Close Proximity - An Aeon14 Space Opera Adventure (Perilous Alliance)
Page 25
Marge took a moment to calculate.
A strong need to protect and console the young woman in her care washed over Kylie.
Kylie had never felt so relieved to hear his voice.
Geeze, what was he doing? She sent him her location over their private connection. He, in turn, sent his. It was inside the brothel. It felt like a league away.
Sure, he would. Kylie glanced down at her living, breathing weapon. Lana’s head was against the wall, and she moaned. Her teeth chattered, her legs stretched out one after the other. Kylie didn’t know how much longer she would even remain aware of what was happening around them.
The silence she met was unexpected and she felt a flash of grief coming from him. So, he really did care about this girl.
It sounded good to her. She turned her attention to Marge.
Kylie tried not to think of what must be happening inside the girl. If she had nano this advanced, imagine what the GFF could do with it?
They’d probably launch into an outright war to separate from Silstrand—their populace be damned. If the SSF got it…well, maybe that was the best choice. They’d use the tech to solidify their position against the Scipio Federation and clean up Gedri, that much was a given.
None of which were her problem right now, all she had to do was get out of there.
“We need to move,” Kylie said in her sternest voice—though her heart ached for what this girl was going through—and nudged Lana with her boot. “Lana, help is on the other side of these walls and we have to get to them. Do you hear me? Lana!”
Lana’s eyes opened. Something about them wasn’t exactly human anymore. Kylie couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was the way they focused and contracted. Almost as if she had been modded right before Kylie’s eyes.
There would be no helping this girl.
Kylie pushed her negative thoughts to the back of her mind. “C’mon, girl. Don’t give up here.”
Lana rose to her feet, holding onto the wall for support. “I don’t know if I can make it. I don’t know…” Her legs crossed each other as she stumbled forward like a drunkard.
“People are waiting for you. General Samuel sent us for you. Let’s get you back home to him and your family. Everything else will come out the way it’s meant to, but we are going to get you home, Lana.” The words most likely sounded as lame to Lana as they did to her, but it was the best she could muster at the moment.
Lana’s nostrils flared as fresh tears sprung to her eyes. “He’s going to be so mad at me. He’s going to hate me.” Her face scrunched up tight.
The girl’s words caused fresh pain to well up in Kylie’s chest. Maybe it was because it had been so long since she had seen her own family. “Why would he be mad?”
What did you do, Lana, Kylie thought to herself.
“I…” Lana closed her eyes, and it was clear she couldn’t answer, but Kylie would find out. One way or another.
“Another time, then,” Kylie said and opened the door.
Once out in the hall, Marge lit up the route out of the maze of hallways on Kylie’s HUD. She was surprised by how little resistance they met, and she was able to deal with the few guards they encountered without Lana’s new abilities coming into play.
She suspected that all the forces were being driven toward Grayson’s location. He certainly knew how to throw a party, and he’d probably gone in with a full-frontal assault on the facility.
They finally reached the maglev tram to see a pair of guards protecting the car. Marge remotely opened the tram’s door, and the guards turned, each taking a shot in the back of the head from a kinetic rifle that Kylie had managed to salvage from a guard she took out.
They boarded the car, and a Kylie checked the rifle. Just two more shots. The charge and reservoir on her plasma pistol were almost dry, too. Grayson better be waiting when she got to the brothel, or this would be the end of the road for her and Lana.
She glanced at Lana, who gazed up at the ceiling with her mouth dangling open. The girl was going to be no help in rescuing herself from here on out, but at this point, Kylie would count it as a miracle if she didn’t die before they reached the Dauntless.
Lana’s head jerked downward, and her eyes rolled back. “I feel like I can see the individual molecules in my hand.” Her fingers splayed wide, and she stared at them curiously before turning her attention to Kylie. “And I can see a stream of code running through your body. Why do you fight it?”
Her question made Kylie stiffen. “How’d you get hold of this tech, Lana?” Kylie asked softly. “Did you know…”
Lana shook her head. “I knew I was transporting something. A simple procedure. I swallowed a pill, and they put this device in me. Wasn’t supposed to be traceable.” She lifted her shirt and Kylie could barely make out the signs of an incision on her stomach.
“Then I was taken—kidnapped by these guys—and a fight broke out. Let’s just say, the container didn’t survive. Now it’s in me. Now it’s everywhere.” Lana was on the verge of an ugly cry meltdown, so Kylie held back on the stream of questions forming in her mind.
Why would you do this? Who asked you to do it? Where were you supposed to take it? Those were probably the most important questions of all. It didn’t surprise Kylie that Harken would want to intercept Lana and steal the tech for herself. Probably going to replicate it and sell it to the highest bidder.
It’s what they did. It’s what she did. She was part of the machine that was trying to rob Lana of her life.
“Your father will forgive you, Lana. It’s what father’s do.”
Her words of comfort covered the young woman who still shivered under the blanket. She seemed to breathe easier and the sob that was about to break free disappated. “Thank you,” Lana said and outstretched her hand toward Kylie.
In that moment, Kylie forgot what was happening to Lana and squeezed the young girl’s hand. For a split second, she held it there, then snatched it back. Lana stared at her with wide eyes, a Kylie feared what might happen as she stared at her hand—but nothing did, and they were distracted from the near miss as Marge issued a warning.
The moment of truth was upon them. Kylie said.
She did, she was counting on it.
SHOWDOWN
STELLAR DATE: 08.46.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Harken’s Brothel/Research Facility, Perseverance
REGION: Scattered Disk, Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Kylie stepped out of the tram, gripping the kinetic rifle and aiming it at the group of GFF soldiers standing on the platform awaiting her arrival. She hazarded a guess that they wouldn’t kill her on sight. Maybe it was a fool’s gamble, but those were her favorite odds.
In the midst of the soldiers stood Harken, arms crossed, and a smug expression on her face, though beneath it, Kylie could see a smoldering anger.
She wondered if the GFF soldiers were invited, or if they had come of their own accord.
“Nice little nap?” Kylie asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Harken took a breath. “Time for jokes is over, Rho
ads. You have what’s mine, and you’re not getting out of here alive unless you return it.”
“She’s a person and not an ‘it’. You can’t own a person.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I own lots of people, and the tech inside of her—”
“Is stolen, too. She made a few mistakes, but we’re going to fix that as soon as we can.”
“We all deal in stolen property. Even you, don’t you? Junker. Smuggler. Whatever it is you’re calling yourself these days.”
“At least it got me out of the club,” Kylie said.
“This talking is getting us nowhere.” Harken glanced at the soldiers.
“What? Have a big date? Hope it goes better than your last one,” Kylie said, trying to get a rise out of the woman.
Harken’s lips compressed into a fine point before she opened her mouth to hurl what Kylie expected to be a venomous response when Lana stepped up beside Kylie. She placed her hands on the railing that ran along the edge of the platform and Kylie felt a hum, a vibration, coming right off the girl.
“Let her go to her ship, and I’ll come over to you. I’ll stay,” Lana said with more energy than Kylie though she had left in her.
Kylie’s mouth fell open. “Lana…so help me…”
Lana shook her head. “I know what I’m doing. I know what I can do, Kylie. Trust me.”
She didn’t want to stay, she would do whatever it took to get out. Kylie could see it in Lana’s eyes and in the sour expression on her face. “Okay…” Kylie said sadly. “Be careful.”
“No false moves,” Harken said. “You walk over to us slowly with your hands up, and we’ll take you back to the lab. Where it’s safe. We can keep the pain from hurting you any further.”
Kylie bristled as Lana stepped off the tram. She must’ve had a plan, but Kylie wasn’t sure what it was, and she was more than a little nervous about what she was about witness. Holding her breath, Kylie watched and waited as Lana put one foot in front of the other.
Moving closer and closer to the enemy.
“Lower your weapon, Rhoads!” Harken ordered.
Kylie shook her head. “Not until I know she’s safe!” Which meant never. While she was in the hands of the GFF, Lana would never be safe.
“I can’t hear her anymore,” Lana said. “I can feel her, but you did something to Abby. You hurt my AI.”
“What?” Harken was taken back by her accusation. “You need Abby to help you through this process, Lana. We didn’t do anything to her.”
“You tried to take the nano from me, and when that happened, Abby got hurt. The nano attacked her because she was trying to help me!” Lana took a deep breath and lunged forward.
Harken stepped back, and a weapon fired. Kylie couldn’t see who fired the shot, and that meant just one thing. She dove to the ground an instant before an explosion shook the platform. “Lana!” Kylie screamed trying to see through the smoke and fire.
He was there. He had caused the explosion. What happened to Lana? Where was she?
Kylie struggled to her feet and peered around the platform. Four of the GFF soldiers were down, and two more were struggling to their feet. Kylie shot one and Grayson appeared through the smoke on the far side of the platform and fired at the other.
Harken was nowhere to be seen.
Kylie cast about looking for Lana, finally spotting her behind a bench. She was on the ground, an arm wrapped around her stomach, and her teeth chattering in pain.
“You’ll be all right,” Grayson went down on bended knee to help her, his hand extended out to clasp Lana’s shoulder.
“Don’t touch her,” Kylie said. “The nano, it might jump to you.”
“Nano?” Grayson asked.
Kylie nodded. “She was carrying some sort of advanced tech…crazy nano abilities. I don’t know where she got it, or who offered her the deal, but she was smuggling it somewhere. Isn’t that right?”
Lana confirmed Kylie’s statement with a slight nod of her head.
“Smuggling it out of Silstrand space?” Grayson asked. “Oh, Lana…” He spoke the words like Lana’s actions hurt him. Like he was someone who cared about her. Kylie didn’t know what Grayson knew, but it was clear her actions had surprised him.
“We have to get her back to the Dauntless. We can help her there.”
“I have spare suits,” Grayson took off his backpack began pulling them out. “Where’s your armor?”
Kylie glanced down at her tattered dress. “I had to do a bit of infiltration; it’s a few levels down, tucked away. There’s a balcony we can get out of. Is the Dauntless close?”
“As close as they dare,” Grayson said.
Between them, Lana struggled to her feet. “I’m ready. I want to go, please don’t leave me here.”
Kylie had to resist the urge to touch the poor girl. “No one’s leaving you.”
They moved past the fallen GFF soldiers, and Marge highlighted the route back to the room she had entered through, as they slipped down vacant corridors.
“Did you kill everyone here?” she asked Grayson.
“No. When I approached, the shuttles were taking off, full of clients I bet.”
“You know…there was a cargo ship up there, too, did you see it?”
Grayson shook his head. “No, must have left before I got here.”
They reached the room, and Kylie ducked behind the curtain and pulled off the dress and boots, leaving them on the floor in a heap. Certainly, not her problem. She pulled on her armor, grabbed her guns, the armor’s stealth layer, and stepped out into the room. Grayson was peering out the window, and Lana sat on the bed, panting heavily.
Kylie wanted to say something to make the girl feel better, but nothing came to mind. She had no idea what they could do for her, or what she should do with her.
“Put the helmet on,” she advised, and Lana looked at the clear sphere like it was a snake.
“I can’t…It’s full of air, I can see it,” Lana whispered.
“Grayson? Care to help?” Kylie asked as she stuffed her non-functional stealth layer into his duffle along with her pistols.
“C’mon, stand up, I’ll help you with it. See? I have mine on and it’s fine. I can breathe okay,” Grayson said as he stood in front of Kylie.
“Yeah, why don’t you all stand up?” a voice Kylie knew all too well asked.
Her head whipped around and she saw Harken standing in the doorway, holding a rather impressive-looking railgun.
“Aw, shit,” Kylie swore.
“You know what?” Harken asked. “I don’t need you for anything. You’re the very definition of expendable.”
Kylie’s eyes widened, and time seemed to slow down as she watched Harken’s finger slowly squeeze the railgun’s trigger. Maybe that was what happened right before death. She tried to tell her body to move, but it was too slow as the railgun fired.
Then, a figure moved in front of her with blinding speed, right into the path of the railgun’s slug.
“Lana!” Kylie screamed as the girl was thrown back into her. She heard pulse shots and knew Grayson was returning fire, but that didn’t matter anymore. Kylie was supposed to protect Lana, she was her rescuer, but she had failed.
She pulled herself up and leaned over Lana’s prone form. There was no exit wound on her back. A railgun shot should have left an exit wound. She hoped her armor’s gloves would protect her as she flipped Lana over and saw that the shot had hit Lana in the stomach—which appeared to be made of a silver metal.
Then, before her eyes, it turned back to flesh and began to bleed profusely.
Kylie grabbed a corner of the bed’s blanket and used her armor’s augmented strength to
tear it off. She wadded it against the wound and pressed hard.
“Grayson!” She looked up to see him firing a shot through the door as Harken dashed down the hall. “Help me!”
Grayson reached into the duffle and handed her a canister of biofoam. “Seal her up and make sure it bonds to the suit or she’ll die outside.”
Kylie nodded and applied the foam as Lana began to moan and loll her head.
“I can’t believe she just ran off like that, what a loser,” Kylie said as she peered down the hall.
“I got a lucky shot on her. Get your helmet on,” Grayson replied. “We need to move.”
Kylie complied pulled it on as she turned to look down the corridor one last time, only to see a dozen GFF soldiers round the corner and rush toward them. She didn’t hesitate and fired her rifle on its electron beam setting. Blue-white lightening streaked down the corridor and tore a hole right through one of the soldiers. The rest dove into doorways and took cover.
Behind her, Grayson yanked the sliding glass door open and picked Lana up in his arms.
Grayson’s expression was pained.
Shots rang out from the corridor, and Kylie flattened herself against the wall. She scowled at Grayson—though he couldn’t see it through the helmet—and waved at him to go.
Kylie smiled, even though it was hidden by her helmet.
GETTING OUT OF DODGE
STELLAR DATE: 08.46.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Harken’s Brothel/Research Facility, Perseverance
REGION: Scattered Disk, Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance