“My people!” Zaimur’s booming voice resonated throughout the arena.
The Morastus Prince came strolling through the entrance into the arena, a dozen Morastus henchman at his side. He was speaking into a HOLO-Screen that hovered over a projector unit he wore around his forearm. As Zaimur approached, the gunmen arrayed themselves in a semicircle around Cassius and aimed their pulse-rifles at him.
“Well Cassius Vale, it seems your legend was not exaggerated,” Zaimur said over the speakers all while wearing a grin. “What to do with you now?”
“Kill him!” someone shouted, breaking the hush of the crowd. A few more voices echoed those sentiments distinctly before all words were lost to a sea of chanting.
Zaimur lifted his arms to quiet everyone, with the poise of a master performer. “In time he will die! We will walk him out here every day until his body is so broken that it finally gives out. The slow death he deserves for all that he’s done.” Zaimur glanced at Cassius and offered him a slight nod of acknowledgement. “Grab him.”
Two of his henchman hurried out and seized Cassius. They did it fast and forcefully, just in case he tried to fight back. Cassius winced as they pinned his arms behind his back and stretched his torso. They dragged him back toward the exit until a familiar voice hollered out and stopped them.
“No!” Yara Lakura stood in a private box at the rim of the arena. It was half buried in the rocky walls, with a screen of glass along the edge that peeled open for her. “There’s no waiting with this one. He dies now, Zaimur.”
Zaimur glared up at her. “Surely we should discuss this further. In private.”
“We can discuss it now,” Yara countered. “Your father and I had an agreement. He dies today, while my fighters are still near enough to watch the live feed.”
“That’s not my problem—”
“Would you rather I fetch the old man?”
“Go ahead,” he grumbled before he kept walking.
“Zaimur, get back here!”
Zaimur ignored her as he, his guards, and Cassius stepped into the arena’s entrance tunnel. He and Cassius both knew that after sending all of her most loyal followers on a preemptive strike against the Tribune that she had little left on Ceres to enforce her decisions.
“Are you ready, Cassius?” Zaimur asked.
Cassius exhaled and swallowed the pain away. “Yes,” he said. “Are you, ADIM?”
“Yes, Creator. It has been done,” ADIM replied as suddenly a patch of the wall shifted to reveal his metal body. The Morastus Henchman jumped back and got ready to shoot but Zaimur stayed their hands. He appeared solemn, but determined.
Cassius glanced at the frightened gunmen. “Are you sure we can trust them?” he asked.
“These are the most loyal men I have,” Zaimur replied. “They’ll do what they have to.”
“Good. Go make Yara happy then. We have a war to win.” Cassius nodded at Zaimur and then moved in front of ADIM.
“You’re injured,” ADIM said, his eyes beginning to spin rapidly.
“I’ll be fine,” Cassius answered. He knew he couldn’t hide his pain from the android. ADIM knew the tiny nuances of his facial expressions too well.
“Are you certain?”
“Completely. Go with him now. I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes, Creator.”
ADIM’s frame was suddenly enveloped by the projected image of Cassius. Cassius himself stood there, staring at his own living reflection until Zaimur ordered two of his henchman to grab ADIM. He and the remaining men watched from the shadow of the entrance as ADIM was then dragged back out into the arena behind the Morastus Prince, dragging his feet as if he were a wounded human.
A perfect touch, Cassius thought as he admired the acting job of his creation.
“After all this, you would give him a quick death?” Zaimur yelled, presumably so that Yara could hear.
“I will give my men what they need to see before I join them,” Yara responded. Cassius couldn’t see her, but she sounded relieved. “Come to your senses and put the past behind us! War is coming, and your men will need this too. Ceres needs this.”
“Consider this the affirmation of our pact then. The Morastus are prepared to stand with you in the coming war.”
Zaimur pulled a pistol out from his belt and aimed it at ADIM, who pretended to struggle against the guards just as he’d been instructed to. Cassius turned his head. For some reason he found it unsettling watching himself about to be executed. It was as if he were watching a bad dream.
“Cassius Vale,” Zaimur continued. “For all your many crimes against the Ceresian Pact…may you never find peace.”
A gunshot rang out, but the collective gasp of the crowd was even louder. Cassius couldn’t help but peer out and see his body topple over, a projection of blood leaking out through a fake wound in his likeness’ head. If not for Zaimur’s assistance, he was fractions of an inch away from that body actually belonging to him. He’d never allow himself to show such weakness again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN—TALON
The Battle of Eureka
The entry into Eureka was rocky. Talon could see the asteroid growing nearer through the narrow viewport in the center of his Splinter Chamber. It wasn’t nearly on the same scale as Ceres, but it was still nearly a mile and a half in diameter. Most of it was comprised of wrinkly, gray rock, but wrapping its center was a series of ports and docking stations, their brightly lit viewports making it appear like a belt of pearls. Narrow landing pads stuck out into space from them like the legs of a metal insect, utilized for constructing ships too large to fit snugly within the hangars. There were a few empty shells of future Tribunal frigates floating between them, but the Lakura fleet wouldn’t allow them to last long.
Missile fire flashed across his view, along with the occasional, bright burst of sparks when one of the other chambers was struck. Eureka’s defensive turrets were kept occupied by Lakura fighter ships, though that didn’t keep a few of their more highly volatile rounds from hitting their targets.
Somehow none of them struck Talon. His splinter chamber was accelerating so fast that he thought his rib cage was going to crack. He gritted his teeth as hard as he could and fought through the pain.
He couldn’t move much, but he wriggled his hand and slipped the HOLO-pad with Elisha’s last moments out of his pocket. In his peripherals he watched the recording down by his hip, of her and Julius and their last time on Ceres before the Tribune obliterated them. It made his blood start to boil. It made him numb to the pain.
The splinter chamber made impact with Eureka, flinging the device out of his hand. The snug, supple interior of the compartment, coupled with a series of complex restraints wrapping him, saved his body from experiencing too much of the whiplash involved in coming to a sudden halt. Still, it wasn’t enough to curb the sensation of every joint in his body being snapped like rubber bands.
“Assault team, prepare for breach,” a voice said through the com-link in his helmet. He was linked to the frequency of the entire initial assault unit, receiving orders from officers on the Lutetia who’d probably never seen a gun fired in person.
There was a loud, whistling sound while Talon’s chamber formed an airtight seal with Eureka. His ears popped, and as they did, a contained blast shook the area by his feet. Even through his armored suit he could feel the heat. The Lakura Clan specialized in robotics dating back to the Earth Reclaimer Wars, but fell short when it came to constructing much else.
Before he knew it, the chamber launched him forward. His fingers almost got a grip on the HOLO-Pad, but it slipped through his fingers before he plummeted into one of Eureka’s many docking stations. The assault squad members with jammers had already taken up position by the hangar’s airlocks so they could ensure they couldn’t be completely opened up and suck everyone out. The Tribunals would be killing themselves in doing so since most of them weren’t wearing suits intended for space. It appeared they’d been caught completely b
y surprise. They didn’t even have any of their Construction Mechs re-outfitted for battle.
Talon charged forward with the members of the forward assault team, finding sporadic cover behind any piece of equipment large enough. Bullets ricocheted off of metal in every direction, echoing from every one of the adjacent docking stations so that Talon couldn’t tell where any of it was coming from. As soon as he noticed movement across the way he squeezed his trigger. A mixture of rage and adrenaline seized his body, causing him to hold it down until his first clip was empty. He’d been yearning for a more personal clash, but that didn’t mean he didn’t hope that some of his spray of bullets found home in Tribunal chests.
He pulled up behind a pile of ship scraps to catch his breath. His legs were killing him from the fall into the hangar, and his lungs were tired from screaming. He hadn’t even realized that he was doing it the entire time he charged.
He peeked out and saw Lakura bodies sprinkled all around the docking station, but nowhere near in the amount expected. The assault squad had accomplished its goal with ease. The Eureka resistance forces had pushed the Tribunals entirely into the docking station’s back half, hiding behind makeshift defensive positions made from unbuilt ship parts.
Talon looked back to see if the main troop transports were coming. Fighter ships out in space tore into the exterior landing pads with great success, battering the moored Tribunal Frigates beyond repair. Bursts of flame and sparks danced across the viewports before being quickly squelched by vacuum.
Soaring safely through the chaos was a flock of Lakura transports heading toward Eureka’s docking belt, two for each station. Engineers by the airlock hacked into the entrance controls and closed its inner seal. When it reopened a pair of transport ships zipped into the tall space, like angry birds from the stories of ancient Earth.
Heavy gunfire rained down from them, and Talon hope that Tarsis was the gunner on one so he could at least have someone to live through vicariously. The barrage quickly tore through the Tribunal defensive position, ripping through armor and limbs and painting the hangar with blood and flames. The Tribunals at Eureka had no rockets to fight back with, which was something the Lakura Clan must’ve counted on. Excluding a few exceptions like Lutetia and apparently Kalliope, the New Earth Tribunal was strict when it came to destroying livable settlements fitted out with Gravitum and deemed to be extensions of Earth. It was considered sacrilege, and that was a fact which helped the Ceresians survive their first war for so long before Cassius Vale arrived and changed everything.
I’ll give the Lakura credit, Talon thought. They were far more prepared for this than I thought they’d be.
There was no time to waste if he wanted to get a shot at joining the killing. He took a deep breath and then sprung back into the fray. It was hard to tell what he was hitting, but by the time he emptied his second clip most of the heavy fighting was over. Word came in over the com-link that the rest of Eureka’s Docking Stations fell just as easily. The asteroid still had miles worth of subterranean tunnels to clear, but that was only a matter of time. The sheer number of Tribunal corpses lying amongst the wreckage meant that there couldn’t have been much of a militant force remaining.
Talon reloaded his pulse-rifle and joined up with the remnants of the forward assault team. They headed into one of Eureka’s many contiguous corridors. At least two-thirds of them had survived, and he could tell by the glint in their eyes that they were all eager for more. Madmen, just like he was.
“You’ve all seen enough bloodshed for now,” a high ranking Lakura officer commanded and stopped them in their tracks. “Help us secure this docking station. Madame Lakura’ll be arrivin’ soon.”
“She’s comin’ here herself?” one of the gunman near Talon asked in disbelief.
“Aye. Headed out right after Vale lost his brains. She wants to send the Tribunals a message personally. Now let’s go, that’s an order. Cap’n Hadris wants every inch of dock on this rock covered before she gets here.”
Talon considered ignoring him, but decided against it. In addition to being completely drained from the assault, he realized that he didn’t really have any desire to chase fleeing men through dark tunnels. They may have been Tribunal, but it sounded all too similar to what his old job working for Zargo entailed, before Elisha came into his life.
Tarsis was right. With war inevitable, he’d get plenty more chances to fight the Tribune head on. He scoured the area where his splinter cell had pierced on the way to his post, but wasn’t able to find the HOLO-Pad with Elisha’s final recording before being ordered to move faster.
After an hour or so of waiting, Talon regretted his decision. Cleaning out the docks wasn’t much work. There were a few Tribunal stragglers hiding wherever they could, but not enough to cause a problem, and those who didn’t try to fight were swiftly detained and transported to the Lutetia. Mostly, he was posted beside a bridge connecting to the adjacent docking station, keeping an eye out for anything awry while the Lakura officers turned the docks into an improvised Ceresian battle station. HOLO-Screens and scanners were already in place, they just needed to be repurposed. Talon overheard that the Lakura Clan’s long-range scanners had limited capabilities, so Captain Hadris wanted to hack into the ones which already existed on the asteroid. He hoped to get a better glimpse of how the Tribune was going to respond to being attacked.
Even later, Talon started to fall asleep leaning against a wall until the docking station’s inner seal came open and the private vessel of Yara Lakura arrived. She emerged alone, a crooked sneer plastered on her face. Her suit may once have displayed the bright, yellow coloration of her clan, but it had somewhat browned from age. Talon had seen her from afar a few times, but they’d never interacted before and he didn’t imagine that would change. She was the least ladylike woman he’d ever encountered, and the knife hanging from her belt seemed to suit her roguish appearance.
She wasted no time. She hurried over to Captain Hadris and the other Lakura higher-ups in the center of the hangar to begin reviewing plans for what would happen next. Talon edged a little bit closer to try and eavesdrop but then a hand fell on his shoulder.
“Whatever happens, at least history will say we won the first battle.” He turned around to see Tarsis’s face, his broad smile obscured by his thick beard.
“If they don’t write us out of history first,” Talon replied. “Don’t worry. We won’t give them the chance. Good to see you made it. I kept an eye out for you while I patrolled some of the nearby hangars.”
“You wouldn’t have seen me. I ran with a transport clear across the asteroid. Just got off duty and thought I’d come looking for you. I’m surprised you aren’t down in the tunnels continuing the invasion.”
“So am I…but I thought I’d follow orders just this once.”
Tarsis laughed. “Not a bad idea. Thank the Ancients they finally finished shuttling supplies in from the Lutetia back where I was. The gunfight was easy compared to standing on an empty ship with nothing to shoot at. May not look it with this thing on them, but my legs are killing me.”
“Tell me about it, I was a minute away from falling asleep. They’ve got me on guard duty and I don’t suppose that’ll change now that Yara’s here.” Talon sighed. “Far cry from serving at the side of Zargo Morastus.”
“I’ve heard the men down below have begun pillaging every refectory they take. How would you feel about sneaking out of here to go test whatever delicacies the Tribunals have piled up?”
“Sounds good to me. Too bad the bastards don’t drink, though. We cleaned the Lutetia clear out after Vale was killed.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Ceresians, it’s that they’ve always got an emergency stash of Synthrol nearby.” Tarsis pointed toward the stacks of supply crates being hauled out of an arriving transport ship. Talon couldn’t see what was inside of them, but he had a good idea. He nodded to the Vergent and surveyed the scene.
&nb
sp; Captain Hadris had begun escorting Yaka Lakura around the hangar, keeping her informed about every bit of equipment being set up. She interrupted him from time to time to bark orders at subordinates, but there was nothing Talon could help with. He wasn’t of much use when it came to anything technical except for picking locks, so there really wasn’t much for him to do besides stand around and look intimidating with his pulse-rifle.
He took a few healthy strides backward before turning to follow Tarsis. As soon as he did the floor shuddered so violently that he was thrown from his feet. A blinding light shone through every viewport along the docks. Chunks of molten metal flew across them, a few scattered pieces of debris crashing into the glass and causing emergency shutters to slam shut.
“What the fuck was that?” Yara hollered. The emergency sirens had been disabled during the attack, but the room was flooded by emergency lights marking the exits.
“The Lutetia’s been hit,” Captain Hadris stammered. He was positioned at a cluster of HOLO-Screens displaying the region surrounding the asteroid. It was suddenly filled with red blips which hadn’t been there previously.
Talon didn’t waste any time. He helped Tarsis to his feet and then hurried over to a translucency with a clear view of space. Two chunks of the Lutetia drifted beyond, parts and bodies spilling out of each half like entrails from a human torso.
“What’s the damage?” Yara questioned.
“She’s been split in half by a rail-gun round,” Captain Hadris replied. He sounded like he was about to cry. “It came from somewhere out of range of our current scanners.”
“Tryin’ to tap into the Eureka ones now,” an engineer next to him announced. He was plugging away at one of the HOLO-Screens.
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