Atlas: Infinity Verge Trilogy: Book II (30 page)

Not a baton, a rifle!
Abel noticed.

He leapt forward, the rear jets on his armor gave him a boost. He landed beside Echo and he stepped over her. His baton slid out from his right wrist and a laser module from his left. Tee had already began firing rounds from his plasma rifle into the oncoming EXOs.

“Tee, get Echo on the
Atlas
and tell Artemis to prep for take-off,” Abel ordered.

Tee circled around the defending Abel, being careful to fire off bolts to keep the EXOs at bay. He gave Abel a look and the armored captain gave him a nod. Tee nodded back and grabbed the back of Echo's jacket. He dragged her back towards the
Atlas
as he continued to fire.

Abel held out his left arm and let laser fire pick off an EXO crawling down from the top of the TP-D. With his right he swung the charged baton down on another EXO advancing towards him. Two more leapt on his armor, but could not break through the force field. He could feel the vibration as they slammed their fists and weapons into his armor.

Something is wrong, they're idiots. Savage mindless beasts,
Abel thought.
Normally they're at least coordinated …
He let the thought trail off as it dawned on him. The EXO Prime lay unconscious in the TP-D.
The EXOs are acting on their last order to kill anything that moves.

Abel checked to make sure Echo and Tee were onboard the
Atlas
then he again did the unthinkable. “Alpha Alpha Alpha, self-destruct sequence. Tango Foxtrot Seven Four Alpha, Sixty seconds, on my mark.ℍ

Abel continued to fight but did not give the final command, “ADM get the engines fired up. We need to get the flak out of here.”

“Confirmation: Affirmative, engines prepped and ready for exfiltration,” ADM replied.

“MARK!” Abel yelled and ejected from the back of the armor. The control plate still connected to his back and spine he ran for his life towards the waiting cargo bay. The giant turbine-like nacelles roared so loud he couldn't hear his footsteps. The heat they generated made the area around the
Atlas
feel like a desert in the middle of summer.

The cargo ramp began to ascend as he approached. Abel ran for the door and leapt in. The ramp closed and Abel slid down into the cargo hold. He pushed his back against the SATYR charging station and the control nodes retracted, tearing his skin again and freeing the ejection plate from his back. Swinging around, he hit the airlock close for the hold and made his way through crew berthing.

“Get us in the air now!” Abel bellowed.

He saw Tee tending to Echo in one of the bunks. A pang of jealously lit through him as he saw Thomas Tee brushing hair from Echo's face. He could see her breathing, though. Abel brushed away his feelings and climbed the ladder to the command deck.

“Why aren't we in the air yet?” Abel said, exasperated.

“Statement: Exfiltration point not yet determined.” ADM replied.

“Flak the exfiltration point, we'll find our way out once we're clear of the TP-D and the SATYR armor about to self-destruct,” Abel said as he sat in the captain's chair.

He reached for the haptic controls and noticed that he was bleeding severely from his right hand. At least three of his fingers were missing. He could not remember how it had happened, but they were cauterized.

I must have clipped myself on the laser somehow,
he thought.

The
Atlas
responded to his direction and lifted off. The laser turrets continued to fire on EXOs as Artemis directed it. Abel decided not to worry about it as he pulled the vessel up and accelerated away from the TP-D.

“ADM, once the SATYR armor detonates, I want you to send the cruiser missile we brought and target the open canopy of the TP-D. The EXO Prime is in there and if we can finish him off here and now, we'll have saved more lives than we can count,” Abel said.

“Confirmation: Affirmative Captain, prepping the Cruiser NP missile now. Statement: The Cruiser Nuclear Payload will likely cause a detonation of the TP-D core, this would result in significant radiation fallout and compounding shockwaves. This may make it difficult for exfiltration,” ADM replied.

“Do it,” Echo said. Abel turned around to see Echo standing at the stair entrance to the command deck. “Don't give me that look Abel, do it,”” Echo's voice was haggard and raw with emotion.

“You heard her ADM, do it,” Abel said resigned.

“Confirmation: Affirmative, Cruiser NP missile scheduled for release in Five … four … three … two … one. Statement: Ignition achieved,” ADM said.

“Have a seat and buckle in Captain,” Abel said to Echo.

“Not much of a captain without a ship,” Echo half grinned.

Abel chuckled in spite of her grave tone. He heard the explosion of the SATYR armor and a short moment later he heard the detonation of the Cruiser missile. They felt, more than heard the chain reaction of the TP-D's explosion. Chunks of rock and expelled earth deflected off the
Atlas
' shields. The explosion was followed by a shock wave that the
Atlas
' inertial dampeners could barely compensate for. The gunship shook violently as they climbed higher.

Klaxons began to blare across the ship signaling system failures. Abel gripped the sides of his chair as he let ADM take control and navigate away from the shockwaves. The inertia became too great and consoles began to spark. Abel struggled to maintain consciousness, but his vision was blurry and his head ached. Echo slumped in her chair as did Artemis.

Abel heard something crash in crew berthing and he realized that Tee had probably succumbed as well. He tried to hold on, but the darkness took him.

31:
BREAKER'S BACK

Quintar V - Orbit - Independent ATLAS-V Class Gunship: Atlas

2973 ESD - Friday, June 18th 15:20 hours

The
Atlas
broke through the atmosphere and the dark of space loomed. Abel breathed a sigh of relief as he ran a systems diagnostic. Echo was now seated at the engineering station monitoring defenses and power output. The raw statistics of the station helped her to take her mind off the events of the days she had been stranded on the planet. She had faced her fears, succumbed to her doubts, and lost to the rage inside of her. Echo was feeling broken like a porcelain doll.

She continued to monitor the ebb and flow of the ship's engines and took solace in the strength of the vessel. Echo decided that Abel had done well in rebuilding the
Kodiak
. She knew he called it the
Atlas
now as an homage to Zee, but to her it was the same gunship that had altered her life and opened her eyes to real threats in the galaxy. The console in front of her suddenly squawked and klaxons began to show energy readings far below normal. She watched as shields depleted to nearly half.

“Captain!” Echo yelled. “Shields at forty-nine percent!”

“Flakking hell,” Abel said.

“I'm reading an increase in anti-matter molecules all around the ship. I think we've been hit by an anti-matter cannon,” Echo said.

She was certain it had been an AM Cannon and she knew who it might be. The EXOs didn't use anti-matter often because it confused their sensors. Abel had used an AM cannon on the
Kodiak
for the same reason - to disrupt EXOs. Now, Echo was certain, Breaker Jones in his modified URSA GS was attacking them.

“It's Breaker,” Echo said.

Abel stared at her for a moment, then nodded, “I think you might be right,” he said. “ADM, get shields back online, take from propulsion power if you have to. Fifty percent won't cut it against that AM Cannon.”

“Confirmation: Affirmative captain. Statement: I can pull power from the quantum belt. However, we may lose the ability for the quantum plates.” ADM said.

“Are the plates stored?” Abel asked.

“They are,” Artemis replied.

“Do it ADM,” Abel did not expect a reply and the AI gave none. The sound of the low hum coming from the magnetic quantum belt around the ship was signal enough. The light on the command deck dimmed temporarily, but lit back up.

Echo watched the screens at the engineering station and sighed with relief as the shields powered up to ninety percent. She could feel the slight shift in inertia as Abel turned the
Atlas
to face their foe.

The
whoomp whoomp whoomp
of the laser turret began almost as soon as they had completed their turn. Echo had not been paying attention to Abel’s orders. She was consumed with the numbers on the Transteel console display. There was a comfort in the raw numerical data. She was able to distance herself from the emotions plaguing her. The sound of the rail turret,
zzzzing zzzzing,
distracted her momentarily. The metallic sound of metal projectiles launching from the magnetic barrels made her think of the clanging of swords. Echo was brought back to the hangar aboard the TP-D and the fight with the EXOs. She began to pant. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw herself standing over Alek Vale and hacking at him with Six’s sword.

Six,
Echo thought.
Why did you attack him? Why did you die?

Echo tried to answer the question for him, but all she managed was a dry and cold thought,
it was your fault. You killed him.

Burdened by her own emotion Echo tried to focus on the battle occurring around her. The
Atlas
shook and Abel was yelling something, but she couldn’t hear him. She couldn’t hear anything. The color drained from the world and everything stood in muted gray. Echo reached out her hand and felt someone grip it. The touch drew her from the nightmare and she saw Abel’s face. She heard his voice.

“Echo! Are you alright!?” Abel said.

“Good, I’m fine,” Echo took Abel’s hand and pulled herself up. She didn’t remember falling, but the command deck showed signs of damage.

Maybe he didn’t notice I froze,
she thought.

“The
Mirage
is out there, Breaker. You were right. The first salvo from the ship damaged one of the inertial dampeners. ADM fixed it, but we all got thrown a bit.” Abel explained.

So he didn’t see,
Echo thought.

“Are we still under power?” Echo asked.

“Enough to keep fighting. I need you on defenses. Between ADM and Artemis we have offense covered. Tee has comms locked down, so we’re not dealing with EXO.”

“Sounds good. I’m ready, how are we avoiding damage now?” Echo asked.

“ADM is split, he can’t keep it up though.” Abel returned to his chair and sat down to access the haptic controls.

Abel angled the
Atlas
around to come on the port side of the URSA. The
Mirage
banked starboard and away from the
Atlas
. Abel began pursuit.

“ADM, target his inertial dampeners. The way he is maneuvering will start throwing his crew around. Artemis, target the shield emitters with the rail turrets. Echo boost our forward shield capacity to ninety-five percent and drop our rear deflector to sixty. If that URSA is the same as the
Kodiak
, Breaker will have a rear mounted rail turret as well,” Abel ordered as the
Atlas
banked hard to stay in pursuit of the weaving
Mirage
.

“Confirmation: Affirmative,” ADM said.

“Forward emitters at ninety-two, ninety-four, ninety-five and holding,” Echo said.

Artemis did not respond, but Abel could see the targeting change to focus on the shield emitters. The
Mirage
opened fire with its rear rail turrets. The shields on the
Atlas
held as the gunships danced with one another. The
Mirage
was slightly faster, but it was outgunned. Abel knew that the
Atlas
would eventually win the contest, but he had to catch it first.

The
Mirage
accelerated and tried to twist to the port side. The maneuver looked like it was going to work when the port side inertial dampener exploded. The quick flash of fire and smoke provided enough momentum opposite the ship that the
Mirage
bucked and leveled out. The change of position kept the URSA class gunship from avoiding the
Atlas’
rail turrets. Moments later the displays in the ATLAS-V class ship indicated that their enemy’s shields were down.

“Fire a full missile salvo now!” Abel cried.

ADM did not respond, but the missiles began to fire almost immediately. Four ship to ship missiles cut through space and arced towards the
Mirage.
The missiles exploded as several other ships entered the battle.

“Statement: Multiple contacts approaching. EXO is not present. I am reading odd signatures. Query: Do any others have schematics for the
Atlas?
” ADM asked.