Authority Rejected
Part 4
Benjamin Gaardnar, now a militiaman, stood on the floor of the vault, his Gauss rifle held pointing up in one hand as its cartridge was ejected, while the other had already removed a full one from the ammo compartment of his suit. He slammed it into the underside of the weapon, and returned to a fire ready position as the gun's capacitor charged up. Ben fired single bursts from the gun to demonstrate the length of the interval between firing bursts that the rifle needed to recharge the capacitor. Ben knew that ammo would become too precious to have every man waste entire bursts on training.
"Make sure you remember the interval between bursts, it will help to maximize your firing rate," advised Ben.
With that he dismissed the troops that he had been instructing. Ben had tried to give as much training as he could to the new Korhal militiamen. After his experiences at the broadcast studio, he knew that if the men had no training, they wouldn't last long against disciplined space marines. Still, there was only so much he could do, especially with so little time to prepare. The good news was that an amazing amount of people answered Angus' call. Ben also hoped to use any remaining element of surprise to their advantage. It seemed to be their best weapon.
Pavel came up to Ben, having also donned a suit of powered armor. Ben could tell that Pavel had changed after the sudden death of his family. 'Not surprising, shit happens' Ben thought to himself. Pavel no longer concerned himself with idle chatter when speaking. Anyone who happened to lock eyes with him would receive an icy stare that would shrink their stomach to the size of a marble.
Not long after the life shattering event, Buller sarcastically asked Pavel what the hell his problem was. In response, Pavel walked over and threw a punch across Buller's tiny chin and told him to shut up. He fell on his butt and shut up right away as Pavel walked off. Ben explained the situation later, and that was the last time Buller ever gave Pavel any trouble.
It wasn't that Pavel had become a hardass. There was a general feeling of resentment within, and a desensitzation that had added a more direct, practical element to Pavel's nature. It was actually quite subtle, but Ben had been around him enough to experience those few times when those traits ran strong in Pavel. If anything Pavel had become the voice of reason for the group, advising the use of caution in their plans. He certainly wanted revenge, but knew that they had to be patient. Pavel had taken it upon himself to learn how to use a suit and a Gauss rifle. He wanted to take an active role in the battle against the Confederacy's Augustgrad base that was soon to come.
"So, what do you think?" Pavel asked how he looked in the armor with its red color scheme.
"I think you'll do fine," said Ben with a chuckle, "How you feelin'?"
Pavel touched to backside on his suit remembering the now stitched wounds where they had removed the glass shards.
"I'm fine, physically," said Pavel staring off into space. Angus, in plainclothes, joined the two, who were much taller than him in their suits, "You know..I would join you in one of those...but I don't..."
Ben broke in, "Don't worry about it, Angus, the battlefield isn't your place. I wouldn't let you go even if you wanted to. Where did Buller go to anyway?"
Mengsk nodded toward the men still loading trucks with shipments. The top level had been emptied, but the cargo elevator was still bringing up gear from the lower floors, "He's organizing more weapons shipments. Groups all over Korhal have joined our militia, and they've all indicated that they're ready.
"It's a good idea," Pavel said over his suit speaker as a truck engine struggled to life and another shipment drove off, "If we attack the larger Confederate outposts simultaneously, and take them, the rest should be easy."
"Now that we actually have enough people in enough places, we can do that," added Mengsk.
"I'm done talkin' about it," asserted Ben, "It's time we did this thing."
Pavel nodded as they started to walk to the area where they kept their suits. "Just a little longer, and it will all go off like clockwork," he said.
Col. Simon Burns stood in large, circular, windowed room on the third level of the base's main facility. The windows gave a three hundred sixty degree view of the base. At the center of the room sat communications equipment for observers to use if they needed to report. There was also a metal trapdoor that looked similar to the floor, but slid open to reveal a stair next to the equipment. However, as dusk approached, Burns ignored the impressive view and directed a stern look at Privates Laine and Reeman.
"Care to tell me what really happened at the courthouse, Privates?"
The two men grew tense, and then Reeman spoke up, "One of them got away, Sir."
Burns yelled at the top of his voice, "I know one of them got away!" The two marines cringed ever so slightly.
He took a few seconds to regain his composure and asked, "Do you even know who you let get away?"
"We couldn't tell, Sir," answered Laine as he continued to stand at attention.
"Senator Angus Mengsk," Burns said, "The very one who just gave a speech over pirated satelight signals asking all of Korhal to go to war against us a week ago. If you had taken care of him that would have never happened. He's gone underground now, and something is going to happen soon, I can feel it. All because of you."
"There was resistance, Sir," explained Laine.
"What the hell are you talking about, "resistance"," Burns spat in disgust.
"Two people with low caliber semi-automatics rescued him, and escaped," added Reeman.
Burns thought about that for a moment as he stared at the floor, but didn't come up with anything. "Don't think I'm finished..." Burns was interupted by a rumbling from the east.
All three went to the east end of the room. A circular cloud of thick smoke was dispersing from a section of the fence. Burns returned to the comm. equipment, and established a line to the base's tactical room, "This is Col. Burns, what's the situation?"
"Yes, Sir, there has been an explosive device detonated at the east wall.
"I know that, anything else," demanded Burns irately.
"Not at this time, Sir," came the reply.
Burns shut down the com, and looked over at Laine and Reeman, still at the window. "You still have some explaining to do," Burns said. Then he slid open the trapdoor and exited.
Commander Norbert was already in the tactical room which contained displays and kiosks to monitor and communicate with bases and forces all over Korhal. The room had no windows, and one large screen on the wall opposite the sliding door that permitted entrance.
"Can you give me visual?" Norbert asked of his assistant. The screen lit up with the image of the wrought iron fence on the east side, that had been constructed more for a pleasant facade than actual defense, but the center of the picture was filled with the same dispersing circular cloud of smoke that Burns had seen. "That's odd, there's too much smoke for it to be a normal explosive."
Tall shapes gained definition in the gray haze, and marines began to materialize from out of it. "Why are our marines wearing red suits?" Questioned Norbert.
"We don't have any red suits, sir," answered the assistant.
The Korhal millitiamen began firing on the marines that had gathered, suppressing them easily.
"Put the base on alert, order all units to the breach in the east wall, we are under attack," Norbert ordered, calm, but surprised.
'How did they get powered armor?' Thought Norbert.
As most of the marines on the base concentrated at the breach the millitiamen were being pushed back through the it. Then another gray-brown blast threw up earth and wrought iron. The main gate had been blasted, and similar red suited militiamen began pouring through, making for the flank of the white suited Alpha Squadron marines. The defenders were being flanked, and though they were inflicting more casualties then they were taking, they were heavily outnumbered. The millitia slowly pushed the marines back toward the main facility of the base.
Norbert was awestruck. The rage of the militia poured forth like the hail of bullets from their guns, but it was clumsy, and relied too much on emotion. The marines made them pay with well aimed bursts which struck much more precisely.
"Sir, I'm receiving reports from several bases around Korhal that they are under heavy attack.
"Give me the Fredricksburg," Norbert told his assistant.
Within a minute Captain Morell of the Fredricksburg was on the screen. He was an attentive fellow with long thick sideburns that were well kept, the rest of his light brown hair was covered by his captains hat. He had light blue eyes that always looked glassy, a cleft chin, and his cheeks held a pink hue. "What can I do for you, commander?" Morell greeted, giving a slight smile with his thin lips.
"I need to speak with General Duke immediately," replied Norbert, now with a nervous vehemence.
"He's in TacCom now, one moment," said Morell. The screen changed to show several pieces of equipment and personnel moving about before Duke managed to get in front of the monitor.
"Yes, commander," he said simply.
"This base, as well as several others, have come under heavy attack," alerted Norbert.
"Yes, I know. I'm in TacCom, I'm getting the same reports," informed Duke, with an unimpressed drawl.
"I don't know if we can hold out against them, I'm requesting reinforcements to be dropped in imediately," Norbert informed. The commander noticed on a separate monitor near him a camera feed that displayed the marines taking refuge in the building firing on the militiamen from windows and doorways.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," responded Duke.
Norbert's stomach knotted imediately and he unconsciously swallowed, "I don't understand," was his only remark.
"I'm not sending any more forces onto the planet's surface. I'm orderin' all outposts, including yours, to evacuate, and return to the fleet," Duke insinuated.
"We're surrendering?" asked Norbet after inhaling deeply.
"I won't argue with you about it," the general went to cut the signal but paused, "Oh, and make sure you bring back Burns with you, or don't bother coming back."
The screen went blank, and Norbert just stood there for a moment, thinking while staring into space. "Sound the evac order, and shut down everything. We have to get to the aerofield, and take the dropships out," Norbert ordered.
Ben and Pavel were joining the main gate assault force that had converged on the east side of the base's main facility. The purplish-green grass was ground beneath their feet as it was trampled by their heavy suits.
"You ready, Pavel?" Ben checked as they entered the zone of combat.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," affirmed Pavel as he focused forward. He saw a few marine stragglers, and, planting his feet began blasting away at them, his teeth barred. After the first couple of bursts, Pavel began squeezing the trigger over and over in his frustration, causing nothing to happen. One of the marines aimed at Pavel, and then fell down dead from Ben's gunfire.
Ben stood next to Pavel, "You can't shoot like that, it drains the capacitor and wears it out."
"I forgot," Pavel said.
"Don't," said Ben as they reached the building.
Ben hefted his weighty Gauss rifle to his sholder to try and increase his accuracy to hit the marines in the windows. Scores of militiamen fell, and more than once Pavel and Ben took hits on their armor from the shrapnel of others' armor as it was gutted, some pieces causing small holes in their suits. Then the marines disappeared and the gunfire stopped.
Ben spoke through the suit comm. to the militia, "Alright, we're going to have to go in and clean it out. This is going to be some nasty, close quarters stuff, so be on guard."
Ben entered with Pavel close behind. They made their way through dull but eerie hallways with their footsteps echoing and drowning out any other noise, but they were all empty. As they continued, Ben directed men to branch off into alternate hallways until only a few remained with him.
As they entered a mess hall, they saw marines escaping. Both sides opened fire at the same time. Ben fell on his side as he fired to dodge their shots, and took one out. Pavel crouched as much as the suit would allow him, and got another, the other militiamen took out two before they were killed. The last marine hit Pavel with a short burst before running away. Pavel was forced back to sit against the wall. His chest armor was twisted and torn apart, showing the plastics and wires beneath. One more good shot would end him. Ben went over to him.
"I'm alright, but it sure hurt," Pavel said groaning and clutching his chest while wincing in pain. Ben slowly helped him up after a moment, and motioned for him to keep going. They continued after the marine, and turned a corner to find two marines facing them, guns ready.
The Marines went to shoot, but one contacted the other through his suit comm., "Wait, those are the two guys from the courthouse!" Privates Laine and Reeman just stood there as Pavel and Ben waited for their response.
"What are you waiting for? Shoot them and lets go!" Exclaimed Col. Burns from behind the metal wall that the Private's suits made.
"Commander, these are the two men we told you about," they explained.
"I don't care, kill them," Burns insisted.
Laine and Reeman just stood there. "I don't have time for this shit," said Burns in frustration before running down the hall.
Another group of militia joined Ben and Pavel. "Hold your fire," advised Ben over the com.
"Drop your weapons," yelled one of the militiamen. Reeman and Laine did as they were told, and Pavel pushed past them. He wanted this commander, he wanted answers. Ben ran after him.
Col. Burns could hear the heavy, clanging footsteps as reached one of the west exits just as a marine was exiting. Burns told him to stop, and exited the building. He stood in front of the marine who was in the doorway. "Open your helmet," Burns said. The marine pressed a switch under the left forearm of his suit and the visor swiveled above his face. Burns removed his pistol pressed it up against the marine's forehead, and pulled the trigger with a 'pop'. The man's cranial contents splattered the back of his bubble helmet, and as his body went slack Burns did his best to guide it into a position that blocked the door. The barrel of the pistol billowed smoke, and Burns blew it clear before continuing to run.
Pavel came to the blocked door and unloaded his rifle at Burns, but he was already out of range. He tried to move the exosuit, but it was lodged in the doorway. Pavel would have given up after this, but now things were different, he had to know what that commander knew. The anger welled up in him, and he ceased to think clearly, something Pavel had almost never done. He switched open the back panel of the exosuit, and stepped out of it. He hopped through the exit wearing only a tight fitting body suit and chased after Burns.
Pavel's anger gave him a speed boost and he began to catch up. Burns unloaded his pistol and reholstered it, but missed Pavel in his haste. Burns reached the control tower before stopping for breath. Beads of sweat dribbled down his brow as his heart throbbed and his ragged breathing began to normalize. Most of the dropships had already taken off. Pavel caught up with him, and they took a few moments to catch their breath.
"Were you...the one...who had...my family killed?" Asked Pavel.
Burns stared at him a moment then, "Oh yeah, I've seen you in intelligence reports, a resistance leader."
"Answer my question," said Pavel with considerable ire.
"I've killed a lot of people, but I don't have anything to do with you," replied Burns while he looked over Pavel's shoulder.
He noticed that the advancing millitia would soon be in firing range of them. Rather than staying out in the open, Burns dashed into the control tower, and to the elevator in the center that opened as soon as he pressed the call button.
Before the door fully closed, Pavel squeezed in. Burns gave him a solid swing to the jaw causing Pavel to stumble back, but as the elevator lurched Burns also stumbled and braced the shinny metal wall with a loud dull thump. Pavel used the opportunity to kick one of his legs out and while Burns was on his knees, Pavel pulled his head back and punched down into his face. Burns pulled his legs out from under him as the punch forced him down, and, landing on his lower back, curved his back so that he rocked onto his shoulders with his legs above him, and pushed them up giving Pavel a double kick to the chin causing his head to snap back as he voiced a cry through his closed teeth. He stumbled back again causing the side of the elevator to thud again. Pavel was stunned, but had just enough sense and adrenaline to lean to the side as Burns tried to get in another shot to the head. His fist hit the metal wall hard, giving a lighter thud sound. Burns pulled his balled hand to his chest, wincing, and held his brused knuckles in pain. Pavel tried to return the favor while still dazed, but tripped and only scored a glancing but strong blow to the ribs on Burns' side. Burns used his upper arm to shield his hurt side. Pavel, now on the ground, pulled one of Burn's legs from under him, but he compensated and landed with his knee on Pavel's back then proceeded to grab Pavel's hair and repeatedly smash his face into the ascending floor as Pavel made grunts. Pavel, overcome with rage, yelled and ripped Burns' hand from his hair, and bit into it, drawing blood. Burns gave a deep shriek, and stood against the elevator door nursing a twice injured hand. Pavel returned to a crouch position, and Burns pressed himself through the opening elevator door.
Burns limped through the top level of the control tower with its consoles and detection systems. Pavel wasn't far behind, and as Burns climbed the ladder to the roof he turned with his back against the rungs and pushed off pressing his heels to Pavel's shoulders and pushing off of him back to the ladder. Pavel was sent to floor while Burns continued up to the roof.
As Pavel followed, his anger and adrenaline was beginning to wear off leaving him drained. His eyes were swelling and his nose was bleeding, and his now swollen lip had split. Dusk was fast approaching, and shades of purple stained the sky. Pavel joined Burns on the flat roof where the detection and communication fixtures sat. The roof's edge was surrounded by blinking lights. Down below the last three dropships took off, but one changed its course.
"Who killed my family?!" Shouted Pavel, causing a dribble of blood to spill out of the corner of his mouth.
"I have no idea, but as far as I care, this whole planet can burn," Burns yelled back.
The lone dropship approached as its ramp lowered. Burns looked toward it for a second then began to limp toward it. Pavel hurled himself to his legs, tackling Burns. He responded by pulling out his empty pistol and clubbing Pavel in the back of the head causing him to go limp. Burns untangled himself, and continued to the dropship. He heard Pavel coming up on him again, running sloppy like he was having trouble standing, and this time turned and tossed the pistol at him, impacting Pavel in the shoulder. Pavel did a quarter turn, and fell to his side clutching his shoulder. Burns reached the edge of the roof and at the right moment hopped on the ramp and into the dropship, which hovered until the ramp closed and then ascended until the white speck dissapeared into the purple. The last reserves of Pavel's energy left him, and he now felt the pain in his face and head. His body was sore all over, and waves of pain radiated from the center of his brain, like a railroad hammer was hitting it, and his ears rang. As the sky became black, Pavel shivered in his body suit and lost his grip on awareness.
Burns had to focus to keep his balance as the dropship he found himself in continued to ascend. Finally he had to grab onto one of the large harnesses that were being used by suited marines to secure themselves in their seats as the vessel jostled them, before his hurt knee gave out. He now noticed that all of the seats, except one, were occupied with marines who were staring at him. The one at the far end of the ship, near the door to the cockpit, contained Col. Norbert himself. Even though the ship was still at an angle to continue its ascent into space, Norbert unbolted his harness, and released its mechanism, causing it to swing up above his head. He pushed himself out of the seat, and carefully stepped to the center of the poorly lit cabin. Burns' face became puzzled. Norbert looked at him for a moment before breaking the silence that acompanied the sound of the thrusters that propulsed the wide ship out of Korhal's atmosphere.
"Aren't you going to thank me?" Norbert said with no expectation of thanks.
Burns raised a corner of his mouth, but still didn't look particularly happy, "Never thought you would pick me up."
"Actually, General Duke said not to come back without you," Norbert paused a moment, oblivious to the increasingly nervous stares coming from the harnessed marines, "I was going to leave you anyway and tell Duke you had died, which would have been the truth, but when we were boarding I saw you enter the tower, and then on the roof with the other guy, and my better judgment compelled me to have the pilot pick you up. What was that anyway?"
The dropship was almost out of the atmosphere now and the artificial gravity was making it easier to stand up straight.
Burns gave Norbert a sour look, "It was some nut who wanted to know which confederate killed his family. Relentless bastard, but not a coward."
Then Burns remembered the entire situation, and glared at Norbert. He would have walked up to him and imposed himself on him if his hand and knee hurt less, but as it was he simply yelled, "Why the hell did you evacuate the base? You know it was my specific orders to not lose the base under any condition!"
Norbert responded by raising his voice in irritation, "Your general was the one who ordered the base evacuated, every base on Korhal evacuated as a matter of fact."
"You're lying," declared Burns. A light turned on, bathing the room in a spooky contrast of bright red accompanied with black shadows. This signified that the pilot had turned on the cabin speaker.
The woman's smooth, slightly nasal voice grabbed everyone's attention from the speaker, "We've been cleared to dock with the Fredricksburg, should be there in under an hour."
"You see, he's expecting us, you can ask him personally," asserted Norbert.
Burns just grunted as he walked past Norbert, who's eyes followed him, doing his best to hide his limp. Burns dropped into Norbert's seat, pulled down the harness, and locked it back into place.
Burns gave him a wide, patronizing, grin, "Thanks," he said.
Norbert looked at him with a dormant anger, and then realized that he was going to have to stand for the rest of the trip.
As that hour or so passed, the dropship approached the shadowed underbelly of the Fredricksburg. General Duke and Captain Morell stood on the deck of the docking bay behind an airtight wall. Most of the bay had been vacuumed free of gases before allowing craft to enter, as air was far too valuable on a battlecruiser to waste during docking procedures. A section of the floor retracted, and the dropship slowly boosted up and into the large, fifty foot high docking bay. The floor hatch then returned to a closed, locked position and the wide, pug-nosed dropship, along with several others, powered down its hover and landed. Several yellow lights periodically flashed indicating that the bay was still in a state of vacuum. As the two men waited for the bay to pressurize they chatted.
"I'm sorry about the hasty arrangements we set up for you, if you would like we can find something a little more suitable," appologized Captain Morell.
"It's fine for now, Captain. I'm not picky. Besides being in TacCom is the best place to be for information," assured Duke. After a few more minutes of this, the yellow lights became green indicating that the atmosphere was not fully pressureized, but that it was safe to be in. The door they were standing by became unlocked, and Duke pressed a button to cause it to slide open. A strong wind kicked up and pulled them inside the bay. The door closed on its own. Their ears ached from the low pressure. Duke knew what specific bay Burn's and Norbert's dropship had entered from, and reached it in a minute. As the bay became fully pressurized, the lights stopped, and the ramps of the dropships began to open.
"Norbert sounded a little flustered. I don't think he is going to agree with your orders," said Morell, raising his eyebrows.
"Not anything I can do about that, orders are orders, not like he's in a place to tell me what to do," stated Duke.
The Captain just nodded. The marines in the ship marched out and formed a line at attention, saluting. Duke and the Captain returned it. "There'll be officers outside to show you where you'll be staying, go ahead and get outta those suits, a take some R&R, you've earned it," explained the General.
The men marched as a line toward the exit sending their footsteps ringing across the bay. Several others were also leaving the bay. Norbert and Burns were next to exit the darkened interior of the dropship. The four men exchanged salutes. "So, I'm sure I already know your first question," began Duke.
Norbert acknowledged him, irked, "Why did you order the full evacuation of Korhal?"
Burns realized that Norbert wasn't lying and joined the conversation, "I thought that it was vital to hold Augustgrad, but now letting go of the entire planet and handing it to the rebels?"
"To tell you the truth, it wasn't my order. The people back on Tarsonis gave this call," explained Duke.
"But, why?" Norbert asked simply.
"You see, as I've told Col. Burns, this is a very sensitive matter. The Confederacy must at all times appear to have some measure of control over the situation. If we became involved in a conflict that gave the appearance that we were struggling against the rebels, then other colonies might get it in their damn fool heads that they too could and should revolt. I think it goes without explaining that such a scenario is something they're trying to avoid. I was told to withdraw all forces and sit tight if we found ourselves in such a position. This way we're not stuck in a difficult battle, but we're also not surrendering to the rebels," continued Duke.
"So we just do nothing now?" Asked Norbert incredulously.
"That's right," replied the General in a suddenly harsher voice, "I briefed command of the core of the problem on Korhal," Duke flashed a glance at Burns to remind him of just how much he screwed up, "and they said they were sending a little somethin' from Nova Squadron to take care of things."
Everyone looked at Duke with a bewildered intensity. When Nova Squadron got involved, things got strange.
Buller, Benjamin Gaardnar, and Angus Mengsk stood atop the main facility of the former Confederate base of Augustgrad. The smoke from their bombs had nearly cleared away, but a few gray, serpentine wisps still rose from the craters left behind. From the roof they could clearly see where the fighting took place. The corpses of marines and militiamen littered the ground. From the amount of red militiamen suits compared to white Alpha Squadron suits, it looked like two or three militiamen had fallen for every marine lost. The thought was depressing, but not surprising. The number would have been worse if not for the sudden unexplainable retreat. For now those who had survived were pulling the bodies from the suits and piling them to be burned in the crater pits. They had to try and salvage as many suits as possible, and repair what they could. Nobody knew when they might need them. The recent events had left a lot of stray thoughts on the three men's minds, and a lot of unanswered questions on their tongues.
"So, how's Pavel doing?" Angus asked Ben.
"Most of the damage is just cuts and bruises, but he has a bad concussion. The people we had look him over said that he may never wake up. We just have to wait and see. Problem is that we might not ever stop waiting," Ben reported, spitting on the cement roof.
"What happened to him, is what I want to know," continued Angus as he watched the militiamen move about the killing field.
"It must have been that commander he was chasing after that did it to him. Why did he chase after him like that? I can't believe he would do something so stupid," said Ben.
Angus turned to look at Ben, "Ever since the bombing, he's been having problems. I can't help but feel sorry for him, but if he keeps getting these self destructive impulses, he isn't going to last long."
Buller had remained strangly quiet and looked away the entire time they spoke of Pavel. Now he went to the flagpole and removed the last Alpha Squadron flag with the blocky "A" and the hawk symbol that they derived their nickname, "The Blood Hawks", from. Buller rolled up the flag and took out his lighter. "We don't have anything to give a toast with, but we have this," Buller said before he lit the flag and dropped it in front of him as the other two gathered around it, "To the men."
"To the men," repeated Ben and Mengsk, referring to those who labored and had died below them.
The flag continued to bend and curl in the flame as Buller changed the subject, "Using the comms at this base we've been able to establish contact with other bases that are now under our control. They've told us that all their bases, that all the bases on Korhal, have been abandoned."
The burning flag was now caught up in a draft, and fluttered, no longer burning, into the bright sky, where they lost sight of the injured, but not destroyed flag.
"I guess we should celebrate," said Ben woodenly, "but I sure don't feel like it now."
"No, not now, but when the time comes, and the people have witnessed our victory, we will," affirmed Mengsk turning to face the field again with one of his hands in a fist, "We owe it to those men who now lie still."
Mengsk began to feel his empowerment building ever so slowly, like a stalagmite growing taller and broader over the hundreds of years as every single drop falls upon it and adds a few particles of sediment. He spoke once more affirming his strength, and his faith, "This is our world now."
Part 4
Benjamin Gaardnar, now a militiaman, stood on the floor of the vault, his Gauss rifle held pointing up in one hand as its cartridge was ejected, while the other had already removed a full one from the ammo compartment of his suit. He slammed it into the underside of the weapon, and returned to a fire ready position as the gun's capacitor charged up. Ben fired single bursts from the gun to demonstrate the length of the interval between firing bursts that the rifle needed to recharge the capacitor. Ben knew that ammo would become too precious to have every man waste entire bursts on training.
"Make sure you remember the interval between bursts, it will help to maximize your firing rate," advised Ben.
With that he dismissed the troops that he had been instructing. Ben had tried to give as much training as he could to the new Korhal militiamen. After his experiences at the broadcast studio, he knew that if the men had no training, they wouldn't last long against disciplined space marines. Still, there was only so much he could do, especially with so little time to prepare. The good news was that an amazing amount of people answered Angus' call. Ben also hoped to use any remaining element of surprise to their advantage. It seemed to be their best weapon.
Pavel came up to Ben, having also donned a suit of powered armor. Ben could tell that Pavel had changed after the sudden death of his family. 'Not surprising, shit happens' Ben thought to himself. Pavel no longer concerned himself with idle chatter when speaking. Anyone who happened to lock eyes with him would receive an icy stare that would shrink their stomach to the size of a marble.
Not long after the life shattering event, Buller sarcastically asked Pavel what the hell his problem was. In response, Pavel walked over and threw a punch across Buller's tiny chin and told him to shut up. He fell on his butt and shut up right away as Pavel walked off. Ben explained the situation later, and that was the last time Buller ever gave Pavel any trouble.
It wasn't that Pavel had become a hardass. There was a general feeling of resentment within, and a desensitzation that had added a more direct, practical element to Pavel's nature. It was actually quite subtle, but Ben had been around him enough to experience those few times when those traits ran strong in Pavel. If anything Pavel had become the voice of reason for the group, advising the use of caution in their plans. He certainly wanted revenge, but knew that they had to be patient. Pavel had taken it upon himself to learn how to use a suit and a Gauss rifle. He wanted to take an active role in the battle against the Confederacy's Augustgrad base that was soon to come.
"So, what do you think?" Pavel asked how he looked in the armor with its red color scheme.
"I think you'll do fine," said Ben with a chuckle, "How you feelin'?"
Pavel touched to backside on his suit remembering the now stitched wounds where they had removed the glass shards.
"I'm fine, physically," said Pavel staring off into space. Angus, in plainclothes, joined the two, who were much taller than him in their suits, "You know..I would join you in one of those...but I don't..."
Ben broke in, "Don't worry about it, Angus, the battlefield isn't your place. I wouldn't let you go even if you wanted to. Where did Buller go to anyway?"
Mengsk nodded toward the men still loading trucks with shipments. The top level had been emptied, but the cargo elevator was still bringing up gear from the lower floors, "He's organizing more weapons shipments. Groups all over Korhal have joined our militia, and they've all indicated that they're ready.
"It's a good idea," Pavel said over his suit speaker as a truck engine struggled to life and another shipment drove off, "If we attack the larger Confederate outposts simultaneously, and take them, the rest should be easy."
"Now that we actually have enough people in enough places, we can do that," added Mengsk.
"I'm done talkin' about it," asserted Ben, "It's time we did this thing."
Pavel nodded as they started to walk to the area where they kept their suits. "Just a little longer, and it will all go off like clockwork," he said.
Col. Simon Burns stood in large, circular, windowed room on the third level of the base's main facility. The windows gave a three hundred sixty degree view of the base. At the center of the room sat communications equipment for observers to use if they needed to report. There was also a metal trapdoor that looked similar to the floor, but slid open to reveal a stair next to the equipment. However, as dusk approached, Burns ignored the impressive view and directed a stern look at Privates Laine and Reeman.
"Care to tell me what really happened at the courthouse, Privates?"
The two men grew tense, and then Reeman spoke up, "One of them got away, Sir."
Burns yelled at the top of his voice, "I know one of them got away!" The two marines cringed ever so slightly.
He took a few seconds to regain his composure and asked, "Do you even know who you let get away?"
"We couldn't tell, Sir," answered Laine as he continued to stand at attention.
"Senator Angus Mengsk," Burns said, "The very one who just gave a speech over pirated satelight signals asking all of Korhal to go to war against us a week ago. If you had taken care of him that would have never happened. He's gone underground now, and something is going to happen soon, I can feel it. All because of you."
"There was resistance, Sir," explained Laine.
"What the hell are you talking about, "resistance"," Burns spat in disgust.
"Two people with low caliber semi-automatics rescued him, and escaped," added Reeman.
Burns thought about that for a moment as he stared at the floor, but didn't come up with anything. "Don't think I'm finished..." Burns was interupted by a rumbling from the east.
All three went to the east end of the room. A circular cloud of thick smoke was dispersing from a section of the fence. Burns returned to the comm. equipment, and established a line to the base's tactical room, "This is Col. Burns, what's the situation?"
"Yes, Sir, there has been an explosive device detonated at the east wall.
"I know that, anything else," demanded Burns irately.
"Not at this time, Sir," came the reply.
Burns shut down the com, and looked over at Laine and Reeman, still at the window. "You still have some explaining to do," Burns said. Then he slid open the trapdoor and exited.
Commander Norbert was already in the tactical room which contained displays and kiosks to monitor and communicate with bases and forces all over Korhal. The room had no windows, and one large screen on the wall opposite the sliding door that permitted entrance.
"Can you give me visual?" Norbert asked of his assistant. The screen lit up with the image of the wrought iron fence on the east side, that had been constructed more for a pleasant facade than actual defense, but the center of the picture was filled with the same dispersing circular cloud of smoke that Burns had seen. "That's odd, there's too much smoke for it to be a normal explosive."
Tall shapes gained definition in the gray haze, and marines began to materialize from out of it. "Why are our marines wearing red suits?" Questioned Norbert.
"We don't have any red suits, sir," answered the assistant.
The Korhal millitiamen began firing on the marines that had gathered, suppressing them easily.
"Put the base on alert, order all units to the breach in the east wall, we are under attack," Norbert ordered, calm, but surprised.
'How did they get powered armor?' Thought Norbert.
As most of the marines on the base concentrated at the breach the millitiamen were being pushed back through the it. Then another gray-brown blast threw up earth and wrought iron. The main gate had been blasted, and similar red suited militiamen began pouring through, making for the flank of the white suited Alpha Squadron marines. The defenders were being flanked, and though they were inflicting more casualties then they were taking, they were heavily outnumbered. The millitia slowly pushed the marines back toward the main facility of the base.
Norbert was awestruck. The rage of the militia poured forth like the hail of bullets from their guns, but it was clumsy, and relied too much on emotion. The marines made them pay with well aimed bursts which struck much more precisely.
"Sir, I'm receiving reports from several bases around Korhal that they are under heavy attack.
"Give me the Fredricksburg," Norbert told his assistant.
Within a minute Captain Morell of the Fredricksburg was on the screen. He was an attentive fellow with long thick sideburns that were well kept, the rest of his light brown hair was covered by his captains hat. He had light blue eyes that always looked glassy, a cleft chin, and his cheeks held a pink hue. "What can I do for you, commander?" Morell greeted, giving a slight smile with his thin lips.
"I need to speak with General Duke immediately," replied Norbert, now with a nervous vehemence.
"He's in TacCom now, one moment," said Morell. The screen changed to show several pieces of equipment and personnel moving about before Duke managed to get in front of the monitor.
"Yes, commander," he said simply.
"This base, as well as several others, have come under heavy attack," alerted Norbert.
"Yes, I know. I'm in TacCom, I'm getting the same reports," informed Duke, with an unimpressed drawl.
"I don't know if we can hold out against them, I'm requesting reinforcements to be dropped in imediately," Norbert informed. The commander noticed on a separate monitor near him a camera feed that displayed the marines taking refuge in the building firing on the militiamen from windows and doorways.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," responded Duke.
Norbert's stomach knotted imediately and he unconsciously swallowed, "I don't understand," was his only remark.
"I'm not sending any more forces onto the planet's surface. I'm orderin' all outposts, including yours, to evacuate, and return to the fleet," Duke insinuated.
"We're surrendering?" asked Norbet after inhaling deeply.
"I won't argue with you about it," the general went to cut the signal but paused, "Oh, and make sure you bring back Burns with you, or don't bother coming back."
The screen went blank, and Norbert just stood there for a moment, thinking while staring into space. "Sound the evac order, and shut down everything. We have to get to the aerofield, and take the dropships out," Norbert ordered.
Ben and Pavel were joining the main gate assault force that had converged on the east side of the base's main facility. The purplish-green grass was ground beneath their feet as it was trampled by their heavy suits.
"You ready, Pavel?" Ben checked as they entered the zone of combat.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," affirmed Pavel as he focused forward. He saw a few marine stragglers, and, planting his feet began blasting away at them, his teeth barred. After the first couple of bursts, Pavel began squeezing the trigger over and over in his frustration, causing nothing to happen. One of the marines aimed at Pavel, and then fell down dead from Ben's gunfire.
Ben stood next to Pavel, "You can't shoot like that, it drains the capacitor and wears it out."
"I forgot," Pavel said.
"Don't," said Ben as they reached the building.
Ben hefted his weighty Gauss rifle to his sholder to try and increase his accuracy to hit the marines in the windows. Scores of militiamen fell, and more than once Pavel and Ben took hits on their armor from the shrapnel of others' armor as it was gutted, some pieces causing small holes in their suits. Then the marines disappeared and the gunfire stopped.
Ben spoke through the suit comm. to the militia, "Alright, we're going to have to go in and clean it out. This is going to be some nasty, close quarters stuff, so be on guard."
Ben entered with Pavel close behind. They made their way through dull but eerie hallways with their footsteps echoing and drowning out any other noise, but they were all empty. As they continued, Ben directed men to branch off into alternate hallways until only a few remained with him.
As they entered a mess hall, they saw marines escaping. Both sides opened fire at the same time. Ben fell on his side as he fired to dodge their shots, and took one out. Pavel crouched as much as the suit would allow him, and got another, the other militiamen took out two before they were killed. The last marine hit Pavel with a short burst before running away. Pavel was forced back to sit against the wall. His chest armor was twisted and torn apart, showing the plastics and wires beneath. One more good shot would end him. Ben went over to him.
"I'm alright, but it sure hurt," Pavel said groaning and clutching his chest while wincing in pain. Ben slowly helped him up after a moment, and motioned for him to keep going. They continued after the marine, and turned a corner to find two marines facing them, guns ready.
The Marines went to shoot, but one contacted the other through his suit comm., "Wait, those are the two guys from the courthouse!" Privates Laine and Reeman just stood there as Pavel and Ben waited for their response.
"What are you waiting for? Shoot them and lets go!" Exclaimed Col. Burns from behind the metal wall that the Private's suits made.
"Commander, these are the two men we told you about," they explained.
"I don't care, kill them," Burns insisted.
Laine and Reeman just stood there. "I don't have time for this shit," said Burns in frustration before running down the hall.
Another group of militia joined Ben and Pavel. "Hold your fire," advised Ben over the com.
"Drop your weapons," yelled one of the militiamen. Reeman and Laine did as they were told, and Pavel pushed past them. He wanted this commander, he wanted answers. Ben ran after him.
Col. Burns could hear the heavy, clanging footsteps as reached one of the west exits just as a marine was exiting. Burns told him to stop, and exited the building. He stood in front of the marine who was in the doorway. "Open your helmet," Burns said. The marine pressed a switch under the left forearm of his suit and the visor swiveled above his face. Burns removed his pistol pressed it up against the marine's forehead, and pulled the trigger with a 'pop'. The man's cranial contents splattered the back of his bubble helmet, and as his body went slack Burns did his best to guide it into a position that blocked the door. The barrel of the pistol billowed smoke, and Burns blew it clear before continuing to run.
Pavel came to the blocked door and unloaded his rifle at Burns, but he was already out of range. He tried to move the exosuit, but it was lodged in the doorway. Pavel would have given up after this, but now things were different, he had to know what that commander knew. The anger welled up in him, and he ceased to think clearly, something Pavel had almost never done. He switched open the back panel of the exosuit, and stepped out of it. He hopped through the exit wearing only a tight fitting body suit and chased after Burns.
Pavel's anger gave him a speed boost and he began to catch up. Burns unloaded his pistol and reholstered it, but missed Pavel in his haste. Burns reached the control tower before stopping for breath. Beads of sweat dribbled down his brow as his heart throbbed and his ragged breathing began to normalize. Most of the dropships had already taken off. Pavel caught up with him, and they took a few moments to catch their breath.
"Were you...the one...who had...my family killed?" Asked Pavel.
Burns stared at him a moment then, "Oh yeah, I've seen you in intelligence reports, a resistance leader."
"Answer my question," said Pavel with considerable ire.
"I've killed a lot of people, but I don't have anything to do with you," replied Burns while he looked over Pavel's shoulder.
He noticed that the advancing millitia would soon be in firing range of them. Rather than staying out in the open, Burns dashed into the control tower, and to the elevator in the center that opened as soon as he pressed the call button.
Before the door fully closed, Pavel squeezed in. Burns gave him a solid swing to the jaw causing Pavel to stumble back, but as the elevator lurched Burns also stumbled and braced the shinny metal wall with a loud dull thump. Pavel used the opportunity to kick one of his legs out and while Burns was on his knees, Pavel pulled his head back and punched down into his face. Burns pulled his legs out from under him as the punch forced him down, and, landing on his lower back, curved his back so that he rocked onto his shoulders with his legs above him, and pushed them up giving Pavel a double kick to the chin causing his head to snap back as he voiced a cry through his closed teeth. He stumbled back again causing the side of the elevator to thud again. Pavel was stunned, but had just enough sense and adrenaline to lean to the side as Burns tried to get in another shot to the head. His fist hit the metal wall hard, giving a lighter thud sound. Burns pulled his balled hand to his chest, wincing, and held his brused knuckles in pain. Pavel tried to return the favor while still dazed, but tripped and only scored a glancing but strong blow to the ribs on Burns' side. Burns used his upper arm to shield his hurt side. Pavel, now on the ground, pulled one of Burn's legs from under him, but he compensated and landed with his knee on Pavel's back then proceeded to grab Pavel's hair and repeatedly smash his face into the ascending floor as Pavel made grunts. Pavel, overcome with rage, yelled and ripped Burns' hand from his hair, and bit into it, drawing blood. Burns gave a deep shriek, and stood against the elevator door nursing a twice injured hand. Pavel returned to a crouch position, and Burns pressed himself through the opening elevator door.
Burns limped through the top level of the control tower with its consoles and detection systems. Pavel wasn't far behind, and as Burns climbed the ladder to the roof he turned with his back against the rungs and pushed off pressing his heels to Pavel's shoulders and pushing off of him back to the ladder. Pavel was sent to floor while Burns continued up to the roof.
As Pavel followed, his anger and adrenaline was beginning to wear off leaving him drained. His eyes were swelling and his nose was bleeding, and his now swollen lip had split. Dusk was fast approaching, and shades of purple stained the sky. Pavel joined Burns on the flat roof where the detection and communication fixtures sat. The roof's edge was surrounded by blinking lights. Down below the last three dropships took off, but one changed its course.
"Who killed my family?!" Shouted Pavel, causing a dribble of blood to spill out of the corner of his mouth.
"I have no idea, but as far as I care, this whole planet can burn," Burns yelled back.
The lone dropship approached as its ramp lowered. Burns looked toward it for a second then began to limp toward it. Pavel hurled himself to his legs, tackling Burns. He responded by pulling out his empty pistol and clubbing Pavel in the back of the head causing him to go limp. Burns untangled himself, and continued to the dropship. He heard Pavel coming up on him again, running sloppy like he was having trouble standing, and this time turned and tossed the pistol at him, impacting Pavel in the shoulder. Pavel did a quarter turn, and fell to his side clutching his shoulder. Burns reached the edge of the roof and at the right moment hopped on the ramp and into the dropship, which hovered until the ramp closed and then ascended until the white speck dissapeared into the purple. The last reserves of Pavel's energy left him, and he now felt the pain in his face and head. His body was sore all over, and waves of pain radiated from the center of his brain, like a railroad hammer was hitting it, and his ears rang. As the sky became black, Pavel shivered in his body suit and lost his grip on awareness.
Burns had to focus to keep his balance as the dropship he found himself in continued to ascend. Finally he had to grab onto one of the large harnesses that were being used by suited marines to secure themselves in their seats as the vessel jostled them, before his hurt knee gave out. He now noticed that all of the seats, except one, were occupied with marines who were staring at him. The one at the far end of the ship, near the door to the cockpit, contained Col. Norbert himself. Even though the ship was still at an angle to continue its ascent into space, Norbert unbolted his harness, and released its mechanism, causing it to swing up above his head. He pushed himself out of the seat, and carefully stepped to the center of the poorly lit cabin. Burns' face became puzzled. Norbert looked at him for a moment before breaking the silence that acompanied the sound of the thrusters that propulsed the wide ship out of Korhal's atmosphere.
"Aren't you going to thank me?" Norbert said with no expectation of thanks.
Burns raised a corner of his mouth, but still didn't look particularly happy, "Never thought you would pick me up."
"Actually, General Duke said not to come back without you," Norbert paused a moment, oblivious to the increasingly nervous stares coming from the harnessed marines, "I was going to leave you anyway and tell Duke you had died, which would have been the truth, but when we were boarding I saw you enter the tower, and then on the roof with the other guy, and my better judgment compelled me to have the pilot pick you up. What was that anyway?"
The dropship was almost out of the atmosphere now and the artificial gravity was making it easier to stand up straight.
Burns gave Norbert a sour look, "It was some nut who wanted to know which confederate killed his family. Relentless bastard, but not a coward."
Then Burns remembered the entire situation, and glared at Norbert. He would have walked up to him and imposed himself on him if his hand and knee hurt less, but as it was he simply yelled, "Why the hell did you evacuate the base? You know it was my specific orders to not lose the base under any condition!"
Norbert responded by raising his voice in irritation, "Your general was the one who ordered the base evacuated, every base on Korhal evacuated as a matter of fact."
"You're lying," declared Burns. A light turned on, bathing the room in a spooky contrast of bright red accompanied with black shadows. This signified that the pilot had turned on the cabin speaker.
The woman's smooth, slightly nasal voice grabbed everyone's attention from the speaker, "We've been cleared to dock with the Fredricksburg, should be there in under an hour."
"You see, he's expecting us, you can ask him personally," asserted Norbert.
Burns just grunted as he walked past Norbert, who's eyes followed him, doing his best to hide his limp. Burns dropped into Norbert's seat, pulled down the harness, and locked it back into place.
Burns gave him a wide, patronizing, grin, "Thanks," he said.
Norbert looked at him with a dormant anger, and then realized that he was going to have to stand for the rest of the trip.
As that hour or so passed, the dropship approached the shadowed underbelly of the Fredricksburg. General Duke and Captain Morell stood on the deck of the docking bay behind an airtight wall. Most of the bay had been vacuumed free of gases before allowing craft to enter, as air was far too valuable on a battlecruiser to waste during docking procedures. A section of the floor retracted, and the dropship slowly boosted up and into the large, fifty foot high docking bay. The floor hatch then returned to a closed, locked position and the wide, pug-nosed dropship, along with several others, powered down its hover and landed. Several yellow lights periodically flashed indicating that the bay was still in a state of vacuum. As the two men waited for the bay to pressurize they chatted.
"I'm sorry about the hasty arrangements we set up for you, if you would like we can find something a little more suitable," appologized Captain Morell.
"It's fine for now, Captain. I'm not picky. Besides being in TacCom is the best place to be for information," assured Duke. After a few more minutes of this, the yellow lights became green indicating that the atmosphere was not fully pressureized, but that it was safe to be in. The door they were standing by became unlocked, and Duke pressed a button to cause it to slide open. A strong wind kicked up and pulled them inside the bay. The door closed on its own. Their ears ached from the low pressure. Duke knew what specific bay Burn's and Norbert's dropship had entered from, and reached it in a minute. As the bay became fully pressurized, the lights stopped, and the ramps of the dropships began to open.
"Norbert sounded a little flustered. I don't think he is going to agree with your orders," said Morell, raising his eyebrows.
"Not anything I can do about that, orders are orders, not like he's in a place to tell me what to do," stated Duke.
The Captain just nodded. The marines in the ship marched out and formed a line at attention, saluting. Duke and the Captain returned it. "There'll be officers outside to show you where you'll be staying, go ahead and get outta those suits, a take some R&R, you've earned it," explained the General.
The men marched as a line toward the exit sending their footsteps ringing across the bay. Several others were also leaving the bay. Norbert and Burns were next to exit the darkened interior of the dropship. The four men exchanged salutes. "So, I'm sure I already know your first question," began Duke.
Norbert acknowledged him, irked, "Why did you order the full evacuation of Korhal?"
Burns realized that Norbert wasn't lying and joined the conversation, "I thought that it was vital to hold Augustgrad, but now letting go of the entire planet and handing it to the rebels?"
"To tell you the truth, it wasn't my order. The people back on Tarsonis gave this call," explained Duke.
"But, why?" Norbert asked simply.
"You see, as I've told Col. Burns, this is a very sensitive matter. The Confederacy must at all times appear to have some measure of control over the situation. If we became involved in a conflict that gave the appearance that we were struggling against the rebels, then other colonies might get it in their damn fool heads that they too could and should revolt. I think it goes without explaining that such a scenario is something they're trying to avoid. I was told to withdraw all forces and sit tight if we found ourselves in such a position. This way we're not stuck in a difficult battle, but we're also not surrendering to the rebels," continued Duke.
"So we just do nothing now?" Asked Norbert incredulously.
"That's right," replied the General in a suddenly harsher voice, "I briefed command of the core of the problem on Korhal," Duke flashed a glance at Burns to remind him of just how much he screwed up, "and they said they were sending a little somethin' from Nova Squadron to take care of things."
Everyone looked at Duke with a bewildered intensity. When Nova Squadron got involved, things got strange.
Buller, Benjamin Gaardnar, and Angus Mengsk stood atop the main facility of the former Confederate base of Augustgrad. The smoke from their bombs had nearly cleared away, but a few gray, serpentine wisps still rose from the craters left behind. From the roof they could clearly see where the fighting took place. The corpses of marines and militiamen littered the ground. From the amount of red militiamen suits compared to white Alpha Squadron suits, it looked like two or three militiamen had fallen for every marine lost. The thought was depressing, but not surprising. The number would have been worse if not for the sudden unexplainable retreat. For now those who had survived were pulling the bodies from the suits and piling them to be burned in the crater pits. They had to try and salvage as many suits as possible, and repair what they could. Nobody knew when they might need them. The recent events had left a lot of stray thoughts on the three men's minds, and a lot of unanswered questions on their tongues.
"So, how's Pavel doing?" Angus asked Ben.
"Most of the damage is just cuts and bruises, but he has a bad concussion. The people we had look him over said that he may never wake up. We just have to wait and see. Problem is that we might not ever stop waiting," Ben reported, spitting on the cement roof.
"What happened to him, is what I want to know," continued Angus as he watched the militiamen move about the killing field.
"It must have been that commander he was chasing after that did it to him. Why did he chase after him like that? I can't believe he would do something so stupid," said Ben.
Angus turned to look at Ben, "Ever since the bombing, he's been having problems. I can't help but feel sorry for him, but if he keeps getting these self destructive impulses, he isn't going to last long."
Buller had remained strangly quiet and looked away the entire time they spoke of Pavel. Now he went to the flagpole and removed the last Alpha Squadron flag with the blocky "A" and the hawk symbol that they derived their nickname, "The Blood Hawks", from. Buller rolled up the flag and took out his lighter. "We don't have anything to give a toast with, but we have this," Buller said before he lit the flag and dropped it in front of him as the other two gathered around it, "To the men."
"To the men," repeated Ben and Mengsk, referring to those who labored and had died below them.
The flag continued to bend and curl in the flame as Buller changed the subject, "Using the comms at this base we've been able to establish contact with other bases that are now under our control. They've told us that all their bases, that all the bases on Korhal, have been abandoned."
The burning flag was now caught up in a draft, and fluttered, no longer burning, into the bright sky, where they lost sight of the injured, but not destroyed flag.
"I guess we should celebrate," said Ben woodenly, "but I sure don't feel like it now."
"No, not now, but when the time comes, and the people have witnessed our victory, we will," affirmed Mengsk turning to face the field again with one of his hands in a fist, "We owe it to those men who now lie still."
Mengsk began to feel his empowerment building ever so slowly, like a stalagmite growing taller and broader over the hundreds of years as every single drop falls upon it and adds a few particles of sediment. He spoke once more affirming his strength, and his faith, "This is our world now."
