The Starlight Lancer

Chapter Seventy-Six: Lancer's Gambit

"Never underestimate beginner's luck. It's more than luck, really, it's intuition. Not thinking because you don't even know the first thing to think of, you simply act, rolling the dice. And when chance is in the air, anything is anyone's game so long as they play."

—Creodol 867, famed Jovelian general, in his writing, On Combat, Part 7: Generational Preparation and Vigilance

Zaina stared in horror as her mentor casually walked over the dune's peak.

That was her plan? she thought, heart pounding as she pressed her back to the dune to hide from the enemies. Still, she had to act fast—Xyrthe was in danger, and their scanner would tell them about Zaina. She'd only have the element of surprise for a little bit longer.

Captain Gilvus's mechanical voice rang out. "Sure you're alone out here?"

Xyrthe replied, "A-yup. Thought I could come here for an easy score."

"Guess not."

"Yeah, guess not."

After a pause, Gilvus said, "A heretic, eh?"

Zaina peeked over the side of the hill again, forcing her trembling arms and legs to move. Xyrthe had reached the bottom, but none of the pirates had moved toward her. Each of them had their guns trained on her.

"Yeah," Xyrthe said. "Not a lot of options for someone like me to live a civilized life."

Glancing over at the transports, an idea popped into Zaina's head; there wasn't much time. She slid down the dune's backside and crawled up the adjacent hill, where the ships were loitering.

Zaina reached for the grenade dispenser on her utility belt and adjusted the dial, cranking the programmed firepower of each grenade up near the highest setting. Four or five tiny explosives popped into her hand, each flashing red. Careful not to alert the pirates as they questioned Xyrthe, she poked her head over the hill and tossed the grenades down near the transports before ducking back down.

"So you're a pirate," Captain Gilvus said.

In a cool voice, Xyrthe replied, "Prospective, I suppose. Never really thought of myself that way. I'm not really one for labels."

"But you've come here in hopes of stealing something valuable, no?"

"Girl's gotta eat. Even a heretic like me. It's a tough galaxy out there, you know."

Gilvus emitted a deep, mechanical whir. "You sure you aren't here with anyone else? We have intel that two lancers are in the area. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"I've worked alone for as long as I can recall."

"Well," he replied, "I do hope you're telling the truth, because we're about to find out in a few seconds. Pylo!"

In a panic, Zaina clicked the button on the dispenser to activate the grenades.

"Yes, captain, there's anoth—"

A deafening round of explosions cut him off, drowning out everything; debris catapulted over the dune, scattering the metal pieces throughout the desert. After the initial burst of sound a faint ringing clouded Zaina's hearing, dulling the marauders' screaming.

Now was the time. After taking a few deep breaths, Zaina summoned her white-and-green cipher and readied her hex-guard. With that she leaped over the hill and slid down the dune's other side—the overturned transports, split open, were spewing flames and smoke into the blue desert sky.

Xyrthe had summoned her cipher and skewered two biriflers amid the confusion; the other one had dropped his weapon and was shaken up by the explosion, grabbing at his head as he writhed on the ground. The resonedge wielders were closing in on Xyrthe.