Time War: Invasion (3 page)

“Go through it?”

Beyett nodded. Nylund rushed at the door and smashed it open with brute strength. They found themselves in a control room with five personnel working at a series of consoles. They looked utterly stunned to see them. For a moment both sides froze, until one of the staff reached for a side arm. Nylund quickly double tapped the first and then proceeded to the rest with incredible precision and speed. Five bodies lay before them and not a shot had been returned their way.

“Impressive,” stated Tano.

Though it was clear he was being sarcastic.

* * *

“Go!” yelled Corwin.

They leapt onto the cables of the elevator shaft and slid down at rapid speed. Corwin landed in front of two separate fires and absolute chaos. Several soldiers were attempting to put out the flames. Others attended to the wounded, but he went forward without mercy. He took aim at the first who was unarmed and attending a casualty, firing without a thought. Porter landed beside him a second later and opened fire with a wicked grin on his face. Harland seemed to do just the same. Lecia dropped down so close beside him she was almost shoulder to shoulder. He expected some remorse and empathy from her, but it never came.

All those before them lay dead, and Corwin could not feel any sympathy for them, only a sadness that his own team appeared to be cold hearted in every action they carried out. He hated the enemy, and had every reason to do so, but he never wanted his friends to share his bitterness. Just one cry of pain rang out from one of the wounded, and Porter soon put a bullet in the woman’s brain to silence her. A voice came over the comms. It was Beyett, but it was muffled and weak.

“Ser….Corwin, we…some….here..”

“What is it, Beyett?”

“You are…but…found…”

“Fuck sake,” Corwin muttered and carried on with comms, “What have you found?”

“It’s…and impossible…machine…”

“You’re breaking up. Say again.”

“A…some…time machine…”

“Time machine? What the fuck? Say again!”

“I…time machine, it’s…but a time machine.”

A hail of gunfire rang out over the comms.

“Come in, Beyett!”

But all went silent.

"What does he mean?" Hunter asked; the rest couldn't find their words.

Corwin shrugged and tried to make sense of it.

"What the hell, a time machine? It can't be, what? How?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Corwin barked, still trying to think.

"No way that crazy fucker could have built a time machine," added Harland, "It's not even possible."

Corwin didn't know what to make of it and looked to Lecia. She was lurking ominously behind them all. It was clear in his eyes that her mind was forever grinding away, but she rarely spoke her thoughts. It was her insight he wanted.

"What do you think?"

"If Beyett says there is a time machine, then there is a time machine," she replied confidently.

Corwin shook his head, knowing she was right.

"We don't have time for this," added Porter, "We came here to end Villiers life. Let's get to it."

"Don't you see? Villiers knows this war is lost, but what if he could go back and do it all differently? If that machine really exists, and really works, this could all be over the minute he steps through. If he is anywhere right now, it will be where that machine is."

"Sarge, you don't really believe this shit?"

"It's not for me to believe it or not, Porter. If there is the faintest chance Beyett is right, we have to act, now."

"Vi, come in, Frasi, Chas?" Corwin called over the comms, but there was nothing.

"Signal's being jammed, and I'm getting some weird energy readings," said Hunter.

Corwin looked down at his own pad and saw the energy signature for himself.

"I've never seen anything like it."

He brought up the map. Data had been automatically input from all members of the team until they lost signal. He could see Beyett’s last recorded position.

"Come on, let's move it!"

They got up to a running pace as he followed in Beyett’s footsteps. They took a bend at a crossroads and found four soldiers approaching them. Two were carrying a heavy support weapon and tripod, but Corwin did not even break strike. He opened fire with a burst into the first. His shots were absorbed by the soldier’s body armour, but the impacts were enough to make him stumble into the woman behind him. Before the two could recover, Corwin took better aim, putting two shots into the first soldier’s legs so that he dropped to the ground, and then fired another two into the woman's face.

The gun crew were riddled with bullets from Harland and Porter who had kept close by Corwin's side, and then Porter quickly fired a burst into the wounded soldier as he lay writhing in pain. They carried onwards in a cautious but efficient manner, but Rane stopped beside the heavy weapon the enemy had been carrying. He slid his rifle around onto his back and unclipped the hulking weapon from its mounts.

"Come on, you don't need it!"

But he ignored the Sergeant completely.

"Mine," he stated with a grin.

His arms shook a little with the strain of the weight, but he managed and refused to put it down. It was a triple-barrelled sustain fire support weapon a metre and a half long, with a huge box magazine protruding from one side and looked no lighter than the weight of an average man. He ran on after the rest of them looking rather pleased with himself.

They made their way through several more corridors and rooms that were empty and quiet before reaching Beyett's last known position. They were in a large dome shape room, but it wasn't at all clear what purpose it served. Then out of the corner of Corwin's eye he noticed a doorway crack open just a few millimetres. He spun around quickly and took aim.

"Wait!"

They heard Beyett scream from inside as the door swung open, and he stepped out. He looked scared, as if he had been hiding in there, and he was alone.

"Where the fuck is Nylund and Tano?"

"We...we got separated. There was some big monstrous thing."

His voice was shaky, and his face had a deep cut from jaw to ear. His rifle was nowhere to be seen, and he clutched his side arm tightly with both hands.

"What are we dealing with here?"

"Something...big."

It was a surprise to them all to hear the most intelligent among them be so unable to express himself, but he simply pointed behind them. Corwin turned quickly to see a three-metre tall humanoid form armoured mechanical suit striding towards them. It was crude in design, but thickly armoured and looked immensely powerful.

"Cover!"

It was just twenty metres away down a long corridor when lights flashed, and its weapon systems opened fire. Corwin jumped and rolled into cover as shots slammed into the group where he’d just been standing. He hit the wall hard near the opening to the corridor and quickly leaned around to take a few shots, but all glanced off the monstrous armoured suit. He looked back. Rane was flat on his back with scorch marks burnt into his right arm and face. He was struggling to get back up. Harland was firing on full auto as the monster approached, but his efforts seemed to do little to slow its advance.

Corwin drew out a grenade, primed it, and rolled it into the corridor. He fell back into cover and waited. The explosion rang out; smoke and debris blasted out from the tunnel. He could feel the heat almost burn his arm from dust filling the air. He waited frozen for a moment, hoping it had worked, but just as he began to believe it might have, the mech burst out through the cloud of smoke and opened up with full auto fire from weapons mounted on both arms.

Corwin leapt into a roll as shots sprayed across the wall. As he landed back on one knee, he fired a burst into the lower flank of the suit, but still to no avail. He raised his shield just in time to take a few hits before leaping back into motion, for he knew he couldn't afford to stay where he was. He rushed at the mech as dozens of shots hit his shield, and one glanced off his collar. As he closed, he drew out a magnetic breaching charge and jumped high over the mech’s one arm, pushing the device on the main receiver of the gun on its left arm.

He landed on the ground, hit the trigger mechanism, and the small shaped charge blew. The rounds in the gun blew in the barrel and ripped itself apart. The mech seemed to stumble a few paces back, juddering slightly as if having some kind of electrical fault. It came to a standstill and raised its other arm to continue firing, but Lecia seized her opportunity. Her rifle was in hand, and with perfect aim she hit the exposed magazine of the second machine gun, blowing the box off the weapon. Corwin smiled for a moment in relief, but the monster merely rushed towards him. He stepped aside, but the mech seemed to pre-empt him by turning and swinging one of its arms in a back fist action.

Corwin's shield arm was smashed against his own body. He took the full force of the impact and was launched into the air. He covered two metres, landing and then sliding to a halt another metre further. The wind was knocked out of him for a second. He looked over to see Rane back on his feet and lift the hulking weapon off the ground and take aim. The mech turned and approached Corwin quickly, but Rane had it in his sights and opened fire.

The sound was deafening as all three barrels flashed with light, and the huge rounds smashed into the back of the mech, pushing it past Corwin as it tried to move into cover. Chunks of metal were torn from the suit and holes punched right through until its back was against the wall, spasming from the impacts. Rane's mouth was wide opened as he screamed at his target, but nobody could hear it over the gunfire.

The magazine finally ran empty, and the barrels were red hot. The mech slumped down onto its knees, but appeared to be still alive and moving. Rane approached and stood over his vanquished enemy. It tried to reach out from the ground with all the energy from whoever was inside still had. Rane raised the huge weapon up and smashed it down onto the mech's arm, and it crashed to the ground. Finally, he swung the weapon around his head, using all the weight and momentum to smash into the mech's head.

The impact smashed the badly damaged helmet in half and burrowed the burning hot barrels into the head of the human operator inside. Rane simply let go of the weapon and let it smash to the ground, turning to face Corwin with a smile. He looked so pleased with himself as the Sergeant got to his feet, he was more than happy to accept he was wrong.

Nylund and Tano appeared from the corridor where the mech had attacked them.
 
Nylund was his usual perfectly kept self, looking as though he had not even broken into a sweat. He looked around surprised at the carnage.

"Great timing," stated Corwin sarcastically.

He turned and looked for Beyett, but could see no sign of him.

"Goddamn it, can't he just stay put for two seconds?"

"Sergeant!" he heard Beyett call from a nearby room. They followed the sound and Corwin stepped through into an observation room overlooking a vast industrial facility that spanned half a kilometre. A massively reinforced glass window stood between them and all that lay ahead, and they could already make out hundreds of staff at work on something. At the centre of the facility was a structure that looked like a round pool, but had neon blue light emitting from it.

"What the fuck is that?"

"As I said," replied Beyett, pointing down to plans on a screen. It meant nothing to Corwin. It was like trying to understand a foreign language he had never even seen before. Beyett was flicking through files filled with schematics and complex equations.

"You think this will work now?" Corwin asked.

"I can't say for sure. I never thought I'd see the day. But if there’s even a remote chance, wouldn't you take it if you were Villiers?"

"Chance to do it all over again? Hell, yes...How can we stop this?"

"From what I can see, everything is in there. Someone has to get up there and stop this manually."

"Someone? You mean you?"

Beyett nodded.

Corwin was surveying the vast scene for all potential paths in. He was shaking his head in disbelief.

"What is it?"

"Ever felt like you were just all out of time?"

Beyett shrugged. Corwin stepped back out of the room and found Vi, Frasi, and Chas had returned.

"We've shut down all exits. No one is getting out."

"That ain't our problem, anymore," replied Corwin, "No time to explain. All you need to know is Villiers has built himself a time machine, and our window to stop him from using it could close any minute."

"What the fuck? You're joking?"

"Fuck no, I wish I was. No time to plan this. Teams stay as before, except for Harland, you go with Beyett and go left. Vi, you're taking the right side. Rest of us, we're going down the middle. At all costs someone has to make it to that machine and stop it. Beyett can do it, anyone else, just hit it with everything you've got."

"That's the plan? That's it?" Nylund asked in amazement.

Corwin nodded and turned back to the control room where they had just been. He pulled out a charge, placed it in the centre of the window, and stepped back to the door.

"Ready?" he asked them all.

But he didn't wait for a response. He tapped the trigger button on his pad, and the charge ignited with a short and sharp blast. Inside a half-metre hole had been blown through the thick armoured glass. Cracks stretched out from the breach. He lifted his rifle and fired a burst all around the hole, and then just ran and jumped for the opening. He smashed through the glass with no finesse at all, but with great speed and power. He made several metres but then crashed down onto a panicked soldier, crushing him flat. The man struggled to get to his rifle, but it was jammed between the two of them. Corwin put a hand around the man's chin and snapped his neck. He was back on his feet in seconds and rushing onwards.

"Keep moving!" he screamed.

They were rushing through banks of five-metre high tanks resembling capacitors of some sort or another. Two soldiers stepped out ahead of them in a futile attempt to slow their advance, but it was useless. They got off just a few pointless shots before being riddled with bullets from Corwin and Porter. As the bodies fell, Corwin dropped his magazine and slammed in a new one without even breaking stride.

As the main team smashed their way down the centre of the vast facility, the more nimble an agile Vi, Frasi, and Chas leapt across the tops of industrial like structures of the right flank. They seemed to move effortlessly from one to another, and able to leap several metres as if they were doing little more than walking. They barely fired a shot as they made rapid progress, only engaging those directly in their way.