by Aidan Colyer
The alarm woke him up at the same time as everyone else which made sense considering the menu alarm system. He grabbed his kit and drank his water ration. As he put the water back, he grabbed and ate a handful of biscuits from his stash. It was purely out of habit but an idea struck him as he munched away.
He opened his menus and looked at the incidentals listing. Under the food tab he found the information he already knew. Not wanting to miss anything he read through it until he saw the part that said it was unnecessary. He skipped the rest of the explanation and scrolled down. Near the bottom though he found what he was looking for. He hit the additional information button.
[You have unlocked an additional portion of benefits by interacting with your environment. Eating does not give you any statistical benefit without an upgrade. This optional upgrade allows you to choose a food item that will restore up to 5% of your stamina in a day at a rate of 1% per hour maximum. This can be over your normal maximum too. It costs 400 points.]
Roland whistled at the price but any advantage he could get would help. He purchased the upgrade and chose biscuits. He chuckled to himself as he closed down the menus. Watts gave him a look.
“Oh, I just made those biscuits into an equipment choice that boosts stamina.”
“Seriously?” she said. Her eyes glazing over as she accessed her menus.
“It’s under the food options. Near the bottom, there is a link you can click.”
Roland waited for a few moments until she found it.
“400 points? That’s a little steep.”
“I thought so too but any little helps.”
She shrugged and chose the option.
“Perhaps we should change our call sign to cookie monster,” she chuckled.
“To what?” Roland asked bemusedly.
“Oh, it’s an old world holo thing. I did retro stuff at university.”
“You went to university?” Roland asked.
Watts opened her mouth to reply, but the sergeant cut her off. “Okay people. We are moving out now. Watts and Mellors you take the lead. Set those comms you have to channel 32 and contact us on that. We will be call sign ochre, what are you going to have?”
Watts and Roland shared a look and grinned.
“Cookie monster, Sarge,” Watts replied.
“What the hell? Never mind. Your choice. Let’s go people.”
Murden led the way out of the building into the cool night air. Roland and Watts moved off ahead heading straight for the mesa. The others followed them as they weaved their way through the village to the slope. They scaled the slope and moved towards the closest stack of rocks on top to wait for the others. As they waited, they activated their infrared goggles. Roland frantically dialled down the settings as everything had gone bright red and white. Once he had the settings sorted, he turned them off. The others had arrived by that point so they moved out across the mesa and down into the desert. The far slope of the mesa was shallower than the one down to the village. They picked their way down the slope trying not to shift any of the scree. The upgrade to stealth made it so much easier for Roland to pick spots to step. He grinned loving the upgrades actual effects. They made it to the bottom of the slope without incident and trekked across the desert. They couldn’t identify anything out beyond a few hundred metres because of the waning moon. Roland resisted the urge to turn on the infrared goggles and relied on his sight getting used to the meagre light. They trudged onwards as the sun peaked over the horizon. It shed a deep red across the desert. The mica in the sand glinting as the sunlight caught its jagged edges.
They pressed on despite the heat until the sun was far above the horizon. The amount of foliage and rocky outcrops in this area of the desert was tiny even compared to the areas they had passed through earlier. There were still a few dotted around and Roland had chosen a weathered rock with a broad outcrop as their first stop. The others huddled underneath in the shade drinking water while he climbed onto the flat top of the stone. He settled himself and scanned the horizon. The landscape was devoid of activity as far as the scope let him see. Not a single soldier from either side, or from the rebels for that matter. They hadn’t gone far, but he expected to at least have seen some sign of them by now. Sighing, he climbed down and took the water bottle that Watts offered him.
“I can’t make out anything at all that would lead us in the right direction. Webb, can you check we are going the right direction?”
Webb’s eyes clouded over. A few seconds later he spun around before once again facing Roland.
“We are going in the right direction but we are only about a quarter of the way there though. I don’t think we will be close enough to identify any enemy units until this afternoon.”
Roland screwed the cap back onto the water bottle.
“We better get moving then.”
Murden called the squad to move out, and they began making their way across the desert once more. The sun beat down on them as they marched. Roland kept a close eye on his stamina as it drained by fractions of a percent. He pulled them into cover more frequently throughout the centre of the day. Everyone was parched and trying to stick to the water ration they had. The water had become lukewarm now though which helped to stop people guzzling it. As the sun passed its zenith Roland looked out for another stack of boulders with a wide top he could use as a lookout post. It took him an hour of searching while they walked until he found an appropriate outcrop. He directed the group towards it and they stumbled across the sand with their stamina bars teetering on the red zone. As soon as they reached the stack of stones Roland climbed to the top with Watts in tow. They lay down and scoped across the horizon. At first, Roland achieved as much as he had done at the beginning of their journey only spotting an open vista of sand and stone. He spent a few more minutes looking and then switched to the infrared scope setting. The screen that appeared in his scope whited out with a message to turn down the settings. Roland did as instructed until the landscape came back into view. He played his scope along the horizon once more and then spotted it. There were a group of soldiers resting next to an APC. They linked the infrared to heat sensing too it seemed if the image was what he thought it was. He saw the exhausts as bright white with a hazy halo around them and a plume of white creeping to the sky. Their identifying marks were too blurry to tell who they were affiliated with at this distance so he switched back to his standard view. He was able to make them out now, but the distance was still an issue. Trying to work out who they could be would take too much time, so he cut his losses.
He climbed down from the top of the rock pile and lifted his sand mask to take a drink.
“Anything out there?” Murden asked as she shifted her cloak and equipment wiping sweat from her neck.
“Yeah, there is a squad with an APC up ahead. I can’t tell who they are but as we are treating both groups as hostile we should be careful.”
“Set out an approach plan. Use the terrain as best we can. We will hang back from you and Watts. You guys need to find sniper positions close enough for accurate shots. We will advance past you once you are in place.” Roland nodded and turned to Webb.
“Any chance you can bring up the local tactical display and let us know what sort of area we are looking at. If there are any correlations to the unit we can see or anything in that ballpark?”
“Sure can,” Webb replied his eyes going misty. He spent a while sat in the odd trance. Roland was used to the trance state now so sat and ate a biscuit while he waited.
[Stamina increased by 1% temporarily.]
Webb came back to them after he had waved his hands in the air for a while. It looked creepy as hell and Roland didn’t think he would ever get used to the arm waving portion. It was far too much like spell casting for his liking.
“Right we are about 4 miles from the unit you described. They are on the edge of the body of troops we had logged in the system database. They are formed up in a horseshoe so the targets are likely in the centre and
to the blank end. We are about a quarter of the way up the horseshoe from the gap at the end. It’s thin enough here we could make our way through.”
Roland nodded.
He pulled up his rifle and played the scope across the land between them and the troop he had seen. They were still in position as far as Roland could tell but he was more interested in the cover. He identified a group of rocks about three quarters of the way towards the enemy. They were high enough so should give them the range for some decent shots. There were about two more reliable stopping points if they went in a zigzag pattern. Judging by the distances Webb quoted they were looking at about an hour to advance into the positions. Roland used his menu’s clock to work out the time. It would be somewhere in the early evening so it would be far cooler than it was at the moment. Better to fight in the cool than in this heat. At least they wouldn’t have the stamina drain affecting them.
They set off across the intervening terrain as soon as they finished changing their equipment to combat readiness. Despite the stifling heat the squad pulled their cloaks in tight to give better cover. The cloaks being shifted uncovered rifles and their other weapons so they wouldn’t get fouled by the fabric. They checked magazines and blew sand out of the casings where they could before advancing. Roland and Watts jogged to the first of the checkpoints marked on their maps. The flashing beacons in the HUD showing them where to go. The jog reduced their stamina rapidly which made Roland grit his teeth. They waited for the others to catch up and took a slower pace to the next point. Each time they stopped they checked for any movement. The enemy were distracted to spot their advance, especially with the added stealth abilities. The hour passed tortuously slowly. Finally, Roland and Watts made it to the larger pile of boulders Roland had picked out as their forward position. They helped each other climb to the top of the stack. A large overhang on the top part of the formation jutted out far enough to give them some shade. They used it to full effect with Watts staying as close to the inside of the stone formation as she possible. Roland took the outside and relied on the sun going down to take the heat off of him as he lined up his rifle. He removed the caps and checked the switches. Everything was in working order. He calibrated the infrared and set it to adjust itself automatically to the levels as they fluctuated. Big changes were beyond its ability but fine tuning was well within its capacity. He looked through the scope and targeted the APC again. The squad sat around chatting or looking the other direction. He realised they had dug the APC in before constructing defences around the front end to make it into a position. There were thin awnings attached to the sides of the vehicle and tied down to the sandbags that lined the front of the sandbagged foxholes. That explained why Roland hadn’t been able to get a good view earlier. He had one now though and knew they were the enemy as soon as he saw their ochre uniforms.
Chapter 11.
The enemy was moving as Roland heard a click in his comm unit. That was the signal to let him know the rest of the unit had reached their jump off point. Watts had received it too by the movements she was making to pick a shot. They had agreed to take one side of the vehicle each when as they moved forward. Roland picked the hardest one to hit and fired.
The shot echoed across the desert as the target crumpled to the floor. Another soldier on the other side collapsed the same way. The rest of their squad turned slowly as Roland and Watts picked each one off. They managed to get all but two of the enemy before they got inside the APC. He watched as the tracks spun in the loose sand and the APC lurched. The rest of the squad had to be close now. He stayed focused on the target. A rocket streaked in from the left side of his vision and hit the APC slewing its back end round. The vehicle‘s tracks churned the sand until they bit into enough sandbags giving them traction after the shot had spun them onto the foxhole. Another rocket streaked in slewing the APC further. Smoke billowed out of the hatches and engine grill. Roland aimed at the side hatch. It didn’t open. He turned to look at the back of the vehicle where a hatch swung wildly on its hinges. They had bailed out the other side after recognising the direction of the attack. Roland waited until he saw the two enemy soldiers running before he lined up and fired. He missed puffing up a plume of sand as the soldiers slipped on the loose edge of the foxhole. The first soldier scrambled up but a short burst of fire threw them back into the foxhole. The second soldier turned but not towards them. They flew backwards their chest spraying blood over the sand. Roland kept his sights fixed but hit his comms.
“Cookie monster to Ochre, The others are there. I repeat the others are there. Over.”
Webb’s voice came over the earpiece.
“Understood cookie monster. Ochre is moving into a holding pattern. Over and out.”
Roland felt the side of his scope and switched to infrared. The night was drawing in, but it wasn’t the reason he was switching over. He wanted to determine if their theory worked so he scanned the area that the APC was in. He saw them. They were clearly wearing cloaks, but they were bulky. He lined up a shot on one of them
“Ochre this is cookie monster. Do we engage? Over.”
“Cookie monster this is Ochre do not engage but keep track. Over.”
“Ochre understood. Cookie monster out.”
Roland continued to follow the target. They were searching the APC. Roland looked at the area around his target before he scanned the foxholes. The enemy were still there. They hadn’t faded out. He watched as the rebels stripped their corpses of all ammunition and weapons. When they finished ransacking the bodies and APC they moved off shimmering into nothingness. Roland checked the bodies again, and they were fading out. That was worrying. The rebels moved off into the distance and Roland relaxed lifting his head from his rifle.
“Did you see that?”
“Yeah,” Watts replied laying her rifle down too.
“They must have a bunch of advanced tech we don’t know about.”
Roland’s earpiece clicked as he replied to Watts. It was the signal for them to move down and towards the APC. Roland packed up his rifle and crawled backwards towards the edge of the stones. Watts helped him drop silently down from the ledge, and he waited at the bottom for her. He caught her as she jumped down steadying her on the loose sand. They moved around the stones and towards the APC. The others were already there by the time they arrived.
“Did you guys get the looting thing too?” Murden asked as they jumped down into the foxhole.
“Yeah. Must be some sort of anti-respawn tech they have.”
They compared notes on what they saw and everyone agreed that they were definitely wearing upgraded cloaks and an advanced stealth suit. Roland went into his menus and pulled up his saved skill tree plans. He had been looking into the stealth path to upgrade to full suits since their first battle and had most of it mapped out.
“They are at least tier 10 to have all of that kit. The respawn blocker isn’t something on the access screens though,” he said as he closed the panels down.
“That is going to cause us some issues,” Clark said unlacing her boots.
“Perhaps not,” Watts said
“What do you mean?” Murden asked
“Well if they are carrying a respawn stop in their squad, they can’t fade out. We could take out a unit and loot them. That would give us an idea of what equipment they are using. We then use that to take them down.”
“Bywaters, any thoughts?” Murden asked turning towards where she was sat by the APC.
“It could work. If they are dead by the time we get to them, there is nothing I can help with though. Perhaps if we injure them and then I revive them?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Murden said. “Right now we need to see if we can get this APC going.” She turned to Clark who was now emptying sand out of her boots.
“No chance sarge. The second hit brewed it up. We would need parts and a proper mechanics bay to fix it.” She tapped the last sand out of her boots and put them back on.
“I’m open to suggestion h
ere people,” Murden said looking around the group.
Roland thought for a moment as the others shrugged.
“There is a chance we could bait them again.”
“Again?”
“Well, they weren’t around until we hit the unit. They turned up as we were attacking. If we hit another unit, then they will probably turn up there too. If we do that, we can hit them as soon as we have a good line of sight. We get them ducking and the rest of the squad assaults.”
“That is why he got promoted, people.” Murden started “We do that. Rest up for five minutes and then we work our way down to the next squad and do what we just did. Also Watts and Mellors, your new call sign is CM it’s a little easier and shorter.”
“But sarge...” Watts complained.
“But nothing. Get your shit together people and strip anything useful the rebels left.”
They spent the next five minutes tearing the APC and the foxholes apart. There wasn’t anything left. The rebels had picked everything clean. They moved out down the horseshoe of the enemy towards the thinner end of the line hoping to find another isolated target. It didn’t take them long before one came into view. They had used the same set up as the previous outpost. It made sense as that was likely the military doctrine they were following. The night had drawn in now so Roland used his night vision setting to scan the area. Another rocky outcropping protruded from the desert nearby, but it wasn’t as good as the last one. He didn’t have much choice though. He made his way towards the outcrop with Watts in tow. They scrambled up the side and settled themselves in. This time they switched straight to the infrared setting before shooting.
Watts took the first shot this time; Roland fired milliseconds after he heard the retort of her rifle muffled as it was. They had hit half of the squad by the time the rebels turned up and began to the approach the outpost.
“Ochre this is CM. Rebels spotted. Switching targets. Over.”
Roland received a click in reply and lined up a shot on the advancing rebels. He waited until they targeted the enemy with fire and then shot. His first shot hit smashed into the chest of a rebel. They went down hard but got back up moments later. He fired again and knocked them over. Not trusting they would stay down he took a third shot to make sure they wouldn’t get up. He switched targets to fire at another one of the advancing rebels. Learning from his previous error he fired a burst this time hoping that his rifle skill was at a level high enough to group them well. It wasn’t as accurate as he hoped. The first shot hit square but the second hit the rebel‘s arm and the third splashed across the sand. He fired at the prone rebel again assuming three shots would kill. As he moved to the third one the rebels fired back. The shots were lacklustre at first but the volume of fire grew in intensity within seconds. He should have guessed they would have as good vision capabilities as they had. If they weren’t enemies before they certainly were now. He aimed for centre mass and fired for effect not worrying if he took the enemy down as long as he hit them and reduced the incoming fire. After he had emptied his magazine, he clicked his comm and let the others know it was time to advance. He slammed in a tier four ammunition magazine and lined up another shot. He fired and got lucky hitting them in the head just as they ducked down to avoid incoming fire from the enemy troops. Watts was hitting the enemy with lower tier hits harassing them. Roland realised this so switched and targeted those that had been winged or downed finishing them off. Only three of the rebels had survived as the rest of the squad hit the enemy APC. Roland switched his aim quickly to check they didn’t need covering fire. As he changed back to the rebels, he saw them all aiming up at him. Bullets ricocheted off of the surrounding rock like deadly metal hail. Two grazed his legs as they came back down from an outcropping. Roland gritted his teeth and carried on firing. Bywaters could sort him out if he made it through alive. If the rebels didn’t go down, then that wasn’t an option.