Ok, I'm in a Steve Spielberg (the spell-check recognises that?) sort of mood today…
Echoes of future past, part 32
Ryan could here the Magog coming towards him, their voices echoing along the passageways. He took up position behind an outcropping of rock, and drew both of his Gauss pistols. As an after thought, he pulled a radio from his belt, "I don't know if any of you can here me, but the Magog are heading my way, and I won't be able to give you the full three hours: I'll hold them as long as I can, you just make sure you get back to the Maru, fast." Not waiting for a reply, he turned the radio off, and as the first of the Magog rounded the corner, he stated firing.
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The other heard Ryan's warning, and sped up their retreat to the waiting ship.
Tyr opened the airlock and checked the inside for intruders while Dylan helped Trance to one of the bunks, Rommie keeping a lookout. Dylan made his way back to the airlock, "Ok, look's like we're good to go here. Any sign of pursuit?" Rommie turned to face him, "I'm not picking up anyth…" The words died on her lips as she fell forwards.
Dylan lunged forwards, and managed to grab her before she hit the deck. He looked up to see the grinning Spirit of the Abyss, still morphed to look like Gaheris Rhade, slowly sink to the floor, the smoking Gauss Gun falling from it's hand. Trance had heard the gunshot, and hobbled to the door. She looked at Rommie, then across to the still form of the Spirit of the Abyss, "But it should be dead, you killed it?" Dylan didn't look up as he dragged Rommie in and closed the outer lock, "Tyr, you better get us out of here!"
Tyr didn't need telling twice: the finely tuned engines started at once, and the Maru started gaining altitude as Dylan and Trance carried Rommie into the crew quarters and gently placed her on one of the bunks. Her body was convulsing as Trance ran a scanner over her, "Oh no! Dylan, her power-cell's taken a hit, she's lousing power, fast: if we don't get her back to the Andromeda soon, she'll die!"
Rommie looked up, her eyes wide with fear, "Dylan, I'm scared!" Dylan held her tight, "It's ok: I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Rommie's body stopped moving as her peripheral system shut down, saving as much power as it could for her core-functions and memory bank: if that lost power before she had a chance to re-establish a link with the main AI on the Andromeda, her personality, the very essence of who she was, would be lost forever. Her body would be repairable, and Andromeda could use it, but Rommie would be dead.
Tyr carefully navigated the caesium that lead back to the surface, one eyes always on the monitor that would show any increases in Free Vacuum Energy generation, the first, and only, warning that the bomb had detonated and the shock-wave was not far behind.
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Ryan saw the red warning light on his Gauss Pistols light up, indicating that he was almost out of power. He fired the weapons a few more times, taking down the next two Magog, then dropped them to the floor and drew the forcelance Dylan had given him. He allowed himself a quick look at his watch: he had bought the others just over two and a half hours, and every second more he could hold off activating the bomb, the better their chances of escape.
The Magog re-doubled their attack, streaming forward in a seemingly never-ending tide that Ryan was hard-pressed to keep up. He kept shooting, his movements fluid and graceful from a lifetime of fighting. He held his forcelance with both hands, sighting along the barrel, making sure every shot counted. The slick plastic grew hot as he continued to fire, headless of the cost.
The final bleep told him he was out of ammo, and more importantly, time.
The Magog sensed that Ryan was defenceless, and charged. Ryan just smiled, raising his arm so the trigger was at eye height, "SMILE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" With that, he pressed the detonator.
To Be Continued
