A Deep Sleep (Valhalla Book 1) (21 page)

That is a tough barrier
Stone commented sourly over their computerized link, no words were exchanged.

Agreed, thoughts?
Scott asked as they assaulted the firewall, looking for backdoors or weak spots in maintenance protocols and other systems.

Here’s one sir.
Shay sent them a new map, showing a path to the shuttle bay and the shuttle bay itself.
We could use the local sensors and lock-down protocols to give us a clear path. We would have to get into them. I don’t know how easy that’ll be.

I like it, let’s look into it.
Scott turned her thoughts to Sergeant Willis. “How’s it going up there?”

“Calming down sir, we pushed them back with heavy losses for them. Private Bill Rhodes took a round to the shoulder. I’m sending him back to you.” Willis responded.

“Very well, we’ll look after him.” Scott looked up, seeing the private enter the compartment. The firefight was only 15m away, so it had been a short walk.

“Status, Private?” Scott could see his status, but getting people to talk was generally helpful and allowed them to remain focused as the nerves and stims wore off.

“Two rounds to the shoulder, one penetrated my armor, sir.” He paused for a second, probably reviewing his own damage and injury reports. “Foam has patched the wound and restored the pressure seal and reduced blood loss. I have repair bots in my system aiding in patching me up. Still operationally effective, but at reduced capacity sir.”

“Very good. How’s your hacking?” Scott asked.

“Passable sir.” His responses were still clear and strong.

Scott reviewed the data she was getting from his armor. He seemed to be okay, so long as that shoulder didn’t need to be used too much. She did need to put him to work, however, see if he couldn’t be the force that broke them through this barrier.

“Then let’s get to work.” Scott said, gesturing to another section of the console that contained an external port. Rhodes stepped up to the console and flipped away the clear plastic locking cover with the swipe of his armored hand.

“Sir! Need some help here.” Shay choked out.

Scott dove in and saw that the Chinese had countered against them, pushing back hard. Shay and Stone had done well, but Scott had been away a moment too long and now the situation was precarious. She surged in and was soon joined by Rhodes. It sacrificed the surprise element of his presence, but the weight he brought allowed the attack to be turned back immediately.

Full bore, fight to the finish.
Scott instructed. They had to use brute force now. If they were overwhelmed again they might not be able to get back out before at least one of them lost themselves in the machine.

Partial breakthrough sir.
Rhodes reported. Scott turned a small portion of her attention in the direction of his breakthrough.

Looks legit. Continue progressing towards the local shuttle bay controls, Rhodes. Stone, launch a diversionary attack on local point-defense. I’ll assist you. Shay, man the fort.
Scott received affirmatives from each.

“Lieutenant, we’re getting a lot more fire up here now. We’ve got at least 30 effectives, some in armor. Exact numbers are indeterminate, they’ve established a jamming field locally, blocking drone access and LOS drones are being countered by enemy hunter-killer drones. They’ll be sending their own scouts this way soon enough.” Willis reported.

“We’re making progress here, estimate one minute to complete exfil plan.” Scott responded. As she finished speaking, an explosion rocked the compartment, followed immediately by an outrushing of air. “Shit, Willis, they just breached our entry point on the hull.”

“Coordinated attack, they’re pressing here too sir.” Willis responded.

“Damn.” Scott turned to face the doorway.
We have company.
She sent the other hackers the status in a quick burst.

Go sir, we’ll finish this
. Shay said, raw determination coming through the link to her.

Disconnecting
. Scott pulled the connection just as the first armored marine burst through the hatchway. She fired a burst, dropping him to the deck. The second marine followed his companion. Scott was moving before he hit the deck, firing a burst of three high-explosive grenades through the hatch as she did.

The lack of atmosphere meant that she didn’t need to be quiet, but it also meant that she couldn’t hear the enemy moving around. She also had no idea how many were left. She fired another burst of grenades before lobbing a camera through the hatch. As it stuck to the far bulkhead she could see the results of her grenades. Another armored marine lay on the deck, dead or incapacitated. There was no one living and mobile in the small space. She panned the small camera up and glimpsed at least two more marines just outside the hatch before one of them shot out the camera. She fired another burst of grenades through the hatch to make them think twice about entering too soon. She felt the autoloader engage to reload her empty grenade magazine. As it did so she stepped back to Shay and made contact with his suit to allow for a secure link.
Status?

Rough, sir.
His thoughts came through strained.
They’re pressing on us hard. Rhodes has broken through and is securing the shuttle bay. Only one shuttle is currently in the bay and operational. He has depressurized the bay to prevent any unsuited personnel from entering, but we’d better move soon. They’ll detect our actions soon enough, we can’t spoof them forever.

Can you break contact?

Not at this time, sir. On the boards here.

Stone?
Scott asked.

Hard pressed sir, but I think I could break off without risking elimination
Stone replied after a moment’s consideration. Scott inwardly shuddered at the thought. If one was overcome within the computer the resulting reverse hack tended to turn the person in question into a vegetable, or simply killed them. Even if the operator managed to escape if the suit AI didn’t, the suit would die become nearly immobile. There was a manual control for the suit, but it didn’t work very well and a wrong move in combat would kill you without the suit’s safety and compensation systems. Most operators preferred to bail out of their armor and proceed on foot. In their current situation, that could prove difficult.

Be ready then
. Scott broke contact and turned back to the airlock. The Chinese wouldn’t wait indefinitely. “Sgt Willis, status?”

“We broke up the attack, sir, but we’re low on ammo. No casualties yet, but once we’re down to blades…”

“Roger. We’re getting ready to move.” Scott said, still focused on the hatch. “Send Corporal Mae back to our position. We’ll need help achieving disconnect. I also have company back here, but I have it handled for now.” She fired another burst of grenades through the hatch and threw two more cameras. One died quickly, but the second revealed that she had killed yet another marine and a second was bleeding onto the deck. If his suit didn’t seal itself soon, he’d be added to the casualty list. She fired a two-round burst of grenades to make it the latter. As she did, a grenade bounced into the compartment.

“Grenade!” Scott yelled, diving for cover. The three Agema hacking couldn’t maneuver and had to remain in place, hoping for the best. The blast was small, but Rhodes still spun awkwardly. Scott fired more grenades as she moved over to Rhodes. She initiated a link.

Rhodes, how you doing?
She asked as she looked over his vitals. He’d taken shrapnel to the leg, a light graze to his actual leg, but still a bloody mess.

Good to go sir.
His pain was still there. The suit would be working hard to minimize it, but he’d taken two hits now and still had the strain of the hack.
Shuttle is secured, moving towards Stone now.

Good man.
Scott turned her attention to Shay.
Has your position improved?

Negative sir, if anything it is worse. I think they know we’re trying break contact.

Mae entered the compartment. Scott directed her with a hand gesture to focus on the open hatch to the airlock. She signaled her understanding and moved to the hatch, deploying a camera and sighting in. Rifle fire came from above, Scott’s suit sensors detected, clearly the enemy was still up there.

Alright, let’s get out of here. Stone, prepare to bail. Rhodes, you’re with me, we’re going to bail Shay out.
Both confirmed her orders.
Go!

Rhodes and Scott surged forward in the computer, burning through the lighter firewalls and blocks that the Chinese had established, and using brute force attack to overcome them. Shay had also left a number of backdoors they utilized to move through the tougher points. The three of them linked and began establishing their own firewalls and roadblocks, slowing their relentless pursuers. They made it back to their digital safe haven as the flood gates opened. All of their blocks collapsed and the enemy pressed directly upon them.

This could be a problem, sir.
Shay observed blandly.

Damn. I will remain behind, bail out now. I’ll hold and then disconnect once you’re out.
Scott said.

Sir, with all due respect, no.
Rhodes said.
I’ll do it. I’m the best choice.

Scott rolled the thought around, not wanting to let the young man do this. He left her no choice. He broke free of his defensive and shunted her off and out of the system. Stone and Shay couldn’t intervene, locked in the battle with their pursuers. Scott came disconnected and looked around wildly. Seconds later, Stone and Shay emerged as well.

“Damn that kid.” Scott said, looking at the private’s armored back. “Shay, help Mae. Stone, Willis. Shay, we need to buy enough time to break through on Willis’ front, but not a second longer. Understood?” Finished sharply.

“Yessir.” They responded in unison.

Scott looked back towards Rhodes just as his suit flat lined, all of his telemetry was gone in an instant. She moved over to in front of him and looked through the now translucent face shield. He was still alive. He nodded, or at least as much as one could in a dead suit, and continued fiddling with the internals. The suit defaulted to its back-up controls and Rhodes slowly moved, not wanting to risk an accident.

“AI is gone sir.” He told her once the comm became available again. “If we get back into a pressurized space I can dump this sir, then I’ll be able to fight.”

“Alright Private.” Scott said levelly. She had to admire the young man. She’d have done the same, in fact she had. At the same time, she remembered being scared out of her mind when she first had to bail out of her armor in combat. She switched comms to the team-wide. “Rhodes’ suit is in back-up mode. We need to get to a pressurized space.”

“There’s a DC locker nearby sir, probably has pressure suits and such.” Willis said. “It even happens to be on our way to the shuttle bay.”

“Then that’s our destination. Willis, take point, Mae and Shay will bring up the rear. I’ll cover Rhodes. Mae, seal that hatch.” Scott directed. Mae closed the previously open hatch to the airlock. They wouldn’t be able to engage the marines outside, but it would give them time as well. Mae rigged a charge around two edges of the hatch, primed so that they would detonate on the second indication of movement. After the hatch was blown, triggering the first movement, the Chinese marine who stepped through the hatch first would receive a double charge.

“We’re moving people, let’s go.” Scott said sharply. They all began moving, spearheaded by Willis and the Agema with him. They led with grenades, firing more than twenty into the stunned defenders. The Chinese held for a moment, then broke and ran. Willis noted that there were no armored marines in the mix. No doubt they unarmored soldiers had remained in place until the last of their armored allies fell to the grenade attack. Without them, they didn’t stand much of a chance of stopping the determined Agema.

“Clear to the DC locker. Holding position.” Willis reported after a minute. “Airlock looks intact.”

“We’re moving.” Scott said, helping Rhodes move down the passageway. Scott couldn’t help but thinking that they really needed a way to improve the back-up suit operation, particularly since it had been used several times by Agema in combat. After several grueling minutes, they made it to the locker. Rhodes was visibly sweating inside his suit, a combination of the exertion, concentration, and general reduction in the suit cooling capabilities. Without the AI, the fusion reactor would have scrammed, meaning he was running on battery back-ups.

“Ready Private?” Scott asked. Rhodes would have to pop his suit, climb out and enter the airlock, all in a vacuum. Once inside the airlock he would then have to pressurize the lock and move into the locker to recover a suit and breathing air.

“Yes sir, I’m ready.” He sounded somewhat less ready.

“On your go.” Scott soothed, opening the hatch and prepping the interface pad to auto-pressurize the airlock once she shut the door.

“Popping the seal.” Rhodes said. The comm transmitted the sound of his suit venting and the warning beep of a pressure loss sounded for an instant before there was no longer an atmosphere to transmit it. Rhodes nearly fell out of his armor as it opened, his body already reacting to the pressure loss. Blood seeped from his shoulder and onto the deck. He pulled himself to a kneeling position and crawled into the hatch, falling into the compartment over the sill. Scott barely waited for him to clear the opening before she swung the hatch shut. Her override had removed the slow fill process, instead dumping air into the airlock as quickly as it could be released. As the panel turned from red to green, Rhodes remained on the deck, unmoving.