Edward (27 page)

“Ninety
seconds down. Seven hundred and twenty to go,” murmured Tazo.

Edward
flashed Tazo a snarl.

“Well,
it did seem to be the question,” apologized Tazo.

 “The
rounds have stopped, but is the ground shaking, or is it just me?” asked
Tatiana.

Edward
nodded, “Powered exoskeletons.  Good for moving through the debris. Where
is a good 20mm sniper rifle when you need one?”

“That
was rhetorical, correct?” asked Tazo as he shouldered his grenade launcher.

Edward
smirked, “Okay 50mm grenades; that should do well.”

“I
should hope so, but there are a lot of them.”

“I feel
short,” smirked Edward as he climbed Tazo’s back to look over the debris. 
His smirk soon fell to the wayside as he drank in what
exactly
was
threading through the remains of the concert hall.  Fifteen or so heavy
armored mechs along with easily a hundred more people in traditional scout
powered armor.  In the distance he could barely make out the signature
profile of a series of Kedar grav tanks.

“I am
confused.  Where does a lawyer with political ambitions get such
equipment?”

Edward’s
fur stood on end as he recognized the sigil of the Viceroy of 
Ramidar on the grav tank.  “This isn’t just about Nathan, this is about revenge on a larger scale.”

“Ramidar livery. 
That was the planet where Ambassador Helen Winteroak was killed, was it not?”

“Yes,
that was them.”  Edward’s voice was distant.

“I
believe they are after
you
, Edward.  Your family, your clan, your
people, your…” droned Tazo.

“Shut
up!” screamed Zoë.  “He has the idea, damnit!”

“Nathan’s
plans are trashed, so he hires out to some big guns that have an ax to grind,”
murmured Gillian.

“Get
them out of here, I’m the target,” murmured Edward.

“Unlikely. 
They are probably contractually after Rebecca.  They then are likely to go
for a clean sweep since it has already been determined that the two girls are
socially attached to you as well.”

Edward
stared at the ground, “What have I done?  I’ve brought them upon us
all.  If I had just gone home, they would have never followed us here.”

“If
you hadn’t come here, then Nathan would still have Rebecca locked away two
shades away from a vegetable.   The bombings would have continued
against Tatiana, and my father’s messed up cult would probably have blown up
half this city!” bellowed Zoë.   “You came here and made a positive
difference.  You have only brought one brand of idiots after you; we had a
bumper crop of idiots already here trying to trash our whole world.”  Zoë
was on fire and her teeth were flashing bright in the light.  The feral
beast within was clawing its way out.  “Now stop your pathetic self-righteous
whining and go kick their ass.  My child needs a father!”

“Metaphor
or literal?” asked Tazo evenly.

“Literal,”
murmured Tatiana.  “We’ve known she was pregnant for a few days, we were
just waiting for a good time to tell everyone.”

“Crap
for timing,” observed Gillian.

Edward’s
breathing slowed as he drank in the world.

“Five
and a half minutes will not be enough time, Edward,” coached Tazo.

“Wasn’t planning on Swifting, Tazo.  Put half your ammo down range against the
heavies.  Save the rest for point defense of the group.  I’m going
out
hunting
.  Cloudy skies, rain on the ground, their sensors will
be picking up a lot of glare and reflections…”  His fur rippled in color
as he stripped off most of his clothing and slipped into the shadows.  He
was gone in the blink of an eye.

Tazo
wasted no time and quickly sent thirty rounds down range at a high arc. 
The rounds tore into the heavy mechs, five quickly
were destroyed as well as another fifteen or so lightly armored troopers. 
It was unclear how damaged the other mechs were, but the rounds had struck
close to home so it was a given they had to have taken some wear and tear.

Edward
threaded his way through the slippery, rain-soaked debris.  Shattered
concrete and twisted steel was the ground cover of choice.  He afforded
himself a quick smile as the rain started to really pick up.  All the better to confuse the sensors and mask his
movements. 

He
soon found himself staring at a pair of heavy infantry in their scout powered
armor.  15mm thick titanium nitride composite at the front, but the back
was thinner.  Edward leaped from an outcropping that had, ten minutes ago,
been part of the HVAC system on the roof and landed smoothly behind the
pair.  In a quick flash he folded in a long Live Steel sword blade and
effortlessly struck down the pair with two quick strokes.  Two down, a hundred and how many to go?

Edward
dashed back into the shadows.  He had to take them down and lead them away
at the same time.  That meant they had to know where they were being attacked
from.  Well, not precisely, of course.   Edward’s nose wrinkled
from the smell from the engine of a heavy infantry mech.  Standing four
meters tall, they were half intimidation, half war machine.  Edward was
used to Shukurae—
they
were intimidating.  These were just jerks in
a metal suit.  Edward’s blade erupted in sparks as it metamorphosed into a
long pole ax.  With one long motion, he cut off one of the legs of the
mech, sending it crashing to the ground.  This brought the pilot down to
Edward’s level.  Waiting just long enough to achieve eye contact, Edward
then thrust his weapon through the visor of the once great fighting machine and
expunged its pilot.

It
was working.  They had noticed the heavy mech going down and were
diverting in his direction!  Edward launched into a protracted game of
cat-and-mouse.  He wasn’t trying to take them all out; he knew he
couldn’t.  He just needed to lead them away and give the 1212
^th
time. 
They
could take out these punks.  The greatest fun
about playing cat-and-mouse is when the parties don’t know their roles are
reversed; Edward made for a mouse with very sharp teeth.  Time and time
again, they would try to close on him.  Each time he either deftly
escaped, or took them out.

Edward
caught his breath as he glared through the gloomy rain.  Time was on his
side.  Stealth was on his side.  Things were working.  It was
hard work, but Edward was in shape and well up for it.  His opponents,
having expected a straight up fight, were becoming more and more restless at
the fight.

Suddenly
there was a shift.  Five of the heavy mechs and a mob of armored scouts
broke from the group and started heading back in the original direction, toward
Tazo and the girls.  Edward’s fur bristled at the change of
plans.   Attack the middle of the heavy mechs, from behind! 

Edward
ran as fast as he could, risking getting seen in the open, but relying on the
cover, rain and gloom to protect him as he closed on the central rank. 
One of the heavies spun and opened up with a 20mm auto canon in his
direction.  Edward concentrated on dodging where he could and invoking his
Live Steel armor as little as he could as he ran up to the mech and cut its
legs off, sending it rolling to the ground.  Suddenly the other mechs near
by let loose canister rounds, much like the shotgun
blast used by the gunship to destroy the incoming missile.  But this time,
Edward was the target.  They weren’t accurate shots, but they didn’t have
to be— they covered a wide arc and there were a lot of them.

Edward
was bowled over in pain and sheer mass as his armor soaked the rounds. 
How do you deflect things when they are coming from all directions? 
Seeing that they were making headway, the mob relentlessly pressed the attack
against Edward.  Automatic fire soon flooded the air as he desperately
fought for cover and to try and reclaim the initiative.  He had gotten
their attention maybe a little too well!

The
staccato burst of grenade fire caught several of the mechs in the open. 
Tazo had opened fire again.  That meant either he was out of position, or
they had gotten too close to the girls.  Edward rushed to the side only to
have a heavy mech hit him with its outstretched arm.  Edward went tumbling
to the ground.  His armor had soaked it and surely saved him from a
massive number of broken ribs, but he was in pain none the less.  He
lashed out with his Live Steel and quickly brought the mech to the
ground.  One more quick thrust and that one wouldn’t be getting back
up. 

Edward
scrambled into taller piles of debris as he fought for his breath.  He was
tired and in pain and his breathing was shallow, doing little good.  He
could feel color start to fade from his eyes and the world slowly started to
become just shades of grey.  He was about ready to Swift whether he wanted
to or not.  He needed more air… more time…

Edward
all but jumped out of his fur as his niece Dawn landed on the ground next to
him.  She quickly tucked her wings and they disappeared in a blue flash of
sparks, just like Live Steel.  “The portal is open if you can get back
there.  Gavin is already here and Dad is on the way!”

Edward
fought for the air to talk but he couldn’t find it, so he took his cue from
Lucas and Growled at Dawn.  Everything he knew about the situation, the
locations of the mechs, the timing of the Shukurae and the location of the
girls, all was passed in a single brutal growl.

Dawn
held her head and rubbed her ears, in obvious pain at the rapid sharing of
information but she rebounded quickly.  “Then let’s hold the line where
the others are.  Come on, let’s go!”

Just
as they started to move, a heavy mech came around the corner.  Without
waiting a single breath, a pair of Live Steel blades sprang into being in
Dawn’s hands.  She closed on the mech, cutting down its legs and bisecting
the cab in a perfectly graceful flurry of moves.  It was more of a dance
than a sword fight, but it was perfect nonetheless.  Edward looked on with
shock and amazement—his fourteen year old niece had just cut down a heavy
mech!  His brother had taught her well.

“Oh,
that is sick and gross!” scowled Dawn.  She looked like she was ready to
throw up. “I thought those things were robots.  I didn’t know there were
people
inside of them!”  There were some things a young girl should not have to
do, and that was one of them.  Edward felt like such a heel for having let
a child do such a vicious task, but it was a little late now.

Edward
shepherded Dawn back toward the girls.  Dawn was very dexterous on her
feet and it was Edward that was slowing down the pair.  Dawn’s dress was
cut and torn as they reached the group, but she was a practical enough girl not
to dwell on it.

“That
was excellent work, Lady Dawn,” remarked Tazo.

“I’ll
have nightmares of that for weeks,” she replied more than a little put out.

“Okay,
Dawn has the gate open.  Gavin is out there somewhere and Llewellyn is en
route with no real ETA.  Where do we stand with the 1212
^th
?”
asked Edward.

“They
were delayed by mechanical failures and have fought to regain the clock,” Tazo
advised.

“Data
is data even if I don’t like it,” groused Edward.

“The
gunship was having engine problems, so they are going to station with the
engine retracts disabled.”

“They
will break the ship apart when they hit the upper atmosphere.  Are they
insane?”

“No,”
replied Tazo.  “They are making up lost time.  The pilots will eject
as soon as the ship's structure has been compromised.  They will probably
land in the next prefecture based on the arc.”

“That
is insanely dangerous!”

“It
is what we do,” smiled Tazo.  He cut loose two more rounds down range
before returning to cover.

“Less
insane than being with me,” murmured Edward.  “Thank you, Tazo!”

“You
are most welcome!  Now quickly, if we can. 
Back down the side of this we may be able to loop around back to the portal.”

“Let’s
do it!” Suddenly Edward’s fur stood on end, “We have company!”

A
heavy mech crested the ruins and made eye contact.  Tazo did his best to
remind the mech that it was unwelcome.  Its smoking form fell over
backwards having soaked two 50mm rounds square to the torso.  “Running low, little brother.”

As
they ran, a second heavy mech cut the corner on them.  Tazo went to shoot,
but it was too close.  The grenades would not have time to arm, and even
if they did by accident, the explosion would catch the group in the open. 
Edward burst forward trying to project his Live Steel armor as far forward as
he could.

Suddenly
the entire mech exploded in a series of blue sparks and vanished to the
ground.  Well, it disappeared save for its very surprised pilot who was
suddenly sprawled on the ground in plain view.  The shocked look on the
pilot’s face was quickly erased as Zoë fired a burst from her sub machine gun
into him.

“Stay
down,” she snarled.

Gavin
faded into view as he smiled to the group, “Sorry it took so long, not used to
urban terrains.”

Edward
closed and scooped up Gavin and hugged him, “That was awesome!  You Live
Steel folded the mech out from under the pilot?”

Gavin
was more than a little confused at the embrace but rolled with it, “Yes,
sir.  That seemed the best way to handle it.”

“You
are an awesome kid; don’t let rumors of what I said about you earlier bother
you!”

“You
were upset with me?” asked Gavin more than a little confused as he casually
deflected an errant rifle round.

“I was
upset at myself, petty and stupid.  But you are a good kid.  I’m
sorry I ever said bad things about you; I was being shallow.”

“I
have no idea what you are talking about, sir, but thank you,” he replied with
an honest smile.

“So,
Gavin is it?  Can you throw a Forest Wall?”