«They're here!»
Rachelle's joyful cry echoed around the ravaged rooftops of The Sprawl.
An entire squadron of chaos needlejets swooped low over the base, their chaos guns blazing, firing incandescent blue projectiles towards the Spartan lines. Every shot obliterated another section of the already decimated army.
Spartans scattered before the onslaught like ants from a burning magnifying glass, desperately seeking cover behind trees, rovers, wreckage, anything big enough to afford even the tiniest scrap of protection.
The Data Angel 'jets mercilessly pummelled the Spartans, their chaos projectiles punching through even the best silksteel armour to incinerate the soldiers behind it.
A sudden fusillade of fire burst from the main gate of the base as a party of Spartans fought their way free of the opposing Data Angel security forces and fled for the safety of the forest.
Many of them didn't make it, cut down by chaos darts or the Cyborg fusion rifles, but a few - perhaps ten - reached the sanctuary of the forest. A few seconds after their disappearance, there was the sound of fast scout rover engines revving up and fading into the distance.
The last of the Spartan troops were now engaged in desperate running battles with the Data Angel defenders, who were now pouring out of the base and cutting down Spartans wherever they could be found. Precious few missile launchers and gatling lasers were left to the attackers - most of them were being forced to resort to shredder rifles and pistols.
However, one commando was left with a missile launcher, and was even now firing wild shots at anyone who confronted him.
Rachelle sighted down the barrel of her rifle at him, but at that very second he swivelled to face her, missile launcher at the ready.
She spitted him on her targeting crosshairs and tensed her finger, but found herself unable to pull the trigger.
He must be empathic - he's trying to stop me from killing him...
She fought to pull the trigger just a millimetre further, to fire the rifle...
And, in adrenaline-induced slow motion, she saw him pull his trigger and send a missile screaming towards her.
Then, as his face twisted into a contorted leer of hatred and loathing, she found her mind suddenly free, her hand no longer bound.
Algorithms have always been designed for multitasking, and hers allowed her to do several hundred things at once.
She only needed three.
With the speed of a cobra striking, her finger tightened on the trigger of her rifle, sending a beam of shimmering blue light to impale the Spartan. At the same moment, she uplinked to her companions and shouted at them through the link.
Duck!
As soon as the shot had left the rifle, her muscles contracted, flinging her out of the path of the missile as it scythed through the air towards her.
It was only as the missile streaked past her and exploded against the base's main comm aerial that she realised her mistake. Whilst Deanna and Iain were already reacting to her warning, Dmitri, unlinked as he was to the Consciousness, was still lying on the roof, sighting along his rifle for a clear shot at one of the few remaining Spartan rovers.
She screamed wordlessly at him, desperate to warn him of the danger. The explosion of the missile had severed the comm aerial from its linkage, and it was even now falling towards him, screaming as it sliced through the air.
He looked upwards, his mouth opening in soundless surprise, and he threw himself sideways. Unfortunately, his reflexes were not algorithmically enhanced, and even as she flung herself forward to try and help him the aerial landed...
His probability sheath took most of the initial impact, but she could see it begin to buckle and fade at the edges as its power began to wane. It was designed as an energy and impact absorber, not as a permanent repulsion field...
Even as she scrabbled for purchase, trying to haul him out of there, she noticed one of the vanes had already pierced right through the sheath and through Dmitri's body. Dark red blood stained the roof all around him, and his mouth opened and closed in silent screams of pain.
Iain and Deanna joined her and between then they strained to lift the incredibly heavy aerial but they couldn't move it more than a few centimetres, and when they tried Dmitri gasped in pain.
Rachelle reached out to him with her mind, but recoiled at the touch. He was in intense agony, and his mind screamed relentlessly when she tried to contact him.
Recalling her empathic lessons, she formed her mind into a comforting blanket and spread it over Dmitri's tortured mind.
She felt a faint, thankful pressure in return, and then the light that was Dmitri blazed up suddenly and was gone...
Deanna and Iain leaned in closer, still trying to shift the aerial, but she stopped them.
He's gone...
She turned to face out over the battlefield, her unseeing eyes sweeping over the smoking craters and burned-out husks that used to be people. Her eyes reached the horizon, and she stared out into the sunset.
One word left her mouth.
«Santiago...»
«Santiago!»
She turned, whipping round to face the speaker, who recoiled from the look of sheer venom which appeared upon her icy countenance.
The speaker instantly dropped to one knee, bowed his head and shivered as he felt her gaze sweep over him, raking him like a hail of shredder bullets.
«My...my sincerest apologies, Colonel, for my presumption. Please forgive me.»
She felt a sudden blazing urge to kick him in the head, but she suppressed it.
«Yes?» she snapped. «Make it quick.»
«The probe team sent to The Sprawl reports that they have what they came for, but they are under heavy attack. Should we send reinforcements?»
She mused for a second, then her thin lips compressed into a determined line.
«No. Our armies must remain hidden at all costs. There will be no reinforcements - either they get out alive, or they die there.»
By now, very few Spartans were left to oppose the Data Angel forces. A couple of rovers still fired spasmodically, but they were already damaged in several places, their reactors on the brink of shutdown.
Three Angel needlejets roared overhead, their chaos guns blasting away at the last few pockets of Spartan resistance. Most of the remaining Spartans had scattered into the surrounding forest, closely pursued by Data Angel troops brandishing handheld particle impactors and gatling laser pistols.
Suddenly, three needlejets shot out of the forest, engines whining as their pilots pushed them to the limit.
The Angel 'jets gave chase, but they were not designed for air-to-air interception, and couldn't get a targeting lock on the enemy. Their shots went wide of the mark as the three planes soared towards the horizon.
Then one of the pilots remembered the Cyborgs who had proved such staunch allies during the battle. His weaponry may not have been calibrated for dogfighting, but with their long-range, high-power rifles they might enjoy better luck.
Quickly, he brought the plane about, then prepared for landing.
By this time, all three Cyborgs had descended from the roof and, having given Governor Tian the news about Dmitri, went outside to survey the damage done by the Spartan attack.
However, just as they left the base, a needlejet landed just across from the three of them and the pilot leapt out.
«Ladies and gentleman,» he began in the gallant style so favoured across Chiron, «might I borrow one of you and a rifle for a few minutes?»
«Why?» asked Rachelle, instantly cautious.
«We don't have Interceptor capability, but with those rifles and your advanced targeting ability we might just be able to bring down those Spartans jets. We believe they may be carrying members of the probe team which stole our maps. Please, we must act quickly.»
«Very well,» Rachelle answered coolly. «Lead the way.»
Bare minutes later, they were in hot pursuit of the Spartans, Rachelle riding in the cockpit with the Data angel pilot. Luckily, the Data Angel planes were faster and more manoeuvrable than the somewhat lumbering Spartan jets.
Inside a few minutes, they were in range of the closest jet. The pilot opened the top hatch, and Rachelle climbed halfway up the access ladder until she could sight along her rifle.
Something inside her exulted in the feeling. Chiron's moist, fresh air played through her hair, making her long brown tresses spiral out behind her, at the mercy of the vagaries of the rushing wind.
She lowered her rifle onto the body of the plane and centred the cross hairs on the closest Spartan jet. It jinked in and out of the targeting grid as the pilot tried to evade, but she managed to keep it in her sights.
A part of her algorithm was already hard at work, cataloguing the pilot's manoeuvres and checking for some sort of pattern. Finally it found one, and relayed the result to her consciousness. There were only so many directions in which to jink, after all. The pilot was choosing seemingly at random, but there was method in the madness, order amongst the chaos.
She sighted again, and fired...
One down, two to go.
Jens Farren fumed as he saw one of his three escape needlejets spiral to the ground and explode, leaving behind it a thin trail of smoke from its damaged wing.
«How can they be so accurate?» he asked the pilot. «According to our instruments they don't even have AAA tracking - how are they managing this?»
The pilot made no reply, concentrating as she was on her flying.
Rachelle's algorithm cut in again, informing her of the likely movements of the next plane's pilot. She fired a short fusillade of shots, but the pilot swung up onto his left wing, and the shots passed to left and right of the jet.
She fired again, the brilliant azure beam emerging once again, racing to connect with its target...
...but again, the pilot managed to pull out of its path at the last second. This time he let the plane side-slip, then pulled a tight corkscrew and accelerated into a sharp dive.
Luckily, the Data Angel pilot was no rookie either, and he followed the Spartan move-for-move, lining Rachelle up for the perfect shot.
She squeezed the trigger...
«Damn!»
Farren swore in anger as another of his needlejets smashed itself to pieces on a rocky outcrop. Now only this last one was left.
Quickly, he activated the plane's communications systems, trying to access the Spartan comm network. They couldn't be far from the relay beacon now...
A flicker of response met his feverish calls, and he gently nursed the feeble lifeline, trying desperately to get enough of a signal to transmit the precious databurst.
The Data Angel jet screamed in protest as its pilot shunted all available power to the engines, thrusting forward as he tried to close the gap between them and the one remaining Spartan jet.
He cast a quick glance at his instrument panel, then yelled up to where Rachelle stood on the access ladder, preparing to try for a shot at the jet.
«We can't go on like this much longer! Fuel reserves are low - I'm going to have to turn back any minute!»
«Just keep flying,» Rachelle called back down to him. She steadied herself against the howling rush of wind that threatened to pluck her from the cockpit, and braced her rifle against the jet, readying herself for the shot that would bring down her last opponent.
«Yes!»
Finally, Farren's efforts had borne fruit. The closest comm beacon had responded, and was ready to receive the databurst.
He quickly linked the datacore holding the Data Angel maps into the plane's comm system and triggered the burst.
Rachelle nudged the rifle left, then up slightly as the Spartan pilot fought to keep from becoming a sitting target. Her finger tightened on the trigger, and she felt the rifle give a slight jump as the sapphire laser beam shot out to impale the jet.
Transfer complete.
A beatific smile spread over Lieutenant Jens Farren's face as he realised that his mission had succeeded, and then brightness filled his eyes and there was nothing but fire...
* * * * *
Aki Zeta-5's impassive face betrayed barely a hint of emotion as she finished cycling through the psych reports on Colonel Corazon Santiago.
She deactivated the viewscreen and turned back to the other three people in the room. Two were holographic projections, continuously updated isomorphic representations - one of Datatech Sinder Roze, the other of Commissioner Pravin Lal. The third was a flesh and blood woman, the lithe, shapely form of Lady Deirdre Skye.
Lal's hologram stepped forward, concern lining his dark brow.
«She is highly dangerous, very powerful and possesses a volatile temper,» he reminded Aki. «She has already attacked one of Datatech Roze's bases, and is pressing me for what she calls 'contributions to the cost of my faction's continued existence'. Her last demand was for a hundred energy credits, a sum I can hardly afford. I managed to divert her attention, but she'll be back soon...»
Roze broke in.
«With the assault on The Sprawl Santiago has practically declared Vendetta upon me. If it escalates into a massive war I don't see how I can stand against her. We won this one battle but we can't hope to win the war - her troops outnumber ours at least three to one.»
Aki turned to gaze at the map of Chiron which covered the holotable in front of her. By a stroke of luck her engineers had managed, by working flat out around the clock, to complete the Command Nexus before Santiago, leaving the Spartan attempt obsolete and useless.
From here Aki Zeta-5 could view every item of data held by the Consciousness and its allies on a wide range of subjects, from disposition of enemy forces to the security nexuses of other factions.
Unfortunately, a small but vital section of the map was still greyed out. Topographical data was in place - the result of the Unity 's pre-Planetfall worldscan - but the Spartan lands were a mystery.
«We need their maps,» said Aki Zeta-5, half to herself.
«What?» asked Lady Deirdre, startled out of her contemplation.
«The Spartans have an advantage over us,» said Aki, turning back to her confederates. «Despite all the Angels' best efforts, they downloaded maps of all our territories and managed to send them via a communications relay seconds before one of my operatives shot down the plane in which they were travelling.
This gives the Spartans the tactical advantage - they know where we are, but we do not know where they are. We must acquire data pertaining to the locations of their bases. Only then will our Empathi be able to penetrate their security nexus and inform us of their disposition of forces.»
The holograms of both Roze and Lal flickered for a second and vanished, leaving their respective faction emblems to hover in the air, an indication that they were currently engaged elsewhere but would return at the first opportunity.
Lady Deirdre stepped closer, until she could speak to Aki Zeta-5 in a low voice.
«Prime Function, Brother Lal has still not forgiven you for relocating the Empath Guild here to Alpha Prime.»
«It was necessary,» Aki replied, her face half-turned away. «The negotiations were successfully completed - they received our assistance in the completion of the Temple of Ascetic Virtues long before Director Morgan could complete his attempt. In exchange for our labours, we were given the Empath Guild. It was an entirely fair and logical trade.»
Deirdre was about to say more, but the air shimmered and the holograms of the two faction leaders returned.
Roze was the first to speak:
«I have tried all channels of investigation, and I cannot find Spartan maps anywhere on our networks. However, there is a rumour that CEO Morgan has maps of Santiago's territory.»
«Can you access them?» Aki was quick to jump at the chance.
«They are hidden deep behind his firewalls. Commercial channels may be our only hope.»
Lal snorted. «Give him what we all know he craves above all things - currency! Just offer him energy and he'll leap at the chance!»
«I will open diplomatic negotiations immediately,» Aki Zeta-5 assured him. «What are we to do about the impending Vendetta?»
Once again, Lal produced his inimitable snort.
«I do not see that it concerns me!»
«How,» asked Roze, straining visibly to restrain her emotions, «can such a war not affect you? If Santiago attacks our holdings, she will not stop there. Your lands border ours - her troops will simply sail on and pillage your cities too!»
«Nonsense! The Peacekeepers have been and always will be neutral. We refuse to take sides against anyone!»
Aki Zeta-5 turned to look out of the window across the lush green expanse of Chiron's surface. When she next spoke, it was half to herself, and sounded as though the words came from far away.
« Against these so-called 'paramilitary survivalists', unity is the only defence. We must stand together against this threat; only when we have eradicated it will we be truly safe again. »
She turned back to Lal, with sadness in her deep green eyes.
«Those were the words of the British Prime Minister Elaine Lewis in an address to the United Nations. Unfortunately, they ignored her. Many chose to completely ignore the threat, others chose to deal with it in their own way.»
She turned away again, grief choking her voice.
«My husband, in his role as chief Norwegian ambassador to Britain, was visiting her when the British wing of the Jade Falcons, the survivalist group of which Corazon Santiago was once a member, tried to assassinate her. He took the first bullet, and was...killed instantly. She lived, but the ensuing turmoil threw the British economy into recession and its government into anarchy.»
When she turned back to face Pravin Lal, tears were streaming freely down her face, but her voice was once again level and controlled.
«Will you make the same mistake again? Will you let another survivalist faction destroy all which we have fought and toiled to achieve?»
«It is none of my concern...» Lal began, and his face flushed as Aki interrupted him.
«Santiago will make it your concern. If she were to conquer the Data Angels, why on earth should she stop there? You and I both know that once she tastes victory, she will want to taste it again and again. Your faction's lands are closest to Datatech Roze's - Santiago will see you as nothing more than another target.»
Lal opened his mouth to respond, but Aki cut him off yet again.
«Furthermore, if you do not agree to declare Vendetta upon Santiago then you will be seen as aiding her by your continued indecision. We may have no choice but to cancel our Pact with you, and if you still refuse to take action against the Spartan threat, you may eventually force us to declare Vendetta upon you.»
Lal took a deep breath before responding. When his words finally came they were forced and full of barely repressed anger.
«Very well, Prime Function Aki Zeta-5. At your insistence I shall conduct Vendetta against Colonel Corazon Santiago and her Spartan Federation. But be warned that I shall pull my forces out at the first sign you are not fully supporting me with your own troops!»
Aki Zeta-5 inclined her head regally, instantly defusing the potentially volatile situation.
«Of course, Commissioner Lal. Rest assured that you will enjoy our full support.»
Lal bowed in return, and then his hologram shimmered and disappeared.
* * * * *
Some time later, Aki Zeta-5 sat in council with her ten most trusted advisors. The eleven-strong Council therefore helped to prevent deadlock, since in any case where five advisors voted on each side in a debate, the Prime Function held the casting vote. Also, Aki held an executive veto - she could override the Council's majority decision for change in favour of continuity - that is, unless faced by unanimous opposition.
The debate would have proved almost incomprehensible to anyone not equipped with an uplink node not tuned to the specific (and highly secret) frequency used by the Council. The debate took place on a high plane of the Consciousness, mostly by thought rather than by speech. If a member had a certain point that he or she wished to emphasise, then it would be spoken aloud, but otherwise it would be simply thought and thus heard by every other member.
As was customary, the Prime Function began the meeting.
My friends, she sent, today we face the most difficult decision since the beginning of our existence. We are faced by a far greater threat even than that posed by the Hive. The Spartan Federation has finally awoken from its long slumber and is even now sending out its tendrils to test the strength of its opponents. What we must decide is whether we should openly oppose the Spartans or attempt to remain neutral in the face of their threat.
Sarah Eta-3, who held the title of Foreign Minister in the Cybernetic House of Representatives, took the floor.
Since our victory over the Hive, our strength has grown and our military has swelled. Our latest intelligence reports show us to be one of the three most powerful factions on the face of Chiron. Unfortunately, one of the other two is the Spartan Federation.
Nolan Rho-6, Chief Researcher and Minister for Science, spoke next:
We are the most technologically advanced civilisation on Planet. None can rival us for knowledge - we hold almost every technology discovered by humanity since Planetfall. Only one or two still evade us, and with the continuing efforts of our Diplomatic Corps, I am sure that they will soon come to us.
This was a clever move - handing control of the floor to Miyuki Gamma-4, Head of the Cybernetic Diplomatic Corps and a staunch ally of Nolan Rho-6 and his occasionally controversial scientists.
She sent smoothly and without emotion, her 'voice' level and calm.
Our efforts continue. Negotiations are already underway with the few factions who hold technologies as yet undiscovered by us. We believe that very soon we will be able to gain possession of those errant technologies without divulging any of our classified information.
Aki Zeta-5's Military Advisor and Head of the Military Corps, Edward Pi-5, was the next to speak. A few attitudes around the table displayed signs of irritation - Cybernetic society was pacifistic and those who did join the military were sometimes seen as deviants from the accepted code.
However, Aki Zeta-5 relied heavily on the advice of Edward, one of her oldest friends and closest advisors, so there was no open dissent.
Friends, he sent, we already have the support of the Data Angels and the UN Peacekeepers, although the latter are somewhat grudging.
An undercurrent of wry amusement ran around the table at this comment, and he waited for silence before continuing.
Foreman Domai of the Free Drones has promised us a significant number of troops, but wishes no open involvement in the war himself. Also, CEO Nwabudike Morgan has promised some financial assistance, and in his own words, 'once the back of Spartan resistance has been broken, he will be happy to help with the mopping up'. Of course, and here again the note of wry humour crept into his voice, only when he sees it is profitable for his business interests.
Again, the mood at table lightened, a good response to Edward's tactic of using his sense of humour to ingratiate himself into otherwise mildly unreceptive company.
He went on:
Although Colonel Santiago has the full support of Sister Miriam Godwinson, at this moment there seems to be little that the good Sister can do. Her forces are nigh-on exhausted, and are dispersed and scattered in a vain attempt to engage the remaining pockets of Cult of Planet resistance. Her jihad against the Cult has resulted in very few gains, most Cultists having committed suicide rather than be forced into another religion, and most of the captured Cult bases lie in ruins, useless to the Believers. In addition, Miriam's society is suspicious of 'secular' research and this has seriously retarded her military development. The best Santiago can hope for from that direction is a few particle impactor-armed infantry units, nothing more. Even those will take some time to travel from Miriam's isolated holdings to Santiago's own continent. In short, I believe this is a war that we can win.
He signalled that he was finished, and Tessa Kau-2, Minister of Intelligence and head of the Cybernetic Bureau of Investigation, had made the mental equivalent of an indrawn breath when suddenly Werner Kappa-9 broke in.
Werner was known throughout the Consciousness as a staunch traditionalist. In old-Earth America, he would have been a member of the Republican party; in England, a Conservative. He had trained as a historian, and his specialist period had been the early Consciousness. At this time, the algorithms had not merged as smoothly with the human brain as they did now, and had placed far more emphasis on the traditional values of logic and rationality. Since then, of course, the algorithms had adapted to a world on which un-Initiated humanity thrived, and the Consciousness had grown accustomed to confronting irrational and illogical behaviour. In order to facilitate better communication and cohabitation with the un-Initiated, the Consciousness had been forced in recent years to place less emphasis on logic and rationality in favour of other, more human, values.
However, Werner was a traditionalist and his Kappa-9 algorithm was one of the few formed at the first Spawning of the original Zeta-5 algorithm. Logic and rationality were still very high on his list - indeed, they were the only entries.
Rather than communicating in the time-honoured tradition, he instead rose to his feet and spoke out loud. His voice was heavy with self-importance and pomposity.
«This discussion is irrational. War is irrational. There must surely be some logical way of solving this dispute without reverting to such barbaric methods.»
Aki Zeta-5 rose in turn and spoke smoothly.
«Minister Werner Kappa-9, what you must understand is that there is no 'dispute' between us and the Spartans. It is simple Biological ambition - we have more than them, so they envy us and desire to take what we have for themselves. The same 'illogical' ambition drove Chairman Yang to declare Vendetta on the Stepdaughters of Gaia, almost destroying their culture. We must stop Santiago before she does the same to us.»
Tradition and common courtesy both dictated that Werner Kappa-9 should wait until the Prime Function signalled that she had finished before he began speaking again, but he had always held both tradition and courtesy to be evidence of irrationality, and so broke in.
«Datatech Sinder Roze wrote in her holobook, 'Information Burns',
'To achieve victory, simply appear to give the opponent what he wants, and he will go away.'
Therefore, let us simply find out what the Spartans want and give it to them, that they may go away and leave us in peace. Surely that would be the logical course of action.»
Aki Zeta-5 was on her feet again, and though her expression was calm and her body language restrained, all could sense the undercurrent of irritation and exasperation which had begun to trickle through her thoughts - all except Werner, who remained seemingly oblivious.
Pointedly, she awaited his completion signal before beginning.
«Ah,» she said, with sadness now obvious in her voice, «if only it were that easy. For what the Spartans want, my friend, is everything we own, everything we are. And that,» her voice rose and hardened, «is the one thing we cannot afford to give then and cannot allow them to take. For, to counter your quote, Colonel Santiago wrote,
'Man has killed man from the beginning of time, and each new frontier has brought new ways and new places to die. Why should the future be different?'
in her holobook, titled 'Planet - A Survivalist's Guide'. Therefore, we can logically deduce that she will not cease from warfare, despite however many lives are lost, until the entirety of Planet is hers.»
Werner made as if to speak again, but Aki Zeta-5 waved him into silence (accompanying it with such a forceful mental command to silence that those who had forgotten about her empathic powers flinched), and switched back to the approved method of mental communication.
The Council has heard enough, she sent. We will vote now. For or against pursuing Vendetta against Santiago upon her declaration of war rather than pursuing peace with a policy of appeasement.
The vote was over quickly, and was tallied just as rapidly.
Seven for, two against, one abstention.
The Prime Function inclined her head towards the Council.
I thank you, my friends. With your approval I shall not attempt to placate Santiago when next she contacts me, but shall instead take any measures necessary to prevent her from intimidating me.
She rose, and the Council was dismissed.