Pixie Hazard by Archibald Bradford (top young adult novels .txt) 📕

into the junked remains of this air-car here, that’s how his suit got ripped.”

“How many did you put down?”

Maria poked the terrain in a number of places, leaving little red dots on the ground so the captain could see where the bodies were once the shooting stopped.

“We found seven, but there were a few that I winged that got dragged off by their buddies. I don’t expect them to live long, unless they got a trauma ward hereabouts that I don’t know about. Ten or eleven came at us in all.”

Donnie scratched at her short hair as she mulled over the information.

“Okay, so call it a dozen, minus the dead and dying, of who knows how many that we don’t know about. What kind of hardware were they packing?”

“Aside from my new collectible, their burners were shit. No energy weapons at all, just piddly little lead-chuckers. And their hazard suits looked more for show than anything, they were so dirty and worn out. Honestly Skipper, I think it could have just been the crew of a small transport, desperate and stupid. They saw a sexy target and thought they’d make a play for it.”

Donnie sighed and ran her hair over her hair again, a sign of her agitation.

She had linked Maria’s encounter with the image of Bunny on the ground and it was distracting her.

“That’s the problem with Junkers. Maybe you wiped out most of their crew, or maybe you just killed off a raiding party from a whole clan of them. They could have a frigate in orbit for all we know, though judging by the state of their hardware it probably wouldn’t be a frigate the Pixie couldn’t take a good bite out of.”

“I want to know how they got by our scopes.” Eva said with a frown.

Kyle rapped his knuckles on the frame of the hatchway, having just come from the infirmary.

“I think I might know Captain.”

Donnie impatiently gestured with her head for him to come inside.

“Kyle this is tac-ops, not the ladies changing room, just get in here.”

The bearded man barked a laugh and stepped inside to join them in standing around the illuminated display table.

“Sorry, it’s just so damn military in here.”

He wasn’t wrong: the tactical operating room was as hardened as the cockpit.

During a firefight non-bridge crew were meant to harness themselves in the emergency seats ringing the room after sealing the hatches. The idea being that they could bail into the drop-pod and abandon ship if things got dark.

Once inside Kyle offered up what he knew to the expectant marines.

“I’ve heard that a common tactic for Junkers on Kentis is to coat their suits in surface dirt. That shit is so loaded with toxic elements they supposedly confuse the sensors so they come back with a negative reading.”

Eniella was scratching her jaw thoughtfully with metal fingers.

“What do you think baby?” Davie asked her.

“Might work, though it wouldn’t be very reliable. They could just as easily end up making themselves more visible if the dirt has the wrong composition of elements in it.”

“Anything we can do to counter it?”

Donnie was looking at both Eniella and Kyle now; the sensors were part of the weapon systems which was where the former marine lived, but the mechanic was a quick study and understood the moving parts just as well as she did, if not their tactical applications.

“Maybe. If we amp up the power to the array, and broaden the spectrum so they’ll just show us anything that’s moving without any context. We’d get more than a few false flags, but better to jump at nothing than not see anything.”

Kyle shook his head.

“We’d need to filter out the airborne particles so it doesn’t look like white on white.”

She dismissed his concern with a wave of her robotic hand.

“That’s easy, we just need some air samples and to keep an eye on the weather.”

“Sounds like you two nerds have a plan?” Donnie said pointedly.

“I think we do Skip. Come on pretty boy, you and me gotta go outside and take a whiff, then take some shit apart.”

The two of them ducked out and she turned to the others.

“While they’re doing that, I want the Pixie buttoned up tight and someone in their rig on the roof for overwatch while the sensors are down.”

“I’ll do it Skipper.” Davie volunteered; “Sounds like we’re here for the duration and I could use some fresh air.”

Donnie nodded; like any captain she appreciated initiative from her crew, though with all the excitement she was feeling like a major again.

“Good. Eva, Maria, Bunny’s down for the count and I don’t feel like getting into it with everybody over my cooking, so once you’ve secured the airlocks you two get to figure out chow for tonight.”

“Happy to.”

“Gladly.”

They answered way too quickly.

Her chili wasn’t that bad.

After the two left the room she drew in a breath and closed her eyes.

“You alright Donnie?” Billy’s voice sounded from behind her, the infirmary was off the corridor right outside tac-ops and she’d poked her head into the room at the captain’s sigh; “You look a mite shaky.”

“I’m fine.” She bit back, but the medic just raised an eyebrow; “Okay maybe I’m not fine. We were on the razor’s edge when we got here. Barely a few hours dirtside and Sledge gets mugged by Junkers while Bunny gets her ass stomped by a giant chicken-horse.”

“You think the Junkers and the scrap-hawk had an alliance in place? The one-two punch to take us down?”

Donnie gave her a level look.

“Don’t be a smartass. I just didn’t like seeing Bunny on the ground. I’ll shake it off.”

Billy nodded slowly as if she had made a sudden discovery.

“Of course, she does keep insisting that you