Despite O’Riley’s prediction, there was no enemy movement for the next three hours, so the men let Jordan sleep that entire time rather than follow his instructions to their letter. The Pioneers regularly peeked out of the shutters on the front entrance, but they saw nothing happening as the minutes ticked by. Jordan must’ve put the fear of God into the enemy and prompted them to stick to their plan to wait for backup. The only thing of interest that happened while they were waiting was when Jordan got a call. The man barely even stirred as his phone began to ring, so O’Riley fished it out, answering with his gruff smoker’s voice: “Hello?”

  “O’Riley? Where’s Jordan?” It was Ramirez on the other line.

  O’Riley responded: “He’s fine. Just a little tired. Are you here yet?”

  Ramirez’s normally calm voice took on a heavier accent as he grew more agitated: “Am I here?! Si, I am here, and MacNeil is with me. What is happening? The street looks like my uncle after a party.”

  O’Riley couldn’t help the small quirk at the edges of his lips as he responded: “Dusty and full of concrete?”

  “Totally demolished and very sleepy. We parked the car and snuck past a police blockade a while back, only to find the safehouse halfway destroyed. Yet there is no movement around it and not a man in sight. Are you even still there?”

  O’Riley had confirmed that they were, in fact, still hiding there, and that they’d made plans to sneak the two Pioneers into the safehouse. He’d considered leaving the duo outside the house with the hope that they could get the drop on the enemy, but he’d quickly discounted the idea. Neither man had a movement ability and leaving them out there to ambush the enemy was leaving them out there to die. The Pioneers smuggled the duo inside the safehouse without much effort or fanfare. Whether the criminals knew they were there or not, they made no move to stop them. All together now, the Pioneers kept a vigil and waited for the enemy to make a move. After around three hours, a thunderbolt struck.

  A black van with tinted windows flew over the street, angling toward the place the truck was parked. One of the policemen flew up to try to hail the vehicle, only to be totally ignored. The law enforcement HoverBike hovered in one place, looking like it wanted to chase after the van, but it eventually thought better of that idea. O’Riley watched the van come in and settle down behind the building in front of him, before turning to the others: “Wake Jordan up.”

  Stan jabbed Jordan in the side with no mercy, prompting the Pioneer to jump up like he’d been shocked with a live wire. He gasped out: “We about to die?”

  O’Riley shrugged: “Depends on where our backup is. How about you call those guys and ask where they are?”

  Jodan pulled out his phone, hitting a few buttons before holding it up to his ear. Soon afterward, he clicked his tongue in frustration: “No signal. They’re jamming our phones. Probably Marcovi equipment.”

  Jordan looked around at the other men in the room, taking in their grim faces. Initially, he tried to find some cocky or humorous words to lift their spirits, but something in his gut told him that that wasn’t the right call here. Instead, he frowned and straightened his back, a serious pall coming over his face: “Men, we’re in trouble. We’ll just have to hold out for as long as we can. Help is coming. If it doesn’t get here in time…it’s been an honor.”

  He was heartened to see the others straighten their backs along with him, nodding soberly as their gazes took on the steel of new resolve. At the same time, there was movement from across the street as the reinforced group of criminals began making their way to the safehouse. The ten remaining Sinachro had been bolstered by four more mean-looking thugs who carried themselves like they knew what they were doing. The Pioneers dropped the pretense of hiding the shutters, opening the slots and firing on the enemy as they grew closer. Stan shot out a lance of violet light, striking one of the new goons in the chest. Unfortunately, the man’s body glowed purple at the last second, and the attack did little more than force the man to stagger backwards a few steps. O’Riley unloaded with his ability, catching one of the Sinachro men off guard and killing him with a barrage of laser bolts before the enemy enacted their shields. The Pioneers threw frag and stun grenades, whatever they could find in terms of abilities or explosives. Stan hit a Sinachro man with one of his missiles, killing him instantly, but the other criminals weathered the storm effectively. To make matters worse, that kill revealed two more Marcovi thugs, who appeared out of nowhere as if they’d been cloaked. They’d likely been concealed by the dead Sinachro man’s ability, and their presence further upped the odds against the Pioneers.

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  The criminals reacted immediately, taking cover and shooting at the shutters as best as they could. Most of these shots struck the armor harmlessly, with the Pioneers dodging what few bolts did manage to get through the openings. The wiry man hurtled a Psionic grenade on target, but Jordan called for Ramirez to throw up his shield in time. The ability bounced off and blew up harmlessly. Ramirez’s shield immediately began taking heavy fire, so he swiftly recalled it. It was expensive to maintain under these conditions, so he’d only throw it up again when the Pioneers really needed it.

  This stiff frontal resistance caused the crooks to withdraw again, but the Pioneers weren’t fooled. Jordan teleported out the back and into one of the buildings adjacent to the safehouse. He ran through the floor, coming to the window that looked out onto the street. There, he saw a smaller group of enemies gathering in the alleyway across from him. It was exactly as he’d expected, and he pulled up his Codex’s messaging system to tell the men the bad news. There was no jamming tech in the galaxy that could hamper this Meta tech’s message functions: “They’re flanking us. Prepare to defend from both sides.”

  The Sinachro had gotten smart, deciding to use the buildings on either side of the safehouse as cover as they approached the Pioneers from the alleyways on either side. Fortunately, this was an abandoned portion of town, so there was no worry of any civilian casualties in their immediate area. Jordan just wished he could use his Codex to communicate with his reinforcements. The reason he couldn’t was that his Codex could only communicate with Codices it had been ‘connected’ to, and it couldn’t communicate across star systems with any reasonable speed. If his father were on planet, Jordan would’ve been able to talk to him, but it was his father’s friends on Akaadia who were supposed to bail him out. The Pioneers would have to delay the enemy as best they could for now, hoping they could last another hour or that their friends would arrive sooner than expected.

  Jordan didn’t shoot at the criminals immediately, instead choosing to watch as they crept up to the side of the building and into its alley. Then, Jordan sent another message: “Right side, light them up.”

  Elsewhere, the other Pioneers should’ve been opening the shutters on the right side of the safehouse and shooting into the building next to them. The concrete and plaster would weaken the blaster bolts, but it wouldn’t stop them entirely. Jordan watched as several missiles streaked through the enemy ranks, forcing them to throw up more shields or hit the deck. The shots didn’t do much damage, but they did provide a great opportunity for an ambush. Jordan noticed his old friend, the whip man, in the group and decided to get some payback. A last-second twitch meant that Jordan’s first shots took the man in the shoulder rather than the head, sending him staggering to the side. Blinded by the sudden pain, the man reflexively brought his arm shield up to block Jordan’s shots. Unfortunately for him, that left him vulnerable to the grenade that Jordan had dropped down to street level. The subsequent detonation elicited a roar of pain from several of the enemies, with the whip man being hit the hardest. The pain was too much for the man, making him lose his focus. His abilities faded to nothing, and Jordan’s next shot took him between the eyes, putting him down for good.

  With that done, Jordan ran away, teleporting to the building on the other side of the safehouse. He saw another group of enemies on this side as well, then dashed off another message: “Left side, same deal.”

  The wiry man was with this group, standing next to three of the serious-looking Marcovi reinforcements. Jordan targeted the man before his boys even started shooting at this group, sending several blaster bolts his way with extreme concentration. He even activated Hypersight again, making sure his aim was perfect. The wiry man was saved by the preternatural instincts of one of his large allies. The enforcer, a large, muscular white man in a dark jacket, pulled the wiry man to the side and interposed himself between his ally and Jordan’s bolts. Patterns of tiny purple hexagons appeared on the man’s skin in the specific places where the bolts made contact, the defenses easily absorbing the blaster fire. At around the same time, several of Jordan’s allies’ shots made their way through the building’s walls and toward the enemies, distracting them from his attacks. Still, Jordan felt he’d overstayed his welcome, so he dropped two grenades and left immediately.

  The Pioneers continued suppressing the groups on both sides, but it could only last for so long. The criminals crept steadily but surely through the alleyways, now wary of ambushes and Jordan’s overwatch. For his part, Jordan needed to be careful not to give away his position too easily, lest they chase after him again directly. With him held at bay, the enemy was drawing inevitably closer to the rear of the building. Jordan watched as a duo withdrew laser cutters from their Codices’ storages while the remaining men guarded them from every angle. He couldn’t do much to stop them, but he did have another lethal card to play: “MacNeil, you’re up. In the rear.”

  The enemy barely had time to be surprised before they were inundated with blazing violet fire.