Collision: Book Four in the Secret World Chronicle - eARC

by Mercedes Lackey

“Overwatch to Red Team.”

  “Overwatch go,” Moji answered, coolly finishing off a Krieger with a burst from his rifle.

  “Reinforcements for Kriegers headed your way. You’re in a hot spot, with three big groups converging.” There was a pause; she was undoubtedly juggling a lot, even with help from Gamayun and the Colt brothers. “Update: a sphere and two wolves incoming. Two minutes.”

  “Copy. Position is untenable. Let us be hoping Blue team gets through, and soon. Will hold as long as we can. Red Team, over and out.” Molotok dropped down behind cover to reload. “Things are becoming more complicated. Ammo check; make your rounds count.” To punctuate his sentence, he leaned around the edge of the cover he was behind, drilling two unarmored Thulian infantry with center of mass shots; he ducked back in time to avoid an energy bolt that was close enough to blacken the marble it passed over before impacting on the far side of the square.

  “One minute,” said Sera. Somehow John knew she was right. He felt the unmistakable bone-shaking hum of the Death Sphere propulsion units, and sixty seconds later, the thing itself appeared over the rooftops. About half its tentacles were out, waving menacingly, and the whine of the energy cannons as they ramped up to fire was enough to set John’s teeth on edge. One good blast from that thing, and we’re toast. John knew what he had to do, and knew that Sera was in sync with him. He planted his feet, focusing on the underside of the ship, letting his fires build in his hands before snapping them out; a thick beam of plasma impacted the underbelly of the ship, cutting a gaping hole through it. He then had to shut the beam off to blast more fire at the oncoming sets of troopers, lest they be overrun. Even so, the Kriegers had taken advantage of the momentary opportunity to advance closer.

  But Sera was already flinging her fire-spear with all her might at the hole he had blasted. Before anyone in the ship had time to react to John’s blast, her spear shot through the opening. And whatever it hit in there, whether it was an operator or control mechanism, the effect was immediate. The entire sphere canted over sideways and began spinning crazily, tentacles whipping wildly, before it lurched back the way it had come, steadily losing height. It got just out of sight behind the rooftops when there was a tremendous explosion, and a plume of orange flame and thick, billowing black smoke from somewhere near enough that the ground shook with the impact.

  That’ll give us a little breathing room. Will it be enough?

  Victoria Victrix: Overwatch Suite

  To say that Vickie had her hands full was rather like saying that the surface of the sun was just a little warm.

  From the moment when Scope had created a fuck-up so monumental that there were no words for it, she’d been keeping so many balls in the air—some of them the literal balls that were her flying, invisible eyes—that she had lost count. But she hadn’t lost track. She knew exactly where everyone was, and how they were faring. Gamayun and the Colts, stationed in a second, Overwatch plane alongside the Command and Control Center, were handling the non-meta SFO teams; Gamayun had all the Russians, the Germans, and the Chinese, while the Colts had everyone else. Working under them were the Euro, Eurasian, and Pan-Pacific ECHO Overwatch-1 leads that the Colts had been training. Herb and Grey handled her eyes, moving them as swarms rather than individually. That, at least, allowed Vickie to concentrate on the metas.

  The Chinese had taken the first casualty; their sniper, who’d gotten sniped himself. So far there were no actual deaths…yet. But there were a good dozen people out of the action unless someone on their teams happened to be a healer along with his or her primary talent. All the teams were pinned down but Djinni’s; most had managed to take cover inside those windowless buildings. That gave them a limited port to defend, but also a limited port to fire from. Only Red Team was out in the open; she wasn’t sure if that was brilliant or suicidal.

  Her planning for this had included a backup magical power supply; she wasn’t going to rely on a single circle of mages this time. She’d been collecting boxes of “batteries” shipped to her by overnight messenger since long before Red Saviour had blown the sitch; crystals stuffed so full of magical energy that they glowed to normal sight. She had these arrayed in a bank of holders, and when one burned out and went dark, Gray or Herb replaced it.

  There were some magical things she could have done even at this distance, if she’d just had the time…but she didn’t have the time. This wasn’t two teams of infiltrators, this was eight, plus their supporting SFO teams, and all of the eyes that JM and Djinni could carry. It was so crazy she didn’t even have time to think about how crazy it was.

  All she could do was try to keep up. Which was becoming increasingly harder by the moment.

  Blue Team: Ultima Thule

  Within the massive circle of tower barracks, the members of Blue team were able to make better time. It had taken some precise timing, Knight’s silencing abilities and a lot of luck, but they had crossed the threshold without detection. Now, with the bulk of the fighting happening outside the circle’s perimeter, they met little resistance, just the occasional pair of sentries that regularly patrolled the city streets. Some they simply avoided, but in a few instances they had been forced to take steps. Their ambushes were silent. With Knight taking point they descended on their victims, his armor soaking up the thunder of incendiaries, gunfire and the short-lived screams of their marks. Occasionally, Knight discharged the build-up of energy into a subsonic blast himself.

  They were nearing their target zone. From their HUDs, it was clear they were the only ones who were. Perhaps just one squad fulfilling their bombing run would suffice. Red Djinni certainly hoped so.

  They took shelter in another alley, and Red signaled for Knight to lift his sonic cloak and motioned them together for a brief huddle.

  “We’re really close,” Red whispered. “Keep it tight. I don’t need to tell you how bad it would be to mess up now. Scope, you’ve got the sensors, pass them to Mel to fire up.”

  Scope scowled at him.

  “I know, I know,” Red said. “Bull made them your responsibility. I’m making them hers.”

  “You going to fill me in on why?” Scope asked.

  “Because I don’t trust you to do anything more than shoot things in the head right now!” Red snapped. “You can complain to Bull later, when we get back, if we get back, and if Bull’s still alive. I gave you an order, soldier. Give Operative Reverie the sensors. Now.”

  “Red, please…” Scope said, blanching. “I can do this, please, I need to do something now, something…” She grimaced and clamped a shaking hand to her mouth to steady herself. She shuddered and took a few breaths.

  “I need to do something right,” she finished, and fixed Red with a pleading look.

  “Fine, get it running.” Red sighed, rising to his feet. “On me, we move in bursts. When I take cover, be right behind me. Send a ping through the comms if you pick up anything, Scope.” And that was another complication. Scope and Mel were not hardwired; Vickie had run out of implants before they’d been certified for this cluster. They were on earpieces and throat-mics, with little projector HUDs on stalks they had to tuck out of the way when they weren’t looking at them. At least they were on the sets tied into the magic freqs, not the conventional ones. “Start it up again, Knight. On three, two, one…”

  Red took a glimpse out of the alley, scanned their immediate surroundings, and dashed across the empty street. He led them closer to the center of the city, under cover through more alleyways, making sure they surfaced on larger avenues only when necessary. Their progress was agonizingly slow, necessitated by the absolute need for stealth. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of this, he called for another huddle.

  “We’re almost out of our target zone,” he whispered, and gave Scope a questioning look.

  “Nothing,” Scope sighed as she rechecked the scanner readings. “Nothing big enough, anyway, not by the way Vix had these calibrated. Something big enough to power that—” she pointed up a
t the energy field that blanketed the city “—is going to spike almost off the charts on this thing. I’ve been getting blips, that’s all.”

  “Could the source be shielded?” Mel asked. “I mean, I know intel said it wasn’t likely, but still…”

  “It might be,” Red answered, but shook his head. “But not enough. To project the field, our guys say each point of generation has to have at least one strong, open focal point. The scanners should pick that up from within a few hundred feet, easy. If we passed it, the readings should have spiked.”

  “May I?” Silent Knight asked, and reached out his hand.

  Scope gave him an angry look in protest, thought better of it, and cast her eyes down as she passed him the scanner. Knight took the device and opened the readout, expanding the timeline. He grunted, and held it up for all to see. Red took one look, and cursed.

  “What?” Scope demanded. “What is it?”

  “The readings,” Red scowled. “Look at the trend. No major spikes, but the baseline’s been dropping from the moment you turned it on.”

  “What… what does that mean?” Scope asked, her voice now very small.

  “It means, whatever we’re looking for, we’ve been moving away from it this entire time.”

  From beneath his scarf, Red shot Scope a furious glare while Mel and Silent Knight shared a quick, uneasy look. No one said it, but it was obviously on everyone’s mind. Scope had been too eager to prove herself, had been so focused on seeing that telltale energy spike that she had not been paying attention to the big picture. Another rookie mistake, one that had cost them precious time. The infiltrators, spread so thin now, were depending on them, the one team that had made it passed the bulk of the Thulian defenses, the one team who had a clear shot at lowering the defensive field to allow the rest of the allied nations to join the assault on the Thulian city. It shouldn’t have been this way. Her earlier mistake had cost them their one advantage, stealth, and now her carelessness had led them in the wrong direction. And she obviously knew it. Her look was one of shock, then horror, and then a remorse so pure and naked that it forced Mel and Knight to look away in shame.

  But Red didn’t let her go. His eyes remained fixed on hers and when he spoke, the strain in his voice to keep his composure was palpable.

  “Let’s think this through a moment,” he said. “Before things really go tits up. We passed it, we must have, if the readings are growing weaker. Nothing we passed by really stood out.”

  “Unless it was underground,” Knight said.

  “Even then,” Red growled, shaking his head. “Even then, it would need a focus, something to direct the energy out. Out and…”

  He stopped, and looked to the sky.

  “And up.” Mel said, finishing his thought. Together, they looked at the ring of towers that circled the inner city.

  “But those are the defensive towers,” Knight said. “We saw all those Thulians and their robo-pets pouring out of them. They obviously house the majority of the troops in this city. Why would they ring the inner city, if they’re not meant to protect it?”

  “No,” Red muttered. “Their positioning isn’t to protect the inner city, but to anchor the shield. Look, they make a perfect ring, and each can channel energy up. They’re forming a keystone above us, and the rest of the shield cascades down from it.”

  “Why would they house so many troops then?” Mel asked.

  “Because the shield’s the main defense of this place,” Scope offered in a shaky voice, her head bobbing in mournful understanding. “And protecting the shield would be the priority.”

  “Right,” Red agreed. “They’re shield generators first, barracks second. It’s our best guess, but there’s only one way to be sure.”

  He reached out, firmly took the scanner from Scope’s hands and passed it to Mel. Scope closed her eyes, her hands falling to her sides.

  “Let me know when we’ve got confirmation,” Red grunted, and motioned them up for the arduous trek back.

  Mel hesitated, then nodded. “Okay, I’ll signal when we’re close. But Red, each of those towers is in the open and they’re protected by multiple squads of armored Kriegers and God knows how many wolves and eagles… how are we going to get close to them? There’s nowhere to hide.”

  “I guess I’ll have to think of something on the way,” Red muttered. “Let’s focus on getting there first.”

  Red Team: Ultima Thule

  The Death Sphere had only been the beginning of the push the Kriegers had made to overrun Red Team. Luckily, they hadn’t sent out any more air support in the form of Spheres; apparently, they had a lot on their plates with all of the scattered teams. John hoped that the losses for their side weren’t too bad so far, but he didn’t count on it. There were just too many Kriegers, and not enough people on the meta teams that could tangle with them effectively. The teams that didn’t have a meta with fire powers of some sort were all issued at least one of the modified RPG systems, or grenade launchers with similar munitions. Still, it wasn’t going to be enough when the teams had the entire city full of Nazis coming down on their heads.

  Probably all that had saved them so far was the simple fact that there was only so much room in the streets to funnel mayhem towards them.

  John had just flash-cooked an unarmored fireteam of Kriegers that were setting up on a rooftop when the Robo Wolves arrived. They came from two different streets simultaneously, crossing paths as they charged around the square. The team shot at them, but the bullets pinged off of their metal hides. John tried a fire-blast, but the one he shot was unaffected; evidently this was a newer model, hardened against fire. Even one of Bear’s more powerful concussive plasma blasts was deflected, splashing off like so much water.

  Or maybe not.…

  John noticed that some of its armored hide had peeled away, exposing some wires and mechanics, maybe hydraulics. It might be immune to his fire, but not completely to Bear’s concussive energy blasts!

  “Bear, hit it again! Same location!” Beside John, Sera had manifested a spear without prompting, weighing it in one hand as she waited for Bear to give her a weaker target. Bear nodded wearily, then turned, plasma collecting in his gauntlets. His eyes tracked the wolf that he had damaged as it ran through the square. Spotting his chance, he raised his gauntlets and fired off a precisely aimed, but much more powerful burst. It caught the wolf in the exact same spot, sending it tumbling along the ground, crushing an armored suit and its accompanying unarmored infantry. The wolf’s entire shoulder was ripped open, one leg missing and its “ribs” showing, showering sparks. Sera seized the moment and raced forward out of cover a few steps, flinging her spear like an Olympic javelin-thrower. It impaled the wolf, sending a shuddering spasm through it, not unlike a seizure, which had the effect of sending its flailing limbs tearing at more of its allies that had the misfortune to be within range. By the time the seizure was over and the wolf “dead,” Sera was back under cover again.

  Bear sagged to the pavement, groaning and panting. He didn’t even try for a quip; it was clear that the effort had depleted his reserves; he only had enough plasma left to power his mechanical body and heart. “Here, old Bear,” Unter grunted, handing the old man a metal flask. Bear tasted it, then gulped it greedily. John got the harsh whiff of vodka. “Sorry, did nyet pack Chef Oh Boy.”

  Pavel perked up slightly after downing the entire flask, enough to shoulder his rifle again. “Next time, will not have oversight, da?”

  Before Untermensch could answer, the remaining wolf charged directly at their cover. It was followed by a large number of infantry, all of them firing energy weapons.

  Molotok scowled, focusing his fire on the infantry instead of the wolf. “Prepare to be defending yourselves!” The infantry was advancing from three directions; this was the push, where they’d try to overwhelm Red Team and finish them off.

  Let’s see what we can do ’bout that. John concentrated for a moment, then shouted to the team. “Get down!”
Everyone ducked instinctively. Once he was sure no one was in danger, he released a gigantic, explosive cloud of fire from his hands. The cloud raced out, almost instantly engulfing the wolf and the infantry that followed it. Several of the infantry were Panzershreck-like two man teams; the munitions they were carrying immediately cooked off, causing secondary explosions inside the cloud of flame. John could “feel” the wolf getting knocked down, its sensors confused by the blasts. He continued to pour on the fire for another second. The infantry from the other two directions were just about to reach them, and he’d be open to getting shot in the back if he didn’t start paying attention. Hope that was enough.

  After that, John didn’t have any more time to think. The Krieger infantry stormed over the barriers and was amongst the team. The trooper armor was still advancing slowly, but they were no longer firing for fear of hitting their own. The first thing John did was to bring his rifle up, dropping five Kriegers with short bursts in quick succession. With his rifle empty, he let go of it, transitioning to his 1911. Firing almost as fast as he could pull the trigger and switch targets, three more Kriegers were dead for sure, with a fourth down on the ground. In the back of his mind he felt a chill of…something too detached to be awe, and a little akin to fear. He knew how good his senses were with his enhancements keyed, but this was a magnitude past that. Anticipating exactly what his foes were going to do and where they were going to be, even when he couldn’t actually see them.

  He ducked under an energy bolt from a Krieger pistol, reloading his own pistol, turning and aiming all at once. He emptied the gun again at his attacker and two more Kriegers. The fighting was too close for more shooting, so he holstered his pistol. Three Kriegers rushed him all at once, one of them armed with a knife. He stood his ground, waiting for them to get closer. With the first one finally in range, John kicked out his knee, hyper-extending it backwards with a gut-churning crack, causing the Thulian to fall to the ground screaming. The other two reached him at the same time; he dodged the wide-arced swipe from the one with the knife, parrying the kick of the second one with an open handed slap that complimented the Thulian’s momentum. Knowing he had a second until that one was back in the fight, he turned to the knife-wielding Krieger in time to catch the man’s wrist mid-lunge with both hands. He squeezed, and felt the bones in the man’s arm give way. With a sharp tug, John carried the man and his knife past himself, planting the knife in the shoulder of the second Thulian as he recovered. Releasing the Krieger’s arm, he finished him off with a vicious punch to the Krieger’s throat, resulting in an audible crunch and a spray of blood from the man’s mouth. The second Krieger had pulled the knife from his shoulder when John simply turned to him, raised a hand, and set the Thulian on fire; the man stumbled backwards over the barrier, still clawing fruitlessly at the flames. John had a scant moment to survey the fighting.