Star Crusades Nexus: Book 06 - Call to Arms by Michael G. Thomas

site. Evacuate all Earthsec installations and head for the escape shuttles. Seal the tunnels!”
    Another voice screamed, and a metallic shape ripped its way through the wall. Two long pointed arms pushed through and skewered the man like a kebab spike. The razor sharp tip punched through his front and out of his spine. A man near the front twisted about and vomited on the floor. Another nearby recoiled from the involuntary action and then stepped away.
    The Governor sighed and indicated with his hand for two security guards to enter. A third person came in with cloths to clear up the mess. More sounds of violence turned the attention of the audience back to the screen. The machine had completely torn its way into the room, and the special agent had taken aim with a thermal shotgun of the type often used by internal security and police units.
    “Get back!” he shouted.
    The machine stabbed again at the first of the men who had already stopped moving. There was no reaction from him, just the foul sound of sharp metal punching into flesh. The shotgun safety clicked, and a pair of loud booms interrupted the sound. Everything else lowered in volume as the electronics tried to compensate for the spike in sound levels.
    “He’s a brave man.”
    “Brave, but foolish, Spartan,” Khan agreed.
    The thermal shotgun sent chunks of molten metal projectiles in a tight pattern against the machine. Incredibly, the man succeeded in blowing a number of fist-sized holes in the thing, yet it refused to stop. A scream off to the left made him turn about, and another machine filled the view. This time the machine was busily smashing a number of computer system and displays.
    “Special Agent Smith. Abandon the refinery, now!”
    He turned from the machine and began to build up speed. The door to the room quickly approached their view, and then he was through and into a wide passageway. Screams continued from all about, but he was of a single-minded purpose and ran the few hundred meters while ducking and jumping past smashed computer systems and broken walls.
    “What the hell is going on here?” he asked himself as he ran.
    He rounded a corner and slid to a stop. The ceiling had collapsed in on itself, and the level above had broken down to his level. Movement caught his eye, and he lifted the shotgun, but the face was that of a female civilian.
    “Up here,” she said.
    A hand came down and helped lift him up. The camera struggled in the blackness, and finally adjusted by pumping up the volume. The resulting mess was much harder to make out.
    “Who are you?”
    “Anna Fitzgerald, technician for Amcord Mining. What the hell is happening?”
    The camera panned back and forth.
    “No idea. It’s some kind of machine attack.”
    He looked back at the hole in the ground that led back the way he’d come from.
    “There are machines back, and they’re killing everybody.”
    The woman wiped her face with the back of her forearm.
    “Where are you going?”
    “The evacuation shuttles, we can get to one of the habitation compounds beyond the mountains.”
    The young technician laughed; a hint of hysteria welling up in her voice. She started to speak, but no words came out. Special Agent Smith pulled her close and tried to comfort her.
    “It’s going to be okay. The rest of the colony will have received our communications. Earthsec will send in help soon.”
    There was a short but uncomfortable moment where he held her, and she lost control. The two of them just waited there for what felt like an eternity in a stunned moment of fear and compassion. It couldn’t last though, and finally Special Agent Smith pulled her away and looked into her face. She looked back, and it was only then he saw the blood trickling down her left cheek.
    “No, they don’t know anything about this,” she said, desperately trying to stay composed.
    There was a delay before he spoke.
    “How do you know?”
    She looked behind her and pointed.
    “I was monitoring