“So we’re gaining ground again, huh?” I muttered to myself as I read over what information there was to be found. Or rather what I managed to hack. At least it looked like we were gaining ground again. The Aloi never planned on sacrificing their fleet as their bombshell attack created the effect they wanted. It was now time to carefully extract the fleet with minimal losses.
The Federation admirals knew they had a single good chance to cripple this fleet, so they pushed to punish the intrusion as much as they could. We had lost this battle, but we had to get something out of it. It didn’t matter how many battles we lost as long as we won the final one. It was what the military taught us. Or in other words, it didn’t matter how many soldiers died as long as the rest got to live. Fair enough.
Carrier 8 shook violently both from the screaming G-forces as well as the energy being released by bombardment.
“Oh, shit!” Layla cried in the INAS, and luckily for her Leo and I were the only ones who heard it. For a moment, though, I thought we were done for.
“So it was an Aloi torpedo,” I whispered. “And another one.”
I knew the carrier had already been battered, but a single well-placed torpedo would be enough to cripple the Knez’un. Lost in my thoughts, the ship shuddered again as another torpedo hit. The alarms went off. I tried to wiggle my head free from the gel to look at my squad. Layla was inventing new, terrible cuss words with every passing second. Red lights flooded the dropship. Leo kept his eyes closed and mumbled something. Prayer. Pray harder, I thought just as the same voice spoke again.
DROPSHIP DETACHING IN: T-10 Seconds
What a good way to start your military career by almost getting blown out of space before you had the chance to get your hands around Aloi throats.
“What the hell is going on!” a voice screamed and not even over the INAS. More voices joined in, but the captain was quick to respond.
“Skull Company!” Captain Tailor yelled as our drop ship closed in on Alpha Station. “Our army regiment will land first, then it’s our Special Forces Company. The regiment will take the brunt of the enemy attack, but don’t expect a walk in the park when you land! You’re there to kill, and the soldiers will rely on you. Show them what you learned!”
My INAS reported that four out of ten ships from Carrier 8 exploded in the vacuum of space. He didn’t mention that, of course. The death of almost half your forces could prove somewhat dispiriting.
“Prepare for impact!” his voice roared over our INAS again, just before we slammed into the station. Our dropship didn’t land as much as it crashed into docking bay four of Alpha Station, but the impact of an emergency landing was a hiccup to what we witnessed when the hatch opened, and our company streamed out of the remaining six ships.
Our transporter exploded behind me just as we touched the grey metallic surface of the docking bay. It was only by the grace of randomness that I survived both the landing and my first step, that and Layla’s quick reflexes which pulled me from an all too hot entrance.
“Sarge? You good?” Layla screamed into the INAS as Leo hunkered down behind us.
“Yeah, thanks! Keep your head down!”
I pulled up my INAS to assess the situation. The Aloi kept reinforcing all docking bays with their cheapest Raintroopers, and had us under constant fire. Dozens of Ravagers kept a perimeter with constant Silkfire barrages creating a demarcation line that stopped any advance. Thousands of troopers kept a stream of white silk projectiles flashing at our heads. They truly lived up to their name while showering us with a rain of bullets.
“Sir?” Leo inquired.
He was visibly shaken. And so was Layla. This was their first mission and I had to show courage for the three of us, but this battle wasn’t under my control. Some 700 specialist soldiers took cover across the docking bay while the Aloi pounded us with everything they had. I really hoped Captain Tailor would come up with a plan of attack ASAP or this would turn ugly.
“I want to see a line of Commandos putting up their Firestorm turrets to provide immediate cover for this area here!” Tailor finally snapped over the INAS, drawing on a digital representation of the docking area within the INAS. “I want the Gearlords on constant Deathstorm fire from their artillery weapons, here, here, and here. Don’t stop until our melee units get into attack range, then tank up and charge in behind them. Brawlers and Warwalkers, I want you in there on my mark! As for Technomancers—” he paused for a second and a single thought crossed my mind as he did. Familiars on melee support and tank bots in the fray. It was the only sensible thing to do, but no, he surprised me again. “Sergeant Stavos will coordinate your attack! Stavos, you’re in charge of your class so do as you see fit!”
What? I never had an order like that. There were another seventy Technomancers in Skull Company, of which over half were higher tier than I. What’s more, none of them liked this order. I sure know I wouldn’t if I were them. The damn order put me in a position that wasn’t suited for my rank!
I took in a deep breath and focused as I nodded to Leo and Layla to go ahead and do as the captain ordered. I connected on a sub-channel with the rest of the Technomancers started giving out orders.
“Sergeant Stavos here. Activate all Blade Shields and summon your bots before we make a move. Don’t do anything until ordered otherwise.”
Artillery rounds flew overhead as Gearlords started their bombardment from the back. Tailor gave the mark and Layla and the rest of the melee-class warriors charged the battlefield. I wasn’t listening closely. Instead, I focused on my own job at hand, but still allowed a part of my mind to function using O-Nans to listen for keywords.
Leo and the remaining Commandos immediately followed with a barrage from their turrets that pinned down the front line Aloi forces so the Brawlers and Warwalkers had a clear path toward their destination. All hell broke loose as the lines clashed.
Ravagers walked out to meet our frontline while absorbing turret fire. Lower tier Brawlers and Warwalkers died as the Ravagers mowed them down using their giant blades to cleave them in half.
“Report all your familiars to my INAS. Now!” I ordered as I peeked around the cover and found Layla jumping up only to smash her Sundown Warhammer into one of the Ravagers with such force that the creature’s six legs gave in and its stomach dropped to the floor. Another hit to its back cracked the armor open and exposed the natural carapace of the Aloi warrior. It was no match for her new toy. The Warhammer in her hands crackled with energy as she swung it down on the poor thing, crushing the insides and splattering the area with blood. The other Brawlers in our company could do nothing but look in awe at how she single-handedly took down an enemy that would have wiped the floor with their entire squad.
I checked the familiar situation. We had 72 Drones, 72 Golems like my Bucky, and several dozen of assault familiars called Centaurs for a general type. They were four-legged robotic monsters with the torso focused on the center. They had four arms, or rather launchers, of which two spewed grenades and two had mini-guns.
“Send the Drones on distract duty and cover our front line! Cover the Brawlers and Warwalkers the best you can as the Golems charge in from the flanks here and here,” I ordered, showing a position on either side of the Raintroopers. “On my mark, fire all spike-cannons into the troopers.”
It wasn’t a grand strategy, but we didn’t need grand strategies right now, we needed to win this battle quickly. This was a losing battle for the Aloi and there was no space for crazy ideas. What was left of our company, about 700 specialists, were a force to be reckoned with any time of day.
Murmurs of confirmation came in from some, while the others just sent a textual confirmation over the INAS. They were pissed I’d be hogging the glory over everything, I was sure of it. The captain led the overall company, yet no other specialist had been given command over their class.
Drones buzzed overhead, drawing fire and raining down support fire from their solo mini-guns, dropped smoke and EMP grenades, or ju
st strafed the enemy and charged groups, exploding in their midst.
The Golems finally got into place and slammed into the flanks, using their Charge abilities to ravage the flanks and draw fire. Their massive fists slammed into the weaker-armored troopers and ripped them apart with their sharp, hook-like extensions. The Centaurs opened fire deeper into the enemy ranks, but stopped after the first salvo, afraid they’d hit our own people.
The battle quickly ground to a halt when the Aloi started pulling back.
“Fall back!” the captain ordered over our INAS.
“Pull the familiars back as well!” I ordered over our Technomancer channel. What remained of the Drones and Golems spilled to either side of the Brawlers and Warwalkers and pulled back, taking cover behind walls, large steel crates, and other debris.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were still in a simulation as all fighting stopped, just like that single moment of anticipation before we got our points. There were no points awarded this time, no numbers except for the dead Brawlers and Warwalkers. We had lost eleven people in total.
My INAS suddenly flared up in red, announcing the presence of a company-wide threat. Multiple Templar-class Aloi soldiers appeared from the dark corridor on the opposite side of the cargo bay.
“Holy shit!” Leo cursed over our channel. He was right about one thing, be it holy or unholy, we were in deep shit. Templars were basically walking tanks, and there were several of them.
They were so much more than soldiers. Templars were bio-enhanced Cantari fanatics infused with Aloi genetics. They towered at nine feet and could crush the average Federation soldier just by stepping on them. The worst part was that Templars had only one path in battle: forward. A Templar never retreated, it never surrendered. It was the embodiment of the Aloi mind.
The two-legged tank swung his giant swords at the first Brawler who dared find himself too close, and sliced him in two with his Raystrike ability. Tailor ordered half the Commandos to fire at the Templar, but the projectiles just dinged off against his Doomguard Armor. Imagine a walking tank with a gigantic sword and you got a damn Templar.
“Send the Drones in and distract them!” I ordered the Technomancer group. “Sap at their chips and mods if you have any kind of hacking ability. Other than that, try to keep them stun-locked using the Golems. Time their approach and charge so they don’t get cut in pieces with a single attack!”
None of the nanite familiars could do anything but keep the Templars occupied, but we needed to gain some time. More gunfire erupted from along our lines, peppering the Templars. Grenades bounced off their armors and exploded around them. A lucky grenade got stuck inside the armor’s rivets and blew a hole in the Templar’s side. Dozens of guns fired at the behemoth, filling his body with lead until he couldn’t walk anymore. Only two Templars remained, both unharmed and undamaged.
More screams, orders, and chatter flooded my INAS, but I shut it all off, all but one.
“What do we do?” Leo’s voice rang out over our squad channel.
“Stay put! Layla, don’t you even dare think about attacking the damn things! That’s an order!”
I’d been wrong to assume she’d charge the monstrosities.
“No way, even if you wanted me to go in, fuck that!”
I rolled my eyes mentally as she let out a nervous chuckle. Ravagers flooded past the Templars and were joined in with new troopers.
“Kill the Ravagers!” the captain ordered. “Don’t waste your lives on the Templars!”
The Brawlers and Warwalkers charged the enemy line but kept their distance from the walking tanks. I followed Layla as she slammed the hammer through two of a Ravager’s limbs and then hit him overhead, knocking the spider-like creature into the steel floor.
Several other specialists weren’t as smart and lucky as her when they got too close and got cut in two by either the Ravagers or the Templars. With the Templar’s Holy Retribution ability activated, he smashed, crushed, sliced, and just plainly rampaged through a dozen Brawlers. The Warwalkers rushed to their aid casting their War Shields but not even the squad leader, Sergeant Prior, of the third-ranked squad of our company held long enough to absorb a second hit.
There was no doubt in my mind that we’d lose unless the Templars died. It wasn’t even about winning right now, it was about damage control, and the longer this went on, the more people we’d lose.
Hundreds of projectiles slammed into the Templars every second, but they still held their ground. With every step they took, the two were closer to our backline.
“All on me, now! Target the left Templar’s arms!” I snapped at the Technomancers. I rushed in and hid behind a crate some twenty paces out, then trickled a line of O-Nans toward the creature. The nanites crawled along the floor and up its legs, then crawled up the crevices and into the arms.
HACKING TEMPLAR: 1%
“How long do you need?” a voice asked over the class channel.
“We need ninety-four seconds. I need more juice! If you don’t want to die, get your ass in here and help me!” I snapped back, angry at the cowards. All of them had become used to fighting from the backlines, the cowards.
Three Technomancers slid beside me and extended their O-Nans along my line and supercharged the process. The closest Templar was now twelve steps away while the one that was being hacked stopped behind him and stared our way.
HACKING TEMPLAR: 39%
Layla, seeing what I was doing, climbed atop a stack of crates and jumped from twenty feet up, bringing her hammer down and using her Thunderclap ability. A wave of electricity washed through the Templar and brought him to one knee.
She landed beside it and swung the hammer a second time, hitting it in the side, and ran. His health had barely dipped at all, but we’d gained several seconds. The stream of nanites became even stronger as several other Technomancers tapped in, but from further away, staying in relative safety. Not that anything was safe in this damn place. Bullets, rockets, and grenades flew in all directions, exploding against shields, blowing bodies up, and ripping them apart on both sides.
Dozens of Golems charged the two again and stunned them for several seconds, but a mere swing, even from a kneeling position, killed fourteen of the familiars in one hit. I cursed under my breath as I stared up at the number.
91%.
96%.
100%.
A horrendous backlash struck me like a fist in the nose as I gained momentary control over its arms and blade. I pulled the arms back and swung as hard as I could. The blade went through the weaker neck armor and sliced its skull in half.
The Templar let out a bloodcurdling scream as it tore its arms free of control and swung the blade blindly at us, hitting the crates instead. Before we could even move, its eyes started glowing red, and the armor grew in size.
“It activated Godblood mode!” the captain yelled over the INAS. “Give it all you got!”
When a Templar uses its Godblood ability, it discards its defenses and only focuses on the attack. The same happened when its body grew too big for the armor and it cracked from within, shedding it all around the berserking behemoth. For its size, the Templar was incredibly fast as it jumped right into a group of Commandos and swung its giant sword in an arc, slicing through seven of them in a single fell sweep.
My heart thumped in my throat as I hoped Leo hadn’t been among them. I spotted him on the far left as he fired his new elemental gun. Bullets dinged off its skin, but some passed through, whittling away at its health, but they were too few. Several of the Centaurs trained their miniguns on the monstrosity and sent shells flying, but it moved with such deliberation one had to rethink about calling them berserkers. That thing was smart.
The Templar turned its sight on the Gearlords and Technomancers next. I knew this was going to end in blood unless something happened quickly. My ears rang as I found myself screaming into the INAS. Just as the Templar was about to close the distance, nanite chains erupted from the floor, entangl
ing themselves around his arms and legs, and forcing the giant brute to the ground. Corporal Rice and his squad had shown up amid the battle like avenging gods.
“Are you guys all right?” his voice boomed in our ears. I didn’t care that it hurt, and promised never to think badly about him again. If he hadn’t shown up when he did, we’d have lost many more capable men and women before it had gone down.
“Kill that thing, Corporal!” our captain boomed. “I’ll treat you to damn fine brew if you do before it kills another of my men!”
The adept Technomancer hovered above ground, carried by his familiar. The Templar struggled and pulled at the chains, but they stood firm. Corporal Rice kept his eyes closed as several other Technomancers did their best to keep up with their corporal. I knew he was concentrating hard to keep the connection, but even for him, restraining a Templar was a herculean task. The two Brawlers in his squad unsheathed their Nas-swords, one brought the giant crackling blade into the chest of the Templar while the other swung just at the right angle to decapitate the super soldier.
All of the fear and dread that had filled me moments before flooded out of me as I dropped on my ass and almost broke down. No one else had to die to the damn Templars, those monstrosities the Aloi loved to create.
Two pairs of hands tugged at my arms and pulled me up. I had no idea who they were, especially not since they were fully armored, but I didn’t care. I took in a deep breath and roared.
“Wipe them out! Show them that we’re more than anyone cares to admit!”
Now this time the Technomancer channel erupted in screams and cheers. Maybe it had been because my squad basically killed two Templars, or because I’d shown a hint of capabilities in leading others. Whatever the case, they were up and shooting from all guns as the remainder of our Golems charged after the fleeing Ravagers and Raintroopers.
Starblood: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 1) Page 10
