Time Siege

by Wesley Chu

  James, keeping his blaster rifle working, taking out troopers as he moved, sidestepped, fired, and moved again. Dox fell first, taking a shot to the chest meant for James. Hory disappeared a second later, pulling a trooper to the ground. James wanted to stop and help him, but Chawr pulled him forward by his shirt.

  Something struck James from his blind side, and two troopers towered over him, whaling on his arms and chest. He dodged a blaster shot and took out a trooper’s knee with the end of his rifle. He rolled to his side to avoid a stomp and then tripped the other. He got to his feet and finished off both with two quick shots.

  He turned to his left and came face-to-face with a new attacker. It was the same young trooper he had spared at the guardhouse. He still wasn’t wearing a helmet, but he had somehow managed to find a blaster. The two stared at each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Something in James hoped desperately that the boy would retreat. Instead, the boy raised his rifle.

  James got his shot off first, instantly killing him. He stood over the young man and shook his head. Even when he tried his best to spare a life, death somehow claimed what was due. He looked around for Chawr and found his flyguard’s bloodied body lying on the ground. Blood dripped from his mouth and from a gaping wound to his stomach.

  James felt his knees buckle. He had lost many men under his command, both as a chronman and as an elder, but this one hit him the hardest. He remembered the first time they had met. Chawr had offered him booze in return for bringing the Elfreth supplies. He had also been the first to volunteer to learn to work on the collies. He was also the one who had protected Elise when ChronoCom had attacked the Farming Towers and James hadn’t been there. And now he had died protecting James.

  James wanted to sit there with the boy, but didn’t have the luxury of mourning properly. The best thing he could do to honor Chawr was to make his sacrifice count for something. He took a deep breath and continued on. The Elfreth charge had stalled, and they were slowly moving the wrong way. However, they had thinned the Valta ranks enough that James, staying low, was able to sneak through a maze of tents and containers until he reached the monitors’ ranks. He was immediately apprehended by a squad of monitors.

  A wrist beam blast narrowly missed him. James raised his hands. “Don’t shoot. I need to speak with the lead monitor.”

  The man approached, arm held up. “A savage that speaks Solar English? What do you want?”

  The monitor next to him did a double take. “That’s James Griffin-Mars.”

  “Black abyss,” a third monitor said. “I can’t believe you’re still alive.”

  “Take me to the lead monitor now!” James exclaimed. “If you want to beat these Valta assholes, you’re going to need to work together with the wastelander tribes.”

  “Isn’t he a traitor?” the first monitor asked.

  “Get your priorities straight, monitor,” James snapped. “There’s no time. People are dying, and you’re losing right now.”

  The second monitor nodded and signaled for James to follow. They escorted him to a tent where several lead monitors gathered around a crate they used as table. James recognized the one in charge. Pollock was several years younger and had failed to reach the tier. Since then, however, he had made a name for himself within the monitor ranks and was seen as a potential successor to Moyer one day.

  He frowned. “Chronman James Griffin-Mars. This is unexpected. What are you doing here?”

  “What happened between the agency and Valta?” James demanded. “Why are you fighting?”

  “There’s been a coup at Earth Central,” Pollock said. “We’re taking back the agency from the megacorporations.”

  “Auditor Levin involved?”

  Pollock looked surprised. “How did you know?”

  “No time,” James said. “The wastelander tribes out there want to ally with you against Valta.”

  Pollock frowned. “Have you spoken with their leaders?”

  “I’m leading them. Right now, they’re desperately trying to break Valta on the east side. We can help each other.”

  “How can we trust you?” Pollock asked. “You betrayed the agency.”

  “Did I?” James replied. “Perhaps we’re both finally on the right side. There’s no time to debate this. We need to work together, or none of us will make it out alive. If we coordinate, we can pincer them between us.”

  Pollock exchanged a few words with the other lead monitors in the tent. They came to an agreement, and then he slid the map toward James. “Show us the positions.”

  James pointed to the area the guardians had wedged off to get him close to the monitors. “The tribes here will know not to fight with monitors unless attacked first. If you connect with them here, we can open a united front. Then as word spreads, we can cut them off here, here, and here.”

  Pollock signaled to one of the leads to check out that flank. A few minutes later, the lead monitor returned and confirmed what James had said. The group of lead monitors began to form a new strategy, sliding their concentrations slowly to the right. Over the next few minutes, the monitors linked up with Eriao’s forces at the east stairwell. A little while later, they did the same with Maanx’s at the south stairwell.

  Once communication between all three forces was opened, they were able to coordinate their attacks, sometimes entrapping Valta from two sides at the same time. James stayed at the monitor command tent to act as a go-between for the tribes and the monitors. The trust between the two sides was still thin, and a few misunderstandings between monitors and tribes ended with battles. Slowly, however, they started to make a difference against their common enemy. The combined ChronoCom and Manhattan force reversed Valta’s advances and was even able to push them farther back to the center of the building.

  A monitor ran into the tent. “Lead Monitor,” he gasped. “I just saw Securitate Kuo at the collies.”

  Pollock swore. “What the abyss is she doing there? Probably trying to hijack a collie to save her own hide. Well, I can’t worry about one Valta commander right now.”

  James’s blood froze and he clenched his fist. “Where are the collies?”

  Pollock frowned. “You can’t take on a securitate without bands, James, and I can’t spare the manpower to help you take her down. The best thing to do is let her escape.”

  “I won’t let that happen,” James replied, the dream of Smitt’s death fresh in his mind. “You have the situation handled here. I’m going after Kuo.”

  Pollock was about to say something, and then stopped. He went to the far side of the tent and pulled an exo-chain out of the container. He offered it to James. “Take this. It’s the best I can do.”

  James nodded. “Thank you, Lead Pollock.”

  Pollock waved him off. “I’ll send monitors as soon as I can spare any. Until then, stay alive. And if she’s trying to escape, for abyss sake, just let her go.”

  “Not going to happen.” James picked up the chain and sprinted toward the back row of collies. The only thing he could think of right now was Smitt and his promise to bring his murderer to justice. This could be his only chance to make things right.

  He found her just as she killed two monitors outside one of the collies. He charged forward and latched the exo-chain on her. He yanked, pulling her off balance, and then unloaded his blaster at her shields. Unfortunately, it still held. He had to give it to Kuo: she was faster than he had anticipated. She kicked out and tripped him, and they tumbled to the ground. Both of them were up and circling each other in an instant.

  “I’ve been looking forward to running into you, Securitate Kuo,” he growled. “I have a debt to repay that is long overdue.”

  She gave him a look of disdain. “How would a savage know my name?”

  “You murdered my friend. I’m here to repay the favor.”

  Kuo did a double take and laughed. “James Griffin-Mars. At last we meet. I assume you’re referring to your handler. I forget his name.”

>   “His name is Smitt David-Proteus, you psychopath,” he snarled, unloading his blaster at her.

  Kuo tried to dodge the blast, but the exo-chain prevented her from moving too far away, and her shield took the full brunt of the blast, causing it to light up and flicker. James realized it must be low if it was struggling to absorb a single blaster barrage. Kuo charged even as he continued depleting her exo’s levels. She slipped to the side and lunged at him, only to be sent crashing to the floor as he swung the exo-chain in the opposite direction, tripping her up.

  James gripped the handle of the exo-chain warily as she got up. The chain was like a leash on her. As long as he had control of it, he could keep yanking her off balance and prevent her from escaping. Kuo tried to feint to the left, but James pulled in the opposite direction. She stumbled and he hit her with another blaster shot. This time, it penetrated the shield and he grazed her shoulder. She shrugged it off.

  She tried to attack him a few more times, but each time, he was able to use the exo-chain to throw her just off balance enough to pepper her with more blaster fire as she came in. It would only be a matter of time before the shield fell, and he could kill her.

  “Give it up. You’re not escaping justice again,” he growled, spitting out blood. He had yanked her to the side when she surprised him by lunging toward him and managed to get a clean punch flush on his jaw, knocking a tooth loose. They had both crashed to the ground.

  Kuo picked herself up and smirked. “Why would I do that if I’m winning?”

  “You’re not—” He jumped to the right as she dashed toward him, using the exo-chain to veer her farther to the left than she intended. Kuo changed direction and came at him again. This time, she did something that surprised him.

  She deactivated her exo.

  Without the active shield to latch on to, the exo-chain became useless. He yanked the chain to the right but succeeded only in throwing himself off balance. The result left him vulnerable, and he paid dearly for that mistake as she charged. She kicked the rifle out of his hand and hit him in the jaw, causing his legs to buckle as he fell to the ground.

  James was up in a second and attacked, focusing on hitting her injured shoulder. Somehow, she was able to dodge or roll with his blows to avoid taking damage. He had to admit, she was quick. Even though he had had the advantage all throughout, she still managed to land several blows.

  He ate a punch to the gut and then an uppercut that snapped his head back. He staggered and tried to protect his face, but she felled him with a long sweeping kick to the side of the head. Dazed, he spun to the ground and found himself facedown, wide-eyed and stunned. He rolled to his right and kicked out.

  Kuo avoided him with ease as she took a step back and circled. She studied him the same way a predator would study lunch. “You’re disappointing, chronman. I would have thought a Tier-1 would be more impressive, especially after the hassle you’ve put everyone through.”

  He picked himself up and went at her once more. She sidestepped his lunge, blocking a punch and stepping down on the side of his knee as she skipped away. James’s leg gave out and he crashed to the ground once more.

  Breathing heavily, he picked himself up. His body ached all over, and he was unsteady on his feet. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was a shell of what he had been during his salvaging days. He feinted left and went low, sweeping at her feet. Kuo wasn’t fooled and stepped backward, tapping him once on the side of the face with her fist as she danced away.

  James knew he was slowing down, though to be honest, he hadn’t been that fast to begin with. The decline had been small at first, and then after that last jump with Titus, it was as if his body had betrayed him. He had just refused to admit it. It was probably a lucky thing Levin had taken over salvaging duties. If not for the lag sickness, his increasing number of mistakes probably would have gotten him killed. At this very moment, part of him wished the ghost of Smitt would appear to stoke his fire a little, but he knew that wasn’t the problem. He just didn’t have it in him anymore.

  “That temporal anomaly.” Kuo spoke as matter-of-factly, as if she were just talking about her day. “Is she your woman? Is this why you did what you did, chronman?”

  Thoughts of Elise being harmed enraged James. Elise depended on him, and this woman was hunting her. He wasn’t going to fail Elise, not like he had Smitt or Sasha or the Elfreth so far. He had brought nothing but death and pain to all those who loved and cared for him. He had to make things right. He owed it to them.

  James clenched his fist and circled close, biding his time. All he needed was one crack at her. If he could get his hands on her, he could drag her to the ground, where she couldn’t use speed against him. He had to get closer. “I did what I did for a lot of reasons. For love, humanity, my soul. Not profit and power, which probably is a foreign concept to a corporate slave like you.”

  “Is that what you think we’re doing?” She laughed, again that casual, carefree attitude. “Oh, you misguided nonprofit, if you only—”

  They were less than a meter apart. James took the opening and shot in, trying to wrap his arms around her smaller body and muscle her down. Instead, he grabbed a fistful of air as she slipped out of his grasp and kneed him in the face. James blacked out, or at least he thought he did. When he came to, his head pounded and everything was so loud. Sounds of explosions and shouting everywhere just made things worse. His mind couldn’t seem to process all the external stimuli. It took several moments for his eyes to focus and make out the face hovering over his.

  Kuo was kneeling over him, looking off to the side. He reached for her and she casually swatted his hand away. She looked down. “I do commend you for trying. The solar system could use more men of conviction like you, if it wasn’t for your poor judgment. In any case, I believe the situation here has deteriorated. Fortunately I have what I came for. I could kill you, but that would be a shame. You see, you have done more for Valta than you could possibly imagine. For that, we are in your debt.”

  Securitate Kuo stood up and raised her foot. “Goodbye, Chronman James Griffin-Mars. You’d better hope we never meet again.” Then she brought the heel of her boot down on his head.

  EPILOGUE

  In the end, the data did all of the damage, even though there wasn’t a smoking gun. There didn’t need to be one. Levin had spent the weeks leading to his arrest and trial compiling what was mostly common knowledge within the senior ranks of the agency. It was the combination of the data that painted the larger and clearer picture of the corruption. Add that to the already simmering anger throughout the agency, and the rebellion was started.

  Levin and the small coup on Earth Central were simply the match that lit the fuse, and it spread through all of ChronoCom, first consuming Earth and then their outposts and stations on Venus, Luna, and Mars. By the time the rest of the agency blocked all traffic to the Outer Rim colonies, it was too late, and the damage was done.

  In the end, the majority of operatives on Earth Central sided with the rebels. Moyer controlled the loyalty of the monitors, and Levin, that of the auditors. The rest of the personnel, the engineers, support crews, and medical teams, had little choice but to go along. Levin liked to think that they would have supported him anyway. They, too, were directly affected by ChronoCom’s continuing corruption.

  The only unknown was the chronmen, but that came as a surprise to no one. The tiers were always an unreliable and unpredictable group. Most of them were indifferent to who they served as long as they were taken care of. That’s how chronmen were. In the end, they split. Roughly a third of the chronmen on Earth pledged their loyalty to the rebels while another third fled toward the outer planets. Levin could have prevented them from fleeing at the hangar, but he decided that giving them the choice and showing the rest of the solar system that those who remained stayed of their own volition was worth the collies and bands and resources lost.

  The last third was still undecided and had asked for an audience with the new
leadership of the rebel agency. Led by a Tier-1 named Brock, they were most likely going to ask for more say in how jobs were run and for better contract percentages to earning out on salvages. Both were terms Levin was keen to accept. The chronmen had been used as tools for far too long. It was time their voices were heard. Regardless, he would deal with that headache tomorrow. Today, he had something else on his mind.

  Wearing auditor bands once more, he walked up the stairs to the Administrator Wing of Earth Central. His thoughts were all over the place as he stepped in front of the Watcher’s Board just outside Director Young’s office. Julia and Rowe had offered to accompany him to see the director, but Levin, as the catalyst for all this, thought he at the very least owed Young a one-on-one sit-down.

  The Watcher’s Board hadn’t updated yet. He wondered how the numbers would reflect the events from last night. The coup had effectively fractured ChronoCom into two separate entities: Earth and the inner planets against the rest of the solar system. Some were already calling it the Second Core Conflicts. Levin hoped to the abyss it didn’t end up like the original.

  A little less than half of the group that met with him at the hangar had survived the battle last night. Those were better numbers than Levin could have hoped. He would need every single one of those leaders to help hold things together and to guide the agency back on course. By his estimation, his new ChronoCom—and it was his responsibility now—had only a quarter of the agency’s previous holdings and personnel, but with Earth it controlled approximately 70 percent of all salvageable time lines. Earth was by far the most resource-rich and least expensive repository to salvage. That put them in a very strong and delicate position with the rest of the solar system.

  On the one hand, humanity couldn’t survive without dealing with the rebel ChronoCom. On the other hand, if the rest of the solar system decided that the old regime was the right one, and supported destroying this rebel group, could he do anything about it? Could any of them?

  Levin looked to the right at the double doors leading to Young’s office. It had been almost a year since Levin had last stepped in there. Young had barricaded himself in the office when it became clear that he had lost control of Earth Central. Levin decided to leave the old man in peace and deal with him last. The director deserved that much. He walked up to the large doors leading to the office and knocked. The metal clanged with a dull hollow thud.