Generations (The Nimbus Collection Book 3)

by Clemens, D. C.

  A third enemy came out of the stairway and started shooting at her weakened shield. She was just able to dash out and reach another pillar before the first formed a gapping gash at its center. The sergeant was having a more difficult time, as he was not able to dispatch his first opponent before he was reinforced by the fourth member coming up the stairs. Three against two was bad enough, but when the other side were in possession of equipment equal or superior to their own, Jane realized conventional thinking would get her killed.

  “Sergeant! Steam! Now!”

  She warped all the water she could, gathering it between herself and her ally. The sergeant then used his own ability to create an intense whirling fireball in his hand, hurling it at the ball of water. The elements exploded on impact, creating a quickly expanding cloud of thick steam that overtook much of the room. With this vaporous cover in place, Jane then employed a good chunk of her vida to flash freeze a slice of steam on the floor, fashioning an ice path that led her near where she knew her enemy was. She rushed out from her cover and ran into her ice road, letting her body to speedily slide toward her target. She saw the flashes from the frustrated criminal’s weapon as it continued to fire at the last place he knew her to be. When she had slid close enough to see her objective’s hazy silhouette, she unsheathed a blade from her left gauntlet. The steam was suddenly cleared away by a blast of air, but this was only enough for her target to more clearly see Jane thrust a black blade toward his neck. All he saw was darkness coming over his eyes a split second later.

  Retracting the blade, she jumped behind the pillar her formerly breathing rival had been using. As she tried to assess the situation, an explosion flung back a screaming felon, smashing him against an elevator door. She shot at his crumpled body to take him out of commission indefinitely. Jane was close to feeling comforted by the turn in the numbers advantage, but seeing the sergeant’s body bash against a nearby plastic desk dampened any hint of optimism. No amount of time passed between hearing the sergeant grunt from the impact and a rapid-fire shotgun blast tear through his armor plates. She cursed herself. Why didn’t I keep the corporal with us? Or have us all rejoin the captain? There was little time to keep questioning her decisions. The invader was now in her sights.

  She peeked her barrel around the pillar and fired, convincing the mark of her retribution to seek cover behind her previous pillar. They traded shots for a few moments before her enemy’s superior weapon forced her to move away from her collapsing cover. She tried to use suppressing fire to move to the room with the stairway, but he ignored it and warped a compact stream of air at her, knocking her off her feet. The first shotgun blast sapped her shield by more than half. The second both drained it entirely and sent one of the slugs into her left shoulder. The third never came. A vida produced explosion hurled him onto the floor next to her. A honed instinct had her training her gun at the fallen body beside her. She opened fire, easily close enough to hear every bullet bounce off the shield and then crack the armor until the rending of flesh itself compelled her to stop.

  Heart pounding, lungs expanding, lungs contracting, and shoulder burning with loose blood, she raised herself off the floor and headed for the sergeant, who was now slumped over. His breathing was raspy and he couldn’t even look up. She squeezed his hand and he was just able to squeeze back. That’s all that was necessary between two people who were comfortable in their silences.

  She had to move on. More than twice as many of these formidable nemeses were now below her. In blur of mind and body, Jane headed for the unmarked door. At every step she tried reaching the corporal or the captain, but the jammer simply made it impossible to get anything other than static until the hidden elevator touched down on the lowest possible level.

  “Dominguez! Can you hear me!?”

  “Jane! Gods, please hurry!”

  On finally returning to the underground floor, her vision met with death’s creation. Among the bodies of dead soldiers, militia members, and criminals were four and a half living figures. The nearest was the wounded corporal, who was crouched behind a hyper-steel barrier. Her left thigh had a gaping hole in its armor plate and her helmet lay half shattered next to her. Her face was bloody from a gouge above her left eye. Ten yards away, hunkering alongside a still squirming soldier, was the captain. He was stationed behind his barrier as he attempted to hold off two of the remaining trespassers at the edge of the defense line, one of which Jane knew to be that overly tall being. She could sense its cumbersome dreadfulness from where she stood. Jane sprinted up next to the corporal and fired at the shorter being, who stood in the way of the other.

  “Careful, ma’am. That big fucker’s gun saws through everything.” The corporal did her best to join her superior, using a rifle Jane recognized was not originally her own.

  The captain and Jane met eyes ever so briefly, but it was enough to get an idea across. They had trained for years on countless scenarios, and this one called for the most high-risk of tactics.

  “Corporal, stay down and close your eyes until I say so…”

  The corporal obliged. Jane peeked at the captain, who had stopped firing and was warping a dense whirlwind of air around his fist.

  When the two enemies began to close in, the captain rose and shouted, “Now, Spire!”

  She followed up the cue by pointing her rifle’s underbarrel just above the enemy pair, closing her eyes, and unleashing a flashbang grenade. Its detonation lit up the dim room the same way a lightning strike would light up and awaken a night sky. Jane reopened her eyes, but still kept them squinted, knowing what was coming. Having braced for the short-lived event, the captain instantly proceeded the diversion by pouring a great flood of vida into his fist. A yellowish spark burst forth from the tips of his fingers and catalyzed a much larger flash of charged light, directing this electrical attack for the shorter, closer opponent. A thunder clap trailed the shocking flare an instant later. When the bothersome light faded, she could see that the target’s shield was fritzing wildly.

  “Open fire at my target, corporal!”

  Just as the first few slugs left their barrels, the taller enemy began leaping over the barriers in an attempt to charge toward the enfeebled captain, whose effort had him on his knees and catching his breath.

  The corporal beat Jane in crying out, “Captain! He’s coming for you!”

  She hated having to wait several more rounds before the first objective was eliminated. Once that was done, the girls turned their full attention on their captain. He was shooting his rifle, but the last opponent was too heavily shielded for that to deter him any. She saw it coming before it happened, but that did not stop her from trying to do what she could.

  Leaping over her barrier, she said, “Give me as much support as you can.”

  She wanted to start shooting, but the captain had risen to face the overbearing challenger, who was practically looking down at him already. With her rifle currently useless, she warped all the water she could in front of her. Seeing his disadvantage, the captain started to warp some air to possibly knockback the larger being, but it was as though he was moving in slow motion compared to the other. Or perhaps the other was moving at twice his speed. Before the captain could even think of releasing the little air he had collected, the unknown being had lifted its hefty rifle and pulled the trigger. She must have blinked, for the next image she was aware of was his static body on the floor.

  The blank helmet next turned its sight to the human-sized wall of churning water heading for it at the speed of the running soldier it veiled. Its shield was now feeling the gifts from the corporal’s rifle, but the terrible presence didn’t register them. It causally aimed for what it considered the most concerning threat. She heard the prevailing firearm discharge its slugs. Despite the roiling wall of water cutting down their speed, some were still able to mow down her shield’s strength. With her left hand occupied with keeping the water defense intact, and knowing her rifle was hopeless at this point, she dropped it and ha
d her right gauntlet unsheathe its blade. Her HUD informed her that her armor had a breach somewhere, but what did she care as long as she could move?

  She implemented a huge chunk of her vida to flash freeze all the water she carried. Recognizing that the hyper-steel barrier the entity was behind would prevent the whole thing from hitting it, she cracked apart the upper half of the heavy block of ice and telekinetically threw it forward. It was able to dodge it by taking a leaping sidestep, but she foresaw that inevitability. She also knew it would decide to jump closer to her in order to avoid the corporal’s slugs. So with the most effort she could put behind it, she shoved the lower half of ice at the spot she believed the feet of the challenger would be. Her thought process was correct. The unprepared being had not even landed on the floor before its legs were taken out from under it. It fell face first onto the ground. The helmet this unidentified face was hidden behind had wanted to lift off the ground it did not expect to meet, but a resentful blade entering the thick shell prohibited such a thing from happening. Jane had some trouble removing the blade, so she had the blade detach from her arm and left in the helmet.

  She had never applied so much vida within that brief a window. Her body didn’t want to move, but she forced her legs to take her to the captain. Before getting to him, the soldier she had seen squirming when she arrived was still moaning and writhing. His helmet looked much like the corporal’s, except his was still on. The exposed left side was just a bloody mess of red matter.

  With a weak voice, she said, “Just hold on a little longer, private.”

  She forgot about him as soon as she saw the captain laying supine. His chest plate was riddled with a dozen inch wide holes and a pool of blood had pooled under him, despite his nanotech working to prevent such an occurrence. She gingerly removed his helmet and placed her ear by his nose. She held in her breath until she felt the faintest of exhales prickle her ear.

  “Corporal! Open the shelter doors!”

  Hearing no objection, she carefully picked up the captain’s limp body. To aid in the endeavor, she ordered her nanotech to offer its stimulants directly to her weary muscles. It wasn’t until she was laying her friend inside the open bunker doors did she notice that the right side of her armor’s abdomen plate had a hole in it. According to the HUD’s data she pulled up, the shattered bullet was still inside her, but her nanotech and armor’s medical foam was doing its job, temporarily keeping her from feeling too debilitated.

  “He’s alive?” asked the corporal.

  “Barely. You were trained as a healer, right?”

  “I just know the basics, but I think I can spare some vida for him.”

  “Do it.”

  She went back for the private. When he was also inside the shelter doors, she went to the external control panel and began entering the code to relock the doors.

  “Ma’am? We can lock them from the inside.”

  “Stay with them, corporal. I’m going to see if I can get help.”

  “But ma’am, yo-”

  “We won’t stand much of a chance if some kind of backup isn’t found. Don’t worry, if I can’t find anything within a few blocks, I’ll come back. You keep everyone alive for as long as you can.”

  The last few symbols were entered and the blast doors slid closed. She next scoured the floor for a rifle and some ammo blocks, taking the time to recuperate some stamina. During her ransacking, she came across the tall corpse. Some blood was dripping through a trifling fissure in the visor. What surprised her was seeing that the blood was a yellowish hue, not the red-orange color expected to come from an eldrick. A closer inspection at its arms revealed another odd discrepancy. It didn’t really have forearms. In their place were four tentacles that acted as the grasping appendages. She lifted its head to try and get a look at this strange humanoid, but its visor was frosted and removing the helmet was impossible unless she worked to dislodge her blade, something she didn’t have the will to do. There were more pressing matters.

  Then, as she was about to head for the unmarked elevator, the deep echo of footfalls came down from the other side of the room. Did the ship above not give up all it had? She crouched behind the last barrier, hearing the footsteps become heavier. With alert ears aided by the technology in her helmet and nanotech, she was able to determine a pair of much lighter footsteps accompanying the heavier ones. A glimpse at the stairway showed a humanoid silhouette enter the room. It was as tall as the last, but significantly bulkier. Standing next to the lumbering shade was a petite human frame two heads shorter than its compatriot. They wore the same type of armor as the previous group. An attempt at a detailed scrutiny was interrupted by gunfire coming from the hulking form.

  For the next half minute, the best she could do was take the quickest of peeks. The path of the newcomers took them to the tall cadaver. They stopped near it and the gunfire ceased.

  An unemotional woman’s voice departed the lithe frame and said, “You there. Is this your blade in our comrade here?”

  After never speaking to anyone of her enemies, Jane was first taken aback by the casual questioner. Quickly collecting what poise remained, she peered around the corner and answered, “If you don’t want one in your head, I recommend putting down your weapons and surrendering.”

  In a deep, rumbling tone that sounded like a giant toad was speaking, the titan spoke to the woman.

  She returned, “I believe she killed her, yes.”

  The towering form then slammed his fist to the ground. It was almost too fast for Jane to pick up the shockwave of air pressure, and the only reason she did at all was seeing the fifteen hundred pound barriers in the way become tossed aside like they were toys. All she could do was brace up against her barrier before it too was cast aside as though it weighed less than a pillow. Jane’s body smashed up against the wall before falling back down. She tried getting back up to do something, anything, but the effort of dozens of slugs kept her from accomplishing the feat. She fell face first onto the ground. Only her nanotech prevented searing pain from taking over her conscious. Still, her vison was already severely blurred.

  “Why did you do that?!” asked the cold woman, whom Jane could sense was now standing next to her. The light from a scanner overtook her. “Shit, you hit her heart.”

  That guttural voice again. It sounded angry.

  “That doesn’t matter. She would have been an excellent candidate. When was the last time anyone killed one of you?”

  It spoke, though it was too far off sounding to catch an emotion.

  “We’ll take her with us. Maybe we can still-” A little green light turned on in Jane’s HUD, the only light she could still see. “What the fuck? Shit, the jammer has been taken offline… It sounds like the first wave of Coalition forces have arrived. What a waste. You better hope the others were more successful. Pick up your sister and let’s go.”

  Once the low thuds from their footsteps completely faded away, all Jane could hear was the wilting voice in her head. She thought of her family. If she had any strength to do so, she would have cried at the thought of leaving Thean motherless… Gods protect him. Have I never asked anything from you? Have I done nothing but serve you and defend the innocent in your name? Please, this is all I ask… Use my soul for the task if you must. Yes, I love him more than I love you, but what mother will not admit the same? You will see he is worthy of your guidance… You will see he is… he is…

  Vincent

  June 19th, 3522 S.E.

  He had seen it coming, but he ignored his better judgement. True happiness had always been fleeting for him. His brother was right. He always was. What else was there to do but return to him and to the only life he really knew front and back? She wouldn’t want this for their son, but he would keep Thean away from that life. He would only use it to acquire the credits he needed to give him the education and life he deserved. He couldn’t do that as a widowed mechanic, so he used much of his spare credits to buy a ticket to Earth.

  As he
packed what he could for the journey, he opened the freezer to see that bird of ice staring back at him. He took it out and placed it on the table, planning to put it in a little cooler. Thean distracted him when the two year old began playing with some luggage. By the time he was out the door, the little bird was no more than a warm puddle of water dripping onto the floor.

  It had been five years since he last saw Eamon. He figured he was upset at him for leaving the unconventional vocation, but he was never quite sure how his older sibling felt about anything. Even if he had been closer in age, he was certain that wouldn’t change how close they were, which rarely seemed that close at all. All that said, he had always emulated his smarts and cool composure in any situation. It was also his brother who first gave him a taste of who he could be. Society may not have agreed with his former lifestyle, but he never felt unwelcomed in the underground world. In fact, it was the only place he could command any kind of respect from his colleagues. His outlook changed when this beautiful, self-possessed woman came along and convinced him that the noble, virtuous life was possible for him. Now the bitch had left him alone. So much for that noble life. Was it noble and virtuous to leave your family just when they needed you the most?