The eye of the Enforcer’s rifle began to waver.
The Surin nodded.
The Surin shook her head, and the petrified Enforcer took one hesitant step forward, then another. The three of them reached the building’s vacant doorway just as the storm reclaimed the area. As the howling wind descended, Roche thought she heard the Mbatan calling for her again.
The Surin thought for a moment, then said:
Roche felt for the concealed tabs, found them, and pulled until they clicked. With a hiss, the helmet unsealed and fell forward, revealing the shaved head of a female Enforcer, her eyes staring vacantly. Roche raised the butt of her rifle and brought it down on the back of the Enforcer’s skull, knocking her unconscious.
The suit shuddered but stayed upright, held immobile by emergency overrides.
Roche did so, and the ceramic armor parted along invisible lines like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. The slabs of armor lifted outward a centimeter, then remained in that position, awaiting her next move. The air inside stank of sweat and fear, and aging rubber seals.
With Maii’s help, Roche managed to wrestle the limp Enforcer out of the suit’s intimate embrace through a sliding panel in the back. The interior was black and uninviting, a nest of glistening cables and contacts with holes for limbs to pass through.
Roche eyed the interior with distaste, but she had little choice. Slipping her left arm out of the bandages, wincing every time she moved her shoulder, she stepped into the suit. Maii slung the briefcase across her back, out of the way, and stepped back.
The moment her left hand made contact with the palm-link, the armor came to life.
Roche shrugged herself into a more comfortable position and felt the armor imitate the motion. Reaching up with her gloved right hand, she ripped the helmet from its hinge on the chest-plate and threw it aside.
Taking an experimental step forward, she felt the seductive strength of the power-assist echo through her limbs. She hadn’t used combat armor more than a couple of times in her career, but the old moves came back to her with ease. Although mindful not to shift her left arm more than was absolutely necessary, she began to feel confident for the first time in days.
Together they left the building and headed out into the storm. The Surin called out directions, using mental images of the town to find her way and her epsense abilities to target Enforcers through the dust. Four armored suits fell to Roche’s percussion rifle before word of the rogue spread through the Enforcement communication network. Then the uneven rumble of the troop carrier began to grow louder again, and the dust agitated more violently than ever, stirred by the field-effects of the craft above. Maii led her away from danger, deeper into the cloud.
They passed Cane moments later. His nimble form appeared out of the gloom, poised to strike her, but he realized who she was in time. He relaxed, made a gesture that might have been a salute but one Roche didn’t recognize, and stepped back. He had acquired both a percussion rifle and a bloody gash across his forehead. His manner, although outwardly relaxed, was urgent.
“There are too many of them!” He had to shout to be heard over the sound of the troop carrier. “The others are holed up not far from here, and the big ship is on its way.”
“What weapons do they have?”
“A handful of rifles. I’ve tried to pass on the ones I’ve come across, but...” He shrugged. “It hasn’t been easy, and the charges on the ones they have won’t last forever.”
Roche imagined Cane flitting through the dust like a demon, reaching out of the gloom to snatch rifles from the hands of the Enforcers, then vanishing again. His major problem, as had been Roche’s, was locating the others. It was all very well to have found weapons, but no use at all if he couldn’t distribute them,
“Okay,” she said, intending to ask him to lead the way, but getting no farther than that.
The vision through her left eye suddenly shifted, becoming clear. She blinked furiously, then realized that the Box was feeding her an external image taken from above the storm, or from a clear space within it. It showed the city not far below, moving slowly past. Armored Enforcers darted from building to building through the streets, converging on an area just inside the clear space.
With a jolt of surprise, she realized that the view was taken from one of the turret guns on the troop carrier itself.
An auxiliary view showed the airspace above the city. To her shock she saw not one flyer but five, circling the area like birds of prey, waiting for an opportunity to move in.
Furious sparks of light reached upward out of the clouds toward the troop carrier from a low building at the edge of a small courtyard. This, she assumed, was the work of the rebels. As she watched, her aerial view swiveled to focus on the building, and zoomed in to aim.
“The others are in trouble,” she said, blinking the view aside for a moment to focus on the world around her. “The troop carrier’s arrived. We have to hurry.”
Cane nodded and moved off. “Follow me.”
Roche lumbered after him, grateful for the power-assist enabling her to keep up. Maii sprinted behind, barely maintaining the pace.
The dust swirled around them, and the omnipresent rumble of the troop carrier reached a mind-numbing peak. Suddenly, and without warning, the three of them burst into clear air. Two Enforcers stood between them and the building, firing burst after burst at the roof where the others were hidden. Roche tackle
d one from behind while Cane tipped the other off balance. A third appeared from around the corner of a building, but Maii was quick to act and kept the Enforcer frozen until Cane could bring his weapon to bear.
Gasping, Roche looked around and up. The troop carrier had descended to a point not ten meters above the building. Turrets pumped powerful bolts of energy into the stone walls, sending short-lived blossoms of rock into the air. Sporadic fire lashed up at it from windows and smashed walls, as the rebels tried to fight back—but the superior weaponry of the troop carrier forced the defenders back under cover an instant later.
Behind her, two flyers swooped low over the city to lend the troop carrier support. They too concentrated their fire on the building.
Roche took one step forward, not certain what she was going to do but knowing she had to try something. Before she could fire a single shot, the Box suddenly whispered in triumph:
Seconds later the troop carrier stopped firing and banked to the left, turning away from the building. Its turrets swiveled wildly, searching the earth below and the sky above. Lances of energy speared the air, striking a handful of locations in the city. Two higher bolts connected with the nearest of the two flyers, sending it spinning out of control. The high-tech arrowhead dipped low, bucked for control, then clipped an ancient building. With a shriek of engines, it crashed out of sight and exploded in a crimson and yellow fireball.
Roche watched, stunned.
The battle below halted for a moment at the sudden reversal. Soon, though, the rebels took advantage of what must have been to them a mysterious turn of events. Firing at the Enforcers below, they began to clear the area for their escape. Likewise the underbelly turrets of the troop carrier picked out individual Enforcers, striking them from above.
Within moments, the Enforcers retaliated. The four remaining flyers swooped low to blast the treacherous troop carrier, while individual Enforcers fired from shelter underneath. The carrier was too bulky to successfully dodge the concentrated fire; only its heavy armor prevented it from being destroyed immediately. First one and then another of its underbelly turrets exploded, but not before a second flyer had been downed and perhaps ten more Enforcers shot from above.
With a bone-wrenching lurch, it ducked away, and the storm rushed into the area once more.
Roche looked around.
Under heavy fire from the remaining flyers, the troop carrier spun in a lazy arc above the town. Its starboard flank was ablaze, and deep craters pitted its armored surface. Two of its gun turrets still functioned, however, and with these it managed to down another flyer. The heavy crunch of impact and subsequent explosion were nearly enough to make Roche stumble. The two remaining flyers darted away, then returned a moment later. Furious bolts lashed at the troop carrier’s damaged flank, making it shudder. The steady rumble of its engines began to waver.
“It’s going to blow!” Roche watched breathlessly as the troop carrier banked sharply to starboard, its injured side seeming to drag it down from the sky. Its remaining firepower surged at the most distant flyer, damaging it. The last one darted closer, preying on the hulk’s damaged state. The rumble of the field-effect became a whine, and the troop carrier began to slow. Drifting in a sluggish circle, it passed over the area where the rebels were fleeing. The distinct dots of the dozen remaining Enforcers appeared out of the dust, doggedly pursuing the rebels. At that moment, Roche guessed what the Box was going to do and dragged the others to cover.
The last flyer dipped dangerously close to the troop carrier, strafing its bulk with concentrated fire. Suddenly the carrier banked again, this time swinging sharply around its center of gravity to bring its nose in line with the flyer’s trajectory. With a flash of flame, the two collided, and the rumble of engines ceased altogether. Roche’s view through the carrier began to fade, but not before she glimpsed the milling Enforcers rising up at her, slowly at first, but with increasing speed.
“Down!” She leapt for an open doorway, dragging Maii after her. Cane was a step ahead of them, rolling for safety within the stone walls.
With an earthshaking bellow of tortured metal, the crippled troop carrier crashed nose-first into the town. Its stricken power plant instantly exploded, enveloping everything around it in a ball of fiery heat. The shock wave flattened buildings, killed the Enforcers nearby despite their combat armor, and expanded at the speed of sound through the streets toward the building where Roche and the others had taken shelter.
The wall collapsed, and would have crushed Roche’s legs but for her stolen suit. Fragments of molten metal and glowing stone rained down on the rubble. For an instant, everything was white, even through her closed eyelids. Then something else, an uncomfortable mix of panic and grief, washed through her, causing her to shudder.
Roche wanted to bury her head in her hands as the cries intensified, but her position in the armor didn’t allow her any movement. All she could do was lie there, pinned to the ground, screaming as Maii’s hysterical anger burned ferociously, relentlessly, in her mind.
PART THREE:
PORT PARVATI
10
DBMP Ana Vereine
‘954.10.31 EN
1810
In the wake of the transmission from Port Parvati, a deathly silence fell.
On the main screen, a satellite view of the mountain range known as Behzad’s Wall replayed the explosion of the troop carrier in slow motion. The brilliant flash of light was followed by a billowing bubble of dust and superheated air, rising upward and obscuring the town. When it had passed, the storm once again enfolded the region. Like a blanket cast from the sky, the dust smothered the fires and enveloped the damage as though nothing had ever changed the eternal stillness of the doomed city.
“Summarize the report,” Kajic said to Atalia Makaev, when the video had finished. His hologram did not turn to face her.
“It would appear that—”
“In as few words as possible, if you please.” He kept his tone carefully controlled and even.
Makaev swallowed. “They have escaped, sir.”
“Succinctly put, Atalia.” Kajic killed the main screen and faced his second in command. “I can only be grateful that your analysis of the situation is not correct.”
Makaev frowned. “Sir, the warden’s report is quite clear.” She paused, obviously conscious that her remarks bordered on the insubordinate. “Evidence recovered from the wreckage of the lander has established that there were at least four people on board—two Pristines, an Eckandi, and possibly one Surin—yet the search team has found no traces of their bodies. The battle we have just witnessed, along with the disappearance of the recon team, strongly suggests that surface intransigents—”
“Nevertheless”—Kajic’s voice washed smoothly over hers—”the fugitives have not escaped.”
“Sir?”
“They remain on Sciacca’s World, do they not?” The question did not require a response, nor did Kajic wait for one. “Commander Roche is obviously aware that the wardens are unsympathetic to her cause, or else she would have surrendered herself to the port upon planetfall. She must therefore know that she is unable to leave the planet by official means, and has thus all
ied herself with the local underground in order to escape.” Kajic smiled. “All we have to do is ensure that she cannot.”
“Naturally, but—”
“To that end,” he continued, “you will place the Ana Vereine in a geosynchronous orbit directly above Port Parvati. Any craft attempting to reach orbit from the landing field will be boarded and searched.” He hesitated before adding, “Or destroyed in transit.”
“But sir, this directly contravenes the—”
“Regardless.” Kajic’s image wavered slightly.
priority gold-one
“Nothing will leave Sciacca’s World without our permission until the AI and the commander are in our hands. Is this clear, Atalia?” Again there was no expectation of a response, and again Makaev did not offer one. The straightening of her posture alone conveyed her understanding. “You will arrange this with Warden Delcasalle,” Kajic said, “within the hour.”
“The cost will be enormous,” she protested.
Kajic’s smile widened. “Cost is meaningless when the stakes are this high,” he said. “Make sure the warden is aware of this. Let him know that I am prepared to raze the surface of Sciacca’s World to slag and sift through the ruins to find that AI.” He shrugged. “It is practically indestructible, after all. And this method would certainly save us a good deal of time and effort—not to mention money.” Kajic’s image froze momentarily, the only movement being the flicker of its light. Then: “When you have convinced him, dispatch one of our own teams to assist his incompetents in their search.”
“Yes, sir. I shall lead it myself.”
“No. Send Major Gyori. I prefer you here, where I can keep an eye on you.”
Makaev winced slightly—which gave him some gratification—but she kept her eyes fixed upon Kajic. “As you wish, sir.”
“Good. See to it immediately, then join me in the command module. I wish to speak with you privately.”
Kajic let his hologram dissipate and his mind retreat from the bridge with a feeling of immense relief. The energy required to maintain a semblance of confident control had been enormous. His thoughts were in turmoil, his confidence was only an act—and these were facts he wished to keep carefully to himself, not parade in front of the bridge crew. But anyone with access to the back door in his mainframe could browse through his most intimate details at will.
The Prodigal Sun Page 17
