Hard Corps

by Paul Mannering

  “Why did the Helos come?”

  Erik tried to shrug, but the gesture was lost in the suit. “I don’t know. I only know what they do. I have seen it on other worlds. We have defeated them in other places. Saved people like yours. Made them safe again.”

  Silence fell over the group who watched from a few steps back. Erik let them consider his words for a moment. “What do I call you?”

  “Malber-Chun,” the spokesman replied.

  “And you lead your people?” Erik asked.

  “Sure, you could say that.”

  “This was your place?” Erik asked.

  “This?” Malber-Chun looked around again. “This was a city of half a million people. A city of industry, businesses, schools, hospitals, museums, libraries, parks, and homes. Yes, you could say it was my place. It was everyone’s place.”

  “We can help you-”

  “Gasha you!” Malber snarled. The Diorite network tripped over a translation for the expletive. Malber kicked a rock and came charging forward. Erik tensed but remained still, willing the rest of the squad to hold their fire.

  The man grabbed Erik by the collar of his armored suit and jerked him forward. “Take a fucking look at what your help has done! You came here and, with no warning or explanation, destroyed everything that we had!”

  “Helos…” Erik said.

  “Fuck the Helos. Fuck them and fuck you!” Malber pushed Erik back. His suit servos corrected and kept him on his feet.

  “Yes! Fuck the Helos!” Erik yelled back. “And fuck the Skivs! And the fucking Zarans! And fuck this shit!”

  Malber let him go, blinking in the face of Erik’s fury as his words ran out and he howled in rage.

  “Man, you are peshan,” Malber laughed and clapped Erik on the shoulder. “What’s a Skiv?”

  “Big… ugly… fucking things. Armored with whipping arms and teeth.”

  Malber nodded, the humor draining from his face. “We have seen them. And a zah-rans…?”

  “Big ball sack with four tentacles?”

  “They bury themselves in the rubble and come out at night,” Malber replied.

  “Yeah, they come out at night. Mostly.”

  “We saw lights in the night sky. We thought it was a meteor shower until the bombs fell. Millions of people died. Our news networks showed us it was happening all over the world. Then, monsters landed and killed anyone left alive.”

  “How did you survive?” Erik asked.

  “We hid, or ran. These are all refugees. Everyone one of us has lost friends, family, and yakal.”

  “What is yakal?” Erik asked.

  “Waiting for something good to happen.”

  Erik waited, but the Diorite network did not provide him with a direct translation of the word. “We are looking for any alien technology. Places where the Helos have left equipment or built structures.”

  Malber gave a short, humorless laugh. “We see anything like that, we run like hell in the other direction.”

  “So, you have seen such places?”

  “Yeah.”

  Erik waited for him to continue.

  “I have seen my friends torn to pieces. I have seen my city destroyed. I have seen everything I have ever known turned to shit. But if some kind of base for these murdering fuckers is what you want to see, then sure, I can point you in the right direction.”

  “Clix, bring the squad forward. Real easy.”

  “Understood.”

  Erik’s squad rose out of the rubble behind him. Their sudden appearance caused a wave of panic through the refugees.

  “It’s okay. They’re with me.”

  III

  “We’re on track to rendez at those cords,” Axander confirmed.

  “Don’t get too close,” Erik replied. “We’ve got no visual on any enemy presence. Fuckers could be underground.”

  “If the scary aliens bother you, little girl, you tell me and I’ll send in a salvo of big dicks. They’ll drill down and detonate.” Axander’s sarcasm was to be expected. Weakness was despised in the corps, and Erik ignored the words.

  Clix crawled on her belly to Erik’s position. For someone who spent the war working a console in an armored vehicle, she seemed to be relishing eating dirt with an infantry squad.

  “First,” the trooper whispered.

  “Hup?” Erik replied, not taking his eyes off the terrain ahead.

  “I found a fresh slime trail, bearing two-forty.”

  “Zarans?”

  “Either that or…” Clix trailed off, a suitable target for sarcasm missing from her vocabulary.

  “Good survey,” Erik replied. Timber would have told him at length how the slime trail must have been left by his mother, sister, or one of the hundreds of women that Timber was adamant he had slept with.

  “File report to Armor Commander Axander. Update him on the cords. Request hold-fire until target verified. Hup?”

  “Hup.” Clix stood in silence for a minute, her report to Axander unheard outside her helmet.

  Erik crept back from the surveillance point to where the refugees sat huddled under a bent sign that showed an image of a pair of smiling adults and two young children.

  “Everyone okay?” Erik asked. The speaker on his damaged helmet echoed his words in the alien tongue.

  Malber raised an empty nutri-pac in salute. “Thank you for sharing food.”

  Erik nodded staring back at the children who regarded him with wide, dark eyes. The edge of their hunger had been dulled for now, and with the children controlled, the adults would be more compliant.

  “If you help us, we can provide more than enough food. Help us destroy the Helos and we can give you everything you need to rebuild your city.” It was close to the truth and anything beyond gaining the native’s trust was not Erik’s concern. His duty was to the Diorite Commonwealth and the annihilation of the Helos.

  “And if we don’t want to help?”

  “Sooner or later, something will kill your children. If they are lucky, they will be dead before they get eaten.”

  “You think you can scare us with words?” Malber tossed the empty nutri-pac aside.

  “No.”

  “My family has lived for generations in this city. Then you and your enemy came and we became refugees on our own land. You and your warriors should come with me. We will see if the others will listen to you.”

  “Squad, move easy. On me,” Erik broadcast on the squad channel. Clix and the others came into view, appearing out of the dirt and falling into step on Erik’s trail.

  IV

  “Your helmet is still not functioning, First?” Clix’s question came on the hour, and the act of asking made it a report that would be filed.

  “Your observation is correct, Trooper.” Erik had the responsibility for keeping the squad alive. Clix knew if his equipment was faulty, then he may not be capable of fulfilling that responsibility.

  “First Trooper-”

  “Stand down, Trooper Clix. Your concerns are R and R.”

  She wouldn’t let it go. Troopers like Clix would never let it go. When everyone was dead, her ghost would stand over Erik’s corpse and remind him that he was at fault. This was as sure as the sunrise.

  Clix spoke rapidly. “I could take a look at your faulty equipment.”

  “Thank you,” Erik handed the cracked helmet over, his eyes scanning the broken skyline of the ruins. “Axander, you copy?”

  “Axander here.”

  “Where are they taking us?”

  “You’re tracking to the center of the city. Sat recon has all kinds of ugly in those sectors. You’re probably walking into a trap.”

  “A trap means enemy forces. Which is exactly where we are meant to be,” Erik replied.

  “Armor units are on course. We’ll be with you ASAP.”

  “Erik out.”

  In formation, the squad followed the ragged line of Malber and his people.

  “First, I have a question.” Veteran trooper Silia
n had perfected the art of giving advice without calling you a dumb-ass.

  “Speak,” Erik replied.

  “Orders are to detain any humans for questioning.”

  “That is correct.”

  “We don’t know how many of them are in those buildings. We don’t know their weapons status or their relationship with the Helos.”

  “The humans have shown no indication of hostility. The Helos enslave or destroy.”

  “This trooper recommends we proceed with extreme caution, First.”

  “Recommendation R and R’ed,” Erik confirmed.

  In the destruction ahead, the level of technology was hard to determine. Erik could see slabs of material similar to krete making up the broken walls of buildings. Walking through the rubble, they stepped over twisted girders of steel and their boots crunched glistening pools of shattered glass.

  Malber and his group moved carefully, ducking under obstacles and pausing often to listen for any sounds. Erik kept his squad at an operational distance where they could engage the enemy without risking the civilians.

  Everything Erik could see puzzled him. Before the ruin, the city must have been complex, with a grid of paved streets, and the remains of storehouses with goods now spilled on the ground.

  “AC Axander, Erik, copy?”

  “Copy.”

  “Helos ship inbound on your cords.”

  Erik waved his squad to a halt. They dropped immediately, taking cover and following the trajectory of the alien craft as it whooshed overhead before vanishing into the darkness.

  “Where are the fucking civilians?” Erik asked. He mentally kicked himself for losing them in a few seconds of distraction.

  “Bearing ten-five. They went to cover.” Clix gave her report like she was on the testing ground in the training dome.

  “Squad, find cover and maintain a secure perimeter. Clix, Silian, on me.” Erik took the lead, sweeping the area with his rifle as he went in search of Malber.

  Ducking under a tilted slab of krete, Erik activated the flashlight on his rifle. A narrow tunnel sloped down into darkness and the walls had been marked with unreadable symbols. The unfiltered air was strange to Erik, and he sniffed before stepping into the darkness.

  v

  “First, we should hold and report” Clix was regurgitating the basic training ops procedures that had been drilled into Erik a lifetime ago.

  “Clix, you can stand the fuck down or you can shut the fuck up.” Erik mentally scolded himself as soon as he had spoken. A First Trooper should encourage adherence to regs at all times.

  “First?” Clix couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice.

  “Quiet, Clix. We’re working here.” Silian had earned the respect of other troopers the hard way and Clix remained silent.

  Erik stepped out into a domed chamber, dotted with makeshift shelters and the glow of more smokeless fires. Malber stood near the entrance, the rest of his group had gone further into the settlement.

  “I would see the faces of those who follow you, Erik,” Malber announced.

  Several other men and women moved closer in the gloom. Some carried rifles of a simpler technology than Erik’s Diorite-issued weapon.

  “It is against our laws to remove our armor when in battle.”

  “There is no battle here,” Malber replied. “We are the dead left behind.”

  Erik scanned the gathering figures, looking for signs of hostility and immediate threat.

  “First, recommend you advise civilians to back away.” Erik could hear the unease in Clix’s voice.

  “Trooper Clix. Head back up the tunnel. If you start shooting in here, we will lose an opportunity to gain valuable intel,” Erik said.

  “First, I-”

  “Move, trooper,” Erik broke in. He didn’t have to turn to see her heading up the tunnel. Instead he stepped forward into the flickering circle of light.

  “See, I am just like you.” Erik spoke into the throat mic on his headset. The helmet picked up the signal, translated it, and his voice spoke in a garbled echo.

  “You are nothing like us.” Malber walked through the ranks of the gathered Kursk humans. “You can go deeper, or you can return to your masters.”

  The crowd parted to allow Erik through. Silian remained resolute and unmoving at the mouth of the tunnel.

  “How many of you down here?”

  “Why do you care?” Malber didn’t look back.

  “We need to know so we can provide food, medicine, shelter.”

  “We have all those things.”

  “We can give you back your world,” Erik insisted.

  “I told you, it is not yours to give.”

  Erik fell silent. There were protocols to gaining the support of native populations, though such things were not part of his training. This was the first time he had spoken with a native of any the war-worlds, and he had run out of standard things to say. “You’re right. I have nothing for you.”

  “Come, eat with us.” Malber led the way.

  *

  “Confirm your last?” Timber said.

  “First Erik followed a group of natives into an underground space. He hasn’t returned to the surface,” Clix repeated.

  “Status of the squad?” Timber asked.

  “Kalban, Macco, Quink, and Decoran were terminal casualties. Trooper Silian went with First Erik. The rest of us are secure, sector kilo-one-seven.”

  “Have you reported to Armor Commander, Axander?“Negative, First Trooper. I… First Erik is your peer. I thought it prudent to contact you first.”

  Clix heard Timber’s teeth grind together over the comm link. “Hold your position. First Timber, out.”

  The communications line clicked off and Clix allowed herself a deep breath. First Erik and First Timber were veterans of the war. Whispers around the platoon suggested they had been in service for more than five standard years. To fresh troopers like Clix, with less than three months’ battle experience, they were old men.

  In Clix’s mind, old men were dead wood; they needed to be cut away to make room for new growth. Troopers like Clix who would lead the squad the way it should be run. The Diorite Command would reward her service.

  Of course, they would hold Erik accountable for his actions and if Timber did not denounce his friend, he would also be liable. Either scenario meant victory for Clix.

  Chapter 8

  Noshi…

  A caress across her consciousness gentle enough to bring her attention without disruption. In response, she visualized a blooming flower of primary colors that contained the knowledge of worlds in each petal. Releasing the vision expressed acknowledgement.

  Pizak.

  A report has been received. The one coded Erik has stepped away from the path.

  Noshi focused on exercises of control, maintaining the cyclic flow of the brightly colored bloom in her mind. Reports on Erik’s situation had been hard to come by in the steady flow of data pouring in from every corner of the war. She knew that he was alive and had proven himself an effective soldier in every theatre of combat. That Pizak had deemed it necessary to isolate Erik and advise her of the consequences of his actions filled her with a very human curiosity and unease.

  Noshi gathered her thoughts. I confirm my understanding. The visual display communicated in ways beyond mere words.

  It is accepted that your time here has come to an end. The way ahead is yours to create from the endless probabilities of the dimensions.

  Pizak? Noshi could not keep her surprise hidden. Being blind since birth meant she had a perspective on the world that was different from others’. The concept of color had confused and elated her. The Diorites communicated amongst themselves and with her through their mastery of the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Through intense study, Noshi had learned the Diorite techniques that distilled the essence of thought until it could be projected into a receptive mind. The recipient’s interpretation was as much a part of the communication as the ini
tiator.

  You are the Herald. You will be recorded as such in the sacred Bwalla. Noshi, an eternal hub in countless probabilities of ka’tharsis.

  Noshi sorted through a multitude of questions. I will feel your presence again.

  Pizak’s mental touch was like a gentle hand on her shoulder. Study the probabilities. All things are possible in the expanding Universe.

  Then she was alone.

  II

  “Sorry there isn’t more. We haven’t had a chance to go to the store,” Malber said between shoveling spoonsful of stew into his mouth.

  “I’ve eaten worse.” Erik had never sat down to eat with aliens before. Even ones that were of human stock. Such a thing was a breach of protocol.

  “The juice in bags?”

  It took Erik a moment to realize that Malber was referring to the nutri-pacs they had given the refugees earlier. “Zarans like underground spaces. They will be attracted by the warmth of so many bodies.”

  “We have fought them off a couple of times already,” Malber shrugged.

  “They will come back and with others. The Helos will not stop until you are all destroyed.”

  “And you and your people? You won’t stop until these Helos are destroyed?”

  Erik nodded. “It is our purpose.”

  Malber set down his cleaned plate and stared into the flickering glow of the small fire. “There was a time in the history of my people, after victory in battle, we took others as ebad.”

  “What does that word mean?”

  “Ebad? It means servant. Specifically, a person who works for another without payment.”

  Erik wondered why the Diorite network could not provide a translation to the word.

  “There are people alive today—well, people alive recently—who remember those days. The ebad were treated like animals. They had no rights, could own no property and had to do exactly what they were told, when they were told. Times changed. Those who owned people came to see them as human and the practice was outlawed. When it was made law that no person could bind another without payment or rights, the ebad were upset. We do not want to be free, they said. When the lawmakers asked them why they did not want their freedom, the ebad told them, Without our servitude, we have nothing. It is our purpose.”