Steel Apocalypse

by Rodney Hartman

  “Maggie! Take control. One mine to each of the tower’s two legs closest to the Macron.”

  “Compliance,” said Maggie, obviously figuring out his plan since she didn’t try to argue.

  The Paladin’s right gun appendage jerked forward. The right claw opened, releasing two of the anti-armor mines. With an accuracy Jake knew he couldn’t emulate, Maggie threw the two mines in an arc that took them straight to the base of the two support beams nearest the Covian cat. The mines’ magnetics activated, locking them securely to the tower’s metal beams. Without waiting for him to give the order, Maggie detonated the mines.

  Boom! Boom!

  A two-meter span at the bottom of each of the support beams disappeared in a blast of orange plasma energy. The water tower toppled downward, straight onto the still turning Macron. The top of the tower broke open when it made contact with the cat’s force field, revealing a turret with a large-bore phase cannon that had been hidden behind the tower’s walls. The turret and cannon slid down the side of the force field and hit the ground.

  “The cat’s force field protected it,” said Maggie. “The Macron’s undamaged. The metal support beams are blocking its way, but the Covians won’t take long to force their way through. What are your orders, pilot?”

  Eyeing the one remaining anti-armor mine gripped in the Paladin’s right claw, Jake moved the right gun appendage forward and threw the last mine in the direction of the gun turret leaning against the Macron’s force field. The throw went true. The mine landed on top of the gun turret.

  “There’s bound to be some phase rounds in the turret,” Jake said. “Detonate the mine. Let’s see what that’ll do.”

  “Compliance.”

  A blast of green energy filled the entire windscreen, flinging the Paladin into the air.

  Jake’s head smacked against the control console as the straps of his flight harness dug into his shoulders. His head bounced back, hitting the side of his seat. He felt more than heard the shell of his helmet crack. Then everything turned black as all sense of movement stopped.

  Chapter 24 – Access Tunnels

  _________________

  Sledgehammers pounded on Jake’s head as he regained consciousness.

  What the hell happened?

  He felt around with his hands.

  I’m lying on my back. Why can’t I see? Everything’s black.

  Reaching up to his head, he grabbed his flight helmet. Somehow it had gotten turned around. With more than a little difficulty, he pulled it off and let it drop.

  Thank the Creator. I can see. I’m not blind.

  Glancing through the windscreen, all he saw was swirling black smoke with an occasional patch of blue sky.

  Maggie stood over him with her head silhouetted against the backdrop of the windscreen. Her eyes were a shiny green.

  “Thank the Creator you’re awake,” she said. “You’ve been out for twenty-seven seconds. The blast knocked the Paladin onto its back. We’re covered in wreckage. I can’t get up. How do you feel?”

  Jake touched his left hand to the side of his head. When he pulled his hand back, the fingers were covered in blood. “I feel like crap.”

  Maggie smiled. “Well, you wouldn’t be feeling anything if you hadn’t been wearing this.” She lifted the flight helmet Jake had removed. A large crack ran down its left side. “I calculate we’ll need to requisition a new one of these, by the way.”

  Taking a deep breath to clear his head, Jake undid his flight harness. He tried sitting up. Blackness and red dots filled the cockpit.

  “Woah, Tiger. Take it easy. I’ve run a medical diagnostic on you. You’ve got a concussion, but I calculate you’ll live.”

  From the continued pounding of the sledgehammers on his head, Jake wasn’t so sure. He closed his eyes and took two deep breaths. When he opened his eyes again, he could see.

  “Help me up.”

  “Not so fast, hotshot. You’re gonna get blood all over my cockpit. Give me a second to patch you up before you pass out again.” Already holding a first-aid kit in her hand, she knelt next to him, opened the kit, and went to work.

  Despite his insistence on getting up, Jake was grateful for the few seconds it took Maggie’s hologram to wipe the worst of the blood off the side of his head and spray the wound with plastic skin.

  “That’s about the best I can do with these,” said Maggie as she raised her hands and wiggled her fingers. “The cockpit’s tractor beams are no match for a surgeon’s touch. Still, I think my little patch job is good enough until we can get you to a medic.”

  “Roger that. And thanks. Now how about helping me up?”

  “Compliance,” said Maggie as she reached out and lifted him to his feet. “Watch your step. The back wall’s now the floor. It wasn’t designed to walk on.”

  Jake heard a crack as he stepped on something brittle. He grabbed hold of the pilot’s seat for support.

  Maggie shook her head and smiled. “Hey, we probably didn’t need that computer screen anyway, right? I did tell you to be careful.”

  Finding his footing, Jake let go of the seat. “Status report.”

  Eyes sparkling blue, Maggie grinned. “Well, we’re both alive. That’s more than I can say for those Covians. That little stunt of yours blew them to pieces. We’re lucky their cat took the majority of the blast. I was knocked on my back, but I’m not too damaged. We could walk if we could get the Paladin up, but like I said earlier, we’re covered in debris. Do you want me to activate our out-of-action lights? We’d be a sitting pactar if another cat came by and decided to take advantage of an easy kill.”

  Jake started to shake his head but thought it might hurt too much so he kept it still. “No. Not yet. Can I get out the access door?”

  “It’s blocked by the ground. Hold on. Let me see if I can turn the cockpit a little.”

  The whine of grinding gears sounded as the front of the cockpit shifted to the right.

  Jake held onto his seat for support as the back wall, which had been the floor, shifted forty-five degrees.

  The grinding stopped.

  “That’s as far as I can go,” said Maggie.

  The access door slid open, revealing blackened concrete. Wisps of dark smoke came drifting through the opening.

  Maggie’s hologram pointed at the opening. “I think you can wiggle your way through if you’re determined to go.” She opened a storage locker, pulled out an M63 lightweight plasma assault rifle, and handed it to Jake. “Better take this. You never know.”

  Taking the weapon, Jake bent down and crawled through the access door. Black soot soon covered his gloved hands and most of his flight suit. Acrid-smelling smoke filled the air, but it was semi-breathable. After coughing a couple of times, Jake gained his feet and looked around.

  The gun turret as well as the Macron was gone. What remained of them were torn pieces of metal tossed about as if by the hand of a giant child tired of his toys. The concrete slab was still in one piece, but it was as soot-covered as the ground around it.

  Taking stock of the situation, he noticed one of the Macron’s shattered legs entangled with what was left of the gun turret’s cannon. They were wedged on top of the Paladin’s legs, pinning the cat in place. Pulling himself on top of his cat’s chest, Jake grabbed hold of the hook at the end of the winch and pulled some slack. He glanced down through the windscreen. The normally darkened screen cleared as Maggie switched the filter to clear mode. He saw her standing inside, looking up at him. Her eyes were green with concern.

  “Maybe you can hook my winch to something inside the concrete slab,” Maggie said over the cat’s external speaker. “The wreckage will probably slide off my legs if I can just get a little leverage.”

  Still shaken, Jake didn’t bother giving a reply. He dragged the metal cable behind him as he made his way over the debris toward the concrete slab. On top of the slab, he noticed an opening at the top. The opening’s metal hatch was missing, but the ladder leading down was
in good shape.

  Tugging on the cable to get some slack, he tossed the hook-end into the dark hole and then followed using the ladder. He climbed down three meters before his feet touched the bottom. After giving his eyes a couple of seconds to adjust to the dim light, he looked around.

  “I’m in some kind of maintenance tunnel!” he shouted up at the opening, hoping Maggie could hear. “Give me some more slack on the cable. I think I see a mounting bracket on the tunnel wall that might be strong enough.”

  He heard the whine of the winch and felt the cable grow slack. Pulling the hook behind him, he moved the two meters to the wall and locked the hook onto the mounting bracket. He started to move back to the ladder when he changed his mind.

  “I’m going to have a look around,” he shouted through the opening. “See if you can get yourself up. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Compliance.”

  The cable tightened as Jake heard the roar of the Paladin’s main engine. Knowing there was nothing more he could do to help his AI, he pulled a mini-light out of a pocket built into his pants and switched it on. He shined the light to the left and right. He was in a maintenance tunnel that was two meters across and rounded at the top. Computer cables and energy tubes were tacked to the ceiling, running in both directions. A set of cables and tubes extended into an opening overhead. The remains of a black cable tied to the ladder were spliced into one of the computer cables.

  That must be how the Covians hacked into the controllers’ network. I guess Maggie was right.

  Unsure which way to go, he chose right. He walked a good fifty meters, seeing nothing of interest other than the overhead computer cables and energy tubes. Just as he was about to turn around, he came to a four-way intersection. Glancing down each of the tunnels, they all looked the same. A half-meter computer screen mounted on the wall of the intersection drew his attention. The screen was blank. On impulse, he touched the screen with his right hand. Nothing happened. Removing his flight glove, he touched the screen with his bare fingers.

  The screen lit up, showing a schematic of tunnels connecting hundreds of orange dots scattered throughout the battle area. He noticed a red dot with the words ‘YOU ARE HERE’ flashing beside them.

  That could come in handy.

  Pulling a small video recorder out of the pocket on the left shoulder of his flight suit, he took a picture of the schematic.

  The barely audible voice of Maggie echoed in the tunnel. “I’m up. Where are you? Don’t make me come down there and get you.”

  Tucking the recorder back into his pocket, Jake ran back the way he’d come. In less than two minutes he was back at the ladder. The cable and hook were no longer there. Climbing the ladder, he came out on top of the concrete slab. A flickering hologram of Maggie stood near the opening with the Paladin located next to the slab.

  “Well, it’s about time,” she said. “I thought you were going to miss the end of the show.”

  “The end of what show?” Jake asked.

  Maggie smiled. “The battle royale. It’s almost over. There are only a hundred and two cats left in action. Once two more are taken out, this part of the tournament should be over. Your Casey and her Trecorians are in the swamp taking on six of the pirates.”

  A shiver ran up Jake’s spine. He made a running jump at the Paladin and climbed up the leg to the access point. Within seconds, he was strapping into the pilot’s seat.

  “Fire her up, Maggie. We’ve got to get to Casey. Mark the shortest route on the hologram and let’s get going.”

  All the dots on the hologram disappeared except for a single white dot marking the location of the Paladin.

  “Hey,” Jake said. “What’d you do that for? Why’d you take off the locations of the other cats?”

  Maggie’s hologram, which was once again sitting in the copilot’s seat, touched a couple of icons on her armrest. “All data from the controllers’ network has been cut off. They must’ve figured out they were getting hacked and locked me out.”

  Shoving his control stick forward, Jake began running south. “Then plot me the shortest route to her last known location.”

  “Compliance…but the fight’s going to be over before we can get close. Weren’t you listening when I told you only two more cats needed to be taken out of action to end the battle royale?”

  Jake had heard. He just didn’t care. His only concern was to make sure Casey’s cat wasn’t one of the two.

  A green route leading into the swamp section of the battle area appeared on the hologram.

  “You know we’re driving blind, don’t you?” Maggie said. “For all we know, there could be a cat waiting around the next corner, ready to take us out.”

  “Activate short-range sensors,” Jake ordered. “Plot any enemy on the hologram.”

  “Compliance.”

  Maggie touched an icon on her armrest. A couple of yellow dots appeared on the hologram five blocks to the side of the green route.

  “We’ve got two bogeys,” said Maggie. “They’ll know we’re here because we’ve got our sensors activated.”

  “Then keep an eye on them,” Jake said as he continued running down the street marked by the green route.

  “Compliance.” Maggie glanced over at Jake. “But I have to point out that our sensors won’t pick up Warcats or one of the other scout vehicles if they’re in stealth mode. If we run into one of them, they’ll know we’re here because our sensors are on, but we won’t be able to detect them.”

  Jake continued running down the center of the street. “Then we’d better hope—”

  “Incoming!” shouted Maggie.

  Somehow Jake sensed the danger was coming from his left rear. He tucked the Paladin’s left shoulder and rolled left, coming up facing the way he’d come. He pulled the trigger for the remaining 30 megawatt plasma cannon, sending a beam of energy down the street. A trail of smoke passed through the air where he’d been running a moment earlier. Out the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a small anti-tank rocket streaking by.

  “Warcat, ten o’clock high,” Maggie said.

  “Take over weapons control,” Jake ordered as he sidestepped left and began running in a zigzagged pattern down the street. “Standard Warcat’s only have two missiles in their shoulder launcher. Whoever it is only has one missile left.”

  “You mean assuming the Warcat’s set up with standard pods,” said Maggie. “By the way, it’s hiding on that rooftop to your right. I’m going to bring the building down.”

  Missile after missile shot out of the Paladin’s remaining rocket launcher until the last tube was empty. The missiles hit below the lip of the three-story-tall factory building. Intended as anti-armor weapons, the eight remaining missiles damaged the corner of the building enough that a three-meter-wide section of the roof collapsed outward, falling toward the street three stories below. Jake caught a glimpse of something painted a dull black-and-gray falling with the bricks.

  Changing directions, Jake headed straight for the downed three-meter-tall Warcat. It struggled to its feet, coming up firing a four-barreled plasma rifle gripped in its hands. The small wattage plasma rounds ricocheted off the Paladin’s armor. The 30 megawatt plasma cannon to the side of Jake’s windscreen opened up, striking the shimmering field of energy surrounding the Warcat. The small recon cat was knocked back a step but pivoted on its footpads in an attempt to bring the four-tubed rocket launcher on its shoulder to bear.

  The sight of three red warheads protruding from the launcher’s tubes made Jake wish both of his thirties were operational instead of just one.

  “Can we get through his force field in time?” Jake asked.

  “Negative,” replied Maggie as she continued firing at the dodging cat.

  Without warning, white strobe lights attached to the Warcat’s head, shoulders, and arms began flashing. At the same time, Jake noticed flashes of white light reflecting off the Paladin’s windscreen. The 30 megawatt plasma cannon to the side of the w
indscreen stopped firing.

  “What’s going on?” Jake demanded.

  Maggie laughed. “We survived, that’s what’s going on.” She laughed again. “You are one lucky cat pilot, Jake. The battle royale’s over. Someone must’ve taken out the last two cats.”

  Pulling back on his control stick, he brought the Paladin to a stop twenty meters from the now stationary Warcat. The three red warheads in the opposing cat’s rocket launcher gave him pause, but they remained where they were, in the launcher.

  Touching an icon on his armrest, Jake switched the windscreen’s filter to clear.

  The pilot of the Warcat did the same.

  For a long four seconds, Jake and Major Maksim traded stares. Then the Covian major shrugged and gave a mock salute before turning away and running down the street to the south.

  Jake glanced at a dozen flashing warning lights on his control console. Each one denoted an out of action weapon, damaged sensor, leaking seal, or missing pieces of plate armor. He looked over at Maggie and gave a weak smile. “Tilley and Jason are going to be pissed when they see how much work I’ve caused them.”

  “They’ll get over it,” Maggie laughed. “Like I said, you’re one lucky cat pilot.” She grew serious. “I’m just glad you’re my pilot.”

  Chapter 25 – Damage Control

  _________________

  Not for the first time that afternoon, Tilley cursed. She jumped off the maintenance ladder attached to the Paladin and grabbed another replacement part. Before she turned to climb back up, she glanced at Jake. “Couldn’t you have left at least one piece of her undamaged? It’ll take a week to get her back in shape.”

  Jake set aside the control hydraulics for the Paladin’s left leg and smiled at Tilley. “Actually, I think the bottom of her left footpad’s okay. Don’t know how I missed that.” Growing serious, he said, “And we don’t have a week. We’ve got to have her ready to fight again tomorrow morning, bright and early.”