by JR Handley
Ashanti organized one group to secure their rear and the rest search for anything resembling a weapon. Unsurprisingly, several spears, knives and blunt weapons were procured. She quickly ordered the pen leaders to get their people following them in an orderly fashion, and had all those with weapons follow her to the front. As soon as she turned the corner with her posse they ran into a patrol of Hardits, clearly armed, and intent on exterminating the human auxiliaries.
Before Ashanti could give the order, someone shouted “there’s the senior auxiliary supervisor” followed by others demanding her head. Selassie Julma-Johtaja, obviously proud of the power to torture the humans provided by her position as the senior auxiliary supervisor, never saw it coming. In the opening seconds of the skirmish, an Aux spear pierced her throat, severing some important vessel in her alien physiology and she quickly bled out. The Hardits who were with her grabbed their flenser pistols and shock sticks to defend themselves against this new threat. The other twelve Hardits put up a fight, killing four times their numbers with their effective use of the pistols before ultimately succumbing to the sheer numbers that they were facing in close combat.
As Ashanti scanned the results of the skirmish, she was amazed at what years of pent up frustration allowed her Aux to accomplish. There was blood everywhere, and covering all of those who had joined in the fray. She didn’t hesitate in grabbing the flenser pistol from the dying SAS, even though touching a weapon was previously a capital offense for the Aux. She quickly ordered the bolder fighters to grab the better weapons and pass on their spears to their unarmed comrades.
In a moment of insight, Ashanti realized that she would need to pass certain biometric check points and she didn’t know which eye or hands the Hardits used so she borrowed one of the knives to cut out all three of the SAS’s eyes and both of her hands. This business of war is grislier than I thought when they booted me from my novice company. Am I crazy that I am starting to like it? Would it be this thrilling under the strict yoke of Marine Corps battle tactics?
Without missing a step, not wanting to lose momentum to self-congratulation, Ashanti ordered her newly formed Aux Militia to secure new weapons. “Find the lockers where the shock sticks are stored,” she shouted, “it’s time we returned the favor!” No sooner than the orders had been shouted than they found the Hardit Equipment lockers and she was requested there by Marybeth, one the pen leaders.
As soon as Ashanti got to the lockers, she realized what the issue was. They needed her bag of grisly remains to attempt to circumvent the biometrics as she had feared when she hacked up the SAS’s corpse. After trying each eye, to no avail, she tried the left hand and was shocked that it worked. Once the remains were put back into the waterproof and airtight bag she’d liberated from the Hardit corpses, she opened the doors. What was inside surprised her, it was chock-full of weapons, cannibalized human ACE Combat Armor, human and Hardit flak armor and SA-71s. Having this would’ve been a death sentence for the Hardits. Why would they even bother with armor intended for humans? They’ve clearly been planning this for awhile…and it appears they planned for us to be the first targets of their genocide.
Realizing this was as close to a miracle as she could expect, Ashanti had her fellow militiamen help her suit up in one of the combat suits, though it was harder to use without AIs, before she holstered her pistol in the attachment prong. With her hands free again, she grabbed a rifle and several ammo carousels. Realizing everyone was armed, she then turned and began handing out weapons and ordering her stronger personnel to suit up in the combat armor. Normally this procedure took twenty minutes, but with so many extra hands to facilitate the procedure, every combat suit was on an Aux in under ten minutes. At the same times other Aux were suiting up in the flak armor, giving more muscle to Ashanti’s small militia. When she checked everyone over, ensuring that they were ready, they left the Aux Slave Pens via the tunnels they normally used to work without disturbing their Marine masters.
The Aux Militia was halfway there, having picked up several Aux who had hidden in the tunnels when the craziness kicked off, before they heard any evidence of the fighting going on. When she ordered a halt for everyone to rest – they were moving hard and many of her entourage had just come off duty and hadn’t slept yet – they heard the sounds of human voices shouting orders and the unmistakable sound of gunfire. Unfortunately for the Aux, this was the passageway they had to cross to get back into the safety provided by the Aux Tunnels.
After getting her bearings, Ashanti called over all of the pen leaders and discussed the situation. “Right, we have to cross this passageway to get through to the next section of the Aux Tunnels. I will lead the rear-guard security detachment, and provide security to the rest of you as you cross and head on to the NTU. When you go through this tunnel, continue on through City Unit 3 towards the Naval Planetary Unit in City Unit 5. It should be five and three quarter klicks, and you’ll have to keep a slow jog. If Bardo is with you, you’ll find an abandoned Aux Shuttle or two along the route to cut your time in half. You’ll be in the Aux Tunnels, so you’ll meet little or no resistance until leaving the tunnels for the last quarter klick to the habdisk secured for us by Sergeant Scipio. Marybeth, you lead them there and once you have secured the habdisk, set up a security perimeter to hold the rear and wait for us to catch up. Any questions?”
After a few seconds of silence, where the pen leaders made it clear they just wanted this all to end, Ashanti nodded to them and called over all 15 of the Aux in battle armor, and another 20 in flak armor who were armed with ballistic weapons. I wish I could take all of the armed Aux, but Marybeth will need guns for the last dash. Frakk, how did I get to this place? Thirty-six to save thousands, pure insanity! It didn’t take long for the armed Aux to make it to her, but she used the time she had to quickly calm her nerves. Since this had started, it felt like her heart was pumping on overdrive.
When her Aux troops had joined her, Ashanti quickly outlined her plan. She knew she had to keep it simple, being unaware how far the various Aux had made it in their training. The one factor she knew was against them was the clock. By the one in her head that she couldn’t seem to turn off, they had fifteen minutes to get five and three-quarter klicks. At this rate, they wouldn’t make it. We are going to miss the mark by fifteen minutes. At least we didn’t roll over and die. I won’t tell the others, we have to keep trying, keep hope alive. She could only hope Scipio would delay locking down the safe haven he had provided them.
When all of her rearguard element gave her the thumbs up signal, she opened the door, peeking around the corner to assess the lay of the land as the door slid in on itself. Satisfied, she ordered half the element to the right and broke off to the left with her group. Once they had established a secure corridor, having troops blocking a path across the passageway, they signaled to the rest of the Aux to make the dash across the twenty meters of passageway. Luckily, Marybeth seemed to remember more of her training, and sent them in small groups. The first group to dash across had several of the confiscated SA-71s, assuring Ashanti that her second in command had the matter well in hand.
Once Ashanti was completely satisfied with the progress of the groups dashing towards freedom, she set about scanning her sector. There seemed to be little activity, despite the raucous sounds of combat, and approximately three quarters of the Aux crossed the passageway without incident.
Ashanti knew that that couldn’t last, and she had to be ready for the mutiny to come to them. They were preparing another group of Aux to dash across, when a group of Marines and a Jotun colonel came running down the passageway. Before she could decide whether to shoot, the officer began shouting orders at them. “Colonel Buca Carex, 428th MER, stand aside!”
Just as Ashanti was about to shout out a rebuttal, shots came from her rear, forcing her to pull her troops to the flanks, opening the passageways. As she tried to get the Aux to get back into the closest tunnel to them, more shots came down the passageway and the entire gr
oup of twenty Aux trying to cross were gunned down by the Marines at the other end of the passageway, a consequence of their indecision.
When Colonel Carex reached Ashanti and her rear guard Auxies, he had his Marines form a wall, three rows deep and laid down a wall of fire that eliminated the Marines that had killed the other Aux. Unbidden, a cheer rose from the Aux in the tunnels who were satisfied to see that their friends had been avenged. When the line was secure, the colonel asked who led the detachment, which he hadn’t yet identified as Aux personnel.
Ashanti thought she was about to be executed, but she stepped forward and identified herself. “Sir, Auxiliary Ashanti Okoro, commander of the Beta City Auxiliary Militia, sir! We stand loyal to the White Knight Empire and are following the orders of–” She never got to finish her introduction, as the Jotun colonel bent over coughing and waved her off with the two of his arms not holding his rifle.
What the colonel said next would decide her fate, so Ashanti barely breathed as the colonel caught his breath, his ears twitching in obvious mirth, spoke to the Aux. “At ease, so you’re following this mysterious yet loyal Marine, Sergeant Scipio was it? I wondered what that was about! He’s the ancient relic who is teaching Marchewka’s Boys to fight funny? Right, well as it stands the 6907th TAC stands loyal to the man… the rest of us in Beta City have had defectors, including my XO Major Dugon Erblis. Right now, we are overrun, our numbers were foolhardily weakened by the base commander, and we need to seek safety to regroup. We will join you in the NTU, if you think there’s room?”
The way he asked the question made it clear to Ashanti that he assumed it was a foregone conclusion that she’d agree and lead them to the rest of the Aux in their new stronghold in the NTU. Deciding to take a chance, she nodded in the affirmative and asked if he would help secure the perimeter so the unarmed Aux could cross into the Aux Tunnels. His affirmative response surprised her, and when he ordered his men to hand off any secondary side arms to her Aux she knew she’d made the right decision.
No sooner had they reformed, creating two walls of Marine flesh to secure the passageway for their unarmed Aux allies, then all hell broke loose. Realizing that time wasn’t on their side, Ashanti urged the Aux to run across en masse, while the Marines fired back at the traitorous unarmored Marines wearing the colors of the 781st TAC Regiment.
None of her Aux, or their Marine allies, hesitated in opening fire. The wall of deadly sabots laid down caught their enemies unaware and bodies began dropping. The next wave that came at them, clearly novices that hadn’t yet been issued armor, began to slide in the blood of their peers and were dropped by concentrated volleys of fire. We are killing crèchelings out there! They’re barely novices and they’re charging like sheep to the slaughter. I want to cry, but I know there isn’t time, thought Ashanti. But they’re just babies out there.
The third group of troops that charged them weren’t lacking the benefits of combat armor, and they inflicted the first casualties on the loyalist Marines assisting Ashanti’s Aux Militia. When the first two Marines dropped to head shots, she snagged an AI and inserted it into her combat armor. After quickly telling the new AI the score, she ordered it to help her seek vengeance on the traitors who had killed its host.
Cedar here. I was Sergeant O’Koye’s AI and I will gladly assist you in seeking vengeance. Anything afterwards is open to renegotiating. I’ve now integrated into your battle armor and we are good to go.
Hearing the voice of an AI in her helmet, something for which she was unaccustomed, startled Ashanti. After jiggling her head as if to shake the voice out, Cedar reminded her that there was a war going on and debts to be repaid. Ashanti then bounced around for half a second, getting used to the lightness of the armor now that it was run by an AI, and ordered her Aux to snag AIs off the dead Marines and continue fighting. Looking to her right, she saw an Aux cowering, afraid to cross and realized that the rest had cleared the tunnel.
Ashanti quickly grabbed the sobbing female Aux, shaking her head in disgust, and threw her across the twenty meters before tapping Colonel Carex’s armor to notify him that they were all clear. Before they could begin pulling out of the passageway, into the tunnels, they were assaulted anew from both sides by more Marines from the 781st TAC Regiment. This time the rebels’ attack was strong, having already pinpointed the exact position of their targets, and Marines of the 428th MER began to drop in larger numbers.
Though their colonel organized volley after volley at the attackers, there wasn’t enough brilliance in the world to address the 781st’s willingness to die en masse to clear the passageway. While Colonel Carex lead his Marines in the defense, his aide-de-camp Captain Gashi Gaarjar, unobtrusively pulled Marines and Aux into the tunnels giving the illusion that the traitors were winning militarily and hiding their withdrawal. The last Marines defending the passageway stood shoulder to shoulder and back to back, firing until their ammo carousals clicked empty, when suddenly the colonel dropped dead.
Ashanti quickly checked him over, kneeling next to him while a fellow battlesuited Aux, Harcourt Witowski, stood and provided cover fire. In desperation, she remembered her AI and asked her advice. Cedar quickly replied, letting her know that there was some sort of biological weapon at play, mainly effecting Jotuns and Trogs. As Ashanti visually scanned his body, she realized that a stray sabot had breached the seal of his helmet allowing some toxin in. Deciding that there was nothing she could do to save him, she snagged his AI, and all of the ones from the other dead Marines under the advancing guns of the 781st. When she had the AI from the last Marine, she saw that he had two grenades on his belt and grabbed them. With the aid of her AI-enhanced eye, she threw a grenade at each end of the passageway and pulled back into the tunnel with Harcourt at her side.
Once she was safely back in the tunnels, Ashanti looked over to thank Harcourt only to find that he’d dragged the body of the Jotun colonel with him. “He saved us, least we can do is get his body to safety where it can have its funeral rights. Besides, his chest is still moving, doctors could save him!”
Shaking her head at her new battle buddy, Ashanti fired at the door’s control panel so she could buy her people time to retreat, and turned just in time to see Captain Gaarjar falter. A quick nod and an unspoken command was all it took for Ashanti to get the last Aux in the file to understand. Together they dragged the limp bodies of the two downed officers with them, running to catch up with the rest of the Aux Militia.
Just as Ashanti dragged Captain Gaarjar across the threshold of the 901st NTU habdisk, the doors slid closed and the locking mechanisms loudly engaged. Without those shuttles in the tunnels, we’d be dead she thought. She wasn’t even given a chance to get out of the main passageway, or to catch her breath, before the habdisk was instantly flash frozen.
— Chapter 52 —
City Phase Unit 1, Habdisk 612, Room 101
1st SQD, Whiskey Co., 8th BN., 6907th TAC RGT
After the forty-five minutes had passed, Lance knew he had a decision to make. Xena had informed him that loyal Marines were being locked into their barracks, at which point the Hardits and rebels remotely switched off the air supply of the supposedly self-contained habdisks, turning the safety of their homes into death chambers. He couldn’t wait much longer, he had to lock down the barracks before his fellow Marines fell to the Hardit or rebel treachery. When he stopped to consider it, he realized he also had to activate the emergency cryofreeze, lest their life-sustaining resources be shut off. With his hand on the button to initiate the complete lock down and freeze, Lance hesitated. He knew that sensors were reporting that there were still several groups of people straggling into the 901st NTU’s area, though it was unclear if they were loyal Marines or Auxies. Finally, he made a decision, he would give them a few more minutes, but he had Xena set a 15-minute timer, in case a moment of weakness doomed them all. When the timer counted down the last second all of the habdisks would be inaccessible from the outside and less than a minute after that the
y would all be icers.
Am I making the right choice? Will the reviewing officers who wake us up agree with the decisions I made? How many will I lose to resuscitation failure? Lance ran through all of his doubts, counting down the time until the decision was taken from him. Xena alerted him that the timer had stopped, and the lock down procedure had initiated. Luckily, she added that the stragglers had all made it into the 901st NTU area before the lock down, so Lance quickly went to lie down in his rack before he became an icer. He continued his internal monolog of doubts as he lay in his rack, worried that they’d been unable to confirm the safety of any of his officers, until the cool air rushed into his barracks and he was instantly flash frozen.
— PART II —
2568AD
— Chapter 53 —
Beta City (Marine Farm #1)
In the two years that followed the revolt, the base didn’t sit idle. Its upper floors were occupied by Hardit Militia, servants of the New Order, a regime started and led by Tawfiq Woomer-Calix. She was as close to the embodiment of evil as anyone who had the misfortune to deal with the aftermath of her political aspirations could imagine. These Hardit militiamen were undisciplined and filthy, and as lazy as they came.
The Hardit lethargies reached such a level that the militia troops simply signed off on the inert status of the base, never bothering to manually confirm that the habdisks were in fact devoid of life. Because they were disconnected from the main network, Lance’s network of disks read as dead to the computers in the Beta City CIC. The Hardits believed that once the rebel Marine regiments had left the Tranquility system to conduct the initial campaigns of the civil war, their planet was finally freed of any human Marines. That proved premature when Major Arun McEwan and the Human Legion returned the following year to conduct the First Tranquility Campaign.