by J. G. Martin
The drones marched in perfect lockstep with their Humek commander as they passed by. Their faces were blank and expressionless and they moved like automatons. They all looked very similar, which meant they were likely clones. The Collective had slowly weeded out the lesser body types for their purposes and basically only had seven or eight basic models that they just continually cloned.
The patrols swept by, not looking left or right, secure in the knowledge that their sensors would detect any infiltrators. Nate obviously had great experience avoiding the patrols since he knew just where and when to hide when they approached. He was like a ghost among the ruins, undetectable to the Collective forces. He skillfully led them to the base of the mountain without any incidents.
Rora was somewhat exhausted by the over three mile hike just to get to the base of the mountain. Carrying the additional weight of their climbing gear, ropes, and explosives had proved challenging. And they still had the climb to come. She was in much better shape than she had been four months ago, but she still wasn’t in peak shape yet. Derek of course, hadn’t even broken a sweat. Nate also seemed very fresh, even though he was carrying that enormous rifle on his back. He led them around the base to the point where they would begin their ascent. They dropped down into cover and waited for the assault to begin.
The assault began at the crack of dawn with the rumble of artillery fire. The artillery shells struck the opposite side of the mountain where the road up was located, and where the Collective had the majority of their defenses. Rora could feel the explosions from the incoming fire as the ground shook with each successive blast. As the first shells struck, Nate rose from cover and gestured for them to follow. He scrambled up through the scrub at the base of Table Rock and began ascending the shallow cliff at the base.
“Where are the ropes?” Rora whispered to Derek.
“There aren’t any, we are free climbing.” He replied calmly. “It would take too long to rig ropes.”
“Uh, I’m not sure I can do this.” She informed him cautiously.
“Unless you want to stay here you have to.” He countered. “Just stay by me and do what I do; it’s not that high or steep of an ascent. You’ll be fine.”
Nate overheard them and made an angry series of gestures. Derek grunted and moved to whisper directly in Rora’s ear. “He says be quiet and start climbing.”
“You understood that?” She asked quietly.
“He’s using Special Forces hand signals. You need to learn them.” Derek hissed back. “Now be quiet and climb.”
Rora noticed Nate giving her a dirty look. She tried to ignore him and started climbing. As she grabbed for a handhold she realized that she hadn’t heard the kid speak yet. She wondered if he was a mute. He climbed like a little monkey though, and he was rapidly moving up the scree at the base of the mountain. Derek was following him closely, but slowed to allow her to catch up. She watched as Nate began climbing up a steeper cliff face towards a small cave.
Shaking her head and gritting her teeth, Rora followed Derek onto the rock face. She stayed close and tried to imitate his technique. There were plenty of hand and foot holds and she found it much easier than she anticipated. The shelling had stopped as they began the climb, but she could hear cannon, rocket, and gunfire coming from the opposite side of Table Rock. The militia had begun their diversionary assault on the mountain’s defenses.
They were near the top when Rora slipped. The rock she had been gripping as she changed position broke free and she began to fall backwards. She frantically grabbed for anything to stop her fall but only came away with loose rock and dirt. Just before she fell completely Derek suddenly grabbed her flailing arm with a tight grip. He smiled down at her panicked face as she hung suspended from his hand. With a little swing he flung her up onto the rock face and onto a small ledge.
From there she was able to take Nate’s hand and be pulled up onto the edge of the summit. He quickly pushed her down behind a pile of rocks and took cover beside her. Derek soon followed and they took a minute to catch their breath. At least Nate and Rora did. Derek just waited patiently until they were recovered. Then he and Nate took turns peeking around their cover to see what the situation was on the summit.
Even from behind cover, Rora could see the massive transmission tower rising above them. It had to be at least two hundred feet high and was built in the classic pyramid style similar to the Washington Monument with crisscrossing latticework. A ladder climbed up the side and ended at the antenna array on top. She could feel a slight hum generated by all the power being fed to the array. They must have some sort of generator nearby.
Nate made a series of gestures to Derek and he nodded and made a couple back. He held a finger to his lips right as she was about to speak. Then he made a gesture that indicated she should stay here. Both of them drew their combat knives and crept away from their cover. Rora couldn’t help herself and peeked around to see what they were doing. The summit was relatively flat with a little bit of scrub and several piles of boulders, which the two were using for cover.
She watched as they stalked what appeared to be four sentries patrolling the summit in groups of two. It looked like four drones armed and equipped exactly like the other patrols. They even looked like the other patrols, more clones. There was no sign of a Humek, which she thought was odd. Maybe he had been drawn off by the assault. She realized that the drones patrolled exactly the same route without any deviation. There was actually a rut worn in the ground where they had been walking for the last couple of months.
Derek and Nate stealthily ambushed the rear drone of each pair, dragging them down and slitting their throats. The other two didn’t even notice. Then they repeated the attacks on the remaining two. When the sentries were down they moved towards the tower and Rora joined them. They could hear the assault below tapering off and they knew they didn’t have much time.
Besides the tower, there was another structure on the summit that looked like a giant cross. It didn’t seem to have any purpose and Nate was ignoring it. So Rora ignored it as well. She had been right about the generator. At the base of the tower was a large metal structure that housed the power supply for the array. As they got closer, the hum intensified and it moved from irritating to uncomfortable.
“We have a problem.” She hissed to Derek.
“What? More guards?” He asked in confusion.
“No. That’s a microfusion reactor they are using to power the array!” She whispered frantically. “If we blow the tower, that thing will blow as well. The explosion will take off the top of this rock.”
“What? Like the ones on the space station?” Derek replied agitatedly.
“Yes. We have to be off the top before blow this thing.” She argued.
“But we don’t want to give them any time to disarm the charges.” Derek argued back.
“I’ll stay and make sure they can’t disarm them.” Nate suddenly interjected.
Both Rora and Derek looked at him in surprise. “You can talk?” Rora asked, startled.
“Of course I can talk. I just don’t waste my breath talking if I don’t need to. The Collective can pick up voices from a mile away and send a smart missile to pick you off.” Nate informed them sharply.
“Oh.” Was all Rora could say.
“There’s no need to sacrifice yourself.” Derek told him. “We can blow it remotely when we are safely down the mountain.”
“If we blow this tower sky high, the militia should be able to drive the Collective off. I’ve lost my entire family and all of my friends to them and I want some payback. I’m staying to make sure they can’t disarm the charges, we can’t take any chances.” Nate argued fervently. “There is no more time to argue. They will be up here shortly. They know those drones are dead and they will be sending reinforcements. Set the charges and then rappel down.”
Nate ended the argument by dashing over to the cross and beginning to climb up it. Derek gave him a brief nod of respect and began setti
ng the charges. He set three on the towers legs and one on the reactor building. That way if the reactor didn’t blow the tower would still come down. It was also likely the Collective would attempt to disarm the reactor charge first since it was the most critical. Hopefully it would be enough.
As Derek was setting the charges, Rora started laying out the ropes and harnesses for their descent. Using the supplied gun, she fired pitons into the rock to anchor the ropes. She glanced up to see Nate silhouetted on the cross beam of the cross by the light of the rising sun. He had secured himself to the cross with a harness and rope and unslung his rifle. He raised the rifle and took careful aim. The sudden crack of the large caliber rifle spurred Rora into faster action.
She set the ropes and put on the harness. She attached the carabiner and waited for Derek with his harness in her hand. He finished up and sprinted towards her as Nate’s rifle fired twice more. She couldn’t see what he was shooting at, but based on his frantic hand gestures they needed to hurry up and leave. Derek reached her and jumped into his harness as an armored car roared up onto the summit followed by a squad of drones led by a Humek.
The Humek’s silver armor was shattered by a shot from Nate’s rifle. The large round smashed through front and back and splattered the ground with the black fluids from the Humek’s body. It collapsed and the drones paused momentarily. Nate took advantage to unload the rest of his clip into the frozen drones. They fell as he displayed remarkable marksmanship with one shot felling each. He reloaded as the armor car brought its machine gun to bear on the cross.
“We have to go!” Derek shouted at Rora and then dragged her towards the cliff edge.
He jumped off and she blindly followed. As she sailed off the cliff, she could see the cross explode into pieces as the machine gun chewed it up. Her last view of Nate was him hanging from the cross still firing as blood poured from a dozen wounds. His sacrifice was heroic and she hoped that the Boise Free Staters could appreciate what he had done. Now they just had to survive long enough to detonate the explosives and bring down the tower.
All other thoughts were lost as they free fell down the side of the mountain. She screamed as the ground seemed to rush up at them. The descenders caught suddenly and they were wrenched sideways as the ropes tightened. Rora desperately stuck her feet out to cushion the impact with the approaching rock wall, but she struck hard and was momentarily stunned. Through her blurred vision she saw Derek fire another piton into a crevice and anchor himself. He swung over and grabbed hold of her.
Then he pressed the detonator and she felt the initial explosions go off. After a brief pause, the sky went white and the mountain shook violently. The heat and sound from the explosion washed over them like a physical wave and smashed them down. Their ropes went slack and she saw the burnt ends go whistling past as they came free of the mountain. Burning debris, rocks, and pieces of scrap metal fell all around them as they hung on the side of the mountain. A large piece of the array dropped past them with a loud screech and crashed down onto the base of the mountain to explode into a burning pile of scrap.
When the rain of debris ended and Rora got her bearings again she realized they were hanging about halfway down the mountainside. Derek quickly hooked her harness to the rope he had secured and pointed downwards. She nodded and descended as quickly as she could. He followed right behind her. She saw a UAV fly over the site and circle around, but it seemed uninterested in them. But just in case, as soon as she got to the bottom she scrambled under cover. Derek joined her a few seconds later.
From their vantage point, they could see that a large part of the mountain top had been blown off and everything on it had been destroyed. The mission had been a success, but they had lost Nate. Hopefully his sacrifice wasn’t in vain and the militia could press the advantage to drive the Collective out of the city. Now they needed to get back to the militia base and collect their reward.
“Come on!” Derek ordered and took off running.
Rora followed close behind. Derek slowed to let her pass him, letting her lead since she had memorized the route they took to get to the mountain. She led them back the way they came. Along the way they encountered only one patrol. The drones were continuing to maintain the same patrol route they had taken before; they always followed the last order given until they started to go crazy. Their Humek commander was nowhere in sight and it was likely the loss of the connection provided by the tower had confused him.
“Ignore them.” Derek whispered to her. “It’s not our mission to take out Collective forces. We need to get back to the base, collect our prize and get out of here.”
Rora nodded and they hurried past the mindless drones. They encountered the cyborg commander a short time later. He was slumped lifeless over a pile of rubble, black fluid coming from his ears. Derek put one in the Humek’s head just to be sure and grabbed the cyborg’s pulse rifle.
“I always wanted one of these.” He said with a smile.
Rora grinned back and they raced back to the hidden exit. Without the gear, ropes, and explosives they were able to make good time. They only had stop briefly for her to catch her breath before they made it to the ruined library. As they arrived they could hear increasing gunfire and rocket fire in the distance. The militia was making their move and counterattacking the stunned Collective besiegers.
Bill was waiting for them inside the ruins of the library. He emerged from the shadows with a big smile on his face. The smile dimmed as he realized Nate wasn’t with them. He waited a moment to see if Nate was just behind them, and then he frowned.
“Where’s Nate?” He demanded.
“He stayed behind to make sure the Collective couldn’t disarm the charges.” Derek informed him regretfully. “He sacrificed himself for you.”
Bill shook his head sadly. “The kid lost everything to them. All he had left was revenge. Maybe it’s better he went out a hero rather than becoming bitter and withdrawn.”
“Just remember his sacrifice and drive the Collective out.” Rora added softly.
“We will.” The militia leader insisted. “The mission is already a huge success. The Humeks were completely stunned and some of them killed when the tower blew. Dr. Baikul thinks it was some sort of feedback that surged through their connection and fried their brains. And the drones are just mindlessly following their last orders. The only threat are the Unmanned Combat Vehicles, they still have threat assessment programs running. But without the drones to cover them, we haven’t had too much trouble knocking them out with rocket fire.”
“That’s great.” Derek agreed. “Now take us to our prisoner.”
“Right…” Bill said without enthusiasm. “This way.”
Rora and Derek followed him back into the warren of tunnels under the city. They shared a look that showed both thought something was up based on the militia leader’s reaction. But they held their tongues and waited until they were brought back to the same basement as before. Dr. Baikul stood there with her two bodyguards, who looked very tense and had their rifles at the ready. Dr. Baikul also looked nervous, but she faced them eye to eye as Derek and Rora approached.
“Where is our prisoner?” Derek demanded as they realized he wasn’t there.
“Sorry about that Major. We appreciate you help, but we don’t have the prisoner anymore.” Dr. Baikul said cautiously.
“WHAT?” Derek exploded. “We nearly get killed saving all your butts and you can’t deliver on your side of the bargain?”
“We really didn’t have much choice.” Dr. Baikul started.
“Where. Is. He?” Derek shouted angrily, causing the bodyguards to point their weapons at him.
“We gave him to the U.S.T.G.” Dr. Baikul said in a rush. “They gave us three Stryker ICVs and cases of M82 LAWs in exchange. We desperately need the weapons. There are still Collective forces active in the city, and once we get rid of those we don’t know when more might come back.”
“When did they leave?” Rora asked, placing a ha
nd on Derek’s shoulder to calm him.
“Five minutes ago.” Dr. Baikul replied.
“Where are they going?” Rora pressed.
“To the airport. They flew in on a modified C17 Globemaster cargo plane.” Bill interjected.
“We’ll never catch them now; we don’t have a vehicle or a ride.” Derek stated angrily.
“It just so happens that there is a truck outside for you, the prisoner’s private jet is on the runway, and the U.S.T.G. troops are being taken the long way to the airport.” Bill replied slyly.
Chapter 22
September 7, 2029
Near Boise Airport, Boise, Idaho
The ride back to the airport seemed to be taking a lot longer than the ride in, Tom thought to himself. The building ruins all the looked the same so it was hard to tell, but he didn’t remember passing a ruined mall on the way in. The ride in had been under fire which added to the confusion, but the longer the return trip took, the more he was getting concerned.
“Hey, what’s taking so long?” He called up to the driver.
The militia had provided a large SUV technical and driver for their ride back to the airport. On the ride in Tom and five of the six surviving members of his squad had driven one of the Stryker ICVs. They had even managed to win bonus points by taking out two of the Collective UCVs. The exchange had been simple, deliver the three Strykers and the LAWs and the militia would give them the hacker. Luckily the Boise Free Staters were so desperate for help they agreed to the exchange without any negotiating. They had handed over the prisoner and whisked the Red Berets out the door. But now they had been driving through the city for fifteen minutes. There was no way the airport was that far.
“The roads are blocked from the increased fighting. We had to take a detour.” The man called back nervously.
“What increased fighting?” Tom asked.
“Uh, we launched a bunch of attacks because the Collective forces are, um, distracted.” The driver replied haltingly.
