Bitfrost, p.25
Incursion at Elea Station, page 25
"Liam?" Merrie asked, blinking.
I pressed a communication dot onto Merrie's throat. It would allow us to communicate even if I were in the Popeye.
"How much do you know about what's going down?" I asked, slipping into my Popeye.
She looked at the bundle of wires I'd been working on and back to me. "You have missed the control circuit."
"Figured that much," I said. "I'm sorry, Merrie, but I have to go."
"No," she blurted. "Just a meter over. There's a line. We can give you control in ninety seconds, maybe less."
I flipped my view back to the now raging battle. Noah’s and Tabby's armor were already beleaguered under the massive assault.
"I don't have ninety seconds," I said.
"Liam, we can hold," Noah cut in. "We've got this."
"He's right, Love," Tabby added.
Mendari soldiers had overrun their position and the fight had devolved into hand-to-hand combat.
"Frak!"
I reached for the bulkhead behind Merrie and tore away the metallic skin.
"It's nano-wire," Merrie said. "Runs along the support."
Without my AI, I'd have never seen it.
"How do I get control?" I asked.
"It's not sophisticated," she said. "You must have a tool kit in your suit. Let me have it. I'll link with the comm dot you gave me. You just have to release me."
"You have two minutes," I said, violently slashing at her bindings. "And then the motion detectors will be active. I strongly recommend not being in here after that point."
I activated the grenades and raced from the tower. The boiling mass of Mendari had overrun Alpha position and Noah, Zaida and Tabby looked about to be swallowed whole.
"Fall back to Defensive Position Bravo." I ordered and targeted Mendari that were between my team and the more defensible base of the tower. It was something of a gamble to put them so close to the room where Merrie worked, but outnumbered as we were, we needed something at our backs.
Zaida was the first to go down, her bio reading dropping from a mostly healthy yellow to a dangerous red. Tabby, not missing the shift, scooped her up and batted off Mendari advances with only her multipurpose tool. I concentrated fire to her weak side as she jumped free.
"Control of Elea Station defensive systems are transferred to Liam Hoffen," my AI intoned.
I split my focus between firing into the mass of Mendari and bringing the big gun around. I cursed as I realized it physically could not aim at the top of the station where we fought.
Tabby set Zaida behind us and turned just in time to intercept a Mendari I was too preoccupied to fend off.
"Frak, thanks."
"Tell me you can end this," she said. "I'm out of ammo."
Days of fighting small skirmishes had siphoned our ordnance to dangerous levels and we wouldn't have enough to finish the fight.
"Five percent," I said, focusing my fire to free Noah.
"Out," Noah called as he jumped from the knot of Mendari I'd peeled away from him.
"Sorry I got you into this, Brother," I said. "I thought it was the only way to save Underhill."
"I came because I knew you were right, Brother," he answered, extracting his multitool. I grinned as he chose the hammer end. Tabby was more of a finesse fighter and preferred the sword, but I suppose boys just like to bash things.
"Stop being so maudlin," Tabby said. "We've got this."
My suit sputtered as the last of my ammunition ran dry. I switched to the multipurpose tool and flicked it to full length. Here on the open deck, I was clear to become the wrecking ball.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Noah spin away out of control. It was only a matter of time before the Mendari brought out heavier weapons.
Pain exploded in my abdomen as I was doubled over by a round to my midsection. I crashed violently into the tower but managed to pick myself up. Turning back toward the fight, I noticed the Mendari who we'd been engaging only moments before were racing away.
"That's not good," Tabby said, highlighting the portable cannon the Mendari had rolled out onto the deck. "We need to take that thing out."
Impossibly, Tabby dodged the next round, but a second cannon shot caught her on the hip and she yowled in pain as she sailed up almost ten meters and struck the tower.
"We need to take out those cannons," I growled.
I dug my boots into the deck and raced at the Mendari front line. It was a ridiculous maneuver punctuated by another round catching my arm and flipping me over. My HUD blinked a warning about armor integrity. I felt combat stims hit my blood stream. It was a bad sign as the AI would only deploy the stims when the infantry suit's operator wasn't expected to survive the fight. It was meant as a last ditch, go out in a blaze of glory, sort of gesture.
Massive explosions filled my vision and I turned once again into battle. I'd always wondered what my last moments would feel like. Turns out, combat stims are pretty spectacular.
23
Run and Hide
A burst of euphoria rushed through my body as I hacked at a nearby Mendari. I felt fantastic. Matter of fact, I felt god-like. A part of my brain held a warning, but I figured I was already done for. I'd go out like a warrior should. With honor and glory. Warning signs were there and I was ignoring them.
I rushed into the mass of Mendari, even as they looked nervously behind. I would fight to the last and if I could fight more after that, well, I'd do that too. I drove my hammer home and kicked at an adjacent foe.
Something about the battle had changed but my drug-addled lizard brain couldn't quite figure it out. I wasn't perturbed at this lack of understanding because I had the adversary in my sights and the fact that they were falling faster than usual fit the designer drug's last-stand narrative.
Large pockets of Mendari exploded in balls of flame only meters from our positions and pelted us with mechanical and biological parts. I briefly considered that it was my own greatness that caused the explosions, but even that was more than my barbarian frenzy could accept.
"We've got 'em," Tabby cried out. "Put 'em down!"
The three of us pushed our adversaries toward the fire at their backs.
"Bangers be a chewin' da spideys but good," Prajna's cheerful voice announced on our tactical channel. "Treps is shootin' snakes in a bucket."
My AI must have chosen that moment to slow the combat stims because the fog of bliss and rage started to lift. I forced my eyes to focus on the station's defensive sensor net. Intrepid was indeed high overhead and lit up yellow as a potential enemy target.
"Transfer control of station defenses to House of Bold," I ordered. The order was critical. If I became incapacitated, my team would end up being locked out. Further, since Intrepid was a House of Bold asset, it was immediately green-listed.
"Head's up, Love." Tabby said, intercepting and slicing into a Mendari who hadn't yet received notification of their impending rout.
There were a few tense moments as the local Mendari realized Intrepid was keeping all fire away from the tower area. The Commander wasn't about to go down without a fight and redirected the deck-mounted cannons spaceward. It was a futile move, however, as Intrepid's armor was more than sufficient to deflect any shots that actually made contact. The response from Intrepid was immediate and devastating.
As far as I could see, the Commander didn't have a good move left and I had a certain respect for how he pushed through to the end. Only moments before I'd been in his position and I nodded my respect to him as he met his fate as a soldier. Unfortunately for him and his soldiers, there would be no cavalry arriving at the last moment to pull out a victory. One moment the Commander was barking out orders and the next, his last position was marked only by smoky, ruined decking. To the best of my knowledge, in that single blast, over twenty Mendari were vaporized.
"How many Mendari soldiers remain?" I asked the AI.
My AI wouldn't have a perfect count, but it would coordinate with Intrepid's sensors and other team member's data-streams to come up with an estimate.
"It is estimated thirty Mendari soldiers remain upon the station," my AI answered.
"Use all station resources to track their whereabouts," I ordered. "Tabbs, Noah, set up a perimeter on this tower."
"Copy that, brother," Noah answered.
Tabby gave me a sharp nod as I looked down at our fallen. Both Matt Matt and Zaida lay on the deck behind us. A hole had been ripped through Matt Matt's shoulder, a wound there could be no return from. He’d fought so hard to live that I knew I’d carry his loss with me for a long time to come. A gurgling sound drew my attention and I pushed down my feelings as I turned to Zaida. Her armored suit was battered and torn, but she was alive.
"Prajna, set Intrepid onto the deck at these coordinates," I ordered. "Keep a weather eye open for Mendari, though."
"Weather eye? And you be yakkin' that Prajna be talkin' funny," she said.
"Prajna, professional talk when in combat," Noah said, his voice holding an edge.
"Aye, aye, Liam Hoffen," Prajna answered quickly. "No spidey be getting the jump on Treps."
I scooped Zaida into my heavily armored hands. It was then I realized that a portion of my left glove was missing. I did recall a sharp pain from that hand during combat, but it was roughly the same time the combat stims had kicked in and I was still blissing from the experience. As the fight came under control, a throbbing sensation was returning to my hand and I realized I was in for a ride.
"Liam?" Tabby asked, cautiously. "You've got a dark orange bio status. What's going on?"
"I've got this," I said, trying not to growl. "Keep your patrol."
I clanked my way over to where Prajna was setting down Intrepid. The deck wasn't likely structural enough to hold the massive ship, but I trusted she'd figure it out.
I was wrong.
The deck of the station crushed beneath Intrepid's bulk as it set down heavily. I shook my head and considered instructing her to provide a bit of anti-grav lift so as not to ruin the structure, but I was starting to see black dots before my eyes.
Fortunately, Prajna had faced Intrepid's bow to us and opened the large forward cargo hold. I jumped up and landed heavily on the deck. Intrepid's passageways were too small for a Popeye, so I set Zaida's body down and started to exit the suit.
Turns out, my suit's medical AI had fused the skin on my hand so I wouldn't bleed excessively. I felt like my whole arm had been lit on fire as I attempted to extract my hand from the armored sleeve. Apparently, the suit was nothing like a medical tank. The systems were designed to save the soldier and keep him fighting, caring little for the state of things like nerve endings.
Adrenaline pushed away the black spots in my vision as I inspected what remained of my left hand: thumb, index finger and a small stub for a middle finger. I wouldn’t be showing anyone I could shoot an arrow for a while. I'd seen a lot of battle wounds, even on myself, but the sight of this one made my stomach roll.
"Hoffers!" Prajna called from the hatch as she sprinted into the hold. "Blood. No diggies on hand."
"Zaida," I said. "Medical tank."
While Felio were generally smaller than Pogona, the teenaged Prajna, while relatively tall, was just a wisp of the woman she'd someday be. The prospect of carrying Zaida's dead weight was well beyond her strength.
Initially I was irritated at the fact she’d ignored my order to head back to Underhill. Gratitude that she had pulled our bacon out of the fire came first, though. The issue would have to wait. Command responsibilities were chased from my mind by pain as I worked to free my beleaguered body from the infantry suit. Apparently, my armor had failed at several points. Chipped-off pieces and deep gouges had left burn marks and furrows over much of my body. I'd have to replay the events of the suit's failure because I hardly remembered anything penetrating.
"Help me." Prajna said. She had scuttled off and returned with a grav-pallet that was generally used to move cargo around within the hold. I hooked my good hand under Zaida's shoulder and between the two of us, we got her onto the pallet.
"Go," I ordered.
"Get on." Prajna defiantly stuck her hands on her hips. "I won't be able to lift you if you pass out."
The spots had returned to my eyes. I decided her request was reasonable.
"You shouldn't have come back," I said, leaning against a handle of the cart and sliding my foot next to Zaida. "I ordered you to go home."
"Take it up with your brother," she said, careening through the hold and into the main section of the ship.
"He told you to come back?" I wasn't sure why it bugged me, but it did.
"Said once," she said. "Ear holes broken, too?"
I chuckled as she veered onto the downslope to the medical bay.
"Strip off her suit," I said, pulling myself from the cart and to my feet. My legs were rubbery, but I had enough experience to know I had the strength to finish doing what was needed. With my back to the table, I gingerly stripped off my own grav suit.
By the time I turned back, Zaida had been slid onto the stainless-steel table. I retrieved the bag which held a high-resolution med scanner as well as an array of special purpose medical kits. Together Prajna and I worked to remove Zaida's armor which left her in the bikinis Felio considered suit-liners.
The scanner indicated that Zaida was not dead. That was something.
"Praj, you need to get back to the bridge," I said. "Protect Intrepid."
"You don't look so good," she said.
"I'll make it. Go."
“I will help.” Tonifi’s small voice surprised both of us as she entered the medical bay.
Prajna recovered quickly from the surprise and pushed past the small Musi.
“Very brave, Tonifi,” I said. Her pointy ears fell back on her furry head and her eyes grew wide as she looked directly at me. “I need you to follow the medical AI’s instructions.”
“I will do this,” she answered.
"Liam, we've got a problem," Tabby's voice interrupted.
Of course we did.
“Go ahead.”
As Tabby talked, I applied the first round of medical patches to the few bare patches of skin on the Felio’s body. Tonifi gently pulled the medical scanner from my hand and nodded at the door for me to go.
"I've got an explosives warning on the room we were in," Tabby said. "Merrie is in there sweating buckets."
"Don't go in," I said. "I've got a motion detector going."
"I can see that," she said. "You need to disarm it so she doesn't blow herself up."
"Can't," I said. "Not in my suit. Give me a minute."
"Hurry, Liam," she said. "You left an explosive on the power conduit. It goes, we lose that cannon."
"I copy," I said, running the medical scanner across my hand.
The AI suggested my best course of action was to put myself into the medical tank. Unlike Zaida, whose injuries were mostly internal organ damaged by concussive forces, mine were external. I bit my tongue as I inspected my hand.
"Figure out best course that keeps me conscious and not in the tank," I ordered.
The AI responded immediately with concern for my action but provided a regimen. I set the indicated patches in place, closed my eyes and waited for the fire surrounding my hand to douse. I continued placing patches until the AI finally agreed that things were as good as they would get.
I pulled on my grav-suit, the material quickly forming to the new shape of my hand. The sight was kind of weird but fortunately, the pain interceptor nanites were making real progress.
As soon as my helmet was in place, my AI presented an override for the explosives and I accepted the shutdown.
"Tabbs, I've disarmed the explosives," I said. "Take the Overseer into custody."
"Copy that," she said.
"You have this?" I asked, patting Tonifi’s shoulder.
“Yes.”
“Use restraints to hold her on the bed,” I said. “She might have flashbacks and try to get up.”
“Yes, Captain,” Tonifi answered.
I nodded. I wanted to continue helping Zaida, but there were things that needed doing. I exited into the passageway and glanced aft toward the brig.
It weighed heavily on me that Jonathan was locked up only meters from my position. Our relationship was confusing. Why hadn't the peaceful majority of Jonathan’s sentients done something to warn us of the Phentara risk? Were we at risk of more attacks?
I wanted answers I could live with and I wanted my friend back.
The brig was a highly configurable space divided into nine equal-sized square sections or cells. When not in use, the room could look completely empty. Depending on the function required, panels came from the floor to enclose any part of the space. The jailer could request panels, transparent or opaque, or more traditional metal bars. The normal configuration was three barred cells on one side, separated from three barred cells on the other, leaving a wide walkway down the center. When I had Jonathan locked up, I'd changed the configuration into what I thought of as the island: a single square cell in the center of the room. I'd opted for floor to ceiling bars and taken the further precaution of welding adjacent walls together.
"Liam, we are glad you have come to visit," Jonathan said, looking up from where he sat in the center of the cell.
"Could you have stopped Phentara from killing my crew?" I asked, not interested in pleasantries.
"That has been the subject of much debate," he answered.
"And?"
"We agree that we bear guilt in allowing Phentara to hide within the ranks of our peaceful community," he said. "We are responsible for the loss of the Musi, Berifid, Perifid and Jerifi. We accept whatever punishment you find appropriate and will cooperate fully up to, but not including, the destruction of our people."
I raised an eyebrow. "If I said you had to remain in the brig for sixty standard years?"
"We would accept that judgment."
"Where are those that aided Phentara’s escape and locked down my ship?"
"They are no longer aboard," Jonathan said. "We asked them to stay with us and accept payment for our transgression."
