The plan was simple enough, yet Zoë couldn’t help but worry as she nibbled on the chewed-up nail of her thumb. Her eyes darted between the Innari commander and Helix while they conversed, wondering if perhaps this was it – this was the end of her luck. All she had to do was sit on her ass and pretend to be restrained while the shock troopers ambushed the Knight Protector from behind. After that, well, the girl was to keep her head low and try not to get into anyone’s way. A part of her felt insulted by the fact that no one present was treating her as a combatant, while the rational part rejoiced that she would take no part in this insanity. However, there was a single traitorous thought at the back of Zoë’s head that Helix appeared to dismiss. What if Alexandra von Eisstahl killed them both the moment she stepped into the room? As far as the Second Officer saw it, there was no reason for the Knight Protector not to do exactly that. More so, in her current state, which according to what she had seen on the briefing monitor, was somewhere between unhinged and batshit crazy.
“Miss Kurtz,” Helix’s quiet voice interrupted the morbid direction her thoughts had taken her.
“Here, sir!” Zoë barked as she had been taught in the Academy a moment before she realised there was no need to behave like a cadet. However, the proximity of the Innari triggered the response as she didn’t want to embarrass herself or her instructors. “I mean… Yes?” The girl stuttered in a more subdued voice out of her embarrassment as everyone in the room looked at her.
“One of these days, I will solve the mystery that is your mind, even if I have to cut it out of your head.” The threatening, low growl of his voice in her ear made it very clear that Helix was displeased with her despite the charming smile dancing on his lips. “While we wait, try to attract less attention.”
With that, he pulled his face away from her, and Zoë felt an item being shoved in her hand. Blinking her confusion away, she looked down to see an auto-injector nesting in the palm of her hand. Her heart sank at the feel of the dreadful item; after all, its sting marked the beginning of her nightmare.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” The Second Officer asked as she tried to return the auto-injector to the young man.
“Hopefully, nothing,” Helix gently wrapped his fingers around her fist, and she felt a shiver run through her arm and down her spine. The warmth of his touch, the harsh beating of his heart, she could feel it all as he squeezed her hand. “This is a strong sedative,” he continued as he guided her index finger to the trigger of the injector. “And this makes it a lethal dose.” He placed her middle finger on a secondary trigger built into the handle of the auto-injector.
“I don’t understand,” Zoë whispered back at him, her eyes fixed on his.
“Listen carefully, Zoë. If you get the chance, use the first option to subdue the psi-witch. As for the second one, I’m showing it to you so that you don’t use it by accident. You’re to use it only if things go bad. No matter what, Alexandra von Eisstahl must be contained.” There was a hint of genuine fear in Helix’s voice, and that scared her.
From the little training the Second Officer had received on the matter, she knew that psionics were dangerous to the point that it was advisable that should a squad encounter one, they should retreat and call for reinforcements. However, all the scenarios she and the other cadets had practised involved, at worst, an active Class III psionic. Based on what she understood from Helix’s explanations, the Knight Protector had yet to manifest her abilities, which should make her far less dangerous, and they had the element of surprise on their side. It just didn’t make sense to Zoë why, of all times, he would choose now to be afraid.
“I don’t understand what’s got you so worried. I really don’t.” There was no point in being vague or pretending that she had any clue what was going on. The key to survival for any soldier was accurate information; that was the first lesson she was taught at the Academy and the first lesson almost everyone forgot by the time they graduated.
“Have you been taught how to hunt a psi-witch?” Helix turned to face her, studying her expression with his hypnotic amber eyes.
“No. I was auxiliary…” Zoë began to explain. But he shushed her by placing his finger on her lips.
“Good. In that case, I will not waste time trying to correct the mistakes that could have been drilled into your head,” Lucas stepped closer and began to whisper in her ear while pretending to check her gear. “This will be a close-quarters engagement.”
“Okay,” she nodded, unsure where he was going with this.
“Once the troopers make their move, it is likely that Faust barrier will break. Meaning that Miss von Eisstahl will awaken as a psi-witch. At that moment, there will be a release of psionic energy, most likely manifesting as a kinetic force wave.” He loosened the adjustment belt of her chest plate. “However, it could manifest as an elemental phenomenon such as fire, lightning or the like, but the chances of that are small.”
“So, I’m to keep my head down until it passes?”
He smiled softly and tapped her forehead with one finger. “I told you you were smart. Following the awakening, the psi-witch will be disorientated and confused while her mind adjusts to control her powers. Our Innari friends will likely take the brunt of her attacks, and once she tires herself out, it’s our turn.”
“That sounds simple enough…” Zoë’s voice trailed off as she gathered the courage to ask the one question that was bothering her. “So, uhm… Why do you sound afraid?”
She didn’t expect her words to take him by surprise, but it was exactly what she could see written on his face.
“The awakening stage of a rogue psionic lasts between ten seconds and five minutes. During that time, the subject loses all rational thought and is guided by primal instincts as they lash out at any threat within their range.” It was clear from the way Helix chose his words that he was trying to dumb down the explanation for her, and although it was a little insulting, she was grateful for it. “The psionic attacks will be unpredictable and unrestrained. It is possible that she could kill us instantly, or in the worst case, she could create a singularity that will rip the station apart.”
“Oh.” This was the kind of information Zoë was better off not knowing.
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She was a bloody Knight Protector, Alexandra kept reminding herself as she jumped from the top of the staircase leading down to Section 01-02. Last Hope was a damned labyrinth to navigate, and without access to a map or a navigation unit, she had lost her way twice already. This was unacceptable. Alexandra was the example of the perfect soldier and perfect battle-frame pilot. More than that, she was the panicle of humanity. Her existence was the result of the von Eisstahl family's strict millennia-long eugenics programme and careful genetic manipulation. Any flaw was removed from her from the moment she was conceived, making her smarter, stronger, faster and more durable than any naturally born human. But that was not enough. That’s why her father ensured she received the best education and underwent rigorous training. All in the name of restoring the glory of the von Eisstahl name. Because of this, she knew she was better than everyone. And here she was, spitting at all those efforts and sacrifices by making such idiotic mistakes.
Her maniac sprint came to a halt as he realised that she had taken a wrong turn once again, forcing her to backtrack. The longer Alexandra remained in this state, the more she could recognise a pattern to her anger. It came in waves, and once it neared a peak, it stopped and left her feeling empty and doubting her choices. This, in turn, fuelled a fresh wave of anger, and the cycle formed and repeated itself. She had to regain control, the woman repeated to herself for the tenth time. Going into a meditation trance would solve this problem, but it was also the one thing she couldn’t do. Once in such a state, it would be at least an hour before she was back on her feet, and there was no telling what damage Helix and the Innari traitors could do.
For a moment, it felt tempting for Alexandra to call Major Khalid and command him to come to her. But doing so would only reveal her hand. Her enemies had to be kept in the dark – had to be kept plotting against her. That way, she could catch them all by surprise and eradicate them. Yes, this was the right thing to do. If she allowed them more time, they would poison the minds of others, and the number of her foes will grow beyond her ability to deal. Instinctively, her grip on the handle of the ceremonial sabre tightened. The thing was a relic from a prehistoric age, at least three thousand years old, according to the records her father kept at their family home. Although useless in this day and age, few people were prepared to face such a strange weapon, and fewer still knew how to use it. However, Alexandra was an expert, which alone gave her an advantage in a close-quarter fight.
The Knight Protector smiled at how her luck was turning for the better. Her anger, her rage, would be given voice through the tip of the electrified blade. And, she had to admit, it was poetic that she would end Helix’s and Khalid’s lives with an ancient relic symbolising the honour and dedication of the von Eisstahl family.
Alexandra’s dash turned into a slow walk the moment her cornea implant picked up the identification tag of Security staff room 2. As much as she wanted to storm into the room and deliver bloody justice to those traitors, she had to calm herself. After all, once inside, she would be outnumbered and outgunned. Besides, there was still a slim chance that the Innari were innocent, and she had come to the wrong conclusion. Perhaps returning the sabre to the scabbard attached to her hip would be a smarter way to approach this, but that would limit her options to attack and defend. The Knight would need to waste precious moments to pull out the weapon. No, alerting the Innari that something was wrong was irrelevant. She had to kill them because they are working with Helix. Yes, the more she thought about it, entering the staff room with a sabre in one hand and a coil pistol in the other would cause confusion, which Alexandra could exploit to strike first.
Any hope she held that she might have been mistaken about Khalid and his men was crushed the moment Alexandra commanded the door to open. Sitting at the back of the room was Helix in his out-of-place armour with the large rifle mag-locked to the back. It was the same as the weapon lying on the table next to his female companion, who was wearing the uniform of the local Security. Seeing that neither of them was restrained was evidence enough to confirm her worst suspicions. Opposite the pair of imperial agents, and standing around the door, were the turncoat Innari, with two of them on each side and what was most likely Major Khalid frozen in place in the middle of the room.
“Die, traitor!” Alexandra screamed, rushing at the surprised trooper.
Wasting no time, she took a gamble and pushed the tip of her sabre through the small gap under his ribs where plates of his carapace armour linked. At the same time, she picked up the coil pistol attached to her belt with her left hand and fired at the closest Innari. The shot didn’t hit its intended target; however, it managed to hit the person behind, turning his wrist into fine chunks of shattered bone and torn meat. Her entire body turned around before the blade could sink with its entire length into Khalid’s torso, and she fired two more shots blindly. All Alexandra could do was hope that the relatively small size of the room would counter her poor aim. Alas, she wasn’t lucky this time. It might have been because she wasn’t using her dominant hand or because the Innari were done shouting, but her target moved away and out of harm’s way.
Before the deafening boom of her second shot could end, an armoured boot kicked the coil pistol out of her hand. Although Alexandra knew perfectly well what the Innari were capable of, she was caught by surprise. A warning flashed in her mind as she came to the realisation that all this time, the troopers serving with her had been holding back during the training sessions. In her haste to protect herself from the attack of another of the Innari, she let go of the sabre. Her forearms absorbed the impact of the incoming fist, sending a flash of pain despite her considerable augmentation. The Knight Protector had vastly underestimated her opponents and overestimated her capabilities. Still, it was too late to back out of the fight she had started.
Twisting her body to avoid the next strike, Alexandra tried her best to evaluate the situation. Two of the five Innari were out of the fight, and Helix and his companion were yet to join. Most likely, the imperials were waiting for the traitors to tire her out. It was a sound and predictable plan. One that she should’ve seen coming, she thought to herself as a punch caught the side of her jaw. Utilising her training, Alexandra used the moment and spun on the heel of her left leg, slamming her right foot into the head of her immediate attacker. This resulted in her being tackled to the ground, and as the air was taken out of her lungs, she slammed her elbow into her attacker’s head repeatedly. She could feel her implants struggling to compensate and keep her in the fight. All she needed was a second or two to free her left arm; then, she could use the hidden micro-laser in her gauntlet.
With a savage roar, Alexandra strained against the iron grip of the trooper. She felt the joint in her left shoulder pop as she dislocated her arm. However, this allowed her to adjust the position of her wrist, and with a thought command, she released the single shot, sending a brief beam of superheated oxygen, blowing a centimetre-wide hole through the soldier’s neck. Her victory was short-lived, however, as a pair of hands took hold of her, restraining her on the ground.
“Use the bloody sedative! Now!” The Knight Protector recognised the voice of Major Khalid as she shouted on top of her.
It wasn’t him that her sabre had pierced. She had made a mistake—one of many unacceptable mistakes. And now, because of this, she would fall. Because she was weak. No. She wasn’t weak; she was stronger than any of them. And she would kill them all. At that moment, the rage burning inside Alexandra’s soul consumed her.
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Zoë couldn’t take her eyes away from the Innari lying around the room. Her own ears were still ringing from hitting her head against the far wall. What should have been an overwhelming victory for the elite troopers had devolved into a bloody brawl so quickly that the Second Officer wasn’t sure if it was real. And then, all of a sudden, the world exploded, and she was hurled through the air. The girl didn’t see or hear anything, but she was quick to realise that this was the so-called awakening Helix had been talking about. She had been hit by a psionic attack.
The feeling was beyond Zoë’s ability to explain. She felt alive. All her senses were heightened. In the brief time before her damaged implants could kick in, her natural body had reacted, flooding her organism with all she needed to fight off this new threat. With it also came paralysing fear. All she wanted was to flee, but the Knight Protector blocked the only exit. Or rather, the monster the woman had turned into. Although there weren’t any visible changes to her appearance, some primitive part of Zoë’s psyche noted the difference. It was as if she was staring at some wild beast that had taken the form of the Hero of the United Republics.
“Now,” Helix’s calm voice startled her.
The man lunged forward at an incredible speed. One second, he was kneeling next to her, and the next, he was looming over the Knight Protector, delivering a sequence of well-practised strikes with his fists. There was no mistake; each one was strong enough to break bones, and if it was Zoë, she would be out cold, choking on her own blood. However, Alexandra seemed unfazed. It took the Second Officer a moment to notice that Helix’s fists weren’t hitting the psionic at all. Instead, they collided with the air just before they could reach the skin, robbing them of much of their force. In time, he would be able to overwhelm her, but Zoë was doubtful that time was on their side as she saw sparks of electricity dance in the Knight Protector’s hand.
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Without wasting time, Zoë threw herself at the woman. It was a foolish thing to do, but without Helix, the girl stood no chance against the crazed psionic. Thankfully, her foolhardy action served its purpose, distracting Alexandra von Eisstahl for a moment. The Knight put her fist in Zoë’s path but at the cost of being at the receiving end of Helix’s elbow strike.
“Shit!” Zoë wanted to curse as she felt her cheekbone shatter beneath her skin.
She crumpled on the dirty floor, clutching her face and thanking her lucky stars. Her eye was still intact. This action saved her life, as psionic energy exploded from the Knight Protector, sending both her flying across the room like a ragdoll for the second time. Receiving a few bruises was far better than getting electrocuted, Zoë thought to herself as her body bounced off the floor before meeting with the wall. Mustering what little strength she had left in herself, the security guard jumped to her feet just as an electric bolt sped next to where Zoë’s head used to be. By some miracle, the psionic attack missed, burning the hair and skin on the left side of her head. Otherwise, Zoë would be dead a few times over. As the thought entered her mind, she saw Helix wrestle Alexandra to the ground. Then, a heartbeat later, her amazement at his tenacity turned to horror as a dark green flash of light the width of a finger emerged from his back.
Zoë tightened her grip on the auto-injector, still intact in her hand, but was unable to force her limbs to move. All she could do was watch as Alexandra pushed Helix’s body away and stood up. The Knight Protector moved unsteadily to the Innari she had killed with her sword before scanning the room. Her piercing green eyes locked to Zoë’s, promising nothing but death. A wild grin parted the woman’s lips as she lunged at her. It was enough to shock the girl out of her stupor as she mimicked the action. In the second it took for the two of them to collide with one another, all she could see was the face of her former idol – distorted by rage and utterly alien. Then, a moment later, the room spun, and Zoë was lying on the floor once more. Her heart thundered in her ears, and she inhaled the air her lungs demanded in short, rapid breaths as the panic set in.
She watched in terror as Alexandra von Eisstahl rose to her feet, turning around to face her and take a couple of shaky steps before collapsing. The auto-injector dangled from her right cheek, the sedative forcing the skin to lift into a small mound on her face. Not believing it, Zoë crawled to the unconscious woman to make sure that this wasn’t a fanciful dream. Somehow, she had done it. She had subdued a bloody psionic. It was unbelievable, and the girl had no problem admitting to herself that she had gotten lucky.
“Very lucky!” Zoë chuckled in a hysterical voice as a wave of relief washed over her.
A moment later, she realised Helix was still on the ground, perhaps badly wounded. She had to check on him. Once she placed her hands beneath her body to lift herself up, Zoë realised she was trembling. Pain blossomed in her chest, clouding her vision and her entire body spasmed. With the last of her strength, the Security Officer looked down at the source of her torment to see the Knight Protector’s sabre buried in her side.
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Helix saw Nia push the psi-witch out of the door just as the slugs turned the frame into splinters. One projectile hit the heavy weapons specialist in the shoulder, most likely breaking her collarbone, and spun her around. Trusting his instincts, Lucas let out a burst of suppressive fire through the opening, hoping that the Gen 2 inside would seek cover. He couldn’t hope for Discharge and Hornet to support him since they were making their way back to the shuttle. Of all people, he hadn’t expected Dorian to be the one to get himself injured out of sheer stupidity. Seriously, out of all of them, John was supposed to be the reckless one. Hell, Lucas could imagine either Nia or Athena doing something as foolish as charging a turret emplacement but not Discharge. Now, because of this, their group was two men down, and Dorian would lose the arm. Lucas had done all he could, but the damage was too great. Helix had no choice but to order Hornet to drag Discharge back to the shuttle while he and Carthage pinned the enemy down.
House LaFontaine had chosen a terrible place to plot their pitiful rebellion. The very thought that one of the great houses would turn against Emperor Constantine IV was anathema to the Demons. But such was the case. And for what? Gain a seat closer to the throne? There was only one answer to such stupidity – summary executions. To make matters worse, the heretics were using the Gen 2s as a distraction while they tried to regroup from the Demons’ sudden appearance. There was also the issue with the loyal troops of House Frost that Lady Nettle had called, which both she and Lady Kai had failed to mention until the squad entered the Imperial Palace. They were good and loyal men and women, and it pained Lucas that such faithful soldiers had to be executed once the Demons were done with their primary and secondary missions. But orders were orders, and there could be no witnesses that MASS Demon was ever on Terra. And a part of him wanted to think that this included the two psi-witches as well. Alas, his current orders forbade him from harming either of them.
Lucas felt the anger build in him, and he barked at the wide-eyed Marrion Nettle crouched next to the wall. “I thought you could sense them, witch!”
Quickly, he pulled Carthage to the side of the door before a new volley of shots detonated where she had fallen. Nia gave him a nod and released the mag-lock of the TR3 cluster-grenade pistol attached to her hip. With an injured arm, she could not wield the heavy magnetic chain gun, making her plan obvious. She would force the heretics to abandon their position while Lucas stormed the room and disposed of the primary target, just like they had trained.
Without looking, Carthage released the deadly payload of her pistol through the doorway. When he heard the first boom of the two-kilogram explosive fracturing, Helix jumped into the room. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, but it was enough to see the mangled figures of the LaFontaine soldiers decorating what used to be their improvised barricade. A second later, the pile of furniture, artworks and wallpaper was consumed by the conflagration of the incendiary micro bombs, and Lucas wanted to curse Nia for failing to mention that she had switched her ammunition. However, there were more pressing issues because the new owner of the barricade didn’t scatter as Lucas had expected. Instead, he saw the barrel of a gauss rifle lit.
Aiming was out of the question, so Helix opted to fire in the general direction of the Gen 2 Demon. A short scream of pain rewarded his effort as the plasma rounds from his rifle hit his target. Lucas crashed into the burning barricade, the flames inflicting first-degree burns to his skin through his armour. Unlike the slug fragments which had penetrated the experimental Predator suit, that pain was a simple irritation, which he bit through as he walked through the fire. His rifle pressed against his shoulder and aimed at the downed enemy; he gingerly moved closer. Under the yellow glow of the flames, Helix had his first glimpse of the thing that was the Gen 2. It was a hideous warning to what could await him, could become of all of them, should no cure be found for the defect in their genetic code. Its face was grotesque; black scales covered its cheeks, and two dark fang-like protrusions jutted from its chin. The skin was pale and covered by black veins, and what was left from its hair had turned grey. But the worst part was its eyes. They had begun to split where each orb once stood; now, in its place, were two additional irises.
But the mutation was not limited to only the thing’s face. Its ribcage had grown, pushing against the boron-nitride plating at its chest. The Gen 2’s left leg had its knee inverted, and the shin had split in the middle, revealing bright red strings of flesh which connected the newly formed bone. The right one could have been similarly deformed; however, Lucas’s shot had melted the limb at the middle of the thigh. There was no mistake. The few extra Xith genes inserted in Gen 2 were forcing the rapid mutation of the former Demon. The wound was a bad one, but it shouldn’t be enough to prevent the thing from continuing the fight.
No, he corrected himself. Its stomach was a gaping hole. One of his shots from a moment ago had hit the Gen 2 in the gut. If Lucas had waited a couple of minutes, the mutant would have expired. However, they both knew Demons could not wait or leave anything to chance. Perhaps it was because of this the creature pointed at the emblem painted on its armour plate: a cross inside a cogwheel. The same mark that decorated Helix’s own chest. Lucas had to admit he felt conflicted for a heartbeat, and his training as a medic urged him to assist his fallen comrade. However, there was nothing he could do to save the Gen 2, even if he had the option. Helix had his orders. He shifted his aim towards the abomination’s heart. The least he could do was make its end quick and salvage its cortex implant so it could be used for research back at Osiris.
Carthage’s pistol boomed before he could pull the trigger, and an incendiary bomb was lodged inside the mutated Demon’s skull. A moment later, there was nothing left for Helix to recover.
“What the hell, Nia?!” Lucas snapped at the woman standing in the doorframe.
“I know what you were thinking, Lu,” Carthage shook her head. “Remember, man. This is Annihilation Protocol. Nothing must remain.”
“That’s wrong, and you know it! They are our kin! The only one we have!” He knew he was holding the gun, but he couldn’t aim it at Carthage.
“They are a mistake! A blight!” She snapped at him and pointed at the burning remains. “You’d be the first to put any of us out of our misery should we start to turn!”
They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, but was just short of a minute in reality before Nia spoke again.
“Besides, I would prefer an untainted backup than to have the memory of what I’ve become inserted in me when I am resurrected…”
“You don’t know!” Lucas almost dropped his rifle from the shock of the realisation. “Virgil never told you, did he?”
“Tell us what, Lu?” He felt the anger in her voice. She really didn’t like it when he kept secrets from her.
“There is no backup for Gen 2. They were all terminated when the flaw in their coding was found. Once exorcised, that’s it.” He saw the heavy-weapon specialist tremble.
If Helix had to guess, this had to be why Virgil hadn’t told the others. They all might have been conditioned to obey, but they also shared a bond absent from normal humans. To condemn their older brothers and sisters, their own kind, to eternal doom was something they would have had a problem with. Unlike the rest of the Holy Empire’s subjects, the Demons were theoretically immortal, and they were quite acutely aware of this. As soon as their current mortal shell expired, their consciousness, their soul, would be resurrected in a new body so that they could continue to serve the Empire and the will of the Blessed Saint. To them, death was a temporary banishment from life that they would eventually have to deal with, at least for as long as their cortex implant remained intact and there was a backup at Osiris. But with that came a new fear – the fear of true death. And right now, Carthage was experiencing the panic such an emotion brought, as was evident from how her body tensed and trembled.
“It doesn’t matter,” Nia whispered, trying to convince herself more than him. “It doesn’t change our orders. Besides, you don’t know! You can’t know this is the case!”
“Nia, I am the guy who has to know. Because at the end of the day, I am the one who has to patch you up and make sure you can keep going. And I’m also the one who has to prevent this from happening to you.” He pointed at the smouldering remains of the dead Demon. “I’m the one who has to extract the cortex from your head when you die.”
“How can you be so calm about it?” Carthage walked next to him, her helmet facing the dead body.
"Because I don’t get the option to be resurrected as you do. My cortex backup was terminated because of the flaw in our own genes. The moment I die, the priests will create a new Helix back home.” Lucas couldn’t look at her right now, so he walked out of the room.
Before stepping through the doorway, he delivered a final blow to the shaken Carthage. “It’s the price I had to pay to protect you all from the ordained priests. After all, I’ve been shaped in the image of the demon Helix. I am Mercy, and I am Indifference.”
How ironic it was that he would one day follow the same fate as the wretched creature they had named him after. His sacrifice was left unappreciated by the very people he was trying to protect. But that was the point, wasn’t it? Their creators had made them this way so that they could control them should they ever try to rebel. This was why the Gen 2s used psi-witches as a base and weren’t named after arch-demons from the scriptures of the Church of the Third Hell; he understood that now. This was just an experiment, a sick test to see how loose the shackles around the Demons’ necks could be. And to see how much the ordained scientists could temper with the genetic code of their creations.
Helix looked with disdain at the woman still curled in a ball next to the wall. Lady Nettle was supposed to have detected the dormant psionic energies within the second generation, but she had failed to do so. Or was it just another convenient lie?
No! He was wrong! The girl had collapsed. In all the confusion, he had missed that a jagged piece of the doorframe had pierced her stomach. She was losing blood fast and was on the verge of a complete cardiac arrest and total implant failure. Lucas never kept track of her biotic signs. Quickly, he pulled them on the screen.
< KURTZ, ZOË – H: 20**; BP: 90/30**; BC: 90% >
He had to do something, or she would expire.
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Lucas snapped his eyes open to see the same message flashing in dark red before his eyes. While he was out, he must have pulled the information from the girl's implant. Quickly, he jumped to his feet and saw both the security girl and the psi-witch collapse next to each other.
“Damn it!” He cursed as he sprinted the handful of meters separating them and slid next to Zoë.
She was pale and had stopped breathing, lying on her side, her hands clutching the handle of the ceremonial blade which belonged to Alexandra von Eisstahl. He had to act fast, but there was little he could do. She was losing blood too fast and, on top of that, was suffering a cardiac arrest. The energy release from psi-witch had sped the deterioration of the girl’s already fragile state. At least she had managed to subdue the Knight Protector. Damn her, Zoë had earned his trust. She could have run away once he was knocked out, but instead, she had stuck with him and faced an awakened psi-witch on her own. There was no way Lucas would let her just die.
He emptied the contents of his supply bag on the floor and picked up two vials, hoping they would be enough to keep her stable until he could get her to a proper medical unit. With a steady hand, he injected the first one into her heart and the second inside the port behind her ear. After that, he retrieved a canister of coagulating foam and sealed the entry and exit wound around the sabre’s blade.
“Is she alive? Is the Knight Protector alive?” He heard the confused shouts of the Innari Major from his left while he worked to stabilise the Second Officer. “Is she alive?” The man roared as he moved closer.
“I don’t know. Check for yourself.” Helix snapped at him, his attention fixed on Zoë. “Damn it! Why isn’t the third ventricle responding? The STRM cocktail should have made it contract even if temporary.”
Something was wrong. The mix of stimulants should have restarted her heart, and the blockers he injected into the jack behind her ear should have disabled her implant control unit. It had to be done in order to prevent them from interfering. He couldn’t move the girl until he resuscitated her.
“Good,” the Major sighed in relief next to him, kneeling over Alexandra’s body. “She’s still breathing. We have to secure her.”
Breathing! Yes, Lucas had to drain and manually inflate Zoë’s lungs so that the drugs could begin circulating through her bloodstream. His mind began to race while he picked the tools he would need for this. The trooper next to him was also right. They had to secure the psi-witch before she regained consciousness.
“Zeti!” Helix contacted the AI through the feed. “Support Laboratory 1 has an active cryo-pod, right?”
“I will need to take control of the relevant sub—”
“Yes or no!” He barked at the bloody thing.
“Yes. It can be made operational within ten minutes. Is everything all right, Helix? I detect elevated levels of stress in your voice.” He couldn't give a damn about what the AI was detecting or assuming.
“Miss Kurtz requires immediate medical attention,” Lucas answered after taking a deep breath. “Inform Dr Saiko he is to report to Medical on the double.”
“What of the psi-witch?” Zeti inquired as a map flashed on the display of his helmet.
“Incapacitated. Administering a second dose of sedative as we speak.” Lucas threw a filled auto-injector to the Major. “Open a closed frequency feed channel to the Major and direct him to the pod. He and his men will bring the subject there and keep guard while I treat Miss Kurtz’s injuries.” Helix took several deep breaths, forcing his implants to keep pumping the combat chem mix in his system.
He didn’t think it possible that Alexandra’s powers could mimic the laser weapon she had used against the Innari. But such was the case, and as a result, he could feel the wound in his own gut begging to ache. Stopping his work for just a second, the medic picked up the canister of coagulating foam and used its little remaining content on himself. Unlike a real laser, the psionic imitation hadn’t cauterised the wound, and he couldn’t afford to let blood loss cloud his mind.
“Helix, those people are potential enemies. Is such course of action wise?”
“No. And I don’t care to hear any objections. Do as you’re ordered, and let me work.” If the AI made any comment after his last order, it was lost as Lucas closed the feed.
The medic grabbed the lung inflator tool and dextrously pierced Zoë’s diaphragm with his knife. Once the tube-like device was in place, through the incision he had made, it would keep her lungs working for the next twenty minutes. He was running out of time. Quickly, he stripped her chest armour and made a secondary incision at the side of her ribs.
This part had to be performed gently and with care to avoid any damage to the patient. At least, that was what all his training told him. Well, there was a difference between the theory and the reality of actual combat triage. Lucas placed an electro-bandage on the thumb and middle finger of his left hand and slid it under Zoë. With some force, he shoved his fingers through the cut until he could reach her heart. His right one moved under her knees, and he lifted the unconscious girl in his arms.
“Major, you have questions. I’ll answer them in due time. Until then, follow my orders, and no harm will come to your precious Knight Protector.”
After a last deep breath, Helix started in a sprint through the empty corridors of the station.
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