It was weird to be moving through the Zone with these guys, like a throwback to the training missions I had led. But we weren’t exactly teacher and students anymore. And we weren’t comrades in arms. More like wary allies.
I mean, I get it—they were just doing their jobs, and they viewed me as a bit of a traitor. But Kwan was arguably one of the least emotional operators I had trained. He was mission-focused, first, second, and last. If he needed me to finish the job, he’d by God use me. After that though, all bets were off.
Tyson was more emotional, but again, in his world, the mission comes first. And it was obvious that Gunny Kwan had been the second-in-command of the team and was now leader by default.
I would have preferred to have them both on my left side, easily lined up in my rifle sights while one would block the other’s line of fire. But they were too well trained, instead moving carefully so that one was on either side of me with one or the other regularly falling a bit behind to stagger their shooting lanes. It made my back itch whenever that happened. However, we were close to the target site and the constant buzz of Zone drones filled the air. I froze every time a UAV zipped through the sky above us or a Wolf or Crane bot moved into view. So did Tyson and the Gunny. Rikki held position right over my head, about three meters off the ground.
But nothing penetrated the cloak technology, which made me almost giddy. I could stalk right through enemy territory, and as long as I was silent, life was good. And I can do silence with the best of them.
Ahead, through the grayed-out vision that the cloak created, I suddenly saw 55 Broadway… and the laser barrel of a Russian Tank-Killer that was poking out of the street next to it. That was good on one hand, as it seemed to indicate that Plum Blossom was home. On the other hand, that heavy-duty 100 kW laser could cut any of us in half in a split second.
Rikki floated down to take up position right in front of me, his fans cycling back down to thirty percent power, his intent clear. Time to push him again, only this time, I was pretty certain the intent was for silence rather than power conservation.
Creeping past the big Tank-Killer was maybe the scariest thing I’ve ever done, at least as scary as cutting the bomb out of my neck. One sound, one scrape of a shoe, and we were dead. Well, providing that the TK had power for its laser, but the sun was still shining and its solar collector was extended up on a telescoping arm, firmly intersecting a beam of bright light. I took that as a pretty good chance that the thing was packing energy for its weapon.
I heard not a single sound from the professional soldiers on either side of me and, if anything, that brought out the competitor in me. No way was I going to be the one to make a sound. So I stepped slowly, settling my weight on each foot with painstaking care, pushing Rikki smoothly ahead, alert so that not even the minimal down blast of his fans would disturb enough debris to trigger the massive treaded robot looming two meters away.
We were halfway in front of the TK when it suddenly rumbled, its electric drive moving it forward thirty centimeters or so. We all froze, and I think I felt my heart stutter and stop, but then, as the bot came to a halt, its telescopic solar panel suddenly dropped, lowering into a better, brighter patch of sunlight.
We waited three full minutes before Kwan took another careful step. When nothing happened, we moved forward. It took ten more minutes to move around the corner of 55 Broadway, finally giving us tangible cover from the monster gun bot.
Rikki powered back up and led the way to the side door of our building. Before, when we were last here, we had used the front door. My brief glimpse of the front of the building just now, as we snuck by, had shown three Tigers, five Wolves, and a mixed bag of Crabs and Cranes, all hanging around the entrance to their queen’s tower. Too many to sneak through, even with the Potter Cloak 3.0.
As it was, two UAVs, an Indian Falcon and Chinese Raptor, flew over us as Kwan worked to pick the lock on the side door, the Gunny freezing up solid every time. Finally the lock gave with a slight click and I saw the Gunny turn his head to look at me and then, pointedly, at my drone. Rikki blinked an LED on his cloaked airframe four times fast. I nodded and gave Kwan a thumbs-up. Nothing was waiting on the other side of the door. Tyson moved up, his rifle muzzle at low ready, and with slow, careful movements, Kwan opened the door.
Tyson’s muzzle rose to cover the interior and then he moved smoothly into the building. Rikki shot ahead of me to go through next, then I followed, my own muzzle down in low ready until I entered the space.
Tyson was covering the interior door, the entrance to the rest of the building. We were in what looked like some kind of mail or package reception area, just a square room with a set of rectangular cubbies on one wall with business names listed under each, a door at the far wall, and two small high windows behind me. I turned around and moved sideways, the ChemJet’s barrel seeming to rise of its own accord as I covered the outside world over Kwan’s shoulder as he backed into the room, using both of his hands to carefully close the door.
He nodded when the door was fully shut, the lock reengaged. We both turned to Tyson, finding him backed away from the door by the bulk of the Decimator, who was suddenly between him and the interior of the building. Tyson gave me a single raised eyebrow and I moved up, tapping on Rikki’s upper fuselage to find out what had spooked my drone. The little hologram lit up and a green laser message rolled out in mid-air.
An EM signature similar to previously unknown drone is six meters from this position. Presuming that optic cloak is currently blocking this unit’s own signature.
I turned to the others and pointed at the hologram, moving out of the way so that they could each lean over and read it.
Both turned back to me, Tyson frowning with concern, Kwan looking thoughtful.
It was a real problem. If we opened the door and went head to head with another of the four horsemen, we’d have to make an unholy amount of noise to take it down, not that we were even assured of doing so. Each of Plum Blossom’s creations might be unique, with maybe more armor or better weapons.
My ChemJet kicked each mini rocket round out of the barrel no faster than the standard 7.62 rounds the other two were using. Maybe even a bit slower. The little rockets could accelerate each bullet to frightening speeds, but I had no idea if six meters was enough to achieve the velocity necessary to punch through the armor. Actually more like four meters, since the rockets took a couple of meters from the muzzle to ignite.
Likewise, Rikki had anti-armor micro
missiles but again, they needed arming distance. But even if we
killed the thing right off the bat, the noise of the firefight
would bring every other drone from every direction, and we still
had to get to the stairs and climb to where we thought Plum Blossom
might be. How did we get past this thing, whatever it
was?
We stared at each other, the wheels of thought turning as we individually considered the problem.
Suddenly the right side rocket pod on Rikki’s top surface rotated out. He has four pods: two big ones under his wings and two smaller units up top where his wings meet his main fuselage, right at the wing root. The under pods have the most micro missile capacity and carry the bigger weapons, like thermobaric, anti-armor, and air-to-air high explosive. The upper pods carry smaller, more specialized micro missiles, like decoy units and stuff I wasn’t sure about because Yoshida and his people kept experimenting with new shit all the time.
As soon as the pod opened, both soldiers moved hastily away from the back blast zone, but I didn’t. He wouldn’t fire with any of us behind him, especially me. He was up to something.
There was a soft ting sound and a small missile the length of my hand popped out from its launcher cradle and rolled one revolution toward the edge of his wing. Without thought, I stepped forward and grabbed it before it could roll farther and fall off, making a perhaps deadly sound.
Rikki’s hologram blinked on and off, grabbing my attention.
Anti-drone Huntress micro missile. It carries no explosives, instead using EMP pulse to knock out drones.
Again, it was clear that I wasn’t as up to date on all his refinements as I should have been, a fact clearly shown by my lack of knowledge of his Potter Cloak 3.0 capability. I had no idea any of his little missiles could produce an electro-magnetic pulse, especially the one I was currently holding.
Kwan and Tyson must have read my face because they both leaned over to read his hologram. When they looked back at me, both were looking far more thoughtful than concerned. Kwan opened a pocket in his shirt and pulled out a small notebook and an old-school pencil. He wrote quickly, in a very neat print.
Huntress was the response to the Artemis missile that blew up the building and buried the Bonnen LAV. This unit produces a big pulse of EM instead of an explosion.
I held up both hands and signed How big? in American Sign Language.
He shook his head and shrugged but Tyson, who was looking over his shoulder, grabbed the pencil and wrote his own answer.
Close contact pulse for direct contact to within one meter that produces maximum disruption. Minor pulse emanates out to five meters in all directions.
I signed again, Can we set it off by hand? In ASL grammar, that was actually more like hand, set off, can we?
Kwan shrugged and turned to Tyson, who was considering the question. Then he too shrugged. I aimed my next signing at the back of Rikki’s ocular band. It sees in 360 degrees. How do we use EMP. A second later, his hologram popped back on, scrolling rapidly through green sentences.
Remove nose cone by backing out four hex-head screws. EMP package is held inside with two plastic clips. Break those off with needle-nose pliers on your multi-tool. Drop EMP unit into hand. Cloaked operator opens door and tosses EMP. Rikki unit remote detonates when unit impacts unknown drone. AJ covers with experimental rifle. Rikki unit must retreat to rear of room to avoid effects of pulse. Electromagnetic energy will be felt by nearby enemy drones but with no explosive sound or weapons fire, the incident will fall outside the parameters of drone programming. Most likely response will be for careful investigation, but not rapid entry. AJ, Rikki, and two sergeants to be inside stairwell and ascending before drones make it inside building. Advise that optic cloaks will likely fail when EMP pulse contacts them.
I read it, the others looking over my shoulder. Then we all stared at each other, amazement clear on each face. Tyson looked shocked, Kwan maybe awed. Me, I think my mouth must have hit the floor. My friggin’ drone had just laid out the most plausible plan to remove a dangerous enemy bot with unknown capabilities… on his own.