They would be doing their best to pull back, but Ortiz knew it was not going to be pretty. It was the order he had to give to fulfill their mission.
Lose people in their little fights out in the city, or bring them together, and create a position of power. Have units capable of supporting one another and make a stand.
It was the best of the terrible choices.
Chapter 72
Mega City
Earth, Sol System
7/3349
Jerome looked over the Troopers, they were all fighting with everything they had, Repulsors barely stopped as ammunition was run to them.
Heavies fired back, but still the Troopers stayed in their positions.
Someone was hit by a Heavy, falling back, and medics were on them in minutes. Another Trooper took their place as the Repulsors tracked the Heavy. Screamers opened up new holes in the tower that had fired on them.
Ortiz had passed the orders to Lieutenant Colonel Shultz, who’d passed it on to his Force and divisions.
Troopers across Mega City were ready for what was coming next. All of the Troopers, except those on the first line, had packed up their gear and were ready to move.
“Second and third line, pull back,” Ortiz ordered. On Jerome’s map, he saw as the Troopers ran from their positions, sprinting for vehicles, or just straight running for the citadel.
He changed views, looking at the top of the towers that the first line was using. Combat Shuttles waited, ready to move.
Jerome found an unused Repulsor turret; there simply weren’t enough Troopers left to use all of the positions they’d set up.
He fired at the Chosen as the Troopers ran.
There was no change on the front lines. A car came flying around a tower, and Screamers ripped towards it, but it was moving too fast. It hit a building and detonated. Several floors of glass exploded and started raining down as Chosen and their damned trucks moved forward to try and enter the building.
Screamers tore off armor, but the trucks kept going, their heavy machine guns tracking Screamer vantage points and hosing them with rounds. Jerome aimed low, catching one of the armored truck’s tires.
It was shredded, and the truck stopped. Chosen ran from it towards the breached tower.
Jerome changed to fire on them, cutting them down, but there were too many, they were moving too fast, and they had armor that could shrug off a few rounds from the Repulsors.
They made it in as the Troopers in the building started pulling themselves together.
There was a frantic fight in the tower as Troopers and Chosen clashed. The Troopers seemed to get the upper hand, and then one of the Chosen bastards went up in an explosion. The Troopers were either killed or stunned, and Chosen flooded in.
“Fuck you!” Whyte yelled. An explosion ripped through the lower floors of the tower, killing any Chosen in or around it for twenty meters.
“Move to the Combat Shuttles!” Ortiz yelled.
“Move it Troopers! You heard the general!” Tyler snapped.
Troopers moved by groups to the elevators. They'd practiced it a few times. Panicking meant that they would die or leave someone behind. Mines and booby traps were laid as Jerome let go of the Repulsor, getting on the last elevator.
They rode upwards.
The Chosen, not about to lose whatever advantage they had found, moved forward. Jerome felt the explosions on the first floor as he shot upwards to the landing pad.
The elevator stopped and he poured out with other Troopers and onto the Combat Shuttles, the first of which were already dropping off the tower and heading for the citadel.
Jerome looked around, the sky was filled with Combat Shuttles departing with the last defenders of Mega City.
Fighters came in dangerously low, their auto-turrets firing as they rushed past, missiles leaving craters in the ground. To go that fast and low in Mega City was an impressive feat.
Jerome looked away as he saw the first fighter get clipped by a Heavy and it was sent cartwheeling through a tower in a fiery explosion.
Chapter 73
SLS Liberator
Falhor System, En Route to Sol System
7/3349
“The Troopers have pulled back to the citadel. Losses are high on both sides,” NIDenise interrupted Nerva’s breakfast, and it turned to ash in his mouth as he swallowed.
She brought up the list of casualties, highlighting the people that he knew.
Nerva held his hands, resting his forehead against them as he sighed.
“Thank you, Denise,” Nerva said some time later. People let him be as he ate his food in silence, not even tasting it, as his eyes saw people that he would never meet again.
He just hoped that there were some left for him to save when he reached Earth.
Chapter 74
Citadel
Earth, Sol System
7/3349
It took nearly a week for the Chosen to advance towards the citadel – they were being careful to look out for traps and ambushes.
Tyler had taken over the scouts that were left, and worked through the towers, using Combat Shuttles to get from position to position.
They’d hit any Chosen that they could find, and targeted any vehicles and trucks the Chosen had been using with Screamers. They’d even caught a few suicide cars. The Chosen shied away from them, making them easier to identify as targets.
While Tyler had been gone, Ortiz and the other officers had reformed.Regiments, but were barely two whole platoons.
Troopers were given new positions, and formed into new complete units.
They slept, ate, and worked on their positions. The citadel had been turned into a fortress. There was little remaining of the pristine floors and walls of the citadel’s lobby.
Barricades had been erected surrounding the entire citadel, and Repulsors were set up on the first three floors.
AMR shooters were sown throughout. The open area around the citadel had been turned into a killing field, with artillery targets dialed in to hit anything in it.
Planters were still dotted around in pleasant collections, as if they weren’t in the middle of what was to be the Troopers’ and Chosen’s last battlefield.
Trenches had been cut into the cermite here. It would have taken too long to do it at the other positions, so it had all been focused here. Bunkers and trenches extended around the citadel with entrances behind the Troopers’ front lines in the lobby.
Tyler tapped the Combat Shuttle missile pod that had been hooked up to a remote launcher. The entire floor had been cleared out to make room for the dozen homemade launchers.
“Well, this is it,” Mark said, smoking a cigar as he sat on a pile of desks.
“Yeah,” Jerome said, also smoking.
Alexis stood next to Tyler, shivering as she looked down at the ground below. “Ugh, I hate heights.”
Tyler smiled, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her to him. “Don’t worry I won’t let you fall.” He turned towards the others who were gathering for possibly the last time.
There were Yu, Young, and Bobbie wearing the armor of Troopers. They’d been issued Powered Armor, that they were decent at using. Thankfully, when they’d had extra time before all of this, they’d trained with the Armor enough to be proficient.
Ortiz, Mark, Jerome, and Dominguez were smoking cigars. There was no one else left from the Triple Twos any more.
Just five of us left.
Essa, Tyler’s captain, was talking to Jerome about Troop positions. Kim, her second, was listening in. Nguyen had replaced Ko, Yule was with the medics. Alexis’ new second, Eriksson, had stepped up and taken Yule’s spot until such time as she was fixed up.
Both Eriksson and Nguyen were passed out, sleeping across desks.
They were a sad sight, tired men and women with well maintained but well used Armor. They bore the scars of their battles on their bodies and their very souls. It showed in their eyes when they’d sink into the memories.
<
br /> Alexis squeezed Tyler, bringing him out of those thoughts as he settled onto the pile of desks. It wasn’t that comfortable, but it was somewhere to sit.
“I’m taking a nap,” Alexis said, curling up.
Tyler kissed her forehead. “Okay, babe.” A part of his mind wondered if he would get to see her again tomorrow.
She kissed him back, smiling, and getting comfortable. In minutes she was asleep.
“Never thought that we’d be fighting from the citadel,” Mark said, still smoking.
“Me neither, this place has more secrets than I thought possible,” Ortiz said.
“And we’re going to use them all to make sure the Chosen have a terrible time,” Jerome said, pointing to Ortiz with his cigar.
“That we will, that we will,” Ortiz agreed, smoking and looking at the ceiling.
“Never thought being a Trooper would be like this. Thought it would all be cool-looking uniforms, advancing on the enemy that were so scared of seeing our Trooper greys that they’d throw their weapons down. Guess that’s why they wanted us so young and impressionable,” Tyler mused.
“Dumb kids who think they know the universe, that’s us alright,” Dominguez said with a small smile.
“Not much ever changes with that,” Mark agreed, smiling.
They lapsed into silence.
“Always thought that following the Victors would make us some kind of super soldiers, but we’re still people, and you’re still smelly as hell,” Essa said.
“Watch out, captain, I might try and give you a promotion,” Ortiz threatened, getting a few laughs. The losses were too recent and the tension for the coming fight too high to get anything more than chuckles.
“Just people stuck in extraordinary circumstances,” Mark said around his cigar.
The media and the Ministry of Intelligence might make them look like heroes, but the reality was that they were just people who had survived where so many others had died.
Moretti walked in the room, and everyone awake looked at him.
“Got a cigar?” he asked.
Mark snorted and tossed him a box. He opened it, sniffing the cigars before pulling one out. He cut the ends, lit it, and tossed the box back.
He sat down on the desks and looked out over Mega City.
“Everyone’s gone to ground, even the dumbest of the corporation officers have crawled into some kind of hole,” Moretti said.
“Even rats have brains,” Jerome sighed, letting out a stream of smoke.
“Yeah.” Moretti leaned back into the overturned desks and looked out over the city, past the Combat Shuttle missile pods.
“Don’t worry, it won’t roast us unless it’s firing, and we should get a warning before that,” Young said, smoking her cigarette. Yu had passed out and Bobbie was smoking his own cigar beside him.
“Well, that might be sooner rather than later. You should get some sleep. I’ll let you know when they’re a few hours away. Nivad wants me to be running reports instead of fighting. Probably wouldn’t be much help in a fight, but still wish I was with you all,” Moretti looked over them.
“We know,” Tyler said, speaking for them all.
“Thanks,” Moretti sighed, still not happy with the situation.
Tyler leaned against the desk. All of them were smoking, or watching the city, they were all tired and each had their own thoughts to deal with.
Tyler only realized he’d fallen asleep when Moretti shook him awake.
The others were standing up and Alexis looked like she really wanted to sleep another few hours as she stretched beside Tyler.
“The Chosen are about two hours away,” Moretti said.
Tyler felt his face harden as he opened his implants and started going through his mental list of checks.
“Well let’s go finish these bastards off,” Mark said, stretching and cracking his neck.
***
Alexis gave Tyler one long last kiss. She just wanted to run away from it all, just take the Troopers and leave the corporations to sort out their mess themselves.
She knew that it was impossible. If they didn’t do their duty, then the Chosen would win, track them down and torture them. If the corporations won, it would be much the same.
Even as she thought it she dismissed it. These were her Troopers. She wouldn’t leave them behind and this way she could get some payback for those that she’d lost.
She stepped into her Powered Armor. Yule had got out of medical a few hours ago, and Eriksson had dealt with that as Alexis slept. Now she had her second in command back.
Tyler smiled and turned to go find his Powered Armor.
Alexis’ armor closed around her, locking her in.
All throughout the citadel, Troopers were getting into their Armor, checking their gear and moving to their positions. Last minute modifications were made as Alexis walked out of the armory and to an elevator that dropped her to the first floor.
Her people knew their positions and were moving to them quickly.
She came out into the lobby as Repulsor turrets were being loaded. Gunners swivelled the turrets to make sure they were able to traverse. She passed the line set up at the elevators and stairs, then the one where desks had been.
She looked towards the big holes in the floor. She walked down and into the trenches under the line of spray-ite covered barricades that made the lobby’s first line.
The trenches were big enough for two Troopers to walk side by side. People split off, heading through the zigzagging features to the bunkers that lay around the citadel at key points. There were eight in the second line of trenches, and twelve in the first line.
Alexis worked her way to the first line of trenches. Every few meters there were steps that led to Repulsor turrets looking across the open space around the citadel.
Sensor-sticks were picking up heavy movement in the towers around the citadel. The Chosen were getting into position.
“Alright, Slummers, how are we looking?” Alexis asked.
“Alpha Company is good.”
“Bravo Company in position.”
“Charlie Company ready to bring the pain.”
“Good work, now we just have to wait for the Chosen to show up instead of hiding like a bunch of useless fuckers.”
Chapter 75
Mega City
Earth, Sol System
7/3349
Fusaro looked at the citadel, the iron fist of Earth and Her Colonies. Defenses ringed it, with bunkers and trenches sprouting Troopers and Repulsor positions. The there was the solid armored wall that covered the encircling lobby of the citadel.
He looked up at the impressive building. It really did look like a sword pointed towards the heavens. Just three letters were written into its surface.
EMF. Earth’s Military Forces. Three words, but they have trained some of the fiercest warriors in existence.
Fusaro had truly come to appreciate the Troopers. He’d actually felt relieved when the Troopers that the Chosen had tortured had been killed by their own friends.
The Troopers had fought harder and more viciously after that. The Chosen had responded by blowing themselves up while yelling “for the sake of harmony!”
Idiots, what is the use in killing yourself if you can’t appreciate the victory? What drives someone to kill themselves for a cause like that?
Fusaro rubbed his face.
“Do not worry, General, many of the Chosen have volunteered to go in first as true Chosen of Harmony,” Baashir said.
Oh goody, more fucking suicidal maniacs.
“Good, their sacrifice will allow us to strike the EMF down, once and for all.” Fusaro looked at the citadel, so that Baashir couldn’t see his face.
“For the sake of Harmony,” Baashir said.
“For the sake of Harmony,” Fusaro repeated, hating the words and the thing that Quinn had created. Soon enough it would all be wiped clean.
When Quinn and Hawking returned with their security contractors
to clear out the Chosen, then Fusaro could rest. He was the only one among the Chosen on Earth that knew the real purpose of Harmony. He couldn’t talk to anyone about their plans. All of their communications were jammed outside of Earth’s atmosphere, and there weren’t any ships to relay messages.
“Baashir, I leave the honor of leading this battle in your hands,” Fusaro said, trying to distance himself from what Baashir and the fanatical Chosen were going to do.
“My General, it will be a great, true honor,” Baashir said, almost prostrating himself before Fusaro.
“Do me proud,” Fusaro said, knowing he was condemning the Troopers he respected to a death that he didn’t want visited on them.
“For the sake of Harmony, it will be so,” Baashir said, saluting.
Fusaro repeated the words and saluted back. The words felt like acid in his mouth, as if he was corrupting himself by saying them.
He left the observation post and went to find somewhere away from the violence.
Chapter 76
Citadel
Earth, Sol System
8/3349
“Here they come,” Ortiz said through every Trooper’s headset as the Chosen started moving forward. Heavy machine guns were moving into position.
Troopers opened up with Repulsors and Screamers. Heavies were torn apart, but there were too many of them to all be destroyed. They fired back, tracers ripping through the air as the first Trooper casualties were reported. Screamers continued to rain down from the higher levels, and AMRs fired as they took out advancing Chosen.
Chosen ran out, carrying ladders and ramps. They crawled and ran, finding mines that had been hidden in the cermite pad.
Many didn’t make it, but the fire was enough to get some to the planters and they put up the ramps that went over them.
Ortiz heard vehicles as they charged out from between buildings. “Fire missile pods,” he shouted.
Missiles erupted from the makeshift launchers, raining down on the incoming vehicles. Few made it to the planters, fewer still made it past.
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