by Cary Caffrey
Hitomi put down the data-uplink and took Sigrid's hand. "No, my dear. It was my hope…but no. I am not like you. I am a failure."
"A failure…?"
Hitomi laughed and rubbed at the telltale slot. "This—this is nothing more than a testament to my own hubris. I had thought I could enhance myself as we have with you. But…" she looked down at her crippled legs in their mechanical harness, "…as you can see, I failed."
Sigrid looked at her worriedly; she hadn't meant to upset her.
Hitomi took up the data link again, reconnected it to the port and winked. "Don't worry, my dear. I still retain some benefits. At least I won't have to read through all these communiqués."
Despite having been up all night, the Lady Hitomi sat diligently working her way through the walls of security and decryption that barred her way as message after message sparked along her synapses. It was much like Gillings had said. The Council intended to appropriate, or seize, all materials pertaining to Project Andraste and take over every one of the girls' contracts, either by paying-off Kimura or by force of sanction. If necessary, military action was also listed as an option. Gillings was confident that the extreme measures would not be necessary. But the Council was resolute—they would not suffer another 'Daedalus'.
More disturbing to Sigrid were the clauses pertaining to the girls. If the girls could not be properly controlled, they were to be—how had the Council put it—deconstructed for the purposes of reverse-engineering.
Sigrid gasped. "How could they do that?"
"I'm afraid the Council feels they can do with you whatever they like. And more than likely, they will try." Hitomi patted her hand. "Fear not. I won't let things get that far. I have no intention of letting Gillings or any of his cronies get their hands on you or any of your sisters."
Hitomi set about repairing the partially destroyed message Sigrid had found. Sigrid watched, open-mouthed, as the Lady's fingers flew over the pad as she wrote, from scratch, a program to reconstruct the scrambled data.
"Well, isn't this interesting." Hitomi scrolled quickly through the message; her repairs working, slowly filling in the blanks. "Look, here. There's a reference to Gliese…"
"Gliese? That's the planet Selene mentioned—where Tarsus was headed."
"Indeed. And look, there's more." Hitomi highlighted a section that referred to a Dr. Joseph Farrington, but Sigrid didn't understand any of it. "Dr. Farrington is an old colleague of mine," Hitomi explained. "We worked together several years ago on your…well, on this project. He had some interesting theories, but the man was, frankly, erratic. I had to let him go."
"Is he…do you think he's behind all this?"
Hitomi laughed. "Farrington? Definitely not. The man couldn't organize his day-timer let alone a military action. No, but I have no doubt that he's working with whoever is."
Hitomi paused in her scrolling, causing Sigrid to shift uneasily in her chair; the Lady had found the same name that had captured her attention: Tansho.
"Suko…" Sigrid said. "Is it about Suko?"
Sigrid watched as more words merged into repair, filling in the sentences around the name. Hitomi shook her head. "I'm not sure. A large part of the data is still corrupted. But, Sigrid, these can't be coincidences. Tarsus, Dr. Farrington—the attacks…and now we find a link between them and one of our girls. We must consider the possibility…"
Sigrid stiffened. "No, Mistress. It's impossible. Suko's no spy, she'd never betray us." Sigrid knew Suko felt no love for Kimura, but to work with men who would attack them? Kill them? Not Suko—never.
"I know how you must feel, Sigrid. But someone is clearly working with them. We must consider—"
"No!" Sigrid couldn't believe it. I have to tell her, Sigrid thought. "Mistress…Suko and I…well, I just know it's not possible. She would never…"
Hitomi considered her words for only a moment. "Very well. If you are certain, then that is all I need to know."
Sigrid suddenly noticed the fatigue etched in Hitomi's face; the effort of deciphering the messages and the long hours had clearly taken their toll.
Hitomi seemed to realize as much herself. "It will take more time to repair the rest of the message, but for now—sleep. Unlike you, my child, being up all night is a little hard on me." She directed her wheelchair to the small bedroom just off the anteroom where they'd been sitting. "I suggest you do the same. The Lift won't reach the orbital station for at least another thirty-seven hours."
"Yes, I will, Hitomi-san. Shall I come by later?"
"No. I'll be busy here. There's little more you can do. Go enjoy yourself. Go do…whatever it is you young girls do nowadays."
Sigrid bid the Lady goodnight and headed to her own room. She felt exhausted as well. For the first time in over a month she fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Long Fall
April 18, 2348
Alone in her room above the girls' dormitory, Suko rolled over on her bunk and took a last look at the picture of Sigrid before folding the pad back up and putting it away. She'd made up her mind and wasn't going to back down. Suko clipped on all her weapons, threw on her jacket and grabbed up the small backpack she'd prepared. The door to her room led out to a short staircase behind the dormitory. Suko carefully scanned the grounds with her optical implant. All clear. The gates would still be guarded by the mercenary squad stationed there. She was free to come and go, but Suko didn't want anyone taking note of her departure; she'd need to remain undetected if her plan was going to work.
The wall that framed the Academy was only twenty feet high, so Suko scaled it easily with the rope and small grappling hook she'd fashioned. She paused at the top to take one last look back at the Academy. She felt a moment of loss, thinking of the young girls, her students; she'd grown attached to them so quickly. She worried about what would happen to them after she was gone. But they weren't her responsibility, she told herself.
She had enough to worry about. Her plan was desperate and she didn't hold much hope, but she had to try. If she failed, if they caught her, she had no idea what they'd do with her; better not to think about that now. Suko slid down the wall, pulling the rope after her. In an instant she was trotting off into the forest. She resisted the urge to steal a transport—it would be too easy to track. Getting to the Southern Station would take weeks on foot, perhaps longer, but Kimura would find it far more difficult to hunt her down in the tangle of the bush.
She hadn't even covered two kilometers when she stopped. There was no mistaking the sound; a sonic boom…and then another…followed by a third. The distant rumbling grew louder, decibels blaring to a deafening level. Her first thought was that they were out looking for her, but as the distant rumbling grew louder, Suko realized that it wasn't atmospheric craft she was hearing; it was the sound of heavy ships coming down from orbit.
Suko tracked the sounds and scanned upwards, zooming in with her optical implants. There were few clouds, making it easy to locate the transports. Three large ships descending directly onto the Academy grounds. And they weren't Kimura, Suko could see that. They bore no markings or designation, but they were clearly troop transports, and carrying at least a battalion, by her calculations. Suko homed in on the weapons pods on the sides, manned and ready.
Someone was attacking the Academy.
"Shit."
A strange thought occurred to Suko—this might be the break she'd need to get away. The Kimura soldiers would have their hands full—too full to worry about her. She might actually get away and find Sigrid.
Her heart pounded. I should be running. Why am I not running?
"Shit," she said again. Suko knew she wasn't going anywhere. If they were being attacked—her girls…
"Dammit!"
Suko turned and tore off toward the Academy. She was on a rise, looking down at the grounds when another sound stopped her. Eyes narrowed, Suko looked up; the transports were ejecting something from the ports in
their sides. Her first thought was bombs, but as she zoomed in she saw the hulking machines leaping from the drop ships. Heavily armored and carrying multiple armaments, the bipedal constructs were as big and ugly as tanks. They leapt from the drop ships, slowing themselves with retro-thrust rockets and landing solidly on thick, tri-jointed legs.
The small pistol she always carried was quickly in her hand. Suko gasped. The Mechs were landing right in among the Mercenaries, raking the scrambling soldiers with their chain guns and high-powered explosives. Three Starlings made it into the air, but the Mechs swiftly dispatched them, blasting the small craft from the skies with a barrage of missiles fired from their shoulder-mounted pods.
Suko was trained for combat, but what could she do against such a hail of mechanized destruction? The wall was now before her. She took a deep breath, leapt as high as she could and scrambled spider-like to the top of high wall before jumping over the side and hitting the ground running. The girls…she had to get to them first. Suko sprinted the last few yards to the dormitory, skidded inside and slammed the door closed behind her. All forty-two girls were awake, sitting up in their bunks with eyes full of terror. Khepri was already with them, gathering them up and shouting at them to get dressed.
"Where were you?" Khepri demanded, eyes mixed with anger and fear. But what could Suko say? There was no time; they could hear the explosions and cries from wounded and dying Mercenaries.
Lei-Fei came dashing in, startling both of the older girls. "Let's go! What are you guys waiting for?"
"Bunker?" Suko asked, lowering her sidearm.
Khepri nodded and pushed the group of terrified girls toward the door. A testament to the girls and their training, none of them hesitated or questioned as they ran for the door Lei-Fei held open for them.
Suko stifled a scream as the wall behind them collapsed, crushed under the weight of a giant Mech as it crashed through the roof of the dormitory. Khepri and the last of the girls stopped, transfixed, staring at the giant metal monster as it leveled its twin chain guns at them.
"Run!" Suko yelled. Khepri picked the last two girls up in her arms and dived for the door as a torrent of bullets rained down on them. Suko rushed forward, rolling under the hail of gunfire. The Mech raised a metal foot to crush her, but she leapt, clambering up its torso until she came face to face with the startled operator seated in the cramped cockpit. Suko drew her sidearm and fired, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off the protective glass. The operator grinned, but the grin vanished when Suko pulled a grenade from her belt and stuck it to the glass in front of his face.
Suko jumped, then rolled through its legs. She watched the mechanical arms trying to claw the grenade off; then it detonated, ripping through the tempered glass, and blowing the Mech backwards off its feet. Suko screamed, leaping out of the way to avoid being crushed. Her leap took her out through the hole where the wall had once been. Suko lay on her stomach, out of breath, shielding her head from the shower of shrapnel and debris.
As the blast subsided, she looked up, ears ringing, to find two more of the metal giants before her, flanked by a squad of soldiers in some kind of mechanized armor.
"Fuck," Suko said as the lead soldier raised his weapon and fired, point blank.
* * *
Sigrid's sensors picked up the movement and woke her from her dreams. Someone, no, several people, were in the room. Slowly, she opened her eyes, just a slit, and peered out into the darkness. The men were already on her and she felt the prick of a syringe pressing against her neck.
Before her assailant could plunge the needle into her, Sigrid's arm shot out, slapping the man's arm away. She leapt out of the bed, grabbed him by the neck and spun him about using his body as a shield while his companions fired round after panicked round in her direction. They must have been firing shock-rounds, Sigrid realized; the body of the man she held in front of her spasmed crazily as they unleashed their 300-plus kV blasts of electricity; they were still trying to trap her.
She saw now that there were four men in her room, minus the one who'd just tried to stick her with the needle. Her sensors picked up the panic they felt—they were terrified.
Sigrid hurled the limp body of the needle-man at one of her assailants; he collapsed under the weight, crying out and dropping his weapon. She was on the next one in an instant, grabbing his pistol from his trembling hand, blasting him, while throwing a terrific kick into the sternum of the third that sent him crashing through the small door of the bathroom, tearing it right off its hinges. The only man still conscious was pinned under the body, struggling to push it off of him. She aimed the pistol and fired off a couple of shock-rounds, rendering him unconscious as well.
She rifled quickly through his pockets until she found the man's ID. It had to be a fake. The man carried a student identification card. Sigrid read the embedded code. 'Hekate…' It was a planet, separated over a decade ago from the Federation. She searched the others to find all their IDs were the same. Were they real, or faked?
Sigrid dressed quickly, grabbing the camouflage gear Hitomi had given her. She was still zipping up her boots and buckling on her gun belt as she hurried down the corridor to the Lady Hitomi's room. When she got there, she froze—the door was ajar. Sigrid had assumed that the attackers were just after her. She cursed her foolishness—she hadn't even considered that the Lady might be targeted as well.
A quick thermal scan revealed three men in the Lady Hitomi's suite, as well as the Lady herself. Hitomi's four bodyguards lay dead on the ground. At least Hitomi looked to be alive; Sigrid scanned her to be sure, and breathed a relieved sigh. One of the men carried her in his arms as the other two moved toward the door. There was nowhere for her to hide in the narrow hallway so Sigrid shrouded, ducking out of the way just as the door opened. One of the men poked his head out into the corridor. He motioned his companions out, guns drawn. The last one carried the Lady Hitomi. Her hands were bound and they'd wrapped a gag around her mouth. She was awake though, and she looked directly at Sigrid—her eyes did not betray that she could see the shrouded girl.
Sigrid fired three shots from her pearl-handled pistols, catching Hitomi in her arms as the three attackers slumped to the ground, dead. She pulled the gag from her mouth and smiled.
"Mistress."
The Lady smiled, much relieved. "Now, Sigrid, you know to call me 'Hitomi-san'."
Sigrid's cheeks reddened, but her smile widened affectionately.
The noise from Sigrid's shots had caused quite a stir. Several doors opened up and down the hallway as curious passengers stuck their heads out to see what was going on. Sigrid heard several gasps and cries at the grisly sight. The loudest outburst was from Karen who ran up to them, pulling her dressing gown around her.
"Oh my goodness—are you two all right?"
Still in Sigrid's arms, Hitomi nodded. "Quite all right, my dear, although…" She looked around at the bodies at Sigrid's feet. "I suppose we should inform the Lift Administrator."
More footsteps could be heard rumbling down the corridor; Sigrid lowered Hitomi to her feet, still supporting her with an arm around her waist. She raised her pistol in the direction of the commotion. Three armed guards, dressed in the Bernardino uniforms ran up, followed by the chief of security. All four raised their hands upon seeing Sigrid's gun leveled in their direction.
Realizing there was no threat, Sigrid lowered her weapon and put it slowly back into her holster.
"Lady Hitomi!" the security chief said, alarmed. "What on earth happened here?"
"These men tried to abduct us. I'm afraid they murdered my bodyguards. Heaven knows what they intended."
He signaled to his men. "Let's get this cleaned up." To the people in the corridor, he called out, "Sorry for the disturbance—please go back into your rooms—nothing to see here."
They all heard the terrible, loud clang and the sounds of metal shrieking and grinding somewhere in the bowels of the Lift. Even with the inertial dampening systems of the elevator
engaged, they could all feel the Lift come to a juddering halt; several passengers gasped, looking around in bewilderment.
Sigrid turned to Hitomi and Karen. "We've stopped."
* * *
Selene sighed as she pulled Rodney away from the Morrigan's Chief Engineer. The two had been at odds since they'd come on board. Even here in the ship's mess, their arguing was quickly spiraling out of control. Rodney was a brilliant engineer, and he knew far more about the ship's systems than the stuffy officer, but he still needed to learn about the chain of command. She couldn't keep intervening on his behalf. He had to learn.
Mercifully, the spat was interrupted by the chirping of the ship's intercom.
"What is it, Christian?"
"Uh, excuse me, Commander, but we've got three ships coming in."
"Mr. Lopez, we're in high Earth orbit. There are ships coming in all the time."
"Yeah, but these…I think they're headed for us."
"I'll be right there." She turned back to Rodney and the Chief. "You two—behave!"
Selene walked quickly to the bridge and slid into her seat at the helm. "All right, Mr. Lopez. Let's see what's got you so worked up." Selene called up the tactical information on her monitor. Lopez was right: three ships, not much bigger than the Morrigan were bearing down on them. They were already exceeding the port speed limit, and they were still accelerating. None of them were listed in the registry. "Independents…"
A red light on the center console flashed and series of alarms shrilled for their attention.
"What the…They've got a firing solution on us!" Christian said, more confused than alarmed.
"Dear God…" They had missile lock—and her own ship was moored and locked with the orbital platform. She was a sitting duck. "Hang on!"
Without warning, Selene sealed the airlocks and disengaged the mooring locks.
"But, Commander—we have no departure clearance," Melissa cried.