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discern the shape of a Veritech fighter-a veiled Guardian behind a Permaglass
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gate.
"Commander Hayes," the voice called out. "Please stand back. I'm going
to crash my way in."
Quickly, she switched her radio back on.
"Whoever you are, stay away from here. Return to the ship. That's an
order."
The fighter pilot paid her no mind.
"Stand back. My orders are to get you out of here."
Before she could speak again, the Guardian's huge hand had smashed
through the window and the pilot-Rick Hunter!-was staring at her from the
cockpit.
"Climb aboard-quickly! We don't have much time left!"
"I'm not leaving this room!"
"One minute and counting, Commander."
"I don't care! Go on, do you hear me, save yourself!"
She saw him shake his head.
"I don't know what's going on here, but you're coming with me."
And in an instant Lisa was held fast in the grip of the Guardian's hand.
It was useless to struggle; the Veritech was already backing away from the
barracks building and preparing for takeoff.
She found herself reaching out toward Riber's room nevertheless,
clinging to it with all the strength she could summon, screaming out his name
as the fighter launched itself and sped from the burning base.
Khyron pressed the attack, urging his forces onward with calls to glory
and promises of promotion; when those failed, he resorted to simple threats
and imprecations. Several times during the exercise he had decided to deal out
punishments on the spot, and occasionally he had been forced to sacrifice the
innocent. But this was all part of the warrior's life, not regrettable but
expected behavior.
It had been a glorious battle-up until now.
The Micronians had begun to retreat toward Zor's ship, a retreat with at
least three-quarters of their original forces still occupying the arena. He
was confused and angered. Were the Micronians such spineless creatures that
they would choose surrender over death in battle? Zor's ship, held fast by the
gravity mines, wasn't going anywhere, so what did these fools expect to gain
by a retreat? It would only mean a nastier mop-up operation for Khyron's
troops. The space fortress would have to be stormed, or perhaps he would
decide to starve them out; but in either case the end result would be death,
so why not go out fighting?
Gerao was reporting certain anomalies in the gravity mine field-some
sort of pressure buildup the sensors had yet to identify-but with the
Micronians on the run, this was hardly the moment for caution or
indecisiveness. Khyron would have the enemy captain's head before nightfall!
The Zentraedi forces had routed the enemy from the base, and their
commander was about to join them there, when the surface of the planet began
to quake with unnatural force. Some massive explosion deep below ground level
was working its way upward. And when it broke the planet's skin, it was
greater than anyone-Zentraedi or Earthling-might have expected.
In an instant, the base and most of Khyron's occupying army were
obliterated as a tower of raw unleashed energy shot from within the planet.
Through the blinding glow of the initial explosion, Khyron could see Zor's
ship lifting off, just moments before a second explosion of equivalent force
atomized what was left of the area.
Khyron's Officer's Pod was far enough away to withstand the blast, heat,
and follow-up shock waves and firestorms.
Madness, Khyron thought. Madness!
He raised the cockpit shield of the Battlepod and sat for a moment in
stunned silence. Thick clouds of rust-colored dust were being sucked into the
area. Zor's ship was just a preternatural shimmer in the Martian sky. The
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Micronians had surprised him.
Unpredictability was something to fear and respect in an opponent. But
failure in battle was something that could not be tolerated.
He vented his anger by smashing his fists into the console of the
Battlepod, then collapsed back into the seat, spent. He reached out for the
dried leaves of the Flower of Life, ingesting several of these and urging
their narcotic effect to wash over him. Ultimately Khyron smiled maliciously.
He gazed up at the dwindling space fortress and said aloud: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]