Eternal Enemy by James David Victor

Author:James David Victor
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Fairfield Publishing
Published: 2020-06-27T04:00:00+00:00

“Boss!”

Anders’s suit communicator chattered in alarm with Patch’s voice. The ex-policeman ducked to one side as he saw one of the advancing Throne Marines in the east of the rebel sanctuary turn in his direction, and there was a flare of meson fire across his shoulder.

Anders grunted and swung his rifle up, but he was too slow. There was another heavy purple blast from across the street to his position as Dalia sent the Marine flying backward. They were fighting a rear-guard action against what Anders thought could be an entire fire squad of Throne Marines—between twelve and eighteen of them—and the only advantage that Anders and Dalia had was that the stronghold of New Eden here was tight and packed with narrow avenues branching this way and that.

We can move fast. Take potshots and retreat, Anders knew. They didn’t have to worry about trying to hold any position, whereas the only thing that stopped the Marines from overwhelming them was that they paused and bunched together every time they were fired on, never knowing if they were facing a concentrated defense or just random attacks from two assailants.

But for every Marine they stopped, there were always more to take their place, and Anders and Dalia were fast being pushed deeper and deeper into the center of New Eden.

The Edeners were massing at the southern edge, Anders could hear their cries and see their running bodies. Arya and the others had found another way through, and Anders could only hope that he and Dalia were buying some time for them.

Thap! Anders rolled across one of the container avenues, shooting another lance of meson fire back toward the Marines, as Dalia copied his shot with another of her own.

“Patch, report!” Anders said, old habits making him treat the others like a battlegroup as he bounced to his feet and started running once again, but this time down the avenues that led toward Patch’s signal.

Which is right at the northern edge of New Eden! Anders saw with horror.

“Boss, it’s Jake. It’s bad! I can’t get him to stop!” Patch said as Anders, and Dalia emerging out of an avenue beside him, burst into the central lane that ran through the heart of the colony—

—and into a wall of crippling nausea and panic.

Anders skidded and cried out, stumbling to a crouch as the impact of the PK force hit him like a bow-wave. When he managed to look up, he instantly saw the effect that Jake was having. The northern edge of the colony appeared to be rent and ruined, with containers thrown and jumbled around each other. There were flashes of both purple meson fire and the bright sparks of fraying electricity cables, as well as the near-constant flashes of blue shielding fields as the person in the heart of the chaos—the person around which the buildings appeared to enfold—continued his terrible rage.

“Leave. Us. ALONE!” Anders heard Jake roar. The figure thrust his hands once again for one of the containers to suddenly flip and spin, straight through the air past him.

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