Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 283
“Understood,” Chiyo said. “Assuming we have the advantage and now that the bomb is dealt with, they’ll probably send small teams to join the main force.”
“Still, there’s a fair number of scraps and enemies along the way here. You’d better make sure you’re in fast and agile ships unless you want to be drawn into it,” the EI warned. “I gotta go. Your boyfriend found out how to manually control the cannons so I have to make sure he doesn’t go hog-wild and drain the station’s power or cause any damage to friendly forces.”
“Boyfriend?” she whispered and chuckled softly. “I suppose so. Tell him I hope we’ll see each other soon.”
“I’m on it. Be safe until then.” He dropped out of the link.
As she took a moment to breathe, a ruckus at the doors of the lab heralded a group of soldiers who raced in with Luke in the front. “We’re here. Point us at them,” he roared before reality clicked in and he noticed the only remaining soldiers were friendlies. He sighed, planted his hammer, and rubbed his helmet. “Shit, I take it we missed it?”
“You did.” Indre twirled her gun as two military soldiers took the lead technician away. “But all things considered, that wasn’t a bad thing.”
“The bomb has been taken care of, but there are still more enemies to deal with,” Chiyo pointed out as she crossed to her teammates, followed by Genos, Cameron, Marlo, and Indre. “And we can begin prepping ships to take us to the main assault force. Do you care to join me?”
The titan looked at the military officer, who nodded. “I’ll get on the link with the other officers and captains. We’ll get ships ready,” he replied. “Head to extraction, but you might wanna run some quick repairs first.”
Luke holstered his hammer onto his back and saluted. “Yes, sir. I’ll try to find someone to take a look.” He turned and followed Chiyo out of the lab. “But I ain’t missing my flight.”
“I wonder what happened to the other infiltration teams,” Genos said thoughtfully. “I have not heard from them.”
“I checked in,” Indre responded and took her tablet out. “They were a little sidetracked, but they’ve put considerable work in.” She tossed the device to Genos, who looked at the screen with Cameron and Marlo peering over his shoulder to see the feed from outside the stronghold. Animus droids attacked Omega and Ark soldiers and automated turrets fired on enemy vehicles.
“I see.” Genos passed it to the agent again. “It has been quite a productive day hasn’t it?”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Targets marked,” one of the Resistance marksmen reported. “Ready for takedown.”
“Do it,” Sasha ordered. He and several other soldiers turned the corner and fired no more than two shots apiece to annihilate an approaching group of Omegas and droids. “Well done. Move in.”
“Commander, this is Blue Leader,” a voice announced over the commlink. “We’re in position at the rear of the central station and are heading in.”
“Roger. We’re approaching the front entry,” he responded. “We will breach momentarily.”
“Yellow Leader here,” another officer interjected. “We’ve reached our destination and are ready to come down on your mark.”
“We may want to get this wrapped up fast,” Blue Leader told them. “We’ve received reports that Icarus is already under our control so we’re lagging now.”
“I’ve kept an eye on the situation,” Sasha replied and motioned for the two demolitionists in his team to prepare the explosives for the door. “Icarus is currently under our control, but they still have more hostiles to contend with than we do.” His men placed the breaching charges on the door with quiet efficiency. “The race is still on. We are prepared to breach. Yellow, the explosion will be your signal. Blue, flank and help us eliminate any remaining targets in the room. We’ll have Xuanzang under our control momentarily.”
“Roger,” Blue Leader acknowledged.
“We’re waiting for the boom,” Yellow confirmed.
Sasha gestured for his team to back away and let Isaac scan the room, mark targets, and send them to his soldiers’ HUDs. Once that was done, he nodded to the demolitionists who each pressed buttons on their gauntlets to activate the charges and blow the doors. The team proceeded rapidly into the central chamber.
Quick, precise shots felled enemy troops and droids before most could aim sufficiently to fire on them. A team of twelve military soldiers dropped from above and most landed on Omegas as they joined the fray. The doors to the back entrance opened and a small unit of Arbiter droids attempted to assist their masters but were mown down when Blue Team approached from behind.
“Sandra, Collen, with me,” Sasha ordered as they hurried to the control room “Techies, follow us. Let us take this station from the enemy.”
Merrick scowled at the battle that raged for miles in front of the embassy. He still had a large line of defense, but he had already lost control of Icarus. It was prudent to believe that Xuanzang was not far behind. He looked at the shimmer on the outside of the window of his office. With control of both those stations, they could force the shields down, an emergency contingency they had in place in case the embassy was taken. He had to admit, despite how little he thought of their leadership, the former world council were annoyingly practical in other areas—or simply cleverly paranoid.
The bomb was gone now as well, and they had access to the gates, or at least one of them. Fortunately, it didn’t seem they could use it to bring anything through yet, only send things away. This meant they could not gather any reinforcements still caught in deep space for now. All his plans, conceived and prepared over many years, had been countered by strategies concocted in a matter of months or even days. This whole preposterous war should anger him, but a piece of him was relieved and even proud. What was it? Perhaps, even if he lost this day, humanity could be prepared to face the oncoming destruction he foresaw?
It would still be his doing. This was humanity improved by having to live a life based on its own decisions, not ruled from on high by a council of uncompassionate and meek leaders who would rather hide their faults than admit to them and improve. He had revealed their faults, and those who remained saw them and took control of the world for themselves. It was merely a pity they saw the same faults in him because it showed that they were, in part, still blind.
He walked to a large capsule and turned the dial on the front to open it. A set of armor rested inside, one he had commissioned over a year before. He was prepared as well, although he had not thought he would have to don it for defensive reasons. It was silver with glowing white lines through the chest and arms and included a helmet with a darkened visor and protruding rivets at the top, akin to a crown. He had hoped to wear this as his battle armor for when he led his armies to show the people he would not simply hide behind the lives of others. His purpose was to lead them and fight alongside them.
He would prove that now but under less heroic actions. But as he went through his remaining options, a dark thought took hold. If they wanted him to be a villain, he might have to play to that to be victorious.
“Skilz,” one of the Omega lieutenants said tentatively and turned in his chair to look the Omega leader in the eye. “Harken’s dreadnaught—it’s gone.”
“What? Were there complications with the jammers?” he demanded.
The lieutenant shook his head “No, gone—as in it blew up.” The leader’s face fell and his eyes widened. “The military took control of Icarus, powered the cannons, and obliterated the ship while he attempted to rush the blockade. That makes three dreadnaughts lost so far.”
“Dammit to hell!” he cursed and thumped his fist on the holomap table. “We won’t sit here anymore. Gather all surrounding assault ships and destroyers. We’ll head in.”
“But we’re the front guard,” one of the other lieutenants countered. “We can’t simply leave. Besides, we haven’t finished checking the ship to see if it has the same problem as the one that blew up the other—”
“Don’t worry about it,” he snapped. “He wouldn’t do anything to us right now because he’s still crazy enough to think he’ll win this.”
His muttering earned him confused looks from most of the crew around him. “What are you talking about?”
He looked up and waved them off. “Like I said, don’t worry about it.” He walked to the captain’s chair, sat, and folded his arms. “Now, get moving. I’m not gonna sit here and be that bastard’s shield. We’ll handle this like Omegas, got it?”
The crew nodded and some shouted and hollered in approval as orders were sent out. He looked at one of the screens that displayed the embassy and a part of him realized it might be one of the last things he ever saw. Hopefully, seeing him disobey his orders would be one of the last things Merrick ever saw.
“A dropship is waiting for us,” Flynn reminded his team. “Let’s get a move on.”
“We’re already running,” Cameron retorted as they raced up the stairs. The marksman was the first to reach the balcony and the side door to the dropship opened as soon as he appeared. The others filed in one at a time and a few military soldiers joined them.
“Come on, now,” the pilot remonstrated sharply. “We might be winning this but there’s still danger around so no loitering.”
“We’re in,” Luke shouted and slammed the door. “Let’s head out.”
The man nodded, engaged the thrusters, and flew out of the stronghold’s perimeter. “Nice work in there,” he complimented. “Disabling those automated turrets made this an easy pick-up.”
“That was the other team,” Chiyo replied. “But I’ll send your compliments.”
“How long will it take to reach the station in this dingy?” Marlo asked as he set his cannon on the seat beside him.
“Are you kidding? This is a Thunderbird dropship, made for quick extractions and drop-offs, not long-range travel,” the pilot protested and pointed to the horizon. “I’ll take you to a destroyer. You’ll be able to run repairs and rearm yourselves before you head out from there.”
“A destroyer?” Indre asked. “Can we afford to take one out of the fight?”
“If we can afford to take six of them out along with assaults and corsairs, I think one is fine.” The pilot chuckled.
The soldiers looked at one another in real interest. “Is the sky battle going that good?”
“It was hardly a battle,” the man explained. “The initial barrage when we arrived dealt with most of their bigger ships. I think most of their space superiority came from the embassy or other bases. They weren’t prepared for an assault of this caliber from us, especially so suddenly.”
“There still appears to be some skirmishing,” Genos noted and peered out the window at dogfights between fighter ships in the distance and a group of Ark ships engaged in battle with military destroyers and assault ships.
“I didn’t say these guys were smart,” the pilot quipped.
Chiyo turned her attention to the combat outside the ship. “It could be they are more afraid of what will happen if they surrender.”
“Given what happened to the scientists after the raid on their facility last year,” the Tsuna added, “I can say… Well, it is unsettling, although I would imagine all their options lead to death.”
“I’d rather die fighting,” Cameron muttered and folded his arms. “I may hate these guys’ guts, but I can understand that at least.”
“They could be under mind control,” Flynn pointed out with a grimace. “I guess it’s no use thinking about it. We have a mission to finish.”
“A war to finish,” Amber corrected.
“That’s right.” Luke nodded. “So the sooner we get there, the sooner we can help bring this to an end.” He knocked on the top of the dropship a few times. “So let’s get to the destroyer already. My hammer is getting cold.”
“Does that matter much?” Marlo asked.
The titan shrugged. “You know what I mean.”
“You’re certainly a feisty team.” The pilot laughed. “Hold on, we’re heading in.”
Raza and Ken’ra looked up as Lok entered the war room and bowed. “War Chief, the hunters we sent ahead have reported success in their battles. One of the stations is under Resistance control and the other should be taken shortly.”
“What are the losses?” Raza asked and stood to his full height.
“They are minimal. A few warriors lost their lives in the fighting, but we had a larger force perish in the destruction of an enemy ship. They were caught on board when it was destroyed from within.”
He nodded solemnly. “They will be honored when we return. Make sure their names are remembered.”
“Of course, War Chief.” Lok straightened. “However, the hunters and warriors aboard are growing restless. We have yet to unleash our full might upon the enemy.”
“I know,” he muttered and paced slowly. “The fighting is too spread out for a coordinated assault right now. I had hoped we would be assaulting the embassy by now and could unleash the full might of our forces.”
“What about the power of the vessel?” Ken’ra suggested. “This ship holds more than any ship we have seen amongst the enemy forces.”
“I agree once again. However, we were not able to calibrate the weapons systems properly before departure,” Raza pointed out. “It would be a large drain on our resources if we used the main cannon for more than two shots. As a result, we should focus on gaining the maximum impact and get the best use out of our weapons rather than simply fire them out of boredom.”
“War Chief!” a pilot called from the bridge. “We have enemies approaching, sir.”
“How many?” he asked as his two chiefs moved to stand at his side.
“A group of eleven vessels, sir. They seem to have broken off from the defensive line in front of the embassy. From their visual course, they seem to be heading toward one of the stations and will no doubt attempt to strike where the military blockade is weakest.”
“I see,” he muttered and looked at Lok and Ken’ra. “Engage them. We now have an opportunity to properly honor our new ship with the blood of our prey.” Raza stretched to retrieve his ceremonial helmet from the table and donned it calmly. “And give our hunters another chance for glory and trophies.”
Chapter Forty
Sasha pounded his boot on the head of a fallen droid. “Technicians, get in there and take control,” he ordered and the four of them in his team hurried into the central control room of Xuanzang. “I want this station under military command in ten minutes or less.”
“Yes, sir!” they called in unison, cast their EIs into the station, and set to work. He stepped out of the room and studied the situation. The other soldiers in his team as well as teams Blue and Yellow swept the area to eliminate any remaining threats and make sure no new ones got through.
Those who had accompanied him walked beside him. “Take positions here,” he ordered and pointed at the doorway. “I’ll go to check in.”
“Sir.” Both nodded and stood guard as he walked away.
“Isaac, open channels to Red, Green, and Purple teams,” he instructed as he left the central chamber.
“At once, sir. Channels are open and ready.”
“This is Commander Sasha. How has the recovery of the civilians progressed?” he asked briskly.
“This is Red Leader. We’ve reached one of the entrances to the underside of the station,” a man reported. “It’s been a hell of a time breaking in and I have a couple of techies giving it their best, but it may be under a lockdown code. If so, there’s not much we can do from here.”
“This is Purple Leader,” another officer announced. “We’re closing in and are about five hundred yards off. There are guards on standby but we’re dealing with them no problem.”
“Green here and our sitrep is much the same as Purple, but we have more internal defenses,” a woman stated. “Nothing we can’t handle—turrets and reprogrammed security droids—but they are dotted all along the halls and hinder our progress. Still, we should be at the doors within ten minutes.”
“Understood. We’ve taken control of the central station and should have access to security measures within ten minutes. We’ll get those doors unlocked once we do,” Sasha assured them. He peered around a corner to where a military titan pierced an advanced Arbiter droid with a large blade.
“Commander, we have approaching enemy ships,” one of the captains of the blockade declared.
“How many and where?” he demanded.
“It looks like eleven—a mixture of assault ships and destroyers. The indications are they broke off from the main force in front of the embassy and are coming from the rear. We’re less defended here and the front of the blockade has to remain steadfast as they are still dealing with strikes.”
“Other vessels should be nearby. Send a call for help,” he suggested.
“Most are currently engaged in combat. A few responded but were intercepted on the way. Xuanzang is not as heavily fitted with weaponry as Icarus, but once you have control, please prepare them for— Hold on, something is coming…it’s the Sauren ship!”
“Raza?” the commander queried. “Open a connection to your feed.”
“Certainly,” the captain replied. Sasha opened a small screen in his HUD and while he made sure to keep track of his surroundings, he watched the large Sauren ship fly in front of the blockade. The front of the vessel glowed.
“They are powering their main cannon,” he noted and immediately wondered what kind of firepower they had on board. Sauren weren’t known for that. Their hunting ability and ground troops made most fear them as adversaries. They were hunters and warriors but weren’t space combatants unless it came to raiding ships. Surprisingly, it fired its main cannon and a stream of white energy sliced through several of the enemy craft in a single streak. Several smaller ships left the main vessel and turned toward the remaining Omegas as they quickly changed course.
