Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 256
The man gave him a sidelong look. “Let’s go with ‘hefty’ and the four of us won’t be able to carry it even if we took it apart.”
“We need to get down there,” Genos said cautiously. “I’m sure our enemy is already making headway. Whatever advantage this hatch may give us will be made moot if we take too long to descend.”
The ace frowned but nodded. “Agreed. Chief, send a message to our group to get their asses over here when they can make a break for it and make sure to open the door when they do.”
“Gotcha, partner.”
“In the meantime…” He knelt and undid the latch. “Let’s get down there and stop those bastards.” Once the hatch was open, they were greeted by darkness. There appeared to be no ladder, pole, or even rope to climb down.
Kaiden looked at Wolfson, who knelt and flipped a switch on the underside of the hatch lid. Blue lines appeared in the tunnel that traveled all the way down. “It’s a gravity well,” he explained. “Who’s first?”
The younger man stood and rolled his shoulders, stepped onto the ledge of the hatch, and gave a quick salute. He uttered a surprised yelp when he descended much faster than he thought he would.
“I probably should have mentioned it takes a while for it to warm up,” Wolfson commented cheerfully as he looked at the other two. “All right, who’s up next?”
Chapter Forty
“The shuttles are away, sir,” one of the Halo crew stated, “and the drones are deployed as well.”
“Good.” Janis looked at his monitor. “Let’s see how long it takes for enemy fight—”
“Enemy ships are coming to intercept the shuttles, Janis!” one of the techies cried.
“Rather quickly, apparently.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Get the carrier’s guns ready. I’m sure they’ll target us eventually as well.”
“What about the shuttles?” the crewman asked.
He studied the monitor for a moment. “Fifteen shuttles covered by over fifty drones and I see only six enemy fighters going to engage.”
“There are more on the way, sir,” the man informed him. “It will be sixteen enemy ships in total. It takes three to five drones to combat an enemy fighter effectively.”
“Then I suppose it is a good thing the Kings will join us,” he replied, although he typed a hasty message to one of the bays to prepare more drones in case.
“Hey, boss!” one of the Kings shouted over the comms. Desmond looked in the direction in which the jockey pointed. “We have incoming.”
A group of fighters streaked toward the shuttles in a direct trajectory, which meant they were too focused on trying to destroy the shuttles and their cargo to see him and his jockeys.
The Skyway King leader smiled. “All right. boys. Head up and flank them,” he ordered and the group elevated and began their maneuver. “Let the drones slow them, pick ʼem off, and let’s get back to the real battle.”
His team cheered as they circled to one side to position themselves behind the enemy fighters. Desmond would admit the Azure Halos were good with robots and tech, but when it came to the skies, they should leave it to the professionals.
Two of the Arbiter interceptors raced to destroy the newly arrived Halo shuttles. They fired the moment they were in range but their blasts were diverted by several drones as the remainder broke away to engage the Arbiter ships. One of them was able to roll out and immediately gained two pursuers that fired small laser shots at it. The other wasn’t so lucky. One drone crashed into its wing but didn’t break apart and instead, took hold of the wing. The barrel of its gun switched from a wide-mouth to a small, more focused barrel and it directed a concentrated beam into the wing in an attempt to cut it off.
The pilot pressed a switch and a small turret activated on the upper back of the ship that immediately turned and fired on the attacker. The mechanical withstood the first couple of rounds but was only able to slice through about a fourth of the wing before it was finally destroyed. The pilot pressed another switch to activate a small Scarab droid that popped out of a compartment under the turret. He traced the damage on his monitor and sent the Scarab to repair it. When he looked up again, he was face to face with a drone that glowed red. He pulled his yoke to the side in an attempt to fling it off, but it exploded before he could make even a half-roll and it set the cockpit and pilot on fire as the craft plummeted to the streets below.
An Arbiter fighter came through and launched a missile that broke apart to release dozens of tiny replicas that marked and followed various drones and destroyed them with ease. Before the pilot could gloat, however, a thud on his craft caught his attention. He activated the outer turret, but it had already been destroyed and in the next moment, his ship rapidly lost power. A blue-armored jet jockey knocked on his cockpit and waved at him, a detonator in his hand. He responded with an obscene gesture but the man was already out of sight. As he tried frantically to restore his systems, an explosion ripped through the top of his craft and it spiraled in flames to join the interceptor below.
Desmond used a different approach and bided his time while a fighter prepared to fire another missile. He drew his machine gun and fired at the projectile before it had a chance to uncouple from the host. It exploded and devastated a good third of the fighter along with it and the gang leader smirked before he received a warning in his HUD that he had been targeted. He spun, located an interceptor on a direct course toward him, and immediately elevated sharply as it fired several shots. The agile vessel was able to change directions quickly and pursue him.
He pressed a button on his gauntlet and two flare grenades dropped out of his pack behind him, detonated, and created a bright light. The interceptor fired seconds before the vivid flash of illumination, hit him, and shattered his shields as it flew past.
“Are you all right, boss?” one of the jockeys yelled and approached on his left.
Another hovered above and held a launcher up. “Do you want us to wreck him for you?”
“Hell no,” Desmond yelled as he righted himself and exchanged his machine gun for his launcher. “That bastard is mine.” He raced forward and pushed his jets to their limits in an attempt to catch up to his attacker. Finally, the interceptor turned and gave him his opportunity. He checked his launcher to confirm the chocks were currently loaded. While he preferred to see the bastard burn, these would do.
The Arbiter vessel fired, but with far more grace than one would expect in heavy armor, Desmond swerved easily around the shots and fired as the enemy passed him. The grenade struck home and bathed the ship in electricity. Several eruptions of sparks followed in sequence as various instruments overloaded on the craft. The pilot seemed to try to control the ship and activate something to disperse the electricity, but his instruments began to fry in his cockpit and smoke billowed from both the ship and in the cockpit as he fumbled under his seat for the ejection lever. The craft tumbled end over end to Earth, the pilot unable to eject. “Ya got what was coming to ya,” he muttered and shouldered his launcher when the ship blew up on impact.
“Boss, we have more incoming,” a jockey notified him. He scanned the sky around him and located five more ships coming down from the fight above.
The shuttles were now in the town and only a minute or so from dropping the droids off. “Now they are being petty,” he mocked.
“They still have drones around, so maybe we can tell the Halos to take care of them?” one suggested.
“Hell no. That’s not how we do things and you know it,” he snapped and pressed the side trigger on his launcher to switch the payload to chasers. “Some of you have shield deployers, right?”
“Here!” a man shouted and flew closer.
“We got you, boss.” another said as he and a teammate flew up on his right.
“I need to get in close so shield me until we are in range, but when I tell you to break, then get the hell out,” he ordered. “These little puppies aren’t picky, so dead-drop if you have to.”
“Understood,” one said and the other two nodded.
“Let’s get them, boys!” Desmond roared as the four set off. His men took their place ahead of him and he held his launcher up and focused on the ships through his scope. The three jockeys activated their devices to create a large shield that covered the space in front and around them as the fighters opened fire to pummel the combined barrier.
“The shields are losing power fast,” one of the men warned as they continued their ascent.
“We’re almost there,” Desmond replied, his voice low as the yellow numbers that counted down in his scope went from two-hundred feet to zero in seemingly no time at all, the distance swallowed hungrily as they raced up and the fighters streaked down. “Break!”
His team deactivated their jets and plunged earthward as the shield collapsed and their leader fired three rockets. These broke apart like the fighters’ missiles, but each held three mid-sized salvos instead of dozens of small ones. At this range, they acquired their targets easily. Only one of the ships was able to escape before the other four were destroyed by the missiles. Desmond hovered in place as he watched two of the projectiles trail the ship until they struck the back of the fighter and thrust it into a wild spin for a brief moment before it erupted.
The other jockeys joined him and cheered in victory. “They’d better remember not to mess with the Kings of the sky!” the leader shouted.
“The sky is our domain!” the others chanted. They turned as the carrier passed and Desmond waved nonchalantly at the command deck window.
“Good job, gents,” he told his men. “Now, let’s get to the real action before all the Halo bots steal the good fights.”
Chapter Forty-One
“I’m having flashbacks!” Luke roared as he drove his hammer into the side of one of the pods. The blow thrust it several yards away and it toppled a group of bots before it thumped into the side of a building.
“Are you freaking out?” Mack asked as he swung a glowing fist into the chest of one of the enhanced Arbiter droids and flung it aside.
“Hell no!” Luke growled as he rolled his hammer in his hands. “I’m getting more pissed off.”
“Guys, check your HUDS,” Indre stated over the comms. “Chiyo sent us a message.”
“I’m a little busy here!” Cameron winced as he kicked a bladed bot off him and fired several rounds from his pistol into its chest.
“Sure, take your time,” Silas replied sarcastically as sounds of gunfire came over his link. “We can wait.”
“What? I’m the designated reader or something?” the bounty hunter asked as he fired two rounds from his rifle at the heads of two bots that swung their cannons toward him.
“You are the only one who can actually break away from the fighting right now,” Raul pointed out patiently.
He shook his head but when he looked at the ridge of one of the buildings, he saw no droids waiting—which didn’t necessarily mean there weren’t any. He sighed as he raised his arm. “Give me a minute and keep fighting.”
“That was the plan. I like living,” Mack declared as his suit glowed with energy and he rushed into a group of droids that approached from an alley.
“You won’t hear an argument from me,” Raul concurred and flung a net grenade at two droids that bound them together and began to crush them.
“If you could hurry, it would be appreciated, Cameron,” Jaxon added as he stood and fired back to back with Silas. “As exhilarating as this may be, I would prefer to be of more use.”
“Yeah, because demolishing a robot horde is merely a simple task for us,” Cameron muttered.
“It kind of is at this point,” Silas commented.
The bounty hunter made no retort and instead, fired his grappling hook to strike the rim of the roof of the building and pulled himself up. He landed rolling, his pistol at the ready as he crouched and scanned the rooftop. Fortunately, he had a brief moment of reprieve as the only droids on the roof were already deactivated by well-placed shots to the head or core. He remained low as he opened the message and read it.
“They are in but said they won’t be able to take the teleporter out, though. They want us to join them so we can all head into the ship.”
“Join them?” Jaxon asked and glanced at the main building. “I am not opposed to that, but we’ve been forced away from the building since they went in. We’ll have to make our way there.”
“I thought we didn’t go with them to make sure no one followed?” Raul asked.
“It says nothing here about that, so I guess we did what we could,” Cameron reasoned. “The Halo droids are coming in. That should make up for us not being here.”
“So we’re worth about a couple of hundred enhanced droids?” Luke asked and held the trigger on his hammer as he swung it into the ground again. Several droids were catapulted away by the kinetic energy dispersed. “I’m not sure if that is a compliment or insult.”
“Keep in mind I include myself in that,” Cameron replied. “I’m for it. I’d rather take this fight to the asshole controlling these things than keep dealing with the horde.”
Suddenly, another person joined their link. “This is Commander—Chancellor Sasha. I received a message from Chiyo.”
“We got it, sir,” Jaxon replied. “We were discussing heading out.”
“Go. I’ll cover your flank,” he stated. “I must remain here to help coordinate, so help end this in my stead.”
The bounty hunter snickered. “I guess there is no more debate. That was an order.”
“Agreed,” Jaxon acknowledged. “Let us join our friends.”
Genos was the last to fall down the tunnel and when he landed, he was greeted by Chiyo as the two men talked to one another on a private link. Although he couldn’t hear them, from Kaiden's angry gestures, he seemed to be rather annoyed about the head officer’s little prank.
The large man waved dismissively and Kaiden shook his head as they rejoined the team link. “Are you guys ready to go?” Wolfson asked.
Chiyo nodded and made another study of their surroundings. “This seems to be a cavern.”
“A tunnel, technically. The remnants of the abandoned facility are back that way.” The large man pointed down the long corridor. A very soft light illuminated the mouth of the tunnel. “Turn brightness on in your visors. Let’s avoid using flashlights or anything like that until we make sure we’re clear.”
The group made their way cautiously to the end of the tunnel. All listened intently for unusual sounds, but it was silent except for a low hum that grew slightly louder as they approached.
“I would guess that is from the main generator that powers the island,” Chiyo suggested.
Wolfson nodded. “Aye, it’s located above this cavern and keeps some of the gadgets and whatnot powered in here as well, but in a rest state.”
“I do not hear any footsteps or fighting,” Genos said, his head tilted and his expression serious. “I hope that means we are still ahead of our adversaries and that they have not already recovered their target.”
“Hopefully, they are dead,” Wolfson muttered. “They came in through the main entrance. This place may not have been in use, but it was guarded well. Really nasty droids called Reapers guarded the front.”
“Reaper droids?” Chiyo asked.
Kaiden looked at her. “Is something wrong Chi?”
“I…no, it’s only a coincidence,” she replied.
The head officer increased his pace once they drew near to the end of the tunnel. He stepped through the exit and perched near the lip of the ridge outside. The three joined him quickly and were stunned by what they saw below.
The floor was metal, laid out almost like a maze or unfinished building. Some areas were completely enclosed and metal cubes sealed away whatever contents lay within. Large metal cables protruded from the floor and wound up through the earthen walls of the cave, stretching to the very top of the cavern and into the metal base of the Academy above. One large orb in the middle of the area was what emitted the dim light. It was enhanced by the crystals that adorned the walls and were scattered along the floor.
“It is…quite immense,” Genos stated quietly.
“It’s almost the size of the island itself,” Chiyo said where she knelt beside Wolfson. “Why is it designed like this? Is this another way to trick potential intruders?”
He shook his head. “This was going to be the Academy—not as grand as it is now, of course, and almost spartan by comparison from what I’ve been told. The plan was to make super-soldiers. It was in the beginning stages of being built after we made first contact with—” He paused and glanced at Genos. “Our now friends the Tsuna.”
“Humans can be quite prepared, it seems,” the engineer mused. “Looking at it now, it is quite amusing to think that I am now a part of the Academy that was originally designed to fight my people.”
“Amusing is one way to put it,” Kaiden said. Suddenly, there was an explosion below and to their right. The group fell prone and crawled forward cautiously to peer over the edge. A hole had been blown into the area and several soldiers in dark-gray armor, tinged an odd teal color by the light of the orb, rushed in with their guns at the ready.
“The Ark soldiers.” Wolfson grunted. “I guess we did beat them, but only barely.”
The ace shrugged as he retrieved his rifle. “We have to eliminate them. It shouldn’t be a big deal. I only count about six…eight…twelve… Dammit, I thought those Reapers were supposed to be invincible, Wolfson.”
“I don’t see any droids with them,” Chiyo pointed out. “Maybe they were lost to the Reapers while the soldiers took them out?”
“Or they came down here with a platoon and this is all that remains,” Wolfson added. “It looks like nineteen in total—a pain in the ass but they don’t know we’re here yet so we still have the element of surprise. Even if we didn’t, I’m sure we can—”
