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Prolouge

Date 1/16/70236 PAIW

POV noha voják 70236-8-9222-84312-6

I rolled under a fallen steel beam and stayed prone as bullets raked the space above me. A soldier fell from several stories above me onto a piece of rebar, the jagged metal impaling him. His screams only stopped when several stray bullets hit him.

I got into a crouch and lifted my rifle above the cover I was behind and blind fired the entire magazine then ducked as a stream of autocannon rounds tore holes in the cover and beam.

I winced as a slug came within a few centimeters of me. Then a miracle happened and a medium mech smashed through the wall ahead of me and started firing at the enemy position.

My comrades and I took advantage of that and advanced on the position.

I ducked behind the shattered remains of an exosuit and fired my recoilless rifle at the autocannon. I scored a direct hit disabling it. Then I climbed over it and tripped landing in a puddle of something I did not want to think about.

I ran up to the pillbox and threw my last grenade in, I heard shouts but they were cut off by the explosion.

I crawled into the slit and raised my rifle to confront the enemy, but all that was there were bodies that were shattered by my anti-tank grenade .

A soldier rounded the corner and I gunned him down. They responded by throwing a grenade in. I was out the slit faster than one could think, but even then the flack armor protecting my lower extremities was the only thing that saved me from dying on this wanderer forsaken rock.

They ran into the pillbox only to run face first into a burst from my rifle. Before they could throw a grenade I ran as fast as I could back to the exo suit and vaulted it and lay prone. Not a second to soon beings as fire raked the small mech’s remains.

I looked to where I last saw the medium mech only to be greeted with the sight of its burning wreck. So I just huddled there waiting for fate to catch up to me or for rescue to come.

I don’t know how long it was before I heard the clang clang of mechs walking from the direction of the Trinity position. I took a peek and saw battlefield recovery units retrieving the corpses of both Trinity and corporate sector sector troops alike for their organs and armor. I gulped and ran to avoid getting killed by their escorts.

Just as I entered a building a burst of bullets hit my leg and I collapsed. I frantically crawled out of the range that the recovery units arms could reach inside. And I got up and scrambled further into the building before collapsing again. At which point I crawled away as fast as possible.

Just as it seemed I had gotten away, a boot landed on my back. I looked up and in the dim light I saw a Trinity soldier. Oh shit. I reached for my sidearm beings as I had ditched my rifle in my flight, but a boot landed on my hand and a voice sounded, “Someone thinks he can win, cute.”

I gulped and waited for a bullet to end it all.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

But death didn’t come. Bullets were fired into each of my major joints and I was dragged back to the site of the skirmish where I was picked up by one of the collection units and placed into its body basket. Not the death I hoped to get, but the wanderer calls apparently.

End of memory implant log.

POV light infantryman 70325-4-34323-4773-1

I pressed the sight in button which activated a laser rangefinder. A blink of the eye later the reticle dropped slightly and the readout updated to six hundred seventy yards. I wish those corporate bastards would just come out and fight like men.

An explosion filled my view and a beam fell with one end suspended a few meters into the air and the other on the ground. Then at least a company of corpos rushed out into the open. I sighted in on one and popped a burst into his head. My comrades were doing the same, downing corpos left and right.

One rolled under the beam and hid behind a piece of concrete and several exos’ ran out and started firing. The exos’ were downed in short order. But a mech smashed through a building in the rear and started firing on us. It was downed in short order by our auto cannon, but a corpo got a missile into said autocannon and made a rush to the cover of one of the exos’. Along with that problem, the rest of the corpos decided to rush us.

As if the situation was not bad enough, the soldier who murked the autocannon ran up to our pillbox and threw a grenade in. I ran as fast as possible, but I was not fast enough… sure I was behind a wall, but the shockwave that came through the wall was enough to throw me several meters and deafen me.

Several of my comrades passed by me heading the direction of the pillbox and a few seconds later I felt the concussion of a grenade. But I couldn’t move to help them. So, even though it hurt me not to help, I was forced to lay there.

What seemed like an eternity later someone turned me over. I saw the gas mask that confirmed that the soldier who turned me over was a friend. He lifted his mask and said something along the lines of can you hear me, I wasn’t sure due to the fact that I had to try to lip read him.

He pulled my mask off and checked my ears, when he lifted his hand back up his fingers were covered in blood. He looked away and a bit later someone else came and they dragged me into a cot.

For the next while my memories were flashes in the darkness. Getting moved to the field hospital, and several other things. The next thing I remember clearly was a combat medic tapping my face, “Do you hear me four-sev-sev-three dash-one?” I nodded, “Yeah.” he nodded, “Stand up.” I did and pain shot up my back but I was able to get up. He nodded, “Do you think you can stay that way?” I cringed at the thought but said the truth, “Yes.” He nodded and led me to another room.

In that room I was slipped into my exoskeleton and pieces of armor were fitted onto it. My armor was completed by me slipping a gasmask on. He knocked my helmet, “I deem you combat capable.”

I was led to a room with an understrength squad waiting. I soluted the sergeant. He looked up from his tablet, “Good, now we are ready. Move out!” We followed his order.

Like a bad omen, right after we stepped out of the bunker a white phosphorus missile struck a group of nearby soldiers, their screams filling the night. We didn’t bother to try to save any of them, they were already dead.

Then we were forced to take cover as a large force of enemies moved out of the buildings. We fired, but they just kept coming. Two squadmates tried to route, but they were gunned down.

It was… hopeless.

Like a demon cast in the light of the fire that had killed twelve of our comrades, an enemy ODSI ran out of the dark quickly killing half of our squad before we could shoot, but even after that he stabbed and killed the sergeant with his gauntlet blade.

Just as we were about to be overwhelmed a ray of light in the form of five armored cars screamed out of the night their machine guns roaring out death and destruction on the attackers, but they were quickly destroyed by recoilless rifle fire. But in the time they were fighting at least a platoon of heavy infantry came up to reinforce us.

The exo suit equipped soldiers didn’t even bother to avoid rifle fire as they rampaged through the enemy. Under the force of the onslaught the enemy force retreated.

I helped my squad mates retrieve the few survivors from our defense force, there were less incapacitated troops than walking troops. All in all, there were only twelve surviving light infantry… out of one hundred twenty by my count.

After I got back into the bunker I nearly collapsed due to the adrenaline withdrawal. Looking left and right I saw that no one noticed.

Next thing I knew my inner ear was saying that I was tipping over and in trying to compensate I did tip over.

My neck cracked as I hit the ground and I couldn’t feel a thing and I couldn’t breathe.

End of memory implant log.

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