Edge World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 14) by B. V. Larson

Author:B. V. Larson [Larson, B. V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Iron Tower Press
Published: 2020-10-09T20:00:00+00:00

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The suit of armor I’d commandeered was much more advanced than the prototypes I’d tried out during the Glass World campaign. Back then, I’d worn what amounted to a layered stack of smaller suits made for Rigellian troops. It had covered me incompletely, but it had still been effective in stopping enemy weaponry as long as they didn’t get lucky and hit one of the many cracks and splits.

The suit I put on now wasn’t perfect either, mind you. The helmet area was still vulnerable, for instance. Worse, there were a few ports and plugs that could be breached. But it would do fine for what I had in mind.

Armament was another issue. I’d chosen to pack one of the Rigellian shotguns along with a pistol and combat knife. Some might have suggested I carry a rifle for dealing with Shadowlanders at range, but I didn’t like getting loaded down. Three weapons was about all a fella can realistically carry into battle if he wants to be fast on his feet.

The really important thing was my insertion point. Where, in that big mess of domes, huts and urns, etc., should I land? A good choice could mean success, while a bad choice would doom my mission to failure.

Intel told me where the enemy combat machines were stored, and where their command and control headquarters was—but I didn’t care about any of that. I wanted to make this personal. I wanted to find their revival machines.

Reasoning that they’d be valuable and well-guarded, I chose to land near the center of their town. All I had the techs do was isolate a dome nearby that didn’t have any life forms within ten meters—and I jumped.

Arriving in a crouch, I looked around, gripping my shotgun tightly. I became alarmed when I realized I was in the midst of two ranks of combat drones.

Suddenly, I realized why there hadn’t been any life readings here: the place was full of robots.

Like me, however, the drones were motionless and kind of folded-up. They formed hulking dark shapes, most of them with blankets thrown over them to keep the dust off.

Lifting up a blanket, I took a peek. There were a few status lights on the unit I revealed. Most of them glowed yellow. The drone was charging.

It seemed to be shut down for the moment, and I considered disabling it—but I passed on the idea. There had to be twenty of these machines parked here, and someone was bound to notice if I started fooling with them.

Standing up in the middle of the throng of drones, I looked around. There was a Shadowlander tech nearby. He was monitoring the machines and eating some kind of nasty stew. It probably was made of that moss these folks liked so much.

Walking quietly, I approached him from behind. Something must have tipped him off, however. Maybe it was the swish of my black fibrous armor, or the rattle of a grenade on my belt. Whatever the case, he snapped his head around in surprise.

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