Martin acknowledged the order and moved aft quickly to get to his people.
Ben caught Joanne's eye. "I should go with the Marines. I can talk to Eaagher if necessary."
"No."
Ben didn’t want to have this discussion right here in the Intel section, out in the open, but here is where he decided it had to happen. "Captain, I should go. I didn't sign on as a Warrant Officer ten years ago to sit on the sidelines. I am your Intel Chief. It is my job to see what this enemy is in person. I should go."
Joanne looked at him for a few seconds, looking for a good reason to turn him down, then decided she couldn't. He was right after all. "Bring me back a souvenir, OK?"
"Sure, I promise. The Leader's head on a platter?"
Joanne smiled. "That would do nicely Assuming, of course, that they have a leader and you can find and kill him."
"Assuming all that, sure."
Decision made, Joanne turned and headed back to the Bridge.
Ben turned to Ann Cooper, who was looking at him with dread in her eyes.
"Take over for me, till I get back?"
"Yes, of course, Mr. Price…" She started say something more, but Ben headed her off.
"Thanks, Ann. I'll see you after High Noon in The Pasture!"
Ben was suddenly gone, trotting to his quarters to change into field colors. Garrett looked at the door, then back at Ann.
"Good work, Garrett," Ann said, resting her hands on his shoulders, trying to reassure the young tech.
"Yes, Lieutenant, thank you." Garrett swallowed hard. "He is coming back, right?"
"He better. He owes me money."
"Yes, ma'am."
Natalie Hayden was darting around her hangar deck, loudly directing traffic as two shuttles were pulled out of storage and placed in line for the ShuttleLock. They would launch them in quick succession, the second perhaps a minute after the first. The hangar deck was large enough, just barely, but dispatching two shuttles like this was not a typical procedure, and the geometry was tight. Natalie pushed, pulled, pointed, and yelled her way through it until the two small spacecraft were in position and ready to go. She'd also changed into field colors to match the Marines, a .45 in a shoulder holster on her left side. When Ben arrived, he stopped a meter away and looked at her.
She met his eye with determination. "I'm driving. Don't argue."
The words that Ben wanted to say couldn't be said at that place and in that moment, so he nodded his acceptance of her decision. He could hardly argue with her for going on a mission for which he'd just volunteered.
Fleet Marine Second Lieutenant Liwanu Harry had been sent up by Captain Martin to see how things were progressing in the hangar. The tall, angular young man from Montana asked a few questions of Natalie, got the answers he needed, then followed Ben below.
As Ben arrived in the Marines' barracks area, Captain Andrew Martin, late of the New Zealand Special Air Service, was standing before his Marines. They were good men and women, Martin knew; careful, well-prepared, and, he hoped, brave. But suddenly the time had come to set the rules of engagement, and these were nothing like he had ever seen before.
"OK, the enemy is down there, and we're probably going to meet them on the field. Hopefully, we're going to get them into a fight they're not ready for." He paused to look around the room and found every eye was on him. "We've come from all over, I know. Aussies, Brits, Canadians, Arab League, United States, Europe, and the Central African forces. But now we are all Fleet Marines. Some of us have seen combat, but most of you have not. But from what I just saw in Intel, you will today."
He paced, thinking how best to say what he had been instructed to say.
"There is one thing I need to make very clear, and this comes from the top, understand? The enemy is not a signatory of the Geneva Convention. The usual rules of war are out the window."
The Marines now looked at each other, wondering where exactly this was going.
"That said, we're warriors, not butchers. You must each be true to your own personal code of honor. But no one, and I do mean no one, will second guess your actions on the field today. At home, we would never finish off a wounded or defenseless enemy soldier. Here, it's your call whether they pose any risk to you. Protect yourselves and each other. Don't forget what this enemy did at Inor, and what they've already done here." He paused to look around the room. "The gloves are off, people. Am I clear?"
He was. He turned to Ben.
"Mr. Price?"
"Yes, Captain. I just want to say that best we know, the enemy uses some kind of plasma rifle. None of us understand how it works, but it shoots fast, and according to what I read from Antares, it's pretty lethal."
"Your point?"
"Don't underestimate them. They've killed tens of thousands, and they don't seem to care."
"Anything else?"
"This is likely to be a gold mine for Intel, so keep your eyes out for anything useful about their appearance, communications, weapons, even their behavior."
"You want any prisoners, Mr. Price?" a Marine asked. She had very short hair that accentuated an angular but pleasant face and an engaging smile.
"If you think you can capture one, sure. I am not at all sure what I would do with it, honestly. Lock it up and feed it, I suppose, until we get home?"
That made them laugh.
"Hey, Joanie," one called to the woman who had asked the question, "Don't you bring home a pet unless you're ready to feed and house train it!" That really got them going as they headed up the ladder and into the hangar. Ben followed them up, with Martin right behind him.
Martin went directly to Natalie as he came up the ladder. "Do you have a briefing board?"
They went into the Weapons Maintenance workroom, where there was a large planning board on the wall.
"This will do. Can you get the relevant officers in here in, say, ten minutes?" As Natalie left, Andy Martin started drawing quickly on the board. The required officers crowded into the workroom: Henderson, Gonzales, Kirkland, Ben Price, and XO Alonzo Bass, who would be piloting the second shuttle. Ann Cooper joined them late with the news that the enemy shuttle had landed about two hundred meters off the apex of the pasture triangle. Too close to ignore, but the Seekers were not in any immediate danger. Martin marked the enemy position on the map.
"OK, here we are. As you all know the area is roughly a triangle, with these cliffs on two sides and the ocean as the base." He looked around and saw that they understood. "Fine, good, so these cliffs are not actually all that high, something like five or eight meters. Also, there is a small bluff over the beach here," he pointed to a spot about a third of the way down from the north corner of the triangle. "That bluff really is small, but it will suffice for the plan. The first shuttle will cross over the enemy's position at low altitude, maybe twenty meters —"
"Twenty?" Natalie interrupted, "They can smoke us with those hot rounds that low."
"Not at high speed. The first shuttle will pass over them, then scoot over the cliff, spin around, and set down about fifty meters behind it. There's a spot here," he circled an area on his hand drawn map, "where there is room. The second shuttle, with Lieutenant Harry in command, will set down on the beach behind this little bluff thirty seconds after the first one passes over."
"So, you're expecting them to be looking the other way?" Ben asked.
"Yes." He turned back to the map. "There is abundant scrub along the verge of the cliff, so my team will establish themselves along that line. Lieutenant Harry will bring his force up from behind and establish a diagonal blocking position two hundred meters northeast of the enemy's location. If they head towards the Seekers, the L-T's squads will eliminate them." He turned to the tall, muscular man with the angular features. "Is that clear enough?"
"Yes, Captain, I understand."
"I believe they will come towards the cliff to investigate the first shuttle. On my signal, my team will open up on them. If they retreat towards the sea, or the Seekers, a
gain, the L-Ts squads will reduce them." He stopped and looked around.
"Questions?" There were a few about timing and exact positions, but Martin had devised a reasonable plan in almost no time. Keeping it simple also kept the questions and options to a minimum.
"Here is what Intrepid is going to do," Henderson announced. "There are still three shuttles around Capital City. We are going to strike three of the four Type I's all at once at time zero, which is the time the shuttle passes over the enemy. We're hoping that once this all starts, the enemy on the surface will run to their shuttles to get off the planet. If they do, we'll wait for them to gather and then we'll hit the last ship and the shuttles with Bludgeons simultaneously. If they don't return within a decent time, we'll hit them anyway and then clean up the survivors later."
"What about the station on Little Gray?" Second Lieutenant Liwanu Harry asked.
"We'll hit that just before we hit the three ships."
As the gathering broke up, Henderson, Kirkland, Hayden, and Bass went over the timing and set a specific time zero. Everything else would work backward and forward from that time.
Intrepid Shuttle
Big Blue
Wednesday, December 7, 2078, 1415 UTC
Natalie tried desperately not to recall her post-escape fear as she again flew the shuttle ten meters off the water, the beach rapidly growing larger ahead of her. She lifted up just enough to get over the shore and, in a flash, they were over the top of the enemy shuttle. She had a fleeting impression of purple heads turning, but she was pretty sure that was her imagination. She slammed on the 'brakes' in the Drive and spun around to land where Martin had indicated. No scratching around for a spot this time, the area was as smooth and clear of obstructions as Martin had said. She was barely down before the last Marine was out the door. She reset the shuttle for rapid return, with the flight director programmed to take them back to Intrepid. That done, she pulled a 2K7X out of its locked storage and headed towards the cliff.
Martin's two squads arranged themselves just behind the cliff, peering through the scrub between them and the enemy. Fleet Marine helmets had an integrated communications system, with earpieces that both protected their hearing and provided communications. The whole company was on a single circuit, allowing them to pass information, or orders, instantly.
As they looked carefully through the scrub, they could see a large group of enemy coming towards them. Martin had been right—they were coming to check out the shuttle.
"I ain't never seen no giant-assed purple turkey carrying a gun before, Captain," one whispered.
"That turkey can shoot back, asshole, so mind your manners," his corporal responded quietly.
"Still, ain't never seen that."
"Looks more like a weird mutated ostrich to me," came a female voice.
"Yeah, I ate ostrick once," the first voice responded, "Shitty meal."
The Seekers had fought this enemy and lost, but today would be different. Today, the enemy would encounter something it had not seen before: experienced, professional warriors who were prepared, well-trained, and disciplined. This was no rabble, no ad-hoc collection of hunters fighting desperately shot-by-shot for their lives.
Martin smiled at Natalie as he stifled a laugh and motioned for her to stay down. He was still smiling as he clicked open his mike. "Sights up. Disambiguate."
The Marines clicked on their laser sights, searching through the low foliage for targets. They looked down at the enemy as they approached the cliffs, drawn by the passage of the shuttle overhead, just as Martin had hoped.
The sights on the 2K7X were individually coded, and as each Marine put the scope on an enemy soldier, they could see if someone else was already on that target. In a few seconds, each Marine had his own personal alien to eliminate. They approached haphazardly, something that surprised Martin. He expected more structure, but he did notice a single figure in the rear, looking back and forth and up at the cliff face.
"Do ya suppose they taste like chicken?" someone asked.
"We could have a helluva bar-bee-que tonight!" said another.
Finally satisfied, Martin lined up who he thought was the commander with his own weapon, then said quietly over the comm, "Fate whispered to the warrior, you cannot withstand the storm!"
Twenty-four voices whispered back, "No, sir, we are the storm!"
The first volley dropped twenty-five enemy, most with headshots. The presumed commander was down, and the rest of the foot soldiers looked confused for a few seconds, but then they knelt and raised their rifles as more shots from the Marines cut down another twenty. The rest kept firing at the cliff until the Marines eliminated them.
Big Blue
The Pasture
Wednesday, December 7, 2078, 1500 UTC
Ben Price lay in the high, coarse grass just up from the beach, a meter to the right of Marine Lieutenant Liwanu Harry. They had heard the firing from the cliff face; one massive blast of rifle fire followed by more random shots, and a few muted pops that Ben thought must be the enemy weapon. He could also hear something else, something like a flock of geese or some other large bird squawking with alarm.
He heard Ann Cooper's steady voice say in his ear, "There's more coming out of the shuttle."
Lieutenant Harry, hearing the same on the secondary circuit, looked at him with the obvious question in his eyes.
"Which way are they going, Ann?" Ben asked.
"They're moving northeast. There's a lot of them, Ben, more than fifty, I'd say."
As Ben rose slightly to look for the enemy, he could see the polished top of their hundred-meter long shuttle reflecting the sunshine. Beyond that, he could also see three bright lights low in the sky to the west, the enemy ships burning to death under Intrepid's Bludgeons.
"Sights up!" Lieutenant Harry called. Ben switched on his weapon but remained low as he had been instructed. He was to keep down and sort through the remains, not get his head shot off, to quote Captain Henderson's last unequivocal order, given pointedly as he boarded the shuttle. She also sent him down with Bass, which he suspected was intended to keep him and Natalie apart. No distractions or confused priorities for either of them. As usual, Joanne was right even when you really didn't want her to be.
The Marines around Ben opened up on the enemy from fifty meters. The enemy responded by firing ahead of themselves, not really aiming but firing low into the brush where their tormentors must be. Two Marines were hit and fell in the first few seconds of this offensive. Ben looked to his left where XO Alonzo Bass was firing methodically. Aim. Shoot. Reacquire. Focus. Aim. Shoot. He heard a sizzle and a thud to his right and saw a Marine was down. Another loud, hot sound and a Marine five meters to his left was down, writhing in pain, then deathly still. PFC Joanie would not be bringing back any prisoners today.
The plasma bolts were coming in fast, one after the other, landing close in front of him, some passing over his head to strike the ground behind. Ben felt a rising sense of alarm, and he could see the same in the Marines around him. As he kept down, holding the weapon tightly to his chest, another Marine was hit off to his right.
"That's three. Sorry, Joanne," he said aloud to himself. "There's only so much I can watch." The Marine on his right was dead, so Ben pulled him back from his position and crouched down to peek between the spikey fronds of the thick, fern-ish shrub he had been hiding behind. He could see the enemy still moving forward, swaying side to side in their strange gait, like oversized birds. He leveled the weapon, aimed quickly, and fired. He was shocked at the damage he did, splitting open the enemy's head. There was still a dangerous volume of incoming rounds, and some small fires had been started in the brush. Ben could smell the smoke, and it reminded him of what the Liberty crew had told of the acrid, terrible smoke on Inor. This stuff just smelled like normal smoke. He'd have to remember to share that with Evans someday.
Ben looked to his left, found another target, and fired. Another hit. He saw motion in front of him and fired
hastily. He missed. As he repositioned to fire again, he felt his chest on fire as he was thrown back, the weapon flopping to the ground next to him.
When he opened his eyes, a young Marine Lieutenant was kneeling over him. Ben thought he looked awfully worried. Wait, he thought as confusion invaded his consciousness, I know him, what was his name? It was weird, like a first name for a last name. His chest felt heavy, and he thought it strange that the Marine would be standing on him. He wanted to tell him to get off.
"Mr. Price! Mr. Price is down!" the officer called on the communication link.
His head clearing from the initial shock, Ben now fully understood what was happening, and suddenly there was too much to say and no air to say it with. Ben tried to breathe, but his chest refused to move. Desperate, he looked the Marine hard in the eye as he reached for his uniform shirt and pulled him down.
"Nat... Nat..." Ben squeezed out.
"Yes, Mr. Price, yes. I understand you. I will tell her, Mr. Price. I swear I will."
Ben nodded slightly, then he pulled again on the shirt, weaker this time.
"Joanne..."
"Yes, what about the Captain?"
"Thanks..."
"Yes, I will tell her. You have my word."
Price nodded again as he let go, then settled back flat on the ground, let out one long last breath, and was gone.
"Captain Martin, Price is dead."
As Lieutenant Harry said this, a tipping point seemed to flex, and the enemy fire started to diminish. He got his Marines up, and they began firing continuously into the enemy. Bewildered and nearly surrounded, the enemy stood their ground and died where they stood. Never did one take a step backward once engaged.
Once the firing stopped, Harry returned as quickly as he could to where Price lay, smoke rising from the massive wound on the right side of his chest. Natalie Hayden, who had heard everything on the comm link, had beaten him there, and he found her kneeling over Price, holding his hand as the tears ran off her face and dripped onto his shirt. Liwanu stood guard over them, giving Natalie this moment as best he could. As he looked high and to the west, there was now a fourth fire in the sky.
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