AMP Colossus (8 page)

Colonel Calder replied, "We've just been finding that out, Mr. Grange. We are trying to determine how to counter that. If you figure anything out, let us know!"

I replied, "Likewise, Colonel! Just try to keep yourself alive in the meantime!"

I turned back to Ashley and the four Marines with us. "Flip your blasters to negative and let's see if they have shielding for it, but keep yourselves out of direct line of fire; Reeves took it pretty hard."

Corporal Daz Stephens was the first to get off a clean shot. The Colossun hesitated for only a moment before moving behind protection of its own.

Ashley grabbed my shoulder and spoke. "Those Colossun suits are a hard resin. They will stop a blunt-force strike. I wonder what that AK of yours will do."

I holstered my blaster and swung the AK around off of my shoulder. "Is there any spot that would be more susceptible to damage than another?"

Ashley replied, "Shoot for the core! It's just above their right hip. Sits where your appendix is. It has metal framing surrounding it, but let's see just how protected it is."

I popped a clip into the AK, pulled back on the charging handle, and released. I took a position between two containers and slowly rose until I could just see the top of a Colossun's head.

I spoke. "I need a diversion, something to draw one of them out."

Stephens took the initiative. He stood in plain view. "Hey! Over here! Come get some of this!"

Two of the Colossuns stepped out into view. Stephens ducked as the first pulse came just over his head. I took my shot.

Ak!

The Colossun turned slightly to one side and then froze in place.

Ashley spoke. "I can't believe that worked!"

I replied, "Pass that info on to the Colonel. I don't know if she can make use of it, but the Marines I've worked with know how to improvise. Stephens! Draw another one out!"

Stephens again stood. As he began to belt out a call, a pulse came in from a different direction, striking him squarely in the shoulder. In an instant he was dead as his expanding torso exploded inside his battle suit. Stephens's dead body dropped to the floor.

Ashley spoke. "Corporal Cantrell! That puts you in charge! Don't make the same mistake!"

Cantrell shook his head as he replied, "No, Ma’am, I won't."

Cantrell aimed his blaster at a small crate by the right-hand hallway.

Pzzzt! Booom!

The crate exploded as the expanding ions did their damage. I rose just in time to catch a second Colossun in the open.

Ak!

I spoke. "Cantrell, draw the attention of that last one. I'm going to sprint for that other container."

Cantrell lined up a second shot and dropped his hand just before pulling the trigger.

Pzzzt! Booom!

Another crate exploded. As I dove for my target cover, a pulse just missed my right heel. I pulled myself upright as Corporal Cantrell stepped into the open and began to fire, his blaster aimed at the crate behind which the Colossun android was taking cover. The Colossun stepped out and fired repeatedly at Cantrell as he rolled across the floor. I stood, aimed, and squeezed the trigger.

Ak!

The Colossun jerked violently for a moment and then stopped.

I spoke. "Let's go! Down this hall. Nice job, Cantrell. Nuts, but nice!"

As we came to the end of the hall, I stretched out my arm for the others to stop. Five Colossuns had a blockade in the middle of the main entryway. The noise from gravity pulses and ion bolts exploding would have been deafening if not for our helmets. Little damage was being done to either side. Other than an occasional jolt from the concussion waves being caused by each weapon, it was hard to tell a fight was taking place. With the Colossun barricade, our Marines had no way to pass by their position.

I looked up at a catwalk that stretched across the entryway.

I spoke. "Cantrell! See if you can find us a way up there. Take Mathers with you, but don't go far."

I turned to Ashley. "I was expecting a much larger number of Colossuns to be holding the Marines off. There have to be more than five of them in this port facility."

Ashley replied, "I was having the same thought. Those ships that took out our transport—they were waiting for us. My commander in SCore used to have a favorite saying: 'Things always happen for a reason. Find out what that reason is if you want to prevent it from happening again.' Those ships were waiting for a reason."

Several minutes passed before Corporal Cantrell returned.

Cantrell spoke. "Sir, we found a stairwell leading up to that catwalk."

I began to stand as I turned and spoke. "Good work, Corporal; let's get up there and see what we can do."

Corporal Cantrell held out his hand as he spoke. "Hold on, Sir, there's more. We found the elevators. They don't appear to be working, for some reason. There are four more Colossuns there yelling at a handful of Tribuks. Looks like there were a dozen Tribuks originally, but six are dead by hits from those pulsers. I think they are trying to force the others to fix whatever their issue is."

Ashley spoke. "If those elevators aren't working, that could be the reason we only have a handful of Colossuns up here. We need to get Calder's men in here and keep them from repairing that elevator until we get a grasp on the overall situation."

I replied, "I couldn't agree more. Cantrell, you and Mathers go back and keep an eye on those elevators. I want to know if they get them back online."

Cantrell replied as he turned to leave, "Yes, Sir!"

I turned back to Ashley. "Let's get up on that catwalk and see what we can do for the Colonel."

The catwalk was part of a larger structure. It was a cargo crane that moved on rails back and forth over the length of the entryway. The Colossuns had used the crane to position the containers in the middle of the floor.

I spoke. "I'm heading out to that crane. If I can grab one of those containers and move it, it might give the Colonel a chance to push forward."

Ashley replied, "We'll cover in case you are spotted. And one more thing."

Ashley grabbed both sides of my helmet and pulled it into hers. "Don't get yourself killed out there, Don Grange. I married a live hero for a reason."

I nodded as I turned and began my sprint. The walkway shook from the concussions of the repeated explosions. As I reached the halfway point, a gravity pulse flew past my position.

Ashley yelled, "I got him!"

Pzzzt! Pzzzt! Pzzzt!

The lone Colossun who had fired from the back of the entryway turned his attention in their direction. Several pulses impacted the walls around them. I grabbed the door to the crane cab, pulled it quickly open, and jumped inside. A startled Tribuk was sitting in the seat.

I raised my AK and spoke. "Get this crane running. Pick up that front container and start moving it back."

The Tribuk continued to stare.

"You heard me! Now get that container moving, or I'm dropping you down there with the Colossuns!"

The Tribuk turned to his console and began to press buttons. Several seconds later, an arm dropped down and latched onto a hoop pull on the top of the container. It was soon moving backwards. The Colossuns were unsure of what was happening.

At the same moment, Ashley and the remaining Marine, Private Mathew Guthrie, opened fire on the Colossuns' position. Ashley added to the confusion by tossing a grenade she had garnered from my satchel.

I watched on the crane camera as the container was lifted over the Colossuns.

I spoke. "That red button—what does it do?"

The Tribuk replied, "It is the emergency release."

Almost before he could get the words out, I was slapping it with my hand. The twenty-nine-ton steel container fell free from the crane's grapple. Two of the five Colossuns below were crushed under its immense weight.

I spoke. "Pick it up again and move it further back!"

As the container began to lift, the Colonel and her Marines broke out from their position. The nearly continuous stream of negative ion bolts kept the Colossuns just off balance enough that the Colonel's men were able to overtake their position. A dozen Marines were killed in the charge, but the objective had been taken. Ashley took careful aim with my AK at the lone Colossun in the back of the entryway.

Ak!

The Colossun went silent.

When the Colonel's battalion was through the entryway door, the massive main air lock was closed. A second air lock was then opened into the elevator bay. The Marines stormed in, and the two remaining Colossuns were permanently taken offline.

When I arrived at the elevators, the Colonel had been questioning the Tribuk who remained.

I spoke. "What do we know, Colonel?"

Calder spoke. "There was some type of explosion below. All of the elevators were taken out of service. The Tribuk over there, Misiki Mahi, says he knows there is a Colossus garrison down below, but he has never been there. He did have something interesting to say about the Colossun ships that took out the transport. Dumb luck, Sir. They continuously circle the planet. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

I replied, "Do we know how many of those androids are at the bottom of those elevators?"

Calder spoke. "We can only guess there are several thousand. If there were a hundred, it would be too much. These blasters are almost useless against them."

I replied, "Well, with these elevators out, it looks like we have some time to figure things out. Let's make sure the rest of this port is secure, and we will work it from there."

Calder nodded. "Already on it, Sir. Should have status any minute."

The port had been secured. Casualties were high, with fifty-six Marines dead and another forty-four severely wounded. And our transport and its crew were gone. The remaining eleven hundred Marines were spread throughout the port, with the majority stationed around the elevators. There had been no sign of the elevators coming back into service.

I spoke with Colonel Calder. "We are going to have to fight our way down into that city below, Colonel. There isn’t going to be any rescue from the Grid anytime soon; we don’t have the ships to get past those Colossun cruisers out there."

Calder replied, "I’ve already passed the word to conserve anything and everything. What I am more concerned with is not having any way to kill or control those androids. Our weapons are practically useless, and I think we both know any hand-to-hand combat is out of the question. These jarheads are in good shape, but those androids are monstrous."

I replied, "Yeah, we have one AK with a very limited amount of ammo."

Calder spoke. "We have three handguns and another eighty rounds for them. Three of our Marines brought them along as their personal items. Funny, I would have disallowed that in an instant had I known, but I’m wishing more of them had done the same."

As we sat talking, a Marine lieutenant joined us. "Sir, Ma’am, I may have an idea that could help us."

Calder replied, "Go ahead, Lieutenant. Mr. Grange, this is Lieutenant Carmen Rodgers."

The lieutenant continued, "The Colossun comm is RF, Sir. I can modify one of our transmitters to act as a jammer for the frequencies they use. If it works, we should be able to limit the coordination of their forces. It may not be much, but it is something. Major Barnes also has a team attempting to crack their encryption. They aren’t making much headway, though."

I stood and placed my hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder. "Awesome work, Lieutenant; with our current situation, everything helps."

In our prior battle, a Colossun android had been physically disabled, but not destroyed. The remains had been dragged into an isolated room, where Lieutenant Rodgers was working on her jammer. The android was still in communication with its force, also allowing Major Barnes to conduct his decryption tests.

After I sat back down to continue my talk with the Colonel, Ashley joined us.

Ashley spoke. "The elevators are out, which buys us some time. I think we need to send a team to monitor those shafts. If the Colossuns are coming up them, we want to know. And if not, we need to know if we can get close enough to the bottom to gather intel on what is waiting for us down there."

The Colonel replied, "I’m guessing that you want to lead that team?"

Ashley replied, "Yes, I do. This is the type of work I was good at, Colonel: the information game."

I spoke. "If she goes, I go."

Calder replied, "I would expect nothing less, Mr. Grange. See Sergeant Hallard for a squad to take with you and for any gear that you think you might need."

We were soon opening the maintenance doors on the large elevator. The shaft beyond was two kilometers deep. As a warning to us, several gravity pulses impacted the ceiling above our position. The Colossuns knew we were beginning to probe the shaft.

I spoke. "It looks like the mechanism for moving that thing is those gear tracks on either wall. If you look about three-quarters of the way down the shaft, you can see the damage from whatever it was that happened. There is a large section of that track missing on the right, and a smaller section on the left. It looks like they have crews working on repairs."

Ashley replied, "Maybe we can bring their progress to a stop with a few ion bolts."

I replied, "Can’t do that. Those are Grell down there doing the work. If we kill them, they will just bring more, and we are currently trying to fight
for
them. We need something that will clear everyone out of that shaft."

Several minutes later, we got word that Lieutenant Rodgers had a working jammer.

I raised her on the comm. "Rodgers, tell me the good news!"

Rodgers replied, "Well, Sir, I have a jammer working, but it is limited in its range. I can jam their signals with noise in our test room or even in the main bay, but it loses a lot of its punch if it has to go through any walls."

I thought for a moment and then spoke. "Bring it over to the main elevator shaft. I want to give it a try on the Colossuns who are down at the bottom of it. That shaft is a couple kilometers in depth; will your jammer reach that far?"

Rodgers replied, "Over the free air, we should be able to jam out to several kilometers, Sir. I will be there in a minute."

When Rodgers arrived, she was wearing a helmet and carrying the jammer helmet in her arms. "Where’d you get the extra helmet?"

Rodgers replied, "We have crates with spare equipment we brought on the transport. Thankfully they were unloaded before they took off. Although we do have an alternative with our casualties, Sir: if you have hit the end of the line, so to speak, your equipment goes back into the pool."

I spoke. "Now, look down that shaft, but not for long, or they will take a shot at you. Those Colossuns down there—we want to drive them out of the shaft. Can we do that with this?"

Rodgers shook her head and replied, "Sorry, Sir, this is just a jammer. We can disrupt their communications, but nothing more."

Ashley replied, "If disruption is the best we can do, then we’ll take it. Get us set up, Lieutenant, and get that gear turned on."

Lieutenant Rodgers tied a rope to the helmet and hung it over the ledge. A signal was then sent to the helmet from her own headset. We watched for the Colossuns' reaction.

I spoke. "They are moving… that looks like confusion down there. And they are leaving one by one."

Ashley replied, "Those are AI systems down there, Don. It’s possible that if they lose communications, they try to move to an area where they can reestablish a link."

Two minutes later, the base of the elevator shaft was devoid of Colossuns.

Ashley spoke. "Well, that’s half of them. What do we do with the Grell?"

I replied, "You were in intelligence, dear; how about I go down there and bring one of those Grell back for questioning?"

Ashley grabbed me by the arm. "I would like that very much, Don!"

I called to the Colonel, and two dozen rappelling ropes and gear were brought to the shaft. The ropes were each a hundred meters in length, with a transition connection on each end, allowing them to be strung together. A pulley system was assembled and moved into place, and I was soon strapping on the gear that would bind me to the rope.

I spoke. "Drop me down to their position, and I will attempt a grab of one of them. If I can get them up here in one piece, then send me down for another."

As I readied for my descent, two Colossun soldiers stepped back into the shaft. They stood unmoving for nearly a minute before they turned and exited, unable to establish a comm link with the other androids only a few meters away.

I gave the signal, and the Marines assigned to my squad started me down the shaft. The rappelling assembly the rope was attached to had a fan brake that prevented the gear from freewheeling on the way down. I dropped quickly, but the journey still took several minutes.

When I came to a stop, four Grell workers were staring at me.

I spoke. "I need a volunteer to come up to the surface. I am with the resistance. Today is the first day that we work for your freedom from the Colossus Empire!"

The four workers remained stunned and silent. Fear shone in their eyes. A fifth worker, on a scaffolding just below, slowly raised his hand.

The worker spoke. "I will go. This job is certain death."

The Grell pointed to a pile of bodies on the not-too-distant elevator shaft floor.

Before I could respond, two more Colossuns walked into the shaft. Again they stood motionless for nearly a minute before exiting.

The Grell volunteer climbed up to my location. I was two meters out from their platform.

I spoke. "Grab this short rope and pull me over. We will get you hooked up and then get you out of here."

The Grell pulled, and I was soon cinching up his harness. I called back up to the others to pull us up. We quickly lifted off for the three-minute ride back to the top of the shaft.

I spoke to the Grell. "How many Colossuns are down there? Give me your best guess."

The Grell replied, "The garrison holds three thousand, but many of those are deployed to the mines. Before being assigned to repair the shaft, I saw several train cars arrive from one of the mines. I think they are bringing in every soldier they can spare."

I continued, "Do you know what the cause of the damage was?"

The Grell again replied, "We were not told, but I heard several explosions before the Colossuns came looking for me. It does not look like natural damage. Something was detonated there."

I replied, "My name is Grange, by the way, Don Grange. What is yours?"

The Grell spoke. "You are the one they call Grange? I have heard that one day you will deliver us to freedom!"

I replied, "Well, I did say that. And we are here, but we will need the help of your people to do it."

The Grell replied, "My name is Derpa Falla. I will help in any way I can."

As we continued to ascend, a Colossun stepped into the shaft below. Again it stood silent for almost a minute. Then, the inevitable happened: the Colossuns figured out a way around our signal jammer.

A cord was tossed out to the Colossun. The android picked up the cord and plugged it into a socket on its chest. Several seconds passed before the Colossun raised and lowered its right arm. The same feat was then conducted with its left. In a single move, the Colossun looked up and fired a single pulser shot in our direction. It missed.

I called up to the Marines in the squad working the pulley. "Hey! Get us up and out of here; they have figured out a way around our jammer!"

The pulses then came in rapid succession. Derpa began to cry out in fear. I reached back into my satchel and pulled a grenade. I flipped out the pin and threw it towards the shaft floor. The grenade exploded more than a hundred meters up before reaching its destination. The Colossun continued to fire.

In a second attempt to stop the lethal bursts of gravity pulses, I swung my AK around and into my hands. I pulled back on the charge handle, released, aimed downward, and fired.

Ak!

The 7.62 mm round impacted the floor beside the Colossun. I fired four more rounds.

Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak!

The fourth round struck the target, entering the right shoulder of the android. Internal damage had been done, as its right arm lowered towards the ground. The android was quick to change its weapon to its other hand. The pulses continued.

Again I fired a burst of four.

Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak!

Two rounds struck the floor in front of the Colossun, and two behind. Ion bolts from above then began to strike the floor after sizzling past my position. With each impact, the android’s systems were destabilized, if for only a moment. The pulses began to impact the walls of the shaft. The Colossun’s aim had lost much of its resolution.

I screamed into my helmet, "Get us up, guys! Come on!"

With less than a hundred meters to go, the pulley motor screeched to a halt. It had locked up due to overheating. As I hung in the air, still in full view of the Colossun, four more soldiers entered the shaft with cords tethered to their chest connectors. The pulses came in a furious barrage.

I emptied my clip.

Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak!

One of the Colossuns stopped firing.

An instant later, I felt a hard pull as the rope yanked us upwards. Ten Marines had taken ahold and were pulling us up manually. We moved as fast as they could run. When I reached the top, I was slung up and over the pulley and out onto the floor. Derpa stopped just short and was quickly pulled to safety by the others. The Colossuns below ceased firing.