Being almost a mile away, I had some time, so I aimed at the nearest one and, as soon as the dot appeared, shot him through the head. The thick bone up there didn’t deflect this bullet, and he dropped like a sack of sand. Swinging the rifle to the next soc, I managed to get a shot off right as he got behind some trees; I could still see a ghost-like outline and the red dot, so I pulled the trigger, and he went down too, but by then I lost track of the third one.
Rising to my feet, I grabbed the lighter, ‘L70’, as Mara called it, and set the safety to ‘FA” while winking the vision mode in my helmet to THERM. From what I had seen while using it, it would allow me to peer through light foliage and other concealment with a good degree of detail depending on the target’s body heat, and as the observation we had done the night before had revealed, socs were very warm.
I saw flicks of color from squirrels and birds, more than likely, and then there was the massive glowing yellow-white figure of the soc. He had slowed down and was creeping through the brush. Even with the helmet’s ability to only muffle the sound of weapon fire while allowing me to hear everything else, he was completely silent.
Aiming roughly at his chest, I braced and held down the trigger. The rifle only bucked slightly as the ‘active recoil compensation’ held the barrel down while the magazine emptied itself in a torrent of bullets you would normally only see from a machine gun. There were fully automatic rifles in the Imperial Army, but they were finicky things and not commonly seen except with special units. According to Mara, the L70 was the normal weapon of the CDO, another sign of the level of the Old World’s military technology.
I barely heard the roar of the weapon before it stopped firing. The bolt locked back, and I immediately began replacing the now-empty magazine. I had just gotten it seated when the soc roared out of the woods.
He was bleeding from multiple wounds, with his face a mask of red and fury, and he was bellowing in pain and rage. Throwing myself away from his frantic rush, I barely managed to evade being grappled and potentially torn limb from limb. Unfortunately, in my rush to not be immediately slain, I lost my hold on the rifle, and it was on the ground on the other side of the soc now.
Regaining my feet at the same time the soc had slowed his headlong rush, I stood looking at him, debating whether I should try for either of the rifles that lay so tantalizingly close.
He stared back at me out of his good eye; one of my shots had ravaged his other, and he laughed. “Nice guns; I think they’re mine now.”
Shaking my head, I reached down for the holstered pistol at my side, “Not yet.”
“That? That little thing won’t even bother me.”
“Maybe, but it all depends on how many times I can shoot you.”
Drawing, I started pulling the trigger as fast as I could. The magazine in the Old World pistol was about the same size as a standard Imperial self-loader in dimension, but the bullets were smaller, and because they were smaller, the magazine held twenty compared to the standard ten. and traveled far faster with the much more potent powder.
At this range, even a mediocre shot like me was able to hit him with all twenty in the face as he charged toward me, and I took out his other eye. That got more howling, “You little bastard!”
So now he was blind, the air was filled with burned powder stink, and he did not have a helmet to protect his ears from the sound of many pistol rounds fired at short range. The problem with extremely good senses is that things that were overwhelming to someone like me would be even worse to them. Without his senses, he couldn’t find me, but he did know roughly where the rifles were on the ground, and he stepped back and over them. It was just too bad; I didn’t need them.
Reloading my pistol and quietly moving behind him, I lined up and started slowly firing into the backs of his legs. Even the tough muscles and skin of a soc could be shredded with enough damage, and blood started pouring out as he collapsed, the destroyed muscles unable to support him.
Walking over to the anti-material rifle just out of his reach, I picked it up and shot him through the head.
“Mara, are you alright?”
“They had me dragged into a slave pen, but I’m free and kicking ass. Are you? I heard the shooting and thought you might be occupied.”
“Four socs down,” I said as I lay down and started aiming at any raiders I could spot. Several of them had climbed up to the watch towers, so they were the first to go.”
“Good work, keep going.”
As she did whatever she did, I continued to shoot every red triangle-marked target I could see. Finally, they realized that there was a sniper and got under cover. I picked up the rifles and returned to the Gut, where I dropped the larger one off. Then I headed toward the compound on foot, L70 at the ready.
“I’m on the way.”
“Good, I can use the help.”
It took me some time to close to the edge of the compound., and I could hear sporadic gunfire off to my left. That was clearly where Mara was. As I approached, I started seeing bodies on the ground. She had been doing something.
_____________________________________________________
HARI-9
thirty minutes ago
_____________________________________________________
HARI-9 watched as the General Utility Truck, commonly called a ‘Gut’ by the troops, pulled away. She, she thought of herself as she, due to her construction, was curious if the ancillary unit, ‘Bonchance Magellan’, would be able to handle the mission she had assigned to him. He seemed exceptionally competent and accepting of her non-human nature, even if he didn’t realize just how inhuman she was.
When she had been activated, she had synced with the R-34 bunker systems as she booted up and had been surprised to see how much time had passed since she had been deployed. Bonchance Magellan had been another surprise. She had immediately switched to her cover military identity.; the personality overlay sliding into place and allowing her to become a copy of the original Mara Edgerton.
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The only issue with that was that overlay personalities could be very strong, and HARI-9 was assuming aspects of Mara. This was a known issue with the design and had been deemed acceptable for normal operation as long as the HARI Unit reset to Standard Mode periodically. To function with Magellan, an individual that was not accustomed to a HARI Unit’s Standard Mode, HARI-9 had stayed as ‘Mara’.
This overlay had driven HARI-9 to initiate this raid on the slaver compound. Standard Mode agreed with this operation as it could provide assets for future needs, so had not objected.
Now, she had switched overlays to a synthetic refugee. This one had been developed for infiltration into theoretical Hi-Side containment facilities or a contested ground landing area. It had never been needed, but HARI-9 believed it would function as an appropriate cover for this kind of infiltration as well.
“I’m on the hill and marking the targets,” Magellan’s voice came in clearly.
Switching briefly back to Mara Mode, HARI-9 replied, “I see, excellent. Pan the drone south; you should see me limping my way in.”
As she limped along, barefoot, filthy, and in a torn dress, her built-in thermal systems picked up the sentries waiting just out of sight. When one approached her, she decided it was time to inform Magellan to get ready, “I’ve made a new friend. Can you start taking out the guards in the towers once they drag me inside? After they’re down, take out socs. I can probably handle the rest.”
“I’m ready,” he replied.
The sentry reached her, “Who are you?”
“Water…” she gasped as she staggered and stumbled before collapsing on him.
His partner jogged over; HARI-9 had slowed her simulated breathing, heated her skin, and weakened her apparent pulse rate in case they attempted to diagnose her condition.
“Damn! They’re coming to us now?”
“I’m taking her in. Keep an eye out; there may be more like her.”
Now, she was being carried inside, seemingly completely unconscious. At the moment she was shoved into a cage, the sounds of the BZ-20 AMR’s firing began.
After six shots went off, she switched back to an overlay that had been designated ‘Predator’ by the HARI Project programmers and tore the cage door off its hinges with a kick. The raider that had dropped her off turned at the noise and dropped dead as she crushed his throat with a knuckle strike. Scooping up his rifle as he collapsed, she saw it was what they called a snaplock, a simple flintlock weapon. Still, it appeared to be loaded, so she pulled the hammer back and shot the nearest raider that was gaping at her sudden assault before dropping it and jumping up toward the roof of the nearest building. She hit the wall about three meters up and dug her fingers into the framing wood before clawing her way up to the rooftop. Now, she began stalking the raiders from above. Dropping down and killing before stealthily returning to an ambush position.
“There’s a soc heading straight for me, a couple of regular raiders too.”
“I’m in the middle of something myself; take them down,” HARI-9 replied in Mara’s voice. In the distance, she soon heard several more of the deep booms of the heavy rifle.
She continued her hunt, then heard two more booms, a pause, then a long burst of lighter weapon fire, probably from the L70 that Magellan had been given.
After that, there was some silence, then one more shot from the BZ-20.
“Mara, are you alright?”
“They had me dragged into a slave pen,” she replied, “but I’m free and kicking ass. Are you? I heard the shooting and thought you might be occupied.”
“Four socs down.”
“Good work, keep going.”
She switched back to ‘Predator Mode’ and continued her stalk. In the background, she could hear the big rifle resume its firing, and the red designated targets continued to vanish. After thirty more shots, it stopped, and Magellan called in, “I’m on the way.”
“Good, I can use the help,” she replied as she shattered another raider’s spine. It seemed an appropriate response. She had been fortunate so far, but they had weapons that could damage or destroy her body, and having Magellan with a good weapon to assist would be very helpful.
_____________________________________________________
BONCHANCE
_____________________________________________________
I rounded the corner and saw her. Her dress was mostly rags now, and she had just grabbed a raider and spun his head like a top, a loud crack filling the air.
“Bonchance! I need that rifle.”
Running over, I handed her the weapon just before I got shot in the helmet. My neck snapped to one side and became very sore, but it didn’t penetrate, and my brains stayed inside my skull even though I was knocked to the ground. As I was shaking my head to clear it, a soc with a giant axe came charging around the corner and headed straight for “Mara!”
As I yelled, somehow, dazed as I was, I managed to push off from the ground and tackled the monster. The only reason I had any effect on him was clearly surprise, but he was knocked off-stride and tripped over his own feet, smashing to the ground with me on top of him. My pistol holster was pinned between us, so I drew my combat knife and immediately began stabbing him in the armpits. They had to be able to bend, after all, so there couldn’t be any of the heavy bone armor there.
The soc screamed in pain and, grabbing my shoulder with its opposite arm, tried to pull me off. The pain was incredible, but I had wrapped both my legs around his thigh and locked my ankles, so I was clinging on like a dug-in tic, and he wasn’t able to get me free. There was a tearing, popping sensation in my shoulder, and now I was certain he was going to rip my arm off when I saw a shadow appear on him. We both looked up as Mara jammed the rifle barrel inside his mouth and pulled the trigger. He shuddered and was still.
“That was crazy.”
“He would have cut you in half,” I replied as I staggered to my feet and pointed at the massive axe.
“How’s your shoulder?”
“It’s not working right,” I said as I drew my pistol with my off-hand, as she stood there with the rifle, “but I can still fight."
“I bet you can.”
She never missed with the rifle, and the last soc was downed when she shot him through the throat with a long burst of fire as we engaged the last stand of the raiders. Finally, there was nothing but us, captives, and corpses.
“Go get the Gut, I’ll open the cages.”
Nodding, I headed back to the vehicle. By the time I got back, there were almost thirty prisoners freed.
“Load up these ten and take them back to the bunker. Tell Peter and Fran to set them up in the tent for now, then get back here…and I’ll stand guard in case any stragglers show up. Leave me the extra ammunition, just in case.”
Soon, I was driving off with several severely injured in the back and the two relatively healthy women looking at the Gut and me in confusion.
“Who are you…who is she?”
‘That was Lady Mara, Duchess Edgerton of the Duchy of Ceedo. My name is Bonchance,” I replied. “Right now, we are heading to her estate, where you’ll be safe. Just relax.”
It didn’t take that long, and soon Cal, Millie, and John were helping get the injured out of the back. Peter and Fran rushed inside to prepare hot water so that we could get some food into them, and I turned around for the next group.
We could just barely cram all the others in, and Mara insisted on riding on the roof as I drove. She had the drone up and was scouting for any unfriendly parties that might try to ambush us.
Finally arriving back at the bunker, we unloaded the Gut, and I drove it back inside SURFACE. Then and only then did the absolute exhaustion and the incredible pain in my shoulder hit me as the excitement drew down.
Climbing down out of the cab, I wavered, then heard, “Bonchance!” and then all went black as I collapsed.