Аннотация: It's a long and dangerous road home. Rescue of the Azanti.
Inhale for one, two, three, four steps and exhale for one, two, three, four ... for almost an hour in this rhythm, bushes, pieces of rocks and trees of the foothills float by. There is an incessant roar of battle in the sky, flashes and the howl of engines, the PKO is still fighting on equal terms. There is no connection, which means that a "suppressor" is hanging over the colony (A suppressor is an electronic warfare ship, usually of the frigate class, equipped with suppression systems for all types of communications. Unlike a conventional frigate, it is equipped with an additional thermonuclear reactor.). And while he's working, we'll be out of touch. Thuds are heard from Leonov... What's going on there? Fuck! Like a flash, a memory of a past life pops up - the training ground, and how I, the honored jacket (A jacket is the name given to officers who joined the army after graduating from the military department of the institute. A well-deserved jacket is someone who has served in the army for a year.), with the conscript boys from the crew, sit and smoke on the armor of my old T-72, and listen to the ACS-2C3 "Acacia" working at a distance of three or four kilometers. So, the sounds were very similar to the shots of 152-millimeter howitzers! Did they bring howitzers here?! Where did they get them now, in the twenty-fourth century? Or am I just imagining it?
Suddenly, a dazzling white glow lights up in the sky, behind the clouds, flooding everything with a magnesium-white light. Obeying the impulse of intuition, I grab the redhead and hide in a crack under the rocks. I'm putting up the strongest shield I can and holding it with all my might. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a circle of clear blue-green sky appear and grow rapidly in the clouds. The redhead next to him is only trembling slightly, without making any sounds. The impact of the blast wave shook me, the ground seemed to bounce under me, swayed, everything was covered with dust, stones and tree branches flew. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed to all the gods I could remember that no large piece of debris would fall on the redhead and me. How many megatons were blown away that such a strong shock wave reached us from such a great distance?! It looks like the thermonuclear reactor of a large ship has exploded... Mass generators explode much more modestly.
When everything is quiet, we climb out onto the path with the redhead and see a picture of devastation. The entire trail is littered with rock fragments and rocks, broken tree branches, leaves, and other forest debris. There is a huge circular gap in the clouds in the sky, most of the visible sky is clear of pirate ships and shuttles, only on the horizon, near Gagarin, it seems like someone else was hanging in the sky. I walk around the rubble of branches and stones, and a panorama of our area opens up to me. A transport was hanging over Leonov, all wrapped in smoke, askew, shaking strangely. I see how the ship is trying to land, but it doesn't work, it falls to the left side, turns over and falls on the city. An explosion is visible, the city is covered with dust mixed with black smoke. I turn on my mental search to the fullest and listen to the city. Fuck. Only the echo of fading lives. Fuck. Mom, Aunt Cassia, Lina, and Ivan are also there. They rushed to the cinema with Ratnait and Bina.
My legs give out, I fall to my knees and scream, wildly tearing my ligaments, trying to suppress the terrible mental pain with a scream. Everything floats and sways before my eyes. The communicator chirps. I don't get it at first, but gradually I pull myself together and answer the call.
"Igor! Igor, my son! Do you hear me?" My father's voice sounds in my ear.
"Yes, dad," I say hoarsely.
"Are you all right? Are you okay?"
"Yes. Only the pirates broke the bike. I'm running home on foot. Dad! Daa-ad!"
"Igor! Stay out of the village, stay in the foothills. Leshka and Azanti and Nasar are coming to you, Alexey has a key card from the shelter in the mountains, he will take you there. Stay there until it's over."
"Dad! A ship crashed on the city... and Mom! And all the others..."
"What is "everyone else"?" My father asks in a low voice. In the background, you can hear the rumble of a carbine firing bursts, and wild matyugs in Quarian, the only decent word of which was the well-known "bosh' tet". "Igor, what happened?"
"Dad... After the ship crashed, I felt a strong fear of my mother and the others, and after that I don't feel them anymore. I don't feel it at all! It's like they don't exist..."
"Igor, maybe your gut is letting you down? You never know what happened there... Do you remember that Vorka was expanding the shelter under Galamarkt? Maybe something in the walls is shielding it."
I keep crying out loud, clutching the cat.
"Igor, get ready!" says the father. "Now meet Alexey, Nasar and Azanti, and go to the mountains. When it's all over, we'll figure it out. And yes, it wasn't pirates who attacked us, it was mercenaries and bandits. They need you, son."
"Me?! Why, I'm just a magician."
"One of their leaders offered to give you up, and they would leave. I think it's Cerberus. These bitches found out about you and your mutations. So don't get caught by them, okay?!"
"Okay, dad."
"Captain Shepard, stand down." I reach out to the village and put labels on everyone whether the sentients are alive or not.
Fuck, someone's probably chasing my brother and the teenagers, and only my brother has a serious gun - it's a Tsunami IV issued from the city arsenal. Sheriff Grayson, by order of the governor, armed everyone who, for one reason or another, did not have their own gun, including the brothers. I'm crushing my feelings. Get up, Igor, get the fuck up and run towards your brother, friend and girlfriend! You have a praying mantis, and you're a trained magician, but you're blowing your nose! I slap my hand hard on my cheek, the pain makes me pull myself together, get up and run as fast as I can to the bridge.
The bridge is already far behind, the sounds of gunfire can be heard ahead - they are hammering from assault rifles and shotguns, it seems that they are hammering haphazardly, just at random. The path ahead is a serpentine, followed by a long descent, littered with rock fragments and overgrown with bushes. The river turned right and went into the dense forests of the foothills. I creep up to the slope and, hiding behind a rock, look out.
I see a man sitting behind rocks, and a couple dozen intelligent ones sneaking up to him in a semicircle, four hundred meters away from him, and almost six hundred from the rest. I take the carbine and look through the scope. Behind the stones is Leshka, with a big bloodstain on his light uniform, but his brother is awake and fighting.
One of the pirates tries to run over, but his brother cuts him off with a short burst - pieces of armor fly from the pirate, and the body rolls down the slope like a bag devoid of bones, until it is stopped by a large boulder. The rest of the pirates open chaotic fire towards their brother's position. Pieces of rocks and dust fly from the hits. They're a long way from me, and I don't think they've noticed me. I turn to the cat, remembering how my father taught me to activate combat mode at CADIZ:
"Bars, combat mode. All aliens are enemies, attack without limits. Go ahead!"
The cat crouches to the ground, muscles swell under the influence of the chemistry of the implants, and the fur on the back of his neck stands on end. With a hiss that even a compressor would envy, the cat launches an attack. Finally, he had an enemy to kill. The sight is incredible - jumping on the rocks, the cat quickly trots to the line of attack. I also put an additional shield on Bars, although his fur protects him well from bullets. His movements are smooth and concise. Then the attack itself follows - from a distance of two hundred meters, it still accelerates, the speed reaches a hundred kilometers. A live red torpedo knocks the pirate off his feet, a lightning-fast movement of his head - and a fountain of blood gushes from the gnawed throat. Jumping to the next one and hitting him in the face with his paw - a wild scream reverberates through the foothills, the pirate rolls on the rocks, clutching his bloody face with his palms... this is no longer a fighter. The cat is hiding in the bushes.
The pirates are scared, they stop and stupidly fumble around with trunks, only one continues to quietly sneak up on his brother. It is clear that his armor is better and newer, and, judging by the markings on the bed, he is holding a Kovalev, which is the mercenaries' favorite assault rifle. While the pirates are distracting his brother, this bastard decided to go to his rear. Welcome, you bastard. I extinguish emotions like my grandfather taught me. I unhook the removable bipods from my belt and attach them to the bed. I lie down on the ground, switch the carbine to a large caliber, set an armor-piercing bullet and 40% of the pulse, aim. The mercenary is six hundred meters away, my brother can't see him, but I can see him clearly. A shot! The kinetic shield burst and the armor in the chest area crumpled like paper from the impact of a large-caliber bullet. The mercenary flew off into the bushes.
The pirates heard the sound of a gunshot, they saw a falling body and the screams of those whom the redhead found in the bushes. The freaks were overcome by intense panic. Eat up, bitches! I switch to the main caliber and start shooting them, as in a shooting gallery. A shot, a thrust of the butt, and the pirate's head splashes. I hit with impact bullets to do maximum damage. They don't have shields, and armor is the same name, many even without helmets. It looks like they've adapted to our conditions, but it won't help you critters....
Any attempts to escape are thwarted by the brother - one or the other pirate, in an attempt to get up and escape, gets a burst in the back from Leshka. They screamed and thrashed around while I methodically took aim at each one. The shutter of the thermal compartment clicked, and the crimson thermoclips tablet flew away. The main thing now is to destroy the enemy. They killed everyone in about fifteen minutes, since my commanding height prevented the pirates from hiding behind rocks, and the large boulders were closer to the slope, and my brother settled there. Experienced mercenaries would have immediately gone on the attack and, although with heavy losses, would have been able to hide from my fire at my brother's position. And these, having lost their commander, just screamed and shot in all directions out of fear. Assholes, stupid pirate meat! After checking the slope for any surviving enemies, and finding none except a blind man shouting obscenities, he ran to his brother. Leshka was sitting with his back against a rock, and he looked at me calmly, somehow even abstractedly. I ran up to him and sat down next to him, asked:
"How are you, Lyosha?" my brother smiled and ran his hand over my cheek.
"You've got snakes all over your face... have you been crying? Why? Something happened?"
"Mom, Aunt Kasia and the younger ones, and Ratnait and Bina, and Saer..." I start crying again...
"What's wrong with them?"
"There, a ship crashed into a city... and I can no longer feel almost all the inhabitants after that."
"It sucks! Do you think they're dead?"
"I don't know-w-w!" I'm howling with grief, my brother is hugging me to him.
"Hush, hush, Little Fox. Until we see them dead, we consider them alive. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Zer gut! Help me" My brother, leaning on me, tries to get up, but his legs part and he falls back to the ground. Cursing, I cast a healing spell on him. It doesn't fucking help. My brother is still reeling.
"Damn it. So the reckoning has come."
"What kind of payback, Leshka? What is the payback for?"
"For his strength, speed, and desire to sell his life more expensively."
I stare at my brother uncomprehendingly.
"I thought it would work... but no. You guys will have to continue without me. Find them, Igor - they're walking along the river through the forest, and I've taken these freaks with me."
"What's going to happen, Leshka? What's wrong with you?" I'm starting to prepare the stasis.
"Do you know what bioforsage is?"
"No, I don't know. What's it?"
"A special technique that temporarily enhances all the parameters of a fighter: strength, speed, reaction. It is used by troops in crisis situations. But you have to pay for everything - the law of conservation of energy has not yet been abolished."
"And you, wounded, used it? You're crazy!" I threw the healing once more.
"I didn't know you were around. He was preparing for death... It's not that I used it at all. I've used bioforsage twice in a row, and it seems like I'm going to stay here.
My brother starts to fall to the side, I grab him and hold him in a sitting position. Alexey turns on the toolbox and quickly types something without looking.
"Igor, turn on the omny-tool - I'll reset the location of the shelter for you, and take the key card out of my pocket."
The omny-tool beeps, informing about the reception of information. I look at my brother, and his face is rapidly paling.
"Leshka, you're not going to die, are you? Tell me it's not like that!"
"The key card, Igor."
I pull out a key card from the breast pocket of his uniform, a black rectangle with two magnetic stripes.
Password: "Chronos", Igor, remember! His brother's breathing becomes ragged, his gaze dims, but his feelings are calm with a slight touch of regret.
I throw a stasis field at him and go look for a first aid kit from the pirates. He'll last a couple of hours, and then I hope our doctors will take him to the regenerator. At this time, the cat is rummaging through the bushes and finishing off the wounded.
I approach the body of the leader - behind his back, on the armor, the mercenary has a standard wearable box with ammunition. I snap the magnetic grip and the box is in my hands. It's heavy, it's disgusting! I pull the box away from the dead mercenary and open it. The lock protection is so-so, it will only protect you from a child. Lina can open such a lock with her eyes closed in five seconds. Lina! I squeeze my eyes shut, tears flowing through my closed eyelids. "The bastards! I hate it! in the box: a universal army first aid kit with an automatic diagnostic unit, a Turian combat knife, a flask - judging by the smell, whiskey is in it.... Why does he need three liters of whiskey at the exit?! A plastic container filled with cylinders of thermal clip cassettes and some kind of heavy metal case.
I pack a Turian knife, a case with thermal clips, and a strange metal box in my backpack. I search the corpse's belt and take away a plastic box with metal powder from it. I may have a spare one, but I'm sure I'll need both.
"Go ahead, Igor, we need to find Azanti and Nasar!" I tell myself.
I turn my brother over on his back, carefully lay my legs, put my hands on my chest and put the rifle under them. The wind ruffles his overgrown bangs of dark brown hair, and his gray eyes are calm. I cover them with my palm.
"Goodbye," Alyosha, my hands are shaking, I'm shaking all over.
After hanging Bars and taking it out of combat mode, I remove the unused first-aid kit. I turn on the SOS signal on the omny-tool for my brother. Our guys will pick it up.
I've been running along the edge of the trees for half an hour now. Suddenly, one of the seals in the village goes out. I reach for my own, trying to figure out who?.. Denis! No, no, no!!!
I'm lying on the rocks, gasping for air mixed with tears. Somehow gathering my feelings, I get up and continue to go to my friends. Ahead, a couple of kilometers away, there is a bend overgrown with forest.
I feel reasonable acquaintances there. The river is deep below, about fifteen meters away. A wave of wild fear comes from the bend, after which one of the mental markers goes out. It's dark in my eyes, but there's no pain anymore... Just like there's no more connection to Nasar. Only Azanti continues to be filled with wild fear, turning into animal horror.
"Bars is all but the Azanti enemy to kill."
The cat takes off. Screams are heard. I, having switched back to combat mode, am worthy of the mantis from the back. I'm shooting two Batarians like in a shooting gallery. Finally, only Azanti remains alive.
Grab the carbine on your back and run to the clearing. Azanti looks around in horror. There are pieces of clothes on her, and shoes are lying next to her. Those things. I arrived on time. I go over and turn over the corpse of the dark-haired mercenary. There's a standard boxing game behind him. I open it without removing it, take out another metal case, a new first-aid kit, and (oh, joy!) a three-liter flask of water. I take a couple of big sips. My canteen showed the bottom an hour ago and I'm terribly thirsty. Well, I wish I could run fifteen kilos. Azanti! Azanti, how are you?! Where is your unique? And where... where is Nasar? I was just scared when that bastard started undressing me. This big guy went into the bushes and threw his shoes in the same place, and my backpack - there's food and sleeping bags in it.
A bloody cat crawls out of the bushes. There's blood all over his face. The eyes squint quite a bit. Tinplate and this is our cute little Barsik. Bars is exiting combat mode. - I pour the bottom of the flask on the cat, he purrs quite a lot and starts licking his fur. I give Ginny a drink, then the cat.
I walk through the bushes, pick up my unik and boots with a backpack, and return. I help Gina get dressed, give her my spare underwear, and put on her shoes. I sit down, leaning against the log where the Batarians were sitting.
"Azanti, where is Nasar?"
The friend closes her eyes, tears flow from her eyes.
"He... he jumped off, Igor. Over there, into the cliff..."
"What?!" like a somnambulist, I approach the cliff, holding on to the branches of a bush, I look out - at a depth of fifteen meters, from the edge of the river stream, I see the figure of Nasar lying. I understand that falling from the height of a five-story building is most likely fatal - even for a Turian, with his stronger bones.
"She shot two of them. When they caught up with us and surrounded us, they promised to skin him. So he jumped off," Azanti says, choking with tears.
"Igor, where's Alyosha? Have you seen him?"
I walk away from the cliff and sit next to Azanti.
"He's in a coma, honey.... The pirates almost got killed, back at the serpentine."
Azanti begins to cry out loud, choking with tears. She loved Leshka even though she was a Batarian and he was a human being. I hug her, hold her close, and soothe her. Intuition is persistently pressing - we must urgently leave here.
"Azanti, can you walk? We need to get out of here!" Yes, I don't even have a concussion.
We get ready and go to the serpentine in the company of the redhead. We need to get to the other side of the Rattlesnake.
I turn around at the top and see Alyosha lying in the rocks.
"Is that Alyosha?" a friend's voice sounded.
"Yes, honey, I hope our people will be able to save him."
"And you're going to leave him?!"
"Azanti, I love my brother! But now I'm going to save you."
"You said yourself that the pirates need you alive."
"But you don't. And I'd rather slit my throat than surrender to these creatures. May the Spirits not leave us."
"They won't leave," she whispers.
I'm squatting by the bridge and twisting the rope as fast as I can - one has already been loosened, it remains to tighten the second. Anyone walking on the bridge risks falling into the river when the cables come loose. I hope this someone won't be alone!
"I see movement at the serpentine! There's someone coming, and there's a lot of them, Igor," says Azanti, who is sitting with binoculars.
My hands are working even faster, and my gut tells me it's time to stop. I get up, grab Azanti's hand, and run as fast as we can to the turnoff to the plateau. There, behind the rocks, there will be a good position: it's six hundred meters to the bridge, and about seven hundred meters to the path on the other bank. Because of the rocks, the entire bend of the river is clearly visible, which is one and a half kilometers. The red-haired one, fluffing his tail, rushes after him. I order him to hide behind the boulders. I hope I can put down everyone who comes here. The pirates don't have snipers, and an assault rifle or, even more so, a shotgun at such a distance is useless, just shooting into the sky. Al might have been able to get somewhere else, but it's unlikely that the pirates have someone like our Hartman.
Azanti climbs into the sleeping bag with binoculars, while I, breathing like a cornered horse, begin to arrange our position.
"Igor, how are you?"
"It sucks... I've already run forty kilometers today," I say, breathing heavily. I'll catch my breath now, and we'll prepare the position."
"Why don't we leave?"
"If we don't make it, they'll catch up. This is the only place where we have an advantage. If they can cross, we'll be overwhelmed by numbers." Damn, my back hurts. I turn my fucking head, the red wings are cutting. We should leave everyone and leave. Freak out somewhere in caves. They are nearby.
"But you're a magician, aren't you?"
"I'm just a name now, not a magician.... I might have enough for a couple of powerful impacts, and that's it. But they won't let me produce them. Pinned down with fire - and amba. So, Azanti, our salvation lies in distance. If we can keep the bastards on the other side, we'll win. If not, then you and I are finished.... Here's what, my dear, take the binoculars, and you'll give me target directions, just like you did at the shooting range. Ok?
"Of course, Igor! I..."
"I know - the best number two, right?"
"Yeah!"
I roll out my sleeping bag and lie down in it myself - the fabric will hide the heat signature. I cut off a few branches from the bushes around and put them in front of the bed. Ginny gets into her sleeping bag and peers through the binoculars at the other shore.
"Is visibility okay, Jin?"
"Everything is great. Are you ready?"
"Ready. We wait. Bars stealth mode, stay behind the rocks."
A few minutes later, we see the pirates running. Most of them have a haggard look and streaks of sweat on their faces. Only one, dressed in medium armor, looks good, his face is hidden behind a closed helmet. Hmm, and the pirate didn't adapt... but he looks cheerful, despite the fact that it's hard to run in battered armor. Although the armor dissipates heat well, it's unpleasant to have a closed air cycle. And the sidekick is usually all wet by the end of the fight. I look at him through the scope - he starts to get nervous and goes behind the pirates, hiding behind them. Strong, the creature - he sensed me!
"Igor, this big guy... it's like he's out for a walk. Everyone else next to him is like mongrels next to a Polkan."
"Yeah. Cerberus, probably - there are rumors that these freaks are turning their people into cyborgs. This one is probably already half a mashin... or even more than half."
"What a horror!"
"They're going to climb the bridge now. As soon as the cables come loose, I'll take off the ones on the bridge, and then I'm waiting for your targeting instructions. Ok?"
"That's right, Commander sir!"
I laugh softly. Azanti just glares at me in response.
The pirates climbed onto the bridge, six of them, walking one after the other, holding onto the railing. They passed through the middle and began to approach our shore. I unfold my wings. I don't feel sorry for pirates. When Azanti looks into my eyes, excitement is replaced by cold detachment. For all her gentleness, she is as much a child of Mendoir as I am. Today, enemies from the other side of the river killed her mother, friends, friend, and tried to rape her. My friend, an artist, doesn't move a muscle when she gives me goals. There will be no humans or Batarians for her, they are all enemies and must be destroyed. Without pity or doubt.
The cables are unhooked, the bridge is sagging and warping. Two pirates, screaming, fly into the river from a nine-meter height. The others grab onto the remaining cables with their hands, and I, as in a shooting gallery, shoot off all those hanging, one by one. Bamm, bamm, bamm, bamm! And they, deafening the abyss with heart-rending screams, fall down. You, gentlemen in armor, are not going to get out of our icy river at all....
The pirates on the shore run away in panic behind the stones and start firing towards the stones near the bridge. Apparently, the echo distorted the sound - and it seemed to them that we were there.
I hear from Azanti:
"The target is at two o'clock, seven hundred and forty, behind the gray stone. Wind: twelve, headwind. Excess: twenty."
I'm getting ready... bam! And a pink cloud tells me about the hit.