[NO] King Xeros - The Strike

King Xeros - The Strike

 

The first laser passed beneath them.

The second struck the moon.

White light erupted across the forward display as the defensive emplacement fired. The ship rolled hard enough that the artificial gravity compensated a fraction of a second too late. Everyone felt the shift.

Kris had one hand against the tactical console.

“Three batteries.”

Yosef was already looking at the weapons feed.

“Four.”

A third beam flashed past the port side.

Kris adjusted the overlay.

“Four.”

“Better.”

The Construction Bay filled the forward display.

It had been built into the black metal of Peak of Evening's surface, a sprawling industrial complex cut directly into the pale stone of the moon. Docking structures surrounded it. Cranes and gantries extended from the main facility. Ships rested inside external berths.

Some were already burning.

The Scout Team had done its work.

A smaller vessel flashed across the upper edge of the display, drawing fire away from the strike ship.

“Scout has them looking north,” Cat said.

Kris nodded.

“Shield is engaging the western batteries.”

Another explosion appeared along the station's perimeter.

“Opening.”

Cat didn't ask who had created it.

She didn't need to.

“Take us in.”

The ship dropped.

The Construction Bay rose toward them.

For a few seconds there was nothing but the moon, the station, and the approaching target.

Then the station fired everything it had.

The cockpit filled with light.

Lasers crossed the flight path in intersecting lines. One struck the ship's forward shielding and the entire hull shuddered.

Stephen caught the edge of his console.

“That one reached us.”

“Shield is holding,” Min-woo said.

“Good.”

Min-woo looked at the power distribution.

“It is holding less than it was.”

Yosef glanced over.

“How much less?”

“Enough.”

Yosef considered that.

“Useful answer.”

“It was accurate.”

Kris ignored them.

“Approach vector is closing.”

Francis watched the station's power signatures.

“There.”

Cat looked toward him.

“What?”

“Construction Bay.”

He enlarged a section of the tactical display.

The bay's power network was enormous compared with the rest of the station. Several major conduits converged beneath the central structure.

Francis studied the pattern.

“Those aren't station systems.”

Rome leaned closer.

“What are they?”

“Temporary infrastructure.”

“Connected to the ship?”

“Probably.”

Rome frowned.

“Probably?”

Francis looked at him.

“We haven't seen the ship.”

“That's true.”

“Then I don't know.”

Rome accepted that.

Cat pointed at the display.

“Can you tell us what to hit?”

Francis's fingers moved across the interface.

“Power distribution. Docking systems. Defensive control nodes. Anything connected to the foreign network.”

“Foreign?”

“Not station-standard.”

Yosef brought his weapon controls online.

“Good enough.”

Kris's voice remained calm.

“Thirty seconds.”

The ship descended through a cloud of dust kicked up by the station's own weapons.

The world outside disappeared.

For one second they were blind.

Then the dust thinned.

The Construction Bay appeared directly ahead.

Kris saw it first.

“Target.”

The ship was too low.

Too fast.

Too close.

“Now.”

Yosef fired.

The breach rifle batteries on the ship's forward mounts discharged in sequence.

The first impact punched through the outer defensive structure.

The second tore into a docking gantry.

The third hit a bank of power equipment.

Then the rest of the ship's weapons opened up.

The Construction Bay disappeared behind a wall of fire.

Metal structures collapsed.

A docked vessel broke free of its restraints and swung sideways, dragging cables and support arms behind it before smashing into another ship.

Fuel ignited.

The resulting explosion rolled across the bay.

Kris held the flight path.

“Do not climb.”

The pilot corrected.

The ship skimmed over the facility.

Too close.

A tower clipped the underside.

The impact sounded like a gunshot magnified through the entire hull.

Everyone lurched.

Warning indicators flashed.

Stephen grabbed his restraint.

“Damage?”

Min-woo was already reading the system.

“Minor structural damage.”

Yosef looked over.

“How minor?”

“Still flying.”

“That wasn't the question.”

“It remains the relevant answer.”

Yosef stared at him for half a second.

Then returned to his weapons.

The Construction Bay was beneath them now.

Kris looked toward Cat.

“Second pass?”

Cat studied the tactical display.

The primary defensive emplacements were down.

The bay was burning.

The outer perimeter was collapsing.

But the central structure remained intact.

“Once.”

Kris nodded.

“Once.”

He rolled the ship.

The maneuver threw the bay back into view.

This time there was no confusion.

Every member of the team knew what the pass was for.

Kris established the approach.

Francis isolated the remaining power network.

Rome mapped the energy concentrations.

Yosef prepared the weapons.

Min-woo redirected power.

Stephen watched the damage indicators and emergency systems.

Cat watched all of them.

“Francis.”

“Ready.”

“Rome.”

“Ready.”

“Yosef.”

“Ready.”

“Min-woo.”

“Ready.”

“Stephen?”

Stephen looked toward the medical monitor.

“Ready.”

Cat looked forward.

“Do it.”

Rome marked three points.

Francis linked them.

Yosef fired.

The first target exploded.

The second followed.

The third did not.

Francis's expression changed.

“Resistant.”

Yosef adjusted.

“How resistant?”

“Enough.”

Yosef fired again.

The weapon tore through the structure.

Something enormous collapsed inside the bay.

A crane fell through three levels of industrial decking.

The entire facility shook.

Kris pulled them away.

The ship cleared the bay by meters.

Behind them, the Construction Bay's roof partially collapsed.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Then Kris checked the tactical display.

“Defensive response?”

Rome scanned.

“Reduced.”

Francis checked the power network.

“Foreign systems are failing.”

Cat nodded.

“Good.”

A final explosion erupted behind them.

The station's surface disappeared beneath smoke, fire, and drifting debris.

Then the comm channel opened.

“Strike Team, Scout.”

Amster's voice was clipped by interference.

“Surface resistance is breaking. You have an insertion window.”

Naiaj followed immediately.

“Proceed to the Construction Bay. We will keep the remaining defenses occupied.”

Cat looked at Kris.

He was already turning the ship.

They descended toward the ruined facility.

As they approached, the damage became visible in detail.

The Construction Bay was no longer a functioning industrial complex.

It was a wreck.

Sections of the roof had been peeled away. Steel support beams hung at impossible angles. Emergency lights flickered through clouds of white vapor. Fuel and coolant flowed together across the deck in reflective streams.

Several ships lay crushed inside their berths.

Others burned.

One had been torn almost completely in half.

The ship landed hard beyond the main blast zone.

The landing gear struck metal.

The hull rocked once.

Then settled.

For the first time since entering the station's defenses, there was silence.

Not real silence.

The bay was still dying.

Pipes hissed.

Metal groaned.

Something electrical sparked in the darkness.

But the guns had stopped.

Cat released her harness.

“Move.”

The seven of them stood.

The change was immediate.

There was no longer a cockpit between them and the mission.

Kris was first to the exit.

His weapon was already in his hands.

Yosef checked the breach rifle, then the rest of his equipment.

Min-woo lifted the equipment case.

Francis brought up his interface.

Rome shut down the ship's external feed and activated his field sensors.

Stephen secured his shield and medical kit.

Cat reached the hatch.

She paused.

The airlock indicator showed green.

Then it changed to yellow.

Rome looked at it.

“Atmosphere compromised.”

Stephen looked toward the bay beyond the inner hatch.

“Hazardous?”

“Unknown.”

Yosef reached into his equipment.

“Then we don't breathe it.”

Min-woo handed him a mask.

Yosef looked at him.

“I had one.”

“Yes.”

“Then why—”

“You were reaching for the wrong case.”

Yosef looked down.

He had been.

He closed the case.

“Fine.”

Cat opened the hatch.

Cold vapor poured into the airlock.

It rolled around their boots and disappeared through gaps in the damaged deck.

Beyond it lay the Construction Bay.

Broken ships.

Burning machinery.

Twisted steel.

Pools of coolant reflecting emergency lights.

And scattered among the wreckage were bodies in unfamiliar armor.

Kris raised his weapon.

“Contact.”

Everyone stopped.

A shape moved behind a ruined transport.

Then another.

Then another.

Kris tracked them.

“Hostiles.”

The first armored figure stepped into the open.

The helmet was completely sealed.

Its weapon came up.

Kris fired.

The shot struck the center of the armor.

The figure staggered backward.

Yosef fired immediately after him.

The second shot threw the soldier against a wrecked hull.

The remaining figures opened fire.

The Construction Bay erupted again.

Laser bolts crossed through the vapor.

Kris moved behind a structural column.

Yosef dropped behind the wreckage of a cargo hauler.

Stephen deployed his shield.

Francis shifted left.

Rome moved right.

Min-woo planted himself between Yosef and the open bay.

Cat remained in the center.

Not exposed.

Not safe.

Connected.

“Kris.”

“Two western.”

“Yosef.”

“Three.”

“Francis?”

“Power system behind them.”

“Can you shut it down?”

Francis looked through the vapor.

“Give me ten seconds.”

Cat nodded.

“Rome, watch the unknowns.”

Rome was already scanning.

“Working.”

“Stephen?”

“I have everyone.”

Another laser struck Stephen's shield.

The impact drove him backward half a step.

He held.

“Good,” Cat said.

Stephen lowered the shield.

“I'll tell you if that changes.”

The firefight intensified.

Kris leaned around the column and fired twice.

Two controlled shots.

One target fell.

The second disappeared behind cover.

Yosef rose from behind the cargo hauler.

His rifle fired in a sustained burst.

The remaining soldier's cover disintegrated.

Min-woo moved with him, firing from a lower angle.

The soldier tried to retreat.

Kris caught him before he reached the next position.

The shot struck his weapon.

It flew from his hand.

Yosef's next round dropped him.

Silence returned.

Briefly.

Francis was still working.

“Ten seconds.”

Cat looked at him.

“You have eight.”

“I noticed.”

A deep mechanical vibration passed through the floor.

Everyone felt it.

Rome stopped scanning.

“That isn't the station.”

Francis looked up.

“No.”

The vibration came again.

Something massive was operating somewhere beyond the ruined walls.

Cat stared toward the interior of the Construction Bay.

“What did they do?”

Francis looked at the power signatures.

“I don't know.”

Rome's expression tightened.

“That's the first useful answer you've given all day.”

Francis ignored him.

The interface finally flashed.

“Got it.”

The foreign power network shut down.

Across the Construction Bay, several enormous machines went dark.

One remained active.

Francis stared at it.

“That shouldn't still have power.”

Rome moved beside him.

“What is it?”

Francis looked toward the machine.

“I don't know.”

Rome studied it.

Then the two specialists looked at each other.

Cat saw the exchange.

“Don't touch it.”

Rome looked back.

“I wasn't going to.”

Francis said nothing.

Cat narrowed her eyes.

Rome sighed.

“I wasn't.”

The floor vibrated again.

This time, something moved beneath the bay.

A section of damaged decking lifted.

Everyone raised their weapons.

Then stopped.

Not an enemy.

A person.

A long-limbed humanoid dragged itself out from beneath the wreckage, covered in oil, coolant, and blood.

It stared at the seven strangers.

Its eyes moved to the bodies of the armored soldiers.

Then to the wreckage.

Then back to them.

Stephen lowered his weapon first.

“Easy.”

The stranger raised both hands.

“Please.”

The word came through a damaged translator.

Cat stepped forward.

“We're here to get you out.”

The stranger stared at her.

Then looked toward the darkened machinery.

“They made us work on it.”

Rome moved closer.

“On what?”

The stranger pointed deeper into the Construction Bay.

“At the ship.”

Nobody moved.

The stranger swallowed.

“They took it.”

Cat's expression hardened.

“Where?”

The answer came quietly.

“Gone.”

A distant sound rolled through the moon.

Not an explosion.

Not thunder.

Something leaving.

Cat looked toward the torn-open roof.

Through the smoke, beyond the damaged station, the stars were visible.

And somewhere among them, something enormous had just begun to move.

The stranger looked up.

“They're taking it.”

Cat turned to the others.

For the first time since the mission began, she did not need to give the order.

Kris was already moving toward the nearest control station.

Yosef was checking the remaining equipment.

Francis was pulling up every surviving system connection.

Rome was scanning the energy trail.

Stephen was helping the injured worker stand.

Min-woo was securing the technical equipment.

Cat looked toward the sky.

The mission had changed.

They had come here to find out what GrimCo had done.

Now they had to find out where GrimCo had taken it.

And what would happen if they did not catch it.

“Let's find the ship.”