Kaiju Wars Page 9

  The thrusters on her back and feet roared to life as she began to rise from her concealed construction pit. She exploded through its roof and flew straight upwards into the clouds like a giant rocket, her arms flat against the sides of her body. Once she was clear of Councilor Sheehan’s factory and well into the air, Colonel Jaeger leveled her out, extending her arms ahead of her in a fashion similar to superheroes in the pages of comics from the Old World. He set a course towards the Greenery capital and was gone before any of Steel Heart’s defenses were able to engage him. He, Major Steiner, and Councilor Sheehan had pulled off their desperate plan and taken the entire city by completely by surprise. That surprise compounded with the sheer disbelief that the city’s defensive forces had to have experienced at the sight of an unregistered mech taking flight had spared him from having to fight his way out of the city, and that was something he would be forever grateful for.

  ****

  With the repairs as complete as they could be in the field and all the units of Taskforce Beta re-equipped and reloaded, Captain Merrick got them moving again. This time, the support vehicles accompanied the hover tanks and three remaining mechs that was the Taskforce’s core. It didn’t take them long to meet up with Taskforce Alpha. Campbell was interested to see how Captain Merrick was going to handle Major Rowley. Peter and Geddy were placing bets over the mechs’ comlink as to who would end up in overall command.

  As Taskforce Alpha came into sight, its four mechs joined their com-link, the two groups merging into a single fighting force. Nuke Fist, Boomerang Charge, Steadfast Warrior, and Four-Arm Fury were a welcome sight. All four of them looked pristine compared to Ragnarok Valkyrie, Hulking Diablo, and Entropic Rush. Of course, they hadn’t been tasked with taking out a major Greenery city on their path to the capital or gone head to head with a swarm of kaiju flyers.

  Captain Mitch, piloting Steadfast Warrior, took direct command of the mechs. Peter was already bragging to Duvall, in Nuke Fist, and Dundee, in Boomerang Charge, about the number of kills he had raked up in the battle with the swarm. Duvall argued that the swarm kills weren’t kills of true kaiju and that they didn’t count but Peter was standing his ground that at the very least the giant bat-like flyers counted as a true kaiju given their size and toughness. Lillian, in Four-Arm Fury, traded witty banter back and forth with Geddy. Campbell knew the lady to be as crazy as Peter was when it came to combat but she and Geddy had a “thing.” The very existence of their relationship proved that opposites did attract. Geddy was a thin, little guy. His interests lay in music, books, and art. To say he was a geek was an understatement. The term nerd fitted him better. He was also a supremely talented engineer when it came to designing weapon systems for Steel Heart’s mechs. It was his idea to create a multi-armed mech, and after proving the combat effectiveness of such a design, he had everyone behind getting Four-Arm Fury commissioned by his home factory. The two of them had met for the first time as the factory’s head had put Geddy in charge of finding a pilot with the disjointed mental state needed to use four arms at once. For Lillian, the attraction between them had started right then and there. Geddy’s natural aloofness had kept him from realizing how she felt until Campbell had stepped in. Once Campbell got Geddy’s head out of the clouds long enough to see how Lillian felt, well, the rest was history. Campbell always had to stifle a laugh at the sight of the two of them together. Lillian was a good foot taller than Geddy and well-toned muscle from head to toe. She looked like she could pick up and break the little guy in half if he ever did anything that royally ticked her off. Campbell doubted that would ever happen though. Geddy was head over heels for Lillian and she was as much his world as the art and numbers he had loved above all else until he met her.

  The four mechs of Taskforce Alpha shifted their position so that Ragnarok Valkyrie, Hulking Diablo, and Entropic Rush could join the defensive formation they had set up around the lesser units of the two taskforces or Battlegroup Alpha as they were now called. In addition to the seven mechs, Battlegroup Alpha was composed for twenty-three hover tanks, a squad of six Wolf-class mechs, a battalion’s worth of infantry troopers, and its accompanying support vehicles. Taskforce Alpha had taken some losses on its journey too but none as severe as what Taskforce Beta had. Whether or not their combined strength was really enough to take the heart of the Greenery was debatable as Campbell saw things, but they had all came too far to turn back at this point. Their success or failure depended entirely on just what was waiting for them inside the walls of the Greenery’s capital. Campbell knew that aside from the kaiju swarm, neither taskforce had encountered any real resistance beyond limited guerilla attack. That meant either the Greenery was hurting even more than Colonel Jaeger claimed or their powers that be had called everything they had to the capital to defend it in one winner take all battle.

  Campbell was surprised when Captain Merrick’s voice suddenly came over the comlink shared by Battlegroup Alpha’s seven mechs. At first, he assumed that the captain had ended up in charge of the Battlegroup and Geddy had won the bet he and Peter had made. He soon found out that wasn’t the case, however.

  “Colonel Jaeger is in route to our position,” Captain Merrick said. “He’ll be taking personal command of the assault on the Greenery’s capital. We’ll be holding here until either he arrives or he gives an order for us to do otherwise. Keep your mechs combat ready. This close to the heart of the Greenery, a counter attack against our offensive could come at any time.”

  Captain Merrick logged out of the comlink as suddenly as he had joined it, leaving the mech pilots no chance to ask questions or argue with him. No one tried to say anything anyway. The news of Colonel Jaeger coming to join them at the front was too inspiring, intimidating, and confusing all at once.

  “Jaeger is one tough mother,” Peter finally commented, breaking the silence.

  “What?” Geddy asked as if he hadn’t heard Peter clearly. Campbell doubted it was because of any technical issue with Entropic Rush’s systems. More than likely, Geddy was already fantasizing about what he and Lillian would be up to once the assault on the capital was finished.

  “Peter said that Jaeger is one tough mother,” Lillian answered. “When he was a mech pilot, Jaeger held the record for true kaiju kills until Peter took it from him with Hulking Diablo.”

  “Oh,” Geddy commented, sounding totally uninterested.

  “Steel Heart colonels don’t usually lead from the front,” Duvall pointed out.

  “Hey,” Dundee laughed. “If he’s a good enough pilot to impress Peter, of all people, then we know the guy can fight. That’s all that matters right?”

  “You talk like he’s going to be piloting a mech,” Captain Mitch cut in. “I don’t see how that’s possible. Even if he got clearance from the Council of Engineers to bring one of the two that were left in Steel Heart to the front, he couldn’t get it here in a reasonable amount of time. Captain Merrick made it sound like the colonel would be arriving in just a few hours or less.”

  “You don’t think he’s being flown in to take over one of ours do you?” Peter asked, sounding worried, an unusual thing for him. “I’ll tell you right now he ain’t getting Hulking Diablo except over my dead body.”

  “Calm it, Peter,” Captain Mitch ordered. “Merrick didn’t say anything about the colonel taking one of ours.”

  “Merrick didn’t say much at all,” Geddy sighed. “As much as I loathe to say it, I agree with Peter though. None of us should be ordered to give up our mechs at this late stage in the operation. We all know our mechs better than anyone else regardless of how good they used to be or are.”

  “I said drop it, Lieutenant Leigh, and I meant it,” Captain Mitch snapped. “The colonel is the colonel so he can do whatever the devil he wants. I think we’re all clear on that, aren’t we?”

  “Yes, sir,” everyone chorused together, even Peter.

  “Now keep your systems geared up and battle ready,” Captain Mitch ordered. “If you see anything that
could be a threat, take it out before it takes us out. We’ll deal with everything else after the colonel arrives and we see what he has planned. Until then, let’s just focus on doing our jobs, people.”

  ****

  Joster’s interrogation by Major Rowley had been cut short. A second group of Tech forces, accompanied by three more of the giant mechs that were their primary weapons, arrived and the major had been called away to deal with more important matters Joster supposed. He had been left under the watch of two Tech infantry troopers for the last hour. With his fate still uncertain, each minute of waiting grew more painful than the one before it.

  Finally, Major Rowley did return. He was accompanied by another man who introduced himself as Captain Merrick. Joster couldn’t tell which one of them was in charge. Honestly, the two of them acted unsure on that fact themselves. Joster believed that a major outranked a captain but he couldn’t recall for sure. Ranks in the Greenery were of an entirely different structure than what the Techs used.

  “Your name is Joster, right?” Captain Merrick asked.

  Joster nodded his head. “Yes, sir,” he answered nervously, wondering why his name even mattered to the captain.

  “Good.” The captain smiled. “I like to know who I am speaking with, Joster. It makes things a bit more civil from my perspective. I understand that Steel Heart and your Greenery are at war but that doesn’t mean we’re not all humans.”

  Joster noticed Major Rowley raise an eyebrow. Apparently, Major Rowley didn’t agree with the captain that folks from the Greenery were humans. Joster couldn’t blame him. His time with Worm had enlightened him that maybe, just maybe, they weren’t. Everyone in the Greenery underwent genetic manipulation to some extent or another before they were born and the higher classes underwent a lot more as they grew older. He knew some officers that were part animal in a sense, their eyes traded for those of cats, their muscles enhanced with those of apes, etc.

  “Joster, we need you to tell us whatever you can about your capital’s defenses,” Captain Merrick urged him. “Us having that knowledge might save some lives on both sides when the fighting starts.”

  “I’m just a grunt,” Joster admitted. “I drove a transport truck until one of your mechs blew my unit to bits.”

  “See?” Captain Merrick turned to Major Rowley. “Being polite and explaining your intent will get you a lot more information than pressure and fear tactics.”

  Major Rowley grunted. “Who says I wasn’t being polite?”

  Captain Merrick ignored him, returning his attention to Joster. “I understand that you weren’t an officer, son, but surely you’ve been to the capital. Anything at all you can tell us is better than nothing.”

  “We don’t have time for this,” Major Rowley growled, drawing his sidearm. “The colonel is on his way here as we speak.”

  Major Rowley leveled the barrel of his pistol at Joster’s head. “This is your last chance. Start talking now or …”

  “Major!” Captain Merrick snapped. “Put that gun away. Now.”

  “Captain,” Rowley spat the word as a reminder of the other’s rank. “We may share joint command of Battlegroup Alpha for the moment but don’t forget that overall, I still outrank you.”

  Joster couldn’t believe the two of them were having it out in front of him. Such arguments among officers were common in the Greenery but he had always figured that the Tech army ran much more professionally. The stories about it always implied that it did. Something clearly had Major Rowley shaken up and on edge and he was dang sure it wasn’t him.

  “Look,” Joster broke into their argument. “I can’t tell you anything about the capital and its defenses that you don’t already know but I can tell you that…”

  Major Rowley squeezed the trigger of his pistol before Joster could finish. Joster’s eyes blinked in surprise as the barrel of the weapon flashed and he felt something smack into his forehead. The world turned black as his eyes stopped functioning. There was an intense sensation of falling and then nothing.

  “What in the devil did you do that for?” Captain Merrick raged, staring in disbelief at where Joster’s corpse lay sprawled out on the sand. Blood and brain matter oozed from the jagged exit wound on the backside of his skull where the major’s bullet had blown through it.

  “He was only wasting our time,” Major Rowley snapped. “We have much more important things we should be dealing with and now we can.”

  “I’m going to report this,” Captain Merrick growled at Major Rowley.

  “Do what you like, Captain.” Major Rowley shrugged, appearing unconcerned. “He said himself that he was just a grunt and of no use to us.”

  “That doesn’t mean he didn’t have rights,” Captain Merrick protested. “He looked as human as either of us is, maybe more.”

  Major Rowley was already walking away back towards the makeshift command center of Battlegroup Alpha and paid no mind to his words at all.

  “Bastard,” Captain Merrick muttered under his breath. “If we live through this mess, you’re going to pay for this, Major. Count on it.”

  Captain Merrick followed Major Rowley into the APC turned command center. It was nice to step inside its air-conditioned interior and out of the harsh sun that beat down on the sands of the Waste. Lieutenant Hawk, who sat the APC’s comm. and sensors station, looked at them both as they entered as if unsure who to report to and then just started talking.

  “Colonel Jaeger has reported that he is less than two hours away from arriving, sir,” Lieutenant Hawk said. “He plans to take over full command of Battlegroup Alpha upon his arrival.”

  “Did he say anything about how he’s getting here so quickly?” Major Rowley asked.

  “Yes, sir, he did,” Lieutenant Hawk answered. “Colonel Jaeger claims to be in route aboard a flight-capable mech that he is piloting.”

  Captain Merrick glanced over at Rowley to see the major appeared to be just as confused as he was.

  “I didn’t know such a thing existed,” Major Rowley commented.

  “Me either,” Captain Merrick admitted. “Though, I am just a tanker and not a mech expert.”

  “The strange thing is …” Lieutenant Hawk added, “… that we also received a transmission from the Council of Engineers. Councilor James has ordered for Colonel Jaeger to be placed under immediate arrest for treason against Steel Heart upon the colonel’s arrival.”

  “That makes even less sense,” Captain Merrick grumbled.

  “Actually, it explains a lot,” Major Rowley disagreed. “It sounds like someone back home built an unregistered mech and the colonel has absconded with it.”

  “Colonel Jaeger would never do anything to betray Steel Heart,” Captain Merrick said. “If someone did build a flight-capable mech and kept it a secret, then there was a bloody good reason the colonel took it rather than impounding it and bringing its creator in for treason.”

  “Regardless of the reason, treason is treason,” Major Rowley countered.

  “We’re not arresting the colonel without more information about what’s going on,” Captain Merrick said and meant it.

  “We’ll do as we were ordered to do,” Major Rowley moved to draw his sidearm but Captain Merrick stepped forward, catching the major’s hand moving to the weapon by the wrist as he laid his arm flat against the major’s throat, shoving the major into the APC’s wall.

  Major Rowley struggled against his hold but Captain Merrick held him tight, the pressure of his arm against the major’s neck keeping him from saying anything more.

  “I’ve had enough for your hotheadedness, Major,” Captain Merrick warned Rowley. “Everyone of this command center’s crew around us just saw you attempting to draw your weapon on a fellow officer. You are relieved of command until such time as the colonel deems fit to restore it to you.”

  Taking Major Rowley’s weapon and aiming it at him, Captain Merrick backed away from the red-faced major.

  “You there!” Captain Merrick yelled at the two gu
ards outside of the makeshift command center’s doors. “Take this man in custody and find somewhere safe to tuck him away until the colonel arrives.”

  “Yes, sir,” the guards replied rushing to take hold of Major Rowley by his upper arms.

  “You can’t do this, Merrick!” Major Rowley spat. “I outrank you!”

  “Not anymore,” Captain Merrick said and was done with the matter.

  The two guards hauled the still screaming major out of the APC and away from Captain Merrick’s sight.

  “Now then,” Captain Merrick addressed Lieutenant Hawk. “Did the colonel say anything else?”

  Lieutenant Hawk looked as if he wanted to crawl up under his console and hide there. Captain Merrick couldn’t blame him for it. He had taken a big chance relieving Rowley of command, and if he was proven wrong in doing so, they would all pay for it.

  “Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Hawk answered reluctantly. “He said to start the attack on the Greenery’s capital at once.”

  Captain Merrick locked the fingers of his hands together and stretched out his arms popping their joints. “Well then, we had best be about it …”

  ****

  Duala Mate Denkirch’s lips parted in a feral snarl as he reached out with his mind and touched the minds of the Greenery’s new batch of true kaiju. Power like he had never felt flowed through him. There were thirty-eight of the giant beasts. Denkirch had controlled true kaiju before but never so many and never from such a close proximity. The great beasts were fully grown and battle ready. Their growth acceleration had done its job perfectly.

  The gates of the Greenery capital opened as Denkirch mentally urged the great beasts through them. The kaiju flyers tasked with reconnaissance of the Steel Heart forces near the capital had given him the exact location of those forces. It was confirmed that there were indeed seven mechs among their numbers. Seven against thirty-eight, Denkirch thought. Indeed, the battle would be a short one. The Steel Heart invaders would never suspect the Greenery to have such strength at its disposal in so short a time.