The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

That level felt oddly quiet, even though the building was shuddering as firefights raged throughout other sections. Doctrine called for Drakon to pause now and evaluate his entire force posture before ordering coordinated attacks, but he had trained his soldiers to operate without detailed orders even though such an approach was discouraged by a Syndicate hierarchy which rightly feared independent thinking. Drakon’s approach to training paid off, as individual platoons and squads from the attacking force spread through the building along every open path, like water flooding an area without adequate protection.

The snakes seemed to be reacting slowly, though, waiting for orders before they shifted position. The delays were often fatal, as soldiers surrounded and wiped out pockets of defenders.

Drakon’s helmet display kept fuzzing and sputtering as the jamming systems inside the ISS building as well as the building’s structure blocked signals. But so many soldiers were inside the building, each of the combat armor suits relaying signals to every other suit of armor within range, that Drakon still got a halfway-decent picture of events. “This way,” he ordered the soldiers with him, diverting to the south along a short corridor as the roar of battle grew in intensity again. Fear had become a distant thing, lost in the need to concentrate on developments and keep moving fast.

A sudden alert pierced the pounding of the gunfire. Drakon paused to eye the symbol, which told him that this message had to be from one of two people in this star system. He ordered the soldiers with him to halt movement and accepted the transmission.

The image of CEO Hardrad was fuzzy, breaking up into pixilated static before partially re-forming. “Drakon, break off your attack now, or I will detonate the nuclear charges under every major city on this planet.”

“You don’t have the codes.”

“Yes, I do.” The interference made it impossible to read Hardrad’s expression or get any feel for emotion in the other CEO’s voice, not that Hardrad ever showed much feeling in either face or tone. “Iceni betrayed you in exchange for limited immunity. I have the codes, and I will destroy this world before I let you overthrow lawful authority. But, if you stop now, we can reach an agreement. Iceni got some immunity. So can you. The alternative is to die along with everyone else.”

In the middle of a battle, and despite his long experience with the cold-bloodedness that often characterized Internal Security, it felt odd to hear Hardrad making such an apocalyptic threat in the same manner as if he were suggesting that forms had been filled out improperly.

But does he have the codes? Did Iceni turn on me to protect herself? Can Hardrad carry out his threat right now? How much longer before my troops can get to Hardrad’s office in the heavily fortified command center?

Drakon’s eyes rested on the display depicting his soldiers storming deeper into the ISS headquarters building. He could hear orders being passed, and other cries across the comm circuits as his soldiers exulted in finally striking back at an enemy they might have come to hate more than anything in the Alliance. And he wondered if, despite the brutal discipline exercised within Syndicate forces, it would be possible to get his troops to withdraw or if, no matter what he said, they would keep attacking until every snake was dead.

Or until this city, and numerous others, saw nuclear blooms blossom in their centers.

* * *

ICENI stood perfectly still as her mind raced. Five minutes until the snakes on this cruiser got here. What if nothing had happened on the surface by then? Did she continue to trust Drakon?

She called Togo, her signal this time having to weave its way around several blocks set up in the comm system, requiring minute after minute before a clear path was finally located. “Have you heard from the ISS?” Iceni asked.

Togo nodded. “We have been told to freeze all systems and prepare for a security sweep. I can no longer make outgoing calls.”

“What is the situation in the city?” The question was too blunt, too likely to tip off the snakes that something might be expected to happen, but she had no alternative.

“Quiet.”

“I want you to—” Iceni stopped speaking as the call connection broke. ISS must have spotted her penetration and sealed off the access her own systems had located.

“Drakon.” Akiri made the name into a curse, his eyes reflecting growing uneasiness.

Iceni could feel the unsteadiness in the man, as if he were a satellite in an increasingly unstable orbit. “Stay with me, or yours will be the first name I tell them,” Iceni warned Akiri in a low voice.