by Matt Novotny
“Cajun Six to all units, stand clear. Cutting in five, four, three…” Amos came across the comm and a countdown indicator appeared on their displays as they activated the pod’s breeching lasers.
“Forty-five seconds to breach.” Both teams waited. “Breach! Go! Go! Go!” More waiting.
“Clear! Entry point secure.”
Rains and Beta Team scrambled for the pod’s airlock and followed Amos’ Alpha Team into the station. Once in, they didn’t so much drop as step over the corner. Rains had an uncomfortable moment as the plane of gravity shifted. Their entry point was a warehouse that looked as if it hadn’t been used in an awfully long time.
“Lucille, can you interface with Bruno’s C&C package?”
<
“Good. See if you can connect with ‘Bastian to get a current location for Bes and Sabine. Then try to access the station’s systems. If you can, disable the weapons, then compare our maps against the station records and mark any corrections.”
<
The information appeared in their HUDs.
<
“Do it,” Rains said. “If there is any way, have it let Bes know what it’s doing. If Sabine’s toy runs away, it could attract attention.”
<
“Absolutely. Let’s have all options available,” Rains said.
<
“Keep me posted on ‘Bastian’s progress,” Rains said.
<
Rains thought hard for a moment. This isn’t going to work with Amos in the dark.
Rains switched to his command channel. “Amos, no time for details, but a program on Bruno was able to access ‘Bastian; that’s where we got the updated route information. Until it’s time for me to bring up the battlenet, I need to keep an eye on that connection.” Amos keyed an affirmative and Rains switched back to the main channel. “All right, Amos, rescue op is your show.”
“We gon’ get dis done!” Amos said. “BC, monitor comms, I want to know the instant the REX is inside. Squad One: Guidry and Benoit, take point, I’m middle-man, and Fontenot and Arton follow up. Squad Two, Landry and Hebert, Rains, BC, Trahan, that make you tail-end Charlie. Ten-meter separation in case we’re hit by something big. Any questions? Let’s move!”
* * * * *
Chapter Twenty-Three
Hope Station
Alarms howled as Danger Two walked them through the station. They dodged Blevin and Torvasi as the aliens scrambled for their action stations. ‘Bastian kept pace with Prime and Safety One.
“Your Torvasi is too busy to protect you now. As soon as Kr’et’Socae and Sin’Kura have what they want from your friends, I will kill you,” Danger Two said. “Once you die, maybe I sell the girl to the Athal. Now, get in and be silent.” He pushed them back into their room.
‘Bastian watched Safety One pace. A short time before, Danger Two had entered the room and taken them to the central area to use a functioning comm panel. Prime and Safety One had a conversation with “Rains” and “Amos.” Also, Kr’et’Socae. ‘Bastian had tagged the additional individuals based on monitoring Prime and Safety one’s reactions.
“I hate dat man!” Bes said. ‘Bastian registered enhanced stress patterns in Sabine and snuggled closer, vibrating.
Something slammed into the station, causing nearly constant impacts of hail so loud it was impossible to hear anything else. Sabine screamed as a sudden jolt tumbled her off the bed and sent her bouncing across the floor. Bes sprawled.
‘Bastian activated the magnets in his legs as he tumbled off the bed with Sabine, and he scrambled to his feet. The lights flickered and went out then were replaced a few seconds later by emergency lighting. The spin creating gravity for Hope’s End fluctuated, then stabilized.
As the hail of impacts tapered off, ‘Bastian noted the rate of fire had decreased. Bes dragged their mattress over to a corner and gathered up Sabine and ‘Bastian. “Ooh, dem boys is knockin’ on the door, child! I bet they’re mighty surprised right now!”
The station shuddered again and there was another rain of impacts, but it was far less this time.
“Are Uncle Jackson and Amos going to blow up the station?” Sabine asked.
“Hush now. Just enough so’s the boys can get in and get us. Everything’s gonna be just fine,” Bes said.
‘Bastian froze as he began receiving a transmission. His diagnostics kicked in, resetting systems that had previously been unavailable, dormant routines came online, and higher functions applied new overlays to his basic programming. In seconds, the little drone’s world became immeasurably larger.
Lucille uploaded the intel package that ‘Bastian had compiled in the station’s maintenance tubes. Seconds ticked by.
“‘Bastian? What’s wrong?” Sabine said. “Nana! ‘Bastian isn’t moving! Is he hurt?” she asked.
<
<
<
<
<
<
‘Bastian gave a small shiver, then ran to the girl, leaping into her lap and hugging her with a pair of legs and his claws. Sabine hugged the drone, stroking his fur. “Oh ‘Bastian! You had me worried!” she said.
<
Bes jumped when he spoke.
“You can talk!” Sabine crowed. “Why didn’t you talk before?”
<
Sabine hugged ‘Bastian tighter. “Don’t leave me!” she said.
“Now, Sabine, if you Uncle Jackson needs ‘Bastian’s help to get us out, den you need to let him go. He’ll be right back as soon as he done. Ain’t dat right, ‘Bastian?”
<
“Come here, ‘Bastian,” said Bes.
Sabine reluctantly let go of the little drone and ‘Bastian skittered to Bes.
“What mission?” Bes asked.
<
“We need to let him go, Sabine,” Bes repeated.
Sabine wiped tears from her eyes but nodded. “Okay.” Then she ran over and hugged ‘Bastian again. “Be careful!” Sabine said.
<>
‘Bastian skittered to the room’s maintenance hatch, quickly unscrewed it, then stepped inside, following his earlier route. This time he encountered no one and was able to reach the maintenance panel past the corridor. With the power out and the emergency lighting he shouldn’t even need his camouflage, but he activated it anyway, taking no chances.
He reached the maintenance controls and plugged in, looking for a way to cause the power surge Lucille had asked him to create. Had the station been fully powered he might have been able to accomplish it by melting the insulation between the power and control circuits with his laser, but with this section of the station under emergency power, that wouldn’t work. He tried to reach Lucille, but the comm system was offline and the shielding prevented a direct transmission.
‘Bastian went through menu after
menu of options, then he found it. With a few quick commands he was able to lock the station’s weapons into a diagnostic and maintenance cycle and change the security codes. The station’s point defense lasers were still online, but the main weaponry went silent.
Finished, ‘Bastian hurried back to Bes and Sabine. As he crawled through the maintenance hatch, he saw Sabine was in the corner and Bes was standing in front of her holding a panel from one of the privacy screens, the only suitable thing in the room that could be used as a weapon.
“It is time. You are both coming with me!” said Yeorgi as he forced the door open. Boula, the helpful Zeewie with the white blaze was frightened, but followed Yeorgi into their room. ‘Bastian ran to the open space and placed himself between the door and his wards as the Ukrainian forced his way in. Yeorgi looked down at the little Xiq’tal and ‘Bastian held up his claws and purred loudly.
“If you make difficult, it will be worse for you. Look, even your crab has come to like Yeorgi,” he said, picking ‘Bastian up and carefully looking at the toy.
‘Bastian’s three eyes shifted from blue to red.
<> ‘Bastian said.
* * *
Hope Station Exterior
“Olympian Three. Deploy, deploy, deploy!”
Sebastian sat in the REX’s forward drop bay in a rack usually reserved for a drop ship. The four squads of CASPers that made up Olympian Three were nestled in the pods that would launch them into combat. The Cajuns had been able to fabricate a fair approximation of Xiq’tal EVA armor, little more than a clear canopy that started halfway back along the top of his shell and wrapped around the front of his body, giving him excellent visibility, and changing to armor plate underneath his shell with air recycling, ammo storage, and an energy supply. Amos had also had them mount a forward-firing heavy MAC as a “chin cannon” on the belly plate. In addition to his usual lasers, he had six of the missile pods used by CASPers that he could jettison when empty.
“You goin’ in to be a wrecker; just remember that big auto-MAC is gonna kick like hell, so don’t fire till you down or we’ll never find you after you shoot off into space!” Amos had told him.
“Oh-three-six to Olympian Three, all units launch!”
Sebastian watched the battlespace through sensors that fed him data directly. One of the launch pods struck a floating armor plate. The other pods shot toward their destinations on the station’s surface.
“Oh-three-twelve, report!” said Sebastian. There was no reply. “Oh-three-nine! Can you see oh-three-twelve? He’s showing negative pod release!”
Sebastian released a flurry of laser fire at a turret as he fell toward the station. He set two of his missile pods to auto-fire as targeting picked up multiple inbound targets.
“Olympian Three! Drones inbound!” Sebastian broadcast.
“Nine to Six! Affirmative! Twelve’s pod is damaged—”
“Twelve to Six! …damaged…can’t cont—! Going to shoot—”
“Oh my god! The REX is firing its engine! Twelve! Stop shooting! You’re headed toward the—”
The sound of a MAC firing and the scream of Twelve was abruptly cut short as the damaged pod fell past the REX into the ship’s fusion plume.
“Olympian Three proceed on mission. They have drawn first blood, now we will make them pay,” Sebastian said.
Sebastian landed, allowing his legs to absorb the shock rather than trying to slow with his thrusters. He fired another salvo of missiles and felt the spent missile pods eject.
Two down. Four to go. He felt a fierce satisfaction as the number of targets dropped rapidly as Olympian Three went to work clearing the remaining surface defenses. They lost oh-three-two when she went after one of the few turrets running under local control. Fire meant to destroy asteroids or ships vaporized her CASPer instantly. Oh-three-five was killed by a barrage of point defense laser fire.
“Oh-three-six to Olympian Three. Squads verify all positions destroyed.”
“Squad One, all targets destroyed.”
“Squad Two, got ‘em all.”
“Squad Three, targets destroyed.”
“Squad Four, targets destroyed.”
“Sebastian to Olympian Three. Well done! Squads One and Three, assume overwatch. Squads Two and Four, proceed to maintenance ports for station insertion.”
Alarms flashed. “Oh-three-six to Squad Four! Eight more drones inbound your position!”
“Copy Six! We have them!”
Sebastian watched Squad Four fire missiles and lasers at the drones just as the REX slammed into the station. Oh-three-nineteen and -twenty bounced off the station from the impact right into the path of the onrushing drones, their thrusters firing as they tried desperately to recover. Three of the drones were destroyed by the barrage from Squad Four, but two others hammered the flailing nineteen and twenty, blowing the two CASPers to bloody bits. The last three drones flew over the squad, low and fast, straight toward Sebastian’s position. The drones’ laser fire bounced off the Xiq’tal’s carapace and disabled one of his missile pods. Sebastian zeroed in on the targets as the battle song began to sing in his blood. Those were his men. His. Battle brothers, though they were spawned in a different sea.
Sebastian lowered his back legs to bring the auto-MAC up. The counter-rotating barrels spun, spitting fire and explosive rounds with a thunderous BRRRRRTT, that only Sebastian could hear, and with a violence that shook him in his shell. The thrust of the gun forced him back nearly a meter, as six of his legs slid along the tough armor of the station. The drones vanished into a cloud of ceramic parts, disintegrating in an instant.
“Holy shit! I could feel the vibrations clear over here!” someone said.
“I like this gun,” Sebastian said.
“Contact! We have defenders at the maintenance port!”
* * *
REX
Hope Station Hangar Bay
“Junkyard to Olympians! Do you want to live forever? We’re on! Go! Go! Go!” Colonel Nolan roared.
The Olympians waited as the pressure doors on either side of the REX’s aft launch bay cycled.
“Stay close,” Nolan said to Race. “Remember, this is like the day they attacked Sanctuary, not the arena. Everything here that isn’t one of us wants to kill you. Don’t let them.”
“Yes, sir!”
“That said, you’re a natural. If I catch you holding back, I’ll kick your ass, or maybe I’ll tell stories on you to that cute shuttle pilot.”
“What? Tia? C’mon, Junkyard. Fight fair!”
“Lesson one for the day: ain’t no such thing. Fair is for dead men and suckers.”
* * *
Olympian One, under Nolan, would be sending one squad to secure the command center and another for the maintenance bay door controls while the third served as a fast reaction and support team. Olympian Two, under Commander Rikki, would sweep and secure the docks, then secure entry through the main bay doors for Olympian Three under Commander Sebastian.
Remmy and Burton worked as jump masters and door gunners for the teams, whooping and firing as soon as the doors opened. The Olympians launched into the zero G of the bay; confident they were ready for anything.
They were wrong.
The Olympians flew into hell.
The fusion torch from the REX had melted a hole through the massive bay doors, causing explosive decompression and setting fire to anything flammable within reach. The bow of the first Athal ship was a melted ruin and covered in slagged armor from the station’s doors. More melted armor and nanofoam had sealed the breach around the REX, but not before escaping atmosphere had carried the broken and twisted bodies of Athal and Blevin troopers into a ring around the ship, locking the dead and dying into the foam seal that allowed the station to replace the atmosphere. Intermediate doors had closed, splitting the bay into three sections, trapping the second Athal ship in the center section.
Laser fire from the station’s internal defenses hammered into the
Olympians.
“Oh-one-four! I’m hit!” one of the drivers yelled as his CASPer tumbled across the bay and crashed into a loading dock railing. The bay turret tracked him. By the time he hit the CASPer was a smoking ruin.
A group of Athal flew through the thin atmosphere to intercept the CASPers heading for the command center, but the Athal weapons did little against CASPer armor. The squad leader, an Olympian called Buzzsaw, deployed chainsaw blades, then hit his thrusters, crashing into the Athal and sending parts of the insects spinning off in all directions. Bits of Athal floating in the air peppered the rest of the squad with a series of crunchy splats.
“Take ‘em down!” Buzzsaw yelled as the squad ripped the rest of the Athal apart with MAC fire.
“Hey, Buzzsaw! You’re paying my cleaning bill when we get back!” someone joked.
Throughout the assault force there was a slight flicker as a telltale sprang to life on their displays when Rains brought Bruno’s C&C package up and the battlenet was established. HUDs updated with targeting data not only from the CASPers and the REX, but from Hope Station as well, as Bruno co-opted the station’s internal sensor net.
* * *
REX
Aft CASPer Bay
Remmy whooped again. “That gives me an idea! Cover me for a minute, Burton.”
The Lumar grinned. “Sure, Boss, I got this. No one out there wants in this ship, anyway.”
Remmy sprinted to a console, hoping he’d find what he was looking for. “Hot Damn! Score one for Romero Enterprises!” The consoles were built with a pinplant interface, so he activated it and synched up.
“Remmy to Bridge. Can you give me access to the point defense turrets at this console? I want to see if I can give our friends some help out there.”
“Hang on, Remmy.” Bev replied. He heard her talking to someone. “Try now!” He smiled as it came up, though he saw only two of the point defense turrets had survived docking.
Not much to work with. “Have I told you lately you’re an angel?” he said.
