"Kinetic slugs inbound. Prepare for impact. Inner defense batteries on auto."
"Full maneuver power. Boosting."
Chindik t"Marid prayed silently to the platform joss, making reckless promises. The big vessel lurched and rending sounds echoed through the fabric of its hull as the jammed connectors tore out, like roots parting in the earth. The most effective weapons were on the underside, and that was still pointed towards the SSS-900-C. There was nothing he could do, anyone could do, except the AI systems handling the close-in cjefense - something beyond even Kolnari reflexes.
Sprays of trajectory crossed on the screens. Absently he noted the second to last attacking vessel taking a beam. An irrelevancy now, after the huge scatter of high-velocity projectiles had been loosed against bis command. The slew of dots diminished, as the beams swept, more and more with each second as the stubby disk turned its teeth toward the sky.
Tinngggggg. Timtggggg. He waited, tense. No more contact. The rest of the incoming flotsam had been stopped, or missed, or struck the station instead.
"Damage control!"
A few lights were strobing from green to amber to red. The engines screen came on.
"Lord... the exciter coils for the FTL were hit"
"How long?"
"A week, lord. It is a dockyard job." The Roman on the bridge exchanged looks. They had just heard news of their deaths.
"You," Chindik snapped to a backup crewman. "Take that -" he indicated the joss "- and s.p.a.ce it"
"We have Lord Pol, lord."
The doors hissed open. Belazir jumped back with a yell as the plasma rifle leveled.
"Lord!" The man seemed ready to weep with relie Belazir ignored him, diving for the empty suit that followed behind the warrior. For a wonder, it was his own, "Where is Serig?" Belazir barked. He had expected him to be here, or taking command. Matters should not have got so far out of hand.
With the door open, the smells and sounds of combat were obvious: deep toning sounds as explosions tore at the fabric of the station, far offchuddering ofbeam weapons, the stink of hot metal and ozone. Belazir folded the suit around him, leaving the catheters for later. If I have to p.i.s.s down my leg, so be it. It came alive wib a jerk, and he flexed the servo-powered limbs and gauntlets with exultation.
"Lord Serig is dead, Great Ijord. Lord Pol commands. We have a link.** The news staggered Belazir for a moment. Serig dead? Then he damped the helmet. "Lord Pol?"
"Here! Report follows."-Mosdy disaster. "They came at us out of the walls, must have been hiding there since the occupation began." Belazir nodded jerkily.
"We hold the ships," Pol said crisply. "Except for one transport that has, incredibly, been overrun. They attack the docks and encircle pockets of our troops."
"Continue consolidating the pockets and punch through to the ships," he said. "Status?"
"Heart Crusher is free but her FTL is down," Pol said. "My Shark is also disengaged and I am not bringing her back. Half the transports are moving, but some with heavy damage. Dreadful Bride has nearly full crew, plus personnel from others, and is in control of her docking area and ready to boost." "Age of Darkness?"
"Still not even answering her comm," Pol said, her voice taking on emotion for the first time. "My youngest daughter against a used wiperag. Her outer info was penetrated and they did not even," she spat the word, "notice."
"No wager," Belazir said. He reached back over his shoulder and swung the punchgun rack down. It clicked into its rest along his right arm. The aiming bars lit on his faceplate as he turned and cycled for sonic and IR scan on the pillar that held the brain. Ahhh, yes. There is the interior structure, and the access hatchway. "You may a.s.sume tactical command from the Age of Darkness, Lord Pol, once you reach it. I will follow to the Bride. There is a matter to attend to here."
"Through there," Amos said. He pointed to two broken access door* across the circular open s.p.a.ce. Most of it had been covered with kiosks, stores, restaurants and other structures until an hour ago. Now those were smoldering ruins, scattered among that were the bodies and the wreckage of the servomechs the stationers had used as their first wave. "They are back from the entrance on the second to the right*1 "We"ll go through subaxial E-9 and punch across," Keri Holen replied. "That"s one of the hidden sections."
She turned to her squad, a mix of station repair people with their working tools and ordinary civilians armed with whatever.
"C"mon, sc.u.mvermin," she said. "Let"s go show the lords what we think of em. Follow me."
"How are we doing?" Channa said beside Amos, bobbing up and loosing a burst with her needier. Covering fire from all the stationers lashed out at the exit shafts as the a.s.sault team dodged forward. The barricade ahead of them was corytium, brought in by the handler servos, and plasma rounds had splashed off the front, or welded the ingots together and made the barrier stronger. They still had to expose themselves to shoot, if only in a crevice between two ingots.
Amos ducked down with her as another series of bolts. .h.i.t the metal. They could feel the barricade shudder and tone. The inner layer was barely warm, but the temperature above flash-heated enough to make their skins tingle. The stink of hot corycium made them cough, and Channa thought how worried she would have been in ordinary times; the fumes were not healthy. Then the whole station shuddered, and the gravity fluxed sufficiently to be noticeable.
Nothing like a plasma bolt to give you a sense ofperspective, she thought.
"Not doing too wefl, my darling," Amos said absently. A team from the Perimeter Restaurant was crawling from person to person with bags of sandwiches and juice. More of the restaurant"s people were back two junctions, running a triage station under the direction of one of Chaundra"s meditechs. "TTiey are using the battle platform and the warship for fire support from outside, and we cannot stop them uniting their scattered groups. The groups that survived, thatjs." He sighed and smiled at her through the black smudges of powdered metal. "I cannot think of finer company than yours to travel to G.o.d with, Channa Hap," he said.
"I"m glad, too," she said. "Sorry it was this way, butgiad." He reached out to touch her shoulder. Then her face went glarid. For a moment he feared she had been hit, before he recognized the expression. She was communing with Simeon. Her throat worked. "Amos!" she burst out "They"re taking Simeon out of his column!"
The Bethelite paled. Without their all-seeing commander and chief of general staff, the station was doomed, and quickly. Channa turned and began to leopard-crawl backward. He grabbed for her ankle. "There is nothing you can do," he hissed "I"m his brawn! I have to!" she cried, and kicked free. Amos looked after her and cursed.
"Joseph!"1 he said. "We have to retake main axial, at least for a moment - along the path to the central command. Take -"
The final lead connecting Simeon to the station came free. No Simeon cried into the darkness. The selfdestruct had been left too late. The Navy had not come, and the enemy were breaking free. When they had him on board, the station would die.
He had nothing now, nothing but the single pickup and audio circuit that were part of his inner sh.e.l.l. Life support was on the backups. It would keep his nutrient feeds going for days ... but a single hand could switch him into total darkness, utter isolation. Madness, death without the mercy of oblivion. No!
Belazir was still visible, leaning over the sh.e.l.l. He lifted off his helmet"with both hands, looming over the pickup to smile whitely. The sh.e.l.l surged as the powersuited warriors bent carefully and lifted, the huge weight coming up slowly as their armor whined in protest. There was a slight klinking sound as the helmet rested on the upper face of the sh.e.l.l itself.
"So that you should have my face for your last sight," the Kolnari chieftain said, reaching for the keypad on the sh.e.l.l exterior. "When you see again, you will call me Master and G.o.d . . . and you will mom it." He touched a finger to the control. "Beg, Simeon."
"Eat s.h.i.t and far The Kolnari chuckled. "Not good enough," he said, and pressed the stud.
The doors to Channa"s room slapped open. Channa stepped through, needier at the ready. Belazir could feel the aimpoint on his forehead.
"You wanted me again, Belazir?" she said. "Better late than never. Here I am." A slight movement waggled the muzzle. "This is set on spray. It"s quite fetal. Now, away from the sh.e.l.l, please."
Belazir smiled at her. What a woman! he thought. / will beat her, but not too badly. "There are three of us," he said, shifting slightly. Although unfortunately I have my helmet off and these two are immobilized by the load they carry, he added to himself. "We are in armor. You can scarcely expect to frighten us with that toy alone."
Patsy Sue Coburn followed her friend out of the quarters, leveling her arc pistol. A red burn-mark welted one cheek, bleeding knees and elbows showed through the holes worn in her coverall, but there was real pleasure in her smile.
"Life"s full a" surprises, ain"t it?" she said as Belazir snarled silently. "Real b.i.t.c.h sometimes, too."
Channa tossed her head in a vain attempt to get the sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes.
"Yes," she said evenly, "I do expect to frighten you. Now, replace the sh.e.l.l in the main column cradle and reconnect it. Then, all of you, throw your helmets aside and move over there." She gestured towards the door to Amos" quarters. "I expect your pirates will trade a good deal for you."
"And keep your hands up," snapped a voice from above.
Kolnari heads turned to the opening in the ceiling. A head and arms protruded, far too small for an adult of their bigboned race, but the muzzle of the plasma rifle was held steadily in those slight arms. The weapon looked absurdly large for the person who controlled it, but it was braced against the interior wall and the lip of the hole, and he could see the aimpoint, a red dot that wavered over the three pirates.
"Up," the child repeated, lifting the muzzle of the weapon for emphasis.
Belazir"s mind computed the angles. Good. My left hand is not irisible, he thought "You leave us little choice," he said aloud. Which was true; honor aside, he had no choice at all. Pol t"Veng or any other Kolnari n.o.ble would cheerfully let Father Chalku or their own sires be flayed alive rather than disgrace them by paying ransom, much less do so for him. He would rather be flayed than live on those terms himself "Move the sh.e.l.l," he said to the two troopers. "It"s only three paces."
He raised his gauntleted hands, dosing his eyes and flagging positions. The deck boomed like a drum as the pirate groundfighters moved a pace in lockstep unison, the ton weights of their suits added to triple that of t.i.tanium and machinery ... and the few kilos of a body that had never seen the light of day.
Three, he counted and dropped the flash grenade. Before it hit the sh.e.l.l, hft was leaping backwards, and so were the two other Clan warriors. He squeezed his eyes tight and willed his pupils shut, but even so the flash was dazzling. He hit the doorframe going out, went flat, scrabbled the helmet he had s.n.a.t.c.hed onto his head. The plasma rifle had crashed simultaneous with the grenade. A brief scream and the smell from inside told him it had still been on target.
He blinked open his eyes as the locking ring of the helmet clicked. The combat medsystem sprayed a mist into his eyes, but his vision was severely degraded in any case. He activated the sonic sensor, to cheep the location of things at him.
"Takiz!" he called.
"Fully functional, lord," the warrior answered. "Kintirisdead." / will beat her very severely, Belazir amended. Even with the dazzles before his eyes, he could see several arc-pistol shots snap out through the doorway, and his machine-augmented hearing picked up the telltale click of an arming plasma rifle. The walls were reinforced here, as well. It would be tricky, and he had not much time. Now he did not put it past these extraordinary sc.u.mvermin to blow the station themselves.
The comm chimed and Baila"s face filled one of the chinscreens, a vague dark blur. Her voice was scratchy with interference but audible. "Great Lord," she said calmly. "Ships detected, incoming."
No! he shouted inwardly. No,1 "Lord," another voice spoke. The senior groundfighter officer. "We"re holding a counterattack on the main axial, but I cannot guarantee your withdrawal Not for any period beyond now."
For perhaps ten seconds Belazir panted sharply.
"I will be there in five minutes, or not at all," he said. "Out. Takiz, follow me. We head for the docks." Thank the joss, he thought with savage irony, the northpolar doting tube is so close to here. fm blind, Channa thought. Her skin crinkled, waiting for the clamp of powered gauntlets. Beside her Patsy was shooting.
"Careful, Pats," Channa gasped. The blackness was starred with red, now, and she felt needles of pain in her forehead. Her free hand felt upward, touched her eyes. Wetness... tears, only tears. The eyes felt normal to her fingertips. For a long moment, she had feared it was something like that horrible popper Joat had made.
"I"m careful, all rant," Patsy said. "Got my shootin" iron right on the doorway. They cain"t move quiet in those tin suits."
"Joat?"
"I"m all right," the girl"s voice said. Her voice had a saw-edged note that denied the words. "Hurts and I can"t see, though. I"m coming down."
"Don"t get between me an1 the door!" Patsy said sharply.
Channa dropped to her knees and shuffled forward, hand outstretched. That touched something hot, which brought a sharp gasp of pain; next a warm wetness. She wiped her hand on the carpet and tried again. The smooth t.i.tanium-matrix surface of the sh.e.l.l was like a benediction. When she moved to the keypad, a smaller hand touched hers. They gripped for a moment, then pressed the key.
"Nnooooooooooooo-" The scream was piercing, but Simeon"s backup speakers on his inner sh.e.l.l had limited volume. He stuttered, babbled, then organized his voice.
"Thhh... ank you," he said. "Channa? Joat?" Patsy came into the field of his vision. "What"s happened?"
"He dropped something," Channa said. "There was a white light and we can"t see."
"Flash grenade," Silicon answered. "Don"t worry! It isn"t permanent!" "
Channa gave a sobbing sigh of relief and heard it echoed. "How long?"
"Well... how close were you?"
"Two meters to six, and looking right at it."
"Oh." A pause. "About a day, with medication, I"m afraid," he said. At least for the person who was six meters away. About the others I"m worried. Long-term reaction was variable.
"Oh,great. They may come back in the door-"
"No, they won"t. I can hear their armor moving away toward the docking tube. Lots of fighting. Look, it"s the answer to my prayers to have three beautiful women hugging my sh.e.l.l, but could you get me reconnected? Please? It"s important."
"We can"t lift you back, that"s for sure," Joat said.
He frowned inwardly at the shakiness in her tone, but he had no instant remedy for her.
"There"s plenty of spare play in the cables," Channa said. "How did they?" Her voice trailed off tactfully.
Simeon felt himself cringing again.
"No, it"s all right." Sure it is. "They cut the cable guards and then just pulled the jacks," he said. Cutting away my strength, my sight, my feeling, cutting away me. "Problem is ... they"re color-coded. And the receptors may be damaged."
"I"ll get them sorted out," she said as she moved out of his severely limited range of vision.
How do softsh.e.l.ls stand only one pair of vision sensors? he wondered. Even for a few minutes, his control had been strained to the breaking point.
She returned with the cables, a double armful even with ultra-high-data-density opticals. The jacks for the leads were like a spray of fine hairs.
"Oh, oh," Simeon said.
"What do you mean, "oh-oh,"" Channa replied.
"Everyone knows what "oh-oh" means," Simeon said. "It means, "I screwed the pooch." Your hands.. .* "... are too big," she answered. "d.a.m.n."
"I can do it,** Joat said.
"You can"t see, Joat"
"Neither can Channa. I"v&worked in the dark lots of times. Had to. Got that toolbelt with the micros from Engineering, too."
"They gave you one?" Simeon said, momentarily startled.
"No."
"Don"t tell me," he said. "All right Someone should stand guard. I can hear if anyone"s coining and give you a bearing. Patsy?"
"Surely will," Patsy said. She felt her way to the doorframe.
"You keep the slack on the cables, Channa."
"I"ve wanted to yank your cord for a long time anyway, Simeon," she said with an attempt at a gafiow"s humor. Simeon felt his heart turn over as she smiled down at him.
"Okay, feel your way up the face of the sh.e.l.l, Jack-of-All-Trades and master of some." Her small hands slid upward over the smooth surface to the rounded top. "Stop," he said to prevent her fingers from tangling the hair fine wires protruding from the receptor couplings.
"You be my hands, kid, I"ll be your eyes, *kay?"
She took a deep breath. "Okay, what do I do?"
"Walk the fingers of your right hand two paces forward, one pace to the left. Feel that wire?"
"Yeah."
"Follow it to the lead. Now, with your left hand..."
A minute later Simeon yelled again, this time a long high screech that sounded something like Patsy as she had at game-time rooting for the home team.