Cyber Viking 3

by Marcus Sloss

  Jevon folded his arms eyeing the fine fairies, “How did you placate them? Calmest I have seen them. Hmm… There are no complaints on the net about fairies being shitheads either. What gives?”

  “The fairies are very eager to get to work. I did not let these two go help. They are going to serve as administrators. Nilvia is going to Aspen to be a coven matriarch at our behest, her rule unchallengeable as long as we are pleased. She will be working with Jevon to help your building projected there,” Perci said, eyeing the smaller twin waiting for a reaction. When there was none she continued. “See, give them what they want and they finally stop getting knocked down by their superiors for their attitudes. Longoria is joining our defense council and serving our needs, such as managing fairy supplies. Seteria will be the matriarch of our Mansion coven. Seteria is getting the bigger coven, with the most trees for numerous reasons. Oh, and the other fairies are being folded into each group. This way their society adapts to ours and they all learn how to either fight or work to match our needs.”

  I smiled and smacked my hands together. With deep exhale I said, “So we are done then?”

  “Not exactly, I saved a smidge for just in case emergencies and if not last moment buys. There are a few dozen crixxi not kissing Everly’s cheek. They are getting tossed back up for sale. It adds up. Out of the nearly four thousand were sending three hundred back up for sale. I can store the remainder neilspar here, or end of the market buy some desperate sells. We got what we needed from now on, we should keep reserve funds for the last few hours. All the auctions are over. Anything that hasn’t sold is going up for buy it now with drastic cuts. Sellers unable to maintain their contracts are going to get nothing without buyers.”

  “Perci, do what you think is best. This shopping thing is over for me and the military units. The end of the line of crixxi is almost done. I will give everyone four hours while my officers prepare for eight solid hours of combat training,” I said putting my hands on my hips in victory. I shifted to gaze at Seteria. “You need to rush home and oversee construction. Fly along.”

  “Yes King Eric, excuse me Queen Perci,” Seteria said, fleeing for the gate exit. I may have watched her tight ass with its cheeky thong for long enough that Willow gave me nudge.

  “That’s my cue. I am off to meet you in a mock battle after we get some rest. I am showing the sunrise at six-fifteen. Meet you at the corner store?” Jevon asked with a raised brow. A single nod confirmation was enough. “Come Nalvia.”

  “Nilvia, Duke Jevon. It is Nilvia with an I. May I go to Mansion and collect my coven? We will use underway to Aspen after?”

  “Of course I will even go with you. I want to see the train before Eric gets to,” Jevon said with a wave over his shoulder as he vanished through the portal.

  I sighed.

  “Your armor is delicious. Not these army fatigues though. Will you wear something royal on the regular over these, acrium?” Perci asked.

  “When not expecting combat, sure,” I said and Perci rolled her eyes. We were always expecting combat. “Thank you for all this.”

  “She is the real hero.” A finger was level at Everly in her jungle form. Two goliaths walked past us without a single impact. Huh, that was odd. I figured they would shake the ground. This was real inside here, at least I thought it was. There was no energy drain. “Yeah, the storage master doesn’t like the damage they cause so it adjusts the goliaths. Well if you got battle games, armies, and such to prepare I got the personnel to sort.”

  I watched the end of the line of crixxi fade. There were three hundred plus that disappeared randomly. Everly skipped over to me and Willow, her green acrium armor keeping her busty bits firmly locked down.

  “You look dashing. Why the teeth around your head?” Everly said, pointing to my crown.

  “Symbolizes leadership. My queens and I are the only ones who will wear such an adornment. Add some next time my lovely crixxi. Everly. Do you want to war, or manage?” I asked, and pointed to Willow. “Willow is going to be a company commander under Slister.”

  “I am trained in combat with a spear that shoots arrowheads and stuns with electricity. I have been a warrior for only four years. I know so short. My combat experience is in massive trees and mainly fighting crixxi. Daphne has fought for nearly four hundred and I just -”

  “Four is long in human terms. What would you like?”

  “Eight hour war shift then eight hour administrator shift? If you are okay with that,” Everly said wrapping her tail around my wrist. I yanked her in for an embrace.

  “You are to report to Mclain. We’re shifting to battalion instead of teams. Tell him you’re his XO. Everly, follow his lead. Dismissed,” I said and she gave one last squeeze before fleeing. “You too Willow, go report to Slister please.”

  I stood there looking back at the massive trees. Those were impossible to fight through unless you knocked them down. I certainly was looking forward to improving our defenses, training our army, and preparing for the next wave of enemies. In twelve hours’ time who knew what would happen. I hoped all this fantastic planning helped us survive this next season.

  CHAPTER 11

  Mitchell stood at my side with Elithen flying the AH1. The mock battle was formed and the sun cresting the horizon with its opening rays signaling it was go time. I had Slister on my left flank in her TP63s. The core of the army was leaving Marble Heights in a clustered clump that officers and sergeants were fixing. Making the task tough was the fact that Mclain and his octosuit teams were being towed by Eddy’s TG99s. The eight legged platforms were attached to sleds and the tanks themselves. At some point, the octosuits would need their own hover sleds to move and the hop off to dig in. Or something. This was a mess.

  “Slister, perform recon, give me light probing,” I ordered.

  “Yes sir,” Slister said over the command net.

  The back wall of AH1 displayed my battalion commanders in a picture frame. Under them were the company commanders, then platoon, and finally small units. This was how I tracked reactions and losses. The lower half of the screen had over two thousand tiny images of my force with individual mug shots.

  “Thoughts on what you want to use next rotation?” I asked Mitchell.

  A glance out the front window showed Slister sending the light tanks out to find Jevon’s forces. Adapting to technology was tough. I still found the small tank’s agility and speed incredible.

  “Our electric dirt bikes are slim, fast, and low profile. After seeing what is out there I want something similar that hovers and can fly. So a non-encased gravity sled with a quick attach point to put on a jetpack if needed. The squibbles had a platform like that. A bit of firepower, fast mobility, not meant for extended engagements. The fake exterior throws people off. Next time at least. I understand benching us, we can't take a single shot safely even on low power, and jetpacks are going to need more testing after we had three broken limbs already,” Mitchell said, grumpily with folded arms. He shifted to glance at the drone operators. “Elifer, what are you seeing?”

  “Well, they are not hard to find,” the crixxi woman said while looking at us with goggles on.

  A forward view screen showed the Aspen army on the move. An ambush nailed one of our scouts. The TG99 unloaded enough firepower for the machine calculator to register a death. The first point went to Aspen. I glanced at the back wall not finding the blacked-out screen.

  “Right here,” Sammie said, flicking the image to the port sidewall. She was geared for battle in a black and white acrium suit with no helmet. My personal squire of sorts. “Crixxi Yemminex, young, and inexperienced.”

  Mitchell and I smirked. Training was meant for those traits to improve.

  “Thank you Sammie,” I said, returning to view the developing battlefield.

  “You want to capture the point or slug it out?” Mitchell asked, intently watching Jevon’s actions.

  We had set up three control points to hold. Marble Heights which was closer to Man
sion was labeled Objective Marble. Leafwind Frontier, a similar housing community closer to Aspen was labeled Leaf. The big prize that was worth triple the points was the corner store plaza which was labeled Rubble. A point for each kill counted, as did control points. We both capped our small points quickly. We had an hour long battle planned for round one that I intended to beat.

  “There is no grand strategy needed right now. Everyone knows how to operate their machines. It's time to have the commanders make mistakes and have their boundaries pushed,” I said to Mitchell.

  “The plan?” Mitchell asked.

  I opened the command channel. “All Mansion forces, you’re to proceed to point Leaf. Eliminate the foe, establish a defense, and await further orders.”

  Mitchell chuckled. “Eddy is going to be pissed. You have his force weighed down.”

  “Kind of the point. If they don’t organize, I want you to bark at them to fix their dysfunction. I need them to operate together without my micro,” I said to Mitchell. I stepped beside Elithen. “Fall back over Marble Heights.”

  “Yes, your grace,” Elithen replied. The male fairy was a gifted pilot that even volunteered to help.

  “Starboard wall, display the overview map Sammie,” I ordered and she raced beside Elithen to populate the map. “Give me friendly blue, enemy red, and control points pulsing purple. Where is the enemy commander? I want him in pink. Muahahaha!”

  The right side wall of the captain’s cabin produced a vibrant overview map. I stepped around my drone operators to reach a detailed image. I selected a pen marker icon and drew arrows for my forces to use for movement.

  “Three more scouts downed, your grace,” Sammie said. I didn’t turn from the map as the battle unfolded. “All crixxi, this time not young or inexperienced. Duke Jevon’s scouts placed fairy traps and retreated. A mock generator bomb they flew next to. The devices triggered inside the shields.”

  “Elithen, I am disappointed,” I frowned. I had asked for ideas on how a fairy could sway the battle. “Focus on flying. Apparently, even I still need lessons. We’re they landmines or made to fit in with the area?”

  “Rock mirages sir,” Sammie said, pointing at an image of a rock where the image shimmered to reveal the decoy generator. I guessed the reveal was the pretend trigger point.

  “We have the extra generators we are stockpiling as we swap to nitrogen. Smart move by Jarod and his fairies. The enemy forces are pushing for Objective Rubble. Hmm…” I said watching my forces try to weave a way to Objective Leaf. They were bunched up waiting to leapfrog over the natural terrain. The TP63s were outpacing the TG99s rapidly. They were about to engage the defending Leaf forces. “Who is leading this charge?”

  “A Queen Willow my lord,” Sammie said from behind me. Before the fighting started Sammie added. “Two TG99s have collided and an octosuit received real damage to a leg unit. It can still walk but it has drastically reduced its combat effectiveness.”

  “Tell the operator to walk his machine home on the seven legs. Sensor the suit as out of combat. Have a standby team pick it up for RTB,” I said folding my arms. Another two points were given to Jevon. The suit and driver out of the fight.

  I watched Willow try to draw out the enemy embedded between the homes. They refused to take the bait and she faded back. Smart, let the TG99s slug it out with infantry. She was prodding the defenses with little success when Mitchell arrived at my side.

  “Eddy has asked to be allowed to clear trees for a path, it is what he would do in real combat,” Mitchell said and I shook my head no.

  We had our Rules of Engagement (ROE) set for this exercise. We could bring clearing paths for discussion in our After Action Review (AAR). Eddy would not always get what he wanted with terrain options.

  “Cap this is Mclain over,” Mclain said.

  “Go,” I replied.

  “Requesting to dismount to use a trail. Going to move the infantry octosuits into an ambush position. Will not intentionally deforest but there -”

  “Approved,” I replied.

  Two full companies dismounted quickly, spidering into the woods. I sighed seeing more than a few pines crash the ground from stumbling operators. Well, we weren’t intentionally clearing new lanes at least. The moment the mecha suits were dismounted, the TG99s progression to Object Leaf increased.

  The defenders retreated when they knew the fight would be lost. That proved to be a fatal decision. Willow’s TP63s darted forward slamming fire into Jevon's fleeing light tanks. The fight had a few casualties on our side, seven TP63s for twenty five of Jevon’s.

  The mock destroyed tanks powered down for the rest of the fight. Willow was one of the casualties. I twisted the side of my face in a frown. She would need to learn to not always lead from the front.

  “Thoughts?” Mitchell asked.

  “It’s too static. We have equal forces, no third surprise element. No QRF to save the day. But we need this. Jevon will hold the middle and we will lose assaulting him. An hour to reset and we do it again,” I said pacing the combat wall.

  “Three enemy infantry have been eliminated. Screening forces revealed,” Sammie said.

  “We need a way to shoot drones without shooting them. Maybe we can add sensors or something,” I said, trying to scratch the back of my neck in frustration. Right, I had acrium on.

  “Denying vision is key, I agree,” Mitchell said. “I can go down and be a third party disruptor. To mimic the Xgate portal craziness. My recon unit is literally watching the fight from inside tanks.”

  “They need to be, you’re going to rotate with Mclain on infantry and recon. So best to blend in now. Plus we’re a team, I want to keep us together,” I said watching Jevon capture Objective Rubble. “That does the trick. Full assault, objective Rubble. Commander’s discretion. Elithen get this ship behind the back of the heavy tank formation.”

  My orders were received and the units reconsolidated. I bet troops were grumbling about having to turn around already. Jevon had the fortified ground. Now it was on commanders to realize targeting priority would win the day. Focused fire was paramount in overwhelming shields.

  I paced the war map watching the opening salvos of the fight. Slister ordered her fast TP63s to draw fire as Eddy entered the fray. Blue balls of energy brightened the area when the two sides entered into a slugfest. I turned to the back wall.

  Squares swapped from images to black. A lot quicker than I expected or wanted. Assaulting an entrenched enemy was always costly. Eddy fell and I raised an eyebrow at Sammie.

  “Suicide enemy TP63. Dropped from above and eviscerated the command tank. Everly is commanding your heavy tanks now, your grace,” Sammie said.

  That was when the battle turned. Teams of three-shot forward. Two guards, one set to overload behind the screen. My forces were going to lose until Everly ordered counter suicides. The fake explosions of five TG99 reactors were devastating. Jevon backed his units off the point in a retrograde maneuver. Everly achieved her pyrrhic victory and we kept adding points from holding three capture points.

  I think he seceded the point to prevent collisions. I flag an end to the exercise. Nice, we even had a half hour left to go.

  “Take us to the AAR meeting point outside of objective Rubble,” I ordered Elithen.

  The airship glided for a location not far from Jevon’s forces. His airship landed at our meeting spot. The troops were given a break while officers waited for leadership debriefings. I would hold mine in my airship, Aspen in his, and then we would combine. After that, we would reset with three new random points or maybe us the actual Xgate. A few hours of this would lead to a nice feast and then some more training waiting for the blue portal.

  When the airship settled onto the ground I exited the cockpit. Sammie rushed around me to set a projector on the ground. The port side wall flickered to life showing the battlefield statistics. My officers walked up the ramp arriving in ones and twos. I let them have their side chatter while we gathered.

  W
illow was the last one to enter, her black armor matching her scowl. I avoided eye contact for now.

  I nodded to Sammie who belted out a loud whistle. When everyone turned to me I walked to the board. Winner was etched on the top of the image.

  “We won, but we did not win. Mass suicide is not a viable option. I would rather pull back and use other tactics than to blow our troops up over an off-target objective. Defending our home, then we can debate the justification, not a random point. I get it, I am not harping… I am not here to judge. The commanders on the ground made command decisions. Those tough choices led to a simulated win,” I said pacing back and forth in front of the board. “No more suiciding. If you ever order it on the field there better be a freaking amazing reason for such a drastic decision. With that said generator bombs are super on the table. I like the idea of buying assorted elemental generators for specific environments and using them to help the enemy go boom.”

  My Gpad pinged and I saw Jevon and the Aspen team at the base of the ramp. A lot of eyes shifted. I waved them up. When everyone was assembled I went into a final quick brief.

  “This is not combat. Let me ensure you, when we hit an enemy they will not be evenly matched. The goal here is to learn as a team. Can your unit curve through trees? Can the tanks glide over the water? Does firing with an octosuit on your shell affect the round? These are the walking phase questions of crawl, walk, and then run. The run starts in about five hours. How many of you were scolded? Show of hands?” I asked and no hands went up. “How many of you felt you could have done better?”

  Every hand went up. Good. That was the point of these training events.

  “Get to your units. No suiciding, we do it again. Only one objective this time. Xgate 232. Dismissed,” I bellowed and the troops filtered out. Willow went to talk to me but I pointed out the hold. I will comfort her later. She needed to harness that frustration. Jevon stepped up. “What did you think?”