The Fringe Wars

1.15

Frozen Sorrow

The first thing Reyne did after Vym left was relocate the torrents from the cargo bay to the base's control room, where the temperature had warmed enough to survivable conditions. At first relieved to leave the cramped hold, they began asking questions when they felt the cannon blasts rumble through the base.

He stared down the runway, in the direction of the bombardment taking place over one hundred kilometers away. He'd heard—and felt—the deeper, heavier sound of Vym's phase cannon returning a shot, followed by a rush of blasts coming from the warship. Then, he'd never heard another shot fired from the ground. She'd never stood a chance.

The horrible awe of his home being destroyed blistered his nerves like plastic over flames. Embers of anger burned within his heart, and he craved to jump in the Gryphon and fly right into the Trinity's bridge. But, Vym had been right. The drones would've crippled his ship the moment he cleared the atmosphere, and the warship would've blown him to bits, and then keep on blasting away at the city.

Sixx eyed Reyne before taking charge of the room. "We could be here for some time. You may as well get comfortable. I need a couple volunteers to get the heat going in the rest of this place."

Three torrents raised their hands, and Sixx nodded in recognition. "Once the temp is bearable, go in pairs and tally supplies. See what we have to work with here."

Reyne blinked his eyes as he fought to bring himself back to reality. "Start two levels down," He said. "There used to be a large stockroom down there."

Chatter erupted from the group of fifteen shivering torrents, and Reyne turned and headed outside, slamming the door on the cacophony of questions and demands. After climbing aboard the Gryphon, he locked the door to keep all non-crewmembers out.

Boden and Demes came walking down the hall. Boden tossed a small object to Reyne. "The tracker's been taken care of."

Reyne examined the small black device that looked like it had been hit with a hammer. He tossed it back. "Good job."

"What's going on out there?" Demes asked. "I've never heard phase cannons before. It sounds like one hell of a battle."

Reyne shook his head and swallowed. "It's not a battle. It's a massacre."

Demes' eyes widened, while Boden sadly shook his head.

Reyne looked upward, as though he could see the Trinity through the thousand feet of rock they sat under. "Ausyar announced that Ice Port was housing the terrorists responsible for the blight."

Boden guffawed. "What? No one would believe that Playans would harm another colony. Genics Corp was behind the blight. I'd bet my life on it."

Reyne squeezed his fists and breathed deeply, trying not to think about what was happening to Ice Port. "And, you'd be right," he said finally. "But, they're arrogant enough to believe no one will figure that out if they pin the blame on Playa."

"Citizens suck," Demes said. "Wouldn't it be great if we broadcast everything we know to the entire Collective?"

"Yes, it would," Reyne mused.

"Too bad it's impossible," Demes tacked on. "The only Collective-wide broadcast points are on Alluvia and Myr. I've tried to hack into them a couple times—for fun, you know—but had no luck. There's no hacking into them without tapping into the hard lines."

"Hm," Reyne said as he pondered Demes' words.

Boden and Demes started to walk away.

After a moment, Reyne called out, "Hold up, guys."