ABOVE THE COLONY GATES – 0128 – NIGHT.

An iridescent line of neon light shot up the smooth, gleaming outer walls of Rothform Colony, finding the angles and splitting off at four-meter points to form regular squares. Kieran, sniper extraordinaire, pulled his visor up so he could watch the process with his own Rangefinder Mark I. He studied the process with fascination as his sniper nest was trisected into neat squares. Kieran settled his rangefinder back over his own eyes, cracked his knuckles, and climbed into the Gauss cannon’s turret seat, buckling himself in. Adjusting the elevation and bearing as his visor marked the approximate range to centimeters, Kieran breathed out slowly and evenly and settled his hands over the grips.

His visor marked the faint shapes of his scoutmaster and the two boss-maidens in a glowing blue, and the mass of trapped infested surrounding them in a fainter red, growing fainter as the number of infested swelled. Yes…a target-rich environment. On the plains beyond the colony gates, the same iridescent lines marked a neon grid of four-meter by four-meter squares, with many of the squares entrapping exactly one infested each. Kieran’s innate need for precision settled, squealing delightedly, as the uneven plains outside were neatly gridded into regular squares. Making it even easier to land targeted shots. Truly beautiful. If…a bit worrying, given how many infested were filling the squares.

Kieran scratched at his armguard, not quite fit on as he’d like. It was a bit of a rush, to be called out of bed with his warm partner, and he’d not quite gotten everything just as he liked it. Still, militia work was militia work, and part of it was not getting everything quite perfect. He’d spent, oh, about three years on militia duty, and there were definitely parts about it that he liked more than others.

“Kieran,” his comm crackled, with Colonymaster Anda’s… dulcet tones.

“Present,” he said, squinting one-eyed down the projected barrel of his Gauss cannon. He quite liked the affectation, even though he really didn’t need to squint – his visor would adjust for his sight, regardless.

“Do you know who is in Gauss Cannon Three?”

Kieran sat straighter, and spun the turret seat to check the console linking the gauss cannons on the wall together. Gauss Cannon Three’s presence feed was lit, indicating someone was in the turret, same as his own Cannon Two’s. But the video feed linking to it was full of static.

“No, Colonymaster.”

“Neither do I.”

Kieran bonked his head lightly against the headrest of his turret chair, and rolled his eyes up in irritation. He’d just settled in…

“Shall I go and check it out, Colonymaster?”

“No, stay on fire support, Hal will need it. Disengage Gauss Cannon Three’s ability to fire, though.”

“Roger, Colonymaster.” Kieran searched the console for the keyboard, and entered his authorization codes, disengaging Gauss Cannon Three’s ability to load any ammunition. It’d still be able to charge up the ferromagnetic rails that launched the ammunition, but with zero way to fire anything there’d be less of a chance for whoever was in the turret to do any damage. Probably a kid. Kieran rubbed his forehead. He really wasn’t fond of the brats that his partner taught in the tech school. Taking over his house after school, pestering his partner and himself with questions, and…

“Requesting fire support,” Hal said over the comm, his voice sounding absolutely exhausted.

“Roger!” Kieran swung back to his console. “Gauss Cannon Two, Militia-Sniper Kieran Mazeda on aim, ready for your support, sir!”

“Kieran. Good to hear you. Sending targeting details your way.”

Boss-maiden Melissa’s distinctive coordinate presentation style popped up on his visor, and Kieran relaxed back into his chair, letting the charging ferro-magnetic sound lull him into his sniper zone.

----------------------------------------

OUTSIDE THE COLONY GATES – 0135 – NIGHT.

On the overlay, Kieran’s gauss emplacement looked like a giant bronze cannon, with a blue figure sitting in it. Hal was… reluctantly, and tiredly, amused at the blue representation of Kieran, sitting with rangefinder goggles on and rotating back and forth. He was a little more concerned at the blind fog where the other gauss cannon emplacement should have been.

“Anda, what’s with –“

“The other Gauss Cannon? Someone’s inside, but we don’t know who. I had Kieran lock off that cannon’s ability to fire, however.”

“Good choice,” Hal breathed. He took the time to lean back against the back of his skimmer, in lieu of taking a turn-ending action. His hand never left his grav-lance, however. Ophis had already hopped off the skimmer and was lying flat on the ground, leaned up against an iridescent wall and dozing. The empty skimmer was in the square next to Ophis, and beyond that, Melissa and Melinde, who were taking the time to calculate targeting solutions and stretch, respectively.

Hal watched the timer on his visor tick down, plotting out his next course of action.

He flicked the overlay back into the center of his visor, plotting out the shortest possible route and the addition of fire support with giant blocks of metal to his calculations. He could probably use the metal as dams, as stupid as that metaphor sounded to himself, to block the flood of infested from every surrounding area. Kristos, he’d never fought for so long, in such a stop-start manner. It’d been almost…five hours, probably, of periodic combat. Hell on the nerves. Hell on the brain. Hell on the muscles, too.

So. Asset…something. He mustered up the energy to call to his squad over the comm. “Nanite package count?”

“None, boss,” Melissa answered back. “Both of us are out.” Grimly, Hal nodded. He was out, too, and the last time they were within sighting distance of each other, Melissa was bleeding slowly, nanite-sealed wounds opening up again. Melinde was even more torn up than her sister, with scrapes and abrasions up both arms. Ophis…

“Hey,” Hal said, directed at the ground beneath his skimmer. “Get up, Ophis. We’ve got to make a move soon.”

“Yeah,” Ophis said, sounding just as tired as he did. Hal crouched down and offered his hand. Ophis clambered back onto the skimmer, stumbling slightly and banging her knee on the metal…bit, on the ground. Fuck, he was forgetting his words. She took her helmet off and twisted her platinum-blonde hair back up into a ponytail. “What do, Hal?”

“Weapon charges?” Hal asked over the comm.

“I’m down to like, five,” Melinde responded. “That’s on the vibroblade. My frequency disruptor is also pretty low, probably around eight or so, and I’d have to check Melissa’s skimmer for hers.”

“Weapon charge?” Hal asked Ophis.

Ophis fumbled with the hilt of the trimolecular vibroblade until she found the readout. “Seven, apparently.”

Hal sucked at his lip, thinking. The circuits on his arms gleamed slightly.

“Boss?” Melissa asked. “Kieran’s asking for permission to fire.”

Hal slid his hand under his visor, rubbing at his face. “Did you give him the squares I pinpointed out to you?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Have him fire on Target Delta, Beta, and Alpha.”

“You heard him, Kieran.”

“Roger!”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

KRAKA-THOOM.

Through the overlay and the visor both, Hal watched as Kieran fired. The large projectiles, gleaming under the colony gate’s floodlights, slammed into the projected grid squares, spearing through the infested contained within. A blast of dirt, soil, grass-equivalents, and loose rocks pelted the suddenly present iridescent walls around the squares. When the walls faded from view, Hal was treated to a sight of a huge hunk of metal a meter deep in soil in Target Delta, with the infested nowhere to be seen. A contained, very square, crater. The iridescent lines forming the entire 25 x 25 grid was, abruptly, a little bit brighter.

Ophis whimpered, and pressed a hand to her chestplate. Hal looked over at her, concerned.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just…suddenly very warm. Around my heart.”

“I…see,” Hal said, who did not see, at all.

She shook her head. “We’re good. Are we moving this turn?”

“Probably.” Hal lowered his head, considering the risks and the cards he had left to play. Yeah, okay. His circuits started to glow, slightly.

He aimed for the square in front of him, turning his grav-lance on and dispassionately watching the infested within it get flung twenty meters in the air, before slamming downward at higher than terminal velocity onto a patch of sharp rocks. Ophis winced as she watched him do it.

“That’s brutal,” she said, brushing back a loose strand of hair.

“I’m…tired,” Hal admitted. “It saves on blade charges. But stab it anyway.”

He urged the skimmer into the grid square, and Ophis hopped off to stab the infested. It was already dead.

“Holy cow, boss!” Kieran yelped over the comm. Hal looked at it blankly. “I saw that from way up here!”

On his overlay, the figure representing his skimmer went gray. The empty skimmer entered the square Hal had left, and Melinde urged her skimmer on.

“End turn,” Hal said quietly, and the infested charged.

----------------------------------------

OUTSIDE THE COLONY GATES – 0154 – NIGHT.

The worst part about taking these turns, Hal thought, is that the colony is within sight the whole time. It’s like a mirage in the desert. The colony loomed larger and larger above them, a magnificent tribute to human terraforming and engineering. But also, like a mirage, further and further away despite how he knew they were getting closer and closer. On the overlay, he was only about ten squares away from the colony gates, but the number of infested was only growing, and crowding, in front of him. Kieran had been Kristos-sent, closing off the infested behind them in almost a pachinko machine made of giant hunks of steel and perfectly targeted shots, but gods above, Hal was tired, and they were almost entirely out of weapons charges. Soon, they’d probably have to stop and fetch Ophis her giant hunk of pod plate, and have her bonk her way through the infested in front of them. There was only so much three giant rods of steel could do per turn, given that they only really killed one infested each at best. And there were almost fifty infested in front of him, who’d line up to attack him next turn. Kristos.

The fog on his overlay cleared up.

“What the fuck?” Hal said into his comm, startled out of his weariness. “Who is that?” He tried to zoom the magnification on his overlay, to little luck, seeing only a gray, small figure.

“Ena!” Anda said over the comm, and started cursing.

“Your partner’s got a mouth on her,” Ophis said enviously behind him, staring to peer at the comm with an overabundance of focus, wavering slightly.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Hal said.

“So, who’s that? Ena?” Ophis said.

“Ena, you get right down from that turret this instant, or your parents will hear about this!”

“Parents?” Ophis said, leaning back a bit as Anda’s volume got louder.

“Shit,” Hal said.

“You can’t make me!” A small voice, distinctly female, and also, distinctly, young, carried over the comm.

“Oh, you watch me right now, Ena Lisabet Yggrisa –“

“Colonymaster Anda,” Melissa cut in, her voice weary, “Please. Not over official comms.”

“Anyway!” Ena continued, her voice bright and high, sending shivers of anticipation racing through Hal’s bones and snapping him back upright into minor fatigue instead of fall-over-exhausted. “I rerigged the gauss cannon to fire shrapnel!”

“You what,” Hal said.

“Shrapnel, scoutmaster! Took me a bit, but we can clear the way a little bit for you!”

“Ena, for Kristos’ sake – “

“That’d be helpful,” Melissa said, her voice low, somehow still carrying over the minor domestic happening on colony frequencies. “Sending targeting solutions to you and Hal.”

Hal breathed in. Yes, this was…a little better. Much better, actually.

“Solutions received!” Ena’s voice carried through the comm.

Hal actually let a smirk curl up his face, and leaned in over the comm. “Kieran, authorize her. Now, by protocol, Militia Ena.”

“Hal…” Anda’s tone resounded, growly and threatening. Kieran’s groan was audible over the comm, but Ena’s figure abruptly went blue on his overlay.

Ena’s grin was audible over the comm. “Gauss Cannon Two, online, Militia Ena Yggrisa on aim! Oh, this is so cool…”

“Fire when ready,” Hal said.

“Firing!” Ena chirped. Gauss Cannon Two spat lightning, casting stark shadows as a rain of metal cascaded over a 4 x 4 section of squares in front of him. The rain of sharp metal pierced the infested inside. Hal clenched his fist in victory, and urged his skimmer forward. He’d moved four times as far as he had in one turn than he’d done for the last two hours. It was a surge of oncoming victory, like a fire in his gut. Melissa and Melinde moved next, bringing the empty skimmer with them. Around them, like a Red Sea, the infested clawed at their iridescent walls, ineffectually.

Fuck, that felt good.

“Firing,” Kieran reported, and hunks of steel slammed down beside and behind Hal’s squad. Hal flinched, watching the explosion of soil cascade upward like a reverse waterfall, before the iridescent wall less than two meters to his left went fully opaque, and rippled as it contained the collateral damage of another high-powered steel rod impacting an infested at speed.

Hal opened his mouth to end the turn, then paused, as four figures emerged from the colony gates on his overlay.

“Surprise, Hal,” Anda said over the comm. “Also, good luck.”

“Good luck?” Hal said.

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE, BOSSMAN,” Hal’s comm screeched. Hal winced and put his hands over his ears. “WHY DID YOU GO ON A RESCUE MISSION WITHOUT A MEDIC?!”

Okay, yup, that was a medic on his screen. Big blue cross and all. Also, okay, yup, that was his medic’s drone. Oh…boy.

“Hello, Anuk,” Hal said, tentatively, over his comm.

“You certainly have an…interesting colony,” Ophis said, over his shoulder.

“Get your pretty butts over here,” Anuk said, having dropped his volume but upped the acidity of his tone. “So I can medic you all into not forgetting me when on a rescue mission.”

“I don’t think ‘medic’ is a verb,” Ena said, puzzled.

“It’s a verb if I say it’s a—“

“QUIET!” Melissa yelled. “Professionalism on the comms, NOW!”

“Yes, boss-maiden,” Anuk and Ena said, almost simultaneously.

Melissa’s irritated breathing cut out, and silence reigned.

“Militia-Gunner Siobhan Miall, full charges and ready for duty,” an even voice came over comms.

“Oh, Siobhan, good,” Hal said. He sank back into his seat, and Ophis obligingly inched backward so he could relax further.

“Independent Adventurer, Garick, ready to kick ass, take names, and I’m all out of names!”

Hal shot into a standing position so fast that Ophis flinched backward and almost fell off her perch on the back of Hal’s skimmer.

“Anda, why?” Hal whined into his personal comm. Her tinny laughter echoed out of his vest.

“Your punishment begins right now,” she said. “Have fun!”

Hal watched as the ground glowed blue, and one lone figure charged out toward the infested.

An infested faded from his overlay. Hal groaned.

“Firing,” Siobhan reported, and two infested faded.

“Oh, wow,” Ophis said from behind him. “That’s an interesting weapon.”

“No kidding,” Hal said, thinking of the giant gatling gun that the comparatively tiny Siobhan toted.

“End turn,” Hal said, before Anuk could move.

Anuk cursed him out over the comm.

The infested charged.

----------------------------------------

JUST OUTSIDE THE COLONY GATES – 0215 – NIGHT.

“What-ho!” Garick said over the comm. “Awful lot of infested, aren’t there?”

Hal grunted. Anuk was tending to Melinde just inside the colony gates, the drone buzzing over her arms and applying nanites to seal and disinfect her scrapes and abrasions. Hal’s eyes were on the colony gateway itself, where Anda was standing, in full body-armor, tapping a shock-baton on her forearm. A full cloud of nanites emerged from the baton, buzzing around her in a cloud, before settling as a gauntlet on her other forearm.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, gorgeous?” Hal said loudly, his voice carrying over the less than four meters between the two of them.

“Firing,” Kieran said over comms, and three rods of steel blocked off the press of the infested behind them. Hal barely even flinched at the explosion of soil boiling up behind him.

“Firing!” Ena chirped, and a rain of shrapnel wiped the pressing infested off his overlay.

“Just get inside the gates, Hal,” Anda said, her voice carrying across the field. With a sense of completion, Hal urged his skimmer inside the colony gate. The colony forcefields went up, blocking off the outside infested in a purge of white, shimmering light, and Hal let himself relax. He crawled off his skimmer, almost falling to his knees on the cool pavement.

Two of Anda’s staff rushed up, floating four gurneys and a trolley between them, and Hal let himself be helped onto a gurney. Anuk lifted Melinde up himself, picking her up gently, while they tipped a gurney upright so that Melissa could just lean on it and be inclined to horizontal. Ophis gingerly climbed on the last one, testing its micro-grav generator, while Anda’s staff carefully removed Resolve’s core and the various other mechanisms from the empty skimmer and piled it on the trolley.

“To the medical bay,” Anda commanded, and Hal let himself be carted off. Anda walked next to Ophis’ gurney herself, guiding it with one hand. He closed his eyes. Ophis would be in good hands, here. Petty punishment or not, Anda was a good person. He wouldn’t be partnered with her, otherwise.

Outside, Siobhan and Garick rushed in through the colony gate, and Ophis finally, finally, let her tactician field fall.

Mission Complete.

On his visor, in front of his unseeing eyes, Hal’s overlay vanished with a flash of light.

"Firing at will," Kieran reported from Hal's comm, left behind.

"Mm!" Ena agreed.

A downpour of steel and shrapnel washed the plains near the colony clean.