by JD Clarke
“I could extend trenches inside the factory for the troops to retreat to if needed.” The Sarge sent me an image of his idea.
“No, we will not retreat. This is a critical stand we are making.”
“Jason, the shielding won’t stand up to that plasma weapon. The troops need protection, a place to escape to if things get hairy.”
“No, Sarge, Mako will take care of the shielding. He’s working on it now. Just set up the offensive weaponry as soon as possible. We’ll be lucky to get new cannons produced and in place before the next assault.”
“Well, if you ask me—”
“I’m not asking, Sergeant. Just get it done.”
We stood locked in a staring contest for a long moment before the sergeant responded.
“Yes, sir, Commander.” Then he turned and walked away.
Second Wave
Fortunately for us, the delay before the Unity’s next attack gave us just enough time to complete our preparations. Mako had the new shield generator up and working, although it suffered sporadic power failures. It was somewhat portable in that we could relocate it to different areas, but it was a slow process and had to be shut down during the relocation. The field of influence was limited, and it would not completely cover the ten-mile gap on the western perimeter, but it was close enough. Sybil had everything ready to combine our consciousness in her android body. I was in fact considering leaving on my spy mission with Sybil when I got a message from Sasha.
“A group of transports has entered sensor range, Jason.”
“Alert the others. Have them all take up their battle positions. I’m on my way to join Legion now,” I said, pulling on my armor.
I hurried to the western perimeter and a new command post we had constructed for Legion, Klanton, and me to oversee the battle. It was hardened and within the factory wall. All the bunkers had been replaced, and all were now equipped with rail guns. A new batch of fast attack vehicles had been built for the Warriors. It was the same basic design, a huge wheel with a cockpit and twin pulse cannons at the two o’clock position. But we had increased the armor around the driver, and the Sarge had been drilling them in new tactics.
“They are within drop range, Jason. Expect them any minute,” Sasha informed me from the command center where she and Sybil were. Noomi and Claire were with Dr. Tanakai manning the new time shield generator.
I watched as sixty-four spheres glinted in the sunlight falling to the valley floor beyond. Twice as many as before, that was indicative of how the Unity mind worked. Just as before, they would soon be climbing over the valley lip.
“Sergeant, tell your gunners to hold their fire until they are certain of their target. Make the first shot count. It may be the only shot they get.”
“They have been briefed, Jason, but I’ll remind them.”
“Legion, are you sure you still want to lead the fast attack troops?”
“Yes, Jason. My place is with them, in the midst of the battle.”
“OK, then you better get going, and good luck.”
The Unity giants came over the valley lip in one wave. They opened up with their plasma weapons, and we with our rail guns. Twelve giants fell backward from the impact; eight had their legs knocked out from under them. Balls of blue energy swept in, and bunkers exploded; half our bunkers were now craters of smoking ruin. The air began to fill with dust and debris. The second volley of rail gun fire was also effective and knocked ten more of the giants to the ground; four failed to rise again. Another wave of plasma, a simultaneous firing from all the giants that were still on their feet silenced our remaining bunkers. The dust slowly drifted down, revealing a total devastation of our visible defenses. Marking each gun emplacement was a column of black smoke that drifted over the now-silent battlefield. The giants reorganized themselves into a solid line and began their advance on the factory.
“Glad you had us set up the bunkers with remotely controlled guns, Jason.”
“Have the gunners man the secondary rail guns and wait for the signal. Let the Unity forces get under our time shield before the counterattack. I want them hidden from view. I don’t want the overhead warships to know what is going on.”
“Yes, sir. They’re going to get a surprise if the damn thing works.”
“Tanakai will make it work.”
The Unity giants marched in sync, closer. They scanned the battlefield and the walls of the factory for possible threats, their heads swiveling left and right. Their formation made good use of the protective arm shields, and the plasma weapons were raised, ready for action. It was a well-disciplined force, a programmed formation of robotic soldiers following orders. They came under the shade of our time shield. They stepped around the craters that were once our bunkers, still scanning, still alert.
“Now, Mako, switch it on now.”
The air seemed to ripple, like heat waves. The giants’ motion became jerky and then ebbed into a smooth, slow motion—a surreal image of marching robots.
“Open the doors. Gunners, take aim and fire at will.”
The large doors of the factory opened, exposing our secondary defense. A line of rail guns manned by Warriors. They began firing as quickly as possible. Steel-cased projectiles screamed out and then got caught up in the time distortion of Mako’s time shield. They seemed to suddenly appear, their motion now slow enough for the eye to catch, as they entered the shield’s influence. Mako’s new generator did not stop time; he didn’t have the power for that, but it slowed time, slowed it to a crawl. Its influence extended from just above the ground to a height of thirty feet and for eight miles across the width of the battlefield. The approaching enemies were caught in it.
Our gunners continued to fire. I could see projectiles piling up along the front of the shield’s influence, penetrating the shield, heading for giants that were still unaware of the coming impact. Three, four, five projectiles targeting each giant. The first impacts were beginning. I could see the projectiles striking, deforming, and sending out shards of metal as they struck the arm shields. Giants began to spin or were knocked sideways by the force. Other projectiles began to strike the giants as their bodies were exposed before they could react. Then everything snapped back to real time. A chaos of motion flooded my senses before I realized what had happened.
“Mako, get that thing back on line!”
“Working on it, Jason. Power fluctuation. Noomi’s on it.”
The giants littered the field. Some twitching, some rolling uncontrollably, and others making deliberate movements to take a defensive position with their arm shields. Plasma weapons began to glow from a dozen robots.
“Now, Mako, we could use that shield now.”
“Just a second more.”
“Gunners, target those plasma weapons!”
The rail guns had been sending out a constant thunder of fire. The gunners retargeted the now-real-time enemy. Balls of energy leapt out from the giants’ fists. Some struck incoming projectiles and exploded in a blue sphere of ever-increasing size as fragments of the rail gun’s shell formed a deadly fireworks display in the air. Then some of the high-energy balls struck our gun emplacements. They were lightly armored and had no chance against the high-energy weapon. Graphite shielding vaporized; metal guns and their mounts were shattered. Warrior gunners went up in a puff of ashes. Then the time shield snapped back on, and the enemy was again trapped in a molasses of motion.
“Working, it’s on, Jason!” Mako shouted to me.
“Sarge, get those gunners out of there! There are more plasma balls incoming.”
“Already on it.” I could see gunners dismounting and scattering. “Damn, I wish we had extended the trenches inside!”
A ball of plasma emerged from the front boundary of the time-distortion field and streaked in. An abandoned rail gun went up in a flash, shrapnel pelting everything around it.
“Legion, send in your fast attack troops now.”
Another ball emerged, and another gun went up as Le
gion’s troops rolled out of the factory and raced onto the battlefield. They fired on the prone and kneeling giants, broke off before entering the distortion field, and then made another attack. The giants were trying to rise and regain their formation, but the hail of pulse cannon fire was beginning to hit them. The Warriors were zipping around erratically—firing, dodging, retreating, and then attacking.
“Take out their joints. Destroy the arm with the weapon. Keep moving!” Legion barked out as he himself charged at the nearest robot.
Slowly, the giants were coming apart under the torrential fire. The distortion field flickered but held. The air became a grey smear of motion as the pulse cannons continued their fire. Legs buckled. Arms hung useless. The giants, to their credit, continued toward the factory until their last functional soldier took his last step.
“Shut it down, Mako!” I ordered, and the scene snapped back to real-time motion. Warriors weaved in and out of the helpless giants, firing on them relentlessly until there was no evidence of motion.
“The shield generator was beginning to overheat. I don’t think it would have held much longer, Jason.”
“It held long enough, Mako. Can you overcome your reliability problems before the Unity’s next assault?”
“I think so. Noomi and Sybil are discussing it now.”
“Sergeant, I need a casualty report.” I waited. “Sarge, report.”
“Sergeant Klanton is down, Commander Hauptman. He was struck by shrapnel.”
“Is this Bludgeon?”
“Yes, Commander. We are moving him to a protected area with the rest of the wounded.”
“Stay with him, Bludgeon. I am on my way.” I left the command post at a run.
Sarge
The sergeant had been struck by more than just shrapnel. His entire left side was missing its armor, eaten away by contact with a plasma burst. His left arm and torso were totally exposed, the flesh burned and blackened. The left half of his helmet was also gone. His armor was now brittle and flaked at the merest touch. A four-inch shard of metal protruded from above his left ear. Other fragments of metal were stuck in his armor. I removed my helmet and dropped it beside me.
“He was the last to leave the guns,” Bludgeon told me.
I knelt down and removed Sarge’s helmet. He smiled up as I held his head. There was a rasp to his breathing, but his eyes were bright as ever.
“Kicked their ass for ’em, didn’t we? You did good, Jason,” the Sarge said aloud. His neural net must have been damaged; there was no telepathic ability.
“Just lie still. We’ll get you something for the pain.”
“It doesn’t hurt, Jason. Not much.” He attempted another smile, but it was a weak effort. “Get them home, Jason. Get the others back to Earth. You’ve done enough here. Get back and help Earth prepare.”
“You just hang on until we can get you fixed up, Sarge.” It was difficult to keep my own voice from cracking.
“Jason, listen to Legion. Don’t try to do everything yourself.” The Sarge gave a weak laugh. “Don’t be an asshole.”
I had to smile despite the heaviness in my heart. “Guess I have been a bit of an ass, eh, Sarge?”
“Yeah, but you’re a good leader. It was a pleasure …” Sarge’s breathing became labored. “Pleasure to serve under you.”
The shine went out of Sergeant Klanton’s eyes, and tears filled my own. Noomi and Sasha rushed up with morphine and bandages. Sasha just stood looking at the Sarge, unbelieving. He had been the strongest among us; now he was gone. I had neglected to set up adequate medical facilities. I had been too preoccupied with making weapons. We didn’t even have a place to store the body so we could take it back with us. I had been an idiot.
“I’m sorry, Noomi. He’s gone. His neural net was damaged, so he couldn’t contact you.” Noomi’s thoughts and emotions were a mystery to me. I could not pick up anything from her. “Would you find a way to freeze the body? I’d like to take him back to Earth for burial.”
“Yes, Commander. I can use the cooling system for the processors, Commander.”
I couldn’t think of anything to say. I turned and left, heading for my quarters. I needed to sit down. I needed time alone. I sat on my bunk alone, thinking of the sergeant. I tried to replay every memory of him from the first day we met in preparation for a short trip to the moon until our last conversation. I thought of the advice he had given, the encouragement, and the laughs. I felt as though I had let him down. I now saw that it was the sergeant that had groomed me to take command of our crew when we lost Commander Douglas. He had seen something in me that he liked. Had I let that part of me wither in the quest for victory over the Unity?
There was a knock at my door and a request from Sybil to enter. “Commander, it has been eight hours and twenty-seven minutes since your last contact with command personnel or anyone else. This is uncharacteristic behavior. May I enter and discuss the current situation?”
“Come in, Sybil. Did Mako send you to check on me?”
“I initiated the visit on my own. I thought you would like to be made aware of speculation among the Warriors, androids, and humans.”
“So what’s the rumor?”
“It is not one, but several discussions. There have been reports among the Warriors that you intend to abandon this planet and return to Earth. There have also been discussions among the androids that you intend to terminate your present hostilities with the Unity and leave them here to face the Unity alone or confiscate the android bodies and take them with you or destroy the planet’s facilities entirely, leaving nothing for the Unity to repossess. Sasha has commented that you may intend a suicide strike against the Unity in revenge for the death of Sergeant Klanton.”
“And what does Legion say?”
“He has been silent on the matter. He has been busy rebuilding the gun emplacements and defenses.”
“And Mako?”
“He too spent some time alone, like you, though not as prolonged. He is working with Noomi to ensure the function of the time-distortion field generator. He has not commented on the speculations. Noomi told me to inform you that Sergeant Klanton’s body has been frozen and will remain so until further orders from you.”
“Is there any way to simulate the sergeant’s brain? To recreate his neural pathways like we were preparing to do with my brain?”
“You wish to restore his consciousness or at least his knowledge by placing it within an android? The answer to that query is no. The damage to his neural net was too extensive, and human synaptic connections degrade rapidly after death.”
“Then we should make a record of Mako’s and Sasha’s neural nets and their synaptic connections before the next battle in case one of them is killed.”
“And the Warriors? Do you wish to make a record of each of them as well?”
Of course, I would have to or be seen as calloused and uncaring for the troops that fought with us. “Do we have the resources to make a record of all the biological beings?”
“If I instructed all of the base’s Unity members that have now sworn allegiance to us to facilitate the software development and placed it in the base’s data banks, I could accomplish the goal within a few days. I cannot be more accurate in my time assessment without more information about the brain structure and configuration of the Warrior species.”
“Once the base’s defenses are ready, then order Noomi and Claire to begin a mental backup of everyone, beginning with Sasha, Mako, and Legion.”
“Do you wish to continue with our plan to infiltrate the Unity, Commander?”
“Yes, nothing has changed. We proceed as before. I am not abandoning this base or anyone on it. We’ll have a meeting with Mako, Sasha, Legion, and yourself in one hour in the mess hall. Spread the word, Sybil.”
“Yes, Commander.” She left quickly, and it could have been my imagination, but she seemed to have more energy in her step.
In the mess hall, all eyes were on me. I could tell they were ev
aluating their leader.
“Our mission remains the same. We will hold this planet. The Unity will be a bit hesitant in their next attack. Since the last assault took place under our time shield, they were blind as to what happened. Were all communications between the Unity’s ground forces and their ships severed?” I looked to Mako.
“Yes, Jason,” Mako replied. “What was not blocked by the time shield was jammed electronically. The Unity have no idea what happened to their assault force once they advanced under our shields.”
“I agree with your assessment, Commander. The Unity will take time in determining the events that led to their failure and what adaptations should be made before the next assault,” Sybil added.