Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (33 page)

The man’s hair was long, but moderately well kept. Dressed in a Fleet uniform that had seen better days, he wasn’t a savage like the Pale Ones. He was screaming something as he ran.”

“I’ll kill you! Run, you fools!”

He raised his rifle, but she was faster. Her neural disruptor was in her hand and firing. The blue bolt took him in the center of the chest and he dropped, his rifle clattering toward them.

“He’s sentient,” Kelsey said as she made her way to him. “Stun human opponents, if they’re unarmored.”

She knelt beside the man. His rank tabs indicated he was a lieutenant in the engineering department. His uniform was patched, but serviceable. He only had the rifle as a weapon. He didn’t even have a spare magazine.

“Where there’s one, there’s more,” Reese said. “He’ll be out a while. Perez and Kuban, grab the prisoner. We’ll take him with us. Keep an eye out for more hostiles.”

As soon as he said that, another dozen men and women ran around the same distant corner as the man had used. All of them were screaming warnings of some kind or another. Kelsey imagined that was how the compromised men and women had acted during the rebellion. It chilled her to the bone.

The marines had already swapped their flechette rifles for their neural disruptors. Their concentrated fire took the hostiles out just as they opened fire. A few men took hits, but their armor held.

“Leave them all,” Reese commanded. “The AI is more important. All teams, Tiger Actual. There are sentient, but controlled human defenders. Stun only for unarmored personnel, if possible. Tiger One cover Tiger Four. All other teams prepare for new targets. We have some fusion plants to take offline.”

Two groups of armed humans interrupted the trip to fusion plant three. The team took some injuries, but stunned them all.

They also ran into some of the weapons platforms, but they were rushing elsewhere. That made her nervous, since none of the teams were in the area the machines were heading toward.

Kelsey signaled Reese. “Lieutenant, continue on to the fusion plant. Shut it down and move on to the next one. I want this station in the dark ASAP. Talbot and I are going to find out what those things are up to.”

The marine officer didn’t look happy, but he headed off with all but a dozen of the marines. Talbot and the rest followed her as she ran. They trailed the machines to a large open hatch.

The compartment was like the one she’d seen on the destroyer. Charging stations everywhere. Some already occupied.

“It doesn’t seem like they’d need a snack in the middle of an attack,” Talbot said as he had his people take up defensive positions.

She agreed. “It might be trying to reprogram them so they can shoot on us. The scientists said they couldn’t alter that code, but let’s not take chances. Take those things out. Hell, stand back.” She brought her plasma rifle off her back and lit up the machines on one side of the compartment just as two of the machines that had been there rose from the charging cradles.

Her plasma rifle smashed most of the equipment in the area she’d fired on, but one of the weapons platforms returned fire. It went with flechettes.

The small metal bits spun her in place and knocked her down. Her armor screamed about a breach in her left arm, but she didn’t feel any pain.

The marines opened fire on the platform and riddled it with holes. It spun in place and crashed to the floor out of action.

Kelsey heaved herself to her feet and unloaded on more of the charging stations with her plasma rifle. “Tiger Actual, Bandar. The AI is reprograming the weapons platforms to fire on us. So much for a hardwired IFF. Engage them with extreme prejudice.”

“Copy. We’re at the fusion plant. We’ll have it shut down shortly.”

“We’re on our way.”

“Negative. Redirect to fusion plant six.”

She didn’t want to leave them without support, but she saw the logic in his order. They had too few people to perform the rescue and take out the fusion plants. “Copy.”

Talbot was looking at her left arm as the team made sure the weapons platforms were out of action. “This looks compromised. Are you hurt?”

The flechette had torn the outer armor along her upper arm. The impact had peeled the metal away, exposing her flesh. Her thankfully undamaged flesh.

“It didn’t even break the skin, but the arm is unprotected now.”

Talbot gestured to the marines. “Come on, boys and girls. You heard the LT. We need to take out the next power plant in line. Kelsey, stay behind us.”

The marines saw several more weapons platforms on the way to the fusion plant, but none of them opened return fire. The fusion plant control room was almost as big as main engineering on
Athena
had been. And just as complex.

The fusion plant was out in the open, just like the drives were on a ship. Now that they were there, she realized she didn’t have any idea how to shut the damned thing down.

Kelsey opened a channel to Reese. “How do we shut them off?”

He didn’t respond for a moment. “Hang on.”

The general channel came to life. “All teams, Tiger Actual. The fusion plants have a manual shutdown to the rear in a locked panel. You can’t miss the big red—” He went off the air abruptly.

“Reese? Reese!” He didn’t respond. She hoped that only meant something had disabled his communications.

Kelsey ran around the back of the power plant and saw the locked panel. She ripped the cover off and pressed the big red button. The lighting dimmed a little and the plant shut off.

“Fusion plant six offline,” she said on the general channel. “Tiger Actual, status?”

“Tiger Actual is down,” an unfamiliar voice said. “We are heavily engaged.”

She headed for the hatch. “All Tiger teams, this is Bandar. Shut down the power systems and hold position. We are moving to assist the LT. Tiger Four, what is the status of the prisoners?”

“We have them. Estimate three to four hundred souls. Holding tight for evac.”

Dammit. The rest had to be on the planet. “Copy. Other teams, status on shutting down the power supply to the station?”

The other teams called in one by one. Fusion plants one through four were offline, and she’d hit the button on six. That only left plant five. She consulted her internal map. It was on her side of the station. She had to make the hard decision.

“Tiger Two, leave a squad to cover your plant and relieve Tiger Actual. Bandar is diverting to fusion five.”

“Copy.”

Talbot redirected the team without her direction. They made it almost all the way before running into heavy resistance. Humans and weapons platforms held the corridor and almost shot them down before they pulled back.

“Breaking through is going to be a bitch,” Talbot said. “We don’t have enough people. We need reinforcements.”

“Maybe there’s another way.” She consulted her map. “Nope. This is pretty much it.”

Then she noticed they were not so far away from a personnel lock. A quick search found one just past the fusion plant, too. She could travel outside the station.

“I have a plan. I can make it out a lock and get behind them.”

He shook his head. “Your armor is breeched. I’ll send a couple of men.”

“They don’t have thrusters. We left those on the hull when we arrived. I still have my grav assist. I can be there in a minute. It would take you half an hour. Our people don’t have that long. Hold position here.”

He started cussing, which she took to mean he couldn’t argue with her plan.

Kelsey sprinted to the lock and cycled herself out. She expected the cold to burn the exposed portion of her arm, but it didn’t feel any different. Perhaps the lore about freezing in space wasn’t exactly right. Her armor isolated her helmet and she could breathe. Her skinsuit would protect her body for a short while from the ravages of the vacuum.

It took her a moment to orient herself and spotted the other lock with her enhanced vision. There was a massive gash in the hull of the station. It might even mean that the plant wasn’t reachable inside the station.

She launched herself into space and kicked her drive on. It sent her soaring across the gap and to the other lock in less than ninety seconds. The lock allowed her in, thankfully.

Flechettes tore up the bulkhead beside her as soon as she was inside the station. She ducked down and spotted the machines firing at her. She opted for discretion and fired the plasma rifle. It cleared the corridor of machines. And bulkheads, floors, and ceilings. She vaulted the chasm with her grav assist and rolled into the fusion control room.

A number of controlled humans opened fire on her as soon as she appeared, ripping into her armor before she threw herself to the side. No one was happy about the situation, from the way they yelled for her to get out while she could.

Kelsey sprang to her feet and jumped forward with all her might, landing in the midst of a group of defenders. They had no chance to stop her as she sent them tumbling like toys. She reached the emergency shut off and killed the plant. The overhead lights went out and emergency lighting replaced it.

“Fusion five offline,” she said on the general channel as she dove for cover and began stunning the hostile humans. “Status?”

The weapons platforms were still fighting, but the marines were holding out. The only humans in evidence were the ones she was holding off with her neural disruptor. They shot up the fusion plant pretty badly before she took the last of them out.

Her armor was shot. Literally and figuratively. She stayed where she was and waited for Talbot. He finally arrived a few minutes later and rushed to her side.

“Are you hit?”

“Yes, but nothing I can’t handle. The machines are still fighting. We need to find the AI and take it out.”

“The rest of our team is working on finding it. I hope it’s where you saw the machines near fusion three. Come on.”

She let him help her walk. Her left leg was locking at the knee. Thankfully due to the armor, not any real injury. She only had one puncture and that was to the calf on her other leg. Her nanites were working it and the blood loss was minimal, but it made walking a bitch.

“How’s Reese?”

Talbot gave her a look and shook his head. “Plasma strike. He never saw it coming. I’ve assumed tactical command. The officers from
New York
and
Ginnie Dare
are gone, too. We’ve lost over half our force.”

The news was like a punch in the gut. He couldn’t be gone just like that, between one word and the next. She shook her head. “No, that can’t be right.”

“I’m sorry. He was a good man and great officer, but he’s dead. We’ll mourn later, but we still have a mission to complete.”

It took them twenty minutes to get to the forces attacking the compartments housing the AI. At least that was what they thought was in there. The combat machines resisting them made it likely.

The other marine teams trickled in to join them and one by one, the weapons platforms fell. So did the marines.

Kelsey felt like tossing a plasma grenade into the compartment when they finally made it there, but resisted. The AI might have important information, if they could take it intact. And keep it from wiping itself.

She threw a remote in instead. It showed a basic control center with a dozen humans aiming flechette rifles at the hatch. They opened fire as soon as the remote came sailing in, but they missed her hand, thankfully.

There was no wall separating the control room from the AI hardware. It looked pretty much identical to the unit they’d installed on
Invincible
. Which meant that the emergency power supply was…there!

She fixed the location in her mind and crouched.

Talbot grabbed her. “Are you insane? Stop!”

“The emergency power supply is at the back of the room, but in sight. I’ll get one shot at this. If I miss, the AI might wipe all the data.”

“And if one of those lunatics opens fire, we lose you. No way.”

“It’s a risk,” she admitted. “I’m going to throw myself across the hatch and take a shot. I’m not going inside. Human reaction time is slow when compared to me on panther. Even my one good leg can get me across.” The Old Empire combat drugs sped up her ability to correlate and respond to her surroundings to a degree most people couldn’t grasp. Even people that had seen her fight before.

Her pharmacology unit had already dispensed it just before the fight in the fusion room. She’d have a comparative eternity to fire. The crash when it wore off was going to leave her useless, so she’d better make it count.

She drew her flechette pistol.

“This is madness,” Talbot pleaded. “We’ll rush the room. You can fire as soon as we distract them.”

His concern made her smile. “And then you’d be in my way. Get ready to rush the compartment.”

Kelsey took one breath, aimed at the area where she wanted to fire, and threw herself across the hatchway. Her flechette pistol came to bear on the emergency power supply and she opened fire.

The humans returned fire, but most were late. Not all, unfortunately.

A flechette took her in the right thigh as she flew through the air. Pain exploded across her senses when it penetrated her armor and she landed hard. The marines rushed into the compartment firing neural disruptors. Her leg was on fire.

“You happy now?” Talbot asked, obviously peeved and worried.

“The emergency power unit shorted out and the AI crashed. Yeah, I’m happy.”

“You’re too damned lucky. We still have some live defenders, but I think that situation is under control. Next time, use the grenade.”

The other marine teams were reporting that the weapons platforms were settling to the deck. Without direct control, they were shutting down. This fight was almost over.

Once they knocked out the men and women in the AI compartment, she went over the marines’ status monitors. Their losses had been horrendous. Of three hundred marines, more than sixty-five percent were dead. Many others were injured. Their force had almost failed to take the station.

Kelsey wanted to shut everything out, but they didn’t have time for her to have a meltdown. It would have to wait. “Secure the prisoners,” she said. “I want every virus infected human on this station in restraints before they wake up. Draft some of our freed people to help, if they can. Search every inch of this station.”