Mistrunner 4- Chapter 24 - First Shots Fired (Patreon)

Loose cannon. A bomb waiting to explode. An uncontrollable agent of chaos. All of those descriptors apply to Mirabelle Braddock. And yet, that is precisely what this world needs if it’s going to survive what’s coming.

Alistaris Kargat

A dense fog bank covered the entire valley, obscuring my view and hiding the alien outpost down below. However, I could still see the tower that extended high above the fog, stretching toward the sky like some mechanical finger. A ring of lights marked the tip, which was nearly five-hundred feet from the ground. It was only a few dozen feet higher than the position I’d taken, though it was still hundreds of yards away.

“I could blow it all up from here,” I said over the Secure Connection. “Just a few shots from the BMAP, and it’d all come tumbling down.”

Patrick responded, “It has a Mist shield, Mira.”

His words came out as a sigh, a signal of his fatigue. Some of that was my fault. I’d been complaining since getting my orders – partially because I didn’t like being told what to do, but mostly because the plan seemed overly complicated and unnecessarily conservative – and Patrick was clearly tired of it. But he’d also spent the past couple of hours laboriously trekking through the wilderness to put himself in position, so some of his exhaustion was physical in nature.

“Like that would stop me,” I said.

“Then you’d have to get a lot closer. Which would preclude the use of your grenade launcher.”

“It’s a mobile artillery platform,” I said. “That’s what the ‘MAP’ of BMAP stands for.”

“Looks like a grenade launcher. Works like a grenade launcher. I’m calling it a grenade launcher,” he said.

“Whatever.”

“You’re just mad because the whole plan doesn’t hinge on you acting like a lone wolf,” he pointed out.

And he wasn’t wrong. Not that I was going to say as much, but I knew I could probably accomplish the other groups’ tasks more easily than they could. That, as much as anything, was the source of my irritation. However, I knew Alistaris’s reasoning, and I agreed with his assessment.

Even if I found it frustrating being relegated to the sidelines.

Or as “overwatch” as he’d put it to the others, which was why I had the Emperor out and was lying flat, with the weapon trained on the foggy valley. So long as I flared Observation, I could see through the fog, but I’d also found that my {Mist Warden} senses, which let me see Mist auras, was even more effective at keeping track of everything.

I watched as Patrick snuck down the alley alongside a handful of others. I knew him well enough to easily recognize his aura, especially when he was in his armor. I could also pick out Rex, but the others were unidentifiable by aura alone. Oddly enough, even though Alistaris had claimed that the people he’d recruited were among the strongest in the world, none of their auras were markedly stronger than his. Of course, that was with him in his mech suit, which amplified the density of the cloud of Mist around him, but even so, it was indicative of just how far he’d come. There was a time when he’d been basically defenseless, but looking at his strong aura, I recognized that those days were long gone.

Ironically, Rex was the weakest among the group, though that was understandable. He was there because of a very specific skill set, not due to his overall strength. Of course, I could do that job better than he ever could, but apparently, that wasn’t my role. Instead, I was there in case things went wrong. Because of my unique skillset and obvious strength, I was best suited for rescue operations and to plug any leaks that might appear.

Which was incredibly boring and felt a little counterintuitive to me. I could see Alistaris’s perspective, though. If I went in first and got in trouble, there probably wasn’t anyone that could save me. However, if the others went in and met with that same situation, there was a good chance that I could hit the aliens hard and fast and rescue the others.

Or, as Alistaris had pointed out when we were alone, I could tear everything down if it looked like the rest of the team had failed and were impossible to save.

I hated the pressure that put on me, but I also hated that he was absolutely right. Of everyone he’d recruited, I was the only one who didn’t need help in order to do what needed to be done. I just wished that sending me in alone had been the primary plan, rather than a contingency.

“I bet he can’t even get you through the shield,” I said, referring to the other so-called Mistrunner. I knew he didn’t have the class, but according to Alistaris, the man’s skill was one of the most advanced in the world. It was all I could do not to laugh when the gnome told me that. “You’ll probably get there and be forced to just stand around while –”

“You’re not the only person with skills, Mira,” Patrick pointed out.

“No – I know. I’m just saying…”

“I know what you’re saying. You don’t trust anybody to do anything important. That’s why you usually work alone,” he said. “But Alistaris is a smart guy. He wouldn’t send us in here if he didn’t think we could accomplish the mission.”

I didn’t respond. The mission in question was simple. They were supposed to go in and rescue someone important. Once the package – which was how Alistaris had referred to as the hostage – was secure, Rex was supposed to blow the place up. To do that, Alistaris had sent a team of nine, including Patrick. I was the tenth, and I was there to provide overwatch. Or pick up the slack if they failed.

If Patrick hadn’t been with them, I would’ve been a lot more worried.

And if I didn’t feel like I owed Alistaris for everything he’d done for me, I would have simply ignored him, went in by myself, and completed the mission alone. However, he clearly wanted things done his way, and I felt obligated to help him. After all, he’d already taken care of the human livestock, and he’d gone to quite some trouble to get me into Olympus. On top of that, he’d saved me from certain death by picking me up on the moon.

So, I suppose it wasn’t so onerous to let him take the lead, at least until everything went wrong. Once it did, I would swoop in and save the day.

Or blow everything up.

The jury was still out on which way I’d end up going. In either case, I had little choice but to do my job for the time being. So, I concentrated on the group’s progress as they approached the Mist shield. Beyond, I couldn’t really see any other auras, mostly because of the interference provided by the shield itself. If I’d been a little closer, perhaps I could have, but from so far away, it was impossible.

Suddenly, I saw the shield flare, then flicker, and finally, wink out. The moment it did, I saw a hundred auras bloom into being. A second later, the sound of gunfire rang out, filling the valley. I couldn’t properly see anything other than auras, but I still managed to follow the exchange as Patrick and his nine allies tore through the alien defenders.

According to the packet Alistaris had passed along, the aliens were humanoid reptiles whose name I hadn’t even bothered learning. One enemy was the same as any other, so I didn’t think classifying these particular creatures was particularly important.

As the battle went on, I continued to scan the surroundings, but no new threats presented themselves. I was tempted to pick off a few aliens, but I’d agreed to follow Alistaris’s plan, so I restrained my murderous impulses and trusted the others to do the job. And to my surprise, Patrick and the others managed to send the aliens into a retreat.

“Commencing phase two,” came a voice over the communications channel. It was secure, but not nearly as impregnable of a signal as my ability would guarantee.

I watched as my so-called allies spread out, searching the compound. The aliens had barricaded themselves in a fortress-like panic room, just as Alistaris had predicted. That gave the assault team free access to the rest of the facility, including the building that contained the person they’d come to rescue.

However, as they spread out, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that garnered the whole of my attention.

“Incoming!” I hissed over the channel. “Seven. No, eight ships. Big enough to carry hundreds of warriors.”

Indeed, each one of the ships I saw swooping into the valley were two or three times the size of the Leviathan. Suddenly, I saw a flare of Mist that, at the last second, I recognized for what it was.

“They’re about to fire!” I shouted, leaping to my feet. The Emperor would do no good against those ships. Doubtless, they had shields of their own, and even if they didn’t, it would be the third or fourth shot with the sniper rifle before I could bring enough force to bear to bring them down.

One thread of thought raced to think of a plan, but I discarded potential strategies, one after the other. None of my weapons were appropriate. The BMAP probably packed enough punch, but hitting a moving target with those slow-moving projectiles was incredibly difficult. Even with my aim, it was no sure thing.

The HIRC would probably do the trick, so long as I used Explosive Shot, but I questioned whether or not it would get through the Mist shields in time. After all, they were built specifically to combat gunfire.

My other weapons – like the Stinger – didn’t even bear considering.

No, I needed something else. Something they had no reason to suspect.

I ran forward, summoning my Cutter along the way. In seconds, I’d mounted the bike and was speeding toward a cliff. Or more importantly, I was heading straight at the lead ship, whose cannons were still spinning up. The time that had already elapsed suggested they were aiming to demolish everything in the valley, and I knew I couldn’t let that happen.

Patrick’s armor was strong, but it wasn’t enough to stand up to heavy artillery like those cannons.

It was rare that I really let the Cutter loose. Normally, the terrain couldn’t accommodate the sort of speed it could attain. However, with what I had in mind, I needed every ounce of acceleration it could muster. So, I pushed it to the limit, and the hoverbike leaped forward, accelerating to more than a hundred miles an hour in less than a second. But I didn’t stop there. I continued to pour on speed until, after a few more seconds, I reached the edge of the cliff and sailed into the air.

My momentum took me dozens of feet before I started to fall, but it was just enough to get me in range of the first ship. So, I dismissed the bike, then used Teleport to appear on top of the ship an instant later. I hit the hull hard enough to shatter most people’s bones. Mine held up well enough, and I turned the collision into a roll as I came to a stop just before reaching the edge.

I took a deep breath, then put all four threads of my mind to work.

I battered through the ship’s Mist shield, targeting the dense aura I sensed at the center of the fuselage. That was the engine, I was certain, and I started ripping nanites away. At first, the Mist was quickly replaced, but I soon began to outpace what it could generate. Even as the ship lurched, I used another thread of thought to upload a Ghost meant to disable its weapons systems.

When I’d accomplished that, I turned my attention to the next ship, which was the only one in range, and I started in on its defenses as well. Those fell even more quickly than the first, leaving me with only six more ships remaining.

I sprinted across the hull, then leaped to the second ship. I barely made it, but even then, I didn’t break stride. Instead, I continued running, then jumped again. This time, I had to use Teleport to close the gap, but due to my training, I had Mist to spare. On that ship, my task went much the same as it had before, and I quickly moved on to the others, crippling their engines and uploading Ghosts to disable their weapons systems.

By the time two minutes had passed, I was leaping away from the eight ship. The fall was brutal, and I hit the ground hard. However, because of my high Constitution, falling a few hundred feet wasn’t going to injure me. Sure, it hurt, but it did no permanent damage.

The same could be said for when the ships fell.

It took a few more minutes, during which Patrick and the others continued their mission – after I assured them that I had it all taken care of. I couldn’t help but think that, if I hadn’t taken care of the man who’d attacked me in that first meeting, they might have disputed that claim. But they had some inkling of what I could do, so I suppose they were willing to trust me when I said I could take care of it.

The first ship crashed into the ground a couple hundred yards away from where I’d landed. By that point, I’d found my way to a safe zone, but even so, I felt the shockwave. The next seven came down with similar results, which I’ll admit, filled me a significant degree of satisfaction.

“Are you okay, Mira? We’ve got what we were looking for,” Patrick said. “We’re headed back to the Leviathan.”

“I’ll catch up. I have things to do.”

“Mira, I don’t –”

“You know I’m going to do this, Pick. Just leave me to it.”

He sighed, then said, “Fine. Do what you need to do.”

As if I needed his permission. Still, his acquiescence would at least save me an argument. In any case, I strode forward, summoning my Stinger as I approached the first ship. It was larger even than I had expected, and I could sense hundreds of auras inside.

I probably could have simply ended their lives with a Ghost. Or by simply picking them apart with Mist Authority. However, there were two problems with that. First, my Mist reserves were getting low after using Teleport so many times. And second, I wanted something a little more visceral.

After all, these aliens had come to conquer my planet. They deserved much worse than the clean and relatively painless death that would come if I ripped their Mist away.

So, I advanced, using Mist Authority to open the hatch. A reptilian humanoid stood on the other side, surprised at the sudden opening. I fired a three-round burst that ripped through them.

“We are non-combatants!” hissed someone from inside.

I didn’t care. I continued to fire as I boarded the ship, cutting the reptilian aliens down without hesitation. If they were on Earth, they’d designated themselves as the enemy. I couldn’t afford to think anything else.

Over the next few minutes, I slaughtered the aliens. In a way, it was anticlimactic. I was so far beyond them that they couldn’t stand up to my assault rifle’s fire. And whatever resistance they offered was far from up to the task. So, I swept through them without any difficulty whatsoever.

And when I was finished, I moved on to the next ship. By the time I found my way to the third, the occupants had figured things out, and they’d abandoned the ship. I hunted them down without mercy, using Mist Authority to rip the Mist from their bodies. They died screaming – not from pain, but rather, because they had no idea what was even happening.

It was music to my ears.

I don’t know how long I spent hunting the reptilian aliens down, but it was well past dark before I’d found them all. They tried to hide. Most attempted to run. But with my ability to sense auras, I tracked them all down easily enough.

And in the end, I killed them all.

That’s when I started in on the outpost.

I lost myself to the killing. To the power. I ripped through that fortress without hesitation or mercy, killing everything I found. And when I’d finished, hundreds…thousands had perished.

I had barely even lifted a finger. It was little more than an inconvenience, killing so many.

I opened a Secure Connection with Alistaris and said, “Threat ended. You can send your people in to clean up the mess.”

“Affirmative,” he answered.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it? You knew they’d send those ships.”

“I did,” Alistaris stated.

“That’s why you left me out here. You wanted to make a statement.”

“Which was precisely what you just did. They know this planet isn’t going to go down without a fight,” he said. “Now, we can get down to fighting the real war. Things are going to get much worse from here.”

“I expected as much,” I answered. And I had. I knew the coming war wasn’t going to be pretty. I was going to do horrific things – the sorts of acts that normal people couldn’t even fathom – but I intended to save the world even if I had to become a monster to do so. I cut off the connection without any more conversation, then opened a separate line to Patrick. I said, “I’m coming in.”

“What happened?”

“I did what needed to be done. I need a shower,” I said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

And with that, I summoned the Cutter, then set off toward where we’d left the Leviathan. I didn’t even look back at the carnage I’d wrought.