The Long Goodbye, Chapter Six
16 Jan 2018Kyndi the Badass Space Chick
Matthew Victor Lehman scowled.
With a pair of battered field binoculars he could see the perimeter of Blackstar mercs that
surrounded the safehouse. They crouched behind armored vehicles, with mobile energy fields covering
whatever heavy plate didn’t. In the air a Federal Dropship circled ominously. Even with heavy weapons,
the scrappy Gold Crew inhabitants wouldn’t stand a chance.
The hunter lowered the binoculares. “All this talk about the high ground, and I don’t feel a lick
safer now that I’ve got it.”
Kyndi looked at her feet, and then to Ailsa.
“Surely you have a contingency plan for something like this. A secret exit- something!”
The woman shook her head. “Look around yourself- pipes held together with rust, and paint older
than I am. A secret passageway could bring the whole thing down, even it could be constructed without
anyone noticing!”
Kyndi nodded, understanding. “And it’s no fortress, either.”
“Exactly. We’re that rarest of Gold Crew specimens. The kind that hide with pride.”
An amplified voice rang through the city block. It was a woman’s, throaty and domineering.
“This is Blackstar. We know you’re hiding Snakes in there. The first one out lives. All the rest get
a one way ticket to meet that Great Serpent of yours!”
Kyndi looked down at her pilfered uniform. “Guess that last patrol didn’t buy the disguise, huh?”
Lehman shook his head. “Reckon they didn’t.”
Raddick was silent, his face hard. Outside, columns of troops were lining up, one holding a
powered battering ram. It wouldn’t be long before the forced their way into the building. His voice
dropped.
“How long can you hold them? Get their attention, make them fight you?”
Ailsa looked his way. “In a straight-up fight? Five minutes. Less, if that Dropship opens up.”
The serpent-armed man strode to the window, pointing.
“The starport is that way, and the streets are clear. We’re here for only one reason- to extract the
Elder’s granddaughter. As for your people-”
He drew himself up, looking each man and woman in the eye. “It would seem that the Great
Serpent has one final use for your lives.”
For the rest of the chapter, click here!