I hopped out of the shower and slipped on a new combat unitard, grabbed an empty harness, and put my communication pad in my front pocket. I was tempted to bring Rusty along, just to piss off the higher-ups; but, I was not going to be their favorite person as it was, and that was without bringing a toy along.

I told my AI Amanda to keep the secure channel of the communication pad open for herself and to listen in, then left the apartment. I took the elevator up to the ground floor and ran as hard as I could outside and to the Tube car station. I was thankful that no one was around and co-opted it's use.

“Military override, Lima-Lima-Foxtrot.” I said and hopped in. “I'm sorry, Transit AI. I need to get to the temporary base right now.”

The lights in the car dimmed, and the car quickly dropped into traffic. It shifted to the express lane and all the stops that entered it were slowed down so I would have the right of way. The speed limitations were lifted and I was pushed back in the seat as the Tube car zoomed to the place I needed to go.

I arrived at the military base ten minutes later, and hopped out after a quick thank you to the Transit AI. I ran into the base and through the checkpoint without stopping.

“Thanks, Amanda.” I whispered as I ran across the base at full speed to the transport we had co-opted for the skirmish. “George!” I said and hopped up into the troop transport reserved for me and four combat squads of five members each.

“You poor fool, Jack!” George the industrial maintenance tank laughed. “You're one of them again!”

“Yeah, I'm scum!” I said and pat his fuselage. “Pull out!”

“You got it!” George said and his treads dug into the hard ground, and he got the large troop carrier moving. Once they started rolling, it became easier to maintain the speed, and George poured on the speed.

“I'm surprised to see you, my friend!” I said to George.

“When I heard you were involved, I volunteered.” George said.

“Hey, that was... really stupid of you.” I said, and George laughed.

“I'm only dropping you off.”

“You're voluntarily crossing The Fall.” I said. “That is not a robot friendly area.”

“They've got security domes set up on three of the lifts, so it's okay.”

“You're still really brave.” I said. “I'm also glad to see a friendly face.”

“Hey!” Crush said and I looked at him.

“What?” I asked and pointed at his head. “That is not a friendly face.”

Crush grinned and two of the other cyborgs laughed.

“I'm glad you finally made it.” Alyssa said.

“Me, too.” I said. “I actually overslept, but I paid for it with a nightmare.”

“That sucks.” Crush said. “I'm glad I just set my internal alarm and bang, I'm up.”

“How are you enjoying the repairs?” I asked.

“I feel like a new man.” Crush said, and one of the female cyborgs laughed. “What's so funny?”

“I didn't know you had an old man to dump for a new one! Ha ha!”

Everyone laughed, even Crush.

We travelled out of the populated areas pretty quickly, and then George arrived at the junction.

“Hold on! We're going online!” George said, and everyone braced for the transfer. His tracks folded up and his metal body dropped 3 feet to the large rail. The troop transport he was hauling did the same thing, and it nearly threw me out of my seat. Everything lit up inside the transport, now that we were hooked right into the main power grid, and George laughed as his systems were fully powered up for the first time in over a year.

“I've forgotten how good this felt!” George said and our speed doubled.

“Go easy on yourself, George.” I said. “I only replaced your capacitors two weeks ago.”

George laughed. “They're running at a hundred percent, too!”

“They're only meant for eighty percent, you crazy nut!” I said, and George kept laughing.

“He must have bypassed his breakers.” Crush said, and I looked at him. “What?”

“Don't tell me you modded what I did.” I said.

“Okay, I won't tell you.” Crush said and grinned.

“Oh, geez.” I said, and that made everyone laugh.

We arrived at the next transfer point near The Fall, and George had no choice but to slow down.

“All right, we're coming up on the cut off.” George said, and everyone braced for the jump.

“I can't believe you do this.” I said and ducked down into the crash position with my head down between my knees.

“You should kiss your ass goodbye while you're down there.” One of the cyborgs said and laughed.

“I'll do it!” A female voice said, and I glanced down the line of seats. It was Cali, the woman that wanted me to cuddle with her before the party. She gave me a little wave, and I waved back just as George hit the ramp and went airborne, which took the transport and us with him.

“Wooo-hooooo!” Crush yelled as we arced through the air and the tracks folded back out to cover the rail wheels. We came down hard, and even with the heavy suspension, the landing jarred my teeth and almost gave me whiplash.

“Goddammit.” I said and sat up. “George! What the hell?!?”

“Sorry, Jack.” George said. “I haven't done that in ages!”

“There's a reason for that!” I said, and one of George's tracks lost one of it's pieces. He shuddered for a second, then had to slow down and came to a stop.

“I'm sorry, Jack.” George said. “That was too much fun not to do.”

“You're lucky I like you so much, or I'd be pissed right now.” I said. “Crush! Cali! Give me a hand on the jack.”

They hit their harness releases and stood up.

“I'd love to give you a hand on your jack, Jack.” Cali said. Nearly everyone laughed, and as she walked towards the door of the transport, several of the female cyborgs held their hands up and gave her a high five.

“Children, behave.” I said. “Daddy will be right back after he changes a tire.”

“Oh, daddy!” One of the female cyborgs said. “I'm bad! Spank me!”

“I'll spank you, Grace.” One of the male cyborgs said. “You don't even have to ask.”

Grace held a hand up and shook her finger at him. “Ain't nobody but daddy gets to touch this ass.”

I tuned out the rest of that conversation and hopped out of the transport behind Crush and Cali.

“It must have been a rock or something.” George said as Cali cranked up the jack to raise the industrial tank enough to roll the track to get the damaged part up on top. Crush already had the spare parts container opened and took out replacement bolts and three track pieces. He had guessed right, because the piece that had flown off had broken the two around it. I used the auto wrench to unbolt the three pieces, tossed the bolts and the broken pieces, and Crush handed me the replacements. I attached them, and looked at Crush.

“Grab the tension bar and put some torque on this track.” I said to him and he grinned.

“You got it.” Crush said and picked up a 6 foot long wrench, and set it on the farthest wheel.

“Jack, I don't think he should be the one...”

“If he breaks you, he's going to be hauling the troop transport the rest of the way all by himself, no matter how long it takes.”

“Aw, you're no fun.” Crush said and pulled on the wrench.

“George? Tell me the tolerances.” I said, and George called out the numbers. “A little more... a little more...” I said and nodded. “That's got it.”

“Ugh!” Crush said and let the torque wrench go. It clattered to the ground and he rubbed his arms.

“Wuss.” Cali said and tossed the wrench back into it's holder and kicked the discarded parts aside.

“Let it down easy.” I said, and she did it.

“Thanks, Jack.” George said.

“You better get us there fast.” I said. “We're going to be late.”

The three of us climbed back onto the troop transport and strapped in, and George got us to the right lift to make the transfer over to the other side. When we were across, it took almost another half an hour to get to the skirmish area. Once we did, the troops stared at what was there. Nearly 300 troop transports were there and already deployed, and we were the very last one to arrive.

“Let's go, people.” I said and released my harness, then got out of the way as the troops filed out. They went over to the supply tent and gathered the things they were going to need, then went to the weapons and ammunition vehicle and loaded up with the things they were allowed.

I received a burst transmission from the System (Military Grade) and checked it. Inside was the secured message I was supposed to get the day before, and I frowned at it's contents.

What kind of deployment is this garbage? I asked myself, and before I could check who we were fighting, the troops in my transport came back over to where I stood. “What the hell are you wearing?” I asked them, and they looked at each other and then at themselves.

“This is the urban combat gear.” One of them said.

“No, it isn't.” I said. “You're not going to last two minutes of close combat fighting in that getup.” I shook my head. “Amanda? Where's the command center?”

“It's fifteen troop transports over.” Amanda said from my front pocket.

“Don't go anywhere.” I told the combat squads. “I'll be right back.”

Three of the squads watched as I ran over to the command center; but, Alyssa's squad did their job and stayed with me. I didn't bother to knock on the door and opened it to go inside.

“...we can't give this section up to-” The man stopped talking as I stepped into the room. “Oh, it's you.”

“Who ordered light infantry gear for this?” I asked.

“I did.” One of the men said. “We can't have soldiers burdened with anything during this skirmish.”

“You can if you want them to live.” I said. “I'm countermanding your order. All troops will redeploy with heavy gear, reinforced helmets and face shields, and at least one layer of anti-rad polymer.”

“You don't have the authority to-”

“I am the overall commander.” I said and cut him off. “This mission is supposedly under my command.”

“You've been out for years.” One of the men laughed. “You have no idea what it's like anymore.”

“I know you dicks at the top still think the lives of the troops only mean as much to you as the territory they gain you.” I smiled and crossed my arms. “Go ahead and tell me it's different now.”

All five men frowned at me, and I chuckled.

“You see? I still know some things.”

“You're the overall commander in name only.” One of them said, and the others looked at him. “It's better that he knows about it now, before he messes everything up on us.”

“It's too late for that.” I laughed. “System (Military Grade), please open a command-wide communication channel.”

All the screens in the command center went blank for a second, and then my face was on every one of them.

“All troops, this is the overall commander. Please report to the deployment center for reassignment and rearmament. It's heavy gear, level 3 anti-rad, and normal weapon load for today... and not the cheap-ass shit you have on you now.”

Even without a return channel on, everyone inside the command center could hear a general uproar and several cheers and hollers.

“You've got thirty minutes to become proper soldiers! O-COM out.” I said, and the screens went back to normal.

“You shouldn't have done that.” One of the men said.

“Good luck getting my reenlistment annulled.” I said and smiled. “By the way, if you try to have me fired, I better warn you. When I got bored the last time I was here, I tried getting myself fired for almost a year...” I grinned. “...and I still had to threaten to blow up the base before they let me leave.”

The five men stared at me as I turned around and shut the door of the command center.

“Wow.” Alyssa said as we ran back to the troop transport. “That was...”

“...the most amazing thing I've ever seen.” Evilin, the other female cyborg in the squad said. “You dissed the higher-ups.” She said in awe. “Your balls must be huge!”

They are. Alyssa thought. She was thankful that no one paid her any attention in that moment as her face flushed to a deep red.

“Okay, people.” I said and looked at the squads in front of our transport. “Get your gear sorted out, double-time.”

“Sir!” They said together and hustled over to change their equipment and weapons. It took a lot longer for them to come back, but that had given me time to redo the deployment of the battlefield. I knew it was going to be a hard fought battle, with losses for both sides, but I intended to make sure it was the other side that lost. When I was done, the squads were back and I gave them the updated information and map coordinates, and sent it to the System (Military Grade) to distribute it to the other squads.

“This is where we're headed?” One of the male cyborgs asked. “We just have to reach there?”

“And survive.” I said. “And secure what's there.”

“Piece of cake.” Crush said and hefted the miniature Gatling gun he had. “I can't believe you authorized this.”

“Make sure you only mow down the enemy and stray buildings.” I warned him, and he laughed.

“I've only got two hundred thousands rounds, and this thing shoots a thousand rounds a second.” Crush said. “If the building runs, we're shit out of luck.”

That made everyone laugh, and we waited patiently for the deployment order.

“Oh, damn.” I said, when I remembered it was me that was supposed to give the order, and I tapped my communication pad. “Easy Street is a go. I repeat, Easy Street is a go.”