LIGHTNOVELONLINE 1.33
Sweat rolled down the side of Malan's face, despite the cool air flowing through his suit. He meant what he'd said. But he only felt the real weight of the oath as a tremulous smile blossomed across Bessna's face. Save the children. Easier said than done.
Before he could quiz Bessna on how Eclipse were structuring their operations, Elena tensed beside him. Malan caught sight of her hand darting toward the grip of her pistol, eyes narrowed into cold slits.
“We’re not alone,” she murmured..
Before he could fully process her words, something fizzed into his shields just above his eye. He dropped into a crouch as Elena lunged to the side, shoving Bessna out of the way of the next attack. Behind them, small silver dart embedded itself into the bark of a tree with an audible thud.
The sight of the dart drew forth a muttered curse before he addressed Elena. "Get her into cover,” he hissed, already moving. “Those bastards are here to finish the job."
His former captain was moving before the words had finished leaving his mouth, hauling a stunned Bessna by the clothes around the back of the closest outbuilding. Malan dashed after them as pulse-weapon fire started to lance out from the treeline, whistling past him and cracking against the ground in small bursts of smoke and dust.
Elena crouched against the wall of the outbuilding, her expression hard as stone. "They were hoping to prick one of us with whatever chem they used to drive the animals mad,” she said, pulling Bessna down beside her. “You sure you’re up for this, Mal?”
Malan stared back at her from behind the same building. His fingers twitched as his gauntlets coursed with power, energy pulsing through his arms in sync with his pounding heartbeat. He knew what she was asking. Was he prepared to kill another human being? Otherwordly monstrosities were one thing—killing them was simply righting the natural order of things.
Living breathing people was another entirely.
Perhaps if they hadn’t fired first he might have felt some hesitation. Or maybe if he didn’t know they’d taken children as prisoners. But all he felt now was the burning rush of adrenaline at the thought of a fight. He gave her a sharp nod and glanced down at Bessna.
He'd expected to see her cowering going by her expression as Elena had hauled her across the dirty concrete path of the outpost. Instead, she had regained her composure somewhat, and was fumbling inside her jacket. She pulled out the pistol she'd aimed at him earlier with only slightly trembling hands, her eyes wide but focused as she crouched beside them.
“You sure you know how to use that thing?” Malan whispered, as he swept the jungle for movement.
Bessna swallowed thickly, but she nodded, holding her weapon up in a steady, albeit white-knuckled grip. "Living in independent space means you don’t have much choice but to learn if you’re going to last long."
Malan's display lit up as five figures emerged from the undergrowth, their movements precise. They wore mismatched sets of body armour, faces hidden behind masks, but all wore the hand painted white half-moon of Eclipse. Malan's pulse quickened at the sight of their pulse rifles and energy blades. It wouldn’t take much for one of those things to drop his shields, and it would take even less to finish him off right after.
Where he hesitated at the sight of them, Elena did not. The first man stepped into view and she popped out from around the wall. A sharp trio of cracks pierced the air, and he dropped to the floor. Elena was already moving, a coiled viper bursting from cover in a flash and scrambling for an adjacent building.
His gauntlets vibrated with energy, as though responding to the beginning of the battle proper, pulling him back into focus. He activated his drone with a thought, sending it whirring into the air above them. Malan’s eyes locked onto one of the pirates skirting the edge of the clearing, rifle raised and ready as it tracked Elena’s movements between buildings.
His fingers twitched, and the first rounds of plasma left his gauntlets. The force of it buzzed up his arm, making his muscles clench. The pirate barely had time to shout before the blast hit him square in the chest, knocking him back into the foliage with a sickening thud.
Pirate Mercenary Killed [Lv. 5]
Further Information Unavailable [Skill Required]
Celestial Energy Gathered
Skill Level Gained
[Engineer Gauntlet, Ranged Lv. 1 → Lv. 2].
Alert: Pilot Level Increased
Stat Point(s) Available
Malan dismissed the notifications, and tried to ignore the surge of satisfaction at his increase in level, as another mercenary appeared from the other side of their building. His pistol was already aimed in Bessna's direction, energy weapon buzzing in his off-hand. Malan tried to turn back toward her, just as another pirate attempted to rush in from the front, forcing Malan to lay down his own burst of suppressing fire.
"Bessna, watch out!"
Bessna aimed her pistol in trembling hands. Her first shot missed entirely, but the second grazed her assailant's shoulder. He howled, and his pistol clattered to the floor, before he brought his blade to bear with his off-hand, and launched himself toward her, teeth bared.
“Damn it,” she hissed under her breath, fumbling over her weapon as the man charged.
Malan reacted on pure instinct. At his command, his drone zipped overhead, locking onto the merc firing upon him and released a volley of energy shots. It hit the man square in the chest, and he dropped, letting out a hoarse scream before falling silent.
Another ping danced across Malan’s HUD:
Pirate Mercenary Killed [Lv. 4]
Further Information Unavailable [Skill Required]
Celestial Energy Gathered
Skill Level Gained
[Sentry Drone, Lv. 1 → Lv. 2].
He dismissed it, hurriedly aiming both gauntlets at the pirate charging Bessna, sending forth a barrage that dropped him like a marionette with its strings cut.
Malan turned in time to see Elena deal with the next man. A clean shot to the leg sent him to his knees before she closed the distance, pressing her pistol to the man’s head at point blank range and pulling the trigger.
A pulse of energy seared past Malan’s shoulder, singing the air by his face. He winced, and his eyes darted toward the source: another pirate crouched in the underbrush aiming his weapon for a second volley. Malan swore and, using a combination of his own eyes and his HUD, aimed toward the more distant target.
The plasma shot hit the pirate dead centre, sending him crashing back into the bushes with a pained scream.
Pirate Mercenary Killed [Lv. 4]
Further Information Unavailable [Skill Required]
Celestial Energy Gathered
Nerves still fraught from the fight, Malan barely registered the notification. The increase in celestial energy flowing through him and his weapons was utterly intoxicating. The power at his fingertips felt sharper now, more lethal. He wanted more.
“Your drone picked up another two!” Elena warned, snapping his attention back to the battle he’d thought was done.
He blinked, and focused his mind onto his drone. It seemed like it was capable of acting a little more autonomously than he’d given it credit for. Malan’s gaze flicked to the last two mercs, crouched near the edge of the clearing pinned down under volleys of burst fire from his sentry. One was clutching a wounded arm, blood seeping through his fingers, while the other frantically fired into the air, desperation shattering his composure.
To his surprise, it was Bessna that moved first. She stepped forward from her cover, pistol steady in a two handed grip. Malan’s heart skipped a beat—a warning on the tip of his tongue—but the words caught in his throat as she took a deep breath and fired.
The first shot struck one of the mercs in the shoulder, spinning him around. The second hit was cleaner: square in the chest. He collapsed in a heap on the ground.
The final pirate, who had been firing at his drone in a panic, watched his final comrade collapse in a heap and bolted. Malan’s drone shot after him, small turret whirring. A burst of energy crackled through the trees, and the man’s scream was cut brutally short amidst the trees of Mykeser, just out of sight.
The sudden quiet was deafening, a sharp contrast to the chaos moments ago that still echoed through his brain. Malan let out a breath, the shaking in his gloved hands having nothing to do with tiredness.
Elena let out a steadying breath. She glanced around at the bodies scattered across the clearing, then nodded approvingly at Malan.
He balled his hands into fists, celestial power still dancing across his skin like static. He nodded tightly in return, and swallowed a lump in his throat as his eyes flickered between the bodies of the men he’d just killed.
"We don’t have much time here," Bessna whispered. "They won't have only sent one team."
Elena nodded, already scanning the treeline for fresh danger. “She’s right. We need to move.”
Malan turned to Bessna, his jaw tight. “Your husband knows where the children are?”
Bessna nodded grimly. “Yes, but he’s under constant watch. There are three facilities producing chems for Eclipse. They have him at the largest, Eidolon.”
Malan exchanged a glance with Elena, who was crouching over one of the dead mercs, rifling through a supply bag. “Then that’s where we’re going.”
Elena’s grinned suddenly, her eyes gleaming. She turned to him, holding aloft a small belt of spherical metallic objects. “And when we do, it seems only right we return these.”