by Bill Denise
“Hey! What is this program going to do to me?” Damon was not in the mood to be inundated with Ken’s excited rambling.
“Oh, yes, right, you’re going to like this, it will allow you to channel electricity directly from the D-SAP into your batteries.” Ken paused, waiting for a reaction. “Isn’t that great?”
Damon was not convinced, and couldn’t decide whether or not to trust Ken this completely. Stalling for a little time, he asked “Will Gregor be able to detect the changes?”
Ken made a disgusted, offended sound that actually made Damon smile. “Do you really think I’d load something that could be found?” Ken started to expound upon his superior programming skills when Damon cut him off.
“All right, I got it, please stop talking!” Damon’s throat was dry and he had trouble swallowing, but he cleared the warning and let the program run. It did not calm his nerves when nothing changed that he could tell. “Umm, I don’t see anything new here.”
“Let me guide you through the process.”
Using verbal explanations and active markers in his HUD, Ken explained to Damon how to alter the electrical state of his armor in many more ways than were previously allowed. Immediately after the explanation, Ken initiated one of the new configurations and deactivated the rest, saying that they would have to experiment with them later. He then identified two conduits in the room where Damon should strip off protective shields and insulation using a low-power laser. The final instructions made Damon step back involuntarily.
“You want me to what?” he asked Ken, his voice cracking at the end.
“I want you to grab one live conduit in each hand and watch the power flow from the reactor, through the D-SAP, and into your batteries! The recharge should take only a few minutes!”
“These are main lines directly off the reactor.”
“Yes.”
“And you just want me to grab hold?”
“YES!”
“How stupid do you think I am?”
Ken paused, “Do you really want me to answer that question?”
“Very funny. Are you trying to kill me?”
“If I was, would I say so?”
“That doesn’t help.” Damon realized he was shaking. He wished fervently that he could get advice from Andrea. Talk to me, Andrea, what would you do? He pleaded to her memory, but no wisdom came back to him. There was no training that could help him in this situation.
“Weeping saint!” Damon strode forward and grabbed the conduits before fear could stop him. He felt a warm surge traveling across his skin in powerful waves. The sensation was disconcerting and uncomfortable, but not painful. Well, it’s not really skin, he thought, purposefully distracting himself from what was happening.
A blinking icon in his HUD caught his attention:
“. . . 85% . . .”
His eyes widened as he watched the power levels rise to full power in less than two minutes.
“Unbelievable!” he said to Ken.
“I know! It really is amazing what you can do with the D-SAP.” The pride was obvious in his voice, and Damon thought he also sounded a little surprised that it actually worked. Before he could inquire along that line of thought, Ken continued. “The process is reversible, too, you can use this configuration,” he marked it in Damon’s HUD, “to discharge energy at a rate capable of frying people and electronics through almost any shielding! Not energy efficient at all, of course, and you have to be touching the target, but I think this would be the best way to take out the next weapons platform you encounter.”
Damon continued to the final factory and met no resistance there as he placed the last of his charges.
Now he crouched in a building across from the stronghold he assumed was holding Walfrid Metzenberg. The level of activity had calmed down in the last ten minutes, but even his passive sensors found twenty-some guards posted around the building and on nearby rooftops, along with three MWPs prowling the streets. Damon didn’t worry about the guards too much since he saw no sign of heavy weapons, but the MWPs might be troublesome. Two of them he was able to inspect visually, and they were both of the same design of the one he had encountered in the factory. Their guns were powerful and he was unsure of his chances against both at once. Luckily, their current patrol routes did not provide overlapping fire, but once alerted they could move quickly to converge on him.
The third MWP was unique. Sensors picked up a faint energy signature that indicated a different weapon system, but did not give enough information to identify it. Ken was working on finding more data, either through Damon’s sensors, pirated satellite info, or hacked security systems in the building itself. I hate waiting, he thought for the hundredth time. He checked his power levels, a habit, and something to do while bored.
“...97%...”
At least it made him smile. Ken’s method for recharging was brilliant, and Damon felt a surge of confidence knowing that he did not have to worry about power, even this far into the mission.
“I’ve got nothing on the third platform,” Ken muttered, frustration obvious in his tone. “I don’t know how they keep it secret, but there’s nothing in any of the local systems, except that all of these platforms arrived on site only two days ago. I found a useful satellite link that will help me track it without using your active sensors, which will help, and it will give me a chance to try something else with your D-SAP. First I need you to go to ground level, and get close to one of the MWPs, so I can analyze their sensor spectrum.”
“What if it sees me?”
“Take it out. You’ve got to kill it quick. Which means either the Trip-PC or direct electrical discharge, so don’t mess around trying anything else. What I’m trying to do is make your D-SAP stealthier so you can get up close without giving them time to converge. I think direct electrical discharge will be best since it will take less energy than a Trip-PC shot, but you’ll have to be right on top of the target before you’re detected or it’ll be able to evade.”
Ken’s fast talking still made Damon’s head spin, but he was getting used to it. He asked a few quick questions to make sure he understood while he moved to the ground floor as quickly and quietly as possible.
“I’m on the ground, the MWP should pass by in about thirty seconds.”
“Good, I see it now. I want you to shut down everything but these sensors I’ve indicated in your HUD, that should keep you invisible long enough. I’ll keep the signal active to the explosives so they don’t detonate yet.”
Damon quickly complied and shut down most of his systems, leaving him literally in the dark for the first time in a long time. He hadn’t realized how accustomed he had become to the icons and indicators that always filled the edges of his vision. It was also a surprise to be seeing with only his normal eyesight, no longer enhanced with additional data from various sensors. He shivered as a chill passed through his body; he felt very alone and isolated.
I even miss Ken’s incessant babbling, he thought, trying to keep himself company. Soon he felt a slight tremor in the floor as the MWP passed on the street outside only a couple meters away. Damon knew that the armor was always active and always protecting him, but he still felt very exposed.
The rumbling passed and Ken finally spoke up, “Give me one more minute before you power everything back up, I need to calculate the correct electrical state for your armor. I’ve analyzed the sensors and isolated the spectra, now I just need to determine how to absorb or scatter them. That should keep you hidden long enough to jump on the unit from behind and shock it. I’ve entered a new program to perform this attack—here’s the icon—and I’ve set it to use only 15% of your total power. I suggest that you wait for it to pass by again, jump on from behind and discharge immediately.”
“Please. Stop. Talking!” Damon covered his ears out of habit, even though the action would not cut off Ken’s voice. He enjoyed having company on the raid, but he needed to get serious. There were some truly dangerous weapons out there just waiting
for him to show up and make a mistake. “I’m sorry,” he continued, “but I need to concentrate.”
“No problem, I understand completely, it’s just that I feel like I’m there with you. My interface makes it so I can see and hear what you see and hear, I can almost feel what’s happening . . . oh, sorry.”
The ground rumbled again and Damon’s heart sped up. Shaking himself mentally, he thought I’ve been in worse positions than this, why am I feeling like a rookie? He waited for the weapons platform to pass by and he made his move. Breaking from cover, he ran full speed directly toward the departing machine. Catching up to it easily, he leaped on top and placed both hands on the surface of the turret. The MWP immediately stopped moving and attempted to turn its turret, raise its guns, and began gyrating; trying anything to bring weapons to bear on Damon. Before it could successfully dislodge him Damon fired the electrical discharge as Ken had instructed. Immediately, all motion stopped, and Damon’s sensors confirmed the machine was dead.
Damon breathed a sigh of relief “That was easy,” he said to Ken. “Now I suggest a distraction.” Without waiting for a response, he canceled the signal keeping the high explosives in standby. Almost immediately, massive explosions rocked the area, breaking windows and causing a small nearby building to collapse. The defense forces were thrown into disarray. Damon laughed, “Now let’s isolate them.” He brought his electronic warfare suite online and began scrambling all local communications.
Wasting no more time, he sprinted toward the next MWP. He rounded the corner and found himself looking directly into the barrels of the machine only ten feet away. He stopped and braced himself for the impact, but none came. He cursed himself for losing the initiative. He had forgotten about his new ‘stealth-mode.’ Realizing that the platform might detect him at any moment, he jumped onto the front of the machine and activated the discharge. Once again, the unit went down without a fight.
Standing triumphantly on top of his latest victim, Damon was suddenly knocked through the air and sent skidding along the ground. He hadn’t felt an impact, but his HUD was scrambled and many of his command systems were faltering. His communication with Ken was garbled and incoherent. Damon was disoriented and had trouble moving.
All of his limbs felt unusually heavy and sluggish, but he was able to force his head up to see that the third MWP had arrived.
This platform was much larger than the other two, about twice the size, and had a single u-shaped attachment on its turret that looked to Damon like a tuning fork. Since his HUD and sensors were completely garbled, he had no idea what the MWP was pumping out. He found that he could barely move and the assault was physically pressing him into the pavement. He tried to raise his hands to fire the Trip-PC, but couldn’t bring either one to bear. The MWP kept moving in a circle around him making targeting impossible under the circumstances. He could feel the physical effects of the attack, but it was not as painful as other hits he’d taken in the past. However, the immobility would quickly become a problem. He stopped trying to aim his guns, and concentrated instead on gaining some control of his systems. Slowly, he was able to improve the HUD resolution and what he saw nearly caused him to panic.
A bright-red icon in the center of his vision indicated that the D-SAP was destabilizing and would soon lose coherence. Kyndra’s soaking tears! he cursed futilely and thrashed around trying to do something and everything at once.
Once the mindless panic subsided, he gathered his wits and took manual control his weapons systems. As the MWP came around near his head again, he ejected two high-explosive grenades to roll along the pavement and detonate directly under the unit. The explosion threw the machine into the air and tipped it away from him, making it impossible for the weapon to maintain its attack.
Damon’s mobility returned immediately and he leapt into motion, chasing down the platform before it landed. The MWP crashed on its side and quickly swiveled its drive units downward in an attempt to right itself. In less than a second, Damon guessed, it would be able to resume its attack. His HUD flickered to life, but his main control systems were not yet functional, so he had no idea how much power he had available.
Running as fast as his augmented legs could carry him, he smashed into the underside of the MWP, punching with all his strength using both hands while simultaneously firing every kinetic weapon he could bring to bear at once. The tactic worked as it created a small breach in the unit’s armor that Damon used to peel it open, and finish the job by tearing out the unit’s controls from the inside. The physical attack gave him a great feeling of satisfaction after the fear this MWP had caused him.
“. . . 22% . . .”
He had plenty of power to finish this mission now that the platforms were dispatched. He decided he could safely use a mix of energy and kinetic weapons to get the job done.
The guards he met offered little resistance, and none seemed prepared for him. Without their communications, with explosions and fires all around them, and seeing how Damon dispatched the MWPs, they had lost all semblance of professionalism and many deserted outright.
Finally, standing face-to-face with Metzenberg, the man predictably attempted to talk Damon out of killing him. Damon no longer listened to the pleas and arguments, since he still carried Shrigauri Krych’s voice around in his head.
You’re a pawn . . . you’re being used . . . think for yourself . . . why support a corrupt system . . . YOU’RE KILLING YOUR OWN!
These were the words that continued to haunt him day and night. The words he could not exorcise from his memory. Damon heard them again now, even while ignoring the man in front of him. I’m not like you, he thought, directed at the memory of Krych, I’m not killing my own. I’M NOT!
“. . . Drives, not weapons, if you’d only looked first! Rev—”
Damon cut off the man’s excuses with a high-powered laser through the forehead.
“Ken, I’m heading back. Right after I report to Gregor.”
“Wait, Damon, I’m sending in some guys to pick up any equipment we might be able to use.”
“You’re what?” Damon asked, perplexed.
“I’m sending in a team to recover some of the equipment you found. We could use this stuff, and I hate leaving it all behind! I’ve got plenty of old freighters I can bring in to hold it.”
“Do you trust these guys?”
“I’ve worked with them before, and they don’t ask questions as long as we pay them well.”
Damon’s HUD indicated incoming aircraft, and he tensed, activating his weapons systems in response.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Ken said, “that’s them, don’t take 'em out.”
Damon didn’t like idea, especially once he realized they were bringing twenty ships, some of which were very large. “I don’t want them to see me, just in case.”
“That’s fine, I can take care of this. You can clear out.”
“All right,” Damon growled, “but I better not regret this!” Damon jogged out of sight into the city, to contact Gregor from there. The time alone was not welcome, however, as he could still hear the last words of his target echoing in his head.
Chapter Nine
Reave Nachman checked his HUD one more time to make sure he had the right place. He stood on the street outside a house that matched the address he’d found while tracking down Dr. Tashus’s friends and associates. His first four leads had apparently been tipped off and left nothing behind but evidence of hasty departures. He was forced to admit that they were good at disappearing.
The house in front of him was brightly lit and he could see people moving around inside. He caught a glimpse of the woman’s face and it matched his files perfectly. Unconvinced that everything was as it appeared, he decided to take the direct approach anyway.
He drew one of his small pistols, which immediately changed his HUD to targeting mode for that particular weapon. The movement in his arm and hand holding the gun took on a strange, disconnected feeling as if it were partially numb. Th
e system integrated into his motor skills, ready to direct his aim as needed, but made him feel slightly out of control. He hadn’t had much time to train with the new system, and the feeling was still uncomfortable. He knew that he was supposed to let the hand and arm move without his conscious thought, but he still found himself instinctively fighting against the outside control.
Wary of an ambush, he switched on his active sensors, which gathered feedback from various energy patterns he didn’t understand. The overall effect enhanced his vision, allowing him to see through most obstacles as he wished. The active sensors were easy for others to detect, but he felt the risk was worth it, since he was unsure of the situation. He made a quick scan of the area and found nothing out of the ordinary. He instructed the system to warn him of any incoming targets and walked casually toward the front door of the house.
He located the four occupants of the house: two adults in the living room right inside the door and two children in the back rooms. Easy!
He kicked down the door without slowing, entered the living room and snapped off two quick rounds into the lower legs of both adults. The targeting system ensured hits on the tibia, rendering them effectively immobile.
Reave ignored the screams, pleas, and threats from the adults in the living room and collected the children from the bedrooms. He dragged out both kids, a boy and a girl, and tossed them in a heap next to their parents. He didn’t bother tying them up or even threatening them, since he could shoot them well before they could move to escape. The children were crying, huddled up against their parents, who had both regained some composure despite the pain.
Reave felt the blood rushing through his body as he basked in the power of his dominance. Their pain and fear fed his lust, and part of him wished they would hold out against his questioning, as he looked forward to breaking their wills and forcefully extracting the information.
