Interception

And now for another change of pace. An idea I just had in the last 24 hours for a sci-fi piece. It's by no means finished, but I thought I'd post what I've done as a little taster. Some may find the scene-setting annoying, and yes, I'm also a little disappointed to stop just at the point I do, but I can't write all the time, as much as that does appeal to me at times. It's also short, so is a nice quick read.



The ground flew past with disturbing alacrity as the speeder flew low and fast. The pilot deftly flicked the machine left and right around obstacles as they approached, burning hard to reach the destination in time. A quick look at a small display told him that he still had two and a half minutes to reach the hold point.

“Keep up,” he ordered to his companions. “We need to amp the tempo a little.”

The order went through to the sealed helmets of the riders with complete clarity. No response was necessary from the soldiers, and none was given. Their loose formation tightened slightly as the pace quickened, and the danger of the speed they were travelling at forced all of them to be completely aware of their surroundings.

The leader’s voice pierced the silence again. “Bravo force reporting. We should arrive in two minutes.”

“Roger, that Wasp,” came the reply. “You should have one minute to prepare before things start to get hot.”

“They still coming from the North?”

“Affirmative. Take up positions as planned. Initiate radio silence until contact.”

The radio went dead. Wasp looked about at best he could, but had to keep his eyes ahead. The speeders they rode were heavily modified hoverbikes, with ion engines that could propel the rider at well in excess of anything stuck to the ground. But its speed was as treacherous as it was useful here. Flying through a long dead city was not straightforward, for the streets, although empty of traffic, were still home to debris and wreckage long abandoned and forgotten.

It had been one of the many casualties of the Nuclear Holocaust. The once bustling city was a decrepit ghost town of destruction, a testament to the carnage of a brief yet catastrophic struggle. Wasp had been too young to comprehend it when he had been born, and just considered himself lucky to have been distant enough from the areas that had been annihilated as the combined arsenals of all the major powers were unleashed at once.

Wasp gritted his teeth as the destination approached. The city might be a wasteland, but the research facility they were trying to defend could help make it inhabitable. The information had been passed down that work was being done there that could allow people to walk around without the protective suits he and his men wore. That with the work they were doing, the city could be made inhabitable again.

“Free Earth Conglomerate,” scoffed Wasp. Why Earth needed freeing, Wasp didn’t know. The United Alliance had emerged from the catastrophe of the Nuclear Holocaust, or ‘The War’, as they preferred to refer to it. The remnants of the old country boundaries had been shattered in the cataclysm, and the UA had taken upon the role of rebuilding the planet.

The FEC had risen as a group of violent dissidents, supposedly fighting against injustices perpetrated by the UA, though their slaughter of innocents did little to provide credence to their cause. Slaughter and theft seemed their predominant activities, and Wasp was glad to help fight the angry remnants of an antagonistic history.

He signalled to slow the speeders as they approached the rally point. They had been forced to scramble for this mission, so they had choose a defensive position based on overhead maps only. Speeders moved towards their allotted positions, and Wasp slowly saw the small blips on his radar screen come to a halt in formation around the old highway.

It was the closest thing to a chokepoint that they could find. The enemy had been detected in three Armoured Personnel Carriers and five light vehicles. They were large and not very manoeuvrable, so the speeders would be able to hassle and delay them until the reinforcements arrived with more firepower.

Wasp hoped that all the soldiers were up to the challenge. Ten speeders didn’t have the firepower to match the enemy vehicles. They didn’t have anything that could even dent the APCs, and he seriously doubted how effective his energy rifle was going to be against the other five vehicles. Two jeeps and three hovercraft would be dangerous, but even they couldn’t hope to match the speed and manoeuvrability of the speeders using hit and run tactics.

A gentle rumbling sound echoed in Wasp’s helmet, signifying the approach of the enemy. The FEC were coming. He fingered the trigger of his mounted energy rifle, rubbing it for good for luck. The radar on the speeder finally picked up the signatures of the FEC vehicles. His hands clenched the handles tightly, if he could see them, they could see him. He flicked his mic back on. “Engage enemy!” he ordered.

---------- To be continued