The Iron War: A Xander Cain Novel

by P W Hillard

  Heliustech internal email.

  We need to get this product shifted as soon as possible. We got lucky. Really lucky. Without this, the whole of the expedition would have been a massive waste. I've assigned the goods to a warehouse, a small one, and placed an order for a mercenary job. I've listed it as a garrison mission and set the pay low. It's about all we can afford, and the mercs don't need to know what's inside the warehouses. Hopefully, we can make everything look low-key at the same time.

  If we can sell this lot, we’re looking at billions. More than enough to put us back into the black and then some. We might even be able to fund more ships to scour the outer asteroid belt, if this was out there, who knows what else would be?

  Oh, and the next person who emails me from research begging for us not to sell the finds, I’m going to drag out of their office and personally fire. We don’t have the time or money to go digging about in this stuff, and we need the cash infusion. Learning to work this stuff is someone else’s problem.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The QT hit the ground with a clang, smoke and steam spilling out from the massive hole the gauss dart had punched through the armour. It joined a pile of its comrades, the latest ill-fated interception attempt against the strange-looking mechsuit. It had cut a swatch, smashing through the lines, destroying the mobile fortress, and now it was closing in on the control room. Its goal was obvious now, and elsewhere in the complex forces were scrambling to get towards the climber.

  Xander staggered onwards, the Paladin limping. It was holding on, barely, this latest wave had landed several good hits, turning the paper doll in his vision a vivid red. His disabled arm and leg were outlined in black, indicating their failure. The Paladin was an impressive weapon, but it wasn’t invincible. It was dying, slowly, the damage was adding up. Xander was close now, the building directly ahead, each pained step bringing it slightly closer.

  “You better be able to interact with the computers after all of this,” Xander said. The AI had gone suspiciously quiet.

  “Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m certain. Well, fairly certain. Can never really be sure until you try. I must say, you have been treating the Paladin rather…roughly, in my opinion.” Matthias sounded distant like he wasn't truly paying attention.

  “Certain or fairly certain? Those are very different things. I've never known someone who was fairly certain actually succeeded at what they were trying.”

  “Oh, well, they weren’t me. I am rather more advanced than the computers of your era. Or at least, I think so. Could be they’re the strong silent type. It’s difficult to tell with my memories locked away, and I’ll be honest, from what I’ve seen of yours, you are hardly a computer expert.”

  “True, but if you can’t work it, I’ll need to get out of the Paladin, and that probably means abandoning it. Not great for you. I would think having to go back to sleep is on the bottom of the list.”

  “I wouldn’t know, I blessedly can’t remember. Maybe I was switched on all these millennia. That isn’t a comforting thought, I would think one would go rather mad…” The AI drifted off; his attention caught elsewhere. “I believe we have a problem.”

  “We have a lot of problems,” Xander said. He rolled his eyes, momentarily confusing the wetware connection. It had no way of translating the motion, settling on twisting the head unit in a small circle. “Care to be more specific?”

  “The damaged leg, the synthetic muscle is on the verge of tearing, but the more pressing issue is the failing knee joint. It was damaged anyway, but this palaver has put even more strain on it. I fear we might have to abandon the Paladin regardless.”

  “Just great. I know this seemed like a suicide mission, but I was kind of hoping it wasn’t.”

  “I have been working on something, just in case. It’s taken rather a lot of my processing power, however. Something to keep going in the event the worst happens.”

  “Ok,” Xander said. “Whatever you need to do to keep us running, do it. We have to get that climber moving. Ideally, we need to lock them out of the lasers beneath as well. We don’t want them depowering it as we climb. It’s going to take a while to reach orbit.”

  “Five days, approximately, estimating the speed of the climber to be about three hundred kilometres per hour. Give or take, again I can’t be sure your memories of these things are totally accurate. I can’t imagine locking them out of the laser controls would be an issue. I would worry about them destroying the equipment though, not much we can do about that.”

  “They won't.” Xander sounded certain like he had spoken an ineffable truth. “They need this elevator, or they're as stuck as we are. Doing that would strand themselves.”

  “If you're certain. We could, of course, detach the cable in orbit, or send the climber back down on an uncontrolled descent. Both of those options would deal with the hostiles handily.” Matthias seemed casual, almost nonchalant about his suggestion.

  “No. No way.” Xander felt almost disgusted at the thought. Either of those options would cause massive damage to the city, killing thousands. “I don’t know what it was like in your time, but we don’t do that. Or at least, mercenaries don’t do that. We have a code, ethics. That would kill civilians.”

  “Oh, well I am rather relieved at that. I wasn't sure how you would take that suggestion. It would certainly be barbaric. I did hope society in this era was beyond that.”

  “You were testing me?”

  “Indeed.”

  “You’re an arsehole,” Xander said. “An actual massive prick.”

  The Paladin shook as it took another tentative step, the damaged leg struggling to hold its weight. The control centre was before it now, the ultimate destination for Xander’s roughshod rampage. The building didn’t look like much, a simple grey box. There was no need for it to be flashy like the plaza building. It was purely functional, the dull boring heart of the facility.

  The structure wasn’t designed to hold a mechsuit and was barely taller than the machine itself. Xander barged into the wall with his shoulder, and the concrete gave way, the thin walls never intended to come under an attack. He strode through, floors crumbling as the suit advanced.

  “Ok, you’re up Matthias, do your thing.”

  “Yeah, working on it. Well, that and the other thing I mentioned.”

  “Focus, one thing at a time.”

  “I’m always doing more than one thing, I am an AI, after all. For me doing one thing might as well be doing nothing it’s so sim-”

  “The climber!” Xander was rapidly running out of patience with the computer program.

  “Ok, yes, yes. Take two steps forward, turn right ninety degrees, then another step. That should put me within range of the computer console we need. If you could crouch as well, that would be a big help.”

  Xander did as asked, directing the Paladin as it swam through the building, debris crashing against him like a wave. He crouched down as low as he could, his head unit peering into the second floor. He caught a glimpse of an infantryman running down the corridor, away from the oncoming mech, a wise choice.

  “Ok, connecting…got it. I’m in. Setting the ascent now. I’m pre-programming it to ascend in oh, fifteen minutes.”

  “We have no idea if the other team is even in position.”

  “Actually, I do. Well, I do now, the cargo train is coming alongside the climber as we speak. Carrying it would appear our comrades. I have access to the entire network system. It was rather simple truth be told. I'm also going to lock out these Black Rose fellows with an encryption level that will take them months to crack. It's a bit rough, but it will do.”

  “Ok.” Xander turned the mech to face its path of destruction. Smashing through the building was impressive, but he didn’t want to subject the Paladin to any more punishment than necessary. “Anything else we can do to make our lives easier?”

  “I have locked down all ingress points to the climber, aside from the maintenance ramps around the edge. Won’t stop the
mechs but will slow the infantry. I’ve also triggered the fire suppressant foam in some of the structures. More to be annoying than anything.”

  Xander couldn’t help but laugh at the idea, the thought of thick foam streaming down the bald heads of the Black Rose goons was a funny image. He began to walk forward, commanding the Paladin with his thoughts.

  Something snapped, lough enough to be audible over the debris being crushed underfoot. The Paladin began to tumble, its leg finally giving out. Xander felt an impact, though the strange cabin absorbed it, coming across as only a slight shudder in the padding.

  “Fuck! Matthias, did the leg fail?”

  “Affirmative, ejecting now.”

  “Wait, ejecting?”

  The Paladin’s front armour plate sprang open, the systems holding it in place releasing with enough force to lift the stricken mech off the ground. The cabin within shot forth, launched in a stream of fire, slamming into the far wall. The jet stuttered for a moment, driving the cabin several inches into the concrete.

  The cabin opened, splitting like a coffin as Xander climbed out. He ached all over, the cabin had absorbed some of the impact, but not all of it, and it had shaken Xander violently. He brushed his hands over himself, checking everything was still attached. He pulled open the zip of his rider suit, reaching inside and sliding a pistol free from the waistband of his boxers. It wasn’t the safest way of arming himself, but the tight Paladin cabin left precious little space to work with.

  The machine looked almost sad now, propped open awkwardly on its front armour. It had opened wider than Xander was used to, allowing for the ejection of its cabin. It was an interesting feature, though Xander wondered how useful it would be against an enemy of the Paladin’s calibre. It seemed like the gauss cannons would make a mockery of even its ancient armour.

  “Fuck, well, guess I’m walking the rest of the way.”

  “I would get a move on. You only have fifteen minutes remember?” Matthias said.

  “What the fuck?” Xander jumped in his skin. The voice was resonating in his mind, just like it had inside the paladin. “How are you doing this? How is the Paladin linked?” Xander had pulled the wetware connection loose as he had clambered out from the wrecked cabin.

  “Oh, no, the Paladin lacks any kind of remote wetware connection. No, I uploaded myself. The human brain is the most efficient computer known, after all, plenty of free space in here.”

  “Get out of my mind, I didn’t want this! I would never want this!”

  “Yes, you did, I told you I was working on it, and you said to do ‘whatever you need to keep us running’. Those were your words. Us. We. Me and you.”

  “You told me you were working on something! Something! Not uploading yourself to my mind! Get back inside the Paladin! Yeah, yeah, go back into the mech.” Xander had never been this frantic. The thought of having something else sharing his mind, it sickened him. It was the worst violation he could imagine.

  “I’m afraid we’re rather past that point now. I’ve set the reactor to hyper-cycle, it should overheat in a few minutes. Will make a nice pretty melted pile of slag, once the gas for the plasma goes up from the heat. I would advise being far away from it. Twelve minutes left on that timer by the way.” Matthias was unfazed on his part. His change in housing didn't seem to be bothering him at all.

  “You're getting out. As soon as we get off this rock, you're gone.” Xander stumbled through the debris. It was no good, once he got out the nearest on-ramp was too far. He could try to sprint for it, but his body was in constant throbbing agony, the results of the ejection.

  “If it’s at all possible. It would require another wetware connection, with a system capable of holding me. I don’t think it likely that your modern units would be capable of that. We might have to find another Paladin, or something similar,” Matthias said.

  “Do you know how rare that machine was? How impossible it is to find another? That's it, I'm fucked, aren't I?” Xander had been moving his quickest, scrambling painfully over the rubble. He had reached the edge of the building, staggering out onto the concrete.

  “You're not totally fucked, yet,” said a voice. It was coming from a mechsuit, a defender that was stood next to the control building. It looked rough, its armour blackened, its head unit slightly crumpled. It was covered in scratches and dings, the remains of close calls from enemy fire. From beneath the scorching was part of an icon, a snake coiling its way through a skull. “Who the hell are you talking to?” Sandhu said.

  “Just the voices in my head,” Xander replied, as he clambered onto the mechanical hand that been extended to him, gripping tightly to its cold metal fingers. “They can be a right fucker sometimes.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  There was an eerie piercing screech as the train came to a halt, brakes protesting their inexpert handling. The train came to a stop at the platform, a sloped concrete construct that ran right to the edge of the climber. A crane was bolted to the surface, ready to unload any cargo containers onto normally waiting trucks, to be whisked off to their designated spot on the strange machine.

  The climber itself was massive, its vast metal surface covered in a warren of structures, airtight buildings designed to shield passengers and cargo as it lifted them into orbit. Connecting the buildings was a network of rails, trams running along each, ferrying things to where they needed to be. It was an impressive sight, the buildings designed for passengers stretching up over the warehouses, their ornate glass construction intended to give people a view of the stars. Powerful floodlights were stood around the climber, sitting atop tall columns, fighting against the great shadows cast by the cables running from the rim to the colossal motor that pulled the climber up the carbon-fibre beanstalk.

  Mikal reached down with his bound hands, stretching for his boot. His captors had zip-tied his wrists together before him, rather than behind, a necessity for him to complete his promise to work the radio. They had all turned to get a good look at the climber as the loader had swivelled around and begun its trundle onto the platform. Mikal had to admit it was impressive, and it was providing the perfect distraction.

  His finger dug around inside his boot, looking for the thin thread sewn into it. Mikal found it, pulling the dark black strand free. He tugged and it unspooled, stretching out until it would go no further. He tucked the end into his mouth, pulling the thread taught. Quickly, and frantically, Mikal began to rub the plastic zip tie against the thread. He kept looking up, checking that his amateur guards were still distracted by the shimmering glass and towering cables. The plastic snapped, carved through by the tough thread.

  Mikal stood, dashing forward in one swift motion. He brought his arm around the neck of the nearest guard, whilst his other hand gripped his captive’s rifle and pulled. The guard spluttered and Mikal squeezed, struggling for breath. Mikal had done this before, much more than he would have liked, and loosened his grip slightly. A dead guard was no good for what he needed.

  “Everyone put yer hands up, or this one gets one of those new lead-based piercings I’ve been ‘earing so much about.” Mikal pressed the barrel of the rifle to the side of the guard’s head. He prodded him with the back of his knee, signalling for his human shield to move forward. “That’s it, nice and easy.”

  “There are more of us than there are you," Sergei said. He held his weapon ready, almost defiantly, summoning courage from somewhere within.

  “Hmm, maybe, but you've got them what's it called? Morals. I will shoot this fella if I have to, no hard feelings though, mate. You corporate lot can be right immoral bellends, but I reckon even you won't shoot your own man. Your lot fucking hate having to do the dirty work.”

  “This isn't going to end well,” Tamara said. She had her hands up but had subtly shifted her shoulder, so the rifle had swung around on its strap, well within her reach. “Besides, I thought that carbon fibre trick was nonsense?”

  “Ah, yeah, a bit of the old misdirection there. What can I sa
y? Got the ‘eart of a performer, me. Figured you would understand that.”

  Tamara ignored the jibe. “There are dozens of Viper Legion infantry outside, what are a handful of pirates going to do?”

  “Me? I’m going to move there,” Mikal said, pulling at his captive. “Towards the radio. Come on mate, nice and sharpish. Frequency I gave you, that still in the system?”

  “Yes.” Tamara edged away from the radio, standing beside Mitch and Trevor. Both men were scowling, though scraggly Trevor looked considerably less threatening than the muscled Mitch.

  “Good, good.” Malik pulled his shield down the short steps towards the front of the loader’s cabin. He turned so his back was to the windscreen, putting the now shaking warehouse worker between himself and the rest of the loader’s occupants.

  “You’re a prick, you know that?” Tamara said.

  “I ‘ave been told on occasion, yes.” Malik reached behind himself quickly, tapping a switch on the dashboard behind him, before returning the rifle to the side of his hostage. “This is Malik, any of you lads ‘ear me?”

  “Aye boss, this is Jergun, me and what’s left of the lads are on the climber, north side. Captain has bought it. Some crazy mech slammed through our lines.”

  “What a happy coincidence. Listen, Jergun, I want you and the lads to find a building, an airtight one, and seal yourselves in. If you see any unknown mechs, give them a wide berth. If you come across any other crews, well, feel free to give them a lead welcome if you can. We’re getting the fuck out of here.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “You hear from the ship at all?”

  “Yeah, it's weird, we got a message saying the berth had locked down, sealing them in, but then the comms got cut. No idea what's going on up there.”

  “Ok, well, we’ll find out. Get to cover. I’ll contact you soon, Mikal out.” As he finished speaking, Mikal released the guard. He tossed the rifle to the ground, raising his hands into the air. “I am sorry, but you lot thought I was dodgy when the radio didn’t work. Wasn’t sure if you would let me ‘ave a second go at it. Figured that fucking tunnel was blocking the signal.”