Masoul (Harmony War Series Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  Hopefully Nivad or someone told their CEO’s to treat their people nicely, else there might be more than just Harmony rebelling in Masoul.

  With that Nerva looked into the Combat Shuttles that had been moving wounded troopers from the extractors to Reclaimer and Fearless’ medical bays.

  “All areas seem clear, I’m moving up to the upper levels to re-check them and talk to the locals up there,” Demar said, NIDenise linking Nerva into the command channel.

  “Good work Demar. Ortiz, I want you to cut as many people free as you can to help the medical personnel,” Nerva said.

  “Yes sir, on it,” Ortiz said.

  “Dalton I want you coordinating the medical situation, if it’s working, don’t step on any toes,” Nerva said.

  “Yes sir, got it, if it ain’t broken don’t fix it,” Dalton confirmed.

  “We’ll have transport with us as soon as the medical cases are out of here. The carriers are warmed up and prepared to go to Shipping Station as soon as we’re all onboard. When more information comes in I’ll let you know,” Nerva said.

  Green lights dotted the top of his HUD, his people getting his Division into movement.

  His Division had been assigned the smallest of the extractors, some had warranted a couple of Forces. Most of them hadn’t even come under contact.

  Nerva was proud with his people. Their target was supposed to be easy, when it wasn’t they didn’t complain much and they got the job done.

  It also made him think that someone had it in for Third Force’s Second Division, the Two-Two was certainly getting hammered currently.

  He also knew that reinforcements weren’t coming for a good long time.

  “NIDenise, I want you to look in and see if someone is intentionally putting the Two-Two in Danger,” Nerva asked.

  “I don’t need to, I already checked. The order came from General Wai,” she paused letting Nerva absorb the news. “Seems that while there is no evidence she thinks, correctly, that you wanted to keep her out of the battle so that you could fight it. From the reports made by Nivad he approves of your tactics. Something that looks good on her for bringing up someone like yourself, but also bad that it wasn’t her actions.”

  Nerva shook his head, the rage building in him, because of her short-sighted attempt to undermine his position she had got so many of his people killed.

  I wondered why my support requests weren’t going through, Nerva thought, his hand turning into a fist.

  “One problem at a time, let’s get the hell out of here and save those that can be saved. We’ll be fighting soon enough, I don’t think she’s going to be as worried about little old me as she will about Harmony,” Nerva said, feeling rather than hearing NIDenise’s agreement.

  Chapter 27

  EMFC Reclaimer

  Departing Gas Planet for Shipping Station, Masoul System

  11/3240

  The casualty list wasn’t pretty Jerome thought, he didn’t need to look at a surface or use his optical implants to know who was missing from the platoon or his own section.

  Mcnara, Rudkin, Kauv and Ohana’s cots lay bare, their bodies on Extractor Thirteen, Huang, Dooks and Bair were in medical, Sasaki was crying on her bunk.

  In all Second Division Second Regiment Alpha Company’s second platoon was down to nineteen people, ten of which were in medical bay, four more needed medical attention for when the medics weren’t getting run ragged.

  Jerome looked at the cot above him, not seeing anything but thinking all too much for his liking.

  He let out a sigh and rolled to his feet, pulling on the straps and catches that held his armor on his body.

  Jerome hung his gear out, looking at Sasaki crying away.

  “Get out of your gear and grab a shower, we’ll get some food afterwards,” Jerome said, adding enough command into his voice to get her moving.

  “Yeah,” she replied, wiping her face, leaving blood and grime where tears it had already been cleaned

  Jerome stripped out of his smart clothes tossing it in the armor box, shutting the door and turning the scanning and cleaning function on before heading for the shower.

  He let the water run on two showers, bringing them up to temp, he wasn’t going to have a cold shower.

  He got in, the water beating on his back, he stretched and moved, wincing as wounds opened. He was moaning and grunting as muscles were opened he cracked his back and popped his knuckles, closing his eyes and taking in that sweet release.

  He heard Sasaki walk in the shower. He made a noise of greeting, getting a head bob in return.

  They each just took in the shower, there wasn’t anything quite like it after two-days of fighting.

  He touched his side, while they’d been waiting for a shuttle a medic had injected an epoxy between his ribs.

  They weren’t scraping one another anymore at least.

  I’ll go to the med-bay tomorrow, Jerome thought knowing that they were full of more serious cases.

  Jerome lathered and cleaned off the three-day old grime of sweat and dirt.

  He went through three water rations before finally stepping out of the shower, he grabbed a towel, chucked it in the bin and pulled his smart cloth pants on.

  His muscles were tense and painful from fighting, falling on his bed he luxuriated in the feeling of the covers and mattress below him.

  He was asleep in minutes.

  ***

  Mark woke like a deep sea swimmer coming up for air.

  He looked around seeing tubes connected to his neck tap, pumping him full of drugs.

  His side was tense but it looked like the bones had fused together, the printer at the end of his foot told him he had yet another new limb.

  The leg was hard and stiff but it responded to his thoughts. Someone had been kind enough to give him one with some muscle density, it was fucking weird when they gave you a chicken leg and you had to train it up.

  He grabbed a water container from beside the bed, sticking the tube in his mouth he squeezed the zero-g rated water packet.

  “Once the IV is completed then you are free to go,” Lucille said from the curtain.

  Mark grunted, she was gone as he downed more water.

  His mind rested on her for a moment before he remembered Extractor Thirteen. He squeezed the packet harder and looked to the drip going in his neck. He grabbed that pouch off of it’s rack, squeezing to speed up the drugs.

  He took off his one boot, the other had been lost with his leg.

  His Armor was in a reinforced bag.

  Water pouch hanging from his mouth, armor in a bag over his shoulder and IV bag held in the sky he moved through the separating curtain.

  More than one person stared at him as he left.

  “Was wondering when you’d break out of here,” a voice came from his side, grabbing the bag from his hand.

  “Hey Jerome,” Mark said, happy to see the man and giving him a one-armed embrace.

  “You all sorted?” Jerome asked.

  “Just need to get all of this in me,” Mark said, pulling the water container from his mouth and shaking the IV bag.

  A message pinged on his implants, he checked it, finding it from Major Nerva, he wanted a meeting at Mark’s earliest convenience. It ended with, without the damn IV bag and a new set of clothes.

  Mark snorted.

  “Something up?” Jerome asked as Mark started walking again.

  “Iceman wants to see me, wants this thing drained and me in new clothes,” Mark said as they left the med-bay. The medics looked at their passing, seeing the IV held aloft. After a shrug or a sigh, they went back to their work, it wasn’t the weirdest thing they’d seen.

  “Yeah, Tyler’s got a meeting today as well, he might be at it already,” Jerome said.

  They got on a lift and headed for their platoon’s area.

  “Haas was called for a meeting for later tonight. A service is being held tomorrow if people want to attend, people can do their own services wh
enever on the flight deck, hangar Alpha-One,” Jerome said.

  “Okay,” Mark said, his own thoughts and memories of Extractor Thirteen flashing through his mind.

  They stepped out of the lift, Mark’s new leg moving awkwardly.

  “Damn thing isn’t fully working yet, all seized. Needs to get some good blood flow through it,” Mark complained, shaking it in an effort to speed up it’s recovery. His complaining was getting a few looks, Mark and Jerome gave passing greetings, knowing more people from this area than anywhere else on the ship.

  “Gym later?” Jerome asked, looking forward to the therapeutic aspects of pushing one’s body and letting the world melt away.

  “Read my mind,” Mark said, grinning to the other and then squirting water in his mouth.

  “You just want to stare at ass all day,” Jerome sighed as they reached Mark’s door, it opened letting them in.

  “I’m an ass guy, I have enough staring at my own sculpted rear that it’s only fair,” Mark grinned.

  His face became somber as he looked at the three cots whose owners wouldn’t be returning to them.

  “Hey Sarge,” Dominguez said from her bunk.

  “Hey you lot,” Mark said, people all over the place, playing cards, reading books, some were still in the med-bay and others were out wandering the ship.

  Mark opened his locker using the door to hold his IV as he stripped. Jerome pulled armor out of his bag and put it up in Mark’s locker.

  “Any word if we’re getting assimilated into a new unit?” Mark asked.

  “None yet,” Jerome said, but he didn’t sound like he thought that they were staying together. There was too few of them all in brand new positions and so many units were missing people. It made sense to collapse their platoon and fill up the spots in other units.

  No one wanted to do that, but they would if ordered to.

  Mark threw his old smart clothes in the junk chute, they were holed, burned and the leg was missing on his pants.

  “Time for a freaking shower! Thanks for putting my armor away,” Mark said.

  “No worries bro, though I think you’re going to need a few new panels,” Jerome said, throwing some side armor, a shin and forearm section into the chute.

  Mark looked at his battle-stained and scratched armor.

  “Yeah I’ll get Joe to take a look at it soon when we’re done with all those meetings,” Mark said, wandering into the showers.

  “Fire me a message when you’re done,” Jerome said as Mark turned a shower on.

  “Will do!” Mark said hooking his IV around the shower head.

  Oh I’m going to be happy to get rid of you, he thought staring daggers at the annoying bag.

  “You playing euchre? Mind if I join?” Mark heard Jerome ask.

  “Sure, grab a seat, Niemi was just about to go on a hot date,” Dominguez said.

  “Yep, gunner from Charlie, the tongue on him, hot damn!” Niemi said.

  “Have fun!” Tal called.

  “Oh I will,” Niemi answered, the sections door opening and closing.

  And to think she was so shy when she started in this section, what happened! Mark let out a laugh as unbidden memories of the others in his section rose up in his mind.

  At one time they had been strangers, training and shooting the shit with one another had turned them into people willing to lay down their lives for eachother.

  Silent tears fell down his face as he showered.

  ***

  Nerva heard the knock at his door, his implants telling him that it was Tyler.

  “Come in,” he said, a flick of his wrist clearing the latest report from his view and focusing his icy blue eyes on Tyler Victor who marched into the room, coming to attention and saluting.

  Nerva returned the salute but left him at attention as he looked over the newly minted Sergeant.

  His shoulder bearing the two lines over a dot that denoted his rank.

  “The fuck were you thinking?” Nerva asked, seeing Tyler’s attempts to hide his wince.

  “I...” Tyler started.

  “We both know what I’m talking about,” Nerva said, cutting off Tyler’s possible actions to derail the conversation.

  “I fucked up sir. I saw that my section was in a good position. I knew that they would be fine and let my emotions carry me,” Tyler admitted, his jaw firming up as he continued to burn a hole in the wall behind Nerva.

  “Your section might have been in a good position, but losing their leader in the middle of a firefight isn’t going to be of much use if that situation changes.” Nerva held up a finger, making Tyler pull back the comment forming on his lips.

  “We both know how quickly a battle can and will change. Yes, you might have a good section, but they need a leader to have their back and be on track, not someone that’s going to run off if his girlfriend is in danger,” Nerva said interlacing his fingers.

  “Yes sir,” Tyler said, his tone making it clear that Nerva’s words were hitting home and his answer wasn’t just rote response.

  “See that it doesn’t happen again, if I have to have this conversation again it will be inside the ring and I’ll be pulling those lines from your shoulder,” Nerva said.

  “Yes sir,” Tyler said, swallowing hard.

  “Now get out of here and apologize to your section and report to Second Lieutenant Haas,” Nerva said sitting back in his chair grabbing thin air and pulling it up, the report he’d been looking at before Tyler entered appearing in his vision again.

  Tyler turned for the door and walked out.

  The door closed as Nerva let out a sigh, rubbing his temples.

  “It’s even harder when you care for them. Aurelius is asking for you to return to the Legion again. He says that you’ve been in the EMF too long. Other recruiters are now within the EMF and capable of taking up your job. With General Wai now looking to grinding down you and your Division it’s just harder. I agree that you should also fake your death and extract,” NIDenise said.

  “What about the new recruits?” Nerva thought-spoke.

  “Over three hundred Legion recruits are aboard the stealth shuttles and moving for the freighter,” NIDenise said, understanding that for now Nerva was closing down that particular conversation.

  “Captain Harold?” Nerva asked.

  “He’s alive and well, not too happy about the way he was extracted, thinks that he could have saved more people if he was still alive,” NIDenise reported.

  “He’ll do well in the Legion, they need more people like him to win against the Maraukians. Even though Ortiz has agreed to join the Legion I need him where he is for the next little bit, Demar and Shultz are new to their positions. Until they get some more seasoning Ortiz is going to need to stay where he is. When it comes for him to be extracted he’s not going to be happy at all. That man lives for his people,” Nerva said, which was a big part of why he had taken a risk on the Captain when he had just been a Lieutenant.

  The other recruits were picked by the three other recruiters across Reclaimer. Nerva had been doing this for much longer, he could pick out people that would join the Legion within the initial meeting.

  Hell he was grooming Mark, Tyler, Jerome and his entire Division to join the Legion, but he was careful about who he picked. A few he had Chosen had flipped out at being pulled from the EMF, thinking that they betrayed those they left behind, that made them next too useless.

  “For now we focus on destroying Harmony, with the sleeping-carriers coming into battle the Legion will be getting more recruits than ever before. Aurelius needs me right where I am whether he knows it or not. I’m in the perfect position to fake deaths and get people funneled into the Legion. Now when’s my next meeting?” Nerva asked.

  “Ten minutes, Mark is hobbling up here,” NIDenise said.

  “Good,” Nerva said out loud, finding where he had left off on the report and continuing on.

  ***

  Mark saluted and hobbled his way through officer te
rritory to Nerva’s door.

  “Come in,” Nerva said before he knocked.

  He opened the door and walked in, trying to hide his slight limp. He came to attention.

  “Sit down,” Nerva said before he could salute.

  “Thank you, sir,” Mark said, shuffling into his seat and stretching out his leg which was going through the pins and needles stage.

  Nerva waved the sir away and reclined in his chair, making it clear that this was a relaxed conversation.

  Mark in turn relaxed in his chair, shaking his leg.

  “That treating you alright?” Nerva asked, pointing through his desk at Mark’s leg.

  “Yeah just takes time as you know,” Mark said.

  “Wonders of medical science,” Nerva said, pausing as if wondering how to continue on.

  “First of all I know that it was probably hard for you to ask permission to go after Tyler, but it needed to be done. Making sure Jerome stayed and electing to have someone take over yours and Tyler’s command slots was also well done,” Nerva said, holding Mark’s eyes.

  Mark fidgeted, not one to take praise easily.

  “Thank you sir,” Mark said.

  Nerva knew Mark well enough to tell when the big man had a question.

  “Spit it out,” Nerva said.

  “Are you breaking up the platoon, I know we’re under-strength and it would be best to use us to patch gaps in other units,” Mark said.

  Nerva toyed with the idea of letting Mark wait until the meeting with his platoon later.

  “No you’re not, instead because of your size and new orders you’re staying together.” Nerva raised a hand to forestall questions for a moment.

  “Second Lieutenant Haas has the details, you’ll get it all from him,” Nerva assured him.

  “Thank you sir,” Mark said.

  Chapter 28

  Tower

  Earth, Sol System

  11/3240

  Nivad was going through the latest messages from the agents in Masoul while looking over the footage of the Extractors.

  The viewership was the highest ever, people that weren’t even CEO’s were streaming it in bars and other places to watch the EMF kick Harmony fighter ass.