Rhodoreef

41. The Hacker Girls

Dea was too shocked to react for a fleeting millisecond. Then she jerked to action.

Everyone raced for cover.

A fusillade of bullets assaulted them. A mailbox exploded, trees splintered and garden walls cracked. Chips flew off a trunk that only partially shielded her. Her panicked eyes locked onto an abandoned vehicle. As she skidded behind it, one shot glanced off the Flamingo. The noise grated in her ears, shockingly loud.

Gunfire pounded her ears again, though this time, her team was not the target. It blasted out from the direction of the mansion, which made it amply clear that the Callians were also fighting Serendivian units. Dea wondered how they could possibly get Tamara into Dilip's study. Smokescreens were useless, since the Callians had sonar. Judging by Muda's silence, she was also assessing the situation.

Precious minutes slipped by. Clouds obscured the sun, further weakened by the haze and dust.

"Muda, we have to move in!" Dea gripped the joystick, recalling Kelp's instructions on the Flamingo's railgun. "I can blow up the first barricade. Use your stun gun to incapacitate them—then we have to deal with the Serendivian units. Tamara, stay the hell back."

An Endera crewman spoke up, "Tear gas? Their helmets don't have respirators, yes?"

"It still won't be that effective, but there's no other choice." Muda cracked her knuckles and made a hand signal. "If it fails, we go with Dea's plan—there's also melee combat."

A nanosecond later, the other Endera human lobbed a smoking canister towards the nearest Callian targets. At the apex of its trajectory, it glinted in the light. Then it plummeted and hit the mark.

A cloud of smoke billowed up, engulfing the area.

Chaos unfolded.

Some of the Callian soldiers reeled from the chemical attack, but others fired another round at them. Shouts rent the air as the gas slowly dispersed.

Muda was the first to reach them.

A bullet ricocheted off her carapace, but she barreled on unfazed. She swung an armored fist at one of the soldiers, the force of the blow tipping his Cypod. Dea joined the fray and rammed another. The military Cypods were too heavy to topple, but the Flamingo was a bigger machine.

All of a sudden, Callian scud bots swooped down in swift projectiles. One of the Endera members fired her EMP gun. Electricity crackled as the bots dropped dead.

"Dea, watch out!" Tamara yelled.

The translation registered too late.

A blow to the side took Dea off guard, metal screeching in her ears, and sent the Flamingo whirling around. Muda retaliated, but the smallish soldier wheeled back with lightning fast reflexes and darted behind the barricade.

Dea's heart drummed an irregular beat as she leveled the railgun, which auto-activated the viewport's augmented reality. "Muda, cover my back!"

Three events happened at once.

Muda and the team clashed with the Callians. Dea aimed the weapon, centering the crosshairs on the stacked barricade. A red icon blinked, target now locked. Abruptly, the small soldier made a side-ways glide—into plain sight.

The surprise move made Dea falter.

At first glance, the armored figure sheathed inside the Cypod was no different from the others. Through the darkened visor, a familiar face peered at her.

Dea's mouth dropped open. "Oomie!"

Words tumbled out of Oomie's mouth, almost inaudible in the commotion, "I knew that was your voice! I just—Dea! We were told you were captured! Holy mackerel!"