Garden of Lights

Zero

Mathew's Garden

Darkness, the song of things, the chattering of smaller things. Hu sat and listened and looked at the sky.

This time did not last long here, perhaps two hours at this stage of the season. Only a short while to see the stars. At the end of those hours the twinkle of the stars washed away as the lamp flowers opened.

What did it say about a people who would settle such a place? Who would see this as beautiful and name it a garden?

There was a slight sound and Hu's head swiveled to point at it. The troupe's scout was named Feng. Feng was sheathed in the flesh of a nocturnal predator. The animal had been cored and the core replace with the machines that were him. Feng had another body for daylight scouting, one of the far more formidable creatures that sunlight and the high tide allowed in shore.

"They have just entered the habitation." said Feng. "They appear to be taking a different route from the one we planned."

"They don't fully trust the locals. They tell them less and less." Hu rose too her feet. "We will reposition, catch them as they leave the target rather than on approach."

"Unfortunate for our allies." Feng slipped back into the foliage.

"Then they should become better spies." Hu said. The wires that linked the trope together detached from Hu's carapace with a click. Hu shaped to better move through the forest and slipped back towards town. In the distance Hu could hear a rising cloud of radio signals, scattered and indistinct. The enemy.

I

Razor-Six Actual was dreaming. In her dream she was sixteen and aboard a sailboat. Her girlfriend of the time was beside her. She missed that girl. They'd parted amicably enough for a first relationship breakup. She should send her a message some time.

Something broke the water to the side of the boat and her girlfriend pointed. A school of shell sharks gleamed copper as they rose out of the water all around the boat, rocking it. Her girlfriend hung on and . . .

Razor-Six Actual opened her eyes, blinking up at her aid who was shaking her. "Sorry sir, but it's an emergency."

"Ugh." Six Actual said. She walked to the rooms closet, pulling on a uniform body suit. It was hot in the bunker and she was sweaty. There would be no time to shower. "What's the situation?"

"The raid into Saltlick went bad. The Huskies say they have a platoon pinned down in the city, plus the crew of a downed extract bird. The situation on the ground is confused. We've completely lost connection with the surveillance systems in Saltlick. The intelligence cell is saying jamming. Also something shot down the Hampshirite UAV."

Six Actual called up a list of the elements she had to respond on short notice. Two companies and a special purpose forces team. . . the 11th Special Rescue Team. They were already on their way.

II

The strains of early second century revival jazz sounded through the aircraft. Phantom Two-One-Four flexed her off hand against her gun in time with the music. Her arm was a replacement, like her old one down to the tattoos to help with the adjustment process. It looked like her old arm, it felt like her arm, it even acted like her arm, yet she knew it was not her arm. Her old arm had been hit by a panzerschreck and gone spinning away on a gout of blood. She had looked down and seen the jagged white and red of the stump before her suit had pumped her full of no shock and closed tight, cutting blood flow.

"If you keep picking at that it'll fall off again." Two-One-Three, in the next seat, grinned at the bottom of her mask.

One-Four found herself chuckling despite herself at her friends irreverence. "It's weird, it doesn't feel any different. I'd almost prefer it if it did."

"What I can't believe is you got a new arm and you decided you'd keep those ugly goddamn tattoos." Two-Two-One, on the other side of the aircraft looked over.

"Yeah well if I was a fashion victim like you Two-One, I might actually be tempted to get rid of my classic ink for whatever glow in the dark Pegasus bullshit is popular these days."

"Alright." Six spoke up. "Listen up, we're the first element in. We've got an air mechanized company from First Division coming from inland, and a Marine company from the 5th Independent from the sea. Call signs Cottonmouth and Shark. Cottonmouth is a fake out, Shark will relieve us. Any questions?"

"Opposition?" One-Four asked.

"Unknown. Something scrambled every surveillance system in the town and the air drone is down. Reports are sketchy."

"Just great." Two-One muttered.

"Hey if it was easy then they'd let people with children into SRT." Six shrugged. "That said it must be a small force. If a battalion of insurgents was hiding down there there's no way we could have missed them."

"Feet dry in ten seconds." The aircraft said. It was dropping as it approached land, engines still in the forward position. The city was coming up ahead, now brightly lit as the lamp flowers opened, picking out the tall walls of the gardens and high vaulted buildings of the compounds in whites and blues. It looked like a city of churches, or a graveyard.

"God this place is awesome." One-Two looked down. "I am so taking some lamp trees seeds home with me." The team began to run last minute checks on their gear and weapons.

The yellow light came on and the music shut off. "Thirty seconds to drop." the aircraft rushed forward, then it began to flare. The front of the aerodyne rose and its engines pitched to point forward. The back ramp opened. The chalk ran off the ramp, the dyne never quite coming to a stop, slowing only enough so the troops inside weren't scattered across the city.

One-Four was at the edge of the ramp when a bolt of golden light reached up and slammed into the far side of the aerodyne. Instantly the side of the aircraft was wreathed in fire. The active camouflage failed and the craft yawed wildly. The side of the door smacked into One-Four and her armoured body knocked sideways. She hit the ramp and tumbled free, stunned and spinning. Her view rolled, the aircraft coming into sight, distant, its turret rippling out streams of light in several directions, then rolled out of the top of her vision as she continued to spin.

"Stabilize! Stabilize!" her suits insistent voice penetrated One-Four's stunned consciousness. She extended legs and arms fully, found herself going down back first and tucked in her legs. There was a great thump as her flight pack fired at full burn and then she smacked into a wall and bounced off, crashing through a tree and coming to rest.

She pushed to her knees, reaching up and yanked the bottom of her mask away to vomit. There was a cold sting as her suits drug pack hit her with pain killers and enhanced adrenalin. One-Four stumbled to her knees, bringing her payload gun up and sweeping the area.

Nothing.

She was in a walled orchard, pear trees and jasmine in alternate rows, lamp flowers on the walls. There was no movement, no black icons on her minimap either. Of course if that had been accurate then Phantom Two wouldn't have been hit.

They'd come down a short way from the target, a hundred meters to the South. SOP now was to get to the target, get the mission done, don't worry about the rest of your team. Nobody's rescue beacon was active, so either they'd made it down, or there was nothing that One-Four could do about it.

She moved towards the gate, shattered the lock and looked through. Steps down into a flood canal. Another set lay opposite. Down, sprint, up, stop before the top and pull the payload gun up awkwardly over the top. The street was narrow, empty and lined with large flower pots.

"Uniform, this is Two-One-Four, friendly coming in from your South."

"Copy. Holding fire South."

One Four got up and moved forward, moving cautiously up the street. Up ahead another friendly emerged, Two-One moving the same way she was. The pair fell in together without a word, one moving, one covering.

They covered most of the way to the building when a Hampshirite combat armour and a spider legged drone emerged from the side up ahead. "Are you Tempesti? Medics?"

"Yes." Two-Two talked as One-Four covered. "This is One-Four, I'm Two-One."

"Ah, definitely Tempesti. I'm Corporal Parker, come this way." The Hampshirite gestured and half turned. One-Four noticed a blur down the street, perched on steep roof one of the compounds.

"Threat!" The Hampshirite just heard her yell something incomprehensible. Two-One heard a report of distance and bearing. The blur fired before either could react, or One-Four could fire. A micromissile flashed down the street and the drone. Two-One was flung backwards, the front of her armour shatter marking as it took a storm of fragments.

One-Four shot arrived an instant later. The payload gun walked four rounds down the side of the roof, demolishing it. A volley of fire from the Hampshirites in the building followed, collapsing the remains and peppering the spire behind it. One-Four didn't see what happened to her target. Parker was dragging Two-One into the building. "Come on, quick!" He vanished around the corner, then reappeared, aiming his rifle.

One-Four backpedalled in after him. "Is Two-Two dead?" she asked in English after a moment constructing the thought.

He shook his head. "She's really fucked up, but she's alive."

It seemed that Two-Two and One-Four were the first ones to make it into the structure. Most of the others marks were still moving so they were most likely still alive, though the jamming was picking up again.

She walked over to Two-Two, quickly checking her over. She was bleeding from a dozen places where jets of liquid metal had periced her armour. Her suit was doing what she could but Two-Two needed a hospital or at least a doc in the box soon or she'd die. She refilled Two-Two's drug patch then looked up at Parker. "Do you have seriously wounded?"

"Yeah, at least three hurt as bad as she is." Parker said gravely.

"Show me too them."

III

"Hey I wouldn't leave that in my kit if I were you." Cottonmouth Epsilon-Two-Kilo-Two blinked up at the taller figure behind her, putting a guilty hand on the mother of pearl and gold locket she'd been about to put in her backpack.

Cottonmouth Epsilon-Five smiled down at her under her mask. "If that's valuable to you, you should keep close to your heart. Also if we run into heavy stuff then your kits going to gain a bunch of holes."

"Oh... right. Thank you!" Kilo-Two smiled and put the heavy locket around her neck, tucking it inside her drivers suit. She'd been worried it might break off and she might lose it in the drivers compartment but it was safer in there than inside the vehicle.

"Get mounted. We'll be on the ground soon." Four-Five gave her a heavy slap on the shoulders then headed back around the back of the room compartment, squeezing around the docked vehicles. With four boxy Kris APCs loaded there was barely space to move in the carryall's belly. Kilo-Two didn't envy the infantry, in heavy armour and mostly twice her size anyhow. She climbed back onto Two-Kilo's hull and slipped down into the turret. It took a moment more to eel down into the operator compartment and get comfortable. It took her a moment to realize the platoon's XO had basically told her they were going to run into a bad fight and that she should feel scared.

"Are you finished messing around with your kit now?" The vehicles commander, Kilo-One asked. "Honestly Yatka, you mess with your stuff as much as my little sister does." The vehicle commander's helmet sat beside her.

"Ah... all done." Kilo-Two blushed and ran a hand over the locket. Furious at herself she returned concentration too her board. "All systems check okay too."

"Alright, when we land we're forming up in staggered column until we get to the edge of town. Emission control setting two. All passive defensive systems on one."

"What about the active systems?"

"Unsafe them and set them to engage fast moving objects. Stay in the loop for shooting at people though. There are supposed to be civilians in this town."

"Right." Kilo-Two made a few last adjustments and checked the vehicle's bravo was ready to do what she wanted. "All set."

There was a crunch as the carryall grounded. "Time to get dirty." Kilo-One pulled her mask on. The ramp dropped and illumination flooded in. The carriers reversed out of the bay as one, computer precise. The suspension made it feel like they were hovering.

Kilo-One grinned. "Wait till you see a town . Anything on the signal trap?"

Kilo-Two looked down at the electromagnetic warning receiver. It was quite and the bars were still. No unidentified signals. "Not a thing." The sky was full of ZOCU aircraft. Small armed scout aerodynes circled around the column while heavier gunships and fixed wing bombers were stacked up above. There would be heavier fire support systems on the ground too, watching all the way into town. While her training had talked a lot about not putting too much stock in firepower, it was comforting to have.

The platoon swung around the side of the hill and Kilo-Two got a good look at the town. Tall stone buildings jutted up everywhere. "Amazing." she breathed, peering around as they slid into town.

"Like something out of a story isn't it?" Kilo-One said. The carriers headed down the main road, an unmanned ground drone rolling ahead. They were rolling in a sea of drones really. Kilo-Two saw buildings on all sides of them light up, the walls becoming semi-transparent on her view, wireframe outlines appearing within. The convoy moved down the main road until they were a fair way into the town, then halted.

"Dismount." Kilo-One called. The ramp fell and Kilo-Two could see infantry emerging to fan out around the vehicle. Small drones buzzed up around them like a swarm of insects. The last soldier banged a hand on the APC side as she left and the ramp shut. "Stay behind the infantry as they move." The engine hummed slightly as they moved forward slowly, infantry advancing forward in bounds.

There was a sudden crack from ahead, followed by a shattering storm of gunfire and explosions. Several compounds ahead suddenly became just buildings or gained the blink orange caste of low confidence scans.

Red beacons appeared on the viewer: distress and wounded markers. Fire vectors laid out on distant ghost structures. There were still buildings between Kilo-Two and the fight. She was glad "Take a left here." Kilo-One instructed. "Stop for a moment to let the infantry reload. We're moving up to that structure there." She pointed to a huge vaulted spire ahead, "and take up a firing position on the top floor."

"We're going to bring an APC up the inside of the building?" Kilo-two asked.

"That's the plan. Guess we find out now whether the locals bullshitted their building inspectors." there was a thump from the rear compartment. "Okay they're loaded. Move forward." The APC sped down the street, coming to a stop outside the great doors of the huge stone spire. "Dismount."

The infantry hauled out of the back and began to move up to the structure door, covering in all directions. One stuck an explosive charge on the door then stepped back. There was a crump and the door blew inward. Infantry and drones moved inside. A few moments later the Kris followed, turret swinging. "What is this place?" Kilo-two asked. The inside was mostly bare except for a large ramp running up one side.

"Some kind of religious thing. They procession up to the top floor." Kilo-One sounded distracted. "Get the gun to stop pointing at the wall."

"Sorry." Kilo-two changed the turrets angle. Infantry were running ahead of them, pausing at the heavy stone pillars that came up every so often to cover ahead. Drones buzzed up the shaft, looking back and forth.

The Kris pulled around a corner onto a large balcony looking over the town. Kilo-Two could see dozens of flashes and explosions marking the area ahead. A building burned ahead. Garish ribbons of AR marked fire vectors and assumed enemy positions. The glow of the lamp trees competed with the harsh flare of payload guns and energy weapons. "Alright this'll do... Stop us. Bravo-Gamma, Unsafe. Free gun." The turret began to cut lose a heavy sound like a chain of fire crackers. "Start looking for targets Yakta."

Kilo-Two blushed, Kilo-One was so irreverent sometimes.

She enlarged her view ahead. The battle seemed to centre around some kind of park or garden. Tempesti on one side, enemy on the other. The Tempesti infantry took cover in a flood ditch, portable shields pulled over their heads. Payload guns leaving green trails in her AR. She tracked them to where they were shooting. A black stone building much like the one that Two-Kilo was firing from. It's top had been smashed by artillery. Kilo-Two saw vague shapes moving through it, their forms obscured by active camouflage.

"Permission to go active on drone three for target paint?"

"Go."

Kilo-Two activated the drone and swept its radar across the building. Almost instantly the small machine died as a rail gun shot hit it, but that pulse let her localize three targets. The turret pivoted from the target it was engaging and fired three bursts. At least Kilo-Two got a good sight of what they were fighting. A shattered half humanoid machine collapsed as the big railgun chewed through it. "Well spotted." Kilo-One smiled.

"Are they some kind of combat drone?" Kilo-Two pulled back and began to search for any more targets. She launched another pair of drones, keeping them passive for now.

"Maybe cyborgs." Kilo-One frowned. "Bravo, go ahead and put a fire cracker into that building you just engaged." A missile lifted away and shot off into the structure. The vector charges blew and explosions scattered up and down it. "There you go."

Kilo-Two zoomed out again and looked around, firing up a program to look for any changes in the view, and highlight the distortions of active camouflage. The program highlighted a marker and Kilo-Two took a breath. "Enemy infantry moving close! They're closing on this building!" The enemy were moving through a stand of trees,

The turret slewed, firing, and an RPG shot back, destroyed before it could reach them. "Get up to the edge!" Kilo-One ordered. The infantry fired down into the trees and Kilo-Two saw one get hit in the head and pitch over the balcony rail. On the drones she could see the enemy surge forward, rushing forward towards the building at more than human speed, seeming unslowed by the payload rounds exploding all around them. One was knocked over by a direct hit, another leaping over it and climbing, moving too fast for its camouflage to compensate. The thing was revealed for a moment, a sinister thing with seemingly a hundred arms. It jumped up and it was seemingly consumed as one of the other climbers detonated in a massive explosion.

The Kris pushed up to the edge and its gun hammered, sweeping the garden below. More RPGs rose and detonated in the APCs point defence zone. The enemy seemed suppressed, pulling back to getter cover. Kilo-Two breathed out. . . and then the hundred handed vaulted over the inner balcony.

An infantry woman turned, her gun coming up. The machine creature was faster, the heavy gauss on one shoulder blowing her backwards. Then it crashed forward, slamming into the side of Two-Kilo. The APC scraped forward and smashed through the outer balcony rail, tipping forward and over. Kilo-Two screamed loudly as the vehicle plummeted three stories towards the park below.