The Great Betrayal (18 page)

“That crazy son of a bitch!” he said, without any sense of amusement.

He turned his attention to the marines sitting at the barricades.

“Drones have picked up a dozen transport vehicles inbound, plus air support. Get your asses inside and prepare to defend that tower.”

He pointed behind him at the tall structure with its small door, massively thick walls, and dozens of small windows. Jack looked at them, noting how they were at least three meters from the ground and spaced widely apart. They could have been no larger than his head, perhaps even smaller.

It’s the perfect fort, or prison,
he thought to himself.

“Move it, marines, go, go, go!”

In seconds, the whole of his squad was breaking from the cover and making their way inside. One man stood out in a light gray version of the PDS armor and was speaking with the Helion rebels at the barricades. He then returned to the tower, along with all but four of the rebels. Jack was the last of the marines to leave. He stayed in position, checking through his sight at Wictred’s battle. One machine was a piece of junk on the ground; the second fought on without its weapons and just one arm. The third had backed away and lifted its thermal cannon.

It’s going to shoot them both!

Jack was convinced of it, and if it fired at that range, there was a good chance Wictred would be struck in the back of the head. Jack activated the high-power mode on his L52 and took careful aim. Only the armed machine was stationary, and he had the perfect target. With a single pull, the three magnetized rounds slammed into the weapon itself, triggering an explosion that blew the weapon apart and tore chunks off the front of the combat drone. It took just seconds for Wictred to finish the remaining machines off. He looked back in the direction of the barricades. Nobody but Jack was waiting for him.

“Wictred, get back here, now!” cried out his friend.

Wictred needed no further encouragement and staggered back to the line, leaving the ruined machines behind. As he covered the open ground, Jack could see the damage to his armor. A burn mark on his chest marked the point where the first thermal round had struck, and there were dozens of smaller dents and signs of damage from his waist upward. One of the guns had been bent in half on his arm, yet he moved as if leaving a training field. When he reached the barricade, the Animosh called out, and as one, they broke from their cover and surged toward the now abandoned defenses.

“Come on!” Jack shouted.

He jumped up, loosed off a burst at the Animosh, and ran for the small door at the base of the tower. L52 shots rang out above him as marines on the upper levels of the tower rained down fire on the attackers. The door opened as he reached it, and Sergeant Stone himself manhandled him in. Wictred was close behind and crashed through the doorway, his armored body only just fitting inside, tearing a chunk of masonry from the wall as he did so.

“Watch out!” called out a voice from the dark interior. Jack did as he was told, just as the robotic Rams charged inside; first the supply unit and then the armored combat unit. They moved inside like a pair of metal animals, and Private Jenkell slammed the door shut behind them. Two more marines pushed a heavy storage unit made of metal against.

“I told you two to get back inside,” the Sergeant said sternly. “Now get on the line. We need to hold this place!”

Jack nodded and moved away, not before spotting a glimmer of a smile on the man’s face. It wasn’t much and vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Wictred joined Jack at the base of the interior, and he could now see the inside of the building. It was barren, much as he had expected. There were no sculptures or great artworks there, just bare stone and a number of wall-mounted computer units that no longer functioned. He moved to the nearest window before realizing he could never actually reach it.

“Uh, Jack, maybe this might help?”

He looked at Wictred, struggling to hide a laugh as the giant dragged a metal desk over to the outer wall. The tower was empty, and there were arched access points to the walls on two sides, with the third pointing inside to the main building. There were no doors; only large, featureless arches that would be easy get through.

“This place makes our barracks look like a five star hotel,” he muttered, climbing atop the desk.

“Watch that mouth, Private!” barked Sergeant Stone.

Jack hadn’t even realized the man was still so near. He had the uncanny ability to be able to move around without making a sound. Unlike the rest of the marines, he had his helmet’s visor open to show his face in all its bitter glory.

“I want a squad at the windows. The rest of you prepare secondary defenses at these points.”

He indicated toward the three arches that led to the other parts of the precinct. The intelligence agent appeared at one of the arches, along with a group of five Zathee rebels and two synthetics. Several of the marines turned their attention away from the windows to look at them before Sergeant Stone shouted back.

“You heard me the first time, marines! Get your eyeballs on the target. These are local boys, nothing more.”

He then walked along the interior of the tower, right along the outer wall so that he could inspect the defenses. He stopped at every window and made sure the marines were in the correct positions.

“Remember, if they see you, they will kill you. Keep your heads down and prepare yourselves.”

Jack was now high enough to look outside and risked a quick glance. As the drone had shown, the Animosh had secured the street, and further vehicles were arriving some distance away. As he moved his head, the overlay showed where the detected enemy was even if they were obstructed from his view. As he watched them, something occurred to him.

“Sergeant Stone, why do they want this place so badly? We got the officials out, didn’t we?”

The Sergeant moved past him to the next marine before answering.

“Good point, marine. Don’t forget, they don’t know they all made it. There is a much more important reason though.”

“Location,” said Wictred, remembering the briefing.

“Exactly,” said Stone. “Whoever controls this point will command access into the rest of the city. The precinct is the center of their line, and they were fools to not have a larger garrison.”

Sergeant Stone spoke to the intelligence officer who approached with his group of Helions. They exchanged a few words before the officer spoke to the others.

“The Helions overran all the buildings in this area as the uprising began. They thought it would be over quickly, but the Animosh regrouped and retook the key buildings in less than a day.”

He rotated and pointed with both hands at the interior of the precinct. The place looked as though it had been abandoned for more than the few days it had actually had been. Jack suspected the Helions would have looted the place, but it wasn’t easy to tell. He’d never been in such a place.

“The only reason we are here now is that these survivors of the Helion government were trapped here. The Zathee and some of the other Helions stayed with them and waited for help…that’s where we come in.”

“Why these Helions? Aren’t they all enemies of the Zathee?” asked Jack.

The officer shook his head as he repeated Jack’s words to the Helions. It was in that moment Jack recognized the face of the synthetic Helion. It was the one that had helped them in the fight many months earlier.

What was his name?
he thought, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember.

“Vadi?” Wictred called out, and in a flash Jack recalled his final conversation with the synthetic. He hadn’t know the name of the two that helped in the battle on the tower, yet Vadi had been the only one to live and had dragged Jack into one of the Hammerheads. The scars on his face were the giveaway, a mark he had received when Helion security forces had struck at him in the battle. The synthetic lurched out from behind the heavily armed Zathee rebels and smashed his fist down onto Wictred’s chest before looking up to Jack. He smiled, revealing a mouth much like Wictred and full of damaged, misshapen teeth.

“Jack Mora!” he growled with obvious pleasure.

It wasn’t exactly his name, but Jack reached down to shake his hand nonetheless. The synthetic and Wictred could easily have been distant cousins, if it hadn’t been for the lighter build and form of Vadi.

“How are you?” asked Jack, almost too politely.

Vadi continued to grin, and it was clear he had no idea what Jack was saying. The intelligence officer appeared agitated when another Helion ran in shouting. They spoke for just a few seconds before he started to speak in his radio. He finally looked to Sergeant Stone.

“Sergeant, reports from the local Zathee. The Animosh are moving underground and have captured the residential block there. They’ve cut off our only ground link with units from the 17
^th
.”

He pointed to his left, but none of them could see much inside the thick walls of the precinct. Captain Carter was clearly apprised of the same information, as his voice interrupted their conversation from within every single marine’s helmet.

“Captain Carter here. We have a problem. Animosh commandos have captured the nearby residential block and are reinforcing the area with armored units. They have missiles on the roof.”

Jack shook his head; he knew exactly what that meant.

“Great,” muttered Wictred, “we’re on our own now.”

Each looked to their windows while Sergeant Stone organized the bulk of the Helions and the remaining marines with the barricading of the interior of the precinct. He kept a single squad of twelve marines just through the archway and inside the main building of the precinct as a reserve.

“We can hold this place. I want every man, woman, and child on the firing line. Keep the Animosh busy. Our backup won’t be here for some time,” he said calmly.

Captain Carter’s voice finally returned.

“Phase Two of this operation is already underway. We must hold until relieved, Carter out.”

The tall form of Private Callahan caught Jack’s attention as he waved feverishly at his window. There were a dozen of them in the same situation, including Wictred who had managed to drag more furniture to the wall to reach a window of his own.

* * *

General Daniels looked at the tactical map with a growing feeling on unease. None of the reinforcements had landed yet, and the icons of the ground battle showed the number of enemy forces was increasing by the minute. There were different colors to represent the Alliance forces, Helion security forces, and the rebels. He hadn’t appreciated quite how insignificant his own forces were in terms of numbers until he saw them on the map. The city was of a misnomer, and rebels surrounded the central government region on all sides.

Will they hold?
he thought.

Numbers were one thing, but a Zathee civilian with no combat skills or military weapons couldn’t be expected to hold against a concerted attack. Reports near the precinct already showed the rebels had been easily brushed aside, and more forces were arriving to help the surrounded Helions and their dreaded Animosh. In theory, the capital should have fallen days earlier, but the Animosh were steadily retaking lost ground.

What happens when they meet with Gun’s forces? He’ll be chomping at the bit to take them on.

Captain Hardy entered the open plan room from the CIC.

 
“General. Admiral Lewis reports that several small fleets are approaching; they are civilian ships under the flag of the Khreenk Federation. ”

General Daniels knew the fear of Admiral Lewis only too well. He could see the man in the CIC opposite, and he appeared to have his hands full managing his fleet of ships around Helios. It was a lot of space, and his resources were limited. Daniels seriously doubted the Alliance could stop a concerted approach by any of the other factions.

“I see, are they a problem?”

Captain Hardy shrugged.

“Unknown, General. Admiral Lewis suggests you deploy earlier rather than later, just in case.”

The man returned to the CIC, and Daniels turned his attention back to his small war room. Apart from the central tactical display, there were dozens of screens around them that showed direct tactical feeds from company commanders on the ground. He watched the other three senior commanders as they busied themselves with the management of their units.