“That’s, that’s just…”

“Yes. Fortunately, they seem to be running out of real troops.”

“Really? The news reports always talk about thousands of cyborgs, but as usual with the media, it’s a bit hard to gauge exactly how many troops we’re facing.” Andrew commented.

She nodded. “It’s hard to get numbers because they keep bringing more people through the portal. The Colonel told me the count was up to nearly five thousand cyborgs, maybe a hundred of the really powerful mentalists, with maybe a thousand weaker ones backing them up and about ten thousand non-cyborg soldiers. They’ve been reduced to training and arming men who weren’t soldiers back on their homeworld. We’re seeing household servants, office workers, all sorts. They’re still shipping more and more of people through the portal, but the flood has been reduced to a trickle recently. We’re hoping that means we’re nearing the end of them, but it could just be a bottleneck of some description that’s slowing things up. Faulty power supply to their portal or something.”

She paused and stared at him. “Plus our own people they’ve gained mental control over. They usually put them at the front line when they attack.”

“Shit!” He hissed, feeling sick at the mental image of women and kids being made to advance in front of cyborg soldiers.

“Yeah. It’s been pretty horrific, apparently.” She glanced around at the other people in the nearby seats, who were all trying to look like they weren’t listening in. “Get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”

Andrew found it hard to sleep aboard the bouncy train. They stopped at Grarftun for forty minutes so everybody could get some crappy food, stretch their legs and use the station refreshment facilities. He finally fell asleep after Coffsarbour and didn’t wake until they reached Maitland. They swapped trains here for the army camp at Singletun while the passenger train continued on to Newcassel. Newcassel was west of the old city, which had been bombed in the war. Well, the steel plant had been hit, and the city had been downwind at the time. He remembered something from his history class at school that a lot of the radioactive dust had been washed off the buildings and out of the soil into the river and ocean. He seemed to recall something he’d seen in a textbook to the effect that the whole area would be liveable again in another seventy to eighty years.

Singletun was thriving with the sudden increase in the size of the army. According to a Sergeant who had joined their train at Maitland, two new brothels had recently opened in the town, which seemed to be his measure of a place’s success. He didn’t seem to recognize Captain Greaves, so he was probably a regular. Her being out of uniform probably didn’t aid recognition.

The train pulled up at a long wooden platform. He grabbed his luggage, and after exiting the train, he headed up the platform to what was apparently an exit point. There were actually several he noticed. He joined a long line of recruits and returning military personnel heading towards a large gate. Inside there was a line of tables off to the left manned by two soldiers each. A couple of uniformed personnel were directing new recruits to the tables. Troops returning from leave went one way, while a few reserves who had only just gotten their recall notices were sent in another.

There’s no point in raising a whole new army if we don’t give them proper training before shoving them into the sharp end. If you qualify for the Specials, they’ll probably ship you to the front straight away, but at this stage, I’m still out of the loop, information-wise, so I’m not sure.”

She turned to smile at him. It wasn’t a nice smile at all. It was more like the smile of a tiger or even a crocodile.

“Which means we’ve got plenty of time to put you grubs through the wringer.”

Andrew decided that she was trying to intimidate him. Well, she’d find that it took a fair bit to put the wind up Andrew Harris! He remembered something else she said.

“So they’re Japanese like the news people are saying, only from another world.”

“Yes, they’re definitely not Japanese from our world. Our Japan is still very sparsely settled because of all the radioactive hot spots. They’re definitely from some other world, and it must be a pretty horrible place to live, apparently.”

He cocked his head slightly. “Why?”

“Well, as far as we can tell from the few prisoners we’ve taken, every person except the male Lords at the top get a chip put in their head to control them at age eighteen, not just the cyborgs.” She shuddered.

“What? The women as well?” When he saw her frown developing, he added quickly. “I mean noncombatants, not soldiers.”

“They don’t appear to have women soldiers. Or at least they didn’t. As far as we can tell, from the limited information we’ve been able to gather, it’s a very patriarchal society, almost medieval. We don’t have much firm information about them, just observations our scouts have managed to make and a couple of prisoners with which we’ve been able to capture who we have managed to make talk. I was told we have seen armed women recently, but the powers that be seem to think that their using women on the front line is more about their shortage of manpower than anything.”

“Our troops have to keep at least twenty meters away from theirs because of their powers. They call them Mentalists, apparently. About one in ten cyborgs is a leader who has some mental power, and then they have these non-cyborg officers who are the real Mentalists. Nearly all of them can control people within ten to twenty meters, which is why we have to keep back. The cyborgs and any of the other chipped people can be controlled from much further away. The few prisoners we’ve managed to take, we have to keep at least a hundred kilometers away from their mentalists to avoid them taking control of our prisoners.”

Andrew whistled as he considered the information the Captain had just imparted. His grandmother’s notes had mentioned things like being able to detect people with power from a considerable distance, but all the spells she mentioned were relatively short range. Even twenty meters seemed a bit long, although there were some things she said could reach a hundred meters if you concentrated and had enough power. The chip must be the thing that controls them and allows them to be controlled so far away.

She had barely gotten organized when the engine gave a toot, and the train lurched into motion. Andrew gave her a sidelong glance and decided she really was a delight to look at. She was probably a year or two older than him, which meant she wouldn’t be interested in him, but at least he’d have something nice to look at during the long, boring trip. She caught him glancing at her the third time, and rather than glaring at him, she gave Andrew a little smile. Which only served to embarrass him even more than if she’d been annoyed, and he felt his face heat up as he blushed.

The train followed the river to Mawillumbar past farmlands and a few smaller villages where the train didn’t stop. A smaller train would follow this one for the local traffic. More people got on at the large town or small city, although only a couple took seats in Andrew’s carriage. As the train got underway once more, he sat up and did a good look around at his fellow passengers. He decided most of the passengers in this carriage were probably recruits, and the rest were most likely military, who were returning from leave by the haircuts.

“Are you a new recruit?” He asked the girl hesitantly.

She smiled. “No, Andrew. I was on leave and am returning to duty.”

Wait, she knows my name? What the fuck! He studied the young woman closely and realized she was shielding. A very strong shield that made it impossible for him to tell how strong she was.

“How the fuck do you know my name? Who are you?” He demanded.

“I am Captain Sharon Greaves. OSF. I’ll most likely be the one evaluating you when we get to Singleton. Depending. I might be sent straight to the front. Things aren’t going well, last I heard.”

“Oh. So does your knowing my name and sitting here with me mean that I’ll be going straight into the Special Forces?”

She shook her negatively while giving him a wry grin.

“Huh. Very funny. No. You’ll get put through basic training like every other recruit, and then you’ll be evaluated by someone from SF, and maybe you’ll get picked. Or not. We’ll see. It used to be as much about personality as strength, but with the way things are going, provided you can control whatever power you have, you’ll likely be selected regardless. Just a warning, though. The OSF might be special, but they are still part of the army. You need to learn how to be a good soldier first and how to be a Special second. Do you follow?”

Yes, he could follow that. “Yeah, I guess. I thought they were desperate for troops to face these invaders, though?” “They were, and they still are, according to my colonel. We took many losses early because their troops were led by what they call mentalists. We’ve adjusted some of our tactics and methods, so we sort of have their measure now, it appears. They’re still gaining ground but at a considerably slower pace than they were at first. The high command seems to think we have enough reserves in the pipeline to shore up the front lines in the near future, and once this recruiting drive starts building us a whole new army, then we’ll be able to go over to the counterattack. I doubt that will be before the end of the year, though.

The soldier ran it through the machine to check its authenticity. The photo on it was crap, and he’d often wondered if anybody had a good ID card photo. The soldier looked from the photo to Andrew and handed it back.

“You can volunteer for a specific service, but there is no guarantee you’ll be assigned there. It depends on your skills and knowledge. So, what are you volunteering for? Infantry? Armor? Air force?”

“Specials.” Andrew said.

“You need to have power to be in the specials. I can’t feel you.” The soldier said, a sneer in his voice.

“That’s because I’m shielded,” Andrew replied and lowered his shield.

The soldier sat up straight and shook his head, his eyes opening in alarm. Andrew put his shield back in place.

“Shit!” Said the soldier. “You’re strong!”

“Yes. That is why I shield.”

“Good. You’re just what we need. Too many of us are doing this recruiting crap. The invaders have power as well, and there are a lot of them. Fill out this form.” He shoved a pad in front of Andrew.

Amused that suddenly people with power were wanted rather than shunned, Andrew quickly filled out the form on the pad the soldier had offered. There wasn’t much to it, and the only real important part was agreeing to serve in the military for the duration. He shrugged, signed that part, read the rest of the terms quickly, and handed the pad back. The soldier gave a quick once over and then shook his hand!

“Congratulations. Be at the station in the morning. The train leaves at seven am. You can bring one suitcase and don’t be late. You’re in the Army now, soldier.”

The train normally only consisted of three or four carriages. Today, it had four of the modern carriages it normally used, plus three older carriages tacked on at the front. Plus, the normal guard’s carriage and a second baggage car. Unfortunately, his ticket was for one of the old carriages along with lots of other young people. He found a seat and threw his carry bag into the roof rack. His suitcase was hopefully being loaded into the baggage car at the rear.

He’d managed to get a window seat, mainly because he had come early, and as the carriage filled up, the seat next to him stayed empty. The number of people boarding dwindled, and he saw that there were only five minutes left before the train was due to depart. A young woman came down the aisle, looking at the people seated already and then glancing at her pad every so often. She passed a couple of empty seats before reaching him. She glanced at her pad and then gave him a big smile as she sat in the empty seat next to him. She had a small carry bag which she kept with her rather than put the bag in the overhead rack. She had light brown hair, startling bright blue eyes, and was very attractive.

The next book up is Kyron the Mercenary which should done some time in November – hopefully. It is still too early to put a date on it I’m afraid.
After that will be The Princess and the Travelers where the Princess is sent to investigate the strange derelict ship mentioned in the 3rd book – is it from another human civilization or is it an alien vessel?
Taroniah at Peace will follow and then Kyron the Mercenary after which…? Probably The New Federation which is pure space opera – big battles, aliens, the whole bit. And no, that is not Arturo’s Federation nor anyone else’s for that matter. At least not so far…

Chapter 4

The Volunteer

Andrew Harris joined the small line of men and women lined up in front of the cubicle holding the recruiting desk inside the council building foyer. Most looked to be older than him, and he received some strange looks from the others in the queue, but he simply stood and waited patiently. With the strange invasion going on down south filling the news channels, accompanied by rumors of enemy magicians, he knew his duty. Even his father hadn’t been opposed, which had surprised him, especially when his old man made noise about enlisting himself, although Andrew thought his dad was probably too old to be accepted. The line moved forward periodically, sometimes quicker, sometimes slower, and after what seemed like hours but was probably less than one, he finally made it to the front.

The person who entered the cubicle ahead of him finally exited, and it was his turn.

“Next.” Came the almost yell from inside the cubicle.

Andrew walked in and stopped in front of the desk in the center of the area. Behind the desk, a man dressed in the mottled green and sand uniform of the army sat, busily typing something into a computer. A second man, also in uniform, sat to one side, enjoying a cup of coffee.

“Name?” The man at the desk asked, his head bent over the keyboard. Then looked up from his keyboard and frowned at Andrew. “Huh? How old are you, kid?”

“My name is Andrew Harris, and I just turned eighteen.”

The soldier studied him. “You don’t look eighteen.”

Andrew was used to people not believing he was as old as he was. In fairness, he looked like he was only fifteen or sixteen, partly because he was just starting to fill out. His grandmother had done something to him before she died that delayed puberty to an extent. She had said it was to keep him under control once he came into his power. Reading her journal, he had discovered that one of her few earlier children had been born with a hormonal imbalance that required special drugs when he reached puberty, and he had grown up to be very strong magically. Or so she claimed. She made no mention of his death, so Andrew assumed he was still alive, somewhere.

His grandmother had studied how the drugs worked and come up with a spell that did much the same thing, and that was what she’d used on Andrew. She said it would wear off somewhere between twenty-two and twenty-five. Andrew hadn’t been given a choice, but at least he didn’t have to take drugs. His erstwhile uncle was somewhere in the Pilbara when he was last heard from, and his even older aunt had been forced to move to Nuzeeland because of her lack of aging. They had lost contact with her entirely since she had moved over there.

“Here is my ID card.” He handed over the card with the ridiculously bad photo of his face looking out from it.

He looked around and pointed at some of them in the bushes just behind him.

“You five, into the building. Top floor. Work your way to the end but try not to attract attention. When I say now mentally, open fire on them.”

The five men his wave had encompassed all nodded, and they headed inside the building. He signed to the rest to move forward under cover of the hedges in the garden fronting the road. Then the bushes ran out, so he signed for them to press up against the wall and move forward that way. The gunmen had opened fire too soon, Toshiro decided. Just then, the dull noise in the background suddenly got louder in the form of a grinding metal machine noise, and a tank appeared behind them and began grinding its way up the left-hand side of the road.

Behind it came a force of maybe ten cyborgs and twenty former civilians led by a fellow in a black suit. Toshiro did a double-take when he realized it was his nephew Akiro, who was supposed to be in his second year at university.

“Akiro! What are you doing here?” Toshiro yelled at the young man.

“Drafted. The whole university was. They’re starting to fly unaffected people and cyborgs over from Europe, but it’s a slow process. Everyone’s petrified of losing our last portal. I am now Provisional Mentalist Akiro Sato. So what’s going on?”

“Resistance is stiffening. There’s a bunch of fellows in that building up there. If your tank can blow them out, that would be very welcome.”

Akiro closed his eyes for a few moments, then smiled at Toshiro. The tank’s turret rotated, and then it fired at the building, taking out a large section of the top floor. Toshiro thought he saw at least one of the enemy fall down with the rubble.

“Come on!” He yelled, waving everyone forward, and led the charge.

They stumbled into the wrecked building but met no opposition. The enemy had evacuated the building, probably when they saw the tank coming, so he pressed on. The next door led them inside the hospital proper, and he discovered that many of the beds were still occupied despite the staff having fled. He directed Akiro to take most of the troops upstairs.

“Check the other floors!” He yelled, and then he pressed forward as his nephew disappeared up the stairs

A laser flashed past him from one of the cyborgs who had stayed with him.

“Is the broadcast power on?”

“Looks that way, sir.”

“Right. Clear all the floors in here.” He ordered and headed out of the building, leaving the Cyborgs to the unpleasant task.

It was harsh, but they didn’t have time to coddle patients too sick to move. Besides, the Japanese worlds had always eliminated a much higher proportion of the natives than the Russian or German branches of the Alliance. It made even more sense if there was not going to be any more zivvy to keep them under control. Then there was the Plague to worry about as well. Eliminating all the patients still here would make for a messy clean-up later, but that wasn’t his problem. He had to keep pushing and take as much territory as possible as quickly as possible before the defenders got organized. Given the increased gunfire he could hear as he exited the building, he had a feeling the natives were getting organized quicker than he had been hoping.

The next Taroniah book is now live – both e-book & paperback
Taroniah at War

“Sir.” The cyborg said, saluting. “I am Cyborg one eight two seven six, seventy-six. We have a composite force of twenty-six former household servants that have been assigned to your command. General Koga wants you to continue pushing south.”

“Hence the reinforcements. Right. I recognize you, and you’re now my second in command until another mentalist arrives. There’s what looks to be a hospital a block south that should be our first target. It will probably make a good Cybernetics Centre.” The cyborg nodded. “Take one of your squads west to the next crossroad and advance on the hospital along that street while I take the other half forward from here.”

“Sir.” The cyborg replied and began issuing orders to the servants.

Toshiro shook his head, turned, and began issuing orders to the cyborgs that had formed his entire force up until now.

“All you cyborgs fan along this block and move through the buildings. Check every room, and I mean every room, even the lady’s lavs. Treat all civilians fairly but firmly. Kill them if they resist or don’t follow orders promptly. Bring them all to the street here and put them under guard. Got that?”

The two senior cyborgs nodded. He left them to it and led his half of the the servant force west. The two trucks returned north, presumably to go back to the homeworld for more troops. There was no real opposition as he moved up the street. A couple of bullets came his way from an unseen sniper, but that was about it. Ahead of their advance, people were decamping from the buildings and fleeing in the opposite direction, which was actually a good thing. It would mean more mouths for the defenders to feed, and until they got a new Cybernetics Center up and running, there was not a lot they could do with masses of prisoners. Apart from killing them. Not that most of the True Men would have any problem with doing just that, despite it being a waste of potential manpower.

And then there were the rumors about the latest shipment of zivvy not arriving as scheduled. If there was no zivvy, they couldn’t chip the natives anyway, even if they got a Cybernetics Centre set up. He tried not to think about what the non-delivery of the zivvy meant. It had only been a breathless rumor that had swept the portal facility just as they’d prepped to open the portal to this world, and he’d had other things to worry about, so he hadn’t paid much attention. Was it just a break in the chain somewhere due to the plague? Was Natori sitting on their zivvy, or had Sendai kept it? Was it because of an attack on the 300? Shit, now that would be a disaster! Surely the Enemy wasn’t strong enough to attack the 300! They had reached about halfway up the block when several automatic rifles opened up without warning. Toshiro was holding a shield, so casualties were limited, but at least three of his men were hit, dead or just wounded; he wasn’t sure and didn’t have time to worry about the matter right then! The fire seemed to be coming from the yellow brick building that was on this side of the hospital. Some of the men dropped behind a parked car on the far side of the broad road. Another got stuck in the middle behind one of the trees that were planted in the median strip. The rest piled into the bushes on the right-hand side of the road.