E-Day II: Burning Earth (E-Day Trilogy Book 2) by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Author:Nicholas Sansbury Smith [Smith, Nicholas Sansbury]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Great Wave Ink Publishing
Published: 2021-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

— 18 —

Five years ago…

Nova Alliance Strike Force Silver Crane Citadel

“Relax,” said the primary doctor. “This is going to hurt more if you’re tense.”

Standing in a med-chamber, Tadhg was about as tense as he was before his first Droid Raiding match.

He despised doctors and really hated hospitals.

When he signed up to be an Engine, he didn’t realize he would become a guinea pig for the eggheads.

But he had passed all their other stupid tests with flying colors, and soon, it would all be over.

Physical training, no problem. Shooting wasn’t hard. And the subject matter tests, also easy.

Actually, those were tough.

Tadhg wasn’t an academic genius.

He was more of a street-smart kind of a guy. He preferred the aggressive ways of his working-class ancestors. That meant fighting when someone mouthed off, drinking barrels of whiskey, and eating beef when he could get his hands on it. As a famous Droid Raider, there was never a shortage of whiskey or beef, things his old man could never afford when he was a kid.

Sometimes he wondered what his pops would have thought of Tadhg walking away from wealth and fame to don the power-armor of an Engine.

“Okay, we’re about to get started,” said the doctor. “Preparing the growth serum.”

He held up a needle the length of a pencil.

“Turn your arm for me.”

Tadhg did as the doctor instructed. The doctor picked one of the many bulging vessels and inserted the needle.

A warmth crept up his arm and across his chest.

It felt good, like he had taken a shot of expensive whiskey.

Then came a rush of cold from another jab.

After a third shot, the doctor told him to stay relaxed while tapping a data-pad on the med-chamber. The lid began to close, and straps tightened over Tadhg’s body. In anticipation, he bit down on a mouthguard, kind of like the one he’d worn as a Droid Raider.

But the pain that followed was far worse than any he had encountered in the arena. His arm muscles contracted first, then his chest and abdomen.

He thought that was bad until the intense cramping kicked in. Almost every muscle grew as solid as a century-old oak tree.

Tadhg bit down on the mouthguard.

“Round one, complete,” came a voice in his ear. “You have fifteen minutes of rest before round two.”

“How many rounds are there?” he muttered through clenched teeth.

“Twenty-five today.”

What in the hell…

By the time the day was over, he had bitten through the mouthguard. At dusk, he limped out of an elevator and into the lobby of the medical facility. Two Pistons standing guard at the doors propped them open.

“Thanks, lads,” Tadhg said.

An armored truck rolled by outside, driving down the dirt road on the sprawling Citadel training facility nestled in the mountains.

He stumbled out into a cool breeze, squinting at a brilliant sunset lowering over the peaks. When his vision cleared, he noticed four Engines near a fence of cedar trees on the other side of the street.

One of them, a woman about a foot shorter than Tadhg, had a buzzed head and cool blue eyes.

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