The Trees Speak Quantronic - A Small Bird Reads Infinity: Downfall

[A Small Bird]

Have you grown tired of grimdark space fantasy full of hulking knights wearing enough armor to make a tank blush? Are you a major weeb who likes the aesthetics of Metal Gear Solid, but think it would be cool if Grey Fox fought a Scottish Werewolf?*

Then I have a war game for you!
(Disclaimer: I have not yet read any Infinity novels wherein Grey Fox fights a Scottish Werewolf, but it could happen in-setting)

Infinity: Downfall, by Mark Barber, is the first tie-in novel for Corvus Belli's Infinity. This novel concerns the adventures of a company (squad? Platoon? Squacomplatoon?) of PanOceanian infantry on Paradiso, a planet whose notable attributes include dense jungles, long-dead alien ruins, and a considerably less-dead alien invasion force.

In light of my fixation with Infinity and my mixture of joyous fanbirdism and general annoyance with milscifi writing, we'll be reading through the adventures of Kyle Hawkins, a Knight Hospitaller of the Military Orders of PanOceania, as he struggles with the true face of war and politics in the Human Sphere.

As a fresh-out-of-graduation Knight Hospitaller of the Holy Order of Saint John of Skovorodino, Kyle is smitten with the idea of serving humanity by fighting in the war with the alien Combined Army. Having swallowed up all the holovid propaganda, Kyle Hawkins grew up excited to Do His Part and go hit aliens with large flaming swords and what not.

Now that he's out of Knight Boarding School, surely now's the chance he'll get to kill aleins and doesn't afraid of anything.

Right?




Now, before we begin, I would like to make a few disclaimers:

Spoiler: Disclaimers

0) I have not read this novel all the way through, I've merely gotten three chapters in before deciding that I like this enough to talk about it, and dislike some aspects of it enough to make it into a Let's Read.

1) While I'll be engaging in this Let's Read with a somewhat critical (and sometimes sarcastic) mindset, there are a few things I will make a point of not commenting on unless it passes a certain threshold of awful or annoying. These things include subtext in regards to the author's biases (I'm just bad at it), the feasibility of technology or tactics (I'm bad at it), and lore accuracy (I'm also bad at it). To that extent, I'll only be noting things that particularly stand out to me at a surface level.

2) To some extent, this book is written from the (explicitly biased) PoVs of multiple major characters. One of them is explicitly a sexist womanizer. Consider this a warning that not only are these characters flawed, but that their biases and personalities are reflected in the text when they have the POV floating over their shoulder.

3) I generally enjoy the Infinity setting and war game, and much of this read-through will be interpreting this book as a fan of the setting. However, I would appreciate treating this book as not strictly as representative of the setting or its writing quality as a whole. I'm not your dad though, so like... totes whatever.

4) Owing to the fact that I can't tell whether the '250 words' quote limit applies per-post, per-quote, or per-thread, I'll be very sparse on direct quotes entirely. If I get clarification on this rule, I might loosen up about citing the text directly. It's been clarified that the quote word limit is per-post, so we'll be doing this how I planned. Hell yeah.

With the disclaimers out of the way, we have only the Content Warnings:

CW: Violence, in-universe sexism and womanizing behaviors, warfare (including death and severe injury), unflattering portrayals of specific religions, military chauvinism, and so forth.

Possible CWs based on my knowledge of the setting: References to brainwashing ('realistic' and unrealistic), abuse, manipulation, political cynicism, and foul language. Possible in-universe racism.

If I find any new CWs, or a particularly bad example comes up, I will note it at the start of the post concerning that chapter and I'll try not to quote anything too egregious if I can do so. Consider yourself warned. This isn't a particularly awful book as far as I've read, but it is milscifi, so set your expectations accordingly. There will be blood, death, and politics, but no gore fixations.

With that out of the way, let's get ready to rumble.

But first, a map!
It's a map that's identical to this one except for quality.
All good books start with maps, right? Especially near 1:1 recreations of maps from lore books!

Spoiler: Map

I've reposted the actual Paradiso map, but it's near identical to the one from the book save for readability. Nothing big here. What's being noted is that this lists the front lines of the conflict against the Combined Army (listed with the red lines representing the frontline during each of the aliens' "offensives", starting with the initial invasion point of the Niemads zone and expanding outwards).

Of note, there are three human polities on this planet: PanOceania (our precious Blueberry Boys for this story), Yu Jing, and Haqqislam. Don't mind the map for right now, but you might come racing back to it in a few paragraphs.

Following that up is a detailed list of PanOceania's Fusilier platoon structure, providing both radio monikers (e.g. the lieutenant in command of a platoon is callsign 'Zero' and the sergeant who is their second is 'Zero-One'. What good story doesn't start with the layout of a platoon's equipment and structure?

Spoiler: PanOceanian Platoon Composition and Equipment

A platoon consists of an HQ team of five soldiers, then three teams of ten soldiers apiece, split into rifle teams and support teams, totalling 35 light infantry. Of note, there is no power armor or vehicles assigned to this platoon, these are all the Poor Bloody Infantry.

The list is formatted to provide their equipment in a similar style as you might expect from an army list in the wargame. E.g. you have Fusilier (Combi Rifle, Medikit) 'Zero-Two', Fusilier (Combi Rifle, Hacking Device*) 'Zero-Three', and so forth. No named characters, just how many fusiliers to a team (five troopers per team, two teams per section).

Each rifle team (including the HQ team) has assigned to them hacking device, a medikit (think 'dart pistol full of morphine' and you're mostly correct), and a grenade launcher - though the HQ team's grenade launcher is swapped out for a multisniper rifle*. Each support team assigns a heavy machine gun (think 'light machine gun' or 'squad support weapon', these are man-portable weapons in lore) and a missile launcher (which utilize unguided micro-missiles).

Yes, I said their heavy machine guns are more like light machine guns. A large boulder the size of a small boulder. This is, actually, true to how they label things in the war game, and sadly I can't lay this at the feet of the author.

But at least this faux-'org chart' is nice for those of us who've played the game before, if a little odd to those new to the system.
*(Don't worry about it)

With the fluff out of the way, we're ready to start our first chapter (for reals now, no takebacksies).

 

[A Small Bird]

Chapter 1: Gee, It Sure Is Boring Around Here

It was the best of times, it was the worst of-

Alright. Chapter one starts slow for us, at least for those of you who've been taught that your opening lines need to be snappy, fast, and attention-getting, but things get spicy in short order.

To kick things off, we have a paragraph describing the jungles of Paradiso. Specifically, a jungle of "rubbery leaves", bug swarms, colorful birds, and nocturnal lizards. Of note, it's evening, but the jungle is still teeming with life. Some soldiers play games - apparently this is a boring enough assignment to warrant a game of literally-cricket. Everyone's having a good time, but they're wrapping up as things get dark. Clearly this posting is neither dangerous nor prestigious, as this posting is on the back-lines far from any aliens or, for that matter, anything but dangerous jungle or Ominous Research Facility.

This is where we introduce our boy 'Brother-Sub Officer' Kyle Hawkins. He's the new guy on the scene, having only been here three days, and he's only held his rank for a few days more. He's got his cool gun with him, which the book notes is a "MULTI rifle" - props for accuracy to the game, but I'm biased against how every MULTI- weapon will be specified, sometimes with or without the manufacturer's name attached. I don't need to be told who makes the Weyland Yutani Automatic Explosive Super Fancy Service Rifle. Military science fiction is all about flouting names and cool gear, but it honestly takes me out of the story.

Anyways. The same sentence we introduce our boy, he walks past these grunts playing cricket, and suddenly everyone gets a lot quieter. It's our first indication that our blueberry Fusiliers don't know exactly what to make of Hawkins. He notes that things have been weird since getting here, and nobody's been really friendly with him - you see, from his point of view, the soldiers see him as inexperienced and unblooded. He's embarassed of being so fresh out of the training club of the Military Orders.

Also, for those of you playing Infinity at home, we now know what Kyle Hawkins' troop profile is, courtesy of what gun he's carrying.

Spoiler: Knight Hospitaller Profile

Image sourced for free from Infinity Army Builder
There are more profiles here based on what gun, but he's the bog-standard MULTI-rifle Hospitaller. Could be worse. He could have a combi rifle or a shotgun. Of note, he does have a separate profile in the army builder as a named character, but talking about that might be talking about spoilers.

For those of you asking about MULTI rifles and combi rifles, here's a little reward for your patience. Combi rifles are your basic light-weight ultra-sleek modern rifles designed for both medium-range fighting and CQB, but are only issued something akin to standard ball ammunition - though armor-piercing, hollow-point ('shock'), and even viral or chemical-load rifles do exist in this setting.

A MULTI rifle is simply a combi rifle that shoots multiple types of ammunition - usually via programmable bullets of some sort. These bullets can be anything from armor-piercing to hollow-point shock rounds. Every MULTI rifle is a combi rifle, but not all combi rifles are MULTI rifles. And before you ask, yes, 'programmable bullets' is the least weird explanation I've heard for MULTI weapons.

Some militaries of Infinity use standard service rifles akin to modern weapons, but they're noted as being behind the times in that regard. Haqqislam and Ariadna utilize standard rifles, whereas everyone else issues combi and MULTI weapons in abundance. That being said, Haqqislam makes up for this deficiency by mounting underbarrelled shotguns on everything, and Ariadna makes up for it with Werewolves.

So our boy Hawkins has the gucci rifle, 'cause he's the basic boy of the fancy knights.

I'm sure absolutely none of this will become relevant later. Don't worry about it.

You see, Kyle Hawkins is a Knight Hospitaller of the Military Orders of PanOceania. He's a soldier, but he isn't a soldier in the conventional sense. He's a power-armor-wearing, sword-swinging, visored-up motherfucker who are some of the most well-known shit-kicking Space Marine Wannabees in-setting. He's spent four years in the Heinlein School of Catholic Mobile Infantry and just graduated this week. At least our author didn't arm him with nuclear grenades.

Or, apparently, social skills, confidence, or tactical acumen, as we'll see later.

There's some boring fluffery here about his gun and his armor, but the narrative pays special attention to his red surcoat (with a white cross, as befitting a Knight Hospitaller) and a white Maltese cross on his shoulder. Like every good school boy, he apparently knows the history and symbolism of both of these things, noting they were carried by his 'spiritual forefathers'. Man, some people really aren't kidding when they compare Military Orders of PanOceania to Ultramarines. Spiritual forefathers or not, the digression is somewhat annoying because it's a wall of text to talk about his CineticS Radjun 4.5mm MULTI Rifle and his super cool clanking power armor, and half of it is talking about how he's from the Christian Knights of Goodboyism and what not.

The fusiliers seem to agree with me - or maybe they're jealous he gets the cool power armor and the awesome gun, and they're stuck with mere combi rifles - and pack it in. Personally I think the writer was shaking out the rust when they wrote this intro, because the book gets somewhat better about its prose.

Anyways, Kyle's here today to do sentry duty in place of the regular soldier. He's feeling pretty guilty about sitting around and doing nothing, so he's relieving someone of guard duty, and she explains the basics to him. The author here does some word-padding wherein a secondary character is described down to the color of her eyes, hair, skin, and clothing (standard blue beret contrasted with 'hastily spray-painted [camouflage body armor]' is cool but do I need to know her skin is sunburned or her hair is 'auburn'?) but I'll let it slide honestly. Who here hasn't written unnecessary character descriptions?

"You sure you're okay with this, sir?" [the fusilier asked][...]
"Oh yes," Hawkins nodded enthusiastically, "yes, quite sure."
"It's just... officers don't normally stand guard duty. Especially not... officers from outside our own ranks. Sir."

Click to shrink...

Interesting. It's noted here (and shortly later) that Hawkins isn't even within the Fusilier's usual hierarchy. He's on loan, so to speak, as a favor to the army. Even our naive boy recognizes that at least part of this mission is keeping up appearances of good will and cooperation between the Military Orders of PanOceania and the main PanOceanian armed forces, though as we'll maybe see later, Hawkins is extremely naive and is only thinking about his posting in terms of duty and honor. It's this existence as an officer-yet-not-our-officer which is why the Fusiliers are so nervous about him - and why they're not sure what to make of him, much to the platoon leader's insistence otherwise. He commands some sort of rank over them, but he's also sort-of a VIP, but he's also supposed to be treated like he's part of their command structure.

It's kinda weird both in and out of setting, but I guess this is how they explain the Military Orders being a distinct-but-integrated military organization from the PanOceanian main military.

So anyways, he goes on guard duty. The fusilier makes a pretty awkward joke about not wanting to salute our big boy in power armor - it could kill him if she treated him any differenty! You never know when you could be ambushed by an alien sniper, this close to Ying Xian. He falls for the 'joke' and turns around to check for snipers... and frankly this is sort of silly, even for Hawkins. Maybe that's the point. Maybe he's so unblooded and new and feeling Imposter Syndrome he doesn't consider the fact that he's in full power armor, surrounded by grunts in light body armor, which marks him as a person of interest among the crowd. Maybe his taking her 'can't salute you, or else they'd shoot you!' joke as a serious warning just tells us how out of touch he is.

I didn't care for it, but it does tell us a little bit about him.

Wait, where were we again?

Anyways.

The book monologues a lot about his reasons for being here, his frustrations with not getting a more active post to fight the Combined Army, and how the Paradiso front has chilled since the last Offensive (I can't remember if this is the second or third Combined Army offensive - the timeline's fuzzy). We get some awkward foreshadowing about this being a backwater research facility, about being close to the border of some unimportant hyperpower's province, and he was gonna do his best at this job even if it was bor-

No, seriously, where were we again?

Hawkins is roused out of his daydreaming when he notes something weird messing with his helmet's visor. He isn't really sure what's going on. His visor flickers for a moment, and our dear, precious cinnamon roll takes his helmet off to reset his visuals, noting how it's So Weird that his vision just failed in all spectrums. It continues to falter, fuzzing out and becoming near-useless for visibility, especially for surveilling the dense jungle treeline in the evening.

I wonder.

What

Could have happened.




Hawkins pulls his helmet off to reset it, running it through a built-in diagnostics mode. Apparently among the things they don't teach you at the NeoVatican School of Holy Power Armor is responsible hacking prevention, presumably because they expect you to Say No and keep matters of cybersecurity between you and Jesus.

At the same time, the Author does their best to telegraph that something's up, as if we'd never have caught on to something weird if the radio didn't also chime in that two sensor posts in Kyle's location just went down as well, and that Command is checking in off-schedule, sounding concerned. For what it's worth, it diagetically makes sense that the command post would note a problem with the sensor posts in the area, but it's a little clunky in how it's delivered.

Anyways, it's at this moment our precious helmetless cinnamon roll spots something in the tree line with the, and I quote, "Mark One Human Eyeball". He spends just long enough remembering that he needs to shout a warning before shooting a potential hostile, then he jumps straight to shooting anyways because he was too scared to do anything but drop and shoot.

Our boy in blue, ladies and gentlemen.

Analysis:
I'm not gonna lie, this is a slow start. I can't say it gets better quickly, but I do like how they handle the social dynamics between the (experienced, bored, professional) fusiliers and the Knight who's just out of training. Also of note is that, despite my sarcasm earlier, I absolutely adore this first depiction of the Blackout/Oblivion hacking program in-setting. There's a lot of fluff here that feels like one-part padding to two-parts trying to rush in worldbuilding, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I feel like they could've edited down a lot more in this section, but it does give us a fairly complete picture of where Hawkins came from or why he's so jumpy and eager to please.

It's serviceable prose, but it reminds me of a less-confident, less-experienced Eric Nylund (of Halo books fame). At least, until the action starts.

Next Time: Chapter 1.5 - The mythbusters test whether you can cut down a tree with a machine gun!

 

[A Small Bird]

But seriously, if anyone can tell me for certain whether the '250 words' quote limit is per post, per quote, or per thread, I'd really appreciate it

As this is my first Let's Read, I welcome feedback.

 

[BiopunkOtrera]

Oh! Hey. I've been interested in Corvus Belli's infinite for a while. Watched.

 

[A Small Bird]

Interlude: Poker With Pricks

I'm breaking up the second half of Chapter 1 because we jump 'backwards' a few minutes to meet the next character whose head we'll be living in part-time.

We're introduced to Sgt. Cochran, Corporal Garcia, and Fusilier 'Luc' King (who's probably a specialist or a private) playing cards. Five card draw's the game, there's some minor wagering of tasks. Specifically, Sgt. Cochrane is wagering on behalf of Garcia and King.

"One thing I forgot," Cochrane remarked dryly, "if you win, Luc, I'll take you off sentry duty for two days. If you lose, you're doubling up in platoon HQ and running the PSC terminal, watch on stop on, and the corporal here gets the downtime."

Click to shrink...

Cue eyebrow-raising from me.

The conversation turns to who Cochrane's trying to shack up with, his recent 'conquests' so to speak (and accusations that the subordinate he's sleeping with is using him instead), and some gloating on his part about it. Internally Sgt. Cockroach acknowledges to the reader that sleeping around with suboordinates is a recipe for disaster, but... well...

"That sentiment [of] professionalism was immediately deposed by the ceaseless primitive need [...] to be an alpha male."

Click to shrink...

Alright. I'll come clean: I don't like Sgt. Cochrane. If you read the book, you'll know what I mean almost immediately, but these are the things that make me already annoyed at him. He's how I twigged to the fact that the text is influenced by what character the story is following, and their personal biases and predispositions - when the book shares his POV, it notices... certain things a little bit more.

His being a questionable piece of shit is deliberate, almost to the point of caricature, and he gets no end of shit for both his chest-thumping and dick-wetting, but all the same this is the character that's responsible for one-and-a-third of the disclaimers I posted above. He's the arguably-sexist-definitely-womanizer I alluded to earlier.

He's also got an ego problem, because the instant Corporal Garcia calls him out for bragging about who he's sleeping with (and also speculates on that same someone trying to pull some privileges by sleeping with the guy who writes the roster), his thoughts immediately turn from chummy to retributive.

"A warning shot across his bows like that from an old friend was fine, but as soon as a young fusilier was within earshot, that conversation instantly became a jumped-up, insubordinate corporal talking out of turn to a sergeant."

Click to shrink...

Cochrane's pursuits will become a recurring thing, but fortunately the book doesn't treat this as entirely harmless, either. I'm not sure if his unsympathetic womanizing and chest-thumping is a death flag or not, but if I'm gonna make a bet on who dies, this guy probably bites it by book end. For what it's worth, this guy's supposed to be a former Indigo Spec-Op (aka 'Green Berets' but blue because it's PanOceania... because of course).

Before we can see where Cochrane is going with this, however, the poker game is interrupted by gunfire in the distance, and everyone rushes to get their guns, and we catch back up to the 'present' here.

Chapter 1.5 - Where were we again?

(Continued from Cochrane's perspective)

Chaos ensues. Everyone's shouting, getting their guns, radio's going off, somebody is shooting in the distance, and nobody knows what's going on. Sgt. Cochrane takes control of the situation by telling everyone to shut the fuck up and listen to him, as every sergeant wishes they could, and he starts assigning positions. Pretty standard stuff - I think the author is best at home in these chaotic scenes.

Of note, they introduce the idea of a contact lens that projects HUD elements to Cochrane's eye, including a digital map of the surrounding site. This map becomes populated by friendly troops' positions as the fusiliers start turning on their IFF tags. It's a cool idea - Infinity's pretty high-tech, and this is just the tip of the iceberg so far - but it's another reminder that we're not playing Modern Warfare.

Cochrane notes whoever was on sentry duty on the east ridge (aka Hawkins but he doesn't know it) isn't showing up on the IFF. This implies that Hawkins' swap with the earlier fusilier (one Fusilier Southee- who Cochrane was noted to be sleeping with earlier) wasn't made clear to the sergeant and happened last minute... and confirms that fuckery is afoot, though he doesn't know it just yet.

Hilariously, when Cochrane gets to the east ridge where Hospitaller Hawkins was patrolling... well... let's let the quote speak for itself here.

Cochran reached the eastern end of the site where a single Fusilier lay prone at the edge of the plateau.[...] Cochrane dove to the ground a few meters behind him and crawled up to the lip, Southee following him.
"What's going on? [...] What are you shooting at?"
In the darkness to his left, another fusilier arrived, dropped to the ground, and then the entire ridge exploded in a blinding, continuous flash [as] his heavy machine gun opened fire [carving up the vegetation and trees in a swath of destruction].
"Cease fire you fucking prick! None of you fire a shot until you've identified a target!" [...]
"Something down there, Sarn't!" [the HMG fusilier replied] "I saw movement and gunfire! [...] No IFF so I fired!"

Click to shrink...

Truly, PanOceanian fusiliers are justifying their WIP12 stat here. Technically a Trauma Doc in this comic but you get the point. PanOceanians aren't known for their smarts.

He gets the soldiers to stop blind-firing (through more reasonably-angry shouting) long enough to ask who's on sentry duty, and is both angry and incredulous when he's told about our boy Hawkins being on duty - for justifiable reasons, as we'll discover. Lieutenant Shankar - the ranking officer in charge of this platoon - gets on comms and gets up to speed, confirming the sentry swap as having been cleared by her.

Cochrane is all but looking at the reader and mouthing 'she doesn't know, chat' and is mysteriously gobsmacked as to why a Hospitaller was put on duty. You get three guesses as to why this would be the case - and I already spoiled the answer.

Apparently Shankar can see through all the troops rifle scopes - Infinity's a high tech setting, but networked gun cams are honestly pretty cool - as she directs Cochrane to scope out a spot in the trees where there's a human presence. Far be it from me to wonder how an officer in the command room 'thinks there's someone there' enough to tell Cochrane to point a gun at them, but iunno maybe there's scanning equipment.

Hawkins is revealed to be sheltered behind a tree past the ridge. A quick call for an IFF check gets Hawkins on comms, who says he 'thinks' it's him who they're looking at. Before Cochrane can get too mad about the fusiliers who'd been firing on Hawkins' position (likely owing to jumpy nerves and inexperience) Shankar notes his visual feed and IFF ghost indicate that he's still up on the ridge... right where Cochrane is. And Hawkins confirms he saw movement in the tree-line and went to engage-and-or-investigate.

Cochran is initially angry at our precious armored blueberry but he pieces together quickly what happened. They pull Hawkins out of the jungle, comb the tree line, set up a defensive perimeter, and several things are revealed:

1) There's no way multiple redundant systems - including several parallel systems on Hawkins' armor and visor, the site's camera and IFF systems, and two sensor posts - would have simultaneously failed in such a catastrophic and weird manner.
2) After the sweep, they find a single round of unfired caseless SMG ammunition, of a type of gun that isn't issued to the platoon or site staff. They can't conclude much else (I guess Infinity SMG ammunition is standardized such that a single unfired cartridge wouldn't ID the owner's nationality? Then again, 9x19mm is such a universal standard in real life...)
3) Cochrane was a former Indigo Spec-Ops (of course PanO calls their Green Berets the equivalent of 'Extra Blue'). He has a side-bar with Shankar on private comms after running cleanup, and they discuss next steps per his Indigo training. He thinks there was a spec-ops team probing the perimeter, but despite his protests, Shankar has him running advisory and coordination rather than letting him perform the sweep himself - which is a good call, given how much of a hot head he is, and he's the only guy with real special operations experience in the platoon.

With some fluffery, the chapter closes.

Ending thoughts:

I think Mark Barber - the author - picks up speed in the second half. The chaos and confusion that results in (and from) a possible blue-on-blue situation from jumpy, inexperienced troops is pretty convincing, and the second half of this chapter flows much more smoothly. I think it'll be a recurring trend that the in-between scenes feel like molasses, but the action scenes rock to hell and back.

Speaking of trends, on one hand I appreciate Cochrane being the 'experienced sergeant' trope that gives us a POV character who nudges us in certain directions. Hacking is a non-intuitive component of Infinity, and he's seen enough to puzzle out what's going on - though it takes until the debrief in the next chapter to lay it all out fully on the table. That being said, I'm somewhat bothered that neither the knight most vulnerable to hacking (Hawkins), nor the site officer (Shankar), nor any of the Fusiliers equipped with a hacking device (there are at least four of them on the site) called in their suspicions of a hacking attack. It took the site second-in-command (an experienced rifleman, but not a hacker) to figure it out, in a setting where IFF and radio-interference dickbaggery is almost standardized?

I've ranted enough about this earlier , and it takes a bit for him to get really annoying, but I have to say that throughout the next two chapters, Cochrane takes turns being both 'the cool guy in the know' and also 'the most cringey piece of shit'. His cool moments are cool, and he sells his Indigo experience somewhat convincingly, but I can't get over what an asshole this guy is. You'll see what I'm talking about, however, in...

Chapter 2: Debriefing Boogaloo

I did, however, skip over one line that I rather liked:

"You've just been shooting at one of God's warriors, you dumb shit! If God existed, you'd be buggered, mate!"

Click to shrink...

Did I mention Cochrane is (probably) Australian?

 

[A Small Bird]

I've already read these early chapters, so I've been catching things I didn't before. It's really funny to me how much of a dick Cochrane is right off the bat, but I didn't catch wind of this until the second and third chapters. He has his good moments... but boy do I detest him.

I anticipate my next update by no later than Wednesday next week... but more likely Monday.

 

[BiopunkOtrera]

We're introduced to Sgt. Cochran, Corporal Garcia, and Fusilier 'Luc' King (who's probably a specialist or a private) playing cards. Five card draw's the game, there's some minor wagering of tasks. Specifically, Sgt. Cochrane is wagering on behalf of Garcia and King.

Click to shrink...

I think that this is one of those european things where often soldiers of a specific regiment will just be "X specific thing" when they're a private equivilent.

 

[A Small Bird]

I think that this is one of those european things where often soldiers of a specific regiment will just be "X specific thing" when they're a private equivilent.

Click to shrink...

You're probably right. King's mentioned as being pretty new at both the assignment and at five card draw, but it confused me for a moment since everyone in the platoon is a fusilier (and Hawkins isn't a part of the platoon, he's... attached?).

Honestly I don't even know if American military ranks and stuff are useful comparisons, given Infinity is of spanish origin and PanOceania isn't American in any way (being composed of states in India, Africa, Australia, and some other Pacific/Indian Ocean states, plus or minus some european components - back on Earth).

But it's what I have to draw on and it's useful enough so I'll keep doing it

 

[A Small Bird]

Chapter 2's a bit of a breather. Some intrigue, some downtime, some interpersonal issues, a new POV, and a new character. Like before, I'll be splitting this post into two (or three) parts, partly because there's a perspective switch, partly because post fatigue is a thing, and frankly these things take longer than I'd like. There's a lot of analysis to be done of Cochrane in the second-half of the chapter, but first we'll start with our new perspective.

Chapter 2.0 Debrief in Detail

The new POV is Lt. Priya Shankar.

They're in the platoon headquarters. We learn what the fuck a PSC terminal is at last ('Perimeter Security Control'). It's Shankar, Hawkins, Cochrane, Major Nicholas Barker (CO of "A Company, Number One Batallion"*), and Barker's second-in-command ('2IC') Waczek. All sitting except Hawkins, who's still in his armor (specifically mentioned as being too heavy for the folding chairs. That's what happens when you go with the lowest bidder!)

I'll skip lots of the details, but it's important to note that we get a view of our asshole sergeant and our power-armored cinnabun from Shankar's eyes. Cochrane's a tall, 'crude-looking', darkly-humorous, and somewhat charming man (eyeroll) who's used his wiles far too often. None-too-surprising.

Shankar's opinion of Kyle, on the other hand, is a bit more revealing. He's quiet (in an 'inexperienced and shy' way), unconfident, and somewhat introverted. More importantly, however, she clarifies to the reader that it's not just that Hawkins is quiet and green, but that there are rumors abound of the knights of the Military Orders being dangerous and overzealous, and that most of the fusiliers no doubt hold these rumors to be true in spite of their lack of exposure. That, and the knights themselves are heavily propagandized as 'noble, tragic heroes', which probably does them no favors among the cynics.

Little wonder he's treated so weirdly among the soldiery.

But also...

Shankar had already warned three of her female Fusiliers concerning a lack of professionalism around the young Hospitaller, which she understood entirely given his flawlessly handsome face and toned physique.

Click to shrink...

Ugh.

In covering Major Barker and 2IC Waczek, we get that apparently NCO-to-Commission is pretty common, at least among commissioned officers, though not more common than taking junior officers from schools. Cool.

Barker confirms the details with Hawkins - that he saw an unidentified unit, issued a challenge, and opened fire. Hawkins says "he doesn't recall issuing a verbal challenge, but he remembers thinking about it, and he can't prove that he did or didn't."

Cochrane steps in with the save.

"He did issue a challenge, sir," Cochrane drawled, suppressing a yawn. "I spoke to the guys after the exchange of fire. One of the other sentries distinctly remembers hearing the sub officer shout out a challenge. I can't for the life of me remember who said they heard it, but somebody definitely did."

Click to shrink...

Good ol' Fusilier Somebody. Everyone knows that guy. You know, he's got that face. Sure knows how to hold a rifle, that guy. Hawkins is genuinely innocent enough to ask if they should ask everyone again, because he doesn't really remember, but Barker is satisfied - and makes it pretty clear that It Would Be Bad If We Fired Without Warning, Wink Wink Nudge Nudge.

Shankar confirms that both perimeter security and Hawkins' armor were hacked, that they recovered six expended shots of SMG ammo - apparently she means bullets dug out of trees or something, because Infinity firearms are mostly caseless affairs - and notes that nobody on-site is issued an SMG.

We're given some exposition about why the security team is here - they're defending the 'Cosmolite', some long-dead alien ruins, while a private corporation conducts research. It's apparently super-valuable, which explains why a platoon of soldiers is guarding it out of some premade portable buildings shipped in by truck. 'As you all know'-style exposition of passable quality - I only hated it on the third read-through.

Cochrane speculates that they were just scoped by a special-forces team, and figures it's been going on at least a few days, because Hawkins' sentry swap-in was too perfect an opportunity to hack and slip past the perimeter to do some snooping. He puts forward the idea that it was a Yujingyu special forces team - they're pretty close to the Yu Jing province of Yongxian - but it's brought up to him that the nationality of the team isn't provable, and it's just speculation.

It's a fairly reasonable rebuttal, and I have some thoughts on that, even knowing what I do about Chapter 3, but I'll save my two cents for the end.

With that, some minor pleasantries are exchanged. The whole company is getting shipped in to up their defenses, there's a new defense consultant coming in from the nearby airstrip, and Lt. Shankar is getting promoted to Captain. It's implied Shankar's fiance doesn't approve of a promotion, she's excited anyways, and Shankar won't be captain for another nine months until her 'common promotion day'.

Summary:
Pretty normal stuff. It's funny how the only one who's worried about if he issued a challenge or not is Hawkins, but this sort of cynicism is fitting for the setting. A lot of attention is called to it, and also to the fact that this is more 'an incident' than it is cause for a war. In the human sphere, special forces teams hacking your sentries and getting into an exchange of fire is almost like knocking on one's door.

I also appreciate the tone of cynicism in this scene. The book handles the incident as pretty typical and addresses the idea that 'truth' is flexible, and as long as the story is consistent, the brass cares more about the politics. Everyone knows it except the sheltered FNG, even Shankar notes that Cochrane's being blatantly dishonest.

I just wish we hadn't gotten that line about Hawkins being young, handsome, and hit-on-by-the-soldiers. I think I've been sensitized to it in hindsight, but on a second read-through of the chapter it bothers me more.

Really, the hyperpowers are a lot like Majat or Buggers in that regard.
("Blue hive, yes. Blue hive defend. Defend. Against golds. Greens. Rrrrrreds. Yessss," as they would say in Serpent's Reach.)

One background note of the Human Sphere is that the major powers aren't at war in this setting. In fact, 'Infinity' gets its name from the in-universe 'code infinity' which is mil-speak for 'a situation in which any action or reaction could result in war between major powers'. In spite of the alien invasion, every hyperpower is engaging in cold-war-era proxy skirmishes and special-forces raids. It's almost the status quo - though to some extent this is all kept under wraps for various reasons by various polities.

But it sure is a time of plenty if you're a mercenary.

Speculation:
Honestly, I haven't gotten far enough ahead to confirm with certainty whether it was Yu Jing tonight, but if I had to wager a third-act twist, it's that Haqqislam is involved somehow. I'd guess that the Tohaa are in on this but I doubt their firearms would use a standardized SMG round, unless it was their human mercenary-slash-proxy Spiral Corps, but Spiral Corps is more focused on the war with the Evolved Intelligence's Combined Army.

Haqqislam also holds nearby territory, depending on where this research site is located (we only know 'near Yongxian', and as a minor power whose strengths are in scientific research and as a notable underdog with a distaste for Yu Jing and PanOceania, they'd have a major incentive to do some scope-outs. They're also my favorite major faction, so you know, I'm biased and just want them to be involved.

That being said, things will heat up, and Yu Jing will be stirring shit up soon.

Next: Chapter 2.5: Airport Blues
In which Cochrane is a pervert and an asshole, and meets an even bigger asshole who he briefly simps for.

 

[BiopunkOtrera]

They're in the platoon headquarters. We learn what the fuck a PSC terminal is at last ('Perimeter Security Control'). It's Shankar, Hawkins, Cochrane, Major Nicholas Barker (CO of "A Company, Number One Batallion"*), and Barker's second-in-command ('2IC') Waczek. All sitting except Hawkins, who's still in his armor (specifically mentioned as being too heavy for the folding chairs. That's what happens when you go with the lowest bidder!)

Click to shrink...

In what way is "sitting in a nice air conditioned HQ in which there are probably not xenobugs probably listening to music and waiting for the AI on a terminal to ping that there's a problem" supposed to be a punishment duty?

 

[A Small Bird]

In what way is "sitting in a nice air conditioned HQ in which there are probably not xenobugs probably listening to music and waiting for the AI on a terminal to ping that there's a problem" supposed to be a punishment duty?

Click to shrink...

Probably the fact that they need to watch the sensors, and it's in place of a break. I think it's functionally pulling a double-shift (though I agree it's probably not as strenuous as sentry duty by itself).

 

[A Small Bird]

I apologize for being a hack by way of explaining the joke, but a brief explanation of the title while we're here.

'Hacking' in Infinity refers to 'Quantronic Combat', being that contemporary electronics in the setting utilize quantum computing. While I can't explain the mechanics behind it, the long and short of it is that everything electronic is largely 'quantronic', whether that's power armor or computers or cybernetic replacement bodies.

In fact, one of the major powers (Ariadna, on Dawn) is noted as being severely behind technologically because they're still using recognizably modern-day electronics equivalent to our world. Which is why they have so little 'proper' power armor on their heavy infantry, and the only hackers they have come from mercenaries who bring their hacking devices with them.

You may commence booing at me now.

 

[stratigo]

Neat readthrough

 

[A Small Bird]

Chapter 2.5 - Airport Blues

In which Cochrane (briefly) simps for a professional war criminal.

Shortly after our last scene, Sgt. Cochrane is off duty and heading to the research station that the platoon is guarding - There are alien ruins ('Cosmolites') on Paradiso that are speculated to be valuable and part of the reason the Combined Army and the Tohaa are here in the first place. We get a glimpse into Cochrane's other interest, chiefly his interest in alien technology and research. It's not clear if this is some life-long hobby or merely the fascination a grunt has about their postings, but either way he ends up bugging one of the scientists about their research.

The sarge goes to meet up with one of the scientists there and ply him for some information on the Cosmolites, the scientist is more concerned that firefight from yesterday, and won't stop talking about it. Honestly, this segment's rather boring but we get a few good bits - like how clear it's made that Cochrane is bad at being nonchalant about his ulterior motives. He's constantly trying to pressure this one scientist into talking about their Top Secret Research in a real 'hey buddy I'm your friend you'd tell me about stuff right?' way, and it just doesn't really stick.

Oh right. And we get this.

"Jim? One other thing..."
"Yeah, mate?"
The scientist's smile was already gone.
"[...]It's... about Marcia. Look, I know you could literally crush my skull like an egg, so I'm really uncomfortable saying this, but... Marcia asked me to ask you to back off a bit. You... intimidate her."
"I intimidate a lot of people, Sam."
"Not in a good way. [...] She's really rather uncomfortable around you right now[...]"
"Alright!" Cochrane snapped. [...] "Bloody hell, alright! Tell her I won't bother her again!"
[...] Marcia Gamble was a write off. He'd have to content himself with a third turn of the wheel with [Fusilier Southee].

Click to shrink...

What an upstanding individual.

At the time of writing paragraph, I'm a few shots into some whiskey and I mostly want this chapter to be over with - I've read it back to back about four times and frankly the highlights are short and there's better stuff coming up. So forgive me for hurrying along to where Cochrane and Shankar head to the airport to pick up their new security advisor.

It's still Cochrane's POV. We get some real road-trip dialogue with Shankar - mostly Jim being supportive (in an assholeish way) of her promotion to captain (and thus impending transfer) and lamenting inwardly that he felt respected by her, even if she didn't always take his personal recommendations. We get some allusions to Lt. Shankar's stress about choosing her promotion or her fiancee - Shankar's not afraid to call him out about bringing up her fiancee, though it's not so much as a verbal fight as it is some sparring and momentary discomfort.

I guess it might be relevant to mention that Cochrane doesn't chase engaged women, but honestly... I doubt the veracity of that, even from his own POV. He strikes me as pathetically "alpha male" enough to try to wedge himself between people in that 'nice guy' sort of way, and I suspect Shankar believes that too.

We get some banter about Those Transport Guys Ain't Early For Shit, a cool bit of showing off that these spacefuture jeeps have aerial surveillance drones that officers can tap into, and a brief passing of reinforcements heading back to the outpost. The platoon at the outpost got reinforced fast.

So anyways.

They get to the airport and the Transport Guys are on time - early, actually. And thus we are introduced to (Cochrane's) POV of Major Beckmann, through a paragraph (and a longer one of that) of her physical features and dress. The phrase "perfect breasts" come up and... I honestly am just tired of this POV. Shoot me. The whiskey isn't helping me get through this chapter, even if it does have some good parts.

I have a pocket hypothesis for what the fixation on Beckmann's "stunning beauty" is about but we'll get to that.

"Major Beckmann", Shankhar greeted. "I'm-"
"What you are is late," [Beckmann] snapped [...] "So let's get off on the right foot. That's the first and last time you wil leave me waiting for you. Clear?"
"We were told to expect you on the hour, and it is only..."
"So it isn't clear. [..] I'll spell it out for you, I'm here to do a job and I'm not interested in your excuses or your fucking back chat! So let's dispense with the introductions. Carry my bags and drive me to the site. Now."

Click to shrink...

The word 'statuesque' figures into some of my paraphrases there. Relatedly, Sgt. Cochrane's all grins. Apparently being berrated by an angry, dangerous, authoritative, and pretty woman is something he's hella into - a sentiment I'm sure at least a few posters on this site would otherwise relate to. It'd be funnier if it wasn't Cochrane.

Actually, is Cochrane supposed to be a self-insert for the author? Hm.

They load up Beckmann's gear - Cochrane notes that one of her bags is big enough to hold a 'long-barrelled weapon' (gee I wonder) and they head out. Some attempt at small-talk is made in the vein of 'how was the flight', which doesn't go anywhere. But Beckmann does drop that she's from the Strategic Security Division (aka 'Hexas' - Hexadrome Operatives. Think 'NSA', but if you want to get real fictional about it, Sam Fisher and Third Echelon would be the closest fit).

At this point, Cochrane reigns in his boner and shuts the hell up - he doesn't say it until later, but Cochrane worked with Hexadrome operatives before during his special forces days, and he's seen first hand that the normal ones are stated to be bloodthirsty monsters, where even quiet recon operations are run with a 'if there's a mild inconvenience we kill it and keep going' mentality. Allegedly, the subdivision ('Garkain') that Beckmann comes from is noted to be worse than that, implied in-text as being willing to kill school children just for convenience sake.

Beckmann pitches enough of a fit of having to share a room with an officer that she orders them to shift berths around so she bunks solo - even if someone ends up sleeping outside. This is at a time when the new habitation blocks are expected to arrive within a handful of days.

They arrive on-site, Beckmann storms off to do whatever, and Shankar corners Cochrane, demanding to know what the hell is up with that. As mentioned, he explains his time on a recon operation ('just in case things got kinetic with Ariadna, we did some strategic target reconnaissance, and our Hexa team-lead killed our way through that mission like it was nothing' - as if that wasn't already 'getting kinetic'). He notes that the hexa he'd previously worked with drew the line at killing school children, but that "garkains" (like Beckmann) wouldn't hesitate at even that.

So yeah, it takes a lot to kill Cochrane's boner, but being a child-killing war criminal super-CIA-agent is a good start.

End chapter.

Analysis:
It's a slow chapter. It reads decently, but this is where I struggled to hold interest in Cochrane's POV, mostly for the shitty sex-object-alpha-male mentality. It's just unnecessary, and I'm starting to get the impression that either the physical descriptions of the soldiers are more than just padding. Ew.

Beckmann's interplay with Cochrane is sorta funny but sorta annoying. Her and Shankar's immediate personality conflict (which is continued later) is interesting but probably problematic (such that it reads like a 'playground bully' sort of thing, egh).

On a slightly lighter note, I suspect Beckmann's running an artificial body, likely a replacement or a custom-tailored one. Though it's still annoying to read about it, the emphasis on our war criminal's "statuesque" body is a little too much just for eye candy. Given that she's an experienced career soldier whose job involves an extremely high amount of murder in active conflict zones. she would have the resources and incentives to have her body replaced as either a requirement or consequence of a mission.

My other idea is that she's either a Fiday (a haqqislamite assassin skilled at impersonation) or perhaps a Speculo killer (a shasvastii assassin good at the same, from the Combined Army), but it's somewhat less likely because of all the hoops one would have to jump through to get her embedded there. But both factions are on the planet, so it's on the table.

Anyways, I can't remember what the next chapter is, so tune in next time (Monday? Wednesday?) for what should be a regular weekly update. This one was only delayed because of our recent snow days, where I was out of power most of those days I normally write.

Next up: Chapter 3(?) - Things Get Kinetic

 

[A Small Bird]

Also I absolutely could be wrong about the fixation on Beckmann's body as being an indicator of her having an L-host body or being an impersonator. This book is stereotypically military enough that it could just be the author's biases.

I'm really wishing I'd started with the Team Zed book at this point, because Nomads seem a little more interesting to write about.