Grunt Hero

by Weston Ochse

  “What was that?” Ohirra asked.

  Alpha stood, arms above his head, he said, “Plasma membrane. It’s supposed to be used to cover Vipers during repairs, but it seems someone is using it as a weapon. Genius.”

  “What’s it do?”

  “Envelopes the target with an ionized radiation bubble.”

  “What effect will it have?” I asked as the cannon fired again. The bubble moved so slowly, I could easily track its progress with the same ultimate result.

  “I expect it kills them.”

  Fire shifted from the ground to the drop ship as the NUSNA EXOs realized that there was now a new threat.

  The first Vipers appeared on the horizon, moving like shooting stars towards our position.

  With their arrival, the jamming stopped. The silence in my head was filled with the staticy chaos of battle—multiple nets overlapping, voices shouting, cursing, angry and confused. Along with access to netcoms came the return of my radar. My HUD came alive with red and blue icons, data streaming, interactives waiting for me to access. NUSNA had more than seven hundred EXOs, while blue forces had barely three hundred. I’d been certain we’d had more than a thousand before they arrived. Damned NUSNA had delivered one hell of a blow.

  The grouped NUSNA EXOs began firing into the air, their combined salvo not seen since the first days of Bremen when Germany still had anti-aircraft weapons and had tried to defend their Nazi logistics center.

  The first Viper they hit spun out of control, slamming into the ground.

  The second Viper suffered the same fate.

  I shook my head. Why were they flying into the maelstrom of lead?

  Finally, the third took evasive action and began firing pulses from its plasma cannon into the grouped NUSNA EXOs.

  Still more ionized radiation bubbles were fired into the crowd.

  For the first time in ten minutes, it looked as if the tide might be turning.

  Then I heard the gunfire close behind me and Olivares screaming.

  Though I’ve belted you and flayed you, By the livin’ Gawd that made you, You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

  Rudyard Kipling

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  OLIVARES LAY FACE first on the ground with Chance standing over him. Red bullet holes stitched a pattern of betrayal across his back. Chance hovered over him, both arms almost extended, smoke seeping from the barrels. Another inch would mean her firing again.

  The momentary paralyzation of the squad was instantly replaced by activity as everyone moved. Stranz and Charlemagne grabbed at Chance, but she turned, locked both arms and fired. Stranz managed to duck, while Charlemagne fell hard to the ground as Chance’s arm contacted the side of his head.

  Stranz rolled to the ground and kicked her feet out from under her.

  Chance fell hard to the side, folding her arms to allow her to catch much of her weight, but at least that meant she couldn’t fire.

  I grabbed Olivares’s arms and pulled him away from the combat area. I quickly accessed his vitals through my HUD—not good. Then I saw another EXO on the ground—Alpha. His vitals were even worse. What the hell had Chance done? Friendly fire? I felt rage burn through my veins. I drew my blade.

  Chance fired at Stranz, who dove out of the way, barely avoiding being holed.

  I glanced at Charlemagne. He was down on the ground, but somehow his vitals were fine.

  Chance surged to her feet in time to meet Stranz, who had gotten to his feet just as fast. He’d drawn his sword and brought it around in a wicked swing that sunk into Chance’s left side. She twisted, almost tearing the blade out of Stranz’s hands.

  “Chance! Stop!” he shouted.

  But Chance swung her sword, almost decapitating Stranz, who barely managed to dodge out of the way by stumbling to his left. Chance didn’t let up. She ran towards him and swung again, and again Stranz managed to somehow get away from her.

  “It’s the Umi,” Alpha said, coughing blood into his faceplate. “It’s controlling her and all of the NUSNA fighters.”

  “But how?” I asked. “She’d never been exposed to the spore!”

  “So she said,” Olivares gasped as he rolled over. “Damn that lovely bitch!”

  I was glad to see him still alive and vile, but was also still worried about him. His vitals weren’t promising. Alpha’s vitals weren’t much better.

  I selected the command switch to shut down her EXO but it didn’t work. Just to see, I shut down Alpha’s with a gaze-flick and was gratified and confused to see that it worked as he stopped in mid-step and fell. I snapped it back on, then prepared to wade in and forcibly stop Chance from killing the rest of my squad.

  Behind me came several immense explosions.

  I cringed but didn’t dare look.

  Ohirra moved towards Chance in a crouch. “Come here.”

  Chance brought her sword up and ran at Ohirra, who stood still, not doing anything to protect herself. I wanted to shout for her to move, but everything was happening so fast. One second Chance was bringing her blade down toward Ohirra’s neck, the next Chance was flying through the air. Ohirra had used the woman’s own impetus against her. When Chance hit the earth, her blade flew away. Ohirra was on Chance in a second, straddling her and wrenching at the EXO helmet. Chance brought up a knee, trying to dislodge Ohirra, but all it served to do was to make the Japanese-American angry.

  “I’m done fucking around with you,” she snarled, spinning to where both her EXO’s feet were on Chance’s chest. Ohirra tried to pull Chance’s helmet out of its socket while simultaneously wrenching it against the bend. But the unintended consequence of the jujitsu move was to actuate Chance’s arm cannon, which immediately began to fire. Ohirra jerked her head out of the way as 22mm rounds grazed her helm.

  I saw at once that Ohirra had locked herself into an untenable, precarious position. If she let go, Chance could aim and fire. If she held on, Chance could still fire. Now Ohirra fought to keep Chance’s arm from locking, forcing it to remain bent so her opponent couldn’t fire.

  More explosions came from behind me. I spared a glance and watched as the drop ship began to tip. It seemed to take forever to fall, but when it did, I felt the impact in the ground beneath my feet. I noticed Vipers swirling madly in the air, firing plasma cannons at targets along the ground.

  More gunfire erupted from behind me.

  I whirled to see Charlemagne with both arms locked and cocked, pointing at Chance. “Stop this craziness, Chance!” He fired again, bullets impacting the earth on either side of her head.

  Was this what Stranz and the others had experienced when the Umi had taken me over... when I’d chopped off Stranz’s arm? I remember being trapped inside my body, unable to stop, unable to control my own movement. Everything external was choreographed by the Umi while everything inside was me an unwilling audience to my own destructive ability. This must be how Chance felt at this moment. And Olivares... I knew they’d had a thing together and here she’d gone and shot him.

  “Just shoot her in the head,” Ohirra said. “I can’t hold her forever.”

  Another great explosion, then Chance’s body went slack.

  Ohirra took the opportunity to adjust her position, spinning Chance onto her face and bending both of her opponent’s arms behind her.

  I noticed the quaking of Chance’s shoulders. Then came a high keening sound.

  “Ohirra, let her go,” I said.

  She gave me a sharp look. “But she’s...” Then she looked at Chance and slowly released her.

  Chance pushed herself over, bringing her hands to her face as if to cover them. But because she couldn’t touch her face, she merely stared at her hands—and as I watched Olivares’ vitals tick to zero—her murderous hands. My friend. My enemy. Dead after all this time and to think it was his lover who killed him. I felt a chasm open in my chest.

  “I—I couldn’t stop,” Chance said between sobs. “The Umi was in control of me... like I was possessed.”
Then she shot to her knees and stared at Olivares’s unmoving body. “Is he...”

  “I’m afraid so, Chance.” I looked at Ohirra, who had tears in the corners of her eyes.

  Charlemagne helped Stranz to his feet, then both of them assisted Alpha.

  “But you said you’d never been exposed to the spore,” Ohirra said.

  Chance shook her head, then ripped her helmet free. Her sharp cheekbones were red. Tears tracked across her skin. “I lied and I don’t know why. Every time I wanted to tell someone I’d lied, I wasn’t able.”

  “Somewhere along the line an Umi had her under control,” Alpha said. “It’s why we force everyone to wear the neural interceptor collars.” He shook his head. “We should have made you all wear them.”

  Olivares and I had been so worried about becoming a slave species that we’d allowed Chance not to wear it. This was our fault. This was my fault.

  “Don’t do that,” Ohirra said, approaching me and putting her hand on my shoulder.

  “Don’t do what?” I asked, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

  “That thing you do when someone dies. You analyze it and immediately determine that it was your fault.”

  “But it was my fault.”

  “The buck stops here.” She shook he head. “Right? I still stand by your decision. How could we be expected to blindly trust an alien species who comes up and says wear this and everything will be all right? We couldn’t. That’s the answer. Then bad shit happens and people die.”

  I laughed hollowly. “We should have that on a T-shirt. Bad shit happens and people die.”

  “Is that what happened?” Stranz asked. “Was there an Umi here?”

  “Probably brought with the NUSNA EXOs to help control them,” Alpha said. “Jesus, but this hurts. Always wondered what getting shot would be like. Now I wished I’d never have known.”

  A Viper zoomed to our position. I waved it down and pointed to Alpha.

  “A little help here, please.”

  Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.

  George Bernard Shaw

  CHAPTER FORTY

  OLIVARES WAS DEAD, as were four hundred friendly force EXOs. All of the NUSNA EXOs were inoperable, their drivers dead or captured. The drop ship was destroyed. Five Vipers had been shot down. For all intents and purposes, the great Odessa Khron beach head was little more than a battlefield triage center. And to think that these geniuses were supposed to keep the Umi from leaving the planet? What a bunch of clowns. No wonder the Umi had always eluded them.

  A meeting of all division leaders was called. I didn’t know what that was, but I was certainly going to make the meeting. The idea that this superior alien species didn’t know to place defenses around their beach head or obtain reconnaissance intelligence on possible enemy forces was indefensible.

  While many of the surviving EXOs were cleaning up the area—stacking bodies, removing debris, setting up real triage to take care of the wounded and dying— the division leaders met in an area near the base of the now toppled drop ship. I was among probably two dozen other Earthling EXOs. Many were from various OMBRA units. I’d intentionally removed my helmet and let it hang on my waist, as had several of the others. I wanted them to recognize who the hell I was, so when it came time for recriminations, I could have the loudest voice. Most of the division leaders had chosen to keep their helmets on, signifying a total lack of trust. I could feel their wariness like ants crawling on my skin. They wanted to be prepared and ready in the event of anything. Normally I’d be with them, but I had a different agenda.

  We all waited while the Khron got their act together. Two Thinnies in gravity support suits, the 3964 clone of Alpha, a big-eyed Eridani, and two black-skinned dwarfs wearing immense, bulbous goggles were conferring at the front. I couldn’t help staring at the dwarves—as I’d called them. They couldn’t be more than five feet tall and were impossibly stocky, like characters I’d seen in the Lord of the Rings movies.

  I queried my neural interceptor device to see if I could learn more about them.

  Earth annotated planet GC Gliese 667 Cc. 23.6 light years. Exceptionally hot resulting in Khron with increased levels of eumelanin occasioning a blackened skin appearance. Gliese 667 Cc Khron are short and stocky. Because of luminosity of 20% of Earth normal, Gliese 667 Cc Khron have wide luminous orbs much like the Earth haplorrhine primate tarsier. The pupils are fixed in the head so that they have to turn to see. The orbs give them the capacity to see in very low light including ultraviolet light. Note however Gliese 667 Cc Khron are unable to see colors. On Earth, Gliese 667 Cc Khron are forced to wear special goggles to keep from going blind. They are a warlike species whose—

  I’d had enough. I only understood half of what it told me, but it explained their appearance.

  An EXO with a Kilimanjaro sigil sauntered up to me. He still had his helmet on, but took it off when he approached. He wore a high and tight haircut. Although his face was scarred from burns, I could tell where it had once been handsome. Piercing blue eyes shone intelligently, cradled in worry lines.

  “You’re Mason,” he said.

  I nodded. “One and the same. And you? Did we fight together?”

  “I was with Recon 10 at the Mound.”

  I jogged back through my memory. Wait, wasn’t Recon 10 annihilated? Then I saw his scars. I guess a few did survive. “I remember,” I said. “You guys had it bad.”

  “Wrong place, wrong time. We all had it bad.” He was silent for a moment, then said, “Call me Casper.”

  I nodded. “You impressed yet?”

  “With this soup sandwich? A platoon of Girl Scouts could have done a better job.”

  “No offense to the Girl Scouts,” I said.

  “Yeah, no offense to them.”

  Several other EXOs walked by, each making eye contact and nodding.

  Good. I might get a chance to speak yet. I’d never cashed in on my Hero of the Mound status. If ever there was a time, it was now.

  “Seen Pink lately?” Casper asked.

  “Dead.”

  “Was it the Cray?”

  “Nope. NUSNA.”

  A sigh. “We do more bad shit to ourselves than anything else.”

  “Makes you wonder if we should be allowed to continue… if we deserve it as a species.”

  He seemed to consider it, then said, “I’d agree, but I like good cigars, twenty-year old scotch, and medium rare steaks too much to just give it all up.”

  I thought about what I’d been through in the last five days and that sounded pretty wonderful. I couldn’t argue with Casper. We all had our own destinies. I was glad he’d figured his out, because I was yet to decide.

  Finally one of the Gliese Khron stepped forward and addressed the gathered EXOs. Our neural interceptor devices translated.

  “Sighting of Umi adolescents in southern Caribbean resulted in successful elimination of target sets. Mission success acknowledged. We are now preparing for mass attack at brood site in Sydney Harbor. We are downloading travel manifests and tables of organization and equipment to your neural interceptor devices. We anticipate Umi adolescents’ movement off planet in T minus 36 hours based on reconnaissance conducted by Khron Vipers.”

  Khron 3964 stepped forward. “That will be all. Please return to your divisions and prepare for disembarkment. And remember, this is for you, this is for your planet.”

  We all stared. That was it? They could have done that through the NIDs. I could already hear the grumbling as it began.

  Several Exos shouted questions from the front.

  Beside me, Casper spat on the ground and shook his head. “Fucking unbelievable.”

  I thought there’d be more. I thought they’d have some explanation, but it seemed that none was forthcoming. I got the fact that we were grunts and the militant arm of effective battle planning, but in this case I had no confidence that any planning coming from the Khron would be effective. What was it I’d sa
id to Mr. Pink? ‘If you want to put me in charge of something, then let me be in charge. That means I need the most information I can have so I can make appropriate decisions. Your withholding information from me must stop, or bump me back down to sergeant and give me a foxhole.’ Sure. Treat me like a mushroom. Feed me shit and keep me in the dark. But it’d better be good shit.

  I stepped forward, but instead of addressing the Khron, I addressed my fellow Earthlings.

  I shouted to be heard. “Do you know who I am?”

  There were more than a few nods on the angry faces. Their eyes flashed from me to the stage and back. I didn’t flinch. Instead I tried to stand taller. “I’m Benjamin Carter Mason, formerly of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Some have called me Hero of the Mound. I was there at Kilimanjaro and one of two who brought down the Hive. I did the same to the Hollywood Hive after I was the first to recover from the zombie spore.”

  I let that sink in for a moment.

  Khron 3964 filled my silence. “Please return to your divisions.”

  I ignored him. “I was there with Mr. Pink when he died.” I saw many of the expressions change. “Yes, NUSNA EXOs killed him at our last location to recover some alien specimens we’d been keeping under wraps. I actually wish he was here. For all of his assholish bureaucracy, he’d have been the first one to call out these Khron and their farce of a war.”

  Those who hadn’t been paying attention were finally interested.

  Khron 3964 spoke again. “Please, disperse. Please return to your divisions.”

  Without turning around, I said, “Shut the fuck up, you clone-fucking-incompetent-rear-echelon-motherfucker, I’m talking to my friends here.”

  This got me a few chuckles, along with more than a few worried glances towards the front.

  This time it was the Gliese Khron who spoke. “If you do not disperse, we will enforce behavioral protocol.”