Part 2

The troop immediately split, Jak nodding to Sutter who nodded back before being swallowed by the murk that surrounded them.

"Scouts ahead, follow me carefully and remember this is their natural environment, they're used to this shit," said Jak to his squad.

He moved ahead, his sniper's rifle slung over his shoulder as he hefted his grenade blaster, his 'five' issued with standard plasma blasters.

"Target five hundred metres ahead, let's..."

His command was truncated by rifle fire from his right as one of the platoon opened up with all six guns available to him, a small group of armoured Lizards skittering up out of a concealed hole. Others opened fire on the group and after a brief exchange of fire the Lizards were down.

There was a hiss of static on the radio and one of the troop requested a private channel.

"Report."

"Yes, Sergeant. It's Private Chaled here sir. I'm uninjured but have lost two of my drones. I... er..."

"Spit it out man."

"I... I felt them die Sarge."

"What?"

"As they got hit, they felt the wounds, and when they shut down I got their memories. It wasn't unpleasant; it was just kinda weird Sarge. Captain Price did say they have a limited memory capacity, so I guess they sorta downloaded."

"Downloaded? Shit the bed. Okay. That's just something we'll have to deal with, no time now to think about it now. Come on, let's go."

Jak bent forward into the howling wind that battered them, the full face helm and armour the only things protecting him from the fury of the elements as they slogged forwards through the mud, lightening occasionally streaking the sky or illuminating the clouds in front of them. Then there was a roaring scream that was heard even above the storm, and 'incoming' was shouted over the radio as a battle line of lizards appeared in full infra-red glory on their visors.

"Fire at will!" shouted Jak, and both humans and drones dropped into any cover they could and began picking targets from the charging mass of Lizards that skittered across the watery slop towards them, their webbed feet allowing them to run across the surface at speed.

The increased rate of fire of the drones was immediately apparent, and the ranks of the enemy were winnowed away as the auto loading plasma blasters kept up the speed of fire, bolt after bolt slamming into the Lizards, with occasional grenades launched into denser masses of the enemy.

Jak switched to his sniper rifle, sighted on the crested head of an enemy platoon leader and smiled in grim satisfaction as part of his head disappeared in a bloody spray of greenish blue blood. Abruptly the rain cleared and Jak got a full view of the battlefield, spying Sutter and his troops about two hundred metres away.

Then he saw the Captain in between them. Price was crouched directly behind three of his 'five', the drones soaking up fire from the Lizards as the remaining two battled their way through the battle lines.

He clicked to a private channel. "Sutter."

"Yes, Sarge?"

"What the hell is Pricey doing?"

"No idea Sarge."

"No neither have I, but it doesn't seem right somehow."

"Nah, seems a bit odd don't it. I'll keep an eye him."

Malfunction... vision of No.1 standing with head tilted slightly as if in conversation. System compromised. Download. Terminate...

Jak gasped and shook his head as the sudden brief influx of information hit his cortex.

"Sarge, you ok?"

"Aye, one of my drones just got taken out. Private Chaled contacted me a minute ago about it. I felt it download. It was hit in the centre of its chest, must've hit some sort of control unit or something."

"Weird, I'm not looking forward to that Sarge..."

"No, neither am I. It's not painful just kinda odd. Let the rest of group know quietly, there's a good lad, I've a feeling we're going to lose a few more on the way in. I'll give you five minutes and then we'll get this moving."

"Aye, ok sarge. Sutter out.

"Thanks, Jak out."

Jak switched views on his visor and did a quick head count of the platoon, the computerised vision screening out the rain. The tide of battle was beginning to turn; increasing numbers of the drones were being taken down, as were a few of the human platoon, the sheer number of Lizards and the terrain hampering the operation.

Jak decided it was time to press their advantage while they still had one.

"Shatter!" he roared and stood up, his four remaining drones lifting themselves from the mud to form a wedge in front of him. "Shatter Platoon, let's finish this, drinks are on the Captain!"

"Shatter!" The answering cry from the remainder of the platoon almost broke his eardrums, and then he and the others charged forwards, shooting wildly at anything green skinned that moved, occasionally battering them down with gun butts or shooting at point blank range.

"Sarge, two hundred metres, your one o'clock, is that the way in?"

"Yes. Good spot Sutter. Platoon! Platoon on me. Charge!"

As one the unit reformed, Price and his remaining two drones joining them as they swarmed down into the home nest of the Lizards.

~

Darkness, confusion, blood, gore and weapons fire. Bitter hand to hand fighting mired the advance as the platoon slowly moved downwards into the ground, occasional moans of the wounded or gasps from the soldiers as they experienced a drone death echoed through the gloom. The Lizards, now desperate to protect their home, fought bitterly for every step but to no avail as the drones battled on with inhuman speed and resilience in front of their human commanders.

There was a scream, and one of the Lance Corporals slumped to his knees as a massive shard of metal from a nearby explosion speared through his guts. Before the man keeled over, he looked up and his two remaining drones ran forwards and threw themselves into the mass of lizards in front of them, driving several off a cliff line that had previously been hidden from their view.

"We're almost there!" shouted Price. "I think that cliff line marks the edge of the breeding pits."

"The what?"

"We recently captured a small colony of Lizards on another planet. That's how they reproduce. Big nest, one massive egg laying female, lots of soldiers and workers under her control. We have to destroy the Queen. Your sniper rifle is powerful enough to do that if you aim for the middle eye. Once we've destroyed her, the Lizards elsewhere, their ships and space stations will be leaderless. In the chaos that follows we should be able to take 'em all out relatively easily."

"Okay, let's get in there then."

Jak looked around, mentally taking stock of the remaining platoon and drones as they fought against the remaining Lizards.

"Captain, we have around ten of the platoon and forty odd drones left."

"That should be enough."

"Enough?"

"Enough to blow this place up. The explosives the drones are carrying should be plenty. Once the defending lizards are gone and you have killed the queen, the drones will get themselves down there and they will then set off a chain reaction that will take this place out once and for all. If we have to, the drones can jump off the cliff, they don't need to be able to walk to go bang."

"We're going to sacrifice them? Do we need to do that if the Queen is dead?"

"Yes, they're expendable. Just do what you're told Sergeant. You're with me, let's get up to the edge of the cliff there and finish this."

"Yes, sir."

Jak turned and stood by his remaining drone, as did Price, whose remaining unit had had its visor damaged by a weapon, but seemed to be otherwise fully functional.

"Sutter!" he shouted. "Stay near and form a command station at the top of the ramp. Get your men to press the advantage and give Sergeant Jak and myself some space here."

"Yes, sir!"

"Ai!" shouted Sutter to the remaining Lance Corporal. "You and your teams are with me. Let's go!"

Price, Jak and the two drones moved toward the edge of the now partially cleared cliff edge, a few bodies both humanoid and Lizard strewn near the drop. Ai and his larger group of soldiers and drones steadily pushed the Lizards down the long ramp into the bowels of the earth, keeping the area near the top clear for their colleagues as Sutter stayed back to keep a view of the battle and direct operations.

Jak and Price dropped to the ground as they approached, Jak unslinging the sniper rifle from his back. They looked over the edge and Jak recoiled in horror at the massive form of the matriarchal lizard that lay before them in the huge central pit. Thousands of lights were placed around the massively obese form of the mother of all Lizards; hundreds of small skittering forms ran over and around the Queen, her huge domed forehead and glittering eyes visible as she raised her head to screech something at her minions.

"Your target Jak. Aim for the middle eye. The brain lies directly behind it. She is the receptacle for the hive mind that the Lizards employ to communicate, although she can use verbal commands as well. If we destroy her, all resistance will effectively cease. It's your shot Sergeant."

"Yes, sir."

Jak powered up the laser rifle and sighted on the massive creature below, calming his pounding heart. Steadying his breathing and tuning out the sounds of battle, he breathed out slowly, aimed and then before breathing back in, pulled the trigger.

The screech that rang through the chamber sent most of the soldiers to their knees, clutching their heads in pain, the drones unconsciously mimicking their controllers.

Small stones rattled on Jak's helmet from the roof of the cave and several larger blocks began to fall.

"Take cover!" he shouted into his radio and turned just in time to see a massive rock smash into Price's remaining drone, driving it to the ground and pinning it under the rock, leaving only the head and one arm free. Price gasped next to him and the unit's small visor light winked out.

The screeching stopped. Lizards ran without purpose into the deepening gloom of adjacent caves, no longer interested in giving battle, the reassuring presence that had controlled their minds since birth no longer there.

Jak lifted himself stiffly from the ground and moved to the squashed drone. Its already damaged visor had come loose and Jak caught a glimpse of something behind that his befuddled brain refused to acknowledge. He moved closer and then sank to his knees. A very human face looked back, one well known to him, that of his commanding officer Captain Price.

"Come on man, let's get these drones into place and blow this place up."

"No."

"That was an order Sergeant."

"No, sir."

"You're disobeying me?"

Jak stood and moved away from the drone so that Price could see the exposed face.

"That is not a drone sir. That is a clone, a human."

"So? Okay, so I lied, but they're mindless lumps of flesh and metal, ours to use and command, expendable."

"They have memories. I heard you gasp when that one 'died'. You received memories, we all have as they died."

"Those things are weapons Jak, a combination of flesh and metal that we employ to take out the enemy. And we have. We have won sergeant, we have beaten the Lizards. All we need to do now is remove them from existence and we can go back to that nice little bar where I found you and get royally drunk."

"We've won?" said Jak incredulously. "We may have won a battle, but in order to do so we have lost our humanity. We have sent these men and women to their deaths: used them. They have had no chance to live. They are merely slaves to our whims and under our control, and had you told me these were clones I would never have agreed to do this mission."

"Why did you think they were so easy to control Sergeant? They behave as part of you because they are you. I tricked you and the others, but it was for the greater good."

Jak turned away and walked to the edge of the cliff, looking at the still form of the Lizard Queen.

"Everything ok Sarge?" Sutter's voice rang in his ear via a private channel.

"No Corporal, it's not," whispered Jak. He clicked the 'broadcast' button on his helmet radio and watched the heads of his men turn toward him as he began to speak.

"Captain Price. I refuse to let you use my drone as a sacrifice to carry explosives into the depths of the caves. It... he is not a drone, he is a clone, part of me, copied illegally and without my permission from cells taken without my knowledge. As part of me, I hereby claim his life as part of mine and I will not allow you to take that life."

"This is mutiny sergeant," declared Price, striding toward the other man.

"Maybe, we'll let the courts decide that one... I see you've finally sold out to Corp Command Captain. What did they promise you, promotion to Colonel?"

"You will obey orders." Price pulled a handgun from a holster at his hip and walked toward Jak, stopping a few feet away. He pointed the blaster at him and gestured with his free hand at the sniper rifle that Jak held loosely in one hand.

"Give me the gun; I'm relieving you of duty."

"Fine, but you're not using my drone." Jak handed the weapon over and then grunted in pain, staggering as something seemed to smash into his mind. The link to his drone wavered and then strengthened as he realised the Price was trying to wrest control from him.

"Let me have control Sergeant, now."

"No." Jak lurched forward, and the plasma bolt reflexively launched by Price's handgun glanced off his leg armour as the larger man crashed into his Captain. Weakened by the injury, but marginally more powerful than his commanding officer, his fingers clamped around Price's wrist as another plasma bolt fired harmlessly into the darkness below them, the two men wrestling for control.

"Sarge, look out!" The running steps of Sutter sounded in his ears and Jak teetered on the edge of the cliff as a foot stepped onto nothingness, his arms frantically grabbing at Price as Price too cried out in terror and grabbed onto the Sergeant's armour.

They teetered precariously on the edge for a second that felt like an eternity, and then Price felt a hand grab his flailing arm in a grip of iron.

The three forms hung in frozen tableau as Sutter reached them: the drone holding Price, Price holding Jak.

Price grinned at Jak. "Stalemate you bastard; now get your drone to haul me in."

"Sarge. What do I do?" called Sutter plaintively, his voice carrying a world of emotion and worry.

"Say goodbye to the Captain," said Jak and closed his eyes.

The drone released its grip and, as Sutter's instant "No!" echoed from the walls, the bodies of Jak and Price disappeared into the dark maw of the cavern below, Price's scream abruptly cut short as he impacted on the rocky floor below.

"Jak! Jak?" Sutter crawled to the edge of the cliff and peered over, but there was no-one hanging just below the lip, no sergeant grinning back at him, only darkness and silence.

"Well, that was weird." The muffled voice came from the drone to his right, and as Sutter watched open-mouthed as it jerkily reached up and opened the visor, the blue eyes behind twinkling in the pale light of Sutter's head lamp.

"Sarge?"

"Sort of. I think just Jak from now on though, eh?"

Sutter abruptly sat on the ground and paled noticeably. "What the hell is going on?" he whispered.

"I think I just managed to download myself into my drone. Figured it was worth a shot. I'm not sure all of me managed to make it, but I think I'm mostly here."

"You downloaded yourself?"

Jak knelt down next to his comrade and placed a gentle metal hand on one shoulder.

"It seemed to work the other way when they died. Drone no. 3 now has a few extra memories. I asked permission before I did it and it... he, agreed. Had he not then I'd like to think that I'd have ordered him to let go anyway. We'll never know though thankfully. In fact, from now on I think I'd like to be known as Jak 3, it seems appropriate.

Jak 3 clicked a channel on his comms unit. "Ai, are you still with us?"

"Yes, Sarge."

"Good man. Looks like you'll be flying us out, Price is dead. Rally the crew and let's get the hell out of here."

"Okay Sarge, we'll be with you in a minute."

"Screw the explosives, the Lizards are finished." Jak 3 helped Sutter to his feet. "Come on old son, I think we need a drink. We'll wait for a break in the storm and then Ai can get us off this mud infested lump of gunk. Then we can go home.

"If it helps, I know a decent little bar, somewhere you can get a decent fry up , a beer, and where it doesn't rain too much either... my round."

~~~ The End ~~~

Shattered Worlds

by

Gavin Wilson

Wattpad EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Gavin Wilson on Wattpad

Shattered Worlds               Copyright © 2012 Gavin Wilson.

All rights reserved.

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