Marauder Kain: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars Book 5) by Aya Morningstar Page A
Authors: Aya Morningstar
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“The scanner is a dumb scanner. Maybe it will see the fertilizer and it will be reported on a screen somewhere. Maybe it’s not even set to detect non-minerals.”
“What’s the worst case scenario?” I ask.
“If they rigged it to, say, beep an alarm or something when there’s an unsortable material inside.”
“I think we want a remote detonator,” I say. “There’s too much that can go wrong with a timed fuse.”
“Good thing with a timed fuse, though,” Andreas says, “is that no one can catch you holding a detonator. Plausible deniability.”
“This isn’t a fucking habitat, dumbass!” Eli shouts, pointing his pickaxe at Andreas. “You think we’re going to get a lawyer who is going to smile all smug-like when he points out that there is no hard proof we planted the bomb? They’ll just fucking kill all of us if they even suspect it.”
Thorsten grunts. “My Maruader lady is coming to visit me next week. Or should I say, she’s visiting to come . Can we make sure this all happens afterward?”
I sigh.
“We’ll need at least a week to get all the materials together,” Eli says. “At least. How is the gravity treating you two?”
“Hard,” Felicia says.
“You haven’t given in and adjusted it again, right?”
“No,” Felicia and I say in unison.
“In a week, you can probably lose the suits. “So let’s aim this whole business to take place on the day after Thorsten fucks his lady one last time.”
“Are we seriously planning everything around that ?” Felicia asks. Their looks in response to my statement answer my question.
“I’ll let Kain know,” I say.
14 Kain
I take to the biosuit like a fish to water. I’d never used one in the past because it felt like a crutch. I had been so concerned with how others thought of me–how strong a warrior they thought I was. I didn’t really care about efficiently achieving an objective with the most suitable tool. No, I had to do it in style and show everyone just how strong I was while doing it. So I got good with a sniper rifle. I could pick people off before they even knew I was there, and I didn’t need a biosuit to do it.
Everything is different now. I don’t care what anyone thinks, I just want to get Kara out of here. If all goes well, I’ll never see a single person from Darkstar again in my life. To hell with what they think of me.
The most effective way to rescue Kara is to harness the full power of a biosuit, and I’m learning it much more quickly than Raius–or my brother–expected.
“Now,” Raius says, “this is one of the most difficult maneuvers–even on weak-ass Martian gravity. On Darkstar, one small error and you’ll hit the ground so hard you’ll liquefy. But if you can do this on Darkstar, you can do it anywhere in the solar system.”
We’re standing on a huge cliff outside the base. It’s a sheer drop off of at least five hundred meters. The gravity on Darkstar is so high and the atmosphere so thin that a fall like this is more deadly than jumping out of a plane on Earth. On Earth, once you hit a certain fall speed, the air prevents you from falling any faster: terminal velocity. On Darkstar, the acceleration has no cap, and it happens a lot faster. You just keep falling faster and faster until you splat on the surface.
“This time you’re just going to watch me do it,” Raius says. “Take careful notes, and try to get a feel for how it works.”
I grin up at Raius.
He gives me a confused look, but his eyes widen when I jump off the cliff.
I do take careful notes: the first note says that Raius makes no effort to save me. He probably hopes I will fail.
I blast at least two dozen tendrils out, straight down.
The second note: the ground comes up on me way faster than I’d ever have expected. Raius did try to warn me about that. I must not have been listening.
The tendrils reach the ground when I’m about halfway from where I jumped off the cliff and the ground. I feel the
“What’s the worst case scenario?” I ask.
“If they rigged it to, say, beep an alarm or something when there’s an unsortable material inside.”
“I think we want a remote detonator,” I say. “There’s too much that can go wrong with a timed fuse.”
“Good thing with a timed fuse, though,” Andreas says, “is that no one can catch you holding a detonator. Plausible deniability.”
“This isn’t a fucking habitat, dumbass!” Eli shouts, pointing his pickaxe at Andreas. “You think we’re going to get a lawyer who is going to smile all smug-like when he points out that there is no hard proof we planted the bomb? They’ll just fucking kill all of us if they even suspect it.”
Thorsten grunts. “My Maruader lady is coming to visit me next week. Or should I say, she’s visiting to come . Can we make sure this all happens afterward?”
I sigh.
“We’ll need at least a week to get all the materials together,” Eli says. “At least. How is the gravity treating you two?”
“Hard,” Felicia says.
“You haven’t given in and adjusted it again, right?”
“No,” Felicia and I say in unison.
“In a week, you can probably lose the suits. “So let’s aim this whole business to take place on the day after Thorsten fucks his lady one last time.”
“Are we seriously planning everything around that ?” Felicia asks. Their looks in response to my statement answer my question.
“I’ll let Kain know,” I say.
14 Kain
I take to the biosuit like a fish to water. I’d never used one in the past because it felt like a crutch. I had been so concerned with how others thought of me–how strong a warrior they thought I was. I didn’t really care about efficiently achieving an objective with the most suitable tool. No, I had to do it in style and show everyone just how strong I was while doing it. So I got good with a sniper rifle. I could pick people off before they even knew I was there, and I didn’t need a biosuit to do it.
Everything is different now. I don’t care what anyone thinks, I just want to get Kara out of here. If all goes well, I’ll never see a single person from Darkstar again in my life. To hell with what they think of me.
The most effective way to rescue Kara is to harness the full power of a biosuit, and I’m learning it much more quickly than Raius–or my brother–expected.
“Now,” Raius says, “this is one of the most difficult maneuvers–even on weak-ass Martian gravity. On Darkstar, one small error and you’ll hit the ground so hard you’ll liquefy. But if you can do this on Darkstar, you can do it anywhere in the solar system.”
We’re standing on a huge cliff outside the base. It’s a sheer drop off of at least five hundred meters. The gravity on Darkstar is so high and the atmosphere so thin that a fall like this is more deadly than jumping out of a plane on Earth. On Earth, once you hit a certain fall speed, the air prevents you from falling any faster: terminal velocity. On Darkstar, the acceleration has no cap, and it happens a lot faster. You just keep falling faster and faster until you splat on the surface.
“This time you’re just going to watch me do it,” Raius says. “Take careful notes, and try to get a feel for how it works.”
I grin up at Raius.
He gives me a confused look, but his eyes widen when I jump off the cliff.
I do take careful notes: the first note says that Raius makes no effort to save me. He probably hopes I will fail.
I blast at least two dozen tendrils out, straight down.
The second note: the ground comes up on me way faster than I’d ever have expected. Raius did try to warn me about that. I must not have been listening.
The tendrils reach the ground when I’m about halfway from where I jumped off the cliff and the ground. I feel the
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