Rendezvous with Echo Squad

By morning, Iris had apparently discovered shame. She sat eight inches curled into a ball on my armor’s shoulder, knees pulled against her chest, staring determinedly at the opposite wall.

“So…”

“No.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“You were going to mention last night.”

“I was going to ask abut our extraction.”

“You’re lying.”

My HUD blinked.

ARMOR BATTERY: 8%

I looked at Iris. She looked away. Eight percent. The most advanced combat suit in the galaxy—capable of surviving artillery, lifting a truck, and turning its wearer into a walking tank—had been reduced to eight percent battery because its AI had gotten jealous of a squid girl and grabbed my dick in response.

“Looks like I wasn’t the only one completely drained by last night’s little nighttime visit.” .

Her face turned bright blue.

“Dropship approaching.” That answered that.

The Colonial dropship screamed over the village minutes later, scattering sand and sending fishermen diving after baskets. It touched down outside the hut, and the ramp dropped. A redheaded woman in green light weight armor favored by snipers stepped out. Her suit was considerably lighter than mine, sleek plates fitted over a black undersuit with a massive coil rifle magnetically secured across her back. Sergeant stripes marked one shoulder.

She looked at me, then my battered armor, then the battery warning flashing on my chest display.

“Replacement?”

“That’s me.”

“Sergeant Chloe Mercer. Echo Squad. Get aboard.”

Neria and her father came to see me off. Neria hugged me. Iris immediately disappeared into my armor without saying a word. Interesting. The dropship lifted away from the coast. Mercer sat opposite me. “How the hell did you land two hundred and eighty-four kilometers from your assigned drop zone?”

“I believe my pod was hit by enemy fire during orbital entry.” Iris should really be the one explaining this.

“Well you missed the whole campaign newbie, the fortress came down before sunset.” Sergeant Mercer spent the flight filling me in on how the marines absolutely obliterated the pirate resistance . Then we flew over the battlefield. Holy shit. The pirate fortress occupied an entire ridge—or what remained of it. Walls had been blasted apart. Gun towers were burning and collapsing under their weight. Craters covered the valley, and shattered vehicles littered the approaches.

Bodies were everywhere. Pirates. Mercenaries. Hundreds of them. Some still burned among the wreckage. Colonial Marines walked through the devastation collecting weapons and checking bodies with the casual efficiency of janitors cleaning an arena after a game.

I swallowed. “How many did we lose?”

Mercer looked at me. “Lose?”

“Casualties.”

“Zero.”

I stared through the dropship door.

“Zero?”

“One torn ACL, but the corporal walked it off“

The dropship landed inside the ruined fortress. Waiting for us was the largest human being I’d ever seen. Rook stood nearly eight feet tall in heavy Colonial armor. Two enormous cannons rose over his shoulders, and a white rook chess piece had been painted across his chestplate.

“Sergeant!”

Mercer stepped down the ramp. “Why is the western wall missing?”

Rook looked toward the enormous smoking hole behind him.

“Structural failure?”

“You shot it.”

“Better to punch a hole through it than risk that rubble collapsing on our men.” Then he noticed me.

“Newbie!” Before I could react, one armored hand slapped my shoulder hard enough to nearly put me on the ground. “You can call me Rook, we were expecting you yesterday. I was hoping to be there for your first kill.”

A pearl-white figure suddenly materialized beside him.

She was cute, roughly human-sized, translucent, with shoulder-length hair and a crisp military bearing.

“Sergeant Mercer,” she said. “Echo Squad ammunition expenditure has exceeded projected levels by forty-three percent.”

Rook pointed at the ruined fortress. “The walls were reinforced, what was I supposed to do?”

“Use the Door.” She quipped.

Iris appeared on my shoulder. “She’s a 400 series. They have no appreciation for improvisation”

The white hologram turned. Silence. Her eyes narrowed. “You have a TIA.”

“Iris,” Iris corrected.

The white hologram looked offended by the concept of a nickname. “I am TIA-442, designated Tactical Intelligence Assistant for Echo Squad. This unit is already assigned an AI.”

Iris crossed her arms. “Congratulations.”

TIA-442’s eyes flickered as she accessed something. Then she stopped. “Oh.” I didn’t like that oh.

Mercer didn’t either. “What?”

“TIA-919 was assigned to our squad Newbie through an administrative error.”

I looked at Iris.

She looked at me.

“Wait,” I said. “You’re not supposed to be mine?”

“The requisition system appears to have interpreted the Private as an independent replacement rather than an Echo Squad replacement,” 442 explained. “Personal TIA assignment should have been canceled when he was transferred to this unit.”

Rook started laughing.

Mercer rubbed her forehead.

Iris floated slightly higher. “The mistake has already been made. Correcting it now would be inefficient.”

TIA-442 stared at her. “You should be shut down and returned to inventory.”

Iris’s glow intensified. “Try it.”

“Oh, I intend to.”

“Ladies,” I said. Both holograms turned toward me.

“Stay out of this.” They said in unison.

Rook put an arm around my shoulders.

“I like you already Newbie you even make the time in between killing things interesting.”

Mercer sighed and started walking toward the fortress command bunker. “Welcome to Echo Squad, Newbie. When the girls settle their cat fight we’ve got new orders to discuss.”