The perfect sunrise

Started by thryllth, April 11, 2019, 04:04:39 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

thryllth

How in the hell do you explain why your cook and chief doctor are the only people defending your colony?  Well in this case it was a matter of sheer dumb luck.  Huyana had some free time and instead of watching tv, playing pool or enjoying a nice bath she decided that morning to watch the sun come up.  Sunki was in the middle of making some animal feed and had run out of hay so she left the kitchen and went to get it herself since the bots were still down for the night to charge, and everyone else was in bed.  If it had been any other two colonists I suspect this story would have a very different ending but I always figured that if the medic and cook were fighting things have officially gone down the crapper so they should have weapons meant to ensure whatever is trying to kill them gets an immediate appointment with whichever deity it prefers.  Huyana had just been given a new gun, a very nice double barreled full auto machine gun that fires .75 caliber high explosive gyroscopic rounds.  Sunki seemed to prefer one of the first weapons we ever scavenged off an enemy a rather heavy slugthrower that while not the most accurate could put out a huge amount of rounds.

So when the alarms went off sheer chance led to the two people who have the most firepower being the only two who could reach the defensive line before the enemy would have been past it and into the base.  Dumb luck saved the day.

=====
Huyana knew she had things that needed doing, but for just this moment she couldn't bring herself to care.  This was to perfect of a sunrise to care about anything else, the crops in the hydroponics bay would keep for a few minutes, the prisoners weren't even awake yet so no need to worry about delivering meals and it was so quiet and peaceful in the orchard.  She lay on her back and took a moment away from the colony.  It was one of those mornings, cold as a stepmothers heart but the sky was the shade of blue you only got on really cold days and so she stole a brief moment to herself.

The rumble was the first thing she heard,  something was coming in fast and it was way to big to be just a couple cargo pods.  Scrambling to her feet she sprinted to the defensive line as she heard the alarms go off.  Her heart thudding in her chest she screamed for the traders to get out of the area, outside the wall and hoped forlornly that what was coming was just some fool having given a bunch of tribals drop pods.  The group of pods slammed into the soil to her right as she crossed the courtyard and lay there steaming as she vaulted the parapets at the base of the hill leading to the door into the mountain.

Again it was quiet but this time only for a moment, a split second when the world stopped and only the gentle steaming of the ground below the drop pods of the invaders showed that time hadn't stopped completely.  Then it erupted into noise and flame, the explosive bolts blowing the walls of the pods clear and without even looking to see what was coming out she opened fire sending a hail of rounds into whatever was inside.  The attackers returning fire but they were in the open and the heavy carbon fiber wall on both sides of her firing slit kept her safe from all but the ozone reek of the energy discharge after their rounds impacted.  Rolling to the side to reload she saw the door open into the mountain open and a slight form sprinted out taking advantage of a brief lull in the fight to make for the relative safety of the wall.  One step, two, three and they stumbled and fell, rolling down the hill and catching up against the defenses with an unladylike "Oof".

Reloading finished she turns to continue putting fire into the attackers, recognizing them for members of a local cult who replace every biological component they can with bionics.  A motion out of the left side of her vision shows her Sunki limbering her weapon, an old machine gun she has named "Stubby" into firing position and opening up on anything not lying on the ground.  "Only the two of us, at least twelve of them, maybe we can hold the line long enough for the others to open the emergency exit and escape into the hills." she thinks.  Then there is a roar of flame from the orchard, it engulf the entire enemy left flank, four of them drop in moments and out of the smoke she sees the traders she told to flee emerge.

Though few in number their weapons were just as exotic as their wares and the small furred humanoids fought in a manner that belied their stature.  It was enough to turn the tide, their home would survive another day.
=====

SusanLane


hunterfam

This is really nice. I really enjoyed reading it.
Keep writing this stuff as is it, for me, high quality forum content.

=)