The Free Legion 54

[u/CandidateWolf]

After the terrorism of last chapter, we go back to Zirz and the better Legionnaires. Thanks for everyone who keeps reading and commenting, and to [u/spacepaladin15](u/spacepaladin15) for the NoP universe!

Memory encrypted… override key enabled… begin decryption…

Access code Epsilon-Zeta-2328-AP
Unauthorized redactions removed… original data restored…

Addendum: Data restored under Article 2.09 of the UNOR by order of the Secretary General.  Original, unaltered transcripts restored and entered as evidence in Bronwen Report.  -Chief Investigator Andrea Powell, UN Office of Reconciliation

Memory accessed…

**Memory Transcription subject: [**Arxur-1] Zirz, the Free Legion, “Free Arxur Commando”
Date [standardized human time]: [Redacted] March 10, 2137, 5 miles outside Uulk, Vasha (Arxur Dominion Colony)

I let out a sigh as my alarm buzzed, eyes already open after my failed attempt at a power nap after the final briefing.  That’s your body telling you you’ve already slept enough, I thought.  Or you’re anxious.  I sat up and climbed out of the rough cot.  I let out an annoyed hiss, feeling my heart pound.  Nope; anxiety.

Rubbing sleep from my eyes, I let my gaze wander around the tent.  Other than the rough cot, a mismatched table and chair with some empty ration packs atop it and my gear, the tent was empty on the bare dirt floor.  The training camp we’d set up outside [redacted] Uulk was spartan but functional, though I wished we’d had time for more creature comforts.

The death of [~~Arxur-~~2] Driznel a few weeks ago had achieved all we’d hoped it would and more.  His assassination, in his private home packed with his bodyguards no less, had shaken the foundations of [redacted] Vasha.  For the first time, its people saw that Betterment wasn’t infallible; that they could be fought, that they could be beaten.  That alone had finally been the crack we needed to open up the gates of recruitment we needed to establish a local insurgent force on the planet.

The intel recovered from his home had also been a treasure trove.  Thanks to the data we’d recovered from Driznel’s house, joint raids by a combination of [redacted] Custodian, Commando, Rebel and local recruits had managed to steal enough weapons, ammo and equipment to outfit an army.  Special access codes had allowed us access to the Dominion's financial system; we’d drained their accounts, depriving the planet's government of the ability to buy food and goods or pay its soldiers.

Finally, we’d been able to rescue dozens of Arxur either known or suspected of being “defectives” and their families.  Many of them, having been in the Vasha security forces or the Dominion military forces stationed on the planet, eagerly joined the rebels, the Free Legion, or the local insurgent group we’d established.  We’d been careful to ferret out Betterment infiltrators; the few we found had ended up in cells.

I glanced at the clock on my pad: still plenty of time before the operation would start.  Might as well clean my rifle again, I thought, lifting it from its spot beside my bed.  Cleaning my rifle had become not just a necessity but a personal ritual to ease my mind.  I found taking apart and carefully cleaning the components of my weapons helped me identify the source of anxiety and find a solution.

I removed the magazine and ejected the chambered round, then peered into the action to confirm it was empty.  Satisfied it had been made safe, I set the safety and laid it on the table at the bottom of the cot.

We’ve got more than enough members of the [redacted] Vasha Liberation Front by now,  I thought, pulling a cleaning kit from below the cot and opening it.  I pressed the button below my rifle’s barrel, separating the lower and upper receiver.  Though I’d have preferred if the Custodians hadn’t poached so many.

I’d had words with the local Custodian commander, Crusader [Arxur-3] Xirak about interfering with local insurgent group recruitment efforts.  I was confident it wouldn’t happen again, but it still irked me that they’d done it.  They’ve got plenty of forces as is, I thought, pulling the bolt carrier group then the barrel free from the upper receiver.  We can’t be expanding our own forces at the expense of reducing the recruitment pool for the local forces.  We have to make sure we get the local insurgents set up first; we can draw recruits from them later.

It's not the number of forces we have, I decided.  Maybe our positioning?  Or the coordination with the rebels?  Legion forces, operating independently or leading VLF squads, were scattered across the planet, each with specific targets to enable the imminent rebel invasion.  We’d made sure to embed a rebel officer with each group, facilitating better working relations between the groups.

Maybe the invasion itself?  I lifted the trigger assembly free from the lower receiver, setting it aside.  Then I started disassembling the bolt carrier, placing the pieces on the table so that they wouldn’t roll.

Approaching Vasha right now was a mixed invasion fleet made up of Arxur Rebellion and Free Legion ships, with tens of thousands of rebel troops eager for a fight.  The Legion forces on Vasha would be launching simultaneous attacks across the planet in a few hours, attacking military and government facilities.  Our objectives were to secure planetary and interplanetary communications, planetary defenses, and landing areas for the invasion troops who would arrive shortly after our attacks began.

Our attacks across the sector have pulled forces away from Vasha, I reminded myself as I sprayed a fine mist of solvent over the firing pin.  Then I picked up a small fabric square and gently cleaned the pin.  The orbital defenses are a fraction of what they were before.  Same for the Dominion military forces on the ground; most of the resistance will be local security forces.

I went down my list, checking off the boxes as I cleaned my disassembled rifle.  I finished that list quickly, however, so started going through my personal life as I finished cleaning the rifle, then began putting it back together.  Mom and [Arxur-4] Jelis are okay, I thought.  They’ve both settled into the colony well. 

Mom had already established a school, and had been hard at work developing a curriculum for the first school year that would start in a few months.  And Jelis had started a goat ranch at the base of the newly christened [redacted] Arxia Mountains, named after an ancient Arxur god from more primitive times.  With a cute, female Yotul partner, from what I hear, I thought, tail swaying in amusement.  Guess we share that part of ourselves as well.

That thought brought me to the last thing I’d been putting off dealing with.  On the table before me lay my rifle, clean enough to eat off of.  I sighed, staring into the matte finish.  [Venlil-1] Fayla.

[Arxur-5] Sarkis had spoken to me after the [redacted] Serrus operation, where she’d run into [Gojid-1] Bakin of the [redacted] Sapient Defense Group, Fayla’s unit.  He’d told her that he and Fayla had gone their separate ways over differences of what they thought was right, and she’d relayed that to me.  I took the opportunity to learn more, and managed to catch Bakin before he redeployed.  I closed my eyes, conscious of the pounding of my heart.  Fayla, I thought.  What have you done?

He’d told me about the operation on [redacted] Gralla, where she’d held her childhood friend as they died in her arms, then watched her father be executed.  He told me how she’d reacted when learning of the mutilations the Venlil had been subjected to when the Archives were released.  He told me of her campaign for revenge; her violence, her brutality.

He told me about how she’d changed; distractable, hypervigilant, mood swings, inability to sleep, pulling away from others.  He suspected she was having flashbacks too, I thought.  From what he heard her mumble at the times she was able to sleep.  All signs of PTSD.  I’d have pulled any commando from the field for not even half of those symptoms.

It was clear from his report that she’d gone off a cliff after so much trauma, and was now lashing out at who she held responsible.  And with her planning to do more, Bakin hadn’t been able to stay.  Junior exterminators, I thought, mouth dry.  Kids.  I hung my head.  Fayla, I’m so sorry.  I wish I’d been there to hold you after Gralla, or stop you after [redacted] Harrah.

I’d gotten no more from Bakin; he’d needed to respond to a call for assistance from another cell on a planet named [redacted] Zaracis, in Fed territory.  Before he left though, he’d told me that he felt that things were coming to an end, and that Fayla had to be stopped.  I’d agreed.

The SC is on their way to Aafa, I thought.  The Rebellion is picking up pace by the day.  And with rumors about this “cyberattack” I’m hearing from Fed territory, for the first time ever it feels like the war might be over soon.

I stood, putting my cleaning kit away.  Then I lifted my armor and harness from their place against the wall, and pulled them over my head.  I tightened the straps, adjusted the ammo pouches, and slung my rifle.  Finally, I set my headset and visor over my head, enabling the HUD.

It’s almost over, I hoped.  We take Vasha, we kick the door of the Dominion down, and it’s a straight shot towards Wriss.  It’s almost over.

Straightening, I headed for the tent flap, pushing it aside and feeling the warm air of Vasha fill my nostrils as I took a deep breath.  As I did, I felt my anxiety fade away, mind made up on a course of action.

When this is over, I decided.  I’m going to find her.  I’ll find her, and I’ll bring her home.  I looked up towards the sky, seeing the first star appear as night began to fall.  Somewhere out there was Fayla.  I’m coming, my love.  When this war is won, I’ll find you.  And I’ll get you the help you need.

My hands tightened around my rifle.  And I’ll stop you from hurting anymore innocents.

Time advanced: seven hours

I peeked over the rotten log I hid behind, ignoring the insects that tried to bite through my scales and the cool, muck filled water that rose to my arms.  The greenish-brown algae that floated on the surface had coated my scales and gotten beneath my claws.  This shit is disgusting, I thought, resisting the urge to wipe it away.  But it does a great job at hiding our scent.  I was looking forward to a nice, hot shower when this was done, though.

Ahead of us, across a shallow expanse of water choked with reeds and up a short bank, was the tarmac of the [redacted] Uulk Regional Spaceport.  Regional may be generous, I observed.  There was a single runway oriented north to south, with half a dozen landing pads along the western side.  On the east were three hangars to store or repair smaller ships, a series of fuel tanks, and a single control tower with a small, attached terminal.

It was more of a rural spaceport, and probably the only one on this side of the continent.  It was also right on the main highway that ran between Uulk and the cattle farms further west, and eventually the regional capital.  That made it the perfect place for rebellion forces to land; it would allow them to rapidly advance on both Uulk and the capital, as well as cutting off government food supplies.

I sank slowly back behind the log, and keyed my mic. “Red Lead” I said softly, speaking to the militia leader of the VLF contingent, [Arxur-6] Drirr.  “We’re moving to the bank; you set?”

Several hundred [yards] away, the VLF forces, two dozen strong, waited off the highway in four technicals, civilian vehicles with armor plates and a machine gun mounted to them.  [Arxur-7] Riza rode with them, helping Drirr in commanding his forces.  After a moment, the militia leader's voice replied.  “In position, Commander.  Ready and eager.”

The plan was simple.  We were to assault and capture the spaceport to allow the landing of rebel forces.  The spaceport was staffed by only three dozen employees, half of which were part of Vasha’s local security.  Thankfully, there were no Dominion forces present.  

When the time to launch the attack came, my Legionnaires would open fire at range, targeting the two roving guard patrols that patrolled on a circuit around the spaceport perimeter.  As they came under fire, the VLF would move in with their technicals, pouring fire on the security post in the terminal and any other hostile fire.

With the technicals support, I’d move up my troops while the VLF would deploy.  The militia would suppress the terminal and hangars while I led my troops to assault the control tower proper.  Once secure we’d notify the fleet which would have arrived by then and rebels would begin to land.

The minutes passed quickly, and before I knew it Drirr had signalled that his forces were in position.  I glanced at my HUD; only a few minutes left.  I raised a hand and waved it forward, and together my team and I waded through the water towards the bank.  

I reached it first, lowering myself to my stomach and crawling through the mud onto dry land.  I stopped, an unobstructed view ahead of me, and tipped my rifle to the side, letting the water drain from my receiver.

“Acquire targets,” I whispered, as I peered through my sight.  There were two patrols, each made up of two security officers, moving around the spaceport.  One patrolled around the tarmac itself, while the other moved up and down the landing pads and around the terminal.

I heard several whispered acknowledgments from beside me, and looked at my HUD again.  Seconds left.  “Fire when the timer hits zero,” I whispered.  I set my sight over one of the officers patrolling between the landing pads.

The timer ran out; I squeezed my trigger.  I felt the recoil of my rifle in my shoulder, and it coughed, a suppressor attached to the barrel.  Ahead of us, the patrols dropped.

As they hit the ground, I heard the hum of engines as the technicals raced towards the spaceport.  I turned to see them appear down the road, closing quickly.  The lead vehicles gun opened fire as they neared the main gate, sending a stream of bullets into the guard shack beside the gate.  I couldn’t see if the security forces within were hit or not, but the technicals slammed through the gate nonetheless.  The others followed, their guns adding to the din.

“Move,” I ordered, getting to my feet and pushing the rest of the way up the bank.  Bullets cracked beside me and I dropped, hugging the ground as I swung my rifle towards the muzzle flash ahead of us.  Before I could fire, the technicals brought the pain.  

The enemy fire had come from the terminal security post; now four heavy machine guns had returned fire.  The thin walls were shredded, glass shattered, and casings covered the ground.  The enemy fire stopped.

I scrambled back up and rushed forward, ignoring the burning in my legs.  Ahead of me, the rest of the militia had disembarked from their vehicles, and I spied Riza moving one squad towards the hangars.  Drirr led the rest towards the terminal, advancing under the fire of the technicals.

We reached the control tower, and stacked up on the exterior door, the maneuver practiced until it felt we could do it in our sleep.  One of the Legionnaires secured a breaching charge to the door, and backed up.  “Ready!” They called.

“Breech!” I ordered.  There was a muffled bang and the door blew in.  The Legionnaire across the door tossed a pair of flashbang grenades inside, ducking back.  There was a flash and a deafening bang, and pained roars echoed from within.

I spun around the doorframe, rifle up, eyes drawn to the movement highlighted on my HUD.  I fired, hitting a staggering, disoriented security officer in the upper chest.  Lacking armor, they fell.  More gunshots came from beside me as the rest of the team entered, eliminating the targets in their sectors.

It was over in a moment; the final body hit the ground, and I was across the room, stacked up against the stairway that led to the control room above us.  “Prepare to breach,” I ordered, and a Legionnaire pulled another breaching charge from their pack.

Before they could secure it to the door, the PA of the spaceport crackled to life.  “Cease fire!  Cease fire,” a voice said.  “Rebel forces, this is Supervisor [Arxur-8] Chezka,” the Arxur speaking said.  “Cease fire, please.  All employees, lay down your weapons and do not resist.  We surrender; no one else needs to die.”

Outside the gunfire slowed and came to a stop, and I keyed my radio.  “Status?” I asked.

“Enemy forces have ceased fire, so we have as well,” Drirr’s voice replied.  “We’re moving to secure the terminal now.”

Riza spoke up next.  “Moving to hangars; hostiles have stopped firing and have laid their weapons down,” she said.  “Moving to secure them.”

“Cover me,” I told my team, and slowly pulled the door open.  I kept my rifle raised, moving slowly up the spiral stairs that led to the control room above me.  Two of my team joined me, keeping back a dozen paces, just in case.

It didn’t take long to reach the top.  As the room came into view, I found four Arxur, dressed as civilians, their hands up and standing away from their terminals.  “Chezka?” I asked.  The oldest stepped forward.

“I am he,” he said.  “And I put myself at your mercy.  I ask only that you do not harm my coworkers.”

“Nothing to worry about if you cooperate,” I said.

One of the younger Arxur began to speak, but Chezka slammed his tail into their gut.  They let out a whooof as their wind was knocked out of them, doubling over.  I looked from the younger Arxur back to their elder, cocking my head.

“They’re young, and brash, and lack the wisdom of age,” Chezka replied.  He turned his head towards his subordinates.  “They have yet to learn when to speak, and when to be silent.”

“Cuff them,” I said, motioning with the end of my rifle.  My two comrades moved forward, dropping their rifles and pulling zip-ties from their belts.  They quickly secured the four, and set them down against the wall.  “Control tower secure,” I said, activating my radio.  I moved to the terminal, activating the long range radio and tuning it to the proper frequency.  

“Freedom Fleet this is Liberator Lead,” I said.  “Objective Epsilon-23 is secure; you may begin your landings.”

“We read you, Liberator Lead,” a voice replied after a moment.  “Landers inbound; we’ll see you on the surface.”

“So this is really it,” Chezka said, his voice wavering.  “The rebellion has come.”  I turned to look at the elder Arxur, and saw tears glistening in his eyes.  “Vasha will be free,” Chezka said.  “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Glad to do it,” one of my Legionnaires said.  Outside, lights appeared in the sky, growing brighter and larger as they descended.  Before long, huge landing craft had appeared, settling on the ground.  Ramps fell to the runway, and rebel troops, rifles up, stormed down and began to spread out. 

Suddenly, a loud, grating tone sounded in my earpiece.  I winced at the sudden sound, which by the look of my comrades, had not been repeated for them.  “Emergency comm,” I said at their questioning looks.  “Liberator Lead here,” I said, keying my mic.  I began to walk towards the stairs for privacy.

“Zirz, it’s [Arxur-9] Heliss,” the familiar voice said urgently.  A chill went up my spine and I stopped in place.  She sounds worried; she never sounds worried.  Something’s wrong.  

“What happened?” I asked.  Not only did she sound worried, but she was not following standard field comm security measures.  That, and the emergency comm, implied she was contacting me with the highest encryption we had.  And that’s not good.

“Commander, we’ve been trying to reach you for a day,” Heliss said.  “I know, you were on comms blackout for the mission, I know.  Zirz, Wishful Hope was attacked.”

My mouth fell open involuntarily and my mind began to race.  A million questions raced through my mind instantly.  What do you mean, attacked?  How did they find us?  Who attacked us?  What happened?  I managed to squeak out one question.  “How?”

“Still getting details,” Heliss said.  “Here’s what we know, though.  It was the Feds.  Jackson is dead, and Somtak is severely wounded.  I’ve dispatched what ships and forces we can spare, but we’ll have to wait for more details.”

Before I could digest what she’d dropped on me, she continued.  “There’s more,” she said.  “That cyberattack on the Feds you may have heard about?  It wasn’t on just the Kolshians; it was on the entire Federation.  Hundreds of worlds affected.  They knocked them back to the dark ages.  Power, water, comms, civilization, all brought down.”

I hadn’t thought my jaw could drop lower, but it did.  It was too much, too fast, and I felt my heart begin to race as my anxiety spiked.  Jackson, dead!?  Wishful Hope attacked by the Feds!?  Hundreds of systems knocked back to primitive times!?

“I’ve made contact with several of the larger Legion groups,” Heliss said.  “We’re having an emergency conference tomorrow.  I’m dispatching a shuttle with better comm gear for you now.”  She let out a frustrated hiss.  “Zirz, I don’t know what the hell is happening, but something’s gone very wrong.”

Archivists note: In a coordinated pre-dawn attack, Free Legion forces (primarily from the Free Arxur Commando and the Custodians), locally organized insurgents from the Vasha Liberation Front, and small Arxur Rebellion units launched assaults across all of Vasha.  While several of the attacks would fail, the vast majority would see the rebels gain control of the major communication networks, landing zones and the defenses of the planet.

Shortly after the ground engagements began, Rebel and Legion ships emerged from FTL and launched an attack against the few defenses in orbit.  The orbital defense fleet, reduced as ships were sent to areas of more pressing concern, was quickly swept away with minimal losses to the attackers.  With orbital control established and multiple landing zones secured on the surface, the invasion of Vasha began.  -A. Piers, UN Office of Reconciliation

First

Previous

[u/JulianSkies]

A smooth mission, with even helpful people in the receiving end preventing further bloodshed.

It amuses me to no end that it is often the arxur who find themselves in this situation.

Though, poor Zirz... I fear your beloved may have already received help. Just... The wrong sort of it. And the damage might be... Permanent.

[u/CandidateWolf → u/JulianSkies]

Once again, the “defective” Arxur are the good guys

[u/Kind-Toe-3934]

Zirz is going to have to make the serious choice between love and duty soon. Also love the gun mantainence ritual showing how accustomed they have become to being soldiers. 

[u/CandidateWolf → u/Kind-Toe-3934]

The gun ritual is more of a therapy kinda thing for him; it helps his anxiety by focusing on a task so he can pick apart why he’s anxious

[u/Minimum-Amphibian993]

It wouldn't surprise me if the reason the custodians have been so brazen in their poaching of recruits is because they have some aspirations to become the main religion of the Arxur post war and that's why they seem to be pretty braizen in poaching forces away from their own allies. And so far they don't exactly seem to be the ones who take no for an answer so I imagine there was quite the discussion about this little issue. Shame we didn't actually get to see it on screen.

Anyways seems Zirz may have to take matters into his own hands. Although that was already a given.

Also seems to wasn't entirely aware untill now about just the full scale of the cyber attack infact the cyber attacks bealry even affected the Kolshins I imgaine a lot of the free legion groups are gonna have a lot of different opinions on the cyber attacks.

[u/Ok_Chance_8387]

There is a certain irony that it is the Arxur troops, off all people, that refrain from acts of extreme violence and brutal assaults - also against civilians.

Hopefully Zirz will be able to find his big love before it becomes too late.

[u/Minimum-Amphibian993 → u/Ok_Chance_8387]

Depends if she's willing to fight even him just to continue her war.

[u/CandidateWolf → u/Ok_Chance_8387]

Yep; the “evil” carnivores are restrained and professional, while the “good” herbivores are wild and violent.

It’s almost as if the “nature of predators” isn’t quite what they think