“Captain, I expect to be at the top of this mountain within a few hours at most.”

“We’ll get it done sir.”

The crisp clean uniformed suits of the BDF jogged off several drones that had already landed at the foot on the mountain. Nearby the smoldering remains of the Abrams tank burned as the ammunition vent allowed the heat to escape out the top, creating a narrow beam of fire that was rapidly melting the surrounding snow. Time was not on the Venator’s side as each minute that passed brought new platoons of BDF infantry to the foot on the mountain as the force was beginning to dwarf the defenders.

With no time to make final preparation Moses and his suicide teams sprinted down the mountain. Most of them were still hungover and missing gear as the hasty formation was unexpected, to say the least. It didn’t matter to them though, these were ones that had already volunteered for the most dangerous job and knew what was at stake. While they struggled to keep up with Moses he didn’t ridicule or try to motivate, by the end of this day they’d all be dead one way or another.

The BDF soldiers were most accustomed to breaking up bar fights in the lower quarters of the Bastion and standing sentry duty than climbing up snow-covered mountains. They stood out in the snow like beacons and continually yelled orders to each other which gave them away long before the blue uniforms did. The militia, however, long years of being tormented had taught them how to endure the cold and remain still despite wanting to shiver for a few scraps of warmth. The few sentries that had been on the mountain during the party and lucky enough to not be at the outpost with the now burning tank and corpses were ready despite the numerous handicaps.

The BDF was clueless to the explosive charges hidden on the rocky snow-covered formation above them. They took the bait and attempted the narrow paths for a direct route to the top, desperate to impress their superior Officers with a quick victory. The overhead drones were emboldening the already confident commanders that with air superiority the enemy was already defeated. A mistake that would cost them...

“I said run not jog Loyd, fucking move!” The BDF Sergeant screamed at a soldier lagging behind as the rest of the platoon sprinted forward with no regard for the surroundings. Just as the Sergeant grabbed onto the soldier that was hunched over trying not to puke into his helmet an explosion sounded up the mountain, where the rest of the platoon was.

A haze of dirty snow and smoke filled the morning air that was already dark from the dense cloud cover that was so common for this grim world. Someone screamed up the mountain and sounded like they were drowning. The Sergeant had thrown himself and the other soldier into a nearby snowdrift on the side of an oversized tree root. Now that the explosion had passed the Sergeant crawled out of the drift.

“Come on Loyd they need o*” Before the Sergeant could finish his sentence the ceramic material on the back of his helmet exploded outwards sending bits of meat flying. The snow went from dirty gray to red instantly around the collapsing Sergeant.

“Where the hell did it go?”

“Over there!”

BDF soldiers that had been cowering under rocks and whatever other cover they could find raised up and began firing at the direction the one had pointed to. Even the one that had pointed had no real idea what he saw, any movement from his eye twitching or the environment was indiscernible with fear gripping him. The rapid firing beams from the BDF caused steam to rise from the snow around them and set fire to several trees as they painted the area with random gunfire.

Moses jumped down from the tree he had been hiding in directly above the soldiers that were now focused on the empty woods in front of them that they were convinced concealed an enemy. It took several seconds before they realized an armored figure was cutting them apart and by that point, Moses was bloody and had to step over the bodies in front of him to reach the ones that were still moving.

“Jesus Christ it’s a Venator! What the fuck are you doing? You’re on our side!” A soldier screamed at Moses while backing up, seemingly convinced he could talk the armored figure down. He was wrong and quickly discovered the distance Moses Gauntlet blade could reach was much further than he expected.

With another platoon dead Moses paused a moment to listen to the radio chatter of the Milita. They were still linking up with the different groups higher up the mountain. Moses and his team had bought them the time they needed to prepare but at a heavy cost. He had gotten separated from them when he rushed the BDF, the shred of morality he had left told him to find them and link up but another part of him wanted to move forward. The BDF was ripe for him and he doubted they would be carrying heavy weapons up this steep mountain which meant he would be near-immortal to the small arms fire they had.

I’m going to do everything I can to make sure everyone is safe. I told a little girl I'd get her dad home.

He fought the animalistic instinct inside himself but years of torment and being used by the BDF made it a struggle. A machine gun fired in a sustained barrage not far from his position. He knew that had to be his men, the rest of the Militia would be higher up.

187 you show signs of mental distress. Do you desire to harm others regardless of orders?

Yes.

Initiating mental scrub. He'll be good once we're done, don't worry about future meltdowns.

The thoughts of Bastion procedures and testing made his mind blurry with hate. They wanted an animal only when it was convenient for them but he wouldn't give it to them. He was more than what they thought and their time would come, eventually.

"Moses to Shitbird company, give me your location." The thought of everyone's face when he told them their designation brought a smile to his face.

"Baron, it's good to see you." Freeman motioned over Mcbrides shoulder for Baron to join them at a large table with a map of the mountain. "They've knocked out the main generators but we've got a few backups around the city. The jammer is down too but that's useless since they know where we are. They haven't started bombing the city which is unexpected but a massive force is moving up the mountain as we speak." Baron pulled a map over to his side of the table and took several pictures with his visor. "They haven't bombed the city because they're going to capture the civilians as test subjects." Baron caught the room by surprise as several surrounding personal that had been busy on other matters stopped after hearing this. "Excuse me?" Freeman asked, obviously as confused as everyone else. "We've been doing it for years, the BDF wants prisoners. Don't ask me why but they take them to the research section of the Bastion. I've never seen them after that." Baron didn't look up from the map, he knew what expression they'd be making. "And why didn't you mention this earlier?" Mcbride interjected. "It's irrelevant and I wasn't sure if they would want the whole city or not but it's the only reason they'd care to not use drones." Mcbride opened his mouth but was cut off by Freeman who raised a hand and interrupted. "You're right, as disturbing as that may be, it's irrelevant. I hope if we make it through this all relevant information can be shared between us." Baron looked up and nodded. "On to other matters then." Freeman added as he shook his face before motioning for everyone else to continue working. "Moses and his team have already left to buy us time. The outpost isn't radioing in and forward observers report burning near it. We're going to have to assume they're done for." Freeman paused a moment as another Officer stopped to give him a clipboard. "The Hawk missiles are in position but we can hardly use them in the manner we previously discussed since troops are already on the ground." Freeman looked back at Baron after reading the hastily written notes. Baron considered the missiles useless without the fear effect they posed. 3 missiles against the entire drone fleet were nothing but he couldn't add more problems to an already dire situation. "Keep them in reserve. Tell the operators to look for targets of opportunity and hopefully you've got someone with good judgment on the trigger." Baron offered as his best attempt at a constructive point. "The rest of the Venators are already moving to the bluff with the rest of the defenses. I should get to them if you don't need me here." Baron pushed the maps back across the table.

"You'll be more useful to us on the front, you're right but remember we need you to be our eyes. We're currently moving the residents into the shelters but should the front look bad, I need you to tell me. I'd rather send them down the other side of the mountain than let them be captured." Freeman never broke eye contact with Baron. He understood what he meant, the other side of the mountain was mostly sheer rock drop-offs. It would be essentially suicide with only a fraction of those fleeing being able to get down the mountain. Baron understood what was at stake.