Unit 37: Rescue at Kilter Field Read online

  Chapter 2

  It didn’t take long for 37 to realize there was something different about their unit. The first thing they noticed was that every other unit they ran into was at least thirty to fifty soldiers. 37 was a third that size. A few thought it might grow, that maybe there were more soldiers on the way, but no one ever arrived.

  The second thing they noticed, thanks to Biloxi’s inability to understand rank insignias was the fact that 37 was being trained by a major, not a sergeant or a lieutenant like everyone else. And that was the buzz on base. No one seemed to know why Anderson was leading a unit. No one even seemed to know where Anderson was from either. Of course there were rumors and guesses. Some thought 37 was a bet between Sedris and the Major, that the two of them had a disagreement about Assemblage training practices and that 37 was the experiment to prove one of them right. Others thought 37 was being trained to be special in some way, but so far Anderson had done nothing exceptional or different with their training. He worked them hard, harder than the other units.

  But all of that changed with pistol training.

  After three and a half weeks of mastering the obstacle course, hand to hand combat, and battlefield tactics, Anderson entered a flight log, which (naturally) Pauly discovered after chow one evening when 37 was about to bunk down. “There’s a flight plan marked for tomorrow,” Pauly was sitting on the edge of his bed rummaging through Chenfel’s server core. “We’re slated for a trip,” he glanced up at the ceiling doing some math in his head, “west. Maybe the foothills, not far.”

  Everyone turned to look at Pauly. Anderson hadn’t said anything about a trip, but after weeks of physical training, the idea was tantalizing. “We’re going somewhere?” Arles spoke up first.

  “Yeah, short trip. Anderson scheduled a shuttle for us.” Pauly smiled. Anything was better than another twenty mile march.

  “Wonder what he’s got planned,” Kat pulled her uniform open and closed her eyes. “God I stink.”

  “As usual,” Cooper laughed.

  After lunch the next day, 37 was on board a shuttle heading west. The landscape flew by, Bri could see mountains on the horizon, so dark blue they almost matched the sky. Like everyone else, it was nice to get away from Chenfel, from the constant orders, from the strain and exhaustion. Anderson had let them sleep late that morning and Mary didn’t wake them until six.

  Bri looked around at the crew. Everyone was happy, except Biloxi. He was afraid of heights. Some talked about the view from the windows while others discussed home or the trials and tribulations Anderson had in mind for them.

  Chenfel was restricted contact for the first six weeks. So no one had any idea what was happening with the war. And no one wanted to guess. Bri thought of home. For some reason she remembered the flowers her mother grew inside, the way they smelled when they bloomed.

  The shuttle slowed and the hatch opened onto a wide field of gray and brown. The earth was strewn with boulders that rose another hundred yards. Anderson was standing beside two crates and a small aerial. He had arrived ahead of them and he smiled as 37 unloaded and fell into two perfect rows of six, double-time and standing at perfect attention.

  Anderson was out standing in a different uniform, one that had a small helmet, a chest harness with a number of apparatuses, and full weapons compliment. He touched his wristcall and the two black crates separated into six individual cases. “This is your excursion gear,” Anderson pointed.

  The unit quickly unpacked the individual cases and began to suit up.

  “Today you are going to begin combat training. In a couple weeks, you get your ports.” He paused and watched the unit’s reaction.

  The news zipped through them like lightning. Bri wasn’t the only one who was crazy excited about the exo’s. Biloxi, who was pretty much scared of everything else, was excited about the biomechanical enhancement. Of course everyone else had their doubts – Biloxi was huge, there was no reason to make him bigger or stronger. The guy was a wrecking ball.

  Bri almost laughed out loud. Her stomach flip-flopped about three times and she clenched her fingers into fists just to anchor her arms. She wanted to jump up and down.

  “Today however,” Anderson grinned, “Unit 22 is on the other side of this rise. They just got their exo’s yesterday.” He took a breath and Bri was sure she sensed the same anxious excitement she felt in Anderson’s tone.

  “They don’t have power sources,” he picked up three energy cells and tossed them into the front row – one to Arles, one to Cooper, then Bri. “They are guarding a crate of pistols over there,” Anderson touched his wristcall and everyone’s overlay came to life with a simple map, a compass, and some other vitals. “They want these, you want those. The pistols are set to stun. You will get an extra hour of sleep for every one of them you hit.”

  37 murmured a bit. It was a perfect game. 22 had exo’s but they had no power cells.

  Bri shivered. All of the drills, all of the marches, the ten million trips through the obstacle course, all of it was coming to bear.

  Biloxi and Rin teamed up with Bri. Cooper got Kat and Pauly and Arles seemed to fit well. The unit fell into three pieces naturally. Anderson watched with an appraising eye. He made no secret of what he expected of them. He had pushed them hard, all of them, and he hadn’t apologized for it. He expected them to hold themselves to a higher standard; you could just see it in his eyes.

  “Over that hill 37. Do your job.” Anderson stepped over to his aerial and quietly rose into the air, looking over 37’s battlefield. “Good luck,” he saluted.

  Everyone seemed to take a collective breath and get on the same page. “What kind of cover are we looking at?” Bri looked at the field of boulders they had to scramble across. Were there more on the other side or would they wander into a meadow? A forest? How much cover would there be? She tucked the energy cell into a holster along her belt and glanced over at Arles.

  Blonde hair was visible past the edge of Arles’ helmet. She was a tall woman with a broad face and striking eyes. When she was angry, you could feel it, but when she laughed you couldn’t help but join her either.

  Everyone’s overlay displayed a countdown clock and beside the slowly ticking numbers, was the word alive in green letters. “Um,” Bri glanced at Kat and then at Cooper. “When does that change?”

  “We’re gonna find out,” Arles waved her arm and her team of four began to scramble off to the left. Bri decided on a straight run which left Cooper and his team off to the right. But instead of maintaining a climbing angle like the other two Cooper slide along the field in a straight line. Bri wondered if their overlays displayed the same information, or if they were preloaded with a specific plan, tailored to the groups’ individual strengths.

  The top of the ridgeline left everyone winded. It had been more vertical than it looked. Bri could see Arles and her team off to the west, but Cooper’s was gone. She looked at the edge of the overlay and brought up a map that displayed the area and 37. There were still twelve green dots, and it looked like Cooper was still climbing.

  The top of the mountain they had just capped was a razer’s edge that fell off just as steeply on the opposite side. It was the last thing anyone wanted to see. But what was worse was that it was an open field. Unit 22 was below them in the trees, and they were going to watch 37 descend.

  Bri looked at Biloxi but his face was blank. She wondered if it was just his fear of heights or if he was thinking the same thing she was – they were going to be sitting ducks. “Arles?” She whispered.

  “What’s it look like?”

  “Steep and wide open.” Bri looked over the trees below half-expecting to see the yellow and black stripes of unit 22 badges. Or would they be camouflaged?

  “Cooper?”

  Everyone waited silently for Cooper but he didn’t respond. Bri searched across her overlay. The green dots of his unit were spread across a small area, moving in a line. They must have been running silent.


  “Balls,” Arles groaned and led her team over the top and off at an angle.

  Bri wished desperately for a rifle. She had seen the new Jilsen long rifles a few of the older units were outfitted with, an elegant weapon. And it just fit the situation so well, boulders, and a steep height advantage. She stared down at the trees. Were they waiting for them?

  She heaved herself up and over the top and heard her team following. “Straight at em,” she said quietly cutting at steep almost dangerous angle along the boulders, glancing at her footing at the tree line. They were in there, watching and waiting. Would they shoot? Or was this grav sticks?

  Her overlay lit with red dots along Arles side of the fight. Bri glanced at the match, the dots moving and mixing, but then there was someone ahead of her.

  He ducked behind a tree, but she had caught the edge of him. She grabbed her grav stick and cut toward the far side of the tree. It was a long shot, but she was hoping he was sure of himself. If he thought she hadn’t seen him, then she would pass on his left, but if she could get around the tree.

  Woomp. A soldier with a yellow patch on his shoulder flew in front of Bri and landed on his back with a grunt.

  Biloxi laughed. “Woo!”

  Bri pivoted on her heel and saw the back of her soldier. She had been right. But he was in the process of realizing his mistake, his body starting to twist, his arm coming around in a swing. But she was an inch from his back.

  It was fluid, the way she moved around the tree, reached for the guy, and finished the job. The grav stick touched his shoulder and his whole body flew forward, repelled by the force. He looked like he had been thrown, the way a child would toss a rag doll. He flew ten feet in an instant, hit another tree and crumbled. It looked painful, the soldier was unconscious though.

  Another member of 22 called for a medic. As soon as he did, Rin touched his leg and sent him flying off. Bri glanced at her overlay. Cooper’s group was down two and Arles was down to one.

  A stick crunched behind her, but the moment she heard it, even before she realized exactly what it was, Bri dropped to one knee and spun. Their eyes met for a moment, half a blink before Bri’s stick touched the woman’s leg and she bounced into the underbrush with a muffled cry.

  She wondered if Anderson was smiling. Everything he had taught them was working. She felt alive, faster than anyone around her, and she was still standing. “Group up,” Bri looked around. Biloxi was squared off with a soldier half his size, but they were face to face. Rin was nowhere to be seen. She took a breath and tried to assess the situation but everything was happening so fast. They had to find the pistols, they were losing numbers quickly. She picked up the grav stick at her feet and started toward Biloxi. “Where are the pistols?”

  “That was just the first wave,” Arles came across the comm. She sounded winded but her dot was moving across the map. “They have three times the numbers we have.”

  “Why put the pistols up front?” Cooper answered.

  Bri stepped towards Biloxi’s opponent with both sticks raised. “Where are they?”

  The soldier’s eyes went wide. “Back there,” he pointed desperately. “I surrender!” He dropped his grav stick and dropped to his knees, hands raised.

  Biloxi sighed, sweat dripping off his forehead. “We need to move,” he grinned.

  Bri couldn’t blame they guy, the initial hit looked painful. The med bots would be busy. The overlay showed seven of twelve still up. 37 had taken a hit but it was still kicking. And they still had the power cores, all of them.

  The second wave came at them rover-style. A group of 22 moving lazily through the forest. It was a strategy Anderson had taught them on paper. It covered more ground but you could lose greater numbers if the response time was too long or the group was too spread out. It was designed to stop what Cooper’s team had attempted.

  Bri and Biloxi encountered one soldier who ran as soon as he saw the two them, each with two grav sticks, dirty, and somewhat frustrated. Biloxi wanted to give chase, but Bri called him off. Everything felt like a trap. The woods got thicker the further they went. There was more underbrush. More places to hide. Big trees instantly became a concern. Besides, the guy they had let escape was going to sound an alarm.

  Biloxi stared into the lush green. That’s why guns are so nice. His voice had the sound of experience and Bri wondered exactly what his story was. But she was glad for the draw. The two worked well together, either forcing members of 22 to retreat or catching them by surprise.

  What Bri couldn’t believe was how powerful it felt. Where she had been afraid and angry that she was being forced into service, now everything was different. This exercise changed everything. There was something to it, something she didn’t fully understand, it was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

  She liked to fight, like to put her strength and agility against an opponent. She had wondered why Anderson had focused on drills and strength when the other units were already sparring two or three times a week. But now she understood. The moves were natural. She could see the strengths and weaknesses of her opponent by the way he moved and, there was no question, 37 was faster.

  22’s combat readiness wasn’t exactly lax though. While the two of them moved parallel to Arles’ team and on an intercept with Cooper’s, Bri faced one woman who matched every attack. Bri would swing and the woman would either feint or parry before quickly recovering and issuing her own attack. It seemed like it went on for five minutes (but was probably only two). They were a mirror image, back and forth, attack and defend.

  But in the end it was Bri and Cooper and Kat. Arles had gotten through most of the second wave but they had whittled her team to one and then surrounded her. She didn’t surrender, she took the hit and her green dot went dark.

  Cooper said their team had cut down at least a dozen before he had gotten separated and lost them one by one.

  The three of them cut through the remainder of the second wave pretty quickly. And once they had gotten through, 22 panicked and went offensive. Kat had thought they might and convinced the group to spread out and stay hidden. It was risky, none of them could reach the others if they got into trouble, but they had no idea how many 22 had left.

  And so they split up and waited. It was guerrilla warfare, counting on ambush scenarios, but Anderson had taught them well. When 22 moved through the woods what was left of 37 hit them and moved. Two soldiers passed the tree Kat was hiding behind. She stepped out, touched both with her grav stick and dashed into a tangle of bushes.

  They did their best to stay close, watching the overlay and slowly shaving 22’s numbers. It was a strategy that worked and in the space of an hour, they discovered the cache of pistols, a lonely crate tucked into the crook of a tree guarded by three soldiers.

  “In position,” Cooper whispered over the comm. He had crept into a flanking position on the tree but he was almost a hundred yards out. Bri and Kat were closer, but they were facing an open area. Crossing without cover would give the guards time to call for help.

  Bri surveyed the area. Her heart banged against her chest. They were so close. And then Cooper did it. There was sound behind the guards, something moving through the brush. It distracted both guards long enough for Bri and Kat to make their move. Without a word, both leapt to their feet and ran at the guards, grav sticks ready.

  When the game ended, Anderson landed his aerial and a swarm of med bots descended on the forest. It took a few moments but the eliminated from both units came limping to the cache. Anderson smiled as he handed every member of 37 a pistol. “You earned it,” he said giving Bri hers. “That was nice work.”

  They were back in the dorm, exhausted and unwinding. A few were playing on their wristcalls, reading classroom material or studying ahead, Biloxi and Tilson had already hit their bunks and passed out. But Bri and Arles were both working on their chest pieces, the only part of their uniform they were permitted to personalize.

  Bri was using a lon
g grease pencil to doodle her name across the left corner, a big scrawled Bri in wild letters.

  “Trade me,” Arles handed Bri a red pencil.

  “Perfect,” Bri smiled and set a little red heart over the i in her name before she held it up to the light to get a better look.

  “Very nice,” Kat turned her armor around for Bri to see. It was cute, Kat with a K and a little whiskers on either side.

  Bri chuckled. It was silly, like being a kid on the playground after school, but it felt good, a little break, something easy.

  Of course, word got around Chenfel quickly and before Mary turned the lights off, Anderson came over their comms. “Get some sleep tonight.” He was chuckling, obviously very happy (wherever he was). “You’ve got a bracket full of fights over the next few weeks.”

  Every unit on the base wanted a crack at 37. Unit 22 had come back with their tails between their legs, but that didn’t serve to convince anyone that 37 was tough. Just about every lieutenant on base got a hold of Anderson and scheduled scrimmages. The last team was actually a mix of twelve soldiers from some of the more advanced units, the best and brightest of the classes about to graduate.

  But 37 always came out on top. The last day there were seven of them standing, all with pistols and power cells. Bri was not one of them, but it was her first time not making it to the end.

  It had been a lucky shot. She had been running, moving from the cover of some trees to a small rise covered in rocks. She hadn’t known he was out there, lying in his own cover, waiting for her to make a move. But she found out.

  The shot hit her in the side. The force was incredible, like getting hit by a cruiser. Even on stun, an Assemblage pistol was designed to stop an Earther marine. It packed an enormous punch.

  When the med bots were finished repairing her ribs and tissue, she rolled onto her back and found the soldier that had put her down, a sweeper from unit 54 named Hinks. He was all smiles when he realized she was awake.

  “I think we’re even now,” he offered Bri a hand to stand up.

  Bri took his hand and got to her feet. “Even?”

  “According to the replays, you’re the one that took me out yesterday.” Hinks looked her over for a moment. “Shit, you guys don’t even have your exo ports yet.”

  “Not yet,” Bri brushed the dust off her gear and stretched a bit. Her side was still a little tight.

 

  That night, she woke up to screams. First one, a female’s, and then another, a man’s. Maybe Cooper? Her brain scrambled for answers. Were they under attack? She opened her eyes and sat up just as Mary turned on the lights. “Please don’t be…”

  Bri lifted her arm to pull the covers back and saw the dark round circle on the back of her wrist. She froze. It was circular, half the size of her pinky finger, and dark. There was a thin layer of something over the hole. She touched it and could feel how deep it went. Then she looked around at her arm and realized there were more, one halfway up her forearm, one at her elbow, and another along the back of her arm.

  “Please, don’t be alarmed,” Mary’s message started again. “These are the data ports for your exoskeletal enhancement and augmentation gear.”

  The fear evaporated. This was the first step toward the exo’s. Bri took a deep breath and looked around as the rest of the unit stared in wonder. “How the…?” Kat kept opening and closing her hand, fascinated.

  “You actually swallowed the data ports with last nights, chow.” Anderson walked into the room and the unit stood at attention. “At ease, at ease,” he waved them back to comfortable. “It’ll take a while for them to heal completely.” He smiled at Bri knowing that she was probably the most excited of 37.

  “When do we get the exo’s?” Arles asked.

  “A few weeks,” he looked around at the state of the room. “I just wanted to come by and tell you that you have the day to yourselves.” He chuckled. “You guys won every bet.”