LIBERATION

 “Charge!” Tiger hollered at the top of his lungs inside his VR pod. His warbot amplified the yell and broadcast it through the heavy-duty speakers in the lower front section of the head. The four warbots surged out of the bolthole pit and toward the lodge. Before Badger and Walker cleared the top they were bathed in the beams of lasers from the lodge. TYI remotes darted in and out of the beams, collecting a full load, moving aside to fire back, then darting in to recharge by draining the energy of the attack and repeating the process. With their escort of TagYerIt remotes, Tiger’s squad had no trouble making it all the way to the outer walls of the lodge. Living in a society that fought personal duels for class dominance, the baylor tended to build homes like castles, with high walls and towering combination observation/weapons turrets. Organics in battle suits rose on gravity wave coils to engage the defenders on the walls and nearest turret while the warbots made their own entrance in the side of the castle. When he stepped completely into the embrace of the first wall of the compound’s enclosure, Tiger put the sonic hammer in its slot in his bot’s forward cargo box and chose a rotary rocket launcher from the slot next to the hammer. Aiming the rocket launcher at the turret on the middle wall with the best firing line to his group, Tiger emptied the magazine in a single burst. Cramming the empty launcher back in its slot with his left hand, he selected a wide-angle stunner with his right and a 10mm gattling with his left. His warbot’s headband TYI continued to return laser fire to its source while he concentrated on looking for more important targets. They located the main, double doors to the inner wall and, bathed in the glow of their shields from the laser fire from the turrets to either side, moved slowly to pierce the inner wall’s EAF shield. “Let’s go.” Tiger said when all of the baylorian weapons ceased fire and the massive double doors in question simply opened of their own accord. Tiger’s warbot mimicked his look inside the VR pod and the jaws, capable of biting through three-inch cable, gaped with astonishment. The form that strode out of the lodge fortress was human and smiling. “Hi cousin!” Granite said. “Nice of you to drop in!” “Wha…” Tiger started. “Sorry about the delay.” Granite interrupted. “I was so busy working my way into the heart of this castle’s data net that I didn’t see you smashing through the outer walls till I took control of the sensors. You know Chris is going to be pissed when she finds out you’re wearing a warbot body in the thick of the ground fighting.” Tiger couldn’t help but laugh out loud, the warbot’s speakers bouncing the amplified reaction off the walls around them. “Don’t I know it!”