by S D Tanner
“She is…in prison.”
He supposed Jessica was already a prisoner, so perhaps the aliens didn’t need to do anything, but it didn’t make sense. Surely, they would force her to stop helping them, even if it meant killing her.
“Will they kill her?”
“Why would they do that?”
“Because she’s helping us.”
Lolo laughed, but it didn’t sound like she was amused. “We…they do not need to kill her.” When he cocked his head, ready to tell her what he thought of her, Lolo’s face grew somber. “They will use the Interfectors.”
“To do what?”
“Kill you.”
It was her tone that he didn’t like. Lolo didn’t seem concerned they were about to die, in fact she was outright casual about it. Not for the first time, he wondered what Judge saw in the hybrid. She was cold in a way he couldn’t put his finger on, as if nothing they were dealing with had anything to do with her. If it had been up to him, from the moment he’d learned she was a hybrid, he would have put a bullet through her head, if only to send a message to the aliens.
Judge elbowed him away from Lolo. “How many of them are there?”
Lolo gave what he saw as a disinterested shrug. “I don’t know.”
“That’s useless intel,” he snapped.
Glaring at him, Judge replied, “No, it isn’t.”
His temper was fraying, and he returned Judge’s glare with one of his own. “Yes, it is. You need to focus. Jessica is the reason we’re aware. If we lose her then we lose everything. The enemy are onto us, so we must attack the cities now.”
“We’re nowhere near ready.”
“Three thousand Dead Force soldiers are armed and the other seventeen thousand have armor. Grunt is with us and they have shields. Hawk has a flight squad of thirty-eight beacons. Clone can talk to the others like him and they’ll die for us. We have four arks.” He felt the muscles in his jaw tighten. “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”
“It’s not enough.”
“Nothing ever will be.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Ass in the Grass
“Alpha-Six to Bravo-Six, what’s your status?”
“Six hundred boots down safe,” Judge replied.
“Alpha-Six to Charlie-Six, what’s your status?”
“Seven hundred troops landed,” Rok replied.
“Alpha-Six to Delta-Six, what’s your status?”
“Six hundred down and still loading,” Ash replied.
Judge was loading a thousand Dead Force troops into the production city, plus ten from Grunt’s platoon and fifty of Merc’s men. Of the four cities they were simultaneously attacking, he couldn’t afford to lose the one with Jessica or the production city. He was already on the highest level of Jessica’s city with seven hundred troops and robot Jessica by his side. She was the only one who knew how to free Jessica from the wall she was pinned to. Although he wanted five cities, they only had four arks and three had their own robot Jessica capable of teleporting the troops. Joker had assured him a thousand troops were all they could deliver in a ten-minute timeframe, which was as long as he was prepared to stay in one place once inside the city.
Rok and Ash were commanding troops in the cities closest to the production city and the one with Jessica, but he didn’t know what was inside of theirs. “Alpha-Six to Charlie-Six, do you have a fix on your city?”
“We’re inside a white room with white everything, so how the fuck would I know?” Rok replied sharply.
Although it wasn’t reasonable to ask what was inside the city before Rok’s battalion had moved out, so far reason had failed him. Always do what the enemy least expects, or at least that’s what he’d been taught, but he had no idea what the aliens were, much less what they might be expecting him to do.
“Alpha-Six to Delta-Six, do you have a fix on your city?”
Ash had always been more even-tempered than Rok and his tone was professional. “We’re inside a really large room. It’s over a hundred yards square, which is big enough to be a hangar.”
“Is there anything inside it?”
“Negative, but it’s tall with multiple gaps leading outside the city.”
That didn’t sound anything like the two cities they’d been to, and he surmised Ash’s city must serve a different function. “Watch your back and stay frosty.”
“Roger that.”
“Alpha-Six to Yankee-Six, what your status?”
Joker’s steady voice came through his earpiece. “Teleportation is seventy percent complete. Echo force are standing ready.”
If all went well then Echo force, which was Stock’s battalion, would teleport to the next closest city, giving him the five he wanted, but if it all went to hell in a handbasket then they were his reserve troops. Joker would casevac any trooper wounded so badly they couldn’t fight, then replenish the headcount from Stock’s battalion. At a push, he could add more soldiers from the fifteen thousand troops in the ground-level city underneath the four floating ones he was attacking, but they weren’t armed.
“What’s your ETA?”
“All troops will be in their target city within three minutes.”
Even as Joker spoke, another fifty soldiers materialized inside the room he was in. Over seven hundred men and women stood behind him, but he’d made a huge mistake. The exit to the room was a single gap in the wall which he had to funnel a thousand troops through, but it was a no-win situation. They didn’t have a map of the city and, given it could reconfigure itself at will, there was no way to get one. If he’d dropped soldiers throughout the city, there was a good chance they’d end up shooting one another, but now they would be bunched together like sitting ducks.
“Alpha-Six to Bravo-Six, you need to move your troops now.”
“We’re Oscar-Mike, Tag, and you should be too,” Judge replied.
Trust Judge to be a step ahead of him and, grabbing robot Jessica’s arm, he waved at the front line of troopers. “Move out. You are cleared hot, but do not shoot the clones.”
They’d already been briefed so they shouldn’t need reminding, but some soldiers were trigger happy in combat, shooting anything that looked at them funny. With so many recently awakened soldiers it had been impossible to gain any insight as to how well they were trained, or what their Military Occupational Specialty was. For all he knew, he had a mix of greenhorns and old hands, but not many of them remembered enough about themselves to explain their history or their MOS. Ash had singled out a hundred of his best, and those were leading platoons within the battalions. If truth were told, he had no command structure and he was winging it. Although Judge had wanted to do more planning, there wasn’t any way to prepare that wouldn’t have taken months, and he didn’t have that long.
Armored men and women were making their way through the gap, and he dragged robot Jessica with him as he pushed past them to see what was outside. A cluster of helmeted heads bobbed up and down as they continued walking from one room to the next. It didn’t look any different to the other rooms, just more white surfaces with the usual fine gold pattern covering the walls. Long tendrils hung from the ceiling like tinsel on a Christmas tree. The upside of the white was it glowed so that no room had any dark corners, not that there ever seemed to be much inside of one.
“Yankee-Six to Alpha-Six,” Joker said.
“Go ahead, Yankee-Six.”
“Teleportation complete.”
“Alpha-Six to all battalions, you are Oscar-Mike. Maintain open comms.”
They were on a shared communications link, which could be a blessing or a curse. On the one hand, they could keep track of each other’s progress, but it could also be a distraction. If necessary, he would order Joker to use single channels, but in the meantime, it was important they all knew where one another were at. This was unknown territory, and anything learned by one battalion had to be shared with the others.
“All battalions, re
port in.”
“Bravo is clear,” Judge replied.
“Charlie is bringing hell,” Rok said and the sound of gunfire chased his words.
“Identify the enemy.”
Almost sounding disappointed, Rok replied, “Blue guys.”
Providing they caught the blue-suited aliens by surprise, they wouldn’t have time to spit acid at them. If Rok wasn’t happy then his troops were taking their free fire order seriously. It meant they were firing at will at the bad guys and he wasn’t getting to use his much-loved KLAW.
“It’s all good, Rok. Better than getting goat-fucked.”
“Keep ‘em forward,” Judge added, although he didn’t think Rok needed to be told to keep his KLAW facing the enemy.
“Yeah, light ‘em up, Charlie,” Ash said.
“Delta-Six, what have you got?” He asked.
“More of the same,” Ash replied. “It’s like the rooms are stacked.”
“Any idea what they’re for?”
“Negative, Alpha-Six.”
“Got eyes on the enemy?”
“Negative, Alpha-Six.”
“Leave holding troops and move out.”
“Roger that.”
The problem with teleportation was the enemy could materialize without warning, so no room would stay clear unless they left a squad behind. It wasn’t optimum to split the battalion, but at least they could clear a room and leave troops to make sure it stayed that way, not that they could guarantee it would. All the enemy had to do was teleport half a dozen robot gunners and their troops were likely to be overwhelmed. To deal with the risk he was leaving one of Grunt’s soldiers with the squads, but there weren’t enough of them to cover every room. It wasn’t much of a plan and Judge had forcefully told him so.
His worrying was interrupted by the sound of gunfire coming from the front line. “Alpha, sitrep.”
A voice he didn’t recognize replied, “Blue goons, sir.”
“Did they get off rounds?”
“Negative, sir.”
“Good work.”
Taking down the blue-suited aliens was easy enough providing they didn’t see them first, but their luck wouldn’t last forever. It was only a question of time before the robot gunners turned up. All he could hope was they cleared enough of the city to be in position before they appeared.
“Alpha, pick up the tempo.”
The bobbing heads in front and behind him began jogging up and down even faster. Grouped together inside the rooms, they could have been dancers moving to the rhythm of soundless music. Trotting through one room after the next, leaving a squad in each, they slowly wound their way across and down the white city. So far, so good. A few blue-suited aliens lay crumpled in the next room, leaking what passed for blood inside them, but not enough for them to have been human.
“Bravo-Six to Alpha-Six, we’ve got clones,” Judge said.
“Friendlies?”
“Hard to say, but they are Oscar-Mike.”
“Where are they headed?”
“They’re keeping pace with us.”
Clone, as they’d unimaginatively nicknamed the one on their ship, hadn’t traveled with them. The last time he’d seen the man was inside the room next to the Bridge. According to Joker he’d become addicted to watching TV, and was working his way through some old horror movies robot Jessica had found. Why the aliens had the movies on the ship was beyond him, but he supposed people had boarded the arks believing they were being used to colonize planets. It was probably just another part of the elaborate con pulled by their alien masters.
They’d been on the move for nearly thirty minutes, and he was beginning to wonder if they’d caught their masters napping, but pride always came before a fall.
“Guuuunnnners!”
Checking the channel on the screen inside his eye cover, the cry had come from his own troops. “How many?”
The answer was drowned out by the sound of gunfire and he ran forward, heaving soldiers out of his way. When he reached the front line, his troops were down on one knee shooting at the single robot gunner in front of them. One of Grunt’s soldiers was purposefully walking toward the gunner, his arms extended, no doubt wielding invisible blades.
“Cease fire! Do not waste ammo!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Bucking Up
“Bug fuck!”
Recognizing Rok’s voice, and annoyed he wasn’t following Standard Operating Procedure, he said sharply, “Rok, follow the SOP.”
“Charlie-Six to anyone who gives a fuck, I’ve got a bug fuck.”
“Make sense, Rok, or I’ll teleport over and smack you in the head,” Judge said irritably.
“I told ya already. I’ve got bugs, thousands of ‘em.”
Shouting at troops in combat only made them edgier and, shielding his frustration, he replied calmly, “Make more sense than that, Charlie-Six.”
“They’re inside tubes like the other aliens, but they’re the size of my hand.”
“Are they shaped like stars?”
“How’d you know that?”
“They control the clones. Light ‘em up.”
A burst of gunfire followed his order, then Rok warbled a bad rendition of an old song. “Send in the clones.”
Although Rok’s singing reminded him of a drunken night at a karaoke bar, he didn’t disagree with the message. Thousands of starfish suggested there might be a matching number of clones. “Charlie-Six, look for the clones.”
“I know, I’m not stupid.”
“Coulda fooled me,” Judge muttered.
“Alpha-Six to Delta-Six, what’s your status?” He asked.
“Same old, same old, Alpha-Six,” Ash replied. “This city is empty.”
He should have been grateful that at least one city was secure, but a little voice kept nagging him about pride coming before a fall. “Stay frosty.”
“Always do,” Ash replied cheerfully.
Switching to a single channel, he asked, “Judge, what do you make of Delta’s city?”
“Could be under construction.”
An unfinished city might be like a building, empty until ready, but he didn’t know how they were built. “Give me another reason.”
“Meeting area. Sports arena. Holiday destination. Boom boom bar.”
Each of Judge’s suggestions was sillier than the last and he didn’t believe any of them were right. Grunt’s trooper had made mincemeat of the robot gunner and it was now lying in parts on the floor. The middle of its fat, round body had been torn open to harvest its gun. Although he’d started the trip down the city with a thousand troops only half of them were still with him. He was leaving a breadcrumb trail of armored soldiers behind him. One squad after the next was peeling away and taking up position to guard a room that might not stay empty for long.
“Aww, man, that’s disgusting,” Rok said.
“Charlie-Six, follow the SOP and what’s disgusting?” He asked.
“Clone factory.”
“For fuck’s sake, Rok, make more sense than that!” Judge shouted.
“Incubators. They’re stacked on top of one another and at least a hundred deep. The clones are growing inside them.”
“Why is it disgusting?” He asked.
“The beanies are wired up to them. I think they’re draining their blood to feed the clones.”
The clones were human through and through, meaning they would have to eat something. On the arks, the aliens used insects to create a protein mush to feed the sleepers, but that wouldn’t work for human embryos. He agreed with Rok, bleeding beanies was disgustingly cruel. Their own beanie had been a cute little guy, until it opened its mouth and revealed its rows of sharp teeth, which it had only used against the enemy Defensors inside the city he was now in.
“Charlie-Six, leave it,” he replied, knowing full well Rok wouldn’t agree.
“Aww, come on, Tag. I don’t want to leave these guys wired up
this way. This is some nasty-assed shit.”
“I know and we’ll fix it once we’ve secured the city.”
“But…”
He’d expected Judge to step in and tell Rok to step off, but his earpiece filled with the sound of rapid gunfire. “Alpha-Six to all battalions, who’s shooting?”
“Bravo is taking fire,” Judge replied, but now he sounded steady in a way that worried him.
“Bravo-Six, sitrep.”
“Situation unknown.”
That wasn’t anything he wanted to hear, and it meant the situation was changing so rapidly Judge couldn’t get a fix on it. “Give me what you’ve got.”
“Gunners appearing. Getting reports from cleared areas. We’re under attack.”
“Send in Grunt’s guys.”
“Don’t have enough of them, Tag.”
Judge could have gotten angry and say he’d told him so, but instead he was pacing his way through the fight. His calm tone gave no hint as to how desperate their situation could become if he didn’t get it under control and soon.
“Return fire. Swarm the enemy. Yankee-Six, prepare for casevacs.”
He was ordering his troops to become suicide squads by running headlong into enemy fire until they overwhelmed the gunners. Since their first encounter with the robot gunners, the enemy had clued into the tactic, meaning his soldiers would be cut down and left with devastating injuries. It was the right tactic in as much as it was the only one they had against the gunners. Joker was standing ready to teleport the wounded to the Extrema where Robert would load them into pods. Before they were teleported, their squad would scavenge their guns and ammunition, while Joker sent one of the reserve soldiers to replace the one they’d lost.
The sound of loud explosions reached through his earpiece, and he knew they were throwing everything they had at the gunners. “Bravo-Six, protect the production lines.”
“You’re a pain in my ass, Tag,” Judge muttered, but he relayed the order to his battalion.
Just as he was about to demand another situation report, the sound of gunfire erupted inside his city. “Alpha, sitrep!”
“Robot gunners and lots of them.”
