“Did you get her the weapons she needs?” Rhea asked Burhawk.
Burhawk nodded. “An X2-59 and a pistol. She didn’t need any training with the latter.”
Rhea glanced at Min, who shrugged.
“I’ve gotten quite good with a pistol in recent years,” Min said. “It’s the X2-59 I was a bit rusty with.”
“I spent the afternoon getting her up to speed on the blade,” Burhawk said. “She learns amazingly fast.”
Min shrugged. “Isn’t much different from a Ban’Shar, except for the weight. Speaking of which, I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind about giving me one of the knuckles?”
“No, I haven’t,” Rhea said.
“Too bad,” Min said. “We would have made a great team. It would have been like old times. Though I suppose it will be anyway. Master and pupil, fighting side by side once more against the hated enemy of the Ganymedean people: Khrusos.”
Rhea caught Miles glaring at Min, and when the albino noticed her gaze, he quickly lowered his eyes.
“And how about you?” Rhea asked Burhawk. “Arms?”
“Got an energy rifle hidden beneath my robe,” Burhawk answered. “Procured from a black-market dealer. Also got myself a pair of X2-59 equivalents, strapped to either wrist, along with several smaller swords and throwing knives belted to my hips.”
Will whistled. “You’re going all out today. Like the assassination mentor you once were.”
Nearby, the chain link fence slid open, wide enough for an infantry robot to emerge. It walked right up to the Wardenite party. Rhea and the others were quick to look down.
“Move along,” the sentry said. “There is no loitering in the Palace Square.”
“Yes, sorry,” Rhea said in her altered voice. She and the others turned around and pretended to make their way toward the far side of the square. Meanwhile the sentry retreated back to the palace grounds, and the fence sealed behind it.
Before she had gone very far, she heard the clang of metallic feet to the south, at the edge of the square. When she glanced that way and saw the long line of robots approaching—her robots—she understood why the sentry wanted to clear them out. Its master, the main AI, was worried about collateral damage. Or perhaps it feared her robed group was somehow involved in this uprising.
“Wow, did you get so many of them?” Will commented. “Seems like a lot.”
“They’re not all mine…” Rhea told Will.
She activated her comm node. She didn’t connect to the local Internet, and kept her maximum transmission distance within five meters for the time being—there were no enemies close enough to receive her signal, and hence record her ID. But she was still well within receiving range of the wireless mesh network generated by the incoming machines. As such, when she glanced at her overhead map, she saw the data she was looking for: the dots representing the units she’d marked earlier appeared in blue, whereas the indicators of the robots not belonging to her were red. On her HUD, the machines directly in view were also further differentiated by outlines, with those that she owned colored blue, while the opposing units were red.
She made note of the enemy positions: in the air above her troops, armed drones controlled by the main AI circled in holding patterns. Some of her own octocopters were among them, and from the looks of it, they hadn’t yet revealed their intentions, as none of the other drones seemed to be paying them any heed.
There were also several walkers and infantry units traveling alongside that weren’t hers, shadowing the advance.
The AI was no doubt preparing to open fire with these escort units, to disable the machines that weren’t responding to its commands. She suspected the AI wouldn’t let her robots get much closer to the palace and was probably waiting for Rhea and the others to clear out before issuing the order to open fire. And if the Wardenites didn’t get out of there fast enough, the AI would probably issue the order anyway. Or perhaps Khrusos himself would.
Sorry to disappoint you, Khrusos, she thought. But we’re not leaving.
She increased the range of her wireless mesh network and switched to directional mode, focusing on the foremost of her troops. She was trying to avoid leaking her ID to the surrounding antagonists: it wouldn’t do to be shot at before she could even set foot in the palace grounds.
And although she only targeted a subset of the robots with her transmission, she knew they’d rebroadcast it on to the others under her command.
“Rush the gates,” Rhea transmitted to her army. “Fire at will.”
14
Rhea watched the robots under her command dash forward. The machines unleashed their weapons at the same time, targeting the turrets that lined the upper walkways along the wall, along with the overhead drones, and the enemy units shadowing them on either flank.
The opposing octocopters and ground troops returned fire. As did the turrets lining the walkway overhead. And the two walkers next to the gate.
Rhea and the others pretended to take cover next to the wall.
“Don’t target the walkers next to the gate,” Rhea transmitted to her steel minions.
The robots obeyed her instructions, and concentrated their fire on all the other units, including the turret platforms on the wall. Meanwhile her troops continued to race across the square toward the gate; their ranks opened up as they reached the fountain and were forced to steer around it.
Rhea left the Wardenites and dashed toward the closest walker guarding the gate. The machine was distracted by the incoming machines, which it pounded relentlessly with those gunship-like turrets. She touched one of its thick metal legs, transferring nano machines into the solid material.
The iron monstrosity turned toward her in confusion, but she was already racing toward the next walker. She weaved behind it and touched one of its legs, too. This particular war machine didn’t bother to turn toward her, as it was fully occupied with engaging the incoming troops. Rhea took cover behind it, so that
