Boom!
The massive cat exploded in a gigantic blast of green and orange energy, tossing everything around it into the air.
The Paladin flew head over heels, striking the concrete hard, but her force field took up the worst of the shock. Jake wasted no time in getting the agile cat back on her feet.
“The rocket pod on our left shoulder’s been torn off,” said Maggie. “Our left side thirty’s also damaged.”
Glancing out the left corner of the windscreen, Jake was able to make out the bent barrel of the 30 megawatt plasma cannon. “That sucks.”
“It’s going to get worse,” said Maggie. “Now that the Kraken’s out of action, there’s only one target left in the center of the plaza for everyone to shoot at. I’ll give you three guesses who it is.”
Sure enough, with the demise of the Kraken, Jake sensed every cat around the plaza turning their weapons toward him. Red, green, and yellow beams flashed to the left and right of the Paladin’s windscreen as explosions tore holes in the concrete. Jake ran in the direction of the damaged building. Parts of it started caving in as he ran, but he didn’t care. At least it was some kind of cover from the blistering fire.
“Maggie, a little assistance please.”
“Compliance,” said Maggie as she grabbed the copilot’s control stick and shoved it to the left.
A half-meter-wide purple beam passed through the air where the Paladin had been.
“Disintegrator beam,” said Maggie. She glanced at Jake and grinned. “Nasty thing. Good thing you’ve got me around, eh?”
“Just drive and get inside the building. You can brag on yourself later.”
“Compliance.”
Somehow Maggie got the Paladin inside the damaged building without get hit by the concentrated fire of the cats around the plaza. Not that being inside the collapsing building was much safer. Steel beams from the upper levels rained down, tearing holes in everything below. Since the Paladin was five-meters-high and the first level was only three-and-a-half-meters from floor to ceiling, the cat’s cockpit was on the second level while the legs and chest were on the first. Seeing where to put the cat’s footpads proved difficult.
“We’re in the building,” said Maggie. “Now what?”
Jake glanced at the tactical hologram. From what he could tell, the other cats had switched their fire to the Leviathan. It was getting hit from all sides.
“Looks like there’s no honor among thieves,” laughed Maggie.
The Leviathan returned the attackers’ fire, but even as Jake watched, smoke erupted out of the rear end of the large cat. The smoke was soon followed by flashing strobe lights all along the Leviathan’s sides and legs.
“Well, at least she’s out of action,” Jake said. “Let’s see if we can make our way out the back side of this building and come around behind one of the smaller cats. We might be able to take one of them out with—”
“Negative, Tiger. Casey told you to rendezvous with her. While you were playing with your little friends, I’ve been monitoring the rest of the battle royale using information from the controllers’ network. Casey’s Macron is in the swamp section with the Trecorians’ Long Cat. Their Warcat is in the harbor section making its way toward the swamp. Warcats have the best stealth shields made. I’d say it has a good chance of linking up with the other Trecorians without being spotted. The only reason I know where it’s at is because the controllers installed tracking devices on all the cats.”
Jake remembered two orange-suited technicians supervising Tilley and Jason the night before as they bolted a meter-square metal box on the back of the Paladin.
“Yeah, I’m not all that happy about that,” Jake said. “The box is too big for just a tracker. My guess is it’s also an explosive device in case an ornery cat needs to be taken out of action and there’s none of the controllers’ gun turrets around to handle it.”
Maggie laughed. “I calculate a hundred percent probability you’re correct. Are you sure you’re not part computer?”
“No time for jokes, Maggie. What about the Trecorians’ Kraken and Tomcat? Where are they?”
Growing serious, she touched an icon on the armrest of her chair. The tactical hologram widened to show the entire battle area. Two flashing red dots in the eastern industrial section drew Jake’s attention.
“Those are the Kraken and the Tomcat,” said Maggie. “They’re out of action. According to the data I’m getting from the controllers’ network, the industrial section is cleared out except for a few stragglers. Most of the other cats appear to be headed for the swamp. That’s where the main battle appears to be happening.”
“They’re crazy,” Jake said. “That’s probably the worst place for a cat to fight.”
Maggie smiled. “Yet, where your Casey is, we follow. At least the good news is that the heavier cats will have trouble maneuvering in the swamp. We’re lighter than most of the medium cats. We should be able to outmaneuver them in the mud and take some out.”
Thinking of what few remaining weapons he had at his disposal, Jake wasn’t so sure they could fight anything tougher than a paper bag and come out on top, but he kept his opinion to himself.
“All right then,” he said, coming to a decision. “Let’s get moving. Take us out of this building before the whole thing comes down on our heads. Plot the safest route to the swamp section.” He gave Maggie a grin. “Since you’ve hacked into the controllers’ network and have the locations of all the other cats, you might try sneaking up on a couple along the way if you think we can beat them. According to the rules, the battle royale doesn’t end until half the cats are out of action. We may as well do our part to speed things up.”
“Compliance,” said Maggie as she shoved her control stick full forward.
The Paladin plowed its way through the building’s flimsy interior walls as Maggie weaved in and out between support beams. Within seconds, the UHAAV burst through the outer wall and into the street beyond.
Jake half expected to be fired on, but nothing came his way. Explosions and the hiss of hot plasma beams cutting through the air came from the other side of the building, but he did his best to ignore them. Taking over the controls, he ran down the street toward the southeast, following the green path Maggie overlaid on the hologram of the battle area.
Glancing at his AI, Jake smiled. “Here’s hoping we’ve got a few less playmates in the east than we’ve had in the north.”
Maggie returned his smile. “I guess playmates are one way to put it. Just make sure you don’t wind up in timeout.”
Jake laughed. “Compliance.”
Chapter 23 – Factories and Warehouses
__________________________
As Maggie predicted, the way to the eastern section was relatively free of other cats. Still, it took far longer to make their way through the battle area without being seen than Jake would’ve liked. At one point they had to go around a group of three UHAAVs hiding in an obvious ambush site. They were easy to avoid, but it took a full twenty minutes to do it without getting in a fight he didn’t need. Once clear, Jake continued on a southeasterly course until the northern urban section gave way to two-and-three-story brick-and-steel buildings with smokestacks. Intermixed with the brick buildings were dozens of long metal sheds.
“Factories and warehouses,” said Maggie.
“No kidding? Here I thought it was fine dining restaurants with all-you-can-eat buffets.”
Maggie shook her head without a trace of a smile. “Nope. Trust me. It’s factories and warehouses.”
“I was making a joke.”
Maggie burst out laughing. “I know. I was making a joke back.”
Jake shook his head. He was about to say something snide when a yellow dot on the tactical hologram drew his full attention. The dot was only two blocks away. He zoomed in the tactical display for a closer look. A Macron with a dull black-and-gray camouflage paint job stood next to an oversized water tower. The water tower’s four metal le
gs were embedded into the top of a two-meter-high concrete slab.
As Jake watched, the Macron fired a 400mm phase mortar located on its back. The massive artillery round arched into the air and headed south.
“That’s one of Major Maksim’s Covians,” said Maggie. “I calculate it’s providing indirect fire support for its teammates in the swamp. Do you want me to plot a route around it?”
An image of Casey and her purple-streaked black hair came to Jake’s mind. He involuntarily shivered at the thought that she might be in danger. He shook his head. “Negative. We’ve wasted too much time avoiding fights as it is. This one might be firing at the Trecorians. I, err, wouldn’t want any of them to get hurt.”
Maggie squinted at him. “Sure you wouldn’t. I’ve got a feeling you’re more interested in the safety of one specific Trecorian than you are with the rest of the group.”
Ignoring his AI, Jake moved the Paladin forward. He kept a long warehouse between him and the Macron. “How’s our stealth shield holding up? We’ve taken a lot of damage the last couple of hours.”
“Ha! You mean I’ve taken a lot of damage. I just ran a medical diagnostic on you, and you’re in better shape than a brerellium-steel bunker surrounded by a class five force field. I’m the one who’s lost half my weapons. And don’t get me started on my paint job.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “Stop whining and give me a status on our stealth shield. You need to get serious.”
Maggie swiped locks of her long red hair behind her ears and leaned back in her seat before giving him a grin. “I was born serious, Tiger. Can I help it if the rest of the universe doesn’t know how to relate to me?”
“Status on our stealth shield, please,” Jake said, switching to command voice.
“All right, already,” she said, straightening in her seat. “If that’s the way you want it, then serious it’ll be. Our stealth shield’s operating at one hundred percent. I calculate the Macron won’t detect us until we get within visual sight of its rear cameras. Since I’m assuming you’re planning on using the last three anti-tank mines to take it out, you’ll need to cross fifty meters of open space to get close enough to throw them.”
As he worked his way to the corner of the warehouse, Jake weighed his odds of covering fifty meters before the enemy cat could turn and blow the Paladin to pieces with its anti-armor missiles. He didn’t like the odds.
The Macron fired another round from its mortar. The 400mm phase round arched southward toward the swamp section of the battle area.
“Can you tell what they’re firing at?” Jake asked, picturing Casey’s UHAAV being bombarded by the deadly artillery fire.
Maggie spun her seat to face him. “Yes, and you can relax. The information I’m getting from the controllers’ network indicates the artillery fire’s striking a formation of four Crosioian cats located two kilometers south of your Casey. She’s safe, so don’t do anything stupid like getting us killed.”
Truth be told, Jake was just about to make an all-or-nothing rush at the Covian cat and hope for the best when a thought struck him. “Maggie, do you remember how you hacked into the tele-bots the other day and made their videos look like we were doing something else in the cockpit.”
“Of course I remember. It’s in my databanks. What’s your point? I’ve already hacked into the controllers’ network, which gets most of its data from the tele-bots they’ve deployed in the battle area. Are you asking me to reprogram some of their tele-bots?”
“Could you? Err, actually, never mind. That’s not what I’m getting at. What I’d like to know is if you can hack into the Covians’ tactical computer the way you hacked into Casey’s Macron. I was thinking maybe if you made its videos look like—”
“Done,” said Maggie, fairly beaming with pride.
“What’s done?”
“I hacked into the Covians’ cat and looped the rear video feeds to hide you when you run toward it. That’s what you were going to ask me to do, right?”
“Err, yeah.”
“All right then. It’s done.”
The Macron fired another round from its mortar.
“Track the round,” Jake ordered.
“Compliance.”
A dotted red line appeared on the tactical hologram.
Jake followed the track of the phase round to a group of four yellow dots at the southern-most point in the swamp section. One of the yellow dots disappeared.
Reaching over, Maggie touched his hand. He felt the warmth of her skin. Simulated skin, he reminded himself. What I’m feeling is the thermal beam Tilley and Jason integrated with the hologram projector.
“Before you ask,” Maggie said, sounding surprisingly understanding, “that was one of the Crosioian cats that got taken out. Your Casey’s safe. Now, I recommend you disable the Macron before its tactical computer figures out its being hacked. The Macron’s artillery fire is extremely accurate. Once it finishes off the Crosioians, it’ll probably shift fire to the Trecorians.”
Raising the Paladin’s footpad to make his dash at the enemy Macron, Jake lowered it back to the ground before he took the first step. “Wait a second. How can they fire so accurately? We were told all cat-to-cat communications are out. If they can’t talk to a forward observer, they should be firing blind.”
Maggie pointed at a black wire leading out of the Covians’ Macron and running into an open hatch located on top of the concrete slab serving as the footing for the water tower. “If I had to guess, I’d say the crew of the Macron hardwired a line from their tactical computer to whatever’s beneath the concrete slab. I calculate the water tower contains one of the turret cannons used by the tournament controllers. I’m guessing power lines and hardwired network connections are located underneath the slab. The Macron’s crew must be spliced into the controllers’ computer network. They’re probably receiving input data from other gun turrets located in the swamp. With visual input from the gun turrets near the Crosioians’ cats, the Macron’s crew wouldn’t need a forward observer of their own.”
“Are you telling me they hacked into the controllers’ network? That’s cheating. If I was one of the controllers, I’d turn a couple of gun turrets on them and blow them to hell and back right now.”
Maggie laughed before nodding at the tactical hologram between the pilot and copilot’s seats. “Are you forgetting where I’m getting the data for our hologram? I told you I hacked into the controllers’ local tele-network. Believe me. I’ve checked the posted tournament rules. There’s nothing prohibiting hacking the network. I’ve got a feeling the controllers didn’t think it could be done, so they didn’t make a rule against it. Their computer security’s excellent.”
“If their security’s so good, how come they’ve been hacked into at least twice today? Maybe more for all we know.”
Maggie’s hologram rubbed her chin. “Hmmm. That’s a valid question. I’m good at hacking, so there’s no surprise I was able to do it. The Covians are another matter. I’ve hacked into the Macron’s tactical computer, and it’s a standard-issue model. There’s no way it could’ve hacked into the network. My best guess is that they used a code-key to get in. Someone must’ve given the code-key to them. Based upon the security network in the battle area, that person would’ve had to be pretty high up in the hierarchy.”
A memory of Maksim bragging about his family relationship to the Gegormas came to Jake’s mind. “Yeah. I’ve got a pretty good idea who might’ve done that.”
“So do I,” Maggie admitted. “Now back to the problem at hand. We need to take out that Macron. You lucked out in that it can’t have its force field up when it’s firing its mortar since the round’s too big. If the Macron had its force field activated, we could fire all our remaining missiles and drain our 30 megawatt plasma cannon dry and still not make a hole large enough to throw in those mines.”
Jake eyed the distance to the Macron. He tightened his grip on the control stick but kept the Paladin partially hidden behind the corner
of the warehouse. He caught Maggie’s eye, or at least the hologram of her eye. “What if they detect us coming at them and activate their shield. You’ve already hacked into their computer. Can you deactivate their force field if they turn it on?”
Maggie shook her head. “Negative. Hacking into their video controller was easy. It’s not a high-priority system. Force fields and weapons controls are another matter. I could hack them if given enough time, but that’s something we don’t have at the moment.”
The Macron fired another round from its mortar. Jake watched the track of the artillery round on the tactical hologram. It went straight to another one of the yellow dots located south of the Trecorians. The yellow dot disappeared.
“There’s only two left. Like I said before, if I was directing that Macron’s mortar fire, I’d switch targets to the Trecorians as soon as I finish off those last two cats.”
So would I, Jake thought. I can’t give them the chance.
Pushing his control stick full forward, Jake charged the Paladin around the corner of the warehouse. He tightened his grip on the last three anti-tank mines in the Paladin’s right claw, ready to throw them at the Macron the moment he got within range.
The Paladin was only halfway to the Macron when the air around the Covian cat shimmered. The Macron’s four legs began shifting as the big cat started to turn around.
“It’s activated its force field,” said Maggie. “They must have a sonic sensor installed. I calculate they detected our footsteps. Recommend you turn around and try to get behind the warehouse before they get a bead on us. Our shields are down to next to nothing, and we don’t have enough firepower left to take out their force field.”
Although he knew Maggie was right, the sight of the large phase mortar on the Macron’s back and the danger it posed to Casey kept Jake from running. He eyed the shimmering field of energy around the Macron.
A wild idea popped into his head. The force field protects the cat, but it doesn’t protect the water tower.
Shoving his control stick hard right, he changed course toward the concrete slab and its water tower. As the Macron continued its turn in an effort to bring its rocket pods to bear, Jake got within range of the water tower.
Steel Apocalypse Page 19
