Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 287
Sasha shrugged as he aimed his weapon at the door. “It’s fine. Can you make guesses as to what is inside?”
“I can only confirm the CPO’s words. There are people inside and no indication of weaponry or armor.” As the EI spoke, the terminal glowed green. “Doors unlocked and opening.”
They slid open and the team entered. Ten occupants were present, eight humans and two Tsuna, all backed against the far corner of the room.
“Are you here to finish it?” one of them asked, a woman with tanned skin and long black hair with a few silver streaks. She looked drawn and unkempt from her time in captivity. Sasha recognized her as one of the delegates representing the UK.
“Amoli Harris?” he asked. She studied him cautiously but nodded slowly.
“They aren’t dressed in Omega colors,” one of the Tsuna representatives told the others. “Are you the military?”
Sasha nodded, lowered his rifle, and motioned for the others to do the same. “We are. Do you know if there are others?”
“There might be,” Amoli stated. “They separated us about a month ago, but they’ve…made examples of us since the takeover. I do not know who remains.”
“Then we need to press on.” He activated his comms. “I’ll see if we can get a shuttle to rescue you for now.” He pointed to two of the soldiers in his unit. “Stay with them. We need to see if we can find the others if there are any.”
“On it, sir!” They saluted and he sent a message to all shuttle pilots and ship commanders in range about a possible pickup as they returned to the meeting hall. Hope remained that there would still be more to save.
A squad of four Omega soldiers jogged down the hall, flanked by six Arbiter droids. They had been commanded to break away from the fighting and report to the core room, but the purpose of the order was still unknown. A large blast rumbled behind them. One caught a green flash as he spun to see the droids had been blown apart. He uttered a yell as he pointed up before he and the soldier next to him were crushed underfoot by Raza who plunged through the ceiling above. The other two raised their weapons quickly to fire, but the Sauren snatched the barrels of the guns to draw them closer, released them, and sank his claws into their throats. As if to punctuate the attack, he pounded their heads together before he tossed them aside.
Kaiden leapt down behind him and patted the War Chief on the back as he walked past. “Nice work.”
Raza snorted and nodded as he walked over the bodies. “Are we close?”
“It should be down this hall—right, Chief?” he asked.
The EI popped up in front of them and bobbed up and down. “Yeah, I’m still picking up a growing energy reading but it’s not being funneled anywhere that I can tell. It’s more like quick spikes.”
“Is that odd?” the Sauren asked and the two teammates increased their pace as they ran down the hall.
“From the core, yeah. The shield should equalize any power fluxes and I shouldn’t detect anything to begin with. That’s why I thought we should take a look.”
“So maybe that run on the dreadnaught was a warm-up, huh?” Kaiden asked.
Raza bared his teeth. “I only hope there is another worthy adversary. I do not wish to have abandoned the battle for nothing more than suspicion.”
“Like I promised, we can hunt Merrick when we’re finished here,” the ace reminded him and focused on the way ahead. “Do you smell anything?”
“I smell nothing, which is odd,” Raza told him.
“Why’s that? Doesn’t that simply mean there’s nothing around?”
“But there is. I smell the machines down the hall and the scent of the embassy itself I have yet to acclimate to. But there is this…blankness amongst it all.” The War Chief sounded perplexed. “I believe something is awaiting us.”
Kaiden hefted Sire and patted Debonaire with his free hand. “I’m not sure what a ‘blankness’ is, but let’s be ready.” They proceeded a little more cautiously to the end of the hall, where two large doors barred their way. He pointed to the access terminal. “Get on it, Chief.”
The EI’s avatar vanished and reappeared in the terminal. “Uh…it ain’t locked, partner.”
“Well, that’s a nice change of pace. Open it, then.”
“There is an emergency warning,” Chief stated as escaped air hissed from the doors followed by a loud mechanical chugging and they began to separate. “Something is going on.”
“Yeah, a battle in the embassy,” Kaiden snarked and stepped closer to the entrance.
“Not only that, idiot, inside the—look out!” A flash of white blazed inside the chamber and his eyes widened when an arc of white energy rocketed toward him. Raza grasped his shoulder and hauled him clear before both stepped to the side. The arc seared into the metal floor of the hall, burnt into it for several yards, and left a hot orange and red mark.
“The core’s shield is down!” Chief yelped as he appeared in the HUD. “That’s not good!”
“Can you fix it?” the ace asked as he and Raza peered into the room when the doors opened fully. The large white core flowed brightly and several more beams and shocks struck the large walls and ceiling of the circular chamber.
“If you get me into the main console, I should be able to get the shields up again. That won’t stop it entirely but it will contain it while I—” Chief was interrupted by a jarring crash that seemed to fill the room. One of three large pillars—that had previously glowed—went dark and the upper half slid and collided with the bottom half.
“What was that?” he demanded.
“That’s part of the balancing grid,” the EI explained. “It’s what keeps the core from going nova. Someone is deactivating it.”
“Dammit, where are they? The security station? Maintenance?” Even without answers, he began to stride away from the chamber.
“The only way that can be done is manually. Whoever is doing it is in there, Kaiden!” Chief insisted.
“Then we need to find him, Raza.” He turned to the War Chief, but the Sauren did not look at him and instead, stared at the stairs that lead to a curved walkway that circled the core. His focus made the ace look more closely. It appeared they wouldn’t have to search for the perpetrator. A figure walked from behind the pillar to the top of the stairs, dressed in elaborate armor—and certainly not anything he had seen among the Omega—and stared at the two of them. The sloped visor on the helmet didn’t slide back or open. It appeared to simply disperse to reveal a man with tanned skin and silver eyes who regarded them with a knowing look that included annoyance.
It was that knowing look, as he shifted his gaze from Raza to Kaiden, which made the ace realize who this was. “Chief, send out a message,” he said and aimed his weapon. “We’ve found Merrick.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
“Of course it would be you.” Merrick growled an inaudible curse and his gaze turned to a glare at the sight of Kaiden. “The curiosity that became more than it was worth.”
“Have you seen this cur before, Kaiden?” Raza asked as he drew his blade.
“I haven’t, but for a while, he and his buddies were watching me,” he explained and charged a shot. “They wanted Chief.”
“We wanted one of Laurie’s specialized EIs. Yours would have sufficed,” the AO leader stated coldly and descended a few steps. “You could have been a part of the solution, boy, if however small—”
“Yeah, I’ve heard enough of your ‘solution,’” he snapped and fired a charged shot directly at his target. The man raised a hand with the palm facing outward. It connected but without the expected result and caught both Kaiden and Raza off guard.
Merrick raised his arm and some kind of shield or energy surrounded the blast. “You are so temperamental. How you’ve survived this long baffles me.”
“I’m not gonna let this asshole run his mouth,” the ace muttered and aimed again. “Let’s see how many of these he can take.” He fired several smaller shots and although his adversary hardly moved, he was still able to dodge most of them. The two that did strike simply sparked against his armor’s shields. The man moved his arm back and cast it forward, and the charged shot hurtled toward him as both he and Raza leapt out of the way of the explosion.
Kaiden rolled along the ground and vented his rifle as Raza roared. He looked up when the War Chief attacked the AO leader, who had now descended the stairs. The Sauren lunged at his prey with his blade held aloft. Merrick’s visor reassembled itself and he raised a leg and folded it in. Was he insane? Did he think he could kick a Sauren away who weighed close to a thousand pounds?
The man lashed out with the limb and caught Raza in the chest. The Sauren’s leap was halted and, in fact, he was knocked back. He landed heavily and slid until he was stopped by a wall. The ace’s eyes widened at the display. “No way,” he muttered. “He must have some kind of mod or mechanical appendages that let him—”
“I do have mods,” his adversary stated as he approached slowly and with infuriating calm. “But my strength? That is my power alone.” He held his right arm up and a long blade released from his gauntlet. “It is a power gifted to me by the so-called leaders of my species.” His pace quickened as he drew his arm back and prepared to run Kaiden through. “And all this has merely been my way to return what they gave me.”
The ace slammed Sire’s vent shut, aimed at his attacker, and pulled the trigger to fire a point-blank shot as the man descended upon him.
“We found another group, sir,” the raider reported. “It’s smaller than the last, though.”
“It’s something,” Sasha reassured him. “I’ve had reports from other teams and they have found small groups of other delegates and employees. It appears any military and security forces on board were among the first to be disposed of.”
The other man simply nodded solemnly. “Have we had any luck with an evac?”
“They are putting a team together. We should round up who we have and move to a pick-up area. There’s one nearby in the next section and there shouldn’t be many hostiles along the way. Most have joined the main fight.”
“On it, sir.” The raider nodded and returned to the office where he and the team had found more hostages.
Sasha began to continue his search when a message popped into his HUD from Kaiden.
Found Merrick.
All of his training and ability to keep calm under pressure could not stop his heart from racing. “Isaac, send a message to the team that they must take the hostages to extraction. Connect them with the shuttle team,” he ordered and fixed a lock on Kaiden’s position. “I am needed elsewhere.”
“Good Lord, are there enough of these guys?” Luke asked rhetorically as he swung his hammer into two droids and drove them into a wall.
“I thought you were looking forward to this,” Marlo replied and fired his massive cannon at an Arbiter Prime to shatter its chest.
Two droids fell, deactivated by Chiyo, who immediately took her SMG out and fired at an Ark sniper who attempted to poke his head around the corner. He was smoked out by two of Indre’s drones and a set of spikes launched by one drilled into his visor.
“We need to—” Chiyo was interrupted by Kaiden’s message and her eyes widened. “It’s Kaiden. I need to go.”
“What? Where?” Luke asked and a noticeable pause indicated that they had all received the message. “Go, we’ll hold them off.”
Genos ran to her. “I am going with you,” he said firmly. She merely nodded and they sprinted away while the rest of the team beat back the combined assault of Omega and AO forces.
Kaiden groaned as he forced himself up. His blast had created a sufficiently large explosion, but did it do any damage? He narrowed his eyes and peered into the smoke where a red glow indicated that his opponent’s blade remained on course. While he couldn’t be sure that the answer was no damage at all, even if he had managed to inflict some, it wasn’t enough. He aimed what he believed to be Merrick’s chest before he wondered if the man would try to catch his attack again. Something streaked toward him from inside the smoke and thankfully, he saw it in time to step to the side. A spike pierced the floor and would have gone through his knee if he hadn’t reacted.
“Kaiden, explosive—move!” Chief warned as the top of the spike began to emit a red light. He dove to the side seconds before the explosion detonated and Merrick attempted another leap at him with his blade at the ready. The ace activated his armor’s jets in an attempt to fly back and gain some distance, but the man caught his leg and held him in place, even when he increased the power to his jets. How strong was he?
The AO leader prepared to slice through his captive’s leg. Kaiden deactivated the jets quickly and let himself fall as he drew Debonair. He fired several shots at the man’s helmet. One was able to burn the visor, which forced Merrick to position the blade close to his head to block the blasts. The ace rocked himself forward as he drew his blade and stabbed his opponent’s hand. This finally forced him to release him, and Kaiden rolled away and holstered Debonair as he charged a shot in Sire.
His adversary removed the blade from his hand and when he saw the Resistance soldier was ready, he aimed his left gauntlet at the weapon and launched another explosive spike that pierced the barrel of the rifle. Kaiden immediately realized what was about to happen and hurled the weapon at the man, who raised a hand and created a shield seconds before the explosive spike and collected energy in the weapon generated a large explosion.
The ace checked his arsenal. He had Debonair, a few thermals and shocks, and a spare blade on his belt—not the best position to be in. “Chief, get inside Debonair and reconfigure it for heavy fire.”
“You’ll overheat the weapon in a few shots,” Chief warned him.
“I think we’ve at least seen that normal shots don’t do that much to him. I’ll worry about that on my own time.” He drew the pistol again and readied himself for another encounter. Merrick never came, however, and when the smoke cleared, he was gone. Both confused and disturbed, he held the pistol up and scanned the room carefully. Where the hell could he have gone? They were in an open section of the chamber and there weren’t many places he could hide. A memory flashed in his head of Gin and his stealth generator. Shit. “Chief, scan for—”
“Behind us!” the EI yelled and Kaiden whirled as the man reappeared and his blade moved closer. A lance soared past the ace’s head, buried itself into his assailant’s shoulder, and drew a pained growl from him. He fired two shots from Debonair. The beams were larger but more compact, and his adversary’s shields shuddered from the impact. The AO leader backed away and generated a shield with his left hand to protect himself as he hacked through the lance with his blade. He yanked the remainder from his shoulder, withdrew his blade, and activated his stealth generator once more.
“That won’t protect you!” Raza bellowed and raced past Kaiden with his weapon poised to strike. “Whatever you use to mask your smell, it only aids me. You have no scent and you are a hole in the room, but I can find you!” The Sauren raised his blade and when he swung it down, a clash of sparks resulted.
Merrick reappeared and used his blade to defend against the larger one. The War Chief removed a hand from his weapon and lunged at his opponent’s throat with his claw. The man grasped it with his free hand and launched a vicious kick, but Raza closed his claws around his hand, opened his jaws, and snapped them viciously. The AO leader was forced to dodge the attacks without being able to move away as he struggled against his captor, who simply planted his feet, twisted his body, and pounded him into the back of a large machine near the circular walkway. With another violent shake, he drove him into the floor, spun his blade around, and pointed it in preparation to finish the fight.
The man recovered faster than anyone should be able to from such a beating. He rolled and pierced Raza’s right leg with his blade, and the Sauren uttered a pained roar. Kaiden stepped forward, ready to fire, but their opponent seized the opportunity, managed to scramble to his feet, and sliced cleanly through the large hand around his wrist to release himself from the iron grasp. Raza responded with a furious roar and held the stump as blood leaked from it. Kaiden called to the War Chief and fired two shots from Debonair at Merrick, who created a small shield that deflected the blasts into Raza’s chest that knocked him down.
“Dammit!” The ace growled in frustration and grimaced when Debonair burned in his gloved hand. He slid the vent back, took his spare blade out of his belt, and prepared to close on Merrick. The man had managed to pry the still locked claws of Raza’s severed hand free and tossed it carelessly aside.
The AO leader did glance at the ace, but he turned to the War Chief. Kaiden’s eyes widened as their adversary raced toward the Sauren and he immediately did the same in an attempt to stop him. Unfortunately, Merrick was too fast. He watched in horror as the man descended on his wounded friend and raised his blade in preparation to behead him when a shot rang out from behind them. The man’s helmet cracked and his assault was stopped.
Kaiden slid in front of Raza, shut the vent on Debonair, and fired two shots at the other man’s head. Both struck the shields around the helmet and shattered. Merrick glared at the ace, who returned it with equal hatred and readied to fire a third time. His target launched another explosive spike and this one landed next to Raza. The ace lay sprawled on the floor, and if he moved out of the way, the Sauren would take the blast. His enemy vanished again as he turned away from the threat and tried to think of a way to protect his friend. Another shot, entirely unexpected, destroyed the top of the spike where the explosive was held.
The ace looked up when he realized that help had arrived. Sasha stood at the entrance to the chamber, reloaded his rifle, and nodded at him. “You couldn’t wait, could you?”
Chapter Forty-Eight
