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  When he was dressed, he snarled at her again. “Take me to him.”

  “Yes, Mayor Otta.”

  Ledion led the way out of his chambers and down the hall, through the city, and to the comfort suites.

  She escorted him to the suite where they had installed the Tokkel, and he held up his hand. “Wait out here.”

  Ledion stood with her back to the door, and she waited while the freak of a mayor tried to kiss up to the forerunner of the invading army.

  The underground in the city knew what was going on. The mayor had sold the valley to the Tokkel for wholesale destruction in exchange for alterations that would turn him into a warrior of the invading army. Ledion belonged to a group that only did the absolute minimal alterations, simply to blend in. Hair, eye, and teeth alterations could all be reversed, and tattoos could be removed. She was as close to human as anyone in her generation, and seeing the engineers from the valley, she was struck by how much her people had kept from them. Instead of thriving on Hera, they had collapsed inward after one weak leader. There was a certain horror in tracing your collapse back two hundred years.

  The original Mayor Otta had been shell-shocked after fighting against the Tokkel. He kept his people in and pulled the city in tight. Every generation had gotten smaller until all that was left was pursuit of pleasure and alteration of their own bodies. No one could go anywhere, so education was pushed back, and eventually, they wouldn’t even be able to read the writing of their ancestors.

  Ledion really wished that she was in the valley right now. There was some dignity in fighting for your own survival.

  Chapter Four

  Corbyn looked around as she stepped out of the gate, and she started to run. The impact of Myx’s feet on the ground eventually matched Corbyn’s pulse.

  “You are eager to get in the fight?”

  “I am eager to get home and keep it safe.”

  “Ah, yes, you are in the security force, are you not?”

  “You know I am. Keeping my people safe is one of my personal drives. I can’t do anything else.”

  In the distance, she saw the chasm looming in front of her. She did the math for the launch point, and she didn’t hesitate. The moment that she hit that point, the burners fired and the wings took over from there.

  She gasped as the weight she had been pushing against took flight. Instead of landing on the other side, the wings carried her at an accelerated rate straight toward the valley.

  “I don’t think I am designed to fly, Myx.”

  Balancing while in the air was difficult. Leving’s memories kicked in, and she evened out.

  On the horizon, she could see the attackers approaching her home, and she was filled with fury.

  Duel’s voice came through the coms. “Corbyn-Myx, we are right behind you. It will be ten minutes after you land before we are all next to you. I will be there in three.”

  “Good. Stand back. I am more than willing to throw myself at the incoming armament.”

  “I have been getting a signal from the valley. You aren’t going to be alone in the fight.”

  “What?”

  “Dif is up, and he is fighting.”

  Corbyn grinned slowly. “Well, that changes things. Thanks for the information. Look forward to seeing what these new toys can do.”

  The coms went silent, and Corbyn had to pull memories of how to stop.

  Ships were landing off to the south, and their contents were spilling out toward the valley. Blasts of energy were pouring out from the center of Bot City, and it seemed that Dif was doing what he could.

  Corbyn got Myx’s blades ready, and she went from horizontal to vertical for a moment before she cut the power.

  Myx’s body took a tremendous amount of strain, but he slowly stood upright and he walked slowly toward the stream of incoming Tokkel bots and armed vehicles.

  Corbyn immersed herself in the pilot’s memories, and she lifted her fist for the first blast against the Tokkel, knowing her enemy.

  The sound of screams when she struck the first armoured vehicle reached her through her exterior microphones. She flinched for a moment then saw the vehicles attacking the buildings next to Bot City, and she focused on her purpose.

  Using memory, she grabbed the whip and charged it as the length of chain extended and curled with the power. She sailed the length of energy-infused metal through another vehicle, and this time, part of her rejoiced when the men inside screamed and the metal shredded.

  The worm-bot that charged her next didn’t make a sound, but she knew how to deal with it. Corbyn used the whip to hold it in place while she crushed the power source under her foot with focus on what her sensors were telling her. The moment it was dead, she kicked it back toward the flowing horde coming toward the valley.

  Corbyn blanked her mind and waded into the incoming army, no focus other than stemming the tide of the invasion.

  No matter how many bots she crushed and how many vehicles she shredded, it seemed that the Tokkel weren’t going to stop until they had razed the valley. Corbyn needed help if that wasn’t going to become reality.

  * * * *

  Duel left the gate, and she could see Myx in the distance. “Right. Here we go.”

  It took three thudding strides for her to get to full speed.

  Kab murmured to her, “You are doing well. Keep your breathing even.”

  She took long strides and was amazed at how fast she could actually go. The chasm showed up, and she jumped over it, landing on the other side without using her burners.

  She sent a com link through to Myx. “Corbyn-Myx, we are right behind you. It will be ten minutes after you land before we are all next to you. I will be there in three.”

  Corbyn’s voice came through. “Good. Stand back. I am more than willing to throw myself at the incoming armament.”

  Duel realized that Corbyn thought she was alone out there. She shared what she could glean from the signals. “I have been getting a signal from the valley. You aren’t going to be alone in the fight.”

  Corbyn was shocked and it showed in her shout. “What?”

  “Dif is up, and he is fighting.” Kab had given her the information to identify what she was seeing in the ambient static of energy and noise that he lived in.

  Corbyn’s voice was surprised and very pleased. “Well, that changes things. Thanks for the information. Look forward to seeing what these new toys can do.”

  Duel muted the active link. “I think that it is for the best that Corbyn gets there first.”

  “Why?” Kab was curious.

  “Because Hima would smash them to pieces in her current mood.”

  Kab chuckled. “She is taking to being Len’s pilot.”

  “I think she is working off nearly being crushed to death.”

  “Ah. That would definitely have an effect.”

  Duel didn’t shudder. She kept running. “There is blood over most of Len’s interior. She must have been seconds from death, but she got into the cradle anyway. That has to mess you up.”

  “If I was a softy, I would say yes.”

  She snorted. “Right. I forget that you are an AI.”

  “Modeled on a living mind.”

  “Of course.”

  She was running as fast as she could, but she wanted to stop when she saw the seething mass of worm-bots and other invaders. Steeling herself, she ran Kab into the mass at full speed.

  She pounded through the invaders and headed toward Dif. He was still buried to the waist, but his arms were up and they were firing at the invading army.

  Duel skidded to a halt, whirled and activated the plasma blades. She used the blades to slice her way back through the incoming wave as she crushed the worm-bots underfoot, kicking them back into the incoming line while steering clear of Myx.

  She sent out a query. “Who is operating Dif?”

  “Um, hi. My name is Kiida, but I am a little busy right now.�
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  “The rest of us are on the way back.”

  “You have no idea how relieved I am.”

  “I have a pretty good idea. If you narrow your angle of fire, I will clear your left side and get some of the encroaching aliens out of the city buildings.”

  “Will do. Who am I talking to?”

  “Duel, piloting Kab.”

  “Nice to talk to someone else in this position, Duel. I will narrow my range of fire.”

  Duel grinned. “Then, I will get my ass in gear.”

  “Please. Oh, and can you keep the line open?”

  “I will mute it on my end, but if you call, I am here.”

  “Thanks.”

  Duel used the blades in a scything motion to clear the machines with the personnel. Part of her recoiled at the loss of life, but they were there to expunge her people, and that wasn’t going to happen.

  If it was the valley or the Tokkel, she was going to make sure that her people came out on top.

  * * * *

  Lido was right behind Kab on the way out, but Cio just wasn’t as fast as Kab was.

  “I am not built for the same purpose as Kab is,” Cio answered her unspoken question.

  “I know. I am going to push us both as hard as we can. Are you okay with that? I have strength but not a lot of stamina.”

  “I will help where I can.”

  Lido exhaled. Her sensors told her that the other three were right behind them. “Great. Here we go.”

  She tried to remember all the running instruction from the physical education courses, both hers and Padu’s.

  Her heart was pounding and her nerves jangled as they ran to stop the invasion of the valley.

  “Breathe evenly, and when you get to the chasm, hit the burners. We will get there. Kab and Myx are ahead of us. They will do what they can, and they are both capable and heavily armed.”

  “Right. This is just a little hard. My family is there.”

  “I know. I will prime the guns.”

  “Are they working?”

  “They will be by the time we get there.”

  She ran faster, and when they hurdled the chasm, he hit the burners for her. She flew two hundred meters past the edge of the chasm, stumbled and kept going.

  “That’s it. Now you are getting it.”

  She smiled as she got into the rhythm and didn’t even curse herself when the other three passed her. She knew where she was going, and nothing was going to get in her way.

  She turned Cio toward the landing site and raised her arms. She fired the guns at a ship fifty meters above the ground, and the holes that the ordinance made opened the side of the landing craft like a plow through fresh soil.

  “Oh, yeah. I can live with this.”

  She swung the guns around and started to mow down warriors who were spilling out of the ships and heading for their vehicles. She drove them back into the ships and held them there. The army on the ground wasn’t going to get any larger. The others could crush the Tokkel in the valley. They were doing a really good job from her vantage point.

  Chapter Five

  Nyvett wasn’t surprised that Iff wanted to fly. She was a little surprised that he did it so easily. They were up and soaring a hundred meters above the ground in seconds.

  “I enjoy flying. It is very familiar to me.”

  Nyvett was surprised by that. “Familiar?”

  “Yes. Even the first time, it was like I had done it before.”

  “That is an odd turn of phrase. Maybe the original imprint of your mind was from a pilot.”

  They passed the others and got a view of the valley in the distance.

  “Why are there so many of them?”

  Iff answered her. “This is an invasion force. They are here to crush the valley and everyone in it.”

  Nyvett sighed. “This is so not what I was trained for.”

  “I know, but you are doing very well.”

  She snorted. “What do you recommend as a plan of attack?”

  “Take out the incoming dropships. Time to use the big gun?” He sounded so hopeful.

  “Yes. It is time to use the big gun.”

  They looked around, and she spotted the high ground that she was looking for. The ridge that backed the valley would provide the perfect spot. It was the most heavily reinforced and away from any of the lower habitations.

  “Found it.”

  She directed them to the ridge, reduced speed, and dropped to the hard stone surface. Norm’s memory had her pulling the gun from her back and settling it on her left shoulder. The port with ammunition was lined up, and she was ready to go.

  There was a line of dropships coming from lower orbit, and she took aim at the highest one. The gun had a delay, and she had to alter her targeting, but when it fired, she was braced and the projectile went off as it was supposed to.

  Instead of waiting, she took aim at the next ship, and the next. It was difficult to pinpoint the command centers of the ships, but she looked for the most stationary life signs not in straight lines. The pilots and navigation crew would be staggered around the deck and that was her target.

  Nine out of twelve of her shots hit their targets, and their falling brethren took out the last three.

  The last of the bots had arrived, and the ground forces were being dealt with.

  Nyvett put the gun back onto Iff’s back, and she used the burners to fly her down to ground level.

  She asked the open coms, “Are we taking prisoners?”

  A strange voice muttered, “Not any of these assholes.”

  Nyvett knew that voice. “Kiida?”

  “Yeah. Hello, Nyvett. I am piloting Dif, more or less. We only have one hundred and eighty degrees available, so we can’t do any manoeuvring.”

  Lido spoke up. “We are on it. Do we have any nets or pens or anything?”

  Corbyn muttered, “Wait until they surrender. If we have to push wreckage into a corral, we will do it.”

  Duel chuckled. “We have a dead-end mine we can keep them in. Even if they can chew through stone, they won’t be leaving there in a hurry.”

  Iff had to duck an incoming worm-bot. The explosion rained molten metal, but Iff wasn’t fazed.

  Nyvett looked out at the expanse of wrecked ships that were struggling to get their bots and vehicles into the fight. “It seems that we have a plan.”

  * * * *

  Xaia ran Ai as quickly as she could. She and Hima were moving neck and neck in their bots.

  Through the flickers on the coms, they could hear the engagement with the enemy.

  “That sounds bad.”

  Ai comforted her. “They are hitting with the intent to remove the population without destroying the value of the soil.”

  “Why do they want the soil?”

  “The Tokkel wanted food to expand their empire. I am guessing that they still do.”

  Xaia snorted. “We don’t even use the above-ground soil for food growing. We dig it out from underneath.”

  “Why?”

  Xaia chuckled. “There is a lot of sulfur runoff from the ridge. It is only suitable for some vegetation, not others. It’s a concentrate that we don’t use much.” She shrugged as they ran. “And other stuff.”

  “What other stuff?”

  Xaia cleared her throat. “The broken bots leak radiation from their power cells. That is why we rotate on maintenance, and that is why we live underground, under shielding.”

  “Why do you remain here if the soil is so impure?”

  She nearly stopped them in their run, but she focused and said, “We swore to maintain the bots for planetary defense, and the city promised to maintain the pilots. Just because they didn’t keep their word doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t keep ours.”

  As they ran, she reached around and grabbed the bow. There was an empty space where no bots had yet engaged the enemy.

  Running and firing was not somethi
ng for a novice, so she skidded to a halt, aimed and felt the bow charge. The bolt of plasma shot out and streaked across the empty wasteland.

  Xaia didn’t know what she was expecting, but she was gratified when the bolt ran through one of the worm-bots and then another and a third, pinning them to the ground before it fizzled out.

  “Okay, that is impressive.” Ai sounded surprised.

  “I always had good coordination, but now, I need to find somewhere else to strike.”

  “Targets acquired and highlighted. Shoot when it’s blue.”

  Xaia lifted the bow and kept shooting. She had joined the fight.

  * * * *

  Hima ran next to Ai until he hung back, and when she had a chance, she ran for the dropships. Iff was there, blasting at the ships coming in, so Len and Hima went to do some more damage.

  “You are taking to the idea of battle very well for someone in healthcare.” Len’s tone was wry.

  “Most of those in healthcare have a savage streak when their charges are in danger. There are two newborns in the shelters under this soil, and they are going to live long and healthy lives.” Her tone was grim as she approached the grounded vessels.

  “That sounds like a worthy cause.”

  “They may grow up to be assholes, but they are going to grow up if I have anything to say about it.”

  She grabbed the first vessel and tore the upper hull until it was shredded. The terrified expressions of the crew should have struck a nerve in her, but she simply moved on to the next vessel. Nothing was going to leave Hera in one piece.

  “Hima, what exactly are you doing?”

  “I am giving the design and repair teams enough raw material to replace all of those bots that we lost the first time. I don’t know where we will get the AIs but that will be a problem for another day.”

  She continued her methodical disassembly of the landing craft until every one of the fifty vessels was not worthy of repelling rain, let alone flying. When she found a ship completely empty, she tore off the wings and engines. It would be easier for the salvage crews if they were already in pieces.