"What's your evac plan?" Marek asked, standing suddenly.
He'd been happy to put distance between himself and the laboratory filled with partial bodies, even if it was only a few levels down in Zoya's office.
"Evacuation? Why?" Zoya asked.
Marek pinched the station's external video feed from his HUD and tossed it at the bank of video screens. "A ship approaching from the west just ignored the station's standoff warning."
"The station is fully armed. The ship will be destroyed when it crosses the twenty-kilometer boundary," Zoya replied, looking at the small, twin-hulled ship that was closing the distance at an impressive speed. "We are in no danger."
"Just who do you think is aboard that ship?" Marek asked. "Anino has sent a recovery team. She will have been planning this for months and they will be prepared. The station will not stop them."
"You are the most powerful warrior alive, Marek," Zoya replied. "If the station weapons won't stop them, then you will."
"A single man cannot stand in front of an army. My team could have, but me alone? It is too risky."
Zoya grinned. "Who said you would be alone?"
"Emilie Bastion? She is a babe in the woods," Marek said. "We are wasting valuable time. You must escape with your research. It is too valuable."
"No, not Bastion; I would not waste her. This is a chance for you to prove your worth," she said. "We will wake the children. If Dorian comes for our prizes, then let her wage war against the innocent. Let her learn the true price of her interference."
"The children in the tanks? They'll only slow Dorian’s team down. No true warrior would allow children to stand in their way."
"You underestimate me, Marek. I suppose it is your training, as you have rarely run into an equal. I have allowed you to believe that you are forcing your way into my company. You could not be more wrong. I allowed you in because I need someone like you around," Zoya said. "Don't make the mistake of believing you know even half of what is going on. I have moved far beyond Dorian Anino's research. I do not just build their bodies, but I also build their minds. Those bodies you saw in the tanks are not children, they are killing machines. While they sleep, they learn to fight. And they are programmed to defend me and mine. If I'd wanted to defeat you, you would have learned this firsthand."
"That's twisted."
"Send Ms. Bastion to me," Zoya said. "She will keep me company while you take care of this intrusion."
Jammin dropped two grenade marbles into the blasted out opening of the elevator shaft and counted patiently. A much smaller explosion than the one used to open the shaft spewed a small plume of material heavenward. He checked his HUD. The marbles had exploded atop a car sitting at the fourth level, which lined up with his estimation. Without hesitation, he jammed a piton into the lip of the station and jumped over the edge of the shaft, spooling out line as he fired his arc-jets to level out his flight.
Behind Jammin, Jimmy followed, trailing a hand around the line until he came even with the sliding entry doors to Level-12 which bulged under the pressure of the station's atmosphere. Pulling a self-tapping piton from his belt, Jimmy held it against the door and allowed it to burrow its tip through the plastic and into the steel interior. Turning, he accepted the circular loop at the end of the spooled line and affixed it to the embedded piton. He looked to the side at the awaiting prompt on his HUD and blinked acknowledgement at completing his task. At the same time, he flitted down half a level to where Jammin hung against the shaft's side, defensively holding his shield, looking for would-be attackers.
The sound of steel cable retracting preceded the popping of the pressurized door as the cable pulled the door free and quickly disappeared with it up the shaft where Tali had planted a small winch.
Jimmy braced himself, giving Jammin a hand up as the heavier man pulled his shield in close and used arc-jets to propel himself into the hallway. With his non-combat responsibilities dispatched, Jimmy tugged on Rocinante's barrel and leveled it down the shaft that was just starting to clear of smoke.
"Clear," Jammin said.
"I'm in," Tali said, indicating that she'd descended into the shaft and taken position behind Jammin on Level-12 where they waited for Jimmy.
Call it instinct, gut-feel, premonition or whatever you might, but Jimmy hesitated, holding his position.
"Jimmy, we need to move," Tali urged.
Almost imperceptibly, the tip of a rifle cleared the smoke and behind it, the outline of a familiar form from his past.
"We have trouble, darling," Jimmy replied.
"What? I'm not picking up anything on your vid-feeds."
"He's here," Jimmy said. "Dammit. Move your asses." He jumped against the side of the shaft, narrowly avoiding a blaster bolt. With every bit of strength and every dram of force the arc-jets could muster he launched himself up and into the hallway. Blaster fire bracketed his every move, tearing at his armored clothing.
"Contact ahead," Jammin said. "Frak. It's a bunch of kids."
"Go!" Jimmy said. "I've got position three."
"Frak," Tali exclaimed. As a combat veteran, she was used to plans falling apart. "Switch to non-lethal. We've got civilians and they're suffocating."
Jimmy tossed a stream of grenade balls into the elevator shaft, setting them to explode in an even spread. He knew better than to believe Marek would be so easily taken down. He also knew that to allow Marek free run of the shaft was suicidal.
"Dorian, we need station foam in the elevator shaft. We have civilians down," Tali ordered. The request wouldn’t be a surprise; it was one of several odd scenarios they'd desk-checked earlier. Neither woman wanted the death of innocents if it could be avoided.
"Copy," Dorian said. "Jimmy, did you get eyes on Marek?"
"Roger. Keep the channel clear, Doc," Jimmy said. While the discovery of his nemesis was indeed important, talking about it with Anino would have little effect on the battle at hand.
"Canisters deployed," Dorian replied.
The team surged ahead and Jimmy placed his hand on Tali's shoulder as he slipped around her, taking the shooter's position. Glass windows lined both sides of the hallway, through which Jimmy could see a long row of medical tanks that had been recently opened. Someone had used an emergency protocol because the amniotic fluid that was ordinarily reclaimed when cycling inhabitants had been spilled on the floor.
Naked children lay on the deck, many clutching at their necks, still writhing about at the sudden loss of atmosphere. Jimmy tapped Rocinante's controls and dialed the ammo feed to a non-lethal mix. It was a horrible choice to make with Marek nearby, but Jimmy was haunted by his share of ghosts and he wasn't about to add the tiny bodies he saw lying on the deck to that list.
"What's the call?" Jammin asked. "These kids are hurt."
"Keep moving," Tali said. "Station is restoring atmo as we speak."
The team hadn’t made it more than twenty meters down the hall when a keening wail arose from behind them. Jammin stopped short and started to turn. In reply, the children, who had been mostly lifeless to this point, started to stir, many of them calling back to the lone voice with their own ghastly cries.
Without warning, a small body lunged at the team, stopped only by the transparent glass wall between the tank room and the hallway. Jimmy jerked back at the ferocity of the child's strike which placed a small, hairline crack in the glass. A second child jerkily jumped up and hurled itself at the glass, breaking the skin on its arm and opening the hairline crack a little further.
"Jammin!" Jimmy prompted.
"Moving out," Jammin said, having seen the behavior. He charged down the hallway. Seconds later the clatter of small bodies throwing themselves at the glass filled the small space. At the end of the hallway, a door had been left open from which a stream of feral children poured out.
"Damnation," Jimmy spat. "I didn't sign up for this."
Aiming for the abdomen, Jimmy fired at the knot of flesh that raced toward them. His bullets were m
et with howls of pain as the children were tossed to the side. Acting as a battering ram, Jammin plowed into the remaining children, unwilling to use his weapon, but sweeping his shield and knocking their bodies aside.
Unexpectedly, those who had been knocked down by the non-lethal fire jumped up before the team could get completely through. To Jimmy, it was beyond comprehension. Unarmored warriors would be down for the count with the ordnance they were using. The twenty-to-forty-kilogram waifs should have been comatose.
Jimmy brought Rocinante's butt around and shoved aside the first child who attacked. Its eyes were red with fury as it tore at Jimmy's armor with an unnatural strength, digging furrows into the first layer of his suit. Jimmy swung Rocinante around again and latched it onto his back, changing strategy. He dropped a Flash-Bang Disc (FBD) which emitted an extremely loud pulse simultaneously with a bright flash of light. Having synced the FBDs with the team’s comms, Tali, Jammin and Jimmy's AIs countered the FBDs with sound waves and periodic blanking of their face masks. The children, however, had no such defense and they dropped away, clutching their ears and staggering into chaos.
Jammin seized on the momentary lull and lunged for the door they'd been racing to. Planting his shield against the wall, he gave way so Jimmy and Tali could fall in behind him. As soon as they cleared the doorway, he pulled the door shut.
"Seal us in," Tali ordered.
Together, Jammin and Jimmy pulled weld wire from their belts and molded it into the cracks around the plasticized steel door. A thump on the outside caught their attention and they raced to finish. Once complete, Jammin ignited the wire which fused door to the wall.
"What kind of hell is this place?" Jimmy asked, stepping back from the door.
"For the love of all that's holy," Tali whispered as the three turned to survey the room which was filled with cut-up bodies on gurneys and covered with translucent sheets.
"I'm going to be sick," Jammin said and stumbled into the nearby wall, the contents of his stomach spilling onto the floor.
"I hate to be cruel, but we need to move," Jimmy said. "Marek won't be far behind and that door won't hold him for long."
"So much evil," Tali whispered.
"Let's go," Jammin said, wiping his mouth.
"I'm sorry to say it, but lethal fire is warranted," Tali said. "Those beings aren't children and if they get in here, we're all dead."
Jammin shook his head. "I can't, Tali. I won't kill children. I don't care what someone's done to 'em."
"Let's move," Jimmy said. "We get out of here quick enough, maybe we don't have to deal with it."
"How?" Jammin asked. "We sealed our only way out."
"One thing at a time," Tali said. "Jammin. I need you to lead us to our mission objective. Can you do that?"
"Copy that, team leader," Jammin replied, his voice steady.
The three worked their way through the laboratory, stopping at a locked door that was indicated to be their destination.
"I'm reading a high concentration of isotopes and we have a hermitic seal," Jammin said. "Lock overly secure. Fire wire should get us through."
"Do it," Tali answered.
"Jimmy," a voice called from across the lab. "Did I read your message wrong? I thought your warning shot near my nut sack meant you weren't looking to join me."
"Stay back, Marek," Jimmy said.
Instinctively, Jammin stepped between the two men, extending his shield.
"Keep him talking," Tali whispered.
"You know I can't do that," Marek said, slowly walking forward "This is my station now and you're making a mess of it."
"Jammin, stand aside. You can't take him," Jimmy whispered, then addressed Marek. "Those kids? That's low. Even for you, Marek."
"Can't argue. They bring a pretty creepy vibe," Marek sad. "But you know what they say; progress cares about no one. And you have to admit, those little buggers are trouble. Can you imagine an army of a thousand or even ten thousand? What self-respecting dictator wouldn't pay for that? Imagine an army that follows orders implicitly, goes to sleep when they're not in service and to top it off, people don't want to shoot at them. Really, the possibilities are endless."
A fizzling sound behind Jimmy alerted him that Tali had breached the vault.
"I can't have you going in that room. Doc seems to think the relics in there are the future," Marek said.
"Target acquired," Tali whispered into her comm. "Exit Plan Two in five seconds."
"What do you think, Marek?" Jimmy asked, trying to buy time, annoyed that Jammin refused to step out of the way. The man was playing with fire and seemed unaware of the mortal danger he faced "Are they the future?"
"I warned you," Marek answered. The words were no more out of his mouth than he became a blur, firing as he rushed the team.
Jimmy, expecting the onslaught, drew his pistols and lunged to the side, firing, while attempting to anticipate where Marek would end up. A great crash accentuated Marek's collision with the nearly immovable point man. Marek fought just like he played chess which was to take out the pawns first so he could focus on the bigger pieces.
The three men were thrown forward as a massive explosion rocked the station. Debris flew around as the room voided itself of all atmo through a significant hole. Jimmy continued to fire, even as he careened into the lab tables and their horrific contents were tossed onto the floor.
"Not today, Marek," Jimmy said, tagging his old friend in the chest. As Marek spun away, Jimmy followed up with a second shot, which caught the man in the side. With only a blur of movement, Marek disappeared from view and Jimmy started forward to chase him.
"Jimmy, no!" Tali exclaimed, her usually calm voice ragged. "Jammin's down. We need to exfil, now!"
"Shit," Jimmy spat and turned back, holstering his weapons.
"Get the cargo," Tali said. "I've got Jammin."
One look at Jammin and Jimmy knew it was going to be a hard ride home. The quiet warrior had fought his last battle. No amount of medical attention would heal the grievous wounds that showed between the shattered fragments of the man's helmet.
In the vault, Jimmy found three partial corpses all wrapped in a plastic cover: a tiny woman made smaller by the horrific things done to her, a relative giant of a man, and an ordinary looking soldier. Transferring them all to a grav-assisted gurney, he pushed them to the impromptu exit and threw them into Little Deuce's open hatch, five meters away.
"You're a right awful bastard, Marek Alexander. We're not done, you and me," he said and jumped across to the awaiting Little Deuce.
Chapter 17
Cost of Honor
Jimmy palmed the airlock security panel, closing the exterior hatch. For a moment, he rested his head against the metal and closed his eyes, wishing he could be anywhere else. He'd learned long ago that death was the curse that followed his gifts. The technology that allowed him to have enhanced abilities came with an evil that was ever present, its sole purpose to destroy. That evil took both the innocent, like the children of the station, as well as the brave, like Jammin.
"James, is everyone aboard?" Dorian's voice asked over the tactical comm. "The airlock has been closed."
"Copy that, Dorian," he answered. It would be easy to blame Anino for Jammin's death. She'd certainly had a hand in it, but he was long past feel-good recriminations.
Steeling his resolve, Jimmy slapped his hand on the bulkhead and turned into the passageway. Not unexpectedly, Tali sat on the deck cradling Jammin's head in her lap, a med-patch covering the wounds. Tears rolled down the proud woman's face, but she didn't look up.
"Vaya con Dios, my brave friend," Jimmy said, kneeling on the deck and placing his hand on the man's chest. "Rest now, you've earned this much." Tali breathed in a shuddering sob as she brushed the hair from Jammin's forehead.
"He should have listened," Tali said.
"No, darlin," Jimmy said softly. "There is only one person to blame."
"I'll hunt him to the end," Tali said.
Jimmy looked over to the small woman, whose normally passive face burned with agony. He knew that look well; it could turn into much darker feelings if not redirected.
"Would you dishonor your friend by throwing your own life away? Marek Alexander will destroy you if you go after him, Natalia Lizst. You have never encountered one such as him. If the situation were reversed, would you want Jammin to avenge your death if it meant he would die?"
"Of course not," Tali said. "It's not the same. Jammin was not responsible for the team."
"He was responsible for himself," Jimmy said. "He did what he believed he had to do for the sake of his teammates. I ask that you honor his last moments by allowing me to carry this burden of vengeance."
Tali shook her head, unable or unwilling to talk anymore. Jimmy leaned forward, kissed her on the forehead, and stood.
"Jammin!" Bit Coffman burst into the passageway, pushed past Jimmy, and sank to the floor across from Tali.
From the corner of his eye, Jimmy saw Dorian pushing a grav-cart in their direction. Turning back to the packages he'd brought along, he lifted the smallest and carried it forward past Tali, Bit, and Jammin.
"Face up, on the cart," Dorian directed. As he did, she placed a small device onto the bio monitoring strip just below the woman's right breast. "Thank God! She's still in there. The others. Quickly."
Jimmy slid back down the passage and picked up the other two, in turn. He struggled with the barrel-chested, dark-haired man who even in his current shape weighed over seventy kilograms. Expectantly, he looked back to Dorian as she moved the device into place, taking readings.
"They're all alive," Dorian said. "What of the fourth? Emilie Bastion?"
"There were just three," Jimmy said. "And those children. Doc, they've turned them into animals."
"What do you mean, animals?" Dorian asked, pushing the cart down the passageway.
"You'll have to watch the data-stream," he said. "It was like nothing I've seen before."
"What do you mean — they got away?" Zoya asked. "You let them take our best material? Explain to me exactly what you believe we're doing here and what value you add? Are you not the great and powerful Marek Alexander?"
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