Hunter Killer: Legacy Earth 7, page 28
“What?” Lincoln asked, putting the bracelet on. “There aren’t any pressure sensors, laser grids, motion detectors or even tech going through these boxes…”
“Why would there be, if you’re never expecting intruders,” Stephanie replied. “That’s a nice, decorative piece.”
“I’ll be sure to find you a matching set of earrings when we get back to Earth,” Lance teased.
“Laugh it up; this thing’s mass is significantly greater than it should be,” Lincoln replied as he clenched his fist.
Nothing happened. He tried flicking his fingers, still nothing. He tried several wrist movements to no avail before finally making a short, violent extension of his elbow. As he did, a circular shield emerged from the bracelet, large enough for him to hide behind. With another flick of his elbow, it retracted.
Lincoln looked at his brother. Taking a deep breath, he tilted his head to one side.
“BOY!” he said in his deepest voice.
“You’re lacking the ashy skin, tattoo or spartan rage to use that,” Lance replied as he pulled up his map. “If I’m right, we’re about three hundred yards from the signal’s source. Leave the toys and let’s get going.”
Dexter approached a strange, spiked hammer. He reached out for the handle. Lance cleared his throat. The giant quickly withdrew his hands and acted like he wasn’t doing anything.
“Do you want me to reactivate the door?” Lincoln asked.
“If we need a quick retreat, it’d likely be best that it stays liquid,” Lance replied. “How long would it take for you to shut it?”
“Now that I know how it works? About five seconds,” the cyborg replied.
“Good, then we can use it as a fallback point.”
Lance looked at his team. He made a swirl in the air with an extended pointer finger. Every withdrawn helmet was summoned back into place. Valdivia stepped right behind Lance as the rest of the squad formed up around her.
Lincoln stood at Lance’s right with Mattias on the left. Stephanie and Dexter covered their six. Shouldering his weapon, the captain led Hrafn squad slowly down the hallway. They moved silently.
Out of the corner of his eye, Lance looked at the interesting artifacts as they passed some stick and club weapons. others were guns meant to be fired by races he’d never seen before.
Glancing at his mini map, no notifications pinged, and he was grateful for that. Keeping a steady breathing, the captain also checked the floors for any discoloration, height difference or any indication that there were traps set for intruders. To his surprise, nothing.
As he reached their first turn, Lance was stopped suddenly by Dexter’s mighty hand on his shoulder. He looked back at the giant, who shook his head. The captain turned to his brother for confirmation.
Lincoln’s eyes were shut. His head tilted this way and that for several seconds. After a tense, permeable silence, the cyborg’s eyes opened. Raising his rifle, Lincoln took a step back. Lance followed his brother’s lead.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Do you not hear that?” Valdivia questioned.
Lance shook his head.
“Footsteps,” Mattias whispered.
“A whole lot of them,” Stephanie added.
“How many would you say?” the captain asked.
“Fifteen to twenty, non-biological,” Lincoln replied as he activated his new shield. “Ladies and gents… it looks like we’ve got ourselves a welcome party.”
40
WELCOME PARTY
Each squad member ducked behind one of the small stands. They were enough to provide concealment, but too small to prevent them from going completely unseen. One of the side walls liquified as a contingent of six spherical bodies with four whiplike legs protruding from them emerged.
A soft white ring of light traveled around the top of the spheres as the wall hardened behind them. They all stopped moving, doing so, the lights all shifted to the sides facing Hrafn squad.
The lights turned from white to blue. In unison, all four spheres rotated so that their apparent fronts faced Lance and his team. Their legs extended, giving them several more inches in height as they were scanned.
“Non-infected aboard… what is the security password?” three asked in English, the fourth asked in Jarog.
“Strongest there is?” Dexter asked.
The lights turned green.
“Holy crap,” Stephanie whispered. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“Incorrect password. Intruders detected, eliminate with extreme prejudice!”
“Are you serious, Dex?!” Lance scolded as he opened fire against the polished white robots. “You’re not the freaking Hulk.”
Lance’s plasma round slammed into one of the robots, dissipating into a cloud upon impact, not leaving a mark. The robot didn’t even move from the impact. He ducked behind the stand as a laser beam sliced through the air, cutting into the stand and burning almost all the way through it.
The rest of Hrafn squad opened fire. Their plasma weapons did next to no damage to the polished white surfaces of the defensive robots.
“Why didn’t any of us bring slug throwers?!” Valdivia asked as she ducked away from a laser beam.
Lance sheathed his rifle. Drawing his dagger from his breastplate as the drones attempted to cut his team to pieces, he took several deep breaths, preparing himself to charge.
“DEX SMASH!” the giant roared.
Rolling his shoulders back, Dexter leaped from behind his cover. His jump jet systems roared to life, propelling him through the air. The giant clenched his fist three times. His punch enhancer whipped into place.
All their laser fire focused on Dexter. He blocked most of it with his forearm as he landed on one of the robots. His robust weight caused its legs to collapse. With one powerful punch, he splintered another, causing it to spin out of formation.
Lance broke cover and charged at the nearest bot to him as Dexter punched a second. That robot slammed into a wall. Both impacts caused its protective shell to shatter like an egg, causing it to fall motionless to the ground.
Lance jumped at the last one that remained intact as Dexter pummeled the robot he’d landed on to scrap. Plasma blasts flew past Lance’s head as Stephanie broke her cover as well. She opened fire on the robot Dex hit first.
Impacting against the now damaged protective shell allowed the plasma to burn a hole into the robot, ending it in the process. Lance sliced through two of the robot’s legs. As it fell back, a laser beam cut into the ceiling, leaving a glowing trail of molten metal in its wake.
Lance grabbed it by the tiny lip that produced its sensory light and slammed it into the ground with a shower of sparks. With all his might, he drove his dagger into its shell. It passed through the robot as if it weren’t even there.
Pulling the dagger out, Lance drew his pistol, placed the barrel against the thin hole he’d made and started to squeeze the trigger. Each blast made the knife hole a little bigger as sparks flew around from within the robot while its legs whipped around wildly.
Dexter flew past Lance and slammed into a nearby wall as the robot died. One of its legs wrapped around his torso before falling limp. The giant let out a groan as his punch enhancer retracted. He pushed off the ground and rose to his feet as Lance holstered his pistol, then retrieved and sheathed his knife.
“Well, that’s mildly useless,” Mattias said, looking at his rifle.
“At least we were able to take these four down,” Lance said as he rose to his feet before looking at his brother. “Did the Reeves or Veles have anything on these kinds of droids?”
The cyborg walked over, knelt and placed his hand on the most intact corpse. With a frustrated sigh, he shook his head.
“These are far more advanced than anything I’ve come across,” Lincoln replied. “And to save a little time, assume that’ll be my response for anything on this megastructure.”
Lance turned to look at Valdivia. She shook her head.
“Nothing the Predecessors used,” she added. “Likely all new tech.”
“What I wouldn’t give to have a Perune on our team right now,” Mattias said as he walked over to one of the bludgeoning display weapons. “I guess we’ll just have to borrow some of these, then.”
“Find polished metal shields,” Lance ordered as he started to look around. “We can form a phalanx if we come across any more to close the distance and bludgeon them out of commission.”
“Phalanx?” Valdivia asked.
“It’s where we stand side by side, our shields overlapped, protecting ourselves and our neighbors from thigh to neck,” Stephanie said, motioning from her thigh to her neck. “It’s been used by humanity for thousands of years.”
“Most notably by Leonidas at the Hot Gates,” Lance added as he approached a rounded shield. “Three hundred held off an entire army for three days with that tactic.”
Mattias knelt and placed his hand on the ground. Lance approached one of the droids and scanned it with his multi-tool. As he did, its specifications flickered over his HUD. Its design far exceeded anything he’d seen before, which wasn’t the point. His mini map flickered as it recalibrated with the scan he’d just made. A dark red line appeared on its outer edge.
“I think these guys may have called for help,” Lance said as he grabbed a single-handed war hammer. “Get your weapons and form up!”
Hrafn squad formed up in a perfect line. Mattias and Stephanie summoned their multi-tool swords as Dexter called on his fist once more. They lined up, shoulder to shoulder, each holding a differently shaped metallic shield with Valdivia behind them.
With no place to hide or retreat to, they locked their shields together in a wall. Lance spun the hammer in his hands as he forced his focus on the gentle curve of the hallway.
“What’s the plan?” Lincoln asked.
“The usual: hold the line, push in between them and break them from within their own ranks,” Lance ordered.
“I like the sound of that one.” Dexter chuckled.
The red line on Lance’s mini map gave way to red dots, nearly two dozen of them. The captain’s heart started to race. He clenched his jaw as he peered over his shield.
“Val, once we damage their protective outer layer, shoot any that we don’t take down,” Lance ordered.
She grabbed her shotgun and deactivated its safety with a click. The patrol orbs marched at them. Hrafn squad crouched and ducked behind the shields as beams of lasers flew at them. Some missed, charring the hallways, others hit the shields, while a few crossed over feet.
Lance’s energy shield flared as the beams passed over his feet. They marched forward, closing the gap between both lines.
TING!
Lance’s shield kicked back, smacking into his helmet. He peered over the edge to see one of the drone’s tentacle-like legs flick at them again. Ducking back down, he leaned into it, tanking the hit on his shield.
One reached out and wrapped around Lincoln’s foot. It pulled; the cyborg stayed strong. Mattias swung his multi-tool blade, cutting their newest member free. Reaching the defense robots’ front line, Lance swung his heavy hammer as hard as he could.
Clipping the closest sphere, it dented its outer shell, scraping the polish and paint away. Instantly, a blast of plasma flew over their heads. Slamming into the newly created weak point caused the robot to reel back.
“PUSH!” Lance roared.
Charging forward, they instinctively formed a wedge formation and pushed among the robots. Valdivia stepped between them as they all dropped to a knee and held their shields up. Stephanie’s and Mattias’ started to glow from taking on so much heat.
Hrafn squad swung out, knocking legs out from under the drones and stabbing and bludgeoning their main bodies as they hit the ground. A laser beam shot between the soldiers, hitting Lance in the side of the head. His energy shield blocked it for several seconds before finally failing. Instantly, a heat warning flashed on his HUD.
“I got it!” Dexter shouted, punching the downed and damaged sphere to pieces.
“Hrafn, BREAK!” Lance screamed, now that they’d taken almost half of the drones out.
Everyone activated their jump jets at the same time. Leaping into the air, they created a fast-moving wall of steel that knocked the remaining robots back. Dexter and Lincoln caught two and crushed them against a wall and ceiling respectively.
Valdivia dropped her gun. Drawing her daggers, she used the chaos to her advantage and cut through as many flailing metallic legs as she could. As Lance fell, he spun and slammed his hammer into a damaged sphere, collapsing its shell nearly in half.
Clearing out most of the attackers, Lance turned to see one skittering toward Stephanie’s back. Winding up, he threw the hammer as hard as he could. It nearly turned the drone inside out, causing it to fall to the ground in a fountain of sparks.
As the last one fell, Lance stood tall, shield on arm and panting. A dull pain pinched at his side accompanied by a throb in his hammer-throwing shoulder.
“We good?” Lance asked, looking at his team.
Valdivia spun through the air, sticking each of her daggers into the last two defensive units as they tried to continue the fight, ending them both.
“I’m good,” she said as she hit the ground.
“In one piece but have minor armor damage,” Dexter added.
“Of course you do,; you took like eight laser blasts to the chest when this whole thing kicked off,” Stephanie replied. “I’m good too.”
“It was four, and they were in the forearm,” Dexter countered.
“All systems functional,” Lincoln added.
“Green as grass,” Mattias answered.
“What about you?” Valdivia asked.
Lance checked his suit’s diagnostics.
“Shield is gone and helmet integrity is at eighty-two percent, I’m good,” he replied.
“Not going to be soon,” Stephanie said as she pointed down the hall.
Two columns of drones, twenty deep, marched toward them. Lance sighed before placing his hand on his side and stretching his cramp. He looked at his map, then back to his team.
“We get past them, we’re one corridor away from the message’s source,” Lance said, nodding at the oncoming forces. “I guess even with all this advanced tech, keeping a high polish is still a tough thing to do, so I have an idea. Just draw your rifles and get ready.”
“What are you thinking?” Lincoln asked.
Lance rolled his shoulders and tilted his head one way, then the other, to loosen up.
“It’s something I saw in a movie once,” Lance replied. “Although I don’t know what this is made out of, I’ll have to aim a little bit high to compensate for a drop.”
Lance took several long strides forward. Shifting his weight to his front foot, he pushed off the ground. Activating his jump jets, they assisted in his spin, rotating him faster than he could’ve managed on his own.
Opening his hand, he slung the shield. It slid off his arm and flew at the robots. As he landed, Lance watched as it contacted the first drone’s upper, inner side, putting a deep gash in its polish.
Bouncing from one side to the other, it hit the next drone. Like a pinball, it hit each robot, dropping slightly as it travelled before landing with a clatter behind the line. Standing to his feet, Lance drew his pistol. Aiming it at the unpolished mark of the nearest attacker, he smirked.
“Hrafn Squad… open fire,” he ordered.
41
THE SOURCE
Lance’s energy shield recharged as he tossed his circular one to the ground. It broke into two pieces upon contact from extreme degradation due to laser fire. With hammer in one hand, he drew his pistol with the other as he led his team out of a robot corpse-filled corridor into the room that was the source of the message.
“No!” the captain muttered.
His heart sank in his chest. His grip tightened around his weapons as he looked around. The room was empty. Matte-grey metal covered the walls and ceiling. Nothing to indicate a command console or terminal that they could hack into.
Anger flared in his gut as he looked around. Gritting his teeth, the captain retracted his helmet. Facing his brother, he pointed his weapons at the walls.
“Is there anything you can do?” he asked.
Lincoln walked to a nearby wall, nodding to Stephanie. She activated her multi-tool and moved to the other side of the room.
“We can’t take long; those drones are bound to discover the intruder alarms I triggered were fake very shortly,” the cyborg said.
Dexter flew through the translucent metallic door. As he landed, he looked around and let out a defeated sigh.
“Another dead end?” he asked.
“It seems that’s all this mission is!” Lance snarled as his brother gave a headshake.
Frustration bubbled up within the soldier. Throwing his hammer as hard as he could, it slammed into a nearby wall, denting it before clattering to the ground.
“That’s not exactly helpful,” Stephanie said from the far side of the massive room.
Valdivia sheathed her knives. She walked over and picked up Lance’s hammer before returning it to him. The captain looked straight into her visor as she handed the weapon back. Gently rubbing her arm, she shook her head.
“You didn’t fail them,” she whispered as if reading his mind. “This isn’t over; there’s still a lot of ship left to investigate.”
Lance looked down at his hand. It was clenched around the hammer’s handle, not from will of his own, but exhaustion, preventing his appendage from letting it drop. Every muscle in his body ached. His chest burned from labored breathing. Even with his suit, his body was running low.
“We’ve taken out at least a thousand of those drones by now,” Lance whispered, glancing at the door as his squad spread out and looked around the room on their own. “That’s a drop in the bucket compared to how many a facility like this can hold… I-I can’t go on like this much longer. Literally, much more and I’ll drop from exhaustion.”
