06:05 The National Institute for Technological Advancement – Level 2 Section 50B
Dagger platoon was stalking through the corridors slowly but purposefully. John peaked around a corner from the stairway and could see four SpecFor soldiers guarding the entries to the laboratory. The lab was several hundred feet away. He turned and pointed at Vanessa.
“Transferring their coms to our channel…” Vanessa dragged out that last word, “Now.”
“Commander, this isn’t the primary lab,” one of the soldiers said, “Suggest we head to the next location.”
Lieutenant Commander Joseph Drake sighed, “Where’s the next location?”
“L3 Section 52F,” another soldier said, “Up a level and over several intersections. Huge room with a significant amount of fiber, cabling, and cooling pipes and ductwork running into it.”
“That sounds like a server room, could that be the central server room?” Commander Drake asked.
“That certainly possible, sir. We got a clear shot at it too. No hostiles between here and there. Dagger platoon is nearby and they are going to be receiving an order from command to regroup with Charlie Five.”
“Double time it, folks, let’s get the fuck out of here and confirm if we’ve struck the motherlode!”
John muted the line, “Vanessa, I want their coms jammed. I also want their vitals spoofed before we run the attack.”
“I can do the latter but not the former,” Vanessa responded.
Eve then responded to John, “I can do the former.”
“No problems Corporal.”
“Are we taking prisoners?” Paul asked.
“No,” the simple response rolled off John’s tongue, “They’ll get as good as they gave.”
John disconnected one of the magazines and temporarily locked it on his breastplate. He reached behind him and just barely was able to grab a different magazine. The reactive mass rounds were a brutal design that the Confederacy came up with. A minuscule amount of antimatter was magnetically locked in place. An enormous amount of energy is cast across the spectrum when the containment fails.
While they haven’t been able to upsize it to capital ship-sized rail rounds, they’ve worked wonders in ground battles. Lethal against infantry and armor. John figured it was only fitting that this platoon received its end in the same way they ended a marine platoon. Fratricide was not something, even to the overly pessimistic views John held of command, he thought possible. But here he was about to commit the very act that was committed on his brothers and sisters.
“Lieutenant, are they heading our way?” Erica asked as she was getting into place.
“Negative.”
Arianna answered, “Negative, heading down the other way.”
“We’re too far away. Head down the stairs and double-time it to the next stairwell. That’ll get us closer,” John said.
As the squad moved out Erica spoke up, “Slow down fifty yards from the stairs. We don’t want them alerting on us.”
John activated a small drone that flew off the back of his suit. It flew up and latched onto the wall before peering over into the corridor. A video feed began streaming into his HUD.
“Hurry up Charlie Seven,” bellowed Commander Drake over the coms, “I said I wanted to be on the move.”
Several of the SpecFor soldiers were waiting in the corridor. John zoomed in on several of them, they didn’t even have their long guns at the ready. Four of them had them locked on their backs. John had never seen such sloppy operators before, and these were supposed to be the pinnacle of what the Confederate military could produce.
“Slow down,” Erica said as she made gestures with her hands, “Darryl you and I are on the right.”
“Heavy weapons first, need to hit them as hard as possible. We’ll jump down to a knee to allow a second rank to fire over us.”
The Marines reshuffled themselves and began going up the stairs. John eased his way through the crowd and began walking slowly up the stairs. The video feed showed the SpecFor platoon begin to move out.
“In five…” John said as he began a countdown on his platoon’s HUD.
When the clock reached zero John and the five other marines quickly dashed out and dropped to a knee. John’s Gatling cannon was already spooled up and began firing a split second before the other heavy weapons did. In a split second, the second wave of fire was sent down range at the SpecFor platoon by the marines wearing regular power armor firing their battle rifles.
The SpecFor platoon was caught completely off guard. The reactive mass rounds shredded their rear armor plates with ease. Once compromised the additional rounds massacred the individuals inside the armor. The act of fratricide started nearly as quickly as it started. Twenty-one marines lay dead or dying.
The real vitality feeds showed mostly flatlines but several with weakening vital signs. John raised his large fist to halt the shooting. He stood up and began walking forward. He highlighted a single figure.
“Spread out, execute the ones still living. Leave that one to me,” John hissed as he jogged down the corridor.
Commander Drake rolled over onto his side and stared at their killers. He reached back to get his battle rifle. Only the stock and part of the receiver were left. There was not much to do except laugh at the irony as he pulled off his helmet and tossed it to the ground. He crawled over to the wall and leaned against it.
“I suppose this is our just dessert,” Commander Drake coughed up blood, “Isn’t it Lieutenant Lief?”
John nodded. Individual shots rang out in the corridor as his platoon executed the surviving members.
“For the record, I didn’t like the order. Didn’t make sense to me,” Drake sighed as he tried to wipe the blood off his breastplate, “Then again, Fleet Command really wants the data and Doctor intact. With you active on the board that plan becomes noticeably more difficult to achieve.”
“If you didn’t agree with the order, then why follow through on such illogical and unlawful orders?”
Commander Drake laughed uncomfortably, “When you’ve been in as long as I do you don’t question orders.”
“You do on orders that are so out of character that they not only threaten your platoon but the mission. Fratricide in hostile territory is idiotic at best,” John knelt down next to him, “Most of SpecFor is going to die if they pull the trigger. Wouldn’t be surprised if the smart ones are drummed out.”
“Can you give my wife and son a message?”
John looked over at his marines, “Drag them into the lab. Then seal the door.”
“So, it’s going to be like that?” Drake sighed, “Suppose that’s justified.”
“I’m not going to let your wife or kid know that you reluctantly complied with unlawful orders. They are going to have to deal with the fallout when your name is rightfully and justifiably smeared. And trust me, I will make damn sure that every last one of you that did follow those orders is dragged through the mud. You dishonor that uniform.”
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“Charlie Two, Charlie Three, and Bravo One platoons killed their fellows,” Drake struggled to speak, “They are heading to the primary server room. It’s in…”
John interrupted him, “Level 3 Section 52F. That isn’t enough to redeem yourself, but I appreciate the confirmation nonetheless.”
“How are you going to end me?”
John stood up and loomed over the Commander, “Paul hand the Commander his sidearm. Chamber a round and drop the magazine.”
John bent over and pulled the Commander to his feet. Paul quickly stepped over to the pair and did as he was ordered. The Commander looked at John and nodded.
“You are a brutal son-of-a-bitch,” Drake chuckled, “This punishment is earned. For what it’s worth, I hope you succeed in doing whatever it is you’re going to do.”
“I’m going to do what this mission should’ve been doing in the first place. Eradicate all evidence and research from this madman and then put said madman down.”
“Godspeed Lieutenant,” Drake closed his eyes.
A single bang rang out in the hallway. The lone round easily went through Drake’s skull and ended his life. John couldn’t help but feel a great swell of pity for the man.
“Why?” Paul asked as he looked at the newly dead soldier, “Is this research worth it?”
“Only if you set aside to honor, morals, and ethics. If you didn’t have any, to begin with then it wouldn’t matter,” John said as he looked at Paul, “Thankfully we do and now we have to be adults in the room. Drag him away, please. He at least clawed back some of his honor in death.”
“But not all of it, eh sir?”
“No, not all of it,” John turned and took a couple of steps down the hallway, “Arianna, please tell me you have the schematics of this section.”
“Sure do boss,” Arianna said happily, “Just like you thought, coolant and plasma lines are in the ceiling above the server core. Shaped charges placed in the floor above it should flood the room with plasma and flames before the coolant freezes things.”
“Alright, let’s get a move on it, folks. The other assholes are converging in that room. We need to be well away from it before we light that fire,” John said as he scanned the locations of the different platoons.
Erica and Darryl walked up to him, “Recommend we meet up with Falchion and Lager platoons. They won’t be far away.”
“We’ve already radioed ahead. Figured you’d want some more bodies for the push deeper into the base.”
John shook his head, “Fucking hell, have to play chess now with a random member. We know some aren’t following the orders, but we don’t know which ones. Nor do we know if they aren’t following because of the platoon, they are with or what.”
The sergeants had nothing to say in response. What could they say? No one in that base had any past experience with such weird and conflicting orders. The platoon hurried to finish their task, then left the area and on to the next section to kill two birds with one stone.
06:57 The National Institute for Technological Advancement – Level 4 Section 53F
The trip to the fourth floor took a little longer than expected. Several bulkheads were sealed blocking or delaying their movement. They also moved slowly and methodically to ensure they weren’t detected by any hostile or SpecFor forces.
When they did get into position problems appeared immediately. The floor was reinforced, which meant their breach charges weren’t going to be enough, alone, to weaken the floor and damage or destroy the conduits beneath them.
“It was almost as if they knew what was beneath the floor and built them accordingly,” John said with a laugh, “At least they hired good contractors.”
“How many holes do we need to drill?” Erica asked.
“Thirty-two. Be happier if we used forty-eight though,” Darryl responded.
“Sirs, how many charges do we even have?” Paul asked.
“Forty, unless someone’s hold out on my count,” Vanessa shot back.
“Did anyone calculate the blast radius on this?” Arianna asked, “My estimate was… Well, it was scary as fuck.”
John laughed, "I more or less eyeballed it."
His comment did nothing to alleviate the stress she was feeling. In fact, she wasn’t wrong to be frightened. They needed to be the equivalent of three city blocks away. Though that estimate was if there wasn’t any cover in between the explosion and the platoon. That was clearly not the case here, but John had Eve running and rerunning those estimates, though that was assuming none of the blast doors were closed. Better safe than sorry though.
“Erica, change rendezvous to Level 2 Section 70B,” John said, “That’s considerably farther away and should be safe.”
Paul walked over to John and began drilling a hole next to him, “Did you think this was a one-way trip, sir?”
“I was hoping it wasn’t, sadly everything I had hoped hadn’t happened has happened so far,” John grinned, “At last I didn’t have to kill two traitors. The ooze monsters took care of one for me.”
“ETA on the work?” Erica asked.
“Three more to drill,” Vanessa said.
“Just started my last one,” Paul answered.
“Ten minutes here, those that are done guard the doors. I want to be out of here the moment we’re done,” John ordered.
“Sir, I don’t mean to be that guy, but I feel like I need to be that guy,” Derrick said, “What happens if this doesn’t work?”
“I have my fingers crossed,” John said confidently, “Figuratively of course. Good look doing that with these gauntlets.”
“And what if it doesn’t” Derrick’s curiosity got the better of him.
“They’ll fall back if we win enough of them,” John answered the following question straightly, “Vanessa, I want you to connect me to those assholes’ channel when we’re ready to light this candle. I also want control of those doors; Arianna I believe that’s your wheelhouse.”
“Consider it done Lieutenant,” Vanessa said, “And we’re done over here.
“I can close the doors to the server room, but I can’t seal them,” Arianna answered, “But I can make it so they can’t open the doors for like thirty seconds after they shut.”
“That’ll work.”
“Drilling the last hole now,” Paul said.
“Contact Falchion and Lager platoons, we’ll meet up with them in fifteen,” John said as he watched Paul arm the final explosive.
07:25 The National Institute for Technological Advancement – Level 4 Section 71C
Lager platoon ran into enemy resistance en route to their destination. Falchion diverted since they were only a floor below the fighting and caught most of the hostile forces in the crossfire. Aside from expending some more ammunition, there weren’t any additional casualties to either platoon. John recommended they meet farther ahead.
The two platoons arrived at the adjusted destination just ahead of John’s platoon. He grinned when he saw the Marines take a breather to collect their thoughts and do a once-over on their gear. John walked up to the pair of commanding officers in the center of the room
“Lieutenant Pierce, good to finally meet you,” John said as he walked over to them, “Heard good things about your raids. The same can be said about you, Lieutenant Donaldson.”
“Told you he’d be wearing one of those big bastards,” Chester Pierce slapped John’s chest plate, “He’s a lead from the front kind of guy. Appreciate the heads up by the way. Their Lieutenant was a skeevy-looking bastard.”
Danielle Donaldson grinned, “Lager platoon, and I appreciate being alive still. What’s the plan?”
“All of the Marine companies have split apart from their SpecFor partners that are assaulting this building. SpecFor is not reacting well to that,” John said as commanded Eve to begin a diagnostic on his suit.
“Bravo Three seemed competent, but they were sketchy as shit,” Danielle said.
“Alpha Four were incompetent fuckwits,” Chester scoffed, “They wanted us to be human shields for them.”
“We’ve had a year to practice raids. Hell of a lot of practice we had that they didn’t. Commander Dingleberry was in over his head,” John said before turning to his platoon, “Arianna, I want those blast doors down.”
“On it, sir! Need a couple of minutes.”
“John, what are we really doing?” Chester asked.
“Planning on eliminating the other three platoons of SpecFor fucks that killed our brothers and sisters. Then we’re going to advance to the central portion of this building.”
“Ballsy plan. I like it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s going to be a tough fight inward.”
John grinned, “That’s where things get a little spicy. Going to kill two birds with one stone. The blast doors are going to be shut in a specific pattern to maximize where the secondary damage occurs.”
“Clever, still ballsy by the way,” Chester laughed, “Do we have any idea of what kind of resistance we’re going to find?”
“There’s fighting everywhere, except we’re noticing fewer and fewer forces,” Danielle said, “They could be pulling back in a defensive manner.”
“I’d expect more defenses in the central areas. But what I really need is a distraction,” John said as he noticed the look on the pair of CO’s faces, “Don’t give me that look. Once the server is blown up, we just need to kill the fucking doctor. Then we can glass this place from orbit.”
“Not to state the obvious, but Broadswords aren’t exactly stealthy,” Danielle smirked, “Did you equip a refractor field on that thing?”
When the three of our platoon’s attack at once that’s going to draw forces to you. Which will remove them from certain places. Enough that I’ll be able to do what I need to do.”
“Sounds good to me,” Chester said, “Do we have any forces near the central section?”
“We have a couple of SpecFor platoons that have begun testing their defenses,” Vanessa interrupted, “They seem to have tapped into the enemy’s communication network. Their forces are decimated, but not eliminated. They are digging in and unwilling to retreat.”
“Not like there’s anywhere to go where there aren’t dozens of pissed-off Marines,” Danielle smirked once again.
“Lieutenant, closing the blast doors now. When you start chatting with the trio of platoons, I’ll shut the server room’s doors,” Arianna said.
“Excellent, a moment if you will,” John said as he walked over to a terminal near the side of the room.
John bent over slightly and maneuvered his hilariously large fist near a port. Eve then opened a small bay in the fist and controlled a bundle of wires and connectors to connect to the port. A moment later John saw her access the communication systems, via the path Vanessa had discovered. It didn’t take long at all for her to give John the green light.
“Good morning. This is Lieutenant Lief of Dagger platoon. SpecFor members of Charlie Two, Charlie Three, and Bravo One platoons consider yourselves found guilty of treason and murder. The order to kill your peers from the Marines in hostile territory is an unlawful one. I hope whatever fate awaits you in hell is thousands of times more painful than what I could cook up in life,” John disconnected himself and pointed at Arianna, “Blow it.”