“You won’t be needing that, Mom,” Samantha’s voice said, and Quinn felt her heart skip a beat, her breath catch.
The shape was still a silhouette, but looked to be that of a space marine with a hood on. A button was pressed and the helmet folded back on itself, then the hood came down.
Sure enough, it was Samantha. Quinn stared at her daughter for a long moment in total disbelief. She looked so mature. Like a grown woman! But at the same time, she had the smile of youth, and Quinn couldn’t tell if she was actually nineteen, as the math would make her believe, or really how old?
Samantha reached down an armored hand and pulled her mother up and out of the box with more strength than seemed logical, coming from her, and then the two were in an embrace. Meanwhile, a man in blue armor with salt and pepper hair and a gold cloak was opening the other boxes.
“How…?” Quinn asked, staring into her daughter’s face. “I don’t understand.”
Samantha hugged her again, then pulled back and motioned to the man. “I’ve been with Hadrian, training and working to make the universe a better place.”
“The universe?” Quinn blinked unsure how to take that. “What about Earth? The Syndicate?”
“It’s hard to explain, Mom. But rest assured, I’ve seen things we never could have imagined. I’ve done more than any one person could have ever been capable of, or so I used to think. And I know things now… things I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you yet.”
Quinn blew out air. “Well, that’s not very helpful.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, Mom. The main point is that I’m here now, to tell you where I’ve been…and to let you know that I have to go back.”
“Go back?” Quinn took a step away, frustration washing over her. “You just returned, I just… no! I forbid you to leave me again.”
Samantha looked instantly sad, but took her mom’s hand, held it to her cheek, and nodded. “Believe me, Mom, I know. But we have to take on roles beyond our wishes, step up to be part of something bigger, so that evil won’t be able to thrive in our universe ever again. We have to fight to survive, and then…then I’ll come back and we can be together.”
“Let’s kill this son of a bitch then,” Cody said, and Quinn realized the rest of them were out of their boxes now.
There was a quick reunion, and everyone was introduced to this man, the mighty Hadrian. Sam explained that they had formed an intergalactic team that specialized in black ops and dark missions around the universe. They called it the Shadow Corps, and Samantha was, so the story went, their leader.
It was too much for Quinn to grasp, this idea that Samantha had already been out there, fighting this larger alien force. Up until now she had assumed her daughter was dead, beyond saving, and so she had been solely focused on revenge against the Potentate for all he had done.
She vaguely remembered this Hadrian character, but it was like a dream, something that might or might not have happened.
“What’s the plan then?” She turned to Hadrian, waiting.
Samantha cleared her throat, looking slightly annoyed. “The plan, Mom, is that Hadrian and I are going to do our best to ensure none of you are hurt, while disabling what forces we can.”
“What about Giovanni and them?” Cody asked, then explained to Samantha how they had met up and made the arrangement that they would wait here for the signal from below, then charge in while the Syndicate forces were distracted.
“MAYBE THEY DON’T EVEN NEED us,” Hadrian noted with a laugh.
“Still, I’m not taking that chance,” Samantha replied.
Quinn nodded her appreciation, then glanced around, noting the unconscious men and women—drug handlers she imagined.
“Maybe we should get to a point where we can see, so we’re ready?” she asked.
Cody moved to one of the bodies and started dragging it out of the way. “And get these ones out of sight in case more come.”
The rest agreed and started helping, while Quinn and Samantha moved to the edge of the floating fortress to a good vantage point.
After a few minutes of silence, Quinn licked her lips and said, “So, you really survived that day? It wasn’t some time travel trick or something?”
Samantha shrugged. “Sorry.”
“You’re telling me. We skipped six years of our lives, apparently, dealing with that time ship. But damn, I’m just glad to see that you’re safe.”
“And think about it,” Samantha replied. “What if none of that had happened? Maybe I wouldn’t have agreed to leave with Hadrian, and we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what we have. Trust me, if I hadn’t, the world would have ended by now, many times over.”
That gave Quinn room to think, and she wanted to cry at the thought. No matter what they wanted in life, destiny, it seemed, had a bigger purpose. “It’s true. If you’d been here, maybe we never would have gone in the time ship. Maybe everyone here would’ve died like so many others.”
Samantha nodded, wisely. Soon the others started joining them, and they all lost themselves in Samantha’s tales about what she had been doing. She told them about her first mission, how it had happened when she was only sixteen, but already she had been the main one to take down a space dragon that would have otherwise gotten to earth. It was her that stepped up and saved her team, her that they voted to be in charge.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” Quinn admitted. “If anyone I know would be the one to save us, it’d be you.”
Samantha smiled and looked like she was about to say something, when a series of blasts went off. All over the fortress movement was happening, and a glance down showed missiles and explosions galore.
Drones were flying down, giant mechs on the move as well. They could see spider mechs on the ground below moving across the city toward the explosions, and other mechs rising up to meet the onslaught.
“That’s the signal,” Quinn said, turning and checking her rifle. “Everyone good to go?”
“Kill,” Milo said, and licked his lips. “I’ve been waiting for this.”
“We all have,” Cody replied.
Samantha stood, pressed a button so that her helmet went back over her head, and then pulled up her hood. It was then that Quinn noticed the robes around her waist, as they started flowing unnaturally.
“Be safe, Mom,” Samantha said. “I’ll be right above.”
“Above?” Quinn asked, and even as she was saying that, Hadrian and Samantha flew into the sky, moving for the shadows as the others prepared to make their move across the fortress.
With all of the distraction down below, the journey to the large dome in the middle that was clearly the command center didn’t seem as big of a struggle as they had originally thought. It wasn’t until they were nearly there that mechs and drones started turning on them, abandoning the fight below. A horde of Syndicate soldiers appeared from the command center, running at them in formation, then taking cover.
The fight to take the command center had begun.
GIOVANNI HAD BEEN A MARINE, and once a Marine, always a Marine. That hadn’t felt so true, lately, with all of the time-ship loops, hijacking the ship in the first place, or all the strange resistance fighting they had become involved in. But here, fighting alongside Luke and others as mechs and drones on both sides shot the shit out of each other while he and the other fighters ran about, doing their best with explosives and rockets…it was like he was home.
Explosions came from the floating fortress above, and Giovanni knew it had begun. They were laying siege to the Potentate. This was the moment that determined whether the Syndicate would be wiped out, or the resistance.
No more gray, no more black and white. Just one or the other.
And while he waited to find out which side won, he meant to take out as many of them as he possibly could.
“The final countdown, gentlemen,” Dan shouted, and at his side was the woman who he’d introduced as Ashley. She had a rocket blaster at the ready, a rifle sl
ung over her shoulder, and she let out a “Whoop!” of excitement before the two ran off to begin peppering the enemy with rounds.
Ashley aimed and let loose with a rocket that tore through the leg of an enemy mech, and then Dan made a motion and one of the smaller mechs was at his side. He pulled open the hatch and swung himself up and inside.
“I’ll you see you in Elysium, or Valhalla, or whatever the fuck place we go when we die.” He closed the door and took control, so that the mech went running right into the thick of it, the Fifty Cal on its right arm blasting away at enemy mechs.
“They’ll succeed,” Luke said, one hand on his rifle, the other on Giovanni’s. “And when they do, the two of us are retiring to the mountains. No more of this bullshit for us, right?”
“If that’ll make you happy,” Giovanni replied, “I’m right there with you.”
Luke nodded, pulled on his green helmet and turned once more to stare into Giovanni’s eyes.
“I’m with you ‘til the end,” Giovanni said, then slapped on his own helmet. It had the distinct smell of sweat and dirt, and wouldn’t likely protect him from the rounds and lasers flying around this day, but it seemed the right thing to do.
Screaming the calls of warriors, they were up and charging, blowing everything they could to bits.
Even then, Giovanni knew, before they had confirmation from above, this was it. This was the end of the Syndicate as they’d known it, and they were going to be part of the force that took it down.
Damn, that was a good feeling.
WHEREVER SAMANTHA HAD GOTTEN off to, Quinn had no idea. As soon as the fighting started though, there she was, tearing through the enemy with blasts from a shield of blue light that sent waves of electricity through her opponents to incapacitate them. At one moment Samantha was right above, then she was to the left, then the right, moving like the wind. It was all too much for Quinn, watching her little baby, all grown up like this.
And in that moment, she knew without a doubt that Samantha’s father must not have come from this world. What a strange feeling, to know that an alien had shared your bed. That you had given birth to its child! But that thought didn’t take away from her love of Samantha in the slightest—if anything, it made her more special.
“QUINN!” someone was shouting, and she realized they had been shouting her name as she stood there, staring in awe at her daughter.
“Quinn!” The shout came from Cody. “We’ve gotta move!”
A drone went skidding past and exploded behind Quinn, giving her what she needed to snap out of it. She discharged several rounds into the Syndicate Warriors, then darted up to join her comrades.
“Take the left flank,” Milo said. “I’ll cover you.”
“No, we can’t let you—”
“GO!” He stood and started laying down suppressive fire. The only reason he wasn’t blown to smithereens was that Hadrian was there, helping to deflect shots with bursts of energy.
The one odd thing about Hadrian and Samantha was that they didn’t seem to want to truly harm or kill any of the Syndicate. There was lots of blocking, lots of shields and incapacitating strikes, but Quinn was certain they were capable of so much more.
She made a note to remind herself to ask about that later.
A Syndicate soldier ran at Quinn, rifle raised to bring down on her skull, but she wasn’t having that. If he wanted to go toe-to-toe, she would meet him. Charging forward as well, she slid at the last minute shooting into the back, weak section near the neck, and then continued on. Yeah, probably better to get it over with, she reminded herself, instead of proving her strength or courage.
More explosions, more near-death experiences, and then they were at the command center, charging through, and Samantha and Hadrian took the doorway.
“We’ll keep them out here!” Samantha called back to Quinn as she ran. “You do what needs to be done!”
Quinn slowed to a jog, nodded her appreciation—more of an excuse to get one last look at her daughter, in case this went sour—and then continued on at a sprint.
They burst into a room surrounded by screens, each one displaying a different section of the world, each apparently mobile with the various controls around the room. It was insane, but not as insane as the look in the man’s eyes who stood and turned to her, and for a moment she wasn’t sure she recognized him.
He stood with authority, half of his face scarred from burns, and somehow she knew how—the bridge fight, in Wyoming. It was the man they’d been warned about, the Potentate’s right-hand man. The Vicerory. Rane.
In half the time it took her to recognize him, it became clear that he had recognized her. His eyes stared intently, not bothering to take in the rest of Quinn’s party. His lip curled up in what might have been a smile, but looked more like a snarl because of his scars.
“Oh, how I’ve dreamed of this day,” Rane stated. “I wondered when I would find you, and when that happened, if I would recognize you. How odd, that you’ve barely changed since that day on the bridge.”
A couple of others gasped.
Quinn stepped forward. “Where’s the Potentate?”
“I am the Potentate,” the man said. “Would that make it easier on you when I take your life?”
“You’re not him,” Quinn replied. “There’s not enough intelligence in that pea-sized brain of yours to make all of this work.”
“Is that right?” Rane smiled, took a step back, and sat in the tall chair behind him. “It won’t matter once you’re gone though, will it?”
He pressed a button and parts of the chair folded out onto him, so that a moment later he was standing with an exoskeleton, body armor, and two guns with blades at their ends.
“You really thought you could mosey on in here and take us out?” He laughed, lifting the gun to shoot. “We’ve been waiting, Quinn. Especially me.”
Everyone else had their weapons ready, but Quinn was the first to fire. She wasn’t interested in giving this prick the chance. As he lifted his own weapons to fire, a helmet moved out from his armor and engulfed his head, shots bouncing off of him.
He charged, sending blaster shots their way, but Quinn dodged and led him away from the rest of the group. She rolled and came up shooting so that his shots tore into the many displays as she dove for cover behind one of the racks of computers. Smoke and fizzing.
“You could’ve stayed dead,” she shouted, catching a nod from Hayden so that both fired back on Rane at the same time.
The man spun, shots ricocheting off of his armor, and Quinn saw that this wasn’t working. She needed to think smart, and fast.
“You all don’t get it,” she shouted, ducking further behind the rack of machinery. “We’re not here for you to finally get your revenge, we’re here to destroy the Syndicate once and for all.”
“Destroy the Syndicate?” Rane stopped shooting long enough to laugh and reply. “Lady, the world is the Syndicate now. We are one and the same. The Syndicate is your only chance of surviving what’s out there, the greater evil.”
That hit too close to home, because he had touched on exactly what had been worrying her. Revenge was necessary, stopping the Potentate was necessary.
But what then?
If they truly stopped the Syndicate, would they have killed off Earth’s hope for survival?”
A shot rang out and blasted through a computer at her side, sending bits of metal flying. One lodged into her arm and she screamed, pissed and frustrated, and charged forward. If living in the world with the murderous scumbags that ran the Syndicate was their only hope of survival, she didn’t accept it. That was no survival at all, as far as she was concerned.
Rane had his weapons up and was laughing, the horrible sound of it echoing from his helmet’s speakers, but that wouldn’t’ phase her. She was going to take him down or die trying.
The others saw her coming too, and moved to join the attack. He pulled back to strike, but Hayden was on him, all his weight against that exoskelet
on-enhanced arm. Milo took the other, and Cody yanked him by the helmet so that, as Quinn connected, he was already off-balance.
She leaped up, grabbed a hold of him by the back of the helmet, and threw all of her weight into him as Cody pulled backwards.
They toppled the man and he fell with a thud that seemed to shake the command center, and then his weapons went flying. With several slams of her rifle into the man’s helmet, she realized it was pointless, until Cody found the button on the armor that made the helmet vanish, folding back into the neckline.
“This isn’t the way Earth survives, asshole,” Quinn said, then brought her gun point blank and ended the man.
Gore splattered, but nobody cared. All they gave two shits about was that they were one step closer to it being over.
Cody was up in an instant, moving levers and pressing buttons, and then he turned and smiled.
“It’s done.”
They watched on the displays as Syndicate warriors came to a stop, glancing around as if unsure of their orders, while mechs, drones, and worse all became suddenly slack, inoperative. He had managed to shut it down.
“But the Potentate,” Quinn said, glancing around. “We’ll search this whole damn floating island if we have to.
“No need,” Cody stated as he moved to one central control panel. “I have no idea why I know this, but…” With one final button, he turned, nodding toward the far wall. Sure enough, it opened into a passage.
The passage would have been dark, if not for an orange wall of light blocking the entrance. But he didn’t look worried, and simply started walking toward the wall of light.
27
JUST THE TWO OF THEM
Cody knew they had to leave everyone else behind before going inside. If Milo, Hayden, or the other Marine tried to pass through the shield, they’d be vaporized where they stood. Only Cody and Quinn’s biometrics could gain access. He knew this from his time loop.
Syndicate Wars: Empire Rising (Seppukarian Book 5) Page 16