Returning the Favor

Ian crept down the stairs into the common room of the Bifrost. The lights were dim, but not all the way out. In the underhive the lights never go completely out, instead they are dimmed to very faint levels to allow for some visibility.

At this hour the drinking hole was silent, the few patrons remaining were only there because that was where they passed out and there was no one left to take them home. No one cared about his passing through.

As he descended the ladder to the Steel Spiders’ lair he could here some faint movement at the far end of the hall. It was Katan’s turn for guard duty last night. ‘Best steer clear of him,’ Ian thought to himself. Fortunately his gang’s “medical bay”, where he moved into after Dyrke slipped the new juve into his old room, was closer to this end of the hallway. Waiting until he had closed the door quietly behind him, Ian crossed the room and turned on the light to his workbench.

Sleep, sweet oblivion awaited him. His rendezvous with Amber had been enjoyable, but not all that restful, and Dyrke had mentioned an early start. Not bothering to get undressed Ian lay on top of his covers and closed his eyes.

“Get up!”

Ian jolted up out of bed. He quickly realized that if had been asleep it could not have been for very long, he groaned. Just as he was about to give his intruder a ‘what for’ he realized it was Katan.

“We leave in five minutes Ian. Are you up?”

Ian nodded and walked back over to his workbench and yawned. Grabbing a few tools and supplies he stuffed them in his kit bag which lay in the midst of several projects he was tinkering on.

“Were you up late working on something?” Katan asked.

“Yea, something like that.” Picking up the power cell for his lasgun off the charger he turned back to the somber ganger. “Let’s not keep Dyrke waiting.”

Ian flicked off the light and followed the Van Saar ganger out the door.

-=-=-=O=-=-=-

The journey down hive was fast and uneventful. Dyrke had spelled it out on the way. The band of nomads that Ian had stirred up continued to wreak havoc in the domes below. Apparently they were hell bent on retrieving the rifle Ian acquired from them and were knocking heads together and issuing challenges to any Hiver they came across.

Being that the Steel Spiders had a couple of spore caves in the area the locals sent word to Dyrke to come and bail them out. They were heading down to spring a trap on the invaders. By planting seeds of misinformation Dyrke believed the nomads would have a chance at something they couldn’t refuse – payback. He had left tidbits of information that Ian – and the rifle – was going to be in the area at a certain time. Dyrke was confident that the Spiders would be able to return the favor and inflict their own kind of payback for daring to enter the hive.

As they drew near Dyrke divided them up into three groups. Boanerges and Rogers were sent up to a reinforced walkway, Ian and Cacee were positioned a large air handler tower, while Dyrke and the rest of the team stayed at floor level hidden among several crates and barrels. Dyrke’s group was to assault the kill zone while Ian and the rest provided covering fire.

Once the three groups split up there was no way to communicate verbally between them. Cacee had Ian move painfully slow.

“A sniper’s job is to arrive at his destination without detection so that he can deliver a kill-shot before his target can react.” He said to Ian.

“I just want to give back some of what they dished out,” Ian replied.

“Then stick close to me kid, and we will do it together.”

Once Ian got into good firing position he looked through the sites of his new lasgun. He wanted to get familiar with the feel and sight picture of the weapon. It felt comfortable in his grip.

Looking around the kill-zone Ian could not detect Dyrke, Katan, or the juve – the ‘assault team’. That was good. He could however, easily see Boanerges and Rogers. His firing position was slightly higher so maybe that was not much of an issue. He gave Rogers a ‘thumbs up ‘signal and the waiting began.

-=-=-=O=-=-=-

Cacee tapped Ian on the shoulder (they had taken turns on watch) and pointed down into the kill-zone. Ian looked over the edge and he could see two Nomads cautiously creeping out from under a warehouse awning. The pair was hunched over, respirators firmly in place, and their heads panning back and forth. One Nomad had a pistol of some kind at the ready, the other an autogun cradled in his arms. Ian nestled his cheek against the stock and took aim at the one with the rifle.

Thwack! Ian felt something smack against the back of his head. Looking back he saw Cacee shaking his head. “Not yet,” he mouthed. Ian nodded his understanding.

Chancing a glance over towards Boanerges and Rogers he saw them getting ready as well. Ian settled back to get ready. He would wait until the heavy let loose and then join in.

The first pair of Nomads was followed by two more pair. There were now six Nomads in the kill-zone and Ian felt his pulse quicken. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cacee settled into his firing position.

“Here we go,” Ian thought to himself.

Bupupupupup! Boanerges let loose with his heavy stubber. With the heavy letting loose Ian began to squeeze the trigger, his sights still set on the Nomad with the rifle.

CRACK! Ian involuntarily ducked his head as a bullet impacted heavily on the other side of the wall he was leaning against for stability.

Thwiip! The next incoming round caught nothing but air as it whipped past his head. Peeking up and over the wall Ian scanned for where the shots were coming from. There he was… a Nomad hunkered down among metallic scraps with a heavy barreled rifle pointed right back at him.

“Nomad Sniper!” Ian shouted over his shoulder to Cacee.

“What do you want from me kid! Take care of him!”

Cacee was pulling the trigger of his autogun sending shots down into the kill-zone as fast as he could squeeze his finger. Ian turned his attention back to his challenger and snapped off a quick shot, more to get the Nomad to duck than anything else.

Ian’s last shot bought him enough time and he shifted around to get a better angle. From this distance he could tell that the Nomad had picked his position well. His enemy now sat at an extreme range for his lasgun and in good cover. Ian smiled slightly. The Nomad has ‘misjudged this Van Saar’ he thought to himself.

Tucking his cheek against the lasgun stock Ian set his sights on the Nomad. “Not much to get at,” he thought. Sighting in on the only thing he could see Ian squeezed off a shot at the Nomad’s rifle. Miss!

Thwiip! The Nomad’s return shot sailed wide.

There was nowhere for Ian to move to. His opponent had the entire tower cover to include the ladder down.

The Nomad shifted to try and get a better angle. Ian took the shot. The superheated ions flew straight and true and nailed the Nomad. He knew it because he heard the wounded cry come back in reply. But instead of the man dropping from the wound Ian watched him crawl away and out of sight, debris and buildings preventing Ian from finishing the job.

The revving of a chainsword brought Ian’s attention back to the task at hand, the ambushing of the very Nomads that had hunted him down not all that long ago. Ian spun back to face the kill-zone. On the bridge Rogers stood over the corpse of a Nomad who had gotten the jump on the two Van Saar on the bridge. Roger made eye contact with eye and nodded. Ian nodded back and then turned his attention back to the dome floor.

Four Nomads lay prone and unmoving. The last was steadying himself, but against what Ian couldn’t tell.

A yell came thundering across the dome as Renold, the team’s new juve, raced out from under a heavy lift platform. The juve barreled into the Nomad knocking the both of them over. The juve landed on top and proceeded to wail blow upon blow to the Nomad’s head and torso.

Dyrke walked over and grabbed one of the kid’s arms and said something indiscernible. Renold then stood up straddling the now motionless Nomad. Dyrke looked up to the two over-watch positions and signaled for them to come down.

-=-=-=O=-=-=-

All seven of Van Saar met on the dome floor. A quick check of all present no one had any injuries to report. No equipment issues either.

“Well done men. I don’t think the hive will have to worry about these Nomads anymore. Secure the area. It may not look like much, but there’s potential.”

Something skittered across the floor towards the dome wall. Debris kicked up by a Nomad taking flight.

Ian pulled up his lasgun to his cheek and began to track his new target. Fallen crossbeams, support posts, and the speed at which the enemy moved all worked against him. Undeterred Ian tracked his target, all the while slowly squeezing the trigger.

CRACK! A narrow beam of neon-blue ionized particles shot reached out, briefly connecting the Van Saar with the Nomad. The Nomad collapsed and skidded across the floor.

Cacee whistled. “Nice shot kid.”

Ian smiled as Boanerges slapped him on the back.

Dyrke looked Ian in the eyes, “it looks like the ‘Spiders’ have a Medic and a Shooter.”