Cold Snap

by Macky Santiago

  The math behind this is probably just as magnificent if not more elegant.

  I mean, come on, I’m hopping from tank to carrier to anti-aircraft tower, all while making sure the merry train of airborne explosives detonate at my last location. That’s got to count as poetry in motion, right?

  I am surrounded by mayhem as explosions blossom all around me. The thunderous chorus reverberates in lock-step with the whirring of my overclocked processors, helping me keep the remaining projectiles on my trail. The sounds fill me, little machines clicking and humming hard amidst the heavy punctuation of my enemies blowing apart.

  I am a one-woman wrecking crew and I am doing the thing I was made to do. Sure, it’s mass-destruction. But I was built to be the best at it.

  I’m just glad I get to do it.

  Eventually I see an opening as the explosions begin to die out. I land in the middle of what’s left of their front line. Smoke billows from the wreckage of their heavy machinery. I stand up straight, and take a deep breath before I do a quick scan of the field.

  I send a quick note to Theron to get a move on while the front lines are still scrambling, before I ask Bellona to patch me through to the battalion again.

  “Alright. None of you let me finish my speech earlier, so let me just do a little recap. We’re leaving this station with those two girls and we’re leaving soon. Last chance to get out of our way.” I broadcast. “Do you surrender?”

  “Formation! Formation!” Some blowhard yells.

  Bellona and I roll our collective eyes.

  “That’s a no then?” I ask.

  “It is you who must surrender for the sake of peace and a united galaxy! Desist at once!” An officer - Commander Something-or-the-other - yells back.

  “Can any of you even see through this smoke?” I ask.

  “You are outgunned and outnumbered! Lay down your weapons and no further harm shall come to you!” He yells back.

  “Hey, Captain Oblivious! We just blew up your entire front line with your own missiles. You seriously wanna play chicken with me again?” I reply.

  “We have you surrounded! Drop your weapons or we will fire on you!” The voice says just as I finally see them. The smoke has lifted and, what do you know, I am surrounded.

  “Actually... you’re the ones we have surrounded.” I say, seeing some familiar confirmations blink bright green on my HUD.

  “Open fire!” Someone else yells, and an avalanche of heavy ordnance, laser fire and explosives descends upon me.

  When the smoke clears, I take a moment to relish the bewildered looks on their faces as they realize I’m still alive and not even the slightest bit harmed.

  I glance at my HUD. The members of my strike team are strategically positioned on the rooftops of specific nearby buildings. I turn and blow Leon a kiss for shielding us at just the right moment.

  The Queen might have her army, but I have mine too. And right now, we are poised to begin a one-sided battle we warned them about. I did tell these soldiers that they were surrounded.

  “Mick, Mila, Iñigo… How about a nice game of I Told You So. Let’s play. Sub Protocol Nine.” I command, activating the counterattack protocol designed specifically for claiming control of the battlefield. “And Bell, drop the beat.”

  Bellona’s hacking tech is nowhere near as focused and powerful as Jean Philippe’s, but it’s strong enough break into any loudspeaker and crack most encrypted comm frequencies.

  All around us music from the pre-galaxy era blares through the streets and buildings right as Mick unleashes his first salvo of heavy ordnance.

  Honestly, scrambling frequencies can be boring. Usually, it’s just lots of white noise and confusion and screaming while we surgically eliminate targets on the field in descending order of threat level. This way the confusion has some flavor, and I get to hear my favorite playlist. Who doesn’t want to hum a little while working?

  And I always admire my team while they're working.

  They join the fray as the music starts. Mila and Mick provide cover fire as Iñigo and Leon rush toward us, cutting a swath of pure destruction through enemy lines.

  Leon maintains his shield over me and Bell, allowing both of us to complete our recharge cycles. After all, flying around for so long while doing intense calculations takes a heavy toll on our resources. So for now, she and I have to sit tight and let the team handle things until we can get back in the game.

  Mick is the closest to our location and finds his way to us ahead of the others, though Mila is not too far behind. Iñigo and Leon make a lovely contrast as they make their way over; Iñigo with his lumenblades, all four of them, his extra limbs out in full offensive mode as he cuts through enemy targets; Leon with his deflector fields angled perfectly to send anyone standing in his way flying.

  Soon enough, they are also at my side, and I can feel more keenly how we're two robots short of our full crew. Synchronicity was built into all of us though, so it comes as no surprise that I get comms messages from both Doctor Capaldi and Jean Philippe the minute we resume formation.

  Whatever brief joy I felt at our clockwork-like synchronicity dissolves after JP and the Doctor report. I grimace, feeding the data to the rest of the team.

  “We’re coming in hot, and there’s only one exit corridor for both vehicles. You need to screen for us or we’re all extra crispy!” Theron yells through the joint comms line.

  “There’s something after us. It's some new tech monstrosity Octavia cooked up.” Z adds.

  Of course this HUD display make it seem like these two are right in my face. Like I'm not sweating enough already! Yeah.... this is not the time. Gotta focus!

  “Doctor Capaldi, Jean Philippe, disengage on my mark for Touchball Protocol. Did we find a way to counter their anti-neuroweave mojo?” I ask, patient as I wait for Bellona and myself to fully recharge.

  “We’ll be ready this time.” Jean Philippe confirms. I don’t even need the neuroweave to sense his glee.

  Speaking of, if glee could multiply damage by the square foot, we’d all have been home hours ago given how much fun Mila, Mick and Iñigo were having laying waste to the enemy’s defenses. But effective as they were, it still wasn't enough.

  We need to thin the crowd, I think, and we have to confine the remnants of the enemy here. As long as that Huntsman is in play, our options are limited. Even with our carefully curated trump cards, having less hostiles on the field is the only way we can secure a safe exit for the boys and their charges.

  “Team, we need to make an exit corridor for Captain Jaeger and Agent Zavus. They’re coming in from theta quadrant with a Huntsman on their tail. Let’s show the Queen what it’s like to really, and I mean really pick a fight with all of us.” I order. “Activating Touchball Protocol on my mark. Bell, Jean Philippe, start prepping for the hack now. I want no surprises.”

  Bellona disengages from my body and prepares to reassume her command center function. Leon hands her additional shield generator packs, then hands me my lumenblades. They're a model that Doctor Capaldi designed, balanced and weighted to exactly my specifications. They can tear through personal shielding and plate armor, and they also can serve as a great counterbalance to my shooting arm.

  Finally, Leon deploys my spare tactical armor. The Doctor designed it to mimic Leon’s own protective shell and added a few features gleaned from everyone else’s tech. The suit hugs my body and immediately, I am less anxious. This armor makes me thrice as hard to kill, I think.

  Timing it perfectly with Z and Theron’s approach, I give the command. “Touchball protocol. Let’s play!”

  Leon charges up and throws a shield over Bellona, who hovers fifteen meters over him. She glows for a few seconds, interfacing with nearby surveillance sources. Once she accesses them, she begins her hack.

  My HUD beeps with a confirmation notice. She’s in. Bellona proceeds to feed the team the locations and numbers of every enemy hostile on the field.

  Iñigo and I rush forw
ard as we're receiving this intel. Mick and Mila are not far behind, providing massive amounts of cover fire. As Bellona feeds all of us the trajectory of each and every shot, Mila and Mick carve a path with their cover fire. That gives me and Iñigo a chance to find the quickest route to meet Z and Theron halfway.

  I pound across the town square, already missing the speed and mobility of having Bellona fly me around. But we can’t risk having her on the front lines, so, like always, we have to do this the hard way.

  Alarm klaxons ring in my ear and light up on my HUD as Bellona detects incoming reinforcements. More tanks, this time of a heavier build, and several squadrons worth of soldiers and synths. Sure. Why not.

  “Mick!” I yell, diverting his attention toward the incoming trouble.

  I silently hope to the higher powers that if Mick can't totally decimate the incoming ground forces, he'll at least be able to take all the tanks out.

  I'm cutting and shooting my way through the remnants of the battalion’s first wave as I continue my sprint. From the corner of my eye, I watch as Iñigo makes quick work of the soldiers and synths in his way. Pretty soon, I’ve almost cleared the entire square, leaping over fallen monuments, enemies and their war machines.

  Suddenly, my HUD lights up. Incoming anti-aircraft projectiles set off a new round of alarms in my ear, unnerving but certainly unsurprising. I would be overtly judgy that they aren't the homing kind if I had the time. Because I don't, I instead channel that energy into evasive maneuvers.

  Trusting Bellona’s telemetry with my life, I butterfly flip forward. The first two projectiles zip past my torso with roughly an inch or two to spare on either side. As the momentum pivots me towards the origin of these missiles, I fire up my nanites.

  For the space of a few seconds, time slows, but only for me. I aim at the next three projectiles heading my way and open fire before my left foot touches the ground. The missiles explode behind me before I set my right foot down.

  “Mila! Disengage and secure your vantage points. Mick, cover her. And both of you, take out whatever's shooting at me. They’re being very rude.” I cock my head to the right, allowing the sixth projectile to overshoot and strike the nearby rubble instead. My eardrums have had better days.

  I don’t look back as I sprint forward to catch up with Iñigo. Mick and Mila gaining some altitude, or at least positioning themselves just right, should allow them the leverage to provide cover fire for the exit corridor we were making.

  I glance at my HUD to see that Theron and Z are close. In a few seconds, they’ll be rounding the southeast corner onto the main avenue that feeds straight into the town square.

  I can’t actually see them right now, but I sure as the five hells can hear the sound of return fire and the throttling of hovercraft engines. Also, explosions. Quite a few in fact, and in rapid succession.

  I sigh. Theron loves his thermic grenades.

  I get rid of the last remaining enemy targets in my space and get into position. Leon stops behind me and I do a quick check to see if Mick and Mila are in place.

  Nearby, Iñigo cuts through the last of the synthoids attacking him and nods. I flash back to the time he wasn't yet outfitted with the means for vocal communication, just because Octavia had no plans to do so. It was cute when I taught him how to nod, and it's still charming now.

  I snap out of my reverie as two hovercrafts turn the corner onto the main road at breakneck speeds. Not too far behind them, the Huntsman tears through the city streets, making loud, terrifying crunching sounds with each step. If it had any problems keeping up, it didn’t show.

  I do my best to ignore the Huntsman so we can “board” the hovercrafts as they speed by. Leon and I aim for Z’s hovercraft, and Iñigo aims for Theron’s.

  At just the right time, we jump.

  In the blink of an eye, Iñigo, Leon and I are holding onto each hovercraft for dear life.

  “Bell, Jean Philippe, we need those cameras!” I yell as we speed down the main street toward our exit corridor. One more knot in my stomach untangles, when the confirmations light up my HUD display.

  When JP and Bellona link up, there’s virtually nothing they can’t hack. I mean, we broke into the space station. Hacking every camera and streaming feed in this station should be infinitely easier.

  With all eyes on us, the Queen can spin this any way she wants. We’re the bad guys who kidnapped the girls. We’re destabilizing Faldan. Blah blah blah.

  No matter what she says, none of her troops will lift a finger against us with the girls in our care. Can’t risk endangering the Conglomerate’s reputation. Which is great, but seeing how the troops are responding to us, both via Bellona’s tracking and with my own eyes, it’s almost unbelievable to me that they aren’t trying stop us at all. In fact, I’m seeing... retreat patterns?

  I was expecting some resistance, but for them to be making a way for us… Something isn’t right.

  I sense it in the neuroweave as Bellona warns us. From every direction, city lights, buildings… Everything goes dark and shuts down. Even the music we were blaring ends abruptly, and an eerie silence begins to hum all around us.

  It feels like the darkness is alive. Alive and closing in on us while we speed toward our exit point.

  I know Octavia’s behind this one hundred percent, but this doesn't add up. Why would she cut the lights? It makes no sense to do that for a city block, let alone an entire city square.

  I scan for power levels and it’s not just the lights. It’s everything plugged into the grid. She cut power to everything.

  “Bell, trace how far this…” I command, but am interrupted by a terrible and now familiar sound. The Huntsman is powering up to fire at us.

  “She’s shut down the entire space station, except for life support and gravity.” Bellona says.

  That maniac. We have too few seconds to respond and we need to use them wisely.

  “She’s going to kill the girls while nobody’s looking.” I tell the team grimly.

  The Huntsman reaches full charge and fires.

  ◆◆◆

  Emergency Broadcast

  Destination: All Faldan Station devices and receivers

  Power grid down.

  Please remain calm as power grid is rebooted.

  Reboot to be completed in ten minutes.

  Please stand by.

  Chapter Nine

  The blast hits us head on, but Leon dissipates most of the resulting shockwave. His shields hold up, but only because he is what he is: elite. That wasn't a warning shot. We would have been blown clean off the road if we didn’t already know what we were dealing with.

  My mind is racing. While the station is completely dark, Octavia will kill the girls and say we did it. If we wound up conveniently dead while trying to escape, that’s just another plausible lie at her disposal. The next few moves will decide who wins this terrible game. And we can’t afford to lose.

  “The soldiers might think twice about harming the princesses, but the bots and synths won’t. Ten to one, she’ll kill any mutineers and label ‘em collateral damage. Won’t be the first time.” Theron says darkly.

  “We can’t let this fight draw out. Not if we want to get the princesses out of here alive.” Z adds. "We either need decoys or reinforcements, and I'm pretty sure I can only volunteer as decoy."

  “Yeah, about that...” I say, “Jean Philippe, if we deploy the soldier bucket protocol now, what’s the ETA?”