by Isaac Hooke
He reached Lori, scooped her up, and continued deeper until he was past the wave of defenders embedded between the buildings. Then he promptly turned into a side street, and took cover. He lowered Lori’s mech to the street beside him.
He would have been panting from the exertion were he human.
He peered past the building edge and saw that the combined War Forger clones, along with the Cataphracts, were making short work of the remaining defenders. Jason’s Originals joined them in their attack, along with Iris, Maeran and Cheyanne. He spotted the four Rex Wolves, which were continuing their attack against the enemy units. The wolves were covered in blood—it had to be their own. The sight made Jason feel sick. He hoped the animals weren’t too badly injured. They’d taken wounds before during different hunts, and usually healed relatively quickly. Still, he was worried by what he saw...
“Do you need help?” Aria asked.
“Negative,” Jason said. “I’ll camp out here until you guys are finished, then we can reunite. I don’t want any of you risking your lives in another ‘run of death’ like the one I just made. The dogs might need your help, though. It looks like they’re covered in blood.”
“What?” Tara finished her current target and cut her way toward the dogs. She went to Bruiser and slid a metallic hand across his hide. The animal snarled at her in surprise, and nearly attacked until he realized who it was.
“That’s not blood,” Tara said. “It’s sweat, you ass. Don’t do that to me!”
Jason slumped in relief. “It looked like blood from here.”
“That’s just because their fur is damp,” Tara said. She checked the other three mutants just to be safe, and then continued to fight, staying close to the dogs.
Jason waited where he was, keeping an eye on his surroundings for any potential ambushers. This included continually scanning the sky above, and the rooftops of the nearby buildings, which were slightly taller here.
He occasionally glanced toward the west to observe the progress of his army and the Modlenth battalion with them, and also toward the far Eastern side, where the second Modlenth battalion was only just breaking through the dome on that flank. Now that he was away from the fighting, he could hear the klaxon that was blaring throughout the city.
His attention was drawn northward by a bright flash of light. A hole had been drilled into the base of the dome there by some sort of bomb.
He zoomed in and saw Modlenth mechs and flyers swooping inside. It was the final group led by Risilan herself. They would make their way to the palace near the center of the city, and once there, Risilan would retake the throne.
That was the theory, anyway.
The third group vanished from view beyond the many interceding buildings. But even though Jason wasn’t able to see them with his eyes, he could still gauge their progress because their positions updated on his overhead map,
He continued checking for signs of any ambushers around him, while glancing occasionally at the map; he watched as Risilan’s group stopped next to a building near the city’s center. It had to be the palace Risilan was looking for.
As he continued to look at the map, he realized that the group was no longer moving. They had assumed positions around the perimeter, and didn’t budge.
Something was wrong.
A moment later the units began to turn black—they were going down.
“Jhagan, has Risilan reached the palace?” Jason asked.
“She has,” Jhagan replied. “It looks like the Central is in some trouble! We’re going to have to divert. Keep your army here!”
The Modlenth mechs stopped firing at the targets still entrenched behind the buildings around them, and began racing toward the city center. The Imperials fired at their backs, while Jason’s army in turn attacked theirs.
“At least bring along a few of my Cataphracts,” Jason said.
“They’ll be vulnerable to the palace defenses, if those defenses haven’t been shut down,” Jhagan said. “Stay here and guard against any reinforcements the space navy sends!”
“I thought there were limits on how big of an army the empire allows its member species to keep?” Jason said.
“There are!” Jhagan said. “The troops aboard the warships are included in that limit.”
Jhagan and the surviving Modlenth mechs pulled away from the fighting near the breach, and continued toward the city center.
Jason glanced at his overhead map, only to see more of Risilan troops turn black next to the palace. None of the other units with her had moved.
“I’m going to join Jhagan,” Jason told Bokerov and his War Forgers. “Stay here, and guard our left flank!”
“What about Lori?” Tara asked.
“I’m taking her core with me.” Jason was already opening up Lori’s damaged chest panel; he retrieved the cylinder that contained the AI core and slid it into his storage compartment. Then he abandoned her mech. If the Imperials found her, they could do whatever they wanted to the body: her mind was safe.
At least, as long as he didn’t take a wound to his storage compartment.
Maybe I should have stowed her AI core between some buildings or something.
He dismissed the thought and ran on.
A moment later Tara landed at his side. “Buddy system.”
Jason nodded reluctantly. “What about the dogs?”
“They’ll be fine,” Tara said. “They’ve grown, in case you hadn’t noticed. Not just physically.”
Aria arrived next, then Xin, Sophie, and Cheyanne. The latter two sprinted in a side street that ran parallel to his own.
He was okay with one or two arriving, but almost his whole team?
“I told you to stay!” Jason said. “You could have been shot down getting here!”
“We’re not scared of the run of death,” Iris said, appearing in another side street with Maeran. “If the princess fails, we all fail.”
Jason glanced at his rear view camera feed and confirmed the combined clones were staying behind, along with the Cataphracts, and tanks.
“At least some people know how to obey orders,” Jason complained.
He reached the rear of the Modlenth battalion that was led by Jhagan.
“I told you to remain,” Jhagan transmitted.
Jason felt suddenly embarrassed: he had only just been chastening his War Forgers about the ability to obey orders...
“Most of my army remains behind,” Jason said, stumbling over his words slightly. “I figured the princess could use the help.”
When Jhagan didn’t answer, Jason took the silence for approval.
The buildings grew successively taller around him as Jason neared the city core. The group faced no resistance along the way. It seemed that all of the troops were occupied at the three main combat areas: the western and eastern breaches, and the palace.
When the battalion was completely surrounded by skyscrapers, Jhagan took a southern turn, heading toward the palace—as indicated on the overhead map—from a side street. After a block, the towering buildings receded, revealing a neighborhood whose triangular structures were only a little higher than Jason. Any units larger than Jason and his War Forgers would have been exposed above those shorter buildings. It was probably a good thing the Cataphracts and combined mechs had stayed behind.
Ahead, the palace came into view. It reminded him of the residence Risilan used in the Modlenth city: four towering walls that were slightly bigger than his mech, with triangular towers thrusting from each of the four corners. He couldn’t see the courtyard beyond, but the top portion of the inner building was readily visible—it was a pyramid of some kind.
Ahead, Modlenth mechs from the third strike group had taken cover behind various buildings close to the palace perimeter: one of them had the topknot that marked Risilan’s bodyguard. That meant the princess herself was somewhere among them.
Turrets fired relentlessly from the palace walls, and forced the survivors of the Modlenth battalion with
Jason to shelter behind vacant buildings. There were several flyers hovering over the palace that also joined in the defense.
The War Forgers took cover as well.
“Good of you to show up,” Risilan said over the comm band. Voice only.
“We said we’d fight…” Jason aimed his energy weapon past the edge of the triangular building he used for cover. He fired at a turret that protruded from the outer wall of the palace.
A convex field flashed into existence a meter in front of the wall and absorbed the blow. At first he thought it was a localized energy field protecting the turret, like those that had shielded the turrets of the main dome, but something seemed off about the shape of that field. It was too flat. More fields flashed into existence as the War Forgers targeted different turrets, but they too all had that same flat shape. Jason aimed above the turret, at a bare portion of the wall, and unleashed another shot. That area was protected, too. He realized the entire palace was covered in an invisible energy dome.
“What happened to your ‘friends’ embedded inside the Imperial palace?” Jason said.
“They weren’t able to disable the defenses,” Risilan said.
“Well that puts a crimp on things,” Jason said. “Jhagan, how do we lower the energy dome from the outside?”
“We don’t!” Jhagan replied.
Jason was still in contact with those members of his army who had remained near the breach, thanks to the scouts Jhagan had dispersed throughout the city to act as repeaters. So when Jerry sent a transmission, Jason received it right away.
“We’re under attack by reinforcements,” Jerry said. “Looks like the space navy finally sent down some transport ships.”
“If they were smart, they’d shut down the city’s entire energy dome and just open fire on us directly from orbit,” Julian said.
“Oh no, they can’t do that,” John said. “They don’t want to harm any of their buildings. Preserving their cultural heritage and all that.”
“Why do I feel like I’m talking to myself?” Jason commented.
“Probably because you are,” Jones said.
Jason glanced at his overhead map and saw countless red dots appearing outside both the western and eastern breaches in the main city wall. There were probably more troops entering from the northern section, but apparently any scouts Risilan had left behind to watch that third particular breach had ceased transmitting. Reinforcements were also likely flowing inside from unmarked entrances, and would soon outflank Jason’s army, and the Modlenth.
They were running out of time.
16
Jason was considering their options when Tara spoke.
“I can teleport inside,” Tara said. “I just need to recharge for a little while.”
“And once you’re through, then what?” Jason said. “You’ll be exposed on all sides.”
“I did something similar at Bokerov’s base,” Tara said.
“This isn’t Bokerov’s base,” Jason said. “You go in there, you’ll draw fire from every unit. You won’t survive.”
“But I might be able to take down the defensive shield before I do,” Tara said.
“What if she took someone with her?” Aria said. “Tara, I thought you had the ability to teleport one of us, too?”
“I can,” Tara said. “But I’ll have to recharge a lot longer.”
Jason shook his head. He switched to a private band to exclude Jhagan, who would have heard everything else. “It’s still too risky. Especially considering that we don’t know if this Risilan will keep her word. I won’t have any of you sacrifice yourselves for her.”
“You’re talking about the teleport technology used by the Banthar?” Jhagan interjected.
“Er, yeah,” Jason said, returning to the main comm band. He didn’t want to admit that humanity had stolen the tech from the Banthar, but it looked like Jhagan had already guessed as much.
“Then it won’t work,” Jhagan said. “The teleportation equipment can’t form a fix through an energy field.”
“There you go,” Jason told Tara.
“Sappers,” Sophie said.
“What?” Jason said.
“Cover me,” Sophie said.
Sophie left the protection of her building and raced into the street toward the palace.
It wasn’t really possible to cover her from the turrets, which were shielded behind the palace’s main defense field, so the War Forgers and Modlenth mechs concentrated their fire on the enemy flyers overhead.
“Aria, with me!” Jason got up and dashed forward, following Sophie. He wasn’t going to let her do whatever it was she planned alone.
Turrets in the palace wall launched plasma and lightning bolts at Sophie, but her personal energy field still had enough charge to protect her. That field saved Jason, too, because he was right behind her. Aria piled in behind him, and held her pocked shield overhead to protect him and her from any flyer attacks.
“Sophie, you’re heading straight for the energy dome!” Jason said.
Sophie ignored him, racing forward. The attacks from the embedded turrets picked up. Sophie’s energy shield failed. Bolts tore into her armor, but she continued onward. Jason was hit by a few, too—evidently the weapons required a recharge interval to fire at full capacity, because these blows only caused a fraction of the damage he would have expected. That made sense, considering that the turrets had been firing nonstop since his arrival. Still, if that pounding kept up, Sophie wouldn’t last much longer. Especially if she stunned her mech by plowing into the energy dome.
“Sophie!” Jason said.
She dodged to the left at the last moment, diving behind the building that was the closest to the palace—a wide triangular structure that could fit three mechs. She crunched over the wreckage of several Modlenth mechs that had fallen there.
Jason joined her, as did Aria, who deployed her cratered shield like an umbrella above them. The trio were safe from the turrets embedded in the palace wall, thanks to the building, but those flyers were the greatest threat at the moment, especially considering that previous plasma and energy attacks had taken a toll on the shield: there were several large holes along the edges, with smaller gaps in the inner regions. Jason doubted it would last much longer.
“Risilan, War Forgers, keep the flyers occupied, please!” Jason said.
“What are you planning?” Risilan said.
“You’ll see,” Jason said. He glanced at Sophie. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Sophie’s avatar gave him a smile with the teeth bared. “While I was once a social media star, I’m now an advanced war machine capable of limitless death and destruction. So yes, I know what I’m doing.”
“Famous last words,” Aria commented.
The War Forgers and Modlenth concentrated their attacks on the overhead flyers, drawing most of the fire.
Sophie meanwhile formed her micro machines into a large drill and sent them spinning into the triangular building beside her. The machines focused on the bottom of the wall and broke through after several moments.
She waited while the micro machines enlarged the gap, and then Sophie lowered her body to the street, forcing Jason and Aria to make space. She peered inside.
“There are rooms in the way,” Sophie announced. She reached in with one arm and punched several times, then looked through the opening once again. “This will do.”
He switched to her viewpoint and watched as she directed her micro machines through the smashed inner walls and toward the far side of the building; when they arrived, they swooped downward, and began drilling into the floor.
“You’re digging a tunnel underneath the palace walls, and the energy dome?” Jason said.
“Like I told you, sappers,” Sophie said.
“The palace turrets have begun firing on the building,” Aria said. “So far it’s holding up. Not sure how long it will last.”
“If it becomes compromised, we’ll move to the next building,”
Jason said, nodding toward the adjacent triangularly tower nearby. Sophie would still have control of her micro machines at that distance.
He hoped.
It took her ten minutes to tunnel underneath the energy dome, the palace wall, and into the courtyard beyond. The passage was extremely tight and narrow, not big enough to fit even a human being—not that they had any humans with them.
But that wasn’t who the tunnel was designed for.
Sophie sent her micro machines inside.
“Can you see with them?” Jason asked.
“I can organize some of the machines into camera systems,” Sophie said. “Mounting them atop weapons and other objects I might form.”
As she spoke, the point of view he’d tapped into changed—a camera had formed atop her micro machines, which had taken the form of a spear-like weapon.
Mechs and defense turrets inside the courtyard were opening fire at the flying weapon.
Sophie separated the machines like a pro to avoid the strikes, and then recombined them when the threat passed. She kept the camera intact through it all, maintaining the viewpoint.
“You’re like a Phaser mech without the phasing,” Aria commented, also evidently viewing the feed.
“Risilan, describe the energy field generator for me,” Jason said.
“It will look like a cylinder, protruding from the ground,” Risilan said. “Green pulses travel up and down various channels carved into the surface. The top will look like an unfolding Resna.”
“A what?” Jason said.
“A flow,” Risilan clarified. “It should be somewhere near the center of the courtyard.”
Sophie steered her combined micro machines between the smaller outbuildings, occasionally separating them to avoid a plasma or energy bolt. She plunged the spear formed by the machines into a few Imperial defense platforms along the way, destroying them.
“There!” Jason said, spotting the generator in question.
“I see it,” Sophie said.
The spear backtracked, turning toward a tall cylinder that was precisely as Risilan had described. It was surrounded by eight Phaser mechs who stood in a tight circle around it, swords in hand.