Mech Wars: The Complete Series

by Scott Bartlett

  Jake took a deep breath. He wanted to call Roach out, but he knew his CO was right. All of Plenitos’ families would die if they couldn’t retake the city from the Quatro. Fighting them was how he could serve its citizens best. Roach obviously knew that.

  Better than I do, clearly.

  Jake claimed to want to help his sister get better, and yet he was playing fast and loose with his career by bucking Roach’s orders. Sooner or later, he realized, that would catch up to him—it could even result in his mech getting taken away, no matter how high his skill level.

  That prospect frightened him almost as much as the idea of his sister dying—a comparison that was frightening in itself.

  I need to start doing as I’m told more. Even if the orders seem like they suck sometimes.

  It didn’t mean he intended to go along with what his superiors wanted every time…but he needed to choose his battles, at the very least.

  “I understand, sir,” he said to Roach. “I apologize. I’ll be right over.”

  Chapter 53

  Fear and Revulsion

  The shot from the beetle’s main gun sheared off half of Lisa’s cover, showering the rest with rubble big enough to crush her skull.

  Luckily, she was elsewhere when it hit— several meters to the left, to be specific, where she’d leapt as the beetle fired.

  She didn’t stop there, though, knowing that any shrapnel could easily tear a hole in her pressure suit. Instead, she continued scrabbling away, breaking into a run once certain she was completely out of the enemy’s view.

  Remembering the other vantage points she’d scouted before engaging the enemy, she ran toward the farthest one, judging that the nearest was far too close. The Daybreak fighters would probably expect her to pop up near her original position. Instead, she ran as fast as she could across the uneven, hilly terrain—blue dust kicking up all around her.

  Her heart hammered away in her chest, partly from exertion, partly from her ongoing terror. On top of that, her throat clenched so tightly she worried about airflow, though that was probably irrational.

  What isn’t irrational about today? Nothing. The fear and bloodlust that gripped her, the fact that she was called upon to shoot and kill human beings—none of that made any sense.

  Nevertheless, it was how the universe had shaken out today, and the death she dealt would mean freedom for her neighbors inside Habitat 2.

  Providing I deal enough of it.

  As she reached her destination, after a headlong dash that had seemed to last far too long, she realized that she would never overcome the fear and revulsion battle caused her to feel. Being an effective soldier meant fighting on in spite of those feelings.

  And administering justice meant becoming nearly as monstrous as those to whom you meted it out.

  Maybe just as monstrous.

  She settled her sniper rifle atop the rock at her new vantage point and surveyed the carnage in the valley. The Daybreak fighters still didn’t seem to know quite what to do.

  Some of them still circled their beetle, seeking safety where there was little to be had. Others stood in full view, returning fire until a Quatro energy beam cut them down.

  Others charged for the hills, to seek cover themselves, no doubt—and to root out their assailants.

  Something crunched behind Lisa, and she turned to behold an enemy soldier, combat knife in hand.

  She had no time to draw her SL-17. Instead, she whipped the sniper rifle around as he sprang toward her. The long barrel caught him in the chest, and she pulled the trigger, blowing him back to land on the sapphire ground, where he ceased to move.

  Taking a deep breath, she studied him a second longer. He had a pistol, which she would collect from his corpse on her way to the next vantage point, but no doubt he’d foregone using it for the sake of remaining stealthy.

  A miscalculation, as it turned out.

  Turning back to the battle, Lisa drew a bead on a soldier who was running toward the hills on the opposite side of the valley. She fired, missed, then took a moment to steady her breathing.

  She fired again. Her target dropped.

  A bullet hit her in the chest, and it was her turn to fly backward, landing partially on the man she’d downed. Darkstream pressure suits were woven with para-aramid fiber in areas that covered vital organs, and so unlike her late adversary, she survived.

  Sure hurts like hell, though.

  She struggled to her feet, wheezing, but willing herself to stagger on in search of more cover from which to fire. There was nothing else she could do.

  “Lisa,” Tessa’s voice said, reconstituted from subvocalization.

  “Yes?” she grunted. “What?”

  “Just checking you’re safe. And warning you.”

  “Warning me?”

  “Another group just came out of Habitat 2. Just as big as the first. Get ready, girl. This isn’t nearly over yet.”

  Chapter 54

  Sharing

  Phineas Gage did not like to stand idle behind his bar. He always tried to be doing something, whether it was wiping down the counter, cleaning out a glass or—better—pouring someone a drink.

  He realized that made him the most stereotypical alien-planet sealed-habitat bartender in history, but he didn’t care. A few stereotypes existed for a reason. Not many, but a few. And the cheerful, hardworking bartender was one of them.

  So he didn’t like to stand idle.

  But that was exactly what he was doing. Ever since Bob O’Toole walked into the Dusty Bucket bristling with guns.

  “Where’d you get those?” was his first question.

  “Where does anyone get them in the Steele System?” O’Toole grunted. “Found them under a bush. Dug them out from between the cushions of my couch.”

  “There aren’t any bushes in Habitat 2,” Phineas muttered.

  “You know what I mean.”

  He wasn’t sure he did. But that wasn’t unusual, when it came to Bob O’Toole. What was unusual—highly unusual—was that O’Toole seemed as sober as a Mormon judge.

  Phineas decided to try another line of inquiry. “What are you doing with all those guns in my bar?” he asked.

  “Sharing,” O’Toole said. Shifting some of his load from one arm to the other, he held out a rifle by its stock.

  “And why would I want to take that from you, Bob?”

  “Because we’re going hunting, you and me. Hunting us some Daybreak asshats.”

  “You’re crazy. There are two-hundred of them and two of us. If we start taking out Daybreak members, we’ll get gunned down faster than we can say boo.”

  “There were two-hundred of them. At least a quarter of them are dead by now, and most of the rest are out on Alex, fighting.”

  “What in Sol are you talking about?”

  “My girl Lisa Sato. She’s done it.”

  “She’s not your—” Phineas stopped himself, shaking his head. One thing at a time, Phin. “What do you mean, done it? What has she done?”

  “Brought back reinforcements, is what she’s done! I heard her over the short-wave, giving an ultimatum to those Daybreak jerks, real steely like. Reminded me of Tessa Notaras, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s out there, too. We’re taking back this town, Gage. Now take the damned gun.”

  Still, Phineas hesitated, studying O’Toole’s gap-toothed grin, trying to decide whether the old lech had finally lost it.

  “How do you know a quarter of Daybreak’s people are dead?”

  “Got a nerd to hack the exterior feed. They got one hell of a battle brewing out there, Gage. It’s time we got one started in here.”

  He’d heard enough. Phineas pushed away the rifle O’Toole was offering him. “Get that away from me,” he said.

  Then he plucked another firearm from where it dangled at O’Toole’s hip. “I’m taking the Uzi.”

  Chapter 55

  Take No Prisoners

  The Battle for Habitat 2 dragged on through the night.


  Darkstream pressure suits could hold three doses of stims, and well before the eastern sky began to brighten, Lisa used them all.

  How long have we been fighting? It seemed like eight hours at least, and it probably was. Maybe more.

  The Daybreak beetle had trundled up and down the valley for the first part of the battle, providing a focal point for the enemy’s defense against Lisa, Tessa, and the Quatro.

  The second group of fighters to emerge from Habitat 2 had no beetle—probably they hadn’t modified a second one, and unmodified beetles were next to useless in traditional combat, which was why Andy had long since driven to safety.

  The Daybreak reinforcements moved to back up their lone beetle, but shortly after, Lisa had finally managed to secure a vantage point close enough to make a move against it. She’d ripped a grenade from her suit’s waist, pulled the pin, and lobbed it as hard as she could, spraying the Daybreak soldiers with bullets as it flew.

  They returned fire, and she ducked, but then they realize what she’d done, and the shooting stopped.

  Peeking over the rise, Lisa saw them fleeing from the beetle as fast as they could.

  Did I…?

  Fire had blossomed from underneath the enemy beetle, spreading across the ground and lighting up the night. The rear hatch opened, and three figures leapt free of the vehicle, two of them landing upright to join the others in fleeing. The third went sprawling on the ground, leg twisting, followed by an attempt to crawl away from the fire as fast as possible.

  The enemy beetle hadn’t exploded, but it was clearly disabled, and it had ceased to be an effective rallying point for the Daybreak fighters.

  After that, they scattered into the hills.

  Lisa strapped her sniper rifle to her back once more, after that. It was useless, but she didn’t want to abandon it, for fear that the enemy would pick it up and use it to their advantage later.

  That had been hours ago. Now, she stalked through the hills, suit audio jacked up to amplify any and all sounds.

  On her way down a shallow hill, she nearly stepped on a Daybreak thug hiding in a crevice. He spotted her around the same time she did him, and he managed to get his gun out, but Lisa put a round each in his neck and chest before he could fire. He slumped back into his hiding spot and moved no more.

  When she picked up his pistol, she found that it had a silencer, and so she clipped her assault rifle to her pressure suit, holding the pistol before her instead.

  This part of the battle was the tensest yet—the protracted creeping through pitch-dark hills, forever hunting for an enemy that was hunting her. Every sound made her twitch. Including her own footfalls.

  A noise made her spin around, and she tried to track the source with her pistol’s muzzle.

  Just some skittering rocks.

  Then another Daybreak fighter appeared before her. The woman got off a round, but she was clearly as excited as Lisa, and the shot went wild.

  Lisa took full advantage, bringing her pistol up and firing twice. One shot missed, but the other took her target in the shoulder.

  Staggering backward, the woman managed to raise her gun once more.

  A shot went off, and Lisa dropped to the ground at the same time, so that the bullet went over her head.

  On her stomach, she couldn’t raise the pistol’s barrel enough to hit any vital organs, but she fired at her target’s shins, and one of her bullets must have hit. Her adversary fell to the ground, clutching at her right leg. Lisa regained her feet.

  “Please,” the woman said over an unencrypted channel. “Mercy.”

  “I—” Lisa shook her head. “I can’t. We don’t have the ability to take prisoners, and I have no reason to trust you. I can’t just leave you here.”

  “Take my guns. What am I going to do? Look at me. I’ll probably die anyway, if my suit doesn’t manage to seal the holes you put in me.”

  Lisa raised her gun to point at her enemy’s head.

  I’d be letting everyone in Habitat 2 down by not doing this.

  Her finger shifted on the trigger, began to squeeze…

  She eased up. “Toss away your weapons, slowly, so I can see what you’re doing.”

  “Okay. Yes. Thank you.” The woman did as she was told, and Lisa stepped forward, kicking away the weapons even farther.

  “Is your suit sealing properly?”

  “I—I think so.”

  “All right.” Lisa sighed. Again, she’d almost let her fear push her into doing something that wasn’t her. Her fear of defeat, of failing everyone she knew.

  That wasn’t enough to compromise who she was. It couldn’t be. Yes, she’d fought hard today. Yes, she’d killed people, for the first time in her life. But she still clung to the belief that she was a good person.

  She glanced around at their surroundings, keeping her pistol leveled at her prisoner, ready to swing it around to point at a new target if one appeared.

  Now what?

  She couldn’t carry the woman’s weapons. Not while continuing to fight. And she couldn’t leave her here with them.

  In the east, the sky had begun to brighten. At first, that made Lisa glad, but then she realized…

  Oh God.

  The Quatro would be rendered useless during the daylight. They wouldn’t be able to bear the weight of their enormous weapons, nor could they repair their pressure suits if they tore. If Lisa, Tessa, and the Quatro couldn’t end this battle fast, at best they would lose their only chance to save Habitat 2.

  At worst, they’d die.

  Indecision tore at her. She glanced at the woman again. Should I have…?

  No. No matter what happened, killing an unarmed person was not the right move, even if that person had helped terrorize Lisa’s friends and neighbors.

  Still, her heart rate spiked as she continued to scan her brightening surroundings.

  Then, Tessa’s voice was inside her helmet, and this time, it wasn’t a reconstructed subvocalization.

  It was just Tessa, and she sounded relaxed: “Lisa. It’s over.”

  “What? How?”

  “The people of Habitat 2…they rose up. They took their home back from Cooper. And once the ones we’re fighting realized they’re stranded out here…”

  “They gave up.”

  “Yeah. They were probably already pretty stressed out as it was. Cooper fled in a beetle less than an hour ago, apparently. I doubt he was expecting to fight Quatro on Alex.”

  “Hey, Tessa?”

  “Yes?”

  “You didn’t call me girl. You called me Lisa.”

  “So I did,” Tessa said, and Lisa could hear the smile in her voice. “So I did.”

  Chapter 56

  Clutch

  When Gabe had first seen the Quatro pouring into Plenitos through the rent in the walls they’d made, he’d frozen, stricken by the thought that this was surely karmic retribution for the things he’d done in Darkstream’s name during the taking of Eresos almost twenty years ago.

  Then the flashbacks had begun anew, just snippets at first, their impact amplified tenfold by the dream.

  He’d been riveted in place by them. They’d shattered his drive to continue fighting.

  How embarrassing that Jake Price had been the one to snap him out of it.

  “Come on!” Price had bellowed, charging across the battlefield, and the effect had been akin to a church bell on Sunday, ringing with Gabe’s head inside it.

  Price had sprinted toward the teeming Quatro, opening up with both autocannons, followed closely by Ash Sweeney and the rest of the team.

  Sweeney. Jess’s sister. Ash still didn’t know Gabe’s connection with her. But the thought of Jess rekindled his rage—his lust for vengeance.

  And he’d charged after them.

  Now, the last of the Quatro stalked the city’s northwest quadrant in a pack three-hundred strong, which stretched across four streets at any given time. They made short work of anyone in their path, as well as every glass st
orefront they encountered.

  The store windows weren’t meant to withstand bullets, or even a fully grown Quatro leaning against it with its front paws. Other than building the shelters, no one had planned for the Quatro ever getting this far.

  And yet here they were.

  Gabe had already given the order for what was left of Darkstream’s reserve battalion to muster in a square directly in the path of the alien horde. In the center of the square sat a gigantic, circular fountain that gushed water several meters in the air before it came back down to splash into a large basin.

  His team gathered in the square, too. Everyone except Price.

  “Where is he?” Gabe yelled over the team-wide, and even he could hear the manic edge in his own voice.

  He saw Ash raise a metal hand to point.

  Following the gesture, he saw Price, emerging from between two buildings.

  The ground began to tremor, and on the opposite side of the square, the Quatro were beginning to step out onto the square as well.

  “Form up,” Gabe barked over the battalion-wide. “This is it.”

  “Clutch,” Ash said.

  “What?” he said, whipping around to face her.

  She was still looking at Price.

  “That should be Jake’s nickname. Clutch. Because he always seems to arrive at the last minute, and that last minute always seems to be the one that matters most.”

  “Clutch it is,” Gabe muttered, striding to the front of his forces’ formation.

  The moment he arrived, the air beside him flickered, and Captain Black appeared beside him.

  “I saw you fall to pieces outside the city,” Black said, his eternal calm apparently intact. “If it happens again, well…I doubt I need to outline the consequences. If you survive this, you’ll be discharged, probably dishonorably.”

  “It won’t happen again,” Gabe said flatly.

  “Good,” Black said, vanishing.

  “Hit them,” he ordered over the wide channel. “Now.”