by M. D. Cooper
Niki didn’t respond, and Rika sent a tendril of thought along with the AI, watching as she worked through the systems in the track information panel, searching for data and control sources, while taking care not to trip any alarms or activate any sleeping systems.
With part of her mind on that task, Rika watched Squad Three’s teams as they moved down the warren of passages that led away from the maglev terminal. So far, all they’d found were storerooms and several workspaces. None appeared to have seen recent use, though Rika did wonder about some of the supplies. It appeared as though several crates had Iberian labels on them…but the transit stamps were using Nietzschean dates. If that was the case, then those crates had come to Faneuil after the war.
Another part of her mind stretched along the relays the squad had dropped, reaching back to the pinnace.
She checked over the other teams and then pulled feeds from Lieutenant Fuller and Squad Two.
They were moving through a warren of larger warehouse spaces that were filled with larger equipment. So far, they’d not found anything to indicate anyone had been in that area for some time.
Rika snorted, walking out of the terminal and following the route three/one had taken.
The AI sent a protracted sigh, then said,
A smile crept onto Rika’s lips as she came to an intersection. Three/one had gone to the right, but she had an itch between her shoulder blades that told her to go left.
Turning down the passage, Rika followed it for a minute until it curved to the right. She rounded the bend and found herself standing at the top of a deep shaft.
It was over thirty meters across, with several lift platforms sitting at the top. None of them were enclosed, only ringed by skimpy railings. Rika sent out a passel of drones, noting that the shaft went down for several kilometers.
Niki replied.
Rika looked around, noting that a half-dozen passages connected to the lift shaft. She crept around the perimeter, peering down each corridor, not spotting anyone. She’d made it halfway around when her armor’s sensors picked up an EM flare at the entrance to one of the passages.
Rika crept toward the location from where the EM burst had come, directing all of her passive pickups at that vacant patch of air in an attempt to determine if the signal had come from an enemy in stealth, or was just a signal echo.
She was almost there when markers on her HUD noted that three/one had entered the shaft chamber from another passage.
They began to sweep around the top of the shaft toward her while Rika continued to move in the direction of the EM burst. Once she was within a few meters, she released a nanocloud and then held her position.
A second later, Niki gave a short laugh.
She relaxed her stance, waiting for the rest of the squad to get into position before initiating the breach on the nearby enemy.
Fireteam four was nearly in position when one of the mechs stepped on a section of deck plate that slipped out of place, groaning loudly as it bent.
A second later, Rika spotted a dozen grenades flying toward the fireteam’s position. Muzzle flashes lit up the area, rounds streaking out from the mechs, destroying the incoming explosives in seconds.
But one grenade made it through and detonated, spraying a glowing gel across the four mechs in the fireteam.
Next to Rika, the crouched figure rose, only to suddenly go still as overhead lights came on and a voice thundered all around.
“Freeze! Show yourselves!”
A second later, the stealthed figure next to Rika materialized, and then she disabled her own stealth to reveal her weapon pointed at the man’s head.
The other defenders were still stealthed—though Rika had a good idea of where they were from the grenade throws.
A muffled sound came from the armor next to Rika, and she accessed the figure’s armor, turning on his speakers.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” The man’s voice came out in an angry growl. “And what are you doing here on Faneuil?”
“We’re here to kill Nietzscheans. I’m Colonel Rika, and these are the Marauders.”
* * * * *
It had taken a few tense minutes, but Rika had managed to convince Lieutenant Gary to have his team stand down and turn over their weapons to the mechs.
With the discovery of the defenders, Fuller had ended his sweep of the warehouses and was on his way with all of the teams, barring Alison’s, who split up to secure the pad and the two entrances into the underground facility.
Niki had accessed the environmental controls, and once the shaft was aired back up, Rika released the seals on Lieutenant Gary’s armor, ordering him to step out.
He complied—along with the rest of his platoon, who were removing their armor under the watchful eyes of the mechs towering over them.
“Marauders, eh?” he asked once he stood before her in only
his base layer, eyes sparking angrily below dark brows. “You wouldn’t happen to be Mill’s Marauders, would you?”
“We are,” Rika replied. “Or rather, we were. General Mill was KIA half a year back.”
Gary shook his head. “Damn…a damn shame.” Then he folded his arms across his chest. “You have me at quite the disadvantage, Colonel Rika. Care to show your face?”
Rika reached up and unlatched her helmet, pulling it free, smiling at the man before her.
“I’m really sorry that we met under these circumstances, but am I safe in assuming that you’re with some sort of Genevian resistance?”
“Maybe,” Gary replied. “We’re certainly not mercs, that’s for sure.”
“Neither are we,” Rika replied with a wink as she glanced at her mechs, more of whom were moving into the shaft chamber and spreading out down the adjacent passages. “We’re well-funded freedom fighters.”
Gary snorted. “That’s a new one. Funny.”
“We’re regular comedians,” Bean said as she approached. “Colonel, our friends here are all secure. Should we restrain them?”
“No,” Rika replied. “Put them on the lift platforms. I don’t think anyone will try any funny business while on those things.”
Gary’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “Stars, you’re right about that. If you knew how many times those things stalled out…lowest bidder won the contract on that crap, that’s for sure.”
“They’ll do doubly well, then,” Rika said, watching as the twenty men and women from Gary’s team were marched onto the platforms.
Some looked angry, but most seemed in awe, muttering amongst themselves about never having seen so many mechs at once before.
Gary echoed their sentiment. “You really all mechs?”
“Whole battalion,” Rika said. “Well, there are a few mark-zeros in our fleet, but a lot of them have been mechanized as well.”
“Mark zeros?” Gary asked with a laugh. “That’s a new one.”
“I just made it up,” Rika replied. “So, is it just you here, or are there more of your friends below?”
“Just us,” Gary replied. “We’ve been holed up here for a while.”
“So if I send a team down, they won’t find anyone else?”
“Well, eventually they’ll find Aman in our little CIC a ways down, but otherwise, that’s it.”
“I applaud your attempt to protect your people, but there’s a whole fleet of mechs coming. Eventually we’ll scour every nook and cranny of this place. Hiding really isn’t an option.”
Gary shook his head. “OK…do you really expect me to believe there are enough mechs left over from the war to form a whole battalion?”
“I’m not too concerned about what you do or do not believe. The proof will be before your eyes in a few days.”
The man fixed her with a cool stare for a moment and folded his arms. “OK, Colonel Rika. Let’s just say I believe that there’s a whole mech fleet out there. What are you really doing here?”
Rika couldn’t help the smile that formed on her lips.
“We’re here to kill Emperor Constantine, of course.”
THE RESISTANCE
STELLAR DATE: 04.21.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: The Refuge, Faneuil
REGION: Genevia System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
A full day had passed since Rika’s Marauders had taken control of the upper levels around Pad 719.
Oda, who Gary referred to as the ‘Leader’ of the Genevia System’s resistance, hadn’t yet acquiesced to Rika coming down the shaft to see the rest of The Refuge, but he had finally agreed to come up.
During that day, Lieutenant Gary’s platoon had warmed up to the mechs, even joining them in a few simulated games of Terra Assault.
A key part of the resistance members’ acceptance of the mechs had been the news they brought—that two systems had already been liberated from the Nietzscheans. With the added knowledge that the Marauders had allies capable of crushing armadas such as the Nietzschean fleet in the Albany System, the resistance soldiers were in high spirits.
Despite his troops’ acceptance of the mechs, Lieutenant Gary was still behaving coolly, and Rika wasn’t certain if that was just his normal attitude, or if the man was worried about what hosting a battalion of mechs on Faneuil would do to upset the status quo.
Despite the uncertainty, Rika had dispatched Mad Dog to drop the beacon for the fleet. She’d also sent an update to Admiral Tangel with their current location’s coordinates to be passed on to Chase and Admiral Carson.
[Be careful,] Tangel had sent in reply.
Rika laughed when the response came through. Somehow, she felt like the motherly version of Tangel had come out for a moment.
It was nice.
[I will.]
Now Rika stood at the rim of the Shaft, watching via remote drones as the mock-bottom ten kilometers below cycled open, revealing the full extent of the drop at her feet.
“Deep,” she commented.
“Tell me about it,” Gary replied. “The Shaft is the bane of my existence. I kind of hate it.”
Neither spoke further as a lift platform came into view, rising out of the gloom. Five occupants stood on its surface. One was Oda, another was a woman wearing a GAF uniform with three stars on her lapels. The other three wore armor similar to that of Gary and his platoon’s—before the Marauders relieved them of it.
Heather replied with a laugh.
Rika felt a sense of relief fill her at the knowledge that her Marauders were in orbit above. She had been dreading a protracted conversation with the rebels, where she’d have to work to prove to them that she was who she said she was.
It would also be nice to remove the still-present hint of doubt from Gary’s brow.
Five minutes later, the lift reached the top of the shaft, and Rika stepped forward, extending her left hand.
“Leader Oda. I’m Colonel Rika. It’s very nice to meet you.”
The man stepped forward, his eyes betraying nothing of what was going on behind them. He brushed his long, silver hair over his shoulders and walked off the lift, taking her hand in his.
“I don’t know that it is ‘nice’ to meet you, Colonel Rika. It certainly is interesting.”
Niki laughed.
Oda was waiting for her response to his barbed comment, and she took a breath before giving it. “Given what they say about living in interesting times, I’m going to do my best to take that as a compliment.”
Oda’s level gaze stayed fixed on her for a moment, and then he stepped aside and gestured to the woman accompanying him.
“Admiral Lareese,” the woman said, not taking her eyes off Rika’s gun-arm as they shook hands.
“Quite the welcome you have here.”
Rika glanced down at the barrel of her GNR and shrugged. “It’s my arm. It tends to go where I go.”
“You don’t take it off?” Admiral Lareese cocked an eyebrow.
The woman’s line of questioning tweaked Rika the wrong way, and a host of rather unpleasant responses cascaded through her mind.
In the end, she simply shook her head and said, “No.”
“Oda, Admiral,” Lieutenant Gary said, hastily stepping forward. “We’ve prepared a room nearby.”
Oda nodded, and Gary led the silent group around the perimeter of the shaft and down a hall until they reached a small mess hall. A pair of tables had been pushed together, and there were glasses of water and some crackers sitting in the center.
“Would you like our guards to wait outside?” Oda asked as they entered the room.
“Whichever you prefer,” Rika said. “If you’re more comfortable with them in here, that’s fine with me.”
It turned out that Oda, or perhaps Lareese, very much desired to have the three soldiers nearby. They immediately moved to take up positions in the room’s corners. One of them began to walk behind Rika, but she turned in her seat and stared at the woman.
“I don’t think so. Stand anywhere you want, but not behind me. Unless you want me to fill this room with mechs and their gun-arms.”
The woman hesitated, then muttered an apology and moved to stand on the far side of the room.
“I have to admit,” Rika said as she turned to look from Oda to Lareese. “I’ve gotten warmer welcomes from enemies in the past. I don’t think we’re enemies, are we?”
Oda glanced at Lareese before responding. “Perhaps not ‘enemies’, but from our standpoint, you are someone who could put all our work at risk.”
“That would be unfortunate,” Rika replied, doing her best to sound compassionate. “I assume you’re referring to a plan to kill Constantine?”
“No,” Lareese shook her head. “We’re worried you’re going to expose us. Our insystem operations are centered around finding ways to sabotage ships, not make a suicide attempt against the emperor.”