Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I rotate my neck in a slow circle, trying to ease the tightness in my muscles. Despite the morning sedation I took to slip past Jorath’s security checks, my nerves still feel dangerously frayed. The black-market moon looms outside Raven One’s cockpit window, a rough sprawl of crooked buildings, subterranean bunkers, and endless canyons. It’s dusk here, and the reflected glare from a half-broken series of neon signs accentuates the trash-littered, pockmarked plains.
I sigh. “Third contract in two weeks. And I haven’t even fixed that hairline crack in Raven One’s left kneepad.”
Tabitha spills through my earpiece with a mischievous lilt. “Then let’s hope no one tries to kneecap you, hmm? We’ve got bigger worries.”
I grin at the irony. This job on Jorath is supposed to pad our pockets—and our reputation as Talon—by retrieving top-secret weapon schematics. The client claims it’ll shake the local underworld if those designs become public. Hard to know if that’s a marketing pitch or the truth, but the promised credits are too good to ignore.
I coax Raven One’s systems to life. The thrusters hum smoothly, the new coolant rods keeping them from running hot even after the abnormal flight approach I used to land undiscovered.
Inside the mech, I steady myself against the upright control braces circling my torso and shoulders. Raven One may only be eight feet tall, but it crams a surprising amount of tech into this humanoid frame. I’m basically cocooned by tinted screens, readouts, and sensor feeds, both internally via neural link and externally on my HUD.
I’m not sitting. I’m strapped into a narrow harness that supports my weight as I stand, giving me a direct line of sight through the narrow, visor-like window. A wide HUD projects onto the curved interior plating, overlaying everything in front of me. Multiple data streams flicker in real-time. A topographical schematic of Jorath’s surface, a thruster-heat gauge, ammo counters, and motion trackers.
Tiny pulses of electric-blue lines trace my limb movements, translating each subtle shift of my stance into Raven One’s corresponding motions. I feel the mech’s heartbeat, the rhythmic hum of servo motors, the hiss of pneumatic systems, all feeding into my earpiece as an ominous chorus of mechanical life.
My gloved hands hover near a pair of control grips jutting out at chest level, but half the time, Raven One responds to my neural uplink faster than I can clench my fingers. With every new job, I still marvel at how fluidly this machine and I work together, like a second body forged from alloy and circuits.
Jorath’s main “spaceport” is an unholy knot of barbed-wire fences, bribe-hungry officials, and competing pirates, so forging sedation logs was only half the battle. Getting here in one piece? Let’s call that a minor miracle.
“All right,” I murmur. “Orientation check, T.”
“Coordinates locked,” Tabitha replies. “We do this quick and quiet. We can’t have half of Jorath’s scumbags on our tail.”
I exhale, my heart pounding. “I’d prefer quick and extremely quiet.”
At the edge of my HUD, a blinking prompt signals the decoy charges are ready. Tabitha’s about to stage a small-scale explosion on the opposite side of the facility to lure the pirate squads away from the real entrance.
She pipes up, balancing enthusiasm and caution. “Here goes. Decoy rocket primed. Let’s serve these numbskulls a mana-bomb of distraction, then we raid the cookie jar. By which I mean the encrypted server. Try not to get eaten by any rats.”
I huff a laugh. “Why are you so fixated on rats? Are they huge or something?”
“Considering this place’s hygiene? I’d guess their rodents are big enough to ride. But if rats don’t terrify you, how about feral guard dogs? Either way, they’ll chew on your ankles if they catch us.”
“Lovely,” I deadpan.
Lightning arcs across my HUD, a stylized animation showing the decoy blast in real-time. Then, a loud boom reverberates across Jorath’s dusty flats, rattling the crates around us. Raven One’s sensors pick up half a dozen heat signatures, sprinting toward the explosion.
“Distraction’s a success,” Tabitha crows. “No time to waste, David. Slip in.”
I shift the mech forward at a low crouch, letting the servo motors whir. We approach a jagged opening in the ground leading to the subterranean black-market facility. My breath catches. This place used to be a legit mining station, but local pirates turned it into a fortress after the main company pulled out.
Rickety scaffolding lines the walls, and bits of overhead piping drip suspicious fluid. The deeper I go, the more my headset blinks with jammed signals. No surprise. Jorath is infamous for using signal dampeners to deter sneaky infiltration.
“I’m reading some heavy interference,” I report. “They really peppered the walls with jamming devices.”
“Let me see what I can do.” Tabitha’s voice deepens with the concentration of a hundred data threads. “Vanguard AI is scanning for frequencies to punch through. Don’t rely on me for remote sensor feed.”
We venture deeper, Raven One’s thrusters set to minimal to avoid collisions with overhead conduits. The corridor is a suffocating warren of metal beams, flickering floodlights, and piles of debris. Glowing puddles of luminous green fluid, some kind of industrial runoff, collect along the edges of half-collapsed catwalks. The air stinks of rotting metal and ozone. My pulse ticks up. This place feels like a tomb.
A faint scuffling draws my attention behind a broken cargo container. As Raven One steps closer, I glimpse glinting eyes. Giant rodents, easily the size of small dogs, slink away. My stomach turns. “Oh. They really do have rats big enough to gnaw on mech ankles. Fucking fantastic.”
Tabitha snorts. “Told you. Another bullet point for your résumé. David Wayne, rodent exterminator. I’m sure we could get jobs ridding dungeons of monsters if our mercenary mech career is cut short.”
“What? You mean like go into caves and search for treasure type stuff?”
“Yes.”
I roll my eyes, letting the thrusters push me up and around a twisted beam as I imagine using a sword to skewer these rats. It sounds like fun. “Focus, David,” I tell myself.
So far, no human guards. That’s a relief. My decoy must be working. However, I do spot tripwires near the far wall. “There’s definitely more sophisticated security here than rumored.”
“Smart pirates,” Tabitha murmurs. “But not that smart. I’m about to trick their checkpoint sensors. Let’s see, a timed overload on their network regulators…and done. They’ll think an external meltdown took out their perimeter.”
The lights dim, and alarms stutter. Perfect timing. I slip by, carefully picking my way past dangling, sparking wires. My HUD pulses a red warning when a pipe overhead threatens to burst, but I manage to step Raven One forward, avoiding a dripping substance that could corrode our plating.
Suddenly, the corridor broadens into a cavernous chamber. It’s dark, with only a few flickering lights. Rusted catwalks dangle from the ceiling, and in the middle stands a makeshift console station bristling with cables. I’d guess this is the central terminal for their operation. If the stolen weapon schematics are stored anywhere, it’s on that console.
Tabitha’s voice purrs with satisfaction. “We found the cookie jar. Now, let’s snatch those chocolate chip files. I’m guessing they’re not going to hand them over with a bow.”
I ease Raven One behind a collapsed girder and take a moment to disengage, then hop out to approach the console on foot. Sometimes, a big chunk of metal is not the best hacking vehicle. The stale air pricks my lungs, and my boots squelch on damp ground. Off to the side are a few lumps of grim leftover scraps, maybe food refuse, or... I decide not to look too closely. Best to focus on my objective.
Data cables coil from the console like tentacles. “Eenie meenie miney moe…” I find an opening. “I’m going to make you my little bitch ho.”
I connect my data spike to a free port. One flick of the switch and the console’s display crackles. The data spike’s status light goes blue, streaming lines of code across my forearm display.
“Two minutes, give or take, for a full tap,” Tabitha warns through my earpiece. “Careful. Any slip and we blow our stealth advantage.”
I scowl at the console’s interface, noting it runs a proprietary OS. “It’s got an AI subsystem. This might get rocky if it notices the intrusion.”
“I’ll keep it distracted with fake queries,” Tabitha replies. “One wrong line of code, though, and we’re going home in a charred can. No pressure.”
Nothing new there. I exhale. “Just keep any meltdown to a minimum.”
As if on cue, a squeaking scrabble erupts. Something leaps from behind a crate. A gargantuan rat, or maybe a mutated beast. My heart lurches. I jump back toward my suit, but there is no way I can get inside in time. I reach the armor, grab an electrified baton, yank it from the holder, and swing behind me without looking.
Sparks flare for about half a second, releasing a metric shit-load of energy that would’ve been used against a mech into the little beast, and the creature flops unconscious. My face twists in disgust as I point at the body with the baton. “Ugh, that is vile.”
“Beat up that rat like a boss,” Tabitha teases. “They look like they eat better than the poor saps who live topside. See, you could do that monster dungeon-crawling expedition.”
I grudgingly re-holster the baton. “You’re not the one who nearly got a faceful of rodent drool. Next time, I’ll borrow your digital hamster cage.”
“Any day,” she returns. There’s a tense pause. “Listen, this AI on the console, it’s reacting. I’m trying to cage it in, but it’s throwing up partial system alarms.”
Lights overhead flash red. A faint siren squeals, reverberating through the jagged corridors. My spike display shows ninety percent progress on the data download. I grit my teeth. “Almost there. Hold that system in place, T.”
Tabitha’s voice lowers. “Multiple mechanical signals stirring in the sub-level. Possibly scavenger bots. Looks like they’re waking up to guard the server. Sorry, soldier boy, you might have to shoot your way out.”
My stomach drops. “Damn it.” I glance at the data spike, still transferring. “We can’t leave yet.”
A clang echoes from the far end of the chamber. Gears whirr, then an ominous scuttling sound arises. I yank the data spike out, confirming we’re at one hundred percent. “Got it. Let’s move.”
I sprint back to Raven One. My chest tightens as snarling mechanical limbs appear in my peripheral. Squat, spiderlike scavenger bots, crawling along walls and dripping stray sparks. The first leaps off a broken ledge, metallic teeth clacking.
I slam the lock on the cockpit shut behind me. The mech’s neural interface envelops me, and I mentally jam the ignition. Instantly, my HUD identifies five, six, seven targets. They scurry from overhead beams, scuttling across the floor in shrieking unison.
“Time for your pulse cannon,” Tabitha announces. The cool swirl of AI data merges with my instincts. “We route extra power from thrusters. Keep the shots short and precise.”
I release a ragged breath. “Think I can handle half an army?”
“They look hungry,” she quips. “The server’s digital defenses have spread the alarm. Don’t get sloppy.”
I steady myself, gripping the controls. “I’ve come too far to get eaten by scrap metal. Vanguard AI, approximate firing solutions.”
The HUD lights up, showing half a dozen ballistic lines. I prime the pulse cannon and fire a short, staccato blast. The recoil rattles my arms, but the first wave of scavenger bots collapses in sizzling arcs. Metal fragments scatter, and the corridor floods with sparks.
“High scores on your own tests, you Army bastards,” I hiss. I’m in the zone, and with the synchronicity, I start racking up the hits like I was born to do this.
More bots pour from side passages. I clutch the triggers, pivot Raven One’s torso, and unleash another volley. The mech’s predictive reticles guide the shots, and Tabitha’s quick adjustments keep me from overshooting or frying my own hull in the cramped space. My heartbeat pounds in my ears. The muzzle flashes reveal gnarled walls, reeking plumes of chemical smoke, and a few more scuttling shapes.
“Push forward,” Tabitha urges. “They’ll just keep spawning. We can’t hold this corridor forever.”
I angle the thrusters, launching Raven One ahead. I think about how much these bots cost, and I’ll admit, I smirk. Come at me, will they? I would have left them alone, but now they’ll have a minimum of six figures of scrap after I’m done.
Fuckers.
The mech’s metal boots stomp through shredded debris. Sparks dance across the plating. Several bots close in from behind. I twist, venting a pulse wave that flings them sideways. My visor flickers as a scanning subroutine tries to keep track of every target.
“Up ahead on the right. An exit hatch to the surface,” Tabitha shouts. “It’s sealed. Probably on a manual lock. You’ll have to pry it or blow it open.”
A fresh siren howls from the corridor behind me. Then, a deeper mechanical thud echoes, and I realize we’re not only dealing with scavenger drones. That’s the distinct stomp of a bigger mech.
“Oh, fuck me.” I sigh.
A hulking shape emerges from a wide side passage, an older model mech, easily three feet taller than Raven One. Its patchwork plating is thick, and it sports a shoulder-mounted missile rack. Through the gloom, I glimpse the pilot’s silhouette behind a reinforced canopy.
Tabitha’s voice dims. “Brace yourself, David. That’s a real pilot, not some dumbass drone.”
We face off in the cramped corridor. The bigger mech’s thrusters flare with a shriek, and it lurches forward, firing a cannon round that whips overhead. My holo-shield deflects the worst of it, but the shock wave rattles me in the cockpit. I snarl, returning fire with a pulse cannon barrage. Sparks light the corridor in a furious strobe, scorching the enemy’s left armor.
“Move in close,” Tabitha quickly suggests. “His missiles can’t lock on you point-blank.”
I jam the thrusters as I run, crossing the distance in a heartbeat. The bigger mech tries to pivot its missile rack, but I’m already latching onto its shoulder plating. Our frames screech, locked in a savage grapple. Alarms shriek in my HUD, indicating abnormal servo strain.
“Watch it!” Tabitha shouts as the pilot angles a small rocket tube. “He’s about to fire point-blank.”
I slam Raven One’s right arm in a punishing blow aimed at the warhead mount. The rocket shoots out at an awkward angle, spinning wide. My heart lurches, and the projectile curves wildly then boomerangs back as the corridor’s angled walls deflect it. I cut the thrusters and leap away. The corridor vibrates with the explosion.
A deafening roar tears through the gloom. Broken metal shards whiz past. The enemy mech staggers. Flames surge around its midsection. By the time the smoke clears, the pilot’s canopy is ruptured, and the frame collapses with a tortured squeal.
My ears ring. My breathing is ragged as I scramble upright, double-checking damage readouts. Raven One is battered around the shoulders but not critically harmed.
“Hell, yeah!” I scream. Yes, he died, and I’m alive. I’ve considered this for years already. I’m small in body but not intellect. I knew it would come down to killing a human enemy at some point.
Him or me.
I push forward. The exit hatch is right there, half-blocked by a collapsed beam from the explosion. I steady the thrusters and slam my mech’s left shoulder into it. Metal groans. The hatch groans back, fighting me. With another short pulse from the servo motors, the debris shifts enough to wiggle through. I grab a metal bar and use energetic, leverage-inducing tension.
In short, I beat the shit out of it.
At last, I clamber up the final rung. The overhead hatch bursts open, letting in a wave of cold Jorath air and faint starlight. Raven One’s plating scrapes the edges as I force the mech through. Pain flares in my side when the harness digs in, and my arms ache from the recoil of the pulse cannon. Yet, as I stand upright under Jorath’s star-sprinkled sky, my relief is instant. We made it out.
“Data spike’s secure?” Tabitha prompts with a small, shaky laugh.
I nod, adrenaline still coursing. “Encrypted drive is locked inside the cockpit compartment. All the stolen schematics are safe.”
Sparks flicker off my mech as I step onto the rocky ground. The facility behind me belches smoke from the decoy explosion and the wreckage we left behind. The hush is broken only by the distant sound of panicked pirates scurrying to find out what tore through their base. Good luck with that. I have no intention of sticking around.
In the far distance, the faint lights of Jorath’s underworld enclaves glimmer. They’re probably buzzing with rumors about a single infiltration mech that overcame the facility’s defenses in less than an hour. I grin shakily. Another success for Talon, or maybe a new set of enemies made in the process, but that’s tomorrow’s problem.
Pride edges Tabitha’s tone. “You did good, David.”
I tilt my head back and exhale. My body throbs with fatigue, but warm satisfaction burns in my chest. “We both did. Let’s get out of here before they send half their orbiting goons after us.”
We accelerate into the night, Raven One’s servos whining in protest but carrying me faster than any mech has any right to move. Behind us, the subterranean fortress recedes into darkness, a graveyard of scavenger bots and a shredded defense mech. The meltdown blasts have left a cratered wasteland in the corridors below.
Tabitha hums a triumphant little tune, occasionally spicing it with wry commentary about the giant rats that nearly devoured me.
Finally, she remarks, “I bet the black market’s already in a frenzy, soldier boy. Word travels fast around here.”
I snort. “Let them talk. If that gets us better contracts or stronger allies, I’ll take it.”
Or more enemies, I think again, but I prefer not to dwell on it. I’m riding a shaky high from surviving impossible odds. My chest still vibrates with the aftershock of close-range rocket fire. The data is safe, and so am I, somehow.
The stars shimmer weakly in Jorath’s smog-stained sky. Beyond them, the rest of the Velstyn system churns, full of petty warlords, corporate stooges, and rival mercenaries. If any of them doubt a scrappy pilot and his AI partner can make a name for themselves, maybe they should take a closer look at the scorched remains left behind on Jorath.
Satisfaction blooms in me, overshadowing the dust. My mind replays the final explosion and the pilot’s stunned expression as his own rocket FUBAR’d him. This is the path we’ve chosen. Infiltration missions, forging sedation logs to bypass official scrutiny, thruster bursts in cramped tunnels, hacking into guarded servers. It’s dangerous, but it’s also a chance to prove the cynics wrong.
“All right,” I state. “We’re leaving this wretched moon. Get Raven One’s stealth thrusters warmed for the final liftoff. We’ll hop off Jorath’s surface and rendezvous at that unmonitored docking outpost. Then, we jump home. Don’t suppose I’ll get a job offer from them anytime soon,” I quip.
“I don’t know.” Tabitha considers my comment. “If they have a bigger enemy and you were available, they might hire you. You’d either be successful on the job or end up dead. Kind of win-win for them.” Her smirk sparkles in her voice. “Talon’s legend grows. We’re unstoppable. Now, let’s haul our battered metal ass out of here.”
We vanish into Jorath’s dusty night. By the time dawn breaks here, the entire underworld will have learned the name that carved a path through their facility in a single blow. Talon. For the first time in a long while, I’m certain that though I’m scrawny, overshadowed, and occasionally paranoid about giant rats, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.