“Do you know the price for a kilometer? Do you know the price we paid for. Every. Last. Dust. Damned. Kilometer. Three million Troopers fell to take a single kilometer. And millions more will march to their certain deaths to take kilometer after kilometer. And we will never yield to you bug eyed freaks. Do you know what ‘Terra Invicta’ means bug? Unconquered Earth. And we will remain unconquered. So bide your time you miserable insect. But when millions of feet march to the beat, know your end is near.”
- Lieutenant General Eliza H. Evermore, to the First Born High Queen
Hugo had been in the med bay for weeks straight. Stuck in that damnable bed as doctors dug around his body pulling pieces of shrapnel and repairing his face. Colonel Kilgore had made quite the point that he, and all of Legio X were to get the absolute best care possible. And no one had dared to object to that verdict. You did not stand in the way of the Devil Dog himself and live a happy life after that.
But he was still stuck in bed, and alone, on those stupidly itchy sheets. They were even worse than the ones in the barracks. And that was saying Something. But he couldn’t complain too much, he’d get a cybernetic eye and have virtually no adjustment time. And Hugo had learned something, the X after Legio is the number 10, and Legio had meant legion. So he was part of the tenth legion.
Anyways. All surviving members of the tenth were outfitted with a plethora of cybernetics or grafts. Hug, Caesar, John, and Mint had gotten off easier than most. Hugo lost an eye and his cheek, Caesar was a few fingers short, John had severe scarring, and Mint lost a leg. Just another day with the Troopers.
But that didn’t mean just sitting here and waiting wasn’t incredibly boring. He could read, listen to state radio, or watch shitty Vodcasts. He could also get up and walk around the medical facility to some degree. But someone had to be with him. His face hurt sometimes too. Like he’d just lost it again, but those pains were few and far between, as small of a blessing that was. And Silvia spoke to him on occasion, but that was no good at best.
Hugo idly rubbed his eyes, carefully not agitating the recently implanted one. A moment later Caesar slipped in, nearly knocking an orderly over, but with two cups of coffee. She said something that Hugo didn’t catch, but he still muttered a greeting automatically. It was a good reflex to have, and every Trooper would agree with that sentiment.
She’d been stopping by often, dropping off new books, snacks, and coffee. It wasn’t unpleasant. Just odd, Caesar didn’t get along with most people by default, but she was always close by now. Still, another person to talk with during these incredibly tiring times.
“Sup space case. Died of boredom yet?” Caesar asked with a biting smile as she sat down at the foot of the cot Hugo was confined to. He nodded in agreement and spoke for probably the first time that day, “Afraid so. I’ll be reanimating soon into a flesh eating monster. But there is a cure!” Hugo gave her a sly grin.
“Oh yeah, now what might that be?” Caesar giggled and shook a mess cup of coffee. It wasn’t real coffee. Something called Fabricaff, but it had caffeine and tasted like shit, so everyone just called it coffee.
Hugo giggled and motioned for the coffee in Caesar’s hand. High Lords above he needed some dust damned coffee after all this shit. “That thing in your hand will save me.” Hugo reached out for it, but alas it was out of his reach.
“Not so fast. What’re the magic words?” Caesar smugly taunted him. Standing just out of reach. And in that very moment Hugo felt like the hero of old. Micheal Renner. Who had immortality dangled just out of reach by an Awakened Technoprohit… But unlike Renner, Hugo wasn’t bound to die horribly if he couldn’t reach his desired object. He’d just be a pouty.
But- Hugo stated the magic words. “Hand it over or I’ll fuck your corpse with a volt sabre?” He said with a sickly sweet grin… He looked perfectly innocent. If you disregard the far to distant gaze in his remaining eye. That totally wasn’t a red flag, totally.
Caesar was taken aback for a moment, before descending into laughter. She handed over the precious substance and continued to laugh. “Dude. You really got me with that. I think I’ll steal it for the next time we go out.” If we’re ever cleared to go out after all this shit, went unsaid… Or maybe it didn’t, and Hugo was reading too far into things.
Hugo’s protests were muffled behind his mug, so Caesar ignored him. If you can’t talk right, then no one has to listen. That was her father’s rule, so she’d apply it here just to fuck with Hugo. Much to his own embarrassment this wasn’t the only thing Caesar held him to, there were dozens of little rules she’d use to outwit him on every single topic.
“I’ve got bad news though, we’ve got a briefing by the XO in an hour. So get dressed and I’ll be waiting outside. Everyone in the tenth has been called out for this. Apparently it’s by Lieutenant General Evermore herself.” Caesar sprung up and dropped a bag at Hugo’s feet. “Don’t make me wait too long now.” And she slipped back out.
Hugo chuckled to himself silently and took a sip of his coffee. It really did taste like shit. But alas, he set it to the side and began to dress himself with the clothes Caesar had dropped off. Instead of the typical khaki fatigues he was presented with a gunmetal gray NCO’s dress uniform. He’d been promoted several steps ahead due the decimation of the tenth all the way to corporal. So he had to dress it now, or so Hugo supposed.
A few minutes later Hugo was dressed and out, looking a little bedraggled but eh. There weren’t many NCOs left in the tenth so they could deal. Caesar fell in step beside him, also in dress fatigues. They began to traverse the bleak and starkly white halls with haste. Even if they were given quite a lot of leeway with things, you didn’t just make your XO wait.
It took a minute, dust damn the designer for making everything cookie cutter, but they made it out and into the open of Base Ten. The ground was muddy and covered with puddles but people still scrambled about. Reinforcements were probably coming, and a lot of them at once was a massive strain on anything, doubly so when they came in the tens of thousands.
But soon the two were met outside of the command post by two veteran troopers, who saluted Hugo. The command post was a squat but wide structure composed solely out of durasteel. The place more accurately resembled a fortress than any simple post, and that feeling was only reinforced as they entered. Four clades of fresh troopers stood side by side forming a line. But Hugo couldn’t help but feel uneasy at this.
But still they proceeded forwards until they reached two massive blast doors. A pair of Scions wielding Arc Blades were acting as sentries. And they made no move, never so much as looked at the two, as Caesar and Hugo crossed into the War Room.
John and Mint quickly flanked the two, not allowing any time to so much as make a sound in surprise. This wasn’t the time for that. Hugo grit his teeth and squared his shoulders. Ready for what was to come. Even if his face started to burn, and even as Silvia began to laugh softly within his brain. Hugo steeled himself and continued forwards.
The doors were promptly shut behind them, and Caesar looked uneasy. But Hugo. Hugo was dumbstruck with who was standing in front of him. Lieutenant General Evermore, the Iron Maiden herself, stood front and center. She was tall, to the point where Caesar looked small, and broad, making Mint look feeble.but there was a beauty to her, despite the obvious scars and muscle she still had a certain gravitas.
Tall with dark skin, a sturdy build only honed by years of warfare, and flowing golden hair. But still, the most striking part of the Lieutenant General was her eyes. Burning golden and full of life. She was beautifully terrifying to behold. And Hugo almost stopped walking, but he couldn’t. Cowardice was not permitted. So when their escorts stopped, not even four meters from her, everyone stopped.
Then in a voice like thunder Lieutenant General Evermore spoke. “I’m glad you all could make it. And I do apologize for ripping you from your recoveries. But this takes precedence I’m afraid.” With a wave of her hand the group's escorts were gone, leaving just them and her. But then- She sighed.
“Now that we are alone I believe it is pertinent to say this. You have all performed extraordinarily and you will all be rewarded for that. But. You have all broken the law.” The Lieutenant General let that sit. And Hugo tensed up. “I am aware of the artificial intelligence within Corporal Marce’s head, and protocol deems I have you all executed on the spot.” She paused again and massaged her brown with a gloved hand.
“But I believe that is unjust. So I, and Colonel Kilgore, have pleaded to the High Lords to have you all spared. And they have agreed, but on certain conditions. So please take a seat. These are not necessarily the best possible terms, but you will live to see another day. This I swear.”
Everyone took a seat, looking shook to the core. Even Hugo could see it, though barely. His own panic was at an all time high, and he could feel sweat pooling just about everywhere it could. His jaw was wrenched shut and he was trying his absolute best to not clench his fingers or fall over. All the while his cybernetic eye burned, even though it wasn’t even activated.”
“Corporal Marce. You are first.” Hugo could feel the doom. “As of now you are hereby promoted to Sergeant, and will be rewarded with a People’s Hero medal, two Bronze Stars, and an Iron Heart. But. You have displayed that you are a Virtuoso, so you are to be sent to Lighthouse. There you will lead a squad.”
Hugo looked like he was bound to faint. If he was standing he probably would’ve. Those medals were all big deals. With People’s Hero being the highest possible accolade, he reckoned that everyone in the tenth got one. But Iron Hearts were a different story. You got your name carved onto the walls of CORE, the center of the Final City. But it was Lighthouse that scared him.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Lighthouse was reserved for the almost inhuman. Virtuoso who were more machine than man. And the Blessed, who were like the heroes from legends of old. And because of their great power, they were typically assigned the worst duties. Even worse than Scions, because they were replenish-able. More Blessed would always be chosen, but not everyone could be a Scion.
“Trooper First Class Auralian. As of now you are hereby promoted to Veteran Trooper, you will be rewarded with a People’s Hero Medal, two Bronze Stars, one Silver Star, a Marksman Ribbon, and an Iron Heart. But. We have reason to believe that you are Blessed. We will run some blood tests to confirm, but you will also be sent to Lighthouse, as a member of Marce’s squad and advisor.”
Caesar tensed and closed her eyes. Just for a moment. And their XO allowed that. She then looked back up with steel in her eyes and fire in her blood. Caesar also knew it was a death sentence. But it wasn’t like she planned on living that long either. All she wished is that she had a say in this.
“I know I’ve sentenced you to death in the future, but we need more Virtuoso and Blessed. Always have, always will. And for that, I am sorry. You will each be afforded a week of leave to get your affairs in order. I will provide all the necessary lawyers as well as their payment. I wish it didn’t have to be this way. I am sorry.”
The XO looked sympathetic for just a moment. But it was gone as quick as it came. That didn’t do anything to reassure them though. Death was death, and death could never be avoided for too long. That was the Trooper’s motto. So is life. That was a close second.
After waiting for a second she spoke up again. “Lance Sergeant Roseri. You will be rewarded with a People’s Hero Medal, two Silver Stars, one Gold Star, a Close Combat Ribbon, and an Iron Heart. As for your ‘punishment’. You are to be honorably discharged and then immediately put into the officer corps as a First Lieutenant. And due to this, you are being placed in Lighthouse as a provisional instructor for the fourth year students until Marce and Auralian are finished. That is all.”
Hugo watched John carefully through the corner of his eye. John prickled slightly, and tensed up. But he didn’t so much as change his expression. His eyes stayed locked onto the XO with the same steely determination. And the same small, but grim frown seemed to be the only expression he could possibly make. Hugo didn’t blame him. No one really could, and those that could would not.
Hugo’s attention shifted to the XO as she began to speak again, but no words left her mouth. He watched her take in a single breath and begin to speak again with a certain softness. Much different than how she had addressed all of them. More like she was lulling a dying child to sleep for the last time instead of reading off of a data slate full of notifications of execution.
“Veteran Trooper Second Class Evermore-” No one could stop a look of utter horror from crossing over their faces, and no one could stop their boxes from reacting. Hugo sleazed back and went wide eyed. Caesar froze in place with a blank look. And John leaned forwards, gripping his chair. But no one spoke as the Lieutenant General let the silence ring. She needed to steel herself as well.
“Veteran Trooper Second Class Evermore. You will be rewarded with a People’s Hero Medal, two Silver Stars, one Gold Star, one Platinum Star, and an Iron Heart. Your punishment is the simplest, but heaviest of them all. You are hereby promoted to Lance Sergeant, and will join Legio IX for the eighth crusade to reclaim the Outer wall.”
Mint did not move. He did not emote. He did not look bothered by the proclamation at all. Like he had known this all along, since the very moment he stepped into the Command Post. His fate was sealed. And he had known it all along, yet he was unbothered.
“You are all dismissed. You sentencing is due in one week to the day.” She moved like a ghost, impossibly fast and with a supernatural grace, to Mint. And she brushed his cheek with one gloved finger, then left. Much like a ghost.
No one moved for a minute and thirteen seconds, Hugo had counted, until Caesar put her head In her hands and laughed. But there was no mirth to it. More like a racking sob than any sort of laugh. She got up on shaking legs and began to trudge to the blast doors, which had opened in the silence after their sentencing.
Hugo followed with shaky steps, the heels to his dress boots clacked on the durasteel floors and echoed throughout the war room. Then went John in a brisk stride. Attempting to look unbothered by a very bothersome notice. But then Mint spoke, the first words from any one of them in a while.
“For whom the bell tolls.” And with that he followed the others out and into the hall. Then through that to the mustering fields. Where everyone stood around numbly, knowing that this was going to happen. But never wanting to admit it. This wasn’t mercy, it was an execution. The most brutal and drawn out sort. Their lives were nothing but numbers in a great scheme. And they finally realized that.
As Hugo stepped out of that High Lords forsaken building he too couldn’t help but laugh. He laughed and laughed and laughed even as tears fell down his cheek. Being joined by Caesar, who wasn’t crying, but instead just shaking profusely. And Hugo couldn’t help but admire what type of day it was.
It was an odd sort of day. It really was. The weather was pleasant if not a little hot. It wasn’t humid. And a balmy breeze swept across the base, making the heat a nonstarter. But no one was up to anything good or worthwhile. The remnants of Legio X were still undergoing medical treatment and mourning the almost insurmountable death toll of what was deemed a glorious success.
Nothing felt very successful as Hugo and what was left of his clade shambled to the medical complex, where they were interned and sent back to their respective rooms. It was probably better that way. To give everyone some time to rest and decompress. As much as they possibly could. Their efforts to save an untold amount of people had wound them up being executed. And not the easy sort of execution either.
Hugo couldn’t only sit idly on his bed and skim through the Vodbox’s few channels. They were relatively new breakthroughs, along with dataslates, and had sent shivers down the spines of scientists everywhere. Hugo didn’t know how they worked, but he’d been trying to figure it out. But alas, no dice.
The existence of such things was actually a pleasant reminder to the people of Lilt that they could actually take the time to be lazy now. That they weren’t at war, and were safe enough to be lazy. Hugo thought that to be preposterous. Lyre had fallen less than twenty years ago, and along with it one and a half billion people. Hugo fancied himself lucky that he was one of the half a billion evacuated.
And the Awakened had just launched a massive assault on The Wall itself, appearing in coordination with other, more sinister elements. This attack had slaughtered the tenth down to less than one percent of their original forces, and he imagined it was like that elsewhere. Those were not good tidings, and people couldn’t afford to be lazy.
Yet here he was. Stuck in this dust damned medical center getting his face sewed back on. He couldn’t do anything but be lazy because it would affect his recovery, and most likely get him killed in Lighthouse. It simply wasn’t fair. He wanted to get out and fight again. To battle the great foes of the empire. Up here he was. Stuck in a fucking hospital bed, being stuck with all sorts of needles and machines.
But a knock at the door shook Hugo out of his moping and unpleasant thoughts. Doctors and nurses didn’t knock, so it must’ve been someone else. So Hugo lazily flipped through another channel and called out to the person. “Come in. The door’s unlocked.”
It was Caesar, and she was holding what looked to be a rather large bottle of cheap wine. High lords above, that was at least six liters. She was obviously drunk, but Hugo was more concerned about the fact that six liter bottles of anything other than oil and napalm were made en masse.
Caesar said something but the words all slurred together and he couldn’t make it out, but at the least she closed the door before climbing up into his bed. “Oi. Fuckoff. You reek of cheap booze.” Hugo exclaimed and pinched his nose, making an overly dramatic face. Which made Caesar giggle.
“Oh s’fiiine man…” She giggled again. “Y’oughtta lighten’ up. S’must a ‘lil booze is all.” Caesar smiled widely then popped the cork. She took a long swig then recorked the bottle, looking satisfied to a degree. “We’re all gonna fuckin’ die anyways. It won’t- it won’t- it ain’t bad to get drunk every once in a while.”
Hugo took the bottle from her hands very gently, then popped the cork himself. He then put it to his lips and hefted it above his head. Letting the bittersweet booze pour down his throat, leaving it burning. But Hugo didn’t care very much. He wanted to get drunk. And Caesar’s cries of “Atta boy!” Didn’t do much to dissuade him.
He put the bottle down on a bedside table and looked Caesar in the eyes for the first time ever. He’d known they were red, just not an intense candy color of red that bordered on pink. And there was a deep kindness in those red eyes. So unlike the baleful crimson of most nobles from Lilt. Or the nearly glowing, but hauntingly beautiful blues of Lyre’s nobility.
But they were intense but kind, and colored like candy. Hugo blinked the thoughts away and broke his stare. His own eyes were the same crystalline blue as a noble but he had no land, no servants, and no name. Anything he could have had was burned to ash with Lyre. And becoming a Trooper only ground that ash down to dust so infinitesimally small that not even a High Lord’s mechanized brain could count all the granules.
“So. We’re bound for Lighthouse…” Hugo spoke but couldn’t find the words. Caesar waited despite that as he sputtered about. “The program has already taken in another year group. So we’re going to be behind. And all of them have already been blessed. And we’re not.” Hugo’s voice got lower and lower as he spoke. A quiet tremble overtook any word he tried to form past those scant few words.
But Caesar was able to fill the gaps. “So what? We’ve fought in two fucking major battles and survived basic. An’ it wasn’t like I was fresh out. I’ve served since I was fourteen. The way I see it…” Her speech had mostly rectified itself, but she was also so lost. “We’re gonna live. That’s all. No more thoughts about that.” She firmly declared.
Hugo laughed and looked back up, meeting his eyes with a shaken smile. “Yeah… We’ll make it. And John will be there…” He hadn’t forgotten about Mint. “Mint won’t. B-but as cruel as it sounds I don’t know him well like anyone else does. You three were the only real veterans in the first company.” Hugo sighed and popped the cork of the bottle. Having subconsciously grabbed it.
He took another long swig and passed it to Caesar, who did the same. But there was a slight red in her cheeks that Hugo swore was the booze’s fault. But the little trooper sighed and took it back. Another burning swig of shitty wine and he was almost ready to face the world, but he said something unexpected.
“Stay with me… please.” The words slipped past his lips before Hugo could so much as form a coherent thought. Because in truth he wasn’t thinking, it was just desire. Something intimate, but not obscene. Hugo just wanted someone to be there with him. Anyone would do, but he was very glad it was Caesar who heard the request. And he expected a laugh, or some sort of joke.
But it never came, and the two sat in relative silence for eighty eight seconds, but Hugo’s count. But It was Caesar who broke the silence. “Y-yeah… I’ll uhh. I-I’ll sit with you for a while, ‘till you want me t’leave… Yeah…” Her face was painted a rather deep shade of crimson, but Hugo would swear that it was just the alcohol doing that.
And he too said something else unexpected. “I don’t want you to leave.” Hugo shifted uncomfortably in place, a lighter shade of red overtaking his features. Again, he spoke from the heart instead of the head. Hugo could only wonder what kept overtaking him like this, making him say such things. It was downright sappy.
Caesar could only nod and walk to the bed, then fall down beside the shell-shocked Hugo. “What? Y’wanted me here. An-and I’m here.” Her blush only got deeper as she pulled the coarse hospital blanket over her legs. It was fucking cold okay?!? “Wow you’re tiny.” She mumbled, but Hugo chose to let it slide for now.
And in truth Hugo was. He’d grumbled about it enough internally to have reached some sort of a begrudging acceptance. But having Caesar next to him was alright, even if the two didn’t speak much. She was warm, and it really was fucking cold. So he was thankful for the warmth. But something was nagging at the back of his skull.
“The attack-” Hugo remembered the gruesome sight, and the pain. It was nauseating but he resumed speaking after swallowing balefully burning bile. “The attack was coordinated. Or at least in tandem with other attacks. And our Legio wasn’t the only one hit. Four others were… And they were slaughtered just like us.” He didn’t really know where to go from there to be honest.
But Caesar nodded along, and found herself stroking the back of Hugo’s head. His hair had gotten quite long, way past regulation. “Five of the ten named legions were reduced to one percent or below in terms of manpower. In just a matter of days. I-I don’t think good things are coming at us.” He finished with a sigh.
There were ten named legions accounting for over one and a half million people, and there were the three Virtuoso legions, five Blessed legions, two Scion legions, some fifty odd unnamed legions, and over a hundred auxiliary legions. But to be part of a named legion was something special. It meant that you and yours have distinguished yourselves above the hundred million others.
And there were no known events, save for the Fall of Lyre that such casualties were taken. And knowing that fact scared Hugo. It scared him right to the core. Terror seeped into every thought he had now. And the only thing keeping him from completely blacking out and spiraling was Caesar, but she’d gone stiff hearing that.
But soon after Caesar recovered from that terrible realization. There was a certain toughness to her that Hugo couldn’t help but admire. So when she simply said, “We will hold. Lyre won’t happen again, we won’t let it happen yeah? We’re going to Lighthouse to be big damned heroes.” Hugo relaxed quite a bit, not picking up on how sweaty she had gotten.
But there they sat, together in bed, and not doing a dust damned thing. Most troopers would’ve tried something by this point. But the thought hadn’t crossed either of their minds, not even for a second. They were just stuck there, in a sea of disillusionment and fatigue. Even if the battle was over, the war wasn’t. And it was haunting.
The two stayed awake all throughout the night, silently and simply taking comfort in the other’s presence. But they couldn’t stay awake forever. And when the sun began to rise, and new Dragonflies touched down the sounds of thousands of feet marching to some unknown beat lulled them to sleep. A deep and dark and dreadful sleep. But it was sleep nonetheless.