Nova (8 page)

Z’arr dug into a pouch at her waist, removed a small data–screen
and after keying in a few commands, handed it over to the waiting Tedrar. The commander
then returned to Proconsul Tanad and handed her the portable data–screen. The
Vosaia government official placed the five fingertips of her left hand on the
screen and then intoned in an official voice: “Proconsul Far’allyn Tanad, zero–zero–nine–XR–five–TT–three.”

With her Arca enhanced vision and hearing, Captain Serros
could see the small screen light green and could hear the gentle chime of
confirmation. She could also see Z’arr’s purple eyes covertly tracing and
marking every move the intermediary and Proconsul made. With a nod, the
Proconsul sent the fully armored commander back to the STF Agent with the data–screen.

K’llan Z’arr confirmed the screen then stated politely,
“Thank you, Tedrar.”

“You are welcome.”

At the feminine voice, Z’arr’s hand froze mid–move from
retrieving something else…
the Arca Microtech Enhancement data?…
from
the same pouch.

“Proconsul Tanad,” The STF Agent pronounced firmly, hand
casually inching away from her pouch and closer to her pistol, “please have
Tedrar remove her helm.”

The Vosaia representative’s faint smile faltered as she asked
“Excuse me, Agent Z’arr? Each member of my guard is deliberately wearing full, heavy–armor
to conceal his or her identity as well as for protection.”

“Acknowledged. However, I insist that Tedrar remove her helmet
now, before the exchange. I am sure
you
understand; this is a legitimate
security measure.”

“Agent Z’arr, identification of my mercenary guard was not
stipulated in our exchange agreement penned by our seniors. Now do your duty.”
Tanad’s voice had turned frigid, her tone that of a superior to a subordinate
expecting to be obeyed.

“Exactly. I will do my duty.
The helm
.” If anything, Agent
Z’arr’s tone was even colder and more resolute than the Proconsul’s.

The entire group as well as the still concealed Nova Squad seemed
clasped by absolute stillness for several, high–pressure seconds. Then without
warning, Tedrar’s fist lashed out at Z’arr’s head with the speed of a launched
missile, only to contact empty air.

Z’arr had reacted with astonishing swiftness to evade the
blow, her open palm slamming with unerring accuracy into the other woman’s more
vulnerable neck from her crouched position. Z’arr then followed the strike up with
a half spin, sweeping her leg under Tedrar’s and causing the commander to spill
to the ground. However, the action resulted in the belt pouch at Z’arr’s waist
slipping free as a dying Tedrar made a grab for its contents.

Avara couldn’t make out whether or not she succeeded in retrieval
of the pouch, for a heartbeat later the entire plaza erupted into pandemonium
when Proconsul Tanad shouted “Execute Z’arr and
bring me the data
!”

Immediately, bullets started slicing through the air as Lieutenant
Z’arr jumped and then rolled to somewhat dubious safety behind the plaza
fountain. Having hardly reached cover, Serros heard the Vosaia STF Agent forcefully
yell: “
Command Guardian enacted
!”

At Z’arr’s cry, four of the huge birch planters literally
exploded, revealing fifteen foot tall, iron colored battlemechs ponderously
shaking free of cracked porcelain with miniature avalanches of soil tumbling
down plating and circuitry. Without delay, the mechs began to fire enormous cannons
at the gray–armored unknowns and at the Vosaia Proconsul, interrupting their
concentration on Z’arr.

Contemplating the scene for an instant, Captain Serros deactivated
her camouflage and stood to her full five foot ten height, keyed the Voc
enhancement feature of her armor, and then clearly shouted, “In the name of the
Quorum and on Shield authority, I order all present to cease fire and stand
down immediately!”

The unknowns and two Vosaia paused their actions for all of
a split second, then the Proconsul and her forces frantically began attacking
Z’arr again even as Tanad screeched, “Get me the data and kill the false Shield
team!”

 “So much for a peaceful surrender.” Marcus Perez grumbled
over the team’s Comm.

“Was that
really
necessary, Captain Serros?” Major Hadarr
hissed.

“All right, Squad,” Serros began, even as she dropped back
into cover, bullets zipping past the place her head had been a moment before.
“The data, Z’arr, and Tanad are our priorities. Perez, Rygel, and Ca’rrakk: I want
the three of you on cover–fire and neutralizing the guards and mechs.”

Cocking her head in Major Hadarr’s direction, Serros addressed
the Vosaia who was perceptibly angry about the attempt at gaining a cease fire that
had surrendered the advantage of surprise.

A small part of Avara found a certain level of satisfaction
in being able to elicit
some
measure of emotional response in the typically
emotionless Major as she ordered, “Hadarr and Naxos, I want the two of you to
ensure that the Vosaia Proconsul lives and that she’s placed into custody for
investigation. Remember, our mission is
not
assassination.” Serros made
it clear by her hard gaze that the last was intended for the Vosaia Major, and though
Goyan Hadarr’s lips tightened in response, she offered no verbal disagreement.

Addressing the group as a whole, Serros announced, “I will
capture Z’arr and the data. Let’s be about it.”

Avara nodded once at the Chorus of "
Aye, Captains
"
that followed then, under covering fire from the rest of Nova Squad and Hadarr,
shot her grapple–gun and speedily slid across the span between the rooftop they
stood upon and the far end of the courtyard where Z’arr was firing at the unknowns
from cover.

While enroute, two shots slammed into the bright steel and
royal blue trimmed durexium plating of her armor, forcing Serros to grip her
grapple attachment harder, but doing no lasting damage. Before reaching the end
of the line, the Captain released her hold and dropped some fifteen feet to the
ground. She quickly rolled into cover behind a thick stone bench as the still
unknown enemies fired their ARs.

Seconds later, the two hostiles who had been concentrating
fire on her suddenly dropped to the stone pavement by well–placed sniper shots.

Dane’s handiwork
, Serros mused, well familiar with
Lieutenant Rygel’s expertise.

The Quorum Shield Operative took off towards the Vosaia STF
while firing one of her Volturno’s converted to SMG mode at the gray–armored enemy
determined to eliminate aid for Z’arr by eliminating Serros. With an ease born of
decades of practice and finely honed skill, the Captain locked her shots. Almost
more quickly than the eye could follow, one, two, three, then four of the gray–plated
soldiers dropped in sprays of blood as her gun–fire ripped through armor and
flesh alike.

The Captain was only about thirty paces away from Z’arr when
the ground below her feet suddenly vibrated and the sound of metal scraping
against stone shot through the space to her left like recycling gears grinding junkyard
scrap to plates. Serros managed to flatten herself next to another overturned
stone bench and planter just as the mech trained its sights and showered her
position with heavy canon fire. The bench adjacent to Captain Serros cracked with
a sound like a clap of thunder, and a fountain of rubble and dust clouded the
air as shot after shot blasted her cover and the surrounding pavement.

With a grimace, Serros grabbed two K–Grenades mag–attached
under her left pectoral plate, and thumbing off the safetys,’ leaped up and out
of her rapidly disintegrating cover. Half–way through her jump, she extended
her arms and tossed both grenades. The projectiles smacked into and adhered to
the surface of the mech’s metallic frame. Just as Serros landed on her feet, a
deafening
boom–boom
sounded throughout the plaza and the metal automaton
exploded in flame, spraying molten metal and slag dozens of feet from its
position.

Quickly casting her gaze, Captain Serros locked onto Lieutenant
K’llan Z’arr gunning down two gray–armored soldiers and moving across to the
far side of the courtyard. Z’arr was obviously using the distraction Serros and
her team had produced to make her way from the fire–fight. With a grunt of
determination, Avara began sprinting after her mark.

CHAPTER 6

Commander Marcus Perez swore to himself as he caught sight
of another fifteen gray–armored unknowns dashing into the plaza. The security
guards that had been bribed earlier to let them pass were gunned down when they
didn’t step out of the way soon enough.

Turning toward the Vosaia Major, Perez said “Hadarr, you and
Naxos go; we’ve got this.”

Goyan Hadarr nodded once, then fired her own grappling gun
and glided through the air in the opposite direction Captain Serros had just
taken.

“Do not get shot, Marcus!” Lieutenant Belgrum Naxos commented
just after he released his own grapple.

“Where’s the
faith
,
mi amigo
?” Marcus responded
with a grunt, the query punctuated as he fired his hand–cannon with a vengeance
at the remaining mech and a cluster of scrambling unknowns. The mottled red,
orange, and yellow skinned Braxien hissed with laughter as he shot down the
line in a surprisingly graceful maneuver for a being of his size.

As he, Rygel, and Ca’rrakk continued to pepper the hostile forces
with fire, Commander Perez found himself wondering at the skill of their
opponents. That they were good was unquestionable. After the initial surprise
of Nova Squad’s appearance, the firefight had turned into more of a stand–off
than not. Little was truly known about the Fosaki in the Quorum Aligned Systems
save legend, yet there was a certain rhythm to fighting and battle, and the
enemy’s combat style seemed vaguely familiar. As he automatically responded to
several shot patterns, the
Excalibur’s
Executive Officer couldn’t quite
shake the feeling, almost as if he was experiencing déjà vu.

“Commander,
eleven o’ clock
!” Dane Rygel’s voice
snapped Marcus out of his battle reverie and he spied the cause for Dane’s concern
almost immediately: a gray and black–marked clad pair of hostiles armed with
hand cannons sighting their position. Their trigger fingers were already squeezing.

“
Time to go
!”

Lieutenant Rygel ignored Perez’s command for a split second
as he snipped one of the two in the throat, yet in that instant, the other’s hand–cannon
projectile left its barrel. The three members of Nova literally
jumped
towards the standing grapple cables, each using their gloved hands or weapons
to shimmy along the cords to safety rather than grappling–grips.

With a deafening
boom–crash
, the roof of the building
they’d been standing on exploded into an eruption of concrete, glass and metal,
causing Rygel to whip through the air for the last twenty feet or so of the
drop and tumble to the ground.

Dane smacked onto his side with bone–crunching force that Marcus
knew would be, thankfully,
mostly
absorbed by his armor. Swearing rather
creatively in his native Old–Terran French, the marksman and tech expert
scrambled to his feet even as Marcus covered them and the trio ducked behind a
sky–car sized, hexagonal bronze statue.

“
Merveilleux
! That went well, yes?” Dane whooped.

“Absolutely; we should do this all again, real soon!” Marcus
quipped in return, drawing and then firing two controlled bursts from his Valkyrie
NSII rifle.

“The two of you act like such
cubs
.” Ca’rrakk
growled, green eyes glowing as he tagged an incautious enemy in the shoulder.

Grinning a bit like a madman, the fair–haired Lieutenant
fired a round of his own, causing one of the soldiers to scream in pain as a
left foot was shot off. “Do you think the others are having as much fun?”

“I have no doubt.” Ca’rrakk answered with a low mutter.

 * * * * *

Lieutenant Belgrum Naxos and Major Goyan Hadarr pelted
across the raging courtyard battlefield at Arca enhanced speed, dodging fire
and leaping over obstacles with incredible and unnatural agility and grace. It
took only minutes for the two to come within range of their target, the silver
haired Vosaia Proconsul, Far’allyn Tanad.

Catching sight of the Braxien and Vosaia racing towards her,
the brown eyed Proconsul sucked in a breath and started firing in their
direction. Though the Proconsul seemed reasonably skilled, each of her shots
fell woefully short of their target as the two leaped, rolled, or simply
blurred to the side of the seeking bullets with a rapidity and skill that clearly
illustrated how outmatched the Vosaia politician was.

With a snarl, Tanad yelled “
Intercept
!” and then
turned and ran.

The four gray–armored hostiles that had been flanking Tanad took
up a static position and trained their ARs at their two enemies bearing down on
them. Naxos and Hadarr tumbled away from each other to dodge the first assault
rifle barrage, though the Braxien was clipped on his shoulder and Hadarr in the
thigh.

The two responded by simultaneously tossing K–Grenades,
causing the four to futilely attempt to scramble madly away.

“Go!” Major Hadarr cried with a chop of her hand forward.

Belgrum nodded and charged into the confusion, loosing a
spray of kobalt–fueled AR fire even as Hadarr covered him with well–timed shots
from her own rifle. Feeling the frenzy of hunt and battle flame through his
core like a ramped–up power generator, Naxos brushed past the one still
standing hostile to swipe at the Proconsul’s back. Behind him, Belgrum’s
saurian senses could
taste
Hadarr’s competent elimination of the last gray–clad
enemy as once more the smell of death erupted in the air.