by G. P. Hudson
That was really the most challenging part of the assignment. The Chaanisar were used to communicating with each other through their brain chips, especially during combat. It made sense as it sped up reaction times. Yet another reason why the unaugmented didn’t fight on Chaanisar teams.
Lieutenant Jarvi did his best to change that, instructing his men to use voice communication as much as possible. It was evident that the men respected Jarvi and they did their best to accommodate her. Most of them had known her since she was a child and had developed a protective instinct toward her. She had no doubt that they would’ve looked out for her even if they weren’t ordered to.
But Anki was not here to be coddled. She was here to fight and prove herself. She understood why Jon wanted her to go to the Academy, but she found it a waste of time. None of the students could match her skill. She even questioned whether her instructors could. Like most Reivers, she believed in learning by doing. The training helped, but it wasn’t combat.
“Activate cloaks and prepare to commence boarding operations,” Jarvi said over her combat suit’s speakers. At the same time, coordinates were fed to her personal jump system. Around her, the Chaanisar activated their cloaks and took on a ghostly appearance. Anki saw them in this way because she shared the same cloaking network they did, but to anyone not on that network they were invisible.
Anki looked down at her armored body and confirmed that her cloak worked. Her heart beat faster, and she tightened her fingers around her heavy energy weapon. She paid attention to her breathing, keeping it under control. That helped regulate her heart rate which the biometric data on her visor confirmed.
“Activate personal jump systems and board enemy vessel,” Jarvi ordered.
This is it, Anki thought. She engaged her jump system, and a shimmering field appeared directly in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she walked through and onto a Dvorkan warship.
The field closed behind her, and she frantically looked around, trying to determine her location. She was in a corridor, that much was clear, but where were the Chaanisar? In training, they had always boarded in groups of four, but here she had landed alone.
Her HUD told her that this was a typical Dvorkan battleship and that she was not far from her target, the ship’s reactor. Following the map on her visor, she moved in that direction. Her visor also showed the location of the rest of her team on the map. The jump system had somehow scattered them, but it looked like they all made it onto the ship. Better than empty space, she thought.
She soon came across Dvorkan soldiers and carefully stayed out of their way as they passed. At least the cloak is working, she thought when they paid no attention to her.
“Anki, are you okay?” Jarvi’s voice came over her helmet’s speakers.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Anki replied, wondering why Jarvi asked since he could easily pull up her vitals on his own visor. “I’m heading toward the engineering section. Can you see my location on your HUD?”
“I can. Do you see the team?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We are all moving toward the target. We will have to rendezvous there.”
“Understood. Do you know why we were scattered like that?”
“Negative.”
Anki picked up her pace. Something wasn’t right, and the sooner they completed their mission and got off this ship the better. She traveled most of the way without incident. She passed many Dvorkans along the way, but none noticed her, and she took care not to attract any attention. Watching her progress on the map overlaid on her visor, she saw that she had almost arrived.
She turned a corner and came to an abrupt stop. Dead ahead was the entrance to the engineering section and the ship’s main reactor, but blocking the way was a security detail. Anki watched as a Dvorkan was screened before he was allowed entry. Cloaked or not, she was not going to get by this checkpoint without being noticed.
“We’ve got a problem,” Anki said over her comm. “The Dvorkans have a security checkpoint blocking the entrance to engineering.”
“Understood. Don’t do anything until we get there.”
One of the Dvorkan guards looked toward Anki’s direction. Could he see her? Anki glanced down at herself and confirmed that she still had the ghostly aura. The man shouldn’t see her, but he had a suspicious look on his face all the same. Could he have heard something? She wasn’t sure, but she backed up toward the wall as he came around and advanced on her position.
The guard held a device and pointed it toward her previous location. Could it detect a cloak? He began scanning the corridor with it, and Anki moved away, trying to stay out of its field. She managed to get beside the guard just as his eyes widened and he reached for his weapon. Why? He hadn’t been looking at her.
She glanced down the corridor while simultaneously reaching for her energy blade. Lieutenant Jarvi had just appeared at the far end, which must have been what the guard had seen.
Anki acted with the speed and confidence of a viper. Before the man could sound an alarm, or warn his partner, Anki thrust the crackling blade up and impaled the man just beneath his chin.
Without hesitation, she yanked the blade out of the man’s skull, and with blood spurting onto her combat suit, she spun and threw it at the surprised second guard. It struck the man and buried itself to the hilt in his chest. He fell backward onto his back.
Jarvi ran at full speed now and reached the entrance before Anki, despite her being physically closer.
“I had no choice,” she said upon reaching him. “He saw you. His device-”
“It does not matter. We have to complete the mission,” Jarvi said.
More Chaanisar showed up, and Jarvi ordered the rest to pick up the pace. The Chaanisar quickly pulled the dead guards through the door into engineering as Jarvi and Anki made haste toward the reactor. Seconds later a klaxon sounded, and their cloaks failed.
More Dvorkan soldiers came into view. Jarvi and Anki fired on them as the ship shuddered under her feet. Anki knew that feeling. The Dvorkan battleship was taking fire, which explained the loss of their cloaks. The Dvorkans had flooded the area with radiation. Something tipped them off to their presence.
The rest of the Chaanisar had arrived and now fanned out, seizing tactical positions within engineering. Anki noted weapon fire coming from the corridor. Dvorkan soldiers had arrived and were locked in battle with a handful of Chaanisar holding them off.
“We’re running out of time,” came Colonel Bast’s voice from the battlecruiser.
“Mission is almost complete, Sir,” Jarvi replied. “If you can buy us a few more minutes…”
“I’ll do what I can, but we are outnumbered out here.”
“Understood.”
Jarvi turned into a blur now, racing for the reactor. Anki did her best to back him up, utilizing the speed of her combat suit to try and keep up. Things happened so fast now that there was no time to question things. If a Dvorkan appeared, she cut him down. Simple as that. It did not matter whether he was a soldier or an engineer. Carrying a weapon, or a tool. The mission was all that mattered.
Reaching the main reactor, they encountered another problem. The Dvorkans had erected a security barrier around it. Jarvi attached an explosive to the barrier and ran backward.
“Fire in the hole,” he shouted.
Anki leaped behind a wall just as the explosive detonated. Anki’s suit flashed a warning on her visor, telling her that it took some damage from the blast and that her suit’s integrity had dropped considerably.
Energy bolts hit the wall giving her little time to think about the warning. She wheeled around and returned fire. Two Dvorkans took cover and fired back at her. Energy bolts hit her suit, diminishing her suit’s integrity even more. She ran toward a section of machinery, shooting back at her two assailants.
Undeterred, they stayed on her and energy bolts chased her until she made it behind the makeshift cover. Anki traded fire with the two Dvorkans, keeping them at bay. She loo
ked for Jarvi but couldn’t find him and hoped he succeeded in getting to the reactor.
Meanwhile, the sound of heavier weapons came from the entrance.
“A Dvorkan mech has arrived,” one of the Chaanisar said from the corridor.
The Dvorkans were not pulling any punches. How much longer could they hold them off?
“Alerts flashed across her visor as members of her team were killed in quick succession. The mission was quickly turning into a disaster.
“Engage jump systems. Return to ship immediately!” Jarvi ordered. That meant only one thing. The reactor was about to blow.
Anki activated the device, and a jump field appeared before her. Her combat suit’s integrity was down to fifteen percent, and she would have to expose herself to enter the portal. Not having a choice made decisions easy, so she sprang toward the jump field as energy bolts crashed into her suit.
She exited the field and hit the hard floor of the Chaanisar battlecruiser. She rolled out of the fall into a crouching position, her weapon pointed at the field in case anything came through after her. When the field vanished, she checked the stats on her visor. Her suit’s integrity had dropped to just four percent but remained intact. She had avoided any injuries and other than a racing heart rate, everything appeared normal.
She wasn’t out of danger yet, however. The ship convulsed violently as the Chaanisar came through their own jump fields. Using her suit’s connection to the battlecruiser, Anki pulled up a tactical display. Their ship was surrounded and taking a barrage of weapon fire from several Dvorkan battleships. Shields were about to fail, and the inevitable hull breaches would not be far behind.
Then, in the middle of all that chaos, the pounding ceased. The battlecruiser appeared at predetermined jump coordinates fifty light years away from the Satek System. One by one, other UHSF ships began to emerge as well.
They had completed their role in the invasion of the Satek System. Anki hoped it would be enough.
Chapter 37
Emperor Kriss took the dead religious policeman’s weapon and confirmed it had a full charge.
“We have to move quickly, majesty,” Captain Vass, the head of Kriss’s Taymati personal guard, said. “We must unite with the other palace Taymati.”
The AI had disabled all their communications when it moved against him, ensuring that the rest of the palace guard did not know what had happened.
“Lead the way, Captain,” Kriss said. Captain Vass had protected him for the better part of a decade, and Kriss trusted him implicitly.
“There is nowhere for you to go,” the AI taunted. “I retain full control of all palace security features.”
Kriss ignored the AI and followed his Taymati guards, with Miira close by his side. They advanced on a pair of closed doors at the far end of the corridor. Kriss followed the Taymati’s lead and leveled his weapon in preparation for any surprises on the other side.
The Taymati tried the doors but found that the AI had locked them. Vass turned to Kriss and motioned for him and Miira to fall back and take cover. Kriss took Miira’s hand and pulled her back to safety. Three of the four Taymati stayed with their emperor. Captain Vass produced an explosive charge and attached it to the doors. After retreating to safety himself, Vass detonated the charge.
A powerful but focused explosion shredded the doors, their fragments spraying the adjoining corridor like shrapnel. Vass scanned the hallway for threats. When none materialized the group cautiously moved out.
They advanced down the hallway without incident, but as they neared a corner, Vass signaled for everyone to stop. Using hand signals, he warned that he heard something around the corner. The Emperor stayed back with Miira as the four Taymati warily advanced.
“This is pointless,” the AI said over wall speakers. “The police can see your every movement. Why do you persist with this foolish behavior?”
The Taymati stopped their advance, and all four turned and fired at the walls and ceiling.
“Stop!” the AI ordered, but the Taymati ignored it and continued to take out the security cameras. “Stop, or you will all suffer a slow-” Energy bolts destroyed the wall speakers, putting an end to the AI’s protests.
With the AI unable to see their activity, the Taymati returned their attention to the hidden threat. One of the guardsmen produced a grenade and lobbed it around the corner, taking cover just as energy bolts sailed past.
The grenade exploded, and the four Taymati followed up with a coordinated assault. Kriss watched the firefight rage, muscles taut and ready. He had to do something. Telling Miira to stay hidden, he readied his weapon and rushed to join his personal guard.
Captain Vass was unable to hide his alarm when he realized what Kriss was doing, but he said nothing. Vass knew from experience that if his Emperor had a choice, he would have preferred to be a Taymati warrior rather than a regent. Over the years, Emperor Kriss had broken protocol many times when in danger, choosing to fight alongside his personal guard instead of hiding behind them.
There was no denying that the extra gun helped tip the odds in the Taymati’s favor. Vass signaled to Kriss to lay down suppressive fire. The emperor happily obliged, peppering the religious policemen with sustained bursts. Vass and his men activated their personal cloaking systems and charged.
The Taymati were the finest warriors in the Empire, and despite the AI’s threats, the religious policemen sent to arrest the Emperor were the ones who had no hope. Wholesale slaughter followed. The Taymati killed every black-clad policeman without mercy, leaving a bloody massacre in their wake.
Kriss turned to call Miira and almost jumped when he realized that she stood directly behind him. “I told you to stay back. You could’ve gotten hurt.”
Miira leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “I need to get to a network access point.”
He cocked his head at her, and she returned his questioning gaze with pleading eyes. Kriss didn’t know what Miira was up to but knew enough to listen. He nodded, took her hand into his and led her around the corner to join his Taymati guard. After quietly relaying the request to Captain Vass, the group was on the move once more. With each step the Taymati kept destroying any security camera they found, depriving the AI of its eyes.
After some tense moments, they turned a corner and Kriss breathed a sigh of relief when they came upon a group of armored Taymati. That relief quickly faded when he realized that these Taymati pointed their weapons at them.
“Taymati traitors,” a booming voice said. “Lower your weapons and surrender, or you will be fired on.”
“What is going on here?” Kriss shouted. “How dare you point your weapons at us?”
“We received a report that these Taymati have taken you hostage, majesty,” the same voice as before answered.
“That’s absurd,” Kriss said. “Lower your weapons this instant.”
“I’m sorry, majesty, but I cannot do that. I have been told you are under duress and that your words are not your own.”
“Did the AI tell you this?”
“Yes, majesty.”
“The AI is the traitor. It is staging a coup, and you are its unwitting accomplices.”
The Taymati didn’t immediately respond. To his credit, their commander seemed to consider Kriss’s explanation.
Massive explosions rocked the palace at that moment surprising everyone. The Taymati commander accessed his comm and asked for a report but got no reply.
“There, you see? The AI has disabled your comm. It did the same to us. Clearly, the palace is under attack as we speak. We have no time for this commander. Lower your weapons at once!”
Kriss must have gotten through to the commander because he lowered his weapon and ordered his men to do the same. “I beg your forgiveness, majesty.” The commander bowed deeply.
“You have it,” Kriss said, hurrying toward the armored men. “Now who is attacking the palace?”
“I don’t know, majesty.”
“It doesn’t ma
tter. We need to get to a network access point immediately before the AI coup succeeds.”
“Yes, majesty. This way.”
Emperor Kriss’s personal guard returned to providing close protection while the armored Taymati led the way. As palace security, the Taymati had intimate knowledge of every palace security feature. They destroyed cameras, speakers and every other type of scanner and listening device, keeping the AI in the dark. They did not encounter any more policemen and soon came upon a network access point.
The Taymati secured the area, and Kriss led Miira to the access point. “Here it is. What are you going to do?”
“This,” Miira said, and Emperor Kriss watched in horror as she snapped off one of her fingernails. Miira took the nail and pressed it into an input slot on the panel. Within seconds gibberish characters began filling the panel’s display. They streamed past at greater and greater velocity until one could barely make them out.
“What’s happening?” Kriss said. “What is all this?”
Miira smiled. “A virus. I think it’s working.”
Chapter 38
“Captain Vass, report! Do you have the Emperor?” the voice of General Kiith, leader of the Taymati, said over the Captain’s comm once communications were restored.
“Yes, Sir,” Vass replied. “The Emperor is safe and still under our protection.”
Fresh explosions rocked the palace. “General, what is happening?” Emperor Kriss demanded. “Who is attacking the palace?"
“It is Central Command, majesty,” General Kiith said. “They claim that you are a heretic and are moving to overthrow you.”
“I see,” Emperor Kriss said, wondering where the Taymati leader’s loyalties lay. There had been many attempts on his life over the years, but the Taymati had protected him each time. In appreciation for their loyalty, Kriss repeatedly increased their budget and the Taymati now wielded considerable power. Was it enough to keep them from turning on him too? “What is the Taymati’s response to this coup?”