The Revenant: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 2)

by Walt Robillard

  Tarot was quick to gently put her hand on the bot, reassuring him that he was still part of the team. “Good work, Jester. Merlin, take control and get ready to start this party. Morpheus, be ready to flip the switch.”

  “Yes, Madame,” they responded.

  “Temperance, SITREP?” Tarot called.

  “I'm on overwatch in the cargo bay, one floor above you. Set to cause a fuss on your word, Madame.”

  “Good copy. Standby for further. Tarot out.”

  “The captain will hold off the hyper-cast until they secure the shuttle on the other side of the doors,” Lasher said. “Morpheus, have they plotted the jump yet?”

  “Yes, Mr. Lashra. They've plotted a reverse calculation to Doseidos.”

  “That's a short jump. We won't have a lot of time before the lancers find this boat. Are you good to get everyone off once the chaos happens?”

  “Everything is in place.,” Morpheus said. “Although, I am having a bit of a problem with a slicer trying to counter-attack my counterfeit ship AI. They suspect Corporal Savoya is in the system subverting their controls. They haven't figured out our ruse yet, but the technician is good so it's only a matter of time.”

  “Would it buy you some time if she worked a terminal with Tolin?”

  “It might, Mr. Lashra. At least it would give them something to draw their attention away from the AI so they don't see the paint hasn't dried yet.”

  “Understood. Tolin, you get all that?”

  “Lima Charlie. Although I'm not sure what Charlie has to do with any of this.” Tolin joked.

  Lasher closed his eyes with the slow waggle of his head in disbelief at such a horrendous joke. “Why is everyone trying to make jokes?”

  The Doom Cat was quick to respond, “Because I do it all the time. Plus, I'm just sexy enough to make everyone want to be like me.”

  “Oh yeah, I'm sure that's it.”

  Tolin chirped over the radio, “Not that it matters to the operation, but we've been trying to get a fix on Chen's broadcasts to the ship. I think she's on Doseidos but I can't tell where.”

  “Which Chen are you speaking of?” Tarot asked with a growl lurking in the digital hiss that was her voice through the mask.

  “Ms. Chen. Head of the cartel. She's been messaging them back and forth concerning operational details.”

  Tarot hit one of the bulkheads hard enough to dent it. Her fist remained connected to the metal, leaning in to each panting breath. Her growl abating, she straightened herself to check her hand for any signs of damage. She faced Lasher to study his face. She knew none of the machines would judge her for her anger. Savoya would continue to be a hunted victim. There would be no judgment from her either. The only eyes she needed to read was the mongrel's.

  His face, as it often was, remained passive, like a predator constantly taking in all the input he could pull from his surroundings. He was waiting for whatever came next to say his piece or make his move.

  “We should ask her for the cure for the common cold since her gunshot to the head remedy works so well,” Jester said.

  There was no sound from Tarot's mask as her shoulders bobbed up and down. Somewhere under her helmet laughter quenched the raging inferno that had given way to a rapidly deployed, duradium denting punch. The last vestiges of savoring Jester’s joke came through her external speaker.

  “Thank you, Jester. I needed that. Okay, Chen being alive means that we have a bigger problem. The Fallen Dreadmarr we encountered on the train. He's given them access to Exile technology. It means that if we want to put Chen down, we need to find whatever crater she's risen from.”

  “Crater?” Fluff asked.

  “Different groups have different names for it. Crypt. Phoenix Point. Chrysalis. It's a place where the mind can be downloaded into a new body.”

  “That doesn't sound creepy at all. If we get to this place that keeps spitting out robo-Chens, can we destroy them all?” Fluff seemed excited he would get to repeatedly shoot Chen.

  “It's more important than that. If we can find the Crypt, Morpheus can upload code to corrupt and kill her memory. She won't be able to revive anywhere else.”

  Lasher was quiet, still absorbing everything Tarot was telling him. The Dreadmarr was known by name in the Frontier but there wasn't much else. Hearing they could hop bodies or shed their skins like worms becoming butterflies brought their threat level that much higher. He filed that tidbit of information to the place he kept such things, wondering if he should tell his benefactors lurking in the shadows about the people hunting him.

  “Tolin, track that broadcast,” Lasher requested. “If we have a shot at putting her down, we'll take it, although I prefer taking her money. It makes her look bad enough that the cartel will eventually finish her off for us.”

  “That's if they know about this whole body hop scheme she has going on,” Fluff said.

  “True enough. Alright, Kel and Kat are almost skids down in the new hangar. That means we're going to cast-off in a moment. Let's get into position. Go quiet until the lancers show. We'll use them as cover to deal with the Swarmers on board, giving us the room to take a trip to Doseidos to smoke Chen.”

  Kat popped into the conversation, “When you say deal with, I hope you mean rescue.”

  “Depends on what happens when this places dusts off. If they vent all those tubes and release everyone, we'll have no choice but to vack the ship. The lancers will be safe in their armor and we'll make sure we are, too. If we can take the place with minimal casualties, we will.”

  “Lasher, that's over a thousand men, women, and children who could die by you flushing them out into space.” Kat sounded horrified.

  “We've all seen what they're like, pumped up with Swarm-tech. On Tythian, it took our whole crew to handle Jia, and she was fifty-five kilos soaking wet. We won't be able to capture all of them once they're out of their cages.”

  “Lasher, they're not the Hidek on Tythian.” Kat said in a small voice.

  “What is that?” Jester asked for the group.

  Lasher stood with his head facing the deck and explained about the Hidek tribe on Tythian. They'd been responsible for the death of an opposing tribe's leadership. They'd also been responsible for putting an entire battlefield's worth of blaster bolts into a woman who had taken him for her own. Seladriel Ferrand. Leader. Lioness. Mother. His mother. He'd wiped out the entire tribe on Tythian using a nano-toxin. The whole tribe gone, despite their involvement. That was the law. Tyth law, and he'd wielded it like an executioner's ax.

  “Lasher, I'm sorry.”

  “Don't be, Jester. I did what needed to be done. Much like I'm doing now. We try to save the Swarmers if we can. If we can't, we vent atmosphere to flush them out the airlocks. Hopefully the Swarm-tech keeps them alive long enough to be recovered. Time enough to cry over our mistakes later. We have a situation and a plan to deal with it. Let's move.”

  “That was cold,” Kel said softly

  “I know. I couldn't stop myself from saying it. I mean, most of the time we see him go out of his way to save everyone we've helped since this started. Both of us owe him our lives. But this little piece of me comes back to the moment we realized he killed two thousand people because they were related to the ones who murdered his mom.”

  “Yeah. It's hard to forget. But we have to remember that we signed up for this. We can check out anytime we want.” Kel said.

  “With as many times as he's put it on the line for us, none of us is going to walk away.” Kat answered.

  A ping interrupted the morose conversation. Venger's image floated above the control panel. “I'm wondering if I could beg you to come from the cockpit to help us with something?”

  “On our way,” Kel said in his near perfect Trade-9.

  “That's still impressive.”

  “Thank you. You should see me dance.”

  “I have,” she said with a wink as she shut her face plate.

  The two exited the cabin to find Venger
waiting for them on the other side of the hatch. “Wonderful. I trust the ship is almost complete with landing procedures?”

  “Yes, honored sir.” Kat said.

  “Good. Now if you would be so kind as to take off your helmet, Chief.”

  Kat and Kel both knew their time might be up if Phoenix had gone into the personnel records deep enough to find pictures of the pilot and crew chief. She didn't waist any time. She popped the locks on her helmet, dropping it to her hip. She tussled her long black hair, scratching at a scalp that had sat under the lid for far too long.

  “Thank the ancestors,” she said. “Thought I'd never be without that.”

  “And you, Officer Huang. Please remove yours.”

  Kel shrugged. His helmet was dropped, exposing the face of a man in his early thirties, slightly graying at the temples. He was clearly of Xang descent.

  “Is there something that your worried about, honored sir?” Kel asked.

  Venger seemed confused by something. When either had removed their helmet, he had glanced away rather than straight to their faces. He had his own face mask on his hip, the puzzled expression as easy to read as a drunk reading the sign outside his favorite bar.

  “Seeing as the robot that attacked us in the last bay had come aboard your shuttle, I was almost certain that either one of you had brought it. Phang is currently trying to route out a slicer trying to override controls on the Forest. Records could be faked. But if there was a reaction in the Second Sight to either of you, I could spot that across the length of the ship with the help of my friend.”

  He brought Beth from behind him. She looked defeated, like that day on the road to Outpost-7. The day she pleaded for work so she could live one more day. Standing beside Venger, it was as if what little hope she'd found was being stripped away. All that was left was fear.

  “Honored sir. The bot carried my cargo from the Palladium on Tythian. I paid a vendor extra to keep the bot until my next trip. I was about to return it when we got the emergency pick up order for you and your men.”

  “My apologies to both of you,” Venger said, tapping his chin. “I'm letting the loss of my men drive me to second guess my instincts.”

  “No apologies necessary, honored sir.” Kat said in a voice dripping with subservience.

  Venger seemed to brighten. “It would pay for us to secure the ship. Can't have anyone stealing the Flight Officer's box.”

  Both pilot and crew chief laughed. Kat deployed the stock on her subcompact blaster, taking a station at the back of the ramp, assuming the role of guard. Kel turned to leave for the pilot's seat. Venger tipped his head slightly, like he'd just realized something he'd missed earlier.

  There was a blur of motion followed by a series of quick hits to Kel's armor. The technique was something out of a Xang entertainment vid that spoke of colorful costumes and whirling martial arts. The violent array battered Kel into one of the bulkheads. Venger flipped him down the ramp using a joint lock induced throw.

  The resplendent Phoenix held an open ring that had broken free from Kel's flight suit. The ring was now projecting a broken, static laden image of Huang's face where someone's head would be. Kel rolled over with a grunt on the deck. He looked back into the shuttle, his disguise gone.

  “There you are, Mr. Durado,” Venger said. “The flutter in the Second Sight from the child confirms. I almost doubted myself until I saw the tech collar around your neck. Hadn't seen a projection collar in some time. Most mercs trying to pass as someone else have them implanted. Having one like this is only good for quick face changes during a get away. Sloppy Mr. Durado. And that would make you…”

  The force of the blow leveled against Venger was enough to have his feet and head trade places. Kat changed direction, knocking both Sparks into the blue jumpsuits, tumbling them from the shuttle. Kel was already limping onto the ramp when Kat hit the trigger to close it.

  “Get this tub moving! I'll be right behind you!” Kat didn't wait for a response. She threw Venger out of the ship, holding onto him so she could use her considerable weight to slam him against the deck plating. She rolled from her ornately adorned crash pillow onto her feet just as the blues were getting to theirs.

  “You can't win. Even in full cyborg combat armor, the Swarm is more than a match for you.” Venger seethed as he struggled to his feet.

  Kat assumed a combat stance, the cyborg body guiding her actions as though they were her own. “I don't need to take out all of them. I only need to take out you. Problem with having a compromised security system is that anything you say can be used against you!”

  “Kill her and disable the ship!” Venger shouted. Kipping to his feet, he drew both pistols from their holsters and adopted a martial stance. Bolts shot toward the cyborg but she danced away from the incoming fire, with ease.

  Four of the ten blues jumped from the floor, rocketing toward the agile cyborg. Dropping her hands at the wrist, she ejected a half meter long blade that hummed to life on each arm. She launched herself at the incoming attack team. Just shy of being tackled, Kat leapt, spinning in the air like an arrow out of a Targen bow. The blades eviscerated the four attackers, splitting two of them neatly in half. The knives retracted on her dive toward the floor, clearing themselves out of the way for her roll up onto her feet.

  The other six blues used their enhanced strength to pummel the hull of the shuttle, trying to pry it open as they would ripping off the lid from a ration can. Venger threw his sword to one of them, who promptly went to work shoving the brand into the side hatch like a crowbar. Prosteel melted from the assault amid creaking from the hatch being pried against the locks.

  “Two disengage and attack the cyborg!” Venger shouted as he renewed his assault on Kat, dumping the magazines of both pistols in her direction.

  The only thing saving her from the onslaught was the tremendous speed built into her frame. Whoever Sister Leeuwen, the body's former owner, had been in life, she was no slouch in the combat department. Kat dumped her own magazine in answer to Venger's attack. Rounds danced around the Steel Devil, whose own enhanced abilities allow him to cheat the high energy death swarming around him.

  The two blues flanked Kat, pummeling her to the deck. One of them ripped the subcompact from the strap on her shoulder before she could reload it. He hurled it across the deck, following the momentum of the toss to land a falling elbow strike into her midsection. Kat ignored the kicks being leveled into her side, grabbing the head of the blue who lay across her. She pulled hard, bringing his head in line with the smashing kicks. The man's head exploded from the intense pressure of the foot smashing into Kat's side. The attacker backed up in horror at killing her friend. Apparently, there was a threshold for what the nanites could heal.

  Kat switched direction, looping her legs around the kicker. She used her hand to pull the woman's other foot from the ground. Crossing her legs into a figure four pattern, she applied pressure until the woman's knee broke, sending her leg bending the wrong way. She sat forward, screaming and retching from the pain until a cyber sheathed vibro-blade decapitated her. Kat rolled backwards onto her feet straight into two bolts to the chest from Venger.

  Two of the blues working in concert to pry the hatch managed to wedge it open by a third of a meter. Kel stuck his hand through the space, dropping a disk onto the deck. One of the blues caught it. The puck burst into a swarm of miniature drones that took flight around the bay. Six of the twenty machines struck the two men, erupting in point blank energy bolts delivered straight into their torso. Both men fell away from the door, groaning from injuries that would have killed anyone else. The smoldering holes were already closing even as they went prone.

  The rest of the Blaster Bugs sailed about the bay, striking each of the remaining blues at least once, further arresting the healing process. Lasher's crew knew from experience that without infuser modules, the Swarmers could be taken out by attrition from the nanites keeping them up. Too many injuries put them in a healing state, where t
he Swarm-tech wouldn't allow them to continue to fight until they either consumed massive calories or injected a fresh batch of microscopic machines.

  Venger's blues had been sent out with neither.

  Kat rushed the Steel Devil, juking across the floor to evade the wave of blaster fire coming her way. He was dynamic in his shooting style, flowing according to a pattern of moves set down by his training. Bolts fired from the pistol on the fly, shifting his stance and gait to maximize his shooting posture, at the same time minimizing his profile. Kat returned fire with the subcompact, forcing him to dodge around the shuttle. His blues weren't as lucky as they took a beating from stray blaster bolts.

  One of the recovered blues dove over the top of the ship, dropkicking the cyborg onto the deck. The jumpsuit clad assailant skipped off her target, spinning on her heal to kick Kat in the jaw, flipping her onto her back. The woman who had been dubbed Defiant Lotus pulled Venger's sword from the smoldering door frame. She whirled it around, making a show of the weapon burning the air as it spun.

  “Finish her!” Phoenix said, reloading his weapons behind her.

  She raised the sword to strike. Kat lifted her arm, pointing at her executioner as if to warn her of impending doom behind her.

  “Nothing there to save you,” the woman said. “You die and I'm free.”

  The sword blade hidden in Kat's gauntlet fired from its housing. It burst through the woman's neck, flying through the flesh to the space beyond. A throbbing gurgle escaped the gaping wound, sounding like the laugh of a fish escaping the hook. The nanites were not only keeping the woman alive, but conscious through a nightmare of pain and aggression. There was a thud from behind both of them. The sword blade had pierced the woman's body, coming to rest in Venger's face. His phoenix mask was nearly split by the weapon sticking straight out from his skull.

  Lotus let the fire of the sword die, lowering it until she dropped it unceremoniously to the floor. She spent several breaths trying to find words to express the confused emotions playing through her chest.