Galactic Cyborg Heat Series Book Bundle 1-4 Page 10

“Holding 97%.” Dark told him.

  Burn turned towards him, “breaching deck 3 in operation.”

  “Security to breach in deck C.” Pain called out. Kim went to move with Dare and C who were clearly going to join the defence of deck 3.

  “Where do you think you’re going female?” Rage called out.

  “Staying with your men and doing my fucking job as part of this crew. You do yours and neutralise those fuckers.” She ran for the door.

  Rage, raged. “Do not get hurt. I will be angry.” Kim laughed and the doors shut behind her.

  They moved swiftly down the corridors. They were giving her a verbal up date as the ship shuddered from another shot against the hull. It threw Kim into the wall. Fuckers! C had reached out and grabbed her just before contact. It wouldn’t have been pleasant.

  “Thanks.” C nodded and carried on down the corridor. They dropped two levels and entered deck 3. Shouting and fire fight could be heard. The hull had been breached. Shit. Kim moved quickly after C and Dare. Shots were coming out of a corridor ahead. Rages men were scary in their defence. Literally throwing themselves at the problem. Kim worried for their safety.

  “Tell them to stop acting like road kill and dig in.” She shouted to C. He looked at her confused and Dare glazed off. She hoped he was passing on the command.

  “We have approx. 20 unidentified heat signatures. Our forces have engaged.” No shit sherlock, thought Kim. “They are holding them at the breach.” Dare told her. Kim nodded gun in hand. Dare suddenly stopped and turned to look behind them.

  “Possible second breach ……. “ Kim thought he looked like he was straining to hear something. He looked at C and glazed over.

  “Tell me.” She demanded.

  “Second breach behind us. They appear to be trying to box us in. We need to move. We will get caught here.” Dare and C herded her off in another direction. It made no sense and Kim stopped.

  “Why are we going in this direction.” They both turned and looked at her.

  “It is the safest place. Out of danger. The chances of non-engagement are now too low.” Kim held her temper.

  “Says who? And that better not be Rage.” She turned to a camera. “Or his ass is grass.” She shouted. Then turned back to Dare and C. “Get us to the second breach point, NOW.” And ran off in the direction they had just come from. They followed.

  C stopped her moving forward as they approached a junction. Dare looked around it slowly.

  “Left 20 yards.” He whispered.

  Both C and Kim nodded. They headed in that direction. No one had to tell Kim, that if that second group got to the first, their men would be in trouble. They had to hold this second group.

  “Tell me you informed the Bridge.” Dare nodded.

  “Rage is not happy you are caught up in this.” Kim smiled.

  “He was never going to be happy.” She shrugged. “Now he knows it. Let’s do this.”

  They slipped around the corner and stopped by a wall panel. Dare pressed his hand to it and the panel slid back. Dare grabbed several more weapons and grenades. He passed some to Kim and C. “They are breaching in this section. Once we go in, wait until I give the order. Then aim everything at the breach and keep them there, until our men get to us or their dead. Got it.” Kim nodded. He’d verbalised for her. He could communicate to C via his neuro net. Kim was thankful for that. She took a deep breath.

  Dare looked at each of them in turn, before placing his hand on the panel for the door to open. The door slid opened and smoke met them. The sound of metal being forced open met them along with the smoke. They ran quickly for cover. It was a large storage room. A couple of men were already inside the breach. They turned towards them as they ran in. They appeared surprised but recovered quickly and started firing.

  “Fire, keep them pinned down.” Dare called out going for cover.

  Kim headed to the left as Dare headed right and C stayed in the middle. Kim grabbed two grenades and activated them. She darted out and threw them at the two taking up point for the uninvited guests. Then dived behind a section of crates. The explosion rocked the ship. Kim looked back at Dare and C with a shit hot grin. They were both grinning back at her. She gave them a nod and turned back to look in the direction of the breach.

  The grenades had blasted a bigger hole. She hadn’t intended that. Shit. That made it easier for them. Both men were down. One still moving. C fired at him and he stopped. Smoke and debris filled the air. Kim could see movement beyond the breached hole. More were coming. Kim stayed on her toes. They wouldn’t be taken by surprise a second time. She moved further away and headed for the wall.

  Just in time, a grenade headed in to her old position. Hoping it was stun only and these guys weren’t complete idiots, she hunkered down, closed her eyes and covered her ears. The explosion ripped through the room. Not just stun then. The crates she’d been behind before exploded in fire, bringing on the fire dampening system. Kim opened her eyes and looked to Dare and C. C started in her direction she waved him off and he moved back. Kim waited until she saw a leg coming through the breach and opened fire. Payback was a bitch, her name. Kim!

  The male went down firing wildly and crying out. Dare and C opened fire. Several men came rushing through the gap at the same time. Weapons fire in all directions. Several men on their side went down. Others took up positions near the breach. C threw another grenade that bounced off the wall near the breach and recohered back into their assailant’s positions. They scrambled for cover under fire from Kim and Dare and the grenade blew.

  The whole ship seemed the shake and groan. Dare moved around the right side of the room, he was fast. The attackers were back up and firing. Several more went down. Others were moaning or asking for help. More came piling through the breach. Kim wondered how they were going to hold. They were seriously out numbered. Both C and Dare opened fire. Never missing a shot. Dam they were good.

  The men started falling like pins. Kim kept firing from her position. As the fight went, on she moved with the action. Skirted a couple of containers to get a better angle and heard a click by her ear. She turned slowly and came face to face with a laser gun. Her attacker was injured and bleeding, but still had got the drop on her.

  Shit. He was good too.

  “Drop it.” He told her. Kim looked at the man holding the gun on her. He might have been injured but he was determined.

  “Not going to happen.” She told him. He tightened his hold. Kim saw from the corner of her eye two grenades being thrown by Dare at the breach. They went in this time. Kim threw herself away from the explosion back towards the wall just before it went off. Her attacker moved with her. Covering her.

  It separated their ship from the breach. Opening them both to the vacuum of space. Kim reached over as air, boxes and bodies started to be sucked out the breach. Her attacker went into save his arse mode and clung to the wall. She was half under him. She grabbed onto the metal lattice work, pulling herself against the force in tighter. Her attacker reached over with his other hand and grabbed her. Holding her in place.

  In what seemed like forever and probably seconds, the storage room was a mess and the Marauder instigated the hull shield cutting off the vacuum of space. Kim slumped against the metal wall. She was exhausted and breathing had been difficult for a while. She took some deep breaths to steady herself and glanced around. Her attacker/saviour didn’t look in good shape. She’d lost her gun in the explosion. The other ship was gone. Several of the assailants were getting to their feet or not getting up for a while. Kim looked for a weapon. Dare and C step out guns raised.

  “Drop them. You’re done.” C told them.

  Dare used his gun to signal put them down. Kim watched as several of the injured dropped their guns. Kim got up and moved towards them. There were a couple of hold outs for a bit longer, then they dropped those too. C marched forward and took the weapons, then tied them up. Kim brushed herself down.

  Walking over to the entrance door s
he opened the panel that indicated first aid and took out the case. She headed to the injured.

  “You guys both ok?” She asked C and Dare. Both appeared to have some serious injuries.

  “We’re good.” C told her. She turned to face the captives, put the case on the floor and opened it taking the body scanner and med pads and injector out.

  “If you guys don’t want to be treated now’s the time to say.” No one answered.

  Ok then.

  ***

  Both Dare and C moved up behind her as she attended the men. They had both guns out and were sweeping back and forth for any movement they didn’t like. Several of Rage’s men came in to join them and took up point. Kim tried not to over think the injuries on Dare and C. It was comforting and equally scary, seeing as both had what would have been sever injuries in humans. The bleeding appeared to have stopped. Go med bots. Thought Kim.

  Kim cleaned and sealed a nasty wound on one of the humans. The male jumped more than once.

  “Sorry I’m being as gentle as I can be.” She told him.

  “You’re not human.” The male told her. Kim looked up to face him. It was her attacker/saviour and smiled.

  “What makes you say that?” She asked going to work on his leg.

  “You were too fast for human.” Kim nodded and tightened the patch over his wound.

  “They’re not human either.” He told her looking at Dare and C and the other Cyborgs that had come in.

  The doors to the store opened and Rage came in with four of his men. Kim stood wiping her hands having finished off the last guy. She stood.

  “We all good?” He asked looking her over. “You have blood on you. Who do I kill first?” Kim shook her head indulgently at him. He knew she wasn’t harmed and could smell it wasn’t her blood.

  “We’re good.” She told him back.

  “The other breach?” She asked.

  “No longer a problem.” Kim nodded. Rage looked over at the humans.

  “You attended them?” He sounded angry. Kim understood why. She turned back to the men on the floor.

  “They would be no good to you if they’d bled out.” The men on the floor paled.

  She looked at each one in turn, knowing they had come for her. “We are Cyborg.” She told them. Then looked at Rage.

  “You want answers. Get them.” She turned and headed for the door. C went with her.

  ***

  Rage found her in the kitchen drinking coffee, the real stuff. He prided himself on the fact that she no longer drank that mud water syn coffee. C had several patches on him that he didn’t need. Rage guessed that Kim had patched him up. There was no point in telling Kim again that they did not need it. That their nano’s would do the healing and repairing. He understood she had a soft spot for C. He looked like a youth. She had taken him under her wing. He found he liked that she cared for his men. Right now she’d needed to be useful. Both he and C knew it harmed no one to let her do it.

  Rage gave him a nod of thanks and sat opposite her. “Did we lose anyone?” She asked. Rage shook his head. “No, we’re good. Their two ships were badly damaged. We are retrieving survivors now. We will have 42 survivors in holding.” Kim sighed and took a slug of her coffee.

  “So many lives lost, what did they tell you?”

  “Merc’s. They were given the job of retrieval. They didn’t know we were Cyborgs. Their leader told us, they wouldn’t have taken the job if not for the information on it. That it was to retrieve a female who had been held captive.”

  “Cleaver.” Kim could appreciate using the ‘captive’ line. “Not too far from the truth. Would cater to those who wanted to protect, with a sense of justice, but enough to explain me being here.”

  Rage agreed and rubbed his hand down his face. “These were ex-military. Seem honourable. They lost a lot of good men on this trip. A lot of them were in the wars. Such a fucking waste.”

  “I’m sure there are plenty of others out there like um, like Mack. Fed up with the Corporations, disillusioned with the military. Just trying to make it work. Been shafted like the everyone else. Can we compensate the families?” She asked.

  Rage nodded. “We will.”

  Kim grabbed his hand, “the other’s here. If they check out, their Merc’s, offer them a job. They would understand honour. Maybe work with Mack.”

  “The one that spoke with you, is asking to talk to you again.” He told her. Kim wondered why.

  “Why?”

  “He didn’t say.”

  ***

  C followed her to the holding area. Blaz and Reve were on guard on the door. They nodded to her and it opened. Kim walked in, seeing the injured on pallets or make shift chairs. Others were assisting them. Some were eating and drinking. The rest were sleeping or talking. Angr and Dest were walking the perimeter. They gave her a nod. Clearly Rage was taking no chances.

  She spotted the male who had asked for her and walked over. He was surrounded by his men. Kim stayed out of arms reach. “You asked to speak with me?”

  The male rose and glanced at C who stuck by her side. He didn’t offer his hand, Kim could understand why.

  “I did, my name is Brent. I was the leader of these men.”

  Kim felt sad for him. “You’re still the leader of your men Brent.” He looked at her for a moment.

  “You’re not a captive, are you?” Kim smiled and shook her head.

  “No. I’m here with the most obstinate, annoying male but I love him. I’m his mate. His wife.”

  Several of the men looked up at her. Kim held Brent’s eyes. “They are Cyborgs.”

  Kim nodded again. “As I said. We are Cyborg. Yes. They are.”

  “Are they capable of loving another being?” One of the other men asked. Kim took a deep breath. She understood why they would find this information difficult. The propaganda spread throughout the system about Cyborgs, was created with one outcome, see them as machines not living breathing beings. Disassociated. Machines. It’s how she felt for a time too. She hated herself for her ignorance. They needed to change that. She ignored answering his question and instead, gave him information he could use. Information that would hopefully, change their minds. So it never happened again.

  “As far as I understand it.” She told them. “If they are free from their program controllers, as these men are. And are allowed to be themselves. To experience life, to make their own decisions. While having the ability to learn from that. Then yes. With their emotions and sensors turned on, they feel everything you and I do. They bleed, die, and want for the same things we do. They are human. Bred to be more, definitely. Their choice and will taken away from them. Pumped full of nasty stuff, by fucktards, I hope to meet up with one day and kick shit out of. They were cut open. Circuitry fused to their systems, a computer stapled to their insides.” She looked at each of them. “It fucking hurts. Many have died trying to be free.”

  “How do you know it’s real? The affection he says he has for you?” Brent asked her glancing at C again. Kim smiled as he went on. “They are manipulative, controlling, have no emotion, no empathy, they are killers.” He was being brutally honest with her at some risk to himself. She could appreciate that. He wanted to let her know, he was here for her. No matter the situation.

  “What you say is true. They were created to be all that and more, and yet, had you opened communications, instead of ignoring our warnings. Then breaching our ship. You would all be alive. I’m not saying that to upset you or under value the lives lost here. Every, Cyborg here, feels for the loss of life. To them, logically, it could have been avoided. We could have blown you apart at any time, but chose not to. Rage, chose not to. Although he was happy to kill you for trying, he did in fact, give you an honourable fighting chance. We saw you coming from a very long way off Brent. We scanned your ships. Knew your strength, before you’d even looked at us.”

  “Why didn’t they destroy us before we breached?” One of the others asked.

  “That’s
simple. Three things; one, they value life. Two, they like to pitch their worth against someone else. It’s part of who they are. They wanted to save as many lives as possible. Your men put up a good fight. Three, we guessed you had mis-information to be here. We needed to confirm that and find out who sent you. We will want to go and say hello.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us that before we breached.” Brent sounded angry. It was a natural response on hearing more lives of his men could have been saved. He was feeling responsible, angry mainly with himself she guessed. The blame stopped with him. It was a leaders duty to lead. Kim gave him a moment to get his emotions under control.

  “We gave you fair warning Brent. You ignored it. You wouldn’t have listened.” She told him gently.

  “So how do you know he’s telling you the truth. That his affections for you are real?” Kim was about to answer him when the doors to the holding area opened and Rage walked in. Kim turned, that man took her breath away every dam time she saw him.

  She ran to him. He caught her in mid-air and laughed. “Ok, what did you do now?” He asked holding her to him and walking back to C.

  Kim patted his chest. “You’re a good male.”

  Rage smiled indulgently at his mate. She’d only been gone minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime. He kissed her forehead. “Yes I am.”

  Kim sighed, “arrogant much?” She asked him.

  “You know I am.” He kissed her pert little nose.

  Rage put her down next to C. His demeanour got serious. He was once again all Cyborg. He looked at the captives. “Everything good here,” he asked the leader Brent.