Walker Brigade - Book of Incidents

"I'm glad to make your acquaintance gentleman," I said as I sat down next to Chris. "What are we talking about?"

"I was asking them why it is that when a female approached them on a three-four-alpha-nine they would high tail it for the hills, yet here they are sitting quite calmly with two of those females without so much as a twitch" Chris paused, looking at Jim and the rest of them with raised eyebrows.

"That would be hard to explain friend, Chris."

"Oh, please try." Chris was grinning.

Jim huddled with his companions. All their vocorders were off. The twittering we had heard on three-four-alpha-nine was subdued as the four of them conferred. I sat back and took a sip of my coffee, looking back and forth at the four M'roby sitting across from Chris and me.

"...Yes, that would be an explanation. Chris, Jo, my new friends, after much discussion with my comrades we have come to a consensus as to our odd behavior on *&*$#4@!. At the time we encountered your species, we had not been exposed to the bio-chemicals of you females. Your male counterparts bio-chemical make up was that of warriors whereas your female bio-chemical make up was not that of a warrior but of a...I hope I do not offend...breeder."

"And why would a... breeder cause you to run like crazy across the plains?" Chris was quick with the questions.

"In our culture, yes, culture, breeders are not approached unless they are ready to mate."

"What happens if you approach a breeder when they aren't ready to mate, Jim?" I was curious now too.

"We die. Breeders are twice our size and voracious carnivores when not in...season, yes, season. The breeders live on the southern continent of our world while the warriors live in the north. Soon all the warriors will be living on *&*$#4@! since that was part of the agreement, and will only go back to our home world to mate." Jim sat there staring at Chris and me.

"Oh, ok. So, you've gotten over the fear/flight response to us?" Chris asked in all seriousness.

"Oh, yes. We have all been exposed to your, well, to female bio-chemicals during training. Our quarters have also been equipped with human female bio-chemical emitters. And once on board the troop carrier, the smell of the female crew has helped us with our assimilation into the Colonial Marines.

"Logically we know that you will not kill us, but the deep-seated biological response is still there. We are getting better at not showing our nervousness around human females. It is getting easier to be around you as we sit and talk."

"That's good. I would hate to be the cause of a panic attack. Now, when I left you said you were willing to show us..."

"Ah yes, our emotional responses..." For the next thirty minutes, Jim and his companions took Chris and me through the repertoire of their facial responses to emotion.

After that, we started talking about walkers and armament then they invited us to their squad bay where we inspected their weapons, slug throwers, mostly. They did have some particle beam projectors that the Federation had modified for their use, but no plasma weapons. Chris and I then took them to our squad bay to show them a walker. They were quite impressed with the "mechanical beasts" as they called them.

After showing them the "beasts," they said they had to make a company formation and should be going. We said our good-byes and escorted them out of the shuttle. Chris and I then headed over to the simulator bay.

9.05.0093/8

* * * Max Jones

We came out of hyperspace just beyond the Moons orbit, dropping into one of the LaGrange points. Last minute changes had Delta Squad and us dropping directly into Central Park. A company of Marines was assigned to each shuttle to be deployed as our Infantry backup. We were to secure the LZ, which would then become our command position once the rest of the Marines showed up.

We were scrambling to find enough padding for the Marines so they wouldn't get tossed around on the way down to the LZ, when we separated from the carrier. The maneuvering klaxon sounded and we all took our positions for re-entry and landing. All of Echo Squad was suited up, and ready to deploy. Re-entry was smooth as was the ride down to New York. It didn't get rough until we were close to Central Park, but then the buffeting started and we could hear particle beams hitting our shielding. As the shuttle touched down, the bay doors opened.

"Hit it!" I shouted on all-com. Twelve walkers sped out of the bay door and down the ramp. Particle beams and gauss gun slugs were coming from all sides as I stepped through the doorway. My plasma guns deployed automatically, locking onto several sources of fire. I keyed rapid fire and streams of white-hot hellfire spat from the barrels to each of the position the computer had found.

"Marines, out!" I yelled on the run. "Delta One, Echo One, are you down?"

"Echo One, Delta One, down and deployed. Taking heavy fire from the south of our position."

"Delta One, head south, we have them between us. Check your IFF."

"Aye, Chief!"

I could hear Becky and Jo giving orders to their teams and to the Marines. We were already facing north, and we were on the southern edge of the area that would become the command compound.

"Echo Platoon, fall back to Eighty-Sixth Street, formation Gamma, hold your positions. Delta will be driving them to us." The walkers each took a position on Eighty-Sixth Street, which ran across the park, with about a hundred meters between them. I held Becky back with me behind the line to help command. The Marines filled in the spaces between walkers, finding cover wherever they could. The firing toward us slacked off for a while.

"Delta One, drive them toward us."

"Aye, Chief."

We waited. Delta had landed about two klicks north of us in an abandoned stadium of some kind. The walkers could have been here in no time at all, but they had a platoon of Marines with them, so their speed was now equal to what an armored Marine could walk, all the while taking fire from armed bandits between us.

The fire from the bandits petered out within five minutes. Next, we could see the walkers of Delta Squad splashing through the water in the shallow lake. They halted as they came ashore. The marines had gone around the lake on either side, and they had prisoners with them, armored combatants sans weapons.

"Delta One, Echo One, rendezvous my position."

"Aye, Echo One." Gil broke formation and headed my way, while his squad helped the Marines with their prisoners.

"Echo One to all units, formation Alpha. Secure this area from the lake south to Seventy-ninth Street and from Central Park West to Fifth Avenue." All units acknowledged.

* * * Becky Latham

The landing in Central Park went off fairly smooth. At first, we were fired upon from many different points within our LZ, but then the firing tapered off and was non-existent as the combatants withdrew from the park. No one was injured in the landing. The Chief then ordered us to secure the Command and Control area of the park. I took three squads of Marines to the east, stopping just shy of Fifth Avenue. I spread them out along the wall from there to the south side of the old art museum to Seventy-Ninth Street, then around the corner on Seventy-Ninth Street.

My three squads were spread pretty thin, but then we all were until the rest of the troops showed up. My position was behind my squad. I would act as fire support if the gangs attempted any incursion. A silence fell over the park as we waited for our comrades. No traffic was flowing on either Fifth Avenue or Seventy-Ninth Street. Every once in a while my HUD would flicker with target info, then go quiescent. I wasn't in my regular walker since deploying with the Marines. I was in a standard walker with the pulse cannon deployed. I must have been a frightening sight to most of the citizens.

My HUD flickered again, then steadied with target data. The IFF signal was that of a company of M'roby. What the citizens made of them was hard to tell. They were sprinting toward us on Seventy-Ninth Street. Their armor caused them to look even stranger than usual. There was a trundle bug with them carrying equipment or something. One of the M'roby broke ranks and came at a trot toward me. He stopped in front of me and saluted.

"If it pleases the Captain, could you please direct me to Captain Akers?" I still wasn't used to anyone calling me Captain yet, let alone saluted by the Marines.

"Wait here, Marine," I told him, and switched over to Squad Comm. "Echo Three, Echo Two, I have a Marine asking to see you. Could you rendezvous with me at the Art Museum?"

"Aye, Echo Two."

"Marine, she will be here in a minute."

"Thank you, Captain." The rest of his Company pulled up behind him and halted, falling into defensive formation. The trundle bug was now close enough for me to see what was on it, a M'roby defensive shield.

"You're not going to deploy that thing here, are you?" I pointed to the device.

"Of course, Captain." Jolene pulled up next to me.

"You can't be serious? Jo, they're going to deploy that thing here?"

"Captain Akers?" The Marine was addressing Jo.

"Yes. What can I do for you, Marine?"

"It is I, Jim!" he said pointing to himself.

"Jim, okay, what's going on here?"

"We have come ahead of the main force to deploy this new version of our shield technology. It has been tested by your technical services, and deemed safe for both sexes."

"You do know what almost happened on three-four-alpha-nine?" Jolene asked him.

"Yes. Your leader almost died inside the field. Although he wouldn't have come to any harm had he been inside the perimeter of the field when it was established. That is a main function of the shield, to keep someone from just walking in and killing us. All personnel were issued an identifier, which will let them enter the field with no ill effect once it's been established. That metal shield on your armor, the one with the lightning bolt, is the identifier." Jolene and I just stood there staring at Jim.

"Okay, get your company in here, and get to work," I told him. He turned to his comrades and spoke to them, then they formed up, and moved past us at the trot.

"The Chief is gonna shit when he hears this," I said to Jo.

"Yep. See you later." She turned and headed back to her Marines.

* * * Max Jones

"Charlie One, Echo One."

"Charlie One, go."

"Charlie One, I have a platoon of M'roby at my location wanting to set up one of their shield generators. Did we know about this?"

"Echo One, that's affirmative. Let them do their job."

"Charlie One, are you sure about this, sir? The last time I was in one of those things I almost bought the farm, sir."

"Echo One, you have my assurances that no harm will come to you or your people. I have been in one of the new ones and everything was perfectly fine. Now let them do their job."

"Charlie One, aye." Shit, I hoped he was right or this was going to be a really short operation for the men. The women would last a little longer, at least until they were overrun.

"Savoy Three, proceed," I told the M'roby platoon leader. They started to set up their equipment as I turned to other matters within our perimeter.

Gil was my second in command, and a group of armored gang members was found in the old art museum by a Marine platoon assigned to clear the building. None of them had weapons when they were found, but several of them had scorch marks where they had been hit by particle beams. They were taken out of their armor, and the Marines had improvised a makeshift pen.

I had called Simon in to interrogate them. He was just starting when an advanced company of Marine Walkers showed up. I deployed them as back up to each of the marine platoon in the compound. Reports were coming in from all over the perimeter that brief contacts with the El Morto Diablos gang members as we entered their turf. It was mostly slug throwers and some homemade explosive devices, nothing the Marines couldn't handle.

The next contingent to arrive was the rest of the M'roby Company. I placed them in reserve around their comrades attempting to get the shield generator working. I could hear the running battle going on to the east of our position. It sounded like the main force of the landing party was under attack by the gang members. I sent two platoons of M'roby to back-up the forces on Fifth Avenue at Seventy-Ninth Street where the main force would be joining us.

Then the shield was up and the sky was shimmering. All was quiet and peaceful.

"Echo One, Charlie One, I have command."

"Charlie One, aye." I had been relieved. It took the next three hours for all our forces to show up since some of them had gotten cut off by the gangs. Eventually, everyone was present and accounted for with just some minor injuries here and there. It was nightfall before the chow wagons were up and running.

Our shuttles were parked at the south end of the ball fields. The shield generators were at the north end of the ball fields. Chow wagons lined the perimeter of the ball fields, and Marine barracks were in the process of being set up in woods around the ball fields. The gangs had done one thing for the people in their community; they had maintained the ball fields. The rest of the park was a disaster, but the ball fields were well groomed and in perfect condition.

Delta squad had first watch so my squad was in the walker bay dismounting and checking their machines out. I had just racked my walker and started to disconnect when a loud boom shook the ship.

* * * Jolene Akers

I was just about to enter the walker bay in our shuttle when the earth to my right exploded into the air. I was almost pushed off my feet by the concussion and clods of dirt and grass rained down upon me for what seemed like minutes. The crater left by the explosion was enormous. If the ship had been sitting there, everyone would have been killed. I thanked my lucky stars that I hadn't been walking over that patch of ground when it went up.

As I shook myself to clear my head, armored figures started to pour out of the ground, firing wildly as they came. I activated my weapons systems and started toward them. My pulse canon and particle beam projectors were firing continuously at the unfriendly targets. Three Marine walkers and a platoon of M'roby joined me as we attempted to keep the invaders from coming out of the hole. Other units in the park would clean those that had gotten out up.

I looked into the hole and could see several tunnels leading away from the crater, apparently, the subway and sewer systems where being used to circumvent our perimeter defenses. Taking control of my pulse canon, I aimed at the earth between the surface and the tunnel top and fired a continuous burst. The dirt and rock were quickly turned into white-hot slag and within seconds, the tunnel was blocked with a plug of glowing molten lava and other debris. I turned to the next tunnel and blocked it the same way. In all, there were four tunnel openings terminating at the crater and all of them were now plugged by glowing slag and earth.

I ordered the Marine Walkers and M'roby to standby the crater in case I had missed any tunnel entrances.

"Echo Three, Echo One, what's the situation?"

"Echo One, it's under control for the time being. The gangs have been using the tunnel systems under the park to plant some explosives and get inside the perimeter."

"Echo Three, good job." The Chief was beside me when a M'roby came running up to us as we stood surveying the crater.

"We are sorry, but no one told us that there would be tunnels under the ground. We have adjusted the shield to take care of that. It is now a complete globe." It was Jim, and he looked agitated. I looked over to where the shield generator stood, and I could see several M'roby gesturing wildly. Turning, Jim looked behind him at his comrades and shook his head.

"They are an emotional group. Now I must go calm them down. You will not be disturbed again tonight." He turned and sped off to the generator.

As I turned back to the crater, a group of M'roby were filing down into the gaping hole. Their chatter on the com indicated they were digging alongside the closed tunnels so they could clear them of any gang members who may have been trapped underground

The all-clear sounded, and the Chief and I went back into the walker bay to dismount and clean up.

9.06.0093/6

* * * Max Jones

"Listen up! Last night the M'roby brought in twenty members of the Diablos that they found in the tunnels. They are being interrogated as we speak. Also, last night, two companies of Marines and a Platoon of M'roby set up another safe zone in the ball fields to the north of the lake. This site is designated Zone Green One. The rest of the night was quiet.

"Today, some of us will be assisting a M'roby Marine platoon to set up another safe zone south of Sixty-Sixth Street. This will be Zone Green South. You move out at oh-nine-hundred. Akers?"

"Aye, Chief."

"Your team will be assisting the M'roby. Shonner!"

"Aye, Chief."

"You are to accompany them. Latham, this will leave you, short one walker. Pick one of the Marine walker officers to fill in for Christine, and arm him with a particle beam projector."

"Aye, Chief."

"Team Three will be running a patrol north of Zone Green One. You are to confine your patrol to the park, no excursions into the city yet. Team One will be running a patrol south of LZ Green and north of Green South. It looks like this may be a long operation. Every move we make is going to be carefully calculated so we will not incur any collateral damage. We don't want to injure or kill any civilians. So watch your fields of fire."

"Aye, Chief." The chorus went up.

"Dismissed."

The squad left for chow. I walked with Becky and Jolene to the chow wagon. Why make your own when someone was willing to do all the work to feed you?

* * * Becky Latham

We arrived at our patrol area shortly after oh-nine-hundred. Each of my team had a squad of Marines to patrol their designated area, not Marine walkers, ground pounders. Armored foot soldiers armed with gauss-guns or particle beam projectors. We were to make sweeps through the park for any armed gang members. If we found any, we were to bring them back to CINC at LZ Green for interrogation.

"Echo Two, Echo Seven, contact." You could hear the firefight going on.

"Echo Twelve, Echo Two, move to intercept. And let me see what you see, Twelve."

"Aye, Second." My HUD now displayed an image of what Scans was seeing. There were ten red blips facing the thirteen green blips of Nadia's squad. There were also twelve green blips moving up behind them. Ernie looked to be waiting for his squad to make contact before he moved to support them.

As the Marines moved up behind the ten red blips, they came under fire from a building across Central Park West, an old style slug thrower, fifty caliber, from the sound of it. They couldn't penetrate the armor we wore, but it would knock you off your feet if it hit you. A flash of brilliant light shot out of the park to the window where the fire was coming from, turning the interior of the room behind the window to white-hot flame. The hammering of the heavy weapon ceased.

The Marines started to fire on the gang members from behind. Four went down before the rest knew what was going on. Two more were dropped, and the remaining four dropped their weapons and surrendered. The Marines rounded them up and marched them to my position. Ernie trotted up behind them.

"Ernie, what the hell did you do? We were not to fire into the city!"

"I don't remember an order like that. We were just supposed to watch our fields of fire. I scanned the building before I fired. There were just three people in the whole building, all in that room. My people were taking fire from them. I had to neutralize the threat."