The Heroic Misadventures of Void Scout Squadron 7

Book 1: Skirmish
I checked my chronoscope for the fourth time that hour. Don't ask why.

Our reinforcements should have arrived by now, I thought anxiously. Those damned Khaeronites were taking their time getting up to our little encampment. That meant that they were being careful to avoid being caught unawares. Which in turn meant that they knew we were here.

The border war on Crucix was taking far longer than it should have. My compatriots and I decided to force the issue. We hadn't known that they had somehow obtained an Aenorean vortex cannon. Most of our landing force had been obliterated during the descent to the planet's surface. As far as I knew, my squad and I were the only survivors.

"Contact!" shouted Kex, my second in command. Kex Vessos had served under me for several years now, ever since I had saved his sorry ass from a pair of male Zutans. He had sworn his undying loyalty to me. I hadn't objected.

Kex leaped up from his hiding spot and unleashed a hail of fire upon the mercenaries. They were tough, but not invulnerable. "The neck! Aim for the neck!" I shouted to him. He obliged, sending a Khaeronite to whatever awaited him in the afterlife. I raised and sighted my exotic rifle, waiting for an opportunity.

Kex took it upon himself to make one.

He bellowed in barely contained fury, and charged the nearest Khaeronite soldiers. They whirled in shock, but were too late to realize the danger. Kex knocked out one with the butt of his autogun, and hurled another at a spike of rock several spans away. Khaeronites have no bones, but I heard a distinctly bonelike crunching sound. I shuddered in disgust. Kex was a valiant warrior, but sometimes I thought he was rather barbaric.

Making use of the distraction Kex's carnage had caused, I aimed my rifle and fired. The snap of the sonic energy leaving the barrel rattled my bones, and startled several combatants in the area. The bolt of sound slammed into a mercenary, shattering his crystalline carapace and liquefying his insides.

One down, a hundred to go.

Several of my men broke away from the main fight in order to trail an escapee. "Catch him quickly! We can't let word of our involvement here spread!" I told them over my comlink. "Yes, sir!" one replied.

I decided to advance our position. There was a small, rocky hill about twenty spans from our main encampment. It would be perfect as a gunner tower.

"Kex! Go pick up one of those turret guns and follow me!" I shouted. Kex looked at me, then the armory, then the hill. His savage grin grew wider. "Yes, sir!" he yelled back. He charged into the armory, not bothering to use the door. He emerged a minute later, carrying a portable turret gun over his shoulder. "Will this do?" he asked.

"That's perfect," I said, a sly grin appearing on my own face. I pointed at the outcrop. "We're going to set up a gunner tower on that hill and give ourselves some breathing room. Bring the turret over here." Kex nodded and loped over, the turret bouncing slightly on his back. I leaped up to the craggy tor and began clearing some of the debris to make his ascent easier. Even with his legendary strength, the weight of the turret prevented him from making any substantial jumps.

Suddenly, a burst of laser fire sheared off several shards of rock to my left. A Khaeronite gunship had observed our actions and deduced our intent. "Heads up, Kex!" I yelled, and dived behind a chunk of rock. Here, I could take stock of the situation and hopefully mount a counterassault.

I sighted my sonic rifle towards the gunship, and squeezed the trigger.

The concussive bolt of sonic energy blasted the hull of the vessel, pulverizing its armor. I leaped from my hiding spot and vaulted onto the side of the gunship. A Khaeronite soldier leaned out of the breach to dislodge me from the side of the ship. I grabbed his arm and wrenched him out of the damaged craft. I heard Kex chuckle at my forcefulness through the comm. "Careful, Arc," he chortled. "Don't get cocky."

I grinned. My friend Kex has the most sardonic sense of humor I've ever encountered.

I heaved myself into the damaged gunship. The pilot must have heard me, because he burst into the hold and leveled his gun at me. I did what anyone else would have done. I closed the distance in a single step, slapped his weapon aside, and cracked my head into his.

He stumbled backward and collapsed. I dragged him over to the hull breach and heaved him out into the sky. I then set about making sure the vehicle couldn't be recovered; I planted several ionic charges at vital spots on the ship, which would destroy its major functions.

Even if the vessel survived the inevitable crash, it would be a long time before it was combat-worthy again.

I ran to the hull breach and dove into the yawning abyss below me. I fell, free as a bird, and caught hold of another Khaeronite ship, a speeder. I shoved its pilot out of his seat, and set about familiarizing myself with the controls. I had learned how to fly Khaeronite vessels during my training, but had never used one while engaged in battle. I suppose it was high time I learned how.

I swung the speeder around and sped back to the outcrop, where Kex had been able to set up the turret gun and was holding off a trio of Khaeronite soldiers. He dispatched one, and turned to look at me. "Took you awhile, Arc!" he yelled. "I was just cleaning up," I retorted. "You seem to have things under control here anyway!" He took out another mercenary with an energy bolas.

"I was making sure you had an opportunity to get back on the ground in one piece," he growled, but I saw a good-natured gleam in his eyes. "It worked," I said.

"Damn right," he said, blasting the last Khaeronite with a hail of gunfire.