The corporal sighed, as though she'd had to tell the same story over and over even though no one believed her. “You can't threaten someone who has nothing to lose.”
Lasher looked down as his weapons ignited. “You only think you have nothing to lose. I want a name and I am willing to flay you alive to get it. I want to know why my mother is dead over a trade deal.”
“I don't have those answers for you.” She was as genuinely nervous as she sounded. She knew Lashra’s reputation. She had witnessed the videos of him trashing squads of lancers with a Marshal Templar backing them up. She had seen him take on Prowler mechs. She was in the room when Tom and Hylaeus had talked about him poisoning an entire tribe into oblivion. He was more than willing to kill her to get what he was after. “I didn't want this.”
“We don't care, little morsel.” The Doom Cat circled a bit toward Lasher. “Give us what we need and we'll go. That was the plan, yes?”
Lasher smiled and nodded. “It was. It is.”
“They'll know I talked.” She closed her eyes, pointing to them and her ears.
“Fair enough. Doesn't change anything. Name.”
“No.”
Savoya slammed into Doom-Snuggle, knocking him backwards. She ignited Marshal Truveau's sword, slashing into the mech's shoulder. Lasher was immediately on her, leveling the axe at her leg while his sword followed toward her shoulder.
She hoisted her leg, the axe passing harmlessly below it, and easily blocked the off-balanced shoulder attack. Using the energy of the failed attack, she followed with a riposte to his head. Lasher turned sideways, watching the halo shrouded blade pass within centimeters of his face. He stepped back, placing some distance between them.
Savoya threw the sword, the blade slicing into Doom-Snuggle's shoulder, pinning him to the floor. The mech reacted like a large predator caught in a vice trap. He flailed, trying to free himself from the energy sword dealing damage with every passing second.
Lasher came in hard, a blur of energy and violence. Crisscrossing attacks kept the corporal on her toes, backing her away from the whirling onslaught. Nano-infused reflexes allowed her to dodge and duck him as he pressed her back. He threw his axe, the blade making a whoom, whoom sound, tumbling blade over handle. She slid sideways, letting the blade strike the back wall.
Lasher used the space he fought for to aim his hand at the sword embedded into his friend. The power of the Way flowed between the two, granting Lasher a hold of the ignited blade. It came free, appearing as though it flew from under its own power. The energy corona hummed across the room, landing in Lasher's hand.
“Fluff!” he cried.
“Primary systems good. Structural damage to right shoulder. Get her!”
Savoya grabbed the axe and hacked at the wall. Parts came away in chunks as she worked to widen the part Doom-Snuggle had ripped down. She shouldered her way into the next room, evading a whipping attack from the demonic sword. A quick hack from the stolen Plasmaxe toppled the rock from the wall, sealing the hole she just created.
Pouring out power from the Crucible, Lasher connected to the Way. It showed him the cracks and fractures in the blockage keeping him from his prey. He focused its force into the structure, blasting inward to the next room. He stepped in cautiously, wary that the corporal was waiting with his axe.
He ran into the hall, unable to see her. Reaching into the Way, he found she had been hiding behind some rubble in the room. When he ran in, she slithered behind him, going back into the space where Doom-Snuggle was. Almost on cue, the panther-mech limped out of the doorway, looking down the hall at Lasher.
He aimed his thumb to signal back the way they came. Both ducked back into their respective doorways. They converged on the hole just in time to see Savoya's feet slither through the rubble.
“This is getting old.”
“Agreed. Stand back.”
The remaining panther-mounted auto-blaster raged against the stone wall. Two three-round-bursts knocked the offending rubble outward, tumbling down the cliff. They both looked down to see the rocks bouncing and coming to rest at the bottom.
A hand grabbed the back of the panther's head. “My turn!” Savoya had been hovering above them, the axe handle embedded between two pipes in the wall. She reached down and yanked the Doom Cat through the hole, to drop him over the expanse. She swung back into the room, landing nimbly in a fighting stance with the axe held behind her.
Doom-Snuggle fell nearly twenty meters before his tendrils shot out, anchoring him to the rock. He swung back, digging his rear feet into the facade, bringing his rapid descent to a halt.
Savoya struck out at Lasher with the axe. It was deflected by one of the swords while he struck out with the other. She deftly evaded the blow and caught his hand. She crushed the brace, digging the rods into bone and sinew. His hand began dripping blood, the pain causing him to stumble back.
He dropped both swords, backing up to near the far wall. He held his ruined hand, while she advanced. Looking down to the corpse of Sister Leeuwen, he inwardly chastised himself for underestimating his opponent. He took a knee to steady his breathing.
She doused the blade, dropping the axe with a clatter. She scooped up Truveau's sword, testing the weight as she lit the blade again. It hummed its requiem, a portent that life was to be short for the mongrel.
No more words. No more posturing. She would kill him and then the mech. She would escape. They hadn't planned for her. This would be their undoing.
She raised the blade into high guard, ready to deliver a killing stroke. Time seemed to tick by in tortured eternities, as she held the sword above him. He never took his eyes off of her. They slowly turned from grey to yellow tinged red.
The corporal hadn't struck because she couldn't move. She was caught in a web of the Way. With each passing second, the web grew stronger, forcing her to spend the precious remaining energy of the nanites to try to bring the blade down on his head, ending the conflict. She made a sound like a person struggling against a choke. It was part cough, part gurgle, as she strained to free herself from the ever tightening grip of the Way.
Droplets of blood and loose debris in the room slowly rose, spinning softly, caught in the power Lasher was unleashing. He was drawing energy from both Tythian and the Crucible. He could see her in the Way. He could see where she and the nanites had combined. His force of will focused the Way until he could see the point of failure in the system she had created. He could see the linchpin holding her apart from the Crucible, instead locked in a union with the miniature machines. He pulled the pin.
Reaching into a pouch on his armor, he produced an ion grenade. He slid the locking tab forward, exposing the arming switch. He hit it, allowing the “spoon” to fly off from the grenade. He cooked it off for two breaths before dropping it at her feet. The grenade pulsed, making the air appear like a giant bursting water bubble.
Savoya choked, stepping back and dropping the sword. A slithering thwip sound preceded the deadly energy corona extinguishing, leaving the inert blade to clatter on the ground. Another choke and her limbs began to writhe. She was losing control over the nanobots that gave her strength. She dropped to her knees, coughing uncontrollably. Blood began to pour from her ears, nose, and mouth. She fell over onto her back. As she convulsed on the dusty floor, the blood continued to vent from all over.
A pool, roughly a meter wide, lay apart from the girl, who seemed tiny and broken. The pool twitched, a sign of the nanites that were overloading from the effects of the ion grenade. Lasher used the Way to gather the bloody pool apart from her, keeping it isolated in case the machines recovered from the blast to heal her.
“They weren't done fixing you from all the damage you took,” Lasher told her. “Doesn't have to end this way. I set the grenade on the lowest setting. It just gave them a jolt. Give me a name and I give them back.”
She looked up in terror as he stood over her. He was a terrible god, offering life and death in return for a simple gesture.
A quick utterance and the purgatory of pain she was in could stop.
“Cartel. Don't know who ordered it. Contact name... Chen.”
While holding his decimated hand to his chest, he considered what she told him. There were more than one criminal cartel on Tythian. A gift from the off-worlders working here. He wondered what Kel would say or do when confronted with this information. It was going to be interesting to find out.
He turned away, letting his hold of the nanite-infused blood wane. The liquid slid back to the corporal, like a snake after a mouse. A moment later, her breathing normalized and she lay still to let the swarm heal her injuries.
“Fluff?”
The Doom Cat was slowly making his way up the wall. Lasher could see that the right shoulder was in pretty bad shape. “I want a raise.”
Lasher grinned at his friend having an uninjured sense of humor. He aimed his hand at the mech, levitating it the rest of the way into the room.
“That is not what I meant, but I'll take it for now.”
Thirty
Lance Sergeant Locke came back over the com. “Roger Stalker Element, that mission is danger close. Confirmed by Striker Lead. How copy?”
The sergeant for Stalker Element returned his call. “Roger that. Commencing mission.”
The Stalker Squad was a reconnaissance and light strike unit for the company. Most of them had been scouts in the Elysian Army before transferring to the lancers. They excelled at sneaking into position and laying the hate to some poor soul who desperately deserved it.
Off in the distance, several thumps could be heard. The Stalkers were capable of fielding light infantry mortars. The Vindicator near the broadcast dish giving everyone such trouble keyed in on the incoming shells. It rose from its kneeling position to face them.
Raising its rifle, it fired several shots into the air. Two of the shells detonated upon contact with the shots. The third whistled into its target. The mech watched it sail in, seemingly unconcerned with the outcome of the shot.
In a bolt of movement, the robot surged away from the communications tower. It darted next to an APC as the mortar sailed in. It struck the base of structure, twisting metal and incinerating cable. The tower wavered, swaying one way before flopping over to another. With a thunderous groan, the tower came down. Resicarbon struts cracked, splintering to the point of exploding like a frag grenade. Prosteel struts bent, sending rivets shooting like slug rifle rounds. A wave of dust followed the smashed tower, obscuring the view for most of the field.
“This is Striker 1-9 to Stalker Element. Delta Hotel 4-2 reports no joy on mission. Target has moved under cover of APC. Moving to alternate fire location and wait for next target.”
“Roger out.”
New messages flooded the lance sergeant's HUD, one from Costa and one from Williams. “Now I've seen everything.” He cued up the line to reach Stalker. “Stalker Element, this is Striker 1-9.”
“Go for Stalker.”
“Change of mission.”
“You're in for it now! You can hide from a mortar but not from the motor!” Williams yelled in barely restrained excitement. The Artemis-717 had barely slowed when it had found the enthusiastic private. It had run toward him, scooped him up, and thrust him into an already closing cockpit like a troll swallowing him whole.
The Artemis mech was fast, agile, and hostile in all the right ways. It chewed through the distance from the wadi to the downed com-tower in little time. Dodging spider-mines and several infected mules, the mech burned in like a comet to ground.
As it approached the huddle of APCs the Vindicator was hiding behind, warning messages floated across the private’s vision.
“Warning, indirect fire solutions plotted. We are in a targeted impact area,” called out the stern female voice.
“Got it. Taking evasive maneuvers.” Williams juked the mech one way and then back before darting around ruined and intact APCs alike. “Hey. Do you prefer Artemis or 717 or both?”
There was a brief silence. “I think we have more pressing matters to attend to, Pilot Williams. Whatever you choose will be adequate. The Vindicator is moving to a better position looking for an indirect fire solution against us. I would suggest firing one of our missiles at him. Shall I fire?”
“Whoa! When did we get a target lock on him?” Williams shouted as though he'd just won at cards..
“As I was running in and you were trying pickup lines on a robot vehicle.” Artemis said as though she were an actual woman.
“I was not! I was just trying to be friendly.”
The combat mech changed direction, skirting the line of the APCs to move around the communications towers. Highlighted tracking modules displayed a virtual map of the combat area. The Vindicator was represented by a pulsing red figure on the map. It was moving in and around the APCs closest to the tower.
“What are we doing? Why did you take control back?” Williams asked.
“Invasive maneuvers. Moving this close to the tower will hide our signature from the enemy mech. Targeting us will require he move in the open.” Artemis said amid a flurry of weapon data filling the HUD.
“Don't you mean evasive maneuvers?”
“No, Pilot Williams. I said what I meant.”
The light Striker ran by the tower, circling back toward its original target. Moving through improvised fighting positions, lancers pumped their fists while shouting battle cries at the sight of some friendly armor.
“Pilot Williams, I am putting us in so we may engage the enemy mech from a position of limited visibility on his part. We will have a short targeting window to do as much damage to him as possible. Get ready.”
“Okay, Artemis. This is my first time in an actual Thumper! I've only had sim training before this. You're my first. Be gentle.”
“Sorry, Pilot Williams. I like it rough.”
Almost in response, the shields of the Thumper began to soak damage. The Vinny had jumped to the top of an APC to get a better vantage on what it had designated enemy number one. Light blue energy packets sailed from the barrel of the heavy blaster. The weapon had a high cycle rate, pouring a steady stream of go away into Williams' position.
Williams held the targeting reticle in his helmet on their target, despite his instincts telling him to look away. “I take it that this is your kind of rough?”
“Not exactly.” Artemis responded. “Shield attrition is nearing critical. Pilot, maintain target lock. Deploying ADAM countermeasure.”
The Thumper dropped to the ground on all fours, minimizing its target profile. A box-like launcher unfolded from an open panel in its back. A single missile flew from the launcher. The smoke trail had barely registered before Artemis was up and moving.
“What was that?” Williams roared.
“Robot vehicle combat is more than just running and shooting, Pilot. You must out-maneuver your opponent.”
The missile roared out over the combat area before arcing back toward the target locked Vindicator. The mech jumped from the APC to run back toward the com tower. Just as it had taken several steps, the missile exploded, scattering a swarm of antipersonnel mines. The mines dug into the ground, magnetically adhered to APCs, and locked onto the escaping adversary. The detonations were almost instantaneous, the flurry of munitions blanketing the battle space.
“Those are antipersonnel mines.” Williams said, more to himself than the mech as he was sure she knew what they were. “Take a lot of those to hurt him. Hey. You trying to steer him where we want him?”
“Yes, Pilot.”
“In that case...” Williams tapped out an immediate action message to the lancer sergeant. The message was barely sent into the Battle-net when the response came back in the positive. The Stalker element had been contacted to direct their mortars just past the APCs, boxing in the enemy mech.
Explosions in the distance prefaced the Vindicator firing at Artemis from the cover of an APC. It was looking for a way out from the kill box the lancers were closing it i
nto. The Thumper turned its back to the incoming fire. A bracket folded out from a compartment launching a canister several meters away. The can landed, opened and pulsed, before deploying a heavy energy shield, protecting the duo from the blaster fire.
“This is my kind of rough.” The mech dropped to a knee as an escalating power buildup reverberated through the cockpit.
“Whoa!” Williams shouted. “I've never fired one of these, even in the sims.”
“It's just a big rifle, Pilot Williams. Fire it like any large bore or crew served weapon.”
The power buildup took all available energy from the shields and minor systems, causing the temperature to rise sharply in the cockpit.
“Is all that normal?” Williams asked.
“I am diverting power from several non-critical systems to power the gun.”
Williams looked hurt, staring through the targeting reticle aiming at the Vinny. “So enviro-controls to keep me cozy are non-critical?”
“I don't feel a thing.” Artemis said matter-of-factly. “Firing solution locked, target is not in the open. Setting round for maximum yield.”
“Hey! That Vinny is behind the APC!” Williams exclaimed.
“It is behind the wheel housing. Fire through it.”
“What?”
Even as the power buildup had reached a rapid staccato rhythm, the drop shield was steadily losing to the heavy blaster fired by the Vindicator. Hunkering down against the barrage, a rifle barrel folded out and over the Thumper's right shoulder. The elongated weapon dropped into place in the same manner one would carry a rocket launcher or recoilless rifle. It rested atop the shoulder with the retaining grips underneath.
“The Vindicator has plotted an indirect fire solution to us, Pilot Williams. Fire now!”
Williams pulled the trigger. The magnetic accelerator rifle launched the metallic slug at a velocity of nearly seven kilometers per second. Jump jets from the legs and back stabilized the mech so it wouldn't be catapulted into the ground by the force of the round. A dust cloud of epic calamity shrouded the field in all directions as lancers within fifty meters were thrown to the ground.
The Mongrel: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 1) Page 29