Walker Brigade - Book of Incidents

You are not to enter the field if activated. Your squad Second Becky Latham will enter the field and attempt to deactivate the device.

When said device is secure, you will contact TechCom on frequency 112.8.

Signed,

M.Q. Jones

Fleet Rear Admiral

2nd TechCom, Pacifica

500900099998IIIIF45345873228Q1GVB00090001-090909090111 ENDTRANS

Well, there it was, damn it. Why did he always have to pick on me, that son of a bitch? Simple and to the point, TechCom was never verbose with orders like some of the other departments. I was supposed to burn these suckers but I wasn't going to order Becky to do something without an explanation, so I folded them and put them in my pocket.

Stripping down, I went to bed with tactical data flowing through my mind.

* * * Becky Latham

After Max, Akers and I got back from the NCO club I went to my quarters to review the operational orders, as I knew the Chief would be doing. I was surprised to find a set of personal orders in my mail chute, waiting for me. Taking the tube out of the slot, I opened it and unrolled the single sheet of com-paper.

BEGINTRANS 1A1255B4510C8899CCIL9901298HIEW3395548VVWJ0910

Date: 3.7.0093/6

To: Becky Latham, Squad Second - 64ARB/3MD/ICorp

From: DevSecCom Joint Strike Force HQ, Pacifica

Subject: Plan Alpha/Omega 123-455/M

Pursuant to and in conjunction with Article 456.5, you are hereby required to read and then destroy these orders.

Item:

You are ordered and directed to capture equipment as described in your squads AAR dated 3.5.0093/4. Such equipment will be captured intact if at all possible.

You are to enter the field if activated, even if your squad leader tries to countermand these orders, and attempt to deactivate the device without destroying the device.

When said device is secure, you will contact TechCom on frequency 112.8.

Signed,

M.Q. Jones

Fleet Rear Admiral

2nd TechCom, Pacifica

500900099998IIIIF45345873228Q1HVB00090001-09090909011C ENDTRANS

What the hell was this? M.Q. Jones, who the hell was he? Should I show these to the Chief or destroy them as it says? I didn't know what to do. Shaking my head, I folded it up and put it in my breast pocket.

I went through the Op-Orders for the day after tomorrow. After about an hour, I felt my eyelids getting heavy, so I cleared my screen and went to bed.

3.8.0093/5

* * * Max Jones

It was dark and cold as I ran through the night, without knowing where I was going. It was strange, almost surreal, the night sky was black as coal without moon or stars to guide me, but I could see as if it were midday. I wondered what kind of exercise they were running, as I kept my current heading. Looking out to the horizon, I saw the desolate landscape continue unbroken to meet the sky.

Looking down at myself for the first time, I saw I was in full body armor and a Victor Class Walker. Victor Class Walkers hadn't been in use for fifteen years. It must have been a leftover from some prior conflict and it must have been souped up, as I was doing a good two hundred klicks an hour, at least.

Victor Class Walkers had been what I trained in when the Walker Brigade was being formed. It was the first walker to have biofeedback sensors to actuate the servos and tensors.

Shaking my head to clear it, I got back to what was at hand. I was still on three-four-alpha-nine; at least it looked like three-four-alpha-nine. I keyed my com-gear. Nothing. The telltale was on; indicating it power was getting to the comm, but there was no chatter, no carrier hum, just silence.

"Echo One to any station," I called out as I keyed the transmitter.

Waiting for an answer, I scanned in front of me. There in the middle distance was a black lump on the otherwise smooth ground. I started to slow down. I was approaching it a lot faster than I wanted too.

A low-pitched hum started in my ears. It must be my ears. The closer I got to the black lump on the ground the louder the hum became. As I stopped, not ten feet from the lump, the hum changed to an incessant beeping. So loud and annoying it hurt my ears and caused a painful flash inside my head. Closing my eyes, I screamed in pain.

Flailing out my arm, I hit something and the beeping stopped. I opened my eyes to bright light and the ceiling of my room. All a dream, it had all been a dream. They were happening more frequently. I should probably say something to the medicos about that, but it could wait for now.

Sitting up in bed, I rubbed my eyes, hoping to banish the sleep and the remnants of that dream. I looked at the clock on the wall and was stunned to see that it was oh-six-thirty. I got up, dressed and wandered down to the chow hall for coffee and breakfast.

After breakfast, I returned to my quarters to run over the briefing. At oh-eight-fifty-eight, I went to the walker bay. Becky was already there along with Akers. The rest of the squad wandered in within the next two minutes.

Becky, Akers and I briefed the squad on the operation that would be taking place the day after tomorrow. It took all of twenty minutes. When it came time for questions, there were none, although I could see that Akers teammates were a little antsy.

I dismissed everyone, but Akers' team lagged behind waiting to talk with her. Becky and I left the walker bay and headed on over to the club. The squad was free for the rest of the day to do whatever they wanted. Tomorrow would be a half day of training, prep and mission parameters assimilation.

While Becky and I sat there sipping our drinks, the time at the club passed slowly.

"Max, you don't look very well," Becky said placing her hand on my arm.

"I'm fine." I was tired.

"You had another dream last night, didn't you?" How the hell did she know about my dreams?

"No, why do you ask?" I lied. She didn't need to know about my dreams.

"No reason just concerned about you. You look tired, is all."

"I'm fine. I was just up early today thinking about some orders I got last night."

"You, too," Becky said in a quiet voice.

Looking around, I pulled the orders from my breast pocket and handed them over to her. She took them unfolding them and read quietly for a few seconds. She pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. Unfolding it I read what was an exact duplicate of my orders, right down to the signature.

"Well, I guess he's covering all his bases."

"Max, who is he?"

"He's my father. He's been watching over me like this for a long time." I hope Becky caught the dripping sarcasm.

"Oh."

We sat in silence, sipping our drinks and staring at the other patrons of the club. I reached for my set of orders, folded them up, and put them in my pocket. Becky did the same. Lunchtime came and went.

"What do we do for the rest of the day?" Becky asked in hushed tones.

"I feel like some target practice." Becky nodded her head as we got up to go to the shooting range.

* * * Becky Latham

After the briefing, I went with the Chief to the club where we had a few drinks and showed each other our orders from, I found out, his father. I almost peed in my pants when he told me. The Chief's father was a Fleet Rear Admiral attached to Pacifica HQ.

After that, we wandered down to the target range. The target range was set up indoors but the target area was outdoors. The rows of pods across the wall were all empty. The Chief and I climbed in one of the middle two pods and buttoned up.

"Com check." I heard over the speaker in my pod.

"Check, loud and clear," I answered.

"Check, loading program Alpha-Kilo-Four-Seven, on my mark."

"Roger, Alpha-Kilo-Four-Seven." I waited for his mark as the pods powered up and loaded the program.

"Mark."

For the next two hours, we went through alpha-kilo-four-seven. Spot a target and shoot. Spot a target and shoot. The targets could pop up from anywhere. Watch your instruments and scanner, line up the target and shoot. It was actually fun since you couldn't be killed. But if the target hit you before you could kill it, you got quite a shock through the gun control handles. It was an incentive to keep you on your toes, even if this was just practice.

After target practice, the Chief and I joined the squad at the mess hall for dinner. Everyone appeared to be in good spirits as everyone joked and talked while eating. We all sat around talking for longer than we usually did. We were finally shoed out by the mess staff around twenty hundred hours.

The Chief said he had to see someone about something and took off toward the headquarters section. I went to the walker bay to give the walkers one more check before tomorrows training exercise. I was lost in thought as I worked on one of my team's walkers when someone touched my foot. I almost banged my head on the walker as someone dragged me out by my ankles.

It was the Chief. He was smiling down at me as he held me by my ankles.

"Close it up and get to bed. It's twenty-three-thirty," he whispered.

"Right Chief," I said sliding, back under the walker. I buttoned it up and slid out to find him gone. I shook my head as I got up, wiping my hands on a rag. I went and took a shower and headed for his quarters, but found that his door locked. Shaking my head again, I went across the hall to my quarters and slipped into bed.

Tomorrow should be interesting.

3.9.0093/7

* * * Max Jones

The pips in my HUD swung around to the east in a ragged line. I stopped just short of the pivot point in the maneuver we were trying to execute.

"Echo squad halt!" All the pips on my HUD stopped.

"Come on people, get your heads out and look around. Try to stay even with the trooper on your left. That's not too much to ask, is it?" I shook my head inside my armor. I could have marked it up to first day jitters if they all hadn't been in combat before.

"Alright, let's try it again. Rally point Kilo-Five, line abreast formation, one hundred meters separation." No one was moving except Becky and me.

"Move, damn it!" The pips started moving at top speed. We had been at it for four hours and each time we tried the maneuver, it got worse.

"Chief, maybe we should stop for chow?" Becky suggested, but it was in the form of a question.

"No, not until they get it right."

"Echo squad ahead three-quarter speed," I called out when everyone was in position.

"On my mark left turn to heading two-seven-oh degrees line abreast formation." I waited until we were almost on top of the mountain before us.

"Mark!" I yelled. I was at the pivot point so I slowed way down to make the turn. The troop on the far end would have to speed up to full to keep up with the others. I watched as the pips moved ever so slowly in a straight line. It looked like they were going to get it this time. As I kept watching, the last troop started to fall back. Damn.

"Chief, Akers has to cover some awful rough terrain," Becky said to me on our private channel.

Akers was not that far out of line so I let the turn continue until we were headed ninety degrees from the way we started.

"Echo Squad, halt!" They halted in unison.

"Rally my position now!" I yelled on all-com.

Eleven walkers trundled to my position and halted before me. I looked them over. They were good troopers.

"Alright, that was much better. Akers, sorry for putting you in a tough position, but you never know what is going to happen in the field. Once more from the beginning, then we break for chow. After chow, we assemble in the squad bay for operation overview and squad assignments training."

"Alright, you heard the Chief. Rally point Kilo-Five, line abreast formation, one hundred meters separation!" Becky called out over all-com. The walkers swiftly got into position, as Akers called out 'ready', I took over the call.

"On my mark forward three-quarter speed, mark," I shouted. Did I really need to shout, the mike picked up a whisper. Besides, all top kicks shouted, why should I be any different?

The pips started to move in a nice steady formation. This time I thought I'd give Akers a break, and call the turn just a hair sooner.

"On my mark left turn to heading two-seven-oh degrees line abreast formation."

"Mark!" I called out a microsecond later. Caught Akers off guard, but she executed her maneuver anyway and kept up with the troop to her left without a problem over the smoother ground.

We were now headed in the direction of the base so I just let the squad continue until we reached the outer marker.

"Echo Squad quarter speed line astern formation, execute." Eleven walkers flowed in behind me as we approached the base checkpoint. Codes were exchanged and gates opened as we slowed to a walk inside the compound. We entered our walker bay and everyone racked their walkers.

"Listen up!" I shouted at everyone. "Walker checks until...thirteen-hundred. On my mark, it is now eleven-thirty hours, mark. Dismissed." By giving them walker check until thirteen-hundred, I had just given them an hour and a half for lunch since walker check took all of thirty seconds.

The rest of the afternoon, we rehearsed the operation over and over, in virtual reality, on the simulation table. It was dinnertime when we finished and I was satisfied that everyone knew what they were supposed to do.

"One last thing before we break for the day. You have all done a great job just remember when we are out there tomorrow that you are the best of the best. The sixty-forth is the top unit in the fleet. And as far as I'm concerned, you are the best in the sixty-fourth. Dismissed."

A cheer was their answer as they headed for the door and the mess hall for chow.

"Well, that went well," said Becky as we headed for the mess hall.

* * * Becky Latham

Dinner with the squad was relaxed, with stories, jokes, and horseplay. After dinner, we all went back to the squad bay and watched a little Tri-D until lights out. The Chief went to his quarters without a word. I didn't know if he wanted me to follow or not, so without any signal from him, I went to my quarters, stripped down and crawled into bed.

Max crawled up beside me without a word, cuddling up to me as he pulled the bed covers over us. I could hear his breathing slow as I fell asleep next to him, comforted by his warm naked body pressed against mine.

3.10.0093/4

* * * Max Jones

I woke with Becky snuggled up next to me. Giving her a shake, I watched as she stretched next to me.

"Time to get up my dear," I told her slapping her on the ass.

I got up out of bed and dressed as Becky watched. Peeking out the door into the squad bay, it was busy with activity. I slipped out and started down the squad bay, hoping no one noticed I didn't come from my doorway.

"Come on, people, we have two hours for chow and suit-up. Get a move on," I yelled as I walked down the squad bay. Once out of the bay, I caught up with Becky and headed for the chow hall.

At oh-eight-hundred, Echo squad was on the move.

* * * Becky Latham

We were traveling at over one hundred kph. The plain we were on flowed by almost as smooth as glass. My power-walker squad was on the move to the flank of the M'roby. Although the M'roby are humanoid in appearance, they were also stronger and faster than a human was. Power-walkers gave us the speed, mobility and the strength equal to the M'roby. We had weapons that were far superior to theirs; they were still using slug throwers, whereas we had developed particle beams, plasma pulse cannons, and giga-watt hand lasers.

My power-walker was outfitted with two rail-guns as it was loaded down with the squad com gear, the rest of the squad was armed with plasma cannons, two 100 giga-watt particle beam projectors and two rail-guns, as back up. The rail-guns I had would throw a collapsed aluminum slug at hypersonic speeds one after the other so fast that they appeared to be a solid rod of metal.

The M'roby seemed to want this planet as much as we did, and had invaded our outpost here, which is on the far reaches of our section of explored space. They just landed ten thousand troops on the southern polar continent without so much as a by your leave and started shooting up the countryside.

We were part of a five-squad envelopment mission. We were to move up this plain turn left at the mountains to come up behind the M'roby. The only women in the whole operation were in the five squads trying to outflank the M'roby. They were sitting in front of three divisions of battle-hardened combat troops, all male dropped in just for this operation.

The thought was to cause the M'roby troops to run into those three divisions. Then it would be mop-up time and we would get to go home. Not that this planet, don't know its name, wasn't pleasant but, homeworld was where I was born and raised, it was home.

"Rally point Oscar Delta One bearing two-four-oh degrees," I called out to the Chief, "Twenty-five klicks."

"Give me all-com, Becky," he responded.

"Echo Zulu One. Rally point Oscar Delta One in twenty-five klicks, squawking seven, seven, seven." The Chief was top kick, the ranking squad leader in all five squads. So, it fell to him to give the operational orders to all five. There was an officer present but he was fifty klicks back, plus he was a green second-louie, hardly able to stand up in his power-walker let alone command in it.

"Becky, start slowing them down," the Chief called out to me on our private channel.

"Aye, Chief," I responded. "Echo Two, reduce speed to one quarter."

We all dropped back to about 10 kph as we approached the rally point. So far, it looked as if the M'roby hadn't detected us.

"Echo One, mark." We were there. Stopping, I checked our position and the operational time sequence.

"All right, Echo Squad, bearing one-five-zero degrees, two hundred klicks," I told the Chief.

"Start 'em up."

"Echo Two bearing one-five-zero degrees, two hundred klicks, three-quarters speed." I sounded out as we turned in unison to one-five-zero and started the power-walkers toward the rear of the M'roby. The squad trailed out alongside us in a line abreast formation. The other four squads would follow as they reached the rally point.

I could hear the other squad seconds chanting out the bearing and speed as we covered the barren terrain.

We had made all our waypoints right on time. We were now one hundred klicks from the M'roby lines. The Chief had me slow our squad down so the other four would catch up with us as we hit the M'roby lines. The kilometers flowed silently by.

"Contact, oh-nine-oh, ten klicks, looks like about twenty headed right for us," Scans called out.

"Echo squad, quarter speed," the Chief called out, as I slowed to quarter speed.

"All weapons hot! Halt and cover!" Looking around, I found a boulder, which would give me the cover I needed.

We waited in silence as the M'roby closed on our position.

"Contacts have stopped five klicks from our present position." Scans reported.

"Echo squad hold!"

We waited some more. We were now five minutes behind schedule. The other four squads would be on top of us in three minutes.

"Contacts moving off, heading two-seven-five, fifty klicks an hour."

"Echo squad move out, full speed."

We were moving again.

"Team three, break off and follow contacts, two-seven-five."

"Roger, Echo One." That was Akers team getting the call to tail the contacts.

"Fox One to Echo Squad, we have you in sight, any problems?" I waited for the Chief to answer. When he didn't, I broke in.

"Fox One, Echo Two, we had contact zero-nine-zero, all clear now," I reported.

The other squads caught up with us and the Chief placed them on our right flank in a line abreast formation. We were now fifty klicks from the enemy. There was little chatter as we slowed to half speed.