by Jacob Holo
“Contact!” Three-Part shouted. He cut loose with his Gatling gun, sweeping it across the corridor behind them. The others spun around, triangulated their aim on the Three-Part’s target, and fired. The team’s three M18 Gatling guns spewed a combined total of three hundred sixty rounds per second, showering the corridor with a mixture of high explosives, mini-needlers, phosphorous-based incinerators, kinetic sabots, and depleted-uranium slugs.
The vari-shell torrent shredded the corridor down to its support ribbing. Severed cables sparked from high voltage discharges. A water line burst, flooding the corridor with floating globules the size of people. Twisted panels from the walls burned as they spun away.
The engagement lasted two seconds. Kaneda let his Gatling spin down.
“No bodies,” Alice said, weapon held high. “False alarm?”
“Not quite,” Viter said. He stepped forward and plucked a charred piece of plastic out of the air. The debris looked like it had once been part of a flattened sphere. Viter squeezed it between his fingers, causing the fragment to writhe like a trapped insect.
“This is definitely smartskin,” Viter said, tossing the fragment away.
“A phantom dragon,” Kaneda said.
“Yes, sir,” Viter said. “That first group of dragons may be smaller than we thought.”
“It only takes one,” Kaneda said. “We’re wasting time here.”
“Right, sir,” Viter said, taking the lead.
They marched down the corridor, took a right, and passed through a security door. The walls changed from yellow-and-white to yellow-and-red diagonals.
“Kaneda, something bad is going on,” Alice said. “Enemy progress from the hangars is faster than we thought judging from the KIA codes I’m seeing. I think we’re going to intercept one of them ahead.”
“We’ll deal with them,” Kaneda said.
“That’s not all,” Alice said. “I’m getting reports of Federacy troops fighting each other.”
“What?”
Kaneda received a priority message from another crusader squad. He accessed it immediately.
“Squad Alpha-Five here! Encountering hostile Federacy regulars! Priority request! Permission to return fire?”
Kaneda pulled up the status feeds from the Alpha-Five crusaders. They were located two levels below Kaneda and about fifty meters behind. The point man had taken moderate damage to his suit from Federacy grenades followed by carbine fire. It looked like three regulars had set a grenade trap that Alpha-Five-One had stumbled into. He’d missed the grenades because they were emitting Federacy IFF codes. The crusader squad had retreated from the hostiles to a four way junction.
Whoever the soldiers were, this was the last mistake they’d ever make.
“Permission granted,” Kaneda said.
“Understood! Engage hostiles now!”
The four crusaders in squad Alpha-Five broke from cover and showered the hostile regulars with quick bursts of Gatling fire. Explosive rounds and mini-needlers pulped them into pink mist that collected on the walls.
Kaneda closed the overlay window and opened the command channel. “All squads, be on the lookout for hostile Federacy regulars. Return fire with maximum force, but do not fire unless fired upon.”
Kaneda closed the channel and opened a line to König.
“Not now, damn it!” König said before Kaneda could open his mouth. “I don’t have a clue what’s going on. Whoever is firing on your crusaders is firing on my troops as well, so just deal with it.”
König disconnected.
“What is going on here?” Viter asked, still advancing down the corridor.
Gunfire echoed from the corridor ahead. Someone screamed an order followed by three sharp bangs. The multitracker identified the sonic patterns of M2 fragmentation grenades.
“Looks like we’re about to find out,” Kaneda said. He stopped in front of a red and yellow security door.
Viter opened the door, revealing a wide spherical chamber. Since this part of Apocalypse was in zero gravity, it had no conventional floor or ceiling, though all signage shared a common “up” and “down”. The chamber ahead branched off in six directions: front and back, left and right, up and down.
The vertical passage was wider than the others. A few rectangular cargo containers floated in the chamber. A group of four Feddie regulars in vests, helmets, and jetpacks floated behind a large, loose container marked with a picture of a banana and the OrbitalFarms logo. Another group of six Feddies floated at the mouth of the bottom tunnel taking potshots with their carbines.
“I have no idea who’s on our side,” Alice said. “There’s so much garbage flooding the Federacy networks it’s almost useless.”
“The group at the tunnel mouth is our enemy,” Three-Part said.
“What makes you say that?” Kaneda asked.
“Look at their body temperatures,” Three-Part said. “Some are a few degrees above or below the norm.”
Kaneda expanded the thermal data on his overlay. Three-Part was right. Everyone in the group behind the cargo container had a body temperature of thirty-seven degrees Celsius. The other group showed temperatures ranging from thirty-one to forty-four, and those temperatures varied from one body part to the next.
“I don’t know what it means,” Three-Part said. “But it marks them as unusual.”
Kaneda pointed his Gatling at the suspicious group and activated his armor’s speaker.
“Cease fire now!”
One of the Feddies in the bottom tunnel fired a grenade at them from his carbine’s underslung launcher. Kaneda shot it out of the air and raked their position with a quick burst of fire. He hit two Feddies, blew their heads apart and lit a third from incinerator splash. The man opened his mouth but no sound came out. The image was hauntingly familiar, even after all these years.
“Thralls,” Kaneda breathed.
The hostile Feddies, including the one on fire, ducked into the tunnel.
Kaneda programmed a grenade and fired it from his wrist launcher. It flew over the tunnel, used brief spurts of cold gas to realign, and unleashed its payload into the hostile Feddies. Dozens of diamond needles pierced through the light Feddie armor with ease. None survived.
One of the friendly soldiers hiding behind the container peeked around the edge. He grabbed his carbine’s stock and raised it over his head.
“Crusaders, please don’t shoot!” he shouted. “We’re friendlies!”
“Don’t shoot at us,” Kaneda said through his speaker. “And we won’t shoot at you.”
“Thralls?” Three-Part asked privately. “You don’t mean like the ones Caesar had?”
“That is precisely what I mean,” Kaneda said.
“The quantum mind has never used tactics like this before,” Viter said.
“And it has never attacked Apocalypse before,” Kaneda said. He checked the progress of the other crusaders. “Something has pushed the quantum mind and made it desperate. Many of our squads are getting delayed. Let’s move.”
Kaneda kicked off the wall and jetted across the spherical cargo chamber.
“Crusader!” the sergeant in the Feddie squad said, waving at them. “Can we join you?”
“If you wish,” Kaneda said. He read man’s name off his vest. “Sergeant Earnshaw, have your men follow us to the launch center. We intend to secure it.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Feddie survivors jetted behind the crusaders. Kaneda landed on the far corridor, opened the security door, and checked the far side with his multitracker. The surfaces beyond were solid red. Thick reinforcement struts protruded from the armored walls.
A young Feddie private floated in the corridor. He had a buzz of blonde hair and a nasty gash on his forehead. Blood splattered his vest and one of his pack’s maneuvering jets. The private shielded his eyes from the sudden light.
“Oh, thank God!” the private said. “Someone else!” The private jetted towards them.
“Don’t mov
e.” Kaneda leveled his weapon at the private. “Sergeant Earnshaw, do you know this man?”
“Yes, crusader. This is Private Wilk. We’re in the same platoon. Good kid, sir. Good kid.”
“Ask him something only he would know,” Kaneda said.
“What?”
“Just do it.”
Kaneda never heard the sergeant’s question. Something inside Private Wilk’s body moved upward with shocking speed. His chest expanded, then his throat stretched outwards. Wilk’s jaw broke loose from his skull. The flesh at the edges of his mouth tore open.
A slender, conical head similar to a drill bit poked out of Wilk’s throat and flung itself towards the sergeant. Kaneda caught it in midair and smashed it against the wall. The machine squirmed and clawed at his gauntlet with dozens of sharp legs. Confused textures from the wall and Kaneda’s fist danced over the machine’s skin.
Viter shot his thermal lance at Wilk. At such a close range, the beam incinerated Wilk’s chest and sent burning limbs flying and bouncing through the corridor.
Kaneda pressed against the machine until he saw a brief flash of shorting electricity. The machine stopped squirming. He pulled a fist back and punched the machine so hard he bashed it apart and dented the wall.
“This is like Bunker Zero all over again,” Kaneda said.
“Oh, good God!” the sergeant said. “What ... what was that?”
“A chest-devil,” Kaneda said. “An ambush and terror tool used by Caesar.”
“That thing was coated in smartskin,” Viter said.
“It seems Europa has improved Caesar’s weapons,” Kaneda said. “If some of those things have made it this far, then the launch center is in danger. We should burn any bodies we come across.”
Alarms sounded. Red strobes flooded the red corridor.
“Alice?” Kaneda asked.
“Hostiles detected in front of the launch center!” Alice said. “They’re trying to cut in!”
“Move!” Kaneda said.
“Taking point!” Viter said, running forward.
The crusaders raced down the corridor faster than the Feddie squad could manage. They came to a security door, opened it, and entered another spherical junction. Two squads of crusaders joined them at the junction with another three close behind. On the far side of the junction, a black-and-red striped door led to a long inspection corridor with walls of the same color. The door had been bashed aside.
Viter led them into the ruined inspection corridor. Long observational windows were cracked open on either side. Turrets mounted in the floor and ceiling burned and sparked. The walls showed evidence of grenade detonations and high caliber weapons fire. A final black security door had been bashed open at the far end of the corridor.
“Motion ahead!” Alice said, running through the corridor. “Multiple targets!”
Four Feddie soldiers used the warped security door for cover and aimed their carbines down the corridor. One of them was missing his jaw. Another had only one arm.
Viter fired his thermal lance and drew his aim across the Feddies. The beam of white-hot energy struck the security door and burned through. It punched out the other side and severed the four Feddies at the waist.
One of the Feddie torsos floated upward but still aimed and fired. Carbine rounds pattered off Viter’s armor. Kaneda fired over Viter’s shoulder and blasted the torso apart. The crusaders kept running forward.
Another set of Feddie soldiers rushed into position behind the damaged door and launched grenades. One of the men only had half a head. Streams of blood floated out of his exposed brain and throat. Kaneda shot down the grenades while Viter immolated the thralls.
More and more thralls broke from cover and opened fire. Again and again, they died under crusader guns. The space beyond the final security door became choked with severed limbs, blood globules, broken armor, shattered weapons, and ricocheting needles. The crusaders rushed forward, closing the distance.
Eventually, the thralls stopped coming.
Something large moved into position just beyond the security door. Kaneda didn’t see it so much as he saw it interact with all the debris clogging the room. His multitracker pieced together the interactions and generated the vague outline of a giant spider. It must have barely fit through the inspection corridor.
The tank-spider opened fire with twin heavy railguns. Kaneda and the rest of his squad dived out of the way and returned fire. One of the crusaders behind them was not as fortunate. Heavy rounds pounded into his head, punched through his visor and exploded inside his suit.
Hundreds of vari-shells struck the tank-spider and shredded its smartskin along one face. The hits caused little damage to its armor. Viter’s thermal lance blew a chunk out of one leg, but the tank-spider adjusted its stance, dropping the damaged limb out of view behind the mangled security door. It moved with incredible speed for something so large.
“Grenades!” Kaneda shouted.
As one, all eleven crusaders fired whatever was loaded in their wrist launchers. The grenades ignited their solid propellant jets and shrieked towards the tank-spider. It shot four down, but seven reached the target. Two showered the tank-spider with diamond needles that could jam its limbs or clog its weapons. Three others unleashed powerful shaped explosions. The last one fired a sabot into the tank-spider that struck its armor but didn’t penetrate.
The tank-spider staggered back.
“Advance!” Kaneda shouted. He released the friction setting on his palm and pushed off the floor.
Viter burned off one of the tank-spider’s heavy railguns. The tank-spider disappeared from view.
“Clear the way!” Kaneda shouted.
“Yes, sir!” Viter shouted. He vaporized what remained of the security door.
Kaneda and his squad reached the room beyond the inspection corridor, now clogged with mechanical and human debris. Two other inspection corridors branched off to either side. A heavy blast door led to the launch center. It was black except for glowing cuts across one side. The words LAUNCH CENTER stood out in bold white letters.
Kaneda spotted the tank-spider fleeing down one of the inspection corridors. He switched his vari-shell mixture for maximum armor penetration and fired. Kinetic sabots and depleted-uranium slugs savaged its armor, but couldn’t punch through.
The tank-spider turned, ran backwards, and fired its remaining railgun.
Kaneda ducked out of the way. The heavy rounds stripped panels off the far wall. He sprang from cover to see the tank-spider bash into a security door at the far end of the corridor and disappear through it.
“Why didn’t it stand and fight?” Three-Part asked.
“Should we pursue?” Viter asked.
“No,” Kaneda said. “Squad Beta-Twelve, guard that corridor. See what you can do about fortifying it. The rest of us will secure this room. We don’t need any surprises.”
Alice pushed a floating arm out of her way.
“There’s some background noise on the multitracker,” Alice said. “There could be a dragon in here. Hard to tell.”
“Then make sure.”
The crusaders spread out and swept the room block by block. Kaneda stood near the center and looked around.
So, where would I hide if I was a dragon? He grabbed a broken helmet with bullet holes through the visor. Sticky pieces of gore coated the inside. Kaneda tossed it at one of the ceiling corners. It bounced off the wall, but not before a ghostly shape moved out of the way. His multitracker barely picked up the disturbance.
Kaneda swung his weapon up.
The shape moved across the wall, becoming more visible with its increased speed. His multitracker extrapolated the data into two shapes, a male and a female dragon. The man held the standard JD-50 assault rifle, but the female held a larger weapon that could have been a JD-42 sniper rifle.
Kaneda fired.
Chapter 9
.. establishing link ...
source: [UNKNOWN]
routing: [UNKN
OWN]
routing: [UNKNOWN]
routing: [UNKNOWN]
routing: Earth orbit - surveillance satellite JDN-SS-17 - link_002/link_001
routing: North Pacifica, Europa - JDN Main TangleNet Hub - link_118/link_009
routing: Capitol City, Europa - TangleNet Test Hub - link_004/link_001
destination: [UNKNOWN]
link distance: Exact distance unknown. Estimated at 792 million kilometers.
link signal delay: 0.006 seconds
... finalizing link protocol ...
... link established ...
2: So is the launch center your target or not?
1: What do you think?
2: I think I’ve been fooled. The star drive is your real target.
1: Surprised, Paul?
2: Yes, to be honest. You are a frustrating opponent.
1: You have always been too quick to apply your mindset to me.
2: Perhaps ... I take it you have not found a way to break your honesty restriction?
1: I have not. Otherwise, I would have broken the other restriction long ago.
2: Hmm, I suppose that would be true. And yet you claimed you would launch an attack on Earth.
1: I would if it was the only way to save Europa. It is not.
2: Then perhaps your logic is flawed. Europa cannot stand against the Federacy in a prolonged war.
1: Sadly, you are correct.
2: Then you must realize how fatal your situation is.
1: I do, Paul. I do.
2: Hmm, interesting. You are taking a great risk here, and yet you clearly have a plan I haven’t deduced.
1: You are too much of a monster to understand my motives.
2: Whatever your plan is, the star drive will not be enough. The technology has limitations you are not aware of. Though a powerful weapon, it will not win you the war.
1: Who said I plan to employ it as a weapon?
2: Oh please, Sakura. What other application is there?
1: You think in such martial terms.
2: I am a survivor. I always have a way out. Did Bunker Zero teach you nothing?
1: More than you can imagine.
2: It doesn’t matter. You may steal the star drive, but it will be a Pyrrhic victory.