by James Rosone
Pauli and Amy stood up, falling in with everyone else as they waited to hear what was going on.
“Captain Hiro is going to take over command of the company,” announced Atkins. “He’ll still be nominally in charge of us, but I’m going to run things until we get a replacement officer. As you all saw, the C100s pushed ahead of us yesterday. They’re circling around the city and into the foothills to flush the Zodarks out. In an hour, a Prim unit is going to land near our positions. They’ll take the lead in liberating the city. We’ve been ordered to follow the C100s as they sweep through the forest on the northwestern edge of the city. Get your gear sorted and be ready to move once the Prims arrive.”
With their new instructions, the soldiers went back to their areas and packed their patrol packs and rucks. Now that they’d been in the field for three days, their packs were a little lighter as they’d consumed a good portion of the food they’d brought with them. Pauli figured he was still good for another three days before he’d need a resupply.
*******
Two hours later, the Prims finally arrived…late, but par for the course when it came to the military.
Pauli stood next to a tree, watching the Prim soldiers as they disembarked their transport craft. The transports were massive and relatively quiet for a large space-capable flying contraption; Pauli admired the design. The Prims’ transports were a lot cleaner and leaner than anything Pauli had seen up to that point. The Prims used a different type of propulsion system than their human allies. It allowed them to hover and take off at extraordinary speeds. Pauli loved to see the technology and equipment of another alien species.
Amy poked him in the ribs. “You know what those Prims look like?” she asked with a mischievous grin.
Pauli turned his head slightly toward her, caught off guard by the question. “What?” he asked.
“The Prims. You know what they look like to me?”
Pauli shrugged and shook his head. He didn’t care what they looked like so long as they knew how to fight.
“They look like elves with those pointy ears,” she commented with a smile, almost like it was some sort of inside joke.
Pauli snorted at the reference. “Yeah, except for those long pointy noses. I don’t think they look like elves—maybe more like Vulcans from that new version of Star Trek. But those noses, though, they throw all the dimensions off for me with elves.”
“Whatever. They look like elves to me,” Amy said as she turned to go chat with another friend who probably agreed with her assessment of what they looked like.
Standing alone now that Amy had left, Pauli continued to stare at the newcomers. He’d never seen a Prim in person before. He knew this was a Prim world, though, a colony that had been in their control for more than three hundred years.
Three hundred years…humans haven’t even been a spacefaring society for half that time, thought Pauli. It still astonished him to think that there were dozens of species out there in the galaxy now allied with humans who’d been traveling the stars for thousands of years.
“Hey, Pauli. Master Sergeant wants to see you,” called Corporal Yogi Sanders, his fire team leader.
“Thanks, Yogi. I’ll go see what he wants,” Pauli replied. He turned around and headed off to find their platoon sergeant. It took a few minutes to track him down. When Pauli walked up to him, he noticed Atkins was no longer wearing his master sergeant chevrons. He had a silver bar on his uniform.
“Ah, there you are, Private Smith,” Atkins said. “Lieutenant Hiro was just promoted to captain by the major. For some unknown reason, Major Monsoor decided to make me an officer instead of one of the other platoon sergeants. I, in turn, needed a new platoon sergeant, so I promoted Sergeant Dunham. Dunham has seen fit to promote Yogi to take over the squad.” Atkins paused for a second before he settled his gaze back on Pauli.
“Look, Pauli, you should’ve been promoted to corporal a long time ago. It was my recommendation that you be promoted instead of Yogi, but the lieutenant had other plans. Had Big Army not done this major reorg of our rank structure, you’d probably be a sergeant or staff sergeant by now.
“You’re smart, you know how to soldier. You’re cool as a cucumber under fire and you’re a damn fine infantryman. I couldn’t promote you when you should have been, but I’m promoting you to corporal now. You’ve earned it, and more than that, I’m proud of you. You will take over your fire team from Yogi. Continue to do a good job and help make sure these draftees don’t get us all killed. OK?” Lieutenant Atkins reached into his patrol pack and pulled a pair of corporal chevrons out, handing them to Pauli to attach to his uniform.
Pauli stood there for a second, not sure what to say. He was a bit dumbfounded. “I, yes, sir. Thank you for the promotion, sir. I’ll do my best not to let you down.”
Smiling, Atkins extended his hand. “Welcome to the ranks of the noncommissioned officer, Pauli. You’ll do fine. Now go find your squad and get ready to move out. Then send Yogi over to see me next.”
As Pauli walked back to where his squad was set up, he attached his new rank to the center of his chest rig, his helmet, and the collars of his uniform blouse.
“Hey, hey. Look who just made corporal!” one of Pauli’s squadmates announced. Everyone started walking up to Pauli, congratulating him on his promotion.
A few minutes later, Yogi joined them, wearing his new rank as well. He’d gone from corporal to sergeant.
Yogi motioned with his head for Pauli to walk with him. “Pauli, I know Amy’s your friend and battle buddy, but you need to keep an eye on her,” Yogi said quietly. “She needs to get it together. We can’t have one of our soldiers freezing up like that. She’ll get people killed.”
Pauli nodded; he knew Yogi was right. It was now his responsibility to take care of the team. It had been different when she was just his battle buddy. Now, he was the fire team leader. He had eight soldiers to take care of.
Heck, Yogi has sixteen soldiers in the squad he’s in charge of now, Pauli realized. It was a lot of responsibility. Pauli missed the days before the reorg. Back then, a squad had had six to ten soldiers. They’d increased the sizes of the squads and platoons to increase the firepower and capability of the company and battalion-sized elements that would be deployed on the starships.
“I know, Yogi,” Pauli responded. “She froze up during the ambush. I spoke with her about it, and she won’t make the same mistake twice. I showed her the cherry that got dusted. I told her that could happen to her or the rest of us if she freezes up again. I’ll keep an eye on her.” Pauli paused for a second before asking, “What do we do if she can’t hack it, though? I mean, not everyone is cracked up to be in the infantry.”
Pauli had known Yogi since they’d left Earth, headed for New Eden. He was one of the original soldiers that had deployed with the unit to become a true forward-deployed space force.
Yogi shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. If she truly can’t cut it, then maybe Atkins will be able to get her transferred to a rear unit, or maybe a non-combat job. All I know is we need everyone in the squad able to fight. We can’t have someone unable to pull their weight, putting all our lives at risk. You remember what happened when Pitaki lost it back on New Eden. Half our old squad got smoked when that dickhead lost his nerve—the bastard just dropped his rifle and ran.”
Yogi spat on the ground in contempt at the memory. Private Pitaki had been positioned on the far-left side of their flank during one of the last battles on New Eden. When the Zodarks had attacked, he’d lost it. Half a dozen Zodarks had penetrated the part of their lines Pitaki had been guarding, killing eight of their platoonmates before they’d been stopped. They had found Pitaki many hours later, naked and curled up in a ball next to a tree, crying.
“Let’s head back, Yogi. We have to get everyone ready to move,” Pauli finally said, ending the conversation.
By now, the Prim unit was on the move. They were advancing on the city, which was still four or five kilometers
away. Everyone hoped the Zodarks had truly abandoned it and not left a trail of booby traps in their wake.
The radio in Pauli’s helmet crackled to life. “This is Captain Hiro. We’re moving out. First Platoon, take point. I’m sending the waypoints now. Unless we meet resistance, push on until we hit Waypoint Delta. We’ll bivouac there for the night. Let’s move.”
“You heard the captain,” echoed Lieutenant Atkins. “Let’s roll. I want Third Squad on point.”
“Let’s go, people. We’re taking point,” Pauli announced to his fire team.
Pauli’s usual point man walked in the direction their HUD guided them. The rest of the team fell in behind him. It took them a few minutes of moving before they got their spacing right. Pauli had them keep three to five meters of distance between them. He had no idea how many Zodarks were still out there, but one thing was clear—the enemy was in this forested foothill area. They just didn’t know where or how many.
Two hours later, Pauli suddenly heard a series of explosions, followed by a lot of human and Zodark blaster fire off in the distance. It didn’t sound close, but the fact that he could hear it meant it wasn’t that far away either.
“Keep moving,” Pauli said to his point man. He also changed their patrol formation, moving his fire team from a single-file formation to a wedge. He wanted them ready to lay down covering or suppressive fire if needed.
As they moved closer to the sounds of battle, Pauli’s radio chirped. It was Lieutenant Atkins. “Sergeant Sanders, Corporal Smith, the C100s found an enemy encampment. That’s what all that blaster fire in the distance is about. Captain Hiro has tasked our platoon with setting up a blocking force along this area.”
A spot on the digital map was highlighted on their HUD. It was a few kilometers away and directly behind the enemy encampment the combat Synths were attacking.
“We’re on it, sir,” Yogi immediately replied.
“Good. Lead the way and find us a nice defensive position. We need to hurry, so don’t dawdle. Atkins out.”
Pauli told the rest of his fire team about what was happening and the change to their mission, and then he took the lead from his point man. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the soldier or anything, Pauli just wanted to be the one to lead them for a bit.
As they approached the blocking position on the map, the sounds of the battle grew louder. It was clear the C100s were driving the Zodarks right to them.
“Here, I found a good spot for us to set up,” Pauli announced over the platoon net.
In short order, the platoon fanned out along a copse of trees and boulders.
Pauli checked on his fire team and made sure they were ready for whatever was coming. Yogi walked up to the fallen tree Pauli had selected for himself to hide behind. “This is a good spot you found us, Pauli. Nice job.”
Pauli smiled at the compliment. “Thanks. Now we just sit tight and wait to see if those Zodarks head our way or somewhere else,” Pauli commented as he dropped his patrol pack against the base of the tree.
“Judging by the sound of things, I think those C100s are pushing right to us.” Yogi paused for a moment before leaning down closer to him so no one else could hear him. “Pauli, I need you to keep an eye on Boyles, will you? Her little episode from the other day has a lot of people in the squad and platoon on edge. We can’t have her spazzing out on us when those Zodarks get here.”
Pauli nodded. “I get it, Yogi. I’ll stay on it. Do you want me to place some of our mines out there before the Zodarks get any closer?”
Yogi shook his head. “No, I’m going to have Corporal Yance and a couple of soldiers from his team do it.” He paused. “Hey, if those Zodarks do come our way, make sure your team doesn’t open fire on them until they hit the mines, OK?”
Yogi then walked down the line to go talk with Corporal Yance and his fire team.
Pauli spotted Amy on his right, twenty meters further down the line. He sent a quick message through their HUD, telling her to set up closer to his position. He found a spot for her five meters away from him. He wanted to keep her close in case she needed help. He knew that sometimes a soldier under fire just needed some encouragement to know they’d be OK, and then they could push through their fear.
As the Zodarks and the Synths continued to battle it out, Pauli’s platoon remained hidden in their positions and waited, hoping the Zodarks might somehow bypass them or the C100s would finish them off.
The battle continued to rage on in the distance. It went on for an hour or two with little respite. Pauli wondered if there would be any Zodarks or C100s left when it was all said and done. He’d seen a handful of Reapers swoop in and plaster a few targets with some smart missiles and bombs. It was good to know they had some air power in the area.
While he was watching where the battle was taking place on his HUD, Pauli saw a warning pop up. It came from their scout drones. Lieutenant Atkins had positioned them about two kilometers in front of their lines—this would give them a heads-up if the Zodarks headed toward them. It appeared their little electronic tripwire had been tripped.
“Time to stay frosty, everyone,” Lieutenant Atkins announced over the platoon net. “We’ve got Zodarks inbound. Call out your targets as you see them and don’t let them slip past us.”
Cranking his neck around, Pauli confirmed that everyone on the right flank was now pointing their weapons in the direction of the Zodarks. His squad was the anchor on the left flank for the company, and his fire team and platoon needed to hold the line or their entire position could get rolled up.
Pauli turned to Amy. “Ames, this is it. They’re headed to us. I need you to stay calm and focused. Remember your training and stay in the fight. All right?”
Amy acknowledged with a nod, but her face betrayed her fear. He couldn’t see her eyes as her HUD was active, but he could tell by the expression around her mouth that she was scared. Heck, he was scared too…but he needed her to do her part.
“Here they come!” came a voice over the radio.
Pauli didn’t check to see who’d spoken; he just faced the direction his HUD told him the enemy was coming from. The HUD suddenly filled up with little red icons denoting Zodarks.
Holy crap! That’s a lot of them heading our way, thought Pauli.
“Hold your fire until they get a little closer!” he shouted over his team channel. The enemy was still four or five hundred meters away. He wanted to wait until the Zodarks hit their landmines before they fired on them with their blasters.
Every soldier in the platoon carried an Claymore antipersonnel mine. These weren’t the old-fashioned mines from the last century. These were fifth-generation Claymores—way more powerful and a whole lot more deadly.
The Zodarks moved at a good clip, utterly oblivious to the trap they were rushing into. When the first group of Zodarks hit the mines, explosions rocked the forest in front of their positions, blowing chunks of tree, underbrush, and parts of Zodarks in every direction.
“Open fire!” came the order from Lieutenant Atkins.
Pauli flicked his selector from safe to fire and opened up. The targeting AI on his HUD tracked a Zodark two hundred meters away. He sent a string of three or four blaster bolts right for the Zodark. His HUD indicated he’d scored a hit and was already guiding him to a new target to shoot at. Steadily, the count on his HUD dropped as the platoon tore into the enemy.
Just as he’d shifted fire to his third target, Pauli suddenly ducked as a string of blaster shots slammed into the fallen tree he was hiding behind. Chunks of the tree flew in the air as he rolled to a different position in case his cover didn’t hold up. As Pauli returned fire, he noticed Amy once again paralyzed by fear. She wasn’t moving, just staring at the Zodarks charging toward their position.
Pauli shook his head in anger, then crawled over to her position and pulled her down next to him. He dragged her closer until their helmets touched. “Amy, snap out of it! I need you to return fire. Let your HUD identify a target for you,
aim at the target, and squeeze the trigger!”
Amy nodded her head and then rose above the fallen tree. She raised her rifle and fired a couple of shots, then a couple more. Then she was off to the races, firing as quickly as she could from one target to the next.
Pauli smiled to himself when he saw her get into a groove. There, she just needed some encouragement, he thought.
Just then, something overhead zipped right over the top of their positions. “Everyone down!” roared Yogi over the squad net.
Pauli dropped to the ground and pulled Amy down with him. A fraction of a second later, the entire world around them erupted in fire.
Even with a face shield covering his face, Pauli could feel the heat from the flames. Part of his clothes lit up, so did Amy’s. Pauli immediately rolled on the ground and patted at the flames to put them out. He saw Amy doing the same and was relieved to see she wasn’t freaking out. This wasn’t the time to panic.
With the flames on their uniforms put out, Pauli scanned the scene and saw close to half the platoon was either dead or on fire. Many of them were putting out the flames just like he had, but many others were flailing their arms about wildly.
“Amy, I need you to grab the SAW and shoot at those bastards while I help a few of our guys out. We need to keep those Zodarks pinned down, or they’ll overrun us!” Pauli yelled. He jumped up and ran over to a couple of soldiers who were panicking.
He grabbed one of the soldiers and threw him to the ground. He started putting out the fire with his gloved hands and threw some loose dirt on the flames. He then moved to the next soldier and did the same. A couple of soldiers ran over to help him while a few more joined Amy and returned fire at the Zodarks.
Pauli heard that hideous sound those Zodarks made when they charged. He knew they were about to get overrun if more of their company didn’t get on the firing line. Pauli watched Amy sweep the SAW from right to left at the charging enemy—she was mowing them down, screaming like a wild animal as she did. Pauli felt proud of her in that moment; the warrior in her had finally come out.
