Malek tipped his head. “Sure thing, Captain.”
Grimshaw had been looking for an excuse to test his fury-drive since the Aegi bio-engineers had synchronized it with his Aegi TEK, but he fought the temptation. The bio-engineers had warned him that there was no way of testing their improvements without risking irreparable brain damage, given how unfamiliar they were with the old Confederation Science Division unit he had in the back of his skull.
Better save it for an emergency.
He looked to Faye. “Ready for another sprint?”
“Ready when you are.”
He clutched his rifle and launched across the open square, keeping her by his side. Three blasts struck his shield, cutting its levels in half, but he reached the stage and slid into a shallow depression in the ground, Faye stopping next to him.
A second later, four Tower Guard arrived.
“They got Klovis,” Malek said. “His life-signs are flat. Shit!” The human guard rolled on his stomach and fired a stream of shots back the way they had come.
Grimshaw waved at a Yalore SIA agent crouched behind a pile of rubble on the other side of the shimmering barrier.
“Aegis Grimshaw. We’re here for the Ministers,” he called. He punched his SIG’s controls and broadcasted his ID.
The SIA suit pointed an energy-control-matrix at the barrier, creating a temporary entrance facing away from the action. He urged them to hurry.
Grimshaw climbed out of the depression, waving Faye and the Tower Guard through as he provided cover fire. He leapt through the fissure after them, his back tingling as the powerful shield closed behind with a hiss.
“How are we doing?” he asked Officer Malek.
The human guard gave him a thumbs up. “Four of us are still in one piece.”
Grimshaw looked at Faye and she nodded, her chest heaving as she caught her breath.
“I’ve got an Aegis Grimshaw here, a civilian, and Four Tower Guard.” The Yalore’s folded jowls flopped as he spoke over his team’s short-band vox channel. “Claim they’re here to help with the Ministers.” He looked up at Grimshaw and gestured for them to go around to the back. “Archagent Drallig wants to speak with you at the shelter.”
Grimshaw turned to Faye. “We’ll go take care of the Ministers. In the meantime, find yourself a pair of boots.”
Faye looked at him confused. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not in a shoe shop, Grimshaw.”
He gestured to the section of collapsed stage, where Chimera had struck before the barrier was erected. “I’m sure you can liberate a pair that are no longer in use.”
“I can’t steal from a dead body,” she said, horror twisting her dirty face.
“We’ve got a long way to go, and you won’t get far running through this mess in your bare feet. If you slow us down, we’ll have to leave you behind.”
She shot him one last disapproving glare before heading in the direction of the rubble.
Perhaps his words came out harsher than he’d intended, but it was true. Getting the Ministers to safety was his priority. Anything on top of that was gravy.
Grimshaw and the Tower Guard climbed onto the raised platform and made their way to the rear of the structure, stepping over splintered planks and metal rods that had come loose before the shield was erected.
A black security car roared overhead and disappeared in the direction of the fight. It was quickly followed by a SenSec heavy attack car.
“That black ship was one of their troop carriers,” Malek pointed out.
“Hopefully SenSec can keep them busy, buy us some time,” Grimshaw said.
The shimmering shield flashed as another explosive shell struck, and Grimshaw ducked. A second later, he came up, relieved to see the barrier still held strong. Several circles rippled above as the barrier absorbed rifle fire.
“State of the art Tal’ri design,” Malek said. “Stops ninety-five percent of all known energy rounds and eighty-six percent of projectiles. It’s decades beyond anything the Confederation has.”
“Good to know, but I doubt it’ll take many more blasts like that.” The shield was almost invisible to the naked eye but appeared like blue water through Grimshaw’s visor. He was almost certain it had faded significantly. “Either way, it won’t matter if Chimera close in. We’ll not be able to escape if we’re surrounded.”
Another heavy shell exploded against the shield and the barrier flashed on and off several times before stabilizing.
“We really need to hurry,” Grimshaw urged as he picked up the pace.
No shield—no matter how powerful—was going to stop a small army, and that was what Chimera had somehow brought to the table. If the damn Galactic Council hadn’t opposed him at every turn, he and his team probably would have figured it out before Chimera had caught them off guard. Grimshaw decided that figuring out how the terrorists had managed it would have to wait. One problem at a time.
They turned a corner and approached a small, half-sunken bunker directly behind the stage. Three Shanti SIA agents guarded the door. Their Sergeant, a brutish Shanti with an Archagent’s badge on his breastplate, broke away from the group and approached Grimshaw. “Aegis Grimshaw, I take it.”
“That’s me. We need to get the Ministers out of here before that shield comes down.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.” Archagent Drallig pointed his weapon at Grimshaw. “The Ministers must remain inside where it’s safe.”
Grimshaw and Malek’s guards raised their own weapons in reaction. The two SIA agents nearer the bunker pointed their rifles too.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Grimshaw demanded, watching Drallig intently. “Those Chimera troops will be here any minute. The shield is already failing, and they’ll crack that shelter open like an egg shell.”
Archagent Drallig ground his teeth. “We have strict orders from command to keep them here!”
“And keeping them here will get them captured or killed!” Grimshaw countered.
“The Aegis has a point,” the smallest of the two other SIA agents said from behind their leader.
“Shut up Odram,” the other spat. “We aren’t letting no one take the Ministers anywhere.”
“We should listen to him, Garr.” Odram clearly wasn’t convinced.
“Keep quiet, you two,” Drallig growled. “Aegis, you go do your job. Leave us here to do ours. We’ll keep the Ministers safe.”
Grimshaw felt the tension emanating from the Tower Guard at his shoulders. The last thing he expected was a standoff, and the last thing he wanted was a fight. Still, knowing he had numbers on his side was only slightly reassuring.
“An entire army is closing in on this position,” Grimshaw pressed. “The only way to keep the Ministers safe is to escort them to the safe-room in the Tower. Captain Harnuck sent these guys to help.”
Drallig’s eyes flickered nervously. “They’ll not make it with the fighting outside the Tower.”
“We know a way around the fighting,” Malek said from Grimshaw’s left. “But the route will be cut off if we don’t leave now.”
“We can’t allow it,” Garr said. “Drallig what are you waiting for?”
Realization hit Grimshaw like a brick, and Drallig and Garr pulled their triggers. Before Grimshaw could react, Alannad appeared on his right, bearing down on the Archagent, his blaster firing. Grimshaw took several hits before the young Shanti Tower Guard officer shielded him from Drallig’s fire. Grimshaw emptied half a magazine into Garr instead, while Odram looked around, frozen in shock.
As Alannad fell against Drallig, Grimshaw launched forward. He flicked his wrist, and a starblade exploded from his left arm.
Drallig shook Alannad off and brought up his weapon. Grimshaw’s blade punched through the Archagent’s visor and exited through the back of his helmet. Grimshaw retracted his blade and aimed his gun. Garr and Odram already lay still, their TEKs riddled with holes.
Grimshaw stowed his gun and kneeled ne
xt to Alannad. He rolled the young Shanti onto his back. His chest plate was a mangled mess of shredded armor seeping in blood.
Malek appeared next to him, holding an injured shoulder. “Are you okay, Aegis?”
“I will be. They got you?”
“It’s nothing serious. But they got two of us,” Malek said, forlorn, eyeing Alannad’s corpse.
Grimshaw looked at the two fallen Tower Guard, smoke rising from holes in their TEKs. He swore under his breath. “I should have known those agents were with the enemy. Something didn’t feel right.”
“Self-pity will have to wait, sir.” Malek nodded at the locked shelter. “The Ministers.”
Grimshaw went to the door and held his hand against the control panel. The lock refused to accept his clearance. He tried every code he knew, but those also failed. He walked to Drallig’s body, and with a flash of his starblade, removed the traitor’s hand. He brought it to the control panel and held it against the reader. The lock clanked loudly, and the door slid open.
17
Eye in the Sky
The Yalore driver stopped his aircab high above Izmark Bridge as instructed, the front window offering a view of Sentinel Square across the water. Pillars of smoke climbed against the backdrop of Sentinel Tower, lending an eerie feel to the scene. Air vehicles zipped about as a vicious battle took place to the right of the square. Taza magnified the view as much as the cab’s cameras would allow. It looked like a few dozen SenSec officers, and even fewer SIA agents, struggled to hold back the growing number of black-suited troops. Going by the size of the enemy soldiers, most were Varg. There was no doubt Chimera had sprung an attack. The gradual rise in Varg numbers on the Sentinel suddenly made sense.
They must have been planning this for years.
The square itself was torn up, with rubble and bodies strewn all over the place. The stage at the far end had been damaged but looked like it was being guarded by several figures. It was hard to make out anything useful with all the smoke. The place was an active war zone.
“There isn’t a hope I’m getting any closer. We’re already too close to the no-fly zone.” The cabbie pointed to an orange warning light on his dash map.
“Circle around so we can see the rest of the city.”
The Yalore grumbled something but obeyed.
Smoke rose from several other parts of Sentinel City, but Taza guessed that those served as mere distractions.
The square has to be what they’re interested in. Who knows what would happen if they killed or even captured the Ministers?
“Listen, man,” the Yalore said nervously. “I’ve got no interest in getting involved with whatever’s going on down there. I’ve got a wife and three kids I need to take care of.”
Taza shot him a disapproving glance and transferred a thousand credits to the cabbie’s account. The numbers flashed on his dash and his eyes went wide. “For your troubles. Now, spin us around again so I can see the square.”
His SIG vibrated, notifying him of an incoming call. It was Evans. “What the hell, Clio! I’ve been trying to reach you for god knows how long.”
“The network has been jammed,” she said defensively. “Bombs are going off all over the city. They’re hitting key structures and taking out infrastructure. Power. Communications. Transport. It’s Chimera, Taza.”
“I assumed as much. I’m not far from Sentinel Square. It’s a real mess down there. It won’t be long before they reach the stage, and it looks like there’s fighting over by the Tower too. I can’t see much with all this smoke.”
“What are you doing there?”
“It’s a long story. Listen, I can’t get a hold of Captain Grimshaw.”
“He left for the ceremony hours ago.”
“I figured he was probably down there.” Taza gulped. “Shit, but it doesn’t look good Clio.”
“It’s hard to process all the jumbled reports with comms down in most places—but Chimera seem to be concentrating their efforts out your way.”
“They must want the Ministers, and I think they want them alive. Probably more valuable to them that way. Otherwise they would have completely blasted the entire area. Let’s hope SenSec can hold them off until we can figure something out.” He sighed. “There’s no way we could have seen this coming.”
“Your STD picked up their attack order, but by the time I tried to get through to you, things had already kicked off.”
“This would be a whole lot easier if we could speak with Grimshaw.” Taza didn’t mention that by the looks of the carnage below, he was likely already dead. Maybe Zora was right, after all.
“We’ve tried but it’s no good. Comms around Sentinel Square are down completely. Chimera are scrambling signals all over the place, but intel says it’s worse across Izmark bridge.”
Taza thought fast, trying to come up with some kind of plan. Traveling into the fray without communications would be nothing short of suicide. “Where else have they hit?”
“The main inter-level port took heavy damage. The transport division has suspended all travel. SenSec have gradually been filtered into the lower levels to deal with recent rises in protest and gang activity. Taking out the port platform will slow the arrival of reinforcements if not stop them from returning entirely. The Financial District has been hit hard too. They tried to take out a power station on Level Three, but last we heard, security was driving them back.” Clio swallowed hard. “We’re also getting word of heavy fighting in the Underways, but we haven’t been able to confirm that yet.”
“They’ve created chaos to keep the authorities busy...spreading them out as thinly as possible. This attack has probably been years in the making…from the increasing protests and riots to the gang wars in the Underways. They’ve got people inside the government, possibly even the Galactic Council.” He watched the battle across the river as Chimera inched their way closer to the square. “They’ve got to be running this operation from somewhere. We need to work out where.”
“I’ve used the STD to isolate their strongest signals and traced them to just west of Sentinel Square.”
Taza looked in that direction. It was one of the few areas that hadn’t been thrown into pandemonium. “That’ll be our target. They’ve attacked from the north and east and clogged up the roads to the south. They’re drawing attention away from whatever’s going on over there. That place is littered with data-centers and network lines. If they’re hacking the Sentinel from anywhere, it’s there.”
“I’ll see if I can narrow the signal down to the exact relay or terminal.”
“Good. I’ll meet you on the waterside. They’ve closed off the bridge and traffic around this junction is insane. I’ll send you a route through the tunnels under Izmark River.”
“I’ve studied maps of the city. None of them mentioned tunnels under the river.”
“And that’s how I’d like to keep it.”
“Understood.”
“See you when you get there. Taza out.” He cut the line.
The cabbie ducked as a Chimera drop-ship thundered by, three SenSec air units in pursuit, firing short-range electro-pulses so as not to damage the city or the Sentinel’s walls.
The cabbie came back up and looked at Taza, his eyes wide with fear. He recognized the intent in Taza’s eyes and sagged back. “No way. You can’t get me to drive over there. SenSec will revoke my license. We’ll get killed. What about my family?”
Taza’s arm snapped out, and he pressed the muzzle of his gun into the cabbie’s squishy temple. “It’s nothing personal, but if you want to go home to that pretty little family of yours, I suggest you take me down to the river side.”
“Okay,” the Yalore squeaked.
Taza sat back, his blaster still aimed at the driver. “Don’t worry. SenSec are preoccupied by those other guys. Take us close to the water and cross the river from there. The lower you stay, the least likely they’ll be to see us.”
The Yalore tentatively pressed the cab forward.
Suddenly a shadow descended from above and a SenSec security car hovered several feet before them.
Shit, Taza thought.
The cabbie put his hands on his head.
“Unauthorized transport vehicle, you are not licensed to fly in zone zero. Leave this airspace immediately or you will be removed by force.”
The Yalore looked to him for permission and Taza motioned for him to do as the SenSec aircar ordered.
The cabbie sighed and reached for the steering wheel.
The SenSec aircar suddenly surged forward, smashing into the cab. Taza caught a glimpse of a Chimera aircar out of the corner of his eye as airbags exploded around him. The cab spun, throwing his organs around inside him.
He found his knife and stabbed at the bags, getting entangled in the deflated material. He worked his way out of the mess and reached out for the steering wheel with all of his might, the ground rushing up to meet them.
18
To the Tower
Two SIA archagents, one a human and the other a Rivarian, emerged from the shadows, their automatic phase rifles ready, their eyes squinting under the sudden light.
“Lower your weapons,” Grimshaw ordered.
Malek and his Tower Guard aimed from cover further back.
“What’s going on, Aegis?” the Rivarian archagent demanded, ignoring him. “We heard gunfire. Where’s that snake Drallig, so I can kill ‘em?”
“I said stand down!” Grimshaw ordered louder.
The Rivarian seemed to get the hint and stopped in his tracks, looking disoriented and confused.
“What’s going on out there?” a familiar voiced called from within. Straiya walked from the shadows, her piercing yellow eyes taking in the scene.
“All of you, lower those weapons,” she commanded.
The archagents obeyed immediately, but Grimshaw kept his gun up. “Sorry Minister, but Chimera have infiltrated the SIA. We can’t trust them.”
“We figured as much when Drallig locked us in that container, but Jameson and Rox have been in my service for years.” She cocked her head toward them. “I can vouch for them personally, now put that gun away, Grimshaw.”
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