Free Nova by Lora E. Rasmussen Page B

frantically began attacking
Z’arr again even as Tanad screeched, “Get me the data and kill the false Shield
team!”
     “So much for a peaceful surrender.” Marcus Perez grumbled
over the team’s Comm.
    “Was that really necessary, Captain Serros?” Major Hadarr
hissed.
    “All right, Squad,” Serros began, even as she dropped back
into cover, bullets zipping past the place her head had been a moment before.
“The data, Z’arr, and Tanad are our priorities. Perez, Rygel, and Ca’rrakk: I want
the three of you on cover–fire and neutralizing the guards and mechs.”
    Cocking her head in Major Hadarr’s direction, Serros addressed
the Vosaia who was perceptibly angry about the attempt at gaining a cease fire that
had surrendered the advantage of surprise.
    A small part of Avara found a certain level of satisfaction
in being able to elicit some measure of emotional response in the typically
emotionless Major as she ordered, “Hadarr and Naxos, I want the two of you to
ensure that the Vosaia Proconsul lives and that she’s placed into custody for
investigation. Remember, our mission is not assassination.” Serros made
it clear by her hard gaze that the last was intended for the Vosaia Major, and though
Goyan Hadarr’s lips tightened in response, she offered no verbal disagreement.
    Addressing the group as a whole, Serros announced, “I will
capture Z’arr and the data. Let’s be about it.”
    Avara nodded once at the Chorus of " Aye, Captains "
that followed then, under covering fire from the rest of Nova Squad and Hadarr,
shot her grapple–gun and speedily slid across the span between the rooftop they
stood upon and the far end of the courtyard where Z’arr was firing at the unknowns
from cover.
    While enroute, two shots slammed into the bright steel and
royal blue trimmed durexium plating of her armor, forcing Serros to grip her
grapple attachment harder, but doing no lasting damage. Before reaching the end
of the line, the Captain released her hold and dropped some fifteen feet to the
ground. She quickly rolled into cover behind a thick stone bench as the still
unknown enemies fired their ARs.
    Seconds later, the two hostiles who had been concentrating
fire on her suddenly dropped to the stone pavement by well–placed sniper shots.
    Dane’s handiwork , Serros mused, well familiar with
Lieutenant Rygel’s expertise.
    The Quorum Shield Operative took off towards the Vosaia STF
while firing one of her Volturno’s converted to SMG mode at the gray–armored enemy
determined to eliminate aid for Z’arr by eliminating Serros. With an ease born of
decades of practice and finely honed skill, the Captain locked her shots. Almost
more quickly than the eye could follow, one, two, three, then four of the gray–plated
soldiers dropped in sprays of blood as her gun–fire ripped through armor and
flesh alike.
    The Captain was only about thirty paces away from Z’arr when
the ground below her feet suddenly vibrated and the sound of metal scraping
against stone shot through the space to her left like recycling gears grinding junkyard
scrap to plates. Serros managed to flatten herself next to another overturned
stone bench and planter just as the mech trained its sights and showered her
position with heavy canon fire. The bench adjacent to Captain Serros cracked with
a sound like a clap of thunder, and a fountain of rubble and dust clouded the
air as shot after shot blasted her cover and the surrounding pavement.
    With a grimace, Serros grabbed two K–Grenades mag–attached
under her left pectoral plate, and thumbing off the safetys,’ leaped up and out
of her rapidly disintegrating cover. Half–way through her jump, she extended
her arms and tossed both grenades. The projectiles smacked into and adhered to
the surface of the mech’s metallic frame. Just as Serros landed on her feet, a
deafening boom–boom sounded throughout the plaza and the metal automaton
exploded in flame, spraying molten metal and slag