“It’s all right, really,” Brookes said.
“See, Sarge, now you can stop hitting me,” Sanchez said as he crossed his arms in front of him.
Martin hit him in the back of the head again.
“That’s one more for good measure, Sanchez. I want to formally welcome you to the Dark Horses, Lieutenant Brookes,” Martin said as he saluted. “I’m First Sergeant Frank Martin, the top NCO and this bonehead here is Corporal Hector Sanchez, if you need someone to whine and complain about something he’s your man, and the big shy brute is Corporal Sharik Kazir; best damn heavy weapons soldier we’ve ever had. I’m sure Akiyama and Hartford have already introduced themselves, so the only two you haven’t met are Private First Class Hiram Jones; our comms and tech expert and Private Scarlet Cross; the squad medic.”
“Nice to meet everyone,” Brookes said.
“I’m sure between Aki, Hart, and the Cap you already know about that Mark Four we bagged,” Martin said with a grin.
“Yes, very impressive, Sergeant,” Brookes said.
Just then Brookes heard someone coming through the door. It was Privates Jones and Cross. Jones was carrying what looked like to be radio equipment, and Cross; a box of medical supplies.
“Hey, can you believe it, guys? I just snagged a COTAX R-99! This baby broadcasts crystal clear frequency and amplitude modulation over one-hundred miles, and all without those cumbersome externals! It even has the newest anti-jamming modules!” Jones said excitedly.
“Nice work, Jonesy. So who did you swipe it from?” Hartford asked jokingly.
“Hey, I didn’t steal it! I put my order in th-”
“Geez… chill, Jonesy, I was just joshing you,” Hartford said as she rolled her eyes and then looked at Cross. “Did you get anything good, Cross?”
“The standard stuff; silver sulfadiazine, cotton gauzes, various first-aid supplies, and also phenylephrine – uhh… your hemorrhoid cream, Sanchez,” Cross said, causing Hartford and Martin to laugh at the embarrassed Sanchez.
“Hey Cross, come on, really?” Sanchez said as he took the cream from Cross, who looked around the room wondering what she did wrong.
“Lieutenant, I forgot to ask. Do you have any allergies?” Cross asked as she set the medical supplies down on a bed across from Brookes.
“I’m allergic to peanuts,” Brookes said, noticing Kazir walking in with a crate full of plasma mortar rounds.
“Hmm… I see,” Cross said, and then began to dig through her medical supplies; she almost looked to be organizing them. “Ok, Lieutenant, you’ll have to remind me not use the red syringes on you.”
Cross picked up the medical supplies and then headed for the storage closet.
“Okay …?” Brookes said with a confused look on her face. Red… red… red… red, Brookes repeated to herself so she wouldn’t forget.
“Kazir got your rounds. Hope you can use them well, ma’am,” Kazir said as he made his way to the bunk at the back of the room. “Kazir will sleep below the Lieutenant.”
Captain Fischer walked into the barracks as everyone came to attention.
“At ease everyone, I wanted to remind you that we have a squad meeting tomorrow at 0700 hours in Briefing Room #3. After breakfast I’m going to schedule us some range training and a trench warfare simulation. You guys get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh, and Lieutenant, don’t let Kazir’s snoring keep you awake,” Fischer said with a snicker as he left.
“All right, last call for the showers then lights out,” Martin said as he was getting ready for the showers.
Brookes turned to Kazir who towered over her.
“You don’t snore that loud, do you?” Brookes asked.
Kazir smirked and headed for the showers.
“Crap,” Brookes muttered to herself.
Chapter 6
Chet Lander was sitting in the back of a military police JLTV en route to the mustering station. Corporal Smith was sitting in the front passenger seat, while Private Ellis was driving.
“So you really don’t know what’s going on?” Smith asked as he turned his head to look at Lander.
“I haven’t the slightest idea, but judging by you coming to my house at three in the morning; I can assume this probably isn’t a drill,” Lander said.
“Right, from what we understand, there’s a large robot army heading for either, Sherman, Leesville, or –- here. At least that’s what they say,” Smith said trying to talk over the noisy radio traffic from the other MPs rounding up errant reservists in town.
“We’ve been told to round up stra-”
Lander was tired and his mind started to drift as Smith continued talking.
They’re coming for Grantsburg. Neither Sherman nor Leesville are strategic targets, nor do either of them have factories, Lander thought as he looked out the window; the passing street lights reflecting off of it. Before he knew it, he was asleep.
*****
“Lander -- Chet Lander, wake up, we’re here,” Private Ellis said, nudging Lander awake.
“Mgmggaa shit, sorry about that,” Lander said as he opened the passenger door leaving the warm comfort of the JLTV for the freezing air outside. Ellis and Smith escorted Lander to the front door of the mustering station with Ellis racing slightly ahead to open the door for Lander.
“Make sure you register with the duty clerk at the front. Ellis and I have to go get others like you. Take care, Sergeant Lander,” Smith said as the two saluted.
“Thanks, you guys try to stay warm,” Lander said to the two as he headed inside.
Lander signed in and made his way to the large gymnasium where the other reservists were milling around.
“Hey, Chet, I was wondering when you were going to show up!”
Lander looked around and spotted Paul Thompson leaning against the retracted wooden bleachers.
“Hey, Paul, how long have you been here?” Lander asked as he was walking over to meet Thompson.
“Heh, being the good citizen I am, I got here right after they made the announcement. If I would have known that no one would’ve shown up on time I would have went to bed and let the MPs drag my ass here,” Thompson said smugly.
Before Lander could respond, he noticed some commotion near the entrance of the gymnasium.
“Attention! Form up!” yelled a young Lieutenant, who looked barely old enough to be out of high school. Through the double doors walked in a couple of high ranking officers. Lander saw that the one in front was a general.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! I am General Clayton Williams; commander of the 32nd Laser Rifle Division, which as many of you may know, has been stationed in a defensive line a few miles to the south of your town. I am also in charge of the Grantsburg local area defense and that means you now all fall under my command, do we understand?”
“Yes, sir!” Lander said along with the rest of the reservists.
“Good. We will be assigning you to your Companies soon. We also know that some of you work at the ammunition factory in town, so we’ll confer with the plant manager to see who he needs to keep the factory running. Make no mistake, people, we face a grave threat and we’re counting on all of you to help us defend your town,” Williams said; he then pointed to the Major next to him. “Major Daniels here will be your battalion commander. You may know him, you may not, but his orders are to be followed to the letter. He’ll be overseeing the proceedings from here on out. Major Daniels, they’re all yours.”
General Williams shook Daniels’ hand and then saluted everyone in the room, before he and his entourage of Colonels and other staff left.
“Whew, we just might get out of the fighting,” Lander whispered to Thompson.
“Okay, folks, I am Major Jim Daniels; commander of the 2055th Reserve Battalion; your reserve battalion. Soon we will divide you into companies. Assigned company commanders, you will divide your commands how you see fit. Lieutenant Marktrell - who you saw earlier - will lead Alpha Company. Captain Ho-Wan will le
ad Bravo Company and Lieutenant Parker will lead Charlie Company. The rest of you, line up at the tables here alphabetically by last name, there you will receive your assignments. If you are called for factory work you will be notified later today.”
After waiting in line for about fifteen minutes Lander received his assignment.
“Hey, Lander, so which company are you assigned to? I’m in Bravo,” Thompson said, pointing to his assignment papers.
“I’m in Bravo too, but hopefully this is just a temporary thing. I’m sure the plant manager isn’t going to try and run that place without us, right?” Lander said, mostly to reassure himself.
“Yeah, maybe Chet, but the problem is, you’re a Sergeant and I’m a Corporal. They’re probably going to give you a squad to command and stick me with second-in-command,” Thompson said.
Lander became worried; his pregnant wife was sick and he had a five year-old daughter to take care of.
“Shit, I don’t have time to lead squads. I need to be home taking care of my family,” Lander said.
“Well, you might want to talk to Major Daniels over there,” Thompson said as he pointed over to the Major who was overseeing the lines.
“Yeah, I’ll give it a shot,” Lander said.
Lander walked towards Major Daniels and was just about to approach him when other reservists got there first with their grievances, cutting him off. Lander saw that their attempts met with no success, he aborted his, and walked back to where Thompson was.
“No luck?” Thompson asked.
“It seemed futile. I’m sure the plant manager will do the right thing though,” Lander said, with very little hope.
Thompson nodded his head in agreement as the last of the assignments were being handed out.
The reservists were all now standing at attention in company file.
“Ok, men and women; you will be given a few hours to get your personal business in order and make the necessary arrangements with your families. You will report to your Company’s fitting area; which you’ll find on your assignment papers, no later than 1400 hrs. At your fitting area you will receive your uniforms, weapons, and further assignments. Those called for factory duty will receive notifications before then. Please show up before 1400 hrs. We don’t want to come looking for you. Dismissed!” Daniels ordered.
“Did you drive here, Paul?” Lander asked; he didn’t want to call Deborah to come pick him up.
“Yeah, remember? I’m a good citizen,” Thompson said, with a smirk.
Lander and Thompson made their way out of the building and were greeted by the sun that was just poking up above the barren trees across the street.
“Son of a shit, I’m tired. I guess that’s what I get for being a good citizen,” Thompson said with a yawn.
“You want me to drive?” Lander asked.
Thompson tossed him his car keys.
“Have at it. I’m sure as soon I get in that damn car and close my eyes, I’ll be out,” Thompson said, with some relief.
Lander and Thompson got to the car and sat down inside. The windows were completely frosted over. Lander started the car up and got out to scrape the frost off the windshield. Using his ID card, he was able to clear off just enough to see out, and then got back in the car; the heater on full-blast. He looked over at Thompson - who true to his word - was already asleep. Lander put the car in gear and got in line behind all of the other cars trying to leave the parking lot.
Chapter 7
Fischer was a tad late getting to the briefing room, but he was pleasantly surprised when he saw everyone already waiting for him inside.
“Okay, let’s get started,” Fischer said, as he came into the room.
“What took you so long, Cap?” Hartford asked.
“Yeah… yeah, is everyone here? Lieutenant Brookes, I trust you had a good night sleep?” Fischer asked even though looking at her, he already knew the answer.
Brookes nodded as she yawned. Fischer glanced over at Kazir who was smiling.
Fischer turned on the holo-projector and brought up an image of the Grantsburg area.
“This here, Horses, is Sector J-7-9-04, otherwise known from here on as the Grantsburg Front. We have three towns in this sector: Leesville in the east, Sherman in the west, and here in the middle you can see the town of Grantsburg situated at the northern end of this hourglass-shaped, north-south valley,” Fischer said as he zoomed-in the map on Grantsburg. “The non-fordable Otter Tail River divides the town in the middle with the factories on the north side and most of the residential housing and downtown area on the south side. We are to do everything possible to make sure everything north of the river stays in our hands. Any questions so far?”
“What units are in the Grantsburg area?” Sanchez asked.
“The 32nd Laser Rifle Division, the 120th Heavy Plasma Mortar Brigade, and the local 2055th Reserve Battalion. All-in-all, approximately fourteen-thousand soldiers,” Fischer said.
“Wait, that’s it? No reinforcements? So it’s fourteen-thousand versus …?” Sanchez asked with some anxiety.
“One-million robots,” Fischer said.
“Oh, only a million, that’s good! I was worried there would be more,” Sanchez said sarcastically.
“We’re also going to be getting very little in the way of air support,” Fischer said.
“Perfect! You gotta love High Command! What brain-dead idiot …” Sanchez was saying before Martin gave him the “shut your trap” look.
“Listen, High Command’s resources are stretched to the limit right now! This might be the biggest HRUO offensive we’ve ever seen. There are going to be thirty of these kinds of attacks, stretching from the Beltway Front, all the way to the Franklin Mountains Front, and that’s not even counting the rest of the world. We lost half an army when Taiwan fell, and High Command was pouring a lot into its defense. We can defeat these bots. We just need to have a good strategy,” Fischer said, trying to instill some confidence in his squad.
“Where are the main defenses right now, sir?” Brookes asked, her voice sounded rough.
Fischer moved the map down the valley to the south where the sides of the valley were the closest.
“Right here, five kilometers to the south of Grantsburg. Two regiments of the 32nd LRD are dug-in, in a line of trenches stretching from one side of the valley to the other, about two kilometers long. The 32nd has been holding this line for about five years now, so the fortifications are pretty strong,” Fischer explained.
“Yeah, but, Captain, there’s going to be a million robots coming down on that line. Sure, the line of defense is small, but they can attack us from multiple sides,” Jones said.
“Yes, that’s true, Jones.”
“Hey, Cap, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Hartford asked.
“I don’t think I am. What’s your idea, Hartford?” Fischer asked.
“I think we should fallback to about a kilometer outside of the town,” Hartford said.
“What? You’re crazy, Hartford! Why would we give ground to those damn machines?” Martin said.
“I know it sounds crazy, but look, right there, one-click south of the town, the valley is narrower than where they have their main line,” Hartford said, pointing at the area on the map.
“I see. The HRUO armies will have to come down the valley piecemeal and they’ll become densely packed,” Fischer said, and then pointed over to Akiyama who had her hand raised.
“Sir, if we can use the mortars to knockout the densely packed Ones and Two we can more effectively engage the Threes and Fours,” Akiyama said.
“The bottle neck is out of range of the heavy mortars,” Brookes said, and then yawned. “By the time the robots get into range they may become spread out; the valley does get wider about three kilometers down.”
“You’re right, Lieutenant. I doubt we’ll have any real artillery support, and we can’t count on the Phaetons to do enough damage. We might have to use multiple lines of defense. I’ll have to
bring our ideas to the other commanders, especially General Williams. Ultimately, the defense of Grantsburg rests on his shoulders. I do have some good news for you guys. We’re skipping breakfast and going straight to the range,” Fischer said as his news met with vocal groans of disappointment.
As everyone headed out the door to the range, Fischer was trying to eject the holo-program disk from the projector when First Sergeant Martin came up to him.
“Sir, are you tryin’ to see how the new Lieutenant will perform when she’s hungry and sleep deprived?” Martin asked.
“How did you guess, First Sergeant?” Fischer asked rhetorically.
“Heh… making the chainsaw snorer Kazir sleep right under her, and then canceling breakfast were a few clues,” Martin said.
“I need to know how she’s going to perform. I need to know if the squad will be able to count on her when the time comes,” Fischer said as the disk popped out suddenly.
“Sir, with all due respect, we won’t know that until we’re on the frontlines,” Martin said.
“That’s true,” Fischer replied.
“So if it doesn’t matter. Why are we skipping breakfast? I could eat a pony stuffed inside of a horse!” Martin said, rubbing his stomach.
“Ha-ha yeah… wait… what?” Fischer said.
Chapter 8
“Miss! Twenty meters to the right,” Fischer said as he was peering through his binoculars.
Brookes rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and then squinted to see the target that she had failed to hit.
“No, the energy pills I took are wearing off,” Brookes muttered to herself.
“What?” Fischer asked.
“Nothing, sir,” Brookes replied.
“All right then, next target, Lieutenant,” Fischer ordered.
Brookes took her time adjusting the sights, then grabbed a round from the wooden crate next to her, put it over the tube, and finally dropped it in.
“Firing!” Brookes yelled.
The thud explosion from the mortar tube launched the round in a high arc to a stationary, mock robot target eight-hundred meters away.
Robot Wars: Thrown Into the Fray Page 5