by J. N. Chaney
I stiffened at the news. This was it, the culmination of weeks spent trying to locate Athena and get her back. I took one final settling breath to calm my nerves, then tapped my helmet comm. “Teams, sound off.”
“Team 1, in position.”
“Team 2, in position.”
“Team 3, in position.”
There was a heavy pause while we waited tensely for Davon to check in. Finally, he did, sounding flustered. “Apologies for the delay. We, ah, had a malfunction with the pulse cannon.”
Worry had my gut clenching. That was not what I wanted to hear right now. “Davon, if you have any doubts about that weapon, don’t use it. Switch to whatever other artillery your team has.”
“The issue has been resolved,” he assured me. “Secondary breach team in position.”
I let it go. The man knew his own work, and I’d just have to trust that he wouldn’t blow himself up.
It didn’t much matter anyway. If the Celestials tried to go in that direction, Carl would lock that door down and funnel them back towards us. They could still phase through, of course, but there were enough soldiers in the second wave to take them down if it came to that. We couldn’t exactly pause the mission to give Davon any extra time. It very well might have been our last shot.
Abigail spoke last, all business. “Primary breach team, in position. Ready on your order, Captain.”
I touched my hand against the personal shield on my shoulder. “Alright, Carl,” I said, taking another breath. “Light em’ up.”
My helmet visor erupted instantly with red dots as the Celestial Cognitive ran a probing scan of the room. Then, as previously ordered, he took control of the doors. The moment they opened, six Sarkonians hurled grenades inside.
Roars of surprise sounded from within when the grenades popped off and two of the markers scattered.
Our forces streamed in from either side of the door in tandem, and I went with them.
* * *
Two Berserkers charged us, light blades extended, already recovered from the explosives.
I didn’t have to give the order. All grudges and past animosity fell away in the swirl of chaos and battle. The room erupted in booms of gunfire and flashes of light, humanity’s shared enemy finally before us.
Hard light shields dropped from the ceiling to protect the servers and artifacts, and I was surprised at the level of foresight. How did the builders of this place predict that a battle might ever break out in a place like this? Or did Tartarus simply allow for flexible distribution of hard light the same way the emitters did for Sigmond on Titan? Maybe the shields were only a product that.
Before I could decide, I saw one of the Celestials reach a Sarkonian soldier and slash down with its blade, cleaving through skin and bone effortlessly. The man fell to the side, half dead and full of screams.
A battle cry followed from the crowd behind the man—I couldn’t tell from who--and a hail of gunfire erupted and filled the Celestial’s hide.
A green dot appeared on my visor. “Sir, I believe I have our target’s location,” informed Carl. “Enemy activity shows movement toward this storage tower.”
Athena, I realized. The faded red dots flanked her location, growing brighter by the second. “Rangers inbound!” I shouted over the comm. “Prepare to fire the pulse cannon!”
As soon as the fight began, the two soldiers manning the pulse cannon had wheeled it to the entrance and waited for their signal. “Firing now!” one of them yelled.
Like one entity, every human hit the ground, giving the operators a clean shot at the Celestials. The Rangers took it and the invisible wave of pressure expanded outward, striking the nearest Berserker. The Rangers’ flat eyes went wide as they took the hit, unable to phase for the moment. A squad of Union soldiers followed suit with a barrage of firepower, moving forward against the Rangers. Bullets ricochet off of their armored shells like pebbles from a stone wall, but as the small dents began to grow and the Rangers slowed, the cannons rang again.
Another heavy pulse and the Rangers collapsed onto their knees. Pieces of their bodies snapped from their bodies, despite their determination to get away.
The nearby Berserker, on the other hand, did not fall so quickly. Shaking the blast off and charging at a nearby group, the giant rammed into our soldiers, sending them to the ground and causing screams that brought knots to my stomach. Two blades shone lightning-blue in the dark, cutting graceful photonic trails through viscera and shattered armor. I saw humans fall in still-bleeding, hotly-glowing pieces illuminated by flashes of gunfire.
“Team 1 reporting eyes on another Ranger,” said Vick. I checked the map on my display to find a red dot that had moved away from the crowd and outside the door.
Since it was out of my control, I focused on the ongoing battle in the Archives. I began to run toward the other fight nearby, but as I stopped to aim at the Berserker, the other soldiers overtook it.
The blue blades fell away, their light evaporating into the darkness like rain dissipating in reverse.
The downed Berserker didn’t move, and I heard a cheer from the soldiers who now stood triumphantly around it.
“Don’t stop!” barked Abigail. “Keep moving forward!”
Another Ranger darted behind one of the hard-light displays, moving so fast that my eyes could barely track the movement. I opened fire, though I was far away. An orb of blue light flashed out from where it took cover and struck one of the nearby soldiers.
The woman stopped firing abruptly and looked down, confused. At first, I didn’t understand what had happened because the light had disappeared when it hit her. She dropped her rifle and turned slightly, clutching her chest and stumbling.
“Carl, what the hell is that?” I snapped.
An image appeared on my visor, showing what appeared to be a blue orb. “The projectile is hard-light,” informed the Cognitive. “The standard weapon of the Ranger. They are extremely accurate.”
I let loose with another spray of bullets, not realizing until it was too late that the Ranger’s marker had moved. The dot now pulsed brightly behind me. I whirled, knowing I didn’t have a chance, only to be knocked on my ass before completing the rotation. It felt like something heavy landed on top of me, blocked by the energy shield.
“Shield at 58%,” informed the voice in my ear.
My eyes widened at the sound of that. Nearly half of the shield had been depleted from a single hit. I’d have to pay better attention.
Abigail fired at the Celestial, bringing her squad into full view. The creature bellowed in anger and pain, then flickered as it tried to phase. The Neutronium-tipped bullets must have prevented it because it didn’t complete the phase, bleeding heavily from its wounds.
I got to my feet and fired again, taking advantage of the creature’s problem. My rifle clicked, spent.
Biting back a howl of frustration, I ejected the empty magazine for a fresh one. When I looked up again, the Ranger was gone, apparently still damn fast despite being injured.
“There!” said Abigail, pointing to another pillar.
“Fire the cannon, godsdammit!” ordered a voice.
A pulse erupted out from behind us and slammed into the Celestial, stifling it and allowing the rest of us to continue. I stopped where I was, standing and taking aim at the creature’s head and firing, ensuring as much precision as possible from this far away.
To answer me, the Celestial let a ball of energy loose in my direction. The second I saw the blue projectile, I dropped to the floor. The ball continued past me, stopping a short distance behind and exploding in the air. From that point, dozens of blue lines of energy burst out of it, flying through the darkness and hitting the cannon and several of the soldiers around it. Of course. It hadn’t been aiming at me at all.
I rolled into a prone position and fired again, this time hitting the Celestial in the legs and forcing it to the floor. It collapsed and my people swarmed, filling the body with enough Neutronium to down a
ship.
“Two more Celestials remain,” informed Carl.
Our people split and converged on the last remaining enemies in two separate groups. Ten meters to my right, the Berserker swayed, its body disfigured from the hundreds of bullets it had just taken. Pieces of its hide and inner flesh hung like torn cloth, blood filling the floor around its feet at an alarming rate. Still, through all of its misery, the Celestial didn’t scream or give any sign of its pain, if it even felt any at all.
Instead, it brought both blades up, fighting to the very end.
But the monster never got the chance to finish the movement, drowning under another barrage of gunfire, the bullets separating its flesh until all the life in it was spent.
The ranger had a more heightened sense of self-preservation and made for the opposite door, feinting and dodging. Still, with so many of us attacking simultaneously, he couldn’t avoid us all.
The Celestial spun and sent a flurry of energy projectiles into our advancing group. Each one found its mark, but so did ours. One of the beams sliced through a nearby Eternal, tearing open his side and ripping his arm clean from his body. He collapsed, screaming, and two others ran to his side. They dragged him back behind the pressing squad of soldiers. “Medic!” screamed one. “We need medical assistance!”
Another projectile struck Freddie, but the orange light of the personal shield told me he was safe. It collapsed, shattering like glass, which also suggested it was depleted. We were running low on second chances.
A ball of energy, the same as the one before, slipped from the Celestial’s white hands.
Everything went still except for the sound of my own breathing in my helmet as the ball came toward me, and I fell, pulling the trigger and unloading what I could on the Ranger, along with the rest of my squad. The energy separated in the air, much like before, and the beams struck us all at the same time. It would’ve been almost beautiful if it wasn’t so horrifying.
“Shield at 12%,” said the voice in my ear.
More support filled from behind us, having taken care of the Ranger that had made its way outside.
The one in front of me collapsed as Abigail and Freddie’s team made their final approach. Had we really done it? “Carl, run a scan for any remaining threats,” I snapped out.
“Team 2 eliminated the last Berserker just moments ago,” he confirmed. “I detect no more hostiles.”
The green dot that was supposedly Athena still glowed in my visor. I turned to look at the spot and found it only a few meters away, protected by hard light shielding. Abigail followed me to it, along with Vick and Rackham.
As I approached, the shield retracted, revealing a large rectangular metal box. I unclasped my helmet and studied the setup. It was easy to spot Athena’s drives, given what Carl and Dressler had shown me during the briefing. They were still inserted along the base of the system, and I blew out a sigh of relief. “Dressler,” I said, staring down at the ancient equipment before me. “Get your ass over to me. You’ve got a Cognitive to release.”
19
The Doctor worked quickly on Athena, given that the Celestials might be in the middle of uploading her to another location. I didn’t like how long it was taking, but when I’d tried to ask Dressler about it, she nearly bit my head off.
It took all my willpower to force myself away and help with assessing casualties. Nearly twelve had died, with over thirty seriously injured. We didn’t segregate them by nation this time — they were eight men and four women belonging to a single collective now: the Human Alliance.
The number could have been higher, but the Ranger’s last ditch effort hadn’t been as successful as I’d originally thought, its aim likely thrown off by the injuries it had received in the final assault. Whatever the case, the injured soldiers would live, thanks to the medical teams and the pods we’d brought to the upper levels. The wounded had already been sent for treatment and the dead were quickly getting carried out. All that remained was clean up and to extract the woman inside those drives.
A fair amount of blood and bullet casings covered the floor. Thanks to the shields, most of the equipment in the room had escaped harm mostly unscathed, though there was still heavy damage to some.
Vick and Sanchez ordered additional sweeps further in, but my attention remained on Dressler and her work. Abigail hovered nearby but remained quiet.
Rackham, Octavia, and Freddie milled around the room, checking on people and assisting if it was needed. The Lieutenant engaged on a personal level with everyone and offered condolences, encouragement, and praise. Their responses spoke volumes. I couldn’t hear what was said, but judging from the genuine smiles and handshakes, I could hazard a guess.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder, breaking into my thoughts.
“Isn’t that right, Hughes?” Vick asked. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d found his way over to me.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“That it seemed a little easier than we anticipated,” he explained. “I expected more from them. More numbers, more resistance. This was a handful of defenders against an army. They were strong, no doubt about that, but hardly the fight I expected to find here.”
“Yeah, maybe so,” I said.
Now that Vick mentioned it, this fight had seemed easy, maybe because we knew better what to expect. We’d been reacting and defending against the enemy, constantly at a disadvantage. It did feel strange to have something succeed with minimal casualties. A few loose ends needed tying, like finding out what happened to the missing Engineers and making sure they hadn’t done anything to Athena. For the most part, however, things had wrapped up fairly well for us. It was a good change of pace.
“Take the win, Hughes,” said Vick, apparently taking notice to the look on my face. “This was a small price to pay for victory.” He shot a quick glance at Sanchez. “Agreed, Major?”
A hard look crossed Sanchez’s features, but Vick didn’t seem to notice.
I decided to check on Abigail and leave Vick and Sanchez to talk amongst themselves. “Any update?” I asked, once I was nearby.
Before she could answer, Dressler looked up. I thought she might tell us to leave and give her some space but instead she waved the two of us closer. “Captain, I’ve finished.”
“And?” I prompted, concerned that the doctor wasn’t smile.
She hesitated. “When I accessed Athena’s drives, a message popped up. ‘Copy halted at 96 percent completion.’”
“That’s good, right? The upload didn’t finish,” I said, waiting expectantly for her to agree.
“Not exactly,” she replied. “When the move process was interrupted, some of Athena’s drives were corrupted. I reversed the transfer and fixed what I could, but we won’t know the extent of the damage until we have her back inside her Capsule.”
“Can you bring her online right here?” I asked.
“I can, but I’d have to commit to the transfer to the system,” said Dressler. “I brought a portable holo emitter.”
“Excuse me,” said Carl, his voice coming in through the comm. “My analysis shows that if Athena’s processes are not fully transferred to a capable storage center immediately, the degradation will only worsen. If I might be so bold, I can assist with the transfer if you’ll allow, and then close the outgoing line that the Celestials were hoping to use. In other words, her safety will be assured, but we must act quickly.”
I looked at Dressler. “Doc?”
She nodded. “He’s right about the degradation. We don’t have long, and stopping the data transfer this late could seriously damage her matrix. If you’re ready now, I can continue with the remaining four percent,” said Dressler. She pulled the device out of her lab coat and set it atop the console. “I can’t promise what we’ll find when she wakes up, but--”
“She’ll still be Athena,” I said.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t move her back to her own Capsule?” asked Abigail.
“We could try, but
the Capsule is buried inside Titan. Half of those systems are inoperable. There’s also the time it would take to move her,” explained Dressler. “This is our best chance at recovering her entire matrix, despite the wear she’s already received.”
“Do it,” I instructed.
Dressler tapped her pad a few times until the emitter blinked on. She touched the drives and a few seconds later, another light came on. “Three percent,” she muttered. “Two percent.”
I waited, clenching my jaw as the seconds passed.
“One percent,” she said.
I watched over her shoulder as the Cognitive program loaded much too slowly. The progress indicator climbed at an infuriatingly sluggish pace. Finally, it finished, signified by a column of hard light. Athena’s signature blue manifested from the emitter, but it was slow to take shape.
Abigail discreetly squeezed my arm and I glanced over at her. She motioned with her eyes for me to look around. We’d gained a small audience of soldiers and Eternals, all watching the emitter with keen interest. I didn’t altogether care for it. It felt like a private moment, but I couldn’t very well send them away, not after how hard they had fought to give this to us. These people had been injured, lost friends in order to get Athena back. The least I could offer was proof it hadn’t all been for nothing.
Finally, I could make out the vague shape of a figure, and it gained more definition and clarity with each passing second until Athena’s familiar face formed in front of us. She wore the clothes I’d last seen her in and I took that as a good sign. When Gaia had been booted up the first time in the Earth’s core, she’d suffered from data degradation. Her image had cycled several times through a variety of hair styles and wardrobe options. Athena didn’t seem to have that problem.
