Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  Standish looked at Mils, then shook her head. “I understand that, but we’ve got heavy mechs on sub-three. Always a chance of more reinforcements arriving, and the damage to the escalator won’t stop infantry or Sentinels.”

  “Don’t worry. All the infantry is contained right now in all three AO’s, and intelligence says there are no Sentinels in the city.” Jun cut that channel.

  Standish walked over to Mils and took a knee. “That guy is trusting in those intelligence reports.” She said on a private channel to Mils with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

  “Yeah.” He replied.

  “Where’s the drone?” She asked, cycling through her HUD trying to find the feed from the unit that they had deployed down the tunnel.

  “Went offline.” Mils replied.

  “Of course.” Standish replied.

  Mils quickly activated his mini-drone, warmed it up, then launched it. He had the flight data and telemetry from the drone that Standish had already sent down the tunnel, which enabled him to send her drone on the same route but at a faster pace, now that the course was pre-determined. “Launching.”

  The little drone detached from the rear of Mil’s armour, made a small loop around his helmet, then took off at a swift pace, disappearing down the now disabled escalator, which elicited a barrage of weapons fire from the Dita at the bottom of the ramp, and another Dita that was sitting in the middle of the platform. Neither machine hit home.

  Once the drone cleared the platform, it dropped into the gully the rail tracks ran in, then zoomed down the tunnel towards the central park station. This drone covered the distance much quicker and only slowed once the main concourse at the end of the platform came into view. Standish monitored the image as the live feed continued to get sent to her HUD, and what she saw did not give her a warm and fuzzy feeling.

  “Mils, are you seeing this?”

  “Yes.” He replied. “I’m going to send it through to Jun.” He said, and quickly routed the footage to the team leader who was currently on the surface above the station.

  “Is this real-time?” Jun asked.

  “Yes.” Mils replied.

  “Damn.”

  61

  The Present

  Fury 161

  He looked just like she had seen him on Mechcharga. Proud, handsome, strong, and impeccably dressed. And around his neck was the ring.

  “I know this old hag!” His boast was disgusting and offensive. “She works for the silly girl that runs the Etelainen. I saw her around the palace while I was there.”

  Fu looked at Liboa, then down to Standish. “Is that right?”

  Standish was fucked.

  “Your grace,” her eyes shot back to the male with the beard. “I would request a private moment with Liboa.”

  “What were you?” Liboa moved down from his perch behind Jintana. “Master of wines?” He paused, thinking over his options. “Certainly not the master of cloth.” He looked at Fu. “I say, kill her.”

  Fu smiled. “Is she really worth all that trouble?” She looked down at Standish. “What is that you want old lady?”

  “Your grace, I would like to have the ring that Nal Liboa took from my Princess.” Standish answered.

  Liboa touched the ring that was hanging around his neck. “I think I like it.” He turned around and looked at Fu. “I want to keep it, so you should probably have her killed.”

  It almost sounded like he was giving orders.

  “An old woman trying to retrieve what? A little ring.” Fu shook her head. “No. But we can’t have uninvited guests coming in here making demands.”

  62

  The Past

  Qera

  AO Diamond

  Bender had his hands on his hips, his rifle dangling to his front, attached to his armour by a synthetic cable. Reyn was standing across from him, his helmet removed and under his left arm, a questioning look on his face.

  “Can you help?” Bender asked.

  Reyn shook his head. “You know the deal.” He took a step closer to his team leader. “This does not qualify.”

  Bender took in a deep breath and took a step around his second, his point-man, and the person he trusted most in the universe. He knew Reyn was right. He and Bender had a deal that Reyn would only use his unique abilities in the rarest of circumstances, this wasn’t one of them.

  Fuck.

  He was standing in the middle of the Prince’s personal offices on the top floor of the Royal Palace, and there was no Prince. His living quarters were empty. In fact, everything on the level looked unused for some time. Either they had been set-up or given some really poor intel. Either way, the Prince wasn’t in the building, and neither was any of his personal staff, only staff and personnel assigned to the building, not the man.

  He looked over at Reyn who was now sitting on the very regal and ostentatious desk that dominated the room that was on the top floor of the palace overlooking the large park that was the main feature of the city. With AO Throne secured, Bender needed to report to the ground force commander with an update, and with it, hopefully, he’d get some good news.

  “Craz, this is D-O Prime.”

  Craz was back on the net quickly, and from what it sounded like, there was a ferocious fire-fight going on in the background. “Go Prime.”

  “Negative result at AO Throne.” Bender reported.

  “Understood.”

  “Orders?” Bender knew that he was supposed to hold the royal palace, but in his mind, it was a waste of assets to keep so many teams bogged down at one location after they knew it was a bust.

  “Prepare to repel possible counter-attack.” The channel went dead.

  Bender checked his comms net, which seemed in order and was about to try a comm-check with Clar, but before he could do that, Reyn got his attention.

  “Well, that isn’t good.” He said in his natural and mischievous tone.

  Bender looked up at his second who had moved over to the window directly across from the park, which had excellent views over the entire city. Moving up next to Reyn, he looked out the window over the vast green park that was the primary terrain feature in view, and quickly spotted what his second was talking about, a massive explosion in the shape of a mushroom cloud was rising over the far corner of the park where AO Law was located.

  “Was that a tactical nuke?” Bender asked, but he didn’t have to. He had been on enough raids and seen enough war to know the signs of a tactical nuclear weapon detonation when he saw one. “You have got to be fucking with me.” He looked at Reyn whose facial expression hadn’t changed.

  The commotion had attracted the rest of the team who ran up to the massive floor to ceiling window and stared out at the cloud as it continued to rise about the far end of the park.

  “Was someone carrying a tac-nuke with them?” Clar asked.

  Bender looked over at his younger team member, then took a step towards Reyn. “I don’t like the way this is going.” He said dryly.

  Reyn looked at his boss and gently nodded his head.

  “Den, this is Bender.”

  “Go.” Replied the commander of Prime 3 at AO Sky over an open communications channel quickly.

  “What is your status?”

  “AO Sky is secure.” Den replied.

  “What is the status of jump-capable ships?”

  There was a pause of almost a full minute until Den came back. “Ten jump capable ships, none of them armed.”

  “This op is slipping sideways on us.” Bender replied. “I see a mushroom cloud over AO Law.”

  “I see it too.”

  “Start prepping the ships for transit. Pre-program them for jumps to the nearest Alliance sector.” Bender ordered.

  “Is that premature?” Den asked.

  “If we just lost the ground force commander, and a third of our landing force, we are in trouble.” Bender said dryly. “Stand-by.” Switching comms channels and walking across the room to the opposite end which overlooked the three barrack
s, Bender initiated a call to the AO Silver and Bronze commanders. “Situation report?” He demanded.

  “This is Zaros.” It was the Silver area commander. “Situation under control.”

  “This is Ankjari. Bronze is under control. Reports of possible enemy force counter-attacking from a position in the central park.”

  Bender ended the call and stepped away from the windows to consider his options. Changing the channel, he quickly got Den back on the net. “What’s the status of your underground station?” He asked.

  “All quiet.” Den reported.

  “Send a drone down the tunnel. Report back once you have any intelligence.” Bender quickly switched to a net that was broadcast to the entire strike force. “This is Bender. I am taking command of the assault. Prepare for Frag-orders.” He cut the channel and walked over to the desk, where Reyn had moved back to, setting up a small tactical command display. “You read my mind.”

  Reyn nodded. “The Prince isn’t here. If he was at AO Law, he’s dead. And it sounds like he’s not at AO Sky.” Reyn put his knuckles on the table and looked at the digital map that was displayed on the table. “If Law is gone, along with the teams there, and a counter-attack is imminent, we need to prepare for the worst.”

  Bender looked at the image and put his finger above AO Sky. “We need to get all the teams off-world as soon as possible.”

  Reyn stood up and crossed his arms. “This op is a bust. Better to play it safe and bug-out than force a bad hand.”

  Bender smiled and took off his helmet. “I thought you were the gambler in this relationship.”

  Reyn nodded. “I do like to play against the house, but not when the deck is stacked.” He reached down and manipulated the map until it zoomed out. “We have a long-range reconnaissance drone hovering at twenty thousand metres. They report launches from two military bases not far from here. We can expect heavy reinforcements within the next thirty minutes.”

  Bender knew what had to happen, and it needed to happen fast. “Zaros, I need you to check the security on the high-speed rail station, and then double it.” He switched channels and got the AO Gold team leader on the net. “Get your teams to the HSR station at once.” He looked at Reyn. “We need to fall back to the spaceport and get off-world as fast as possible.” He zoomed the image back in. “Fuck.”

  63

  The Present

  Fury 161

  The first strike came in from the left.

  64

  The Past

  Qera

  AO Bronze

  “Standish.” It was Cryne, but the channel sounded cluttered.

  “Go.”

  “Get topside.” He ordered.

  Standish looked at Mils, who was looking at her. “Frag out.” She said calmly and pulled her two high-explosive grenades from her armour, primed them, and then threw them down towards sub-three.

  Getting to her feet, Standish took off running across the sizeable sub-two concourse, Mils hot on her trail.

  “Those two grenades won’t stop those Dita’s.” He said.

  “I know, but it’ll make them think we’re defending the position for a little while longer.” She replied.

  They reached the escalator to sub-one and didn’t miss a beat. The heavy combat armour they were wearing gave them enhanced speed and barely compromised their flexibility. Standish hopped over the side of the ramp, turned right, and dashed up the slope, her backpack filled with extra kit swinging on the rear of her armour.

  Reaching the top of the ramp, Standish stopped, spun around, and took up a firing position with her sights on the escalator at the far end of the concourse. Everything looked as it had moments ago. No movement and her helmet couldn’t detect any sounds that would indicate that a force was attempting to climb the escalator. She knew that the Dita’s one liability was their ball-like design, so they weren’t going to be coming up the ramp. She was more worried about armoured infantry and in a worst-case scenario, Sentinels.

  When her mind drifted to Sentinel’s, she wasn’t thinking about the Light variants they had encountered in the AB79 system, she was thinking about full-blown war-fighters like the Sentinel and Heavy Sentinel models. She knew that those variants were faster, stronger, more durable, and smarter than the Light’s and quite possibly invincible against anything other than their own kind.

  If her guess was right, command had juicer packs installed in the suits if they encountered enemy mecha before they had left Mechcharga. Juicer packs were something that she had read about while at training, and they didn’t give her a good vibe. Designed for special forces and elite royal protection units, the Juicer Packs were a pharmacological potion that gave the user enhanced senses, speed, reflexes, and strength for thirty minutes, after which the user died. No species was known to have been able to survive once the concoction had been pumped into their systems, and Standish had a twinge in the back of her mind that when things got serious, the suit would inject the serum into her body.

  Focusing her mind back on the immediate, she waited until Mils bounded past her before moving off the ramp, following him at a sprint. As they crossed the sub-one concourse, Standish noticed that the civilians that they had stunned earlier were now conscious and wiggling about while hog-tied. Shouts of anger and disgust were hurled at the duo as they ran past without giving them any consideration.

  Reaching the bottom of the ramp to the surface, Standish and Mils both stopped and aimed their weapons at the top of the ramp on the other side of the concourse. Again, there was no movement, or sound coming from sub-two, but they both knew that it was just a matter of time.

  “Move.” Standish said.

  “Moving.” Mils replied, bringing up his large energy cannon, and sprinting halfway up the ramp, before stopping and setting up a second firing position. “Set.”

  “Moving.” Standish said, looking to her left, then moving up the ramp in a controlled manner. “Jun, we’re coming up the ramp.” She waited for a moment, but there was no response from the team leader. When she reached Mils, she took up a firing position next to her buddy, then tried the team’s second. “Cryne.”

  “Go.”

  “We’re on the escalator just below the entrance. Orders?”

  “Hold your position for the moment. Things are happening fast up here. Plans are changing. Get ready to move.” He cut the line.

  Standish kept her eyes focused on the sub-one concourse, and the ramp leading to sub-two, and started to suspect that things were worse than she initially thought. She opened a private line to Mils.

  “What do you think?” She asked.

  “Not good.” He replied. “Something must have gone.”

  Before he could finish his sentence, a small device appeared at the top of the escalator that connected sub-one to sub-two and floated in the air for just the briefest of moments before exploding, sending a bright flashing light screaming out in all directions. Someone without a protective vision in place would have been instantly blinded by the light, but the armour that Standish was wearing set a filter to compensate just in time, allowing her a perfect vision of the area that was in her field of fire.

  “Here it comes.” She said over the line to Mils before switching to a team-wide channel. “Enemy advancing to sub-level one.”

  She didn’t need to see the enemy to know they were coming. It was now just a question of what was going to appear at the top of the ramp.

  “Ready?” She asked Mils who was positioned next to her, his massive energy rifle pointing across the concourse towards the top of the escalator. Standish had her rifle trained on the same target.

  “Ready.” He replied.

  It didn’t take long for the Coalition forces that had positioned themselves on the level below to make their move, and when it came, it was more terrifying than anything Standish could have expected.

  The first thing that came into view was a blue glow coming up the ramp, and then the leading sparks of massive energy shield that was bei
ng carried by a Heavy Sentinel that was almost four metres tall. The shield it was carrying was turned to face Standish and Mils, and expanded sideways to a width of ten metres, and behind it came the danger, ten Sentinels, all armed with heavy weapons, all marching in a steady rhythm towards the ramp towards the surface.

  “Fuck.” Standish quickly opened the channel to the rest of the team. “Jun, Cryne, we’ve got Sentinel’s down here. We need to move, soon!”

  Her eyes were fixed on the approaching threat. She didn’t know why they hadn’t opened fire yet, but at the methodical pace they were moving, they’d be at the escalator in short order, and once that happened, she and Mils were screwed. Their weapons had no chance of damaging the shield that the lead Heavy was carrying, and even if they could get clean shots at the trailing Sentinels, she knew that they’d go defensive, and move too fast to hit. She needed an anti-mecha area device, and as far as she knew, they didn’t make weapons like that portable enough for her to even carry.

  After a longer delay than she would have liked, Cryne came back on the net, a hurried tone in his voice. “Get surface-side now, we’re bugging out.” He reported.

  Standish didn’t need to be told twice.

  “Mils, move!”

  Her big friend kept his head down and raced up the ramp until he was at the final point where he could fire onto sub-one. “Set!”

  Ducking her head down, Standish followed her teammate up the ramp, and moved past him, slapping him on the back of his armour to confirm that he was the last operator and that it was now his time to move.

  Legs pumping hard, Standish reached the surface to find that the surrounding area had been turned into a pockmarked battlefield covered with blast marks, dead bodies, scattered pieces of equipment, and dozens of empty drop-pods. Looking towards the three barracks at the far end of AO Throne, Standish could see that the fronts of the buildings had been shredded by weapons fire, and large chunks of all three structures had been blasted apart.