They came again after dark. Word had spread; forces loyal to the UN were holed up in the Governorate compound, and they had killed young, proud Ariadnians. Stories of utterly fictional atrocities were circulating around the IHD network. Civilians were starting to trickle back into the streets to cheer on the second assault.
Vasco watched them from the roof, invisible, moving the crosshair of his railgun from one group to the next. Rain cascaded down around him, having abated only briefly. He had been monitoring the UNAF bandwidths and his own drone readouts from the surrounding city for a few hours. Emmanuel, whose ostensible authority well exceeded his rank, had summoned another two hundred soldiers. They arrived piecemeal, a minority in official UNAF troop transports, the rest in civilian technicals. A battalion of troops, even ones as pisspoor as colonial militia, would definitely win the day—in the right hands. He was just grateful that none of the turncoats’ Manticores survived the brief civil war on UNAF Theseus. An assault from both the ground up and from the roof down would have ended the siege in minutes.
‘K, bring the targets upstairs and find somewhere in the centre of the building to keep them,’ he said. Government House had a central shaft of maglev elevators which formed the hard, solid core of the building, enough to protect their charges from stray rounds.
‘Yes, sir,’ Kgosi replied.
Vasco tuned into Kgosi’s helmet camera and watched as he moved through the building and into the first floor canteen where Brock and Rhodes were sitting. In fact, both of them were lying down. Yashego was still asleep, a few metres away. He’d been manoeuvred under a table.
‘They all right?’ Vasco asked.
Kgosi approached Rhodes and nudged him with his boot. The man stirred.
‘Their readouts all seem fine. A bit hot, but I guess it is a bit hot in here,’ Kgosi said.
Rhodes slowly sat up, and immediately fell to coughing. He spent a good twenty seconds hacking up phlegm, which he spat unceremoniously in the corner.
‘You all right, General?’ Kgosi asked.
‘I feel like shit,’ Rhodes replied. He massaged his temples.
Vasco watched through Kgosi’s HUD as he scanned the general with his medical scanner.
‘Shit, Chief, this guy is on fire.’
‘Huh,’ Vasco said, switching back to the view of Independence Boulevard. Nothing was happening. He cut back to Kgosi. ‘What about Brock?’
‘Hey!’ Kgosi shouted over his helmet speaker. Brock’s eyes fluttered open. Vasco could tell from her expression that it took a few moments for her to realise where she was. As soon as she did, she looked miserable.
‘What’s happening?’ she asked. Kgosi scanned her.
‘She’s… basically fine,’ Kgosi said to Vasco, then activated his helmet speaker. ‘How do you feel?’ he asked her.
‘OK. Pissed off. Why?’
‘I don’t know how Brock’s ill,’ Vasco said, ignoring Brock. ‘He’s got all the usual UN standard countermeasures.’
‘Maybe he’s just a pussy?’ Kgosi suggested.
‘Hm,’ Vasco grunted. ‘Just get them upstairs. Sev, how you doing?’
‘All green, Chief. Just watching and waiting.’
‘OK. Stay frosty. They’re going to hit us soon.’