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

Not long afterwards Bryan’s nervous voice sounded out.

“They’re coming! Um, lots of them. North, east and west.”

Donnie groaned internally at the vague information but opted to let it slide as she watched over her marines.

“Keep it succinct kid: north five, east six. Like that.”

“R-right.”

“And speak up!”

Just then there was a flash as Billy’s rifle went off.

“One down.” She reported calmly.

In the wake of the first shot ringing out, marines were smirking in their helmets.

Despite their dire situation Donnie turned all the way around to face Bryan and held both arms out and to the sides in the universal gesture of ‘what the fuck dude’ as he blushed and blinked rapidly at the holo-feeds.

He stood up straight suddenly before she could chastise him verbally, his finger wagging at the console.

“East! Three of-”

He was interrupted when Maria’s repeater opened up.

“Two down, one falling back!” She called.

A few seconds later Donnie turned back to the task at hand.

“Better. Keep it up.”

It was a tense couple minutes before anything else happened, the Junkers marshalling themselves after having figured out rather pointedly that there were guns other than theirs on the station.

Neither they nor Donnie had any interest in a conversation.

Then things got exciting all at once as all three corridors were flooded with bloodthirsty pirates faster than Bryan could call them out.

Eva and Maria were holding their own, firing in quick bursts from what cover they managed to scavenge. Billy was winning though, her pulse-rifle had enough charge for several hundred shots and she was making each one count as she sighted down her scope.

The captain worked back and forth between Eva and Maria, occasionally helping them by popping a few rounds off with her charge-pistol; with limited ammunition, she was saving her plasma shotgun for when they really needed it.

Which wasn’t long after the shooting started in earnest.

“Flash!” Donnie called suddenly as an object rolled into the room and came to rest between her and Eva.

The two marines were suddenly blind and deaf as their visors turned black and their audio buffers ramped up to maximum for a split second, the advanced systems in their suits protecting them from the flash-bang and turning the tactical tool into a minor annoyance.

But even a split second made a world of difference in a firefight.

A group of Junkers, working with far more coordination than lowly pirates had any right to, rushed Eva’s position just as the flash went off.

Their repeaters were barking angrily as they moved and the redhead cursed as her shoulder and arm were flung back from the high impact rounds, the veteran reflexively taking cover behind the battered metal cabinet.

With so much inbound firepower it did little to protect her except make it harder for them to pinpoint her position and score proper hits, but it was better than nothing and had allowed her more flexibility than huddling to one side of the hatchway.

“Things are getting interesting over here Skipper!”

“I’m on it!” Donnie took up her shotgun and put her back to the wall next to the corridor Eva was defending; “Make ‘em duck for a sec!”

“Suppressive fire!” Eva replied as she popped out and let loose a barrage with her heavy repeater.

Her counterattack was brief and it wasn’t long before she had to duck back behind the cabinet again when the fire was returned tenfold.

But she was the distraction.

Donnie rolled out from behind the wall, her shotgun leveled at the Junker’s midsections as they advanced.

She pumped off five shots to clear the half dozen unlucky bastards trying to push the position; a couple of their rounds struck her armoured chest and caused her to grunt but by then it was too late, the firepower now mostly on the side of her shotgun.

There was a reason she carried the monstrous thing.

It wasn’t long though before Bryan was calling out a warning and more reinforcements flooded the end of the hall, forcing her to fall back as smarter people with advanced lasers began to take pot-shots at her.

“Give them credit, we’re bleeding them hard but they’re not quitting!” Eva shouted as she was forced to abandon the cabinet altogether.

Putting her shoulder to the wall next to the hatchway opposite Donnie, she almost lazily popped off a couple bursts down the corridor without looking.

“I noticed!” The captain wheezed as she recovered from the painful hits to her breasts.

Across the room their medic heard the hurt in her voice, though she didn’t look up from her scope as she spoke.

“You still with us Donnie?”

“Yeah, for now. I have a date later with a sexy cat though so if you could wrap this shit up that would be great.” She quipped as she jogged back towards her more central position between Maria and Eva.

Billy didn’t bother replying.

Unlike her comrades’ weapons her rifle didn’t buck against her shoulder as she fired, the laser emitter relying on extreme heat rather than brute force to take down her targets. This would make it an ideal weapon for a precision sniper if it weren’t for the fact that firing it at night drew a rather memorable line to their position on the retinas of anybody looking.

She was no sniper, but in an enclosed station and behind cover the doctor was having an easy time of it as she racked up the kills, especially with the added warnings Bryan was calling out.

But that changed rather abruptly.

“Something’s coming!”

Despite being linked to their coms, the stress of the situation had Bryan shouting unnecessarily to get their attention, his voice breaking from the strain as terror sought to overwhelm him.

“We need more than that kid! What and where?” Donnie snapped as she moved closer to him and started to reload her shotgun.

“I