Rebellion (Rebel Wars Book 1) Read online

  The elevator didn’t lurch as much as float towards the top level. Louis dropped to his knees and began fiddling with a small box and a switch. Alice figured he was preparing the charge and detonator. After they had downloaded the library, they were going to blow the computer systems wide open and let the Demon stew over the loss. Lights flickered and hummed, this time eliciting a lurch from the elevator. The power fluctuated and the backup kicked in. The power station must have been taken out, and she couldn’t stop the near-smile from plastering her face. It meant Hero had survived, or at least enough of his group had to take out the power.

  “Project, scan for communications.” She stated.

  “Done. All communications have been taken out. Marshall’s team has secured his sector, and the other team has well. Brickstone’s team is down to just him and his second-in-command, but they have taken out the enemy aircraft. Civilian and law enforcement response has ceased all-together. The space station is effectively ours.” Project said.

  Alice nodded to her team, knowing her channel was open for them. The elevator continued its course and stopped at the top of the castle. The doors slid open and revealed a wondrous hallway filled with luxurious art and fantastical artifacts. The Demon loved his eccentrics and his collection of rare materials, and Alice wanted to take them from him. The hallway opened into a room that made the hallways look barren. The treasure-filled chambers were separated in the middle by a stairwell that climbed to the Demon’s office. Here her sensors went off and let her know the access portal was the wall itself. She hit the panel and watched the screen come to life revealing a single input keyboard. She tapped the keys and a slot opened up large enough for a hand which she was about to provide when Project interrupted.

  “Madam, that is unwise. You can’t get into it without proper access. You’ll need to get an inquisitor to let you in.” Project said.

  “Find one.” Alice said, but there had been no need. Blinking into existence around the squad that had formed up onto Alice’s location came two of the beasts. They lumbered over every member of the group and screeched in what felt like delight. Thunder boomed around Alice as the scattergun in Mayberry’s hand took liberty and spread its load across the chest of the first one. Bryant pulled the triggers of his dual hand-cannons and set himself into motion. Alice had no choice but to kick herself up and into the air, throwing bolt after bolt of heated light as she gained altitude. Louis dodged to the right and took cover behind a stuffed couch. Sarah had no time to unshoulder her rifle as she ducked below an arc of plasma that ripped stone from the wall as it went, dropping to her stomach and rolling.

  Alice kicked off the wall and launched herself diagonally at the left inquisitor, putting her palms together and funneling the crackling energy from her hands in a combined blast of pure heat and light. The inquisitor noticed her and leveled his own plasma cannon at her, spitting a focused rail of plasma towards her blast. The shots from the men seemed to do nothing despite how much force was backing them, however Mayberry saw an opening. He slid forward on the ground and thrust his gun upwards, putting both barrels of the shotgun against the arm of the inquisitor and firing. The arm shot upwards and took the rail with it, narrowly avoiding Alice as her blast tore through the light armor plating of its underarm and pit. The lasers rendered the flesh and let the arm fall free of its socket to the ground next to Mayberry.

  Mayberry went to shout a victory but lost his voice as the red-hot blister of the lantern was dropped onto his face. He screamed shortly as his vocal cords caught flame, the chain holding the fireball dropping from the edge of the lantern staff. Alice spun and landed a kick on the chest of the creature, landing on her feet and throwing bolt after bolt at it in a feat of fury and intensity. To the right the double blasts of Bryant’s guns tore chunk after chunk in the armor of the inquisitor, knocking it backwards as it struggled to find a target. Something in the slugs that were hitting it was disrupting the thinking power of the armor and making it impossible for it to focus. Bryant grinned, knowing exactly what the electromagnetically charged projectiles were doing to the armor’s internal processers. He hadn’t planned on it initially, but was feeling pretty proud of himself.

  The air was split in two by a crack of sniper fire when Sarah joined the fight, her Talon rifle taking advantage of the weakened armor. The round was like a bladed drill bit, digging deep and burrowing into its chest. A few moments later, as the inquisitor swung the lantern blindly at Bryant, the chest erupted in a single Jetstream that spilled the black ichor within it like a geyser of fresh oil. The lantern avoided Bryant’s head and spared him the fate that Mayberry had just suffered. Bryant lunged forward and knocked the beast to the ground, planting his pistols firmly on its skull and freeing the rest of the clips into his broken face.

  Alice screamed in a primal fury that came out as a guttural bark of rage followed by blast after blast. She started pirouetting into relentless motion, aiming every shot with every small leap and masterful dance move. She had never studied dancing with the same heart she had studied violence but it amazed her how well they worked together. The bolts of light crushed the lantern back and severed the head from the staff, dropping it onto his foot and setting the inquisitor ablaze. Each bolt acted like a heavyweight haymaker and melted the armor where it kissed the metal. Alice had forgotten a crucial detail as she spun through the air, eviscerating the creature with all that she had. Her power meter screamed at 30% and she dropped to her knees, breath running low as she fumbled with her inner strength to keep from passing out. The new system was so powerful that it taxed every muscle and every synapse to keep it running at full efficiency. She withdrew a small sphere from her back and pressed it to her chest, allowing the life-giving energy to flood her system and juice her batteries back to life. She realized her mistake when she looked over and saw the other inquisitor had met a similar fate. Both of the resources she needed were dead.

  “Son of a bitch.” She said, looking down at the scattergun, the only thing that provided any proof that Mayberry the pirate had actually existed. She grabbed the gun and slid it into an empty belt loop on her back. Sarah and Bryant searched the corpse of the one they killed leaving Alice to her own investigation. She kneeled down before the body and ran her fingers over the still smoldering remains. The left arm was a cannon and had no fingertips, while the right arm’s hand was much larger than an average Corporation or human hand. She stood up and walked over to the console.

  “Project.”

  “Look inside the chest.”

  “There isn’t any pockets.”

  “I know.”

  Exasperated, Alice pointed her index finger at the chest armor of her creature and drew a focused laser down the center. A few seconds of high-powered light and the armor fell free, revealing a layer of thick insulation. She ripped the insulation free and let out a low whistle. The rest of her team formed up on her and saw the pure white flesh of the creature within the suit. The arms were not part of it, or at least it had more appendages than what was agreed upon as fact. Crossed perfectly were two ivory arms, fat and free of defining musculature. It was as if the arms had never seen any practical use other than to remain attached in this fashion. Alice couldn’t guess at the intention of their creator and thus put it out of her head, severing an arm and picking it up. She approached the console and slid the free hand into the slot.

  Blood dripped steadily out of the wound the slot had manifested into the flesh, soiling the wall and the floor with its passage. She saw the flaring machine come to life and display data that reminded her of the rapid-eye-movement a dreamer experienced.

  “I’ll take it from here, Alice.” Project said.

  She felt electricity spark from her communicator that reached out and touched the console producing a twitch from the severed arm. Alice turned as the doors opened to either side, dropping her hand when Fiora and her Paladins emerged inside.

  “Thank God you’re alive!” Alice said

  “Yeah. We m
ade it, only lost two men. Hero took the power plant. The rest of the squads have checked in and are ready to saddle-up.” Fiora said.

  “Did you see the Demon?” Alice asked.

  “No, we assumed he’d be up here with you.”

  “No. Project?”

  “A bit busy Alice. But no, I’m not reading any other inquisitors or similar armor signatures on the station. However, there seems to be quite the ground force readying itself from a neighboring city. You may wish to evacuate your men, I’ll have Milly bring the ship around.”

  Project’s databanks were infinite, or he liked to think. The library was quickly filling him full as he transferred the messages to Milly to get her to respond to the soon activating drop pods. He was so proud of himself at this point. He had once been a simple flesh creature that had fallen in battle, and though he was resurrected on the wrong side he had become what he’d always wanted to be- a legend. He could do things no other Corporation member could do and achieve things no fleshling could ever hope to. He was reading the sacred Library of the Demon! He would never have received permission to do that before, and he doubted he’d even have wanted to. Life was too short, but here he was with no limits!

  His strategic coordination of the extraction was even more impressive than he realized. Enemy soldiers had started pouring into the city, and his precision with the drop-pod cannons was to be envied. The fire-teams quickly evacuated to their pods and were sent towards the air-locks while he continued to peruse and steal all of the data he could. He hesitated as he came across the file marked “The Calamity” and dedicated one of his processes to understanding it while he transferred the rest to the Stormbreaker’s data banks. He was quite infuriated that Andreya had managed to put something in his program that prevented him from keeping all of the information to himself. It didn’t matter though, he’d still get it before they would.

  The Stormbreaker maneuvered itself, spraying down a few privateer vessels that had stopped to ask questions they shouldn’t have. It scooped up every pod that it could while summoning the capital ship for extraction. The capital ship hadn’t responded the entire time they were here, and something seemed very off. The Tower hadn’t returned any calls either, and Project had started to double check that his subspace jammers weren’t too effective. He sent orders to the Stormbreaker to plot a course back to the Tower.

  “Sorry Alice.” He said within the digital complex where nobody could hear him. He had thought about not leaving her here, but every logic circuit he had screamed at him to leave her. If he sacrificed her to the cause it could have a far greater outcome than letting her leave to execute the Demon. The Demon was robbed and according to his personnel files, about to be forcefully retired regardless of her actions. It wasn’t worth it to him to let her live when so much more could be gained.

  That was until he finished reading the Calamity file. He forced another process to re-examine the data he’d covered to be sure. There he found a passage filled with interesting information about how the Calamity was going to be started and why. It occurred to him that finding the source of this information would be paramount to understanding it as this seemed as if written by a fortune teller. Nothing rhymed and the dates were immaculate, but how could one know this without seeing the future? He paused his processes and considered the data, linking together the different variables that would be required to make the Calamity possible. Project laughed to himself and brought the ship to recover Alice’s team, whom had already left to meet up with the extraction point.

  “Oh oh oh. You’re going to love this Alice…or should I say, Calamity?” Project chuckled in the empty digital space, stealing away all the data he could before returning back to the Stormbreaker. It was just him, the crew and their own personal Calamity.

  Chapter 15

  The Lost Hope came to life, the pilots activating the reverse thrust engines to slow it down. A symphony of timed thrusts and the warship drifted slowly in front of the Tower. Below it and above it were the sister warships- The Triad and Meteor- all performing the same maneuvers. The rebellion armada panicked and swarmed around them. The three capital ships of the rebellion fleet placed themselves between the warships and the tower, every available station gun and ship readied their weapons and bathed the three Corporation ships in targeting lights and firing solutions. If this had been an open warzone, the rebellion could have shot the ships down however it was not polite to do such a thing when both sides barely acknowledged there was an open conflict. The Demon had put in his request to be connected to Councilman Tate and was sitting upright in the slouching chair, doing his best to show patience. He was much better educated than any other Corporation man but he was definitely not any more patient than they were, not when it came to people making him wait.

  He had awoken a couple hours prior, gotten himself cleaned and fed; his spirits were high and his mood was good. His excitement showed as he polished the grey and black plates of his armor and affixed a small crown upon his head. The crown was made of cloned gold and held an unnatural weight and shine to it, one of his many prized possessions he’d taken from previous conquests. He remembered every firefight or dogfight in space and it filled him with a supreme confidence and joy. How could the Demon, the man who never lost a battle be stopped now? He had come here with one thing on his mind, and it was retribution for the insults he had been delivered by a certain rebellion woman and he was going to get it.

  “Sir, patching through now.” Came the communication officer’s voice over the headset. The Demon shook his head and glared at that same officer who was less than fifteen feet away from him. What was the purpose of using the headset? He sighed, nothing was going to ruin his mood. Nothing!

  “This is Councilman Robert Tate of the Tower scientific research facility. I apologize for all the guns Commander, but you have to understand that things are tense right now and we cannot take any chances.” Robert said

  “Of course, you’d be foolish not to train guns on strangers.” The Demon said with a dismissing wave. “However I want you to know that your guns do not scare me and will not be an effective deterrent if you do not give me what I have come here for.”

  “I don’t appreciate you showing up here and making demands. I don’t know what it is that you want, but none of the research, personnel, or equipment on this station will be leaving here in your hands.” Robert said.

  “That’s a pity. Tell me, Robert, is one person worth the risk you take by provoking me? I am the Corporation Commander Demon, and my reputation should have arrived here before I did.” The Demon offered a taunting smile, though he realized that there was no video currently on the call. He dropped his smile and sat back down.

  “Perhaps not. Out of curiosity, a morbid kind, who is it that you seek?”

  “A woman. A well-known rebellion officer by the name of Alice Corsair. She has recently slain a squad of peaceful men on her colony world J9I4, captured a transport ship, and destroyed three more transport vessels-all unarmed vessels I might add. I have received orders to take her back to Dungeon for immediate debriefing and to put her on trial for her crimes against the Corporation. If you stand in the way of that, then we will have no choice but to act.” The Demon said.

  “I agree. However you have caught us in a rough place. You see, she isn’t here. And the biggest problem with that is that if you believe she is, you will demand that we are lying and ask to come aboard our station. It will take you over a month to fully evaluate all personnel on my station and even longer than that to determine we are not lying. And even then you will question it.”

  “Don’t play games with me, Councilman. Where is she?” The Demon spat into the mic.

  “I can give you a set of coordinates that may be where she is. I’m afraid we had an argument over her late husband and that he would never have wanted open war with the Corporation and so she left in a fit.” Robert said. Demon shook his head and brought a hand up to his chin, gathering his thoughts. If the Councilman
was telling the truth, then it meant he could be running warships all over the galaxy looking for her. Something in the Councilman’s words didn’t seem correct. The Demon accessed the file in the Library after her husband and realized what it was.

  “Alex did want open war, you know.”

  “I disagree. He wanted conflicts and freedom, but he would never have approved of open war. The same thing I told Alice in our meeting. She was asking me for permission to use a capital ship to engage a transport vessel. She does not approve of your orders to take civilians into the outer territories if they don’t comply.”

  “Yes, well. She’s not in charge around here. Fine Robert, tell me where she is and I will vacate your space.” The Demon cosigned, frustration boiling underneath his skin. He considered blasting one of the capital ships out of the air, and remembered just how many guns were pointed in his direction. It was fully possible his war-band could annihilate every single one of them, though the risk was greater than the reward. Their warships were solid and held multiple levels of defense from kinetic dampeners to resalable bulk heads and reinforced plates throughout. The rebellion capital ships had dampeners, but he knew just how frail they could be if they were targeted in the right spot. The real issue with a fight this close to the Tower was how fast they would have to move, it would become a sea of metal spiraling through space and the devastation could be more than the Demon really wanted. He loved chaos, but he wasn’t a big fan of being in the middle of a metallic, explosion-riddled hurricane in space.