The IX (36 page)

Reaching the main entryway, Mac paused to look out across the tarmac toward the
Seranette
.
And how many other ships contain a surprise like you?

“Ready?” Mac called over his shoulder.

“Just give us the word,” Angela Brogan yelled from the flight deck.

A few of the other crewmen murmured in response. A grim and determined atmosphere congealed in the air about them. People began to fidget.

Mac glanced at his watch.
Thirty seconds.
“Fire Teams, this is Alpha. In a few moments, our enemy will begin their charge. You don’t have to do anything at this stage except watch and wait. Remain calm. Most of all, stay alert. While we expect them to rush us from the direction of the terminal and service tunnel, this is the Horde we’re dealing with. They’re sneaky bastards, so let the shields and booby traps do the work for us. Once a target becomes highlighted within the energy discharge, let them have it. Safetys off. Weapons hot.

“Pilots? It’s time. Do your thing.”

Everything went quiet and people held their breaths.

When nothing happened immediately, a sense of anticlimax set in.

Then an almost imperceptible vibration trickled through the bulkhead. Mac had to concentrate hard to realize it was there. Moments later, a faint whine intruded at the edge of his hearing. Deepening in resonance, it gained in pitch and the trembling increased. A glittering skein of power crackled into existence, coating the outer hull in a mesh of blue light.

One minute.

“Contact!” Mark’s voice cut through the stillness.

“Where and away?”
Jesus, that was fast!

“We have movement from the terminus and underpass. Several of the hangars along the western perimeter also show signs of grunt activity.”

“Roger that. Wait. Out,” Mac acknowledged. “Tarion Star, this is Alpha. Stu? Did you copy that? We may have incoming from your northwest quadrant, bypassing the chokepoint. They’ll hit you first.”

“Yes, yes, Boss. I’ll have Fonzy lead the fire team in covering that arc. He’s got a HK420, so they’ll present little in the way of opposition. I’ll take care of the rest with the Remington.”

“Good to hear. All units, standby while —”

The background tone abruptly rose beyond hearing, cutting Mac off mid-sentence. As it did so, a continual reverberation settled into place. The
Promulus
flexed.

“Angela? Danny? What’s happening?”

“Apologies, Lieutenant,” Angela replied, “we’re priming the takeoff thrusters. Too much juice, too quickly. Sorry, we’re kinda learning as we go here.”

“No problems. But please be careful. The smell of fear is quite repulsive in close quarters, and I doubt you’ve had time to familiarize yourselves with the air recirculation system yet.”

The vibrations reduced, and a smattering of nervous laughter broke out among the crew.

Mac didn’t have time to think about it. “Mark, update please?”

“We’ve just initiated the main core reboot. Barriers are holding, and the Horde doesn’t even know we’re here, which is good news for us, but bad for you. Boss, it looks like the gates to the abyss have been opened. Where the hell this lot is coming from, I don’t know.”

“Flushed them out, have we?”

“Royally flushed is the term I’d use. I’ve never seen so many, not even at the city walls. You’d better get ready. A tsunami of death is heading your way.”

“Understood. Mark? Go radio silent. I don’t want to risk the chance of you being discovered until we’re prepared to reveal our presence there. See you on the other side.”

“Enjoy the duck shoot.”

Mac snorted, only to grow serious a moment later. A different, more urgent resonance was impinging on the background thrumming of the ship. The shuddering grew more exigent, more intrusive. A rumble echoed toward them from the horizon.

Mac lifted his rifle and used the scope to get a better view.

He caught his breath.
Okay, then. Let’s see who’s got the strongest hand this time.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

An Ace up the Sleeve

Saul rushed into the control center, desperate to catch up on the events he’d missed. “Sorry I’m late, Mohammed. Are they away yet?”

Mohammed didn’t look round. “We’re just about to find out.”

A bank of widescreen monitors covered the main wall, each depicting a different scene. Before them, an array of key personnel sat at various consoles, each fulfilling a vital function in the events unfurling out at the main starport.

Tapping his com-set, Mohammed called across to the command operator. “Amelia, bring up the lead tracker drone, will you? Put it on screen three and transfer a feed to my terminal.” Turning to face Saul, he added, “We’ve had this particular flyer stationed above the field at high altitude all morning. It’s cloaked and equipped with high resolution read and record optics. This is a live-time feed.”

The picture wavered as the appropriate adjustments were made, before zooming in on a scene of shocking clarity. A seething mass of chaotic turbulence, shot through with lurid outbursts of strontium red and sizzling orange vehemence, streamed across the tarmac. Two main waves disgorged from the terminal building and underpass at a frightening rate, supported by a smaller surge issuing from the berthing pens to the northwest.

“Is that . . . ?”

“I’m afraid so,” Mohammed said bitterly. “I know we should be pleased, as it shows our gambit is working. After all, this will keep the main eastern highway clear for Marcus. But it would appear our friends have brought in reinforcements from somewhere.”

“But where? I thought the entire spook host from around the planet was supposed to be here already?”

“I’ve got my suspicions, but we’ll chat about that afterward. You’ve got enough to deal with at the moment.”

“Tell me about it. Yet another distraction I could do without.”

Mohammed sidled closer. Lowering his voice, he said, “Did you make any progress?”

“Not really,” Saul admitted, letting out an exasperated sigh, “apart from confirming what we already knew. The Caledonians are beside themselves with anger. They had a lot of respect for Decimus, and are furious to think something like this could happen under their noses. Cathal is adamant that he and his warriors all left at the same time. He assures me they stayed together for at least an hour afterward as they checked out the arc of death. The same goes for Diving Hawk and his Sioux braves. Although they returned to their rooms, the time it took them to get to the other side of the city removes them from suspicion. As far as anyone is aware, Decimus was fine, in good health, and in the company of a detachment of his legionnaires when the others departed. So, apart from his own soldiers, no other person was in the vicinity at the time.”

“And did
they
see anyone during the course of their patrols?”

“Not a bloody sausage. I’m back to square one.”

“Sorry to play devil’s advocate,” Mohammed whispered, moving even closer, “but have you considered Houston? The two did have a very public falling out, after all.”

“That’s the thing, Mohammed. Because you were busy in here, the security detachment notified me of the death first. We went straight to Houston’s room, thinking we’d catch him with his pants down. Case solved.”

“And?”

“You’ve seen the change in him since his accident. We got there, charged in, and found him naked apart from his socks and slippers. He had his hands against the wall, was staring off into space at goodness knows what, and was mumbling about how good it was to be free of constraint. When I asked him what he was blithering on about, it only seemed to make him more confused and upset. He actually crawled under his bed and hid. I seriously doubt he even knows what day it is.”

The two friends stared at each other as they tried to make sense of the latest conundrum to plague the city they had pledged to defend.

“Sirs?” Amelia called, breaking the silence. “I think you’ll both want to see this.”

Turning back to the main monitor, they couldn’t help but gasp.

*

If not for the arcs of ruby-colored lightning stabbing their way through the seething mass of the mirage, Mac could have been forgiven for thinking he was looking at a huge distortion caused by the interaction of cool mountain air sweeping over heated tarmac. But he knew better, especially as the ululating cries betrayed exactly what the advancing apparition really was.

Mac kept the crosshairs of his telescopic sights fixed firmly on the area between the
Horatius
and
Cybele
.

Any second now . . .

The claymore triggered, and thousands of pieces of shrapnel found their targets. A rippling series of shockwaves tore a widening swathe through the front ranks of the Horde’s charge. The devastation expanded as the trailing spooks simply ploughed into those in front who were desperately trying to scramble out of the way. The carnage intensified, creating a chain reaction of self immolation which defined the features of those creatures along the leading edge in horrific clarity.

Why are they so keen to risk themselves against the iron? They’re obviously terrified. Surely they can’t be
that
hungry?

At last, the combined echo of explosions and screams of outrage reached his ears, creating a grating contrast to the deepening hum of the
Promulus
’s engines.

And now . . . ?

He watched, transfixed, as the swarm continued to pulse forward. The scene within his scope appeared to warp, as if reality had somehow thickened. An area of darkness folded into existence, swelling into a swirling gray void shot through with coruscating bands of silver-blue energy. The grunts closest to the anomaly were yanked into the air and sucked backward into the maelstrom. Seeing their comrades snatched away so easily, the rest of the pack attempted to scatter. The gravity-well condensed, bending the air into a corkscrew vortex that dragged the slowest victims, clawing and screaming, into oblivion. A flare of white light and accompanying thunderclap announced the moment the device winked out of existence.

Mac blinked in surprise as the forward end of the
Horatius
crumpled and sagged.

That was a micro-mine? Damn, but someone’s been working hard.

The charge had stalled, and the panicked ogres presented an even easier target to the second booby-trap. Detonating moments later, it consumed more than fifty of the Horde before they could react. Within seconds, the wreckage of the
Cybele
joined the
Horatius
on the tarmac.

Mac felt the vibrations running through the superstructure of the
Promulus
cease. Distracted, he glanced toward the flight deck. “What’s happening? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, yes,” Danny shot back. “We are now flight ready. We’re just holding off so as to give the
Tarion Star
time to clear the runway.”

“Why? Aren’t they prepared for takeoff as well?”

“Almost. Hiroshi said they’re having a little problem establishing the antigravity field. Something about a glitch between the software that micromeshes the aqua, and tear-space drives. The
Tarion Star
is fitted with the very latest generation of engines, so it’s taking a little longer than anticipated for the union to initialize. They should be away within two to three minutes.”

Two more minutes?

Mac had an idea. Looking back at their hapless enemy, he could see the main body was still milling around in confusion. The smaller band that had issued from the flight pens, however, had just reached the shield wall surrounding the cargo carrier. Each impact created a burst of neon blue brilliance that left a negative image across his vision.

“Angela, Danny,” he called, “change of plan. Lift off now and take up a position twenty yards south of the
Tarion Star
. Keep us at the hover. We’ll provide additional cover from the air until they’re ready to go.”

“Roger, will do.”

In eerie silence, the
Promulus
peeled away from the ground. Mac felt no sensation of movement whatsoever, not even when the landing struts folded back into place. On a whim, he reached out toward the enclosing energy mesh.

A voice said, “It won’t work.”

Mac turned to find one of the Tec-heads, Jayden Cole, standing right behind him. He’d seen her at a distance on a number of occasions, but never this close. He thought her fiery hair and piercing green eyes were quite breathtaking. “Hmm?” he mumbled.

Jayden nodded toward the web enclosing the ship. “Trying to push your hand out. We’re cocooned in an inertial dampening field. It allows us to cut through a number of mediums without feeling the effects of resistance, so obviously, an inbuilt safety feature ensures nothing can pierce the bubble.”

Mac snatched his hand away. “So how am I going to fire out of the port?”

“That’s why I’m here.” Jayden flashed a winning smile. “Angela sent me down to cut the buffer around the hatchway. As long as we stay on maneuvering thrusters, certain portions of the net can be lowered. The Ardenese used to do it all the time, to exchange passengers and cargo in flight. We can’t have you missing out on your fun now, can we?”

“Lucky me.” Warming instantly to the confidence exuding from the woman next to him, Mac added, “But you might want to stand back. It’ll get a bit noisy.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Jayden whipped out an AK-48-GMR assault rifle from behind her back, and prepared to fire. She appeared very familiar with her drills.

Hellooo?

Noticing Mac’s appraising look, Jayden coolly raised an eyebrow and tapped him on the forehead. Pointing past his shoulder, she drawled, “Shouldn’t you be concentrating on what’s out there?”

Feeling suitably chastised, Mac turned to survey the scene. His focus immediately reverted to what was outside.

The
Promulus
had already reached the
Tarion Star
. Angela and Danny had maneuvered the liner so they were now hovering only seventy feet off the ground, directly above the teeming press of monsters impinging against the temporary shields. Although much smaller than the primary mob, Mac was nevertheless unable to count how many Horde were testing the barriers. Flash after flash blasted out as the brutes expended themselves in a hopeless gesture.