The Revenant: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 2)

by Walt Robillard

  “Not necessary.,” Phoenix said to the foreman. He returned his attention to the bot to direct it more sternly. “Open your chest compartment.”

  “I cannot comply at this time. My chest is covered in a duradium-prosteel alloy housing that must be removed by a qualified technician or my warranty will be void.”

  Venger raised his hand, willing cosmic powers to arrest the bot's motion. With his other hand, he moved as though he were petting an animal. The mech's upper torso complained in a series of clangs in time with Phoenix's gestures, its structure fighting with his command of the Second Sight. Latches disengaged with a resounding pop, dropping the chest plate open to reveal a compartment on the other side. Curled like a baby marsupial in its mother's pouch, a girl was tucked inside the cavity with a breathing mask over her face. Venger brought his palm up, the wave commanding the Unseen to levitate the girl from her spot. His powers deposited her onto her feet, where she stood cupping her hands together in a vain attempt to appear non-threatening.

  “And who might you be?”

  The girl put her hands at the side of her head as a sign of surrender. “I'm Bethayell.”

  “And how did you come to be inside this mech?”

  Beth wrung her hands together, her head cast down in a practiced study of a child caught in some mischief she hoped innocence would get her out of. “I'm a kid. We get into everything.”

  “She was in the loader the whole time? How'd you know?” The foreman grumbled the question.

  “She is a beacon in the Second Sight.”

  “If you say so. Phang will be happy to add another blue jump suit to his roster.”

  Phoenix held his hand up to stifle the foreman's line of thinking. “She is a Seconder and strong in the Unseen. Turning her to one of Chen's mech-enhanced simpletons would be a waste of this girl's potential. What were you hoping to accomplish by stowing away here?”

  “I was on the run from some nasty customers from Outpost-7. I figured, since I seen the shuttle make a few runs, I could hide out until the ship returned to the outpost and I'd hop back off. I didn't mean to cause no trouble, sir.”

  “Sparks. Detain the child. See she is protected. She goes where we go,” Venger said to his lead warriors.

  Lucifer sent a direct message to Kel's HUD. “Should I rescue the child or continue mission to deliver the case to Lasher?”

  “This is getting better by the minute. I told her to ditch in that hangar. What was she still doing in there?” Kel growled to himself.

  “Kel, did I just hear Beth's com-set correctly?” Lasher asked.

  “Yeah, she stowed away inside Lucifer. Somehow that armored peacock found her inside and pried her loose. He has her close by. He just seems to be talking to her. Lucifer wants to know if he should continue to you or make a mess trying to rescue the kid?”

  “She in any danger?”

  Kat joined the call. “Not that we can see, Orin. This Phoenix guy seems to want to keep her out of the Swam-tech. Which means he probably wants her for something else.”

  “Alright. At least she's not in immediate danger. Send Lucifer to us. We can regroup and try untangling this mess.” Lasher said into the comm.

  They watched Lucifer from the shuttle viewscreen. Closing his chest plate to retrieve the two cases, he walked up to the bay exit, stopping at the monumental blast doors during their sluggish opening. No sooner had he taken his first step into the passage, Phoenix rammed his blazing sword through the back of the mech's spine. A deft flourish with the blade plunged into the center of the upper torso severed myo-fiber bundles into burning fragments dripping onto the floor. The hologram of a simple loader mech evaporated into the ruined frame of a heavy infantry model. He convulsed as though in the midst of a seizure, thrashing back toward the center of the deck, dragging Phoenix with its considerable weight.

  One of the arm plates separated, exposing a projector. A dazzling beam of green, tight focused light strafed across the bay. Lucifer arced the emerald beam toward his attacker, managing to strafe most of that side of the hangar in the process. Several of the dock workers were split in half while bots and equipment were carved apart like a Solvineaux festival pie. The laser cut across Phoenix's armor, setting his robe on fire on its relentless trek across his expressionless mask. He released the handle from the sword, dropping to the deck as smoldering as his target.

  Lucifer tumbled to the sole, coming apart at the hip in a rolling mess to face his lower half. Propping himself up on his hands, the massive upper torso changed color to perfectly matching that of the deck plating. He pounded away from Phoenix by walking on his hands, trailing fluids and exposed wiring.

  “There is no escape from me that I won't allow. You have chosen violence to discourse. Allow me to fill you to overflowing with your choice,” said the bot in a malicious tone amplified to an apocalyptic magnitude over external audio speakers.

  Plates slid back behind his shoulders, ejecting a gyroscopic weapon's mount over each. One of them spun like some macabre mixer ready to make cake batter from its intended targets. Phoenix was up and running, trailing ash-filled smoke from his uniform in the wake of rapidly fired pistol attacks leveled at the mech. Lucifer grunted as he dropped onto the bottom of his exposed spinal column. One arm raised, he fired up a golden translucent energy shield while teetering on his other arm balanced against his torso. Rounds pinged off the screen, deflected into collateral mayhem around the bay. People ran for cover amid pipes bursting, spewing their contents into obscuring vapor. Regardless of the concealing mist, several errant energy bolts struck down the escapees.

  “Go!” Venger Phoenix roared with the power of the Unseen.

  The blue jump-suited crew were kneeling when the shooting started. Every bolt that sailed back to them was expertly dodged by the group. At Venger's order, they sprinted away, spreading across the length of the bay in an erratic run to avoid being targeted en masse. They bounded over any obstacle, ignorant of the danger from facing a heavy infantry mech, even if it was damaged.

  Lucifer fired the first pulse from the plasma caster. The super heated glob exploded against a power loader, spraying molten particulate into a good portion of the group. They bounded away, only to be caught in the secondary explosion as the machine burst from a melted power core. Four of the ten Swarmers were blasted by shredded prosteel parts like being consumed in a shrapnel hurricane. The other six changed their tactics, trying to evade a weapon meant for anti-armor assaults.

  The remainder of the assault team came from multiple angles, trying to flank the robot to get around its shield. Lucifer's combat resolution matrix fired off the possibilities of their tactics in the time it took for any of them to take a breath, blink an eye, or die from the combative typhoon he was leveling at them. A burst of micro-missiles from the other turret flew in a fitful attack pattern at the rapidly advancing altered humans.

  The projectiles burst into a swarm of their own, each round ejecting dozens of micro-darts homing in on their prey. The hornets burst around them in a wave of acrid smoke and highly charged particles. The Swarmers went down in a series of burning spasms that were almost immediately healed. The attack had slowed their attempt to counter, but not stopped it.

  Lucifer laid down on the ground, giving him back the use of his other hand. The top of the gauntlet opened, revealing a three-pronged device. Static passed between the tiers, building into a whirling ball of smoke and lightning. When it was the size of a piece of fruit, he whipped his arm, launching the ball toward the center of the bay between Phoenix and his crew.

  The ball detonated, producing a sound like a horn hitting a power line. Smoke-tinged lightning retreated back into the egg-sized, black sphere where the vapor ball had been a moment earlier. Terrifying winds buffeted through the hangar, pulling various bits of equipment toward the vortex. The dead, burning bodies of the crew Lucifer had killed were pulled from their impromptu resting places toward the storm. The first to hit was snapped in half, pulled into the voi
d like a child angrily sucking up the last of a drink through a straw. Other bodies followed suit, chased by cargo that wasn't lashed down. The blue-flight suits rammed their enhanced fingers into the sole, gaining a relentless grip on the plating.

  “Hold onto the girl!” Venger roared to the sparks.

  He reached into the Unseen, pulling on the strands of cosmic force that lay beyond the veil to the Second Sight. Slamming the energy into the deck, he stood anchored to the spot he had chosen, unmoved by the malevolent force tearing at the bay.

  “Can we shut down the atmospheric shield?” shouted one of the sparks.

  “No! That would increase the pull and the girl won't be able to breathe!”

  Lucifer pushed off the floor with both hands, using the vacuum to pull him toward the Steel Devil. Phoenix responded by firing his pistol, using shot after shot to try to overload the bot's shield beyond its failure point. With a flourish of a second set of plates, two jump thrusters locked into place along the mech's back. They screamed out a blinding jet of smoke shrouded flame, pushing him away from the maelstrom, escaping toward the open blast doors.

  Phoenix sacrificed some of his hold on the deck by using the Unseen to activate the trigger plate for the door. It trundled its way closed, shrinking the bot's avenue of escape. Lucifer stormed through, turning to fly backwards and aiming his palms back at the group. Two spear-tipped wires shot out, impaling the resicarbon cases that were stuck under some support grating on the deck. The cases rattled across the floor in time to bounce through the massive portal sealing shut with a hissing slam.

  The floating obsidian speck lost some of its dynamic pull, going from hurricane-force winds to an angry gale. The blue flight suits stood from the deck, surrounding Venger as their injuries healed.

  “Are any of you permanently damaged?”

  “No, sir. Although some of us don't want to be here and would really like to go home.”

  “That's awfully honest. What of you?” Phoenix asked another.

  “I've been pushed around all of my life. This is the first time I can push back. I figure, when the time is right, I'll squeeze the life out of whoever is holding my leash and gain my freedom. Then I'll choke the galaxy for everything it owes me.”

  Phoenix seemed to regard her straightforwardness. Either she had been bold all of her life or the nanites coursing through her had made her so. “What is your name, soldier?”

  “My name is slave, as it's always been. Yours is just the new hand holding the chain.”

  “All of you. You will serve me as you have been instructed. Do so as you've done here today, and at the end of this mission, I will free you. I have no need for slaves. From now on, you woman, will be called Defiant Lotus. You will lead these people for me until we complete our mission for the Chen. After that, your life is your own and that other name can burn.”

  Lotus stood in contemplation of Phoenix's offer. She took in the glances from the various members as they repaired themselves via Swam-tech infusions they'd all been given.

  “I've been a slave all my life, used for my body in the fighting pits as well as in other vulgar ways. I've never been offered my freedom. What if you die before you can make good on it?” Lotus asked.

  “Then in front of these men, my Sparks, this little girl, and recorded on my handheld, I promise to you that once this mission is complete, your lives are your own. The same is true should I fall during this endeavor. If I should perish, I charge you, Defiant Lotus, to bring my mask back to the Tower of Wind and Leaves. After that, your life is yours.”

  There was a beep from the cell-com he was holding as it disappeared into the folds of his robes. Venger opened his palm to a hologram. “Work-Captain Phang, It would seem that one of the loader bots that had made its way onto your ship was not what it seemed. Lasher's association with the merc protecting his asset dumped a heavy infantry mech onto us. It was carrying a Vormax bomb that nearly leveled the entire cargo bay.”

  “Are any of my people hurt?” Phang demanded.

  Phoenix detested the man. He was harsh and demanding, but he was loyal to his employer and concerned, at least peripherally, about his people. “Several were killed. We have some wounded. Many of the servitor bots were destroyed. Please send medical down here immediately. My people are also trying to open the blast doors to the bay. The bot made off with the payment for Chen.”

  “She won't be happy about that,” Phang said disapprovingly. “We can't get them open either. They seemed to be jammed. Some nasty bit of code working its way through our protocols.”

  “That would be the asset they have with them corrupting our systems. Is the door to the adjacent cargo bay open?”

  “I can open it but how will you get there if we can't open the ones in your bay?"

  “No Captain, the outer one.” Phoenix said with a hint of excitement.

  There was a pause, as though Phang was trying to reason through what Venger was saying.

  “Surely that small amount of armor and mask won't protect you from vacuum, sir.”

  “I don't need to crawl across the hull outside. I have a ship.”

  Twenty-Three

  “This is bad, Madame.” Romeo said, assessing Lucifer's injuries.

  “Morpheus?”

  The holographic representation of the bot’s personality appeared in the space. Lasher was intrigued at the look Morpheus was adopting. He had been rendering his image in the blue hued simple projections common to systems out in the Frontier. Now that he was more comfortable in the command matrix, he had wormed more resources from a system that was barely exerting itself. The image appeared lifelike, almost as if Lasher could reach out and pat him on the shoulder or shake his hand.

  “Of course, Madame.”

  He raised his hand, bringing his fingers together. The motion caused a reaction in the massively damaged bot, its eyes flaring amid a series of clicks echoing in the ladder they found themselves staging on.

  Tarot inspected Lucifer's systems from her cell-com. “Jester, prime him for an ion pulse. Set the power core to dump everything into it.”

  The other bot hesitated. “Madame, that will fry the electronics in that section of the ship”

  “The bulkheads are shielded.” Tarot answered “It won't be an issue unless you are in that section of the passage.”

  “Yes, Madame.”

  “Not to sound ungrateful because parts don't cost pennies, but why didn't Lucifer rescue the girl instead of the money?” Fluff asked centimeters away from the downed mech.

  “It was a tactical decision on our part based on available information,” Morpheus said. “The girl was being protected by Phoenix's entourage. Engaging them would have put her in the line of fire. Keeping the blasters focused on him would ensure that the only gunfire going in that direction was his. Also, securing the money would put Chen forces on our pursuit. I control the decks and surveillance. When they come to us to recover the money, we can be ready.”

  “You could have said all that in one sentence. He just likes hearing himself talk, doesn't he?” Fluff snorted.

  Morpheus interrupted. “Madame, Romeo has pulled Lucifer's data core. The chassis is set to have Jester alter it for our purposes.”

  Tarot and Romeo lifted the cases, handing them to Justice. Merlin broke them down, handing the trade bars to the bigger bot to put on the inside of his chest compartment. Jester took some blocks from his cargo pack, stuffing them beside broken Lucifer parts they'd dropped into the case.

  “How long before it's set?” Tarot asked.

  “No more than a few minutes, Madame,” Jester replied. “I need to wire in the ion charger to the do-hickey before I slap it on the whatchamacallit and then get it to override the power dampers on his go-go box.”

  “If he keeps talking like that, I'm going to dampen his go-go box.” Fluff said, dragging his nails over the decking to produce the most annoying squeal.

  “Opposite corners, you two. Kel, it's Orin. What's the deck look lik
e?”

  There was silence while everyone waited for Kel's usual sarcasm laden response.

  “Kat?”

  Time crawled along, Lasher giving a knowing stare to his partner. The comm coughed a barely audible pop. A direct message from Kat floated in their HUDs asking them to standby.

  “Morpheus. Can you see what's happening to them?” Lasher asked.

  The image of the hangar filled their HUD. Venger was moving his retinue onto the shuttle while members of the crew flitted about tending to the dead, wrecked, or wounded. When the shuttle, ramp began to close, Kat broke the silence.

  “Hey kids. How's the show on that side of the curtain?” she said.

  “Standing ovations for us,” Fluff quipped.

  “Oh, that sounds like fun. We're giving some folks a ride,” Kat said with all the enthusiasm of a prisoner being walked to an airlock. “Since you shut them into that hangar, they figured they'd scoot over to the next one and walk over to you.”

  “Sounds like fun. Maybe fake a malfunction.,” Fluff commented over the channel. “Venting them into the black, sounds nice.”

  “That sounds like a great idea,” Kel chimed in. “Of course our masked friend took an interest in our little urchin from Doseidos who just so happened to be hiding inside of Lucifer's chest. Now she's in the back of the shuttle. I vent them. I vent her.”

  “Doesn't really sound like an issue to me. Can't you just get a new one?” Jester asked.

  The collected crew turned malicious glares toward the irreverent bot. Even some of the Card Arkana demonstrated non-verbally to Jester that he was one comment away from being given to the Doom Cat as a chew toy.

  “Just be careful, you two.” Lasher said.

  The cowed Jester raised his hand like a ten year old asking his teacher for a hall pass.

  “The old chassis is rigged. Antenna is intact so that Merlin can remote him to wherever you choose. We have his data core. The cases are done as well. All set.”