Ronin (The Pike Chronicles Book 3) (21 page)

Jon’s mech crashed into a crowd of coup soldiers. His heavy guns blazed as he plowed through the line, tearing apart their soft flesh. Only a handful of coup soldiers wore any powered armor. The overwhelming majority either wore exoskeletons to augment their speed and strength, or nothing at all. Why wouldn’t all the soldiers be issued suits?

When they reached the battlefield the coup forces had already repositioned some troops to guard their rear. Still, with General Calledonius’s troops pressing from the front, and the Ronin force attacking their rear, the coup soldiers were placed in a vice. The lack of powered armor would serve to multiply the effectiveness of the Ronin assault. However, the coup forces were entrenched and defeating them would mean a long, bloody fight.

Some of the coup soldiers broke ranks at the sight of Jon’s mech. The rest stood their ground to shoot it out. While brave, it was foolish. They were merely an annoyance to Jon, who easily swatted them down with the mech’s guns.

“I expected more resistance than this,” said Kevin.

“Their heavy weapons are probably deployed towards their front line,” said Jon.

“Yeah, but they knew we were coming. They’ve sent tanks and fighters already. Why wouldn’t they reinforce their rear?”

Suddenly Jon’s mech flew backwards, taking multiple powerful blasts. He stayed on his feet, but his HUD flashed a warning that the mech’s armor was below fifty percent.

“Looks like you just got your answer,” Jon said.

He searched for the source as he scrambled for cover. The enemy had finally moved in heavier weapons. These were smaller and mobile. They had multiple legs like a caterpillar, a square base and a micro version of a tank’s turret. They appeared to be unmanned. But they were quick, and packed a powerful punch.

One of the little beasts chased Jon, blasting him several times from behind. Jon lurched forward. Warnings flashed on his HUD. His armor was now at thirty five percent. Jon spun around and fired at the bot, but it scurried out of the way. He kept shooting. His turn to chase now.

It was fast, but so was Jon. He decimated a few of the tiny legs and it stumbled momentarily, righting itself quickly.

Jon ran after it, knowing it was a mistake. He fired again and it scrambled sideways, but swiveled its turret around and shot off several rapid rounds back at Jon.

It scored direct hits and dropped the mech’s armor down to twenty percent. It fired again. Jon dove. He tucked and rolled. The bot continued firing, their roles again reversed. Jon came out of the roll and broke into a run.

“Someone get that damn thing off my six,” he shouted.

“Stand by,” said one of the Chaanisar mech pilots.

Jon lunged for cover behind a wall and turned to fire on the bot as it rounded the corner. He saw a couple of its legs first, and then a flash as it was destroyed.

“Target eliminated,” said the other mech pilot.

“Thanks,” said Jon.

“How many of these things are there?” said Kevin, falling back. “They’re everywhere.”

Back on his feet, Jon saw that the bots were hitting the Ronin forces hard. They were being forced back, scrambling for cover, struggling to hold on. He looked to the Reiver contingent. They were fending off a group of the machines that had pushed their way into the Reiver ranks. He spotted Breeah. She was fighting hard. They all were, but they were being forced back nonetheless. To his horror, a couple of the bots had managed to get around behind them, cutting them off. They were going to be slaughtered.

Jon surged into action. Taking off at a sprint he raced for the Reiver position. Reivers fell as the bots closed in. Jon targeted the machines behind the Reivers and opened fire. His guns pounding one of them until its armor gave way and it blew apart. He moved on to the second machine scoring direct hits. It swung its gun around toward Jon, who unphazed continued firing. Unable to get of a single shot, the bot exploded in a tornado of shrapnel and tiny legs.

Reaching the Reivers Jon added the mech’s muscle to their effort. His guns fired incessantly, bursts of white flame accompanying the heavy ordnance.

“Breeah, fall back. I’ll hold them off,” said Jon.

Breeah didn’t respond. The Reivers did not retreat. They charged forward.

“What the hell are you doing?” said Jon.

“Keep shooting,” said Breeah.

The Reivers fanned out around the bots, throwing grenades and laying down fire. The multiple grenades exploded destroying another bot and surely damaging the others. Some moved their turrets, attempting to get a lock on the Reivers. Jon turned his focus to them, firing continuously. One by one they began to fall. It was working.

A single bot kept Jon in its crosshairs. It fired. The blast caught the hip. The armor’s integrity fell to under five percent. Alarms invaded his HUD, as the hip joint gave out. The mech crashed sideways into the ground. He tried to get up, but the mech wouldn’t comply. His fears were confirmed in the diagnostics display. The mech’s hip joint had sustained heavy damage. It wouldn’t be moving again without major repairs.

He had to get out of the metal giant. He accessed the controls to open the hatch. Nothing. He tried again. The hatch didn’t budge. He was trapped.

“My hatch won’t open,” Jon said over his comm.

The Reivers rallied to Jon’s position, encircling the prone mech. They formed a protective wall around the downed mech. With the mech lying on the ground, Jon couldn’t get a good view of anything. He tapped into Breeah’s combat suit and broadcast her feed to his HUD. It didn’t look good.

“Reivers, fall back,” he said.

“Stand your ground,” ordered Jonas.

“What are you doing?” shouted Jon. “Get the hell out of here.”

“I am not under your command, Jon Pike.”

“Goddamnit Jonas, there’s too many of them.”

Jonas didn’t respond. Jon tried the hatch again. Nothing. He kicked at it. Still nothing. He checked Breeah’s video feed to find two bots closing in on her, turrets taking aim.

“Breeah look out!” said Jon.

He held his breath. His HUD was filled with a blinding flash of light.
No. No. No.
He thought.
Please no
. Filled with dread he called up Breeah’s vitals on his HUD. She couldn’t be dead. Probably just injured. They could fix that. They would fix that.

But she wasn’t dead. She was fine. What just happened? He went back to the video feed. It was clearing up. Just ahead now lay the charred remains of the attacking bots. The ground exploded with strafing fire from above and he watched more of the enemy go down.

“Does anybody know what the hell is going on?” Jon broadcast.

“The orbital battle is over,” said Lieutenant Jarvi over the commm. “The coup fleet has surrendered.”

“Excellent,” said Jon, watching intently as the tide of battle began to turn. “Where did the fighters come from?”

“They’re from General Calledonius’s carrier,” said Jarvi.

Heavy ordnance fell from the sky. The light so blinding Jon had to look away. This last wave of fire didn’t come from a fighter. Either the Ronin, or one of Calledonius’s ships was contributing the weight of its guns to the battle. With orbital support, the Colonels had no hope, and Jon expected their surrender in short order. The battle for New Byzantium was over.

Colonel Bast stood in the Ronin’s sickbay waiting for Doctor Ellerbeck. He listened to the sounds of his ship and crew. Information from the ship’s systems streamed in front of his eyes, updating him on the state of the ship’s repairs and readiness. He heard the chatter of his crew. Several still used the brain chips for communication, and as their commanding officer, Bast could eavesdrop on any of that chatter.

What would it be like without all that background noise? He had known nothing else since he had been a child. Soon it would all disappear. He would left with only his own thoughts. What would that quiet be like? Could he tolerate it? He didn’t know, but would soon find out. And that was the reason he would have his chip removed first. There were several risks associated with the procedure, and as the commander, he would take the risk first. If the procedure was found to be too dangerous, only he would suffer the consequences.

The Ronin was a good ship with an excellent crew. Even more so now that they had joined forces with Captain Pike’s crew and the Reivers. The battle for New Byzantium had created a real bond. They were now truly united as one crew.

He had ordered the ship’s fabricators to create new uniforms for the entire crew. If they were going to be united, they needed to look the part. A new uniform would make everyone feel like they actually belonged. It would also help prevent any feelings of animosity. Juttari uniforms might encourage recriminations. Too many had suffered at the hands of the Juttari. The uniform had no place on this ship. Along with the new uniform, all Juttari symbols would be removed from the ship. The new symbol of the Ronin would be the official insignia.

With Prime Minister Sallas back in power, New Byzantium became a trusted ally. The Ronin would maintain its independence, but work closely with Sallas, and General Calledonius. They made preparations for what many considered would be an inevitable attack. The Colonels who had led the coup were taken into custody. They soon confessed. They admitted that the coup was sponsored primarily by Franz Stumpf, CEO of Amboss Corporation, together with a few of the other corporations. They wanted to quash New Byzantium’s fledgling democracy, so that none of their populations got any ideas. Unfortunately, now that the cat was out of the bag, the corporations might decide to wage outright war against New Byzantium. Even without war, tensions would remain high. The Kemmar threat, though still distant, was an ever present danger. Whatever happened, New Byzantium needed to be ready.

Prime Minister Sallas didn’t waste much time after taking office to propose the sharing of technology. In particular, he wanted the jump system. Of course, if there was one thing that could prepare them for the coming challenges, it was the jump system technology. Whether they would share the technology was another matter.

The door opened and Dr. Ellerbeck walked into the room, accompanied by two assistants. Bast hoped all the intelligence he had about her was true. She was the top human expert on alien medicine. She knew better than anyone else how the human body reacted to the introduction of alien technology. He knew if anyone could safely remove the brain chips, it was her.

“Are you ready to begin, Colonel?” said Ellerbeck.

“Yes, Doctor. I am eager to get started,” said Bast.

Ellerbeck nodded, her blue eyes locked onto his. “Before we begin, I would like to remind you of the risks involved. There is no telling how your body will respond to the removal of the brain chip. Brain damage and death are very real possibilities. There is also the risk of psychological side effects.”

“I understand the risks.”

“As I’ve already told you, I’ve studied how these chips integrate with the brain, and I have extracted them before, but I’ve never removed one from a live patient.”

“That will change once you remove my chip, Doctor. Afterwards, removing them from the rest of the crew should be much easier.”

“This is your last chance to back out of the procedure, Colonel.”

“No, I want the procedure, Doctor.”

“Very well,” said Ellerbeck. “Then let’s begin.”

***

When Colonel Bast woke up he instantly felt that something was wrong. Something was missing. His stress levels started to climb as he struggled to determine the problem. Looking around he realized he was lying on a bed in the
sickbay
. Then he remembered that Dr. Ellerbeck was going to perform the procedure. He tried to lift his head to look around but couldn’t move. Why?

“Take it easy,” said a woman’s voice. He instantly recognized as Ellerbeck.

“I can’t move.”

“The anesthetics. Your Juttari implants made you resistant to most standard anesthetics, so I had to use something more powerful. Unfortunately it will take a bit longer for it to leave your system.”

“Doctor, something is wrong. Did something happen during the procedure?”

“No. There were no complications. Your vitals are fine. What do you feel?”

“Like a part of me is missing.”

“We did just remove your brain chip. So, yes, a part of you is missing.”

Bast began to calm down. He needed to think this through. The procedure was a success and there were no physical side effects. What else could it be? He attempted to run a diagnostic on himself, but couldn’t. The chip was gone. Then he realized what disturbed him. The quiet. The noises he was used to hearing on a daily basis were silenced.

“It’s all gone,” he said, almost saddened by the realization. “Even things I didn’t notice anymore. Background noises. All gone. Everything is so quiet.”

“Yes, that is a natural response. You’ve had all that noise in your head your whole life.”

“The quiet is overwhelming.”

“It’ll take some getting used to, but you will. Of that I am sure. If it’s any consolation, many people spend years trying to quiet their minds. Once you get used to it you might find that you like it.”

Would he ever get used to it? He knew that it would be different, but had not expected to react this strongly to the silence in his mind. In truth, he realized that he missed not having instant access to the technology in his brain. The telepathic communication. The interfacing with the ship’s systems. He had taken it all for granted, and now it was gone forever. He knew it was the only way to secure freedom from the Juttari. He did not want to be a Juttari slave again.

He closed his eyes, feeling sleepy again. The effects of the anesthetic still taking their toll.

“When will you begin operating on the rest of my crew?”

“As soon as you are fully recovered and we’re sure you’re okay, we will start.”

“I’m okay,” said Bast, and drifted off to sleep.

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