On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance

by Alex T. Kolter

  With a satisfied grunt, he managed to use the tool to melt the lock, and lever open the case. He then switched tools, this time pushing a tiny robotic arm with a camera on the end through. He lined this up to see in the box, took a quick look at the collection of wires, and then manipulated the arm to cross some of the wires.

  “There we go,” he said. They heard a very faint alarm begin to sound, and Reese closed the metal box.

  “They’re not coming here, are they?” Kess asked, sharply.

  Reese smiled. “Probably not. I think I’ve made it seem like wires are being cut everywhere around the base. They probably think they’re under full-scale attack, or something. But let’s just wait and see.”

  They retreated into the deep shadows of the building on the other side of the street, and watched for a time. The sun had gone down completely now, plunging the city into near darkness, but they could make out guards rushing around near the front of the building, illuminated by the spotlights centered on the checkpoint.

  The activity lasted for a few minutes, but when the guards realised there was no threat, they retreated back to the checkpoint bunker. A moment later the alarm stopped sounding.

  Trix made them wait another few minutes before trying it again. “Let’s get them used to it,” she said. “Reese, set the alarms off again, would you?”

  “Sure thing,” he said, and stepping forward, he used his tool to push open the metal box again. Uncrossing the wires he had shorted, he then reconnected them, and they heard the faint sounds of an alarm again. They looked towards the entrance, and saw a few guards running out, but the activity wasn’t nearly so much this time. After a minute, the alarm stopped again, and the guards went back to their posts. Trix smiled.

  “Okay, one more time Reese, but this time, the rest of you start cutting those wires as soon as the alarm sounds. If we’re still cutting when they reset that alarm, that'll leave just the sensors in this area firing.”

  “And that will be bad news for us,” Ando finished for her.

  “Quite,” she said. “Okay Reese.”

  As soon as the alarms began to sound, they used their laser cutters to slice through the thick metal wires, red light spilling out from the cut ends where they sliced through the embedded optical sensors. They moved as fast as they could, but it took a painfully long time to get all the way through the thick wires. Nero’s heart was beating hard, but seconds before the alarm was reset, they finished making their hole.

  “Shit, that was close,” he said, standing back up. He pulled the circular piece of fence out, to reveal the large hole they’d made. He stepped through, the others following close behind. Before they left, though, Reese bent down to the metal box and re-shorted the wires, setting the alarm off again.

  “Keep them thinking it’s a fault,” he explained.

  With a look around, and seeing no patrols, they ran across the large stretch of barren ground until they reached the plain walls of the building. They paused, Nero fine, but the others catching their breath from sprinting the hundred metres.

  Taking the lead, Nero started walking beside the building, keeping close to the windowless wall, until he reached the corner. The others were right behind, and moving quietly, despite the fact that they were completely alone.

  He looked around the corner slowly, and then continued on round the building, now walking along the front. Again, there were no windows in the building, and the thirty metre wall towering above them was completely featureless. It made them feel very exposed, particularly with the gathering of security guards at the checkpoint not far ahead now.

  “Bloody hell,” Ando said as they walked along. “Is that large group of security guards not a worry?”

  Nero grinned at him. “Maybe if they were to start shooting at us...”

  “Yeah, very funny. Let’s just get there quickly, shall we?”

  “Quickly?” Nero asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Well, not your sort of quick. Just regular quick.”

  Nero chuckled, and they continued on.

  As they approached the middle of the building, they walked quietly, but didn’t slow down. The security guards at the checkpoint were generally looking ahead, out of the compound, but nevertheless, one could turn around at any moment and see them.

  Returning his attention to the building on their right, Nero saw the vast doorway opposite the checkpoint, light spilling out onto the path. They slowed down as they finally approached, and with another glance at the checkpoint, Nero and the others stepped onto the path. Mentally composing themselves, they entered the building.

  They walked forward, heads held high, exuding an air of confidence, and emerged into a foyer. Without appearing to be studying their surroundings, they had a cursory look around, noting the few people walking through the grand atrium. And it was a very grand atrium, completely at odds with the exterior of the building. There was a huge holoscreen, about ten metres in height, and maybe fifty metres in width, which spanned the entire wall opposite the entrance. In front of that, there were grand, ornately-carved pillars stretching from floor to ceiling. They looked completely unnecessary, and could only have been there to impress, or intimidate, everyone entering the building.

  “Where to?” Adira whispered as they strolled forward, glancing around the vast atrium.

  Spotting a spiral staircase in the centre, they headed that way, hopeful that it would lead down to the basement. Glancing around for any signs of security, they approached the staircase without being stopped, and saw that the spiral staircase did indeed lead down as well as up. Nero still in the lead, he descended the stairs at a trot, the others struggling to keep up.

  “Smoother than I thought,” Kess said once they had reached the lower level. “I was a touch nervous up there.”

  “You and me both,” Ando said, as they walked along the deserted corridor in front of them.

  “You guys just need a little more practice,” Nero said, still at the front. “It should be fun.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s easier to relax when you have arms like those,” Ando said. Nero smiled.

  They walked along the corridor, keeping an eye on the descriptions above the doors. So far, they seemed to mainly be walking past offices, but then they came up to a rec room with the door open. Peeking inside, they saw that it was currently empty - not surprising considering the time - and in the corner was an information holodisplay. “There we go,” Nero said.

  Reese walked over to the computer, and the display came to life after detecting his presence. With a series of gestures, he brought up the underlying operating system, and through some technique Nero had never got the hang of, he managed to break through the security systems. A basic list of operations appeared on the screen, and Reese scrolled through until he found a plan of the building listed there. Selecting that brought up a labelled diagram of the building, and Nero leaned in for a closer look.

  “That looks likely,” Reese said, pointing to a large room in the centre of the basement.

  “I’d say so,” Nero replied, reading the room’s label. “‘Storage Room 1’ sounds good. What do ya think Trix?”

  Trix leaned in to look at the map. “I think it’s as good a place to start as any. Let’s get going.”

  Reese reverted the display to its default screen, and they left the room, carrying on through the basement. Nero was grateful for having seen a map, otherwise he would be completely lost down here. He didn’t know if it was specifically designed to get people lost, but it was certainly very maze-like. They made turn after turn, with no direct corridor taking them to the centre.

  When they did arrive, the door was as inconspicuous as any other, with small writing overhead proclaiming it to be Storage Room 1. Carefully, Nero reached out and tried the door. Much to their surprise, it simply slid open, revealing a dark room beyond. When the automatic lights turned on, however, the scale of the room made them pause in amazement.

  “Damn...” Ando breathed. The room had look
ed big on the map, but in reality, it was massive. It was so large they couldn’t see the far wall, and arrayed before them were stacks of boxes, crates and containers. They were placed carefully into aisles, with corridors, in effect, running between the towering rows of storage units. If even a small percentage of those crates were full of food, or medicines, there was an absolute fortune down here. More than enough to provision the entire city for weeks. Months, even.

  “Tell me I’m not dreaming,” said Kess to no one in particular.

  “If you are, then we’re all having the same dream,” Trix said. “Alright, you and Ando keep a watch outside, give us a shout if any bad fellas come looking, okay?”

  “A shout? Is that gonna make them run away?” Kess asked.

  Trix considered that. “I’d say no, but it’ll save those who matter.”

  “You mean you guys?”

  “Precisely.”

  “Well, I’ll be able to die happy then,” Kess said, stepping back out of the door with Ando. They had their weapons out already, though none of them really expected guards at this time of day.

  Nero, Trix, Reese and Adira walked further into the room. There were almost too many crates to know where to start, so they just headed to the nearest one. Prising the lid off revealed a crate full of dehydrated protein sticks. Valuable enough, but they decided to have a look in another couple before they chose what to take.

  Trix opened one that was full of more protein sticks, but Nero and Reese found crates full of a selection of drugs and other med supplies. Dressings, healing gels, that sort of thing. Adira, meanwhile, found a crate full of metal cylinders.

  “Er, guys...” she said, and they looked over. “What are these?” she asked. Nero looked over, but didn’t recognise the objects. He glanced at Trix, who also looked blank.

  “Hey, I think those are atmosphere sanitizers,” Reese said, a faraway look on his face. “I saw one, a long time ago. They’re incredibly rare. Or at least, I thought they were.”

  “Atmosphere sanitizers?” Nero asked.

  “Yeah, they’re meant to purify the air in a mile radius, or something like that. Don't ask me how. Something to do with ionising and charging molecules. But they’re great in a city, where you can have viruses hanging in the air. These things just make them drop out of the air, almost literally. And they reduce radiation, toxicity, that sort of thing.”

  Nero looked again at the mysterious metal cylinders. Each one was only about twenty centimetres long, and maybe ten centimetres in diameter. And yet... “They must be valuable, then?” he asked.

  “In all honesty, I’ve never heard of one for sale. But I assume they must be,” Reese said. “But let’s not kick a giftbearer, eh? They’re definitely useful.”

  Pulling open the cargo bags they’d brought with them, they began to fill them up with the more valuable and useful items, working as quickly as they could.

  Then they heard a shout from outside the door.

  ****

  “Well, I told Trix that wouldn’t make them leave,” Ando said, watching the group of five guards running towards them.

  “Nope, well, what can you do but hope?” Kess asked, also watching. The guards were only a short distance away now, and each was aiming a heavy-duty laser rifle at them. Not wanting to get shot, Kess and Ando put their own weapons on the ground.

  “They’re coming along a mite faster than expected, really,” Ando commented.

  “Well that’s because we’re such charming people, isn’t it?” Kess said, flashing him a smile. “They just want to meet us is all.”

  The guards didn’t seem in such a good mood. The leader, they supposed, shouted at them to stay still, and slowly approached, weapon raised.

  “Who are you?” he demanded. “What are you doing here?”

  Ando sighed, in mock disappointment. “What, no pleasantries? No ‘how are you doing? Nice day wasn’t it?’” He shook his head and turned to Kess. “Maybe they didn’t really want to meet us.”

  “It must be you. Everyone loves me,” Kess said.

  “Quiet!” the guard shouted. Normally, that wouldn’t have worked, but with the person doing the shouting having a large laser rifle, Kess and Ando thought better of disobeying. “Better,” the guard continued. “Now, who are you?”

  Ando shrugged. “Does that mean we’re allowed to talk again, then?” He, and Kess behind him, slowly began backing away from the door.

  “A couple of comedians, is it?” the guard asked, evidently not finding them at all funny. He and the other guards began walking forward again, to close the distance. “If you don’t explain why you’re in this restricted area, I will have to take you in for more serious questioning.”

  They didn’t respond, but just continued slowly backing up. “Didn’t find that so funny, did you?” he said. “No, people generally don’t.” He turned to his men, as if to get a reaction, but turned back when he didn’t get one. Kess and Ando exchanged a smirk.

  That seemed to put the guard over an edge. “That’s it!” He shouted. “You’re coming with me.”

  “Hey,” Ando said. “I don’t appreciate you intimidating us like this.”

  “Oh no?” the guard asked, a smile making its way onto his face.

  “Not before my friend here gets behind you.” Ando looked at Nero, who was now standing behind the five guards, having stepped out of the room once the guards had passed. The leader looked behind him, in time to see Nero’s fist flying towards his head. There was a hideous crunching sound as his nose exploded in a fountain of red, and then he collapsed onto the ground.

  Before the other guards could react, Nero launched a series of blisteringly-quick kicks and punches, and in moments the other four were either unconscious or writhing in pain on the ground. A swift kick to the head stopped the writhing.

  “Took your time,” Kess said.

  “Yeah, I was on a break,” Nero replied. “I thought you two would be able to handle yourselves.” He grinned.

  Then he spun at the sound of running footsteps further down the corridor. “Backup?” Kess suggested.

  Around the corner came another twenty guards, the sounds of their running feet echoing loudly in the confines of the corridor. Nero, Kess and Ando ducked back into the storage room, and ran over to the others. “We’ve got company,” Nero informed them. “Serious company this time.”

  Trix looked up. “Okay, shit. Let’s get out of here, then.” They each grabbed a bag, all of which were full now, and sprinted towards the door. Nero glanced to the right as they exited, and saw the guards were very close now. He saw them lower their weapons.

  Tossing his bag to Reese next to him, he yelled “Run! I’ll catch up!” and then turned and ran towards the incoming guards. Perhaps the surprise caught them off guard, but their momentary pause in opening fire was fatal. Nero used the full power of his legs to close the distance in almost no time, and then jumped, leaping over the heads of the nearest guards, landing in their midst.

  With a rolling kick he used his momentum to knock down a couple, and then leapt back up, now standing in the middle of the group. They couldn’t fire at him without risking hitting the other security guards, and so he was relatively free to use pure physical force to overwhelm them. Even at twenty on one, they were no match for Nero and his augmentations. They were no Aegis agents.

  With a few more powerful punches and roundhouse kicks, more of the guards went down. Then one strayed too close to Nero, and he reached out and bodily picked the man up, and threw him with all his might into the other guards. Five of them went down at once, leaving just a few still standing. Ducking under the laser fire from one of them, who obviously didn’t care so much about his colleagues, Nero activated the stabilization aug in his hands to briefly distract the men, and then extended the carbon blades from his arms. He swept the blades across a couple of the mens’ necks, blood pouring down the blades and dripping onto the floor, and then swift punches floored the last two guards.

 
He emerged from the fight breathing slightly heavily, and having sustained a couple of glancing blows. But otherwise, he was unharmed and his adrenaline was up. He left the pile of bodies, some dead, many unconscious, and sprinted back up the corridor, running to catch up with the others.

  They had gone further than he expected, but when he did finally catch up, it took him a moment to notice what was strange. Kess was missing. He glanced behind him, and ahead of the group, but she wasn’t there. She’d completely gone.

  He looked at Trix, and saw fear on her face. “They took Kess, Nero,” she said. “Two guards came out of nowhere, and took her. They got her before we... before...”

  “Which way?” Nero asked, knowing time was critical.

  “Through that door, Nero. We heard it bang shut, and that was the first we knew about it.” She paused. “Fuck! This is my fault! We weren't looking--”

  “It’s wasn’t your fault, Trix. Don’t wait for me.”

  Nero kicked the door, knocking it clean away from its mounting points, and stepped through the empty doorway. He was in another corridor, and in the distance, he saw a few moving figures. They were too far away to make out clearly, however. He ran forward, his legs carrying him faster than any human had the right to move, but before he caught up, they disappeared through another door.

  When he reached where they’d disappeared, there were a couple of doors. Nero tried opening the first, but that led to just a small room. The second, however, led to a large room, at the far end of which a door was just sliding shut. Nero ran forward again, bursting through the next door to see two guards and Kess, being dragged between them, in yet another corridor.

  “Hey!” he yelled, and the two guards looked over their shoulders. When they saw Nero stood there, blood still covering his metal arms, they only increased their pace.

  Nero ran. But before he could reach them, they turned into yet another room, sliding the door shut behind them. When Nero tried to open this one, he discovered it was locked. Kicking it, much to his surprise, didn’t manage to open it either. “Shit,” he breathed.