Pandora smiled as she watched the big armored figure blast the Marines of the Nation down, then open a door in the separating rock that led to a down ramp. The other people with him, Suryans she was sure, headed in after him. Moments later the door slipped closed, the rock formation joined back together, and hidden weapons domes opened up on the again advancing Nation Marines.
“Hot damn,” said the woman, attempting to launch another missile at a nearby enemy ship, then frowning as the panel she pushed blinked red and nothing happened. Either they stopped the reload process, or they locked me out of that system.
Pandora pushed a commit button for the stern lasers after locking onto another ship. Again nothing happened, and she wondered for a moment if they had taken out all of her controls. She pushed another panel and felt a smile tug at her face as the particle beam struck out at another nearby ship. The smile grew even wider at the hole that opened up in the same ship, courtesy of a planet beamed weapon.
Uh oh, she thought, watching the activity in the corridor outside the bridge. They had cut her off from all vid of that section, but the nanosensors she had scattered out there were doing a good job of giving her a feed. She saw the Marines finish their placement of explosives on the hatch and move back, and she had a feeling she would need to get out of here, and fast. She pushed one last button on the panel, sending all beam weapons in a burst on the target ship, then stood up and ran to the panel on the wall that she had already picked for her escape.
I’m not going to have a lot of power left, she thought as she fired both arm mounted lasers into the wall, cutting through the half meter thick bulkhead like it was plastic instead of the hardest metal this culture could come up with. Hardest they could come up with was the key, and she knew her lasers wouldn’t have that kind of effect on metal from her station. A boom sounded from behind, and Pandi switched her HUD view to look behind her while she kept cutting at the metal to her front. The door sagged inward, and most of the welds she had put on it were now cracked. The key word there was most, and some were still holding on. A shower of sparks from cutting lasers showed that the last statement would only be true for some more odd seconds.
Pandi turned her concentration back to panel to her front and her dropping power meters. I’ll have about ten percent left by the time I get through this, she thought, frowning. That would still be enough to operate the suit, but if she planned to get out of here and heading planetside she would need more. Much more. She continued to watch a small window showing the hatch behind her, where the sparks were still flying into the air.
The door sagged inward, and a great push by something in the corridor sent it crashing in and to the floor. Pandora cringed a bit as she waited for the weapons fire that would take her out, then wondered why it wasn’t coming. She could see the armored figures coming through the door, could see them raise bulbous nosed weapons at her. And her suit was registering strong EMP coming her way. And if they think they’re going to disable this suit with EMP they’re off the mark, she thought, cutting through the last part of the panel, revealing the room beyond.
“Stop,” yelled a voice behind. “Cease what you are doing, or we will destroy you.”
The voice sputtered away as the armored Marines walked into the room and triggered her booby trap. Their suits were not as heavily shielded against EMP as hers, and the twin projectors she had attached to the walls on either side of the door sent out strong bursts of energy, catching the Marines flat footed. Suits crashed to the floor as their servos were overloaded.
Pandora quickly bonded her fingers to the panel and pulled out, spinning around and unbonding as she pushed the panel away and toward the door, where more Marines were trying to get into the room. She turned back and bounded into the empty conference room ahead, then turned back and tossed some EMP mines into the bridge through the new opening. Then it was through the door from conference room to corridor. There was a lift ahead, and she bonded her hands to the doors and pulled it open, then went swiftly into the tube and dropped five decks down. After opening the doors on that level she found herself in another corridor, and headed up a couple of doors down to a workshop.
Inside the workshop Pandora backed into a corner, pulled a large box in between her and the door, then connected herself to a power outlet. She stealthed the suit, becoming invisible, then settled down for a wait while she scanned all the com circuits of the ship. The woman smiled at the traffic, which indicated a crew that was totally confused and off balance. I wonder what Watcher is doing? she thought next, hoping that he was keeping his head low. She snorted at that thought, as if the most capable warrior in the known Galaxy would ever do something stupid, like trying to mount a shipboard rescue of someone he didn’t even know was still alive.
* * *
Watcher rose into the sky in his stealthed suit, watching as particle beams and lasers were traded back and forth between orbiting ships and the ground station. He really didn’t see how the space based beams could do much damage to the station, or even to its more exposed weapons systems, which were heavily shielded by electromag fields.
Around Watcher rose thirty of the battlebots that had inhabited the defense station, all of the same general shape and size as his armored suit. All were heavily stealthed, riding in aerodynamic shells just like their leader’s. Still, one got in the way of a particle beam aimed at a ground target which ripped it apart. Watcher wondered once again if he should have maneuvered more to the side, maybe ten or twenty kilometers, and then made the ascent. It would have been less risky, but also would have taken more time. And he had decided to gamble on the side of time, not knowing how long Pandora could hold out in that den of fanatics that was the Nation fleet.
An object came streaking by, the wind of its passage pulling Watcher and the robots slightly off course, and he knew that a kinetic round had been fired at the base. The round exploded a dozen kilometers further in, struck by a hyper-v missile launched from the base that unerringly homed in on the fast moving object. He didn’t think the base was threatened by kinetic rounds, as its defensive systems were much advanced than the offensive systems of the Nation of Humanity. There was always the chance of a miss, but not much of one.
The sky went from reddish blue to blue, then to black, and the pinpoints of stars grew more numerous. Leaving the atmosphere, thought Watcher, monitoring his robotic minions as they followed. To anyone scanning the formation he was just one more robot among many, though he had to hope they weren’t scanning him. Given the disparity in systems that shouldn’t have been a problem, but one could never tell.
A shuttle swept by the periphery of the battle, heading in with what had to be another contingent of ground troops. It doesn’t matter how many troops they send down, thought the super soldier. With the ground defenses and robots around that base, they will never fight their way through.
Watcher zoomed his HUD, the ships of the Nation expanding in his vision. Most looked to be in good shape, though three showed a lot of damage, and one of those was a total wreck. Good girl, thought Watcher, smiling as he looked at that ship that was floating dead in space. He didn’t think the fanatics would get that one working again without a space dock facility, and they would have to tow it to that workshop. So essentially it was lost to them, unless they wanted to detail a couple of other ships to towing duty.
There she is, thought Watcher as he zoomed in on the flagship. He checked with his charges and made sure that all were assigned the proper tasks, then turned his attention back to the flagship. He could make out the logo of the Nation of Humanity along the side, the striking Hand of God, and the name of the ship, Orca, which had been the name of the enemy flag when they had attacked the system. And the same Admiral, he thought, wondering what this enemy would do to replace that officer once Watcher killed him.
He picked up the transmission from the surface, the one of the base computer mimicking his face and voice, and smiled. Won’t you be surprised when I’m not on the surface, but
instead on your doorstep, you bastards. And then he was concentrating on bringing his suit onto the target, near to the hatch he had selected.
* * *
“Then where in the Hells is she?” yelled Gerasi into the link while he looked over the medics reviving his bridge crew. At least none of them were killed, he thought, then amended that conclusion as he looked down on the one crewman who had paid with his life during the counter assault, the Sensor Officer who had caught shrapnel coming off the bridge hatch when it was blown in.
“We don’t know, sir,” said the Security Chief, his voice tense.
Not that I can blame him, thought the Admiral, knowing that blame would be placed on the man, if just to cover the commanding officer’s ass. He’s been through a lot because of that she devil. We all have.
“Check the ship for any kind of anomaly,” said the Admiral to the man, trying to keep his patience. “Anything out of the ordinary.”
“Yes sir,” said the man. “We’re running a computer analysis on every system, looking for anything out of place.”
“Have human eyes look at those reports as well,” said the Admiral, not really feeling confident in letting computer systems try to find something with superior tech. “Anything out of the ordinary kick up to a human operator. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“We’re receiving a transmission from the planet,” called out the man who was attending the com station.
Gerasi looked over at the Com Officer, who was being helped into a sitting position, and shook his head. He walked over to the commander’s seat and sat down, then nodded to the Com Tech. “Put it on. Let’s see what the bastards want.”
Gerasi shouldn’t have been surprised when the large browed bald head came on the screen. He knew the creature had been involved in some way in the ground campaign against him, since he had seen the tanks involved in the battle for the landing field. Still, he hissed as he saw the hated visage. “The Abomination,” he said, his hands gripping hard the arms of his chair.
“Greetings, Admiral,” came the voice of the creature over the com. “As always a pleasure.”
“What in the Hells do you want?”
“I want my consort back,” said the not man on the other end of the com.
“She’s dead and long gone,” said the Admiral with a smirk. “Of course, we could always send you to see her.”
“For your sake I hope she is still alive,” said Watcher, his own eyes narrowing.
Gerasi did not like being the target of those eyes, knowing as he did the deadly intellect behind them. He did not doubt that the being, he couldn’t call him a man, would find a way to get to the Spacers and Marines of the Nation if he didn’t get to him first.
“And if she were alive, what would you do to secure her safe release?”
“Not destroy you and all your people,” said Watcher with a grin. “Maybe even allow you to depart the system with the rest of your vessels.”
The bridge was starting to come alive again as more people came in to take duty slots, and the stunned were taken away to sick bay to be scanned. Gerasi waved at the Assistant Tactical Officer, then signaled the Com Tech to blank the com for a moment. “Drop some AM bombs on them. I want that base wiped out.”
“Yes sir,” said the officer, hurrying back to his station. Gerasi signaled the com tech and the screen came back to life.
“Planning something, are we?” asked Watcher, the smile never leaving his face. “Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ve already thought of it.”
“You are one smug son of a bitch, aren’t you,” said Gerasi, images of capturing the superman and wringing the secrets of the station from him dancing through the Admiral’s mind.
Something flashed from a screen, and the Admiral looked over that way in panic.
“They hit the shuttle when it was leaving the Skate’s hanger,” said the ashen faced officer. “She had a hundred megaton antimatter bomb aboard.”
“Skate is reporting heavy damage, sir,” said the Secondary Com Tech, looking wide eyed at the Admiral.
“I told you that if you had thought of it so had I,” said Watcher, laughing out the last words. “Your monkey’s brain is not comparable to real intelligence. Now think of what I said, or I will come up there and take the woman from you, while making your deaths as gruesome as possible.”
“And how are you going to come up here?” asked the Admiral, trying to appear calm and knowing that he had failed.
“I have a ship,” said Watcher, looking straight into the Admiral’s eyes. “And don’t bother looking for it. It’s down here, under the earth. The Suryans I have with me are prepping it right now, and when it is ready I will be coming for you and your pitiful little fleet.”
“Scan that base,” said the Admiral to his acting Sensor Officer, a Chief who was the best he had.
“There’s no way to scan them, sir,” said the Chief, shaking his head. “They are jamming us right fierce.”
“Don’t believe me, Admiral?” said Watcher, looking as smug as a cat that had just cornered a mouse. “That’s OK. Don’t. Until you see Vengeance coming for you.”
That was the name of his damned twin, thought the Admiral, blanching. And he named the ship after that murderous son of a bitch.
“I give you ten minutes to think about it, Admiral,” said Watcher. “Think well, for if I don’t get what I want, you will get what I want for you.”
The screen went blank, and a lot of frightened faces looked at each other, then at the Admiral.
“We have an anomaly,” came the voice of the Security Chief over the Admiral’s personal link.
“What kind?” asked Gerasi, wiping the sweat from his face with the back of his sleeve.
“We have an electrical spike in storage room K-380,” said the officer. “Like something is draining the system, when there is nothing in that room to account for it.”
“Or something is recharging,” said the Admiral, jumping out of his chair. “That’s her. Get a platoon of Marines down there with their heaviest equipment. And don’t move in until the entire platoon is in position.”
“You still want her alive, sir?” asked the officer in a hushed voice.
“No,” said the Admiral, shaking his head. “Just save whatever is left over, so we can show that damned freak what we think of his threats.”
“Yes sir,” said the Security Chief, his tone now upbeat. “One fried bitch coming up.”
“But, but the Abomination said he would destroy us if you hurt her,” said the Assistant Tactical Officer, looking wide eyed back at the Admiral.
“The Abomination is the Son of Satan,” said the Admiral, glaring at the officer. “And it is the duty of every Son of the Church to stand against him. It’s not my responsibility to do anything for that demon. It is my responsibility to thwart him in every way I can. As it is for everyone who serves under me. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” said the Assistant Tactical Officer, sitting up straight in his chair. “Understood.”
“Good,” said the Admiral, getting up and walking toward the ruin of the hatch leading onto the bridge. “I want to be there when they take her down. Let me know if that freak tries anything.” Gerasi walked off the bridge, not sure who he was more angry with, the Abomination or his own crew.
* * *
“Sending the signal, now,” said Commander Hanson, pushing the button on the central control console. It had taken some hours to get the transmitter from the ship and set it up for the task at hand, none of their tactical sets having the power to cover this entire sector of the Donut.
“I sure hope this works,” said Colonel Johanson, standing over the naval officer.
“No reason it shouldn’t,” said the navy man. “As long as we got a good code from that woman.”
“OK, station computer,” said the Colonel. “You have received the override code from Pandora Latham. Now you will allow us access to your systems.”
“I have received no
such code,” said the computer. “You are not authorized access to my systems.”
“Son of a bitch,” yelled the Colonel, slamming a hand on the station console. “We sent you the damned signal, so you had to have gotten it.”
“I have received no signal,” repeated the computer, “and therefore cannot grant you access to my system.”
“And why haven’t you received the signal?” asked the naval officer.
“The relays of my signal reception system are burned out,” said the computer, its tone neutral.
“Son of a bitch,” yelled the Colonel, his face reddening. “The damned computer sabotaged itself so it couldn’t receive our override signal.”
“I told you it was an advanced AI,” said the Commander, his own face pale as he stared at the holographic screen over the console, then at the giant bubble of space in the center of the huge chamber. “It has its own personality, and sees us as the enemy.”
“I wish I could just find its core and wipe it out,” yelled the Colonel, glaring at the holo screen. “You hear me computer. If I could get to you, I would destroy you.”
“I acknowledge your response, Colonel Johanson,” said the calm voice of the computer. “I am not authorized to give you the location of my central processor, or my three redundant systems. And you are not authorized access to my systems.”
“I guess it just told us where to go,” said the Commander with a chuckle.
“You think this is fucking funny,” yelled the Colonel, turning toward the naval officer and raising a fist.
“Not at all,” said the Commander, raising his hands palms out as if to deflect the Colonel’s anger. “The problem is we are treating this system like it’s one of our ship computers, when it is a thousand years more advanced, maybe more. We will not be able to outthink it.”
“So what’s the answer?”
“I don’t know that there is one,” said the Commander, holding his hands out palm up in a gesture of I don’t know. “Computer. How long before those signal relays are repaired.”
To Well And Back (The Deep Dark Well) Page 25