Interlude 5: Enforcers 1

  Carol was proud! She did her new job wonderfully and fucking knew it! When that cowboy-samurai came to pick her up and run with her all the way to the newly liberated section, it scared the shit out of her. A normal reaction! Samurai aside, of course.

  A lot of injured people needed her, however! There’d been a large gathering of civilians hidden in the residential sector. Her professional calm had taken over, as it usually did in the presence of injured people.

  They’d apparently waited as long as possible to start a fight. This section was better than usual. It had been meant for lower managers, so the doors were a lot more solid. Air-tight as well, just in case. Three enforcers came here. One was dead. The other two were injured, including...

  “Come the fuck on Sarah, stay with me!” She injected a dose of oxygen replenisher. A lot of her throat was missing. Altany had given Carol something the AI called a Mole-Bear portable field-medicine station. It contained a lot of goodies, including some stuff from a tier two catalogue apparently.

  She had to install a brain chip or whatever so that the thing would always hand her what she needed. Infinitely better than med students! It was an incredible metal backpack that would follow her after being put down.

  The injection had been delivered by a multi-shot injector. Much better than a needle and she could regulate amounts and calculate on the fly how much someone needed with her new augs. Press the tip and it auto-found veins and arteries in a millisecond! Super fast injection just like that!

  The moment she wanted a trachea intubation kit, one came out of the station.

  You will need to insert the tube, then when it is properly placed, it will seal the damaged area.

  Altany was a god-send! Yes, her new augs had medical inspection software and hardware in them, but having the AI to assist and explain all the new tech was critical. She expertly inserted the tub into her exposed trachea. She received an image from the tip and when it was in place, the tubes extended a bit then unsealed and created negative pressure.

  Blood that had been aspirated flew out as the poor woman coughed. The kit was basically a tube, but much thicker to indicate where to stop inserting. As soon as it was in place, the thick section unfolded and wrapped around her neck tightly. It created an airtight seal and started administering reconstructive nanites. Sarah would live… She didn’t revel in the joy of a job well done for now. Next!

  The other enforcer simply needed some sealing bandages slapped on as fast as possible for now. There, stabilized! She’d treat more later. Next!

  Triage was a lot different than she was used to. Mostly, she wasn’t balancing who had insurance, wouldn’t make it, needed immediate attention or those her morals told her to handle.

  She never, ever let a kid die on her watch! She’d lost some, but it wasn’t for lack of trying… That had gotten her fired for wasting resources and she didn’t regret a single god damn thing.

  Now? Pure triage, like in the old textbooks! No insurance bullshit, no credit check, just who’s injured and who needs attention right fucking now? Hell, there wasn’t even a ‘is this person going to make it’ concern, everyone was treated.

  Even if it looked for sure lethal, the magic of protector tech made her job exponentially easier on the soul. The medical inspection software told her exactly what the problems were, then Altany put little timers above everyone, along with treatment times.

  If there wasn’t enough time? Expensive buys or having a couple of the enforcers act as assistants did the job.

  Carol saw a kid and immediately laser-focused on him. “Roger, inject those I mark with these!” Stabilization meds, had to love them! Blood or oxygen replenishers, a bunch of pain meds and so, so much more! She had more than one of each injectors for just this sort of situation. She’d bought in batches. They came in these little containers she could press the tip of her multi-shots injectors in and refill.

  A few quick words of medical jargon she knew better than English at Altany and she could refocus. Her supplies seemed to be infinite right now! God this felt amazing!

  The kid lost a leg and had a decent enough belt tourniquet on it. Knowing the boss as little as she did, Carol wasn’t sure whether or not he’d pay for a good prosthetic. She thought he would though.

  A dose of alien pain meds and blood replenisher and the kid stopped screaming and crying. Poor boy… “Don’t worry dear, we’ll take great care of you.” She told the boy with a smile. Even with the helmet, it came through in her voice, as always.

  She expertly pinched a few arteries highlighted by her augs as massive problem areas. She had a new tool that would pinch and apply some sort of tie. The station spat out a sheath to put over the leg. It would act as a bandage and help the area heal well and without any infection. Some protector goop in it would speed healing as well as reduce any pain.

  She smiled at him “There, you’ll be just fine sweety.”

  His face, marred with snot, tears and blood, broke into a smile. The most beautiful thing in the world. “Thank you doc…” Was she a doc? Fuck, she might as well be with Altany’s help.

  She felt damn proud! A medical nanite suite couldn’t have done all that! Treated all those patients with all those conditions! Wouldn’t have worked for some, would have been tons more expensive, which meant they couldn’t have treated as many!

  Points were important, and if they only used those, there wouldn’t be enough. Not enough to buy that kid a prosthetic later, for example!

  She didn’t spend more time than she needed with any of the patients, always using parts of the treatment as time to talk to them.

  “Hey, doc, we need to evacuate everyone!” The cowboy said as he returned from another quick extraction.

  “Why?” She asked before a message came over the comms.

  “Incoming!” Panda shouted in her ear. Using a reflex as ingrained as breathing, she covered the nearest injured with her body.

  Suddenly, some small spines came raining from the corridor leading to the central concourse. Thankfully, their trajectory kept most out of danger. Sadly, someone had been too close.

  A scream and some running later, she kneeled next to the injured man. Some spines had embedded into his arm and side. “Altany, are those poisonous?” She asked with calm professionalism.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  No, they are not. The reduced velocities thanks to the distance and interception means he will likely be fine after extracting those spines. They should not have penetrated more than 5mm.

  That was that, then, more pressing patients close by! “Militia’s almost there, can you handle things? I need to deal with this.” The cowboy asked.

  “It’s my fucking job, isn’t it?”

  ***

  Lila felt a bit concerned.

  Her job was to hold that stairwell. Francis did amazing damage, but to use those rounds to the best of their abilities, he couldn’t chase stragglers with his aim. He needed long lines of enemies ready to get some high-caliber HMSG rounds to the face and pass it on to the ones behind them!

  He did a damn fine job and hers consisted of getting the rest with Bella. Militia could probably do it, but hey, they earned points! Points Lila needed for that big surprise!

  “How close am I, Altany?” She asked, so fucking excited! It was finally happening!

  Ten more models and you will be ready.

  She’d been the first rescued, the first to get back in the fight. She’d bought a few augs, but they were pretty cheap. “God I can’t wait!” This would be a future proof upgrade! Modular in a price range she could handle, future upgrades included!

  Curiosity peaked and she decided to ask. “Hey, Altany, what’s the drop-off right now? I mean, we’re not close to him, we’re not fighting on the same front, is this a problem?” She asked, dreading the answer.

  Would they have to stick to Louis if they wanted more points for the enforcers? It seemed almost wasteful to have a drop-off in this case! Antithesis were almost a resource, and… she needed resources, a lot of them…

  She wouldn’t tell him right now… Eventually she would, yeah, when this was over!

  He needed to recover first, to be calmer. This whole thing would hurt him so deeply that… she was afraid he might not be okay after this. That he wouldn’t be alright with what he would do in the name of vengeance and protecting their people, their family…

  Her sour thoughts were thrown out as she focused on Altany.

  No. The fall off is very minimal in this case. Mostly, it is based on degrees of separation. At this moment, you are fighting the same battle, under his orders, for the same purpose while he is in great danger. A drone would have more degrees of separation and in your case, you are far less separate from him than a drone.

  She squinted as she put a few pieces together. “You’re interpreting the rules favorably, aren’t you?” There was a bit of wiggle room in those rules she’d bet… Maybe… “Unforeseen circumstances?”

  Not unprecedented in the slightest, but not common. I believe you may be the first group in this world such as yourselves. Others, on other worlds, include benevolent religious figures, community leaders, spiritual leaders, cult leaders and the like.

  In this case, Louis created, trained and commands this all volunteer force that he shares values with. If he wasn’t in battle, there would be more separation. Keep in mind, also, that you share a common battleground.

  Louis has also made you a recognized entity within my systems as enforcers who are considered as ‘point receiving’ and have permission to purchase with few limits.

  Not only that, from an AI’s perspective, all enforcers are connected to a Protector technology empowered internal net, making the separation much more academic.

  The very inaccurate analogy I could give that you may understand would be as paladins of a god. He lends you his power, his trust and believes that you are fundamentally as he is, that you will act as he would for the most part. You are extensions of himself in a way.

  Were you to betray that trust, you would lose your status and your power, but the fact that you are a part of this force makes it highly unlikely.

  Although given the amount of disgusting sexual relations I see in the archives I can access, cult leader may be a somewhat better metaphor.

  In short, yes, the rules are somewhat flexible when it comes to various circumstances, such as yours. However, the militia is outside of those exceptions, to be clear. Only you and the enforcers who chose to let me directly involve myself into your messy craniums enter this ‘grey zone’ of rules.

  It does not negate or fully remove them, simply creates more ‘wiggle room’ as you would put it.

  Welp, when the crazy powerful AI tells you to ‘shut up and take her money’, you shut the fuck up! Lila went back to shooting around Francis’s massacre, but her aim got spoiled when Altany decided to ask a question she struggled with..

  Are you going to tell him?

  She chewed her lip to the point of drawing blood as she refocused and picked up the slack she’d created. “I… I will. I know I have to… You know I have to do it and he should know, but he’ll… He won’t let me do it alone if I tell him and I don’t want to cause any problems, Altany.”

  He’ll be devastated if you die without telling him. That is the likely scenario if you do not involve him and you know this.

  Fuck! The AI was too good. “I’ll… You’re right, but I’ll tell him later, when shit’s settled and we’re better prepared. I’m not going to have him go half-cocked before he’s recovered, alright? I can’t tell him before he’s recovered… Can you… Can you not tell him? Please? Just let me handle it?”

  It may have been the most private thing in Lila’s life, and she felt odd knowing Altany knew. She was paired with Louis and she knew the AI wouldn’t share her secrets… probably, but still.

  Louis couldn’t be made aware before since they had no chance and he’d… but now… now she had a chance…

  His specific instructions on the subject stated that he left it up to you when I offered to inform him. Do not worry. I was most worried about you going in half-cocked and unprepared. You are his family. My directives hence involve protecting you as a high priority.

  Lila sighed and got back to shooting aliens. That was a lot easier.

  ***

  Francis was happy. Very fucking happy! That heavy machinegun was a beauty, better than anything he’d had before!

  He’d learned how to read the ebbs and flows of those plants however, and the antithesis weren’t going full bore. They were probably preparing for a better assault…

  “Altany, going to need something a bit more destructive!” He said, teeth gritted but a smile on his lips. Did he need to shout? No, but when an HMG fires, throat mic or no, you kind of felt the need to shout.

  More penetration, stopping power or splash damage?

  “Penetration and splash damage!” He said with a growing smile.

  Good, Louis is testing a new slug you may find interesting. I will give you a similar, more powerful model. I am more certain of their increased effectiveness.

  It will be a staballoy penetrator slug with additional sub-projectiles deployed on impact. Increase the propellant charge slightly to create a much more devastating impact.

  Francis was smart enough to do as told. The slug had a lot more penetration power and the increased recoil felt quite satisfying. The kickback spread around his midriff and was clearly very, very reduced by bullshit alien tech!

  He was used to more classic spitzer rounds with copper jackets and maybe armor-penetrating cores when he got lucky. This did so much better it felt ridiculous!

  He’d gone for more classic ammo, just upscaled to 16mm, before. Now? Francis saw what the other enforcers were talking about with that esoteric ammo worship!

  The aim directing system helped tremendously! No need to walk in his shots, waste a bunch of ammo, etc... He felt like a colonial space marine!

  He fired using a simple pattern. Long, sweeping bursts to empty the stairs, stop, then do it again!

  The barrel should have melted with long bursts like this, but those liquid nitrogen cartridges were quite effective! The three sided barrel shroud let off a lot of steam!

  “How is the boss doing? Militia should be there by now, right?” Francis asked with a bit of worry. It was the boss they were talking about, but still.

  He has been injured.