Blade. Scrapper. Part 6.. Damantha Makarova
than she was even a few minutes ago.
«We found out where their camp is.» Hunter studied her face with a frown. «Are you alright?»
«No, I’m not. Neither I, nor Lindon are good enough in a fight right now. I can’t risk infiltrating a fucking Terran camp with just the two of you.» Serena growled.
Hunter’s frown grew deeper and he grasped the medical scanner that lay next to Lindon. When he scanned the woman, his eyes grew wide:
«Why didn’t you tell us?!» he exhaled.
«What didn’t she tell you?» Lindon tried hard to pull himself up and sit.
They heard a loud crack and Wolfin spit to the ground. Lindon glanced his way and saw the Veluthian stepping away from the dead man they were interrogating just a minute ago. As Wolfin approached with a heavy gaze, Lindon pointed at the scanner in Hunter’s hands.
The cyborg didn’t fight it when Wolfin grabbed the device from his hands to take a look. A moment later he took a deep breath and said:
«Alright… Listen up.» Wolfin gritted his teeth. «We have thirty Terrans in camp, awaiting their return…»
He gestured to the corpses lying around.
«Wolfin, tell me what’s wrong with Serena!» Lindon growled, finally forcing himself somewhat up.
«I’ll live!» Serena hissed at the Veluthian.
«We can’t wait and we can’t get back to the ship, unless we take care of the scrambler.» Wolfin looked angry. «So we have to get to the Terran encampment first.»
«Wolfin…»
«Shut up, Scorpi. I’m not asking you both to be in the front lines. Hunter and I will take upon the Terrans ourselves. You’ll stay back with Lindon to cover us.»
«I can’t even shoot right now, Wolfin. I won’t risk your lives by taking up a sniper role.» Serena growled. «I’m not seeing clearly.»
Lindon grasped her shoulder and pulled her closer to himself:
«What is wrong with you?»
He suddenly saw a spot of blood in the white of her right eye and frowned.
«I got my skull cracked, Lindon. One more hit to my head and I’ll be out.» the woman bared her teeth. «It didn’t help that those assholes kicked me in the head a couple of times while I was protecting your unconscious ass with my body. So now I’m seeing double and won’t be able to cover Wolfin and Hunter with fire if the need arises. That’s why I wanted to return to the ship, damn you…»
Wolfin shook his head and took another very deep breath:
«Look, the scrambler is interfering with our communication devices, so we can’t call up reinforcements. There’s only thirty Terrans in camp, we can take care of them with Hunter. All you two need to do is stay back and allow us to clear everything out.»
«What else did that asshole say?» Serena forced down her anger, fighting through the pain that hit her again with a heavy nauseating wave.
«They had a number of objectives, including stealing Veluthian scientific data and some tech. And, according to this Ricks guy they’ve killed everyone in our outpost, except for one. He didn’t say which one. But they are holding a Veluthian captive for interrogation.»
«This is a military mission.» Lindon growled. «Do you understand what this means?»
«Terra declared war on the Laithorian Empire.» Serena closed her face with her palm.
To her this was clear long ago, but now there was no more doubt that the Terrans made the biggest mistake of their lives.
Wolfin exchanged glances with Hunter and nodded to the man, then leaned in and offered his hand to Lindon:
«Alright…» he took a breath. «Let’s get you somewhere safe.»
Lindon got up, grimacing from pain, but managed to keep himself standing.
«If we are to stay back…» the Veluthian growled, feeling his body straining. «Get me that sniper rifle.»
Serena seemed to freeze for a few moments, before Hunter cautiously took her hand to help her up. When the woman stood, she glanced at the cyborg with a grateful nod, but said nothing.
Hunter realised she was worried about her being in a much worse condition than she wanted to seem, but didn’t say anything about that. Instead, he stepped to the dead Terran lieutenant and grabbed his rifle and a couple of additional clips for it from the utility belt the dead man carried on himself. Handing the weapon to Lindon, he noticed how the Veluthian winced at the sight of such a rifle.
«Could be better, could be worse…» Lindon sighed, hanging the rifle onto his shoulder.
They headed out, and Serena fell back, stepping slowly, but keeping herself near Hunter. Wolfin kept glancing at Lindon, wondering if he will be able to walk without aid, but for the time being the Veluthian seemed to hang on just fine. Still, Wolfin stepped closer, as he stumbled over a small rock on his path, and Lindon didn’t object, when his friend offered him his shoulder to lean on.
«How did you find us, anyways?» Lindon could barely walk, held up by Wolfin, but still wanted to know everything.
«We heard the scumbags laughing.» Hunter replied, growling.
«Though, your tracks were headed elsewhere, we decided to check out what was the reason for such cackle.» Wolfin sighed. «Good thing too…»
«Yeah, no shit.» Serena winced, grasping her head again.
«Are you alright?» Lindon asked her, looking at her with worry in his eyes.
«I’ll be alright when we get back to the ship and you’ll be treated from all your injuries.» the woman winced.
«Don’t think that you won’t be, Scorpi. I’ll drag your ass by force into the medical bay if I have to.» Wolfin smirked.
Serena didn’t reply, but the way she looked at her mentor was telling.
The rest of the way they walked in silence, and at some point Wolfin gestured to Hunter and the cyborg immediately activated his cloaking device and slipped away. Serena stopped for a split second, forcing down a nauseating wave, and when she stepped forward again, she noticed the frowning gaze Wolfin gave her.
A few moments passed and Hunter appeared again.
«When you step out of the tunnel up ahead, turn left. There’s a covered platform we can leave Lindon and Serena on.» he reported. «As for us…»
Wolfin raised his hand, stopping the man:
«First, we make sure they will be alright. Then we talk about everything else.»
Serena took a deep breath and activated her helmet.
«If we get there cloaked, no one will know we’re there at all. I’ll stay cloaked with Lindon. Don’t worry about us.» she said.
Lindon gritted his teeth and saw her stepping up to help him walk. The Veluthian glanced at Wolfin and nodded, allowing the woman help him further. Activating his helmet, Lindon flicked on the cloaking device. Serena activated hers and the two slowly headed to the platform Hunter mentioned.
«Alright…» Wolfin gritted his teeth. «Then let’s go…»
Hunter nodded and they activated their cloaking devices as well, passing Lindon and Serena and turning right when out of the tunnel.
Serena helped Lindon take a good vantage point on the platform between the rocks, and sat by the wall, feeling her body too strained. Lindon placed the newly obtained rifle and took a look at the Terran encampment that was located deeper in the cavern that opened to their glances from this place.
«The camp is larger than I expected…» Lindon said a few