by Jason Hutt
Holly nodded and the little robot transmitted the route to the heads-up display projected on his contacts. He quickly studied the red directional trace.
“All right, let’s do this,” Akimbe said.
“How do you want to proceed, sir?”
“Holly, find whatever serves as a control room around here and do whatever you can to disrupt their operations. Buy us whatever time you can. Understood?”
“Understood, sir,” the little girl added in her sweet, innocent voice.
Akimbe eyed Holly; the cheerful, youthful tone of her voice didn’t match the words coming out of her mouth.
“It may take me a few moments to track power and data signals to their source, but I should be able to find the source and significantly disrupt any response protocols they have in place,” Holly said.
“Right. While she’s doing her thing,” Akimbe said to Caldwell, “We take the landing pad. Even though there are more of them than we expected, their threat level is still fairly low. I didn’t see a whole lot of military grade weaponry on the guards. Holly, do you concur?”
“Your threat assessment is consistent with my analysis, Commander,” said the little robot.
Caldwell nodded and slipped a hand under the corner of her maternity shirt. She pressed firmly on her side. There was a squelch and then a thud as the prosthetic fell to the floor.
She pulled two pistols out from under her shirt and handed one to Akimbe.
“Remember our objective – disable the transports, but try to capture one of the silver ships intact, and trap these people on the ground. We’ll plant charges and then fall back to the edge of the landing field. Then, the good guys swoop in, mop things up, and we enjoy a nice hot meal back on the ship.”
“Yes, sir,” she said. Her cheeks looked a little flush and he noticed a slight tremor in her hands.
“Take a deep breath, Caldwell,” he said, “Keep steady. They have numbers, but we have the element of surprise.”
“This whole thing is just incredible. We had no idea,” she said.
“Easy, Lieutenant. Everyone here will get what’s coming to them,” Akimbe said, “Stay focused.”
“I’m good, sir,” she said.
“Good. Remember, there will be illegals here - targets that are off the grid. Some of these people are clones with no ID chip. Lethal force is authorized if you come into contact with any.”
Caldwell nodded.
“All right, once we’re clear of the mountain, we activate our beacon. The cavalry will need thirty minutes to get here.”
“That’s an eternity.”
He nodded. “It only needs a few minutes to route a signal back to the assault force. We need to hold out for five minutes, then we can find cover in the forest.”
He fought the urge to review more, but he could see Caldwell getting more anxious. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Holly, the isolation field,” Akimbe said.
The little girl stepped forward, placed her palm on the almost invisible barrier that held them in the cell, and after a moment, the field dissipated.
Akimbe silently crept up behind the guard covering the right of the exit while Caldwell crept up behind the guard on the left. When they were both in position, he looked over at her briefly. She nodded her readiness. Akimbe and Caldwell jabbed their pistols into the small of the guards’ backs and fired. Both guards slumped to the ground.
Akimbe and Caldwell set off towards the exit while Holly turned towards the bowels of the installation.
***
A chime sounded on Max’s wrist computer. He silenced the alarm with a shake of his wrist and took another swig of his beer. The wrist computer chimed again. Max checked it with an annoyed grunt; Victor Chen was calling.
“Unless you want to come join me, Victor, I’m not interested,” Max said.
“Max, the family you brought in has escaped the holding area.”
Max grabbed the edge of the bar to steady himself.
Sharon immediately ripped a first aid kit off the wall. She rifled through it and pulled out a small packet. She quickly tore it open and slapped it on Max’s right arm. “You need to be sober for this.”
Max felt a pinch on his arm where Sharon had slapped on the patch. Seconds later he started sweating and his skin felt like it was on fire, but he felt ready to run through a wall if he had to.
“Where the hell are you, Max?”
“At the Belly Up,” Max said, “If they are making a run for it, they won’t get far.”
“That’s the least troubling possibility,” Victor said, “I’m putting everyone on alert just to be cautious. Worst case, we may need to bug out of here in record time.”
“We’ll be ready,” Max said.
He cut the connection and signaled Reggie.
“Reggie, looks like our passengers may be coming your way. Seal the hatch and let me know when you catch sight of ‘em.”
“Will do, sir,” Reggie responded.
Max and Sharon quickly navigated the jagged corridor, but the way was becoming choked with other residents. Max tried to blink away some of the disorientation that came from the stim patch Sharon had slapped on his arm. He gritted his teeth at the slight wave of nausea that passed over him.
Sharon suddenly stopped and turned her head back.
“What?” Max asked.
“That little girl,” Sharon said, “I swear she looked just like Hannah.”
Max’s eyes widened. “What girl?”
“She just passed us. Ran that way,” Sharon said as she pointed back the way they had come.
“Crap,” Max said, “She’s with them. Where did she go?”
***
Akimbe crouched by the exit of the cave. They had taken out three more guards to get to this point and whatever passed for an alarm in this outpost didn’t seem to have sounded. Time to change that, he thought.
With a couple of precise taps on his wrist computer, Akimbe activated his homing beacon.
“Time for the hard part,” Akimbe said as he quickly assessed the layout of the four transports. “The two silver craft have the original drives. You disable the near one, then meet me at the far one. We’ll make our stand there.”
“What about the older ships?” Caldwell asked.
“We know there drives take longer to charge. Our ships should be able to intercept them before that happens. Don’t worry about them.”
“But sir, that’s not what you just said back in the-”
“I know,” Akimbe said, “But there’s about 500 of them and two of us. Let them have the two older transports as refuges and we won’t have to try and hold off all of them.”
“Understood.”
With a final nod, Akimbe dashed toward the silver ship at the end of the landing field.
***
“Sir,” Reggie reported, “I’m picking up an emergency homing beacon broadcast, coming from the landing field.”
Max’s stomach dropped.
“Shit,” Max said as he turned another corner only to find no trace of the little girl. “Get the ship ready, Reggie. I think we’re going to have to leave here in a hurry. Contact the other captains. We’ll need everyone to their ships.”
Max cut the connection with Reggie and called up Victor.
“Victor,” Max started.
“We picked it up, too. There’s a Republic battle group entering low orbit.”
“How long do we have?” Max asked.
“Thirty minutes at most. I’m ordering a full evacuation,” Victor said. His voice was calm, but his eyes betrayed his nervousness.
“We’ll get everyone out that we can,” Max said. He cut the connection and looked at Sharon. Her lips were pressed into a grim expression of understanding.
“I need to get to the ship,” Max said.
Sharon nodded.
Max took two steps in the other direction when they suddenly heard a scream from the far end of the corridor. They looked at e
ach other momentarily and jogged toward the scream.
***
Akimbe crouched behind the forward landing strut of the Guardian. He pulled a remote interface patch out of his pocket and slapped it on the hull of the ship.
“Holly, do you read me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ready for you to work the remote patch. Priority is shutting down the propulsion system. Lock the system down and let me know when you’re done.”
“In work,” she said.
“How’s resistance on your end?”
“Light so far,” she answered. It was hard not to be distracted by the youthful voice coming from the chip embedded in his ear. He felt a slight urge to find the little girl, to protect her. He would have to ask the techs if it was possible to synthesize the voice differently for internal comms.
Akimbe surveyed the field. Caldwell was in the shadow of the other silver transport. He could make out her silhouette moving quickly, planting charges on the underside of the hull. Beyond that, the pad was eerily empty. He grinned.
The first few colonists ran out of the mouth of the cave and onto the plateau. Akimbe tapped his wrist computer and his contacts started highlighting targets in a red outline. He checked the setting on his pistol and tried to make himself as small a target as possible.
“Sir,” Holly said, “The encryption of the ship is dynamic. This is going to take some time.”
“How long?”
“Estimate ten minutes at least.”
“I’ll give you as much time as I can,” he said.
***
Max and Sharon crouched next to the side of the entrance to the colony’s security control room. The far wall was a bank of monitors that showed the landing field and a few other secure areas of the complex. Another bank of monitors showed a map of all orbital contacts. The incoming Republic ships were a small cluster of red dots on the display.
In the middle of the room with two prone bodies at her feet was the little girl, or rather the android that looked like a little girl. Slender silver tendrils had emerged from the fingertips of her left hand and disappeared into the console control panel. Her right arm was being held at an inhuman angle behind her back. The tips of each finger glowed blue and crackled, with tiny tendrils of electricity occasionally arcing from her fingertips.
Max ducked back behind the door after briefly making eye contact.
“My God, it looks just like her,” Sharon said, “They used our daughter’s face for that thing.”
“They knew I wouldn’t be able to turn it away,” Max said, “Victor, do you read me?”
“I’m here, Max. We’ve got serious problems. We’re picking up a dozen ships entering the system. They just started broadcasting surrender orders a few seconds ago. You’ve gotta hurry. I’ll meet you on the landing field.”
“Slight problem with that, Victor. The kid I brought in, well…it’s not really a kid. It’s taken up residence in the control room.”
“Sir, sorry to break into the conversation, but there appears to be another problem,” Reggie interjected.
“What is it?”
“There’s an intruder in the system trying to access the generator code. The intruding signal is originating from somewhere inside the complex.”
“How long can you hold it off?” Max asked.
“Not long, sir,” Reggie reported, “It’s quite a powerful decryption scheme. Once it breaches our systems…”
“Save it, Reggie. I get the picture.”
“Whatever you’re going to do, Max, do it now,” Victor said.
Max glanced at Sharon, who crouched opposite him. Her features were taut; her mouth a thin line. Max surprised himself by giving her hand a squeeze. She tried to smile. Max gave her a half-hearted smile in return, stood up, and charged into the room.
***
Akimbe readied his pistol. The trickle of colonists who had emerged from the cave quickly became a flood. Groups of families, mothers, fathers, each with two or more kids in tow, jogged toward the transports. Many of them nervously scanned the sky. One young father tripped, and a dozen people toppled behind him. Someone cried out in pain.
“You’re out of time, Caldwell. Status?”
“Charges are in place. Heading for cover.”
Akimbe watched as she darted for the edge of the landing field.
“Freeze!” Someone yelled. Akimbe’s eyes found a large dark-skinned man leveling a rifle in Caldwell’s direction.
At that moment, the charges detonated and lit up the night sky. The leading edge of the wave of on-rushers from the colony was flattened. The group behind them recoiled from the heat of the explosion only to be pushed forward by the stream of people behind them. Large pieces of shrapnel tore through a dozen or more people along the leading edge of the crowd. Screams rang out across the plateau.
Akimbe fired at the security officer, who had almost fallen over from the force of the blast.
“That really rattled their cages, sir,” Caldwell said between gasping breaths. Akimbe’s eyes quickly found her about halfway between the burning ship and the edge of the plateau. She had lost her footing when the blast ignited and was just now getting to her feet.
“Nicely done,” he said.
“Thank you, sir,” Caldwell said, “I-”
Her words were cut off as an energy bolt lanced out from across the field and caught her right between the shoulders. She fell to the ground in a heap.
“Caldwell, report.”
Several seconds passed.
“Report.”
Akimbe grimaced; as he stared at Caldwell’s prone body, her vitals showed flatlines in his HUD. He ducked as another bolt of plasma shot past him. Akimbe closed his left eye and the HUD in his contact shifted to information on the incoming fleet. They were still fifteen minutes out.
“Holly, how’s it coming?”
“I apologize, sir, but the ship’s computer is adjusting encryption algorithms as I attempt to gain access. Estimate at least ten minutes until I’m through.”
“I’m not sure I have that long,” Akimbe said.
His vision was now filled with red dots highlighting the ID chip of each person now on the landing field. Much of the crowd headed for the two antiquated freighters that sat about thirty yards to his left and right. Families scrambled to get aboard as the crowd descended into sheer panic.
Another small group had broken off and was tending to the wounded from the explosion. An old Medtech unit trundled between patients checking vitals, cauterizing wounds, and administering medications while several other people, their clothes already splashed with blood, frantically tried to save friends who were barely clinging to life.
A final group was headed in his direction. When they reached the edge of his pistol’s range, the red dots became red outlines. Akimbe’s pistol beeped as it locked on to their ID chips. He pulled the trigger and electric current arced from the end of the pistol to a half dozen targets. Tendrils of lightning danced across the heads and necks of the first few victims. The first wave of on-rushers dropped to the ground, unconscious or worse. The rest of the onrushing crowd slowed and scattered. Akimbe smiled.
***
Max rushed into the room and felt the hair on his arms stand on end. A jolt of energy lanced out from the child-robot’s hand, slammed into Max’s chest, and sent him flying back out the door. He slammed into the wall. He gasped for breath as searing pain engulfed his chest.
Sharon jerked back as he hit the wall with a thud. She grabbed him and pulled him to the side of the door.
“Well that was great, Superman,” she said, “What do you have planned for your next move?”
“Holy shit that hurt.”
“At least you’re not dead.”
Max tried to get to his knees. His vision swam and he grabbed onto Sharon’s shoulder.
“Gotta get in there,” Max wheezed, “Gotta destroy that goddamn abomination.”
“You’re just going to get yourself k
illed,” Sharon said.
“If we let her lock down the ship, we’ll all be enjoying the comfort of a nice Republic cell. I think I’d rather be dead.”
Max got to one knee, but the smell of his own charred flesh made him woozy. The pain made him gasp with every small movement. Sharon put a forceful hand on his shoulder.
“Always more bravado than brains,” Sharon said as she tapped a command in her wrist computer. “This is Sharon Cahill outside the control center. A Republic android has taken over the control room and is attempting to disable the Guardian remotely. Request that anyone in range comes to help.”
***
Hannah crouched by a rock outcropping on the far end of the plateau. The backside of the Guardian loomed before her. The darkness of the night was broken by the burning wreckage of the Mayflower, the Guardian’s sister ship. Clouds of black smoke obscured the night sky. Arcs of electricity began lancing out from a lone figure crouched behind the forward landing strut of the Guardian.
She quietly made her way forward, waiting for the stout, dark-skinned man to turn around and fry her. She crept up behind the rear landing strut and crouched down. She watched the man rhythmically aim and fire, aim and fire as groups of people, many of them her friends and neighbors, fell to the ground. Her hands trembled and her face flushed as she squeezed the wooden staff tighter.
***
Akimbe winked again to check the battle group’s ETA. He gritted his teeth as the timer crawled towards zero. Each second that passed seemed to take longer than the second before it. Sweat from his forehead worked its way into his eye and the display momentarily glitched.
Damn crap hardware, he thought.
His eyes were now filled with a sea of red dots as most of the colonists were on the plateau. Bolts of plasma hit the landing strut and it momentarily glowed from the rapidly dissipating heat. Akimbe targeted another group and fired. Electricity lanced out and that group fell.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a young man dash toward him. He couldn’t have been more than eighteen, a scrawny, but fit, yellow-skinned kid who was running at Akimbe as fast as his legs would carry him. The young man’s face was twisted by exertion and fear. He also had no red dot or silhouette.