The idea of genocide never came easy to anyone, but to Alice the solution seemed the most appropriate. If they were defeated nothing stopped them from reorganizing and nothing stopped the mysterious Corporation HQ from sending more units into Earth’s sectors. What bothered her was how little information was available in the Library on HQ and the governing organization that ruled it. The home planet of the Corporation was talked about very little and any information on other creatures from the planet was non-existent. She plotted every known Corporation world on a star-chart and referenced much of known space to find where the home-world could be, and came up empty every time. Something was wrong there, and she was desperate to find it. Her information was incomplete and it made her electrical brain stutter and Project had to patch her twice to prevent the stress from overloading her. He advised her the first time to stop trying to figure it out as her mind was no longer capable of accepting incomplete information and it created a panic within her system. The second time she attempted it, he implemented a program into her mind that caused her to think of something else when her mind shifted to the subject. The constant activity was difficult for him to track, but he had to do something to keep her focused. Her mind was becoming too easy and too pliable for him to change with computer applications, and that started to worry him.
Project spent most of his time outfitting the soldiers with proper sensors and communication packages, making sure they could set-up a network when the inevitable separation of the group occurred. His reasoning was simple: once they broke into the planet’s surface all of the psychological data on the two Commanders lead him to believe they would hunt them down. Project exercised the rare A.I. trait of empathy and put himself in their shoes. They’d been in siege of this planet for many years and only left to quickly dispatch other threats, and thus they’d be eager for a challenge. They may also decide that Alice working with the Cydrakians would lead them to their own prize much quicker, so they’d let them hit the planet. He reasoned after that it would become a game of hit-and-run and they’d whittle Alice’s army down to almost nothing before capturing the remaining group and finishing the job. The expanded sensors and communication platform would help them gather and share the intelligence as quick as possible. They couldn’t afford secrets and they couldn’t let any soldier go to his grave with pertinent information. Once that task was complete Project was able to spend more of his time monitoring Alice, his conversations with Lisa filled with worry. It was amusing to the scientist that Project had developed a deeper connection with the fallen soldier, and she encouraged his behavior.
Project insisted that he could not feel attraction and the connection he was developing with her was a professional one of the strictest sense. Alice had not returned any sort of indication that she was even capable of reflecting any sort of emotional connection between the two, and Project dismissed it as ridiculous. Lisa and Project engaged themselves to pass the time, creating rogue programs to battle over virtual space and laughing to themselves when others tried to understand the game. It was impossible for anyone with a limited logical and creative mind to even understand the system they were using, forgetting about any intentions to actually join in the game. Project was experiencing frustration at the fact that he was a superior intellect, and yet Lisa managed to defeat him soundly every time. She couldn’t help but tease him the way humans do and this resulted in him shutting himself off for hours before re-approaching her for another game and testing out a different method. The results were always the same and for an A.I., Lisa felt he was the definition of a poor sport but it kept her entertained.
Alice stood on the bridge every move a command to muster up the appropriate response from the crew and the ship. They had entered range of Cydrak and she knew it would be a matter of moments before the world appeared in view of her systems. Lisa bounced a few signals off of relays and out into realspace to get a clear picture of what they’d be emerging into, but nothing came back conclusive. She was frustrated but working hard on creating defense programs to help with navigation through the fleet she expected to see blockading the planet. Blockades were not an effective method of stopping planetfall from happening, but they were a great deterrent against an unskilled pilot.
Yegret cleared her vision of sweat as she pulled the console’s controls closer for maximum response. She had studied the Corporation tactics for years and knew their blockade patterns inside and out. Lisa had found out that Yegret was a well-regarded smuggler who operated the Railroad, a rogue agency dedicated to freeing the humans that were enslaved under Corporation control. She’d ran over 50 missions through their fleet and only switched to Alice’s ship to avoid becoming predictable. Alice had underestimated her resolve and now she was about to be proven wrong. The FTL engines turned off with no warning, the ship shuttered and spun through the darkness of space. The glow of the planet’s sun filled the sensors and blinded those who looked up at the wrong moment.
Alice’s systems filtered out much of the light and kept her focused on the goal, Yegret and Lisa both hitting buttons on their consoles like mad-women. Bursts of energy and packets of data shot forth in their respective frequencies. The energy bursts were designed to keep the ship on course and deter any honing drones from zeroing in on their location, while the data packets were meant to scramble the sensor data. It was too late for defensive measures Alice realized as shots bounced off her hull and deterred the ship’s course to the side. Lisa had been right, the Eldritch Glaive had seen them coming and prepared a volley of shots to disable them. Alice wondered why the shots were light and not set to destroy them, not sharing the same outlook that Project had on them surviving.
Yegret navigated through the debris filled space around the planet, rocks and ships alike floating through the gravitational field. They had exited FTL just shy of hitting the gravitational pull of the planet and had a bit of difference to go before they’d begin planet-fall. Alice was not pleased with the way the mission was going as another drone shot forced the bulkheads to seal and the secondary armor systems to come online.
“We’re taking too much damage Yegret! Lisa do something about those drones or we won’t have enough integrity to make planet-fall!” Alice said with a loud and stern voice simulated the best she could.
“Alice, we’re not going to be able to deter those shots, there’s too many of them!” Lisa shouted, tears forming in her eyes.
They’d emerged into a death-trap, magnetized and guided drone projectiles slipping forward to the ship as they passed through the debris. Alice realized Lisa was right and turned the view-screen to focus on the ship that was looming not far from. The majesty of the Eldritch Glaive caused a hush of fear to go through the cabin of the Stormbreaker, the ship no longer positioned like a station. Rearing its full power the Glaive looked like a pointed spear protected by walls of metal and guns, easily big enough to fit four or five of Alice’s ship within it. She felt the ship slow down and watched the alerts firing off on her console. Something was slowing down the projectiles and stopping them from penetrating her hull.
“Lisa…”
“They’re not trying to shoot us down, they’re attaching to us!” Yegret said, sending the ship into a spin and trying to muster as much force as she could from the engines. Even as she tried to do so the ship slowed and its orientation was being corrected by the consuming debris around them. The Corporation was winning this fight, and Alice knew that there was little more they could to continue the struggle. She stood up and motioned to Lisa, giving the rest of the crew a raised hand to silence them.
“You’re going to be safe, but you’re going to be captured. Yegret, I need you to get ready for plan B while we still can. Lisa, Fiora, let’s go.” Alice said, leading the blonde-haired girl with her as she exited the cabin. The rest of the crew could be heard sobbing and shouting, but she paid them no attention as she had none to give. Her processes were on executing the remaining options they had left to get them to the surface of the planet
, they had to succeed no matter the cost. Alice couldn’t process anything other than success and she needed Lisa and her soldiers. The plan was simple and Alice was pleased to see the docking bay filled with soldiers armed and ready to go. They had loaded up the drop-pods before they had left and now everyone was scrambling to get strapped in. Alice and Lisa made their way to their drop pod with a squad of 10, Fiora and her Paladins taking their own, and the rest of the fighters fitting into the third drop-pod.
“Yegret, are the launchers covered?”
“No Captain, we’re free.” She said, a sudden drop into a gravity-free environment causing Lisa’s heart rate to reach maximum speed. She coughed against the surge in her stomach, resisting the threat to throw up her breakfast. Alice wanted to reassure her, but felt she was no longer very good at that particular action. Instead she stayed silent as the pods were loaded into the cannons, Yegret doing her best to utilize Lisa’s programs to target their landfall as accurately as possible.
The cannons made no noise as the electromagnetic propulsion sent the drop-pods hurtling through space, Alice linking with the external cameras to watch their descent. She turned one back to the ship and saw that hers and Fiora’s drop pods had exited the cannons with no trouble, but the third had not yet launched. The arms could reload in seconds, but as the third drop pod entered the firing tube Alice watched as the debris crowded over it and pinned it to the side of the Stormbreaker.
“Yegret?” Alice said.
“No dice, it won’t fire Captain, the men are stuck inside.” Yegret said through the mic. Her voice was faltering through static and Alice realized that the communication channels were getting jammed as the ship was swallowed up in debris and immobilized. She turned the communicators off when they started blaring the Corporation’s signature anthem, they had been hacked and taken apart. The Eldritch Glaive could have taken them out from that range and she braced for an impact that never came. The ship let them careen past them and enter the gravitational field of the planet below, the momentum carrying them into the atmosphere.
“Get ready. Check weapons, we’re going in hot.”
Chapter 6
Flames licked at Fiora’s hands, the broken metal of the destroyed drop-pod gripping her legs tightly. She felt the blood trickling down from the wound in her legs, and she cried out in agony. Her weapons were in a bundle next to her, but she couldn’t reach them even as the Corporations soldiers swarmed her crew. Three of the Paladins had managed to get on their feet after the plasma blasts ripped the roof off of their pod and the force ripped them from their harnesses, the other two were killed before the vehicle even hit the ground. Fiora looked over at their bodies, faces she’d come to know and respect, bloodied with eyes that were forever closed. She felt a tear drop from her face as her crimson armored hand reached out in desperation for any of her weapons.
One of her men lunged forward against a Corporation soldier who was clad in the blue death-armor of an Officer. He swatted the broken blade the Paladin wielded away and landed a blow straight to the soldier’s back, winding him and knocking him to the ground. Fiora yelled and tried to pull her leg up, but the steel that impaled the limb wouldn’t give no matter how much force she pulled to it. Her enhanced muscles did nothing to help her, her system slipping into shock despite her efforts to control it. The other two Paladins were handcuffed and brought to their knees by the remaining Corporation soldiers, lining the three of them up to look up at the Officer who gloated with a grin over their broken spirits. She tried to reach, kept trying to reach out for the weapons nearby, her fingertips brushing the faux leather satchel that held them. She screamed again, the Officer looking over towards her and motioning his soldiers to approach her.
He aimed his rifle downwards and pressed the barrel to the head of the man he’d beaten- Cody- and smiled as he pulled the trigger, the barrel exploding a single round that ripped through Cody’s head and into the dirt behind him. Fiora roared with pain and anger, her leg ripping free from the metal that held it captive and her hand clenching the bag. The two soldiers approaching her lunged, the metal box in her hand screaming electromagnetically propelled shots through the air. She felt time as no longer an issue, her perception following the hundred shots that left the Storm and saw them as they sent ripples of kinetic energy through the azure armor the soldiers wore. She watched as lines formed and separated the armor, tearing it apart before evaporating flesh and bone in their destructive path. The men fell to the ground in shock and fear, convulsing even as they bled out into the soil.
The Officer’s grin turned to anger as he kicked the remaining two Paladins to the ground with one armored foot. He drew his rifle and aimed it at the prone Fiora, screaming insults as he went. Two more soldiers appeared behind him from other areas of the wreck, drawing their weapons and flanking their superior officer. The metal box in her hand fell to the ground empty and useless until it was reloaded, and she didn’t have the materials or time to do that. She pulled her sword from the bag and flashed it at the men, rolling to crawl up to her knees. Waves of excruciating pain made her cry out and wince, a momentary lapse in her defensive position. The Officer’s snarl turned to a wicked grin, aiming the rifle at her head as he approached. He wanted to say something, Fiora was sure of that; but he never got the chance to say whatever was on his mind.
A cataclysmic roar echoed over the forest floor where they had landed, the trees still smoldering from the flames of their entry. The Corporation soldiers looked around, waving their guns in arcs and surrounding their Officer. Fiora almost didn’t see the obscure blur that passed through her sight, whipping the first soldier through the air and grabbing the second one. The creature’s hands were like blades that slashed apart the armor and created a snapping sound in the man’s chest before the beast dropped its victim to the ground. The officer spun and fired the weapon as fast as he could, shot after shot pouring into the creature’s flesh. Fiora could tell the beast was covered in fur and the slugs seemed to get lost within the follicles but no blood was surrendered. The beast was taller than the Corporation Officer and had white teeth that snapped in rage before vanishing entirely. The creature switched from a beast to a man-like creature in a burst of motion, ducking low and hitting the Officer in the back and moving to his other side.
Like an artist painting a canvas with lightning, every movement of the beastman’s hand smashed joint or pressure point and freed the rifle from the Officer’s grip. Fear hadn’t even set into the armorclad Officer’s eyes when the weapon that he’d murdered Cody with was now forced into his own forehead, his bulging features disintegrating against the might of the slug that pulled his flesh apart and spilled his brain matter across the burning forest floor. The man was dark skinned and naked, no longer clad in the fur he had been moments ago. He offered Fiora a smile before moving to the downed Paladins and freeing them from the cuffs that bound their hands behind their backs. He said not a word as he pointed to their weapons and motioned behind him. The beast-man reached Fiora and with some restraint and effort he picked her up and hoisted her over his shoulders. Her heavy weight and armor seemed to burden him none. The Paladins gathered what they could and fell in beside the beast-man as they made haste away from the wreckage, the three dead Paladins left to their graves.
Terrifying arcs of energy washed over the drop-pod where Alice, Lisa, and their soldiers were strapped into. Heat increased within the pod to an uncomfortable level and yet the humans inside didn’t seem to care, they were too busy waiting for their untimely deaths to set them free from this eternal war. Lisa’s eyes were closed as she held on to the straps of her seat, creating a new programming deck in her head for when she got to play against Project again. If she ever did. She tried to ignore the sound of metal being torn free from their clumsy entry and the assault against the hull of the pod. She reasoned that the shots were only going to glance off of them at this point in their journey, but every degree the blasts raised the temperature of the metal was another degr
ee closer to failure.
She wished she had the calm of Alice, even if it was a gift at the expense of dwindling humanity, she envied the way Alice didn’t have to fear death. The men around them were grim and hoping for the best, some uttering prayers and others curses. The time for testing was upon them, their faith and their resolve. They had to not lose it here so when it landed they wouldn’t be taken apart like ducks with no wings. The drop pod kicked on reverse-jets, relieving Lisa a bit as the pressure shifted a slight amount. The reverse thrusters would slow their descent, but it did nothing about the rising heat and it wouldn’t save them from the weapons fire they were taking. A beam of sunlight materialized into the pod and shone through the head of a soldier who slumped over without a warning. A stray beam, or perhaps even just a screw or sprocket that came loose. Lisa shut her eyes even tighter, resisting the urge to scream.
Rebirth (Rebel Wars Book 2) Page 8