Fort Dew, Concordia Palisades, Planet Foreas
1:22 AM Local Time
For the umpteenth time since he left Earth, Russ Conastello was pissed about his luck. He had recently transferred from Twin Pillars in The Wilderness to Fort Dew in Palisades in the hope of getting a chance to fight some of the Bane. Back on Earth he was a simple grunt going through basic. When the Bane first attacked, he was in a bed at a civilian hospital instead of a bunk on base thanks to a broken ankle. Most of the military bases were the first to get hit, and were simply erased from the face of the planet. No one knew for certain what the casualty rates were, but suffice it to say Russ hadn’t seen any of his friends since the evacuation of Earth. Memories of old friends long dead, crying out for revenge, refused to let him sleep peacefully at night.
Being a soldier, Russ was chosen as one of the few to be transported off Earth to join the AFS (Allied Free Sentients) and fight the Bane on other worlds, but so far all he’d gotten had been defensive assignments. No patrols or strike force opportunities, and no real action. Nearly all his postings were at bases far removed from the frontlines, with only an occasional scouting party to shoot at. Recently, he had heard of a need for a garrison at the newly captured Fort Dew, which had supposedly been under heavy assault for several days. He eagerly volunteered to be transferred, but the day before he got transported all Bane interest in the fort seemed to have disappeared and they began focusing on other bases in the area.
A bloody week and not a single Bane soldier had come into sight of the area. The most serious problem they had was an incident with some techie goofing off with the laser turrets and aggravating a Treeback herd. Occasionally, a patrol would be sent to scout the area around the base, patrolling up to Viands village to the north to check up on the Foreans there (who were rather irate with the loss of one of their Treebacks) and an occasional foray over to Uherum Pass, a cavernous structure that led straight to a major Bane base, the Skive Base. Too bad the pass was infested with Fithiks, otherwise the AFS could lead a major assault on the Bane base without having to worry about their dropships taking heavy fire. But so far, the Fithiks had proven to be rather attached to their caves, and short of leading an assault force to clear it out, they weren’t leaving.
He often wondered lately if he should have gone into receptive training. Supposedly, he was one of the few humans gifted with a strong, intuitive sense of the Logos, a language that could be used to manipulate the forces of the universe. If he completed the training, he could choose most of his own missions. But he didn’t believe a word of it. Going around and looking at devastated ruins for clues on secrets to the universe? Ridiculous. The only thing Russ trusted was his standard issue assault rifle and his fellow soldiers to bring his rear out of the fire. Too bad the only fire around here was started when some recruit started smoking near one of the tents.
With a heartfelt sigh, Russ walked off to join in a poker game just getting started.
********
1:32 AM
Creeping across the ground, its body flattened to the landscape, the Lightbender scout Krigog slowly approached Fort Dew. The Bane had long been looking forward to regaining Fort Dew to serve as a natural extension of Skive Base, as well as removing the AFS threat of using it as a staging point to assault their main base in Palisades. The puny humans had somehow overcome the garrison that had been guarding it and refused to surrender it to the assaults made to reclaim it over the next few days. But now, given time, the defenders had begun to relax and their high command slowly pulled out troops to reinforce other areas, leaving a token garrison that became lax and bored.
Krigog was finally close enough to the base to view all of the defenses and clung to the sloped escarpment to hide his body as he reached for his goggles and brought them up to his eyes. Had his mouth been capable of grinning, his teeth would be bared to all after seeing the pitiful defenses left by the AFS. A measly three guards were walking along the walls, with only a single sentry inside the guard tower who appeared to be only watching the inside of his eyelids.
For a moment, Krigog felt his hand reaching back to the rifle slung across his back. Such easy targets within reach, he could add several kills to his record….but no, his job was not to kill some foolish humans tonight.
Not yet at least…
********
2:01 AM
Thinking his luck had finally changed, Russ momentarily lost his poker face as he smiled while looking at his black aces and eights. Before he could think of how much to bet, he noticed an odd buzzing sound in the background that started to grow. At first, he thought some idiot had gone and agitated a Warnet hive and was about to get his dues, but the sound kept growing and changed slightly in tone. Mucking his cards in annoyance, Russ sat back and pondered what the sound could be. As the sound separated into multiple sources, a memory from Earth placed the sound, and Russ turned pale remembering what that sound meant.
“INCOMING DROPSHIPS,” Russ yelled as loudly as he could, rushing to the tents to grab his gear and weapons. Overhead on the catwalk, one of the sleepwalking sentries came out of his stupor at the sound and began blinking his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. The sight awaiting him stunned him for several seconds.
“Six ships, troops at the east gate,” the sentry yelled in panic, running for cover. Unfortunately, he didn’t duck in time as the troops on the plateau below took aim and disintegrated the sentries walking the walls with dozens of energy rounds and bullets taking each guard. With all the soft targets gone, the Bane focused on the offline turrets along the wall. Bullets and high explosives began pounding on the large bore cannons as chaos reigned inside the base. Soldiers, half-asleep, ran around in a panic trying to find their equipment.
Missing a few pieces of body armor, Russ ran up the steps to the walkway and crouched along the wall and viewed the mayhem below. Some 40 or 50 Thrax infantry were firing at the turrets and the energy barrier that was keeping them out of the base. Aiming into a large group near the barrier itself, Russ started picking off targets, taking his time to place shots accurately rather than trying to spray the area. He was shortly joined by other soldiers, most of whom were only half dressed, but all firing into the crowd ahead of them. Before long, the Thrax infantry lost its focus and began firing wildly at any target they could spot.
With a wild grin, Russ settles into the moment and focuses on getting a piece of revenge.
********
1:41 AM
*Splat* *Splat* *Splat*
Crimson drops of blood falling off his monomolecular blade, Drathius Zenconia quickly wiped his blade on one of the bodies of the Thrax patrol before returning it to its sheath on his back and taking a good look at the base ahead of him. High Command has been slowly gathering resources to lay an assault on Skive Base, but needed new intel on the layout and the defenses before they could risk it.
Originally, his plan on gathering the necessary intel had been to infiltrate the base disguised as a Thrax soldier and get his intel before his disguise wore off, but the patrols outside the base were unusually large and frequent. This group nearly came upon him while he was getting ready to transform. Shaking his head, he settled back behind the remains of a desiccated tree while rethinking his plan. Lost in thought, his eyes wandered around observing the base when he spotted a dark line following the walls of the canyon.
Jerked out of his thinking, he looked closer at the line and noticed it was dozens of Bane soldiers, from engineers and infantry to the distinctly out of place Kael. At the head of the line, a group of linkers was leading them into a passage in the side of the canyon. Around the base itself, nearly all the patrols began falling into the procession heading toward the passage.
“Looks like they’re going into the Uherum Pass, but why?”
Ducking behind the log again, he spent a second thinking about why the Bane would be willing to tangle with the Fithiks there. His body froze as his mind recalled where high command wanted to start sending its troops in preparation of the attack.
His mind whirling, Drathius began creeping closer to the base. With most of the patrols gone, getting inside would be a breeze. And yet…
Drathius found himself slipping along the wall of the canyon leading into the passage the rest of the Bane were going into, instead of heading across to the opposite side to avoid being spotted.
“Oh what the hell, they can always court-martial me again. Not that I care.”
Slipping a hand into a pouch, he grabbed a hold of a few micromechs and brought them out. With his other hand, he began drawing patterns in the air that begin to fill in with a blue light. “Surprise time for you guys.” A grin forms under his facemask as the micromechs start crawling around his body just before he is consumed in light…
********
2:07 AM
The horde of Thrax infantry outside of the fort had been feeling fairly confident. Half of the watchtower was now littering the grounds inside and out of the base, and one of the four inert turrets no longer posed a problem. That confidence disappeared when the capacitors in the remaining laser turrets finished charging and gimbals began rotating as the turrets selected independent targets. Now the firefight was no longer one sided as the defenders inside the base could take aim freely at the Bane while the Thrax focused all their fire on the heavy laser cannons ripping the earth around them.
Russ had just finished gathering ammo from the ammo boxes back at the tents and was remounting the wall when he nearly dropped his rifle. Not quite at the top yet, his eyes traveled past the firefight in front of the eastern wall to the mountains ahead. From the cavernous entrance to the east, Bane soldiers were rushing out of the Uherum Pass and onto the field. The front of the charge was lead by worn-out linkers, but behind them fresh troops poured from the mouth of the cave.
The attackers in the field gave a cheer as their reinforcements finally arrived and gave them a chance to rest. Caretakers and engineers from the reinforcements began resupplying and tending to the wounded while fresh infantry crowded the mesa in front of the fort. The fresh troops made quick work of the remaining turrets as rockets and lasers slammed into the worn metal before giving away.
Knowing the walls were lost, Russ ran back down to get behind one of the sandbag walls just inside the east entrance as the Kaels began pounding the energy screen. The massive creatures slammed the barrier, their fists hitting the wall with enough force to crush a car. The shockwave of the impacts rattled the walkway on the walls, sending several soldiers to the ground. Those unfortunate to land on the other side were quickly taken care of by the horde waiting to rush in.
With a loud zap, the energy emitters keeping the barrier up critically failed and the barrier ceased to exist. The Bane rushed through the opening, bypassing the survivors on the walls and at the sandbags to get into the base itself. Russ didn’t bother with aiming his shots anymore; the river of foes around him made it impossible to miss. The local teleporter inside the central area of the base behind him made a constant thrum as people rushed through it, but Russ knew he couldn’t make it out through the throng around him to try and escape. He continued firing at any target around until a shadow overtakes him. Turning towards the object casting the shadow, he sees a Kael standing over him raising its fist, ready to smash him into the ground.
Closing his eyes for the inevitable, he doesn’t see a second Kael that runs up behind the first and bashes it in the side. When the Kael above him bellows in annoyance, he opens his eyes in time to see the Kael in front of him turn around, looking for its attacker. The image of the second Kael disappears and is replaced by someone in a suit of body armor that blurs as he looks at it. The figure dances around the blind side of the Kael as it looks in vain for its attacker, drawing a handle from his back that shoots out a blade of light as he thrusts it into the creatures back. As the Kael roared in mortal agony, the spy slid his blade up the creature’s spine, whipping it out just below the creature’s shoulder blades. With a pitiful croak of pain, the Kael slowly crumpled as it fell to the ground.
The spy spent a moment looking over himself making sure all his parts were back to normal as Russ stared in amazement. Feeling the stare on his back, the spy turned around and flipped open his facemask, giving Russ a wild grin. “Thought you might need a little help here. Didn’t want to spoil all the fun and take them all out myself. Call me Drath, but if someone in a suit asks, just say I’m John Doe, OK?”
Russ spent a second getting his jaw to work properly again before responding, “Sure.” Recovering from the shock of still being alive, he noticed that the Bane were no longer rushing into the base, but instead out of it. The teleporter wasn’t being used to get people out of the base, reinforcements had been pouring in. Outside of the base, 2 AFS transports performed a quick fly-by and dropped off 2 large metal boxes that began unfolding themselves. Within seconds, the AFS mechs started spinning the barrels on their miniguns and cutting down the enemy infantry running around in confusion, while the soldiers inside the base gave the Bane incentive to leave, mostly with heavy machine gun fire and the creation of small lightning storms in their midst. Demoralized and outgunned, the surviving Bane began running back to the Uherum Pass as the AFS mechs and defenders harried them as they made their way across the rocky mesa to the cave entrance.
His legs shaking from the adrenaline wearing off, Russ slowly sat down as he tried to accept that he was still alive, and had gotten a chance to repay some of the debt owed to his dead friends. Shaking his head, Russ noticed that not all the dead around him were of an alien origin. Yet more lives the Bane had taken away, but they had paid dearly for it today.
Looking at several of the soldiers heading back into the base, Russ noticed that most of them had receptive training tabs. And the number of people that helped fend off the Bane was less than he thought. What he thought was a force of some 60 or so soldiers, turned out to be less than half that. And yet they made it look so easy.
Spotting the spy coming back in, Russ headed over to him. Drath seemed to be talking with a techie of some kind as the tech worked on a piece of his armor which was bent at an odd angle. Drath spotted him coming over and put another wild grin on his face. “Nothing like a party in the morning to get the blood going, eh?”
“Uh, not to sound rude, but…” Russ gives a quick shake of his head as it starts to ache, trying to get his thoughts together, “Just how did you guys push them back so easily?”
Drathius started to frown at the odd question, trying to figure out what Russ meant, but the techie working on his arm responded first. “The Thrax are a bunch of chumps. They may got numbers and some decent tech, but their masters don’t teach them nuthin’. Too worried they might lose control of ‘em or sumthin’ if they show them how to use their power. The Eloh ain’t worried like that, and give us a hand with learning their Logos. That gives us one hell of a ‘vantage.” The engineer said
“Yeah,” Drath says, trying to get a word in edgewise. “We don’t quite understand how it works, but both the Eloh and Neph use it extensively, and it’s the only advantage we got. I don’t know much yet about it, but you already saw what can be done with it, and I’ve just scratched the surface,” he said, just as the engineer gave the offending piece of armor one more twang with his wrench, knocking it into place. Satisfied, the engineer gave him a thumbs up and they both started heading to the teleporter, leaving Russ alone with his thoughts.
********
One Week Later
Sitting in front of his computer terminal, for the first time since he left Earth, Russ felt good about the future.
—AFS Central Mailing System
TO: PFC Russ Conastello
FROM: Foreas Command
Your request for retraining has been accepted. Report to Alia Das at 08:00 hours tomorrow to begin receptive training. Upon completion of basic, you will have the choice as to which field of specialty you feel most suited and begin your advanced training and basic Logos acquirement procedures.
Good Luck, soldier.
Zenconia
First Place Winner: Fort Dew Fanfic Contest