Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 248
“On his own?” Haldt asked as he removed his machine gun pack and closed the vent. “Should I go and assist, sir?”
“Nah. The boy seems sure he can take it on his own. I didn’t contact you so you could babysit,” the head officer assured him. “I felt like starting a bet—maybe a hundred credits?”
“What’s the wager?” he asked and frowned at the top half of a droid that crawled along the field using its arms. He felled with a quick burst from his weapon.
“How long it will take him to take control of the ship,” Wolfson stated. “I’ll let you take the first guess.”
“I haven’t interacted with him as much as you have, sir,” he replied and returned to the skies once he realized most of the action was farther away. “But the few times I have seen him in action were certainly impressive and you think quite highly of him. I’ll go against my better judgment and make it ludicrously low. A half-hour.”
The older man chuckled. “In most situations, I would think you were right and that was ludicrous.” Haldt sensed a qualifier and simply waited. “But I know the boy. If this was only a search and destroy mission, I would say ten, but given that he’s trying to take it over, I’ll have to adjust. Let’s say…twenty minutes.”
“And four and five,” Kaiden tallied his strikes as two more droids fell to Sire’s blasts. It appeared that they had already sent the majority of the forces on this ship to confront him at the door and he had more difficulty navigating the vessel than dealing with the security.
“Chief, you should have maps and layouts of these ships, right?” he asked as he stepped around the corner and quickly destroyed an overhead turret. “Can’t you direct me to the main bridge?”
“I did. I said go west,” the EI retorted. “I don’t know what type of model this is. Either its one that isn’t widely known or they built it themselves. I don’t have any layout for it. Keep walking.”
“Says the guy with no legs,” he muttered and vented Sire as he continued. “You’ve not picked up more enemies, at least?”
“None close by that I can see. They might all be waiting for you on the bridge for a last stand or something,” Chief responded. “They also may not have a huge crew. Assault ships like these have special EIs that run all everything. For merc companies like the Omegas, it means fewer crew members to bother with and more troops to replace them.”
“It seems kind of risky given that an EI can fail or get hacked. Most military vessels use EI and still have a full support crew,” he pointed out.
“These are mercenaries. Most of their members are killers, not engineers, and the techies they do have focus on making killer droids. Besides, risk is basically a part of the lifestyle.”
“Even back in my Deadeye days, I knew you needed a full outfit. Nothing but gun nuts is asking to be hobbled by a good hacker. Ah, well. If they want to make this easy for me, I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.” A sudden flash at the right of his visor didn’t blind him but it almost obscured his vision. “Whoa—what the hell was that, Chief?”
“A power spike. You’re still in tech readout.”
Kaiden increased his pace, closed Sire’s vent, and held the weapon to his chest. “Shit. You don’t think they are trying to blow the ship, do you?”
“It’s not that big and it’s dying quite quickly, in fact. I think it’s a droid or something that turned on and used mods to obscure its energy.” Chief’s eye narrowed as the ace ran in the direction from which the flash had come. “Are you going to engage it?”
“Better that than the reverse,” he replied.
“Fair enough, but be careful. I don’t know what it’s packing but that spike was enough to know that it needed enormous power to use it.”
“Don’t worry. I know to be on guard at this point.” The ace reached the area where he estimated the flash had originated and hesitated at a double door that blocked his path. The terminal indicated that they were unlocked, which made a nice change of pace. “I’m prepared for anything at this point.”
He raised his hand toward the terminal but fell back instinctively when a loud boom from behind the barrier provided a split-second warning. The doors launched from their hinges and both them and a large energy beam careened into the wall behind him. “What the hell is that?”
“What you should have been prepared for,” Chief replied. “And it looks like I was half-right. That’s not a droid, but it is droid-like.”
Kaiden regained his feet and entered the room with his gun held ready and stared at a tall, metallic being with a skull-like black helmet, glowing white eyes, and a sleek frame in black-and-red. “That’s not a droid.”
“It’s a guy in power armor. The name is redundant, but this was the prototype to modern armor,” the EI explained. “You don’t see that too often nowadays. It’s somewhere between a heavy and a mech jockey—a bitch to maintain but powerful.”
“Does it have any weak points?” He held Sire’s trigger as he studied his adversary.
Chief simply nodded. “Shoot it and keep shooting.”
“That’s helpful, Chief.”
“What the hell are you doing on my ship? Are you a Fire Rider or King?” the man in the suit asked, his voice masked by a metallic speaker. Before Kaiden could answer, the challenger stepped forward. “It doesn’t matter either way. I’ll rip your arms and legs off.”
“I need to start keeping a record of these threats,” he said aloud and aimed Sire at the slowly advancing attacker. “I’m fairly sure that’s at least the tenth time someone has said that to me specifically.” He fired and the blast struck perfectly. It masked the man—the captain, obviously, since he’d called it his ship—in smoke while sparks erupted when the blast also impacted with several other machines around him.
The ace smiled for a moment before the captain spoke again. “Is that so? Well, I’ll make sure it’s the last time you hear it.” The familiar hum of charging energy accompanied a red glow in the armor’s cannon arm as the smoke cleared. The man looked mostly undamaged. “Or anything, for that matter.”
“I said keep shooting!” Chief yelled as the captain prepared to fire. “Get down!”
Haldt hauled a Fire Rider to his feet and supported him until another stepped in to help him back to base to attend to the wound in his stomach—if he would even make it. The officer tried to take flight again but as he ascended, his pack ruptured when a sniper shot damaged it. He landed on his feet and while the shocks in the armor dispersed the force of impact, he wondered if he had maybe been too cocky thus far.
“Look out!” He spun in response to the warning. Omega fighters had broken away from the dogfight above and swooped down for a run along the battlefield. Given that they hadn’t done so before, it was very likely that Wolfson had given them the idea.
The officer began to run, along with many of the other gang members. The attackers had already opened fire and he realized that he wouldn’t make it. One of the Skyway Kings held a shielding device and pounded it into the ground. Haldt dove inside and it enclosed him and several others as blasts erupted all around them. Three shots drilled into the shield and that was almost enough to destroy it.
The constant changes in the tide of battle was something he didn’t miss when out of the action. Now, they were on the defensive.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Wolfson peered at the battle below, where the members of the Riders and Kings moved back along the field. “Haldt, are you still there?”
“Barely, sir,” the officer replied and had to yell to be heard above the loud blasts around him. “Is everything all right?”
“I’m fine. What the hell is going on down there?”
“We’re being pushed back,” the man explained and the clamor of gunfire all but drowned him out. “I don’t know if the enemy has rallied or brought in another group of troops. They’ve gotten their shit together, either way, and are coming in hard.”
A squad of Omegas approached and Haldt and two Fire Riders fired at them but managed to only eliminate two of the six as they returned fire. One of the Riders took a thermal out and activated it but was shot and dropped the grenade. The officer scooped it up quickly and lobbed it at the enemy group, who scattered as it exploded.
The head officer grimaced as he prepared to change direction and banked toward the battlefield. “The gangs were in a bind when we arrived. I guess there’s only so much two or three guys can do at the moment. Kaiden should finish at any minute now. I’ll come around and—” The ship rattled under a volley and the small number of shields remaining was reduced to the bare minimum. “Son of a bitch!”
“Sir?” Haldt called in alarm before there was another explosion and the commlink was disconnected.
“Shit, Haldt!” Wolfson yelled and backed the ship hastily as he glanced at the monitor to see two Omega fighters in pursuit. “You’re determined bastards, aren’t ya?” He growled and accelerated to put some distance between them and his ship before he opened his comm directory, selected Kaiden’s name, and waited for it to connect. It did but the only response was more blasts and the pounding of metal. “Kaiden! Where are you and what’s going on?”
“I’m working,” the ace yelled and darted into cover behind a metal pillar as he tossed two shock grenades while he charged another shot. They exploded and coated the captain in an electric web, but it did little more than slow the suit for a second before the armor simply dispersed it. “This damn thing is hacked!” He spun around the pillar and fired and this time, the power-suited captain did attempt to dodge. However, the suit made him powerful, not agile, and the shot struck home. After the discharge, cracks and melted pieces of metal on the chest and arms of the suit were visible. There weren’t many but better than the nothing he had achieved so far. “All right. I’m finally starting to get through the bastard.”
“Don’t get—” Chief began, only to be interrupted by the Omega’s distorted yelling.
“Don’t get cocky!”
“The bastard stole my line.” The EI’s eye narrowed and he turned an angry red.
The captain’s shoulder pads opened to reveal several tiny missiles within, all trained on Kaiden. “Oh, bullshit,” he muttered and pushed into a sprint once again. They fired as he retrieved another shock grenade, held the switch for a moment to let it cook, and flung it back as the missiles approached in a tight group. The shock grenade detonated and caught most of them. They fell but the blast didn’t stop them from exploding, however, and although the resultant force annihilated the remainder, the blast from all the small missiles combined was enough to catapult the ace across the room and deplete his remaining shields.
He fell into a group of crates, knocked some over, and kicked one aside that almost fell on top of him.
“So, any plans yet?” Chief asked.
“I’ve been busy!” he shouted, as the captain threw a metal crate across the room. He rolled out of the way as it toppled those stacked behind him. “What about you?”
“Yeah, because you’ve taken my advice to heart through all this.” The EI rolled his eye.
“Your advice was to shoot and keep shooting,” he snapped and cursed when another battery of missiles rocketed toward him. “He won’t let up, will he?” he muttered, charged a shot quickly, and fired to destroy a few missiles that exploded and took the rest with them, far enough away this time that he was only forced back a few steps. It made no real difference as he didn’t want to stay where he was anyway.
“It’s been an effective strategy.”
“I’m running out of cover strong enough to protect me from his attacks,” the ace pointed out. “And I’ve not done enough damage to outlast him. It’s power armor, right? It has to have some kind of system for you to hack like the heavies use to move their big asses.”
“I’ve tried. Something is blocking me. I’ve observed the suit while you’ve been tussling.”
“Did you notice anything interesting?” he asked and charged one last shot that he fired at the captain while on the move. The blast was enough to force his adversary away. The man twisted the upper half of his body and Chief highlighted a large area on his back.
“The power unit is on the front of the armor. This is probably a back-up unit, but it also probably houses whatever is keeping me out of its systems. If you can get through it, I shouldn’t have a problem.”
“You come on to my ship, kill my men, and then try to take me on?” the captain yelled as he charged a blast of his own. “I’ll turn you to dust.”
“I don’t think this guy will let up anytime soon so it would be better to go with a plan that might end this quickly, even if it is only a hunch.” Kaiden vented Sire and raced toward the protection of another pillar. “How well-armored is that container?”
“Quite well and it has a personal barrier as well. It’s obviously important to be double-wrapped like that,” the EI advised. “He’s not fast, obviously, but you’ll have to get around him to take shots at the pack.”
“That’s starting from square one, at this point. I have a different plan.” He shut Sire’s vent and sprinted across the room as the captain fired repeated small blasts from his cannon. “The front is exposed now. How fragile are the eye holes?”
“If you can make the shot, go for it.”
“Got it. Okay, it’s time to invade his personal space.” The ace fired a couple of half-charged shots at the captain and ended his onslaught abruptly to disorient him briefly. He held the trigger charging the gun as he closed in and drew Debonair in his other hand when his adversary released a blade from his other gauntlet. The Omega moved his arm to strike and Kaiden held Sire up and fired when he was only a few yards away. The recoil from firing a shot with only one arm put his aim slightly off-center but at that range, it didn’t matter.
The captain saw what he intended but he was too close to leap out of the way. Instead, he swiped the blade in front of him, caught the shot, and caused it to erupt. The discharge of energy blew up the containers and any parts around them and Kaiden rushed forward and dropped Sire to hold Debonair in both hands. Without slowing, he fired directly into the eyes of the suit’s helmet.
Sparks resulted when the shots hit and the captain roared and cursed while he swiped madly with his blade and fired recklessly. The ace rolled easily through the attacks and opened the compartment on his legs when he faced the back of the power armor. He removed the explosive he had stored and slapped it on the back container before he flung himself aside.
“That’ll do it,” Chief chirped. “No countdown?”
“I got it,” he replied and aimed with Debonair. “And send Wolfson a message, would ya?” He gave chief the message as he fired. The explosion careened the suit away and hurled it to the ground as the container was ripped apart.
Wolfson had been able to shake one of the pursuers—or, rather, they were intercepted by one of the remaining Skyway Kings fighters—but the other wouldn’t budge. He had been able to avoid its attacks but couldn’t find the right time to change positions and eliminate it. Finally, he decided he’d had enough, activated the vessel’s auto-pilot, and walked into the bay to open a chest and withdraw the cannon inside. He marched to the back of the ship and lowered the ramp manually.
The Omega fighter was almost in position for another assault when the head officer held the cannon, which rattled as the energy collected in the barrel. “Smile, you son of a bitch!” he shouted as he fired. The blast made him skid back a few feet as it rocketed out and connected head-on with the fighter. What remained of the ship plummeted as he tossed the cannon aside and closed the ramp. It was such an easy fix. Maybe he should simply install the cannon on the back of the ship when he had free time.
When he returned to the cockpit, he noticed a blinking message on the monitor from Kaiden.
I’ll have this wrapped up soon. Don’t die in the meantime.
He glanced at the clock. It had been twelve minutes since he had made the bet with Haldt. “You’re cutting it close there, boyo.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“So, that got him, right?” Chief asked and his eye narrowed.
“Can’t you tell?” Kaiden asked and approached the captain cautiously while he held his last shock grenade in readiness. It hadn’t done much before, but with electricity sparking out of the back of the armor, it might actually affect him now—or maybe power him up as he now had a direct line to his back-up power unit. He stowed the grenade and simply aimed Debonair at him. “Are you still blocked? Can you hack him now?”
Chief nodded. “Yeah, I can get through. Give me a minute.” With that, the avatar vanished.
The ace relaxed slightly but tensed again almost immediately when the captain groaned and one of his arms thumped on the floor. It was followed quickly by the other and he forced himself to stand. At this point, it wasn’t clear if the power armor was that strong or the captain that tenacious.
“You…haven’t won here!” his adversary bellowed and pushed himself up in one thrust before he turned toward Kaiden. He held his blade in front, pointed at the ace, as he marched forward. “I’ll slice you from your groin to your gullet, you sorry little piece of shit.”
“Chief?” he called and fired several shots from Debonair. They struck the armor, did minor damage, and didn’t slow the man at all. While he wasn’t exactly running, it seemed logical that he would remember that he had a cannon at some point. Either that or he really wanted to carve him up instead.
With another roar, the captain suddenly surged into the attack and drew his arm back for a vicious forward thrust. “Chief!” Kaiden yelled as he ducked and flung himself to the left to roll out of his path. He spun as he tried to regain his feet to prepare for another assault, but the armor froze in mid-thrust. The ace observed it closely as he stood. There was no movement at all and he couldn’t hear the captain—if he was saying anything, of course, but he imagined a string of angry and confused curses, at least.
