"Ahem, Ethan…" his old instructor coughed and nodded toward the officer. It took Ethan a few moments, but then he noticed the new rank insignia. The sparrow was gone and an eagle had replaced it.
"I´m so sorry, Centurion," he said. "I didn´t even notice your promotion."
Centurion Lyons waved him off.
"Details, Wang," he said. "Minor details." He shook Ethan´s hand. "I see you have come up in the world as well. When I last saw you, you were just a recruit, and look at you now."
"Sir, it´s been what, two years and some."
"Certainly has. Senior Decurion eh? I heard rumors, you know. You survived Titan. Twice. That is quite a feat in itself. I am impressed."
"Sir, I was lucky..." Ethan began, but Lyons waved him off again.
"Nonsense! You were one of my best recruits in basic, and from what I hear you´ve improved since. Besides, good soldiers have to be lucky, from time to time. Now, let´s skip the pleasantries, and get down to business." He tapped his wristpad and a moment later Ethan´s own wristpad buzzed. Centurion Lyons didn´t wait for Ethan to read his orders. "You are to report to D-deck immediately, all of you. Except you Tribune, of course." Tribune Tanner nodded in acknowledgement, and walked off. He had his own private orders, Ethan assumed. The centurion continued.
"Mes amis, you are all assigned to 7th Cohort, and you will serve in the 3rd. Century, under me. Senior Decurion Wang, you have been assigned to my staff, where you will liaise with Cohort HQ and our Iron brothers and sisters. A Century from the Iron Legion will be partnering with ours, and we must quickly learn to know each other, if we are to function together as intended. The rest of you will be assigned to units once we reach D-deck."
Without further ado, Centurion Lyons turned and strode off. If Ethan hadn´t known him from Basic Training, he wouldn´t have believed it, but Lyons had actually lost both legs in the Lumin war. The robotic legs didn´t seem to hinder him - on the contrary. Ethan and the others followed as best they could, and soon they reached their destination. Ethan had no clue what was expected of him and a part of him was disappointed that he wouldn´t get a command of his own. He had no idea what liaising with the Iron Legion meant, but it sounded boring. While the others checked their names on the roster and then went to their respective units, Ethan followed Lyons to HQ, where several legionnaires, mostly noncoms, sat in front of screens.
"Ethan, this is Adjunct Claire Bothwin. She´s my head of staff and second in command. Adjunct, this is Senior Decurion Wang, who will be liaising with the Iron Legion, for starters. Bring him up to speed." He smiled briefly, before he turned and walked away.
Adjunct Bothwin waited until the centurion was out of earshot. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Ethan.
"So you´re that golden boy, are you?" she smirked. Ethan started.
"Ma´am, what do you mean?" he blurted.
"It´s obvious, isn´t it? You´re being groomed for command. Why else did you think he would bring you here, instead of just putting you in charge of a squad and send you out there with the rest of them?"
She shook her head.
"You have some powerful sponsors kid, but if you ask me, I´d say you´re pretty clueless. Well, let´s get to work. Hell, you might even prove me wrong, what do I know?"
13.
The Stormbringer was a formidable starship, which could have held the entirety of the Ghost Legion if needed. This time though, it only held the 7th Cohort along with their Iron Legion counterpart. The 7th was comprised of a mixture of units already based on Titan and units picked up from the inner Solar system. Or, as in the case of the ones fleeing Earth in the last minute, individual legionnaires separated from their units.
Whenever a Legion unit, of whatever size and composition, wasn´t on combat duty or on leave, they trained. Thus, while en route to Titan, their days were filled with training. Ethan found his training to be different to what he was used to. On the one hand, since he was no longer part of a combat unit, it meant he was no longer training for combat the way he was used to. That meant no more maneuvering a squad across contested territory, no live fire exercises or weapons drill or sharpshooting. Of course, he still had to maintain his basic skills, but that was no longer his primary focus. On the other hand, the 3rd Century, Centurion Lyons´ unit, was a heavy infantry unit meant to cooperate with artillery and cavalry units from the Iron Legion, so there was plenty of combat training nevertheless. The difference was scale. Ethan found himself learning to direct artillery bombardment from the Iron Legion´s heavy artillery units, while at the same time coordinating their cavalry charges with heavy infantry support from the Ghost Legion.
The commanding officer of the Iron Legion units on board was Tribune Selznick, an expressionless woman nearly twice his age, with a reputation for ruthlessness. He met her once, just after an exercise where his side had lost. She merely nodded to him as he saluted her.
"I heard you do things differently in the Ghost Legion, but I must say I am amazed. I never expected a senior decurion to be so... junior." Then she had cocked her head, and a hint of a smile had crossed her face. "Someone told me of this officer-in-training thing you do. I assume you´re one of them then. Well, carry on."
Ethan didn´t see her for a long time after that short encounter, but her remarks had left an impression on him. He already knew the Iron Legion was different, but despite the fact that he outranked legionnaires with ten years or more of service, despite having officers who were fresh graduates with less than six months of military training and no combat experience, he found that the two legions went well enough together. Both respected, at least to a degree, the other´s way of doing things. Both legions were rigorous in their training and demanded the highest standards in the things that counted. Ethan found that he even liked some of the Iron legionnaires, who had strengths that completed the Ghost legionnaires. When the Stormbringer entered Titan orbit, the detachments from the Iron Legion and the Ghost Legion were so closely meshed, they might have been one single unit.
"Senior decurion Wang," Centurion Lyons called to him one day, shortly after he had logged off his workstation as he finished his shift. "I need to talk to you. Follow me."
Ethan followed the centurion into an enclosure he´d used as an office during the flight. Centurion Lyons turned and stood, while Ethan remained standing just inside the tight compartment.
"I hear you have done well," Lyons said. Ethan didn´t know what to say, so he kept quiet.
"In fact, I need you to work as my liaison once we drop to Titan as well. Something tells me we´ll need those joint strike tactics sooner rather than later. The Iron Legion is our staunchest ally, but other legions have folded and turned. So far, we have avoided open battle, unless you count Camp Piteaa, but it´s coming, whether we want to or not. We´ll need good officers in the weeks and months to come." Lyons picked up a box and tossed it to Ethan. He opened it, and picked up two silvery sparrows. He gaped and looked up at his commanding officer. The sparrow signified the rank of adjunct, and though the Ghost Legion was known to be unconventional, this was unheard of.
"Sir, I cannot accept this. I´m not ready," he began, but Centurion Lyons interrupted him.
"It would not work to have a noncom speak for me when working with the Iron Legion. I need an officer, and the iron legionnaires do respect rank, even when the officer is young. Their own junior officers are barely older than you. I would rather have one with combat experience than some fancy school on his resume. You know, this isn´t unheard of in our own legion either. Several of our senior officers gained rank quickly in the war, even though it has become more unusual in recent years." Ethan took the sparrows and held them in his hand, feeling their weight. Centurion Lyons smiled.
"One thing I love about the Ghost Legion is that when we do find a talented legionnaire, we don´t have to send him to some academy in order to promote him. We´re... practical. It´s the way we did things in my old legion as well, and we were the absolute best military unit in the wo
rld at the time, even though we were comprised of thieves and misfits from all over the world." Ethan knew Lyons was one of just a handful of survivors from something called the French Foreign Legion, and though he´d never heard or read much about it, he sensed that the centurion was right.
"Oh yes, we were thieves and misfits, killers and scoundrels,” he chuckled. “The worst band of recruits scraped together and then kicked around, shouted at, and tested far beyond what every single one of us thought we were capable of. Those of us who made through all this were molded into a unit, like family. We were brothers, every single one of us." He eyed Ethan. "In a sense, I consider you my younger brother now, Ethan. Do not forget that. The Ghost Legion is our family and we will defend each other with our lives. Let´s hope we don´t all have to die, like most of my old family did."
Part 2
14.
The snow crunched beneath Ethan´s feet as he walked from the newly built spaceport to the base. Having an hour to spend before he had to report to Centurion Lyons again, he wanted to find his friends, and catch up. He shivered despite the layers of his suit, probably more from the sound of his own footsteps, than from the actual cold. His suit had a temperature regulation system that generated just enough heat in the temperatures of Titan. On a scorching hot world, not that he´d ever set foot on one, it would have a cooling effect that was just as effective.
There were signposts at every intersection, and he quickly found his way to the unit he wanted to locate. 1st Cohort, 1st Century, his unit when he was on Titan last. He entered the airlock to a large hab unit. Once through the airlock he entered the inside, and immediately met a familiar face.
"Well, if it isn´t... Adjunct Wang now, is it?" Centurion Farrow, his commanding officer before his last leave on Earth still wore his thick grey beard, and he greeted Ethan with a firm handshake. "I was hoping to have you back in my unit, but I hear Centurion Lyons has got a hold of you. Well, I can´t blame him. So, what can I do for you, Ethan?"
"I´m looking for Optio Chambers, Sir."
"She´s on recon patrol at the moment. Decurion Snow talked me into returning her to her old unit. I´m expecting them back in a day or so." Ethan nodded. He should have expected Snow to want her back.
"What about the rest of my old platoon, Sir?"
"They´re here, most of them anyway. Just go to the recreation area in the back."
Ethan moved, but Centurion Farrow held him back.
"What was it like back there, Ethan? On Earth?"
"Well, Sir, I´m not sure…” Was he allowed to speak about this? He figured Centurion Farrow ought to know the truth, and soon everyone would know anyhow. “Sir, they really screwed us. We had to shoot our way out from Camp Piteaa. Things have turned pretty ugly, Sir. My guess is, they´ll come for us, once they can muster the troops."
The centurion let go of him and nodded somberly. He didn´t say anything though, so Ethan walked off.
In the recreation area the first person he saw was Optio Sharon.
"Levi, good to see you!" he said. The grizzled soldier chuckled.
"Adjunct Wang, you made it back to this frozen rock, eh," he said. "Never thought of you as a bootlicker though. I mean, you must have kissed some serious ass to have gotten those birds." Ethan shrugged at the insult. It was exactly what he´d expect from the Israeli. Levi Sharon might be rude and he had a foul mouth, but he knew the man. Ethan decided to ignore it.
"How are things here? I saw we´ve got the spaceport up and running."
"Well, you know. Damn snowball´s just the same as when you left. The base has been expanded and fortified, got some backup positions and evac tunnels dug, but no one, I mean no one, has thought to do anything about the fucking cold. I hear they´ve got some terraforming going on some of the rocks in the inner system, but not Titan, oh no. Let the legionnaires freeze their butts off, nobody cares." Ethan burst out laughing, and a moment later the optio guffawed as well.
15.
The behemoth tank rushed forward, carving a path through the slush for the advancing infantry. Ethan waited patiently. Then, just as the behemoth passed a red line on his screen, almost a kilometer away, and far too close to the green line under normal circumstances, Ethan lit up the laser targeting system, painting the behemoth clearly for the incoming rockets. His helmet buzzed and a familiar voice chuckled.
"Looks like that final behemoth is toast, and the infantry with it. You did it again, Adjunct Wang. Congratulations." Centurion Lyons chuckled once more.
"Thank you sir," Ethan replied. He caught movement off in the distance, but didn´t get a chance to say anything more.
"All units return to the rendezvous point in thirty minutes," the centurion said on the open channel.
Ethan stood and addressed the Iron Legion platoon he was leading.
"Attention everyone. This was a close call even if we did win. The behemoth was no threat to us, but there´s a small team of infantry just two hundred meters out from here, and if we hadn´t painted that behemoth in time, they would have rushed us. My guess is we still had about ten seconds before that would have happened. Once again, we must be accurate and quick, but also stealthy. This was merely an exercise, but in a real world situation, we would have carried out the mission, only to be massacred seconds later. Let that be a learning lesson to all of us. Things change quickly in combat."
Someone grumbled, but Ethan let it slide. His job was not about maintaining discipline among the Iron Legion. He figured their officers and noncoms could handle that just fine.
The artillery observers were generally very competent soldiers, and combined with Ghost Legion infantry providing close defense, Ethan´s platoon had an impressive kill rate. Of course, they had no actual combat experience as a unit, but in every training exercise so far they had excelled.
"Let´s move out. RV point in twenty five minutes," Ethan said, and began walking.
Most of the defenders were there when Ethan arrived with his platoon. Some of the attackers, among them the team that had nearly ambushed Ethan´s platoon, almost didn´t make the time, but on the thirty-minute mark all were present. Centurion Lyons ushered them all toward a hab unit, and as soon as everyone were through the airlock, he ordered them to sit down.
"Listen up, everyone," the centurion began, his face set in stone. The entire century looked at him, silently waiting for what was to come.
"Your platoon leaders will go through the exercise with you afterward. This is not what I have gathered you here for. There has been a development in the situation between the legions and Earth´s government." Everyone fell silent, and their attention focused on Centurion Lyons, who seemed to be picking his words carefully.
"First, you all know we are outlaws, who chose to come here instead of giving ourselves up to the regulars. Well, this has consequences. We just got word that Pearson´s Legion was rounded up on Mars. They fought bravely, but the combined forces of the regulars and the Gold Legion, who is now under regular command, proved too much. Pearson´s Legion sustained heavy losses, and about a third of their number fell. The rest were summarily tried, before they were all executed." He stopped, letting the words sink in. Ethan´s jaw fell open. He would have expected legionnaires who didn´t surrender to be imprisoned, but this...
"We must now assume this fate is what awaits every one of us if captured. I have been instructed by Legate Camus himself to let you know that if anyone wishes to surrender at this time, you will have the opportunity to do so. A ship will leave Titan tomorrow, and any legionnaire who wants to will be able to go. There will be no hard feelings, but obviously we need to get this over with quickly." Ethan noticed the centurion looking at a few of the legionnaires, clearly expecting questions. When none came, he continued.
"Second, the destruction of Pearson´s Legion concluded the fighting in the inner Solar system. We expect the regulars to come for us next. This means we need to be prepared for war, although this is nothing new for us. What is new is that this time we will be fig
hting a human enemy, which means we know something of their capabilities. Our training will intensify, and we will be on a level of combat readiness that is higher than usual. Some of you will be regrouped into new units with specialized tasks, but other than that it´s business as usual. I want you all to consider Legate Camus´ offer; anyone who are not ready to fight a human enemy, or otherwise wishes to surrender, have until midnight to decide. The ship leaves tomorrow, so there will be no second chances. Dismissed."
16.
The officers of 7th Cohort, 1st Century was gathered in a room inside the century´s shared hab module, and Ethan felt like he was the only one who didn´t know what to do or say. So far they had been discussing their training and organization, and Ethan hadn´t said a single word throughout the discussion. Centurion Lyons was about to dismiss them, when his infopad buzzed. The centurion looked down and read the incoming message.
"Listen, I have more news from the inner system.” He sighed. “They´ve taken Ceres as well. The Sphinx Legion, along with elements from the Falcon Legion, held it against the regulars, but apparently Falcon switched sides. Once they did, Sphinx didn´t stand a chance. They managed to get a message out before they were overrun, that´s all the news I have for you. I´m guessing they suffered the same fate as Pearson´s."
"That means the Asteroid belt has fallen too," one of the platoon leaders said. Centurion Lyons nodded.
"Almost certainly," he replied, and let out a deep breath.
"Inform the legionnaires, but remember also to let them know that our position is stronger. Pearson´s and Sphinx were among the smaller legions, and they didn´t have many of the heavy elements we do. Besides, we are two full legions, well prepared and armed, and there are no enemy bases on this moon, or anywhere nearby. There is no reason to despair. Dismissed."
Ethan walked toward the exit, and Adjunct Bothwin fell in beside him.
"So, Wang, are you sorry you missed the boat?" Ethan sent her a questioning look. She smirked back and nodded at the sparrow on his shoulder.
Rogue Legion Page 3
