by Scott Moon
“First time during a live op,” Danny said.
“Can it, Danny,” Paul said.
Cindy grimaced. No one had made a true drop into hostile territory without computer assistance for a long time. It simply wasn’t done. From time to time, a squad or a platoon would face-plant and suffer one hundred percent casualties. Afterward, everyone assumed they had gone off their computer timing recommendations.
“Deploy chutes one hundred twenty meters higher than planned. We can glide in.”
No one spoke. Her armor felt heavy — a head trick, she knew, but also a reminder the entire platoon was AWOL and on the run. Not long after her encounter with the Strongarms, it became evident that all of those people were being shipped away or locked up.
She'd had no choice. The only place she could help Aefel was on the surface of Grendel.
“Oh shit!” she shouted as the ground reached up to grab her. With all of the heat shield ejected, the parachute functioned simply. She yanked on the guidelines and braced for impact. The soles of her boots touched the ground and she started running as the chute collapsed above her.
Moments later, she folded her chute hand over hand until the untidy bundle was as small as she could make it. Paul, she noted, was already done. He moved fast for a big man.
“Comms check, sound off by the numbers,” she ordered.
Sergeant Day 71218, aka Tony, checked each member of his squad, then reported to Cindy. Sergeant Zach 71775 and Sergeant Kodias 70347 did likewise.
“Form up and move out, five hundred meters, heading 300 degrees. Radio silence, hand signals only,” Cindy said. Her heart ached for her lieutenant, who would normally be giving orders at this point in the operation.
Their first priority was to land and move off to regroup and reassess. She checked her squad and the other squad leaders frequently, always waiting for them to give her a nod or a thumbs-up. Her optics functioned well, although she hadn’t expected they would. Her core internals functioned, but anyplace they intersected with the Commonwealth computer systems, there were glitches and crashes.
Progress to the first way point came slowly. Heavy snowfall rendered the landscape a reflective monochrome. She tapped her helmet three times to adjust the tint on her visor. “Doing everything manually is going to get old quick.”
“I don't like this landing zone,” Paul said.
Cindy agreed. She had never enjoyed deploying straight into a mountain pass. Martin 90201, the Captain of the Strongarms, had given her the point and promised it would lead her to Aefel. All she saw now was a treacherous mountain landscape and cold winter skies.
“All squads, let's move into the pass,” she said. “Sound off by the numbers. I want to check the range of our communications.”
Moments later, she had confirmed line of sight radio signals were working. “I hope everyone is up to date on their hand signals because we will be using it a lot of stealth tactics.”
“And our equipment won’t help this time,” Paul muttered.
“Kodiak, take your squad ahead,” Cindy said into her helmet mic.
“Roger that,” Kodiak said. “Delta Squad is on point.”
“Let's move,” Cindy said. She kept looking to her right for Kate.
“I'm just checking,” Sergeant Day said, “but this place is supposed to be low technology, correct?”
“That's what the original briefing for Aefel’s mission said, and what my contact confirmed.” Cindy scanned the horizon for movement. So far, she hadn't even seen an animal. Or tracks. Or smoke.
She moved the platoon in silence for an hour before Kodiak reported bad news.
“Give me details,” Cindy said.
“It looks like there's been a migration here. I’d say it was animals because I haven't seen any smoke from campfires, but these don't look like hoof prints. There are signs of horses and livestock, but most of the impressions look like boots or human feet,” Kodiak said.
“Bare feet in the snow?” Cindy asked.
“I'm just telling you what I see.”
Cindy moved up with the rest of the platoon. When she crested the rise in the terrain, she saw a frozen river valley cutting a pass deep into the mountain.
“This looks like the only way through those monsters,” Kodiak said, nodding at the mountains.
Cindy called in her other sergeants for a meeting. “How many people would it take to tear up the landscape like this?”
Kodiak answered. “I'd say somewhere between one hundred thousand and a quarter million.”
“That's impossible,” Sergeant Day said. “There’s no way that many people can move without lighting a campfire. And who would they be hiding from? Do you think these barbarians saw us coming?”
Cindy looked back to stall for time, then faced her sergeants. The moment stretched out for several seconds. “They're not hiding from us. I don't think they're running from us or anyone else. This is a massive stealth operation, a sneak attack.”
Sergeant Day knelt and traced one of the boot prints with an armor gauntlet. “What kind of people can move an army in these conditions?”
Paul, who wasn't a sergeant, but who was standing nearby, stood to his full height. “I've got a pretty bad feeling.”
“I'm not sure we were given all the pertinent information before we made this drop,” Cindy said.
10
CAROSN ARMY
GRENDEL 0473829: SURFACE
MISSION CLOCK: N/A
CINDY ordered the platoon to sleep in surveillance mode. With responsive armor, she felt the environment as though she were wearing very warm, wind-resistant clothing. Sleeping in the snow for shelter was as miserable as she had been since boot camp.
“First Sergeant,” Sergeant Day asked, “permission to rotate my squad through a heating station. We can keep the battery packs on low.”
Cindy shook her head. “Wait until you have some solar blankets heated it up and then do what you can. Once we use the batteries, we're done. Do not expect replacements, relief, or reinforcements on this mission.”
Sergeant Day and the other squad leaders looked at her grimly but said nothing.
Cindy shivered as her squad leaders and medics checked the platoon.
“Are you ready, Kodiak?” she asked just before the entire platoon was as recovered as they were going to get.
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” he answered.
“Take the lead,” she said.
“Roger that,” he said but moved near her before taking his squad out. “I don’t trust our private links the way our gear is working.”
“Talk to me, Kodiak.” There was no need for her to give him permission to speak freely.
“Remember that feeling Paul had earlier?”
Cindy went cold.
“I’ve never had it,” Kodiak said.
“Thunder and bloody fucking lightning,” Cindy said.
“But I have it now.”
Cindy slammed her visor and pointed. Kodiak took charge of his squad and led the way as she directed the other squads into a traveling wedge wide enough to cover several hundred meters.
Snow threatened to fall. Grey skies and wind punished them as they climbed higher into the pass. Hiking up steep inclines challenged Cindy and her veterans. Weather made it worse. By the time she felt they had traveled far enough to risk a break, fatigue nipped at her body and mind.
“Nice planet,” Paul said. “The sun comes out and warms the surface nearly one degree.”
“Alpha Squad, hold this position,” Cindy said. She pointed at Paul. “That includes you.” She ran toward Kodiak’s squad in the next bend of the wide pass.
Earthlike evergreens towered on the lower slopes of the valley pass, shedding snow with every gust of wind and reflecting the noonday glare. She saw what had been an ice-covered river, barely larger than a stream this time of year, churned to mud by the passing of the enormous native migration. Army, she reminded herself. There was no reason for so many people to move thi
s late in the season. Only a military commander would order such a foolish mobilization.
She saw in an instant that Kodiak and his squad had located the scene of a bloody fight. From a distance, she saw bloodstained snow and evidence of wounded men or women trudging away into the trees.
“Talk to me, Kodiak,” she said.
He didn’t answer.
“Kodiak!” She sprinted forward, ducking branches obscuring the trail leading the final distance.
“Sorry, Cind. We have a prisoner of sorts,” he said on his comlink.
Still running, she burst into the clearing she’d seen on her way here. The distance had muted the details of the horror.
“We’re in trouble,” Kodiak said to her face.
She moved past him. “Ya think?”
Blood leaked from the prisoner’s eyes, ears, and nostrils. His fingernails were gone. The muscles around his left arm bubbled grotesquely. Bare to the waist, the long-haired native screamed at the soldiers surrounding him with drawn weapons.
Cindy moved closer, taking a spot near the containment line.
The man crouched, ready to lunge forward. Lips twisted, eyes twitching, the gaze was both dead and animated.
“Is he alive?” asked one of the soldiers.
“He’s walking around and getting ready to fight,” Cindy said. “He’s alive. Don’t fixate on his vacant expression.” She moved back to Kodiak.
“I didn’t want to scare the shit out of everyone,” he said.
“Good call. I’ve never seen a person affected by a Carosn Device. I thought it only worked against people with cybernetic enhancements,” she said.
“If we watch this one long enough, we’ll see it. The bodies on the other side of the grove look like wires were pulled from their nervous system,” Kodiak said.
“They all died but this one,” she said. “He must be a hell of a fighter.”
“The other victims traveled a mile before succumbing to injuries,” Kodiak said. “But probably farther. We only backtracked them that far. If you want to see where this started, we better take the entire platoon. Maybe apologize to Jones and see if he will send all three divisions to stop this before it spreads.”
Cindy edged closer and studied the feral creature. He’d been a crude savage before suffering a CD. “Kodiak, how many die versus how many are turned into weapons?”
“My father estimated ten percent survived the hijacking of their internal cybernetics and became weapons. Another ten percent wandered around, killing at random. The rest exploded, according to him,” Kodiak said.
“That’s rumor and bullshit,” Cindy said. “But I see what you’re saying. Most of them die,” she said. By the look in the eyes of Kodiak and his squad, she wasn’t the only one calculating how many Corson Device Soldiers could be made from the mass migration they were following.
“Doldelig Fremmed!” screamed the barbarian. Three grunts later, each louder and angrier than the preceding noise, the Carosn victim rushed forward. Silver wires pushed through his skin like veins in a textbook example of what a Carosn-controlled body looked like.
“Got him,” one of Kodiak’s Reavers said. He aimed, fired, and continued to fire until the man fell and stopped moving.
Cindy and Kodiak checked the body.
“He’s dead,” Kodiak said. “Why doesn’t that make me feel better?”
“Because if we follow this group long enough, we’re going to find fields of dead people and thousands more under the control of some bastard stupid enough to use a Carosn Device,” Cindy said. “Document this scene as evidence, but leave the bodies. We move as soon as you’re ready.”
“Roger that,” Kodiak said.
11
AWAY FROM ZERO BRIGADE
GRENDEL 0473829: UNSECURED VALLEY
MISSION CLOCK: N/A
DAY broke through the clouds above First Base as Seccon walked across the outer courtyard. Raising one hand to shield his eyes, he studied the catwalks and the strategically placed towers. Three hundred years ago, plus or minus a decade, combat engineers calculated the exact distance needed between defensive points. Concealed machine guns, auto-cannons, and rocket launchers waited for anyone foolish enough to assault the fortress. The walls looked like quarried stone but were actually bonded concrete reinforced with stainless steel i-beams and sheeted aluminum wrapping the foundation for extra support.
From time to time, he saw groups of soldiers running for exercise around the interior courtyards, but no human manned the ramparts. To a native of Grendel watching from a distance, the castle would seem undefended.
The outer courtyard was the largest space in First Base. The people of Sky Clan camped there, despite the availability of apartments and barracks. Awed by the strangers in this place, the Grendels stayed together. Children played in groups, never leaving the camp without adult supervision, which was anyone over twelve years old.
Borghild crossed to a group of Sixth Armored-infantry Lighting Division soldiers. The leader of the squad was Sergeant Jon Black. If Seccon’s memory was correct, he was the boyfriend — or perhaps fiancé — of First Sergeant Cindy-Loren 71019, one of Aefel’s go-to people.
The soldiers stood from cleaning gear and telling jokes to greet Borghild. Seccon marveled at her beauty and strength. Harsh winter sunlight reflected through her hair. Her smile was like a weapon Seccon wanted to be struck by. If she couldn’t get them to listen to his message, no one could.
Seccon wasn’t the only person watching the exchange.
Fey ceased the mending she had been working on and narrowed her gaze, tracking Borghild’s movements.
“Seccon,” a familiar voice said.
Seccon turned to see General Nguyen striding toward him.
“Hello, General,” Seccon said. “You received my message, it seems.”
“I did,” General Nguyen said. He motioned for his aide and his bodyguards to stand back. “I thought we had an agreement.”
“We did, and this is how I will deliver my part of it,” Seccon said, trying to watch Borghild’s progress without being obvious.
“By taking your prize and leaving? I don’t see how that helps me. I need Aefel today. This mission is behind schedule. There are serious native threats moving into the valley. I don’t have time for games,” Nguyen said, blue eyes flashing with both eagerness and intensity.
“You’re welcome,” Seccon said.
Nguyen’s expression tightened until his surgically enhanced face lost its charm. “For what? I heard you were an arrogant, sarcastic asshole. Make your point or the deal’s off.”
“No.” Seccon smiled. “The deal is not off, will never be off. I have the paperwork and a digital copy filed with Galactic Central.”
“Make your point.”
Seccon smiled, drawing the moment out, speaking the instant his adversary opened his mouth to repeat the demand. “I will use my ‘prize’ as bait. Aefel can and will evade your patrols indefinitely. However, he does have an attachment to Sky Clan. He’s gone native — a tradition among FALDs, I believe. When I have his location, I’ll let you know.”
“See that you do.”
“Everyone wins,” Seccon said.
Nguyen turned back, stared, then signaled his entourage to keep up as he hurried out of the courtyard.
The sound of laughter drew his attention back to Borghild and the SALD squad. She had several new fans. Seccon didn’t want to be jealous, but it was hard when she looked like that and he was so lonely.
Free of the Zero Brigade general and his henchmen, Seccon labored to mobilize Sky Clan. What he needed was a threat of Armageddon to motivate them.
“Fey, it’s time to move out,” he said.
The lithe pseudo-Dane studied him, then nodded. “I will spread the word. Where are we going?”
“Another base like this one, but farther away and safer,” he said. Stepping near the young woman, he leaned down and spoke in a lower voice. “Aefel will meet us on the road.”
“He told you this?” Fey asked.
“No.”
She watched his expression. “What game is this, Sangerhinde?”
“The grand finale,” he said.
“I do not like your strange words,” she said.
“Nevertheless, Fey, we will win the day with Aefel by our side, or the galaxy will burn.”
She considered this, taking a moment to study her people as she stalled for time to think. “What is galaxy?”
“The earth and sky for as far as you can imagine,” he said.
A flock of small birds burst from one of the towers.
“I will gather Sky Clan,” Fey said. “Please say something to Gunnar so that his feelings are not wounded.”
Seccon went to the clan chief, young as he was, and shared a flagon of ale as they ate and discussed plans for the day. Sveinn and several young boys were allowed to sit and listen, which was good.
The day had come to begin mentoring the young emperor.
Sky Clan left First Base by the Green Gate.
“Why do they call it the Green Gate?” Sveinn asked Seccon as they walked behind Gunnar and the elder women of the clan toward the exit. “There is nothing green about it. I thought there would be potted plants or something like the strangers keep in their ay-tree-um.”
“They also call that a greenhouse,” Seccon said.
“Strangers are strange,” Sveinn said.
“They like to eat fruits and vegetables out of season.”
Sveinn looked back at the modern fortress that was disguised as a primitive castle. “I bet they have stomach aches all year round.”
Seccon laughed. A small green light flashed on the top of the gate when it opened.
The procession moved well with fresh animals and well-rested men, women, and children to carry the load. The gravel-packed road twisted down into the next section of the upland valley, leading someday to the other side of the nearly impassable mountain range. The rising sun painted one wall of the pass, leaving the other in shadow that was somehow as marvelous and rich as the glory opposing it. Birds arched high above. Gentle breezes shook snow from evergreen trees. Streams and rivers flowed in the distance.
