Lost Vikings by JJ Wolficus (good summer reads txt) 📗

felt it struggling to escape his mastery, and he knew that if he let his grip over

the craft slip even in the slightest, he might not live long enough to regret his error.

Olaf had drawn some of the mutalisks away, but just as many of them converged on

Erik's craft. His HUD brought up targeting reticles centered on two oncoming mutalisks,

and he took the hint. With the squeeze of a trigger, he let loose a matched pair of Lanzer

torpedoes.

To Erik, it seemed as if they barely moved faster than his viking, and he feared that he

might reach the mutalisks at the same time as his munitions. The torpedoes slammed into

the creatures and detonated, sending shrapnel and bits of zerg everywhere. As Erik piloted

his viking through the blast, debris splattered across the aircraft's windshield, splashes of

acid etching fragile trails along its surface.

Erik couldn't help but throw back his head and whoop in triumph. But his elation lasted

only a moment.

"Baleog?" Olaf said over the comm system. Erik spotted the freed pilot's viking beyond

the perimeter of the overlords, circling back to join him.

"Varg loosened up the ice packed around me," the buried pilot said. "Just need another

few seconds."

Erik looked back and scanned the fractured ice. A little ways off from the smoking

crater where Varg's viking had been, he spied the top of another viking poking out of the

ice. He also saw a number of mutalisks converging on it. The explosion might have scared

them off for a bit, but they seemed to be getting over their fear fast.

"You're out of time," Erik said as he nosed his craft toward Baleog's snow-mired viking. 30

"There are too many of them," Olaf said. Erik saw his viking peeling off. "We cannot take them al on."

"We don't need to," Erik said. He knew how to handle himself in a dogfight, and for the

first time today his confidence surged. The familiar rush of endorphins from engaging in

midair battle felt just as great as he remembered. "We play the mutalisks here like Varg

planned to play the whole force."

"Right!" said Olaf. "It's not necessary to challenge them al . We just need to draw them away from Baleog until he can get free."

"Exactly!"

Erik headed for a point to the far right of the bulk of the mutalisk flock. As he went, he

started to let loose round after round of torpedoes. He didn't much care what they hit as

long as they hit something. In such a target-rich environment, he knew they were sure to

manage that.

As the first few torpedoes blasted apart a group of mutalisks that had been flapping too

close to one another, Erik spotted another set of Lanzers zipping over his right shoulder.

They found targets of their own and added to the mayhem.

"I can smell them!" Baleog said. "The zerg. They're ripping through my armor. They're

coming for me!"

"Just hold on!" Erik glanced back over his shoulder to spy Olaf zooming up behind him,

and the sight put a grin on his face. A huge flight of mutalisks that had been closing in on

Baleog peeled off from that attack vector and set itself on Erik's and Olaf's tails instead.

Their ploy had worked. 31

A scattering of glowing green glave wurms lanced through the sky. A few of them

brushed close to Erik's viking, but none found their targets. The vikings were just too far

away, and Erik aimed to keep it that way—at least long enough to give Baleog a chance.

"We bought you that time, Baleog!" Erik said into the comm system. "Use it!"

"I can hear them outside! They're tearing at my hul !"

"Punch it!" Erik said. "Go, go, go!"

For a moment, the comm went quiet, and Erik feared that roaches had destroyed

Baleog's antenna. They might be tearing him to pieces, Baleog screaming his guts out, but

Erik and Olaf would never hear a thing. Maybe he should think of that as a mercy.

Then the ice surrounding Baleog's craft sloughed away, and a third viking joined Erik

and Olaf in the freezing air. Baleog roared in wordless triumph.

"I'm good!" Baleog said as he cleared the bug-fil ed portion of the sky. "Let's get out of here!"

The mutaliskswere nimble little bastards, and they moved fast to hem the vikings in.

The zerg had nothing on the terran craft when it came to sheer power, though. Erik and

Olaf were able to evade the mutalisks' attacks until they could find daylight and break free.

Soon enough, the pilots flew alone.

Once away from the zerg, they brought their craft around in a wide arc designed to

intersect with Baleog's path, which curved to reach them too. Within minutes, they were

flying in formation, with Erik at the point and the others at his wings.

Erik glanced at his rear-view camera to see the ruin of the ridge, the avalanche of ice

and snow that had fal en at its base, and the wide column of smoke and steam stil rising

from where Varg's viking had exploded. He shook his head in disbelief. So much destruction

in such a short time. 32

"Think that did the trick?" Baleog said.

"I certainly hope so," Olaf said. "I don't think we could survive another incident like

that."

"I've got the only ship in one piece," Erik said. "I could go back and give them hell."

"Forget that, rookie," Olaf said. "You saved my life there. You try to return, and I'm

coming with you."

"I think we've lost enough vikings for today," said Baleog. "Let's head home—for as long as it's stil there."

"I'll bet they left the taps open at the tavern," said Olaf. "Drinks are free until

doomsday."

"Right," Erik said in a solemn voice. With luck, Kyrie and Sif would be safely away

before he and the other vikings made it back to the base, and they'd have some time to kil

before the last transport left. "We have fallen friends to toast, and their tale to tell."