Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  Standish rolled over onto her back, reached into her trouser pocket, and pulled out a small pill packed with medical nano-bots and popped it into her mouth. She closed her eyes and let the rain fall on her face. She was sure that she was concussed, and that her right arm was broken, along with a few ribs. They had given her a real going-over, all while Fu and Liboa watched.

  Perhaps she was lucky that her identity had remained unknown to Liboa, either way, they had made a severe error in judgement, they left her alive.

  68

  The Past

  Qera

  When Beta One-One reached the High-Speed Rail station, it was already crowded with teams trying to get up to the outbound platform that was on a raised level twenty metres off the ground with a single staircase leading to it. At the bottom of the ramp was the Prime team from Killious with their bald heads. They were stopping every operator that arrived before letting them pass.

  “Halt.” The team leader of Alpha Six-Six, Bret Fa, stopped Cryne. His distinctive purple coloured armour looked burned and heavily damaged. “What team?”

  “Beta One-One.” Cryne answered.

  “How many?” Bret Fa asked.

  “Six.” Cryne replied. “Team leader and pilot dead.”

  “Proceed.” Bret Fa instructed, allowing Cryne and the rest of the team to proceed up the steps.

  Vargueima, the lone female on the team whom Standish had spoken with a few times on Killious stopped her and gave her some advice. “When you get to the spaceport, get on a ship as fast as possible. It’s a rolling evacuation.”

  Standish thanked her, then followed her team up the steps. Looking around, she noticed that all the groups of operators that were massed on the stairs leading to the train platform were in groups less than eight. Turning around, Standish spotted a team approach the steps, only to be turned away by Bret Fa. The team moved to a spot ten metres away from the steps and waited. A minute later, another full unit arrived and was told to join the previous group to the side. Once all sixteen operators were gathered, Bret Fa walked over to them, spoke briefly, and then returned to the base of the stairs. Standish watched as the two team leaders talked among themselves, then started moving off in the direction of the spaceport. It was clear that fully operational teams were being made to run out of AO Throne.

  Eventually, a team of clones from Sey arrived. The team was still eight strong, and they were told to wait for another full team before setting off towards AO Sky, but the team leader shook his head and took off with his team straight away. They were in for a ten-kilometre run through enemy territory. A fate Standish didn’t relish.

  Looking up to the platform, she saw a few wounded operators laid on the metal flooring, waiting, like everyone else to get to AO Sky as fast as possible, and after waiting only two more minutes, Standish spotted the HSR train barreling down the tracks towards the platform. She wasn’t sure how many operators would fit inside for one run, but she had already counted enough operators in front of her that she doubted that she’d make this trip.

  Looking off to her left, she focused on the massive green park that dominated the centre of the Curzon. It was more green than she had seen growing up on Nadolo Prime, and now that the mortar rounds had stopped falling, she was able to relax for just a fraction of a second, and watch a collection of birds as they flew above the lush green park. If it were not for the battle, the park looked like the perfect place to get lost for several hours on a long walk. Unfortunately, that option was the furthest thing from what was going to happen for her that day, and her pleasant day-dream was shattered when her helmet detected a missile launch from inside the park.

  A thick red band appeared across the middle of her HUD showing MISSILE WARNING. It wasn’t the kind of warning that would appear unless she was in the calculated impact area, and without thinking, and with no regard for the rest of her teammates, Standish grabbed the railing that was next to her with her left hand and threw herself over the side. The fall to the ground took only a second or two, and when her feet touched down, she immediately started sprinting back towards the Royal Palace as fast as her suit could move her.

  It was enough to save her life.

  The missile slammed into the platform just before the empty train pulled into the station and instantly vaporised everyone and everything on the platform, and sent a massive fireball screaming out in all directions for fifty metres, followed by a lethal wall of broken metal, shards of glass, and amputated body parts.

  Diving to the ground, Standish released her grip on her rifle and covered the back of her head with her hands. As the fire and debris rushed through the air over her, she lay motionless, while switching her HUD to the status of her five remaining teammates. Nik Has’s bio-sign was undetectable, while Ho and Lo were both being shown as dead.

  Clear of danger, Standish pushed herself up from the ground, got a hold of her rifle, then quickly returned to the platform. There was almost nothing left. At the base of the stairs, the Prime team from Killious were still alive, but injured, and treating their own. Walking up what was left of the stairs, Standish looked for Cryne and Mils, but she couldn’t find them. Switching to her team-tracker, she realised that they had been blown clear of the stairs, towards the park. She discovered their bodies heavily charred, but alive, twenty metres away.

  Upon reaching Cryne, Standish bent down and flipped him onto his back, then ran a med-check on his armour. It wasn’t good. The pressure from the blast had caused severe internal injuries, and his nano-med system was off-line. Moving to Mils, she flipped her big friend over to reveal that his armour had a pockmarked frontage with numerous holes in it, and the entire blast shield gone from his helmet.

  “Mils!” Standish flipped up her blast shield and shook her friend whose eyes were closed, and unresponsive. Checking his suits med-status, Standish quickly activated the nano-med units which hadn’t autoactivated, then shook him again. “Mils!”

  Looking back towards the station, Standish was looking for someone to help her move her friends, but everyone there was walking about in a daze except a team that was running up to the station in all white armour, one of whom ran over to where Standish was kneeling.

  The individual left their blast shield on their helmet down when they dropped to one knee next to Standish. She watched as the operator ran a quick med scan of her two teammates. Once the scan was finished, the operator flipped up their blast shield to reveal the dark-skinned figure that she knew only as Reyn.

  “They’re not going to make it.” He said in a stern voice.

  Before Standish could reply, she watched as Reyn flipped down his blast shield, rose to his feet, and opened fire towards the treeline of the park. Snapping her head around, she suddenly saw a massive wave of infantry pouring out of the woods towards their position.

  After discharging a full magazine, Reyn dropped to one knee, and reloaded, then flipped up his blast shield, and placed his left hand on Standish. “Help me.” He said.

  Standish wasn’t sure what he wanted her to do, so she just watched as he moved over to Cryne and pressed a series of buttons on his forearm data-pad, then put his rifle in his still limp arms. Reyn did the same thing with Mils, making sure that his large energy weapon was aimed at the approaching infantry.

  The downed pair didn’t move for a second, but then started to twitch violently, before relaxing, and coming around.

  “What the fuck?” Cryne asked.

  Reyn leaned forward and said something to Cryne Standish couldn’t hear, then repeated it to Mils. Once he was finished, he looked at Standish.

  “Time to go.”

  Standish paused for a second and looked at her teammates. They were suddenly moving as if they were uninjured, both now gripping their weapons with steady hands.

  “I’ve given them their juicer packs.” Reyn got to his feet and fired towards the enemy, this time joined by Cryne and Mils who started hammering away with his heavy cannon. The rounds cut through the approaching infa
ntry with easy, sending most diving towards the ground for cover.

  Standish looked up at Reyn who was already starting to amble backwards, then back to Cryne and Mils. Knowing that their fates were sealed, she rose to her feet, put her rifle butt into her shoulder, raised the barrel and took aim at the vast mass of infantry that was out in the open, then squeezed off a series off well-aimed shots, dropping six Coalition troops like she was back on the weapons range.

  “Move!” Reyn shouted.

  There was no hesitation. Standish dropped the barrel of her rifle, turned towards what was left of the HSR, and ran.

  While Reyn and Standish were moving at best speed to link up with the survivors from the missile strike on the HSR, Cryne and Mils’s bodies that had been heavily wounded with burns, lacerations and punctures were now surging to life with the juicer packs that Reyn had unleashed inside their near-dead carcasses.

  Cryne was the first to pop up his head from its resting place in the soft green grass. He was able to get a clear view of the oncoming infantry forces that were streaming out of the woods in a disorganised mass. Perhaps they smelled victory and were desperate to take part in the upcoming slaughter of the remaining Alliance forces, but Cryne was going to do his best to spoil that mood.

  “Mils.”

  Cryne’s voice was weak, and as he checked his grip on his weapon, he ran a simultaneous check on his armour, and the results were not encouraging. The suit was essentially dead. Power was failing, along with life support, and other critical systems. The only reason he was able to see any of the onrushing hostiles was because his blast shield had been flipped up. A large crack now ran down the centre of his visor, but it didn’t obstruct his view.

  Looking over to his left, he saw that the team’s big man was starting to move, slowly. Reaching up to the side of his helmet, Cryne hit the visor release button, which allowed the damaged piece of Perspex to fall to the ground.

  “Mils!”

  “Fuck you.”

  That put a smile on Cryne’s face.

  “Guns up.”

  Mils brought his head up and looked out at the mass of infantry that was running like wild animals towards them. Tightening his grip on his weapon, he brought the barrel level with the ground and took aim.

  “We need to engage! We need to engage now!” Cryne screamed.

  Mils didn’t respond. He just checked his large energy rifle was ready, then opened fire on the approaching enemy. Cryne watched a tremendous burst of laser fire tear away from Mils’s weapon, smashing into the first rank of charging infantry that was still some distance away. Taking aim through his sights, Cryne selected his first target and opened fire.

  The grass around the duo was quickly charred by the heat the two weapons were giving off. The rapid firing promptly stopped the charging advance from the Coalition infantry and sent them diving towards the ground. The attackers that had emerged from the park were only lightly armed, and without body armour capable of taking blasts from the weapons that Cryne and Mils were firing at them; they were very exposed.

  After the first rank of approaching infantry had been cut down by the scythe of weapons fire, the surviving masses started to return fire from the prone, and even though the Coalition forces had numbers on their side, their aim was poor, while their weapons proved ineffective against the armour Cryne and Mils were wearing. After two minutes of back and forth fire which was devastating the Coalition forces, a quad-legged gun platform emerged from the park, and immediately shifted the balance of power to the Coalition.

  “Advance!” Cryne ordered.

  He knew they were dead anyway, there just might be the chance to take one or two more of the enemy fuckers with them, if they were able to get close enough. The issue was the gun-platform. If they stayed out in the open, they’d be dead sooner than later.

  The heavily wounded operators were up onto their feet, dashing forward ten metres at a time then throwing themselves at the ground, taking up a firing position, getting off a few rounds then moving again.

  Mils first targeted the gun-platform, but its armour was too thick to be damaged by his heavy energy weapon, so he switched his attention back to the lightly armoured infantry.

  Back on their feet, the duo cut away from each other and moved at an angle towards the infantry that was spread out over dozens of metres, only thirty metres away. Their light weapons were ineffective against Mils and Cryne as the operators charged forward.

  Cryne continued to move well, even with the injuries he has sustained, but now the suit was doing most of the work, moving his legs and arms for him, and it was only a matter of time until the suit lost power. With every step, he fired off a series of shots in rapid succession. His vision was starting to blur, and he needed to score hits as much as he needed to keep his opponents heads down. After finishing off his last energy cell, he switched to ballistic rounds. Once he was empty, he’d reload, dropping the used magazines onto the ground, then slap in fresh magazines and immediately re-engage the enemy.

  Hitting the ground again, Cryne tried to take a few more aimed shots, before getting back to his feet. This time he cut to his left, bringing him closer to Mils, and just as he caught his teammate out of the corner of his eye, he watched a thick bolt of green charged energy slam into Mils’s right leg above the knee, severing the appendage clean off. Cryne knew the shot must have come from the gun-platform, as it was the only system with enough firepower to do that much damage to their armour. A second later, a second blast hit Mils in the centre of his chest, sending him tumbling backwards to the ground.

  Keeping up a steady rate of fire to his front, Cryne dashed to his downed partner. When he reached the body, he knew Mils was dead. The blast to his chest had bored right through the armour.

  Snapping his head around towards the enemy fighters, Cryne dropped his rifle, and grabbed Mils’s heavy weapon system, and fired off a stream of fire towards the exposed infantry, killing a quick two dozen without any effort. When the large weapon ran dry, Cryne dropped it, picked his rifle back up, and rose to his feet. He took a deep breath and advanced towards the enemy at a walking pace. With every step, he calmly took an aimed shot.

  He was exposed and moving without concern for his safety. It didn’t take long for the large gun-platform to get a firing solution on him and unleash a massive volley of fire that shredded Cryne where he stood.

  When Standish and Reyn reached the remnants of the HSR, they spun around, dropping to one knee, then fired off several aimed shots at the approaching infantry. They both knew that their weapons didn’t pack the necessary wallop to do any damage to the gun-platform that had emerged from the park, but they were able to drop some enemy infantry, which didn’t count for much as they posed little threat to the armoured operators.

  Bender was on the net trying to get some semblance of order in the group of operators that were still alive near the rubble of the HSR station. “Firing line on me!” He shouted over an open comms channel.

  The scene around the HSR was chaos filled with flames, debris scattered everywhere, an assortment of damaged and destroyed weapons, equipment and operators lying dead on the ground.

  Standish was operating on instinct and the training she had received since joining the teams. Once she had laid down another burst of fire towards the on-rushing troops, she got up and rushed back to the firing line that was set just to the south of where the HSR station had stood. Taking her place in the firing line, she dropped to one knee, lowered her rifle for a second, and fired off one of her mini-rockets from her forearm launcher towards the gun platform. The missile made it ninety percent of the way before detonating in mid-air. She wasn’t sure what stopped her missile, she guessed the gun platform had an anti-missile jamming system built into it.

  Cursing herself, Standish brought her rifle back up and continued to pick off the advancing troops with easy until her magazine ran dry. Dropping the empty power cell to the ground, she quickly slapped in a new cell, checked the power output le
vels, then resumed a steady rate of well-aimed shots. Standish wanted to keep her ballistic rounds as a measure of last resort.

  “We are going to make a run for AO Sky.” Bender said in a calm voice. “Reyn is going to take point of the column, I will take the rear. Do not stop moving. If we get contact, fight through it. If someone is hit, the operator behind them will carry them. If an operator is killed, grab their weapons and kit, and keep moving. We’ve got ten kilometres to cover, and the locals are going to try and make us pay for them.” There was a pause while Bender switched channels. “Den. Sit-rep?”

  “Holding in place.” Den replied from AO Sky. “The enemy is pressing.”

  “Understood. We’re coming to you. Just hold your position.” Bender replied.

  “Understood. Stay alive.” Den answered back.

  Bender changed the channel again. “Reyn, move us out, smart trot.”

  The entire group of operators rose to their feet almost simultaneously and turned to the right. Standish calculated that she was in the rear third of the element, which would put her among the last operators that were going to reach the sky-port.

  “Maintain proper spacing.” It was the final thing that Standish heard in her headset. The channel just went silent.

  Looking off to her left, she could tell the enemy infantry was now only seventy-five metres away, and still pressing their attack. It was suicide, but they were coming all the same, into the jaws of the laser fire that the operators were continuing to put downrange. Keeping an eye to her front, she waited for the operator in front of her to start moving before she stepped off, and the minute the figure in front of her, wearing armour painted white and black stepped off, he was hit by a massive energy bolt from the gun platform, and spliced in-half, the torso flying a metre away, while the legs just dropped where they had been standing upright.

  Locking her eyes on the gun platform, Standish started running forward, trying to close up the gap to the operator that was now in front of her, and as she moved past the dead operator, she dove forward in a combat roll, hitting the ground well, springing back up to her feet. She didn’t want to risk getting killed on the same spot.