Edge of Solace (A Star Too Far) (16 page)

The closest UC Soldier fired at the Sa’Ami. Slugs ricocheted off the crouching Sa’Ami and plowed into the walls of the church.

Screams and moans burst from the door. The congregation fled. There was a crush as some ran inside and some fled out. Abraham tossed himself down and lay next to his father.

The Sa’Ami soldier tried to stand but the shots, at such a close distance, punched holes right through. He staggered and fell onto his good arm before collapsing. Thin trails of blue smoke rose into the rain.

The strider rolled and tumbled and was shot down by the other soldiers. More fire leapt at it from behind as
Marines and sailors arrived with the Maronite militia.

Wails and cries came from the
church. A UC medic rushed out of the group and pushed his way inside. He gave no more than a quick glance at Thomas.

Abraham stood slowly and looked down to his father. He’d betrayed him. He’d betrayed everything he stood for. The one thing he wanted to do on his own and he couldn’t do it. His father died trying to keep him alive.

Those that came out of the church looked at Abraham and turned away. Two men came forward and grasped Thomas under the arms and carried him inside.

Abraham took a step and knew it was wrong. His father had, as his last act, renounced any violence. Had he died before seeing Abraham turn his back on that? He realized his father knew. He hadn’t forgiven the Sa’Ami, but Abraham.

Men and women streamed from the church and raced away. The soldiers and Marines stood in silence.

Maronites rushed into the church, casting weapons aside, and helped with the wounded and the dead. The bonds that held family and community together were strengthened. Maronite looked to Anabaptist and consoled.

Abraham turned from it all and took a step away. His father was dead because of him. His soul felt empty. Loss flowed over him and tears came.

A gunshot rang out. The strider squirmed and shivered before being still.

One of the UC Soldiers leaned down in front of the Sa’Ami. He nodded and kicked the rifle away. The maul was still wedged into the armor. “I’m sorry,” he said to Abraham.

The soldiers turned and ran into the city. Gunshots still sounded through the air.

“Let’s move!” a slender man shouted. The man turned and limped back towards the elevator. The sailors and Marines followed behind leaving the Maronites with the Anabaptists.

Abraham stood alone. Tears mixed with the rain. He looked at the pack heading to the elevator and followed behind. The
church seemed closed to him. He was off to find another way.

They brought
Archie to the room where he tackled Asa. The two guards held baton and looked eager to use them.

His body ached. All he wanted to do was sleep. Instead he was watching the screen. He tried not to watch, kept his eyes on the opposite wall, but he
kept glancing at it.

When he came in the screen was showing silent feeds of the Sa’Ami on the
planet below. The movement was fast and disorienting. The camera view slewed and spun, tumbled and rolled. He had to look away and get his bearings. The striders were like acrobats.

A suit of power armor appeared on the screen and blasted the strider down. The camera was live long enough to show it sprint away and launch into cover.

Archie sat up and began to pay attention.

Another feed winked out. A suit of powered armor leapt down from the corrugated roof of a building. He studied the armor. The edges were paneled and modular. The joints looked delicate but the strength they showed was immense.

He felt a particular point of pride when the face showed. A dull white skull was painted on the front.

Archie had trained with a few different styles of armor. Power armor was theoretical but not functional. At least not that he’d seen. This was something new.

Previous doctrine went a different direction and explored augmenting wounded soldiers and Marines. He had seen the results of the project and wasn’t comfortable with the conclusion.

Striders seemed like the next big development. The last he’d heard at
Quantico Orbital
was striders. Striders and drones. But they didn’t have enough, they were complex, finicky, and took an amazingly gifted controller. Not everyone wanted implanted carbon pads.

He knew the wish was to have striders and drones that were totally autonomous. They tried, he’d participated in the simulations. The AI, while gifted, wasn’t able to beat out humans. They would win on occasion, but statistically it was a failure.

The guards became silent as more feeds winked away. The action became focused around the elevator complex. Fire showered down from the blocky complex onto the Sa’Ami but they continued to move forward.

The soldiers firing were like ghosts as they danced away from the heavy fire. Archie knew how this went. It was all fun and games until the armor came out
—or in this case, heavy striders.

He leaned back and looked at the guards. They were both focused on the screen. Archie wondered if he’d have time to tackle one and disable the other. What then? Hole up in a room and get shot?

Captain Asa leaned in the door with her arms across her chest. She watched the screen and snapped an eye to Archie. “What do you think, Major? Your forces are surrounded.”

“That simplifies things.”

Asa snorted.

It didn’t look good. The heavies were converging. All of the feeds that cycled showed the same thing
: an approaching apron of concrete and the blocky elevator complex.

Archie shifted in his chair. His spirits wavered. Watching one defeat was tough enough. He looked to Asa
. She was preoccupied with a tablet in her palm.

“Not enjoying this
, Captain?” Archie asked.

“We should be done with this by now. There’s a schedule,” she said with the words trailing off. Her mouth remained open. Eyes grew wide.

Archie turned his head back and grinned.

A crawler mech descended upon one of the heavy striders and ripped it limb from limb. The feeds were wild as the Sa’Ami ground troops surged for position. The UC mech was precisely violent.

“Hoo wee!” Archie shouted. It was invigorating to watch. His heart rose. Pride was his for now. He turned his head to Asa with eyes that beamed.

Asa entered the room and rested her back against the wall. Color drained from her face.

One of the guards pointed the tip of his baton at Archie and shook his head slowly.

Pushing his luck, Archie decided, was not an option.

The feed dropped out to an empty screen. A moment later it was replaced by an orbital view.

“Is that it?” Archie asked.

“No, we’ll burn the city from orbit.” Asa walked closer to the screen. The bluish-white planetary view reflected off her face.

Archie shook his head and looked at the screen. “Why?”

“We can grow another elevator.”

The room was silent except for the background noise of the ship. Archie stood and walked into the bathroom. The polished stainless showed a face he almost didn't recognize. Pale, thin in the cheeks, a few days of reddish brown stubble dotted his
chin.

Thoughts of escape danced through his head. If he could get away now he could get to the elevator. Desperation strained as he pictured something, anything. He took a deep breath and grasped the cool steel of the sink.

He felt something move. An odd feeling like the floor slipped. His eyes locked onto a single droplet of water on the edge of the sink. It shook slightly and slid down into the basin.

“What?” he mouthed silently.

Asa was standing in the same spot.

Did he really feel it? He sat down silently and looked around. Something was off
—he could sense it.

Alarms sounded. Booming echoes shuddered the hull.

Asa tipped her head slightly and turned to face Archie. Her mouth opened and closed. A confused look spread across her face.

A hole the size of a man
’s fist opened in the wall. A terrible bang sounded as the room was showered in splinters of alloy and stone. Everyone instinctively tensed and cowered.

The hole whistled and hummed.

Archie leapt to his feet. A smile grew on his face. Someone was shooting at the dropship! Then he realized he’d suffocate if he didn’t get out of the room.

“Out!” Asa cried. She sprinted to the door and found it sealed. Vacuum alarms
went off.

One of the guards fell forward. A single stream of blood ran down his forehead. The other guard rushed to the door and gripped his palms on the flat alloy.

“Don’t you have a kit here?” Archie asked. He glanced around the room and tried to think how much air they’d have. Not enough, he thought. There must be other rooms venting.

“No!” she snapped back. “This was temporary. It must be an accident.”

Archie ran across the room and lifted up the dead guard. His body felt heavier than he thought it should. He wasn’t as strong as a month before. He heaved the body and dragged it across the room.

Asa spoke rapidly in a language Archie didn’t know. She stopped talking and looked at Archie. “What are you doing?”

The body was heavy and awkward. Archie struggled to move it closer to the whistling hole. The vacuum leak seemed quieter.

“Help me
, dammit!” Archie yelled.

The guard stood and pounded on the door. Asa ran next to the body and pushed it against the wall.

There was a slight pop and the whistling stopped. Archie dropped back onto the floor and breathed in deeply. The air was just rich enough to give him something.

“Hey cowboy,” Archie called to the guard. “Look at the alarm, the vacuum is on the other side.”

The screen flickered. The planet view pivoted.

“We’re moving,” Asa said simply. “Something struck us.”

“No shit.” Archie said. “What’s your comms say?”

Asa stumbled on the words. “They’re down.”

A second blast rocked the ship. The floor shuddered. A roaring crunch boomed from every wall and beam. The view spun more and something blinked past.

The shape was rough, large, and like a potato. Debris trailed behind it in a great train of particles.

“What was that?” Asa whispered.

The shape was gone from the view screen.

“A powered asteroid. Where’s your pickets, Captain?” Archie knew the only thing that used a powered asteroid was a wildcat miner.

“They left,” she whispered.

The ship shook violently. The star scape on the screen changed instantly. A deep groan ran through the hull as if the very structure of the ship rebelled against the blink.

“They’ll come for us,” Asa said.

Archie looked at the Captain and had a hunch she was lying. “We’re going to need more air.”

The guard slid down next to the door and mumble
d to himself. Tears streamed down his olive cheeks.

“That’s not helpful,” Archie said. He walked around the room and slapped at the walls. At each seam he ran a hand up and down.

A slight whisper of air pushed against his hand.

“We’ve got some time,” Archie said. “Air coming in here.”

The baton rattled against the wall and Archie smiled. The odds were starting to look better. Now the only problem was where the hell would he go?

*

“Meestur Gratham! Meestur Gratham!” Faris shouted as he ran into the elevator complex. His fat arms flapped wildly above his head.

A crowd of soldiers,
Marines and sailors stood near the command post of the elevator complex. The controls and feeds were blank behind them.

“Shit,” Yamaguchi said. Half of his armor was peeled off. He stunk like an animal.

William stood upwind and watched as the fat Maronite slid up to the Ambassador.

“Mr. Faris,” Ambassador Gratham said. The Ambassador faced the large man and smiled a smile only a politician c
ould.

The plump Lebanese huffed and strained to catch his breath. He took a huge breath and
exhaled. Both hands were on his chest as if to restrain his breathing.

“Kassub came in!” he said between heaves. “He left a mighty trail.”

“Who is Kassub?” William asked. His ribs still burned intensely.

Faris went to speak but was stopped by Ambassador Gratham.

“One of Mr. Faris’s asteroid miners.”

William stepped closer to Faris. “I’m Lieutenant William Grace, any word of the
Malta?
”

He’d been hard pressed to stop thinking of the ship above. The blow the
Malta
took wasn’t necessarily fatal, but most definitely critical.

“Eh? No, they just said they hit the Sa’Ami,” Faris said with a strained voice. He looked to Ambassador Gratham. “I shall send an invoice for the fuel and ore.”

Gratham looked back in surprise. “What? We’ll see what your rock did, then the UC might repay a portion.”

“Wait
—what? Start over. What happened?” William asked. His heartbeat was rising.

“We sent a message
telling them to divert. Kassub, he was coming in to offload his ore.” Faris looked around and beamed. All eyes were on him and he seemed to be loving it. “So they burned as hard as they could and did a, uh, what’s that word? You use it to move little rocks?”

William squinted his eyes and had an urge to slap the man. “Keep going.”

Faris waved his plump hand and nodded. “On the backside of Canaan they empty all the ore, all that beautiful ore.” He paused a moment and took another deep breath. “So when they come by the ore is all around and
whammo!
” He slapped his palms together. “They hit.”

“Hit what?”

Faris shrugged. “Everything.”

“Can you talk to them? Do you have comms?” William shuffled closer to Faris.

“Well, yes! Now about that payment, the Kassub has been out for quite some time.”

“Give me the damn commset,” William growled.

Faris turned and faced William. He raised an eyebrow and nodded. His hand slipped into his shirt and pulled out a transparent panel. “One moment.”

William looked to Yamaguchi. “Sweep clear
, LT?”

Yamaguchi nodded. “Almost.”

“We have reports of striders in the pines,” Gratham said.

“We’ll pick
‘em out later,” Yamaguchi said. He ran his hand over his oily hair.

Faris poked at the transparent screen. Sounds crackled and he shout
ed at his hand. “Shlamalukh? Shlamalukh?” His fingers poked and he shouted before the tinny sounds of a voice replied back. “Oh hey!”

The voice on the other end spoke rapidly and in a language William didn’t
recognize.

Faris questioned the screen. His hands danced and gesticulated as he spoke. The excitement grew and spread as he spoke at the same time as the person on the other end.

Silence spread across the room as Faris grew louder and stomped his feet. He drew a fat stubby finger and pointed it threateningly at the screen. “Aloho amich!” Faris nodded to himself and stuffed the screen back into his pocket.

“Well?” William asked.

“He says they should get combat pay. How ridiculous!” Faris shook his head.

William’s face grew red. His temples pulsed and he began drawing together a stream of obscenities.