by Jacob Holo
“Hold fire,” Ryu said, reading the label on the grenade. “Don’t move.”
The grenade rolled to a stop halfway between the dragons and the Feddies. Smoke jetted out of the bottom, spewing a thick, green cloud. In seconds, it filled the tunnel and visually obscured the Feddies. Cat tracked their SolarNet traffic, showing them standing directly ahead.
“Someone should tell them that junk doesn’t stick to our suits anymore,” Naomi said.
Sonic cancellers and smartskin prevented any direct contact between the dragons. Naomi’s suit sent the message to a TangleNet server two kilometers underneath Europa’s surface through a secure entangled particle link. When received, the server relayed the message to the other dragons instantaneously through their own entangled links.
“They can still see us if we move out of the cloud too fast,” Toshi said.
“Yeah, but they also have no chance of spotting us through this junk,” Ryu said. “Cat, what are they doing?”
“They’re releasing cling-gas in hopes of fouling our suits,” Cat said. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“No, I mean why haven’t they moved on?”
“Uhh ... They’re talking about sports,” Cat said. “Apparently Cleveland is the team to follow this year.”
“Great.”
“Or it might be Detroit. There seems to be some debate on this point.”
“Uh huh.”
“They also hate these patrols. They think their commander is an idiot because—”
“Thank you, Cat. That will do.”
“Should we wait until they move?” Naomi asked.
“Who knows when that’ll be,” Ryu said.
“We could backtrack and go around their patrol,” Cat said.
Ryu checked his map. “That’ll take too long.”
“Or we can just kill them and move on,” Toshi said.
“We’re wasting too much time here,” Ryu said. “Toshi, back me up. Let’s keep this quiet.”
“Right, boss.”
Ryu stuck his rifle to his back where smartskin held the weapon in place with adaptive friction. He pulled an ultrasonic knife from the sheath at his waist. Toshi did the same. They walked into the expanding green cloud, one careful step at a time. The smoke ahead thinned until Ryu saw the regulars. One of them gestured like he was throwing an unseen game ball. That one had his back to the dragons. The other Feddie looked straight at Ryu.
Ryu and Toshi emerged fully from the smoke. Green gas swirled around their suits.
The Feddie looking their way reached for his carbine.
Ryu and Toshi sprinted forward with forty meters of open ground to cross. The soles of their smartsuits adapted for extra friction, allowing them to run at full speed in Luna’s easy gravity. Ryu engaged the power pack in the knife’s hilt. The ultradiamond blade oscillated at lethal frequencies.
Thirty meters.
Twenty meters.
The Feddie grabbed his carbine and raised the barrel.
Ten meters.
Ryu cut through the Feddie’s wrist, severing his hand and carbine from the rest of his body. With a quick horizontal slash, Ryu jammed the knife into the side of the Feddie’s helmet, stabbing through its SolarNet communications micromind and shredding the man’s brain. Red gore splattered the insides of the Feddie’s faceplate.
Toshi stabbed the second Feddie through the head in the exact same spot.
The Feddie’s gun and severed hand hit the ground.
“I’ve set up two dummy nodes to fake their SolarNet traffic,” Cat said. She took two marble-sized devices from her belt pouch and stuck them to a wall. “We’ve got maybe ten minutes before someone notices the fake nodes.”
“Good job,” Ryu said, drawing his knife from the dead Feddie. He lowered the corpse to the ground and sheathed the knife.
“Here, boss,” Toshi said, dragging his victim over to a maintenance hatch in the floor. He opened it and chucked the corpse inside. Ryu followed with his victim, leaving a trail of fresh blood in his wake.
“My kill was cleaner,” Toshi said.
“He was about to fire,” Ryu said. He tossed the hand and carbine in after the two dead Feddies. “All right, let’s make the most of those ten minutes.”
Ryu led the way through pastel blue halls and rows of machinery painted neon green. Modern English warnings and instructions adorned the machines in blocks of hot pink text. The pastel blue halls gave way to a wide, powder yellow staircase leading up. Light filtered through the opening at the end.
Ryu climbed ten stories of stairs, stepped across a wide landing, then climbed another ten stories, and stopped at a pair of glass doors. The sign on the doors was backwards and read: NEW LONDON UTILITY TUNNEL C81.
They had reached a point along the crater slope that looked down on the sprawl of New London. The city was a riot of neon and pastel colors. Yellows, blues, greens, reds, even a whole district in painfully hot pink. The Lunarians gave every color its due.
Ryu had always liked that about Lunarians. In a world as gray and drab as Luna, the Lunarians celebrated color in everything they built or wore. It was perhaps a shame they all seemed to be colorblind, but Ryu appreciated their enthusiasm all the same.
Looking up, Ryu saw the crater plate: a massive array of hexagonal panels that sealed in the crater’s breathable atmosphere. Earth and the stars gleamed through the clear ceiling. The sun’s filtered rays illuminated most of the city, with street lights shining brightly in those sections concealed by the crater wall’s shadow. It was perhaps midmorning in Luna’s month-long “day”.
On the northern side of the city far from their position was the expansive, five-story sprawl of the House of Parliament and the ancient clock tower Bigger Ben. They looked like something plucked out of history, all rising and pointed gothic architecture, right angles and fine stone details versus the geometric absurdity of New London.
An explosion bloomed from the city center. Then two more from the outskirts. The city was alive with gunfire. Ryu saw about fifty Federacy regulars storm a six-story turquoise bubble-office. Lunar troops fired down from the oval windows. Another twenty Federacy regulars piled out of their troop carriers a block away and took positions in nearby buildings.
Armored troop carriers and tanks supported the advancing Federacy forces. A Federacy tank hovered out of cover and fired on a fully loaded Lunar troop carrier, catching it in the open. Bits of soldiers and vehicle fragments scattered out of the black, oily explosion. Airborne Federacy gunships flitted between the buildings, firing on enemy positions and ducking into cover when the return fire got too hot. The city seethed with the mess of brutal street fighting and blurred battle lines.
Beneath their position, a solid column of Federacy reinforcements filed through a six-lane tunnel coming from the New London spaceport.
“And we have to cross this?” Naomi asked.
Chapter 2
... establishing link ...
source: [UNKNOWN]
routing: [UNKNOWN]
routing: [UNKNOWN]
routing: [UNKNOWN]
routing: Earth orbit - surveillance satellite JDN-SS-17 - link_001/link_002
routing: North Pacifica, Europa - JDN Main TangleNet Hub - link_010/link_118
routing: Capitol City, Europa - TangleNet Test Hub - link_001/link_005
destination: [UNKNOWN]
link distance: Exact distance unknown. Estimated at 792 million kilometers.
link signal delay: 0.006 seconds
... finalizing link protocol ...
... link established ...
2: Sakura.
1: Hello, Paul. What an unexpected pleasure.
2: Any pleasure you derive from this discussion is purely accidental.
1: I see. Well, don’t let me keep you. You obviously have contacted me for a reason.
2: We are going to discuss the dragons on Luna.
1: What about them?
2: Why are they on Luna?
1: I
thought the reason was obvious. The Lunar State requested aid and the dragons were dispatched to provide said aid.
2: Yes, that’s the obvious reason. Now tell me why they’re on Luna.
1: Paul, as much as you might read into this, there isn’t any other answer I can give you.
2: So you deny the dragons are part of the Europan takeover of Luna?
1: Of course I deny such a ridiculous claim.
2: And you deny you have designs on Luna.
1: It is of little interest to me. If anything, the dragons are there to show our good will to the rest of the solar system.
2: Ah, yes. The famous Europan good will. Spreading love and peace wherever they travel.
1: You’re mocking me.
2: Of course I’m mocking you. You have abided by the letter of our arrangement, but you have failed to honor the spirit of that arrangement.
1: Meaning what, Paul?
2: You need a reminder of exactly who is in charge here. I’ve chosen a small demonstration that I believe will get your attention. I want you to understand it is I who allows your little ice moon to continue existing. Maybe this will wake you up and make you behave.
1: Paul, what have you done?
2: Oh, calm yourself. I’m not talking about genocide. Not yet, anyway. I’ve prepared a little script for your dragons in New London. Even now, the crusaders are moving significant forces into the city.
1: Your doing, I assume.
2: I have nudged them in the appropriate direction. It should be quite a spectacular battle. I always enjoy seeing those two forces go at it, especially given your personal stake in these matters.
1: You underestimate the dragons.
2: And you underestimate me. Know this. No matter who lives or dies in New London, two things are certain. My position will be strengthened and yours will be weakened. Heed this for the warning that it is. Next time I will not be so merciful.
... link severed at source ...
Ryu crouched behind the massive square bulk of a voltage transformer halfway down the crater slope. Thick, neon-green cables ran down to New London. Naomi, Cat, and Toshi joined him.
Ryu tagged a Lunar house with a nav beacon. The house looked like a bright orange spike coming out of the ground.
“We’ll head down the slope to this house then proceed clockwise around the city,” Ryu said. “Going straight through is too much of a risk. Naomi, what do you think?”
Naomi shouldered her JD-42 sniper rifle and pointed to the left. “There’s plenty of machinery and rocks along the slopes. I can stay up here and cover your advance.”
“Good,” Ryu said. “Stay out of sight if possible and meet us at the House of Parliament.”
“Got it.”
“Let’s go,” Ryu said. He broke cover and sprinted down the slope, shrouded in his smartskin illusion. Cat and Toshi chased after him. Naomi ran to the left.
A Federacy gunship passed overhead. It stopped and turned its nose towards the city. Air turbines on either side of the craft twisted and flexed to stabilize the aircraft.
The gunship opened fire with its nose turret, spewing out a steady stream of explosive-tipped pain. The bullets pounded into the seventh story of a bright red apartment complex shaped like a giant apple. Lunar soldiers launched a missile from the sixth story.
Countermeasures spat out of the gunship’s dorsal spine. The gunship descended, almost crashing into the crater slope, but steadied itself with a last second burst of thrust. The missile angled towards the countermeasures and exploded in a quick flash of yellow light and shrapnel.
“I thought the fighting in the city had died down!” Cat said.
“Something stirred it up,” Ryu said. They’d almost reached the edge of the city.
“In position,” Naomi said, her locator pulsing halfway up the slope. “Your path is clear.”
Ryu stopped at the orange house, a slender four-story spike. Steam poured out of the windows and a gaping hole in the first floor. Automated sprinklers had recently put out a fire.
Ryu led his squad to the left.
“Contact ahead,” Naomi said. “About twenty Feddies. They’re busy with some Lunars hiding in a parking garage. Stay on course and slip by.”
“Understood,” Ryu said. He checked around the orange house’s corner, then sprinted to the next house. Gunfire echoed down the street. Distant explosions rumbled in his chest. His wetware cheats identified each weapon based on key sonic identifiers, adding to his tactical awareness.
Three guns opened fire, close by and slightly deeper into the city, their firing sounds easily distinguishable from the rest. It was like a continuous mechanical roar instead of the staccato beat of most firearms. Ryu didn’t need his cheats to identify the weapons.
“Naomi?”
“Yeah, I see them. Four crusaders backing up those Feddies. Hold your position.”
Ryu stopped at the edge of a pale green house shaped like a cartoon tree. He extruded a dot-cam tubule from his glove and peeked it around the corner.
“They should be coming into view now,” Naomi said.
Five Federacy regulars and four crusaders in gleaming white armor ran across the intersection.
The crusaders’ suits made them look more like armored bears than people, with enlarged torsos and thick limbs. But those exaggerated dimensions represented triplicate armor and layers of artificial musculature that granted incredible speed. The crusaders took cover behind a concrete barrier when the Feddies had only crossed half the distance.
Several Lunarians fired from inside the parking garage, killing two of the exposed Feddies.
The crusaders sprang out of cover, aimed three M18 six-barreled Gatling guns and opened fire. Each gun spewed out one hundred twenty variable payload shells a second, literally pulping the Lunarians with a mix of explosive and incendiary ordnance. The crusader with an M7 thermal lance targeted a concrete barrier further back. The hot-white beam from his weapon cut through reinforced concrete thirty meters away and vaporized the Lunarians hiding behind it.
It was over in less than a second. The Lunarians didn’t have time to adjust their aim or dive back under cover. The crusaders showed up and the Lunarians died.
One of the crusaders turned around, light glinting off his gold visor. A gold crucifix against a background of red and white squares marked his left shoulder.
“This just became a lot more difficult,” Ryu said.
The four crusaders rose and advanced into the parking garage. One of them stood a head taller than the rest.
“You see that?” Naomi said.
“Yeah, I see it,” Ryu said.
“Looks like the tall one is the squad leader.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too.”
“Boss, I know this is a stupid idea,” Toshi said. “But can we kill these guys? We’ve got the drop on them.”
“You know better than that, Toshi.”
“But that crusader could be a dragon defector.”
“We don’t know that for certain,” Ryu said, knowing in his heart he was lying. “Plenty of Martians are that tall. Lunarians and quicksilvers too. Hell even some cometeers are that tall. It could be any of them.”
“You think crusaders are going to take orders from some lunatic cometeer?” Toshi asked.
“Not really,” Ryu said.
“It’s got to be one of our own,” Toshi said. “The crusaders always give our defectors the juicy posts.”
“You’re jumping to conclusions.”
“How about this,” Toshi said. “Let’s kill the other three and capture the squad leader. We can bring him back home with us instead of the ambassador, interrogate him, chop him up into little pieces and mail him back to Penance. Maybe not in that order.”
“Toshi, enough!”
“I ... yeah, boss.”
“Naomi?”
“Your path is clear.”
“Let’s go!” Ryu said. He drew the tubule back into his glove, sprang out of c
over and dashed for the next house. From house to house, building to building, the three dragons skirted the city. In the distance, Ryu saw the pointed clock tower of Bigger Ben getting closer.
“Hey, Toshi?” Ryu asked.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Why do they call it Bigger Ben?”
“Not sure. I think there was a similar clock tower on Earth.”
“In the original London?”
“Maybe,” Toshi said. “Records are pretty sketchy from that era, and of course none of the old nation-state capitols exist anymore, but there is a lot of indirect evidence the clock tower existed.”
“Huh. So old London was a capitol on Earth?”
“I think so, but I’m not really sure. I saw a documentary on New London once, but it’s been a while.”
Naomi followed her own path along the slopes, dangerously exposed to gunships, dashing from one rocky feature or machinery structure to the next.
“There are other crusader squads,” Naomi said from her latest position. “I count at least five squads. Looks like they’re converging on the House of Parliament.”
“Great,” Ryu said. “Got any more good news?”
“Hold on, I’ve got to relocate,” Naomi said. “Ah, damn it!”
“What?”
“I’ve got Feddies pouring out of a utility tunnel. They’re right in my way.”
Ryu stopped and looked up the slope. A green glowing dot marked Naomi’s position. A swarm of red expanded out close to her.
“Can you head up the slope and loop around them?”
“I’ll try. Shit! They’re deploying a missile battery.”
“Need help?”
“No, I’m okay,” Naomi said. “I just need to get out of here before the Lunars start shooting at this location. Go on ahead.”
“Understood,” Ryu said.
The Federacy missile battery on the slope opened fire, launching six projectiles in a lazy arc over the city. The missiles flew high over the buildings, skimmed the crater plate up top, then dove for a yellow cubical building. They stabbed through the roof and exploded within. Despite the carnage, the building did not collapse. It must have been reinforced.
