Chapter 19
Subject: Maddy
“Holy shit,” Maddy said, staring at a mushrooming ball of fire in the distance. “That’s gonna complicate things.”
“Yeah,” Dad added. “That’s really bad.”
The team had been watching the orbital firefighting from the roof of the station. Bombs being lobbed from orbit were fascinating to watch, come to find out. But, something had apparently gone wrong. It looked like the hydrogen fuel storage facility on the edge of town had exploded. How the hell did that happen? The shockwave from the explosion hit, and everyone braced themselves against their chairs.
“I’m gonna head back down and make a few calls,” Maddy said, half distracted by the fire in the distance, and she turned and went down the roof access stairwell.
Maddy pulled out her smartlink and called Wraith, the all knowing AI in the sky. It answered immediately, of course. “Wraith, what was that explosion just now?”
“It appears that the bioweapon creatures are responding to the firefighting as though it were an attack. Several hundred organisms overran the defenses at the fuel depot, and it appears NCPD either sabotaged the station to hold the creatures back, or the explosion was a result of collateral damage.” Wraith stated matter-of-factly.
A chill ran down Maddy’s back. Several… hundred? “How uh, how the fuck many are moving into the city?” Maddy asked. The lights in the station flickered, and Maddy stopped her descent.
“It’s impossible to say at this time, however we are observing large groups of hostiles moving into the city from all cardinal directions. Sergeant Turner, please prepare your team. A general alert is being drafted and instructions will be forthcoming.” Wraith sounded concerned, which was interesting considering it was an AI.
Maddy took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. The lights flickered again, and then went out. The hum of the air purifiers went silent. The power was out.
“Okay Wraith, the power just went out, what the fuck is going on?” Maddy was fighting the urge to panic. This was bad.
“It appears that the power generation station that supplies power to New Carthage is offline due to the fuel depot explosion. Sergeant Turner, please ensure the safety of the high value samples and prepare your team to relocate to a suitable backup location.” Wraith said, then dropped the call.
“FUCK,” Maddy shouted. She pulled out her smartlink and sent a group message to the rest of the security group, Team One included, telling them to gear up and get ready. The lights flickered back on as she slid the device into her pocket as she power walked down to corridor to the science dorms. The smartlink buzzed incessantly, but she ignored it.
The outer door to the decontamination corridor didn’t slide open like Maddy was used to. She pulled out her smartlink again, swiped away the notifications and called Liselle.
“Hello?” Liselle answered.
“Liz! Hey, listen, Wraith says we need to get ready to move to somewhere with power, but I see our lights came back on? What’s going on, the door wont open?” Maddy asked.
“Yeah, we are on battery backups but the system wasn’t designed to power all of the lab equipment we have so it keeps overloading and shutting down. The sample chiller is pulling too much power, we think. And the decontamination corridor was never rigged up to the backup power so it isn’t working.” Liselle responded, worry in her voice.
“Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Are you okay?” Maddy asked.
“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Doctor Carney got a call from Wraith too and we are starting to pack up. Should we meet you down by the trucks when we’re ready?” Liselle responded.
“Yeah, good idea,” Maddy said, as the lights flickered, turned off, then turned back on. “I’ll get everyone ready to move.” Maddy turned on her heels and started moving back to the stairs. Her team was heading down the stairs from the roof, mumbling excitedly to themselves.
“Hey!” Gremlin said, “Wraith texted us and said to get ready to move! It said they were going to send down more goodies for US. US meaning me this time!” Gremlin was smiling. The smile reminded Maddy of Felix, and she felt a pang of guilt lash from inside herself.
“Yeah, okay, good,” Maddy said, falling in behind her team. They rushed down the stairs and into the vehicle bay. Security team members were filtering in from all directions and opening lockers, donning gear. Chief was already geared up in a set of light armor, sitting atop the Black Mamba’s turret. He was smoking a hand rolled cigarette, and the vague scent of tobacco and cinnamon wafted through the station. He had a huge grin on his face and his eyes seemed to be sunken in. He looked worse than ever.
Maddy ignored him and pulled the metal case out from a rack against the wall. The recon armor she’d been gifted during the last operation was inside, and even though it apparently did nothing to actually protect it’s wearer from the bioweapon creatures, the HUD and comms systems were second to none. Plus, it was powered, and that might make a big difference in the right circumstances.
Dad joined her and gave a wary look as he pulled out his own armor and started putting it together. Maddy mirrored him, and they worked together in silence. The armor was designed to be largely self assembling, with small servos that latched the pieces together when they were held near each other.
Maddy was nearly fully suited up when Gremlin started shouting excitedly, “hey! Supply drop is here!”
“Come on,” Maddy said to Dad, sliding her helmet on. With the helmet on, her voice was harsh and amplified, “lets see what we’ve got.”
The outside world looked like the apocalypse. Booms thundered in the distance and Maddy could hear automatic gunfire. The sky was above the buildings was orange. She tried to tune it out, but there were most certainly screams intermixed with the shooting.
The shipping container was identical to the one that was dropped previously, and sat perfectly aside the old one. No suits of armor this time, but helmets with built in comms and ear protection for everyone that wasn’t on the previous mission. Plus, weapons. Lots of weapons. And stacks of munitions. It was Christmas morning for the security team as they pulled long guns and sidearms from the container, excitedly babbling as they marveled at the contents. Maddy saw Gremlin hold up a grenade launcher as she laughed maniacally. Maddy’s eyes were immediately drawn to a familiar looking black metal case laid underneath a rack of helmets.
“That’s mine,” she said, pushing a Team One guy aside and grabbing it. He gave her an offended look, and Maddy stared directly into his eyes with a look of death. He looked away, and she drug the case out and back into the station.
She’d trained with the weapon before, just briefly. There was a week of orientation at the marine corps training base on Cornelius where freshly graduated marines got to hold, fire, and drool over the various specialized weapons they may or may not be issued, depending on their job and performance. There were a lot of unforgettable experiences from that week, but one gun stood out in her memory. The ‘Heartbreaker’ 14.5 millimeter anti-materiel pulse rifle.
It was an absolutely absurd weapon used by marine fireteams to kill enemy armor, fire through heavy cover, and blow holes in fortified positions. It had a huge magazine that held but three caseless 14.5mm multi-munition cartridges, fired out of a magnetically accelerated rail system. The magazine doubled as a battery for the accelerators, and the ‘pulse’ of magnetic acceleration is what earned the weapon the monicker ‘pulse rifle’. It threw a huge round at amazing speeds, and because of the pulsed round acceleration and bullpup design, the weapon was overall much smaller than a standard anti-materiel rifle. She held the weapon up and admired it. Dad recognized the weapon and his eyes grew wide before he shook his head and turned back to what he’d been doing before. Maddy saw it had a half dozen magazines in the case labeled ‘WP-EX’. White phosphorus explosives. Incredible.
“Daaaaaamn? Overcompensating? Small dick?” Gremlin laughed on seeing the weapon.
“Thank god for powered armor huh?” Maddy said, hefting the rifle to her shoulder. “The recoil from one of these is incredible. That’s why they call it the Heartbreaker. It breaks the enemies’ heart, but it also makes you feel like you’ve had a heart attack every time you pull the trigger. That’s what they say, at least.”
“Badassss!” Gremlin said. She gestured towards a bandolier of small pouches over her armor. Most of it was filled with grenades, but a few pouches held small plastic jars. “Check this shit out Sarge,” she pulled a jar out of the bandolier. It was opaque white and had an orange label. “Thermex! Moldable thermite. I don’t know what the fuck I’m gonna kill with it but it’s gonna be badass.”
Maddy smiled at the small woman. Gremlin should have been a marine too.
“All units, please pay attention to the following tactical guidance,” Wraith’s voice played over Maddy’s suit’s external speakers. She looked around, and saw security officers pull their helmets on to listen better. Chief had his helmet on and was pressing the ear pads against his head with his eyes closed, like he was listening to the world’s greatest orchestral performance. “You have been ordered to proceed northeast to the cybernetics clinic attached to the central hospital. Please be advised! The NCPD automated vehicle barrier system is without power and all anti-vehicle barriers are engaged in the upright position.”
“Awww man, what the fuck!” Gremlin protested.
Blitz had been loading ammo into the bed of the pickup truck, and threw his arms up at the announcement.
Wraith continued, “the shortest route has been highlighted in your tactical HUD. Please use the provided combat helmets for tactical communications and situational awareness. Sergeant Turner has been selected as mission commander for this operation. Contact Wraith for support.”
“Puh, leeze,” Chief said, throwing the helmet to the ground. It made a cacophonous clatter. The racket drew Maddy’s attention to him. “Sergeant Madeline, Madagascar, Turner has a propensity for getting her troopers killed. She’d kill the best of us, if she could.” Maddy clenched her fists and felt the anger build inside her. What the fuck makes him think that’s an okay thing to say?
“We don’t need a robot from above to control our destiny on the ground. I think you all know this has been a long time coming, our final stand. Who better to lead us into battle than myself, and my right hand man, the most reliable and ever-present Blitz?” Chief’s eyes widened and he looked like he was about to give a sermon. Blitz climbed the IFV and dropped an inhaler into Chief’s hand. Chief, totally disarmed and surprised by the gesture, took it and descended down the gunner’s hatch. Blitz looked at Maddy apologetically.
“What the fuck was that?” Maddy asked over a private channel to Blitz, “how fucking high is he?”
“I gave him some uppers before we came down here. I was hoping it would make him more coherent,” Blitz explained, “I’m sorry Sergeant Turner. He’s been getting harder and harder to keep him on track.”
“I don’t know why you cover for him,” Maddy was pissed at Chief’s dig on her, blaming her for Felix and Ward’s deaths. She hadn’t even begun to face that yet. Everything had been happening too fast.
“It’s a long story Sergeant. I owe it to you if we make it through this,” Blitz was trying to defuse the situation.
Maddy nodded and ended the private channel, addressing Blitz openly. “So, we have anti-vehicle barricades. How do you think we should get to the objective?”
Blitz looked back and smiled, grateful she’d dropped the conversation about Chief. “I’ll bet you the Mamba can get over those barriers.” Blitz replied. Maddy had to agree. The Mamba was a tracked vehicle; if they lined one of the tracks up with a barrier, it could climb over it just like a rock.
“Alright, so how about this. We take the Mamba, load up the inside with the samples and the science team. Stow extra ammo and guns on the bustle racks. Chief shoots the guns, since I doubt we could get him out of there even if we wanted, and you have one of your folks drive. Maybe Smoker,“ Maddy explained her plan. Smoker nodded at the reference to him.
“I’ll take my team and take point in front of the Mamba. Blitz, you take your team and pull security on the rear. We’ll be slow, but we’ll have the Mamba’s firepower in case we run into any trouble. Sound good?”
“Sounds good to me,” Blitz said, then addressed his team, “What do we think Team One?!”
“Aye Sir!” The members of team one shouted in unison.
“Aww cute, they have a little team cheer,” Gremlin whispered behind Maddy.
“Alright Team Two, help them load everything. I want to be ready to move as quick as possible.” Maddy said, grabbing two ammo boxes off the floor and walking them to the Black Mamba.
She’d just handed the boxes off when her comms crackled to life. PRIVATE CONNECTION flashed across her huddle.
“Sergeant Turner this is Jim Crawford. I’m the guy running this show, you probably remember me from the meeting,” Jim said with his quant drawl. It sounded like he was chewing on something.
“I do remember you Jim, what’s up?” Maddy replied, walking back to the container to grab more stuff. The security team was moving like a swarm of ants, grabbing and loading anything that looked useful onto the fighting vehicle’s cargo baskets. The science team was shoving bag after bag of samples into the back of the Mamba.
“Listen, I just wanted to remind you of how important those goddamn samples are. They are the number one vital asset on the surface right now. Now, the cybernetics lab is probably the safest place on the planet and that’s where I’m sending you. It’s fortified, underground, and has big giant fucking coolers for storing cybernetics and everything else; it’ll be perfect for the samples. And it has backup power that’ll last forever, since it’s hooked up to the hospital. You need to get those samples there, Turner. I don’t care what stands in your way. I’m gonna be watching and helping however I can, but this is a less than ideal situation and we don’t have time to prep.” Jim said.
“Yeah, I got that sir,” Maddy replied.
“Please don’t call me sir, I’m a civilian. It’s Jim. Anyway, like I said, I’m gonna be watching your team and I’ll do what I can. It’s a real goddamn mess out there right now, so steel yourself.”
“Understood Jim,” Maddy said. The private connection dropped automatically. A real goddamn mess, he’d said. Maddy thought back to the screams and gunfire. She wondered just how bad it would be.
