Leo turned his attention back to the robotic arms and saw they had moved from his side to the newer wound in his neck. He had forgotten it was there, apparently mentally unable to make space amongst his already well-filled catalog of trauma.
Beneath him, the ship began to rumble, and he recognized the sensation of it breaking contact with the floor of the hangar.
"Gotta go forward and monitor this next part. I'm sure Idi can handle it, but you never know when a human touch is needed," Annabelle announced.
Then, she twirled the pistol in her right hand, before tucking it into her waistband and bounding out of the medical bay.
Leo watched her go with a pang of sadness. He would have liked her to stay with him. What a woman Annabelle had turned out to be...
The ship's rumbling faded into a smooth gliding sensation. Others couldn't have perceived it because of the ship's inertial dampers, but Leo could sense the speed at which they traveled. It was a rush for him, and he felt his stomach react giddily to the rapid acceleration.
"Alice?" Leo asked as he turned his head along the floor to tried to look at her.
She didn't answer.
"Shit," Leo said to himself.
The ship gave a loud, muffled hiss and lurched under him. Then, the sound of tearing, shredding metal roared around him.
He felt another burst of speed. Then, a colossal crash erupted in his ears. He wanted to get up and see what was happening, but as soon as the thought entered his head, the robotic syringe arm returned to inject a third payload into his carotid artery.
Leo felt his consciousness slip away as the needle pierced his neck.
"Alice?" he asked again, but then he was swept away into a vast sea of darkness.
Part 2: Oberon & Desdemona
Chapter 22
Captain Shonn looked up at Alice as he spoke. His body was tense, and blood flowed from a small shrapnel wound on his face. Still, he was determined, and he didn't show even an ounce of despair.
"He's dead or captured. While you were scouting, we were ambushed from the South by a whole platoon of New Republic fighters. We took down a few of them, but we were overrun.I used flashbangs to escape through the treeline. Then, I ran all the way here. I would guess the New Republic will follow my trail and find us very soon."
Alice's spirits fell. The plan had been to slip in unnoticed, but the New Republic had found them. Still, she knew she had to keep the faith and put her doubt behind her. They were going to complete their mission. They had to.
Alice reached down and placed her hand gently on Shonn's shoulder. "I found the payload. The drop team is missing, and the payload is in New Republic control. It's in a small house two clicks to our west, guarded by three squads of troops. We have to move now. I hacked their communications and overheard them say an extraction ship is ETA thirty minutes."
Shonn nodded in reply and immediately began to get up. "Okay... We'll figure something out, Alice. We always do..."
With a grunt, Captain Shonn stood. He had a few shrapnel wounds on his left leg, but Alice had seen him suffer much worse injuries and carry on, so she wasn't concerned.
Together, they started running west, through the thick evergreen forest of Ganymede. They made quick progress down the steep incline of what, three hundred years before, would have been a barren, icy crater. They sped past the myriad boulders and large trees that covered Ganymede, nimbly dodging around them as they scanned for New Republic troops.
When they reached the bottom of the crater, the forest began to thin, and a small, icy, jade green lake came into view.
Alice turned to Shonn as they slowed to catch their breath. "The payload is in a small cabin on the other side of the lake."
Alice mentally transmitted the location to Shonn, and he gave a nod of acknowledgment. Then, they used the treeline for cover and skirted carefully along the water's edge.
When they were halfway around the lake, a screeching sound roared through the forest. Bolts of blue plasma suddenly lit up the dark, dusky sky and set the trees ablaze above them.
They immediately ducked their heads and increased their pace, threading agilely through the trees as they tried to avoid the plasma bolts flying around them.
Alice could feel the heat of the plasma bolts as they screamed past her, but the trees gave them enough cover to avoid being hit.
As they neared the house, Shonn mentally ordered Alice to prep and deliver three reverb grenades to clear their way forward. The order flowed through Alice's mind like one of her thoughts, and she skillfully extracted the munitions from her tactical satchel as she ran, then armed them.
With a heave of effort, she threw the grenades toward the house. At the same time, she and Shonn both activated protection measures and were enveloped in a protective frequency canceling barrier, generated from implants within their chests.
Though she couldn't hear the massive booms, Alice's tactical implant showed her a visual representation of the sonic blasts emitted by the grenades, and she felt a jolt of triumph. Anyone in or around the house wouldn't be able to see, hear, or think straight for hours.
When they were just twenty meters from the house, Shonn suddenly cried out in pain as a blue plasma bolt grazed his forearm. Alice was overcome with concern, but Shonn didn't break his stride.
Alice quickly glanced back and saw a whole platoon of New Republic fighters raising barricades and taking up firing positions fifty meters behind them.
Alice and Shonn bobbed and weaved as they ran. With each step, she became more certain that one of the plasma bolts would shred through her back.
But then, the hail of plasma unexpectedly ceased, and they were able to quickly cover the rest of the ground between them and the cabin.
When they reached it, they didn't bother with the front door. Instead, they leaped through one of the cabin's large glass windows and somersaulted into its quaintly decorated living room.
As they flew through the window and glass shattered around them, they were already gathering targets based on the life signs detected by their tactical implants. They both already knew that only four of the thirty New Republic troops had managed to avoid the incapacitating effects of the reverb grenades. Before they had even hit the ground, they had already drawn their plasma pistols.
Alice quickly detected elevated life signs behind the wall opposite the window and fired twice into it. Blue bolts of plasma ripped from her pistol and penetrated the wall. She felt satisfaction as both the life signs she had sensed rapidly fluctuated, then disappeared from her scans. Shonn fired only once, rending a massive, melting wound in the chest of a New Republic fighter who was feigning unconsciousness in the far-left corner of the room.
Alice held her pistol at the ready as she looked around the small living room. "Why did they stop shooting at us?"
Shonn focused his attention on a doorway to the left. "They don't want to risk damaging the payload. Never mind that now, the last one is in the kitchen. Hold your fire."
Together, they moved with deadly efficiency and coordination as they finished clearing the living room, then moved to the open door of the kitchen.
Before they entered, a frightened young man's voice shouted out to them. "I surrender. Please don't kill me!"
Alice cautiously peeked into the kitchen and saw a small black box sitting atop an antique kitchen table. Her heart skipped a beat. It was the payload.
Then, she spotted a young man under the table. He threw his plasma rifle towards her, laid down on his stomach, and placed his hands on the back of his head.
"Please don't kill me!" he cried. "I'm unarmed... I swear! Please, I have a family!"
Alice prepared to fire at the young man, but Shonn stopped her. "No, Alice. It's not necessary!"
She would have preferred to kill the traitor and avoid any complications his presence might bring, but Alice reluctantly held her fire and covered Shonn as he crept into the room and gave orders to the young man.
"Crawl out from the tab
le towards me."
The young man quickly obeyed, moving with an odd mix of haste and caution.
"Good, now place your hands on your lower back."
He obeyed the second command just as quickly as the first, moving his arms with the urgency of one who wished to continue living.
Alice continued scanning and held her pistol at the ready as Shonn extracted handcuffs from his tactical satchel, then knelt and fastened them to the young man's wrists and ankles.
Alice saw that the young man wore the standard-issue, grey uniform of a New Republic Officer. The rank insignia of a small silver helix on his shoulder was unfamiliar to her, however.
"Don't speak. Don't move," Shonn commanded, his voice deadly serious.
Alice focused her attention on covering Shonn. Still, she couldn't help but become distracted when her life sign detection readings sent an alert through her mind. The troops that had followed them during their mad dash to the house were surrounding them.
They wouldn't dare to fire into the house out of fear of damaging the payload, Alice thought. Regardless, it would be only a matter of minutes before the New Republic would storm the house, then kill or capture them both.
Alice relayed the information to Shonn and continued to cover him as he stood next to the black box on the table and began inputting a sequence of commands into its control panel.
The young man was watching, and Alice saw a look of sheer terror come over him. He must have expected that he would receive a fatal punishment for daring to speak. He shrunk away from the expected consequences of his words, but he spoke imploringly in spite of the risk to his life.
"Don't release it, please! It's not what you think it is!"
Alice held her fire. She was oddly captivated by the primal emotions that cut through the young man's voice. Shonn ignored him, however, and continued to program the payload.
"It's g-going to k-kill us all!" the young man shrieked as he shrunk into a fetal position and began to sob uncontrollably.
Alice heard the words, and the keening desire within them, but she didn't move. She expected Shonn to continue with the mission and ignore him. But instead, Shonn ceased his rapid inputs and looked down at the young officer.
"What? Why do you say that?"
Shonn was playing along, Alice realized. Why would he do that? They were so close. The mission was almost complete.
"Shonn. Our mission. Our orders. Release the payload!" Alice shouted, but Shonn ignored her.
"I'm a science officer!" the young man answered in a trembling staccato. "I... I specialize in nano-weapons defense measures. I'm the best... Best we have... They called me a puh... A prodigy in school. I was top of my class. I did the scans! I extracted a sample! It's going to Kuh... Kuh... Kill us all!"
Shonn glared down at him. "Prove it."
Alice was growing frustrated. The New Republic was right outside. They were preparing to take back the house and take control of the payload. That could not be allowed to happen.
"Captain, we don't have time for this. They're moving in on us. We have to release it now..." Alice implored.
The young man cut her off. "When I extracted the sample, some of the agent leaked onto the skin of one of my team members. Look by the refrigerator! Scan his remains! The agent is malfunctioning! I understand the arc... Arc... Architecture. It's very advanced, but I think it mutated. I can almost make sense of it. I might even be able to fix it, but I need more time!"
Shonn glanced over to the corner of the kitchen where the refrigerator stood. "There aren't any remains there... Just a pile of clothes."
The young man began to sob hysterically. "He's d-dust n-now... Scan the d-dust. Please!"
Alice couldn't believe that Shonn was humoring the young man. New Republic troops were bearing down upon them. It was true that she didn't know what they payload was precisely, but she knew their orders were to release it at all costs. It was supposed to end the war peacefully. That was what she had been told, and that was what she believed.
"Shonn, release the payload! Complete the mission!" Alice roared, sure that it was the right thing to do.
"Not yet, Alice, I have to be sure!" Shonn retorted as he gave Alice a stern look. Then, he walked over to the refrigerator, knelt, and began scanning the pile of black dust spread over the floor next to it.
"He's stalling," Alice asserted. "He's trying to buy time..."
Shonn shot a look over at her, frustration and stress evident in his tense visage. "Damnit, Alice! We have to be sure! Give me a second!"
"What the hell are you talking about? We are sure!" Alice yelled, confused by the irrational behavior he was displaying.
"I'm not..." Shonn revealed. "I never have been..."
Alice stood in stunned silence as Shonn focused on the dust on the floor. For ten agonizing seconds, he was silent.
All Alice could do was stand there and cover him as the New Republic troops came ever closer. They were now right outside the house. They would be breaching any second. A hail of plasma bolts could cut through them at any moment. The need to act pushed her to her breaking point, and tears began to form in her eyes.
Shonn turned away from the dust as he shook his head. "Goddamnit! Redden was right... What? Alice? What are you doing?"
Confusion and fear spread over Shonn's face as he watched Alice walk towards the payload, her eyes locked onto him, and her pistol raised to point at him.
Suddenly, the sounds of the New Republic troops breaching the house reverberated through the kitchen. The front door in the foyer roared as it was blasted off its hinges, and windows gave a shattering crash as they were broken throughout the house.
Alice gazed apologetically at Shonn. "There's no time... We have to, Shonn!"
Shonn didn't reply. He just looked at Alice with a mix of love and fear as she kept her pistol raised at him with one hand, and entered a sequence into the payload's control panel with the other. The control panel began to flash green as she completed her input.
Shonn's eyes flashed to the control panel, then back to Alice, his face now frozen in a blank stare. "I love you, Alice..."
Alice didn't answer. The young man on the floor was wildly trying to worm his way out of the kitchen, but she ignored him. Instead, she watched in horror as a plasma bolt suddenly cut through the wall next to Shonn and struck his thigh, melting away his flesh and bone and severing his leg above the knee.
Time seemed to slow for her as the man she loved screamed in pain and crumpled to the ground. Everything had gone wrong. There was no way out. She had to do it. It was the only way to save Shonn.
She tore her eyes away from Shonn and looked down at the flashing green control panel. Then, she reached her left hand to it and pressed her index finger onto it.
The black box began to hum as more plasma bolts shredded through the room, one of which grazed the back of Alice's neck, singing her hair and burning her skin.
Alice ducked for cover and crawled over to Shonn. She surveyed his condition with dismay. His leg was completely blown apart, and a torrent of dark red blood was streaming from his upper thigh.
Alice felt her heart fluttering and knew she was about to pass out. Time seemed to slow as she reached into her satchel and extracted an emergency tourniquet and a nanite tissue repair injector. Plasma bolts burst through the room all around them as she fastened the tourniquet around Shonn's leg. He said nothing as she worked; he just stared at her.
The black box on the table emitted a loud hiss as Alice unscrewed a small metallic cylinder and injected the nanites within it onto Shonn's bleeding stump. When the cylinder was empty, she glanced back at the payload and saw nothing. It hadn't exploded or done anything besides hiss. In her shocked state, she barely noticed as the plasma fire from the New Republic slowed, then after a few seconds, ceased.
In a daze, Alice returned her attention to Shonn's leg and was satisfied to see that the wound had stopped bleeding. The silvery liquid of the nanites was quickly bonding with t
he skin around his wound.
As Alice watched the nanites do their magical work, she felt hope begin to replace her shock. She had activated the payload, and the New Republic had stopped firing. The payload might have worked. They might be able to make it out alive after all...
But then, Alice's hope wilted, and a mountain of putrid despair slowly rose within her. The skin around Shonn's wound, which a moment before had been bright and pink, was turning grey. She looked up and saw his face frozen in terror as it quickly changed from pale pink, to grey, and then black.
"Shonn?" she asked. "Shonn, what's happening?"
Her heart fluttered as she slowly reached up and touched the black skin on Shonn's face. She wanted to feel the warmth of his skin, but he was ice cold, and her gentle caress made his face crumble. His face caved in, falling away like ash into the wind and revealing his bare white bones beneath. Then, his bones turned black, and they, too, fell into ashy dust.
Alice was lost. She embraced Shonn, seeking the comfort that he had given her so many times before. He had saved her life with his love. He had so unexpectedly given it to her when she had needed it the most.
Her love would save him too, she thought hysterically, as cold tears streamed from her eyes. So, she held his remains in her close embrace. She held him tightly and felt the coldness envelope her as his body disintegrated and fell through her arms into a pile of black ash beside her.
But then, the young science officer walked back into the kitchen. His restraints had been removed...
"Why?" he asked in a calm, melodious voice.
Alice looked up at him, unable to comprehend what was happening as the kitchen slowly turned grey, then black, and began to fall into ash around her. After the walls fell away to reveal the beautiful jade lake and evergreen forest that surrounded it, they too turned black before falling apart into a sea of black ash.
"I'm sorry... I didn't know..." Alice whispered.
Rage grew within Alice. She was angry at herself, and the goddamned black box which now sat in front of her on the barren, black floor. Then, the floor fell away along with the ground of the forest around her.
The Ganymede Legacy Page 19