A Hero

by Stephen Arseneault

  Our small column of sixteen Marines sprinted across a field. Low rolling hills led into an area of rocky ravines.

  Gunny held up a hand. "I think this is the place. I want four teams of two and two of four. A two-man each north, east, south, and west. The remaining teams of four will be rovers. You'll circle our perimeter performing recon. Relay sightings of anything unusual. We're on our own out here. Until they come for us, we keep ourselves alive."

  As a member of a four-man rover squad, I spent the next two hours walking up and down hills, stopping, observing, and reporting back. As we reached the hill overlooking the buildings we had come from, the hum of gunships filled the air. An instant later, a rain of blue streaks blasted the structures. I had every urge to fire my blaster at a gunship that had settled just above our heads. We kept still, our camo gear and lightweight battlesuits blending in with our surroundings.

  Gunny came over the comm. "Hold your positions. Do not engage. Rover-two, you have the anti-air munition, prep for use but do not fire until I give the command."

  The anti-air round, called a gumball because of its round shape and bright pink color, was a small nuclear round that put out an EMP pulse. It was a gift from Thomas Goodall. He claimed his father's labs were looking for a field test of a new weapon they hoped to sell to the Union. I was happy to have the option of trying something new.

  We had no way of knowing the effectiveness of the gumball against the Togmal, and before Gunny could give the command, the Togmal gunship zipped away... but it was followed by a transport.

  As the new ship hovered above the field we had previously crossed, Gunny gave the command. "Shield your eyes. Pair three, I want a round fired on that hull. If it drops to the ground as I expect, we all rush it."

  I sent an acknowledgment to his wrist display. Our rover squad was ready.

  "Take the shot."

  As the transport descended, a bright flash blanketed the surrounding landscape with intense light.

  "Go! Go! Go!"

  With Hayden by my side, we charged down the hill. The transport in front of us dropped thirty meters, slamming the ground like a stone. Dirt sprayed out to the sides upon impact. I glanced at my plasma rifle to find the indicator lights were out. We had been too close to the EMP blast. Hayden pulled his knife as I drew mine.

  We reached the transport just as the exit ramp was being manually cranked down. Hayden gave me a boost. I climbed atop the ship, coming to a stop just above the ramp. Hayden hid to the side. We could hear Togmal warriors grunting and rustling around inside.

  The rest of our platoon gathered at the rear of the ship as Hayden waved an arm for them to wait. The intense EMP had also wiped out our comms.

  As the ramp neared the ground, the first Togmal stepped out. Hayden was waiting and attacked with a hard thrust of his knife to the Togmal's neck. I gave a wave to the others. As the next warrior emerged, I dove on its back from above. My knife went deep into its shoulder, killing it instantly. Two more emerged as our platoon reached the ramp.

  The fight outside only lasted seconds. We bulled our way inside, hacking and slashing anything that moved. The fall had severely injured most of the Togmal aboard. Only a dozen had come out unharmed. We sliced through their ranks like the Togmal warships had done to our ships in the heavens above. Eliminating the injured Togmal was almost more of a chore than a fight.

  We dragged the last two surviving Togmal outside, ten minutes after our initial entry. One had a nasty gash in the back of his torso while the other had two broken ankles. Neither was in a condition to put up a fight.

  Hayden stood over the warrior with the broken ankles. His knife blade scraped against the Togmal's rugged facial skin.

  "Start talking lizard. Why are you here?"

  The Togmal returned a series of grunts.

  Gunny grabbed the other warrior by the throat. "You understand us?"

  Sheila stepped forward. Using her knife, she cut a leg of the uniform pants the Togmal with the broken ankles was wearing.

  Hayden stepped back. "What are you doing?"

  "Just checking."

  She slit the pants to the waist and folded back the material, revealing the Togmal to likely be a male.

  Sheila smirked as she moved her knife down close to his privates. "Listen scumbag, if you want to keep, whatever that is, you'll start answering questions."

  More grunts followed.

  I wasn't sure why, but an image of Denise popped into my head. A sudden rage came over me. I jammed my knife into the Togmal's neck. Gunny followed by doing the same to the one he stood over.

  Hayden chuckled. "Don't think they had much to say, anyway."

  Gunny said, "We won't be getting anything from any of them without a translator. Let's go in and inspect the transport. Maybe we can learn something from that."

  I asked, "How long do we want to do this? One of our gunships comes by and we won't want to be in there."

  Gunny looked around the sky. "Five minutes. If you find anything of use, bring it out."

  Max asked, "Where do we go from here?"

  "Back into the hills. The nearest city is about forty klicks that way. We can be there tomorrow."

  Our search of the ship only produced a dozen paper-like manuals. Unable to read them, we took them with us. Our intel corps would decide their usefulness.

  After a hike through hills and across two rivers we were standing on a ridge that was within eyesight of the City of Glenvale. With just over an hour of walking we would arrive. I wasn't thrilled by the sight.

  Pillars of smoke rose into the chartreuse Haven sky. The daytime temperature under the orange sun was pleasant. A slightly thick atmosphere moderated any temperature swings. Unfortunately for the colonists, poor soil meant Haven was a food importer. Glenvale however, was no longer in need of food.

  As we drew nearer, Gunny put out a hand. "Ho. Hold up."

  We watched for most of a minute as a craft of some sort hovered over the burning city.

  "Anyone want to take a guess whose ship that is?"

  Max pulled a small set of binoculars from his pack. "It's... not ours."

  Gunny turned to his left and then his right. "Over there. We take cover!"

  We hustled to a set of rocks and settled in.

  I shook my head. "One of their ships is still here? This can't be good."

  "Not at all." Gunny gestured to Max for his binoculars.

  Hayden sat and leaned against a rock. "We need to find a comm device. Being blind and mute isn't cutting it."

  Sheila said, "We're still alive, aren't we?"

  "Also, hiding in the rocks. What's your point?"

  Gunny continued to look through the binoculars. "We have three buildings about a kilometer from here. I need two volunteers."

  The pair who had fired the EMP rounds were the first to raise their hands.

  Gunny nodded. "Check those buildings for power. If they have it, check them for comms. But don't use anything. We don't want to draw the attention of our friends. Whatever comms you find will be non-military. They can detect them."

  The volunteers hustled away.

  I sat beside Hayden. Sheila plopped down beside me. The remainder of our platoon rested where they were.

  Sheila said, "So, Ray, we haven't talked about Denise. I know it's a painful subject. But know I am here to listen if you want to talk. And I'm saying talk. No funny business."

  I was quiet for several seconds. "Don't know what to say. I've tried to put that behind me now. It's a motivator, but not my center of focus."

  I had suppressed the pain. However, it was far from gone. I wasn't sure what made me open up, but I began to talk. "The Togmal took her as I watched."

  Sheila flinched. "What? I didn't know that. I thought she died on a transport that got attacked."

  I went into the whole story of how TC had caused delay after delay and how once she was finally away, I connected with a comm link and watched the whole thing play out. I recounted our last con
versation and the proud way she went down fighting. I couldn't finish the part where the Togmal pulled away leaving a three-meter-diameter hole in the ship's side, or of Denise's last action of hugging Paulette.

  Sheila held a solid frown. "That is harsh. I knew none of that."

  "No one knows except Thomas Goodall. I couldn't bring myself to tell Denise's parents the full story. In fact, this is the first time I've talked about that entire event. The psychologist at the hospital didn't even get that version."

  Sheila chuckled as she thought about Denise. "I knew there was a reason I liked that girl. She was always friendly to me, even though I seemed to annoy everyone else. I know I can be a handful. It's just how I'm wired. Denise always knew the right things to say."

  I nodded. "She did. That strength was something that drew me to her. We hit it off from the start. I had to marry her. She was just too good for me to fumble around with. Then Pea came along. Don't know if I will ever be that happy again. There's something about holding that little person in your hands. They totally depend on you, and you would give them everything, no matter the cost. Denise did that. She died protecting our daughter."

  Hayden placed his hand on my shoulder. "Now I can see why you have such a grudge against the Togmal. Just know I am here with you. We'll make those little maggots pay."

  Sheila agreed. "That we will."

  Our scout team came back a short while later. The buildings were empty and without power. Unfortunately it was a workplace so it had no food stockpiles, also, the water pressure was gone.

  We stayed in our hideaway for another day before the Togmal ship left. The nutrilogs in our packs were running low. Gunny decided we should make our way into town—if there were any town left. After another hour of walking, the hum of a ship coming up from behind surprised us. It was one of ours, a gunship.

  The pilot landed his small craft in a field nearby. After a short conversation and a comm to a new command, we were ordered to wait there for a transport. A little over an hour later, it showed. The transport took us to a new base a half kilometer from our old one. The ground above the collapsed barracks still smoldered. Over nine hundred of our regiment had died without ever getting into the fight.

  Twelve of our warships had driven the Togmal out. The spaceport city of Glendale was in shambles, as was our old base, two other cities, and the new base we were sent to evaluate.

  Several weeks later, a comm came in from TC. "Glad to see you made it out, Ray. The report says you used the gumball?"

  "We did. And it was effective. But it also knocked out our gear."

  "Glad to hear it worked. We'll find a way to shield our equipment. I'll let my father know this weapon should be fast-tracked."

  "You fix the issue with our gear and I have to believe command would order as many of those as you could make. If you have any more items that need field testing, we'd be happy to do it."

  "We have many items, Ray. Unfortunately, the rules the Union have in place prevent any field testing without a lengthy application process. We have been trying to have that process altered for this conflict, but the politicians in charge of those committees seem unwilling to budge. The process to get approval for use of that gumball began three years ago. It’s just another example of them keeping tight control on all contracts. But, with the right donations made, anything can get pushed through, eventually."

  TC had been passing by after another visit to Merchain. It seemed he was losing his fight with Estelle over who was second in command at Aarlis Corporation. I didn't envy him his position.

  Another week went by with no digging at the barracks, we were eventually informed the politicians had decided to leave our Marines where they lay. The Corps was to construct a memorial to honor their sacrifice. I felt for all the family members back home who would have to make the long journey to Haven if they wanted to visit their loved one's resting place.

  Gunny proposed the argument that our government might be running out of money. Scads of new contracts for warfighting equipment had been signed. The Aarlis Corporation would have a banner year.

  The following week, we received new orders. Our remaining platoon would join a new regiment. This time on Exeter.

  — Chapter 20 —

  * * *

  Two days later, we shipped out. Exeter was a six-day run. We would join the third regiment of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Force. Our company designation would become JT065. Because of its losses, TX512 was being retired. We hadn't been in the company long, but it was still a blow to our egos.

  We also had a new lieutenant. The bunker collapse squashed our prior lieutenant along with the rest of our company, and most of the regiment we belonged to. The rest had died in the fighting afterward.

  Lieutenant Rascoe, the replacement, had five years in the Corps. He had yet to see combat, but he was not timid in any way. He was a solid, muscular individual like Hayden, just slightly more compact.

  Gunny introduced him to our platoon. "This is our new CO, Lieutenant Rascoe. He comes to us from Earth, only having arrived on Haven two days ago. He's the boxing champion for the one-hundred-kilo class on Earth and is five years a Marine."

  The lieutenant stepped up and looked us over for several seconds. "Thank you, Gunny. First, just let me say how glad I am they assigned me this platoon. I've read over your record. The lot of you now have as much combat experience as any other platoon in the entire Corps.

  "I'll be questioning each of you over your submitted reports. I'd like to know what drove you to the decisions you made, because at the moment they appear to be some of the best out there. Now, let me give you some background on myself..."

  The lieutenant explained his troubled youth and how boxing had straightened him out. Discipline was now his driver. He was committed to being the best and was eager to get at the Togmal.

  During the six-day ride out, he had a short personal discussion with each of us. I came away with the feeling he would be a good commander in the field and would take every opportunity to listen to and support his team.

  As our transport came into comm range of Exeter, alerts blared. Fighting was underway. The Togmal had overrun and destroyed a third of the cities.

  After battling it out for four days solid, the fleets in the heavens above were now at a standoff. We came in at an angle, taking us past our fleet and straight down to the fight on the surface. The whole city of Danzer was a running brawl going from street to street.

  Our transport was nearing the ground when a missile shot up from the opposing side.

  "Brace, brace, brace!" the pilot yelled over the ship's intercom.

  The Marines around me were shaken from their feet and bounced into the air as the left-forward thrust engine took a direct hit.

  I scrambled toward a front wall, bracing myself for impact with the ground. The explosion sent the slowing transport lurching forward and dropping across the battle lines. The ship slammed into the remains of the upper stories of a building that was already burning, before it plummeted to the ground and skidded to a stop.

  Bodies went flying because of the rapid deceleration. Hayden smashed into Sheila, pressing her hard against the wall. Along with several others, I bounced off the wall beside them. When the commotion settled, not a single Marine was left standing.

  Sheila pushed Hayden. "Get off me, you big oaf."

  Hayden chuckled as he stood and held out a hand to her. "Thanks for being the Hammer's bumper."

  Sheila wiggled her shoulders, inflating the muscles that had been flattened.

  Hayden asked, "You okay?"

  I nodded as he helped me to my feet. "I'll live."

  The lieutenant was up beside us, rubbing his elbow. "This is a disaster. Get as many out on the ground as you can."

  A crewman slammed the button to deploy the ramp. As we came to the doorway, the ramp tilted up into the air and locked, making it useless. We jumped to a collapsed wall before making our way to the ground.

  The lieutenant was ri
ght out front and asking for orders over his comm. "Major! My display shows we are half a kilometer behind Togmal lines! We need new orders!"

  There was silence for close to a minute. We stood in jeopardy. Instructions finally showed on his display.

  The lieutenant barked into his comm, "Delta Platoon! Head for the remains of that green building! I want someone up there spotting! Alpha through Charlie, you are with me. Echo, you follow us in. Keep our backs clean!"

  Being Alpha platoon, we raced ahead with the lieutenant. But there was a problem. Only two Marines from Charlie Platoon, and four from Echo Platoon had come off the transport in fighting shape. Bravo Platoon was helping with the injured and staying to protect the downed ship. The lieutenant was immediately looking to us for guidance.

  I held up a hand. "Stop here, sir. This is where command broke down on us before. They should not have issued those orders without having knowledge of the situation. We need to reevaluate."

  "What would you suggest?"

  I looked over our surroundings and pointed. "See that four-story with the roof missing? I say we take that high ground. It should give us a firing position on their front line, and sighting should they attack our ship."

  "You heard the corporal, let's move!"

  The two hundred meters to the building in question took twice as long to get through as I had guessed. Debris was everywhere. Our boots were the only thing that prevented us from getting broken ankles. As we arrived at the building, we observed two Togmal spotters occupying the top floor. Even given the newly crashed ship nearby, their attention was focused toward the combat line.

  Hayden and Sheila stepped forward. "We got this, sir. Just follow us up."

  The lieutenant gave a nod.

  With a short sprint we were inside the building and going up the remains of a stairwell. We passed several dead human bodies. The smell of three-day-old death almost sent my lunch up my throat and into my helmet faceshield. It was like nothing I had ever encountered. And I hoped I never would again.

  In order to move up, we had to jump a two-meter missing section of the stairwell. Sheila was first, grabbing the rail on the top side to pull herself up. Hayden jumped next, but his big hulking frame caused the rail to pull from its wall anchor, sending him falling through the hole to the stairwell below, almost landing on and crushing Max. I took the leap next, pulling myself up with the help of Sheila.