by Brian Mansur
Her slick boots lost their footing in the violence of the detonation. She collapsed to her knees at the stairwell’s entrance, screaming Sean’s name.
He wasn’t moving.
Before Sarah could scramble to her feet, however, an awful cacophony followed up the reverberating explosion. Tension cables holding the floor snapped and twanged. The screech of rending metal vibrated Sarah’s helmet.
“No!” she screeched.
She saw that the fighting had severed too many of the support cables. The combined weight of the landing pods and surface debris overwhelmed the floor’s tensile strength. In only a few seconds, a massive, jagged hole in the colony’s outer shell ripped open.
Sarah caught herself at the stairwell’s banister and watched Sean’s limp form vanish into the depths.
“No!” she wailed. “No, no, no!”
Crying, she held on against the gale in the stairwell and kicked the door’s catch so that it blew shut. As vacuum claimed the other side, she felt her heart suffocating.
She said, “Please, please don’t let him be dead. Please!”
For several seconds she remained slumped against the hatch, wracked with sobs. She replayed the mental video of Sean falling back into the dirt. Had his helmet been cracked? Was he asphyxiating? Or had his face already been turned into a bloody pulp from whatever had impacted him?
A muffled boom from above intruded on her misery. Thoughts of people being dismembered and mutilated replaced those of Sean dying.
Don’t let others feel this way, she told herself.
“I have a job to do,” she said, echoing his words. Their caring for one another had led him to save her from being killed on the cold maintenance deck. Now, it was her turn to give something back. She forced herself to her feet and returned to the fight.
Location: Lilith’s private estate, Lakshmi Colony_
Satisfaction tickled at Lilith as she watched a scout drone’s camera feed of the battle. The Gatling cannons from her mechs tore into a cluster of marines as they emerged from a sublevel exit. Streams of bloody pulp erupted from the hapless men and women.
Lilith snorted. “Too bad for them they didn’t go for the docking bays. Then they could have offloaded something with armor to hide behind. Did they really think they had a chance here?”
Henry shot Lilith a side-long glance. “They’re not doing as bad as you’d think,” he said. “Or have you not been paying attention to the latest wave they scattered around the segment’s far end?”
“Isolated pockets,” she said. “What of them?”
“The new arrivals seem to have an awful lot of missiles and drones. They’re almost done blowing up the transit corridors out of here. They’re isolating us. Look.”
He pointed to a live feed from one of the patrolling mechs. It blasted at a distant cluster of objects as they flew toward an airlock between colony segments. The jinking missiles slammed into their target, sending up a rolling ball of orange, yellow and black. “You sure you don’t want to relocate while you still can?” he asked.
“And leave the protection of my mechs?” Lilith said with disbelief. “Where on Lakshmi is it safer than here?”
“Just about anywhere if you’ll renounce your immunity.”
Lilith huffed. “You don’t trust Dalip’s troops to protect me any more than I do.”
“You saw how determined that Captain Paulson is to defeat you. Renounce your immunity, and the Wardens will quit broadcasting your location. That will force the Mykonians to spread out across the colony to find you. They’ll be easier to pick off after that.”
A series of distant booms made them both look up. For the first time in the assault, Lilith felt a genuine thrill of fear.
“Natrix, what’s going on outside?” she demanded.
“Enemy missiles are closing on the estate’s grounds.”
“Show me.”
Another gun camera view appeared on the room’s center screen. Bullets burped from the barrel into what resembled a loose flock of gray candles. The heavy caliber rounds tore through the formation. One by one, the missiles burst apart into flaming fragments of metal and electronics. Their warheads never had the chance to detonate. A second later, though, a bang filtered down to the bunker. The screen froze then blanked.
Natrix said, “Unit destroyed by a flanking strike. More missiles are inbound.”
The staccato burr of heavy caliber Gatlings outdoors increased in frequency. Then the crack of an explosion somewhere in the house above caused Lilith to jump.
“They’re insane!” she said. “If they hurt me, the Wardens will kill their families!”
“It’s possible,” Henry said with a hint of sarcasm, “that you already did that to some of the people controlling the attack. A lot of dependents lived on Zeus after all.”
Lilith’s breathing grew shallow. “The Wardens would still punish anyone else they cared about.” A distant, thunderous roar pre-empted whatever else she had to say.
Over the rolling explosion, Natrix told them, “Habitat breached near 45th Street and 12th Avenue.”
Henry‘s voice took on a subtle note of alarm. “Holes in the colony will start a panic. We won’t be able to get out of the segment by ground for several minutes at least.”
More explosions echoed from outside.
Natrix said, “The mechs on the estate are taking heavy casualties from guided mortars, empress.”
Henry made a thoughtful noise. “They must be using most of their remote-controlled arsenal for this attack. That would explain why we had such an easy time routing that main body of troops. They were saving the smart bombs for this push.”
Another explosion in the house sent Lilith’s hands flying to her ears. “How exhilarating! What are you going to do about it?!”
Henry shrugged. “Maybe you should let yourself get hurt a little. Who knows how far up their chain of command the executions would run for that.”
Lilith muttered a choice invective.
The Celesian made no apology. “At least the broadcast would distract them until the Wardens finished flaying people alive.”
“It would bother the Lakshmians too,” Lilith pointed out.
“You’re the one who said they aren’t being very useful.”
Lilith sniffed. She had, in fact, considered blackmailing someone into violating her immunity the way she’d tried with Karen. “I don’t feel particularly masochistic today.”
A rumble from below made the conspirators look down.
Natrix announced, “There’s an incursion directly beneath the compound. Mechs engaging.”
Without being asked, the A.I. put an image from the defenders onto the viewer. Two holes had appeared in the darkened maintenance compartment beneath Lilith’s estate. The machines showered gunfire into the openings, but nothing emerged.
Lilith grabbed for Henry’s arm. “They’re insane!”
The Gatling cannon fire continued for several seconds, but nothing tried to escape the holes. Then Lilith felt the gut punch of an epiphany. She realized with stark fear what the Mykonians had in mind. They couldn’t attack her directly, but they could leave a trap of sorts for her to trigger. The A.I., however, didn’t possess the creativity to see the danger.
“Natrix!” the empress cried, too late.
In a coordinated move, the mechs ceased firing their Gatlings and launched four grenade rockets. One caught a rim and exploded harmlessly, taking its brother with it. The other two dived straight through the other hole.
The anti-personnel bombs shattered against the first things they came into contact with. The rounds had been designed to spread damage within a five-meter radius, piercing light armor and flesh. This made them more than adequate to ignite the pallets of armed mortar shells inside the landing pod.
A fireball pulverized the several meters of dirt and rock that separated the basement of Lilith’s home from the outer maintenance level. The floor erupted upward, throwing Henry and Lilith through the c
eiling. Since Lilith’s forces had incautiously triggered the bombs, the Mykonians bore no blame for her injuries under the immunity rules.
Limbs caught amongst the cables and rafting. This held them fast while debris flurried about. Then, as quickly as the inverted burial took place, the soil and building material rushed away.
As did the air.
28
Location: CIC, MSV Tsunami_
Rafe couldn’t hear it through the vacuum, but he saw people in the CIC cheer when Paulson replayed footage of Lilith’s house being demolished. A chunk of the sprawling, two-story mansion crumpled and sank into the maintenance level. Gouts of flame, dust, and smoke spat up from the breach.
Part of Rafe wanted to celebrate with the others. They’d gotten lucky and hit Lilith when she should have been invulnerable. But if she died, he thought with turmoil, it would be tougher to find out what happened to Karen.
“Commander Hastings,” Paulson said with restrained enthusiasm, “did we get her?”
“Still waiting on confirmation, ma’am.”
He studied the real-time Warden feed on Lilith’s whereabouts. Her pulsing red dot hadn’t moved from the room they’d targeted. Does that mean she’s hurt?
He checked the live camera view from James. Flying near the colony’s hub, the A.I.’s drone had kept out of the jamming that plagued most of Segment 5’s assault force. Movement at the picture’s edge caught his attention. Another of Lilith’s mechs exploded from a laser-guided missile.
Rafe rechecked the Warden feed and frowned. “Lilith may not be dead, Captain. She hasn’t moved, and there’s been no official message about her.” He noted a squad of heavy Warden vehicles rolling to the estate. “Emergency repair bots are closing on the house. She could still escape if she isn’t too injured.”
The memory of Commandante Wilkinson directing a Warden flashed in his mind. And maybe….
“Claire,” the Captain said. “Launch the strike team.”
Location: Lilith’s private estate, Lakshmi Colony_
As Lilith stared into deep space, she screamed with pain, rage, and terror. The hurricane of venting air made it difficult to breathe. Her cracked ribs didn’t help. Neither did her broken arm, although it kept her from falling. It had tangled amidst a bundle of thin fiber-optic cables.
To her left, she saw Henry clasping a rafter. In the corner of what remained of the floor, the enforcer stood motionless.
Show off, she thought, sneering.
Then she gave a small cry as she remembered that Henry had not, after all, spent their one-time Warden help option while chasing down Rafe days before. She called out, “Enforcer! Emergency assist! Authorization Kota17. Get us out of here!”
She doubted the machine would hear her, but knew it could read lips. With impressive speed, the bot fired a cable into the rafters and rode it up. Its manipulator arms grappled the beam and shimmied to Lilith. She heard the high-pitched whirr of a cutting tool, then felt the cables slacken. As she slid toward the Warden, rivulets of pain surged through her broken arm.
The enforcer said, “Both of you, grab onto me.”
With her good arm, Lilith reached around the Warden’s head. A wild-eyed Henry took hold of its torso. The silver and obsidian machine lowered them to the floor and released its cable. Then, like a metal giant, it tucked the humans to its sides and carried them from the house’s wreckage.
Location: CIC, MSV Tsunami_
Rafe felt bile rise as Lilith’s red dot shifted location. “Lilith is moving out of the structure.”
The comms tech interrupted Paulson’s response. “Incoming vid-sig from a General Parashar on emergency channel 5, secured link. He claims he has executed President Dalip and wishes to arrange for a cease-fire.”
Paulson exchanged stunned looks with Rafe.
Rafe said, “He’s their highest military officer under the president.”
The captain considered this then said, “Claire, route call to my HUD on my mark. Let brigade and intel monitor. Ready, mark.”
The image of a white-haired Lakshmian appeared. His angular features, tan complexion, and dire expression suggested to Rafe a person of magisterial poise. He spoke with grave intensity.
“Captain Paulson, thank you for joining us in our fight against Lilith.” He glanced over his shoulder and barked, “Hold up his body!”
The camera zoomed out to show two soldiers in camouflaged fatigues supporting the dead weight of President Shaasti Dalip. Twin bloody stains marred his white tunic. The general lifted the head by a clump of hair for Paulson to see.
“So that there is no doubt,” Parashar began. He finished by lifting a pistol to the corpse’s face and pulling the trigger twice. After, he let the head loll forward. Blood dribbled out of the wounds and down the president’s shirt.
Rafe’s lip twitched upward.
“I’ll be brief,” the general resumed. “We have the codes to an Arbiter and will shortly invoke Unrestricted Warfare with it so you can kill Lilith.”
While Paulson absorbed the miraculous tidings, Rafe’s mind turned with questions. How did they get those? He also wondered why they hadn’t deployed the Arbiter yet. His immunity wouldn’t have been negated by an Unrestricted Warfare zone while he remained outside of the colony.
When the captain said nothing, the general added, “I trust you can hit her with something that won’t destroy Lakshmi?”
“We can.” She swallowed. “General, this is welcome news, but I am sure you can guess at my questions.”
“The ways and means are best discussed later,” Parashar said. “What is important is that we defeat our common enemy.”
“Very well. How long before you’ll be ready?”
“We’re trying to get set before your immunity ends. In the meantime, I’ll order our ships and troops to stand down. I regret that I don’t control the mechs.”
“We’ll deal with those,” Paulson said. “What about Lilith’s A.I., Natrix? You can’t win back your colony until she has been purged from each segment’s command and control center. From what we saw, mechs are guarding the server bunkers.”
“We will deal with those,” the general said, mirroring Paulson’s measured tone.
Rafe quirked an eyebrow. He wondered if the Lakshmians had the means.
If Paulson held the same doubts, she didn’t show it. “Then we have an accord.”
The general nodded. “It is remarkable that Lilith survived your booby-trap. Filling a landing pod with munitions for her mechs to detonate…” He allowed a small smile. “Too bad Lilith’s military advisors didn’t prepare her for such a creative attack.”
Paulson acknowledged the compliment with a knowing grin. She had one more unpleasant question to ask. “Will Lilith’s A.I. or any of her henchmen destroy the colony if the empress is killed?”
“You and I wouldn’t be talking if the answer to that question could deter us.”
“Point,” the captain said. “But to prevent that scenario, we should both keep trying to capture her.”
“Agreed,” Parashar said. “Good hunting to us.”
The captain nodded and cut the signal.
Once the screen blanked, Rafe restrained the urge to pinch his helmet-encased forehead. He didn’t know what to wish for. What would happen to his daughter and the colony if Lilith died?
No sense in worrying about that. He told himself to be grateful that the estate was far enough between the radiators to fly to from the outside. We might take Lilith yet.
Paulson said, “Tighten up on our primary target please, Commander.”
Rafe zoomed the drone’s camera to resolve Lilith slumped on the ground against an enforcer. A man in black stood nearby.
Rafe said, “That’s Commandante Henry Wilkinson to Lilith’s right.” He marked the figure for the strike team. “If they stay there for five more minutes, we can have them both.”
He noticed movement in the wide-angle view. A twin-bladed sky car was putting down near Lilith’s
position. Is that the same one Markem took Karen in? He panned the high-mag viewer in time to see the car’s canopy open. It revealed a single male occupant who disembarked and ran toward Lilith.
Rafe said, “That’s Markem!”
Where did you take my daughter? he thought with vitriol.
“Claire,” Paulson said, “get me some artillery on that air car, now.”
“Unable to connect to brigade, ma’am. There’s still too much jamming ground-side, and they lost another laser relay. Attempting to reroute the network.”
No! Rafe scanned the tactical map. The commando team hadn’t breached the colony yet. His heart quickened. Lilith is going to get away!
Claire said, “Movement on the estate grounds.” Rafe panned to it, expecting to find another mech. Instead, he saw several figures charging at the sky car. They weren’t Mykonians.
“Captain,” Rafe said, voice urgent. “I think the Lakshmians have beaten us to Lilith.”
Location: Lilith’s private estate, Lakshmi Colony_
“Markem!” Lilith cried as her barrel-chested aide scooped her into his arms. She yelped from her broken ribs and humerus but held on. She craned to see Henry hobbling behind with an excruciated grimace. Despite her pain, she hollered, “Hurry Henry!”
A line of sparks danced along the open door, shattering its window. She looked beyond Markem to see a ragged line of charging soldiers. Lakshmians! How dare they! And how did they get onto the grounds? She didn’t want to believe the logical answer: the swarms of Mykonian missiles had overwhelmed all of her top-side mechs.
As Markem slowed, Lilith screamed, “Don’t stop! They’re trying to disable the car!”
A bullet whizzed by her head. She spat a curse despite the agonizing breath it cost. Then a round blew through Markem’s knee. He toppled forward, spilling Lilith to the grass. The Empress of Belia landed hard on her mangled arm and rolled twice.