by David Ryker
We were headed for what had once been their global capital, but now was nothing but burnt-out lumps in the earth. The whole planet was dead — save for the Free forces that had amassed around what Rhona described as a series of ‘subterranean structures that likely survived the solar storm.’ The cosmic radiation blasting the planet through the unstable atmosphere had obliterated all life, even at a bacterial level, but that hadn’t stopped the Free cockroaches from swarming over what was left.
We sat in the cockpit during the first pass as Rhona came in from the other side of the planet and kept us in the clouds. The engines choked on the smog but Rhona knew where the limits were and how to ride them.
She flicked over to the sonic feeds and we all marveled at the capabilities of the ship. The windscreen flooded with indigo and little white flecks whizzed by like we were hammering through a starfield, but in reality, they were chunks of ash spewing out of the scorched planet. But it wasn’t the sonar-powered display ahead that had us marveling. The entire floor of the cockpit had also lit up. It’d seemed like nothing more than a solid floor, but apparently, it doubled as a screen that provided a feed displaying what was under the ship, too.
We came up on the capital seeing nothing but a dull topographical map of the ground below. The rapid pulsing white waves that rolled across the surface outlined everything as we sailed over it — dead husks of buildings and crashed ships. The last remnants of what the planet used to be.
As the shapes below started to widen and grow in number, we all grew quiet and tense.
Rhona kept us on our heading and honed in on where her scans told us they’d landed. A few of their ships — Tilt-wings and dropships — were planted on a plateau. A river of flowing lava split around it, blasting off geysers of steam and smoke that rose and twisted into the air before joining the ocean of acrid smoke above.
Swarms of troops and mech milled around in masks and armor ferrying crates back and forth to the ships, patrolling around a cave opening at the top of the plateau, cut into the side of a mountain. We roared overhead, the sound of our engines lost in the cries of the planet.
We tried madly to count their numbers but they were there one second and gone the next. Rhona only gave a quick glance over her shoulder, barely even looking, but as we peeled off to the west and pulled up over the cloud blanket, taking us back around for the drop, she smirked. “You can take them. Thirty on the ground, ten F-Series, two HAMs. Nothing they can scramble in time. The fleet’s about six hundred clicks out — should be a few minutes before they get down there. That’s enough time, right?” She turned to look at each of us, clad in our ops gear.
We all weighed it up and answered with a unified yes, despite not knowing if it would be. The question of what was waiting inside was another thing altogether. They were rushing, scrambling to get whatever was inside out. We were going to need to hit them fast and hit them hard, and hope to hell that Rhona could deliver on her promise.
“Ok,” she said, “suit up. You’re dropping in nine seconds. Wait for my signal, then hit them. You got that?”
We all nodded and headed off toward the hold. A fog of unease had settled over us. The odds were overwhelming and despite the upgraded mech and the tech that was years beyond what we were used to, it was still going to be a longshot.
I climbed Greg numbly and slotted down into the pilot’s seat without thinking about what I was doing. I reached under my seat and pulled out the helmet there, pushing it down onto my head. It squeezed at my ears and sucked itself against the headrest, holding me in place. I could feel my heart beating slow and steady in my chest, the nanites still doing their work in my system. I was latching the harness and pushing my hands into the gloves on autopilot. Where my old F-Series’ were heavy and metallic, these felt light and responsive. I flexed my fingers and moved them in circles, feeling Greg’s mirror them.
“How are you feeling, James?” he asked softly, his voice clean and quiet in my ears.
“I’m fine,” I said, exhaling slowly.
“Your vitals appear to be holding steady.”
“That’s good to know.”
“It is likely because of the nanites. They’re suppressing your adrenal glands.”
“That’s good, I guess?”
“It is. Adrenal surges can cause abnormal and hasty thought processes.”
“Oh? That explains some things.”
“Very few pilots survive for an extended period of time. I would be sorry to lose you, and I felt that we are being pushed beyond the requirements of the majority of the pilots that have similar experience levels to you.”
“English?” I sighed.
“The types of engagements we’ve been facing have been very demanding, and Glaavus and I talked at great length, and though impressed by your skills, we felt that you could benefit from a slight boost.”
“Thanks, I guess?” I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. If AIs could show affection, I guess it would have been like this.
“I hope that I did not cross any boundaries.”
I laughed. “Oh yeah, you did — but you know…” I flexed my fists, feeling them strong. “I’m sort of glad. This whole thing is going to be a shit-show, and I’m glad that you’ve got my back through it. How’s your new skin feel?”
“Our combat capabilities have greatly increased. We will be much more effective during engagements.”
“We’d better be.”
Rhona’s voice punctuated the silence in the cockpit, smooth and assertive. “We’re a hundred clicks out. Opening rear doors. Wait for my signal, I’m dropping you outside their perimeter. Stay quiet and don’t engage until you have my confirmation that I’m onboard the station. Copy?”
“Copy,” we all answered, everyone’s voices ringing in the ether.
“Alright then — we’re coming over the DZ now. And, remember — your rigs will protect you from the environment out there, but don’t get caught outside. The atmospheric makeup used to be stable, but now…” She was silent for a second. “Just keep your hatches closed.” Her voice died in the air and the rear doors started to open. They whined at first, and then the roaring wind swirled into the hold, filling it with ash and smoke.
Greg swayed as the Raptor sank low under the clouds, the sounds of belching lava bubbles echoing across the destroyed crust of Aerra. The air was hazed and hot and the temperature reading on Greg’s screen soared to a hundred and nineteen degrees.
I heard the fans kick up somewhere below my feet as the filtration system kicked in and then a flood of cold air rose up between my knees.
I turned around and stared out over the scorched surface. “This is it,” I mumbled, pushing my toes into the pedals.
Rhona brought us in low between two sides of a canyon that, in another life, would have seen a river flowing through it. Now, it was dry and dark.
It swallowed us up as Rhona dived below the surface and pulled the nose up. The jets washed over the black stones and soot swirled off them, engulfing the ship.
I started forward, moving quickly, and stepped off the ramp and down into the gloom of the crevasse.
Three thuds told me that the others were out of the ship too, and then Rhona was peeling away.
She accelerated hard down the canyon floor and then pulled into a vertical climb, trailing blue jetwash. The clouds swallowed her up, and then we were alone on Aerra.
The guys huddled into a loose circle.
“So…” Mac’s voice was flat and unimpressed.
“So?” I replied.
“What else do you want me to say, Red?” He scoffed a little. “This whole thing is fucked.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“Well, if you haven’t noticed, we’re on an uninhabitable planet, and over that hill there,” he said, flicking his huge wrist toward the eastern rise, “is a small army of very pissed-off Free rebels. Oh, and that’s if we even get to face them.”
“Mac — can it.” Alice’s voice was hard. “
This isn’t helping.”
But he didn’t. “Because if that mechanical fucking bitch up there doesn’t manage to infiltrate that station — and that’s if that’s what she’s even trying to do!”
“Mac!”
“No, Alice — this has been hanging in the air for too long and someone needs to say it. We’ve got maybe one shot at getting out of this alive, and it’s not by going toe to toe with the fucking Free! On Aelock, Glaavus as good as said he was going to pop us in the back of the fucking skull if we didn’t agree to go on this suicide mission.” He drew a hard breath. “And while we were on that ship with that fucking machine, sent to babysit us, as assurance,” he laughed. “Assurance. In case we got cold feet on the way here, Glaavus would have someone on hand to follow through with, you know, the skull-popping.”
“Mac,” Alice said, though with a little less steel in her voice.
“This is going to go one of a few ways. If Rhona doesn’t manage to follow through with her plan, then she’s going to get killed, or worse, captured. And hell, if they think she hasn’t come alone — which would be even more ridiculous than trying to do this with just five of us — and the Free get tipped off that we’re here, then we’ll all get crushed under the force of that destroyer, which will turn its guns on us and wipe us off the face of this fucking planet.”
“This isn’t helping—”
“And if she just gets killed, and we don’t know it, and we wait and wait and wait down here, and the Free finish their clean-up, and then they get off this planet… Well, that just leaves us here, stranded and absolutely fucked.”
Alice didn’t respond this time. I didn’t either. It hadn’t crossed my mind.
“So let’s think about this, shall we?” Mac started pacing. He was anxious. That much was clear. “If we wait for her confirmation — if it comes at all — then that might already be too late. But, what if we break over that hill right now, charge in there as fast as we can, blitz them with everything we have, get aboard one of those ships, and get the fuck off this planet before they even know what happened?”
“And then what, Mac?” Alice didn’t sound as assured as I’d hoped.
“And then we get back to the Federation — to the people we swore our allegiance to, dedicated our lives to, were willing to give our lives for—”
“Maybe you,” I muttered.
“What was that?” he snarled.
“Maybe that was you — enrolled at a fucking academy and joined up with stars in your eyes under a fluttering goddamn flag — but not me. I was dragged into this by the scruff of my neck.”
“Everyone has different—”
“No, I mean literally dragged. A dropship swooped down from outer space, nearly fried me in its wake — and then when I managed to claw my way back to my settlement I was grabbed by the arms and frogmarched into that very same dropship and fired into goddamn orbit!” I was shouting now, despite not meaning to. “And after that, it’s just been one suicide mission after another, fighting wars that aren't mine. And now, finally, when we’ve got a chance to do something that matters — that actually helps people — you want to turn tail and run?”
“With my life, yeah. You can’t think this is going to work? You can’t seriously be so deluded to think that metal bitch up there is going to somehow manage to get herself onboard one of those—”
Mac was cut off as Rhona’s voice sliced the air. “I’m in,” she said plainly.
I smirked at his sudden silence and proffered my hand. “After you, Mac.”
15
Mac was sullen, but he fell into formation and trudged up the hill after us. I just wasn’t sure, when the bullets started flying, whether he was going to stand his ground or bolt for one of their ships. Our mandate was to destroy them. Anything with one of those devices needed to be blown apart, whether Mac was onboard or not. If one of them got away, then they could replicate the tech, make more, and it also meant the Federation might catch up with them. But, if Mac delivered one straight back to the Federation himself…
We were all contemplating it — thinking about the obvious. Even if we managed to wipe out the army waiting for us, what was to stop Rhona from just leaving us there? She could take off back to Aelock, let us all die, and tie up the loose ends, cover Aelock’s involvement in it, start to finish. That was a creeping thought in all our minds. I knew it was because it was obvious, and no one was saying it.
“You trust these guys, right, Greg?” I asked, an unmistakable quiver in my voice.
“Glaavus?”
“Yeah.”
“He is my kin — and I do not think he would lie to me.”
“And you wouldn’t either, would you?” My voice was tinny now as the words passed my lips.
“No, James, I would not lie to you.”
“Good,” I sighed. “That’s good.”
“Cut the chatter,” Alice said, though none of us were talking. “We’re coming up on them from the south, but we still need to get to the plateau, across the river.”
“Is it still called a river even when it’s molten fucking lava?” Mac asked obtusely.
“I said no chatter.”
He snorted.
“Mac, Fish, you circle round, flank them and come in from the east. Lay down a barrage of fire, draw their attention and we’ll hit them from behind. Pincer move.”
“Original.”
“Shut the fuck up, Mac,” I growled. “If you don’t like it then sit back and keep quiet. If you’re doing it, then fall in line, if not then why not just fuck off.”
“Oh, someone’s grown some stones all of a sudden,” he laughed.
I turned, knowing he was behind me, and before he could react, I shoved his rig square in the chest. He staggered backward a few steps and then tried to slug me. His fist closed and I saw it come, the nanites doing their work.
I pulled back and watched as it sailed in front of me, sluggish and heavy-handed. His footsteps clanked and churned on the fragile burnt stone and I kicked a chunk of it out from under his heel.
He slipped, his legs splaying, and went down to a knee before he could stop himself.
All the loose stone on the slope out of the canyon started to crumble and fall around us and Alice and Fish started scrambling not to get caught up in the scree.
Greg dug his heels in and my hand closed around Mac’s cam-dome and locked on, keeping him down. He could struggle all he wanted but I had him by the balls, or as good as. If he moved, then he’d break his own dome, and without it, he’d be blind, and on this planet, popping his hatch would be as good as putting the muzzle of his Arcram between his teeth.
“Stop!” Alice yelled, twisting down onto her hip and sliding past us. Fish deployed the blades from the wrists of his enhanced Panther and sank them into the ground, holding himself against the tumbling stone.
I reached out and grabbed hold of her hand with my free one and she stopped, the rocks burying her feet and shins.
She kicked backward to try and get up and I could hear her grunting in my ear. Mac was silent, on his hands and knees, knowing one twitch would seal his fate.
I heaved Alice out, careful not to accidentally crush Mac’s dome in my grip. This new rig felt a lot stronger than the old F-Series I’d been stumbling around in. Who knows how differently things would have gone on Telmareen or Notia if I’d had this instead of that relic.
Alice righted herself and started pointing fingers. “You two need to rein this the fuck in. Mac, you’re blowing hot air but you’d have done something about it by now if you weren’t actually going to go through with this. And Red, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but we need to focus on what’s over that hill, not on fighting each other. Alright? So, get your heads out of your asses and…”
She trailed off as the ground started to rumble, the smaller pebbles on the slope shaking and rolling down. I could hear Fish grumbling in my ear and saw a flash in my peripheral as he blinked out of view, engaging his cloaking tech.
I watched as holes appeared in the slope, one after another as he ran upwards and crested the hill, no more than a shimmer in the smoky air.
I released Mac and proffered my hand, all of us knowing that the growing roar was engine-noise. He took my grasp and got to his feet. I could feel us all sinking as the ground shuddered.
“Up, now,” I called, turning into the slope and stomping my way up. No one disagreed and we all scrambled forward.
Alice kicked into her thrusters and took off, the force of her jets blasting the ground next to us.
I staggered and dropped into the crater left by it, watching as Mac continued the climb, gaining a meter for every one I sank back.
The roar of jets was near-deafening now, the tingle on my skin and the hairs standing up on the back of my neck sickeningly familiar. A dropship’s repulsors. Whether this suit was advanced or not, I didn’t think it’d stand up to that kind of punishment.
“Greg — sitrep!” I twisted my legs and kicked into the thrusters, boosting myself out of the hole I was in. “Where’s this thing coming from? How long do we have?”
“It’s coming in from the southeast, less than five kilometers out. We have less than fifteen seconds.”
“Open this thing up, show me what it’s got!” I planted my toes and felt the burn of the thrusters go into overdrive, launching me upward.
The guys were over the ridge and making for cover by the time I even got back on the slope, the dropship gaining on me with every second. Images of Genesis, of choking and dying in that suit, flooded my mind and tied my hands. I was frozen for a second, paralyzed with dread, but then, suddenly the nanites sank their claws into my brain and scraped out all the nerves.
My feet started moving, my mind churning and picking up speed like a spooling engine.
I could sense the dropship coming up on my flank, low to the earth. It had to be for the repulsors to work.