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Chapter 3
Controlled Chaos
“It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow fond of it.” – Gen. Robert E. Lee

The screams echoed, like they always did. One minute children are playing in the street; parents were grilling, preparing the fireworks for the night’s festivities, older neighbors sitting on their porches, talking or just relaxing, friends playing cards or chess in the park, the souls who will vanish in the moments to come. Then there is a flash from the bay, and the screams start, pain from the light, a light brighter than a thousand suns. Then people burn from the inside, quickly passing to the next world. They died without knowing they were dead. No pain beyond the light. Then the streets were silent again.
He woke up, screaming, sweating. He saw her come through the door, his youngest, checking on his screams. He never told her the whole story behind the dreams, just that they were from the war. He got up and reassured her that he was fine and went to the bathroom. She said something about breakfast as she left. He showered and ran his hand over the stubble on his head. He needed to have her shave it again. He dried his face and looked in the mirror. He could still see the souls he took in his eyes, could see their cries for him to join them. He couldn’t yet, mores the pity. Too much left to do. Then he dried his body and got dressed for the day. He ate his breakfast as he waited for his assistant to come by. He kissed his daughter good bye and left the house when his assistant came to walk with him to the office. Just another day.
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“You had the dream again?” the Presedent looked at the man across from her. It was hard to imagine this man was well over eighty. He looked half that. But that was the benefit of being full prosthetic. A benefit she herself gained all those years ago.
“Yes, San Francisco this time. It was Hong Kong last time, D.C. the time before that. They are getting less frequent, and that’s what scares me. It’s a curse that I don’t want to lose.”
She nodded. Her dark hair moved as she did, and she used her hand to put it back in place. He had always been this way. He insisted that she know nothing, so that she could deny him if it ever came to light. If he had his way, she would never have found out at all, but when you stop a world war that has no foreseeable end due to the lack of soldiers, and then again fifteen years later stop the war mongers from trying to recover their pride and fortunes, you leave a trace. Even submersible drones have a traceable signal, and only one person on earth had the knowledge to make an incident like those. To believe he had enlisted that mind without her knowledge. He had bathed in the blood of several hundred million people, to save several billion others. And he had put into motion a project 38 years in the making, a project that would unify humanity for at least 200 years. But he didn’t have to do it alone. And he didn’t have to make himself suffer. He didn’t have to be a martyr.
“Well, I know you will ignore my advice and have the memories over written, but I think you should at least seek therapy.”
He cackled. Figures he would. The last time she made him see a therapist, the dreams he caused were so difficult to deal with that the doctor jumped off the side of city tower three. He never talked to anyone about it again. Not even his daughters.
“Did you clear the live fire test I wish to run for the base?” back to business as usual. He hated talking about seeing head doctors.
“Yes, you can run a mixed unit test in the ruins. And I cleared the use of the Emperor.”
“That’s all the therapy I will need.”
“Just make sure no one gets hurt too much ok, George. Now, I have a meeting with the board. Come back by for lunch and we will talk more.”
“Yes little sister.” With that he left her office. She sighed. He was right, but it still worried her. Nothing settled him like firing off rounds. It was who he was. He was that person the world needed. That she needed. He would bathe in a river of blood so that she could see the world they envisioned come to fruition. Her own personal hatchet man, the one man who would never let her fail. He was better than any soldier they could hire, and more fanatical than any terrorist organization can provide. She had to admit one thing from this conversation though. His nightmares did mean something good. It meant he wasn’t the monster they both knew he could become. He was still a good man deep down. And he still had a conscience.
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Beijing, the Peoples Empire

“Major Chen Lao reporting, as requested comrade chairman.” Lao bowed before the chairman of China.
“Major Chen. It is good to see you in good health” the fat man behind the desk said. He was older by many years, and he was noted as less corrupt than his predecessors. He was also more ruthless. One of his rivals had an accident on a farm commune a few years back, right after being vocal about chairman Yao building a stronger military. The man was pulled through a combine he helped purchase through the Germans.
“China has been good to me comrade.”
“Major, I have a mission for you that is of the utmost importance to the empire. You have heard of the massacre in Africa?”
“Yes comrade chairman. An entire battalion destroyed by the Americans”
“Yes. It’s how they were wiped out that most do not know. What Intel does your detachment have? And be honest. I respect your commander’s ability to gather intelligence”
“Yes comrade. The unit encountered an American heavy infantry platoon, had at first gained the upper hand, and then the Americans released what appeared to be inhibitors from their suits, allowing two soldiers in concert to destroy half the battalion in hand to hand combat”
“Very good major. Your unit is the pride of the people. We need you to find out more, maybe bring us back one of their suits.”
“If possible, my men can do it comrade chairman. I will need one week”
“Agreed. You are dismissed comrade Major.”
“Thank you comrade” he saluted and left
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Three days later….
We were cleared for a live fire exercise. It had been two weeks since we got the new suits. All that time we had been training, figuring out new tactics and tricks, breaking in the new weapons. Now we could test it all out. We were working with a pair of marine mechanized platoons equipped with the prototype multiped fighting vehicles and heavy assault APCs. We were supposed to take on a simulated mechanized force twice our size. One company of infantry bots supported by fighting vehicles, recon trucks, walkers, and a new command and control unit that we had no intel on. We didn’t get much more of a briefing than that. It was supposed to be a realistic combat situation, one that could happen at any time. The Captain was certain that we would be going against a human controlled unit, so our orders were to support the marines while finding the control vehicle, neutralize it, and get to the enemy command center. Then we get retrieved.
Oakland was our testing ground today. The marine force was being deployed from a landing craft in the old Oakland ferry dock at 0330 hours. It remained mostly intact due to its construction. But there would be some difficulties in the landing. The enemy force was supposed to have deployed hours ago, meaning the landing craft could and probably would be spotted. That’s why we got orders to deploy separately. At the moment we were crossing the bay bridge using darkness and abandoned busses and trucks for cover. We had one hour till the landing craft was to hit the dock. As per our plan, all hell was going to break loose before then.
We reached our break off point and our team was lowered from the bridge to the water by the rest of the platoon. Due to our ability to hover across the water, we were being utilized as advanced recon. We were to find good posts and deploy the remote weapons, bug bots, and relay pod, then find a position to provide heavy support. The rest of the platoon would cross the bridge, lower to the ground, and hole up in buildings and large vehicles. Then ten minutes till landing, we would use a secure but traceable radio signal sent from the relay pod to draw the enemy to us. It was a good plan, and fairly simple too. Until then, the only communications were to be through LOS laser coms. The laser would only be short range, but it was untraceable unless something got between you and your intended recipient. And, unlike radios, they couldn’t be jammed electronically.
Me and Manx led the way, with Nina following closely. The water was pretty smooth, and the moon was dark, so I figured we were only visible from short ranges. The noise from our turbofans was carrying evenly though, so the sound would be difficult to pinpoint, but not impossible. Also, the sound of a turbofan in hover was fairly unique, so they would know we are coming. Well, no use crying over it. The two type Eugene snipers were covering us. So we weren’t too worried about an ambush.
Landfall happened at the old marina. We walked ashore and took up positions beside the dock. Then I sent out a small UAV drone from my shoulder mounted launcher. The slight pop of its launch was muffled by the wind, and soon the little camera mounted underneath was relaying images back. There was nothing up above. No active scanning systems either. It was time to move out.
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He lowered the binoculars. The ship’s captain was standing next to him. “Are the sensors deployed captain?”
“Yes my friend. The automated fish are deployed too”
“Good. Soon we will have a better grasp on the situation” his voice was rough and ragged, mostly from barking orders in extreme environments. Even speaking in German, some of the men cringed when he raised his voice. He didn’t raise it often though, and most of the men were glad for that.
“Indeed. It is good that the army and navy can work together on such good terms”
“Yes. Alphonse my old friend, maybe we should thank the Americans for that gift.”
One of the submarines crew stepped forward and saluted. He then offered a sheet of paper to the captain, who took it and read it with a smirk.
“It seems the Americans have noticed us. Their pacific fleet is nearby and wishes to send their warmest welcome to a visiting German submarine.”
“I take it they are just within sensor range then?”
“Yes. It impresses me, this captain who sent the message. I did not know there were still Americans who had such a sense of humor. Many I have met are just prudish old men.”
“Well, Alphonse my friend, that was just his way of saying he knows we are here in international waters, and that if we get much closer, so will he.”
“Indeed, shall we continue our mission?”
“Yes my friend. Let us continue”
The two men went back into the bridge and sat waiting for the reports and data feeds to start coming in.

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We finally got into position by the clock tower. This is where we would start to deploy the remote weapons. That’s when the worst happened.
A red flash popped overhead and lit the area. I looked up to see a red flare in the sky and a black smoke trail. I switched to open coms and sure enough, all hell was going to break loose.
“all members of the first heavy infantry division and the seventh marine expeditionary force are ordered to report to their designated extraction points. Repeat, 1st heavy infantry and 7th expeditionary are to go to extraction points now”
I look at the girls and we start gliding for the freeway and our extraction. What the hell this time.
It was unusual to cancel a live fire exercise. Even for immediate deployment. Hell, they called the entire division in. this couldn’t be good.
“three o’clock” I looked where Nina indicated and almost needed to clean my suit. There was project 999 floating down the street next to us, followed by an entire platoon of heavy infantry assault suits and three platoons of soldier bots. That was what we were fighting. We would have been hard pressed to even put a dent in that fighting force. And there probably was remote tanks also. I was glad we got recalled.
“what the hell is that?” it was Nina again.
“Project tri-9, Proposed command and base defense unit. Halfway between your suit and a full battle tank, Nina” I heard her gulp. It looked like something out of a nightmare.
We arrived at our destination and loaded onto a retrieval VTOL. The other platoon did as well, loading into a separate aircraft. There were cases of live ammo and missiles waiting on board. We flew across the bay and loaded live rounds and more ammo packs than normal.
The captain spoke up, “everyone load as much as possible and prepare to carry the rest. All I know is this is a big nasty.”
Big nasty. As in big nasty pile in the litter box. So, the shit hit the fan and we were needed again. We finished loading up and grabbed the cases as we landed. The 79th was there filling out of their VTOL. There was the 106th and the 92nd. They were setting up drop pods for the extra gear and powering up their units. This was big. We all start to file into our staging zone as a VIP helo was landing. A group of troopers escorted the passenger over to the Project. I stopped and looked using the zoom on my helmet. General George Harrken climbed out of the suit and walked over. He was talking to the President. Shit, the top brass was here. I let it squawk over the short range coms to the captain. She looks and started cussing. This meant we were going to be doing our secondary job. Full infantry duty, maybe for a week or more. All our coms chirped.
“first heavy infantry. This is General Harrken, commander of the military forces of the corporation. We have intelligence that the Chinese empire is planning an incursion into an allied nation. We are being fully deployed to a forward base in japan, so prepare for movement.”
Well, one bonus. We weren’t jumping out of an aircraft.