Desperate Measures Chapter 45

Chapter Forty-Three

The missile exploded with a deafening boom, blasting out a shower of flame and chunks of metal that rained down on the ground.

A jagged, smoking hole remained.

It wasn’t as nice an entry as they would have achieved with a breach disk, but there were fewer uncertainties when using a missile. A breach disk might not have made it through a thick door, and Erik hadn’t thought to bring one anyway.

Jia set the launcher back onto her carryaid before readying her rifle. “I expected an alarm. That was kind of anticlimactic.”

Anne shook her head and sighed. “We could have attempted to hack our way inside.”

“Why bother?” Erik replied as he advanced toward the hole. “They know we’re here. We chased them across the city. If they’re smart, they won’t mess with us. If not, the conspiracy will lose some guys, and we’ll leave here with the cargo.”

His earlier injuries still ached, but adrenalin and the painkillers in the med patches kept it dull, distant, and easy to ignore. He’d fought wounded plenty of times, both in and out of the military.

He might not be at his best, but he could operate while the mission was going.

The others followed Erik, everyone keeping a keen eye out for enemies.

Unlike Jia, Erik didn’t expect an alarm. He assumed the enemy was already mobilized and taking up positions throughout the facility. Knowing the type of enemy would help with weapon choice. He’d brought along a lot of extra mags, including AP rounds, but he was worried about a repeat of France.

Four people on foot didn’t pack the huge reserves of twelve exos. They’d barely won their last battle of attrition. The conspiracy couldn’t have

yaoguai

factories everywhere.

He hoped.

Erik stepped through the hole into a long, brightly lit hallway, which was painfully nondescript. In the corners near the ceiling, small red holographic lights spun and flashed, but there was no loud accompanying noise. Something thudded in the distance. It sounded like it was coming from the general direction of the hangar, but without Emma or Malcolm inside the system, they would have to navigate there manually.

“There’s your alarm.” Erik nodded toward the lights. “Satisfied?”

“In a way, yes,” Jia replied.

“Are we sure they aren’t going to throw more security guards at us?” Anne asked with a frown.

“I don’t think you bring cheap locals to hidden bases where you’re smuggling contraband,” Jia answered.

“And what was that noise?”

“Nothing good,” Erik muttered. “We always assume we’re going to run into something nasty unless the bad guys show up with stun rifles.”

Jia inclined her head toward a nearby door and pointed her gun that way. Erik pressed himself to the wall, his carryaid making it impossible to flatten his back against it.

He sidestepped until he was at the access panel and waited for Jia and Anne to take up positions on either side of the door. Kant swept the hallway to make sure no one else ran around the corner and surprised them.

The man couldn’t stop smiling. Erik had known guys like him in the Army, some good, some dangerous. Alina wouldn’t have sent him a dangerous operative.

Erik slapped the access panel, and the door slid open. Jia and Anne rushed inside, sweeping their respective sides wordlessly like they’d been working raids together for years.

There wasn’t a single piece of furniture or decoration. It was just a brightly lit empty room.

Jia gestured with her rifle toward some dark lines on the floor and scratches on the walls. “I wonder if someone emptied this place quickly.”

More loud thuds sounded in the distance from at least two distinct sources. Erik didn’t think they were getting any closer, but he didn’t like not knowing the source any more than Anne did. They didn’t have time to check every room.

Erik jogged down the hall toward the corner. “We should move toward the hangar. I don’t care if we spooked them out of their base. We need whatever’s on that flitter.”

Kant spun around the corner, keeping close to the wall. “Clear!”

Erik stepped into a sprawling hallway with several intersections. Another set of thuds sounded, but this time they sounded closer and not toward the end of the hallway, which to the best of Erik’s recollection pointed toward the hangar.

The noise continued, now followed by loud, echoing clangs. Something was approaching the corridor on both sides at an intersection ahead. Erik and Kant stayed near the wall on their side of the hall. Anne and Jia darted across to set up, the latter kneeling, allowing them both good cover and firing arcs.

“It sounds like a big

yaoguai

,” Erik muttered. “Another factory, probably.”

Kant shook his head. “You know, brother, you might be a tough guy, but you’ve got shit for luck. Not complaining about the opportunity to take down a monster or two and earn some stories, but…

seriously

?”

“My luck depends on who you ask, but at least we don’t have to worry about local yokel security guards.” Erik raised the TR-7. He wouldn’t need any fancy targeting interfaces, just the basic scope and smart lenses in this hallway.

Large shadows from opposite sites joined together, announcing the arrival of something. The thudding and clanging stopped.

“Hold your fire,” Erik ordered. “We need to know what’s going on here.”

“You need to know what’s going on?” came a man’s voice from ahead.

He had a faint accent. It didn’t sound local, Terran, most likely Eastern European, but there was an odd hollow timbre to it.

“You must know who we are,” Erik shouted. “That’s got to make you worry.”

“Of course,” the man called back. “You’re famous in my organization. They call you the Last Soldier and Miss Lin, the Warrior Princess. You’ve caused much trouble, you and your friends in the government and police. I suppose it was inevitable that I would be forced to deal with you.”

Jia narrowed her eyes and yanked a plasma grenade from her vest. “If you know our reputation, then you know you might not walk away here alive if you try to take us on. Cyborgs,

yaoguai

, that half-Leem freak on Venus. We’ve taken the best your conspiracy has to offer, and we’ve beaten them again and again. You should be asking yourself if you think you’re tougher than all of those?”

“Ah, yes,” the man replied. “I can understand how that might inspire a certain confidence. Arrogance, some might say.”

“I call it a clearly documented record of successfully applied violence,” she retorted. “Not arrogance.”

Erik kept his TR-7 pointed down the hall, all four barrels ready to go, but the large shadows intermixed in the center of the intersection ahead bothered him. He’d assumed a large

yaoguai

was coming, but he didn’t understand what he was seeing. They had not been separated long enough for him to get a clear idea.

Judging by the clanging, the most likely explanation was exos. He ducked behind the wall, ejected his magazine, and caught it before it fell. He stuffed it in his pocket, yanked out an armor-piercing magazine, and loaded that under the confused gaze of Kant.

Erik took up position again before nodding to the magazine. Kant ducked for his own switch. An exo with a good shield would have the advantage in the corridor, but enough AP rounds and explosives could take it out.

“Unlike some people in our organization, I don’t view you as a threat,” the man continued. “Erik, Jia…can I call you that?”

“What do we call you?” Jia asked.

Erik was content to let Jia do the talking while he checked the other hallway for an ambush. The wide, hard floors echoed from their footsteps, so it would be difficult for the enemy to surprise them.

“You can call me Luca,” the hidden man replied. “I would tell you more, but you’re too resourceful, and I can’t risk you somehow getting information outside this place.”

“Oh, not confident you can beat us?”

“The wise man prepares for all possibilities. The fact that you’re here proves your skill beyond mere violence.” Luca chuckled quietly, the shadows quaking. “Would you mind explaining how you found this place?”

Jia scoffed. “What, you mean you didn’t have a big trap set up for us all along? What about your exploding flitter full of innocent suckers?”

“That was, as you say, a trap,” Luca responded. “I can assure you that had we known you two were here and hunting us, we would have taken stronger measures. We did become aware of something unusual, but alas, we thought it was a foolish local syndicate who didn’t know their place, not you two. Perhaps the greater question is, how did you get here? I know you were on Earth not all that long ago.”

Erik’s brow lifted. They’d assumed that everyone in the conspiracy knew about the jumpship. They’d also assumed the conspiracy had a major communications advantage because of their infiltration of Hermes, but it wasn’t doing them any good if they weren’t keeping their field operatives informed.

“They must not tell you everything.” Jia’s thumb stroked the plasma grenade. “You might be able to figure it out if they did. Too bad.”

Anne kept still, her rifle at the ready. The familiar frown and look of disapproval had vanished, replaced by intense concentration.

Luca sighed. “I’m sure you’re aware by now that we’ve jammed the entire area. We know you have whoever is supporting you in the flitter outside, but we also know there’s no one coming to reinforce you. I admire your bravery, coming to this place with only the four of you and your flitter pilot. It might be a waste of my time, but my organization could use people of your talents. This doesn’t have to end in pointless bloodshed.”

Jia’s eyes widened. She trembled in rage before nodding at Erik. She knew he wanted his turn.

“You assholes killed my soldiers on Molino,” Erik shouted back. “And you keep thinking if you ask nicely, I’ll join you? I traveled fifty light-years to find the people responsible, directly and indirectly, and kill every last one. I don’t know how many bases I need to blow up for you to get that message.”

Luca let out a harsh, mocking laugh. “Such passion, but what will it accomplish? Nothing. Let me make something clear. You’re used to dealing with pathetic cannon fodder, Erik, and when you’ve attacked our bases, you’ve come in with greater force. You’ve let your legend go to your head, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be of use to us. If you joined, you’d come to understand something important in time.”

“That your guys are deluded, crazy sons of bitches?” Erik asked. Kant snickered.

“No, no. Well, that might be true, but that’s not what I’m speaking of. You’re fixated on Molino and the deaths there, but people die every day, Erik. Countless people. They die for the most foolish of reasons, on Chiron, on Earth, and on other planets and colonies. Those men and women who died on Molino had something that none of those other people did.”

Erik’s trigger finger twitched. “They had me as their commander.”

“No, no, no. Something else far more important. Their deaths had

meaning

.”

“Meaning?” Erik bit out through gritted teeth. “They were slaughtered by mercs hired by your people, and that was supposed to be meaningful?”

“They were sacrifices for a

greater future

.” Luca sounded almost euphoric. “Don’t tell me you never ordered soldiers into likely death when you were in the Army. Sometimes people must die for others, as your soldiers did.”

“Why don’t you come out and say that to my face?” Erik yelled. “Right before I blow it off? There’s not going to be a negotiation that ends with any of us joining your sick conspiracy. Here’s the only negotiation I’m willing to offer. You come out with your hands up and get on your knees, and you don’t have to die. Otherwise, well, you die.”

A scratching noise came from the hallway ahead.

“I’m not an idiot, Erik,” Luca replied. “I know that if we fight, damage will be done to this place, and we’re not through with it yet. I’m willing to make you another offer. You can turn around and leave right now. We won’t try to stop you. You have to know you can’t win, but I’d rather avoid the losses that would be associated with confronting you. Consider this a stalemate, if you will. We both lose certain things.”

“How about you give us the alien artifacts you brought here?” Jia called. “Then we’ll leave, and we’ll call it even.”

Luca let out a resounding laugh. “You are as impressive as I believed. You even know about our special shipment! Ah, of course you do. Unfortunately, I cannot hand them over to you, despite my respect. Those items aren’t my property, but you should understand there is a special breed here, the Elites. You’ve faced none like us before in the conspiracy. The Elites are the culmination of many dead-ends to make something better and stronger—the ultimate warrior.”

“I’m scared,” Erik replied in a mocking tone. “I’m pissing myself.”

“Me, too.” Kant laughed.

Anne’s mouth tightened, but she kept quiet. She might as well have been a statue with a gun.

A loud clank sounded in front of them. Faint humming followed.

“Too bad we couldn’t come to some sort of accommodation,” Luca called. “But I’ve been curious to see what one of my Elites can do with such as you. Please kill them, Primul.”