Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 260
“As fast as hell,” he said, glanced at Jaxon, and nodded. The Tsuna ace returned the gesture and raced away to help others. “You couldn’t have waited a couple more days to get up here, huh?”
She uttered a small laugh. “It’s not like I was doing much anyway.”
Kaiden shoved and bulldozed past others as he searched for Flynn and finally found someone on the floor with three others around him, two medics among them. He caught sight of long blond hair and heard an Aussie accent reply to their questions.
“Flynn?” he asked and pushed forward.
“Where?” Marlo demanded as Amber and Raul supported the heavy who insisted on moving forward.
The ace didn’t answer and instead, hurried to confirm as the large man forced himself into a jog. Amber tried to keep pace and prevent him from falling. Kaiden moved to the left of the medics and knelt quickly. It was Flynn, but he was rather pale and coughed up liquid.
“What’s wrong?”
“He’s weary. They all are, but he’s been put through the wringer,” one of the medics answered. Marlo leaned against a pod as Amber retrieved her stim-ray and knelt beside their friend, adjusted the settings, and pressed the trigger. A small beam formed, and she passed it over him several times. Flynn finally took a normal breath and his mutterings stopped as his eyes blinked open.
“Wh-where am I?” he asked and tried to move, but his arms simply fell back.
“We’re here, Flynn,” Amber said reassuringly and took one of his hands.
“Are you all right, mate?” Kaiden asked.
The marksman rolled his head over to look at his friends and a small smirk appeared. “That’s my line, mate,” he replied.
“We’re gonna need some drinks after this, huh, buddy?” Marlo inquired as he knelt clumsily and hovered over Flynn.
“No kidding,” he responded and his eyes closed. “I could use a shower first…and another nap.”
“We just got woken up, Flynn.” the heavy chided.
“I had bad dreams, plus this bastard woke me up once.” He looked at the ace. “I can’t say it was exactly restful before then.”
“Do you remember anything?” Amber asked and glanced from one to the other.
Marlo shook his head. “Nothing really, only blackness until I dropped out of there.”
“I remember seeing Kaiden. My body felt like I had been run through a wall,” Flynn recalled. “I think we were fighting? It’s probably more accurate than I realize.”
“It’s all right, man. You weren’t you, in a couple of different ways.” Kaiden replied.
The marksman shook his head and several globs of liquid splattered. “You gonna need to expound on that at some point. For now, get me a rifle.”
“Like hell,” the ace retorted. “We’re getting you out of here.”
“These guys locked me and my comrades away for…who knows how long,” the man protested with a trace of anger in his voice. “I want payback.”
Kaiden drew Debonair and placed it on the ground beside his friend. “I’ll get you that rifle if you can pick up and fire my pistol.”
Flynn opened his eyes to glare at him, reached over slowly, and took hold of the grip of the gun. He was only able to raise the butt of the pistol up a couple of inches before it fell out of his hands. “Point made, but you’re still an asshole, mate.”
“And you can bitch about it more later,” the ace promised, retrieved Debonair, and holstered it as he stood and looked around. “There are so many people here and we’d be lucky if a fourth of them can move on their own. I don’t think we can take them all back to the teleporter or if that is even safe.”
“Hey, Commander,” Marlo said and gave Sasha a weary salute as he strode toward them. “It’s good to see you.”
“At ease, Demolitionist,” Sasha said. “It’s good to see you as well as Flynn, both safe if rather fatigued.”
“No kidding,” Kaiden said and the marksman mumbled something unintelligible. “How do you think we’re gonna move all these people, Sasha?”
“Out through there,” the commander said and pointed behind the ace.
He turned with a frown. “Uh…Sasha, that’s a wall. If you’re talking about what is behind it…I think the sky.”
“Exactly.” The man clasped his hands behind his back. “I’ve been in contact with Zena and General Hartman. She will bring the assault ship around and will make precise strikes against the wall to blow it open. The military vessels will provide cover, but they’ve focused on the enemy ships below and have destroyed most of the colossus’ outer defenses in this section already. Once the hull has been breached, shuttles can be dispatched to assist in recovery.”
“Quick thinking,” Kaiden complemented and drew his rifle. “Make sure everyone gets out.”
“And where are you headed, then?” Sasha asked.
“Someone has to find the head asshole in charge,” he explained. “And I’ll be the one to do it.”
“Assuming he is still on board.”
“Either way, there is still Aurora to recover if we can,” the ace reminded him. “Besides, we’ve come this far so might as well take the ship. Even if it’s too damaged to be of use after this it has to have important intel.”
“It’s a good thought,” the commander said with a nod, “but my guess is that they have already begun to purge all their data at this point. And we can’t simply believe they planned to do this alone once we showed up. They probably have reinforcements on the way.”
“I’ll work quickly,” he promised and turned.
“Alone?”
“Shouldn’t most stay behind to help?” the ace asked.
“There’s no use getting all happy with a reunion if you’re gonna set off and get shot, Kaiden,” Flynn protested.
“Kaiden,” Chiyo said over the comms. “I have a map. I can take us to the command deck.”
He nodded and thought it over. “There are still other resistance members onboard, right?” he asked and the commander nodded. “Chiyo, send the map to everyone you can. Sasha, have them head toward the command deck. We’ll push through.”
“Very well, Ace Jericho,” Sasha said with a small nod and activated his commlink.
“Chiyo, Genos, you’re with me,” the ace said and headed to the doors. “Let’s find Aurora and make this ship our ship.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
“Do you have that door open yet?” a raider asked the demolitionist as he stood and dusted his hands off.
“It’ll be open in no time,” the man replied and held the trigger as he stepped away from the explosive-riddled door. “You might wanna get back.”
“How far back?” a marksman asked.
“Way back.” The demolitionist, now in a jog, counted down from ten. At zero, he pressed the switch and blew the doors wide, and the soldiers raced up to the now open doorway with their guns at the ready. Apparently, there had been Ark soldiers waiting, but they were now strewn about the room due to the force of the blast, although one body moved in the back.
“Don’t move!” the marksman ordered and aimed. When he looked through his scope, he saw the woman had a gun pointed not at them but at herself. Before he could utter another word, she pulled the trigger and the lights in their hallway began to fade in and out.
“What the hell!” a cry sounded over the comms and caught Kaiden off guard.
“Hey, who’s hot-micing?” he demanded.
“Holy hell! She shot herself and this sector is losing power. What’s going on?”
The ace glanced at Chiyo, who opened a map and traced the comm. “It’s coming from the front portion of the ship near the command deck. According to the map, it’s an area called the EIC— Wait, EI? A ship like this would need its own room to monitor the EI necessary to control it. That could be where Aurora is.”
“Among other things,” Genos pointed out.
Kaiden frowned as a few resistance members pushed past them. He looked at Wolfson. “Should we go?”
The head officer thought for a moment, then nodded. “We’re closing in. I think we have enough numbers to take the ship or at least fight our way in. You should check the area. If Aurora is there, I think only Chief would be able to interact with her given that they are almost the same model.”
“Laurie didn’t have to stick a chip in his head to get her to work,” the ace quipped. “Although I suppose I never asked if he tried.”
“What? You don’t wanna feel special anymore?” Chief snarked.
“Head on over, we’ll—” Wolfson was interrupted when shots were fired and were audible over the open commlink. Some of the other soldiers nearby heard it and spun with their weapons at the ready, thinking they were under attack.
“Shit, let’s move!” Kaiden said as he, Chiyo, and Genos sprinted toward the EI chamber.
“The rest of you get it together,” the head officer ordered. “Let’s go take that bridge!”
Kaiden had to force the stairway door open and walked into a darkened hallway. It was eerie, going from all the noise and commotion below to the almost silent space with the only disruption being the hum of the ship itself.
“Keep your guard up,” he warned as the trio walked in. “Brights on.”
“I can’t read the soldiers any more,” Chiyo said. “I don’t have any energy readings. If they were taken out by droids, they aren’t here anymore.”
“Do you think it was a group of Ark soldiers?” the ace asked. “Maybe they got careless after clearing the room, some came back and got the drop on—” Blasts from above stuck his armor. Chiyo aimed upward and fired, and Genos charged his cannon as a figure darted on the ceiling and jumped between the pillars and walkways above.
“Chief, fire missiles!” Kaiden shouted.
“You don’t have anymore, remember?”
“Dammit, right!” He fired several shots from Sire and only managed one hit, but it was enough to damage the attacker’s shields, which shimmered briefly. The man was thin and a little pale with slicked-back dark hair. He turned and fired again and several orbs dropped.
“Shocks!” Genos called as he and Chiyo stepped back. Kaiden ran forward and when the shocks detonated, they covered his power armor. The absorbers activated and the power surged into him.
“We still have those gauntlet blasters, right?” he asked.
“Yeah. Do you wanna give them a try?”
Their adversary fired another volley, some at the ace and others at his teammates. “Do it.” He held a hand out and when a red orb appeared, he lobbed it at the roof and although it missed the assailant, it exploded on impact with the ceiling, enough for the attacker to be dislodged. The man landed and rolled to his feet to sprint into a room. The ace landed a couple of quick shots with Sire and shattered his target’s shields before he disappeared from his line of sight.
He followed with Genos and Chiyo at his heels, prepared another blast, and spun around the door and fired. The blast almost blinded him with the brights still on in his HUD. When it subsided, he walked in and scanned the room.
“Careful with those blasts. The instruments in here are already precarious enough,” a man warned. Kaiden turned quickly in the direction of the voice and located the thin man perched on a railing that ran along the top of the room, his rifle aimed at him.
The three Nexus teammates all had their weapons trained on him. “Who are you? Another assassin?” the ace asked.
“My name is Nolan. I was the commanding officer of this ship—the general of the Arbiter Organization,” he announced and leaned against the wall. “Now, I’m merely a desperate man.”
“You’ll be a prisoner soon enough,” he threatened and held Sire’s trigger to begin charging a shot. “Or simply dead if you try to fight.”
“I’m dead either way, really,” Nolan stated with a shrug. “I had no plans to live after today.”
“You’d die for this mess?” Kaiden winced. “How the hell are any of you sociopaths lucid enough to have made an army like this?”
“Dedication and vision,” was the man’s reply as he moved his weapon to each in turn. “Merrick’s dedication and vision. I believe in what he is trying to do. It was honestly why I was so supportive of the Ark Academies—the original version at least. Humanity needs to evolve and the normal means don’t cut it anymore.”
“And do you believe we’re all doomed as well?” Chiyo asked.
He exhaled a long sigh. “I’m not sure. Our leader seems quite sure of it himself. When he’s spoken about it to me, it shakes him, which in turn terrifies me.”
“For being so humanitarian, you don’t seem to have much faith in us,” the ace remarked caustically.
The man stood and Kaiden warned him by following his movements with his rifle. He stretched his arm out and let his weapon drop. “Faith cannot make real change, only inspire those to follow ones who can. And I have done my part. The rapture protocol is ready.”
“Rapture what?” he asked. A blue light formed on his left and he turned to see Aurora’s face. “Aurora?”
“Rapture protocol initialized,” she announced and her voice glitched as her form began to disassemble. “Purging systems. Destruction commencing.”
“Aurora!” the ace called. “Chief, get in there and—”
“Look out!” Genos warned and Kaiden looked up. The man was now aglow in red light. He wore a vest lined with explosives and his face revealed determination and rage as he cast himself at the group.
“Chief, shields!” Kaiden shouted and spun to cover his allies as the Arbiter general’s vest erupted and covered them with a fiery blast. The power armor’s shields activated and blew outward to protect them from the main blast, but even with the increased energy, they had not recovered enough and the three were thrown into the walls of the room. Chiyo’s and Genos’ shields were also destroyed.
“The power armor is compromised, Kaiden. I’m disengaging the locks,” Chief notified him.
“Stop Aurora!” he ordered through pained groans. “She said destruction, didn’t she?”
“I read a large influx of power into the central core,” Genos warned and helped Chiyo up before he moved to Kaiden. “You know what that means, Kaiden.”
The pieces of his power armor gave way as he rose and left him in his normal armor with no helmet. “I do. This ship will explode and take everything around it with it.”
Chapter Fifty
“You thought you were so smart, didn’t ya?” Wolfson mocked as he marched around the AO captives on the bridge. “I’ll give it to ya that the invasion was a pain in the ass, but you didn’t think we would strike back and come for our own? You’re nothing but a group of idiots, I’d say.” Warning sirens activated and the captives looked frantically at one another. “What the hell is that?” he demanded.
“The ship is going to blow,” one of the Arbiter technicians said. “You have no hope of stopping it.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” He sneered at the tech. “We have gifted technicians of our own, you know. This last-ditch attempt—”
“They cannot stop it. This is the rapture protocol,” the man responded. “The OS is the first thing to purge, then the master EI. There is nothing that can stop it. This is our final solution.”
The head officer’s eye widened and he looked at his troops. “Get out of here!” he ordered.
“Useless.” The tech laughed, clearly hysterical. “Do you know what powers this ship? The amount of energy that will be expelled will cover at least fifteen miles and destroy anything in its path. How many do you think you can evacuate in that amount of time?”
“Shut your trap!” Wolfson roared and delivered a kick to the tech’s jaw before he activated his comms. “Sasha, we have a problem.”
“So I’ve gathered,” the commander replied and frowned at the blinking red lights as another group of Nexus rescues was loaded into shuttles. “What’s going on?”
“Some kind of failsafe, apparently. One of the technicians says the ship will blow in a fifteen-mile spread,” Wolfson explained, hauled a couple of the other captives to their feet, and shoved them out of the command deck.
“Can we stop it?” he asked.
“I’m going to check, but he says the OS and EI are already gone so there is no way to access the systems that would let us do that.”
“Damn it all.” Sasha growled his frustration. “I’ll get every shuttle and carrier to move in and retrieve everyone we can. What’s the ETA?”
“I can’t tell…looking around.” Wolfson ran up to a lone chair in the middle of the deck—the captain’s seat most likely—and turned on every monitor he could. He immediately noticed messages on one. “What’s this—ah, hell, Sasha. We have Omegas incoming!”
“How many?” the commander asked as he sent messages to all the gangs and military leaders to begin evacuations.
“A fleet, it looks like, mostly made up of stolen vessels. That Damyen bastard is leading them. They’ll mop up any who get away and head to Seattle to retaliate.” Wolfson slammed his fist down, hit a keyboard, and activated another monitor. He looked at it and clenched his teeth in a grin. “I have access…wait—shit, it’s locked out!”
“No hackers nearby?” Sasha asked.
“No, and you shouldn’t risk sending any,” he replied and sat in the chair. “I’ll figure it out and see if there’s still some kind of auto-pilot. Maybe I can get this ship out of the area in time before it can do real damage.”
“Check for a warp engine,” the commander recommended and ran out into the halls to guide the other soldiers to the shuttles and to the beam in the hangar. “And I think I know of a way to gain access to the system.”
“I said don’t—” Wolfson began.
Sasha cut him off. “I’m not sending someone. I’m sending an EI.”
