The Legion Awakes (The Sleeping Legion Book 1)

by JR Handley

  “Tell that no good Sergeant Tapaka that by his honor he better hold the line. They should be drilling holes in the advancing Cadets! Now is not the time to slack up!” Nodding his understanding, the Cadet took off down the line towards the weakening flank.

  — Chapter 42 —

  Main Assault Force, Whiskey Company

  Charging down the hill proved to be as difficult and dangerous as Lance had feared. Four Cadets tripped and fell and were trampled over by the herd following behind them. In their enthusiasm, and with their momentum, it was unlikely that they could’ve stopped anyway. When they reached the extreme flank of the Chaos Company line, the enemy were already twitching from the rounds the Fermi Cannon Battery had sent into them.

  While struggling to catch his breath, Lance couldn’t help but admire the speed and grace with which Captain Grigonna could run as she led the charge from the front. Frakk she’s fast! Maybe next time I won’t bet good whiskey on a race with a Jotun. He tried to scream his encouragement to his Cadets, but amid the explosions, gunfire, and screaming he wasn’t sure that they could hear him. When they were officially in the main trenchline, he felt thrilled that his plan had worked. I can’t get cocky, but this might just be the victory we need to survive the Cull!

  Lance stopped to catch his breath, and glanced around so he could maintain a firm grasp of the field. He was pleased to see that Basil was right there with him. While he’d expected Basil to stick by his side, as trusted an ally as any Marine he’d fought with, he was surprised by what the AuxTech carried. In addition to his repair kit, Basil was armed with an SA-71 rifle. My only pacifist friend, carrying a rifle. I guess my sergeants were right all along: this was the natural order of things.

  When they cut through the enemy flanks, Lance marveled at the chaos they wreaked. Everywhere he looked, he saw twitching enemy Cadets. His Cadets were grinning as they shot everything that moved and ran over anything in their paths, and he couldn’t have been prouder had they been his own children. Frakk me, most of these poor sots didn’t see it coming. They seem obsessed with the Minis in front of them and were out of the fight before they knew we were here. So this is what it looks like to roll the flanks.

  They were about one third of the way into the enemy lines when Lance spotted an enemy Cadet running towards him. Before he even had time to realize this was a runner from the enemy commander, likely with information that could be useful, Basil was leaping into action. Lance couldn’t help but marvel at the grace with which Basil was able to knock the enemy Cadet down. As he was running over to the enemy Cadet to begin questioning, Lance noticed his captain was also en route. They’d just arrived, prepared to begin the interrogation when Basil began pummeling the kid until he was incoherently begging to spill his guts so the beating would stop.

  Lance nodded at the enemy Cadet and told him to give them any information they had while trying to hide his disgust. He broke too quickly. This is embarrassing to the entire Marine Corps. Shaking off his disgust, he paid attention to what the runner was telling them. The fact that one of his company had crawled forward and sniped the enemy didn’t surprise him. Sergeant Okeke was extremely resourceful and even innovative under the right conditions. That they took the enemy XO and Senior Sergeant out of the mix was fortuitous. He owed that Cadet a drink, he noted to himself. What surprised him was that they were still unaware that their flanks had rolled, though they’ll figure that out soon.

  The most surprising news from the enemy runner, however, was the belief that the largest enemy presence was on the Dynia River Flank. In fact, the runner said that only the ongoing frontal charge convinced the enemy commander that his assertions over the enemy strategy were indeed correct. I’ll be damned, they did it. They fooled the entire company into thinking they were the real deal! Can’t wait to hear how. After politely thanking the Cadet for the information that he provided, Lance pulled out his flenser pistol and shot him in the head with a neurotoxin gel round.

  Turning to his commander, Lance asked if he would handle the enemy commander, since the tide of battle already had them within sight of him. This time, when Captain Grigonna bared her fangs in passing facsimile of a human smile, even a veteran like Lance felt nervous. When she followed that with an alien war cry before charging at a pace that left Whiskey Company in her dust, he felt pity for the enemy officer. Nodding to those around them, including a few of their Minis who’d managed to join them, Lance screamed his own battle cry before everyone charged after their captain.

  By the time Lance cleared the enemy trench and caught up with Captain Grigonna, she’d already shot the enemy commander in the head and claimed his sidearm and unit standard as her trophy. “Still smiling, always with that evil smile,” muttered Lance as he turned and continued rolling into what remained of the enemy. As Whiskey Company continued rolling the flanks, the enemy finally realized that they were in trouble, and attempted to fight the battle on two fronts. Several enemy Cadets tried to protect their flanks while still firing on the enemy Minis, who were trying to successfully complete their frontal assault and breach Chaos’s front lines.

  They were about done when they were surprised to see Sergeant Conteh and a solitary Whiskey Company Cadet approaching towards them from the other side. At this point, when they were reaching the end of the enemy position, it was obvious that the battle was over but the enemy Cadets couldn’t surrender. The dishonor that surrender would bring was too much, so they fought it out until the inevitable conclusion.

  — Chapter 43 —

  After Action Review

  Beta City Commanders Conference Room, Kijiji City

  It took over a week to finish policing the battlefield and collect all the equipment assigned to the Cadets. Every piece of gear had to be cleaned and returned to supply, and the personnel accounted for. Once the field was secure and the medics cleared everyone, they learned the sad news that a few Cadets had died from their injuries. A Chaos Company Cadet died from a rubberized round to his head, and two Whiskey Company Cadets died during the charge downhill into the enemy flanks.

  Knowing about human sentimentality, having commanded them for years, Captain Grigonna personally delivered the news to Lance that two Cadets had died. When she walked into his quarters, she clicked her taloned fingers in satisfaction at the tidiness of it, and was impressed at the Digipics of his time as a Cadet. After assuring him that he wasn’t to blame for their deaths, that sometimes things just happened, she told him that two Marine replacements were already being sent up from Cryo. Nodding, Lance asked what the plan was to bring them up to speed.

  When the captain spoke, she couldn’t hide her surprise “You hadn’t heard?” When he shook his head in the negative, indicating that he wasn’t aware of any news, she smiled and informed him that the replacements were from his era; thus already familiar with the tactics. This brought a smile to Lance and he thanked her for the excellent news, but was cut off by her order to don his full dress uniform and prepare his unit for their after action review with General Toma. As if a switch had been flipped, Lance was suddenly all action and any lingering melancholy was compartmentalized for later.

  In a little under thirty minutes, both Chaos Company and Whiskey Company were standing at attention next to their respective regimental commanders. As General Toma walked in, his aide-de-camp shouted “Officer on Deck”, though nobody moved, having already been at attention. General Toma followed a few minutes later in his formal dress uniform with a passel of officers following him like lap dogs.

  When General Toma reached the podium, he addressed his captive audience. His demeanor leaked nothing, giving no indication as to what he was thinking or feeling. “Alright, this isn’t your formal AAR, that’ll happen when you leave here. This will serve as a fact finding mission for me, and as for you… time will tell. I will start with Chaos Company, 16th Battalion, 828th TAC Regiment. Captain Arahi, what was your thinking with your strategy?”

  Captain Arahi was clearly nervous, visibly sw
eating and glancing angrily at his sergeants. When he answered, however, none of that could be heard in his unwavering voice. “Sir, my senior sergeant and I made the tactical decision that the only viable attacking point was based on several variables. First, they didn’t have the benefit of Marine combat armor or AIs. Second, I didn’t believe that the other avenues of approach could be handled in the allotted time. I didn’t believe that the mountains could be crossed by an unarmored human company. The woods were too dense, would cause magnetic interference with any handheld compass, so they would be walking blind. That could be done, but not in the 60 hours you allotted. Finally, I was unaware of the ford points in the Dynia River, though we did place a full squad there–”

  Before Captain Arahi could go any further, General Toma cut him off. “Captain, think carefully about your next statement. I am aware that your ‘squad’ on the Dynia River was in fact a section. The entire squad was tasked with securing your flanks and your rear. Now, you may continue, Captain.” The tension was heavy in the air, as Beta City’s commanding general called out a lowly company commander.

  After growling deep in his throat, clearly getting angrier rather than humbled, Captain Arahi continued. “As I was saying, 4th Squad under Sergeant Hiecht was tasked with securing what was believed to be the flanks. When he reported heavy action, I believed he was wrong. I thought he was panicked, out of control, and ordered him to charge the front. I’ve been made aware that he did and failed, spectacularly. When the enemy charged our front, I believed it was the culmination of our exercise. The rolling of our flank was completely unexpected, I didn’t think it could be done, sir.”

  General Toma nodded, satisfied with the captain’s explanation of his strategic thought process. “Sergeant Hiecht, it is my understanding that you had a major skirmish with the Cadets of Whiskey Company. Tell me about it, the strategy you used to secure the flanks as you were commanded, and the final charge.”

  The general’s staff quietly chuckled at the way the sergeant paled as he stepped forward; it wasn’t every day a sergeant had reason to address a general.

  “Sir, General Toma sir, I’m not sure what I can add but I’ll do my best. I suggested to my commanding officer to expect the unexpected, since we were facing the tactical and technical unknown. I was reprimanded and then ordered to shut up because I was speaking cowardly. Captain Arahi then ordered me to secure the rear, the mountain, wooded and river flanks. I divided my assets, one section per flank and kept my Command Section and 4th Section in the center of Akoni City as a mobile reserve. While making my rounds, I found that my section leader for 3rd Section had done nothing to harden the perimeter–”

  Like a surgeon with a scalpel, General Toma cut right to the heart of the matter. “You mean your section leader echoed the sentiments expressed by her commanding officer?”

  Sergeant Hiecht swallowed deeply, then shook his head indicating disagreement. “Respectfully, no, sir. She is my Cadet, in my squad, so any failing she has is mine and mine alone to address. When I realized that she failed in her duties, I immediately called in my 4th Section to assist in hardening the perimeter. I prepared each flank so it could be filled with an entire squad, in case we rushed the entire command to that location. We had–”

  Again, he was cut off by General Toma, who seemed unconcerned with the niceties of polite society. “Yes, I’ve toured the grounds where your Cadets dug in. With the exception of the river flank, it was exceptionally well thought out. Continue!”

  Momentarily perplexed at the constant interruptions, Sergeant Hiecht carried on. “Thank you, sir. We had just finished digging in on the Dynia River Flank when we spotted movement from across the river. I immediately fired at the target, thinking it was one troop assessing our lines. I was wrong. They were well dug in already. Immediately after my missed shot, both units began actively engaging each other. We opened fire, spraying the tree line since they were so well entrenched we couldn’t see them but knew they were there. As Cadets began dropping, we realized that they were in the tree branches and attempted to compensate for it by sending two marksmen, our Fermi Cannon, and missile launcher to the roofs of the nearest building on the city’s outskirts.”

  After pausing, Sergeant Hiecht continued. “Sir, regretfully I didn’t gain control of the situation in time, which caused me to miss their snipers in the trees. My response, sending the Cadets to the roofs, was therefore also delayed and it cost us. I believed that their element was the main assault and sent a runner to the captain requesting assistance. He responded with an order to charge, which we did. I was shot leading the charge and can’t tell you more than that. I hope that was helpful, sir.”

  General Toma paused, deep in thought, before he nodded to the sergeant. “I appreciate your honesty and willingness to accept fault for your shortcomings. I trust you’ll learn from this and grow. I see a bright future for you, Sergeant. I’ve seen your transfer request and will sign off on it. You’ll be the Marine liaison to the Naval Planetary Unit here in Beta City until we find you a suitable learning environment. They’ll house you in the instructor’s quarters of the 901st Naval Training Unit (NTU). Skills like yours need careful mentoring. Report there immediately after this briefing. Now, back to your firefight on the river. Why did you believe that they were a larger unit? Think carefully, this is important in evaluating these new tactics.”

  Taken aback at the good news, Sergeant Hiecht looked like he might faint. “Sir, thank you, sir. I believed that they were a larger unit because of two factors. The first was how well they dispersed their small team to spread the damage they caused along our broader line. The second, and main reason, was how effective they were. The way they coordinated and amassed fire power, without the use of an AI, I believe was an indicator that there was a lot more of them out there. Sir, in all honesty, I would love to learn more about these tactics. The way they accurately combine small arms fire with the grenade launchers. Sir, it was impressive.”

  This time it was General Toma who was surprised, though he quickly hid it from his troops. “Very good, we’ll get back to that, Sergeant Hiecht. Now, while we are still talking about the firefight that occurred near the river, Sergeants Conteh and Mayer, your turn. Do you both concur with the timeline that Sergeant Hiecht provided?”

  Both sergeants, clearly expecting to be called after the way the rest of the after action review had gone, stepped forward and sharply saluted. Sergeant Conteh spoke first, confirming his agreement with the timeline, followed by Sergeant Mayer. When neither felt the need to elaborate, General Toma nodded and asked his follow-on question. “I’ve toured your firing holes, and you both laid them out very well. What made you decide to use the tree branches as floating firing holes? Was that a part of Sergeant Scipio’s archaic battle tactics?”

  Clearing his throat, Sergeant Conteh spoke up. “Sir, I arrived in position significantly ahead of Sergeant Mayer’s unit so I had my Cadets lay out the field for both locations. Sergeant Mayer had a Cadet get hurt early on, which slowed them down. We wanted to win, so we prepared both positions. As for how we used the trees, I just thought that if being there was seen as impossible by the enemy, then it was exactly where we needed to be. From there my Cadets and I brainstormed until we came up with cutting a ladder into the tree. Not wanting anyone to fall from a 20-meter height if they got hit with the ESD rounds or the neurotoxin gel rounds, we created a strapped-in perch out of dead tree roots. This elevation was a great force multiplier that allowed us to take out a lot of their Cadets. Because they didn’t think we could get up that high, they didn’t adequately build their defenses. When Sergeant Hiecht got there, he was already too late to affect the outcome of the engagement, sir.”

  The general nodded to himself and made some notes on the computer interface on his podium. When a few moments had passed, he cleared his throat and called Sergeant Okeke to step forward. “Sergeant, I was impressed with how well you kept Chaos Company pinned down. You truly were the linchpin in the entire aff
air. Tell me what your orders were and what you did with them.”

  Sergeant Okeke stiffened with pride and marched forward, positioning himself a step closer to the general than his peers had. He saluted smartly and snapped back to attention before loudly answering the general. “Sir, my orders were broad and gave me a lot of latitude. Our orders were to convince the enemy that we were the main threat, which was easy because we were the best unit in the company. As soon as we got to the front, we reinforced the lines, extended them, and generally made them livable. We had one third of our unit on the line firing sporadically to keep the pressure up. Another third was resting to keep everyone fresh, the final third were constantly improving the trenchline. We issued SA-71s to our AuxTechs, and they used the grenade launchers to strategically create craters we would use to leap frog across the field during the final charge. I sent one Cadet forward with my SA-71 to climb into a crater, using it for a sniping platform. She was more successful than we had dreamed, taking out their XO, Senior Veteran Sergeant as well as a few other Cadets. We were unaware of who she shot until the battle ended, as their marksmen took her out as soon as she made those shots.”

  After clearing his throat, General Toma asked a probing follow-on question. “Whose idea was it to snipe at them from the front like that?”

  Not fazed in the least, Sergeant Okeke answered. “Sir, the idea was suggested by Cadet Rebecca Platte, but I authorized it. As the sergeant in charge, the final responsibility for the battle’s outcome lays with me, both the good and the bad. If I receive the repercussions for my Cadet’s actions, then it stands to reason that the reverse must be true, sir. Besides, I wasn’t sure you’d approve of the tactics so my claim was a crap shoot.” The sounds of a rolling thunder, what passed for Jotun laughter, told every shocked Cadet and Marine in the room that General Toma was pleased. He further demonstrated his amusement, gesticulating with two of his four arms against his belly.