One Bravo commandeered a ground car to speed their progress through the sprawling business–industrial district, where the streets were still mostly empty. They had to abandon it when they reached Minos’s commercial and residential core. They’d expected carnage, based on the news vids that had replayed the early aftermath following Yashego’s announcement. Most of the city’s population had been gathered in one area for the winter solstice celebrations, and the broadcast had thrown the place into chaos.
When they hit the city core, though, they found chaos of a different kind.
The streets were largely clear of civilians. There were bodies—some the result of stampedes, others showing the signs of close-up violence, a few even marked with gunshot wounds—and the accoutrements of the celebrations, the stands, stalls, and holographic floats, had been abandoned or overturned. Not that the place was deserted; from the window of every building peered frightened faces, pressed too-close together.
‘UNAF’s declared martial law,’ said Akiya, checking the feeds. ‘Anyone on the street without authorisation can be shot on sight.’
The squad worked their way towards the East Side compound, moving as fast as they could while staying hidden. Akiya had to work hard to keep pace. Continually dragging her damaged Mantix leg must have been exhausting, but she didn’t complain.
As they got close, they passed through an open square. On the north side, a neat line of bodies lay face-down on the cold concrete, each bearing the same hole where a tungsten round had gone clean through their head. Down one end of the line, a group of UNAF troops had a several civilians kneeling. Bravo kept their distance—refrac should have kept them invisible, but there was no point getting too close—but passed near enough to hear a soldier declaring the next civilian in line a ‘UN traitor’, before putting one through her skull. Akiya slowed her steps.
‘Keep moving,’ said Jarle, shoving her in the back. ‘Whatever’s happening here, we have our orders.’
‘Sorry, Sergeant. It’s just…’
‘We’re out of time. Ariadne’s its own problem now.’
‘They’re settling old scores,’ said Gibbs. ‘I’ve seen it before, when a planet gets pushed to the brink. They must know how fucked they are. Got to do whatever they can to feel in control, until this whole thing is over.’
They hit the East Side compound from the south. According to Jinn’s monitoring, a UNAF squad had reached the complex ahead of them. No time left for subtlety. They blew a hole in the compound wall and ran on, across the grounds and up the steps to the front door of the van Shel residence. Jarle pinged the house’s VI as they got close, transmitting VIPER’s executive warrant, and his IHD reported that the house’s countermeasures had paused to allow them entry. A few moments later, the front door slid open obligingly. At least something on the planet recognised their authority when they needed it.
The door slid silently closed behind them as they entered the reception room.
‘Stay sharp. They should already be here,’ Jarle said.
‘Sarge,’ warned Akiya, but Jarle had already seen the bodies. Four of them, unconscious on the floor.
‘I guess we found the UNAF squad,’ said Gibbs.
‘Check ‘em,’ said Jarle.
‘Looks like they were hit with a neural pulse. Fucks their nervous system for a few hours.’
‘Resonance mappers on. Sweep the place.’ The trio readied their weapons and turned on the spot, each covering a segment of the house to build up an image. The van Shel residence was small by the standards of most of the dwellings they’d passed on the way in to the compound. It preferred understated elegance to an ostentatious display of wealth.
‘Nothing,’ said Akiya.
Gibbs grunted. ‘Nothing moving, but I’m getting… There’s something strange through there. A solid mass the mapper can’t penetrate.’
Jarle wasn’t reading anything either. He cranked up his audio receivers. The house must have had its own damper fields; the sounds of the city had disappeared when they’d entered. It was eerily quiet. Jarle’s HUD showed that their outside comms were blocked, too.
Their ears filled with data chatter as they were hit with LRIS.
‘What the fuck?’ said Akiya. ‘Why would an aristocrat’s house be packing EW capabilities?’
‘Word on Alina van Shel is she’s an informant. I think I know what’s going on here. Stay in refrac, be ready, just in case.’
Jarle shut off his refraction shielding and boosted his helmet speaker so he’d be audible throughout the building. ‘Alina and Victoria van Shel?’ The house echoed back silence.
‘There’s no one here, Sarge.’
A woman’s voice filled the house, coming through walls speakers. ‘Place your weapons on the ground and identify yourselves.’
Jarle cleared his throat. ‘Am I speaking to Alina van Shel?’
‘I’m not fucking around. Put your weapons on the ground and identify yourselves.’
Jarle thought about it. Standing there unrefracted, the house’s VI could target him with whatever surprises were waiting in the walls. That said, no non-military intrusion countermeasures should pose a problem to him in his Mantix. Still, he wanted co-operation. Akiya and Gibbs had at least thirty seconds before a good EW system would make them. He placed his railgun on the ground.
‘Sarge, are you nuts?’ said Gibbs.
‘You two have my back.’ He switched to his helmet speaker. ‘I’m Sergeant Jarle, of the UN’s Very Important Person Recovery unit.’ He transmitted their executive warrant to the house VI again.
‘I’ve never heard of you. What the fuck is VIPER?’
‘Just as it sounds, ma’am. We operate to extract key personnel from dangerous situations and secure their safety.’
A laugh came through the speakers, one that belonged more at a society party than threatening a squad of soldiers.
‘You’re here to ensure my safety? Have you looked outside lately, Sergeant? I don’t think the people here will be too amenable to us just rolling out under the banner of the UN.’
‘So, you are Alina van Shel?’
‘Fine, darling. Yes, I’m Alina.’
‘Ma’am, we’re here to get you to safety. We have a ride waiting to get you and your daughter off-world.’
‘Why should I trust you? The situation seems well beyond your control, and there are plenty of people who’d like me dead.’
‘You’ve got our warrant.’
‘True, but those can be faked. Enough to fool the systems I have here, at least. I wouldn’t put it past Ken Yashego, if he’s figured out what I’ve been up to.’
Jarle ground his teeth. The clock was running out, and they still had to get airborne. If more UNAF reached the compound, they’d be quickly hemmed in.
‘Ma’am, your lockdown will keep you alive for a while—I figure you’re in a safe room of some kind, that’s why we couldn’t pick you up on our scanners. That’ll hold up against most of what the separatists can throw at you, but it won’t matter jack shit when the Ascendancy gets here. Ariadne’s got no ships, no force shielding; cobs will carve through the planet before Yashego’s had time to finish soiling himself. The way I see it, you can take a chance, or blast me and sit tight here until a cob rail strike vaporises this entire compound. Your call.’
There was a few moments’ silence, then Alina let out a heavy sigh that turned into a breathy wheeze. ‘We’re coming out.’ There was a hiss from the next room. Jarle grabbed his weapon from the ground and moved through. One segment of the wall had lifted away, revealing a bank of nanoform polymer on the other side. Jarle guessed it was encasing sheets of diamond composite. A set of mechanised arms had hauled the great reinforced entry panel out of the way, and they could see into van Shel’s safe room. It was comfortable, if a little sparse. Judging from the setup, she could have stayed alive there for a considerable period of time, were it not for the imminent provari threat.
Alina van Shel stood at the entrance of the
safe room, rail pistol in hand. She was exhibiting a disconcerting level of calm under the circumstances. He scanned her pupils, looking for signs that she was running something on her IHD to counteract nerves, but he saw nothing. The woman must have been cold steel. She was clearly built for politics and high society, but she seemed uncowed by the Mantix-wearing covert ops squad that had just shown up in her house and looked entirely comfortable with a pistol in her hand. He couldn’t get the measure of her at all.
She broke his reverie. ‘So, Sergeant Jarle. What’s our next move?’
Jarle cleared his throat. ‘We need to free up our air support and reconnect with the rest of our team in Theseus; but first, we need to get you out of East Side before more separatists breach the compound. Is this Victoria?’
‘Yes, she—’
‘There’s no way I’m going with you,’ Victoria spat.
‘Vic, now is not the time for childish fantasies.’ Alina’s lips tightened into a line. ‘She’s been listening to Yashego’s rhetoric a little too earnestly.’
‘I’m not abandoning my home! The UN hasn’t done shit for us. They just out-and-out said they’re not going to help us.’
‘We’re here to help you,’ said Akiya.
Victoria gave a strangled laugh that resolved into a hacking cough. ‘Of course you’re here for us. But you don’t give a shit about Ariadne. You’re here because mother has been feeding the UN information on anyone willing to actually stand up for this planet. You’re only here because we’ve been useful to you. I’d rather fight alongside my people than take the coward’s way out.’
Jarle was glad he was still wearing his helmet. He found it impossible not to smirk at that. There was such indignant, righteous fervour in Victoria’s voice, at odds with the ridiculousness of the idea of her running off to fight alongside the UNAF rebels. If what she said was true, they’d kill her in a second.
‘We have our orders,’ he said. ‘There’s not going to be a fight when the provar get here. You’ll thank us later.’
Victoria sneered at him. He ignored her, turning to Alina. ‘We need our comms back, now.’
‘Ah, yes. With the work I was doing here, I was granted certain… precautionary dispensations.’ She cancelled the house’s deadzone.
A looped hail from Jinn immediately pinged Jarle’s comm. ‘Go ahead, Jinn.’
‘Sarge, you were incomm. All okay?’
‘Fine. Go ahead.’
‘You’ve got another UNAF squad almost on top of you. They know where you are, and there’s a larger contingent headed your way too, ah, along with that Harlequin.’
‘Shit,’ said Gibbs. Jarle was inclined to agree. They’d got lucky before. A three-person squad taking on a Harlequin tank was a tall order. If they had the element of surprise, the opportunity to co-ordinate an assault, and some nice, fat, man-portable heavy ordnance, it wouldn’t have posed too much difficulty. But they were being hunted, and that meant their odds of survival went way down.
‘Gibbs, get upstairs. Akiya, ground floor window. I want eyes on the outside, now.’ He turned to Alina. ‘Shut off the audio dampers. We need to hear what’s going on out there.’
Jarle’s HUD populated with picture-in-picture viewfinder feeds from the others. He could see, from Gibb’s perspective, UNAF forces fanning out in a cautious tactical advance towards the van Shel house. They’d clearly learned from their previous tangles with One Bravo that they shouldn’t underestimate VIPER. They’d come in force and weren’t taking chances.
‘All right, we need to move. Back the way we came. We’ll have to break out—evasion manoeuvres through the city.’
‘Sarge, looks like that’s not an option.’ Akiya’s feed showed him a view of the hole they’d made in the compound wall, and the Harlequin approaching from the other side. They were hemmed in. If they made a break for it, they’d be gunned down before they could break a fresh way through the wall.
Jarle had always regarded the sight of a Harlequin as reassuring. He’d rarely had the luxury of actually being supported by one on the battlefield, but they were a fearsome sight for any infantryman. He’d never expected to be facing one down himself. Back on Iepthae, VIPER had taken on an ALR-50—the provari counterpart to the Harlequin. But that was with a full squad, and even then, it had cost them one of their own—Gibbs’s predecessor, ‘Range’ Burnett.
Jarle sighed. They were up against the wall, and he couldn’t see a way out. ‘Into the safe room.’
‘Sarge, that’ll just trap us.’
‘We’re already trapped. Set what ordnance you have and get inside.’ He turned back to Alina. ‘You and Victoria, get—’ His eyes flicked left. ‘Where’s Victoria?’
Alina’s eyes widened. ‘Victoria!’
‘One Bravo, hold position. Either of you have eyes on Victoria?’
‘Negative,’ said Akiya.
‘Negative. Wait! I see her. Moving out of the rear of the building.’ Akiya’s feed showed Victoria running out of the house and across the grounds, heading for the privacy wall that screened the next property.
‘What the hell’s she doing?’ said Akiya.
‘Getting herself killed,’ Jarle growled. In the squad feed, the Harlequin moved into the compound and planted itself on its thick articulated legs. Warning indicators flickered on his IHD. ‘Refrac. Stay hidden as long as you can. Get inside,’ he said to Alina.
‘But my daughter—’
Jarle didn’t wait. He just pushed Alina van Shel back into the safe room. ‘We’ll get her. Shut yourself inside, or we won’t get the chance. But be ready to open the damn door when I give the word, or we’re all dead.’
Alina’s eyes were steel, but she activated the door and sealed herself inside. It should have bought her at least as much time as their refrac would against the Harlequin’s LRIS. That wouldn’t do shit for Victoria, though. If the UNAF turncoats knew that VIPER was here for her, would they hesitate to annihilate a teenage girl?
Jarle’s mouth tasted metallic. He’d allowed this to happen. If Captain Vasco had been there… He couldn’t let his CO down. He set his IHD to run Granite, the military-grade focus program designed by SPECWAR. His tension and fear melted away, and he found that his exo-powered legs were already pumping, dashing for the rear door of the estate.
‘Drones up, now.’
‘What’s the plan, Sarge?’ said Akiya.
‘I need deadzone cover long enough to secure Victoria.’ Even through Granite, Jarle was clenching hard enough for it to hurt. The DZ would give him thirty seconds at best – not enough time to get the girl and drag her to the safe room, but he’d take every edge he could get.
Outside, he could see Victoria, hopping the wall to the next property. What the hell was she doing? His Mantix was already pinging with LRIS alerts. They were shielded from line of sight of the Harlequin and the other UNAF forces by the residences, but an unrefracced body would show up on scanners immediately.
‘Sarge, that thing is headed right for you.’
‘Deadzone, now.’
Their drones, linked through the Hypervect defence grid, kicked in, filling Jarle’s ears with data chatter. He bounded the fence, feeling servos complain as they cushioned his landing and he kept running. Victoria wasn’t far ahead now. He reached her in a few strides, a high-pitched whine filling the air as the Harlequin’s twin cannons spun up. Jarle didn’t stop. He lapped Victoria and scooped her up by the waist. It must have been odd, being clotheslined and carried backwards by an invisible force. He tried to minimise the impact to prevent his exosuit from rupturing any of the girl’s internal organs, but she still folded in two with the force, launching a gobbet of blood from her mouth.
Cannon fire cut right through the building next to them, churning up paving and artificial turf with abandon. It was wide of them, but too close for comfort; the tank was taking best-guess shots into the deadzoned area, reacting to the perceived location of a threat. That was useful information, but he couldn’t t
hink about that now. Cannon fire sprayed the area as Jarle sprinted back towards the van Shel house. He didn’t bother leaping the wall. He built as much speed as he could and ploughed into it, turning at the last moment to his it with his back and cradling Victoria out of the way.
He heard the report of railgun fire. ‘UNAF engaging!’ Gibbs shouted on the comm.
‘Return fire. Hold them off another few seconds, then make a fighting retreat to the safe room.’
‘We’ll be trapped.’
‘That’s an order! We’ll be cut to pieces out here. Alina, get that door open.’
Jarle kicked through the door back into the house. ‘Go, go, go!’
He reached the safe room door as Gibbs and Akiya entered the reception room. UNAF had breached the house. Jarle dropped Victoria inside, keeping between her and the door, and pulled out his own railgun.
‘Inside, now!’
He laid down suppressive fire while the others bundled in around him.
‘Seal the door!’
He put out a few more rounds as the arms dragged the heavy blast panel back into place with a definitive clang. Jarle’s night vision kicked activated to compensate for the momentary darkness, then the safe room’s redundant lighting kicked in. The monitors on the world showed UNAF troops sweeping through the house. This room, backed by the counter-EW capabilities of their Mantix, could protect them for some time.
But they were trapped.