Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 273
“Always with the vague words, you military types,” the professor quipped as he approached the desk. He stopped and shook his head. “I can indeed, Raza. It is a bomb.” He focused on Hartman. “That is mostly confirmed at this point. We know where it is and yes, there is only one more, which is the good news.”
“And what is the bad, Laurie?” Sasha asked.
The professor changed the holographic display to reveal the device he had previously shown Hartman. “This was the original device Chiyo found—particularly nasty on its own.” He placed his fingers at the edges of the image and stretched it. “We were able to discover another when we focused on locking down the energy signature, which is rather unique as you would expect. Like I said, we only found the one and it’s located in their stronghold in Russia.”
“The Arbiter’s?” Hartman asked. “That would be their Ark Academy.”
“That would be correct. I see how you got a command,” Laurie joked before he caught himself. “Sorry, I become a little sarcastic when I try to mask my concern with humor.”
The general and Sasha looked at one another and the latter placed a hand on the professor’s shoulder. “Concern? What’s wrong, Laurie?”
The man collected himself and looked around the room with a slightly haunted expression. “We found the device—I might as well call it a bomb because using it as a power source would be difficult and overkill at this point if that was their intention. This one appears to be more than five times larger than the one Chiyo found, which meant the first was a prototype or merely a smaller model for a different plan. This one could eradicate the entirety of Russia as well as parts of China for good measure. Assuming they don’t move it somewhere else, of course. And I would guess that since they have no plans to blow themselves up, that’s the plan, which is the bad news.”
The room fell silent and he stared fixedly at the image before him. “The even worse news is that it is almost complete.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“How long do you think they are gonna be in there?” Indre asked, her expression impatient as she looked at the group.
“Eh, you know how long those official meetings take,” Luke muttered and waved his hand dismissively. “They gotta go over charts and readouts and all that junk. Plus, I’m sure the debriefing between Raza and the military is gonna take a while.”
“Where the hell are Silas and Jaxon?” Kaiden demanded, his arms folded. “I had to go to the armory and fill out all those forms and they still aren’t back.”
“Kin Jaxon has started something of a ritual when returning from combat,” Genos explained. “He replaces his infuser, cleanses his body, and applies cooling gel as it helps with our injury recovery.”
“It sounds kinda standard for guys who went through…you know, getting shot at,” Cameron replied.
“Where’s your infuser, then?” Izzy teased and he frowned at her.
“All personnel, please report to hangar one,” Sasha bellowed over the intercom. “This is urgent. Unless you are working on a priority job, drop everything and make your way to hangar one.”
“I guess that didn’t go on as long as you expected,” Indre remarked and patted Luke on the shoulder as she walked past. The rest shared curious glances as they all left the barracks and hurried to the hangar.
“Go ahead with the briefing, Commander,” Hartman stated as he sat at his desk. “I’ll handle the other leaders, although I doubt they will have many complaints once they understand the severity of the situation.”
“And yet the severity of the situation until now hasn’t stopped them from finding complaints.” Laurie sighed. “On the off chance that they do, tell them the one upside is that with a quarter of the Earth gone, they will have fewer things to worry about.”
The general glared at him but sighed and nodded. “Like I said, I doubt it will be an issue. We’ve had to move plans up many times before, although usually not on this scale. Even if they won’t cooperate or aren’t ready, we will go.”
“Of course we will. We have to.” Sasha saluted the general and turned as he beckoned the professor. “Come on, Laurie.”
“Do you need emotional support?” his companion asked as the two left the office and proceeded to the hangar.
“You will have to explain the situation with the bomb,” he stated. “I think it will have more impact coming from you.”
The professor chuckled darkly. “Oh, really? Do you think I’m that good a public speaker?”
“On some occasions,” he responded as they proceeded down the stairs. “But I think our technicians will immediately offer to try to trace and hack the device to stop it remotely. In dire situations, even the best-trained individuals can be prone to the obvious pitfalls. With you speaking, I think they will understand the severity of the situation.”
“Because they will know I already tried,” the man finished glumly.
“You have, haven’t you?” Sasha asked with a quick look over his shoulder.
Laurie frowned. “Of course, Sasha. Isn’t that…oh.” He hesitated and gave himself time to think it over. “It is rather dire, isn’t it?”
“It puts things in perspective,” the commander reasoned. “I had begun to think we were getting too comfortable in all of this.”
The two reached the bottom, where Raza stood waiting. “Raza?” The professor looked at him in surprise. “I thought you went to address your people.”
“Lok and Ken’ra can handle that,” he stated and stepped beside them. “I should be there to represent the Sauren as we will go into battle together.”
Laurie scratched the back of his head. “I appreciate the thought but I don’t think it is—"
“Understood. Come with us,” Sasha interrupted and gestured with his hand as he continued toward the hangar.
Laurie trotted beside him. “Is this necessary, Sasha?” he asked. “I’m sure the Sauren need to prepare as much as we do.”
“I agree,” the other man replied but didn’t slow his gait. “And Raza has taken measures to begin that. This may only be a formality but we don’t have time to debate. The fact is, we have little time to prepare as it is.”
“Man, seeing everyone together like this…” Cameron muttered and stared at the thousands who filed into the massive hangar from their position on the catwalks above. “I guess the base has always been busy but I never realized how big the force was.”
“This is one of the bigger bases we have,” Chiyo told him. “It’s in the top five, at least. That’s why we are usually called on to handle assaults and are sent out on so many missions. We have people to spare.”
“Do you think this is finally the go order?” Flynn asked and looked at Kaiden, who scanned the room intently. “Kaiden?”
“Hmm? Sorry, I’m looking for Silas and Jaxon. I thought I saw them but it was another guy with dreads next to a Tsuna.”
“You can’t be worried about them making it back. Their shuttle checked in with everyone aboard,” Izzy reminded him. “They are fine and as Genos explained, he has his rituals or whatever. Now, back to Flynn’s question.”
“About what?” he asked.
“He’s asking if you think this is the announcement of our attack, dumbass,” Chief snarked.
“Oh. Okay, the odds are good,” he reasoned. “Those codes you guys were sent to get are only good for a little while so we gotta make use of them before they are reset.”
“That would be good news.” Marlo turned to the ace. “The problem is they have had codes in the past and let them go to waste. Usually, the excuse is they are still building the force up and can’t risk it.”
“We do only have one chance at this,” Chiyo reminded them. “If we lose here, it will take a long time to build up another fleet for a second attempt. That means enough time for Merrick to devise something new to worry about.” She looked down and muttered under her breath, “If he hasn’t already.”
“What was that, friend Chiyo?” Genos asked, but before she could reply, Kaiden gestured ahead.
“There he is.” He leaned forward and noticed two other figures. “With friends too. I don’t see the general.”
“He must be taking care of business.” Raul narrowed his eyes as several large holoscreens opened throughout the room and displayed Sasha’s face.
“A good evening to you all,” he began and took a moment to scan the crowd. “I have come to announce our current situation. I know many of you are ready to take the fight to our enemies in full force, rather than in the small skirmishes that have been our main priority up until now.”
Although no one called out or hollered, the movement of the bodies below showed a general agreement and unease amongst the people gathered. “I know the feeling, and despite knowing you are willing to go into battle, it is always with a heavy heart that one such as myself must announce that it is time. That is why I am here.”
“Called it,” Flynn whispered.
“We will be attacking in two days, starting at 0600 hours,” he announced calmly. The statement caught some off-guard. Although they wanted to strike, mobilizing a large force in such a small amount of time was rather unusual.
“Something has happened,” Chiyo stated and straightened as she focused on the commander.
“We discussed the assault plan before,” he continued. “The majority of our forces would attack the embassy and take the nearby stations to gain a foothold and access the security systems that would allow us a way into the embassy station itself. We would leave a smaller force to defend against any flanking attack from the enemy still stationed here on Earth. That, however, has changed”—he glanced at the man a few paces away from him—“as a result of critical information from Professor Laurie.”
The professor nodded and stepped forward beside the commander. “Due to a discovery by one of our technicians during a mission, we were able to trace an energy signal to the Ark Academy in Russia, the largest stronghold of AO forces here on Earth.” He opened a holoscreen and his massive hologram of the device appeared above the heads of those gathered. “We hoped this was merely a power unit or jump drive the enemy was creating in an attempt to rebuild the colossus. Given that this was the better outcome, it should prepare you for what is to come.”
“Oh no,” Chiyo whispered and covered her mouth with her hand.
“This is, in fact, a bomb—a very, very powerful one. The explosion this would create could destroy anywhere from a fifth to a fourth of the planet. While the aftermath effects aren’t completely known, the initial destruction would be…total, for lack of a better term.” He stepped back and Sasha took center stage once again.
“The force we intended to leave behind will now launch an attack on the Ark Academy and deactivate this bomb. We will go almost all in now, so there will be very few ships and soldiers available in a security capacity.” He nodded at Raza. “The Sauren have offered their aid and they will make up for the ships that were assigned to be a part of the main assault force that will now assist on the Earth mission. Due to the new objectives, we will reassign personnel to other positions according to who will be a part of which force. Fortunately, we’ve been building that list for several weeks and now only need to make a few changes. You should have your orders by the time the night is upon us.”
The commander paused to collect his thoughts and stood tall. “For those who have followed me until now, I know it seems that every time we go into a battle, I make a point of saying how important it is. Please know that it is not simply my way to speechify. We have found ourselves in the largest war in a couple of hundred years and every battle is important. And we have been winning most encounters to this point. With this battle, we could have a chance to end it once and for all. Although I have not given you long to prepare, be ready, give it all you have, and your rest will come with victory.”
The gathered forces nodded. Some clapped and others cheered, but Sasha raised a hand to quiet them. “Save it for the declaration of victory. For now, ready your armor and weapons. Once you receive your assignments, report in and memorize your objectives. Remember what we lost and what we fight for now.” He saluted and the gesture was returned by all present. “Dismissed.”
The group of friends looked at one another. Kaiden nodded to them and walked away without a word. “Where are you going, mate?” Flynn called.
“To the armory to make sure my armor is on rush order,” he stated. “Before everyone else gets there.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Skilz looked out from one of the embassy lobby windows at the forces below. He had decided to tell Farah and Niles, a couple of the other Omega leaders, about the bombs, but kept it a secret from the rest. To be honest, he might have kept it from them as well, but he needed to lighten the burden and they seemed the most likely to keep their mouths shut.
He rested his head against the glass and peered past the ships to the Earth below. For such a large force, only a couple of hundred Omegas were Earthlings and he was one of the few born on the planet. Most had been born on stations, outer colonies, and the like. He hadn’t been back since he’d left as a kid, and now that he had returned, he would help someone who had lived there for most of his life try to rule it.
Admittedly, he might not have held much attachment for his former home, but he had distance. Was this merely a desire for power on Merrick’s part? Or was it a warped version of care? He had asked himself this question ever since he received the first orders but still hadn’t settled it in his mind.
“Hey, Skilz, we have a problem.” He recognized the voice as his lieutenant, Darren. Skilz leaned back, rolled his shoulders, and resisted the urge to make a crack about how the man had no idea how right he was. Instead, he nodded to signal for him to continue. “We have considerable movement from the military bases down there.”
“Which ones?” he questioned.
“All of them,” the man stated and passed him a tablet. “They aren’t trying to be sneaky anymore. Everyone is running around like the world is on fire and we haven’t even reached that stage yet.”
“We knew this moment was coming,” he muttered as he studied the info and pictures on the tablet. “I had hoped we could get a few more mercs and gangs under our colors. The military wasn’t as weakened as we would have liked, and I’m sure they’ve been building night and day since the invasion. This is gonna hurt.”
“The other leaders are getting together. I have the girls and boys in the ships and stations all at the ready, but they’ve been that way for at least a month now,” his lieutenant told him. “I’d estimate that we have five days at most. They aren’t being subtle about this anymore and will come through like a junker with an overheated engine.”
“I doubt we have even that long.” Skilz tossed the tablet to him and hurried past. “Have the others gathered in the usual place?”
“Yeah. They didn’t mention needing to change it,” Darren confirmed and put the tablet away. “I’ll send the engineers and technicians to have a look at the ships. We don’t want another accident like we had earlier.”
The Omega leader halted for a moment as an unexpected thought crept in. “No, an accident would be problematic,” he muttered. “But with a little planning, we could make it work for us.”
“We found juice!” Marlo hollered as he and Luke lugged in two barrels each. “Mack found something too. It could be kinetic bullets or nuts. We haven’t cracked it open.”
“It’s gotta be nuts. There would be more clanging if it was metal,” the vanguard declared as he dropped a mid-sized crate on the floor. “Did you guys scrounge up anything?”
“Yeah. Funnily enough, the cafeteria had a wide selection.” Silas grinned as he speared a piece of meat on his plate.
“You took from the cafeteria?” Luke asked and dropped his barrels onto the ground.
“It’s still open, genius,” Cameron replied, his mouth full. “Did you think they would shut down simply because the big day is tomorrow? Sending troops to fight on empty stomachs wouldn’t end well.”
“I knew that,” the titan countered. “But we were looking for something a little extra. There’s no big gathering this year but we should still celebrate, don’t you think?”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Indre said with a shrug and examined the containers the teammates had brought. “But if those aren’t from the cafeteria, where did you get them?”
“In one of the supply tents near the workshops,” Marlo told her and lowered his barrels carefully.
“Near the workshops?” Janis clarified.
“Okay, his crate might be peanuts,” Izzy said and gestured with her fork. “But are you sure that is juice? You could find yourself drinking fluid or chemicals.”
“It’s labeled juice,” the titan said and turned one of the barrels to show her where Juice had been written on a white label. “It seems like a good sign.”
“It depends on whether an engineer wrote it or not,” Genos pointed out. “We have become quite fond of our personal keywords. Juice could very well mean oil, burner fluid for boosting, or any number of things depending on the person.”
The two heavies looked at one another and Luke shrugged. “Find me something to crack this open with and we’ll find out.”
Kaiden chuckled, finished his meal, and shook his head as he put his plate down. He wasn’t as anxious as he thought he’d be but being around his friends was probably the reason for that. Honestly, he had thought he’d spend the night before the big assault checking his armor and weapons. While he still planned to do that before he turned in for what sleep he could manage, at least he wasn’t alone in a darkened room doing it over and over while his mind dwelled on all the possible outcomes of what lay ahead. That probably wasn’t healthy.
Chiyo tapped him on the shoulder and he turned quickly as she beckoned for him to follow her. He nodded and wondered if he should tell the others he would be back soon but saw most of them were focused on finding things for Luke. The titan tried to pry the lid off the barrel with his hands before he thumped it fruitlessly a few times. With a small smile, he let them be and stood to follow her down the hall and into another room. “What’s up, Chi?”
