Opus X Series Boxed Set Four

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Emma was an impressive AI and critical to their efforts, but she wasn’t a miracle worker.

She’d need a couple of minutes before she gained control of the cameras and drones, and in those critical minutes, whoever was attacking the commerce tower had the upper hand.

That enemy had had the foresight and ability to hack the commerce tower’s systems, which meant they weren’t just criminals who’d shown up and started shooting at people. Jia and Erik needed to bring the situation under control.

They slowed as the flow of screaming people thinned. They ducked behind a large statue of a twenty-first-century actor neither had heard of.

Pairs of rifle-toting men in comically large Leem masks were running in different directions on the concourse, but none had headed their way yet.

That wasn’t good, but they hadn’t seen any bodies yet, either. There was still hope of salvaging the situation.

“What the hell is this?” Erik muttered.

A giant hologram of a cartoon Leem appeared in the air, the thin accusatory finger of the alien pointed outward. Harsh, angry music played. Words circled the hologram.

LEEM LIBERATION FRONT.

“Don’t tell me it’s Grayheads.” Jia groaned. “At least syndicate enforcers have some common sense.”

“Your analysis is accurate, Jia,” Emma reported. “According to my quick search, the LLF is a recently formed militant Grayhead organization, though both local police and CID statements dismiss them as ‘irrelevant and low-threat.’”

“Everybody’s wrong now and again,” Erik mused. “Nothing wrong with making them irrelevant again.”

Jia shook her head. “In my more paranoid days, I would have thought the Core was paying these people to hunt us.”

“How is that paranoia?” Erik looked her way. “They’ve done it before, but in this case, it’s probably just coincidence. Even if it’s not, we solve it the same way.” He patted his gun.

“We are the Leem Liberation Front,” a voice bellowed, echoing all around them. “We are a collection of passionate and thoughtful individuals who have reflected upon the role of all intelligent species in the galaxy and know the truth. Humanity is on a self-destructive spiral. The Leems came to us to warn us shortly after one of the greatest wars in history. The government lied and told you it was an accident, but we know the truth. Those peaceful visitors were murdered by government assassins. In the Leems’ glorious mercy, they exacted no revenge, so we will seek it on their behalf.

Jia rolled her eyes. “Yes, somehow a race with FTL travel and lightning shields could be taken down by a couple of ancient rifles and those toys they called aircraft in the twentieth century. Have you read about them? It’s like they were throwing metal tubes in the air and hoping they wouldn’t die.”

“Unfortunately, the continued corruption of humanity is unabated,” the terrorist ranted. “This has forced us into a position where sacrifices are necessary to save our entire species. We have taken hostages, and we will execute one every hour until our demands are met. If they are, including our safe passage out of this commerce tower and Neo SoCal, we will release the surviving hostages unharmed. Our primary demands are simple. We insist upon the verified release of the following six unjustly imprisoned patriots of humanity.”

A list of six names followed. None of them meant anything to either Erik or Jia.

Jia frowned. “A little help, Emma.”

“They are all imprisoned Grayhead leaders,” the AI replied. “They lead different, sometimes competing organizations. They aren’t all at the same prison.”

“In other words, there’s no way those people will be released.”

Erik nodded forward. There were no Grayheads, but judging by the crowd and the origin of the earlier men, the terrorists were most likely holding people in the central concourse and supplementing their defenses with guards in key locations.

It wouldn’t be enough to repel a serious effort by the local police, let alone the local militia.

Jia holstered her stun pistol and pulled out her slugthrower. She flipped off the safety. “Should we wait for the NSCPD?”

“And let those psychos kill someone? They say they’ll give an hour, but all it’ll take is one person saying something bad about the Leems and they’ll kill someone. You heard them. They’re trying to avenge random moron aliens who were killed in a crash over two hundred years ago.” Erik shook his head. “Besides, this is personal.”

“Personal?” Jia’s brow lifted. “You know these guys?”

“No,” Erik replied, his voice low. “But they messed with my shopping.” He pointed at her stomach. “And your food.”

“You’re right.” Jia’s jaw clenched. “Let’s take them down.”

“The only thing I don’t get is why they didn’t come this way.” Erik surveyed the outer concourse with suspicion.

“They obviously studied the blueprints for this level,” Emma explained. “Those men were both taking the most direct route to the exits. Many of the hysterical fleshbags who fled earlier ended up cut-off. I launched drones outside, and some of the civilians escaped.”

“How are we doing on the interior cameras and drones?” Jia asked.

“I’m in the primary system. I have not bothered to be subtle about it, and although I’ve yet to establish full control, I’ve noticed already something pathetic, at least insofar as we rate the typical gun goblin you deal with, despite their system hacking capabilities.”

Erik smirked. “I’m not always looking to have the fight of my life. What’s the deal?”

“They’re not routing their communications through their system,” Emma replied. “They’re relying on the commerce tower’s relays. It’ll be trivial to disrupt their communications, and I’m dubious they could restore them. I think they’re aware that I’m in the system, but they’re being overwhelmed anyway.”

“They probably think it’s just part of the security protocols.” Jia nodded, speaking slowly as she thought it through. “I’m not going to complain about terrorists with more bravery than brains. That means we have a chance of taking them down without anyone getting hurt. That’s the other advantage of not waiting. A hard entry risks people getting shot in the crossfire.”

“Ah, there we go.” Emma winked into existence in an NSCPD captain’s uniform. “There are only six gun goblins guarding the terrorists, with other groups of two and four moving to or who are already in control of the exits.”

Rather than send images to their smart lenses, she summoned data windows with camera and drone feeds from the exits. The remainder of the fleeing crowd had slowed, cowering behind walls and in shops, out of the sight of the main exit.

No one was willing to confront the armed men guarding the escape route leading to the parking platform, and most were too afraid to go back the way they had come. A top-down map marked the position of each civilian on the level with a white dot and each terrorist with a red dot.

Roaming patrols rounded out what was left.

“If Emma can disrupt their comms, we can pick the guards off without the rest of them knowing what’s going on at first,” Jia mused. “That gives us a big advantage.” She put her hand in the air and traced alternating curves. “This place is a maze. They might not know where the gunfire is coming from.”

Erik rubbed his chin. “But if they hear it, they might execute a hostage.”

“We have another advantage they don’t.” Jia pointed to Erik then herself. “She can keep us in contact, and we know the location and strength of their forces.”

“I get it.” He nodded and his grin turned hungry. “We split up.”

“Exactly.” Jia walked over to Emma’s map and pointed to the largest cluster of fleeing civilians near an exit. “I think you should pick off the guards here, which will let those people get to safety. Besides the actual hostages, the others are in small groups hiding in stores and the like. Once you’ve cleared the way, you can take out the other patrols. I’ll head to the hostages and take out the men there.”

Erik studied the map in silence for a long moment. “Okay, sounds good. Once I’ve cleared the main exit, I’ll do my best not to just take them out but to draw the attention of the rest. If we both keep them busy, they shouldn’t kill anyone until the NSCPD arrives in force, probably less than ten minutes at this point.”

Jia raised her gun. “Time to do something reckless and stupid?”

“I consider it realistic training. Remember what this is about.”

“Saving lives?”

He shook his head. “Avenging your missed lunch.”

Jia frowned at Erik for a moment, not annoyed by the joke but worried about something else. “I’ve just thought of a problem. It’s going to take me longer to get into position and engage them than for you to take out the guards near the main exit. It’s fine if they’re confused after that, but before that, they might start shooting if they hear gunfire.”

Erik holstered his pistol and cracked his knuckles. “Then I need to take the first pair down without gunfire.”

“You want my stun pistol?” Jia reached for her waist.

Erik flexed his left arm. “Nah. Let’s break in this baby on some terrorist heads.”