Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (65 page)

They were under very heavy fire, sheets of plasma falling wildly through the smoking air, lighting up the dark, plasmastars erupting, ear-shattering cracks shaking the walls, pressure waves bouncing off Bees' armor, and autoxmax as well, as the D's opened up with all they had. The tacmap was shaking so bad Bees could not see where Bird and the general were but she could hear the buzz of the darts and the rattle of auto xmax tearing through the air. Target 4, still standing! Shields up! Bees let loose on autodart, spraying the D's luminous green force field. Target 4 was firing wildly; he could not see where the hostiles were. Shields down, sputtering away to nothing. Bees fired auto x and the demon was skewered with x from three different angles. Target 2 suddenly appeared, shields down, firing plasma, a huge burst, then auto x.

"I'm hit," somebody said.

Bees ran forward, energized, attacking, firing auto x right past a blast of plasma, streams of auto x floating past her as if in a dream. A Demon appeared before her, shield down, turning to meet her approach. Bees could see right into the yellow faceplate, a furry, filthy snarling face, sharp teeth, narrow squinty black eyes, flattened leathery nose, parasite worms sliding over the inside of the faceplate. She fired xmax right at his helmet and Angel found the sweet spot, blasting a hole into that filthy dark blue armor right below where the helmet met the chestplate, and the D's ugly face exploded inside the helmet, blood splattering over the faceplate.

Silence. Sudden silence, only the cracking of flames as the plasma burnt along the decks and licked up the walls.

"Who’s the casualty?" Bees asked. She was shaking. She was so hyper she could not even read the tacmap, but it appeared that the D's were all dead.

"It's Bird," the general said, coldly. "Get over here, Bees."

Δ

Saka and I fired simultaneously on the Demons, who were glowing with green shielding. The plan was Saka would take Targets 1, 2 and 3, and I would take Four, Five and Six. The plan lasted about the time it took me to pull the trigger to fire on Target 4. All six of the bastards opened up with plasma immediately, a gigantic blast that ripped into us, first Saka, then me, then it rippled past us since they could not see us and were firing blind. Well, firing blind with plasma is still pretty effective. However, our cloaking did save us, since we were not in the blast for long and emerged from it firing autodart. Plasmastars blasted the wall behind us, peppering us with shrapnel. Target 4 staggered under the force of my hyperdarts and then his shielding popped off. I followed immediately with auto xmax, blasting his helmet and chestplate, and turned my E to Target 5, who was spraying the area with autoxmax. I took some of it in the chest as I directed my hyperdarts to the target. His shielding flickered.

"Multiple xmax hits in chestplate and right arm, no penetrations, sealing…" I didn't have time to listen. I finished off Target 5 with xmax and Honey was highlighting Target 6. Saka was firing nonstop, just as if he was on the range at Basic.

A massive blast of hissing plasma crashed down from above and settled over me, the awful glare blinding me. I bolted to the left rear, that was the plan, and a plasmastar blasted me off my feet and on the way down I could feel hot xmax cutting into my armor, ripping at my flesh. I gasped and clawed at nothing in protest. I couldn't tell if I was still in the plasma burst or not, Honey was relaying info on the situation but it was all fading away into a sudden red hot haze and then a suffocating deep darkness.

Δ

Doggie and Smiley were in a perfect ambush position, widely separated, good cover, and an excellent view. They were also patient as they watched the six armored D's approach on the tacmap. The D's were proceeding cautiously. They had shields up and knew that anyone who cared was likely aware of their exact position. Doggie and Smiley cared deeply.

"If we had any useful ordnance, we could save ourselves a lot of trouble," Doggie said. "A couple of tacscyths would put these folks away with minimal effort on our part." The tacscyth was an area mine that could wipe out a whole squad of armored goons.

"Are you saying the manlink is not useful?" Smiley asked. "Sacrilege! Watch this – they're within range now." Smiley fired tacstars, one two three four five. The stars erupted downrange simultaneously, dazzling micronukes that ripped apart the target area, sent out a tremendous blast and concussion and erased ceiling, deck and walls. When the echoes ceased and the glittering fireballs settled down onto a blackened burning wilderness of melted metal, the six Demons no longer appeared on the tacmap.

"Now that's the way to do an ambush!" Doggie said. "Good work, Smiley, I take back what I said."

Δ

I came back to consciousness abruptly to a searing fiery pain that was running over my flesh as Honey was shooting me full of stims and shouting to get my attention. As my eyes opened, I got a weird slow-motion cloaking sim glimpse of Saka dragging me along the ramp with a swarm of xmax rounds shooting past him. I noted with alarm that some of the rounds were impacting on his armor and some were deflecting off his armor. Then a blazing sheet of plasma hit us both and Saka pulled me out of it in a hail of xmax. I tried to move my right arm but could not. I used my left and found my E, still attached to my chestplate with the lanyard. I realized that I was blacking out again, little black dots swarming over my vision.

"Your cloaking is shot, Prophet!" Saka shouted. He had dragged me to cover, off the ramp and behind a low curb that was getting shot to hell. He fired back with auto x and I forced my E up to my left shoulder and fired blindly, auto x. I was almost unconscious by then but they had forced us to practice firing with our weak side hands in Basic, and I'm glad they did.

"They're under cover, Prophet. And I'm hit too. I can't…" An unshielded Demon came charging at us up the ramp like a lunatic, firing auto x. Maybe they were using up their plasma, I thought as I fired auto x and hit him right below the helmet. It tore up his armor and blasted off his helmet, decapitating him. Brave charge, I thought. Maybe it was for his wounded buddies, maybe it was for his wife and kids back home, if these creatures have wives and kids. But he's dead now – and I'll probably be joining him shortly.

"All six enemy combatants are terminated, Prophet," Honey said. A sudden silence settled over us – almost as if existence was holding its breath, waiting for the next onslaught.

"I think I'm dying, Saka," I said. "Tell Honeyhair I love her." I reached for Honeyhair's national service medallion with my left hand. Then I was gone, floating away, and it happened just as I'd heard. No, I didn't see Heaven's Gate but I saw my whole life, flashing past me in a blur. I was playing on the carpet, pretending to be a horsey. There was that chubby, curly-haired girl in play school, I thought she was terrific. My mom and dad, presenting me with a birthday cake. Me with my new bow and arrow, waiting in ambush and then nailing the cuckoo bird as he emerged right on time from my dad's cuckoo clock. And there I was in a new elementary school, knocking down the school bully, not knowing who he was except a total jerk, and then the other kids carrying me around on their shoulders to celebrate. The agony of midschool – all I enjoyed was the girls. Eugarat nights, long and warm and wet, tropical rains and ice kisses in the dark. God, I loved those girls! I wanted it to never end. And then the Legion, Delta, all of Delta coming at me, everyone I loved, now in peril from these damned stinking invaders. Honeyhair! Oh my holy God, what will she do without me? Will I be able to visit her, as a ghost? Will she be scared?

"Bees, Saka. Prophet and I are both hit, bad. Request assistance soon as poss, site is secure." And that's the last thing I heard.

Δ

"Scout, Nitro, Doggie. Go after those last twelve. Hunt 'em down!" Doggie said. "Smiley and I will go down to Arena D and check out any civilian survivors. Bees, continue treating our casualties. General, thanks for getting Saka and Prophet to the evac site. Now set up an ambush to hit anyone approaching the site. The last two D squads have dispersed and appear to be focused on escape, which means they may be showing up on Deck Two, stay alert. Let's go, Smiley."

Δ

Doggie and Smiley entered Arena D carefully with Blackie on a leashcloak. They thought they were ready for anything but they weren't. They were expecting a further thirty-five civilian detainees, according to Dolly's earlier counts, but now there was nothing.

"Three civilians, as marked," Doggie's tacmod said. Doggie at first did not understand.

The arena was full of bodies, female adults and children, scattered all over the bloody deck, slashed to pieces, blood still pouring from their smoking wounds. Lasers, Doggie thought. Looks like they used lasers to kill them. Piles of bodies, naked and partially clothed. Children – little girls, heads sliced off, arms cut off. Demons, Doggie thought in shock. They are evil incarnate, they are straight from hell. We have to exterminate the whole race, and leave not a single survivor. We'll have to go into their universe, just like Delta did, but send every Legion we have, and fumigate their evil nests and kill every living thing, men, women, children, larva, every last cockroach, and level their cities and sow the earth with salt, just as the Romans did to Carthage, to ensure that nothing ever grows there again. That's what we will have to do, if we want to survive.

"Repeat, three civilians, as marked," Doggie's tacmod repeated.

Doggie and Smiley sought out the three survivors who were lying there in pools of blood among their companions, grievously wounded. Doggie and Smiley could not say a single word. They were both in shock.

Δ

A hazy vision, slowly forming. A face. Doggie – it was Doggie, peering at me from above. Oh no, I thought. They got Doggie, too.

"Prophet. Can you hear me? Prophet!"

I croaked. I tried to say something.

"What?" Doggie asked.

"We in – heaven or hell?"

"Prophet's conscious!" he bellowed.

He's reluctant to tell me, I thought. Must be hell. I'll have to fight my way out, and camp outside Heaven's Gates, and wait for Honeyhair to show up.

"We're in Goldglen, Prophet. Stay awake!" But it was so much easier to fade away, into the dark.

Δ

A bright light was shining right into my eyes and a deafening roar was assaulting my ears. It was a dust storm, hazy A-suited figures moving all around me. I moved abruptly, seemingly floating. There was Bees – Bees! Visor up, right next to me – she looked troubled – and Arie too! What were they doing? They didn't belong here!

The bright light vanished abruptly, I was suddenly in shade. Another face appeared – I didn’t recognize him.

"Your Legion serial number," somebody said. "Can you remember it?" What the hell? I couldn't figure this one out. Doesn't Satan assign his own serial numbers to new guys?

"That's it, lifting off!" somebody else said. The whole world seemed to leap abruptly and then tilt crazily. Where am I? Is this the first level of Hell? What happened to the River Styx? Aren’t I supposed to cross there? Who was that guy, was it Chiron, the old ferryman? I'm supposed to give him a coin. And where is Cerberus, the dragon-tailed dog?

I faded out again, plummeting into the darkness of hell. My last thought was of Honeyhair.

Δ

The Legion Phantom shot away into the leaden sky, lights flashing. Three Bright delta fighters shot past close overhead and another flight of six Legion fighters cut through the skies at higher altitude. Doggie and Smiley and Scout and Arie and Bees and the general paused to catch their breath. Blackie barked. They could hear the noise of battle up ahead, an unending cracking as streams of antimats fell from Fleetcom and Bright aircraft to impact on Demon targets. A long ragged file of Bright soldiers trotted past, as if eager to get into the battle.

"All right, Delta," Doggie said, "we advance. Our destination is Valhalla. That's the nearest Legion position. On me." And he set off, down the road in a soft light rain, through the devastated town, leaving the air raid shelter behind.

"Scout, Doggie." Doggie was on private to Scout on the tacnet.

"Yeah."

"I'd like your thoughts on the mission."

"Kratar was a victory."

"There's no doubt about that. I was asking about Goldglen."

"Life is hard," Scout said. "Hard to interpret. My thoughts? My thoughts may not be the same as yours. What should we look at? Statistics? Kills? Rescues? Casualties? Three Delta casualties, twenty girls rescued from the D's, thirty-two killed by the D's because maybe we weren't fast enough. We got forty Demon kills, and the seven who escaped the air raid shelter were killed by the Brights outside. That's 100 percent of the enemy killed. Those are the stats. And what you make of it depends on your point of view."

"The mission was rescuing the civilians."

"Then it was forty percent successful."

"And was that our fault?"

"I think we did all we could in light of the circumstances. We were outnumbered forty-seven to nine by a formidable, ruthless enemy. Delta had a thirty-three percent casualty rate. Think it should have been higher?"

"So," Doggie said. "How would you characterize this action, if you had to write it up, like I will?"

"I view any action we survive as a victory."

Δ