Legions of Earth

I finally came up with a name, settled on a style, and rewrote the first chapter of my Coming home again story.

"And here . . we . . go!"

Vek looked up from his trench and watched as arcs of artillery fire streaked overhead, digging huge craters into the tortured earth of the desert. The sun beat down on the combatants as the United Republic squared off against some insignificant rebel group. Vek took his chance, jumping out of the trench and running for the next hold point, all the while plumes of dust followed him as the rebels fired and missed. He was almost to the trench when a rebel lined him up in his sights. Vek leaped toward the trench, pulling his handgun as he did so. Time seemed to slow down as Vek lined up his sights, all the while falling toward the ground. The shot lined up, Vek fired, then he slammed down into the trench. As he looked up, he saw an enemy gun emplacement, which rained it's anger at him as he ducked down into the trench.

“Enemy emplacement at 104, 23,” Vek shouted, glancing at his locater,”we need armored support now! They have heavy guns!” His only reply was static, along with the roar of the turret fire wearing away at the side of the trench he was in. After what counted as fifteen seconds, but seemed like an eternity Vek caught side of a humanoid armored walker striding into view. As tall as three men, it was a bastion of the might of the United Republic. The turret turned its full force toward the walker as it charged its heavy plasma battery. Once the glow looked as if it would melt the barrel off of the mech's hand, it unleashed a blinding blast of light that reduced the turret to a puddle, the men to ashes, and the surrounding sand to glass.

“All men charge!” Commander Xtin screamed over the radio,”show these dirty traitors what real hell is!” All along the line men yelled as they blasted out of the trenches they has spent hours securing. Handfuls of men went down in the first few seconds, but the newly removed emplacement in front of Vek was a weak point, and he and scores of other men pushed through, blasting away on all sides. Vek charged along with them, dropping soldiers as he ran. The storehouse complex they were raiding was less then five-hundred yards ahead, its boxy buildings gleaming in the desert sun.

As the legion neared their destination, the ground ahead collapsed in front of the charging men, forming a tunnel leading below the storehouse complex, and out of it came charging the cyborgs. They were the most horrible fusion of man and machine you had ever seen. They leaked oil and blood advancing even though they took hit after hit from republic blasters. Formed from the bastard combination of man and machine, their tortured faces showed the struggle inside, between the artificial intelligence and the biological halves of their personality. Their bodies were not much better, more often then not the twisted remains of old machines were riveted into the bodies of half dead soldiers. But they were damn fast and tough, with shearing blades and burning lazers, scores of men fell before them.

The battle mech that had saved Vek advance ahead, blasting away cyborgs into a hell worse then their waking lives, but even it fell, swarmed by the cyborgs as they ripped panels away from its skeleton and tore out its electrical components.

“One more man dies,” though Vek as he primed a grenade a tossed it into a hole in the mech, not even breaking stride. Seven seconds later it exploded, igniting the fuel in the mech and overloading the plasma battery, sending dozens of dead cyborgs flying, only to be devoured by the surge of their brethren.

Spheres of plasma launched by artillery from across the great battlefield pounded into the earth, sending dirt flying as they obliterated cyborgs by the handful. By this point the Republic line had broken and Vek and his squad dug in around the dead mech, ready for the long haul.

Hours later, Vek glanced around. Desolation surrounded him and his squad, the dead bodies of cyborgs still partially functional, the husks of mechs and tanks, and the mounds of dead bodies. The dead were so thick that soldiers had began making cover behind walls of them. As the carrion birds descended upon their free meal, Vek's squad began to recover from the near destruction wreaked upon them by the cyborgs..

“We have to advance,” Sevante urged,” there is no time, there could be others out their counting on us!”

Mark punched the ground,” we need to stay here, were more use alive then dead, besides, we have no idea who even won, there could be hordes out there.”

“We go,”intoned squad captain Xtin,”A soldier follows orders, even to death. If we live or die, its all up to the gods, and I have no time for the divine. Move out! ”

The marines moved across the battlefield, sliding from one piece of wreckage to another, alert for the slightest movement. The Cyborgs were hard to define as a race. Once they were part of the United Republic, but over time their AI began to conflict with their biological personality, each trying to subdue the other. One by one, then in tens, thousands, millions, the cyborgs fell from the grace of the Republic, forming an apparently shaky alliance as a race. It seems only the poisonous combination of a mind and AI bred cyborgs. A mind in direct control of a machine had not suffered from any degradation yet.

Vek saw some movement up ahead as he advance through the rubble. Then the cyborg was on him, tearing of his feebly light armor. As it prepared its ending blow it was torn of Vek by the pure mass of fire coming from his squad. Vek reported no injuries, snapping back on what armor he could and continuing to advance.

Once the Cyborgs had broken completely, the full retribution of the United Republic was released. They hunted down cyborgs by the thousands in what was known as The Lighting Crusades. The Cyborgs simply refused to die, holding on to their hatred of the republic, vowing to bring it down at any cost. When the Republic came across any new race that did not submit to its iron will, the Cyborgs offered their services, to help spread the madness of their corruption. So the cyborgs became a fixture on many battlefields, attacking out of nowhere at key junctures, then fading into the mist of time when defeated, or advancing across the face of the planet if victorious. The Republic can only watch in horror when repelled from a planet, as the Cyborgs fed on those they had promised aid to, and another planet fell away from the Republic, only to be attacked repeatedly until it was won for the glory of the Sovereigns of the republic.

Vek and his squad advanced across the battlefield with nothing more interesting then a lizard crossing their path, until they reached the walls of the storage complex. Hiding in the shadows of the wreckage, they watched the patrols march along the tops of the heavy metal walls. As one they all moved in towards the double doors of the entrance. The rifles of their snipers leading the patrols to oblivion. As they neared the wall, Captain Xtin threw a metal disk at the wall. As it flew through the air, its anchors extended, drilling into the door on impact. Three seconds later a shock wave of energy blew out from the disk, forming a circle of heated metal on the door. The soldiers in front crashed through the super heated section of the door, the circle of metal falling to the ground as a score of booted feet stamped across it. Inside was a huge area full of crates, with the plasma generator for the entire area in the center, humming away in a ghastly red glow that cast deep shadows.