy pulse blasts into the troopers. They scampered, but with the targeting assist on the mini-gun, Aaron blasted them all to a smoldering ruin.
He dropped the mini-gun and triggered a command on his handheld. Star Runner lowered to the surface.
Aaron leapt off. Lee was at the base of the ramp.
“Forty-five survivors, Commander.”
“Get them in. I’ll get Dawes.”
Ubu and Chen limped by ushering the survivors up the ramp. Aaron sloshed over to Dawes. The marine was on his stomach. He rolled him. He was alive.
Barely.
His face was smashed. His left cheekbone protruded. He hefted the marine and brought him to Star Runner. He laid him on the cargo deck and went back to the base of the ramp.
One by one the survivors scuttled up the ramp. They looked like death. Aaron saw Endeavor’s executive officer, she was carrying Avery.
He put a hand on her shoulder. “O’Brian?”
“He’s in bad shape, Commander.”
“Get aboard. The universe isn’t finished with Avery Alvarez yet.”
He assisted her and they rested Vee on the deck. The others were in and most collapsed with fatigue. Lee lingered outside the ramp.
“Lee, we’ve got to leave,” Aaron said. “That dreadnought is down and out for now, but there’s no telling when it’ll restore power. It isn’t finished with us yet.”
“I couldn’t save him, Aaron.” Lee said.
Aaron understood. The lieutenant no longer had his helmet. Without it, Lee couldn’t see Yuri’s beacon.
Aaron grinned. “Lee . . . you feel how I’ve felt a thousand times over for Trident. Get aboard, let’s go get Flaps and get to the wormhole.”
Lee looked at him wide-eyed but stood rigid.
Aaron pulled the disbelieving Lee inside. “Yes, Flaps is alive.”
Aaron scaled the ladder and flopped behind the helm and lifted off. Lee took the station next to him.
Aaron piloted Star Runner to the downed pilot’s signal. As they got closer, the optical sensors tracked Flaps.
The comm crackled. “Zane calling Rayne.” There was definite panic in his tone. “That dreadnought is slowly powering up, whatever we hit, they’ve fixed it. It seems they know you’ve won the battle on the planet. They’ve maneuvered into orbit and commenced firing.”
Sure enough an alarm blared. Fireballs of plasma rained down. But Star Runner was quick.
“Lee,” Aaron said. “I can give you a few seconds at most, we can’t land. If we’re going to do this, we have to do it your way!” He pointed at Lee’s grappler. “You’ll need this.” Aaron handed him a helmet.
Lee bolted for the cargo deck.
***
Star Runner’s ramp was open. Hails of fire continued streaming from orbit as ordnance breached the atmosphere. Lee slipped on the helmet.
On his HUD, Lee could see Flaps in the distance. Farther along he could see the smoldering remains of Hammerhead’s escape shell.
He only had a few seconds to make the grab. Good thing Yuri was scrawny and near weightless. Lee gripped a rail on the bulkhead with his flesh arm and fired the grappler into the far side bulkhead with his bionic and tugged on it. It was solid. The craft shook violently from the sudden deceleration.
This was it.
He stepped off the ramp. Using his thumb, he controlled the speed of the descent.
He hit the ground. Flaps was there.
“Grab me tight, Yuri!”
Flaps wrapped his feet and legs around Lee. Lee held Flaps around his back with his other arm. He triggered the grappler and they ascended. When they got below the lip of the ramp, Lee pushed Flaps up and over, and scrambled in. Star Runner accelerated again. O’Brian hit the control for the ramp.