With Your Shield

by Chris Kennedy

  “Okay, given that I’ve only changed the code in the sensor input and output subroutines, which admittedly does draw more power, what is our worst case?”

  Kawa considered. “High radiation output and power plant shutdown. That’s all I can think of.”

  Kiara nodded as she continued to look at the slate. “Sounds right, sir. As Adam said, we do have an emergency shutoff ready that will let us kill the power plant, and we’ll do it without blinking if we think there’s a problem.”

  Markus nodded and pitched his voice so it would carry through the room. “Okay, everyone except the essential personnel required for a power-up test, get out of the room. Take the rest of the day off, and we’ll resume after transition into the system.”

  Everyone other than Hobo filed out of the room. He walked over to join the small group clustered around the CASPer.

  Markus glanced over at him. “Hobo, get the hell out of here.”

  He shook his head. “No, sir. I’ve been beside you pretty much every time you’ve started up a CASPer; I’m not going to miss this one.”

  “And if I make it an order?”

  “Then you can write me up for disobeying a direct order, sir.”

  Markus knew him well enough to know he wasn’t going to leave and sighed in resignation. “Okay then.”

  “Knew you’d see it my way, sir.” Hobo grinned.

  Markus rolled his eyes and shook his head.

  “Okay, sir,” Kiara said. “Software update is complete. We’re ready when you are. We’ve set up a radiation shield over in the corner, and I can shut the CASPer down from there if we have to.” She indicated a cable running to a console behind the shield as she handed Markus his slate.

  “You’ll need this, sir.” Hobo handed Markus his helmet, which he noticed had been painted to look like a Greek Spartan helmet.

  Markus took the helmet and shook his head. “You’re too much.”

  Hobo winked and headed over behind the shield with the rest of the team.

  Markus took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, here we go.” He slid on his helmet and climbed up into the CASPer, stowing his slate in a pouch meant for that purpose. He got his arms and legs into the mech, finding it set up exactly like his regular mech. He attached the leads to his pinplants, opened a comm channel with the team, and looped in Volk as well.

  “Good fit, closing canopy.”

  The canopy closed and sealed Markus in.

  Hobo spoke up. “Good for power-up.”

  Markus flexed his wrist and the startup procedure executed. He had modified the startup so that only the regular sensors would come online, not the new ones. That was the first test. Displays came to life, and he waited so the techs could run their diagnostics.

  “Looks like only the standard sensor suite came online. Good job, Spartan.” Kawa sounded surprised.

  Markus grinned and reviewed the telltales on his displays. Everything looked exactly the way it was supposed to. Even he was slightly surprised. He reviewed the sensor output, and everything came back as expected.

  “Okay, bringing secondary sensor suite online. Here goes nothing.”

  He would have closed his eyes had they not already been closed. He commanded the new sensors to come online and waited.

  After a few seconds, he saw the new sensor output, and then the CASPer suddenly shut down. He sighed as the canopy opened and detached the leads from his pinplants before climbing down and removing his helmet.

  “Okay, so what happened?” He looked at the crew that approached from behind the shield.

  Kawa shook his head. “The new sensors were drawing too much power. We didn’t run into a radiation problem, thankfully, but the limiters might have burned out, and that could have caused bad things to happen. I’ll have to pull it apart again to check everything by hand.”

  Markus nodded. “Okay, some bugs…it’s hard to get code right the first time.”

  Kiara nodded. “Let our team look at it, sir. Since we knew what you’d be doing, we brought some of our software specialists who do the primary work reprogramming the base Binnig software for our mechs. Now that you have in what you want done, they can probably handle the rest.”

  Markus frowned and rubbed his chin. He knew they probably didn’t really care for him playing with their software...but he was also a coder, and coders hated not being able to solve their own problems. On the other hand, they wrote the damn software to begin with, so they probably could more easily track down what he’d missed.

  “Okay, let them have it. We’ll delay further power-up testing until they’re satisfied.”

  Kiara and Kawa both looked relieved. “Thank you, sir. We won’t let you down.”

  Markus nodded. “I know. Thanks. Everyone take the rest of the day off. It’s been a busy week, and we should be going through emergence within the next few hours.”

  Markus left the room and headed to grab some food, all the while thinking about the drone software and the limited number of drones he had to work with. He was frustrated the team hadn’t been able to bring more but getting mad wasn’t going to solve the problem. Even if he didn’t have enough for a full deployment—like he wanted—at least he could prove the concept. There were other airborne drones he could use, but they were too easy to take out. He liked the idea of something small that could blend in with the surroundings.

  In theory, drones could be launched from the base, or dropships could be used to provide sensor coverage, but again, they were too easy to shoot down, and costly. The small drones weren’t exactly cheap, but they were cheaper than the fuel it took to keep dropships in the air running sensor sweeps, which is why they didn’t do it. That kind of tactic was more useful for assault companies. The Golden Horde, however, was usually defensive, and they were damn good at it. Typically, their transport ship would drop them on their contract planet and leave them there until the contract was over. He was sure this would be no exception, given the length of the contract. That meant he had to have everything he wanted when they landed.

  * * *

  Sitting in the briefing room were Major Talia King, who commanded the CASPer companies for this contract, Lieutenant Quinn, Staff Sergeant Johnston, and Private Walker. Major King and Lieutenant Quinn sat behind a table, while Irish was sitting in a chair off to the side and Private Walker was standing at attention in front of the table.

  Major King began the hearing. “Private Walker, you stand before us due to an inability to control your temper, insubordination, and failure to obey orders.”

  Hazard added, “I’ve spared you the usual routine of having the rest of your squad present for this little meeting. Frankly, I’ve got half a mind to put you on maintenance detail for the rest of the contract and ask the major to cut you when we get home. Or maybe just drop you somewhere on the way.”

  Walker’s eyes grew wide, but this time she at least stayed quiet.

  Major King resumed, “Lieutenant Quinn has a point, Private. We are the Golden Horde…not some two-bit merc company.” She glanced over to Irish. “No offense, Staff Sergeant Johnston.”

  Irish nodded.

  “Private Walker, I’d like for you to think very carefully about what you say next, as it will help me decide what to do with you. Please explain your behavior, lack of respect for your squad and squad leader, and the insubordination you showed during yesterday’s training simulation.”

  Walker visibly clenched her jaws, as a bead of sweat rolled down from her hairline. She took a moment to close her eyes while they waited. After a moment she finally spoke.

  “Sir. The cockpit of my CASPer was fu—” she stopped herself, then continued, “messed up. It was digging into my…crotch and made it hard to concentrate. There’s no excuse for how I acted. I sometimes kinda have a problem with my temper. Please, sir, give me another chance.”

  “I see. Can you think of any reason that your cockpit might have been configured incorrectly?”

  “I bet it was that bitch V
olk,” she said, then bit her lip.

  Major King frowned slightly. “And why, Private, do you believe Specialist Volk might have done that?”

  “I don’t know, sir.”

  “Perhaps it was because you didn’t show up for the post-maintenance fitting you were scheduled for yesterday? The maintenance crew chief sent out a comm that everyone needed to show to verify fittings, and you failed to show up.”

  “I…” Her eyes looked around the room, as if the perfect answer were written somewhere on the walls.

  Hazard crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m honestly not sure what to do with you, Walker. Your range scores are decent, but your attitude sucks.”

  “If I may, sir?” Irish stood and came to attention facing the major and lieutenant.

  Major King nodded to Irish. “Go right ahead, Staff Sergeant. It’s your squad; you certainly should be heard.”

  Irish looked at Walker in silence for a minute. “I’m willing to give her another chance, sir. If I understand correctly, that’s pretty much the history of the Golden Horde. Everyone deserves a second chance. Nothing she did got anyone hurt.”

  Walker’s eyes widened.

  “But,” Irish continued, “this would be the last chance I would personally offer. I think somewhere, deep down, there’s a decent trooper in there.”

  Major King glanced at Quinn, who nodded once. Major King looked back to Irish. “Okay, Irish. Your squad, your choice.” She turned back to look at Walker. “Well? Do you think you can clean up your act?”

  Walker nodded emphatically. “Yes, ma’am! I…I might just need some help, ma’am.” Her voice trailed off at the end.

  “Well,” Hazard said, “I think that’s something we can arrange. Don’t you think, Staff Sergeant?”

  “Yes, sir.” Irish nodded.

  King considered Walker for several minutes in silence. “Okay, Walker. You’re back on duty, but this is your last chance. If I hear about even one more screw up, I’ll be personally drawing up your discharge papers to send to the colonel. Am I clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  “Good. From until we arrive, you will spend every moment you aren’t training with your squad working with the maintenance crews. You need to understand that you are useless without a good crew to back you up, and when they say something needs to be done, it needs to be done. Now, learn to play nice with your maintenance crew, especially since most of them outrank you. And don’t get it in your head that you’re better than them because you’re a trooper. You should have known that before you got here, but now you know for sure. Isn’t that right, Private?”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  “Very good, dismissed.”

  Walker snapped a parade ground salute before she turned and left the room.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Sixteen

  Horde Transport Ship EMS War Pony, Hyperspace

  With fifteen minutes until emergence from hyperspace, Colonel Enkh stepped onto the bridge. “Everything on schedule, Captain Cole?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Fifteen minutes to emergence. I was about to make the ship-wide announcement.” He opened a comm channel that broadcast to the entire ship. “All hands. Emergence in fifteen minutes. Battle stations!”

  Throughout the ship, people prepared for emergence into an unknown system. Personnel who didn’t have a battle station strapped themselves into their racks for safety. Mechanics ran final diagnostics on the CASPers they were assigned to, and troopers headed toward the CASPer hangar. Weapons crews warmed up their weapons.

  * * *

  Horde Transport Ship EMS War Pony, Uninhabited System

  The War Pony emerged from hyperspace. On the bridge, the sensor team immediately began a full active sensor sweep of the area. There was no use bothering with passive; if anyone was going to ambush them, they’d be watching and already know the Horde was coming.

  After a few moments, Captain Cole’s lead sensor technician reported, “No contacts, sir. System looks clean.”

  Cole nodded. “Very well, let’s head toward the coordinates provided by intel.” He sent a message out to the entire ship. “Secure from battle stations.” Throughout the ship, people left their stations to get some rest, or to go back to whatever they were doing before emergence.

  Half a day later, the ship came to a stop near where the buoy should have been. The sensor technician shook his head. “Nothing here, sir.”

  Sansar moved up to stand beside Captain Cole. “Any traces of anything?”

  The sensor tech leaned down, as if getting closer to the console would help him see better. “Nothing. If there was anything ever here, it’s gone now.”

  Sansar sighed and grimaced. “Intel thought that might be the case. Okay, let’s head for the gate. Best time to come to a stop at the gate?”

  Captain Cole looked to his navigator. “Susan?”

  “I’d say about sixteen hours, sir, if we’re looking to come to a full stop.”

  Sansar nodded. “Very well, send a message to notify the gate master that Colonel Sansar Enkh of the Golden Horde is requesting a meeting, and that we will need the stargate upon completion of the meeting.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll have that sent in a few moments.”

  Sansar nodded and left the bridge, leaving Captain Cole and his crew to the business of getting her where she wanted to go.

  * * *

  After the all-clear came from the bridge, Markus made his way to the hangar where his new CASPer stood. The cockpit was open and ready, and he stared at the machine. He was alone, as he’d given his team time off until they transited back into hyperspace. He’d ordered them to work standard hours, but he knew they had likely worked lots of extra hours to make his vision a reality. He had sent his updated drone code over to the Binnig techs for review with Major Enkh’s approval. It wasn’t their code to begin with, but he didn’t want to waste another drone because of a simple programming mistake, and another set of eyes was never a bad idea.

  Every program came down to logic and language, and those guys had both, just like he did. As long as you could get around the syntax of a particular programming language, it really didn’t matter where it came from or who wrote it. They’d promised to have both the updated CASPer software and the drone software back to him within a day, which would perfectly match the timeline he’d set up.

  In approximately 24 hours, the team would reassemble here and test everything out again. If it all worked, they could start mounting weapons and Volk’s crate to make sure nothing interfered with the new sensor matrix. That would give them a few days of more testing before they arrived in the Kelfor system. The briefing said it would be about three hours from emergence to planetfall, and he wanted to be ready. He would ride down in his assault CASPer, get it stowed, and then fly back up to bring his ‘Hoplite’ down.

  He considered the name. It wasn’t really accurate, as a Hoplite was a front-line warrior…but he supposed on the modern-day battlefield, any CASPer could end up on the front lines. He reconsidered and nodded to himself; Hoplite was fine.

  He walked around the mech and considered its deployment. He knew they’d send him out with a squad, but this particular mech was really meant to be alone. The trooper in this mech—him for now—would be in a bit of extra danger as the increased signal the sensors put out could be seen by anyone searching for it. He was glad he hadn’t had to sacrifice anything other than some operating time in order to get everything he wanted…but that assumed it all worked when it was powered up.

  Once it was a proven concept—if the company decided to actually use the design—it would likely be designed to be dropped away from a base and have it make its way back, deploying drones along the way. There were other types of drones that could be used, of course, and he could address that when the time came. It would definitely benefit from the extra jump juice that the base scout CASPer carried, which is what his modifications were built on, since his vision saw the CASPer being deployed from the
air by a dropship.

  He knew that the prospect of this design making it to regular use and being a part of the Horde’s battle plan was years away—if at all—even if the concept was proven on this contract. A company didn’t survive by pumping credits into something that didn’t help the company make money, and it would take time for an analysis to be done. If it worked and went forward, though, it would be one more tool in the Golden Horde’s toolbelt that no one else had—at least for now.

  * * *

  It was Irish’s squad’s turn to work with the simulation system again, and Hazard met Irish a bit early to brief. “Okay Irish, this time the sim will start with the defenses already built around the Zuparti base the way we have them planned. Your squad will have some time to acclimate. You’ll be sent out on a standard patrol. From there…” Hazard shrugged.

  Irish nodded. “Copy that, sir.”

  “So,” Hazard asked, “any improvements with Private Walker?”

  Irish considered before answering. “We had a long talk, sir. She’s got a lot of pent-up anger in there that needs to get out. I’ve started training her in hand-to-hand combat techniques to let her work out some of her aggression.”

  “How’s that going?”

  Before Irish could answer, the rest of the squad filed in. Hazard raised an eyebrow when he saw Private Walker had a nice shiner developing on her left eye. The squad stopped and saluted. Hazard returned the salute. “Walker? You okay?”

  “Yes, sir. Zigged when I should have zagged, sir.”

  Hazard grunted. “I see. Okay, mount up everyone. Private Walker, Sergeant O’Borne is here in case your cockpit needs further adjustment after Specialist Volk fixed it. Just let him know.”

  The squad turned and climbed into their CASPers, getting ready and closing their cockpits one by one. Private Walker got in and immediately gave Hobo a thumbs up.

  Irish opened the squadnet. “Okay team, let’s show him what we can do.”