by M. D. Cooper
Rika considered the best way to take out the twelve guards in the room. Her stealth capabilities were completely nonexistent, and she only had two Nietzschean rifles, one held in her left hand, while the other was slung across her back.
The most lethal mode they possessed was a mid-velocity rail shot, though the weapon in her hand had a magazine of high-explosive rounds as well.
Rika almost laughed.
She set her rifle against her shoulder and took aim, while reaching up with her right foot and placing it gently on the door handle. A long, slow breath escaped her lips, and then Rika pulled the door wide and fired.
Nine rounds leapt out from her rifle. The first blew a hole in the side of the chair, exposing the emperor’s side. The next hit his torso, blowing away the man’s stomach. Each successive round walked up Constantine’s body until the last round hit his head, spraying blood and brains across the window.
I did it!
A feeling of raw elation swept over Rika, but quickly disappeared when the strangest thing happened.
Nothing. None of the guards moved.
Instead, the sound of slow clapping reached her ears.
Rika’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head to see Garza step out from behind one of the Nietzschean guards.
She swung her rifle toward the Orion general, but halfway there, it hit something and stopped.
A disembodied voice next to her said, “Drop it.”
A second later, six of Garza’s guards materialized around her.
Garza gestured for his soldiers to bring Rika into the room, inclining his head in respect as she approached.
“I have to admit, Rika. You’re no slouch…. You probably hold an all-time record for killing the most Nietzscheans—though you didn’t get their emperor. He’s evaded you, it seems.”
She scowled at Garza as his troops pushed her forward. “What are you talking about?” She gestured toward the ruined body in the equally ruined chair. “He looks pretty damn un-evade-y, there.”
“He was already dead when you shot him,” Garza said. “I killed him less than a minute before you arrived. Well, I killed what was left. His brain was already dead.”
“So he was dead twice and now he’s dead thrice?” Rika asked. “I can live with that.”
The general snorted. “Yeah, I suppose so. But we both know that wasn’t him. He’d already moved on.”
“Why?” Rika asked the Orion general. “Did the emperor clone himself?”
“Sorta,” Garza said with a nod. “Though he believes there ‘can be only one’, so he killed his initial self.”
Rika shook her head in disbelief. “What’s the point in that?”
A smile broke out across Garza’s face—not his usual smug grin, but a look of legitimate, pure amusement.
“I tricked him,” the general said. “I needed to bring him to heel, so I told him that I’d infested his body with nano that his level of technology wouldn’t be able to detect. Then I told him that if he didn’t follow my orders, I’d kill him within the year.”
“But it was a lie?” Rika asked.
The AI laughed.
As she spoke with Niki, Garza replied.
“Yes. A very, very effective lie. Since I told him that he’d never be able to detect my nano, the inability of his own medical teams to find it only bolstered his belief that I really had infested his body. He was a prisoner of his own mind. All I had to do was make a single suggestion.”
“Wow,” Rika laughed. “I still think you’re a raging asshole, Garza, but I have to admit, I’m impressed. I’m going to give you a chance to die cleanly, as your reward for messing with Constantine so much.”
The general snorted. “You’re so magnanimous.”
“Take a look outside,” Rika said. “My mechs are storming this mountain. By now, the Intrepid Space Force will be here, shredding the Nietzschean fleets. You’ve lost.”
Garza glanced over his shoulder, looking out the window. In that moment, Rika’s hand fell to her thigh and came back up, lightwand blazing in her grip.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she drove it into the chest of the Orion soldier on her left before dropping to the deck as the one behind fired his rifle, the shots streaking over Rika’s head as she lunged backward and drove the electron blade into his groin.
Rolling overtop the soldier, she sliced the blade into his neck and rose to her feet, eyeing the four soldiers frozen in place by her nano.
A look of actual fear came over Garza’s face as he realized there was nothing standing between him and a seriously pissed off mech.
He took a step back, raising a hand “Look, I—”
Then the Orion general’s head exploded.
“What a bastard.”
Rika spun to see Emperor Constantine standing at the entrance to the room, the rifle she had dropped now cradled in his arms. Behind him, she could see Danella clapping softly with her six hands, a gleeful expression on her face.
The Nietzschean emperor trained his weapon on Rika.
“Your turn, mech.”
“Fuck,” she muttered aloud, then asked Niki,
“Yeah, I’d say you’re pretty fucked.” The emperor craned his head toward Danella, though he didn’t take his eyes off Rika. “Sorry, Danella, you’re not going to get her alive.”
Danella scowled and opened her mouth to speak, but instead of words, a spray of blood came out, followed by a lightwand’s blade.
As the woman’s blood sprayed across Constantine’s face, the emperor dove inside the room, firing on Rika before coming back up and running toward his frozen guards.
Rika didn’t take cover as rounds flew toward her. Instead, she lifted her ruined gun-arm, letting the limb absorb the high-explosive rounds as she took aim with her lightwand and flicked her wrist.
Constantine’s weapon fell silent and then slid from his hands as the emperor fell to his knees, reaching up for the lightwand protruding from the middle of his neck.
Rika approached as the once-proud man gargled blood, falling back against the leg of one of the frozen guards while reaching toward her in a pleading gesture.
No sound escaped his mouth, but his lips were moving, and she could make out the words.
“Please, clemency, I beg you.”
She crouched in front of the man, the Nietzschean emperor, the man who had destroyed Genevia and, in turn, much of her life.
“No, Emperor Constantine. There will be no clemency for you. On behalf of the Genevian people, I pronounce you guilty of…well, just
about everything. Your punishment is death.”
Rika stretched out her hand and wrapped her three fingers around the lightwand’s grip, staring into the dying man’s eyes.
With a flick of her wrist, Rika pulled the blade up, cutting the emperor’s head in half.
She rose and drew a shaky breath, disabling the lightwand and sliding it back into her thigh.
“Finally.”
Rika looked to the doorway, smiling as she saw Leslie.
“Thanks for the assist, Les. Good distraction, killing Danella there.”
“Who?” she looked back into the hall. “The weird white woman? That wasn’t a distraction. She just creeped me out. All clappy-clappy.”
Niki exclaimed.
Rika laughed and strode toward her friend, wrapping Leslie in a one-armed embrace. “Stars, am I glad to see you!”
“You and me both,” Leslie said, squeezing Rika in return.
A moment later, a terrible rending sound came from the window, and both women turned to see one of the Starcrusher’s legs smashing through the thick plas. Once a hole large enough for a mech was torn open, the leg pulled back, and a figure pulled itself up onto the ledge outside.
“Chase!” Rika cried out, hobbling across the room to meet him as he climbed through the window.
“Rika!”
He raced toward her, almost bowling her over when they collided next to Garza’s body.
They held one another until Leslie began to whistle a tune from behind Rika.
“So…who won, Chase?”
“Stars, Leslie,” he grumbled. “Yes, your way was faster.”
“Told you I’d save her first. Pay up.”
Rika shook her head, looking between the pair. “Wait…you bet on who’d save me first? What if I didn’t need saving?”
Chase shrugged. “Then I guess you’d get the payout.”
Rika cocked an eyebrow at Leslie. “I had Constantine dead to rights. Hand over my winnings.”
Leslie shook her head and laughed. “Whatever you say, Colonel Rika.”
EPILOGUE
STELLAR DATE: 05.09.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Fury Lance, Belgium
REGION: Genevia System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
“Stars,” Rika said as she walked onto the Fury Lance’s bridge. “What a day.”
Two days had passed since the deaths of General Garza and Emperor Constantine. Though there were still pockets of Nietzschean resistance in the Genevian System, most of the enemy ships had been destroyed or were fleeing under the command of Admiral Hammond.
“Sorta been ‘days’,” Leslie amended as she followed Rika onto the bridge.
“I can’t tell,” Rika replied with a tired laugh. “I haven’t slept since before going to Capeton Command. It’s just all been one long blur.”
Chase, Barne, Heather, Tremon, and Silva all stood at the front of the bridge, grinning at Rika as she approached.
“No clapping,” she said, holding up a forestalling hand as Heather raised both of hers, about to trigger a round of applause.
“Why not?” the captain asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Rika said as she stopped at the holotank. “So, is this it? We’ve taken all the major installations?”
Barne nodded. “That we have…or at least, they’ve surrendered and followed our stipulations. There’s some rioting here and there, but most of the police are Genevians, so they’re getting things under control.”
Rika turned toward the forward holodisplay, which currently showed a view of Belgium. She stared at it for a moment, barely able to believe that they’d done it. The Nietzscheans were routed, their emperor was dead…. Not only that, but the Orion general was dead, and the Marauders held the heart of the old Genevian Alliance.
“We did it,” she turned toward the Marauders assembled on the bridge. “This isn’t just a hope, a dream, or a foolish quest. For my entire life, Nietzschea has been waging war on Genevia, pushing us back, destroying our homes…our families. For decades, our people have feared the name ‘Nietzchea’. Well, now they’ll fear ours.”
“Marauders?” Tremon asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No.” Rika gave a shake of her head, knowing what the man was getting at. “Genevia.”
She looked at each of the people standing before her in turn, squaring her shoulders, all too aware that her people’s homeworld was spread out on the holodisplay behind her.
“We’re not Marauders anymore. We’re the Genevian Armed Forces, and this is our home.”
She met Chase’s eyes to see his brimming with admiration—and a bit of moisture. Beside him, Heather lifted her hands and brought them together. “I don’t care what you say, Rika. I’m clapping.”
The others joined in the applause while Rika laughed, shaking her head as she smiled at her people.
THE END
* * * * *
Rika is no longer a Marauder; she must become the leader her people need to guide them back into a unified nation.
But her journey is far from over, her place in the annals of history not set. In April of 2019, Rika begins the next chapter of her life in Book 1 of The Genevian Queen:
Rika Rising.
AFTERWORD
What to say after completing a series like this? I’ve already told you about how the idea for Rika just came to me one night, and how I wrote the first two chapters of Rika Outcast in an almost feverish haste.
I’ve told you how Rika rarely does what I want, and won’t let me follow even the most basic outline. You now know the important role that Jen plays in the Rika books (let’s be honest; her role is very important in all the books).
Most of all, if you’re reading this now, you know Rika.
I wouldn’t say that Rika is my favorite character in Aeon 14—I don’t think that anyone can replace Tanis/Tangel for me—but I will say that Rika is my dearest. Rika feels like a daughter to me, maybe the sort of woman my daughter could be someday (just with her family still around, and no forced cyborgization…and no terrible war…you get the picture).
My little girl is named Evangeline, and maybe (when she’s a lot older) she can read these books, see a bit of herself in Rika, get to this afterword, read it and then get on the Link and call her parents!
I might be a bit heady after completing this book, I apologize for that. Typing “The End” feels like a monumental achievement every time I do it. It feels like I just ran a marathon…but one where I’m not about to collapse (well, sometimes that’s the case with books, too).
This is the first major solo series that I’ve wrapped up. Every other one (at least at the time of this writing) still has some books to go. I’m saying this with the understanding that The Intrepid Saga and The Orion War really are the same series.
But Rika’s story isn’t done, either. This only wraps up the first chapter in her life. Big things are in store for her, and I’m really excited about her next arc, which starts with the book Rika Rising, the first in The Genevian Queen series.
I suspect you might have an inkling of what’s to come….
Michael Cooper
Danvers, 2019
MECH TYPES & ARMAMENTS
While these are the standard builds and configurations documented by the Genevian Armed Forces (GAF), many mechs reached the field in mismatched configuration, or were altered after deployment.
Sometimes these alterations were upgrades, sometimes downgrades, as repairs were often made with whatever spare components were available at the time.
The mechs in the Marauders generally align with the stated configurations, though many have altered themselves over the years.
NO
TE: The K2R and all 4th generation models were made by Finaeus Tomlinson, in concert with Rika’s Repair and Maintenance team, specifically Lieutenant Carson and Corporal Stripes.
K1R (Kill Ranger – Generation 1)
This mech is more of a two-legged tank than a mech. The K1R sports a central ‘pod’ where the human is situated. None of the limbs utilize human material.
K1Rs often had mental issues due to feeling as though they had lost all sense of humanity. When the Nietzscheans won the war, they did not release any K1Rs from their internment camps. It is not known if they kept them, or killed them all.
Until the discovery of the mechs in the Politica, there was only a single K1R in the Marauders (who had been under General Mill’s command at the end of the war). That mech has joined Rika’s company to assist the four K1Rs Rika freed from the Politica in re-integration.
K1R mechs have a variety of heavy armament, including massive chainguns, railguns, missiles (with and without tactical nuke warheads), electron beams, and proton beams. They also sport a variety of suppression devices, from pulse, to sonic, to portable grav shields.
K1R mechs were not made later in the war, due to their cost and mental instability.
There were rumors that a limited run of K2R mechs were made, but no credible reports exist.
Sub-Models:
All K1R models could be outfitted with interchangeable armament, excepting the base model, which could not carry the tactical nukes.
K1R – The base K1R model was made in the early years of the war, and lacked the coordination and reactive armor of the later models.
K1R-M – The ‘M’ K1R added in the reactive armor, and included upgraded railguns with more advanced scan and target tracking systems. These mechs carried two missiles in launcher pods in their backs. They could be (and often were) upgraded to support the tactical nuke warheads on the missiles.