Doctor Who_ Combat Rock - Mick Lewis [97]
‘Anyone ever tell you, you look just like your tattoo?’
‘You just saved your life. Well done.’ Pan shoved him out the hatch. The freak wasn’t even carrying a weapon. Pan didn’t care. The pilot was obviously suffering some psychic overload brought on by too many bad drugs. Let him deal with it. Combat was always good for curing self-indulgence.
He clenched Victoria’s left hand securely in his right, the bulky rifle cradled in the crook of his other arm and leapt out of the port, pulling Victoria with him.
She landed clumsily, and would have sprawled on the planks of the dock had he not yanked her brutally upright.
The cruiser was on the wide wooden dock, the fringe of palms ahead, the long pier behind. Twist was leaning against the side of the cruiser, staring at his own fingers. A dead OPG
guard lay in the grass just beyond the dock. Bass and Pretty Boy were sheltering behind the bulky flank of the cruiser which was parked at an off-kilter angle, and chucking blaster fire towards the trees. Saw was zigzagging through the undergrowth to the left of the half-glimpsed building beyond the trees, and there was Grave, completing the flanking manoeuvre to the right. Now Pan could hear the buzz of Saw’s tool, a harsh shriek layered over the sizzle of energy weapons.
Pan heard answering fire in the form of old-fashioned projectile rifle shots and the twang of bows. Bass and Pretty Boy didn’t look bothered as bullets and arrows screamed and bounced off the bulkhead around them.
Pan walked casually past them, swinging Victoria round to act as a human shield.
He stepped off the dock, depressing the trigger of his pulse rifle with his left hand, the weapon heating up fast and burning into Victoria’s side as it discharged shot after shot into the trees.
The palms were alight, flames boiling up into the sky. The guerrillas were flushed out by the intense heat and Pan picked them off as they ran.
Wemus clutched Wina protectively to him. Drew was sitting on the floor, tapping his hands complacently on his calves.
Kepennis was slumped on a mat, head resting on his knees. He looked worn out, without hope, eyes closed.
Tigus had dropped back down the ladder leading to the Krallik’s chamber as soon as the cruiser’s engines screamed overhead. He’d deployed the majority of his men to greet the attack, leaving four to guard the hostages and protect the temple, and most importantly, the Krallik.
He hadn’t spoken to the hostages. He led his men out in silence, checking his old rifle quickly before he left the temple. His men looked scared, and unprepared for this unforeseen attack. They’d believed the location of the Krallik’s base a secret, the temple inviolable.
Drew laughed in their faces as they chattered excitedly, milling around checking weapons before Tigus snapped them into some form of ragged order. There weren’t even enough guns to go round. Some of them had to resort to bows and arrows.
‘Sounds like you’ve got trouble, Tigus...’ Drew shouted after the leader as he ducked out of the temple.
‘We be freed now, Wina,’ Wemus said comfortingly, stroking her head as the sounds of uneven battle picked up outside.
‘You gotta be joking, Papul man,’ Drew told him. ‘You think the Dogs gonna care about a monkey boy like you?
They’ll burn you along with the rest of your kind.’
Wemus’s eyes opened wide. ‘What you mean... Dogs?’
‘Of War, monkey. They comin at ya!’
One of the guerrillas deployed to guard them advanced on the blond offworlder, his rifle muzzle pointing at him menacingly.
‘You want speak?’ the guerrilla asked him quietly. Drew shut up. For a moment, at least; until the guerrilla returned to the hole in the thatched wall that was his window position.
Then he couldn’t resist adding: ‘Course, they’ll rape your girl there first. Before putting you down.’
Wemus had heard enough. He slowly pried Wina’s hands off him and advanced on Drew. The offworlder had never seen the usually docile and amiable Papul guide angry before.
Wemus’s eyes were narrowed, his large nostrils fluttering, his teeth showing in a grimace. Drew