Nemesis (The MechaVerse Trilogy Book 2)

by Jeremy Cunkle

  Once the regiment was effectively eliminated, the HUD in front of Eve displayed course adjustments as the afterburners re-engaged, slamming her into the back of the seat with their power. Priority alerts triggered by Aurora began blinking on the HUD. A flight path overlay appeared, showing her next objective was to support Alyona’s flagging attack against some PDF artillery formations and their defenders that were less than three miles away.

  While en-route, Aurora began briefing her about the next objective. “There are two different armies attacking the mountain at the same time. To the east are the Special Forces and veteran troops led directly by General Hafnos. They are equipped with the best weapons and Mech armor the PDF have at their disposal, while around us are the weaker and vastly outdated forces that destroyed Kerrak, the Lazarus faction outpost, through sheer numbers. The regiment we just eliminated was part of the weaker army. With a company of Salvatore models at her disposal, Alyona left the mountain to eliminate a battalion of artillery that were left exposed after the guards joined the attack against the west side of the mountain you just eliminated. The PDF artillery is slowly but surely tearing apart the mountain defenses, making them high value targets. It was a good idea, but the enemy commander, General Akari, is no longer leashed by his incompetent superiors. He noticed her attack and responded almost instantly, flooding the area with defenders. Alyona’s company has become bogged down by the waves of enemy reinforcements pouring in from nearby formations. Your current objective is to assist in the extrication of Alyona’s company. The outdated PDF units should serve as excellent practice for you and Starkindler to test your limits and capabilities.”

  Eve remained silent through the narration, completely focused on her surroundings and learning about piloting Starkindler as rapidly as possible. She assumed flight control from Aurora, allowing the AI to guide her as she banked Starkindler into another brutal arc, racing towards the new destination.

  As they did so, the communications network exploded with activity as word of Starkindler’s presence on the battlefield spread like wildfire. Aurora automatically filtered out the extraneous radio traffic, prioritizing the Omnos squad over the other rebels. Alerted to Starkindler’s presence by Kurtis, every member simultaneously tried contacting her, eager to speak with Mikkhael, unaware that Eve was the pilot.

  Chief Thorsten’s warning repeated itself in her head. Eve understood that if she did not speak, Aurora would cover for her and no one would know that it was not Mikkhael piloting Starkindler. Her own separate war raged within Eve. On one hand, she felt the need to warn Mikkhael’s friends that he had given her Starkindler in order that he could pilot Nemesis. On the other hand, she worried about the extremely likely scenario that upon finding out that she was piloting Starkindler, they would at best reject her, and at worst turn hostile.

  Trusting her instincts, Eve keyed the Omnos squad frequency, grinding her teeth as Aurora increased power to the afterburners, buffeting Starkindler with incredible g-forces as they hurtled like a missile into the teeth of the enemy. “Mikkhael is awake and Aurora has returned. I am Eve Ultor. Mikkhael gave me Starkindler. He left to find Nemesis!”

  The euphoria the members of the Omnos squad had all felt upon seeing Starkindler take the field was immediately replaced by dread as the reality of Eve’s words sunk in. Without needing specific details, the Omnos squad understood Mikkhael’s plan and the inherent risks it contained. The fact that Mikkhael had chosen to pilot Nemesis, the possessed Mech armor that might refuse and kill him before he even stepped foot in the cockpit, eliminated any resistance they had to Eve piloting Starkindler. Instead, they did something Eve had not anticipated, they ignored her, only concerned about the welfare of their friend and comrade. The urgent radio traffic was now replaced by the muttering of prayers as the members of the Omnos squad hoped beyond any reasonable expectation that Mikkhael would live through the syncing process with the possessed machine. The one that they had been too afraid of to destroy as instructed.

  From a distance, Eve clearly saw DawnsLight and the company of Salvatores surrounded by countless enemies, desperately fighting to break out from the growing encirclement and retreat to the safety of the mountain. Despite the overwhelming enemy numbers, the Salvatores left her in awe with their capability, proud of what her faction had accomplished as the new units nearly held their own against the vastly superior enemy numbers. But even the new Salvatores had limits. As if to accent her realization, a unit exploded. The solitary unit had been cut off and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of fire cascading against it. Its death created an enormous fireball and subsequent shockwave that literally sent the surrounding PDF units flying.

  Eve knew that her only chance would be to maximize the impact of her arrival, doing everything possible to surprise and overwhelm the PDF with the sudden arrival of their dreaded foe, Starkindler. Hopefully buying Alyona and her company the opportunity they needed to escape.

  The PDF were making effective use of their numbers, the weak and outdated units maneuvering in order to bring as many of their units to bear at once as they could, creating a solid wall of steady fire pouring into Alyona and her company. As for Alyona, she was cut off from the Salvatores, having separated from the slower units in order to eliminate the artillery and multiple missile launchers while they provided cover fire. Now, the enemy Mech armor were veritably throwing themselves between her and the Salvatores, engaging DawnsLight in desperate CQC combat with a number of outdated Slayers that she hacked to pieces with her energy blade. Alyona handicapped herself during the fighting, only relying on the energy blade and sub munitions as she directed her cannon fire towards the Slayers swarming her company, unwilling to let her responsibility for those under her command lapse even in that perilous situation.

  Alerts screamed in the cockpit as Starkindler entered range, descending upon the PDF surrounding DawnsLight with every cannon, rocket, sub-munition, and missile at its disposal. With Aurora’s help, Eve targeted half a dozen enemies at a time, eliminating each in turn, carving a path of death and destruction through the enemy ranks. Her attack was perfectly executed with ample assistance from Aurora, overwhelming the PDF as she took them by complete surprise.

  Three of the Salvatores had been overwhelmed and destroyed by the sheer numbers arrayed against them. The remaining fifteen were smoking, suffering to varying degrees from the sheer volume of fire being directed against them, their ballistic shields and energy absorbing foam having long since been depleted. Sensing the opening that Starkindler’s arrival created, the remaining Salvatores began retreating.

  “Eirk, get them out of here!” Alyona screamed across her company frequency. “We’ll cover you!”

  “Solid copy, don’t wait too long to join us!” Eirk replied, and then directed the remainder of the company through the gap in the enemy ranks, fleeing towards Mount Olympus. The capable commander was well aware that the wingless Salvatore units were multitudes slower than DawnsLight, and that once they were clear of the fighting Alyona would join them. He also recognized that she would remain behind, even if that meant sacrificing herself for them, in order to ensure they made it back to the mountain safely.

  Starkindler linked up with DawnsLight, for the first time operating as the pair of dualists swords that they were designed to be. Together, the synergies of the two white Mech armor that resembled each other like fraternal twins was unstoppable. They held the line, holding off the waves of outdated and ill-equipped Slayers crashing against them as for the first time the pair unleashed their full might. Rockets, missiles, cannon fire, and sub munitions meted out the ultimate punishment to those that dared challenge their dominance. Eve and Alyona fought together as a single, terrible force, each pilot a natural extension of the other as if they had spent years practicing for this moment.

  The PDF counter attack withered under the frighteningly powerful fusillade cascading from the twinned war machines before stumbling and then faltering altogether. In a span of seconds, dozens of e
nemy Mech armor were left nothing more than burning husks, the dead barricading the way of their brethren who could not fly over the wreckage but instead had to skirt the fallen in order to continue the advance.

  Seeing that the Salvatores were now safely out of range and making steady progress towards the mountain, the pair retreated, engaging their afterburners, flying at maximum velocity, following Eirk and the rest of Alyona’s company. The attack against the artillery had succeeded, Alyona’s costly gamble having just barely paid off with the destruction of dozens of artillery and missile launcher systems. Her company had lost three irreplaceable units; the others would require maintenance before being able to participate in battle again.

  The company of Salvatores broke off once they reached Mount Olympus, heading into the primary hangar where they could resupply, restock munitions, and have their ballistic shields and some external armor refitted. All of the surviving Salvatores had suffered various degrees of damage, their once shining white frames now blackened, dented, and scarred from battle.

  Even the indomitable DawnsLight suffered intense scorch marks and moderate damage to its armor. Much of DawnsLight’s energy absorbing foam had been burned away; such was the ferocity of the engagement. Another ten minutes, and Alyona and her entire company would surely have surely been overwhelmed and destroyed.

  Just then Athena, the AI watching over Alyona, interrupted the reverie. “The armored wedge of Hunter drones, Stridents and Steyrs has reached the main defensive salient. Kiryl and his company are there, but they are vastly outnumbered. He urgently requests the presence of DawnsLight and Starkindler and any other forces capable of reaching them in time.”

  Eve and Alyona eyed each other suspiciously over the video link connecting them. Eve never hesitated, already spooling her reactor output back to levels needed for flight. “I’m going!”

  With the reassurance that Eve was not going to abandon them now when they possibly needed Starkindler the most, she nodded in grateful appreciation. “Correction, we’re going, together. You’re a member of the Omnos squad now.”

  The two dull white Mech armor did not wait for a further reply, leaping into the air, flying shoulder to shoulder. Starkindler and DawnsLight headed back into the fray, speeding towards the front line, ready to save their friends.

  * * * * *

  Mikkhael, still riding the electric cart, approached the now abandoned hangar by himself. This was where his friends had chosen to re-enter his life in that fateful, unforeseen event so many months ago it seemed like another lifetime. In order to do so, they had left behind their own lives on Earth. Out of their fierce loyalty to him, they sacrificed their hopes of a future without war and traveled to an entirely different planet in order to join his suicidal battle for vengeance. Even now, they were outside the mountain, fighting against all odds, fighting for their very lives. All in an attempt to buy enough time for him time to join them.

  Against all reason, Mikkhael hoped that the inevitable outcome of the ensuing battle would not come to pass. Aurora’s true awakening and the addition of the Salvatores had done much to increase the chances of some of the StormCrows surviving the attack on Mount Olympus, but the odds were still impossibly small and anyone who did not flee now would not live. The very fact that he was about to attempt taming the beast of death made incarnate, lying hidden away in the airship, untouched and unwanted, spoke untold volumes about his level of desperation.

  Aurora, on his wrist communicator, interrupted his reverie one last time. Her voice was thick with grief and sadness. She was unable to project her self-representation over the communicator this close to Nemesis. “This is goodbye Mikkhael. I cannot go any further with you. He is there, waiting, jealous of anyone else’s presence. I wish you the best of luck. Regardless of what happens, I will do my best to ensure the ones important to you survive.”

  It was impossible, but before Mikkhael could respond, he would have sworn on anything that he felt Aurora’s presence leave his side. Now he truly was alone, passing silently through the last of the tunnels leading to the hangar where Nemesis had been left in absolute solitude for months. The tunnels were dark; all the lights and anything else deemed non-essential, such as life support to most areas of the base, had been turned off in order to preserve power for the outer shields.

  Once the Omnos squad had launched from this very hangar, for the second time today, Soren and the other engineers followed the civilians, heading down to the escape tunnels under the mountain so they could flee the fight raging above, on the surface. From this point on there was nothing else the engineers could contribute to the outcome of the battle and their safety was all that mattered. At this point, their deaths would be a meaningless loss, whereas if they could reach the safety of the Lazarus faction the highly sought after engineers could assist in the process of rebuilding and continuing the fight.

  Mikkhael knew the history of what was waiting for him deep inside the airship, well-hidden and secured. From the moment of its arrival on Mars, it was if Nemesis called out to him, and it continued to do so, tempting him with its promise of unrivaled power. Evidently, he wasn’t the only one. That siren-like call had affected another. A young pilot who had been part of the team that searched the airship, and found Nemesis hidden behind a false compartment, had become too eager to get his name known. The young pilot had attempted to steal the possessed Mech armor for his own in order to earn his due share, or more, of glory in combat by any means necessary. Nemesis destroyed the young pilot’s mind, leaving him a slobbering, incoherent, muttering, mess of humanity that now resided in a cell serving as an impromptu psych ward. After that moment, nondescript guards had been placed around the airship, leaving the existence of Nemesis sub rosa.

  For all of his mental preparation and courage in front of Dr. Hesken, Eve, and Commander Ultor, Mikkhael still felt himself hesitate at the hangar entrance. He forced himself to put one foot in front of the other, entering through a service tunnel that opened into the middle of the pitch-black hangar. Without illumination from the headlights on the electric cart, Mikkhael could not see his hand in front of his face.

  He activated the communicator on his wrist, using the small screen as a weak flashlight. He reached over to his left wrist, squeezing the end of his uniform sleeve tightly in between his thumb and index finger, repeating the process to the other cuff. A pair of bioluminescent strips, one running down each side of his uniform all the way down to his boots, began glowing softly, faintly illuminating an area roughly four feet in every direction. The glow was just enough for him to maintain his night vision, but not enough to trip over something. Alone in that dark hangar, he welcomed the small comfort of that weak light.

  The air in the hangar was thick, stale, and heavy… with an overwhelming sense of dread. The circulation pumps had not changed the air in this section for quite some time. The stale air gave him the impression of being sticky and dirty just by being in its presence, adding to the sense of a brooding, malignant presence lurking in the near darkness, always remaining out of sight. It was if Nemesis had assumed a physical presence in the hangar, hungrily waiting to devour him.

  Even though the lights were off, and he was entirely alone, Mikkhael had the unnerving sensation that he was being watched. The darkness surrounding him was deathly still, pregnant with the promise of a terrible fate. There was no sound. Even the clicking of his boots as he walked across the hangar floor was muffled by the sticky, cloying air.

  Suddenly, electronic screens on the machines scattered throughout the hangar lit, in a direct line to the airship, outlining the path forward. A rumbling sound accompanied the cargo hatch opening downward, as it slowly lowered to the ground where it settled with a resounding thud.

  Without knowing exactly why, Mikkhael began hurrying, though he was shuffling with an almost drunken stupor. Unbidden, a thought entered his mind that if he turned around and left now, Nemesis would surely kill him. The only choice left was to keep moving forward.

&nb
sp; Mikkhael entered the airship, passing through the cargo bay, he placed his hand on a panel set in the false wall. His handprint served as the key that revealed his destiny, in all of its terrible glory. His breath caught in his throat, leaving him unable to swallow as the far wall retracted and he beheld, for the first time, the dark silhouette of Nemesis. His gait was awkward with nervous trepidation as he stepped forward. He had designed the initial schematics for Nemesis but had never before seen it in person.

  The demon known as Nemesis that was standing in front of him was even more oversized than Starkindler or its brethren. Ignominiously forced to its knees even in the spacious hold of the airship, it appeared overwhelmingly huge. An enormous sword the likes of which Mikkhael had never seen lay across its lap, as if the Mech were simply meditating before battle, like a Samurai warrior, waiting to be unleashed. A beam of light from Mikkhael’s communicator struck the edge of the sword, revealing the edge of the massive blade. He lifted his wrist, waving it slowly through the air to illuminate the rest of the sword, seeing that the blade was double edged. Well past the left knee, the enormous blade ended in a two handed grip, at the opposite end, the top third of the blade was serrated on one side.