Omega Force 7: Redemption

by Joshua Dalzelle

  "We're good," Jason said. "Cut that line and let's get going."

  Lucky hit the line with one of his cutting lasers at the point it was anchored, taking a few seconds of direct heat to snap it and send it floating over the edge. The line was so small it would be impossible to detect as it hung from the other building.

  They moved to the door, Crusher yanking it open as his armored companions covered him. As it turned out, someone was coming up holding two steaming cups. Everyone froze, looking at each other in surprise until the merc dropped the cups and went for his weapon. Jason's railgun coughed once and the subsonic round caught the merc in the throat and sent him tumbling back down the stairs before Lucky could catch him.

  "Boek'omt?" a voice called out. "What happened?" As another face belonging to the same species rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs Lucky launched himself from the edge. The alien stared in slack-jawed horror as the battlesynth arced gracefully through the air right up until the instant Lucky's armored fist caved his skull in. Lucky fired a microburst from his repulsors just in time to keep from crashing into the landing. Even still, the noise was much louder than Jason would have preferred.

  "For the love of ... how are we racking up this big of a body count already?" Jason asked, exasperated. "So much for a silent dash and grab. Come on, grab that one's com unit and let's get moving."

  The trio wasted no time in clearing the top floor, encountering no more mercenaries but seeing enough bedding and refuse to account for at least three times as many as they'd already taken out. The stairs to the next floor down were an open, spiraling style that allowed for them to easily cover their approach, but it also allowed them to be spotted earlier. They made it all the way to the next landing before a shout of alarm caused all hell to break loose.

  Four mercs came running out of a side room while the one that shouted the alarm tried to run away down a side hall. Jason shot him first, two rounds in the back, as Lucky and Crusher engaged the four coming directly at them. He heard Lucky switch to combat mode and open fire with his plasma cannons, mowing down three before they could raise their own weapons, while Crusher nearly decapitated the fourth with a wickedly curved blade he'd brought along.

  "Gross," Jason remarked as he walked over, his railgun at low ready. "You know a stab is just as effective, right?"

  "Where is this princess at?" Crusher asked, ignoring him.

  "Center of the floor," Jason said as he consulted the map on his HUD. "Let's take this hallway until we find one that goes left."

  They branched left at the first chance and had a straight shot to a large conference room that had been converted into a prison cell on one half and a guard station on the other. Lucky walked in first and, as the light was poor, the bored-looking guard hardly gave him a second look.

  "What are you doing up here?" he asked. "Boss told you both to stay on the first level, I thought." When Lucky didn't answer immediately he looked over and his eyes widened as he realized he wasn't looking at one of the synths on his crew. Crusher had already rolled around to the left and stabbed the merc right in the base of the neck, grabbing his hand as it sought out the red panic button in the middle of the table.

  "Happy?" Crusher asked as he wiped his blade off on the merc's clothes.

  "Marginally," Jason said, removing his helmet. "Guard the door." He walked over to the cell door, peeking in at a form that was barely visible under a pile of blankets. Thankfully the cell was a simple affair and it opened without requiring a key or passcode.

  "Netjere?" he asked softly. The covers rustled a bit, then went still. "Netjere?" he asked again, this time louder.

  "What do you animals want now?" an angry, strong voice came from the pile of blankets. Jason was relieved that she hadn't been kept sedated, otherwise extracting her would have been more complicated.

  "We're not the same animals," Jason said dryly. "We're here at the request of your First Attendant to get you out of here."

  This got the covers moving as the netjere sat up quickly and stared at Jason, causing his heart to skip a beat. If Kalette could be considered pretty, the netjere was nothing short of stunning.

  "How am I to believe you?" she asked.

  "Kalette said to tell you 'Usai misses you,'" Jason said. "I'll be honest, I have no idea what the hell that means."

  "Usai is a dear pet of mine," she said, throwing the covers off. "It is a code we've used before."

  "If you say so," Jason said, trying not to stare at her. "Are you ready to move?"

  "I am ready," she said. "Did my father send you?"

  "Not exactly," Jason said. "We can explain later. For now, less talking and more escaping."

  "Captain, the decoy," Lucky reminded him, tossing him a device from his pack.

  "Ah, shit. Almost forgot," Jason said, snatching it out of the air. "Could you do me a favor and just sit on the bed? Be very still and stare at that far wall over there."

  "What will that—"

  "Please just humor me, we don't have much time," Jason said as he set the device up against the near wall where it couldn't be seen from the door. Once she had sat in a huff, he pressed one of the buttons on top and waited. After ten seconds it beeped twice. "You can get up."

  She leaned forward and stood in an odd blur of motion. After she'd stepped away from the bed she looked back and saw that she was apparently still sitting on the bed.

  "Clever," she said. "It will not fool them for long, however."

  "We don't need long," Jason said. "Crusher, police the bodies. Just pick another room on this floor and toss them in."

  "What? Why me?" Crusher demanded.

  "Because you're the one who insisted on putting drain holes in them with that knife," Jason said, pulling out a set of dark clothes that they'd fabricated for the netjere and handing them to her. "Just toss these over what you're already wearing. They'll keep you warm and mask your thermal signature." While they were hiding the obvious evidence that they'd been there Jason saw a loose pile of data cards and a couple of tablet computers. He grabbed all of it and stuffed it into Lucky's pack. By the time Crusher got back from hiding the bodies the netjere had already put her clothes on and seemed to be getting impatient.

  "What is your name?" Jason asked. "What should we call you, I mean."

  "You should not," she said haughtily.

  "Oh, I can already tell this is going to be so much fun," Crusher deadpanned.

  "Let's go," Jason said, ignoring them both. "I'm point this time. Crusher, you hover over the objective, Lucky, you're last."

  They moved out of the room and to the stairs as fast as they could. Unfortunately, the netjere was wearing shoes that weren't built for speed or stealth and she raised such a racket when Crusher tried to carry her that Jason just resigned himself to the slow pace.

  Just as he put his hand on the door that led to the rooftop the com unit they'd pulled off one of the mercs began squawking. He couldn't fully make out what they were saying, but the tone of voice wasn't excited or panicked, so he assumed it was just a normal check in.

  "Will a ship be coming to take us from this roof?" the objective asked.

  "Not exactly," Jason said.

  "Will troops be securing the building while we wait?"

  "Not exactly," Crusher said.

  "What kind of rescue is this?" she demanded imperiously.

  "A budget rescue," Jason snapped. "You get what you pay for, now be quiet and let us work." Her eyes flashed dangerously as she took great offense to his tone. Despite the fact she promised to be an enormous pain in the ass he had to admire that she still had some fight left in her after being abducted and held captive. After clearing the road that ran between the buildings they were on and the one they came from he waved Lucky over. "You sure about this?"

  "It will be no problem," Lucky assured him.

  "Go then. Now. We'll catch up," Jason said, keeping watch as Lucky walked over and grabbed a stunned Avarian princess and marched over to the edge of t
he building. It was only the fact that she was so shocked at his actions that she kept quiet. The battlesynth stepped up onto the ledge and fired his repulsors, this time with much more power, and streaked up and away with one of the most important people in the known galaxy gripped in his arms. Jason watched as he landed gently on the ledge they'd infiltrated from and, seeming to struggle with his charge, disappeared through the broken window.

  "So now comes the fun part," Crusher said, eyeing the broken window six floors down they planned to zip line into. "Have you ever done this before?"

  "Not with—" Jason was cut off by a strident alarm coming from the dead merc's com unit and angry clipped voices shouting commands. "That didn't take as long as I'd hoped."

  "Do you have time to set up the line?" Crusher asked, sheathing his knife and unslinging his plasma rifle. Before Jason could answer the door to the roof crashed open and two Korkarans burst through, hissing loudly when they caught sight of Crusher. Jason raised his railgun and fired three rounds at the closest one, but he still had the velocity dialed way down so they bounced off the thick armor the saurian mercenary was wearing.

  Crusher opened up with his plasma rifle, causing both to run for cover before they could bring their own weapons to bear. As he and Jason both ran for shelter, the latter reset his weapon while the former glared at him in annoyance. Jason smiled sheepishly, ducking behind an environmental unit as shots from the Korkaran weapons impacted the thick alloy of the condenser.

  "They ran and hid behind that extraction vent," Crusher said. "The metal won't be nearly as heavy as it is with this thing."

  "Why are you telling me that?" Jason asked.

  "You're the one wearing armor," Crusher said. "And it's your turn to do a shit job after I dragged those mutilated bodies into that office."

  "But you mutilated them!" Jason said as more rounds pinged off the condenser.

  "I don't believe that was the point we were arguing," Crusher said loftily as hot slag from the condenser alloy melting landed just past where they were crouched.

  "You're unbelievable," Jason said, sticking his weapon around the side of the condenser and firing two shots to make the Korkarans duck for cover.

  The roar of the hypersonic rounds surprised Jason so much he almost dropped the weapon, as he'd only meant to crank it up to low-velocity mode. All shooting after that ceased as both sides seemed shocked. Jason rolled around the corner of the condenser slowly and saw that one of his rounds had hit the vent and turned it into a shrapnel storm, killing one of the enemy and gravely wounding the other.

  "We're clear," he said.

  Crusher stood and came around the other side, looking at the glowing, sagging metal of the condenser that had taken so many plasma rounds before seeing the remaining Korkaran, legless, dragging himself across the rooftop towards the door.

  "I think you owe me an apology," he said to Jason, nodding towards the gruesome sight.

  "I didn't do that intentionally," Jason disagreed, lining up his weapon to finish the job. Before he could the door banged open again and a synth came sprinting out at astonishing speed. Jason tracked it and began firing, but was unable to line up a shot as fast as it was moving. It threw something at them and dove off the rooftop, apparently willing to take its chances with the fifty-meter drop rather than Jason's railgun.

  Crusher dove back behind the condenser as the grenade the synth had tossed exploded, the concussive force sending Jason flying backwards and slamming him into the ledge, breaking duracrete. He rolled over, struggling to catch his breath and not wanting to think about what he'd look like had he not been wearing the armor. Strong arms pulled him up off the ground and onto his feet, steadying him as he tried to shake off the effects.

  "That's why I don't wear armor," Crusher was saying over the ringing in his ears. "It makes you think you're invincible enough to eat a grenade. We need to get the hell off this rooftop. Can you move?"

  "I'm good," Jason said a moment later. "Thanks."

  "I think our planned exfil is shot," Crusher said. "Dangling over the street after we stirred them all up isn't my idea of a good time."

  "Agreed," Jason said, thinking fast. "This way." He ran over to the opposite side of the roof and tied one end of the line to the remains of an antenna mast before tossing the spool over the side.

  "Rappelling down isn't any better," Crusher said as Jason pulled two friction grips out of his pack and handed one to him.

  "We'll drop down this side and take the surface streets back to Jer-An's basement," Jason said. "Think about it ... right now they’re massing up on the top floors getting ready to assault an enemy of unknown strength on the roof. There won't be anybody on the ground floor now that they know their captive is gone and possibly still up here."

  "Maybe," Crusher said, taking the grip and waiting as Jason hooked his own on the line before stepping up onto the ledge.

  "See you down there," Jason said before hopping off the edge. He squeezed the friction grip gently, arresting his initial plunge until he had his rhythm and then he bounced down the side of the building in a matter of seconds. He dropped his grip, raised his weapon, and waved Crusher down.

  The big warrior wasted no time, dropping like a stone off the ledge until the last ten meters when he squeezed down hard on the grip, arresting his fall so quickly that the friction grip was smoking and fused to the line.

  "Nice," Jason said with a nod. "Let's head out that way—" Before he could finish his sentence a metallic scraping sound caught his attention. He spun and in the thermal optics of his helmet he saw a synth with a badly damaged leg trying to sneak towards them along the edge of the building. Jason snapped his weapon up and fired a single round into the machine's head, dropping it instantly.

  "Damnit!" Crusher shouted, holding his ears. "Dial that thing back!"

  "Sorry," Jason said, flicking the selector down a notch. "Let's go, they'll know we're on the move." As they ran he opened a general frequency on his com unit. "Lucky, change of plans. We're travelling topside to the rally point. Get the objective safely there and do not wait for us."

  "Acknowledged."

  "Doc, what's your status?"

  "Standing by," Doc said. "Engines are hot and weapons are armed."

  "Go ahead and get airborne," Jason said. "We'll call when we're ready for pickup." He closed the channel and concentrated on what was happening around him. Those they'd passed so far showed no inclination of trying to stop them, but he doubted his luck would hold out for the entire trip.

  "You think that block war has died down?" Crusher asked, barely winded from the all-out sprint they were doing.

  "I hope so," Jason said. He was about to ask about taking an alternate route when something slammed into his back with tremendous force, sending him flying. He lost his grip on the railgun as he tumbled across the pavement with such velocity he saw sparks being kicked up by his armor. When he came to a stop he was face down, his faceplate was cracked, and there were a series of warnings scrolling down his HUD. He heard weapons fire in the distance, including his own railgun, and tried to stand, but the actuators wouldn't respond. Before he could try a systems reset a strident tone sounded in his ears letting him know one of the powercells had been ruptured and was going critical. Without hesitation he initiated the ejection sequence and closed his eyes as parts of the armor were blown off him in a precise sequence until he was able to stand.

  He pulled the helmet and gauntlets off, tossing them aside as he walked over to where Crusher was, smoke curling up out of the railgun's barrel. "I can see why you like this thing so much," Crusher said, handing it back to him. "That last synth hit you with a light anti-personnel missile. Glad he was aiming at you and not me."

  "Me too," Jason said, eliciting a raised brow from Crusher. "I'm not going to lie, it hurt like hell, but I survived it. You wouldn't have," he explained.

  "We better get moving again," Crusher said. They turned and began running again, more slowly this time so as not to blu
nder into another situation. Jason felt very conspicuous running in the thin, form-fitting undergarment that was only designed to wick moisture away from his skin while wearing armor. "Cute outfit," Crusher said as they ran.

  "Shut up."

  They only had to run another few minutes to realize that not only had the block war not abated, it seemed to have grown and now involved a third faction. Jason motioned to a narrow, filthy alley to his right. He switched his ocular implants to thermal mode, something he hadn't done in over a year, and scanned the passage. The alley looked clear save for the still-warm footprints of something that had run through at high speed judging by the stride length.

  "Call Lucky and ask where they are," Jason said as he pressed further up the alley.

  "Lucky, where are you?" Crusher asked into his headset. After a pause, he said, "He says they're already in Jer-An's hiding place."

  "Tell him to coordinate with Doc and have the Phoenix pick them up in that alley with the transit beam," Jason said, clearing a couple of recessed doorways as he passed. "We'll try to find a clear pickup point ourselves but we're not getting through that mess."

  "They're on their way," Crusher said. "Doc is already coming down. Does this alley dump out somewhere that the ship can get into?"

  "I've never been here before, Crusher," Jason said patiently. "Lucky had the map in his head."

  "That seems shortsighted that we all don't have a copy," Crusher said. Jason ground his teeth together, but said nothing. A moment later they were walking out of the alley into a large, open area that looked like a delivery yard for the surrounding buildings. Unfortunately, they weren't alone.

  Some of the participants in the night's festivities had spilled over from the main streets into the side alleys and there were a couple dozen shabbily dressed aliens with crude weapons facing off against each other. They all stopped and stared when Jason and Crusher walked out from behind the retainer wall of a loading dock.