Read Legion Of The Damned - 01 - Legion of the Damned for Free Online Page B

cyborg’s speech synthesizer sounded like a rock crusher in low gear. “There’s a shortage of high-end filters, Sergeant Major. The techs have them on back order.”
    Booly nodded. Parts were a constant problem on Algeron. Thank god the Naa were relatively low-tech. The chance of an electronic attack was next to nothing. He moved on.
    Troopers Jones and Wutu got off with little more than a superficial inspection. But, by virtue of being a newbie, Trooper Villain came in for special attention.
    Although she had chosen a male name, and was just as asexual as the rest of them, she had elected to use the title “Ms.” in front of her name, indicating that she still viewed herself as female. Booly knew this was a touchy subject with cyborgs and made a mental note to use a female pronoun whenever he referred to her.
    He checked all of her readouts, scanned the floor around her massive feet for any signs of leaks, and gave a grunt of satisfaction. “A nice turnout, Villain. You and I will take the point position.”
    Villain started to say “Thank you,” remembered what they had taught her in boot camp, and said, “Yes, Sergeant Major,” instead. She remembered something else too. She remembered that point was one of the most dangerous slots, if not the most dangerous, in patrol formation, which meant that she had nothing to be thankful for.
    Booly nodded and moved on. Gunner had lowered himself to the floor, a position that allowed Booly full access to his mechanical anatomy, but the inspection was for show. The cyborg was far too complex for Booly to evaluate from readouts alone, and far too wily to let any of his faults show. Besides, any problems with Gunner’s systems would reflect on the techs who maintained him, and they weren’t about to let that happen.
    So Booly went through the motions of an inspection, climbed down, and returned to the point from which he’d started.
    “Sergeant.”
    “Sergeant Major.”
    “Not bad. Not bad at all. We leave ten from now.”
    In truth it took more like fifteen minutes to complete the final checklists, download the latest intelligence summary, and form up.
    Roller had taken one hit already, so Booly ignored the difference.
    Booly found Villain, used the steps built into the back of her legs to climb level with the back of her head, and strapped himself into a recess designed for that purpose. He pulled his goggles on, adjusted hisheadset, and inserted the lead from his radio into a jack panel located at the base of Villain’s duraplast neck.

    “Villain?” Booly’s voice seemed to echo through her head.
    Villain cursed her rotten luck. Going out on her first patrol was bad enough, but doing it with a sergeant major strapped to her back was even worse. It was one more indignity, one more unit of pain, one more thing to avenge. The legionnaire forced a response.
    “Yes, Sergeant Major?”
    “Give me a radio check.”
    Villain knew what the sergeant major meant. By plugging his radio into her communications system Booly had doubled his range. If there was a problem, her testing circuits would find and identify it. She ran a check.
    “The com system is green.”
    “Good,” Booly replied. “Be sure to let me know if any of your systems turn yellow or red.”
    Hell, yes, she’d tell him. What did he think? That she was stupid?
    “Yes, Sergeant Major.”
    A new one-hour-and-twenty-one-minute day was dawning as they rode the lift up to the parade ground. Villain and Booly left the elevator first, followed by Rossif, Jones and Wutu.
    A work party stopped to let them pass, practiced eyes skimmed their equipment, and salutes snapped back and forth.
    Gunner’s head darted this way and that as his legs took large mincing steps. The cyborg was very much aware of the legionnaires inside his belly. He was honor bound to protect them while they were under his care, but the obligation ended the moment that they left the squad bay, and gave him an opportunity to die.
    Ah, the