Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection (180 page)

Mia Requelme was…it would be inaccurate to say she was not what he’d expected. Seeing Alex had acclimated him to the Prevos’ physical oddities, and he’d otherwise born no expectations beyond a reasonable level of intelligence and technological savviness. She met those standards, no question. Beyond that, she was refreshingly blunt and assertive. She wasn’t a soldier…but she seemed to have the heart of one.

They were halfway to the bunker when the alien ships started falling out of the sky. More specifically, the Alliance ships started shooting them out of the sky.

He signaled a halt and activated his comm. “Admiral Fullerton, can I assume you received the signal code?”

“Yes, Colonel, and it is extremely effective.”

“You have the ‘freak of nature’ to thank for it.”

Fullerton merely grunted in response, but the point had been made.

He fell in beside Mia as they resumed their course. “Impressive work. Your invention may take down the entire Metigen fleet here and save Romane.”

She exhaled in noticeable relief. “That was my goal—”

Malcolm thrust his arm out to shove her against the side of the building as he flattened on the wall beside her. The lieutenant carrying the modified SAL raised it in the direction of the next intersection. Two seconds later a swarmer sped into the open—

—and disintegrated into shrapnel as the laser from an Alliance fighter tore into it.

Most of the Marines with him hooted and hollered, fist-pumping the fighter as it buzzed the intersection on its way to its next target. Malcolm allowed himself momentary levity in the form of a pleased nod. “That, ladies and gentlemen, is what winning looks like.”

“Yes, sirree!”

“All right, no need to swagger quite yet. Lot of enemies still in the sky. Let’s get to the bunker so we can push this signal out to the defense turrets and finish the job.”

They were a block from the bunker when Beta Squad came jogging around the corner.

Malcolm instantly tensed and stepped forward to place himself between Mia and the advancing men. He’d been on edge ever since receiving an alert regarding one of the members of Beta Squad shortly after their initial test of the disruptor beam. Now he replayed it in his mind.

Colonel Jenner,

You are hereby ordered to arrest Major Case Spencer of the 4
^th
SW MSO Platoon on suspicion of colluding with the Metigen invaders or agents thereof. He should be considered extremely dangerous and appropriate precautions taken. He must be disarmed and detained at the soonest available opportunity.

‘Appropriate precautions’ weren’t exactly available on an open street in the middle of a war zone. He kept his expression blank. “Major, what took you so long?”

The Marine gestured in the direction they had come from. “Had to dig a little girl out of some wreckage. You know how it is.”

“I do.” He scrutinized Spencer as his hand slid to the Daemon at his hip. Was he really going to do this? The order had originated from a place of authority and a superior officer, not to mention from a man he knew personally. Still, it was outside the chain of command and came without explanation.

“What have you all been up to?”

One of the men piped up before Malcolm could silence him. “This woman here figured out how to shut off their shields. We can blow them up nice and pretty now. We’re heading back so she can reprogram the groundside defenses.”

Spencer brandished a snarl. “That’s her, huh? The cyborg freak?”

Resolve solidified, Malcolm drew his weapon and sighted down on the man. “Major Case Spencer, you are under arrest on suspicion of colluding with enemy forces. You will be taken into custody pending a full hearing.”

Spencer began gradually raising his arms in the air, but his hands remained fisted. “It’s too late, by the way.”

“What’s too late?”

His left hand opened to reveal a small device in his palm. His thumb was already pressing on it and Malcolm was already firing.

Mia’s shoulder jostled into him; he spun just in time to catch her on her way to the ground. Her entire body was convulsing in a seizure of some kind. Her eyes had rolled back in her head to leave only the whites showing.

He flung an arm behind him in Spencer’s direction. “Restrain him, now!” Then he eased her to the ground, keeping a hand behind her head so she didn’t crack her skull against the stone while thrashing.

Abruptly the convulsions stopped and she sagged bonelessly in his grasp. Two fingers went to her neck. “I’ve got a pulse. She’s alive.”

A member of Alpha Squad whose name he didn’t yet know crouched beside him. “I’m a medic. Let me take a look at her.”

He relinquished her to the man’s care and stood to see one of the squad commanders placing wrist restraints on Major Spencer while two others held him to the ground. The shot had been absorbed by his shield but had dazed the man long enough to prevent escape.

“What did you do?”

Spencer managed a gurgling laugh. “Blew up her house, Colonel. Her synthetic master is no more.”

“For God’s sake,
why
?”

“You want Artificials for our new overlords? Cause I sure as hell don’t.”

“You imbecile!” Malcolm caught himself and worked to tamp down the rage. They were exposed and in danger out here on the street.

He turned to the Marines not involved in subduing Spencer. “We’re almost to the bunker. Carry her there—gently. If they don’t have a physician on site, we’ll evacuate her to the
Orion
.” His gaze reverted coldly to the prisoner. “Take him with us, too. Less gently.”

As they took care in lifting Mia’s limp form, Malcolm dragged a hand down his face to bury a frustrated growl. At least the code for the disruptor beam had gotten out, been put to use and propagated to the other ships. Thousands and more likely millions of lives would be saved today.

But damn was he going to be pissed if the price was this one.

53

SPACE, NORTH-CENTRAL QUADRANT

S
ENECA
S
TELLAR
S
YSTEM

T
HE SHEER NUMBER OF SHIPS IN MOTION
—now, many hours after the campaign had begun and when so many had been destroyed—was beyond counting.

The scale of the battle playing out in the space above Seneca transcended anything Caleb had ever seen in historical vids, much less in person. The debris field and the continuing combat overlapped one another to span more than ten megameters, well outside the range of the visual scanner. Beneath the chaos Seneca orbited peacefully, thus far untouched by the blitzkrieg. Depending on the outcome, it would either endure or be shattered.

Part of him was stunned to note how many of the ships continuing to fly were human ships. Despite all the advantages they had brought to bear in this clash, the odds were still stacked against them. Or so he had thought.

Beyond the smallest of groupings there existed no separation between Alliance and Federation vessels. Both filled the sky to dodge and attack numerous alien superdreadnoughts and scores of swarmers.

As he surveyed the fray, the realization dawned that they were doing rather more attacking than dodging. He’d seen a few glimpses of footage from previous engagements with the aliens, and the superdreadnoughts did not appear to be acting nearly so aggressive as before. Their shots were late to chase ships already gone and their tactics disorganized in often failed attempts to evade fire rending with unexpected force into their hulls.

We were pushing, and hard.

His attention was drawn to an Alliance cruiser above and to his port as no less than eight swarmers careened into its broadside in a series of cascading explosions. While each was tiny against the hull of the sizeable warship, the sheer force of the collisions alone would cause damage.

The smoke cleared to reveal several deep cracks and a notable dent inflicted by the first two collisions; yet the remainder had impacted along a strip of hull deeper and richer in hue than the rest of the ship. It continued to shine unmarred and unaffected by the assault.
Adiamene
.

Caleb couldn’t say why swarmers were suddenly crashing headlong into their foes, but he did know what it meant.

We were
winning
.

The joy in his chest notched up another level above its previously lofty heights, sent there by succeeding in saving Isabela and Marlee and now by being so close to reaching Alex. She lived, and that knowledge alone had sustained him through the short but too-long voyage from Krysk. He hadn’t bothered her with inquiries, not wanting to distract her from her vitally important task—a task which he suspected she was succeeding at to an astounding degree.

Now he was here, and it was past time he paid her a visit.

Though it cut an impressive figure once sighted, the
Churchill
was not the sole dreadnought present and he located it among the ocean of ships only by radar. The trip to reach his destination through a gauntlet of interweaving fighters and swarmers, darting frigates and charging cruisers was a harrowing one, invisible or not. He didn’t relax until he’d deactivated the cloaking shield and docked on the expansive flight deck.

A sergeant met him at the bottom of the
Siyane’s
ramp. “Mr. Marano, I’ve been instructed to take you directly to the bridge.” The very young soldier lacked the discipline to suppress an air of dismay at being asked to personally escort some random civilian to the bridge of the flagship of the Alliance military.

“Excellent. Lead the way.”

The level of activity on the ship would be called anarchy in any other environment. But he supposed everyone had their own individual duties and understood where they were going and why.

He didn’t know what he would find on the bridge. He knew very little of what had transpired in the intervening hours. He didn’t know what role Alex played or how it was working out for her. If they were winning it could only mean good things, right? Yet a traitorous voice in the recesses of his mind whispered warnings of the high cost of victory.

The lift finally came to a stop and the door opened onto a bridge larger than any ship he’d been on until now. Some two hundred people staffed dozens of stations or dashed about in their purposeful wanderings. There was a concentration of people in the far center two-thirds of the way down the bridge. He zeroed in on it.

Several officers worked on either side of an oversized screen at which Alex stood. An Admiral stood beside and slightly behind her while she pointed at various details on the screen in an animated manner.

He approached quietly, savoring the opportunity to watch her as each familiar movement, each shift of her head and toss of a hand reassured him she was not merely safe but had stayed fundamentally
Alex
.

Abruptly she spun around, brilliant gleaming irises immediately landing on him. His heart leapt into his throat as her face lit up almost as brightly as her eyes. Then she was in his arms.

Her own joy overwhelmed him to the point he found he was spinning her around, lifting her into the air as she cackled into his neck.

“You’re here! And you’re okay—you are, aren’t you?” She pulled away a sliver to inspect him.

“I am. Are you?”

She quickly nodded. “I’m sorry, I can’t shut Valkyrie off right now, too much is going on—but yes.”

He smirked mischievously. “Prove it.”

Her mouth smothered his, audience be damned
…and he was home
. The tension—the dark, simmering terror which had been gripping him far beyond his recognition of it—faded into nothingness. In its place rose a quiet yet bountiful contentment.

He chuckled softly against her lips. “I believe you.” Recognizing they had probably stretched the indulgence of their hosts as far as they should, he set her down and took a half step back. Only then did he realize her hair hung in a tangled mess, its disarray only partially concealed by the wrap half holding it in check. Her left cheek was smudged with a silver fluid of some sort and her shirt had two long tears in it.

“You look a wreck. What happened?”

“Oh, nothing much. I went for a space jump, broke into one of the superdreadnoughts, hacked the core programming of its systems hub and hitched a ride back atop a recon ship.”

He blinked several times; yep, she still managed to surprise him. “You are…remarkable. Is that all?”

“Not really. But you—Isabela and Marlee are okay? I know O’Connell’s dead, but the details are a bit sketchy.”

“They earned a few bruises, but yes, they’re okay. The details of O’Connell’s death will keep for now. But know I could not have gotten to them in time without your ship. I owe you everything.”

Her irises twinkled like stars beneath the artificial radiance. “No, but if you want to try to repay me….”

“Aren’t you going to ask?”

“Nope.”

He leaned to murmur against her lips. “The
Siyane
is fine. Not a scratch, though it wasn’t for lack of trying.”

A grimace asserted itself at the margins of her features, only to be squelched the next instant.

“I crashed her through the hulls of both frigates and the
Akagi
.”

“What!”

“Not a
scratch
…or at least not a scratch that didn’t heal itself by the time I got here.” He reluctantly prodded her away. “From what I saw outside, you aren’t finished working yet. Go.”

She looked disappointed but began backing up. “Will you stay?”

“I’ll stay. I just need to find somewhere unobtrusive to lean.”

“Over there should be—”