Damnation

Parker sat in the operations room, recalibrating his comms unit one more time. The channel only worked for ten-seconds before the interference started again. He cleared the channel and hit the trigger that was attached under the right arm of his chair. Klaxons blared out on every level. He tried to contact Vanmarek again, but he couldn't get through. He tried chaining over a dozen comms links together but that didn't work either. Whatever was interfering with the comms traffic seemed to be changing and adapting to the methods that he used to work around it.

General Markov ran through the door. His face was red and he looked out of breath. 'What the hell's going on with the comms units?' he said. 'I can't get through to anyone.'

Drefnig was with him, holding his impact pistol in his hand. He looked as though he expected to find Kamari soldiers coming out of the walls.

'I don't know, General,' Parker said. 'I think someone is intentionally blocking our communication channels. I've been trying to trace the source of the interference for over an hour, but I haven't managed to locate it yet. It looks like the source may be moving around inside the White Spear.'

'Why did you raise the alarm?' Drefnig said.

Parker's pink eyes gazed down at the floor, but he pointed at the tall glass wall in front of him.

'I don't see anything,' Drefnig said. 'The wall's blank.'

'Hang on,' Parker said. He had forgotten that they couldn't see what he could see. He had direct access to so many systems. They could only see what was in front of their face. He reconfigured his systems, projecting an image onto the semi-transparent glass.

'There's been an explosion on the ground level,' he said, pointing at the wall again.

This time the wall faded to black, and an image appeared showing what was left of the ground floor entrance to the White Spear. The floor was covered in broken glass and a man was lying dead on the floor.

'What the hell happened down there?' Markov said. 'Is that Young?'

'Yes, it is. He's dead.'

Markov shook his head. 'Tell me what happened?'

'A few minutes ago, everything was normal. Henry Willow approached from the South.'

Markov stared at the bulge on the back of Parker's head. 'Willow? What does he have to do with any of this?'

'Vanmarek was monitoring the front entrance. Willow approached but someone was shadowing him. I picked them up on the overhead visual logs.'

'Why didn't you warn him?' Drefnig said, standing with one hand on his impact pistol.

Parker faced away from him but he knew that Drefnig was behind him. He had full access to all the live visual logs. He didn't need eyes in the back of his head to know what was going on.

'I did,' Parker said. 'I'm not the kind of man to shoot someone in the back.'

Drefnig glanced towards Markov with a frown. Markov shook his head, and Drefnig replaced his impact pistol in its holster.

Parker wasn't surprised they didn't think he could see them. His abilities were often underestimated. 'Not all implants are the same,' he said. 'Lance's actions have brought shame on us all. That doesn't mean we can't be trusted.'

'Sorry,' Drefnig said. 'I guess we're all a little on edge. So tell us what happened.'

Parker pointed again, changing the projected image to an external view that looked south across the Grand Plaza. The ground was littered with bodies.

'Hell and damnation,' Markov said.

Drefnig rubbed a hand across his chin. 'How many casualties?'

'One hundred and one,' Parker said. 'There was only one survivor.'

'Who?' Markov said. 'Is that Vanmarek standing there? Bloody hell he's a good man. What happened out there?'

'It is Vanmarek, yes, but he's not the one who survived. Henry Willow is the only man that still lives and he's unconscious on the ground.'

Markov gave Drefnig a sidelong glance. 'What do you mean Vanmarek didn't survive? He's standing there, isn't he?'

Parker zoomed the image to provide a closer view of the area. Vanmarek was standing with his legs splayed apart. A thick black spear protruded from his shoulder on one side, piercing the ground beneath his torso. It skewered his body, pinning him upright on his feet.

Markov hissed between his teeth.

'No,' Drefnig said, clenching his fists by his sides. 'Bastards! Who did this? I hope Bordox sent them straight to hell.'

'Bordox was too late,' Parker said. 'I released the Spider droids, but I was too late also. The man who did this has already entered the White Spear. That's why I raised the alert.'

'The man?' Drefnig said. 'Are you saying one man did all this?'

'As far as I can tell, yes, but as you can see, he's no ordinary man.'

'Shut down all ascending Air Routes,' Markov said.

'Yes, General.'

'We have to find whoever did this.'

As they watched the image on the wall in front of them, the black spear glowed and then faded away. Vanmarek's body slumped forwards, landing face first on the ground. He lay dead in a pool of his own blood.