Ghost Legion

by Andreas Christensen

  "You knew the answer."

  "Yeah. But what good does that do if I can´t come up with it in the midst of a firefight? Keep a clear head under stress, remember?"

  Ariel shook her head and turned away.

  "Fuck it, he shouldn´t have slapped you," she said.

  "Fuck it." He repeated, smiling. They were going to be heavy troopers, and this was nothing.

  37.

  Ethan clicked the lever to the right. One click, two clicks.

  "Ready," he shouted above the hum of engines. Decurion Trudeau nodded and turned to the others.

  "You guys ready?" he asked. Then a few thumbs up sprang from thick, heavy gloved hands with nods from helmeted heads with their visors down. A squad of heavy infantry, all set to charge out from the dropship as soon as it hit the ground. Seconds ticked away.

  "Ten seconds to landing," a machine voice said. A red light above the main hatch began blinking.

  "Nine, eight, seven, six..." Ethan took a deep breath and gripped the handles of his heavy machine gun, the squad´s heaviest weapon, the one that was meant to break the enemy, which meant it would be the enemy´s first target. Luckily, this was merely an exercise, but it felt real enough. He guessed that was the point. Ariel, sitting next to him, gave him a slight nudge.

  "I´ll watch your back," she said. In fact, that was the objective of nearly every member of the squad; to protect him and keep his weapon operable. If he fell, someone would grab his weapon and continue without him. The HMG was their ticket home. If they lost it, they lost the fight, which meant none of them would return. In a real fight, that was. Out here, they probably risked a beating or at worst getting kicked out of heavy infantry training. None of which seemed appealing.

  "Five, four, three two, one." The landing was softer than expected, just a slight bump, before the dropship settled.

  "We´re on the ground. Exit ramp lowering." The lamp turned to a blinking orange while the ramp lowered. It seemed to take forever. Ethan unbuckled himself. Smoke from outside entered the hold with grey wisps signaling doom.

  The light turned green.

  "Exit, exit, exit," the machine voice droned on. Everyone leapt to their feet. Will and Decurion Trudeau were the first to run down the ramp, weapons up and ready to fire. Ethan and Ariel followed right behind, with Daniel and Paula on their heels. The last to exit the dropship were Thomas and Caroline, both Americans, the first one a typical blond surfer boy from California and the other a black southern girl, from Mobile, Alabama.

  They quickly formed a perimeter no more than ten meters from the dropship, and waited. Engines roared, then the dropship began to rise, slowly at first, before it gained speed and altitude and swept across the field, out of sight.

  "All set?" the decurion asked. No one answered — it wasn´t really a question.

  "All right! Fan out, we´re moving ahead. The enemy´s no more than two klicks to the east. Time to show them what the heavy infantry of the Ghost Legion can do!"

  Half an hour later, Ethan was crouching, weapon held ready and his eyes scanning for movement, while Ariel, Daniel and Paula clung to him, never letting him out of their sight. The heat signatures in front of him, indicating enemy activity, were moving, but weak enough to be anomalies, so he couldn´t just blast away. He steadied his breath and licked his lips. Target priorities were constantly shifting, while the helmet AI decided what was a real enemy and what wasn´t, what seemed to be the greatest threat, where could the powerful weapon be of most use and a hundred other considerations were applied to the stream of incoming data. Ethan wondered how people had waged war back in the day, when people had to make every choice, with little or no intel to guide them.

  A shout from the right, made him turn, and Ariel, Daniel and Paula turned with him.

  "Robots!" That was Decurion Trudeau´s voice. "Wang, take them out!"

  Ethan saw the AI´s final calculations and adjusted his stance. Then he fired into the brush ahead, a hail of projectiles slashing down threes and low brush, creating an opening that let him see the enemy. The robots looked like the ones he´d fought in basic, that fateful day when Fran had been killed by accident, only they were bigger and faster. He fired at a group of them, and the others followed suit.

  "Forward!" the decurion shouted. Ethan started walking heavy steps straight ahead, while Daniel shot up a robot coming in from the side. Ariel and Paula both emptied their magazines into the brush and Ethan heard an explosion coming from behind a group of trees. Then he saw the rest of the squad gathering around him as well. He kept his eyes toward the enemy though, firing bursts of heavy projectiles, blasting the woods to splinters.

  Soon he had emptied a can of a hundred rounds. He took a knee and reloaded, tossing aside the used can and pushing another into the weapon. He got back up and grinned as he pulled the trigger again. The second can had a mix of ordinary projectiles and explosive rounds, and, as he fired, the entire woods in front of them went up in a fiery, explosive havoc.

  Two minutes later, his weapon was out of ammo and the barrel was smoking — too hot to touch. Around them, fires licked up, but otherwise the woods were silent. Decurion Trudeau walked over to a smoking heap of metal and kicked it.

  "Well, we sure kicked some robot butt today. Well done legionnaires."

  Ethan unscrewed the clamps that held the barrel, and unfastened it. Still too hot to touch with his bare hands, he carefully put it aside with his gloved hands. Then he took off the gloves and screwed his spare barrel on. The first one went into a long container, which Ariel took and slung across her shoulder.

  The decurion stepped aside for a moment and touched his helmet. Then he addressed them.

  "Listen up! We have new orders."

  38.

  The decurion waited until he had everyone´s attention.

  "A unit of light infantry is pinned down four klicks to the south. We are to fight our way through and relieve them. A dropship will meet us halfway there with more supplies. We´re in a hurry, so get your shit together. We move out in one minute."

  A hand went up in the air — Thomas, the California surfer.

  "Sir, why can´t the dropship aid us more? Like, drop us in the hot zone or maybe even help attack the enemy?"

  "The dropships don´t engage unless it´s absolutely crucial. They´re transports, period. And the zone is actually too hot. Anyhow, this is a brass decision, legionnaire. Don´t question it. You think you can do better, fine, then you earn it. In ten years time, you may call the shots, but don´t be surprised if you find yourself valuing a dropship more than a few light troopers. Anyone else have any questions?"

  No one said anything. They had work to do.

  They fanned out like before, with Ariel, Paula and Daniel on Ethan´s heels for protection. Decurion Trudeau´s voice through the helmet comms broke the silence.

  "We suspect enemy activity in these woods, but, unless it´s a prepared trap, we should be able to fight our way through. Just be on alert and report anything out of the ordinary."

  Ethan kept watching the thermal scanner readout on his visor screen as he walked forward, weapon ready for another firefight, but there was no sign of an enemy, robotic or otherwise. Half an hour later, they reached a small clearing, and after checking the surrounding area, decurion Trudeau signaled the dropship. A few minutes later, they saw the craft high up above as it quickly descended. Once it reached the clearing, a package dropped out from underneath it, before the craft ascended and disappeared. A parachute unfolded and soon, after the package landed perfectly, Caroline went to open it and distributed the contents. A new barrel for Ethan´s HMG, which he put atop his backpack, three cans of ammo for the HMG, which Ethan, Ariel and Daniel distributed between themselves, a crate of magazines for the .50 calibers, a few MREs (meals ready to eat), five liters of water and two power bars each. Ethan devoured a bar and chugged down half his water bottle before he refilled it. Five minutes later, they were marching again.

  They came upon the enemy only
minutes later. A small group of robots that were to be quickly disposed of.

  "Quickly, before they know what hit them!" the decurion shouted. He didn´t have to tell them. Minutes later, they fell upon the enemy from behind. A collection of robots and synthetic flesh droids scrambled to meet the new enemy as they stormed forward. Ethan screamed as one of their power rays scorched his shoulder. It burned like fire. He realized this exercise was of the more realistic sort, the kind where the occasional casualty was acceptable. He fired his weapon and blasted through the enemies in front of him. Ariel and Daniel took out a sniper bot that seemed to be honing in on them as Ethan switched ammo cans. He turned his barrel toward a large group of enemies and only managed to hold his fire when he saw others rising behind them. The light infantry was returning to the fight, now that some of the pressure had been taken off them. He switched targets and burned through a group of synth droids who were counter-attacking, pressuring Decurion Trudeau and the group not assigned to HMG protection. In his peripheral vision, he saw the lighties as they tore through the enemy and once he saw an opening, he joined their fight. A few minutes later, and in Ethan´s case, his last barrel and box of ammo, the light infantry troopers cheered, and he realized the enemy were all down.

  He recognized Decurion Schwartz before he removed his helmet, just by gait alone. The decurion shook the hand of Decurion Trudeau, and they seemed to know each other already. No wonder, Ethan realized, as Schwartz was a trained heavy trooper himself. Optio Blake, followed by a small group of light troopers came over to him, and the optio grinned.

  "So, Wang! Chambers! You guys sure have perfect timing. We were about to launch a final push to try to break out. A do-or-die moment, as we say where I´m from." The others removed their helmets too, and Jamila threw herself around Ariel´s neck.

  "So good to see you guys! How are you? You look good!" Ariel returned the hug and Ethan looked at the other legionnaire approaching with that characteristic swaying walk as she removed her helmet, betraying her long black hair, dark eyes and a full smile that made his blood boil.

  "Hi Ethan," Malika said, as she stopped in front of him. She stood close — very close — and Ethan felt more awkward than ever. He hesitated for a moment, before he hugged her. Her breath on his neck felt warm.

  "Hi Malika," he said, not knowing what else to say.

  "I´m so glad to see you," she said. He suspected it wasn´t just the fact that they had just trained and fought robots together. Her words held so much more meaning, as did her eyes. Once the hug ended and they looked at each other, he wanted to say-

  "Hey, break it up you two," Decurion Schwartz barked, his stern voice contradicted by his wink and smile at Ethan. "You´ll have time later. I just got orders. We´re to stay with our new light infantry friends through the night, before we move out again first thing tomorrow."

  "Well, you´re coming with us then," Decurion Schwartz said. "We have a fortified compound just south of here. Plenty of room for everyone."

  A few scouts were sent from the light infantry contingent, before everyone began walking south to where they would spend the night.

  39.

  Ethan was sitting beside Ariel, John and Jamila, outside the compound building, when Malika came and sat next to him. The others suddenly all had stuff to do, and scurried off. She touched his shoulder, where his uniform was scorched. A dull pain surprised him. He hadn´t had time to look after it and hadn´t noticed that his uniform was torn all the way through.

  "Does it hurt?" she asked, as she carefully touched him.

  "A little."

  "Here, let me have a look. Did you know I´m training to become a medic?" Ethan looked at that beautiful face again and shook his head.

  "I didn´t. I´m sure you´ll become an excellent medic though. You have a knack for distracting—ouch! What was that?" She pushed a little too hard, but her eyes told him to shut up.

  "I´ll become an excellent medic because I study hard, and I am good at what I do," she said. He felt his face redden.

  "Of course. I´m sorry, Malika, I didn´t mean-"

  She kissed him on the cheek. His eyes widened.

  "Ah..." he searched for words.

  "I´m just messing with you, stupid. Did you think you offended me?" she laughed softly. "Now, let´s have a look..."

  She surprised him by opening his combat vest. He did the last part, and put it aside. Then Malika pulled his shirt and undershirt off. She studied the wound, and smacked her lips.

  "Okay then... A touch of this, and you´ll be just fine," she said, before pulling out a small vial from her pocket. She took the cream, whatever it was, and applied it lightly to his sore skin. There were no open wounds, other than a simple first degree burn, since his uniform had taken the brunt of it.

  He looked at her and their eyes met. Her fingers kept caressing the skin around his burn, absently, as she leaned forward. Their lips met, and they kissed. At first it was awkward, but then emotion took over and it became more intent; hungrier. She pulled him toward her, and he allowed himself to grab her, holding her tightly. Then he let one hand slip inside her shirt. Her skin felt like it was burning, but it was probably just the tension.

  "Come," she said throatily, and got back to her feet. He let her pull him inside, where she led him to a room that had a lock on the door. They made sure no one used the room, before Malika locked the door behind them. She stood facing him for a moment as he slumped back on the bunk bed. She undressed, slowly, keeping her eyes on his.

  She was even more beautiful than Ethan had imagined. Her naked body was the most perfect thing he had ever seen.

  She came over and kissed him again, hands tugging at his belt.

  "Wait, what about-" she paused and their eyes met again.

  "Are you having second thoughts, Ethan Wang?" she teased.

  "What about Eileen? You know..." he began. He regretted it the moment he had said it, but instead of getting angry, she just smiled.

  "You don´t belong to her," she said.

  "Yes, but-"

  "No but. She´s not here. I am." Then she kissed him again and they let all inhibitions go. In that moment, nothing else mattered. The two of them were alone in the universe and nothing could keep them apart.

  Afterward, they laid naked and sweaty on the bed. Malika snuggled into his neck, while he stared emptily up at the ceiling.

  "So," he began, "was this just ... sex? Or something more?" he asked, slowly, carefully.

  "Let´s not think about that right now," she said. He propped himself up on an elbow and managed to meet her eyes.

  "I need to know," he insisted. She sighed, and snuggled even closer, letting a hand dance lightly on his chest.

  "I like you, Ethan Wang," she said. "I like you a lot. I don´t know what tomorrow brings - we are soldiers, after all, but I like you. How is that?" Ethan felt a pressure of emotion that he couldn´t control, and he kissed her deeply. When they gasped for air, he said, "I like you too Malika, I really..." He looked down, then up again, seeing the triumphant grin on her face, those full, amazing lips and those eyes...

  "Legionnaire Wang, I think you´re ready for another round," she whispered.

  40.

  After two months of training as a heavy trooper, several of those who had begun training with Ethan and Ariel had washed out. Their squad hadn´t lost as many as many other units, but they had lost some nonetheless. Thomas, the California surfer, had been the first of Ethan´s squad to go. One day, he just said he´d had enough and walked off to speak with Decurion Trudeau. They didn´t see him again. Then Paula, the German weightlifter, gave up during a particularly tough exercise where they had been deprived of food and sleep. After four days, she broke down and they never saw her again either. Daniel Hirsh, the Israeli, had almost been kicked out after punching Decurion Trudeau in the face. The decurion had said something, no one remembered what it was, but Daniel had become furious, claiming the Canadian was an anti-Semite, and attacked him without hesitation. Th
e decurion had managed to fight him off and promised loudly to have him kicked out of the Legion and back to whatever backwater he came from. The others had to hold them both back and once tempers cooled off — somewhat — the misunderstanding was cleared up and they shook hands. Ethan had expected the Israeli to receive at least some kind of punishment, but nothing ever happened.

  It was a Monday morning and the remainder of the squad were lined up outside the barracks. Ethan stood at the right side and beside him stood Ariel, Will, Caroline and Daniel. Decurion Trudeau walked briskly toward them and the five legionnaires snapped to attention.

  "At ease Legionnaires," the decurion said when he stopped.

  "Today you are about to begin training with one of the finest weapons a legionnaire can have at his disposal, namely the exoskeleton." Ethan felt his heart jump and he noticed the others were growing excited as well. The decurion paid it no attention.

  "The exoskeleton isn´t a weapon in of itself, but coupled with almost any armament the Legion can produce, it becomes deadly. An enemy facing a trained legionnaire in an exoskeleton will tremble. He should tremble. For he is facing death — his own." He paused and let that sink in.

  "Now follow me," he said. The squad marched off to a warehouse that looked more like a run-down shed than anything else, which housed the Legion´s finest weapons. They walked inside, past several armed guards who only let them through when Decurion Trudeau showed them his ID and let them scan his retinas. Then they entered a door that led to an elevator.

  "Sir, where are we going?" Daniel asked.

  "Don´t “sir” me, Legionnaire. I work for a living," the decurion replied, but he didn´t answer the question.

  The elevator took them deep into the ground and when it finally stopped, Ethan estimated they had to be at least a hundred meters underground. Once out of the elevator, they had to go through yet another checkpoint before the guards opened the double doors that led to a huge cave that stretched for as far as they could see.