by Adam DiSalvo
“Where did you say my assistant was?”asked Raffa.
“Sereena should be waiting for you in the twenty second floor lobby.” Jonathan trailed off.
“Is the lobby closer than the armory?"
“Sir I can not arm a civil—“
The building shook again. Raffa regained his balance and ran to the windows. Jonathan followed.
“What are you doing? Get away from the there!”
“Those aren’t explosions!” Raffa replied.
Raffa pressed his face against the glass. One floor below them a siege pod had dug itself into the side of the structure. Raffa spied the insignia. He quickly moved back from the window.
“There not here for me,” Raffa mumbled.
“What?” demanded Jonathan.
“It’s New Fate.”
Jonathan slammed his face against the window.
“They’re here for an ether.”
Jonathan peddled back and looked at Raffa.
“Where did they get those pods?” Raffa added.
“Are they insane?”
Jonathan grabbed at his communicator.
“FTS control this is LSAG-9456, Lieutenant Jonathan Ironback. We are under attack by New Fate. Confirmation of hostiles has been made. I repeat. We are under attack by New Fate. Confirmation of hostiles has been made.”
Another impact rocked the building followed by the muffled rattle of gun fire on the floor above them.
“Lieutenant Ironback.” squawked Jonathan’s radio.
“Yes! Yes! This is Lieutenant Ironba—“
The ceiling exploded filling the room with smoke and debris. Raffa and Jonathan shielded their eyes taking cover behind separate planters. Deep thuds pounded through the smoke accompanied by the whining sound of servos and electric motors. Thick black armored soldiers fanned out through the haze. Laser designators crisscrossed through the room above their heads. Raffa slowed his breath and turned to where Jonathan had taken cover. He was gone. Raffa swallowed hard and leaned his head back against the planter concealing him. More muffled gunfire gurgled up from the floor below. Sparks spat themselves across the room. The sound of shuffling boots caught Raffa’s ear. Then running. The laser designators tracked towards the sounds. Jonathan dove face first, automatic heavy rounds racing through the air after him. Jonathan crashed to the ground. The black plated soldiers adjusted their field of fire, crushing debris under their armored boots as they moved. Raffa held his breath as the New Fate soldiers crept away from him to where Jonathan had landed.
“Warning. Active shooters in the building. All passengers and civilian personnel please evacuate the premisses,” chimed the PA once more.
The building rocked again from another impact. Low vibrations followed, rippling though the floor. Then a set of vibrations. Then more. An intense lightwave split the ceiling sending sparks of electricity crackling through the air. The black assailants ducked away, tracking the new potential target. A second light wave gashed open the ceiling.
“Etherborn!” roared one of the soldiers.
The ceiling peeled back. Green shock rounds flashed through the burgeoning hole. The enemy fire arced away, folding into the edges of the perforation.
“Syren!” screamed another soldier.
“Active shooters in th—“ the PA was cut off.
Raffa peaked around his cover as two light waves passed in front of him, slicing through the walls and floor. Air rushed in though the fresh rends in the windows. Dust whipped about the room.
“It’s Letassa!” cried a soldier. “Move! Move! Move!”
Letassa pervaded through, decorticating the neosteel beams from the walls and floor. Her dark hair, twice her height in length and interwoven with gleaming gems and tipped with polished blades snaked about her body. Raffa watched as stakes of neosteel and polyluminum spiked out from the floor, walls, and ceiling impaling soldiers from every direction. The combatants left standing scattered. Fires erupted.
“Arm the shockwave!” barked one of the soldiers.
Jonathan wound along the walls as the destruction persisted into a crescendo. Under the cover of the gathering smoke, Jonathan dispatched an enemy simultaneously tearing their weapon away and bringing it to bear against the remaining soldiers. Green swarms streaked toward the armored combatants from Jonathan’s position. The rounds broke upon the black plates ricochetting through the room. One soldier circled to engage him.
“On our six!” he screamed, firing back down range at Jonathan.
Another kneeling behind him stood up and patted him on the shoulder.
“Shockwave-mine set! Let's go!”
Across the room the heavy doors to the stair well burst open followed by an intense light. Raffa clutched at his eyes and head while more armored soldiers surged into the room. Each one fell as fast as they entered. Cascades of lightwaves carved their way through soldiers and walls alike. Raffa beheld Letassa’s staggering capacity for violence. The structure's integrity withered.
Loud groans from the floors above led to the sounds of snapping neosteel supports. The building jerked. In a flash Letassa shattered the windows, rocketing through them into the open air just outside. The forty floors above buckled, canting deep to one side. The screams of hundreds still trapped on the floors above rose into the air. Terror gripped Raffa.
“It’s gonna buckle! Move!” bellowed the soldier that armed the shockwave.
The two remaining soldiers dashed across the room for the stairwell. As the lead soldier approached, gunfire erupted from the lower level forcing them to take cover.
“Hostiles in the stairwell!” screamed the lead soldier.
The soldier giving orders returned fire down the stairwell. Jonathan fired a second volley from behind them. Again the rounds did nothing. The trailing soldier spun around and engaged Jonathan once more. To the sound of grinding concrete and neosteel, the ceiling tore open on the opposite side of the room. Raffa froze in horror as strong gusts of wind whirled around them. The upper floors toppled, plunging in to the water below. The subordinate soldier charged at Jonathan. Fire surrounded them.
“Pin’s out! Blast coming!” cried the soldier near the stairwell, as he lobbed a grenade.
The explosion filled the stairwell with smoke. The soldier turned around.
“Jonathan they’re coming for you!” Raffa bellowed
The commanding soldier turned his head aiming his rifle at Raffa. Green rounds came screaming forth. Raffa dove, cowering behind one of the thick planters as dirt and concrete chipped away around him. The second soldier closed in on Jonathan. Raffa crawled along the floor. The lead soldier continued firing. Jonathan abandoned his cover crashing into the second soldier as he fired. Viridian rays flew into the air.
“Fucking terrorist piece of shit!” roared Jonathan. “I’ll fucking kill you!”
The lead soldier continued his barrage, bounding ever closer to Raffa’s position. Jonathan engaged the other combatant in close quarters.
“Fuck you!” the second soldier retaliated. “We’ll set fire to you and your gods!”
Jonathan struck his enemy repeatedly knocking away his weapon and smashed him against a gnarled support beam. The lead combatant crested Raffa’s cover with his weapon ready. Letassa reappeared slamming into the floor with a thunderous crash sending the lead enemy flailing. Dust and glass flew into the air. The glow of the building’s ruins caressed her perfect olive skin. She paused, her hair tossing about in the wind. Muffled gunfire carried on underneath them.
“Letassa!” screamed the second soldier. “What is the life of your faithful worth to you?!”
The soldier had Jonathan wrapped up in his arms with a gruesome blade at his throat. Letassa responded, impaling them both with over a dozen neosteel barbs. Blood spewed out pooling up into a black puddle on the floor. A gentle smile crossed Leatssa's lips. The barbs removed themselves letting the bodies crumple to the ground. The shockwave weapon erupted with a powerful electric explosion. The charges ar
ced straight to Letassa and all nearby metal objects. Her scream was blood curdling. She fell to the floor.
“Syren whore! I’m going to tear out your spine!” screamed the lead soldier rising from the floor.
He picked up his automatic weapon from the ground and stowed it. He then removed a two foot, doubled edged blade from his back and strode over to where Letassa lie. She writhed in pain while small electric arcs danced across her body. Smoke drifted into the air from her burnt hair and skin. She moaned.
“That’s right slut.”
Raffa made a move from his cover but, the soldier was too fast. He drew his sidearm unleashing a stream of green. Raffa ducked back. The armored man looked back down and with a green flash fired a round into Letassa's stomach. The soldier burst into laughter.
“Your faithful can't save you!” he taunted.
The soldier kicked Letassa in the ribs with all his might, lifting her off of the ground. She gasped in pain. He kicked her again and holstered his sidearm.
“My! You ether born are tough,” he sneered. “Your ribs!”
He kicked her again.
“They won’t break!”
He bent down next to her.
“I’m going to send you to Feera in pieces,” he whispered.
Raffa made a diving slide across the ground snatching a rifle from a dead soldier. The leader looked down at Letassa. The faint gunfire below intensified.
“We will wipe the system clean of ethers,” he growled.
The black plated warrior raised his blade high into the air. He looked across the destruction of the exposed fifty first floor.
“Where are you faithful now?” he goaded.
Green streaks crashed into the soldier’s hand shredding the blade and knocking it away. The soldier turned and charged Raffa’s position. Raffa loosed a throng of emerald fire. The dark soldier lowered his shoulder leaning into the wave of jade beams. He crashed through the remains of the wall covering Raffa, striking him through the crumbling concrete. Raffa careened across the floor stopping when his back struck a neosteel support. He cried out. The black soldier shook the concrete from his suit.
“The faithful.” sighed the warrior as he peered down at Raffa.
The soldier pulled his rifle from his shoulder, training it on Raffa as he approached. Raffa rolled over groaning. Blood dripped from his arms, chest, and nose. He struggled to his knees.
“Tell me faithful where do your gods go when they die?”
Raffa looked up at the rifle barrel and then at the soldier.
“I’m not one of the faithful.=,” asserted Raffa.
The soldier racked his rifle.
“You’ll die anywa—“
Blue streaks chopped through the soldiers chest and head scattering blood, gore, and black plate metal everywhere. The mangled body of the soldier dropped to its knees and fell to the ground. Raffa drew deep breaths from shock. He looked around for the source of the gunfire. Serena appeared, brandishing an imperial AGR. She was flanked by five soldiers in dark red, heavy ZGC suits. Raffa’s eyes were wide with surprise.
“There he is!” she yelled. “Secure him and let’s go!”
One of the burgundy soldiers nodded an affirmative and approached Raffa. He knelt down next to him and removed his face mask. Raffa was relieved at the sight of a familiar face.
“Lusio,” sighed Raffa.
Lusio smiled at his friend.
“Easy there man. Let's get you outta here,” he said in a calm voice, helping Raffa to his feet. “There’s a dead syren here. This is not the place to be when PPS and the Praetorian’s Investigation Unit show up. C’mon let’s go.”
“Sir are you okay?” asked Serena
“She’s not dead,” Raffa replied.
“What?”
“I said she’s not dead!" Raffa repeated. “Letassa. The syren!"
Serena and Lusio looked over to a motionless Letassa .
“She’s been hit with a shock weapon,” said Raffa wincing in pain. “He shot her in the stomach.”
“What do you want us to do?” asked Lusio.
“Go treat her!” urged Raffa.
“What?” exclaimed Serena and Lusion simultaneously.
“You want us to help a Syren?” Serena added. “Why?”
“I’m going to have to agree with Serena, Mr Calderon. We’re better off leaving.”
“No. We’re not leaving until we at least treat her.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Okay go,” acquiesced Lusio as he pointed to Letassa.
The squad medic and another soldier moved to asses her. The two treated her with blood coagulants and flesh binders via injection. Letassa's bleeding stopped. The flesh binders however, had trouble doing the job. The injuries wouldn’t close. One soldier looked up.
“Sir the wound won’t close. These flesh binders were made for humans,” he explained. "She’s an ether. Well, actually a syren. Her body is way too strong t—“
“I get it. I get it,” Raffa interrupted. “You can’t do anything else?”
“Right now? Without ether grade surgical equipment? No.” replied the medic shaking his head.
The fires were intensifying around them. Raffa raised his hand to shield his face from the heat. He looked back and forth from his rescuers to Letassa, laying still. The cry of disaster sirens called out.
“Sir now’s the time to go.” Serena pressed.
More sirens joined the call. The lights of aircraft warned of their approach.
“Sir!”
“Okay!” he yelled. “Okay.”
The battle scared CEO made his way to the edge, where the building had torn in two. He leaned forward and peered over. The horror below choked him. The upper portion of the building was gone beneath the waves. Only the death that had escaped its decent were left, floating on the surface. With tears in his eyes he looked out at the approaching aircraft. Raffa shook his head.
“Let’s go,” he ordered.
The heavy soldiers encircled Raffa and Serena as they made their way to the burned out stairwell. Raffa looked back at Letassa’s unconscious body as he limped by. Serena placed her hand on his shoulder and she followed him down the stairs.
“Lusio.” addressed Serena. "After this there’s no way FTS is going to let anyone leave the pyra.”
“I agree.” Lusio affirmed.
“What’s our next move? Even if we get to deck 189 and launch, which they won’t let us do, it’s just open space after that. Where do we go?"
“Cantiga,” Raffa interrupted.
Lusio smiled wide.
“Seriously?” Serena snickered. “You want to go to the Renegade Empire after we watched tens of thousands of people die? No. You’re losing it.”
“No.” Raffa retorted, raising his hand. “I must have an audience with the Lord of Light.”
“Now that doesn’t surprise me.” laughed Lusio.
“It’s imperative.” Raffa revealed.
“The Lord of Light? He's a psycho!” Serena blurted out. "You can’t trust him!”
“That’s not the point,” deflected Raffa.
“That’s not the point?” Serena asserted. “We can only end up in his cult. Or goddess knows what else!”
The two soldiers in front led the group though an open door leaving the stairwell a few floors down. They turned a corner and made their way to one of the disabled elevators.
“Theneece, you’re up,” directed Lusio.
Theneece was in her early twenties with short hair and was covered in tattoos. She neared the elevator control panel and disconnected it. She then removed a tablet from its holster on her back and attached it to the control panel’s internals. After she entered a few commands the elevator activated. The doors slid open.
“Are we going to ocean level or to the trams on the twenty second floor?” she asked.
Serena guided Raffa into the elevator. The heavily armored soldiers followed them in.
“Let’s take
our chances on deck 189.” Lusio suggested. “We’ll hack the tram to platform 18 and strike it to 189 when we arrive.”
Theneece swiped in a few commands and jumped in before the doors closed.
“Then what?” asked Serena. "Hit the emergency release and launch again unauthorized? In order to get emergency release authorization you have to enter real ID if you want to EL to open space. They’ll know who it is that pulled it.”
“We could use one of the dead soldier's IDs,” purposed Theneece. “I snatched a buch of data from the FTS soldier’s PDCs when we were up there.
“Okay.” Lusio agreed. “Let’s get to the tram and take our chances at 189. We should be able to get around pretty easily using the VIP access points. Getting onto the ship might be tricky but, if Theneece gets us to launch we can outrun them in open space.”
Raffa looked at Lusio. The elevator stopped at the twenty second floor.
“Right?”
The group paused in the elevator.
“What do you think?” he concluded.
Raffa took a breath before answering.
“I’m down.”
Serena nodded her agreement.
“Theneece will you fake the ID for the emergency release?” asked Lusio.
“As long as they don’t shut down the power,” she expounded. "I can get the ship into space.”
Their group stepped out into the twenty second level's lobby. More dancing red lights followed them down the deserted halls to tram platform 18A.
“How can we call the tram if we aren't at central?” Serena queried.
“Each track has a maintenance panel that's hardwired to it.” Theneece answered. "Once we find track eighteen we’ll be able to use the maintenance panel to call the tram.”
“Even during lockdown?”
Theneece nodded.
"I’ll then direct it to platform 18B.”
“They won’t fire upon us after we launch?” Raffa asked
“The Pearl Geese has some of the latest slip drives. It's fast. We should be out of range before they know we’re gone for good.” Lusio explained.
Theneece spied track eighteen’s maintenance panel. She jogged over and jacked into the interface’s hardware.