Partners: Book Two, page 48
Too late. His head exploded inside his armor and he dropped, reeling backwards as two more came in, skidding to a halt when they saw the body heading toward them and turning to retreat as two beams hit them from Mike and Elaine’s guns.
Another mine. Another ducking, but this time the energy ripped through the bottom of the consoles and Tucker went down in jerking agony, his blaster flying from his hands and nearly hitting Dev in the head.
Brent heaved one of their own mines out the door and they ducked as the booming roar filled the space.
“We should just charge them. They’ll just pick us off.” Elaine got over by Jess. “If we’re going to die, might as well do it fast, Jess. We can’t hold out forever.”
“Hang on a little longer.” Jess half stood and got off a shot, hoping her knees would hold her. She felt Dev grab and steady her and got wedged into place against the console, forcing her body to behave. “Any idea how long we’ve been fighting? How long ”˜til that storm was due over?””˜
“It will be soon,” Dev said “We’ve been doing this for almost forty five minutes.”
“Why?” Elaine asked “What the hell does a storm do for us? They’re the ones who have the damn magic mushrooms, Jess. We don’t, and even if we did, it does nothing for us here in the kill zone. “
Fifteen minutes. Jess exhaled. “Okay.” She let the gun rest on the console and blinked the sweat from her eyes. “Elaine, take these guys out the back, down Bain’s hallways. I’ll cover you.”
Elaine looked at her. “Cover us?”
Mike threw another mine out, and ducked. “Ware!”
“Look.” Jess got her head down as plasma rippled through the room. “I can barely stand up. I’m not going to be able to keep up with you all,” she said. “Get the hell out, and just go.”
Dev crouched quietly behind her, listening. The consoles were all dead, locked out by the security systems. There was nothing else she could do except keep Jess company.
She could see Elaine’s face as she looked at Jess, surprising emotion tensing the muscles there.
“Jess, we can’t leave you here,” Elaine finally said. “Screw it.”
“You can.” Jess lifted her head. “Everyone listen up.” She raised her voice. “On ten, head out the back with Elaine on point. I’ll cover.”
There was a moment of silence, then Mike cleared his throat. “If it’s all the same to you, senior, I’d rather stay.”
“Ack.” Brent went back to the bag of mines, arming another one and handing it over to him.”
“Ack.” Doug echoed, looking up and over from where he was kneeling next to Tucker. “I’ll answer ack for him too.”
Jess’s eyes flicked around the room, and then paused on Elaine’s face, before she turned and regarded Dev. “Can I at least get you to listen to me?”
Dev gazed steadily back at her. “Please don’t ask me to leave you,” she said, simply. “I really don’t want to.”
Jess sighed. “You’re all insane.” She turned and put her hands back on the blaster. “All right. Just take as many of them with us as we can I guess.”
Her voice sounded indifferent, but Dev, who was just in the right spot, could see her eyes blink, and the faint flash of tears as they escaped and landed on the metal surface of the useless station.
She wasn’t sure she understood what that meant. But she knew it was a strong feeling.
Elaine got in next to her and propped her blaster up on the edge of the console, sighting down it. “Y’know, I always figured I’d go like this.” She let off a blast, as a dark figure flickered past the entrance. “Never thought I’d make it to retire, or you either.”
“Yeah,” Jess muttered.
Elaine leaned forward so she could see Dev. “And you...” She grinned briefly. “You’re all right, NM-Dev-1.”
Dev smiled back.
“‘Specially if you hooked this one good.” Elaine nudged Jess’s arm, then returned her attention to the doorway, and six bodies inbound. “Here we go. For the corps!” The last words were a bellow and in a rush of energy the yell was picked up and carried forward, as the six enemy soldiers came right at them, dodging the blaster fire and returning it with their own.
Jess just kept firing, the blaster rifle thumping against her chest as she let off quick bursts, going from one target to another to another as the air itself started to burn, white fire and dark shadows taking the color out of everything as the red lights themselves died and the shots became a continuous thunder.
One of the enemies dodged past Doug’s rolling body and leaped over the console right at Jess. She released the blaster rifle and drew her sidearm, continuing to fire as he came flying through the air and slammed into her, a hit she had no way of avoiding.
The pain ramped with unexpected ferocity and she felt her back hit the wall as he landed on her, hand already raised with the butt of his gun slamming down at her.
She couldn’t budge her torso, but she got the blaster in between them and squeezed the trigger, the muzzle shoved hard against his belly as she felt him cough.
His hand swerved as he went for her hands instead of her head and then he was hit from the side by a small, fair haired figure that got a shoulder under him and heaved him off against the wall as Jess rolled clear.
The man bounced off the wall and reached out to grab Jess, but he was yanked away and slammed against the floor and then his arm was pulled behind him as that same, slight, fair figure landed on his back and removed his shoulder from its socket, surprising a startled yell of pain from him.
Jess started to get up, then something impacted her hard and sent her flying to slam against the wall. She drew a breath and got her hands up in time for her vision to clear and see the big armored figure in front of her raise its gun and the pre-aim splashed on her face.
Then it was gone because a body was blocking it, half kneeling, half sprawled across her with its arms raised in a protective spread merely meant to insure the coming blast would take the both of them.
A moment’s hesitation on his part, some ancient animal brain instinct that held his finger for just a breath.
Just long enough for Jess to get one arm around her protector and one hand on her fallen blaster, and to reach around and aim herself, and force her hand to contract on the trigger, and her wrist to withstand the recoil as the blast took the weapon right out of the enemy’s hands.
Her boot hooked his, and her other one slammed out and caught him in the groin and then he was being blown backwards as two other blaster beams hit his body.
And then, for a long moment, it was quiet.
White emergency lights were blinking on and off, and the room was full of smoke and the smell of burned flesh and blood. There was no sound from the outside hallway, where they could see blinking lights as well.
Then a roar of sound shuddered through the wall and they heard the crackle of comm, and the sound of battle language that wasn’t theirs, and the sweet, sweet note of panic that meant maybe, somehow something had swung their way.
Motion now, and running boots, and the next thing they saw was a crowd of bodies in pursuit yelling loudly and carrying shadowy pieces of gear, their necks flashing with faintly colored tracing around their necks.
Jess blinked. “Bios!” She let her body thump back against the wall and felt Dev do the same, as her partner started shaking. “What the hell?”
A roar then came from the other side of the hall, and the next moment there was a huge pile up, blasters going everywhere, and the eerie cascade of power arcs energizing as the fight passed them by, leaving the corridor outside clear.
Somehow, Jess got to her feet, carrying Dev with her and they surged forward, past the consoles, stepping on the enemy bodies and joining the other agents and techs at the doorway as they bolted outside.
And then they stopped. The huge central corridor meet point was filled with rapidly falling enemy, with hand blaster fire coming from the hallway leading down to the caverns, and power arcs being fired from the technical gear carried by bio alts on the other.
“Holy shit,” Elaine said, holding a bleeding gash on her side.
Then one jumpsuited figure dodged to the front, and yelled out in that same, unfamiliar battle language, a powerful and commanding tone that cut through all the noise as the figure swept their arm up and the arcs died down.
There were only two of the enemy left, and they dropped their guns, and lifted their hands, staggering back against the wall and slamming their backs against the rock surface.
And then it was briefly quiet again.
Jess forced herself forward, nudging her way through the crowd of bio alts, who turned their heads, then parted quickly when they saw who it was. She emerged at the front of them, and stopped next to Dan Kurok, who was battered and covered in grime.
April limped forward from across the lines, leaving a crowd of support staff in varicolored jumpsuits behind her.
“Next time,” Dan Kurok finally said, spitting out a little blood. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see the memo.”
“Fuck, yeah,” April said, lifting a shaking hand to touch a blast on the side of her head. “They definitely didn’t go over this in battle school.”
Jess put a hand on both of their shoulders. “Nice timing. Thanks for saving our asses.”
“Thank you, for drawing the attention of every god damned one of them to ops and leaving the halls clear for us,” Doctor Dan said. “Wheres—? Ah.”
Dev had followed Jess through the crowd of her fellow sets, and now was standing quietly next to her, just behind the three of them, with Elaine, Brent, and Doug after her.
Clint emerged from the group of armed workers, and walked over to join them. “Crappy day.” He was holding one arm close to his body. “Now what?”
They were all silent briefly then everyone looked at Jess. Jess looked around at the smoke filled, body filled, stale air filled space. Then she sighed and looked at Kurok. “Think you can get the systems started back up?”
Doctor Dan shrugged. “Oh, why not? At this rate I wouldn’t judge anything impossible.” He looked up as a loud rumble sounded, shuddering through the halls. “Let’s just hope the rest of their fleet isn’t in that storm.”
Chapter Eighteen
THE ONE UNDAMAGED place was the mess hall. Jess was more than glad to be sprawled in one of the chairs in the back, as bio alts and citadel techs mingled and worked on temporary rigs set up on tables and counters everywhere.
“Got the batts back online at least.” Clint had taken a seat next to her, looking exhausted. “Air handlers are cycling.”
“I hear,” Jess responded quietly. “If anyone can get the mains back, it’ll be the doc.”
“Who is he, Jess?” Clint asked, keeping his voice low. “I heard him talk their talk in the hall.”
It was hard to even muster up the energy to respond. Kurok had given her another shot of something, and that had started the pain fading, but Jess knew she was almost at her limits. “He was my father’s first partner,” she said. “He was an ops tech. One of us.”
“Oh.” Clint looked surprised. “Really?”
Jess nodded. “My dad could talk their battle talk too,” she added, not really sure if that was true, but not really caring.
“Right yeah,” the mech senior nodded. “And hey, he made Dev, right?”
“He made Dev,” Jess said. “And he sure did a bang up job there.” She looked up as her partner came over, putting down a cup of water next to her hand and taking the seat next to her with one of her own. “How ya doing, Devvie?”
“I’m really tired,” Dev replied in a soft, husky voice.
“Well, seeing as you were beating up guys five times your size, and throwing me around like a rag doll, I’m not surprised.” Jess rested her chin on her hand. “Can we talk sometime about how techs aren’t supposed to step in front of a blaster pointed at their agent?”
Dev took a sip from her cup and swallowed it.
“You did that, Dev?” Clint asked. “Wow.”
“She did that.”
The outer door slid open and April and Mike entered, steering their way through the busy crowd back to where Jess was seated.
“I’ll go finish trying to work on the security systems.” Dev got up and eased past them as they came over. “Excuse me.”
The two agents sat down. “We got all the trash taken out,” Mike said. “Had the bios bring up those donkey carts they use and hauled the bodies out and dumped ”˜em.”
“Got the prisoners locked up in the storage facilities,” April reported. “So Kurok says now he might be able to get the comp out of unlock since we have only friendly chips inside.”
“How’s the weather outside?”
“Sucks,” Mike said. “Raining like crazy. Flooding in the carrier bay, what’s left of it.” His jumpsuit was wet. “I got into my carrier though, and ran scan. Nothing in range.”
“Good.”
“Your rig’s in one piece too,” Mike added. “I think if they get comp back up, Dev had it tied in.”
“She did,” Jess said. “But without comp we don’t know how much scan and comm got sent back to the other side, and I...” She paused, as the lights flickered overhead, morphing from white, to red, then back to a blue tinged daylight that meant normal, whatever that really meant anymore. “Ah.”
Clint got up. “Mains are back.” He looked relieved. “Let me start getting things ramped.”
“Thanks, Clint,” Jess said, blinking a little in the new illumination. Behind her, she heard the mech in the mess systems start a low buzzing, and the working teams looked around, visibly brightening at the returning power.
“Sure, Jess.” Clint blushed a little, then hurried off.
April inspected the bandage on her arm. “Seems like ten years since we showed up here,” she said. “Glad to see the doc got systems back. He’s pretty wicked good. I was watching him on that comp.”
“Well. I guess that’s where Dev gets it from,” Jess said, after a moment. “Figure he used his genotype.”
“That’s kinda weird,” Mike said, after a bit of an awkward pause.
Jess shrugged. “Is what it is.” She looked past them to the door that had opened, and admitted Elaine. “What’s up?”
“Comp came up, ten seconds after that comms did and there’s a full sec broadcast coming in to your sig,” Elaine said. “Urgent repeat.”
With a sigh, Jess pushed herself to her feet, glad, at least, that standing no longer felt like she was having knives poked into her from all angles. “Could be good, could be bad,” she said. “Let’s go find out.”
They walked back to central ops, and as she entered, Jess spotted Dev working at one of the consoles. Dev looked up as she came in, and as their eyes met Jess almost forgot what she’d come for. She angled her steps to the side and went to Dev’s workbench instead of the main comms board. “Hey.”
“They have a message for you,” Dev said.
“I have a message for you.” Jess ignored the rest of the room, and put her hand up against Dev’s cheek. “That is, you look really stressed. What’s up?”
“Jess,” Elaine called over.
“Hang on.” Jess lifted a hand in her direction without turning around. “Devvie?”
Dev’s expression altered, and she smiled faintly. “I’m okay. Just a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff that happened, I guess.”
“Hang in there, Dev.” Jess stroked her cheek with the edge of her thumb. “Just hang in there, and maybe we’ll get to sit down and talk about it soon. Okay?”
“Yes.” Dev’s smile broadened a little. “Now you should take your call, Jess. I think it’s important.”
“Not as important to me as you are.” Jess knew the whole room was listening, and found herself not caring at all. “Try and chill.” Now, finally she turned and walked over to the big comms station and sat down next to Elaine, tucking a set of ear cups in her ears and extending her hand to the scan pad.
“That’s fucked up,” Elaine said. “But you know, at this point I don’t care.”
“Yeah, me either.” Jess smiled briefly and put her hand flat on the pad, feeling the tickle as it validated her, and the embedded chips beneath her skin. She looked up as the screen lit and tried not to blink, as the scan beam hit her eyes for a brief instant.
Then the screen cleared, and she heard the static and phasing of the looped message.
“HQ, HQ, HQ.” The metallic, male voice echoed softly in her ears. “Drake J, standby.”
“Ack,” Jess answered quietly. “Drake, J on comm.”
Then the line switched, and she heard the rumble of carrier engines and the screen lit to reveal a male face looking back at her, older and scarred, with thick, wavy gray hair. “Drake.”
“Yes,” Jess responded. “Jesslyn Drake, senior agent, Base Ten.”
He nodded. “We got a high density squirt detailing an attack by force. Validate,” he ordered. “Benson Alters on comm.”
Jess remembered him, from school. “Yes, sir, I remember you from in-flight tactics class,” she said. “The squirt was valid. Details in person.”
The man relaxed just a trifle. “Ack,” he said, to both her spoken and unspoken words. “Due local approx two. Clear entrance?”
Jess shook her head visibly so he could see it.
“Ack,” he responded. “Please keep this channel open. Report as needed.”
“Ack.” Jess, at last, felt a sense of relief. “Will do.”
The visible image disappeared, but the waveform remained, and she keyed it to overhead comms sending the soft sound of the open carrier into the room. “Open sig.” She announced. “We’ve got fleet inbound.”
The sounds of utter relief around her matched her internal feelings exactly. “Apparently a message from here finally got through,” she said. “So whoever made that happen, I love you.”
