Nemesis (The MechaVerse Trilogy Book 2)

by Jeremy Cunkle

  Thorsten looked over to him as the sentries checked the cart thoroughly, even searching underneath and inside of the tire wells. Other sentries waved wands all around the cart, then made them stand and have the wands passed over them before they were allowed to proceed further. “We’ll have to walk from here, those wands are focused EMP’s, and deactivate anything electronic. The only electronics allowed to be used beyond this point are already inside the hangar. Commander Ultor has already cleared your access or you would never gotten this close.”

  The sentries waved them through, closing the first of the glass gates before opening the second, always having at least one wall closing off the tunnel at all times. The glass walls not only served as protection for the sentries, but also functioned as an airlock. As they passed underneath the space where the second glass gate slid across the tunnel, Kiryl looked up and noticed an equally imposing steel blast door ready to slam shut from the ceiling at any moment. Two more occupied guard posts were carved into the tunnel beyond the second glass door.

  Chief Thorsten noticed him examining the additional levels of security. “Redundancy is second nature to everyone born on Mars or ends up living here for any length of time. On Mars and in space, there’s no room for mistakes, no second chances. It’s a cold and unforgiving bitch of a place to live, but it is also beautiful, and what happens here will guide the future of humankind. Humans aren’t meant to live as slaves, just as lives aren’t meant to be thrown away merely for profits. In the end, it all comes down to balance, something those on top aren’t willing to allow. It wouldn’t take the corporations giving up much to satisfy the rebellions demands which makes it all the more incredible that things have devolved as far as they have. That’s what happens when you fight for principles I guess. Ah, and here we are.” He said as they finished approaching a closed titanium blast door covering the rest of the tunnel.

  Thorsten walked over to a slight bend in the side of the wall and they came to another door, its size suggesting it was for human use. Another guard booth presented itself, cleverly set behind a natural turn in the corner, concealing the guards and providing them cover if needed.

  They were buzzed in through the door before entering the largest hangar Kiryl had ever seen. The door they entered through opened onto a steel platform large enough to hold offices and other buildings, set adjacent to a long ramp on the other side of the titanium blast door for transferring Mech armor, supplies, and other materials down to the hangar floor. Kiryl tracked the path of the ramp as it descended down further into the depths of the mountain at only a minimal angle, winding its way down to the floor of the hangar with the help of four gently exaggerated switchbacks. The hangar itself stretched farther than he ever imagined. Spread out below them as far as he could see were dozens of different sized workshops, all brightly illuminated and humming with work. Next to most of the workshops were open spaces. As he squinted to see clearer, he noticed that the open spaces were occupied by what appeared to be Mech armor in various states of assembly. He turned to Thorsten questioningly as they boarded a funicular, a glass encased carriage, attached to a cable, which began its descent when they boarded. Even though the carriage could carry over a dozen people, they were the only two aboard, allowing them to speak freely.

  “Am I just imagining that the hangar floor is covered with partially assembled Mech armor?” Kiryl asked.

  Chief Thorsten smiled and then walked to the front of the carriage, staring out through the glass at the slowly approaching hangar floor. “Remember those specifications we received for a new model of Mech armor? This hangar is the closest thing we have to an assembly line and is currently dedicated to producing them. Each workshop is a station that performs a part of the assembly. Where we need you will soon be explained, but first you should have one more history lesson to help understand.”

  He paused to make sure he was following, then Chief Thorsten continued, “When Mikkhael arrived, he brought us several fabricators your team had created. Each of those fabricators is far more efficient and capable than dozens of workshops we use to accomplish the same task, allowing us to dramatically speed up our creation of parts. We were allowed to use the fabricators during any down time when they were not being used to create parts or munitions for Starkindler. As time progressed, our use of the fabricators diminished in line with his growing need for them. You see, Mikkhael really was the essence of a one-man army. He did all of the fighting, and we worked in the background as his enablers. Initially, there were only a few mechanics and technicians assigned as his maintenance crew. As the frequency of his battles increased, the damage to Starkindler increased as well, requiring a constantly growing team in order to keep up with his maintenance demands. We adjusted by working around the clock when he was here and by anticipating his future needs when he was gone, constantly fabricating extra panels of armor or munitions, knowing they would be needed upon his return. By the end, there were hundreds of personnel actively supporting Mikkhael and Starkindler.

  “That all changed when Starkindler was effectively destroyed. Yes, we have been working our damned hardest to rebuild it, but we just don’t have the technical ability to do so. Aurora never transferred it to us. For now, we simply build what we know and try to figure out what we don’t. In the meantime, those fabricators were suddenly available for our use once again. Through the huge stockpile of resources recovered during the raid on the Abadon mining outpost and the mass cargo freighter from Earth, we now had all of the resources we could ever need combined with the fabricators being available. With specifications for a new generation of modern Mech armor finally ready, our years of effort finally paid off as everything fell together. That was until we decided to mass-produce the new model, replacing both models of the current generation. Mikkhael’s fabricators can’t keep up with demand, and we can’t build more fabricators. When your team arrived, you brought with you dozens more that are currently sitting idle.”

  Chief Thorsten turned to him, clearly uncomfortable with having to ask, but need outweighed his pride. “Please Kiryl, let us use the fabricators when you don’t need them.”

  Even though he realized quite a while ago what Thorsten was going to ask, Kiryl still did not know what to say. He was overwhelmed by the immensity of the trust being placed in him as well as the enormity of what the StormCrows were working on. The fact that they had managed to keep a secret of this scale from Aurora was amazing. For the moment, he asked questions of his own, dodging answering while he learned more, genuinely interested in finding out the answers. “How many Mech armor are you building down here? There must be hundreds! And where the hell are you going to get enough pilots for them, let alone the thousands of mechanics needed to maintain them all?”

  They were now halfway down to the bottom of the hangar. Beyond the workshops, even more open-space stretched as far as the eye could see. Piles of ingots, raw materials, and pre-fabricated parts were organized neatly, able to be left out in the open because there was no worry of corrosion in the controlled atmosphere. Hundreds of workers were in view performing any number of different tasks. Kiryl could only assume that there were at least that many more inside all of the workshops. Then he remembered that Thorsten had mentioned work was being performed around the clock, meaning that somewhere there had to be housing for at least three times the number of people he was seeing, and even more if they had families. “And where the hell do they all live?!” Kiryl asked; the shock of the revelations clear in his voice. The normally unflappable mechanic clearly having difficulty coming to terms with the scale of the sights unfolding in front of him.

  “Official records list seven hangars. That’s not entirely a lie. Tunnels from the hangar in front of you connect another hangar behind it that essentially holds a small city. Nearly ten thousand people live there in an entirely self-sustainable environment, separate from the one above us. For simplicity purposes, the two spaces are counted as a single hangar, belying their size and importance. Even before Mik
khael arrived, we were boosting recruitment, attempting to not only replace our depleted numbers but grow our overall size. Most of those recruits were mechanics and other support personnel, but the need for more pilots and other combatants was, and still is, just as real. After Mikkhael’s arrival though, and his many subsequent victories, recruitment became just incredible. For nearly a year now, we have had more interest than the internal security division could vet and verify as genuine, overflowing the capacity in the upper levels to absorb all the new recruits. Therefore, those that were vetted were brought down here and given work, supplementing the original R&D division without the rest of the base ever knowing. Now you can understand the level of security in order to get down here. With those measures in place, there’s no need to worry about a spy who managed to slip through as no outside communication is allowed, as well as not being allowed to leave until the new generation of Mech armor are completed.” Chief Thorsten explained to him.

  “This is … incredible,” Kiryl whispered softly as the glass carriage of the funicular glided to a stop at a station on the floor of the hangar. The doors slid open, beckoning them forward. Kiryl stepped forward at once, eager to see firsthand one of the new Mech armor.

  Knowing what he wanted without having to ask, Chief Thorsten guided him to a bay where they checked out another electric cart. After filing in, he entered coordinates into the nav computer and then sat back, silently watching his friend turn and stare at each building and partially assembled Mech armor they passed. Ten minutes passed as the cart veritably flew down the center of a wide lane built to accommodate Mech armor, practically free of competing traffic. None of the workers stopped to look at them pass, no security guards or police roamed the area, simple efficiency of processes meant that everyone knew their task and their place. Everyone working down here knew their end objective and how close they were to achieving it, and what that meant for them personally. Once the new generation was complete, they would be granted access to the floors above, able to see the sky for the first time in years for some of them. It was a powerful motivator.

  The cart pulled up to a different style of building than the workshops. This one was even uglier than the workshops, more simple and utilitarian, as well as sturdier built. The building was clearly administrative, utilizing its squat bulkiness to wall off what appeared to be warehouses behind it.

  As the cart approached a small service tunnel inset in the building itself, security measures similar to those just outside the R&D hangar presented themselves. Chief Thorsten manually navigated them through the measures that were different only in the fact that the guards did not use the EMP wands on the cart. They were allowed to stay in it, heading once again towards the warehouses. Thorsten drove as they headed towards a warehouse that had its mammoth doors swung wide, which had a proper gaggle of people standing in front of it. Next to the size of the warehouse, the personnel were tiny by comparison.

  Coming to a sudden halt at the edge of the small crowd, they exited the cart. Chief Thorsten was mobbed by administrative, academic, and maintenance types all at the same time, while others eyed Kiryl warily. He only had eyes for what was inside the hangar.

  After a minute of fending off the sudden press of people, Chief Thorsten walked up to him, looking in the same direction, answering the unasked question.

  “We call it, Salvatore.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE – IMPROVISE

  Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative – H. G. Wells

  Alyona was in the hangar housing the Omnos squad Mech armor, assisting Kiryl and Vera with wrapping-up the maintenance on Intrepid, Kiryl’s unit, when the alarm went off. All around them, the air buzzed with a pulsing intensity throughout the cavernous hangar, a low pitch wail emanating from dozens of speakers that would be noticeable even through an insulated pilot’s suit or mechanic helmet that deadened outside sound. Strobe lights on the walls and inset in the floor flickered between blue and white in order to draw the eye in case someone managed not to hear the sirens.

  After five seconds that seemed much longer, the alarm cut out as the communicators on their wrists, tablets, and all workstations in the hangar automatically turned on, showing Commander Ultor addressing a camera, giving the effect of looking straight at them. All machinery automatically cut out as his voice broke the sudden silence. “Lieutenant Xilan’s team which has been laying sensors for the communications network in the area around Kerrak has encountered signs of heavy PDF presence. I am activating your squad to reinforce and extract him and his men from the region. Two reserve squadrons will be activated and sent out as well; however, they are much slower than your units are and may take most of the day to arrive. Time is of the essence, Godspeed.”

  With that, the communicators turned off, leaving only stunned silence in their wake. Alyona had informed Kiryl and Vera of the deal she made with Commander Ultor two weeks previous to patrol and interdict any PDF around the new outpost which the Lazarus Faction were building named Kerrak, after the famous Crusader fortress, Krak Des Chevaliers. None of them had believed the call to action would come this soon though. Lieutenant Xilan and his team were supposed to spend another two days installing the laser based sensor network Kurtis and Drogdyn devised to discover encroaching PDF then relay the findings back to Mount Olympus, thereby bypassing the existing, congested, and broken communication network. After the sensors were installed, they were supposed to have several more days to test the system, and they had planned to finish fine-tuning their Mech armor before finally heading back into battle for the second time since their arrival planet side. Heading into battle now was nearly a week ahead of their plan, leaving them unsure and nervous about have to rush unprepared.

  Vera turned to Alyona and was about to speak when a door to the hangar swung open as a cart filled with mechanics entered, heading straight for them, and screeched to a halt mere feet away. The mechanics piled out and quickly began readying Vera’s Mech armor, Atalanta, for launch. A man who was obviously the lead mechanic approached her. He was the same one who had discovered Nemesis hidden in their airship. His nametag read Soren. “Ms. Alyona, I’ve been instructed to have my team prepare your units for launch. Chief Thorsten is busy elsewhere. The AI, Athena is already giving everyone individual instructions on what is needed in order to accomplish our tasks. If you would please prepare yourself and your team….” He said, politely but firmly.

  As Soren spoke, several more carts of mechanics, and one filled with blue suited technicians, pulled up next to their counterparts, their occupants exited and headed over to begin assisting their brethren with preparing the other two units for battle. Each of the personnel was being fed individual instructions by Athena over their wrist communicators and slates. Visors on the mechanic helmets served as HUD’s, allowing Athena to overlay simple instructions to those who needed to keep their eyes on what their hands were doing. The blue suited environmental technicians rushed over to where the Omnos squad stored their pilot’s suits, ready to assist the team members with donning their piloting equipment.

  Vera, Kiryl, and Alyona stared at the ensuing chaos swirling around them for another minute before silently meeting each other’s gazes. Surprisingly, Vera spoke first. “This feels right.” The sudden outpouring of assistance from the StormCrow’s reassured her, as Athena correctly calculated it would.

  Kiryl nodded in agreement, which in itself was no surprise to Alyona. She knew he was eager to fight the PDF and push them back, willing to do so regardless of the condition his Intrepid was in. The same fire that burned in Mikkhael, to dismantle the Mars Industries government, smoldered fiercely in Kiryl. After having given Commander Ultor her word that the Omnos squad would act if called upon to defend the region around Kerrak; that region now appeared under imminent attack. With the support of her friends, she made up her mind, addressing Soren who watched expectantly for her response. “Alright, have our units ready in ten minutes.”

  With a sigh of relief, the l
ead mechanic spun and began directing his underlings who continued to appear, turning the hangar into a hive of buzzing activity as they went about their assigned tasks, preparing the Omnos squad Mech armor for battle.

  Once Soren was distracted, Alyona took care of a matter that was of highest priority. Knowing that she would hear anything said through the microphone surgically implanted along Alyona’s jawbone just like her other team members, Alyona began issuing commands to the AI. “Athena, after the mechanics are done, erase their communicators and slates of all the instructions you have given them. Leave nothing for them to know what they worked on. We do not want them to copy later. Once that is accomplished, issue them a series of dummy instructions in order to make recalling what they saw and did more difficult. Also, this is as good a time as any to test the Launchpad for emergency and rushed exits, notify base personnel, and prepare it accordingly.”

  Athena responded through the speaker implanted near her ear that allowed her to speak to Alyona, and the other team members, without anyone else hearing. “Understood, I will erase all the instructions once they have been fully implemented and then create several distractions before I am finished, as well as monitor the technicians for any duplicity once they leave. Soren and his team members have been notified to ready the Launchpad.”