But now the Inorganics were closing in on the masses of cubs who hadn't or couldn't make a break when Dardo and his pals did. Kami had to do something fast, or the slaughter would begin in seconds. He knelt in the shelter of the blockhouse doorway, calculated his timing carefully, got his shoulders under the massive porcelain handle of the knife switch, and heaved it back up again to close the circuit.
The energy wall sprang back into existence, a red curtain of death-and there were two Odeons standing in its field. Both appeared to writhe in agony. An instant later, they vanished in twin flares of blinding discharge.
Kami saw that he had been in time; the rest of the Inorganics were outside their own wall, cut off from the hostages. That might not last more than a few seconds, but every second was infinitely important now.
He gathered up his gun and turned, racing back to the fire pit.
"Are you sure we can't raise Max and Wolff?" Rick asked without turning to Jack; Rick was busy assuming control of the missile racks, retracting their covers and adjusting his targeting scope.
Jack frowned at his commo board. "Negative, sir. Maybe if we got up high enough and tried one of the helmet radios in an outer hatch-"
"No time!" Rick cut him off, and he was right. Even as he spoke, a Hellcat leapt into view and covered the ground between itself and Kami with frighteningly long leaps. But Rem had already snapped the shuttle through a turn and was beginning another run.
The guy's a natural, Rick concluded-how else to explain Rem's facility with a Karbarran vessel? He might be a scholar's apprentice, but he had great reflexes and coordination.
Rick got the Hellcat in his sights even while Karen was zeroing in on another Inorganic, an Odeon that had been circling toward the children by the fire pit. Karen hit her mark with a sustained beam; it stood its ground and shot back with everything it had.
They felt the shuttle jar from a partial hit and Rem started assessing the damage, wondering if he could keep the vessel in the air. Karen's long burst cut the Odeon in two at the waist and it fell apart in a cluster of secondary explosions. Rick's first two missiles missed the Hellcat completely, their warheads fountaining flame and dirt and rock to either side of it.
But even though the shuttle's flight was becoming more and more erratic, Lron-who had taken over the stern gun pods-got a stream of autocannon rounds into the 'Cat. Its hindquarters began dragging, crippled, and Kami was increasing his lead on it.
Rick thought it was unlikely that the shuttle could get high enough to attempt contact with the Skulls even if it could break away from the battle when he heard a hatch open. He turned and saw Bela disappearing into the aft hold.
"Hey! Get back here!" But she was gone, though the hatch stood open. Rick didn't know what she was up to, but he wasn't sure the amazons really knew how advanced technology worked. "Baker, make sure she doesn't wreck us!"
He looked at Gnea, who had looked up from her weapons position. "You stay at your post!"
He didn't need two of these overdeveloped Valkyries wandering around in the middle of a fight. Gnea looked as if she might give him some lip, then went back to manning the upper-hull ball-turret mount via remote.
Jack lurched aft, grateful that the shuttle wasn't doing-couldn't do-any sudden maneuvering that would mash him against the hull. When he got through the hatch he found Bela crouching by the emergency ejection hatch. Apparently, she had fired the escape capsule that was there and, when the outer hatch reclosed, had somehow gotten Halidarre to sort of crouch with legs folded and wings pulled in.
She looked up at him. "It's the only way to get a signal through," she said, tapping the mike Lang had installed on her battle helm. "And I could use a gunner, Jack Baker."
No time to go ask permission. Personal initiative, Baker! he told himself. But the thought of the Inorganics closing in on the defenseless cubs made it even easier to decide.
"How d'you stay on one a' these things?" He said it as he jumped to a rack of weapons, undipped a magazine-fed rocket launcher-about all the extra weight he could safely handle, he figured-and staggered over to her while the shuttle jarred.
"Mount behind me," she said, "and fasten yourself in with the belt there." He did, finding a retractable safety belt built into the rear of the cantle. Bela was already secured with the saddle's belt.
Jack managed to both hang onto the launcher and close his flight helmet. Activating his commo unit, he heard Rick Hunter ranting.
"— the hell are you two doing back there? Get up here, that's an order!"
"Sorry, Rick Hunter," Bela said calmly. "But I'll give your regards to Max Sterling. By the way, Baker here is braver than he looks."
Or maybe dumber, Jack thought.
She punched a button on the inner hull and pulled her hand back quickly. The ejection-port cover rolled shut and there was a feeling like being shot from a cannon. Jack glimpsed the ground, spinning up at him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
FILE #28364-4758
BAKER, JACK R.
Subject was orphaned of all close family members during the Robotech War, his last relatives having been tilled during Khyron's final onslaught.
This young man has erected defenses against close emotional ties, although, bafflingly, he manifests none of the hostility or self-destructiveness that traditional theory would predict. He demonstrates far-above-average intelligence, dexterity, and, in cases where it is not threatening to him.
compassion-particularly toward individuals who have been victimized.
He simply seems to have turned off his pain by not investing anyone with the considerable affection of which he seems capable.
While there is no valid justification for denying this youth Academy entrance, particularly in light of his scores, it should be remembered by military authorities that this client shows a certain hostility toward discipline and may be unsuited to military service.
Caseworker 594382, Global Care Authority
"I'm sorry, Lisa; they're just not here. We're widening the search pattern," Max Sterling said, sounding a little helpless. He had a child himself, back on Earth.
The Skulls and Wolff Pack and all the scouts were unable to locate the Karbarran children, and more and more Invid reinforcements were arriving at the capital city. Three more mecha had been lost: a Spartan, a Raidar, and, tellingly, an Excaliber that had virtually disappeared under a mass of flailing Scrim and Crann and Hellcats.
The Destroids were holding their own in some places. But in others they were pushed back inexorably, in furious, point-blank, sometimes hand-to-hand exchanges, by Invid who didn't seem to care how heavy their losses were. The GMU had deployed to a point on the other side of the landing site, bringing all but its heaviest weapon to bear; but given the nature of the street-fighting, neither it nor Farrago could give much fire support without the risk of hitting friendlies or civilians.
Lisa had hoped the general populace might pitch in, if only to create diversions. But the Karbarrans were staying out of it, no doubt hoping against logic that their children might still be spared.
A report came in that the perimeter to the south was collapsing; the Invid had somehow brought down an entire row of high rises on the MAC Us and Spartans there, literally pinning them down, and had waded in to dismember them.
Lisa was reluctantly coming to the conclusion that the mission was a failure. She looked out from the bridge at the flaming city, and prepared to give the Destroids and the GMU the command to fall back in orderly fashion to the ship to withdraw from the city.
If we can just get through that dome, she reminded herself.
The order was on her lips when a strange sound came over the command net. It was a kind of-of singing. Three notes like a hunting bird's scream made into music. Then a voice said, "This is Bela, of Praxis! We've found the children! Home in on my beacon! Sentinels, come join the fight!"