Specter Protocol

by Eddie R. Hicks

  That suit was more than a piece of armor, it was the catalyst for another world war, and the thing that drove Arianna out of his world. And Obsidian suspected the suit was here and guided them to it. This was it; the truth was about to be revealed.

  “Here,” Ray said and pointed to what used to be the shuttle and the origin of the fires.

  Flames had engulfed the wreckage by the time they approached. Theo stepped forward, and his hands glowed red. He held his palms out then waved to the left. The flames parted in that direction. Theo repeated, waving his red glowing hands to the right. Flames covering that half of the burning shuttle wreckage parted to the right. Ray was glad he brought a warlock like Theo along. He wasn’t glad to see the prototype TEK suit wasn’t aboard after searching the wreck.

  Bashiir brought the ground to their attention. There were drag lines, large ones. Ray followed the tracks, it was a path guiding him from the shuttle’s remains, up the crater’s hill, and into the forest. Someone dragged the prototype TEK suit away and judging by the splatter of blood near the drag marks, that same Specter he’d shot had followed.

  “She’s still alive,” Ray said, following the drag and blood marks.

  Theo was behind now, and the three were scaling up and out of the crater. “What? You fuckin’ worried about the enemy now?”

  “She might be scared,” Ray said. “Scared people tend to talk and snitch. Maybe she can tell us what’s going on.”

  Theo snorted. “Well let’s see here. They can make us think they’re invisible. They tried to kill us. They really want that TEK suit and are risking war with the Alliance to get it. What more d’you wanna know?”

  Where is Arianna? That’s what Ray wanted to know, and at that point, the only people he could think of asking were those from the Federation.

  They climbed out of the crater, looked to the snow, and saw the trail of blood following behind the drag marks in the snow. Ray led the way, hoping none of the Specters were doing their ghostwalking thing as Bashiir and Theo put it. The drone was gone, and he wasn’t sure how reliable his glasses would be in informing him of hackable cyberware. The glow from the fires brightened their backs and legs moving through ankle-high snow in the woods on their way forward. Ray couldn’t feel the cold as the adrenaline pumping through him was doing its job.

  The markings in the snow led the three to a cliff, and below that were raised maglev tracks running through the snow-covered mountains that carved up the region. A cluster of bright white light at the far end of the tracks expanded in size each second. A speeding train was coming. So, it was no surprise to Ray, when he looked to the other side of the cliff, that he saw a gathering of men and women dressed in black ready to jump, and one of them carried the prototype TEK suit. There were seven in total.

  He pointed them out to Bashiir and Theo. “Am I tripping? Or is that the Specters?”

  “I see them,” Bashiir said, nodding. “They must have entered cooldown.”

  The train sped past, and if it wasn’t for its light in the darkness and snowfall, Ray wouldn’t have even noticed it. It made very little noise, just a whoosh through the air. The Specters vanished at that point, all of them. Except for one man. That man stood holding a tablet pad, tapping through an app. The app looked a hell of a lot like the ones on Ray’s phone and tablet. He grimaced at that.

  The man ran and made a massive leap onto the train accelerating past. Ray assumed the rest of the Specters did the same along with the prototype TEK suit, not that any of them could see it.

  “They’re getting away!” Ray ran first.

  Theo moved next, then Bashiir, all three of them kicking up the icy white fluff that was so deep it reduced their running speed.

  It was a passenger train by the looks, multiple cars covered in windows giving a glimpse of the seated people inside. It gave Ray hope that maybe they might leap and fall onto its tail end. If they missed, they’ll go pluming down to the bottom of the cliff.

  Ray was at the jump first. But he didn’t jump. He saw just how far down the drop was if he missed. And the train continued speeding past, looking like a blur of polished white in the darkness. Its end was in sight to his left. He tossed the sniper rifle into the snow. Something told him it’s weight would throw his leap to the train off.

  If the three were going to jump, they had to do it now.

  Ray didn’t jump.

  He glanced at the drop again. “Fuck.”

  Then he saw the train’s rooftop speeding past. And jumped.

  He felt the whoosh of air blow past him, rippling his coat’s hood. His body fell faster than the surrounding snowfall. He kept his eyes forward at the adjacent mountains ahead. If he missed, he didn’t want to know it until it was about to happen. That, and the peaks looked so pretty from this height. Arianna would have loved to see it. Maybe one day, he’d take her up here on a hike, once he found her, cleared his name, and put this madness behind him.

  His feet hit something solid. Something that was moving fucking fast.

  Ray got pushed forward, his face planted onto the metallic surface of the train. The combined force of the impact and fast-moving train pushed him again. He was gliding across the surface and didn’t stop. His hand reached out and grabbed ahold of a handlebar, and he stopped sliding. Slowly, Ray got back to his feet and steadied his balance as the rushing winds and snow blew his hood off. The train was traveling a lot faster than he thought, he couldn’t see the drop they leaped from anymore.

  Bashiir and Theo joined Ray, their hoods also flapping about with the winds.

  “Lead the way, malaka!”

  Ray nodded at them, adjusting his glasses which had miraculously remained on him during the jump and fall. Dozens of vulnerable icons flashed on its lenses, most of them appearing below Ray from the passengers on the train most likely as well as the train’s computers. Some icons moved, others didn’t. It was impossible to figure out which was which by quickly glancing. Ray walked forward instead, boots crunching on the ice buildup. The Specters leaped aboard first, and therefore would have landed on the front cars of the train. Theo and Bashiir stood beside him with weapons drawn and ready for invisible IWs as the mountains of the region zipped past like a nature documentary on fast-forward.

  Floating vulnerable icons appeared ahead in the empty space. A Specter came running for them he figured. He reached for his phone and thumbed his cyberware disruption app. The Specter’s legs ceased during their running charge. The sudden shock of their cyberware getting disabled was enough to pull them from their ghostwalk. Now Ray saw the target. And he had to dodge to the side when the Specter reached for their rifle and made its muzzle blaze. Loud bangs roared. Where Theo and Bashiir dove and rolled to was anyone’s guess. Shooting the icons first with his pistol, rather than reaching for his phone’s app was a better choice. Too late now.

  Bullets punched holes into the area of the train’s roof where Ray had been standing. If he wasn’t quick, they’d soon punch holes through his body. He had to find cover, but there wasn’t any, not while standing on top the train as the Alaskan splendor sped past in an icy blur. His only saving grace was the fact the Specter’s legs were disabled until his AI removed the hack. The Specter was stuck standing and facing one direction, and Ray needed to not be in that direction.

  Ray found his best bet for safety, leaping off the train. He rolled off and let gravity do the rest. Before he plummeted to his end, he reached and grabbed the edge of the train’s roof. He was holding onto its sides now, legs dangling in the frigid winds rushing past, cold biting at his cheeks and lips.

  His lenses flashed an update, the Specter’s AI issued a reboot command to his cyberware. They were fighting off the hack Ray used to stop his legs. Phase two of Ray’s escape began. He held the edge of the train with one hand, and with the other he reached for his pistol, and pointed it at the window. Three bullets shattered it to fragments, screams of terrorized passengers yelling from inside. Those screams amplified when Ray swung himse
lf in and stepped over the laps of civilian passengers. Ray looked like the bad guy now. He hated it, a lot.

  He stood in the aisle now, phone in one hand, a pistol in the other, shaded smart glasses flashing with new data of the vulnerable devices in range. Like the six icons that crashed through another window further up, raining glass over the seated occupations next to it. A Specter came for him, not that he or anyone could see it. Only his smart glasses knew.

  The Specter shot at him. A bullet grazed Ray’s leg. People screamed. Ray shot back twice. The screams amplified. The Specter retreated into cover behind one of the train’s seats, so Ray let out three more rounds, taking care not to hit the fleeing passengers seeking escape from the train’s car. He really wished everyone had just stayed calm and ducked. Ray mimicked the Specter and retreated behind a vacant seat. He had doubts it was strong enough to cover him for a prolonged period from the bullets coming for him. The Specter needed to go, before more of his friends showed up.

  Ray thumbed his phone and uploaded malware code into the Specter’s legs. Nothing happened. This Specter’s AI was on point and intercepted the malware. He tried hacking its arms, nothing. The Specter was free to move and shoot. So, it did. It pinned Ray down. He rechecked his app and narrowed his eyes at two options he hadn’t noticed, left and right hands. Not all Specters got augmented equally, this one had cyberware in their hands. It was Ray’s last option. And it worked.

  Like the Specter on the roof, the one ahead lost focus, and his black clad body became visible. According to Ray’s glasses, its AI was fighting off the hack. His next move had to be quick.

  He stood from his cover and let his pistol blaze until it was empty. All shots missed. Hitting a target that rolled for new cover with scrambling civilians was hard. And then came a thudding noise, the Specter dropped his rifle. Hard to hold a gun when your hands had been hacked. Ray sprinted forward, shoving people to the left, right, or to the floor. He didn’t give a fuck. They needed to get out of the way, and he needed to grab the rifle before the Specter’s AI got his cybernetic hands working again.

  Ray never made it to the fallen weapon. A tackle from the Specter sent him flying back. Ray’s phone spiraled out from his hand, the same with his pistol. He was down on the floor now, face looking up at the Specter that had tackled and climbed on top of him. Ray punched him in the jaw, but pain flared in his knuckles instead. He made a note not to punch people with bones reinforced with chrome and cybernetics.

  The Specter punched downward now his hands were working again. Ray tilted his head to the right. The fist cratered the floor. He kneed him in the balls, and they weren’t enhanced with cyberware. The Specter yelped as the blow knocked him off Ray. Back on his feet, Ray eyed his pistol, the Specter’s rifle, and his phone on the floor. He debated what to grab first, all were useful. Then there was the katana still strapped to his side—

  A bear hug from behind paralyzed him.

  The Specter threw him back toward the shattered window they’d entered through, cold winds from the outside world rustling his jacket. Now the Specter was up in Ray’s face, choking him, and pressing his head out the shattered window and mangled window blinds. He felt the sharpness of the broken glass still attached to the damaged window frame cutting into his back.

  The chokehold was crushing his windpipe and forcing his face upward. Life was slipping away and fast. Ray’s hands floundered about, seeking for a means to pull the cybernetic grip of the Specter off him. When that didn’t pan out, he went looking to grab something, anything that’d be usable. The katana was a no go, the hilt kept hitting the wall below the window, preventing it from coming loose. He felt nothing else, except the glass digging into his back. Ray grinned.

  He reached behind with his trembling hands and broke off a piece of the shattered window. Ray held a dagger made of glass and if the Specter hadn’t tunnel vision in his quest to strangle Ray to death, then he would have countered the thrusting stab Ray had made to his right temple. But the Specter didn’t, and his body went limp. Two-thirds of the glass shard vanished inside his head. Red lines changed the color of the Specter’s pale cheeks.

  Ray took a moment to catch his breath after the Specter dropped dead. It hurt to breathe. Deep breathing from Ray and screams from the passengers. It reminded him he wasn’t out of the chaos. Steadying his body, Ray tapped the comm switch on his glasses, a notification appeared on the left lenses. It connected him to Theo and Bashiir.

  “You guys still alive?” Ray asked.

  “For now,” Theo’s voice replied to the rippling noise of the outside world in the background. “Kinda had to kill what you can’t see.”

  Ray brushed aside the mangled blinds shaking ahead of the busted window. He tilted his view upward and then to the side of the train. It’d be hard to make it back to the top.

  “Keep moving and find the prototype suit,” Ray transmitted. “I’ll meet you at the front.”

  “Can’t see these fuckers!” Theo roared again.

  “Just shoot blindly.” He pushed away from the window and ran through the aisles. “You’re bound to hit one eventually.”

  Ray ran from car to car with his weapon drawn. There were new screams, and passengers ducking their heads. Those in the aisle sidestepped to let the armed street samurai run past. Those that hesitated to move got pushed aside, their bodies fell upside-down into other seated passengers. It had to be done, he had to make it to the front and fast. He had very little doubt the Specters cared for the wellbeing of the passengers.

  Ray pushed into the next car. A man carrying his briefcase fell backward, notes and office documents rained down like the falling snow from the windows to the left and right. Twin sliding doors to the next car lay ahead, so Ray lifted his pistol, both hands gripping it, his finger reaching for the trigger while he took notice of the various vulnerable icons that lay beyond.

  The doors spread apart, giving him access. Floating icons hovered near a large muscularly built man dressed in black, holding a tablet pad. It was the same man Ray saw leap onto to train.

  The man spun around fast facing Ray as he entered. “Fuck off!”

  And he spoke with an Australian accent.

  The Australian thumbed an app on his pad. Ray pulled the trigger. Nothing. He pulled it again. Nothing. He glanced at the pistol’s ammo counter screen. It was black. The Australian laughed and lowered his pad. He was a hacker, just like Ray, and had uploaded malware to his pistol’s onboard computer. Ray’s pistol was a paperweight now, so he threw it. The pistol spun through the air toward the Australian’s face. Ray’s throw didn’t miss. The big man went down on his ass.

  Ray was diving for cover now, hiding behind the nearest seat to him. He heard other voices talk beyond with Chinese, Japanese, Australian and New Zealand accents. Accents of the Federation. They were back for round two, using their illegal weaponized IWs as black op operatives.

  Bullets started flying. Muffled screams from the people in the previous car followed. Ray was alone and had no means to fight back. Apart from that one thing he had with him, still dangling at his side. He reached down grabbing a hold of the nano katana. It flashed on with light from a thumb switch. It may be electronic, but it wasn’t a smart weapon and therefore unable to connect to any network.

  His phone was still operational, custom security protocols were at work, blocking the malware the Australian was trying to upload into Ray’s phone. How long Ray’s security would last, he didn’t know, the Australian was persistent and likely the same one he exchanged malware with during the chase for the shuttle. Ray had to stop him while he still had power.

  Keeping his head low from the bullets, Ray located nearby power distribution conduits. He wasn’t sure if the Australian and shooters were near. There was only one way to find out. Ray deactivated the conduit’s cooling mechanisms and then upped the energy flow. They overheated and exploded. White sparks and electrical fires erupted from the energy discharge. The lights on the ceiling flickered on and o
ff, as the sudden explosions sent vibrations across the train. There were a couple of thuds, like bodies falling. And best of all, no more rifles were making a racket.

  Ray stood up and wielded his unhackable weapon.

  Nobody stood to face him and there were no bodies on the floor after he waved away the smoke and smell of burning wires. The Australian hacker was still at large. Ray’s phone continued battling the malware upload attempts. According to the multiple icons on his lenses, the Specters ran to the front car, fleeing the blasts.

  And in the next car was a cluster of seven vulnerable icons floating in the air, and nothing else. Ray gulped. A lone Specter stood waiting for him. Six of the icons were for their cyberware, and the seventh was something else. He dove behind chairs. Two seconds later, an automatic rifle raged. He rechecked his lenses. The seventh icon wasn’t for cyberware, it was for the weapon they held, a Jaguar PT56. Yoshida designed and developed it, and its encryption had been broken by a recent hack. Traces of the malware was still present, his glasses scanned it.

  Assault Rifle Disruption

  Takes control of Yoshida developed smart assault rifles. Requires command codes. Available actions:

  Power weapon down

  Force burst fire

  Activate / Deactivate safety

  Display false ammo count

  He downloaded a copy of the malware and the Yoshida PMC command codes that came with it. Ray selected the power weapon down option. The progress bar moved way too slowly considering the malware was already uploaded into the rifle. The Australian hacking his phone was affecting the network connection.

  The rifle stopped making noise, and it wasn’t because he was in. The Specter shooting held their fire. He saw the icon of the rifle drift to his cover. They were going to ghostwalk to him, preparing to blow his brains out execution-style. Panic kicked in. Ray checked the status of his weapon hack. Padlock icons appeared over his apps. The Australian’s hack broke in. Ray was fucked.

  He clenched the hilt of his nano katana, its blade still glowing with power. Ray waited for the Specter’s next move.