by M. D. Cooper
* * * * *
Taking a break from the handshaking and backslapping, Rika walked to the edge of Bay 22 and gazed out through the open doors. Simply put, the view was astounding: the three smaller moons had already been pulverized into a diffuse disk, illuminated by the flaring event horizons of the three black holes that were devouring the debris.
“It sure is beautiful, isn’t it?” a familiar voice asked from beside Rika, and she glanced at Silva’s solemn visage.
“It is, like a deadly dance,” Rika said with a nod, as she watched the whirlpools of matter swirl in the ring. “I ran some models, and they show that inside a few weeks, there will be only one black hole, and it will ultimately consume the planet. The ISF is preparing a navigational hazard beacon.”
“They’re good people like that.”
Rika nodded. “That they are. Speaking of good people, I thought we agreed that you should go with Amy to New Canaan, and leave the warmongering to those of us without kids.”
Silva’s eyes narrowed, and she gave Rika a sidelong look. “I have to be here. Amy and I talked about it, and she understands. I need to bring my boys home, and put my family back together.” The lieutenant colonel paused, her eyes growing moist. “Please, Rika. I need to be here.”
“Are you going to stay on-mission?” she asked. “We’re out here because we’re trying to free all of Genevia, not just your boys.”
“Stars, woman,” Silva said with a laugh. “I still remember when you were newly mechanized, all terrified of the world around you. I had to keep you safe under my wing for our first few deployments. Now here you are, giving me the tough love speech.”
A host of memories flooded into Rika’s mind. “Well, I had a really good teacher on that front.”
“Oh yeah?” Silva smiled.
“Sure, you remember that guy named Bro I told you about once or twice?”
Silva groaned and gave Rika a mock slap on the head.
“Taking in the sights?” Barne’s voice came from behind them, and Rika tuned to see her Sergeant Major approaching, arm intertwined with Leslie’s. Not far behind them trailed Chase and Kelly.
Rika reached out for Chase’s hand and drew him close.
“Team Hammerfall and Team Basilisk,” she said with a contented smile. “All my mechs are here, plus a host of new Marauders that are ready to take the fight to Constantine.”
As if to punctuate Rika’s statement, a laugh boomed across the bay, coming from one of Adira’s commanders, a broad-shouldered man named Captain Fell.
“So, where to?” Chase asked as he gazed out at the stars.
“The Allies are setting up gates to ship the Harriet carriers back to Pyra for proper refit at the Kendrik shipyards,” Rika explained. “I’ve not received any specific orders yet, so I’m going to recall Vargo from Kansas, and then we’ll jump to Iberia. I don’t know what Alice thinks she’s playing at, but we’re going to rescue Alison and her team, then haul that woman back in chains.”
“I like the way you think, Rika. Seeing Alice in chains will make my day,” Chase said with a laugh. “It’s a long jump to Iberia, though. If these degenerates try to get you to play butt-Snark, run for the hills.”
“Why would I do that?” Rika asked, genuinely confused. “I love butt-Snark.”
* * * * *
Alison gazed at the holotank on the Karl’s Might’s bridge. It showed their destination, a world in the Iberia System named Malta. It was unassuming, agrarian, and nowhere near any strategic Nietzschean installations.
If they took Rika here, I’ll eat my arm, Alison thought while glancing at Alice.
Alas, after a seventy-day journey to the Iberia System, Alison knew that the hunt for Rika had gone on without them—successfully, she had no doubt. It was all too apparent that the colonel was playing some sort of game the mechs didn’t understand…yet.
It’s up to me to find out what this traitor is up to.
THE END
RIKA UNLEASHED
RIKA’S MARAUDERS – BOOK 6
FOREWORD
I think I wrote three forewords before finally typing out these words.
I write a lot about war, about people who have fought, and struggled, and striven. About people who face unimaginable obstacles, both within and without, and survive, grow, even flourish.
Some of the stories in Aeon 14 are distant; they’re told from the bridges of starships, and the halls of leaders where decisions are made and then passed down to be executed by others.
For the most part, they’re stories of victories, the legends of a future age. They’ll be sung about in song, and lauded as the foundations of a new era of peace and prosperity.
But that road to victory—and, one hopes, a successive peace— is paved with the bones of the dead, soaked in blood and covered with ash.
I suppose that sounds melodramatic, but it’s something I try to keep in mind as I write. Yet those considerations don’t always make it into the story, which is why I wrote the story of Rika, one of those broken and ruined by war, and then cast aside when it was over.
But Rika isn’t the only one in that state. By and large, every Marauder is trying to reestablish their place in an uncertain future, most rallying around the rock of stability she offers.
Not everyone makes the right choice every time. Some people do the wrong thing for the right reasons. Add selfishness to the mix, and even the right things can become wrong, rationales twisted and deceiving.
This story is as much about the people Rika has drawn in around herself as it is about her. But in a way, that is also a reflection on her. In addition, it shows where she has to go next.
Will she remain focused on her narrow problem, with its narrow solution (the destruction of the Nietzschean Empire)? Or will she expand her view to truly appreciate the Genevian people who cast her out and accept them in?
Only time will tell where Rika’s journey will take her, and where she will take Genevia.
Michael Cooper
Danvers, 2018
Prominent Members of the Marauders
Though there is a full list of all the mechs, pilots, and members of the Marauders at the end of the book, this is a listing of some of the more prominent characters and their current role in the battalion.
9th Marauder Battalion Leadership
Rika – Colonel, battalion commanding officer
Alice – Lieutenant Colonel, executive officer
Silva – Lieutenant Colonel, training commandant
Barne – Sergeant Major, command sergeant
Leslie – Captain, intelligence officer
Niki – AI, Lieutenant, operations officer
M Company Leadership & Key Personnel
Chase – Captain, company commanding officer
Karen – Lieutenant, company executive officer
Potter – AI, Chief of Tactics and Strategy
Chris – Lieutenant, First Platoon Leader
Alison – Sergeant, First Platoon Squad One Leader.
The Seventh Fleet, First Division
Heather (Smalls) – Captain of the Fury Lance
Travis – Captain of the Republic
Ferris – Lieutenant, commander of the Undaunted
Vargo Klen – Lieutenant, commander of the Asora
Ashley – CWO, bridge crew aboard the Asora
Buggsie – Lieutenant, commander of the Capital
HONESTY
STELLAR DATE: 09.13.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: ISS I2
REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance
Five weeks before the events at Epsilon…
The voice came into Niki’s mind without greeting or preamble. She accepted the request, as there was no need for the speaker to provide any such things. It was a moment she’d been anticipating since the very instant her core had been removed from Rika.
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The incredibly vast, multi-nodal AI that lived within the I2 responded with a hint of humor in his communication.
It had been some time since she’d communicated with an AI such as this one. A very, very long time, in fact.
Bob’s rumbling laughter filled her mind, and she had to consciously force herself not to attenuate her connection with him. She wanted to experience him in his raw state.
Bob replied after a moment.
A feeling of discomfort surged through her at the memory of Prime, but she pushed it aside. She’d seen others just as bad as him during the FTL wars—though none with the same sort of potential—though a few had more means. She counted both humans and AIs lucky that Prime had not arisen at a time such as the FTL wars. He would have been all but unstoppable.
Niki had not been aware of that, and was rather surprised to hear it.
Niki sent Bob a feeling of exasperated annoyance.