When the Stars Fade (The Gray Wars) (33 page)

             
The policeman was
n’
t trained in interrogation. He had good instincts, a trait that had kept him alive on the job more than once, but this was an entirely new situation. Something about this kid grated on him, triggering the need to intervene. But he could
n’
t place what was wrong about the situation. His blood pressure rose as the seconds ticked by.

             
“
I’
m not going to ask you again, son
.”
He snapped open his holster. He knew that, if needed, he could draw and shoot within a split second
.“
Stand up slowly and come with me, or
I’
m going to drag you out of here
.”
It was cold at this altitude, wind whipping around the glass towers at fifty miles an hour. The office
r’
s hand trembled as it gripped the rubberized handle to his service weapon.

             
The young man looked over the policema
n’
s shoulder at the large digital clock on the platform wall. He lowered his head, resigned to his fate, and started to stand. It was
n’
t supposed to go this way. A few more minutes and the platform would have been almost empty. He held up his phone apologetically, miming a request to end the call. The officer relented, taking a step backward.

             
“Dad
,”
the boy said
.“
It looks like
I’
m not coming home for lunch after all
.”
He snapped the phone shut and dropped it into his pocket. The cop took a step forward, reaching to grab the ki
d’
s arm. Behind them, the train eased to a stop at the platform, and a thousand people entered into a game of musical chairs.

             
A tone sounded overhead, and the automated voice called out the next stop for the tram. On the wall, the digital clock snapped to nine fifty-eight. As the police closed in on the young man, he looked up at the sky and closed his eyes. With a small, unheard chirp, the bomb in his backpack activated.

             
Twelve pounds of high explosive, surrounded by nine packets of nitric acid, exploded in an immense fireball. The boy and the three policemen were immediately vaporized, as were dozens of the surrounding onlookers. Each packet of acid turned into a fiery cloud, growing in every direction to destroy the scaffolding. They were just as effective at disintegrating people. The shockwave shattered three support columns, weakening the structure of the platform. Unable to support its own weight, the station snapped off from the side of the tower, beginning the long descent to the city streets below. The rail line began to crumble under the excess weight. People scrambled toward the tower, trying desperately to reach the safety of the building before the entire area fell.

             
Fire swept across the side of the tower, preventing any escape as the platform continued to break apart. Glass shattered under the intense heat, raining dull cubes down on the panicked mass. With a horrific groan, the metal supports on the rail itself gave way. With the train still attached and thousands aboard, the entire line plummeted down the side of the building. People screamed as the floor beneath their feet simply vanished and they fell into the fog below. Safeties activated along the rail, separating the broken line from the rest of the track and letting it drop free. Emergency rockets activated on the train, sending the screaming passengers toward a rough but survivable landing.

             
For a minute the silence ate away at the men and women inside the media building. Then the clock struck ten. As those inside the tower watched on, every single Sky Rail platform connected to their building exploded. Bombs destroyed the platforms and connecting supports, tearing the rails down and sending fiery debris tumbling to the ground. Smaller explosions rocked the Galactic Media Tower as the access points on the lower floor were hit. Though they did
n’
t know it yet, everyone inside the building had just been trapped.

             
In his office on the top floor, CEO of Galactic Media Arnold Rothsburg tried in vain to reach the police. At the moment the explosions took out the Sky Rail, all the lines had been cut to the building. From his vantage point on the 200th story, he could see the six armored shuttles approaching. Even with smoke obscuring the view, it was impossible not to notice the blood-red fists painted on the side of the ships.

             
One of the transports touched down on Arnol
d’
s personal landing pad, shoving his own aircraft off the platform. Before the landing skids had even touched down, soldiers began pouring from the sides. They rushed at his office, firing through the glass. One of Arnol
d’
s security guards shoved him to the floor and shot back, trying to halt the attack. A round pierced the guar
d’
s forehead and he collapsed to the ground. The assault lasted only a few seconds. Before the shuttl
e’
s engine had turned off, the CE
O’
s detail was dead and the room secured.

             
The last thing the executive saw before blacking out was a tall man wearing a long black coat walking into the office, his boots grinding the broken glass into the carpet. He spoke in a calm tone of voice as he ordered his men to secure the rest of the floor, not even sparing a glance at his sudden hostage. One of the soldiers rammed the butt of their rifle into the CE
O’
s temple, and the lights went out.

-                           
II                            -

              Josh and Alexa lay on their stomachs on a large flat rock overlooking the small fortress. Alpha had found the perfect location. With only one feasible entrance, the base presented an almost impregnable position. Even with a full company, they would have had an impossible task ahead in trying to take over from the enemy unit. With twelve soldiers trying to attack almost eight times their strength, it seemed beyond imagining.

             
The hike to Alph
a’
s base had taken almost all of the evening. After securing every last round from the armory, Josh had led the squad down into the pitch-black canyons. At this end of the training area the terrain crushed together into long corridors of red and brown rock. At the largest two soldiers could stand shoulder to shoulder and barely squeeze through. Sometimes Josh had to slip sideways and suck in his chest to scape past a pinched cropping of boulders. Dax had the hardest time of it, often needing his fire tea
m’
s help navigating up and over the narrow twists and turns. Had they made this journey months before, Alpha would have seen them coming from miles away using thermal gear. But weeks of fighting had drained all their batteries and, for all intents and purposes, they were fighting with sticks and stones. Jos
h’
s drill sergeant would have been proud to see him. The salty veteran always said a true soldier did
n’
t need fancy toys.

             
“See the towers
?”
Alexa asked. She pointed to four tall structures overlooking the main entrance
.“
They keep two soldiers inside at any given point. The luxury of having enough warm bodies to man the posts
.”
Her helmet sat off to the side behind a skeletal plant, and her hair was matted down the sides of her face. But even with no sleep and miles of wear and tear across her body, she was all smiles. Even if she did
n’
t look the part, Alexa had been raised for this. She was the eight generation of her family to enlist. She tapped Jos
h’
s arm and gestured toward the nearest observation post
.“
They put a heavy gunner down the main road and snipers on his sides
.
”

             
Josh sighed
.“
Even without those, the walls are too high to scale without grapples or ladders
.”
He ran a hand over his face. The stubble h
e’
d ignored over the last few days had somehow matured into a full beard. It made him laugh. His former squad leader would burn at the idea of ignoring field hygiene discipline
.“
Delt
a’
s CO found some dead space once yo
u’
re inside the complex, but he had no avenue in.
I’
m open to suggestions
.
”

             
The small scout considered her options. Even with the amount of firepower the
y’
d carried from Delt
a’
s patrol base, there were no easy options. A direct assault was clearly out of the question, and using what little ComTex they had to open a hole in the walls would only delay the inevitable. Every route had at least four eyes with clear vantage points, and no cover to speak of. She was about to make a suggestion when she noticed Josh staring intently at something inside the fort.

             
The squad leader inched forward, looking through his binoculars
.“
They have trucks
,”
he said
.“
Two soft tops, and only one with a mounted gun. Where in the hell
?”
He turned to Alexa, suddenly invigorated
.“
How long until they know about Delta
?
”

             
She bit her lip, trying to remember the briefing the
y’
d received at the beginning of the exercise
.“
The safeties should have them by now. Figure it will take another hour to finish inputting the information into the system, and then another two to upload to the servers and transmit
.”
She shrugged
.“
The
y’
ll know in three to four
.
”

             
“So we have an advantage. They think they know what we do
n’
t have. Even if the
y’
re expecting us to attack, they have to figure w
e’
re low on ammo. Maybe w
e’
d rush in, try to score as many points as possible before dying, but more than likely we would
n’
t risk attacking such a fortified position. So w
e’
d have to try our luck with Delta
.
”

             
“But they had to have heard the attack last night
.
”

             
Josh looked over his shoulder, waving two soldiers up to join them
.“
And most likely they think that was the end of us, or at least of most of us. Look, they did
n’
t even send out their truck to see what made all that noise. Delta had been turtling this whole time so Alpha would think they had the last mortars, and they were well out of range for these tubes
.
”

             
Alexa moved closer
.“
I still do
n’
t understand how any of this helps us
.
”

             
“We do
n’
t have much time. Finish sketching their base and meet me at the rally point. Make sure you get a good grid for their OPs and those towers.
I’
ve got to get this started
.”
He edged backward, careful not to scrape the stone with his rifle
.“
Call me crazy, but I think we can win
.
”

             
“
I’
ve known you were crazy for a long time, sarge
.
”

-                           
III                            -

              Every television in the media room showed the same image. Broadcast from helicopters bearing every news logo, the ring of fire around the Galactic Media Tower continued to burn hours after the initial attack. Generals and cabinet members stood silent and watched the reports, each lost in a world of their own. More than a few knew they had lost friends in those columns of smoke. Three thousand people were dead or missing, and that did
n’
t include the countless others trapped inside with Hammer soldiers.

             
The High Chancellor sat at the table, a half-emptied glass of bourbon within ar
m’
s reach. Arthur and Jerry paced the room with the other staffers, each yelling at someone on the other end of the phone. Walker had been glued to his line for the entire morning, shouting orders to Admiral Gilroy back at Sol. Special-forces units had been mobilized and the American ground units were loading up for immediate deployment. But the news in New York was
n’
t the worst of it.