With Your Shield

by Chris Kennedy

  * * *

  Markus was in his CASPer, standing over the remains of the Hoplite, when Lieutenant Quinn found him.

  “It was a damn good build, Spartan,” Hazard said, shaking his head. “Without it, this would have been a completely different fight.”

  “That’s what makes it worse,” Markus replied. “Now it’s useless, and it probably was before. That power issue has pretty much put a gravestone on the whole project.”

  “Look, you can keep working on it once the alert level goes back down, but never forget that you and your team saved a lot of troopers today.”

  “Thanks, Hazard. So now what?”

  “Now we go find the bastards and take them out. We have to secure this planet. I want you leading First Squad.”

  “That’s Irish’s job. I don’t want to take his squad away from him. I was fine with it during the assault, but…”

  “But nothing,” Quinn responded. “This comes from the top, Spartan.”

  “Oh. Well. In that case…”

  Quinn nodded, looking up at him. “I figure we’ll send what remains of First Squad ahead; Second Squad can lag a little behind for cover.”

  “Makes sense,” Markus said, nodding to himself inside the cockpit. “Okay, I’ll get them together, and we’ll be ready in 30 minutes.”

  He immediately jumped into the squadnet. “Okay team, we have a mission. Gather at the gate. We’re going to go find where the Besquith came from, and make sure they don’t come back…ever.”

  As he was about to head that way himself, he saw a comm request pop up from Carrie. He accepted immediately. “Carrie? Damn…are you okay?”

  Her voice was shaky. “Yeah, just some scratches, but I’m okay thanks to you, apparently, and Aaron. He saw what was coming and shoved me under the console…”

  “He was a good man, and I just happened to be the trooper there to do the job. Look, I’ve got to head out; we’re going to try to locate the Besquith base. We’ll talk when I get back?”

  “Definitely. Be safe, Markus.”

  * * *

  Weaving through the thicker layers of the jungle wasn’t easy for CASPers, but they managed. It wasn’t hard to follow the path made by the Besquith; they weren’t exactly known for stealth tactics. After a few hours, the trail they were following reached a clearing, and the squad stopped short.

  “Set a perimeter,” Markus ordered. “I’m going to check out that clearing.”

  “Watch yourself, Spartan,” Hazard said. He was in the comm loop with Second Squad, about ten minutes behind them.

  The squad spread out to cover the approaches to the clearing. “Looks clear, Spartan,” Johnston reported.

  “Okay, going in,” Markus said, and he moved slowly into the clearing. There was a dip in the terrain, and he had his weapons ready, trained on the depression.

  As he moved forward, he finally realized what he was looking at. There was a hole in the ground—which appeared natural—but it had thatch and other cover spread around it, which had likely been used to mask it from visual detection. “Son of a bitch…First Squad, move in, Second Squad, come up and cover the perimeter.”

  The rest of the squad moved in from around him, circling the hole in the ground while Second Squad took positions in the jungle around them. “Okay Spartan, we’ve got your back,” Hazard reported.

  Markus directed the lights on his CASPer into the hole. “It’s big. It looks like an entrance to some kind of underground cave system. This has to be where they came from. It’s big enough for a few CASPers side by side. We’re going to go in and check it out. Watch your weapons in here…last thing we want is to cause a cave-in and get stuck.”

  “I’ve seen cave systems like this before, Spartan,” Johnston said. “I’d say this is where our missing apex predator once lived. Probably hunted by ambush.”

  “Ambush is not a word we want to hear right now, Irish,” Markus said with a small chuckle to reduce the harshness of the statement. A couple of the troopers nervously joined in the chuckle. Battlefield humor could be pretty grim.

  They slowly made their way down into the ground, with Markus and Irish side by side in the lead. The cave system had been shored up with metal beams, and Markus transmitted back everything he saw.

  “Yep, they were here all right,” Markus said, looking at the advanced metallurgy they had used. “We can expect resistance. There will still be some Besquith here, and maybe an entire second group meant for a later attack. Stick with MACs and lasers if we engage. No explosives down here.”

  The squad continued down until the ground leveled off and split into two different paths. Markus paused. He did not want to split the squad, but he also didn’t want someone being able to circle around behind him and catch him in a trap.

  “Okay,” Markus said, coming to a decision, “Bridges, Essex, and Dunn, stay here and make sure nothing comes down behind us. The rest of you are with me; we’re going to check these passages one at a time and hope it doesn’t split again.”

  After another fifteen minutes of scouting, the tunnel opened into an enormous chamber, supported by huge, non-natural columns.

  “Okay, hold here,” Spartan ordered. “Cut the lights.” Everyone turned off their CASPer-mounted lighting, leaving only the illumination from the chamber ahead of them. “If there’s anyone here, they certainly know we’re coming, but there’s no need to give them an easy target to shoot at.”

  The squad advanced to the opening, and Markus looked around the room. The most obvious—and frightening—feature of the room was the large wall which spanned the chamber. The wall section mimicked the wall of the Golden Horde’s compound, and it had obviously been used to train for an assault on a fortified location. There were scorch marks from lasers, torn sections from explosives, even ramps that would let the Besquith run up and over the wall.

  Spartan grunted. “Looks like they were training specifically to hit our walls. Some of these segments look exactly like ours; they might even be the same materials. What the hell is going on here?”

  “Plenty of places to hide in there, Spartan,” Hazard said from his position in the jungle, watching Markus’ broadcast.

  “Yeah…this place crawls,” Markus responded.

  As if on cue, MAC fire impacted the tunnel opening, followed by a laser bolt. Markus and Brandon were both hit, but didn’t receive any critical damage in the initial barrage. Markus’ laser shield snapped open as additional laser fire impacted the wall, and shards of rock bounced off the squad’s armor.

  Markus and Irish returned fire and backed away from the opening, but their MAC rounds bounced off the wall segments the Besquith were hiding behind. Markus couldn’t tell if the walls were exactly the same as those used by the Golden Horde, but they appeared to be equally strong, and he didn’t see any weak points that could be exploited without serious effort.

  “Okay,” Markus said, “this isn’t good, but I think we can still take them. There is cover both left and right. When I give the word, we’re going to run in, keeping suppressing fire on their positions until we’re all in place. Dusty, I’m going to mark two sections where they seem to be gathered for rocket fire. I want one rocket in each location. If all goes well, they’ll scramble, and we can pick them off. If they’re front-line troopers, they won’t, though. Everyone needs to be ready for that.”

  Hazard broke in. “Spartan…are you sure you want to go in there at all?”

  Markus hesitated and considered for a few seconds. “Yep. I really don’t like the idea of backing out right now and worrying about these guys coming up my ass in a cramped tunnel. At least in there we can maneuver.”

  “Okay, fair enough. Good luck.”

  Everyone reported ready, and Markus gave the order. “Go!” He charged in and turned right, spraying the wall edges with MAC and laser fire, while Johnston did the same to the left.

  Greer and Stafford were next, and were able to make it to cover, only taking a few hits from glancing laser fire. />
  Black and Dusty charged in next, but the Besquith were ready. Several lasers fired at the opening, and a laser nailed Black’s torso dead center. Her CASPer hit the ground, and her status went red; the shot had killed her. Dusty extended his laser shield in time to catch the beams that would have taken him out as well.

  The Besquith who stepped out to fire their lasers met a wall of MAC and laser fire from Markus and Johnston, and they went down. There were a few moments of stillness. Markus knew there was no use asking them to surrender. They were under contract, and Besquith never surrendered. With some other races, there might have been a chance they would surrender to be ransomed, but not them.

  “Well,” Dusty said, “this sucks.”

  Markus assessed the situation. There was only one other entrance to the chamber, almost exactly opposite them. “Dusty, keep your eyes on that entrance over there, if something moves, kill it.”

  “Copy that,” Dusty responded.

  “Irish, Greer, and Stafford, get ready to move. You’re going to try to move around to flank them. I’ll cover you and lay down suppressing fire.”

  “You got it, Spartan,” Johnston answered.

  “Go!” As soon as he spoke, Markus stuck his arm around the edge of the wall and fired short laser bursts to keep the Besquiths’ heads down.

  Johnston led the charge to the left and called out as he got a better view of the Besquith position. “They’ve got a rocket launcher!” He unfolded the laser shield on his right arm as a few of the Besquith took shots at him.

  In that moment, several things happened at once.

  Markus ran out from behind the wall and into the open area. He didn’t have time to think about what to do; he just did it. He fired several shots with both his laser and MAC, then jumped, tapping his jumpjets for the extra boost, and somersaulted to avoid the incoming fire. While in the air, he activated and threw a K-bomb from his belt behind each of the two walls where the Besquith were concealed.

  “Take them out!” Johnston called and charged straight at the Besquith, firing at them as he went.

  Dusty stepped out from behind the wall he had been using for cover and fired three rockets at the Besquith positions.

  Taken by surprise, the Besquith paused for a second too long. Dusty’s rockets hit home, the K-bombs went off, and laser and MAC fire sprayed the area. Before they fell, they got off one rocket, aimed at the wall where Markus had been. The chamber was filled with smoke and dust from the explosions. As it cleared, the chamber went silent.

  Markus grunted from where he had crashed. “Ugh…that sucked.” He started to lever himself up and checked his suit status. His landing had gone slightly wrong when he had jumped back to avoid the rockets Dusty had fired. His left leg had taken some damage—it moved, but not entirely the way it should. His crash had also damaged the laser mounted to his right arm. “Okay everyone, cover the entrances. Gimme status…Greer?”

  Corporal Greer grunted. “Left arm actuators are shot, and my missiles are gone, but I’m okay.”

  “Okay,” Markus said. “Irish?”

  “I’m good, sir. No damage. MAC ammo is running low,” Johnston reported.

  “Copy that. Stafford?” Markus continued down the list.

  “All good here, sir,” Private Stafford didn’t even sound out of breath.

  “Dusty?”

  “All good, sir. And I got to blow something up!”

  The tension broke, and they all laughed.

  “Sir, are you okay?” Irish had walked over and saw Markus still on the ground.

  “I’ll be fine…leg took a little damage, no big deal.” Markus levered himself up. “Cover me…I want to take a look around this place.”

  Markus walked around the chamber and, after a moment, spotted what he had hoped to find. “Hopping out of my CASPer for a minute. Call out if there’s any movement.”

  Irish came over to stand by Markus’ mech. “Yes, sir. What is it?”

  Markus chuckled and climbed down once his canopy was open. “One of their slates…” He walked over and picked up a slate from a table and shook his head. “Idiots. Thanks for the intel.”

  He stowed the slate and closed the canopy of his CASPer. “Okay, let’s get out of here. This is not our job.”

  * * *

  Kelfor-6, Zuparti Base

  Colonel Enkh and Major King sat again in the meeting room. “They’re on the way back, ma’am,” King said. She shook her head. “Going down into tunnels, though? Like Spartan said, this isn’t our gig.”

  Sansar nodded. “Leave a squad on the entrance to cover it, but get everyone else back here. See if they can bring the downed CASPer back with them; if not, we’ll have to clear a path for the retrievers. The Zuparti are going to have to get someone else to clean out that nest of Besquith—assaulting enemy positions isn’t in our contract. We’ll hold what they’ve got, but I’m not going to lose more troopers attacking an enemy in a defensible and fortified position. Have Sergeant Baker and her team assemble an intel package with everything we have once they get back.”

  King nodded and opened the channel to Lieutenant Quinn. “Hazard, leave one squad to cover the entrance on the surface, everyone else RTB. See if they can transport the downed CASPer, or at least get it to the surface. If necessary, have the returning squads clear a path so our retrievers can get through.”

  Sansar stood. “I’ll go have a chat with Terax…I’ll bet Asbaran Solutions—or someone like them—wouldn’t mind a little business.”

  * * *

  A few hours later, the platoon was back at the base and had cleared a path for the suit retrievers to bring back the fallen CASPer. As soon as they got back, a squad from Bravo Company headed out with the retrievers.

  The warehouse no longer had a roof or walls, but the ferrocrete surface had been cleaned off, and the maintenance racks were waiting. Markus backed his CASPer into the rack and popped the canopy as the mech powered down.

  Johnston approached as Markus climbed down from his CASPer. “You okay, sir?”

  Markus nodded. “Yeah. Mech took some damage on my landing, but I’m okay. You all did good in there. Good reactions. Go ahead and debrief. I’m sure Sergeant Baker will be wanting to get an intel download. Unless I miss my guess, the colonel will recommend the Zuparti hire an assault company to clean out the Besquith—someone like Asbaran—and they’ll need the intel.”

  As Irish and the remainder of the squad headed out, Major King walked up, her arms crossed over her chest. Markus waited for her to start tapping her foot on the ground like a scolding mother, but she didn’t.

  “Would you like to tell me what you thought you were doing down there, Lieutenant? Are you confusing yourself with a Marine?”

  Markus shook his head. “Ma’am…” He shrugged. “No excuse, Major. We could have pulled back as soon as there was contact, but I didn’t want to try to move back through those tunnels with a known force right behind us.”

  King sighed. “I doubt I would have done much different. Shitty luck losing Black, but that’s all it was, Spartan.”

  Markus nodded. “I know, ma’am. Don’t worry.” He looked down at the ground. He had replayed that moment several times in his mind on the way back, and it was just that, bad luck.

  “Just so you’re aware, Hazard backed up your decision as well. He said that’s how he would have called it if you’d asked.”

  Markus looked up and nodded. “That helps, Major. Thanks.”

  “Come on. Fill me in on what happened from your perspective.”

  They walked side by side toward the command building while Markus filled her in. Then he grinned and held up the slate he’d retrieved.

  “You got one of their slates?”

  Markus nodded. “Yep. Give me a few minutes, and we’ll know everything that’s on it.”

  “Well, you’d better get to work, Spartan. The colonel is going to want that information as soon as you can get it.”

  * * *

  Over th
e next few days, the Golden Horde repaired their command center so they could get out of the Zuparti’s command and control building and away from any potential prying eyes. The Jeha had rebuilt the warehouse, and the CASPers were back inside. The maintenance crews were hard at work to make sure every CASPer was fully operational, and the troopers were finally able to get some sleep.

  Markus had sequestered himself for much of the time to work on hacking into the slate he’d grabbed from the Besquith base, and Sansar had told Major Enkh to make sure he was not bothered. His sole task was to crack the slate and get all the intelligence possible.

  Sansar finally received a message that Markus was ready to brief the team and had asked the command team to gather in the conference room. The group was assembled when Sansar arrived, and the meeting was called to order. She looked to Major Enkh and asked, “Well?”

  Major Enkh shrugged. “He should be here any—”

  The door opened, and Markus walked in with a grin on his face.

  “Minute,” she finished.

  “Well, Spartan, we’re all waiting,” Sansar said. She raised an eyebrow and indicated a seat.

  Markus nodded, and the Tri-V display on the table came to life with a three-dimensional model of a tunnel system.

  “This is the Besquith compound. Whoever owned this slate was apparently bad at directions and remembering where to go, so it’s well detailed.”

  Some of the chambers lit up on the display.

  “Those are the primary command chambers. The one that’s pulsing is the primary control center. It’s also where their communications equipment is located. Based on the information in this slate, at most there might be another thirty or forty Besquith on-planet, so I don’t think we’ll have to worry about another assault.”

  Megetu leaned back in her chair. “I feel like there’s more…”

  Markus grinned and nodded. “Well, we shouldn’t have to worry about that jamming technology again. Apparently, it was only this company that had it; they were testing out a modification to some of their existing equipment, and they were keeping it secret until they had proof of concept, so they could get the biggest payday possible out of it.