Doctor Who_ Original Sin - Andy Lane [52]
The reptiles exploded into balls of flesh and flame.
‘Who fired?’ The under-sergeant’s gravelly, part-synthesized voice hadn’t changed tone.
Private Kipps, his eyes shielded by his visor, spat on the muzzle of his blaster.
The spittle sizzled briefly. ‘Me, sir,’ he said. His voice burred with a Helvetillian accent.
‘You’re on report.’
‘But sir,’ Kipps cried. He was known for his short temper, and his stupidity.
‘I didn’t authorize firing.’
‘But them damned reps were –’
‘I know. Enquorian.’
‘Sir.’
‘Stun him.’
‘Sir.’
Before Kipps could react, Enquorian fired from the hip, catching him high in the chest. He slumped sideways. The two men on either side slapped at their arms to minimize the splash-over pins-and-needles effect of the stun ray.
The under-sergeant leaned across and took hold of Kipps’s tunic. The metal weave material bunched up in his hand. ‘Lesson one about jungle warfare,’
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he growled. ‘Jungles are full of predators.’ He heaved Kipps towards the open hatch. ‘If you want to keep them off your back, use some bait.’
He pushed Kipps out of the hatch. Enquorian watched the man fall. Within moments, he had vanished into the purple canopy. A series of crashes was curtailed as he hit the ground. The sounds of the jungle halted for a moment, then cautiously re-established themselves.
A flock of winged shapes in the distance began to dive towards the point, where Kipps had vanished.
‘That stun was sloppy, Enquorian. Should’ve switched to multiple shot.’
He didn’t know whether to acknowledge the advice, ask why or keep silent.
Eventually he settled on a noncommittal ‘Sir?’
‘Narrower beam than single shot. Just have to snatch your finger off the trigger before you let loose a volley. For that, let’s see you act as point for the landing party.’
The under-sergeant’s cybernetic leg caught Enquorian beneath the chin, pitching him out of the flitter. He fell towards the canopy, tumbling through the humid air. His fingers scrabbled across his belt, looking for the repulsor switch. Leaves slapped at his face as he dropped through the canopy of veg-etation. He felt a branch impact in the small of his back and snap across the body armour.
His finger brushed the repulsor stud. With a sudden jerk, he stopped falling.
After he caught his breath, he glanced around. He’d never been in the jungles of Ybarraculos Epsilon before, either for real or on Purgatory, but he’d done jungle warfare courses, and this was no different.
Kipps’s body was crumpled in a heap near the bole of a nearby tree. A couple of vines were already hanging above him, vibrating slightly. Something like a flat worm with green and purple stripes slid down the bole, hissing, and the vines quickly withdrew. Enquorian watched as the worm-thing dropped the final few metres onto Kipps’s head. He wondered briefly whether to fire a shot at it to warn it off, but he could just imagine the under-sergeant’s reaction. No authorization to fire. Kipps would just have to resign himself to an artificial face. Or head.
The canopy crunched above him as the flitter descended. He moved out of the way, scanning the landing area for signs of trouble, descending slowly on the repulsor beams until he was hanging a few metres above the undergrowth.
As the flitter came to rest, he noticed that the worm-thing had vanished, taking Kipps’s head with it. Poor guy. A number of small, multi-legged creatures with pointed heads at both ends of their bodies were already delving inside what remained.
Enquorian had never liked Kipps. Loudmouth. Deserved everything he got.
Nasty way to go, but weren’t they all? At least he’d been unconscious.
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His feet touched the dank, mossy ground moments before the flitter came to rest.
‘Trouble?’ The under-sergeant was the first out.
‘No, sir.’
‘What about Kipps?’
‘Dead, sir.’
‘Still useful, though. Let that be a lesson. Which direction are the targets?’
Enquorian oriented himself. ‘Assuming they haven’t moved, sir –’
‘They haven’t.’
‘Then they’ll be to your right. About a hundred metres.’
‘Take three of the men and