Shadow Seed 1: The Misbegotten by Richard M. Heredia Read Free Book Online

TARP’s struck a corresponding D-Shield.  Their Grav-car swerved across seven lanes of traffic, going afterburner to make the maneuver without hitting anything.  Flavia settled into a Weapons Control Module that hadn’t been in the backseat seconds before.  He counted as all eight D-Shields “caught” their respective TARP’s, each beginning an intricate dance of deflection.  Each slag-bolt ricocheted off the impenetrable Diatainium surface of the Shields, only to ricochet off another – again and again.  The D-Shield spheres began to form almost at once, trapping the TARP’s, lifting them up into the night air, above the flood of traffic on the highway.
    Then, eight more flashes caught his attention as the extra-long Grav-car banked suddenly, bringing their conveyance into range - eight more TARP’s were catapulting toward them.
    “D-Shields deployed!” quailed the ‘Swarm.
    The scene before him repeated.  Eight interceptions, eight containments as the TARP’s were lifted above the congested freeway.
    “Flavia, do something!” he ordered, accessing the city-grid, trying to see if Public Safety had been alerted to this mini-battle on the Artery.  They had!  There were at least two score ground units dispatched and double that in the air.  Shit, things are going to get really bad, very soon.
    “I’m trying!  What do you think I’m doing here, picking my ass?”
    Eight more TARP’s flashed.
    Fuck!
    Their enemy was done playing games, hoping to overwhelm their D-Shields.  Eight more TARP’s fired on the heels of the second volley, followed by eight more, then eight after that.
    Estefan re-opened their private channel on Angel Free Town’s CommNet, feeling the back of their Grav-car vibrate as an equal number of the Shields “popped” to block the incoming slag-bolts.  “Michael, you still there?” he asked into his sim-screen.
    The first D-Shields began to interact with the TARP’s.
    “Never left, sir,” came the clipped reply.  The blinking pixel once again turned into the fuzzy video feed from before.
    More Shields “caught” their targets.
    “We need Synod security forces down here at once,” commanded the Keeper.
    More interceptions, more deflections – their enemy fired another round, then another.
    “Already en route, Lord Keeper – ETA: twelve point two minutes.”
    More Shields arrayed – a lot more!   Their Grav-car’s ‘Swarm must’ve anticipated the enemy’s tactics.  It was jettisoning many more of the countermeasures than was necessary.  It was smart, though.
    More TARP’s screeched from the weapon rocks behind them.
    Estefan frowned.  “How is that possible?”
    The entire freeway behind them was now clear of vehicles, all twelve lanes were filled with Shield spheres.  The TARP’s were bursting with brilliant cascades of light each time they rebounded off a Diatainium surface.
    “Lord Keeper, Synoddess Cervantes has been monitoring this transmission for the past four minutes.  She’s using a passive trace, designate Alpha-Omega 1, Priority Delta, Serial Number 02.  That makes her Aegis Synod grade…”  He paused to clear his throat.  “…Just as you, my Lord.”
    Still, more TARP’s came.
    Estefan didn’t reply.  He minimized the video feed back down to a single pixel, shaking his head.  Well, she was only in orbit above the earth… , he was thinking when one of the D-Shields misinterpreted the course of its’ TARP.  The molten slag streaked upward into the underbelly of the highway above them.  The electric storm that followed was so bright, it hurt Estefan’s eyes – and that was a hard thing to do to a Heavy.
    It was a horrific thing to see – the slag-dart ripping through the two middle lanes of the twelve-laned freeway, the explo sion and the bolts of generated-lightening striking into the traffic below.  Hundreds were electrocuted, cooked alive in their –cars or –buses or –skiffs.  The Grav-fields failed at once, sending