HAWK

CHAPTER ELEVEN: SPIDER (5/6)

Kas kicked herself away from the Calista's shell and glided towards Hik, turning her body mid-flight and bracing for landing on the wall nearest him. Her feet touched down a few feet away and she assessed the damage - it looked even worse up close. His torso had bubbled and blistered in the attack and what was left of him had fused into a scarred black mess. The only thing that hadn't been affected was his dome, which Kas now realised was actually a sphere, just like the spider's bodies. It had always been deeply encased in his frame so that only the top quarter was visible, but now over half of his brain was exposed. Kas looked closely but there were no digits to be seen.

'Hik?' she said.

Nothing.

I can't just leave him here like this...

She brought the Ghoster up and aimed it at him. Her thumb stroked the back of its neck and switched it to organic damage mode. With another stroke, she set it to eleven percent power. This wasn't guesswork; her brain was riding high on stimulant 1-9-3-7 and she had made the calculations with ease. She pulled the trigger and the Ghoster blew out a short, concentrated jet of radiation. It caught Hik like wind in a sail and sent him descending towards the Calista. Kas kicked herself away from the wall and chased after him. She overtook him just as he passed the back end of the Calista and fired again, redirecting him back into her ship via the open doors. He went in like a dream, but Kas was still soaring past. She aimed the Ghoster behind her and fired at nothing. The recoil gave her a kick and sent her back towards the Calista... except she wasn't heading towards the door; she was gliding towards the right wing. Her carbachrome boots touched down on the hull as a flash of red up high alerted her to imminent danger. She spun sideways behind the wing, narrowly missing the deadly red beam which scorched the air behind her and left a nasty black scar on the Calista's hull.

You're gonna pay for that...

She ran down the side of the ship until she was underneath it and upside down. Her right thumb was busy setting the Ghoster back to non-organic as she reached the centre of the Calista's belly and stopped.

'I'm down here!' she shouted. She didn't have to wait long. Seconds later, a black smear appeared in her left peripherals and Kas whipped the Ghoster up to greet it. Her finger yanked the trigger and sent out the long white tongue that licked the spiders face like a teenager's first kiss, reducing it to soot and splinters. Kas continued running until she came up and over the other side of the ship, her eyes constantly the lookout for the last of the surviving spiders. She reached the top of the Calista and gazed up at the spider hole above her. No sign of movement.

Let's see how long that lasts...

With her eyes locked on the hole, Kas's left hand went to her hip and unclipped the belt of plasma grenades. Holding one end, she pulled it free so that it unravelled around her and coiled in the air like an eel. She swung the belt in a single large circle before releasing it and letting it fly up towards the hole where it disappeared from view. It didn't even touch the sides.