The Bad Company™ Boxed Set (Books 1-4)

by Martelle, Craig

  “Kimber. I need you to take three teams and set up a blocking location here.” Terry traced a location between the northernmost Skrima and the Benitons’ largest city, and Smedley added it to the screens in all the drop ships. “Those overachievers need to have the errors of their ways explained to them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kim replied through the ship’s speakers from her shuttle.

  “Marcie. Take three teams and set up a line here, farthest west from the Rift, and start pushing them east.”

  “Kaeden. Same in the east. Don’t let any of the Skrima get past you. Christina. You are the hammer. Take three teams and stay along the transition from the hot zone. If they try to head into Wasteland, finish them. If they are heading for the Rift, make sure they have a clear shot. Each team will be covering hundreds of miles. Call the drop ships if you have nothing in front of you and a long way to go. We’ll leapfrog the teams as necessary.”

  Terry ticked off the players in his mind before continuing, “Joseph will be here with two teams. Aaron and Yanmei will be here with two teams. Cory, Ramses, and Auburn, you’re in this gap due north of the Rift. I’ll be at the tear with Char and Bundin. Dokken. It’s too hot for you out there. I want you to go with Cory to protect her.”

  I understand, but I don’t like it.

  “I don’t like it either, buddy, but it’ll be a lot cooler where they are, which is where I’d prefer. I doubt I’ll enjoy losing half my body weight in sweat.”

  The screen showed the drop ships heading in. The first two landed, disgorged a team, and raced skyward again. Like a frog hopping lily pads, the drop ships deposited their teams along a broad arc across the northern hemisphere, using terrain to delineate between areas of responsibility.

  In some cases the warriors were a hundred kilometers apart, and in others only two. The warriors in mech suits saw exactly where the Skrima were, thanks to Ted’s satellite system. The enemy didn’t fade from view because they were blocked from using Etheric energy.

  Unfortunately, so was everyone enhanced with nanocytes.

  * * *

  Kimber ran from the drop ship, the first to do so. “Lead from the front” was her father’s motto and she embraced it, never shying from a fight. Kelly, decked out in her mech suit, ducked as she exited the shuttle, which lifted off without bothering to close the ramp.

  “Targets?” Kim asked.

  “Two this way, one kilometer.” Kelly hatcheted her arm to show the way.

  “Lock and load, and let’s go say hi!” Kim took off running, but it was nothing like what she was used to. It felt like she was wading through molasses, so she got angry and let the adrenaline feed her. The nanos started to pull energy from her body to give that boost back and she picked up speed, but knew she wouldn’t be able to maintain it.

  Kelly loped along beside her. The suit helped offset some of the effects of Ted’s Etheric-neutralizing weapon.

  They ran through a field of wild grasses and sparse trees. The Skrima were in a copse at the far side. The two put a hundred meters between them. Kelly ran with her railgun raised, ready to fire. Kim’s JDS was in her hand, swinging with her arms to help her maintain momentum.

  “Your two other teams have landed and are on the move.”

  Kim didn’t reply, since she needed her air. When Kelly slowed, so did Kimber. She brought her pistol up and weaved as she walked, looking over the sights and ready to fire the instant she spotted her target.

  Soon enough the Skrima came into view, but they were wandering in circles with vacant expressions. Kim took aim, but couldn’t fire. Kelly held her railgun steady, waiting on the order to unleash the weapon.

  Kim pulled her comm device from her pocket and keyed it to broadcast to all personnel. “We’ve encountered the Skrima. They are confused, and not aggressive. I don’t think they see us even though we’re standing right here. Orders?”

  Terry Henry’s voice crackled through. “Get them to move, no matter what you need to do to accomplish that. We don’t have the transport, so they’ll need to haul themselves back to the Rift.”

  “Roger. Out.” Kim stuffed the comm device back into her pocket. “Come on there, nice Skrima. I need you to get moving.”

  Kim held her pistol steady, having recovered her breath from the short run.

  The creature finally seemed to notice her. It opened its mouth and made guttural noises. The second Skrima stopped meandering and stood shoulder to shoulder with his comrade.

  “Not sure what’s going on, but I don’t like it,” Kelly said using the suit’s external speakers.

  The Skrima hissed at her, and faster than the eye could follow they both charged. Kim snap-fired into one’s face and blew its head off, but the other bowled her over. Her ballistic vest stopped most of the attack from the second creature, but her arm was unprotected. The claws raked across her forearm as they both tumbled to the ground.

  Kelly danced around, trying to get a clear shot.

  Kim tried to kick the creature away, but he was much larger than her and had better leverage. She caught his wrist as it slashed toward her head, but he grabbed her wrist and gripped tighter and tighter. Kim knew the bones would give way soon.

  She screamed in fury and bucked as she tried to free herself, then the Skrima’s head jerked sideways as Kelly butt-stroked it with her railgun. With its skull caved in, it collapsed. Kim kicked the dead Skrima off her. Blood trailed down her left arm.

  Kim holstered her Jean Dukes Special and used her free hand to tie a bandage around the wound. She grimaced and held one end of the tie-off in her mouth, pulling tightly on the other. Blood leaked through.

  “Ahh, for the good old days when we could shrug off injuries. I miss them.” She tried to show bravado, but the injury scared her.

  She activated her comm device. When Kelly picked her up to carry her to their next set of targets, Kim screamed in pain. “Son of a mother fuck, that hurt!”

  “Report!” Terry replied.

  “Don’t believe them. The Skrima still have super speed, and once they realized we were there it was game on. They are faster and stronger than us. Do not let them close on your position. They ignored the mech and both came after me. And if you get a claw job, that shit hurts and the nanos aren’t healing it.” Kim tried to relax as Kelly loped across the uneven terrain.

  “Two more targets six kilometers out.”

  “The others?” Kim asked.

  “Four Skrima down. They are advancing.” Kelly tried to maintain an even voice, but blood from Kim’s wound ran down the front of her armor.

  “Roger,” Terry finally replied. “Hang on for another thirty minutes. We have something coming that will help you out.”

  * * *

  Kae heard the report from his sister, and his lip quivered as a snarl formed. He had been the second-last on the ground, and felt like he was behind. The run hadn’t bothered him as much as he thought it would, even though he was in a suit.

  The railgun felt heavier than normal, but he had no intention of going into combat without it. His rockets had been reloaded, and he was ready to use them.

  Kaeden picked two Skrima that were between his team and the next one. He targeted the rocket and sent it on its way. Other mechs were doing the same to increase the amount of space they could cover.

  He tallied the other teams’ reports and found that none of the Skrima had run. Good, he thought. I like an enemy that is willing to stand and fight. It’s stupid, but hey…we’re giving them the choice.

  As he and his partner zeroed in on a pair of Skrima ahead, they saw what Kim had seen. The demon-looking creatures wandered aimlessly, eyes unfocused.

  “Sniper mode,” he whispered from the suit’s speakers, and his teammate moved to the side and covered his ears. Kae took aim and fired, then rapidly adjusted to the second target and fired a spread of three rounds in case the Skrima moved.

  It didn’t. Both Skrima exploded from the impact of the hypervelocity rounds. “Mark. Two down. Advan
cing,” Kae reported. He checked his HUD to find his team efficiently moving forward.

  “Maintain your spacing. Rockets to grid seven, Cap.”

  “Aye, aye, sir. Targeting. Firing.” In his mind, Kae could see Capples’ half-smile as he tracked the rockets through the sky. “A custom delivery by airmail,” he would say—something that the blimps had brought back to a recovering Earth.

  Airmail was the fastest way to deliver a package to friends and family.

  “Your package has been delivered. How would you rate the service you received today?” Kae mumbled as the two IR targets disappeared after the rocket’s impact.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Terry had landed his shuttle and kept it on the ground. He stood where he could see the screen, preferring to be outside despite the nearly unbearable heat.

  The Rift was a kilometer away, but they were on the side where he could see it with his naked eye. “Smedley, set an alarm if anything comes through or if anything approaches.”

  “Of course, Colonel Walton. I’ll notify you the second a creature comes through the Rift. None of the Skrima appear to be inclined to run from the Bad Company. There are none approaching.”

  Terry kicked at the dead ground, and wisps of dust rose into the air before slowly settling back in. There wasn’t a breath of wind, and the air smelled like the dust of the Wastelands. No humidity. No life. Terry imagined that if Mars had air, it would smell the same way.

  Bundin lounged outside the drop ship, his four eyes taking in the surroundings. “Finally, some decent weather,” the Podder said conversationally.

  Char remained inside. The shuttle’s climate control system kept the inside cool by using the atmospheric shield that covered the rear opening. It shimmered occasionally as dust flitted off its surface.

  Terry took a long drink of water. He listened carefully to the team reports Smedley funneled directly to his comm chip.

  “How many Skrima down?”

  “Over one hundred. This is going more quickly than I projected.”

  Terry looked at the monitor. “I think we’re right on schedule. Why was your estimate different?”

  “The unknowns. I calculated the number of Skrima and came up with a projection that was quite high. You seem to have ignored the extreme, correctly so, but how did you know? I had no data to suggest such a small number was possible.”

  “Gut feel, General. Moving a mass of soldiers onto a battlefield is a major logistical undertaking. I don’t think they can feed here. It was my impression that they are creatures of the other dimension, and need to be there to survive. They are here to explore and wreak havoc, but not to live. A hundred thousand of them? They couldn’t get through or back quickly enough to sustain such a number.”

  “I’ll be,” Smedley conceded.

  “Emergency. Kimber is unconscious from loss of blood. Request emergency extract.”

  “Stand by,” Terry replied. “Break. Break. Ted, turn off the jammer so Kimber can start her recovery. All units, hold your advance and dig in. Ted, give me fifteen minutes, then turn it back on, please.”

  The effect was instantaneous. Terry’s chest seemed to swell with the power that the Etheric flooded into his nanos. Char walked through the shield and joined Terry in the heat. She kept her hands on her pistols. Bundin remained unaffected.

  “Kelly?” Char asked.

  “Alert!” Smedley blasted from the shuttle’s speakers. “A creature is coming through the Rift.”

  Terry took aim and with his strength, he dialed his JDS to eleven. He braced himself and fired at the form moving within the tear.

  The impact vaporized the Skrima, but the explosion on this side of the void was minimal. Terry clenched his teeth as he worked the pain from his shoulder. “Where was the Earth-shattering kaboom?” he asked in a high-pitched voice.

  Char elbowed him in the ribs. She closed her eyes and explored the movement of power from the Etheric. When she opened them, she smiled. “I expect anyone who was on the other side of that opening is having a really bad day.”

  “Maybe we pop a round in there every now and then?” Terry offered.

  “What if they pop back?” Char countered.

  Terry squinted to see the Rift better. It had returned to its former state—a small swirl in the middle of nowhere.

  “Then we probably don’t want to be anywhere near there. We haven’t seen any kind of technology from them, so I’m not sure they can shoot back.”

  “Terminator?”

  “Where only organic material could travel through time? I don’t buy it. I think they are intelligent, but not technologically so. I can’t discern a purpose. There’s no rhyme or reason to what they’re doing besides murder and mayhem. What’s their end game?”

  “I don’t know. Smedley?”

  “I got nothing.”

  “I love the new you, Smedley,” Terry replied.

  “Kelly? Anything from Kimber?” Char asked.

  “Kim here. Thanks for the boost. I’m slugging all our water now. Give me five minutes more and I’ll be back in the saddle.”

  “That’s good news,” Char said, relief in her voice and on her face.

  “Report!” Terry called.

  “We’re blind out here,” Kae replied first. “Once the interruption in the energy flow was reinstated, the Skrima disappeared from IR. Stay frosty, people!”

  “We’ve continued to advance. These creatures are ghosts in the mist, but we can still see them. We’ve got two teams converging on a pair now. They’re moving, and we don’t want them to get away. FIRE!” Christina yelled all of a sudden. The sound of railguns opening in automatic mode filled the channel, then there was a brief pause.

  “Christina?”

  Before she could answer the railguns opened up again, then just a mech’s oversized gun continued to bark. “Dieee!” came a Pricolici voice.

  * * *

  Praeter had been assigned as Christina’s suited companion. He hadn’t worried about being able to keep up, and was mildly surprised that she was hard-pressed to keep up with him even in her reduced state.

  When the power came back on, his HUDs blanked out. Christina smiled and used her power to see what was in front of them. She announced that the Skrima were coming so Praeter prepared himself, counting on her to point the enemy out before they got too close. He had heard Kimber’s report, as they all had, and it put him on edge. If they were fast before, he expected them to be little more than blurs now.

  He rotated his railgun through a figure eight before him, ready to fire the instant he saw anything.

  Christina’s comm chirped. Colonel Walton was calling for a report. She waited, and then started talking. In the middle of her report the Skrima appeared from the brush without disrupting any of the foliage, and like laser beams they headed straight for the pair of warriors.

  Praeter didn’t wait. He fired, spraying the hypervelocity darts back and forth between the inbound demons. They continued to run, unaffected by the railgun, although they started to dodge. Both Praeter and Christina stopped firing.

  The Skrima solidified and the warriors fired again. One of the Skrima buckled as a volley hit it before it ghosted back into a semi-rigid state, but the creature shrugged off its injuries and started running again. Christina threw her railgun down and changed into her Pricolici form. Still holding her boarding axe, she charged.

  Praeter slowed his fire, tracking the second Skrima until it was too close. The moment it raised its clawed arm to slash the mech, Praeter launched himself sideways while continuing to fire. The Skrima missed digging a claw into Praeter’s chest and solidified for a fraction of a second, which was long enough for a railgun round fired from point-blank range to explode its head.

  The mech turned, but Christina and the Skrima were tied up in hand-to-hand combat. She twirled her axe before her to hold its claws at bay, but it didn’t care about the axe. It stabbed a claw forward like a single dagger, and it plunged into Christina’s ches
t. She raked her own claw down the creature’s arm and it screamed in pain.

  Praeter tried to get a clear shot in the moment that the Skrima was vulnerable, but when it pulled back it ghosted out. Praeter fired anyway, but the darts passed straight through it.

  Christina staggered backward, happy to have the nanos hard at work repairing what would otherwise have been a fatal wound. She charged a moment later, estimating when the creature would solidify to deliver its deadly counterattack. She dove to the ground and swung her axe, and was rewarded with a satisfying crunch.

  While she was out of the line of fire, Praeter pounded the creature with hypervelocity darts. Once solid, the Skrima was finished. Huge chunks of flesh were blown off in a final frenzy of death.

  Christina rolled away, but it was too late. She was already splattered in gore.

  She started to change back into human form when the jammer came back on. She didn’t have enough energy to complete the transformation, but her Pricolici form drew everything she had left. She passed out and fell over.

  Praeter was too far away to catch her.

  * * *

  When the energy from the Etheric returned Cory’s eyes started to glow blue again.

  “You’re back!” Ramses declared as they surveyed the open field. They hadn’t moved since their arrival, waiting on word that the way ahead was clear. Without a mech or the ability to see into the Etheric, Cory considered their role to be almost useless.

  “We need to get on a drop ship and be ready to respond in case something happens,” Cory stated.

  “We’re supposed to hold position here to make sure nothing comes through this gap in our lines,” Ramses replied matter-of-factly.

  Dokken’s eyes rolled back in his head as the German Shepherd shifted onto his back in his attempt to find a comfortable position to sleep.

  Cory looked at the railgun in her hand, then back at the horizon. She shook her head.