I used the mirror to take a headcount and saw that we had maybe seven hostiles. That wasn't too bad, especially considering that four of them were line up in a straight row. I tapped Obie on the shoulder and he leaned down to listen, pulling the Ebon in too. As long as I concentrated on what was happening, I could keep my mind off what I was feeling.
"Seven bad buys, four in a row along the left side," I whispered and he nodded after about every third syllable. "Go for them and I'll open up on the other three that are hanging back. Okay?"
Taking my low tone as a hint, he gave the thumbs up and flexed the muscles in his neck. Next I turned to the Ebon and leaned next to his ear to talk.
"Theo. The 714 is going to charge the targets along the left side and I'm going for the rest of them. Stay behind me and shoot anything that moves and isn't one of us."
When he didn't respond immediately, I added. "Can you do that?"
He met my eyes for a moment and I saw that he was scared out of his wits. The shock and angst from earlier had given way to the reality that he might be joining his dead friends very shortly. That might just be enough to get us killed, so I decided to try something else.
"Better yet, you stay here and watch our backs," I said and his brow furrowed. "You can follow once we've hit 'em, but mostly just be a lookout. Okay?"
He was more amiable to that and bobbed his head as he closed his eyes. I thought he might have been chanting an "I can do this" mantra, but wasn't sure. Looking over at Obie, I began the count down from three but remembered that he never quite got the point of countdowns. Instead, I smacked him on the shoulder and stepped back. As he started his charge, I prayed that K'rth and Nix got here soon enough to back us up. McNeil and Casper weren't my idea of a cavalry and we'd need all the help we could get.
Obie let out a roar and charged down the corridor at the Interceptors like a gauss train, apparently catching a good number of them by complete surprise. Gray-clad Interceptors screamed and scrambled away, spattering fire across the walls and floor with very few actually hitting the 714. With only about fifteen feet of open ground between them and Karma's best, most of them had the brains to break and run but there were always exceptions. As I slipped to the side to run behind Obie, I sighted in on one of the braver ones holding a shotgun. I would have preferred Bayer, but he wasn't stupid enough to give me the shot.
It figured that Obie would get a little carried away and try to take down every target by himself. With a crunch and a wet rip, he slammed his remaining tusk through the guy I was about to shoot and heaved him into the air like a gurgling doll. I tried to take my shot, but Obie wasn't finished and threw out a wide backhand that swept across the corridor. If I hadn't stepped back, some of the gore painting the walls could have been mine.
"WATCH IT!" I yelled at him since he had cost me a shot and nearly taken my head off in the process.
I fired a moment later but the shot went high and to the side instead of center of mass like I had wanted. It blasted open an Interceptor's shoulder and sent him tumbling to the deck, where he rolled around and screamed. With a pistol in one hand, one of the others on the other side of the portal grabbed him by the harness and started to drag him to cover but my shot was better controlled this time. I took him solidly in the abdomen and flopped forward into the hall next to his buddy. This time, no one put their arms out to pull either of the two to safety and I took that as a very good sign.
Obie stopped dead in his tracks as one of the Interceptors that had been sent sprawling arched his back and kicked upward, snapping to his feet with a scream. The man snatched a flick scythe off the floor and slashed it through the air between them and the Chagrin just stared at him. Not having met a human actually stupid enough to stand his ground probably threw the big guy off and he cocked his head in confusion.
"OBIE! KILL HIM!" I yelled as I ducked for cover. Someone fired from down the hall but I didn't see where it came from and held my shot.
The Interceptor hopped forward and slashed the Chagrin across the chest, probably doing a lot less damage than he had hoped. With a snarl, the 714 tackled him to the deck, slapping the scythe free of his hands and tearing into him. It just proves that courage in the face of a pissed-off Chagrin, regardless of how shattered up you are, is just another flavor of stupidity. A limb sailed past me as I took cover and McNeil and Casper came rushing in from the left. More body parts flopped around as the Obie continued to take the Interceptor apart like a puzzle.
"It worked!" McNeil laughed as he reloaded his pistol and looked at the carnage. I was a little surprised because I thought I had taken all of his spare loaders.
"LOOK OUT!" came a scream from behind and I went prone. Instead of using his head, McNeil did the stupid thing and just stood there, but Casper saved him by knocking him flat. A deafening boom and flash of light came from the far end and a cloud of hot air and dust rushed past. The door to the Navigator had been blown and Dark Night had shifted to offense. Even with my ears ringing, I heard something winding up and I scrambled for better cover. It sounded like another Warmonger, and my concern about another vet had come true.
Round chopped the floor, the walls, and the fallen bodies in a solid cacophony and I pulled myself behind what looked like some sort of heavy conduit. The wall thunked and spat above me and I heard McNeil scream as he rolled behind me. On the other side, Obie jumped around the corner and pulled the Waster behind him by the ankle. If it hadn't been for his quick thinking, she would have been pulp.
"Crap!" McNeil yelled as he crouched to my side but I ignored him and tried to pop up for a shot. The incoming fire was too heavy and I had to duck back several times and concentrated on hunkering down. The Warmonger seemed to have unlimited ammo and the tiny bit of cover I'd grabbed wasn't going to last forever.
"Damn it, I can't get a shot," I yelled and tucked my head as debris flaked and sprayed around me. As I concentrated on not letting the maniac with the minigun kill me, I caught a glimpse of figures diving through the blasted wall. There wasn't anything I could do about it, at least not until we took care of the vet. I quickly reloaded and looked around for the Waster again.
"Casper!" I yelled and she waved, knowing what I wanted to do. "Okay, McNeil. On three, all of us are going to lean around and open up on that bastard. Obie, you stay there until I say. Everyone got it?"
"Yeah, I got-" McNeil started, but something weird happened. "What the f-"
The air was suddenly hot with static electricity and the hair at the back of my neck stood up inside my armor. For a few heartbeats, the walls flexed and changed color like I was looking through a prism and I thought I saw a field of stars. The entire experience was over instantly, but my head kept spinning and I nearly fell over.
"What in hell just happened?" I yelled back for Theo, but the Ebon was nowhere in site. Without him to turn to, I yelled at the Waster instead. "Casper! WHAT WAS THAT?"
She must have been out of flux because she had pulled her FEN 603 and was snapping back its slide. It was a little too late to take back the question and I thought I knew the answer before I heard it.
"A FOLD!" she yelled back. "WE JUST FOLDED! WE'RE NOT NEAR MORT ANYMORE!"
I cursed under my breath. For some reason, the Navigator had folded space and probably took us as far away from help as we possibly could be. Maybe the Dark Night team had gotten to him and forced it, but I wondered if it was out of panic. I had to hope that he/she/it was still alive because otherwise we had no way to get back home.
"Alright," I said, turning back to the business at hand. "On three!"
Casper nodded and suddenly McNeil leaned out. Angrily, I pushed his head down and rounds spattered where he had been. If he was determined to get himself killed, he could at least do it when it would help us.
One.
I counted with my hand and pulled the hammer back on the pistol. Obie was tensed and ready, always anxious. I saw his eyes staring at me and I winked. His words of "Less get payback" went through my mind again.
Two.
I backed up from the cover slightly so that I could get a clear shot, but the Ebon kept coming to mind. Where in the hell did he go and where was Gael? I hadn't found her body yet. Was she even dead?
Three.
It's a well-known fact that the best-laid plans never survive contact with the enemy.
Sometimes we don't either, especially when we screw up.
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