System Harbinger : Legacy Earth 5, page 16
Lance charged the Galio, who held his plasma pistol as his dagger sprouted from his breastplate. Drawing it, he grabbed the alien from behind and yanked his raised arm to the side just as he squeezed the trigger. A bolt of plasma shot through the air, narrowly missing the back of Stephanie’s head.
With his other hand, he wrapped his knife around the Galio’s neck. Pulling the Galio toward himself, he dragged the blade across the alien’s throat. Spurts of silver flew in all directions as Lance spun the corpse and flung its nearly completely decapitated body to the side before sheathing his knife.
He grabbed the plasma pistol before it hit the ground, but several rounds of the two remaining guards hit Lance and Stephanie. Chadavia turned his attention to one. Leaning forward, terror filled the face of the one of the last remaining for a split second before the Galio turned his pistol on himself and squeezed the trigger.
Lance aimed his pistol at the last remaining guard. It glowed as he deactivated its safety. Dropping his weapon, the last guard threw his hands up and dropped to his knees. Stephanie approached him, pulled a set of restraints free, and bound his hands together.
“I tried to warn you!” the first Galio to surrender announced.
Lance turned the plasma pistol toward Uata, who let out a deep laugh, as if he enjoyed the show.
“I see why they’d want you. If you join the Sunless Blades, I could make you a rich and powerful man!” he exclaimed.
“I already have a job, thank you very much,” Lance countered. “Now call off your attack on Madam Devris’ territory, let us take the Veles, and we can move past all this nastiness and no more blood has to be spilled.”
Uata squared up to Lance. He slammed his massive fists into the ground, shaking the now unstable structure. The Levath’s massive head lowered as if he were ready to charge.
“His mind isn’t easily swayed,” the surrendered Galio warned. “He’s decided to fight, so he’s going to fight.”
“Chad, shut him down!” Dexter barked.
“Levaths feel things differently. I couldn’t if I wanted to,” the Jarog replied as he dashed to the nearest rifle on the ground.
Uata lumbered toward Lance. He opened fire, sending bolt after bolt of plasma into the elephantoid’s armor. Upon impact, it barely slowed the charging beast down and did no visible damage to the protective gear.
With the mass of metal and muscle closing in on him, Lance dove out of the way. Flying through the air, he spun and continued to unload his weapon into Uata’s side as he passed. It was just as effective as before.
Hitting the ground, Lance threw his weight up and away. Rolling backwards, he was back on his feet in seconds. He continued to fire as Chadavia, Stephanie, and Dexter joined in. Their bullets did even less damage to the literal walking tank.
Pivoting one of his front legs, he made a wide swipe at Dexter. Moving quick for something so big caught the team’s heavy by surprise. Dex let out a grunt both as he was hit and when he hit an opposing wall, denting it.
“You good?” Lance asked while the cylinder of his pistol ejected itself while smoking.
“Think I’ve a broken rib, but I’m good,” Dexter groaned.
Creaking metal accompanied by a violent snap filled the room as Uata pulled up part of the floor like it was nothing. Spinning, he flung it at Lance. The captain dove for the plasma refills. As his finger looped the ammo belt, the clang of metal against his armor rang through his suit, causing his ears to ring.
Lance tightened his muscles as he bounced from off the piece of debris, to the ground, then back up into the sheet of metal as it flew over him. A dull pain spread through his side as he rolled to a stop.
His world spun. Glowing plasma magazines left colorful streaks behind them while they twirled. Gunfire was little more than an echo behind the high-pitched squeal in his ears. Turning his attention to the fight, he watched as Uata shouldered Chadavia into a nearby pillar before grabbing and flinging Stephanie into the pile of corpses.
Through sheer stubbornness, or willpower—he wasn’t sure—Lance pulled himself to his feet. Grabbing one of the plasma magazines, he pushed it into the weapon. It lit up as it prepared to fire. A stream of light caught his attention as his vision focused. One of the magazines was ruptured and leaking its contents in a violent stream outward.
An idea formed in his head as he looked back up at Uata. The Levath’s attention was returned to the SOAT. Lance glanced over his shoulder and took a half step to the right so one of the club’s support beams was behind him.
Raising the pistol, he opened fire at Uata once more, causing the crime lord to charge him. Lance ran at the beast, keeping careful count of each shot. He didn’t know how many rounds were in each magazine, but he’d counted how many shots he’d taken with the previous one.
Both beings charged each other. Adrenaline surged through Lance’s body. As time slowed for the SOAT, he noticed two mounted cannons emerge from Uata’s armor on either side of his spine.
Lance jumped as they got closer to one another. Uata leaned back and attempted to swipe at him. His size and weight distribution prevented the Levath from getting high enough to make contact.
Lance fired one round down the edge of the plasma magazines. They unleashed torrents of compressed gas. As the captain vaulted over his enemy, he dropped the belt on the back of Uata’s neck while throwing the pistol to his left hand.
Squeezing his right hand, his plasma blade projected itself. Lance caught the right cannon under its barrel as he lined the pistol up with the left. Squeezing the trigger, a beam of plasma slammed into the armor’s more delicate internals as his blade cut the other clean off.
As he landed, time snapped back to normal. The ache in his chest that accompanied adrenaline rushes was hardly noticeable as his blade retracted itself and he watched Uata slam into the support beam.
Its rusted nature caused it to buckle under the force enacted on it. Lance turned, grabbed the SOAT rifle on the ground, and charged toward the surrendered Galio. Unsteady tremors rippled through the structure accompanied by groaning and snapping metal.
Stephanie made a break for the door, as did Chadavia. Dexter scooped up the Veles and Marty during his mad dash. Debris rained down around them, sending sparks flying in all directions.
Being the last out the door, Lance lunged to safety just as the club collapsed on Uata. Breathing heavily, he released the Galio, who collapsed to his knees and shook his head.
“You should’ve listened, you idiots!” he shouted.
“You think that would’ve killed him?” the Veles taunted.
“I’d be shocked if it did,” Lance replied. “But I’d bet you just about anything it’s compromised his armor enough to make him think twice about attacking.”
“What is Mjolnir protocol?” Chadavia asked.
“Nothing official.” Stephanie chuckled.
“Mjolnir is a hammer capable of destroying worlds in human mythology,” Dexter replied. “Really just means hit them as hard as you can, with everything you’ve got.”
“Where’d that blade come from?” the Veles asked.
Lance looked at the human, restrained by Marty. His brow furrowed as a series of deep metallic groans rose from the rubble. Debris shifted and fell away as Uata emerged. Sparks flew from his heavily damaged armor. His helmet hung off his head, connected by wiring.
His black eyes leered at them while blood ran down his trunkless, earless elephant-like features. The Levath lumbered through the rubble, marching toward them with rage and purpose. Lance checked the pistol. Its magazine glowed slightly, indicating it still held a few shots.
Retracting his helmet, he stepped forward. Aiming his weapon, Lance made sure to line the shot up for directly between the eyes. As Uata cleared the collapsed building, he charged at Lance once more, the mounted weapons on his back completely gone.
Lance raised the pistol slightly and squeezed the trigger. A plasma bolt skimmed just over Uata’s head enough to singe the scarce thick, gray hairs that stuck straight up a few inches. He pointed the pistol back, aiming at the charging alien’s skull.
“Next one’s between your eyes!” he barked.
Uata slid to a stop, just out of arm’s reach from Lance. The human nodded to the ground. With no other choice, he dropped to all four knees before lowering his massive head in submission.
“I guess our reports were wrong,” the Veles smirked. “Everything we had on you indicated you’d rather fight to the death.”
“Shut him up,” Lance ordered.
Stephanie turned her attention to her multi-tool. A shock tore through the Veles, forcing him to fall silent. Lance motioned for Chadavia to move to his side. The Jarog obeyed. Not taking his eyes off Uata, the captain nodded toward their prisoner.
“May want to call Madam Devris now, let her know we have a mission accomplished,” Lance said. “Dex, keep an eye out. Make sure we don’t get any interference.”
“Already on it,” Dexter replied.
Chadavia linked his suit directly to the communication disk he left Madam Devris. He extended his arm toward Uata, and a smile spread across her features.
“Well done, my boys!” she exclaimed. “I’ll be on my way shortly.”
The communication cut off. Lance handed the pistol to Chadavia.
“He moves, put a hole in his head.”
“That’s the plan,” the Jarog replied.
Lance turned toward the Veles. Walking over to the knelt human, he dropped to one knee himself.
“You said you had my file,” Lance said as he grabbed the man’s chin, forcing him to hold eye contact with the SOAT. “Where’d you get it, and where is it now?”
The Veles cracked a sinister sneer before trying to spit at Lance. The shocks to his system only caused the saliva to dribble down his chin.
“You know that Marty can detect your vitals?” Lance asked. “He’s the little guy on your back. So, you can either talk, or he can continue to shock you with just enough juice to hurt without causing any serious damage. Steph, how long can he hold that up for?”
“This model? About four and a half days,” the engineer replied.
“And you’re in SOAT custody, meaning human laws won’t protect you from that fate… you want to talk?” Lance asked.
The Veles attempted to spit again. Lance pulled his hand back as his body stiffened and he let a series of involuntary grunts.
“Let’s try this again. You want to tell us where you got my file or is Marty going to have to keep it up until you soil yourself?”
“Sh-she gave it to me,” the Veles managed to eke out from behind a clenched jaw. “The right hand. She said memorize and destroy it, s-so I did.”
“Irene gave it to you?”
“She’s just a lap dog,” the prisoner scoffed. “I’m surprised you haven’t noti…”
KRACK!
A sniper shot rang out as the Veles’ head whipped to the side while half of it turned into a pink mist. Before the lifeless body hit the ground, Lance turned and raised his rifle as his helmet reasserted itself.
On the dim lit rooftops, a thin, feminine form stood up. Lance and Dexter both opened fire. She disappeared before being hit by the hail of bullets.
“Should I pursue?” Stephanie asked.
“They’ll be long gone before you get up there. Hold position and wait for Madam Devris,” Lance ordered.
Retrieving Marty, she walked over to the knelt Galio and helped him to his feet. She nodded up the street.
“I’d get out of here before Devris shows up,” she suggested. He looked at Lance for permission.
“I’d listen to her. We don’t know how Devris’ going to react to any Sunless Blades member still in the area,” he added.
“Thank you, sir!” the Galio exclaimed before turning to run.
As he did, several transport ships rounded a distant corner. In seconds, they were on top of Hrafn squad. The crimson paint job with black accents gave away who they belonged to. As they landed, their doors slid open. Dozens of Crimson Dagger mercenaries flooded out, overtaking the square before Madam Devris emerged. She pointed at the Galio.
“You’ll want to stay for this,” she said with a wink.
TWENTY-ONE
USEFUL INFORMATION
The square filled in with civilians and criminals alike as Madam Devris had Uata escorted to its center. She spoke with the other crime lord for several moments. Lance’s eyes narrowed as he tried to read their lips. Their mouths moved in patterns he couldn’t recognize; the written translator didn’t pick up on their words.
Crimson Dagger members formed a perimeter to prevent anyone from getting into the clearing. Madam Devris turned her attention toward Lance. She gave him a wry smile as she sauntered over toward him. Crossing one arm over her chest, she grabbed her other arm before placing the nail on her free hand against his breastplate.
“I heard you might have been a bit of a bad boy,” she mused, cocking an eyebrow. “You offered him terms of peace?”
“You wanted him taken down because he was in your territory,” Lance countered, staring back into her bright orange eyes. “I offered him a chance at withdrawing his forces in an attempt to avoid this… which had better not be an execution.”
“Who, me? Slaughter one of my biggest rivals? Of course I wouldn’t do that. He’s worth so much more alive!” Devris said as she ran her nail down the side of Lance’s cheek. “You have quite striking eyes; not sure if I’ve ever seen anything so entrancing before! Would you consider being the right hand of Tachyon for me?”
“What’s with all these people asking me to quit my day job?” Lance muttered to himself with a shake of his head. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m staying right where I am. And for the record, our deal was for Uata, I get to keep the body of this human.”
Lance pointed toward the Veles corpse. Madam Devris looked at the body, her head tilted to one side as her eyes narrowed. Gliding over to the corpse, she knelt and pointed toward the emblem on his lapel.
“I’ve been seeing the emblem pop up a lot recently. Several may or may not have been launched out of the airlock for trying to manipulate me,” Devris explained before standing back up. “My Jarog advisors picked up on hints of nervousness and adrenaline in a particular mixture that indicated deceit.”
“Spacing them was a wise choice,” Dexter chimed in. “This one orchestrated the Sunless Blades attack on you in an attempt to get Tachyon under Veles control.”
Lance shot his teammate another cold glare as Stephanie shook her head.
“How’d you get this far not understanding what ‘need to know’ means?” the engineer asked.
“Good looks and charm?” Dexter asked.
“Likely just luck because you’ve got neither of those,” Chadavia countered.
“I like your influence on this one!” Devris said, pointing at the Jarog. “He was always interesting, but now you’ve added quite a bit of spice to his personality.”
Several drones rose into the sky. They ran in circles around the outer edge of the crowd, their engines letting out soft jet-like roars.
“We’re up and running!” one of the Crimson Daggers exclaimed.
“My people call!”
As Devris turned to walk away, Lance reached out and gently grabbed her arm.
“You execute him, I will have to bring you in,” Lance warned.
“How adorable, my dear… you could try,” Devris said while sauntering back toward the defeated Uata.
“Please tell me you’re not serious about taking her in,” Chadavia said as he stepped up next to Lance.
“I absolutely am,” the soldier replied, placing the pistol on his hip while shouldering his rifle.
“There’s a pit in Tachyon holding no fewer than fifty SOAT corpses because they’ve tried that exact same thing,” Chadavia warned. “We’d have to take Tachyon to take her down. It would take resources beyond what we have at hand to do that.”
Lance clenched his jaw as he watched Madam Devris pander to the cameras and ever growing crowd. Uata knelt on the ground, his limbs bound together by massive chains. His grip on his rifle tightened as he sighed in defeat before looking at the Jarog.
“Then what do we do?” he asked.
“Add it to her list of crimes and monitor her closely. She’s about two hundred; she’s got another two hundred left,” Chadavia explained. “I’ll outlive her, so the second she steps off this station, I’ll be there to take her in.”
Lance’s brow furrowed as he looked at Chadavia.
“How long will you live?”
“Average Jarog lifespan is between four and five hundred years,” the Jarog replied. “I come from a line that teeters between six and seven hundred.”
Lance whistled, turning his attention back to Devris.
“Val too?”
“No, she’ll live longer. Those with autoimmune disorders stay in sterile conditions their whole life and are closely monitored. They aren’t affected by disease like the rest of us, letting the Jarog natural life cycle play out in full at close to a thousand.”
“We’re lucky if we get to a hundred and fifty… Is that long of a lifespan common?” Lance asked, a hint of wonder permeating the soldier.
“Three or four races,” Chadavia replied. “But then you have the Levath and Tardig; they both push a thousand on a regular basis… given they don’t get themselves killed.”
“Men and women of Tachyon! The Sunless Blades have tried to take me out once again. And once again, I have come back stronger!” Devris shouted, her voice echoing off the surrounding buildings. “I’ve always stated that there’s only one rule here and that’s ‘Don’t larfo with Devris!’ Uata decided to break that rule and now he kneels before me!”
“Yeah, thanks to our hard work,” Dexter muttered.
“Dex, you’re going to get us killed if you don’t shut your mouth!” Stephanie scolded.
“Both of you can it!” Lance snipped.
Madam Devris raised her left hand as she rested her right on Uata’s massive shoulder.
