Jack Cabe

by Timothy Nguyen

  “That isn’t enough, Land. Promises don’t win wars. New Columbia is the only colony on Mars that is anywhere near profitability. The others are well below it, and you know that. And if you can’t protect your holdings," the figure paused as if in thought, "Well, Aerotec is floundering, and deserves a better head.”

  Land's anger rose at the not-so-veiled threat. “You won’t take my company from me while I yet live. None of you will. Mars is mine, and so is Aerotec.”

  “We’ll see about that Land, we’ll see…” The transmission cut off, leaving Land alone once again. He looked out on the smoke that had begun to rise in the distance, and the distant sounds of cannons and gunfire reached his ears. So this is how it ends. Corruption and scandal. At their behest, I let them use Aerotec for their businesses, I bought them out, they serve ME! None of their businesses would survive without Aerotec. Land smashed his fist against the rail. I’ll defeat these fucking rebels, and when I do I’m going to personally kill every last one of those mafioso pricks.

  Chapter 53

  In the hours since the invasion of the Inner City had began, Jack and Val had made it pretty far despite the fact that it was broad daylight. They had just stepped between two buildings a quarter of the way to the city center when an Inquisitor popped out of a service door. Before it could recognize the threat and fire, Jack and Val put their shields in front of them, and Jack fired a shot from his pistol that nailed it in the chest. Its motor circuits fried, it fell to the ground. But the death of a single Inquisitor wouldn’t matter.

  Val quipped off, “Great going big guy, now everyone knows we’re here.”

  Jack laughed, “As if its transmitter going offline wouldn’t alert them? I told you this was one way that it could start going downhill. This just means we get to play our cards early,” Jack pressed a button on his communicator, then yelled to his men, “Everyone, to your positions! Keep your shields up and keep an eye on all roof entrances, we keep moving forward!”

  Their men followed orders, and a formation similar to a disorganized roman tortoise began to move across the rooftops. However, minutes later they halted as the sound of Inquisitors thundered out of the service doors of surrounding buildings. The Resistance cell was effectively trapped. They planted their shields into the gravel of the rooftops -effectively making a low wall of shields- and focused their guns on the entrances of the nearby stairwells.

  Jack spoke in the tense quiet, punctuated by the distant boom of cannons, “Whatever comes through these doors, we do not take a single step back. Hold your ground, and aim true.” He grabbed a flag out of his pack and telescoped the pole out before planting it firmly in the roof.

  Val spoke now, “Remember what we’re fighting for. The future of New Columbia rests on our shoulders,” she turned as the sound of Inquisitors marching upstairs reached her ears, bringing back memories of saving Jack from Land’s tower, “We can’t afford to fail.” She knelt behind her shield and took aim with her rifle while Jack did the same.

  ...

  Alex heard the first gunshot and turned to look towards Jack’s position. He clicked his communicator and opened a call with Stan, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing Stanny Boy?”

  Stan sighed, “Yep… We need to push our own groups into overdrive before we get surrounded ourselves. Then we can loop back around as soon as reinforcements arrive," he glanced at the erupting battle, and the thunder of gunfire reached his ears, accompanied by the wretched ping of metal on metal, "Their shields are strong, they’ll be fine. Let’s just not get stuck as far away as they are.”

  “Agreed,” Alex turned to his men and yelled his orders, “Everyone, double-time! We need to get further before we get bogged down like that! Vamos!”

  They had just begun to move when the battle fully erupted on the distant rooftop. Alex sighed to himself. We can’t stick around and help them. We have to keep moving. Alex turned off the safety on his shield, priming the shotguns on either side. He was thankful for Mars’ lower gravity, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to pick it up. His men grabbed their own shields and held them close with their guns outstretched. Far on the other side of Jack and Val, Stan’s men were doing the same, and both crews began rushing towards their objective in the hope of getting as far as possible before becoming bogged down by Inquisitors themselves.

  ...

  Down below and maybe a hundred meters or so behind Aerotec lines, a series of great holes began to be opened by great drills burrowing out of the ground like moles. They were “Mole Tanks” -as they were affectionately called by the Resistance- and they were followed by Alex’s Heavy Assault Tanks. There were at least a hundred individual tunnels of the sort opening across the American front, but they all shared one thing in common: they were behind Aerotec lines.

  This had been the end result of Jack pressing a single button, and it was the culmination of Stan’s grand plan. Behind the tanks came thousands of troops that diffused into the Inner City in individual squads. They were armed with the newer rifles made by TC’s production lines, and they had been training for weeks at this point. The idea had been to sneak a heavy-hitting force behind enemy lines and wreak havoc, and the plan had worked flawlessly.

  Locke, Stan’s second-in-command, was in charge of one of these groups. He rode in the turret of the tank for his sector, somewhere far below and far behind Stan’s actual position, and he made quick use of the turret’s shields around the hatch by keeping his head as low as possible and keeping his gun on the upper edge of the shield while he gave out commands and surveyed the battlefield.

  “Alrighty boys, let’s get a move on!” he yelled out in his southern accent, “Heeyah! Let’s take it to the bastards!” His men grabbed their guns, and large squads began dispersing into buildings while a more heavily armored contingent stayed near Locke. The smaller squads would begin the slow work of clearing out individual buildings of the Inquisitors -an easy enough task as long as they were careful- while the heavy hitters would keep the momentum of the strike team going.

  ...

  Jack and Val heard the sound of the tank cannons firing, now much closer than those that were fighting in the “main” frontline. Val looked at Jack and smiled a big goofy smile.

  “It worked! Jack, it worked!” she cut her elation short with a shot from her rifle, but the jubilation remained.

  “Yeah, now we just have to survive until they catch up to us," he sighed, "This plan has no flaws whatsoever now that I’m here on the ground.” Jack fired his gun over the top of his shield, and his bullets all found their marks. It was going to be a long and hard day.

  Inquisitors' bullets pinged off of the Resistance's tough shields, and most either flattened themselves against the metal or ricocheted off. Jack set his rifle on his shield's edge and looked at the nearest door. A pile of Inquisitor husks lay on the ground around it, shot down as soon as they had come out. But now a new sound was coming from the stairwell.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  "Alright folks, I think Aerotec has a few new toys up their sleeves. Brace yourselves." Jack spoke calmly, despite the unnerving quiet that was only punctuated by distant explosions and the slow and steady thud of heavy feet.

  Val chuckled morbidly, "We're in danger."

  ...

  Land paced back and forth in his office, and he contemplated the near future. If the rebels win, then Aerotec is done for. If the rebels win, the other companies will take over whatever's left.

  His self-response was panicked and terrified, They can't win. They have to know the cost of this, they have to…

  He upbraided himself, No. They'll never believe me. They won't… The only way this turns out well is if I make it off-planet, as long as I survive, Aerotec can live on.

  Land made his way over to his holowall and spoke a command. "Access current status report of American District, Zone Five."

  The computer answered him with a clipped and automatic response, "American District
, Zone Five Status: under attack. Various holes appear to have opened, and a large invasion force equipped with armored vehicles and thousands of personnel are diffusing from points in Zone Five and Zone Six. Recommended Course of Action: Severe Military Response."

  Land sighed, Of course they dug tunnels. Of course… The stupid computer needs more sensors anyway… "Computer, access Military Terrestrial Command, First and Second Field Armies, Combat Report."

  The wall beeped its response, "40% of original assets as of January 2050 are still operational. Current Status: In Combat. Would you like more information?"

  Land rolled his eyes. "Yes, I would like more information."

  The computer spared no detail, "70 M1X Armored Vehicles remain operational. Current units still responding: 240,000. Of note is the fact that 100% of the Units are reporting themselves as in-combat. Rate of attrition appears to be 3 friendly to every 1 opposition units."

  What? That's… that's 300%... 3 dead inquisitors for every dead rebel...

  …

  SI-76a sat in the basement of a heavily fortified building. She was the latest model of Super Inquisitor: her armored shell was sleek and distinctly feminine, and she came with integrated weapon systems and a more intact brain. She flicked through the various feeds on the displays at the table, humming quietly to herself

  One of the lesser Inquisitor units approached her, "General, why are we not attacking?"

  She spoke. If the sly foxes of ancient fables could be heard today, they would sound like her, full of grace and cunning, "It's quite simple really, I-10053. We aren't fighting an offensive war. So skedaddle on out of here and let me strategize before it fries your puny little circuits."

  The Inquisitor hummed for a moment, "Command not recognized. Please clarify."

  76a sighed with contemptuous disgust, "Stupid robots…. Leave."

  "Yes General." The Inquisitor exited the room, and 76 got back to work.

  She thought aloud while her internal systems ran various calculations, "The other districts aren't much of a problem since they're mostly disorganized idiots fighting us. But the Americans…. Clever little sods, aren't they? I think I'll deploy the rest of the HSI units, besides the one I dispatched to take care of Ballew and Cabe. As for the other vectors of their little invasion,” She clicked a few buttons, “Well, it’s about time we brought the full power of Aerotec down on these fools. Land has been too scared to use our full might.”

  Chapter 54

  Jack, Val, and their soldiers kept their weapons trained on the door of the stairwell, but the deep thud of footsteps suddenly ceased. They kept their sights focused on the door, and silence fell over the group.

  “Remember, not one step back, no matter what comes out of that door, you hold your ground,” Jack commanded with an uneasy nerve. He had barely finished speaking when the wall adjacent to the door was blown open and a hulking machine came out of the crumbling dust. Twin machine guns popped out of its arms and opened fire, and soon heavy slugs of metal buried themselves in the Resistance's shields. They immediately killed those that hadn’t been fully protected.

  “Jack, what the hell is that?” Val shouted over the thunder of the monster’s guns. Her shield was being pushed against her with enough force to weaken her hold on it with every shot, “We can’t just sit here and not do anything!”

  Jack grabbed a grenade out of a pouch and lobbed it at the behemoth. “Honestly? I don’t know what we’re going to do against that thing. Our bullets are just pinging off of it like they’re nothing,” the grenade exploded harmlessly at the feet of the HSI unit, "And so are our grenades, apparently."

  The Inquisitor’s guns silenced, and it spoke in a deep and non-human voice. “Cabe, Jack. Ballew, Valerie. You have been ordered to cease and desist immediately. Continue to resist, and you will be terminated.”

  “How about I shove a grenade down your gas pipe?” Jack shouted as he grabbed another grenade from the pouch.

  “That will be unfavorable to your own position. But if you wish to continue resisting, then you leave me no choice.” The behemoth's guns opened fire, again laying down a withering hail on the Resistance platoon.

  ...

  By now, Stan was stuck in a similar predicament. His men had made it across the platform onto another building, only for a squad of Inquisitors to pop out of the stairwell in front of them while Stan was still crossing the space between the buildings.

  As the doors swung open, Stan yelled to his men, “Fire! No mercy, no hesitation! No-” He was cut off by an explosion and found himself flying backwards through the air. A grenade.

  He somehow managed to stay atop the platform, but the platform itself was now incredibly damaged. He stood up and turned around, hoping to make it to a building edge before it collapsed. He heard his shield clang to the ground a few stories below him. Must have dropped it. He turned and leapt just as the platform gave way, and he found himself clinging to the roof edge of the building across from his soldiers. One of them turned to try to help him.

  He shouted to his men, “No, forget about me! Hold your positions, I will make my way to you, one way or another!” With that, Stan dropped into the open window below, right into a building full of Inquisitors.

  ...

  Alex, wary of how Stan and the others were being ambushed by the Inquisitors inside their buildings, pushed forward with his soldiers. He had made it a few buildings deeper than Stan when he made his men halt and focus their guns on their building’s stairwell.

  “Shields up and guns out, here they come,” he ordered as he ran up to the wall beside the door. He hid just around the corner of the stairwell's exterior and listened closely to what he thought had been the march of several Inquisitors. That ain’t right… That’s… “Men, get down and keep your heads as far down as possible. This isn’t any ordinary Inquisitor.”

  Silence fell as the men readied themselves, but suddenly the door burst open and a hulking Inquisitor smashed through: another HSI unit. It deployed its chainguns as it issued its orders, “Resistance units, please surrender or be destroyed.”

  Alex emerged from behind the corner and pressed his shotgun close to the artificial spinal cord of the HSI, completely hidden within its blindspot. “Oh, I don’t think we will.” He fired, and the behemoth dropped like a stone.

  ...

  “Impossible. Those units are so heavily armored it’d take a rocket to disable one! If this was Cabe and Ballew’s HSI, that I could feasibly understand, but Culloch? Culloch? That scrawny meat puppet couldn’t lift a pencil!” 76a rose from her seat, “I can’t just destroy the buildings at their foundations either, because some people refuse to accept collateral damage. Grrrrr….” She grabbed the pistol off of her thigh and began walking towards the stairwell.

  She continued ranting, “I’m a soldier first, not a tactician. I need to see what it looks like out there, and maybe see what needs to be done." She grabbed a few Inquisitor infantry units, and stepped out of the forward command center… Right into the arms of the First Irish Volunteers Regiment.

  Seamus leveled his rifle at the Inquisitor's chest. He and his men were about to walk past the building since it was hadn't offered any resistance, but now he was having second thoughts.

  He laughed, "Well, what do we have here, laddies? A brand spanking new Inquisitor. Destroy her friends."

  The Resistance soldiers fired and destroyed 76a's comrades. Before she could return fire, she was being restrained by a team of rebels, hogtied, and tossed in the back of the APC.

  Seamus spoke to the crew in the supporting tank, "Level the building boys, we have what we need." He smiled, and got in the back of the APC with his new prisoner, and the FIVR began pushing ahead again.

  Chapter 55

  Jack was hunkering behind his shield when his communicator vibrated against his leg. It probably made a sound, but Jack didn’t hear it in the din of battle. He pulled it out and saw that it was a message from Alex:

  The big giant robots
are vulnerable from behind. Especially the neck. They’ll drop like a stone then.

  ~Alex

  “I’ll be damned… Val!” Jack shouted from behind his shield.

  “What is it, Jack? I’m kinda sorta preoccupied at the moment!” Val responded, her voice barely audible over the rumbling thuds of machine guns.

  Jack yelled over the chaos, “Alex says the big guys are vulnerable from behind. If you’ll distract him, I can get him.”

  Val sighed, not that it was heard. “Fine. But you owe me a drink after this.”

  Jack chuckled to himself, “Add it to my tab darling, add it to my tab.”

  Val began moving to flank the Inquisitor, and luckily it was dumb enough to focus on her. As soon as it turned enough, Jack lowered his shield to the ground and jumped to his feet before pulling his leMat from his thigh. He ran and jumped onto the Inquisitor’s back, and shoved the pistol’s lower barrel against its neck and fired.

  It dropped as soon as the heavy slug impacted with its circuits and nearly crushed Jack as it fell back. Jack lay on his elbows, panting with second thoughts and relief, “That may not have been the best plan, now that I think about it.”

  Their men stood up from their places behind their shields, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. One of them spoke up in the relative silence, “So, who wants to go smash in Land’s door?”

  ...