Hammer's War - Forging The Hammer

by James McEwan

  Fiona thought that was a strange question, “Just a healthy baby I guess.”

  The lights in the cells began flashing on and off. Then doors to the cells popped open, “Well I was not expecting that.”

  “I told you Thad would get us out of here,” Freya said.

  The twins exited the cells and ran for the door. Through the door, they found an office with two confused looking guards. They were on top of the guards before they could react. Freya flew at her chosen target, wrapping her legs around his neck and head. Using her body as a fulcrum, she spun him head over heels. He body slammed into the wall and he fell to the ground. He landed on his neck, which snapped, under his own body weight.

  Fiona took a more traditional approach and she jumped at the guard, hitting him in the chest with both feet. The force pushed him back into the glass window that allowed them to see who was coming toward the detention center. He smashed through the glass and landed in the hallway. His head struck the hard tile and cracked like a melon on dropped on concrete. Freya looked at Fiona “Yeah, okay, that worked, but it wasn’t as sexy.”

  Fiona laughed at her sister’s comment, “I’m fighting for two now, so I have to be careful.”

  Thad was standing in the lab where he had been tortured, the body of the doctor at his feet. He searched the room and found his body armor in a box on a nearby table. “I’m done playing nice,” he pushed a button on his wrist control pad. A green light emerged from his wrist emitter. A case materialized on the table. He flipped the lid open to reveal the contents, guns, and other weapons. He took a moment to strap on two pistols, a force blade, and a bunch of loaded magazines. Thad slung a submachine gun around his shoulder and threw a bandolier of grenades over his other one. “Time to get to work!”

  That used his x-ray vision mode to see through the wall. There, on the other side where six armed men waiting for him to come through the door. He stood near the door and pulled it open making sure he was not in the line of fire. Laser bolts flew through the open door, burning holes in the wall across the room. As soon as the barrage of laser fire stopped, he tossed two fragmentation grenades through the door, and then slammed the door.

  “Grena...” some poor fool’s scream was interrupted, as the grenades exploded with two loud thuds. The guards were lightly armored and with no cover or any place to run, the grenades did their job. The grenades tore them apart, shredding flesh from bone, painting the walls with blood. There were no survivors.

  As Thad made his way through the carnage a complete memory of the facility returned to him. He remembered he was on the sublevels where the labs were located. He went looking for the genetics lab where the birthing was done.

  The twins were now armed with laser pistols. They also went looking for Thad or Eve but were having a hard time locating them because it was a large facility. Not to mention the fact they did not have a clue where to look. Overhead emergency lights were flashing and a computerized voice was repeating an evacuation order. The building’s personnel paid no attention to twins, as they for the exits. Some of them may have thought the lack of security personnel was odd. Perhaps they wondered if the security teams were busy elsewhere.

  They were, in fact, very busy elsewhere. The security personnel was doing their best to stop Thad who was on a rampage. A hailstorm of bullets rained down on them, tearing them apart as they tried to fight back, but the armor Thad was wearing was stopping most of the hits and the ones it didn’t, were healing so fast, he hardly seemed to notice. Bodies were starting to pile up as Thad kept on coming.

  Fiona stopped and held out her hand up to Freya, “You hear that?”

  “Gunfire,” Freya’s face lit up.

  “Oh, it sounds like Thad is pissed! This way,” Fiona pointed in the direction of the gunfire. They made their way towards the sounds of dying men. They knew they were close when they found bodies and blood spattered about the hallways. The sound of combat had stopped, so they followed the trail of bodies to a large room. Inside were rows and rows of clear tanks and in them all different human fetuses.

  “Oh my God,” Freya was floored to see all of the tiny little bodies floating in blue tubes. They spotted Thad placing explosive charges around the room. “Thad what are you doing?”

  “Oh am I glad to see you two,” he hugged and kissed them both. “I’m getting ready to destroy all of this.”

  Fiona grabbed his shoulders and looked right into his eyes, “You can’t kill them. They have done nothing wrong. You can’t kill them because their only crime is having been created.”

  “Without the people who run the program, they will die a slow death. Better to end it now before they can feel pain,” Thad said.

  Freya held his arm and joined in with her sister’s plea, “No Thad, you can’t do it. We will find another way. If we can find Eve, she can get the information out to the local authorities and they can find a way to save them. We should give them a chance at a normal life,” she paused, “Something you never had. You owe it to them, in a way they are your family, your brothers, and sisters.”

  While Thad was listing to the wise council of his wives, the rage he felt was waning, “Okay, maybe you’re right. Maybe they do deserve a chance at life.”

  Fiona hugged him, “Thank you. I would have a really hard time forgiving you if you had gone through with it.” Thad wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck.

  Emotions were running high, so high that no one noticed that Thorne had slipped into the room. He took aim at Fiona’s back. A second later a brilliant flash of light and the unforgettable crack of a laser pistol broke the mood. The laser bolt stuck Fiona in the back, just left of her spine, exiting through the abdomen and stuck Thad’s body armor. She cried out in pain. Freya lifted her pistol and fired. The laser bolt grazed Thorne’s check, burning a mark across his face. She fired a second time, but he had ducked back into the hallway.

  “Oh that really hurts,” Fiona said, as the strength drained from her legs and she started to fall. Thad scooped her up into his arms. He carried to a nearby table where he lovingly set her down. He looked over the wound and was relieved because it was not a fatal. He pushed a button on his control pad and a first aid case materialized on the table next to her. He tore open the first aid kit and grabbed a scanner. He ran the scanner over the wound. Freya was standing next him watching their backs as he worked.

  Tears flooded her eyes to the point it was hard to see when Fiona felt where the wound was, “Oh God no, not the baby, please Thad tell me not the baby!”

  Every part of his being wanted to tell her what she wanted to hear, but the truth was the shot killed the baby , burned it right out of her. He took her head in his arms and placed his cheek on hers. That was all the answer she needed. She screamed, and then cried, and he held her and cried with her. Freya knew from the moment she saw the wound, the baby was gone. Tears burned her cheeks all she could feel was hatred building in her, like steam pressure. “I will tear his fucking heart out with my bare hands, I swear!”

  Thad pulled his other wife close to him. He took her hand and placed Fiona’s hand in hers, “I know, take care of her. I’m going after him. Trust me; he will pay for this, all of this I swear!”

  Freya kissed him deeply, “Go get the bastard!”

  Thad kissed Fiona, “I love you.” He dropped the submachine gun and pulled one of his sidearms out of the holster.

  Thorne was running straight for the flight deck on the top floor, “Jr., I need the doors to the hanger opened and my yacht prepped.” He got no reply from the building’s AI. “Damn it George Jr. did you hear me?” The doors to the elevator opened and he ran in, turned, and punched the button for the hanger on the flight deck. He could see Thad running after him, with his pistol raised. The doors closed and he could hear the sounds of the bullets impacting on the elevators doors.

  Thad had him in his sights, but as hard as he tried he could not fire. Once the doors closed, he was able to pull the trigger. He em
ptied the magazine out of frustration. The elevator next to the one Thorne escaped in opened. Ready for anything Thad took aim, but it was empty. He heard Eve’s voice over the elevators speakers, “Going up?” He smiled.

  In the elevator, he had a chance to talk to Eve, “I’m really glad to hear your voice. Where are you?” He asked.

  “I’m fine and on my way up to meet the dear Mr. Thorne. I’m sorry it took me so long to get control of the system, but George Jr. was a tough nut to crack.”

  “So how did you do it?” Thad asked.

  “He started attacking my code to see what made me tick, so I fed him code, all the code he could take and because I don’t have any problems with power consumption, I just keep pumping him information. In addition to the code I fed him, I sent a little voltage with it. Each time I stepped it up till he could not handle it anymore.”

  Thad laughed, “So you blew his mind literally?”

  “In a manner of speaking, it would be more accurate to say I burned it out. However, that is what caused the problem. Once I had dealt with Jr. the backup system came online, and it was old and hard to talk with, so it took a while before I had all the systems under my control.”

  “The flashing lights and all, right?” Thad asked.

  If he could have seen her right then she was smiling, “Yep, the first system I was looking for was the locks that were restraining you. Once I had control, I opened them. Then it was just a matter of getting the rest of the systems to obey me.”

  “Eve, I have a problem. They programmed my subconscious so I can’t hurt Thorne.”

  “That is not a problem. I have already slowed his elevator so he will be the last to arrive at the flight deck. I also have a plan I think you will like.”

  In the elevator, Thorne was still trying to get Jr. to respond to him, “Damn it, Jr., talk to me! What the Hell is going on and why the fuck is this elevator going so damn slow?” Finally, the elevator reached the flight deck. The doors slide open and much to his surprise, there stood Thad, “What the fuck!”

  He tried to push the close doors button, but Thad stuck his foot in the door keeping it open, “Time for you to come quietly and pay for your crimes.”

  He laughed at Thad, “You still don’t get it, do you? You can’t do anything to me and besides I’m just the middleman. The real threat is Ambassador Sexton. She is the one who recruited me for this job and is the one who sees to its funding.”

  “I know, it is all in the files. Now drop the gun.”

  Thorne laughed at him, “What are you going to do? You can’t hurt me.”

  Thad stepped aside and behind him stood Eve and she was pissed, “No he can’t, but I can!”

  Thorne knew he was done. His shoulders slumped, “Shit!” Eve took two steps towards him. She grabbed him by the collar, lifting him off his feet. Eve threw him across the elevator, his body slamming into the back wall, with a satisfying crunch. He slid down and sat on the floor the wind knocked out of him. She picked him up again and tossed his body like a child tossing a rag doll. He flew out of the elevator and landed hard on the metal grates that made up the floor the flight deck.

  Thad winced, “Oh that must have hurt.”

  Eve rolled Thorne over so she could see his face. Three short cracks of a laser pistol told Thad that Thorne was still trying. Eve grabbed the gun and bent it like a toy, “You really are an idiot aren’t you?” She pounded on her midsection where there were three burn marks, “Armor plated combat upgrades remember.” He laid there waiting for Eve to end it.

  The end did not come because some of Thorne’s security forces were still alive. Several of them entered the hanger bay. One of them spotted Eve about to punch Thorne’s lights out and opened fire. The laser bolts did little, but cosmetic damage. However, the grenade that landed next to Thad made Eve jump off Thorne. She pushed Thad out of the away and jumped on top of the grenade. It when off with a thud. The explosion tore the plasta-flesh off her midsection but did little other damage. After the explosion Thad jumped back to his feet and ran over to Eve, “You okay?” he asked out of habit.

  Eve rolled over exposing the burned hole in her midsection, “Buff out the scorch marks, and some new plasta-flesh and I will be good as new.”

  “Good, let’s end this,” Thad said has he held out his hand to help Eve up. She took his hand even though she didn’t need the help.

  The small security force started firing at them. Thad pointed both pistols at them and fired. Eve took advantage of Thad’s cover fire, and in a blaze of speed, she ran around the side of the hanger to flank them.

  Thorne had also taken advantage of the chaos and fled into his ship. Once inside Thorne flipped switches as fast as he could. The fighting outside would not last long. His men were good, but they were no match for Thad and Eve. He could not get the override on the doors to work so he powered up the forward cannons. As soon as they came online he fired, the cannons ripped massive a hole in the doors, large enough to the ship to pass through.

  Thad continued to lay down suppressing fire, while Eve was moving closer to the guards. She was almost on top of them when the exploding doors sent Thad ducking for cover. Eve was not so lucky. She took a chunk of steel to the arm, which sent her flying sideways. However, the guards got the worse of it. Because of where they had taken cover they caught the brunt of the shrapnel. They were torn to pieces, and with guards no longer a threat, Thad made his way through the wreckage to Eve. She was on her back and her right arm was bent at a terribly weird angle. “That looks painful,” Thad said.

  Eve said, “I have had better days. Nothing a little bending and welding won’t fix.”

  “It is too bad Thorne got away,” Thad said with hate burning in his eyes.

  Eve smiled, “He won’t get far. I placed a tracker on him and his ship. We will get him later. Now help me up. My balance sensors are a little out of whack.

  Thad pulled Eve to her feet when they felt the rush of wind come through the hole in the doors. They turned to see Riffrost’s ship landing. After it set down, the ramp opened and Riffrost walked down it, “Anyone need a ride?” He said flamboyantly.

  “Where in the Hell did you come from?” Thad asked in amazement.

  “Those bastards didn’t know I was on board. After they marched the girls off the ship, Pearl told me what they were planning to. I could not let it happen, so with a little help from Pearl, we took care of business. Then I remembered you promised to pay me. So I thought would come back here and make sure you were still alive to pay up,” Riffrost said.

  “Pay you, Hell I could kiss you right now!” Thad said.

  “I will settle for payment if it is all the same to you,” he replied.

  “Later, right now I need to you to fly us to the nearest hospital. Fiona has been wounded,” Thad said as he ran for the elevator.

  “Wait, where are you going?” Riffrost asked confused. Thad didn’t reply he just pushed the button and the doors closed. “I guess I will wait here then.”

  “You could help me up,” Eve snapped.

  “Oh right, sorry,” Riffrost grabbed Eve’s good arm and pulled her to her feet.

  Chapter 23

  The office of Ambassador Helen Sexton was a buzz of activity, comm channels full with the normal daily traffic. Ms. Sexton was in her office looking over a request for more funding for an ongoing humanitarian effort to the war-torn world of Sigma 5. The planet had been involved in a ten-year bitter civil war. The only thing that was keeping the refugees alive was the ongoing effort by the Federation.

  There was a light knock at the door. Sexton didn’t look up from her reading, “Enter,” she said. The door opened and a young pretty assistant, with long golden-colored hair, entered the room. “You know we are just wasting money on these people. They will never come to an agreement, I think we should just pull out and let them kill each other,” Sexton said.

  The assistant stood there holding a tablet in her slim hands, “I’m sorry to interrupt your rea
ding ma’am, but there is a priority one message for you.”

  Sexton set down the tablet she was reading and looked up “No, you’re not interrupting at all. I welcome anything to get me out of reading this dribble.” She held out her hand, “So what do you have for me?”

  The assistant handed her the tablet. Sexton took the tablet and punched in her security code. The priority message flashed on the screen. There were only three words and after reading them, she dropped the tablet.

  The assistant watched the color drain from her boss’s face, “Are you, okay ma’am?”

  Sexton dropped the tablet on the desk, “No I’m not. Clear my schedule for the rest of the day,” she said, then stormed out of her office.

  The assistant was startled by Sexton’s reaction to the message. Curious she stepped up to the desk and read the message. All it said was, “Get out, Thorne!”

  Sexton ran straight to her car in the car park. Normally she would call for her driver, but not now. She jumped into the driver’s seat and placed her hand on the scanner. The car confirmed her ID and the engine roared to life. She didn’t bother to wait for the security gate to open she smashed right through it.

  Twenty minutes and ten automated speeding tickets later, she arrived home. She parked the car in the driveway. Helen’s heart was beating so fast she felt light headed. She placed her hand on the door scanner and a second later the door lock clicked open. She threw the door open and ran in.

  Inside it was all quiet. She looked around and listened very carefully. Nothing, not a sound. The place was empty with the exception of her. She was trying to calm herself, but the sound of the blood rushing in her ears and the pounding heart in her chest made it next to impossible for her to calm herself down.

  “A drink, that will help me calm my nerves,” she spoke out loud, as she walked to the bar. She grabbed a bottle of whiskey, unscrewed the cap, and poured herself a drink. She picked up the glass and downed the brown liquid. She slammed the glass down then poured herself a second drink. She downed that one too, and then she poured a third drink. This time, she took the glass with her as she walked to her home office.