Pixie Hazard, Archibald Bradford [100 best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

Relaying the information to the ship, Donnie was open to suggestions.

“Could drop a Doberman on them if you’re that worried, they’re still scrambling to get their cargo loaded so they wouldn’t have any time to evade.” Eniella suggested over the coms.

The captain balked at the suggestion.

“Kentis might be a trash planet, but you know the rules. No antimatter dirtside.”

Though she let out an impatient huff, the FCO was undeterred.

“So we bug out to space and wreck their asses when they-”

“Eniella, she’s got Iowa Clan markings on her bow.” Maria cut her off before she could finish.

“And we care why?” Donnie asked with a frown.

But it was Billy that answered, her voice subdued as it came over the coms.

“Because they’re neck-deep in the flesh trade. A month back one of their other ships was destroyed near Teegarden. Going through the wreckage they found a dozen or so civvies on board. Slaves, Donnie.”

The captain cursed.

She and her crew were callous at times, but never truly heartless. Civilian casualties were not an acceptable outcome, which meant they couldn’t use the Pixie’s antimatter warheads to claim victory outright as Eniella hoped.

Before she could decide on a course of action though, Maria did it for her, putting away the viewing scope and taking up her weapon.

“If we can’t take them from the outside, we’ll have to do it from within.”

“You want to bum rush them while those guns are online?” Eva said in disbelief.

“No. That would be stupid.”

“So... what do you want to do then?” Donnie asked.

“I’m suggesting we wait for their guns to not be online anymore.”

“But that only happens when-” The captain stopped and then violently shook her head; “Maria! Be serious!”

“I am. Our suits can take it. Come on Skipper, it’ll be fun!”

With no ideas forthcoming and running short of time, Donnie reluctantly agreed.

Several minutes later both she and Eva were seriously questioning the blonde’s sanity, not to mention their own for following along with her half-baked scheme.

“Gustav, if we get out of this alive I’m either going to punch you in the tit or buy you a beer!”

“That’s the spirit Hooker!”

Once the Junkers had all piled in and the arbalests powered down in preparation for launch, Donnie and her fire-team sprinted out of hiding and latched onto the ship right before it took off.

Now the three of them were clinging to the side of one of the mining vessel’s lower airlocks for dear life as it rocketed skyward.

In reality their white knuckles were unnecessary as the mag-grips built into their suit were doing all of the work, but it was a hard impulse to overcome as they watched the ground rapidly fall away while the roaring of the wind and the intense g-force soon had their stomachs bottoming out and their vision darkening around the edges.

As Maria said, their suits were built to withstand the rigors of combat in vacuum so they weathered this lunacy easily enough, but even the veteran marines had never ridden a ship into space from the outside before.

It was several noisy and tense minutes before they cleared the atmosphere of Kentis, their visors adjusting automatically as the Junker vessel rolled them into direct sunlight when it took its position in orbit.

The familiar weightlessness of space came as a relief to their strained bodies, as did the deafening silence.

Blinking rapidly to clear the spots from her eyes, Donnie worked her jaw for a moment to get her ears to pop before getting down to business.

“Com check.”

“Check.”

“Check.”

Satisfied that she could still communicate with the two marines, she followed up with her orders.

“Power down your suit augments in case their exterior sensors are up to snuff, and stay on local coms only. That lidar tower tells me that someone on their crew has a half a brain and might be monitoring global chatter. Hopefully the good folks on the Pixie don’t write us off for stupid.”

“Yeah this has been a banner week for stupid.” Eva complained.

“Stow it. Our suits won’t handle a slipjump so we need to move. Sledge, get that manual crank going. Put those muscles you’re so proud of to work.”

“Wilco Skip.”

The bitch still sounded like she was having fun, which only annoyed Donnie more.

“Head in the game marine. We’re all alone up here.”

With the vista of Kentis beside them and the void of space everywhere else, her words were all too true.

“Aye ma’am.”

Moving with deliberate purpose, the muscular soldier tore off the breakaway panel next to the airlock, letting it float away into vacuum before reaching in and gripping the lever inside.

She hesitated before engaging it though.

“Skip, these yahoos might not follow proper launch protocol, could be under pressure.”

“Copy, standby for tether.” Donnie gestured at Eva as she spoke; “We were just talking about Pressure-Wreckers too, so there’s that.”

Shifting herself around on the hull, the redhead attached a thin cable to the built-in loop between the blonde woman’s shoulders, then attached the other end to a similar loop on her own waist. Using the magnetic contact points in her suit she anchored herself against the hull below her, all the while juggling hers and Maria’s heavy repeaters.

“Belay on. Give her a crank and let’s get this done.” She finally declared.

Though she spoke tersely, Donnie recognized the excitement in her voice as she likewise braced herself.

“Here goes. Breaching in three... two... one-”

As it happened, the Junkers did follow proper launch protocol, so the airlock was already depressurized when the hatch began to inch its way open, which meant there wasn’t an explosive release of atmosphere when the portal lost its seal.

“All kind of alarms should be going off on this shitty ship right now, provided they even work.” Maria suggested in a strained voice