Jay picked up the story. “It seems that sometime around 2022, the United States and Great Britain revived the Super Solider Program with the intention of replenishing their armies after the Jihad with the Unified Islamic Nations ended. The earliest versions were basically clones; heavily augmented but clones still.”
“But isn’t cloning illegal?” asked Talia. “The Empire experimented with cloning over six millennia ago and although it was viable, it was decided that it was amoral and was never used anywhere in the empire.”
“It seemed that the general public believed the same way,” Kristopher added. “After the UNCF was formed in 2035 cloning became illegal within its jurisdiction with one exception; all military and law enforcement personnel are allowed a clone in case of a death in the line of duty. However, I believe less than five percent have chosen that option. I know I haven’t. When it’s my time to go, it’s my time.”
Jay turned to his old friend. “What’s the matter KC? Afraid to cheat death again?”
“No. It wouldn’t be natural. It wouldn’t feel right.”
“You wouldn’t know the difference.” Iaido said, “If you’re dead, you can’t feel anything. If you’re a clone, you believe you’re the original, so you wouldn’t feel anything either.”
Kristopher shook his head. “That’s too philosophical for me but let’s get back to the questions at hand, who are the Praetorians? And why would they have Myrmidons?”
“According to the UNCF data files,” Diana said, “the Praetorians are a registered security consultant corporation with contracts from the Galactic Commission to police Sol. They have three bases: Ceres in the asteroid belt, New Leavenworth on Eris and a small outpost on Mars.”
Talia raised an eyebrow and asked, “Ceres? Eris? What are those?”
Iaido said, “Ceres and Eris are dwarf-planets named after mythical gods and goddess.”
Seeing that she didn’t really understand the concept, Jay interjected. “We Terrans like more colorful names for planets. The Sylvan Empire would simply refer to Ceres as Sol-Three point five and Eris as Sol-Twelve.”
Iaido said, “Ceres is a buzz of activity. It is the largest working stardock between Earth and Titan. I’ve been there several times to drop off bounties. Eris is nothing more than a ball of ice. The only habitat is New Leavenworth. Officially it is a prison for military and political prisoners. In reality it is a place for the Coalition to stash people they would rather forget.”
“It sounds as if you have been there,” stated Talia.
“I have. I spent three years in New Leavenworth on the military side of the prison.”
“What for?” asked Talia.
“Among other things, I was charged with an Article 104, aiding and abetting the enemy,” Iaido said. “While stranded on Gilese I rescued and patched up several of the confederate soldiers and even a few of the bugs.”
“Why would you do that? Why would you spend your time helping your enemy?”
“I gave aid to any that needed it, friend and foe alike. I had no hatred for them. They were warriors doing their duty just like us and just like us; they were left for dead by their commanders.”
“Okay. I can see you helping the Confederates but not the Mantodea...they are merely beasts?”
“That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it but I disagree. Any race that has mastered spaceflight cannot be animals. If what I have read about the earliest days of the Terran – Sylvan relationship is correct, many of your own people believed that about us.”
Talia frowned. “But that’s different.”
“Not really, many think that the Mantodea are animals because of their appearance, that and their own ignorance. I have no disillusions about my actions. I might’ve been programmed to kill and obey orders but I am more than my programming. What I did on Gilese during and after the battle was the right thing to do. I know that.”
“But you served time in prison for your actions.”
“That was the choice of the Strike Commander. He didn’t even question me or my actions. He just passed judgment and shipped me off to Leavenworth. It was one way to shift blame for the debacle that was Gilese. I was a convenient scapegoat and since he didn’t believe that Myrmidons had any worth, it was no great loss to him. To him we were nothing but tools. Pawns to be used then discarded.”
Kristopher asked, “And you going to prison had nothing to do with you trying to kill him?”
Before Iaido could respond, the alert tones which signaled the activation of the EBS sounded throughout the factory.
The EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) was designed by the Coalition to turn on any computer connected to the net allowing emergency bulletins or broadcasts to reach the majority of the population.
“An All Points Bulletin has been issued for Iaido Achilles Spartan. He is wanted in connection with the murder of a Federal Agent and should be considered Armed and Dangerous. The Galactic Commission has issued a bounty of five hundred thousand credits for any information that results leading to his arrest and capture. Contact the NAPD with any information.”
Alarms began to sound throughout the factory signaling a perimeter breach.
Without hesitation or warning, Iaido slammed his left fist into Kristopher’s solar plexus knocking the wind out of the police lieutenant. As he doubled over in pain, Iaido immediately followed it up with a shuto strike to the side of his neck, knocking him out cold.
“What did you do that for?” Talia asked, “I thought he was your friend?”
“That’s why I did it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Now that there is an official warrant for our arrest, KC was duty bound to arrest me. And duty is something we both take serious.” Iaido pointed at the limp form at his feet. “Now he can honestly say that he didn’t have a chance to arrest us and if they tap into his memory aug, it will validate his claim.”
An explosion rocked the building causing the lights to flicker once before going out. As the factory descended into total darkness, a second crash from the upper windows showered the companions with glass and served to herald the arrival of five heavily armored figures as they dropped in from the ceiling.
The companions reacted instantly.
Unable to see in the surrounding darkness but understanding what was about to happen, Jay hurled himself out of his chair to tackle Talia and take her out of the kill zone.
Diana and Iaido become a blur of motion as they moved directly toward their assailants.
Even unarmed, Diana was far from helpless. She rolled under the first shots of the SWAT team and into the two foremost assailants. With surprising ease, she disarmed one and knocked out the other before turning her attention to the rushing figures from the south end of the factory. Once she realized that their assailants were just cops doing their duty, nothing more and nothing less, she scooped up one of the fallen rifles and began firing. Using the targeting sensors built into her android brain, she went for wounding shots instead of kill shots; firing with superb precision and accuracy. Her every shot disabled a rushing cop and mere seconds into the breach, their charge was stalled.
Iaido also recognized that the assailants were SWAT officers; tough and highly trained but misguided. With the sound of the first explosion, his combat conditioning kicked in and he slipped into the zone. Time seemed to slow for him, he was aware of Diana’s attacks, Talia’s shock and the fact that Jay had initiated lockdown but only slightly. His true focus was the three SWAT grunts in front of him. Two were within easy arm’s reach, while the third was nearly thirty feet away; still within reach but not without leaving himself open to attack.
Subconsciously his mind registered that the SWAT grunts weren’t carrying the standard issue R-Gun; all were carrying THAB Mk8s –Tactical Heavy Assault Blasters Mark 8s. These were full military-grade weapons; Iaido had used earlier versions of the same rifle on many missions during his time with Omega. He also knew that these weapons are not normally carried by the police, even
SWAT. They were reserved for heavy tactical assaults. This meant they weren’t going for a capture…their orders were to kill.
Leaping over the closest grunt, Iaido couldn’t help but grin as he reflexively fired upward completely missing Iaido but spraying blaster fire on their entryway; which in turn caused the second team about to leap inside to fall back instead under cover. As soon as he landed, Iaido lashed out with a side kick and knocked the grunt off his feet.
Long ago, Iaido had stopped wondering why his brain noticed the strangest things during combat.
For example, W. Spurgeon was the name of the other SWAT grunt that was closest to his starting point and he had a cartoon figure of a talking sponge with legs, arms and a stupid grin painted on his tac-helmet.
Officer Spurgeon began tracking Iaido and firing with controlled rapid bursts. Unfortunately for his teammate, he was so keyed on trying to shoot Iaido that he wasn’t paying attention to where his missed shots were going. That was until a three round blast took his partner in the head. Even the SWAT armor couldn’t take the punishment of the THAB; one of the blasts ripped right through his visor and ricocheted around the inside of his armor before blowing out his chest. The poor soul was dead before his body hit the ground.
Iaido went into forward roll, scooped up the dropped THAB and fired two short bursts at the remaining SWAT grunts. Both were crippling attacks that would put them out of commission but with the advanced biometric systems in their suits, he knew that neither would die from the wounds.
Scanning the area, Iaido saw that all visible assailants were down but he knew that even though they had stalled the first wave, there was more to come. No SWAT Commander would rush a building without having a backup plan and that probably meant more troops and heavier hardware.
* * * * *
Lt. Robert Brown was the Commander of SWAT-Four and looked on his Tac-Net with shock and dread.
He had begun his assault with the most up-to-date Intel possible and highly trained and motivated troops but in less than a minute the situation had proven to be one huge SNAFU; a military term which meant Situation Normal All Fucked Up.
Problems were to be expected given the speed the operation was set up and the numerous different agencies participating but his team hadn’t been briefed on the type of resistance they were encountering. The building had back-up generators and lights, so in less than a minute all power and defensive systems were back online and the defensive systems were state of the art; even the Feds couldn’t hack into their system to shut it down. Once power was restored, anti-personnel and anti-aircraft batteries had popped out of hidden alcoves on the roof and had disabled anything that came near, men and machines.
Only the first squad had been able to breach and make entry but they had been disabled mere seconds after they entered. The only good news for the SWAT Commander was that his Tac-Net showed only one dead officer, thank god, but thirteen were down and completely out of the fight; their suits had administered drugs that put the injured officers into a hibernation coma.
All that happened in the first minute, now they were experiencing some sort of electronic jamming that stopped all info on their tac-net, no communication, no monitor reading, no data flow at all. This was every commander’s worst nightmare.
They were totally blind; in other words, they had moved into FUBAR – Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.
Lt. Brown switched his com-link over to broadcast on all police frequencies.
“All units be advised, SWAT-Four’s CIC is down, I repeat, SWAT-Four’s CIC is down. All units fall back to safe positions Charlie, I repeat, fall back to safe position Charlie.”
Lt. Brown turned to the tech working on the problem and said, “I don’t care what you do or how you do it but get me the tac-net back!”
* * * * *
Even with the first wave of attackers stalled and pinned down, Iaido knew they were screwed.
If a SWAT team was making an assault that meant they had the area surrounded and all air traffic in the area was controlled and monitored. Squeezing off a few blasts at the pinned down troopers, Iaido low crawled his way back to Jay and Talia who were sheltered behind the computer console.
“Interesting party you are throwing Jay, did you invite the whole NAPD?”
“Nope, I completely forgot to invite them. I guess that’s why they ‘crashed’ the party.”
Chuckling at the poor joke, Iaido squeezed off a few blasts at the troopers on the roof. “Good to see you still have your odd sense of humor. They have us pinned down and shortly they’ll have a superior crossfire. We need to get out of here, fast.”
Jay pointed to an area not far away. “There’s an escape tunnel under that table that leads to the old sewer system.”
Iaido looked at the table; it wasn’t large and would be easy to move. The problem was its location; there was no cover within twenty feet of it. Even with his enhanced reflexes it was a death sentence to try for it. Looking around, he knew they had no choice.
“We need a distraction.”
Jay tapped a few commands into a nearby computer. “In the works. In less than a minute you’ll have your distraction. It will be costly but effective.”
Before Talia or Iaido could ask what he meant, the door to the bar burst open and in rushed all the dancers. The SWAT troopers paused in their attack to study this new opponent. Most of the dancers were still nude or semi-nude. As they jumped on the closest troopers, the dancers began to scratch, bite and kick. It was mayhem but it was all the distraction they needed.
Iaido rushed to the concealed doorway, threw the table aside and wrenched open the hatch to reveal a ladder leading into the darkness. Running back, Iaido snatched up Jay and shoved Talia toward the hatch.
Glancing back over his shoulder, Iaido yelled. “Diana! We are leaving!”
Diana nodded in acknowledgement, dropped her THAB and turned toward the escape hatch but before she got three steps Eve’s cries for help echoed through the warehouse. With all the chaos of the last few minutes, the companions had completely forgotten the child.
Burdened with Jay and Talia, Iaido could only watch as Diana ran the length of the warehouse to grab the crying child. Scooping her up, Diana tucked the young girl’s head into her chest and began the run back to the escape hatch. Iaido hazarded a glance at the SWAT troopers, nearly all of the attacking android dancers were down.
The best description of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity that Iaido had ever heard went something like this; place your hands on a hot stove and seconds would seem like hours; place your hands on a hot girl and hours would seem like seconds.
And so, the short run the length of the warehouse on any given day would be nothing to Diana or Iaido. However, the companions could do nothing but watch as Diana loaded down with Eve tried to cover the hundred feet before the inevitable happened. She had covered over half the distance when the blaster fire began, mostly random shots. Three seconds later, she was nearly to safety when her luck ran out.
The first blaster bolts clipped her in the shoulder and spun her around with the force of the blast. Eve went flying out of her hands which probably saved her life as a second bolt entered Diana’s head, right behind the left ear. Since Diana was still moving at a fast pace when she was shot, her momentum carried her into Iaido’s arms and nearly knocked him from his perch on the recessed ladder. Snagging her with one arm, Iaido tried to look for Eve but the increased blaster fire forced him to duck below the tunnel lip. Chancing one last look into the warehouse, Iaido counted twenty-five SWAT troopers closing in on the tunnel. Ducking back down, he pulled the hatch closed and threw the locking bolt across the opening.
Eve was lost to them for the moment. It was a painful realization but it was the truth.
It seemed so familiar; the feeling of leaving behind someone important. But Omega Squadron never left a man behind, alive or dead. They took care of their own.
So, why did the feeling of déjà vu haunt him so much as he ca
rried Diana’s limp body down the escape tunnel?
Chapter 12
The incessant pounding in his skull finally drove Kristopher to open his eyes and he regretted it the instant he did so. Maybe it was the flashing lights or the sound of jack hammers nearby that made his head feel like it was about to explode. Whatever it was, he wanted it to stop. Seeing a med-tech leaning over him, Kristopher intended on asking for something for the pain. However, all he could manage was a weak grunt.
The med-tech noticed his discomfort, smiled at him and said something to him that was swallowed by the noise.
Kristopher noticed absentmindedly that she had a beautiful smile but anything beyond that was past his comprehension at this point.
The med-tech pulled out a small box from one of her pouches, depressed a button and poof, all the noise surrounding them was gone. She once again flashed him a dazzling smile and said, “Sorry about that, I should’ve used my dampening generator sooner. The shot I gave you should start to work shortly but I need you to sit up, if you can.”
Without the overwhelming noise, Lt. Kristopher found that the throbbing in his head began to lessen. Glancing over at the med-tech, he read her ID badge, Melissa Greer – RN/EMT. Moving slowly and with her help, Kristopher sat up and looked around. It was obvious that he was still inside the warehouse but it looked more like a war zone than a factory. Broken glass and body parts lay all about the floor. The sight of the disembodied limbs caused Kristopher to do a double-take.
Melissa followed his gaze. “Don’t worry. Most of those limbs are parts from androids, the best I have ever seen but purely artificial. However, several of the SWAT officers also lost some limbs. Thankfully, there was only one fatality.”
Lt. Kristopher found his voice to be scratchy when he asked, “Wh…who?”
Melissa glanced down at her datapad. “A young SWAT officer by the name of T. Ernspiker. He took three hits from a THAB at close range and square in the head.”
“Who?”
“We believe it to be a Blue on Blue, sir.”
The Last Spartan 1: Different Paths Page 11