Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 219
“Wol…Sir..ere?” a distorted voice answered over the comms.
“Who is this?” he asked as he flipped a switch on the cannon to select its beam mode. He jerked the weapon to the side and fired to cut through a trio of bots as he made his way to the main security station.
“Wolfson, sir, are you there?” a voice crackled over the comms.
“Aye, report,” Wolfson ordered and charged the gauntlet as he rushed at a droid that approached a wounded initiate. He pounded the gauntlet into the back of the robot and the energy surged and careened the bot into the wall of the technician’s dorm over forty yards away.
“I’m having trouble making contact with all available security,” the guard explained as the security head helped the initiate up and turned to fire at any approaching enemy and give the student time to escape.
“They’ve done something to the network,” he explained. “Professor Laurie is working on it as well as trying to take care of that big bastard in the sky. How were you able to get hold of me?”
“I have to connect directly to your signal, sir,” the man replied. “I can’t even get a team line going. The connection simply won’t hold.”
“Then reach out to every security team leader individually. Tell them that the students' safety is priority and all weapons are clear.” Wolfson walked up to half an Arbiter droid that crawled toward him along the ground and crushed its head with a violent stamp of his boot. “And bring up Commander Sasha’s signal and connect me to him if you can.”
“Right away, sir. He’s actually pinged his signal since this attack began. One moment.”
Sasha drew a deep breath where he leaned up against the wall and finished binding the wound across his ribs seconds before his comm sparked to life. “Sasha, where the hell are you?” Wolfson demanded.
The commander looked at the lifeless bodies of the Nexus board members. His gaze settled on the corpses of Victoria and Vincent, who had killed the other members in the name of the Arbiter Organization and attempted to kill him. The fact that he was hurt but still breathing while they both had several new holes indicated that they had failed.
“Wolfson, the board is dead,” he stated, glanced at the locked door behind him, and gestured for Isaac to unlock it. “Victoria and Vincent killed them, but I was able to return the favor before they could kill me. And from what I was told, Chancellor Durand may be as well.”
Chapter Eleven
“The board is dead?” Wolfson muttered and the implication of the words wasn’t lost on him. “And by two of their— Damn it!” Before he could finish the thought, a loud blast erupted almost a hundred yards behind him near the medics’ dorm. “Are you in any danger, Sasha?”
“I was,” the commander stated and approached the locked boardroom door. “Although I may be in one of the safest places in the entire school right now if what Isaac is showing me is true.”
“Then do your job and show the students to your little safe place,” the security head snapped and vented his cannon. “More hostiles are dropping with each passing minute—make that each second. We need backup.”
Sasha tried to open the door but was met by a muffled beeping and flashing red light. “I’m currently locked in the meeting room,” he replied, while Isaac immediately set to work accessing the door. “Once I’m out, I will authorize the activation of all Guardian and Soldier bots on campus. I assume Durand himself has yet to do so because—”
“He may be dead.” Wolfson finished, closed the vent, and descended into a tunnel leading to the docks.
“I had hoped he was simply preoccupied with his own attack, but his death is a real possibility,” Sasha agreed. “I’ll head to his office personally and focus on defending and evacuating the students and personnel.”
“We’re on it as much as we can be, but the comms are scrambled and the emergency tunnels won’t open,” the security head stated and blasted a path through more arbiter droids. “I’m heading to the docks to open the ship bays and get the shuttles and boats prepped for evac. But we need those tunnels, Sasha. Find out what is jamming them.”
“I assume it’s the same thing that is messing with the comms and the warning systems that should have let us know about the unidentified ship headed toward our Academy,” the commander retorted. “I’ll let you know more once I have access to the Chancellor’s console. Until then, Laurie and his team will have to do the best they can on their side. The normal rank structure has mostly disintegrated. We are in charge now, Wolfson.”
“Professor!” Cyra shouted to Laurie to warn him of the approaching bots that had made their way into the structure through a maintenance system. He, however, did not look up from the dozen or so monitors he scanned through. Instead, he held a gloved hand up and a small white orb activated on a desk across from him. He gestured with his hand and the orb drifted away. She watched it disappear into a small hatch in the ceiling in the outside hallway. After a few more seconds, a large explosion was followed by a loud sizzle, then silence. She looked at the radar on her tablet as the red dots winked out almost as one.
“Cyra, I need you to head to the main offices and help to establish communication links and internal defenses,” the professor requested, shut off all the monitors, and moved briskly toward the door. “I’ll head up to my lab.”
“Did you find the virus responsible, sir?” she asked and tried to keep pace with him. He moved at an unusually rapid pace for a man who spent most of his life in a chair behind a desk.
“I don’t believe it’s a simple virus,” he replied and chewed a thumb as multiple thoughts raced through his mind. “Some kind of jamming device or relay is more likely. You’ll have to find workarounds for now until we can destroy it.”
“Is there a way to access it? Shut it down or hack it?” she asked, her hand poised near her pistol should another group of droids break in.
“I doubt that would be a better option than simply destroying it. Almost all jamming devices are basically the blunt instruments of technological warfare. They can shut down your opponent’s tech but they also shut yours down. But their droids, ships, etcetera, are all working perfectly. This is something I’m not too familiar with.” He spoke the last part with irritation. “It would be best to take an approach that Wolfson would advocate. I’ll try to locate it and I’ll need someone on the outside to eliminate it. Until then, you will need to find workarounds and defenses against the signal.” He held an arm out and a holographic bracer appeared, which he ran along Cyra’s tablet. “That should get us some order in this chaos for now.”
“What do you need in your lab, Professor?” she asked and stopped at the elevator as Laurie headed for the stairs. “I can retrieve it while—”
“I’m trusting you with this while I focus on the other big problem we have.” The door to the stairs slid open while he pointed a finger above. “Look at the sky. You can’t miss it.”
“Hey, Julio, turn it up!” a patron shouted and received an irate grunt from the barkeep.
“What do you want me to turn up, your midday soap operas? The monitor is basically only for ambiance anyway.”
“Julio, are you blind, man?” another asked. He looked at him with confusion and frustration and finally noticed the dozens of customers all but glued to the monitor screens. “Look! The Nexus Academy is under attack by a droid army.”
“What?” He snatched up the main monitor control and increased the volume on every working monitor.
“The attack continues as more capsule-shaped devices fall from the carrier above onto the Ark Academy island,” the reporter stated in a voice that tried to maintain a professional calm, but tension and concern still bled through. Behind him, the newsreel displayed a scene of chaos as more pods continued to land not only on the island but also at the edges of the town behind. “Right now, Nexus has not sent out any messages and no one can make contact. Bellevue police have attempted to assist in stopping the attackers, but a number of the droids have turned their attention to the nearby city. Whether this is as a second front of the invasion or simply to keep the police force occupied, we cannot tell at this time.”
Julio gaped as fires began to break out on the island and flashing laser light and explosions rocked the Academy.
His eyes widened, and he leaned against the bar for support as a hand covered his lips. “My God.”
Wolfson yanked a droid off a student and ground its head under his boot. The student pointed behind him as he helped him up. He couldn’t get the words out, but the security head nodded, knowing what he was trying to say. Satisfied that the younger man was now safe, he ran up the outer stairwell of the observatory to the second floor, from which he had seen him fall. He put his cannon away, exchanged it for a rifle, and held it at the ready as he reached the top and turned the corner. Three droids walked away, one in front and two behind. Those in the rear dragged a trio of students in a containment orb. Wolfson clenched his teeth and fired three shots, one through the head of each mechanical.
The two holding the orb collapsed but the shot that struck the one in front must have been off as it staggered but stretched an arm in his direction. The limb assumed the form of a cannon that immediately began to charge. It turned its head, but the security officer fired directly into the cannon barrel and ignited the blast within to demolish the robot. It was actually somewhat fortunate that the students were locked inside the containment field or they could have been caught in the blast.
He approached them quickly and flipped his gun to hold it by the barrel. The barrier was meant to be reinforced on the inside to keep those within securely trapped, but the outside was breakable with enough force. After it had been buffeted by the explosion, only a few blows from the butt of his rifle were enough to shatter it.
The three captives pushed to their feet and thanked him. He studied them quickly and realized that they were all young, probably late teens, which made them initiates. He wondered if they were prep kids. It wouldn’t have made this any better, but they would at least be somewhat ready for the potential of such an attack. Still, while the idea was good, it was a different matter when they actually had to live it.
He ushered them down the stairs and took the lead. When they reached the bottom, a shaking and half-destroyed Arbiter droid hobbled over to them with its weapon raised. But before it or Wolfson could fire, two shots struck it in the head from the right. It was the student he had rescued before, holding a pistol—his pistol, he realized.
The security head raised an eyebrow as the young man ran up quickly and tried to hand it to him. “I’m sorry, sir,” he stated. It seemed strange that he remembered formalities at a time like this. “The wind was knocked out of me. I should have asked but I took it before you went off so I could cover the rear—”
“It’s all right, boyo,” he assured him and pushed the pistol away. “You keep it for now.” His gaze settled on a hatch partially hidden behind a display of flowers at the corner of the building and he beckoned the students to follow. A few others hiding in the observatory or running through the grounds saw the officer and joined them as Wolfson ran to the hatch, leaned down, and tried to pry it off. His efforts brought no success. It was still locked.
Frustrated, he sucked in a breath and glanced at another student, this one clearly a fighter as the bruises and cuts confirmed—as did the well-used droid arm in his hands repurposed as a weapon. He tossed him his rifle, took his cannon out, and instructed them to move back as he charged a shot and fired to destroy the hatch so they could gain access.
“These lead to the tunnels,” he explained and made sure to provide clear instructions given the number of newbies present. “They’ll take you to a safe place in town. Hurry through and tell the officials what is happening here.”
“What is happening here?” one of them asked.
Wolfson sucked in a breath as he reached into a compartment on his belt. “An invasion by the Arbiter organization. And it doesn’t matter if you know who they are or not. Go!” he ordered and brandished an explosive. “And take this!”
“A mine?” an initiate asked. “For what?”
“To blow the tunnel behind you of course,” he told him. “The hatch is exposed and the internal defenses are down. We cannot risk the droids using it to access the town.”
“What about the other students?” a logistics student asked. “They need to escape too.”
“Me and the other officers will get everyone out. All of us—every teacher and faculty member—are working to keep you safe,” he vowed. “But we cannot risk—”
“I’ll guard it,” a red-haired soldier promised and snatched the mine from him. “I’ll bring in as many students as I can and if I am overwhelmed, I’ll blow the entrance to seal it.”
“I’ll help you,” the boy with Wolfson’s pistol stated and the two young men nodded to each other.
Wolfson smiled with approval. “I’ll hold you boys to that. The rest of you, go now, and quickly!” With no further discussion, the group moved quickly through the opening. The security head charged his cannon and gave one last nod to the boys before he ran around the corner and fired at more droids.
With more students like that, he wouldn’t have to worry about merely surviving. They’d keep this Academy from the grasping hands of the invaders.
Chapter Twelve
“Captain, I don’t get any responses from Command,” the ensign reported and continued to work on the monitor. “There is nothing coming in from the council either.”
Captain Andrion felt extremely nervous, something he shouldn’t be right now. Certainly, being sent to possibly intercept a terrorist cell would make anyone anxious, but in his thirty-five years of military service, he was more accustomed to such missions than not, by this point. The aid of his Maverick-Class Battlecruiser and crew of over a hundred and fifty was also a bonus.
But sudden communication failure was always a sign of something wrong. And the fact that they could not reach either their main post or the council itself was a major problem. In addition, there was the issue that they hadn’t found anyone at the coordinates—neither the terrorist cell nor allies and hell, not even an errant hiker making their way through the Russian taiga.
“Keep trying,” he answered, his voice neutral but low. He looked at the helmsman. “Is there any sign of our targets?”
The man shook his head. “Nothing, sir, except for wildlife. Even the closest messenger or supply ships are more than a hundred miles away.”
Andrion slumped in his chair and stroked a hand through his beard in thought. “If we get no answer from Command, we need to return at full speed. Something will have certainly—”
“Captain!” the ensign shouted and spun in his seat. “I’m getting a distress message from the council.”
The captain, along with anyone else in earshot, bolted out of their seats. “What? Let me listen!”
The officer nodded, flipped a switch, and a synthetic voice spoke over the speakers.
“This is a call to all units of the World Council Military,” it droned. “The council building is currently under attack by a malicious force. All nearby military forces must return to defend the council. All military forces that are currently engaged in sensitive operations, are located more than a thousand miles away, or are unable to return due to damaged systems or an act of God, should lay low and attempt to contact emergency channels.”
“Sir?” one of the crewmen sputtered. Andrion looked back and estimated the time of day and the current schedule of Terra. It should be hovering over eastern Europe. That was more than the specified distance for a call-back, but when was the last time the council itself was attacked?
“Get the ship ready,” he shouted and looked at the helmsman and crew. “We will return to Terra to assist in retaking—”
A loud blast above them cut his orders short and an alarm blared. Andrion was almost hurled to the floor when the ship shook. The crew scrambled to their seats and buckled themselves in as another explosion rocked the vessel.
“Lana, what’s going on!” he shouted to the officer who worked the internal defenses.
“A breach in the ship, two—” The hull shuddered with another blast and the captain grasped the arms of his seat and pulled himself up. “Three on the starboard side in the barracks wing.”
“The barracks?” he muttered and sat hastily. “Everyone, prepare for combat! Open an external and internal screen. I want to know what’s going on.”
“Right away, sir,” one of the personnel shouted, but as they turned to bring the screen up, their monitor died and the system erupted into sparks.
“We’ve been hacked,” another yelled as more screens faded out or systems began to malfunction.
“This is the latest Lexsys security system,” one of the technicians protested. “It’s not even on the market. How did they gain access without us knowing?”
Andrion thumped a button on the console of his chair and a compartment opened and revealed his rifle. He picked it up as he stood and primed it. “The same way they were able to infiltrate our ship without us knowing they were even here.” He grimaced. “Lana, save what you can, activate internal security, and issue the order for lethal force.”
“Understood, sir.” She nodded and hurried quickly through the bridge to salvage what she could. Several techies followed her lead.
The captain found a working monitor and was able to cycle through the few remaining cameras in the barracks. Dozens of armored troops made their way in armed with cannons, machine guns, long plasma blades, and shotguns. They all wore the same thing—gray medium armor over black underlays with angled helmets. He leaned in and focused on something familiar on their suits—a stylized A with W and C beneath it. That was the insignia of the Russian Ark Academy. How did these terrorists get the suits? Was the Academy compromised?
