by James McEwan
Kára was still in mid-air while the Torian had already fought off two attackers. Her staff landed a strong blow right on top of its bony head. The blow had little to no effect. However, Kára’s staff got caught between the Torian’s two horns and with her momentum and body weight Kára forced the Torian to either roll left and be flipped over Kára’s back or have her neck snapped. The Torian went with the force and found herself sailing through the air. She landed on top of the man who Kára had used as a launching pad. He was just getting to his hands and knees when the massive Torian fell on him, crushing the wind out of him. It wasn’t long before the Torian scrambled back to her feet, but the man had enough and quit.
The mock battle continued until just three competitors remained. Kára, Mortlock, and the Torian. The three were circling each other, vying for position. Each one looking for an opening, a mistake, or anything they could exploit. Mortlock grew tired of the game and with his size and strength more than a match to the Torian’s, he made his move. He held his shield up and with a massive primal scream, he charged.
The Torian saw him coming and readied herself for the hit, and when it came she shuddered as their shields bashed together. The crushing force of the blow would have killed a lesser species, but it did nothing more than push the Torian back about a foot, her hoofed feet digging into the dirt floor almost as far.
Mortlock had given it all he had and it just was not enough to bring down the walking cow. She with four arms had used two to brace for the impact and still had the other two free to attack. She swung one of her large fists and it connected with the side of Mortlock’s head. Bells were ringing in his head as he stumbled back a bit punch drunk.
Kára had stood back and watched the two go at it and waited for just the right moment to strike. She could easily have taken out Mortlock while he was stumbling, however that was against her personal code of battle. She believed you must eliminate the most dangerous foe on the battlefield first, and then deal with the lesser threats. So following her code, she went after the Torian, being that she was the biggest threat at the moment. Kára ran forward as fast as she could in the distance she had. The Torian was on the attack while Mortlock was barely holding her off while his head cleared. Her many arms were waving and slashing at Mortlock, so much so that she failed to see Kára coming. Kára went into a slide and like a major league baseball player sliding into home she slid right under the Torian’s arms and right passed her.
At first the Torian didn’t notice Kára at all, however when her personal shield activated she stopped attacking Mortlock and turned to Kára. Kára regained her feet, smiled and winked at the big cow. She didn’t take too kindly to Kára’s actions. She put her head down leveling her horns at Kára and charged. Even though Kára’s move to slid by and activate the Torian’s shield was a bit of a sneaky move, it was not an illegal one. The activation of the shield meant that the Torian was now out of the competition; however, she was far from out of the fight. It was now personal and she was Hell bent on killing Kára. She charged. Just as she was about to skewer Kára, who was standing her ground, a safety officer fired a specialized stunner that was tuned to pass through the shield. The Torian fell flat on her face and slid to a stop, ending up against the toe of Kára’s boot. Shield or no shield the Torian’s horns could have done a ton of damage, if not killed her, so her actions were deemed illegal and she had been stopped.
Kára knew she could have handled the big cow; after all, she had dealt with worse than an angry Torian. However, she was glad she didn’t have to. She rewarded the safety officer with a smile and a wink. He blushed and waved to her. Meanwhile Mortlock used the time to shake off the cobwebs and recompose himself.
Down to the last two, Kára and Mortlock faced off. The two gladiators took stock of each other, looking for any weakness, something to exploit. Kára had grace and speed that he could never hope to match, while Mortlock had strength and size that made him hard to beat. The two stood ready to strike when the ground shook. Kára looked away from Mortlock to look at the ground. Again the ground shook, this time it was more pronounced. Mortlock dropped his guard, “What do you think that was?”
“I’m not sure, but it can’t be good,” Kára replied to his question.
A loud boom echoed and the building shook, causing the lights to flicker. Seconds later a thunderous boom resonated through the building and it shook severely. Parts of the roof paneling started to come down, smashing into the dirt and kicking up dust as they landed.
“Someone’s attacking the city, those are strikes from orbit. Something big is happening,” and with that she dropped her play weapon and tore away the plastic armor. Once it was all on the ground next to her feet she pulled her hair back revealing the sports tape over her ears. She pulled the tape off letting her pointed ears return to their normal position.
“Well I’ll be a…” Mortlock stumbled over his words in shock, “You’re no human.”
“Just figuring that one out now?” Kára asked.
“I had my suspicions, like the way you move and the fact that your strength is far greater than any human female I’ve ever met.”
Their conversation was interrupted by another vicious shaking of the building. This time the lights went out and they were plunged into darkness. Someone screamed and someone else yelled, “The building across the street just blew up.” There were other screams of panic and fear. When the emergency lights came on a second or two later Kára had finished removing the play armor.
She turned back to face Mortlock; “If you want to stay alive, then you’ll want to stay with me.” She used the mental interface on her armor and the belt expanded underneath the clothing that she was wearing. She tore away the shorts and shirt. Her gleaming armor had expanded enough that it looked like she was wearing a one-piece bathing suit of silver engraved overlapping plates. She gave the command to button up and the suit responded by growing outward and upwards as well as down her legs. Each plate of armor seemed to spawn another plate and another until her legs were completely covered in armor. The armor did the same up her chest over her shoulders and down her arms. Out of the back of the armor her helmet unfolded and wrapped around her face.
“My, my… I knew you were Eli by your ears, but to don the armor of The Sisters of Light, well now that is something,” Mortlock said duly impressed.
“How do you know about The Sisters?” Kára asked, this time surprised by Mortlock.
The building shook again and Mortlock dropped his play weapons, “I think this is neither the time nor place to discuss ancient Eli history.” She agreed.
Chapter 22
Admiral Amanda Hays sat handcuffed in the back of an armored car. They had been using the streets in the lower city most likely to avoid getting shot down as she was sure that the upper city skyways were still being fought over. She tried to think about the things going on around her, but as much as she tried her thoughts kept returning to her family. In the short time she had gotten to know her son and granddaughter she couldn’t help but feel close to them. She wondered if Ruby was okay or if Thad and the twins were even alive. Her years of service and experience had taught her that these kinds of thoughts were dangerous, yet she still couldn’t stop herself from having them.
They rolled by areas that had already fallen to the enemy and she stopped looking outside because so many bodies and parts of bodies lined the streets. There were a few military, but the majority were civilian, people who were just going about their daily lives when Hell came a knocking.
Amanda had lost track of time because of all of the twists and turns they were taking. She knew the route wasn’t to confuse her, but rather to avoid the combat that was taking place in the streets of the lower city. After what seemed like forever, the vehicle came to a stop and the back door opened. “Get out,” a voice commanded her. She moved to the edge of the seat when two large, strong, gloved hands took hold of her by the arms and lifted her to her feet. She was led to the door and she steppe
d down out of the vehicle.
She was met by a tall thin man with black hair, who reminded her of Thad. He was dressed in a black uniform that she had never seen before. Over the uniform he wore a dark grey cloak. The hood was down and she happened to notice that he was trying to hide a large scar under his chin that went around his neck. She wondered why in this day and age anyone would live with a scar like that. Microcellular plastic surgery and healing tanks ended any reason to have a scar. The man spoke to her, “Hello mother.”
It clicked in her head just who was addressing her. Subject seven, killed in training by subject six who would later become known as Thaddeus Hammer. One of three children born from her eggs. The files showed that subject six, seven, and eight were all hers. The files also showed that seven was dead and eight made it to operational status and was given the code name Lilian. Her file listed her as missing in action. So of her three children she knew one and never expected to meet any of the others, least of all subject seven. “Subject Seven I presume?”
“Oh I haven’t used that for years. You may refer to me as Grim, or Mr. Grim if you want to keep things formal.”
“Why do they call you Grim? I can’t image it’s because of your sunny disposition,” Amanda said sarcastically.
“Please, this way,” he pointed towards the door. “They call me Grim, because normally if you see my face it’s the last thing you ever see. To most I am the Grim Reaper,” he said as he escorted her into the building.
“Are the cuffs really necessary? After all, they don’t really go with my night robe. Which, by the way, who do I thank for that. Oh, and I really appreciate being drug out of my home in the middle of the night.” Amanda said not hiding her level of annoyance.
“My apologies for the time, however it was necessary to insure your safety as the ground operation had begun.” Grim said as he walked over behind his mother. “I don’t think we need these,” he removed the cuffs. “Please don’t make me regret removing them.”
Amanda rubbed her sore wrists, “Don’t worry I’m not so stupid as to think I can win against a trained killing machine.”
“This way please,” Grim led her deeper into the building.
Archie commanded Ruby to run and then he launched himself at the first LPM-48. He slammed into the combat robot with enough force to tear a human in half; however the large robot only rocked and had to take a step back to keep from falling over. Archie was at least half the size and mass of the larger LPM-48, but this didn’t stop him from giving everything he had to the fight. The LPM-48 was holding a Leland BR-32, a cheap knock off of an Eli Blast Rifle. It worked the same as an Eli rifle, firing an expanding ball of plasma, however it didn’t have the endurance or power of the original. Archie grabbed the rifle and in the struggle between the two robots, the weapon discharged several times. The plasma melted anything it touched. It burned holes in the steel and concrete columns and wasted the front end of a vehicle on the other side of the column. The final blast from the rifle hit the other LPM-48 straight center mass. The blast of superheated plasma burned away its outer armor and all of its sensors. However, for some reason its communication speaker survived. The robot stopped moving and began broadcasting a laundry list of error codes.
The rapid firing of the cheap copy caused the weapon’s heat sinks to become over heated and the weapon melted from the inside out. The LPM-48 twisted the rifle with such force that it sent Archie flying. He landed in a hail of sparks as he slid across the floor of the garage. He slid to a stop, rolled to his front, and pushed himself back to his feet. Archie’s left arm opened and a hidden force blade extended. The soft green glow of the force field ran down the edge of the blade.
The LPM-48 dropped the dead weapon. It lifted his arm and with its hand waved Archie on. Archie attacked in an inhuman blur that not even Thad could match. The two robots locked in melee combat. Every time Archie’s blade struck the other robot’s armor sparks flew as well as chunks of metal. The LPM-48 took the abuse, yet continued to pound on Archie. Just when Archie was getting the upper hand the LPM-48 got hold of the arm with the blade and with both arms in the grasp of the heavier robot, there was nothing Archie could do.
The large bot lifted Archie off the ground by his arms and with a sickening sound of twisting, tearing metal and a shower of sparks and fluid Archie’s arms came off. He landed on the ground. With so many systems damaged, he fell over and lay helpless at the feet of the LPM-48. It stood over him and raised one of its massive feet, “Nice try little bot. Now it is time to end your program,” it said as it brought its foot down smashing Archie’s head.
The other LPM-48 was still calling out error codes and listing damaged systems. The remaining LPM-48 contacted headquarters to report the damaged bot and waited for instructions. The order came back that the other bot was a combat loss and to shut it down. The working LPM-48 walked up to the other bot and said, “Oh shut up!” Then it pulled a magnetic grenade and placed it over the armored core of the bot, knowing that it would destroy the bots brain and render it effectively dead. It activated the grenade and walked away. The explosion made a thudding sound that filled the garage.
Ruby had run as fast her little legs could carry her, but she didn’t get far before she ran straight into a black suited man. He gripped her by the shoulders, “Hello little girl. There are people looking for you,” he said before picking her up and carrying her kicking and screaming back to a waiting military police vehicle. She was whisked away, leaving out the other side of the garage. She never got to see what happened to Archie, which was probably for the best, as it would have broken her little heart to see her friend’s limbs torn off and his head smashed.
Chapter 23
Colonel Grunt was feeling incredibly uneasy as they drove through the abandoned streets. There had been no contact with the enemy save for the dead man who had fired on them. Although they had seen signs of heavy fighting, they had not engaged the enemy since the ambassador’s home. The marine at the wheel spoke softly, “What’s wrong Sir?”
“I don’t know. It’s all too easy. I mean, look at the area. By the looks of it there was heavy fighting here probably not more than thirty minutes ago, so where are they? It just smells like an ambush,” Grunt replied as he scanned the street ahead.
“Want me to take another route Sir?” The marine asked.
“Let me check with the boss,” he dropped the privacy petition and asked over his shoulder, “Sir, I think we’re walking into a trap. Do you want me to divert to another location?”
Connell thought about the question, “I don’t know where else we could go. I fear that the whole damn planet isn’t safe anymore. Look Jim, I trust you with my life. I know you don’t want to throw your life away any more than the lives of your men, so I believe I’ll leave it up to you. If you feel it’s a trap and want to try somewhere else, that’s fine. If you decide to push through, it’s up to you. Either way, I’m going to defer to your experience and judgement.”
“You’re right there really is no safer place to go, and if this is a trap then I’m just itching to show these bastards what a pissed off Terrain Marine can do,” the Colonel replied. He closed the partition and then stuck his head out the window, “Okay listen up Marines. We’re most likely walking into a trap, and if we are then I don’t want any of you throwing your lives away trying to be heroes. Stay sharp and do your jobs. If this is to be our last hour, our last fight, then let’s make it a fight for the history books. Let’s take as many of those sons of bitches with us. OOH RAH!”
“OOH RAH!” the men shouted back.
They arrived at the safe house, which was more of an underground bunker system than a house, but it was the only place they could think of to go for now. As they rolled up to the entryway the Marines on the outside of the vehicle dismounted and took up covering positions before the vehicle had even come to a stop.
This part of the old under city looked like it had seen many years of combat, yet it was untouched by the c
urrent conflict. There were burned out and abandoned buildings, trash, and rubble lining the streets and even some burned out vehicles, long forgotten. This was usually not a safe part of the under city as it was over run by street crime and gangs. However, this didn’t worry the Marines; it was the unknown that worried them.
Colonel Grunt was wise to worry because hiding in the burned out buildings and surrounding remnants of forgotten vehicles were an elite force of Fabians, with several squads in drop ships nearby for support. Their commander, a Captain, stood watching from a building rooftop overlooking the street and their target. “Remember men our orders are not to open fire until the Emperor is inside the building. Once he is clear then you can kill them all.”
“Sir, what about the pregnant girlfriend?” One of the soldiers asked.
“My orders are to see that the Emperor is captured alive and unharmed, nothing else,” he said in his cold native Russian tongue.
Down on the street the vehicle came to a stop and the Colonel was the first to climb out. He took up a position near the rear door and took one last look around. His helmet sensors were still useless with all the electronic jamming noise. Even though his thermals were not directly affected by electronic jamming his display was, so it scrambled the image. They would have to fight with nothing more than their own senses, but for this experienced group of warriors it was not the first time they were forced to fight without electronic help. Still uneasy, Colonel Grunt opened the door and a Marine stepped out followed by Sasha. Connell wanted her to get to safety first, a move that saved her life even though he did not know it yet.
