Page 78 of Guardian's Legacy
"They won't be able to do anything without power," Sloane stated. "We're on our way."
Tharaax pointed at our spectral grid—Alice called it radar—where Luph's ship was now visible as it approached. All four of us held our breaths. Everything that meant anything to us was on that ship. The dot kept moving through the atmosphere. We had no idea where the shield was. I was reasonably sure that if the shield were still intact, it would have activated by now. It would make sense to have the shield above the atmosphere so it could take care of the fallout by burning up the pieces—but being reasonably sure and holding my mate in my arms were two different beasts.
"Let's check our gear," Noodar suggested.
He was right. It was better to be doing something other than staring at the dot on the screen. This didn't stop me from glancing at it while I checked my blasters, but it helped.
We moved to the hatch, still following the ship's progress on our comms.
Alice had cut the power, and Nova and Nock had taken care of the backup system. The Ohrurs knew someone was coming for them, but they had no idea who or what.
"We're here," Sloane announced. "On three. One—Two—Three!"
Tharaax opened the hatch, and we stormed out. Sloane and Tucker joined us from their ship, while the others stayed aboard, watching over us through comms. I prayed to the stars that Alice wouldn't do anything stupid. The only way she could help us was by staying put.
Sloane and Tucker were both trained in combat, but none of the others were.
"I told you to stay back," Sloane hissed.
My head flew over to their ship, expecting to see Alice. I steeled myself to be ready to grab and restrain her if I had to, but to my surprise, it was Nock who Sloane was yelling at.
Nock ignored her, and amazingly quickly, he sprinted over to Zaarek's side. "You promised."
Zaarek sighed and nodded at the holostreamer. Who, as I now noticed, had his earpiece in, streaming what was happening. I only hoped it wasn't live and that he would give us a chance to edit it later if necessary.
"Heads up," Sloane yelled, sending blaster fire toward a building to our left. The gate had just opened, and several heavily armed Space Guardians poured out. None of us were happy about it, but we’d accepted the possibility of having to kill some of our own. Putting the blasters on stun was too great a risk; some species were able to recover from the numbness sooner than others, which would leave us vulnerable to attack. We’d agreed to go in as a lethal team.
The beams of blasters shot through the compounds, Space Guardians went down, and I hardened my emotions.Later, I told myself,I would deal with killing my own people later.
Right now, all that mattered was defeating the enemy, stopping them from whatever evil they were up to, and not letting them get aboard Luph's ship.For Alice, I reminded myself as I shot down another Space Guardian.
"Tharaax, Tucker, left," Sloane's commanding voice rang out, "Noodar, Zaarek, right! Xyrek, you're with me, frontal assault!"
I didn't think; I only followed her orders, relying on the others to keep our backs safe. Sloane's tactic got the enemy into a crossfire that decimated them within seconds. The first wave was down, and my respect for the human female grew, as did my understanding of what she called the chain of command. I fully understood now that we needed one person in charge whom the others listened to.
Tharaax, Tucker, Noodar, and Zaarek were now stationed left and right by the entrance, while Sloane and I were facing in, still from a good distance back. She waved me forward, her eyes trained over her blaster at the entrance.
A strange sound made me glance quickly over my shoulder. I groaned, "Heads up, incoming friendly." I wasn't a hundred percent sold on thefriendlypart, but I hoped to the stars I was right. I stepped to the side and allowed Xenomorph, Vader, and Maul to pass.
We watched the unlikely trio move toward the entrance. Xenomorph was the first one through and was suddenly engulfed in blaster fire. His body twitched; he slowed but still moved forward, and I shuddered at the thought of the kind of nightmare my mate had created. Glad it seemed to be on our side—for the time being. Still, even as mighty as the machine was, a few paces in, it crumbled to the ground.
"Four hostiles to the left and right of the corridor, three more further down," Alice's voice had never sounded so sweet to me before as it did now, coming over the comm.
"Nice job," Sloane praised, pulling out shock orbs, indicating that I should follow her example. Hidden by the entrance, the other four did the same while Vader and Maul hovered out of sight.
One—Two—Three, Sloane mouthed, and we released the shock orbs simultaneously. Sloane and I threw ourselves to the ground while the others were protected from the following shock wave by the wall behind which they stood. I felt the pulse wave of air rush over my back, and it didn't feel good. It reminded me too much of the last time I died…
"Now!" Sloane was quicker getting back on her feet. I had to run to catch up with her and the others, who were already inside. Vader and Maul veered off, one to the right, one to the left.
"All clear," Alice announced, watching us through the drones.
"Is it safe?" Nock asked from somewhere behind me. I didn't turn. I had no idea where the obnoxious Kred had been hiding during the fight and the shockwave, but he was here now.
Nobody answered him.
In the same groups Sloane had assigned us before we made our way in, Tharaax and Tucker moved down the left corridor, while Noodar and Zaarek moved to the right, and Sloane and I went straight forward.
Alice had been right. Three Space Guardians lay crumpled on the ground ahead of us. Something was different about them, though. I knelt down beside one. "Check the Space Guardians," I said over the comm.
