Jack Cabe

by Timothy Nguyen

  ...

  Jack and Stan were in the living room of a local apartment that was decorated in a sparse yet luxurious manner and was about as white as the whitest paper. It as amazingly clean, and had been ruined by the grimy footsteps of Jack and Stan. These cushions will never be the same again. Seriously, how do you keep a house this white and sterile? Jack thought to himself, but he turned to more serious matters. Stan sat across from him, and in a chair on their right sat Camryn, whose full name turned out to be Camryn Greathouse, the kid of some American who had scratched his way here with the American military.

  Jack spoke softly in the contemplative silence, "Alright, so we have an army of sorts, but they don't have any weapons. We can't have an army without weapons, therefore we need to find some guns. Do you have any ideas Camryn? You're the local." Jack and Stan turned to the kid.

  Camryn paused in thought for a moment before speaking, "Well… I don't suppose we can get any the same way me and my friends did, which is to say rob some from Inquisitors when they aren't looking."

  Stan laughed then spoke, "Da, that would take too much time. What we need is an armory. Smash in the front door, take the guns, and everyone is happy!"

  Camryn shifted nervously, "Well um…. There's a police armory a few blocks from here. Don't ask how I know, it's a long story."

  "Uh-huh…." Jack didn't bother asking 'how' at this point, "All we need to know is the 'where'. Where is it exactly?"

  Camryn smiled, and within ten minutes, Jack, Stan, and the FIVR Bulldogs were in one of the APCs and heading directly towards the local police station, complete with an armory and guard force.

  ...

  In the trenches, the FIVR had forced themselves into the thickest part of the battle, pitting themselves against tanks and APCs full of Inquisitors. Seamus and a few of his men hunkered just beneath the edge of the trench and listened to the rumble of a tank slowly plodding along nearby. The tank neared the edge of the trench several meters away, and its tracks kicked dust into the trench itself. Seamus quickly dashed under it and placed a cheap mortar in the ground before making a quick retreat.

  "Fire in the hole boys!" He yelled out before yanking hard on a string that allowed the mortar to fall and ignite. It screamed into the underside of the tank, destroying it entirely.

  "Now that is a firework show!" Seamus wrapped an arm around his oldest son in celebration, "I absolutely can't wait until TC makes a more durable version of these or a bazooka…" Connally seemed to space out with ecstatic thoughts of rocket launchers, but he returned to reality, "Yeah, a bazooka would be awesome. Now, let’s see about these other tanks and APCs. Everyone, grab a mortar gun, we’re going hunting!”

  The Resistance may not have the manufacturing power of Aerotec, but they had ingenuity, a healthy amount of black market traders, and basic weapons construction knowledge. Hell, one guy even had a homemade railgun. But most of all, the rebels were determined and would stop at nothing to protect their homes and their families, and they would stop at almost nothing to secure liberty for New Columbia and Mars at large.

  Seamus laughed heartily, “Alright men, up and over! We all have our appointed time, and we don’t want to live forever! Come on men! Onwards!” Seamus jumped up into no man’s land before jumping up onto a tank and tossing an EMP grenade down its hatch. The only guns that were even a threat on these beasts were the machine guns mounted beside the main cannons. Sure, they could move a bit, but they weren’t accurate enough to pose much of a problem. And that made the FIVR’s day so much easier.

  ...

  Alex pushed through with his men, and the sound of infantry battling in a nearby trench powered them onward. He raised the flag as he fired heavy rains of lead from his shield-mounted shotguns, and his forces surged through the trench, cutting down the Inquisitors like butter. Those defectors who found themselves in his ranks couldn't help but be impressed by his courage and dedication, and especially so if they knew the history behind it thanks to the broadcasts.

  An Inquisitor managed to force its way close enough to Alex and shove his shield away, garnering a curse from Alex as it wrapped both of its hands around his Alex's throat. It seemed that the tide was about to turn, only for a gun to thunder from underneath the robot and send it tumbling to the ground. The charge had halted, but Alex blew the smoke off of his shotgun and grabbed his shield.

  He shouted out to his soldiers, laughing, "Come on! It's going to take a lot more than a grabby Inquisitor to stop us!" They made their way into the next trench, and it was already filled with the corpses of Inquisitors. In fact, they almost crashed directly into Val's crew when they turned the next corner. As soon as who-was-who was figured out, Alex made his way to Val since it seemed that the battle he'd just come out of was the last for now. The Resistance began consolidating their forces while the cacophonous roar of battle slowed to the occasional thunder of random artillery strikes.

  ...

  In the middle of the Inner City, the Alfen District Police Station was nestled between two larger civilian buildings, but in comparison, it was a bit shorter and had a clear perimeter around it for about 20 meters or so. It was short, stout, severe, and generally utilitarian. It was peaceful in spite of the raging civil war and its proximity to the frontline. Despite it being the third-largest weapons cache in New Columbia, it had managed to go unmolested, but all hell was about to break loose.

  One of Aerotec’s larger APCs, heavily armored and full of soldiers, thundered down the street at top speed and swerved into the side of the building. The impact tore a hole from one corner of the building to the middle of one side, and the APC's rear doors swung open while a Russian yelled over the APC external speakers.

  Stan's voice thundered in the rubble-strewn chaos, “Surrender now, and no one gets hurt! Move out men, take the guns, destroy the Inquisitors, and win victory for us all!” Stan got up out of the cockpit still a little dazed from the impact. Thank god for impact dampening technology. Not that they particularly need it with these robots… He grabbed his gun -an old AKM from a bygone era- and jumped out with Jack and the rest of the men. His rifle cracked alongside the others, completely and utterly overwhelming the small guard force of Inquisitors and opulent officers.

  Jack made his way down to the sublevel where the armory was. It was guarded by a pair of grossly incompetent men with guns that they had probably never fired until now.

  Shock and awe Cabe, shock and awe… “Alright, either you two let me and my men into this armory, or you both die. No exceptions.” Jack gestured with his large pistol as he spoke, and the two men decided to be brave.

  “You’re… You’re not getting in here,” The large man to Jack's left pointed his rifle at him, but Jack just shrugged.

  “Cute, but you don’t point guns at me like that and expect to live unharmed,” Jack grabbed one of their guns out of their hands and tossed it away, and the other guard tried to fire but to no effect. Was it jammed? Jack grabbed the gun out of the man’s hands.

  The corpulent man begged for his life, “Please don’t hurt me, I’m just doing my job…”

  Jack scoffed, “Why would I hurt you? You don’t even know how to turn the safety on your gun off. Now let me in, or I will hurt you.”

  A bead of sweat fell from the man's brow, “Y-yes sir.”

  And just like that, the Resistance had a whole lot more guns. As soon as the facility was secured, Stan and Jack ordered the Volunteers to grab weapons and plenty of ammo, and they instructed everyone on how to load, reload, and fire.

  Jack thought ill of the entire venture, Young, inexperienced kids who are pretty foreign to the very concept of war, equipped with guns they barely know how to use. He hoped it would be enough.

  Chapter 45

  The sun was low in the sky and cast a somber orange light across the smoking battlefield. Inside the abandoned remains of the Aerotec command bunker, a large metal foot came down beside the destroyed carapace of SI-75f. It was easily twice the size of 75f's
own foot and brutishly designed in comparison. His replacement had come.

  The new Inquisitor spoke with a deep and harsh voice, ridiculing the destroyed robot. "Tsk tsk tsk… Ferrous you absolute idiot. Not only did you lose a perfectly defendable bunker, but you lost the advantage as well. You didn't even incinerate the bodies… Shameful, but expected from a runt like you." He walked over the headless corpse and booted up the holographic screen.

  After inputting a high command-level password, the droid spoke to the facility using a mixture of high and low-frequency signals and standard English. "SI-75g, Goliath, reporting to command post FB-9-A. Assuming control of the facility."

  The main computer -ignored by the Resistance because of the mainframe's voice authentication complexity- hummed and beeped.

  "Good… Very good. Give me a local 360° view of the outside of the bunker." While Goliath spoke his commands, he typed on the contingent keyboard with heavy clacks as he entered data that he believed relevant to the computer's operation. A holographic panorama of the surrounding battlefield popped up around him, its serene blue and white light standing in stark opposition to the destroyed and ransacked look of the bunker.

  Goliath growled, "Hm…It's a pity that we can't make any more aerial reconnaissance drones. No matter. This rebellion will be crushed within hours, especially now that I have the bunker under my control. Cabe and Vulkov are trapped within New Columbia, and 15 men are nothing against five hundred thousand Inquisitors. The only issue will be taking the trenches with these… Unacceptable losses of armor."

  Goliath pondered and calculated for a moment, but his calculations were cut short by a massive chain of explosions coming from behind the Aerotec lines.

  His voice modulators rumbled with the intake of this new information, "That does not compute, not at all… That is impossible," Goliath turned his attention to the rear of the Aerotec forces, "No. That is impossible. This must be an error. Computer, run diagnostics."

  Within seconds, a diagnostic screen popped up on the main screen.

  The following units are not responding:

  Armored Brigade, Reserve

  Artillery Command 2

  Inquisitor Infantry, Rear Division 1

  Inquisitor Infantry, Rear Division 2

  Mobile Artillery, Heavy

  Mobile Artillery, Light

  Mobile Artillery, Medium

  The computer continued listing unresponsive units in seemingly random order, even if it was alphabetic..

  Goliath roared, “Dammit! This is not right! How can the entire rear guard be destroyed? This is an error! Show me the rear guard live feed!”

  The computer hummed to itself for a moment thanks to the sheer amount of casualties that were overloading its processors, but a screen popped up. In the top right, a notification said that whatever camera was broadcasting was severely damaged and operating off of an internal battery that was quickly running low.

  Or it was running low until a massive explosion engulfed it and disconnected the screen.

  ...

  Alex and Val were standing in a makeshift command post that had been dug into the earth, and they were speaking to various holograms of Resistance High Command.

  Val looked at Seamus, clearly covered in dust and soot despite the grittiness of the holograms, “How’s it going on your front Seamus? Is it just as quiet as it here?”

  Seamus shrugged, “Well, Miss Ballew, It’s pretty darn quiet considering we were just blasting the ever-loving life out of those tanks. Something fishy’s about, for sure.”

  “The calm before the storm eh? That’s what I was thinking too if I’ll be honest. I-” Val was cut off by the roar of an explosion and shockwave, flinching for a moment, “Yeah, we should probably take a look at that.” Without any further words, the Resistance leaders rushed out and beheld a marvelous sight.

  A kilometer away, a series of mushroom clouds rose in front of the burnt wrecks of the glittering apartments, and the distant air seemed to boil with fire and smoke. A series of smaller explosions crept a little closer, and shrapnel embedded into the earth nearby. Val stood dumbfounded at the display but quickly came to her wits. Jack did it again, he.. he blew up a freaking artillery field. Does Aerotec understand how explosions work? This is good, we have… We have...

  Val grabbed her universal communicator and spoke directly into the ears of every commander in the Resistance. “I know you’re all probably seeing the same thing I am, and those big explosions mean one thing, and one thing only: We have a big advantage now, and we need to press it. Let’s fight people! Get a move on!”

  Val grabbed her gun and her shield and, slowly but surely, every unit in the Resistance began pressing towards the front lines in a maddened surge, filled with vigor and pride.

  ...

  A few minutes earlier....

  Jack pressed the shotgun barrel of his revolver against the hinges of the maintenance door and fired a single shot into each one while Kenway and Stan kept guard. If his guess was correct, this stairwell would allow him to see over into the Aerotec rear, and hopefully begin an offensive with his hundred men.

  Jack spoke in the ensuing quiet, “Alright, Stan you go and organize the troops, Kenway, you make sure I don’t get killed by a random security check.” Stan responded with some trifle or another and walked away, and Jack kicked down the door. The place is abandoned apparently. Guess everyone noped out for a reason. Jack and Kenway ascended the stairs, coming out onto the roof.

  Kenway turned to Jack, “What’s your plan Sir? Why’d we climb a building?”

  Jack gestured to the southwestern edge of the building, “Take a look for yourself Alistair, take a look for yourself.” The pair made their way to the edge of the building, and looked out.

  Kenway’s jaw dropped, “That… That’s a lot of guns.”

  Jack smiled with a knowing smirk, “Not just guns Alistair, ammunition, artillery, and very explosive things. And I’m an excellent shot, which is why I grabbed an actual rifle instead of using my pistol for this.” Jack took the rifle from his back and lay down on the edge of the building. Hopefully, I don’t blow us all to hell with it, cause this is going to be one big explosion. Seriously, you’d think Aerotec would have learned the first time. He lined up his sights, using the magnifier on the scope to zoom in on a more central ammunition pile. All of it out in the open, neatly arranged right beside the guns they’ll be used in. I know it’s been a while since we had a war of any sort, but come on people…

  He spoke in the calm, “They’re stunningly incompetent Kenway, and that’s saying something when you consider we haven’t done this before either,” he took aim and pressed his finger to the trigger, “But thankfully, we’re a little bit better.” He pulled the trigger, and the round exploded out of the barrel, directly into the explosive charge of a shell that sat directly in the middle of Aerotec’s rear guard. It exploded and set off a massive chain reaction of explosions. Luckily, Jack and Kenway were far enough away that their building wasn’t structurally damaged, except for broken glass. The shock from the shockwave would take a bit more time to adjust to.

  ...

  “This is... Unacceptable…” Land growled from the southern balcony of his tower, “Reginald, go bring me a drink and that girl, Sofia. I need to… relax.”

  “Yes sir.” Reginald left the room for a minute before returning with a glass of terrestrial whiskey and a young girl of about 17 years. He smiled, “Your entertainment sir. I’ll go order-”

  “Reginald, have a drink with me. Here,” Land handed the whiskey back to the lad, “You first.”

  Reginald frowned ever so slightly, “Sir, I don’t-”

  Land grinned, “Yes, you do. We have security cameras in this building, and I know that you particularly enjoy this Tennessee whiskey. So please, have a drink.”

  Reginald blushed, “I can fix my own sir, there’s no need.”

  Land smiled knowingly, “Or maybe you can fix yourself a poisoned drink, and go
jump off of that balcony you little miscreant.”

  Reginald spoke in simple defiance, “You’ll never win. I’ve seen the reports, I’ve heard you give your orders. You won’t win.”

  “Sure I won’t,” Land pulled a derringer from his pocket and fired into the young boy’s heart, “But you won’t be alive to see it. Maybe you should think twice about using cyanide.” He turned to Sofia, who was more or less looking numb to the world. She had been his personal whore for some months now, and she knew that it was Land’s mere fancy that kept her alive.

  He pointed his finger at her and spoke sternly, “You, clean up this mess, I’ll be waiting in the bedroom.”

  She spoke softly, trying to be cheerful, “Yes sir. I’ll get on it right away.” Land left the room, and she grabbed a mop before looking out on the city and the massive plumes of smoke rising in the south. She noticed that the American district wasn't the only one that burned. Every district was ablaze with insurrection, but the American district was leading the way. She silently hoped that they’d get here in time, and she took comfort in knowing she wasn’t the only one suffering.

  Chapter 46

  Stan hunkered down beside Locke and Andrews under the lip of a massive crater that had been created by Jack's latest attack. The Aerotec forces were falling into a state of loosely organized disarray with many of its commanders having simply been destroyed. This left the middle Aerotec's command chain simply gone, and the lower units puzzled over who the protocol would designate as the immediate commander. But that didn't necessarily mean that they were easy pickings for the Resistance.

  Stan took careful aim and fired single shots from his rifle, and he conserved what little ammo he had by only firing if he knew he could kill the target in one or two shots. It almost reminds me of that time aboard the Rytsar. Ah, those were fun times. I’ll have to tell little Maria about it one day. He popped another shot off, before rising and crawling out of the trench.