by M. D. Cooper
Rika said, spotting a ladder shaft.
She leapt up the ladder shaft to the top deck and turned to the right, spotting the entrance to the corvette’s small bridge. A few seconds later, she was inside, pulling the door shut and slamming the manual lock into place.
A woman was sitting in the pilot’s seat, and she twisted to look at Rika.
“Who the fu—” was all the pilot managed to get out before Rika aimed the scattershot at her.
“We’re leaving. Now.”
“We can’t.”
“Think real hard about that,” Rika said. “Are you sure?”
Niki said.
Rika nodded, moving forward, when motion outside caught her attention. Something large passed in front of the bay’s entrance, shrouding the nose of the corvette in shadow.
“What the—?” Rika muttered.
Then the forward half of the docking bay collapsed.
A DROP AND A CLIMB
STELLAR DATE: 05.07.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Mount Genevia, Belgium
REGION: Genevia System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
“Shit,” Rika muttered as she pulled herself through the corvette’s ruined cockpit. “Well, there goes that way out.”
Twenty meters from where she stood, the underground docking bay ended. What had once been an exit leading to a clean getaway was now a pile of rock and twisted steel.
Niki said.
“Think so? I guess…who else would be shooting at the mountain,” Rika wondered as she reached back into the cockpit and lifted out her scattershot, noting that the pilot still seemed to be alive—despite the fact that a piece of steel was sticking out of her pelvis.
Niki said.
Rika didn’t need to hear it twice. She ran along the top of the corvette, mentally tallying the number of soldiers and engineers that may still be alive.
she asked Niki.
She reached the rear starboard side of the ship, across from where the cargo hold lay, and dropped down to the ground. She crept around the cradle struts to see three soldiers carrying two of their comrades clear of the ship.
“Sorry, guys,” Rika said as she rushed toward them, rapid-firing her scattershot and bowling them over.
One of the Orion soldiers lifted a rifle, but she slammed a foot down on his wrist, clenching until she felt it snap.
A scream came from his throat, and she kicked him in the head, spinning to fire the scattershot at another enemy who was struggling to rise. A few meters away, one of the wounded soldiers rolled over, groaning as she reached for a nearby rifle.
Rika was still bringing her own weapon to bear when a section of roof broke free and fell on the woman, crushing her to a pulp.
“Shit!” Rika exclaimed as stones began to pour down all around her. She dropped the scattershot and scooped up one of the rifles as she ran as fast as her injured leg would take her.
Rocks rained down all around her, a house-sized slab coming down a meter to her left at one point. Then she was through the doors at the end of the bay, racing down the tunnel as dust and thunder followed after.
Half a kilometer later, Niki called out.
Rika looked back and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw a hundred meters of intact tunnel before it was blocked by rubble.
“Damn…and here I was getting all happy to be on a planet again.”
“Dammit,” Rika muttered. “Where’s the closest lift?”
Niki highlighted a location twenty meters into the rubble that filled the passage.
“Well, that sucks. Stairs?”
“Yay, my favorite pastime.”
BATTLE FOR GENEVIA
STELLAR DATE: 05.07.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Fury Lance, Capeton Command, Capeton
REGION: Genevia System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
Heather paced back and forth in front of the holotank, periodically glancing at Barne, who was staring intently at the display, muttering to himself as reports from Capeton Command reached the Lance.
“First strike confirmations!” Chief Garth called out. “The Nostroma and Asora have hit their targets in the outer system!”
“Just those two?” Heather asked, knowing it would take more attacks before the Nietzschean fleet would begin to disperse.
Right then, there were over a thousand enemy ships converging on Capeton. If some of those vessels didn’t get pulled away to other targets, she was going to need to signal Admiral Carson to make the jump prematurely.
“Not that it’s the end of the galaxy,” she muttered. “Just going to make this battle take a hell of a lot longer.”
“What’s that?” Barne asked.
“Nothing, just bitching about how long this is taking.”
Piper said.
“And?” Heather demanded, glancing at Ona, who was selecting priority targets on the inbound ships.
The battle around the Lance was in a brief lull, the ship’s beams having already taken out a group of nine destroyers that had moved in to intercept as Silva’s team dropped on Capeton Command.
Piper added.
“Will the Nietzschean ships even take it?” Barne asked. “I mean, CC’s under attack, and it’s sending out fresh updates.”
Piper replied.
Heather wasn’t so sure. She had to believe that many Nietzschean captains would think twice about accepting data from a compromised Capeton Command.
Several long minutes passed, Nietzschean ships tagging the Fury Lance with ranging shots, while Heather directed Ona to wait until the enemies were closer.
Piper announced, displaying uncharacteristic excitement.
Heather saw a group of destroyers escorting a pair of cruisers become highlighted on the main holotank. The ships were boosting toward Belgium in pursuit of the Undaunted, which was still braking after dropping Chase’s team.
“When will they blow?” Barne asked impatiently.
Piper replied.
“It makes sense,” Heather said, nodding in agreement, even though she wished the wait wasn’t necessary.
She forced herself to relax, knowing that most of her anxiety came from not knowing if Rika was safe.
Nothing I can do about that. The mechs on the ground’ll do their job, and we’ll do ours up here, she thought as she came to a standstill in front of the holotank.
She took some
measure of comfort in the fact that, although hundreds of ships were moving on dozens of vectors around Capeton—some toward Capeton Command, and others toward Belgium—the majority of the Nietzschean warships in the Genevia System hadn’t yet moved from their prior vectors.
Still tens of thousands of ships out there…. Just gotta wait for them to get primed.
“Orders just went out for a formation to go after Vargo. They’re saying weird things about him…some sort of cat insanity,” Garth announced with a frown. “And there goes another, after the Capital.”
On the holotank, Heather watched as the markers for the ships in question changed from red to green, an indication that they’d taken the update.
“Oh hell yeah,” Barne said, a grin forming on his lips. “Push those engines, you fuckin’ bastards.”
One by one, more indicators on the holotank flipped from red to green, until over half the ships within a light minute of Capeton had taken the update.
“Shit,” Heather muttered. “Not the best ratio.”
“Better than nothing,” Barne said.
Heather nodded silently as they watched the clock tick down from the ten-minute limit on the NSAIs. Heather held her breath as it finally reached zero.
“C’mon,” she whispered, watching the ships that were boosting toward Capeton Command. “Blow, you fuckers, blow.”
Piper advised.
The AI stop speaking as four ships were flagged as destroyed. Heather flipped the main holodisplay to an optical view and saw that three of the ships were twisted wrecks, while the fourth appeared to have suffered a smaller explosion in one of its engines. It was offline, and the ship was drifting.
“Holy shit, it worked!” Barne cried out. “I was really starting to think this was just a stupid boondoggle.”
“You’re such a peach, Barne,” Heather muttered. “Do you really think Piper would have pushed for this plan if he didn’t think that Jeremy’s sabotage would work?”
Piper admitted.
“What?” Heather exclaimed. “You said you were certain.”
More ships began to experience engine failures. Some suffered crippling explosions, while others only had minor failures that disabled their engines, but didn’t further damage the ships.
As the wave of dying Nietzschean ships rippled out from around Capeton, Heather decided that there was no reason to wait any longer. She activated the QuanComm blade and sent a single word.
[Come.]
Without waiting for a response, Heather turned toward Ona. “OK, bring us in close to Capeton Command. Time to pick up our people and smash some starships.”
RIKA CONQUEROR
STELLAR DATE: 05.07.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Casa Mons, Mount Genevia, Belgium
REGION: Genevia System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
Rika crept down the passage as quietly as she could.
Her left knee creaked softly with each step, and the electron emitter on the remains of her GNR gave off a few sporadic sparks before shutting down. Her armor was battered and scorched, but she was still better off than the dozens of Niets she’d carved her way through to get to the top of Casa Mons.
she asked Niki for what had to be the tenth time.
Rika stifled a laugh.
As if to punctuate her statement, the mountain shuddered, and a light fixture came down behind her.
Niki informed her.
Rika asked.
Rika nodded as she finally came to the end of the corridor. The map they’d pulled of the level indicated that beyond lay the western viewing room. They’d checked all the others on this level and found them to be vacant.
If the emperor wasn’t within, Rika would have to admit that he’d made it out somehow. Either that, or Casa Mons contained secret passages.
Which I suppose isn’t really that far-fetched.
She sidled up to the door at the end of the hall and released the last of her nanocloud, letting it filter into the room. Once she got a clear visual, Rika bit her lip in anticipation as she spotted the emperor sitting in a chair near the window, looking out over the battle below. And then she saw the dozen guards standing on the perimeter of the room.
she asked, amazed at the man’s aplomb.
Rika considered the best way to take out the twelve guards in the room. Her stealth capabilities were completely nonexistent, and she only had two Nietzschean rifles, one held in her left hand, while the other was slung across her back.
The most lethal mode they possessed was a mid-velocity rail shot, though the weapon in her hand had a magazine of high-explosive rounds as well.
Rika said to Niki.
Niki sighed.
Rika almost laughed.
She set her rifle against her shoulder and took aim, while reaching up with her right foot and placing it gently on the door handle. A long, slow breath escaped her lips, and then Rika pulled the door wide and fired.
Nine rounds leapt out from her rifle. The first blew a hole in the side of the chair, exposing the emperor’s side. The next hit his torso, blowing away the man’s stomach. Each successive round walked up Constantine’s body until the last round hit his head, spraying blood and brains across the window.
I did it!
A feeling of raw elation swept over Rika, but quickly disappeared when the strangest thing happened.
Nothing. None of the guards moved.
Instead, the sound of slow clapping reached her ears.
Rika’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head to see Garza step out from behind one of the Nietzschean guards.
She swung her rifle toward the Orion general, but halfway there, it hit something and stopped.
A disembodied voice next to her said, “Drop it.”
A second later, six of Garza’s guards materialized around her.
Niki muttered.
Garza gestured for his soldiers to bring Rika into the room, inclining his head in respect as she approached.
“I have to admit, Rika. You’re no slouch…. You probably hold an all-time record for killing the most Nietzscheans—though you didn’t get their emperor. He’s evaded you, it seems.”
She scowled at Garza as his troops pushed her forward. “What are you talking about?” She gestured toward the ruined body in the equally ruined chair. “He looks pretty damn un-evade-y, there.”
“He was already dead when you shot him,” Garza said. “I killed him less than a minute before you arrived. Well, I killed what was left. H
is brain was already dead.”
“So he was dead twice and now he’s dead thrice?” Rika asked. “I can live with that.”
The general snorted. “Yeah, I suppose so. But we both know that wasn’t him. He’d already moved on.”
Rika said privately.
“Why?” Rika asked the Orion general. “Did the emperor clone himself?”
“Sorta,” Garza said with a nod. “Though he believes there ‘can be only one’, so he killed his initial self.”
Rika shook her head in disbelief. “What’s the point in that?”
A smile broke out across Garza’s face—not his usual smug grin, but a look of legitimate, pure amusement.
“I tricked him,” the general said. “I needed to bring him to heel, so I told him that I’d infested his body with nano that his level of technology wouldn’t be able to detect. Then I told him that if he didn’t follow my orders, I’d kill him within the year.”
“But it was a lie?” Rika asked.
Niki said.
The AI laughed.
Rika replied.
As she spoke with Niki, Garza replied.
“Yes. A very, very effective lie. Since I told him that he’d never be able to detect my nano, the inability of his own medical teams to find it only bolstered his belief that I really had infested his body. He was a prisoner of his own mind. All I had to do was make a single suggestion.”
“Wow,” Rika laughed. “I still think you’re a raging asshole, Garza, but I have to admit, I’m impressed. I’m going to give you a chance to die cleanly, as your reward for messing with Constantine so much.”
The general snorted. “You’re so magnanimous.”