Curse of the Legion (11 page)

Chapter 6
The Temple of the Sun

"Heads down!" The command crackled in my ears. I didn't need any urging—I was doing my best to merge with the ground but my A-suit was getting in the way. A crackling shriek erupted all around me and metallic debris pinged off my armor. Three bone-chilling blasts tore past, right over my head—tacstars! It sounded as if the atmosphere was being ripped open violently. We were under fire and the squad's Five had just replied with Manlink. Three blinding white-hot flashes lit up the night and illuminated it all, stark phospho white and vac black shadows, revealing three of us, obscene beasts of war clad in black cenite armor, the camfax flashing from light to dark as we huddled in mounds of muddy wreckage while cold rain whipped all around us.

"You aw right?" Delta One didn't want the visiting Commander to get hurt on his watch.

"I'm fine. Who was the fellow who said this area was secure?"

"Some rear echelon puke. What do they know? There's nothing on this whole frigging planet that's secure."

"Is that Phantom still around?" The temple was up ahead, past the smoke and rain, but I couldn't see it visually.

"Tenners, I'm still here," the pilot reported in my ear. "What do you need?"

X exploded all around us, peppering my armor again with shrapnel. I snapped the stock of my E against my shoulder and set it to auto x. I pointed it in the general direction of the enemy and fired.

"Two kills," Sweety reported calmly. Sweety was my tacmod. She was a lifesaver, monitoring the tactical situation, providing warnings and advice, and guiding my rounds to the target.

"Thank you, Sweety. Phantom, strafe that temple again, please. Just use antipers rounds—maybe canister. Can you do canister?"

"Can. Why are we being so polite?"

"Just do it. I want that temple to survive."

"Tenners." There was a hot little hiss as the Phantom flew over us and went after the target—barely audible. That always gave me a charge. Hell, on tap. Just whisper, and it's there, the armored fist of the Legion, crashing down to swat all our enemies just like bugs. The Phantom was invisible, of course. Then there was an awful buzzing that gave me an icy chill and the temple was suddenly all blurry on my tacmap.

"That should do it," the pilot said.

"Thank you kindly," I replied.

###

"No life," Sweety said. We moved up through thick black smoke and cold rain and blue lightning flashing somewhere far away and the flames of Armageddon flickering all around us. I was on darksight but it was still hard to see, there was so much smoke and not much left of the temple complex. I was sweating. My heart pounded as I snatched little glances at the tacmap lower left on the faceplate. I moved forward carefully, my E pointing into the darkness.

"Keep a sharp lookout, Sweety," I said. I've been talking to my tacmod for years. She'd have kept a sharp lookout anyway, but I can't help it.

"How come a Commander doesn't rate holo-x?" Delta One asked me.

"Beats me," I replied. "I was hoping it meant this area was secure."

"No such luck, sir. Well, this is the temple. Perimeter!" The squad starburst quickly to secure the site.

I had been told the holo-x units were reserved for the hard core guys who were taking on the U'tal's mercs. The Legion had dropped onto Asumara in force and all the later troops had to go in live. Holo-x was a lovely concept that worked perfectly—your troops were all safe charging around in the ES Rooms topsides but their vac-active holos downside were equipped with real weapons and ordnance, blowing the enemy away with no casualties on our side. Anyone who was hit simply waited a few fracs for his image to reform, picked up his weapon and resumed firing. I had used holo-x in combat before. It was terrific. To the enemy, we were invulnerable. Our troopies kind of liked it, but there were never enough units to go around.

I squatted in the dark, smoke swirling past, and opened a silky tacmap. Rain spattered on the map. The temple was all around me, but it was far from intact. It was still burning, despite the rain.

"Well, this is it," One said, squatting beside me. "The Temple of the Sun. Not much left, huh?"

"I'd like to—" It pounced right out of nowhere, a giant black blur that hit me like a speeding aircar, slamming me to the ground with a bone-jarring crash as Sweety shouted the warning—too late! I had a quick glimpse of wild red eyes and a gaping mouth full of yellow fangs and then it threw me head over heels and I landed with a huge splash in a wide puddle of black mud. A single shot rang out and the beast whipped around and lunged at the squad leader. I staggered to my feet with the E, searching through the smoky rain for the creature and saw a huge black transgen ape astride a prone A-suit, tearing at the armor. I gave it a burst of auto x and it exploded, cut right in two, spraying blood and viscera all over both of us.

"Cease fire!" I shouted. "CEASE FIRE!" There had been a lot of confused shouting and I didn't want the squad shooting us up by accident.

I dragged the awful, shredded corpse off the squad leader. "Transgen ape," I said. "Say hello. You all right?"

"I think so," he gasped. "Deadman! I never saw it coming!" He laughed wildly. "I thought you were dead! That thing grabbed you by an arm and tossed you about a K! I shot it and it got really upset." The rest of the squad were standing around by then, poking at the corpse with their E's. "Perimeter, guys!" He barked. "We're tenners. Say, thanks, Commander, that was fancy shooting. I thought that thing was going to eat me, armor and all. You sure you're all right?"

"It's hard to hurt yourself in an A-suit," I replied. "What I was about to say—before we were so rudely interrupted—I wanted to talk to those prisoners your Alpha Squad took. Are they still alive?"

"Let me check. Whatever you want, you get! Yes sir!"

###

Morning, cold and still. The fires were mostly out but the embers of the Temple of the Sun still smouldered, producing an annoying grey smoke that hovered like fog, giving a ghostly quality to the ruins. Like a water painting on silk, I thought—all greys and blacks, fading into nothingness. I stood there with my E, surveying the site. It had been a large complex with multiple stone buildings. The main temple still stood but it was shot to hell and burnt out inside and missing a couple of walls and the roof. The complex was littered with blackened corpses, everywhere I looked. Holy warriors, torn to shreds, many of them still clinging to their shattered weapons, Systie SG's and Manlinks. Some of the corpses were very old—some were skeletons. There had been fighting here before our arrival. Smoking ruins and fields of corpses, I thought—that was what we were going to leave behind, on Asumara.

The Temple of the Sun—the holiest of holies, in Asumara's lunatic religion. Tara's idea, of course. Track it down, Wester, she had said. We need the truth—that's all we need. Fine. I'd get her the truth. And I didn't care how many U'tal would die as a result. I had seen those girls torn apart and eaten by those savage transgen apes. Tara had insisted.
Truth
, she had said, forcing me to watch it.
Truth, in the screams of our innocent children. Keep it in your heart!

Three shots rang out in the distance, as clear as bells in the still air. X. I ignored it. Delta One appeared, clad in filthy, mud-spattered armor. I guess I looked the same. It had been a hard night.

"Your boots are unshined, soldier," I said.

He laughed. "I'll get right on it, sir. We've got that local you wanted." One of our troopies approached, escorting a young U'tal male with hands tied behind his back. The U'tal's head hung down, hiding his face. His long dark hair was filthy and matted and he wore dark clothing, torn and splattered with mud.

"This one speaks Inter," One said, "But he's not too communicative."

"That's not a problem," I said, reaching out to seize the U'tal by his hair and jerk his head back to take a look. I was greeted with a glare of such malevolent rage that I almost let go of the creature. Then he spat at me, convulsed with hatred. I swung my E at him, striking him in the face solidly with the butt, smashing his face and knocking him right off his feet to collapse like a rag doll in the mud. I leaned over him, took the brainscan from my toolpak, and affixed it solidly to his scalp.

"Make sure he doesn't die," I said. "When he comes to, bring him to me. I'll be over here. Anybody want any dox? I've got plenty." I settled down on a nearby rock to wait.

He didn't look too good when he was returned to me, standing shakily, face cut and bleeding and swollen purple, both eyes blackened horribly, nose smashed and bleeding, lips cut and swollen, a few teeth missing, mouth bleeding.

"You must answer my questions quickly and truthfully," I said, still seated, not even looking at him. "We know the difference between truth and lies, and lies will be punished instantly. If you cooperate you will get a quick death. If you attempt to deceive us, we will throw you to the apes. We've got cages full of those apes—your apes—and they're getting hungry."

I held the mindscan reader in one hand. It would determine instantly if the subject was deliberately lying to us, or telling us what he believed to be the truth.

"What is your name?" I began. He was silent. I hit the shock tab. He gasped, convulsed, screamed, and fell to his knees. It was a horrifying, crackling, burning sensation in your head—as if your brain was going to explode. We had all experienced it, in Basic, and once was enough for me.

"Name?" I asked again.

"Weklon Mussat," he gasped.

"Occupation? What do you do?"

"Caretaker. I…I clean the temple." The reader lit up red—
Deception
. I administered another shock. He screamed, collapsed, cried, writhed in the mud, limbs twitching.

"Just tell us the truth," I said. "Doesn't your religion believe in the truth? Help him up." Delta One pulled him roughly to his knees.

"Your occupation?"

"I am a priest," he said quietly. "I answer only to God!"
Truth
, the meter read in green.

"A priest!" I said. "Good! I wish to ask about the so-called defilement of the Temple of the Sun. This was a lie, U'tal hate propaganda designed to justify your criminal attacks against our settlers on Fortuna. Who thought up this lie? Do you know?"

"It is not a lie! The defilement was real!" Glaring his hatred at me again.
Truth
, the meter read.

"Do you believe everything you are told? Did you witness the defilement yourself?"

"I believe what I see! I witnessed it myself!"
Truth
.

"When did this occur?"

"On the third day of the Sacrament of Blood in the Month of the Golden Hound."
Truth
.

"Were you intoxicated on that day? Were you hallucinating from drugs or other stimulants?"

"No! I am a priest of God! God's presence is my only stimulation."
Truth
.

"What did you see?"

He struggled to his feet, his eyes gleaming. "I saw swarms of evil black vultures swoop down to God's own home and disgorge Satan's legions, alien monstrosities, clad in black armor and firing their terrible weapons, laying waste to the temple, killing everyone they found, entering God's sanctuary, striking down God's holy priests where they stood, seizing our holy relics and unleashing a torrent of fire into the temple."
Truth
.

I stood up. "Black armor," I said. "What did it look like?"

"Like yours!" he snarled, glaring directly at me. "Exactly like yours."
Truth
.

"And these vultures—do you mean aircars?"

"Yes! Satan's aircars! Over there—they landed right over there." He pointed past the temple with his bloody nose.
Truth
, the monitor indicated.

"Did these aircars have any symbols on them?"

"Yes! The sign of Satan's Legion! That sign there. Your sign." He was glaring at the Legion Cross on the buckle of my u-belt.
Truth
, the meter read.

"Why do you come here, to ask about your own crimes?" the priest snarled. "To beg God's forgiveness?"

"I'll ask the questions here," I said. "What did you do when these…intruders…attacked?"

"I fought them! I defended my God! What else should I do?"
Truth
.

"How many of your people died?"

"We know not! We do not count those who die defending God! They are uncounted and uncountable. We will all die, if necessary, to defend our God. Count them yourself, if you must know for your unholy lists—their bodies lie all around us."

"The intruders—did any of them die?"

"No. Satan's Legion's were armored—we were not. They stayed only long enough to defile the temple and then they departed. Why do you ask me about your own crimes? Now you have returned, and destroyed the temple utterly. Do you think it ends here? God will punish you! God will punish you!"
Truth
, it said again.
Truth
,
Truth
,
Truth
. My skin was crawling. What the hell was this?

"Why did you attack Fortuna?"

"Because of the defilement of the Temple of the Sun! Why do you ask such stupid questions? Our duty is to defend our God."
Truth
, again.

"Is your God pleased when you rape and murder women and children? Is your God pleased when you have your man-apes eat them alive?"

"Yes! He knows it is just punishment, for those who defy Him."
Truth
.

"One?" I turned to the squad leader. "We're taking this one back to Quaba. Make sure nothing happens to him. We need him alive."

"Yes sir. Let's go, creep."

I removed the brainscan from the priest's bleeding scalp, popped up my visor, and attached the device to my own temple as Delta One led the prisoner away. It was a tight fit inside the helmet.

"My name is Antara Tarantos-Hanna," I said. The monitor glowed red:
Deception
. Damn! I had been half-hoping the device had been stuck on
Truth
.