“Holyshit,” Darryl said.
“Crazy,” Jen said.
“That’s my king,” Alicia said.
“I don't get it,” Jerry said.
“The king playing 4D chess, that is. He installed the margrave system for the wealth, promising them power he knows they will never retain. He’s right. Many worlds over the centuries have overthrown their margraves, either through bloody conflict or various other means. In place, they install elected leaders, known as Arch Governors.” Darryl explained.
“That’s not all either,” Alicia said. “Based on how Warmaster Noxxic was speaking. The king seems to be empowering rebellions from behind the scenes. Similar to how underkings turn street gangs into empires. The king might have a way of turning a small rebellion into the organized rebel army, built to take worlds.”
“There’s an entire shadow war going on behind the scene between the king and the margraves,” Jen said.
“No way!” Jerry said. I was equally in awe, but many questions emerged. Why couldn’t the king just forcibly remove all these margraves with his power? How long had this shadow war been active? Wouldn’t the margraves know about this, and what would they do to stop the king? The questions bred and created more. I decided to put it behind me. They were questions too big for my little mind or current understanding.
“That’s enough recess. Let’s keep moving.” I said. There were a few groans, but we continued. We traveled through the city without any more sermons from the Freedom leader. Usually, he’ll speak every few hours, but now he remained silent.
We continued following the last location of Justin's signal. It was too easy, as I thought. The more I moved, the more all this started to feel familiar. Too many times while being part of my gang was I lured into traps. Too many scars to fall for another one. I continued my path while splitting off a few members from my company.
It was midday when we finally found Justin’s locator. His helmet sat on a cleaver blade, inserted in the ground in the middle of a four-way intersection. Three roads were blocked off with cars and other wreckage, leaving only one retreat route. The worst part about finding that cleaver blade was that it was Rolland’s blade. Justin must have had a great deal of resentment toward Rolland. Suddenly I and the remainder of my company was surrounded by Justin and rebel militia. I looked up to Justin, who stood atop a car. He aimed his rifle at me and shook his head.
“You fell right into my trap, Blu. You really thought I wouldn’t think about my legion tracking me? You shouldn’t have come.”
“You betrayed me and killed many of my people. Of course, I was going to hunt you down.” I said.
“You know I knew this was a trap,” I said. His eyebrows centered.
“You knew?”
“Yes. In my gang days, I was lured into many traps that I survived. The three things all these traps had in common were too easy, too quiet, and too much to gain.” I said. I glared at Justin and then cracked my neck. Once I did that, their soldiers started dropping. Justin and his rebel scum panicked.
“What the hell?”
“Shield bearers!” I yelled, then threw my body back in the group as we formed a shield wall around our group. The rebels pounded our shields with bullets. However, their fireline was erratic and ineffective. Once I knew the traps were happening, I ensured that all my snipers had split off from the group silently and find a vantage point. Snipers could engage from 5,000 meters. I made sure they all pulled back and focused on us, keeping us in their sight.
The rebels were too afraid and confused by seeing many of their comrades fall to focus fire well enough to take us out. Meanwhile, my shield bearers kept us safe as we split and three groups to each street. I was surprised that no one took a shot at Justin. He dived off his pedestal and nearby toward a sword. When I was near a rebel battleline, I sprung from behind the shield wall with my cleaver and charged the rebels.
A few ran out of ammo and needed to reload. Those unlucky souls would be my first target. I slashed through two rebels, but the third one had his gun on me. His inexperience showed when he hesitated. I had learned long ago in the battle of life and death, never pause. Before he could understand that lesson, a bullet blew a hole through his skull. I glanced to the side and noticed it was Alicia, standing on top of the car. I didn’t waste time thanking her and moved to the other rebels who were still reloading. I finished the five of them all in under a minute. I scanned the area for Justin, but he had already hopped in a vehicle and drove away. I conserved my ammo and checked everyone. No casualties.
“Collect their ammo and weapons. We are going to need them. Snipers, remain in the back and guard us. After that stunt, they are going to jam our sensors again. We’ll be out here blind.”
“Yes, Commander,” Darryl said. He and Jen were in command of the two sniper squads. I turned to my marines still here, only over three dozen of them.
“Alright, marines. This is going to be tough. We are on a search and destroy mission with no supply. Conserve your ammo because we are going to need it for the final attack. We draw the rebel groups out bit by bit, collect their ammo, supply, and find information. Remember, we’ll have no support, so we need to find food and water. Let’s move!”
“Hoorah!”
Entry 16
Phoenician Date: October 23, 1026AR
Military Time: 10:30
Phoenician Classified World: Alexandria Prime
Two days since we had water, but we had to press on. I could not even wet my mouth with my own spit hardly. The sun’s heat on top of our suits didn’t make anything better. Not wanting Justin or the general to win was the only thing driving us forward. The rebels patrolled the streets in convoys with mounted turrets. They boxed us in a district with little provisions. I probably would have figured out a way to take them out, but dehydration robbed me of any creativity.
We camped out in a fast-food restaurant. Alicia was attempting to mess with the drink machine behind the counter alongside other Marines who worked at fast food once upon a time. Metal box drink machines stood all around them, locked tight. Absent of ammunition and energy, prying open the two-ton drink machines with our blades proved useless. Since they were in an area with jammers, they couldn’t use the credits on the Omniwatchs.
Jerry then burst into the restaurant holding a woman―no, a bot.
“Look what I found!” Jerry said. It was a lovebot. Although I would not broadcast it openly, I’ve used lovebots more than many times. Lovebots were so openly used that the military had many stocked in the cargo bay for marines and sailors.
“You guys know who this is? This is an Zeyona lovebot!” Jerry said. She was a megastar musician, and the bots looked almost like her. All the male marines and even some female marines drool over the lovebot as if thirst was an afterthought.
“Holy cow!” Darryl said, then his eyes glanced at Jen, and he clears his throat. “An Zeyona model is extraordinarily expensive. The actual musician Zeyona priced her model extremely high.”
“She priced it?” I asked. Darryl nodded.
“Most celebrities license their images out to lovebot company to sell them to their fans. An Zeyona model is really expensive because Zeyona doesn’t want every guy in the kingdom walking around with a lovebot of her. I think its cost is in the millions.”
“Millions?” I asked. “Jerry, where you find that lovebot?”
Jerry's eyebrows rose. “I found it in some limo while patrolling.” He said.
“Take me to it,” I said. Jerry had to take his lovebot, determine to have first dibs on it. He led us toward a private parking lot, and there we found a red limo in the park. Jerry had busted the window opened and stabbed the computer system. However, what I was really looking for were some credit chips. I found a small chest of 10 gold credit chips.
“Wow! Look at that, baby.” Someone said.
“With these chips, we will buy drinks from every drink machine we can find,” I said. They all cheered. Soon we emptied out e
very drink machine nearby and brought them back to our small base in the fast-food restaurant named Zendy. I didn’t wait more than a few seconds before downing my first bottle of water. I could feel the cold water coursed across my body and revive my organs. Alicia had figured out how to operate the drink machines and turn on the equipment. I noticed Jerry and more male members hovering around the lovebot as they charged her in the wall.
“It’s crazy. Real girls over here, and they all are drooling over a bot.” Maria said, crossing her arms and scrunching her face up.
“That’s men for you. They want the easiest catch and then complain about not being able to find a good girl.” Jen said. Then her eyes drifted to Darryl, who was more interested in arguing than some lovebot.
“That’s what happens when you run out of nutrient packs,” Maria said.
“Why you say that?” I asked.
“Nutrients packs have drugs that dampen sex drives so soldiers can focus on battle. Gary wouldn’t be so easy.” Maria said. I then felt the pain again from their absence. Gary accepted me without a second thought, despite my past. I watched him struggle and overcome. Rolland was also a faithful companion. Few times in life have my heart hurt so much. Melancholy hung in the air between us as the boys started to play various games to see who gets the lovebot first. I watched them with bittersweet joy.
With all the deaths I have seen throughout my childhood, I wondered why these hurt me the most. Was it because they genuinely cared about me and taught me things? Gary was a blinding light that could shine in even the darkest night. He would have made a fine Vindicator. He had the personality and mind for it. Rolland was a stonewall who barely understood fear. As long as he was by my side, I knew death’s door was far from my sight. Despite their loss and many others, people could still laugh. They died so we could find peace in moments like these, and I won’t waste it.
Life was good, too good, which meant something was about to happen. My eyes wandered outside the window, and I noticed three trucks pulling in.
“Everyone get down!” I yelled. As I spoke, I rushed to Alicia without thinking and pinned her to the floor. The glass windows exploded, and my eyes wandered to Jerry, who had successfully bolted to the floor. I knew all too well when things seemed too good. It was only the calm before the storm.
The rebel groups’ trucks tore through the fast-food building with heavy guns. I and many of my marines crawled to the kitchen. Our ammo was depleted. The only usable weapons at this moment were our cleavers, and the enemy was out of arm’s reach. I had to think, and then I saw a grenade. With all the gunfire, no one would hear the small delivery of death bouncing across the floor. I dove toward it. With my good arm, I threw it blindly toward the gunfire. I heard an explosion, and the gunfire ceased for a moment. My eyes dashed toward Jerry, and he nodded, reading my thoughts.
We rushed across the destroyed fast food restaurant and over the table. The rebels remained stuck in a daze. I spotted a flaming truck flipped on its backside. The other two trucks were simply transporting. Before the rebels could resume their attack, we were already upon them. My blade cut through three of them before I grabbed one of their rifles. They lacked lock-system like military-grade rifles, so I let loose on the rebels. Four suffered my attack before I had to move to cover.
Many of my marines followed my tactics. I don't know how many rebels there were, but by the sound of it, there were more than twice what we had when they first started their attack. We had quickly even things out. The rebels, witnessing more than half their numbers cut down, retreated with their last truck.
“Check the wounded and grab all their supply,” I yelled, rising from my cover. I found Alicia, who stomp on a man’s leg, breaking it. He was already bleeding from his side.
“We need more intel,” Alicia said. That was a good idea. I like that she was starting to become more brutal. However, I feared how deep she would dive into that viciousness. It was addictive and dangerous.
“How you know where we were?” I said. He didn’t want to talk at first, so I kicked him in the face with my military boots. He spat out a tooth and blood.
“What’s the point? This bitch shot me and broke my leg. I’m going to die anyway.”
“Not necessarily,” Maria said, brushing past me. She checked the man’s wound and snorted. “Yeah, the bullet only made a deep cut through his body. Some basic level surgery, ichor, rest, and he’ll be good as new.”
“That’s if you give us info,” I said.
“Typical kingdom dogs! Don't give a damn about anyone but your precious king. Damn your own kind!” He spat. Alicia delivered a firm stomp to his wound, and he screamed like a little girl. He cringed, and a tear slid from his reddened face. I knew all too well the pain from open wounds.
“How you know where we were?” I asked again. He gave me a stern look, and I grabbed my rifle and hovered over his wound. Color left his face as I raised it.
“Okay!” He whined. “I don't know everything, I’m just a grunt, but I think it got something to do with that marine turncoat.”
“Hmm, maybe they are reverse engineering our tracking software,” Maria said.
“If they can reverse engineer Meta’s Jammer, this shouldn’t be too far out of their scope. They are using his tracker to track us, but how during the jamming.” Alicia added.
“Darryl!” I called out. He glanced over and headed over. “We believe they are tracking us through the jamming signal. How?” I asked. Darryl massaged his chin.
“They probably blink the jamming signal in and out. If that’s the case, we know when they are about to attack when the freedom leader broadcast his messages. They only last for five minutes unless the warmaster antagonizes him again.” Darryl guessed. A bright idea triggered through my mind, and I grinned from ear to ear.
“We can use this,” I said, then glanced at the rebel. “Heal his wounds and keep him close. He will be useful to us.”
“What are you going to do?” Darryl asked.
“I’m going to turn their advantage into our advantage. Prepare all squads to move.” I said, pulling away to look for more armor and other useful goods. Upon searching, Alicia stood by my side. She was silent for a minute and then finally spoke.
“Thank you.” She said. My heart stopped for a bit. My mind raced to wonder what she was talking about.
“Uh, I’m not sure what you mean,” I admitted. A blush appeared on Alicia’s face before she glanced away briefly and exhaled.
“When everything went down, you rushed to push me to the ground and saved my life again. You really can’t help but be my hero.” She said. Then my heart raced even more. I did not even think about saving her. My body reacted on its own. She hugged me then, and my body tensed. It was something about hugs that made them difficult to withstand. All the cuts, bruises, burns, and many other horrors I suffered in my life paled in comparison to a loving embrace.
“Anytime.” I managed to say. She released me then and went back to her pickings. Every day since being free from my gang's thrall, I learned more and more about myself. I found it refreshing to learn positive traits about myself. It made me feel less…monstrous.
Entry 17
Phoenician Date: October 25, 1026AR
Military Time: 9:30
Phoenician Classified World: Alexandria Prime
Fifty rebels armed to the teeth marched toward our base in their red, white, and blue uniforms. I found myself growing envious of their unity. Laughs and fist bumps were shared among them as they marched. Regular people willing to die for a cause bigger than themselves: a tale old as time. To them, the king was a nonhuman ruling over humans. He was a tyrant with unlimited and unchecked power. Their arguments were persuasive and provoking. Understanding them was easy, and so was killing them.
“Now,” I said through my intercom. The rebel army marched into a rainfall of flammable fuels. Next came the makeshift firebombs that ignited the entire parody of an army. Many attempted to flee, and that’s when
I sprung my next trap. My marines poured from every hidden spot and started cutting down the rebels as they fled from the blaze. We cut away a third of their number before they could rally and used various tools to escape the flames. They formed a battle line. However, now we had their guns and were about to show them their full potential.
Few things in life have given me pride. Even fewer the things that made me smile ear to ear. Here I was doing both as I witnessed my marines fight like true warriors. The grace and reservation had faded. My marines learned my ways of battle and fought hard and fearlessly. In combat, the only thing that mattered was survival. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t pretty. War isn’t supposed to be pretty and glorious. It’s a means to an end. Get it done and shut up.
The rebels broke rank at the relentlessness of my marines. I joined the fray, cornering nearly a dozen insurgents who fled. They raised their weapons, but I gave them little time. I charged them with Rolland’s shield and slammed my shield arm into three of them. With my blade arm, I slashed through the neck of another two. It was apparent the rebels weren’t used to close-quarter combats. The remainder of them stood in shock at my kill…a fatal mistake.
I turned my attention to those who gawk. I made quick work of two and used one of their bodies as a shield. Then I tossed Rolland’s shield at the firing rebels. I whipped out my rifle to fire on the few rebels still trying to figure out their bearings. After several more moments of fighting, this became the norm. Soon my company evolved into a horror story for the rebel forces in this area. Their numbers were probably in the thousands, but we cut more than a quarter of their numbers over the month.
Every battle, we marked our territory, blaming Justin for our warpath. Few died, but my marines were hardened now. Each death only emboldened them to fight harder than before. We ransacked all the local restaurants for food and water. Slept in a different area every night. We fell into a habit of this strategy, and many of my marines began to fight like me. Yet I felt them all getting antsy.
Song of Blu Page 15
