Mecha Corps (33 page)

The scaffolding supporting the armor came up fast. Matt caught it and stopped himself in time to watch Soto and Michelle clean up the remaining men in armored space suits.

When they were done, the three stood under the shattered Hellion dock door. Men inside were setting up heavy weapons, preparing for additional attempts to board. Toward the maelstrom, the battle still raged between Mecha and Rayder’s forces.

“Want to finish this?” Matt asked Michelle and Soto.

“One neat stunt, and the cadet gets a big head,” Soto said, but his voice was full of admiration.

“It probably won’t work against a Displacement Drive ship,” Michelle said.

“No. But a Demon will.”

Dead silence from the comms for a beat.

“You’re proposing—,” Soto began.

“We go get the Demons. The dock’s only a kilometer or so away.”

“We don’t have Flight Packs!” Soto said. “It’d take an hour to shuffle over the surface.”

“One jump will do it,” Matt said.

“And you expect to come down?”

Matt studied the Hellion’s gravimetric readouts. He could do it. He had to do it.

“Roth will never go for it,” Michelle told him.

“We don’t need authorization. We need to finish this battle and win this war.”

“So, we die if we don’t try, and we might die tryin’,” Soto said, chuckling. “Sounds like the sort of day I joined Mecha Corps for.”

 

The three Hellions flew over the surface of Mecha Base in a long, flat trajectory. Barren rock spooled past underneath them as the asteroid fell away.

“What if we don’t come down?” Soto asked.

“We will!” Matt ground his teeth as his projected trajectory showed on the screen. They’d jumped off a little hot. Instead of hitting just before the dock, they’d pass over it and land on the far side.

Ahead, wan sunlight glinted off gleaming metal: the Demon dock. It wheeled toward them. Even from a distance, they could see the air lock was closed tight.

Soto muttered a long string of curses as they sailed over the dock. Soto rotated and deftly fired Seekers. Bright light erupted beneath them. The Demon Dock’s door went red and billowed outward into vacuum.

“Notify Dr. Roth. We regret to report misfire compromised the Demon dock integrity,” Soto said through the comms to Stoll. “Recommend pilots enter Demons to ensure they are not captured.”

Matt crawled till he was close enough to grab the rim of the air lock, and he flung himself in. The red-hot metal seared his hands, but he barely felt it. He was focused on the Demons standing ready on the steel grate.

Matt yanked his neural coupling and slammed on his helmet, simultaneously triggering the cockpit release. His cockpit unfolded, voiding its air with a screech. The helmet almost came out of his hands, and he felt the too-familiar tug of vacuum before he got it seated. He jumped out of the cockpit and looked back at Soto and Michelle. Major Soto was already out of his cockpit, wearing his own utility suit. Matt waved him over. The utility suits had no comms, and were good for only a few minutes of air, but they’d have to do.

Michelle’s cockpit was still closed. Matt waved at her frantically, trying to pantomime opening the cockpit. Nothing happened as the seconds ticked away.

Maybe her release was damaged in the fight. Or maybe she didn’t have her utility suit on?
Matt jumped off toward Michelle’s Hellion. When he reached it, he hesitated at the external emergency release. If she was trapped in the Hellion, she would be screaming for him to open her cockpit, but he wasn’t sure if he would even be able to hear her through all the turbulence. And if she didn’t have her suit on, she’d be exposed to the vacuum of space if he opened the air lock. Matt knew from grim experience that humans could only withstand a few seconds in vacuum before losing consciousness, and more than a minute was usually fatal.

There wasn’t any choice. He had to take the chance. Matt triggered the emergency release.

The cockpit blew open with a blast of air, which crystallized into snow in the cold of space. Michelle sprang out of the cockpit, already wearing her utility suit. She offered Matt a smile, then pushed off toward the Demons. She had been locked in.

The three shot toward the Demons. The dock was deserted, but frantic Auxiliaries loomed outside the viewing windows.

No going back now,
Matt thought. It was almost a relief. They were committed. Whatever happened after they got into the Demons would determine their fate.

A chime sounded, and a warning flashed in Matt’s utility suit: AIR 0:59 REMAINING. As he watched, it counted down to 0:58.

It would take that long to fly across the dock. He’d be sucking stale air when he arrived at the Demons. Better hope there wasn’t any problem getting inside.

Matt’s warning chime sounded as he drew near the Demon. The soft hiss of the recycler stopped. There was no immediate change in his air, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before he breathed nothing but carbon dioxide.

Matt dove for the safety of the Demon’s interior. He tore off his helmet, plugged into the neural connector, snugged on the mask. Magnetorheological gel flooded the chamber. His utility suit gave a tiny little gasp and died when the fluid reached its neck. Matt waited impatiently as the fluid ran over his face, into his hair, past the top of his head.

Matt’s mask lit and his suit went active. Matt’s heart soared with the thrill of Mesh.

“Michelle?” Matt asked.

“I’m in,” she said. “Meshing.”

Matt grinned. It was almost as if he could see the future. They weren’t going to die in their Demons today. They wouldn’t end their time in the core of a collapsing planet. They were meant for the Demons. The three of them. They’d do it.

Mesh high,
Matt told himself.

But he knew it wasn’t just that.

“Let’s go!” he yelled.

The three Demons blasted into the theater of battle.

The Hellions close to Mecha Base were being pressed hard by Rayder’s fast-moving battleships. Farther off, only a single Displacement Drive ship remained: the armored
Atlas
.

That’s where Rayder is,
Matt thought. He thrust forward as Michelle and Soto joined him.

They shot through the Hellion front line. Missiles flashed from the battleships, flicker-fast, to strike the Demons. Matt groaned and Soto and Michelle rocked back with the force of the explosions. Hellions surged forward through the parting the three had created, landing on the Rhinos and Hedgehogs and clawing at their bridges. Atmosphere voided from a handful of battleships as they tumbled out of control.

More fire converged on the Demons as Rayder’s battleships gathered like a flock of metallic vultures around the giant Mecha. Matt raised an arm to protect his sensor array and unleashed Seekers at a dozen ships. Eruptions of gas and sparks flared as ships were directly hit.

But the battleships kept coming. More missiles flared on his backside, bringing more acid-dipped pain. A warning flashed on Matt’s screen:

His forward momentum slowed. He thrust out toward the churning maelstrom, where the battleships dared not go.

Michelle screamed.

“What’s wrong?” Matt yelled, turning around.

“Lost visuals! Sensors!” She cried out as a heavy crunch reverberated through the comms.

Matt reversed course and dived down toward the melee, where Soto grappled with a huge Rhino-class battleship and Michelle was enveloped by blasts. His Demon was sluggish, its regeneration counter dutifully counting down the seconds to full thrust: 9, 8, 7—

A Hedgehog heavy cruiser, deadly and sleek, accelerated toward Michelle. Its forward cannon crackled with energy, ready to fire.

Matt pushed harder. A dozen red tags flared in his POV as his remaining thruster went past its rated power. Through the interface suit, he felt the thruster begin to soften and deform as the metal glowed orange hot.

But he leapt forward just enough to catch Michelle before the Hedgehog fired. Its plasma bolt cut a clean line behind him, dispatching a handful of cruisers and battleships instantly.

“What’s happening?” Michelle yelled. Through the Demon, he was able to feel her angry thoughts:
Asshole! Why’s he doing this? I don’t need help!
She had no idea how close she’d come to being annihilated.

“Sorry,” Matt said.

“I had it!” But sudden doubt flowed through their neural connection. She was seeing the battle from Matt’s point of view. Matt felt her stomach turn over queasily. She shoved out of his Demon’s embrace.

Soto zoomed up into the maelstrom to join them. “Thank the man, Cadet Kind,” he said.

Plasma beams lanced at the Demons from the battlefield, striking Soto a glancing blow. He grunted as he spun in place, then caught his spin with his thrusters. He tensed to make a leap down into the battle.

“No! Go after the
Atlas
!” Matt yelled. “Rayder’s there!”

“Yeah,” Major Soto breathed, his voice fuzzy with Mesh high.

Something whizzed past Matt, dark and fast. Major Soto’s Demon was suddenly not there. A choked scream came over the comms. Matt had a glimpse of something moving away from them, very fast, down into the mud.

“Major!” Matt yelled.

Another dark thing passed by Matt, close enough for him to feel its heat as it passed. His screens showed the trajectory: it was coming from the
Atlas
.

“Heavy-matter gun!” Sergeant Stoll yelled. “Disperse!”

Matt and Michelle thrust hard in opposite directions, as Soto’s pained voice came through the comms. “Fuck me!” he said.

“Are you all right, sir?” Matt said.

“Regeneration in fifty-six seconds. Thrusters unreliable. Can someone pick me up before I get crushed by one of these asteroids?”

“Coming, sir,” Michelle said, and jetted down toward the core of the protoplanet.

Beneath him, the battle between Rayder’s battleships and Mecha Base’s Hellions suddenly convulsed, twisting into fantastic new shapes. Dark lines cut through the fray toward Mecha Base. Battleships and Hellions vaporized, spewing orange flame through the field of white-hot explosions. Gray flowers of dust, rock, and steel erupted from Mecha Base, rocking the gigantic asteroid.

On-screen, tags showed heavy-matter fire from the
Atlas
slicing through the battle and striking Mecha Base. Rayder was firing through his own men.

More heavy-matter fire sliced through the battlefield, impacting on the
Helios
. The giant ship canted and veered to one side, grinding against the side of Mecha Base in a soundless cataclysm.

Captain Cruz’s bridge blew inward in a blue-white beam of a fusion cannon.

“Cadet Lowell, fall back with Hellions and support Mecha Base!” Sergeant Stoll yelled.

No. That’s wrong.
The Hellions were making short work of Rayder’s remaining battleships, now that he’d decided to sacrifice them with a direct assault. The problem was the
Atlas
. It’s heavy-matter gun was pounding everything to ruin.

He had to stop it. Now.

“Cadet Lowell!”

“Suggest alternate strategy,” Matt rapped out. “Permission to use Zap Gun, ma’am!”

“Permission not granted! Return to Mecha Base!”

Matt’s heart sank and blind despair washed over him, the feeling amplified by his Mesh. How did they expect him to take out that ship without the Zap Gun?

Soto’s and Michelle’s Demons came flashing up out of the mud to join Matt.

“Permission granted,” a new voice said. Colonel Cruz’s comms icon flared the life. “Take him out, cadet! Damn the consequences!

“Now we get Rayder!” Matt yelled, thrusting toward the
Atlas
.

“With you a hundred percent!” Michelle shouted, following.

“Fat ladies singing now!” Soto blurted, joining the team.

Matt grinned so hard it hurt, and pulled the glowing Zap Gun out of his thigh holster in one smooth movement. The gun vibrated with power, seeming to sing to one small part of his mind—the part that chanted,
Kill. Destroy. End it. Finish him.

Next to him, Soto and Michelle unlimbered their Zap Guns too.

But this was his.

Matt surged forward, accelerating ahead of his companions. He raised the Zap Gun. The
Atlas
ballooned in size.

His screens screamed:

Matt fired. Pure power hammered down his arm and into the gun. Blinding radiance exploded ahead of him. Heavy-matter rounds vaporized like firecrackers in the antimatter annihilation.

The
Atlas
disappeared. One second it was there, lit bright gray-white in the flare of his Zap Gun. Then it was gone.

Displaced. Rayder had run.

Matt flew through empty space where the
Atlas
had just been, screaming in frustration.

Matt, Michelle, and Major Soto stood stiffly in Colonel Cruz’s temporary quarters, where Congressperson Tomita, Dr. Roth, and Captain Ivers glared down from hastily arranged wall screens.

The whistle of escaping air still came from the corridors of Mecha Base. It had taken a real beating. Auxiliaries swarmed everywhere, patching leaks and installing emergency air locks on the more damaged sections of the base.

“Total disaster!” Congressperson Tomita yelled, his face red-purple. “That’s what this is. Don’t try to sugarcoat it.”

“Thanks to the efforts of all our forces, and the extraordinary contributions of these three corps, we saved Mecha Base. Hardly a total disaster.” Colonel Cruz said.

Tomita softened. “Bravery should be recognized and encouraged. However, it doesn’t change this outcome.”

“We’ll relocate the base—,” Colonel Cruz began.