Home World by B. V. Larson

Author:B. V. Larson [Larson, B. V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-02-12T16:00:00+00:00

-33-

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital bed. For a second, I thought they’d gone and recycled me without permission.

But then I saw Lisa’s worried face, and I smiled. No one worries much over a fresh grow.

“Is my back fixed up?” I asked her.

“Anne was here a minute ago. She said she patched you up, but that you might be stiff and sore for a while. She said you can’t let on, or they’ll recycle you. Is that true? Is Legion Varus that callous with their heroes?”

I laughed painfully. “Nah. They treat us like kings. I’ll have dancing women, free booze, and all the candy I can eat tonight in the barracks.”

She finally smiled and shook her pretty head. “Doesn’t anything get you down?”

“Sure, but not dying. Takes a lot more than that. What’s happening? What day is it?”

“It’s night—the night after you came back. The enemy is on the move.”

I frowned at that. “What do you mean? I thought they were pretty much wiped out.”

Her face fell. “No, not entirely. Command thinks you got some of them, and they’re sure you destroyed a lot of their shields. But that just got them moving. They’re marching now instead of waiting to gather more strength.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Maybe Claver was lying about moving the gateway. Maybe they couldn’t do that so quickly. It was pretty big. If they’re coming for Central—well, that’s an act of desperation. Our legions will take the battlefield and wipe them out!”

She smiled and kissed me, and I enjoyed the kiss. But inside, I was worried. The real battle had started. Not everyone knew it, but this was going to be decisive. It was going to be a battle for Earth herself.

Earth had a pretty good-sized military. Our fleet had been knocked out, but we had plenty of ground forces. Most of them were hogs, but they could learn to fight quickly enough.

The professional legions were our only troops with real experience, and there were a lot of them. Over the past few weeks I’d seen people from Victrix, Germanica, Iron Eagles and Solstice. They were all gathering here to protect the capital.

The trouble was I’d seen the enemy using tech I knew we couldn’t handle. From teleport suits to gateways, stasis field projectors and more, I knew we were outclassed. It was going to be like the Zulus fighting the British—and that hadn’t worked out well for the Zulus.

“McGill?” Graves asked from the doorway. He’d just stepped in without knocking. “I’ve been buzzing your tapper for over an hour. You missed the first briefing—get your ass out of that bed.”

“Yes sir,” I said, heaving myself to my feet. The fresh nu-skin on my back ripped with the sudden movement. I winced, but forced myself to stand tall. “Ready to move out, Centurion!”

He eyed me critically then looked at Lisa. “Say goodbye. We’re headed to the front.”

“What?” I asked in surprise. “What front?”

“The legions are assembling. The primary Hegemony forces are already out there, but Central wants us to advance.

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