Chapter 17: Armistice

“Keep them back!” Korza shouted over the din of battle, “don’t let them reach cover by those prefabs!”

The defenders focused their fire on a squad of Drones that had been sneaking around the perimeter of the compound, hiding in the shadow of the wall. Before long their blood and viscera was staining the metal like splotches of green and orange paint, the Borealans switching targets as another group breached the entrance to the base and fanned out in an attempt to make themselves harder to hit.

“They just keep throwing themselves at us,” Gorza muttered. “It’s like they don’t care about their own lives. It goes beyond valor, it’s madness.”

“This is how they overcame Delta’s defenses,” Colonel Lopez added as he swapped out the spent battery on his pistol for a fresh one. Not only did their weapons drain ammo, but the batteries had been be replaced too after their electrical charge was depleted. “Wave after wave of Bugs came crashing against our defenses like a tide against the rocks. It took them a while, and it cost them more than any UNN general would have been willing to pay, but they broke through and overran us.”

“They’ll do the same to us if that damned extraction ship doesn’t arrive in time,” Korza hissed.

“They’ll be here,” Kaz said as she tried to reassure her exhausted comrades. “My scouts will have made it back to Charlie by now. The morning has already come.”

“I know the morning has come,” the gruff Elysian replied bitterly, “the sunlight is in my damned eyes. They’re using it as cover.”

“Then put your helmet on and tint the visor.”

“I can’t see properly with the helmet on,” he complained.

One of the scouts shouted over their argument, pausing between shots.

“Phalanx incoming!”

Korza snarled and braced himself, tugging the stock of the anti-material rifle tight against his shoulder. He angled it down towards the line of Drones that was advancing through the breach, their shields raised in defense as they stepped over their dead comrades. There was an electrical whir as the rifle’s capacitors charged from the portable battery pack.

“Why do they keep coming?” the shock trooper to Kaz’s left asked. “They keep trying to breach, and we keep stopping them. They’ve seen every phalanx that came before them be destroyed, yet they stay the course. Are they insane? Are they unthinking creatures with no ability to reason?”

“It’s simple,” Kaz replied, her tone dour. “They know that they have more men than we have bullets. They’re counting on us killing them, and they’ll keep throwing Drones at us until we’ve expended all of our ammunition and they can just walk right up to the tower.”

“That’s why we’ve got bayonets,” one of her scouts laughed, and he was joined by a few others. A little humor might raise their spirits at least, but Kaz was starting to doubt their plan. At this rate, the dropship would arrive to find a graveyard.

“Fire in the hole!”

Everyone ducked and covered their ears, besides Kaz who was wearing her helmet, the smart sound dampening dulling the deafening crack as Korza fired his giant railgun. She watched it dash the shield formation, scattering those that it didn’t immediately vaporize like multicolored bowling pins.

There was a thud as the forty-millimeter grenade launcher cleaned up the survivors, then its wielder threw the weapon to the floor and cursed in his native tongue.

“I’m out of shells, Alpha.”

“Take up a rifle, and make sure your shots count,” Korza ordered. “We’re starting to run low on slugs.”

They had been firing continuously for hours, and even the considerable stockpile that Gamma squad had recovered from the armory was dwindling. Korza slammed the release catch on the anti-material railgun with his fist, the empty magazine dropping from the receiver.

“Need a reload!”

Gorza rummaged through his pack, pulling out another three round mag and tossing it towards him. Korza snatched it from the air with his clawed hand, slotting it into his weapon with a mechanical click that echoed in the ruined control room.

“Make ‘em count, that’s all we have left.”

“I don’t miss,” Korza spat, thumping his armored chest before returning his eye to the rifle’s scope. Gorza bowed his head in deference, not wanting the Alpha to see his comment as a challenge. The atmosphere in the control tower was tense, desperate, but Borealans excelled under pressure. They were in their element, the lust for battle ran in their blood, and desperate last stands were the secret aspiration of anyone who took up a weapon to serve their Patriarch. Most of their kind died violently, Borealans came into the world screaming and covered in blood, and that was the way most of them preferred to go out.

“Damn it, I’m out of ammo,” Lopez said. “Give me one of the XMRs.”

“With respect Colonel, we only have Borealan rifles,” Kaz replied. “The kick could break your shoulder.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, soldier. If it’s the choice between a broken shoulder and having these roaches overrun us, then I choose the broken shoulder.”

She passed him one of the surplus rifles, as long as the Colonel was tall. He struggled with it, bracing it against one of the windowsills, waving the barrel back and forth to clean away broken glass.

Kaz heard a grunt as Lopez took aim and pulled the trigger, the weapon very nearly jumping out of his hands as it slammed into his collar. He’d be badly bruised for sure, too many hits like that and his bones would break under the strain. He seemed unperturbed, however, collecting himself as he lined up another shot.

Korza had been wise to set up inside the control tower. It was elevated over the compound, the relatively small windows making difficult targets for soldiers on the ground. The structure was solid, and it was hard to demolish for an enemy that seemed to lack man-portable heavy weapons and armored vehicles. That wouldn’t count for anything when they ran out of ammunition, however. They could bottleneck the Bugs on the staircase, but the smaller creatures would have an advantage in such tight quarters, the bulk of the Borealans would hinder them. Kaz was no stranger to the bite of Bug daggers, and she wasn’t looking forward to going tooth and claw with the insects again.

“Fire in the hole!” Korza shouted, loosing off two shots from anti-material railgun as the rest of the defenders ducked and covered their sensitive ears. The hypersonic crack shook Kaz’s bones, and she felt the shockwave ripple through every soft part of her body. Just being near that thing felt dangerous.

The rounds felled a Warrior that had made it through the gate, the lobster-like creature keeling over as the kinetic energy turned its insides to mush. He only had one slug left now, Kaz had been counting. She was running dangerously low on ammunition as well, their stockpile had been rapidly depleted by the sustained gunfight.

“I’m out,” Gorza shouted, “toss me a new mag!”

“There aren’t any,” one of the scouts replied, “what you’ve got loaded is all that’s left.”

Gorza cursed in his native Rask dialect, rising to his feet and making for the stairs.

“I’ll man the door then. Anything tries to come through, it will be met by my bayonet.”

Damn it, had the scouts that she had sent back to Charlie not made it back? Had they been intercepted by a Bug patrol? Where was the extraction ship?

She turned her attention back to the battle, careful with her aim so as not to waste what little ammo they had left. The Bugs seemed to have slowed their advance, they were lingering around the entrance, hiding behind the slagged doors and the piles of dead that littered the battlefield. Kaz had never seen a Bug hesitate before, never seen them falter. Were they even capable of feeling fear?

“Something is wrong,” Korza muttered, peering through his scope. “What are they doing?”

“They’re falling back!” one of the shock troopers shouted excitedly.

“Impossible,” Kaz whispered in disbelief, her furry finger moving away from the trigger of her rifle. “They have us on the ropes, why would they stop now? They’ve been trying to waste our ammunition since daybreak, and they’ve finally succeeded.”

The few Bugs that had made it into the compound were inching back towards the exit, their bodies low and their heads bowed to make themselves smaller targets.

“You ever seen them do this before?” Lopez asked, wincing as he tracked one of them with his oversized rifle. The man wasn’t a paper pusher, Kaz would give him that. He had probably sustained a few fractures trying to control the recoil on that weapon.

“Never,” Korza replied, watching them intently through his magnified scope. “I’ve only seen them retreat after sustaining massive casualties, and only when their objective is out of reach.”

The crowd of Drones clustered by the door to the compound, there must have been a hundred of them, their weapons lowered and any shields deactivated as they milled about. Kaz resisted the urge to fire on them, it wouldn’t do to waste what little ammunition was left on Bugs that weren’t an immediate threat.

Gorza appeared at the top of the staircase, a questioning look on his face.

“What’s happening? Why did you stop firing?”

He crouched next to Kaz and stuck his head up to look out of the window, his round ears twitching as he examined the strange scene.

“There’s something coming out of the forest, look!”

Beyond the walls of the compound and across the blasted no man’s land, there emerged a figure from between two of the massive tree trunks. As he walked out from beneath the shadow of the forest canopy the sunlight cast its rays on him, Kaz realizing that it was a human. He was flanked by two colorful Drones, walking at his side like they were guarding him. She couldn’t make out any details at this distance, and so she used the zoom function on her helmet, dialing it in using controls that were mounted on her temple.

The first zoom level revealed a man with dark hair wearing tattered fatigues, and the second...

“That’s Walker!” Kaz exclaimed, startling Gorza with her fervor. “They have Walker!”

“Who is Walker?” Korza demanded, keeping his weapon trained on the approaching figures.

“I served as his spotter, he’s a Sergeant in the Marine Corps. The Bugs took him when we were on patrol. I told my base commander that he was still alive, but he wouldn’t let anyone go looking. I knew he wasn’t dead. Oh God, what have they done to him?”

“He’s a hostage,” Korza hissed, his voice dripping with malice. “It’s a move so underhanded and devoid of honor that only a Bug could think of it. They’re going to parade him out here and try to make us surrender in exchange for his life, no doubt. They must be sick of the taste of tungsten.”

Kaz turned her eyes back to her old companion, watching as the sea of Drones parted to let him pass. He didn’t look like he was a hostage. He wasn’t being dragged along by the arms, nobody had a gun pressed against his head. If anything it looked as if his guards were following his lead, and not the other way around.

Walker proceeded calmly into the compound, flanked by the two Drones, the same winged males that had tailed him and Kaz during their patrol. He came to a stop about a hundred feet away from the base of the tower.

There was a sudden movement from the rest of the Bugs. They turned about, walking off towards the forest. The defenders watched in disbelief as the hundred-strong army gradually vanished into the trees, leaving only Walker and his two guards behind.

“My name is Walker,” he shouted, his voice ringing out over the eerie silence. “I’m a Sergeant in the UNN. I need to get in touch with Fleetcom on a matter of utmost importance.”

The Borealans all turned their heads to look at Lopez, the base commander nursing his wounded shoulder as he stared down at the man. They waited for a reply as he considered, his eyes narrowing.

“Something about this feels wrong,” he muttered, then he directed his attention towards the aliens. “Your thoughts?”

“Look at his clothes, sir,” Korza said. “He’s filthy. His fatigues are in tatters, he’s unshaven, his hair is matted. He looks like he’s been tortured to me, held captive. Kazka, how long ago did you say they took him?”

“I didn’t, but it was days ago.”

“What if they broke him, and he’s acting on their orders? He might just be trying to get us to open the door and come out of the tower.”

“There’s no way,” Kaz replied, shaking her head. “He’d die first. I know him as well as my own litter, we’ve served together in multiple campaigns. Hades, Kruger, now Jarilo. I’d trust him with my life. Hell, he’s saved it on more than one occasion. I say we hear him out.” Korza began to protest, but she cut him off, the large male bristling at her challenge. “What other choice do we have? We’re out of ammo, the evac ship hasn’t shown up yet.”

He bared his teeth in a snarl, his brow furrowed, then he exhaled and lay down his massive rifle on a nearby console.

“She is right, Colonel. Our situation is dire. We have few options.”

“Alright,” Lopez said, his tone commanding. “Kazka, go down and talk to him. Gorza, lock the door behind her. The rest of you provide her with cover. If those Drones so much as twitch in her direction, shoot them. Take this Walker character alive if anything happens, I’m sure that Fleetcom will have a lot of questions to ask him...”

Kaz did as she was ordered, excitement overcoming her worry and fear. Not only had they repelled the attack, but Walker was alive! She had known it all along, she had felt it in her gut. If only Fischer had allowed her to lead a search party as she had requested, perhaps they might have been able to break him out of whatever prison the Bugs had been holding him in.

She reached the door to the tower at the base of the stairs, hitting the control panel and stepping outside onto the metal grates. She turned back to give Gorza a nod, and he returned the gesture, closing the door behind her with a mechanical click.

The Drones seemed skittish as she walked slowly towards them, Walker standing with his arms crossed as they stood guard to either side of him. They were armed, but they had not drawn their weapons, the compound eyes of their helmets twinkling as they watched her approach.

“Kaz? Kaz is that you?”

Walker took a step forward, his eyes bright, but she put up a hand to ward him off.

“Don’t try to hug me, my buddies might shoot you,” she said as she gestured to the tower behind her. “Walker ... everyone thought that you were dead. I told them, I said that you couldn’t have been killed, but they wouldn’t listen to me. I tried to come find you, I tried to-”

He waved his hand, indicating that she should cease her rambling, and she stood there sheepishly as she looked him up and down. He really did look like he had been dragged through the mud. He was filthy, his clothes were in tatters, he certainly looked the part of a PoW. He seemed healthy, however, alert and seemingly unhurt. His smell stood out to her, something was off about it. His usual scent was being masked by something ... alien.

“I know you would have come for me if you could, Kaz. In fact, I’m surprised that you’re not in a brig right now for attempting to desert. I’m glad to see that you’re alive, I feared that the Bugs who captured me might have killed you.”

“No, I fought my way out of there. Whatever tranquilizer they used to bring you down, it didn’t work on me.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” he chuckled.

“Now ... are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Walker straightened up, his expression becoming more serious.

“I need to get in touch with Fleetcom right away. I’ve come on behalf of the Betelgeusians living on Jarilo, to offer their surrender.”

“On behalf of ... surrender!?”

Kaz couldn’t believe her ears, what the hell was he talking about?

“It’s kind of a long story, and I fear that I don’t have time to do it justice right now. The Bugs aren’t what we thought Kaz, we couldn’t have imagined. What they want, how they live, we were way off. I’ve met their Queen, I’ve ... their Drones will obey me now. I ordered all troops recalled to the hive and I’m prepared to negotiate the terms of their surrender.”

“Walker,” Kaz whispered, her voice trailing off. “It’s still you, right? They didn’t ... do things to you?”

“You’re asking if I was tortured, brainwashed,” he laughed. It was hearty, and it put Kaz more at ease. “Besides some fairly invasive language lessons, I’m fine, they’ve not mistreated me. I’m here of my own accord, for my own reasons. This is important Kaz, I can end this war today.”

“You’re still on our side, right?” Kaz asked. She stared at her feet, as if afraid of the answer that he might give.

“Things aren’t that black and white, Kaz. There are no sides, not on Jarilo. There are only those who want to see an end to the slaughter and those who don’t.”

They were interrupted by the sound of engines, the two friends looking to the sky to see three ships break through the cloud layer, two Penguin gunships flanking a bulky dropship. They were coming in hot, their noses glowing orange as they shed the heat of reentry, winding to lose velocity.

“Here comes the cavalry,” Kaz muttered sarcastically. “Looks like my scouts got back to Charlie.”

“Guess I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do,” Walker sighed. He waved to his Drones, and they bowed their heads, turning to retreat back the way they had come. It was probably for the best, they didn’t want a Penguin pilot with an itchy trigger finger dropping his payload on their heads.

“If you need a character witness,” Kaz began, shooting him a familiar toothy grin.

“I’ll come find you,” he replied, beginning to walk over to Delta’s landing pad where the dropship was setting down. It kicked up a cloud of dust and dead pine needles that had blown in from the forest with its thrusters, the two Penguins circling above the forest overhead.

A squad of Marines thundered down the landing ramp, their XMRs drawn as they fanned out. They had been expecting to land in the middle of a firefight no doubt, but the courtyard was empty save for Kaz and Walker. Once the area was secured, their leader flipped up his opaque visor, making his way over to where Walker was waiting for him.

“What the hell happened here?” he asked, looking around at the smoldering prefabs and the piles of dead bodies. “Who is in charge here?”

“The base commander is up in the control room,” Kaz replied, gesturing to the tower with a clawed finger. “You guys are running late, you missed one hell of a fight.”