Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 20

A tumultuous silence overtook us—the Prodos Battalion’s elite. Only Vanguard’s simulated wind present atop the two-hundred-foot high rampart retained the carelessness to stir.

Unable to hold himself back, Kline snickered.

Cornelius seemed pleased he wasn’t the first to crack and added his bassy confidence.

Without the same jeering, Harrison stepped up next to Cornelius and asked. “What you do you have in mind, girly?”

Pushing past them, Olivia flipped her hair in their direction, letting her displeasure be known. She stopped before Victoria, blocking their view with her back to them. Her blond hair was loose and against code. It blew flirtingly as she took her friend’s hand in her own. “Is there anything we can do?”

Victoria reassuringly placed her other hand over Olivia’s, and lead her to stand aside. “There are steps we can and must take.” She looked to Peter as she continued. “The first I hoped to save as surprise for the battalion vs battalion sieges, but we can no longer wait. It has a tremendous cost, so we’ll have to limit it to one fusion reactor and psi-converter. Placing well in a few events should’ve given up enough winnings, but we’re 1.1 billion SP short?”

“1,103,765,000,” Peter replied with requested specifics. Motioning toward the Ekseliksi elite, he emphasized. “And we have no time.”

Lowering her gaze, she humbled herself and asked. “This will allow us to create a psionic field over Fort Prodos and at least save us from being wiped out. If you or your men donate, not only will you be paid back but it will receive battalion credit once we recover.”

“Destiny?” I said under my breath.

“895,543,196 PS remaining,” she replied without need for explanation. “How much?”

“All of it.”

“Transferring now.”

Victoria's eye glazed over momentarily then her gaze flickered in my direction indicating she’d received it. “Thank you,” she mouthed.

Receiving more donations, she thanked the others out loud. Having to ask seemed to physically pain her. There was a larger contrast between the economic powerhouse Prodos had been in Freedom and what it was now in the early days of Vanguard.

Holding up a hand to stop, she said emphatically, “That’s more than we need.” Despite her objection, she turned toward the sole enemy and went to work on a display invisible to the rest of us.

I moved to the edge of the wall next to her, placing my shield in a defensive position.

The Ekseliksi elite seemed to possess no sense of urgency as he just hovered there a few feet off the ground. Did he enjoy watching us squirm, or did he just lack all fear? Thinking back to my fight against the goblin soldiers when I’d let loose my rank E psionics for the first time, I had a premonition it was a little bit of both.

“Installation area is clear,” Peter announced.

With a final tap of her finger, nothing happened. Destiny produced a red blinking arrow in my peripherals, drawing me to turn and look up behind me. A multi-storied silo with a large building attached to its midsection fell from the sky. Unlike the installation of the walls, the speed at which it fell defined what the actual structure should’ve been able to take. Defying all logic, the ground opened up to swallow the bottom half of the silo that I guessed contained the reactor. It was right next to the command center like a new extension.

The huge structure wasn’t alone. Another cylindrical build a fraction of the size planted itself close to the inner wall between the northern and eastern gates. Finally, a skeletal steel tower twice the size of the silo before it had pierced the ground implanted itself into the top of our base’s command center. At its top was a metallic sphere.

With everything in place, the silo growled into life and the air seemed to fill with static electricity. It was only a few seconds until the growl calmed, but when it did, the tower seemed to light up.

All the while I kept one eye on the Ekseliksi elite. He shifted his weight to head to one side as if to say he wasn’t impressed.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, a white-tinted screen blanketed the sky. Looking up at the massive metallic sphere at the top of the tower, I saw dense white energy shooting upward before bowing out. Following the force field along its surface toward its end, I found it was connecting directly to the top of our outer wall. “How much did this all cost?” I kept my question between Destiny and me.

“Including the wall? I estimate 4.5 billion SP,” she answered.

“4.5 billion…” My Ekseliksi friends had requested their sponsors to make their pledges to the battalion and not any one person in particular, but even if a billion of it was from us, it was far more than I’d estimated.

“That should hold,” Peter said.

Victoria scanned the energy field, giving a delayed response. “The heat the reactor creates is being converted to psionic energy. We’ll use it to power the entire base. Smaller converters can give us electricity if needed, but, just as your gear can refine psionic energy to its shielding and enhancing variants, so can we on a much larger scale. The shielding energy protecting us now is fluctuating between rank E and rank D. In the future, I plan on installing a second reactor and three more psi-converters, which second as energy storage. It will make the field stronger and more stable.” She pointed to the smaller cylindrical building hear the wall when mentioning the converter. “One last thing of note, the force field can shift between the outer and inner walls in case there is a breach. You saw the metal rods lining the bottom of the walls earlier. They’re made of material that will strengthen when shielding energy courses through them. They won’t repel things in the same way shielding energy will when covering an actual shield, but, during Vanguard at least, they should remain invulnerable.”

“So we’re safe?” Harrison said, leaning out uncomfortably far over the edge as he scanned the outer wall with fascination.

“Yes,” Victoria replied turning once again to face out in the direction of the enemy. “Now that we have some time, we need to figure out how to deal with him while keeping deaths to a minimum.”

“I know I’m a bit out of my depth here,” Cornelius said. “But why don’t we just blow him up? I’m sure we can scrape together enough money to buy some missiles or rail-cannons or something that could kill this guy.”

Shaking his head, Peter reproved. “Take a closer look at the Ekseliksi’s arms and legs. Especially close to his hands and feet.”

We all did as he said. The purple coloring there was more pronounced. Destiny zoomed in closer to this arms crossed over his chest and there was an obvious seam where the concentration of pigment stopped and began.

“Remember, the Ekseliksi pride themselves in self-evolution. His limbs are covered in micro-scales that are probably more durable than most of our weapons. As an elite, his body has been enhanced in ways we can only guess. It’s possible that his physical defense has reached a level that even our strongest soldiers can’t break.” He gave me a pointed look. “We’ve already seen an example of this when Lucius fought earlier. And all of this is before taking his psionics into the equation.”

Even the most optimistic amongst us turned grim.

“Could we kill him with a direct hit from a large-scale weapon?” He continued. “It is possible, yes. However, not only does he have rank D psionics, a whole rank higher than we have experience with, but he’s an elite. That means he’s unlocked multiple abilities and is on a whole different level of proficiency with them. Reaching him with a direct hit will be difficult. And anything sure to do the job would also affect us and the surrounding landscape. With that said, there’s hope.”

Without missing a beat, Victoria took over. “A ground force of our fastest men will approach. Lucius will lead. He’s the only one that should be able to take a few blows without dying outright. He will be our shield and try to give everyone else an opportunity to land as many attacks as possible. At the same time, Lucius, if you see an opening, take it.”

She turned to Harrison. “I know it’s too soon in their training but call on your stealth specialists. I also want our most competent sharpshooters on the wall. Rail-rifles only. They may not cause much damage, but while distracted, this Ekseliksi elite shouldn’t be able to dodge. It’s so early in Vanguard that I know there won’t be many. We’re looking for every small advantage we can get.” She grew quiet as she looked around from face to face. “There’s no guarantee that anyone who takes the field will survive. Most will not. That goes each of you.”

Looking past us into the small crowd of people, she called out. “Major Liam Sullivan.”

Just hearing the sent a chill down my spine that acted like a single flare to ignite the fury inside me.

As the kindly-looking man with medium brown skin and who once wore an easy smile appeared from the back of the crowd, I felt my focus draw taut. I glanced to see Victoria’s reaction, then looked to Oliver’s, and Peter’s. Seeing that they were holding themselves together helped me cage my volatile reaction.

Liam made a point not to look at me, as he went through the formality of saluting. “Yes, Colonel?” He said.

“I need to call on Heather’s special talent.”

“She lacks the necessary speed.”

Hearing the name jogged my memory enough for me to detach myself from what I was feeling. I assumed she meant Heather Esper. The same girl Barrell had a crush on and happened to be one of Liam’s main conspirators in his betrayal in Freedom. She had a special talent?

“We’ll have a squad run interference for her. She may give us a chance. The rest of you, gather your twenty fastest men and have them gather up near the northern gate. Be ready for further instructions. Lucius, you come with me.”

As everyone parted, most of us descended the same set of stairs. Once we’d reached the ground, a long stretch of field separated us from our heading, and most of the other majors departed to find their men. The only people remaining with us were Victoria’s intelligence crew including Liam who was following close behind me.

I did my best to ignore him, but it was like an annoying bug was buzzing near the back of my head. I couldn’t shake that feeling, so I redirected my attention.

Lengthening my stride, I caught up to Victoria and asked. “You need me?”

When she didn’t answer right away, I couldn’t tell if it was because she was still being distracted by her work or she was uncertain about this course of action. I knew very well how much she questioned her every decision.

“I’m going to examine you. I need to make sure you’ve recovered enough to fight at your peak for a short period.”

“I feel fresh,” I replied, rounding my neck. “Even if the same thing happens again, I should be able to sense when I’m getting close to reaching my limit.”

“Stop,” Victoria suddenly commanded. Everyone skidded to a halt as she turned to me. “Listen carefully,” her countenance demanded. “If you’ve recovered enough to fight and you reach your limit again, you must not push past it even if it gets you killed. Your psionics are already strained. If you push them any harder it could take you weeks to recover. There’s even a chance that you’ll burn yourself out and damage your psionics permanently. Do you understand me?”

My grin was solemn. “So if I reach my limit, I must take my beating like a man. Got it.” I was ready for her when she opened her mouth to rebuke me. She rarely got this wound up. Stepping forward, I cupped my hands around her arms at the elbow and pulled her to me. Not close into an embrace, but where there could be no doubt she had my undivided attention, and I had hers. “I understand.” I then let go.

Leaning forward, she nudged my chest with her forehead, then straightened herself and called out. “Let's go.”