by JR Handley
Again, the intensive training paid off and it was quickly apparent that they understood what was to come. “Right, then return to your habdisks and suit up in your ACE combatsuit, but leave the helmets off. Secure all of your AIs in the sergeant’s quarters of each habdisk. The storage compartment under the rack serves as a Faraday Cage, protecting our electronic friends in the event that an EMP blast disables the electronics. Should that happen, the disks will automatically lock down and flash cryofreeze, initiating contingencies that will protect our units. Is that understood?” After another round of enthusiastically fearful nods, Lance continued. “Good, return to your barracks and prepare. I will have my AI create a secure and independent LBNet so we might freely communicate. Dismissed!”
— Chapter 49 —
Whiskey Company LBNet
Once his Cadet leaders had left the barracks, Lance made the call he had been dreading since the first glimmer of a plan began churning around his mind. He had Xena create a new secure network and then called his fellow NCOs to discuss their game plan. When everyone had joined the new Whiskey Company Command Comms network, he got straight to business. After taking a deep breath, he began.
“Right, my brother and sister sergeants, I know there are momentous events occurring around us. Marines are killing Marines, officers are turning on their sergeants, and chaos rules supreme. I don’t know enough to know who represents the best intentions of the Empire, but I believe I have a way for us to maintain our honor while staying out of the insanity. The orders over the intercom were frakking clear, MARINES report to the orbital elevator. We, however, do not lead squads of MARINES because we are a part of a CADET Training Battalion, not a unit of the line. We are well within our rights to hole up in our habdisks and defend them, waiting for sanity to return. That is the path that 1st Squad will walk, will you walk it with us?”
The faces on the NCOs grew harder. They threw each other uneasy sidelong glances. Frakk it! If I can’t win them over, what chance do I have with our officers?
Isabella cleared her throat and jumped right to the heart of the matter. “Lance, the orders were indeed clear, but not in the way you said. It was not just Marines to report to the elevator, but senior Cadets too. I don’t like it any more than you, but if we disobey orders, we’re condemning our Cadets to execution.”
“You’re right,” Lance admitted through gritted teeth. “My wording was out, but that’s all. The regiments originally established in Beta City have always been responsible for its defense. We are not. The 6907th is a new training formation, and not a unit of the line. We are not tasked with this base’s defense. The orders do not apply to us.”
Isabella took a deep breath. Lance didn’t dare look at the other NCOs for their reaction. “And when all this is over,” she said, “and a snarling Jotun officer asks you to justify your actions, its claws hovering near your throat, will you believe in your words enough to repeat them then?”
“Come on! I know it’s a thin thread,” Lance urged, “but it might be just enough for the Cadets we’re responsible for to hold onto. Even if we NCOs are executed for disobeying orders when this mutiny is over, I believe this way our Cadets have a chance. The easy path to follow at this point is to throw away our lives and those of our Cadets in a brave but suicidal assault on the orbital platforms. But is that truly honorable? What I’m proposing is much harder, the outcome less certain. We risk ignominious execution, but I believe our Cadets have a chance my way. Trust your sense of honor. Which path will you choose?”
Isabella’s eyes narrowed, her intense scrutiny on him nearly enough to make Lance squirm. “I think,” she said quietly, “that the fog in my head is finally clearing. I can now see you for what you are, Lance Scipio. I think you’re more than half insane. But we’re living in a time of madness, and I think you’re exactly what we need. I’m with you, Scipio.”
Lance finally dared to look at the other NCOs, and saw they were hesitating.
Isabella shouted at them. “Time’s wasting, boys and girls. Are you with us or against us?”
The room went deadly quiet.
And erupted into cheers!
Isabella had swung it for Lance. He’d probably condemned them all to a terrible death when this affair was over, but they would win their Cadets a slim chance. Isabella was right: they were all mad, but he was proud of them just the same.
The mood rapidly grew somber. Time was short and they needed to organize.
“Now that we are in agreement,” announced Lance, “here is what we will do. I have the Whiskey Company habdisk being pulled offline, and as much of the regimental disks as we can snag. We will have the Whiskey Company disk used as the command disk for every asset we can save from the insanity. What I need each of you to do is get your personnel, including your AuxTechs, to their rooms in the habdisk in full combat suits, with their helmets on standby. Stand ready to repel all breaches of the perimeter with deadly force and wait for my orders. I will attempt to get the rest of our command element to safety as well, but with the emergency staff meeting being called as this kicked off, it is highly unlikely. Further, watch out for environmental contagions and contaminants. Reports are coming in that the Trogs are dying in their tunnels, poor bugs. Further, there are scattered reports of Jotuns dropping dead in some parts of Beta City as well. So far the pandemic hasn’t reached the human Marines but it could, so alert your sensors to possible signs of bio-warfare. If there are no questions, I’ll start looking for the CO while we secure our home.”
There was a brief pause, before each sergeant in turn affirmed the plan and set to securing as much of their squads as possible. Given the late hour, most of Whiskey Company were in their barracks, but because the company was on leave it was inevitable that some would be elsewhere seeking the comfort in the arms of a stranger. Lance knew they’d all have their work cut out for them ensuring total accountability, so he wrapped up the meeting and silently prayed to Bardo that they all came out okay on the other side.
— Chapter 50 —
City Phase Unit 1, Habdisk 612, Room 101
1st SQD, Whiskey Co., 8th BN., 6907th TAC RGT
A few moments later, after all of the Cadet leaders had left, Lance looked over to where Hayley Mason waited. “This isn’t exactly how you thought you’d be spending your birthday, eh?” When she only silently shook her head, he nodded confidently at her. “Your job, as my assistant, now that the orders have been given, is to lead the Command Section as an independent fire team. Send Cadet Cornell Woodbury to assume temporary command of Hotel Fire Team, since Wires is otherwise occupied. Then bring all of the Command Sections AIs to my bunk before preparing to defend the barracks.”
Once he had dismissed Hayley, Lance entered his quarters, and took a moment to look at the various digi-pics of his crèche mates, before continuing on into the adjoining office where Wires was working.
She was bent over her Aimee, tapping away while intermittently blowing her hair out of her eyes while she concentrated. Lance nudged her leg and laughed when she jumped, squeaking like a little mouse. “Where are we with the habdisk lockdown?” he asked.
There was a brief pause before she answered, giving Lance time to let his fear get away from him. “Sergeant, we have secured the regiment’s habdisks on all four levels. I can’t say who is still in the non-Cadet barracks but if they were still there when I locked it down they’re not going anywhere. Our habdisk is now the network server, so we control everything. I’ve more good news. I’ve locked down the Naval Planetary Unit, trapping them in their barracks. Whenever this passes, they’re there for command to play with. I’ve also locked down half of the 828th TAC Regiment, but again I can’t confirm how many where in their rooms when I grabbed them. Unfortunately, the base AI blocked me from locking down the 781st TAC Regiment, but I managed to secure two companies from the 428th Marine Engineering Regiment and I confirmed that they were in there when I locked them down.”
Lance’s heart jumped. He’d taken
an inventive interpretation of General Toma’s orders, and now Wires had done the same to his. He’d only ordered her to lock down the 6907th, but dammit, he was proud of her.
“Finally,” continued Wires, “I managed to lock down three weapons ranges and two of Beta City’s armories. Hopefully this means we’ve the hardware to do our job whenever we know who our bosses are again. The only part left for us to do is for Xena to authenticate the server and initiate the standard safety protocol. I can’t figure out what that means, but you’re practically one of Horden’s Babies, so I thought you or Xena might know!”
For once Lance was speechless. She truly was a cheeky bugger, even in the middle of this chaos. “You sassy little Cull Candidate, I’m not that old. Moving back to important topics, the standard safety protocol tells the habdisks when to initiate an emergency flash cryofreeze and when to initiate the subsequent thaw. Basically, we require a White Knight representative from outside the system to initiate the re-thaw sequence, since our own command structure has been compromised. Hopefully, we don’t need to have an emergency freeze because their success rates are only 86% in these scenarios, though I have the authority to initiate one. In a nutshell, unless the command comes from a ship broadcasting the appropriate signals, it would take a tactical nuclear explosion to trigger the re-thaw. I can’t imagine our superiors using a scorched planet policy, since our overlords want to keep the planet completely habitable.”
Once Wires had acknowledged her understanding, Lance ordered Xena to establish the protocol and then to asked her to attempt to get Whiskey Company’s commander and senior veteran sergeant to the barracks so they could be saved. While Xena was working her magic, he briefly lamented the meager assets he’d managed to secure. Any equipment from the weapons ranges would be of lower quality, having suffered from overuse, and require extensive repairs to become combat ready.
I suppose they are better than nothing, but by Horden’s Fanny I wish we could’ve done more. At least the weapons ranges have more ammo than we’ll know what to do with. This mutiny can’t go on forever; it’ll have to peter out soon once the White Knights send in reinforcements.
Somewhere during his personal musings, Lance had a flash of insight. “Wires, the order to climb the orbital elevator… they were sending them to assault the planetary defense platforms. It’ll be a bloodbath up there – TAC regiments against Marine Assault Regiments. Let’s try to save as many of our brethren from that stupidity. Can you lock down any of the cryo decks to save them from officially sanctioned suicide? And while you’re at it, secure all of the crèche and novice barracks?”
The look that came over Wires face told Lance that she was deep in thought, trying to figure out how to execute his orders. After she nodded to herself a few times, tapping her chin in the exact spot where her dimple was when she smiled, it was clear that she’d found the solution. Wires quickly turned around and began interfacing her personal AI with the Beta City AI, pulling the crèche and novice habdisks offline and tying them into the newly created Whiskey Company server. Her fingers, which until now had been tapping away at the air, stopped moving. Lance still couldn’t get used to watching someone using the virtual computers. He knew it wasn’t technically virtual reality, it was merely a way for the AI help the human brain process computer code without being locked to a docking port, but it still creeped him out.
After twenty minutes, Lance began to receive frantic queries from the rest of Whiskey Company, and from Hayley Mason, but he continued to provide evasive non-answers. Just as he began to get up to ask her what the hold-up was, Wires turned around and gave him a status report. “Sergeant, the crèche and novice barracks are securely tied to our networks. I have managed to lock out and tie the lowest three cryo levels to your orders, but I think the code is flawed. It reads like there are multiple levels below the lowest level, but that’s just not possible. Either way, I pulled them off the server too and now they’re yours. Is there anything else before I rejoin my fire team, Sergeant?”
Knowing that time was of the essence, Lance asked Xena if he was missing anything. She responded with her usual sass. Unlike her normal preference for discretion, she chose to answer him from the audible speakers in his office.
“Yes, Lance, you’ve missed some stuff. You always miss stuff, but you’re only human. The AuxTechs have been extremely helpful, they couldn’t have been more deserving of their new status as Marine Technicians. Has it occurred to you that if you save some more Auxies, they might prove useful too? The 901st Naval Training Unit just graduated one of its classes and hasn’t started another one yet, so there is plenty of room at the NTU. But you have to get them there soon. I will handle this.
“Send that silly woman-child to her crèche and get those Auxies to the habdisk. I have looped into the base’s speaker system, so when you are ready, instruct the Auxies and prepare for an emergency freeze. Beta City has already lost the first two waves sent up the elevator, so I recommend going icer before General Toma starts throwing everything at the defense platforms. I suspect he won’t stop until he is throwing crèches full of diapered infants up the shoot. Further, it appears that the Hardits have formed a third faction and are attacking human Marines all over the base. So hop to it while there are still some Auxies to save!”
Lance was in shock. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. It took Wires repeatedly clearing her throat to get him out of his own head and back to the task at hand. He nodded his thanks to her, and then sent her back to her fire team, reminding her to kit up.
Taking a deep breath, Lance knew he had to be very careful about what he said because his every action would be viewed under a microscope. He steeled his nerves, and began to address the Beta City Auxiliary. “Attention to Orders! Attention to Orders! Beta City is now in a state of civil war, and a select few of us have chosen not to join the rebellion. Those of us still loyal to our White Knight overlords have holed up in our barracks, prepared to defend them until reinforcements arrive. Also, it appears that the Hardits have organized a third faction against both humanity and the White Knights making it an extremely dangerous time to be an Auxie. Under the orders of Veteran Sergeant Lance Scipio, ID Code # 001-20040725-6907-0073, all Aux that want to live are to report to the 901st NTU. Any loyal Marines, are ordered to disregard their illegal orders and are to join the Aux in route to the naval barracks. You have permission to use deadly force to complete your mission. You have forty-five minutes before we lock down the base to prevent the unauthorized Hardit intrusion into the Beta City command and control computer server. Good luck, may Bardo be with you.”
— Chapter 51 —
Auxiliary Slave Pen 18, Beta City
“…You have permission to use deadly force to complete your mission. You have forty-five minutes before we lock down the base to prevent the unauthorized Hardit intrusion into the Beta City command and control computer. Good luck, may Bardo be with you.”
Ashanti heard the orders from Sergeant Scipio, and knew she had a decision to make. Her life, and that of any who followed her, could be forfeited if she was wrong. However, Sergeant Scipio was one of the most revered Marines in the Auxiliary Slave Pens, so she decided to trust him.
Realizing that time wasn’t on her side, Ashanti quickly woke up the rest of the two hundred Aux that lived in the slave pen where she spent her non-working hours. Once everyone was awake, she quickly filled them in on Lance’s announcement, adding the most pertinent part for any of the Aux – the Hardits were also rebelling. This was their chance to get some sanctioned payback for the indignities they’d suffered. She told them she would kill any Hardit that stood in their way.
When Ashanti looked around, she saw indecision and fear, but rather than feeling disgust she only felt pity. She knew she didn’t have time to waste convincing them but she had to at least try. “This is our chance. We can die sniveling here or we can take the chance Sergeant Scipio has offered us at a better life. He already created 80 technician positions in his r
egiment, which means 80 Aux who received a better life and regular food. Hell, they’re all Marines again in that new job he created for them. Will you trust him again to provide us a better future? If you decide to stay here, I wish you the best. If you collaborate with the Hardits, I’ll kill you myself. But, if you wish for that flicker of a chance for a better life then follow me!”
Without waiting to see who was following, Ashanti moved to the doors of Auxiliary Slave Pen 18 and stuck her head out to see if it was clear. Seeing no Hardit in sight, she left her pen and went into the central corridor. What she saw stopped her in her tracks. She hadn’t fully realized how inspiring Sergeant Scipio had been, but hundreds of other Auxies were seizing their chance and following his orders. While they were tentative, they were clearly determined and that gave her hope. If we’re going to make it, someone has to lead. I can’t see anyone stepping forward, so I guess it will have to be me. At least if we face a firing squad, we will have good company because surely Sergeant Scipio will die too. Here goes nothing.
Taking a deep breath, Ashanti calmed her nerves before speaking out as loudly as her voice would project. “Listen here, I am Ashanti and I am an Aux like you. If you wish to live, if you wish to make it to the NTU, follow me! If you don’t, stay out of our way and may Bardo smile upon you in the afterlife, for inaction is surely as deadly as fighting for a better life.” She was about to go on, but they quickly cheered her initiative and this quickly turned into shouts of her name, as those in her pen started screaming their support. When the shouting died down, as quickly as it had started, the unspoken leaders from each pen asked her for guidance.
Feeling strangely compelled to acknowledge her newly formed army, Ashanti formerly accepted their admittance into her militia. “That’s that, I guess, welcome to the Aux Militia! It’s time to show Beta City what their cast offs are capable of! Onward and upwards!” Ashanti had again inspired the Aux, as they took up her last comment like a mantra handed down by God, and chants of “onwards and upwards” could be heard as they advanced. It became the battle cry they needed to keep their flagging spirits up, and for that she was grateful.