Battleframe (The Mindwars Book 1)

by Michael Gilmour

  Whizzbang pointed as he said urgently, “Bosk, take up position here and I’ll take cover behind that rock over there. It will give them two targets rather than one.”

  “Got it. Whizz?”

  “Yep?”

  “Take care of yourself.”

  “You too.”

  Whizzbang jump-jetted the twenty feet across to his position. From their spots, both pilots had an excellent view of the hanger entrance to pick off targets attempting to climb up the crater wall and invade the research facility. Now that the dust had settled, they also had a clear line of site to the dozen battle-pods spinning up their power orbs.

  Purple dancing sparks began coalescing at more and more distinct points as Scourge warriors warped down from the cruiser above. A crackle of angry electricity reached Whizzbang’s ears as the warriors forms began to take shape. It had been years since he had seen the Scourge warp in at the farm and the intensity of the sound caught him by surprise.

  Sighting a warrior taking shape in his scope he said, “Bosk, remember the drill. On four.”

  “CT Whizz.”

  “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Fire.”

  Two blue beams raced down into the crater and ended the life of two Slayers just as they emerged from warping in.

  “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Fire.”

  The four-count drill provided time for the Charge rifle to build up energy for another shot while helping provide a routine to assist the sniper’s aim. Two more targets died as the blue beams zinged down.

  This time Bosk did the count, “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Die.”

  Down in the crater over fifty enemy warriors had completed the warp-in. Recognising that they were under attack, fist leaders organized a response to the pilot’s attack. In the space of a few more heartbeats, two enemy snipers died before they had a chance to fire.

  Shock troopers laid down a withering covering fire with their rapid automatic assault rifles. Before he could take a hit, Whizzbang ducked his head behind the safety of the boulder and then crawled along the ground to its left side. Peering around the edge, he spied a few warriors making their way up the far side of the crater. “Bosk, we’ve got some problems towards the hanger.”

  “Sighted.”

  They were now out of sync with their firing ritual. Each of them, aimed, fired and killed two more warriors before they had to seek safety behind their boulders.

  Bosk suddenly yelled, “Oh frap!”

  Whizzbang heard the whumps of four plasma launchers flinging their deadly superheated contents heavenward. The trajectories of the glowing pulsing energy balls placed their impact zone at Bosk’s position.

  “Bosk, get over here now!”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Bosk blasted his jump jets at maximum power to shoot across the distance between him and his friend. Such was his unexpected speed that the enemy below did not have time to pick him off as he entered the open. His jump jets did unleash a small avalanche of loose dust and dirt that rolled down the side of the crater.

  Behind him, the four balls of plasma splattered across the front, side and back of his boulder. Where the plasma touched, the stone simply vanished in a hiss of steam and ionized gas.

  Bosk dove head first behind the temporary safety of Whizzbang’s position. “Good to see you again.”

  “You to Whizz. We didn’t expect a few Jugs did we?”

  “Nope.”

  “So much for the two target theory.”

  “How much time do you think we have?” Whizzbang asked.

  “About twenty seconds until the next launch and then we’re in for it. Any ideas?”

  Whizzbang looked around for some sort of inspiration and then smiled. “I think that I may have just come up with one but it will need the both of us.”

  “I need you to brace yourself with your servos against the crater wall and begin firing your jump jets on maximum burn at the base of my boulder.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

  “No I’m not.”

  Suddenly Bosk got the idea and smiled back at his life-long friend. “I got it.”

  Both of them lent against the crater wall and fired their jump jets at full burn. Loose dirt and small rocks created a cloud of debris around them as their jets dug out a growing sized hole around the boulder. Their battleframes easily withstood the punishment that they were dishing out and their servos took the majority of the strain.

  Down in the crater the Scourge warriors whooped as they thought that the cloud of dust had to signify the death of the pilots. A Strike Leader directed a fist up the slope to confirm the kills while the remainder of the warriors formed up as they waited for the next warp-in.

  Straining with the effort of controlling the jump-jet blast Whizzbang said, “OK, I think that will do it. Give it all you’ve got at the top of the boulder.”

  “CT,” Bosk panted with exertion.

  Whizzbang hoped that they had done enough to destabilize the rock and that the combined impact of their jump jets and gravity would do the rest. The boulder started leaning outwards. It was going to work!

  “Nearly there Bosk!”

  Suddenly both their jump jets cut out.

  Whizzbang toggled his jets a number of times in desperation, “Oh frap! They need time to recharge!”

  “They had to pick now to cut out? You got to be kidding me!” Bosk complained.

  The sudden cessation of the noise from their jump jets made the whumps further down in the crater all the louder. Four balls of plasma commenced their deadly arc towards them.

  Just when they thought things could not get worse the boulder began to slide back towards them and the hole they had just made.

  “We’ve got to get out of here!” Whizzbang yelled.

  Bosk did not even wait to reply as he leapt to his feet and started running on power-assisted legs. Whizzbang was not far behind but risked a glance over his shoulder to see the bottom of the boulder break loose from where they had undermined it. Slowly the rock began its deadly fall down the side of the crater, picking up momentum and other boulders along the way.

  “Run! We’ve just lost our cover!”

  The approaching Scourge fist were further up the slope and quickly jumped out of the way of the tumbling boulders heading to the crater floor below. As he ran, Whizzbang watched as dirt kicked up by gunfire beside him.

  Behind them, the four plasma globes slammed into the ground where both the pilots had been only moments earlier. Rather than splashing and dissolving solid rock, the plasma slammed into loose stones, dirt and dust. The resulting explosion as the smaller objects instantly turned to gas sent a concussive shockwave outwards.

  Whizzbang felt himself picked up and hurled through the air while Bosk only just managed to keep his feet. The Scourge fist had managed to escape the majority of the explosion by diving behind a large boulder that had not joined the avalanche that was now hurtling towards the battle-pods. The explosion did dislodge several additional boulders that were now joining the fray roaring down the slope.

  Bosk quickly took stock of his position of relative safety behind another large rock that seemed was more firmly bedded into the side of the crater. He looked back down the slope and saw Whizzbang face down in the dirt and dust with his leg at an odd angle. Thankfully, he still seemed to be breathing. “Whizz! Get up Whizz!”

  A Shock trooper stood to its feet, dirt falling off its armour, and smiled as he spied Whizzbang lying prone up the slope. Raising his automatic rifle he let loose one round before falling to the ground dead.

  “That’s right you frapping monster. Not all of us are down!” Bosk yelled in challenge.

  Upon seeing the wall of tumbling rock heading towards them the panic stricken Scourge warriors broke formation and started running in all directions. The avalanche continued to grow and gain momentum until it finally crashed headlong into the fleeing warriors. Battle-pods toppled ov
er and were crushed by tons of rock and dirt. Scourge warriors flew through the air under the avalanche’s assault and buried under the rushing tide of rubble. A few warriors managed to escape the destruction by scrambling up the far crater wall just below the hanger. When the dust settled, two battle-pods remained visible, leaning over at a precarious angle with muted energy orbs blinking forlornly. Purple sparks formed shapes half embedded within the debris and the warriors warping in died as they materialised.

  Bosk slid down the slope to his unconscious friend, being careful not to dislodge another avalanche of small stones. A ruby red Scourge sniper beam just missed his head as he stumbled forward. Taking quick aim, he silenced the enemy sniper forever.

  The three warriors left in the Scourge fist stepped out from their cover and fired up the slope. A number of shots pinged off Bosk’s new battleframe and jerked him around with their momentum.

  “Come on Whizz!”

  Within Whizzbang’s body, a billion tiny machines were feverishly working to heal his leg by straightening it out and reconstructing the shattered bone. The Evkon 316 painkillers blocked the majority of the pain and the bump on his head that had knocked him out did the rest.

  Bosk turned around and fired again, just missing an enemy engineer. Bullets ripped and tore at the dirt around him. As he protected Whizzbang’s body with his own his battleframe came under constant assault. Turning around he again fired and this time cut the engineer cleanly through the neck, sending a shower of blood over the two remaining warriors.

  “Here goes nothing,” he mumbled to himself.

  Grabbing Whizzbang under the arms Bosk fired his now recharged jump jets to drag them both up the slope and to the safety of another rock. Behind him the two Scourge screamed obscenities in their language even as they kept on firing.

  “Same to you!” Bosk yelled back. He did not know what the warriors were saying but presumed that it was not very pleasant. He finally reached the relative safety of the rock just as his jump jets again cut out.

  Turning to the still unconscious Whizzbang he said, “I’ll be back in a second. There’s just something that I’ve got to do first.”

  He returned two shots and thirty seconds later said, “Just tidied up a couple of loose ends.” Looking with concern Bosk choked out, “Time to wake up now.”

  Whizzbang felt like he was floating in a perfect bed surrounded by cotton wool. It was so nice here. So comfortable and inviting. If it was not for the incessant noise.

  “Whizz! Whizzbang! It’s time to get up now.”

  That sounds like Bosk’s voice. I wonder if he would like to stay here with me?

  “Whizz! Wake up! It’s action time!”

  Like a computer slowly rebooting, Whizzbang’s brain began to piece together the events of the last few minutes. The boulder, the run, the explosion and then darkness. I’m in my battleframe! Whizzbang’s eyes flew open and he instinctively reached behind for his rifle. “Bosk! What happened?”

  Bosk smiled with relief. “You took a bump to the head and it looks like your right leg got a little mangled.”

  Bosk looked down at Whizzbang’s now straight leg. “While I’ll be frapped.”

  “What is it?”

  “It looks like the little meds have performed some emergency surgery on your leg while you’ve been out cold.”

  “What’s happened to the Scourge?”

  “Can you sit up?”

  In answer, Whizzbang rolled onto his front and crawled out from behind the rock. There was a lot of dust still in the air but it was clear that all the battle-pods and the majority of warriors had now been decommissioned. On the far side of the crater, half a dozen surviving warriors were pulling themselves up over the hanger bay ledge.

  Whizzbang sighted a Slayer and pressed his firing button. With a distant scream, the Scourge fell to his death below. In the meantime, Bosk drilled a shock trooper through the back of the head. Before they could again fire, the Scourge passed through the energy shield and into the research facility.

  “C’mon Bosk, we’ve got to get across there.”

  “What about your leg?”

  “Feels as good as new.”

  “Liar.”

  “It’ll be fine once I get into the air. What do you think those warriors will do to all those people without battleframes?”

  In answer, Bosk tossed a bundle of glider-programmed nanites down next to them.

  Whizzbang stood tenderly to his feet and tested out his right leg. It was still weak but he could not afford to wait for the nanomeds to finish their work. Gritting his teeth, he stepped onto the shimmering glider pad and despite the Evkon 316 screamed in pain as he re-broke his leg under the force of the upward thrust.

  In the air, Bosk reached out a reassuring hand to his friend. “You’ll be fine Whizz, you just need to give the meds a few minutes.”

  The wind whistled past them as they steepened their angle of attack towards the hanger entrance. “We don’t have that sort of time Bosk.”

  They both knew that unless he landed just right with all of his weight on his left leg then it was likely that Whizzbang would break his leg again on landing.

  Chapter 13

  The Search Continues

  The warm northerly breeze flowed through the Barrier, subtly warping the surface and setting off a ripple of purple sparks across its surface. The Scourge designed Barrier was initially meant to cover the whole of Alpha Three. The Concord had managed to push it back in a small area so that they could continue mining the precious tellurite crystals. Far below, creatures within the Barrier fought and squabbled over scraps of food but such things were of no matter to the wind as it passed by.

  With an almost imperceptible tug, the breeze broke free of the Barrier to flow down into a valley where humans had previously built a tower. The communication aerials arrayed around the top swayed gently in its passing and it made a strange moaning sound as it wound its way through metal girders to the other side of the structure. Down below, automated tellurite mining machines, known as Diggers, lay scattered around the tower. Some still gushed smoke from their sides, the results of a recent battle.

  Continuing its journey southward, the wind broke through a narrow pass. The wind carried the smell of cauterised flesh, both human and Scourge, as it passed a battle over Belver’s outpost perched on the edge of a cliff. Stray bullets punctured the breeze a number of times until it was too far out of range of those fighting and dying below.

  Picked up in a thermal along the cliff edge the wind headed directly southwards over a vast green and purple forest. If it had taken notice, it could have seen fully-fledged battles and small skirmishes all the way to Freehold. The small settlement anchored the humans far below to the remnants of their world but the wind ignored them all and continued on its journey unconcerned.

  Flowing through Freehold, an element of peace seemed to have settled over this part of Alpha Three. Either that or the bloody combat had moved on elsewhere. Going past Research Ravine the wind gained momentum as it rose up a small rise to where a lone figure stood atop an outpost staring towards the south. The wind ruffled the man’s short greying hair and then disappeared upwards in an eddy that is common in that part of the world.

  Whizzbang absently rubbed his left eye to help remove some stray dust that a gust of wind had just blown in his eye. He again tried his comnet, “Whizzbang, Romeo, Oscar, Siera, two, niner calling Bosk, you read? Over.” Since the Scourge had launched a full-out invasion against Alpha Three the ether had been blanketed with electronic counter-measures. This wiped out both the wider comnet and reduced the localised comnet to a few hundred meters. By standing on the roof of the outpost, Whizzbang hoped to extend the reach of his communicator. His friend Bosk was somewhere south and had disappeared at the beginning of the Scourge assault.

  “Whizzbang, Romeo, Oscar, Sierra, two, niner calling Bosk. You read? Over.” Whizzbang repeated the message.

  Whizzbang’s new squad mates, Selfia and A
cheron, appeared over the edge of the outpost’s roof and with a quick blast of their jump jets settled softly next to Whizzbang. “It’s OK Whizz.” Selfia said with a concerned voice, “We heard your broadcasts over the local. I’m sure that Bosk and your other friends are OK.”

  Whizzbang sighed, “Thanks Self. With the invasion, the whole of Alpha Three’s in turmoil and I feel like we’re the fish in the barrel that the frapping Scourge are shooting at. I know that we’ll find Bosk but I just want to do it before he’s spread over the landscape. How you going Ach?”

  It was just over an hour since Acheron nearly found himself eported. Selfia’s quick decision to do an emergency nanomed transfusion to her husband’s battleframe had saved him from the trauma. Acheron complained, “Other than having to suck in three pouches of nutritional syrup I’m feeling pretty good. That stuff is horrible! You’d think that they could somehow make it taste a little better.”

  “I know what you mean but at least it keeps you alive.”

  “I’m wondering what would be worse.”

  Selfia gave her husband an elbow in the ribs.

  “Go easy Self, I’m still healing up.”

  Selfia smiled sweetly as she said, “I was just checking to see if you were better yet darling.” She then elbowed Acheron a second time for good measure. “Feeling better yet?”

  “Whoa! I give up.”

  “So stop complaining and pull yourself together you big lunk.”

  “Will do Lieutenant,” Acheron replied sheepishly.

  Ignoring the friendly banter Whizzbang pointed off into the distance and said, “I’ve been scoping out the area around the Terrarium and it looks like there’s a lot of gun fire over there. Feel like a glide and shoot?”

  Acheron’s face spread into a big grin, “I’ve always wanted to take a look at that massive glass dome. Just point the way Whizz.”

  Selfia gave her characteristic little giggle. “It would be great to check out all the plants and relieve a few Scourge of their lives. I’m G2G Whizz.”