Ian’s ears had stopped ringing and the little white dots clung only to the edges of his vision. He shrugged to get the large man to stop long enough so he could stand on his own two feet once more.
“Why did you save me Boanerges?” Ian said as he looked the severely scarred man in the eyes. “I thought this was my test?”
“You made it all the way to the door on your own kid, hell of an effort if I do say so myself.” The Van Saar heavy shifted the heavy machine gun in his hands. Ian could not help but stare at the scar move as the man spoke. “When you went down to your knees I thought you were gone, but you never stopped moving until you reached the door.”
Looking back into the man’s eyes Ian replied, “I don’t remember anything after that slug slammed into this.” Ian held up the nomad rifle he took as proof of his trip. Looking down at the rifle it was a mess. The optics for the scope was smashed out and the firing chamber had a breach where a large caliber slug had tore into it as Ian carried it across his back.
“Hey, all I said was that you had to bring proof of reaching ‘Hell’s Gate’, I never said anything about pissing of any Nomads. They don’t take too kindly to us hivers being out in their turf, not to mention the pilfering of their goods.” The heavy had a gleam in his eyes. He smacked Ian heavily on his shoulders. “You’re good enough for me kid. Just as soon as we get back to the ‘Bifrost’ the first round is on me.”
BAWHOOOM!!!!
The sound of the Nomad demolition charge caused Ian’s ears to ring once more. Dust and metallic chaff filled the small dome. Both Ian and Boanerges regained their feet and looked back for Dyrke and the rest of the team.
Dyrke was standing in the middle of the dust storm that now howled through the breach of the hive wall. “Boanerges, get the kid and Cacee back to the Bifrost. We’ll be along shortly!” And with that he and the other two Van Saar began shooting into the breach.
Cacee’s autogun and Boanerges’ heavy stubber joined the chorus of the battle now being joined.
“Move back kid!”
The heavy motioned his head over his shoulder. Looking down at the obviously useless las pistol in his hands Ian hesitated.
“I said get moving!” and with that the Heavy let loose a long burst from his weapon as if to emphasize his point.
The staccato of gun fire began to increase. The Nomads had started to return fire in an attempt to suppress the Van Saar and gain the breach.
Ian slung his trophy across his back once more. Once he reached the relative safety of the shadows in the back of the dome he stopped. Cacee had joined him and aimed his assault rifle back towards the gaping wound in the hive.
The Nomad return fire was furious and was beginning to overwhelm Dyrke and his fellow defenders. Ian looked through the haze trying to spot any of the rest of the team. Katan had Rogers under his left arm while in his right he braced his autogun. Firing from the hip Rogers kept the Nomads at bay for the moment. With his foot Katan kicked open a grate in the floor and glanced down and seemed to be talking to someone. The man then lowered his cargo as gently as he could, stood back up and let loose with burst after burst from his autogun in all directions, all the while screaming into the wind.
Finally, his ammunition spent, Katan jumped feet first into the hole in the floor.
Once Boanerges saw that the area was clear he also stopped his salvos and turned to leave. Ian watched as the pair of Van Saar fell back in an orderly fashion, not returning fire anymore so as to not give away their avenue of retreat. As he followed the men into the tunnels of Hive: Primus Ian heard the sound of the enemy gun fire slowly abate behind them.
-=-=-=O=-=-=-
Ian stumbled as the fatigue of his trials began to take a toll on his body. Muscles ached that he never knew he had and his ribs throbbed from where he took a Delaque knife… when was that? Three or four days ago now?
“Come on kid. Only another half a kilometer and we’ll be back home at the Bifrost.”
Looking up at the grizzled Van Saar Ian was filled with an inward sense of pride. The Heavy had not called him ‘little rat’ and included him as one of them. His new home was now the Bifrost with the rest of the Van Saar gang known as ‘Team Delta’. Ian just prayed that he would never let his new family down.
Finally the Bifrost came into view. Their approach brought them up from the underside of the massive bridge and drinking hole. The chasm it spanned was over twenty meters across and five hundred meters deep. Just like other similar areas of the hive industrious hivers moved in to take advantage of perceived business opportunities. (The Bifrost being one such example.) Make shift lifts adorned the chasm walls. Some linked the bridge area with the floor below, others to mine claims, and yet still more to hab sites that recently started to spring up – all the result of the new trade routes being established between the underhive below and hive city above.
The lifts were all quiet at this time of day. Although the hive factories operated on a full twenty six hour day some sense of normalcy was imposed on the hive. Lights are dimmed for six hours for what is considered the primary rest cycle. Being this close to the edge of civilization meant that things were not always ‘normal’, but even here people tended to retreat indoors during the times of imposed darkness.
-=-=-=O=-=-=-
The gang’s rooms were slung underneath the bridge. Old long forgotten cargo containers had been lowered and welded to the underside of the bridge with access points to both the drinking hole that they provided protection services for, and the exterior to ensure less observable comings and goings. It was pretty spacious for the underhive, more then a score of rooms and all to themselves.
“Go on ahead. I’ll wait here for Dyrke and the others,” Cacee said.
Ian caught the non-verbal exchange between Cacee and Boanerges. All three of them had seen that one of the team had been injured.
“Come on kid. I’ll show you your new space.”
As the pair climbed the last ladder Ian’s body began to relax. He let the fatigue wash over him and he barely heard the Heavy tell him where his room was. Instead he just walked into the indicated room, set down his gear on a small table, and collapsed into what apparently was his bed.
Sleep took him quickly.
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