by Jan Domagala
“Do you want any of us to go talk to this Tanya Wilde and see what this is all about sir?” asked Jake.
“Oh God no, there would be absolutely no point in that. No, she has made her intentions quite plain in her statement. I can only deduce that she is working for OMEGA now and they are pulling her strings, so to speak,” Sinclair said resolutely.
“So you’re sure that OMEGA is behind all this then sir?” Kurt said.
“I’m afraid so, there can be no doubt now. We were never sure that Jonas died in the explosion that destroyed the top of MaxCorp HQ. It seems obvious to me now that since all the attacks by the clones he dubbed Rover5’s and the resurrection of Miss Wilde. We can be sure that he is in control and is planning something truly diabolical.”
“You make him sound like a villain from one of those old spy movies,” Kurt observed with a slight smile.
“Make no bones about it Kurt, that man is a deranged individual, a sociopath who is incapable of taking the blame for any of his actions. He blames Col Sec for everything bad in his life, whether they are real or perceived and me in particular. He is smart, resourceful and determined and capable of almost anything to get what he wants. When you couple that with the financial resources he has at his fingertips then he is possibly the most dangerous man alive today. We tried to curb his finances, take away his resources by issuing a statement that held him accountable for the atrocities recently but it seems he has found a way around that particular strategy. Now he has the full backing of MaxCorp once more and there is no telling what he will do with it.”
Kurt looked around at all the other faces and they shared the same expression. They were all aware of what this person was capable of, Matt more than any of them. It seemed that there were only two people in the room who were not and it was Zara and himself. He was getting a feel for what they were up against more now after Sinclair had explained it fully and he felt the same as they did. This whole situation was dire and they were very much on the defensive. They were relegated to the role of counter puncher, they could only react to whatever was thrown at them. They could not take an offensive posture because they had no target to aim at. All they could do was wait for what was to come and react against it and hope they had a defence against it.
“I see, I’m sorry sir, I didn’t know,” Kurt said.
“No need Kurt, you were not here when it happened so you could not have known.”
“I attended the memorial though, after it was over, I was on Celeron when the attack took place.”
Matt looked at him and said, “I saw you.”
“I know, I felt guilty about not being here when it went down but I was facing demons of my own. It was later, on Tartaran that I realised I couldn’t turn my back on you any longer.”
“Water under the bridge now,” Sinclair said as he looked at the two men. He continued with, “We must look forward and plan for what Jonas throws at us and hope we are as best prepared as possible.”
With a wave of his hand Sinclair indicated that the briefing was over and he turned to face the monitor once more. As his best filed out the office he was left alone to think and hope that any preparations they made would be enough in the coming hours.
20
The Lempinski came out of hyperspace close to Earth but out of range of the sensors of the defence net. On the bridge Hermes stood, as before staring at the forward viewscreen, legs wide apart with his hands clasped behind his back. He had remained like that since Norsky had challenged him about their mission and he had to admit the man had a singular focus that he found quite frankly disturbing.
“Okay we’re here, what do you intend on doing, and no more riddles or diversions, I want the plain truth,” Norsky said as he came to stand next to the hulking clone. He, unlike Hermes had paced the width of the bridge waiting for their arrival at their destination.
Hermes turned to face him and said, “We will take the ship into orbit around Earth. We have codes that will identify her as a Confederation ship and by the time they have realised they are false it will be too late. We will have, by that time landed at the new site of the HQ with a force great enough to overcome their defences and we will then penetrate their HQ with the samples which will be released.”
“About time, let’s get too it,” Norsky said eager to get started.
“You have another mission; you will not be coming with us. Ours could be considered a suicide mission as we do not expect to survive.”
Norsky looked at him with renewed respect. These men were laying down their lives for their cause with no thought for their own safety. That kind of dedication required a certain kind of fortitude, or fanaticism. Which one this was he wasn’t sure.
“We require you to do something that is vital to our missions’ success, without this the whole mission could fall apart and all our sacrifices will be for nothing. It will also give you what you truly desire, a chance for revenge against the one person you hate the most in the entire galaxy, Kurt Stryder.”
At the mention of his name he became focussed. Up to that point he felt a slight disappointment at not being in on the attack, at not being able to vent his fury against Col Sec. As soon as his name was mentioned though, and the fact that he would finally get to face him they had his full, undivided attention.
“Tell me what I must do,” he said.
*****
Able Rand was at his desk perusing some files on his computer monitor. It had been a long morning; as usual he was up at six to exercise then after a shower he would go to the office where his working day would begin. It was a routine he had adhered to since he had inherited the corporation from his father.
He had personally supervised all the upgrades to the tec that they had supplied to Col Sec which had gone smoothly. As the transfer was done wirelessly, as most things were done nowadays all upgrades would have been complete by the time he sat down for breakfast that included any tec that needed it across the galaxy. They had used a sub space carrier wave boosted by transmitters strategically placed so that the upgrades would be carried out as fast as possible.
He was just thinking of breaking off for the time being to grab some lunch when a security alarm alerted him to a breach at the ground floor entrance.
*****
Norsky and the team of Rover5’s had arrived at the RandCorp Headquarters building in a shuttle from the Lempinski. Norsky had alighted at the foot of the steps of the great building after rappelling from the hovering shuttle along with the clones. They alighted at the steps of the great building to amazed looks from the bystanders and pedestrians. Once they were on the ground the shuttle lifted back up into the air towards the top of the huge building where it put down. The pilot kept the engines cycling to keep warm for a fast take off and departure. Norsky and the Rover5’s walked up to the door as he accessed the security cameras that covered the entrance via his NI and shut them down. As they entered through the huge double doorway they were greeted by two security guards dressed in dark suits with tell tale bulges beneath their left armpits that told Norsky they were armed.
They couldn’t believe what they were seeing and for a moment they were frozen in place from the absurdity of it all. What was an armed group of huge muscle bound men doing invading the lobby, they thought. Then their training kicked in and they pulled out their pistols, Sig P999’s.
“Freeze!” they both shouted at the intruders as they aimed their weapons at them.
Norsky turned his head to look at them and they seemed to move in slow motion. He was supremely confident in his abilities since waking up on Toldax he knew what he could do. He knew he was in no danger from the guards. He knew he could not out run a pulsed plasma bolt but he could anticipate when it would be fired and in that way actually move out of the way in time.
Before they could fire he had brought up his Remm assault rifle and fired a stream of pulsed plasma bolts at the guard on his left which cut the guard almost in half. Blood sprayed in a lateral arc from the guards g
uts as he was sent sprawling backwards. His arms went up and he fired his Sig sending a burst of plasma bolts up into the roof of the building.
The second guard turned to look at his fellow guard as he was cut down, his eyes wide in disbelief.
How the hell had he moved so fast?
He watched his friends’ guts spill out as he was sent flying backwards from the salvo of pulsed plasma bolts. He watched his friend die.
By the time he returned his gaze to his attacker the Remm was pointing at him too.
Norsky fired a second burst at the other guard, the bolts stitching a line up his chest as he fell backwards, dead.
By the time the second guard hit the floor everyone in the foyer had run, scrambling for either the exit of for some cover. Panic ran through the lower level of the building like flames through sun dried tinder.
The Rover5’s had stood immobile whilst Norsky strut his stuff. The moment the two guards had been dispatched and panic erupted in the lobby they shot anything that moved. The staff who worked in the lobby ran towards all the emergency exits but were cut down by the plasma fire from the Remm assault rifles.
Norsky brought the Remm up to his shoulder and fired at all the cameras he could see. One shot for each camera was all it took and the security feed for the foyer was blind.
He then turned the assault rifle on the main desk and fired, salvo after salvo until it was completely destroyed. He spun around and looked at the carnage. There were still a few people who didn’t have the time to get to safety but they were gunned down mercilessly by the Rover5’s. Soon the foyer was littered with the dead bodies of RandCorp workers along with the two security guards.
The alarm was raised the moment a single unauthorised weapon entered the premises and the foyer was locked down. By the time Norsky and his team had finished killing all those present all the doors leading to rooms off the foyer and elevators leading upwards were locked. Norsky used his NI to access the building’s main computer hacking through several levels of security and firewalls. He was an agent of the Alliance and his skill at hacking was second to none so it only took him moments. Once he had access he unlocked one elevator for his use only, the Express elevator. This was the only one that could reach the Penthouse. He kept the rest locked down so that no one could escape from the upper levels. There were several people up there who he needed to gain control of. While he was getting to them they wanted him to cause as much mayhem as he could. If that meant slaughtering as many people as he came across then he was okay with that. He had no compunction in killing them; they would be considered collateral damage, nothing more, a means to an end.
He entered the elevator and looked at the nearest Rover5. He still could not tell any of them apart so he said, “You know what to do,” and then he ordered the elevator to go to the Penthouse. As the elevator doors closed he ejected the battery pack from the Remm, replaced it into the charging pouch on his ammo harness and replaced it with a fresh one. He racked the slide of the rifle on the underside priming the weapon and he was good to go.
The elevator arrived at the Penthouse and the doors opened.
*****
Able Rand was concerned when he saw how the feed from the security cameras went down in the foyer. The Penthouse covered the entire top floor of the building and had several large offices and it was the hub of the entire megacorp. It was where Able ran his business aided by his son and daughter, Josh and Jennifer. What worried him most about the alert was that they were in danger, he wasn’t afraid for his own life, he had lived a long and incredibly fruitful and productive life and if it ended today, he would have no regrets. What he could not face though was having his children in danger. He would walk through hell and back to ensure they were safe. That was why he had had installed all new security features in the Penthouse and had all personnel who worked on this floor supplied with sidearms and had the security staff instruct them in the use thereof.
He opened his desk drawer and took out a Sig P999. He ejected the battery clip and checked its charge; there was a small LED indicator on the side which showed either a ‘red’ or ‘green’ light. This showed a ‘green’ light meaning it was carrying a full charge. He inserted it back in the butt and jacked the slide to prime the pistol and he was ready to rock and roll as the ex marine who instructed him would say.
“Josh, Jess, are you both armed?” he said through the comm. channel his NI had accessed.
“Yes Dad,” Josh said then added, “I’m going to Jess’s office now. Don’t worry I’ll keep her safe, you make sure your office is secure.”
“Don’t you worry about me son, just make sure your sister is safe okay?”
“Will do. This is a great opportunity to test out those new security measures we installed,” Josh said with enthusiasm.
“I’ve set the silent alarm for everyone on this floor they should be heading for the hidden exits as we speak,” Able said.
“Good, now you get into your pod and get out of there now Dad,” Josh said his voice exhibiting worry for his father.
When Josh received no reply from his father his heart jumped into his mouth. “Dad, are you there?” he said his voice rising.
Nothing, he could tell the carrier wave the comm. signal used was dead. That could only mean one thing.
His father was in trouble.
*****
Norsky exited the Express elevator his Remm assault rifle up at his shoulder as he aimed down the barrel. Several people were running past the entrance to the elevator so he shot them. Bodies went flying down the corridor recipients of pulsed plasma bolts that cut them down.
When he had hacked into the buildings computer he had learned of all the security procedures evident in the building, including the recent improvements to the Penthouse. It also afforded him a schematic layout of the floor so he knew where all the offices were and who worked in them.
He headed for the main one, where the head honcho worked, Able Rand himself.
Stepping over dead or fallen bodies he made his way along the corridor to the end where it veered to the left where it ended at a huge double door. He aimed the Remm at the doors and fired. The plasma bolts blew a huge hole in the double doors and as he stood in the shattered remains of the doorway the look on the tall old man’s face was quite funny to see.
“Knock knock,” Norsky said with a sinister smile. “What? Oh you thought your new security measures would prevent me or anyone getting in here?” he asked then with a dismissive wave of his hand said, “I disabled them on the way up.”
“Who are you?” Able Rand asked remarkably calm in the face of such danger.
“Take a seat Mister Rand, and I’ll tell you while we wait for him to arrive,” Norsky said.
“Wait for whom to arrive?”
“Why, Kurt Stryder, who else?”
21
Sinclair got up from his desk and placing his hands in his lower lumbar region he arched his back stretching out the kinks he felt knotted there. He walked over to the cupboard to the right of where he had been sitting and picked up a small glass tumbler. He placed a few ice cubes in the bottom of the tumbler then picked up the bottle of Jameson Special Reserve single malt whiskey and poured a measure on top of the cubes. He picked up the tumbler and raised it to his nose allowing the aroma to waft up to his nostrils. He took a sip letting the amber liquid slide over his tongue to slip down his throat. He closed his eyes as he savoured the warmth as it spread outwards from his stomach.
A familiar tingle alerted him to a call coming through his NI.
“Go ahead,” he said.
“Sir an alert has just come through from RandCorp HQ. An ‘Intruder Alert’ alarm has been raised,” said a voice in his ear, it was the Communication Section that handled all calls in and out of the HQ.
“What exactly do we know?” he asked suddenly concerned. Normally he would not be too bothered as RandCorp had beefed up their security with ex Col Sec marines but since the recent events concerning OMEGA he
could not take anything for granted.
“Not a great deal sir, just that the alarm has been raised. All the security feeds from the entrance to the building have been cut off.”
“I want what we have before it was severed rerouted to my office right now,” Sinclair said and he put the tumbler down and turned to the monitor. The security feed from the secure cams from RandCorp HQ began to play on the large screen. What it showed chilled his blood.
Via his NI he accessed a comm. channel He said, “Kurt, I need you in my office right now.”
Kurt and Zara were down in the armoury testing out the new Sig P999 when the call came through to him.
“Copy that sir, I’m on my way,” he said.
Zara saw the concern on his face and asked, “Everything alright?”
“Not sure, Sinclair wants me in his office right away, it sounded urgent,” he replied. He ejected the battery pack from the pistol he had been using and placed it into the charger then replaced the pistol in the rack. “I’d better go,” he added and kissed her lightly on the cheek before leaving her to her practise.
He quickly made his way to Sinclair’s office and when he entered Sinclair turned from the monitor to face him.
“We have a problem,” he said without preamble.
“I’m listening sir,” Kurt said then he noticed the monitor screen behind the general. It showed a scene from the front of a huge building frozen in time. He recognised one of the figures entering the building, “Pavel Norsky,” Kurt uttered the name of the man who handed him over to the Alliance back on Toldax.
“Yes, it seems he had gained entrance to the RandCorp HQ building in Washington DC. As you can see he is armed and he shot and killed the guards as he arrived with a small assault force of armed men before destroying the security cameras. We have to assume he is still there and he has a purpose, what that purpose is we have no idea just yet, but we have to assume it involves violence considering how well armed he and his men are.”
