March of the Legion

by Marshall S. Thomas

"More canisters! Autofire!" Sassin ran past me and his massive Manlink spit plasma, glowing pulses of pure energy, straight to the O. Canister! I fired canister, finger holding the trigger down, the E dancing in my grasp.

  We walked forward to the O. Snow Leopard and Psycho and Coolhand appeared to my left, firing nonstop.

  A black wall loomed between us and the O. It exploded, disintegrating into fragments, and the O spit death at us, a sudden firestorm of laser and tacstars.

  Explosions erupted all around me, and suddenly I was on the ground, my head spinning wildly, my helmet glowing red, tacstar skies burning into my eyes, and Sweety calmly relaying data into my ears.

  "…left arm no longer functional. Get up, Thinker! Fire canister! The O approaches!" I struggled to my feet. The left side of my A-suit was smoking. I felt nothing but I could not move my left arm. I did not want to look—I aimed my E with my right arm and fired canister.

  "Death, Gamma!" Boudicca hurled herself at the O. Sassin fired again, plasma flashing, again and again and again, right into the O. Full auto canister fire deafened me as a deadly hail of cenite darts filled the air. Psycho opened up again with the chainlink and for the first time, I heard the shrill grating whine of Merlin's biobloc fieldfaxer. An airburst flashed just over my head and hot metal hissed down all around me.

  The O appeared, looming before us out of the smoke, tall dark body parts shimmering in a pulsating violet haze; is that armor? It fired, a flash, exploding just to my left, my faceplate going dark.

  "I'm hit, Two. Take command." Snow Leopard, detached, a message from Dreamland.

  "One is down," Two reported calmly. "Fire all weapons—canister, chainlink, plasma, biobloc."

  The O erupted, winking like a star, firing everything it had—laser, tacstars, spheres, xmax. Highways of light came right at me, and then I was down again and the world was aflame, a hot white sky.

  "Three's hit."

  "Seven is hit."

  "Nine?"

  "Get the O."

  I struggled to my feet. Focus, a cloud of black smoke. Fire rippled above me. The O stood before me, enveloped in a hazy violet field, cold air shimmering all around it, ice forming on my A-suit. The head, moving; armor, it's in armor; the eyes, glowing red, right into mine. Something came down, a weapon, writhing like a snake in hazy air. My life flashed before me. Tara, and the Legion gate. Hell and Valkyrie and our landing on the New World. Priestess appeared before me, glowing like an icon. I saw Moontouch, the Princess of the Dead, holding up my baby—what a beautiful baby! I fired canister, right into the O's ugly face. The world exploded, a tremendous flash, and hot sparkles danced in my vision. I was on my back now—the world was spinning around, and I was blind. The battle raged around me.

  "Canister! Biobloc! Pour it on!" Multiple explosions deafened me. The transmissions were fading.

  "Biobloc! Get him, Merlin!"

  "No…no! He's gone."

  "Get the O! Get the O!"

  "Use flame!"

  "No—not the tacstar!"

  "Canister! More!"

  "Don't stop! Don't stop!"

  I struggled to my feet. My vision was coming back; I was still alive. I spat blood and aimed with my good arm. I saw A-suits in the smoke, walking in flames, firing into the dark. Something writhed in the shadows. Four leaned into his fieldfaxer; and it was shrieking, whining, howling biotic death at the thing in the shadows. Plasma dazzled my eyes; Sassin firing full auto from his Manlink, full auto plasma, spitting and burning, lighting up a wild thrashing form like a great metal snake in its death throes. Pulsing violet flashes, on and off, a dying star. Coolhand fired canister, the air full of humming death, riddling the target, full auto canister. Psycho, the snout of his chainlink almost touching the creature, firing auto xmax; we're much too close for tacstars. The shield is down! I switched to auto xmax and fired one-handed and kept my finger down on the trigger, a death grip. Someone fired flame, and the O ignited.

  "Burn the bastard!"

  "Blast him!"

  "Don't stop!"

  Junk, the O was flaming junk, whirling in a firestorm of cenite, dancing in the lightning of xmax and melting in the plasma's hot breath, cooking in the biobloc. The buildings came down around us, falling down on our armored backs, but we didn't care. We kept firing until we knew, beyond a doubt, that the O was dead.

  "Don't die, Boudicca! Oh my God, please don't die! Priestess! Priestess! Help me!" It was Valkyrie, frantic.

  The world whirled around me. I found Valkyrie on the tacmap and staggered dizzily to the site. She was on her knees, cradling Boudicca in her arms. Hell burned all around them. Boudicca was horribly wounded, her frontal armor burnt away and smoking, white-hot, her abdomen a bloody mass of melting cenite and bubbling gore, her legs two black, shredded metal stumps. I wrenched at her visor with my one good hand and got it up. She was pale and still, in shock.

  "Thinker! Thinker, you're hit!" Valkyrie exclaimed. She was also in shock, breathing shallowly.

  "I'm all right. Gamma, speak! Priestess, where are you?"

  Boudicca's eyelids fluttered and she tried to focus on me. "Beta? Three? Did we get the O?"

  "We got it, Gamma—it's stone dead!"

  Blood spurted out of Gamma One's mouth, and she began coughing.

  "Valkyrie, get my medkit!" I couldn't seem to get it open with my one good hand.

  "Don't die, Boudicca! I love you!" Valkyrie was clinging to Boudicca and crying, hysterical.

  "The medkit, Valkyrie!" Priestess suddenly appeared, slamming a bloody biotic charger on to Boudicca's charred and smoking chest. Priestess hit her with a max charge, and did it again, and again.

  "Valkyrie…Val…" Boudicca was trying to speak.

  "Boudicca! You're going to be all right!" Valkyrie replied. "Priestess is here, you're all right!"

  "No, Val…I'm dying…I'm done." Her face twisted into a painful grimace. "But we got the O! Gamma got the O…you put that on my grave, Valkyrie."

  "Don't die, Boudicca! Don't leave me!"

  Gamma One's eyes turned up to the sky. The color was fading from her twitching, frightened face. Her lips moved. "Forming a new squad, Val…" she whispered throatily. "I'll save you…number two." And then she shuddered and the life ran right out of her, and Priestess kept banging away on the biotic charger, but it made no difference—another immortal was dead.

  "Priestess! Medic! Medic! It's One!" Coolhand was calling for help—it was for Beta One. Priestess leaped to her feet and disappeared into the dark. Snow Leopard! I gritted my teeth. This was not going to be easy.

  "Are you all right, Valkyrie?" I asked.

  Valkyrie did not move. She silently held Boudicca in her arms, and said not a word. I made the sign of the Legion over Boudicca, and then over Valkyrie, and then I left them, to see about Snow Leopard.

  I found him in Coolhand's arms, with Priestess working frantically on him. They had unlinked his upper armor. It was red with blood. Horrible sucking chest wounds, blood spurting everywhere. It looked as if he had lost an arm as well. His visor open, pale face, his eyes blinking—he was as pale as death, gasping for air.

  "Is he going to make it, Priestess?"

  "Shut down—hand me a fleshpad. The breather!"

  I could see, behind his visor, Coolhand shaking and crying silently. I prayed to the God of War for Snow Leopard's life. And all I could think was that he was a great warrior, and he was our One; and if the Gods let him die, I would curse the Gods, and believe in nothing, and face a future as dark as a black hole.

  "Ten, Two…damn! Badass, Badboy, we're through here. Get us out. Big Kid, we've done it. Acknowledge, please." Coolhand had taken charge. Snow Leopard screamed, in sudden agony. Blood spurted all over my faceplate.

  "There…" Priestess's armored fingers were digging in Snow Leopard's chest for something. The medpads were soaked in blood.

  "Is he stable?"

  "Badass, Badboy. Respond!"

  An armored hand on my shoulder. It was Drago
n. "Thinker, you'd better come here." I turned to follow him. Flames licked at our feet and the sky was dark with smoke. I did not want to see whatever it was Dragon had for me.

  "Badass, Badboy. Scut! No response."

  "Badass…kid…to pick up Badboy. Acknow…" Shot full of static. That had to be Big Kid, trying to relay our message to Badass. At least somebody was getting the word. A dark sky. Shadowy figures in A-suits, moving in slow motion around me like a dream. Something flaming, a charred pile of junk—the O. Dragon's heavy hand was still on my shoulder. He was guiding me somewhere.

  "Badboy, Beta Two. Count off! One, wounded. Two, present—count off!"

  "Three," I said mechanically.

  "Four." A whisper. Merlin was alive!

  "Five." Psycho! Bulletproof, the magnificent little maniac was bulletproof!

  Silence. Silence, from Beta Six. The remnants of his psybloc were still falling, ghostly lights in the sky. And out of the smoke a vision appeared. It was Psycho, on his knees, cradling another trooper in his arms. I saw in an instant that it was Ironman. Smoke drifted slowly around the scene, and a faint halo of light illuminated them from behind. I sank to my knees and touched Ironman's helmet with the armored fingers of my good hand. His face was still and pale behind the visor, and his eyes were open. A ragged laser track ran through his armor from the neck down through his chest and left arm. The cenite armor was still smoking.

  I couldn't speak. It was like a dream.

  "Priestess…" I finally said. "Priestess."

  "She's already been here," Psycho informed me. "He's gone. Ironman is gone."

  Dragon leaned over and made the sign of the Legion before Ironman's faceplate. "He was a warrior," Dragon said. It was the highest praise Dragon could give.

  "He was advancing and firing when he was hit," Psycho said. "I saw the whole thing. He was walking right into the O. Nobody could have died better than that."

  Ironman, Ironman, Ironman! I could not see, my eyes were full of tears. He was our child, our innocent, our only link with a lost world. With Ironman at our side, we knew we were fighting for something worthwhile. Now he was gone.

  "Count off! Count off, damn you all! I said count off!" Coolhand was losing patience.

  "Six," somebody said. But it was not Warhound's voice. "Six is…he's here—with me."

  "Beta Seven," Dragon said, "mission accomplished. Eight—present."

  "Nine." A haunted whisper. My heart leaped.

  "Gamma One—she's gone! Gamma Two—present!" It was Valkyrie's cold, lost voice, a cry in the wilderness.

  "Gamma Five is wounded. Gamma Seven here."

  "Systies! Let's hear it!"

  "May God have mercy on your soul. My friend, my friend…how can you leave us?" It was Merlin, talking to himself. I got to my feet, in a trance, and followed the tacmap to locate him. He was squatting in the dirt, his fieldfaxer on the ground beside him. Warhound lay before him, his A-suit glowing cherry-red. I stopped, stunned. Warhound's atlauncher was at his side. His faceplate was burnt black.

  "Don't look in," Merlin warned. "Don't. It was a sphere. It came in behind him. He had just flamed a snake that had started to wrap itself around one of the Systies. I fired biodee, but it was too late. Too late."

  Not Warhound, I thought. Not Warhound. Warhound never asked anything of anyone. He just wanted a home, that's all, and we were his home. He was faithful and dependable. A good soldier, I thought—a good soldier. There was a roaring in my ears and the world was spinning around. A burning pain enveloped my chest. It felt as if I was on fire. I reached out my good hand for Warhound, my friend, and fell into the dark.

  ###

  "He's conscious," Priestess whispered in my ears, and the pain was gone. "Can you get up, Thinker?" I tried. I got up. Flames rolled in the sky. Agonizing pain. I could not move my left arm.

  "We're set, Thinker. The aircar's here. I've got to help the others." A dark aircar hovered before us in a whirling cyclone of smoke and dirt. Priestess was gone. I checked my E—still there.

  "Board! Bring our dead—we all come back! Board, board! And bring that O!" Coolhand was not going to leave anyone behind. We were all going back together, and we were even bringing the O. It would be an incredible prize for the Legion. The lab rats would be ecstatic, and the ultimate result would be more dead O's.

  Coolhand and Merlin hauled Snow Leopard toward the aircar on a camfax cloak and Priestess was with them, leaning over to check on him. It was an unreal picture on my faceplate, glowing green A-suits moving through the smoking dark. It started to rain. And three Legion A-suits were lying side by side nearby, light rain dancing off the twisted metal. A strange holy glow hovered all around them. A shadowy group of figures dragged what was left of the O out of the burning ruins in which it had died. The O was charred, just as Merlin had promised, and as Psycho and Dragon pulled, its limbs broke apart in a shower of ash and sparks.

  "Its squad leader has done it, number Two—one of its units saved our life!" The Systie soldier was just as shaken as we were.

  "He lost his life doing it, Systie," Coolhand replied. "His number was Beta Six. Remember it!"

  The aircar hovered, haloed by rain. The assault door popped open. A Systie in an A-suit stood in the door with an SG. He fired, and I watched in horror as the xmax exploded white-hot right on Coolhand's chestplate, glittering streaks of phospho shrapnel ricocheting off his armor, more xmax, full auto, multiple explosions. Priestess was blown aside like a rag doll, flames spitting off her A-suit, and Coolhand fell, his arms outstretched, and the Systie was out the door jumping to the ground, still firing. Another Systie stood in the door, his SG at his shoulder, the barrel coming down. It was happening in microfracs but I could see every speck of dirt on the Systie's A-suit and it was unrolling in extreme slow motion like a horrible nightmare. My E was up and my finger tightened on the trigger. A Systie A-suit to my left—it was Millina, the Mocain. She reached down, it seemed to take forever, to seize Coolhand's E, her armored fingers wrapping around the stock. I pulled my E around to blast her, traitorous bitch! She had the E now and in the far corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a Legion A-suit, Valkyrie, bringing her E up to her shoulder, aiming right at the Systie bitch. My E was on xmax and just as the laser confirmed the target, Millina fired and the first Systie staggered, his faceplate exploding as Millina walked the xmax down his chest. I didn't even try to understand it, but I snapped my E back to the aircar's assault door and fired.

  ###

  Someone screamed right into my ears, shrieking in agony. Then the deceptors drowned it all out and a spattering buzz filled my helmet. Lightning, close overhead.

  I crawled in the mud, burrowing like a worm, and lasers snapped mils above my head. The earth shook again and the air crackled—Psycho's chainlink, a magnificent symphony of death, full auto, a flickering in the sky and then a rolling flash, lightning, and the world split open as the tacstars hit. Debris spattered all around me. A dark aircar slowly passed overhead, right over me, and it was burning, spitting sparks, and as I watched, horrified, a barrage of tacstars erupted on the car, one two three four five six, flash flash flash flash flash flash, perfect shooting. The aircar erupted, six micronukes, a multiple crack, the end of the world, white-hot streaks lighting up the sky, and an A-suited figure fell in fantastic slow motion down from the car, flaming like a meteor. The aircar tumbled wildly, falling apart, flaming chunks of metal raining down to the ground. Then a stunning explosion and the sky lit up and the earth shook.

  "…least twelve." It was all I could hear—the sky was full of deceptors. I could not move my left arm but my right was still good and I had my E.

  Sweety was relaying data to me, and her I could hear. "Target ahead, one Systie, on the ground. Fading in and out, keep crawling, Thinker!"

  I was shaking with horror and hatred. My world was ending, the only world I had ever loved, and the Systies had done it, and a Systie squad was all around me, and they were all going to die. If Beta was f
inished, I did not want to live. There was one Systie right up ahead, and I was going to kill him.

  Auto x rattled all around me. I had glimpses of the Systie in the tacsit, a faint green glow, drowned in static. Laser, flickering in the dark—he was firing laser. I paused behind a chunk of masonry, my head roaring, pain overwhelming me. "Sweety…xmax. Give me the target."

  I balanced the E against the rubble and pressed my faceplate against the sights. Smoke drifted past. Someone screamed. Priestess was out there somewhere, lying in the mud, fate unknown. Deceptors crackled close overhead and a deafening explosion split the sky to my left, showering me with shrapnel, hits pinging off my A-suit. The scope was full of glittering junk. More lasers, up ahead—there! I fired, and xmax erupted up ahead, white-hot flashes, phospho streamers.

  "Hit," Sweety informed me. "Good hit, Thinker." I rolled away from the site and began crawling into flame and smoke. A building collapsed just to my right, a rising cloud of smoke and ash.

  "I'm hit! Oh God, God, I'm hit! Medic! Medic!" A horrible, bloodcurdling scream followed. I thought it was Sassin, but I was not sure. I only knew that there was no medic, any more.

  "Soldiers of the Legion!" The message crackled in my ears. "You are doomed! Surrender immediately and we will assist your wounded and grant you official PW status. We repeat, surrender immediately and save yourselves and your comrades! You are completely surrounded and further resistance is pointless!"

  "Give me a zero, Sweety…" Soaked in sweat and blood, I kicked myself over onto my back to free my E. My left arm was completely useless. A burst of auto x, laser slicing overhead.

  "That target just went off-scope, Thinker," my Persist informed me. "Someone made a good hit."

  "Sweety…" the pain was so bad I was ready to pass out. "Give me a mag, then find Priestess. Now!"

  Worming through black mud on my back, gasping, burning, raindrops burst on my faceplate like shrapnel as a wild smoky sky flamed overhead. The deceptors whirled all around me, but Sweety still had Priestess on scope.

  "You can't get to her, Thinker," Sweety informed me calmly. "The Systies have that site well zeroed. You will die if you try."