There were eight armored warriors remaining. According to what Yuri’d said, they’d taken care of about six of them before I got there, so it seemed like there was a large number of them that suddenly appeared in this open space.
A burst of pulse beams rained down.
We rolled out of the way and jumped to the rear of the car to avoid the beams. The type of weapon the armored warriors were using were long-range automatic laser guns. You didn’t see these in close-range battles. That’s probably what they had the swords for. Those were more than likely specially made electromagnetic sabers.
I kept my back up against the rear wheel. It appeared that the armored soldiers were circling the open area. They had reached just outside the spot where I’d so gracefully dismounted Mugi. Our Mugi had sensed an abnormality and dove into the ring of circling warriors. He returned glares from a number of armored soldiers. Dumb cat! Why couldn’t you move when I needed you? That was a close one, you know!
“It’s a pretty close match with the security staff here,” whispered Yuri after crawling over to my side. “The heatguns work well on a frontal attack, but ray guns won’t help us at all here. They’d only work if we could hit a joint, and even then, who knows? They still won’t give us enough damage. If these guys are anything like the ‘shadows’ we saw before, then we are in deep trouble.”
I got it now. The security staff has nothing but ray guns. Thinking about it, even though Yuri had borrowed a heatgun from the mayor, disaster still loomed over the collective group.
Pow pow pow… a barrage of bright beams flew. Before my eyes threads of light shot back and forth. Both sides were using ray guns. Understanding their disadvantage, the security staff was doing what they could to rise to the challenge.
I poked my head around the side of the car to see what the situation looked like.
At the same time, a barrage of pulse beams aimed at me came flying my way.
One of the beams grazed my cheek. With a high-pitched squeal the polymer evaporated.
“Hot! Hot! How-ch!”
I pulled my head back in a panic.
That was close. Shoosh. I really shouldn’t be so reckless. Up until a minute ago I could have stood up and not been shot at. Suddenly a strange beast came over the summit of the mountain. Its unexpected arrival must have taken the other side by surprise, as well This was actually to our advantage.
I got very interested in this new development.
“Ugraawr!”
From somewhere, Mugi let out a ferocious roar.
That growl.
He was angry. Really angry. He was in a rage. One of the armored warriors must have shot Mugi with a laser gun. He must not know Mugi’s penchant for slicing through flesh. Mugi has been acclimated to live with people, but when he gets angry, pre-domesticated Mugi rears his head. When he gets in that mode a hundred United Space Force Special Elite troops couldn’t contain him.
“No way! Cool!”
I heard Yuri squealing from somewhere above my head.
I looked up to see that at some point Yuri had climbed up the body of the car. Lying across the roof, she looked out onto what was happening. Hmph, how’d she get so smart? Surely she had her heatgun out and ready. From up there it would be easy to fall back, and she had a good view of the enemy’s movements. Not to be left out, I grabbed onto a protrusion on the car’s body to pull myself up.
I hiked up my long slender leg to push myself up onto the roof. But right then!
“Aa!”
Yuri let out a little scream.
“They’re coming! That way!”
She pointed a finger my way.
They’re coming? Who’s coming?
As Yuri said those words I immediately turned around to see. If enemies were on their way, I couldn’t be caught in this precarious position. This was no time to be reckless.
Quickly I let go of the car.
Wait, wait, wasn’t my leg still perched up on the car?
My field of vision spun around. I was just under a meter from the ground.
Again, I fell tailbone first.
Intense pain. Scream.
Crying, I pulled myself up. Not wanting to be chomped, I whipped out my heatgun.
“Don’t shoot!” Yuri yelled, stopping me. I looked up. This same Yuri was blasting way with her own heatgun like crazy.
“Umigyaa!”
A black mass rolled up in front of me. I jumped back, but was still in the black ball’s path. It grazed me and did a U-turn.
It was Mugi. It was Mugi coming our way. But, it wasn’t Mugi alone. Someone was hanging onto his back. A slender man in a gray suit was straddling Mugi’s back and had his hands around his neck.
It was the mayor.
He timidly lifted his head from Mugi’s back. He was a ghastly shade of pale. His hair was mussed up and his eyes were bloodshot.
“What in the world happened?” I asked the mayor.
“It was no use,” he said, shaking his head. “The enemy got a fresh supply of troops. About twenty men. They got Burmis. And Leagan is injured. We were no match.”
“Chk…”
I snapped my tongue. The armored warriors had reinforcements. This was the worst case scenario. And now we had to take care of the mayor, too. Protecting this twig of a man would take a lot of work.
The security staff would need to at least help out with that part.
I looked into the mayor’s eyes, then at the Pegasus. The VTOL was in bad shape, but not completely out of commission.
“Mayor,” I said. “You know how to fly that thing?”
“If it is just flying, then I have a license for that. But—”
“Okay!” I said quickly, cutting him off. If he had a license, then he had experience. The rest was up to luck.
“Mugi, get the mayor on to the Pegasus!”
“Wai-wait…”
No time for chitchat or protests.
With the mayor still on his back, Mugi jumped into the air. Yuri and I protected ourselves with our heatguns.
From the roof of the car Mugi jumped onto the wing of the Pegasus, then using his feelers, he lifted the mayor up. After opening the hatch, he tossed the skinny body of the mayor in.
“Gyaa!”
There was a bloodcurdling scream telling us that the mayor had made it aboard. At the same time Mugi stowed the gangway and shut the hatch.
Mugi turned around and returned to my side. Staring at the Pegasus, the fine hair where his ears should be started to oscillate.
The Pegasus’ engine started. Yuri jumped from on top of the car. We both got low to the ground. The engine sound began to rise in pitch. The hot wind from the jets swirled around.
“Yuri!” I yelled, turning to her. He face was right in front of mine, but the engine noise was too loud. If I didn’t shout she wouldn’t be able to hear me.
“Once the Pegasus lifts off, we run to the tunnel. If we can attack from there, it’s closer to a one-on-one battle!”
“Gotcha!” Yuri shrieked back. The Pegasus began to float. The landing gear went slack, and finally separated from the ground. Sand and dust blew up and danced in the air, and for a moment the whole scene was pure white. As the Pegasus rose it was surrounded by its own sandstorm. It was hard to keep my eyes open. I couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t even make out the Pegasus’ form.
The engine sound shifted to a pitch higher.
It changed into a deafening metallic sound.
This sound slowly got quieter.
It was because it was gaining altitude. The wind from the exhaust was not shooting laterally, but straight down.
Now!
I tapped Yuri’s shoulder and stood up.
I still couldn’t see clearly, but the mine was close. I had a good idea of where it was.
We sprinted across the open area with all our might.
The Pegasus was in the distance. The wind died down, and the sand and dust settled back to the ground. The tunnel entrance was now visible to us.
Which meant…
The armored warriors could see us, too.
We flew into the tunnel entrance, and twisted to land with our backs to the tunnel wall.
That was close. As we pressed ourselves behind the wall, a flurry of laser blasts lit up the entrance to the mine.
The dark tunnel was briefly lit up in white light. The rocks around the opening created by the earthquake were glowing a bright red, and were starting to melt.