by Jacob Holo
“Now, Toshi! Go! Go! Go!”
Toshi ran for the shuttle.
The crusaders adjusted their aim.
Cat and Ryu’s grenades exploded, showering the crusaders with thickets of piercing needles and armor-melting gouts of flame. The crusaders staggered from the barrage.
Naomi broke cover, lined up a shot and fired. The high-powered shatterback struck the tall crusader in the shoulder, cracked the armor plate and ricocheted. It hit a second crusader in the chest, cut through every layer of armor, and entered the man’s torso. Sensing the desired soft environment, the shatterback’s micromind detonated, releasing a storm of eviscerating diamond shards.
The crusader fell back, dead. The three remaining crusaders continued firing.
Toshi reached the shuttle. He didn’t bother walking up the boarding ramp. Instead he jumped, grabbed hold of the ramp’s edge, and flipped himself up into the tiger shark’s belly. Explosive vari-shells blasted dents in the boarding ramp and twisted one of the landing struts out of position. The tiger shark tilted drunkenly to one side.
Toshi activated the shuttle. Its engines ignited, idling with hot blue exhaust, and the weapon systems powered up. Toshi swiveled the nose turret to face the crusaders and fired. The rate of fire wasn’t particularly impressive, about three shots a second, but the shells were designed to take out enemy interceptors, not ground troops.
Heavy explosions wracked the crusaders’ position. They sprinted out of the way just in time, faster than their bulky armor seemed capable of, even faster than the tiger shark’s turret could traverse. The three surviving crusaders made their way to the northwest corridor, where the nose turret couldn’t be brought to bear. They fired on the tiger shark, pounding its heavy armor.
Toshi started a crash launch procedure. The launch doors above the tiger shark opened. Air rushed out in a wild cyclone of smoke, fire and debris.
“Now!” Ryu shouted. Naomi and Cat broke cover and ran for the tiger shark’s boarding ramp. Ryu trailed behind.
The security door behind them blew open. The second crusader squad charged through.
Ryu turned and fired, still racing towards safety. He peppered the first crusader with shatterbacks, throwing his aim back and blasting fragments off his chest armor. A second crusader fired over the shoulder of the first. Most of the vari-shells went wide, but one caught Naomi in the back, sending her sprawling across the ground. She cried out. Wrong camouflage patterns spiraled around her body.
Ryu fired two grenades, stowed his rifle and grabbed Naomi’s unresisting body by the waist. He reached the boarding ramp and jumped so hard he struck the cargo hold’s ceiling. He grabbed hold of a cargo web to keep them from falling back through the boarding ramp.
“Toshi, get us out of here!” Ryu shouted, dangling from the ceiling.
“With pleasure!”
Toshi powered up the tiger shark’s engines and closed the boarding ramp. The tiger shark ascended. Outside, crusader weapons pounded against the tiger shark’s hull. Toshi fired the nose turret again and poured additional power into the engines.
A horrible metal-on-metal scraping sound filled the cargo hold. The tiger shark’s stub wings ground against the partially opened launch crater. Toshi spun the tiger shark to the side, trying to break free.
The boarding ramp exploded upward. A crusader thermal lance licked across the cargo hold’s ceiling, incinerating anything it touched. Ryu could feel the heat through his smartsuit. He kicked off the cargo web, still holding Naomi, and landed next to Cat near the top of the perforated boarding ramp. He grabbed hold of another cargo web.
“Toshi!”
“I’m trying!”
The grinding noise came to a sharp, abrupt end. The tiger shark jerked to one side then settled. Toshi brought the engines to full power, and the shuttle accelerated away from the launch crater. The pounding of crusader weapons turned to an occasional pattern and then vanished entirely.
Ryu secured Naomi in place with a cargo web and checked her medical readout. Her back glowed yellow with a few traces of red along her spine.
“Naomi?”
“Errr ...”
“How do you feel?”
“Like I’ll never stand up straight again,” she said.
“The hit bent your spine.”
“I ... I don’t think I can move my legs,” Naomi whimpered. She started crying softly.
“Shhh. Don’t worry,” Ryu said. “We’ll get you fixed up once we rendezvous with the frigate.”
He put his hands on her shoulders, but Naomi pushed his arms away.
“Just get us out of here, damn it ...” she said.
“All right,” Ryu said. He backed away, sighed and faced the cockpit. “Toshi, what’s our status?”
“Well, we’re leaking like a sieve, but I think that much is obvious.”
Ryu looked at the twisted wreckage of the boarding ramp. Through the holes, he could see the moon surface flying past.
“Yeah, it’s obvious,” Ryu said.
“The engines are intact, and this thing’s got a full load of missiles and cannon shells,” Toshi said. “We’re in a good position to run the blockade. The frigate Io’s Fury is moving to pick us up. We should reach her in an hour.”
“Good,” Ryu said, still staring at the gray landscape shrinking away. His mind fell back to the tall crusader again.
Of course it was you, Ryu thought. We’re survivors, you and I.
* * *
Kaneda Kusanagi stepped into the middle of the blasted landing crater and watched the tiger shark shrink to a distant point of light.
“Well played, Ryu,” Kaneda said, lowering his Gatling gun. He turned, surveying the battlefield. The launch mechanism lay in ruins, blasted apart by the tiger shark or shredded by either side’s weapons. A red icon hovered in his field of vision. He walked over to his fallen comrade.
“Gregory,” he whispered. If anyone could have seen Kaneda’s face, they would have seen a dispassionate mask.
Externally, little revealed that the suit’s occupant had been reduced to pinkish paste. The outer armor was pitted and cracked in numerous places, abused by the dragon weapons. Diamond needles stuck out in odd places, but only the sniper round had penetrated his chest.
Kaneda reviewed his own armor’s status. It wasn’t in much better shape. His gun had jammed twice during the fight from needles in its rotary mechanism. He could barely move his left arm thanks to the sniper ricochet off his shoulder plate. That one had been close. Only his exceptional reflexes had saved him ... and killed his comrade instead.
Alice walked over behind him, her Gatling gun pointed up.
“The Federacy is launching interceptors to engage the shuttle” she said.
“I doubt they’ll reach it in time,” Kaneda said. “And once they’re out of orbit, the Federacy fleet will not pursue.”
“It would have been better if we’d sabotaged the shuttle,” Alice said.
“They would have disappeared into the maze if we’d done that,” Kaneda said.
“Still—”
“Not now, Alice.”
“Yes ... sorry.”
“There is no need to apologize. As always, I value your advice. Now is simply not the time.”
“Of course,” Alice said. “Is your shoulder all right? You took a nasty hit back there.”
“It looks worse than it is,” Kaneda said. “I wouldn’t want to go into another firefight like this, but I’m fine for now. Fortunately, the armor deflected the bullet away from my body. Unfortunately ...”
They looked down at Gregory in silence.
A minute passed before Kaneda spoke. “Have reports from the other operations come in yet?”
“Yes,” Alice said. “Would you like to review them now?”
“Just a summary, please.”
“Most of the dragons got away. You were right. They all tried to get off planet after the message, but they’re slippery opponents. Our current multi-tracker r
evisions are almost useless against them.”
“How many did we get?”
“Two whole cells. About half a dozen kills from cells that escaped. We suffered moderate casualties. Twenty-seven crusaders killed by dragons. Another three brought down by Lunarians.”
“Not horrible results,” Kaneda said. “But not impressive either.”
“Our losses are within projections.”
“Oh, I am not disappointed, Alice. After all, we have delivered an important message today.”
“You mean the SolarNet broadcast?”
“It’s a very simple message,” Kaneda said. “What we did to the Lunar ministers can happen to any government that aligns itself with Europa. Others will take note. Europa will become increasingly isolated and vulnerable, which in turn makes the quantum mind vulnerable. This is one step of many, but it is an important one.”
Viter walked over, carrying his thermal lance. “Area secure,” he said. “We haven’t found any more traps.”
“Excellent.”
“Sir, we should get moving,” Viter said.
“Yes, of course,” Kaneda said. “A moment alone, if you please.”
“Yes, sir,” Viter said. He and Alice stepped away.
Kaneda set his Gatling gun on the ground and knelt next to Gregory’s body. He folded Gregory’s arms over his chest. Kaneda closed his eyes and made the sign of the cross.
“Rest in peace, my friend.”
Kaneda picked up his gun, stood and looked into the sky. If he strained his eyes, he could just make out the bluish dot of the tiger shark’s exhaust.
“Till we meet again, Ryu,” he whispered.
Chapter 3
... accessing SolarNet message archive ...
... opening folder [Personal - 10 Years Old] ...
... searching for [Kaneda |and| Kristy] ...
... 1 match found ...
... retrieving ...
source: Kaneda Kusanagi
destination: Ryu Kusanagi
message delay: 47 minutes
title: Sorry for the delay
Dear Ryu,
I must apologize for not sending word sooner. I should have, but it always seems like there’s something else to do these days. Earth is still as hectic as when you left, perhaps more so.
The Federacy emergency elections just finished, so the new government will form soon. The Red Party won big in case you’re wondering. It won’t have any problems forming a majority. They have strong ties to the Church of Human, which is troubling. Some of the rhetoric coming from the Church isn’t good for Matriarch. Don’t these people understand she’s not Caesar?
Anyway, enough procrastinating. I doubt you’ll be too surprised to hear this, but I’m staying on Earth. For the time being, mind you. I’ll come home eventually, but for now I have a lot of work ahead of me.
I talked to Matriarch about the persona-intrusion victims in Caesar’s bunker. We can help them. In most cases, Federacy science isn’t good enough to heal their wounds without brain damage. But ours is. Besides it’s the right thing to do and it’ll put a good face on our colony. It might even cool down these Church of Human hotheads that want to start another war.
So I’m staying. I’ll be overseeing a team from Europa that’ll help administer the treatments. Matriarch even mentioned making me our official ambassador. She say’s being Caesar’s killer will add weight to the position.
Speaking of weight, I still hate the gravity here.
Well, we’ll see how this all works out. I have to say, I’m a little nervous. But it’s that good kind of nervous, you know?
Your brother,
Kaneda
... retrieving next message in conversation ...
destination: Ryu Kusanagi
source: Kaneda Kusanagi
message delay: 47 minutes
title: RE>Sorry for the delay
-well i’m sorry your not coming home but it sounds like a good idea
-btw are you sure there isnn’t another reason your staying?
-it’s because of kristy right? (^.^)
-this is so cool my big brother is in looooooove!
... retrieving next message in conversation ...
source: Kaneda Kusanagi
destination: Ryu Kusanagi
message delay: 47 minutes
title: RE>RE>Sorry for the delay
Dear Ryu,
For the record, you have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re not even close. I’m staying because it’s the right thing to do. I’m quite certain I mentioned that in my last message.
Are you sure you read the whole thing? I only ask because you have a habit of skipping over big words. You should really work on that.
And another thing, at least get her name right. It’s Christen, not Kristy.
Your brother,
Kaneda
... retrieving next message in conversation ...
destination: Ryu Kusanagi
source: Kaneda Kusanagi
message delay: 47 minutes
title: RE>RE>RE>Sorry for the delay
(^_^)
... conversation ends ...
Alice floated into the seat across from Kaneda. Both had shed their armor. The corvette’s engines hummed quietly in the background. Yellow holographic timers floated over the crammed passenger cabin’s exits, ticking down to the corvette’s scheduled hard burn.
“You okay?” Alice asked.
Kaneda let the data pad float out of his hand and rubbed shoulder. His muscles tingled from the booster shot of nanomedics.
“I’m fine,” Kaneda said. “Just a little distracted.”
Alice’s short, silvery blonde hair floated around her head. She cracked her neck to either side and massaged the muscles. A thin scar ran all the way around her neck. She had the words “DON’T ASK” tattooed under her right eye.
“Is it bothering you again?” Kaneda asked.
“No more than normal,” Alice said.
Viter floated up through the ladder shaft. He steadied himself against the ceiling and kicked off a wall towards the seat next to Alice.
“Sir,” Viter said with a curt nod.
“Viter,” Kaneda said, grabbing his data pad again. It always amazed him how similar Alice and Viter looked given their unique histories. They could pass for brother and sister or even fraternal twins. Alice didn’t take kindly to the comparison.
“It could have been worse, sir,” Viter said.
“It could have been a lot better,” Alice said. “The multitrackers are still worthless even with the new software.”
“That squad we pursued from the House of Parliament,” Viter said. “They had good instincts. It felt like they were one step ahead of us the whole time.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Alice said.
“We were probably fighting veterans from the Ceres campaign,” Kaneda said, not looking up from his pad.
The lights in the cabin turned red. The hard burn counter entered its final minute.
“Hey, Kaneda?” Alice asked.
“Yes?”
“Was Gregory at Bunker Zero?”
Kaneda took a deep breath. He locked his stylus into the pad’s side and looked up.
“Yes, Gregory was there,” Kaneda said. “He’s been with the crusaders from the beginning. In fact, he helped me found them.”
“He never mentioned that,” Viter said.
“He never mentioned much of anything,” Alice said. “The man was impossible to get to know.”
“There are reasons for that,” Kaneda said. “What he and the other founding crusaders endured was a kind of mental rape. I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like to have your mind picked apart from the inside out. Gregory never ful
ly recovered from that experience.”
“I’m sorry,” Alice said. “I didn’t mean any disrespect. He was ... dependable. Very dependable.”
“Just not very likeable,” Viter said.
Alice smacked him in the arm.
“What?” Viter asked.
Alice mouthed the words shut up.
The corvette’s engines powered up to their cruising delta of 0.2 gees. Kaneda’s data pad settled into his lap. He closed his eyes, accessed one of the corvette’s hull cameras, and overlaid the feed onto his sense of sight.
The corvette sped away from the orbiting Federacy fleet arrayed over Luna. He swung the camera around to face Earth and zoomed in. Even at this extreme distance, he could make out the glittering halo of Earth’s orbiting satellites.
Kaneda triggered the camera’s maximum zoom, focusing on a prominent red dot. The dot resolved into a sprawling gothic cathedral that formed a simple cross when viewed from the top or bottom. Thick baroque buttressing linked the outer modules with the central cathedral, whose tall spires were mirrored on the station’s “bottom”. The running lights of shuttles buzzed constantly around the Sky Cathedral.
I should really stop putting off this year’s pilgrimage, Kaneda thought.
Kaneda panned right, swinging his view across several habitats that had been around since the First Space Age: the gleaming ring city of New Idaho, the hollowed-out Gold Rush asteroid now spun up for gravity and the increasingly poorly named Cubetown among them.
That string of yellow and white dots ... those weren’t there a month ago. The Spaceship Nation has been busy.
Kaneda switched off the overlay and leaned his head back.
Not everything that orbited Earth was lit. Some satellites were black-hulled derelicts from the First and Second Space Ages that no one had been aboard in centuries. The Spaceship Nation (an upstanding, tax-paying Federacy nation-state, as they called themselves) liked expanding its orbital cities by towing the least radioactive derelicts and welding them on. It struck Kaneda as an economic solution to the stresses of their growing population.
