A burst of pain erupted in my chest as Bucky died. Layla was there now and activated her Berserk ability. A red glow surrounded her as the nanites supercharged and increased her speed and damage output for a short duration. Her hand moved back as she readied a Crushing Blow, then slammed her powerfist into the armor, shattering part of the outer layer and sending the Ravager falling through its front leg from the impact.
She pulled back again and hammered both fists three times in quick succession into the same spot, eliciting a gut-wrenching screech from the Aloi, but it was far from incapable to hit back. Both the Ravager and the Raintroopers were on her in seconds.
“Fall back! Now!” I screamed and Layla did, but not before suffering a devastating cleave of her own.
“Leo! Now!”
He screamed and drew the Ravager’s attention as he jumped over the top of the building, free falling and shooting at a single weak spot atop the Ravager’s so-called ‘neck area,’ placing nanite-drill rounds precisely in a fist-sized area. At least that’s what Buzzard showed me.
A hole opened and the Aloi monster shook in pain, but it didn’t drop. Leo, however, did drop onto the Ravager and rolled off to the side, breaking his ribs from the fall. The giant tech-spider turned toward him and fired its Entangle ability at the already grounded Commando.
“Boss?” he cried out both from pain and fear.
“On it!”
Buzzard was already pretty close now, flying downward at whatever speed he managed to build up. He gained massive momentum as he spearheaded like a comet toward the giant six-legged machine and slammed straight into the wound on its neck. The Ravager stopped everything it was doing in utter confusion as Buzzard exploded, letting out a chittering sound.
Two remaining Raintroopers started climbing up its legs, probably to… do something with the hole. It was perfect, however, as whatever nanites Buzzard managed to scrounge up exploded deep inside the Ravager, initiating a full explosive nanite collapse.
The nanites burst out of the creature and into the Raintroopers around it, spraying blood, pus, and organs in all directions. The Ravager stumbled to one side as smoke rose from under its armor. It chittered again and dropped down dead, finally.
“Fuck,” I cursed as I dropped on my ass. “I’m pretty hurt.”
“Not much better here,” Layla muttered from my right.
Seldom was there a feeling as awesome as overcoming something like this in battle. Seldom was there a feeling as horrible as knowing you did all that for nothing because as soon as Leo managed to wiggle his way out the silk, he spread his arms in celebration, forgetting that not all the Raintroopers were actually dead.
A single bullet from a still-twitching Raintrooper’s rifle passed through his head, ending the simulation just as the trooper died himself. After doing all that and going through a mini-version of hell to accomplish such a victory, he did it again. And now, well, now we were looking at a fun-filled week of force-juice that could end in a not so simulated death.
5
I never really understood military ads on a military ship that was en-route to a raging battle. It might have been one of those stunts they pulled as a morale booster for recruits, though I doubted it worked.
As I made my way to check up on Leo and Layla in their room, I stopped for the slightest moment to stare at the image of a Tier 5 Technomancer. THIS COULD BE YOU, it read. The Technomancer had three bots surrounding him and each was more menacing than the next. His familiar was more a full-fledged fighter than a drone, his tank bot was literally a double-cannoned tank, and his assault bot… damn, that thing could take on a platoon by itself. The best thing was the Technomancer was riding it. That was one of the things I always wanted to try but then, well… then I died.
Alpha Station was close, and I was becoming a little anxious. It may have been the force-juice but something in me told me that the wait was almost over. I could feel the tension in the air aboard the ship. I could almost sense the incoming war and remembered feeling like this before hitting Pelerin the first time, the planet of my death.
This was bigger, though. I wasn’t a superstitious guy, and as I said, it may have been the force-juice working its jokes with my brain, but I could feel a million soldiers dying as the Knez’un Arc approached what may have been the largest battlefield in the galaxy.
“I don’t want to hear it!” I heard Layla yell before I opened the door. “No, I don’t, and you know very well it’s forbidden to talk about that stuff.”
I stopped myself from entering for several seconds, despite having made a rule for myself to never spy on my squadmates. Or anyone on my side for that matter, but my curiosity got the best of me.
“I’m just saying that you can’t know these things. I mean, there could be other things out there. Not even the Ka know everything.”
So that was it, huh? I pretty much knew what the topic was about now, so I stepped forward and the door opened. They sat on their respective beds. Layla was polishing her power-fist and Leo just sat cross-legged across from her swaying back and forth like a playful child. That was the unrelenting force-juice. Even after fourteen hours of training, just sitting down was nearly impossible. It was only our first day, but if the whole week went on like this, we wouldn’t be even able to take a step once our time was up.
The two hurriedly stood and saluted me.
“Sir, would you please tell this religious fanatic to shut up before we end up in an airlock?”
“What’s this about?” I feigned ignorance.
“Leo here was just saying how there could be gods out there in other dimensions and how he feels that the Ka don’t want to tell us about them.”
I sighed as she stopped. Now that was seriously some heavy stuff. Religion was a very delicate issue since humanity joined the Commonwealth Federation. It wasn’t strictly prohibited to talk about the stuff, but it was severely discouraged. Religious institutions were losing their power even before the Ka discovered us, but after the annexation, the Ka explained how there was no reason for humankind to stick with ancient beliefs because if they couldn’t prove the existence of gods, then humankind as a whole shouldn’t even try. In the following centuries, major religions lost most of their followers. But some, like Leo apparently, still found solace in faith.
“Leo, are you a practicing believer?” I asked seriously. He shrugged but refused to meet my eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t judge. Speak freely.”
He took a deep breath but then stopped himself from saying anything. It was a trained reaction since religious people avoided the topic with anyone of authority. You never knew how someone would react to the mere mention of God, and in most cases, the reaction could prove to be very negative.
“I…”
“It’s fine, you don’t have to say anything, but do get ready. We’re going to—”
“I was just saying that perhaps the Ka don’t know everything,” he whispered, interrupting me for the first time since getting on the Arc. “Sometimes it seems that we have blindly accepted everything they told us, and I’m all right with most of it. They’re our superiors in every way possible, but it’s just that… well, has life really become that much better since we joined the Federation? I mean for most people?”
“I’m going to kill him, Sarge. Do I have your permission?” Layla said as she got up again and flexed her power-fist threateningly at him.
“Let him finish, Layla. Nobody cares what a soldier feels deep inside as long as he does his job.”
She looked at me with a mix of confusion and surprise. Layla was fiercely loyal, but she was also fiercely loyal which meant she’d do things by the book, never questioning why. A great characteristic for a soldier, not so great for a philosopher.
“So, what do you think? Is there something else out there?”
Leo thought about the question for a second and finally spoke. “I think there is. I believe there is. I’m not sure, nobody is, but it comforts me to have faith in the afterlife.
”
“Do you pray?”
“I do.”
Layla’s mouth hung agape as if Leo just confessed to murder.
“Is he for real?” she whispered mostly to herself.
“Not often, but I do sometimes before going to sleep. The temple said it’s meditative and good for the health of your soul. It helps me. It does, really. If with nothing else than with falling asleep.”
I could see that Layla was becoming very edgy, so I stopped the conversation. It would take time for her to accept Leo the way he was. She wasn’t a thinker; she was a doer, but I knew that nothing brought people closer—no matter how different they were—than combat.
“Well, you can forget about sleep for the next few days anyway. I have a special task for us today. One of you will like it, I’m sure. The other, well, we’ll see.”
“Finally!” Layla said as she rubbed her hands together. “This force-juice stuff makes me anxious to do things. To be honest, I like it so far. Keeps my head focused and the energy, damn, I could tear a tree out the ground, you know?”
“I know,” I said, trying to put up a fake grin that came out wrong and creepy.
Wait until you feel the side effects seep in, I thought. Still, I didn’t want to bring them down. It was only the second day and already signs of anxiety showed. We had just returned from an eight-hour training session and the bickering between the two grew by the minute. I had to keep their hands busy; otherwise, they’d kill each other over a stupid comment.
I had planned a couple of hours in the gym to work on our strength and constitution. Leo was behind on both stats, and while Commandos weren’t really too dependent on them, it was very dangerous to have a glass-cannon on your team. After the gym and lunch, I thought we could go through some battle strategy, but before I could lay out my marvelous plans, Leo opened his mouth to the detriment of everyone present.
“I mean, what if the Aloi are right?” Leo said, leaving both of us in utter shock.
“If the what?” I blurted out before anything more sensible came to mind.
“Yeah, I mean, they worship a God and there are possibly trillions of them. They can’t all be wrong, right? After all, who says the Ka—”
I closed the distance to Leo in a heartbeat and slapped his dumb face hard enough for him to spin on his axis like a cartoon character. There was a moment of tense silence in the room where the only sound I heard was my throbbing heart pumping adrenaline into my system. When I turned to Layla, I saw that she was poised to smash her oversized fists into Leo, but she stopped herself seeing me share her vision.
“You complete idiot!” I hissed as I pulled him from the floor up to the bed.
“Ouch, Sarge,” he said, holding his face with both hands.
“You’re one lucky bastard, Leo. If I were any other sergeant on this ship, I’d tie you to a mass-driver cannon and shoot you into a fucking star!”
What the hell was wrong with this kid? Was I too lenient on them, or was he too dumb? Did he really not understand what it meant to say that your sworn enemy might have a point? Imagine an ancient American soldier asking his superior before landing on Omaha beach if perhaps, you know, Hitler may have had a point? I was outside myself, but I also knew that the force-juice had a role in all of this.
“I don’t want to hear any line of thought that leads to another sentence like this. Pack your shit. You have three minutes to meet me in the gym, and Leo, just to make this absolutely clear, the Aloi do not have a point. They do not have a right. They do not have a ‘their side of the story.’ They have a bullseye on their heads and that’s where you’ll point your gun at. And another thing: I don’t want to listen to any more of your bickering. Do your job.”
I stormed out of the room, not even waiting for them to confirm my order. As the door behind me closed, I took a deep breath and shook my head. The Aloi had a point. I shuddered at the stupidity of those words. Spoiled brat. I had learned that Leo grew up in what was called a Manyfam. It was a concept of many families living together under one roof, all caring for each other equally, no matter who was whose biological parent, brother, or sister.
Most people were disgusted by the idea, and honestly, I found it repelling, too. But when you learned about the mating habits of other alien species, any variation on family life humans had suddenly seemed normal. He wouldn’t say how he ended up in the military despite his comfortable lifestyle. Manyfam members were usually very religious and abhorred the idea of military service.
A loud thump tore me from my thoughts.
I opened the door again and oh boy, did I dislike the view. My two specialists were locked in on the floor wrestling each other. Layla was on top of Leo just about to bash his skull in with her power-fist. The fire in her eyes instantly disappeared and two puppy-eyed globes of guilt stared back at me, almost ready to burst into tears.
“He started it!” she said, but I just stared them down with the evilest look I had. My patience was done for. This was the breaking point.
“Get up!” I hissed through my teeth and both jumped up to attention immediately.
“Pick up your full gear as gym time is canceled. Meet me in the holo-deck in three!”
Exactly three minutes later, both of them stood with guilt written all over their faces in front of me. I initiated the simulation saying nothing about what was to happen. The greyness of the giant room faded into Detera that stretched around us. I picked a more or less open field with few opportunities for cover. No enemy units.
“You want to fight each other? Fine. You can fight each other but if you’re going to spend time and energy, you might as well learn something from it.” I guess they knew where this was going because both their faces showed signs of anxiety, although one might even say that beneath the façade slight hints of delight sparkled in their eyes. “Whoever wins, fights me.” The delight or whatever it was, drained away instantly. “Any questions?”
“Can we use everything?” Leo asked.
“Yes. Go all out. You stop when you drain your enemy’s HP. No damage to the body after that. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” They said with questionable enthusiasm.
I gave them enough space between their starting positions so neither Leo with his range nor Layla with her melee abilities would have a significant advantage, although in this situation Leo would always have a slight edge.
“Begin!”
Layla dashed right at Leo with all the speed she could muster in her juice-filled legs. Leo knew she would have to close the distance for any significant damage to happen, so he matched and then outmatched her speed easily.
Leo created enough distance from her to aim a shot and fired. The slug-projectile hit her across the chest, and she stumbled for a short moment. Another hit in the shoulder right after, barely grazing her. I had my INAS up the whole time it reported the results of their exchange.
Layla was hurt, but I knew for a fact that he didn’t have many AP rounds left as I didn’t restock him after the last simulation. He targeted again and double-tapped again, but both bullets missed, and that short timeframe could have cost him his life.
Layla jumped up with her signature move and came crashing down on Leo, landing Earthquake. Dust and rocks blew up around her, peppering the Commando. He lost his footing and dropped to one knee so he didn’t fall over. Just as he regained a semblance of his balance, Layla used Crushing Blow, catching him right in the chest.
Leo was almost split in half with that single hit, leaving him barely alive and in terrible shape. It was a done fight, or so I thought, but Leo proved once again how resilient he could be. He sprinted away with a limp, leaving Layla behind as she recovered from the backlash of the skill.
She smirked knowing very well that Leo wouldn’t be able to take another hit like that so she thought she could toy around. Big mistake. Leo fired his Barrage ability right at Layla. The Brawler, confident she’d tank the damage, ran after him in a straight line. When the bullets came crash
ing down, several projectiles hit her on the shoulders and back, throwing her off her feet and nailing her to the ground.
“You surly little pignut!” Layla cursed through her teeth as she got back up on her feet. The INAS read severe physical damage, which told me he did a real number on her there. Leo should be careful though, as Layla’s earthshattering hits could easily knock him out for good.
The Commando lost no time. He got down on one knee as Layla ran toward him and used his Snipe ability. The AP round hit her square on the chest, and for a moment even I flinched. That must have hurt like hell. Another two rounds hit her in the leg and head. The third hit threw her head back and I thought it broke her neck right then and there. But Layla marched toward Leo with frightening resolve.
She was now almost out of the game. Thinking back about my projection on the battle, I never expected this to be a close match. From what I’d seen during training and simulations, I thought that Layla would just pound Leo into the ground within the first minute. Still, it wasn’t too late for her to win.
Layla darted right at him again, knowing that playing around could cost her the fight. I knew what would come next even before she did it. She jumped into the air and came crashing down with her earthquake again, but to Layla’s, mine, and probably Leo’s surprise, he managed to dodge the attack by rolling to the side. From the ground he fired a couple more slugs in her direction, missing most but connecting just enough to make her wince in pain.
Layla was enraged. Her face was fury incarnate as she turned on Berserk. She came running at Leo swinging her power-fist at him. She pummeled him with another crushing blow that threw Leo fifteen feet into the distance. He slammed on the ground and dust swirled up around him as he thudded down like a sack of meat.
He was done for. A single slap on the wrist was enough to end him when she was in that state. Layla came at him with much more than a slap in mind. A full blow from her power-fist would probably crush Leo’s insides with ease. Leo was in real danger as the frenzied berserker approached. His H-Nan were almost depleted, and any damage he would suffer now could not be fixed with a medic’s equipment; he’d need to see a real doctor.
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