On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance (25 page)

Meanwhile, Nero had moved away from Onon and Talyah, and had fired at another of the Aegis agents, hitting this one square on the rebreather too. His hands also went up to his helmet, as the other three agents began firing at Nero. But he was too fast and managed to evade their fire, whilst hitting a third agent. Almost at the same time, the fourth was hit by Talyah, who had pulled her putty pistol out. That left just one, and Nero fired again, his aim true, and covered the rebreather of the final agent.

This all happened in just a couple of seconds, but it was long enough for the lieutenant to reach for his weapon after pulling his own helmet off. As Nero tossed away the putty gun, the lieutenant aimed at Nero and fired. Nero saw him aim, and dived out the way, but he wasn’t quite fast enough. He felt a sensation of extreme heat in his side, and looked down to see the laser shot had grazed the side of his chest, burning away a couple of centimetres of flesh. He was knocked to the ground.

“Nero!” Talyah yelled from the other side of the room. He looked over in time to see the lieutenant fire directly at her. He watched as the flash of light passed through Talyah’s chest, dead centre, and he saw her large, golden eyes open wide with shock. Then the life left them, and she fell over backwards, hitting the ground with a thud.

Nero yelled, and jumped back up, but he wasn’t fast enough. His augs weren’t fast enough. Before Talyah’s body had even hit the floor, the lieutenant had aimed again, this time at Onon, who had pulled out her own laser rifle. She didn’t draw fast enough, and before she got a shot off, the Aegis agent had fired again. The top of Onon’s head was blown away by the laser bolt, and her body slumped backwards, next to Talyah’s.

The other Aegis agents had removed their helmets by now, and were aiming their weapons at Nero. He sprinted forwards, and before the nearest agent could fire, he punched with all his might, his metal fist connecting with the man’s head. There was a shower of blood, bone and brain as his fist passed through the man’s head, and he ducked and leapt at the next agent. He extended a carbon blade, and used his momentum to drive the blade up into the man’s mouth, through the roof, and into his brain.

He pulled the blade back out, in a spray of blood, and jumped towards the remaining agents. He had paused a moment too long, however, and one of the agents managed to score another hit on Nero. This one only hit his metal thigh, and didn’t injure him, but the energy discharge in his leg made him misjudge his next leap forwards. Instead of coming down on top of the agent who had fired, he went sideways, and landed sprawled on the floor.

Knowing that was a fatal mistake, he stayed on the floor and saw the lieutenant stand over him, a rifle pointed directly at his chest. Nero shut his eyes, and accepted what was about to happen. He felt strangely relaxed, as if he knew he’d done his best, and now just wanted it all to end. He thought briefly of Talyah, and of Onon, and a sad smile came to his lips. And then he thought of Nate, and Ras, and how it didn’t really matter whether they were dead or not, now. Now that he had lost everyone. But then Ami entered his mind, and he remembered what the lieutenant had said. His eyes flicked back open.

The lieutenant hadn’t fired, though he was still stood over Nero, the rifle still pointing at him. Finally, the lieutenant spoke. “I must say, I am impressed, Nero. The putty... a brilliant idea. I shall have to have a new helmet designed, when I get back.” He paused, and waited for a response from Nero. None came. “You managed to kill two of my men, Nero. That’s a first, but you know you could never win?”

The lieutenant turned slightly to face the doorway, and said “Enter.” He turned back to face Nero, and for the first time Nero saw the smile that spread across the man’s face, now that it wasn’t hidden by a helmet. Then he looked to the doorway, and saw four robots marching into the room. Humanoid in shape, they were all as black as midnight in the desert, and combined with the skeletal appearance and gleaming red lights in the head, they looked even more sinister than the Aegis agents.

“Even had you got through me, Nero,” the lieutenant continued, “you would have stood no chance against these machines. No necks to cut, I’m afraid. This whole thing was futile.” Nero lay there and watched the robots, which were now absolutely stationary, lined up just inside the room. He shivered, not wanting to think about how deadly they would be.

“So now we come to this, Nero. Tell me, what do you know about your parents?”

That was an unexpected question. Nero looked into the man’s eyes, and saw no emotion there. Just an intensely probing look. The lieutenant continued. “I did a little digging, once I became interested in you. I believe you lived with your mother?”

Nero just continued staring into the man’s eyes. He smiled at Nero’s reticence, though no humour reached his eyes. “But you never knew your father, I presume?” Again, no response from Nero, though he was intensely curious. “Well, I shan’t say any more. But knowing who he was does explain a number of things about you.” The lieutenant smiled, and Nero looked away, willing this to be over.

Apparently, the lieutenant had decided the same thing. “This will be an honourable death, Nero. You were one of the more entertaining people I’ve had to deal with. I will almost miss you.” The man’s finger began to squeeze the trigger, but then he paused, and looked towards the door. Standing there, behind the robots, was Nate, beaten and bloody, but with a smile on his face.

“Hello Nero,” he said, looking down at Nero lying on the ground. He stumbled slightly, and stepped forward.

“What are you doing here?” the lieutenant demanded.

“I think I made a mistake, Nero,” Nate continued, his tone subdued. “They promised me a lot, but I think they’re just going to kill me.” He looked down at the wounds that had been inflicted since Nero last saw him.

“You think?” Nero asked, vehemence in his voice. Nate hung his head.

“I’m sorry, Nero,” he said. He looked back up, and pulled a rifle out from behind his back. He aimed and fired at the lieutenant’s head, but faster than seemed possible, one of the robots moved to intercept the shot. The laser bolt harmlessly impacted on the robot’s head, and it stepped forward to meet Nate.

Nero glanced up at the lieutenant, who was watching the robot. Seeing an opportunity, Nero rolled and jumped up, and taking the lieutenant by surprise, he knocked the man’s legs out from under him. Though he dearly would have loved to kill the lieutenant, another of the robots had already started to move towards Nero. Having seen how fast they could move, he instead turned and sprinted to the window.

With one last glance at Nate, briefly exchanging a look with him before the robot blocked his view, Nero punched the toughened glass. The shock went right through his arm and into his shoulder, but nevertheless the glass shattered, falling away into the darkness outside. With the robot just behind him, Nero jumped, propelling himself outwards into the night sky.

He fell freely for a few metres, the wind rushing through his hair, before the stabilization augmentation kicked in, and he slowed down, gliding to the roof of an adjacent building. He landed lightly, and turned to look back up at the Scraper he had just jumped from. There, standing in the shattered window, was the robot, red eyes glowing in the darkness.

“Afraid of heights?” Nero said, mainly to himself. Perhaps the robot heard, or perhaps it just wanted to see what Nero did, but suddenly it jumped from the window, arms stretched out in front of it, and it dived downwards. Nero was too shocked to move for a moment, but then he turned tail and ran.

An immensely loud bang came from behind him, and he looked over his shoulder to see the robot slowly standing up from where it had landed on the roof. It was surrounded by a cloud of dust from the impact. Nero looked forward again and ran, as fast as he could, across the rooftop. He could sense the robot behind him, and a glance back ascertained that he wasn’t making any headway on the machine, despite running at full pelt.

He jumped to the next building and continued sprinting, his legs a blur as they propelled him over the ground. He tried to go faster, and his legs began to glow in places, the friction heating up the metal. He heard vents open in an effort to cool the appendages down.

Seeing an alley to the right, he decided to change tack and leapt off of the roof, landing heavily on the ground. He heard a muffled thud behind him as the robot followed. Taking a left turning, and then another left, he tried to lose the robot in the maze of alleyways. Up ahead a door was slightly ajar, and Nero smashed through it, emerging in what seemed like someone’s home. He didn’t pause to look, though, instead jumping out of a window on the opposite side. The robot followed not far behind.

“Fucking robot,” he swore under his breath. He was starting to feel drained of energy, and knew he wouldn’t be able to keep running at this pace for much longer. The heat exchangers on his legs were glowing bright orange now.

Seeing an area of the city he recognized, he changed direction once again and sprinted toward a small market that he knew. It was deserted at this time of the night, but the empty stalls were still set up. Nero slowed as he reached them, and hearing the robot approach, he pulled some of the heavy stalls over. He heard loud crashing sounds as they hit the ground, and then more sounds as the robot stumbled into the carnage. Nero sped up again, and once more entered the maze of alleyways. This time, however, when he glanced back, he didn’t see the robot. The delay had obviously been just enough to lose it.

He kept running for another few minutes, but when there was still no sign of the robot behind him, he finally slowed down, to what most would consider a normal running pace. Then he got his bearings, and headed into the centre of the city, to find a Scraper.

****

The first rays of the sun burst over the horizon, painting the side of the warehouse a pale orange in colour. The man stood outside, dressed from head to foot in dark grey armour, didn’t notice the beauty of this, however. Instead, he watched as two members of the Nostra emerged from the main doors, and walked over to him.

“It is done, signore,” said one of the men, looking anywhere but at the man’s helmet. “The shuttles, too.”

“Very good,” the armoured man replied, taking the small control unit the other man offered. He pressed a couple of buttons on the holodisplay, and then looked back up at the building in front of him. With the main doors still open, he could see the shuttles lined up along one wall, which belonged to the man who had given them such trouble.

Looking back down at the control unit, the man pressed the final button in the sequence, and then the world shook. The orange light of the sun was drowned out by the massive fireball that erupted in front of him, shooting skywards and outwards. The warehouse was instantly destroyed, pieces of metal fragments flying outwards in all directions.

The force of the explosion knocked the two members of the Nostra backwards, but the Aegis agent remained standing, seemingly unaffected by the violence of the explosion. He turned to look at the aliens on the ground next to him, and noticed that one had a large shard of metal sticking out of his chest. His eyes had a vacant look. The Aegis agent turned his attention to the other man, who appeared shaken, but unhurt.

Shame, the armoured man thought. When the Nostra man had got back on his feet, the Aegis agent reached out and grabbed the other by his neck, and calmly ripped out his trachea, as simply as if he was opening a door. The man dropped to the ground, his hands going up to stem the flow of blood from his neck. It was a fruitless task.

With his task complete, the armoured man turned around, and left the smouldering wreck of the warehouse, and the two corpses, behind him.

****

The men ran, jumping up from where they were huddled and heading towards the door. The Aegis agent laughed at their futile attempt at escape. These former members of Nero’s organisation stood no chance. The agent slowly followed them, and walked through the door they had run through. Not far along the alley outside, they had all frozen in place, none able to move faced with the trio of robots stood silently in front of them.

One of the men, obviously one of the quicker-witted ones, turned around and started to flee in the opposite direction. The Aegis agent didn’t bother to stop him as he ran past, content to watch the robots do their job.

The middle robot suddenly jumped, leaping over the heads of the other men, who still didn’t know what to do, and ran after the escapee. The speed at which the robot could run still impressed the Aegis agent, and the robot caught up to the man almost instantly. It slowed down to match the man’s speed, and then reached out and picked him up by the neck.

With seemingly no effort, the robot then punched the man in his back with incredible force, the robotic hand punching a hole clean through the man’s chest. It dropped the man, who stayed collapsed on the floor. The robot then returned to the other few men who hadn’t run, and who had watched the brief pursuit in amazement. They cowered back from the robot as it approached.

The Aegis agent watched as the three robots then stepped forward in unison, forming up into a triangle formation around the humans. They approached, and before the agent could blink, the robots attacked the group. Their movement was just a blur, and moments later, the remaining members of Nero’s organisation lay dead on the ground, in a slowly seeping pool of their own blood.

The armoured man smiled behind his mask, and walked down the alley, the robots falling into formation behind him.

****

Stood before the pile of red pills, the Aegis agent wondered why they were so popular. But then it remembered how backward these planets were at the edge of the galaxy. They didn’t even have basic mind enhancements, so perhaps the pills’ popularity was understandable.

Dismissing the thoughts, the agent opened its hand to reveal what looked like a small orange lozenge, about three centimetres long. It casually tossed the object into the pile of red pills, and watched as the orange pill began to glow. After a short time, when it was hot enough, it burst into flames, setting the surrounding red pills on fire.