Omega Force 09: Revolution

by Joshua Dalzelle

  "If you will follow me," it said, its urbane manner and voice very different than that of the late Deetz. Jason could also see slight variations in the facial features and wondered if all synths were unique or if there were a select number of faces they rotated among them.

  They were led through one wing of the house, up one flight of stairs, and into a large bedchamber. The room was an odd mix of furniture that was obviously extremely old and racks of advanced medical equipment, most of which had lines leading to the surprisingly small bed in the middle of the room.

  A frail, withered pru sat propped up against a pile of pillows. His skin, a dull gray color, hung from his frame in folds. The eyes, however, were bright and alert and followed them as the synth escorted them in and then left, closing the door behind.

  "Welcome home, Combat Unit 777," Teludal said in a clear, strong voice. "And welcome to you as well, Captain Jason Burke."

  "Master," Lucky said respectfully, approaching the bed. "Are you comfortable? Do you need anything?"

  "It's good to see you," Teludal said fondly. "My sources aren't as good as they once were, but I still hear things. Is it true you've taken a name? A real name?"

  "It is. My friends call my Lucky."

  "Amazing," Teludal smiled. "What an ambassador for your species you could have been had only things been different. So why have you risked coming back to Khepri, Lucky? I assume you've heard rumors about a recall of the others?"

  "Captain?" Lucky said and stepped back, startling Jason.

  "We've been approached by a third party that claims to have knowledge of a concerted effort to destabilize relationships within the ConFed," Jason said carefully, confused as to why Lucky had tossed it over to him. "Among the information were some rumors that there was a military buildup on Khepri that was unusual and might be related."

  "Carefully worded, young Captain," Teludal said. "And do you have any idea why Khepri would be involved in the efforts to destabilize a system it benefits greatly from?"

  "That's not within the scope of our mission," Jason said. "We were just asked to find any evidence of a—"

  "Yes, yes," Teludal scoffed. "As I said: carefully worded. I don't have so long left in life that I wish to spend it in circular conversations, so I will tell you what I think is relevant.

  "The signal was activated to recall all remaining battlesynths to Khepri. The number that returned is two hundred and eight, under half of the five hundred and three total created. What you need to know is that the recall was a response, not a provocation. There is a growing movement here to withdraw from the ConFed. There's always been one group or another advocating this, but the new push has happened very quickly and is very well-funded … enough that the ConFed Council is taking notice and is making threats."

  "Why would the ConFed care about your internal political struggles?" Jason asked. "I know this is a Pillar World, but they've seemed content to let things simmer or burn out on their own in these cases."

  "That I can't tell you," Teludal said, and Jason noticed a change in the pitch of his voice. "I'm fairly isolated out here and I'm unable to—" Whatever he was saying was drowned out as the door to the bedroom exploded inward in a cloud of splinters. There was no pressure wave or heat, so Jason knew that explosives hadn't been used, which left only one logical answer.

  As expected, when he turned around he saw the synth that had led them into the room standing in the demolished door frame holding some sort of staff that glowed at one end, spitting sparks and hissing. It came in fast, leading with what was undoubtedly a weapon, swinging it side to side. Lucky fired his repulsors and arced up and over the attacking synth, tearing two light fixtures out of the high ceiling as he did. Jason grabbed a cart by the bed that looked like it had been used for food service and threw it as hard as he could at his attacker, hoping to distract it for a moment.

  The synth hit the cart in midflight with its weapon and it blew apart from some unseen force emitted from the end of the staff. It smiled and grabbed a cart of its own and hurled it at Jason just as Lucky came down with a thud on the other side of the room, his eyes blazing red as he switched to full combat mode. Jason had instinctively ducked the thrown cart, loaded with medical equipment, and realized too late what was behind him: the immobile Krunt Teludal.

  "Lucky, take it down!"

  "I cannot risk—"

  "That's right, puppet!" the other synth crowed. "One plasma blast in this room that's capable of destroying me and your flesh sacks over there will be vaporized."

  Lucky didn't answer as he began to approach the other synth, his hands up slightly and his eyes tracking the weapon. With the attacker now completely ignoring Jason, correctly assuming he was unarmed, the human was able to move himself around into the synth's blind spot directly behind it. What it didn't know was that Jason wasn't some squishy, frail biological … his skeleton could take an enormous amount of punishment and his enhanced muscles could give a standard synth a nasty surprise. He had no delusions that he could defeat it hand-to-hand, but he could make sure it wasn't able to land a hit on Lucky with whatever the hell that weapon was.

  Just as the synth drew back to strike at Lucky, Jason rushed in and slid, kicking the back of its left knee with enough force to send the leg out. Already off balance from preparing to strike, the synth instinctively dropped the heavy staff to try and maintain its balance. It was all the opening Lucky needed. He came in and, with a lightning-fast strike, crushed the right shoulder in so severely the arm now dangled uselessly and sent the synth crashing to the floor.

  It let out a warbling cry, and when it landed near Jason it rolled and swung, managing a glancing blow across his forehead as he tried to climb to his feet. Lucky fired his repulsors and came down again, this time smashing the right knee by landing on it with all his weight and cracking the floor tiles. He grabbed the still flailing right arm even as a now-woozy Jason rolled away. He began to pull and with a slight whine of his actuators Lucky ripped the arm from the other synth in a burst of sparks. Jason was morbidly fascinated to see fluid spurt from the ruined shoulder socket, like blood.

  "Keep him alive!" Jason said, shaking his head to clear it.

  "Master!" Lucky ignored him. Jason looked over and saw that the cart the synth had thrown at him had landed on the bed and was still resting on Teludal's lower body.

  "Stay there!" Jason rushed to the bed and as gently as he could lifted the cart up and off, tossing it to the far side of the room.

  "It is not immediately fatal," Teludal said quietly, his eyes squeezed shut against the pain. "Lucky, it will surely have an internal transmitter installed … you must not let it live."

  "We need to question it," Jason objected.

  "You can learn nothing from it," Teludal said. "Quickly now, while it's still focused on its injuries." Jason nodded to Lucky who then brought his deployed plasma cannon down inches from the synth's face and fired a sustained low-power burst that slowly burned into its skull and killed it.

  "I'm guessing that guy wasn't in your house at your request?" Jason asked.

  "No … it was assigned to the house by the Ministry of Martial Affairs," Teludal said. "I was aware from the beginning that its role was to spy on me and ensure certain things never came to light. They would have had me killed were it worth the risk. Instead they decided that my short time left would be spent in isolation. One of the access routines I gave Lucky when he was first brought online was able to bypass the perimeter security so it had no choice but to allow you entry."

  "You require emergency medical attention," Lucky said. "We have a skilled doctor on our crew and the ship can be here in minutes, Master."

  "There is no time for this sort of foolishness," Teludal said to Lucky. "You must get off this planet as quickly as you can. They know what I did to you and the others in your lot … if they find out you're here, they'll deploy the battlesynths they already have on Khepri to capture or destroy you."

  "What is this all about?" Jason ask
ed even as he could see Teludal fading.

  "I only know a small piece of it, or at least believe that I do. It's always possible I've been deliberately fed false information." Teludal struggled to get the words out. "The people wanting to break away from the ConFed must have control over the battlesynths or the entire plan falls apart, but I don't know what the plan is."

  "Do you know who would?" Jason asked.

  "Vulban," the pru whispered before his head rolled to the side. Jason looked over at the monitor above the bed and saw Teludal was still very much alive, just unconscious.

  "We need to get out of here," Jason said. "Do we risk taking the ground car or call the Phoenix for a pickup?" His friend didn't answer, just stood stock still and stared at the still form on the bed.

  "Lucky!"

  "I should not have waited so long to come back," the battlesynth said.

  "You can't do anything for him right now," Jason said gently. "We need to get out of here. Getting caught up in a fight with multiple battlesynths won't help anybody … not to mention it's a fight we can't win."

  "Of course, Captain." Lucky straightened. "We should take the ground car away from this estate and reevaluate our situation once we are some distance away. The Phoenix might not arrive before any response team the other synth may have called, and it will attract too much attention."

  "Good." Jason gave his friend a shove. "Let's go, now!"

  They ran from the room and back down to the first floor only to find that their rented vehicle had been dismantled. From the crushed panels and smoldering, burnt edges Jason assumed the synth had come down here with his weapon and worked their car over before coming back up to ensure Teludal kept his mouth shut.

  "Take this in the spirit with which it's intended … but other than you I have to say I'm not all that fond of your species," he said as they stared at the smoking, useless machine.

  "There is a building at the back of the property that has vehicles," Lucky said and set off across the lawn. Tucked back against the corner of the property and hidden from view of the main house was an older structure with three large doors in the front. The smaller entry door on the side was unlocked and whisked open when Jason touched the control pad. As Lucky had promised, there were three ground vehicles, covered in dust, and looking much more expensive than the one they'd left behind.

  "Shit," Jason said. "He didn't have something a little less conspicuous? I didn't see anything that resembled these during the ride out."

  "The far vehicle is a very rare and expensive luxury model, while the other two are high-performance types, one of which is no longer legal on Khepri," Lucky said. "All three are quite old as well. I do not think this will work."

  "Neither do I," Jason agreed. "I was hoping for some cheap runaround like a cargo van that the house staff would have used." Before Lucky could suggest something else, Jason's com link chirped. "Go ahead," he answered, not using any names over the unsecure public network. Cenk Vale's local ordinance prohibited using the com link in a direct, high-power mode.

  "Are you going to be delayed much longer?" Kage asked. "There's been some word that Ground Control Authority is locking down the starports and checking recent inbound flights. If you want to make our delivery deadline I hope you're already almost back."

  "Damnit!" Jason swore before keying the unit. "Better go ahead and at least get into orbit. We've been delayed with the supplier and won't make it back to you in time. We'll meet up with you at the next stop."

  "Acknowledged."

  "Do you and Kage have a prearranged rendezvous location?" Lucky asked.

  "Sure don't," Jason said. "But I somehow doubt that the lockdown and our fight with that synth are unrelated."

  "Then you know that the authorities are likely inbound to this location."

  "It's not them I'm worried about," Jason said. "We've done nothing illegal, I don't think. I'm worried about whoever left that synth showing up with more muscle than we can easily handle."

  "I had not considered that," Lucky admitted. "It might not have been prudent for you to come unarmed."

  "I didn't think it was smart to walk around a core planet prepped for battle when all we were doing was coming to talk to someone," Jason shot back. "But … at least this might mean we're on the right track for something. Whether it has anything to do with the ConFed or insurrections I have no idea."

  They searched the outbuilding for anything that could be used as a weapon, but all they could find were tools and equipment used to maintain a fleet of antique ground cars. Either Teludal was completely straight-laced or all the weapons were back in the house they’d just fled.

  "Maybe we should've searched the house first," Jason said.

  "I can assure you that the Master would not have—" Lucky stopped talking and turned his head back towards where the front of the house would be, holding up a hand to silence the question he knew was coming. Jason waited patiently, well-aware of how much better Lucky's senses were than his own, and tried not to make any extraneous noise. Minutes later he could just make out the roar of rushing air as some type of aircraft—actually, it sounded like more than one—circled overhead and began to descend. Lucky approached the still-open entry door and risked a quick peek out before pulling his head back inside.

  "Two unmarked aircraft," he said quietly. "Armed pru coming from both and rushing into the house. Local law enforcement would not have arrived in such shuttles."

  "So it's the people who were basically holding your creator prisoner in his own home until he—" Jason stopped himself from saying “died” as Lucky's head swung sharply to him. "Anyway, is it only pru on the assault team? No battlesynths?"

  "I did not see any," Lucky said. "If they were on those aircraft I would assume that they would lead the charge."

  "Same here," Jason said. "So … now what? It's only a matter of time before they search the property and find us."

  "I propose a diversion," Lucky said, looking back to the third, larger vehicle in the garage.

  8

  "So where are we supposed to meet them?" Crusher asked. This was the ninth variation of the same question he'd been asking since the Phoenix had lifted off and was directed back into a transfer orbit by the ground control system.

  "We didn't have a prearranged plan," Doc explained again from the pilot's seat. "As I said before, and the eight times before that … we're going to stall as long as we can without being suspicious and see if the captain or Lucky makes contact.”

  "Not much of a plan," Crusher grumbled. "It seems we should have had something in place for a contingency like this."

  "That would have been helpful twelve hours ago before they left, wouldn't it?" Doc asked. "Is there something else you can be doing besides wearing a hole in the deck plating?"

  "We're not going to be able to keep deferring requests forever," Kage said once Crusher had stomped off the bridge. "Eventually they're going to force us up into a departure orbit and then we won't be able to hang out over the planet."

  "Can we fake a maintenance issue?"

  "That might make them recall us back to the surface for a convenient search." Kage shook his head. "I sliced into the local short-range com network before we left; the lockdown order came from a government office at something called the Emergency Defense Authority that's within the Ministry of Martial Affairs, but it wasn’t associated with a specific threat or law enforcement action. They were simply told to hold all new arrivals in the Cenk Vale local area and search for anything suspicious."

  "So something the captain did triggered the lockdown, but it didn't come through local law enforcement," Doc said.

  "Exactly. I could try to dig further, but the AIs that control the higher-level data routing functions are … impressive," Kage admitted. "Making an attempt with a remote, low-bandwidth connection would be a foolish risk. I brushed up against one while trying to trace the origin of the lockdown order and I can say unequivocally I've never seen anything like it. It's easily the most
advanced non-sentient system I've ever encountered and all it's doing is routing com data."

  "This is the planet that created the synth species," Doc said. "It stands to reason that they'd have—"

  "They'd have what?" Kage asked when Doc trailed off and stared into space for a moment.

  "Nothing," Doc shook his head. "Can I configure one of these screens as a normal terminal?"

  "Right multi-function display is a full-fledged terminal as well," Kage said. "Is there something you need that I can find? I'm not really doing a whole lot over here."

  "Just a random thought I'd like to check on," Doc said. "Probably won't amount to anything."

  "Don't get too distracted," Kage warned. "You are the pilot of an unlicensed warship flying in a crowded orbital lane."

  "READY?" Jason asked.

  "Ready," Lucky confirmed. "Open the door."

  Jason hit the control to open the middle bay just as Lucky closed the door to the second vehicle. Once the door had recessed completely into the floor the old ground car rose shakily on its repulsors and slid out of the garage. When it was clear it shot away with surprising quickness, so much so that the front gate was barely able to open in time once it detected the car coming at it.

  The vehicle made the ninety-degree turn to the right and disappeared from view, but they could still hear the antique repulsors humming as it raced along the street. There were some confused shouts as members of the assault team asked who was in the car and if they could still see it. The indecision didn't last long, and Jason couldn't help but be impressed with their leadership. Since they'd already cleared the house, they began loading up into the aircraft to mount a pursuit. It was exactly the reaction he'd hoped for.

  "Fire two!" Jason said and hit the controls to the third bay that housed the big, heavy luxury vehicle. It too sputtered to life and, unlike the sportier model that waited to clear the building before increasing power, it roared off out of the garage so fast that its repulsor drive sent Jason flying back into a shelving unit.