Rika Conqueror Read online

  Rika replied.

 

  Rika’s lips curled into a smile and she decided to join the third group through the airlock. Once through, she moved down the corridor toward the chamber at the end while the mechs checked the rooms for anything of interest.

  When she arrived, she spotted Bean’s marker standing just inside the entrance to what appeared to be a maglev station.

  she asked the sergeant.

  Bean replied.

  Niki commented.

  Rika said.

  Bean asked with a laugh as three/one moved past and began to spread out.

 

  Three minutes later, the entire squad had formed up in the maglev station, and three/one took the lead, heading down the maglev track to the left, with Rika joining in. The walls of the tunnel were unadorned, non-reflective rock, giving the eerie feeling of walking down a track that had nothing around it at all.

  After a kilometer, the fireteam reached another maglev station, and Rika signaled for the rest of the squad to join them while fireteam three/one checked the area over.

  Niki said after a moment.

  Rika asked.

  Niki replied, highlighting a section of track that looked no different from any other to Rika’s eyes.

  She knelt down and reached out toward one of the track’s coils, feeling a small passel of nano leave her hand.

  Niki said.

  Rika nodded and rose, watching as the fireteam reached the terminal’s corners and signaled that other than a few crates of sealed food pouches, the area was clear.

 

  Rika asked

 

 

  Niki lit up a section of wall that looked as dark and indistinct as the rest of the terminal.

  Rika quietly pulled herself up from the track’s trench and walked to the location Niki had indicated. Behind her, Bean had arrived with the rest of the squad and was directing one of her fireteams to move down the corridor leading off the station.

  Once at the wall, Rika was able to see the panel. It was a display system for the track’s operation and car arrival schedule.

  Niki said.

  Rika replied as she touched her hand to the location the AI had indicated.

 

  With the nano deposited, Rika walked back to the track’s trench and leapt across. Just before she reached the far side, she gave a short pulse of her a-grav systems, landing silently in the fractional atmosphere.

 

 

 

  Niki didn’t respond, and Rika sent a tendril of thought along with the AI, watching as she worked through the systems in the track information panel, searching for data and control sources, while taking care not to trip any alarms or activate any sleeping systems.

  With part of her mind on that task, Rika watched Squad Three’s teams as they moved down the warren of passages that led away from the maglev terminal. So far, all they’d found were storerooms and several workspaces. None appeared to have seen recent use, though Rika did wonder about some of the supplies. It appeared as though several crates had Iberian labels on them…but the transit stamps were using Nietzschean dates. If that was the case, then those creates had been come to Faneuil after the war.

  Another part of her mind stretched along the relays the squad had dropped, reaching back to the pinnace.

  She checked over the other teams and then pulled feeds from Lieutenant Fuller and Squad Two.

  They were moving through a warren of larger warehouse spaces that were filled with larger equipment. So far, they’d not found anything to indicate anyone had been in that area for some time.

  Rika asked, having noticed that the AI wasn’t sending a query on an open port in the maglev display panel’s network interface.

 

 

  Niki replied.

 

 

  Rika snorted, walking out of the terminal and following the route three/one had taken.

  Niki replied.

 

  The AI sent a protracted sigh, then said,

 

 

  A smile crept onto Rika’s lips as she came to an intersection. Three/one had gone to the right, but she had an itch between her shoulder blades that told her to go left.

  Turning down the passage, Rika followed it for a minute until it curved to the right. She rounded the bend and found herself standing at the top of a deep shaft.

  It was over thirty meters across, with several lift platforms sitting at the top. None of them were enclosed, only ringed by skimpy railings. Rika sent out a passel of drones, noting that the shaft went down for several kilometers.

  she commented.

  Niki replied.

 

  Rika looked around, noting that a half-dozen passages connected to the lift shaft. She crept around the perimeter, peering down each corridor, not spotting anyone. She’d made it halfway around when her armor’s sensors picked up an EM flare at the entrance to one of the passages.

  she asked Niki.

 

 

  Rika crept toward the location from where the EM burst had come, directing all of her passive pickups at that vacant patch of air in an attempt to determine if the signal had come from an enemy in stealth, or was just a signal echo.

  She was
almost there when markers on her HUD noted that three/one had entered the shaft chamber from another passage.

  They began to sweep around the top of the shaft toward her while Rika continued to move in the direction of the EM burst. Once she was within a few meters, she released a nanocloud and then held her position.

  A second later, Niki gave a short laugh.

 

  Niki said.

  Rika replied, then sent a burst to Bean with the update.

  the sergeant said, and Rika updated Fuller with their status.

  the lieutenant suggested.

  Rika replied.

  She relaxed her stance, waiting for the rest of the squad to get into position before initiating the breach on the nearby enemy.

  Niki said, noting a second stealthed individual on the combat net.

  Fireteam four was nearly in position when one of the mechs stepped on a section of deck plate that slipped out of place, groaning loudly as it bent.

  A second later, Rika spotted a dozen grenades flying toward the fireteam’s position. Muzzle flashes lit up the area, rounds streaking out from the mechs, destroying the incoming explosives in seconds.

  But one grenade made it through and detonated, spraying a glowing gel across the four mechs in the fireteam.

  Next to Rika, the crouched figure rose, only to suddenly go still as overhead lights came on and a voice thundered all around.

  “Freeze! Show yourselves!”

  Rika said.

 

  Rika asked as she extended her GNR.

 

  A second later, the stealthed figure next to Rika materialized, and then she disabled her own stealth to reveal her weapon pointed at the man’s head.

  The other defenders were still stealthed—though Rika had a good idea of where they were from the grenade throws.

  she advised the squad before calling out aloud. “OK, whoever you people are, show yourselves and stand down. We know you can’t see us, but we can see you. You’re outnumbered and surrounded.”

  Niki laughed.

 

  A muffled sound came from the armor next to Rika, and she accessed the figure’s armor, turning on his speakers.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” The man’s voice came out in an angry growl. “And what are you doing here on Faneuil?”

  “We’re here to kill Nietzscheans. I’m Colonel Rika, and these are the Marauders.”

  * * * * *

  It had taken a few tense minutes, but Rika had managed to convince Lieutenant Gary to have his team stand down and turn over their weapons to the mechs.

  With the discovery of the defenders, Fuller had ended his sweep of the warehouses and was on his way with all of the teams, barring Alison’s, who split up to secure the pad and the two entrances into the underground facility.

  Niki had accessed the environmental controls, and once the shaft was aired back up, Rika released the seals on Lieutenant Gary’s armor, ordering him to step out.

  He complied—along with the rest of his platoon, who were removing their armor under the watchful eyes of the mechs towering over them.

  “Marauders, eh?” he asked once he stood before her in only his base layer, eyes sparking angrily below dark brows. “You wouldn’t happen to be Mill’s Marauders, would you?”

  “We are,” Rika replied. “Or rather, we were. General Mill was KIA half a year back.”

  Gary shook his head. “Damn…a damn shame.” Then he folded his arms across his chest. “You have me at quite the disadvantage, Colonel Rika. Care to show your face?”

  she asked Niki.

 

  Rika reached up and unlatched her helmet, pulling it free, smiling at the man before her.

  “I’m really sorry that we met under these circumstances, but am I safe in assuming that you’re with some sort of Genevian resistance?”

  “Maybe,” Gary replied. “We’re certainly not mercs, that’s for sure.”

  “Neither are we,” Rika replied with a wink as she glanced at her mechs, more of whom were moving into the shaft chamber and spreading out down the adjacent passages. “We’re well-funded freedom fighters.”

  Gary snorted. “That’s a new one. Funny.”

  “We’re regular comedians,” Bean said as she approached. “Colonel, our friends here are all secure. Should we restrain them?”

  “No,” Rika replied. “Put them on the lift platforms. I don’t think anyone will try any funny business while on those things.”

  Gary’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “Stars, you’re right about that. If you knew how many times those things stalled out…lowest bidder won the contract on that crap, that’s for sure.”

  “They’ll do doubly well, then,” Rika said, watching as the twenty men and women from Gary’s team were marched onto the platforms.

  Some looked angry, but most seemed in awe, muttering amongst themselves about never having seen so many mechs at once before.

  Gary echoed their sentiment. “You really all mechs?”

  “Whole battalion,” Rika said. “Well, there are a few mark-zeros in our fleet, but a lot of them have been mechanized as well.”

  “Mark zeros?” Gary asked with a laugh. “That’s a new one.”

  “I just made it up,” Rika replied. “So, is it just you here, or are there more of your friends below?”

  “Just us,” Gary replied. “We’ve been holed up here for a while.”

  “So if I send a team down, they won’t find anyone else?”

  “Well, eventually they’ll find Aman in our little CIC a ways down, but otherwise, that’s it.”

  Niki commented.

 

  “I applaud your attempt to protect your people, but there’s a whole fleet of mechs coming. Eventually we’ll scour every nook and cranny of this place. Hiding really isn’t an option.”

  Gary shook his head. “OK…do you really expect me to believe there are enough mechs left over from the war to form a whole battalion?”

  “I’m not too concerned about what you do or do not believe. The proof will be before your eyes in a few days.”

  The man fixed her with a cool stare for a moment and folded his arms. “OK, Colonel Rika. Let’s just say I believe that there’s a whole mech fleet out there. What are you really doing here?”

  Rika couldn’t help the smile that formed on her lips.

  “We’re here to kill Emperor Constantine, of course.”

  THE RESISTANCE

  STELLAR DATE: 04.21.8950 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: The Refuge, Faneuil

  REGION: Genevia System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire

  A full day had passed since Rika’s Marauders had taken control of the upper levels around Pad 719.

  Oda, who Gary referred to as the ‘Leader’ of the Genevia System’s resistance, hadn’t yet acquiesced to Rika coming down the shaft to see the rest of The Refuge, but he had finally agreed to come up.


  During that day, Lieutenant Gary’s platoon had warmed up to the mechs, even joining them in a few simulated games of Terran Assault.

  A key part of the resistance members’ acceptance of the mechs had been the news they brought—that two systems had already been liberated from the Nietzscheans. With the added knowledge that the Marauders had allies capable of crushing armadas such as the Nietzschean fleet in the Albany System, the resistance soldiers were in high spirits.

  Despite his troops’ acceptance of the mechs, Lieutenant Gary was still behaving coolly, and Rika wasn’t certain if that was just his normal attitude, or if the man was worried about what hosting a battalion of mechs on Faneuil would do to upset the status quo.

  Despite the uncertainty, Rika had dispatched Mad Dog to drop the beacon for the fleet. She’d also sent an update to Admiral Tanis with their current location’s coordinates to be passed on to Chase and Admiral Carson.

  [Be careful,] Tanis had sent in reply.

  Rika laughed when the response came through. Somehow, she felt like the motherly version of Tanis had come out for a moment.

  It was nice.

  [I will.]

  Now Rika stood at the rim of the Shaft, watching—via remote drones—as the mock-bottom ten kilometers below cycled open, revealing the full extent of the drop at her feet.

  “Deep,” she commented.

  “Tell me about it,” Gary replied. “The Shaft is the bane of my existence. I kind of hate it.”

  Neither spoke further as a lift platform came into view, rising out of the gloom. Five occupants stood on its surface. One was Oda, another was a woman wearing a GAF uniform with three stars on her lapels. The other three wore armor similar to that of Gary and his platoon’s—before the Marauders relieved them of it.

  Heather spoke into Rika’s mind a moment later.