“Done,” she said.
“Major Talbot,” Wilkes said gravely. “There’s something you should know.”
The grizzled commando took Talbot aside.
“We’ve lost the quad,” he said quietly. “Sergeant Dennis reported in just before he was killed by harpoon fire. They were en route to the mainland.”
Talbot felt his throat tighten.
“They were killed in the water?” he asked.
Wilkes nodded.
“Four dead,” he said. “And the Irians took our building materials.”
6
There was anger in the the commando’s voice. Talbot noticed that the other grunts were scowling at him. He had to admit his early decisions had been disastrous. While he was taking an inventory and assembling his troops for fucking inspection, Ashby’s soldiers were spreading in all directions, ready to ambush, fortify and block.
The Irian leader had made Talbot look like a rank amateur in front of his own crew. The grunts in particular were taking it badly, especially as there were so few of them to begin with. Talbot had seen that look before - it was mutinous, no other word to describe it. Paul Carter was especially belligerent, spitting when he looked at Talbot.
For the first time Talbot regretted giving the man a second chance. He need to nip this in the bud - and now.
“Do you have a problem, Carter?” Talbot asked through gritted teeth.
He’d decided to abandon the use of his soldiers’ rank whilst in this virtual environment - here, he was the commanding officer and that’s all that mattered. Carter paced back and forth agitatedly, clearly torn between uneasy discipline and outright rebellion.
“Spit it out, grunt,” Talbot sneered.
“Me and the boys think we’re fucked,” came the succinct, honest reply. “There’s no way we can do this with thirteen grunts. Especially if our fearless commander insists on handing our gear to the enemy.”
Talbot stepped in close so his face was just inches away from Carter’s.
“You think this is about the island? Or Regal even? This is the first of three phased battles, grunt. Even if we lose today we’ll have engineers developing critical skills. Shaw here has already acquired one. I tell you what - you leave the thinking to me. When I need a piece of meat to point a gun at the enemy, I’ll tap you on the shoulder. Got it?”
Carter said nothing, looking like he might head butt his superior at any moment. Talbot stepped even closer, daring the man to cross the line. If he had any sense at all, he’d back down. Talbot had called him out, and the only way he could follow through was to fight him one on one. Talbot had already demonstrated it was a fight he couldn’t win. So Carter broke into a mirthless smile and patted his CO on the shoulder.
“Keep doing what you’re doing, sir,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll be called upon soon.”
It was a decent reply. Talbot was certain most of the onlookers were feeling the same way. His next few decisions would be crucial to restoring morale.
“Heard from Burdon and the thopter?” Talbot asked Wilkes.
The commando shrugged. “Nothing so far.”
On cue, the throb of the thopter rose in the distance. Heart in his mouth, Talbot waited for its arrival. Both Burdon and Jenner were still aboard. The engineers disembarked and saluted Talbot.
“Sir, we waited as long as we could after the quad went down,” Burdon said. “There’s too much enemy activity on the mainland for us to establish a base.”
Talbot nodded. “I’m just glad you both returned. Give your full report to Wilkes and then help yourself to dinner. No more flying for the moment.”
The smell of roasting pork wafted across the camp. Porter had dutifully set their fresh meat on a makeshift rotisserie. Talbot checked his wrist pad. They’d already been on Arcadia for five hours. Nightfall was less than two hours away.
“Fill your bellies,” he said. “We have unfinished business at sundown.”
Talbot made sure he had a nice haunch of meat before sitting on a rock only yards from the western cliff face. He was ravenous and the roast pork tasted amazingly good. He wasn’t sure how the games designers had managed it, but the results were astounding.
What could be done now? The Irians had painted him into a corner. The Terrans needed to cross the strait, but they’d lost their amphibious craft and would need to swim. All Ashby had to do was pick them off at the beach choke point. Crossing the narrow strait was therefore out of the question.
For now. Talbot hated the idea, but he would need to wait until the main Irian force had moved on. He summoned Fielding and told her to send one her scouts on a survey of enemy positions. Within a minute the handy little craft was surging north at a safe height. No matter now good the Irians were at this, surely they didn’t have the means to take a high thopter out.
The only conceivable way was to sacrifice their own thopter in a ramming operation, and based on what Talbot had seen so far, he couldn’t rule it out. Ashby was proving to be a clever, talented pixel runner. Talbot would need to raise his game if he had any chance of winning the virtual war for Alpha Centauri.
Fielding paid him a visit while the thopter’s thrum faded into the distance. Her chosen pilot, Barbas, had strict orders to return by sundown - plenty of time for a thorough coastal reconnaissance.
“Tough gig, huh?” Fielding said, sitting next to Talbot. “At least we got to eat.”
Talbot smiled. Fielding had a knack of knowing the right thing to say. Again, he had a strange notion that he should be looking to start something a little more formal with the lieutenant …
“Major!”
It was Shaw.
“The commandos have deserted,” she said, panting. “Carter convinced them they were better off with him.”
Talbot swore vehemently and hurried back to the camp. The other soldiers looked at him sheepishly, knowing his volcano was ready to blow. He spotted Wilkes standing by one of the laser turrets with a gutted expression. To become an ‘empty nester’ was possibly the worst fate that could befall a leader of men.
“It’s Carter,” Talbot said. “He’s making a point -”
“I know who their damn ringleader is,” Wilkes said bitterly. He looked at Talbot with eyes of steel. “Let me track them, Major. I plan to kill every damn one of them.”
Talbot shook his head.
“I need you with me,” he said. “I value your military counsel more than ever.”
Wilkes seemed to recognize the truth of that, softening his aggressive stance.
“We need to reel them in,” he said quietly. “Without commandos we don’t stand much chance of succeeding.”
“I agree,” Talbot said. “First we gotta cross that strait. Once they realize we won’t fall for their trap, the Irians will move on. Hopefully by mid-morning.”
“Which gives them a huge head start,” Wilkes said ruefully.
“Nothing we can do about that now.”
“What can you see, Barbas?”
Talbot smiled. There were a few charges left in the supply crate. “I like your thinking, Sergeant. But let’s do it in the morning when we have light. Come back home.”
Talbot didn’t relax until the thopter had returned without incident. He had Barbas land within the camp for extra protection. As Alpha Centauri dropped below the western horizon, his crew gathered glumly by the fire. Talbot needed to instill a little hope before they turned in for the night.
“Listen up,” he said, standing on a rock for extra height. “Despite the rough start, I still have high hopes for the mission. Better still, I have faith in all of you. You’ll have noticed the accumulation of XP for interactions with the environment. Plucking an apple is bound to
get you that little bit closer to leveling up. That’s gotta be our strength here. My strategy is built around specialization and that hasn’t changed. Get some sleep. The Irians are waiting for us across the strait and there’s nothing to be gained from entering a choke position. In the morning I want you to flood the island - harvest anything you can see, kill critters, scout the rock clean. Sergeant Barbas will take care of the beacon emplacements and by sun-up we’ll be two beacons richer. I want the enemy palisades to come with us. We waste nothing. Understood?”
A muttered, half-baked scattering of agreement.
“Understood?” Talbot roared.
This time the response was stronger, but still somewhat reluctant. Talbot would need to win back their trust through action, which was fair enough.
“Good. Wilkes will run dawn drills for all of you.”
Talbot nodded to his grizzled off-sider before turning in for the night. Though a lovely sea breeze had enveloped the headland, he found sleep hard to come by. A thousand worries competed for attention in his mind. His first day had been an utter disaster. How on earth was he going to rise from the ashes?
Fielding rolled her mat out a few yards from Talbot. It was too early to maul her - not with so many eyes around the campfire. Talbot wasn’t even sure sex was possible in this game environment. Considering the level of detail elsewhere, it had to be a distinct possibility.
Later, after tossing and turning for a while, he found out for sure. Fielding straddled him quietly, unzipping her combat jacket so he could access her warm body. She looked and felt amazing. A thrilling, heightened approximation of the real thing.
“I could get used to Immersion,” he said, unbuckling his belt.
“Shut up and kiss me,” Fielding cooed.
7
The following day burned hot and bright. As Talbot gently detached himself from Fielding’s warm embrace, he as glad to see a good portion of his crew had gone exploring. After all, many of them were engineers with inquiring minds. There was very little danger - Talbot was absolutely certain the Irians would push further inland to capture as many beacons as they could. There was only two days of battle left and Ashby probably thought he had Regal in the bag already.
Not if Talbot had anything to do with it. Not by a long shot.
The engineers and scouts turned out to be busier than he’d expected. Someone had crafted rudimentary baskets from fibrous reeds and left them near the smoldering campfire. The baskets were being steadily filled with all manner of nuts, fruits and strange, carved objects. Talbot inspected a polished stone - those engravings weren’t human or Irian.
“Sir,” Shaw said, looking up from her cross-legged position. A number of similar rocks were arranged all around her. “We’re accessing what we think are burial sites. Shell and gemstone middens. Appears there was once a sentient species here on Regal.”
Talbot nodded in wonder, thinking through the implications. Obviously the evidence of former colonization was known to the game designers and they’d decided to include it in the digital reconstruction. He wondered if the artifacts had any benefit beyond looking pretty.
“Does finding them yield experience?”
Shaw nodded. “A little. Every time.”
It was better than nothing. His troops were out on the move, being proactive, feeling good about themselves.
“Sergeant Barbas,” he murmured into his wrist pad. “Report to me immediately.”
Talbot sampled a few of the local resources while he waited. The berries in particular were delicious, and actually made him feel more alert. It might have been his imagination but he seemed to move more quickly for a short period also.
“Do we have any waterproof containers?” he asked Shaw, who shook her head.
“Anything we had was lost on the quad,” she said. “But we do have the tarpaulin that covered the quad and the thopter.”
“That’ll do,” Talbot said. Gather everything onto the tarpaulin and prepare for evacuation.”
“Yes sir.”
Sergeant Barbas came trotting through the undergrowth.
“Take the thopter and four photon charges,” Talbot ordered. “Drop two on each beacon site, but only if you see Irian defenders. Watch for their harpoons. Go.”
Talbot shielded his face as the thopter rose into the air and headed east. He turned to Fielding, who had risen.
“Let’s go claim those fucking beacons,” he said with a grin.
“I thought you’d never ask,” she replied.
The pair enlisted Nikken to accompany them, as he seemed well versed in the island’s layout. Avoiding the ravine that formed a spine of sorts down the island, the small party hustled east through the low, coastal scrub and then south through slighter larger trees with soft, quivering leaves.
“I tasted one of those leaves yesterday,” Fielding remarked. “I’m sure it cleared my mind.”
“These ingredients can be used for crafting,” Talbot said. “We just need to work out how the system works.”
A low, scudding boom rolled across the island.
“Barbas, in the thopter,” Talbot said. “If the Irian installation isn’t clear, they’ll be ripe for the plucking.”
Less than a minute later there was another explosion before the thopter’s hum faded into the distance.
“Hurry,” Talbot urged, breaking into a run. On the way they passed two engineers, who joined them on the hunt. In the game’s early stages, engineers were armed with light pistols that couldn’t be upgraded, but they did have the ability to use special weapons later in the game. If they survived that long.
“Over there,” Fielding said, pointing to a series of palisades through the tress.
A harpoon bolt whistled by Talbot’s ear and thudded into a tree. That was too close.
“Fan out,” he barked. “The engineers and I will smoke them out. Fielding, you and Nikken pick them off from range.”
Talbot gestured for the engineers to follow him. They approached the palisades in a wide arc, Talbot in the center. He picked his way carefully around the first palisade, assault rifle at the ready. The first Irian was closer than expected, edging around the second palisade with her harpoon poised.
Talbot lunged, knocking the harpoon to the side with his assault rifle, then clubbing the alien with the nozzle. The blow stunned his opponent but caused no further damage. Talbot realized that unless he used his assault rifle he had no hope of killing enemies rapidly. It was his weapon specialization and that’s where all his level bonuses would be funneled.
A sharp kick to the dragoon’s midriff was enough to send her back a couple of yards and give Talbot enough space to shoot safely. He peppered her chest with a good, solid round. She was too lightly armored to resist the attack, dead before she hit the ground.
A second Irian rounded the palisade and was about to send a bolt through one of the Terran engineers when he was thrown back against the barrier, leaving a green smear as he fell. Fielding had edged round to a flanking position and sighted her kill through the thinnest of gaps in the palisades.
“I like this game,” she called out, approaching to check her kill. “Looks like I can level up too.”
“Let’s take the beacon first,” Talbot said, heading deeper into the crude defensive structure. Sure enough, a glowing green orb the size of a basketball stood in the middle. It glowed a glorious navy blue as Talbot neared. He felt a wave of unexpected emotion as he savored the moment. His first captured beacon, hopefully the first of many.
“Copy that,” Talbot said. “Now check the shoreline across the strait. Let me know if you see any Irian activity.”
“We’ve only just begun,” Fielding said reassuringly as they all gazed at the captured beacon. “Do you think Ashby will return for these?”
“He may not need them,”
Talbot said grimly. “He came here to bloody my nose and sew chaos in the ranks, which he achieved. He’ll be content to dig himself in across the northern sector and protect his beacon majority. After all, we’ve lost our assault commandos.”
The harsh reality was still bitter in Talbot’s throat.
“Let’s keep moving,” he said quickly, then to the two engineers - “Disassemble these palisade sheets using the collapse joins. Take everything you can carry back to the camp. Come back for a second load if you need to.”
“Can I level up now?” Fielding asked.
“You bet …”
Talbot noticed a golden circle pulsing in the corner of his own view. When he focused on it, a character screen materialized before him. It showed his fifteen skill paths - as leader, he had accessed to all Terran specializations. He didn’t hesitate to select the assault rifle specialization. After all, he was one of the few soldiers left with the weapon.
Next he had a choice between boosting range, accuracy, damage or magazine. He felt a twinge of irritation when he realized that much of the spare ammunition may have been lost in the ill-fated quad. In the end he selected accuracy, figuring he’d be ambushed regularly here on Regal and needed a larger margin for error.
“All done?” Fielding asked.
Talbot closed his character screen and grinned. Fielding laughed.
“Feels good leveling up, right? I boosted medic. We need at least one.”
“That’s a very good point, Lieutenant,” Talbot said affectionately. “You can bet your skills will be needed sooner or later.”
The southern beacon wasn’t too difficult to reach, particularly with Nikken’s pathfinding skills. The scout had a natural ability and Talbot encouraged him to develop the matching scout specialization. Barbas had been correct in her assessment - all they found at the second fortification were a pair of dead dragoons.
Talbot wondered at the wisdom of sacrificing four dragoons for two beacons the Terrans were always going to capture. He guessed that it wasn’t a matter of practicality, but philosophy. Ashby was basically sending the message that nothing was going to come easy for the Terrans. The slightest advance would be paid for in blood.
Virtual War: Alpha Centauri (A LitRPG Novel) Page 4