“I know Alex. I know.” She activated her long-range communicator, and within moments TC was on his way with all of the equipment he needed for a live broadcast.
...
Jack’s world was fading, and he clawed at Keyes’ arms and his own neck in a desperate bid to relieve the pressure of Keyes' iron grip, but his world was going dark. I’m.. Not… Dying… Like this… With the last of the strength in him, Jack pulled a knife from his belt -Keyes was high on his own bloodlust after all- and plunged it as far into Keyes’ side as he could, loosening the pressure just enough for Jack to escape the mortal grapple.
He scrambled away and had just grabbed his gun when he heard someone shout for him to get down. He had just lunged to the floor when a hail of fire came from one of the side entrances to the building, cutting down every Inquisitor in sight, and the flurry of lead nailed Keyes several times across his body. He fell to the ground, alive, but paralyzed.
A Russian spoke in the ensuing silence.
“Ah Jack, it is good to see you again! Let’s deal with this slimy bounty hunter and think about how we’re going to get out of this, shall we?” Stan walked over to Keyes’ body. Mikhail looked up in shock.
“You… You wouldn’t dare.” He sputtered out.
“Da, I would.” Stan fired a shot directly into Keyes’ heart, silencing him for good.
Chapter 42
In the early morning hours of the next day, General Jeffrey Winnfield stood amid a background of his own family’s gore, their bodies covered with tarps. On either side of him were Alex and Val, both offering their support. They hadn’t wanted him to speak for this emergency broadcast, but he wouldn’t have it. His wife and children were dead, his friends were dead, and all of their families were dead. He was all that was left. He was fighting a war he hadn’t cared about, against people he didn’t know, and he was damned well gonna speak out about it.
His voice was rough but easily understood as he spoke, “People of New Columbia, people of Aerotec’s military and civilian services. I am General Jeffrey Winnfield of the Aerotec Terrestrial Armed Branch, and I am defecting. Why? Well, look around me. Those bodies aren’t just any bodies. They’re the bodies of my wife and three children, executed in front of me by Aerotec’s Inquisitors because I failed to attack into the Outer City of New Columbia; because I failed to crush the Rebellion against Aerotec and CEO Land.
And I’m not the only one. Mister Cameraman? Could you show the people a quick look at the room? Thank you,” he had turned away from directly addressing the people, but returned, “If there are children present and watching this, please shield their eyes or send them away to their rooms,” he choked on a sob that had been building for a while, his composure quickly crumbling.
Alex and Val stood reverently by his side as he swept his arm back slowly while the camera panned across the nearly 30 tarps, “These are the bodies of 12 Aerotec military families. All of them executed for the same reason that I was left alive for. But those men, those husbands and wives who came out here today to carry out Land’s orders, they were lucky to be killed along with their families. But me?”
Tears rolled down his face as he fell to his knees, crying openly now, “They gave me a gun and chained me to the damned wall! They sat me in my daughters’ blood and told me to kill myself for my failure!” He shouted his anger and misery to the world, “Do you know what I did? I sat and held them in my arms as best I could, I tried to move their hair out of their faces and wipe the blood from their eyes! And I waited. Because I knew that people were going to be here soon, and the Inquisitors wouldn’t be able to stop them. I’m joining the Resistance, because I want my revenge.”
He stood up and pointed his finger into the camera, the digit slick with blood from the floor, “Don’t let them kill you or your family. Don’t wait to fight back until it’s too late. Aerotec is weak, we may have the numbers and technological advantage now, but these street rats and defectors have something Aerotec doesn’t, and that’s humanity. Don’t le-”
The monitor clicked off, and an agitated sigh, then a growl, came from behind the mahogany desk, “If anyone tries to defect, kill them immediately. Bring in all human personnel for medical check-ups and give them kill-chips. but most of all,” Land rose from his desk with fury in his eyes, “Kill every. Last. One. Kill all of those disgraceful excuses, I want all of our available forces, every last unit we have, to crash down on that damned bunker.”
Land's personal servant droid tumbled through the calculations before he spoke, “Sir, that’s nearly a million units. What if the people riot?”
Land scoffed. “What are they going to do? Throw tomatoes at me? Leave the Inquisitors that are already assigned to police duty, but every last one that is currently designated as ‘in combat’ or ‘combat-ready’? Send them to the bunker. Even the tanks. Winnfield is wrong, there’s not a damned bit of humanity that can stop this.”
The droid let out a mechanical approximation of a sigh, “Yes sir.”
...
Jack and Stan were sitting in an upper room of the pharmacy discussing their escape plan when there was a sudden quiet below. The battle had been going on and off for the past few hours, but now it seemed like only one side was even participating.
Jack groaned before speaking, “Stan, I know I’m not the most tactically gifted man here, but when a roaring battle goes silent I know it isn’t good.”
“Well, as silent as half of the combatants not firing can be. Something is not right.” Stan stood up and grabbed a pistol from the small of his back, “Let’s go find out what’s going on.”
“Agreed.” Jack jumped up and grabbed his rifle off of the table and rushed downstairs with Stan.
They peeked their heads around the corner, only for Locke and Kenway to run up to them and give them the news: The Inquisitors had just got up and made for their APCs, only to get completely destroyed by the remaining men.
“Jack it’s like they completely forgot what they were doing, and it was like shooting ducks in a barrel after that.” Kenway excitedly sputtered out, and Jack gave Stan a smile.
“Well, at least we have a way out of here. The only problem is that the Inquisitors were probably being overridden with some higher order, but we’ll deal with that when the time comes. Besides, those APCs have machine guns and cannons on them, we can handle this.”
Stan chuckled, “Jack, you are exactly right. Everyone, grab your things and pack into the lead ACP, there should be plenty of room!”
...
It had only been a few minutes since the APCs had rumbled out of the battlefield of the Castle and pharmacy, and Jack and Stan were focused on returning home to the Outer City and figuring out where all of the Inquisitors were going. They had just rolled around a corner when they saw a group of young boys -some of them no older than the youngest men in the Resistance- lined up against a wall with Inquisitor Police units standing ready to fire.
“Oh hell no,” Jack mumbled before grabbing the APC communicator unit, “Stan, I’m not letting those kids die.”
Stan shrugged in the confines of the other APC, “Do whatever you want Jack, it’s not like they managed to kill us this last time.” Stan spoke to his own men now, “Fire at will on the Inquisitors.”
Both vehicles opened fire from the small machine gun turrets on their topsides, and within moments the Inquisitors were dead. The personnel carriers came to a stop in front of the grateful and terrified boys.
Jack opened the door and stepped out before approaching the oldest of the kids. That’s all they were, schoolchildren… You know it’s desperate when the kids are in on an uprising. Jack took note of the small pile of weapons against the wall.
He stopped in front of the oldest boy there, a young man of about 18 years or so, tousled brown hair and sporting a stocky frame. Jack growled authoritatively in the cold Martian air, “So, I assume you’re the boss of these kids?”
“Er... Yes, sir! I’m Camryn, and we’re trying to
fight against Aerotec because of how badly they treat everyone. Or something like that, the point is we’re on your side!” Camryn was enthusiastic at least, but all too inexperienced to really lead much of a fight, but it’s not like the Resistance as a whole was much better.
“Well, at least you’ve got heart Camryn, at least you’ve got heart. While they were holding you against your will, did the Inquisitors say anything about where all of the military units went?” Jack probed while the other boys stood in awe, apparently having recognized him.
“Well, they did say something about suppressing the Resistance once and for all, but that’s how everyone with Aerotec talks. I heard something about mobilizing all of their available forces, a bunker, and… I think that’s everything.”
Jack's next words came in a stutter at that revelation, “Did you… Did you say ‘mobilizing all available forces’?” Th-th-that’s not good. Not good at all….
Camryn smiled as if there wasn't anything particularly strange with his statement, “Yes sir. All available forces.”
Jack quickly came up with a plan, “You wouldn’t happen to know anyone else who is willing to fight Aerotec, and a place to rally would you?”
Camryn answered eagerly, “Of course, most of our families and friends are helping us fight, I guess. We can pull something together within minutes I guess. Any reason why?”
Jack's words were eerily alone in the air, “We need to cause a distraction.”
Chapter 43
Val and Alex were sitting in a planning room and going over the current state of things when they heard the thunder of explosions as a massive battle erupted outside. They both jumped up and rushed out of the room to join their squads. They were tired and hadn’t had more than an hour of sleep in the past few days, but someone had to lead.
Concentrated around the now-abandoned bunker, a massive offensive was underway. Every last tank that Aerotec had at its disposal, every APC they could pack with Inquisitors, every last armored vehicle capable of traversing the trenches, all of them were rushing in a cloud of dust towards the Resistance frontlines. Preceding them was a hail of fire from the cannons Aerotec that had left as well as a large number of mobile artillery platforms.
Aerotec hadn’t immediately deployed -taking an hour or so to concentrate their forces- but now, at 10 o’clock in the morning, the offensive had launched. The few Resistance units that remained at the true frontline were destroyed immediately in a hail of fire and rolling steel. Now the only thing standing in the way of Aerotec were the remains of the drill tanks, but after that, it would just be Aerotec against the wall of rubble and the original trenches.
...
Jack stood on a makeshift platform in a New Columbian square, and he was surrounded by a hundred or so young men and women. All of them were from the more aristocratic parts of New Columbian Society, and very few of them were first-generation colonists. They stood in stark comparison to the grimy and rough men of the Resistance who were standing guard.
But even though they may have been unsure of the savage and brutish men guarding them, they all believed that Aerotec needed to be stopped one way or another. Jack firmly believed that when peace fails to achieve change, the only recourse is war, which was a concept foreign to these young Martians who knew nothing but comfort and peace. Nonetheless, despite the horrors that surely awaited, they had all come out to lend their support.They may have been terrified, but they were eager nonetheless.
Jack shouted out to the crowd from the podium, and his voice thundered to their cautious applause. He was dirty and battle-worn, but he spoke with pride and passion in a last-ditch effort to distract Aerotec and protect the Resistance.
He spoke proudly from his makeshift podium, "For years, you've been told that the people of the Outer City of New Columbian are nothing but slum rats that can't find their way. You've been told that we put ourselves in our situation of seemingly hopeless burrowing and hard labor. Some of you may have once believed that we are savages, beasts of simple desires and easily sated hunger. Maybe you even thought of us as less than human. And looking at us now, well, I guess that'd be an easy conclusion to jump to.
But all of you? You've seen through that lie. You want to help us or -if not help us- you at least want to get rid of Aerotec. That in itself is a very brave move for people that have lived at Aerotec's beck and call for most -if not all- of your lives. To step out into the dangers of the light, to step away from the shelter and ignorance of the shadows, to do any of this is brave. I thank you for that. But that's only the first step."
Jack paused to collect his words, "The next step is that we have to take the war to Aerotec in their own front yard. As far as we know, every last available military unit that they have has rushed to a battlefield on the edge of the city, and stand ready to crush and murder thousands of people who want nothing more than to live their lives in relative comfort and prosperity. So, men and women of the newly christened New Columbia Volunteers Brigade, we are going to take the fight to Aerotec regardless of your skill. War is a nasty business, but we can do this."
...
Meanwhile, on the frontlines of the battle for the trenches, a young woman in command of one of Aerotec's last human squads was struggling against her mind. A young woman from the Inner City, Sergeant Katie Wolf wasn't a mother or even a sister. She had no family to think of: she had been born in the Inner City and given up for adoption almost immediately, and she had eventually come into the Aerotec military so she wouldn't be forced into the mine as an orphan.
Which was why she couldn't figure out why she cared so much about the rebels.
Just like everyone else, Sergeant Wolf had seen the recent broadcast, and like everyone else, she was disturbed by the gore. But whereas she thought that everyone else had gotten over it by now, she was still troubled by it.
Artillery thundered outside of her APC as shells sent plumes of smoke and dust soaring into the air. Am I really going to kill people just because I'm being told to? I mean… they were traitors, not real-
Another voice spoke in her conscience, angry and righteously so, Not real people? Not real citizens? But they were, you heard what they said on the broadcast, you heard what General Winnfield said! They killed his kids because he failed, not because he betrayed them!
She retorted, But he was surrounded by street rats, they must have made him do it. You can't trust street rats, they'll mug you before they talk to you, everyone knows that…
The other voice sighed, You don't really believe that propaganda, do you? You know General Winnfield wasn't lying. You know it…
...
Val and her squad rushed into a trench with their shields up and guns out, jumping over the bodies of freshly fallen men and women. They came to a sudden stop when a large vehicle crashed into the trench. It sat still, and the sound of gunfire came from inside it. After a few more moments, the doors of the machine opened as best they could, and a voice called out as a bloody hand wearily poked outside of the door.
"Please… Don't shoot, we're with you guys," Wolf keyed the external audio transmitter, and spoke to the other remaining human units, "All organic units, this is Eagle 14. We're defecting. We're on the wrong side of this war."
Chapter 44
Val, to the dismay of her troops, made a quick decision about the young woman and the three Aerotec soldiers with her: "Alright, grab your guns and do what I say. We still have a war to fight, and you just switched sides," she turned to the rest of her squad, "And we aren't stopping now. Move under the APC and get to the other side, there should be enough room for us to squeeze through."
Sergeant Wolf and her comrades did as they were told, and together the group began squeezing through the small gap between the APC's undercarriage and the earth. Val had just made it through the gap when the sound of Inquisitors came from around the corner.
"Everyone, guns ready!" She lay down in the dust and aimed her gun up from the ground. The Inquisitors came around the corner,
and half of the squad was able to fire on them immediately. Their guns erupted in cacophonous harmony and the Inquisitors' metal bodies pinged with the incoming rounds as they tore apart their internal circuitry.
The resistance was lucky for the newer Inquisitors' lack of human intelligence, something the defectors hadn't realized.
Wolf spoke up as soon as they were destroyed, "Are they really that stupid? I thought they had human-" Val raised her hand to quiet Wolf.
"Something that we figured out recently, Miss Wolf, is that they are supposed to have human nervous systems like the original models, but most of them… Well, they're pretty stupid." Val smiled, "I guess Aerotec is hiding even more than we thought. Either that or they're broke."
Sergeant Wolf -or whatever her rank was now- took this in stride, even though her mind was racing at a million miles an hour with that revelation.
Val waved her hand forward, "Come on Miss Wolf, everyone, let's keep going." The squad rounded a corner and nearly crashed directly into another group of soldiers wearing Aerotec uniforms.
Before any shots were fired by the resistance, however, the leader of this group stepped forward with his gun low and spoke, "You're… You're resistance right?" He kept his hands in the open, and his soldiers kept their guns low.
Val smirked and holstered her shotgun on her shield. She offered her hand, "Yes, I'm General Ballew. Defectors, I presume?"
"Yes ma'am." The man looked ashamed, and so did many of the members of his group.
Val shook his hand confidently, "Don't worry, you did the right thing by defecting, and you aren't alone."
And alone they weren't. Across the battlefield, a similar story was unfolding as hundreds of Aerotec soldiers and leadership defected en masse. Many of them were without families and all of them wanted better things for New Columbia. They hadn't all been motivated by the Winnfield Broadcast, but all of them were sure of one thing: they were done serving Aerotec.
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