The Firing Line

Chapter 1-1

1

DAY 1

Anna waited.

She hated waiting.

In about five minutes, she would be jumping through a SlipGate, down to the surface of Salus Prime, and when she arrived, she would probably have people shooting at her. She could handle the heat of battle – the stress, the fear – but having to just stand here was driving her bonkers. Patience had never been one of her virtues.

The cargo bay on board the Mist Queen was a huge cube with black floor tiles and gray walls. Every crate and container had been removed to make room for the hundred or so soldiers who filled the bay from corner to corner. Every last one of them wore a black uniform, a heavy vest and a helmet. Most were loading magazines into assault rifles or checking the portable force-field generators on their belts.

No one had given them orders to do so, but they all stayed away from the Gate. Whether they realized it or not, most people treated Overseer tech with a reverence.

The metal triangle stood tall atop its circular base, light gleaming off its top corner. The sinuous grooves along its surface had an almost hypnotic quality. Staring at them made her feel like she was going to slip into a trance.

In black pants and a t-shirt that she wore under a light vest, Anna leaned against the wall. Instinctively, she checked the pistol on her hip.

Melissa was right beside her, standing with arms folded as she watched the soldiers getting ready to deploy. “Maybe we should call this off,” the young woman muttered. “If our ships can’t get through the planetary blockade…”

Pursing her lips, Anna nodded as she considered it. “We probably should,” she agreed. “But you and I aren’t military commanders. Which means we go where they tell us to go.”

“I don’t want to kill anyone…”

Anna put a hand on the young woman’s shoulder, and Melissa relaxed under her touch. “Sorry,” she grumbled. “I know I don’t get a choice in that either.”

“You don’t have to kill anyone.”

“No?”

Drawing her sidearm, Anna held it up for inspection. She had loaded a fresh ammo cartridge and replaced the power cell. At the moment, the weapon was unpowered, but she would activate it when they went into battle. “Agent Carlson,” she said. “I order you to use stun-rounds on any human target unless doing so puts your life at risk. If anyone gives you flack, you can blame me.”

Melissa was smiling as she watched the troops making their final preparations. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“What are big sisters for?”

Rajel sauntered over to join them with a smile on his face. “This should be fun,” he said, fingering the weapon on his hip. “What do you think about our odds of survival? I give it at least fifty percent.”

Anna slapped his arm, causing the man to recoil slightly. “When we get back,” she began, “remind me to introduce you to my friend tact. I’m sure you two will get along famously.”

“What’s taking so long?” Melissa wondered.

“They can’t get a Gate in position,” Rajel explained. “So far, the fleet has sent down three shuttles with a fighter escort. Not one of them got close enough to the drop-zone. Until they do, we’re stuck up here.”

“Maybe they should send us down in drop-ships,” Melissa suggested.

Leaning against the wall, Anna cast a glance over her shoulder. Her angry scowl made Melissa wilt. “If the shuttles can’t get past the Ragnosian fleet,” she began, “what makes you think drop-ships could?”

The young woman fidgeted, one hand gripping the fabric of her pants, and refused to look up. “Okay, okay,” she muttered. “Point taken.”

“Gate drop confirmed!” Major Osak boomed. “Group One, get into position!”

That was them.

Anna rushed across the room to the Gate and then turned her back on the gleaming triangle. Melissa and Rajel joined her half a second later, and then nine soldiers in heavy tactical gear fell in beside them. One of them carried a large, black case in his left hand. Now, what was that about? Some kind of heavy weapon?

Four recon drones floated up to hover above her head. Each one was a small, blue sphere that she couldn’t quite close her hand around. They had no weapons of any kind, but they would map the area for several kilometres in every direction, making it harder for any troops to sneak up on them.

Major Osak stood before them with a hard expression, nodding with approval. “Had to drop the Gate on the outskirts of the Shan Tiron,” he said. “Aerial scans say the area is clear, but you’ll have enemy troops converging on your position within minutes. So, you hold! Understood?”

“Understood!” the soldiers barked.

No sooner did they finish speaking than a bubble surrounded them, distorting Anna’s view of the cargo bay. The major was just a blur to her eyes. She was suddenly very much aware of her own heartbeat, and she felt warm. Her apprehension was echoed by similar emotions from Seth.

The bubble raced forward through an endless, dark tunnel, toward a distant light. The whole trip took maybe five seconds, and then they emerged into what appeared to be an intersection between two city streets. The buildings were all blended together. The only thing she could recognize was a blue sky overhead.

The bubble popped.

They were indeed in an intersection. The buildings all around them stood three or four stories high, pressed together without an inch of space between them. Most were made of ugly, brown bricks with plain, rectangular windows on every floor. The lip of every rooftop seemed to overhang just a bit.

The recon drones sped off, in different directions, one going north, one south, one east and one west. In seconds, Captain Bryse, the platoon leader, had their reports on his multi-tool. “We’ve got enemies coming from the west!” he shouted. “Spread out!”

Anna ran to the north-west street corner, pressing her shoulder against a brick wall. She took note of Melissa and Rajel on the south-west corner. The girl met her eyes for a brief second and then nodded as if to say she was all right.

Another bubble appeared in front of the SlipGate – Anna sensed it as a spherical gap in the fabric of reality – and when it popped, twelve more soldiers ran for cover and more recon drones took to the air. Some of those troops joined her on the north side of the road. Others rushed over to Rajel and Melissa.

Anna peeked around the corner.

Sure enough, Ragnosians were flooding into the neighbouring street from an intersection two blocks away. Some of them claimed cover as her people did, but others rushed right into the open, lifting their rifles and firing at the SlipGate.

Bullets zipped past her.

Some bounced off the metal triangle, but it would take a lot more firepower than that to damage Overseer tech. When the next bubble appeared, the bullets seemed to skirt its surface instead of punching through.

Then it popped, and the people inside already had a force-field in place, a flickering screen of snowy, white static that shielded them from incoming fire. They spread out and joined the others on either side of the street.

Before they even got into position, a fourth group arrived, fanning out as soon as their bubble popped. Not all of them stayed here; twelve went north and twelve south in an attempt to sneak around the Ragnosian lines and hit them from behind. That left about two dozen in the main force.

A young lieutenant shoved Melissa aside so that he could aim around the corner and fire at the Ragnosians. This was all just a little too tame. Which meant that the enemy was trying to lull them into a false sense of security.

Anna took another peek.

And then she saw it.

Hovering fifteen metres above the Ragnosians, six wedge-shaped attack drones sprang into motion. They flew in a tight formation, well above the buildings on either side of the street. And unless she missed her guess, they were headed for the SlipGate.

“EMP!” Anna growled.

She aimed around the corner and released a volley of white tracers that hit one drone and detonated its payload. The blast knocked its closest neighbour off course, sending that one into a building where it too exploded.

The Leyrians seemed to be figuring it out.

Soldiers on both sides of the street unleashed a tempest of glowing ammunition that struck the drones and destroyed them before they got anywhere near their targets. Pieces of scorched plastic landed on the road.

When the smoke cleared, she saw another flight of wedges coming her way. These, too, came up against a hundred glowing bullets that shredded them in midair. One by one, they exploded.

The Ragnosians were popping out from behind cover in the distant intersection, firing at the Leyrians who shot the drones. A young woman on the other side of the road took a hit to the chest and fell hard on her ass. Melissa had to grab her by the arms and drag her back into safety.

Anna looked up, noting the presence of a metal balcony on the third floor of the building she hid behind. That would do. Calling on Seth, she twisted gravity to make herself lighter. She didn’t have to change its direction, only lessen its strength. The more subtle the Bending, the less strain it put on a Nassai.

Anna jumped.

Propelled upward by Keeper strength, she crested the railing and landed on the balcony. She immediately jumped again, climbing all the way to the roof, releasing her grip on space-time the instant her feet touched concrete.

From up here, she could see the next wing of drones hovering over their masters’ heads, ready to launch.

Lifting her weapon in both hands, Anna lined up her shot. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead. She fired several times, adjusting her aim with each squeeze of the trigger.

Pulses of white light hit the drones while they still hovered above the Ragnosians, detonating them on contact. She heard startled cries that followed the distant pop of an explosion, but she couldn’t see the enemy from her current position on the roof. It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened though.

When she twisted around to peer over the ledge behind her, she saw Leyrian troops surging around the corner. With the Ragnosians dazed and distracted, they had an opportunity, and they took it, pummeling the enemy with ammunition.

One of those wedges was coming toward her, hurtling through the air at incredible speed. As if it meant to skewer her.

Anna dropped off the ledge.

She landed on the balcony half a second before several bullets rushed past, then raised her hand and crafted a Bending that made the blue sky shimmer. The robot came into view and exploded when it was right above her

Bits of shrapnel curved away from her, flying off in all directions. The flames dissipated, but Anna felt a sting as the heat they unleashed radiated through the twisted space-time and singed her fingertips.

Hissing air through her teeth, she winced and turned her face away from the blast. “Damn it,” she growled. “Should have expected that.”

They weren’t serious burns, thankfully, but it did hurt. In a half-hour or so, the pain would fade as her accelerated healing mended the wound. She was more worried about whatever had sent the drone her way. Were they programmed to go after Justice Keepers? There were certain visual cues the software might use to make that determination. The lack of a helmet, for instance.

Something was wrong.

The Leyrians abruptly halted their push forward and retreated into cover. They should have had a clear path. Which meant that the game had just changed again.

Grabbing the railing, Anna flipped into a handstand, thrusting her feet into the air. She flipped over and dangled.

Letting herself drop, she caught the floor of the balcony to slow herself down. Then the lightest touch of Bent Gravity minimized the impact of her fall. She felt only a slight tingle in her skin.

Anna landed on the street corner, dropping to a crouch. Slowly, she rose and dusted herself off. “What’s happening?”