"So, Dalton, level with me: how bad is this going to be?" Zora asked quietly as they headed for the exit from the security center.
"However bad you think it's going to be? It's worse than that," he replied curtly.
"Jesus shit," Molly muttered.
"Yeah. They aren't unstoppable, but they are wicked fast and strong. The big snake ones shoot lethal shit, remember that. The little hoppers have no ranged attack, but you can't let them get close. They'll rip through even my armor like it's fucking tinfoil," he said, checking over his rifle one more time.
"Are we fucked?" Mike muttered.
"Not necessarily. We can handle it," Dalton replied.
"You sure about that?"
"Hey, we fought them before. We can do it again. I've personally killed several of them. Just hit them with a solid, prolonged burst from your rifle."
"I made it, boss!" Sullie called over the radio.
"Hold one." He activated his radio. "You're at the ship?"
"Yep! And I got the shit! Ammo is secure!"
"Is there anyone there?"
"No, no one, but I don't think that'll last. People are panicking, running to any ship they can find. They seem to be going to other parts of the station, but yeah, it won't last."
"Fine. Alder, you listening?"
"I'm here, Dalton," she replied.
"Is the ship warmed up?"
"Oh you better believe it. I'm ready to go at a moment's notice. We can be punching light in thirty seconds, you give the word."
"Perfect, thanks. Hold there. Sullie, you stand inside the airlock and just keep watch."
"What do I do if someone shows up not from the crew?"
"...tell them the ship is broken and warn them off."
"What if I have to shoot them?"
"Then shoot them."
"...understood."
"Thank you."
"I'm coming up," Roscoe said, her raspy voice sounding stronger now. "Don't shoot me. I got a fat load of food. Coming in a goddamned transporter."
"I'm ready to receive," Sullie said.
"Perfect. Once you get the food secure, and get that transport loader in there too, if you can get it through the airlock, you join Sullie in guarding."
"Understood, Sergeant."
"Forrester?"
"We're almost back to the ship, Dalton. Wait, fuck me! There! Three o'clock! Fire! Fire! Fire! Dalton, need some fucking help!" Forrester snapped.
"We're coming! What's your location!?" he cried.
"Port side hallway just past that second big hallway we exited! Hurry! There's about a hundred of these hopping motherfuckers!"
"Coming! Move! Now! Emergency!" Dalton screamed, and went loping off. The others, thankfully, followed, quick and quiet. The hallway they now moved down was utterly deserted, nothing left but scraps of paper and all manner of litter and dropped food or drink. He saw a few people among some tents, frantically gathering things. The urge to call out to them, to offer transport, was nearly crippling, its power overwhelming. He stomped on it and surged forward, going as fast as he could. He heard a dozen guns barking and the maddened shrieking of the hoppers and knew he had to get there or too many people were going to die.
They needed Forrester and those medics. They needed Baker.
Finally, they tore around the corner and found a dozen people in a mishmash of clothing and armor, wielding an utterly huge array of weaponry, desperately and furiously trying to hold back a living wave of zerg. They were rushing forward, directly into the fire. Cage put his scope to his eye and pounded out a fifty caliber round. It hit one of the zerg fuckers right in the forehead and split it straight down the middle.
"Go! Go! Forrester, start getting them the fuck outta here! Now! Right now!" Dalton yelled and then opened fire, standing shoulder to should with the other survivors. Zora stepped up next to him and opened fire as well, a modified Gauss Rifle screaming to life.
He heard Forrester shouting, directing the other medics.
There were too many of them.
Dalton laid down suppressing fire, emptying the entire big box of ammo and then hastily reloading as fast as he could.
"We can't stay here!" Zora yelled.
"What's the plan!?" he called back.
"Civvies fall back, we hold the line, then we throw a bunch of bombs!"
"Fuck! What about the hull!?" he demanded.
"It can take it!...I think! We're doing it! Civilians, prepare to fall back! My team, hold the line!" Zora shouted.
There was some shuffling as they were blessed with a merciful lull in the battle as the hoppers got caught up on the corpses of their friends. The others appeared beside them as the civilians fell back frantically. Everyone was reloading.
The tide was upon them again before Dalton could really catch his breath. He opened fire, gritting his teeth as he poured bullets into the living tide of leathery flesh, bullets flying wildly in the muzzle flare. Blood splattered and hoppers shrieked, and then he was reloading again.
"Bombs! Now!" Zora yelled.
He grabbed a grenade, activated it, and tossed it. Then did so again and once more after that. He saw a few more grenades, a canister, and a few satchel charges go arcing out as well.
"Fall back!" Zora roared.
They barely managed to get back to the living quarters tunnel before the explosion went off and a great wall of fire and shrieking blew past them. Dalton, coughing, peered around the corner. He saw some movement, but not much.
"They're down, let's go," he said.
"Wait...can we come with you?" a new voice asked.
Dalton turned and found himself facing about a dozen and a half people. Dear God, there were children among them. Dalton groaned. "Yes, you can come. If you have shit you want to grab nearby, you have sixty seconds and then we're moving. We're going to build our own freeport."
The man, who seemed to be the leader of the group, bald, old, and scarred, nodded. "I understand. Thank you. Go, people," he said.
They split up hastily and Dalton activated his radio. Zora's team was standing to the rear from where they'd just come, on guard, while Zora herself was scouting a little farther ahead, back towards the Tenacity. He activated his radio.
"Frost, update."
"We have the gear and we're about halfway back. Spalding insisted on stopping by his quarters for some supplies. Do you require assistance?"
"No, we're fine. Just keep going."
"Understood."
"Dix, where are you?" Dalton asked. A long pause. "Dix?"
"Just a minute!" Dix called back amidst a burst of static and a hell of a lot of background noise.
"Dix?! Goddamnit! Sullie? What's your sitrep?" he asked.
"Zero activity. Got Roscoe here with me. Finch just got in with the supplies, managed to fit the tractor in through the airlock, so we're good there."
"Perfect. Look, you're gonna have some civilians coming your way, about a dozen and a half. Let them inside."
"But you said-"
"I know what I said! But this is what I'm saying now! They got kids with them, understand?"
"...you got it, Sergeant."
"Thank you. Dix?!" Still nothing. "Goddamnit!"
"Sergeant, Forrester just got here with Mulberry and five other unfamiliars," Sullivan reported.
"Let them through!"
"Shit, we're getting popular. Come on, people!" she said, and her voice cut off.
"Whew! Sorry, brother!" Dix said, panting heavily. "I'm cut off! I'm in some kinda big round security checkpoint! We're fucked! There's way too many of them!"
"I know where that is," Zora said, jogging back over.
"I'm coming with some backup! Just hold out!" Dalton said.
"Will do!"
"You three," he said, pointing to Zora's crew, "get all of these civilians back to my ship, double-quick, then hold the fort."
Cage and the others looked to Zora. She sighed. "You answer to him now."
"I don't want to get into a pissing contest, but thank you," Dalton said. "And she's right."
"Understood, sir," Cage replied tightly, and led the other two off towards the civilians.
Dalton looked to Zora. "Show me this place."
They raced back and then in a different direction, two loping figures pounding down a broad, body-strewn corridor. Too many of them had bullet holes in them. Humans turned on each other too easily. Dalton ignored it all as best he could, just focused on saving Dix. They had to get out of here. There was no dream of freeport if they didn't escape this failed state. And he was not leaving without Dix, that just wasn't happening.
Two corridors later, they found themselves rushing into a huge, cavernous space, what had probably once been a monstrously large cargo bay. There were bodies everywhere, human and zerg mixed together, islands in an ocean of blood. He saw hoppers hopping in towards a large, rounded structure in the center of the room. And from it he saw a few muzzle flares and then a brilliant pair of cones of fire bursting out and frying half a dozen of the little bastards.
"Yeah, motherfuckers!" Dixon roared.
"Dix! Come on! Get the hell out! On your three o'clock!" Dalton called.
"Oh shit, let's get the fuck outta here guys! Go now!" Dixon yelled, his voice doubled over the radio.
Dalton and Zora opened fire, cutting into the nearest hoppers. He cursed as he saw a snake slithering furiously towards him. It spat one of those spines and he barely managed to avoid it, then returned fire. The snake roared and spat more. Then a pair of flame jets burst into existence and it went up like dry leaves beneath a blowtorch. The beast roared and slithered away, though it only made it a few meters before collapsing into a smoldering heap.
"Let's go!" Dalton yelled, reloading.
"I made some friends apparently!" Dix replied as they hustled out of the cavernous room and back into the corridor. They put some distance between themselves and the zerg, who seemed not to be following for whatever reason, and looked to the others. Dix had two followers, though one of them thanked them and then ran off. The other who remained was a tall, tan-skinned man holding a heavy machine gun with arms of ropy muscle.
"I heard you were starting your own freeport. Can I join?" he asked. His voice was quiet for his large frame.
"Zora? Any inside intel?" he asked.
"I've seen him around, always seemed calm," she replied.
"I can fight and I can grow a garden," he said.
"You're hired, but you gotta come right now."
"I'm ready. My name is Tom."
"I'm Dalton, let's move, Tom."
He nodded and they started moving.
"Dalton, we're secure in the ship. Your civilians have arrived. They had three security personnel with them," Frost reported.
"Check. Be ready. We're coming now."
"Got it."
"We're almost there, come on," Dalton urged as they turned back into the tent-town tunnel. They hurried through it and came back to the marketplace. It was an absolute wreck now, partially on fire, and completely abandoned, save for a few distant figures frantically tearing through collapsed shacks and tents.
"Wait!" Dalton cried, skidding to a halt as something caught his eye.
"What?!" Zora demanded.
"I need this," he said, seeing a stall for pet stuff. He snatched up a case of wet catfood and then Dixon agreed to take two hefty containers of cat litter.
"Are you serious?!" Zora cried.
"We have a pet cat," Dalton replied, and then they took off again.
A moment later, they were back inside the hangar. They could hear fighting all around them, but somehow no one seemed to have found their own little hangar. He imagined they were pressing that luck about as far as it could be stretched. He saw several of his people, including Frost, standing outside the airlock. They waved them frantically in, and then finally, all of them were inside.
"Is this everyone!?" Dalton called as he looked around the cargo bay, which was packed with a lot more people now. He counted heads, moving through the crowd, and also checked cargo. It looked like they had everything. He jogged on and came to the infirmary, where he found Forrester and Mulberry checking over Baker and Alina with another medical technician. "This is everyone, right?"
"Yes," Forrester replied.
He activated his radio. "Autumn, go now!"
"We're outta here!" she called, and almost immediately he heard the clang of them disengaging from the asteroid field. He waited tensely, seconds passing with an aching lethargy, and then her voice came again. "We're in the pipe, bound for Thule. I hope you got more juice because we need it."
"I got it, I'll take care of it," he replied, then looked to the med tech. "You, when you're done here, join the others back in the cargo bay pronto, got it?"
"Got it," he replied.
"Thank you."
Dalton began walking back towards the cargo bay.
