Chapter 4: Connection Error
Chapter four of Diving Deep, a Helldivers 2 Fan Fiction. It follows the hapless Lucas Loverso as he tries to discover who he truly is while fighting for managed Democracy.
Damn, I felt cool.
The rocket-propelled grenade pounded into the Devastator’s torso, punching its shaped charge through their chest into a brilliant fireball. The explosion tossed the, now scrap metal, arms and legs skittering across the permacrete.
“Nice,” Super Citizen Rhyno gripped my shoulder as I dropped the empty EAT-17 tube. “Grab that explosive round for the artillery.” He instructed me as he grabbed his round, avoiding the sabot rounds scattered at our feet.
“Someone shipped the wrong rounds,” I said, motioning at the shells with the depleted uranium rods protruding from the front.
“Stick with me, kid,” he motioned forward up the ramp. “I’ll show you a whole galaxy of bureaucratic ineptitude.”
I could feel my stomach tighten, knotting hard. That was seditious talk.
Lugging the heavy round into the side-mounted loading sleeve, I set it down heavily on the protruding circular platform. A locking mechanism grabbed the round, pulling it into the magazine housed in the permacrete base. “That’s two,” I said into the mic as I saw Rhyno bringing up another.
“Call in Rogers,” he instructed me through a grunt. “I found a mini-nuke.”
Popping the reinforcement beacon, I tossed the glowing blue bulb past the terminal, away from the heavy artillery piece.
I saw a couple more traditional artillery rounds on the supply crates by the terminal, so I grabbed another explosive round to lug back toward the artillery.
The tell-tale scream of a hellpod broke the atmosphere as I heard Rogers’ reinforcement coming in, RCS thrusters kicking against the heavy moist jungle air.
The solid bang and mechanical whirl of the platform rising, lifting Rogers from the pod. “How’s it hanging?” I asked sarcastically.
“Well, that was a terrifying last couple of seconds of life,” Rogers replied with the slightest hint of a chuckle.
Latching the round I was carrying into the loader, the final round was in place.
“Hands clear, I’m activating the cannon,” Rhyno called from the terminal.
Establishing an uplink to my super destroyer, the Knight of the State, an update pinged on my digital assistant. “I have access to the SEAF firing protocols.”
Nodding, Rhyno checked his. “Remember they haven’t pushed the software patch yet, so once the Knight of the State leaves low orbit, we will lose firing protocols.”
“Glad to hear they’re updating that,” Rogers grumbled. “I had one extraction where we could’ve used the cannon support.”
As if on cue, a beam of red light shot out of the jungle, just past the clearing.
“It’s a Hulk!” Rhyno shouted, kneeling and sighting through his scope while Rogers and I dove for cover.
I threw a grenade, which fell harmlessly in the clearing as a trio of rockets slammed into the embankment beside us. Rhyno’s body whiplashed as the explosion tossed him away from the blast like a freedom-loving rag doll.
My HUD registered a significant drop in Rhyno’s lifesigns as he finally rolled to a stop.
“I need a stim!” he called over the comm, and Rogers dashed to his feet to assist. The second trio of rockets from the Hulks’ missile-laden arms landed dead center on Rogers and Rhyno.
The last I saw of Rogers was a pink mist as the explosion turned him to a violent spray. Super Citizen Rhyno was thrown through the air, with only his armor holding the soft pudding his body had turned into together.
Right - Right - Up. The red ball popped into my hand as three more rockets slammed into the embankment I was still huddled behind. “Well, so much for number three,” I grumbled as I peered over the edge of the dirt, gauging how far I had to throw my Orbital Strike Package.
Tossing the small object, it clanked off his torso and dropped, jamming itself into the servos around his knee joint. The red targeting laser shot up, illuminating his dark metal body in another red basking glow.
High above, I knew my gunnery team was aiming the powerful ATLAS cannon. The almost four and a half seconds it took for the powerful heavy-caliber artillery shell was enough for the Hulk to loose another trio of rockets at my diminished embankment.
The direct hit ripped into the mechanical menace, blowing his squat armored walker to shreds. The surrounding ten meters became a temporary rain storm of falling metal and mechanical components.
Jumping to my feet, I punched at the sky, “Got HIM!” I screamed into the squad mic as I heard Roger’s cheer. Even Super Citizen Rhyno yelped in alert.
Wait.
Alert?
The searing pain was my insides becoming my outsides as a molten orange-red dagger popped out of my stomach spilling my entrails.
Not again.
With a glance over my shoulder, I was face to face with a white-skinned, red-eyed commissar. “Well shit,” I bemoaned as I tried stabbing a stim pack into my neck.
The warm numbness that sped through my body, rejuvenated my senses, but it was too little, too late.
While holding me in place with his knife-arm, the commissar placed his pistol against the side of my helmet, and –
~ ~ ~
“Deploying replacement squad,” the Knight of the State’s air boss suddenly said in my ear.
I was encapsulated in darkness, gravity pushing against my body. Restraints on my feet pulled hard against the gravitational force, keeping me from crushing my helmet into the black ceiling above me.
Where am I?
The screen before me appeared, and my gloved hand stiffened around an artificial control surface. Twisting my hand, I felt an RCS thruster burn, and my flaps moved me off my current trajectory.
“Once we land, form up, “ a foreign voice said into my ear. From the control stream, I could see he was ‘R-H-Y-N-O’.
Shifting further away from the other falling pods I felt my system punch through the tree canopy and into the soft dirt below.
“Loverso, form up.”
That’s me, right? I can’t recall who I’m supposed to be.
I know I’m a Helldiver, that’s obvious.
Quickly, I moved away from the pod and squat down behind a sizeable fungus-covered tree. I watch the two other Helldivers approach my vacated pod, and look at each other.
“What’s he playing at?” The one who spoke before, RHYNO, asked.
“No idea,” the other replied. “Lucas, get over here.” He said, looking in my direction. His name plate said Rogers.
Quickly, I ducked below the tree’s root system, hiding my helmet from view.
“I can see you on the squad HUD dipshit,” Rogers said, continuing to chastize me.
I could see the RHYNO Helldiver, moving to flank me. Cocking my pistol, I fired a round through the scrub where the flanker was coming from.
The HUD flashed, showing a spike in his heart rate and a percentage decrease in his armor potential. I fired again. The round struck something in the scrub and missed.
“He’s a dead drop,” Rhyno announced over the comm. “System didn’t get to write his memories before it disconnected, too much lag.”
“What do we do?” Rogers asked.
“We terminate him so we get a new Lucas.”
They think I’m expendable!
Thumbing a grenade, I toss one towards RHYNO as one sails back towards me. His grenade exploded as soon as it hit the ground, not more than five meters from me.
My grenade went off in turn, clear of where RHYNO had been.
Feeling a bit of the shock from the grenade blast, I jabbed a stim into my neck, flooding my system with artificial endorphins and chemicals.
“Not going to happen,” I grumble back into my headset and fire at the pip on the map indicating RHYNO.
Another flash and hit sends his reliability score reeling as I see mine drop in return. I can see the blood on my armor, but I’m still jacked from the stim, I hardly feel it.
Another round bangs off the tree to my right, as I see Rogers charging towards me, firing rounds from his MG-43 machine gun.
I pop a round from my pistol back at him, catching him square in the torso. With my shot aligned, I fire again, and a third time for good measure.
Rogers drops in his tracks, falling to his knees then crashing forward – lifeless.
With Rogers handled, I turn my attention back towards RHYNO. My squad map showed he was trying to break contact with a squad of troopers and scout striders.
Taking my opportunity, I double-timed it to Rogers’ body and picked up his M-43. I doubt my super destroyer would respond to my strategem call.
“He’s got my gun!” Rogers screams on the squad comm, clearly able to see my actions.
About a hundred meters off, I could see a blue and white L-shaped house nestled next to a half-excavated dell with a red and white cargo container.
Moving up to the long wall, a white oval door is accessible from a metal walkway that leads into the shallow pit.
“Rhyno, he’s headed for the settlers.” Still watching my movements, I curse this big brother sitting over my shoulder.
I tap the old rhythm my father taught me, shave-and-a-hair-cut. Two. Bits.
The latch unsnaps, and I feel my gut freeze as the door swings open. This is dangerous, I shouldn’t be here.
“Ye– Yes? Helldiver, sir?” The simple-looking asiatic-descendant human stares back at me through the seam in the door. “I thought you weren’t allowed to contact us.”
“He’s not,” Rogers interrupted, not realizing the citizen couldn’t hear him. “I’m forwarding you to the Democracy Officer for treason!”
“My squad mates tried to kill me,” I said, quickly looking back over my shoulder at the pip of RHYNO, busy with a bot drop.
“Take off your helmet, they can hear us.” The citizen replied crisply.
“I’ll die.” I counter, but already feel my arms moving to comply.
“Take it off, and I’ll let you inside.” The citizen insisted. “They’ll never find you if you do.”
My muscles burn from the resistance, and I try to remove my helmet.
“Lucas,” Rogers tried again, using the name they’d given me. “Call me in, I can help you, I promise.”
I can’t get my helmet off.
“Can you help me?”
“No,” the Citizen replied. “Your programming will kick in and you’ll kill me.”
“Do you have a pistol?” I ask, setting my fist below the jaw line of my helmet.
“Do dogs shit?”
“Okay,” I reply, hoping he can sense my annoyance. Hit my elbow upwards as hard as you can to knock the helmet loose. If my programming takes over, put a round between my eyes.”
“One…”
“Two…”
Rogers tried one last time, “Don’t do it Lucas, you’ll die.”
“Three…”
The citizen smacked my elbow so hard, I punched myself in the jaw –
~ ~ ~
Well shit.
Dead again.