Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 231
Nolan eyed her warily before he walked to the side of the chamber to observe the cube from a different angle. “That sounds like you are preparing an excuse.”
She stopped typing and stared at the general, her expression calm. “I’ll have it ready soon. Laurie may be a genius, but he is not the only one.”
He nodded and allowed a small grin to appear on his face. “Keep that confidence. I’m sure Merrick would approve.”
Unsurprisingly, she made no reply and simply returned to her work. The general turned his attention to the rest of the staff. “The rest of you, get the pods ready. We’ll have new recruits soon. Top-of-the-line, in fact.”
“Does that mean we have the requirements ready, General?” one of the technicians asked.
Nolan approached him and linked his hands behind his back. “We have yet to acquire them but they aren’t ‘requirements,’ merely preferable. Open the source code and play around with it for the time being.”
The technicians looked at each other. The lead, whose tag read Keller, stepped forward. “Sir, trying to begin the process with simple guesswork could lead to irreparable damage to the subjects. If not outright death, mental shutdowns would be the most likely result.”
He nodded and considered it carefully. “For now, get them in the pods and keep them in the system. We’ll focus on retrieving the codex and Master EI, but if it comes down to it, I believe we can spare a few for you to experiment with.” He walked away from the team and toward the door. “We’ll need more soldiers soon.”
When Flynn awoke, it wasn’t for long. His mind drifted between reality and darkness and he blinked several times. Confused, he looked aroundbut all he could see were dark-blue lights. They seemed oddly familiar. He closed his eyes and opened them again. Now, the lights were white and almost blinded him. He heard a hum around him and a familiar feeling enveloped him as he leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them once again, he realized that he was all alone and suspended in darkness.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Sasha was able to crack the door to Animus hall seven open sufficiently to place both hands on the edge and push to force one side far enough for him to ease through. He could hear more soldiers approach and by the footsteps, he estimated three—no four. One wore light armor while the rest were in medium. He made his decision in seconds—separate them and eliminate the one in light armor, who would be the quickest and easiest target in the group. Thereafter, a few shots through the helmets of the others should finish this quickly. He glanced at Akello and pointed to a supply closest on the left where she could wait. She nodded and moved quickly inside it.
He retrieved his one remaining shock grenade and released a slow, measured breath before he slipped into the hall and slid the door closed behind him. As he made his way down one of the lines of Animus pods, the thud of the soldiers’ boots a couple of lines over alerted him to the hostiles. He climbed one of the pods, used the railings to ascend toward the ceiling, and jumped across to catch the opposite rail with the sole of his boot to lessen the sound of his impact. In his new position, he paused to let the group pass him. They took the time to scan the room and even opened several pods. Their process told him clearly that this wasn’t a team looking for hostages. It was a cleaning sweep.
When they were at the right range, he activated the shock grenade and lobbed it into the middle of the group and drew his rifle as it landed. The Ark soldiers saw it almost immediately and reacted accordingly. They flung themselves away from the electrical explosive as he took aim, but when he zoomed in through his scope, the vision blurred, and he felt the gun begin to overheat. Shit, there is a hacker among them.
“He’s there!” one of them shouted. Sasha jumped down as they began to fire. He landed and immediately sprinted down the opposite line of pods. Two raced down the same path across from him. Instinctively, he went to draw his pistol but realized it was energy-based and probably also compromised. Very well. This will get bloody. He flicked his hand and his blade ejected from his gauntlet. Deliberately, he slowed his run enough to let the soldiers pass him. Both hurried to the end of their line to try to intercept him, unaware of the change in his position. He was almost level with them when the soldiers began to turn the corner. Before they could react, he bounded onto the last pod and used it to vault over their heads. They turned and fired but the shots went wide, and he plunged on top of them.
One of them tried hastily to correct his aim before the commander thrust his boot against his helmet. The kick hurled him into the Animus control console while Sasha spun and dug the blade into the other soldier’s head. A surprised yelp was the only response before the body went limp. He yanked the blade out of the helmet, turned to the recovering hostile, and thrust his weapon into his neck. The man dropped his gun in shock and Sasha recovered it for himself and crouched as kinetic rounds fired overhead. He twisted and fired to catch the gunman in the knees. The soldier’s leg armor gave way and he crumpled as Sasha pulled the trigger twice more. One shot damaged the soldier’s helmet and the other pierced his head.
As the final armored soldier fell, Sasha stood. He raised his weapon and fired to his left in the same moment that a turret in the ceiling lowered to fire. This hacker might be skilled, but he was predictable.
“Isaac, scan for energy signatures,” he ordered, but before he could locate the enemy, two shock grenades plummeted from above. He rolled out of their path and looked up. The hacker used the railings as he had but now ran away from the marksman. Smart but predictable and eager but a fool as well.
The commander took aim and fired. The kinetic round streaked through the invader’s foot and he cried in pain and fell from the railings to land with a loud thud. Sasha darted toward him, reached the end of the seventh row of pods, and flattened his back against the one on the end to peer around the corner. Sure enough, several laser shots fired immediately. He caught a glimpse, though, of the hacker on his back, firing from the floor with his pistol aimed up a few inches. With his target located, he knelt, turned, and fired. The shot damaged the gun, which blew up in the soldier’s hand.
The man uttered another cry of pain and held a shaking arm up. A holoscreen appeared. The hacker was persistent, he would grant him that. Sasha fired calmly at the man’s gauntlet to deliver another strike at his armor. A small splatter of blood was followed by another wail and the holoscreen shorted out.
The commander scrambled to his feet and stalked toward the remaining soldier as he tossed the enemy rifle away. He caught the hacker by the throat and pressed his pistol against his head as he had with the scout earlier, “Are there more?” he questioned but received only a gurgled reply. “Why do you want the Master EI and codex?”
The man eyes could be seen through the amber visor and he seemed to study his adversary in the same way he studied him, “You’ll find out. Even if you…make it out…they’ll be our comrades…soon enough,” was his only cryptic reply between deep breaths.
“Give me answers!” Sasha demanded and shoved his pistol against the left side of the helmet close to the jaw. “This can be quick or it can be slow and painful. But I will make that decision.”
The hacker shook his head, but it wasn’t necessarily a gesture of disagreement. It looked more akin to a spasm. “No, you won’t. But I don’t get to either.”
As his captive rolled his head back, Sasha could see his hand inch toward his SMG. He sighed, fired, and let the man slump as he released him. He had to give them this, at least. They were dedicated to their cause—or possibly simply more afraid of the consequences of failure than death.
“Sasha, it’s quiet now,” Akello stated over the comms. “Is it clear to come out?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve eliminated four targets but I’m sure more are on their way or in other areas of the center,” he stated and holstered his rifle. “I’ll see if I can get us an extraction.”
“Sir, I pick up more than fifty signatures headed in our direction,” Isaac warned and displayed a map with numerous red dots that all seemed to converge on the Animus Center. From their readouts, it looked to be a group of droids rather than soldiers. He was sure the enemy knew that a number of their soldiers were dead now and grew either frantic or impatient enough that they would begin to tear the building itself apart to reach their objective. Sasha knew the Academy defenders wouldn’t win this by being the last ones standing but by making sure the enemy didn’t achieve their purpose. But what the hacker said disturbed him. He’d been specific to a degree—they would be their comrades. Logic insisted that he could only have meant the students or perhaps the military. Had he merely spouted nonsense to delay him?
He holstered his pistol, drew his rifle, and vented it. They needed to move higher and activate a beacon. “Akello, get to me. We’re moving now.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Hey, watch it,” one of the pilots yelled over the comms.
Chiyo looked at the various camera feeds and tried to identify what had alarmed him. “What’s the problem?”
“There’s a dropship coming into the hangar. My readout says it belongs to the head officer of security.”
“Wolfson’s ship?” she asked and turned as the vessel sailed in and set down as the last four shuttles prepared to launch. She put her headset down and ran to it. The side door opened and Kaiden and a few security guards emerged before it had fully landed.
“Hey, Chi, how’s it going?” he asked and scanned the once filled section quickly. “Most of the ships are out. Is Haldt back yet?”
“He went back to find any other pilots he could, but he should be on his way,” she replied.
“Which way will he come from?” a guard asked and they ran to the east entrance tunnel once she gave them the direction.
“We’re heading out soon. I came back to get you out as well,” the ace stated and gestured to the ship. Luke stepped into the doorway.
“Hey, Chiyo!” he said with a wave. “It’s still a little cramped in here but come on. It’s gotta be better than staying here.”
“You were able to find some of them?” she asked.
He nodded and held four fingers up. “Luke, Silas, Mack, and Raul, although he’s still out of it. We found some engineers as well, a fairly decent pick-up for a quick run.”
“Shit!” the guard at the central console yelled and thumped her fist into the device. “We lost another cannon.”
“That makes three.” The infiltrator sighed. “We won’t have support for much longer.”
“Do things still look bad out there?” Kaiden asked.
She nodded and rubbed a hand up her left arm. “Of course, but we didn’t expect to turn this around anyway. The cannons allowed us to take out large swathes of droids and deal with the mechs easier, but they’re systematically destroying them. The droids seem endless and the soldiers walking the grounds now seem to direct them as well to focus their attacks.”
“Silas told me Raul said they had an insignia for the Russian Ark Academy,” he informed her. “I don’t know what the deal is, but I assume we’re not the only Ark Academy involved in this fight.”
“Hey, boyo!” Wolfson yelled. “We need to get moving. I have a distress call.”
“From who?” the ace asked, his eyes narrowed.
“Sasha,” Wolfson answered. “Our new chancellor is locked in the Animus Center.”
“New chancellor?” Chiyo asked.
Kaiden shrugged. “He’s the new chancellor? Wait, does that mean Durand is dead?”
The head officer’s only reply was a beleaguered sigh, although it was enough of an answer for them to understand. “Dammit,” the ace muttered. “Let’s not lose another.”
“Agreed. Get in here!” the giant bellowed as the ship primed once again.
He clambered into the side entrance and looked at the engineers. “You guys should wait for the other pilots. They’ll take you out of here. We still have things to finish.”
They nodded and disembarked as Kaiden took hold of the railing and looked at Chiyo. “Come on, Chi. We’re heading out.”
The infiltrator glanced at the officer at the console, who nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. She waved to her in thanks and scrambled aboard. The door shut as Wolfson turned the vessel toward the hangar’s exit.
The ace made his way back to the cockpit. “So, how’s he doing?”
“I don’t know. It’s a generic emergency signal and I can’t make contact with him,” Wolfson revealed. “He probably has his comms off for now, or at least has no long-range.”
Kaiden stared at the screen that displayed a map of the academy and his eyes bulged at the number of hostiles either around the AC or headed toward it. “Good God. What the hell did he do?”
“Either they really want the place destroyed or they want something inside it. I would guess the latter since they don’t seem to be firing at it. Many of them are simply standing outside the perimeter like they are trying to stop anyone from getting out or in.” The head officer took his tablet out, placed it on the console, and pressed a few keys. “I’m ordering any nearby security bots to head that way. I’ll need you to take over once we punch through and drop me on the roof.”
“You’re going in?” he asked and strapped himself in.
“That’s my plan. I might get lucky and Sasha’s already waiting for us, but those bots like to climb things and are annoyingly good at it too. He’s probably hiding inside and I need to go in and get him.”
“I should come down with you,” he offered.
Wolfson waved him off. “You need to fly my ship. You’re the only one besides Sasha I trust with it. Besides, who do you think will distract the bots outside?”
Kaiden nodded although he folded his arms as he thought it over. “Does that make me support or bait?”
“Two times out of three, support is merely a nice way to say bait.” The giant chuckled but sobered when he caught sight of one of the cannons outside the window. “Hey, I have an idea. Get Chiyo in here.”
The Arbiter bots advanced resolutely on the building. They had their directives—retrieve the codex and Master EI, eliminate all targets, and attempt to subdue potential recruits, but the items took priority. But as the first group of droids reached the door, they were engulfed in a bright flash and several of them were obliterated, with several more blown back in various conditions of damage.
The many other droids behind or around them focused on another orb that careened toward them to blast yet another group of them. Several linked together to create a stronger shield to protect the regiment, although they paid no attention to what was happening behind them. A sensor warned of a new arrival seconds before they were shot to dust by explosive rounds. Wolfson’s ship flew overhead while cannon seven, clear across the island but with a clean line of sight to the outside of the Animus center, continued to fire as soon as a new shot was charged.
Kaiden pulled the ship up to the roof and fired at any bots that climbed the side of the building. Chief worked the shield and maximized the front while the vessel drifted around the ring of the roof to clear the path as the back walkway dropped. Wolfson emerged with his shotgun in hand. He leapt down, landed on a droid, and aimed to his right and fired at another. He charged to the door and bulldozed it off its hinges to gain access to the center.
It was time to save his new boss.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Wolfson kicked down the door to one of the halls and immediately, a duo of bots lunged at him, close enough that he was able to eliminate both with one shot. He proceeded down the stairs and activated a light on his shoulder pad, only for a sniper shot from below to shoot it off. The sniper vanished into the nearby room as he leapt down the remaining flights, brandishing his ax as he pounded into the carcass of an Arbiter droid.
He looked up as one of the improved models aimed a cannon at him with a group close behind it. Reflexively, he threw his ax and caught the side of the cannon which erupted and scattered the droids around it. Directly ahead, the sniper took aim across the way, but the head officer rolled out of the sightline and yanked out his hand cannon. He had fired several shots before the sniper activated a cloak. “Sasha, where are you, dammit?” he called. “I’ll lose a kill because I’m busy worrying about you.”
“You won’t.” A calm reply crackled over the comms and a door at the other end of the building began to slide open. Wolfson caught the sniper reactivating their cloak. “Sasha!”
A figure appeared in the doorway and there was a loud crack followed by another thump. Sasha flipped his rifle and aimed it down as the head officer hurried over. The sniper’s cloak fell away as quickly as it had activated.
“Humph,” the giant grunted and slung his shotgun over his shoulder. “Were you simply waiting to make a grand entrance?”
“I was a few floors down, Wolfson,” the commander explained as he stepped past his friend. “Dealing with some soldiers. One of them had a jamming device so I had to eliminate them first.”
“It’s good to see you, Officer Wolfson,” Akello said as she stepped through the doorway behind the commander.
He smirked and adjusted his shotgun sling. “Aye, Akello, it’s good to see you. It’s also nice to see the chancellor hasn’t forgotten his manners while taking you on a walk through this enemy-infested building.”
Sasha looked at the other side of the room and hastily took aim at something and fired. Sparks and smoke burst and flurried in the corner of the room. “Crawler drone,” he explained and turned as a small, spider-like droid fell from the ceiling “We should be on the move. The droids are only a couple of floors below us now.”
Wolfson looked at the sniper “Should we take her for interrogation?” he asked.
The other man nodded, although he was obviously reluctant. “We don’t have many options now. Laurie hasn’t contacted me to let me know if he found anything so we need some way to get information.”
