by Marcus Sloss
“Aim, exhale, gentle squeeze. And Willow. The reports I have read say your other friends should still be alive,” I said, locking my brown eyes to her dazzling blues. “Limited infighting is happening as people are adjusting. Humanity is banding together with a common enemy. Good luck on the range.”
I gave her a nudge forward before she became too distracted. Another RV full of people arrived with more vehicles. I looked at all the cars, trucks, and vans cluttering around the mansion. We could use some as homes, the electric ones at least. Plenty of power to juice them. The septic problem bothered me until I had Sgt. Dedric divert the backhoe to build a latrine pit not far into the woods. Looks like the boys would be having to hike to pee during the day or peeing in containers at night. I was sure there would be complaints about bucket baths. A shower rotation was coming into effect and I was looking into just diverting the sewage line downstream of the hydro generators. I really wanted to have some perks to living in a mansion. Nice showers and flushing toilets were more important than river fish; which we were exploring if there were any fish in the local streams and rivers this high up.
The crack of the one fifty range going live added to the noise echoing across the valley. Whatever birds had not fled the area earlier did so now as the side arms were joined by the carbines. Lavaun saw me standing alone and sauntered over to me. I rolled my eyes at her exaggerated hip movements. The blonde babe knew she was a babe, which was half the problem. She also had flirted with me once Perci was gone during our retreat from Saudi Arabia. I turned her down for a few reasons. She did like to tease me, though.
“Not buying?” I grumbled as she neared.
“Not selling, those two got you wrapped around their fingers. A third would be desperate for attention. As awesome as you are, I did not come here to flirt with you… This time, anyway. I have a problem. So, we avoided the rules on banging squad mates when we went rogue. Things are going to get tight very soon. They already are, and people continue to arrive. We have about half the unit here already?” Lavaun asked. I nodded and saw she was wearing her name tape with Nancy on it. I raised an eyebrow. “As much as I wish you were scoping my tits out, I know you are not. My family is coming. My brother was a Marine. Nicholas, but goes by Nick, and will probably bitch if I do not give him Lavaun to use. Might as well start now with Nancy.”
“Is there a purpose to all this?”
“I caught Norm fucking Tina this morning.”
I choked on air. I was not easily shocked, but that line did it. “Tina, as in Denis’ girlfriend, and friend of Willow’s. Is he not oversexed?”
“Derek, not Denis. I know, a completely unremarkable college dude. Probably lost his virginity to Tina. Norm… Aggravates me because I fucked him about an hour earlier on my break before going to over watch. Jevon relieved me early and I heard grunting in the attic as I was leaving the roof. Figured might as well check in case there was a fight. Yeah, so… Tina has a thing for fucking muscular hot men because Norm was giving it to her on his feet. She was licking his muscles. It was weird. Not the sex, the licking. Denis is screwed, not literally. Derek, now you got me mixing up his name.”
I rubbed my temples with this randomly induced headache. My desire for relationship problems to go away would not actually make them vanish. Nancy herself had given me a few headaches in the past with being too loud with Slister. It got the men all riled up and in the desert and that was bad for morale. This though. This would probably be the start of my problems.
“What did you do?”
“I confronted them. Tina fled as I fired Norm. I am a fine ass woman. Men literally jerk off to thoughts of me, and I have no desire to see the man I am giving myself to, fucking a random girl. After, I went and told Sammy. She doesn’t care. They are a swinging couple that never breaks up. She gives an amazing blowjob while swallowing. That and the freedom to screw who he wants is enough for Norm,” Nancy said, propping her large breast up in her turtle neck. “You wouldn’t notice the ladies if I had fucking armor. I heard you asked for chickens. Get me armor, you idiot.”
“I love our conversations, Nancy. Always a joy,” I said as she started to walk away.
“Hey Cap, I want LT. I am the best medic you have, and you know I am good managing troops. We need a head doctor, especially since we have family members with medical skills,” Nancy said, hands on her hips. If she wasn’t so bitchy confident with her looks, I might find her attractive. “Cap I told you this little story to avoid infighting. Last thing we need is people drawing on each other like Estevez and Kirkham. Time to put some rules in place, boss. I could care less if Norm is a man-slut.”
She lied about the last line. I saw the pain in her eyes as she left for the three hundred yard range. Nancy had a point though. Estevez and Kirkham were both sleeping with Bonnet. They were weapons hot at each other that took an hour to get tempers cooled. I typed out two alerts.
‘We are adding to our rank structure as we recruit. Spoiler, if you are here in the valley, you are now an honorary member of The Pirate Crew. You will start out as pirates as your initial rank. We prefer it to privates. Please listen to the veterans around you and absorb as much knowledge as you can. The first promotion is for a Medical Officer. SSgt Nancy Lavaun is now Lt. Nancy Lavaun. Spam her with congratulations.’ - Cap
I chuckled at my own evilness. I saw Nancy freeze in her footsteps before she reached the three hundred range. She flipped me the bird over her shoulder without looking in my direction.
‘I wanted to save this next message for when we were all here, but this is going out to those crew en route also. Sex with others must be consensual with all parties. That is fairly standard in 2032. Do not screw behind someone’s back. If they know, I do not care. If they do not, I will literally banish you. We do not stab each other in the back to get our jollies. Breakup with your significant other, then screw around. I hope to the heavens above and the hells below I never have to cover this topic again. The offended party has been apologized to. So do not ping me asking if your significant other cheated. No, they did not.’ - Cap
I jogged over to the three hundred range as the inevitable spam pinged my Gpad. I deleted the dumb questions that came in until Sammy Slister sent one.
‘I do not know what to do, he said he won’t stop, and it's an addiction.’ - Sammy
‘Then you should leave.’ - Cap
‘The crew is my family.’ - Sammy
‘I know. And Derek is not. Still Slister. This is a big deal. If he goes for Willow next, what do you think will happen? I will fucking ace him. Then you will get into a spiraling downtrend. Honestly, I just made up my mind. If he insists he cannot control himself, he is banished. For the crew.’ - Cap
‘I told him and he said he promises to not hit on any woman besides me. Even said I can cut his dick off if he strays.’ – Sammy
I snorted. Funny how quick he changed his mind when someone stood up to him.
‘Okay, that is enough for me. For now. And Sammy, I am not his therapist, priest, or friend. I will not forgive him if he takes this chance and literally screws it up.’ - Cap
Finished with my typing, I put my Gpad away. Norm was probably going to go camping and disappear. I did not need loose cannons. Then again, the man was thinking with his dick brain. I could forgive that. Tina was cute, hadn’t seen much of her, but I understood temptation. These conflicting thoughts were exactly why I liked to focus on being a soldier instead of a diplomat.
I arrived at the three hundred range to Torrez helping Perci shoot with the ACOG. She was a bit rusty, but doing fine. When she finished shooting, I received a quick kiss. She went to talk to Nancy as I walked up to the firing line.
“Drama already,” Torrez said with a grunt. “Sucks to be you.”
“Yeah, I have to go tell the kid next. Actually, I will probably convince Willow to have Tina come clean. Fuck drama. Tell me about these electric weapons,” I said, changing the subject.
I laid down in front of a small
berm. The laser weapon was pointed down range and I sighted the box target. I fired a short squeeze. A slice of energy zapped out of the rifle and slammed into the mock target.
Torrez stood over me, watching down the firing line. He grunted and said, “The longer the squeeze, the more powerful the burst. A short pull like that would maybe kill a man without armor. Would taze the shit of out them though. So it auto wounds. The incapacitation is why most governments loved these weapons. They drain energy fast, which makes them shit for long engagements of when stuck in the field without power, but we have lots of excess power here. They are underwhelming for men on the front lines like you and me. They give boners to governments wanting a way to stun the protestors without killing them.”
“I guess I will leave this here, then. Let others play with it. I prefer to leave my opponents lying on the ground with bullet holes leaking copious amounts of blood,” I said. The reality of what I said brought out my darker side and I gave a cackling laugh. “Shoot them, hang them, run em over, and even make them walk the plank. I guess this electric gun is for lovers, not warriors.”
“Thought we were not going all dark this time?” Torrez asked indifferently.
“Huh? Sure, to fellow worthy Americans. I sure as fuck will be gutting aliens and humans trying to take what is ours. But you are right. If some father of three is defending his chickens and such, I will help him. Not hurt him.”
Torrez patted me on the back and said, “That is not a very ‘for the crew’ mentality.”
“Then we will work on our recruiting because we need chickens!” I bellowed out with a hearty laugh. Perci and Nancy frowned at me. Willow looked confused as she approached to try the three hundred range. When I had Willow’s attention, I asked, “How did your shooting on the one fifty range go?”
“Easy, rounds went where I asked them to. Nice little fellers. Who is the heartbroken one?” Willow asked and I winced with deflated shoulders. “We had sex last night so it better not be you in trouble. Who?”
“Huh? No, not me. Your mom is literally right there,” I said, and Willow flashed a crimson red. To save the awkward moment, I blurted, “Talk to Tina, please. Have her come clean so we all can put this behind us.”
Willow sent me a private message asking who. When I said Norm, she went to storm off. I lunged to intercept her from leaving with palms out. She paused before running me over.
“Willow, take that aggression onto the range. Ten rounds into the target. Keep trying until you go ten for ten. And Willow, try to never let your emotions win,” I said, and patted her juicy booty as she stomped over to the range. She found an open lane to release hell on. Ten rounds later, she was smirking like a champion. “Awesome shooting, Willow. I am proud. One hell of a tight shot group. Now, go fix my drama headache.”
“Yes Cap,” Willow said. I thought she was going to dart by me to find Tina. She clasped my wrist and gave me a lusty kiss that earned us some catcalls. “You are too damn cute.”
I watched her shapely rear pop as she snapped her hips enticingly. Jacky came up to my side with a nudge and said, “Yeah, yeah. Get back to work. Teach me how to hit the three hundred like that, please.”
That was how the rest of my day went until it was briefing time for Xgate 232.
CHAPTER 11
The breaking news was actually a massive amount of data that I needed to sort through. After I started to process the information dump, I wished our Xgate was landing next week. The fifth wave had landed with active gates a few hours ago. If the military was struggling to defend its citizenry before, it was flat out unable to do so now. The Artic and the Antarctic were the two places with the least portals, which meant there was not an equal spreading of Xgates. Again, to me, it was random. To some, there was a pattern being uncovered. North America alone had almost four thousand gates strewn across the land, with more landing on this sixth wave.
Linda Growlen, Gcorp, and Uncle Sam had amassed a wonderful reporting network. There were two prevailing realizations I was able to ascertain right away. We were linked to tens of thousands of other planets. If every Xgate portal was active, that meant seventy-four thousand plus opening. One of the reports was from an army captain. They were monitoring a portal side, watching for threats. Inside the portal, they saw a different Xgate. A horde of insect hive aliens swarmed from one gate to the next. Barely touching down in the other world. When you started to consider portal hopping then things opened up a whole new myriad of how many planets were knitted together.
When I realized how screwed we were with containing this mess, I knew our stronghold needed improving. Overwhelmingly, our new neighborhood aliens were not friendly… Well, they were raiding humanity. I was shocked. Resources were taken, defenders were killed, and some humans were given collars. We had entered an age of Vikingism. That was the best term the scientists, government figures, and the six year old boys came up with. There were many, many successful defenses against raiding.
Humanity, as expected, was more brutal than many of those trying to rob and enslave them. Even with that good news, if you were not in a well defended stronghold, city, town, or set of farms, you were losing. The worst was the defenseless people on the roads without weapons. Eventually, the reports soured to the point that I closed the bad news.
The good news was that a select few aliens were interested in trading, to the surprise of most nations. Waves one through four had been a mix of defensive aliens eager to kill, aggressive aliens trying to kill, and elusive aliens avoiding fights. The scientists surmised the fifth wave was not special, merely random. So far, there were less than two dozen aliens reaching out to establish trade. That number is miniscule when you think of it in a worldwide aspect. To communicate with humans they wore, carried, or embedded digital translation devices that came from the portals.
The ‘how’ of this question only led to more questions. And the answers they gave in return provided more conflicting information. I was thoroughly confused by the reports, but there were some key bits of information I was able to extrapolate. Every eleven days, three hours and sixteen minutes, the gates would go from blue to golden. A trading planet would open. A guide would greet you. This is where things were downright odd. The guide was a different manifestation for every gate for each species. It was surmised that the beings in charge wanted no god figure to be worshiped. They would offer you a translator free of charge and take you to a trading area so large the descriptions varied. Both sides must agree to a trade in order for your transaction to be complete. Stealing simply never worked because it would return to the owner when you left.
The golden gates lasted less than a day, at precisely twenty-two hours. A timer was counting down on my Gpad. We had nine days, ten hours until the next time the gates went golden. The reports indicated that any weapon trying to pass the golden portal would shed off your body and could be stolen by anyone on the planet you were leaving. An attack would not harm someone you desired to hurt, and currency was based on a barter system. The bazaar, market, or trading center was not the only way to conduct commerce.
The traders explained we could trade with normal roving gates. We merely needed to be prepared for trading at set times. The button to lock a gate only lasted for fifty one minutes and fourteen seconds our time, before a ten hour seventeen minute cooldown enacted on the entire portal for all sides. Another puzzle to unlock for the scientists. Based on the reports, trading was normally organized by scouts in preparation, based on when a portal lockdown was available. This led into the next section of the report: what did the aliens desire?
Well, traders and raiders sought our pre-casted metal. I watched numerous videos of metal towers being torn down, cars being stripped, and buildings being pillaged. The raiding aliens would loot, kill, and return. We assumed that enough towers linking the network had gone down to break the chain, causing Perci and I to lose contact with her mother. While our Gpads operated here and only with the limits of the small new tower, we were once again iso
lated from the rest of humanity.
Even with my combing of the vital information, there was still so much to learn. We were no longer in a civilized world. I, and many others like me, were desperate to know why. I somehow doubted we would find the answer. The mother ship refused to talk. With the last half hour, I studied weapons more than anything else. Sure, the thousands of unique aliens were fascinating. Their firepower was what I wanted to know; it would help adjust on the battlefield.
Reading the reports revealed there were shield generators, snipers, tanks, hundreds of variations of projectile weapons, melee weapons, and even a few ground drones. What was missing was very evident. No aircraft or airborne drones ever passed through a gate. Some poor pilot was ordered to fly a fighter jet through a portal. Yeah… It exploded instead of going through. Drones would short circuit in a plummet of doom when trying to fly through. A nuke tried to go through. It simply... poof, vanished. There were clearly some rules in play. For now, I was determined to take it slow. I wanted to know what our roving Xgate 232 spawned.
My interest in raiding for vital chickens was not there yet. I could be brutal, unforgiving, and ruthless. Right now, I wanted to ensure those still desperately trying to reach us arrived at a haven. When we were settled, I might take bigger risks. Knowing we were running out of time to reach the Xgate landing spot, I fired up my Gpad for an all broadcast. My device reflected my image and the green icon showed I was live casting.
“This is your Cap speaking. I have bad news that most of you probably already know. We are once again cut off from the outside world. If you are a Saudi veteran, visit the XO while I cover this briefing. He has what is likely the last shipment beside him. Get your armor and then meet at the southern gate. Half our forces are going to recon the Xgate 232 so we know what to expect from the enemy. Our goal is to observe, while defending Stronghold Mansion. For those of you staying behind, follow your orders given and continue to improve our new home. I am sorry this was not a hoax. I am sorry for those with loved ones not here who are constantly worrying. We are going to do everything we can to preserve what we have, while at the same time, trying to aid those desperate to arrive. I am sending out the rosters on who is guarding and who is going. If there is a god, may he or she forgive us for our transgressions.”
