12. Pack protects Pack.
Rusty was a Canine Commando. And he was a good boy. A very good boy.
Canines were the third uplifts, following immediately after the Rodentia and primates. Specifically, vast sums of resources were initiated to raise members of Canine lupus familiaris to peer levels of intellect and communication ability. The project was a rolling success, with advances and breakthroughs being announced periodically throughout all jurisdictions where Project Uplift research was tolerated.
Project uplift had been very good for man’s best friend. Even on Earth, where genetically modified organisms were strictly regulated and controlled, exceptions were permitted to increase the lifespan and quality of life of the native populations. While still far below the human lifespan, it was uncommon for a dog to live for less than thirty years, and many of their diseases and debilitations had been completely eliminated.
But Rusty was more than just a dog. He was Canine lupus nobilus . While he may look like a family’s pet, unless you knew the distinctive changes to the shape of his skull which indicated he was an uplift, he was much, much more. Like the Rodentia, Canine uplifts were not scholars. They were many things, but investigation into the workings of the universe were not in their interests or skill set. Those remained the purview of humans and the other primate uplifts. Because while their intellect had risen, and the humans had developed the tools for them to communicate clearly, the base instincts of Canine lupus nobilus remained the same as those of members of familiaris .
Protect the pack.
Humans were pack. Primates were pack. Rodentia were pack. Felines were … sometimes pack. Almost all member species of the UEOSC were pack. It was Rusty’s honor to protect them, and he had dedicated his life in service of his pack from his earliest memories.
And human pack mate Nathan Sawyer was in trouble.
Rusty was concerned when the mission parameters changed. Unlike the heavy team, the Canine commandos were only lightly armed and armored, equipped for mobility and stealth. Unlike the heavy team, where each individual was capable of non-lethal force, lethal force, anti-vehicle and anti-emplacement actions, for the commandos, only the non-lethal weapons were universal. And even those differed from pack mate to pack mate in their six-member squads. Each member knew their weapons and their roles. They knew how to work with their squads, and the other squads. They knew how to work with Heavy team, and they knew how to work with the drones that were providing aerial support.
They were all pack, and pack protects pack.
The countdown to insertion reached "Go!" and Rusty and his squad hit the ground running, commando team alpha splitting immediately into two squads. They did not speak, they had no need. Speech was for talking with the humans, or the other uplifts who understood human speech quite well. Canines had no need of it to communicate with each other. For Canine commandos, the only input they needed was "Where is pack" and "How is pack equipped" and "What is pack mate’s status?"
Rusty was not Pack leader. That was human Jon Cassonova. Jon Cassonova was a good pack leader. His plan to deal with pack mate Nathan’s debilitation without compromising the mission was a good plan, any of the commandos would have approved. A weakness turned into a strength. A weakened member of the pack used as bait to draw in the predators, hiding until the last moment but as long as there is pack, pack is never alone.
Rusty was squad leader. The others followed him as he planned their course based on updates from orbital and aerial surveillance. The Horthian civilians were vanishing into buildings while vehicles and soldiers appeared from depots that had not been known of previously all over the city. Many of the depots were the same buildings where the civilians were fleeing into, Rusty realized.
"Athena. Priority information. Priority update all ground personnel. Horthian civilians are picking up arms. Assume all civilians of military age are trained militia," Rusty ‘said,’ knowing that it was intel that his pack leader and pack mates required.
"Updating ground personnel with priority intel," Athena confirmed.
Rusty received his own update just seconds later. The Horthians were firing upon pack mate Nathan. His instincts demanded that he immediately rush to aid Nathan. Pack protects pack. But his commando training demanded that he stop and consider the best response.
The Horthians had not discovered the Canine Commando teams yet. The commandos were masters of stealth, ambush, and recon. They were not meant to sit still and exchange fire with an enemy, that was what heavy teams were for, and even with his exoskeleton damaged and his mobility hampered, pack mate Nathan was the heaviest of heavy team.
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It was Commando’s role to support heavy team, and Rusty’s squad in particular was to support Nathan. Support him as commandos.
Nathan’s armor could handle the light weapons fire it was receiving at the moment. Small arms fire, the weapons were only firing antipersonnel projectiles. A mixture of gas-propelled and magnetic accelerated hypersonic slugs which could barely scratch the paint of ‘Steve,’ those weapons were no threat to any of the heavy team, nor the lightly armored commandos. Better to maintain the element of surprise in case a real threat -
Another intel update. Indirect fire incoming on pack mate Nathan’s position from several locations. Vehicles with energy sources and electromagnetic readings indicating they were mobile weapon platforms heading towards his location. Gatherings of militias, with officers establishing order and control.
Exactly the sort of targets a commando dreams about, and there were hundreds of them in the city, dozens within the operational area of Rusty’s squad. Using his best judgment – Jurassian land weapons were largely an unknown variable – Rusty set out to ambush the closest significant threat. At no point did his squad slow down or break stride.
The commandos came in from the side, opening up with their nonlethals upon the militia marching toward Nathan’s position. Few of the militia members were wearing anything other than the traditional lower body garments that Jurassians wore to cover their reproductive and waste elimination orifices. The foam projectiles – gas propelled and calibrated carefully for effectiveness against Jurassian flesh – proved highly effective, and within moments the entire militia group, thirty strong, was on the ground. The commandos did not waste a single bullet, except to put down a few stubborn individuals who tried to reclaim their feet.
But the militia was not the target.
Their drone support gave warning; it’s delicate sensors analyzing the energy fields to predict not only the nature of the vehicle mounted energy weapon, but its capabilities, including lethality, range and rate of fire, current target, and time until activation. Immediately Rusty felt the buzz of his electromagnetic shielding activating as the squad scattered.
The humans would call it a shock lance, or a lightning generator, or, well, humans had a lot of names for the same sort of things. It’s value as a weapon varied, and its variability was exactly one of the reasons why it was a useful weapon. It’s use could run from a moderate deterrent or crowd dispersion tool, non-lethal uses in the apprehension of criminals and other law enforcement activities, lethal force, and even anti-vehicle applications. One of Rusty’s squad mates possessed a similar weapon, but with limited function. It could provide up to lethal force if necessary, but it was currently set for nonlethal deterrent of Jurrasians.
The energy readings coming in from the drones indicated that the vehicle’s shock lance was significantly more powerful, to the point of being able to disable moderately sized aircraft from significant distances, unless the target possessed countermeasures to such weaponry. The weapon was little threat to Nathan – although Rusty would have had no idea of knowing that until its drivers powered it up.
The weapon fired, and a blinding flash of lightning wrapped around Rusty. The EM shielding which had clicked on seconds before had just saved his life. He would have been blinded and deafened by the flash and thunder if it were not for the helmet’s protection of his delicate senses. He was disoriented even so, but training kicked in and he began evasive actions.
The second lightning bolt took thirty seconds to charge – so slow compared to the weapon’s human equivalent – and it did not catch Rusty by surprise. A twinge from his armor indicated that his EM shielding was at its limit, and he retreated behind a building, breaking line of sight.
A third lightning bolt was fired at the commandos, but it was the wrong commando, and it was the last one that weapon platform would ever fire. Wizard – the squad mate equipped with the squad’s plasma lance – had used the time to power up his ancillary weapon. He charged forward, the sun-bright plasma swirling around him until he was in range. Once he was, containment bottle swiftly changed shape, slamming the superheated, condensed plasma into the vehicle’s identified vital portions like a fist of star-stuff. It avoided the vehicles power source, because bad things happen when you destroy power sources, but its propulsion and weapon systems were slagged in seconds. The locations identified as the cockpit/driver’s station were spared.
All of his squad was pack, and all commandos were pack. But to Rusty, Wizard was more than pack. Wizard was as a litter-mate, even though they came from different worlds and elevated from different breeds. Rusty’s ancestors had been Irish Setters, Wizard’s had been German Shepherds. They were pack, and they were brothers who were not brothers.
"Athena, upload combat data. Vehicle identified; mobile shock lance platform. Medium threat level. Estimated crew: two to four Jurassians. Suggested counter strategy; indirect fire or ambush with anti-vehicle weaponry," Rusty ‘said.’
"Confirmed. Updating strategic information. Pushing intel updates to ground force leadership," Athena answered him.
For the first time since their insertion, Rusty’s squad took a moment’s pause. Not to rest, but to allow Rusty to evaluate the battlefield and identify their next target. The militia that they had mowed down initially were beginning to recover, but they were no threat.
There. An artillery station that was firing upon Nathan’s location. It was no threat to Nathan, but rather to the unarmored militia who were assaulting him. Mission priorities dictated all actions be taken to preserve civilian lives. If the Horthians were firing upon their own people with artillery, then disabling their artillery became a priority.
Rusty took off at a run, his squad falling in behind him. He sent his intentions to Athena so that the other commandos would not prioritize this particular artillery station.
As they turned off the main street, Rusty sent the mental command to turn on the squad’s optical camouflage, and the six canines turned into moving mirages.
Rusty was a Canine Commando. A Canine lupus nobilus. He was a Best Boy.
And Pack protects Pack.