Eve Berg

Location: Yangon-2, Yangon System, Eastern Block

“On three.” Both Rangers watched their HUD’s closely as the tank continued to hover slowly across the inside of the PDC. Eve reached into one of her LACS’ armored pockets and grabbed a demo charge while SGT Sullivan counted down. “Three…two…one.”

In unison, they dropped from the bottom of the tank. Eve made sure to affix the shape charge explosive to the lightly armored belly of the mechanical death machine before dropping. They hit the ground hard, but wasted no time in rolling out from underneath the tank. They’d timed the drop so they’d be right next to cover and concealment.

Their polychromatic armor rippled unnaturally as they rolled on the ground. The rain was lighter inside the PDC. Whatever the Blockies had the shield dialed to, it was only letting in some of the downpour. An explosion on the far side of the base at just the right moment helped redirect any eyes in their vicinity, so the two Rangers made it safely behind cover. Eve quickly bought her Buss up into a ready position and covered one hundred and eighty degrees while the SGT handled the other half of the perimeter. They sat there for a few seconds just to make sure no one had noticed them.

“Clear.”

“Clear.” They came to the same conclusion.

The SGT reached into his own armored pouch and pulled out a black speck. He stuck it to the side of the cargo container they were using as cover where it looked like just another small scorch mark on a well-travelled crate. The SGT worked his HUD, and Eve saw the small camera’s feed pop into view.

“Good copy.” She sent back to the SGT. The camera would cover their six as they moved out, so no one shot them in the ass.

The two Rangers were well and truly behind enemy lines and they had a critical job to do. They moved slowly and cautiously toward the rally point two hundred meters away. They could have run that distance in a straight line in a few seconds, but it took them the better part of ten minutes to weave between patrols, three more tanks that were getting prepped by their crews for the coming attack, and plant more cameras to give the rest of the SPECOPS team in the PDC the best information possible to complete their mission.

When they finally came in close sensor range of the rest of the team a small perimeter of blue icons populated on STRATNET.

“Vixen plus one coming in at your nine o’clock.” She sent the message as they approached. The last thing she wanted to happen was getting shot by her own teammates.

Even with her V3 LACS’ sensors it was hard to see the perimeter guards. Their polychromatic camouflage made them one with the crate they were using for cover. All she got was two affirmative toggles as they passed through the perimeter.

The rally point was in the center of a large storage area. Long metal crates were stacked two or three high, so they nearly reached the height of the wall. They were well away from the front lines, so it kept them relatively safe from shelling, but eventually the brigade cannon cockers would get a bead on this place and try to turn it into slag, but for the moment it served the team’s purposes.

“Berg, Sullivan,” the SGM greeted them. He was at the center of a crate they’d forced open. Somewhat fresh fruit was stacked all around them as they consulted a small node they’d brought along for the operation.

The SGT must have passed over his cameras’ data because it popped up on the node’s receivers to show the chunk of real estate Eve had just come through.

“Good work,” the SGM transmitted. “I want you two to grab a quick bite, and then you’re on the perimeter in five. WARNO in fifteen and we move out in twenty.”

“Yes, Sergeant Major.” Eve was more than willing to take a short breather and sit on guard for a few minutes after riding in here on the belly of a tank. There had just been too much excitement over the last two days. Sometimes a girl needed a breather.

Eve used her HUD to get a high-calorie protein bar deposited next to her mouth. The automated process gave her the choice of vanilla or chocolate. Both tasted like ass, but the vanilla added a bit of zing to that ass, so she chose that option. She munched on that as she sat with her back against the container, and occasionally took some sips of water from her hydration bladder. She considered requesting a stim from her armor’s medical features to keep her alert for the next phase of the mission, but ultimately decided against it. Stims were logged by the armor and closely watched by the brass. They didn’t want anyone developing a habit. Also, stims had a side effect of wearing off at the worst possible time. Coming down from a stim rush in the middle of a battle was one of the worst things that could happen to a soldier, so Eve stayed away from the stuff whenever possible.

Instead, she closed her eyes for a five-minute cat nap. To anyone else it would have looked extremely weird to be closing your eyes and leaving yourself vulnerable while sitting in the middle of an enemy PDC, but Eve knew the value of sleep and to get it when she could.

It felt like she’d barely closed her eyes when the SGT shook her awake and they relieved a pair of Rangers on the perimeter. The soldiers they were relieving passed off their sectors of fire and did a data dump of their assigned terrain. The Ranger Eve was replacing had mapped the patrols and any deviations they’d taken since he took over his watch. It gave her something to study and pass the time while keeping an eye on things.

The Blockies were so busy preparing from Fourth Brigade’s next push that they didn’t have time to look in their supply crates for less than two dozen SPECOPS soldiers. Eve was fine with that. The last thing she wanted to do was get in a fire fight with a thousand times their number.

Ten minutes after assuming her position and reviewing what the previous Ranger had left her, Eve heard the SGM’s voice pop over the team net.

“Listen up.”

Eve minimized everything else on her HUD and paid close attention to what the SGM was sending her way.

“The WARNO is as follows. The situation hasn’t changed. The Blockies are holding the PDC and hamstringing our operations in this AO. Our mission is to soften up this target so Fourth Brigade can break through, secure the PDC, and open up follow on operations for this entire coast and continent. Execution is as follows.” The HUD displayed an outline of the PDC.

Eve could tell that at least half of it had been constructed based on what the teams had seen on their way to the rally point. The cameras planted were supplying real-time data for certain sections, so swarms of red icons were populated. Other sections were neutral gray. They were big unknown areas that wouldn’t populate data until a soldier actually saw something.

“We’re going to split up into four teams. Team one will make for the shield generator. If we bring that down that’s game set match.” Eve liked the sound of that, but the SGM wouldn’t put all his eggs in that basket. Taking out the most closely guarded thing in the PDC with half a dozen guys wasn’t likely to succeed. “Team two will head here.” An icon appeared on the HUD. “This is the expected logistical supply point. We’re talking ammo, weapons, shells, replacement parts, or anything they need to sustain the war effort. Team two will cripple that resupply ability. Team three, your job is to fuck with their rear. I want IEDs on their routes to the front. I want heavy weapons tagged so they can’t tear Fourth Brigade a new asshole when they finally breakthrough. Eve and Sullivan already tagged one of those tanks. Make sure the rest of them are dealt with. We don’t need that mobile firepower floating around when we can’t take them out with air support.”

Eve smiled at the honorable mention. She’d already done part of Team Three’s job for them. If nothing else, that earned her a beer when this was all over.

“Team Four, your job is to make sure the Blockies can’t reinforce, because they’re going to have a manpower surplus. Lucky for us, most of those troops are going to be in the shelters underground waiting for orders. I need Team Four to destroy those entrances and exits. Bury them under tons of rubble. If we’re able to keep them penned in, Fourth Brigade will just need to sit on those positions when they take the PDC and keep them pinned. That will take minimal troop allocation. Make the planet do the work for us.”

Eve nodded as she identified several entrances and exits on the HUD already. She just hoped they mirrored everything on the side they had no data on.

“No other changes to service and supply and command and control. Just don’t start lobbing antimatter shells and killing everyone. Command wants to pin them in their holes and keep them there while we fuck shit up all over this planet. The objectives are infrastructure and military, we’re not going to butcher millions of civilians.”

Everyone in the group nods their heads. They didn’t sign up to kill innocents. They signed up to kill the enemy.

“Teams are as follows.”

Eve was assigned to Team Two. The SGM was on Team One. She shook her head and reported to her team leader. It was one of the SEALS, which made sense because they were going to potentially be blowing up a lot of ordinance.

SGT Sullivan was also assigned to the team, so they reconfigured the perimeter once the SGM was done with the WARNO, and got with the other few guys who were on the team. They had a few minutes to plan their movement. Team Two had the easiest movement aside from Team Four. Teams One and Three were heading into the most heavily guarded and populated areas. The logistical point was on the unknown side of the PDC, so that was a pain, but for the most part troops only came from the front for resupply and then returned to the front, which left the rear relatively open. Or at least that’s what the team hoped.

Once the SEAL toggled Team Two’s readiness, the teams moved out one at a time in their assigned order. They split in different directions upon exiting the rally point and snuck their way toward their objectives.