Talon took a deep breath and stepped in. It was a two-layered ingress, and once he was inside, the outer seal slammed shut and the glassy, more delicate interior one hissed open.
The peace and quiet came to a swift end. He’d never stood in the very core of an asteroid colony before. He couldn’t help but be filled with awe. It was a vast, intricate system of which he had only the barest understanding. There were a few experts throughout the Circuit, but unfortunately for Eureka, he didn’t have one with him.
Several rows of enormous turbines inside were as noisy as ship engines. They crackled from electric surges as the refined gravitum within them was charged at the perfect levels in order to generate points of artificial gravity. Talon wasn’t exactly sure how it worked, but that was the gist of it.
Every so often the blinding cerulean light shining in their centers would swell as if part of a beating heart, and the countless conduits branching out from them would hum with current. It was the asteroid colony’s circulatory system, but instead of running beneath skin, it threaded through the rocky walls and paneled ceilings. There, the tubes would continue for kilometers, cycling the charged element throughout the settlement and evenly spreading a sense of pseudo-gravity to surfaces.
Talon truly had no idea what would happen when he blew the generator to pieces, besides that it would swiftly dial the gravity conditions on the asteroid back toward the natural minimal-g state caused by its mass and spin. But even in its refined form, gravitum could be a highly volatile substance. He’d learned that firsthand.
However great the risks, they were worth taking. Having an army of Ceresians with the blue death was better than having no army at all. They’d need numbers to last the war.
Talon gritted his teeth and lifted up his pulse-rifle. All the control consoles within might as well have been in a foreign language, so there was no use wasting time trying to decipher the system.
“Well, Elisha… maybe I’ll see you soon,” he said to himself. He caught a glimpse of his face reflecting in his visor, of his sallow flesh and bright veins. “If not, won’t be long.”
He aimed the gun in the direction of one of the turbines and squeezed the trigger. The machine’s spinning fins crumbled in on themselves as the forces holding the turbine together were compromised. Streaks of raw bluish energy bolted out past his visor. Talon wasn’t scared of it filling his lungs, but as hot flames licked at his boots, he couldn’t deny his trepidation.
He backed away slowly as he changed the clip on his rifle. It was difficult to walk. A concurrent feeling of both sinking and rising stole over him. Before long, his feet were barely touching the ground. Conduits tore free from the walls and spit out billows of gravitum in a gaseous state. The typical azure coloration of the element was lost. It mixed with black smoke and filled the room with a noxious miasma so dark that Talon could barely see a thing.
The generator tore itself apart all on its own, no longer needing him to continue firing. Some people on the Circuit believed that the Ancients’ rampant harvesting of gravitum caused Earth to fall apart. For the first time in Talon’s life, that didn’t seem like some timeworn story told to inspire restraint. He was watching the unseen forces of the universe lash out at each other without relent, and it was truly terrifying.
By the time he backed up against a wall, he’d already inhaled so much smoke that he could hardly breathe. Death was all around him, like the stuff of nightmares. He was powerless—his gun a useless tool.
No. I won’t die like this.
Falling in battle was one thing, but he wasn’t going to give gravitum the satisfaction of taking him even earlier. He dropped his rifle and watched it disappear into the cloud of chaos and energy. Then he reached out to try to find anything he could grab hold of. It was impossible to differentiate between up and down, but after a few frantic seconds he found a groove in either the floor or ceiling. He drew his weightless body along it, back towards what he hoped was the way out.
His fingers brushed against a projection, and he used it to launch himself forward with as much force as he could muster. His shoulder slammed against a solid metal surface—the outer seal of the generator’s entrance.
The door’s controls were right above him. He set it to open, and as it did, the inner seal squeezed shut. He used the walls to haul himself through, watching in horror as ravenous tendrils of energy clawed at the glass.
Talon tore off his helmet once he was floating safely outside. He coughed violently, and it was only after he vomited that he was able to finally gasp for fresh air. He groped his face to make sure that he was alive and that what he’d just seen was real.
It was.
Red emergency lights illuminated the tunnel. A siren wailed, different than the one that went off when his people had invaded the asteroid. He recognized the sound from the only other time he’d heard it, on Kalliope.
Oxygen continued pumping throughout the tunnel along with all other life-support systems, but gravity was gone.
Let’s see how the Tribune handles this, Talon thought.
As long as Tarsis was able to spread the message to enough Ceresians, they’d temporarily have the upper hand. It would take the Tribune a while to figure out that Eureka was defiled, her gravity generator more than simply deactivated.
Just long enough, perhaps, for a miracle.
31
Chapter Thirty-One—Sage
The glowing belt of docking stations wrapping Eureka was easy to spot against the blackness of space. Debris from wrecked ships floated everywhere, forcing the transport Sage was on to weave its way toward the docks. Tribunal fighters darted all around, defending them from Ceresian ones.
Fire from flak cannons traced across the stars. Missiles burst. Nothing emanated from the asteroid itself, so Sage figured the Ceresians must’ve already destroyed most of Eureka’s defenses during their own invasion. It was the perfect strategy. Invite the Ceresians in, and then leave them defending unfamiliar ground.
She glanced down and checked the pulse-rifle in her hands. Just in case there was still fighting to be done, she hoped it was at least in working order.
“The breaching of Eureka is underway,” Yavortha said through comms as the transport initiated docking procedures with Eureka. “May the Spirit guide your steps.”
“For the Spirit!” all the soldiers on board hollered. Then they leaned over as far as their restraints would allow and allowed their fingers to graze the ground. Sage did it as well.
The commander of her unit came onto her comms once the prayers were completed. There was some chatter about what their unit’s orders were, but she ignored most of it after she found out they belonged to the second wave. Judging by the size of the army traveling with the Ascendant, the docks would likely be taken by the time they landed. Once they were there, both Yavortha and her unit’s commander would have too much to keep tabs on to monitor any individual soldier. She’d easily be able to bow out of ranks and sneak onto a transport returning to the Ascendant.
The station’s airlock came open and the transport soared into one of Eureka’s many lofty hangars. Mark V combat mechs were already present, with more being dropped off on what was left of the landing pads projecting from the asteroid. Sage hadn’t yet had the opportunity to see the new model in action. She didn’t count the one on the Tribunal freighter, which never even had a chance to fight back against her.
A few of them fired their back-mounted light rails toward the Ceresian-occupied end of the docks. Bolts of white light speared across the way, lighting up the room as if she were in an electrical storm.
The transport touched down, and Yavortha led Sage’s unit out. She waited long enough before getting up for there to be a sizeable gap between them. They were immediately greeted by a legion of Tribunal troops. She used that moment to sneak out of the ranks and climb into a pile of scraps nearby to observe.
Bodies were everywhere, not belonging only to Ceresians either. Charred corpses of Eureka’s Tribuna
l defenders already lay amongst the wreckage.
“Sir.” An eager commander ran over and addressed Yavortha, falling to one knee and grazing the floor with his hand. Yavortha signaled him to rise.
“The Ceresians surrendered the docks without much of a fight,” the commander continued. “They’ve fallen back into the tunnels, but we’ve interrogated the ones we managed to capture and found out that they’re still receiving some resistance from Eureka’s inhabitants down below.”
“Good men,” Yavortha replied.
“Also, they’ve revealed interesting news. Apparently, Cassius Vale has been executed back on Ceres.”
Yavortha snickered. “Yes, our executors there have reported as much. Apparently, the traitor didn’t have as many friends as he thought.”
The commander appeared disappointed by Yavortha’s lack of surprise, but maintained his composure. “Shall I announce the news to the men?”
“Not yet. His Eminence Benjar Vakari has taught me to never trust what you hear. I’ll believe the news when I see Vale’s body myself. Either way, if it is true, then this war shouldn’t last long. Now, relieve the first wave and send in the new arrivals. Don’t give them any time to establish defensive positions.”
“Yes, sir.” The commander kneeled again before waving Sage’s unit on.
She froze.
She imagined that the rumored news of Cassius’ execution should upset her more. Whether or not she wanted to admit it, he’d been important to her. Without him, she would have likely lost her life two times over.
However, for the first time in recent days, she actually agreed with Yavortha’s sentiments. Cassius wasn’t the type of man to allow himself to be executed. He wasn’t the type of man to die either. If Benjar Vakari didn’t trust the news that his greatest rival was gone, then she couldn’t either.
After settling on that, she skulked along the wreckage to try to get a clearer assessment of the situation. As she did, Yavortha stopped the commander to give another order.
“Execute all captives and relay the message that no prisoners are to be taken,” he said. “His Eminence wants to send a message to those who’d dare attack colonies under our protection.”
The commander glanced over at a cluster of bloodied Ceresian captives nearby. They were cuffed and on their knees. Helpless.
“Yes-yes, sir,” he stuttered.
The commander signaled to the men holding the prisoners at gunpoint. The Ceresians looked around frantically, but there was no time to attempt anything. A brief chorus of screams rang out before they were rendered silent by loyal Tribunal soldiers, and all Sage could do was stare from her cover.
They were men of flesh and blood, able to be converted, shown true faith… mowed down in cold blood.
Sage looked back to where Yavortha had taken up position, watching the bloodbath from his perch upon the ramp of the transport they’d arrived in. All she could do was hope that he was really the one behind the slaughter and not Benjar, though she was starting to know better than to assume that.
Before she could think of what to do next, a deafening whine filled the entire space. It was so high pitched that she went to hold her ears even though she was wearing a helmet. Then all her weight melted away. The scraps of metal around her started lifting off the floor, then her body, and then everyone else.
It can’t be? Sage thought as she noticed even the heavy combat mechs beginning to rise. The gravity generator had been turned off, and she could almost guess who had to be behind it. He’s here?
She pushed off the ground so that she could get a better view from the ceiling, when suddenly flames shot out from a portion of Eureka’s enclosure. The blast punctured the emergency shutters covering a cluster of viewports. The sudden pressure change peeled the breach open even further and plucked Tribunal soldiers out without relent.
Sage grabbed onto a light fixture with her artificial arm and endured the initial rush. Much of the unit she’d arrived with wasn’t so lucky. Yavortha pulled himself back into the transport just in time. The unit commander in front of him was yanked away along with everyone else nearby who couldn’t find something fixed to hold onto.
They wore space-worthy suits of armor, so most of them would likely survive as long as they didn’t slam into any metal slag too hard. But they were useless to the battle, drifting through space with timers on their oxygen stores.
A brief moment of silence ensued after the air stopped gushing. Sage peered through the molten gash and saw a white ship zip by. For a second, she thought it might be the White Hand, but decided that was unlikely when she noticed the flicker of Ceresian ships speeding toward Eureka beyond it.
“The heretics will sacrifice an extension of the Earth!” Yavortha shouted over the comm-link. “Take the heart of the asteroid. The Ascendant will ravage their fleet!”
He sounded more panicked than Sage had ever heard him, which meant that he hadn’t been expecting another Ceresian fleet to arrive. It didn’t appear to be nearly enough ships to win the battle and destroy a New Earth cruiser, but they clearly weren’t going to lie down and die.
As soon as Yavortha stopped barking orders, the Ceresian army flooded out simultaneously from the tunnels of Eureka and the rafters along the tall walls. A firefight erupted beneath her. From her high position, Sage could see that the same thing was happening in all the other docking stations throughout Eureka. The Ceresians remained outnumbered three to one, but the lack of gravity made it impossible for the Tribunal army to reestablish order. With the combat mechs left off-balance, targeting a rail gun was impossible as well.
Sage quickly swung up out of the way of a hail of bullets. Her mind reverted to old form, plotting out a course she could take to help her people. She could have a mech pummel the tunnel entrances with a missile barrage and seal the Ceresians inside for as long as it took for her people to reestablish their position. She shook her head when she saw Yavortha emerge from the transport, and remembered.
This isn’t my battle. He’d made that decision perfectly clear to her back on Titan.
She kicked through a vent cap in the ceiling and thrust herself into the narrow shaft. It was a position she was unfortunately getting used to, but being weightless made it simple to traverse.
It was time to improvise again. The gravity generator going off changed the equation. Maybe she was just being foolish to hope, but if it really was Talon, then she could fulfill her mission to reunite him with Elisha. The only mission she had left.
32
Chapter Thirty-Two—Talon
“Die, you Tribunal bastards!” Tarsis shouted up ahead. The tunnels of Eureka rattled with gunfire, but Talon would recognize that voice anywhere.
He used the nooks in the metal-plated ceilings to pull his weightless body along. His helmet was back on, and the further outwards he got within the asteroid, the harder it got to breathe.
The life-support systems had been compromised. Whether or not that was due to Talon didn’t matter, because judging by the chatter over comms, it seemed his plan was working. The Lakura forces were being ordered to lock down every choke point and continue to press into the hangars so that they couldn’t be boxed into the tunnels. They were keeping the Tribune at bay, and the maze of passages through which Talon passed crawled only with his own people.
Talon propelled himself into a hollow running adjacent to the docks, a fairly sizeable galley. Ceresians were posted at each of its many branching exits, and every single table was overturned to provide cover for more. Yara Lakura’s mobile command station had been moved to the back, hidden behind the food service station. She, Captain Hadris, and at least a dozen Lakura officers were hard at work transmitting orders.
Talon spotted Tarsis down a nearby passage. The lack of gravity appeared to be proving beneficial for his body. The Vergent held onto the ceiling with one hand and used the other to fire a heavy machine gun. His back was pinned against a wall to limit recoil.
“Tarsis, need a hand?!”
Talon hollered.
Tarsis looked back, and even through his visor and thick beard, Talon could see him smile. “By the Spirit and the Ancients and every god who might be out there, you’re alive!” he exclaimed. “This is the man who did it. This is the man who braved the generator!”
More than two dozen Lakura combatants fought beside the Vergent, and every one of them immediately stopped what they were doing to glance back at Talon. “For Lutetia!” they shouted in unison, pumping their fists. Then they turned their attention back to their rifles.
Tarsis offered his leg, and Talon grabbed it to help pull himself behind the cloven half of a table being used for cover. As soon as he tucked himself behind it, a blinding beam speared through the passage, preceding a booming crash. Some of the men nearby screeched, and when Talon looked back, they were charred husks along the floor. There was a molten gash cut across a metal wall, solid grayish rock showing through like bone beneath the flesh.
“Nice speech,” Talon said. “They’ve got mechs with rails now?”
“A ton of them. They weren’t prepared to fight in zero g though.” He popped his gun out from cover and unloaded toward starlight. When he had to reload, he turned to Talon and gestured toward a pulse-rifle lying beside a human arm. “You gonna help out or what?”
Talon nodded. He pushed off the wall and floated across the tunnel to grasp it. He heard the snap-hiss of bullets flying by him the entire time. Once he was safely behind another piece of cover, he realized how short of breath he was. It wasn’t the blue death this time, for he hardly had to use his muscles in zero g. The volume of oxygen in the air was dwindling.
“Mechs keep hitting us like this and they’ll cave in all the tunnels and bury us,” Talon shouted back to Tarsis after shooting at some shadows darting across the other end of the room. “We won’t last long with the air this thin.”
The Circuit: The Complete Saga Page 50
