Trial by Ice (A Star Too Far)

by Calouette, Casey

  William peeked out from the doorway and watched the tower through the gray smoke. It wavered for a split second and stopped exactly where it was. “Shit.”

  A slender metallic body dropped down from the peak of the building and sprung at William. It was like a preying mantis with sleek legs powering it. The eyes were fearless and dull, but the mouth clacked and sang with rebounding steel. The drone was no larger than a cat.

  “Gah!” William screamed as he tumbled back. He fumbled for his weapon as he rolled.

  It spread its razor legs in mid air. William could see it. It almost paused for a moment with digital eyes locked on him. As suddenly as it jumped, it vaporized into an explosion of steel and electricity. Kerry lowered the weapon from his shoulder.

  “Thanks!” William replied as he brushed the still humming scraps. “We gotta get that tower down!” William keyed to all channels.

  He emerged from the low building with his weapon at his shoulder. He moved slowly and scanned all around him for another one of the anti-infantry drones. Each footstep was deliberate, slow in pace, but perfect in execution. The weapon swung wherever his eyes moved to. Following behind were Kerry and Crow doing the same and covering all the area around.

  “Any ideas?” William clicked.

  A drone skidded through the air and pivoted almost perfectly. A slender cannon was mounted on the underside. It danced in the wind for a moment before beginning to fire a high pitched round.

  “Move!” Crow yelled as he fired at the hovering drone. Rounds pinged off of its body. One finally struck the rotor pivot and it spun like a broken top right into the concrete.

  “Shit,” William said as he bounded forward. He could feel a tiny pin-prick wound in his shoulder. He tapped it with his fingers and felt the burning of a tiny hole. Sticky blood stained his finger tips.

  “Oooh!” Kerry said as he pulled William’s uniform aside to look. “Just meat!” He said with a slap and a smile.

  Gunfire was erupting from the entire area. Teams of Civilians and military personnel alike were engaging the packs of drones. For a few brief moments the assault of the drones eclipsed the will of the men. The thumping of the cannons from the armored column clacked against the concrete walls in a furious display of force.

  William burst onto the street and flailed himself back into cover. A few meters away was the last vehicle of the armored column. The body had slight dimples where the nanite rounds had hit and glanced off. As he slid into cover he marveled at the sharpness of everything around him.

  “Where are the troops?” Selim clicked over the comms.

  “Grace,” Sebastien clicked over the comms. “Move the men out, I’m sealing the exit.”

  “All units, this is gentleman, sweep for the civvies and move north. Rally at the needle,” William clicked off. Behind him Crow blasted another drone.

  “C’mon Grace, get moving!” Crow yelled back as he shifted away from the kill zone.

  William turned and caught a glance of Sebastien moving through a refinery across the street. In his arms was a deep black carbon rod. Behind him trailed a woven cluster of conducting wire.

  With the men clearing out the drones would converge on Sebastien. Augmented or not, William knew that he’d be swarmed and killed. He looked to see Crow and Kerry bustling through the slag covered yard. “Crow, hold the fort,” he clicked.

  “What?” Crow asked in a surprised voice.

  “Xan, load the firing pattern. The pre-planned coordinates if you would please, fire when available,” William clicked as he planned his next move.

  “4 minutes,” Xan replied.

  “Crow, Selim, get everyone to the needle, we’ll be right behind you,” William said. He wondered if they’d have enough time to get clear. Hell, he wondered if he could get clear.

  “Grace, get the hell out,” Sebastien clicked.

  William lowered his head and charged across the road dodging himself between the front of a tank and the back of an APC. The column was beginning to move and he barely dashed through. When he broke through into the darkness, he ran head first into Sebastien.

  The sweat was beaded on Sebastien’s face and tinted the color red. He wore a grimace of pain as he stomped forward. He glared at William as he emerged onto the street. There was no way to stop his forward momentum now.

  William jumped back to his feet and grasped onto the braided cord. He tugged and could barely assist Sebastien’s augmented strength. He drew a bead on the rifle and fired at the first drone that appeared. It popped into a shower of steel.

  The second drone came in low and latched onto Sebastien just as he pressed the blunt nose against the armor of the tank. He bellowed out as the carbon rod began to crackle and sing against the armor.

  The drone buzzed and clacked as it dug into his leg like a badger digging into a hill. William rushed forward and slammed it off firing into it. The tang of burning steel hit him hard. He stood by Sebastien’s side and let the rounds fly.

  The carbon grew a deeper shade of black. The black shimmered in waves of heat. The corners danced on the edge of red, then orange, then a terrible white that flowed further up the rod. The armor plate resisted at first. It was acting as a giant heat sink and flowing the heat away. But it couldn’t hold, the intensity of an arc furnace was beyond what it could handle and the blunt nose began to bore inwards.

  William turned his face away from the piercing white light and shot at a small ballistic drone that had appeared over the tank. It disappeared in a burst of shards. A sudden stinging wracked his thigh as a second small caliber round passed through. The rifle barked again at the newest assailant.

  The carbon nose was but a centimeter away from totally disabling the tank when the APC opened fire. It had pivoted on the segmented tracks and rode up onto a debris pile so that it could traverse the gun low enough. It let loose with a single round that exploded, knocking Sebastien into the shadows.

  William blinked and felt the cables dragging over him. The tank was moving backwards with the carbon rod still stuck in the side. The tank pivoted slightly to correct the course and crushed his left hand. The entire 40 ton form bore down for just a single section of track. He thrashed against it like a caught animal and clutched the mangled meat with a howl.

  The cables were still moving.

  He stood with the destroyed hand tucked against his sternum and raged forward. He pushed with his chest against the carbon rod and squeezed the electrode trigger with his right hand. It buzzed and sizzled and started sinking deeper. He walked step by step as the tip seemed to barely sink in. The slight pivot had covered him from the APC.

  The rod wailed and hissed as a jet of acrid oily steam exploded against William. He was blasted under the shelter of an entryway. His chest was a quilt work of crushing pain and burning. Motes of light danced on the edges of his vision as he sat himself up. The tank before him was stopped.

  It wiggled slightly as the APC in front began to ram itself against it, but made no progress. Further up the column the trapped armor pivoted and tested the walls. Shells hammered into the concrete trying to make an opening to exploit. Rounds that are designed to devastate tanks a few kilometers away did nothing but punch clean holes.

  William felt the light ebbing from his vision as a rough hand grasped him from behind and began to drag. He curled his hand against his chest and wished more than anything that the pain would stop. He was pulled over broken stone, sharded steel, and the wreckage of what had once stood. He lost consciousness as the rain began to fall.

  The orbital battery wasn’t even over the horizon when it powered up the acceleration coils. The charge was gently primed. The body of the coal black craft turned slightly and dropped its nose by just a fraction. Straight below it was a sea of blue and green. A moment later it energized the charge and sent it over the horizon.

  The charge burned with an intense heat before discarding the ceramic-alloy heat shield and bearing down on the target point. Below it was serene fields of
emerald green. The target was still over the horizon.

  In a silent display of chaos it erupted from the sky onto the target. It had broken into a cluster of thermo-kinetic warheads. What had once been pillars of sore concrete and roofs of blackened alloy was now nothing but the shreds of dust.

  The concussive blast followed as it shuddered down to bedrock and echoed through the stone. The sonic boom came a split second after and blasted the young dust cloud into shreds of silt. No one saw the empty husk reenter the atmosphere in the briefest blink of light.

  The sound of horses stamping and chomping startled William awake. He’d heard those horses once before but couldn’t place where. The light burnt his eyes. His mouth was filled with the taste of ash and grit hard against his teeth. His hand throbbed. Every pump of blood tore through his core as he rolled in agony.

  Sebastien was on his knees next to him. He was coated in gray dust like a survivor of Pompeii. Raindrops fell slowly. Each dragged a cluster of dust with it and slowly cleared the air.

  William struggled to his knees and looked around blankly. They were surrounded by destroyed hovels with standing structures not far away. “Sebastien,” he croaked.

  Sebastien turned his head slightly. He tried to rise up from his kneeling position but dropped back down. “You owe me a drink,” he said in a hollow voice.

  “I think I can manage that.”

  “Your hand?”

  “Lets not talk about it.”

  “Well, I know the feeling.”

  William nodded and tried to stand before falling back down again. He wanted to laugh, to try and highlight the absurdity of it all.

  “Hey, uh, we could use a ride,” he clicked through.

  William stared down as the rain washed away the dust from his mangled hand. The mass of crushed meat and bone throbbed violently. He rocked back and forth as he clenched his teeth. He waved to the approaching troops with his good hand and passed out once again.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  On the Needle

  The celebrations were muted after the orbital battery deposited a final payment from up above. Rye liquor and rough meals were feasted and toasted to the heroes that few had met, and none knew. The Civilian militia had taken charge and spread out to secure whatever they thought needed securing. The professionals kept watch on the elevator.

  William awoke to a subtle numbness and a cool chill of dry air with wetness nearby. He recognized the nostalgic decor of the elevator complex. He stood slowly and blinked away the sleep from his eyes. His neck tickled, he reached up his right hand and felt the sheen of a nanite patch. His left hand was strapped to his chest in a tight cloth wrap.

  “William,” Vito said with a smile and a glint in his eyes. “You should lay back down.”

  William shook his head slowly and stifled a yawn. “No, no. More patches?”

  “Peter brought them by, they found them inside of the refinery.”

  William nodded. “Sebastien?”

  “Like an Ox, he’s out with Crow.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Getting ready for us to head upstairs.”

  “Oh,” William said and looked out into the hallway.

  Arrayed around the embarkation area was pallets of weapons, pattern armor, and supplies. Several dozen Civilian militia were sitting idly. They looked sober and tense. Leduc sat with Avi against the polished wall, eyes closed, legs sprawled out before them.

  O’Toole stood near the base of the ribbon with a combat shotgun unslung. Around him was scattered boxes, crates, and a vaguely humanoid metallic form. It was slender and lithe of build. Eduardo was hunched over it.

  “What’s that?” William asked.

  Xan spoke from behind a data console. “Eduardo found a Sa’Ami strider in one of the containers, he’s trying to rig it.”

  William felt almost drunk as he stood and took a few ginger steps. His leg felt surprisingly good though his shoulder was sore. His left hand was like a blank slate, numb and empty.

  “My hand?”

  “Uh,” Vito began and stopped. “It had to come off. I’m sorry William. David found a Doctor to come in…”

  William looked down to the bound arm. The stub was anchored directly over his heart. He didn’t seem to much mind. Was it the nanites? His last conversation with Sebastien came back to mind. Sebastien really was the only one who knew what it was like. William felt a slight sense of emptiness as he continued into the hallway. “Did the corvette break orbit?”

  Vito shook his head. “Still there.”

  William shook his head. It didn’t make sense, the corvette had no reason to remain. As far as he could tell they were firmly in control of the planet.

  “They’re going to sign the Covenant,” Vito said with a proud smile.

  William nodded, not entirely paying attention. He understood that this was a triumph for Vito, but he kept focusing on his hand. His fingers tingled, or at least the nerves did. It itched in a place where there was nothing. “Excellent Vito,” he replied in a mumble.

  “They wanted to do a ceremony, but, well, I felt this was better.”

  “What was better?” William asked as he was led out of the embarkation area.

  Before him was a dozen men and women with David towering over the lot. They tried to look dignified but the veneer of grit and sorrow was tough to breach. They strained to stand upright and none seemed comfortable in the presence of the others.

  Vito whispered as he grasped William’s good elbow. “I know it’s abrupt, but we needed something, something before we’re gone.”

  William felt warm as the group turned to face him. He greeted them with a tired smile. This was not what he wanted to be doing. He gave Vito a sharp look and approached the group.

  “Midshipman Grace, this is a historic day. The deeds of this day shall be immortalized,” David said in a smooth tone. His eyes looked tired and his shoulders hunched.

  “Midshipman,” a woman with streaked gray hair said. “How many troops will you be leaving for our defense?”

  “Mr. Grace,” a gravelly voiced man brought himself to the forefront. “What taxes will be levied?”

  “William,” a younger woman said as she edged past David. “My family would like to secure rights to the export of wool.”

  “Marjorie! I see you still have no class,” David said.

  The room felt pregnant with tension and restrained hostility. William realized that these weren’t professional politicians but farmers, herders, craftsmen, all about to be hurled into an alliance with something that was nothing but an abstract concept.

  “Vito can speak of the broader details, but all agreements beyond the Covenant will be handled by the delegate,” William said to the group in a loud voice.

  “Where are they?” Marjorie asked in an indignant tone.

  “Buried in the snow,” William said as he turned and walked back to the troops. The sounds of squabbling followed behind as Vito did his best to placate the group.

  William felt lost as he stood at the base of the elevator and looked up. The ribbon disappeared into puffy white clouds like an endless black road. He waited for Sebastien.

  The climbers were at ground level. Inside was stacked containers of rock and gravel along with alloy plates. Cases of shotguns were stacked near the entrance. The weapon of choice was a shotgun with low velocity shells that split plastic flechettes.

  The flechette was an unfortunate necessity. A standard nanite bullet would breach the hull or destroy critical subsystems. The flechette however would bounce off hull walls. When in flesh, it would quiver and dance until it ran out of kinetic energy. The tips were grafted with a polycrystalline diamond coating. This allowed it to have some chance against armor, though it relied more on volume than on penetration.

  Sebastien returned and appraised William with a knowing glance. “I’m surprised to see you up.”

  “I’d say the same about you.”

  Sebastien nodded with a slight smile. He ran
his hand over his stubbly beard. “The tanks were unmanned.”

  “Unmanned? No crew at all?”

  “No bodies, hard to tell much more beyond that.”

  “Controlled by the ship up above?”

  Sebastien shrugged. “Maybe, but it doesn’t explain why they haven’t left yet.”

  “How long till we go up?” William asked. His heart fluttered with excitement at the thought of being back in orbit.

  “Not long, as soon as Crow comes back from the mines we suit up and roll.”

  William nodded. “What’s at the mine?”

  “You’ll have to ask him,” Sebastien replied with a wry smile.

  William ate a meager meal of rye porridge mixed with shaved mutton. He couldn’t get past the tallowy feel of it.

  Sebastien and Selim instructed the militia on how to assault a spacecraft. Use the cover, secure the breach, work in sections. It sounded so simple, so mechanical. The militia had a look of intense concentration fused with confusion.

  Crow jogged into the room with Peter close behind. He gave a quick nod to Sebastien and strolled over to William. “William, how are you feeling?”

  William shrugged. “Well enough. You look excited, what’s up?”

  Sebastien walked up with Selim and all eyes focused on Crow.

  Crow took a deep breath and nodded his head to the south. “The mines, big cuts right? They’re taking the refined ores from the refinery here and putting them back into the mines.”

  William shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “There’s no refined ingots here, nothing. The cargo loaders have been moving stuff down, not up.” Crow pointed to elevator cars. “They’ve got the ability to move big stuff up, so why don’t they?”

  Blank looks responded to the query.

  William wracked his mind. “This isn’t a rogue mining operation is it?”

  “There was an additive manufacturing cell there, it was working on assembling tanks, armor panels, struts,” Crow said in a low voice.