Duncan

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  Duncan looked at Dam’ien out of the corner of his eyes as the larger robot started to walk towards them. As it just let the shots from the others hit it, Duncan glared as the Wall Walkers started to walk up the sides. There weren’t any of the wedged-shaped drones, and that was good. But that bigger one, had to be stronger than the others. “You don’t know what you’re asking! There are things beyond! We were attacked by meat eaters that could make people drunk with light!”

  “My people’s masks are made to handle those attacks! Just give me a place to let me fight that thing!” Dam’ien said with an edge to his voice. “My techs are best when I have no possibility of collateral damage!”

  Duncan looked at him with a glare, and then he nodded. It would be a lot easier to handle the robots without having to deal with the larger one. “Okay, good luck! NW PLAN! THE ANCIENT IS TAKING THE BIG ONE OUT THERE! OPEN THE SHIELD AT THE RIGHT STATION, FIVE FOOT WIDE, FIVE UP! BUT PUT THAT ON A TIMMER TO CLOSE! How long do you need?!?”

  “Ten seconds only once I have it!” Dam’ien said, laughter in his voice.

  “TIMER TEN SECONDS! Fine, you call when you’re ready to move!” Duncan bellowed. He knew the others would have a lot to say to him about this, but he made his choice. It might be the wrong one, but he was in the hot seat, so it was his duty. He just had to hope that this was the right one.

  “Thank you, Sir! I’ll let your watchers know I’m ready to come in when I’m done!” Dam’ien said and then he shot into the air. “And the time is now!”

  Duncan could only watch as Dam’ien pulled his hands back and shot them forward into the air above the pit. He jumped ten feet up and five feet forward, throwing his arms back as he hung in the air. As he fell, he swept his arms forward and did so, ten-foot-long spikes suddenly appearing around them. Then they rocketed away, hitting the central circle with the flying tri-pyramids and the center of the flying wedges. Then he was on the ground, and his arms were around the giant robot. Before it could react, Dam’ien and it disappeared and they were suddenly five feet above the clearing.

  “HOLE NOW PEOPLE!” Duncan bellowed again.

  Then Dam’ien disappeared again, carrying the robot. Duncan watched as the hole opened and then Dam’ien and the robot appeared past it. Duncan thought he saw Dam’ien nod before the both of them disappeared again. It was all Duncan could do to keep firing at the few remaining robots as the shield closed. The next few minutes were filled with chaos as the last of the robots were destroyed.

  As the battle ended, Duncan looked into the pit and saw the shattered remains sparking there. Looking at the hole, he scowled as he tried to plan how to handle it now, and then he heard a broken laugh behind him. With a sigh, as he recognized the voice laughing, he turned to see Tatrina with a broken look on her face.

  “Something the matter?” Duncan asked as one of the other deckhands came to him.

  “Boss, some of us think we should go and get those remains out of there now before those things could rebuild them. Might slow them down,” The deckhand said.

  Duncan turned and his eyes found the last null gravity generator. Thinking about it, he sighed as he nodded, looking back at the deckhand. “Do it! But move that generator first so the field will let you all carry those parts fast! I want it off when the next wave comes, I’m not helping those things!”

  As the deckhand moved off, Duncan sighed as he looked down at Tatrina.

  “They were playing with us. The war. They were just playing with us. They sent in robots while they could do that? Just what was the war to them?” She muttered as she rocked back and forth.

  Duncan sighed and looked at Tatrina, knowing just what she was feeling. The war was a nightmare and the way that the Ancie….. That Dam’ien acted, so many theories about them were just fiction. And now there was one of them on the same island as he was. And that wasn’t even talking about the diplomatic team. All in all, this was the headache that he had been fighting for a while now.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Duncan? What did he mean by team? How did he know the ship’s name?” Tatrina asked as she suddenly got back control.

  Duncan looked down at her and he mentally went over what he could say, and how she would react. There was no good way to say this, and he needed to talk to Bradford about what happened. How the rest of the people were going to react to their new ‘friend’ was a nightmare to even consider right now. And the worst was that he could see nothing that would let his soften the blow for Dam’ien. But he could draw it out for as long as he could.

  “Corporate didn’t tell you anything about them?” Duncan asked as Tatrina looked at him.

  “Don’t stall Duncan! What was that being talking about!?” Tatrina demanded.

  Duncan looked at her and sighed. “The ship was transporting a group of Ancients to a treaty signing. And from the way that Dam’ien was talking, it seems that someone on their side was playing politics with us all.”

  “What!?” Tatrina asked fear and horror in her voice. She looked around, trying to understand anything that Duncan told her.

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  Tatrina

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  Tatrina could only stare at Duncan in horror as her mind played back what he said. That politics could result in civilian death, was something she accepted. She hated those scum and had loved to bring them down. But the idea that the company would do that without telling her? How much were they keeping from her, were they involved with the smuggling after all?

  “You okay girl?” Duncan asked after a few moments of silence.

  Tatrina looked up and then she knew that she had to hide what she was thinking. There was a good chance that there might be people who were involved with her case here. And if she told Duncan, then he could tell others or he could be bugged. Best not to take the chance.

  “Stars and void! They were on the ship and I never knew?!” Tatrina spat in fake disgust. She saw Duncan raise his right eyebrow and she just looked at him with hard eyes.

  “There was nothing to know. They stayed in their suite and used the drones to watch. Some of them used the shipboard gaming systems, but that was it,” Duncan said with a slight shrug.

  “What about food, did they bring enough for the trip with them then?” Tatrina asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm

  “Nope! But we just had to set up quarantine protocols and everything was fine. Set up the airlock for food myself. We made a story that a guest had a compromised immune system and we were taking them for treatment!” Duncan said with a grin.

  Tatrina looked at him and then she face-palmed and started to mutter. She had heard about that, but as the company had a record of carrying those cases, she had ignored the rumors. And that there was something that Duncan must have set up himself.

  She looked at the null gravity generator as the deckhands started to move it. The plan that Duncan had made was being put into practice as she watched. Frankly, the idea of using Null gravity to help move things was amazing. The sheer potential uses of such a field like that in planet-bound complexes were uncountable.

  “Nice idea there,” Tatrina said absently as she tried to control her heart rate.

  “Yeah, it was. But we have a lot of things to do. Are you fine telling Bradford who you are?” Duncan asked as Tatrina, getting her attention. She felt her mouth drop open as she turned, seeing Duncan looking down at the pit, his pistol pointing down. She was about to say something when he started to speak. “I need to stay here, I will not let that breach point alone until we can close it. And he needs to know what happened.”

  Tatrina looked at him and then she sighed, nodding. Her mission was done anyway, there was nothing more that she could learn from these people. The last month had been a waste, and if she could help Duncan handle the civilians, then that was enough for her.

  “Yeah, I can tell him. What do you want him to know?” Tatrina asked.

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  Vivian

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  As she watched Duncan talk to the investigator, Vivian had to admit that Duncan was a master strategist.

  “Get him to my office. I want to tell him nothing. But you need to tell him everything. That robots are attacking us and that we let an Ancient out of the Hibernation Cell. He doesn’t know about the ambassador team, so tell him about them.”

  Vivian looked at Tatrina and scowled a little, not fully trusting her just yet. She had a few experiences with people like her during the last War, and the corrupted ones were the worst. But then maybe she was just projecting, but still. She saw Duncan look at her and flash a sign at her out of sight and she shook her head. As far as she was concerned, she couldn't wait to find out that she, Dalila, and Jessie were Hunters.

  “How do I get him alone to talk then? Do you have any idea how we can do that at least?” Tatrina asked, her voice exasperated.

  “Yes. He knows that Vivian here is my aid. She’ll get him. Vivian, tell him that there’s some privileged information that he needs to know. That way you’ll able to tell him Tatrina,” Duncan said with a solid tone. He turned his head and looked at Vivian, and she only nodded back at him.

  Vivian looked at Tatrina as she turned her head to gaze at her. She felt a smirk forming on her face, and she felt good about herself. Her skills at tricking people were just part of how she hunted her prey, and she liked to keep it in practice. “Yeah, just give me a few minutes to get him, and then we’ll be fine.”

  “Okay, then let’s be off!” Tatrina said as she turned and walked towards the capsule.

  Before she walked off, she looked at Duncan. “Remember Duncan, don’t think the team that went in are dead just yet. And be ready to drop the shield so they can get out of there.”

  “That’s why I’m staying here, just for that. Go, make sure that the cargo doesn’t riot. And good luck,” Duncan said, smirking at her.

  With a nod, Vivian dashed off and joined Tatrina as she floated down to the capsule. With a sigh, she jumped down and prepared herself for what was going to be a problem. The one thing she knew about Bradford was that he always tried to use everything to get ahead. She had seen him make a few deals back on the ship, and they were always in his favor. Even when they seemed to be against him, they still gave him the lion’s share once she looked them over. He was worse than a snake, someone who seemed to get pleasure from getting ahead of others.

  “So, talk to Bradford much? Is he as slimy as the tabloid pages say he is?” Tatrina asked a note of disgust in her voice.

  Vivian only looked at the woman and shook her head. “Sleazy is being kind. The only thing worse would be if he was commanding those robots.”

  “This is going to be fun then, isn’t it?” Tatrina said with gloom in her voice.

  “Look on the bright side. Once we tell him what’s happening out here, and not try to bargain with him!” Vivian said and Tatrina laughed at it