The Vanguard Emerges (Maraukian War Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  The blips of his mergers retreating grew behind them. They still fought, but they were getting closer.

  Chapter 71

  Edani

  Indalia, Otarvi System

  8/3555

  Ava’s mind flickered in and out of consciousness. She knew her NIAI and suit were working the best it could to stem her blood loss and save her life. But she felt that life slipping. This fight was the hardest thing she’d ever done. The pain of this loss was worse than dying herself. If only it were that easy to let go, to drift away.

  “Don’t you dare,” a voice said inside her mind as she felt their bodies being flung across the rubble beneath them. Every bump and notch. “Sorry,” the voice said. “I can’t help it. The terrain is still being bombarded.”

  “Uncle?” But it wasn’t; it was Evan. As she became aware of what was happening around her, the sky and its silvery trails of missile rounds above, Ava fought to think, to focus. She remembered the last wave of the enemy that had taken them. There were no more rounds. They were down to just their shields and blades. They’d nothing left, and almost no fight left either.

  More and more Maraukians had funneled through the maze. No matter how many they killed, they just kept on coming, and they finally started to fall. One by one, the mergers were cut down. Their consciousness blinked out as pain and fear gripped them. The unthinkable was happening right now and it terrified her.

  Thoughts of her father came to light—her brothers, especially Cronus. She didn’t wear the necklace anymore, but it was a part of her. It was inside her as much as her nanites stored it, tiny metal particles that they survived on. That thought alone had them flow out, and form in her hand. She brought it up to glance at it, the twinkling metal still alive in her hand.

  She felt Evan’s emotion course through her and she tried to stem her final thoughts as she almost passed out once more. “I should be with Mark.” But she couldn’t be.

  Chapter 72

  VCF Osdal

  Indalia Orbit, Otarvi System

  8/3555

  Hall had fought with Nerva about going down on the planet’s surface. Nerva, as much as he had all their respect, Hall cursed now more than ever. He felt useless up here. The blips on his screens were diminishing and he held his head in sheer panic.

  The grid fed him all their details, but it came in delayed. With each blip that went out, his heart sank. The equipment and the sheer volume of troopers even back with the legionnaires was only just enough to start making a dent, but they were making a dent.

  Hall knew they had to succeed here. They’d lost Tyler and Alexis and their funerals—though he barely remembered the days afterward—had been the most difficult days of his life. Arguing with the higher-ups, the benders, the bar fights he pulled Jerome out from. They all knew Mark had done exactly the same now, but it didn’t make this situation any better.

  This had to be enough to bring Mark and the mergers home. It had to be enough to actively start the war against the Maraukians. So that they couldn’t take any more of the people he loved. Hall choked up. But as much as his emotions were leading his thoughts, his leadership was maintaining the information crosses needed to help as best he could. What the men on the ground couldn’t see was where the Maraukian herd commanders were moving. But they were moving.

  Hall had two thoughts: it was going to come to a head, or they were finally going to back off. He was torn on which way it was headed. But the movement he was keeping track of. Mark needed to know this, as it happened.

  Chapter 73

  Edani

  Indalia, Otarvi System

  8/3555

  “To Alpha flight deck!” Mark yelled out as they were pushed from the elevators and into the lounges.

  The mergers moved under fire, pausing and shooting to slow down the Maraukians who were racing through the lounges. Their rounds tore through seating, decorations, and security areas.

  Alarms went off all around them and fires had been started with the plasma rounds.

  It was chaos.

  Mark watched as a merger running for cover went down in a howl of pain as their armor was lit up with coil gun and plasma rounds, opening up their armor and cooking them.

  Thankfully they died before all the pain could reach their mind.

  Vrouck was hit by an explosion, tossing him backward. Even with his armor in tatters, he threw out a mag line, shooting with his good right arm as the mag line pulled him backward, his anti-grav broken.

  Ava forced herself off Evan’s shoulder and stood, wobbling slightly, but able to focus on their final fight.

  As rounds burst through walls and glass, Chyna jumped for cover. But what could lounge chairs do to stop coil guns?

  Rounds landed all around him, striking his armor hard.

  He flew back, trying to escape more but the Maraukians seemed to zero in on him as plasma slammed into his body, tossing him into a pillar.

  Chyna let out blood-curdling screams as he was burning from the plasma. Shutting off his nerves, he was able to contain the pain, but the end was inevitable.

  Sarah gave Mark the ruthless information: Chyna was burning from the inside; it wasn’t long until he would be dead.

  “Promise me, you’ll look after her.” Chyna reversed the direction he was going as he charged toward the enemy.

  Mark swallowed, forcing his emotions to the side as he answered Chyna. “Always.”

  As Ava’s mind filled with Chyna’s pain, she tried to throw herself forward. Mark slammed into her with his shoulder, dragging her backward.

  “For Crisidium!” Pride filled Chyna as his body fell apart, the plasma inside his armor frying him.

  His armor shot forward, riddled with different kinds of weapons fire. It was as if it were drunk as it slammed into Maraukians.

  “Move!” Mark yelled. Ava was hitting Mark’s armored shoulders but he didn’t dare to put her down until they made it through the armored doors that separated lounge A from flight deck A.

  Ava was yelling over the net, her words not making sense. The others in the mergers were also suffering from their losses.

  Their fifteen had been cut down to thirteen just like that.

  Chyna—a man most thought was unstoppable, the man who had a part in training them—was gone. Even as a merger, he wasn’t able to save his own life.

  Mark forced a merge with Ava, separating her off from the net. Her emotions had a hold of her. This was one of the things with merging: it became easier to be wrapped up in one’s thoughts; your emotions were compounded within the group. Knowing what a person was thinking the moment of their death—the fear, the surprise and shock or relief even—stung all of them.

  The armored doors finally sealed them off from the Maraukians. People started to check their ammunition and then their weapons.

  Ava’s fight quickly died, the energy running out of her.

  Mark wanted to say something but there was nothing that he could right now. What do you say to someone who has lost their teacher, a mentor they looked up to as if they were a flesh and blood uncle? A person who was with them since they were a child and followed them across the stars to protect them?

  Even as Mark wanted to comfort her, his mind didn’t stop getting information on how long it might be until the Maraukians made it through that armored door.

  Ava pulled away from Mark. Her emotions were a mess but she didn’t have time for that. She knew that Chyna was gone; there was no getting him back. Right now, they were in a fight for their lives. She couldn’t bear to be distracted or someone else might die.

  Mark didn’t waste words and ask whether she was okay; he let her go as she started to check her gear.

  With the faster thought speeds, she was able to push the emotions of loss down, instead allowing her anger to come back.

  Mark looked at the door. It was coming apart. Holes appeared all across it as the Maraukians drew their blades and started to attack it directly. They slammed their bodies and blades int
o the wall, some even using their nails to try to break through.

  “Shield wall!” Mark’s roar made the mergers move as one. Their shields slammed against one another, creating an armored shell as they covered one another against the Maraukians.

  “Huh!” Mark yelled out as they all shield bashed as one.

  “Haa!” They called out together as their spears shot out. The Maraukians that had been pushed back received a spear, tearing into them as the mergers stepped forward.

  “Huh!” As their feet stepped forward, their shields slammed out as a carbon hendral wall, hitting more Maraukians.

  “Haa!” They acted as one, a wall of spears and shields.

  Behind the first and second line, the third line used their spears to kill the Maraukians that fell under the merger shields.

  Blue-encrusted blood was mixed with fresh.

  All of them had been wounded or injured in some manner, but they pushed on.

  “Breach right wall!” Kumar yelled out as shields from the third side turned and formed a wall just as a missile slammed into a wall.

  The wall blew out as Maraukians, seeing a new passageway, entered the flight deck.

  Maraukians started to pour in from the other side. Weapons fire rang off the shields as the half-moon shaped defensive wall started to retreat.

  If they got caught between the two groups of Maraukians, they wouldn’t be able to even cry.

  “Pull back to the cargo holding areas!” Mark’s orders made the mergers start moving backward in their new shape.

  The Maraukians, with the pressure weakening on them, started to attack the shields. Even as they died to the spear thrusts, they continued to strike. Their claws and blades snuck through, catching the mergers’ armor.

  A Maraukian with a missile launcher appeared, only to be struck with M20 rounds. A few of the wounded who weren’t able to hold the shields had been loaded with ammunition so that they could provide support.

  Rounds pinged and flew off the mergers’ shields.

  A merger was caught by a round. His body shook as the round ricocheted inside, making his body shake with his final convulsions.

  Another merger stepped forward, their shield moving into place to cover the others.

  Even with the shields, there were so many rounds that people were getting hit through the smallest openings.

  Vrouck went down, yelling in pain before fixing herself. Polwell, who had severe burns and was missing his left leg, only using a piece of welded on metal grabbed her. The two of them supported each other and held their shields up to protect the others.

  If they fell, then the left side would be exposed to fire.

  “Do it!” Mark ordered Sarah. Explosives in the building went off, dropping the floor outside of the flight deck. Maraukians disappeared as three floors collapsed beneath them.

  Mark looked away, knowing that he’d buried the mergers who had died in this godforsaken city.

  The remaining Maraukians were quickly cut down as the mergers grabbed their wounded and ran up. The Maraukians didn’t get through the A flight deck, but they were swarming through the rest of the building.

  Weapon fire hit the mergers. Ava and Egli dropped to the ground, shooting back. Egli, who was being hauled back by Evan, fired at the Maraukians. Even without his legs and his body fighting to survive, he cut down three apes.

  Rachel grabbed Egli, who had bad internal injuries. Being so close to the Maraukians, the weapons had punched holes through his armor instead of pinging around inside—a huge pain, but a blessing as he still breathed.

  Mark hauled Ava over his shoulder as they ran upward.

  The tower started to come apart.

  An explosion went off as a gas pipe under way too much pressure exploded. Evan took the brunt of the explosion, his head and chest getting peppered with shrapnel.

  Dodger grabbed them up as Mark and Rachel covered him. The Maraukians quickly advanced as their fresh forces made it forward. Their rounds pierced through the cargo and sensitive equipment that made up the higher levels of the tower.

  They moved higher and higher, the Maraukians numbers becoming less as they reached the top of the tower.

  “What do we do?” Fussli asked.

  Mark looked around. There were no more options—there was nowhere to go. Mark, Rachel, and Dodger were in the best shape with silver scars over their bodies as their armor tried to repair itself and had small wounds underneath.

  Mark looked all over the city. It was a true war zone now. The artillery had destroyed the trenches they had made. Maraukians lay piled high in those trenches and more were running through the city toward the tower or toward Ducharev.

  Fires burned across the crater-filled landscape.

  “We jump.” Mark checked over everyone. Their flight systems weren’t all the best, but if they doubled up and they jumped, then they could use the flight systems to angle their trajectory out of the city and toward the Bellonas and troopers.

  Mark could even see them in the distance. They were still a half hour away, but they could get just five minutes away from them if they angled it right.

  “Nerva, this is Mark. We’ve been pushed back to the limit of the tower. When we can’t hold it anymore, we’re going to try our best to make it to you.” Mark sent his plan.

  He had a lot he wanted to say, but right now there wasn’t any time for it. He had to make sure his people got out—what remained of his people.

  He switched to the merger channel.

  “Rachel, Dodger, on me. The rest of you, buddy up with one another based on how far you’ll be able to get away from this tower and toward the rescue party!”

  The others tossed out their ammunition, freely giving it to Mark, Dodger, and Rachel, who checked their weapons and moved to the maintenance hatch they had used to get to the roof.

  They had just five blocks of ammunition per person.

  “Understood. We’ll be ready for you,” Nerva said.

  “Yes, sir.” Mark closed the channel. A tide of emotions washed over him. He collected himself as the first Maraukian appeared. Rachel fired, turning them into blue paste. Excited noises came from below as movement could be heard.

  “Guess they know we’re here,” Dodger said darkly.

  They fired down into the stairwell. An explosion blew out a section of the roof, caving it downward as other sympathetic explosions went off from ruptured gas lines and chemicals.

  The roof shifted, its instability evident.

  “Move it!” Mark yelled. The mergers saw the three as they continued to fire on the Maraukians. The new openings on the roof allowed others to crawl up as they covered their fellow mergers.

  “Go!” Mark yelled, knowing that they were waiting for him.

  They helped one another. Broken and wounded, they leaped off that tower, doing all they could to try to get as much distance as possible from the tower.

  Several Maraukians appeared out of a new breach in the roof and opened fire on Mark, Rachel, and Dodger. Dodger, who had been reloading, jumped and caught the two of them, but got hit with multiple rounds and a missile. His NIAI directly put him into hibernation, trying to heal him as fast as possible.

  Rachel was the second worst, with a plasma round hitting the right side of her body, messing her up badly.

  Mark’s body was messed up, but he was in much better condition.

  With Rachel turning off her pain receptors but unable to do anything and Dodger unconscious, Mark grabbed them both, hugging them, and ran toward the edge of the building. He caught a round in his back. It went through the compartment that held his lightning ballistic missiles, losing enough speed as it pierced through his body, pinging around a few times, ruining him internally but not killing him.

  Plasma rounds threw him down to the ground as rounds pierced through his right leg. He severed his leg without pause. He threw himself forward, confirming the commands to Sarah if he were to die.

  Mark fired his mag clamp to the roof and s
et it up for maximum acceleration. The mag motor burned out as they accelerated across the roof, scraping through the rooftop.

  Rachel severed the line as they broke through the dividing wall and shot out over the city.

  Mark’s view went dull as he could only sense Sarah and the other mergers’ NIAIs as they took over the flight and repaired their users.

  ***

  Deep within Edani, armored suits that were buried in rubble—or buried underneath Maraukians—still holding their weapons in death, carried out their owners’ last command.

  Maraukians that ran all over them didn’t notice anything amiss before these mergers used their very heart to try to help their brothers and sisters.

  As one, they ignited their anti-matter cores across Edani.

  Massive pressure waves that smashed into one another were angled through the natural valley.

  “Use the wind!” Ava said. Instead of hunkering down, the mergers spread out as much as possible. The pressure wave threw them forward as the hundreds of thousands of Maraukians that they had held back in the city of Edani were torn apart.

  The pressure wave threw the mergers forward, cutting the distance between them and the Bellonas down all the more as Maraukians on the ground were bowled over by the sheer force of those explosions.

  All of the mergers knew that the remaining part of their brothers and sisters that had remained in their armor removed all trace of themselves just to push them that little bit farther.

  Ava grunted as they slammed into a grassy area near the main road that led to Ducharev.

  She pulled herself and Kumar out of the deep ditch they created with their landing. Around them, other mergers were slamming into the ground, using their armor to take the impact.

  Ava got up. On one side, there was what had been Edani, with a large cloud rising up into the sky; on the other, some two kilometers away, she could see signs of fighting as Bellona tanks approached the city, with people firing tracers at the loose rabble of Maraukians.