Heavy breaths, screams and the thunder of sustained fire. I ran onto the field and felt the rumble of thousands, tens of thousands of feet stomping the ground to engage with the last of the bugs on Alpha Centauri. I looked to the side and saw what Kitten had been looking at the black armoured soldiers who were pushing through the bug lines. I watched for a second as they bodied the bugs they engaged. They didn’t slow down nor did they change direction. They left a wake of destruction but not death. I looked at the trail they were making and realised that they were moving towards some of the heavier units. A good tactic but they didn’t secure their flanks nor did they have a way out if things went pear-shaped. I looked at the normies with them and noticed they were falling like flies, trying to stay in contact with these soldiers.
“Hey, Kitten. You seeing this?”
“Yeah but we need to get our heads in the game.”
I nodded in my armour and told him, “I have a new toy to try out here.”
I swung my spear and it gave it a satisfying woosh. I looked down at my display and saw that the read-outs said that the weapon was powered.
Kitten let out an ‘Oh.”
I rushed into the fray and saw that I would make contact within three seconds. There was plasma flak flying in the air. I was weaving in and out of enemy fire. I jumped in front of the closest clump of bugs. In front of me a world of pincers, stingers and charging lights made a wall of death in front of me. I raised my new weapon and let loose. The weapon screamed like a banshee as a flash of light tore through the lines of bugs. An electric arc jumped from the weapon and a blue light with branching tendrils struck several bugs at once as the air ionised to 50,000°C and struck the bugs. In a flash bright white light, they turned to ash at the strength of a star hit them. I thrust my spear again, another flash and another dozen bugs were annihilated.
I smiled like a feral animal as the enemies of mankind fell under my thrusts. I looked down at my read outs and saw warning signals. Red flashing lights had appeared all over my screen. Temperature warnings, radiation warnings, the air between me and the bugs had ionised. My thrust had set the air itself ablaze.
I moved to reengage the bugs and the ground around me erupted in sonic booms. I turned my head and realised that the ground off to my right had turned to ash. I looked at the meter wide hole and realised that it looked similar to what my Prism does. I looked over to the Black Boys and saw one of their number had his weapon raised.
In the second all this had taken, Kitten gasped, “Fucking hell, Haze. Did you do that?”
I didn’t answer but I thrust the air again. Another electrical arc shrieked out of the weapon and struck the ground. It tore up the soil and an electrical arc bound out of the ground and cooked the bugs in their shells. I noticed the ranks of bugs slow as their first lines were decimated. The bugs that were hit by the beam disappeared in a flash of light, those next to it blew up as their innards boiled. Those who were further afield were hit by random lightning bolts and fried as their limbs spasmed.
Off to my right flank, the Black Boys were pushing their bugs back and I noticed that they were moving like we usually did. Big guns at the front pushing forward, the medium powered weapons were flanking while the longer range guys were behind the lines. I saw one of the ones who was in CQB hit the bug with his armoured hand and break the bug’s leg clean off.
I nodded in appreciation and put my head back in the game. I raised this new weapon and let loose. Let’s see what this can do. My targeting system locked on to a bug and thrust into its chitin. I then pressed the button on the weapon and watched as the bug exploded into viscera and fire. An arc of lightning shot out of the weapon and struck an area as far as 25 meters. The lightning scorched the earth and flew out in all directions. Smaller bolts of lightning broke off and sizzled the air. When they connected with the ground, they let out a boom and small fires started before dying out.
As much as I loved my Prism, this thing was perfect. It felt like magic. I thrust, a flash of light and they die. What’s not to like? I pushed into the incoming bugs and let them swarm me, and then I hit. I lifted my weapon and brought it down in a swift singular movement. It felt like I was cutting the air itself. I felt the bugs recoil from the blast I sent out. Screams of plasma and howls of bug screeches filled my ears.
Kitten called out, “Where’d you get that, Haze?”
I smiled as I thrust through the last of the bugs, “I got some guys in engineering to whip this up for me.”
Kitten asked, “Think they can make me one?”
I shrugged, “Sure, why not?”
I looked around and found the last clump of bugs had started to dig, probably trying to find a way out. The Black Boys were on them and shot wildly. I actually saw one of them jump onto a bug and shoot his Prism in the bug's back.
I nodded and muttered, “Scene secured.”
I wondered for a second and thought, ‘What type of training did these cowboys have?’
I wasn’t sure what their weapons were but from what I had seen, it looked a lot like a modified form of my Prism. If it was built anything like my Prism, how they were using was a little scary. Maybe we should have a discussion with them. We had had drilled into us protocols on when and how to use our weapons. I can’t remember how many times I had limited myself and not used my Prism to protect the normies.
I looked at them go towards the smoking remains of the bugs. I clicked to Sarge as I watched one of them open fire and render the ground for half a klick, ten meters wide. The bug corpse were twitching one moment, the next the ground itself had changed.
“Hey, Sarge. You got a minute?”
“What’s up, Haze?”
“Erm, you aware of a specialised unit with weaponry similar to ours?”
“Guys in black powered armour? No insignia? Don’t speak much?”
“Yep, that’s them.”
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re… cowboys, Sarge.”
“What do you mean?”
“No regard for the normies, no trigger discipline, no comms, no nothing, Sarge.”
“Is that going to be a problem, soldier?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, you, at least, give the normies a warning between unleashing your Morita, right?”
“Acknowledged, standard protocol. When using specialised equipment that can change the landscape, it’s S.O.P.”
“Yeah, yeah, Federal military code : LL-4-5-4- something dash b, I think."
“You and I are going to have to have a serious discussion about military protocols and rules of engagement.”
“That’s just my point, Sarge. These S.O.B.s don’t care.”
“Acknowledged, shelf it for the moment. Head in the game.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I clicked off and looked at the scene, smouldering boulders, craters of all sizes, broken and bugs lay inert, their legs twitching even in death. I looked at the Beta Squad and saw them reloading their weapons. I looked at the scene and saw one of the bugs was still alive. Sure, its limbs were strewn here and there but its core seemed fairly intact. The squad started moving towards the target.
I called, “Secure the scene.” I targeted the bug and added, “That one is still active.”
All I got was a brash, “Shut up.”
I nodded and clicked back to Sarge, “Hey, Sarge. Permission to engage the new boys?”
Sarge let out a “What?”
Then he said more calmly, “Negative. Talk to me, Son.”
“They’re insolent pricks, Sarge.”
I watched them move towards the live bug. I remained silent as they moved forward. The bug moved in turn and jumped at the closest soldier. He moved out of the way and managed to avoid being hit. The rest of his squad moved forward as they opened fire.
I looked at them and saw the ground start to crumble. My sensors started telling me that the ground had been hollowed out by the bugs. I could already see massive chunks of rocks disappear to be replaced by warriors. It was a trap. I chambered a round and took out my blade.
“Sarge, there’s bugs here.” I looked at the field and saw there were no more than a dozen. They seemed smaller than the ones we had been engaging with over the past two years. I focussed on them. Worker variant, scientist subvariant. Higher intelligence value. Non threat.
I was about to call out the bug kind when Beta Squad stepped up to them. They stood there for a full second without the bug engaging. They, in fact, had time to remove their clip, check their ammo and rearm before blasting them to hell. I did wonder if we had lost a good source of intel but i mean, a dead bug was a good bug.
They kept on killing indiscriminately as I watched. Sarge came in over comms, “How’s it going, Haze?”
I didn’t answer for a second, watching one of Beta squad blast a bug to piece so close to one of its squad mates that some of the armored plating was torn off.
I sighed before answering Sarge, “Situation under control. Beta Squad is engaging the enemy.”
There was a second’s silence over comms before Sarge said, “What’s on your mind, Son?”
I didn’t know how to say what needed to be said. I was hesitating. Maybe I shouldn’t answer. But Sarge had asked me a question. I… maybe if I minimised my concerns, maybe if I was vague enough. I opened my mouth to say some sort of diplomatic answer but then the floodgate opened and I blurted out, “These Beta Squad Boys. They worry me. No regard for standard rules of engagement. No regard for normie safety. Hell, Sarge. I just saw one of them blast a squad mate’s armour off. The guy was just standing there, watching his squad mate engage the bugs in CQC, and he raises his weapon and opens fire, right there, with his squad mate in danger close.”
“We’ve opened fire in danger close, Haze. I remember you opening fire with your Prism in an enclosed space with hundreds of normies around you.”
“Sure, Sarge, but I gave the normies a warning. And I didn’t have another choice. It might have been reckless but, I mean, there’s reckless and then there’s whatever these boys are doing.”
Sarge didn’t say anything for a second but he then clicked, indicating he wanted me to go secure.
I changed channel and asked, “What’s up, Sarge?”
“I’ve heard news from Blake… There’s been an incident.”
What? Blake? What’s up with Blake?
“Sarge?”
“Apparently, there was an altercation between Blake and Beta Squad.”
I thought these boys were Beta Squad. Who were they then?
So I asked, “So if Beta Squad is with Blake, who are these guys with me?”
“Probably Beta Squad too. I asked and some of my contacts have found that Command is starting to mass produce enhanced soldiers.”
“And about Blake?”
“Yeah, apparently, Blake took offence over how these Beta Squad Boys engaged the enemy. Mass casualties among the unaugmented. Over 14,000 deceased and about the same MIA.”
“What? How?”
“I don’t know. I only got a partial report from Hasan.”
“Wait. Why Hasan? Why not directly from Blake?”
“Hasan’s report indicated that Specialist Thomas Blake died from the injuries sustained in battle.”
What the Hell is going on? Blake’s dead? Wait… sustained from battle. Did… did some punk in Beta off Blake?
“Sarge. It sounds awfully like you’re saying that Blake was killed by a member of Beta Squad.”
Sarge sighed and muttered, “I’m not saying anything, neither are you. Not in this situation. An inquiry is on-going.”
Blake. Dead? Killed by our own… Did this have anything to do with the stuff I had discovered about the bombing of Io?
In the time I took me to integrate what Sarge had said, he had gone back to open comms and said, “Remember what I said, Haze. Head in the game. Kill bugs and that’s it.”
I nodded and muttered, “Yes, Sir. It’s just…”
Sarge cut me off, “Fine, your concerns have been noted and will be taken up the chain of command.”
‘Really? That’s it? Oh wait. Open channel. Maybe that’s why.’
I didn’t say anything. Sarge had spoken. It would be taken it up to Command.
I did wonder though. I mean, we had been told that we were outside the chain of command, above and beyond it.
Anyway, now was not the time to think of that. Sarge had spoken.
I started to move towards Beta squad. As one, they all pointed their weapons to me and one of them shouted, “Identify.”
‘What the hell?’
I was surprised and slowly said, “Specialist Haze, TF-SF-EAF-135/A.”
Oddly enough, they didn’t lower their weapons after I identified. In fact, they had all trained their weapons on me and my suit pinged, “Warning, you have been acquired by friendly fire. Warning.”
I looked at what seemed to be their leader and asked, “Mind lowering your weapons?”
When he didn’t move, I added, “We’re all on the same side here.”
One of their number turned to the others but I didn’t have access to what they were saying. They were obviously communicating with each other. They nodded as one and lowered their weapon.
There was a tense moment as we all looked at each other. I couldn’t help but feel that I was standing in front of a single mind, a single being with multiple bodies. It reminded me of the bugs.
Is that how they got Blake?
Then came a chilling thought. Were they made to get rid of us? They showed uncharacteristic aggression towards us. They had risen their weapon to me not a second ago. I had better keep my distance for the moment. These boys seemed good enough to be a challenge and, if what Sarge had said was true, they had taken Blake out.
They looked at me, standing alone on the field. I know that fear had been seared out of my mind but I couldn’t help but feel a chill run down my spine. These boys were trouble. I couldn’t help but wonder about Blake. Did they actually take Blake out? If so, why? Was it an accident ? Friendly fire? Or…? I didn’t like that my mind went there but, given what these boys just did, it wasn’t impossible.
One of them walked up to me and spat, “You don’t give us order, gen 0.”
I nodded and clicked to Sarge, “Hey, Sarge. What would be the consequences if I bashed these morons’ heads in?”
Sarge’s tone was deadly serious, “No idea. Probably nothing good. I…”
Sarge’s coms shut off and I saw one of the Beta Boys step to me. Did they just cut Sarge’s comms? Was this actually happening? Were we about to fight each other because… I don’t even know?
Suddenly, they all stood attention for a second. There was an entire beat and then they stepped down. They lowered their weapons and, as one, they turned their helmeted heads towards us. There was no mistaking that look. They still wanted to have our heads on a spike. But then they moved west and off towards the horizon. As I watched them, I couldn’t help but notice how similar they were to us. Same equipment, same weapons, hell, they even moved like us, swift, no wasted movement, barely a puff of dust as they beat the open ground. I looked at the horizon and a new contact appeared. It simply read Warhorse FAF ##-######. The only identification it gave was Federal Air Force. I zoomed in and realised that my visuals were blurred. What the Hell?
I tried comms again. Sarge’s comms were silent and I frowned in my suit.
What the Hell?
I looked away from the screaming Warhorse and its jets as it lowered to the ground. The Beta boys were nearly on the horizon and then they disappeared without any other form of communication.
The Warhorse lifted off the ground and Sarge suddenly came back on, “Haze, Haze! Respond!!”
“Copy, Sarge. Receiving.”
I listened to Sarge dress me down for lack of response over comms but I couldn’t help but think that those Beta Squad boys had scrambled my comms.
Who the hell were these guys? What had happened to Blake? Killed because of Beta Squad? I was still reeling from the intel when a news reel popped up on the nets.
I blinked, trying to understand what it meant.
I cut off Sarge’s dressing down and muttered, “Sarge, look at the feeds.”
I didn’t understand. What the hell was going on?
I reread the title, trying to understand.
“Specialist Tommy Blake of Mars, Avenging Angel of Holy Terra receives title of Saint.”
Chapter 56