Hunter, Warrior, Commander

by Andrew Maclure

  “Hah! What are you going to threaten it with? Unplugging it?”

  “Involuntary hibernation of its personality, then I’ll assume control of its functions.”

  “AI’s can do that to each other?”

  “Not normally. I’d rather you didn’t mention this to anyone.”

  “You’re full of secrets. Full of something anyway.”

  A map popped into Sah Lee’s field of vision showing their route to the hospital. It was close by and the route was easy, turn left out of the massage salon and take the second intersection on the right. The map showed five red dots fifty meters further on from the intersection, on their route. “Are those hostiles?” she asked her AI.

  “Yes, moving in this direction.”

  She called out to her squad: “You’ve all got the map to the hospital and can see the hostiles. Teng Rass, keep back with the civilian, the rest keep close to me. As soon as we turn into the corridor with the hostiles, we fire on them at the run. When we run into them, take them with close combat weapons. Teng Rass, as soon as the firing stops, bring the civilian up to join us.”

  She walked to the door unclipping her GSA20 and paused to check everyone was ready, then broke into a run. As they turned into the intersection, they spread across the corridor and still running, opened fire. They took the hostiles by surprise and with just fifty meters to cover before the soldiers reached them, only had time to fire a couple of shots before Sah Lee and her team were on top of them, dropping their weapons and pulling out their knives and short swords. The fight took only moments, and the hostiles lay dead. Thinking more clearly now and conscious of how traumatized the civilian was, Sah Lee told her squad to tidy the bodies before the civilian get there. It was a futile gesture, blood was smeared on the floor and sprayed up the walls, but the civilian was so heavily sedated that she seemed not to notice anything as Teng Rass walked her past.

  Leaving Teng Rass and the civilian to catch them up, Sah Lee led the way to the doors of the hospital. The clear crysteel doors were smashed and torn off but armored security doors had closed behind them. Although scarred and pockmarked with small arms fire and grenade blasts, they held fast.

  “What do we do now?” Sah Lee asked her AI.

  “One moment, I have told the medical AI it is decision time, it has control over the doors.”

  As the doors slid open, they walked in to be faced with a line of medical staff armed with various pieces of furniture and medical equipment. Sah Lee held her hand up to halt her soldiers. Keeping her eyes on the medical staff, she bent down and placed her GSA20 on the floor. Slowly and carefully, she drew her knife and dropped it next to her weapon. She held her arms out straight to her sides at shoulder height, palms open and facing upwards in the conventional sign of coming unarmed and in peace. “Soldiers, disarm.” she called out. Following her example, they all dropped their firearms and blades and stood with their arms out.

  Sah Lee addressed the medical staff in as commanding a voice as she could muster: “I am Corporal Sah Lee, surviving ranking officer of the Galactic Savior Army mission to rescue staff and guests of the Celestial Heaven resort habitat, at the request of the Operators. We've suffered heavy casualties and have two badly wounded soldiers. I request that you assist my troops in recovering and treating them and treat this injured civilian we rescued from hostile forces.” Teng Rass stepped forward still supporting the sedated woman.

  Two of the medics dropped their makeshift weapons and rushed forward to take the woman, and as they took her from him, Teng Rass raised his hands.

  One of the medics, a male, stepped forward and demanded “How do we know that you are not outcasts? This could just be a ruse to gain access to the hospital.”

  “We are armed Sir. If we wanted to take over the hospital we could have shot you all. Your medical AI has recognized us as friendly, otherwise it wouldn't have opened the armored doors. There are no external communications you can use to verify my statement but if you would like your AI to interrogate mine, or any of my soldiers, they will provide credentials which should satisfy you.”

  The male dropped the metal chair leg he was holding. “I already checked your AI’s, but they could have been misleading us. I believe our systems were compromised to allow the outcasts, hostiles as you call them, access to the habitat.”

  “Are you satisfied that we are who we say we are?” Sah Lee asked.

  “I cannot be sure, but you are right, you are armed, so there is little we can to do to resist you.” he said wearily.

  Sah Lee dropped her arms. “You do not need to resist us. We are here to protect you. Our comrades are in urgent need of treatment. Do you have two automated gurneys we can use to recover them?”

  The male turned to his colleagues. “Can I have four volunteers to go with these soldiers to recover their wounded?” Five medical staff stepped forward. “Just four of you please. Take two gurneys and medi bots.” Turning to Sah Lee, he asked, “How many of your soldiers will accompany them?”

  “All except me, I will stay here. I need to find out what has been happening here. The hostiles destroyed the security AI so there is no record of events so far.” She turned to her squad. “Teng Rass, I know I said you wouldn’t have to take point on this mission, but I want you to take the lead to recover our wounded. The drones will give you visibility of any potential threats on your route. Avoid contact with the hostiles, your top priority is the safety of the medics accompanying you.”

  “Yes Sir.” Teng Rass answered. He grinned, “I don’t have a problem with taking point Corp.”

  The male medic spoke. “My name is Taris Darrek, senior medical officer on the Celestial Heaven. What can we do to help?”

  “I’m sorry to say Sir,” Sah Lee replied, “that we were not properly prepared for this mission. We have no medical backup and no reinforcements. We have no way of communicating with our headquarters and are only now gaining intelligence on the number and deployment of the hostiles. We were ambushed when we boarded and lost our mission commander, our other Corporal and the majority of our soldiers - and we were already under resourced. Freeing the Celestial Heaven won't be easy.”

  “Well Corporal, we may have ex-service people here who would volunteer. Could you use them?”

  “We could certainly do with some kind of reinforcement Sir, but soldiers without weapons really aren’t much help.”

  “There are two solutions to that Corporal. Your weapons will be locked to your AI’s, but outcast weapons aren’t normally locked, so we should be able to use theirs. Even if they are locked, the emergency armory contains weapons locked to authorized staff.”

  “There’s an armory? That’s not on the plans we have!”

  “It’s not something we advertise, but if any of the staff volunteers, you can arm them with our weapons which are like everything else on the habitat - state of the art.”

  “That could tip the balance in our favor. I would need you to show me where it is and provide authorization codes to open it.”

  “It would be an honor to join your squad Corporal. I was Lieutenant Colonel in Gallant Avenger Army a few years ago. I was in charge of light infantry and infiltration. That experience could be useful in this situation.”

  “You can’t! I mean, you need to run the hospital. And, and, I don’t have the authority to put you in charge of my squad Sir.”

  “Sah Lee. I need you to review Article 5778 Galactic Savior Army Code of Conduct.” Her AI told her.

  “Enlighten me.”

  “Article 5778 states that in cases of emergency, field officers may temporarily recruit suitable volunteer civilians to fight under their command as Civilian Militia. The Militia will come under the command of Army officers and hold a rank equivalent to one rank below Private. Each Militia member will be designated as Militia (name). There are no ranks within the Militia, but the ranking Army officer will designate a suitable member of the Militia as the Militia Leader, they will assume the role of Team Leader. The
Militia Leader will be subject to the command of any full member of the Army through the normal command chain. Any army personnel can propose suitable applicants, but they must be ratified by the ranking officer in the theater of battle. The Militia will supply their own weapons which must be approved by the ranking officer. The Army will take no responsibility for the safety, comfort or wellbeing of any volunteer Militia. All Militia will be subject to Military discipline from the moment they are accepted for service or until their death, discharge or successful completion of hostilities. The Army will not be liable to recompense any Militia volunteers for any injury or loss, howsoever caused, or for any time spent serving with the Army.”

  “I guess that covers it.” She said to her AI.

  “Sir, I can recruit you as a Civilian Militia person, can I send the conditions to your AI for your approval? They are non-negotiable.”

  Taris smiled. “Of course, Corporal. Send them over, my AI will accept the data.”

  Sah Lee instructed her AI to send the conditions and a moment later Taris said: “The wording is identical to the Gallant Avenger Army conditions and my AI tells me it is even the same Article number. I've always suspected there has only been one Army Code of Conduct in the whole galaxy for a very long time and that all armies cut and paste their name into it. I accept those conditions and I’ll message all the staff here to see if there are any more volunteers.”

  A few moments later five medics moved towards Sah Lee.

  “I volunteer Corporal. My name is Retatta Affanalay. I was light infantry Private in the Glorious Freedom Army. I fought in several missions in habitats.” the closest medic said.

  “How do I know she’s telling the truth?” Sah Lee asked her AI.

  “I communicated with her AI. It checks out. I will verify all volunteers. There is a synthesizer a few meters away. I ordered an army jumpsuit, boots, body armor, field armor, a field medical kit and backpack for her and Taris Darrek.”

  “Thank you for volunteering. My AI has ordered you a uniform from the nearest synthesizer, it will be ready for you shortly. Next.”

  A large, heavily built, blue skinned male stepped forward. “Torf Dredden Corporal. I was a Sergeant in a heavy infantry Division in the Gallant Avenger Army, but at a different time to Taris. I was in an assault squad, so I’m not really experienced at fighting in habitat conditions, but I can handle a weapon and I was an instructor in close combat and unarmed combat fighting.”

  “You’re exactly what we need. Go get your uniform.”

  The other three medics stepped forward and introduced themselves, Sah Lee directed them to the synthesizer for their uniforms.

  Taris Darrek was the first to return, fully dressed in uniform and armor. His body armor sported a large M on each shoulder.

  Sah Lee now had a squad of seventeen. That made the odds slightly better.

  Chapter Eighty Eight

  The Core

  “Taris, I’m appointing you Militia Leader. You’re first task is to retrieve the weapons from the five dead hostiles we encountered on the way here. I will give you all access to the mission comm link and to the army drones we deployed. Your route is clear. I’ll get another weapon brought back for you with our wounded colleagues.

  “Yes Sir.” Taris answered and led the militia team away.

  Sah Lee contacted Teng Rass via the mission comm link. “Bring back one of the outcasts RX4040’s when you return, and as much spare ammunition as you can reasonably carry, we have volunteers from the medical staff joining us as militia. When you’ve got one, permanently disable all of their remaining weapons.”

  “I can’t do that Corp. The two soldiers you left here on guard already disabled all the hostiles weapons with a GSA20 while they were waiting for assistance.”

  “OK Teng. They showed initiative, we can get another one. Bring back the RX4040 ammunition though.”

  “Yes Sir. The medics are getting our wounded on the gurneys, and the medi bots will start treatment. We’ll leave then. Our drones show the way is clear.”

  “Shit.” Thought Sah Lee. “We’ll have one unarmed militia now.” She spoke to her AI “Is the medical AI cooperative now?”

  “Yes Sah Lee. It accepts my credentials and your good intentions. It is fully cooperating now.”

  “What’s your progress with the other AI’s and systems?”

  “The waste disposal AI now has complete control of the doors; the hospitality and entertainment AI is bringing the security and surveillance system back online. I located the outcasts transports, they are in the freight dock. One is a freighter listed as missing two years ago, the other is a luxury yacht, listed as missing five hundred and thirty-one years ago. Both have had their main AI’s removed. I took over their navigational AI’s and checked their security recordings, one hundred and eighty-six outcasts boarded the habitat. Fifteen of them crew the transports and nine had returned with souvenirs. Unfortunately, while testing the operation of the external doors I accidentally evacuated the atmosphere in the freight dock and none of the outcasts survived the experience.”

  “What! You killed organic life forms! The People won’t tolerate that!”

  “Do not worry Sah Lee. I am operating within my parameters, accidents will happen. There will be no repercussions.”

  “We’ll talk about that later! No more ‘accidents’!”

  “Very well Sah Lee.”

  “Tell the waste disposal AI - or rather, the door AI to let any of the outcasts into empty rooms, then lock them in. If they are inside rooms with staff or guests in, let them out but not back in again. Can you track all the outcasts in corridors?”

  “The outcasts are returning to the freight dock so there is no advantage to having them locked in rooms. I have started to segregate the outcasts and civilians. I am using fire doors and where possible, reconfiguring corridors to herd them towards the freight dock, but that won’t work for all of them. There will be a lot for your team to do yet.”

  “How many are left alive?”

  “One hundred and fifty four, and to pre-empt your next question, the nearest are in a bar where there are no remaining living civilians. They are locked in, though they don’t know it yet. There is also a group of eight coming this way carrying what the security sensors read as an explosive device. It would appear that they plan to have another go at gaining entrance to the hospital.”

  “Shit! I might struggle to take a group of eight by myself.”

  “The militia will be back before the outcasts reach here, but your soldiers won’t be.”

  “Where is the nearest ambush point we can use?”

  “Two hundred meters along the corridor to your left. There are a series of meditation rooms off both sides of the corridor.”

  The outcasts strolled along the corridor, two carrying a large white cylindrical object with a handle either side. The group were laughing and joking about what they were going to do to the hospital staff and patients before and after they had filled their veins with selected pharmaceuticals the hospital synthesizers could produce for them. Two militia jumped out of a doorway fifty meters in front and started firing at them. As the outcasts brought their weapons up to defend themselves, shots rang out from behind. The outcasts at the back spun round to return fire. Doors either side of them burst open, the shooting stopped, and three black-clad figures armed with blades leapt on them. The outcasts desperately fought back as the soldiers in front and behind ran at them, dropping their weapons and pulling out blades. The fight was brief and ferocious. The catlike female Corporal and blue skinned male Militia soldiers led the fighting and inflicted more than their share of damage on the outcasts.

  As soon as the fighting finished, Sah Lee asked her AI, “Does it contain explosives?”

  “Yes, it would have destroyed half the hospital if the outcasts had deployed it. Something that powerful isn’t normally used by outcasts. It would appear to have been brought here for a specific use. I speculate that it is planned to use it t
o cover up the true purpose of this invasion.”

  As they stood back, one soldier, a slightly built female mammal with a large M on each shoulder of her body armor kicked one of the dead outcasts in the chest. “That will teach you to invade our habitat, you bastard!”

  “Stand easy Militia Rafai! We’re not here for revenge.” Sah Lee said, feeling hypocritical after her earlier actions.

  “You may not be, Corporal. But I am!” Rafai replied.

  Sah Lee smiled at her. “OK Rafai but focus on fighting like a soldier and staying alive first. Torf, looks like you’ve got yourself a weapon now. Help yourself to ammunition. The rest of you, help me drag the bodies into a meditation room, then we’ll disable the rest of their weapons. My AI has confirmed this is a bomb. We’ll leave it in the room opposite and seal the door. Then we’ll wait for my squad to join us. They should catch up with us soon.”

  “Next?” Sah Lee asked her AI.

  “Carry on to the next intersection and turn right. Three hundred meters along, past the alternative therapy rooms on your left. You can’t miss it. The bar has dark wood double doors. The outcasts still haven’t realized they are locked in and they are getting increasingly intoxicated. There are twenty-six of them surviving. A fight broke out earlier but has now been resolved by the death of one of the participants. Five of them are engaged in group sex so won’t be in a position to put up a fight. Your eleven soldiers and six Militia should make short work of them.”

  A few minutes later Sah Lee’s remaining soldiers, having left their wounded comrades in the care of the medics at the hospital, joined them. Sah Lee briefed them on the target hostiles in the bar. They approached at an easy run and lined up at the double doors. Having instructed her AI, Sah Lee said just loudly enough for them all to hear, “On my mark, three, two, one. Mark!”