War Stories

by Andrew Liptak

  Tom and I knew everything there was to know about repairing suits, and nothing at all about anything else.

  It was time to fix that.

  Mission. Suit. Self

  Jake Kerr

  Mission. Suit. Self.

  1. The mission is more important than your suit.

  2. Your suit is more important than your life.

  — Code of the Tactical Armored Infantry

  A BEAD OF SWEAT SLID DOWN the side of Billy’s face as he surveyed the wall of green vegetation. Although the droplet of sweat didn’t distract him, he was aware of it, and thus a tiny fan in his suit switched on, drying his face.

  He was staking out the north, and it was a dangerous mess. The forest canopy spread out overhead, removing any satellite intel, and the ground was thick with vegetation and trees. It was enough cover to give the natives an opportunity to get close and launch an attack before Billy’s squad of heavily armored soldiers wiped them out.

  He considered the mission. He was running point, laying out the beacons that would mark the defensive perimeter around the planet’s initial settlement. He wasn’t the best in combat, but Billy saw the big picture, and the squad respected his ability to assess terrain, risk, and other strategic elements.

  Billy paused and considered the native life forms. The danger from them was real. While he and most of his squad had barely paid attention during the cultural overview, they’d soaked up the tech and military briefings. The result was that while they may not have known much about what the natives looked like, they knew that the natives were extremely aggressive and had enough tech to do significant damage in the right circumstances. After the first attack, the squads didn’t even bother calling them natives. They were just “hostiles.”

  Entering a clearing, Billy stopped and ran a full visual and auditory scan. It was more chaos: The heat and vegetation made infrared assessment practically useless, and the sound of movement was everywhere.

  He did have a good view of the topography from the clearing, and while he would ideally lay a perimeter with a much larger buffer between the hostiles and the settlement, there was a valley directly to the north that worried him. With the dense trees and the steep hills to the east and west, it would be much more difficult to defend than the flat terrain he was currently standing on. The added benefit of laying the beacon at his current location was that he wouldn’t have to proceed any further into hostile territory.

  “Rally One, this is Niner Point. Assessing northern topography. Any secondary intel for this quad?” He spoke, and his neural connection told the suit computer which channel to use. He really didn’t like the look of the valley. The whole quadrant was crawling with hostiles, and if he was going to set the northern perimeter, he wanted it to be as simple to secure as possible.

  “Hold on, Corporal.” There was a short pause. “Negative on that. There’s a satellite village about one klick north, but that’s it.”

  Satellite village? Fuck. Why the hell did the settlers move farther north to seed a new village before the first one was officially secure? The rest of his squad didn’t have to think in those terms or consider such nuances. They focused only on the mission, and their mission was to defend the perimeter. But for Billy, things weren’t that simple. He was defining the mission.

  There was a distant explosion behind him, and Billy flinched. The massive armored suit suppressed the movement but identified the surge of adrenaline and activated an emergency defensive scan. Billy breathed easier as the scan revealed no neighboring activity. Something was going on to the southeast, however. His mind considered Echo Point, and the suit engaged that channel.

  “…fall back, Jackson. Ichi and J.F., advance and lay down some cover.”

  “Roger, Rally One. Slight damage to my left arm, but otherwise good. They’re still coming, though.”

  He refocused on his job, and the channel went silent.

  The suit had presented a map overlay of his known location and topography as he made progress. The distance to the main settlement was pretty tight if he dropped the perimeter at his current location. I should probably run the perimeter north of the satellite village, but that was definitely the more dangerous choice. As it stood, command wouldn’t care either way. They just wanted a secure perimeter. Still, he decided to doublecheck.

  “Rally One, this is Niner Point.”

  “Sorry, Niner Point. We have activity in Echo quadrant. Radio silence unless it’s an emergency.”

  Billy looked north again. They hadn’t briefed him on the village, which meant it wasn’t a concern. And with the steep elevation to the northeast and northwest, no one would really question him if he decided to lay the perimeter where he stood.

  Billy smiled. If the hostiles were attacking on the eastern quadrant and he laid a beacon this tight to the main settlement, his chances for getting off the planet alive were excellent. He couldn’t believe his good fortune. This would be the easiest point mission he’d ever had.

  He stretched his arm downward, and the suit mirrored his movement, augmented by the neural connections between the computer and his brain. A foot–long metal tube extended from the end of the arm of the suit. He couldn’t feel it with his arm or hand, but he could feel the movement with his mind and nerves as naturally as if he had extended a finger. There was a click, and compressed air drove the rod into the dirt.

  Continuing to the west, Billy laid two more perimeter beacons, keeping the valley to his right. With the presence of the beacons, his squad’s mission was finalized: if hostiles crossed the perimeter, the soldiers in their mighty armored suits would terminate them.

  §

  He hadn’t even had time to take a shower after punching out before Cortez tracked him down.

  “Man, you missed some action.” Cortez lived for the moments when she was in her suit laying waste to hostiles, and she was incredibly efficient at it. Billy assumed she was talking about the attack to the east he had heard. The east perimeter was much larger, and they had two suits laying beacons.

  “Don’t tell me they attacked Moot. If they did, they have an uncanny sense for knowing our weaknesses.” Billy smiled. He didn’t get along with Moot or his squad, who he felt took unnecessary risks. Cortez kept pace as Billy continued toward the showers.

  “No, you idiot. It was that village up from your beacons. The hostiles have it under siege. The civilians jumped on one of the military channels to ask for help.” It was hard to frown with the amount of nerve damage from augmentation and integration surgeries, but Cortez somehow achieved it. “I can’t believe we’re missing out on that.”

  Billy slowed to a stop, taking in what Cortez had said. “I didn’t pick up anything on my scans.”

  “They started when you were checking out. Small arms fire. Not a big deal, but dangerous for the colonists, though—they’re not even in composite buildings, if you can believe that shit. Probably a bunch of Greens wanting to go native.” Cortez shook her head. “They have a high–end laser defense system, but…” Cortez shrugged. Billy knew what the shrug meant—commercial defense systems didn’t last forever and weren’t foolproof. “So, why’d you bail on the village?”

  Billy took a step toward Cortez. “I didn’t bail on the village!”

  She backed up, raising her hands. “Calm down, man. I didn’t mean it like that. Just wondering why you laid the beacons so close to the main settlement and away from the excitement. Defending a bunch of native sympathizers from the natives would have been fun.”

  Billy lowered his head. “It just wasn’t a good idea, Cortez. A valley like that would be tough to secure.”

  “Well, shit, you’re the guru, but we’ve had no problems defending worse.” Cortez slapped him on the back. “But it sucks, man. Freakin’ hostiles taunting us.” Cortez shook her head and wandered off.

  Billy knew that Cortez would probably forget the village even existed by the end of the day. Her mission was to guard the perimeter, and that didn’t include the vill
age. Everything else was a distraction. That wasn’t the case for Billy. He knew that Cortez was right—they had handled tougher defensive assignments than that valley.

  His mind kept flashing to the moment before he had laid the first beacon, considering whether to include the village or not. It troubled him that his main concern at the time was getting off the planet alive. Why hadn’t he thought harder about the consequences of abandoning the satellite village? Billy turned away from the shower. He had to review the audio that Cortez mentioned.

  Without his suit, he had to access the archive in the Comm Center. It was a long walk, an exhausting prospect on legs accustomed to augmentation. He doubted he’d see any fellow suit jockeys—they tended to avoid being in public for just that reason. The awesome image of might they projected in their suits was destroyed as they walked around on scarred, stitched–together, and often weak bodies.

  There were whispers as he walked into the Comm Center. All of the personnel there had worked with armored augmented soldiers for a long time, but it was still rare to see one without his suit. A private walked him to a link, and Billy could see a look in her eyes as she shot furtive glances at him. Was it curiosity? Horror? He didn’t know, and he wondered if he was losing the ability to read people’s faces.

  He found it right away, some unsourced audio on the channel assigned to Whiskey Point. He hit play.

  §

  UNIDENTIFIED: Hello, is there anyone there? We need immediate assistance. The Dahili are attacking from every direction, and we don’t know how long our defenses can hold. Please help us. [Pause] Is anyone there? Please, there are only five of us.

  LIEUTENANT FRANKLIN BOYLE: Attention: This is a military operations channel, and you are forbidden from broadcasting on this frequency.

  UNIDENTIFIED: Thank God you are there. Please send help. There are five of us, and four will need medical transport. We are in the Peace Valley outpost.

  [Long pause]

  COLONEL GABRIEL RUIZ: This is a military channel. You need to use the distress frequency if you need help.

  UNIDENTIFIED: We tried that! There was no answer.

  COLONEL GABRIEL RUIZ: We are not equipped to do search and rescue. Please refrain from using this channel.

  UNIDENTIFIED: Can’t anyone help? Just send a few of those men in the giant suits to carry us out? I’ve seen the holos of them knocking down houses with their hands. Certainly they can carry five of us to safety.

  [The sound of multiple gunshots in the background]

  COLONEL GABRIEL RUIZ: I’m sorry. We gave an evacuation order, which you clearly ignored. You are on your own. Now stop broadcasting on this frequency immediately.

  UNIDENTIFIED: What kind of monsters are you? They have guns. You can easily stop them, but we can’t! Why won’t you help us?

  COLONEL GABRIEL RUIZ: Whiskey Point, we are switching to backup channel two, effective immediately.

  UNIDENTIFIED: Hello?

  [Long pause]

  UNIDENTIFIED: You bastards are just going to leave us here to die? Why?

  [Unintelligible background voices]

  UNIDENTIFIED: They aren’t coming.

  §

  Billy sat back in the chair and took a deep breath. Everything made a terrible sense. Command had issued an evacuation order and called it a day. If someone didn’t or couldn’t evacuate, well, that was their problem. Still, he wished he had known all this as he was setting up the perimeter. He wasn’t sure he would have made the same decision.

  No. He wouldn’t have made the same decision.

  He punched up Ruiz. His assistant answered but put Billy right through when he identified himself. Ruiz didn’t bother with a greeting. “Corporal, I don’t like hearing from suits unless they’re on a mission. Is there a problem?” He was gruff and sounded unhappy.

  “That’s why I’m calling, sir. There is a problem. I set the perimeter about one klick too far south.”

  There was a pause, and then Ruiz answered, “Wait, is this about the satellite village?”

  “Yes, sir. It’s unprotected.”

  “Not a problem, Corporal. There was an evacuation order.” Ruiz sounded more relaxed now that he knew the topic. “You made the right decision; now go jump in the hot tub or something.” The line went dead.

  Five people were under assault and helpless thanks to him. He turned the comm to the channel that Whiskey Point had originally used. He tapped the talk button a few times nervously and then pressed it.

  “Hello? Are you still there?” He cursed under his breath. He wanted to sound commanding but was sure he was coming across as tentative and weak. He just wasn’t used to communicating outside of his suit.

  He waited for someone from Comm to ask him what he was doing, but no one else was on the channel. Command must have abandoned it when the woman from the village refused to give up the frequency. After a minute or so, he tried again. His voice was more confident this time. “Hello, is there anyone there?”

  A voice replied immediately. “Oh my God, I thought I was dreaming. Yes! We are still here.” There were gunshots in the background. “Who are you? Are you coming to save us?” Her words came out in a rush. Billy didn’t know how to respond. Hell, he didn’t know why he even bothered contacting them. There was nothing he could do. Now all he had done was given them false hope. “Are you there?”

  “Yes,” Billy replied. He struggled to think of what to say, but decided to just tell the truth. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what I can do.”

  “Can’t you just defend us? You have those men in armored suits. I heard that just one could defeat hundreds of regular soldiers.” The voice was more confident than pleading, as if she could inspire him with her words.

  “That is outside the scope of our mission.” Billy said the words without emotion. Toneless. Without any conviction.

  “Oh.” It was such a simple word. An expression of surprise with a plaintive acceptance. She didn’t object to the primacy of his mission, and her resignation made the mission seem something dark and evil, like death or a terminal illness.

  “But maybe there is something I can do.” Billy blurted the words out.

  “Couldn’t you carry us out? Maybe we could find a wagon or something and you could just come in and pull us out. Don’t you do that?” Billy cursed himself. The woman had moved from acceptance to hope. Why was he torturing her with hope?

  “I’m sorry. You just don’t understand. We’re a tactical infantry unit. Our suits don’t even have hands, and the calibration needed to adjust the sensitivity of my arms would take too long.” He paused trying to think of a way to explain. “I’d be just as likely to crush you as save you.”

  “But there’s more than just you! Can’t you bring more people to help? Certainly you all could protect us?” Desperation was again creeping into her voice.

  Billy didn’t know how to answer. They had a full squad assigned to guarding the northern perimeter and, despite his conservative assessment, he knew they could defend the village, too. But it was too late. The mission was finalized. Guard the perimeter. The village wasn’t within the perimeter.

  It was as simple as that.

  The tactical armored infantry would fulfill their mission at all costs—it was what they did—but the moment Billy had laid the last beacon, that mission didn’t include the five people in a village with no name. Billy dropped his head in his hands. He had explained the strategic reasons, but he knew the truth. He dropped the beacon south of the village because he was afraid.

  The woman broke the silence. “You’re not coming, are you?” The voice sounded utterly defeated. This was not acceptance. This was hope crushed under the boot of tactical armor guarding a perimeter one klick too far south.

  “I’m coming.” It was a quiet voice, almost a whisper, the words spoken without a hint of confidence or force.

  But he had said them.

  “Oh my God, thank you!” Billy didn’t answer. He didn’t have any idea what he would do,
and he didn’t know what to say.

  After a period of silence, the woman spoke again, her voice a whisper. “So what’s your name?”

  “Corporal Billy Whitaker.” He tried to sound confident, to sound like the savior he had just promised, but he couldn’t.

  “You’re going to get in trouble for this, aren’t you, Billy?”

  He thought of his training, the words “mission, suit, self” repeated again and again until it was part of his psyche. And here he was abandoning the mission and putting both his suit and himself in danger.

  “Yes,” Billy finally said. The woman didn’t reply immediately.

  “My name is Ruth. The other four people here are Tom, Ahmed, Iona, and Julie. We are all nice people.” She paused. “That’s worth getting into a little trouble, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” The answer sounded small and inconsequential, and Billy wasn’t even sure he said it loudly enough to be heard. But he meant it, and the fact that he did frightened him, because he had no idea what he would do. “I need to go, Ruth.” It sounded strange saying her name. She was now a person. Not a mission, a person.

  “Thank you, Billy. Thank you so much.”

  Billy walked as quickly as he could to the staging area. He worried about how long their defenses would hold up. He guessed they had a motion–activated defense system in place. It probably had a battery strong enough for a limited number of strikes, but the hostiles wouldn’t know that. That was the good news. The bad news was that they were clearly testing it every so often, and the commercial batteries weren’t meant to handle constant laser fire for very long. Billy picked up his pace.

  §

  No one gave him a second look as he lowered himself into his suit. Between the long hours on duty, the neural connection to the computer, and their own bodies augmented to work with the suit and not outside it, most soldiers preferred to spend as much time suited up as possible, sometimes even sleeping in their suits. He punched in the ordnance for ground combat. That also wouldn’t generate attention: it wasn’t uncommon for off–duty soldiers to be pulled into ongoing missions. Five active–duty suits were already assigned to the northern perimeter, but Billy wouldn’t have been surprised if there were more than ten out in the field.