Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 251
Some shifted in place while others nodded. He could see the tension in all of them but with it, determination. “We will make them answer for what they have done. We will rescue those who were taken from us. All around the world, they are fighting. They will not break us. We will not let this madman’s dream become a reality. This fight will be possibly the greatest challenge of your lives, but we will rise to it. This will be the battle that changes this war. It will be the beginning of the Arbiter’s downfall and a new dawn for us all!”
With that last bellow, the crowd cheered and held up fists, helmets, tools, and weapons in unison. Sasha knew he was certain of his last statement. No matter what happened, this would lead to the new dawn of an era. It was up to all of them for it to lead to something better.
Chapter Thirty
“Hey, kid!” The trio of Ark soldiers turned to a group of Omegas that walked up the street. “We want to change places.”
“Why?” the lead Ark asked and shouldered his gun. “Do you prefer to look at these abandoned buildings instead of your own?”
“Yours is closer to the base and closer to the food. It’s easier to take a break for a while,” the Omega stated, a slightly angry edge to his tone.
The Ark soldiers looked at one another. “And what do we get out of this. exactly?” their spokesman asked and tapped his suit’s belt. “If you don’t have any spare creds, there’s enough dark allies who do.”
The man snarled for a moment before a fiendish grin crossed his face. “You show much more spine than most of the other puppets.”
One of the other soldiers sighed in frustration. “We’re not the golems, jackass!” she retorted and pointed to the emblem on her armor. “Look for these. If we have the icon, we still have a functioning brain. The lack of one seems to be something you mercs and the golems share.”
Her teammates snickered and shook their heads and turned away from the gang members, who began to reach for their blades, itching to start a fight due to their anger and boredom. Before any of them could fully grasp the handles of their knives, both groups were buffeted by a violent gust of wind that rushed from the edges of town. The dispute forgotten, Omega and soldiers alike exchanged glances of confusion and unease while others moved around the corners of the streets to get a better look.
A large flash of light was followed by several more as assault ships, corsairs, and destroyers, all flying military colors, warped in and immediately soared over Bellingham Bay toward the colossus. Many of the AO troops cried out in shock or began to fire pointlessly at the large vessels. Others looked toward the edge of town and began to shout at their teammates. Dropships and carriers approached at surprising speed with a modest fleet of fighters and bombers above them as protection. These broke away to begin to pummel the now disorganized enemy troops with laser volleys and dropped explosives.
The carriers stopped at the edge of town and the side panels opened. Troops flooded out while the dropships pushed in a little farther to deliver soldiers, heavies, agents, mechs, and even a few mech jockeys. The invaders immediately began their assault while those in occupation scrambled to meet the attack and called for reinforcements.
“Sir, we’re under attack!” a crewman of the colossus called to Nolan as he walked into the command deck. Immediately after his cry, the enormous vessel rattled from a shot by one of the destroyers.
“I am well aware of that, ” the general snapped and looked at one of the screens. “Aurora, what are you waiting for? Fire the cannon! We have more than enough power.”
“I am attempting to, sir,” the EI explained, her voice a little quieter than normal. “I am having trouble coalescing the energy. A disturbance is blocking me from activating the main cannon.”
“Disturbance? What kind of disturbance can stop you?” he asked before he recalled how, technically, they had stalled her before during the invasion. He glanced quickly at the row of technicians. “How are our instruments?”
One of them met his gaze. The man was calm but sweat had begun to appear on his brow. “I was about to report, sir. We have difficulties establishing commlinks to other parts of the ship. Most of the main systems seem to be fine but perform at a slower rate. There seems to be some kind of disruption—” The explanation seemed to occur to the technician at the same time it did to Nolan.
The general gritted his teeth. “They are using our own device against us.” He cursed and fixed the man with a grim expression. “Find out where the device is located. Make it a priority and tell me immediately so we can destroy it.”
“Right away, sir.” The team set to work as Nolan took his seat. “Someone, fetch Lana. I need to know if this will affect our EI.” he ordered. “Then, get down to the power room. Make sure the connection to the Academy’s shield is still established and siphon the energy to our shields while we still can. We can outlast this pathetic assault.”
Sasha stepped off the carrier with his rifle in hand and surveyed the battle that raged below. Their surprise attack had worked well, at least at this juncture. The shield was still in place at the Academy, and as long as it was, they wouldn’t be able to set foot inside. Not only that, the enemy could simply continue to send reinforcements from within the Academy and the colossus as time went on. It simply meant the other group needed to work as quickly as possible but they were among the best, so he was confident.
He used the scope of his rifle to peer at the colossus. The hangars opened on the left side and he frowned. He’d hoped that Laurie’s modified disruption device would have been more effective and shut down most of the ship, but the big issue was the cannon. That wasn’t firing, so he couldn’t be too critical. Craft began to pour out in defense of the massive vessel and banked toward the military fleet which sent out ships of their own.
He then looked at the bridge leading to the Academy, where a wave of droids and Ark soldiers ran to join the fray. A few mechs brought up the rear and he aimed and sniped a few bots from his position almost three and a half miles away, a personal best. He would have to commend Julio on his choice in weaponry once this was over.
That moment, however, seemed a long way from now. He glanced at the troops who acted as his personal squad. They showed their discipline and waited silently for his orders, but he could feel their desire to fight. “I have to coordinate the attack for now,” he stated and pointed down to the town. “Assist in the assault. I will be fine.”
The group saluted and shouted, “Sir!” in unison before the men broke away and rushed to join the combat. Sasha activated his commlink. “Kit, Felix, are you coming in soon?”
“We’re almost there,” she answered. “I can see the carriers. Look behind you and you should see us.” He did so and stepped behind the carriers to see a fleet of a dozen dropships heading their way. “Janis is on his way, but the carrier ship is slower than we are.”
“We have enough to keep things fun,” Fritz declared as the dropships sailed overhead. “Now watch our new droids in action!” The bottoms of the vessels gave way and dozens of large spheres plummeted, only to unfurrow on impact and stand. The blue Azure Halo droids faced their white-and-black Arbiter counterparts. Although most did well on their own, the engineers deployed, took control of them, and were able to get far more use out of them. They increased and decreased power in certain areas to maximize efficiency and target specific enemies for better strategy.
One of the mech jockeys noticed an Arbiter automated mech. He raced forward and clotheslined it in a massive clash of metal, thrust his mechanical foot on the chest of the machine, and aimed both arm cannons at it to fire them simultaneously. It exploded in spectacular fashion.
Across town, another mech was felled by two titans who crushed its legs. It toppled and two demolitionists looked back as it fell, turned away from their opponents to walk over, charge up their cannons, and annihilate it in a joint blast from their giant weapons. Even in the heat of the fight, they took a moment to fist-bump each other before they switched their cannons’ mode to laser and began to carve through oncoming bots while a few Omega soldiers ran or ducked to avoid the beams.
Sasha took stock once again. They appeared to have the upper hand and still had reinforcements on their way that Kaiden and Wolfson had recruited, as well as all the droids Janis was bringing. There was hope for further military assistance if they could get their spare ships jump-ready, but for now, they were in a favorable position. That could change if the enemy called for reinforcements or the AO learned of the attack. He was sure their response would be swift, which was why they needed the infiltration group to accomplish their mission without delay.
A message appeared in his oculars. We’re on the way. It was short but all that was needed. He nodded and aimed casually once again to fire at a few Omegas who tried to flank around the edge of the rear buildings. The rest was up to Haldt and the students. For now, the best thing he could do was be a commander.
He saw several snipers taking up positions on rooftops, vented his rifle as he identified seven of them, and counted down from five. At zero, he slammed the vent shut and brought the butt of his sniper rifle to his shoulder. Seven shots followed in rapid, rhythmic succession and all caught the unaware snipers through their helmets and felled them instantly. He opened the vent again and walked down from the hill as he shortened the barrel of his gun for close combat. He was a commander, but he was also a soldier and it was best to remind the enemy of that.
Chapter Thirty-One
“We’re heading out now,” Kaiden told Chiyo in the monitor screen as their recently acquired assault ship raced toward the Academy. “ETA is about thirty minutes. Trying to get this ornery bastard of a ship to move faster is proving challenging.”
“It would probably have helped to have a crew who knew how to operate it,” she pointed out. “You had Omega prisoners, didn’t you?”
“They were surprisingly unhelpful,” he told. “Even the ones who did talk, it all sounded like technobabble to most of us. Chief and some of the SK engineers are running it. But they can only do so much and Chief has to work off several different schematics. These guys might be mercs, but they have a hell of an infrastructure to be able to design and make their own ships.”
She nodded. “I’ve already alerted Sasha about your new vessel. He said he’s informed the others but you might not want to get too close to the military ships. Things are obviously quite hectic right now and they are preparing for Omega reinforcements.”
“Noted. How are you and the others?”
Chiyo looked into the bay. All their friends were there. Genos examined his tools and Jaxon and Silas checked their weapons while Luke and Mack held an arm-wrestling contest in their suits to pass the time. The others simply sat and waited. “We’re fine. Ready to get going. Haldt says we’re only a few minutes out. We should have the shield down by the time you get here.”
“Then good timing on our part. You guys be safe and leave me something to destroy.”
“We hope to keep the fighting to a minimum for now. While we may be strong together, we are only a small group in an area crawling with enemies and they have control of the island. There will be enough for you once you arrive.”
“We’ll come in screaming,” he promised. “Good luck. Out.”
“Out.” Chiyo signed off and returned to her place on the bench and filled everyone in. “Kaiden and his reinforcements will be here in thirty minutes. We should have the shield down by then.”
“I would guess that is the most time we have,” Genos stated. “Given the circumstances, I don’t think we can get away with sneaking around the Academy for too long.”
“The tiptoeing method isn’t really our style,” Mack confessed and pointed to himself and Luke. “Hell, even Cam is shit at it and he’s a bounty hunter.”
Cameron shrugged. “I’ve simply decided I’ll bring all my targets in dead. There’s less need for sneaking around then.”
“You are here in case sneaking around doesn’t work,” Indre pointed out. “We’ll need a distraction if we are seen so we can still get into position.”
“Distraction? That’s way easier to do.” Luke chuckled. “Can’t we make that plan A?”
“It’s a little late to change plans right now,” Jaxon muttered. “Once the shield goes down, feel free to do as you please, but that is the main objective.” He glanced at Cyra. “In that regard, is the marker ready?”
She nodded, retrieved the case, and opened it. “The marker itself didn’t need much work. Most of the changes were to the satellite, which was the professor’s doing.” She took the device out and pointed it around. “We only need to get close to the generator in the R&D building and pull the trigger. That will send the pulse. It will shut down the generator and anything near it, which will bring the shield down and hopefully a good chunk of the bots.”
“That won’t affect our gear, right?” Raul asked.
Chiyo shook her head. “Assuming you have installed the chips we distributed, you should be fine. It’s temporary, anyway, but with the generator down, it means most of the internal security will be compromised as well. Cyra, Indre, and I can make sure we gain control and then hand it over to the commander.”
“We can still use the sat-cannon, correct?” Jaxon asked. “Or was that function lost?”
Cyra shook her head and put the marker back in the case. “Oh, we still have it. You have to let the satellite recharge for a while and flip the switch on the marker. But we only have a couple of blasts so it’s best to use them sparingly.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Luke said, stood, and looked at the cockpit. “Hey, officer! Are we there yet?”
Haldt looked back. “As a matter of fact, we are. Get ready.”
The craft descended as the officer brought it to the side of the island to hover above the water for a few moments while he activated the aquatic landing mode. It landed gently and floated in place. He retrieved his machine gun and joined the others as they opened the side door and exited, using the water carrier piers to make their way up to the Academy.
Within only a few steps, they were stopped by the shield. Chiyo looked at Indre, who pointed to the pack on her back. The infiltrator nodded and stepped beside her as the other girl pressed a switch on her wrist to open the case. She removed the draining device. “I don’t want to leave this on long. Someone might notice,” she explained as she approached the barrier.
“I would think most of their attention is focused on the big-ass battle in Bellingham,” Cameron suggested. “But maybe a big hole in the ‘impenetrable’ shield would make people a little suspicious.”
“More along the lines of ‘impregnable,’” Indre corrected with a snicker as Chiyo placed the device against the shield and activated it. “There’s a small but significant difference.”
The infiltrator held the device in place as it came live. Blue lines darted about ten feet all around. The light of the shield seemed to be sucked into the lines, then traveled into the device. “That’s neat,” Luke said as he watched the decay of the small section of the shield.
Soon, an eight-by-eight-foot opening appeared and widened. “Get inside,” Chiyo ordered. The others complied hastily one after the other and all turned as she maneuvered carefully around the field until she too was behind the wall. She deactivated it and stepped back and the shield began to reform. The edges drew together, albeit quite slowly. “Even with the device, the shield is repairing itself at a very reduced rate,” she noted.
“They might be siphoning the energy from it,” Cyra suggested. “I noticed an energy transference on my tablet. I thought it might have been a conflict between the shield and the colossus, but the vessel itself might be doing it.”
“To strengthen their shields, probably, because they can’t use their cannon at the moment,” the infiltrator deduced. “That will keep the fight going but it’s all the more reason to get this done. We don’t want the military to destroy the colossus but we can’t risk them getting that cannon back online and ending the battle right there.”
“Then we should hurry,” Haldt stated. The others nodded and they made their way through the island to the Academy above, alert and watchful for droids. All they could hear were the sounds of battle outside the island and any metallic footsteps thudded away from their position and toward the gate.
“Sneaking is way easier than I thought it would be,” Mack commented.
“Normally, you don’t have as big a distraction,” Indre reminded him. “It is a nice change of pace.”
“We can’t get sloppy,” the security officer admonished. “They are still in a daze from the blitz, but someone is calling the shots and they will realize that sending everything out there isn’t a good move. Hell, they might have already and orders simply haven’t carried through yet.”
“So let them send some basic bots,” Luke huffed. “That won’t put a stop to— What’s that light?”
The group looked up at a blue shimmer at the top of the stairs before a boom filled their ears and the light rocketed toward them. Luke activated his gauntlet shield and braced himself as Mack held his hands up and directed his suit’s energy into the titan’s barrier. The blast pounded into it, but Luke held firm. “Thanks for the energy boost,” he called.
“Care to reciprocate?” Mack asked and ran to the front.
“Go for it,” Luke shouted. The vanguard absorbed his shield and formed it into a ball which he threw up the stairs where another blue shimmer appeared. The energized projectile obliterated the droid at the top of the stairs.
“It looks like we already lost the element of surprise.” Raul sighed.
“It didn’t take long,” Cameron muttered and looked over his shoulder. “What now?”
Haldt stepped forward. “You already talked about that.” He readied his weapon and began to advance. “The techs need a distraction. Who will join me?”
