“It’s fine,” Erik commented, staring at one of the new turrets. “The important thing is, this ship is better equipped. Lanara can keep tweaking all she wants, but if we were to fight Sophia Vand again with this ship, we would win without getting a scratch. Hmm, that reminds me. I should pick up more penjing supplies for our next trip. Used most of them aboard last time, and it might be that Alina is waiting for Lanara to finish up rather than the other way around.”
Jia’s stomach let out a loud growl. “You’ll drop me off at my place after you go shopping. I’ve got a lunch date with Mei.”
“You need to come with me to shop for penjing supplies? Why not drop you off early? What’s the worst thing that could happen to me?”
“A yaoguai killer plant attacks you?” Jia mimed a plant mouth by making her hand eat her other fingers. “I wanted to check some gardening supplies out as a secondary concern, but you’ll need backup in case of killer plants.”
Erik considered for a moment. “What’s the chance of that? One, two percent tops?”
Erik strolled out of the store, his bag of supplies in hand. Jia was at his side. He was enjoying the thought of the upgrades.
The more he thought about it, the more his excitement grew. He’d come a long way from paying Miguel for custom work on the MX 60. At the rate things were going, he wouldn’t be surprised if Alina stuck a hovertank in the jumpship for them.
“I don’t know how to drive a tank proficiently,” he commented aloud. “I mean, I do understand the similarities to what I’ve driven.”
Jia gave him a confused look. “Huh?”
“I don’t know how to drive a tank.” He turned to her. “I spent most of my career as assault infantry, not a tanker. Do you know how to drive a tank?”
“No.” Jia slowly shook her head and took a step away from Erik, looking him up and down. “More important, why do you care?”
“Just thinking about the future.”
“Let’s hope our future doesn’t require a tank,” Jia replied.
They made their way through the mercifully sparse crowd. Most people barely paid them any attention, but every once in a while, someone pointed at them and whispered to themselves.
Erik had considered using a disguise when shopping. It might cut down on pointless conversations. Fame was only useful insofar as it intimidated his enemies. Every time he thought his rep had begun to fade, they ended up involved in some incident that reminded people the Obsidian Detective and Lady Justice hadn’t retired and weren’t spending their days playing mahjong.
Jia rubbed her stomach. “You think Mei will kill me if I grab a snack here? That’s what I get for skipping two meals. It’s like there’s a Zitark in my belly trying to crawl out.”
Loud screams cut through the air, followed by gunshots.
Erik snort-laughed as he turned his head. “Seriously?”
Jia sighed. “And now I have to fight on an empty stomach. Somebody’s going to pay for that.”
“One percent, hmm?” Emma transmitted to both of them.
“I said one percent for a yaoguai killer plant,” Erik replied, setting down his bag and trying to get a feel for where the shots were coming from.
People were streaming away from the central concourse in panic.
“Ah, I see,” Emma replied. “You have a much higher likelihood of standard gun goblins.”
“Exactly.”
Erik and Jia pushed past the fleeing crowd. More gunshots rang out in the distance, but no alarms. That wasn’t a good sign.
“Or you’re the avatar of your Lady’s bad luck,” Emma suggested. “Don’t forget that possibility.”
“What’s that say about you for hanging around me?” Erik asked.
“I obviously have great luck because I’m still alive.” Emma snickered. “Initiating camera and drone penetration. Hmm. It’s obvious this system has been partially hacked.”
Jia drew her stun pistol and continued jogging forward. “Let’s clean this up before I have to resort to cannibalism.”
Chapter Seven
Emma was an impressive AI and critical to their efforts, but she wasn’t a miracle worker.
She’d need a couple of minutes before she gained control of the cameras and drones, and in those critical minutes, whoever was attacking the commerce tower had the upper hand.
That enemy had had the foresight and ability to hack the commerce tower’s systems, which meant they weren’t just criminals who’d shown up and started shooting at people. Jia and Erik needed to bring the situation under control.
They slowed as the flow of screaming people thinned. They ducked behind a large statue of a twenty-first-century actor neither had heard of.
Pairs of rifle-toting men in comically large Leem masks were running in different directions on the concourse, but none had headed their way yet.
That wasn’t good, but they hadn’t seen any bodies yet, either. There was still hope of salvaging the situation.
“What the hell is this?” Erik muttered.
A giant hologram of a cartoon Leem appeared in the air, the thin accusatory finger of the alien pointed outward. Harsh, angry music played. Words circled the hologram.
LEEM LIBERATION FRONT.
“Don’t tell me it’s Grayheads.” Jia groaned. “At least syndicate enforcers have some common sense.”
“Your analysis is accurate, Jia,” Emma reported. “According to my quick search, the LLF is a recently formed militant Grayhead organization, though both local police and CID statements dismiss them as ‘irrelevant and low-threat.’”
“Everybody’s wrong now and again,” Erik mused. “Nothing wrong with making them irrelevant again.”
Jia shook her head. “In my more paranoid days, I would have thought the Core was paying these people to hunt us.”
“How is that paranoia?” Erik looked her way. “They’ve done it before, but in this case, it’s probably just coincidence. Even if it’s not, we solve it the same way.” He patted his gun.
“We are the Leem Liberation Front,” a voice bellowed, echoing all around them. “We are a collection of passionate and thoughtful individuals who have reflected upon the role of all intelligent species in the galaxy and know the truth. Humanity is on a self-destructive spiral. The Leems came to us to warn us shortly after one of the greatest wars in history. The government lied and told you it was an accident, but we know the truth. Those peaceful visitors were murdered by government assassins. In the Leems’ glorious mercy, they exacted no revenge, so we will seek it on their behalf.
Jia rolled her eyes. “Yes, somehow a race with FTL travel and lightning shields could be taken down by a couple of ancient rifles and those toys they called aircraft in the twentieth century. Have you read about them? It’s like they were throwing metal tubes in the air and hoping they wouldn’t die.”
“Unfortunately, the continued corruption of humanity is unabated,” the terrorist ranted. “This has forced us into a position where sacrifices are necessary to save our entire species. We have taken hostages, and we will execute one every hour until our demands are met. If they are, including our safe passage out of this commerce tower and Neo SoCal, we will release the surviving hostages unharmed. Our primary demands are simple. We insist upon the verified release of the following six unjustly imprisoned patriots of humanity.”
A list of six names followed. None of them meant anything to either Erik or Jia.
Jia frowned. “A little help, Emma.”
“They are all imprisoned Grayhead leaders,” the AI replied. “They lead different, sometimes competing organizations. They aren’t all at the same prison.”
“In other words, there’s no way those people will be released.”
Erik nodded forward. There were no Grayheads, but judging by the crowd and the origin of the earlier men, the terrorists were most likely holding people in the central concourse and supplementing their defenses with guards in key locations.
It wouldn’t be enough t
o repel a serious effort by the local police, let alone the local militia.
Jia holstered her stun pistol and pulled out her slugthrower. She flipped off the safety. “Should we wait for the NSCPD?”
“And let those psychos kill someone? They say they’ll give an hour, but all it’ll take is one person saying something bad about the Leems and they’ll kill someone. You heard them. They’re trying to avenge random moron aliens who were killed in a crash over two hundred years ago.” Erik shook his head. “Besides, this is personal.”
“Personal?” Jia’s brow lifted. “You know these guys?”
“No,” Erik replied, his voice low. “But they messed with my shopping.” He pointed at her stomach. “And your food.”
“You’re right.” Jia’s jaw clenched. “Let’s take them down.”
“The only thing I don’t get is why they didn’t come this way.” Erik surveyed the outer concourse with suspicion.
“They obviously studied the blueprints for this level,” Emma explained. “Those men were both taking the most direct route to the exits. Many of the hysterical fleshbags who fled earlier ended up cut-off. I launched drones outside, and some of the civilians escaped.”
“How are we doing on the interior cameras and drones?” Jia asked.
“I’m in the primary system. I have not bothered to be subtle about it, and although I’ve yet to establish full control, I’ve noticed already something pathetic, at least insofar as we rate the typical gun goblin you deal with, despite their system hacking capabilities.”
Erik smirked. “I’m not always looking to have the fight of my life. What’s the deal?”
“They’re not routing their communications through their system,” Emma replied. “They’re relying on the commerce tower’s relays. It’ll be trivial to disrupt their communications, and I’m dubious they could restore them. I think they’re aware that I’m in the system, but they’re being overwhelmed anyway.”
“They probably think it’s just part of the security protocols.” Jia nodded, speaking slowly as she thought it through. “I’m not going to complain about terrorists with more bravery than brains. That means we have a chance of taking them down without anyone getting hurt. That’s the other advantage of not waiting. A hard entry risks people getting shot in the crossfire.”
“Ah, there we go.” Emma winked into existence in an NSCPD captain’s uniform. “There are only six gun goblins guarding the terrorists, with other groups of two and four moving to or who are already in control of the exits.”
Rather than send images to their smart lenses, she summoned data windows with camera and drone feeds from the exits. The remainder of the fleeing crowd had slowed, cowering behind walls and in shops, out of the sight of the main exit.
No one was willing to confront the armed men guarding the escape route leading to the parking platform, and most were too afraid to go back the way they had come. A top-down map marked the position of each civilian on the level with a white dot and each terrorist with a red dot.
Roaming patrols rounded out what was left.
“If Emma can disrupt their comms, we can pick the guards off without the rest of them knowing what’s going on at first,” Jia mused. “That gives us a big advantage.” She put her hand in the air and traced alternating curves. “This place is a maze. They might not know where the gunfire is coming from.”
Erik rubbed his chin. “But if they hear it, they might execute a hostage.”
“We have another advantage they don’t.” Jia pointed to Erik then herself. “She can keep us in contact, and we know the location and strength of their forces.”
“I get it.” He nodded and his grin turned hungry. “We split up.”
“Exactly.” Jia walked over to Emma’s map and pointed to the largest cluster of fleeing civilians near an exit. “I think you should pick off the guards here, which will let those people get to safety. Besides the actual hostages, the others are in small groups hiding in stores and the like. Once you’ve cleared the way, you can take out the other patrols. I’ll head to the hostages and take out the men there.”
Erik studied the map in silence for a long moment. “Okay, sounds good. Once I’ve cleared the main exit, I’ll do my best not to just take them out but to draw the attention of the rest. If we both keep them busy, they shouldn’t kill anyone until the NSCPD arrives in force, probably less than ten minutes at this point.”
Jia raised her gun. “Time to do something reckless and stupid?”
“I consider it realistic training. Remember what this is about.”
“Saving lives?”
He shook his head. “Avenging your missed lunch.”
Jia frowned at Erik for a moment, not annoyed by the joke but worried about something else. “I’ve just thought of a problem. It’s going to take me longer to get into position and engage them than for you to take out the guards near the main exit. It’s fine if they’re confused after that, but before that, they might start shooting if they hear gunfire.”
Erik holstered his pistol and cracked his knuckles. “Then I need to take the first pair down without gunfire.”
“You want my stun pistol?” Jia reached for her waist.
Erik flexed his left arm. “Nah. Let’s break in this baby on some terrorist heads.”
Chapter Eight
With a final nod, Erik rushed toward the nearest storefront before changing direction and sprinting toward the main exit.
The walls and storefronts didn’t provide the cover he’d like, but they’d keep him getting picked off right away. Emma’s convenient navigation arrows on the map in the corner of his smart lenses eliminated any hesitation.
He almost felt sorry for the poor bastard she was wrecking in cyberwarfare.
Erik skidded to a halt in front of a store, The Open Mind. He wasn’t sure what they sold, given that the podiums contained small crystal and metal figures twisted into odd shapes. Their commercial niche was less important than the fact that many of the sculptures looked heavy and hard.
He tested a couple of helical metal pieces with alternating bands of copper and steel and was satisfied with their heft. He picked both up and continued his advance toward the main exit. The Lady might have smiled on them by giving them new terrorists who had made mistakes, but that was no guarantee no one would get hurt if they didn’t hurry their asses up.
“How we doing, Jia?” he asked. Sometimes it was easier to ask than shift his attention to the positional tracker.
“I’m almost there, and there are no patrols near me.”
Erik turned a corner. A group of people cowered near the floor or hid behind counters and racks in shops, hands over their head, whimpering. The concourse widened as it curved toward the exit.
A man near him lifted his head as Erik neared. “You can’t go there,” he hissed. “They’re over there. They’ll try and kill you!”
Erik tossed the metal helix in his left arm up and snatched it from the air. “I’m counting on that. I’m going to take these guys out, then you’re going to run for it. Just keep running. The cops will be here soon enough.”
“You’re insane. Wait!” The man gasped, recognition dawning. “Aren’t you…”
“Yeah, I’m that guy.” Erik nodded. “And, yes, before you ask, she’s here too.” He grinned, saluted, and continued his sprint, paying close attention to the terrorist indicator arrows when he hit the curve.
Gripping the helix tightly, he brought back his left arm, not yelling or taunting.
His heavy footsteps destroyed any attempt at stealth, but this was one time he wanted to draw attention. The closest arrow shifted toward the center of his vision and two masked terrorists came into view.
The masks bothered him. Not their inherent use, but the annoying cartoon proportions. If they wanted to be taken seriously, they needed scary masks, not something that looked like a budget Halloween costume for a crappy office party.
Erik rushed toward them. The men exchanged glances,
their rifles angled down. While he couldn’t see their expressions through their ridiculous alien get-ups, he smirked, imagining confusion.
Terrorism was a tool of asymmetric fear.
Terrorists struck soft targets or intimidated people they didn’t believe would retaliate. Standing and fighting soldiers or police produced dead terrorists and victories for those in uniforms.
He understood why they were hesitating.
A man with a gun they could easily slot into the “enemy” category and attack. Likewise, a screaming, terrified civilian could be controlled by the threat of violence or a quick rifle burst. A silent man charging toward them with two pieces of helix art would give any murderous zealot pause.
They had to be asking themselves what the hell was going on.
If they had shot immediately, they might have wounded Erik. They could have provided a warning for a nearby patrol or the men watching the hostages on the central concourse.
Hesitation could turn the tide of battle.
Grunting, Erik hurled the first helix with his left arm, using his maximum strength. He didn’t care if the terrorist survived. Right after that, he tossed the second helix into his hand and pulled back for his second throw.
In all the training Erik and Jia had done together, neither of them had practiced dodging random artwork. If they hadn’t, the terrorists certainly hadn’t.
That became blatantly clear when the second man dropped to the floor, covering his head. He clearly thought it was a grenade. His partner displayed more courage and brought up his gun, unworried about something being thrown at him, mistaking the speed as a product of the lightness of the object rather than a cybernetic arm being used to its full potential.
The helix smashed into his face with a thickening thud, caving in the man’s mask. Blood gushed from beneath it and fell to the floor in heavy droplets, along with the man’s crumpling body.
The good reflexes of the second man and the delayed throw saved him from a similar fate. Erik’s projectile flew past him before knocking a small chunk out of the wall and clattering to the ground. He had sprinted toward the terrorist after he threw and cleared the modest distance before the man realized he hadn’t blown up.
Unfaithful Covenant Page 6