12 Miles Below

An explosion rocked the wallside, scattering larger boulders down until a gap appeared. Bright white began to shine through, like beams in the dusty twilight of the cave. A beat passed before another explosion shook the leftovers and the whole wall collapsed down. Four relic knights zipped through the new openings, led by Shadowsong.

The man landed hard on the ground, blades out and ready, scanning around for anything. His helmet passed over the remains of the knightbreaker, one half of which was already in my hand, while I was on the way to recover the second along with the few fragments of broken chains. “Enemy?” He asked, straightening up from his crouch.

“Chased away.” I said, “The ol' knightbreaker here lived up to expected value, though I don’t think it'll work a second time against this particular foe. I had surprise on my side this time around. Also, finally found out why they’re after me too in the trade.”

Shadowsong nodded. “Explain on the way. We need to move, or the Chosen will escape me. What foe attacked? Who is behind this?”

My hands reached the last sliced off half of my work and awkwardly affixed them to my hip while the group and I jogged up the ruined avalanche back up to the opening. “You remember that Feather Atius fought off underground?”

“Impossible.” Shadowsong growled, more to himself. “Machines don't travel to the surface. What’s changed?”

Ropes were already being lowered down, a set of five, one of each of us. I grabbed hold of mine, hooked a carabiner and used my arms and legs fully to scale the sheer wallside. I'd have picked up some extra scrap from the blasted off pieces of my homicidal stalker as a trophy, but the chains had some some serious work and there wasn't anything I could spot in good enough piece. The recording of the fight would be enough for now.

Teed’s airspeeder hovered right over the edge of the abyss, the ropes lowered directly from the bay side doors. Risky move all in all - airspeeders couldn’t really fly, they only hover up to thirteen feet of clearance, at most. If the ship drifted off even slightly, it would fall down into the hole, dragging everyone with it. “Enemy is already on the move, their airspeeder is retreating.” Teed said on the comms. “We hit them with an engine buster right when the ground exploded, so they’re limping right now. But they’re still getting away. Get up here fast.”

Relic armor made the climb supremely easy, with my legs kicking me up leap after leap. “See, I think it’s got to do with that bunker underground. Only Lord Atius, Kidra and I got inside there. And Atius is a Deathless, it would be impossible to get anything out of him. My sister and I? We’re plain old humans. Easy targets. She’s gone, so I’m the only one left to grab. That’s my guess at why he’s hunting here.”

“Beats me. Maybe they found out he’s after me and tried to swipe me up first? Make a quick profit. Othersiders have their hands in everything. Wouldn’t be surprised if they’re also in touch with the machines and found all this out through the Chosen. What happened on your side of the wall?”

“A machine ambush of some kind.” Sagrius answered over the comms, helmet appearing from the bay doors far above. “They must have selected this area specifically for the weaker ground here. We fell down into a machine nest of some kind, filled with six legged monsters. The men and I don’t have experience fighting machines, but Shadowsong did. He taught us in the field how to fight and handle these turrets and their spider guardians, by demonstration.”

“We lost anyone?”

“No casualties master Keith, though some of us are low on shield energy from the initial volleys. Nothing that would cripple us from further action.”

“You done with the gossip?” Teed said, joining the comms. “HQ ordered a pirate airspeeder and I aim to deliver. Now hurry up already, the food's getting away.”

A few more leaps and we were out back on the surface. From here, it was one jump up, using the rope as a guidance, before my hand gripped the edge of the airspeeder bay. The captain’s gauntlets reached down and dragged me back up, into the ship. Shadowsong followed behind me along with the other knights.

The ground buckled the moment the last knight had crawled inside. Inertia forced Journey down on a knee as the airspeeder twisted on its heels, and rocketed forward. Ice and wallsides zipped past my field of view on the sides of the open bay doors. I reached a hand to the grips on my side, holding tight. Teed wasn’t taking it easy on the ship. Once the armor was used to the new speed, I stumbled my way forward to the ship’s cockpit while the rest of the knights were busy strapping into seats.

“Pilot, patch me through to the enemy airspeeder.” Shadowsong said behind me.

“Done.” Teed answered, and the comms beeped a new connection. I opened the inner door and pulled myself into the control room, through the small interior. Ice and metal zipped across the windows in every direction ahead of me as Teed moved the massive airspeeder like a needle threading through fabric at odd angles.

“Enemy airspeeder. This is the Shadowsong Prime. We will be attacking and boarding your ship. Non-lethal methods will be employed, so long as hostages remain unharmed. Should we find any of them killed, you will die with them. Negotiations over.”

He cut the channel before any answer could be given. “Chase them down.” He said a moment after. “We will handle the rest.”

Teed didn’t give any answer other than pushing the thrust up, executing another quick turn, using the vector thrusters to nudge the ship in just the right ways to fit through gaps. We weren’t going fast, the issue was fitting the massive ship inside the canyons. The metal ground under me hadn’t gone flat a single moment since the very start of his maneuvers.

“On our way to catch up with them.” Teed said, not looking back at me. “Strap in. They’ve got a good headstart on me.”

I took my seat, clicking the safety belts across my armor, and opened up the co-pilot suite. “What’s the situation, or do you need to focus?”

“Focus? Please, this is a cakewalk compared to the difficulty the sim trainers had to crank their tests just to filter out the competition.” He said, environmental suit hiding any features from showing on his face.

“So we’ll catch up to them?” I saw the radar screen showing a red marker a few hundred feet away, but the ice walls blocked all line of sight.

He shrugged, taking another thin turn, forcing the nose of the ship down and sliding the ship across a more narrow pass. “Eventually. For a crippled cargo airspeeder they’re making oddly good timing. Their pilot must be pretty good, or they know the area better than we do, underground included.”

“Might be the latter.” I said. “That meeting spot had to have been picked specifically to pull that stunt on us in the event we came. What worries me is if they know underground openings large enough for an airspeeder to fit through. If they try to escape underground, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to keep going after them.”

“First time for everything.” Teed said, keeping the two control sticks perfectly in sync with each other. “Who knows, maybe driving underground is more fun. But I get you, catch them fast before they slip the noose. Think I know just the trick.” He clicked a few keys and toggled on the general comms. “Gonna get rough, I'm about to pull out some moves.” He turned the comms again, cycling to the inner crew. “Faram, you good with the cannons? I need a ramp up out of these chasms.”

The display aboard showed turrets being rotated, turning front side. A voice crackled on comms. “Commin’. Just don’t be picky about how it looks. Hang starboard, I’ll look for a good spot.”

Teed continued to pilot the bulky craft, hovering over the uneven ground, making headway in the general direction after the Undersiders. Radar showed they were still farther off, though we were slowly catching up. The hull and cockpit shook, as our airspeeder opened fire on one side of the ice canyons, the heavy rounds shattering onto the sides, forcing a full collapse.

“Thanks Faram, exactly what I ordered. You’re a shit builder though, that ain't up to code at all. Not even handrails on that thing. Tut tut.” Teed said, turning the ship directly onto the impromptu ramp. "Better not let the security goons back home see this, or they'll have you hanged."

“Shut the fuck up and drive you twat.” The gunner answered, irate. “If you’ve got time to complain, you’ve got time to catch up to the enemy.”

The ship rumbled over the crushed ice, quickly climbing up until the angle was too steep for the massive airspeeder to continue up. Teed flared the thrust and angled the vector thrusters. It gave the whole ship a shuddering push, like two hands had grabbed the rear and pulled up, just enough to climb onto the top of the canyons.

From above, we got our first sight at the fleeing undersider ship. The right hand engine had been turned off completely, while the left one still moved, metal flaps opening and closing around the nozzle as the ship maneuvered. It flickered in and out of view as the bulky ship tried to navigate through the canyons. The gunner didn’t waste the moment, opening fire on the enemy ship anytime there was a line of sight.

“See what a lot of people don’t realize is that intercept frigates like this one are light enough to do a Scotch hop, even with a full crew and cargo inside.” Teed said, flicking flips and triggers, hands flying over the controls as he overclocked different systems.

“What the gods is a Scotch hop?” I asked, a little worried. No, a lot worried.

“Most driving is pretty boring. But they still had to weed out pilots back home in the sims. In turn, a lot of pilots discovered plenty of… let’s say interesting maneuvers that nobody in their right mind would guess could be done, just so we could get a leg up on the competition. You see some strange driving at the top leaderboards. All of it is technically possible, according to the sims. Scotch was a pilot of the older days, and he coined the move. Put it this way, he was one crazy bastard.” The ship groaned and dragged itself the rest of the way up, it’s bulk gliding over the top of the canyons. We were heading parallel on the top of the canyon, but a few hundred meters ahead, there was a clear cliffside.

The ship didn’t divert course. No, Teed increased the speed, all the while lowering the hover down to mere inches against the ground. Ice crushed under us as the underside of our ship scrapped anything past clearance. “Is our ship rated for this kind of abuse?” I asked, for the first time questioning my friend’s abilities.

“We’re in a metal monster that weighs several hundred tons, and all wrapped up snug in armor. Ground’s all ice. It looks sturdy, it’s anything but. I’d worry about the ice more than my ship, kid.”

The cliff was rapidly approaching. Teed’s hands hovered over the altitude control lever. Instinct started to creep up in me, I found my hands already holding onto handholds, squeezing them tight.

Right at the last moment, Teed punched the hover commands to max hover altitude possible. The ship lurched up, powered by golden era tech that could lift the weight of the ship. Vector thrusters all lit up at the same time, assisting the momentum like hands holding a heavy bucket up.

Our ship soared up and above the canyon yawning, landing down with a heavy crunch on the other side. Ice and snow blinded the cockpit as the intercept frigate crashed down into the other side, altitude returns showing a negative number for a moment - the weight of the ship coming down had caused it to sink into the ice, but only for a moment. The hover remained at full power, easily pulling the ship back up as inertia carried us forward and out of the cloud of ice and snow we’d kicked up. The ship was undamaged, as far as all sensors showed. Teed was right about the specs, this ship was a beast.

“Are you huffing amp in your suit?!” The gunner yelled. “Urs fucking save me, you crazy motherfucker, this is the kind of flying you leave for the sims, not while I’m riding shotgun up here!”

“I can catch up to them the hard way, but if they really do have an underground tunnel lined up somewhere, that’s game for us. Hard rules call for hard play.” Teed said. “Look, I can see them from here even. So, less yapping, more shooting.” Ahead, the enemy ship was still limping away, trying to take sharp turns. But Teeds speed was rapidly approaching them now that he didn’t have to deal with turns. It was a straight line to the enemy, without a care for any of the gaps he’d need to leap over.

Another jump, and we were now right behind the enemy. From above, the gunnery turrets were making havoc on the armored pirate ship below, which was returning fire with feeble energy.

The volley struck against parts of the enemy airspeeder but wasn’t enough to deal significant damage yet, as the whole thing suddenly zipped away from sight, taking an extreme turn. “Ahh that’s why the buggers are keeping speed.” Teed said, “Outright cheating that is, but gotta give them credit where credit is due. You saw that Faram?”

“Yeah, didn’t think I’d see that move anytime soon. Gods above, I need a bingo card for today for crazy speeder moves. You dumb fucks are pulling out all the stops.” The gunner answered, keeping the turrets leveled at where the enemy’s position would appear next.

“I didn’t see anything, what are they doing?” I said, trying to keep up with what was going on.

Our own ship took a turn, this time rolling down into the canyon after the enemy’s heels. “That turn’s too steep for a ship of that size to do it.” Teed said, using his head to point since his hands were occupied. “Feels completely off, their ass is too fat for that kind of maneuver. Except if they had an extra force to add in, yank them in the right direction. Look at the wallsides when we pass by.”

Our speeder crashed into the canyon floor, before rising back up, taking the turn with far more ease. I searched for what he’d explained as we passed through the narrow passage. “All I see is ice and broken chunks of it off the walls.” I said.

“Those chunks aren’t all broken by them not fitting through. They’re using the wall sides to slingshot themselves with docking hooks, that’s why there’s chunks of ice broken up by the walls. Keep your eyes peeled next time they’re in range.”

Ahead, we got another look at the metal carrier, our gunner opened fire while the enemy ship took another desperate turn, firing off a grappling hook into the ice cliff, using the taut metal rope to force the turn needed. A moment after, a turret on the enemy ship opened fire but not on us. Instead it was focused on the hook, shattering the ice and freeing up the hook again. “See?” Teed said. “They’re using the hooks to help them take sharp turns. And then getting it free from the wall the quick way. Smart. Getting lucky the force exerted on the line hasn’t yet snapped the ice off the wall, that’d send them reeling.”

Despite the maneuver and docking thrusters running at max settings, the tail end of the enemy speeder still crushed hard against the ice, unable to fit well enough through. Ice chunks broke apart as the unyielding metal monster smashed its way through and continued forward with no damage. Their ship looked just as durable as ours.

“Think we should do the same?” I asked, watching our prey vanish again behind another canyon entrance, fleeing the hail of weapon fire behind.

“We’ve got the better specs. Mobility’s nearly twice the range, half the weight, and every engine is a good rank stronger. I can make this ship dance, they can just nod to the beat at best. Only thing they have on us is fuel economy, since my lady here was built to intercept and theirs was built to ferry cargo.”

The gunner cackled on the comms. “Like a fat pig trying to outrun a cat by jumping off walls. Adorable, but it’s dinner for us all the same.” Our own ship reached the same spot, Teed twisting the ship once more into a nose tilt down, lifting the back end of the ship high up, while the ship gracefully slid through the turn. I heard a buckling sound, as our rear end must have collided against one of the overhanging ice bridges above the canyon. Gravity pushed me down, crates and boxes that hadn’t been secured slid down the steep inclined cockpit, rattling away. “See? They don’t have the engine power to do a turn like this.” The man made it look all so easy, but these kinds of turns were games of inches. If either of his control sticks were just slightly off, the entire turn would have ended way worse.

“Status?” Shadowsong asked over the comms as the ship leveled again. “The ship’s been buckling, are we under threat?”

“No sir, just some aggressive maneuvers.” Teed replied stone calm. “We’re already nipping at their heels, just need a good bite to hamstring them.” He cut the comms, switching them back to interior ones. “You hear that Faram? Go do your job already, I’m pulling my part.”

The gunner gave only a scoff, while the turrets tracked our prey.

Ahead we could see the fat airspeeder we were after. They’d tried to take another turn and must have overshot it. Instead of committing, they’d hooked themselves back into a straight line and were making a run for it. Our ship opened fire again, the turret shots scattering across the enemy hull, lighting up with a few hundred sparks, right by their vector thrusters. Something finally gave on their side, smoke billowing out.

There was a whooping over the comms, “Hope you got a plate ready!” Faram said, “Now tell me I’m not doing my part again, you little shit!”

Teed flicked to the general setting, opening the channel again to the knights. “Prepare for boarding. We got them. Heads up, it won’t be on flat ground, make sure your boots are magnetized to stick. Who knows what kind of stunts these guys are willing to pull with an airspeeder that’s not theirs.”

“Understood. All knights, move.” Shadowsong called out. Bay doors opened up on my console panel, and I could hear the relic armor knights taking footholds, climbing out to cover the sides of our ship.

A boom rang out, followed by a second. The undersider ship had used its heavy cannons to open fire, directly onto the ice walls, right under one of the frozen bridge arcs. The whole thing groaned, cracking apart before falling down.

They were trying to stop us from passing by.

Teed cursed loudly. “All crew, brace. I’m about to get disrespectful.” He said over the comms, hands flying over his controls. The ship lumbered to the off side of the casam, picking up speed. Heading straight for the falling debris - no not straight, the ship was getting closer and closer to the ice walls on our right.

“Pilot?” Shadowsong barked out from his position outside, hanging on the hull and now very aware of the kind of driving Teed was doing. His voice came up again, sounding far more panicked. “Pilot!”

Teed flipped a few levers and the ship began to lower closer to the ground. “Faram, angel roll, hook shot on starboard side, don’t miss.” He said. "The boss is watching."

The gunner gave another scoff. “I know the drill already, just shut up and let me focus.”

Teed didn’t answer, instead putting the entire ship into a spin, lighting up the thrusters on our side. The whole ship began to shift over on itself to the left slowly. Repulsion started to affect the sides of the walls and right as we approached the debris wall, he cranked the hover engines to maximum, while flaring out the vector thrusters on the left side. The result was our entire airship launching itself over the broken debris, all the while spinning on itself.

Halfway into the air, completely upside down, Faram opened fire with both a rightbound hook shot at the ice, and two turrets. The right hook hit the walls, and began to retract, forcing the airspeeder to complete the spin right before the whole ship landed. Turret shots had been split into two directions. One already freeing up the hook, letting it retract back into place. The second turret was opening fire right at the exposed Undersider ship, as if it was business as usual. The weight of our ship dragged everything down as inertia overcame the ship’s hovering power for a moment, ice scraping the bottom of the airspeeder again as we came out of the crouch.

“And that's bingo.” Faram grunted out.

“I’d never seen or even heard of an airspeeder doing this.” I said, feeling my blood pool back into my feet.

“Well, I’m having a ball here. My kind of music.” Teed said, resetting the system back to default. “Everyone’s always so focused on the knights fighting with their little metal sticks, the real entertainment is being slept on. Gods damned shame it is.”

Our turrets continued the relentless barrage, like dotted lines of yellow connecting our ship to theirs. Their own ship had stopped returning fire, either from damage or lack of manpower.

The enemy airspeeder’s primary engine sputtered from our onslaught, having lost another critical part. More whooping on the comms from Faram, along with a few choice obscenities. The wounded ship tried making the next turn, only to crash hard against the ice wall, bouncing it slowly back out where it failed to keep itself rightened. We were rapidly approaching it head on now.

“They’re not using hooks anymore?” I asked, watching the ship try to wiggle through a new turn, like a consolation prize after having failed to make the better choice.

“Got their heavy turrets with that last volley of the light anti-armor rounds.” The gunner said, with unmistakable pride. “First thing I aimed for. They can’t free any of their hooks if they try their cute maneuvers out now.”

I could see Undersider knights climbing on the top part of the enemy airspeeder now, using their boots to stick to the metal while the ship buckled under them like a wild beast, trying to recenter itself and go down the canyon proper. They were preparing for the inevitable boarding.

Teed caught up in range a moment later, opening fire with a grappling hook right at the enemy ship. The shot connected, digging into the superstructure and expanding out. The three undersider knights on top reacted immediately, occult blades turning on as they scaled the sides of their ship, desperate to reach and cut the line.

“Not going to save you. Chicken’s already cooked.” Teed muttered, moving our ship closer, using the hookshot as guidance. We were close enough to see the details of the behemoth. Like a fish hooked on a reel. It struggled, but there was no heart in it anymore.

“All right, my job’s done.” Teed said, leaning back on his chair. A moment later, heavy footfalls sounded above the cockpit and I saw Shadowsong along with others leap off our ship, across the distant expanse between our ships, and land directly against the sides of the enemy ship.

Occult blades flared out and Shadowsong instantly pushed the few enemy knights back, away from the hook. More of our knights leaped off, taking point next to Shadowsong. There wasn’t much of a fight at this point. Shadowsong and my house knights had pummeled the Undersiders into submission almost immediately, after a slight hiccup where one of our knights nearly lost footing as the enemy ship tilted for another turn.

A moment later, all the three defenders were being held down against the ground, while our knights had swung into the enemy airspeeder, right through the bay doors. The speeder continued its trajectory for a few dozen seconds before beginning to slow down.

Teed matched the speed, letting the enemy ship go back into a far more peaceful stride. The ship slowed down further, finding a spot wide enough for multiple airspeeders to land. From there, it came out of the hover and crunched down lightly on the ice ground. Teed followed suit, bringing his own ship to rest.

Comms from the carrier opened up. “Frigate secured.” One of my knights said. “Hostages are all alive and were left locked up in the inner airlock. We’ve captured all the undersider knights alive, only five aboard. Two driving, three outside.”

Well. Guess the rest of them really did expect me to be hiding back at the clan, all nice and safe somewhere they could ambush me. Now we’ve got their ship, five of their knights knocked out into the snow and more armor under our banner. Plus their boss was not in good shape, last I saw him.

It seems my impulsive need to get into the thick of it has, for once, turned out in my favor.

Time to order up fish and properly gloat about it.

Next chapter - Fishing for trouble

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