Truehearts & The Escape From Pirate Moon Jake Macklem (classic romance novels TXT) 📖

him. She can’t shoot bullets from her eyes! Relief vanished when the number two bot fell, spitting sparks and oozing oil from the large hole gaping in its torso. There IS a sniper! He pulled the mic out of his detached hand, stuffed the awful body part into his pocket, and painfully shoved the bloody wound into the folds of his shirt, trying to slow the bleeding.

“Bots, take cover!” Remy ordered. “Locate and target everything outside the ship!” The warbots started moving, each in a separate direction. Numbers Three and Six went toward the loading bay walls to flank the opening, locking down the kill zone. Numbers Four and Five advanced down the ramp and engaged their jet jumpers to blast fifteen meters into the air. When number Five reached the apex of its leap its cranium piece opened and produced a pulse laser that scanned in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle. It spoke in a mechanized voice, “Target acquired.” A moment later a smoky black trail streaked across the sky toward the hovering bot; it exploded in a fireball, raining metal pieces in all directions.

Remy felt like he was sinking into the iron moon as he realized the weapon the sniper was using was his own SolCorp Talon.50 with an attachable missile targeting system. I never even got to kill anyone with it. A cascade of debris and blasted circuitry fell onto the ramp of the ship.

The angel jumped behind a loader for cover and it absorbed the bullets meant for her. Number Four landed on the loader and the angel popped up. Her first shot blasted its leg out and the machine fell over to the ground. Her second shot blasted a hole in its head.

This can’t be happening! I only have two… Another shot rang out and the Number Three warbot fell to the deck in pieces. “No!”

Number Six reached cover and repositioned, aiming its left arm canon out of the opening. Its mechanized voice sounded tinny: “Seeking target!”

“Shank!” Remy looked out over the chaos outside his ship. He could not see the sniper or the angel. “I’m not going to die here!” Struggling to his feet, he thoughtlessly tried to use his missing hand and screamed in pain as he left a bloody streak on the deck. Trying again, he stood and ran toward the ship’s thick-walled armory.

Ace sprinted from the bullet-riddled loader and bound up the ships loading ramp. Her STAR training had taught her an unusual tactic; when the warbot aimed at her, she threw the shotgun aside.

“Unarmed non-target.” Number Six declared in a mechanical voice.

“No!” Remy shouted into the command-mic. “Disengage unarmed safety protocols!” His dead hand tumbled out of his pocket as he awkwardly fumbled for his plasma pistol.

Adjusting to its new parameters, Number Six attempted to re-acquire its target, but too late. The angel leaped at the machine; grabbing its arm, she tucked her legs under her and used the momentum to spin around the warbot’s arm—a trick she learned on the uneven bars. Swinging up, she released her grip and flew into the air, flipping to land on the bot’s shoulders, her feet on either side of its cranium.

Remy watched in slack-jawed astonishment. How is that even possible?

She grabbed the metal hanging around her neck and with both hands she drove her twisted spike into the delicate scanner, piercing the glass and crushing the processing core. The warbot fell over with a grinding whir of ruined components and the angel stepped off as it crashed to the deck.

Remy stepped backward toward the armory, his hand shaking as he aimed at her. “What the shank are you!” He shot his pistol, the blasts going wide. “Stay away from me!”

The lift slid open. T’toli and Getha. Finally. With cheetah-like speed, the O’rix rushed to Remy, blasting her laser pistol at the angel. Behind her, Getha leaned against the lift wall and provided cover fire, forcing Ace to retreat.

Pulling the captain’s unwounded arm over her shoulders, the O’rix helped Remy to the armory. “What is happening!” She asked. She fired her pistol in Ace’s general direction as Getha sprinted to catch up to his comrades.

“We’ve been boarded!” Remy shouted over her gunfire. “The crew is trapped in the cave and the warbots are destroyed.”

“Is it a trap? How many are there?” T’toli demanded as they stumbled past the metal walls of the armory.

“It’s that woman… and a sniper,” Remy revealed as he collapsed on one of the bench seats.

T’toli’s face went slack. “Are you kidding me?”

“I’ve never seen anyone move like her! She took down a warbot with a little chunk of scrap metal! And the sniper shot my hand off!” Remy showed her his bloodied stump, flailing a bloody spray at her for emphasis.

From where he had taken cover behind the door frame, Getha stared at Remy. “What’s the plan?”

“Help the Captain.” T’toli’s eyes narrowed as she stood up. “I will go and deal with this woman.” Laser pistol in hand, she sprinted past the Zontra into the cargo bay.

T’toli will kill the angel… or at least buy me time. Remy groaned in pain. “Will you hurry up and give me a nanoshot? We gotta go!”

Getha grabbed the closest medkit and calmly searched for the right hypo.

T’toli will take care of it.

  27: Cam

Watching through the scope, Cam saw Ace ride the sixth warbot to the ground. She killed a warbot with a metal spike. Unreal. He watched her dodge plasma blasts and laser beams as she rushed to cover. It’s time to move. Cam got up to a kneeling position and started to break down the sniper rifle to repack it in its carrying bag. A moment later the hairs on his neck stood on end. He stopped moving and slowly turned to look down the long, slanted slope. Less than twenty