by Joel Babbitt
Alyssa thought for a while, alternately whispering to herself, clutching her daughters closer, and shaking her head in disbelief at what the woman who had always been her best friend was telling her. Finally, she slowly began to nod, though Rianna couldn’t see the motion in the darkness.
“Okay,” Alyssa whispered almost to herself.
“What’s that?” Rianna asked.
“Okay,” Alyssa whispered a little louder. “I’ll go… we’ll go. Yes… yes… we’ll go.” Her fragile courage and tentative decision were somewhat strengthened by her saying it out loud.
“That’s it, Alyssa, soon you and your precious daughters will be safe,” Rianna whispered, standing up and helping Alyssa gather her three daughters together. “Here, I’ll carry Cammy. You carry the two little ones.”
“Okay,” Alyssa whispered, still mostly to herself. “We’re going. We’re going. We’re going.”
Making their way to the door with the three little girls in their arms, the two women stopped as Rianna slowly cracked the door open and peeked outside. Drawing a special sidearm from her thigh, Rianna stuck her arm out the door, aimed at the bodyguard, and fired a small dart into his neck. He immediately dropped heavily to the ground. After a brief look in all directions, the two women shuffled off toward the closest landing pad where Rianna’s quadcopter sat finishing its charge.
As they rounded the last of the plasticrete shelters that Titus, in his paranoia, had commanded to be built around the landing pad, suddenly a brilliant flash lit up the night sky, followed almost immediately by two more. Suddenly, all around them lights could be heard exploding, the circuitry on charging stations not ten steps ahead of them sparked and exploded, and the four vehicles on the landing pad simultaneously lit up with lightning arcing between them, their lights exploding, and their parrabatteries blowing off their covers while small gouts of flame jetted from their charge cells.
On her hip, Rianna’s blaster pistol sparked and died, while in her right hand her tranq gun suddenly grew hot. She dropped the thing to the ground as it too arced with massive sparks as its charge cell discharged through the body of the gun.
All around the base arcing lighting could be seen as transformers, wireless power points, and exploding power storage stations that were attached to melting solar arrays discharged all power through fused circuitry. One after another exploding power stations could be heard discharging in the distance, first one or two at a time, then the remaining thirty or so all blew in a matter of two seconds, letting out a massive, rolling roar.
As the echoes of the massive explosions died down, Rianna and Alyssa stood in stunned silence listening to the subtle sounds of fires and haywire circuitry sparking on the landing pad.
“Rianna, what do we do?” Alyssa asked tentatively.
Rianna had been standing looking at the smoking remains of her quadcopter and wondering how she could have possibly timed this wrong. Pulled out of her stupor by Alyssa’s question, and by the squirming, scared little girl in her arms, Rianna looked back at Alyssa with a grim look on her face.
“I’m so sorry, Alyssa,” Rianna said. “I’ll see if I can make it to South Principay. Perhaps the damage isn’t as bad down there. I’ll get us a vehicle if there are any to be had and I’ll come back for you.”
“But… where do I go with the girls?” Alyssa asked bleakly.
“Go to your house. Gather your things. If I can, I’ll be back before morning.”
Alyssa looked dejected. She had finally made up her mind to leave, and now she was going back home… to Titus. Even her best friend had failed her. With a deep sigh of dejection, Alyssa took Cammy from Rianna and turned back toward her house.
Just as she did so, a small group of men in battle gear but without their electronically-controlled weapons came running from the other direction. One of them, the leader of them all it appeared, stopped suddenly when he saw the two women.
“Alyssa!” he yelled accusingly.
Alyssa jumped guiltily, then seeing who had yelled her name she began to stagger backwards with the three little girls in tow, her mouth unable to voice the words her lips were forming.
“And if it isn’t Rianna Firstwave,” the cruel voice of the man was unmistakable, it was none other than Titus Brutian, commander of Principay Colony. “What’s this? Were you about to take my wife and her children away on your quadcopter?” he asked as he looked at the burning quadcopters. “You’re such a fool. I can’t believe you actually came back,” his voice was beginning to turn cold, hard, and deadly.
“Titus,” Rianna said as coolly as she could. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Oh, no, Rianna,” Titus countered as he pointed the men around him toward Alyssa. “It’s exactly what it looks like.” Titus drew a long stiletto knife from his thigh; it was his only functional weapon.
As the group of men rushed past Rianna and grabbed Alyssa and the children, Titus rushed forward with a grim sneer on his face. Rianna drew her own small knife in an attempt to defend herself, but Titus easily brushed the blade aside, then with one swift motion Titus brought his own knife up into her stomach, the nano-sharpened blade easily parting the fabric of her nanomer-weave jumpsuit as it plunged deeply into her gut, knocking the wind out of her as pained pulsed through her body in brilliant flashes like the lightning that was still arcing between the vehicles around her.
Pulling out the knife in one swift motion, Titus tripped Rianna and let her gasping, gawking form fall writhing to the ground.
“I told you to not come near my wife,” Titus said as he shook the blood off his knife and sheathed it in one smooth motion. “You’re done,” he said with no emotion. Turning on one heel, he ordered two of his men to take his wife and her children back to the plasticrete dome and lock them in, then almost as an afterthought, he ordered another two of his men to drag Rianna along, as he led the rest of the men toward the command center.
Rianna lay writhing on the ground, bleeding out as Alyssa and her little girls were drug away in shock and horror, as two of Titus’ men grabbed her by either arm and began to drag her along.
Chapter Nineteen
Those he led would consider it a rather wild idea, Colonel Alexander conceded to himself, but he knew that was because he thought only he knew what was going to hit Principay before them—he assumed the other three had already done a short term wipe. So, for their own good, Alexander hadn’t laid out this rather risky plan to the troops yet, except Captain Washington who had to do some of the planning. Instead, he told them they were going to scout out Principay’s outer defenses, before eventually continuing on their way to the friendly colony of Far Point.
That had been only partly a lie, as he did plan to eventually go to Far Point—after they did what they were actually going to Principay to accomplish, that is. But first, they were going through the motions of scouting out Principay’s outer defenses—as he waited for the fireworks to start—then they would swoop in and execute his ‘rather wild idea.’
“Wash, can you put the caribou herd on the tactical display?” Colonel Alexander asked as he sat with one foot up on the dash, his heavy combat boot not even marking the rough plasteel interior of the vehicle. Instantly a small flock of yellow markers appeared crawling the last few inches toward the red ‘X’ Captain Washington had so helpfully put on the screen before her wipe. Alexander smiled a particularly merciless smile.
Outside the armored survey truck night was starting to fall with all the attendant noises of a high jungle. Their position on the upper slopes and benches of the border mountains between the eastern steppes and the expansive valley that Principay’s multiple colonies inhabited was particularly good for scouting. The lights of Principay’s three main colonies, all clustered about the mineral mines that gave them their wealth, twinkled in the twilight as darkness fell quickly over the great valley. Sitting up here on the benches overlooking the colonies, Alexander had to guess that there were easily five thousand people in the three c
olonies—probably more like eight or ten thousand. Alexander had been to Principay in the past, back when Marik had dealings with them, but most of the company had not, so this was a good opportunity for them to understand the scope of the problem.
“Okay, kiddos,” Alexander growled, the sight of his enemy’s home hardening his features and his attitude. “Take a good look. Very soon we’re going down into that sea of lights and plucking one particularly nasty fish out of it. But first we have a couple of errands to run.”
“Sir,” Captain Washington’s voice came over the link, “I tapped their public grid and have all of their street and building schematics, to include rosters of inhabitants and tracker data for all citizens as of… time now.”
“Well done, Wash,” Alexander said. Looking over at Specialist Krrrz, Alexander pointed casually toward the pass they had so recently come through. “Take us back over the pass, Bug,” Alexander said before keying the linker. “All trucks follow my truck back to the rally point. We’ll link up with the quadcopter there and then I’ll lay out the plan.”
All three trucks had cleared the pass little more than a minute before three bright flashes of light lit up the western sky on the other side of the mountain. Audible gasps could be heard in each truck.
Not missing a beat, Colonel Alexander calmly keyed his linker. “Captain Washington, can you identify what just occurred on the west side of the mountains?”
“Sir,” the response came quickly, though she was obviously startled, “it appears as though multiple EMP devices have been detonated in Principay Colony.”
Within moments the three trucks had arrived at the clearing where the quadcopter was waiting for them. Dismounting, Colonel Alexander let out a loud whistle and waived one muscular arm in a circle above his head, calling everyone to rally around him.
Four yazri, a sergeant and his three specialists, a survivalist, an investigator, and three military officers was the sum total of their little group, but as Colonel Alexander gazed at them with a determined look on his face, he saw them for what they were; the best hope for averting war on the eastern continent. Principay was down, but certainly not out yet. It was time for the final blow. Taking a deep breath, with a grimace on his face Colonel Alexander addressed the group.
“Warriors,” he started, the salutation catching them off guard. “Tonight we have an opportunity to win this war before it even starts.” Looking around, he could see that his hardened attitude was rubbing off on the company. They were steeling themselves for whatever the colonel would ask them to do. “Those bright flashes of light from over the horizon were most likely EMP bombs detonating. That means we have a window of several hours—perhaps a day at most—before Principay is able to reestablish security and begin rebuilding.”
Looking about the group, he could feel the anticipation of what he was going to say next.
“Who here is up for abducting Titus Brutian?” Alexander asked. There was a stunned silence for a few moments as everyone took in what he had just said. Soon, the entire group was murmuring in approval, hesitant at first, then enthusiastic. “That’s what I thought!” Alexander said as a grim smile replaced his scowl. “Now, the route is loaded into all of our trucks, but the plan is simple; everyone follow my truck. When we get to Principay’s main colony, what they call North Principay, we’ll stop at Brutian’s headquarters and see if we can’t persuade him to come with us.”
“And what if he doesn’t want to come with us?” One of the specialists asked.
Alexander pulled his blaster pistol from its holster and checked the clip, the kinetic sound of the clip slamming home matching the hard gleam in the colonel’s eyes. “Well, then we’ll just have to insist.”
Everyone laughed a determined laugh.
“We will use a bit of deception, however,” Alexander said. “Captain Washington, would you do the honors of laying out the details?”
Shannon Washington stepped forward, her confidence in the colonel’s wild plan restored after the detonation of the three EMPs. “Yes, sir,” she said to the colonel, then turned to face the rest of the group. “As the colonel said, our plan is to abduct Titus Brutian, and thereby end this war before it starts. To do that, we’re going to pose as security forces from South Principay, which is the colony that should be least affected by the EMP blasts. Sergeant Thompson,” she said, turning to look at the large, muscular black man.
“Yes, ma’am,” his deep rumble of a voice a sharp contrast to hers.
“Do we still have the breaking and entering kit?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Dug it out of the wreck myself,” Thompson confirmed.
“Very well,” Washington nodded. Rolling out a large screen on the ground with both hands, she stood up and sub-vocalized to her situence glasses. Instantly the three-dimensional picture of a typical austere, utilitarian security forces building with a small compound of vehicles appeared circling in the air above the screen.
“Okay, here’s our target,” Washington said. “Principay’s grid showed only one person there on duty before the EMP-event.” She dismissed the image with a wave, swiping in the air to bring up a different image, this one clearly a portion of the colony cluster in the valley just over the mountains from them. A red circle had already been drawn around a small building on the outskirts of civilization. “This is where the station’s located, on the outskirts of South Principay,” Washington explained. “We will go to the station, commandeer Principay Security Forces gear, slap their stickers on the side of our vehicles, then head out to North Principay.”
Bug raised a hand.
“Yes, Specialist Krrrz.”
“If security forces resist, we shoot to kill?” Bug’s voice projector translated the buzzes and hooting he made into Standard.
Colonel Alexander knew this one was really his to answer. “For this mission, everyone needs to carry a sonic pistol in a chest-rig, in addition to your normal blaster on your hip. Do everything in your power to knock them down or out with sonics, but if you have to, go ahead and shoot to kill with your blasters. Better to kill a couple of Principay security folks than to allow a war to happen that will claim hundreds or even thousands of lives.”
Captain Washington looked back at the screen to continue her briefing. Displayed in the air above the device was a three-dimensional map of North Principay. “Now, Titus Brutian’s command center is right here,” she said, indicating a glowing red dot near the southern gates of North Principay, which unlike Principay’s other two sprawling sub-colonies was a large, circular colony laid out in the same original pattern as Primus, Terra Alta, and the three Far Point colonies.
“He won’t be alone,” Colonel Alexander said. “Nor will he be just sitting there waiting for us to come pick him up.”
Specialist Ya-da-na, or Triplets as everyone called the three bodies that composed the trillo, obviously had a question. The three little armadillo-like furry creatures were all dancing about, their eyes fixed on Captain Washington, each of the creatures had one hand raised.
“Yes, Triplets?” Washington acknowledge the trillo.
“Sir—ma’am,” Ya asked.
“What sort of security…” Da continued.
“forces do we expect to be with him?” Na finished without missing a beat.
Captain Washington looked at Colonel Alexander as if to pass the ball, but he motioned back at her. “Josh Langdon, who served with us until he defected to serve Stellar Corp, is acting as head of Brutian’s security. The last report we had was that Brutian had three or four other operators on his security team.”
“Can we expect them to fight?” Jim Ryker asked.
Colonel Alexander looked thoughtful for a moment, then answered. “Let’s just say that when we get to Brutian’s headquarters, we won’t be using sonics.”
Captain Washington continued the brief, laying out maneuver plans, order of march, and specifying actions on the objectives. Within five minutes they were on their way to the first objective
.
* * *
Jim Ryker looked like a man who had come back to life. All this back-woods work wasn’t his thing, it suited people like their resident survivalist Jack Wolf much better—but now they were in Ryker’s home turf. As they flew over each plasticrete crossroads with its dark streets and dark houses, the roads lined with confused people, dead droids, and vehicles strewn about wherever momentum had left them, Ryker’s mood brightened. This was terrain he understood; the human terrain of a small city, the chaos of a disaster. Ryker felt like he was home.
As they buzzed yet another small outcropping of houses with its small groups of adults chatting and random children running around in the light of the moon, he felt a twinge of guilt at what he knew they had done; the eastern continent was no place to be without strong electronic fences and large weapon systems to keep away the predators. And right now, Principay had neither thanks to Marik’s Marauders.
Technically it was only partially their fault. After all, Titus Brutian and his people had brought these EMPs to their compound for the express purpose of using them against the colony of Far Point. And that would have left Far Point vulnerable. Better to leave those who support evil vulnerable by turning their own weapons against them, rather than let them use them on the innocent people of Far Point Colony to the north.
As for the innocent, Ryker focused on programming the various bots he used in his situence glasses, setting them with a determined zeal to dig through the mounds of data Shannon Washington had ‘acquired’ from Principay’s grid before the EMP event. He had a job to do, the original reason he’d come to Camallay in the first place, which was to find his sister and bring her home. He wasn’t sure he would find anything, but his sister Rianna Firstwave had been here not three days before as the three-pic his informant Barabas had sent him clearly showed, and he couldn’t help but connect the dots.
