Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,31
he was pinned to a wall by a crusher, “you two are dead. And that’s not hyperbole!”
But the crushers not restraining people ran past Kim and Casmir and out the door first. They sped into the corridor, and when armed soldiers—these men carried rifles, not stunners—rushed out of a lift, the crushers created a shield to protect Kim and Casmir. Two of them ran forward to engage the armored team.
Two others followed Casmir as he veered into an access tube with a ladder leading to the lower decks. Kim had never been in it and didn’t know where it went, but Casmir must have brought up a schematic.
He stopped at the bottom—Kim heard footsteps in the corridor they needed to enter—and pressed himself flat against the tube wall. There wasn’t room for the crushers to pass and go out first. Or so she thought. Then they turned into amorphous blobs of black liquid and flowed past and out into the corridor. Crimson energy bolts slammed into them as they re-formed into their bipedal shapes, but the blasts did nothing to slow them down. They ran toward the soldiers firing at them.
Thuds and yelps of pain and anger sounded as Kim and Casmir waited in the access tube.
“We’re screwed even if we escape this,” Kim whispered. “I’m sorry, Casmir.” She should have allowed Meister to question her back in her lab, before all this had escalated.
“We’re going to get out and fix this.” He patted her arm as two more crushers flowed down from above, oozing past, then re-forming in the corridor.
“Follow us, Casmir Dabrowski and Kim Sato,” one said.
Zee? Kim had no idea at this point, but the weapons firing had stopped.
Casmir led the way out, following the crushers past doorways and the entrance to a shuttle bay. Kim glanced back to see that other crushers had broken the soldiers’ rifles in half and were pinning the struggling men against the bulkhead. What were the odds that nobody would be seriously hurt—or worse?—in this flight of madness?
Casmir tugged her around a bend. “There’s the door to the airlock bay.”
“They’re never going to release the clamps on the ship and let us escape now,” Kim warned.
“I’m working on that.”
They followed the crushers into the airlock bay.
“After what we just did, they may fire on us,” Kim added.
“Working on that too.”
“I’d feel more reassured about your abilities if you weren’t stumbling and there wasn’t a slur to your voice.”
The hatches were still open for Airlock Five, the tube visible stretching toward the freighter, and they hurried toward it. One of the knights stood partway through, silver armor and helmet obscuring his face. He waved his pertundo.
A bang came from behind them, and Kim jumped, but it was more of the crushers rushing into the bay. Others remained in the corridor as shots fired.
Kim put her helmet up in case a stray shot made it around the crushers. She should have done that earlier. The galaxy suits weren’t combat armor, but they provided some protection.
The airlock hatch slammed shut as they were about to enter the chamber.
“Did you do that?” Kim asked.
“No. They’re trying to stop us.”
“Imagine that.”
“Give me a second.” Casmir rested his hand on the nearby control panel, but his fingers didn’t move. He would have to gain access through the ship’s network.
Casmir shifted from foot to foot. DEW-Tek bolts zipped through the corridor beyond the door, but the crushers kept anyone from running in. Someone had found firearms with bullets, and the booms of propellant-fired projectiles filled the air. If they did anything to the crushers, Kim couldn’t tell. So far, explosives were the only thing she’d seen damage them, and even then, they could usually reassemble themselves. Her benevolent, humanity-loving roommate had made very effective super soldiers.
“There it is,” Casmir said, a click sounding.
The control panel flashed angry red indicators, denying entrance, but the hatch swung open. They stepped into the airlock chamber with several crushers squeezing in with them. The outer hatch was still closed. Casmir sighed.
As he worked on getting it open, Ishii’s voice came over their helmet speakers. Kim expected orders for them to cease and desist or else.
“You’ve fucked up beyond all chance at redemption this time,” was what Ishii said. “Romano has ordered me to shoot that freighter out of the stars if you succeed at getting away with it.”
There was a pause before Casmir said, “Understood,” and Kim wondered if Ishii had added some silent message straight to his chip.