《Imaginary Railroads》 chapter one ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter two ¡° ¡° A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° (yellow) Jeep and drove off the campus grounds. A stop at a Bucky''s on the way out of Grail City gave them their choices of food baskets to eat before they left the city limits. Once they were in the suburbs, the houses started spreading out so they weren''t bunched together as much. Signs for future development dotted the landscape which grew more empty and more like a small wilderness until they crossed into Moravian County and human civilization seemed to restrict itself to small places tucked into stands of trees blocking the view from the two lane road. ¡° chapter three ¡°Caught in an ambush,¡± said Howie. ¡°Does the house look like someone is waiting for us?¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Roll a twenty,¡± said Ivan. He rolled his own as he spoke. ¡°That''s almost enough to blow your leg clean off,¡± said Clark. ¡°We need to stop the blood flow before you die.¡± ¡°I''m not dead yet,¡± said Quin. ¡°It''s just a scratch.¡± ¡° ¡°I got a cunning plan,¡± said Wade. ¡° And the money,¡± said Howie. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°No gas?,¡± said Wade. He frowned at his dice. ¡°No,¡± said Ivan. ¡°There''s some kind of paper in the hose.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Man, we''re going to die before we even get started on the adventure,¡± said Clark. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Sure, why not?,¡± said Clark. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter four ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Can I reach this guy?,¡± asked Quin. ¡°I would like to strangle him.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡°I''ll write it down,¡± said Ivan. I''m not telling them about the papers I found,¡± said Wade. ¡°I would like Dunwich and Harris to look at them when this has cooled down some. I would also like to know what Boote has to say about sending us into a killing zone.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°That''s what I''m talking about,¡± said Howie. chapter five ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter six ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Thank you,¡± said Stan. ¡°Let''s start with you, Marv. Then we''ll work our way around the table.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter seven ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Anarchist Imperial Suite?,¡± said George. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°What are you trying to do?,¡± asked Stan. ¡° ¡°But it does suffer bad luck,¡± said Stan. ¡°Let''s see what else we can do. ¡°Wait,¡± said Marv. ¡°I cut the shields off instead of getting it to shoot at either of the other two ships?¡± ¡° ¡°I''m not worried about her,¡± said Marv. ¡°She can take care of herself.¡± ¡°I think Marv has one last attack, and then we''re going to roll initiative again,¡± said Stan. ¡°If you want to roll another attack on either of the landing ships, this will be your last chance before they descend behind cover.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Something bad still happens,¡± said Stan. chapter eight ¡°It really wasn''t,¡± said Stan. ¡°You guys were supposed to fall back and regroup while they held the city hostage. I underestimated how much of a game changer that Hexing things could be.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Let''s do this,¡± said Nick. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°By rolling stop, I mean the Gadget Mobile rolled across the ocean and then started sinking upside down to the bottom,¡± said Stan. ¡°Gadget is out of the combat for the next little bit. I''ll let you know when you can get back into the action, Nick. It''s your move, George.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°I think that was the last attack,¡± said Stan. ¡°Roll initiative for the third melee. You guys are doing a lot of damage. I think this will be the last round as the surviving ships start lifting off. Downtown is wrecked by the explosions and laser bolts and stuff.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°All right,¡± said Stan. ¡°Finally, it worked on the lowest attack roll from me tonight,¡± said Marv. ¡°I don''t think I can stop them,¡± said George. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°The gun quits firing even though you can tell it wants to,¡± said Stan. chapter nine ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Is it water?,¡± asked George. ¡° ¡° This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Let''s see if I can get the door open,¡± said Marv. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Can we all get surprise attacks since they seem to be concentrating on Punch?,¡± asked Marv. ¡° ¡° ¡°Roll initiative,¡± said Stan. ¡°You''re up first, Nick,¡± said Stan. chapter ten All right,¡± said Stan. ¡°It''s Nick''s third attack. I think everybody but Punch has used up all of their attacks. He gets two more, then we roll initiative again.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Go ahead and roll, and then we''ll do initiative,¡± said Stan. The group rolled for initiative again. Stan came out on top so the aliens moved first against the heroes. ¡°I think I''m dead,¡± said Gail. ¡°Critical damage to the chest.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡°Roll to hit,¡± said Stan. ¡°Gail, you''re up after that.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°We''ll all get a surprise attack, right?,¡± asked Nick. ¡° ¡° ¡°Let me roll my attack,¡± said George. ¡°Then the rest is up to you guys.¡± Roll initiative,¡± said Stan. ¡°One guy is down, one is knocked back from the flying kick, two are ready to fight. The gun was jammed so it''s out of the fight.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°I like it fine,¡± said George. ¡°Bad move, jack,¡± said Nick. ¡°You''re last to move, buddy,¡± said Gail. ¡°It''s my turn first.¡± chapter eleven ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter twelve ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter thirteen ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter fourteen ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter fifteen ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter sixteen ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. chapter seventeen ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter eighteen ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter nineteen ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter twenty ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter twenty one Fox and Ultraman walked into the room where they kept the Skulljacks. The men looked thin and shaky. They glared at the masked people confronting them. ¡°I am Fox,¡± said Fox, hands in her sleeves. ¡°This is Ultraman. The Pythons were hired to kill one of your members. Do you know why?¡± ¡°That''s rot,¡± said one of the Jacks. ¡°They always wanted our turf. They saw a chance and took it.¡± ¡°We have one of them,¡± said Fox. ¡°He gave us the name of the man who took the contract. We''re looking for him right now.¡± ¡°Why should we believe you?,¡± said the other man. ¡°Because the next step is to let Luna come in here with her slimes and let them feed on you,¡± said Fox. ¡°After all, it won''t hurt us if you disappear forever.¡± ¡°And the great and mighty Luna is a little angry at what you did to Jumbo,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°She might want to do more than feed you to her summons.¡± ¡°Be that as it may, we need you to talk to your group and tell them to pull in until we find the Python who took the deal, and the man who wants you two fighting,¡± said Fox. ¡°Then we will see about getting you repayment for what happened.¡± ¡°So we''re supposed to forget they shot at us over a car?,¡± said the second man. ¡°We need more than that.¡± ¡°We''re hoping to find the contractor and letting you have him,¡± said Fox. ¡°If that is not worth a few days, then we should turn Luna loose and see how much damage she can really do.¡± ¡°You guys will miss all of that because you will be the first in the meat tanks,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°Good luck being digested. Slimes can take days to take you apart and you''ll feel everything.¡± ¡°There won''t be anything left of you to identify,¡± said Fox. ¡°It will look like some rival took care of you two after your escape from Luna. No one will ever expect that she hunted you down and dissolved you.¡± ¡°If we go that route,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°We might have to feed your friends in too. Luna will love that most of all.¡± ¡°We can relay the message, but we can''t guarantee there won''t be more,¡± said the first man. ¡°Jerome was plenty mad someone shot at him at his club. He might not want to back down from this.¡± ¡°If that''s the best we can do, we will take that,¡± said Fox. ¡°Ultraman will drop you anywhere you want to go in the city. If you can keep the fighting down, we will not turn Luna loose on your gang.¡± ¡°What if they come at us?,¡± said the second man. ¡°Can we shoot back?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Fox. ¡°Shooting back is all right. Don''t try to use that to violate our agreement.¡± ¡°When we find the man who made the deal, we will let you know who he is,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°All right,¡± said the first man. ¡°We''ll talk to Jerome and see if we can get him to wait things out.¡± ¡°Thank you very much,¡± said Fox. She put them both to sleep in a cloud of smoke. ¡°Let me drop them off where they can walk home,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°Hopefully they will stay out of trouble while we do what can to keep the peace.¡± He picked the two men up and slung them over his shoulders. He flew to the upper exit and took to the air over the city. He descended on where he thought the Pythons controlled the local streets. He dropped the men there and flew back to the Tower. Vizor, Luna, and Sana were squeezing the Python for what they could get out of him. They needed to know what Buckshot''s car looked like so they could hunt it down. Then they needed to squeeze him for what he knew about the man who hired him. The rest would depend on what the Pythons and Skulljacks decided to do. They might declare a peace. He thought it more likely they would find another reason to fight and have at it again. There was nothing he could do about that except test their resolve with a dangerous Luna in their midst. It wouldn''t be the first time they had decided to feed the slimes with people they hated. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The slimes loved it. Ultraman joined the rest of the group outside of their prisoner''s cell. Luna hopped for joy. Sana and Vizor looked dubious. ¡°We have a small lead,¡± said Vizor. ¡°The guy travels around on the highway like Luna thought. He''s driving a neo cadillac. Only he''s not the one doing the actual driving. It''s being done by a bot.¡± ¡°It''s been programmed to evade and escape anyone trying to run from it,¡± said Luna. ¡°We have to hit it point blank so it doesn''t roll over, and escape from us.¡± ¡°We can stop it,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°How do we make Buckshot talk?¡± ¡°I say we give him over to the Skulljacks and see what they can do with him,¡± said Vizor. ¡°That would almost certainly lead to his execution,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°I think we can do better than that.¡± ¡°Should we?,¡± asked Fox. ¡°Taking the contract led to a battle in a club full of people. There should be some kind of payment for that.¡± ¡°I think we should wait until we have him in hand before we start thinking about what we want,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°We need to find the car first as part of the plan,¡± said Sana. ¡°Vizor thinks he can hack the highway cameras to find a real position of our target. Then we would have to get him.¡± ¡°Depending on where he is, we would have to move fast if we wanted to catch him,¡± said Vizor. ¡°I can catch him if you can find out where he is,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°The car will probably be moving fast,¡± said Vizor. ¡°I will be moving in a straight line across the city,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°As long as he stays on the tracks, the rest will be easy.¡± ¡°Let''s find a place Vizor can hack,¡± said Fox. ¡°The night is fleeing from us. We need to have something before the sun comes up and I have to put my mask down.¡± ¡°Right,¡± said Vizor. ¡°At least no one else started shooting at each other.¡± ¡°We don''t know that,¡± said Fox. ¡°There might be dead bodies from other contracts that we didn''t stop.¡± ¡°There is nothing to be done about that,¡± said Luna. ¡°The great and mighty Luna can only save people in her line of sight. Everyone else needs to fend for themselves.¡± ¡°I hate to admit it but Luna is right,¡± said Sana. ¡°We can''t save everyone. We have to try to save the ones we can.¡± ¡°We need to find a camera to hack,¡± said Fox. ¡°How do we do that?¡± ¡°They are marked on infrastructure maps,¡± said Vizor. ¡°Those maps ride on the net. Which means I can look at them at any time. Are we riding together?¡± ¡°I think all of you should ride together while I take to the air,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°That way I can dial in on Buckshot''s car and move on it as fast as I can fly.¡± ¡°What if you need help?,¡± asked Luna. ¡°I will fall back and regroup,¡± said Ultraman. ¡°All right,¡± said Vizor. ¡°Let me call the van and we''ll go.¡± ¡°The great and mighty Luna calls shotgun,¡± said Luna. She hopped up and down in her excitement. ¡°Fox and I will take the back,¡± said Sana. ¡°We can use that for a platform to throw our spells.¡± ¡°Ultraman should be able to take on a car,¡± said Fox. ¡°I''m more worried about what could be with the car,¡± said Sana. ¡°I''ll concede that,¡± said Fox. Vizor led the way to the elevator. They had put it in to use the secret rooms in the Tower for their base. This allowed them to use a room next to the garage as their personal parking place. They took the elevator down to the the garage so they could take the exit on the street and drive to the closest part of the highway that encircled the city. Vizor activated the controls with his implants as they crossed the space to the parked battlewagon. He opened the doors for them as he climbed up behind the wheel. He could drive with his brain, but he wanted to be able to reach the controls in case of an emergency. Luna climbed up in the shotgun seat. She looked like a little kid in the big chair. She closed the door. Fox and Sana took the back seats. They had two side doors and two back doors to shoot their spells from if there was trouble. This part should be quiet. If they had to resort to violence trying to find a car, then they might as well give in their adventurer licenses and go back to menial side jobs being held down by the man. ¡°Let''s get this show on the road,¡± said Luna. ¡°The great and mighty Luna doesn''t look this good because she doesn''t sleep.¡± ¡°Beauty sleep,¡± said Vizor. ¡°You must try to sleep a lot.¡± ¡°All the time,¡± said Luna. ¡°Jeeves is a good pillow.¡± ¡°I''ll bet,¡± said Vizor. He drove out of the secret room after checking for people in the garage. The group didn''t want others to find the secret rooms in the walls where they conducted their business. Eventually someone would figure it out. There was no way to prevent it with their lifestyles. They just wanted to keep it as long as they could before the authority forced them out of the place and they had to look for something new. Vizor already had a small backup place on the edge of the city if they did lose the Tower. It needed work, but the outside shell looked innocent enough. A few underground tunnels, some work on the electricity and water, and some fresh mats should be enough of a start until the group made it theirs like the Tower was. Vizor picked streets that paralleled the highway walls from the outside until he saw what he was looking for. He pulled to a stop next to a light post on the other side of the wall. This was the part he didn''t like. He got out of the van and looked for people looking at him before he walked to the wall. He inspected the thing for handholds before deciding to use climbing gear in his arm to get over the wall and drop down by the light pole. He used the multitool built into his arm to hack the gear and feed it to the computer in the van. He closed everything up and climbed back to drop down to the regular street outside the wall. ¡°We''re good to go,¡± said Vizor. ¡°Let''s start looking for the right car.¡± The numerous views of the multiple cameras lining the road filled the central computer screen. It took a few minutes, but Fox saw the car rolling along there. ¡°There it is,¡± said Fox. She pointed at the screen. ¡°It''s heading toward the Lower Belly.¡± Ultraman took off toward that part of the city. Chapter Twenty Two ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter twenty three ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter twenty four ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter twenty five Mannheim watched the instruments as he flew behind and below Doolittle. They were going to drop down and let Yeager out on the ground. The other pilot had his bomb and a tool kit to open any door. All he had to do was land and take off while energy beams lanced the space around him. He hoped Doolittle gave him some great cover as he came in on his run. The last thing he wanted was another hole in his boat as he tried to clear the landing zone. He had been shot up a number of times and hated every single loss. Going down here would leave Yeager with no pickup and Doolittle with no wing man in case someone has fighter craft to stop them. O''Hare''s ship might have been a good backup, but the other crew were still trying to get things back together. The Fort would have delivered some firepower to the scene, but it was still down until the rest could be done. Schultz said she would give them cover as soon as she could get the ship on the path. The main cannons would punch through the asteroid if Schultz could get things working. ¡°Ready, Yeg?,¡± Mannheim asked his passenger. He had a face mask for the venting of the fighter so he could do the drop. ¡°Ready,¡± said Yeager. ¡°Cargo is locked and loaded. Suit is sealed and working.¡± ¡°Moving in to vector,¡± said Doolittle. ¡°Ready to fire torpedoes. Ten on the clock, then three minutes to land and lift.¡± ¡°On the vector,¡± said Mannheim. ¡°Torpedoes and lances are hot.¡± ¡°Firing torpedoes,¡± said Doolittle. (¡°Rolled a six with the system help.¡±) The torpedoes crashed against the asteroid, but the pilot groaned at the misses. None of them were close to the hidden doors. ¡°I''m coming in for my attack run,¡± said Mannheim. (¡°Rolled a twenty one.¡±) The top of the base came off like the top of a can hit with a chain saw. Robots froze for a second in the massive destruction caused by Mannheim''s strike. He looked for a place to put down. He had to offload Yeager before they got smart enough to start shooting at him now that he could see them. ¡°That was great, old man,¡± said Yeager. ¡°I can''t believe what I just saw.¡± ¡°Coming in for a landing,¡± said Mannheim. ¡°Get ready to ditch.¡± Mannheim lost control of his ship as he brought it down. (¡°A seventy two?¡±) He righted himself before he plowed into the ground. He dropped down and let the landing gear touch down. (¡°Naturally I hide the initial problem and pretend that was supposed to happen,¡± said Gerry. ¡°Naturally,¡± said Jimmy.) ¡°Cockpit venting,¡± said Mannheim, making sure his breathing gear was running. ¡°Popping the lid.¡± Yeager undid his straps and climbed out of his cramped passenger seat. He dropped down to the surface of the asteroid and jumped to the pit laid out by the torpedo strikes. He had to get rid of his package before the robots were able to turn on him. The pilot saw an engine still running after all the destruction that Mannheim had done. It pumped power to the rest of the asteroid from the looks of things. He made sure his suit was sealed as he released the bomb sack straps. He dropped the bundle next to the engine and set the timer. He ran from the deposited munitions. He didn''t want to get caught in the blast when it went up. ¡°I need a pickup,¡± Yeager said in his radio. He hoped that he could reach the edge of the blast area before it went up. Cracking the asteroid might be possible, but he didn''t want to be on it when that happened. ¡°I''m coming in,¡± said Mannheim. ¡°We have targets at your three.¡± Yeager drew his pistol and sent blaster fire in the indicated direction. He didn''t try to aim. He was moving, and that would just penalize his ability to dodge. ¡°Drop, Yeager,¡± commanded Doolittle. He came in, blasting away with his fighter''s guns. He stitched light holes across the top of the asteroid, scattering robots in front of him. Mannheim brought his own fighter down, dropping the landing gear at the last second. He triggered the guns in front as he shot at people wanting to shoot at him. Yeager grabbed the ladder on the side of the fighter. He breathed a sigh of relief as the cockpit cover slid out of the way. He dropped into his seat and buckled the harness over his suit. The lid dropped back into place. Mannheim held the trigger down as he fed the throttle and lifted his craft off the surface of the asteroid. He aimed for a spot out in the voice to escape the coming explosion without losing his fighter. Doolittle fell in beside him as they flew from the death trap they had caused. The asteroid split into halves. The top half of the rock turned into a storm of rocks flying into local space. The bottom half revealed a base built out of the rock. Machinery and robots stopped working under the blow. ¡°Bucky will be glad that we settled things for him,¡± said Doolittle. ¡°Let''s head back to the Fort and see what Schultz has done.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°We are going to have to ask for patrols out here,¡± said Mannheim. ¡°I doubt there was only one cored asteroid.¡± ¡°There''s no way they seeded the whole belt with those defensive arrays,¡± said Yeager. ¡°I think the next step is a patrol pattern out here to see if anyone spots anything strange,¡± said Mannheim. ¡°The belt is close to the Red Line. We could be looking at the start of an invasion.¡± ¡°Which way do you think they will go from the station?,¡± asked Doolittle. ¡°No idea,¡± said Mannheim. ¡°Obviously they might push into Centralia since it is the center of government and any organized opposition.¡± ¡°We have a problem,¡± said Yeager. ¡°Bogies are low seven, burning space.¡± ¡°Coming for us,¡± said Doolittle. ¡°Break left, I''ll break right. Maybe we can split them.¡± ¡°Counting eight,¡± said Yeager. ¡°Four for both of our fighters.¡± ¡°We need cover,¡± said Mannheim. ¡°See if you can loop them around some of these asteroids.¡± ¡°Break left,¡± said Doolittle. ¡°Let''s see if we can get behind them.¡± The two fighters split away from each other. The pursuit squad split into two four man squads and gave chase. There could be no witnesses to the hidden base. The master''s plans would be ruined. (¡°We''re going to focus on the Doolittle part of this first,¡± said Jimmy. ¡°Then we will do Mannheim and Yeager. Lois, do you have everything ready for the Fort to take flight?¡± ¡°I have a list,¡± said Lois. ¡°We''re assuming that Schultz has been working nonstop on the Fort since the rest of the guys took off, right?¡± ¡°Right,¡± said Jimmy. He rolled a thirty three percent on his tens. ¡°You are done with all the major work. You could break away from the station with only some minor issues that can be fixed in flight.¡± ¡°I''m sending Schultz a distress signal,¡± said Gerry. ¡°That seems like something Mannheim would do if he thought he was about to be shot down.¡± ¡°Schultz would launch in her fighter as soon as she heard the signal,¡± said Lois. ¡°All right,¡± said Jimmy. He did some calculations in his head as he thought about travel time and flight issues. ¡°At full burn, you could get to the scene of the battle in twelve melees.¡± ¡°Is there any way to shorten the time?,¡± asked Drake. ¡°If you guys made a straight run for the station, you could cut the time in half,¡± said Jimmy. ¡°We would get shot from behind as we try,¡± said Web. ¡°We''re going to have to dogfight it and hope Schultz can get to us in time,¡± said Drake. ¡°We''ll have to use the asteroids for cover, maybe try to use them to sneak away from the fight if we can. That would be more than I expect we can get away with, but I am putting that in my strategy in case I get to use it and run away.¡± ¡°What we need to do something like that?,¡± asked Gerry. ¡°Some piloting skills to break away, and a prowl roll,¡± said Jimmy. ¡°You would have to break eye contact like using an asteroid for cover, then make the rolls.¡± ¡°All right,¡± said Drake. ¡°I think we are ready. Let''s roll the initiative and see how we start this.¡± ¡°Roll high, Gerry,¡± said Webb. ¡°I''m along for the ride and can''t help out unless you want to drop me somewhere and I can try to shoot one down with my sidearm.¡± ¡°Eighteen,¡± said Drake. ¡°Six,¡± said Gerry. Webb groaned. ¡°Five,¡± said Jimmy. ¡°All right,¡± said Webb. ¡°First action is try to create a smoke screen so I can head back to the station, and get help,¡± said Drake.) Doolittle headed along the surface of an asteroid. He fired into the surface. The packed stone and ice did nothing. The squad behind him opened up, firing a volley at his speeding fighter. They narrowly missed the hurtling fighter as Doolittle boosted with his turbojet. Their fire did hit the asteroid and threw debris into the air. Doolittle boosted away from the fight, using the rock as cover. He turned, heading for Mannheim''s group. ¡°It''s time to shoot someone in the back,¡± he told himself. Mannheim tried to use the rocks for cover, trying to loop around on his enemies. He managed to get behind one, and sent a volley into the engine. The wedged-shaped fighter exploded under the attack. (¡°Got lucky and critted the engine,¡± said Gerry. ¡°That was pretty good.¡± ¡°Can you roll like that three more times?,¡± asked Webb. ¡°No idea,¡± said Gerry. He smiled at his colleague.¡±) The three survivors split apart, trying to circle around Mannheim to get him back in their sights. He stayed on the center one, hoping to shoot it down too. He pulled the trigger and missed with his guns as the other fighter juked out of the line of fire. Doolittle came in on the one of the left. The other fighter started taking evasive action, trying to shake him. He hung on. He lined up the shot and hit some noncritical systems. That made the enemy dive away from the combat and try to circle back around. Doolittle stayed on him and fired again, trying to blow up something important enough to force the fighter to land, or explode. He missed the shot. (¡°I keep missing by one,¡± said Drake. He groaned at the near hit.) The battle had ranged around the asteroid field. One of the eight enemy fighters was gone. Doolittle''s enemy squad swept up behind the two mercenary fighters as they chased after the two in their sights. The one lone fighter from Mannheim''s original opponents circled, trying to get behind the fresh fighters. Schultz was in the middle of her checklist so she could launch without ripping the wings off her fighter. (¡°That''s important,¡± said Lois.) The enemy fired a volley at Doolittle and Mannheim and missed as the mercenaries braked and boosted to avoid the shots. Doolittle''s prey slipped out of the kill box, heading left in a loop at full speed. Mannheim kept on his quarry, but missed his shots as the fighter went into a climb to get out of there. ¡°Get out of there, Doolittle,¡± said Yeager over the radio. ¡°It''s five to one.¡± Doolittle flipped his fighter to go the other way, firing wildly as he tried to force his way through the line. Luckily the other fighters got out of the way of the ram and energy bolts as he passed. Mannheim''s enemy slipped out from in front of his guns with a sudden dive. He passed without a chance to shoot at the other pilot. ¡°I wish I had my fighter,¡± complained Yeager. ¡°I would have shot them all down by now.¡± ¡°Too bad we couldn''t have launched the extra loads from the Fort,¡± said Mannheim. ¡°More torpedoes would have been great.¡± ¡°I know,¡± said Yeager. ¡°Who knew we would be running from pirates?¡± The group of pirate fighters chased after Doolittle and Mannheim. They were in formation again, and trying to line up kill shots. Schultz finished her checklist and launched from the station, using boost as much as she could without redlining her engines. She didn''t want to be too late to help out, but she didn''t want to be stuck floating dead and waiting on a rescue from station personnel. They would never let her hear the end of it if that happened. (¡°What is the speed of our torpedoes, Jimmy?,¡± asked Lois. ¡°They are ten times faster, but the range is limited to extreme line of sight,¡± said Jimmy. ¡°Can you mark where I can shoot from on the map?,¡± said Lois. ¡°This might be something I can do if the others get shot down.¡± Jimmy leaned forward and drew a line on the map with his thumb. ¡°No way you can hit anything from there,¡± said Webb.) chapter twenty six ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° chapter twenty seven ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°