Rade's Fury (Argonauts Book 7)

by Isaac Hooke

  “All right Argonauts, stick to the foliage, and crawl around to the eastern side,” Rade said. “Draw off those walkers. TJ, Bender, stay with me.”

  The rest of the team moved away; the hidden sensors in the foliage detected the motion, and the walkers repositioned at intervals along the inside of the chain link fence to follow the group. As suspected, those sensors weren’t fine-grained enough to recognize that three members of the party had remained behind. The sensors could only determine whether it was a big mass of people that were moving eastward, or a small mass, which is why Rade had chosen to send away nearly everyone.

  When the rest of the party was in place, Rade glanced at TJ and Bender.

  “Are you ready?” he asked the pair.

  “Let’s go kick some robots in the balls!” Bender said.

  TJ offered a more muted response. “I’m ready.”

  Rade nodded. “Then let’s get this done. TJ, transmit the location of the mech warehouse.”

  Rade accepted the data request and a building became highlighted on his overhead map.

  “Let’s do this.” He scrambled to his feet and dashed onto the three hundred meter open area between the fence and the surrounding foliage.

  “The walkers are turning around,” Algorithm announced.

  Rade wanted to hit the gap first. Wanted to be the one to determine whether there was an undetected laser field just inside. But apparently Bender was of a like mind, because he raced Rade to the gap and managed to sprint through before him, taking a running leap over the toppled razor wire.

  Bender’s body remained intact—he wasn’t cut in half. Rade and TJ followed close behind. Because of the wind rushing past his ears from the run, Rade didn’t hear the expected electrical crackle and hum as he passed the charged fence areas still intact on either side; he leaped over the fallen razor wire and proceeded deeper into the installation.

  Rade glanced at his overhead map. Algorithm was moving southwest, shadowing the mechs from the outside of the installation, so that Rade’s display would update with their positions.

  As he passed one of the low slung structures, Rade realized the walker units were about to round the bend, three buildings ahead.

  “Cover!” Rade said before those units could spot them. He dove into a side road between two of the buildings with TJ, while Bender took the street on the opposite flank.

  “Got some camera domes here,” Bender said. “Gone now.”

  Rade could hear the thudding as the walkers came closer.

  “I’ll lead these bitches away,” Bender said.

  “That wasn’t the plan...” Rade said.

  “Boss, I’ll be all right,” Bender said. “Get those mechs!”

  Bender dashed away down the street, swerving out of view on the far side.

  Rade glanced around the corner of the building and saw the four walkers turning away to follow Bender, whose yells Rade could hear from where he stood.

  “Come on, you punk ass little bitches!” Bender shouted. “Are your hulls made of metal or toilet paper? All the better to wipe my asshole with!”

  The walkers quickly vanished from view behind the low slung rectangular buildings.

  “Let’s go!” Rade said.

  He hurried forward with TJ, and approached the intersection the walkers had taken. He peered carefully past, but there were no signs of the walkers. Judging from Bender’s taunting shouts, they would be closer to the southern side of the installation by then.

  Rade and TJ hurried across the base. Rade searched for camera domes as he went, but just because he didn’t see any, didn’t mean they weren’t there. Some of the walkers would no doubt be turning back to intercept him and TJ. They didn’t have much time.

  Rade and TJ reached the target warehouse. A broad garage door lay closed in front of it.

  TJ connected a wire to the access port and plugged it into a small bracelet attached to his wrist.

  “I’m interfacing,” TJ said.

  Rade spotted a walker rounding the bend nearby. He pulled TJ into the small alcove formed by the garage and the edge of the building, shoving himself and his friend out of view.

  Then Rade dropped to one knee and leaned past to aim at the AI core of the incoming walker. Bore holes appeared along the edge of the building beside him as another walker stepped into view behind the first, and Rade was forced to pull back after releasing only one shot. The tip of his rifle had been blown off, rendering the weapon useless.

  Rade tossed the weapon away. “TJ...”

  “Almost got it,” TJ told him.

  The loud thud-clang of the two walkers’ feet echoed from the asphalt as the large robots rapidly closed.

  Rade realized TJ wasn’t going to make it in time.

  He slid down the particle beam rifle from his opposite shoulder and dropped lower. Then he leaned out into the open and fired at the first walker’s center of mass.

  The blow stunned the walker, as expected. The robot froze as black veins spiders outward across its chest piece. Rade ducked from view and waited.

  He heard the rising clang as the remaining walker approached, and he was about to lean past and risk another shot when the noise abruptly ceased, as if the walker had halted. Then he heard a loud crash.

  Rade slowly peered past the edge, rifle in hand, and saw that the second walker had toppled. The converted walker had evidently shot down the second. It had turned around, and was facing a third walker that had rounded the bend. They were firing at one another. Laser bore holes appeared in each of them as Rade watched.

  “I knew this weapon would come in handy someday,” Rade said.

  “I’m in,” TJ said.

  The garage door swiveled open beside them.

  Rade and TJ hurried inside.

  Rade spotted eight ATLAS mechs. The hulls of the humanoid-shaped battle suits were dented and dirty. The heads were pinched compared to those found on Hoplite models. Upon the chest pieces, tiger claws had been spray-painted. The units were taller than Hoplites, and bulkier, with thick multi-pronged cobra lasers permanently attached to the right arms, and long ballistic shields to the left. He saw nozzles around the waist area denoting the Trench Coat anti-missile countermeasure systems.

  “Guess the Franco-Italians don’t like swivel mounts,” Rade commented, regarding the lack of weapon diversity on the arms of the mechs.

  “I was hoping for a few missile launchers,” TJ said. “But we have to be happy with what we got.”

  TJ went to the closest ATLAS, climbed the rungs, and plugged in his wrist unit to the access port above the AI core. “Looks like they still have power. Or this one does, anyway. I’m provisioning it now.”

  Rade took cover behind the large metal leg of a nearby mech, and aimed out at the open garage door, covering TJ.

  If Bender was here, we could properly cover both sides of the entrance...

  He glanced at his overhead map, but the red dots outside didn’t update—neither Algorithm nor the rest of the team members had a view of the walkers from their positions outside the installation.

  “I’m in,” TJ said.

  Rade glanced at the mech TJ was attached to. On the pinched head, a thin, glowing red line activated in the eye region, alongside the yellow glows representing the two cameras. And then the hatch covering the chest area fell open.

  “It’s all yours,” TJ said.

  Rade left his cover and clambered up the leg rungs, swinging into the cockpit.

  The hatch shut, plunging him into darkness. The inner actuators cocooned his body, and then the camera feed from the head region linked to his Implant so that he viewed the world from the height of the mech.

  “Welcome aboard, Rage,” the mech’s AI addressed him by his old callsign. “I am Hugo.”

  “Call me boss,” Rade said.

  “Yes, boss,” Hugo answered.

  Rade took a step forward, then another, and the mech mimicked his motions. He felt powerful. Invincible.

  TJ ha
d already climbed up another mech and was provisioning the unit.

  Rade approached the entrance in his ATLAS and carefully peered past. The two walkers he had seen fighting earlier had disabled one another; the converted unit lay toppled on the street, while the other walker was still standing, but obviously offline, judging from the smoke emerging from its many bore holes.

  Bender came running into view.

  A walker appeared behind him a moment later.

  Rade instantly targeted its AI region with his cobra and fired.

  The walker dropped, clattering to the pavement.

  Bender came to a halt in front of Rade and stared up in awe at the ATLAS.

  “Rade?” Bender said. “I’m in heaven! Where’s my mech! Where’s my mech!” He dashed inside the warehouse. “TJ, gimme my mech now damn it!”

  A moment later Bender emerged in another ATLAS, and he took up a guard position beside Rade.

  “Now we’re in fine bug hunting form,” Bender said.

  “We are indeed,” Rade said, staring down the scope of his cobra and into the street beyond.

  twenty-three

  Rade ordered Hugo to guard the entrance with Bender, and then cracked open the hatch and climbed down. While TJ continued to work, Rade checked a storage closet in the warehouse and found eight matching Franco-Italian jumpsuits, complete with jetpacks.

  After provisioning all of the ATLAS units, TJ focused on setting up the strength-enhancing jumpsuits; when TJ finished with each of them, Rade stowed the suits, “coolvent” undergarments, and jetpacks into the passenger seats of the mechs in turn. The inner actuators aboard the cockpits would adjust to the added bulk of the suits so that the Argonauts could pilot the mechs with or without the jumpsuits.

  The items were heavy, so that by the time TJ handed him the last suit, Rade was panting loudly.

  “What’s the matter?” TJ said. “Getting old?”

  “You try hauling this crap into the passenger seats,” Rade said.

  “Be glad to.” TJ snatched the jumpsuit and undergarment from him, collected a jetpack, and scrambled up the rungs of the last ATLAS unit to deposit the items in the passenger seat without breaking a sweat.

  Rade shook his head.

  I really am getting old. It might be time for some rejuvenation treatments.

  He loaded back into Hugo’s cockpit, while TJ took a mech for himself. Rade assumed control of the AI cores of the remaining five and proceeded to clear the installation with the ATLAS units. None of the mechs had any ATLAS Support System drones aboard, which fulfilled the same role as HS3 scouts except that they could be launched and retrieved at will. The Support System drones had been phased out of later mech designs as they were considered an unnecessary waste of machine real estate, especially when HS3 units could simply accompany a mech party directly. Such drones would have been useful at the moment, however, considering the dearth of HS3s.

  Rade searched some of the other warehouses, looking for other potential units that could aid their cause, such as Equestrians or gunships, but the installation personnel had cleaned the rest of the place out before leaving for Marseille. Thankfully he discovered the mech booster rockets sitting intact in a storage building on the southwest side of the outpost, and he instructed the mechs to pick up the bulky payloads.

  Rade grabbed one of the devices himself, which looked like an oversized wraparound jetpack—two large cylindrical canisters attached to left and right armrests. There were four big limbs that arched outward from the center of the device like talons, which were meant to hook over the shoulders and under the legs of a mech for takeoff.

  Carrying the bulky booster rockets in their arms, Rade, TJ, Bender and the mechs rendezvoused with the rest of the team, who were still hiding in the shrubs past the perimeter. The human members loaded into the remaining ATLAS units—which had to lower the payloads so that the cockpit hatches could fall open—while the Centurions clambered into the passenger seats and seated themselves next to the empty jumpsuits and jetpacks.

  Rade let Shaw know that he and the men were all right, then the team cut across the installation and took the country road leading away. They sprinted across the weathered asphalt, their top speed reduced by the weight of the booster rockets they bore. The road held up well to their passage—they didn’t leave any cracks or other potholes in their wake, at least none that Rade noticed.

  Rade paused the team near the getaway vehicles to let the combat robots down. The Centurions loaded into the two cars and the pickup and the party proceeded on its way.

  The convoy would have certainly made an interesting sight to nearby locals, if any watched from the farms, vineyards, and villas that bordered the road. Seeing these war machines parade down the country road at a sprint, carrying booster rockets, and led by a pickup and two cars, well, it wasn’t something that happened every day. Then again, neither did alien invasions.

  The team reached the landing platform that served as a fueling station for aircraft in the immediate area. TJ checked the station fuel levels, and confirmed that there was ample supply left. The valves were compatible with the booster rockets, so the team members hooked up the payloads and began refueling. None of the Argonauts had to leave their mechs the whole time.

  “By the way, boss, that’s a mighty fine ass you got there,” Bender said while waiting for the boosters to top up.

  “Why thank you,” Rade said. “If you want, I can arrange a date between the AI and yourself later?”

  “I’d take you up on the offer,” Bender said. “But I got a date with Surus lined up after the mission is done.”

  “Oh ho!” Fret said. “Does Surus know about this date?”

  “Nope,” Bender answered. “But we all know she won’t be able to resist me when we’re reunited.”

  “She’s resisted you for the past two years...” Manic said.

  “Oh I know,” Bender said. “She’s gonna crack soon. Mark my words. She’s going to sleep with me, if only to get rid of me. Long game, bro. Long game.”

  “Interesting strategy,” Fret said. “Keep harassing the woman until she sleeps with you. That’s gotta be illegal or something.”

  “Except the woman in question isn’t a woman,” Lui said. “But an Artificial.”

  “There are laws protecting Artificials, too, you know,” Fret said.

  “It’s not harassing!” Bender said. “Not if the woman likes it. Come on, don’t tell me Surus doesn’t relish the attention. She wouldn’t have chosen such a foxy face and body for herself otherwise.”

  “Also, as if Surus needs any protection from laws or otherwise,” TJ said. “In Phant form, she can easily incinerate Bender. And while possessing her Artificial body, she’s ten times as strong as an ordinary human. She’s hardly a delicate little flower.”

  “Exactly,” Bender said. “She can defend herself. So stop trying to be her white knight.”

  “Hey, I have to defend Surus,” Fret said. “Because she’s not here to defend herself! But speaking of Surus, have you heard from her yet, boss? You said she had a way to help us.”

  “I haven’t heard from her, no,” Rade said. “I’ll try tapping her in again now.”

  Rade tried. He received no response. “No answer.”

  “Maybe the net is down where she is?” Manic said.

  Rade checked the Internet uptime website.

  “According to this, China and France are still fully connected to the Internet backbone,” Rade said. “So she still should be capable of answering.”

  “And yet she refuses to accept your tap in request...” Harlequin said.

  “Yes,” Rade said.

  “So what’s the plan now?” Tahoe said. “We have booster rockets. Are we going to attempt an assault on the mothership?”

  “No,” Rade said. “We can’t risk that. Not yet. We’ll store the rockets at the estate with Tepin and Shaw; those payloads will function essentially as our reserves, in case we need to use the rockets to evacuate the
planet at some point. After we deposit the rockets at the estate, we’ll join the defense of Marseille, and do what we can to save the city. And try our best not to lose our mechs.”

  “I’d hate to lose my mech so soon after acquiring it,” Harlequin said.

  “We all would,” Rade said. “But we can’t just sit back and let the city fall. Not when we have war machines like ATLAS mechs in our possession.”

  “We shouldn’t return to the estate where Tepin and Shaw are hiding,” Tahoe said. “In case the mothership is watching. The invaders probably have AIs constantly poring over the satellite imagery. A couple of civilian vehicles, they’re not going to care so much about. But several repositioning war machines? That could draw their attention. We don’t want to lead them to our families.”

  “That’s a good point,” Rade said. “It’s probably safest, at least for our families, if we avoid returning to the estate. We’ll stop at the next suitable villa and offload our rockets there. We’ll spend the night, and head for Marseille in the morning.”

  “What if the invaders decide to attack Tepin’s estate while we’re gone?” Fret said. “Then one could argue that it would be safest if we did return.”

  “They won’t attack them,” Rade said, though it was hard to hide the doubt from his voice. He hoped the enemy would not attack. Prayed.

  “All right, but what if they decide to assault us, then?” Fret said.

  “Us, I’m not so worried about,” Rade said.

  They finished topping up the rockets and then proceeded onto the road once more. Rade was careful to use the cover of roadside trees to mask their advance, and finally ordered a stop at a suitable estate fifteen kilometers to the south.

  The team stowed the rockets in a barn. They dropped off their mechs in a spacious Quonset, and then found rooms for themselves in the abandoned chateau. The farm showed signs of attack, and Rade guessed that the occupants had either been killed or converted.

  Rade ordered four Centurions out into the field to watch each corner of the estate, since there didn’t seem to be a security camera system in place. He bid the remaining Centurions to keep watch inside the house, upstairs and downstairs, near the windows, and put TJ in charge of them. He also commanded the ATLAS units to stand guard within the Quonset.