Homestar Saga

Chapter 148: Pursuit

WARNING! INJURIES DETECTED! BROKEN TAILBONE. TORN LIGAMENTS IN LEFT KNEE. MULTIPLE CONTUSIONS.

The warning in Yvian's HUD brought a smile to her face. She'd done it. The anti-tech field was down. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts," she said.

PAIN REMOVAL ACTIVATED, said the HUD. Yvian's hurts vanished. Her body was still damaged, but not feeling it would make the next few minutes easier. Speaking of the next few minutes, Yvian looked through the scope of her Bigger Better. She zeroed in on the human ship. She didn't like what she saw.

Humans. A lot of humans. They wore armor similar to Yvian's, but in white. Unlike Yvian, they weren't hampered by dense Peacekeeper tuxedos. They would be faster than her, and they were heavily armed. More importantly, they knew where she was. Calculating the trajectory of the MAC round she'd fired would be a trivial matter for the humans, let alone Reba. The humans would be heading her way in seconds.

"Activate SHIELDBREACH," Yvian commanded. Her armor responded, and Yvian jetpacked through the shields of the closest battlecruiser. No point in being subtle. She raised the Bigger Better BFG. One shot should be more than enough to blow the viewport on the cruiser's bridge. She'd fly in, take control, and...

"Crunch." Yvian didn't have any tools. Even if she did, trying to wrest control of the cruiser from Reba was a fool's game. The Synthetic Intelligence had been one step ahead of them this whole time. The odds she wouldn't be ready for Yvian were practically zero. The cruiser wasn't an opportunity. It was a trap.

Yvian changed direction, angling to keep the cruiser between herself and the humans. Movement caught her eye. An airlock, maybe eighty meters down the length of the hull. More humans. Shit. Yvian shifted again, moving towards the top of the ship. She prayed to the Bright Lady no one would look up for a few seconds.

"Oh, hey!" Barillas condescended over the radio. "Would you look at that. You accomplished your objective after all. Good job, Mark!"

The Captain got his target, too? Was that all of them? Yvian shook her head. No time to think about that. If this cruiser was full of humans, then all of them were. No, she realized. Not all. She hadn't seen any bodies on the derelict she'd passed through. The outer two layers of ships would be empty. If she could get there...

"To reward your hard work," the pirate continued, "I'm giving you a special prize."

Yvian thought furiously. Run or hide? Her Peacekeeper suit would keep her hidden from sensors. The humans would have to find her the old fashioned way. That was the good news. The bad news was it would only take a single human to bring the rest of them down on her.

She had four shots left in her Bigger Better, with one spare magazine strapped to the side of the gun. No other weapons. Taking one off a dead human wouldn't do her any good. DNA locked.

"XTRO Agents!" Barillas elaborated. "Won't this be fun?"

Stripping off the Peacekeeper suit and PALLETESWAPPING her voidarmor wouldn't fool anyone. Sensors would immediately pick up on her pixen biology. If she used the armor's STEALTH, any human who saw her would notice she didn't register on sensors. Besides, Mims had told her about XTRO agents. Highly trained and Fucking Dangerous. They wouldn't do anything as stupid as splitting up. Anyone flying around alone would be an obvious enemy.

No time left. Find a hiding spot on this cruiser, or make for open space? Yvian glared down at the ship. There were gun turrets and shield generators. She could get close to one. Stay in the shadows. Hope the Agents passed her by.

No. The Extra-Terrestrial Reconnaissance Organization was one of very few groups Mims feared. The search would be thorough and highly competent. Hiding would buy Yvian a few minutes at most. She needed to get to open space.