Titan Fleet: The Invictus Part 12

"Good people, good people, please listen to me." The governor is talking through a large speaker so everyone can hear him. "We have all suffered in many ways over the years and some of it our own doing, but this atrocity no one deserved. Most of you now know why this has happened and how evil our leader has been, but there is something worse coming. An alien force is planning to destroy us, and the only way to survive is to get off this planet."

A man heckles from the crowd. "This is our home, and we have no s.h.i.+ps." The governor puts his hand up to speak again.

"You are right, this is our home but answer me this, I thought your home is where your heart is, a place where your loved ones surround you and you live in peace with other humans who love to live the same way, but when that is threatened or taken from you, you have to move on. Not far from here, a t.i.tan s.h.i.+p sits getting ready to leave the planet, fleeing from the aliens. Now, why were we not invited on that s.h.i.+p? Is one human better than another because of money? We all bleed the same and need the same. So if you are planning on staying know this, you could have survived, there was a chance to escape. The good news is that the s.h.i.+p is still being loaded up, it is being loaded with our things, they have taken from us, the things we have made and worked hard for. So that s.h.i.+p belongs to us too. Make no mistake, we will have to fight for our chance to leave, but we all fight every day in the fields trying to grow crops, we fight every day mining metals miles down, we fight to live. There are people as we speak fighting to get information. We need to attack and they do this for all of us. We have been through so much already, this is a chance to live and who knows, we may find a better place to live, if we are in charge this time. We are planning a full on attack to take that s.h.i.+p and get off this dust rock for good. We dont have a great deal of time. Any questions?" A few dirty, dusty hands spring up and wave in the air and the governor points at a young lady in the middle of the crowd, people turn and look at her, waiting for her question.

"We have wounded and children with us, what about them or are you going to leave us behind? Can we trust you or are you using us like the other sc.u.m out there." The governor wets his lips with his tongue.

"A good question. We have trucks and some small s.h.i.+ps to get us to the t.i.tan s.h.i.+p and there will be plenty of room on the s.h.i.+p for everyone, sick included. Let me just say this, I know I have had a position of power for many years, but I have always tried to be fair, and the reason why my town was attacked was because I did not agree with most of the things that were going on. I think that you can ask my towns people what they think about trust here and as far as Im concerned, I am just a man trying to help others with what I can. I want you all to live first; we can worry about who is in charge later, thats not important. Yes, you there in the green hat."

A man shouts his question from behind hundreds of people. "The Thorn Guard, though few in number, came to our town and killed most of us. How can we fight them when we are not fighters?" Nodding in agreement, the governor replies once again, in a respectful tone.

"We use our skills against them. We all know about the fortune mines; they lead right under White Crest. We can use them to travel in unseen and once we take control of the tunnel leading to the dead zone, we will block the end so the troops at White Crest cannot get through, which then will buy us time to attack the s.h.i.+p. There is some distance between the tunnel and the mountains and the t.i.tan s.h.i.+p. We can scavenge a few things and pose as a supply convoy, the oldest trick in the book and then let them have it. We need miners with maps, engineers, explosive experts, scavengers, medics, drivers, pilots and even cooks. Whatever your skill, we will need you on our journey." No more hands are seen, some people have put them down as the question they were going to ask had been answered, and for a few moments there is silence.

"I am with you" a man shouts and another shouts, "Lets do it for our families." More and more people begin to shout out inspiring words.

The governor raises his fist in the air and shouts, "For each other." Everyone shouts the words and the people are united for one purpose and begin to ready for what lies ahead of them.

Chapter Sixty-Five.

Paces legs are growing tired. When they reach White Crest two guards hold up their weapons as Ca.s.sy stops for them to check things over.

"Name and state your business." One guard approaches as one stands back a little way near a container. Stepping off her bike, her heels digging in the dust, Ca.s.sy removes her helmet and places it over the handlebars and walks over to Pace, looking all the while at the guard. She was wearing tight leather trousers and a cropped leather bra top, showing her stomach and cleavage. She wore this for such an occasion. She walked like a model and caught the guards attention.

"Tess Pringly is my name and Im a slaver on my way to deliver this thing for Eves experiments. I should get a fair sum for this one." She yanks on the chains and Pace falls to the floor. "So what are you doing all the way out here, big boy?" The guard is memorised and looking at Ca.s.sys chest, then asks his other question.

"I see, papers please." Ca.s.sy reaches into her bra and pulls out some forged papers. She had used them many times before and never had any problems, and in fact she enjoyed the role-play. The guard begins to concentrate on the papers a bit too much for Ca.s.sys liking, so she moves to phase two of her act.

"All good, I trust. Say, we are both alone out here in the dunes, how about we spend some of my earnings tonight and have our own private party, just me and you?" To the guard, this is music to his ears and he hands the papers back to Ca.s.sy. She pops it back in her bra exposing a little bit more chest and flicks her long black hair over her shoulders.

"You can pat me down now, if you like, or do you want to save that for later, big boy?" She moves closer to the guard and runs her hand up his leg. He stops her and, getting hot, decides to let them through.

"Oh yeah, it will be a pleasure Im sure. Im off duty in two hours; Ill meet you at the beer tent then." As Ca.s.sy turns, the guard slaps her b.u.t.t as she walks away. She turns and smiles and tries to walk away swinging as much hip as she can. Once through the guard gates, the two of them go unnoticed in the town of White Crest. There are people laughing and drinking and eating, as well as people working, loading supplies on to trucks. They get to the rear gate and stop a moment to scan around and record the area. The small spy camera on Ca.s.sys top has recorded a lot of things, such as number of troops, fuel dumps and supplies and vehicles, all useful information for the attack. There were several weak spots she had noticed, which she had highlighted and she had sent her report to Greyfields to aid their plans. The rear gates opened and more dusty land stood before them. They began to travel to the large opening in the mountains, which was more visible now to the both of them.

"Next time you can be the one in chains doing all the walking, ok. Does your husband know about your fetish with the leather, because I could not believe that was my little sister back there?"

Ca.s.sy laughs, "Im a big girl now and how do you think I wowed my husband in the first place? I obviously used my charm, not that it is any of your business, thats my private life." Ca.s.sy is slightly cheesed off with Pace and increases the speed of the bike and then pretends she cant hear his moans and groans. They notice a large metal door swung back, one side silver and one side covered in rock. No wonder no one has never noticed it before, it blended in so well, thought Pace. There were a few guards outside, but upon reaching the entrance, they were just waved through behind another truck with supplies on the back of it.

They pa.s.s from the blistering heat and suns.h.i.+ne on their backs, to a lovely cool breeze with dampness in the air which moistened Paces mouth. Dim oval lights ran the length of the tunnel and extractor air fans span frantically, trying to provide the much needed air to breathe under this billon tons of rock. Cats eyes lights shone on the concrete road, which had two lanes per side. The traffic was slow moving due to people both walking and driving. It was a bit hectic and not well organised at all and would be great to hide all their troops in for the attack. They travelled slowly to the end of the tunnel, which must have been a fair few miles long, until they reached the opening. The warmth of the sun and light hitting them once more, was now a good feeling, because they had become cold walking in the tunnel. After leaving the tunnel, people spread out a bit more. They noticed many camps had been formed, not to sleep in, but to store things in. Each camp was something different; food or water, or components, or fuel, or parts, and loaders were going to each camp and loading it into their specific bays, so people did not have to sort it once on the s.h.i.+p. The steam rose from the tarp that covered Pace, as it had collected water from the tunnel which was now evaporating in the sun, and there was a funny rubber smell in the air.

Ca.s.sy approached a camp and stopped a young man operating a loader. She once again threw her charm at the man, who was quite a shy person, making him feel embarra.s.sed to the point that he began to look in the air instead of at Ca.s.sy.

"So, I was wondering could you help a girl out of a jam and direct me to the camp for alien cargo, so I can ditch this thing and get a bit of free time to enjoy myself, if you know what I mean?" The young man, who had been looking at the sky instead of at Ca.s.sys half open top, pointed to the rear or the t.i.tan s.h.i.+p.

"Red sector." He replied huskily and he then hurried away, not knowing what to say or where to look.

This was the first time they had really noticed the s.h.i.+p. Before this moment they had been concerned by guards and people, and getting caught. It was a monster of a s.h.i.+p. It was so big that they could only see the rear of the s.h.i.+p; the front was out of sight. There before them stood five ma.s.sive engines. You could fit a city in them, Pace thought. It had many large blaster turrets to guard the back from attack and looked an amazing s.h.i.+p indeed. It was grey in colour and had white lettering - The Fahrenheit - and this would make a great home and escape s.h.i.+p. The s.h.i.+p would make a big dent on the planet when it left on take-off, but they did not suppose Eve would care any.

There seemed to be a skeleton crew of Thorn Guards around, so Ca.s.sy and Pace guessed that the main force was still out causing havoc with Eve somewhere on a poor village. As they approached, they noticed several ramps busy with loaders in and out, and a few people working, organising the smooth running of things. They did not batter an eye-lid when Ca.s.sy drove her jet bike on board at red sector and dismounted once again. In fact, they went unhindered, allowing them to take a close look around and when they noticed a room off the corridor from the loading bay, they took the chance and shut themselves in, and began to access the computer at a desk.

In no time at all, Ca.s.sy was in the main frame and surfing the net. There was so much information to copy and so many codes to get, that this would take a while, so Ca.s.sy wired a small control box to the underside of the terminal to continue its spy work, which she could always access later from her gauntlet.

"Where did you learn all this, squirt? Youre a genius. I would not have known where to start." Pace is rubbing his chained hands.

"Never you mind. I just have a unique set of skills, if you know what I mean. I had to survive somehow out there. Come on, down here." Ca.s.sy tugs gently on the chains and they are off out of the room, down another corridor with several doors either side, and picking the one with the guard posted seemed a good idea. It meant he was guarding something important or dangerous.

"Excuse me? Am I in the right place? I have to drop this off and not sure where to take him, its such a big s.h.i.+p." Ca.s.sy walks up to the guard, hips swaying as she walks to distract him, which brings a smile to the guards face.

"You are in the right place, go through this door and this ID code on your gauntlet will guide you to an empty cell." The guard holds on to Ca.s.sys arm and types a code in and Ca.s.sy just looks at him, licking her lips slightly and smiling at him.

"But what if a monster gets free and attacks me? Will you come to the rescue, because I would like that?" The guard is hooked and can smell Ca.s.sys sweet perfume wafting under his nose.

"I would rescue you, have no fear, and then Id show you what a man is all about, but there are auto-guns in there and without a code you would be blasted to bits, so you are perfectly safe. Put this collar on that and I will activate its chip once you put him in the cell, then if it were to escape, the collars code would activate the guns too. Anything that does not have your code would die." Making small talk with the guard was a good plan, thought Ca.s.sy.

"So what did you do before this then, sweetheart?" Ca.s.sy takes her arm back but stays close.

"Believe it or not, I was in a cell. Funny, eh, how life works out? I lived in one for over ten years, and now guard one."

Ca.s.sy smiles at the guard once again. "So you are a naughty boy, eh? I like that in a man, its right up my street. Maybe we could hook up later and talk about big guns and things." The guard knows he is being flirted with and takes a moment to look around at the security camera, and then he turns away and then grabs Ca.s.sy, pulling her in close and kissing her, while groping her at the same time. He then lets go and stands guard once more.

"Cameras you see, ha-ha." Ca.s.sy has one more trick up her sleeve; the small control box has just gained access to the s.h.i.+ps security cameras and other systems. She enters the room with Pace and the door closes behind them. She taps her gauntlet and immediately the security cameras are on a playback loop, the control operators unaware of any change. It means that they can now rest a while and a.s.sess the situation.

"Joseph, I have control over all security systems on the s.h.i.+p. I can set up turret guns to target Thorn Guard when we want; we just need to get to the bridge, which will be the hard part."

Pace is impressed. "Who needs an army, eh?" Pace coughs at the floor and a splat of blue gunge falls to the floor. "Before you say anything, Im fine, just fine." There are many cells in this large room, hundreds in fact. The cells have clear plastic walls several inches thick, with inch high circular holes at the top for ventilation and grilled floors. They are surrounded by force fields and then guarded by the giant guns on the ceiling. The two of them wander around, looking at all the strange creatures trying to get free. Some of these ferocious monsters they have seen before, but many of them are fearsome creatures that could only be imagined in nightmares. Some of them claw at the walls, and some of them ooze strange coloured liquids and vent ga.s.ses from their grotesque bodies.

What did all of these creatures have in common, Pace thought. They all wanted to be free, just like humans. They wanted to do what they were happy to do. They did not want to be caged up in a cell. Pace began to feel sorry for them. I could have been one of them, trying to get out. I am no different to any of them. I have changed into something else, although Im still human, but at first glance I would be cla.s.sed the same as the imprisoned.

"We need to set them all free." Pace is looking at a monster of a creature in one of the cells. It had given up trying to escape and had been beaten, the look on its face was felt in Paces chest as sorrow.

"Youre kidding me right. Why? They are beasts." Pace turns to Ca.s.sy who is looking at another creature and Pace feels their pain.

"Is that how you see me, sister, as a beast? Open your eyes and see around you. How do you define a beast? Would you not claw at the walls if you were trapped? Would you not fight for your family and home and way of life? Look at the Gulmeds, they look a bit freaky, but they seem ok.

Ca.s.sy runs over to Pace. "Oh Joseph, Im sorry, I did not mean to upset you and I have seen past your blue skin and to be honest you are just my brother, but I did not think of them in that way."

"They are only beasts because we call them that, and only in cells because we put them there. Its not fair. We like to think we own everything and everyone, but we dont." Ca.s.sy taps at her gauntlet and pulls up plans of the s.h.i.+p and before Pace can say any more she has found a solution.

"This whole room, along with one more, can be ejected if needed. It was done in case the creatures escaped and the guns failed, so we can set them free at some stage, if you like?" Pace smiles and holds his hand up to the lonely looking alien. The alien looks back and also lifts its arm to signal to Pace, maybe a gesture of peace or possible friends.h.i.+p, but they had work to do and time was running short.

"Ok. It looks to me like there is a corridor and then a lift from here and that will get us to there, and then it looks like a hang-kart from there to the other end of the s.h.i.+p. We better get moving." Ca.s.sy shows Pace the map on her gauntlet, and then they walk back to the door. Ca.s.sy uses her gauntlet to access the computer to turn off the giant guns and then Pace hides out of view of the guard as Ca.s.sy pa.s.ses through the doorway.

"Hey, sweetheart, how about another kiss?" The guard nods and waits for the camera to change direction like before; not knowing it was not filming now, and once the camera is facing the other way, he leans in for a kiss. Ca.s.sy points to her chest and he goes for her invite. As he gets closer a puff of mist hits him in the face and he falls unconscious to the floor in an instant.

"The oldest trick in the book," Ca.s.sy laughs. "Now before you say anything, no, that was not how I got my husband!" Pace laughs. He was just about to comment but lost his chance. "Its a toxin, completely harmless; he should come around in an hour or so. Its a little device, amongst others; I keep on me for just such occasions. I love gadgets, especially ones that get me out of trouble. Give me a hand will you?" Pace helps Ca.s.sy put the guard in an empty cell between two horrid creatures that just want to eat the sleeping human. They claw and bash at their cell walls, in the vein hope of getting payback. Pace quickly undresses the guard and puts on his uniform.

The door closes behind them and Pace now has a new role to play. He has just been made an elite special ops guard; a new breed of guard designed by Eve herself, well thats the cover story, if anyone asks. Pace is just relieved to be out of the chains and that tarp. It was so hot under that and he now feels better and looks quite smart in the black and red armour, his metal arm s.h.i.+ning and most of his blue skin covered, apart from his face and his other hand with the lump in his palm, which does not feel as itchy as before. The armour has its own built in gauntlet, which was lucky as Ca.s.sy could not smuggle Paces through from the bike. They were set, and now that Pace was in a military spec armoured suit, he felt so smart and strong and able to win a fight.

Pace hated fighting, but knew it was necessary in some cases, but he would always try to find an easy solution before he raised his fist in anger, because he had a very hot temper. They pa.s.s other guards unchallenged, along the way to the lift, and call the lift down to their floor. The door slides open and two guards are stood inside. They get out of the lift and Pace and Ca.s.sy enter and press the b.u.t.ton to go up. Just as the door is about to close, a hand pops through and the door springs open again. Pace and Ca.s.sy remain calm as this time three guards enter. One of them notices the hard to miss blue scales on Paces face and raises his gauntlet and looks down at Paces arm that has now been noticed by the other two.

"Who are you or what are you?" asks the guard, in an angry tough voice.

"Was a murderer. Quite happy doing that for a while 'til they cut off my arm, then a thief and got caught again, and then they modified me. You have heard of the spec ops core, right, just probably never seen one of us before, and I suggest you keep your traps shut or you will suffer a worse fate than me. I can tell you stories, but then they would probably take my legs for that." The guards, now shocked to have met a spec ops soldier, go quiet and turn back around to face the door. The door opens and the guards cant leave fast enough and disappear fast.

"Nice work! You can be quite intimidating, even I was scared." Ca.s.sy follows Pace out of the lift.

"We should get to the hang-karts after this turn." Sure enough after the turn they came across the hang-karts. They were a way of getting around cities but these ones were large enough to be able to carry several hundred people at a time, and the t.i.tan was as large as several cities rolled into one, so this was the fastest way to travel. They got on to one and it was empty apart from them, so they had a little bit of time to relax and chat.

"I will send a progress report back to Greyfields, but I think they need to set off soon, if we are to make it off this pile of sand." Pace looks out of the window. He is stood up, thinking what a great home this will be for them all. "We need to get to the bridge and take control, we cant afford to blast off without our people and I need to know if Eve is on the s.h.i.+p or elsewhere." Ca.s.sy pauses for a moment and looks up from her screen.

"Already checked, she is not on the s.h.i.+p, they are awaiting her arrival from her bunker to the north of here. It seems her troops are all over the planet, still taking what is not theirs and s.h.i.+pping things back through White Crest. I will place a marker on any communications about her traffic to let us know when she is inbound. I have also been able to access scans of outer s.p.a.ce and the Oakthians are approaching and will be here in a few hours it seems." Pace is amazed at Ca.s.sys information and organising skills. She would make a great captain and today he has learned so much about her, things he admires.

"Great work, squirt, you amaze me, you have grown up to be a great person to have around and I am so glad to have you back again." Ca.s.sy walks over to stand beside Pace and stares out of the window, watching stars fly by at an alarming speed.

"Its a beautiful s.h.i.+p; it feels good to be here. I missed you so much and thought you had died in your life pod. I miss Mum and Dad; its like a hole in my heart that can never be filled again. It still hurts so bad, Joseph, I cant explain it, but I am sure we will make up for lost time along the way." Pace pulls Ca.s.sy in close to hugs her, like he did when she was a small child.

"You said you have a little one, Lily, and a husband too, what are they like?" Ca.s.sy stops a tear from falling.

"My husband and I met on the mining planet, Ulsar. He was a doctor there and I was involved in a cave-in, working with an idiot that got a laser target wrong. The laser killed almost a whole crew, and the idiot blamed it on the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps engines being off when he put in the coordinates. Well, my husband was the doctor there, and when I looked up and saw his eyes and his cute goatee, and a smile that could heal a broken heart, that was it for me. It took me a long time to recover; even when he found out I was just faking it, just to see him. We married quickly and then Lily came along, not planned but a gift she is indeed. She is just a happy little girl, you will love them both, Im sure." Pace squeezes Ca.s.sy.

"Ca.s.sy, I am sure I will, they are family after all. What did your husband say when you contacted him at Greyfields?"

"He told me to stay safe and that he will be here as fast as he can. He had mustered two mining s.h.i.+ps, they are old, but will make the trip." Pace notices a platform in the distance and walks over to the karts door, ready for it to open, and Ca.s.sy follows. The brakes on the roof screech as the kart begins to slow some distance from the platform. It had been going so fast and yet they had had a good little chat. The screeching gets louder and they both sway and stumble as it stops. They are both holding onto the rails so tightly that their knuckles turn white, but now they let go, as they leave the kart.

The platform is not busy at all, so they move without a care in the world to another lift, which it takes them up once again, and opens onto a long corridor. The rooms off the corridor are busy with people going about their jobs, and they go unnoticed and find the bridge at the end, and they have a stroke of luck, no one is on the bridge. The consoles are black and there was no power. It was a large bridge, which probably had a crew of at least twenty to twenty-five just to run everyday things.

"Ok, were at the prime spot for takeover. We need to secure the bridge and then wait for the others. Hopefully, we will go unnoticed." Just as Pace turns around to the door, two bridge crew enter the room. The door locks behind them, due to Ca.s.sys quick thinking. The two men raise their gauntlets and Pace lifts up his hand to try to stop them firing and alerting others. As he does this, the lump on the palm of his hand ejects two spinning blue b.a.l.l.s, which hit the two men in the chest, sending them smas.h.i.+ng backwards into the door. They both writhe in agony and the two b.a.l.l.s open up on their skin and sticky, pungent ooze slowly covers them, devouring them as it spreads. It is a dreadful sight and Pace cant believe what has just happened.

"I ... I, what is going on? Now I am firing stuff out of my body. Its getting worse!" Ca.s.sy tries to comfort Pace with a joke.

"You always fired stuff out of your body, especially after eating eggs; I would not worry if I were you. You sorted out that problem. I would say youre quite handy to have around too. Get it, handy?" Pace, who was fretting, now turns and just laughs, knowing if he did not laugh he would only cry, and laughter was a good thing.

"Cheeky, ha, I get it." The two begin to laugh.

Chapter Sixty-Six.

A tired Nova walks into the canteen in her dressing gown almost covering her otherwise naked body. She makes two cups of coffee before she notices Sam, who is eating some biscuits and looking at a litepad. Lucky for her, he is engrossed in his work, so she quietly creeps out again with two coffees and some prized ham for Len, which she knew was hard to get hold of on Foloss. She goes back to her room and Len is led in her bed with such a big smile on his face that it lit up the room.

"Here you go, lover boy, got to keep your strength up." Len puts his cup and ham on the bedside table and grabs hold of Nova and begins to kiss her once more.

"Maybe I should apply to your s.h.i.+p and get on your crew, and then we can have more perfect times." Nova responds once she catches her breath from all the kissing.

"Would be nice I must admit, but my captain is a ball crusher and would skin me alive if he found out we were here like this, but when you get on that t.i.tan s.h.i.+p we could meet up there and have a little fun. It would be safer for the both of us, trust me." Now sat up and reaching for his coffee and then burning his lips with a sip, Len agrees that it would be best for her, and that he wants to see her again soon.

"Of course, babe, when this whole thing blows over, we can see each other all the time." Nova has no intention of making it a regular thing, but she wants to let Len down gently. "So when you leave not a word to anyone, especially my crew, or Ill be shot. So drink up, babe, I am sure we both have things to do." Len drinks up and eats his chunk of ham, savouring every mouthful. He then kisses Nova at her door and leaves her to go and take a shower.

Chapter Sixty-Seven.

Rusty has finished all of the modifications and most of the repairs and has left Anc to finish off the rest. He is sat with the governor, chatting about old days when the report comes in from Ca.s.sy.

This prompts the governor to bid his goodbyes. "Its time, Rusty. We got to get under way. I will let the others know and we will set off. I will miss this place. Oh, before I go, here, a crate of my best rum. I figure I took enough money from you over the years and thought you should have something back, to make up for the ribbing we all gave you. We all knew that you were a good sport." Rusty is grinning like a Ches.h.i.+re cat. He takes the crate, the weight pulling down on his shoulders but such a tolerable load.

"No, thank you buddy, for not setting my hat on fire all those years ago." Rusty begins to walk out with a dance in his feet.

"Still think you need a new one." Rusty just smiles and walks outside and makes his way to the s.h.i.+p. The air is soft now and the sand and dust has settled, but the sun is still so hot in the sky. As he reaches the ramp to the loading bay of his s.h.i.+p, he notices Paces rover roll into town. The door opens and two children climb down into the arms of a happy couple, who embrace them as their own. The rover closes the door and rolls up the ramp onto the s.h.i.+p, empty and still after carrying out its mission. Rusty puts his crate down in the loading bay, and attaches it to a holding hook for safety. Apart from his hat and engine, it was his prized possession and he did not want it to break. He makes his way up to the canteen. Nova has showered and dressed and sits eating some spaghetti.

"We got to set off soon; we got word from Ca.s.sy and Pace," says Rusty. "They are ready their end, so we should light the engines and get on our way." Nova finishes her mouthful and Sam looks up and gulps down his tea. They all finish their breakfast and Nova puts her baseball hat back on and wipes the sauce from her lips, and she stands up ready to leave the room.

"I have plotted a route based on old maps and intel, and I thought we would take a look around the planet for Eve and her troops and see what they are up to, and be a kind of rear guard. We dont want them spoiling things, do we? Do we agree?" The two men nod in agreement and think it is a wise idea to know what they are up against. The loading door closes and Anc clambers in a hatch on top of the s.h.i.+p, and Padley has left the last few patients to the older robot to deal with. On their journey, Padley enters the s.h.i.+p though a side port and goes to medbay, and opens a comms to the other medical robot to help and advice if needed. Nova, Sam and Rusty sit on the bridge at their consoles, at the ready.

"Lets get this done then. Here we go in three, two, one." The engines light up and thrusters lift this mammoth off the ground. Nova is taken by surprise by the extra weight on the front of the s.h.i.+p and the Invictus veers off to the left, demolis.h.i.+ng the governors house with one hit.

"Whoops, there goes the neighbourhood again."

Rusty laughs. "He loved that house, but like they say, you cant take it with you." Nova fights for total control, her arms jostling the controls to win the battle.

"What have you stuck on the front, another s.h.i.+p or something?" She yells at Rusty. Finally she adapts and they fly off with a million eyes watching. The governor shakes his head in disbelief. He had built that house when they first landed on the planet. His wife had designed it and he had spent sweat, blood and tears over it, and now there was nothing to remind him of his love, apart from his wedding ring and a small photo lens in his s.h.i.+rt pocket.

"Good people. It is time, so we just need to get under White Crest and through the tunnel disguised as a supply convoy, while some of you a.s.sault White Crest as a distraction. There will be air transport for you once we are through, in the way of runners and a few fighters to boot. Lets go people, and be safe."

Chapter Sixty-Eight.

A ma.s.s of people begin their journey. They are riding in all sorts of vehicles; bikes, rovers, trucks, speeders and on foot. A sizeable force stays above ground and makes their way for a frontal a.s.sault. They are armed with codes for the explosives Ca.s.sy had placed earlier at White Crest, which should be a surprise for the troops there. The a.s.sault troops have the heavy armour and big guns to make an impact. They are the governors men, people who stood their ground with him when Eves guard attacked men who wanted payback for the ma.s.sacre on this planet, men who had lost everything and had everything to give for a good cause.

The governors rover enters the Fortune Mines first and his gunner scans the tunnels as they go. They are following the old maps but were fearful of the Kalgoray. The Kalgoray were a subterranean race of fast moving lizard-like creatures with many legs, and a tail that could cut a truck in half. A Kalgorays head was armoured with thick scales similar to a blue, but its mouth could open up and swallow a human whole in an instant, and that was why they abandoned mining on the planet and began mining on other planets. They had lost too many people and now everyone knew they were taking a chance down deep underground, but this way was in fact safer. Everyone was quiet, no one spoke a word, and the air was stagnant and thick so people were using breathers. There were plenty of air boost canisters to go around but it was slow moving. However, the main battle force reaches their observation post and gets ready for the signal to attack.