CHAPTER ONE
A lone Guard trudged along the highland overlooking Deseret, stiffly avoiding boulders and shrubs. Sand kicked up by its graceless steps would sometimes sharply pop as it struck the charged air surrounding its heat fins, breaking up the monotonous stomping. For miles around there was no other sound. The Northern Border had seen frequent bombardment and serious conflict since the inception of the Republic and now the area was bereft of wildlife. The rustling of the horned toad, the flight of frightened wrens, the braying of wild asses, none of these sounds were now heard here. Even the flora had been routed leaving only the hardiest lifeforms, often succulents, whose wind-song was softer than the sound of the wind itself. Ecologists and nature enthusiasts had been attempting to restore area wildlife, bringing specimens from the southern Prefectures of the Republic here to the north, but their efforts appeared to have been in vain. It seemed that all the transplanted creatures chose to migrate south and flooded the Dallas suburbs with hundreds of lizards, snakes and desert beetles. Tango Alpha did not know why and was not concerned. He did, however, express amusement at the spike in ladies boot sales shortly after that first expedition, long ago.
On the front panel of the Guard's torso was painted in thick black lettering the call-sign NROT 27 above a lone, five-pointed star. The insignia was well worn and slightly obscured by a patina of chalk and dust swept up by border winds over a decade of service. Large metal fins protruding from the power supply on the dorsal panel were slightly candescent and caused the surrounding air to warp the golden morning light, obscuring the profile of the vaguely man-shaped device. Plutonium, salted with a mixture of cobalt, arsenic, and tin, would power unit Twenty-seven for a further century, if it survived.
The Guard was an avatar for Tango Alpha, the Alderman and Chief Judge of the Republic. Many of these machines, in a variety of designs, were stationed along the border and within cities and townships where they stood watch over the populace from sentinel towers or as they hovered or flew gleaming through the great, Texas sky.
The Northern Border was constantly under siege, either by sorties run out of forward bases of the People's Republic of California, pathetic raids by the tribes of Deseret, or by the steady trickle of emigrants seeking political asylum or a new life within the New Republic of Texas. The United States took a less aggressive stance, preferring to cajole Texas with sanctions and diplomacy into abandoning their independence and rejoining the Union.
This particular Guard regularly served as Chief of Northern Border Control, which entailed dedicated review of satellite and surveillance imagery and the coordination of other Guards and semi-autonomous drones patrolling several hundred miles of the hard, invisible line that separated the order of the Republic from the chaos beyond. Though any Guard could fulfil the role, this unit was the first to manifest it and was left there out of a pride in tradition often demonstrated by the Alderman.
Though recognized by Citizens, Tango Alpha's personality and personhood were little understood. Via executive fiat, Tango Alpha had banned all investigation into his current source code without express permission. Arguing that, having achieved intellect, he was now functionally a person and thus afforded protections against psychologically invasive interrogation techniques as defined in the new Constitution, poring through his mind without consent would constitute torture. Access to server hardware and avatars such as the Guards and other drones was similarly limited, although a team of elite engineers were employed in a constant tech advancement program headed by Tango Alpha himself. These actions did little to quell the suspicions of many, but this could not be helped. Texans were by nature a breed of skeptics. Most conceded that the Alderman offered excellent defense and administration, and any Citizen could speak with him at any time, a gesture much appreciated by a people who took great stock in the idea of looking a man in the eye.
No avatar of the Alderman had eyes, per se. Most Guards had a complex camera centered and three-quarters from the base of the head module. Twenty-seven was one of these units. That camera now scanned the horizon, keyed to the east where an airborne drone had detected unexpected radio transmissions. In all available spectra there was no real sign of a source, yet the transmissions continued, the object moving rapidly on a course that would reach the border within minutes. As the inheritor of Silicon Valley, the PRC had been able to quickly create a very effective Military R&D Department after the war via purchase, trade, and talent. Rumors of their employing new stealth technology had been circling and this appeared to be the first field deployment.
For a moment, Twenty-seven's movement ceased mid-stride. A small shudder ran through its shoulders and it began to walk again. This time, however, its movements were more fluid and its demeanor almost human. The already burdened power supply desperately ejecting heat into the saturated air now glowed outright as it ramped up output to facilitate a fuller presence of Tango Alpha. Border Guards were ancient in comparison to newer avatars and could operate at full capacity for only one half-hour. Damage would occur thereafter.
Have to be quick, Alpha thought. Let's begin.
Miles above in the cold silence of space, an orbital weapons platform made a few small adjustments to its geosynchronous position using brilliant purple ion jet-streams. These bursts of light were visible from the surface on a clear day and served not only as fair warning but to intimidate foes of the Republic. Two small, tungsten cylinders emerged from twin drums on the underside of the platform. Each 25 kg payload was grabbed by a robotic arm which positioned the Hammers for a precision strike. Spinning at nearly 2000 rpm, the end effectuators shot down toward the surface and released their payloads before their arms folded up and back into protective shells.
Two other Guards were summoned off their patrols and were now en route to Twenty-seven. Tango Alpha leapt off the ridge and started sprinting toward the designated impact site. The large metal heat fins glowing made a molten streak through the dusty air in the wake of the racing Guard. As Alpha closed the gap, the rough size and speed of the enemy caravan became apparent, and that speed was increasing. This had been accounted for. They had clearly detected the Hammer launch and were accelerating to escape the impact, causing strain on their stealth systems. Infrared trails began to appear behind the group.
Now the profiles of fifteen heavily armored and fully outfitted Abrams X tanks emerged like spectres, warping the heat waves against the backdrop of desert plateaus. Count and identification were confirmed by satellite. These vehicles were dangerous. Tango Alpha focused on the communication feed to Central.
Calmly and with a voice almost that of a rural Texan male, Alpha said, "I have to maintain distance. Going airborne. Get coordinates to Artillery and wait for my signal. Cobalt, 120 mm, impact detonation. Ensure Sol is ready. Copy?"
Twenty-seven halted forward motion with an awkward slide. Jets emerged from each boot and lit, rocketing the Guard hundreds of feet in the air within seconds. Shields emerged from the torso and clasped the heated fins, creating a channeled, radioactive discharge to aid in maintaining attitude. Yet another reason that the lizards always headed south.
"Copy. Alpha, would it not be wise to attempt at least one capture? I am very impressed with this masking ability. I mean... optical, IR, and UV? That's nuts! Over," offered General John Elliss, technical advisor on watch.
"Irrelevant. These commies ruined my morning walk. Over."
The General chuckled. "Kek. Wilco."
"Thank you, Elliss. Have your men located who they're talking to yet? Delay response for impact. Over." Some tasks were left to humans in the NROT to foster their skills and a sense of self-worth.
Twenty-seven jetted into a decent pursuit vector as Guards Twenty-five and Thirty-nine arrived in the area. Now appeared the Hammers. Camera refresh rates were enhanced so Alpha could better analyse the impact. From three viewpoints and for one long second, he watched as two gleaming, rifled hunks of half-molten metal split the summer clouds and slammed at Mach twenty into the tail end of the enemy cavalry, atomizing one Abrams X and flipping another pair of them out of the fight. A shell of red hot shrapnel bloomed into the regiment, knocking out all the stealth tech and revealing the desert camo death engines emblazoned with the familiar, red and gold banner of the PRC.
A good start, thought Tango Alpha.