by Finn Gray
“I do,” Catalina said.
“Here.” Sabre reversed the weapon, walked over to the bed, and handed the weapon to the princess. “You’ll need something to defend yourselves with when they come for you. Or, if you’d rather, you can use it to...” She mimed shooting herself in the temple. Valeria winced but Catalina’s expression remained stolid. “I assume you’d like me to unlock you?”
Valeria nodded. “Thank you.”
Sabre used the guard’s chip to open the princesses’ cuffs. “That should do it. Last chance to come along with me.” She turned her back on them, but froze before she could take another step. The cold metal of a pistol pressed against the base of her skull.
“Not so fast,” Catalina said. “How do we know you’re not a Memnon?”
Chapter 26
Sonohari Desert
Hyperion
RORY BARELY HAD time to flinch. Jemma’s rifle boomed and the sharp whine of a bullet whizzed past his cheek. Everyone stood there, frozen in place by shock. Even Jemma gaped in stunned silence. She let the rifle fall to the ground.
“Rory, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened.” Her big green eyes were like saucers. “You know I’d never hurt you. I can’t explain it. It wasn’t me.”
“I can explain it,” Cassidy said, stepping forward and snatching up Jemma’s rifle. “She’s a Memnon.”
“No way,” Monk said. “Not Jemma. She’s one of the best.”
Cassidy rounded on her. “That doesn’t mean she’s not a Memnon. The odds are we’ve got some Memnons in our midst.”
“You should know,” Marson grunted.
“What in the hells did you say to me?” Cassidy took a step toward Marson.
Under any other set of circumstances, Rory would have gladly let Cassidy beat Marson to a pulp. Right now they had too much to worry about. He grabbed her, pinned her arms to her sides, and dragged her away.
“Let me go, Plowboy!” she shouted. “I’m going to stomp a mudhole in his pale, white ass!”
“No! We can’t be fighting each other right now.”
“Who do you think you are calling me a Memnon?” she screamed at Marson.
“Everybody thinks you are,” Marson shot back. “We’ve all heard the things you say about the empire.”
Cassidy tensed, and then suddenly went limp in Rory’s arms. He held on for a moment longer before releasing her.
“Seriously?” she asked, looking around at her fellow recruits, none of whom would meet her eye. “Who else thinks I’m a Memnon?”
“We didn’t think it,” Jones said. “We just wondered. Sort of.”
“Why in the gods’ names would any of you think that? I’m the best recruit in this class.” She flicked a glance at Rory. “Well, one of the best.”
“So is Jemma, and look at what she just did,” Marson said.
Rory could have punched Marson for that. “Listen. There is apparently a nuclear war going on.” He pointed off to the horizon where another mushroom cloud had blossomed in the distance. “We need to stick together right now.”
“Screw that,” Cassidy said. “I want to know who thinks I’m a Memnon and why. I’m not going anywhere until I get an answer.”
Monk let out a sigh. “It’s like Jones said. We didn’t think you were we just wondered. You have an enhancement. You refused a chance at command. You’re always talking about overthrowing the emperor and the Senate.”
“That’s not how it is,” Cassidy said hotly. “I love Aurora but I hate how divided our society is. I will serve faithfully because I want to earn full rights as a citizen. That’s the only way I can make things change. But I won’t be a squad leader or take whatever scraps they tried to throw my way. That’s not the kind of leadership that makes a difference. I’ve spent my life being looked down upon and trampled over by the rich and powerful.” Her voice trembled with emotion. “I’m tired of good people not getting the same chances as others just because of who their parents or grandparents were. And yes, I think the day will come when the ordinary people will demand change, fight for it if they have to. That doesn’t make me a Memnon. That just means I think people should be equal.”
Monk gave a thoughtful nod. “Fair enough. Sorry we suspected you.”
“Anyone else got something to say? Want to accuse me of being a Memnon?” Cassidy looked at each one of them in turn. They all kept their silence. Satisfied, she turned to Rory.
“What are we going to do with her? She’s got to be one of them.”
Rory didn’t know what to say. Unfortunately, Cassidy correctly interpreted his silence.
“You knew, didn’t you? You knew all along she was a Memnon but you let it slide because she was screwing you.”
“That’s not true,” Rory protested.
“Which part? That she’s a Memnon or that she was screwing you?”
Rory was becoming flustered. “She’s a good recruit and she served faithfully, just like the rest of us. She just made a mistake.”
“A mistake? She tried to kill you!” Cassidy’s face was beet red.
“I didn’t,” Jemma said, her voice stronger. “Something made me raise my rifle. I don’t know what it was, but I regained control at the last second. But I jerked it to the side at the last moment. I knew deep down I didn’t want to shoot Rory or anybody else.”
“Just tell us the truth,” Monk said, stepping between Cassidy and Jemma. “Are you a Memnon?”
“I was born a Memnon but I’m not part of the faith. I don’t share their beliefs.”
Silence fell among the recruits as they all stared at Jemma as if seeing her for the first time. No one seemed to know what to say.
“Right,” Cassidy finally said. “So you’re a Memnon by blood.”
“It’s not that simple. Yes, I’m from Memarca, just like you’re from in the same way you’re from Vatome, but I’ve got about as much in common with my family as you have with the Empire Twins. Why do you think I joined the corps? To get away from them. I just want to be an Auroran.”
“I could almost believe you,” Cassidy said, “except for the fact that you just tried to shoot our squad leader. Memnon.”
“That’s enough,” Rory said. “Even if Jemma was the biggest Memnon fanatic in the world, she has rights. It’s not up to us to dispense justice.” He turned to Jemma. “Give me your sidearm and your knife.” Jemma seemed to understand because she handed the weapons over without complaint. “Now, we’re going to keep moving forward along the course, just like before.”
“How can we when that’s going on?” Jones pointed at the horizon.
“We’re Marines and we’ve been given orders. Until those orders change, we’re going to keep moving. Understood?”
They all nodded, even Marson.
Just then, a voice sounded in Rory’s ear.
“Recruit Waring, this is Sergeant Clancy. Do you copy?”
Rory was surprised but relieved to hear from his instructor. “Sir, yes sir!”
“No time for formalities. Where are you?”
Rory frowned. Didn’t Clancy have access to the same GPS data that was displayed on his HUD? Puzzled, he read off the coordinates.
“That’s fine. I want the squad to stay put until I can get evac sent your way.”
“Sir, what’s going on? We see the nukes.”
“War is what’s going on, egg. It’s a big damn mess and the radiation has fried a bunch of our systems. You’ve been off my screen since the first bomb went off.”
Rory’s stomach turned. “How bad is it?”
“As bad as it could possibly get. I’ll...” Clancy’s voice cut off in mid-sentence and he didn’t come back.
A sick feeling sweeping over him, Rory looked at Cassidy, who shrugged. He relayed to the others what Clancy had said.
“Is it all over Aurora or just nearby?” Monk asked.
“And what about Thetis?” Big chimed in.
“I told you everything he told me. He didn’t say who we w
ere at war with or anything else. Just that things are as bad as they could be. Or something like that.”
“So we’ve got our new orders.” Marson’s sour expression said he didn’t like the idea of staying put.
“What about the obstacles?” Monk asked.
“I don’t think completing our course is the biggest priority right now,” Marson said.
“No, idiot. I mean what happens if one of us gets zapped? Our suit freezes up and we can’t go anywhere or do anything. That could be a problem. No telling how long it will take evac to find us. I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I don’t want to lose my mobility.”
“Good point,” Rory said. “I guess we need to take up a defensive position and keep fighting, just to be safe.”
A dot flashed on his HUD and a line of text scrolled across his field of vision.
Clancy a Memnon. Don’t trust him. They’re everywhere. Command is losing control. Can’t use audio channels. Get to plateau for extraction. Trent.
“What’s wrong?” Jemma asked.
“I just got a message from Trent. She says Clancy is a Memnon and we shouldn’t trust him. She wants us to get to the plateau at the end of the course so she can extract us.”
“He does have an enhancement,” Jones said.
“So do I,” Cassidy barked.
“So do half the veterans in the corps,” Sid added, “that is, if you’re including cybers, which is what Clancy’s got at the moment.”
“We’ve got one sergeant telling us to stay put and someone will come and get us,” Marson began. “And another who wants us to try and fight our way through the obstacle course before we’re extracted. Why can’t she get us right here?”
“No idea,” Rory said. He didn’t know who to believe. None of it made sense.
“Here comes a drone,” Jemma said. “Everybody get down.”
They hit the deck, some faster than others. Craig and Douglas were too slow. Before they could get out of the way, the drone released a barrage of gunfire that shredded the two recruits’ unprotected faces. Blood and gore sprayed over the dry ground.
“No!” Jemma shouted as half her fire team died before their eyes.
Rory was already pinging the heavily armored drone with rifle fire but, this one was more heavily armed than the others they had faced. It kept coming. “Marson! Your team.”
The four recruits obeyed immediately, their combined fire sending the drone tumbling to the ground, still spitting bullets as it fell.
Nearby, against a weathered cliff face, lay a jumble of fallen boulders. It would be scant protection but better than nothing.
“Rock formation! Eight o’clock! Everybody take cover,” Rory ordered.
Everyone scrambled to get behind the rocks, staying grouped in their fire teams as they ran.
“How did the drones suddenly convert to gunfire?” Jones asked.
“It was a different type of drone,” Rory said. “The training drones are small, silver, and fire lasers. That thing is huge, painted in desert camo, and packs a wallop.”
“Wallop?” Cassidy echoed. “You can take the farmboy off of the farm...”
“Keep laughing, Rory said. “But keep your eyes peeled. We’ve got about 180 degrees of visibility. Each fire team takes one-third of the arc. We need to conserve our ammo until we’re picked up.”
“Speaking of,” Monk said, pointing to the south. “Here comes another. We’ve got this one.”
Another heavy drone came skimming in low on the horizon. Its brown, beige, and gray surface rendered it nearly invisible to the naked eye, but it stood out clearly on their HUDs. It spat a barrage of exploding rounds in their direction, chewing up the boulders behind which they hid. Monk’s squad chewed it up with some solid marksmanship. Just as it fell, a third drone swept in, this one from the north. This time the squad was not so lucky.
As Marson and Cassidy peppered the drone with bullets, Big got careless. He stood up, presumably to get a better shot, exposing himself to deadly fire.
“Big! Get down!”
The words had scarcely left Rory’s lips when an exploding round caught the young recruit in the shoulder. His shrill scream, scarcely audible over the sound of the bursting shell, froze Rory’s marrow. He fell in a heap, dark red blood pooling on the dry sand.
Jemma scrambled over to him, keeping low to the ground. “Stay calm, Big. We’re going to get a tourniquet on this.” The lie was evident in her tone and in the look in her eyes.
Big looked up at her, eyes wide. He opened his lips to speak, but no words came. His eyes went glassy as life fled his body.
There was no time for anger or grief. Even as the drone fell, the cliff wall above them exploded, showering them with debris.
“What in the hells was that?” Cassidy said.
Rory saw the outline on his HUD just before he spotted the figure approaching. A bulky metal form, roughly human in shape, but a good four meters tall.
“It’s a mech,” he said.
The thing was larger and bulkier than any they’d faced in training. He had a sinking feeling that, like that last couple of drones to come their way, this mech wasn’t of the training sort, but fully outfitted for battle. Before he could voice his thoughts, the mech pointed with its right arm. A burst of flame, and a missile hurtled toward them. A fiery explosion shook Rory to his teeth and brought down a section of the cliff face above them.
“Jones! Rocket launcher!” Rory ordered. Their assault rifles wouldn’t do much to slow the mech unless someone managed a perfectly placed shot.
“On it!” Jones shouted, crawling forward and bringing the weapon to bear.
Rory took careful aim at the mech’s primary weak point—its optics. His first shot pinged off the mech’s head, but the second smashed into the oscillating red light.
“Yes!” Monk shouted. “Nice shot, Plowboy.”
The mech halted, but it did not shut down. It let fly with another missile. This one went high, raining down more debris.
“Wish we had on power armor instead of these training suits,” Sid called out from Rory’s left.
“No shit,” Rory shouted. “Jones, how we coming?”
As if in response, Jones’ rocket launcher belched fire. Moments later, a rocket struck the mech full-on, sending an eruption of fire and metal into the sky.
The squad cheered, but there was no time for celebration.
“We’re bugging out,” Rory said.
“Why?” Sid asked.
“We can’t stay here. Another mech, or maybe something worse, will bring the cliff down on us. It’s not worth the risk.”
“Oh gods. Phillips.” Monk pointed to a leg sticking out from underneath the rubble.
The sight pained Rory but there was nothing he could do for Phillips now. What he could do was try and save the surviving squad members.
“We’re going to head north. Stick close to the cliff so we can take advantage of the cover if necessary. We need to get to the plateau.”
“You’ve decided to trust Trent over Clancy?” Marson said. “Was that based on advice from your Memnon girlfriend?”
“Think about it. As soon as Clancy confirmed our position and told us to stay put, some heavy hitters came right at us. They’re not part of the simulation so how could it have happened unless someone who knew where we are sent them?”
“And Trent told us to bug out of the fight and get to the extraction point,” Cassidy said. “Did she ask for our location?”
“Negative,” Rory said. He didn’t wait to see if the logic had persuaded the others. “New fire teams. Jemma, Jones, and Sid with me. Monk and Itoi with Marson and Cassidy. Let’s go.”
“What about Wig?” Itoi demanded.
“He’s too far away and in the wrong direction. We’ll have to go back for him after we’re extracted.”
The looks on his fellow squad members’ faces told Rory they didn’t like this decision any more than he did. But it was the right one.
/> Chapter 27
Battlecruiser Dragonfly
Thetis
“Commander, we’ve got a mutiny on our hands!” Cassier’s voice rang out over the comm.
Graves leaped to his feet, upending his chair. “Let’s go,” he said to Jordan. “We’ve got to get control of our ship.”
Jordan was already head for the door. As Graves watched, she reached inside her jacket, drew a sharp, silvery object, and raised it high. Blue sparks danced along its length as she drove it into the base of the MP’s skull. The shocked man fell without a sound.
“What the hells?” Graves charged at Jordan as she whirled about, a blank expression on her face. The weapon she held was a stiletto—a deadly weapon that not only pierced the target’s flesh, but delivered a deadly electrical shock. Jordan stabbed at him, but he avoided the attack and caught her by the wrist. He drove her backward, slamming her against the bulkhead. He pounded the hand in which she held the stiletto once, twice against the sturdy metal, but she didn’t loosen her grip on the weapon.
Jordan wasn’t as strong as Graves, but she was a crafty fighter. She shifted her weight and drove a knee up at his groin. Graves managed to twist and catch the blow on the thigh. He still felt the pain, though. A few more of those and he’d be hobbled.
Slipping his right arm free of her grasp, he struck her across the forehead with his elbow, cutting her. Blood flowed from the wound, but Jordan was unaffected. She clawed at his eye with her free hand, her short nails gouging rivulets down his cheek.
“Damn you, Jordan. You are a Memnon, aren’t you?”
Jordan’s only reply was a catlike hiss. She began to struggle furiously now, pulling Graves’ hair, kneeing his legs, trying desperately to free her hand that held the stiletto.
Graves drew his head back and brought it forward. He head-butted her across the nose, drew back, and did it again, this time catching her on the forehead. His mother has always said he had an exceptionally hard head, and it was more than a metaphor. He’d won his share of fights thanks to his thick skull. More than a few men had broken their hands punching him in the head, and Dom had scored even scored a couple of knockouts with blows like he’d just landed on Jordan. She didn’t go out, but her knees buckled and she lost her grip on her stiletto.