by JR Handley
“Should’ve worn combat armor on guard duty,” said Senior Sergeant Schutte. “And you know we didn’t need a babysitter, right, LT?”
It always struck Sashala as odd that even with the soundproofing of their helmets, Marines still whispered when they were moving tactically. The local battle network used by the Special Operations Marines was almost undetectable, making communication possible even in radio blackout situations.
“That’s Major now, Sergeant,” she told the NCO. “And I’m here to be the Task Force Commander’s eyes and ears, not to babysit you. Now, be useful and drag the carcasses out of sight of the main passageway into the old Detroit City.”
She heard him issue the orders, and soon the bodies were out of view. With the maglev station clear, Sashala followed the Marines up the winding ramp out of the tunnels. They reached the old city unmolested by insurgent activity, so she called Lance.
“Levels 29 through 13 appear to have caved in, but we’re about to clear Level 12. Advance with your engineers out front. There was a section where the ramp had caved in. We had to jump over an open void, but you should be able to build a temporary bridge to move everyone across. I’ll keep you posted,” she told Lance.
When they got to Level 12, Sashala and her Spec Ops escorts began efficiently clearing it in two-man teams. The Marine who was paired with Sashala didn’t even bother giving her his name; she assumed he was a male based on sheer size alone. Together, they began to slowly move down a darkened corridor with red emergency lights blinking overheard, clearing the rooms as they went. When they got to one of the opened doors, they found two insurgents engaged in procreative activities. The female was riding her prostrate lover, and neither seemed aware of anything but each other.
While they were otherwise occupied, Sashala silently crept into the room with her blades out. She stalked towards them, throwing her combat axe at the female insurgent’s back. In the same motion, she withdrew another blade from its sheath on her left hip, quickly closing the distance to the pair. The female insurgent was slow to react, and Sashala didn’t care whether it was because she was recovering from her final moments of bliss, or from the shock of her wound. It gave Sashala time to step in with a knife swing. Her combat knives were a blur of motion as she repeatedly stabbed into the female’s vital organs.
Not wanting the male insurgent to call out, Sashala threw the knife in her left hand while she pulled the dead female out of the way. The male insurgent twisted to grab his Flenser pistol, and her blade only grazed his shoulder. He was still lying on his back, firing wildly in a panicked state. Sashala smoothly and seamlessly grabbed her last knife from her hip, rolled out of the line of fire, and maneuvered herself behind the insurgent. The insurgent struggled to get a shot off while Sashala slit his throat. She’d shown no mercy. Her strike, enhanced by her upgraded armor, caused her to cut so deeply that she inadvertently decapitated him. Retrieving her blades, she turned to see her Spec Ops babysitter staring at her. His olive complexion evident through his now-clear visor, he stared at her with a shocked expression.
“You could’ve at least let them finish,” said the Marine.
“If I’m not getting any, then nobody should.”
The Marine chuckled into their local network connection and began searching the room for any useful intelligence. They found the Aimees in the dead insurgents’ discarded personal effects. Sashala yanked it from her partner’s hands before slowly and carefully opening the AI storage compartment. She knew she had to be careful. The older model Aimees had built-in security features that would wipe all the data and AI personality.
“Jade, I need you to tell me if you can crack into this AI,” she demanded.
No sweat. I can do that in my sleep, said her AI. Connect me, and it’s done.
There was a brief pause as Sashala pulled the sleek fiber optic cord from her index finger and slotted it into the enemy’s Aimee data link. She hated using the worms and wished that feature could have been upgraded somehow. Sashala heard a slight click in her left ear, Jade’s signal that she’d made a successful link to the port. From there, the two-minute wait seemed to drag on, but soon her AI was speaking to her from her helmet’s internal speakers.
Sash, there was a lot of useful stuff in there. The one on top was a senior staff NCO under Spartika. All the tactic data was sent to you and forwarded to Xena. We have their LBNet access codes and can listen in on their codes. With that, we can pinpoint the location of enemy personnel if they use their LBNet. I’ve sent it to the Spec Ops Marines, as well, and they’re hunting down the remaining enemy.
Information gathered, Sashala rejoined the hunt for the remaining two enemy sections. With the captured intelligence, they knew exactly how many insurgents were roving around the old city. There were only sixteen enemies left to dispatch here, and then the real fight was on. Sashala knew capturing the fortified New Detroit City would be bloody, and likely tax the capabilities of the Human Legion. They were a force in transition, jumping from one crisis to another and never fully able to plant roots and establish itself. The Legion would need several years to truly become an effective combat force. The entire system’s defenses needed to be rebuilt from the ground up, something she was glad she wouldn’t be there for. She planned on being with the squadron of ships heading to find Lance’s fabled sleeping fleet. She was skeptical that the capture of those assets would be easy, but she wanted to be at Lance’s side until the end.
While she was thinking about the future, Sashala and the Spec Ops Marines made it to Level 9. They still had a full section of enemy Marines to track down. Their security was lax; none of them seemed to recognize that they were being slowly hunted by the predators known as the Human Legion. Turning the corner, Sashala and her companion found a hallway that wasn’t on their schematics. It appeared to be a previously hidden access point to the Trog tunnels. Sashala knew of these species of bugs, though she’d thought all the ones in the Tranquility System had been eliminated.
The room was an oddly shaped cavern, with a larger, weirdly bulbous, solitary cryogenic stasis pod. She quickly connected her worms to the data link and waited for Jade to give her the answers they craved.
It’s a pregnant Trog in stasis. It’s primed to start a new colony, and has been marked on our maps. Nothing else of use is in this chamber, and this Trog has been here for a very long time. I initiated the de-ice protocol. If we don’t live to return, the bug will be unleashed and quickly begin causing issues with the surviving insurgents.
Sashala passed the information on to her companion, and they left the passageway. They continued searching while she sent a coded update to Lance. He seemed surprised by the discovery but approved of Jade’s decision.
“If we win the day, and the bug lives, we recreate the symbiotic alliance with them. If we lose, it’s not our problem. Frakk, now we can die with a smile on our lips, knowing the trouble we caused. Now track down the remaining enemy so we can bring up the task force.”
Sashala acknowledged her order before resuming the search. There were four more enemy insurgents left to kill. Turning to her companion, whom she’d begun to mentally refer to as Joe, she ordered him to pick up the pace. Her combat timer told her that Field Marshal Nhlappo would be on the offensive and taking a pounding. They needed her task force to relieve the pressure.
“We need to kick it up a notch. We have fifteen minutes before the main body of the task force begins pushing into the old city.”
All that she got in reply from Joe was a grunt, but Sashala took it as a clear hurrah. She had Jade send that note to the rest of the Spec Ops Marines, and their increased pace let them reach Level 5 in just under ten minutes. She knew searching this level would be time consuming. It was where the crèches were located and had a multitude of nooks and crannies she’d didn’t have time to search. They did it anyway, and it was a grueling. She was beginning to feel the pressure from the exertion as she ran to the last room on her sector.
When they ope
ned the door into the senior crèche NCO’s room, they found one of Spartika’s insurgent Marines sleeping on the rack. He was apparently hiding from some sort of work detail and had stripped off his helmet and armored gauntlets. Sashala was again appalled by the lackadaisical security and the abysmal state of their morale. Only a total breakdown of leadership could create such a state.
Silently crossing the room, she clamped her armored left hand over the enemy’s mouth while she slit his throat. When he was dead, Sashala wiped away the arterial spray that covered her faceplate.
“Found an enemy sleeping. Dropped him,” she told the Sergeant Schutte.
The rest of the Marines chimed in their kills, and Schutte cut them off.
“Ma’am, call the colonel and get the task force moving. According to your captured intel, we’ve accounted for everyone. If there are any left, we’ll deal with them.”
— CHAPTER 79 —
Early Afternoon, Post-Revival Day 220
New Detroit City, Baylshore
Commander, Task Force Justice, Human Legion
The thunder of stampeding boots grew louder, overpowering the sounds of sabot fire around her. The afternoon sun beat down on Field Marshal Nhlappo as she stabbed her assault cutters into the insurgent in front of her. They’d gotten held up in the inner trenches surrounding New Detroit, and struggled to unseat the insurgents from their lines. At least the height of the walls made it harder for Spartika’s insurgents to fire down on them. Before she could figure out what was going on, or read the messages on her HUD marked urgent, another insurgent charged her. A quick parry allowed her to use the enemy’s forward momentum against him. Nhlappo stepped into his charge, flipping him over her hip and onto his back. One vicious thrust later, and the insurgent Marine was dead at her feet.
Pausing, she scanned the battlefield to see her task force in disarray. With so many troops in flight, Nhlappo knew she needed help turning the retreat around. She decided to reach the Marines through their AIs, having just been alerted that Colonel Scipio and Task Force Vengeance were assaulting the city from the inside. It was the only way she could cut through their panicked minds, since the AIs ultimately controlled the motor functions on the combat armor. For the first time in her career as a Marine officer, Nhlappo used her command override on a subordinate’s suit. She’d be damned if her task force was shown up by Scipio. Knowing what she needed to do, Nhlappo stopped in her tracks.
“Gabrielle, coordinate with the other AIs. I need this rout to stop. Vengeance is assaulting from the inside New Detroit. Make it happen!”
Yes, Nhlappo, her AI replied. Multitasking now. Response imminent.
She stood her ground despite the onrush of Marines surging by like a flowing river. Meanwhile, Gabrielle was busy alerting every AI in her task force to initiate the command override. Realizing she couldn’t stay in the trenches and turn her troops around, Nhlappo jogged after them. Relying heavily on her suit’s thrusters, she quickly caught up with the bulk of her forces. They were hunkering down in a dip in the road and using it for cover. When she caught up with them, she snagged every Marine she could reach. She needed to create an island bulwark amid the sea of cowardice. She didn’t blame them for running. The massive losses Task Force Justice had suffered made it easier to rationalize it. Her personal need to avenge her son gave her a strength of purpose that the rest of the task force lacked.
Nhlappo, I initiated your override command. I also reminded the other AIs of the dangers that EMP bullets present. I’ve convinced them that they’re only safe if we capture this Spartika, killer and desecrator of AIs. They’re moving the suits where we need them to be. Soon we will see the tide turning.
Gabrielle proved to have correctly predicted the outcome of her efforts; the threat of death mattered to sentient AIs. Additionally, the added compulsion from their core programming motivated them even more. First in drips and drabs, and then in waves, the tide turned. Soon all of Task Force Justice had turned around and was back in the game. They regrouped on the island of courage she’d created. With her Marines back, Nhlappo called her surviving officers and NCOs on the LBNet.
“Colonel Scipio and Task Force Vengeance are already in the walls. Now it’s our turn. We can still pull victory out of the chaos! Our fallen shouldn’t have died for naught.”
After her speech, a blatant attempt to inspire her command, Nhlappo charged back down the road towards the trenches they’d recently captured and abandoned. At first, she was alone, but soon her sergeant major, Taran Anderson, followed. Then her security company took off after her, building momentum that started a wave of Marines pouring after her. Damn, when did Anderson get here? she wondered. I’m just glad he made it back in time. Her confidence buoyed by his return, she gratefully refocused her attention on the enemy in front of her. This time the assault didn’t receive the same quantity of return fire, as the enemy insurgents were distracted by the attack from within. Nhlappo took full advantage of their distraction and began reminding her NCOs to start spotting targets for their grenadiers.
The most challenging part for her task force was the lack of Mini Gunners. They’d lost too many in the previous rout. Only the valiant courage of those gunners prevented the wholesale slaughter of her entire task force. For the first time since she acquired the assets from Colonel Scipio, Nhlappo was a true believer. She now had every intention of spreading these skills and tactical lessons throughout the larger Human Legion.
The task force picked up speed until they were back in the recently abandoned enemy trenches. This time, however, fewer enemy forces were facing their direction. Her task force rolled into the trenches and began engaging the enemy in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Afraid her line might break and run again, Nhlappo reminded them that they were not alone.
“Task Force Vengeance is already in the lines. You’ll not abandon your brethren!” Nhlappo roared over the task force LBNet.
The Marines of Task Force Justice, however, needed no reminders. They waded past the bodies of their dead brothers and sisters, eager for another chance to kill the bastards who’d hurt them.
— CHAPTER 80 —
Late Afternoon, Post-Revival Day 220
New Detroit City, Baylshore
Command Staff, Task Force Vengeance, Human Legion
The rush of battle was upon her. They’d exited the abandoned city to find themselves in the middle of a sprawling complex of stone and polycrete buildings. She’d studied the map from the satellites and drones, which Field Marshal Nhlappo had improved upon. The remaining sally port from the old Detroit City exited near the central training field in the center of the city. It was surrounded by neat blocks of buildings: barracks, armories, mess halls, and various administrative buildings. Just beyond the buildings stood the walls of the fortified city, where the insurgents were repelling the assault by Task Force Justice.
Like they’d planned, upon entering New Detroit, the task force split up and began attacking the enemy’s exposed rear. Their goal was mass carnage, to confuse the enemy by hitting them from everywhere at once. But despite the larger battle plan, Sashala was more interested in the fight immediately in front of her. She always felt so alive in the midst of battle. Living balanced on the edge between life and death thrilled her. Addicted her. It took all of her self-discipline to resist the urge to dive headfirst into that joyous oblivion. It was hard, but she maintained her focus as she sliced her way through the enemy.
The insurgents had gotten in their ranks, and it became difficult to distinguish friend and foe. It was such a close-quarters struggle that she’d had to quickly sling her carbine, switching to her bladed weapons instead. They provided an increased combat mobility, since the longer barrel of her carbine prevented her from bringing the weapon to bear if the enemy stepped in too close. Smoke obscured her vision as one of the Legion’s grenadier sent a round into their armory, causing a cascading explosion. The explosion momentarily brightened the afternoon sky, and her visor blackened to protect her
eyes. Cursing under her breath, she adjusted her HUD to display a grayscale, with highlights on enemy Marines.
Once her helmet visor adjusted, Sashala began fighting through the enemy ranks to get back to Lance’s side. She threw herself into a whirlwind of knives, stabbing and thrusting into the weak points on the insurgent’s combat armor. She killed anyone in her way, knowing how important it was to keep Lance close during hand-to-hand combat. Her lover was known for rushing into the fight, heedless of his own safety, which made her task of protecting him that much more difficult. She knew he was the Legion’s link to old tactics, and now to a White Knight naval fleet he insisted was out there waiting to be persuaded into joining the Legion.
The battle grew more vicious as Task Force Vengeance moved past the open square where they’d entered the city and pushed towards the buildings. The insurgents on the walls had noticed the threat and broken off to engage them, forcing the Legion to fight for each block. Each of the four regiments in the task force split off, intending to hit the enemy along a wider path. Sashala knew the Legion couldn’t bunch up, so they planned to prevent the insurgents from being able to concentrate their fire. If they were too close together, one lucky round could devastate their numbers.
During the assault, Lance had opted to stick with his home regiment, and that meant Sashala was with them, as well. The 6907th had been assigned to the front that faced the Gjende Mountains, where Nhlappo was attacking the enemy lines. Together, the two units would trap the defenders between them. Their emergence from the old city had caused a shock that reverberated throughout the enemy lines as they tried to balance the recent battering on their outer lines while being assaulted from within.
Sashala almost felt sorry for the enemy, who had assumed the maglev tunnels had been rendered impassible. On that faulty assumption, they’d prepared their defenses, and it was literally killing them. As the Legion fought through the last row of buildings, she watched the commander’s LBNet feed. All members of his staff could access the data and were shocked at the Legion’s death tolls. Their losses were staggering. She took solace in the fact that they were finally fighting for a worthy cause, humanity’s independence. Dying for a noble purpose, the betterment of her people, made the losses more palatable. Knowing they’d made the enemy pay dearly just made it so much better.