by J D Huffman
Things equalized once the situation consisted of the three remaining tower cannons and about a dozen Totality soldiers spilling out onto the field, aiming with shoulder-fired rockets that William didn’t need to be told would be bad news if they hit home. The computer announced, “Incoming projectiles.” Several of the rockets launched at once, each of them locked onto the ferry ship, and William had to act quickly. Pushing the throttle to its maximum and pointing the ship’s nose upward, he hoped to outrun them and beat them with simple physics.
In only a few seconds, it became clear this would not succeed. The rockets were still coming in too fast, too hot, and the ferry ship struggled to keep its skyward momentum, perhaps a sign that it was running short on fuel or that it was simply never designed to escape the pull of a planet’s gravity in such a brutal fashion. It had no doubt been built to depart at a gentler angle of attack, moving with the rotation of the planet to nudge itself into orbit, then break free and move along to its destination. Thrusting it straight into the sky was a vulgar betrayal of the Order’s intended design. William gathered all this as the engine continued to struggle, the rockets closing distance rapidly, accelerating as he slowed.
Desperate, he initiated a backward roll and cut the throttle, watching as the rockets drew closer and closer and closer, and the ship lost so much momentum it nearly came to a stop. Then, moments before they would strike, he jammed the throttle to its maximum output, punching the ship out of their path and letting the rockets sail right past. They scattered as each one tried to lock on again, having lost the heat signature of their target. They spun through the air like fireworks, and even on the tactical screen William had the brief thought that they were kind of beautiful, if not for the fact that they were trying to kill him. His stomach protested the seemingly arbitrary g-forces inflicted as he flew the ship upside-down toward the surface, then leveled off and rolled into an upright position again. He nearly found himself face-to-face with one of the cannons. He’d forgotten about them momentarily, but they certainly hadn’t forgotten him. Too close, too careless, and one of the towers shot a bolt straight into the ship, its supercharged wave of energy ripping through the roof and compromising the structure. Alarms went off as multiple sensors detected the damage. William gritted his teeth as he lost control, turning the ship toward the yard again and aiming right for the cluster of Totality who’d just tried to shoot him down with rockets. He remembered the red button on the wall next to the pilot’s seat, the one marked EMERGENCY SAFETY SYSTEM, and descended toward the ground at a low incline. An instant before impact, he smashed the button, uncertain what to expect but hoping it would keep him alive. Everything around him shook and shuddered, then a yellow substance spilled out everywhere, engulfing his body and making it almost impossible to move. He grunted and closed his eyes when something—probably impact with the ground—made the ship suddenly lurch. But he didn’t stop. No, he kept moving, and in a moment he came to be aware that his body had become unmoored from the ship, and he experienced a terrible weightlessness. is sense of direction failed him, unable to pierce the yellow film, “up” and “down” spinning all around him, making him dizzy and disoriented. Then, he felt a pull in the downward direction, rolled several more times to the point he was afraid he would vomit, but eventually slowed to a stop.
The yellow foam around him began disintegrating and within a few seconds he could see again. Once he blinked the last few fragments from his eyes, he was amazed to see that he’d been thrown clear of the ship and halfway across the yard. Totality bodies littered the ground where his ship had plowed right through them. Fires and blast holes in, on, and around the ship told him the rockets had locked on again after all, possibly taking a few of the Totality with them. The handful that remained must have scattered, as William didn’t see them, surveying the area while the foam retreated from his arms and legs, remaining only as a puddle on the ground, making the snow around it into steam. William drew the sidearm holstered to his leg, aiming with both hands and searching for the enemy, spinning in alternating slow and quick circles. He saw the flash of a weapon being fired and instinctively rolled to his right, aiming and shooting at whatever had shot at him. He didn’t see a person there, just smoke and wreckage, but the flash had been unmistakable. He drew closer, popping off a couple more shots, looking for any other stragglers, moving toward what was left of his ferry ship. Taking a quick look at the tower cannons, he noticed they no longer tracked him, perhaps only designed to fire at ships flying above the base, not people walking around it. Lucky me, he thought, nervous that Totality would pop out from behind the ship or out of the smoke or flames any second, his finger light on the trigger, ready to blast them to bits the moment they appeared. He made it all the way around his ship, seeing only dead and destroyed Totality bodies. Some of them were ripped to shreds, their bodies torn into several pieces, either by the impact of the ferry ship or the explosions of the rockets. He found one body blown clean in half, a waist and legs still neatly composed at one end of his ship, and a torso complete with arms, legs, and a head lying face down just off the ship’s nose. It reminded him momentarily of Lecius, and he couldn’t help but turn a jaded smile at the symmetry. I guess I got one of ‘em back for you. It also occurred to him that, with the destruction of the ferry ship, the replacement signal would be offline. Unless the slaves staging their revolt had some kind of contingency plan, William realized the other Totality facilities on this planet would quickly become aware of the situation. I hope they’ve taken control of this installation by now, otherwise we’re all dead.
Finishing his circuit around the ship, he was left with no other conclusion than that the surviving Totality had simply retreated. Why they would retreat, he could only guess—he assumed it did not mean he’d won, though. Retreat, regroup, return in force. If they have any sense at all, that’s what they’re doing. It’s what I would do. These ‘people’ can’t have built a sprawling empire by being stupid. I’m one man. They’ll come back in numbers and this time I won’t have a ship to throw at them. I need cover.
With time quite clearly not on his side, he darted for one of the buildings, one of the smaller structures that he guessed was less important and less heavily guarded. He wished he’d had more time to let the ship analyze the structures and tell him what each was for, or that he’d asked Fred to provide him with schematics or something, if Fred even had anything of that nature. But it was too late for that sort of planning, now. He found an unlocked door, yanked its lever down and pulled it open, waving his weapon up and down in the doorway while he checked to see if anyone guarded it. Nobody. I hope they’re all busy doing something else, like planning to rush me on the surface while I’m all the way over here. He hoped to be so lucky.
Inside it was dark, though that may have just been due to William coming in from outside where his eyes had adjusted to the brightness of the snow. The small entryway was lit by diminutive red fixtures, fading in and out. William knew an alert status when he saw it. Whether this is my fault or Sasha’s, I guess I’ll find out. Could be both. He moved carefully down the hall, hoping this building was connected to the others. From the surface, he remembered seeing a narrow connection to one of the larger structures, but that left the question of whether he’d be able to gain access to it. Locked doors would do a great job of keeping him trapped, and he presumed the Totality were reasonably security-conscious. Even so, he didn’t run into any while stepping slowly through the corridor, watching the other end for movement or activity of any kind. He picked up the pace so the entire revolt wouldn’t be over by the time he reached the end of this one hallway, and found no Totality in either direction where it branched. Maybe no one stays in this building at all. I don’t even know what it’s for. Might only be for maintenance for something.
A bit more searching led him to the access door for the connecting tunnel. It was locked, as he expected. A palmprint mechanism made itself known with a hand-shaped stencil on a squ
are panel that protruded slightly from the wall beside the door. Instinctively, he placed his hand on it, certain it wouldn’t work. “Totality handprint identified. Access granted,” a pleasant voice chirped. What?? Must be a malfunction. Or Fred did me a favor. I’ll have to thank him for this later. The door slid open and William stepped through the corridor, going from a slow shuffle to a light jog once he realized how long it was. Time was of the essence and, for one thing, he didn’t want to miss all the fun. For another, he wouldn’t prove himself to be of any use to Sasha and the others if he didn’t show up for the fighting. I need allies, and they need to know they can count on me, otherwise this is never going to work.
He reached another similarly-locked door, and once again the press of his hand gained him access. Once he passed through, stripes along the wall showed the way to various parts of the facility. General operations, he thought, reading from one of the markers. That’s where the revolt should be headed. That’ll be my destination, too.
The sounds of fighting reached him shortly thereafter, screams and shouts and the telltale pops of weapons fire. Each corner he turned brought him closer to the combat. With his attention diverted, he almost failed to notice a door opening behind him and to the side. The sound of footsteps made him spin and fire without thinking, right into the face of a Totality soldier who’d probably expected to get the drop on him. The man fell flat on his back, eyes stuck open and face fixed into an expression of shock, extra holes seeping blood. I need to pay closer attention, William thought. Next time, I might shoot the wrong person!
He moved with his back to the wall from then on, constantly shifting his eyes back and forth to ensure no one was coming from either direction. A couple more Totality attempted to surprise him, but William’s reflexes were quicker. Years as a Militiaman made him sharp, and he was glad to see that his recent lack of action hadn’t dulled his skills. Too bad there’s no one around to see it.
He soon caught up to the fighting already in progress in an office area near the general operations center. Peeking around the corner, he saw Sasha and another man taking cover behind a desk, with a group of Totality firing at them from an entryway at the other side of the room. The man next to Sasha looked familiar, but he couldn’t have been who William thought he was. He turned away, blinked a few times to make sure his vision was fully in focus, then looked again. The dark hair, the sharp features, the way he held his rifle and took snap shots at the Totality—it all became clear to William, even though it made no sense. How did Demeter end up here? Does that mean the rest of the Trepsis colonists are here? We need to live long enough so I can ask him!
During a lull in the fighting, he rushed in past Sasha and Demeter, then threw his legs out to slide along the floor and right into one of the other desks, safely away from the Totality’s line of fire. William and Demeter traded glances, and Demeter showed the same spark of surprised recognition. “Pearson?!” he yelled.
William nodded. “It’s me. What are you doing here??”
“What are you doing here? You’re the friend Sasha mentioned?”
Sasha cut them both off. “Great, so you two know each other. Shut up until we’ve got this situation under control! Next time they stop shooting, we move!”
William thought that was a reasonable enough approach. They couldn’t all stay pinned down in this area until their weapons fully discharged. The Totality would figure that out quickly, and William had a strong sense that the Totality had more in the way of backup ammunition than Sasha and Demeter. For his part, he only had a couple more energy cells for the Order weapon, which meant maybe forty or fifty shots. It was enough to take down a fair number of Totality, but not enough that he could just waste it on suppression fire.
William peeked his head over the top of the desk, which drew the attention of the Totality who apparently hadn’t noticed him before. Energy bolts nearly singed his hair off, causing him to duck back down. Instead of taking that risk again, he slid under the desk about halfway, using the small amount of clearance to wedge himself somewhere he could see them but, with any luck, they could not see him. He held his weapon off to the side so that where they saw the shots coming from wouldn’t be where his body was. Worst case, they’d get his arm or hand, not his head or torso. If this works, that is. He popped off a few poorly-aimed shots, which managed to bring down part of the ceiling on the Totality. That wasn’t exactly what he’d planned, but he took it. He could only see Totality there, but movement behind them told him they weren’t alone. The few that scrambled away from the falling debris revealed several more. Three knelt down in front while three more stood behind, so all six could fire at once. These were more heavily armed with rifles the size of the ones Demeter and Sasha carried, and they didn’t waste time on a stalemate the way the previous batch had. These must be the real troops, William thought. The others were probably just office staff trying to hold us off.
He watched as a few well-placed shots from Demeter and Sasha knocked down two of the guys in the front row, but it was a short-lived victory. The Totality fired back in such force that the top of the desk ripped off, then their bolts tore through the metallic structures of the desks themselves, sending Demeter and Sasha scrambling. William pulled himself out from under his desk and rushed the Totality, who were too focused on the other two to notice him. He fired, fired, fired, one by one, right at their chests.
It did no good: they were armored, unlike the previous foes. Fuck. With little alternative, William dropped his weapon and dove at them before they could take aim. He landed on one and rolled right into another, the three of them making a tangled mess on the floor, kicking up dust from the portions of wall and ceiling that had been obliterated and dropped into the fray. Fists came at him from multiple directions and he swung wildly at anything he could see. But he was outnumbered and stood no real chance against these creatures, not bare-fisted. Such a fist connected with his jaw, causing him to see stars and momentarily lose his bearings. Another hit from the left, and then a pair of hands roughly grabbed him by the sides of his torso and tossed him through the air, sending him crashing through one of the desks. He willed himself to tumble his body over to the side, in case they tried to shoot him—which they did. Sasha and Demeter put the pressure back on them, or at least that’s what he assumed since he heard more shooting. It seemed to come from three different directions, and two of them he knew must have been his allies, since the Totality were concentrated near the other entrance. Then again, maybe more Totality joined up from the other side, in which case we’re all fucked, he thought grimly, trying to blink the blood from his eyes. He didn’t know where that was coming from, either, but an instinctive rub of his hand along his forehead informed him of a gash going across it. A quick motion of the same hand drew the crimson liquid from his field of view, letting him see again, the throbbing of his face becoming more intense. The Totality had given him a good, if brief, pounding, and it wasn’t an experience he intended to repeat.
Dragging himself away from where he heard the bulk of the weapons fire, he then felt a pair of hands snag his clothes and pull him in another direction. He hoped the hands, or rather the body attached to them, had good intentions. He was turned onto his back and looked up to see Demeter. “Nice to see you again, sir,” the man smiled, though clearly out of breath. “You’re a hard man to keep up with.”
William managed a smile with his busted lip, and imagined how terrible he must have looked. In response to the combat still ongoing, Demeter ducked and laid himself across William’s body, still taking aim and firing at the Totality who never seemed to stop coming. Once Demeter climbed off of him, William glanced around to see where he was. Demeter had pulled him back to the opposite entryway, around the corner where the Totality couldn’t just blow their cover apart. “Where’s Sasha?” William moaned.
“Taking cover behind a few more desks she shoved together,” Demeter explained. “Her plan to rush the Totality
fell apart once they brought out six more men. Fred told us they have limited numbers but those numbers are enough to keep us pinned here.”