Alden flicked his wrist and several assault rifle barrels popped up on either arm. Bullets ricocheted off his suit. He fired in a circle until every soldier dropped to the floor.
Gabriel launched off his back foot and slammed his fist into Alden’s shoulder. Alden let the force push him back slightly and then swung around and landed a kick into Gabriel’s stomach, which sent him back into the other wall.
“I’m going to enjoy watching you die!” Gabriel smacked his hands together and then lunged back at Alden. This time he spun around and threw his full weight into the kick. Alden dropped his head and used his hand to leverage the speed of Gabriel’s kick to duck the attack. He tried to jab up into his body as he sailed over, but Gabriel deflected the follow-up shot and pushed him back.
“Why are you fighting for the Council?” Alden yelled. “We were raised to defend the Three Nations Treaty, not push them into war!”
“Sometimes war is the answer. Humanity will realize that the lunar colonists are the real enemies and they’ll band together to defeat them. In place of a shaky treaty will be a long and lasting peace. Energy rations will be a thing of the past, and we won’t have to deal with their grubby demands. We’ll be able to increase exports back to Earth and ease the resource drain we’ve suffered under for so long.”
Alden stood slightly more erect as he realized what had just been said. “War is the answer?” He couldn’t believe it. “You think a controlled burn is acceptable? Do you listen to yourself? Did you bring the reactor up here…”
“So what if I did? I wasn’t the one who set it off. You can’t trust these people with anything. They’re all murderers.”
The full nature of Gabriel’s deceit was taking shape. The friend he had as a child was gone. All that was left was a twisted and tortured soul. A great pain ran through Alden’s chest as he processed the information. “Father McKinley was killed by the person who stole the particle reactor from the Island.”
“I didn’t want to kill him…”
Alden let out an angry scream along with the pain he’d kept bottled up inside. He lunged into Gabriel and slammed him to the ground.
Gabriel kicked up and flipped Alden off. Jumping to his feet, he grabbed Alden by the side and flung him across the open space and into the wall of the ship. The metal structure bent slightly from the impact of his metal suit. A crack shot across the large window just above the impact zone.
Gabriel rushed at Alden. He swung with everything he had. It took all of Alden’s energy to deflect the punishing blows hurled at him. He threw a kick into Gabriel’s side, but he caught his leg and then swung him away. Alden sailed through the air but was able to regain his balance and land against the other wall.
“I’m going to kill you now,” Gabriel said. “And I’ll enjoy every moment of it. It’s what Mary and Daniel would have wanted—”
“No, they wouldn’t have.” Alden shot back. There was no way this was going to end well. There was only one thing left he could do. “I don’t think they’d agree with this either, but I hope they’ll forgive me.” He raised his wrists and fired a rocket at the wall just behind Gabriel. It blew a massive hole into the side of the ship. Gabriel gave Alden the quickest of glances just before he was sucked out into space.
The oxygen rushed out and the force yanked him towards the exposed hole. Alexander was flipped out of the bed and slammed into the deck. The entire room was being sucked out into space, including the lifeless soldiers on the floor. The ship’s protective defenses sprang into action and a blue barrier appeared over the hole, sealing it off. Alden slammed into the barrier, causing a ripple of energy to cascade over the field.
He pulled himself off the floor and moved towards Alexander’s body. There was blood on the wall. Alexander had drawn something—two interconnected circles, and then, beneath it: Primus knows.
“Wake up!” Alden shook Alexander. His flattened vital signs appeared at the bottom of the display in his helmet. He was gone. Just one more thing Gabriel had taken from him. Now he’d never know where he really came from or who his father was. How was he going to tell Kira? She’d be heartbroken, so many unanswered questions.
Primus knows. He pictured the tall black robot, with the neon green lights that emanated from beneath its exterior. Alden stood, and then moved over to the storage area. Opening one of the large boxes, he found the robot motionless inside. The green light had vanished and there was no way to tell if it was still alive or dead. Whatever it was that Alexander had tried to tell him with his own blood would have to wait. There was something Alden still had to do.
Two fighters flew overhead. Alden was piloting what remained of the transport ship. In the distance, two massive and very well-armed battleships had begun their final descent from outer space. Hopefully Kira and the resistance fighters had made some headway against the initial invasion force. There wasn’t much time left. The moment those ships touched down, they’d be able to establish a base of command and hold off any attacks until more Terran soldiers and fighters arrived.
The static comm channel crackled to life inside the cockpit. “Come in Transport Two-kilo-three. We do not have you on our transport manifest. Are you part of the United Earth liberation army?”
“My name is Alden. I’m a second lieutenant in the Council military.”
There was silence for several moments. Suddenly the fighters dropped back behind him and opened fire.
Great! He put the craft into several tight spins as he maneuvered between the incoming blasts of fire. Several shots connected with the hull. The external cameras showed oxygen and propellant gushing into space behind him. It would be impossible to land this thing in the condition it was in. He was going to crash and it would not feel good.
Alden sealed his helmet back into place. He grabbed a hose off the wall and plugged it into the side of his suit to fill it up with compressed oxygen. The canyon appeared before him until it consumed his entire view. The windows on Level Two were filled with near-constant flashes of light. The craft dipped hard to the left and he watched in despair as blue streaks of fire from the pursuing jets cut the entire wing and thruster off the left side of his ship.
Major components broke off, leaving a trail of debris in his wake. The ship was dead and there was no hope of reducing the thrust as he hurtled towards the surface. Alden unhooked the air hose and pulled himself out of the seat. There was only one thing to do. He flipped a switch on the console and drained all the available oxygen from the cockpit. As soon as the oxygen was gone, the barrier he’d created over the cockpit window disappeared.
Alden floated up through the hole and into the void of space. He crouched on the nose of the ship as he closedin on the canyon wall. The distance was still too great; he needed to get just a little closer. The display in his helmet showed the two fighters coming in for a final attack. The space around him erupted in a hail of blue fire. Alden leapt from the ship and fired his thrusters just as the craft was torn to pieces. The momentum carried the larger pieces forward until they slammed into the canyon wall beneath him. Alexander had given his life so they might have a chance to win their freedom one day.
Alden sailed across the empty void toward the canyon wall. The attack jets must have assumed he was another piece of the wreckage because they broke off to assist the troop transports above. As he drew closer to the canyon wall, he fired the reverse thrusters to slow his approach. His momentum dissipated, and he floated in nice and steady. There were controls next to an exterior hatch that he was able to hack and then slip through.
There wasn’t much time to spare. He burst through the adjacent door and raced down the hallway. Soldiers and resistance fighters were scattered everywhere. Occasional bullets glanced off his chest as he moved between the sporadic battles. Alden ducked and lunged until he had made his way to the furthest spot in the battle. Kira and Callisto were pressed against a wall, pinned down; heavy weapons fire came from everywhere.
He dropped to the base of the wall n
ext to them. “Is that where we’re trying to go?” He indicated a set of large steel doors beyond them where dozens of soldiers with automatic rifles fired at anything that moved.
“You survived.” Callisto responded.
Kira added, “We’ve had heavy casualties already. They’ve worn us down to nearly nothing. We have to get through that door in order to take control of the anti-meteorite weapons on the surface.”
“I know,” Alden said. “Several massive transports were close behind me. They’ll be here at any moment.”
She caught hold of his arm. “My father?”
Alden just shook his head.
“Okay...” She lifted her wrist deck and spoke into it, “Attack, team Bravo, it’s time to end this. Give them everything you’ve got!”
The rebel fighters stood as one and unloaded their weapons. Kira jumped up firing both her pistols. Callisto had a massive machinegun that took two hands to hold. Searing hot bullet casings bounced off everything as he unloaded on the soldiers.
Alden detached several grenades from his belt and flung them down the hallway. His mask dropped and he pushed forward, firing every piece of weaponry the suit contained. Alden reached the door a moment later. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the last Council soldiers slump to the ground.
He took several steps back, raised his wrist and fired his last two rockets at the door. They held against the first blast, but the second bent them inwards. They were almost there. He pulled the last anti-matter grenade off his belt, primed it and then lobbed it at the door. There was a massive explosion as it made contact. The doors crumbled.
Callisto led a group of CLA soldiers up the hallway, and then pushed through the haze of smoke. Alden followed them in with Kira close behind. She had black streaks across her face and her hair was disheveled, but she was alive.
The room was massive, at least three stories tall. They had arrived at the heart of the Council command center in Apollo City. Below, several dozen workers scurried about. Nano-carbon glass covered the entire wall that looked out over the canyon. The center had been built relatively high along the canyon, which allowed them to see for hundreds of kilometers across the surface. This included a view of the distant Valhalla mountain range.
“Callisto, take some men and arrest all of those workers. Make sure that none of them are hurt; we need them alive in case we can’t get this thing to work.”
He nodded. Half the group headed down a flight of stairs to the lower level, and the rest took up positions around the consoles.
Three massive transport ships had dropped in low over the horizon. They were poised to land on their heads any minute now. “Do we have control of the system yet?” Alden asked.
“Waiting for your orders, sir,” one of the soldiers said.
“Fire!” Alden yelled.
Before the soldier could press the button, several bullets exploded out of his chest.
Gabriel stood fully erect where the soldier had once stood. He had an automatic weapon in one hand and a handgun in the other. The visor that covered his face disappeared back into the helmet. It revealed a mangled face and an eye that had clearly been bleeding.
“You’re alive…” Alden said.
“You didn’t think you were going to kill me, did you?” Blood dripped from his shoulder down the suit. “I want you to witness the loss of the only person who loves you. So you’ll know how it feels before the end.”
Gabriel turned his weapon and fired. Kira’s eyes opened wide at the realization of what had happened. She stumbled back against the railing and then slumped to the ground.
“Nooo!” Alden launched through the open space and tackled Gabriel. He slammed him into the railing. Gabriel dropped his elbow onto Alden’s shoulder, and then landed a blow into his abdomen and side. Alden attempted to block the attacks but they came faster than even he could respond. Gabriel’s red suit enhanced his attack and caused each hit to be painfully debilitating. Despite his improved bone and muscle density, if Alden hadn’t been wearing the suit each blow would have shattered a bone.
Gabriel threw another punch into Alden’s side. His rib still hadn’t fully healed from the punch on the hangar floor, and the force of each hit caused the fracture to expand. The pain was more than he could handle. His knees buckled and he dropped to the floor.
“That’s it? That’s the best you can do?” Gabriel seethed with anger. He kicked Alden in the side, and it felt like someone had just hit him with a steel beam. He wasn’t going to last much longer. There was only one thing he could do. On instinct, he jumped up into Gabriel and slammed him back into the railing. The momentum sent both of them over the top. They fell several meters before they crashed into the ground on the lower level.
Alden rolled over and gasped for air. He staggered to his feet as he watched Gabriel do the same.
“What are you doing?” Alden screamed. “This is madness. We were supposed to be brothers!”
“I’ll never be your brother! Your arrogance and stupidity got Mary and Daniel killed! I’m doing this for them!”
“They died so that we could live. This isn’t what they’d want!”
“How would you know what they wanted? You only ever cared about yourself!” Gabriel jumped over the fallen console and grabbed Alden. He threw him across the floor and into another set of computers.
Alden caught Gabriel’s next punch and pushed it to the side, barely missing his head. He began thrashing Gabriel in the side as fast and hard as he could. Gabriel flipped Alden over the console and he landed with a thud on the other side. He jumped over the console and landed on top of Alden. He punched down, but Alden was able to move his head just as Gabriel’s fist connected with the concrete below.
Alden kicked up into Gabriel and launched him into another set of consoles.
“Mary and Daniel’s deathswere an accident! We were following orders!”
Gabriel stood, spitting out blood. “All you ever did was follow orders. You didn’t care how many people were hurt or how many people died. You were just following orders!”
“It’s not like that. The Siberian installation was a global threat, it had to be destroyed.”
“Give me a few more minutes and you can ask the old Archon how that turned out for him…”
“You did that! Not me. You brought that device up here!”
“Unlike your mistake, this will actually make the world a better place. A shared hatred for the lunar colonies will unite everyone.”
“You’re everything we stood against!” Alden yelled back.
“I’m not the one protecting terrorists.”
“You’re the terrorist!”
Gabriel wiped the blood from his lip, drew out his knife and brandished it at him. “It’s time to die.” He tore across the floor and launched himself over the fallen consoles, and into Alden. They crashed through the last set of panels before they fell to the ground next to the giant windows.
Gabriel pulled himself on top of Alden and lifted his knife. He brought it down with the full speed and weight that his augmentations and the zero-gravity suit allowed. Alden threw up his arm and caught Gabriel’s hands just as the knife pierced the exterior of his suit. He used every ounce of his energy to push back on Gabriel, squirming to keep the blade from digging any deeper.
The knife started to slide out of his suit, but Gabriel just pushed it up slightly and then back down towards his neck. Their arms shook as they violently pushed against one another. A shot rang out and a bullet nailed the side of Gabriel’s suit and then ricocheted off. It was just the distraction he needed. Alden wrapped his legs around Gabriel’s. In one swift move, he pushed his hip out and flipped Gabriel onto his back. In the same movement he turned the knife over and brought it down into Gabriel’s throat.
Gabriel collapsed. His arms and legs thrashed as he grabbed hold of the handle and ripped it out. Blood poured from the wound as well as the edge of his mouth. His movements grew slow and labored. Alden picked him up and h
eld him as the last of his life drained away. The room was silent. All his teammates were truly gone now.
Outside, the military transports had started to land; gunners hung out of the side, laying waste to anything that moved. At the command center, General Stone had his sidearm extended in their direction. He gave him a nod, and Alden returned the gesture.
In that moment, Stone dropped his hand and yelled, “Fire!”
Several oddly-shaped domes came to life across the surface and canyon walls. Two large turrets emerged from each dome and began firing with rapid succession at the massive ships setting down on top of them.
The shots punched holes through the wings, body and landing gear of the crafts. One of them attempted to push forward and set down despite the heavy fire. A shot went straight through the cockpit. The ship listed to one side before it dropped into the canyon and careened into the wall. It exploded into a massive ball of fire and destruction.
The other two crafts reignited their engines and blasted back towards space. The battery fire continued in a barrage around each ship and didn’t relent until they had disappeared on their way back to Hyperion.
All of the rebel soldiers inside the command center cheered and jumped up and down. They hugged each other and laughed in jubilation. Alden squeezed Gabriel one last time before he laid his body back on the ground. “Be at peace, my friend.” The light caught something shiny around his neck. Alden touched a metal chain, and then a small locket. He flicked the pin and opened it. Mary smiled at him from inside. She seemed so much younger and innocent than he remembered. How could they have ever sent them on that mission?
He laid the locket to rest on Gabriel.
Alden stumbled back up the stairs towards Kira. He kneeled beside her; blood ran down her chest.
She opened her eyes. “Did we do it?”
“Yeah, we did.”
She tried to move but Alden placed a hand on her chest. “Lay still, the medics are on their way. Everything will be fine.”
The Last Revolution Page 32
