by L. J. Suarez
“Not bad,” Mace commented to Ionne.
The ship’s landing gears extended out and touched down at the platform below.
As the engines powered down, Mace looked out through the window and saw no one outside waiting to greet them.
This is too easy, Mace thought. A sudden wave of uneasiness washed over him.
“Well, we are here as you wished,” Ionne said.
Reed scanned the outside platform. “Where is everybody?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Mace said. “I don’t like this.”
Suddenly, two sphere-shaped drones dropped from above and hovered outside on either side of the ship. The voice from earlier came through the com link. “Dr. Ionne, I must ask that you remain inside, as we detected unusually high amounts of more than one radiation signature coming from your airship. We cannot allow you entry to our facility until we can conduct a full inspection of your craft. Please stand by.”
Mace looked at Ionne, then at Reed, who still hovered over his shoulder.
The jig was up.
They would soon discover the B83 inside the ship, and everything they had worked for would be for nothing. Mace had come too far to be stopped now.
“What do we do now?” Ionne asked in a worried tone.
Mace brought his M16 forward and pulled back and released the bolt handle on top of the weapon. “We stick with the plan.”
Chapter 35
The rumblings of plasma fire and bullets had long since faded for the time being. Ava’s heart pounded against her chest as she and the rest of the New Lazarus faction charged through the underground service tunnels toward the Central Plaza district on their leebacks. The rapid clop of the leebacks’s hooves against the solid surface bounced off the tunnel’s concrete walls as the furry animals cantered forward with their horned snouts raised high; uttering a series of bray-like howls.
As soon as they exited the tunnels and onto the street levels, the New Lazarus forces were surrounded by panicked Empyreum residents screaming and running for their lives as soon as they laid eyes on the barbaric intruders. The battle they had witnessed raging outside the walls through the master feed had poured inside their home. The humans were also greeted by a platoon of Empyreum security forces in jet boots, as well as three armored airships. The guards had their pulsar rifles at the ready, with helmets concealing their faces. Approaching fast from behind the wall of Empyreum guards were more Monad reinforcements.
Despite their opposition’s overwhelming artillery, the human fighters continued onward toward the Central Plaza as the aerial Monad guards aggressively pursued them from above while raining down blue bolts. The New Lazarus warriors opened fire at the security guards on the ground and the ones flying overhead. Bishop was farther ahead of the pack on his leeback, enjoying himself a bit too much as he gleefully shot his M16 rifle’s grenade launcher at several incoming guards.
Emerson shot off a rocket from his launcher toward a security airship, but the rocket didn’t so much as make a scratch as it safely exploded against the ship’s hull. It was a surreal moment for Ava to be back in Empyreum after so much time had passed. She couldn’t afford to indulge in nostalgia, and had hoped the hell they were raising would buy Mace enough time to carry out his part of the plan. Ava pushed her leeback as hard as the creature could go through the crowded street while her fellow warriors were dropping all around her from the Monads’ stun effects.
The sky was covered in black smoke and the orange glow of the flames that rose from the destruction being caused by both parties. A rocket shot from the ancient launcher bounced off a pole and exploded on the edge of a nearby building, breaking it into tiny chunks of metal. The explosion was close enough to spook Ava’s leeback. The animal raised its forelegs until Ava slid backwards onto the ground. She landed on her back, a sharp pain rippling up to the back of her neck. Ava cursed under her breath as she rolled to her side. She raised her head up to watch her only ride flee from the scene, disappearing into a thick cloud of smoke several yards down the street. Ava knew the others still engaged with Empyreum security were running low on ammunition just like she was. They had depleted most of it while taking on the sentry drones outside the city walls. A team of four Empyreum guards emerged from the same smoke cloud the leeback had entered, and advanced toward Ava’s position the moment they spotted her. Picking herself off the ground, Ava targeted her rifle at the vulnerable spot of one Monad security guards’ armor, where portions of his legs and torso were exposed.
Just slow them down. Mace’s words still rung in Ava’s ears. She had no intention of killing any Monads today. Most of the human fighters weren’t as cautious about where their bullets landed as she was.
The Empyreum guards’ armor was able to take a beating, and even when Ava managed to hit the armor’s weak points, the guards’ NIs had kicked in and was already healing the injuries almost instantly. Ava’s attack only made the Monad guard angrier. In short, the New Lazarus army were going to have an uphill battle in slowing them down. The only thing the NIs couldn’t fix were the Monads’ vital organs; when those were hit, they seemed to go down for good.
The approaching guards aimed their pulsar rifles at Ava, but before they could get a shot off, four New Lazarus troops led by Sue and Alex knocked the guards’ weapons to the ground and engaged them in hand-to-hand with their handcrafted clubs, swords, and spears.
The three Empyreum security airships hovering above were issuing orders over the horn for the human invaders to stand down. However, they fell on deaf ears. Several more jet-propelled Monad guards landed on the street and joined their fellow counterparts in the fight.
Amidst the growing chaos around her, Ava took a breath as she raised the M16 again, took aim at an Empyreum guard who was firing his pulsar rifle at a crowd of her people, and fired. The rifle pulsated as the bullets erupted from the barrel and spread against the guard’s armor. It had already received extensive damage, so that last barrage was the final nail in the coffin. The guard dropped to his knees as sparks flew from his destroyed armor. He was clearly in pain, but Ava could already see the NIs doing their work; the wounds on the guard’s exposed flesh were starting to heal.
Ava aimed her rifle at a charging Monad guard and fired a lucky shot at his pulsar rifle. The rifle fell from the guard’s hands, and before Ava could fire off another round, the guard was already on her. The guard knocked her M16 from her hands, and with a swing of his long arm pushed her to the ground. Ava rolled on the ground as the guard aimed his rifle and fired off a bolt where she lay.
Reaching for the M16, Ava pointed the rifle at the guard while still glued to the ground and fired multiple shots at his shoulder, which incapacitated him.
Rising to her feet, Ava loaded her last magazine and aimed the M16 at another incoming guard. She pulled on the trigger.
Click. Nothing.
“Shit!” Ava said. She examined the weapon in confusion. There was plenty of rounds inside the magazine. It could only mean one thing – the M16 was jammed. Gareth had warned her during the training back home that these rifles had a tendency to jam. It picked a hell of a time to do so. Many of the other warrior settlers and New Lazarus guards who were out of ammo had already switched to their melee weapons as they pushed forward in the offensive. With no time to clear the jam, Ava dropped the rifle, switched to her staff, and swung it at her assailant’s head before he could put his hands on her. The force of the impact knocked the helmet off the Monad’s head, revealing his bug-eyed, brown-skinned face.
With quick reflexes, the Monad guard grabbed her staff and pulled her closer to him. Ava twisted her body and elbowed him twice—once in the chest, and a second time at his stomach. He momentarily clutched onto his chest, giving Ava a window to swing her staff right at his face, knocking him to the ground for good.
As she breathed heavily from the exertion, Ava realized that the Monads were starting to overwhelm them. Despite the firepower in their position, the blue stun effe
ct from both the Empyreum guards’ pulsar rifles and the airships were taking down her people a lot faster than they could disable the Monads.
Ava yelled into her com wrist ban amidst the noise. “Mace! Do you read me?” No answer. “Mace!” she called out again in desperation. Silence was all that could be heard on the other end. He should’ve been at the grid by now. Ava wondered whether he was captured, or worse.
More rockets from her human comrades shot across the battle raging on the street. One rocket landed against one of the other airship’s hull. The airship shifted in midair from the explosion as flames appeared momentarily on its hull, but quickly dissipated just like with the first one. The ship banked hard to its starboard to escape further rocket fire. The two remaining ships release a bombardment of plasma bolts at a group of human fighters.
Bishop was engaged in hand-to-hand with three Monad guards, swinging the butt of his M16 up at the lead Monad’s head, knocking him to the ground. He fired upon the other two guards as he retreated back to his guards. “Give ‘em hell!” Bishop yelled.
The human and Monad groups converged with bullets and blue plasma bolts crisscrossing above them.
Another rocket exploded nearby, causing Ava to drop to her knees. For a moment, her world went silent. The ringing in her ears was all that existed.
She looked beyond the battleground to where a hundred more security guards were heading their way, as well as several sentry drones. As they got closer, they began to encircle the New Lazarus militia. The numbers were tilting on the Monad’s favor. Ava knew they were severely outmatched and could not carry this on for any longer.
She turned to see Bishop taking down two Monad guards with his combat axe, genuine delight on his face. Ava yelled over to Bishop, “We have to abort!”
“We hold the line until we hear from Mace!”
“It’s too late! Look around you. They got us pinned. We have to withdraw while we still can.”
“Not a chance! We’ve come too far to retreat.”
Ava looked around at all the bodies of humans and Monads alike, as well as the ones still in the fight. As at New Lazarus during the extraction of the Monad colonists, Empyreum’s security force had not used lethal force. Why would they use the stun setting if they wanted humans dead? The answer was clearer than ever: the Monads were not their true enemy.
This madness must end.
She pressed the side button of her wrist band. “This is Ava. I’m calling off the attack. I repeat: the attack is called off. Everyone fall back—”
Something hit her over the head, forcing her to the ground.
Ava tried to roll to her side, and saw Bishop standing over her with his axe in hand. Before she slipped out of consciousness, she heard him utter, “Maybe it’s time for you to sit this one out.”
Chapter 36
Kora navigated her hydro-cycle over a debris field scattered throughout the streets of the Central Plaza on her way to the south wall.
She banked hard to the right, and on the next street corner a mob of civilians were running away from the carnage unfolding behind them. The menacing figures of the Empyreum guards opened fire on a large assembly of humans, who were firing primitive-looking weapons back at them while riding the same furred creatures she’d seen on the master feed. The humans somehow managed to get passed the sentry drones at the outer wall and had successfully infiltrated the city.
Kora came to a halt in front of a crowd of civilians, who were staring at the uprising unfolding ahead with a mix of awe and terror. “You must all leave here at once,” she warned. “It is not safe.”
They didn’t so much as blink, and remained motionless.
“Go!” Kora said more forcefully this time. “Get to your homes now!”
As if that last word broke a spell that had a hold on them, the civilians snapped back to reality, turned, and ran in the opposite direction of the battle.
Kora moved her cycle to the side of the street and climbed off. She surveyed the next street over to check for more residents who could be in the line of fire, and realized that the Empyreum guards were starting to overwhelm the human militia. The weapons fire from the human’s side had ceased, as their numbers dwindled. The ones who hadn’t been struck down were encircled by sentry drones and Empyreum forces. With no other choice, the remaining humans dropped their weapons and raised their hands in the air.
Kora couldn’t believe her eyes. It appeared that within a short span of time, her people were victorious in putting an end to the human resistance before it could overtake the entire Capital. She was still surprised at how the humans had managed to get this far with the odds being against them. Kora’s body the suddenly tensed. Empyreum security were too preoccupied with rounding up their new prisoners to notice a group of five humans—four male and one female—walking toward her with a series of improvised hand weapons.
* * *
As the saucer-shaped drones hovered outside Ionne’s airship, several figures dressed in yellow jumpsuits made their way toward the landing platform. Mace peered through the cockpit front window; his eyes glued to every movement their welcoming party made. They were most likely technicians who worked at the power grid. The technicians walked out of sight as they headed for the back of the ship.
A different voice came through the cockpit’s com system. “Dr. Ionne, please lower the ramp so we may commence our inspection.”
Ionne and Reed turned to Mace, who gripped his M16 and felt sweat forming on his forehead. He turned to Ionne, who was still seated. “Lower the ramp.”
Ionne stayed staring at Mace for a long moment until she turned and pressed a button at her console. The ramp began to lower, and Mace moved toward the back compartment to catch the technicians before they had a chance to board. He aimed the M16 just as the ramp finished lowering the rest of the way down. Just outside the ship, the technicians’ eyes widened, as they were at the end of a strange-looking weapon pointed at them. “Don’t take another step,” Mace said slowly. He moved down the ramp with his rifle trained on the technicians as they backed away with their hands raised.
Behind him, Ionne and Reed exited the ship. Reed patted Mace on his shoulder. “You did good, Mace. We couldn’t have gotten this far without you. Well done.” Mace noticed that the New Lazarus Committee member was holding a Glock handgun. “I’ll take it from here.”
Mace shot him a confused expression. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Watch and learn, son.”
Mace was left dumbfounded as he watched Reed swoop in and take over the entire operation. What are you up to old man? he wondered.
Reed walked up to one of the technicians. “Listen very closely. Inside that airship is a case containing a thermonuclear warhead. Capable of turning this entire facility to dust. Your scanners have already picked up the radiation signatures when we landed, so you know I’m telling the truth. If you wish for us to not use our weapon, you will have no other choice but to do what we say.”
The technician exchanged a worried glanced with his colleague. Turning back to Reed, he nervously said, “What do you want?”
“To send a message.” Reed looked at the drones floating nearby, then turned back to the technician. “Can those things send a planet-wide broadcast?”
Chapter 37
Four Monad technicians carried the long green case containing the B83 inside a massive chamber within the central power grid.
Mace followed closely behind, each step he took on the platform reverberating throughout the chamber. The inside of the complex had an industrial feel to it, and the surrounding walls were decorated with cold machinery.
Mace noticed the sweat forming on their large foreheads as they attempted to handle the case delicately. They were probably worried that any false move would trigger the bomb somehow. He knew the feeling too well.
His M16 was trained at the technicians’ backs. Mace promised them if he so much as got a whiff that they were attempting to signal for help, he would u
nload his magazine on them.
Two more technicians were carrying Aaron’s body on the stretcher, with Ionne and Reed walking alongside. Mace had no idea what caused Reed’s change of attitude toward what they were attempting to do. At first he’d seemed against this attack from the get-go, and only came along to act as a sort of emissary to ensure a diplomatic end to the situation at hand. Now his demeanor has done a one-sixty, and he had basically taken over this whole operation. Mace’s eyes were glued to Reed as he moved with an unusual bravado. Whatever Reed was planning, Mace didn’t like it. Bishop had called in on Mace’s wrist band a few minutes ago before entering the complex, informing him that they were being overrun by Empyreum security forces and could not hold out for much longer. He couldn’t get a hold of Ava or anyone else on the com. Some kind of interference from the central grid was jamming the frequency. Mace needed to move quickly, or all of this would be for nothing.
The group reached the end of the platform that overlooked the main grid, a collection of tubes with blue plasma flowing through it stacked in a row on either side of the chamber. The tubes all led to a rectangular reactor which emitted a white light and pumped unlimited energy throughout Empyreum and beyond the city wall, much like the central nervous system of the human body. It was a beautiful sight, but time didn’t allow Mace the luxury of marveling at the immense technical wonder.
The technicians set the bomb down against a platform railing just as Reed had instructed them to, and the ones carrying Aaron placed him a few inches from it.
Ionne moved to Mace’s side. “What is happening?”
“No clue.”
Reed turned to the technicians. “Now have your drone begin a planet-wide broadcast through the master feed.”
The technician stood defiantly before Reed. “I do not know what you hope to gain from all of this, but I assure you that you will not succeed. The authorities will see to that.”