Ghost Platoon

by Xavier P. Hunter

  “All right,” Reggie said. “Button it up. Time to get ready to shoot and loot.”

  “Hooray!” Chase hooted. “The rhymes are back!”

  “Chase, I do not want to play out these finals with you muted,” Reggie warned.

  Chase deflated. “Yessir.”

  The dropship swooped in and deposited Ghost Platoon on a platform that sealed them inside a domed force field bubble.

  Then the countdown began.

  :30

  :29

  “Win or lose, guys, this has been a blast,” Lin said. “I almost don’t care about racking up views—although that’s been awesome too.”

  :22

  :21

  :20

  “I’m starting to think this might be the last hurrah of this game,” Frank said. “You don’t top a spectacle like this. And if you can’t top it, it’s all downhill.”

  :15

  :14

  :13

  “Whatever,” June said. “I’m living in the now. Enjoy this. None of us has ever been on a stage this big. Not even you, Little Miss SlipStream.”

  :08

  :07

  “I’m not going to get maudlin on you all,” Reggie said. “Just go out there and show them what Ghost Platoon is made of.”

  :03

  :02

  :01

  The force field disappeared.

  When the announcement came, it was in Ken Bradley’s voice. “Let the Ragnarok Showdown… END!”

  [Sole Objective: Destroy Enemy Pilots 0/5]

  Ghost Platoon scattered for the nearest cover in the jungle gym space station. The first thing Reggie noticed was that the gravity was much lighter than Galactic Standard. “Careful, everyone. Move around. Get used to the handling.”

  “Um, Reggie…” Chase said. “Did you notice a key difference in the mission description?”

  He hadn’t. He’d hardly paid attention to them all tournament except as a quick update on an enemy juggernaut being destroyed elsewhere on the battlefield.

  Huh…

  [Sole Objective: Destroy Enemy Pilots 0/5]

  “Enemy pilots?” Lin asked. “What’s the diff?”

  “Prob’ly on account of Reggie’s extracurriculars,” Frank suggested.

  “Maybe…” Reggie allowed, but something didn’t feel right. He didn’t have long to dwell on grammatical changes to the mission briefing.

  TARGET DATA ACQUIRED.

  “Incoming!” June shouted.

  The tactical map lit. Lucky Outlaws must have learned that Reggie and Ghost Platoon were planners and ambushers. They’d charged across the arena, diverting only enough to go around the force field dome at the center. Five Titans bore down on them in Blitzkrieg fashion, looking to put Ghost Platoon off balance—or finish them off early. Surely, they’d be happy either way.

  “Least we don’t have to play hide-and-seek,” Chase said as he ducked behind a support pillar and used its cover to ascend one of the many ramps.

  “We’re good at hide-and-seek,” June shot back. “Hide-and-seek is our specialty.”

  “No specialties anymore,” Reggie barked. “We adapt. Get to ground and dig in. Only return fire once you’re secure.”

  Vortex bounded along like an astronaut on the moon. It wasn’t quite the 1/6 gravity from the old NASA videos, but it couldn’t have been more than 1/3 or 1/4 standard.

  Lin was the Lucky Outlaws’ first target. She radioed for backup immediately. “Closing in on me at Delta-Zero-Niner. All five.”

  “Jump Boost,” Reggie advised. “None of those Titans are equipped with ‘em. Get vertical. We’re on our way.”

  “Roger,” Lin replied, keeping her cool and igniting the thrusters in Yulong’s boots. She rose like a rocket to a catwalk five stories up.

  “Not a lot of cover up there,” June observed.

  Reggie aimed on the run, hating how exposed he felt. The Lucky Outlaws hadn’t given them any time to think or get their bearings. He wondered if they even had their own or if this mad rush was an effort to get the game to five-on-four before anyone knew what was really going on.

  [Titan[3] – 56% To Hit]

  Reggie fired and missed, his plasma blast continuing on to cause a ripple in the distant force field at the arena’s edge.

  Yulong ran along the catwalk angling shots toward her ground-based adversaries. Four of them trailed below her as one headed off to try to reach the tower where Lin’s catwalk connected.

  Chase intercepted the Titan trying to cut Lin off. It was a bold move, either brave or accidental. Chase’s Jackal was tuned, balanced, and efficient. What it lacked was power. In a confrontation where two juggernauts came around a corner and ran into one another—which had just happened—the outcome was foregone.

  Diablo was knocked to the arena floor. The Titan stumbled over him, trapping Chase beneath its mass.

  “Frank, get over and help him!” Reggie ordered.

  “On it!” Frank confirmed. “Don’t worry, kid. I’ve got ya.” Gremlin charged over to help.

  However, with the reduced gravity, Chase wasn’t helpless beneath the Titan. Despite being twice Diablo’s size, its apparent weight was less than what Diablo was used to walking around with. A single heave and the Titan arced gracefully off the Jackal, clanging to the ground with an impact more noisy than damaging. “I’ll still take the help,” Chase assured them.

  Up on the catwalk, Lin had reached the tower. Its rounded shape allowed her to retreat incrementally, using it as cover to continue firing back at her pursuers.

  June sniped from long range. Even though her Ballistic Cannon was a lightweight for damage, praying for critical hits wasn’t their worst strategy at the moment. A lucky crit to a weapon or engine could swing the battle.

  Reggie closed in, hoping that he wasn’t committing suicide in an effort to save Lin. He counted on the fact that Frank and Chase were nearby if the Lucky Outlaws turned their attention on him.

  [Titan[3] – 60% To Hit]

  This time, two bursts of plasma hit home.

  Titan[3] Rear Armor: 93/100

  Titan[3] Rear Armor: 86/100

  God, did Reggie hate heavy juggernauts sometimes. Two prime hits to the rear and the thing was still more heavily armored back there than the front of Vortex.

  But if Reggie’s goal had been to take pressure off Lin, he’d succeeded. Two of the Titans, including Titan[3], broke off their assault on Yulong, turning in mirrored unison toward Vortex.

  “Uh, nice doggies…” Reggie muttered. “Shit.” He reversed course and headed for the arena’s center rather than the warren of catwalks and bridges. The central force field dome would be an impervious piece of cover, one that he wouldn’t have to worry about someone blasting their way through to hit him with a sneaky shot.

  “Look out!” June warned. “Someone found an elevator.”

  The tactical map didn’t show anything—it was hardly any help at all in this vertical jungle gym arena—but Reggie made visual contact. One of the Titans was ascending on an external elevator that ran up the side of one of the towers. It hopped off one level above Yulong on a catwalk that ran at an angle to hers. Soon, Lin would be flanked from above.

  At ground level, Frank and Chase had gotten into a duel with two of the Lucky Outlaws. Frank ought to have been good to leave on his own, but there was no way Chase was going to win against a Titan in close quarters combat. Unlike their last foes, Lucky Outlaws had armed themselves with swords to counter the inevitable melee encounter that Ghost Platoon had forced on every unprepared squad.

  “June, any chance of some assistance for those two? I’ve gotta try to help Lin.”

  “How are you going to do that?” June asked. “You’re the one getting double-teamed.”

  By slower juggernauts… Reggie added silently to himself. Not by much, though. Wolverines were practically heavies. He was more maneuverable, but in a straight line, he wouldn’t put much ground between himself and those Titans, not in any kind
of hurry, at least.

  Then he had an idea. If those two Titans wanted to chase, Reggie would be happy to circle the central force field ahead of them. On top of that, Reggie would arrive at the site of Frank and Chase’s brawl, possibly in time to help out one or both of them.

  What a mess.

  This was the craziest battle yet. There were too many places to go, too many angles to account for, not enough value in scouting, terrain, or any of the touchstones of real-world combat that Reggie relied upon for his strategic planning.

  It was… refreshing, in a way.

  On the catwalks, Lin was trading fire with the Titan who’d gotten above her, taking the worst of the exchange until she exposed her whole juggernaut and Jump Boosted up to the same level with it. Now it was two heavy juggernauts blasting each other with next to nothing for cover. Essentially, Lin was taking one for the team in the hopes that the rest of them would come to some advantage down below.

  As he circled around the central dome, Reggie noticed something curious. The dome didn’t extend all the way to ground level. There was a metallic wall that ran knee-high to Vortex. The force field came down and touched, leaving no gap, but the wall wasn’t entirely featureless. There was a door or hatch in the side. Above it was the inscription: Lucky Outlaws.

  Reggie didn’t have time to stop and examine the hatch. He had two Titans bearing down on him. Any pause or slip up, and he’d lose life-saving ground.

  “Frank, hurry it up!” Chase bellowed.

  “Working… on it,” Frank said between grunts that were more concentration than physical exertion. “These guys aren’t amateurs, you know.”

  “Yeah. I noticed,” Chase snapped. “One of them has bashed most of my systems offline, and he’s coming for you next.”

  “Chase, eject,” Reggie ordered.

  “Nah, I’m no Commando,” Chase replied defiantly. “I’ll get my licks in best I can, as long as I still have engine power.”

  By the crunching sounds of metal ahead, that was roughly two more punches.

  Diablo disappeared from the tactical status window.

  Cannon fire from behind Reggie panicked him for an instant before he realized that the Titans still had the dome blocking their line of fire. Reggie hadn’t lost ground on them; June had caught up. It was her Ballistic Cannon offering supporting fire, trying to make up for the fact that she couldn’t engage in melee combat like the sturdier juggernauts.

  Now alone, one on two, Frank was sorely pressed. The Titan who’d mauled Chase was barely injured. Frank had the other pinned down, hacking away at it with Gremlin’s sword. Just as the second one was about to bring its own blade down on Frank’s exposed back, Reggie leaped onto its back. While his weight might have been reduced in the lunar-like environment, Vortex still had all its mass. Clinging to the Titan’s back, he knocked the larger juggernaut off balance and away from the brawl Frank was winning.

  But Reggie’s heroic move cost him. There were still two angry Lucky Outlaws on his tail and stopping to help Frank had let them catch up. Frank landed a heavy blow, crushing the cockpit of his opponent…

  [Sole Objective: Destroy Enemy Pilots 1/5]

  …but that still left them outnumbered two to three. Much as he loved her, June wasn’t cut out for this kind of engagement. The Phoenix was a support juggernaut, fast, maneuverable, and decked out to scout like an AWACS. But at best, she could pester and harry these Titans, and none of that was going to be fast enough.

  The brawl was brutal. Frank took the worst of it with two Titans ganging up to drag Gremlin to the ground. Reggie, for all his judo and ninjutsu tricks, could only hope for a delaying action at best.

  Lin wasn’t going to be helping anytime soon. She and the Titan she dueled were both crippled. The fact that either was still capable of firing back at the other was a miracle. Reggie needed a plan.

  Lucky Outlaws, the door had read.

  Valhalla West wasn’t going to play favorites. There had to have been a matching Ghost Platoon door around there somewhere. Halfway around the dome seemed the logical place to look. He was practically there already, having done nearly a full circuit of the arena’s center.

  “Reggie, hold that one still if you can,” June suggested.

  Vortex was taking a battering. Reggie’s skills didn’t matter when his opponent could throw him around like a toy. He fired an ineffective blast from a Plasma Launcher that the Titan had pinned to the side. Hopefully, the momentary glare might buy him a few seconds’ distraction.

  “I just can’t,” Reggie said by way of apology. “If this all goes wrong, I’m sorry.”

  Reggie set his demolitions pack on the control console and slipped his mobile headset on. Popping the cockpit hatch, he leaped from Vortex, pressing the detonator just before he hit the ground.

  A sturdy beast, Vortex’s structure ate most of the blast. The Titan tormenting him barely took any damage.

  Reggie hit the ground in a roll and sprinted for the wall that ran beneath the force field. His blaster pistol bounced at his hip. A charged rifle flopped at his back by the strap. Overhead at ahead of him, he could see the final throes of Lin’s battle on the catwalks. Yulong wobbled unsteadily before tumbling down with a sickening crash to the arena floor.

  Two down…

  Glancing over his shoulder, three Titans had fallen atop Gremlin.

  “I’m about done for,” Frank warned. Reggie knew it was only a matter of time. Frank’s brawling skills and the legendary armor of the Tiger would make it take time.

  Reggie needed to make use of that time.

  There was, indeed, a matching door on the far side of the force field wall. The door inscription read Ghost Platoon. There was a computer panel beside the door with an outline of a handprint. Reggie didn’t hesitate to place his hand on the scanner. With a puff and a hiss, the door popped open for him.

  Was he cheating? Was this a privilege he hadn’t earned yet?

  Reggie didn’t think so. Destroy All Enemy Pilots the mission had said. That implied that five juggernaut kills weren’t enough this time. There were backups. Vortex wasn’t going to be the last juggernaut Reggie piloted today!

  Unless Reggie got shot.

  He threw himself against the wall and then ducked behind a corner as a set of automated turrets opened fire. Peeking around, he could see another hatch at the far end labeled Valkyrie Hangar. For a second, it made Reggie rethink whether this was rule-breaking after all.

  No. It was a test, an obstacle. Reggie had the tools he needed to get past it.

  He peered around the corner, trying to take a count of the turrets. Ducking back as they fired, he tried to count the sound of the staccato burst of lasers. Ten? Twelve? It was hard to say.

  With an idea where his targets were located, Reggie poked his rifle around and fired. Charged pulses took out two of the turrets before Reggie retreated.

  Holy hell that was easy! He hadn’t aimed at all. Instinct took over, and his hand-eye coordination took care of the rest.

  Repeating the same maneuver a few more times, Reggie cleared the turrets from the corridor and marched down, wincing at a shoulder would where one of the lasers had scorched him. But with 25 points in Toughness, he worked the shoulder loose to check his range of motion, then headed for the hangar.

  The door let him through without protest.

  Inside, smaller force fields protected the individual Valkyries. Each bore a plaque at its base with the name of a pilot. Without hesitation, Reggie headed for the one labeled “King.”

  The force field shut down when Reggie placed his hand on another scanner beside the plaque bearing his name. A tiny, one-man personnel elevator lifted him to the cockpit.

  Everything inside was just the way he remembered it from the tour the day before, right down to the smudged fingerprints on the touchscreens.

  This was literally exactly the one he’d sat inside.

  Powering up, the Valkyrie thrummed to life. There was something inspiring abou
t the amount of power he was sitting atop. He felt… invincible.

  And trapped.

  The force field overhead allowed him glimpses of the battle going on outside. The Titan on the catwalks limped behind cover and fired. A shell impacted near its head, sending a cloud of debris from one of the towers. But there was no apparent way back out.

  The Valkyrie was armed with Mk 2 Particle Blasters. They were horrible weapons by all accounts. Good range, though nothing crazy. Packed a kick. The problem was that they were ludicrously inefficient thermally. Most people willing to go to the length of considering a Particle Blaster just went the extra step to an Anti-Matter Projector. The smaller Valkyrie didn’t want a big, cumbersome weapon like that, and it didn’t give the first shit about heat. It could walk through lava with the heat dissipation it packed.

  Reggie took aim at the Titan through the force field and fired a shot. Though the blast splashed harmlessly off the inside of the force field, he was pleased to see that the heat gauge barely showed a blip when he fired.

  How was he going to get out?

  Reggie stalked over to the force field at its base, amazed how fluidly the machine handled. Reaching out, he gently brushed one of the giant fingers against the energy field.

  It passed right through.

  “One-way gate,” Reggie said to himself.

  “What’s that?” June asked. “What’s going on in there?”

  “The cavalry is here,” Reggie replied.

  Activating the Valkyrie’s Jump Boost, Reggie tore through the force field ceiling and rejoined the battle.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Jump Boost was supposed to overheat a juggernaut. Used in short, judicious bursts, the thermal load was manageable. But Reggie was mashing down the Jump Boost like the accelerator on a truck stuck in the mud. In the low gravity of the space station arena, he wasn’t building enough heat to worry about.