Sigma/Star

Chapter 26: Know The Enemy

Officer Desmond Cain of the Artisan Second Division Strikeforce surveyed his troops. The four man team was rather impressive, he thought to himself. And so it should be; he had been the one overseeing the creation of it all.

The strikeforce consisted of Cain, as leader, his second-in-command, Sergeant Jericho, the team's sharpshooter in Alenichev, and Corporal Xiu as aerial tactician. Each one sported their own personalized Goliath, though only Cain and Xiu had unique ones. The other two were Exo-class suits with special enhancements, such as Alenichev's extended rifle.

They had just been given a new mission from the high command. The squad was to diverge from the main force attacking Narrius and assault a small village to the north. It had long since been evacuated and initial reports had scouted it as an empty, useless zone but now they were receiving news that supplies might be stockpiled there. If they could make an attack to cripple a line like that...well it could only be positives, both for the war effort and for Cain's own positioning.

He knew he was close to a promotion. He could smell it, see it in the way the others looked at him, feel it in the air whenever he was given orders. It was coming. Maybe that's why they had given him this job. Something easy with his personal team of hand-picked soldiers that would give them good enough reason for a raise.

Xiu's voice sliced through the silence. The team was nestled into a rocky crag of brown stones that stuck up into the air. It was a bit elevated from the normal field of battle to give them a place to hide yet look out and Xiu was hovering a few hundred feet above them. "Sir, we're all clear to move. The convoy passed by."

"Excellent. Return to ground then."

"Roger." There was a hum in the air that grew as Xiu's Goliath, the "Hummingbird," dropped out of the sky and softly landed on the rocky terrain. He possessed an Alto-class suit, an Exo model that had been stripped of some of its armour to make it lighter, more agile, and had been given two round jet boosters that shot out off of its back on long rods in twin fashion. The circular jets were flat though and could swivel a bit on the ends of their support beams, giving the Hummingbird the ability to move quickly within the air or hold its position in a hover. It couldn't take off or fly at tremendous speeds and instead was used for extended jumps and for surveillance and Cain was just fine with that.

Sergeant Jericho shook his head at the young Xiu. Jericho was getting older, well above middle-age and feeling it, and he always found a chuckle in the recklessness of youthful warriors. When it was outside battle, everything was showing off what they could do and having fun with tools normally used to deal death. As soon as combat started they were meek and tentative and he had to take over with his experience. Because of it, he commanded tremendous respect from everyone, including the younger Cain.

Cain and Jericho also shared mutual respect since the captain had also become a father, like Jericho, and their kids often played together. Cain's daughter was now three years old while Jericho had a five year old son, and opposite gender twins, who were twelve.

Alenichev watched them all in silence. He was the most specialized component of the group, only capable of taking accurate, long-range shots and nothing else. He was also personally unique, unable to speak since birth, and he used signals set up within the cockpit of his Goliath in order to communicate. His nature was usually eerie and off-putting to others but Cain preferred it. There was no chatter from Alenichev to distract him from his shot and Cain had never met anyone quite as focused as that man was.

Cain signalled for the group to advance. The sun was just reaching its crescendo in the sky to signal noon and the group was expected to arrive at the town in just three hours. They would have to move quickly to cover that distance and each was thankful for the enormous machines they operated which allowed them to travel so fast.