No Shelter Here

Chapter 1-2

The towers were less than three stories high, but that height coupled with the sixty-two metres between her and them made using stun-rounds inadvisable. Non-lethal bullets traveled at a lower velocity. A stun-round might fall short of its target when it had to fight against gravity over long distances. She set her weapon for standard ammunition

Anna popped out into the open.

A man at the base of the tower noticed her.

She fired first, and her shot went through his thigh with a spray of blood. The poor fellow yelped, clapping a hand over the wound and then falling flat on his face. He was writhing in pain on the ground. Stun-rounds or no stun-rounds, she would avoid lethal force if she could.

The man on the tower heard the noise and swung his rifle around to target her. He seemed to be fixated on Anna specifically now. A bullet went through his visor, and he dropped out of sight.

Anna looked to her right.

Rajel was taking cover behind the next tree over, aiming around the trunk. He met her eyes and then nodded.

Several of Corovin’s automated drones were hovering over the group of Ragnosian soldiers, spitting ammunition. The soldiers were firing back at their attackers, but it did little good. The drones were just too fast.

Snarling as he ran into the open, Jack broke into a sprint. He was like a leopard on the hunt, so fast he closed the distance to the fence in less than five seconds. By instinct, he called upon Summer and twisted gravity.

He launched himself into the air, rising over the fence and flying toward one of the towers. Two men stood atop it, both firing down at his allies. One looked up in time to see him coming.

But not in time to act.

Jack kicked the soldier’s helmet with enough force to shatter the visor, sending the man backward into the side of the plasma cannon that was still pointed skyward. There was no scream; the poor guy just fell over, unconscious or dead. Jack couldn’t tell which. He landed on the tower top, spinning to face his next opponent.

The second soldier was bent over the railing and firing down at the people below, but he flinched at the sound of boots hitting metal. In an instant, he was whirling around and trying to point his gun at Jack’s head.

Jack brought one hand up to strike the rifle’s barrel, knocking it askew before the weapon went off. Bullets flew uselessly into the air. With a growl, Jack delivered a punch to the other man’s visor, stunning him.

He spun for a back-kick, driving a foot into the soldier’s chest. His enemy fell back against the railing, losing his grip on his weapon. By the sound of his wheezing, he was probably coping with the pain of a broken rib.

“Sorry, friend,” Jack said.

He drew his sidearm, set it for stun-rounds and fired a quick, clean shot into the other man’s leg. Electric current surged through the Ragnosian’s body, bringing with it a fit of convulsions right before it plunged him into the depths of unconsciousness.

Jack did nothing to suppress the satisfaction welling up within him. Not for his victory here but for his choice to show mercy. Corovin could say what he wanted, but Jack Hunter would not kill if he had any other option. Unfortunately…

Dropping to a crouch, Jack retrieved the fallen an assault rifle. He shut his eyes, trembling as he drew in a breath. “God damn you, Slade…” Sooner or later, he would make that bastard pay for starting this war.

He approached the railing with the rifle at the ready, peering cautiously over it. There was nothing but snow-covered concrete beneath him, but he heard the shouts of men and women who found themselves in a battle that they had not expected. It didn’t take long to realize that they were using the base of the tower as cover.

More were coming out from the main building, a group of ten or twelve that came rushing toward the fence. Peering through the scope, Jack settled the crosshairs on the leg of one man in front. He fired.

That guy went down when a bullet pierced his shin, falling flat on his face. The next one in line stumbled over him, and Jack put a round through that man’s upper arm. The others began to scatter, some moving left, others right, but all aiming their weapons up at the tower.

Jack fell over sideways, grunting when his shoulder hit the metal floor. A storm of ammunition flew over the railing, but none of it hit him. Some of it dinged off the plasma cannon, however, and he had a brief vision of himself dying in a massive, green fireball. Thank god the damn thing was reinforced. Nevertheless, it was time to be gone.

Melissa could see her breath every time she exhaled. With a few quick strides, she scrambled up the snowy slope to the base of the damaged fence. And then she leaped, propelling herself into the air with Bent Gravity.

She sailed gracefully over the barrier and dropped to land crouched on the other side with her head bowed. Spatial Awareness painted a world in her mind, a world more vivid than anything her eyes could create, even if it did lack colour.

An open expanse of concrete stretched all the way to the facility’s main building. A line of men and women in gray was spreading out in front of the structure, each one firing up at the tower that Jack had just conquered. They were too far off for stun-rounds. Corovin’s lecture was suddenly in her head. Melissa hesitated. None of those soldiers had noticed her. They were all focused on the tower.

The plasma cannon was still releasing pulses of green into the air, targeting any Leyrian ships that flew by. There were fewer of those now. They knew that Anna and her people were down here. Any assault on the base from above might kill the strike team. Knowing Jack, he would probably try to commandeer that cannon and point it at the other towers. And since this wasn’t a movie, the plan would fail. Weapons like that were bound to have security systems. She-

Suddenly, two dark figures came out of a door in the tower’s base. Both women, both carrying fully-loaded assault rifles. One pointed at Melissa, and an instant later, they both had their rifles up.

Melissa flung herself into a dive, somersaulting through the snow and grabbing two fistfuls of it in gloved hands. Bullets raced past above her.

She came up in a crouch and threw her two snowballs with a touch of Bent Gravity, watching as each one splattered against a Ragnosian woman’s visor. Now, her opponents were blind.

Both women stumbled, their rifles dipping as they tried to regain their balance. One of them fired a few rounds into the snow before she thought to release the trigger. That gave Melissa the few seconds she needed.

She got up and ran for them.

When she was almost within arm’s reach, she saw one of the women wiping slush off her helmet with a frantic hand. That one squeaked when she noticed just how close Melissa had gotten in such a short time. God bless her Justice Keeper speed.

Melissa jumped.

She kicked the one on her left, then spun in the air and lashed out with a back-kick. The bottom of her shoe struck the woman on her right, throwing that lady to the ground. They were both down and groaning.

Landing with a hiss, Melissa quickly drew her pistol. It was already set for stun-rounds. She pointed the gun at one woman, fired a single shot, then adjusted her aim and fired again. Both of them were convulsing and crying out in pain.

Keli walked through the battlefield as a ghost, unseen by her enemies. She used their minds to paint a picture of her surroundings. Three towers on each side of the main building. Her friends had brought down the middle tower on the east side, but there were still hostiles behind the other two. Idly, she snorted at the realization that she had thought the word “hostiles.” Too much time among these Justice Keepers.

Like the child that she was, Melissa was out in the open and fussing over the bodies of two women that she had just incapacitated. Keli ignored her. There was work to be done. She shifted herself, directing her astral form to float over the bodies of the three men behind the north-east tower. One of those poor rubes had a rocket launcher.

Hovering over him with a sinister smile, Keli stretched out her spectral hand. Scorpions appeared all over that man’s body, and he shrieked, dropping his weapon so that he could brush them away. No matter what he did, more appeared.

The other two looked at him, unable to see what he saw. She put spiders on one of them and snakes on the other, and soon, all three were screaming. Bullets stung them a few seconds later, delivering a shock that knocked them out.

She sensed Rajel standing a short distance away with his pistol in hand. He smiled and then nodded as if he could feel Keli floating there. Perhaps he could. Or perhaps he had simply deduced that if he found his enemies babbling and pawing at themselves for no reason, a telepath was the likely culprit.

She shifted to the south-east tower. There was no need to traverse the intervening space. She was just there in an instant, floating over the man and woman who cowered behind it. The man had a radio clutched in one hand, and he spoke slowly in a language that she didn’t understand. Keli could use his thoughts to translate, but why bother? He was obviously calling for help.

With a wave of her ghostly hand, Keli conjured an image for both Ragnosians. Three other keepers leaping over the fence on the south side of the building, doing more of those elaborate flips and aerial somersaults, firing well-placed shots at the apex of every jump. Her three phantoms landed and began running through the snow toward the main building’s south entrance. She was careful enough to counter the sounds of snow beneath boots as well.

The two Ragnosians hoisted up their weapons and began firing at her ghostly raiding party. Not one of those shots hit flesh, but while that might have indicated something amiss under other circumstances, in this case, the Ragnosians just assumed that the Keepers were doing what Keepers always did. Keli added to the illusion by having one of the apparitions twist around to face the two soldiers.

The phantom Keeper raised an outstretched hand, and Keli made it appear as if he were standing in the shimmer of heat rising off the pavement. She toyed with the idea of sending illusionary bullets back toward the two soldiers, but that would require her to project more images into their minds, images of bullet holes in the side of the tower. And then she would have to maintain that illusion while these two warned their superiors that a second raiding party was attacking from the south. So, instead, she had the bullets curve up toward the heavens.

Her plan worked. Within seconds, the dolt in front of her began shouting orders into his radio. Touching his mind with the gentlest caress – just enough to let her sense his intentions without alerting him to her presence – she verified that he was indeed sending the base’s security personnel on a false trail.

Sweating and gasping, Anna scrubbed the back of one hand across her brow. “They’re on the run,” she said, striding forward. “Now’s our chance.”

Gray-clad men and women scrambled in different directions, some running for the remaining towers, others headed back toward the main building. And some were shooting at absolutely nothing. Keli’s work, she suspected.

“Let’s get this over with,” Anna growled.

The sound of snow crunching behind her got her attention, and she focused on Spatial Awareness. Keli was running to catch up. The telepath had been hiding in the trees – the best place for her, really – and since she lacked a Keeper’s stamina, the long sprint left her winded.

Staggering to a stop next to Anna, Keli bent over with her hands on her knees. “I’ve sent them on a wild duck chase,” she panted. Her momentary grimace suggested that she was trying to remember that strange bit of Earth slang, and she was aware that she had gotten it wrong. “They’ll be chasing phantoms for the next ten minutes.”

Anna nodded.

Melissa joined them on her left and Rajel on her right. “We still have to deal with the interior defenses,” the girl said. “It won’t be easy.”

Jack was the last one to join their little group, coming up from behind and glancing over his shoulder as if he thought there still might be trouble back there. “Well, Operation Cyborg Smash has been a resounding success so far.” His eyes fell upon a man who was lying face-down in the snow and moaning. If Anna knew her boyfriend, he was feeling guilty about having put that man down.

Corovin was up by the door with his rifle in hand, firing at several of the soldiers who were chasing Keli’s phantoms. His high-impact round went through one woman’s body armour, and she collapsed.

“Let them go,” Anna ordered. “Don’t draw their attention to us.”

Corovin’s head whipped around, and for a moment, he watched her through the blue visor. She half expected some form of protest, but the man only nodded. “This facility produces ziarogati,” he said. “I’ve been here before; so, believe me when I say that the security measures we will face are formidable. Every one of them we kill now is one less that can shoot at us later. Now, let’s go plant the bomb and get out of here.”

Pursing her lips, Anna looked up to meet his eyes. She blinked once. “This is a rescue mission,” she said. “You get that, right?”

“I don’t see the relevance.”

“Ziarogati are made from humans,” she explained. “So, if this place is in full production, it means there are people being held captive here. I signed onto this mission with the specific intention of getting them out. I won’t leave them to die.”

“You would jeopardize a major victory for a few dozen prisoners?”

Anna studied him for a very long moment, then squinted and shook her head. “Victory is meaningless if it comes at the cost of innocent lives.” He raised a hand to argue, but she cut him off. “We’ve got work to do.”

A large, metal door blocked their way into the facility. At a nod from her, Corovin stepped up to it, muttering the whole time. He planted a circular device on the door and then retreated a few steps. “Stay back.”

The EMP went off with a shower of sparks. Nearby lights exploded, leaving the immediate area in darkness. That still left the door intact, but it should have been enough to take care of any automated defenses. “Rajel,” Anna said. By her count, he had used no Bendings, and neither had she.

They both pressed their palms against the door, working together to twist space-time and apply a force of five standard gravities. The effort left her with a mild tingle in her skin. Metal groaned as the door ripped free of its mountings, flew several metres into the building and then landed on the floor with a heavy CLANK!

“Let’s go,” Anna said.