by Will Crudge
Above this poorly-lit level, is the living quarters with hundreds of levels of rundown apartments. None of that matters to us. We are here to hunt our enemy. An enemy that had just arrived minutes before we did.
A UAHC frigate may not be huge, but it’s still a sizeable enough warship to launch a few fighters while having a decent FTL capability. I’m expecting it to be fully armed with the latest military tech, so we have to tread lightly.
“Do you think they have us on our scanners?” I ask Marbles as we plot out our route.
“I’m positive they do.” He says with a casual shrug. “But only thirty percent of my internal hardware is original Crimson junk. The rest is UAHC or commercial tech. I won’t look any different than a normal loading bot to them.”
“It’s not like they haven’t encountered you before… And besides, what if they somehow tapped into Trixie’s core, and they know how to look for your exact specs?” I ask nervously.
“I’ve modified myself too much for them to be able to home in on my signature with outdated data. Besides, I doubt they’re expecting to be ambushed in a random civilian ghetto. Their scan resources would be passive at best. If they try to do more aggressive scanning, then they run the risk of being detected by another UAHC ship. A Crimson Agent operating in UAHC space, in a captured UAHC Ship, during a time of full-scale war would certainly not be that stupid!”
Marbles is right. He often is. He can look back at terabytes of macro data, and see patterns that I could only dream of. I have no choice but to trust his assessment.
Then something stops me dead in my tracks. A feeling. A sensation.
“I feel a presence,” I say with a whisper.
“I’m not picking up on anything… Wait.” Marbles rotates his head around. It’s what he does when he scans for any number of signatures. “Two biologics. One of them is absolutely massive. Maybe even a half a ton.”
“What you’re detecting is someone in my bloodline,” I state as a matter of fact.
“Are you positive?”
“Dead positive,” I say with a scowl. “Peterson gave off a similar vibe. It must be him, or someone who’s working with him.”
“What’s our play?” Marbles asks.
“Anyone with my bloodline near that beacon is as good as dead!”
“Ambush it is, then.”
I let Marbles set the trap. I’ll be the bait. If I can feel his presence, then he can feel mine… At least that my theory. I stay as far from the sensations as I can. I don’t want to risk drawing in any attention until Marbles is in place to pounce. He has more than enough firepower to shred a set of Crimson Commando armor into chaff. I’ll let him be my ace in the hole. Then when Peterson is all fucked up… I make him tell me where Trixie is!
I stay close by the space donkey. I decide meditation is in order. Clearing my mind and regulating my breathing will be my best bet to avoid detection. My kind is the most conspicuous to each other when our endocrine systems are stimulated… I try to calm mine down.
Perhaps I can calm myself down enough to get in close without being noticed. Once I commit to an attack, I’ll release my adrenaline on that ass!
I slowly breathe in, and then out. Clear my mind. Thoughts pop in… I let them run their course and drift away. I put all of my focus on my body’s sensations with an emphasis on the air flowing into and out of my lungs. It ends abruptly.
I skirt around the space donkey, and I methodically sneak myself into my position. I’m betting that Peterson or whomever it is will sense me just as I can pounce. While they’re focused on me, Marbles can cut them off from their escape route from his position. Game. Set. Match.
I feel my chakras tingle as I get closer. I’m reminding myself that the enemy’s ‘gifts’ are much more raw and unrefined than mine are. This should give me the edge, and enable me to strike at him before it’s too late.
My eyes zero in on a few lurking shadows up ahead. It’s the enemy. All quiet… Unsuspecting. They’re moving somewhat towards the frigate, so I’m guessing they’ve finished with whatever business they’ve come to do, and are heading back to their ship. Good. They’ll likely be more complacent since they’re close to relative safety.
I can’t think. I can only go into attack mode. I can’t afford to hesitate. I’ve waited too long just to fail.
I grasp my sword and prepare to pounce. It’s all too perfect. I can’t help but grin.
The larger shadow lets out a blood-curdling growl and runs towards Marbles’ position! Fuck! They saw Marbles somehow.
I decide this is an opportunity, rather than a dilemma. I pounce while the smaller shadowy figure is distracted.
But it doesn’t turn out that way…
I jump into the open and bring my blade down on the smaller shadow which is now the only one there. I feel the shockwave of metal on metal. My slash is blocked.
The figure, a tall female, has a sword too! She rotates her footing and counters. The movements are familiar. Too familiar. I counter them all without hesitation.
I begin a counterattack, but she matches each strike flawlessly. She’s good. Damn good.
The lighting is too low for me to pick out much detail, but I can see the woman has some kind of armor, a sword like mine, and long hair in a ponytail. She couldn’t be a War Master! Couldn’t she?
She gets into a strong stance and maneuvers her sword into a ready position. Her form is on par with mine. I’m beginning to second guess her true identity. But she doesn’t give me the chance to think.
She goes on the offensive. The slashes are precise, yet unpredictable. She’s using an advanced form that I can’t counter. I try feverishly to fend her off with my core fundamentals, but she beats them aside with ease. I’m fucked.
My sword is knocked from my grasp, and I see the world around me slow to a crawl. In slow motion, I can see the enemy’s blade coming for my face. I’m powerless to stop it.
But it stopped itself. I swallow my breath and gaze at the shiny blade, as it rests a few millimeters from the tip of my nose. All I can do is submit.
“I surrender,” I say calmly. I don’t know who she is, but I’m not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me act afraid. Truthfully, I’m not afraid. And that’s what scares me the most.
“Who are you?” She asks with a stern voice. But as she formed the words, my awareness sensed a familiar presence. Not so much a specific person… but a specific species.
“My name is Katherine,” I reply. “Can you please call off your Zodiac? I’d prefer my friend remain in one piece if it’s all the same to you?”
The woman studies me with interrogative eyes for a few moments. Then she retracts her sword slowly. “Grinder!” She calls out.
“Already doing it.” A growly digitized voice replies... “We’re coming to you.”
With the sword out of my face, I get a better view of her. She’s about my height. Auburn colored hair. Striking blue eyes. War Master’s armor. Shit!
“Where did you get that sword?” She demands.
“I’ve had it for decades,” I reply, but she seemed to give me a look of disbelief when I said the words. Our kind ages far slower than most humans. I don’t blame her skepticism.
“Where did you learn how to use it?” She presses.
“I was training to be a War Master before my temple was wiped out,” I state as a matter of fact. Her expression changed from skeptical, to outright confusion.
Then something began to tingle in my brain. She was melding with me. She was feeling me out to see if I was truthful. I feel her intentions clearly, and I can sense that she’s beginning to believe me.
“I’m sorry I attacked you. I had to be sure you were legit, and not one of them.” I say as sincerely as I could. Then I could hear Marbles’ footfalls come into the opening
where we stood. There were also the familiar footfalls of a quadruped with massive paws. A Zodiac for sure.
I turn to see Marbles standing there next to a gnarly looking Zodiac. I couldn’t quite place the species, but it was certainly K-9. Definitely part wolf, but also part something else.
“Hello.” Marbles says casually. The War Master takes a half step back when he spoke. Any War Master wouldn’t be accustomed to being on speaking terms with a Crimson infantry drone, I’m guessing. “Call me Marbles!”
She seems to be apprehensive, to say the least. I take note of her tense grip on her sword. Marbles offers the proverbial olive branch and reaches out his hand. She hesitates for a moment and then extends her hand out to shake his. “You’re a Crimson battle drone, aren’t you?” She asks.
“I was, yes.” Marbles replies. “But it’s amazing what sentience can do to change your outlook on life.” Marbles blinks one of his eyes off and on. It’s his way of winking.
“Sentience?” The Zodiac asks.
Marbles looks down at Grinder to reply. “Indeed! It’s a long story, and I’d love to share, but we have some – business – to attend to.”
The War Master wheeled back around to look at Me. “What kind of business would drive you to ambush one of your own?” She asks scornfully.
“I’m very sorry about that,” I say with a frown. “It would seem our enemy shares our blood, and we had to be certain you weren’t allied with him.”
She seems to study my face for a moment. I don’t see why, though. She can just as easily sense my intentions. We’re fully melded, and I’m enjoying every bit of it. Even when I was in training, I had a hard time pulling it off. I suppose a fully trained War Master that’s backed up by a paired mount can do it with ease.
“Well, none of us are dead, so that means we’d all better come clean, don’t you think?” She says. She’s right. Even if she was fooling me, then she wouldn’t fall for deception. Might as well put everything out on the table.
“Marbles and I were marooned on an uninhabited, yet terraformed moon, for around thirty years. After my temple was attacked, the UAHC rescue ship I was on was isolated from the rest of the rescue vessels, and we crashed.” I begin to explain.
“We as in, you and Marbles?” She says as if she was a little confused. “What was a Crimson battle drone doing on a UAHC ship?”
“The UAHC Soldiers recovered several drones that had been damaged during the attack. I can only assume they intended to do some forensics for intelligence purposes, but we don’t know for sure.” Marbles chimes in.
“Yes. And when the ship crashed, I was the only living survivor. The ship’s AI remained intact, as well. After several weeks, I decided that I needed someone to help keep me sane. The AI’s name was Trixie, and she did all she could to help in that regard. But the best way to keep my mind focused was to master what combat skills I had already learned. I also needed a helping hand to make whatever repairs to the ship’s systems I could, as well. That’s how I was able to eat, and what kept Trixie’s core energized.”
Jimma points at Marbles. “So, you decided to reanimate one of the battle drones?”
I give a half nod. “More like, piece one together from all of the damaged ones. Trixie, our AI helped me disable his prime directives so he wouldn’t try to kill me, and the rest is history.”
“But how does a battle drone end up being sentient?” The Zodiac asks.
“Because I was too robotic and predictable.” Marbles answers. “I may have been able to be a challenge against a normal human combatant, but not for a War Master… Even one with only partial training. Plus, Katherine had to teach me how to fight with a sword… A normal dumb-old drone lacks the processing power to challenge her skills.”
“He’s right,” I say. “Trixie guided me through adding additional processing power to his core. The superior UAHC components allowed him to have the potential for sentience. It took several years for him to achieve it, but now we’re inseparable.”
“Ok, got it.” She nods dismissively. “Now what are you here for?”
I let out a deep sigh. “Twenty years into our isolation, a Crimson vessel arrived. Trixie recognized that they were Crimson Agents, and had me and Marbles hide in the hillside. While we were up there, I kept getting spooked by some kind of eerie presence. Kind of like a War Master’s energy, but much more raw. Long story short, the leader of the Crimson troops must have had strong genetic ties to the Guild, and I thought I could reason with him.”
“But you couldn’t.” She stated it as fact.
“Exactly,” I say with a frown. “I was captured, as was Trixie’s core.”
“So, where did they take you?” She asks.
“Nowhere. I – I kind of blacked out.” I say with a slight hint of confusion. “I can’t quite explain what happened next, but when I woke up, I was in Marbles’ arms, and my clothing had burned completely off.”
“I begged her not to go, but I had to go and draw away a patrol. I waited for their ship to dust off, and then I went searching for her. She was near death.” Marbles explains.
“I don’t know why they left me, but they took Trixie,” I say. “We’ve been hunting the leader since we managed to get off that rock a decade later. Trixie is why I’m still alive. She’s Marbles’ mother, in a sense. If there’s a chance I could free her, or at least find out what happened to her, then perhaps I could find peace.”
“Why not reach out to the Guild?” She asks.
“We were on our way to do just that until we were drawn here.” Marbles answers.
“Why were you drawn here, of all places?” She asks.
“The last thing I did before I blacked out was attaching an old UAHC tracking beacon on the leader’s armor. It was one of those tiny devices that could draw from nearby energy sources but avoid scan detection. It’s how the UAHC makes sure their ammunition doesn’t get into the wrong hands.” I explain.
“Neither of us expected the beacon to still be working after ten years, but it came to life when we landed at Tangine Station. We tracked it here.” Marbles adds.
The War Master tapped a key on her manual interface and talked into it. “Kindle, are you getting any of this?”
“Are you kidding?” A female voice replies. “I’ve had the weapons bays open, and was about to take out half the dock!”
“I take it that’s a yes?”
“Yes, dear!” The female voice, known as Kindle replies. “I’m scanning all known beacon frequencies, and even cross-leveling them with archived encryption keys from the time period. The only thing I’m getting is Sheba’s voice module.”
Shit! I feel a wave of defeat flood through me. I don’t know if I’m just not used to the potential emotional surge of being melded, or if it’s the realization that we’ve been following the wrong beacon. I’ve been on an endorphin rush ever since Marbles detected the beacon on Tangine Station. Now it crashes. I slump down into a heap. I begin to sob like a child. I find Marbles standing next to me, and I reach out to hug one of his cold metallic legs. It’s the only comfort I can hope to grasp.
“What’s wrong, Katherine?” The War Master asks, but I can’t find the air in my lungs to say a word.
“I was afraid of this.” Marbles says as he shakes his head.
“I don’t understand.” She says softly. I can feel her thoughts of empathy flooding through my awareness. It’s like a warm blanket of compassion.
“The UAHC beacon tech is derived from the same tech the Guild uses for Zodiac voice module distress beacons. I knew about that, but we had no reason to believe that there would be any Zodiacs in Sol.” Marbles continues.
“Why would you think that?” The Zodiac asks. “We are at war, after all!”
The War Master stiffens straight up and clears her throat.
Kindle, the voice through the speaker chimes in. “You must have just recently escaped from isolation haven’t you?”
“Yes, nice lady… voice… thing.” Mar
bles says as he looked around for the source of the sound. “Sorry, my audio sensors need some serious upgrading. Battle drones aren’t designed to be great listeners since we have more reliable onboard sensors and all.”
“My name is Kindle, and I’m a NAV system on an LRF-90 super fighter. Nice to formally meet you.” She responds.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Marbles exclaims. “I’ve only read about those! I hope…”
The War Master cut him off with a single hand gesture and a stern look.
“I’m very sorry you’ve waited ten years for a chance to recover your friend, only to get your hopes dashed at the first glimmer of hope….” She says empathetically. She paused to reach down to me and then helps me to my feet. The Zodiac came over and rubbed his monstrous neck against my hip as a kind gesture.
Marbles took a half step forward when Grinder made contact with me. He’s always been protective by nature, but the massive K-9 fangs seemed to make him take a step back. He might be significantly tougher than a stock drone, but he knows enough about Zodiacs to back down.
The War Master wipes a tear from my face, and I smile in appreciation. “Do you know any more about this Crimson Agent of yours?” She asks.
I pause to compose myself before I speak. “He had a small nameplate on his chest armor.” I pause again to swallow the lump in my throat. “His name is Peterson.”
Her facial expression went from empathetic to angry. I’m a little shocked by that. She must know of him.
“What’s the matter?” Marbles asks her.
“Dry those tears, War Master Candidate!” She said firmly. She must have known that I would respond immediately. And I do. I stand straight up, stand at attention, and lock eyes with the War Master. “Peterson is who we are after!” She says.
My face drains of blood, and I must be going pale right now. Then I nod in acknowledgment. She seems to study my face and then proceeds to speak. “He and his twin brother have kidnapped a Zodiac elder. That’s the beacon that led you here. There are no coincidences, remember?”
