Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 276
She walked to the server and took the drive out, placed it in her pouch, and made her way to the ladder. “Genos, I have retrieved the first batch of data files. I’m heading to the next floor now. How are you faring?”
Genos launched another blast from the cannon and a group of five mercs was blown to smithereens or hurled away and into the walls around them. “Chiyo, I am doing well and enjoying myself, I must say.”
“As am I,” Cameron shouted, as he eliminated an enemy sniper off one of the walkways above. “It’s a pity there isn’t another mech around, though. I wouldn’t mind taking one for a spin.”
“That is a good point,” the Tsuna replied and took a moment to survey the area. “I know many are fighting outside the base, but there should be at least a few more mechs in here in case forces such as ourselves gain entry. It is curious that—oh dear.” A flash of light cut his words off seconds before he was catapulted back. Red lights flashed in the cockpit and he noted on the information screen that the mech had taken damage on the left shoulder. “It seems they have finally arrived.”
“Aw, hell,” Cameron muttered and lowered his rifle as two mechs entered the bay. “They look seriously pissed too.”
The engineer manipulated the machine onto its feet and looked through the screen at the two new arrivals that lumbered down the hall side by side. One was equipped with cannons like his and the other was outfitted with a large laser ray on the left arm and a claw on the right.
“These bastards will ruin all the fun,” the bounty hunter protested and sprinted to the left to dodge an incoming blast from one of them. “Do you think you can handle them, Genos?”
“They are not more advanced models, nor do I detect any unique mods or functions,” his teammate noted and prepped his cannons. “It all comes down to who is the better jockey, and I have yet to see an Omega I respect.” He pulled the mech rapidly to the side as a laser blast streaked toward him and nicked the left leg of the mech.
“I can understand why you wouldn’t, but it looks like they don’t respect you either,” Cameron declared and attempted to take shots at the jockey’s canopy. His efforts were hampered by having to constantly shift his focus between them and the other mercs still present and who were focused on him. “Indre, can I get a little help if you’re not too busy?” he yelled before he turned as a merc was thrust off a platform a couple of stories up by one of her drones. “That works. Keep doing that. I have an idea!”
He spun at a loud crash behind him. One of the enemy mechs had taken a blow that destroyed a cannon and had been knocked down, but it regained its feet quickly.
“They keep getting up,” Genos muttered. “It is rather irritating.” A laser struck one of his cannons and was barely affected by the remnants of his shield. He would have to improvise.
With new resolve, he turned his focus to the screen, powered down non-essentials, and funneled the excess power to the shields. He also dropped some of the armor and uncoupled it from the mech in favor of maneuverability. None of the mercs fired explosives or heavy weaponry at him so he needed to focus on the other mechs for now, which meant he needed to dodge rather than take a beating.
“Keep them busy, Genos,” Cameron told him. “I have a plan.”
“I shall do what I can.” The engineer seized another joystick, pushed it up, and activated the rockets on the back to go airborne. These were meant for short hops rather than sustained flight, but it gave him a chance to fire down at the enemy mechs from above. They tried hastily to adjust their aim, but his power had already begun to run low. He cut it as he hovered over a catwalk, landed on it, and crushed it on the way down to take a few other mercs with him in the fall.
“Hey, make sure you aim around the one with the lasers,” the bounty hunter requested. “Go crazy on the other one.”
“Might I ask why—oh.” Genos landed and lunged to the left to avoid another assault. “I think I know why, but please be quick.”
“Stay alive for a couple more minutes and focus on the one with the cannons. I’ll be right back.” With that, his teammate disappeared.
“Understood. Go ahead, friend Cameron,” the Tsuna confirmed as he jerked the sticks to the left to dodge the beam and his mech toppled heavily. He tried to aim the cannons at the approaching enemy, but one of the weapons was caught under the mech’s weight, which meant he could rely on only one.
Calmly, he aimed for the opponent the bounty hunter had asked him to focus on. He hoped the plan would work and more importantly, that it would work quickly. His shot struck the left leg of his target and the machine toppled noisily. It was down but not out, however.
“That should buy me some time,” Genos stated briskly but immediately noticed the other enemy begin to fire. “Oh, dear.”
With no other options, he activated what remained of the boost and skidded across the floor, trailed by the laser ray from the hostile. He drove into a wall, which forced the mech upright but thunked his head into the side of the cockpit. His vision blurred and his head pounded but he grasped the controls and tried to aim at the last adversary. It seemed Cameron’s plan wouldn’t work as planned.
The viewscreen illuminated as his barrier was impacted by a blast powerful enough to hurl him into the wall. He recovered and glowered at the adversary that now faced him squarely. “You bastards are real killjoys, you know that?” He growled as he tried to move the mech upright.
The enemy marched forward as its laser charged. Genos began to wonder if he should eject. Given the circumstances, though, he had little confidence in the odds of being effective without the machine.
As his determined assailant aimed at his cockpit, the bright light almost blinded him through the screen and he narrowed his eyes to remain focused. Air issued from the sides of the door, it flung open, and the jockey inside was confused when Cameron ran to the top of the machine. He vaulted down, caught hold of the merc, and flung him out as he slid into his place. Without the slightest indication of hesitation, he grasped the sticks, turned the weapon to the other mech that had now found its feet, and fired.
The stunned Tsuna gaped as the hatch closed and his teammate gave him a thumbs-up. The mech lurched into motion and crushed the previous pilot as it walked forward. It extended its claw to help the engineer back to his feet.
“That was a little close, wasn’t it?” the bounty hunter declared when he appeared in the viewing monitor.
“I was not aware you had talents in mech jockey,” Genos responded, still a little shaken.
“I don’t—only one, which is enough to pilot basic models,” his friend explained. “The rest is what I picked up from my dad and uncle. They’ve had to learn how to be tricky and didn’t have Animus training before they became bounty hunters.”
The engineer nodded. “You take after them well, friend Cameron.”
His teammate chuckled. “I’ve learned some neat things, I guess, but honestly, that’s kind of a mixed compliment.”
“So we have two mechs now, huh?” Indre asked and peered at them from above, her drones hovering close. “In that case, I’ll meet up with Chiyo and help her.”
“It sounds good,” Cameron acknowledged. “Kaiden would probably be pissed if anything happened to her.”
“Certainly more so than if something happened to you,” the infiltrator quipped.
Cameron rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“How are you doing so far, friend Chiyo?” Genos asked as he checked his weapons and ran a diagnostic test on the mech to see if anything was badly damaged.
“I’m almost finished with the second server. I’ll head to the third one right away. You should begin to make your way to the lab. My guess is that most of the heavy guard will be posted in that direction, and we’ll still need a distraction.”
“We’re on our way,” the bounty hunter acknowledged and began to walk the mech to a service elevator at the end of the bay.
“I’ve hacked into their cameras and there is a large group of mercenaries converging on you from all points in the building. Given the damage you’ve dealt them and how many are still in combat with our teams outside and in front of the stronghold, I would say these are whatever is left of their forces.”
“A hundred and seventy-seven units remaining by my count,” Kaitō confirmed. “Primarily droids and ark soldiers as most of the Omegas are engaged in the other battles.”
“You didn’t happen to see any other mechs did you?” Cameron asked.
“At least you learn eventually.” Indre laughed.
“I did not, although we are only working with a partial map and IDs. There may be some guarding the bomb,” the fox EI responded.
“Then I guess we should get a move on.” The bounty hunter resumed his walk to the elevator.
“I have your location, Chi. I’ll meet you in the vents,” Indre stated as one of her drones cut through a grating. When it fell, the mechanical folded and landed in her pack as she fired a line to the shaft and hoisted herself up.
Genos followed Cameron past the destroyed mechs and bodies of Ark soldiers. He thought it a pity that they ended up like this, merely puppets for another’s personal vendetta. At the same time, he knew there would be someone out there who would want to remind him he was a Tsuna fighting for a race that was not his own. While that was true, he was on this planet with no way home until the war was over. The main difference was that he was fighting for his friends.
While it might be something the Ark soldiers were doing as well, they unfortunately had the wrong friends.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The merc was about to release the trigger on his pistol when both he and Kaiden were knocked away by something that made impact with the ship. The ace recovered quickly, rolled along the floor, and managed to stop himself when he knelt and planted his foot for stability. He looked up as he charged Sire. Two more mercs rushed out of the pod and turned to fire but took a short volley in their backs from Silas and Raul. He fired the charged shot from Sire at the first merc. The blast caught him squarely in his chest and he careened down the hall while pieces of his armor fell from his body.
More mercs and Ark soldiers raced up the hall. He fired quick shots from Sire at them and delivered two into the shoulder of one of the approaching enemies. One of the Omegas scrambled out of the way and shoved an injured soldier into Kaiden’s path. The ace grimaced and fired a few more shots into the oncoming group as Silas and Jaxon joined him before he twisted to target the escaping grunt. The shot barely missed and drilled into the wall as the man turned the corner. While the discharge knocked the fugitive into the wall opposite him, he simply bounced off and continued his retreat.
“Dammit.” Kaiden grunted and wondered briefly if he should pursue him before another eruption rocked the dreadnaught. He stumbled and leaned against the wall to balance himself. “Chief, do you have any idea what is going on?”
“It might not be obvious to you, but the ship is under attack,” the EI responded,
“I can see that.” Kaiden growled. “I mean what is the situation? Are we still on course for the station?
“I can’t tell unless you can get me into an observation system or console to boost my scanner. Everything is muddled between the various energy outputs of the ship and whatever the hell is outside. The only thing I can say is that I’m picking up multiple readings but nothing too big. My guess is there might be a team of fighters and bombers or something similar out there.”
“Trying to take on an assault ship with a handful of fighters? That’s goddamn stupid.” Kaiden thumped his hand against the wall in frustration and looked at his teammates. “I guess I’ll have to find a window to see what’s going on but first, let’s make sure no one will blow this bastard up while we’re still on it.”
“Why haven’t the defenses activated?” Jaxon asked and studied the ceiling. “No turrets or blast doors are working and the alarm didn’t even sound. Only the captain let us know what had happened.”
“The enemy has used jamming devices all this time,” Chief explained. “They probably still have some but they aren’t the strongest—at least, they aren’t affecting me.”
“Small miracles.” Kaiden sighed as he considered the possibilities. “Do you think you can get them going if we can get you into the systems?”
“I’ll try but whatever they are doing is targeting specific systems so it’ll probably be more of a pain than it’s worth. I still say they can’t be that powerful, though, given that they haven’t tried to shut down the ship’s oxygen systems, artificial gravity, or core.”
“Not yet, at least,” Silas interjected as he double-checked his helmet to make sure it was secure.
The ace winced at a bright flash from the corner of his visor and immediately noticed a fire forming on the other side of the hall. Whatever was attacking them gave the ship hell, and quickly too. He tried to think what was best to do because they were well and truly in the thick of it now. They needed to deal with the enemies on the ship, for one thing. If they made it to the station, why bring more hostiles with them?
Were their orders simply to destroy the vessel? They would probably try to blow the core up, something that worked well judging by all the times he had done it. He looked at the pod. They wouldn’t escape in those, so would they try using their escape pods? He looked at his team, most of them ready to go or waiting for another pod to break through. He turned to them. “All right, we have to—"
The next blast didn’t come from the ship itself but from behind him. He whirled with Sire drawn but lowered it and breathed a sigh of relief. Mack stood in the doorway with the doors in a heap ahead of him.
“It’s good to see you’re all right, Kai—damn, what happened here?” the vanguard asked. Julius and Otto pushed through from behind, the latter with an SMG and Julius holding a pistol with some kind of dark liquid in the chamber.
“The same thing that’s happening everywhere on the ship right now.” Kaiden pointed Sire at the pods. “Is everything all right on the other side?”
“We had only a few Omegas on our end. Most of the WC soldiers were already dealing with them and we simply helped to clean up,” Julius explained and checked the group for injuries.
“I’ve picked up some interference,” Otto said and opened a holoscreen that was completely blank. “I assume you’ve noticed it as well.”
“Yeah, no internal defenses or alarms was the tip-off,” Silas replied. “Chief thinks it’s another jammer but weaker than the big-ass one Kaiden encountered before.”
“Or not close enough.” the hacker pointed out.
“It’s blocking some of the doors as well.” Julius pointed to the now battered doors on the floor. “Mack didn’t do that because he felt like it. They wouldn’t budge even though we all have access.”
“I have over a dozen uses, but battering ram is one of the most fun ones.” The vanguard chuckled. “But now we have a few moments to breathe, I guess we can look around and come up with a plan?”
“I can’t get any readings on the other ships without a connection. We need to get to the bridge and see what is going on,” Otto suggested.
“That would be helpful, but I’m sure the enemy is here to destroy this ship, not commandeer it,” Jaxon stated.
“It wouldn’t be smart to demolish your ship unless that is the plan,” Raul agreed.
Kaiden looked at each of his team members. “We have enough people to check both. My feeling is that if they are trying to destroy the ship from the inside, it means they won’t fire on us that heavily. It’s a bonus in some ways, but they are probably targeting the core.”
“It’s a safe bet.” Silas nodded and paused with a frown. “Technically, I guess not—would they honestly blow themselves up along with us?”
“They don’t exactly strike me as zealots—or not the Omegas, at least. Who knows about those Ark guys?” Kaiden held his hand to his helmet. “Chief, are you there? I need a map of the ship.”
“Yeah, yeah…give me….” The reply hissed with static.
“Dammit, is it the jammer?” Kaiden asked, awaiting the evitable headache, but nothing came.
“It’s definitely similar but weaker, like I said. I think the technician is right. It and a few others are probably stored on different ships. As we move through the battle, the waves will most likely come and go. I should be fine and was only disrupted because I felt three different waves. But it gives me an idea of how to block them.”
“All right, let’s hear it.”
“Send me with Otto. He wanted to go to the bridge,” Chief suggested. “I’ll get your map first.”
It appeared on Kaiden’s HUD and he minimized it quickly and looked at the hacker. “Do you have a spare tablet or EI pad?”
Otto nodded and tapped a circular device on his waist. The ace cast Chief into it and focused on his teammate. “Take him to the bridge. He says he might have a way to deal with the jammers. Julius should accompany you. The rest of us will head to the core in case my hunch is correct.”
“Incoming,” Silas shouted and Kaiden spun as a group of Ark soldiers marched toward them. One held what appeared to be a cannon, already charged and aimed directly at the group, and he fired almost immediately.
Mack formed a shield hastily and blocked the attack. The soldiers continued to fire as the ace pointed behind him to order Otto and Julius to leave. The technician and biologist headed quickly toward the bridge while Mack reinforced the shield to form a wall. He poured more energy into the barrier and it sparked and solidified like it had at the terminal. When he was satisfied, he shoved it forward and drove it into the squad as it connected to the wall in the distance and shattered.
