Welcome to the Marines (Corporate Marines Book 2)

by Tom Germann

  Everyone uses sims. It is becoming a big problem as people like living in fantasy worlds where they can be what they are not in the real world.

  Great—the next phase is gaming.

  After a quick break for lunch where I try to start a conversation with Eight, I end up ignored and realize that attachments are fail points. We all head to the sim room. Over the door is a large sign that reads: TRAINING SAVES BLOOD.

  I move inside and instinctively head to my section. We each cover off a sim couch and I notice that there are the exact number of couches as there are candidates.

  The main instructor walks in. “Please lie down on the couch and make yourself comfortable.” I do so and feel the couch wiggling under me. “The couch is not adjusting to fit your body.” The wiggling stops after a few seconds. I am just staring at the ceiling waiting for something to happen, and nothing does.

  The instructor carries on. “Please close your eyes and relax. Think of a flower.” I close my eyes and wonder, why the hell a flower?

  I fall down a black spiral and see the entire universe and can only think of a flower opening eternally.

  I am with my company on a standard patrol doing work-up training and making sure that everyone is calm. After the news came out of the spaceships heading toward Earth, there was some rioting. So of course the government has mobilized us. The armour is heavy and we have a full weapon and ammo loadout to keep the civilian population happy. There are reporters everywhere and the government is clearly doing something. Just what I am not sure, other than deploying most of the military in target areas.

  The weather is warm for mid-April and the smog is not that bad right now. I know as the day goes on the smog will build up as the weather warms. Thankfully it won’t be as bad as summer would be.

  I am standing next to Six, I mean Corporal Gorder. He is watching the locals as they watch us during our presence patrol. He looks at me and grins. “Relax, newbie, we run around for a while and the ships end up being an alien trading delegation or something. Heck, maybe they are just here to check out all the hot chicks.”

  I chuckle at Gorder’s laid-back way of looking at this. But I know he is not right. “No way. They are here to invade. They should be dropping kinetic weapons on us shortly and then landing a large invasion force to take and hold while they get ready to get as much of our precious metals as they can.” I stop.

  He looks at me with a concerned look on his face. I can see he thinks I am snapping under the strain. “You ain’t losing it on me, are you, newb?”

  Something is not right with what is going on. I know what is going to happen and this is the past, not today. I start to hyperventilate and am panicking.

  Everything seems to slow right down and then I hear a chime, then a voice. “Relax, trooper, this is a simulation of the first main ground war that was fought on Earth right after contact. You are in the Sixth Company of the Fourth Division, North American Army Land Arm. So you are aware, while I am having this conversation with you, time is compressed. The simulation is running at one second for five minutes of discussion.”

  Everything clicks for me. We sat down on the combat couches and entered the sim like other times, but this is more immersive and the voice I am hearing has to be an AI running it. Everything is just too real. The warm sunlight, the smell of the smog. That little girl that was in the dirty clothes, with her mom telling her she was not getting dirty like that right before going to see Nana.

  The voice had stopped for a second and then said, “You are correct, trooper. This is a fully immersive simulation. I am monitoring all elements of the simulation from your perspective. You may ask me questions now. You can talk out loud or just think them; I am monitoring you, after all. To save you time, I know the common questions and will answer them immediately. Why are you here? Restricted. Can you talk to me in the scenario? Just now. What are you supposed to do? Deploy in the sim for a combat operation. You will find that your implants can provide you all the information and technical skills of a soldier in this scenario. Your actions are to be your actions. Operate as you normally would. This is the last phase of testing. Is there anything else you would like to know?”

  “Well, no, I can’t think of any… Wait! Are they going to recognize that I am not part of the company in this sim?”

  “No, I run the sim. You are simply a new recruit fresh out of basic, and a nice guy. The sims will not question you.”

  “Where are the rest of the troopers dispersed to?”

  “Troopers are where they are supposed to be as designated by higher. If you do see them, they will not be wearing the same face or have the same build.”

  So they are testing reflexes or luck or something that cannot be run by implants. I do not know what that is, though, and that is worrying. This is one of the strangest scenarios I have been through so far.

  Time speeds up to normal time again and Corporal Gorder is looking concerned.

  “No, buddy, I was just a bit weirded out with all the stuff that they have us doing. A hundred-man company deploying to walk four city blocks?”

  Corporal Gorder laughs quietly. “No man, remember it is a one hundred soldier company. We have females and we are all the same. None of that sexist crap!” He laughs again and we carry on walking.

  We all have full loadouts but only a ten-soldier section in the centre is loaded and ready to use. The rest of us are in two globes around them with weapons slung so that civilians do not get upset with an aggressive military presence.

  I query my plants. I need to know timings.

  Everyone on Earth knows the year and day that the attack happened. Within hours, millions were dead and an invasion force had landed. I am in the target zone.

  The first kinetic weapon will be hitting within fifteen minutes, south of us. In the following twenty minutes there will be another kinetic strike in a large diamond shape around. Then the ships will land within hours. Fighting lasted for weeks while the North American military, all branches, fought the invaders. Losses were 85 percent of engaged forces. A big chunk of that was caused by the kinetic weapons, but not all.

  I am walking and smiling at the civilians while figuring this all out. I am in the centre of the invasion zone. The impacts are around here in a star pattern far enough out that we will not take all of the hits. But in hours there will be an army landing on our heads. A more advanced army of killer robots that will kill everything in the area, and then they will start pillaging.

  Command-and-control units are almost impossible to take out. Military command will eventually deploy atomic weapons, killing more people than the kinetic weapons, and they won’t even take out all the command-and-control modules. Later it will be recognized that the modules were just fakes. Every robot was programmed to act independently. It was the military that eventually cleared out the last robot.

  The impact of the invasion was felt by the world, and it still affects us. The enemy did not differentiate between men, women, children, military or civilian targets. When the invasion was defeated, political correctness was taken out back and executed.

  Eight minutes to the first hit.

  Kids are playing in one of the small parks that were built to offset the high-rises all over. It’s a tiny patch of green land with a few trees and some jungle climbers, with dozens of kids screaming and running around, surrounded by a desert of concrete. We move on and most of the kids wave.

  Three minutes out and we stop at some street vendors that have set up shop selling “mystery meat” that smells surprisingly good. The company starts filtering through, buying lunch. High command issued a directive that “patrols were to interact with the civilian population to put a more humane face on the operation while also impacting the local area’s economic wellbeing by purchasing local items as needed.”

  My plant is running the timer down. The only good thing I can think of is that when I a
m killed, it will be later during the invasion.

  I look down the road and can see the streak moving across the sky. I am estimating twenty seconds.

  I move to the side and point down the alley next to me. “Hey, Corporal Gorder, what’s that?”

  He turns and steps toward the alley. “What did you see?”

  There is a deep rumbling sound and then the impact behind us. The rumbling gets closer. People are screaming and looking toward the sound and the impact. Bad move.

  I scream, “Everyone get down!” and throw myself to the ground. Corporal Gorder does as well. A few others in the company follow. Most of them just stand there gaping like idiots or stuffing food in their faces.

  The blast wave hits us. It is not as bad as I expected, but it blows out some of the windows in the surrounding towers and people are bowled over. Those who are staring in the direction of the impact cry out in terror at the flash. I don’t know if they are going to be blinded by that or not. The blast wave is over and we appear to be done. There are some casualties and the rumbling ends. Just under two minutes till the next impact. Most of the company gets up and slowly starts milling around.

  I am keeping my eye out and see the second streak. I just have the time to yell, “Everybody get down, there’s another one!” then I am on the ground covering my head with my arms. Again we feel the rumble; there is a lot more screaming this time. This blast wave does more damage and sirens are going off everywhere. There are also more injured. As this blast fades, there are more casualties in the area but less of the company is getting up to help. I hear someone screaming, “Earthquake! Earthquake!” over and over, but I know this is not over yet. Less than two minutes to the next impact.

  I stand up and turn to face the impact zone of the next kinetic weapon. Right on time I see the red streak and hit the ground while screaming, “Incoming!” About half of the people get down this time. The rest are in shock and still just standing there. After the rumble, this blast wave is the worst and the closest. All the rest of the glass windows blow out and the stunned people walking around take more hits. I see another soldier lose her head to a flying sheet of glass. The blood spray shoots straight up and then comes down like rain. Her head lands between us and her glassy eyes are looking at me with a scream of terror on her face.

  The next impact is in forty seconds. I do not get up this time. Most of the rest of the people are staying down as well, except for a few people. I yell at them to get down as there could be more. A few get down slowly while the rest start wandering aimlessly. I can see the fourth red streak from my prone position and just cover my head, open my mouth and start yelling as the rumbling starts. When this blast hits, there are other rumbling sounds in the distance and I can see clouds of debris flying up. The buildings are overstressed and the blasts have weakened them so that they are starting to come down.

  I know this is going to get worse, and then I see the last red streak.

  It’s a lot easier to scream as the final weapon hits and sends the blast wave toward us. This one buffets most of us and I am bouncing up and down on the concrete, which feels like it has turned into water.

  In the distance there is more debris being thrown into the air as more towers come down. On the far side of the children’s playground climber, one of the buildings is over-stressed and comes straight down.

  The dust and wreckage covers us and I can’t breathe for a minute until it starts to settle.

  By my count, fifteen minutes have passed and everything is starting to settle. I get up and look around. There are a few dead soldiers and civilians, lots of injuries, and many more of us that are all right, just shell-shocked.

  At least I was not at ground zero. Five city blocks were vaporized, with heavy damage done in the immediate area. Now we are cut off from the rest of the world, though. Bridges are down and the only way out is a vision of hell with temperatures that will melt steel and incinerate flesh.

  I look, and yes, I can see the first lander as a speck. It is heading for us and is going to land somewhere in the area. Great.

  I see the company commander and he is up with his command team. I stagger over, coughing. I point toward the lander behind them. “Sir, there is a spaceship coming down over there. It sort of looks like it is coming this way.” They glance at it and then the major starts issuing orders. “We need to spread out and start helping with casualties until civilian services can get here en masse. We are going to need to get in touch with the rest of the companies and coordinate a casualty collection point.” The team around him leaps into action.

  They are doing all the wrong things.

  I unsling my rifle and load it. I have two grenades and that is it. No one has any medium or heavy weapons, just rifles and a basic ammo load.

  “Soldier, what do you think you are doing?” The major and the command team are watching me while I re-sling my weapon. The lander is much closer and is disgorging some sort of other specs. There are four more landers coming in behind it in line.

  “I’m loading and getting ready to face that, sir.” I point over his head at the closing lander and dots. The sergeant major looks as well and frowns.

  “Okay, soldier, you are young and have just been through a lot. We are not engaging anyone. We will begin conducting domestic operations and provide what support we can after those earthquakes did all this damage. So unload and get ready to really help.”

  I blink and then more information flows into my brain and I understand. The military has not been involved in any real conflict for years. Just peacekeeping and assistance to civilian authorities. There is no “warrior culture” in North America at this time.

  The sergeant major speaks up. “Sir, I think the private may have something. That is a spaceship and it looks like it has just launched assault ships.” Luckily that the senior NCO of the company is a combat vet. More info flows into my brain. She is a combat vet, as the sim provided her.

  Then the signaller speaks up. “Sir, comms are out. There is a lot of interference from whatever happened, but we are also being jammed. I can’t reach anyone, even in the company, sir.”

  The major finally looks at the lander and then looks at the sergeant major. She nods affirmative to him. He slowly starts. “Very well, sergeant major, deploy the company. Signaller, send runners by fire team to the other four companies at their last reported locations. Tell them to run. If this is an attack, we will deal with it. If not, we can help the survivors soonest.”

  Everyone starts moving and the company slowly starts gathering into some sort of formation and taking cover in the wreckage.

  I see Corporal Gorder with a gash in his armour. He is grinning and has already loaded his weapon. Most of the rest of the troops have not done that yet, but are starting to as the sergeant major yells.

  “Well, newb, I guess we are being invaded by aliens. I wonder if they are green with tentacles?”

  The first assault ship passes low overhead and starts dropping cases.

  None of us are firing as we are not under contact and this age’s Rules of Engagement are clear.

  The major starts and moves from his sort of cover. “I wonder if they are dropping aid packages for the victims?”

  A captain starts moving toward the closest case. “I’ll check what’s in it, sir.”

  These people are idiots.

  The first lander is coming in for a proper touchdown in the distance and it looks really big. As it hits the ground, all the cases suddenly start transforming. They expand and open into short bipedal humanoid robots with laser rifles. The laser is a very old design and likely very weak. It is attached by an umbilical to the robot’s side.

  The captain is just staring at the robot, which stares back. Before he can move, the robot fires and cuts him almost in half. His screams are cut off as he hits the ground almost in two pieces.

  I take a knee and start f
iring into the torso of the robot. After the eighth round, it drops after I finally penetrate its chest. I am no more than eight meters from the robot and that’s the best my weapon can do?

  Most of the company is slow to react and only a few are putting effective fire on the targets. It appears that marksmanship is not a strong point, but some of the robots are falling. Just not fast enough.

  I continue engaging the closest robots, and every time I need almost ten rounds to drop one with all my rounds on target. I am already down two mags and only have six left.

  The robots are all finally transformed and begin engaging the company, and the screams start as they are cut down. Some try to run, but the robots are everywhere and cut them down with short bursts of laser fire.

  Corporal Gorder and a few others are doing well and the immediate area is clear of the killers at the moment. They appear to concentrate on what is closest first and then move on. Whatever processors they are running are not very high-powered, or they are still learning.

  I see the lander opening as the front pivots down and more robots march out, and then I see what appear to be vehicles moving behind them. Great.

  Corporal Gorder throws me someone’s ammo pouches. “Hey, newb, they aren’t going to need it and you seem to be doing pretty good. Fucker took a full mag for me to drop. We are so screwed.”

  Behind him I see one of the robots using short bursts and cutting down humans around them. Men, women, children, it does not care. It just engages each target and moves on.

  They are grouping up into squads and starting to advance. I see the little piece of green grass with the jungle gym and maybe twenty kids hiding on the ground, crying and screaming but too scared to run away.

  One of the squads of robots is heading for them. I start moving and realize that Gorder is with me. I am yelling for them to get up and run, but they just lie there crying.

  Weapon up and pop, pop, pop. Half a magazine gone thanks to firing on the move and one drops. Gorder is firing as well and manages to drop another. Then the other five spread out and bring their weapons out. I can’t use a grenade as it is too close to the kids. I hear myself screaming. The robots start shooting the running people first.