“Understood. ROE?” Michael asked.
“One warning, then engage until they break. Don’t chase. No limit on amount of force inside of conventional means,” Felix said. “Dismissed.”
Michael saluted, out of habit or reflex Felix wasn’t sure, and went off towards the portal gate.
Hern looked between Felix and Michael, and then decided to follow the soldier.
Felix couldn’t blame him, he was no warrior.
The sound of booted feet announced an arrival from the portalway. Expecting the Security forces, Felix was surprised to find thirty Andreas dressed in full combat gear marching swiftly in his direction.
An additional one dressed in corporate clothing walked along to one side of them, holding a messenger bag under an arm.
They even had their own rankings and insignia on the collars.
Coming to a stop in front of him, the lead Andrea looked up at him.
“Adriana, reporting. Adriana Prime is with Andrea Prime in the ANet,” said the Beastkin.
Right. Adriana. I need to change her hair color or something. Wait, would she even want to?
“You’re in a defensive role. We’ll be rolling into a hot area. Victoria and Miu have both been activated as well. Coordinate with them for anything you need or want. Any questions?” Felix asked.
The Adriana looked backwards towards the Beastkin arranged behind her, and back to Felix.
“None.”
“Great. As you will, then.”
Every Adriana pulled up a shortened rifle to their shoulder, one Felix couldn’t identify, and racked it in unison.
There wasn’t much to do until the mechanized units got here and loaded them all up.
Somehow he’d convinced the Adrianas, Miu, and Victoria that he should be allowed to view the scene from the turret of the personnel carrier.
Surveying the field, Felix found it was more or less what he expected. Hern’s people were living in buildings of wood, hide, and a few of stone.
“They don’t even have a wall,” Felix said.
“I don’t think a wall would have helped. If anything it would have drained resources,” Miu said. She was standing atop the personnel carrier just behind Felix.
“Fair. Still… I can’t help but worry. What if this lack of foresight continues,” Felix said.
“Then you’d correct that,” Victoria said, sitting on the edge of the personnel carrier on the other side. “Simple enough, really.”
Michael had been working this whole time, setting up a number of heavy machine gun positions. They were traditional hard points with overlapping fields of fire.
Each had been stagger stepped to provide coverage for the other, creating a funneling effect as well.
It’d be a field of death.
“You realize how silly this is,” Adriana said from inside. “I’ve been watching the feed from a UAV and this is nothing more than a berserker’s brawl. You’re putting up weaponry better used against a traditional army.”
“I plan on making an impression. Michael has experience with heavy weapons, this is what he knows. Though I figure if he was in cavalry, he’d be asking for helicopters. Or tanks if he had been in an armored division. For here, this works perfectly. Massed enemies. Charging,” Felix said.
“A bloodbath,” Miu said.
“Speaking of. I need you to go ahead and work through their officers, leaders, or whoever they look to for direction. Wipe ’em out. Do a great job and I’ll let you off your leash in public with a mask from Lily,” Felix offered.
He felt a little bad about making such a strange offer, but he’d use whatever carrot he could.
“Done. Can I start now?” Miu asked, her voice cracking on the last word.
“No. But you can go get ready if you w—”
Miu vanished before he even finished talking.
“She’s going to kill anyone who opens their mouth to give an order,” Victoria said softly.
“Probably. But that’s what she’s good for.”
“I’d say the lead elements will be here in under ten minutes,” Adriana called up. “Still only seeing melee combatants with simple weapons. They’ve finished up with the other tribe, and are sending everyone over this way. They’re not even stopping to pillage, loot, or anything. Surprising given their mentality.”
Felix laid his hands flat against the metal, and rested his chin on them.
Hurry up and wait.
Truth didn’t match expectation though. As soon as the warriors saw Hern’s peaceful community, they started towards it at a sprint.
“This should be short and ugly,” Felix said to no one in particular.
Clearing the grasslands at a fast run, they ran onward towards Michael’s defenses.
Later than Felix thought it’d happen, Michael apparently gave the word. The deep rapid chattering grunts of the machine gun positions opened up.
Warriors in leather skins and naught but a hand-held weapon dropped as the scythe of bullets swept across the field.
“Technically, this is a defensive action,” Felix shouted over the din of fire. “I’d say we’re well within our rights to protect our allies.”
“I’ll make sure all the reports indicate that. Wouldn’t want this to be ruled a war crime in the history books,” Adriana called back.
Well that’s rather dark, isn’t it.
Then again, she’s not Andrea.
A minute in, and the grass was only a foot high from the point that the machine gun line started.
Nothing stood in that barren field.
Man, tree, or bush.
It’d all been cleared.
“Is that it, Adriana?” Felix asked, looking down below him into the carrier.
He saw an Andrea staring back up at him with her tablet in hand. She looked to the side, probably at the Adriana in front.
“There’s a mass of them out of range on the other side. They’re all grouping up and… I don’t know. It looks as if they’re facing outward and talking to one another. Hard to tell from this angle.”
“Probably Miu hunting them. I imagine she’s cornering anyone trying to issue orders,” Felix said.
Straining to see into the distance, Felix didn’t manage to catch sight of anything.
Almost too softly to hear, he picked up the faintest sound of chanting.
Unbelievably though, it began to rise in volume. As if it were being shouted by far many more voices than were actually possible.
“I think they’re chanting,” Adriana said. “It… sounds like praying, but I don’t know their language. But it has that same kind of quality to it.”
“Why would they be praying?” Victoria asked.
“Not sure. Maybe it’s part of their culture?” Felix asked. “Pretty loud though. It doesn’t… feel right.”
A crack of lightning came down out of the air from a clear sky. It exploded when it hit the ground, and the ground rumbled.
As the dirt cleared and Felix could see again, he was surprised to find a group of ten or eleven people standing side by side across the field from him.
The radio in the personnel carrier crackled to life.
“I can’t read them,” said the Fixer assigned to the mission. “And the brief snatches I get are strange. It’s all strange—”
One of the people lifted an arm and a blue streak of light flashed out across the distance and hit the lead machine-gun nest.
It exploded in a burst of white fire and rounds began cooking off.
“Damnit. What is that?” Victoria asked, standing up.
“—feels like something I’ve never felt before!”
Felix thought about the possibility of changing the status of the person who’d just attacked. If he hypothetically owned them, what would their status be?
Name: Abera
Power: Mastery of Ice
Alias: She of Frost; Ice Queen; War
Secondary Power: Goddess