The UNE issued an order requesting all fighters to be launched to protect the city, including those of the Winston Churchill that were already in orbit. The rest of the UNE fleet was contacted shortly afterward and ordered to head to Earth, a task that would take some time, given how deep into the solar system most ships were during their training exercise, not to mention the long commutation delay. There was, however, one UNE ship that was close to Earth and expected to make orbit soon: the ESV John F. Kennedy. Only it had been heading to Earth long before the order was given…and no formal contact had been made with it in the last hour.
The Silver Raven dropped out of its high-speed flight and entered Geneva’s airspace from the west. Several hundred kilometers in front of it lay Earth Ship One, struggling to stay up in the skies, unlike its three fighter-ship escorts.
Jazz, Veloshira, Destiny, and Eupiar all looked out the Silver Raven’s cockpit windshield. Both Jazz and Veloshira manned the controls of the ship. Eupiar continued her fancy computer work, maintaining the intensity of the virus and directly reprogramming the IFF systems of the drone network, tricking the drones into thinking all UNE ships and personnel were Hashmedai.
“There it is!” Destiny pointed at the tiny objects in the skies quickly growing in size.
“And it hasn’t landed,” Jazz said. “Let’s give ’em a reason to right now.”
The Silver Raven’s engines burst with blue light, propelling the ship toward its prey. Two out of the three fighter escorts broke off to intercept and engaged in a glittering display of weapons’ fire exchange. White contrails left behind by a salvo of plasma missiles and green flashes of light emitted by plasma cannons. The Silver Raven was a larger ship and therefore had the power needed to generate stronger shields. The missiles that managed to deliver their payload exploded upon its unraveling shields.
“Eupiar?” Jazz said to her.
“Three seconds!” she replied.
A swarm of defense drones reactivated and instantly labeled the fighters and Earth Ship One as Hashmedai attack ships. Rail gunfire mixed in with an uncountable number of plasma missile launches destroyed two fighters in a fiery blaze leaving behind fleeing escape pods. The shields of Earth Ship One flicked off and on as the drones unleashed their wrath. The last remaining fighter clearly had no idea what was going on or what to do, making it an easy target for Veloshira as she shot it down with the Silver Raven’s plasma cannons.
Multiple squadrons of UNE fighters flew into Geneva seconds later. Some descending from the skies, launched by the Winston Churchill, others launched from nearby ground bases. All of them became targets the drone fleet that locked on to the fighters and propelled over to engage, leaving Earth Ship One unattended.
The sudden change caused Jazz to grimace. “Nothin’ ever easy, as Phylarlie would say,” he said, then directed his attention to Eupiar, who had so many holo windows around her, he couldn’t see her face. “Anyway, you could take down their shields?”
“Their crews are flushing the virus out. If we don’t take it down now, it might escape,” Eupiar replied.
Jazz updated Veloshira on the situation. “It will take some time for us to take out its shields,” Veloshira replied.
“Yeah, time we don’t have,” Jazz said while looking at a map of the region. There were hundreds of red dots closing in on Geneva. “More ships are coming.”
“Its aft shields are weaker compared to the rest,” Veloshira said. “I might be able to lower it there and do some damage on its engines.”
“Better than nothing,” said Jazz. If there are civilians in the area, they better move out of the way. We have no time to waste.
Plasma fire from the Silver Raven collided along the rear of Earth Ship One. Its aft shields became weaker and weaker with every flash of green-and-blue light.
Chapter 29
►► Geneva Airspace, Earth
► Sol System
Jacob and Chris sat upfront aboard a transport in pursuit of Chloe’s transport. Sarah, Tom, and Grace sat in the back fully equipped in their respective layouts. Magnetic rifles and protect suits for Chris and Sarah. Exosuits and eRifles for Jacob, Grace, and Tom.
“Copy that, we are in visual range of Major Vaughan’s transport,” Jacob said as Earth’s gravity began to take hold of their bodies.
Few words were spoken as their transport left the Winston Churchill. None of them liked the idea of having to chase and bring in one of their own. Without Chloe’s help, Sarah and Chris’s experience during the Hashmedai invasion wouldn’t have been successful. Without Chloe, the ambush on Foicanta would have had more dead on their side.
The radio chatter didn’t help with their mood, either. Reports of Geneva under attack by a UFO, the Winston Churchill and nearby bases scrambling fighters to assist…and the John F. Kennedy not responding or assisting.
Chloe’s fleeing transport led them toward a ferocious aerial battle above Geneva. Fighters struggled to hold their ground as hacked drones viciously attacked them, there were a lot of pilots ejecting from their burning crafts. As they leveled off, Earth Ship One was seen. Its rear engines were set ablaze by an unknown attacking ship. Who am I kidding? Chris thought as he saw green plasma cannons let loose another barrage. Only Hashmedai would rely heavily on plasma weapons like that.
A bright flash of light exploded, forcing Jacob and Chris to shield their eyes. When the light faded, they saw Earth Ship One crash down on the bridge leading toward the multilayer Lake Geneva suspension bridge, which led toward Earth Cube. “Oh my god,” Chris muttered under his breath.
… … …
Chloe stared out the windshield of her transport to the terror below. Earth Ship One crash-landed on top of the Lake Geneva suspension bridge. The entire ship was engulfed in flames, and she had doubts that the bridge was going to stay in one piece judging by the structural damage. Several cars and trucks were overturned; a few of them had been launched into the water below during the blast.
“He’s killing people!” And by “he,” Chloe meant Fiesei. Yeah, Jazz was involved, but he was nothing more than a pawn, a tool. The chaos here and across the globe…this was Fiesei’s work, using terror to force the human race into the arms of Radiance. These people were suffering because of Fiesei.
“Well, that’s not good,” Michei commented calmly.
A sudden shake violently rocked their transport, and before Chloe could check the computers, a second one hit, raining sparks from the ceiling toward her face. “What the fuck? Why aren’t the defense drones doing anything?”
“Because they’re too busy shooting at us,” Michei reported.
“They must really want us stopped.”
“No,” Michei said and paused. His eyes shut for a second, probably scanning the battlefield with his mind. “It’s attacking the other transport as well!”
… … …
Eupiar’s hands brushed aside multiple holographic windows at once, revealing her face to Jazz once again. “I have the drones taking out those transports,” she reported.
“Good, I’d rather not have to deal with commandos right now,” Jazz said and then pointed to the burning wreckage of Earth Ship One. “Bring us to the crash site,” he said to Veloshira in Hashmedai.
“Make sure nobody survived,” Veloshira replied.
The Silver Raven’s warning alarms sounded. Jazz looked down toward his computer terminal and reported the newly discovered findings to Veloshira. “We got fighters coming in from orbit and local bases. Looks like some of them are breaking through the drone line.”
“I’ll deal with them. You finish the job,” Veloshira said. As Jazz arose from his chair, her arm firmly grasped his, and she said, “Do not fail, Jazz, please.”
There was a sense of concern in her voice, fueled by the thought that the lives of her son and lover would be taken for botching this assessment. He pulled away from her and proceeded to exit the cockpit. “Destiny, Eupiar, lock n’ load,” he said.
… … �
�
►► EISS Headquarters, Earth
► Sol System
Several stories below Lake Geneva and below Earth Cube rested the psionic prison of the EISS HQ. The facility was designed and built by Radiance, as they’d had their fair share of knowledge in regard to keeping Hashmedai psionics captive. Each cell appeared to be a room with white walls, floor, and ceiling. And that was it. Like Radiance psionic prisons, inmates were spoken to via holograms run by the administration, for their personal safety. A mind shield prevented anyone from teleporting in, a new design choice after Noylarlie’s escape from Lejorania Sanctum. Salve collars hadn’t been enough to keep her locked away.
Hannah herself was outfitted with one as she was tossed into her cell. Her actions were quite puzzling to Ken as he watched from his office via the hidden cameras in her cell. She didn’t whimper or get frustrated. Rather, she sat and sang songs, and he recognized one of the songs as “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones.
The last drop of coffee left Ken’s mug into his mouth. While he held a holo pad with his other hand, an urgent notification popped up regarding the status of Geneva. His finger was about to double tap the message icon floating in front of him when Hannah began to speak.
“Oh, Kenny, I’m ready to talk now.”
Fuck the message, he thought and tossed his holo pad aside. Hannah’s interrogation was more important as far as he was concerned. Human psionics weren’t supposed to exist; nevertheless, she displayed a set of skills that suggested otherwise. Predicting the future, appearing in other people’s dreams, not to mention getting much of the Hashmedai population on Earth to bow down and treat her like some kind of…goddess.
The creation of human psionics was one of the number-one projects of the UNE military until EVE models came around, and then it became less of a priority. A shame, as the facility on Titan was showing great promise. But Hannah…she could be the key to change that, but first Ken needed to know how she had evolved into the person she was today.
His fingers danced on the computer terminal mounted to his desk, causing his holographic likeness to appear in the middle of Hannah’s cell. “So how are you feeling today?” Ken asked.
He saw Hannah stand up and raise her hands into the air via the screen in front of him. “The ascension, it begins!” she cried out.
“Right,” he said while rolling his eyes. “So ya ready to answer some questions, or you still in another world?”
“Your questions are boring!” Her finger pointed at his hologram. “I have better ones to be asked!”
“Such as?”
“How would you prefer to be killed by a blade? In the back or across your neck?”
… … …
►► Geneva, Earth
► Sol System
“Earth Ship One is down. We are going in to find survivors! I repeat, Earth Ship One is down. We are going in to find survivors!” Jacob yelled into his communicator.
A transport carrying the EDF and marine teams lowered just outside the burning crash site of Earth Ship One. Black smoke filled the skies, adding to the streaks of black smoke created by crashing fighters and drones. The five leaped out from the transport and frantically started a search for survivors. There was nothing but injured people crawling away from the chaos, most of the commuters flung from their cars. Sarah shuddered at the thought of people being possibly being pinned underneath Earth Ship One. Though judging by the looks, it seems most vehicles sped away seconds before impact.
As they moved past several burning cars, they laid eyes on a group of people grouped around one another helping badly burned people get to their feet. One of the people wore a UNE uniform, a crash survivor, it had to be. Sarah ran over while signaling the rest to follow her.
“Where’s the president?” she asked.
The survivor’s blood-soaked face coughed several times before he pointed toward several pillars of flames. “Over here!”
Two UNE personnel both escorted President Mariana Salamanca out from the hulk of burning metal and away from the smoke and flames.
“Madam President, are you OK?” Tom asked as he and everyone else ran over.
“I’m fine, just a few scraps,” Salamanca replied.
Five plasma missiles from the skies smashed into the top of their parked transport. The following exploitations launched everyone backward and onto the debris-ridden roadway. As Sarah got back to her feet, she saw the aftermath of what had happened and grunted loudly.
“Oh fuck…there goes our ride.”
“We got the president. Need an evac at once!” Jacob radioed in. The reply he got, however, was loud static.
Salamanca was helped back up by the two UNE personnel and Grace, who then shouted to the rest, “It’s not safe here! Ball up. Let’s get everyone back to Earth Cube!”
Easier said than done, Sarah thought as she looked at Earth Cube off in the distance. It was going to be a long ride across the bridge to get there. And she had her doubts that the trigger-happy drones in the skies were going to let them get far.
“Stand by, evac is in bound,” a voice over the radio finally replied.
… … …
►► Unknown Transport Ship, Moon Orbit
► Sol System
Fiesei watched the struggle in Geneva unfold from his holo pad. It displayed camera footage from various drones as they attacked all UNE ships and personnel. He spun around in his chair, smiling as Whigli and Kasidey sat in the cockpit. Another UNE fighter was destroyed, seen via the drone’s camera.
“Just as planned,” Fiesei said. “She used my virus; give me your data pad quickly!”
Kasidey did just that. He quickly took it out of her hands and keyed in several commands. A progress bar started to load.
Five percent.
Thirty percent.
Seventy-nine percent.
One hundred percent.
“Good to go?” Kasidey asked.
“Yes, I’ll wait for you at the extraction point,” Fiesei said, gazing down at the newly loaded information from the data pad. The orbital defense platform was now infected.
… … …
►► Geneva, Earth
► Sol System
Dust and debris were blown away as the Silver Raven landed briefly, allowing Jazz, Destiny, and Eupiar to exit onto the roadway of the Lake Geneva bridge. The burning crash site was in the distance, and judging by the group of commandos huddled around, it was safe to say they were going to protect the president with their lives. Game on.
“EISS HQ should be just a little farther ahead,” Destiny said while Jazz sized up his opponents emerging from the flames. “You sure you’ll be all right alone?”
“Remember what happened in Vancouver? Yeah, I’ll be good. Get Hannah out of there!” Jazz said and then flicked the controls to his cloaking device and became translucent.
The Silver Raven’s doors shut, and it rose back up to the skies to dance with the fighters that managed to break through the now thinning drone defense line. Both Destiny and Eupiar searched every unmoving car, looking for one that wasn’t too badly damaged or turned upside down. There was no time to marathon run all the way toward Earth Cube and the EISS HQ. Five minutes later, they finally found one. Too bad its driver was still in it, recording the action with his holo phone.
The driver’s hands began to shake as he saw the determined ginger-hair woman walk toward him with an ePistol grasped in her hands. She stepped next to the driver’s-side window, aimed the barrel of her pistol toward him, and shouted, “Ever played GTA?”
… … …
“There!” Chloe screamed while pointing her finger at Jazz seconds before he entered stealth. “That’s him; that’s fucking him!”
“Taking us in!” Michei said as he psionically controlled the transport to make a landing just before Jazz.
… … …
►► ESV John F. Kennedy, Earth Orbit
► Sol System
Hijinks was grateful she had
managed to get over her claustrophobia years ago. Otherwise, she and Hammer’s traverse through the maintenance tubes within the John F. Kennedy wouldn’t have netted the results they got, namely their ticket back aboard. The two crawled through the dark and narrow zero-g passageways in a desperate struggle to return to the flight deck, where Orbital still remained, alone, unarmed, and possibly running out of time.
“Holy hell,” Orbital’s voice radio over their comms. “We gotta stop this!”
“We’re outnumbered lad,” Hammer replied.
“I’m going to have to agree. Let’s not play hero and get our heads shot off.” Hijinks put in her two cents and continued to pull herself through the vents.
The maze of darkness and cramped space ended, as the two looked down into the flight deck via an air vent grill. Hijinks saw Orbital at one of the computer stations; he lowered his head and sighed. “Damn, they locked out all systems,” Orbital said. “Can’t get an SOS out.”
“What about our birds?” Hammer suggested. “Let’s give it a shot!”
An alarm sounded, indicating that the hangar doors were swinging open. Hijinks did what she could not to panic. She thought for a moment that Orbital had been discovered and that whoever had taken over the ship was planning to depressurize the flight deck again. But no, the thin force field that kept the vacuum of space out of the flight deck remained active. A ship was coming in to dock.
“Get down!” Hijinks yelled to Orbital.
She saw him swim his body through the zero-g, taking cover behind a transport ship. A ship of an unknown design flew through the irised force field and landed as the hangar bay doors slid shut. Moments later three individuals came into her sights and exited the flight deck from its main entrance. These were the people aboard the strange ship. One of them was a Hashmedai male, a psionic judging by his shirtless and buff body. The other was a woman, and another was a man wearing a suit and a fedora. A fedora he had to spin and grab a few times as it floated away from his head.
“Have you ever seen a ship like that?” Hijinks asked Orbital.
Uprising of the Exiled (Splintered Galaxy Book 2) Page 42