Doom 3™: Worlds on Fire

2

THE BORDER OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEREKSTAN 40.673 DEGREES NORTH LATITUDE, 72.217 DEGREES EAST LONGITUDE

LIEUTENANT JOHN KANE HELD UP HIS RIGHThand, and the row of armored vehicles trailing behind him came to a sudden stop. So far he had done a fine job of maintaining—as ordered—complete radio silence.

Kane climbed out of his lead vehicle and jumped to the ground. He dug out his standard issue marine “Pete”—a nearly indestructible PDA that did everything but make a cup of joe.

He heard the engines humming behind him, idling, ready to continue their march. But first Kane needed to check exactly where they were. The lieutenant hit a button, then scrolled down to the live map showing their current position.

The screen glowed and then the crazy-quilt image of eastern republics flashed on the screen. He and his squad had just violated one republic’s airspace, then trespassed across another’s sovereign territory.

Was that republic complicit in what was happening here, or were they too busy with their own dozen skirmishes and revolts to bother with a small U.S. convoy racing across their homeland? Who the hell knew?

He looked at the map while Sergeant Chadbourne came up behind him. “We okay, Lieutenant?”

Kane turned to him. “Appears so. Looks like we just crossed the Terekstan border five minutes ago. Now at least all the other ‘stans’ can forget about us.”

Terekstan was the latest in what appeared to be a domino-like lineup of “stans” that bloomed in this desolate region like some dogged weed—one appeared, then got swallowed by another, while another chunk split off from that.

And fueling the whole mess was the ever-present need for two things: water and oil.

Most of the planet still used fossil fuels—whatever was left, anyway—with the premium alternative fuel sources firmly in the hands of the big corporations. But worse, potable water was no longer commonplace. Two rare commodities had become even more insanely rare, especially now that coastal areas had begun what looked like an inevitable disappearance.

The world had already waved good-bye to most of Florida, so long to the glorious Hamptons. And Africa?

If you thought too long about Africa, the hopelessness of that whole situation could be absolutely overwhelming.

“We’re good.” Kane looked across the ridge and then down to what seemed to be a rocky plain, stretching to a city—maybe the only city in this new republic. A republic that recently discovered it was sitting on a massive undiscovered oil field. Miles down, but obtainable. And everyone wanted it.

Except this particular mission wasn’t about getting the oil—at least not on paper. This one was all about rescue.

“Okay,” Kane said. “Let’s keep moving…eyes on me…want to keep radio silence until we’re ready to go in.”

“Got it, Lieutenant.”

Chadbourne walked back to the other vehicles.

In a few minutes, it would be party time. And as was often the case these days, who knew which of them would get out of this thing alive.

Kane could see the city below, tight against the small river that, at one point, was probably its only reason for existence.

Flashes of light popped from within the shadowy outlines of the ancient city. Firefights. Street fighting. Never a fun game to play.

The marines that had been sent in there were there—supposedly—at the request of the Terekstan government. But then things had changed. A better offer had popped up from somewhere, and the government had aligned with the radicals to wipe out the now-invading U.S. troops.You’d think we would have learned by now , Kane thought.

Either way—it was time.

Kane slid back into the confines of his AAV—a heavily armored attack and troop vehicle. He looked at the men sitting there, most of whom he barely knew, others survivors of a dozen other skirmishes with Kane. No one looked happy. They were here—like him—because these days a paycheck was a goddamn paycheck.

He popped his earpiece in. The signal and his words would be scrambled on their way to Command, but that wouldn’t necessarily prevent anyone from picking the signal up, unscrambling it, and hearing every word.

“Mustang Company in position.”

He waited. His words were now being broadcast through one of the dozen situation rooms in the subterranean New Pentagon, its location hidden—though everyone knew it was somewhere in the mountainous West. Away from the constantly rising waters. Away from the crazed cities. Well behind the protective wall of the SW3 defense system.

He waited.

“Mustang, Command Dover acknowledges. Abort mission.”

Kane stopped.Abort mission? They fucking kidding?

As if to punctuate the moment, Kane heard a series of massive explosions, some real serious and heavy stuff joining the distant popgun sound of firefights.

“Request clarification,” Kane said.

“Abort mission. Return to the pickup point immediately. Acknowledge order, Mustang.”

Just then Chadbourne stuck his head into the open top of the carrier. “Lieutenant, sounds real bad down there. Want me to make contact?”

Kane nodded. “Yeah. And quick.” Then: “Command, can you clarify orders? We have the target in sight, and engagements in progress.”

Fucking military chatter. So neutral. Made all of it so easy, the killing, the running away, the “triage” that let the military moles belowground decide who lives, who dies, and when a price is too much to pay.

This mission was about aiding the squads below, securing the city. And now—they just leave? No way. Something happened.

Another wait. Then the voice from the New Pentagon came on again, making no mistake about what Kane was to do.

One of the men in Kane’s carrier cleared his throat. Gomez. An old-timer. Seen way more fighting than Kane ever had. Probably looking at less than a year till he was out. A bit of a pension, enough to get somewhere on high ground and hide.

The voice in Kane’s ear barked the command. “Lieutenant, you have your orders. Acknowledge compliance and begin carrying them out immediately.”

And already Kane was in deep shit. Hesitation. Not what the marines liked. Then, now, or ever. Semper fi—and get your ass moving when we say “move.”

But Chadbourne came back. Interesting—he chose not to use the radio to get back to Kane. “Lieutenant, they’re screwed down there.”

“Tell me. What do you see?”

“Government troops turned on them, then the fucking rebels joined in. And they brought in some heavy artillery. Who knows where that came from.”

Kane nodded.

“They’re asking for our help as fast as we can get there. My guess is, if we don’t hustle, they’ll be wiped out real soon.”

The earpiece again: “Lieutenant, acknowledge.”

Wiped out…That’s exactly what would happen. There would be no prisoners taken, no prisoner exchange or deals. All evidence of the U. S. of A.’s attempt to “help” the Terekstan government would be erased. Simply the way things worked these days.

“Shit. They got maybe a half hour, Lieutenant. Sounds bad.”

Chadbourne kept his eyes on Kane. And though he knew what he should do, Kane could well imagine what was going on in the city below. All of a sudden, you face a force maybe two, three times what you expected, now tightening its noose around you. All evidence erased. The suddenly friendly factions would divide the spoils. And who gets the oil? That deal had probably just been worked out by the dozen lizard lawyers from Moscow and New Washington. Some split worked out, now let’s chop up the annoying soldiers who almost screwed the deal.

Kane thought he’d try one thing.

“Command, have you tried negotiating a safe passage for the squads? Bring in some choppers. Get them the hell—”

“Lieutenant, did you not hear the command? You are on another country’s sovereign soil. Your role in this mission is now ended. You have responsibility for your own squad and your vehicles. Return to the rally point immediately.”

Kane nodded and looked up. Chadbourne had his eyes locked on him. He didn’t have to say anything else.

“Orders, Lieutenant?”

“We’re going in, Sergeant. Tell everyone it’s going to be…real fun.”

Chadbourne started to turn away.

“Oh—and don’t tell them that we’ve been ordered to turn back.”

A grin from Chadbourne. “Yes, sir. It would just…confuse them.” Then he was gone.

And now, thought Kane,it’s into the meat grinder we go.