Jack Cabe

by Timothy Nguyen

Stan knelt behind a couch whose cushions had been torn to pieces by Inquisitor bullets, and he cursed to himself. “Nyet, this is not good, not good at all. Pinned down, no support. Reminds me of the mission to Yunigrad: surrounded, outnumbered, but we still made it out in one piece. Weird how history repeats itself… Ah well.”

  Stan jumped up from behind the couch and fired a series of bursts at his assailants, flawlessly and quickly dispatching five Inquisitors. He ejected the spent magazine and let it fall to the ground. I won’t be needing that anymore. Good thing I made those modifications for the ammo. He rushed to the Inquisitors’ corpses and grabbed their own magazines.

  This is going to make the trenches look like a joke.

  Stan reloaded his gun, thankful for the Inquisitors’ larger ammo capacities. He felt his communicator buzz against his leg, the message from Alex.

  Great, now we have bipedal tanks apparently. Fun. Ah well, if I die I die, Maria will be… No, Maria will not be fine. It is not the time to joke about death. I have responsibilities. I will win this. Stan's thoughts turned fatherly and protective, and he found the urge to go on growing stronger and stronger.

  Stan turned the corner and began massacring the mechanical inhabitants of the building like a great Russian berserker.

  ...

  Seamus ordered his men to continue pushing forward while he went to interrogate the war droid. His APC rolled into a friendly alleyway and came to a stop within the shelter of the surrounding buildings’ shadows. Seamus rolled up his sleeves and stood up, looming over the restrained form of SI-76a, whose attempts at escape were a constant.

  She spoke calmly as if nothing was wrong, “Unhand me this instant, or face the full fury of Aerotec.”

  Seamus chuckled, “Oh I don’t think I will, missy, because you aren’t just any old Inquisitor, now are you?”

  She continued, just as coolly as before, “Unhand me now, or face the full fury of Aerotec.”

  “I see they taught you fellas how to keep your mouths shut at least. A marked improvement I suppose. No matter, we know how to get under your skins. Or should I say carapace? You aren’t human anymore, not with all those bolts and gears and computery bits. So I can’t quite treat you with the same terms as my fellow humans.”

  “Unhand me this instant or… Fine. I’ll speak, if only to stop saying the same phrase over and over,” 76a finally relented, “But you aren’t getting any information out of me Paddy Boy.”

  “I’m hurt, really I am,” Seamus laughed before grabbing a tool out of an integrated toolbox in the APC, “I suppose the demeanor is what threw you off. I’ll have you know, I’ve been taking apart machines since I was a wee lad. Don't think that I don't know how to get under your skin."

  "What could you possibly be on about you Irish dolt? What do you-" 76a let out a robotic, almost demonic scream as Seamus tore an artificial nerve cluster out of her restrained arm. When she calmed again, she panted, "I can't feel my right arm, what did you do?"

  Seamus laughed, "Well, altruistic as us rebel types are, we figured that we can't hurt the human parts of you, physically at least. But we did figure out something as close to torture as we can get for you lot: attacking the artificial nerves connected to your real ones."

  76a groaned with the pain that was still coursing through her nerves, "You're evil... But I'm not telling you a damned thing."

  Seamus' shoulders slumped, "I was afraid you'd say that. I know there's at least part of a human still in there, and I hate hurting it, but you don't leave me any choice, do you? We have to override your secrecy programs with your self-preservation programs. I'm sorry miss…" Seamus put his players to another nerve bundle and began to pull.

  76a cried out and made him stop, "Fine! I'll tell you everything I have, just please stop!"

  Seamus smiled weakly. He really didn't enjoy having to torture the smart Inquisitors, especially considering this one was female. He spoke, "Well, tell us everything that you can."

  ...

  A few hours later, Land sat in his office. An Inquisitor opened the door slowly and spoke, "Master Land, SI-76a has gone offline. We suspect that she has been either captured or destroyed."

  Land turned around in his chair to face him, "It's been destroyed, eh? Our only commanding asset in the American district has been destroyed?" Land sighed, "Well, I suppose we begin preparing for our retreat. Bring me the Kingmaker and my personal equipment. Land leaned over his desk and pressed a communicator button, broadcasting to every last unit in the American district.

  His voice was gruff as he spoke into the communicator, "All units, fall back to your tertiary positions. Initiate Operation Ember. That is all." Land stood up from his desk and made his way to his changing room, and a large box was brought into the room with him: The Kingmaker.

  Chapter 56

  The remaining thousand or so Inquisitors that remained in combat with the American District Forces suddenly began retreating, but they retreated slowly and maintained as much fire as they could. A fighting retreat, but a retreat nonetheless. The remaining hundred or so that survived made it to refuge behind the rapidly shrinking front lines.

  ...

  Stan crashed through the door of the building's roof exit, completely unscathed by some miracle of strength and cunning. He looked around, and found his men on the adjacent rooftop, still standing there waiting for him. Stan made his way across the gap with the help of his men.

  He growled, "I thought I told you all to keep pressing on?"

  Andrew sighed, "Well sir we would have, but high command told us to wait for you. The strange thing is, we're hearing reports of a full Aerotec retreat. Mr. Connally says that he captured one of the General units, and Aerotec retreated as soon as he turned her transponder off."

  Stan smiled at the news, "That's good, that means we can press the advantage."

  Andrew nodded, "It's about time sir. Besides, the sooner we-" A deep rumble came from the direction of the city center.

  Stan looked out at the rising pillars of exploding smoke. "Did they just… Andrew, correct me if I'm wrong, but that looks like Land just collapsed every building within a hundred meters of his tower and the port."

  The young medic stood slack-jawed at the sight, "It… It would appear so sir."

  Stan sighed, "We need a tank, Andrew." A call came across the communicator. Stan picked it off of his hip and answered, "Alex, I just saw the explosions too. We need to get to Land before he destroys the entire damn city."

  "I couldn't agree more Stan, what say we meet up with Jack and Val then make our way to city center in an armored convoy?" Alex spoke with a tremble in his voice.

  Jack tuned into the conversation since it was on high command's main communication channel, "We'll meet you two there. Good thing those tanks and APCs are all-terrain."

  "I guess I'll see y'all soon." Alex said grimly. If Land gets off-planet, he can very well just destroy the entire city.

  ...

  While the entirety of the New Columbian forces was rushing toward the city center, Land was walking aboard a shuttle that would take him up to the orbiting space station.

  New Columbia may be lost for now, but I will return, and no force in heaven or hell will stop me. Not the cartels, not the mafiosos, no one. Not even the resistance.

  ...

  Jack and the rest of the Resistance leaders were rushing toward the spaceport in an APC when their spotter called out from the front hatch. "We have a spacecraft departing from the port, appears to be a pretty fancy schmancy model."

  Jack traded a concerned look with Val, Stan, and Alex. "I think we all know who is in that shuttle."

  They all nodded, and Stan spoke, "Do you think we could try to shoot it down with the tanks? It'll be a hard shot, but it has been done before."

  Jack shrugged and gave the order to the surrounding tanks, and they began firing on the escaping craft while the APC continued to push forward. But they were out of range by a country mile.

  Jack looked
at his friends, and growled with desperate determination, "If Land escapes, then this entire war was for nothing. Justice won't be gained for anyone, and he'll come back eventually. We end this right here and right now." As Jack finished his sentence, the APC -accompanied by several more APCs full of soldiers- crashed through the flaming rubble of the buildings demolished by Land. They rushed toward the port with their firing ports ablaze as the soldiers inside fired in an urgent bid to clear a path. They were ahead of the Aerotec retreat at this point, and far ahead of the Resistance forces themselves, but they only had one goal left: Stop Land and bring him in, or -if that wasn’t possible- kill him.

  ...

  Seamus and the rest of the Resistance charged on in a final blitzkrieg to end it all. Seamus looked over to SI-76a ,“Well lassy, it would seem that you’ve lost.”

  76a laughed. "That's what you think. Operation Ember will render your resistance useless. You can't fight Land in space."

  Seamus laughed, unsettling the Inquisitor with his ease of mind, "You clearly underestimate us. Land won't escape us that easily, I can assure you that."

  76a purred with sadistic charm, "You'll all die. He can just bombard this place from orbit and destroy the ionization that keeps a nice and oxygen-dense atmosphere in and around New Columbia."

  Seamus froze, "He wouldn't dare."

  It was 76a's time to laugh, "You underestimate Land then."

  ...

  Jack and the crew had made it to the port and were about to load into a shuttle when an urgent call came through on the leadership's communicators. Jack picked his off of his belt and answered, "Seamus, what's wrong? We're chasing Land down as we speak."

  Seamus' voice was stressed like a man trying not to panic, "Mr. Cabe, you need to get to Land soon. That Inquisitor we captured says that his plan now is to bomb the atmosphere ionization thingamajig that keeps New Columbia breathing."

  Jack smiled, and answered confidently, "Seamus, don't worry. Now that we know where he's heading, and we can stop him faster."

  The worry didn't leave Seamus' voice, but he put faith in Jack's abilities. "Good luck sir, keep us alive please."

  The call ended, and Jack turned to his friends. "Alright, who knows how to fly a ship? Stan?"

  Stan shrugged, "I have a vague memory of flying fighter craft in a few altercations, but that was years ago."

  Jack seemed to visibly slump, "Well… Anyone else? We need to get to the one military ship that's in orbit." When no one else responded Jack sighed. "Well Stan, it looks like we're flying Vulkov Airlines today. Get in the cockpit, and try not to kill us."

  "I'll try guys, don't worry, it is like riding a bike, how hard could it be?" Stan stepped into the cockpit of the small shuttle, while Jack, Val, and Alex got into the passenger area with a small squad of soldiers.

  Chapter 57

  Stan sat in the cockpit of the shuttle checking the various buttons and dials. I haven't flown a ship of any sort in years… And they expect me to fly us into space and survive?

  Jack spoke up from the passenger/loading area in the back of the shuttle, "Alright Stan, we've got our suits on now, so take off as soon as possible."

  Stan laughed nervously, "Are you sure about this? We could always just go back home and contemplate our impending doom."

  Jack chuckled, "Stan, it doesn't matter if you end up killing us, we have to try. You know that better than any of us."

  "I know Jack, just a little gallows humor. Let's do this. Sit down and strap in, everyone, we are going on one hell of a ride." Stan engaged the vertical take-off engines, much improved from similar models of forty years ago. "Here goes nothing…" He pulled down on the throttle, and the shuttle lifted into the air, if tentatively, "Alright, we're stable in the air. At least the port is nice and wide… Let's try flying."

  Stan began flying legitimately, and the engines shifted from firing straight down to firing back and down, propelling the ship up into the atmosphere. He engaged the true flight mode on the engines, and the ship propelled into the atmosphere like a jet of a bygone age on a slight but quick ascent into the void of space.

  ...

  Land's shuttle docked with the Noble Cur, a former United States heavy weapons platform designed for space combat and planetary bombardment through conventional means. The large railgun on its bow fired large rods of dense metal from orbit, a precise and devastating weapon that skirted the definition of "weapon of mass destruction". And Land had a plan for that gun.

  He walked out of the airlock and into the awaiting corridor, which was somehow equipped with a mockery of gravity through the use of magnets and way too much energy. He was greeted by two guards dressed in the navy fatigues of Aerotec's naval branch.

  One of them spoke, "Mister Land, we weren't told to be expecting you. What brings you to the Cur today?"

  “New Columbia has grown to be unsustainable. I need to use a precision shot from the orbital cannon to disable the ionization generator.” Land spoke matter-of-factly as if he wasn’t ordering them to commit genocide.

  “But sir, what about the people of New Columbia?” the other guard said. He started fidgeting with a button on his belt.

  Land groaned, “The only people remaining in New Columbia are disloyal savages who resorted to war and violence to gain social status. They’re animals, nothing more.”

  The first guard nodded, “If you say so sir, the bloody animals have it coming to them then. Let me unlock the door and we can lead you down to the fire control room.”

  “Excellent.” Land handed the guard his omnipotent identification card, and the guard turned to pass the keycard through a door, only for a negative buzz to retort.

  “It would appear that your identification slip is faulty. Maybe it was a misread or something to do with stellar radiation, heh.” The guard ran the card through the door again, and again he was denied, “Sir, something must be wrong with the door. Let me try my card.”

  ...

  Stan had made it to within a thousand meters of the Noble Cur when a transmission came across the main communication unit. “Resistance, please come in. Whoever you are inside that shuttle, please come in. This is Captain Solum of the AS Noble Cur, and we want to be of assistance."

  Stan keyed the transmit button in the shuttle, "This is Grand General Vulkov of New Columbia. How do I know that this isn't a ploy to kill us?"

  The retort was slightly corrupted by cosmic radiation just as the first, "General, if we wanted to kill you we could have done it when you were exiting the atmosphere. If we had the targeting arrays activated, the smaller railguns on this ship could kill a single man from orbit. Trust me, we want you alive."

  Stan thought for a moment. He keyed the button again, "Captain if you can help me dock this shuttle I will be more than happy to bring you into New Columbia's Navy when we create it."

  The captain laughed grimly, "General, just get to the other docking port and the ship will take care of the rest. Captain Solum, out."

  Stan keyed the shuttle's intercom and spoke to his passengers, "So it turns out that Martians aren't the only ones that hate Land. The good captain of the AS Noble Cur is going to help me dock. Ready your weapons, make sure your environment suits are sealed, and make sure your magnet batteries are fully charged." Stan flew the shuttle towards the docking point.

  ...

  This is pathetic. A ship of this caliber shouldn't have such outdated systems… "What is the hold-up Sergeant? Surely a modern ship of our time wouldn't be so encumbered by technical failures?"

  The sergeant smiled and shrugged, "Well Mr. Land, this ship isn't exactly brand new, and we haven't had any-" the young man was cut off when Land's hand wrapped around his throat. The metal fingers of the Kingmaker suit dug into the man's soft flesh.

  The other guard raised his rifle, "Sir, there is no need to get up in arms over this, it's a simple mechanical failure, nothing more."

  "You really think I'm a senile old man, don't you? I may be twice your age, but I
know when I'm being lied to. There is no mechanical failure, you're just biding for time." Land tightened his grip around the sergeant's throat before lifting him into the air.

  "Well maybe some people have a negative view of killing hundreds of thousands of people," the other guard said before opening fire with his rifle.

  The bullets just pinged off of Land's suit. "So that's how this is going to play out, is it?" Land pumped his arm and a small barrel came out of the suit on his forearm. He opened fire, filling the young man with lead. He simply crushed the other man's windpipe in his hand.

  ...

  "Attention all personnel, Land has breached the airlock and is believed to be making his way to fire control. He is armed and very dangerous. Shoot on sight, and shoot to kill." The shipwide intercom of the Noble Cur blared with Captain Solum's orderly voice.

  Jack looked around at his friends and their soldiers. "Alright guys, this is it. We don't leave this ship without Land in chains or dead. Even if we die in the process it will secure a new future for New Columbia, and that's not something that we take lightly. Stan, Val, Alex, each of you take a team and search through the ship for Land. Keep in touch through our comms and find Land."

  Everyone nodded their agreement, and soon the rebels were moving into the ship's corridors. Val paused before she left, "Jack if we die out here-"

  Jack took her in his arms, cutting her off. "Val, we're greater than Land. We'll leave this ship alive, all of us. I believe that."

  Val sighed, "I just… It feels like something bad is going to happen. Call it my woman's intuition. This isn't going to end very well Jack."

  Jack looked her in the eye and spoke, "Whatever happens happens, and we'll deal with it as best we can. Now go, I'll see you soon." They parted with a kiss and dispersed into the corridors with their teams.