by Rod Carstens
Usiche zoomed in until they could see the green symbols of the conscripts and Von Fleet soldiers mixed with the red triangles of the hybrids. They watched as the individual soldiers intermingled with the hybrids. The red triangles outnumbered the green and were pushing forward in one section. It looked like they were about to break through until several green triangles shifted their positions and attacked the hybrids from the flank.
“Sir, when a hybrid symbol turns black it is down and no longer fighting. We can’t tell if it is only wounded or has been killed. When our units turn yellow they are wounded, and a red symbol means the trooper is down and out of the fight with a serious wound. When they turn black, they have been killed. The armor is in constant contact with the tactical network.”
The four stood there watching as men and women above them fought to the death against the hybrids. The conscripts were standing side by side with the Von Fleet units and had stabilized the line.
Monnetal looked over at Kat and said, “Do you know what this means for the future?”
“What future, sir? What are you talking about?” Kat said.
Usiche and Kitmura looked equally stunned by the question. The future was in doubt.
“The human race has not stood together in hundreds of years, yet right now above our heads, all breeds—including the Sols, mongrels, offworlders, criminals, and those sentenced to prison or the military—are standing side by side and fighting together. Up there all of the artificial divisions of our society have disappeared and there is only humans versus aliens. We have come together to fight a common enemy, and it does not matter who is at your side, only that they are another human. For the first time ever, humans are fighting for their very survival, with no regard for where another man or woman came from, only that they are human. We can’t be beaten.”
“Sir, we’re losing the battle.”
Monnetal actually smiled. “Yes, for the moment. But the Xotoli depend on hybrids to take the casualties, and now they have to face humans without their hybrid line of protection. They will not beat us. I know it. I can feel it.”
“But, sir...”
“No.” Monnetal raised his voice until everyone in the room could hear him. “Do not let the moment obscure what is happening before you. Human beings have been finding reasons to fight each other for eons now. We are a warlike race, like it or not, and now those thousands of years of killing one another will allow us to come together for once to fight a common foe with no political, religious, or breed identification to separate us. We cannot be beaten.”
The room was silent when he stopped speaking. Kat and Usiche exchanged an incredulous look. It was as if he did not understand the reality of what was happening above them. Usiche turned her attention back to the tactical holo, and nothing had changed. The situation was even worse than before. She began to wonder if the pressure had finally gotten to Monnetal and he could not face the reality of what was happening. They were losing in space and on the ground. There were no more strategies or weapons to use. Most of Earth’s major cities had been destroyed. Billions were dead. And this man was talking as if they had the upper hand.
She glanced over at Monnetal’s face. It had that same look she had seen when he had been given the briefing about the system’s defenses. He almost radiated a calmness and absolute confidence despite the situation.
This time, Usiche did not take confidence from this. She knew the details too well. She had begun to move personnel and equipment so that they could evacuate the secretary general over an hour ago. She saw no reason to change those orders. He might be seeing something she wasn’t, but she had to be the realist in the room. While he was the political leader, she was in command of the battle, and false hope and grand ideas did not win battles. Cold, hard realities won battles, and she couldn’t get beyond those command realities to see what he was seeing. Not now.
The secretary general was right about one thing: it was up to the ground troops now to hold until they could find and kill the Xotoli leader. She looked back down at the tactical display and saw another conscript trooper’s symbol turn black. One more death. They were adding up way too fast, and there was still no sign of the Xotoli leader Askars. Even if they found him, at this rate of losses they would not be able to kill him. Something had to change, and Usiche was out of tricks.
Chapter 55
City-State of New York
Manhattan Bridge Roadway
They were bounding down the highway toward the Bridge Mega. It was a complex of old on-ramps, off-ramps, walkways, and overpasses. Every road was lined with all types of shops, bars, cheap hotels, and fast-food joints, with just enough room down the middle for pedestrian traffic. Nani tried to imagine a time when this had been filled with cars and trucks like the ones in the history videos. Now it was home to offworlders and others who were not Sols and therefore not entitled to the riches that surrounded them, yet who worked for the richest so they could show they could buy human help.
Just off the elevated highways were old, dilapidated multistory buildings that looked down on the roads. Some were as high as ten or twelve stories. They would be perfect ambush sites, with multiple ways to scoot after hitting the Xotoli.
“Tolla, take your squad and check out that building to the right,” Nani ordered.
Tolla took her squad and jumped the fifty feet between the highway and the building, crashing through windows on several floors.
“Let’s hold it up here till we hear what Tolla says,” Nani said.
Everyone landed, moved to the sides of the highway, and found cover in the shops. Nani found herself with Hu and Tiny and the rest of the first squad in a liquor store that had been looted—she guessed during the evacuation.
“Wonder where all these people are? If they wouldn’t let Micha and Astrid into a shelter, then where is everybody?” Hu said.
“Good question, but not our problem.”
“Sure wish they hadn’t looted this place. I could use a couple of shots, a nice back rub, and a good fuck.”
“Gras, pipe down and focus. The goddamn Xotoli could show up any moment,” Hu snapped.
“Gee, Sergeant...”
“Secure your bullshit,” Nani snapped.
The stress was beginning to show. They had been at this long enough the troops were losing their focus. She glanced at the mission clock. She would hate to have them juice up this soon—there was no telling how much longer they would be going. She controlled the system that dispensed the juice in all the platoon’s armor, and she could use it anytime she wanted, but she needed to wait. It was not the right time.
Nani began a slow scan of the area while she waited for a report from Tolla. The highway was a strange sight. The only light was from the multicolored signs on the shops that lined the street, which advertised everything from liquor to food. They must have been run by generators or batteries, because the rest of the city was dark, making the Megas look like huge manmade mountains rising up around them. New York was the most complex and densely populated city in the Confederation, but evacuated it became this strange and forbidding environment.
“Tolla to Nani.”
“Go, Tolla.”
“This is good. Lots of furniture and things we can barricade ourselves behind in the building and still have good firing lanes.”
“Roger. Vallaion, you take that building,” Nani said, pointing to a building on the opposite side of the highway.
“Roger that.”
“Let me know if it’s not a good position. First squad, on me,” Nani said, and she bounded forward.
She had gone about a hundred yards closer to the Bridge Mega when she picked out what appeared to be an old apartment building. It was close to a hundred feet off the highway, but with a good jump they could make it.
“Okay, that’s our new home.”
The rest of the squad began to make their jumps, crashing through the windows of the building. Nani had been watching Tiny as the other squad members made th
e jump. She doubted he had ever done anything like it. She walked up to him.
“Tiny, you ever made a jump like this?”
“No, ma’am.”
“First, when we’re this far forward, it’s just Nani. We don’t know who’s listening. Got it?”
“Yes...uh, Nani.”
“Second, didn’t Hu adjust your armor for combat?”
Hu walked up. “Yeah, his armor’s not made for combat but it’ll work.”
“Good. Tiny, you’ve got to trust the adjustment because there are going to be a lot of situations in combat when you have to bound or jump to live. So trust it. Watch Bien.”
Bien took a couple of steps back. He jumped, throwing his arms forward, and crashed through a window into the building.
“Focus on the window and use your arms like Bien. Sling your mini on your back.”
Tiny did as he was told and took a couple of steps back, then jumped, throwing his arms forward like Bien. He crashed through a window perfectly.
“Told you he was coming along.”
“He’s still a Sol.”
“Not anymore. He’s with us. Get over it, Nani,” Hu said, and he jumped.
Nani hesitated. He was right. She needed to overcome her own prejudices. She jumped and crashed into the same room as Hu.
“Okay, find your hides, and snipers, you find a couple of good perches. Get our sensors out. I want us tactical ready in five. I want mines all the way across the highway for at least a hundred yards. Remember, this won’t be our last fight. Minis, make sure you don’t overlap the next mini’s firing lane. Coordinate. Now move.”
Nani was checking her tactical display which she had expanded to the battalion view. She could see Bravo moving into position in Williamsburg while Charlie Company was setting up their first fallback position. She had to scroll to find the Alamo. It was a long way away. It would be a long, nasty fight. They were about as far out on a limb as they could be.
Standard for the course, Nani thought. She was sitting in a squalid little apartment that faced the highway. It was the kind of place that had the bed and chairs fastened to the floor. The walls were bare, painted what might have once been grey but now was more black with grime. It was hard to believe that this level of poverty could exist in the midst of all the wealth that surrounded it. When she looked out the window, all she saw was a skyline of soaring Megas.
Hu walked into the apartment. He had been checking the platoon’s positions. Tiny was right behind him, still following him around like a great big puppy. Hu sat down with a deep sigh and hinged his helmet back.
“This place stinks, but it’s better than that filtered suit air. Nice place you have here, Nani.”
Tiny sat across the room from the two and hinged his helmet back.
“Thanks. I forgot to tell the maids you were coming.”
“Nani, we are a long-ass way from that damn Alamo.”
“No shit. Out on the edge as usual.”
Nani glanced over at Tiny. He looked as exhausted as she felt.
“Okay, Von Fleet. How’s it feel now to be with us? You sure you made the right decision?”
Without hesitating, he said, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I doubt I would have survived this long if I hadn’t joined up with you. Thanks.”
Nani looked at Hu. They were both surprised by his answer.
“You’re a Sol, aren’t you? So how’s it feel slumming with us mongrels?”
“Not anymore. I like to think I’m a Raider wannabe.”
Nani looked at him for a long moment before she said, “Good answer.”
Nani glanced over and saw what looked like an old, grimy map of Manhattan with a bunch of colored lines on it tacked to the wall. She stood up and walked over to it. The lines were colored and came from Long Island across the East River and into Manhattan. Then they branched out and ran the entire length of the island with little dots all along the way. What were they? She pulled up her map and scrolled through all of the views. None of them showed the lines.
“I wonder what those lines are?” Nani said idly.
Tiny looked up and said, “Oh, that's a map of the subways and tunnels under the city. Nobody uses them anymore, but the offworlders take them to get around the city. Most live so far from work they could never walk, so they keep them running. They are hundreds of years old.”
“You mean they're functional?” Nani said, her voice rising.
“Yeah. The city doesn’t have anything to do with them. I think some of the offworlders run them. Nobody else goes down there anymore. Why?”
“What do these dots represent?”
“These are entrances and exits from the lines up to the streets. The offworlders take them to the Megas where they work and then go up in service elevators.”
“So they are under us now, and if we went down these entrances we could go anywhere in the city underground?”
“Yeah,” Tiny said with a puzzled look on his face.
“Because they are on none of our maps, and Sand made his plans based on the maps he had.”
Hu stood and said, “They’re not on our maps in any view?”
“Right.”
“So are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That they’re not going to use the bridges. They’re just going to use these subways and tunnels to get where they want while we sit up here with our thumbs up our asses. Just hope to God Sand had them on his tactical-planning maps and they’ve been taken care of.”
“Fuck. Maybe the Xotoli don’t know about them.”
Nani said one word: “Hybrids.”
She switched her visor to scan and scanned the map into the tactical network, then sent it to Sand. Then she switched her comm to Sand’s frequency and said, “Flash, flash, flash.”
“Go ahead with your flash message,” Sand said.
“I just sent you a map of something called the subway. Have you got it?”
“Affirmative.”
“That's a map of an underground complex of tunnels called subways that are still usable. It’s not on any of my map views. Do you have it anywhere?”
There was a long pause as Sand went through his own set of maps.
“Negative. I don’t have it. How did you find it?”
“We are set up in an apartment building used by the offworlders. Apparently it’s how they get around the city. The city doesn’t maintain them so I guess they don’t exist to them. Look at how many different ways there are to cross the river and get deep into Manhattan to our rear,” Nani said. “They’re not going to come across these bridges into the teeth of our defense.”
Sand finished her sentence. “They are coming through the tunnels. Fuck!”
Nani could only begin to understand what Sand felt when he realized he had placed his troops without all the information he needed. Now he was going to have to change everything.
There was a very long pause before he said, “Alamo. Now, Nani.” Then he was gone.
Nani and Hu exchanged a glance of real fear. If the Xotoli were behind them and got organized, well, they would be just so much meat in a grinder of aliens.
“Nani to all units. Alamo, Alamo, Alamo. The fuckin’ As are using an old system of tunnels not on any of our maps. Get to the Alamo fast. Try and stay in squads. Understand they could appear in front of you. They could come up anywhere. Use the streets. Haul ass and watch your asses. They may be behind us now. As we move to the Alamo, get sensors down the subway entrances on the map I'm sending you. I need some kind of picture of where they are.”
Nani was the first out of the window, dropping the four stories to street level. Hu and Tiny followed. Tiny fell when he landed but was quickly on his feet. The three bounded north down the street, as all around the rest of the platoon was jumping out of windows around them. Soon the whole unit was moving along two parallel streets.
“Aliens!” Nani’s electronic-countermeasures marine screamed.
“Where?”
&
nbsp; “Behind us! They suddenly appeared out of nowhere.”
“How far and how many?”
“Many. And two blocks to our right flank.”
Nani glanced at her tactical display. If they stayed on the street they were on, they could eventually make it to the Alamo. Nani bounded as she checked the map. They were making good time, but the street sometimes disappeared into a Mega. So far it had continued through the structure. All she could hope was that it always would.
“Aliens are moving. They have flankers out in front of us.”
“Minis up. You’re in the lead. NCOs, get ready to use your scrams. Snipers, fire from the shoulder. Everybody else get a handful of grenades. The shit is about to hit the fan.”
Chapter 56
Sol System
Earth
City-State of New York
Operations Center of the Secretary General
Usiche was standing next to the secretary general when the CIC’s comm blared loudly.
“Flash message from General Sand. Flash message.”
Sand’s face appeared in the tactical display.
“General, go ahead. I have Secretary Monnetal with me.”
“Admiral, there is a complex of tunnels under the city called subways. It offers multiple ways to cross the East River and then come to the surface. Apparently the offworlders use it as a way to move around the city. It was on none of our maps. I’ve got all my Raiders out at the bridges, but even if they do come across there, it will be a diversion. They will use those old tunnels to enter the city. Judging by an old map one of my lieutenants sent me, there are hundreds of places they can come up, so I’ve called Alamo and all units are converging on your position now. I will be there in approximately fifteen. This is Sand, out.”
Usiche stared at the tactical display as all of the Raiders turned and sprinted back to their final positions.
“Why didn’t we have this information?” Usiche finally said.
No one in the room said a word. Monnetal finally said, “Because the Sols thought so little of the offworlders. They didn’t even think to tell us that these ancient tunnels existed. We could lose the most important battle in human history because of our prejudices. It would serve us right. But it doesn’t change my mind. We are going to win this battle even with this new development, because those prejudices have been washed away by the necessity to fight to survive.”