HAWK

CHAPTER ELEVEN: SPIDER (3/6)

Kas squeezed the gun-grips and the viewport lit up with sparks. There were eight turrets on the Calista covering every aspect of its body, and all of them were firing. Kas could have let the Calista fire by itself but she wanted to concentrate on the ones nearest Hik. If he went down, she wouldn't be far behind.

Within seconds, the spiders were transformed into a swarm of burning wasps. The Calista's targeting assistance combined with Kas's lucid state had turned her into a vengeful god with eight light-plasma machine guns. The turrets rained fire and hell like it was candy out of a piñata and pummelled the X1's into submission. Hik's blue pulses, meanwhile, were lighting up the vast chamber like a thunderstorm. Kas rushed a glance at him and saw that his body's fire orange colour was beginning to dim and return to black metal.

I've got your back buddy...

But for all the wrath the two of them could summon, it still wasn't enough. X1's were not the easiest things to take out, as Hik was currently proving, and the attack on the spiders was serving only to aggravate them.

How do we kill these things...?!

Kas spotted a stray X1 lurking near the mouth of the tunnel and an idea occurred. She rotated her triggers, locked her aim onto the lone spider and unleashed fury. It never stood a chance. The intense deluge of plasma knocked it backwards with relentless power, sending it spinning and screaming towards the mothership's open mouth until it reached the black void of space where it was sucked into oblivion.

'Yes!' Kas shouted. She looked at Hik and saw him glance back. Without further pause, Hik turned back to the battle and charged upwards towards a cluster of spiders near the ceiling. The pulse-cannon on his shoulder began blasting them towards the void, and Kas knew instantly what she had to do. Her wrists swivelled and targeted the small group of X1's, locking them in her sights. She clamped her fingers on the triggers and let the sparks fly.

The plan worked beautifully.

Hik's cannon combined with the Calista's plasma turrets proved to be an effective formula for destruction, with Hik knocking the spiders into a frenzied spin and Kas shooting them clean out of the tunnel. They may not die, but over a hundred million miles from the nearest world, they'd be well and truly lost.

The alien X1's weren't stupid, however. The moment they realised what was happening, the game changed. In their hive mind, the spiders changed course like a flock of birds and swarmed as one out of danger towards the rear of the Calista. Kas had an inkling of what they were about to do and quickly switched the turrets to auto-fire, but it was too little too late. The spiders had abandoned their attack on Hik and instead turned their collective attention to Kas's ship. It took them less than ten seconds to target and destroy all eight of the Calista's turrets.

'Damn it!'

The spiders reappeared in the viewport seconds later and resumed their attack on Hik with a fresh vengeance. Dozens of red beams fought to pierce Hik's body, and his black metal frame soon began to glow red again.

'No!' Kas roared. She squeezed the Calista's triggers desperately but nothing happened. She was powerless to do anything but watch. Hik landed on the Calista's nose again and seemed to look through the viewport to face her.

'What are you doing?' Kas whispered. Though his body was now glowing, his dome was still a perfect deep black. Kas could just about make out the glittering blue digits in his visor through the heatwaves and saw that they were merging to form a shape. She squinted and realised it was two letters.

GO

The moment she read it, Hik turned around and boosted away from her ship. He charged at a group of spiders high in the air and started furiously tearing their legs from their bodies while the others converged around him, forming a shell that would be impossible for him to break back through.

But Kas realised that wasn't his plan.

With the spiders' attention drawn away from the Calista, the wide expanse of space was now yawning open to her. Her shaking right hand went to the throttle and gripped the handle. She cast another glance at Hik but the spiders were already closing their trap around him. Except for the occasional glimpse of bright orange bio-steel contrasted by blue flashes of light, she could barely see him.

Hik, you idiot...

Except it wasn't Hik - or at least not the one she knew before. Despite owing her no allegiance, however, he was apparently about to sacrifice himself to save her.

Kas's fingers trembled on the thruster, wanting nothing more than to push forwards and escape... but her arm wasn't letting her.

'Kas,' she said aloud, 'What are you doing?' She watched her own hand as it peeled away from the control panel and went to her seatbelt. Her fingers found the locks and released them, sending the belts zipping up over her shoulders. Her body rose up several inches from her chair and awaited its orders.

Kas took a breath and turned towards the weapons cabinet.