Fallout 17

There was one waiting by the door as Tayaira charged out - human, from the look of him. He was aiming a plasma pistol at the doorway, but the concentrated burst of pheromones caught him before he could fire, and he staggered, his eyes suddenly swimming with tears. He had no time to recover before Tayaira drove her dagger through his throat.

She never broke stride, running for cover as a plasma bolt hissed past her from somewhere nearby. She ducked behind a big metal thing, some piece of spaceport machinery, sheathed her blade, and pulled out her tricorder. Somehow, she had to take stock of the situation -

Footsteps nearby: she whirled and brought up her disruptor, then relaxed. Ch'gama, and the big Nausicaan marine, Hrchie. The Klingon was spattered with blood of several different colours; some of it, Tayaira realized with dismay, was his own. But he grinned at her as he crouched down beside her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We got separated," Ch'gama said. "They tried to bottle us up in the ship." His finger stabbed at a blunt concrete-and-metal turret, one of several such that ringed the landing pad. "Tractor and damping field emitters, with those running, the Chariot's going nowhere. So we broke out before they could bring can openers." He shrugged, and winced. "Didn't quite go to plan. They got Durrog, and the rest of us scattered in the crossfire. What about you?"

"I got the Captain's message off," Tayaira said. "Confirmation signal came back. I suppose that's all that matters, but personally I'd like to live to see what happens next."

"What about the alien witch?"

"Oh," said Tayaira, "I paid her off. In full." Something was moving, off to one side. She checked her tricorder. Human life signs. She sighted her disruptor, fired, was rewarded with a yell of pain. "They're trying to flank us."

"Not very well," said Ch'gama.

"Not Starfleet," Hrchie rumbled. "Mercenary security."

"Not much honour in dying at those hands," said Tayaira, "so let's not. How do we take these dampers out?"

"They're armoured." Ch'gama spat. "Durrog was trying when they roasted him. But I don't think hand weapons'll do the job. Sir, these goons will have called for reinforcements -"

"I see R'rorro," Hrchie interrupted. Tayaira peered around the corner of their shelter.

The Ferasan warrior, R'rorro, was moving on the other side of the pad, with the speed and grace of his species. Bolts of green light flamed from his twin disruptor pistols. He seemed to catch sight of them, changed direction, ran straight across the landing pad. As he came to the wing of the shuttle, he gathered himself and leapt, clearing the obstacle in a single graceful bound. It was a breathtaking jump, a heroic jump -

Three plasma beams picked him off in mid-leap, and he crashed to the ground in a motionless smouldering heap.

Tayaira swore. She thought furiously. "Cover me," she said, and ran for the human she'd killed. Plasma beams hissed across the air, none coming near her. She snatched up the dead man's handgun, turned, and sprinted back to cover.

"You wanted a souvenir, sir?" said Ch'gama with a grin.

"Not quite. Those emitter turrets must have a power supply, yes? My guess is, they're tied in to the city power grid. My further guess is, that's a commercial grade EPS network, and just as clapped out as the rest of this place." She held up the captured weapon. "So, let's see what happens when we put a plasma weapon into the grid, set on overload."

Ch'gama's grin widened. "Oh, that's beautiful, sir. No wonder they pay you the big money."

They don't pay me enough for this, Tayaira thought, as she scanned the landing pad quickly. Those dome buildings were constructed to a standard pattern -

She saw the EPS connection point, ran for it, opened the access panel. Behind her, more gunshots crackled. The EPS channel buzzed angrily as she forced the plasma pistol into the waveguide. She set the gun for a force chamber explosion, turned, and sprinted back once more to the shelter of the machine.

"Did it -" Ch'gama started to ask.

Behind her, the EPS channel erupted. The hardened electroplasma system of a starship could pass a power surge along it, dissipating it harmlessly save for the occasional flash-bang of a transient overload. This commercial-grade system didn't have that facility. The explosion turned the EPS hookup into a column of sparks sixty metres high, and all around the spaceport, more columns like it burst up, as the power surge blasted through the network.

Tayaira barely needed a glance at her tricorder. "Power's down! Move!"

Suddenly, everyone was running towards the shuttle, friend and foe alike. Tayaira snapped off shots from her disruptor at any figure in an unfamiliar uniform, and tried not to worry about the returning plasma fire that scorched the air around her. She was first to reach the Chariot, slammed her palm down on the biometric lock, turned to shoot an approaching security goon. Ch'gama and Hrchie piled past her into the airlock; then there was a mad scrimmage, a sudden crush of bodies in which knives flashed and guns blazed. Somehow, she fought her way in, and hit the button to close the door. Someone reached through, trying to block the door with his arm; Tayaira burned the limb off with her disruptor before it could trip the door's safeties.

She dashed for the cockpit, hurled herself into the pilot's seat, ignoring the confused melee behind her. "Computer! Combat emergency. Skip all preflight checks and lift!"

It seemed to take an age, though it could only have been seconds, before the guttural voice of the machine said, "Confirmed," and the controls came alive under her hands. There was a sudden thump on the viewport before her. One of the security guards, an Andorian, had leapt onto the shuttle's nose and was aiming a plasma pistol at the port. Tayaira hit the thrusters, and the shuttle leaped up and forwards. The Andorian staggered, lost his pistol, and yet somehow retained a grip on the shuttle itself -

Behind her, there were sounds. Tayaira looked around. In the confusion at the airlock, a human security guard had made it on board. He was now alone, in a confined face, surrounded by angry KDF troops. It seemed to have dawned on him that that was a bad place to be.

She checked the shuttle's scanners. Beneath her, the port registered only small, scattered energy readings - the power grid failure was more extensive than she'd thought. There were two other flying craft on sensors nearby, though, and she had to assume they were hostile. Behind her, the human had started screaming.

"We don't have time to play! Put him in the transporter and get rid of him!"

"Send him where?" one of the Klingons asked.

"Straight to Gre'thor - random coordinates, wide dispersion!" The human, who had been sobbing with relief, started to scream again. The whine and hum of the transporter cut him off for good.

"Someone get on the disruptors, or I swear you'll envy him!" The Andorian was still banging on the viewport with his fists. The first sensor contact was close, too close. She had a read on it, it was an antiquated Federation-type shuttle, but still dangerous -

It was within a few hundred metres when the Chariot's disruptor array came live. The green beam burned through the shuttle's feeble shields inside a second, and tore into the nose of the craft, scattering white-hot fragments across the sky. The shuttle slewed and plummeted in a death-dive towards the ground.

The second ship came in fast, and firing phasers. The Chariot rocked and its shields sparkled, but they held. Klur had spent the time and money to upgrade the warp core, Tayaira noted; she had plenty of power for weapons and shields, at least. The enemy ship streaked past, leaving the Chariot rocking in the turbulent air. Amazingly, the Andorian was still hanging on.

"Looks like a Bajoran war surplus fighter," Ch'gama remarked.

"Fast but flimsy," Tayaira said. "Wait till he comes round for another pass... then double-shot the photon launcher."

Ch'gama nodded. The fighter ship was swinging around, lines of phaser light reaching out from its hardpoints. The Chariot's shields flared. Ch'gama waited a second, while Tayaira's heart stood still, then fired the torpedoes.

The enemy pilot was good; he managed to dodge one of them. The second one sprayed him across the sky.

Tayaira cut in the impulse drive, turned the Chariot's nose spacewards. The Andorian was flattened against the viewport.

"How's he still hanging on?" Ch'gama asked.

"Must have polyalloy armour under those coveralls, and a magnetic link on his boots or his belt," Tayaira said. She ran her fingers through her hair. "Great, so now we have a figurehead. All right, we know how to get out of here. Cloak, random-walk to the system's edge, then follow our prearranged flight path to the rendezvous point." And hope the Captain didn't get tired of waiting, she didn't add aloud. "How badly did we get hit? I know we lost Durrog and R'rorro...."

"N'Liss, too," said Ch'gama sourly.

"Someone else missing too," said Tayaira, craning her neck around to get a good look at her crew. "Where's Lieutenant Jikkur?"