Deus Ex Machina Chapter 5

"No man will hurl me down to Death, against my fate.
And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it,
neither brave man nor coward, I tell you—
it's born with us the day that we are born."

I checked the clip of my G2A4 once again as this quote tumbled into my mind from the infinite nowhere that is the human consciousness. I remembered it from The Iliad, and it had once given me comfort. However, as the Spartan Spear gained sight of Sanjo Avon, ominous, black smoke curled up into paradise's sky. I couldn't say now that no man would hurl me down to death. Who knew if artificial intelligences figured into the grand wheel of fate, and their exemption may be the loophole that got me finally shot, or blown right out of my boots.

Sarah had patched us into the combat feed. Militia forces were on the verge of panic. I could hear the slight tremble in their voices as they issued orders. The light cruiser we were aboard ascended to the top of the atmosphere. It was getting in place to deliver titans onto the battlefield. It also meant that there would be no dropships for us. We were going straight down in drop pods. A mixture of good in bad in that scenario. Dropships had tendency to get shot down, drop pods fell too quickly for anti-aircraft measure. Yet, drop pods could land an unlucky crew right in front of an angry titan or a crafty pilot. That could mean everyone was dead before a second boot touched the ground.

Either way, we were going down there.

A rough tap on my shoulder turned me around. The beardless Travis Mercury smiled back at me. "Kax! I found a razor, a snack, and look what else I found on this stinking ship. When the miss was grilling you, I heard her say two worthless mercs were aboard. Lieutenant Kax Autto, I'd like you to meet my compadre in crime, Yon-Li Park."

Yon-Li may have been a few inches shorter than Travis and me, but the guy was built like a brickhouse. His strangulating handshake confirmed that and he smiled. "Mr. Autto, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Travis talked about you quite often." Then he held up his hands, "all good things, all good things, haha!"

I told him the pleasure was all mine. No wonder that Travis found an instant friend in him, probably because he would make a great sparring partner.

"So, Kax old-buddy-old-pal, do you think Yon-Li and I could hitch a ride to yon paradise?"

An evil grin crept onto Travis's face at his pun using Yon-Li's name.

"But Travis, we have a siege going on down there."

The smile remained exactly where it was, "of course! Paradise!"

Jagjit, the 8th squad leader, stood up as he was nearby. "I can fetch you guys a ride. It's going to be a drop pod but I see you have no weapons. Follow me and I can suit you two up. We may need every hand down there we can get."

Yon-Li eyed him incredulously.

"Is your commander Sarah going to be cool with that?"

Jagjit shrugged as if to say, does it look like I really care?

"Awesome," Travis clapped his hands in glee. "Glad to see the dirty-rotten IMC never really died."

This was going to be a battle of attrition. Our objective was to eliminate all enemy forces. They were going to be doing the same to us so we were to take no quarter, and expect none. The restraint bars fell over our shoulders to lock the four of us into the drop pod. Blood began to surge into my fingers as I gripped the restraints. Alice was next to me, the door on my left. Travis was next to her and happy about a brand new C.A.R., unhappy about Militia regalia. Yon-Li had relinquished his genial smile for a face only certain men had right before they engaged in a mortal fist fight. He was not trying to intimidate me who stared at him from across the claustrophobic drop pod, but he was readying his mind for the killing. Yon-Li Park had selected a R-101C Carbine with a special, new feature the Militia had dreamt up, a grenade launcher on the bottom.

I had asked him about it when I saw the peculiar gun just before we boarded the drop-pod.

"I saw it and had to have it." Yon-Li had grinned. "I heard that before the first titan wars, this kind of weapon combo was very common."

It suddenly got me wondering. What if I put a shotgun barrel beneath my G2A4? What if—?

"Pilots," Sarah said to us. Inside the drop pod, the launch primers shook everyone inside to where I could see two Yon-Lis and two Travis's. "Descent in three, two, one—mark!"

A whoosh sound swept beneath my feet and my stomach suddenly hit the roof of my mouth. A robotic voice informed us about our descent and which levels of the atmosphere we were cruising through at the leisurely pace of mach 2. A blasting sound signaled to us the opening of the drop pods "wings" to slow our descent. These same wings accompanied titans that left those cruisers and carriers in orbit. My organs were just settling down into their normal positions when the drop pod hit the ground—A very quick ride. The impact was not too jarring due to the technical capabilities our special pilot boots. The door burst off and Yon-Li was the first to step out with his gun ready. I followed him, Travis next, then Alice at the rear. Both 8th and Charlie Squads were dropped in the same vicinity of the island. We were not in immediate danger, but it did not take me long to assess this battle and surmise that we had our work cut out for us.

Charlie squad was to get inside the firebase as soon as possible to reinforce the Militia there. It would be up to 8th squad to venture into the jungle inland and harass Spyglass's main invasion force. That would buy time (hopefully) for the Militia to restructure their defenses and organize a counter-attack.

This plan had Graves written all over it. On many occasions in the IMC, Vice Admiral Marcus Graves issued a similar attack strategy. Graves made commanders nervous, and made them panic. Getting hit from all sides with alternating intensity and intervals usually made a Militia commander collapse his forces into a single area; that was when Graves would drop the hammer right on top of the poor devils. He wasn't the smoke and mirrors kind of guy like MacAllen (like using a derelict ship to attack Outpost 207? You got to be kidding me). Yet, Graves wasn't the smash and grab style like Blisk, I guess the IMC's equivalent to Sarah. Was the IMC and Militia command really that parallel?

We charged into the dense jungle, heedless of the natural and man-made dangers that awaited us. I then wondered what had happened to the wily, South African. If Travis had made it through the culling of the IMC, surely . . .

Jagjit signaled for us to slow our pace. Many of us dropped from the trees and let our jumpkits idle. Years of experience had always taught us to move high and move fast. The dense forestry only allowed our sight a few hundred yards at a time. However, they allowed the sounds of combat to drift through their leaves. Explosions, guns, breaking machines, and screams. The sun was still high in the sky but the shadows slid their slick tongues across our green fatigues. Sweat dripped from my brow and in my gloves, but I couldn't help but feel chills in the darkness.

Our squad of eight stopped. We waited for a moment and then I knew what was coming. Without making any noise, Jagjit pointed up and we all scaled the tree nearest to us. With the aid of jumpkits we ascended quickly and entered the canopy in seconds.

Anxiously we waited amongst the tree limbs until the formation of Spyglass's Spectres walked beneath us. I counted somewhere around twenty-five automated infantry units. Inside my HUD, a timer began to countdown. I shouldered my rifle and picked an important looking Spectre from the crowd. It had a freshly painted white stripe on its triangular head.

The neurons in my brain issued the order to pull the trigger when the countdown timer had expired, and I swear before the vastness of the frontier that before the G2A4 bucked back that first bullet was when the Kraber round sliced through our ranks. At first, I thought it was me. The 14.5x114 mm round had ended my life before I even knew it. But I looked over and instead Christopherson had a hole the size of a fist in the middle of his chest. He looked incredulously down at the fatal wound.

His eyes, dead eyes from beyond, found me. I thought my own heart would explode.

The former IMC soldier slumped and fell from the tree. The rest of 8th squad had opened fire on the unsuspecting Spectres below. I activated my stealthkit and shouted sniper. Another Kraber round slashed like a katana where I used to be in the tree.

Grenades and satchel charges detonated below us and blew the some of the Spectres to pieces. They returned fire but with our jumpkits and stealthkits we easily avoided the counter-attack. Would Militia pilots have known to move in the branches and to fire down at the enemy while on the move? I am not sure. But there must have been a reason that 8th Squad was sent into the jungle to flank the enemy while Charlie, a brand new Militia pilot squad, was sent back into firebase Sanjo Avon.

I latched onto the trunk of a tree (luckily not those nasty, poisonous palm tree cousins), and aimed down the sights. However, I only stared at smoking gravel and strewn robot parts where limbs and guts would have been if this war was the same as the one I experienced only a few months ago. Jagjit issued the command to regroup that showed as a green flash in the HUD of every squad member.

On the jungle floor, Jagjit hung his head, cussing under his breath.

"I set us all up there like that. I thought we'd the real jump on them. Now Christopherson's bought the farm. Is that Sniper Spectre still out there?"

"Negative, sir." Alice spoke up. "Our scout sniper Julia Dorne neutralized the threat soon after."

The young girl next to Alice was a small thing, but she beamed with enough pride holding her Longbow DMR that she was five feet taller than the rest of us.

"Alright, Dorne. Squad, let's get a move on. Firebase Sanjo Avon is still taking a beating so we are going to move closer to the front and see if we can't land some titans into that mess. Let's get back into the treetops. Move fast and sure." Jagjit went to turn away but then he remembered something else to tell us. He added, "and scan for snipers."

When we broke the treeline, the same horrible scene that played out in the Export town appeared again before our eyes. A black swarm marched against a frantic wall of tracers and rockets. Militia titans were taking cover behind the cement turrets in the wall to recharge their shields and reload their weapons. However, the machines were relentless and endless. How did Spyglass seem to quadruple the size of his Spectre army seemingly overnight?

A dim outline of Spyglass's fleet hovered over the valley in the island. What was once a peaceful pasture of green grass was now a black blanket almost as far as we could see shuffling along. In the midst of this siege were towering titans walking straight into enemy fire. No human commander would senselessly send his men and women against such a fortified firebase without an outright mutiny festering beneath his ranks. Only Spyglass had questionless minions who marched into the teeth of oncoming fire, who never minded their casualties except to step over them.

This is what Troy must have looked like; the Greeks crashing against the shores like an angry sea. But where is their Achilles? God help us if some machine has taken upon itself to rise and fight like that ruthless hero of the past.

Of course machinery didn't have a conscious. Or else they wouldn't rush to their structural doom. Each and every Spectre and Titan was controlled by Spyglass and the composite programs accompanying such a massive data structure. At least, I hoped so.

Thankfully, to break my unhappy (and very irrational) brooding, Jagjit began to issue us orders through the comm.

"Alright, the robots are pulling back this attack to regroup. This is our opportunity to hit them in the flank."

He radioed Sarah our position and opportunity.

"Understood, Captain, we are moving to your position and will have titan support in three minutes. Sarah out—."

Jagjit glanced over his seven remaining team members. I could tell that Travis and Yon-Li were eager for the fight. As they lived in that hell aboard the ship's armory, I bet no one could imagine the extent of the revenge they dreamed against the machines.

"Right," Jagjit told us, "hit them fast, then we will pull back to gain our titan backup. I'm setting up a three minute timer. You'll want to be back in the trees when that time expires."

For an insane moment, I thought Jagjit was going to give one more warning about avoiding Achilles out there. Instead, we readied up and made sure our weapons had full clips and our ordinance was armed. Just as the last of the Spectres made their retreat, more enemy titans were falling from the heavens. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on the killing about to happen.

Dear readers,

While I think that this chapter is lacking in a lot of action per say, I don't want to keep everyone waiting around for me to flesh out these chapters. For the last couple especially, I have been keeping it around the 2,000 to 2,500 word count. This is pretty short to me and I could extend these chapters much more but then it would take two weeks to get it out to because of my busy schedule.

What I am driving at is that if you prefer these short type chapters please rate and review with your wishes. If you are more into the full scene type chapters like chapter 3 (which came out to be 7,000 words . . .) then let me know. I will do my best to keep churning out these chapters at a timely manner.

Sincerely Yours,

Bobby Redshirt

PS-Another shout out to Golden Sheath who got me into fanfiction and supported my work here. It is an honor being able to use his OC Travis Mercury.