Earthfall: Retribution (24 page)

Jay felt the vessel tip beneath him and he clung desperately as it rolled over on to one side, spiralling downwards at terrifying speed. The superstructure of the Mothership vanished from beneath them as the fatally damaged drop-ship shot out over the city far below on a wildly erratic and uncontrolled trajectory. It suddenly flipped one hundred and eighty degrees and the single claw by which Jay’s Grendel hung on lost its purchase. He reached desperately for anything to grab on to, but gravity had him now and there was a sickening lurch in his stomach as he tumbled in freefall towards the city below.

‘Damn it,’ Jay said in Sam’s ear, his voice strained. ‘Go get him, guys. See you on the other –’

There was a sudden burst of static and then silence.

‘JAY!’ Sam yelled, but there was no response. His friend was gone.

‘Oh God, no,’ Rachel whispered in Sam’s ear.

Sam felt a moment of overwhelming grief, but still he knew what had to be done. He swallowed the gut-wrenching loss mixed with rage and stared at the top of the spire fifty metres above him. Talon was waiting for him up there and Sam was going to make him pay for everything he’d done.

Talon watched with satisfaction as the first drop-ships carrying his ground forces began to leave their hangars. Once Suran’s Mothership was defeated, there would be nothing to stop his assault on the primary control node. When that fell, it would mean the end of the Voidborn for ever. He understood the cost to the humans and their planet, and it was still a price he was happy to pay.

He closed his eyes, allowing the three-dimensional map of the city to form in his mind’s eye, and plotted the routes of his forces’ advance.

A sudden noise caught his attention and he opened his eyes just in time to see the massive shape of Sam’s Grendel loom in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the control room. The Grendel drew back its massive fist and smashed it into the reinforced glass, sending a spider web of cracks dancing across its surface. The massive figure punched the window again and it exploded inwards, thick chunks of glass scattering over the control-room floor.

The Grendel ripped aside the tattered remains of the window, ducking under the frame and stepping into the room. Talon gave a mental command and the cables that connected him to the control pedestal disconnected and slid away, slithering back under the platform. He took a single step towards the Grendel as two more of the monstrous machines climbed into the room behind it.

‘It’s over, Talon,’ Sam said, his voice amplified by the Grendel’s systems.

‘Do you truly believe that?’ Talon said with a smile. ‘I have fought the Voidborn on a hundred worlds. I have seen them lay waste to entire star systems. Do you really think you can threaten me, boy?’

Talon’s shape began to shift. He grew a metre in height, his armour thickening, the plates sliding over each other and interlocking as a smooth, white, featureless mask closed over his face. His right forearm grew longer and longer, stretching into a two-metre-long blade that crackled with blue energy.

‘Suran was a fool to send you here,’ Talon said, taking another step towards Sam’s Grendel. ‘Nothing can stop me now, certainly not you.’

‘We’ll see,’ Sam said, swiping at him with the Grendel’s massive claws.

Talon ducked, bringing his blade up in a sweeping arc that sliced the Grendel’s hand off cleanly at the wrist. Sam staggered backwards, instinctively grabbing at the severed stump that was now squirting green-black liquid. He knew logically that it wasn’t his hand, but his neural connection to the Grendel made it feel all too real, despite the lack of pain.

Mag came at Talon from the side, moving faster than Sam and dealing Talon a vicious backhand blow, which struck him in the shoulder and sent him flying across the room. He slid to a halt and leapt to his feet in one fluid motion, raising the blade in front of him defensively as Mag came after him, her Grendel’s stomping feet leaving shattered footprints in the deck. Talon ran towards her, sliding under the stampeding bio-mechanical machine as its claws slashed through the empty air where he had been standing just a split second before. He brought his blade round in a glowing arc, slicing through the exposed muscular cable on the back of the Grendel’s leg. Mag’s Grendel dropped to one knee, instantly crippled, her momentum carrying her forward and sending her slamming face first into the ground.

Talon stepped towards Mag’s fallen Grendel and lifted the blade high above his head, ready to deliver a killing blow. Sam raised his one good claw and willed the suit’s systems to respond. A black tentacle shot across the room and wrapped round Talon’s wrist, tightening as Sam yanked his arm back hard. Talon staggered backwards, turning towards Sam as a shorter glowing blue blade materialised on the back of his free wrist. He brought the blade swinging upwards and sliced through the tentacle with one slash, the severed end slipping from his sword arm and falling twitching to the floor.

Talon gave a simple mental command and two black-shelled Hunters rose from the pit on either side of the control pedestal. They fired bright blue bolts of light, slamming into Sam’s shoulder armour and blowing it to pieces. He staggered backwards and Rachel stomped forward, grabbing the closest of the two Hunters, her massive hand crushing the Hunter with a sickening cracking squelch, its black and silver blood oozing between the Grendel’s claws. The other Hunter fired again, the bolt sizzling through the air and striking Sam’s Grendel in the chest. Inside Sam felt real pain, a burning sensation in the side of his chest where the bolt had penetrated his armour.

Rachel flung the remains of the crushed Hunter in her Grendel’s claw at the other Drone, sending it spinning into the wall with a crunch and sliding to the floor, its tentacles twitching. Sam gritted his teeth as Talon walked calmly towards him, dragging the tip of his blade along the floor, leaving a trail of blue sparks in his wake.

‘This was Suran’s plan?’ Talon said, his voice dripping with contempt. ‘To send children to stop me? I wonder if he knew he was sending you to your deaths.’

Rachel stepped in front of Sam, raising her Grendel’s claws in front of her.

‘You think you can defeat me?’ Talon said as Rachel’s Grendel took a step towards him.

‘No,’ Rachel replied, ‘but I can distract you.’

Talon spun round, a split second too slow to react. The fist of Mag’s Grendel hit him square in the chest and he flew across the room, slamming into the wall with a crunch. Mag tried to go after him, but her movement was painfully slow, her Grendel dragging its crippled leg behind it as she moved. Rachel stomped towards Talon as he dragged himself into a sitting position, coughing and spitting out a mouthful of pale blue blood. She stood over the fallen alien, one of the last of his kind, and looked down at him as he raised one hand, as if asking her to wait before delivering the killing blow.

‘This is for Jay,’ Rachel said, raising her clawed fist. Talon vanished in the blink of an eye, replaced by a swirling cloud of dust that rushed between the legs of Rachel’s Grendel and coalesced back into the form of the Illuminate warrior, weapon raised. Talon drove his sword through the back of Rachel’s Grendel and it emerged from the giant armoured creature’s chest, dripping red. Rachel gasped once, looking down at the protruding blade, and then with a final strangled gurgle her Grendel fell forward, slamming to the ground and lying still.

Sam ran at Talon as he pulled his sword from the fallen Grendel, screaming in rage, ignoring the searing pain in his side. Talon sidestepped the charging Grendel like a bull fighter, bringing his blade round in a sweeping arc that severed the machine’s leg at the hip. Sam tumbled forward and slid into Rachel’s immobile Grendel, slimy black liquid spraying from the severed stump of its leg.

Mag limped towards the Illuminate warrior as he turned to face the advancing bio-machine.

‘Take one more step and he dies,’ Talon said, placing the tip of his sword in the middle of Sam’s Grendel’s back.

Mag froze. She knew that Talon was not bluffing.

‘Kneel,’ Talon said.

Mag’s crippled Grendel dropped to its knees as Talon walked towards her. He said nothing, just swept his sword round in an arc that sliced the Grendel’s bestial head clean off its shoulders. The Grendel’s chest immediately popped open and Mag slid out, falling to the ground, retching and coughing, covered in the slimy residue of the protective gel that she had been floating in just seconds before.

‘The hybrid,’ Talon said, ‘not quite one thing or the other. It will be a kindness putting you out of your misery.’

Mag staggered to her feet, Talon towering over her. She looked up at the featureless white glass of his helmet and snarled. Behind Talon the chest of Sam’s Grendel hissed open.

‘Someone once told me that I’d know a monster when I saw one,’ Mag said, ‘and she was right.’

Talon’s helmet slid back as he looked down at Mag with a vicious smile.

‘After today there will be no more monsters,’ he said, raising his sword.

Sam pressed his hand against the side of Talon’s head.

‘Now,’ Sam whispered.

Mag sprang upwards, her claws swiping through the air, slashing at Talon’s neck. Talon staggered backwards, his hand flying to the vicious wound. He looked confused for a moment and then, for the first time, Sam saw fear in his eyes.

‘What did you do to me?’ Talon gasped, staggering backwards.

‘My father called it form-lock,’ Sam said. ‘How does it feel to be mortal?’

‘You filthy little ape,’ Talon spat, the blood now running down over the chest plate of his armour. ‘Do you really think this will make any difference? Do you think you’ve won?’

‘I don’t really care,’ Sam said, ‘as long as I get to watch you die.’

Mag let out a low growl and swiped again at Talon. He turned and ran towards the shattered windows on the other side of the room before leaping into the void. A moment later a drop-ship rose up above the window with Talon clinging to its upper surface. Mag sprinted towards the window, but the ship banked away too quickly, leaving a gap between her and her fleeing prey that was too wide for even her to jump. She watched helplessly as the aircraft flew away, heading for the city below.

‘Help me!’ Sam yelled, trying desperately to pull the chest of Rachel’s Grendel open. Mag ran over and joined him, using her enhanced strength to wrench the black armoured plates apart. Rachel’s still body slid out of the cavity within. There was a horrible-looking wound in her abdomen and Sam could already see that there was far too much blood mixed in with the protective gel. Rachel coughed once, the gel dribbling out of the corner of her mouth as her eyes flickered open.

‘Did we stop him?’ Rachel asked, her voice small and weak.

‘Yes,’ Sam said, ‘we stopped him.’

‘You always were a crappy liar, Riley,’ Rachel said, her voice growing fainter.

‘We’ll get you out of here – you’re going to be OK,’ Mag said.

‘And you’re not much better,’ Rachel said, looking at Mag with a pained smile that turned into a wince. She looked back at Sam. ‘You stop him, Sam. For me, for Jay, you . . . stop . . .’

Her eyes suddenly looked as if she were focusing on something far beyond Sam, and then the light went out of them. Sam hugged his friend’s body to his chest, feeling hot tears running down his cheeks. He did not know how much more pain he could endure.

‘We have to go after him,’ Mag said, putting her hand on Sam’s shoulder.

‘I know,’ Sam replied. ‘Nobody kills him but me.’

Suddenly, they both felt the Mothership lurch beneath their feet as it changed course and began to accelerate. Sam looked out through the shattered windows and saw the Tokyo Mothership glide into view. There were huge black gashes in its upper surface from which billowing clouds of glowing smoke were pouring. The barrage of fire from Talon’s Mothership had ceased and now it was accelerating towards the other giant vessel, the distance between them closing at an ever-increasing rate.

‘He’s going to ram the other Mothership,’ Sam said. ‘We have to warn my dad.’

‘How?’ Mag asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Sam said, looking frantically around the room. He gently laid Rachel’s body down on the floor and walked over to his own fallen Grendel. The damage to the bio-mechanical machine was catastrophic, but he knew it should still have some residual power reserves. He reached down and placed his hand on the Grendel’s smooth black armoured skin and mentally activated his implant. He felt himself connecting to the Mothership’s command and control net, and then with a small mental nudge he reached out for his father.