Nellie and the Nanites - Bk2 - Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Night light

“Are you ready?” Lucy asked, her voice imparted directly to Nellie’s eardrum, confident and calm.

“Ready,” Nellie confirmed, feeling a ticklish sensation in her throat the moment she said the word. The confirmation of the upgrade scrolled across her vision a moment later.

Voice Synthesizer Module Installed.

“All ready to go,” Lucy said, “Now we just need the voice samples.”

Nellie crept forward, pushing through the underbrush around the outside of the small Fed camp. She kept as close to the wall as she could to ensure no stray lights caught her movement. Her targets were just ahead, one leaning against the wall and smoking while the other complained loudly about another night watch duty.

Their white armor stood out against the darkness, even without the lights on their shoulders and beneath the barrels of their weapons.

“This is close enough,” Lucy said. “Analyzing voice patterns now.”

Nellie froze in place, waiting for confirmation from Lucy that she was free to act.

It took a few minutes, Nellie feeling the cold earth beneath her starting to leach the heat from her body before Lucy gave the all clear.

Mentally crossing her fingers, Nellie crawled away.

Once she was far enough around the perimeter wall, Nellie rose into a crouch and leaped straight up, catching onto the small lip of the parapet that allowed the guards to man the walls in case of attack. It was empty now, with not even a token patrol to show awareness.

The Feds had crushed the system in a single battle, and while rumors talked of resistance in the towns and cities, out here in the boonies, the Feds were confident enough to leave the walls unguarded. She doubted that would be the case after tonight.

Nellie rolled over the parapet, staying low, and dropped into the compound proper. Darting from one shadow to another while Lucy kept an ear out for movement, footsteps, or anything else allowed her to map the inside of the camp.

It was a simple affair, several small buildings in the cubic design the Feds used for Pre-Fab buildings. Each one was an impractical white with a single color that denoted usage.

A blue strike indicated logistics, like the armories and cafeteria. The barracks were red, and the command and control building was yellow. Not that they needed the color for that one. The antenna sticking up bristling with tech was a dead giveaway.

What she was looking for was a cube with two stripes. One red, one yellow. Nellie found it right beside the gate, which was a surprise. She had assumed it would either be in the center to stay close to the command building or in a far corner for privacy and quiet.

Not that it mattered much. She moved slowly, avoiding a pair of power-armored patrols that made so much noise they could be heard from the other side of the compound.

Pressing herself against the back wall of her target building, she felt warmth radiating from within. Perfect. He was inside.

Nellie waited for the right moment and then leaped for the flat roof of the cube, making sure she grabbed the edge and pulled herself flat against it.

Making a noise now would rather spoil the surprise, and there was no telling if she would survive that mistake.

The nanoblade sliced through the dense alloy of the cube with the same effortless ease that it did everything else. Nellie cut a ‘u’ shape into the roof and then pressed one hand against the metal.

Nanites flooded into the metal, weakening the alloy enough for her to carefully and, more importantly, silently bend it upward and roll it back. She paused and pulled back the nanites, Lucy taking care to return the alloy to its previous state to ensure that no trace remained of the nanites.

“Go,” Lucy whispered, not that anyone could hear her, even if she shouted. Nellie had discovered how unnerving it was to be sneaking around and have someone talking to you in a loud, clear voice on a previous night.

She had insisted Lucy whisper, if only for Nellie’s sanity.

Slipping into the small space between the cube and the internal roof allowed Nellie to hear the soft sound of snoring clearly. She still waited a good ten minutes, waiting to see if any other sounds came, just to be sure.

It wasn’t because she was anxious, terrified, or anything like that. It wasn’t because even the idea of this made her feel sick.

No.

Not at all.

Finally, reminding herself of the dead lying in villages all over the planet thanks to men like the one sleeping peacefully below her, she pulled aside one of the ceiling tiles and carefully lowered herself to the floor.

She wasn’t sure what she had expected from the commander’s quarters, but this wasn’t it. Nellie had assumed something sparse, even spartan, with a few proudly displayed mementos. She had not expected a wall of selfies.

Large pictures of the commander, smiling and laughing, covered the walls. In each one, he was posed holding something of value.

And behind him, behind his smiling face, were the dead.

Suddenly, Nellie didn’t feel so bad about this.

His weapons and armor were on a small stand next to the bed. It gleamed, with complicated electronics and powerful motors and hydraulics visible between the joins. It was tempting to help herself, but this wasn’t the time.

With a silent sigh, Nellie pulled the long steel knife from the scabbard at the waist and approached the sleeping figure.

Even now, she hesitated. He didn’t look evil as he slept. He could almost be cute, with a half smile on his face, even in his sleep.

Her eyes roved around the room, seeing the pictures once more.

Nellie swallowed and slammed the knife down, stabbing directly through the throat and into the spine. It was easy with her boosted strength and Lucy adding a small glowing ‘X’ on the right spot to hit for a silent kill.

The kill was silent but not instant. The man’s eyes flew open, his mouth working as he silently screamed. With a severed spine, he could not thrash, but that did nothing to prevent the look of horror and terror in his eyes as they slowly glazed over.

Once it was done, Nellie took a small device from her belt and held it up over the wall of pictures. Light flashed twice, and the pictures burned away. In their place was a red and gold flower design that Lucy had created.

“We can leave now,” Lucy said quietly.

Nellie nodded, feeling slightly numb. It was a feeling she recognized, one she felt after killing Tor-Am. This was a very different situation, but it still FELT the same.

With no need to be as silent, Nellie leaped into the ceiling and scrambled up and out into the night air.

“Should we close this up again?” Nellie asked quietly. She was really starting to get the hang of sub-vocalising things.

“No point,” Lucy said. “I can make the alloy appear normal, but they will find the cut marks no matter how much I smooth it. Better to leave it obvious than let them know we can repair it.”

Nellie nodded and rolled off the roof again, making her way quickly through the dark camp. It was early morning now, the sun would be rising in a couple of hours, and the base would awake. The complaining guards would go off shift, and another pair would take over.

Everything would be normal right up until someone tried to wake the commander.

She crouched and leaped, this time clearing the wall in a single leap. There was little point in worrying about being seen now. It was done.

He was dead.

Landing easily on the other side, Nellie broke into a sprint. She dashed through the night, heading along a path laid out for her by Lucy.

She only had to stop twice to throw up in horror about what she had done.

===<<<>>>===

The Pod dropped through the trees and into the cover of the foliage just as the first light of dawn tried to fight through the cloud of dust covering the planet.

“Scanning for wreckage!” Lucy said brightly. This was a task they both enjoyed, something to take Nellie’s mind off what they had done earlier. “Detecting something a half mile to the west, flagging it for you now.”

Nellie wove the pod through the forest easily. Compared to how Lucy had taught her to fly, this was easy. She even had controls that made sense.

As they neared the sight of the readings, Lucy increased the power of the night vision, adding a layer of infrared to the hud.

Small shapes fled from the mound of metal half-buried beneath a pair of fallen trees. It looked like something worthwhile, but a pair of half-eaten bodies caught her eye.

They were lying half out of the metal shape, and it almost looked like one of them was moving.

“Hovering here,” Lucy took control of the pod as Nellie opened the cab and dropped a few feet to the ground. Light speared down, lighting the area in a warm yellow light.

Nellie saw two dead bodies, both with the remains of sector security uniforms on them. Both had been fed on extensively by the native creatures. It was not a pretty sight as all the soft tissues went first. Empty eye sockets stared into the light as teeth showed through missing cheeks and lips.

Checking on the one that seemed to be moving, Nellie saw the half-eaten head roll towards her and screamed as the mouth opened. She didn’t even think about pulling her rifle, grabbing her sword, and powering the blade as she slashed down. The severed head fell from the body, revealing a long eel-like worm twitching and convulsing in the throat.

“Ostie!” Nellie leaped back. “I mean, fuck!” She stabbed the sword into the corpse, killing the worm thing for good.

“I think the gear in this piece looks important. Can we take it?” Lucy asked.

“Go for it,” Nellie sighed. “I’ll keep an eye out while you work.”

“Thanks!” Lucy practically purred.

Fighting off a small smile, Nellie leaped, kicking off from the pod, where it hovered in the air and into the trees. She kept bouncing and climbing until she got high enough to be able to peak through the foliage. With a clear view of the sky, she balanced there, watching the sunrise through the dust cloud as below; Nanites carved, harvested, and scrapped the piece of the fallen ship.

A little over an hour later, Nellie carefully piloted the pod up through the trees. It was markedly larger now, with wooden crates lashed to the hull and a net hanging below with even more crates.

Lucy had found a lot of things she wanted this time.

The flight back to the yard was relaxing, the skies clear everywhere. When they arrived, Nellie dropped out of the cockpit, and Lucy carefully lowered the pod until the net was completely on the floor.

It was the work of a minute to cut the cargo free, and Lucy parked the pod in its shed as the scouts came and started ferrying parts into the underground workshop. As for Nellie, she walked into the office and started to strip out of her gear. Not sweating made the process much more pleasant, but she still wanted a shower.

Once she was done, her regular clothes back on and her metal leg propped on the table, Nellie drank some water while she let the night fall away from her.

Lucy was giving her space to process, which she appreciated.

She did what needed to be done; the man had been a monster who killed and looted. It was necessary, and Nellie was nothing if not practical.

Practical did not mean she had no feelings, just that she did what needed to be done first and worried about her feelings after.

Killing a murdering bastard was easier to justify than killing someone like Tor-Am, who was merely afraid and a threat, but it was still killing.

“Merde, I’m not prepared for this shit,” Nellie said, rubbing a hand over her face.

“You can always stop,” Lucy said, her form shimmering into existence as she spoke. “No one says you have to be the one to take these people out.”

“I know,” Nellie said with a bitter smile, “But I’m the one who’s here.”

Lucy gave her a look.

“It’s difficult to explain,” Nellie chewed her lip for a moment, “I’m no one to all the people getting killed, right?”

“Pretty much,” Lucy nodded. “You didn’t bring their problems here.”

“Right,” Nellie agreed. “But I did bring harm to people. Not by choice, of course, but I did. This is kind of the least I can do.”

“That makes no sense.” Lucy shook her head.

“I feel guilty, even so,” Nellie said quietly. “I was the reason Bartlett obliterated a huge part of the surface.” She swallowed. “I know I didn’t do it, but I caused it. And I FEEL that.”

“Does this help?” Lucy asked.

“I don’t know,” Nellie admitted. “Maybe?”

Lucy was quiet for a long time but eventually just nodded. “Okay, but what if this makes things worse?” She held up a hand to forestall Nellie’s reply, “The Feds might decide to strike back, make an example of somewhere. Have you considered that?”

Nellie stared at her.

She hadn’t.

“I… I have to do something!” It was all she could say.

“Then I would suggest we move to more distant targets, make it difficult to target where we are coming from,” Lucy said, starting to pace back and forth. “It may also help to target ANY problem we see, not just Fed ones.”

“Okay,” Nellie gave it some thought. “I see what you mean.” She ran her hands through her hair. “Damn, I miss coffee.”

“Well, if we range further, we stand a better chance of finding some.” Lucy grinned.

“You should have led with that,” Nellie laughed.

===<<<>>>===

Crush-Cha stared through the window of the shuttle as it came in to land at the Hub. His manacled hands flexed as he saw the lines of people shuffling into one of the holding bays.

“You need to get away from the window,” Prit-Mal sighed as she slumped down against the wall. “They will just beat you again.”

“Let them,” Crush grinned, only to wince as the cold air hit his broken teeth, “The more they provoke the people, the more likely they are to rise up.”

“Don’t be naive.” Prit-Mal shook her head. “They have the system. The sooner people accept that, the better for all of us.”

Crush just gave her a look. He didn’t blame her for her attitude. She was a Security Officer to the core. She wanted to least trouble, the most orderly transfer. It was what she was trained to do.

Respect for the rules, for the ruling, was built into her training from day one.

Crush was not that way. His training had been different, to say the least. He was not the type to meekly accept things anyway.

Besides, he was still pissed at the Captain.

The anger was eating away at him, no matter how hard he tried to keep his calm.

“I wonder what a gecko is?” He muttered to himself.

Well, they would never know now.

Dead was dead, and gone was gone.

The sector was under occupation, and besides, she was a nanite host.

“Forget the past; deal with the present.” It was a mantra that was literally beaten into him.

“What was that?” Prit-Mal asked as the slight shiver and thump of the landing shook the shuttle.

“Nothing important,” Crush said with a small smile. “Just something I need to remember.”

“Please, move to your left and prepare for inspection!” The white-clad trooper called in a bored voice.

Crush fell in with the others, shuffling toward a group of guards directing people to one desk or another. He could pick out five ways to escape, but none of them included taking Prit and the others with him.

“Name, job, and place of residence,” The woman asked, her dark skin contrasting against the brilliant white of her armor.

“Crush-Cha, Dockmaster and Loader, Fig-Seven,” Crush-Cha responded.

“Hmm, we could use a loader over at the docks, but you came on a shuttle from the mining station?”

“I was drummed into service for the attack there,” Crush-Cha said, trying to sound nervous. He let his shoulders droop just a little. As if he was trying and failing to hide it.

“Ahh,” The woman gave him a sympathetic look. “Well, you can rest now. We have everything under control.”

An explosion rocked the landing bay a few over. Shouts and small arms fire rang out for a few seconds before the high-pitched whine of Fed weapons answered.

“Are you sure?” Prit-Mal laughed from behind Crush-Cha.

The sounds died away suddenly, and an all-clear rang across the Hub.

“Quite,” The woman had a smug smile on her face that Crush wanted to wipe away by snapping her neck.

He felt that would lack subtlety.

“Alright, if you say so,” He shrugged.

“Follow the green lines to holding area five,” The woman intoned, handing him a sheet of paper. “Behave, and you will be released in a few days. Next!”

Crush shuffled on, following the green line. He lingered long enough to see that Prit-Mal and Brix were both sent down the yellow line.

“Hold still,” Another guard removed his manacles. “In you go.”

He was waved into a large enclosure, the cube-like temporary buildings typically Fed. They all bore a black stripe.

“Here!” A woman pushed a meal tray and a can into his hands. “You get meals every five hours; the next one is in three hours. Don’t be late.”

Crush-Cha nodded and took a seat.  He pushed the heating buttons on his meal and drink, only to realize the drink was HyperDrive.

He hung his head and tried to figure out how to escape and if he could take Prit-Mal and Brix with him.