The rest of the faction was much the same. There hadn’t been any full-legion activity since the failed raid. Reggie had stopped checking his in-game messages since he kept getting friendly updates from Freedom Coach Napoleon about the upgrades he was making to Torbek. Members of Bravo, Charlie, and Delta Platoons did their own thing, either as a group or solo.
Hime and Reese hadn’t logged in since they died out on the ice field. Reese had gone so far as to close his account. Reggie had made the effort to read his farewell email. “Too intense” had been the gist of it.
War wasn’t for everyone.
Well, real war wasn’t for anyone. But even fake wars could wear on a guy who wasn’t built to take stress recreationally.
Reggie was up two games to one playing nine-ball with Frank, when he received a push alert that cut through the ambivalence he’d shown his tablet and all the mundane news items there.
Chase was on the couch watching a real-world sitcom. He turned and glared at Reggie as the alert kept blaring while Reggie took his aim. “You gonna check that? If not, at least shut it up.”
With a sigh, Reggie pulled out his tablet.
[Turrim Auream Starport Under Attack by Liberty Clan]
“They’re taking our starport,” Reggie said.
“Aw, come on!” Chase whined. “I just went there last night for Chinese. They have a restaurant there that I swear is a rip-off of the Mandarin Dragon down the street from my apartment.”
Reggie looked around the rec room. “Who’ve we got logged in?”
Chase spread his hands. The kid had a point. Reggie was faction leader. He had all the tools he needed to track down his people.
[Faction > Roster > News (14) > Rewards > Info]
Reggie tapped on the roster link. He sorted by location.
[King - Green Zone - Rec Room]
[June - Sargon IV]
[Chase - Green Zone - Rec Room]
[Dogface - Green Zone - Rec Room]
[Dragonlady - Sargon IV]
[Nordbrook - Offline]
[Harper - Green Zone - Barracks]
[Hime - Offline]
[Ellomancer - The Gant Nebula]
[RichyRich - The Gant Nebula]
[Compton - Offline]
[Thatchet - Green Zone - Hangar]
[ZRod - Green Zone - Hangar]
[Mapple - Green Zone - Storage Closet #2]
[Chipz - Offline]
[SwampFox - Green Zone - Barracks]
[Monty - Green Zone - War Room]
[Spike - Green Zone - Hangar]
Reggie took a quick count. “Looks like we’ve got 10.”
Chase hopped to his feet and saluted. “Let’s go give ‘em hell, sir!”
But that just earned him a scowl from Reggie, who headed off toward the War Room. “We’re not fighting back. We can’t afford the combat losses. Even with insurance, we’ll lose money on repairs and ammo, and we’ll still be out the income from the starport.”
With any luck, Monty, who was already in the War Room, had been working on coming up with a mission that could cover the lost income. Because if Wounded Legion kept taking losses like this, they weren’t going to be able to afford to maintain the Green Zone.
Chapter Thirty-Four
An hour later, Reggie and his two available platoons were in a pitched battle down a mountain pass. There were two approaches to the enemy extraction point, and Wounded Legion forces were divided evenly to defend them.
[Primary Objective: Prevent Enemy Forces from Reaching Extraction Point by 0330]
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 15/35]
Reggie had chosen the mission because the proceeds were sufficient to make up for a day’s loss of Turrim Auream’s income—spread across the participants, at least. Reggie wouldn’t see all that money personally, but the faction would still gain it. Had he realized the type of mission it would be, he might have been inclined to choose them more often.
It was target practice.
It was tank warfare.
Wounded Legion dug in across the mountainous terrain and only exposed enough of their juggernauts’ chassis to get line of fire with their weapons. Given a good scout and some indirect-fire weapons, they might hold out here for days.
Not that anyone besides Reggie—or maybe Frank—would be liable to hang around that long regardless of the payoff.
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 16/35]
Reggie checked his mini-map and discovered that an approaching Rhino had perished under withering fire from Left Platoon. Without the benefit of a long time to consider names, this mission’s temporary platoons had just been christened Left and Right.
“Nice shooting, Lefties,” Reggie radioed. “Keep patient. They’ve got to come to us.”
He checked the time: 0314. The enemy force only had sixteen minutes to reach their extraction point, and they still had over a kilometer of mountainous terrain to push through.
Frank, commanding Left Platoon, snarled back. “Pair of swords the size of city buses and I’ve got to point lasers at them like I’m playing with a cat. If I’d wanted hull-down camping trips, I’d have stayed in the army.”
“You rolled over the odometer on the mandatory retirement age,” Reggie pointed out. “No reenlisting for you.”
“No worries, sir,” SwampFox radioed from Frank’s side of the mountain. “I’ll keep him in line. If Gremlin steps out to engage, I’ll take out his kneecaps.”
“Like to see you try!” Frank boasted. “My baby’s got armor like a battleship.”
“I meant back at base,” SwampFox clarified.
“Ease off the chatter,” Reggie warned even though he liked the idea of watching the two settle matters back home. It was impossible to do permanent damage to a character and unlikely to earn either of them a trip to the Star League medical facility. So it sounded like a great way to blow off steam.
Low cash flow or not, maybe it was time to consider that boxing gym for the Green Zone.
On Reggie’s side of the pass, the enemy force looked to have had enough of patience and sniping contests. With neither side making headway, Right Platoon was winning the engagement by default.
Patience was about to pay off.
Two Demons, a Wyvern, and five Kestrels broke cover simultaneously in a coordinated rush.
“Keep down,” Reggie warned. “But fire at will. Shoot to cripple first. Save downed targets for the cleanup phase.”
Taking his own advice, he steadied his aim on one of the Demon’s legs.
[Demon[1] - 33% To Hit]
Inwardly, Reggie swore. Sure, there were scrub trees just below the point where nothing would grow at this altitude that obscured the Demon’s lower half. Sure, he was giving worse gunners a better shot than he had due to the insane bonuses from Command Radius 5. But it was still frustrating as hell to be unable to make precision-targeted shots on such an oversized target.
Reggie fired both Vortex’s Plasma Launchers. Both shots missed, setting dwarf evergreens afire.
The rest of Right Platoon fared better.
Chase cut the leg off the Wyvern before it got to close range. Thatchet and ZRod coordinated an attack on one of the Kestrels and blasted it out of commission.
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 17/35]
Mapple danced in and out of cover—literally—as he fired off volleys with an E-M Cannon. Trying to avoid getting distracted himself, Reggie was pretty sure it was the lead role of a Tango played out at juggernaut scale.
“They’re coming at us all in a bunch,” Frank radioed from Left Platoon.
“Permission to do whatever the hell you want,” Reggie replied. He knew that amounted to meeting them head-on, with Gremlin trying some sort of Viking berserker rush. For a guy who claimed to have spent the better part of his military career in the driver’s seat of a tank, Frank seemed to be reliving the glory days of Erik the Red when he sat in Gremlin’s cockpit.
[Secondary Obj
ective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 18/35]
Reggie checked the time: 0319.
He checked the mini-map. Aside from Frank rushing out to meet the desperation push of the enemy force, everything was in order.
Kestrels bore down on Reggie’s platoon. The light juggernauts weren’t as fast as a Chipmunk or a Pixie, but they seemed to be handling the rough, broken terrain like champs.
“Keep on the lights,” Reggie ordered. “Ignore the Demons.”
As he said that, one of the Demons caught Vortex in the cockpit with a Mass Driver shot. Reggie’s heart leaped in his throat. Instantly, he looked to the damage screen. 28/40 on the cockpit armor. Damn, that had felt like a critical for sure, but Hardened Systems must have saved him from the additional damage.
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 19/35]
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 20/35]
The updates came, but it was Left Platoon getting the kills. On Reggie’s side of the mountain, the Kestrels were making it hard to nail down killing shots. Clipping legs on something moving that fast just wasn’t practical.
Chase carved into one with his Beam Cannons even as his Plasma Launchers missed another.
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 21/35]
The Kestrels were coming fast. Separated on opposing sides of the mountain pass, the enemy juggernauts would soon be past them.
200m
150m
50m
Laser fire and volleys of plasma scorched the targets. No one but Chase was having much success taking them out.
Just as the pack of Kestrels was about to cross their line of fire, Mapple burst into action. He activated his Jump Boost, soaring high into the sky, performing a pirouette at the zenith of his flight. Stabilizing thrusters adjusted his course in mid-air.
“You’re too high!” Chase warned.
But if Mapple processed the warning, he didn’t change his plan because of it. Down, down he plummeted, steering his fall the whole way. He landed his Phoenix, Applejack, with arms out to the sides in the pose of an Olympic gymnast.
One of the Kestrels was crushed flat by a juggernaut three times its mass. The wire-frame for Applejack went deep red in both legs and yellow in the torso from the impact. A pair of floating “no” symbols hovered over the Phoenix’s legs, indicating that internal damage to the joints or actuators had rendered it immobile.
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 22/35]
“Ta-da!” Mapple sang.
Over on the Left Platoon side of the mountain, juggernauts from Wounded Legion were taking heavy damage. Lucky for them, most of it was targeting Gremlin, who was designed to shrug it off.
From the middle of the melee, Frank carved a swath through the light juggernauts on that side.
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 23/35]
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 24/35]
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 25/35]
Reggie checked the time as he took aim at the remaining three Kestrels who’d made it through his side. 0322. Shit. They had time to get there.
Chase picked off another.
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 26/35]
ZRod finally got in a good shot.
[Secondary Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 27/35]
Reggie steadied his aim. With the Kestrel making a beeline for the extraction site, he was able to take his time to wait for the reticule to settle.
[Kestrel[6] - 42% To Hit]
[Kestrel[6] - 48% To Hit]
[Kestrel[6] - 54% To Hit]
[Kestrel[6] - 60% To Hit]
The chances stopped improving there, and the Kestrel was getting close to slipping into long range. Reggie squeezed off a pair of shots, and this time, both hit.
For a split second, Kestrel[6] glowed red in the torso, the last of its armor stripped exactly to zero hit points. Then the second shot connected, and it exploded.
“Focus fire on Demon[1],” Reggie ordered. “ZRod, provide cover for Mapple. We’re all going home today.”
“Roger that,” ZRod confirmed, slipping into position, putting Adamant between Applejack and the Demons.
On the mini-map, Frank had stemmed the tide on Left Platoon’s side. The other Valhalla West veterans had been pros, holding down that pass like a beachhead at Normandy. Now that they were getting their feet wet, these guys were going to be great assets to Wounded Legion.
Time ticked down.
0327
0328
0329
0330
[Primary Objective Complete: Prevent Enemy Forces from Reaching Extraction Point by 0330]
“Great work, boys!” Reggie said, catching himself and double-checking that none of the women of Wounded Legion were among his two platoons. He breathed a muted sigh of relief when he remembered that Ellie was off on a mission with her bother, and that June and Lin were slumming together on merc jobs for the night. He was less reassured when he remembered that Hime had dropped off the face of the Star League.
“Clean house. Salvage all we can. Drinks are on me back at the Green Zone.”
If only Reggie hadn’t gotten a notification halfway through the mission that Liberty Clan had finished taking control of Turrim Auream Starport, Reggie could have called the evening a win.
[Mission Successful - 14,800 XP - 8,000Cr]
Chapter Thirty-Five
Reggie arrived back at the Green Zone with a spring in his step. There were missions out there that still had the potential to get his blood pumping without also boiling it. Entering the rec room from the hangar side, he headed straight for the bar and leaned across to fill a pint glass from the tap. He handed it to ZRod, the first in behind him, and began pouring another.
Soon, Left and Right Platoons melted back into just Wounded Legion once more. It was a good feeling to be flexible, powerful, and profitable once again.
They organized a two-on-two game of eight-ball. Someone flipped on an MMA match on the television, live from the real world. They shared tales of the battle they’d just fought.
“And then I was like, ‘whoa, this guy’s not even stopping,’” Harper said. “I mean, up to that point, I was only poking my head out to update the live map. But this Rhino was fixated on me like I was waving a red cape. Thought I was a goner until Spike took out a leg.”
“Hey,” June said as she and Lin entered from the hangar. “You guys went and had some fun without us?”
“Fair’s fair,” Chase said. “It was ladies’ night out before that.”
“Only after Reggie said he wanted to stay home and shoot pool,” Lin reminded them.
Frank shrugged and raised his cue stick as if in toast. “Best of both worlds.”
“Why the change of heart?” June asked with a sly smile. She’d been dogging him to pull himself out of the doldrums ever since the disaster on Torbek.
Reggie couldn’t avoid the topic forever. Sooner or later, someone—probably Chase—was going to look up the faction status and notice a missing space station. “We needed a little income boost since Liberty Clan stole Turrim Auream Starport from us.”
“What!” the sentiment was expressed in many voices and from all directions. Reggie was crushed between them all.
“Why didn’t we go defend it?” ZRod demanded.
“Why isn’t the legion’s notification setting pushing alerts to everyone when that happens?” Lin asked angrily.
June crossed her arms. “We could have bailed on the merc job and come back in time.”
Monty stepped in. “Cut the commander some slack. Need-to-know basis. We got our orders.”
“Not all of us,” Lin countered.
Spike stood beside Monty and Reggie at the center of the storm. “Hey. It’s Reggie’s call. He’s in charge.”
“Maybe we need a vote,” ZRod suggested loudly. “Let someone who cares run this show.”
“Fine by me,” Fran
k shouted. “I still vote Reggie.”
“I nominate Chase,” ZRod said with a pointed finger.
Chase raised his hands. “Keep me out of this coup. I’m with Reggie. I’d rather have known ahead of time, but I think I had a lot more fun on that mission not knowing it was backfill for our income loss. If we’d have gone guns-a-blazin’ after Liberty Clan on Turrim Auream, we’d be selling furniture back to Star League to pay for ammo and repairs.”
“Exactly!” Reggie said, finally having someone take his side with logic as a weapon. “We can’t counter the force they bring. Freedom Coach Napoleon—”
“Can you stop calling him that?” Frank snapped. “Sounds like one of those self-help fellas on late night TV.”
“Napoleon knows our force projection ability. He’s certain to have bought enough to hammer us down—”
“Like a loose nail,” June said, using Reggie’s line and stealing its impact. “You keep saying that. But if we don’t fight back, they’ll just keep mauling us.”
“If we do fight back, we lose even more ground,” Chase added. “It’s not pretty math, but it’s math. You can hold out against superior numbers with a proper defense, but it’s only a force multiplier, and we don’t have a big enough force to multiply if we want to stop Liberty Clan.”
“Really?” ZRod asked. “That’s the lamest excuse I’ve heard for not even trying. It’s not like we don’t have insurance and respawns.”
Thatchet had been quiet, watching from the sidelines. “Yeah. But the rest of us log out when we die. Reggie’s stuck in here. Maybe that’s why he only fights when he thinks it’s a sure thing.”
ZRod shot a finger at Thatchet as if he’d just spoken to the burning bush. “Exactly. Reggie’s being a pussy.”
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