Rachel strode out onto Tower Four's roof with Commander Rocker beside her. Forty members of the Security forces poured out of the hatches behind her. Around the edge of the roof, five Wasp Drones stood waiting on vertical take-off pads. Rachel waved one arm above her head, signalling for the security forces to start boarding the drones. They set off at a run, wearing black combat armour and small padded helmets. Rachel ran ahead, hesitating when she reached the nearest drone before them.
The Wasp Drone's twin sets of flexible transparent wings stood high above its small black thorax. Pale green light shone from a bulging bubble on each side of its head. As Rachel walked around to the side of the drone, a hatch dropped down from its large armoured abdomen. The hatch slammed onto the ground near her boots, forming a ramp that led directly into the cargo pods. Rachel ducked her head and leapt on board. Once inside, she popped her head out of the hatch and watched the progress of the others. Rocker was standing near another Wasp Drone on the other side of the roof.
'Take the Mech Enforcers with you,' Rachel said. She spoke through her comms link so she didn't have to shout across the roof.
Rocker nodded and turned to face the cargo lift in the middle of the roof. A deep hum emanated from a square black hole that led down into the tower's core. The humming grew louder until four Mech Enforcers came into view, standing on a rising platform. The droids had no heads, and their shoulder joints stood well above their low-slung, bulbous bodies. They ran towards Rocker on long, back-jointed legs, their bodies swinging from side to side for balance. Mech Enforcers had never been graceful. Their strengths lay in their firepower and their ability to change colour to match their surroundings. As they waddled towards her, strange colours rippled across their armoured skin. Rocker stood waiting for them, her eyes gazing down at the floor as she controlled them through her neural implants. The Mech Enforcers climbed into the Wasp Drone through its open side hatch. When the last of them was inside, Rocker waved to Rachel and jumped through the open hatch to join them.
Rachel waited until the last of the security forces had boarded the other Wasp Drones. She didn't want to travel with the Mech Enforcers. She had heard too many stories about them falling over in transit and landing on the people inside. Rocker had assured her that such things couldn't happen anymore but Rachel wasn't so sure. She shook her head and ducked back inside her own Wasp Drone. When she turned to face the inside of the crew pod, she remembered just how cramped a Wasp Drone could be. Wasp Drones were intended for use as autonomous combat vehicles. Only in the last ten years had their abdomens been adapted to carry human cargo. The crew pod was just large enough to accommodate herself and ten members of the security forces. The men were already strapping themselves into three rows of packed seats in the middle of the floor. They attached themselves to acceleration webbing so they wouldn't bounce around after take off. The ceiling was low, curving and claustrophobic. To a Wasp Drone, people were just a different kind of cargo.
Wasp Drones had never been designed to fly manually. There were no pilot cabins. They could only be piloted remotely by someone with neural implants. On this operation, Commander Melanie Rocker would be piloting all the Wasp Drones herself. She would also be controlling the Mech Enforcers. When Rachel had asked her if she would be able to control so many droids and drones at once, Rocker had offered an amused smile and chosen not to reply. Rachel knew that implants were capable of dealing with a lot of different systems at once, but she didn't know what their true limitations might be. How much of their self-confidence was based on the core abilities of their neural implants, and how much was based on inflated self-belief? She would probably never know for sure.
Rachel checked the equipment racks and ran through a series of checklists in her head. Everything was in order. There was just one more question that was bouncing around inside her head. It didn't seem like the best time to ask Rocker, so she reached down and pulled her console from a pocket in her combat trousers. She quickly entered her search and found what she was looking for. There was an article on Central Command's restricted access net describing redundancy in droid warfare. It said that droids could be controlled by multiple implants at once. They could also follow default behaviour algorithms if left unattended. During combat operations, any droid that was under the control of an implant would be put into an artificial mental state that was best described as contentment. If the controlling implant was killed, or the droid lost contact with them for any other reason, it would automatically switch to an orphaned state. The droid would automatically inform the Heart and all other implants that it was no longer under the direct control of an operator. It would continue to follow its last orders until another implant took control of it. The change over generally took less than a tenth of second. The droids maintained a memory of their recent actions, goals and context. They also stored the sensory information that they had experienced since the start of their current operation. This allowed seamless transitions to take place from one controller to another. The decisions happened so quickly that there would be no noticeable disruption to a droid's behaviour if its controlling Implant was lost in action. The article said that redundancy control algorithms were fitted to all types of droids. Central Command's military protocols would never allow fleets of droids to be taken out of action by the termination of a single operator. If Rocker were killed during the combat operation, she would not become a single point of failure. The Wasp Drones and the Mech Enforcers would continue to operate as normal.
Rachel slipped her console back in her trouser pocket and took a seat beside the others. When the last of the security forces had strapped themselves in, the hatch snapped shut and the Wasp Drone rose into the air with a low hum. Rachel clung to the arms of her seat as the drone's wings buzzed into life above the fuselage. The entire crew pod vibrated with the rhythm of the wings. She could feel her cheeks shaking as the drone tilted to one side and accelerated forwards. She knew that the seat's webbing would hold her in place, even if the drone flipped upside down, but it was difficult to relax while having her internal organs shaken around inside her. She tried to loosen her grip on the arms of her seat, and after a while, the stiffness in her shoulders started to ease off.
There were no windows in the crew pod. A small console mounted on the front wall showed one of the towers sliding out of view as the Wasp Drone headed south. Comforts and conveniences had not been high on the designer's priority list. The Wasp Drone's strength lay in its agility, firepower and speed. They could be trusted to deliver the squad quickly into the Business District with the minimum of fuss. Rachel was hoping that the Kamari would not have chance to react before the drones had landed. She knew from experience that combat operations didn't always run as smooth as she would like.
'E.T.A six minutes,' Rocker's voice called out from the overhead comms unit.
Rachel glanced around the cramped cargo pod. The equipment racks were fully loaded with impact repeaters, proton cannons, and explosives. The security forces sat elbow to elbow in their closely packed seats, wearing full combat gear and helmets that were strapped tight beneath their chins. Many wore grim determined expressions. The soldiers were ready to follow her wherever she led them. Rachel prepared herself for what was to come.
The minutes passed faster than she had expected. Before long, she felt herself slumping forwards against the acceleration webbing. The Wasp Drone was slowing down. Rachel felt her stomach rising up inside her as the drone landed with a gentle bounce on the ground. All the seats released their acceleration webbing automatically. A moment later the outer hatch opened, and bright sunlight shone through the opening. The crew pod seemed like a far more hospitable place than it had a few moments before.
The security forces jumped to their feet and jostled their way towards the equipment racks. They grabbed their weapon of choice and darted out through the open hatch. Rachel followed them, jumping down onto the white stone street outside. She could see that the four Mech Enforcers were already in position. They crouched down in front of a large house that was made of white stone.
Rocker stood among the Mech Enforcers, facing Rachel with her hands on her hips. Rachel glanced back at the Wasp Drones as they dropped into standby mode. Their wings slowed enough to be almost visible, and their tireless buzzing reduced as the swirling winds attenuated to a soft warm breeze. Rachel held her arm to one side, rotating it forward. The security forces ran ahead, taking up positions in a semicircle around the front of the house. They crouched down on one knee and raised their weapons in readiness. Rachel stood behind them with her impact pistol in her hand. A face appeared in one of the upstairs windows and she fired instinctively. Glass shattered inwards and the face fell out of sight. The time for stealth was over.
'Let's do this,' she said.
Rocker turned to face the house. The four Mech Enforcers all opened fire at once. Eight railguns launched a stream of hot metal at the house with a deafening roar. All the remaining windows shattered, sending glass and debris in all directions. The armoured double doors at the front of the house buckled inwards, and a fireball exploded just inside the door. Smoke billowed out of the opening, swirling in chaotic vortices of air. The house's white stone walls vibrated under the barrage of a thousand impacts. Stone chippings flew into the air.
Rachel ducked her head, raising one hand to protect herself from the flying debris. She wished she had remembered to wear her protective goggles, but she knew that the initial assault wouldn't last long. The building's outer defences had already been shredded by flying metal, but the Mech Enforcers' railguns still tore the building apart with a preprogrammed sequence of attack patterns. Rachel covered her ears to protect herself from the deafening roar of so many rotating barrels.
The Mech Enforcers' were formidable droids. Their heavy bodies were little more than armoured munitions factories, generating an almost limitless stream of hot metal fragments. A torrent of white fire erupted from the ends of their railguns as they continued to rip the building to pieces. The security forces had the sense to keep their heads down as they waited for the second phase of the assault to begin.
Rachel caught sight of a group of merchants in the corner of her eye. They stood in a clump behind the Wasp Drone and their faces looked hard rather than the soft rounded cheeks she would expect from those who traded in the Old Quarter. They pulled weapons from beneath their jackets and began firing at the backs of the security forces. Two men went down before she could react. Rachel turned and fired, hitting one of the fake merchants in the chest as he ventured out from behind the Wasp Drone. Some of the troopers had noticed what was happening behind them. They warned the others and returned fire. Rocker appeared beside Rachel. She fired at the merchants with a pistol in each hand. The Wasp Drones were already flying out of the way. Rachel darted to one side, dodging the incoming bullets as she watched the last of their assailants collapse onto the floor.
The fake merchants must have been undercover Kamari agents. One of them had thrown something as he fell. Rachel turned, searching the ground around her to see where it had gone. An explosion shook the ground near one of the Mech Enforcers, but its armour protected it well enough. Rocker stumbled and almost fell. She raised one hand towards Rachel, indicating that she wasn't hurt.
The front of the house was deteriorating rapidly. The stonework had disintegrated, revealing thick grey armour underneath. The armour looked medium grade to Rachel's eyes. It wouldn't be able to withstand the abuse of the railguns for long. Its rough grey surface was already buckling under the relentless torrent of high-energy projectiles. The wall had torn open in several places. What was left of the armour plating vibrated under the force of the impacts. It fell apart a section at a time.
Something small and black flew out through a hole in the armoured wall. It landed on the street near Rachel's feet. She kicked it instinctively, and it exploded in mid-air somewhere between her and the house. Security forces ducked away from it, but they held their fire, saving ammunition until the Mech Enforcers' work was done. When the majority of the house's integrated armour had failed, the Mech Enforcers disengaged their railguns and launched a series of Spinner Rockets into the house's crumbling shell. The ground shook as bright white flashes ripped through the house, and the left side of the building collapsed.
'Now,' Rachel shouted.
The Mech Enforcers finally ended their assault. They crouched down on their haunches and lowered their smoking railguns by their sides. The security forces rushed forwards, heading for several gaping holes that had been opened up across the front of the building. Rachel and Rocker chased after them, leaving the Mech Enforcers to the guard the street outside.
Weapons fire rang out even before they even entered the building. Rachel ducked through a hole in the wall and stumbled over debris that was scattered across the floor. She coughed, inhaling thick black smoke, and almost fell on top of a body lying on the floor. It took her a while to reorientate herself amongst the chunks of stone, twisted metal and bloodstained bodies that littered the floor. She reached down and pulled a pair of goggles from a pocket in her combat trousers. When she pressed them against her face, they remained in place, and her vision cleared at once. The goggles' vision enhancing algorithms filtered out the smoke and dust, revealing the broken house before her in vivid detail. She knew that the dust was still there. She could taste it on her lips, but it no longer obstructed her vision. She held a hand over her nose and mouth and breathed slowly as she stared deep into what was left of the house.
It was a large house, just as Alice had said it would be. The front two layers of rooms had been mostly demolished by the Mech Enforcers, but the back of the house still stood intact. The Mech Enforcers had given the security forces a way to get inside the building, but it was now up to Rachel and her squad to flush the remaining Kamari out.
At first, there was only silence. Rachel stared straight ahead, wondering what was going to happen next. She didn't have long to wait. Kamari soldiers emerged from a series of doorways on the exposed balcony above. They looked confused to find the rooms that they had once inhabited now lying in rubble on the ground below. They quickly overcame their disorientation and started firing at the security forces below. Rachel ducked to one side as a bullet hit the ground near her feet. She had an advantage. She could see who was firing down at her. The Kamari were using random fire patterns as they struggled to see through the settling dust. She fired her impact pistol, hitting one of the Kamari soldiers in the head. He fell from the balcony and crashed onto the ground below. Plumes of dust rose up into the air where he had landed. Rachel's goggles showed the dust as a light grey overlay on her vision, but she could see straight through it. The Kamari didn't know she had moved since firing her shot. They were still firing at the ground where she had been standing before.
All around her, gunfire erupted. The security forces rushed forwards as more Kamari appeared on the balcony above. Rocker stood a few metres to Rachel's left, firing up at the balcony with an impact pistol in each hand. Her eyes were calm and focussed. She wasn't wearing any goggles but she seemed to be coping just fine. Kamari fell wherever she aimed.
The air crackled with flying munitions on all sides. Rachel let her mind find the peace inside her. Her arm moved without thought, firing repeatedly, and bodies fell wherever she aimed. She moved fluidly from one pose to the next, her reactions becoming faster and faster. When a blinding bomb landed near her feet, she closed her eyes and sprinted towards the wall on her right. Her legs moved faster than they had ever moved before, and when she opened her eyes, after the blinding bomb had shaken the floor behind her, she was surprised to find that she was running up the side of the wall. Gravity pulled at her body, trying to drag her down to the floor, but her feet moved so quickly that her momentum propelled her upwards faster than she could fall. She landed on the upper balcony, crouching down on her haunches. There wasn't time to wonder what she had just done.
A great cheer rang out from somewhere behind her. More security forces had made it onto the balcony. She glanced over her shoulder and saw some troopers climbing a pile of rubble from the level below. Shots flew over her head in both directions. Rachel jumped up, heading towards the balcony's inner wall. She sprinted forwards, firing at every Kamari soldier who stepped out in front of her. More security forces came running behind her, tossing plasma grenades into the doorways that she had already passed. A Kamari soldier ran out on the balcony ahead, and she reacted on instinct, twisting sideways to fling him high over her hip. The soldier cried out as he tumbled over the balcony's broken handrail, and crashed onto the ground below. Rachel glanced at his broken neck before turning and walking away.
The front of the house collapsed as a Mech Enforcer strode in through the ruins below. Rocker stepped out from somewhere beneath the balcony and looked up at Rachel.
'Are we done?' she said.
Rachel turned and looked behind her. The balcony had fallen silent. Security forces stood all along its length. They stared back at her with a mixture of exhilaration and respect in their eyes.
Rachel shrugged. 'Okay. Clear these rooms. We need to move onto the next site.' She grabbed what was left of the balcony's handrail and jumped down onto the floor below. She landed hard on the broken rubble, but she was surprised that her legs absorbed the impact so well. She rose up from a crouching position and faced Rocker's raised eyebrows with a neutral expression.
'What?' Rachel said.
The security forces cheered and punched the air from the balcony above. More soldiers gathered on the ground floor after climbing down a pile of rubble. Rachel felt their excitement in the air. She felt their courage and exhilaration. At that moment, she could sense every one of them around her.
'Let's go,' she said. 'We have more work ahead of us.'