by Jan Domagala
He pushed Norsky from him but the ex Alliance agent refused to go as he grabbed hold of Kurt’s arm. Twisting around and under Norsky he bent his arm around his back and grabbed him around the neck with his free arm around Norsky’s back. Bending at the knees Norsky slammed an elbow into Kurt’s ribs hearing a satisfying snap as he broke two of his ribs. He then reversed the hold he had on him throwing him over his shoulder to land on his back in front of him.
Norsky jumped up to land on Kurt’s midriff with a knee but his prey was aware of the tactic and rolled free at the last instant. Norsky’s knee impacted with the floor smashing through.
Kurt was on his feet in a flash and aimed a series of blows at his attacker who performed a backward roll out of the way after blocking the first three punches.
With his head down Norsky ran at Kurt catching him around the waist then picked him up to slam his back down into the floor, again with such force that the floor gave way slightly. Kurt’s broken ribs had healed but after this latest assault his back almost broke. Kurt managed to get his feet under Norsky’s chest to push him from him sending him across the room once more.
Norsky regained his feet and ran at him aiming a haymaker right cross at Kurt’s head. Kurt brought up his left arm to block the punch then smashed his right fist into Norsky’s stomach. His attacker doubled over from the pain from the blow and Kurt grabbed his head and still held Norsky’s other arm he threw him bodily against the wall. The impact almost sent him through into an adjacent office instead he fell to the floor at the base of the damaged wall.
Norsky was off the ground in a flash leaping on top of Kurt smashing his fist into the side of his head. Kurt saw stars dance before his eyes for just a second from a blow that would have caved in a normal skull. That second though was all Norsky needed to get him on the floor.
Just as he rolled on top of Kurt, bringing up his fist to smash into his face, he heard the sound of the elevator arriving. He turned to look in that direction which gave Kurt the opportunity he needed.
Kurt punched Norsky squarely in the face which eased him up off of him giving him the room to bring up his legs to kick him off him. Norsky went staggering across the room just as Jake and the rest of the Wildfire Team exited the elevator. Jake saw what was happening and brought up his assault rifle and shot the ex Alliance agent as he flew across the room.
The salvo of pulsed plasma bolts struck Norsky in the centre of his chest tearing through his already damaged body armour to strike flesh.
Anger flared in him then as he saw the odds tilt against him. His chest was regenerating, healing as he looked at the newcomers but the focus of his anger was still Kurt Stryder. Ignoring the Wildfire Team he rushed at Kurt once more. Kurt was ready this time though, clearly he had just been waiting for the others to arrive as his stance was more confident and self assured.
As Norsky approached Kurt side stepped then as his attacker rushed by he snapped out a ridge hand strike catching Norsky in the throat. The speed of the strike was such that not even Norsky’s enhanced reflexes could see it and when it impacted on his throat his head remained in place but the rest of his body continued forward. His legs went up in the air as his momentum carried him on then he crashed down to the floor on his back.
Kurt was on him in a flash snapping the SUT on his wrist. Light exploded around Norsky as the SUT was activated and within a flash, literally, the light imploded disappearing to a pinprick. When it vanished Norsky was no longer there.
“Now Artie,” Jake said.
Norsky appeared above the RandCorp building exploding out from a burst of light so intense that onlookers thought a new sun had flashed into existence before disappearing just as quickly.
*****
Norsky had felt something snap onto his wrist and before he could react blinding light engulfed him. With it came the sensation of total disorientation. He had no idea which way was up or where he was. His head spun and wave after wave of nausea washed over him making it impossible for him to focus. The light disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared but the sense of disorientation remained. When his eyes had cleared and the pain vanished he saw where he was. This caused further confusion for he was somehow outside the building in mid air.
“Oh shit!” he said when he saw what was about to happen.
*****
On the command given by Jake, the Pulsar’s AI fired a Hellfire missile at the figure that suddenly appeared. The resulting explosion blew the unsuspecting Norsky into smithereens. He saw the missile being fired but could do nothing to prevent what was to come next. All thoughts of Godhood were extinguished in the explosion.
His body was ripped apart by the force of the blast sending body parts outward in every direction in a shower of blood and gore.
Kurt looked at Jake and his team and smiled. This part of their mission had been a success. A major threat to the safety of Col Sec had been eradicated but this was just the start. The major battle was still being waged and they were too far away to help.
“It’s not over yet guys,” Torres said which ended their short lived celebration.
“Artie meet us on the roof, we need to get back to HQ and fast,” Jake said and without another word they all headed for the roof.
*****
The cordon on the edge of the building was being protected by officers in the local Constabulary. They made sure there were no encroachments inside what was now a crime scene. A tall man approached the cordon dressed in coveralls with ‘Forensic Unit’ emblazoned across the back of his attire. He was accompanied by five other men similarly dressed and all looking similar, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the officer they approached.
“We’ve come to process the scene,” the tall man leading the group said, his opaline eyes looking straight at the officer.
The officer inspected the credentials held out by the tall man and he glanced at all the others with him. He said, “Okay, it’s all yours.” As he allowed them through the cordon he asked, “Are you all related?”
The leader said over his shoulder as they continued on towards the building, “We’re brothers.”
The body parts that littered the ground, fallout from the Hellfire missile that exploded above everyone’s heads, were gathered up by the forensic unit members and placed into containers that were sealed.
Without saying a word and once all of Norsky’s remains had been collected the forensic unit disappeared inside the building where they made their way to the Express elevator. Once they reached the Penthouse they exited the elevator and walked to the door that led to the roof. The shuttle was still there even though the pilot was dead. They all got inside and one of them sat in the pilot’s chair. He fired up the engines and before long the shuttle was rising into the air before the pilot turned her away from the building and pointed her up toward the upper atmosphere.
Down on the ground the officer who had allowed them through the cordon saw the shuttle take off and he called his headquarters using his NI.
When the call was put through he said, “Sir something weird has just happened over at the RandCorp building.”
“What sort of weird are we talking here?” asked the Commander. So the officer told him what he had seen every detail, including the eye colour of the men.
“I think you’re on to something there but I also know it’s above both our pay grades so I’ll inform the right people. Good work son,” the Commander said before breaking off the connection.
His next call was to Col Sec HQ but because of the attack all comm. lines were down so the call was logged by an automatic receiver and stored for further inspection. The Commander came off the line unaware that his call had not been heard at that point so he went about his business thinking that it would be taken care of.
31
The first of the three octo felines poked its head around the corner of the corridor. When it saw the prey they had been tracking it threw its massive head back, opened its huge maw of a mouth and let out a hu
ge roar. The sound reverberated through the corridor echoing off the walls and the Recon Delta marines knew then what they were up against.
“Holy shit, you weren’t kidding about them being my worst nightmare,” Trent said as he brought up his assault rifle to aim at the huge beast.
“No I was not, I only knew of them through the reports from the Wildfire Team and Kurt Stryder but seeing them I can now believe what they said,” Matt said never taking his eyes off the approaching beast.
“What did the report say?”
“That they were virtually unstoppable.”
“This day just keeps getting better and better,” Trent said just as another roar filled the corridor heralding the arrival of the second beast.
“Holy crap,” Trent said as he looked at the second beast then consulted the sensor readout on his helmets’ HUD. “There are three of the fuckers?” he said not believing what he was seeing.
“And quite a few Rover5’s to back them up,” observed Matt as he also accessed the computer sensor readings via his NI.
“Talk about your back to the wall,” Trent said then setting his jaw in grim determination he said to his squad, “You’ve all seen what we’re up against, you know how important our job is here today. Colonel De Boer is on his way with re-enforcements so we just need to hold our position here and not allow the enemy to gain a foothold in this base. I know you won’t let me down so let’s do this.”
The first beast sniffed the air recognising its prey and locked its front set of eyes on the men and woman before it. Its powerful muscles in the front two sets of legs bunched up, bulging beneath the skin as the rear two sets of legs prepared to pounce like massive coiled springs.
Before it could move Trent fired his assault rifle, a short burst of pulsed plasma bolts struck the beast squarely in the chest just as the beast raised its massive head to roar prior to it attacking. The smell of burnt fur and flesh filled the confined space in the corridor along with the beasts’ bellow of pain and rage. The salvo of gunfire had wounded the creature but more importantly it had enraged it beyond its capability to control. It sprang at the marines catching them completely unawares. Even though they had been keeping a close eye on them they were unprepared for the speed and ferocity of the creature. Its massive mouth closed on the arm of the nearest marine clamping down hard then with a twist of its head it ripped the arm from the socket. Blood trailed through the air as the marine’s heart pumped it out of the open wound and even though he vainly tried to hold it in with his other hand it was futile, he fell to the floor weak from massive and rapid blood loss. The creature swallowed the arm whole then turned to attack another marine. It smashed its head into the chest of another marine tossing him high into the air. He smashed into the ceiling then came crashing down right into the open mouth of the creature who bit down hard on the marines’ midriff. The jaws were so powerful that with one single bite it severed the man in two. It tossed one half into the air to catch it in his mouth while the rest of the man fell to the floor to be pinned by a massive feline paw.
The other two creatures attacked then after smelling the blood. The marines had to fall back as they could not fight in close quarters with this enemy.
Trent bellowed at his men trying desperately to be heard over the roars of the huge beasts. He told what was left of his men to fall back where they could attempt to regroup.
Matt and Zara had watched the first encounter with the octo felines and they were as much afraid as were the Recon Delta marines, but like the said marines, they refused to allow it to show.
They made their way back through the corridor, back pedalling as they went. They fired their assault rifles futilely at the great beasts. The pulsed plasma bolts struck the creatures but their fury was such that, even through the pain they continued to surge forward. Their skin began to regenerate, slowly not nearly as fast as Kurt or Zara but it would heal far faster than anything they had seen before.
Behind the creatures the Rover5 who was leading those, Maguire, said to the rest of the clones, “Stay back, now they have the scent of her there should be nothing that will stop them.”
*****
“We have to split up and try to make them follow us. If we can divide their forces we may have a chance to whittle them down,” suggested Matt to Trent.
“We can try but I think our best option would be to fight on a united front,” replied the commander of the marines.
“How did they know where this place was?” asked Zara voicing something that had been bothering her since the attack had begun.
“Excuse me?” Trent said wondering why the sudden change of tack.
“How did they know where this base was, I thought it was supposed to be top secret yet they found it with no trouble. It was almost like they followed something here, tracked it here,” she said.
“Are you suggesting that we have a mole in here?” Trent asked.
“No but I think I know where she’s going with this,” Matt said looking at the Captain. He turned to Zara and said, “You escaped from their ship didn’t you, how long were you on board, have you any idea?”
“None, I just remember waking up and being transferred to their ship, we made several jumps and then I escaped close to Celeron where Kurt picked me up. At the time I thought it strange, almost too easy and I never figured out why we were at Celeron anyway but now I’m thinking it was all to get me here.”
“They tracked you, you have a sub dermal tracker implanted,” Trent blurted out when the realisation dawned on him what they were talking about.
“What does that mean though?” he added when Matt and Zara looked at him.
Matt smiled and said, “It means we now have a plan.”
*****
“One thing’s been bothering me since this whole thing started,” Jake said as they sat in the forward section of the Pulsar. Kurt turned to him and asked, “What’s that?”
“How they found the HQ so easily, well at all really,” he replied.
“Isn’t it obvious sir’s, Miss Hardy has a sub dermal tracker implanted which they followed,” the AI interjected.
“Just what I was thinking,” Jake added.
“How do you get to that?” Kurt asked looking around for someone to talk to; he was not as comfortable as the Team were yet in conversing with the AI.
“I have been running extrapolations on the events as they unfolded Captain Stryder. Miss Hardy escaped from a starship in orbit around your home world. There was no explanation as to why they were there so we must assume it was to force you to come to her aid.” Artie said.
“But they tried to stop us, they tried to recapture us both and we only got away by the skin of our teeth,” Kurt said.
“All the more reason for you to ensure you took her to a place of safety; somewhere they would not be able to find her.”
“Somewhere they would not be able to find either of us, somewhere like the HQ,” Kurt said as he saw what the AI was suggesting.
“Exactly Sir, with the sub dermal tracker in place they were then able to locate the Headquarters below ground and attack once Norsky had lured you away.”
“Are you then saying that this whole thing was to destroy the base? If that’s the case then why lure me away, what was their idea to have me battle Norsky, what did they hope to achieve?”
“Because Norsky had a contingent of clones with him I believe they were there not to prevent anyone gaining entry to the building but rather to act as back up for him to enable him to capture you.”
“To what end?”
“Did you not report that on Toldax the Alliance took samples of your blood to use in their own plan of re-creating the initial experiment that gave you your abilities?”
“They wanted me as a source for their own experiment on creating a sort of super clone?”
“I do believe that is correct sir. If their plan to destroy Col Sec HQ is a success and they had captured you it would have seriously inhibited Col Sec’s ability to
defend against such an enemy.”
“Have you come up with a theory as to how they plan to destroy the base?” Jake asked.
“The most effective way would be to force the personnel deep into the base then explode a thermabaric device. It would cause quite some damage and the shockwave generated would travel through every level killing anyone trapped in there.”
“Zara and the rest of Col Sec are down there. We have to do something,” Kurt said and the anguish he felt was evident just by looking at him.
“I doubt very much that, according to the timing of their plan that they would allow us to reach the base before they detonated the device sir,” the AI said.
“Are you saying there’s nothing we can do to help them Artie?” Torres pleaded.
“We have to warn them at least, tell them to get the hell out of there as fast as they can,” Kurt said.
“I am attempting to contact General Sinclair now sir but I fully expect a jamming cordon to be in place,” Artie said then added, “It seems I was wrong.” and then he connected the call.
*****
At that very moment Sinclair was walking away from the base through one of the escape tunnels. When the call came through to his NI he thought at first it was an update from those he had left behind.
“Jake, give me a sit-rep,” he said once he recognised who was calling him.
“General I don’t have much time so please listen very carefully. The Rover5’s are going to detonate a thermabaric bomb that will collapse the top levels of the HQ sealing it off. Sir the shockwave will fill the entire HQ, no one will be safe. You have to get everyone out of there as fast as you can. We don’t have a time frame for when it’ll go off just that it will.” Jake said quickly trying to get as much information across as he could as quick as he could.