by Melissa Good
Jess let out a powerful bellow. “Halt!”
“Whoa whoa!” The man in the lead put the brakes on and held a hand up. “Security! Hey! We’re friendly!”
Dev quickly poked her head out from behind the steel entranceway and saw six men in heavy armor ramble to a halt and duck for cover, despite the fact they were far more heavily armed and outnumbered the lone agent holding the hall against them.
She saw their widened eyes and had to wonder.
Jess kept them hopping for a second, then she shifted the muzzle of the heavy gun. “What’s the scoop? Nothing’s down here. You guarding ops?”
“Affirm,” the man in front said.
“Right.” Jess surged into motion. “C’mon, Dev.”
Dev followed her down the hall and past the security guards, as they rapidly came past them and took up station at the entrance to the command center. “They were scared of you,” she commented to Jess, as they sped through the central hall.
“Sure.” Jess was turning her head from side to side, her hands shifting on the gun. “I’m an ops agent. We’re nuts and they know it.”
“I see.”
Jess heard the sound of live fire percussion up ahead and she slowed a little, hugging the wall. “Actually, what they really know is that if I think they’ve turned, or are working against the best interests of the organization in my estimation I’ll blow them apart.”
“Oh.”
“They have to wait for permission to blow me apart.”
“Oh.” Dev’s vocal inflection changed completely.
“Stay behind me.” Jess flattened herself against the wall. She could hear the explosions and she sidled forward and reached the curve, ducking down and snaking her head around the edge to see what lay past it.
The hall, surprisingly, was clear, but she saw flashes past the next set of doors. “Okay, c’mon.” She straightened and moved along the hall, coming around the bend and seeing Jason and Brent crouching just out of the line of sight. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Jason glanced past her, then back down the hall as Jess and Dev joined them. “Fucking mess. I swear this place is going to shit.”
“What’s up?” Jess touched her ear. “Don’t hear crap on comm,” she said. “Anyone know what the deal is?”
“Shuttle landed. Next thing we knew we had inbound, and a big bang on the dock,” Jason said, in clipped tones. “Heard blaster fire in the out-hall. They blew the cams so no one can see what the hell’s going on.”
“Let’s go. Next door.” Jess pointed, then she led the way forward, with Jason right at her side.
Brent and Dev followed along. Dev noticed Brent was also carrying his pilots’ gear and he, like her, didn’t have a weapon. She hadn’t seen any of the techs carry a gun, and she figured that was why she had no programming at all about them.
She knew what they were, of course. She’d seen pictures of them. But she’d never encountered anyone with them in the crèche. Even the security proctors who were in charge of keeping order didn’t carry anything more than a shock stick.
The sounds of the explosions got abruptly louder, and then they heard yells.
Jess started running and they came around the corner in time to see the outer doors explode inward, with a percussive shock that nearly knocked them off their feet. “Breach! Breach!” Jess yelled into her comm. “Seal the ring! They blew the outer door!”
Dev heard a deep rumbling sound that rattled her bones and as she glanced behind her she saw huge portals sliding shut, blocking off any escape back down the corridor. As they closed she felt the air compress around her, and then they were in two sets of curved hallway blocked off from anything other than whatever was making so much noise up ahead.
“Down!” Jason bellowed, and they all fell flat on their stomachs as fire came down the hall, slamming into the wall behind where they’d just been standing.
Jason and Jess started firing back, spraying the opening with heavy blasts as they spotted friendly fire from inside the alcove shooting back at the blasted outer door. “We have enemy action on the dock.” Jess called into the comm. “We’re moving in. Stand by to vent on my mark.”
“Standing by. Shuttle crew sealed their flight deck, ops,” the comm came back. “They took some heavy damage.”
“Roger that.” Jess started forward across the ground, firing as she moved. Jason angled after her getting a slightly different line of fire and crossing hers as they covered the opening and prevented anything from emerging from it. “Too bad. They could just lift and end our problem.”
Dev clipped her gear to her suit and copied Jess’s motions. She tried to keep behind them as best she could, without bumping into the stolidly crawling Brent.
She felt a little helpless, and looking at her fellow tech she thought maybe he did too, since he looked like he was in a very bad mood and he flinched every time the weapons made a loud noise.
He glanced at her. “Don’t like being a target,” he muttered. “Sucks.”
Dev nodded in sympathetic agreement. “It would be better to be flying.”
For a moment, Brent stared blankly at her, then faintly, his lips twisted into a reluctant smile. “Yeah.”
“Movement!” Jess aimed down a line, and blasted a red flare toward the smoking entrance. “Watch it!”
Jason rolled to one side and took his own aim, hopping sideways at the very last moment as a blue blast scored the ground where he’d just been lying. “Same you!” Jason saw a round blob travel inside and caught it with his blaster, sending a wave of energy through the hall along with a booming roar. “Trigger bomb! Watch your eyes!”
Then all at once a lot of things happened. The opening they were moving toward filled with big, blocky figures and Jess and Jason hauled up onto their knees, blasting away as fast they could as the intruders blasted back at them.
Fire landed all around them and Dev rolled over and hugged the wall, ducking her head as a bolt hit the surface just over her so close she felt the heat against her shoulder blades.
“Duck!” Jess yelled, as she removed something from her belt and threw it, then went flat to the ground and covered her head.
A guttural yell was heard, then a moment later a deep, violet flash flooded the hall, followed by a ripping sound and a huge, ear rending thump.
“Clear!” Jason yelled a half second later, and the two agents scrambled to their feet and bolted forward, with their techs a couple steps behind them. The opening was now empty, and the steel stained a deep, smoky black. They ran through a field of energy that made them all twitch.
It was almost painful. Dev almost cried out. But it faded as they jumped over the still bodies on the ground and were in the outer entry.
It was almost unrecognizable. The door to the shuttle bay had been blown apart, and the console Dev had first seen as she entered was nothing but shards. As they crossed the threshold there was movement to their left and Jess turned and aimed in a motion so fast and smooth it seemed there was no thought at all involved.
Her eyes tracked and targeted the motion and just as quickly, she turned her weapon aside and then turned 360, checking for other intruders as she trusted her senses in marking the threat as a friendly.
The motion continued though, and through the haze and smoke a figure appeared with a blaster in hand and joined them. “Thanks for not blasting me, Drake. Would have been a pity after all that.”
“Doctor Dan,” Dev blurted, in deep surprise.
“Yes.” Kurok tipped the blaster muzzle up and let it rest against his collarbone. “Haven’t had to do that in a good long while.” He observed the destruction, and the scattered bodies on the outside, as well as the pile of silent figures on the inside. “Nice grenade hit.”
“Thanks.” Jess regarded him in bemusement. “Was that you laying down fire from the back there?”
“Mmhm.” Kurok produced a brief smile. “Certainly got the old blood pumping, I’ll admit.”
“What the hell h
appened?” Jason asked, as both he and Brent edged out into the pad, and swept the area. Overhead, the sound of a carrier engine was heard, and they looked up to see four of the big vehicles hovering. “Are we clear?”
“Affirm, ground ops,” the comm crackled. “We’re clear air side. BR76004, BR76003, remain in formation until released. BR75003, BR74034, return to base.”
“BR74034, clear.”
“BR75003, clear.”
Two of the carriers split off and disappeared, while the remaining started a slow circling patrol over the shuttle bay.
“We’re clear ground side,” Jess reported. “Six down need a cleanup. Drake eleven on com.”
“Affirm, will send. Thanks, Drake.”
Brent was kneeling beside one of the intruders and he kicked them over with his boot. “Stormers.” He glanced up. “They get dropped? Where’s the log?”
Dev slowly looked around at the destruction, and then at Doctor Dan, who was standing easily with the gun resting against his shoulder, as natural with it as Jess had been. He turned and looked back at her, his gentle smile appearing.
“You all right, Dev?” he asked. “Terrible way to wake up, isn’t it?”
“Different,” Dev said. “I took no harm. Did you?”
Kurok shook his head. “Despite me being far too old to be messing with these things, I managed not to crack anything besides a smile this time.”
Jess came back in from the pad, shaking her head. “What the hell was that all about?” She said. “This is the most heavily defended part of the citadel and they know it. What were they after?”
Kurok cleared his throat. “Me, probably...I was scheduled to board the shuttle to leave.” He peered outside. “I heard the engines overhead and got back inside just as they came down right on top of the pad.”
Jess stared at him. “You?”
“Mm.” Kurok thumbed the safety back on the gun in his hand. “Apparently I’ve made a breakthrough they don’t want continued,” he said. “Somewhat the same as the vegetation advance you will likely be trying to circumvent on that side, Agent Drake.”
“Breakthrough.” Jess turned and looked at Dev, then back at Kurok, her eyebrows lifting.
Kurok shrugged modestly. “I was listed on the passenger manifest.” He indicated the grounded shuttle. “I should be flattered. They sent a six man team in. I suppose they were supposed to get me between when I left the citadel door and before I cleared the hatch.”
“And then what?”‘
“Well, either kill me or take me,” Kurok said, dryly. “They had their own bio alt program, you know. Never got very far though. They just have some very basic models.” He smiled again. “The one thing I suspect they didn’t expect is that I’d know who they were and start shooting at them.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to wait for you to leave here?” Jason asked.
“Interforce is the last stop on this shuttle run. It goes right up to the station after that. They could try to blow the shuttle out of the sky, but it would go up and into space before they probably caught her,” Kurok said. “But it sure was audacious.”
“That’s damn sure.” Jess ran a hand through her hair, and grimaced a trifle. “Well, glad they got skunked anyway.”
The room was starting to fill with people. Dev kept to one side, as technicians poured in and Stephan Bock arrived at a run, pulling up to a halt next to their little group. “Came in at sea level,” he said. “They were up and over the ridge before the systems caught them.” He looked at the bay. “They dropped a team and went topside. Too fast, and too high for us to follow.”
“Huh.” Jess grunted. “Told you they’d get an advantage going half space with those damn things. We can’t chase them.”
“Wasn’t my decision,” Stephan said, shortly. “Everyone clear?”
Jason looked around. “Looks like.”
It was then that Bock noticed Kurok standing there. “Mr. Bain was asking for you.”
“I bet he was.” Kurok handed over his blaster to one of the security men, who took it gingerly. “Well, it appears I’m stuck here for a while longer.” He patted Dev on the shoulder. “Let me go see what the Old Man wants.”
He turned and left the outer lock, passing through the inner corridors and disappearing as the rest of them watched him go.
“You said he was a scientist?” Jason asked, quizzically.
“He is a scientist,” Dev said. “He programmed me,” she added, after a brief pause.
Jess’s brows twitched. “That might explain a few things.”
Jason looked at her. “What?”
“Never mind.” Jess exhaled. “Well, they got us good, that’s for sure. Never had the guts to go for our bay before.”
“You pissed them off.”
A cleanup team was removing the enemy bodies, zipping them into bags and latching the bags to the weight carrier they’d brought with them. Technicians were moving aside the destroyed console, and someone else was erecting a set of temporary lights in the corner.
A squad of security showed up, with a portable blast barrier they started to set up to close the gaping hole in the wall
Stephan shook his head. “That was ballsy.” He regarded the outer door. “We’ll need to keep the inside seal on until they get that rebuilt.” He glanced at Jess. “You think it’s their way of sending a message back for what you did?”
Jess shrugged. “Stupid if it was. Besides, you heard Kurok. He thinks they were after him. And I wouldn’t say he’s wrong. C’mon, Dev. Let’s go get breakfast now that all the fun’s over.”
“That was fun?” Dev straightened out her jumpsuit, twisted askew from her crawling on the floor. “I think I liked being chased by all those planes better.”
Brent snorted. “Score.”
“Yeah, well, let’s get chow before the Old Man blows up.” Jason joined them “Not gonna be a happy day.”
DEV ENTERED HER rad station, her book tucked under her arm as she paused to review the space in front of her.
She liked it. The room was low ceilinged, and cozy, with translucent couches and chairs.
She put her book down on the table and went to the small closet in the wall. She removed her boots and jumpsuit, and put them inside, feeling the faint movement of air against her bare skin as she went to the control panel.
She put her palm on it. After a second, it chimed. “Name.” A soft voice asked.
Dev studied it for a minute. “Dev.”
“NM-Dev-1?”
“Yes.”
“This system will code your presence recording you as—Dev,” the voice said. “Stand by for scan please.”
Dev waited, and felt the tickle over her skin as the system reviewed her body. “This is my first experience,” she said, after a pause.
“Acknowledged,” the voice answered. “This session will consist of one standard hour. Advise this system if you experience any difficulty, or if discomfort results.”
“Yes,” Dev said. “Thank you.”
Talking to machines was often easier than talking to people. Dev felt the light change, and she felt faint warmth on her skin as the rad came on and bathed her. There was something in the quality of it that made her smile and she walked into the space with the chairs and picked her book up, sitting down on one of the couches and leaning back.
Jess was working on the mission plan, and she suggested that Dev get her rad in and that she’d come get her when she was ready to go over what they were going to do. That seemed like a good idea to her, and now she was content to relax in the light, enjoying the warmth and the soft sound of the machinery around her.
In the crèche, there never was an issue about getting sunlight. It came and went constantly, and you could always count on catching some in the dining hall, or the gym, or just in the halls while you were waiting for a class.
And, of course, in the sleep pods as they rotated up along the rim of the crèche they were exposed to the sun as the covers turned tra
nslucent and so, she’d never had to think about it before.
Here, she did. Dev stretched her legs out on the couch. She wondered what people outside the citadel did, and made a mental note to ask Jess about it later.
She set her book down and folded her hands over her bare stomach, thinking about the attack they’d suffered that morning. It had been scary. She had felt a little like she and Brent were more of a hindrance than a help and it bothered her a lot that there hadn’t been anything she could do to assist Jess at all.
If they’d been ordered to launch, there would have been good work for her. But all she and Brent could do was stay on the ground and hope they didn’t get blasted.
Brent had even talked to her about it. Commiserated with her. Dev felt good about that, since it was the first time he’d even spoken to her outside ship comm. That was nice. She didn’t want the others to feel bad all the time around her. Dev studied the calm, dim room. She would finish her rad, and then go do some work in the gym. Maybe by then, Jess would have her plan all worked out.
Chapter Ten
JESS SLOWLY SAT down at her desk, grimacing a little as her back protested. The spot where she’d been stabbed had slammed against a door handle in all the tumult and she’d felt a sharp spear of pain that, at the time, she’d ignored.
Now, it was throbbing, and the jolts of pain were going up her spine and through her neck and giving her a banging headache.
She should go to med. Jess glowered at the screen in front of her, and rested her forearms on the desk, debating the issue with herself in silence.
If she went to med, she’d be stuck there. They’d ground her again. Jess studied her twined fingers. Before she hadn’t really cared that much. After Joshua she’d been more than glad not to be under any pressure to take a new partner on, or go out in the field.
She’d spent her time either curled up in bed convalescing, or out on the ledge, just watching the sea. It had been a long time—hell, it had been since her entrance into field school, since she’d taken a break and just let life run past her for a while.
Now? Jess exhaled slowly. Now, after Bain showed up, and she’d gotten promoted, going off line wasn’t really her first option. Bain wanted her to take care of this problem. She had a feeling if she did, there might be more in it for her than he was letting on.