A momentary silence fell over the room, but it was soon broken with the footfalls of Veech and Stanner running to check on their targets. A check for their pulses confirmed they wouldn’t be a problem.
Stanner struggled to fill his lungs. The excitement of it all was getting to him. “How long do you think we have, sarge?”
“I don’t know, but let’s play it cool.” Veech put pressure on his shoulder. Fresh blood oozed from the reopened wound. “We’ll stuff these bodies somewhere and find something to soak up the blood. With a little luck, we can go unnoticed for a while.”
It was gruesome work, but Veech didn’t have time to fully process it. The three of them moved like a team of choreographed ants cleaning up a crime. In a few minutes, the dead had been stuffed in a tool closet and tarps covered the pools of blood.
Stanner put on a pair of coveralls he found and got busy pretending to have a clue when it came to drone repair. Veech and Stephanie planted themselves in front of the computer.
“Tell me what it says, sergeant.”
Veech leaned in. “It looks like a supply inventory to me.”
“That’s useless. Read off the tabs at the top.”
“Personnel. Inventory. Schematics.”
“Schematics, let’s start there.” She tapped it. Icons of various Euro equipment appeared and she selected the mini-tank. “First step is finding what base frequency they operate on and their encryption download. I need those to do anything.”
Veech pointed at the screen. “There, that says network.” Rows of words and numbers popped up. “Frequency is five point one-three-six-two-nine.” He shook his head. “I’m not seeing anything that refers to encryption.”
Stephanie closed her eyes and her face contorted. “I’ve set my start frequency to theirs, but I need the encryption to establish a link with the network to see what damage I can do.”
Veech swiped through several pages then grimaced. “I’m not finding it.” Releasing a lungful of air, he stood straight. “It was too much to ask for that to be right here. Damn. Now what?”
Stephanie sighed. “I don’t know.”
“I have an idea.” Their heads turned to find Stanner standing behind them.
“What’?” Stephanie swirled her chair around.
Stanner hooked his thumb toward the mini-tank. “We can download the encryption files from that.”
“Nice thought but that won’t work.” She pressed her lips together. “No, I’m sure it won’t. I guarantee they have the same safeguards as we do. You can’t access that information from an operational drone. That way it can’t be stolen from a damaged unit in the field during a fight.”
“Oh, I know that, sir.” Stanner held his arms out. “Bear with me, I’m pulling this together from fragments of a computer science course I took in primary, a documentary on the early BattleMasters I saw a while back, and a conversation I overheard between a couple of drone techs at a bar.”
Veech put his hands on his hips. “Boil it down for us. We’re in a hurry.”
“Basically, it comes down to this. That tank isn’t operational. It’s been powered down using the proper protocols for maintenance by authorized personnel. As far as its concerned, it’s warm and happy in a Euro garage. So...”
A snap of Stephanie’s fingers stole the moment. “If I’m on the right start frequency and wired directly into it during reboot, I’ll get the files. We’ll be in. It won’t be unrestricted access to the network, though.
“We’ll have to jury-rig a connection between me and the tank’s CPU. That could be a little tricky, but I’ll be able to take control of every drone on base that isn’t already on. There has to be at least one more in one of the other land-trains.”
Stanner gritted his teeth. “It’s more than a little tricky, lieutenant. I’ve read being a part of a reboot isn’t exactly standard operating procedure. You’ll be taking a real risk.”
Veech looked from one to the other. “What is he talking about?”
“Don’t worry about it, sergeant. If I was scared of putting myself in danger, I wouldn’t be here right now. If I do it, we have a chance. If I fail, we die, but if I do nothing, we die anyway.”
“Point taken.” Veech turned his palms up. “So, assuming you do it, then what?”
A broad smile crossed Stanner’s face. “Then we rip this base apart. I’ve got an idea for what we do after that.”
***
Bang, bang, bang rang out from the metal door. “Offnen sie diese tür!”
Sweat poured down Stanner’s face. “What are they saying?”
“It’s not ‘hey, would you guys like a beer.’” Veech twisted the ends of two wires together. “I sure hope that door holds a bit longer.”
Bang, bang, bang.
“I spot-welded the damn thing, sarge. Only way through is to cut their way in.”
Flickering lights flashed in the door’s porthole, grabbing both men’s attention.
“Shit.” Veech sighed. “You had to say it, didn’t you.”
“Sorry.”
Veech whipped his head toward Stephanie. Thin tendrils of smoke rose from where she was soldering the link with the CPU. “We’re running out of time.”
Her hand was steady as a surgeon. “Almost there, sergeant. We only get one shot at this, so I have to be sure it will work.”
Stanner looked at the door to see sparks flying into the room. A trail of molten steel ran down half the barrier’s length. “Not rushing you, sir, but…do you have an estimate?”
“Ten minutes.”
A lump formed in his throat. He regarded Veech “We’re not going to make it.”
“Yes, we will, corporal. We just need to buy some time. That’s a small egress point. We can bottleneck them for at least a few more minutes. Drag whatever you can find to make a barricade.”
Metal-on-metal screeches filled the room as the two men hurried to complete their makeshift fortification. Crates, loose armor plating, and overturned work tables were commandeered for its construction.
Stanner took a knee behind the wall. Releasing his pistol’s magazine, he counted the remaining rounds. “I have ten left in this mag and one spare with fifteen.”
“Make ‘em count. One shot at a time. Remember, we’re buying time, not trying to pump ‘em full of holes.”
Stanner glanced at Stephanie, then at the door. The entry point was nearly finished. He rested his hand on top of the wall and took deep, slow breaths. “Let’s do this.”
Bam!
The steel slab hit the floor like a thunderbolt, leaving a gap half as tall as a man and wide enough for one to pass at a time.
Stanner stiffened, expecting the battle to start immediately, but instead silence fell over the chamber. Cold sweat boiled from his pores. “What are they waiting for?” he asked quietly.
“Stay sharp. Every second they wait is free.”
Muffled voices trickled through the opening, followed by two balls zooming along the floor.
Both men ducked.
Boom!
A concussion wave rocked the barricade, sending parts of it to the ground. A thick fog engulfed them. They’d expected smoke and had arranged their positions accordingly.
Stanner poked his pistol over his cover. He aimed, using his best guess of where the hole was through the smoke, and fired one round. He heard it ricochet off a solid surface. He adjusted and fired again.
A cry of agony signaled he’d found his mark. The trigger slid back to send another bullet at the breach. Veech’s fire was also on target.
One at a time they fired.
The fog thinned, allowing him to see the outline of images on the other side. A Euro soldier lay motionless near the hole, blocking the access point.
Click.
His first mag ran dry. He punched the magazine release and the empty fell to the floor. He seamlessly slapped in his last in and held his fire.
“Stephanie! We’re almost out of time!”
***
<
br /> Stephanie pulled on a bud hidden in the hairline on the back of her neck. A wire unspooled and she plugged the end into the jack she’d hot-wired to the tank’s input port.
Here we go. She switched the tank on. She felt her mind get tugged into its circuitry, flowing through the wiring like water in a pipe. Down, down she went until she splashed into a pool of numbers, the CPU.
She was a part of the machine’s core and the digital world grew around her. Ones and zeros came together to form structures that rose from the liquid as she floated. The formations represented different operating systems. Navigation was a giant compass. Targeting, a bullseye.
She needed to find communications to achieve her objective.
“It’s booting up!” She twirled around in wonder. This was the first time she’d been so intimately connected to a machine so early in the startup. She soon remembered why that was.
The fluid around her hardened. It pressed against her ribs.
“What’s happening?” Her voice echoed off the solid surfaces sprouting up all around.
She swam, but it was like fighting through Jello and she made no progress. The pressure increased. Filling her lungs with simulated air became more challenging with each breath.
If she became trapped within the code, her death would be very real. Her mind would be consumed by the CPU, integrated into the tank and lost in a sea of numbers. Her personality would be gone forever.
The surface stiffened enough for her to claw her way out. It was a race to see if she could escape before it solidified to the point of encasing her in it. Each inch of success was more difficult than the last.
“Uuuhhhggg!” She grabbed a handful of muck and pulled for all she was worth. Her hips slid out as she collapsed onto the malleable surface. Gasping for air, she renewed her grip and did it again and again until finally her toes popped out.
Stephanie rolled onto her back, sinking in a short distance as though on a foam mattress. She took in gulps of air and thanked God for not losing herself to the CPU.
Time was short. She forced herself onto her feet and scanned the digital realm. The landscape was nearing completion. She had to find the communications operating system and merge with it before the reboot ended. If she didn’t, then this all would’ve been for nothing.
“There!” She took off into a sprint toward a massive set of headphones.
At first the balls of her feet pressed into the soft ground. That was a good sign, it meant she had time. The closer she drew the harder the floor became until it felt like concrete still yards from her target.
She leapt, drawing her fist back for a full force punch. “Ow!” she roared as she plunged her knuckles into the side. Pain exploded into her hand and coursed throughout her body, but the outer shell broke. Her fist sank in and merged on her own terms.
Information flooded her mind. She drank it in, sorting for the tidbit of data she desperately needed. Numbers and images flashed before her mind’s eye like a stop motion movie made of unorganized pictures.
There! She saw the encryption and wrapped her fingers around it. The knowledge absorbed through her skin.
Stephanie’s eyes, her real eyes, opened.
The room was filled with smoke and sounds of chaos. The scent of gunpowder assaulted her nostrils.
“I’m out!” Veech screamed.
Step aside, boys. I’ve got this one.
Chapter Seventeen
A storm erupted over Stanner’s head. The noise and gust of air caused his instincts to flare, sending him to the floor. He covered his head and looked back to see Stephanie standing tall with a grim expression. The twin fifty-calibers on top of the mini-tank barked at the enemy egress point.
Through cracks in the barricade, he saw the hell unleashed on the Euro troopers. The smart-bullets, sensing a solid target, had hardened their cores to penetrate the drone bay’s door. Hundreds of rounds tore into it, ripping apart the metal and obliterating the flesh on the other side.
The guns fell silent. An eerie calm came over the scene. Jagged shards of steel framed the door. The hallway was coated in blood and guts. Loose pieces of debris floated down.
“Hot damn.” Veech jumped to his feet and hurdled the barrier. He searched the dead for weapons and ammo.
Stanner stood in shock for several seconds before Stephanie pulled him back to reality. “I need a reload of fifty cal!”
He bolted for a storage locker and dragged back two boxes of ammunition. The empty magazines ejected on their own but it took considerable strength to heave the full ones into place. They slid down and a click signified they were locked in.
“That’s better.” Stephanie closed her eyes to focus on the link. “We’re lucky there were a couple hundred rounds in place.” A miniature forklift drone in the corner came to life. “I’ll be loaded up with rockets in a couple of minutes.”
Veech jogged over and handed Stanner a rifle. He unslung an ammo bandolier and hung it on Stanner’s shoulder. “We won’t have long until they send everything they have at us.”
“Don’t you worry, sergeant.” Stephanie opened her eyes. “I’m establishing a connection with an aerial drone and another tank. That’s all there is in this camp, but it should be enough.” Her eyes closed. “Clearing out their bays now.”
She remained still for a minute. It was easy to forget she was wiping out teams of unsuspecting techs who simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Clear.” She rubbed her temples. “It’s harder than I thought to control both types of drones at once.”
“Will you be okay?” Stanner put a hand on her shoulder.
“I should be, except for a bad headache. I’m opening the other bay doors and will start clearing out the camp.”
“Remember to leave at least one land-train operational.” Stanner pulled the bandolier over his shoulder. “We’ll need it for stage two of my plan.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Shouts and boots stamping down the hallway grabbed their attention.
Veech trained his rifle down the hall. “Here they come. We’ll hold ‘em off. You take care of the ones outside.”
The lead Euro soldier ran into Stanner and Veech’s line of fire. They both fired three-round bursts, reducing the man’s chest to a bloody pit. The rifle bucked against Stanner’s shoulder as he sent burst after burst down the narrow passage.
They were expending bullets at a rapid pace, but their fire was keeping the enemy pinned down at the far end of the corridor, where they couldn’t endanger the trio. The attackers saw the futility of their approach and ceased their attack.
Stanner took advantage of the respite to slap in a full magazine. “What are they doing?”
“Looking for another way in. They’ll come at us from multiple directions next.”
“We’ve got a problem!” Stephanie exclaimed. “They’re trying to unlock the bay door. I’m trying to stop them, but I can’t fight them off for long and still control the drones on the outside.”
Veech repositioned himself to face the bay doors. “Get behind better cover and let them open it. Your combat effectiveness is more important than delaying the inevitable.”
Clasps released and the whine of an electric motor foretold the fury to come. Muzzle flashes flared once the opening was big enough for them to confidently avoid the thick metal slab. Veech returned fire, but it was petty in comparison.
Bullets ricocheted off the tank by the dozen as dozens more exploded in midair, peppering everything in the room with tiny bits of shrapnel. The seconds it took the door to rise high enough for the mini-tank’s fifties to join the fray felt like an eternity.
The fifty-caliber machine guns spat death at their tormentors. The twin barrels panned left, then right and back again. Stephanie launched a rocket. It zipped forward and plowed into a cluster of boxes. In a flash they were thrown apart and those who had dared use them as cover were gone.
Stanner was beginning to enjoy the melee when
movement down the hall caught his eye. Smoke poured out of a canister and rolled toward him. The fog was impossible to see through with the naked eye.
Stanner’s index finger jerked back. The rifle barked, hurdling three-rounds into the haze. Moving the barrel an inch to the left, he sent another stream. He emptied his mag firing blinding into the unknown.
“Sergeant! I could use some help here!”
The words barely registered in his own ears. He slapped his palm against Veech’s shoulder after jamming a fresh magazine in. The pair kept whatever lay in the fog at bay.
Stanner wasn’t confident their measures were sufficient. He faced the tank and waved his arms until he got her attention through the machine’s optics. The torrent paused on him and he pointed down the hallway. With his hands he made an exploding gesture.
The last missile zoomed over his head. Heat from its exhaust washed over him, forcing him to slam his eyelids shut. He lunged for Veech, grabbing the back of his uniform to pull him to the floor.
An explosion rocked the bay. A shockwave of smoke, heat, and pressure shot out of the narrow passage. It ripped the makeshift wall apart and scattered it like a leaf pile.
Stanner lay motionless for several seconds. His ears were ringing, his mind was scrambled, and his vision blurred.
The bay door! A surge of adrenalin flooded his blood stream. He sprung up, raising his rifle at the large opening. It felt like it weighed a ton. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the tank’s guns blaze, sweeping back and forth.
Veech was firing.
Stanner pulled the trigger. He had no idea where he was aiming but sent burst after burst till his rifle ran dry. He put in another magazine and kept fighting.
***
Stephanie stayed low, her back against a heavy steel pillar in the far corner. The security of her position left a pang of guilt in her gut. Veech and Stanner were in harm’s way, fighting on the front line to keep her safe. She didn’t like it, but it was necessary, as the drones she controlled were their only chance of survival, let alone winning.
“Unit One ammunition reserves at fifteen percent,” an emotionless voice warned in reference to the mini-tank that guarded the bay door.
BattleMaster (The BattleMaster Corps Book 1) Page 12
