Sean-Michael Argo - Trade War

The marines watched as POV footage from Harold Marr came on. He may very well have been the person to wear the camera that Samuel had earlier refused. As Samuel watched he began to grow sickened with himself at having refused Virginia, knowing in his gut that it was capturing footage like this, or the death of Spencer that was going to make the change that got the Reapers off the front line.

On the screen were Marr and Tillman, standing alongside several other marines and stormtroopers exchanging fire with Helion troopers and Gedra gun spiders. Because of the camera angle it was very difficult to tell exactly what was happening, though it was sufficient to remind Samuel of just how heavy the fighting had been in the last moments before the Folken arrived.

Marr was blasting troopers and gun spiders alike, displaying the kind of skill with the heavy machine gun that a marine only possessed after years of experience.

Simply seeing the chaotic and blood grandeur of a three way fire fight from a perspective other than his own was shocking to Samuel, and from her reaction, it was the same for Bianca. For an instant Marr’s peripheral vision swept across Squad Hyst and Samuel saw himself taking command of the gun emplacement before the marine’s head swiveled back downrange. The furious engagement continued for what seemed like an eternity. Samuel watched stonily as several marines and stormtroopers were cut down despite pulverizing the Helion forces.

Samuel gripped Bianca’s hand because he knew what came right after the Helion retreat began. Even though he knew it was coming and it was just images on the screen of his datapad, the marine flinched when the first of the drop pods slammed into the ground and began spraying indiscriminate small arms fire towards the Grotto line.

Samuel watched as three Folken warriors emerged from the pods and immediately began hurling clouds of high velocity projectiles from their rail guns.

The elite mercenaries were just as terrifying on screen as they were in real life. From Marr’s point of view Samuel watched as the elites rushed the Grotto line spitting death before them. There were only three of them, but that was more than enough to scythe their way through the stormtroopers and marines who were not able to find adequate cover fast enough.

Marr was a stalwart fighter, and did not attempt to find cover, but stood his ground and concentrated his fire on a Folken warrior with a hideous bird mask design on their helmet. Several of the stormtroopers followed his example and they managed to bring down the warrior. That was when Marr got hit, and the big man’s perspective went wild as the marine dropped his weapon and fell into the trench below. He landed on his back and Samuel could see the terrifying shape of a Folken warrior leap across the length of the trench even as it mowed down the group of stormtroopers who had assisted the marine.

Samuel knew from his own experience that in the next few seconds Squad Hyst would be engaging the spider-faced warrior before the apocalyptic Gedra counter-attack turned the entire battle into a free-for-all.

Marr was gurgling on what Samuel assumed was the man’s own blood, and soon the dirt and blood smeared fact of Virginia Tillman filled Marr’s vision.

The young woman hauled the huge marine up against the wall of the trench, which was no small feat. The trench was already littered with the bodies of penal legionnaires, Helion troopers, House Indron stormtroopers, several gun spiders, and even a few Reapers.

Virginia put Harold’s sidearm in his right hand and two extra magazines in his left before she took up a firing position against the wall opposite him, giving the camera a clear view of the marine. The sound had partially gone out when Marr fell into the trench, but you could still make out the fading words as Tillman imploring Marr to remember his two sons, to stay alive for them. She insisted, with a gallows smile, that his death benefit would only cover the trade school education of one son, and he had to live if he wanted a better life for both of them.

The two marines onscreen suddenly reacted to a sound that, though barely audible, both Samuel and Bianca remembered well.

The keening wail that signaled the beginning of the Gedra counter-attack.

In a few moments several gun spiders and Helion troopers leapt into the trench and the two marines began defending their position as best they could.

In the haze of combat, Samuel could see through Marr’s eyes that the Hollow were beginning to fill the trench. As expected, the Hollow ignored the gun spiders and focused on battling the marines and the handful of Helion troopers who had sought refuge there.

For several hellish minutes Tillman, Marr, and three Helion troopers held the trench as a horde of hostiles descended upon them. The fact that Grotto and Helion were lifelong corporate enemies vanished as they were suddenly united comrades-in-arms battling against a common foe.

Two of the Helion troopers went down relatively soon as there was little cover in the trench. Most of the Hollow were either slain by Helion troopers or Grotto penal legionnaires. The last trooper fled once all the Hollow on the right side had been killed. Seeing that, Samuel couldn’t help but wonder if that was the man that he’d shot who had come careening around the blind corner of the trench wall.

Virginia had expended all of her ammunition for her rifle and gunned down the last of two Hollows with her sidearm before taking a round to the throat. The Hollow that shot her had been a Helion trooper in life, and the hot round burned a hole right through the young woman’s armor and the meat of her esophagus.

She managed to switch to full-auto on her pistol and bring down the Hollow, then, through Marr’s eyes, Samuel and Bianca watched as Virginia asphyxiated.

Marr was out of ammunition. He lay there, unable to do anything as an electrified cable suddenly slithered over the edge of the trench and buried itself in the back of Virginia Tillman’s neck.

Samuel felt sick as he, Marr, Bianca and all the marines with datapads watched Reaper Virginia Tillman transform into a Hollow. The Hollow that had been their comrade, stood shakily and looked toward Marr, lurching forward to attack him when it was torn to pieces by small arms fire.

Two Dire Swords leapt into the trench and began firing on the handful of other Hollow that had risen. Samuel recognized this as the action that had already been dubbed, “The Dire Sword’s Revenge”, when the merc battalion rallied.

They had pushed back the Folken and wiped out the Hollow, in addition to destroying the Alpha cyborg. Even though Samuel had seen the detonation of the ancient being, he’d had his own pressing troubles to deal with.

The footage stopped seconds later when, presumably, it was temporarily shorted out by the electrical discharge of the dying Alpha cyborg.

The two marines sat in silence when the footage ended, each lost in their own thoughts, until the sound of boots stomping up to the tent awoke them from their fugue.

“Prybar, Kade, on your feet!” barked Boss Ulanti as she threw back the flap of the tent, allowing the ambient and sickly yellow light of the planet’s surface to illuminate the interior. “Boss wants Tango Platoon mustered with full kit immediately; link up at quartermaster station twelve.”

“Roger Boss, what’s the op?” responded Bianca as she stood up from Samuel’s bunk and began fastening her armor onto the body glove that covered her from neck to toes, only to be met with a cunning smirk from Ulanti.

“The truth is out there and it’s piping hot,” laughed Boss Ulanti in the reckless and high pitched tone which often reminded those who had known her before Vorhold that she had been deeply changed by whatever horrible things had happened to her in deepspire. “Time to do the job.”