“A Kursaadi. Rare anywhere in the galaxy these days. I've never seen a mag-hammer before. I've only ever read about them. I can still feel my fingers tingling from the hit.”
“Tell your lancers to stand down, Marshal,” Dovai warned them.
“Since this is technically Core space, under Hagen, we've won the day, we dictate the terms,” Mara said.
“Tell them to stand down or I bleed them out of their armor.”
Mara released the front of Martel's kit, depositing him back on the floor. “Are you of the Ur? If so, we can come to–”
“The Ur? Don't talk about things you know nothing about, witch. The Uram are gone. Release my commander so we can go.”
“Not going to happen.”
The head of the mace flared to life, swinging back to Dovai's front. She adjusted her feet. Mara assumed her own combat stance, bringing the sword in a high guard. They remained in place for several seconds, before the lancers bore witness to a contest between the empowered.
Dovai rushed forward, the mace dropping in behind her knee to deliver a sweeping smash from the floor, just as multiple shots battered her armor. She twitched from each impact, crashing at Mara's feet. The mag-hammer dropped. Her limp hand released the activation trigger, the weapon's weight standing it up like a flag pole in the ruined floor.
Mara reached down to feel the side of her neck. “Nice shooting. Sergeant LaGarron, lock these two down and prep them for exfil. We'll have to have a chat, later.”
“What was with the stun bolts? You couldn't have taken her?” LaGarron asked.
“If she was an Uram Knight, I would've had a rough time of it. Both the Knights of Ur and the Vosi Justiciare have been using the Crucible far longer than the Templars. The fact that she chose to swing first and possibly use powers second, might've meant she hadn't been fully trained. Either way, throw an NDP over her so she can't power up.”
“Aye, Marshal. I just have to find one.”
“Here.” Mara handed a neural distortion projection hood to her squad leader.
“Were you carrying one of those on you?”
“No. They were.” She turned to her other captive. “Was your plan to capture Lasher?”
“Martel. Captain. Planet of Origin – Mylos. I decline to answer under protection of the Hagen Accords and ask that you negotiate with representatives of Trenton United for my release.”
Lance Sergeant Zane chirped into the radio, “Last intel reports coming out of the CORAL had Trenton United as a front for Triton. We had Brasson trying to hack their net. No joy. They're using a Daedalus system. Battle-net for spooks and spies.”
“Can't you read his mind?” LaGarron asked.
“Some marshals can. Not my specialty. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that they're looking to take him alive, though. All the weapons on that side of the room were low grade sub-compact blasters with selector settings for output. They were set for low power or stun. Plus they brought along our special friend from the Ur. Always good to have a psychic along to battle the same.”
“Marshal. Frazier just gave me an in with the radios from one of their helmets. I'm in the Daedalus now. We have more than just our friends on this net. You are never going to believe who's here.” Brasson said over the Battle-Net.
Several mugshot styled images floated into her HUD. Each one had small bios detailing who they were and what Intel-Division had on them.
“That's not good.”
Sixteen
The blast doors slid open spilling everyone onto the platform. Bots and bodies alike jogged, limped or were dragged behind support columns for cover.
“SITREP!” Lasher called out.
Madame Tarot was back to back with the mongrel and the Doom Cat. “Elevator brought us to a tram station beneath the hotel. We have six out of eight of my people still up. Merlin took a bolt to the hip.”
“I can still trundle along, Madame.”
“We're the Card Arkana, sir. We don't trundle,” Madame Tarot huffed. “The other bad news is Tess, Priestess, is down. She's our medic. Without her, any body or bot that goes down is staying down.”
Fluff hissed. “I like that she calls her bots, people. Side note, we have a motorized transport coming down the main rail.”
Ziella raised a blood-soaked hand. “That's us. I had Ava call us a tram. The underside of the Palladium is a network of tunnels we built into an escape system for any of our clients that needed it. Never figured that I'd have to use it myself.”
“Fluff.” Lasher called.
“Sneaky, silent, quick, and quiet,” the panther mech muttered. He walked out of sight of the group.
The station was very similar to other grav-rail stations Lasher had been to on countless worlds. White ceramic tiles with abstract patterns cover the walls. Sturdy slate floors easily held the weight of the heavy crew that had spilled from the elevator. Columns with rotating holograms broke up the space, providing interface points for escapees to link to their cell-coms or speak with hotel staff. The platform ended in a two meter drop to a wide space with a single rail running the length.
Lasher leaned against one of the columns. “Kel, where are we?”
The comm chirped, “Man! I was sure things had gotten vacked when we lost contact with you. You still sound a bit fuzzy.”
“We're under the hotel. This deep into the rock must be playing with the signal. Ziella has us in a tram station of sorts, ready to take us to a landing platform.”
“Main platform for the outpost?” Kel asked.
“No. Private.” Lasher answered. Checking over the motley assortment of personnel littering the tram station, they were going to need a way out sooner than later. “We all set with exfil?”
“On order. Any signs of our other friends?”
“Yeah. We danced a bit upstairs.” Lasher nodded to Ziella.
“As long as everyone made it through, we have fifteen-A coming up. You still good to push that?” Kel sounded skeptical. Having an intact crew would be essential to pulling off their plan against the Chen transport ship. Anything less might not be worth the risk.
“You bet, Kel. I'll see you once we're out of here. Make sure you drop Beth off before you break atmo. Don't need a kid getting in the way when the bolts start flying. I'll see you on the other side”
The mic warbled out. Ziella tapped Lasher on the shoulder. “What's fifteen-A and where did your RIM-IV go?”
“Fluff probably went to the bathroom,” Lasher joked. “As for fifteen-A, we like to use codes when we're not sure that things are totally secure.”
“The Palladium network is secure.”
“Like the front door?”
Ziella grimaced. “Fair point.”
The tram slid into the station on a magna-locked repulsor lift. Warning tones blared from the vehicle as the repulsors wound down, depositing the mammoth tram onto the rail. Cooling jets vented across the surface, bathing the station in an eerie mist.
“Here's our ride,” Ziella said.
Tarot held up a hand. “Justice, set up for boarding. Merlin, can you still field your tech?”
“Yes, Madame,” the bot said from his seat on the floor. The resicarbon pack on his back opened. A small flurry of drones flitted from the pack toward the tram.
“Romi, Tempi, Jester, on clean up. Morpheus on secure.”
“Yes, Madame” came the simultaneous reply.
Romeo and Temperance moved to the tram, pressing a palm plate to open the doors. The doors opened with a rush of air. The drones, resembling fifteen centimeter robotic wasps, swarmed into the tram with the two bots filing in from behind.
“We don't have time for this,” Ziella petitioned.
Tarot held up her finger at the matron. “I'm not putting my principal on this train until I know it's safe. Triton Expeditionary Service agents have breached your security and compromised your network. Lancers were tracking someone who led them here. Ms. Chen is here on behalf of the Seven Seats. They have active bonds o
ut on both my principal and our big red friend there. Sorry if my precautions are too urbane for your sense of worth, ma'am, but the long and short of it is, I don't trust anything I see in this dump.”
Ziella was silent in the face of the electronic berating coming from Tarot's mask.
“Madame. The tram is comprised of two passenger engines with an armored cargo car in between. The passenger sections appear to be clear. The cargo container will not open for us.”
“Thank you, Merlin. Romi, Tempi, clear the car and return.”
The two bots left the car on opposite platforms. Walking toward the center cargo container, they were guarded from behind by two of Merlin's drones. Approaching the tram, they both dropped to a knee, taking aim as the remaining drones flitted back to Merlin.
“Report.” Tarot ordered.
Tempi amplified her voice, calling over her shoulder. “The blast doors to the cargo car are opening. We didn't open it.”
The Card Arkana moved to flanking positions. Justice pushed back to protect the non-robotics on the platform, trading his heavy blaster for a Vortex rotary machine blaster. Jester's pack flashed open. Gyroscopic arms handed him what looked like large box style magazines. Temperance and Romeo flanked to the side, taking cover behind a column.
The blast doors sank into the recess of the tram-car with a metallic thud that echoed through the station. A tall humanoid stepped from the car wearing armor with flowing robes beneath. He wore a mask highlighted by red and orange striping.
“Ziella. He with you?” Tarot shouted.
A group of men carrying long blaster rifles with mounted bayonets jumped onto the platform. Their armor was as strange and ornate as that of the commander. They took kneeling positions beside the commander, aiming the rifles at the escapees.
“Guess that's a no,” Jester muttered.
As if on cue, a woman in a flight suit casually walked from the cargo car. She stepped beside the tall warrior, slapping a set of flight gloves into her other hand. She wore a smirk of grim satisfaction that spoke of a long wait coming to a satisfying end.
“Do you know who I…”
A blaster bolt sailed across the space into the center of the woman's forehead, blowing out the contents of her skull. Tarot spun behind one of the columns to dodge the ornate troopers shooting toward the group. The squad that had emptied on both sides of the platform were paying particular attention to Justice with an unhealthy amount of accuracy. The mech answered their attention with a bit of his own as the quad barrel of the Vortex gun spun up to full speed. The rotary blaster bolted out a dizzying array of gunfire into the soldiers, shredding them into smoking ruin. The bolts chased the commander back into the cargo tram, deflected by the heavy armor. Scorch marks along the side were the only damage indicating the vehicle had been shot at all.
“Was that Chen?” Savoya croaked from the floor behind the striker mech.
“Not anymore,” Tarot barked.
“Justice, look out!” Lasher yelled.
A man in mottled armor wearing a ghoulish mask of hoses and hate jumped onto the back of the bot, slamming a phased machete into the servos of its neck. A quick rip of the handle severed the power lead to the Vortex, putting the bot on its knees in a state of digital death.
Tarot emptied the mag of her 715-X into the column the killer slithered behind, nearly cutting it to fragments. The ghoul jumped from cover into a long dive roll, aiming a wicked pistol at another target. His shot caught Morpheus in the shoulder. The bolt ripped off an arm, sending the bot sprawling.
Tarot aimed her off hand at the column now hiding the ghoul, launching a micro-missile from her gauntlet. The projectile exploded, taking the entire column down with it. Both Lasher and the attacker lunged in opposite directions to avoid the ceiling caving in on them. Their adversary rolled into a slide that took him off the platform.
“We've got more troops coming out of the service tunnel! They're trying to catch us in a crossfire!” Lasher yelled.
“What do you mean trying?” Jester retorted.
Jester took one of the magazines he had palmed and threw it to the end of the platform. It broke apart into discs that slid to the end of the platform. Each of the pucks sprouted crab like legs, rushing to different parts of the platform. Some raced by the Cards to plant themselves outside of the open cargo door.
“Mines are up!” Jester said.
He threw the second magazine over the side of the platform near the rail. It broke apart into dozens of disks which took flight down the tunnel. The first Blaster Bug impacted with a trooper acting as point man for a larger force. The soldier lost his footing from the impact, catching four more kamikaze Bugs for his lack of agility. The rest of the bugs whizzed by, detonating against the incoming troopers. The squad pulled back to better recover their casualties.
The ornate troopers on the other side of the platform were doing their level best to keep Romeo pinned. He shot a grenade from the launcher under his rifle, blasting the column two of the shooters were using as a firing position. They were blown onto their backs, covered in a wave of ash filled, ceramic smoke. Another came from the train to ascertain the welfare of his comrades. He bent down to check for a pulse. The seemingly unconscious soldier fired a pair of bolts into the man's face. The undead trooper lurched forward, his image fading away back to that of Romeo. In the smoke and mayhem, the bot used his holographic abilities to mimic the fallen attacker. With his ambush complete, he slid across the floor behind his column, covering their flank..
“Fluff, I can't get through to Kel.” Lasher called out.
“That's because they're jamming us. Want the other bad news?”
The Kangal mech walked from the train, spinning up its plasma caster over its shoulder. Kilmartin hid in the mech's shadow, delivering bolts to both Temperance and Morpheus to keep them off balance. The Plasma caster spun up to its full power, aimed directly at Savoya and Lasher taking cover behind the rubble strewn Justice. Lasher braced himself in the Crucible for an attempt to whisk away the energy attack.
A tendril shot from under the train, locking around the mech's leg. It yanked the bot sideways, crossing one limb behind the other to tumble the gargantuan machine. It flopped to the side, nearly crushing Kilmartin in its descent. The caster shot the molten glob of energy through the cargo car into the wall on the opposite platform. The ceramic tiles melted to volcanic shards which shot back into the train from the explosive force of the impact. Phoenix lunged out of the car, seeking protection from the igneous attack behind the armor of the Kangal. He tumbled into a crouch, drawing his fiery sword from his belt. Its hissing crackle flashed toward the tendril in a savage arc that terminated into the ruined floor.
“Too slow! Love the mask though,” Fluff taunted. A burst from his dual mounted blaster cannons flashed from under the train. The shots raced for the ceiling, smashing through support braces and light fixtures, showering the trio in a destructive rain of spark tinged debris. Fluff shot from the bottom of the vehicle like a missile to target. “Tagging you in!”
Lasher landed in front of Phoenix at the end of a Crucible-powered leap across meters. A pressure wave erupted from the Way, blowing the wreckage strewn trio into the opposing wall. He ignited his Plasmaxe, and launched it behind him.
Fluff roared into the service tunnel with the force of a typhoon. Micro-missiles, shoulder mounted blaster turrets and vibro claws coalesced into an orchestra of doom for the troopers collected there. During a dodge away from blaster fire, Fluff plucked two of Jester's spider mines from the wall using his tendrils. He slapped them onto the back of two troopers, batting them into their kin with his tentacles.
The Doom Cat bounded away to escape the impending explosion. On his mad dash, a bola fired from one of the shadows coiled around his legs, depositing him in a tangled heap.
“What? How did I not see that goon?”
He slid through the gravel strewn service pit to an unremarkable stop. Singh, the gun wraith, drew the shivering
machete from his back to end the motor-mouthed murder mech once and for all. He raised the blade in a lunge for the beast. The descending blow never connected as it was blasted away by a Plasmaxe thrown from across the station. The force of the Crucible combined with the energy of the axe knocked the blade from the wraith's hand, blowing him into the wall. Weapon and panther-mech rose into the air, stabilizing for a second before rocketing back toward the main terminal.
Lasher jumped down next to the rail, untying his friend from the coils of the bola. “Can't leave you alone for one minute.”
“Yeah! It really is that second minute that gets me into trouble.” Fluff scoffed.
The duo bounded onto the platform. Lasher called over to the assembled group, “Time to go!”
Tarot ignored the order. She placed shot after shot toward the masked soldier ducking behind one of the ruined columns.
“We have to go,” Lasher growled at her.
“We have to kill it first!”
“No time. Fluff saw another wave of those soldiers stacking up in the service tunnel. Plus, our ride out is waiting. Whatever it is, it can wait!”
Tarot to the ruined group of bots she brought with her. She saw Savoya huddling in a corner trying not to present a target as she struggled to wake Justice's still frame. All around her were the dead and dying of the enemy calling for reinforcements which she knew would come in a matter of time. She let the carbine swing away on the run to recover her principal.
They collected their wounded, stacking everyone as fast as they could onto the train. Lasher tapped into the Crucible to move Justice, taking a bolt to the armor for his trouble. Tarot lurched outside the door of the cargo container, aiming her rifle in the direction of the gun wraith. She pulled the trigger as fast as she could, demanding everything she could from the rifle to keep the enemy's heads down. The train levitated off the rail, a shimmering hum of force below it throttling up as the scream of the engine turbines stoked to life. The train pulled away from the station just as Phoenix rose from the floor, shaking off the last of the roof that was shot on top of him.
The Revenant: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 2) Page 21