Jenny and I met Rebecca as the three of us were hurrying back to the ship. My heart was racing as I let her know, "Jace went to tell Finn and the militia. And he sent his dad back home to wait it out with Ella."
Our captain just nodded, "El thinks this is probably a recon mission. They're going to be looking at what kind of defences we have, both the ship and the town."
"Jenny," she added as we approached the ship, "Any chance you can use the Demeter's comm gear to jam their transmissions?"
A wry grin appeared on the android's face, "That's right up my alley captain. I've just reconfigured the sensors. Now I can track any signals they try and send, and block them within the first two hundred milliseconds."
"Should I open up the ship?" Sarah's voice came through the commlink in Rebecca's left hand. "I can come out and join you, or let you three in?"
The boss raised the small device up as she spoke into it, "Negative. Keep my ship buttoned up tight until further notice Sarah. Maybe bring Amanda's medkit down to the main hold incase we need it, but that ship stays sealed until the threat's over."
Jenny turned to face south-west as she commented calmly, "ETA thirty seconds."
I started to turn that way too but my ears twitched to noise behind us so I looked back that way instead.
Jace and Finn and a handful of other men were hurrying to join us. Jace had his cut-down rifle in hand, Finn was holding his heavy rifle, and the rest of them were similarly armed. There were a mix of weapons, including rifles, shotguns, handguns, and one submachine-gun. Likewise the men themselves were a mix of old and young, tall and short, strong and soft. None of them looked like they had military training, all of them looked like farmers.
In fact of the lot, only Rebecca and Finn seemed terribly sure of themselves.
Our captain had her carbine in hand as she moved to take up position next to the Demeter's port-side forward landing gear, which gave her a clear view to the south-west while providing some cover. I slipped the shotgun off my shoulder then followed her lead and took up position by the port-side landing gear amidship, and Jenny crouched behind me.
Meanwhile Finn had his men fan out into a line that ran between the ship and the town south and west of the buildings.
We could all see the two grav-sleds by that point, they were coming in fast and low, no more than twenty meters above the ground. Even at this distance I could see there was a large weapon mounted on the sled on the left.
"Amanda?" the captain didn't take her eyes off the approaching craft as she quietly called my name. "Look after yourself. Same with you Jenny. I'm not expecting you two to fight, just defend yourselves if you have to."
I just nodded quietly as I clicked off the shotgun's safety. Finn and some of his men were shouting instructions back and forth, but I tuned them out and kept my eyes on the two craft. The one on the right suddenly dropped then peeled off to the left while the one with the big gun ontop raised up slightly.
The two craft were only a hundred meters or so away when I saw a puff of white from the mounted weapon.
Rebecca saw it too and shouted, "Incoming!"
A moment later a sharp crack left my ears ringing, while clumps of dirt were thrown up into the air near some of Finn's men. One of them went down with a howl of pain, but the rest of them held their ground and started shooting back.
Rebecca wasn't firing yet, and neither was I. Jenny stayed crouched under cover behind me, but she raised her voice and warned, "I've identified that weapon. It's a forty millimetre recoilless rifle. It could do serious damage to some parts of the ship."
"The other sled has circled around to the east side," she added. "They appear to be preparing to land."
"Understood," the captain replied as she raised her carbine to her shoulder. A moment later my ears were ringing as she carefully squeezed off two short bursts at the sled with the big gun.
Jace and a few of Finn's people turned and headed east to intercept the other grav-sled and cover the starboard side of the ship. And so far I'd done nothing at all but crouch against one of the Demeter's landing gear and watch wide-eyed while everything was going on around me.
Rebecca fired another burst at the sled then shouted, "Incoming!"
This time we all ducked as the shell burst less than a dozen meters in front of me and Jenny. And even with my ears ringing I could hear several sharp clangs as shrapnel peppered the hull and landing gear around me.
The captain was already shooting back, and this time after she squeezed off a burst someone fell from the grav-sled. The sled was still in the air and seemed to be repositioning for another shot at us, while the boss adjusted her aim and fired again.
"Captain? Sarah and I have a solution," Jenny called. "Do I have your permission -"
"Do it!" Rebecca shouted back.
Something moved near the aft landing gear, and a moment later my ears were assaulted by a series of sharp staccato cracks followed by a chest-rattling thud as the grav-sled exploded. It dropped from the air and landed in a burning heap about forty meters from us. A few of the local militia guys cheered, and two of them started running towards the downed sled.
"Stay in cover," the captain told Jenny and I. Then she emerged from her own cover and headed around to check the other side of the ship, where the second sled had disappeared to.
With the fight on this side over I could hear sounds of gunfire from the starboard side. Part of me was tempted to head over that way as well, while another part wanted to stay put. I still hadn't done anything but watch, and that left me feeling torn as I stood there clutching the shotgun in my slightly shaking hands.
I wanted to help, but I knew I wasn't cut out for combat. I was a doctor, not a fighter. Navy, not a marine. And ultimately, I was a small-town farmer like the rest of the people here. I wasn't a soldier.
No sooner had those thoughts crossed my mind when I was startled by a long burst of automatic gunfire to my left. A man was standing there near the aft end of the ship, he had an assault rifle raised to his shoulder and he was firing at some of the local militia men who'd gone to examine the downed grav-sled.
I didn't even really stop to think, as basic training from five years earlier surfaced. Drills and exercises I'd hated with a passion played out in my mind as I sank to one knee and raised the shotgun in a single motion.
The recoil nearly knocked me over, and my first shot went well wide but I quickly adjusted as everything seemed to slow down around me.
The man was clearly one of the raiders, he was dressed in dark grey combat fatigues and had a black bandanna tied around his face like a mask. I could see his eyes though, as he turned his body and his weapon towards me. He wasn't using his rifle's sights, but I remembered how to line up the bead at the end of the shotgun barrel. I was prepared for the kick this time, and even as I saw a series of flashes from the muzzle of his rifle I carefully squeezed the trigger three times in quick succession.
The whole affair was strangely silent as I saw the clothes over his abdomen ripple from the impact of my first shot. My second landed higher up, causing little puffs as some of the HDLI shot impacted his weapon while the rest hit his arms and chest. And my third shot tore the bandanna from his face as the cloud of HDLI projectiles sent a spray of red through the air.
The raider crumpled like a robot who's power just failed, but I didn't move yet. I stayed in my crouch and kept watch for any more movement, any other sign of attackers circling around the aft of the ship.
Sure enough another raider came into view a few seconds later. This one was obviously wounded, his right hand was pressed against his side and his movements were erratic. He had a gun in his left hand though, and as soon as he saw his fallen comrade his eyes swept up the side of the ship till he spotted me.
He swung his weapon towards me as he started shooting. It was some kind of submachine-gun and once again I found myself faced with a series of muzzle flashes from a weapon pointed in my direction.
I still had the shotgun raised and ready, I hadn't shifted from my crouch yet. All it took was a few degrees of movement to position the brass bead so it was between my eye and the raider, then I pulled the trigger twice more.
His gun was still firing as he went down, spraying shots in a wide arc before he let go of the weapon.
A few seconds later a third person came into view around the back of the ship and I adjusted my aim again, before I realized it was Jace. I quickly lowered my weapon, then watched as he moved to check the two raiders I'd shot. Then he looked up and spotted me and Jenny by the midship landing gear.
"It's over now Amanda," he stated as he lowered his gun. "Looks like you got the last of them."
Hearing that the fighting was over sent a wave of relief through me, followed immediately by a heavy weariness. I knew I needed to start checking the wounded. I'd seen at least one man get hit, there might be more people in need of medical attention. What I wanted to do though was just lie down right there on the spot and sleep for an hour or two.
Duty won out and I slowly stood up. Something felt off though, there was a strange numbness around the left side side of my waist. I looked down and discovered a spot of blood on my clothes, and I realized I must have been grazed by one of the raiders' shots. Or maybe it was a piece of shrapnel from the shell that hit nearby.
Whatever caused it, I hadn't even noticed and it didn't hurt. So I slung the shotgun over my shoulder and fished the first-aid kit out of my pocket. I'd ask the boss to unseal the ship as soon as I saw her so I could get my medkit, but for now the small kit was better than nothing.
I gave myself a half-dose trauma shot for good measure, then started moving to where I saw that first militia man go down at the start of the fight.
Despite the boost of adrenaline from the meds I still felt exhausted, almost like I was in a daze. I pushed though it though, it was the sort of situation I'd trained for.
Over the next few minutes I felt like I was on autopilot. As I moved from one wounded body to the next I wasn't even paying attention if they were local men or if they were the raiders who'd attacked us.
My focus narrowed so I was only aware of their injuries, everything else was dark and blurry on the periphery. I even tuned out the voices around me as I went through the motions. If the person was dead I moved on, if not I followed the same routine. Inspect the damage, administer a trauma shot, and apply wound sealant.
With the last one finished I stood up again and found myself face to face with Rebecca.
I knew there was something I wanted to ask her but I couldn't remember what it was. And it looked like she was trying to ask me something too, but I couldn't really focus on her words. She looked worried though, and I followed her gaze downwards to see I'd managed to get quite a bit of blood on my clothes while I was doing my job.
When I looked back up again I was surprised to note Sarah was there alongside the boss. Jenny too, and all three of them were leading me towards the Demeter's ramp. I couldn't help feel relieved at the thought that I could finally lay down and get some rest.
In fact I didn't even make it to the other side of the main cargo hold before slipping into the welcome darkness of sleep.
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Jenny and I met Rebecca as the three of us were hurrying back to the ship. My heart was racing as I let her know, "Jace went to tell Finn and the militia. And he sent his dad back home to wait it out with Ella."
Our captain just nodded, "El thinks this is probably a recon mission. They're going to be looking at what kind of defences we have, both the ship and the town."
"Jenny," she added as we approached the ship, "Any chance you can use the Demeter's comm gear to jam their transmissions?"
A wry grin appeared on the android's face, "That's right up my alley captain. I've just reconfigured the sensors. Now I can track any signals they try and send, and block them within the first two hundred milliseconds."
"Should I open up the ship?" Sarah's voice came through the commlink in Rebecca's left hand. "I can come out and join you, or let you three in?"
The boss raised the small device up as she spoke into it, "Negative. Keep my ship buttoned up tight until further notice Sarah. Maybe bring Amanda's medkit down to the main hold incase we need it, but that ship stays sealed until the threat's over."
Jenny turned to face south-west as she commented calmly, "ETA thirty seconds."
I started to turn that way too but my ears twitched to noise behind us so I looked back that way instead.
Jace and Finn and a handful of other men were hurrying to join us. Jace had his cut-down rifle in hand, Finn was holding his heavy rifle, and the rest of them were similarly armed. There were a mix of weapons, including rifles, shotguns, handguns, and one submachine-gun. Likewise the men themselves were a mix of old and young, tall and short, strong and soft. None of them looked like they had military training, all of them looked like farmers.
In fact of the lot, only Rebecca and Finn seemed terribly sure of themselves.
Our captain had her carbine in hand as she moved to take up position next to the Demeter's port-side forward landing gear, which gave her a clear view to the south-west while providing some cover. I slipped the shotgun off my shoulder then followed her lead and took up position by the port-side landing gear amidship, and Jenny crouched behind me.
Meanwhile Finn had his men fan out into a line that ran between the ship and the town south and west of the buildings.
We could all see the two grav-sleds by that point, they were coming in fast and low, no more than twenty meters above the ground. Even at this distance I could see there was a large weapon mounted on the sled on the left.
"Amanda?" the captain didn't take her eyes off the approaching craft as she quietly called my name. "Look after yourself. Same with you Jenny. I'm not expecting you two to fight, just defend yourselves if you have to."
I just nodded quietly as I clicked off the shotgun's safety. Finn and some of his men were shouting instructions back and forth, but I tuned them out and kept my eyes on the two craft. The one on the right suddenly dropped then peeled off to the left while the one with the big gun ontop raised up slightly.
The two craft were only a hundred meters or so away when I saw a puff of white from the mounted weapon.
Rebecca saw it too and shouted, "Incoming!"
A moment later a sharp crack left my ears ringing, while clumps of dirt were thrown up into the air near some of Finn's men. One of them went down with a howl of pain, but the rest of them held their ground and started shooting back.
Rebecca wasn't firing yet, and neither was I. Jenny stayed crouched under cover behind me, but she raised her voice and warned, "I've identified that weapon. It's a forty millimetre recoilless rifle. It could do serious damage to some parts of the ship."
"The other sled has circled around to the east side," she added. "They appear to be preparing to land."
"Understood," the captain replied as she raised her carbine to her shoulder. A moment later my ears were ringing as she carefully squeezed off two short bursts at the sled with the big gun.
Jace and a few of Finn's people turned and headed east to intercept the other grav-sled and cover the starboard side of the ship. And so far I'd done nothing at all but crouch against one of the Demeter's landing gear and watch wide-eyed while everything was going on around me.
Rebecca fired another burst at the sled then shouted, "Incoming!"
This time we all ducked as the shell burst less than a dozen meters in front of me and Jenny. And even with my ears ringing I could hear several sharp clangs as shrapnel peppered the hull and landing gear around me.
The captain was already shooting back, and this time after she squeezed off a burst someone fell from the grav-sled. The sled was still in the air and seemed to be repositioning for another shot at us, while the boss adjusted her aim and fired again.
"Captain? Sarah and I have a solution," Jenny called. "Do I have your permission -"
"Do it!" Rebecca shouted back.
Something moved near the aft landing gear, and a moment later my ears were assaulted by a series of sharp staccato cracks followed by a chest-rattling thud as the grav-sled exploded. It dropped from the air and landed in a burning heap about forty meters from us. A few of the local militia guys cheered, and two of them started running towards the downed sled.
"Stay in cover," the captain told Jenny and I. Then she emerged from her own cover and headed around to check the other side of the ship, where the second sled had disappeared to.
With the fight on this side over I could hear sounds of gunfire from the starboard side. Part of me was tempted to head over that way as well, while another part wanted to stay put. I still hadn't done anything but watch, and that left me feeling torn as I stood there clutching the shotgun in my slightly shaking hands.
I wanted to help, but I knew I wasn't cut out for combat. I was a doctor, not a fighter. Navy, not a marine. And ultimately, I was a small-town farmer like the rest of the people here. I wasn't a soldier.
No sooner had those thoughts crossed my mind when I was startled by a long burst of automatic gunfire to my left. A man was standing there near the aft end of the ship, he had an assault rifle raised to his shoulder and he was firing at some of the local militia men who'd gone to examine the downed grav-sled.
I didn't even really stop to think, as basic training from five years earlier surfaced. Drills and exercises I'd hated with a passion played out in my mind as I sank to one knee and raised the shotgun in a single motion.
The recoil nearly knocked me over, and my first shot went well wide but I quickly adjusted as everything seemed to slow down around me.
The man was clearly one of the raiders, he was dressed in dark grey combat fatigues and had a black bandanna tied around his face like a mask. I could see his eyes though, as he turned his body and his weapon towards me. He wasn't using his rifle's sights, but I remembered how to line up the bead at the end of the shotgun barrel. I was prepared for the kick this time, and even as I saw a series of flashes from the muzzle of his rifle I carefully squeezed the trigger three times in quick succession.
The whole affair was strangely silent as I saw the clothes over his abdomen ripple from the impact of my first shot. My second landed higher up, causing little puffs as some of the HDLI shot impacted his weapon while the rest hit his arms and chest. And my third shot tore the bandanna from his face as the cloud of HDLI projectiles sent a spray of red through the air.
The raider crumpled like a robot who's power just failed, but I didn't move yet. I stayed in my crouch and kept watch for any more movement, any other sign of attackers circling around the aft of the ship.
Sure enough another raider came into view a few seconds later. This one was obviously wounded, his right hand was pressed against his side and his movements were erratic. He had a gun in his left hand though, and as soon as he saw his fallen comrade his eyes swept up the side of the ship till he spotted me.
He swung his weapon towards me as he started shooting. It was some kind of submachine-gun and once again I found myself faced with a series of muzzle flashes from a weapon pointed in my direction.
I still had the shotgun raised and ready, I hadn't shifted from my crouch yet. All it took was a few degrees of movement to position the brass bead so it was between my eye and the raider, then I pulled the trigger twice more.
His gun was still firing as he went down, spraying shots in a wide arc before he let go of the weapon.
A few seconds later a third person came into view around the back of the ship and I adjusted my aim again, before I realized it was Jace. I quickly lowered my weapon, then watched as he moved to check the two raiders I'd shot. Then he looked up and spotted me and Jenny by the midship landing gear.
"It's over now Amanda," he stated as he lowered his gun. "Looks like you got the last of them."
Hearing that the fighting was over sent a wave of relief through me, followed immediately by a heavy weariness. I knew I needed to start checking the wounded. I'd seen at least one man get hit, there might be more people in need of medical attention. What I wanted to do though was just lie down right there on the spot and sleep for an hour or two.
Duty won out and I slowly stood up. Something felt off though, there was a strange numbness around the left side side of my waist. I looked down and discovered a spot of blood on my clothes, and I realized I must have been grazed by one of the raiders' shots. Or maybe it was a piece of shrapnel from the shell that hit nearby.
Whatever caused it, I hadn't even noticed and it didn't hurt. So I slung the shotgun over my shoulder and fished the first-aid kit out of my pocket. I'd ask the boss to unseal the ship as soon as I saw her so I could get my medkit, but for now the small kit was better than nothing.
I gave myself a half-dose trauma shot for good measure, then started moving to where I saw that first militia man go down at the start of the fight.
Despite the boost of adrenaline from the meds I still felt exhausted, almost like I was in a daze. I pushed though it though, it was the sort of situation I'd trained for.
Over the next few minutes I felt like I was on autopilot. As I moved from one wounded body to the next I wasn't even paying attention if they were local men or if they were the raiders who'd attacked us.
My focus narrowed so I was only aware of their injuries, everything else was dark and blurry on the periphery. I even tuned out the voices around me as I went through the motions. If the person was dead I moved on, if not I followed the same routine. Inspect the damage, administer a trauma shot, and apply wound sealant.
With the last one finished I stood up again and found myself face to face with Rebecca.
I knew there was something I wanted to ask her but I couldn't remember what it was. And it looked like she was trying to ask me something too, but I couldn't really focus on her words. She looked worried though, and I followed her gaze downwards to see I'd managed to get quite a bit of blood on my clothes while I was doing my job.
When I looked back up again I was surprised to note Sarah was there alongside the boss. Jenny too, and all three of them were leading me towards the Demeter's ramp. I couldn't help feel relieved at the thought that I could finally lay down and get some rest.
In fact I didn't even make it to the other side of the main cargo hold before slipping into the welcome darkness of sleep.
PurpleCatGirl Can't wait to find out what happens next? Join our Patreon and get immediate access to the next chapter, bonus chapters, and more! Patrons have already read up to chapter 111 and you could too!
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