Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
***
DECISIVE ACTION
We’ve just untangled at the LZ coordinates for 2nd Battalion, 1st Spacors, our home away from home while on Prime. It’s June 15th. Lieutenant Colonel Graham is commanding officer for The Darkside Impactors. The shields are up, but instead of unpacking to get ready to move out when the heavy artillery arrives, everyone is packing. Fast. Here comes a lieutenant, hopefully to let us in on what’s happening. Enroth is on an intercept trajectory to get some answers, as am I.
The lieutenant looks ruffled. “Sirs! Apologies from the EO, there’s a lot going on. I’m Lieutenant Murphy, here to provide a very fast rundown of the situation. Sargent Lee let me know you’re just in from Dome Fortress 5 and have been out of communication.”
Enroth wants to steer the fast rundown, just a little. “You’re packing up.”
A nod from Murphy. “Yes sir, they’ve initiated EA Dodge.” Silence, maybe to let it sink in?
One one-thousand, two one-thousand. “What the ##!!
“It’s an Emergency Action, sir.”
Enroth takes a very deep breath. “I know it’s EA, emergency action. But I don’t know specifically about EA Dodge.”
“That’s what the executive team is working on, sir. We know we’re supposed to be ready to port at a moment’s notice. Harass the enemy. Stay alive.”
“This battalion has a very specific function within the OpOrd. Where are the attack vehicles? I haven’t heard a single League aircraft. Just a few Manleys popping off. What’s going on, Lieutenant?”
“Well, sir, that’s just it. We haven’t received our mechanized offensive equipment. No one has, at least no one we can reach. Comms are spotty. Freedom Battle Group dropped us off, promising the SUGAR and SPICE would follow on within 12 hours. We were busting it to get ready. The last thing we heard, it was over QuIM, was that Liberty and Justice were on a maximum burn heading back to Earth. Then everything went quiet.
“Dodge is going to keep us going until the equipment arrives. Just a slight delay?”
“Our exec team doesn’t think so, sir. A port-tech from Goodnight Command dropped in to say we should initiation EA Dodge before we’re overrun, unless we receive further instructions. But without any sort of effective communication, it’s going to be a mess. We’re probably going to have to just make do.”
I feel I have to say... something. “They won’t abandon us. 300,000 troops! We just have to hold out until help arrives.”
***
+ BEGIN TIMELINE DROP.
This timeline drop helps to explain why two Viper battle groups, Liberty and Justice, were recalled to Earth.
SOLCOM: Viper Command, provide timeline for Cygnus Prime troop and equipment deployment.
VIPER COMMAND: Freedom Battle Group is currently overseeing troop deployment to OpOrd coordinates. We expect to begin drop of aerospace and ground mechanized forces in 8 hours.
SOLCOM: Has Viper had any additional enemy contact? ISR shows you are clear.
VIPER COMMAND: No enemy contact. Freedom has cleared remaining enemy forces. Space is clear within 18-light-hours of Cygnus Prime.
SOLCOM: Estimated timeline for aerospace and ground mechanized forces if Freedom Battle Group takes over the entire operation.
VIPER COMMAND: One moment. Our logistics team estimates 16 to 20 hours.
SOLCOM: Viper Command, Liberty and Justice battle groups are to return to Earth immediately, along with group supply ships carrying fuel and munitions. This is a full burn return, Viper, though you should be ready for flank speed afterburners if directed.
VIPER COMMAND: Sir, may I inquire as to the nature of this directive?
SOLCOM: Expect additional information soon, Viper. I will say this. The Anatoid-Karrin, the Gall, they have opened a portal gate at Saturn. According to the Krill, the gate on Crimson has been activated. That is not likely a coincidence. Titan Base has been destroyed. No Empire ships have been detected. That said, the Anatoid-Karrin fleet is... formidable. There is little chance the Solar Battle Group alone can prevail. It is imperative you hasten your return.
The gate-ship is under way for rendezvous at coordinates provided. It will have exhausted its fuel supply. Instructions for spin stabilization and powering the gate have been provided. Allocate two destroyers to the effort. That is all.
***
VIPER COMMAND: Freedom Command, stand by for Solcom directives and information via enline. Your group is to oversee all aspects of Operation Viper, to include deployment of SUGAR and SPICE battle equipment, and providing orbital cover. Equipment haulers have resumed deceleration burn for orbital insertion in 8 hours. Send escort ships for the haulers and provide one battlestar to guard the gate-ship at its new coordinates. Liberty and Justice will be leaving the system. Additional information is in the enline report, flowing... now.
FREEDOM COMMAND: Acknowledged Viper Command. We are in receipt of enline report.
Anxiety flowed freely among the leadership team of Freedom Battle Group, though little of that involved the operations related to Cygnus Prime. Thus far, the enemy didn’t seem capable of prosecuting any sort of sustained war effort. Space operations had gone very well. Enemy action on the ground was haphazard, with poor coordination and little skill. Two destroyers were sent to escort the equipment haulers while troop deployment continued in earnest, to make ready for the ground equipment necessary to prosecute the ground war and dominate the planet. If this war continued on the current trajectory, perhaps some ships could return home where they were clearly needed.
Within two hours, Liberty and Justice reached the new position of the gate-ship and transited to Jasmin on the first leg of the journey to the Solar System. Activity within the underground base at Jasmin had slowed, with most of the people already relocated to Kreahaam. A small crew of Karrin and Earthers would stay on to manage gate transitions.
Freedom Command logged the transit of Liberty and Justice, and marked T-minus 6-hours to the beginning of the SPICE drop. Final preparations were being made to begin a coordinated attack on the Dome Fortress Facilities, even though the SpecOps teams had not reported on their effort at the Dome-5 fortress facility. With the fortress defenses silenced, it would be much easier for League aerospace craft to dominate the skies over Cygnus Prime. That would still happen, one way or another. The aerospace and mechanized ground equipment would be inserted, regardless of the fortress situation, along the tight undefended corridor.
At T-minus 5 hours to SUGAR and SPICE drop, a QuIM message was received from the destroyer tailing Pentalink-4, stating two ships of unknown origin had suddenly appeared near the Pentalink. The message was cut off suddenly as the QuIM system blazed with interference.
END TIMELINE DROP. +
***
OPERATION GOODNIGHTMARE
The attacks have started. It’s still June 15th. Shields are holding for now. Maybe they’re toying with us. It would be simple enough to erase us with a tiny matter/antimatter bomb. A port-tech just dropped in to say we’re basically on our own for now and we should begin our version of Emergency Action Dodge. You can’t run a war with an occasional message from a port-tech, assuming one could even find you. It won’t be long now, before we’ll be porting for our lives, 300,000 troops scattered to the winds. The port-tech also passed a message to Roll, from Goodnight Command, General Mullen himself.
When I expressed my curiosity, Roll invited me along. Sure, why not? It didn’t go as I expected. We untangled in the PLZ (Port Landing Zone), and were quickstepped to the general.
General Mullen looked at me, then at Roll, and said, “Viper Command is moving out of the system. Two battle groups are gone. The remaining group, who knows. Silence. For us, it doesn’t look good, what with no heavy equipment and all.”
Roll sounds a little angry. “What do you mean Viper is moving out of the system? Retreating? All of this planning and we’re just going to fold up
and try another day?”
I didn’t think Roll should talk to a 3-star general in quite that manner, “Roll, let’s take a little breath now, and use our inside voice with the nice general, before we end up in the stockade.”
Roll smiled a little. “Stockade? We can teleport, Viz.”
Not all of us. “Well, technically, it’s you that can port.”
General Mullen actually smiled at that. “It’s okay, captain. Roll and I go way back. We got to know each other through WASP and all sorts of this and that. When I retire, I might even have him take my spot.”
Take over for a general? “Uhhh, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way.”
General Mullen slapped his knee. “You’re right, Roll. She is a hoot!”
Being a hoot is a little ambiguous, but still warranted a stern look for Roll, hands on hips foot tapping, the whole thing. “A hoot? I used to shut you up with just a raised eyebrow.”
Roll had a vacant look for a moment, maybe a bout of nostalgia. “That’s right. You did. Para was pretty good at that too, with her foot tapping, just like you’re doing right now. That gave us pause. Still works, too.”
Goodnight Command, General Mullen, decided to move the conversation along. “Well now, that was fun. Back to the matter at hand. Viper isn’t retreating. Two of the battle groups were called back to Earth. Something about an Anatoid-Karrin attack fleet showing up, bam, right in the middle of the Solar System. It’s bad. Freedom was supposed to stay on and deliver our mechs.”
Roll doesn’t know what to say. “The Gall are invading us, now? You seem to have a lot of information. I, uhhh, are comms back up?”
The general shook his head. “Freedom Battle Group was still active last contact, about five hours out from the SUGAR and SPICE drop. Then all the comms hissed out. Sent a shuttle crew up the corridor. Port-tech got us the latest news from Earth. The Primers are watching the corridor now. Port-tech barely made it back. That was a few hours ago. We’re well past the drop deadline at this point. It doesn’t look good. That’s what I know. Now, tell me about these Gall, Anatoid-Karrin, whatever you want to call the filthy things. I want to know what you think of their capabilities.”
Roll closed his eyes for a few seconds to gather his thoughts. From what we saw of the Gall on Crimson, their technology is formidable. On par with our own, at least. It’s a good thing two of the battle groups were recalled.
But what happened to the Freedom battle group? They weren’t recalled, and they couldn’t have just disappeared. The war in space was over. And how could the Gall travel more than 1,000 light years to the Solar System?
General Mullen had a little more information. The Krill had called to say the gate on Crimson had been activated. A gate had opened near Saturn at roughly the same time. The Empire was involved in this even if all the warships were Anatoid-Karrin. They powered up the gate on Crimson for the Gall. And I’m sure they sent a stealth ship with gate materials through Looking Glass at Sleepy before we took control.
The Empire isn’t playing some long game, letting us take out their best warships. We surprised and overwhelmed them. I wonder if they’re being played by the Gall. Think about it. If the Gall forces had shown up in our Solar System just a little sooner, we would have had to hold our invasion of Prime. Now, so many of our military assets are scattered to the wind. And the Empire space force has been reduced to ash. The Gall think they can have it all.
***
The sporadic bombardment has ceased for the time being. Our underground shelters are still intact, though our shielding is starting to show wear. It’s only a matter of time as the calendar clicks over to a miserable June 16th. We don’t expect to hear any more from the port-tech pony express. At least our battalion has some targets lined up. We’ll go down swinging. Hold! What’s this that Roll is whispering in my ear?
There’s a special assignment for Shockwave and crew. We’re going to meet up with a special unit of Spacors to save the day. The shielding array blocking us from teleporting off of this miserable planet is powered by an interconnected grid of substations located on the ground. Evidently, they’re connected in a series circuit. That seems dumb. Bottom line, if we can take down just one of the substations, the entire power grid for the planetary shield goes down. And we’ll be free to port home.
Explosions and the chatter of IMRs has me climbing up out of the bunker to see what’s afoot.
There are two... giants, standing just outside our perimeter. They must be 10 meters tall, or more. Noooo! One of them has Miller, shaking him like a rag doll. I shouldn’t have screamed. It’s smiling at me, tearing at Miller with sharpened teeth then spewing it out, casting aside his torn body. This has to be a nightmare. Wake... up... Viz! Is it a Primer hallucination weapon, made to drive us crazy?
They’re moving forward, left arms extended with palm out, a raised blister opening, spilling bright light. They’re walking right through our shields. A finger points, a trooper flashes in flames and is gone. Another. So many dying. IMR rounds, energy bolts, just... terminate, cease to exist. The quantum spooky rounds don’t seem to have an effect.
I can hardly breath, thinking hard about a nice round of panic. “Everyone to your port-tech! Dodge! Dodge!”
The command repeats throughout the camp like an echo. I’m back in the bunkers, grabbing my pack and carbine. Where’s Rock? Think! The team will assemble at the port zone.
***
We’re in a large cavern. It’s one of many locations mapped out over the years by the Resistance. Shockwave, GG, Dirty Feet. Wink and Enroth. We all made it, though so many in the camp did not. I hope the specialist team arrives soon. They call themselves Action Pack. It’s a mixed group of Spacors and SID, supposedly top of the class in penetrating anti-access, area-denial sites. The imperative to take down the anti-teleportation matrix somehow seems all the more urgent, after seeing... all that.
I’ve asked Rock to return to the camp with me. I want to say it’s to gather intel on those bloodthirsty giants. Such as, does my cloak work in the presence of the monsters? If asked, I would probably deny it has anything to do with an attempt at vengeance for the death of Miller and the rest. But I really don’t know.
Rock and I untangle back at camp, cloaked. The vile creatures have been rummaging through the camp. There’s the one that murdered Miller, on a knee examining something, or, I don’t know. It gets up, something in its hand. It spews a red cascade to the side, then calls to the other creature, taking long strides to close the distance. I nod to Rock and we flash-port a satchel charge and move off to observe. The massive explosion opens the ground but the blast washes over with no effect. The creature stumbles and falls with a satisfying crash, only to jump up quickly, screaming in rage.
A quantum glimpse gives Rock time to port us high, my Ivees registering a massive energy signature radiating hundreds of meters from the giant. The inferno lasts only a moment leaving a perfectly round area of scorched earth. As we free fall, I can hear the other giant roaring. Was it harmed? As we port back to our cavern, I’m sure it was actually a roar of laughter that we heard.
We untangle in the cavern at the designated PLZ to the sound of chaos. Weapons drawn, Rock and I round a corner to see Roll and a lavashell vanish as he plops on the things back. Para is running fast up the cavern wall, red acid rain following close behind, and she leaps high, bounding off the ceiling just in time as the beast’s legs lift, aiming for another shot.
Para drops heavily on the shell and slams it with a heavy alloy bar. A tiny puff of red mist seeps through a crack. It begins to buck, though the attempt seems weak. Para has already leaped high and crashes again, aiming for the crack. The bar thrusts deep, wreaking terrible damage even as the heavy alloy bar melts. That gets Para running fast... toward me and Rock! She screams, run! But we’re already in motion.
No fire follows, only the sound of a fizzling sputter. The demon plops heavily to the ground, dead. Para’s capability, her speed and strength, maybe
her density, has increased the last couple of days.
Tech Sergeant Graham wants to have a look. He is a sergeant, though not specifically a “tech” sergeant. He is a decidedly brilliant electronics technician, so we still call him tech-sarg. Sometimes. Anyway, he pulled out his kit and managed to pull out one of the things stalks.
He seems to have found something interesting. “What have we here? This is one of those Primer camera-orbs, and it looks as though it’s still broadcasting. I’ll zap it so we can have some privacy.”
That has Fierce all a chatter. “Hold up a second! Let me have a look.”
Fierce, the programming genius has an idea. He has a little device, a joint project with Communal, who has also taken an interest.
Fierce is dusting his hands of the not so imaginary dust. “There. They can no longer see or hear us. But, what do you think, Para? It’s your beastie. Shall we have a look at who’s watching?
Para’s game. “Let’s absolutely have a look-see.”
Graham is back at it, now that the scatter program is imbedded, and dialing in the signal. Here comes a crowd cloud so we can all see. He’s scrolling, scrolling, here comes an image.
It looks like... no it can’t be. That looks almost like popcorn. They’re watching the VG. We were on a stupid vidgrid show. Those are little kids. Live programing of the killing machine terrorizing the humans. It’s beyond the pale.
***
THE SERPENT’S FAITHFUL
+ BEGIN TIMELINE DROP.
The battle groups Liberty and Justice were recalled to Earth, while Freedom made preparations to deliver the heavy air and ground weapons of war that would enable the Solar League forces to dominate Cygnus Prime.
At T-minus 5 hours to SUGAR and SPICE drop, a QuIM message was received from the destroyer tailing Pentalink-4.
Invasion: Journal Three (Shockwave Book 3) Page 34
