Forty-Two

“Andrews.” Geraldo stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Maybe you should wait. Get back-up in here, maybe a negotiator. Try to de-escalate this thing?”

Even in the low light Geraldo could see the muscles in the man's neck bulge, his jaw grinding back and forth. For a long moment Andrews said nothing, and Geraldo thought that maybe, by some small miracle, that he had gotten through to the man.

“No.” Andrews growled.

Geraldo cursed under his breath and shook his head. “How many people do you intend to needlessly throw at this?”

Andrews slammed his fist on top of the counter. Implements of the job jumped and scattered across the bench like a desk. “As many as I need too! If we try to negotiate now, they will feel they have leverage, which they don’t. They are cornered rats with no way out.”

“You don’t know how armed they are, what if they rigged the building to blow?”

“If you don’t like the way I run my operation, Geraldo, then you are welcome to leave.”

“I’m the Taurus liaison.” Geraldo pointed at him. “Me being here is not a choice.”

“I only need one liaison.” Andrews shot him a wild look before he raised his voice. “Detective Elis!”

Brian shot Geraldo a concerned look before he stepped forward. “Yes?”

“You are now the liaison officer. Congratulations.”

“Jesus Christ.” Geraldo laughed bitterly.

“That's the last words you are going to say in my operation room, Montes. Any more and your ass will be escorted out.”

Geraldo ground his teeth, but said nothing. He knew that Andrews was not joking, and he had become quite aware of what the man was willing to do to get a job done.

"Proceed with the assault." Andrews ordered one last time.

Officers took over, each talking over each other into their mics, ordering their assigned squads forward.

"I want three squads," Andrews barked his orders over the squad commanders. "Mech support with each squad. I want the big boys, not the spiders. Hold them back until we breach the compound."

The officers relayed Andrews orders. The main screen displayed a point of view camera from multiple members of each squad.

The compound was an old wearhouse, covered in graffiti, nestled against one of the tall pillars holding up a section plate of the Upper city. A tent city sprawled out from the warehouse, each ramshackled hut constructed from whatever scrap the occupants could find. Fires sputtered and danced in old trash cans and barrels. Men and women stood around the fires with outstretched hands, trying to keep the chill of the early morning at bay.

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The heavy mechs lumbered forward. The pavement crunched and cracked under the weight of the bipedal war machines.

Geraldo jumped when a shot rang out. The projectile collided with one of the mechs, cracking the machine's casing. The mech collapsed in a shower of sparks.

Chaos erupted. Gunfire streaked through the air. Men cried out as they dropped to the ground, some of them writhing in pain, others lay motionless. The soldiers fortunate enough not to have been shot struggled to pull their fallen comrades to safety.

The remaining mechs moved forward. The high caliber auto cannons roared, strafing the shacks. Chunks of wood and plastic blew away as round after round was pumped into the makeshift town.

The denizens screamed and scrambled to find cover. The fires tipped over, spilling their flaming contents across the ground.

Geraldo saw that one of the residents stumbled and fell into the fire. They stood and screamed, frantically beating at the flames that engulfed their legs and arms. The scream was cut short when the rounds from the auto cannons found their mark. The poor soul blew apart in a shower of flaming gore.

Muzzle flashes could be seen in the tent city. Geraldo drew in a deep breath. It was evident that the sprawl of shacks had been reinforced, acting as a makeshift palisade. The Sons were ready for Cy-Tech. They had fortified their position and dug in.

“We need air support here ASAP.” Andrews barked. “That railgun is going to pop every walker we have if we don’t.”

“Air support is ninety seconds out, sir.”

“Put a high explosive right at their front door. We can pick through the rubble when we are done.”

Geraldo looked around the room. No one seemed to recognize the problem with the order. He quickly made his way over to Brian. “You can’t let him do that.”

“Why?” Brian looked back at him in confusion before his head swiveled back to the screens.

“Because that warehouse is built into the base of the support beam. If it's damaged it could drop the whole plate down. That means the blocks above us collapse, killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. Gen perfect people.” Geraldo stressed. Killing a few hundred deviants was one thing, killing gen perfects was killing Bioloxys products, and that was something Bioloxys would not tolerate.

“Shit.” Brian ran his fingers through his hair when the magnitude of the situation became clear.

“Stop him, now. We don’t have much time.”

“Air support is forty-five seconds out.” An officer announced.

“Now!” Geraldo growled as he shoved Brian forward.

Brian made his way up to Andrews and relayed Geraldo’s warning. Geraldo held his breath as he watched the timer tick down.

“Belay that order!” Andrews called out.

Geralod let out a long breath.

“I want the gunships to provide gun support. No explosives.”

“Sir, our casualties.” An officer began to protest, but Andrews cut him off.

“Are acceptable. Our troops know what they signed up for. My order stands; gun support only.”

Geraldo whispered a quick prayer, thanking whatever was up there, if anything was, for letting Andrews see reason for once.

Three gun ships swooped in, hovering and rotating around the building. Their turrets roared, sending a deluge of hot lead and magnesium down on to the building and its defenders. A flashed streaked out from the building, leaving a thick trail of smoke behind it. One of the gunships erupted into flames, dipping to the left before it spiraled to the ground in a plume of flames and smoke.

“They have anti-air missiles.” Another officer pointed out the obvious.

“We just got word of a vehicle leaving the building. It appears to be civilian.” Another officer informed Andrews.

“Send one of our gunships after it and terminate it.”