Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(47)
James turned to face him, hoping desperately that the guy just wanted to say hello. “Monitor,” he nodded. “What can I do for you?”
Beaulieu frowned. “I’m sorry, Chronman, but there’s been an alert for you. Please come with—”
Before Beaulieu could finish his sentence, James lashed out with his exo and struck him across the side of his face. Beaulieu flew into the crowd and barreled several of them to the ground. James spun to his left and speared the other monitor with an exo-powered punch, striking him in the chest and most likely breaking several ribs.
The people around him screamed and scattered, making it easier for him to take off. Most of them were support personnel. They were all innocent; he should do his best to avoid hurting them. But then, Beaulieu and the other monitor were innocent as well. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind. He had to get to Elise. That was the only thing that mattered.
A second later, an alarm blared across the entire base, its scream echoing in the massive hangar. James noticed another monitor rushing toward him from the right, and a chronman flying in from the far side of the hangar. The two would have to be taken care of before he could escape with this collie. A chronman could easily disable a collie.
The foolish monitor got to him first, and was dispatched with ease as James cut him across the ankles with a kinetic coil. He picked the monitor’s body up and threw him at the approaching chronman. The chronman made a wide gesture with his hands and deflected the poor monitor’s body to the side.
James recognized Tassin, a Tier-4 two years out of the Academy. He was a bit of a hothead and still green, which was clear from his penchant for hand gestures to direct his movements.
“Stand down, Tassin,” he said when the younger chronman got within earshot. “This won’t end well for you.”
Tassin looked eager to engage him. “It was only a matter of time before you cracked, James. Everyone knows that. Guess it’s just my luck to be the one to put you down. It’ll earn me another tier for sure.”
Tassin launched himself into the air and dove downward at him. James adjusted his exo field to allow him to see the chronman’s coils, three writhing lines growing out of Tassin’s body. He waited as one of the coils swung downward at him. James juked to his left at the last moment as the coil slammed on the hangar floor hard enough to crack the cement.
James knew right away Tassin was inexperienced with exo-against-exo combat. Fighting between exo-powered combatants was not sanctioned by the Academy during training. The last thing ChronoCom wanted was their precious salvagers to injure each other. Only auditors were given military-level exo-combat training. However, during their years at the Academy, most initiates engaged in friendly matches to hone their skills. Trainers at the Academy recognized its learning benefits and tended to turn a blind eye to these underground events. Still, those Academy exo melees were a pale comparison to the real thing.
The only other way a chronman learned how to fight another with an exo was through actual combat. Over the years, James had had plenty of opportunity fighting exo-powered pirates in the Ship Graveyard while Tassin had practically none, though that didn’t stop the younger, overconfident man from charging in.
James countered the attack, latching his own coil to Tassin’s and snaking it up toward its source. Tassin tried to dissolve that coil but James had locked it in place. It became a match of wills and mental coordination as a dozen kinetic coils grew out of both James and Tassin, each pushing, chopping, and squirming, constantly trying to reach the opposing chronman.
Tassin was quick with his coil creations and his precision was commendable. James had to duck out of the way a few times before he could neutralize Tassin’s coils with his own. Still, Tassin’s control was raw. All of his coils tended to move in unison, and seemed to waver and lose purpose when he actively controlled only one. None of the kinetic coils seemed truly autonomous.
Not like James’s coils.
James created nine coils simultaneously and shot them toward Tassin from every conceivable angle, all seemingly random. Tassin was only able to control five at a time and to direct four of them to block James’s attack. He leaped backward to open up space, but then James had superior range control as well. As Tassin tried to slip out of reach, two of James’s coils wrapped themselves around his ankle and knee, and slammed him to the floor.
Tassin’s shield blistered yellow, protecting him from the brunt of the damage, but the rest of James’s coils joined in, slithering around Tassin’s body, squeezing until the yellow barrier protecting him cracked and began to break down. James gritted his teeth, pulling the coils tighter, slowly crushing the shield. Once it fell, the soft flesh it was protecting would explode from the pressure.
What’s another death? the Nazi soldier’s voice echoed. After all, he’s just another poor victim already gone. There was a pause. Oh wait, he’s not.
The Nazi soldier was right. Tassin wasn’t a ghost. This actually was murder. James stared at the young chronman’s terrified face. He couldn’t be any older than twenty-three. He probably still believed in ChronoCom’s cause, that he was saving humanity one jump at a time. The young fool probably thought he was just doing his duty. He was an innocent.
With a guttural growl, James released his grip on Tassin, wrapped a small coil around his bands, and tore them apart. Tassin collapsed onto the ground, chest heaving as he struggled for air.