Rachel had seen enough. She ran out into the road, unsure of what she was going to do until she had covered more than half of the distance to the Scorpion droid. She had no weapon. She had to think fast. Paul was staring up at the dark sky, pulling at the levers around his seat. He looked even stronger close up. Thick strands of muscle flexed in his neck as she approached. Grabbing a discarded packing crate from the ground, Rachel sprinted towards him, swerving around the droid's long metal claws as she closed in on him. She lifted the crate high above her head, and jumped into the air, bringing the crate down hard on his head.
The crate shattered too easily. She lost her grip on what was left of its frame, and her momentum carried her forwards until she slammed into Paul's chest. She tried to grab hold of his head, but he jerked his shoulders back and threw her away from him with a thrust of his powerful hands. Rachel fell backwards and landed hard on her arm. She rolled onto her back, staring up at the man in the bucket seat above her. Stars twinkled around his head, and his heavily muscled physique gave him the appearance of some ancient god towering over her. The crate had been too light to have any effect. It had broken too easily. She would need a far better plan if she was ever going to have any chance of defeating him.
Paul was watching her now, his deep brown eyes regarding her as a bird of prey might watch a mouse upon the ground. Rachel didn't feel comfortable under his gaze. It didn't help her confidence knowing that her attack hadn't troubled him at all. His head was like a rock. Paul turned the Scorpion droid towards her. It scurried forwards on short, thick legs that were faster than she had expected. Yanking the levers back and forth beside his seat, he sent the droid's large front claws snapping towards her.
Rachel retreated across the road on her backside as she tried to get her feet beneath her. Sharp claws snapped at the air around her. She kicked them away with her boots, but one of the claws snatched hold of her trouser leg and lifted her up into the air. She struggled to free herself, but the droid swung her from side to side, and tossed her high into the air. Rachel landed hard on her knees, several metres away. Grunting in pain, she spun around to see if the droid was following her. It wasn't as far away as she had hoped. It charged towards her, moving faster than ever. She barely had time to raise her arms in front of her face before the claws had hold of her again. The silver pincer snapped shut on her arm, yanking her sideways and flinging her back to the opposite side of the road. Rachel screamed as her arm snapped back and twisted beyond its normal range of motion. She landed on a market stall, and its wooden shutter shattered under the impact, sending fruit and vegetables rolling all across the road. Rachel cried out as she bounced off the broken stall and landed heavily on her arm again. She rolled among the splintered wood and gasped for breath as she cradled her injured arm close to her chest. The pain was unbearable. She had to grit her teeth to keep from screaming again. Maybe she shouldn't have attacked the Scorpion droid on her own? She hadn't realised that something so old could be so fast and powerful.
As she caught her breath, Rachel considered her options. She glanced around, searching for something to use as a weapon. The droid was adjusting its position, preparing to attack her again. She felt something sharp sticking into her leg and remembered that she was sitting on the broken remains of a market stall. She reached out, grabbing the sharpest piece of wood she could find. When she flexed it between her hands, it broke at once. The wood was too rotten to be of any use. Rachel cursed and threw it to one side.
Paul looked up from his bucket seat, distracted by a noise from above. His eyes searched the sky with confusion as another Wasp Drone swooped low overhead. Its transparent wings buzzed as it spiralled down towards him, and he raised one hand to shield his eyes from the dust that was thrown up all around him.
The Wasp Drone fired a proton cannon, hitting the ground nearby. Paul flinched as a plume of dust and stones flew up into the air. The Scorpion droid jerked back and forth, trying to pull away from him. It raised its tail and pointed the basket of glass spikes up at the night sky. Multiple lightning bolts shot upwards, each twisting in an elaborate dance before combining with the others to wrap the Wasp Drone in a ball of arcing electricity. The Wasp Drone's wings twisted out of shape and then stopped beating altogether. Without any power, it fell into an uncontrollable spin.
Rachel got back to her feet. She was feeling a little light headed. She held her injured arm close to her chest, and took a deep breath between her clenched teeth. Something hit the storage building behind her, and when she turned to see what it was, she couldn't see anything at first. She stared into the semi-darkness behind her and noticed there was a small hole in one of the vertical supports at the front of the storage building. Had it been there before? She didn't think so. Somebody was shooting at her!
Rachel spun around. She stared at Paul to see if he was holding any weapons in his hands, but his attention was elsewhere, and his hands were busy controlling the many levers around him. She heard the sound again, and this time she felt something whistle past her ear. She ducked to one side and noticed someone on the roof of a box cabin on the other side of the road. It was the small man that had been talking to Paul in the bar. Rachel ducked down, trying to remember his name.
'Gino,' she whispered to herself. She could see him moving around, pointing an impact pistol over the edge of the roof. She had been lucky to avoid his first shots, but she knew that her luck couldn't last.
Paul was still distracted by the Wasp Drone spinning overhead. Rachel realised that this might be her last chance to attack him while his attention was elsewhere. She tried not to think about how badly her arm was hurting. The pain was worse than ever. Gino looked as though he was preparing to fire at her again. She couldn't afford to wait any longer. She had to act now.
Squatting down on her haunches, she launched herself forwards with all the strength in her legs. She used her forward momentum to sprint straight towards the Scorpion droid and leap over its snapping front claws. She raised her legs in front of her, extending them at the last moment so that her boots caught Paul in the chest. They struck with a heavy thud. Paul grunted, and fell out of his bucket seat. He twisted to one side as he fell, landing heavily on the droid's tail. It reacted instinctively, turning its tail towards him. It pointed the basket of glass spikes straight at his head.
Paul held his hands out in front of him. 'No!' he said. 'Override!'
But the glass needles had already flashed white. Half a dozen lightning bolts struck him at once, wrapping him in a ball of crackling electricity. His teeth clamped shut and his eyes bulged as he stared up at the sky in agony. The current poured through him, shaking his body until it bounced against the droid's tail, and his arms trembled by his side.
Rachel landed hard on the ground. She felt the shock wave travelling up her arm and wondered if she might pass out. It took all of her willpower to block out the pain. She turned and watched in horror as Paul's skin turned black and began to smoke. His bloodshot eyes turned opaque, and his clothes erupted into flames. Within a few seconds, he had become a writhing human fireball.
Rachel covered her face with both hands. Tears welled in her eyes as she remembered what she had done to Riser Trent in the Mekinet News building. Trent's jacket had caught fire when she had shot him with a Taser, but he had survived her attack. She knew that the big man rolling around on the ground in front of her would not. She hadn't meant for him to die like that. She had only been trying to knock him off the droid so he wouldn't be able to continue his attack. His pain seemed to magnify her own.
After a few seconds, the big man stopped struggling and lay dead on the ground. Rachel tried not to look at his twisted, charred body. The smell of burning flesh made her feel sick. Without its operator, the Scorpion droid shut itself down. The electrical flashes faded away, and the droid lowered its claws and tail to the ground. Rachel noticed that the damaged Wasp Drone had recovered, and two more drone's had arrived. Together they circled the area, searching for any new threats.
Rachel turned and gazed up at the roof of the box cabin across the street. Gino was standing there, looking up at the sky. He appeared to be agitated. She crawled away from the charred body in the middle of the road and headed for the shadows of the outbuilding behind her. She couldn't let Gino see where she had gone. She didn't want anyone else to see her either. She hadn't yet returned to duty. Her actions had been unauthorised. It would be simpler if nobody knew she had ever been there. Rachel ducked into the shadows of the outbuilding, holding her arm close to her chest. The pain was unbearable. She slumped down onto her knees and hoped that it would stop soon. It wasn't long before she found herself falling onto her side. Sweat formed on her forehead as she lay on the ground, curling up into a ball.
The Wasp Drones swooped low overhead, their wings buzzing as they circled in angry formations. One of them launched a stinger missile. It flashed red and struck the Scorpion droid in the middle of its back. A loud explosion shook the ground. Rachel covered her head with her arms as pieces of metal flew past in all directions. Some of the debris hit a small group of people who had gathered outside Café Lyon to see what was happening. They ran back inside, shouting abuse at the sky.
Rachel curled into a tight ball in the darkness, holding onto her injured arm. She heard a noise and saw a Cage Carrier pulling up on the opposite side of the street. Half a dozen members of the security forces jumped out of the back cage and fanned out, searching the area. She glanced back to the roof on the opposite side of the road. Gino was gone. She had no idea where he was now. She knew that she should get up and go look for him, but the pain was just too much. She could do nothing but lie still in the dirt, hoping that the security forces wouldn't notice her. She didn't want them to know she had been injured. She needed the new general to think she was ready to return to duty. She couldn't let Jake's efforts to reinstate her be for nothing.
Rachel clenched her teeth in pain. Her arm felt worse than ever. She shouldn't have pushed herself so hard. Why had she been so stupid? She couldn't bear the thought of spending another month recuperating at home. She had seen enough of sickness. She had been waiting to return to Central Command for longer than she could remember. Rachel curled up on the ground, holding onto her pain. She focused all her concentration on the swelling around her elbow joint. She could feel it throbbing with agony inside. It brought tears to her eyes. She took a deep breath to gather her courage before pulling her arm straight so the joint was properly aligned again. Inside she was screaming, but no sound escaped her lips. She rolled over with tears in her eyes, unable to hold back the groan that formed in her throat. She focussed her mind, gasping as a tingling sensation flowed through her body. The ground beneath her face lit up with a pale white light. Rachel closed her eyes tight, breathing heavily. A sweet smell filled the air as sweat covered her forehead. She placed one hand over her mouth as the pain intensified. Finally, she couldn't help but cry out.
'You okay, lady?' a trooper said, standing over her.
Rachel looked up in surprise. She hadn't heard him approach. She tried to act normal - as normal as possible for someone who was curled up, lying on the dirt floor of a storage building with no lights.
The trooper stared down at her with a puzzled expression.
'I was trying to get away from the explosion,' she said by way of explanation.
To her surprise, the trooper nodded rather than calling her a fool. He was a new trooper. She didn't recognise him, and he didn't recognise her either. That was probably for the best.
'Are you hurt?' he said.
Rachel shook her head, but her pained expression testified to her lie. The trooper reached down to help her up, and before she could pull her injured arm away, he took hold of her hand and pulled her back onto her feet. She waited for the inevitable explosion of agony from her elbow, but to her surprise, the pain never came.
'Sorry,' the trooper said. 'Did I hurt you?'
Rachel looked down at her arm, turning the joint from side to side. It didn't hurt at all. 'No, I'm okay,' she said with a confused expression. 'Thanks for your help, Trooper.'
The Trooper looked into her eyes, his fingers playing along the edge of his jacket collar where his comms unit would be. Rachel willed him not to do it, and for a moment he seemed to hesitate. His lips moved as though he was chewing something, and finally he nodded.
'Okay. Go home now,' he said. 'It isn't safe here.'
Rachel watched with disbelief as he turned and walked away.
Trooper Morrang returned to the Rotohawk and tapped his jacket collar. When he turned, he saw that the woman had gone. He opened a comms link to the White Spear's operations room. 'The Scorpion droid has been shut down,' he said. 'We're searching the area now.'
'Good work,' Commander Beth Pain said through the comms link. 'What was Rachel doing there?'
'Rachel?'
'The woman you spoke to in the outbuilding. I was watching from the Rotohawk's external camera. It was Major Rachel Henson. She's been off duty due for a while. What did she say she was doing there?'
'I didn't know she was security forces,' Morrang said. 'I thought she was a civilian. She said she was just trying to get away from the explosion. I let her go. Should I go after her?'
'No. Just put it in your report. We'll speak to her when she returns to the towers. I heard a rumour that she's going to return sooner than any of us thought.'
'Okay.' Morrang said. He shut down the comms link and glanced across to the empty outbuilding. He wondered why she hadn't told him who she was.