Deception

by M. R. Forbes

  The recon drones were each around three meters in diameter, with long, cylindrical fuselages that ended in a single powerful thruster in the back and rotating sensor array in the front. The muzzle of a high-velocity machine-gun rested just under and behind the array. The wings of the drone were short and aggressively swept back. A powerful but nearly silent turbofan was embedded in the center of each, allowing lift and hovering capabilities.

  “You do know how to take the wings off, right?” Caleb asked as Washington squeezed through the open hatch. He smiled and nodded. “Good.”

  Caleb and Washington moved to the closest drone. Washington opened the toolkit and pulled out a drill, searching for the right attachment. He put it down and dug out another tool, which he used on the wing to pry off a piece of its radar-absorbing outer skin, revealing the rivets underneath. He began to remove them.

  The drone was silent in operation. The drill was not. It made a loud whirring noise that caused Washington to stop a moment after he started, looking back at Caleb with a questioning glance.

  “Nothing we can do about it,” Caleb said. “Just be as quick and sure as you can.”

  Washington ran the drill again, removing the rivet in a few seconds. He repeated the process a dozen more times, getting quicker with each iteration. Caleb spent the time monitoring the area, which remained clear.

  Once all the rivets were out, Washington took hold of the wing and lifted it toward the front of the drone, unhooking it from the fuselage. It had been designed for easy attachment and detachment, and it separated easily. Washington wasn’t sure where to put it, so he lowered it down the side of the ADC to the deck.

  He repeated the process on the other side before moving to the next drone. It took nearly thirty minutes, but they wound up with four wingless drones to go with the four bars of explosives and the four detonators.

  It was Caleb’s job to wire the drones to trigger the detonators and blow on command. It was a specialized task — fortunately one they taught to Marine Raiders.

  That took another hour, by the end of which they had improvised four remotely operated explosive devices. Caleb looked down on their work with a certain amount of satisfaction, not only because of what they had created, but also because they had gone nearly two hours without an incident.

  “Nice work, Wash,” he said, clasping hands with the big Marine. Then they climbed back down into the ADC. “The IEDs are ready,” he announced to Sho and Flores.

  “Did something actually go right for a change?” Flores asked.

  “Amazingly enough, it does happen from time to time,” Caleb replied. “Wash, switch places with Sho for a minute. Sho, activate one of the drones and check the transmission, only for a few seconds.”

  “Roger, Sarge,” Sho said.

  She moved out of the cockpit, and then Washington stepped in. Caleb followed Sho to one of the drone stations. She activated the terminal and enabled the drone. The top of the hangar was suddenly visible on the display in front of them.

  “All systems are go, Sarge.”

  “Perfect. Shut it down. We don’t need any Reapers showing up down here.”

  “Roger.” She used the control surface to power down the drone. “That was easy.”

  “So far so good, but we still have to place them in the ship.”

  “What are we waiting for?”

  Chapter 23

  Riley grunted as she hit the back of the lift, bouncing off and dropping to her knees. She kept her eyes on the floor, refusing to look at the person in front of her as if that would somehow make him go away.

  She saw his armored feet step onto the lift with her, and then he turned and tapped the control panel. The doors closed and the lift began to ascend. He kept his back to her the entire time they rose, unconcerned about her ability to get the best of him.

  He had caught up to her with little effort and had disarmed her with only slightly more effort, flipping her onto her back and throwing her to the floor. He’d grabbed her by the neck of her combat armor and dragged her all the way across the Deliverance. She had of course tried to resist, but his grip had been like a steel vise on her arm, his strength twice that of her normal human hands, even encased in her SOS. Once he had her, she had been no more than a passenger along for the ride.

  At least Caleb and the Guardians hadn’t chased after her. She was grateful for that. What could they have done against the Cerebus armor? Nothing. It was nearly impervious to plasma and completely bulletproof. It was the culmination of a year of study and hard work by Paul and Mackie, the two Reapers with the most training in mechanical engineering. It was supposed to be a prototype of the next generation of combat armor. The one that would ensure none of their Marines would ever die again.

  Instead, it had fallen into the wrong hands.

  The question was, whose hands?

  She let her eyes travel up the armor, from the feet to the knees and over the hips up to the chest and head. The helmet was in place, sleek and perfect. Not hers. That one had belonged to Paul.

  The lift stopped, and the doors slid open. The Cerebus turned back to Riley, its posture stiff and cold.

  “David, wait,” Riley said. “Please. I can explain everything. We don’t need to do this.”

  “I require the access codes to the landing sequence,” he replied, his voice altered by the filtration system of the helmet. “There is nothing to explain.”

  “I can’t give you the codes,” she said. “I don’t have them. Harry had them, and you killed him.”

  “Are you so accustomed to the alteration of truth that you have come to believe in its accuracy?”

  Riley stared at the dark faceplate. David had never spoken to her like that, but then again, the genetic alterations had been changing him. She opened her mouth to respond, but he grabbed her by the collar, lifting her to her feet. He spun her around in front of him and shoved her out the door.

  “Walk,” he commanded.

  Riley did as he ordered, taking even, deliberate steps along the corridor. She knew she couldn’t escape from him, but that wasn’t the reason she walked slowly. Caleb and the Guardians would be working to reach Research. She was on her way to the bridge. If she could get to the comm there and get a signal out once they had made it, maybe they could get her out of this mess.

  She should never have gone after the Reaper alone. She felt responsible for the existence of the creatures, and she wanted to make things right. She hadn’t expected David to be outside of Research. She hadn’t expected him to be the one to give chase. She had hoped he was dead but assumed he wasn’t. After all, the Reapers had survived the centuries. Why wouldn’t their progenitor survive as well?

  And since she had been forced to flee and leave the armor behind, was it any surprise he had figured out how to put it on, activate it and use it? He’d had years to study and practice.

  Granted, she shouldn’t have gone after the Reaper alone, but she was glad she had. Otherwise, whoever had been with her would have died at David’s hand. And she realized that if the Guardians had stayed on her tail, all of them would be dead now.

  She couldn’t help but wonder if that was only delaying the inevitable.

  “David, I know things didn’t go exactly according to plan, and I know you’re mad at me for it. I understand that. And I understand why. But they’re dead, damn it. Harry, Paul, Mackie. All of them. Even the Guardians, Shiro and Ning. Nothing is going to change the outcome. For you or any of them.”

  “Walk faster,” David replied. “I require the access codes.”

  “You want to land the ship with the Reapers still out there? Why do you think I have the code? I know you’re mad, but don’t you care about the people in Metro?”

  “I have no concern for the Reapers. I have no concern for the people in Metro. I require the access codes. I want to land the Deliverance. Now. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

  “Why?”

  “Walk faster.”

  He shoved her in the bac
k, forcing her to accelerate to keep from falling. They had to cross all the way back to the bridge from the other side of Metro, which meant following a nearly two-kilometer corridor over the top of the city. If he wanted her to move any faster, she would have to break into a run.

  “David, you didn’t answer me. Why?”

  “I require exodus from this ship.”

  “So do we all. If you help us deal with the rest of the Reapers, the ship will land on its own.”

  “Are you capable of speaking the truth?”

  Riley scowled in front of him. “How did you know Harry changed the parameters?”

  “I gained read-only access to the mainframe. I can see everything. I can change nothing.”

  She let herself smirk. Harry had added an extra layer of security on top of the base encryption, just in case. That David had managed to crack the top level was impressive for multiple reasons. That he could read the mainframe’s code was something else. It was two parts incredible, one part terrifying. He knew everything. More than he had known before. More than he should know. Even if he couldn’t change it, he still knew it.

  One way or another, before this was over, he would have to die.

  She had been planning on killing him anyway.

  “You have the access codes,” David said. “Only you can land the ship. I will bring you to the terminal. You will enter the codes. The ship will land.”

  “That isn’t going to happen, David.”

  His voice was cold, even and certain. “It will.”

  They continued along the corridor, spending the next ten minutes in silence. They arrived near the end of the long passage, the hallway branching out at an intersection. Riley looked ahead to it, trying to decide if she dared attempt to escape. David wouldn’t kill her as long as he believed she was the only chance he had to reach Essex, though why he was so desperate to get down there was beyond her. If she could get far enough away, if she could reach one of the maintenance passages, maybe she could lose him. The Cerebus armor was sleek, but it would be a tight fit in the smaller corridors.

  Ultimately, she didn’t have much to lose.

  She checked David’s position behind her. He was only a couple of meters back. Close enough to grab her if she wasn’t quick enough. He had her guns too, but she was pretty sure he wouldn’t use them. She just had to take him by…

  She burst ahead, breaking for the intersection a few steps before they reached it, hoping he wouldn’t be expecting the move. He didn’t. She made the first four steps before she noticed him reacting at all, and she turned and sprinted down the left adjoining corridor. She knew it would lead to the central bank of lifts. She was familiar with the area and the maintenance passages here. She had gotten an initial lead.

  She was going to make it.

  She raced for the next junction. Taking a glance back, she was surprised to see David wasn’t following. She kept her eyes on him, unsure of why he had paused. Was there a Reaper somewhere in her path ahead?

  She watched David’s visor slide up. She expected to see his face. Instead, she saw a simple flash, as though his eyes were on fire. She looked away, continuing to run.

  “Riley, you bitch.”

  The voice came from up ahead, causing Riley to slow as she approached the intersection.

  “I can’t believe you did this to us. We were your squad mates. We trusted you.”

  Riley came to a stop in the intersection, turning her head to the left. Mackie was standing there. She was naked, her body already beginning to twist into the monstrous form of the Reaper she had become.

  “You lied to us,” Paul said from behind her. She turned around. He was in the same state. Naked and changing into something horrific.

  “You used us,” Harry said. “You used me worst of all.”

  “Are you even capable of telling the truth?” John asked.

  “What did you do to me?” Private Ning said, coming at her from the front, along with Private Shiro. “What did you give me?”

  Riley’s heart raced, and she froze in place, looking at each of the Reapers. “No. I was following orders. This is war. Sacrifices have to be made.”

  “You don’t turn on your family,” Mackie said. “We were family.”

  “We were more than family,” John said. “Once.”

  “John, I’m sorry. I was out of options. I had to…”

  The Reapers were closing in, their voices beginning to merge as they surrounded her. She reached for her rifle, but it wasn’t there. What had happened to it? Mackie lunged at her. She ducked and punched, hitting the Reaper in the stomach.

  “You lying bitch!” Ning shouted.

  “Lying bitch!” the others refrained, chanting it as they came at her.

  Claws raked her arms from the sides, some of them cutting through her SOS and drawing blood. She cried out in pain and terror. Her eyes ran with tears, her body cold and shaking.

  “How could you do this to us?” Harry said.

  They grabbed her from behind. They threw her to the ground and held her there.

  David appeared over her, holding a syringe. He knelt down beside her, visor closed once more.

  “What is that?” she asked breathlessly.

  “Only what you deserve,” he replied.

  The syringe descended toward her neck.

  She blacked out.

  Chapter 24

  The Guardians carried the first of the drones from the hangar. Even without the wings, the vehicles were heavy enough that they required Caleb and Washington to handle them, and even then they were only able to lift them because of Caleb’s cyborg arm. Otherwise, they would have had to use one of the Strongman exoskeletons, which would have made the whole process much slower than Caleb wanted. If Riley was in David’s hands, they needed to move as fast as possible to keep him from getting whatever it was he wanted from her.

  “You okay, Wash?” Caleb asked. He could barely see the big Marine past the fuselage of the drone, which he had cradled in his replacement arm. Washington was stooped over in the front, bearing the weight of the machine on his back as they walked. He shifted the weight slightly and offered a thumbs up.

  The hardest part had been the stairs. They couldn’t risk detonating the drone on Deck Thirty, not with the outer hull beneath them. They had no choice but to carry it up, deciding to go three flights to Deck Twenty-seven to be safe. The T-9 packed a punch, and they didn’t want to blow a hole in the ship and inadvertently kill everyone. They were also trying to be careful not to hit any critical systems, which meant lugging the drone to a spot where there were no nearby maintenance corridors. Riley might have known the layout of the passages, but the Guardians didn’t. They discovered the access areas through trial and error, all of which cost them even more time.

  Sho and Flores mostly kept guard as they walked, watching the illuminating and fading lights of the corridors to ensure nothing was coming toward them from either direction. They broke away every so often to search for the secondary passages. Flores had lamented the loss of the Dragonflies multiple times. They all knew how much the small drones would have sped up their placement.

  “What do you think?” Caleb asked as they reached another intersection.

  The corridors had all started to look alike to him, an endless repeat of doors and bulkheads that made him feel as though they were walking in circles. He didn’t know what the deck had originally been planned to house. They had reached an unfinished part of the ship, which had its basic modular frame intact but none of the finishing touches that defined it. The rooms were all empty metal boxes, one after another, there for the sole purpose of filling in the space.

  “I think this is the spot,” Sho said.

  “Agreed,” Caleb replied. “Wash, set it down gently.”

  Washington shifted the drone, holding it with two arms and squatting. Caleb squatted with him, bringing the device to the deck. They dropped it the last few centimeters, the weight of it vibrating through the decking.


  “Shhh,” Flores said. “We don’t want to bring the Reapers here yet.”

  “We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Sho said. “I doubt any Reapers are hanging out nearby.”

  “Let’s head back to the hangar,” Caleb said. “We’ve got three more of these things to move.”

  Washington lowered his head, shaking it sadly. Caleb didn’t blame him for not wanting to make a similar trip three more times. He checked the power meter on his arm’s control ring. His battery was at fifty percent, down nearly twenty from the exertion of humping the drone up here. He could only move two more before he would have to recharge.

  “It’s taking a lot out of me too, Wash,” he said. “Let’s do at least one more, and then we can activate them and see what we get. Maybe we won’t need the last two.”

  Washington lifted his head again, smiling and nodding. That was a better idea.

  They headed back toward the hangar, the return trip much shorter. The jammed blast doors had forced them to carry the drone out the other side of the hangar, closer to the stern. They re-entered that way, remaining cautious as they neared the area. Caleb still wasn’t sure he had seen the pair of legs on the ADC’s monitors. Even if he had seen them, he wasn’t convinced they had been real..

  They entered the hangar. It was as dark and silent as when they had left it. They crossed the rows of equipment to the ADC. Caleb had closed the access ramp on the way out, finding that his access code was still good for the military vehicle. He opened the armored hatch to reveal the access panel beneath, tapping in his code again. The back of the vehicle started to open, lowering outward to the ground.

  “Flores, give us a quick sweep of the area on the cameras, and send a two-second transmission out to the drone to make sure we have connectivity.”