Chapter 7

Cairn Enters the Fray

Mark returned to Jen's room. She was waiting for him. "I heard that you got into another fight."

Mark nodded.

"Well I've decided that I'm going to send the station into action."
Mark gasped. "What! That ship can destroy an entire planet. I was talking with a Transhodian that knew a lot about Primus."

"What does Primus have to do with anything?"

"That's what his ship is made out of."

"Oh."

"I know."

"I'll call the officers and we'll man the heavy guns."

With that said she went and picked up a comlink and said that the station was going into action. An overhead speaker system said that if any mercenaries that want to earn extra money to go to the command office in the main terrace. Mark left to go there.

The main terrace is the largest room in the entire station. It is over 6 stories high, and has a fountain in the middle of it. It reminded Mark of a place called a mall from a planet called SOL-3 also known as Earth.

An officer was taking to a crowd of mercs. All of them were battle hardened warriors that were excellent marksmen. The officer also was telling how to target the guns on the turrets that were on the ship. Again the overhead speakers blared. A voice said that they had five minutes to get to their designated turret before they got out of hyperspace.

Mark was given a heavy gun. It moved very slowly, and had a slow fire rate. On the plus side it had a pack of fast tracking mini-turrets all over it. It was reserved for him. On his left side, Jen was there. If they died that day, they were going to go together.

The ship pulled out of hyperspace. There was the huge ship. Parts of it were an asteroid and other parts were protruding metal that were command chambers and berths. Almost immediately they began to fire. Mark called the main command chamber on his comlink. "How fast can this thing go?"

A crackly voice on the other side answered "It can move in small jumps of speed. We call it a pulsar boost."

"Good, charge it up we're going to need to move on a dime here."

"Okay."

On Mark's radar screen multiple TIE fighters pulled up in organized rows. His fast tracking turrets clicked and hummed. He looked over and saw that they were the size of the turrets on the Hawkeye; just not as long. The TIE's began firing a row of shots, then pulled under the ship to come around again for a second pass. Shots were flying everywhere. A few turrets blew up and even more TIE's were shot down. Through all the carnage, Mark saw a familiar ship. It was an imperial Lander! They were trying to invade the station!

Mark shouted into his comlink "Attack the Lander!"
All of the turrets began concentrating fire in the underbelly of the Lander. Within a few seconds, the Lander was destroyed. Its remains fell and landed on two turrets. The weight of the ship crushed the turret and whoever was in it. Mark shuddered.

Eur was watching the carnage from a chamber high on the metal face on the ship. He grinned with utmost evil. This would be his first victory. He could tell.

Back at Cairn, the battle raged on. Mark's heavy gun was taking a lot of damage. He flipped a switch on the side and the turrets switched into a defensive mode. Just as he did so, a barrage of lasers came at him from multiple sides. Mark closed his eyes and braced himself for the vacuum of space to come and take him to oblivion. That moment never came. The fast tracking turrets shot away lasers!

Mark knew that the battle was hopeless. He devised a clever plan. He contacted Jen on his comlink. "What's up?" A familiar voice said.

"I have a plan. I'm going to take the Hawkeye and use the confusion. While I'm there, I'll fly in and destroy the ship."

"Okay. I'll set the turret back to regular mode."

Mark climbed out of the heavy gun and ran to the Hawkeye. Oom was there waiting for him. "Where do you think you're going?" he said.

Mark had a look of annoyance on his face. "I'm going to the Hellbringer."

"Okay. I'm coming with you."

"No. This is my job."

"Well its mine too. I've got a planet to avenge!"

"Fine. When we get in, we'll split up. I'll go for Eur and you try to disable the beam."

"Right."

The Hawkeye turned around and flew out of the docking bays with a slowed hurriedness. The airlock went down as fast as it was up and they sped away into the void. To the Hellbringer.