As I stood there, wreaking havoc across the sands, something stirred in me. I watched Bucky pound down on a Raintrooper, turning his body into mush while I held another down with my nanite chains, placed a round in the head of another, and sliced through the legs of several others. All of that passed cleanly into yet another Count’s Justice as nanites impaled the remaining group hiding behind cover.
I knew exactly what it was that stirred earlier. It was power, one very similar to what I felt all those years ago. The power only a Technomancer could feel. Sure, a Brawler could crush a dozen soldiers with a single attack, or a Gearlord could bombard a smaller town, turning it into smithereens, but no class had this much control over the battlefield while at the same time being able to dish out so much death and destruction. It was a dangerously good feeling. A feeling that cost me my life on Pelerin.
It was a well-documented issue, common across all classes but it mostly affected younger Technomancers: power-blindness. Evolution never equipped our minds with the idea that we could have nanites coursing through our blood and that we could reach heights of power equal to characters from mythology. Many young specialists fell into this pit of self-grandeur, some were discharged from the military with their nanites removed, others ran away on their own, while some died trying to prove this power was under their control. Only the best managed to get their ego under control and let it work in their favor. I wanted to be one of those, and for that, I had to constantly remind myself of the price I had already paid for arrogance.
The battle only took another minute before I was done. I killed them all, depleting much of my first batch of O-Nan cells. I was left with 8% of my nanite capacity. This was troubling, but I thought I’d still be fine. I had another full stack of cells in reserve, and if worse came to worst, I could still pull my H-Nan cells. I really hoped that wouldn’t be necessary, though.
I recovered what little O-Nans that I could pry from the corpses and walked several miles. The night closed in steadily as I finally heard the sound of battle raging in the distance. Around 200,000 Federation soldiers were charging the Aloi stronghold built around one of the major detrium mines in this area of the super-planet.
My original mission had been to infiltrate the enemy backlines and sabotage their artillery. I specifically had the task to attack their computer system to sow chaos in their communications network, but all that was now far from possible. The other squads now had to deal with that.
I fell into a patch of radio silence after the first mile. My INAS was cut off from the rest of my squad by network jamming devices surrounding the area. The closer I got to the stronghold, the less input my INAS was able to give me.
It wasn’t long before I ran into another Raintrooper outpost. Twenty more soldiers died to my nanites, but I depleted my O-Nan cells so I had to install a fresh batch. I was back up to 100% and would have to make them count.
The ground trembled ahead of me and Buzzard reported another soldier charging at my position. After that stormed another, and another. They came in scores but never all at once for some odd reason.
I used Bucky to bring down as many as I could, using his abilities the best he could, but I still had to use my Blade Shield for protection and my spikes for attacking. I tried to conserve as many cells as I could, but they were draining both me and the H-Nans coursing through my blood.
My pace slowed down rapidly as I approached the center of the valley. Constant ambushes and small groups of Raintroopers charging me started to take their toll. I was becoming more and more concerned, as at the rate at which I was burning through my supplies, I wasn’t going to last. Not only were they draining my cells, but it seemed like they were doing it on purpose. Was their tactic to dry me out so they could attack in full force? It could be if they were led by a singular entity.
Another hour in and halfway through the canyon, I was down again to 50% cells. I even had to spend some on repairs for Bucky but I had killed over 150 Raintroopers. It was a bloodbath if you ever saw one, but they had managed to do some damage to me as well. My H-Nans worked overtime to fix the numerous wounds inflicted by Raintrooper projectiles.
The song of battle raged ever louder as the Federation and Hegemony forces battled for supremacy. It was like a vast and devastating thunderstorm sliced by sounds of fighters cutting through the sky and bombing the troops from a distance. It had been six hours since I made planetfall and I was growing very tired. The constant battle didn’t just deplete my cells, but it was starting to take its toll on my nerves as well. Still, I had to keep moving. If the Aloi forces decided to abandon their positions, there was a good chance they would be fleeing through the canyon.
A mile later and not a single enemy had shown up. When I walked yet another mile, this started to disturb me. I was now two miles away from the stronghold and I could see the silhouettes of our ships in orbit whenever the clouds shifted favorably. Was this it? Did I just imagine that whole Raintrooper tactic? I guess I overestimated my enemies and they were just trying to flee from battle without a commander to order them around. Good, because a major fight would now be a real problem without support from my squad or a full batch of cells. My squad. I hoped they were fine without me out there. They had to be.
The walls around me finally descended, leaving the canyon and the sand behind me. I found myself standing there watching over the back of the stronghold. It was built surrounding a massive detrium bore that took up a central position in the complex. A fifteen-foot-tall wall surrounded the complex from all sides. Flashes of light blinked on and off as artillery fire barraged our Commonwealth forces. There was no artillery fire falling on the stronghold, though. Although the detrium platform was well protected, one unfortunate explosion could cost the mine, the stronghold, and the Federation army thousands of years’ worth of detrium. Even more, it could blow up half of this continent if all of the detrium below ground blew up.
The fighting had to be done up close with low-caliber weaponry and melee-proficient soldiers. Anything more than that would be detrimental, so the defender always had the upper hand.
I calculated my point of approach as I knelt and hid behind a rock formation, not wanting to be spotted by the enemy. I’d sneak in from the back and use both Buzzard and Bucky to help me climb the walls. Once inside, I should be able to reach my squad over the INAS, or I hoped so. Someone must have killed their jamming devices inside the stronghold by now, or so I hoped.
My best-laid plans were interrupted by white, sticky death that stuck me to the ground. It was a damn Ravager’s Entangle ability. I was right. The Ravager came with a cohort of Raintroopers to his sides, but I could hear the heavy steps of another coming from my back. Fuck, how the hell did a Ravager manage to sneak up on me? They weighed 600 damn pounds!
I could hear the Raintroopers’ stomping feet as they approached. They probably wanted to get rid of me while I was still entangled.
I instantly turned on my Blade Shield ability. The whirlwind of nanites surrounded me and tore the silk from my body. I got back to my feet and surprised the closest Aloi soldiers, but I had no idea what they expected me to do. Sit around and die? Stupid fanatics.
Before the first Ravager had time to react, I sent Bucky in to Charge him. The Golem slammed two of his four fists into the armored beast which gave me time to send in Buzzard at the other Ravager. With a stroke of my usual bad luck, the Ravager plucked Buzzard from the sky, destroying it almost instantly.
The shock of losing my familiar reverberated through my body. I had my splinter cannon on auto fire and tried to use my nanite-chains to cut down approaching Raintroopers, but the other Ravager closed the distance and Cleaved at me with the two giant blades he held in his hairy hands.
“Fucking bastard!” I cursed as I found a deep gash in my armor. This was getting very serious very quickly. I had to kill the first Ravager before the second one killed Bucky, or I’d be toast.
I slammed my fist against the ground, sending dozens of spikes erupti
ng from below the Ravager’s belly. They struck a soft spot and drew deep gashes and holes across its underside. The creature screamed and skittered away trying to create distance, but even if I had dealt a critical blow, it was far from dead. I turned my splinter cannon to its head and fired a round of splinter spikes at it, one connected but the Ravager managed to turn away before the others reached it. Damn you!
The Raintroopers were on and I more felt than saw my Blade Shield lashing out at the ones closest to me and taking the brunt of their silk-spear attacks. Dozens were left with missing hands, but even more took their place as they tried to kill me. They truly knew no fear.
I rolled away from another Entangle attack and put both my hands to the ground.
“You’re dead meat, Ravager!” I screamed as I focused 30% of my cells into the ground. The earth shook as my nanites tore through it. The Ravager looked at me as if knowing what was about to happen and prepared his cannon for a suicidal point-blank Silkfire barrage, but twenty nanite spikes burst up into its underbelly. They went through its body and pushed the 600-pound Ravager up into the air, creating a grotesque statue of flesh, meat, bones, and nanite spikes. The Silkfire rounds in its cannon detonated and the sculpture exploded, throwing me and the remaining Raintroopers to the ground.
My INAS read 5% cells left. That wasn’t enough for anything. I looked around and saw the Raintroopers were at least dead, but the second Ravager was still alive and mostly unharmed. Next to him, Bucky lay torn and smoking. I was left with severely damaged armor and uncountable bruises, cuts, and wounds which my H-nan cells tried to fix as best they could but without proper help, they could hardly bring me back up to where I was.
We stared each other down for several seconds, measuring the other and deciding on a plan of attack. The Ravager was highly intelligent, I knew that much, but they were also fanatical in their approach to war as all Aloi soldiers were. We circled each other, watching for an opening. My nanite spikes were out of the question and even my splinter cannon could barely afford a few rounds. The Ravager charged.
The giant spider-bear in power armor came at me with his blades swinging. I rolled to the side and grabbed it by one of its legs, managing to swing myself on top, then slammed my fist into the soft meat and held on as I stared down at one of his weak spots. A Ravager had two severe weaknesses: the belly and the back. Were you insane enough to climb it, the Ravager would have a hard time shaking you off. This was temporary, though. I put my palm on the back of its neck and concentrated. I had just enough nanites to do one little trick, so I gave it my all.
I hacked the Ravager’s armor and went deeper within the system. The Ravager shook violently and I had to use all my strength to not fall over. This was all I had left in my arsenal, so it had to work.
I found the motoric functions of the suit. Deeper. Leg amortization control, deeper. Override function. Go! As I finished the hacking sequence, I jumped off its back and watched the furious Ravager skitter away on legs that were no longer his to control. I put in a sequence where he would run in a straight line as long as there was a single breath in him and then use the barrage to kill itself.
“What a fucking day,” I hissed and spat out a wad of blood. At least I was still alive.
By the time I rejoined with my squad, the stronghold had been taken. The Oolan’Jin completely took the Aloi forces by surprise when they dug out in crucial positions across the fortress and destroyed their defensive capabilities. Leo and Layla did their part in the taking of what was now formally named Base Zero or, as most of us would call it outside the earshot of any Oolan’Jin, Mole Palace. My two squadmates were battered but in comparison to me, they looked like ancient Sunday churchgoers.
“Boss, what the hell happened to you?”
“Bad landing and… a long story.”
“Where were you? We needed you here, Sarge.”
I sat down and opened one of my rations without answering the question.
“You even gained a level?” Leo added.
“I did,” I said, shoving down those beautiful tasteless nutrients.
“You must have had a hell of a day, Boss.”
I just nodded with a full mouth and stared out into the distance.
“Captain Tailor asked for you, sir.”
“Asked for me?”
“Well, he said that your pod probably crashed into a lake and that you were a goner, but just in case you did show up, he wanted you to report ASAP.”
“That’s very considerate of him,” I said, not moving from where I sat. My legs felt as if someone had poured lead onto them. I just couldn’t move.
“So… are you going to report to him, or should I say something?” Leo saw my growing frown and stopped himself. “All right, I’ll just go and take care of my own business.”
Layla smacked him on the head when I didn’t say anything.
“Right, let’s go, dimwit,” she said with an apologetic smile as she dragged him away.
What a start to the Detera campaign and it was only day one. I sure had a lot to look forward to, but at least a small smile made its way up my face as I read on my INAS that my nanites had caused the death of that second Ravager. I chuckled as another notice flashed up in lovely green letters: I had acquired the rank of a Tier 4 Technomancer already. I guess my small solo campaign pushed me beyond the limits of everyone’s expectations. I swallowed the red stuff and lit a well-deserved cigarette. Good, I thought, good.
9
I could feel Lilian's eyes on the back of my neck as I scrolled through the module menu.
“You can pick anything you have the points for but nothing beyond your level,” she said as Sergeant Carmilla left the engineering bay. I followed the sergeant out with my eyes and as she was the last to leave, Lilian and I were finally alone.
“I know,” I said and turned back to keep on scrolling the bot module list.
“You have 600 points; you can take whatever your heart desires from the arsenal.”
“The whole arsenal isn’t going to help me, though. I need to make a smart decision on the load-out,” I said cheerfully, albeit somewhat distracted by all the options. “How did they grade points this time around?”
“Every Raintrooper kill is worth one point, every Ravager goes for fifty, and the Templars go for 150. Your INAS recorded every kill you made and the system awarded points accordingly from the Templar’s death.”
“So, it changed a bit, huh?”
“Sure has,” Lilian whispered as she came closer. I could now smell the shampoo in her hair. Nothing fancy as it was only military-grade hair products, but it mixed with her own smell and made it infatuating. I knew she was right behind me, but I didn’t want to turn around. Silly games adults played when no one was looking.
“What about this one,” I asked, then turned around. Our faces were only inches apart and I could feel her warm breath on my neck. She leaned into me, putting a finger on the selection menu behind me.
“That one? It’s a deflection module for your tank bot. Creates a 9x9 feet Vibro-shield to deflect incoming damage. Pretty nifty, don’t you think?”
“It has its applications,” I replied and held her gaze until she removed her hand.
“What is it, Rick?” she asked with a sigh when I didn’t say anything else.
“I’m just a bit distracted, Lil’.”
There was nothing more I’d like to do than take her in my arms and fool around in bed for the next hundred years, but we had no time. The war effort waited for no man or woman.
“The war?” She turned away and sat back at her desk, sliding numbers across the holographic surface of her engineer’s console. I really knew how to kill the mood. Someone would have to give me props for that one of these days.
“Yes, the war,” she muttered under her breath, obviously annoyed.
I wanted to tell her about my next mission and the shit Tailor was throwing us in, but I knew it would just sound like an excuse.
“It’s differ
ent now.”
“If you want the Vibro-shield, that will be 300 points. You may consider using the Warp-ball module if you want something more offensive for your bot.”
I lost her. I knew Lilian long enough to recognize that tone. She always switched to a full-formal mode when she was annoyed with something I said or did. Still, I didn’t want to end our conversation like this. Every mission was dangerous, but this one, damn, it stunk of death.
“Listen, Lil’, you of all people should know me. This war may prove more problematic than—”
“Just don’t, Rick. If I hear another soldier whining about how this war or mission is the one to end all wars, I’ll kill myself right here and now.” She always had a flair for exaggeration, but today was different somehow. “This war started before you were born and it will continue long after your death.”
“And maybe they’ll revive me to witness it,” I blurted out without thinking.
“Oh, it’s fucking pointless with you army types. Pick the module and just go. The next time you need a woman’s comfort try sticking your bot with a pleasure module.”
Damn, I hadn’t seen that one coming. Talk about army type, she was army to the bone.
“That was a bit low, wasn’t it?”
She shrugged and went on.
“Maybe, but at least you’ll die out there with your mind on your mission and your brain cleared of things like the useless emotions you might have for someone. Just like damn drones marching into death for the Imminy.”
She cared, I knew as much, but she’d been watching soldiers come and go longer than I have. I couldn’t help but sympathize. I clenched my fists as I wanted to explain, but I knew she wouldn’t listen. Not now.
“I’ll take the deflector module.”
She said nothing and instead tinkered with her console for several seconds before a drawer popped open on the other side of the room. It was a familiar sound I didn’t even know I missed up to this very moment.
Starblood: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 1) Page 12