by E L Strife
Atana paused to look at him, hoping he could read the level of calamity on her face. His grimace in return confirmed he understood.
“We are working to resolve a conflict on Earth that might be associated.” She leaned sideways and logged into a second station, pulling the chair out in front of Azure. “I wanted to ensure you knew of our status change.”
“Make that three.” Bennett tapped open the alerts popping up on her screen while she was getting Azure set up. “Sand Zone Five has been hit like Pac Nineteen.”
Paramor’s camera shook when he looked back to flag someone down. “We appreciate the warning. Azure, I sent runners out to the doku so they are aware the ships on the perimeter are friendly. Do you need anything from us to help with this situation, Sahara?”
“No. Keep us posted on yours, please. Home Station, out.”
Leaning over to the set of angled screens to her left, she spoke as she entered in his code. “Team Leader, Azure.” She waved him into the seat. “You know how to fly. UAVs are similar. I need your eyes up there with me.” She selected two vessels from a visual chart, one for her and one for Azure. “We head to separate sites first.”
Atana showed him how to use the joystick controls and keyboard commands, sending his UAV out the narrow bay door.
“I didn’t know we had any of these,” Bennett said.
“It’s a project Command wasn’t ready to initiate because they were concerned the people wouldn’t take it very well.” She glanced back at Teek. “Another one of the things I’ve worked on.” She patted the seat to her right. “Watch.”
“Why now?” Azure’s One zoomed across the ocean toward the Pacific Zone blinking on his map.
With the touch of a finger, Atana slid the notifications Bennett had opened to her far left screen to monitor the data feed. “I want to see what’s going on. If I was there, I wouldn’t need to. Command hasn’t been forthright about Linétens, and at this point, I don’t want any more secrets. We have to get our own information.”
Bennett leaned between Atana and Azure’s stations. “Sorry. I’m no good as a pilot.”
“It’s okay, B.” Tanner waved from a station two rows up. “I am. Saw you when you walked in, so I’ve got Four up and running. Three is offline for maintenance. Heading to secondary delta site in Sand Zone Five.”
“Copy,” Atana replied. “Two en route to potential nuclear threat site: Tropic Zone Three Bravo.”
Teek finally slunk into the seat beside Atana, staring at the transparent screens. Peering around the backside, his eyes widened, reflecting the reverse image. He waved at himself from the opposite side. “Did you design these?”
Tanner adjusted his headset with a grin. “This one’s mine.”
“UAV One ten minutes out from—” Azure scanned the screen. “Delta site: Pacific Zone Nineteen.”
“I know each base had a skeleton crew holding together their designated zones, but everyone is spread too thin to counter a strike this hard.” Atana shook her head, tracking across the waters as they flew the UAVs in the direction of the reported attacks. “Why do we always have to fight each other? It’s wasted energy.”
“They do not know the struggles we do,” Azure said.
Bennett rested a warm hand on her shoulder. “They will.”
Chapter 46
CRATERS LINED THE EARTH of Pacific Zone Nineteen. Atana’s Two crossed its islands, while Azure’s One veered off to scout the coastline. Through their camera feeds, they searched between clouds of smoke to the burning earth and crumbling buildings. People were fleeing on boats and home-built, hovering transports.
“Someone must’ve used long-range munitions,” she noted to Bennett over her shoulder, sending Two inland toward Tropic Zone Three Bravo. “There’s no sign of combatants on the ground.”
“S.Z. Five looks like—” Tanner trailed off, circling the small city. “Oh, someone blew up H.Co.”
Atana looked through her screen to Tanner’s as Bennett straightened beside her. They watched shepherds and civilians carry the injured to safety. Teams from the surrounding bases had appeared, clearing a path and searching the smoldering structure.
“Looks under control. I’m going to scan the rest of the area.”
“Good idea.” Bennett shifted back between Atana and Azure. “Azure? What’s One seeing in Pac. Nineteen?”
“Holes in the ground big enough to bury an M45 to its roof.” Azure panned around the area. “No weapons I can see. They must’ve shot from somewhere else.”
Two approached the main town of the Tropic Zone, Atana guiding it on a perimeter sweep. A figure holding a shotgun caught her eye. The dark-haired bun and black tactical gear said she was a shepherd. Atana rounded the girl’s position until she could see the field radio hooked on her ear. Lucent ultramarine eyes highlighted prominent cheekbones when she spun and ducked, searching the collapsed buildings.
“Yari?” Atana’s fingers paused over the controls. “What in the bloodyhell is she doing out there?” She pulled up the communications logs and tracked the girl’s wristband code, depressing the mic button on her keyboard. “Assistant Shepherd Yari, do you copy?”
A crackled voice burst through the speakers. “Sergeant Atana?” Her image popped upright on the screen. “How did you find me?”
“Dial two clicks up. You’re coming through rough,” Atana directed. “Then look up.”
Yari did as instructed. “Ma’am! I am so glad to—”
“What are you doing out there?” Atana interrupted. “You’re not a sergeant yet. Where is your Instructor?”
“Johna never reported back after he left on assignment. He didn’t mobilize last week when we were all summoned, and there was no report of his return with the collectors, ma’am. So I researched his last logged location and took a training pod out here to search for him. I found his wristband. It was in pieces, no blood.”
“Yari, you need to stand down. You are in a Delta hot zone with a nuclear threat condition.”
“Negative, no shepherd left behind.” Yari continued her patrol.
Bennett braced a hand against the desk, leaning over Atana’s shoulders while she took Two up to scan the area, looking for signs of life. If Johna had been taken, there was a chance he might know something that could help them, if they could find him.
Atana looked up at Bennett. “You think he’s still on our side?”
“Never known an Instructor to be a traitor. His recruits are highly sought after by TLs.” His mouth twisted. “But there’s no way to know for sure.”
“How are your ammo supplies?” Atana asked into the mic.
“I’m on my last pellet mag, twelve rounds left. One SI is empty. Other has three shots remaining.” On the screen, Yari peeked into a building and swung inside. “I was already in Pac. Nineteen searching for Johna when the first attacks occurred after Command’s televised briefing.”
“So you never went to your meetings,” Atana said, hovering Two up to watch for where Yari would exit.
“No, ma’am. They sent our information here. I found Ceilia.” Yari paused in length. “Buried her so the buzzards wouldn’t get her.”
A message popped up on Atana’s screen with coordinates and a linked map.
“Her location. Both wristbands are in my pocket.” Yari reappeared on the west side of the building. “Followed the tire tracks here from where I picked up his wristband in Pac. Nineteen.”
Atana studied Yari’s movements. Precise and steady. She had always seemed inattentive before. Today her eyes were focused, her body still and ready as a racked SI.
Atana sent Ceilia’s coordinates to the Scrub Department. “What is your serum status?”
Yari let out an irritated grumble. “Non-Serum, three days, no withdrawal.”
A bullet rang out from a nearby post. She whipped back around a concrete wall. Lifting her shotgun, she aimed and took a shot.
“Verros marking.” Azure pointed at the burn scars on an individual wit
h ripped-off sleeves falling across a pile of sandbags. “Three circles and an arc with a perpendicular line, it means, ‘We of many worlds are one, with one future.’ It’s a modification of the Clio marking imperials burn into every Linoan.” His eyes squinted as he studied the man. “Thin and stone white, probably a Linéten.” He shook his head. “They never know. They never understand, get their minds warped by false images of the future.”
Tanner’s voice carried back from his desk. “Command released the species category info on zones to Cutter, so I’ve seen it. Sand Zone Five’s population is recorded as primarily human. Several of the Pacific Zones, eighteen through twenty-one are mainly Primvera. Tropic Zone three is designated Linéten.”
Atana cursed under her breath. “I knew they were hiding something.”
Bennett leaned in close to Atana’s headset and pressed the speaker button on her table screen. “Yari, Linétens occupy most of the zone and will cut you down without hesitation. What is your plan?”
“I am aware. Johna was out on a recon assignment with Ceilia before the invasion. I believe it was a setup and someone knew of Johna’s technical skills. He was receiving odd messages on his wristband.” Yari grunted and shoved an attacking man back with her foot. “The assignment came down the line, and he left looking, if I am to be honest, apprehensive. Never gave me details other than ‘Pac, Nineteen.’” Swinging her shotgun around, she pulled the trigger heartlessly over his chest then marched on. “No one will listen to me because I’m an R1.”
“She fights like you do,” Bennett observed.
“I studied all of Atana’s training videos, researched her infiltration tactics and her reasons for being allowed Non-Serum status. It doesn’t work on us half-bloods and up, half Xahu’ré, half Mirramor.” Yari let the shotgun rest with a huff. “Or quarter Mirramor for Atana. It makes us zombies. We feel the fight.”
Another person approached from her six.
“Yari,” Atana warned.
The girl leaned forward, ramming a foot back, into the man’s body without looking. A bundle of flaming pellets later, the man sprawled out in the sandy dirt.
“Xahu’ré?” Azure asked.
Atana directed a finger at the screen. “Yari wanted to study with me. Command kept me so busy that I didn’t have the time.”
Gunshots echoed from the other side of the hill. Yari’s heart rate jumped on the display attached to her com feed. “I’m going in.”
Atana took Two up and over the scene. The map in the corner displayed Home Station’s transports Golf and Foxtrot unloading south of the city.
“I think I found the source.” Azure pointed to his screen displaying a group of pallid, bony figures in the lower hills around P.Z. Nineteen. A gray smoke trail led to a rocket in the air, bursting several city blocks into pieces.
Leaning between their shoulders, Bennett tapped the screen, zooming in. “Oh yeah, those are Linétens. They’re right on the border between Pac. Nineteen and Trop. Three.”
“Request permission to terminate,” Atana directed, following Yari as she took out two more Linétens.
“Already on it.” Bennett selected the location on Azure’s screen and attached a video link to the message, patching it through Azure’s station to Command.
Miskaht called over Azure’s wristband seconds later. “Permission granted, Azure.”
Bennett dragged open the menu of weapons and selected an air-to-ground missile. “Lock on and tap the red square.”
Azure did, and the hills curled up in a plume of dust. He circled for survivors, found none, and sent One to meet up with Atana’s Two in T.Z. Three B.
On Atana’s screen, a truck pulled out of a darkened building, loaded with missiles. “Transport Golf and Foxtrot, this is Tango Sierra One One operating UAV from Tech. Stat. at Hotel Sierra. Your target is located in the west corner of the city. Sending coordinates.”
“Why do you send people in if you already know where it is?” Azure asked.
Bennett pointed at several blips on her and Azure’s screens. “Command’s procedure is to send teams in to confirm munitions storage and clear the area of innocents because we don’t take munitions into custody. We destroy them.”
The speaker crackled and cleared. “Tango Sierra One One, Igniter Three Five. Roger. With eyes in the sky, we’re requesting tactical suggestions.”
“Yari, I’ll be back in a second.” Atana lifted Two up until the edges of the UAV’s camera cleared the perimeter of the city. “Bennett?”
His warm breath fell down her neck when he neared her mic. She depressed the talk button. “Igniter Three Five, Tango Lima Seven. Flank Golf's teams from northeast, Foxtrot's from southeast. Move the snipers north to close off the gap through the hills.” He directed the teams, dragging his fingers across one of her screens. A red bar dropped from the top of the screen displaying aircraft preparing for departure. “Fighter gearing up now.”
“Roger, Tango Lima Seven. Moving out.”
Atana’s screen blinked with wristband signals of acceptance and procedure with a plan. She scoured the terrain for movement behind the teams.
Bennett braced a hand against her desk, his chest brushing her shoulder. Together, they watched the crews spread and infiltrate the structure and surrounding area. Glints of metal exchanged with deadly orbs of aqua fire across the landscape.
In a corner of the video frame, away from the mayhem, Atana caught the silhouette of a man being dragged across an opening. His shepherd’s tactical gear was almost indistinguishable beneath the dust and blood.
“Yari, I think I found Johna.” Atana linked the girl’s wristband code with the position.
“Roger. On the move.”
At her distance, Yari wouldn’t make it to the field transports before an F-201 arrived. Atana selected Yari’s code again and pulled up her information on a separate screen. Training pod 125 was synced to her and parked back in P.Z. Nineteen. But it had enough fuel to pick them up and bring them home.
Connecting to it, Atana initiated control. When the lights came on in front, Atana found crags of sunlight peeking in through weathered wood. Yari had hidden her personal transport. Smart girl.
It burst out of the structure, cloaking to Atana’s commands.
They watched on Two’s feed as the teams took over the Linéten outpost, blue-green fire lighting up the buildings. One screen flashed with reports coming in on discovered munitions: missiles, rockets, boxes of grenades and guns.
And a thermonuclear bomb.
“Christ, where did they get all this stuff?” Bennett said under his breath.
Azure glanced sideways at him. With a shake of his head, he sent One around another building. “Evil hearts find a way, no matter the rules, no matter the cost.”
“Yeah, don’t we know it.” Bennett cursed and pointed. “She’s running into a blockade.”
“Azure, take One to her, in the hole,” Atana directed. “Yari, UAV One will appear to get you over the wall. I will send you coordinates the second your pod’s on the ground. They found the munitions. Protocol States mandatory destruction on site.” Her screen blinked in the upper right corner as an F-201 left Home Station’s dock. “Fighter inbound.”
Atana watched Yari jump up and grab the landing gear of UAV One.
Azure’s feed bobbed, and he took her up and over the wall. Before he could lower it again, Yari let go and sprinted through the buildings. They watched her slide in the dirt under a set of busted iron stairs and pop up on the other side.
“I have visual.” Yari released a shot to her left and ducked behind an old rusted car. A humming whir passed her head, slamming into a building, a ball of thin discs drilling into the concrete.
She flinched then leaned around the car and aimed with the shotgun. “Eff this shit,” she growled. “Damn Linéten blades are a pain in the ass!”
“She knows?” Bennett stammered then depressed the mic button. “Yari, why didn’t you call in about the Linéten trouble?”
>
“I called in three different times. It wasn’t priority or some bull.” Yari plowed toward the man and three guards who were dragging Johna to a vehicle. She emptied her shotgun pellet magazine, taking out a man out through a window. Another approached from the shelter of a dented bus. Ripping out her SI, she disappeared behind a shed.
“I can’t see you,” Atana said, frantically panning the ground.
The three men restraining Johna neared a box truck, parked by the gates of the village, the road leading out of the city.
Atana dropped the pod outside, signaling Yari’s wristband. “Yari?”
The girl’s arm appeared from behind the porous, rusted metal, releasing a shot. The knot of fury arced across the deserted courtyard, and a body fell over the dented hood. In a sprint, she left the shelter of the shed. The ghostly men turned to look. Yari fired off her last two shots at the men holding Johna. Drawing a hooked blade from her belt, she leapt at the last, snagging his neck. Johna slumped to a pile in the sand.
Another red bar dropped down from Atana’s main screen, pulsing. “Yari, nuke’s tagged. Get out!”
“I’m going as fast as I can.” Yari puffed over the mic as she hauled Johna’s limp body across her shoulders.
“Nissa?” Johna wheezed.
“I’ve got you, sir. We’re almost to the transport.”
Atana sent UAV Two on autopilot to return to Home Station and switched to monitoring visuals from pod 125.
“This thing shoot?” Azure asked beside her.
“Yes, R4.”
Azure spun his UAV toward movement behind the two shepherds and pressed the button. A spray of bullets tore up the side of a building. A Linéten collapsed on the ground. Its spinning ring-bullet clinked off a chipped fountain.
“Thank you!” Yari shouted as the field transports thundered away in the background.
Atana commanded the pod’s hatch open while monitoring the approaching fighter.
“Inbound in five, four—” She counted down and switched on the camera feed inside the pod. Yari laid Johna in the back and climbed in, shoving the seat forward. Atana didn’t wait for the door to shut before she lifted them off the ground. The squealing whir of the air pressure stabilizing crackled over the speaker.
