Rogue Legion Read online

  "We´re moving slower that a normal LEO plane at this point, but the alarm takes time to reach as far as the air defense forces. My guess is the Atlanta police are still working their asses off trying to find us, without having involved anyone else yet. Well, perhaps the Intelligence Service, because of that woman... Romanova, but I seriously doubt they have any idea how far away we are."

  "Anyway," Tribune Tanner said, "I´ve notified all Legion personnel, and the other legions as well, that we´re being targeted, so my guess is there are hundreds, if not thousands, of legionnaires on the run, just like we are. The police and regulars will have too much on their plate to be chasing us around the globe."

  The pilot came on speaker, and said they needed to see something. Everyone turned toward the screens in the seat in front of them. The screens came on, showing what appeared to be a news broadcast. A woman, apparently some kind of government official, was speaking from a podium.

  "...Legionnaires going off, refusing to cooperate, apparently on order from their various legions. Only the Gold Legion and Falcon Legion have chosen cooperation and will be treated accordingly," the official said. Tribune Tanner snorted.

  "Both stationed at Earth, I doubt they had much of a choice," he commented.

  The official kept talking.

  "The legions are as of this moment disbanded, I repeat, all legions are as of this moment disbanded. All legion members are to stand down, surrender their arms, and make themselves available to police or regular defense forces. Anyone who doesn´t comply will be treated as criminals. Again, I urge all legionnaires to surrender, and you will receive fair treatment. Anyone who is found aiding legionnaires, will be treated as criminals as well. Legionnaires aboard navy vessels, at sea or in space, are to be held in custody and surrendered as well. Failure to comply will, again, be treated as a criminal act."

  "Shit, there goes our rides into space," Rico Shaw said.

  "Not true," the tribune said. "The navy is split, and quite a few are with us in this situation. Some are neutral as well."

  "Are we looking at civil war?" Ethan mused aloud.

  "Too early to tell," the tribune said. "For now, let´s concentrate on getting away. Optio Samson, did you get the warm clothing?" Gavin hesitated.

  "Sir, I did," he said, "but we didn´t have time to bring any of it on board, so everything is still in Atlanta. I´m sure we can get some as soon as we land though."

  "Land where, Sir?" Ethan asked.

  "You know the place," Tribune Tanner replied. "We´re going to the last Ghost Legion base on Earth. We´re going to Camp Piteaa."

  8.

  The wind was howling and the chill crept inside their clothes, no matter how hard they tried to stay warm. A shooting star managed to pry Ethan´s attention away from his superior, but only for a moment. He refocused. Everything was happening too fast, and Ethan wanted desperately to understand what was going on.

  "We started evacuating just a few weeks ago, quietly, of course," Tribune Tanner explained. "Legion Intel saw it coming for years, and after the first battle of Titan, we knew the regulars were building up to take on the legions, once and for all. A few of the other legions have been working with us, and already moved their bases away from Earth as well. A few are leaving the system altogether, which may be prove to be the smartest move, now that the shit has hit the fan. Legate Camus didn´t want the Ghost Legion to look like we fled, so he opted for something less drastic; setting up camp on Titan. That meant we had to kick the Lumins out first, which we did, and that should also help convince the ones in the government who have doubts about this new strategy, that we are not the enemy. During this past year the Ghost Legion never had more than a hundred legionnaires on Earth leave at any one time, spread across a wide range of ranks so as not to arouse suspicions. We also kept Camp Piteaa running."

  Ethan shivered, even with the thick clothing. Camp Piteaa lay far to the North, and had been a cold place, at least in the winter, even before the Lumin war. After the war, with the drop in temperatures that had lasted for two decades, it was freezing. After two tours to Titan this should have been nothing, but without the insulation of space suits it still felt pretty bad. He wondered if they were still training infantry here, but from everything he saw the legionnaires remaining were experienced troops, a force to reckon with should it come to blows.

  "The final group was set to leave Camp Piteaa in three weeks, by which point all personnel on leave would have been recalled as well. As you already know, that plan failed miserably. However, because we prepared, we managed to extract more than two thirds of our people on leave as soon as we learned that the government´s plan was set in motion. We can thank Optio Neuwijnkel for that.” He looked straight at Ethan. “When we realized you were being arrested we expedited our plans." Ethan turned toward Helena, who looked down at her boots. Luckily, the tribune didn´t mention exactly how she had discovered everything. He smiled. It had definitely been a night to remember.

  "Now we´re just waiting for a detachment from Cervaille´s workshop before we bolt," the tribune continued. "The old trickster has been working day and night to come up with new gadgets for us, which may come in handy, whether on Earth or elsewhere." Optio Cervaille was the inventor of the exoskeletons used by legion heavy infantry, along with many other specialty weapons and equipment. As a former infantryman himself, the optio knew everything there was to know about soldiering, and he had a knack for coming up with useful gadgets that solved major and minor headaches for front line soldiers.

  A legionnaire came running, just as the tribune´s wristpad began bleeping. A few seconds later more wristpads followed suit, and Ethan wished he had his. The MPs had taken it, and he guessed it had been remotely incapacitated as soon as Tribune Tanner learned of his capture.

  "Sir, what´s going on?" he asked. The tribune held up a hand for him to hold on, as he spoke a few clipped words into his device. Then he turned toward Ethan.

  "Regular troopers," he said. "They´re at the gate."

  9.

  "Stupid!" the tribune said, adding a few choice curses. "We´re cut off from the spaceport, so there´s no way to get us into orbit as long as the regulars are here. We should have seen this coming." The Camp Piteaa spaceport lay a few kilometers outside the camp proper, and Ethan remembered when, the first time he came here, as a green legionnaire just out of boot camp, they had been made to walk all the way. And now that way was blocked by what he could only assume was an enemy.

  "What do we do, Tribune?" Adjunct Miles said, clearly nervous by the prospect of possible combat. Ethan felt sorry for the man. The younger brother of his late commanding officer was a tech, and not the kind of tech usually attached to combat units. Adjunct Miles was more of a tinkerer, a genuine nerd. His own choice of words.

  Before the Tribune could reply, a loud hum combined with the crunching sound of gears and metal against metal interrupted him. They all turned and saw a curious gathering approaching. At least ten armored exoskeletons, almost twice the size of ordinary heavy infantry, three dreadnought tanks and what appeared to be a squad of mech droids, similar to those Ethan remembered from Titan, Ceres and Mars, appeared in the distance. Within less than a minute one of the giant exos stood before them, and a hatch opened in its front.

  "Legionnaires, we´re here to escort you to the spaceport," a beaming Optio Cervaille shouted above the noise.

  "Optio, I don´t think I´ve ever been so glad to see you as I am right now," the tribune replied. "I see you´ve come up with some new toys for us too."

  "Sure have, my dear friend. Unfortunately I don´t expect to be able to bring all of my latest designs with me this time. Orders are to leave whatever remains of them once we board. I´ve got the schematics though, so we´ll begin building new ones as soon as we reach Titan. Most important right now is to clear a path to the spaceport. We´ll see, perhaps the regulars will realize they´re outgunned and withdraw."

  "Fat chance," Tribune Tanner muttered.

 
; Optio Cervaille, the legendary inventor and tinkerer, had his group form a vanguard, while Ethan and the others, along with a few other legionnaires who had come in from elsewhere, entered a bus that followed behind.

  "Why is that guy still just an optio," Ethan whispered to Senior Decurion Schwartz as he sat down next to him. His old instructor chuckled.

  "Old Cervaille is beyond rank, Ethan. He´s refused promotion so many times the brass has given up on him."

  "But why optio? Why not just legionnaire?" Schwartz got a distant look and took a deep breath before he answered.

  "Optio Cervaille had just completed his heavy infantry specialization when he was sent to Oxtaba. Confederacy business, a particularly nasty assignment... Anyway, we were so sure of ourselves as the dropships landed, only to have half our force wiped out in that awful place within thirty minutes. That place was a real shithole, with a sulfurous atmosphere thick as soup and gravity at least 20 percent higher than Earth. Anyway, those of us who survived the initial carnage remained determined to complete the mission, so we continued over land toward our designated target. Ugly business, fighting for every piece of stinking dirt we were able to capture. In the end, we completed the mission, but at a heavy price. Out of the thousands who made up the expeditionary force, less than two hundred remained alive when Confederacy troops arrived to relieve us. I was one. Optio Cervaille was another. Only, he left without both his legs. Blown up in the final firefight, he barely survived. If not for his platoon leader, a particularly tough adjunct, he would have been left behind. The adjunct picked up what remained of him, carried him to safety, and threatened to execute the medics unless they did everything they could to save his life. Cervaille survived, and instead of accepting an honorable discharge he stayed in the Legion, learned to walk again using his new prosthetics, and devoted himself to inventing and coming up with ways to give Legion infantry new ways to gain the upper hand in a firefight. As for his rank, well, he was an optio when he was injured." Schwartz shrugged and sat back, closing his eyes for a moment.

  Ethan didn´t know what to say. He had heard Optio Cervaille was a veteran, but now he felt like he knew him a little better. Listening to the story brought back painful memories of Ethan´s own experience, as one of a mere handful of survivors from the first invasion of Titan.

  "The adjunct... That sounds like a real hero. Is he still with the Legion?" he asked. Schwartz smiled.

  "He sure is. Actually, I think you know him rather well."

  "Seriously?"

  Schwartz looked at him. Then he looked over at Tribune Tanner.

  "He´s an intelligence officer now. A tribune, in fact."

  Ethan looked at Jeremy Tanner, his mentor of sorts. The man who had recruited him, who had tricked Ethan into thinking he was a madman, who had interfered on his behalf more than once. Ethan´s respect for the man had been great for a long time, but learning that he´d been the one to save Optio Cervaille´s life all those years ago only served to increase it. He also knew beyond any doubt that Cervaille would rather die than let anything happen to them.

  10.

  Soon they reached the gate, where regular infantry supported by armored vehicles stood outside facing a mix of legionnaires, from light and heavy infantry to medics and techs and other support personnel. Ethan stepped out of the bus along with the others.

  "The legions are disbanded," a regular officer said on loudspeaker. When he got no reaction from the legionnaires he went on. "You are to stand down immediately. Let yourselves be disarmed, and you will receive fair treatment. If not, you will be regarded as traitors and criminals, and treated as such."

  The gates opened and Optio Cervaille´s group filed out, taking up positions in front of the open gate.

  "Now, listen to me. This will not end well for you if you put up resistance. We´ve got aircraft coming... They´re already in the air. Surrender now, or face the consequences."

  Then another voice boomed. It was Tribune Tanner´s.

  "This is Legion territory, and according to the law you have no business even being here. Withdraw now, before it´s too late. You have one minute to turn your ugly butts around and get the hell out of here. If not, we´ll clear a path through you. One minute. Your call."

  Then, silence.

  The regular officer didn´t bother replying. Instead they waited. Thirty seconds later an air wing of four fighters swooped down toward the legionnaires from behind. Before Ethan could react, a battery of rockets left their launch pad, hidden somewhere in the distance, followed by more rockets from yet another place, and then a launch from somewhere even further away. The fighters all exploded in mid-air and wreckage streamed down at a safe distance. The regulars looked stunned. Then Tribune Tanner´s voice returned.

  "You had your chance. I´m sorry it had to go this far. Cervaille, rip them apart." As soon as the words were said, Optio Cervaille´s group charged. The dreadnoughts quickly took out the armored vehicles, and then his heavy infantry and the mech droids attacked the enemy infantry, with rockets, heavy machine guns and grenades tearing into the frightened soldiers.

  It lasted less than a minute, and in the end, no enemies remained.

  One of Cervaille´s heavy infantry, hit by an armor-piercing round, had to be cut loose from his exoskeleton. He was alive but from the looks of it he wouldn´t be for long. Other than that the Legion´s victory was complete. Tribune Tanner didn´t look happy though.

  "We may just have started a war," he muttered.

  "We didn´t have much choice, Sir," Ethan said.

  "There´s always a choice," the tribune replied sourly.

  "Surrender? Sir, do you think that would have been better?"

  "No. This war has been coming for along time." Then the tribune addressed everyone.

  "Mount up! Optio Cervaille, please lead the way. Adjunct Miles, let the Legion know we´re on the move, and that we need a transport ready for us at the spaceport ASAP."

  An explosion in the distance made Ethan turn. Then he realized it was one of the buildings on the far side of Camp Piteaa. The Legion was blowing up its last base on Earth. He remembered his days of training here - it felt so long ago - before Titan, before everything.

  Now it was all going up in flames.

  11.

  They didn´t have to wait long at the spaceport. With the Navy still neutral, at least officially, orbit was free for all, and the Ghost Legion was not the only party holding their ships ready for stragglers, fugitives, and their own protection. A few of the legions had already left, but several were still in the process of making their extraction from Earth dominated territory. Navy vessels, from the smallest space planes to massive super transports carrying thousands, along with huge battleships, were all watching closely, but generally not interfering.

  As their transport took to orbit, carrying the last earthly remains of the Ghost Legion, Ethan went and sat next to Helena. It felt awkward, knowing that everybody must know how she had discovered Ethan´s arrest. He had probably gained some notoriety in the female department already, and he shuddered at how this latest episode would be perceived. But he hadn´t exactly pursued Helena; it was she who had come to him. Just as Eileen and Malika had. He just happened to be popular with the ladies.

  "So, I guess we won´t be going back any time soon," Helena said, and Ethan sighed with relief from not having to talk about their... encounter.

  "No legionnaire will," he replied. "Earth doesn´t want us anymore," he added.

  "It won´t last. They need us too much."

  He looked at her.

  "You think so? They seem pretty hell bent on kicking us off the planet."

  "Sure, for now. But sooner or later the BSC will make another demand, and they´ll need someone to send out to fight one war or another."

  "There are regulars who could do the job. They´re not all incompetent."

  "Sure, but nobody can match the legions, at least not if you need a unit of a certain size. Besides, a legion is self sufficient in a
way the regulars can never be." Ethan nodded to her. She was right, of course.

  Tribune Tanner came and sat next to them.

  "The Stormbringer is waiting for us in high orbit," he said. "We´ll be sharing it with a cohort from the Iron Legion. They have also set up camp on Titan, and my guess is there will be some kind of coordination between us as to what to do next. The Iron legionnaires are... a bit different than us. I hope that won´t be a problem."

  "Different how, Sir?" Ethan asked.

  "Well, take you for instance. You´ve been a legionnaire for a couple of years now, and you´ve already risen to the rank of senior decurion. In the Iron Legion you´d be lucky to be an Optio after two years. An SD would have at least five to ten years of service. Officers, on the other hand, are usually recruited from outside the ranks, and a centurion may have served much shorter. An adjunct will be almost fresh out of the academy."

  "Wow, that is different," Ethan replied.

  "And that´s not all. They´re a lot stricter on discipline than we are. We usually value smarts and initiative above discipline and adherence to rules. They would never have accepted your stunt on Mars, while Legate Camus was actually impressed by it."

  "Well..." Ethan didn´t know what to say. He´d come to like the legate, and to hear the leader of the Ghost Legion had been impressed with him was a bit overwhelming.

  "Anyway," Tribune Tanner continued, "the Iron Legion knows our worth, and we know theirs. We´ll make it work."

  Ethan nodded absently. At least the legions had one thing in common. They were all outcasts.

  12.

  Ethan entered the big hallway of the Stormbringer from the airlock, and looked around. The interior of the ship looked huge, possibly even bigger than the Excelsior. As the rest of the legionnaires filed in beside him, he noticed something else.

  "Adjunct Lyons," he exclaimed, as a familiar face appeared in front of him. Senior Decurion Schwartz came to stand beside him, as the officer walked closer.