A Show of Force

by Ryk Brown

  “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to hang around here,” Jessica warned. “Things could get ugly really fast. It all depends on how things go. Either way, things in the Tau Ceti system are going to change, and soon.”

  “I don’t suppose you can give me any more than that?” Ellyus wondered. “Like, when this is all going to happen, and how?”

  “Sorry, you know the drill.”

  “Well, I have a tidy sum put away, much of it in precious metals and commodities. It should be enough to see us through whatever turmoil your Alliance is about to put us through.”

  “Well, if you change your…” Jessica stopped abruptly as a man dressed in what appeared to be black tactical gear came bursting through the door, his weapon held high against his shoulder, ready to fire. Ellyus immediately stood, raising his hands, surprise on his face.

  “On the floor!” the first man barked in Jung.

  Jessica also stood, but her hands did not go up. Instead, her left hand swept up and outward as she stepped forward, knocking the barrel of the intruder’s energy rifle upward and away from her face. Her right fist jutted outward quickly, striking the man in his unprotected throat. At the same time, her free foot stepped behind the man’s other leg, and a slight push sent him tumbling backward, gasping for breath. Knowing that he would not have charged the room alone, Jessica grabbed her chair from behind her and brought it around in the air to strike the second man coming in behind the first, but he already had his rifle raised up in front of him, holding it vertically to one side with both hands in order to block the chair she was swinging toward him. Two more men came in behind the second, who was still dealing with the chair. Jessica managed to strike the first one in his face mask, but the other one caught her in the chest with the butt of his weapon, sending her tumbling backward over the table. By the time she got back to her feet, all three of the Jung soldiers had converged on her, managing to restrain her with considerable ease.

  An officer entered the conference room next. By this time, Ellyus was also being restrained by two other soldiers, making a total of six of them in the room, including the one on his knees still gasping for air. The seventh man, the officer, came to stand just inside the doorway. She could see at least two more men in the corridor just outside the door. There was no escape.

  The officer looked her over. “You will provide us with quite a lot of interesting intelligence about your Alliance.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jessica replied in Jung. “I’m here to negotiate a real estate purchase.”

  “You really should have practiced your Jung a bit more,” the officer said, this time in heavily accented English.

  Jessica cast him a puzzled expression. “What did you say?” she asked, again in Jung.

  “I will give you points for trying, however,” the officer replied. “Take them,” he ordered his men.

  Shots rang out in the corridor. Energy blasts struck the soldiers in the corridor, dropping them immediately. She felt the guard on her right take one hand off of her arm to reach for his weapon on instinct. At the same time, the guard standing in front of her with his weapon to her face turned to look toward the door.

  Jessica twisted her right arm to break the soldier’s grip. She punched the soldier on the left in the stomach with her now-free right hand, then jammed her fist up into the underside of his chin. At the same time, she jammed her right foot up into the crotch of the Jung soldier in front of her as she snatched the weapon from his hand. The soldier in front of her doubled over in pain as she swung his stolen weapon around at shoulder height over his head, striking the soldier on her right in the side of his helmet, knocking him against the wall. Her left hand snatched the energy pistol from the holster of the soldier on her left. In one smooth motion, she put the barrel up into the front edge of his armpit where there was no body armor, and pressed the trigger. The energy bolt sliced through his left clavicle, coming out his shoulder and striking him in the left ear, just under the bottom edge of his helmet. The next shot was into the back of the now doubled-over guard who had stood in front of her. She came around to shoot the third guard, but he was ready. He swept her gun hand to the side and drove his fist into her face, causing her head to snap to the left.

  More weapons fire rang in the corridor. As Jessica’s head came around from the blow, she could feel the heat of energy weapons fire, followed by the sizzling sound of melting flesh. Her head came back around to her right and saw that all three of her guards were on the floor, dead or dying, as were the officer and the first guard who had entered the room. Ellyus was still standing there with his mouth open and his hands in the air.

  Two more men entered the room, only they were not dressed in Jung tactical gear. They wore black, nondescript clothing. They did, however, carry Jung energy weapons, one of which was still smoking. Jessica realized that this man had been the one to kill the last guard, the one who had struck her in the face just before he died. Regardless, her weapon came up to fire.

  “We are friendlies!” the man shouted in accented yet quite normal English. “We’re spec-ops!”

  “Whiskey seven one niner mike!” Jessica demanded, adrenalin surging through her veins.

  “Tango, tango, one four seven, foxtrot!” the man answered without hesitation.

  “Fuck!” Jessica exclaimed, lowering her weapon. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “The place is surrounded by Jung, we gotta move, now!” the man instructed, as he turned back toward the door in case his men in the corridor needed his help to hold the Jung at bay.

  Jessica could hear more weapons fire in the corridor, and see the red-orange flashes. The man was telling the truth. She looked at Ellyus. “Wait! What about him?” she asked.

  “Leave him,” the man told her. “He’s a peeper.”

  “A what?”

  “A peeper! A spy! Come on!”

  Jessica looked at Ellyus, who looked more confused than ever, or at least he was putting on a good act of it. For the last six days, she had trusted this man, even though she knew that she shouldn’t have. She had listened to his stories, reviewed his intel, had even felt sorry for all he had sacrificed over the years. She had come so close to telling him everything. “You son of a bitch,” she muttered as she raised her weapon to take aim at Ellyus.

  “No, wait!” Ellyus exclaimed, “I’m no spy!”

  “Not any more, you’re not,” she continued as she pressed the trigger.

  “WAIT!” the man warned.

  It was too late. The energy bolt struck Ellyus square between the eyes, blowing the back of his head out and spraying blood and brains across the wall behind him.

  “What are you doing?” the man asked.

  “He was a fucking spy!” Jessica exclaimed.

  “We’ve been trying to root him out for years! We could have used him to feed false information back to the Jung!”

  “Fuck that,” Jessica replied. One of the soldiers on the floor next to her moved, wounded, but still alive. Without looking, she pointed her weapon and shot him as well. “They wouldn’t trust anything he said now anyway.”

  “Jesus!” the man exclaimed after seeing Jessica execute the guard so casually. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “I don’t like Jung,” she said as she moved toward him. “I have a friend upstairs.”

  “We’ve already gotten her out,” the man explained. “Follow me, and I’ll take you to her.”

  “If you’re lying to me too, you’ll be the next one to die,” Jessica warned as she walked passed him and entered the corridor.

  The man watched her pass. “You’re fucking welcome.”

  Jessica moved down the corridor to join the other two men at the corner who were firing across the lobby of the real estate office in a desperate attempt to keep the rest of the Jung outside from coming in. She peeked around the corner, spotting more men outside through the windows. The street outside was full of tactical vehicles. “They
’ll be bursting through every entrance in seconds,” she commented.

  “Cover fire!” the man ordered, “going up!” He ran across the open foyer, opening fire in the direction of the front entrance as he ran. Jessica followed, firing as well. She stopped at the other side to provide cover fire for the other two men still on the other side of the corridor, but before she could get a shot off, she felt herself being pulled back.

  “Get your ass up those stairs!” he barked as he sent her tumbling toward the base of the stairs. He brought his weapon around and opened fire again as the first of the last two men darted across the foyer. “GO!” He pulled a small metallic ball from his side pocket and tossed it out into the lobby. “Flasher!” he shouted, covering up his ears and closing his eyes.

  A bright, blinding light flashed over the room as a shrill, high-pitched noise filled the room. The last man came running across the foyer as his leader on the other side opened fire again. When he reached the other side, he immediately headed up the stairs behind Jessica and the man who had gone before him. The leader tossed out a second small metallic ball, followed by a pair of cubes. The room filled with light and noise again, just as the effects of the first flasher were fading. “Go, go, go!” he urged as he headed up the stairs behind them.

  Explosions rocked the staircase, as the two cubes the leader had tossed out into the lobby detonated. Pieces of the ceiling began to fall on their heads, and the staircase felt as if it were going to drop out from under their feet. Flames backfilled the lobby, spreading instantly into the foyer and up the stairs behind them.

  Jessica charged up the stairs. She paused at the top and turned around to see the others coming up after her. The first man passed her by and went straight to the outside entrance to the guest suite.

  “They’re not here yet!” he called back after sticking his head outside to check. “Come on, lady!” he urged.

  Jessica turned to join him. As she came through the door, the man handed her a device with two handles and a wheel in the middle.

  “Do like me!” he ordered as he climbed over the railing of the exterior landing. He slung his own wheeled device over a cable that they had strung from the landing to the roof of the building across the alley, then pushed off, rolling down the wire to the far rooftop. As soon as he got to the other side, he dropped to the roof and rolled. He scrambled to his feet and ran back toward the near edge of the rooftop to watch for Jung troops in the alley.

  Jessica did not hesitate, climbing over the rail and sliding down the wire using the wheeled device as well. As soon as she crossed the alley, she dropped to the roof below only a meter from the first man, who was now looking down over the side of the roof at the alley below.

  Jessica rolled as she hit the roof, scrambling to her feet a moment later as she turned around to look back at the exterior landing. She could see the next man climbing over the railing and preparing to slide across to safety. Flashes of energy weapons fire filled the doorway behind the second man as he began his slide across.

  “Jung!” the first man reported as he opened fire. “Coming into the alley!”

  Bolts of red-orange energy shot upward between the buildings, barely missing the second man as he slid across on the cable and landed on the rooftop next to her. Jessica ran toward the edge of the building to help provide cover fire.

  “No!” the second man warned as he got to his feet. “He’s got it!”

  Jessica stopped and looked back at the second man. “There’s still…”

  “He’s got it!” the second man repeated. “We have to get you out of here!”

  Jessica wanted to stay and help make sure their leader got across safely, but she had already decided that these men knew what they were doing. She had not yet decided if they really were EDF spec-ops forces, but she was quite sure that they were just as skilled. She turned and followed the second man across the rooftop to the exit door. She turned and looked back as she was about to enter the doorway, just as the leader began his slide down the wire. Explosions went off in the guest suite behind him, as even more weapons fire shot skyward, up from between the buildings. The cable snapped, either from the explosions or from an incredibly lucky shot, she wasn’t sure. Regardless, their leader began to fall. He struck the waist-high concrete wall along the edge of the roof, chest first, his feet dangling over the side. For a moment, he looked as if he were about to lose his grip and fall to the alley below, straight into the arms of the Jung who were firing up at him.

  The other soldier firing downward from the roof’s edge stood and began firing wildly, spraying back and forth with one hand as he sprinted the few meters to his struggling leader. While still firing, he grabbed the man’s collar and yanked him up over the edge in unceremonious fashion, pulling him to safety. As his leader got to his feet and sprinted toward Jessica, the man who had pulled him to safety tossed several more objects into the alley below, before turning to follow his leader.

  “GO!” the leader demanded.

  Jessica turned and followed the first man down the stairwell. The building rocked slightly as muffled explosions were heard outside, undoubtedly the result of the devices the last man had shared with their Jung pursuers. They continued down the stairs for several floors until they finally reached the bottom. “Where are we?” she wondered. “I thought there were only two floors to this building?”

  “And two levels below ground for parking,” the leader said as he caught up to her. He paused at the corner, peering around the wall to watch as one of his men sprinted across the relatively empty parking garage. Once at the other end of the garage, the man signaled back that all was clear, as he headed back toward them.

  “What, is our ride parked down here?” Jessica wondered.

  “Something like that,” the leader replied.

  Jessica felt a gun barrel against the back of her neck. She looked at the leader, anger washing over her face. She felt a pinprick in her left deltoid, instinctively turning her head to look. She wanted to pull away, but nothing seemed to be working.

  “You can kill me later,” the leader told her.

  Then everything went dark.

  * * *

  Doctor Galloway studied the lab reports intently. “This doesn’t make sense,” she said.

  “That’s what I thought as well,” Doctor Hammond agreed. “I’ve never seen urinary nanite counts this low. Not that I have that much experience in nanite therapy…”

  “No, you are quite correct,” Doctor Galloway insisted. “I too, have never seen such numbers. Even the basic failure rate of our nanites would produce a higher urinary count than this.”

  “How is it possible that the nanites are not doing their job, yet they are not evacuating? I thought they were programmed to exit if unable to follow their programming?”

  “They are. I can only assume that they are still trying to carry out their programming.”

  “Perhaps something is causing them to perform their tasks more slowly than normal?” Doctor Hammond suggested.

  “Our nanites only have a life-span of five days. This patient started therapy seven days ago, and had a booster given two days ago. There should be thousands, if not tens of thousands, of nanites per liter of urine at this point.”

  “What happens if they don’t come out, and we keep giving the patient more nanites?”

  “Theoretically, I suppose we could see congestion issues. Thickening of the blood, blockage of pathways, taxing of internal organs. Nanite therapy, depending on the aggressiveness of the protocols, can be quite hard on the internal systems. However, it would take a buildup of millions of nanites before we might see such side effects.”

  “Is there any other way we can get them out?” Doctor Hammond asked.

  “We can issue a general evacuation order to the nanites. If they are still functioning, that should cause them to release and shut down, allowing the host to flush them out. However, most of these patients will not survive without nanite therapy.”

  �
�They’re not surviving now,” Doctor Hammond reminder her, “at least not for much longer.”

  “Of course.” Doctor Galloway took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she examined the list of patients. “We will start with Mister Abarta.”

  “Are you sure? Of all the patients, I think he is the least likely to survive without nanite therapy.”

  “Which is all the more reason to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. If the nanites within him are defective, they could be doing more harm than good. Besides, it takes several days for all the nanites to be evacuated, sometimes even more. If we flush his nanites, we can reload him with new ones, perhaps from a different production batch.”

  “Can’t we just give him a fresh dose of new nanites just after we issue the evacuation order, to save time?”

  “That would not work,” Doctor Galloway explained. “The nanites communicate with one another. It is necessary if they are to accomplish their goals, as a single nanite can do little by itself.”

  “Like a hive mentality.”

  “In a manner of speaking, yes. Although it is actually many small hives, each one with a different goal. So you see, if the current load of nanites is defective, and the defect is in their programming, the defect could be transferred to the new nanites as well.”

  “Like a computer virus,” Doctor Hammond said.

  “Precisely.”

  * * *

  Jessica’s eyes popped open as if someone had just flipped a switch and woken her up. She was confused. She was lying on a bed. There was a wall to her right and a ceiling above, with natural sunlight coming into the room from overhead. She turned her head slightly to the right. A skylight… large enough that she could see blue skies and slow-moving clouds in the upper atmosphere.

  She sat up, slowly at first, expecting to feel groggy and unsteady. She was not. She swung her legs around off the bed, putting her feet on the floor. She was still wearing the same clothing as she had been before… Before that asshole injected me with something!

  She glanced around the room. A table and four chairs. A dresser. A view screen on the wall that was showing some Cetian program. Two doors, and two beds. The one she was sitting on, and another one along the opposite wall.