Towne

 

TOWNE

WORD OF BLAKE PROTECTORATE

12 APRIL, 3077

 

            The ground shook with a roar that caught Corporal Azalea Thomas in the chest.

            “That’s orbital fire coming in. They’re trying to crack the fortress.”

            She hunkered down against the ground, while the power armor troopers around her stood their ground and observed the orbital bombardment that the FSS Indefatigable was pounding onto the Blakist compound. The defenses had been strong, so strong that orbital bombardment had been authorized to try to help clear the Blakists from their fortress.

            “How long till we charge in?”

            “Probably less than two minutes. If they’ve cracked the fortress, the perimeter is going to be stunned. That will be our go signal. The Wobbies have that crossroads buttoned up pretty tight, but I think we can crack it now that the heavy hitters are here.”

            The heavy hitters he was referring to were an assault lance of the 5^th Crucis Lancers that were going to try to storm the current stoppage. She was embedded with the infantry, which had been trying to clear the ground for the better part of a day, but the Blakist infantry and armor was dug in too well to be dislodged.

            The armor had tried to penetrate the front, with little success, and now they were bringing up Battlemechs to clear the blockage. She could feel the dull thud that was the unmistakable calling card of Battlemechs. They were close now. Things would get nasty very fast.

            A mech lurched into view. It was a Penetrator from what she could recall. From somewhere along the Blakist lines, missiles struck out towards the Penetrator. The roar of an anti-missile system was unmistakable as it clawed out at the incoming missiles. It intercepted all but one, which detonated against the Penetrator, which shrugged off the single sting of the missile’s warhead.

            The air was hot as the Penetrator fired off a blast from it’s pulse lasers, scouring the ground near where one of the missiles had come. The ground erupted and a faint pink mist could be seen, all that remained of the operator of the man-portable missile launcher.

            Months ago, this would have bothered Azalea, but she had seen too many soldiers erased from the battlefield in heinous ways to now be bothered by it. Besides, it was a Blakist. One of those zealots that had started this whole damn war.

            “Go go go!!!” and with that command, the armored soldiers beside her were gone. They sprinted forward towards the Blakist redoubt, followed by several platoons of non-BattleArmored infantry.

            This was the worst part. She hunkered down, knowing that in a metter of seconds, some of those soldiers that had run into the conflagration would be dead, and some would be wounded and need her care. For now, there was nothing she could do but wait.

            She had originally trained as a medic in the 5^th Crucis Lancers working in a rearward MASH hospital, treating the wounded that came in in a very sterile environment. But all that had changed as field medics were lost to attrition and she had been flung into the fray.

            She was good at it, but it didn’t make it any easier to be out in the field, seeing things as they happened, and more often than not, being unable to save  the  poor soldiers who were fighting against the hated Word of Blake.

            She checked her gear again. She had a lot of medical equipment at her disposal, but this new job also had her carrying a rifle, as she was in the combat area. She had it slung over her back. She hated it. She hadn’t yet fired it. She wasn’t out here to kill people. She was out here to save people.

            And she had saved quite a few. But far fewer than she would have liked. Every solder lost was a black mark against her. A lost soul that she could never save. Her first death in the field had been a Mechwarrior, but most of the people she treated were the poor infantry that went unheralded as the giant Mechs took center stage.

            She had nothing against Battlemechs, but they were detached from the killing that went on so often on the front. It was ironic, she had fled such a sterile detached environment for the chaos of the battlefield.

            “Medic!!!”

            The call snapped her out of her philosophical reverie. She jumped to her feet and scurried forward towards the scene of combat. This was the utter chaos of the battlefield, she tried to process everything that was going on, but most of it didn’t matter. What mattered was getting to the wounded in time to do the most good.

            When she first started out, she had seemed to be running around helter skleter, but over the course of a few actions, she had managed to train her brain to filter out the unnecessary and highlight where she needed to go.

            She made her way across the street and over the embankment that had been serving as a barricade for the Blakist forces. She saw a host of limp figures on the ground, some wearing the colors of the Word of Blake, some of the Lancers. Most were unmoving, but she caught sight of one man hunched over the writhing figure of another soldier. She ran as fast as she could, tapping the hunched over soldier on the back as she tried to assess the situation. This seemed like a fairly straightforward wound, the soldier on the ground had been hit by several rounds and was in intense pain.

            She searched for the wounds, and satisfied that she had found them applied pressure as best she could to stop any bleeding. With her other hand, she wrenched free a pouch of clotting agent. She tore it open with her teeth and poured the powder over the wounded area.

            She next tore free a sterile medipatch and slapped it over the wound. At this point, she realized that she hadn’t even looked the soldier in the eyes. She glanced up at his face, which was a mix of pain and fear.

            “No worries…” she paused to find the nameplate on his uniform. “Jacobs. You got lucky, they were all through and through, and nothing important got hit. I know it hurts like hell, I’m going to stay with you until they can get you to the rear. I’m going to give you something for the pain.”

            She searched her pouches for an analgesic syringe. Finding one, she jabbed Jacobs in the thigh and pushed the plunger, dispensing the numbing agent into the man’s bloodstream. Within seconds, the pain would dull some. That was the best she could do for him out in the field. This soldier had been lucky, he was most likely going to survive. She swung her head around, looking to see what the area held.

            There were bodies everywhere, but most of them were not moving. More of them were Blakist than FedSuns. She didn’t know if it made her a bad person, but she took some small comfort in that.

            She keyed her mic and called in the patient for evacuation. The best thing they could do for Jacobs now was to get him back to the rear where things were more sterile and les chaotic. As she was calling it in, she noticed Jacobs’ hand clutching at her wrist.

            “Jacobs, what’s your first name?”

            “Nick”

            “Ok Nick. What brought you here?”

            The man blinked and stared at her. “What do you mean?”

            “It’s going to be a while before the evac medics get here, you might as well tell me something about yourself. What brought you here?”

            “No choice really. Grew up poor on Belladonna. There wasn’t much prospect for me, the recruiter said it would be an easy way to make a living. I send most of my pay home to my folks. Things were great until this whole damn Jihad broke out. I never thought I would see combat. Never wanted to see combat.”

            “Well that makes two of us. And I’m from Belladonna too. This was my adventure. Some adventure, huh?”

            “But you help people, right?”

            “I try. But I could have helped people way back on Belladonna just the same. Foolish me thinking that enlisting would be something fun. I never dreamed that I’d see combat. I thought things were simmering down. Then everything hit the fan and I found myself out here.”

            “I’m glad you’re here”

            “You and me both, Jacobs. You and me both.”

            “Do you like what you do?”

            She paused. She never really gave that question much thought. She had been mostly running on adrenaline since the outbreak of the Jihad, and she never really had stopped to consider if she liked what she was doing. It was just what she did.”

            “Yeah, I think so. It beats the hell out of what you guys do. There’s no way that I could do what you do. You guys are the real heroes. I never thought I’d support a war, but this one….this one needs to happen. The Blakists, they just can’t win. So I keep doing what I’m doing, so they don’t win.”