Assault on Ambrose Station: A Seth Donovan Novel by Jim C. Wilson Page B

hoped. “My backup will start getting their attention, and I’m going to split aft along the mezzanine. You guys go forward, get out of here and deliver that cargo.”
    “Alright.” nodded Graham.
    We crouched down, the hatch to the compartment ajar. I zoomed in on my cameras and tried to work out why I couldn’t see the MPs. Then I saw it. A slight glitch, almost like static, appeared briefly then vanished. I’d seen it before, and my stomach filled with ice. They had an NP operator. Someone like me, using a technique called Invisible Paradigm, was blanking out the digital images captured by the cameras.
    I sent my own nanites out into the concourse, letting them slowly spread out like a cloud. I quickly located a pair of them, half way along the Mezzanine aft of our position. I shifted the cloud forward along the axis of the station and soon found another pair. We were boxed in. If we came running out now, we’d be caught in the cross fire. I needed to even the odds, and I couldn’t wait for Artemis to start the show. I focused my nanite cloud around the pair that Graham and his goons would run into, and activated a power called Stun Paradigm. It rapidly unbalanced the electrical potential of the pair, and in a moment I heard a loud snap-sizzle, like lightning striking a power pole. I was rewarded with a pair of gurgling screams.
    “Go!” I shouted, barging open the door and bounding aft towards the other pair.
    I didn’t wait to see if Graham and company got away, instead I dove straight towards the startled military police. They were outfitted in light combat armour complete with visored helmets and riot shields. As I bolted, they raised their sidearms and took aim. It looked like they had me dead to rights, but I had other tricks up my sleeve.
    I activated another paradigm, called Spatial Translation, and shifted through another dimension. With a rush of air I translated directly behind them and kept running. I glanced over my shoulder to see if I could see Artemis, but instead saw one of the goons go down under a hail of bright flashes. Shit, they were getting hammered. I rounded a corner and turned around, getting down on one knee and aiming my Electron Gun.
    I could now see there were several police down on the concourse below, and four up on the mezzanine with us. The pair that I’d hit with Stun were lying on the ground, flopping about in spasmodic fits. The two that I’d bypassed were firing down towards the fleeing drug dealers. Peters and Graham were still running, trolley being dragged behind them. The crates had provided limited cover for them, and I feared for the content’s safety.
    I shook my head. There I was, helping a bunch of criminals get away with illicit drugs, and I was worried the narcotics would get damaged. How did I get into this? No time for self-doubt. I took aim and put a solid beam of coherent light onto the back of one of the police. In an instant, the ionised air had a similar effect that my stun paradigm had and the cop threw his hands up in agony as an arc of electricity flicked from the wall beside him. He fell to his hands and knees, stunned but not out. His comrade turned and fired at me, causing me to duck back behind the wall. Shouts from below told me the others had pinpointed my location and I could make out their forms as they tried to reposition. I could see a few of them running back towards a ladder well on the other side of the mezzanine, trying to get into a flanking position. If they flanked me, I’d be in real trouble.
    I started to fall back, firing off another couple of shots. I only managed to hit the cop’s shield, which did little to stop him. He had lowered down, using his shield to cover both his fallen comrade and himself. He was checking if he was okay, and had stopped firing at me. I turned to fire at the encroaching flankers, but this swiftly reminded me of the downside to using the Armatek Electron Gun – the range. There was a very short