Atlas: Infinity Verge Trilogy: Book II (14 page)

Flakking EXOs!
He screamed internally.

Abel bolted forward and headed for the RAVEN-S. The SATYR armor automatically communicated with the vessel and began charging the engines. Abel reached it just as the cockpit opened to admit him. Seated in the RAVEN, Abel initiated the launch sequence and took off. The single pilot fighter was nearly a fifth the size of the URSA class gunship assaulting the city, but Abel flew directly towards the gunship.

* * * *

Echo plummeted faster than she had anticipated. The air that had felt warm suddenly felt cool against her sweat as she fell. It was a short fall and she hit the RAVEN-F hard. She dug in with her fingers and tried to find somewhere on the ship to get a grip. Echo feared she was going to fall off the ascending ship when the docking port opened just in front of her legs. She swung her legs in and crashed to the floor of the airlock. The docking door slammed shut behind her as the air began to pressurize.

“Nice to see you Captain,” Six Remington said in an informal tone, his voice modulated and mechanical due to the SATYR suit.

“Nice to be seen, Master Chief,” Echo said. “Organize Zeta squad and get our birds in the air. Have them aim for propulsion and the magnetic rings. Avoid fire on the plating it will be impenetrable.”

“Zeta is already on target,” Six replied. “Sending the aiming command now.”

Echo caught her breath and wheezed. The fight on her balcony after the hours of practicing forms had left her winded, but the collision with the RAVEN-F made her feel battered and bruised. She was sure she probably had, at least, bruised a few ribs. Echo wasn’t too concerned about the coincidence of Six Remington arriving just as she needed, but she filed it away.

“Master Chief,” Echo said. “Are those birds responding?”

“Communications are down Captain,” Six said.

“Flak!” Echo cursed.

“Captain, I am reading another vessel,” Six said as Echo made her way to the cockpit and seated herself behind him.

“Theirs or ours?” Echo asked.

“Ours, I think.” Six said.

“You think?”

“It is a RAVEN-S Mark II. Ma’am.”

“Not many of those these days,” Echo said, thinking of the Mark Xs in production now. “Can you get a ping from the pilot?””

“I’ll try.”

Six did as she asked and pinged the pilot of the RAVEN-S. The communication didn’t even get through. According to the RAVEN-F computer the communication had been outright refused.

“Something’s up with that RAVEN-S. Ma’am.” Six said.

“What do you mean Master Chief?”

“Communications were refused, not blocked.” Six said.

It’s Abel,
Echo hoped.

She said, “Might not be hostile, focus your fire on that URSA.”

“Yes. Ma’am.” Six replied.

14:
ATTACK

Quintar IV - EFNF Alpha Base

2973 ESD - Sunday, May 23rd 01:31 hours

“Give me a moment to think Master Chief,” Echo said.

Master Chief Six Remington continued to ask what Captain Echo Shade wanted him to do. The lack of communication from the EFNF base and the outright refusal of the RAVEN-S had her on edge.

She and Six had made two passes at the URSA class ship. On approach she realized it wasn’t the
Kodiak
. She knew for sure now. There were similarities, but the alloy it was made from didn’t gleam like the metal on the Kodiak had. The magnetic strips holding the charge for the quantum plates were makeshift at best, as if they’d been manufactured by merely looking at the
Kodiak
. Echo noted that the entirety of the vessel lacked the ingenuity of Abel’’s mechanical genius.

The resemblance was next to uncanny, though. The design was certainly URSA class. As they came around for the third strafe the gunship surprised them. The side quantum plating launched outward and into their field of vision. Six pulled up and managed to avoid colliding with the magnetic metal, but the maneuver cost him his shot. He had been yelling back to Echo for a few moments now asking what to do.

Echo?
A thought came into her head. It was a ping to her nanites.

Who could access my nanites?
She thought in a panic.
Who is this?

It’s me. Abel.
The thought came.

How are you--
she had started to think before Abel interrupted again.

It is a broadband frequency available through Quintarran nanites.
Abel said.
I was surprised to see chatter.

I wasn’t chattering,
she wasn’t sure about the word choice. This was new to her and she was feeling a bit flustered. The words appeared in her mind like a text message. Abel seemed to understand what was happening.
Did he and Zee used to do this?

Yeah we did. Guard your thoughts I get everything you think while the connection is open.
Abel said.

Shit!
Echo thought as images of Zee and Abel came to mind.

Flak it Echo, calm down! I still have to fly this bird, you’re distracting me.
Abel chided.

Sorry. What are you doing?

I’m trying to stop this bastard, what are you doing?
The sarcasm was evident even in the text-like thoughts. Echo felt a bit hurt by the tone, but guarded her emotions. The last thing she needed was to be thinking about Abel and how he could hurt her.

Trying to stop this bastard,
she said sarcastically.
How?

Who’s flying your RAVEN?

She had started to say Master Chief when Abel cut in again,

Good! Tell Six to slave the RAVEN’s navigation to mine. I need to coordinate this just right. Since we’re linked I can give you the command of weapons.

You want me to control weapons on both ships?

Yeah,
Abel said as if it was no big deal.
You’re the smartest person out here besides me, if I can do it you can.

I don’t know--
she managed before Abel cut her off.

Confidence Echo. What would your mother say?
Abel barked.

At the mention of her mother images of her parents flooded her thoughts. The pain, fear, and regret of her past tumbled in. She took each and accepted it, drew it into her and let it all fuel her ire for this URSA gunship attacking her home.

Let’s do this,
Echo said.

“Captain? What are we--” Six was saying when Echo finally spoke.

“Master Chief slave our vessel to that RAVEN-S, then pass weapons controls to me.” Echo said.

“But Captain--”

“That’s an order Master Chief!” Echo barked.

“Ma’am,” Six said.

A moment later Echo could see the weapons interface in her mind’s eye. To her it appeared like two Transteel screens with opposite sides of the URSA class ship’s schematics. Several points lit up and she aimed the laser turrets on both RAVENs at the highlighted points. She had to compensate for the alternate angles and speeds of each ship.

The RAVEN-F banked hard to port while the RAVEN-S banked to starboard. Both ships doubled in speed and Echo could hear Six panicking. The Master Chief was a skilled first officer, but he was not the best Starfighter pilot.

“Calm down Master Chief,” Echo said through gritted teeth. She felt like her mind was splitting. Abel had not prepared her for this. She fought against the split and her head began to ache.

Don’t fight it,
Abel’s voice said.
The split is the nanites.

It hurts,
Echo thought back.

Don’t fight it,
Abel said more insistently.

Echo tried to let go and allow the nanites to do what they would. The targeting computers locked onto their targets and she felt the triggers in her mind. Flashes of blue-green laser fire ignited. She did not see if the attack was successful. Echo suddenly felt exhausted and her vision began to go black.

Echo! Echo!
She heard Abel yelling in her mind, but she let go and everything went black.

* * * *

“Lock down dose RAVENs!” Breaker was screaming.

“I’m targeting them commander, but they’re working in perfect unison. I can’t get a lock,” Ark said.

“Get a goddamned flakking lock then!” Breaker bellowed.

“Commander,” Joop interjected. “We could use the quantum plating to bar their path again.”

“Do it,” Breaker said.

Breaker watched as the two RAVENs charged at the larger gunship. He had not expected such a bold resistance from the planet. EFNF pilots were all destroyed or grounded, save for these two.

How?
He thought.

The quantum plating on the starboard side of the ship detached like the other had before. The plating intercepted what should have been the RAVEN-F’s path, but nothing hit it. A moment later the green-blue flash of laser fire rocked the
Mirage
.

“What the Flak!?” Breaker said.

Klaxons began to blare onboard the
Mirage
and the lights in the command station dimmed to a haunting red.

ALERT ALERT PRIMARY ATMOSPHERIC STABILIZATION CRITICAL

The words flashed across the Transteel viewer. The
Mirage
lilted to starboard and they lost several meters of altitude.

FLAK!
Breaker bellowed internally.

The burly man leaned forward and activated the haptic controls. He steered the ship up and away from the planet’s surface.

“EXOs! Work on repairing the damages!” Breaker ordered.

The EXOs did not respond, but several left the command station to begin repairs, “Get us the flak out of here,” Breaker demanded of no one in particular.

This had only been intended as a taunt. They had not expected to face any resistance once communications had been disabled.

How had those RAVENs coordinated their attack?
The thought plagued Breaker’s mind as they flew out of Quintar IV’s atmosphere.

* * * *

Don’t fight it,
Abel said a second time.

He felt the turrets on the RAVEN-S adjust and take aim, “Thatta girl!” Abel said.

Communications were full of EXO virus. His nanites and those which Echo had were protected against the infection. After obtaining the nanites, Echo had requested that Abel adjust them as he had Zee’s. Abel had done so. When he left the EFNF, he never expected he would need to interface with Echo again. The experience was more than he’d expected it would be.

She still has feelings for me?
His own thought sounded incredulous to him. He felt her in his head, her determination and her anger.
Good, she’ll need that.

Abel used the split in his mind to separate control of his hands. He had used the nanite interface to connect the two RAVENs together. On his left he controlled Echo’s RAVEN-F, and on his right the RAVEN-S. Separating himself from control had been the only way he knew of to split his focus. It had happened to him once before on Quintar V when the AI was released. The split had nearly ended him. He didn’t fear any similar things happening now, but he needed to maintain the link until they could drive off the URSA class gunship.

Abel sent targeting instructions for key points in the URSA’s under armor. They needed to get either the port or starboard quantum plating to detach and leave the stabilizers vulnerable. He angled the birds to come in on a narrow intercept course. He saw the starboard plating detach and he adjusted the angle of the RAVEN-F. He felt Echo’’s determination and then her pain. The lasers fired. A small explosion detached the quantum plate completely and the ship began to list to its side.

Direct hit, great job Echo. Echo! Echo!
Abel called.

He could feel her drifting out of consciousness. He couldn’t land the RAVENs. He needed Six to take over again, but his connection to them was gone. He briefly considered the communications but didn’t want to risk infecting Six with EXO.

Abel tried to ping Echo again, but she was out. Abel’s head hurt. He forced himself to maintain the connection and keep the ships in the air. He was starting to feel dizzy, though. Abel flipped the comms switch and communicated directly with Six.

“Take control, don’t respond. Less chance of infection.” He said quickly and released the connection between the two RAVENs.

His vision blurred and he felt like he would vomit. The RAVEN-S began to list and shake as he brought it into the lower atmosphere. Seconds later his vision blacked and his hands felt limp.

15:
WRECKAGE

Quintar IV - EFNF Alpha Base: Abandoned Field

2973 ESD - Tuesday, May 25th 04:01 hours