Chapter 3

Escape

Toshiro Ozawa looked around as he stepped through the gate. The cyborgs had cleared the immediate area with just a few bodies left lying around in the burning vehicle that he guessed was a police car from the markings and lights. The vehicle looked ancient and appeared to be powered by an internal combustion engine, yet other aspects of these people’s tech seemed quite modern. The one thing he knew for certain was that the scouts had found no evidence of the ability to construct gates anywhere on this world. A squad of cyborgs followed him through the gate.”

“Four Six, take your squad and clear that building.” He ordered the leader of the squad, pointing to the combination warehouse and office building off to the right.

The leader cyborg led his cyborg soldiers off toward the building. The technicians jumped through and set up the ramps while he surveyed the scene. There appeared to be several people peering at them from down the main street that ran past the warehouse, but everybody in the immediate area had fled. There was a noise to the right, and a flying machine appeared. It stayed low and kept buildings between it and the portal but was clearly studying their position. Several of the cyborgs guarding the gate got off shots at it, but as far as he could tell, they all missed.

He wished he had a high-powered sniper rifle to try a shot, but it was too far away for the ordinary weapons to be accurate, and the cyborg’s lasers dispersed before they reached the target. No matter, it would be almost impossible for the locals to stop them now, even with the problems at home. The ramp placement was finished and locked down, the gateman signaled, and the first of three tanks lined up on the other side of the gate eased its way up and through the portal and onto this world. Two more followed closely behind, and they fanned out to take up defensive positions around the portal. They were followed by five troop trucks that spread out, and the cyborgs they were carrying began dismounting to expand their defensive perimeter even further.

Behind these came three technician trucks. They moved around behind the portal and began assembling a portable power generator as this world lacked broadcast power. Two more tanks clanked through, and three more troop trucks came through that drove over to the right before beginning to unload their cyborgs to enlarge their beachhead. The troop trucks were followed by three engineering vehicles. Two would set power pylons while the third combined with the special strike squad in the next two vehicles to find a good place for a second beacon so another portal could be opened.

Unfortunately, their third and fourth portal facilities had been struck by the plague, so two were all they had that were usable at the moment. He was glad he was in the first wave and not back at home trying to control the massive crowd of True Men, their families, and servants who were all desperate to flee the plague. The panic that had ensued after the plague hit the capital was amazing. This world had been found decades ago and marked as not being worth the effort to conquer because of the radioactive ruins, which were much worse in the northern hemisphere.