by Jucha, S. H.
Julien walked beside Renée, and, for the first time in his mobile life, he carried a stun gun. Unable to estimate the power of the weapons Toyo’s people were employing, the SADE considered it a distinct possibility that an energy blast from one or more of the deadly creations might overload his circuitry and his crystal memory — kernel and all.
When troopers up front spotted the edges of the barricade, they signaled a halt and waited, weapons raised. After a few moments, when no movement was apparent, Tatia sent,
Julien edged next to the outer curve of the corridor, where he had an unobstructed view of the majority of the barricade. Julien sent.
Tatia sent.
The SADE laid into each Haraken trooper’s implant a single infrared signal of an attacker, effectively assigning their targets.
Tatia sent, when Julien signaled her all was ready.
Julien stayed along the outer curve of the corridor, keeping the barricade in sight at every tick.
The six troopers in front kept their weapons in front of them but were careful not to point them directly at the attackers, lest they acknowledge the ambush.
Suddenly four doors opened along the sides of the Harakens followed by five people popping up from behind the barricade.
The six Haraken troopers in front were ready — four attackers were stunned before they could take aim, a fifth Haraken trooper still waited for his target to appear, and a sixth trooper, Nestor, had the misfortune of sighting on a woman. The young man’s sensibilities caused him to hesitate for that fraction of time that allowed his adversary to fire first. Nestor was struck in the chest by stunner fire, killing him, before the woman ducked back down.
The two foremost side doors opened beside the twins, who spun into deep crouches, destroying the targeting of their adversaries and enabling the twins to strike first.
The other pair of doors opened just ahead of Alex, nearly even with Tatia and the trooper beside her. Alex, who held his weapons at the ready, let his implant apps play. Independently, his arms snapped out wide, and the apps triggered fingers on buttons when, in his peripheral vision, alignment on the adversaries was achieved.
Tatia and the trooper next to her were bringing their weapons to bear on the ambushers when they saw them crumple to the floor. The two of them glanced back at Alex, who was lowering his stun guns from extended arms.
Renée sent.
Tatia sent to Alex, shaking her head in amazement, as the troopers behind Alex shared their images of the event with others in the group.
Étienne sent to Alain.
Alain quipped to his crèche-mate.
Étienne sent in reply.
The Harakens were witness to a new implant skill from their leader, but, for Alex, there was no such appreciation of the moment. He was terrified for Renée, who insisted on sharing the risks of his life, and he loved her for her courage but, in such encounters, he feared every moment for her safety. A decade and a half ago, he was content to lead the life of a loner out in the belt of Oistos. Now, he couldn’t imagine being without his partner and lover.
On the other side of the barricade, Lydia stared in disgust at the only remaining defender, who had slipped when he tried to jump up. She had lost eight of the nine men Toyo gave her. The man wasn’t going to be happy, to say the least. Lydia hand signaled the other ambusher, and the two of them crawled along the inner wall until they were out of sight of the Harakens before they stood up and ran.
* * *
“What do you want to do about all these people running around in environment suits, Sir,” Yakiro, the security chief, asked Kadmir.
“They’re calm, Chief. Let them be,” Kadmir replied, hurrying a group of guests and personnel off the lift. He had stopped sending security people up on the car’s return trip, not knowing where Toyo might break through into the lower domes if he got access to the blue lift. “How are we doing on the main concourse, Chief?”
“We’re still holding the blue lift, Sir, and we’re wearing them down. But he’s hurting us with those weapons of his,”
“I’d like to shoot the individuals who manufactured those stun guns for Toyo. In fact, I don’t know why we’re calling them stun guns … need a different name.”
“Sir, Sir,” called out a senior personnel manager breathlessly, running up to Kadmir.
Kadmir had to lean close to hear the older man wheeze out his message. “What do you mean you lost the girls?” Kadmir yelled.
“It wasn’t me, Sir,” the man exclaimed between breaths. “I discovered the security officer knocked out on the floor when I came to deliver food, as ordered.”
“Did you initiate a search?” Kadmir asked, grabbing the man by the shoulder.
“Immediately, Sir, every service personnel I could find. Said they were three VIP guests, two Méridiens accompanying a New Terran, who needed to be found. I didn’t give any names.”
“Well done,” Kadmir said. “Keep on it, and let me know when you find them. Escort them back to the suite and put three people on to safeguard them.” As the man hurried off, Kadmir turned to Yakiro. “Chief, as much as it pains me to say this —”
“Understood, Sir,” Yakiro said. “I’ll put some of my people on it. Won’t mean much to defeat Toyo and not have the Haraken women safe when Racine comes back.”
“Yeah, Racine was none too happy when I told him to turn back. Get on it, Chief. I’ll check in on our people above.”
* * *
Walking down a corridor in dome four, the Haraken girls were blending nicely with the myriad other people wearing bright yellow, environment suits.
Eloise sent to her friends.
Amelia agreed, and both Eloise and she turned to stare through their tinted faceplates at Christie.
Christie replied.
Amelia sent.
Christie sent excitedly. she added, cautiously pointing to other yellow suits.
Christie immediately put out her arms, blocking the path of a couple in environment suits. “We’ve been asked to direct everyone to the main dome for shuttle departure,” she said, delivering her best imitation of Alex’s command voice.
“Is it that bad?” asked the woman.
“Just a precaution,” Amelia added. “Management would feel better if the guests and service personnel were safe.”
“Well, the blue lift is blocked from use,” the man said, pointing back the way they had come. “Only the green lift is still in use,” he added, pointing past the girls.
“That’s correct, Sir,” Christie said, stepping aside, and waving her arm down the corridor. “Please make your way there in an orderly fashion.”
The girls continued to direct anyone in environment suits to the green lift. After fifteen or so people were sent that way, they followed the last three individuals they intercepted.
At the lift, two overwhelmed security personnel were busy waving off the people crowding forward to access the lift.
“There’s no real danger,” one of guards said.
“Well, one of you doesn’t know what in black space is going on,” an angry patron called out. “We were directed to go topside and get a shuttle ride out of here. I’m getting on the next lift up, unless you want to use that stun gun on me.”
When the doors opened, the crowd pushed and shoved to get on, and about half of them made it. As soon as the lift doors slid closed and the car started up, someone smacked the controller box on the wall to request the car’s return.
“Chief,” one of the security personnel called on comm. “We’ve got a problem at the green lift. Patrons and service personnel in environment suits are demanding exit to the surface. They say they’ve been told to go topside and board shuttles.” The security guard could barely understand the response of his chief, who was thundering questions and instructions into his ear comm.
“We’re at D4-L6 green lift, Chief, but there are only two of us, and some of these patrons are throwing their weight around,” the frustrated guard replied.
“Try to contain them. I’m sending you some support,” Yakiro replied.
Amelia, standing close to the guard, could hear the exchange with his chief, and she relayed what she had heard to the other two girls. Amelia no sooner finished informing her friends of the impending arrival of more security when the lift doors opened. The crowd pushed and shoved to fill the car. Eloise stood to be next to squeeze on, but she hesitated.
A woman on the car, gestured to her, “There’s room for one more, child, come on.”
Eloise reached back to grasp Amelia’s gloved hand, and in her best imitation of a teenager’s voice, she replied, “I have to wait to go with my sister.”
The woman nodded her head in understanding, as the lift doors closed.
While the Haraken women waited, more people in environment suits arrived, but the three girls positioned themselves to be next on the car.
Eloise sent.
The girls waited anxiously for their opportunity to go topside, wondering at every moment if security would arrive first. It was only a matter of time before someone with their wits about them noticed a New Terran woman accompanied by two slender companions and made the connection to the reports of three missing Harakens.
One of the security guards touched his ear comm, nodded his understanding, and edged between Christie and the lift doors.
“Hey, wait your turn,” Christie yelled in a loud, indignant voice, stabbing an arm out to the lift’s corner to block the guard’s way. A chorus of angry grumbles and comments backed the security guard off, who decided to wait until reinforcements arrived. Christie sent.
Anxious moments later, the lift doors open, and the three girls were first on and sought the back right corner.
As the car filled up, a man near the controller panel, yelled out, “C’mon, people, hurry it up.” He punched in a dome and level request just as security personnel arrived, who shoved their way through the crowd, but the car doors slid closed in front of their faces.
-29-
Toyo’s frustration grew. His people weren’t making progress fast enough against Kadmir’s greater numbers, despite his people’s deadly stunners. Now, knowing the Harakens had landed and were about to trap him against Kadmir’s security forces, Toyo was hoping for a break — namely that the wild woman would score a hit on Racine.
And, if the impending clash with the Harakens wasn’t enough to worry Toyo, the delay was draining the power packs of his people’s weapons. The stunners consumed a great deal more energy per blast in order to cripple or kill than a regulation stun gun. To compensate, his security personnel were picking up the weapons of Kadmir’s people, stuffing them into their belts or empty holsters as backups when their stunners consumed their backup power supplies.
Toyo was studying the layout of the defensive forces arrayed against him, searching for a weakness, when Lydia slid beside him. He glowered at her, tempted to drive his blade through her guts and let her suffer for disobeying his orders, but he desperately needed every body.
“Boss, the ambush at the barricade didn’t work. I swear, we had a sweet setup … boxed on three sides. Everyone snapped up on command and the Harakens cleaned us out before we even targeted them. Those people are uncanny. It’s like … it’s like they knew where we were hiding. I was the only one to score because the trooper hesitated.”
“Hesitated?”
Lydia grinned. “Well, I used a little subterfuge,” she said, and pulled open her uniform to bare a significant portion of full breasts.
“And the idiot hesitated to shoot a woman,” Toyo guessed, grinning at the stupidity of those who were unprepared to engage in fights to the death.
Lydia smirked and nodded in agreement with his conclusion.
“Did you see Racine? Was he with them?” Toyo asked, leaning close to Lydia so that he wasn’t overheard by his people. He had no desire to add to the pressure on them, and learning the Harakens, led by Alex Racine, were at their backs would do more than cause them to be anxious — it would create panic.
“That’s the weird part … and I can’t swear to this because I only caught a glimpse … but two of my men popped out of doors on either side of the corridor across from him, and Racine shot both of them.”
“You mean he was able to stun one and then the other before either idiot could fire?”
“No, Boss, I swear it looked like he shot the two men simultaneously with both hands, while staring straight ahead.”
Toyo stared into Lydia’s eyes. He was a master at detecting a lie, and Lydia’s eyes said she was telling the truth. More important, they showed a trace of fear, something he hadn’t seen before in the assassin’s face. It convinced him to escalate the fight, before he was crushed between the two forces.
“Okay, Zafir, we need this lift, and we need it now. I’m going to give you an opportunity to redeem yourself. Don’t screw it up this time,” Toyo said.
Lydia nodded her head, but she was thinking she might need to kill Toyo and disappear before he killed her.
“I need a security officer with high enough clearance to access the entire dome complex and preferably someone who might know where the fems are kept. Now, look along the inner curve. Just about out of sight, there’s a corridor that intercepts the main concourse. Second corridor down … you see it?”
Lydia slid past Toyo’s heavy body to watch the point he described. Eventually a head and shoulders peeked out and ducked back, without firing a shot.
“Yeah,” Lydia said, her brightly painted lips breaking into a fierce grimace. “Man with officer shoulder boards checking on the action.”
“That’s him. I want him, and I want him alive and healthy. Work your way around behind him through the main dome. I can’t give you much time with Racine coming up behind us. Lenny’s going to hit the corner, so stay back a little ways. You cue us when that officer is clear of the corner. You should be able to grab him in the explosion’s aftermath.”
“Can do, Boss,” Lydia said, slipping past Toyo and hurrying back down the concourse. Toyo checked his chronometer and set the timing function.
Toyo motioned to Lenny to move up next to him. “Okay, Lenny, you get another chance to use that thing. But you put the shot at the level I want and where I want, or I shoot you myself. And with these things,” Toyo said, hefting his stunner, “you know you’re not getting up.”
“Right, Boss,” Lenny said, nodding his head vigorously. Lenny wasn’t one of Toyo’s cold-blooded assassins. He wasn’t even a big-time criminal. He just loved to blow things up with his beloved plasma rifle.
“Dial that thing down low, Lenny. I want you to put a shot through the concourse’s inner curve at an angle that has the blast exit the walls in that second corridor right at the cor
ner and about waist high. You get me, Lenny?”
“Yeah, Boss. You want me to shoot through the walls of the concourse to take out those six or seven guys packed into that second corridor right at the corner, but not let the blast go much farther.”
“Good boy,” Toyo said, lightly smacking Lenny on the back of the head. “I’ll cue you when to fire.”
“Right. I’ll be ready, Boss.” Lenny ducked his way back down the main concourse, staying to the outer curve, until he was at the angle he needed for the shot. He checked the power setting on the plasma rifle and its energy reserve. Then he shouldered his weapon and waited for Toyo’s signal.
As the moments passed, Lenny’s finger lovingly stroked the firing stud. He breathed slowly and deeply. “Easy, Lenny,” he murmured, calming himself. “Don’t make the boss unhappy.”
Lydia worked her way through the main dome, discovering patrons and service personnel cowering under tables, behind bars, or just huddling in corners. She sneered at them. In her mind, they were the fodder for those with the power to rule. Lydia knew she wasn’t leader material, but every person who sought to wield absolute power needed others to do their dirty work, quietly and silently, and that was her. The powerful paid well for her services.
After a few false tries, Lydia found the corridor she was seeking. The male officer was surrounded by a group of guards, and a female guard stayed close by his side. There was no cover to offer Lydia to get any closer, so she eased into an alcove behind a pedestal holding an exquisite, decorative vase and waited.
Soon, the officer touched his ear comm, and Lydia could see he was having trouble hearing whoever was talking over the fighting in the concourse. She waited, unmoving, as he walked down the corridor toward her. The female guard was ahead of him, taking the opportunity to swap out the power pack on the officer’s stun gun and hand it back to him.