“How’s it looking?”
She checked the anti-scrambling program. “Getting there. The system’s code is outdated and picking it apart is taking longer than I expected.”
The door swung open and Black entered, dragging a crate behind her. Nakamura helped lift it onto an unused terminal, and Black carefully lifted a cylinder out with two hands, a plastic strap dangled from the device. “This what you’re looking for?”
“That’s exactly what we need.”
“They’re a lot heavier than they look.” Black weighed the spare part. “Where do we put them?”
“The transformer box should be halfway up the tower.”
“Typical,” Black snorted. “How are we looking up there, Swigger?”
“Just reached the top tier, sir,” he answered on the crackling channel. “Looks clear.”
“Boggart?”
“All clear here too.”
“Good work. Keep watching.” The Corporal strapped two cylinders to her shoulder and turned to Nakamura. “Can you manage a climb with these things?”
“Sure can.” He smiled. “I’ve still got my legs, you know.”
“It’s not as easy as plugging them in.” Clio lifted an amplification tube from the crate and slung it over her shoulder. “It’s a complicated procedure. One wrong slip will fry the circuits and render the tower useless.”
“Understood.” Black opened the vox channel again. “Three coming up top, Swigger.”
“Copy.”
They returned to the hallway, climbed the steps Swigger had taken, and killed their lights before emerging on top of the tower base.
Clio’s eyes followed the ladders that disappeared into the distance above. A gust of wind whipped about her TEK, making her nervous. As she was about to step onto the first rung, Booster’s head appeared over her shoulder. “Stay inside the pack, Booster. It isn’t safe while climbing.”
He looked up and quickly obeyed, voicing his agreement with a whoop.
She took a breath and climbed the first few rungs, the rusted metal creaking under her weight. She looked down to see Black mounting the ladder just below. Clio pushed on, making sure not to look down again. The climb didn’t bother her at first, but the single cylinder weighing down on her soon made it a challenge. She wondered how Nakamura managed to carry two with only one arm, and Corporal Black didn’t seem fazed by two either. Clio tried not to look up, imagining that it would make the climb go by faster.
When she thought herself almost there and finally gave in to temptation, Clio found that she was barely halfway there. The higher she climbed, the stronger the wind blew. One gust threatened to blow Clio off, and she hugged the ladder tight. When the wind passed, she continued the climb.
Clio finally pulled herself onto the transformer platform and turned to lean against the rail for a brief reprieve. As she turned, she noticed the city. Buildings spread out below the tower in a patchwork of odd shapes, stretching all the way back to Sector Two’s high walls, where the Bakura bridge had crash-landed. Scorched patches covered areas that had been bombarded.
Though much of the fighting had passed, smoke still spewed from empty husks like tendrils reaching for the darkening sky. The destruction had cut an irregular path through the east of the city, some of the sector appearing untouched.
Booster popped his head out of the pack and moaned at the view. He went back inside, scratching about for comfort.
“It’s terrible,” Black whispered.
Clio couldn’t take her eyes off the ruined city. “When we get off this planet, we’ll hunt the bastards down.”
“The Confederation will act, no doubt.” Nakamura joined them. “Whether the Galactic Council or any of the other races support them is quite another matter.”
Clio climbed to her feet and set the cylinder down. “None of that’ll matter if we can’t repair this rig.”
“Humans always make it work,” Nakamura said as though he wasn’t human himself.
“Right, where do we put these?” Corporal Black pulled on the transformer box panels, and they reluctantly screeched free.
Clio carefully crossed the narrow platform and knelt before the control box. She rerouted power, killing the live circuit, and pulled four of the damaged tubes free. The remaining damaged cylinder had fused to the circuit’s prongs. Clio drew her TEK’s knife and gently wedged the blade between a small gap in the fused metal. She slowly wiggled the handle back and forth, careful not to damage the circuit contacts. Without all five wave amplifiers replaced, the signal wouldn’t be strong enough to cut through the jammers.
The last tube cracked and fell free. Clio held her breath as she checked the contacts and exhaled when she found them intact.
Black passed the replacements one by one and Clio handled them like newborn babies. She slotted them into place and reconfigured the power distribution switch.
“And let there be light.” She pulled three levers and the signal indicator lit up. Clio was about to cheer when the light flickered and went out.
“What happened?” Corporal Black said, frustrated. “We’re exposed up here.”
“Not sure.” Clio shrugged. “It might take the system time to reset. They did build this thing before the Kragak War.”
They waited a few more minutes, and the Corporal reached the end of her patience. “Looks like it’s busted.” She reached for the ladder. “We’ll just have to chalk it up to a loss.”
“The rig just needs—”
“Sorry, Evans. The longer we stay up here, the more we risk drawing attention, and you’re too valuable.”
Black stepped onto the ladder just as the transformer lights flared to life again. Clio ducked as something shot through the center of the mast. Seconds later a giant communication dish unraveled at the peak like a blooming flower. It rotated and pointed across the city.
“I need two more minutes to bring the transmission online. Otherwise, the Chits could take out the tower, and we’d be back at square one. We only need it to go live long enough to feed the anti-jamming algorithm into Targos City’s mainframe.”
Black swore. “Make it one minute.”
Clio worked on reconnecting the transformer with the terminal in the control room below. She configured the interface, compiled the code, and executed the commands.
A voice came from the transformer box.
“…under heavy fire…Requesting assistance… Gate Six.”
“It’s working!” Clio adjusted a dial to improve the signal and held the old radio button as she leaned close to the terminal’s microphone. “Sector Two comms tower reading. Over.”
“Officer Briggs of the SS Bakura. Who is this?” Gunfire cracked over the channel.
“Ensign Clio Evans. Good to hear you made it, Briggs. Are there others?” She’d never spoken to Briggs in person, but she recognized his voice. “Hold on, someone wants to speak with you.”
The line went silent briefly. Clio was beginning to think the anti-scrambling code hadn’t worked when another familiar voice came over the radio.
“Holy shit, Evans. I thought you were dead!”
“Commander Grimshaw,” Clio said, more enthusiastically than she meant. “It’s a relief to hear you’re okay, sir.”
“How’s the crew on your end?”
“Only Nakamura and I made it. But we’ve met up with colony Marines. How about your end, sir?”
“A good few of us made the landing. Aegis Eline is here too. But more on that later. We plan on heading to Xerocorp Labs, but we need to secure Gate Six before we can go anywhere. We’re taking heavy losses without access to the gate’s turrets.”
“The city’s network is still rebooting, sir. You should have access to defenses soon.”
“You got the comms working?”
“Just about, sir. Anything that still has power should be up and running any minute. We brought the old tower in Sector Two online.”
“Music to my ears, Evans.”
“Wis
h there was more we could do to help, sir.”
Gunfire broke out on the Commander’s end again. “Listen. It’s getting hot here, Evans. I have to go, but I’ll contact you again soon.”
The connection dropped.
“Sounds like they’re in a lot of trouble.” Nakamura looked in the general direction of Sector Six, somewhere beyond the city center high-rises.
“We’ll be in the same boat if we don’t get out of here soon,” Corporal Black said anxiously.
“Too late, Corporal.” Swigger’s voice crackled. “Just spotted a flying bogey coming in hot over Sector Eight. Heading straight for us.”
“Shit.” Black leaned out and looked to the north through her scope. “I see it. They’ve definitely noticed us. Looks like a hummer. Swigger, cover fire.”
“What the hell’s a hummer?” Clio asked. “The intel I read made no mention of them.”
Black turned to her, looking worried. “It’s a giant dragonfly-like creature. Usually carries a squad of ground troops. Can fire plasma too. We’ve only seen them once before.”
Shots rang out from Swigger’s perch further up the mast, and three beams cut northward. Clio could see the hummer, but it was little more than a spec in the distance.
“Still coming in, sir.” Swigger said calmly.
“Sergeant Lynch, are you hearing this?”
“Already on our way, Corporal.”
Black turned to Nakamura. “Get Evans down below. We’ll draw them.” The Corporal joined Swigger in firing at the incoming enemy.
“Let’s go.” Nakamura had already climbed onto the ladder.
Clio followed, climbing as fast as her suit would allow.
Gunshots continued ringing from above.
“We’re going too slow,” Nakamura said looking up. “Slide the rest of the way.”
She looked down and Nakamura shrank to a dot as he slid down the ladder, sparks flying from his hand and feet.
Clio looked up as a red energy discharge exploded into the mast, showering her with burning sparks and debris before she had a chance to follow the Aegis. A wave rippled through the ladder. The section Clio clung to snapped free and flung her through the air.
As electricity and bits of searing metal rained down around her, all she could think about was Booster.
25
Into Darkness
Grimshaw couldn’t believe he had spoken to Evans of all people. The loss of Captain Desmond and the rest of the crew saddened him, but it was good to hear that at least two people made it out alive. A Marine bursting into the gatehouse had cut their conversation short. The Marine had urgently announced that Sergeant Wallace wanted all guns on the wall. He hurried back through the door before Grimshaw could ask questions.
Briggs still worked on the turret controls.
“Aegis Eline and I’ve got this,” Grimshaw said to the comms officer.
Briggs muttered something unintelligible, his entire focus on the turret controls.
The network had come back online as Evans had promised, but the turrets didn’t reactivate automatically. “Are you sure you’ll be able to get those turrets live with the network back online?”
Briggs didn’t bother looking up from his work. “Definitely, sir. It’ll just take time.”
“Time is something we don’t have.” Grimshaw grabbed his gun and nodded to Eline. “We’re relying on you, Briggs. Good luck.”
Grimshaw and Eline hurried outside, and a brown bug came at them over the wall, mandibles gaping. Shots rang out as Eline sent it back over the edge.
Three brown buzzers landed on the walkway ahead, and Marine gunfire tore them to shreds. Wallace and two of his Marines approached.
“You must be Commander Grimshaw,” Wallace shouted over the noise.
“Nice to put a face to the name, Sergeant. A team in Sector Two brought the city network back up. My tech is hooking the turrets up as we speak.” Grimshaw pointed to the wall. “I was told that they couldn’t fly that high.”
“They can’t. But they’ve built a platform using the corpses.”
Grimshaw looked over the edge. Chit remains had intertwined to create a crude ramp that reached more than thirty feet up the wall. A Chit crouched, ready to jump. Grimshaw opened fire, putting it down. An orange light flashed on the back of his rifle, warning him that it was close to overheating. The upgrade Lopez had given him adjusted the weapon’s firing pattern. The change made the rifle more effective at penetrating enemy shields but meant waiting longer for the gun to cool down.
Eline took out another two Chits as they scaled the wall. “We need those turrets up soon!”
The wall shook more violently than it had done in some time.
“The gate’s buckling,” a panicked Marine called over the vox.
Several Chits sprang over the wall, dragging screaming Marines over the other side. Grimshaw opened fire and his rifle quickly overheated again.
He looked around, and finding no weapons had been dropped nearby, swapped his Demon D90 for his CC003 sidearm. The hand-blaster wasn’t much use against elites, but it worked on the buzzers.
Eline had already drawn two heavy automatic blasters of her own. The average gunner would have struggled to fire one of those accurately, but her aim was flawless.
More Chits than Grimshaw could count landed on the battlements.
“We’ll be overwhelmed!” Wallace shouted.
Several more Marines plunged to their deaths and Grimshaw dove under a Chit that would have taken him with them.
Sergeant Wallace misjudged a step and almost went over the wall. Grimshaw grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto the walkway. Chits went down in their dozens, but more appeared and pressed them back, their heels dangerously close to the edge. For every Chit they took down two more appeared to take its place.
Part of the edge gave way, and Grimshaw lost his balance. The ground shook violently and threw him forward onto his feet, saving him from a deadly fall. Grimshaw was about to charge the nearest Chits cluster when they disappeared in a red-brown cloud.
He ducked as the turrets roared above, clearing the parapet of the enemy. Grimshaw hurried to the wall’s outer edge and watched the guns make light work of the Chits outside the city. Heavy rounds tore into the ramp, rendering it to mush.
“Thank God for those turrets.” Wallace slapped him on the shoulder. “And thank him for you and your people while we’re at it.”
“Still got a problem, Commander,” Briggs said over the vox. “The turrets can’t hit the tank. It’s too close to the wall.”
The walkway shook.
“The gates won’t take much more,” Wallace said.
“Open them,” Eline’s said. She had climbed onto the gatehouse roof and peered into the streets directly below Gate Six. “If that thing takes down the gate, its next target will be the turrets. It’ll leave Sector Six wide open, and we’ll never reach the labs.”
“Are you crazy?” Wallace looked to Grimshaw for support.
“Open the gates and have your men draw it in,” she ordered. “Tell them to aim for its forehead. Once it’s inside, close the gates again.”
Grimshaw shrugged. “She might be crazy, but she outranks us.”
“I’ve never had to take orders from an Aegis,” the Sergeant muttered. “You better know what you’re doing. We’ve already lost too many good people.”
“Just do it,” Eline said.
Sergeant Wallace punched a command into his SIG, and the gates shrieked as they unlocked.
“You heard the Aegis,” he said, addressing his Marines. “Aim for the head.”
Grimshaw drew his rifle and ran for the steps, aiming at the opening gates.
Eline stretched her left arm and white plasma extended from her SIG, forming a starblade longer than the one she’d used in the hills. The weapon hissed and hummed as it distorted the surrounding air.
The armored creature shoved through Gate Six, its sides scraping against the gate-posts, shattering
glass and knocking chunks of masonry free.
The Marines opened fire, bullets and plasma hammering the Chit’s head.
The tank reeled in a rage and rose on four hind legs, its two forelegs thrashing.
Grimshaw’s rifle overheated and stopped firing.
He watched in awe as Eline leaped from the gatehouse. She twisted in mid-air as she descended toward the shrieking Chit tank. Her sizzling blade sliced through the creature’s face, and the Shanti disappeared in a fountain of red. The beast released a horrifying cry and thrashed wildly. It stumbled to one side, collapsing a building, bringing tons of metal and concrete down on itself. The tank’s exposed legs twitched before becoming still.
Grimshaw sped down the steps. He ran onto the street in time to see Eline emerge from a pile of Chit bits and rubble.
She hobbled from the chaos, dazed, and cheers erupted from the Marines.
Grimshaw ran to meet Eline, when the tank’s tail burst from the rubble and split into half-a-dozen thinner tails. They whipped about like black serpents, smashing through walls and pavement.
Grimshaw called out, but before the Aegis could turn, a tentacle plunged through her abdomen. The appendage lifted her into the air and slammed her off a gate post.
Marines descended on the flailing beast like a swarm, blasting the tail. The tentacles finally crashed to the ground permanently, and Grimshaw ran to Eline. He found the Shanti’s limbs contorted into unnatural positions and pulled her into an embrace. She convulsed violently in his arms.
“Medic!” he screamed.
“Grim—” She choked on a mouthful of blood.
He pulled a medshot from his utility belt and pumped it into her TEK’s injection-port. “Save your breath, Eline. The medics will patch you up.” He knew it was a lie, but it felt like the right thing to say.
Her coughing eased as the sedative took effect, and she relaxed in his arms, her slit pupils widening.
“Hold on, Eline.”
“Grim…” she whispered. “The codes… Project Zero…” She opened her hand and revealed a data crystal.
Grimshaw accepted the storage device. “Don’t worry, Aegis. I’ll take care of it.”
The Galactic Sentinel: Ultimate Edition: 4 Books with 2000+ Pages of Highly Entertaining Sci-Fi Space Adventure Page 18