by J. N. Chaney
“We need some of them or else there would be chaos. Others aren’t such a big deal. I mean, we’re on another planet on the other side of the galaxy. Wright isn’t married. Besides, who’s going to enforce that rule on the Ark’s Director?”
“It’s against protocol, so there must be a reason,” I insisted.
“Sure, but I think stuff like that stopped mattering as much when the First attacked the ship with the Blight.” She shrugged again and stared straight ahead. “I seem to recall you going against Wright when it suited you.”
“That was different. Avery’s life was on the line.”
Tara shook her head. “No, that’s a copout. You made a choice because of a feeling. It was strong enough to overpower your duty to follow orders. When people are motivated enough, they’ll do all sorts of crazy things. Like breaking the rules and letting the ship’s head doctor come down to play field medic during a battle.”
The little chat had gone on too long, so I checked the holo map. “Almost to the coordinates. If we keep this pace, twenty minutes. Right on time.”
She nodded tightly and we lapsed back into silence for the remainder of our trek. The forest stayed quiet enough to make out the creaking branches as they swayed in a gentle breeze and the distant sound of the river where we’d lost a quad. I used a hand signal when the tracker beeped in my ear comm, announcing our arrival.
Almost as soon as we stopped, I got the sense we were being watched and put my hand on my sidearm, just in case. It only took seconds for Riva, flanked by Nami, to show herself.
“Chief Kent.” She gave a brief nod to Tara. “It is good to see you are well, Tara. I am glad you recovered so soon.”
“Thanks.” Tara’s smile was feral, and I thought I saw a flash of teeth. “The First are going to be in for a surprise when they show their faces.”
“Riva,” I said by way of greeting. “Are we ready?”
Even in the darkness I figured anyone could see the glittering excitement in her eyes. “Oh, yes. Your men and my soldiers are in position, as requested. They surround the outpost from covered vantage points. No change in activity within, and I don’t believe they suspect an attack. Tonight we deal a blow to the Mind Thieves.””
“Yes,” I agreed. “We will. Let’s move out.”
I didn’t need to say it twice.
The trees continued to block out most of the night sky, shrouding the forest in darkness that acted as a cloak. I kept checking to make sure Tara wasn’t falling behind. Every time I did, her features were focused, intent on the task ahead. For all her joking and sometimes unprofessional attitude, the former cop always came through when it counted.
The two Volcuri warriors were at least a head taller than me and could have easily passed us. Despite Riva’s eagerness to reach our target, she loped along, keeping pace. When our group reached the bottom of a narrow ravine, Riva pulled up short and motioned for us to stop.
She pointed to the top of the opposite side and spoke in a muted tone. “You’ll be able to see the outpost from the ridgeline.”
I had a rough idea of the surrounding layout from AMI’s scans but still preferred to see it for myself. It took less than thirty seconds to scale the slope and get my first real look at our target. Tara scrambled up beside me and pulled out a slim pair of binoculars. The outpost wasn’t all that far away, but we were in the deepest part of night and she didn’t have enhanced eyes to help her out like I did.
It was different looking at it from the ground, though it wasn’t a problem. I’d memorized AMI’s scans, and it only took me a few seconds to orient myself and match up what I saw with features from the image. The large outcropping of rock made an easy starting point, and I began to reconfirm the plan in my head.
A slight glow lit one corner on the south west side, and I knew there was one Turned guard there. Mentally following the exposed walkway, my eyes fell on the next guard’s position in the opposite corner. Focusing, I could just make out the tip of a spear. I knew from past experience not to be fooled by the out-of-date style the weapon presented. It hid a deadly secret in the form of an unknown energy source. A similar weapon had killed Miguel with hardly any effort.
As for the lower levels that AMI’s scans didn’t reach, we were going off probabilities and doubling that. Overkill? Maybe, maybe not. Somewhere in the outpost was the hidden entrance that would lead to the tunnel system. We knew from the data cube that the one connected to this location ran for just over a kilometer before meeting up with the main network at the base of the mountain.
Two of the camp’s four walls butted up against the sheer rock wall. Under normal circumstances this would have been adequate for keeping intruders out. What Makin hadn’t considered was that part of the forest canopy on either side also reached the wall, and in doing so gave access to the pockets of squat, thick trees with bushy leaves that dotted much of the cliff face.
I happened to know that those of Riva’s people who volunteered to take the elevated positions had been up there since the night before. It took a great deal of will to stay like that for such a long period of time. I both respected and admired the Volcuri for that tenacity. Above all else, they were survivors.
Most of the trees closest to the outer wall had been cut down in an attempt to prevent exactly what we were about to do. One way or the other, I would soon know if my plan had worked.
I motioned to Riva that I was ready and waited for her to join us at the top of the ravine. Nami had disappeared, presumably to get into her own position. On my left, Tara tucked away the binoculars and ducked out of view to ready her rifle. I did the same since a sidearm and machete weren’t much good at this distance.
“Be ready, AMI,” I murmured into the comm.
“My alert will go out the moment Riva makes the call, Kent.” Her voice was steady, and I didn’t detect any of her usual impishness. It was as if she understood the gravity of the situation and adjusted her personality to match.
Riva tensed beside me, and I looked over to find her staring at me, a question in her eyes. I took a second, just one moment, to settle myself. Everything else dropped away except for my objective, and, in an odd way it felt like home. There was the fleeting feeling that everything around me took a breath, the pause pregnant, then I nodded to the rebel leader and faced forward.
Her call to arms ripped through the night’s stillness like the report of a gunshot. AMI’s alert went out to my entire team in almost the same instance, as advertised. Next, everything around me erupted into a cacophony of noise and light.
Streaks of blue light rained down from the Volcuri posted on the cliff face. I caught a glimpse of a warrior hanging from a rope and lobbing what looked like a ball of fire down into the courtyard below. I didn’t see it hit, but the subsequent explosion and miniature mushroom cloud were clear enough.
Two more warriors used the ensuing confusion to descend the cliff face. The crack of weapons firing came from overhead, but they weren’t shooting bullets. This was what I was waiting for. Heavy duty rope uncoiled and flew over the wall to the Volcuri waiting on the other side.
Once the thick cords were anchored in place, members of my team used them like zip lines, riding down to land inside the outpost’s secure walls. By the time they threw down more lines, Tara and I were off running. More humans burst from the treeline and sprinted for the wall.
During my tenure with the Black Shield Corps, I had seen precious few movies except what unedited soldiers happened to watch around us in shared barracks. The media usually ran to inaccurate military action films. Well, mostly inaccurate. Sometimes they did get it right. Like just how badly ops could go.
Even the best laid plans, at least that’s how I thought the saying went.
I was prepared for something, anything to go wrong. It never did. Tara and I covered the people climbing the wall, using non-lethal ammo to take down the Turned guards. That had been Riva’s only requirement. Now that a cure was on the table, she wanted to mitigate
loss of life as much as she could.
The Turned had no idea what hit them.
Caught off guard, they were stunned from the moment of the attack and never recovered. They were no match for the well executed assault and fierce determination we brought to the table. It took less than three minutes for the gate to open. Just like Riva’s reports, more Turned were emerging from parts unknown. This too, we’d planned for.
Riva let out a final battle call, rallying the rest of her warriors that had been waiting out of sight. They charged the open entrance together and met the enemy head on. The two groups clashed, and for a moment it was hard to untangle the image in front of me to know who to help.
My rifle ran dry and rather than swap out the empty magazine, I slung it over my back and drew the pistol at my hip. It had nonlethal ammo too, but if that failed I still had the machete.
It soon became apparent that I wouldn’t have to save my allies. With practiced ease, one rebel soldier swung a club-like weapon and caught his opponent on the head. The Turned guard hit the ground like a felled tree. If the cure worked out, he’d have one hell of a headache, but it was better than being dead.
Something told me that this part of the fight should be for Riva and her people. I used my energy to help secure the surviving guards, then passed them off.
The Volcuri were efficient at taking down the enemy without killing. So efficient that by the time the fighting ended, only three of Makin’s men lay dead. There hadn’t been a single human or rebel casualty. The Volcuri didn’t exactly cheer, but the air was energized rather than solemn, and I didn’t see any stiff or agitated feathers.
Once every prisoner was secured and the outpost irrevocably in our hands, Riva walked over and offered a short bow. “I thank you for this strategy. We now have a foothold, and Makin has sustained a loss.”
“Let’s wait to celebrate until we know how the other team did.”
She fell silent and waited.
“Team B, check in,” I said over the comms.
Mitch’s voice came over the channel. “All clear, Chief. It went just how you said it would. Team B is in possession of the secondary location. We’re securing the last of the prisoners. Only lost one on their side. None for us. No tunnel entrance yet though.”
“Keep looking. Let me know when you find it. We’ll determine the best plan of attack then.”
“Copy that.”
The transmission ended, leaving me to repeat the short report to Riva and Tara. “We’re just waiting on confirmation regarding the tunnel entrance. It might be sealed off for all we know. Ours too, for that matter.”
Riva looked around the interior of the small encampment. Some of it was still smoking, but for the most part it was in one piece. “I hope that is not the case. You’ve seen some of the available technology. The First have even more that we don’t know about. The entrance is likely just well-hidden.”
Taking it all in, I couldn’t stop the tiny glimmer of pride at what had been accomplished so far. We’d done it. “I guess it’s time to go find ourselves a secret doorway.”
Tara tried and failed to hide her excitement. “Hell, yes. I thought you’d never ask.”
We found the entrance on the lower level of the outpost. Whoever created the tunnel system—that was still up for debate—had built it into the western-most portion of the cliff. As Riva had guessed, it was tucked away in an innocent looking room that at first glance only held food stores. Once we moved the neatly stacked items out of the way, the door had been obvious.
Since it stayed hidden throughout our staged coup, it was reasonable to assume no one had come through it. No doubt the previous attempts by Riva’s predecessors had been met with a reactionary force from within the mountain at the first sign of trouble. I was willing to bet the guards had some way to alert for help; we just hadn’t given them a chance to use it this time.
Mitch and his team found their entrance as well, though instead of being built into a rock face it was located in a cellar that led underground.
I conferred with Riva and Tara about our next move. Director Wright had given me the go ahead to take point on the planning again and make all decisions on the ground, within reason.
“All right, I told them when we had a private moment. “It’s time to plan one final attack. Once we do that, the mountain will be ours.”
13
A runner arrived with an update from Skan. Given the recent trust issues, Riva understandably didn’t want them being transmitted via any means other than word of mouth. More of the data cache had been decrypted and gave info about how to penetrate the mountain.
Without the new data, we might have lost time trying to get the door open and alerted Makin at the same time. Some of the data hinted at an underground chamber, but the specifics weren’t clear. I didn’t care about that kind of information anyway. Makin and his soldiers were higher up, and that’s where my focus was.
The interior of the outpost wasn’t nearly as modern as the Elders’ underground compound, but it still had some tech. We didn’t try to access it to keep Makin in the dark as much as possible. One of Riva’s scientists was tasked with monitoring the network for any changes on the off chance that the Turned could use it to spy on us.
Besides the supply room that housed the tunnel entrance, there was a communal area that functioned as a barracks and general living space, a comms room, and a small chamber with a table that Riva said was what passed for an office or formal conference room. I supposed the whole setup wasn’t that far off from something that might be found on Earth.
When it came to staffing our new stronghold, we realized it would hold more than a dozen people comfortably. Uncomfortably, we could double that number. Fortunately, that wasn’t going to be an issue for long.
I planned to hit the mountain before the day was over.
“This will be our big push to take Makin out,” I said to Director Wright’s holo image.
Riva and I were in the small conference area working on next steps, but I needed to brief the director before making any big decisions. This op would either fail or succeed, and no matter what happened, the outcome would play a role in whether we survived to face the First. As the colony’s Chief Mission Ward, the security aspects fell to me. Still, the Director had to be consulted on something so major.
“First of all, congratulations on pulling off that operation,” he began. “When it comes to your new phase, I have some reservations about you making an attempt on the mountain.”
I started to voice my disagreement, but he held up a hand to stop me and I fell silent, waiting.
“He knows you’re there by now,” Wright continued. “Since you don’t have the element of surprise, he’ll be waiting. However, I’ll be the first to admit that this is not my area of expertise, so I’ll leave the decision making on the ground in your hands.”
“Thank you, sir.” I thought I should say more, but nothing else came to mind.
The Director nodded at Riva and I, then signed off. I turned to face the rebel leader and found her lost in thought.
“Are you ready to plan the assault?”
She startled a little, then shook it off. “Yes, of course. I was just trying to imagine what our world will look like without fear in it.”
I tilted my head, considering. “There is always fear. It’s the what that changes. But I think I understand. You’ve never been free before.”
Her feathers flicked up once before settling again. “There is much I don’t know about you, Chief Mission Ward Kent. And yet, now I believe there is more to you than meets the eye. I will not press for an explanation, but you understand what it is not to be free. I can see the scars.”
The words didn’t make me flinch, but I didn’t like how introspective she was getting. “If we’re going to be successful, I suggest using a diversion.”
Riva didn’t comment on the deliberate change of subject and just rolled with it. “A way to distract him… that should be easy.
If we send a large force to attack a different area, it should get his attention.”
“At the very least, the bulk of his forces will be concentrated on the point we choose. I have a location in mind. AMI, please bring up the mountain.”
One of the items I’d brought down with us was a portable holo emitter. AMI could interface with it just like my wrist unit and display whatever I wanted. It came to life with a bright glow as the projected image began to build itself. The process took less than thirty seconds, then we were looking at a 3D rendering of the mountain that AMI had built using a mish mash of her scan and footage from drones.
“This is extraordinary,” Riva commented.
I glanced over and saw her studying the holo with awe. “It is convenient,” I agreed.
“Our people once had such things. What you saw in our hideout and the Elders’ compound are all that remain. I’m afraid many of the past technological advancements are lost to time forever. Unless Makin has some of those secrets locked away in the mountain forever. He’s stolen too much of our heritage.” She bit the last sentence out, and her feathers twitched again.
“I’m guessing he’s hiding more than lost heritage,” I commented. “It’s part of why I want in there so bad.”
Riva studied the mountain, then looked back at me. “You think he has technology from the Mind Thieves.”
“You said the water shaping weapon wasn’t Volcuri made,” I recalled. “It’s either the First’s or else they stole the tech from more of their victims. In any case, it isn’t from here and there has to be more. Turning their own weapons against them will be something the First won’t see coming. I hope. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We have to wrest the mountain from Makin before anything else.”
“You are correct, Chief Kent. If I may?”
I motioned for her to interact with the holo. “You can ask AMI to show something specific or manipulate the image yourself.”
Rather than attempt the latter with her clawed hands, Riva chose voice commands. “AMI? Could you please show us the entrance that is protected by the gate.”
