Three Square Meals Ch. 071

"We're nearly there!" he yelled enthusiastically, as the others crowded around to hear him. Turning to point at a splintered fork in the rock up ahead, he added, "It turns sharply to the right up ahead, and I spotted the first of those rock hills at the back of the Scorpions' base!"

"Podling did good," Groluk grunted, his bulging eyes staring at the right fork in the canyon.

George grimaced, and said, "Not all that Podling shit again!"

Bull grinned at him, and said, "Of course not, young fella."

Malifica glanced at them in turn and said firmly, "Alright, this isn't the time for messing about. The Scorpions are nasty, and Madclaw earned his name. I saw him fight once, years ago, and it wasn't pleasant. He had a huge cybernetic claw instead of his left arm, so trust me when I tell you, don't let him get close!"

"I'll take point from here," Bull offered, moving forward when Malifica nodded her agreement.

Looking at the Drakkar, she said, "I'll go next, Groluk after me." Glancing at the eager young man last, she added, "Greenhorn, you cover the rear."

"Hey!" George replied indignantly, while his crewmates chuckled.

Despite Bull's stocky build, he knew how to move quickly and quietly when the occasion called for it, and this was definitely one of those occasions. Malifica followed ten metres behind him as he took the right fork in the canyon, and they followed the trail down a slight decline with the first of the rock piles clearly visible up ahead.

There were a forlorn looking pair of six-wheeled dump-trucks by the pile of rocks, both of which had seen far better days. The Scorpions had used one for target practice, while the second appeared to have had angry sex with a blender. Having seen Madclaw fight, Malifica could well imagine what had happened to the second truck.

Bull peered carefully around the bend in the canyon, then looked back at her and beckoned her onwards, before slipping around the corner while hugging the rock wall. She followed him around the corner, and saw the other three mounds of rock, and the conveyor belts that led out of the Scorpions' base. There were no pirates in sight though, the weather sufficiently cold and bleak to discourage them from leaving the tunnels unless absolutely necessary.

Trusting that the over-confident pirates would be too lackadaisical to bother with concealed sentries, security cameras, automated gun turrets, or - heaven forbid - mines, they broke from cover and headed towards the tunnels. Malifica braced herself for a blaring alarm, warning shouts, or hails of bullets, but the only sound was the howling of the wind, which drowned out the sound of their footsteps.

The tunnel ahead of them was wide and tall enough, to have taken one of the mangled six-wheel trucks, which were slowly rusting to oblivion outside. Even though the tunnel was unlit, the ground was clear of debris, and level enough to let them walk along at a good pace in the murky gloom. There was light further up ahead though, and the sound of raucous laughter reached her sensitive ears.

Bull turned to look her way, and she nodded at him as she crept past, drawing her twin Enshunu duelling pistols. She walked silently towards the expansive loading area at the end of the conveyer belts, staying to the shadows, and avoiding any sudden movements that might alert them to her position.

This area had once been a sorting area, where ore and rock had been pulled up to the surface from the mines below, on a series of conveyer belts which all ended in here. The miners had then categorised the ore into valuable and non-valuable materials for careful storage or dumping on the rock piles respectively. There were lots of long-disused tables scattered around the room, along with weighing and magnification equipment for identifying the treasures dug from the rock below.

There were four pirates sitting around one such table, but they'd ripped away all the gemmology and metallurgy equipment, and dumped it in a pile. The Scorpions were currently playing cards, three of them shouting and cursing at the fourth, who sat there smugly while raking in his winnings. Drawing a bead on the first two, Malifica took careful aim with both pistols and pulled the triggers.

The weapons were standard Enshunu sonic-disintegration weapons, which could strip flesh to the bone in seconds, and cut through ceramic armour plating with equal ease. The Enshunu favoured them for the debilitating pain they caused their targets, and as Malifica usually ended up shooting at pirates, she considered that an added bonus.

The Enshunu pistols made a low thrumming noise as they fired, loud enough to draw the attention of the pirates, but not loud enough to be heard beyond the room. Shooting at surprised, stationary targets was hardly a challenge, and the short pulses of hyper-frequency sound waves hit the first two pirates in the head. They were both dead before they hit the floor, and their corpses started spasming as the sonic reverberations caused havoc with their central nervous systems.

One of them stared at his fallen colleagues in horror, while the other flipped over the table, sending the cards and chips flying while he bolted for cover. The seated pirate got shot in the face for his trouble, pitching over backwards with a crash, while she took careful aim at the fleeing pirate and shot him in the leg. He sprawled across the floor, writhing in agony as he clutched at the ragged wound in his thigh.

Malifica was already running after him by the time he crashed to the ground, and she kicked the heavy pistol out of his hand as he tried to point it in her direction. She crouched down next to him, and jabbed him in the groin with the barrel of her evil-looking pistol as she hissed, "Tell me where Madclaw is, or say goodbye to your cock!"

The pirate froze, his face a mask of pain, and he squeaked, "No, please! He's on the upper level, in the workshop!"

"Thank you," she replied, then whipped her second pistol around, clubbing him in the head and knocking him out cold.

Her three crewmates jogged up to her, and she rose to her feet and said curtly, "Next floor up, in a workshop."

They nodded their understanding, and the group moved forward again, walking furtively through the open double-doors set into the far wall. There was a corridor beyond with several doors on either side, but a quick glance in each showed them to be storage rooms that just contained empty containers that were gathering dust. Reaching a T-junction at the end, they could hear loud cheers and shouts coming from the right, where a big group of pirates were watching a Zero-G football game at a ridiculously loud volume. To the left was a flight of steps that led up to the next level.

"No like football," Groluk grunted, his lime-green forehead wrinkling in distaste. He gave Malifica a toothy grin as he added, "Do like killing pirates!"

Bull joined her at her side, and whispered, "What do you reckon, Cap'n? Waste the football fans?"

Although she was loathe to risk leaving an unknown number of pirates at her back, she knew how dangerous Madclaw could be. Getting the jump on him had to be more useful than squandering the element of surprise on a bunch of regular pirates, so she glanced to the left, and said, "Leave them, we've got to get the control rod. Who knows, we might just find it lying around, and then we can just sneak out of here!"

"It's never that easy, Cap'n," Bull said, smiling at her and shaking his head in amusement.

She nodded her agreement, but headed left, and started sneaking up the stairs. The steps were hewn from the rock, so it was a relief not having to worry about her team's metal-shod boots clanging on steel decking. It was a long flight that ended on a small landing, with a metal banister at the top to prevent anyone accidentally falling into the stairwell.

The well-lit room beyond was substantial, with a big holo-table set in the middle, surrounded by a score of metal chairs. A quick glance at the glowing sector map floating above the table revealed that the pirates had marked various zones in red, which she knew were the centre of mining activity in the region. It suddenly became obvious that the Scorpions used this areas as some kind of planning room, and they were using the map to choose their next raiding targets.

It seemed like their luck was in, as the planning room was deserted, with most of the pirates downstairs watching the game. Malifica spotted a couple of doors leading from the room, with double-doors leading to the right, and a single one to the left. Picking the single door, she walked over to it, and eased it open to find... a dingy bathroom, with three sets of currently unoccupied stalls.

"Might be useful if the fight with Madclaw gets too scary," George joked, grinning at them all.

Malifica smiled despite herself, with Bull chuckling, and Groluk doing his best to suppress one of his grunting laughs. With that door eliminated, it meant the only way left was through the double doors, so they fanned out across the room to approach it with caution. Her sharp ears heard the sound of swearing coming through the door, and she waved everyone to a stop as she listened intently.

"The fucking thing keeps locking up unless I power it down and let it cool off!" an angry voice snarled. "Fucking around with it every four hours is a huge fucking pain in the ass!"

"It's all the enhancements you asked me to make!" a desperate voice whined. "It's running hot because of all the extra power it needs!"

"You little fucker! So you're saying it's my fault?!" the angry man snorted indignantly. The voice got louder as it roared, "You're the one who fucked up here, not me!"

Running footsteps coming their way had everyone looking around frantically for cover, but aside from the planning table in the centre of the room and a few metal chairs, there was nothing to hide behind. Malifica dashed forward and to the left, as she hissed, "Incoming!"

Five seconds later, the double doors crashed open, and a thin, bespectacled man wearing overalls raced into the room. He looked absolutely terrified, and with good reason, as a huge hulking cyborg came barrelling into the room, hot on his heels. The cybernetics engineer screeched to a halt when he saw Bull, George and Groluk standing in front of him, which gave the cyborg behind him a chance to catch up.

The enormous cybernetic arm ending in a pincer-like claw left little doubt as to who this person was, and he grabbed the engineer's head in his claw, and squeezed. Blood and brains spattered all over the floor as the man was killed instantly, his lifeless body collapsing in a heap.

Bull reacted quickly, and aimed his shotgun at the irate cyborg's chest before pulling the trigger. The auto-shotgun boomed as several slugs slammed into Madclaw's torso, but he was wearing heavy armour, so the shot just knocked him back a step and pissed him off. Roaring in fury, he lunged forward, and slapped Bull to the side with a hefty cybernetic backhander. Bull was sent flying, and he crashed into the wall, before slumping bonelessly to the ground.

Malifica aimed both pistols at Madclaw's back, and was about to pull the trigger when she spotted the brass rod sticking out the top of his cybernetic claw. With his arm flailing around, she couldn't fire for risk of hitting the rod. That moment of indecision was enough for the pirate boss to aim his clawed hand at George, and fire a micro-missile from the cybernetic limb. The fragmentation missile smashed into the holo-table that George was hiding behind, flipping it over and knocking him down.

She quickly readjusted her aim, going for the back of Madclaw's knee this time, and squeezed the trigger on both pistols at once. The two shots blasted through the weak point of his armour, tearing through flesh and muscle, and knocking the pirate boss down to one knee. He bellowed in pain, and whirled around, glaring at her with red pupils in his cybernetic eyes.

Groluk opened up with his minigun, the heavy whir sounding deafeningly loud in the enclosed space. A hail of ten-millimetre rounds pummelled Madclaw from behind, but they didn't have the penetration to cut through his heavy armour. Bullets flew past him, or ricocheted from his armour, kicking up plaster from the wall above Malifica's head when she was forced to dive flat to avoid being hit.

She scuttled away as Madclaw got to his feet and stomped after her, and she was stunned he was able to still stand, let alone pursue her. A quick glance at his leg as she backed away explained why, and although her shots had destroyed his flesh, there was a titanium column where the bone should have been.

"Fucking cyborgs!" she muttered, opening fire again at his other leg this time, in an effort to slow him down.

He roared with the pain, but kept on coming, running forward into a charge now, and leading with his claw. She narrowly avoided being flattened like a bug, and managed to dive out the way, only for Madclaw to barrel straight through the wall behind her in a shower of rubble. She heard the sound of running feet coming from the stairs, so as she was scrabbling backwards to put more distance between herself and the enraged cyborg, she looked desperately for Groluk. He was advancing after Madclaw, intent on hunting him down, despite the ineffectiveness of his minigun.

"We've got incoming!" she yelled at him. "Cover the stairs!"

Malifica didn't get a chance to see whether he listened to her orders, as she had to duck more bricks when Madclaw punched his way through the wall again, as he stormed back into the room. His furious red eyes locked on her again, and he began lumbering forward once more. Levelling her pistols in his direction, she pulled the trigger as she aimed at his face, but he'd whipped his claw arm up to protect himself, and her pistols were ineffective against such thick titanium.

He lunged for her face, forcing her to roll backwards, but it bought her little time. He smashed down with his claw, pounding the floor where her legs had been only moments before, and she dropped one of her pistols as she skittered backwards. Madclaw snatched it up in his claw, and laughed as he snapped it in half between his brutal pincers, the servos in his cybernetic arm whining in protest.

She heard the sounds of gunfire now from two directions. One was from the stairwell, where Groluk's minigun had begun its battle dirge once more, and the second was the distinctive chatter of George's carbine. His long burst of ten-millimetre rounds sailed over her head, and then punched straight through Madclaw's armoured torso, sending a gout of blood out behind him, to spray all over the remains of the broken wall.

The cyborg stared down at his bullet-ridden chest in shock, watching the spurts of blood fountaining out from over a dozen entry wounds in his torso. Malifica didn't waste any time as she aimed straight for the middle of his face with her remaining pistol and squeezed the trigger. The sonic-disintegration pulse hit Madclaw right between the eyes, and he screamed in agony as he toppled over backwards, landing on his back with a clang.

Clambering to her feet, she glanced to the stairwell to see what was happening, and saw Groluk barking with laughter as he sent a remorseless hail of bullets down the stairs at the pirates below. Any shots they managed to fire in return hit his shield, only to be deflected harmlessly with a curious whumping sound.

Focusing on the other threat in the room again, Malifica shot him again twice more in the chest, but Madclaw didn't flinch. When she walked over to double-check on him, she found the cyborg leader of the Obsidian Scorpions to be quite dead, his face a hideous ruined mess. The dozen hits to his chest had left him mortally wounded, and her shot to his face had simply finished him off. Checking his cybernetic limb next, the brass rod appeared to be undamaged, so she pulled it free from the cord that bound it to his titanium arm.

Glancing across at the Drakkar warrior again, she called out to him, "Everything under control, Groluk?!"

"Yeh, good fun!" he snorted, fanged mouth snapping in delight as he squeezed off another burst with his minigun.

Looking at her other two crewmates next, she saw that Bull was still slumped on the ground, as was George, but she knew her pilot was at least conscious enough to shoot. She ran over to Bull's side, and saw a bloody wound on his head. Fearing the worst she felt for a pulse, and let out a sigh of relief to find that he was unconscious and not dead.

George had the medkit though, so she ran over to him next, skidding to a halt at his side. He was looking pale, but was still conscious, and he gave her a wan smile in greeting. It only took a glance to see that when the holo-table had flipped over, it had landed on and crushed his right leg.

"I got him, Captain," he said weakly.

She nodded, taken aback by the gruesome injury, and did her best to sound comforting despite her throaty voice as she replied, "You sure did... Talon." Trying to keep him talking, she added, "How did you punch through his armour like that?"

He smiled at her as she crouched down beside him and began searching around for the trauma pack, and replied through gritted teeth, "Armour-piercing rounds. First thing I packed when I knew we might be fighting a cyborg."

Malifica found the emergency trauma pack, and uncoiled some medical-tape to make a tourniquet for his leg. He let out a low moan as she tightened it around his thigh, and he slumped back with the pain.

"I'll be right back, I need to check on Bull now," she said, patting him gently on the arm.

His arm flopped in what she guessed must have been an attempt to wave her away, and she ran back to Bull with the kit in hand. She managed to staunch the bleeding on his head wound, and then gave him a quick shot of stimulants to try and rouse him from his unconscious state. After a painfully long thirty second wait, he coughed and rolled to his side, his hands going to his head.

"Fuck! Me head's ringin'," he groaned.

She helped him sit up and said, "I'm sorry, we can't take the time to rest. The whole place is on alert and we need to get the hell out of here."

"Give me a hand, Cap'n," he muttered, sticking his right arm up in the air.

Malifica stood and grasped his hand, pulling him to his feet. He looked pale and unsteady, but he was able to focus on her at least. Hooking an arm around him, she helped him stagger across to the table, where Groluk was waiting for them.

"Pirates all dead. Groluk move?" he asked, jerking a thumb towards the upended holo-table.

Looking down at the young man, she said, "Brace yourself, Talon."

The young man smiled at her bravely, then let out a low cry as Groluk reached down and flipped the table off their pinned crewmate.

"That don't look good," the Drakkar said, his big protruding eyes staring at the badly crushed right leg.

Malifica frowned, and said, "Can you help him? I've got Bull."

Groluk shrugged and nodded. He slung his minigun over his two right shoulders, then scooped up the badly wounded pilot, drawing a cry of pain from George as he lifted him up. Malifica could only marvel that the Drakkar could carry so much, but Groluk didn't seem to be terribly fazed by it.

Tucking the brass rod under one arm, and holstering her remaining pistol, she fished an intercom from her pocket, and then pressed the button to call their ship. It took nearly a minute for Plex to answer, and she sighed with relief when she finally heard his voice.

"Plex here," he replied, sounding muffled.

"Why the long delay?" she asked. "We need an immediate evac. Any signs of movement from the Scorpions' fleet?"

After another ten second pause, Plex replied, "Plex is doing his best, but signal very weak; must be interference from rock. Scorpions' fleet hasn't moved position yet."