“We could always go back into the vents. A server has to be kept cool, so there is probably a passage directly to the room.”
Kaiden shut the door softly and turned to face her. “I don’t have a grappling hook, so I’m gonna have to climb my heavy ass back into that vent. I don’t think I’ll be the quietest little mouse while scrabbling to get back in there. I’d rather not have the mercs charging in here and shooting me in the ass while I do it.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
Kaiden paused for a moment, then held his rifle up and looked at the door. “Do you have a stealth generator, by chance?”
“I saw you change yours out for a barrier. If you’re thinking we can shadow our way there, you should have kept it.”
“I didn’t want it for me. I’m asking, do you have one?” he repeated.
“I do not, but considering I do have the Red Sun’s colors in my database…” She pressed an item on her console and then tapped the Nexus symbol on her armor. The colors of her armor changed to make her appear as a Red Sun merc.
Kaiden looked her over for a moment, a small chuckle escaping his lips. “You might be the most waifish grunt here, but that’ll have to do.”
“What are you planning?”
“A little distraction. I know I said I would be your bodyguard but think about it like this. If there is no one to attack you, then I won’t have to be there to guard you, follow?”
“I do, and that’s insane. You can’t take on the entire base, Kaiden,” Chiyo argued.
“Technically, I’ve already taken out four of them, so it’s not all of them at once,” he countered sarcastically.
She sighed, shaking her head. “If even one of us dies, the mission is a failure. It’s too much to risk.”
“Look, even I’m not stupid enough to take on three hundred odd mercs at once with a rifle and some shock grenades. But I can get the ones out there to pay attention to me while you go and take care of the servers.”
“At least you admit that your level of stupidity does have an upper limit. I was beginning to think it was endless,” Chief jeered.
“That will still kick up the hornet’s nest. It will make everything that much harder,” she insisted.
“Since you won’t have to bother with disabling alarms and all that, being able to get the info from the servers should be much quicker, right? When you get it all, I’ll meet up with you on the fourth floor, and we can activate the main computer and get the bonus objective. Plus, think of all the sweet, sweet points we’ll get.”
“Kaiden, I really…” Chiyo sighed, crossed her arms, and looked back up to stare at him. “How do you propose to accomplish this?”
“Well, I’m going to—” They heard several loud metal clangs and the loud hissing of air. He leaned against the wall and opened the door again, taking a look outside. He saw a large mechanical suit with two cannons on each arm. A merc leaped out of it and made his way over to a trio of others in the distance.
Kaiden smiled under his mask, looking back at Chiyo. “You were right Chiyo, it was probably a stupid plan…but this new one is muuuch better.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chiyo moved quickly and quietly through the ducts, her mind conflicted as she tried to focus on her priority of getting to the server and trying to keep herself calm in the face of Kaiden’s ludicrous plan.
“Chiyo, you there yet?” he whispered over the comms. She made her way to a vent along the route. The room below held several servers with three guards loitering around.
“I’m here,” she responded, continuing to study the room. “There are three guards here, blocking my path.”
“They won’t be there for long, I imagine.” She could hear him rustling around over the mic. “You’re hot-micing, Kaiden.”
“Oh, my bad…just getting in position. The mech jock went to take a piss or something. I have a straight shot to it.”
Chiyo sighed. “I’m going to ask this one more time, fruitless or not. You are sure that you want to do this?”
“It would be a waste not to at this point. You know how hard it was to sneak my way over here around all these grunts?”
“Just…please don’t mess this up.”
“Oh, I’m going to mess a whole lotta things up, but not this,” Kaiden promised.
Though Chiyo could feel the trepidation and anger boiling up in her, she couldn’t help but smile a little. She was worried about the outcome, but if this did work out, it would make for a very good story.
“Tell me when you’re about to begin.”
“In a bit…just waiting for someone to get the damn hatch open,” Kaiden muttered, sneaking a look over the crate he was hiding behind.
“Don’t bitch at me. The systems in this thing are all messed up. Must have been cracked by some dimwit who forgot to pay attention during the class on operator resets,” Chief retorted. “I’m cleaning up the place and getting it prepped for ya.”
“I just need it to work. I don’t need it to have video streaming and automatic cup holders. Air conditioning might be a plus, though.”
“I’m talking about making it move and fire right. If you want it to walk forward instead of dancing to the left when you push the movement joystick forward or fire the cannons instead of activating the self-destruct function, you need to give me time to fix this thing.”
“Good Lord, how badly did they mess that thing up?”
“They’re a bunch of intergalactic thieves and murderers. No pride in their mechanical and technological work.” The EI scoffed. “And…that should do it.”
“Timing could have been a little better. The jock is coming back,” Kaiden said, taking aim at the pilot as he walked back over to the mech.
“Can’t rush a proper recalibration. I’ll get it ready for ya.”
“All right, let’s get this going. Chiyo, get ready. It’s going to get hot real damn quick.”
“Understood, good luck,” she acknowledged.
“Chief, open the mech’s hatch.”
The EI complied, and the entrance opened. The jock paused in confusion and the two grunts next to him looked at the mech, giving Kaiden a perfect sight of all their visors.
He shot the three mercs, lining up three straight shots through the weak point in their helmets and dropping them instantly. Without hesitation, he slung the rifle onto his back and ran for the mech, leaping onto the leg and pushing himself into the pilot’s chair.
“Close the hatch and start her up,” Kaiden commanded. The opening shut with a loud metallic clang and Kaiden grabbed the two joysticks on the dash. The console lit up with various toggles and switches, and a screen in the middle showed the fuel level, cannon and boost charge, and general integrity.
“You know, we did this so quickly that I never had the chance to ask when the last time you rode a mech was.”
“I’ve tooled around in a couple powerlifters before,” Kaiden said as he looked around at all the various options available.
“Those aren’t battle mechs. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I figured you’d make a good co-pilot. A large screen in front of him activated, giving him a view of what was going on outside. He saw a few guards looking his way, and one pointed over to the bodies lying next to him, seemingly shouting to get the others’ attention.
“I don’t exactly have the time to give you a full introductory course,” Chief exclaimed.
“Well then, we can just go over the basics.” Kaiden moved one of the controls to point at the group of mercs, hovering his finger over the trigger on the front. “I think we’ll begin with a little target practice.”
There were two loud blasts from outside the room. The guards scattered quickly and ran out the door, leaving it empty and allowing her to leave her hiding place in the vents. She dropped down and quickly located the proper server. Wasting no time, she slid a drive into an open port, and Kaitō appeared in her display.
“What do you require of me, madame?�
�
“I need you to locate the files we need from this server and the first part of the code for the main server above. I’m going to see if I can access the turrets and any other safety features on this floor from the console over there,” she explained and headed across the room.
“Should I make sure to block any alerts sent out?”
Another round of blasts rocked the room, dust and debris falling from the walls and ceiling. “Do what you can, but we are prioritizing speed over caution this time around,” she stated, hoping in the back of her mind that Kaiden didn’t get too out of control and accidentally level the room.
“Then it should only take me a couple of minutes to locate and download the files. I’ll be back shortly.” With that, Kaitō disappeared, and Chiyo looked through the various commands on the console. She soon found the main security functions and the turret commands.
“Kaiden, you there?” she asked.
“A little busy. Got a couple of those little zappy bastards running around me and— Oh, just stepped on one,” he replied, demented mirth in his tone.
“I need your mech’s registration number and your ID. That way, I can command the turrets to fire at everything but you and your mech.”
“What was that? Sorry, too busy smiting,” Kaiden called.
“Sorry, Chiyo, he’s one great big ball of id at the moment. I’ll get you the numbers. Kaiden’s ID is SC-A111, and the mech’s registration is…D10-D3UX.”
“Understood, thank you, Chief. Inputting now.”
“Wouldn’t putting in Kaiden’s ID be a bit dicey in this situation? Like they would know who to look for after we got out of here?”
“Normally, it would be. I would hide the tag while we were here and wipe it from the system afterward, but I don’t think we have to worry about Animus creations coming to life and attacking us in reality.”
“Fingers crossed.” Chief chuckled.
“Miss Chiyo, I have finished my objective. Ready to disengage from the server,” Kaitō announced.
“Good work, Kaitō. I have just finished changing the security protocols.” Chiyo shut off the cameras and alarms—more out of habit than from a real need, considering the circumstances—along with changing the turrets attack parameters. “We won’t have to worry about those, at least. Activating the maintenance ladder.” She pressed a button on the console. A hatch opened in the back of the room and a ladder descended.
She walked over to the server and removed the drive, placed it back into her console, and made her way over to the ladder. “Kaiden, I have retrieved the first batch of data files. I’m heading to the next floor now. How are you faring?”
Kaiden let loose another blast from the cannon. A group of five mercs were either blown to bits or knocked away to slam into the walls around them. “Chiyo, I think this mech may be the greatest piece of technology ever developed.”
“I’m still here, jackass.” Chief grunted loudly in displeasure. “Besides, this is only a cracked Enforcer model. You should see the Titan models Tera Sovereign have developed. Those are… Are you crying?”
Kaiden coughed and sputtered, shaking his head. “Nah, of course, I’m not. It’s just… The universe can truly be a wonderful place sometimes, you know?”
“I don’t need to be programmed with the basic understanding of human emotions to know that you being choked up over this is a little warped.”
“Not as warped as the bodies of the jokers who keep coming after me. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Only I’m shooting a big ass—” The mech was knocked back. Red lights began flashing in the cockpit, and he saw from the information screen that they had taken damage on the left shoulder. “Laser? What the hell was that?”
”You forgot this wasn’t the only mech in this place for a moment, didn’t ya?” Chief reminded him.
Kaiden looked out through the screen to see two other mechs coming down the hall side by side, one with cannons like his and the other with a large laser ray on the left arm and a claw on the right.
“Bastards are ruining my fun,” he grumbled, shifting to the left to dodge an incoming blast from one of the attackers. “Got any advice, co-pilot?”
“How could a lowly piece of advanced human and hardware-integrating technology like myself be of use?” Chief asked facetiously as another beam nicked the side of the mech’s left leg.
“Now is not the time to get spiteful,” Kaiden declared, firing one blast at the mech with lasers. It staggered back, and he released the second blast at the cannon mech as it began to fire. One shot narrowly missed him and the other hit the ground, knocking the attacker to the side and crashing it into the other.
“Hell yeah! Bring it. Oh, hell, they’re getting back up. Seriously, Chief, options?” Kaiden yelled.
“You got that barrier projector, right?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think—”
“Shut up and put it into the compartment I’m opening. There are two wires that connect to two ports on the gadget…connect them.”
Kaiden hauled out the projector as a slot opened on the panel. He grabbed the wires and found the ports on the projector, connected them quickly, and set the projector down before he manned the controls again. “What am I doing, Chief?”
“Give it a second.” Kaiden saw a shimmering light envelop his viewing screen as a barrier was projected around his mech. “That’ll give you some breathing room. It enhances the strength of the shield, so you should get some better use out of it. Now, do your best not to die while I go into phase two of my master plan.”
“What plan is that?” he asked, firing another round at the mechs. They leaped out of the way using the boost jets on their backs. “Oh…that’s handy. I should use that.”
“Just stay alive for a couple more minutes. Focus on the one with the cannons. I’ll be right back.” With that, Chief disappeared.
“Chief? What the hell did you—laser!” Kaiden yelled as he jerked the sticks to the left to dodge the beam. His mech toppled to the floor. He tried aiming the cannons at the approaching mechs, but one of the cannons was caught under the weight, allowing him only one.
He aimed for the cannon mech, as Chief had instructed, hoping that his EI had a damn good plan. He shot the left leg of the attacker, blowing it apart, and it crashed into the floor.
“Ha! Gotcha, you bastard,” Kaiden bellowed with glee before noticing the other mech beginning to fire. “Oh, shit.”
He activated the boost and the mech skidded across the floor, trailed by the laser beam from the hostile. They slammed into a wall, shoving the mech upright but knocking Kaiden’s head into the side of the cockpit. His vision blurred and his head pounded, but he gripped the controls and tried to aim for the laser mech. Whatever Chief was doing was taking too damn long.
The view screen lit up as the barrier was blasted, and they were knocked back into the wall. Kaiden recovered and saw the cannon mech had turned his way. “You bastards are real killjoys, you know that?” He tried to back the mech up.
The laser mech marched forward, its laser charging. Kaiden began to wonder if he should bail and then looked around and realized he didn’t know where the ejection button was.
“Chief! Where the hell are you?”
The laser mech aimed at Kaiden’s cockpit, then stood there unmoving for a moment before the body turned around and shot clean through the other attacker. An explosion of mechanical parts and debris erupted.
He was stunned, and could only watch as the hatch of the mech opened and it used its claw to grab the jock inside. It threw him to the floor and stomped on him, then turned back to Kaiden. It closed the hatch and walked over, using its claw to help the mech back to its feet.
“Override successful,” Chief declared, appearing in the viewing monitor. “Let’s see that shifty bastard Kaitō do that!”
Kaiden laughed as he realized what had happened. “I guess I’m not the only one who likes to put on a show.”
“I’ve got my own kind of fl
air, but I thought you’d appreciate it,” the EI chirped.
“Hey, Chiyo, we now got two mechs running around and causing a ruckus,” Kaiden advised her.
“How’s that?” she asked.
“I procured one for myself after deposing the jock from his duties just before he blew Kaiden’s mech to pieces.”
“I was baiting him,” Kaiden argued unsuccessfully.
“Baiting him into killing you? Well, it’s an unorthodox method, one that would have led to immediate loss, but it would have been successful, so congrats?” Chief joked.
Kaiden sighed and decided to take his loss without further debate. “How are you doing Chiyo?”
“Almost done with the second server. I’ll head to the third one right away, so you should begin making your way to the fourth floor.”
“On our way,” he acknowledged, walking the mech to a service elevator at the end of the bay.
“I’ve hacked into their cameras, and there is a large group of mercenaries heading your way from all points in the building. Considering the damage you’ve caused, I would say it is whatever is left of their forces.”
“A hundred and seventy-seven units remaining, by my count.”
“You didn’t happen to see the other two mechs in that bunch, did you?” Kaiden asked
“Oh, good, now you remember,” Chief muttered.
“I did not. They may be guarding the main server room,” Chiyo responded
“Then I guess we should hightail it.” Kaiden continued toward the elevator.
“Hey, Kaiden, wanna make a bet?”
Kaiden turned his mech towards Chief’s. “What kind?”
“See who gets the most kills from the remaining batch of mercs.”
“Yeah, I’ll take you on. What are we betting on?”
“If I win, I want another Next-Gen upgrade, and no pussy-footing around it either. It will be your top priority.”
Kaiden grimaced for a moment before a devilish smile crossed his face. “All right, but if I win, you have to apologize to Kaitō and try your best to be buddies with him.”
Animus Boxed Set 1 (Books 1-4): Initiate, Co-Op, Death Match, Advance Page 60